Texan's Touch, page 26
Adam shook his head. “A man who takes the time to post a flag every morning takes the time to do it right. That pole is the only thing around this place Emery seems to take any pride in.”
Adam remembered having the same uneasy feeling the night he rode into Wes’s camp. Nichole had said he hadn’t trusted his feelings. Well, he planned to trust them now. Something was wrong.
Emery appeared at the door of his cabin. His smile was friendly enough, but he didn’t call them in.
“Welcome,” Emery said as they stopped. “You strangers just passing through?”
Now Adam knew there was trouble. Emery wouldn’t have forgotten him. Before, he’d offered a drink, now he seemed to be just waiting for them to leave.
Adam played along. “We thought to water our horses.”
Emery nodded. “Help yourself,” he said, and waved them away as he walked back inside.
Daniel watered the horses while Adam lifted his Colt and followed Emery into the house.
As he stepped inside, he blinked, trying to pull the shadowy cave of a room into focus. Just as he made out Emery sitting at the table with his head in his hands, the cold barrel of a gun pressed into his left ear.
“Move,” a man whispered, “and you’re a dead man. We don’t mean you no harm, mister, we just don’t want you in the way.”
Adam lifted his Colt and the stranger grabbed it away without decreasing the pressure of the barrel at the side of his head.
“In the way of what?” Adam straightened.
“Soon as our boss gets here, we’re going to have a trial. We caught us a horse thief a few hours back. But don’t you worry, we’ll let you and your friend go after the hanging.” The man’s voice bore no malice. “If you’d just watered them horses and moved on, we wouldn’t be slowing you up none.”
“But-”
“No more questions. Walk!” The stranger shoved Adam toward the back of the room where a small door lead to a dugout. “You just think of the next few hours as a rest time on your trip.”
When they reached a doorway leading to the back room, the stranger encouraged him with the barrel of his gun. Adam stumbled down the steps into a room dug out of the earth. It was full of supplies and built with only the roof aboveground. The cool room smelled of dirt and apples and spices.
“Got another one for you and the boys, Charlie.” The stranger shoved Adam hard, sending him tumbling into a man twice his width.
Adam was surrounded by men who looked to be more like ranch hands than thieves.
Before he could react, his hands were tied behind him and his feet strapped with something that felt like a belt. He was pushed into a corner. A minute later, Daniel landed on top of him. Charlie and his boys left the room, closing the only door. The room darkened to musty gray. Their corner was completely without light.
Adam shuffled to a sitting position as Daniel leaned against the wall beside him.
“I was right about the flag warning.” Daniel sounded proud of himself. “You should have taken heed. I knew there was trouble.”
“Well.” Adam kicked, trying to free his feet. “I figured my little brother would come to my aid if I got into trouble. So I thought I’d take a look.”
“So did I,” a voice said from only a few feet away in the shadows, making both Adam and Daniel halt all struggling.
“Wes?” Adam whispered.
“It’s me, little brothers. I’ve been waiting for you to come to my rescue. You did a good job of finding me, but the rescue part is a little lacking.”
“But I thought you were with Nick.” Adam asked.
“He is,” Nick answered. “In fact he’s the reason we’re in this mess. It seems that fine horse he bought didn’t belong to Emery.”
“That’s a horse trader for you,” Wes mumbled. “Only sold me the animal because he thought I’d be in Kansas before the real owner came back.”
Nichole continued as if he had only been talking to himself. “These men are from a spread south of here and have been waiting for Wes to come back so they can hang him as a horse thief. It seems the boss man only left his mount here for a few days. When he came back, Emery claimed the animal had been stolen.”
“We’re going to be hung as horse thieves?” Daniel shouted.
“Only me,” Wes answered. “I’m the fool who told Emery when we rode by earlier that I’d be back before nightfall to share a bottle with him. I deserve to be hung. Mom always said my drinking would get me in trouble. They just tied you three up to keep you out of the way.”
