Wild Texas Rose

by Jodi Thomas

  Rose looked up to see Victoria standing at the door. She’d heard every word. She braced herself against the door and looked like she might faint at any moment.

  “Good evening, Victoria,” Myers said. “I hope you’ll consider carefully going with me. A wrong choice will get two good men killed tonight.”

  “I’ll stay on the train if you’ll let everyone else off at Glen Station,” she said almost calmly. “You must promise not to hurt anyone, August.”

  “They are of no importance to me.” Myers gave her a little bow. “I promise, my dear. Your friends will be safe, but you have to know that this little game you’re playing is over. I said I’d deliver you, trousseau and all, to your father before we sail and I always keep my word.”

  Rose didn’t know what to do, and when she looked at Abe he didn’t seem to have any idea either. They couldn’t let Myers win so easily, but fighting now might mean lives lost.

  Myers pulled out his watch. “We’ll be stopping soon. You’ll see all your friends put off with most of these other worthless farmers and merchants, if you’ll swear to me that you’ll make no scene either here tonight or later when we board the ship at Galveston. Otherwise, you’ll see them all dead.”

  Victoria nodded. “I’ll make no scene.”

  “Then come with me. You’re finished with these people.”

  She moved out of his reach. “I’d like to hug Rose good-bye. I fear I’ll never see her again.”

  “You’re right,” Myers said with a smile. “You won’t.”

  On the windy platform, Victoria hugged Rose, whispering words that made no sense. She was gone before Rose could ask what she’d meant.

  Abe and Rose moved back inside the first passenger car. “We can’t get to them,” Abe said. “None of us can climb over the top, and to go straight down the aisle would be walking into fire. Our only hope is that Duncan and Killian can get loose and fight from their end.”

  “We have to get ready. The train will be slowing down soon.” Rose whispered what Victoria had said to her in Abe’s ear and he agreed to go along with it.

  “I don’t see what difference it makes, but if that’s what she wants . . .”

  Doctoring Stitch took up most of the time left. By the time he had a tight bandage around his head, the train was slowing. There had been no opportunity to tell him what had happened on the platform.

  When the train stopped at a busy station, everyone scrambled off. Rose handed each of her group one of Victoria’s bags and hurried them off with the crowd. “Move near the ticket office and place the bags out of sight.

  Hallie frowned when Rose handed Stitch a small trunk. “Can you carry this, Stitch?”

  “I can.”

  “Then move off fast with all the others.”

  Rose shoved two of the small bags in Hallie’s hands. “It’s important. Once we’re off make sure you set the bags out of the way, out of sight, and no matter what we should not stand together.”

  Hallie’s bright eyes showed that she knew something was up, but she’d wait to question.

  Abe, with his cane, was the last to climb down the steps. He caught the attention of a porter as he ordered three pieces hauled down the steps and delivered to the depot. When he joined the others on the platform, the last of Victoria’s bags were being loaded on a cart to be transferred inside. A light rain muffled the sounds of a storm coming in.

  They waited without speaking, knowing that the train would only be paused by the platform for a few more minutes before it flew off south again into the night. Finally, two bound men, their faces covered with grain bags, were shoved off the last car. They both hit the platform hard.

  For a few heartbeats all the world seemed silent, then thunder rolled and lightning flashed. One man, dressed in buckskin, jumped off the train and kicked Duncan, making him roll along the wood leaving a trail of blood.

  Someone yelled an alarm from inside the train. The outlaw gave a final kick before the crowd on the platform could reach him.

  “Come on, Tanner,” the same voice shouted again from the last car.

  The attacker jumped back up the steps and yelled one last death threat at Duncan as the train rushed away.

  With the smoke still swirling around them, everyone ran to the men and began untying them. Killian came up fighting mad, but Duncan remained curled in a ball.

  Killian ran the platform as if he could somehow catch the disappearing train.

