In Too Deep

by Mary Connealy

  “Now, Rafe,” Julia said, patting him on the arm, “Audra doesn’t want to marry either one of your idiot brothers.”

  “Hey!” Ethan said.

  “My brothers aren’t idiots.” Rafe crossed his arms and glared at his fiery redheaded wife.

  Seth said, “Can Maggie and I go hunt around in the cave again for a while before you marry one of us and we go home?”

  Julia arched a brow at Rafe.

  With a sheepish jerk of one shoulder, Rafe said, “Well, Ethan’s okay. He’s the one Audra needs to marry.”

  “I’d be proud to marry you, Audra.” Seth sat down on the ground and started pulling off one of his boots. “It’s more fun in the caves barefoot. The rocks are nice and cold. Ethan, get Maggie’s shoes off.”

  Ethan swallowed so hard, Audra thought he must feel a noose tightening around his neck. “Maybe she could be our housekeeper,” he ventured.

  Audra scowled at him. “I can’t live in a house with two unmarried men.”

  “Why not?” Ethan looked offended.

  The idiot.

  “We’re decent men. We wouldn’t treat you wrong.”

  “As long as the food was good.” Seth was tugging on his sock. If he got his feet stripped down and headed for the cave, Audra decided she’d just let him go and live in there forever. But without Maggie. She didn’t have a baby in her arms, which left her free to punch someone. Her only problem was deciding who.

  “No, you need to marry her.” Rafe pulled his hat off his head. Audra sincerely hoped his hatband was too tight and that would explain his idiocy. “It don’t make no sense to put it off. You’re bound to marry her eventually.”

  “Why would I do a thing like that?” Ethan shifted Maggie on his hip. She grinned at him and pulled his hat off his head and swatted him in the face.

  “Because she’s young and beautiful, and she’s taking care of your house.” Rafe’s voice rose as if he was sick and tired of everyone not falling in with his plan. “She’ll be cooking and sewing for you, and you’ll be supporting her. Maggie already treats you like you’re her pa. And you’re bound to figure out she’s your wife in every way except you can’t sleep in her bed at night.”

  Utter silence cut through the group. Ethan’s eyes swung to Audra.

  Audra was pretty sure either her cheeks had caught fire or she was turning a ridiculous shade of red. Julia bit her lip, so maybe she had something to say but thought better of it. Seth’s toes were wiggling and distracting him.

  Maggie swatted Ethan again and said, “Papa.”

  “I’ll take the housekeeper job.” Audra said it quick to forestall Rafe’s charming proposal. And to get Ethan to quit looking at her.

  Then after she’d said it, it sounded a little like she was angling to get herself into Ethan’s house.

  “Nope, you can’t live in a house with two unmarried men.” Rafe crossed his arms. “Ride on into town now and get it over and done. The parson is still around. We saw him.”

  “Rafe Kincaid!” A voice Audra had never heard before came from her lips. “You need to quit talking. Now! I’m not letting you order me to get married to anyone and especially not to your grinning fool of a brother.”

  “Now listen here.” Ethan shifted Maggie to his other side. “There’s no call for you to keep calling me a—”

  “Whose side are you on?” Audra snapped.

  Ethan fell silent.

  “And if I’m the housekeeper, I cannot live in a house with two unmarried men. You and Seth have to move out.”

  “Move out?” Ethan’s brows shot up. “What’s the point of having a housekeeper if we don’t have a house?”

  “He’s got a point, Audra.” Seth looked up from the ground and smiled. “I’m looking forward to getting home. I don’t want to move out.”

  “Well, you’re doomed to be disappointed then.” Audra preferred to be kinder to Seth. She had a lot of compassion for him. But right now kindness was beyond her. And her main compassion was for herself. Somehow she’d dug deep, despite her near panic over Maggie, while she’d talked to Seth. But now that it was Ethan she was thinking about, she seemed to have no control of her mouth at all. Where had all that good sense gone?

  “You two can bunk with the hands and come in for meals. I’ll do your laundry and mending and tend a kitchen garden and keep house.”

  “Keep house for yourself.” Ethan scowled and she wanted to smack him.

