by Linda Broday
Before the judge could slam the door in his face, Duel quickly stuck out his foot, blocking it.
“Give me one minute, sir. Then, if you still want me to leave, you’ll never hear from me again.” The hurried speech left him short of breath. Fear that the man would refuse to listen ate a hole in his gut.
Not bothering to reply, Tom Parker hesitated, then motioned them inside with a quick nod.
The plush quarters seemed appropriate for the man who wore luxury like a second layer of skin. A carpeted sitting room with soft leather chairs greeted him. And beyond through a doorway, a gigantic canopied bed awaited.
The judge stiffly pointed to a chair, which Duel gratefully took before he lost his nerve and bolted. Parker sat opposite him, leaning his cane—a polished stick of brown wood topped with a gold handle—against the chair.
The man’s hawkish gaze pierced Duel’s thick armor. Ill at ease, he held Marley Rose on his lap and tried to curtail her squirming. Now that he had the judge’s attention, he didn’t know where to begin. What did one say to a man who despised the ground you walked on?
“Why did you come, knowing the way I feel?”
“An extreme matter of a personal nature.” He took a deep breath and plunged. “I’ve come to hire your services, sir.”
“How dare you! After everything that’s happened, I’m stunned that you have the gall to ask for my help—in any matter.” Parker’s eyes flashed. “My opinion of you hasn’t changed.”
A tic developed in Duel’s jaw as he tried to swallow his anger. “Didn’t reckon it had. But I need some lawyering, and I came for the best. You’re the finest in Texas.”
Marley Rose slid from Duel’s lap to the thick carpet, where she stretched out. The smile on her face told him she enjoyed the softness. A far cry from the minimal comforts of the farmhouse. Sharp guilt stabbed his conscience.
“You must’ve been out in the sun too long. Won’t do it. Not for any good-for-nothing gunslinger, not for anything—”
“It’s not for me, sir. It’s for this little girl.” His jaw ached from the tense clenching of his teeth. “No matter what you think of me, can’t you at least have mercy on a child’s misery?”
Marley sat up, evidently sensing the two men were discussing her. Her round brown eyes stared from one to the other. “She yours?”
“Not in the normal way, but I suppose you’d say she belongs to me. Leastwise, I’m caring for her.”
“More than you did for your wife and son.”
Duel glared at the man whose hate ran deeper than the Colorado.
“Sir, can’t we carry on a conversation for two minutes without you bringing up the past? Doesn’t change anything to keep harping on it.”
“Might be a long time ago to you, McClain, but for me it happened only yesterday,” the man answered tersely.
“Papa?” Marley Rose held out her hand to Duel.
“Not Papa. Duel, darlin’,” he reminded her gently in light of the scared look pasted on her face. “Judge, refuse me all you want, but Marley Rose has no one in the world ’cept me and Jess. Her father wagered her in a poker game, and her mother didn’t want to fight hard enough to keep her. Now she’s been stripped from the arms of the woman she calls Mama. You tell me how much this child has to give up before she’s even reached her second birthday.”
“Not my affair. Can’t cure all the ills of the world.”
“No, but you can darn sure give an innocent woman a fighting chance,” he spat back.
“Leave it to you to be hooked up with a nefarious woman. You married to her?”
“Jessie’s the finest woman I know! I take offense to you speaking of her in that tone of voice. And yes, she’s my wife.” He clenched his fist tight. His restraint came with a price, for he longed to knock Tom Parker from his sanctimonious high horse.
“Mine mama.” Marley Rose puckered her lip to cry.
He lifted her to his lap. “It’s all right, Two Bit. We’ll find another lawyer for your mama. There’s more than one in this town.”
Instead of Marley snuggling in the security of his arms, she pushed away and walked the short distance to peer up at the judge.
Duel’s heart ached for the child’s confusion. She didn’t understand the harsh words, but she surely must feel the strained atmosphere. Right now he feared for what Parker might say, or do, to her. The man seemed hell-bent on destroying his life.
The way he saw it, he’d made two mistakes—one in wasting time coming to Austin, the other in thinking he could convince his former father-in-law to help him. Both seemed a lost cause. Two hundred dollars couldn’t touch the services of the more flamboyant but capable lawyers. Even so, he’d beg if it came to that. He couldn’t live with himself if he let Jess down.
Rising to his full height, he hoped to scoop the girl up before she caught Parker’s wrath.
“I made a mistake in coming here. A bigger one in thinking you cared more about justice than you did about revenge. We’ll be going, Judge.”
In stunned silence, Duel watched Marley crawl into the man’s lap. What surprised him more was that Judge Parker didn’t rebuff her or reach out to stop the child.
Once in the man’s lap, Marley Rose laid her small hand on his chest and declared, “Mine G’anpa.”
At first Tom Parker stared at her as if she was some hideous creature from a nightmare. Then slowly, a rare smile broke, transforming the deep wrinkles into lines of laughter.
“What’s your hurry, son? Sit down.”
*
Bleak gray walls stared back at Jessie. She wanted to cry, the pain was so intense. Before her legs buckled, she sank rigidly to the horsehair mattress stretched upon a wooden frame.
“I’m sorry, Jessie,” Luke had declared more than once on the way to El Paso.
She knew he meant it, for she had seen the battle waging in him. Doing his duty hadn’t come easy this time around.
