William’s gut burned with the urge to see his fist square between the jackass deputy’s eyes. Before he could argue any more, however, Kate struggled to her feet. He breathed an inward sigh of relief. Still, he couldn’t see her face since most of her was blocked from view by the hindquarters of the horse between them.
“Kate?” he said, trying to lean around for a better look. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice, however, sounded shaky and bone-weary. “I just tripped on my skirts.”
“Hush up,” Jimmy said. “Let’s get goin’. We’re almost there.”
The last half mile to town was the worst, in large part because William could hear Kate continuing to struggle and shuffle. She didn’t fall again, thank heaven, but he could tell she was having a hard time keeping up. Her breaths grew louder and more ragged. This wasn’t the Kate he knew, who’d always stayed in step with him whether he wanted her to or not.
Once they arrived in the town proper, people stopped in the streets to stare at the dangerous outlaws being tugged along behind the lawmen’s horses. A couple gasps of surprise reached his ears, and he figured they came from folks who were either local and recognized them, or who were shocked to see a woman getting dragged off to jail. William didn’t bother turning his head to find out. He set his jaw and stared straight ahead, refusing to give into the urge to meet the accusing stares head on and shout out his innocence.
“Whatcha got there, Sheriff?” he heard a man yell.
“We done caught us the cattle rustlers,” Jimmy Smith called out with a cocky voice. William heard a collective gasp from the crowd.
“Smithy, shut yer hole,” the sheriff said in a gruff, barking tone. “You’ll get us mobbed, boy.”
Sheriff Grande wasn’t far from wrong. Onlookers began shouting angry demands all at once.
“Bring ’em over here, Sheriff.”
“Yeah. We’ll take care of ’em fer yeh.”
“Yer not gonna waste a jail cell on those no-goods? Hang ’em now!”
Now William twisted his head to eye the crowd, and then wished he hadn’t. Never had he seen such poison spitting his direction, like an army of rattlers shaking their tails and baring fangs before a strike. At this rate, they would never make it to the hoosegow, regardless of the sheriff’s intentions. A chill crept along his spine. He closed his eyes a moment to shut out the angry faces, but then up popped an image of Kate swinging from a rope, her slender neck contorted and her beautiful face slackened in death.
Anguish welled up in him until he wanted to scream, use the power of his outrage to snap the thick rope tethering him to the sheriff and save the woman he loved from this unthinkable fate. Just hours ago she’d been in his arms, lying beneath Jack while the two men had made love to her. William’s thoughts had been focused on the future, on how perfect their lives would be. He’d finally come to believe that, come what may, he would always take care of her the way she deserved. Now, they had no life or a future. There was only injustice.
He saw movement from the corner of his eye, and he whipped his head around to find several folks rushing toward them.
“Stop, Sheriff,” one man said. “We have a right to take care of our own.”
To William’s dismay, the posse halted. He hadn’t even blinked before Grande had drawn his Colt and leveled it at the approaching men, who froze in their steps.
“Yeh have a right to get a bullet between yer eyes if yeh take another step,” Grande said. “There’ll be a proper trial for these two. A judge will decide their lot.”
“Decide what? How and where they hang?” the oversized blacksmith said with barely contained fury. He’d always been neighborly to William before. Now, one of his massive hands gripped a metal hammer that he used to gesture at him while his piercing eyes accused him of murder. “Let us see to it, and save yerself the trouble of keepin’ ’em locked up and fed. They don’t deserve it.”
The sheriff grunted. “I’ll remember that if I ever have to run yeh in, Hog. Now git back, everyone, afore the best thing that happens is I find room fer every last one of yeh in the calaboose.”
The grumbling onlookers parted at last, and the posse started off again.
“Form up, boys,” the sheriff said in a low, flat tone. “Watch our flank.”