  “But you’ll have your hands so full, Audra.” Julia shook her head. “Two babies, alone.”

  “We’ll have to think of something else.” Ethan looked like six full feet of stubborn and another few inches of dumb. He hadn’t grinned in a while, though.

  “So now you want to get married?” Her fist clenched and she was shocked at her violent impulses. This wasn’t like her at all.

  While Ethan was busy sputtering, Audra looked at Julia and Rafe, a matched set, and she could see their determination. Julia to keep her here. Rafe to get her married.

  Add in Ethan to keep his house and avoid her presence, and Seth to go on his merry, cave-exploring, furiously mad way—probably with Maggie in tow.

  She was by far the weakest-willed person in this group. She’d planned to grow herself a backbone, but obviously she was out-classed at every turn, even by the barefoot lunatic.

  “So what’ll it be?” Rafe asked.

  “I’m going back East.” Audra hated the idea of going back East.

  “No, you’re not. I’m not going to let that happen,” Rafe said with a tone of such absolute assurance that Audra gave that option up, with a lot of relief.

  Which left her with some mighty poor choices.

  Marry Ethan?

  Eject Ethan and Seth from their house?

  Stay in this pockmarked deathtrap of a caldera?

  The wind gusting through the caldera carried the scream of an eagle. The aspens quaked with a quiet rattle. Everyone stared at her, waiting.

  Except Seth, of course—the little maniac.

  Audra had given birth twice. She’d traveled out West, great with child, a nursing babe in arms, on a brutally uncomfortable train that felt like heaven once she’d had a nice long ride in a wagon to compare it to.

  She’d lived in a shack with five people. One of them her obnoxious, ill-smelling, bad-tempered crank of a husband.

  All that. And none of it had been pleasant. But right now, this was the longest moment of her life.

  “I can’t decide.”

  Ethan half raised his hand. “I’ll decide for you. Stay here. Watch your baby closer. You’ll be fine.”

  “I can’t stay here. I can watch Maggie, but I can’t keep an eye on”—she took a very deliberate glance at Seth—“everyone.”

  “So I’ll take him and we’ll leave?”

  “Forever?” Audra knew they’d be back.

  Ethan shrugged. She was sure he knew they’d be back, too.

  Sounding glum and unwanted, he said, “Sure. Let’s go, Seth.”

  Ethan pulled his hat out of Maggie’s hands and she screamed loud enough to make a man’s ears bleed while she grabbed at it, trying to get it back.

  “What’s she so riled up about?” Ethan looked with horror at Maggie while he put his hat on.

  “She seems partial to you, Ethan,” Rafe said.

  The screaming went on and Seth got up. “I’ll take her.”

  Audra felt all eyes turn to her. Except Maggie, who was trying to scale Ethan’s body, screaming all the while.

  The pressure built, the silence—not counting the screaming—stretched.

  Julia’s dislike of Seth.

  The need to get Maggie somewhere safer.

  The sick knowledge that her father would not welcome her home and might in fact sell her off again.

  The screaming.

  The wrongness of kicking two men out of their home.

  Ethan’s handsome face.

  Audra caught herself. She hadn’t meant to include that in her
list of reasons why she felt forced to make a choice.

  No money. No home. No rest. No real choice.

  At least Ethan wouldn’t yell at her. That mindless grin on his face had the redeeming quality of being a quiet shortcoming.

  The screaming.

  Her wobbly backbone bent under the pressure. “If you’ll have me, Ethan, I’ll marry you.”

  Ethan got a look in his eyes like a scared calf at branding time. She wondered if he’d start kicking and bawling. She had a sudden image of herself twirling a loop of rope over her head and lassoing herself a husband.

  Then his fear faded. He smiled and shrugged as if she’d asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee, and said, “Okay, why not? I don’t want to sleep in the bunkhouse.”

  It was so far from the romantic proposal of a girl’s dreams that Audra was glad she wasn’t carrying a loaded shotgun.

  She might’ve started blasting.

  Chapter

  3

  “You certainly smell better than Wendell.”

