Kiss Of The Night Wind

by Taylor, Janelle

  He chuckled, the sound of it mellow. “Not long. I didn’t want to startle you and make you fall.” He straightened and walked forward, teasing, “I see they put you right to work. How are you doing?”

  Carrie Sue felt dirty, sweaty, and a mess. But she was too happy to see him to let her condition trouble her too much. She mopped at the smudges and perspiration on her face, and tossed the rag into the water pail. She flexed her sore body as she replied, “Fine I guess. The boarding house and Mrs. Thayer are wonderful. I finally got settled in Saturday night, and I even went to church yesterday.”

  They exchanged grins. “They treating you all right?”

  She inhaled deeply and nodded. “Mr. Ferris interrogated me on Friday before hiring me and showing me around. I’ve met so many people in the past few days that I can’t recall everyone.”

  “Keeping you busy, huh?”

  “They did on Friday, but I sneaked off Saturday to look around and shop. Yesterday I was practically forced to eat Sunday dinner with the mayor and his family.” She sighed heavily. “I almost feel like a puppet performing for these people. That Mr. Ferris…” She halted and glanced away from his engulfing gaze. “I’m chattering like a raucous bluejay! What have you been doing since Thursday? I haven’t seen you around since we got here.”

  “Not much of anything,” he answered nonchalantly. “Playing cards and lazing about. I’ve had to repeat our tale a hundred times. You’d think these people were dying for news and excitement.” His smokey gray eyes slipped over her from covered head to bare feet. She was a hard worker. And, she was a beauty even in her disheveled state.

  Carrie Sue warmed at his tone and at his use of “our.” He looked so handsome today. His face was freshly shaven; his ebony hair was combed neatly, even if that defiant lock was hanging over his forehead. His clothes, a red shirt and new jeans in a dark blue, were clean. A blue bandanna was tied about his throat, and two Frontier Colts were strapped at his waist. “How long do you plan to stay in Tucson being lazy and entertaining?”

  He shrugged his powerful shoulders. “Until Nighthawk’s hoof gets well. He caught a stone under it on our way into town. He’s got a nasty rock bruise which needs to heal before I ride him again. Besides, I have to wait for those rewards to arrive. With a jingle in my pocket, I can be more choosey about my next job and boss. I have four hundred dollars coming. You earned fifty of it by helping me defeat that last man; that’s half of his reward.”

  “Shooting a man in the leg hardly makes a rewarding experience. You keep the money, T.J.; I have a good salary here. And I have savings from my last job in St. Louis. If I have too loud of a jingle in my own pocket, I’ll spend it foolishly. Keep it all, please, for saving my life and getting me here.”

  He shook his head and grinned. “I’ve never known any woman to have enough money, and you don’t appear a foolish spender. I can’t leave Tucson before settling my debt with a partner. Ain’t my way.”

  “Then, you’ll be here an awfully long time,” she playfully warned.

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of those difficult females who loves to give any man a hard time,” he jested.

  “I suppose I can be bullheaded on occasion,” she admitted. “Haven’t you heard that redheads are stubborn, impulsive, and fiery-tempered?”

  “And they like to keep you indebted to them until they need to call in a favor?” he accused with a laugh, recalling how she felt about bounty hunters who earned blood money. “Name it, woman.”

  “I tell you what, Mr. Rogue. Why don’t you work off your debt today? And take me to supper Friday night?” she suggested in a brave attempt to keep him in town a while longer. Maybe that would give her time to make a decision about staying here, and about chasing him. The more she saw him and thought of him, the more she wanted him, the more she weakened in her resolve to avoid him.

  T.J. observed her intently, surprised by her temerity. “What do you need from a gunslinger like me, Miss Starns? A bodyguard?”

  She wanted to say, I want you! And didn’t realize her gaze did it for her. “I don’t need a bodyguard since I only have one man pursuing me, and I can handle him,” she revealed in a tone which exposed her ill feelings about Martin Ferris. “What I need is a ladder from Mrs. Thayer’s barn so I can reach those high windows. And I can use a strong back to fetch more water. The school doesn’t have a well.”