“I’ve been in nothing but hot water since I came to Texas and found you all.” Nichole’s voice was laced with anger. “Your mother should have drowned the whole litter of you McLains. I’m getting out of here before Charlie and the boys discover I’m a woman.”
She struggled and Adam guessed she was on the other side of Wes. He didn’t blame her for being mad. For a Shadow, getting caught and tied was a great punishment.
“Between the three of you, I can’t figure out how the South could have possibly lost.” She continued to swear as she struggled. “It’s hard to believe that a handful of cowhands could have hog-tied three McLains without one bullet being fired.”
“And one Shadow,” Adam added teasing her. “Isn’t that why you’re angry, Nichole? Not because we were stupid enough to ride into a trap, but because you were.”
“Who you calling stupid?” Wes grumbled.
“Quiet!” Nick snapped at Wes. “Your wanting to stop for a drink got us into this mess. And Daniel, you’d be wise to learn from your older brother about drinking. Stop drowning your troubles in a bottle and start thinking of names for those twins.”
“Are you finished?” Adam said in the general direction of her voice. “I don’t care about this mess. We’ll explain our way out when the boss gets here. What I want to know is why you left in such a hurry this morning? Were you afraid of being tied down to me?”
“She-”
“Hush, Wes. I want to hear it from her.” Adam ordered. “In fact, you two stop listening. This is none of your business. As far as I’m concerned you aren’t even here.”
“Do we have to talk about it?” she whispered. “Now?”
“Yes,” Adam answered. “There’s never time for words with you. Having you tied up seems as good a chance as I’ll ever get. I know you feel the same way I do. This morning proved it even if you won’t talk about it.”
“We’re not right for one another.” Her voice shook a little. “You’ve never even seen me in a dress. You need a wife who-”
“Who can be as worthless as Bergette? I never needed that kind of wife. I was a fool to even think I did,” Adam answered. “As for seeing you in a dress, you couldn’t be more beautiful to me. Nick, I don’t care about that. What I care about is how you sleep so close beside me, and how you stand up to me when you think I’m wrong. And how you fight for my brothers as if they were your family.
“I know I’ll never have all of you. A part will always be free, but I can’t let you go.”
“You can’t stop me,” she whispered. “I’ll be out of here in ten minutes. You’ll never find me.”
He could hear her struggling with her ropes.
“In Tennessee, six-year-old children can tie better knots,” she complained.
“Daniel!” Adam shouted in anger, knowing his time was short. He had no doubt that she’d be untied and gone in a matter of minutes.
“I’m not listening,” Daniel answered. “I’m not even sure I’m here. How about you, Wes?”
“I think I left five minutes ago. I’d check if I was listening but Adam told me not to.”
“Are you still ordained?” Adam asked without playing into their joke. “Can you still marry folks, Dan?”
“Yes.” Daniel now sounded interested. “Providing both the parties are willing.”
“Then marry us,” Adam said. “Right here, right now. She’s not leaving me again without knowing she belongs to me as truly as I belong to her.”
“B-but-” Daniel stammered.
“Hold on, Adam!” Wes jumped in. “I want the kid in the family too, but she don’t seem all that willing.”
“I love her,” Adam said. “And she loves me, too. She can run from me, but she can’t deny it any longer. We’re one, we always have been since that first night. There will never be another for me or her. At least this time when she runs, she’ll know how I feel about her.”
“Nick,” Wes whispered. “Do you agree with Adam? Do you love him?”
“I don’t want to.” She sighed. “He’s the most frustrating man that ever walked the earth. Half the time I want to shoot him for what he does, and the other half stab him for what he refuses to do. There’s no understanding the man.”
“That’s not the question. Do you love me?” Adam asked.
“Love’s something for the weak-minded who don’t have anything better to think about.” She kicked in the darkness and Wes groaned. “You’ll fit in here, Wes.”
“Like hell,” he mumbled. “I’m never riding close to love again as long as I live. Stop trying to change the subject, kid. Do you love my brother or not?” Wes repeated.