  “I can barely stand all the sweet-talk.” He was sorely afraid that was the closest he was ever going to get to a compliment out of the contrary woman.

  Audra gave Ethan a strained smile as they walked out of the abandoned shack that Rawhide called a church.

  They each had a baby in their arms.

  Good grief, I’m the father of two children. I didn’t see that coming when I woke up this morning.

  Then he realized he’d forgotten to take off his hat for his wedding. He remembered well that he’d said “I do,” though. Ethan had the sudden image of a bear trap snapping shut on his leg.

  The rest of their wedding guests—Rafe, Seth, and Julia—followed them out of the miserable excuse for a church.

  “Hold up, Ethan, Audra. I want to talk to you while Parson Stamper’s still here.” Rafe’s voice acted like a lasso thrown over Ethan. He’d never had much luck standing up to his big brother. It was easier to let Rafe run things and for Ethan to keep his mouth shut and curved up into a smile.

  Turning around, he and Audra stepped back into the church and formed a small circle with the wedding guests and the parson.

  A very small circle.

  Rawhide wasn’t a real welcoming place for a man of the cloth. This ten-by-ten-foot derelict building was the church, the parson’s home, and when the parson was out of town—which was most of the time—it served as the closest thing Rawhide, Colorado, had to a hotel. Bring your own blanket.

  They’d been surprised to find that Parson Stamper hadn’t moved on yet. Rafe had called that luck.

  Ethan had another word for it.

  The parson stayed this long because his horse had come up lame, so the parson didn’t see it as good luck, either.

  Rafe said, “I want to talk to the sheriff while we’re in town.”

  “I’ll go along.” Ethan waited to see what other orders Rafe would give.

  “And I intend to search Father’s building. He had to hide that money somewhere. Let’s split up so we can get home.” Julia could give orders well enough, too.

  “No.” Rafe wasn’t real good at talking things over. “You stay with me. This is a wide open town and I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”

  Ethan was standing right in the doorway. He looked over his shoulder at Rawhide. Eight buildings stood almost swallowed up by the forest. The unpainted wooden shacks faced each other, four on each side of a rutted street. The forest pressing in from all directions until the town looked ready to be reclaimed by the wilderness.

  Which might not be such a bad thing.

  Rawhide was a mountain settlement mostly abandoned since the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush had played out.

  There were another two dozen cabins scattered around, mainly up the slope to the west. Ramshackle log buildings peeked out of the woods here and there. Not a single person was visible besides themselves. But one building had a horse and wagon parked in front of it, marking it as the general store, and another had the word Sheriff painted over the door.

  “It doesn’t look all that dangerous, Rafe,” Julia said dryly.

  “Parson,” Rafe said, “can you keep this wedding a secret? Just don’t mention it to anyone.”

  Parson Stamper shrugged. “Don’t see why not. I’m a man who can keep a secret. But why?”

  “It occurs to me that no one in these parts has the name Gilliland anymore. There’s trouble following my wife’s pa. He’s dead. If someone comes hunting for Wendell, they’ll find that out, and no one knew he had a wife and family.” Rafe’s arm slid to Julia’s back. “Maybe they’ll just believe it’s a dead end and leave us be. Of course Tracker knows Julia’s married, but I’ll make sure the sheriff doesn’t let Tracker send any messages. And even if they do find out about Julia and Audra, they won’t know they’ve both moved and changed their names.”

  Ethan swallowed hard to think that, yes, Audra had changed her name. To Kincaid. The whole thing seemed like a dream, so he smiled and ignored it. A dream or a nightmare. He smiled bigger.

  “Fine with me.” Parson Stamper nodded at a building on the south end of town. “My horse is better and I’m leaving town today. I won’t mention the wedding to anyone, here or on my circuit. And I’ll be praying for the trouble that’s dogged you all.”

  “Obliged, Parson.” Rafe stepped aside to let the parson head for the livery, then turned to the rest of the group. “Julia, you come with me to talk to Tracker. Ethan and Audra, why don’t you go hunt around in Wendell’s building?”

  Rafe pointed to a tumbledown shack up the hill from town. No windows, a door hanging from one leather hinge.