  “You shouldn’t have let her go,” Duncan whispered to Abe. “You shouldn’t have traded us for her.”

  “I didn’t,” Abe said calmly. “She made the trade. She said she’d go if you were turned loose alive.”

  “But we’ve lost her!” Duncan seemed to be fighting to stay conscious. “There’s no way to catch her in time. I heard Myers say they’d go straight from the train to the dock and board.”

  “No,” Abe reasoned. “I’ve already thought ahead. We can send a telegram and have the law stop him.”

  Duncan closed his eyes as he shook his head. “Myers took great pleasure in telling me that men all along the line were cutting wires tonight. They’ll never have the telegraph lines up and running by morning. Once they’re out to sea we’ll have no way to reach them. She’s his.”

  Rose had been trying to wipe enough blood off of Duncan to see how badly he was hurt, but it wasn’t easy with him twisting away with each touch.

  She finally caught Killian’s attention. “Why were Victoria’s last words to me to take the luggage? She loves her clothes. It makes no sense for her to leave everything.”

  Stitch’s low voice cut through the night air. “She’ll be back.” He laughed, then yelled in the direction the train had gone. “You got them, honey. You figured it out.”

  “How can you know that? Myers won’t let her just turn around and come back for her luggage, no matter how much she wants it.” Killian looked at his brother as if he had lost his mind. “I’ve lost her.”

  Stitch grinned. “She’s not the one who wants those bags. It’s Myers and her father. Back in the barn when I first saw her, she’d just dropped one of the trunks. Her case fell open and I helped her cram everything back in. I thought the trunk was heavy, but I didn’t figure it out until I went back in the barn to get the wagons.”

  He pulled a gold coin from his pocket. “All those bags are stuffed not just with her trousseau but with her father’s gold. My guess is Victoria didn’t know until the case broke open, but then there was little time to tell anyone or examine the luggage.”

  “She wanted it left with us because she knows it’s the one thing Myers will come back for. Not her things but the money. I’ll bet right about now she’s filling him in on that fact so we’d better scatter.”

  “Why didn’t the major take it with him? After all, it’s his gold.” Killian asked as they began moving all their belongings to two old wagons for hire parked at the edge of the platform, “Why leave it with Victoria? I don’t care about the gold, I only want her.”

  “Neither does your wife, little brother, but she wants these men caught even if it means risking her life.” Stitch had figured it out. “Her father has spent the past two years dealing with thieves and men who would kill for worn boots. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for a fortune in gold. He may have figured out that the only way he’d get out of the country alive and with the money was if he packed it with her. I’m guessing that was why he agreed to come to Fort Worth. It may have been hidden near there.”

  Killian nodded following the logic. “He left Austin with one bag. Came to Fort Worth and bought his daughter all the clothes. My guess is with each day of shopping and each new trunk, he packed away another load of gold.”

  “Stolen gold,” Stitch added as two men came running up from the end of the platform. One held a doctor’s bag and the other identified himself as the acting town marshal. The doctor was old but went to work on Duncan, and the marshal started asking questions in rapid fire.

  Killi
an paid them no mind as he yelled over the thunder. “I don’t care about the gold. I want my wife back.”

  Rose knelt beside the doctor as he checked Duncan. The ranger didn’t respond. He’d finally passed out. “We need to get this man out of the storm.” She turned to Killian. “I’ll take care of him. You get your wife back.” Killian nodded but she saw little hope in his eyes.

  “When the train returns, they’ll be coming for the gold. I’m guessing they’ll leave Victoria on the train under guard.”

  Killian followed her logic. “Stitch and I will stay here and get her out. You take care of Duncan somewhere safe.”

  They all helped load Duncan in the second wagon. When Hallie started to climb in, Rose stopped her. “The outlaws will come after us. We’ll make no secret of where we’re going with Duncan. You and Epley would be safer . . .”

