by Bobbi Smith
"Will you pay for the damage you've caused in the lives of the countless women and children who were victimized by the evils of drink?" one of the other women cried.
Jack paid no attention to the others. He was single-minded as he stalked his prey. He scowled blackly as he watched Amanda lift the axe again and aim for what looked like the last full bottle of whiskey in the bar. He wasn't about to let it go the way of the others. In one deft move, Jack saved the liquor from certain extinction by snaring her around the waist and jerking her back against him. He twisted the weapon out of her grip.
"What are you doing! Unhand me, you fiend!" Amanda cried out in alarm as she found herself pinned against a hard male body in an unyielding grip. She'd been concentrating so hard on breaking whiskey bottles that she hadn't paid attention to what was going on around her. She didn't know who this man was, and she had no intention of suffering his abuse. "Let me go!"
"Shut up, you little fool!" he ground out. He tossed her axe aside in disgust and started toward the door, dragging her along with him.
"How dare you!" She was fighting tooth and nail to free herself, but it proved impossible. Fear filled her. His hold on her was iron, his strength overpowering.
Jack had been irritated to start with, and his exasperation grew as she continued to struggle, hampering his attempt to get her out of the bar before the law came. Time was of the essence, so he gave up the effort to treat her like a lady and did the simplest, most effective thing. He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. She went still, and he smiled grimly. He might have knocked the wind out of her, but at least he'd shut her up for a little while.
The other women were so busy wrecking The Palace that they didn't react immediately to the sight of Amanda being carried bodily away by the tall stranger. By the time they realized what had happened, Jack was already disappearing out the door with her.
"Wait!"
"Amanda!"
They rushed to follow, emerging from the saloon just in time to see him put Amanda in a waiting hired carriage, yell something up to the driver and climb in after her. The other women ran toward them, fearing something terrible was going to happen to Amanda.
"Go!" Jack shouted to the driver as he slammed the door behind him.
The temperance ladies had almost reached the carriage when the vehicle rumbled off. They would have given chase, but the police arrived right then and complete pandemonium broke out.
Jack was feeling quite satisfied with himself as he sat back on the carriage seat. Dan would be pleased that he'd gotten his daughter out of there just in time. He started to relax, believing the worst was over. He had finally found her. Now, all he had to do was get her home to West Texas.
Leaning back, Jack folded his arms over his chest. He glanced across the carriage at Dan's daughter and tried not to smile. She was a pretty young woman, but he wondered if his friend knew what a spitfire she was. It would be interesting to see what kind of sparks flew once he got her home to her daddy and he found out what she'd been doing in Philadelphia.
Amanda could feel her kidnapper's gaze upon her and was terrified. She had to escape this man! She'd never seen him before in her life and could only imagine what he wanted with her. She studied him from beneath lowered lashes as she huddled on the opposite side of the coach. He was a big man, and he was obviously strong. How else could he have carried her from the bar with so little effort? His very presence dominated the carriage, and she knew he was a man to be reckoned with.
Had she been more calm, Amanda might have noticed that her captor was wearing a Stetson, a rather uncommon sight in Philadelphia. Right then, though, she was not being logical. She was struggling not to panic. She had to keep her nerve. This was no time to turn into a sniveling coward.
Amanda began to tremble as she realized how helpless she'd been against this man once he'd taken her axe away from her. But afraid or not, she had to save herself. Nobody else was going to do it! She might be unarmed, but she could use her wits and outsmart him—whoever he was.
Without a thought, she made a grab for the carriage door. If she moved quickly enough, she could throw herself from the vehicle. She might get a few bumps and bruises, but nothing she wouldn't get over, and at least she'd be free of him. She threw the door wide, ready to reclaim her freedom at whatever cost.
Jack had just begun to relax when Amanda suddenly opened the door and tried to jump out. With no thought of anything but saving her, he reacted instinctively. He grabbed Amanda just in time and hauled her back onto his lap in a bone-jarring move.
"Idiot!" he snarled, thinking how close she'd come to possibly killing herself.
"You animal!" Amanda was not used to being thwarted. She swung out at him with all her might. She was no weakling. Her slap was hard and caught him fully on the cheek.
Moments before, Jack's mood had almost been light-hearted, but not anymore. He was furious. He crushed her against him. When she would have swung at him again, he caught her wrist in an almost bruising grip.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Let me out of this carriage! How dare you take me against my will?" she demanded, her eyes ablaze with anger. "Do you know what they do to kidnappers? You could be hanged! You could be shot! You have no right—"
"I have every right!" Jack growled in a tone that would have cowed any man.
But Amanda was not any man, and she was past being afraid. "I've never seen you before in my life! You just walked right into that bar and abducted me! There were witnesses! You're going to be arrested and—"
"Your father gave me the right," he said, cutting her off.
"My father?" She went suddenly still, blinking as she really looked at him for the first time. Under other circumstances, she might have found him attractive, but at that moment she saw only the fury in his glittering, dark-eyed gaze and in the hard set of his jaw. Her tone was cautious as she spoke again. "What's my father got to do with this? How do you know my father?"
