Kiss Of The Night Wind

by Taylor, Janelle

  Before he even glanced at it, T.J. had a terrible feeling in his gut. Carolyn had been on a stage robbed by the Stover Gang, a sole survivor, a flaming redhead with violet-blue eyes. She had appeared the same time the gang had dropped from sight. Everything about her flashed through his mind at lightning speed. He stared at the beautiful face of Carrie Sue Stover, and grimaced. It all made sense now.

  T.J. reflected on what he knew about the mysterious outlaw. The early reports had listed a flaming haired female who rode with the gang but rarely participated in their crimes. Many had assumed she was one of the bandit’s sweethearts or a female who lived with and worked for all of them. Later, she had ridden with them all the time, but always hung back, probably to avoid being recognized. She was an expert shot and rider—he knew from witnessing her skills. Yet, she seemed so gentle, such a lady, when she wasn’t a little spitfire! She had almost fooled him. Yet, there was something about her which didn’t add up, but she was one of them. She was one of Arabella’s, Marie’s, and Jacob’s killers. He was heading after that notorious gang. The time had come and Carrie Sue, guilty or not, was in his path.

  T.J. kept staring into those exquisite eyes as he reminded himself of who and what she was, allowing his anger to mount so he could carry out his unpleasant task. “I’ll get on their trail first thing in the morning, Joe. Tell McNelly this case is mine, all mine.”

  The Ranger looked at the sullen man and said, “They’re laying low right now. Until they surface again, we can’t get a lead on them.”

  “Yes, I can, through her,” T.J. replied moodily.

  “But how can we locate her?”

  T.J. flung the poster on the bed. “I know just where to find her. She’s pretending to be Miss Carolyn Starns, the new schoolmarm here. T.J. Rogue will help her escape to her brother, then I’ll get them all. I have to do this alone, Joe. Do me a favor and see if you can get her posters destroyed. I’d like to carry out this mission without looking over my shoulder for bounty hunters and wild posses.”

  “She’s the woman you telegraphed Captain McNelly about? This Carolyn Starns is actually Carrie Sue Stover?” he asked incredulously, and T.J. nodded. “She’s a reckless one to live in the open like this.”

  “It wasn’t reckless until this sketch was released. It’s my guess they killed Miss Starns, and Darby’s sister took her place. I’m going to dupe her into leading me to his gang. She could be here to wait for her brother and his men to arrive, could be staking out the town. She knows about Ferris’s gold shipment and she’s gotten familiar with Tucson. This could be their next target and she’s the scout.”

  “It’s a clever plan using her like that,” Joe murmured.

  “That Darby’s a real snake. I should have known she wasn’t what she claimed to be; she acted too wary and strange. Lordy, she can be mighty convincing. I’ll have to keep a sharp eye on her.”

  “Can you trust her, Thad? She could lead you into a trap.”

  “Once she sees that poster, she’ll have to trust me and that’s all that counts. I want the Stover Gang dead.”

  “I’ll have to get permission to recall her posters. I can say they were a mistake. I’ll handle it tomorrow. Keep in touch if you can.”

  After the men made further plans, Ranger Collins sneaked from T.J.’s room. The ebon-haired man threw himself on the bed. Fury surged through him. He berated himself for getting involved with Carrie Sue Stover. He felt as if she had betrayed him. He loved her and wanted her, but that was impossible now. “Lord help you for doing this to me, woman.”

  The heartsick lawman seized the wanted poster and stared at the lovely image printed there. Was it possible she had left the gang and was trying to begin a new life? Was that why she had said they were too different to make a go of a future together? She had let down her guard for him, but why? He remembered how hard she had worked at the school and how she had tried to avoid Martin Ferris. If she was scouting Ferris out, she wouldn’t be spurning him. She had been studying books and planning lessons as if she honestly intended to teach there. Maybe something in the past had compelled her into a life of crime which she didn’t want. Maybe she had gotten entrapped by her brother’s deeds. Maybe she really was trying to escape her old life.