  “I’m going with you, Miss Rose, and I’m sitting on that luggage with a rifle over my lap. You can help doctor your ranger, but it’s my turn to stand guard. I told Miss Victoria that I’d work for her, so the way I see it, I’m starting right now.”

  Rose didn’t have time to argue. Abe helped her into the wagon with Duncan.

  “I have to stand with my friend,” Abe said, nodding toward the judge. “He’s the only one I have and I can’t afford to lose him. Will you be all right, Rose?”

  “We’ll be fine. Just get Victoria back.”

  The marshal walked beside the wagon. “I’ll stay here. We might as well stop trouble before it gets off the platform. If that train comes back, every man on it will be in my jail within no time. You don’t need to worry about that, Miss McMurray.”

  Rose didn’t know the deputy well, but she’d seen him before when she’d come to town. “Thanks, we’ll be at the little house. If even one slips past you, we’ll be ready for him.”

  Everyone in Anderson Glenn knew where the little McMurray house was, but the outlaws probably wouldn’t know.

  At least Rose prayed that would be true.

  Chapter 44

  Anderson Glen

  The women and the doctor carried Duncan into a little house built between the school and the church. For twenty years it had served as a second home for many of the McMurrays. On cold winter days the children often stayed over at the house so they wouldn’t have to make the long drive back and forth from the ranch to school. The place belonged to no one member of the family, it belonged to them all. The big McMurray men often called it the Dollhouse because it was so small, with one bedroom downstairs and a loft for any children.

  The doctor set to work on Duncan while Rose lit the fires and put water on to boil. Hallie and Epley carried in all of Victoria’s luggage and the one remaining box of supplies they’d packed for the road.

  “If they’d just bring Miss Victoria back, I’d hand over these bags,” Hallie promised. “I’m tired of moving them around.”

  Rose smiled from the kitchen. “I feel the same. How could one woman wear all those dresses?”

  Though they tried to keep their conversation light, all three were listening for shots to be fired. With the thunder and the lightning, their nerves were on edge. Epley walked around the house examining everything.

  “This is a house no one lives in?” she asked.

  “It’s like a guesthouse. Lots of people live here for short spans of time.”

  “I never seen a house so beautiful.”

  Hallie agreed. “I’m going to buy me a house like this someday. You can come live with me if you want, girl. We’ll be snug as bugs in a rug.”

  Epley smiled. “I’d like that.”

  Rose looked around at the place. She’d always thought of it as plain and simple. Her mother had added touches here and there but nothing special, she’d thought, until now.

  True to her word, Hallie picked up one of the rifles and planted herself in front of the luggage.

  Rose disappeared back into the bedroom to check on Duncan. He’d always been so strong and alive. She couldn’t stand to see him hurt. To her relief, she found him sitting up while the doc wrapped his ribs.

  “How is he?” Rose asked.

  Duncan looked up with one swollen black eye and several bruises turning dark purple. “I think the patient died,” he mumbled around a swollen lip.

  The doc laughed. “It must feel like that, Ranger, but I assure you, you’ll live to fight another day. You got more bruises than anyone I’ve ever seen, but near as I can tell, except for a few cracked ribs, nothing is broken.”

  Rose touched the fresh bandage on his arm. “The stitches over his wound didn’t hold?”

  “The wound opened back up, but most of the blood loss was from his nose and mouth. That lip will probably give him more trouble than the new stitches.” He winked at Rose. “Last doc must not have known he was dealing with a ranger or he would have double-knotted every stitch.”

  Duncan tried to laugh but stopped when blood started dripping from his lip.

  The doc handed him a cold, damp towel. “Press that on the cut. Try not to talk for a few days, don’t eat anything but soup, and no kissing—otherwise you’ll be dripping blood forever from that gash you got just inside your lower lip.”

  The doc stood and washed his hands. “Keep him quiet for a few days. He’s had a few hard hits to the head. If you can, keep him in bed.”

  “I’ll try,” she said as she walked the doctor out, “but if I know him, we’ll be moving to the ranch as soon as we know Victoria is safe.”

