In Too Deep

by Mary Connealy

  A crack of laughter from Rafe surprised Julia. Then he caught hold of her arm, a gentle vise, and dragged her into the gap between two buildings.

  “Hey, I want to go yell at that awful man.”

  Rafe kept going until they were swallowed up in shadows, then turned her to face him and kissed her senseless.

  Seconds passed, then minutes. Maybe longer. Julia sort of lost track of time. When Rafe eased her away from him, she chased after his lips with her own.

  He let her catch him.

  “Have I told you yet today I’m glad I married you?” He smiled.

  She traced the smile with one finger. “I like seeing a smile on your face, Rafe.”

  “I find myself smiling all the time since I managed to corral you, wife.” He kissed her again.

  “This isn’t the time or place—” Her scolding, which was halfhearted anyway, was silenced by his lips.

  “I know we’ve got to go and see the sheriff, and I’ll let you scold that man as long as you like, but it just came to mind that my brothers are finally going home.”

  That lifted Julia’s spirits to a shameful degree. “I like your brothers.”

  “Your favorite term of affection is ‘your idiot brothers.’ ”

  “They do try my patience, Rafe.” Then a frown turned her swollen lips downward. “But they’re taking Audra and the babies.”

  “Yeah, even better. Now I can get you alone.” Rafe laughed again.

  Julia slugged him in the arm, but she didn’t put one lick of force behind it. “Audra needs me.”

  Although now that Rafe mentioned it, it would be nice to be alone with him. They’d camped out a good distance from everybody else since their wedding. Rafe had insisted. And being close to him, intimate with him, was so beguiling that Julia had gone right along with the idea. Audra had slept in the tumbledown cabin she and Julia had lived in with Father until the new cabin was weather-tight, then she’d moved in there. The rest of them slept under the stars. Rafe’s brothers had camped near the house while Rafe and Julia had gone elsewhere nightly, and to Julia’s shock, occasionally Rafe had managed to lure her to a private place during the day.

  Since she was finding her new husband downright irresistible anyway, she decided it was right for newlyweds to get away.

  During the day, the men had built the new cabin in the caldera, and Julia had chiseled a few fossils out of the very easiest and safest tunnels and done some writing. She wasn’t even close to satisfied with her explorations yet. But she was satisfied as all get-out with married life.

  “We needed to let Audra rest up for a while after she had the baby, and we needed Ethan and Seth to help us get the cabin up and a corral and stable built. But Audra’s rested. The building is done. The cattle are loose in our valley. There aren’t any crazy people living in the caverns.”

  A chill of fear raced up Julia’s back and goose bumps rose on her skin. Rafe must have noticed, because he ran his hands up and down her back as if to warm her. And if his hands pressed her close to him, well, that warmed her all the more. “We’re safe enough for now. It’s probably even okay for you to go exploring deeper in the caverns.”

  Julia forgot her fear and smiled. “You’re going to let me go in?”

  “As long as I’m with you, right?” Rafe jabbed one finger right at her nose. “You promised.”

  “I won’t go in alone.” She wanted company. She’d spent too much of her life alone.

  “Good, then I think it’s time to send everyone away and have you to myself for a while.”

  “That does sound nice.” Julia rested her hands on his upper arms, marveling at his hard muscles and endless strength. “Your brothers really are idiots.”

  “No, they’re not.” Rafe laughed and hugged her until she squeaked. “But they are more company than I want right now. I’ll tell Ethan to send over a few men, but not right now. We’ll need cowhands. But we can wait a few weeks on that. And when they do come, we’ll build a bunkhouse, so they won’t be in the cabin with us. It’s been a nuisance having to find excuses to go for long rides with you, just for a chance to get you to myself.” Rafe’s strong arms encircled her waist, and he hugged her tight enough that her toes lifted off the ground. “And it gets mighty cold at night camping out.”

  Julia looked into Rafe’s gray-blue eyes. In the shadows of the alley, they shined blue. Her hands slid from his muscular arms to wind around his neck. “Do you think it was the right thing to push Audra and Ethan into getting married?”

  “Sure it was right.”