"My name's Logan, Jack Logan. Your father sent me here to bring you home."
"My papa sent you, after me?" Amanda scoffed, finding that difficult to believe. Her father would never have sent such a barbaric man after her, and he certainly wouldn't have approved of such uncouth actions. "I don't believe you," she said indignantly. "If my father had wanted me home, he would have come for me himself."
Jack shrugged indifferently. "It doesn't matter to me whether you believe me or not. Your father asked me to escort you home, and since I owed him, I said yes."
"You're lying."
Jack shot her an ugly look. He didn't take well to being called a liar. "I've been a lot of things in my life, but I've never been a liar. I've got a letter from him right here that explains everything."
"Why didn't he come himself?" She still didn't trust this Jack Logan.
He was growing even more exasperated with her mule-headedness. "All your father told me was that he couldn't leave the stage line right now and that he wanted you back home."
When she wriggled against him trying to free herself, Jack suddenly realized that he was holding her far too tightly. He'd been too irritated with her to notice before, but her breasts were pressed against his chest and her hips were snug in his lap. Immediately, he let her go.
The sudden release, coupled with the jolting of the carriage almost sent Amanda sprawling. She quickly took advantage of her freedom, though, and shifted to the other seat.
Jack ignored her difficulties as he dug Dan's letter out of his pocket and handed it to her. She snatched it from him, still skeptical of his honesty. When she recognized her father's handwriting, though, she knew he'd been telling the truth, and she was stunned.
"Papa did send you." There was amazement in her tone.
She didn't say any more, but ripped open the missive and began to read it to herself.
Daughter,
I have been notified by your grandmother and by the school that you have been suspended for
your "unusual" activities. The news distresses me greatly, and I fear your actions bring shame upon our family name. I would make the trip myself to retrieve you if I could, but the situation is such that I cannot leave the stage line for even a few weeks.
I am sending in my stead Jack Logan. He is a friend of many years and an ex-Ranger. I trust him completely and know that he will keep you safe on your trip back home.
Needless to say, I am greatly disappointed at this turn of events. I had set great store on your getting the same fine education your mother had. It pains me sorely to know that you have failed in this endeavor.
We will speak of this more upon your return.
Your father
Amanda fought back tears as she carefully refolded the letter. It seemed she had let her father down yet another time. She wondered vaguely if the day would ever come when she would do something that would please him. Her father had been disappointed in her from the day she was born for he'd wanted a son, not a daughter. She forced a smile, refusing to let Jack Logan see her distress.
"Do you believe me now?" Jack asked, seeing that she'd finished reading.
"Yes. I believe you." She took a minute to put the missive back in the envelope.
"And?"
"What if I say I won't go back with you?" Amanda looked at him challengingly. She had known that her father would be upset by the news of her suspension, but she'd thought she'd be able to continue living in the East. She wanted to keep working with the woman's suffrage movement. Never in her wildest imaginings had she thought that her father would actually force her to return to Texas.
"I'd say you don't have a choice," Jack said tightly. He would never have guessed that locating Amanda and taking her back to her father would be such an ordeal. But she was turning out to be one contrary female.
His dictatorial tone stung, and Amanda lifted her head to give him a cool, disdainful look. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you. If I choose to stay here, I will. I have much work to do. There's the suffrage movement and the—"
"Little lady"—Jack was deliberately condescending as he spoke—"you are an unmarried female. As such, you are bound to do as you're told. Your father wants you home, and that's the end of it. It would be best if we just got you back to your grandmother's house so you can start packing."
Amanda glared at the arrogant male who was trying to tell her what to do. He was a prime example of just why women needed the franchise! Women were intelligent and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. They didn't need men! They were men's equals in every way. . . .
She paused at that thought and realized that this Jack Logan had bested her in one area. He was physically stronger than she was. She supposed she had to give him credit for that, but otherwise she refused to give him credit for anything.
"Mr. Logan—" she began calmly.
"Yes, Miss Taylor?" His tone was mocking as he regarded her across the carriage.
"If I go back to Texas with you, and I do mean 'if', it will be because I have chosen to go, not because you've forced me. I will not be bullied—"
"Miss Taylor," Jack interrupted her. "I don't care how you come to your decision to go home. I'm just here to make sure you do it and that you get back to your daddy all safe and sound."
Amanda gave a defiant lift of her chin as she glowered at him from across the carriage.
Jack managed a wry smile at her seeming capitulation, but he wasn't amused. If Dan had warned him about what a hellcat his daughter was, he might have had second thoughts about agreeing to take on the job. He might have just stayed drunk in a nice quiet saloon somewhere in West Texas. Surely, that would be preferable to babysitting this wildcat, but it was too late now. He'd made a promise to his friend, and he was going to keep it—with or without Amanda's cooperation. And right now, watching her as she scowled at him, he wasn't sure which way it was going to be.
"How did you know where to find me?" Amanda finally asked after a long period of silence. She'd told her grandmother that she was going to be at a friend's house, yet somehow he'd managed to track her down at the saloon.
"It wasn't easy, considering you lied to your grandmother about where you were going to be and what you were going to be doing tonight."