There was a long silence. “I do,” she finally whispered. “But-”
“Daniel, start at the beginning,” Adam interrupted her. “She’s already said the end.”
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in this dusty dugout, while awaiting our brother’s hanging, to join this woman and this man in…”
TWENTY-EIGHT
WOLF SLOWED HIS horse for the tenth time and allowed the boy to catch up with him. Three hours ago he’d arrived in Fort Worth on the stage. Wolf had no trouble finding Doc McLain’s place, but everyone in the house was crazier than bedbugs on a hot skillet.
A nun kept insisting she’d never seen any woman named Nichole and tried to push him off the porch. Once he finally got inside the house, a cute little cook flirted with him as if he’d been freshly washed. When he asked her about Nick, she didn’t lie any better than the nun.
Finally, a pale woman came downstairs. She claimed to be the widow who owned the place, but insisted he was mistaken about Nichole. She told him several times that nothing happened in the house without her knowledge, so his sister had never been under her roof.
Wolf believed her and was about to leave and look for Nick somewhere else when he collided with a tiny ball of lace and curls he remembered as Bergette. He smiled his best smile and offered a handshake. She screamed as if she were under full attack and started throwing things at him.
He was obliged to put his arm around Bergette and lift her off the ground a few feet to settle her down and give her a better look at his face so she’d remember seeing him. But she didn’t take well to settling.
The more she screamed and kicked and threw things, the more everyone else in the house seemed to take pity on him. At first he had the feeling the little princess didn’t like him, but with what happened next, he realized she’d done him a great favor.
The nun and the cook finally got him down to the kitchen and out of Bergette’s way. Before leaving her range of fire, he promised to come by for another visit with the little lady some other day.
Suddenly, the nun and the cook couldn’t say enough about Nick and all that had been happening. Bergette had convinced them that Wolf must truly be Nichole’s brother. The trouble they described didn’t seem like anything Nick couldn’t handle, till the little boy piped up about how Nick was hiding out by sleeping in Adam’s room.
Wolf stood and asked where to rent a horse. He’d heard enough.
Before he knew it, the kid named Nance was riding beside him talking like a magpie. All Wolf wanted to do was plot how to kill Adam, but the boy wouldn’t give him time. He’d sent Nick to Texas so she would be safe. He’d even convinced Tyler there was no need for him to come along to fetch Nick. But when he heard Adam had been sleeping with his sister, he knew he’d be killing a McLain. Wolf liked the family, but a duty was a duty.
As Nance caught up to him again, Wolf couldn’t help but smile. He liked kids. Back before the war, he used to dream of finding a woman and settling down with more children around than they could keep up with. But the closest he’d been to a woman in years was when he held Bergette back at the boardinghouse while she was trying to kill him. Wolf couldn’t hold back a laugh. She felt good, he thought. Real good. Like fire all wrapped in powder and lace. Maybe he’d even think of shaving before he paid her another call.
“Captain Hayward?” Nance asked. “Did you ever have to kill anyone in the war?”
“Not if I could help it,” Wolf answered.
“I bet you just scared them, didn’t you?” Nance held his reins tight. Like most boys his age, he could ride a good trailing horse. As long as he didn’t have to take the lead, he had no trouble riding.
“Hold them reins like this, boy.” Wolf put his fists in front of the saddle horn about six inches apart. “Run the right rein through first your right hand, then the left. Then thread the left rein through your left hand, then the right. That way both hands hold both reins.”
The boy closed his fists in front of him with his reins in place.
“Now, all you have to do is turn one fist down and you turn the horse.” Wolf pulled his right fist thumb up and the horse moved to the command. “But remember, you control a horse more with your legs than with the reins. The bit’s a guide. No sense tearing a horse’s mouth up by jerking on it.”
Nance sat up proud in the saddle, enjoying the lesson. It had been a long time since he’d gone with a man on a real adventure. But the nun said she’d square it with his mother cause the doc would look after him on the way home. Sister said he needed to get out of the house and get some air, like there was none left inside.