  “But what about love, Rafe? Audra wasn’t happy with Father. I wish she could’ve married for love.”

  “Now, honey. I’m sure they’ll get around to loving each other when they’ve got a little spare time. But they needed to tie the knot now. Audra needs to get away from those caves before Maggie ends up hurt, and your little stepma needs to change her name in case someone comes hunting your pa. And besides, a single woman needs a man. Those young’uns need a pa. Ethan’ll take good care of them. Maggie is so attached to him, we couldn’t have let them be separated.”

  “Those aren’t the best reasons in the world for two people to get married.”

  Rafe leaned down and whispered a really good reason for two people to get married. His breath on her ear tickled and she giggled. Embarrassing. She wasn’t a giggling kind of woman.

  “Now you quit distracting me with all this nonsense and let’s go see to our prisoner.” He smiled so she’d know he was teasing and not start smacking him. Then he led her back to the street. Opening the door to the jailhouse, he let Julia go ahead of him. Sheriff Amos Meese sat at his desk with one boot off, spinning the rowel of a spur.

  “Howdy, Rafe.” The man apparently had the crime in Rawhide completely under control.

  “Howdy, Amos.”

  “Howdy, Mrs. Kincaid.” The sheriff tipped his hat to Julia. “It’s a mighty rare and precious sight to have a beautiful woman in town.”

  Julia hated the dismal little jail. She felt as sorry for the sheriff as she did for the prisoner, or very nearly. Bars caged off about a fourth of the one-room building, and Tracker Breach lay on a cot in a cell, only inches longer than the bed. He tugged absently on the scraggly beard that covered his scarred face.

  He turned and sat up, swinging his feet to the floor. He had an eye patch and a scowl that did an already unsightly man no favors.

  “Afternoon, Amos. Have you heard from Judge Steinhauser yet?” Rafe moved so he was between Tracker and Julia, as if the bars weren’t quite enough protection.

  “No one got hurt in that cave,” Breach snarled. “We had us a tussle, but there ain’t no law against that.”

  “No one got hurt?” Julia clenched her fists. “Why, you—”

  Rafe grabbed her around the waist to keep her from charging the cell. “You’re lucky you’ve got bars to protect you, you low-down polecat.”

  “Quiet, Breach.” The sheriff slipped his boot on. “Don’t pay him no mind, ma’am. We’ve got him for more than what he did to you. Tracker Breach is a wanted man in Texas and he broke jail in New Mexico Territory. He knows he can’t talk himself out of a long stretch behind bars.”

  Julia calmed down enough that Rafe let her go. But she noticed he stayed close. It might’ve been to protect her, but she suspected he wanted to be able to grab her again if the need arose.

  The sheriff stood from his squeaky wooden chair and stomped his foot to seat it in the boot. The lawman looked so happy to see them that Julia felt sorry for her grouchy behavior. Sitting all day in the jailhouse of a mostly law-abiding—and nearly deserted—town with one cantankerous prisoner couldn’t be a fun job.

  Tracker subsided onto his cot and went back to yanking on his scraggly whiskers.

  “Judge Steinhauser was in Colorado City a couple of days ago,” Sheriff Meese said. “A rider came through and seen him. So we’re hoping we can have the trial real soon.”

  “When the judge shows up, se
nd a rider and we’ll come in and attend the trial.”

  “I will if need be, but chances are the judge’ll just send him back to Texas with the next U.S. marshall that comes through.” The sheriff settled back into his chair. There was no other furniture in the room besides that chair, the desk, and the cot in the jail cell. “Heard you weren’t staying at your ranch anymore, Rafe.”

  “I claimed a piece of property nearer town. And while we’re in here, Seth is going to get another chunk.”

  “He is?” This was the first Julia had heard of it.

  “Yeah, I just now remembered I’d planned on him doing it sometime. I scouted the water holes and know right where he oughta stake his claim. He might as well do it now. We can make the whole Kincaid property into a solid stretch.”

  “Have you mentioned this to Seth?” Julia didn’t think Seth was a real solid choice to own a ranch at this point.

  “Nope. Forgot. Remember to send a rider for us, Sheriff.”