"I didn't lie to her!" she protested, thinking 'lie' was an awfully strong word for just not telling the whole truth.
"She thought you were spending the night at your friend Bethany's house. I'd say that was stretching the truth more than just a little bit. I mean, I think your friend is probably being taken off to jail right now," he drawled. "And she'll probably be there a while . . . maybe until morning. How do you think your grandmother would have felt about having to go downtown to bail you out?"
"Grandmother doesn't approve of my interest in the women's movement, so I thought I would save an argument between us by just not telling her everything." Amanda tried to make the reason for her omission sound noble.
Jack gave an expressive shrug of his shoulders. "Call it what you like. The fact is, it took a while to find you."
The thought that he'd had trouble gave Amanda a small sense of satisfaction, and a slight smile played about her lips. "How did you manage to do it?"
"Bethany's servant gave me the information I needed."
A sudden wave of guilt washed over Amanda as she thought of her friend, who was probably locked up in jail right now and was no doubt worrying about her. Bethany probably thought something terrible had happened to her, but there was no way to get a message to her.
Jack saw the change in her expression and knew what she was thinking. "I wouldn't worry too much about her or your other friends. You all knew what you were getting into once you entered the place with your axes."
She gave him a fierce, defensive look. "I'll have to go see her tomorrow. I want to make sure she's all right and let her know that I'm safe."
"There won't be time. You'll have to send her a note."
"What do you mean, there won't be time?"
"We're sailing for Galveston tomorrow afternoon."
"That's ridiculous! I won't do it!"
"You will."
"My grandmother will never go along with this!"
"She already has. We met earlier today. I told her what I had come to do. She was in complete agreement."
"You are so—" Amanda was seething at his high-handedness. "You have the audacity to—"
He cut her off. "To what? Carry out your father's expressed wishes?" Jack's smile was confident. "He made it clear to me that he wants you back home as quickly as I can get you there. I don't intend to disappoint him. We're leaving tomorrow."
"But I won't even have time to say good-bye to anyone." She gave a slow shake of her head. She should have realized that her father would react this way.
"You have until noon tomorrow. That's when we'll be leaving for the docks."
Amanda fell silent. She was going home. It looked as if there was no way out of it.
For a moment, she considered running away that night, but thoughts of her father forced her back to reason. She loved him. If he wanted her to come home, she would. Perhaps after they'd had a chance to talk, he'd understand why she'd gotten involved with the suffragists. And then, if he did come to understand, he wouldn't stand in the way of her returning to resume her work. That was the hope she clung to as the carriage drew to a stop before her grandmother's impressive, three-story brick home.
Amanda was suddenly nervous at the prospect of facing her grandmother, especially if Jack Logan was with her. She had not deliberately lied to her about her whereabouts, but as unscrupulous as Logan seemed to be, he just might tell all to her grandmother, and that was one confrontation she wanted to avoid on this, their last night together. She prepared to get out of the carriage as quickly as she could, hoping to dismiss Logan with a quick, but firm, good-bye.
"Well, we're here. Thank you so much for your help. I'll see you—"
Jack moved to block her exit from the
carriage. "Allow me to escort you inside."
Amanda wanted to scream. Instead, she gritted her teeth and managed a tight smile as she sat back to await his descent. "Of course."
"It wouldn't be proper for me to just drop you off," he drawled as he climbed out of the carriage and turned to help her down.
Amanda met his gaze and saw the knowing look in his eyes. She wanted him gone. He had already proven he was no gentleman. Why was he putting on an act now? She wondered if he'd ever done anything "proper" in his life.
Resigned to suffering his company for at least a few more minutes, she put her hand in his to allow him to help her down. His grip was warm and strong, and she suppressed a shiver at the contact. Certainly her reaction was just because she found him so totally irritating, and not because she thought him handsome or attractive or anything. She pulled free of his touch as soon as she was on the ground and swept proudly away from him, her head held high.
"Grandmother . . . I'm back," she called out as she entered the house.
"Amanda . . . Did that nice Mr. Logan come in with you?" Margaret Randall called from her parlor.
"Oh, yes. Mr. Logan's right here."
Margaret emerged from her sitting room to greet them. "Thank you so much for seeing my granddaughter home, Mr. Logan. You are truly a gentleman."
"It was my pleasure, ma'am," Jack answered. He smiled as he glanced at Amanda.
Amanda was hard put not to glare at him hatefully in return. She wondered how her grandmother could be so fooled by him. Talk about not lying to her grandmother! She just hoped he'd leave, and soon.
"And how was Bethany tonight, dear?" Margaret asked.
Thinking quickly, she made sure she didn't lie as she answered, "Bethany was disappointed at the way things turned out. We had great plans for the evening, and she was distressed when I had to leave early with Mr. Logan."
Jack couldn't help himself. He could tell how carefully Amanda was phrasing her words, and he wanted to put her in her place. "Yes, it was difficult dragging Amanda away from her friends as I did." He saw the angry challenge in her eyes and smiled easily as he went on. "But there was little time to spare—"