Jodi Thomas - WM 1

by Texas Rain

  Travis didn’t want to tell her any more bad news, but he couldn’t protect her unless she knew the danger. “Mrs. Vivian is dead,” he said as calmly as he could. “It was made to look like a suicide.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and held on as tightly as she could. He hugged her, wondering if his arms were enough to protect her.

  “I’ll get you out of here as soon as it’s safe.”

  She cried softly against his chest.

  The silence ended with the arrival of Dillon, Mike Saddler, and Sage along with what seemed to be half the Rangers stationed in Austin. Suddenly their shouting and questions were coming from every direction.

  Travis handed Rainey over to his sister and moved directly to Mike. “Why’d you bring Sage here?” Travis fought to keep his fists balled at his sides.

  Mike looked miserable. “You ever try to stop her when she gets something in her head? I’d sooner milk a bull.”

  Travis almost felt sorry for Mike. “I understand,” he mumbled without smiling.

  Dillon organized the men, then asked to see Mike and Travis in the dining room. Neither man wanted to leave the women in the hallway unprotected, so they asked Sage and Rainey to join them. When the door was closed, Dillon stated the obvious. “I think this might have been Eldon’s work. Maybe he thinks if he gets rid of everyone who might have seen him kidnap Rainey, we’ll have nothing on him.”

  “So the barmaid might not have killed herself?”

  “It’s just a theory.”

  Dillon paced as he talked. “I sent a man over to the three dressmakers’ apartment. They’ll be sleeping below in the shop tonight to make sure no one gets to them. Dottie says she has a safe place. Other than them”—he looked at Rainey and Sage—“you are the only two alive who saw the kidnapping. We need to get you somewhere safe fast. Somewhere no one will think to look for you.”

  Sage met her brother’s glance. “I’m going home,” she said simply.

  “But . . .” Mike started to argue.

  Travis understood. For a McMurray there was no safe haven but Whispering Mountain. “Let her go,” he said, knowing that whoever was killing the witnesses would be after Rainey next, not the old maids or Sage. “Mike, get her the best horse you can and ride with her. Even if you two are followed, there’s not an outlaw in Texas who can keep up.”

  Mike smiled. “I’m not sure I can even keep up with her. Once she switched saddles the other day, I saw what riding-like-the-wind truly looks like.”

  Dillon stopped pacing. “I can send guards out with them the first day.”

  Travis shook his head. “They’d be safer leaving town unnoticed”—he looked back at his sister—“and well armed.”

  Sage nodded slightly. “I’ll be ready to leave in an hour. We’ll be well away from Austin before dawn. The roads are good for miles. We’ll make good time.”

  Travis looked at Sage. “You’ll be home in less than half the time it took to get to Austin. I’ll hire someone to follow in a few days with the wagon.”

  “What about Duck? He won’t go with me without you along. I left him with Dottie, but he won’t stay for long. She said if you can get Rainey to her, she’ll take her into hiding.”

  “I’ll take care of Duck and Rainey,” Travis said. “You worry about getting home safely.” He wished he could send Rainey and Duck to Whispering Mountain, too, but Rainey couldn’t ride well enough to keep up, and if they slowed they’d be sitting ducks on the road.

  Sage hugged her brother.

  “I wish I could ride with you,” he whispered, hating that he wasn’t the one taking her to safety, but his leg, even now that it felt like it was healing, would only slow Sage and Mike down.

  “I know,” she answered. “But you’re needed here.”

  Dillon interrupted. “Right, McMurray. And the first thing we have to do is get Rainey out of here without anyone seeing her. I’d bet a month’s pay that someone is watching the house right now just waiting to see where she goes.”

  Sage hugged Rainey and left the room, but Travis stopped Mike Saddler before the young Ranger could follow.

  “I’ll get her home safely,” Mike promised.

  Travis didn’t let go of his arm.

  Mike smiled. “And you don’t have to say it. I know, you’ll kill me if I touch her.”