  As soon as the doctor was gone, she locked all the doors and turned down the lights. Chances were low that one of the outlaws would make it past Killian and the others, and then find this place. But if they did, she planned to be ready.

  When she went back to Duncan, he was lying back in bed with his eyes closed. Without saying a word, she slipped his Colt next to his hand.

  “Thanks,” he whispered.

  “Don’t talk,” she answered as she took her gun belt off and placed it on the bedpost. She wanted it in easy reach but was tired of wearing it.

  With her back against the wall, she lined three rifles up beside her. One way or the other this would all be over tonight.

  Chapter 45

  Killian stood in the shadows of a pile of lumber on the opposite side of the tracks from the depot and waited. He hadn’t carried a gun since the war. Twelve long years he’d believed there was nothing worth fighting over and now there was. He would save his wife or die trying.

  In the stillness, he remembered every detail of their night together and somehow it kept him warm. If all he had to remember was one perfect night it would be enough, more in fact than he thought he’d ever have.

  “Killian?” Abe whispered from a few feet away. “Did you ever think about settling down and hanging out a shingle? Fort Worth is finally growing like crazy, and with all the drunks and gamblers you’d probably have a good law practice.”

  “Why are you thinking about this now when we’re fixing to go into a fight as soon as the train arrives?”

  “I was thinking I was cold and that made me think of coffee, which made me think about you and me talking, and then I thought, maybe if you bought the bakery from me, you and Victoria could live above it and you could turn the first floor into a law office.”

  “Strange,” Killian answered. “I was thinking about getting killed.”

  “If I think about getting killed, all I worry about is making you promise to tell Miss Norman one more time that I love her. I think she’d like to hear that.”

  “I don’t,” Killian answered, “since I’d be the one telling it to her right after I tell her you’re dead. And when did you have time to tell Miss Norman you loved her?”

  “Your brother told me to tell her before we left town. He said it was the right thing to do.”

  “Abe, you got to quit listening to a ghost.”

  “I’m not a ghost,” Stitch yelled from five feet away. “If it wasn’t for this storm, I’d come over there and knock both you
r heads together. Neither one of you knows a thing about women. I can’t believe either of you found a woman who’d even speak to you much less let you get close enough to talk to.”

  “And you do?”

  “Sure, I’m the only one of us who was smart enough to pick me a chubby one. She’ll keep me warm and happy while you two are freezing and trying to figure out what to say.”

  Killian laughed. “It was so peaceful when you were a ghost, Shawn.”

  “You’d better listen to me, little brother. You’re going to need to settle down. Abe’s right, you can make a lot more money defending crooks than you will as a judge. Plus you got to come home every night or your missus will starve to death in a cold house.”

  “All right, if we get out of this mess alive, I’ll buy the bakery and make a lot of dough.” Killian was the only one who laughed at his joke.

  The faraway sound of a train whistle cut through the dense, stormy air. They all got ready to move. The plan was simple. They would wait until the outlaws left the train. The marshal and his men would capture them between the depot and town. A hundred yards of pens and open ground seemed the best place. The lawmen planned to wait until the outlaws were midway between, too far to make it to town or back to the station, and then they’d step out from hiding with guns ready and arrest them.

  While that was going on, Killian and Stitch would slip into the car holding Victoria. With luck they’d have her safe and away before anyone made it back to the train.

  When the train pulled in, Killian couldn’t seem to take a deep breath. The windows in the first car were open and the lamps were burning. All other passenger cars were empty. If there had been any other passengers making the next leg of the journey tonight, they must have been let out when the train stopped before reversing direction.

  He saw Victoria sitting perfectly still by the window in the middle of the car. All but one man slid off the train and hit the platform. Myers, taller than most, was in the lead, motioning orders with his raised gun. The lights of the station were out for the night. As the men moved away from the glow of the lanterns from the car, they disappeared like smoke.