Kiss Of The Night Wind

by Taylor, Janelle

  Years ago when Carrie Sue learned of their plans to destroy the Hardings, she had demanded to help seek justice and vengeance. Kale had warned both they must be careful and that they needed to know more about Harding’s business and schedule. Since the villainous bastard had offered her a job several times, she had taken it to be the spy whom they needed. When Harding figured out their plot and gave her false information to entrap them, their task had fallen apart, but the gang had gotten away without deaths or injuries. After Harding confronted her, she had managed to use her wits and skills to flee the beast. Ever since that day, she had ridden with them off and on.

  Darby hadn’t been too worried about Quade’s threats because Quade wanted her too badly to endanger her; his refusal to give out her description over the years had proven it. Yet, the harassment of Quade had been halted to protect her, something which still riled Darby.

  Kale Rushton knew Quade Harding would never give up trying to possess Carrie Sue Stover. Quade was like a ferocious badger with his teeth locked into a delicious piece of meat; he would hang on until he wore her down and devoured her, unless he was killed.

  Kale was worried about her return to them tonight. Things had gotten hot for them all over the territory. That was the reason why they had been unable to make it into Oklahoma and why Darby had suggested this distant place for resting and keeping out of sight for a while. Nowadays, they were chased everywhere they went by wild posses and bounty hunters and eager lawmen. Yet, this far from central Texas where they usually operated, they were safe in this Apache place.

  The ruggedly handsome bandit glanced at the sleeping woman. Evidently something had gone wrong in Tucson because she had been determined never to ride with the gang again. Kale decided to persuade Darby to get her plenty of money so she could get further away from the hazardous West. Maybe next time she could find success.

  As dawn approached, Kale nudged Carrie Sue’s shoulder and awakened her. Softly he murmured, “Chica, it’s time to stir your blood and clear your head before Griff comes to take over.”

  The drowsy redhead sat up and flexed her sore body. She smiled and said, “I’m getting too old and stiff for this kind of life, amigo. I’m going around the bend to take a quick bath and change clothes.” She gathered her things and left him sitting there.

  When she returned, she was clad in the Mexican skirt, white blouse over a camisole, and sandals. Her tawny red hair was flowing about her shoulders. She greeted Kale with a bright smile. She looked rested, fresh as the pleasant summer morning which surrounded them.

  “I’m starved, but food needs to wait. I trust you most of all, Kale, so please convince Darby to do what’s best for all of us when you hear my news later. First, I need to speak with him privately. Can you fetch him for me and keep the others in camp?”

  Kale nodded. “The boys will be stirring soon. I see smoke which means coffee. I’ll send some to you with Darby. Watch the entrance for me.” Kale headed toward camp at a steady run which would take him ten minutes in his well-honed condition.

  She guessed accurately, for Darby came into sight within fifteen minutes, riding bareback. In his excitement, he hadn’t even buttoned his shirt or donned his boots. He leapt off the horse and embraced her.

  He held her away from him and studied her with affection and intrigue. His eyes were soft like warmed chocolate and sparkled like the sun-lit stream nearby. A broad smile revealed white teeth and deep grooves at the sides of his mouth. His face was perfectly shaped, as were his features. Yes, she concluded in love and pride, he could stop a woman’s heart or cause her to stare and stumble.

  “What are you doing here, Sis?” he asked, eagerness brightening his dark eyes even more than before. “I thought Kale was teasing me.”

  Carrie Sue’s fingers combed through his mussed dark auburn hair which was shaggy on the sides, but didn’t conceal his ears. Sideburns crept to his lobes and brought attention to his strong jawline. The nape curled boyishly at his collar and she playfully fluffed that area. “You need a haircut, Darby Stover, and a shave,” she added merrily as her hand teased over two day’s growth of dark whiskers.

  “Surely you didn’t come here to make sure I’m taking care of myself. How did you find us? Why are you here?”

  “Did Curly James pass through here recently?” she asked.

  Darby sent her an odd look. “Yep, why?”

  “On the eighteenth?” she probed.