  “Anything else, partner?” he inquired mirthfully.

  She laughed and replied, “I’ll give it some thought while you’re gone, partner. I never turn down free help or a willing spirit.”

  “Free?” he echoed. “It’ll cost you fifty dollars, Ma’am. Haven’t you heard? T.J. Rogue doesn’t work cheap, most of the time. Not unless he’s starving and needs a quick dollar, or owes a favor.”

  She watched T.J. mount a strange horse, probably a rented one to use while his black stallion healed, and ride away from the secluded school. Carrie Sue hurriedly checked her appearance, doing as much as possible to improve it during his absence. She removed the scarf and rebraided her hair. She dusted her dress and put on her shoes.

  The handsome Rogue returned, dragging the ladder behind the horse and balancing a water pail in each hand. She took a bucket and set it on the ground, then took the other one. T.J. dismounted and carried them inside the schoolhouse, then returned for the ladder. Together they placed it before the window over the door.

  Carrie Sue added soap and vinegar to one bucket. She wet a rag in the mixture and climbed the ladder very slowly and apprehensively.

  T.J. noticed her neatened appearance and wondered if she had prettied herself up for him or because she was a proud female. Even if she was mussed, she was still ravishing. He wouldn’t mind sticking her in a tub and washing her all over before carrying her to—“Careful, woman,” he cautioned as the ladder wiggled under her.

  Without looking down, Carrie Sue began scrubbing the highest panes. As she was about to go down the ladder for rinse water and a drying cloth, T.J. mounted it, carrying both.

  “I’ll hold these close so you can get done quickly. You make me nervous up here. A fall like this could break your neck.”

  “I’m nervous, too. I’m afraid of heights,” she revealed, smiling sheepishly.

  “Why didn’t you say so?” he softly chided her.

  “This is part of my job, so I have to do it. Besides, you should know that the best way to overcome fears is to confront them.”

  “Even if you break your neck or kill yourself in the process?”

  “I’m being careful,” she avowed nervously.

  “Get down and let me do these high ones.”

  “That’s asking too much of you, partner.”

  “You didn’t ask; I offered. Better accept my help before I get mad and leave you to do it all.”

  Carrie Sue glanced down at him. He was standing a few rungs below where her feet were positioned, his face near her waist. Their gazes met and searched, as if each was looking for something special to be written in the other’s. She trembled. “Just hold the bucket within reach and I’ll hurry,” she told him, averting her gaze and going silent. His touch made her more jittery than the fearsome height!

  Soon, the window over the door was sparkling clean. They shifted the ladder to the back one, and finished it within thirty minutes. When Carrie Sue’s feet touched the floor, she realized she was shaking.

  So did T.J. Rogue. “You always been afraid of heights?” he asked.

  “For as long as I can remember. Every time I go to a loft or up high stairs, I don’t look down. It makes me feel so silly. I thought if I kept doing it, the fear would finally go away, but it hasn’t.”

  “Fear is a way of warning us to be extra careful about certain things. We usually mess up by trying too hard to overcome it, by being too reckless so we won’t look like fools or cowards.”

  “You aren’t afraid of anything or anyone, are you, T.J.?”

  “Only myself,” he replied too quickly.

/>   “What do you mean?” she probed.

  “A man like me is his own worst enemy, only he can hurt himself.”

  “How?” she persisted for a clearer answer.

  “Drop it, woman, or you’ll make me look and feel silly.”

  The lovely desperado knew it was best to let the matter pass. She smiled and nodded. As she started on the lower windows again, T.J. went to fetch more clean water. Had he meant that he was self-destructive? Weren’t all gunslingers that way? Surely a man who lived by his gun expected to die by the gun. She wondered if the ebon-haired man yearned to settle down. If so, where and how and when? If she was not mistaken, she sometimes read deep anguish in him. Somewhere in his past, or more than once, he had been hurt terribly.