  “Will do, Rafe.” The sheriff got up again. Maybe he was a gentleman, rising when a lady entered and left a room. Or maybe he just wanted them to stay and talk awhile longer. A lonely job being sheriff of Rawhide, Colorado. “I had no idea Gill had family in the area, ma’am.”

  Her father had run a small-time gambling operation here in Rawhide and he’d kept his wife and daughters a secret, using them to hide his tracks when he’d run from trouble. No one was looking for a family man named Wendell Gilliland. Julia had been dragged across the country, then left to live in remote locations most of her life as her father set up shop, then ran from the unsavory people he gambled with. He had married Audra when he’d realized Julia was getting ready to leave him and take his disguise with her. Then Julia had found she couldn’t leave her delicate new stepmother to her lonely fate.

  “That was Father’s way,” Julia said. “He always kept us away from his business. I suspect he didn’t like us to know what he was up to.”

  The sheriff nodded.

  “If you think my boss is gonna forget about your pa stealin’ a fortune from him, yer loco,” Breach said. “He’ll keep coming.”

  “A fortune? No, my father didn’t have any fortune with him.”

  “The man who hired me was mad as a rattlesnake. But what really made me know it was a fortune was that he was scared, too. He’s a wealthy man, and I’d say your pa took almost everything he owned.”

  Shaking her head, Julia said, “I helped pack the house. I helped carry things. There was no money.”

  Breach shrugged. “Maybe your pa took gold.”

  “No, I helped tote everything we brought at some point or other. Gold is heavy. Father had no fortune that I could see.” It was the first Julia had heard about any fortune. “Whatever amount he stole, I don’t know where it is.”

  “Has Breach here contacted anyone, Sheriff?” Rafe asked.

  “Not since you brought him in, but I can’t say about before. No telegraph in town.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I contacted the boss,” Breach said. “When I don’t come back, he’ll send others. And Wendell Gilliland might’ve slipped away quiet, but I didn’t bother coverin’ my trail. When he don’t hear from me, the boss’ll just figure I found you and took the money for myself. He’ll follow my trail and it’ll lead him right here. And he’ll come with more trouble this time. He hired me ’cause I’m a tracker. The next ones he’ll send will be gunmen. When he gets here and finds what’s what, he’ll be after you same as me, figuring a daughter would know her father’s favorite hiding places.”

  “But I don’t.” Julia’s breathing picked up. “I can’t tell him where the money is.”

  Tracker cackled like an old hen. “Reckon you’ll get a chance to tell the boss that, Mrs. Kincaid. Face-to-face.”

  “I don’t want him in contact with anyone,” Rafe said.

  The sheriff nodded. “If the judge don’t come this week, I’ll send out a rider and find him. We’ll either get him over here or take the prisoner to him. Then we’ll get him locked up tight. His boss won’t be able to ask any questions. And I’ll put the word out to keep quiet about Gill’s family. Anyone comes looking will find a dead end.”

  Julia didn’t like it. No sheriff could promise the silence of everyone in town. Not even a small town like this. But it was the best they could do for now.

  She turned to Breach. “More than a tussle went on in that cavern. You kidnapped me. You shot Seth and your gunfire caused a cave-in that nearly killed Rafe. That’s no tussle, Mr. Breach. It’s a whole cavern full of serious crimes. If they go easy on you, they’ll lock you up for the next twenty years. You’d do well to contemplate the state of your soul.”

  “I spent my childhood blind,” he said, “then later, when I could see, I saw people avoid me, turn their eyes away. Step back in disgust. The world ain’t been too nice to old Tracker Breach, so I don’t see any reason to be nice to it.” He turned his terribly scarred face to her and glared with his one good eye.

  “I suspect it’s hot in a Texas prison, isn’t it, Sheriff?” Julia felt a moment of compassion for the man. What had he gone through that had turned him into such a villain? But it didn’t matter what excuse he had. Seth had terrible scars. Rafe had a nasty one on his temple. They hadn’t let those scars etch evil into their souls.

  “Hot as Hades at high noon in July, ma’am.” The sheriff crossed his arms and looked at Breach.

  “So you’ll be living in blazing heat and surrounded by evil people. That pretty much describes the life you’ll have in the next world if you die in your sins.”