  “Yep, he had business in Tucson. He was coming back to join up with us again for the next few jobs. I’ll need some extra men ‘cause I’m planning to hit some big targets. I know he was hard to control, but he promised no trouble or killing,” Darby asserted when she frowned.

  “Did you tell him I was in Tucson?”

  “No way, Sis. I was hoping he’d miss you. What’s going on?”

  “What business did he have in Tucson?”

  “Don’t know. Give, Sis,” he demanded, getting impatient. “All Kale told me was you arrived late and slept here.”

  Carrie Sue sat down on her bedroll and patted the area next to her to indicate he was to sit there. “We need to have a serious talk, big brother. We’ve got lots of trouble.” She told Darby about running into Curly James on the street and what passed between them, letting him know that’s how she located him. When she related news of the showdown with T.J. Rogue, her brother’s eyes widened in astonishment.

  “Curly challenged Rogue? Is he crazy?” Darby scoffed.

  “Not anymore. Rogue had him on the ground before his pistol cleared his holster. Ever met him?” she inquired.

  “Met him, no, but heard plenty about him. He’s taken down more gunslingers than I’ve met, killed more men than a dog has fleas. So, what are you doing here? Did Curly cause trouble for you?”

  “Not really, but I didn’t trust him to keep his promise to me. Not with my new poster out. It has an accurate picture of me, Darby. I found out just in time to get out of town before I was arrested. The Hardings have upped our rewards to ten thousand each, and five each on the boys. Add that to the law’s offer of sixteen, and the gang is worth sixty-six thousand. That makes us real tempting to everyone, big brother. I’ve no doubt Curly would have collected on mine if Rogue hadn’t killed him.”

  “Damn that Quade Harding! I didn’t think he’d ever do this to you! Wasn’t killing Papa and Mama and stealing our ranch enough for the bastard? I know he wants you badly, Sis, but this can get you killed.”

  Hurriedly, Carrie Sue went over her experiences in Tucson and her problem with Martin Ferris. Then, she related her many rescues and adventures with T.J. Rogue, omitting their love affair. She told him why T.J. killed Curly and about T.J.’s helping her flee Tucson. She went over her plights on the trail and admitted, “I deserted him in El Paso, but I feel awful about deceiving him after all he’s done for me. I didn’t want to get him into trouble by tying in with us.” She did not tell her brother about her suspicions of T.J., in case the two men ever met. She didn’t want Darby gunning down her lover if he wasn’t guilty, and there was a slight chance he wasn’t.

  Darby eyed her intently. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  Carrie Sue licked her lips and nodded. “Crazy, isn’t it?” she jested.

  Darby scowled, but replied, “Not after what he’s done for you. He’s got quite a reputation, but he isn’t an outlaw.”

  “I know, but he was willing to do anything to help me.”

  “That means he probably loves you, too. What about Kadry? He loves you and wants to marry you. This’ll bust him up badly.”

  “You know I don’t love Kadry. I’ve tried to tell both of you that many times. Love isn’t something you force, big brother; it either happens between two people or it doesn’t. It just isn’t there for Kadry. Besides, I’m leaving again to give it another try farther away. I can’t see Kadry as a husband, father, and rancher.”

  “What about Rogue? Do you see him that way?” Darby asked.

  “I d
on’t know, but I’ll let him know where I am once I get settled.”

  “You trust him that much?”

  “Yes. And it won’t endanger you if I’m far away when I contact him. I had to see you in person, Darby. I had to let you know I’m all right in case the law tries to trick you by saying I’ve been captured. Once I leave, don’t believe any stories in the newspapers.” She reached for her saddlebag and withdrew the articles. “Read these and the dates.”

  “What the hell?” Darby exploded in disbelief as he scanned the reports of his crimes on May twenty-second, twenty-fifth, thirtieth and June third. “I wasn’t anywhere near those places! This isn’t the first time we’ve been accused of the wrong crimes!”

  Carrie Sue urged, “You have to give it up, big brother. It’s too dangerous out there. Either the law is boxing you in with lies, or trying to lure me into a trap, or some gang is playing yours. If you’re being framed, it has to be Quade Harding, with Curry’s help.”

  “Curly’s help?” he echoed, baffled.