  Carrie Sue felt sad and hungry, but not for food. She knew that T.J. was not the kind of man who opened up to many people. Yet, he seemed to be reaching out to her, even if he didn’t realize that fact. If she turned her back on him, wouldn’t he withdraw even more into himself? But what would happen if she didn’t…?

  While she labored and the smokey-eyed man observed, T.J. asked, “What happened to their last teacher?”

  Carrie Sue related part of what she knew about Helen Cooper. She wondered if she should reveal what Mrs. Thayer had said, and decided she shouldn’t expose those suspicions at this time.

  “You know more than you’re saying, Carolyn. What is it?”

  She glanced at him, astonished that he had read her so well. “What are you, T.J., a detective hired by Helen Cooper’s family to investigate her murder?”

  “Nope, but why did you say murder?” he jumped on her slip.

  She halted her chore to meet his direct gaze. She cautioned herself to choose her words wisely, as such an accusation could result in an investigation that called light to her. “I don’t know any facts about her tragic accident. I just think it sounds like a strange one.”

  “But you have a suspicion it wasn’t an accident. Why?”

  “Why are you so interested?”

  “Because you’ve taken her place here and I wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to you. I’ve seen you with Martin Ferris several times. There’s something about him I don’t like.”

  The redhead gaped at him, asking herself if his were the eyes she had felt spying on her. “You’ve seen us together?”

  “Couldn’t help it, woman; you’ve been with him nearly every day since our arrival,” he remarked, sounding a little jealous.

  Carrie Sue smiled in pleasure, assuming interest in her to be his motive for observing her secretly. T.J. had been given plenty of chances to take advantage of her, but he hadn’t, so she felt she could trust him. She needed to talk openly and honestly about this problem with someone who wasn’t involved. “You’re a man of keen instincts, T.J., and you’ve earned my trust.” She told him what had happened between her and Martin Ferris and revealed her ill feelings about the man, with the exception of Mrs. Thayer’s revealing words and her dark suspicions. “Do you think I’m being too suspicious of him?”

  “Not suspicious enough, if you ask me. I think you’ve sized him up right, and I think you should steer clear of him. He’s dangerous.”

  Carrie Sue frowned. “How do you propose I do that? He is one of my bosses, probably my only boss considering everyone yields to his wishes.”

  “Have you ever dealt with a man like him before?”

  Her expression said yes, but she replied, “What difference does that make? Aren’t all men and situations different in some way?”

  “Yep, but we learn from past experiences what works and what doesn’t. I’d say you should make him dislike you and avoid you.”

  “How?” she questioned seriously. “The best way for a woman to frighten off a man is to make it obvious she’s seeking marriage. Somehow I don’t think that ploy would work with Mr. Ferris.”

  “You don’t want to get married?”

  “Not to him! In fact, I haven’t met any man I’ve wanted to marry,” she added, then wished she hadn’t made such a deceitful reply with the truth staring her in the face.

  He ignored her last statement and suggested, “Look for his weaknesses, then work on them. A man can’t stand for a woman to belittle him in any way. Annoy the hell out of him and he’ll scat.”

  “That sounds good, but it hasn’t worked so far. He hears and sees only what pleases him. I’ve done everything but slap his face in public.”

  “It didn’t look that way Friday afternoon while you two were looking around. You both seemed to be having a good time.”

  “Well, I wasn’t!” she snapped angrily. Her periwinkle eyes squinted, her full lips tightened, and her cheeks flushed. “I don’t like to feel like I have a noose around my neck! He’s demanding, and persistent, and overbearing, and pushy! He’s lower than a snake’s belly! But he’s a powerful man here, so I can’t afford to offend him.”

  T.J. laughed heartily. “You do have quite a temper, Miss Starns, but don’t get mad at me. I’m not the one chasing you. You think you can handle him after I’m gone?”