  “That’s an even worse building than the one Father bought for a house.” Julia looked at the building, then turned to Audra. “He couldn’t have spent much of the money he stole. I wonder what he did with it?”

  “I wish we could find it and send it back to the man he took it from.” Audra hugged her sleeping baby closer. “Then he’d leave us alone.”

  “The man he stole it from probably came by it in a dishonest way.” Ethan was sorely afraid this was a problem without an easy solution.

  “There’s no reason to believe that.” Audra frowned.

  “No honest man sends vermin like Tracker Breach to regain his money.” Ethan shifted a sleeping Maggie in his arms so her head was resting in his right elbow. “Sending Breach was the choice of a bad man. If we find the money, we should turn it over to the sheriff and let him get to the bottom of who it really belongs to.”

  Audra nodded. “Agreed. Let the law handle it.”

  “Julia and I will come up to Wendell’s building when we’re done. Seth, you go with Ethan and Audra. I don’t want you talking to Breach.”

  “Why not, Rafe?”

  “Because you tell a mixed-up version of what happened because of the laudanum he was feeding you, and I want everything clear. You go hunt. We’ll come shortly to help you.” He took Julia’s arm. It might have been a romantic gesture, but to Ethan it looked more like he was taking her prisoner.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing Tracker again.” Julia sounded dangerous. Grim. Possibly violent. Ethan hadn’t much wanted to get married to anyone, but the Gilliland brood had the only women available, and he’d gotten the pick of the litter.

  Ethan watched Rafe and Julia head down the street. He took Audra’s arm. “Well, Mrs. Kincaid, shall we go find your money?”

  He smiled. Nothing much to smile about, but he tended to smile over anything and everything, so why not this?

  Audra seemed to study his smile for too long. Then she frowned. “Yes, let’s go. Maybe we can find it and get all of this behind us.”

  “Then can we go home?” Seth asked, heading toward the building, leaving them behind.

  “We’ll sleep at home tonight, Seth. But first we’ll tear Wendell’s building apart, board by board if we have to.” Ethan eyed the decrepit building. “That won’t take long. And where else could that old fool of a husband of
yours have hidden it?”

  “Oh, there are plenty of places. Including he could have dug a hole somewhere.”

  With a sigh, Ethan said, “You’re right. That building is the only place he could have hidden the money where we have a prayer of finding it.”

  Audra nodded, frowning. “And if we don’t find it and return it, then the man Wendell stole it from may send someone else.”

  “You look tired. You only had a baby a few weeks ago. We should have waited to do this until you were rested.”

  Her pretty white eyebrows snapped low. “Ethan!”

  He touched her lips gently with one finger. When she stopped talking, he said, “I don’t mean you’re weak or fragile.” She was, but he knew she hated to hear that. “You know a woman who’s just had a baby needs a while before she starts riding long hours and tearing apart buildings.”

  “You’re right.” Audra smiled behind his finger. “I’m holding up, but we’ve got a long ride h-h-h—”

  Ethan felt her smile burn into his finger and he jerked it back.

  He couldn’t quite manage a smile when he said, “Home. The word you’re trying to say is home. You’re going home with me. Mrs. Ethan Kincaid. Hard to get that idea in my head.”

  Their eyes caught and held. Ethan saw a world of understanding there.

  Then she nodded. “We’ve got lots of time to get used to it. Our whole lives.”

  Ethan slid his hand to her waist and turned her to face Wendell’s shack. “Let’s get this hunting over and done, then head for . . .” He inhaled slowly.

  Audra said, “Home.”

  Julia felt dangerous. She would have liked about five times her normal strength and a few minutes of privacy to pound on Tracker Breach for almost killing Rafe.

  “Now be mindful to not mention Audra marrying Ethan.” Rafe paused at the jailhouse door.

  “I will.” Julia frowned and crossed her arms. “But I want to let him know that all his evil didn’t hurt us in the end. I’d like to stand there on the outside of those bars and tell him he needs to repent of his sins before it’s too late. And then I’d like to tell him he’s the ugliest man I’ve ever seen.”