With a precision William had to admit was impressive for a group of ragtag volunteers, the men filed their horses outward to surround him and Kate. He heard the sound of rifles being cocked, and the group made the rest of the trip in ominous silence. That didn’t mean there was no sound outside the group, however. William heard plenty of epithets being spit at his back from the crowd. The last he heard before they reached the jailhouse were, “Can’t believe it were you, Tyler. You done in yer own kin and dragged yer whore in on it, too.” By the time they stopped, William’s limbs were shaking, not from fear, but from the pent-up fury pulsing through every inch of his body.
The light spilling in from two small windows inside the sheriff’s office was dampened by black iron bars covering them. Furnishings were sparse, including a desk, a few straight-backed chairs, and a large iron cell divided into two keeps by a set of bars down the middle. William was all but shoved inside the first, and the creaky door was barely slamming shut on it before Kate was locked into the cell adjoining his. She immediately sank onto an equally squeaky cot in the far corner, and William got his first real look at her since they had been taken from the ranch. Her braids had come down so her hair hung loose over her shoulders. The front of her dress was covered in dirt, and her face was also dirt-streaked around puffy, red eyes. She’d been crying on the way, quite a lot from the look of it. When his gaze fell to the wrists she was rubbing, a new flood of anger burned up from his stomach. Where rope had touched the bare flesh below the cuffs of her dress, the skin was angry red. Worse, in some spots the raw areas were open and bleeding. She reached down to fuss with her disheveled skirt, and she looked like she was ready to cry again.
She glanced up and caught him staring. The brave smile she tried to paste on didn’t quite stick. “I tore my dress,” she said, and she showed him where a large rip had rent the calico from the waist to knee, flapping open to show her soiled petticoat beneath. She sniffed and fingered the frayed edges. “That’s seems to happen when I’m around you.”
He swallowed, an empty gesture considering trail dust had long since dried his throat. “How’s that?”
She shrugged. “That day I first met you, I caught my skirts on a bramble bush and tore it right before I ran into you.”
“I didn’t notice that.”
“You were probably too worried about your horse to see that my dress was shredded.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I haven’t been very lucky for you.”
Her eyes found his. “That day would have been far worse without you. I’ve no doubt Caleb Tanner would have caught me if you hadn’t happened along.” She shivered visibly. “Seems to me I’m the one who’s been unlucky for you. I cost you a horse that day, got my pa after you, and now because of the beautiful corsage you gave me, I got you dragged into all this.”
She stared down at her lap, and after a moment William saw her shoulders begin to shake. He walked right up to the divider between them and took hold of the iron bars. “Don’t cry, Kate. This weren’t your fault. They had me figured for this before we got involved. Besides, our luck ain’t run out just yet.”
Kate shook her head, but didn’t raise it. Her voice sounded hoarse and shaky. “I was so happy. Every time that happens in my life, I get run down by a stampede.” She sniffed back tears. “When I was happy as a child, my ma died. When I decided to become a vet, my stage got robbed. When I thought for a moment we’d finally get to be together, this happened.”
“We are together, and still will be when this all blows over.”
Her laugh sounded more like a hiccup. “I’m afraid I won’t get the chance to wear your mother’s wedding dress after all.”
He gripped the bars until his
fingers blanched white. “Don’t talk that way. You’re gonna put on that dress, and you’ll be the most beautiful bride who ever stood afore a preacher.”
“I know this sounds horrible because it’s your ma’s dress and she should rightfully have it back, but I wish they could bury me in it. Then at least I’d get to wear it once, even if I won’t know it.”
Pangs of anguish lanced his gut. “Kate,” he said in a tone barely above a growl. “Please, don’t talk this way. Come here to me.”
She looked up at him from under wet eyelashes. Her nose was red and her face more tear-streaked than ever, and the sight near tore his heart out. She wandered up to the bars, and he reached through to stroke her damp cheek.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes obeyed. Their stunning blue color was clouded with pain, but no less beautiful.
“Now, you listen here. There’s to be no more talk like that. We’re gonna get out of this, and then you’ll be my wife. Say yes to me, Kate. Tell me you’ll marry me.”
She blinked. “Yes,” she breathed. “I’d be proud to be your wife.”
He shook his head. “I’m just sorry I waited so long to make that happen. I’m a stubborn mule.”