  “I’ll have to, but it’ll be tough,” she answered, trying to master her wild temper. Her outburst was foolish. She snatched up a wet cloth and returned to her chore. She was being too talkative with this disarming stranger!

  “I don’t like him or trust him, Carolyn. I’ll be worried about you.”

  She halted and turned to face him again. There was something in his tone and expression which lassoed her heart. “I don’t either, T.J., but I’ll have to tolerate him. I can’t just pick up and leave like you do. A woman makes a bad drifter. You men can get jobs anywhere and any time, but that isn’t true for women. At least not the kind of jobs we want.” She began washing the window again, working the rag swiftly and roughly over the filthy panes to release her rising tension.

  T.J.’s hand covered hers and halted it. He felt her tremors, from anger and resentment and from his contact. “If you need anything, any help at all, you will send for me, won’t you?”

  Carrie Sue leaned her forehead against the window. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and beg him to carry her away from all her troubles, away from her loneliness and pain, and further away from her dark past. “Where? You move around all the time.”

  T.J.’s other hand reached out to stroke her hair, but then he stopped himself and let go of her hand. Her pull was nearly overpowering, and it alarmed him to feel such weakness. It was reckless to play with this fiery torch! He could get burned badly. “I’ll let you know where I can be reached in case of trouble here.”

  “T.J…,” she began, but forced herself to cease.

  He probed tenderly, “What is it, Carolyn?”

  “Have you ever wanted to stay in one place, to get your life settled, to be off the trail for good? No more running just ahead of real life? No more suffering and loneliness? No more killing? Just to find a place where you can be accepted and respected? Where there wouldn’t be any more cold, and dust, and rain, and hunger? A place where you can be free and happy?”

  Her understanding caused him to respond, “I was going to try it once.”

  She faced him. “What happened to stop you?”

  Lordy, she was beautiful and desirable! She made him feel hot and weak all over. Such empathy blazed within her eyes. She was so special, so precious. He could have this woman if things were different, but they weren’t. He couldn’t remain here, and he couldn’t carry her off. Bitterly he scoffed, “Fate. I’ve got a bad one, haven’t you heard? Men like me can’t settle down.” When he sighted warning moisture in her eyes, he flinched and said, “I need to go. I have a poker game set up.”

  Carrie Sue guessed the reason for his turn-around. She, too, was scared of the potent feelings which were passing between them, scared to surrender and scared to flee. From experience she knew it was rash to push a man or to respond to him falsely. There was no future with a gunslinger who drifted. “Thanks for the help, both times.”

  He
inhaled deeply, then slowly released the spent air. He grabbed his hat and holster off the bench. “Anytime, Miss Starns.”

  As he strapped on his weapons, she teased to lighten his parting mood, “You always so formal with your past partners?”

  He grinned and winked. “See you around, Carolyn.”

  “I hope so. You will let me know before you leave town?”

  From the steps, he glanced back at her. “It’s a promise.”

  Chapter Six

  Carrie Sue worked until five o’clock. By that time, she was exhausted and soaked with perspiration. She left her supplies, except for the water pails, at the school and returned to the boarding house.

  Mrs. Thayer met her at the back door with a genial smile. “I saw you coming, Carolyn, so I sent Maria to fill the tub for you. You can’t clean up a mess like that in one day. I bet you’re bone tired.”

  The redhead leaned against the door jamb for a few minutes, hating to challenge those steps with her aching legs. “I am, but I got a lot of work done. I think I can finish most of it tomorrow. That place was covered in dirt.”

  “Now you are,” the woman teased. “Who was that handsome gent helping you today? I don’t recall seeing him around town.”

  Carrie Sue told the woman who T.J. was and how they met.

  Excitement and intrigue filled the woman’s eyes and voice. “There’s a man who knows how to defend himself and protect his woman.”

  Carrie Sue laughed. “I’m not his woman, Mrs. Thayer. This is the first time I’ve seen him since our adventures together.”

  “Do you want to be?” the graying haired woman asked.