Wolf smiled. The boy had forgotten his questions of war.
An hour later, they came upon a place the stable hand had said would be Emery’s Post. Wolf slowed as he noticed several men gathered about a tree. The closer he got, the more his hand itched for the feel of his Colt. But he’d learned, never go in like you’re in a hurry and never offer help until you know which side right stands on.
“Stay well behind me, boy,” he ordered with no room for argument. “And don’t say a word, no matter what you see.”
“Yes, sir,” Nance whispered. “I can do that. I’ve been practicing most of my life.”
“I’m going to play a game, but it’s just an act. Do you understand?” Wolf was close enough to smell trouble, and he wanted to know the boy would follow orders and stay out of harm’s way.
“Yes,” Nance answered, his voice shaking slightly. “No matter what, you can count on me.”
“Good,” Wolf whispered. “Follow me.”
Nichole looked up and saw Wolf riding in. She lowered her head, not wanting to give away her joy at seeing him. She’d been near panic when they’d been hauled out of the dugout. The trial had lasted about five minutes and now it was time for Wes’s hanging. Only Wolf was here. Wolf would know what to do.
“Afternoon,” Wolf said casually to the ranch hands standing about. “Mind if I watch?”
An older man who was obviously the leader shook his head. “It’ll be good for your boy to see a horse thief hang. Keep him on the straight and narrow.”
“Much obliged.” Wolf’s Southern accent marked him as a friend. He smoothly introduced himself as a captain with the Tennessee regulars.
The ranch boss smiled and identified himself as Colonel Wilcox, formerly with Terry’s Rangers.
Wolf pointed with his head. “You hanging them all?” He glanced at the cowhands’ stained leather chaps and knew these were working men, not drifters or troublemakers. If they were hanging a man, they probably thought they had good reason.
Colonel Wilcox pointed toward Wes. “The other three are just friends of his come to watch. We’ll let them go when the hanging’s over. I don’t have no quarrel with them. Only with this Yank with the scar on his face. He stole my horse while I left it here for Emery to keep an eye on. My place is a few hours north of here, so my men have been waiting for the stranger to pass by. We don’t look kindly on horse thieves in these parts.”
Slowly lowering himself from his horse, Wolf walked over to Wes. “He looks like a mean one, all right.” Wolf leaned closer. “Evil eyes,” he added as he stood within an inch of Wes. “Worst I’ve ever seen. And that scar would frighten most women and children.”
Growling like a trapped animal, Wes shoved Wolf with his shoulder.
Wolf’s arm went around Wes for only an instant as he tried to right himself.
In that moment, Wes felt the blade of a knife slide between his wrists and slice the rope binding his hands.
Leaning back, Wolf took a good look at the prisoner. “Yep. Evil eyes.” He winked at Wes. “Good thing you got him tied.”
When Wolf moved away, Wes kept his hands crossed behind him.
“But I think you’re hanging the wrong one of these fellows.” Wolf rubbed his hairy chin as he addressed the ranch boss. “You see, one of them slept with my sister while he was guarding her from harm. Now, a man who’ll do that is worse than a horse thief.”
Colonel Wilcox nodded. “But it was a fine horse.”
“It was my only sister,” Wolf countered.
“Get another rope ready, boys!” Colonel Wilcox yelled, then turned to the McLains. “Which one of you low-life, no-good snakes slept with this man’s sister?”
They all three looked guilty, and Wolf had to fight for control to keep from heading straight into them with fists flying.
“I did.” Adam stepped forward facing Wolf squarely.
Years of playing the game of control, like an actor on a stage, snapped in Wolf. His mighty fist swung, catching Adam hard on the jaw.
Adam staggered and spat blood.
“I thought you were an honorable man!” Wolf growled like a wild animal. “I thought she’d be safe in your care.”
“I am an honorable man, and she’s not the easiest woman to keep safe,” Adam defended. “But I slept with her, and I plan to again if I get out of this mess.”