“Oh, William.” She reached through the iron and laid a hand on his pounding chest. “It doesn’t matter now. You and I both know we’re as good as hung. You saw that crowd out there.”
“The sheriff said he’d see us to a fair trial, and I trust him to be a man of his word.”
“A trial, if we’re lucky. But a fair one? Even Angus Grande can’t control that. With the evidence they’ve got, it’s mighty bad.”
“They’ve got nothin’. Anyone could have mixed the stolen cattle in with my herd.”
“And my flowers?”
“Dropped by accident. Again, by anyone.”
She laid her head against the bars, and he felt the tickle of her hair against his face. “It looks bad, Will. Even I have a mind to wonder whether we did it for a minute.” She stiffened. “Where was Jack when you woke up this morning?” William just looked at her. “You don’t suppose he could have—”
“No,” he bit off. “I trust him with my life. He had nothin’ to do with this.”
She raised her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like I’m accusing him. I’m just thinking out loud.”
He nodded.
“Do you think someone could have done this to you on purpose?”
He blinked. “Not sure, but I doubt it. I got no enemies to speak of. More likely it was a case of opportunity. Someone needed a place to stash some of the herd temporarily, and the ranch happened to be convenient.”
“No offense, but there are larger ranches where it’d be easier to hide a quarter head. Closer to the Flying J, too.”
“They wouldn’t want to dump the herd so close. That’d be too obvious.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“We just have to convince the sheriff of it. And a judge, if it comes to that.”
“How can we possibly clear our names?”
He pushed back a strand of her hair. “I’m not sure. I still have to work on that.”
“I don’t see how there’s much you can do, sitting in a jail cell.”
“I can do this.”
He pulled her gently forward, enough to press his lips to hers without hitting her face against the bars. His body flared with need at the taste of her, and he marveled at the effect this woman had on him. Again he stood in the face of a very ugly uncertainty, yet desire raced through his veins until his cock stiffened. He wished there were no bars separating them, so he could mold her body to his the way it seemed designed to do.
“Hey! That’s enough, both of yeh,” the sheriff said from his desk. Jimmy Smith was off on some errand, and the other men had been sent on home. “Keep that up and I’ll have Jimmy rig up somethin’ solid between yeh.”
Bootsteps scuffed the splintery wood floor until the man stood in front of Kate’s cell. He peered in at her, his hands on his hips. “Seems to me that shameful nonsense is what done landed you in the mess in the first place. Shouldn’t outta gotten mixed up in this, Miss Kate.”
“We’re innocent,” she said. “Please, you have to believe us.”
“What you were just doin’ hardly looked innocent to me,” he said. “Folks will do all sort of crazy things when love is involved.” He shook his head. “You know this is gonna kill yer pa.”
She raced to the front bars and grabbed them. “He doesn’t know about this, does he?”
“Of course he knows. Our men rode up on his farm at first light. He said you claimed to be out on a hoss doc call.” She flashed him a guilty look. “He was feelin’ so poorly he fell asleep in front of the fire, waitin’ fer yeh to drag yerself home. Then look where we found yeh.”
Kate shook the bars, which didn’t move for the effort. She gave up and spun away, her face contorted with new pain. “Why is this happening?” she whispered, and again went and sank down on the saggy straw cot mattress.
Sheriff Grande walked back to his desk. “I’ll be sendin’ word to the court soon,” he said. “Yeh won’t have long afore the trial. Folks have been waitin’ a long time fer this.”
“Afore they set up the lynchin’ party for two upstandin’ citizens, you mean,” William said. “You know they’re so itchin’ for vengeance they’ll hang anyone who looks right for it.”
The man shot him a glance and grunted. “We normally give two meals here, but seein’ as how there’s a lady, I’ll arrange fer the hotel to send three.”
William’s hands fell from the bars. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
He meant it. The man had already made two gestures that seemed to indicate that, however letter-of-the-law his manner, he might just have doubts about their guilt. Maybe if they behaved like model prisoners and dropped a bug or two in his ear, Sheriff Grande might take their side and keep hunting for the real rustlers. Hopefully, it would be in time to help them out of this disaster.