  “If you’re for real, Carrie Sue Stover, I’m sorry because I need you to lead me to the others. This time, I’ll be the one betraying you.”

  T.J. realized the danger he would be placing her in on the trail, but she wouldn’t be any safer here with those posters around. He was thrice a lawman. Could he let her slip through his fingers after he had the gang in sight? Could he capture her and send her to prison, knowing what it would be like for her or any woman? Could he watch her hang? What else could he do? His hands were tied and her fate was marked because she was an outlaw, a member of the gang he had sworn to destroy. This wasn’t a mistake and she wasn’t working undercover. She was just as guilty and wanted as they were, and he had to do his job.

  Carrie Sue returned to her room after breakfast to find T.J. waiting for her. “I thought you would be gone by now,” she said, her gaze softening as it roamed his features. She walked toward him and halted. She knew something was wrong because he was oddly quiet and seemed to be in deep thought. Maybe he wanted and needed to leave town, but couldn’t because of her. An air of uncertainty exuded from him. Her fingers touched his taut lips as she asked, “Are you sure you can’t stay in Tucson a while longer? I’m not afraid of what Martin Ferris will do to me after you leave. I want you, T. J., at least a while longer. I’m not pressing for a commitment. I’m just afraid we’ll never see each other again after you leave. There’s so much I wish I could share with you, but I can’t. If only we were other people,” she murmured sadly.

  T.J. clasped her hand in his and lowered it. This choice was hellish for him, especially after her stirring words. He inhaled deeply as if making a difficult decision, then said, “Get some things packed, Carrie. You’re leaving here with me.”

  She paled and trembled. Her misty gaze locked on his piercing stare. He was armed, and she wasn’t. He had the advantage, as she hadn’t suspected treachery from him. Her energy and joy drained away swiftly. “So,” she murmured, “you are a bounty hunter and you know who I am. I should have known better than to trust you or any man. Every time I do, I get into more trouble. Damn you.”

  Her gaze and expression sent pangs of guilt and anguish through him. “No, Carrie, I’m not a bounty hunter. But they’ll be on your trail soon if you don’t get out of here with me.” He unfolded the poster and held it before her face. He watched her face pale even more and her eyes enlarge with panic. “Quade Harding released your real description. It says so at the bottom. When the mail came in, I was at the sheriff’s office to sign papers to collect the reward on Curly James. Myers had to fetch my payment from the bank. While he was gone, I got nosey and opened an envelope from Texas because I always like to know what’s going on there. The Sheriffs supposed to print up lots of these and post them. I stole it, so he doesn’t know about you yet. He will soon, so you won’t be safe here anymore.”

  “If those posters are out everywhere, I won’t ever be safe again. Dammit!” she scoffed bitterly. “I thought it was over this time. Everything was working out fine for a change, except for Martin Ferris. Why can’t they just let me disappear and start over? If they’d leave me alone, I wouldn’t cause them any more trouble! I should have known Quade would pull this trick when he got impatient. I was stupid to think this ruse would work. I just wanted out so badly. Heavens, ten thousand dollars in gold. That’ll be the end of me.”

  “I don’t want to see you hurt, Carrie. I don’t know what happened back in Texas to create your troubles, but they can get you shot or hanged before you can straighten them out. You have to get out of here and lay low for a while. And you need someone you can trust to guard your pretty backside. I’m more than willing,” he offered.

  “You can’t help me, T.J.—no one can. I’m in too deep. Merci
ful Heavens, if I could go back to ‘69 and take a different trail, I would. I guess you realize this is what I couldn’t share with you, T.J. This is why I was so edgy half the time. I have to get moving, fast.”

  “You don’t stand a chance traveling alone, woman. I’m going with you and I won’t take any lip from a cornered wildcat. I mean it.”

  “You don’t understand what you’d be getting yourself into! I’m an outlaw. I’m wanted in four states. I have more charges against me than a dog has ticks! That bastard Quade Harding is responsible for everything that’s happened to me. I should have killed him long ago, and his cold-blooded father. He’ll never leave me alone.”