  Breach scowled. Julia had to control a shudder at the sight of his scarred face. “I think you ought to use that time in prison to decide if that’s how you want to spend eternity.”

  Breach suddenly lunged at the bars. “Get her out of here, Sheriff. I don’t need no woman preaching in my ears. I can do for some peace and quiet.”

  “You’re wasting your time, Julia.” Rafe rested a hand on Julia’s lower back. “His soul is mighty rocky ground.”

  “I said get out.” Breach jerked on the door of the cell, rattling the bars until Julia couldn’t hear herself think.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’ve had my say. I’m going. Maybe sometime during the twenty years you spend in prison, what I’ve said will take root.”

  Chapter

  4

  “He said he ran a general store.” Audra stepped into the wreck of a building her dead husband had owned. Which meant she owned it now. Two shacks to her name, she was still a long way from becoming a land baron.

  Four walls. Three windows—one in each wall except the one with the door. Three battered tables made of split logs. Two jugs on the floor, tipped on their sides, no corks.

  “I suppose those were whiskey.” She pointed to the heavy crockery jugs.

  “Most likely,” Ethan said. “And a few decks of cards. Not much else here.”

  Audra saw cards scattered on the floor. Stumps of logs turned on end served as chairs. There were shelves wedged into cracks in the log cabin.

  “How do we search for money inside a mostly empty building?” Audra looked sideways at Ethan and saw him studying the derelict shack.

  Seth went all five paces across the room, and as he walked, Audra noticed how the building creaked.

  “Under the floorboards?” She crouched down, Lily in her arms, to tug at a knothole in the floor.

  “Good idea.” Ethan pointed at the nearest log. “Here, sit down. You can’t tear up a floor while you’re holding a baby.”

  “Ethan Kincaid, I have told you I don’t want to be treated like an invalid. I am fully capable—”

  Ethan caught her arm and pulled her to her feet and kissed her.

  She jerked back in surprise. “What was that?”

  “It’s my new plan for keeping you quiet when you start in yammering at me. I’ve noticed Rafe doing that to Julia and I think the idea has merit.”

  “I did not—”

 
“I’d say,” Ethan said, cutting her off again, “you’re asking for another kiss—is that right, little wife?”

  Audra’s eyes slid to Seth, who was watching with unseemly curiosity. “Ethan, this is not the time nor the place for kissing. In fact, because we have married under unusual circumstances, I doubt there will ever be a correct time and place for it.”

  “Whatdaya mean by that?” Ethan arched one dark brow.

  “Yeah, what?” Seth stepped closer.

  Audra growled.

  Both of them stepped back. Which she rather liked.

  “Well, if this isn’t the time for it, then stop your fussing about letting us search, and sit down. If it’ll make you feel more useful, you can hold both babies.”

  Maggie chose that moment to stir in Ethan’s arms. Him talking in such a loud and bossy voice no doubt helped nudge her from sleep. Fine, now she had herself a job.

  “I’ll sit then.” She did, and wondered if a hard, overly narrow log for a chair wasn’t worse than standing.

  Ethan sat Maggie in her lap. Maggie woke up enough to squall and reach for Ethan. He took her back, completely relieving Audra of her only real job since Lily was fast asleep. Then he began to tear the cabin apart one-handed. Seth threw in with him, yanking at the floorboards.

  Audra wondered if, given time, they’d take it down to toothpick size.

  Rafe and Julia arrived, and Rafe joined the search while Julia took Maggie from Ethan. They pitched the rotting split logs used for the floor into one corner with a continuous roll of crashing wood. Audra had to move from her log seat so they could tear the floor up under her. About the time the floor was gone, Lily started fussing.

  Audra leaned close to Julia and whispered, “I need to find a private spot to nurse Lily.”

  All three men froze. Clearly she had not whispered quietly enough. The three men turned to stare at her. She’d made the Kincaid men blush. Even her own husband.

  “Get back to your search.” She waved a hand at them to shoo their attention away.

  With a sigh, Ethan said, “We’ll step out. We need to search the outside anyway and see if there’s any soil that looks freshly turned.”