He and Kate could use about all the help they could lasso about now, and then some.
Chapter Twelve
Kate lay on her back on the little cot, trying to shut out the reality of her life. If only sleep would take her somewhere far from all this for a few hours, it might be more tolerable. But it was no use. It was noon, she was wide awake, and thoughts wouldn’t stop running rampant through her mind like a wild mustang refusing to be chased down and mastered.
She opened her eyes to the sight of the grandfather clock near the door of the jail house. Its hands pointed out the rapid march of time, indifferent to the plight of those awaiting judgment. The pendulum swung back and forth as though fate was engaged in a struggle to determine her fate. Tick, the law would realize how foolish this accusation was and let her and William go. Tock, she would soon be the one swinging back and forth, hands tied behind her back.
The only thing worse than lying in this cell uncertain of their fate was the uncertainty of wondering why there had been no visitors. Neither Pa nor Jack had come to see her and Will, and thoughts ran rampant as to the reason. Maybe the news had stricken Pa, and he was lying ill with no one to tend him. Maybe he thought she was guilty and had disowned her. And Jack? He’d protested their innocence and nearly got himself locked up along with them. Why hadn’t he come to check on them? Was he distancing himself in preparation for a final and tragic farewell? Did he really care about her at all?
Swallowing tears, she turned her head to where William stood leaning against the corner of his cell. They were backed into a corner, all right, with nowhere to go. Twice the sun had set on this nightmare, and yet Kate still couldn’t help but feel that at any moment she would shake free of an intense dream and wake up with her limbs entwined with Jack and William, their future together still intact.
William looked deep in thought with his brow furrowed and hands tucked under his armpits. When her eyes landed on him, he launched away from the bars behind him. “Excuse me, She
riff,” he said. “Hate to trouble you, but I’m in need of your facility.”
The man looked up from the papers he had been studying on his desk. “Yeah, sure. Hold yer guns a spell.”
“No problem.”
After a few minutes, Angus Grande rose and picked up the rifle standing against one wall. When he cocked the hammer, Kate’s stomach jumped. No matter how many times they’d gone through this drill, that sound penetrated right through to her marrow. It brought her back to the morning she’d tried to put herself between William and the guns of the law yet again, only to find she was every bit as much of a target as he was.
Without being told, William turned away from the approaching sheriff and walked to the back wall of his cell, lacing his hands behind his head. This was the routine when the cell doors needed to be opened. Sheriff Angus was nothing if not a careful man, probably one of the reasons he had remained alive longer in the job than many men in his position.
The cell door squealed in protest when the man pulled it open. He stepped back, rifle trained on his prisoner. “Back up now, slow.”
Kate sat up on her cot while William did as he was instructed.
“That’s it. Now a quarter turn left. Mind the bars.”
She watched while William was escorted out past her iron bars, the muzzle of Grande’s weapon not a foot from his back. His eyes flicked over and caught hers a moment, and her heart fluttered over the tiny smile that crested one side of his mouth. Smiles hadn’t been a frequent companion since their confinement. While there was little cause for this one, it was nice to see that brief flicker of happiness for just a moment.
The two men stopped in front of a small door in the sole short hallway. “Go ahead,” Grande said. “Pull it open and do yer business. Make it snappy.”
With a nod William disappeared inside. Kate had been more shocked to see an indoor water closet in the sheriff’s office than she had been to find one at Tyler Ranch. Prisoners were not normally allowed to use it. That luxury had been afforded the sheriff, William had explained to her, when he’d argued that it would ease the problem of leaving the jail unattended every time a lawman needed the outhouse for himself or to empty a prison bucket. In the event of a jailhouse standoff, the law could better defend the taxpayer’s investment, too. The day-to-day operations of the town calaboose were things Kate had never considered before. There’d never been a need to. In any event, because she was a woman, it had been decided that both she and William could use the seat for privacy, rather than the indecency of using a bucket in full view.
To Tame a Wild Mustang Page 19