  Travis smiled. “She’s not the kid I thought she was. She’ll kill you if you touch her. I’m just telling you to take care of her.”

  “I will.”

  He disappeared and Travis turned back to Dillon to plan how they would get Rainey out of the house safely.

  A tap on the dining room door disturbed them a few minutes later. “Sorry to bother you,” Roy said. “Your sister left here riding lightning fast. Anyone following her would have to have wings.”

  “Good.” Travis smiled. He knew Mike would circle until he knew no one followed before he took her back to the Baileys’ place so she could change.

  Roy handed over a coat lined in fur. “Only problem is she picked up the wrong coat. I could have sworn she wore this in.” He turned to Rainey. “I think she must have taken yours.”

  CHAPTER 32

  RAINEY SLIPPED FROM THE LAUNDRY ROOM WINDOW into Travis’s arms. She felt numb with worry and fear. She’d let Dillon and Travis discuss protecting her as if she were not responsible for herself, but deep down she knew that the longer she stayed around Travis, the more danger she put him in. When she got the chance, she needed to disappear.

  But tonight didn’t seem the time. A fog had settled over the town earlier, and now a slow rain hung in the air. The weather would make her escape easier, but it left a feeling that the whole world was crying.

  Travis held her hand as they moved in the darkness down the alley to where Roy had the wagon waiting. When he reached the wagon, he turned and lifted her into the back between boxes and bundles of what looked like supplies, then swung in beside her. In an instant they vanished beneath blankets.

  Travis opened his arm and pulled her against him as Roy set the horses into motion. He moved slowly, as if he were in no hurry. To all that might glance in their direction, Roy looked much like Owen did when he made deliveries.

  “You all right?” Travis whispered. They were so close she felt his breath on her cheek.

  “Yes.”

  They remained silent for a few minutes, and then he whispered close to her ear. “I wish we were back in your room on the third floor.”

  “Me, too,” she answered, remembering how she’d lain beside him without her clothes and without embarrassment.

  “Rainey?” he mumbled.

  “Yes.”

  “I love touching you.”

  She stilled. It was the first time she’d heard him use the word love. He hadn’t said he loved her, just touching her. The wagon rattled along. Rainey closed her eyes and remembered how it had been for a few short hours. No one would ever guess that the hard man beside her could be so tender. He’d made her feel beautiful, if only for a few hours. The memory of the way he’d kissed her warmed her still.

  After a while the wagon came to a stop and Travis slipped from beside her. “I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t move.”

  Rainey poked her head out enough to see the outline of the judge holding Duck at the back door. The boy began to fight and kick the moment he recognized Travis coming toward them. The judge let him go. Duck flew down the path to Travis.

  As always, Travis engulfed the boy in his hug. Watching, Rainey saw how much the child meant to him.

  “Thanks,” she heard Travis say as he moved closer to the judge. She couldn’t hear more. Roy climbed from the wagon and loaded more supplies.

  Travis finally stepped away from the judge and said, “We’ll be in touch.”

  When he put Duck in the wagon, Travis told him to lie down in a voice Rainey thought sounded harsh. Duck didn’t seem to mind. He smiled back at Travis and cuddled down next to Rainey. Travis lay on the other side of the boy and covered them
all with a buffalo hide as Roy started moving again.

  Rainey reached her hand above the boy and touched Travis’s shoulder. “Where are we going?”

  “You know that cellar where Dottie collected the wine you stole?” Travis whispered.

  “No,” she said. “I’m not going there.” She couldn’t bring herself to even think of climbing back in that cellar. She’d face the kidnappers again before she’d hide in the darkness of that place.

  His hand gently brushed her cheek. “Dottie’s waiting there with a lantern. The saloon is long closed. We’ll only have to pass through to her part where her husband’s restaurant used to be. It was the only place we could come up with where no one would look and you both would still be close.”

  Rainey tried to slow her breathing as the wagon rattled. The boarded-up restaurant would be the perfect place to hide. It was right in the middle of town so the Rangers would have no trouble watching over them, and no one probably even remembered Dottie’s husband once ran the place.