  She reasoned, “How else did this other gang know you were out of touch so they could operate freely as the Stover Gang? I knew you weren’t responsible, so I had to warn you. I know your style and I know you, Darby Stover. You don’t go around killing people on every job or telling your victims they’ve been taken by the Stover Gang. Besides, Curly worked for Quade in the past. He and two men barbwired T.J. to a tree to die slowly for Quade; that’s why T.J. killed Curly and wants to go after Quade. We have a mutual enemy.”

  “You believed that tale? Rogue getting ambushed by Curly and his boys? From what I hear, he’s the best gunman around; you don’t snare a man like Rogue easily.”

  “I saw the scars, and he told me that story before he knew who I was. I’m certain it’s true, Darby.”

  “Or you want to believe it is ‘cause of how you feel about him.”

  Carrie Sue related the incident as T.J. had told her. “When Curly saw T.J., he went white. He did that because he recognized him as the man he’d hired out to kill for Quade.” She moved closer to her brother and clasped his hand in hers. She entreated, “Please, let’s ride for Montana while it’s safe. We can buy a ranch there and be happy and free. This other gang has stirred up everyone against you, and your large reward is tempting even for friends. Ten thousand dollars in gold, Darby, that’s more than most of our takes. Give it up, please.”

  Darby jumped up to pace, agitated by this unexpected turn in events. He argued sullenly, “We don’t have enough money for a ranch or anything else, Sis. Give it up to do what? Live how? Like dirt farmers or poor cowpunchers? We’d never make enough to have any kind of decent life. Always looking over our shoulders? Never able to relax or feel safe? I don’t hanker to be strung up to a cottonwood and have my innards dump themselves down my legs while I dangle on that tree and people gape and joke and have a good time like they was at a Sunday picnic.”

  He continued at her silence, “They’d never put me in jail and, if they did, I couldn’t stand being locked up forever. Our faces are known everywhere, and Harding won’t quit hiring detectives and bounty hunters until he has our bodies! It’s too late to turn back, Sis. But I want you out of this mess for keeps. I’m going to get you plenty of money so you can get away. Alone, you stand a chance of making it. I don’t want you getting killed and I don’t want you around when that last bullet strikes me down.”

  “Don’t say that, Darby!” she shrieked at him.

  “It’s coming one day, Sis; it can’t be stopped. Accept it and get out while you still have a chance to survive and start over. You deserve a home and a family. You ought to have them by now. If Rogue is the man you want, find him and convince him to join you. I’ll stake you two,” he vowed.

  Carrie Sue tried another angle. “What if Curly told Quade where you’re hiding? If Quade’s your framer, he won’t come here or send anyone after you while he’s blackening your name. But if he isn’t, he could be on his way here now, with a large posse. Curly didn’t have time to betray me, so Quade can’t know where I was.”

  Refreshing that treachery in his mind, Darby cursed, “Damn that bastard Curly! If Rogue hadn’t killed him, I would! He’s fooled me twice, and I don’t fool easy! Looks like Harding’s given up on catching you first and wants you dead if he can’t have you.”

  She ventured, “Or he hopes I’ll figure out his ruse and rush into his arms and save you and myself.”

  “You think that’s his motive?” Darby asked.

  “I don’t know, big brother. Too much has happened lately and my wits aren’t clear. What else could he want from this ruse? If he’s the one behind it,” she added, but somehow knew he was.

  “Let’s get back to camp and talk with the boys. We’ll need to pull out in the morning. Just so there won’t be any trouble with Kadry, let’s keep quiet about this romance with Rogue.”

  “How did you guess the truth?” she teased.

  “I’ve always been able to read you, Sis, so don’t start keeping secrets from me. How far has this romance gone?” he asked gravely.

  Carrie Sue lowered her lashes a moment. “I’m a grown woman, big brother; I’m twenty-four and that’s private.”

  “That far, huh? Oh, well, I can’t say much. I’ve had me plenty of women and I didn’t love any of them. At least you love this man.”

  “No more than I love you, Darby Stover.”

  The outlaw leader helped her to her feet and hugged her tightly. “I got you into this mess, Sis, and I’ll get you out. Soon, I promise.” He eyed the poster and clipping about her. “With these around, you’re in big danger, Sis. You’ll have to stick with us until I get you away.”