  T.J. had to know why his foes were so hot on this girl’s trail. “Why do the Hardings want you so badly? Alive?” he asked. “That’s a pretty big reward and a crazy demand. Where did he get your sketch?”

  Carrie Sue met his gaze and told him the truth. “Why are you willing to help me escape? You don’t want to become a wanted man.”

  “You know why I have to help you, Carrie,” he replied tenderly, his hand lifting to caress her anger-flushed cheek.

  She was scared; she was wary; she was emotionally torn between a loving faith and an instinctive mistrust. “What about my big reward?”

  He captured her forearms and shook her lightly. “Listen to me good, woman! If I wanted money that badly, I would have stolen Ferris’s gold. I took the rewards for those varmints I killed because it would have been silly not to, but I could never sell you to the law like a piece of prized meat. Surely you’ve been around me long enough to know you can trust me. I’ve been more open and honest with you than anyone else in my life. And it scared the hell out of me! Lordy, Carrie, I know what jails and prisons are like; I can’t let you get caught.”

  His sincere words and gaze worked; they duped her. “Don’t you understand, T.J.? If you’re caught with me, you’ll be in as much trouble as I am. I can’t let you mess up your life for me.”

  He assumed his next cunning question was a safe one to ask. “All I have to know is how did you get Carolyn Starns’s identity? I have to hear you say you didn’t kill an innocent woman for a new life.”

  Carrie Sue inhaled deeply, fighting back unusual tears. She explained about the coach accident and her impulsive action. “I could have been a good teacher, honestly. It was like I was being given a chance to break free from the gang, and I took it. But Quade has tired of his cruel games and released my sketch. What now?” she murmured to herself. “They’ll be looking for me everywhere.”

  T.J. knew she might get suspicious of him if he suggested taking her to Darby for protection. “We’ll figure something out later. Right now, we need to get out of Tucson, fast. Get packed, woman. We’re wasting valuable time arguing. You’re stuck with me.”

  “I can’t let you ruin your life,” she protested weakly, needing him.

  “It’s my life, what there is of it. If anything happened to you, it would be my fault. Like it or not, I’m going to help you get through this. Now, get in there and get ready to leave. Move it, woman!” Carrie Sue rushed into the bedroom to follow his order. She changed into a riding skirt, boots, and a cotton shirt. T.J. joined her. She retrieved her weapons from the hiding place in her closet and her supplies from the trunk, on which T.J. was now sitting and watching her.

  She stuffed clothes into a small satchel. Suddenly a voice spoke to her from outside the bedroom door, inside the front room.

  “I’m Charlie Shibell, Sheriff of Pima County. I’m here to arrest you, Miss Stover. Stay clear of those guns,” Joe Collins warned. “I saw you in town the other day. When I got this poster, I remembered you. I want to get you out of Tucson and into my jail before bounty hunters see those new posters and try to take you away from me.”

  T.J. motioned to her to keep silent about his presence in the corner. When the Ranger entered the room, T.J. hit him over the head with his gunbutt, as planned. Joe had glanced his way, as planned. “He saw me. Let’s get out of here. We’re in this together now.”

  “He isn’t dead, is he?” she asked frantically. “I don’t want you to kill anyone because of me, T.J., please. I’d rather be jailed or hanged than make you an outlaw.”

  T.J. checked his friend, and wished some of her words and looks weren’t affecting him so strongly. “Nope, just out cold and will be for some time. Let’s ride, woman. I’ll get the horses saddled.”

  “No,” she protested. “You sneak out of here and meet me at the southeast edge of town. I’ll take the backstreets from here and you leave from the livery stable. I don’t want us seen riding out together. If that sheriff dies, I don’t want anyone else knowing about your help. If he doesn’t, it’s your word against his, later. Don’t act rashly. I don’t want you on the run. It’s a terrible existence.”

  He reasoned, “What if you run into Martin Ferris? He’ll get suspicious and try to stop you.”

  “I’ll handle him. I’ll meet you on the road we came in on by stage, five miles beyond the last house.”