  When they got to the alley, she pointed to the cellar door. Roy opened it and Travis moved down first with Duck on his arm. The boy didn’t like the idea of going into darkness any more than Rainey did. He hid his face in the collar of Travis’s coat.

  Rainey followed once she saw the warm glow of a lantern lighting the way.

  The cellar didn’t look nearly so frightening in the light. Bottles and barrels were scattered around, but after a few feet there was a clear path to the back stairs. Halfway up the stairs divided, one set to the saloon, the other to the restaurant.

  “My husband’s partner closes when the last customer leaves, and doesn’t open up until noon or after. We’ll be settled in by then.”

  Rainey followed Dottie into the small restaurant kitchen. Two huge ovens stood in one corner with a low fire burning in one. Pots and pans hung from an iron circle above a worktable. Except for the dust the place looked as if the cook had just walked out.

  Dottie spread her hands in welcome. “Roy and I thought no one would notice smoke in this fog, so we braved a fire. I’ve been dusting off everything while I waited for you to get here, but I’m afraid the place still has a layer of dirt on it.”

  Travis sat Duck by the lantern and crossed to the far door. “I’ll check out the front. Duck, you stay with Rainey.”

  To Rainey’s surprise, Duck nodded.

  Dottie set another lantern on the counter. “My husband loved this place. He’d cook every night, but we didn’t make any money until he started having a private card game in the restaurant after nine.” She sighed as she ran her hand along the wood as if saying hello. “Life was so sweet. We’d work here, then go home to a little house he’d built for me. When he died, I tried, but I couldn’t sell this place. Finally I had so much debt I had to sell my house. I thought of trying to make this into a home, but who wants to try and sleep when the other half of the building is a saloon.”

  “I love the kitchen,” Rainey whispered. “Your husband really knew what he was doing when he set it up. It’s a baker’s dream.”

  Dottie looked around. “It’s cozy, isn’t it? The judge said I could stay with him and the Baileys’ were nice enough to offer me a place until my arm heals, but somehow, I wanted to come here. It’s like I’m scared and I need my Henry to protect me.” She smiled. “Maybe a little part of him is still here.”

  Roy bumped his way into the kitchen carrying blankets and supplies. “Where do you want these?” he said. “The judge sent over food enough for an army.”

  “Here, on the counter,” Dottie said. “The front is full of the furniture I couldn’t sell.”

  Travis returned. “Roy give me a hand and we’ll move something against the front door. Then the only way in and out of here will be through the cellar. There’s a streetlight right outside the windows. It shines through the boards, so we’ll have no trouble seeing in there.”

  Roy dropped the supplies and followed Travis.

  Dottie pointed with her free arm as Rainey began to organize the blankets. “The judge insisted on sending twice what we’ll need.” She grins. “He worries about me as much as my Henry would have. Do you think it’s a sign that his name is Henry, also?” She smiled. “If I married him, I wouldn’t have to go about learning a new name.”

  “I see your point. It wouldn’t do to call your second husband by your first husband’s name.”

  Dottie nodded. “I think it’s a sign.”

  Rainey carried another load to the corner. “We can make beds over here. We’ll put Duck’s closest to the stove so he’ll be warm.”

  “He might get burned.”

  Rainey shook her head. “He’s careful and I think it makes him feel safe.”

  A half hour later Duck was sound asleep and Dottie lay beside him, her injured arm propped on pillows. Her soft snoring blended with the crackling of the fire. Roy sat on the chair by the stairs to the cellar half asleep. In many ways he reminded her of Travis. Neither man ever seemed to go off alert. Being a Ranger was far more than a job she realized; it was a way of life.

  Rainey poured out a cup of coffee from the pot left warming on the stove and passed through the door to the front room. Travis sat watching the street from a small opening in the boards covering the windows.

  “You awake?” she whispered, knowing he would be.

  He turned in her direction. “Coffee would help.”

  She moved slowly toward him. “I’ve got a cup.”