  They gathered her things and rode to the cabin. It was a crude structure made of oak logs from the area. There was no stove, so all cooking was done outside, near the stream. The cabin backed up to steep rocks, and trails led off to its right and left and traveled into the interior of the mountains. From there other trails snaked into New Mexico and into western Texas, providing many escape routes.

  Carrie Sue saw the boys sitting around the campfire drinking coffee. As they approached, all except Kale came to greet her.

  Tyler Parnell, a simple man of thirty with light brown hair and hazel eyes, helped her down and said in a thick Arkansas accent, “Shore good ta have ya back, Miss Carrie Sue. We done missed ya.”

  She smelled the ever present hint of whiskey on Tyler, who towered over her at six-feet-two inches. When he hugged her, his short beard and wiry mustache scratched her cheek. She glanced at his first cousin Walt Vinson who was a man of thirty with medium brown hair, hazel eyes, a shorter beard but softer mustache, and about Tyler’s height. She smiled and nodded hello. As always, those two men reminded her of brothers because they looked and talked so much alike with their rough country tongues. Walt fingered his gunbutts and nodded in return. Neither had changed their habits she realized.

  John “Griff” Griffin shook her hand energetically and said, “Yes’m, good ta have you back, Missy Stover. It dun been quiet without you.”

  “Thank you, Griff,” she remarked to the black man with a cleanly shaven jawline and a long black mustache. Griff was thirty-one, the oldest of the group. His obsidian eyes sparkled when he grinned. He jammed a stick in his mouth and began chewing on it, as always.

  Dillon Holmes grabbed her and hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, but only because she turned her head when he boldly went for her mouth. As usual, he smelled of aromatic cigarillos from Mexico. At six feet, the twenty-nine-year-old man had dark brown hair and intensely green eyes. His hair was straight and, from a side part, fell across his forehead in a haphazard manner. “Hello, Dillon.”

  “You’re one sight for sore eyes, Carrie Sue,” he murmured in his heavy southern drawl from Mississippi. “Glad you’re home again.”

  Kadry Sams parted the group with his six-one frame. His sky blue eyes trailed over her leisurely. He habitually fingercombed his wavy hair which was a mixture of d
ark and sunny blond. At twenty-eight, Kadry Sams was a handsome man with a splendid physique. She dreaded the confrontation, but smiled genially and said, “Hello, Kadry.”

  “Ye been gone tae long, me beautiful lass,” he murmured with a Scottish burr. He captured a lock of her hair and teased it under his nose. “I been awaitin’ ye return. Canna git ye anything?”

  “Coffee, please,” she replied.

  “Ye wish is filled, me bonny lass. Gie me ae moment. ’Tis ae fine day fer ye tae return home. I’ve missed ye.” He went for her coffee.

  Walt asked, “Whatcha doin’ back, Miss Carrie Sue?”

  “Did dat Tucson turn out a bad place?” Griff added.

  “Let her catch her breath, boys,” Dillon drawled.

  While Carrie Sue sipped the hot liquid, Darby related the news to his gang, who were just as shocked and vexed as her brother was, except for Kadry Sams whose blue eyes burned with jealousy.

  Kadry hinted, “Sae, ye met tha famous Rogue, did ye?”

  “I wouldn’t be here now if he hadn’t saved my life a few times,” she replied, bravely looking at the blond while speaking.

  “Why dinna ye bring him along?” Kadry asked, fingering his hair.

  “Why should I?” she asked in a flippant tone.

  Kadry eyed her suspiciously and shrugged. “Nae reason.”

  “What’ll we do, boss?” Tyler asked.

  “I don’t lack nobody playin’ usins,” Griff said.

  “Naw, me neither,” Walt added.

  Dillon’s mysterious green eyes remained locked on Carrie Sue as if he weren’t listening to the important conversation. Kadry nudged him, and glared when Dillon glanced his way. Dillon grinned and shrugged. Carrie Sue realized with annoyance that a new challenge for her had been given and accepted. Nothing and no one had changed. She frowned at both men, then returned her attention to her brother.