  He realized he couldn’t argue with her. “I have supplies at the livery stable with Nighthawk. Be quick and be careful. If you try to protect me by not showing up, I’ll track you down. Until you’re safe, you need me to guard your back and I fully intend to do a good job.”

  “I’ll be there soon. Now get out of here, Mr. Rogue.”

  After T.J. left, Carrie Sue checked the sheriff to make sure he was alive. She took the poster from Joe’s pocket and stuffed it inside her satchel. She wrote Mrs. Thayer a quick note telling the woman how much she appreciated everything she’d done for her and how much she would miss her new friend. She said she was in trouble and had to leave town in a hurry, and that the woman would understand why very soon. She revealed that she had been trying to start a new life here in Tucson, but her wicked past was preventing it. She left the note on the desk, gathered her things, and sneaked out the back door. After saddling the pinto, she rode northward out of Tucson along the backstreets, even though the stage had entered town from the southeast.

  Chapter Ten

  Carrie Sue hadn’t ridden far before she realized she was being followed. The redhead pulled out her fieldglasses and stared at the rider trailing her. It was T.J., and she sighed in relief. She waved to him to let him know she had sighted him, and she waited for him to join her.

  She laughed and accused, “You don’t trust me, Mr. Rogue? You’re supposed to be on the other side of town waiting for me. You’ve ruined my brilliant strategy. I wanted to be seen leaving town northward, alone. If anyone saw you, they’ll know you’re with me.”

  He frowned at his bad decision, then grinned. “Don’t worry; they’ll think I was on to your ruse and was dogging you for capture. I was worried about you. I was scared you’d skip out on me to protect me.”

  Now that they were out of Tucson and could easily make a run for it, her tension had lessened. She felt safer in a saddle, out in the open, away from strangers, and heavily armed. She was with her love and he was determined to protect her and help her, to be with her. If his feelings were as strong for her as hers were for him, perhaps they could escape and make a future together. She would give him a few days to prove his love and commitment, then she would suggest her stirring plan. She merrily admitted, “The thought crossed my mind, partner, but I remembered your threat to hunt me down. I certainly don’t want to get on T.J. Rogue’s bad side. I have enough troubles as it is.”

  He liked seeing her relaxed and confident. He teased, “I’m glad you decided not to dupe me, woman. I would hate to think I clobbered that sheriff and got into real trouble for no good reason.”

  “You still have time to back out. Maybe he didn’t recognize you.”

  “He knows me all right. We had a foul disagreement one night in a saloon. If I recall him accurately, he won’t tell anybody about us too soon. He’ll want to track us down so he can say he captured the Texas Flame and the notorious Rogue. And he won’t want anybody to know we skunke
d him.”

  She sent him a playful grin. “At least we have male pride working on our side. Let’s go before he comes to. I was going to tie him up, but I might need my rope for something else.”

  T.J. was glad she hadn’t bound and gagged Joe Collins because that would be hard for the Ranger to explain. “Where to, Carrie?”

  “I’m called Carrie Sue, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s ride for New Mexico. It’s fairly secluded and I know some places there we can hide.”

  “As long as we’re partners, it sounds fine to me.”

  They exchanged smiles and headed across country to avoid the public road south of their location. They traveled for hours through wild fields of saguaro cactus and into the Rincon Mountain range. They steadily pushed onward until the sun seemingly burned into their skulls and dampened their clothes. When they found a couple of taller trees, they dismounted and relaxed in the shade. While Carrie Sue strolled around loosening up her stiff muscles, T.J. poured water from one canteen into his hat and let the thirsty horses drink.

  “I can tell I’ve been out of the saddle for weeks,” she remarked, rubbing her lower back and flexing her shoulders. Her hair was twisted and tucked beneath her hat to keep her cooler. She sipped water from a second canteen and handed it to her handsome partner.

  He took several deep swallows, then pushed up his hat with his thumb. “I wonder what Ferris will say and do when he finds you gone.”

  Carrie Sue laughed and retorted, “You mean when he discovers who I really am. Can’t you imagine his face when he sees my wanted poster? He’ll probably be relieved he didn’t try to attack me.”