  He was no more than a shadow, but she watched him lower his rifle as she neared.

  “I know you don’t like me to ask, but how is your leg?”

  Thin beams of light slashed through the boards, and she could see his face clearly for a moment before he moved. He looked tired and worried.

  “It aches a little. If I could I’d check to make sure none of the stitches are bleeding. Much as I hate to admit it, the doc’s wraps did the trick. Between that and taking out that tiny piece of metal, my leg’s stopped swelling. But the doc told me to keep an eye out for any bleeding.”

  Rainey handed him the cup and turned back to the kitchen without a word. Five minutes later she returned with a small pot of warm water and a stack of bandages.

  “What’s that?”

  “Water,” she whispered. “Now, keep quiet of you’ll wake the others.” She couldn’t see his face, but she guessed he’d raised an eyebrow like he always did when he thought she might be crazy.

  “Stand up,” Rainey whispered.

  “Why?” he asked as he did what she asked.

  “I want to check for bleeding on those stitches. I don’t want you getting infected.”

  He didn’t move. “Where’d you find bandages?”

  “I ripped a few strips off of one of the sheets the judge sent over.” She moved closer. “Now remove your trousers.”

  “I don’t think so. You couldn’t see if I’m bleeding in this darkness, and we can’t turn a lantern up for fear that someone passing might see in.”

  Rainey tugged at his belt. “I don’t have to see the stitches. I only have to feel them. If I feel blood, or even dried blood, I’ve got water to wash it off and clean rags to wrap the wound.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, are you going to take those trousers off, or am I?”

  He laughed. “All right, Rainey, I’m too tired to argue.” He unbuckled his gun belt and lay it beside him on a table.

  “Don’t worry, Ranger, it’s so dark in here I won’t see a thing.”

  He didn’t laugh as he shoved down his pants. “The cut is on the back of my left leg, just below my hip,” he instructed. He pulled up his shirttail and turned so that one of the beams crossed his leg.

  She would have bet she’d embarrassed him, but she didn’t stop. They both knew the wound needed tending. Rainey was thankful for the dark. She’d never seen a man’s leg exposed, and this wasn’t just any man’s leg. This was Travis’s.

  Her hand touched his hip, and she felt the muscles tighten beneath her fing
ers. Her fingers moved down to the bandage at the top of his leg. Several spots of caked-in dried blood stained the soft cotton. She pulled a chair up and sat as he turned the wound toward her and waited. Her hand shook as she wet a rag in the warm water. She dripped water over the bandage and slowly soaked the cotton away from the wound. No wonder he hadn’t been comfortable with the bandage of dried blood tied to his leg. She brushed her fingers over the unharmed skin as if in comfort.

  He took a breath when she tossed the bandage aside, but didn’t look at her.

  Again she slid her hand down his hip slowly until she brushed over the stitches that had poked into his flesh on either side of a two-inch cut.

  He sucked in air.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  He didn’t answer, but the muscles in his leg were so tight she thought he really could be made of oak. Carefully, with feather touches, she washed the wound, then let it dry. Her hand moved up to his waist.

  “I’ve no more cuts,” he said almost harshly.

  “I know. I just wanted to touch you. In the times we’ve been alone and you’ve touched me, you’ve never let me touch you.”

  “It’s not something a woman wants to do to a man.”

  Rainey spread her hand over his warm skin. “How do you know? Have you been with many women who told you that, or are you just guessing?”

  “Just check the wound.” His words could not have been colder, but his skin remained warm to her touch.

  She brushed her fingers over the stitches and found the skin dry. “No more bleeding.”

  When she started to wrap the leg, he took the bandage away from her and did it himself, then he pulled up his trousers.

  “I thought men wore long johns all winter.”

  “Rainey, we shouldn’t be having this conversation and yes, they do. Mine, however, seemed to have disappeared when I collapsed at the Baileys’.”

  “Oh,” she whispered. “Wonder who took them off.” She couldn’t help but giggle at the possibility of the round little housekeeper doing it.