“I love being a Ranger, you know. Helping in the fight to civilize this state.” The stars overhead had been extra bright that night. They matched the sparkle in Luke’s eyes when he talked of his great love of law work.
Jessie reckoned his signing on with the Texas Rangers was a lot like a man receiving a calling from God to preach. Luke’s commitment was no less sacred.
The agony in the younger McClain’s voice echoed her own searing pain. “Dadblast it! Even though I know in my heart you had good reason for what you did, I have to bring you in. There has to be a trial. That’s the way of it.”
“I know,” she answered softly, laying her hand over his. “You have no choice. I don’t hold you to blame.”
“But I didn’t particularly wanna be the one to destroy my own brother. We might have our disagreements now and again, but I love Duel.”
She didn’t take it amiss that he worried more about hurting his brother than he did about her. It should be this way.
“I can see that, Luke. You’re family despite everything.”
“You betcha.” He stretched out on his bedroll and put his hand beneath his head. “Don’t think Duel shares that opinion.”
“He’s scared. Can’t see how all this is going to come out.” Neither did she. A cold stiffness had spread upward from the soles of her feet to form an icy tomb around her heart.
Luke turned his head slightly to her then. Compassion and goodness had shown in his face. “You’re some kind of woman, Jessie, and I’m proud to have you for a sister-in-law. I’ll help you all I can. You can depend on that.”
*
They rode into El Paso two weeks to the day after leaving Tranquility. In that time, Jessie sought to prepare herself.
“I apologize fer the ’commodations, Miz Foltry…um, I mean, Miz McClain.” Bart Daniels chewed on the stubby end of a cigar.
The loud click of the lock might as well have signaled the closing to the gates of hell for all the comfort it gave Jessie.
No need to wonder anymore what that place was like, because she was
there. Bleak didn’t begin to tell the story.
Though she’d never had reason to speak directly to Sheriff Daniels, she’d seen him around El Paso in those rare instances when Jeremiah had brought her to town. Folks had extolled Daniels’s uncommon fairness in matters pertaining to his job.
Yet Jessie got the impression the quality didn’t end with his duties; it extended directly to the man. He would be someone to have on your side.
The strangling in her throat prevented her from answering. The open metal bars offered no privacy. She felt as exposed and violated as she had when Jeremiah took his liberties.
“Ain’t no place fer a lady, Luke.” Bart shook his head sadly. “No sirree. Gives me a case of sour stomach.”
“Luke?” She couldn’t stop the quaver in her voice. “I hate to… I know a person in my circumstances doesn’t have the right to ask for favors.” The words stumbled over her tongue. “But would you—”
“Don’t worry, Jessie. I’ll be right here till Duel comes.” Luke’s gentle assurance capped the nausea that had risen. “Ain’t going nowhere. Damn sure ain’t no one gonna take you.”
“Thanks, Luke.” The upheaval in her stomach didn’t leave. She needed one more favor. “Another thing—please visit my mother and ask her to stay away.”
“I don’t understand. Your mother would be someone to talk to, to draw comfort from in your time of need.”
“I’m too ashamed. One way or another, I’ll soon be gone. My mother has to live here with her friends and acquaintances. It’s better this way, Luke.”
“All right. Now, try and get some sleep. Duel will nail my hide to the wall if you have dark circles under your eyes when he comes.”
Her frightened gaze followed him to the chair in front of the sheriff’s desk, watched him prop it lazily back against the wall with two legs off the floor. Somehow she felt safer and not nearly so lost. She twisted the gold band on her finger and thought of the night Duel had given the precious ring to her.
What were he and Marley Rose doing? How long would it be until she saw them again?
*
“Now, tell me what crime they’ve charged this little one’s mama with.” Judge Parker jiggled Marley Rose on his knee.
Duel cleared his throat. “Murder, sir.”
“The Devil you say!”
“There are some who would say it was justified.” He took the two hundred dollars from his pocket. “Not saying it’ll be easy, Judge. That’s why I’m paying for your services.”
Tom Parker didn’t reach for the stack of bills Duel laid on the low table in the center of the room. In fact, the man didn’t even acknowledge their presence.
“Who’d she send to glory?”
Duel didn’t hesitate. “Her husband, sir.”
One thing he’d learned a long time ago about Parker. The man valued the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. He dealt with cold, hard facts no matter how ugly.
“Sam Hill!” The judge swung his attention to Duel, and he found himself sweating under the riveting fix. “You think she deserves my help? I’m a lawyer, not a magician.”
Biting back the sharp retort on the edge of his tongue, Duel kept his anger in check. The diamond brand surrounded by angry, puckered skin lunged from memory like a ferocious cat.
Hell yes! And she deserved a protector, even if that came in the shape of a reformed bounty hunter.
“Wouldn’t trust her life with anyone else but you, Judge. Despite our differences, I know you to be a fair and honest man.” Emotion suddenly took his voice, and the rest came out nothing louder than a whisper. “I love her with all my heart and soul. Jess gave me reason to live when I wanted to die.”
A pained expression swept across Tom Parker’s face. “Then, son, guess we’d better cut to the chase. Tell me everything and don’t leave out a single detail.”
Twenty-eight
“Hey, girlie!” a voice called through the high, barred window in Jessie’s cell.
She flattened against the wall, clutching Duel’s shirt to her heaving bosom. Ugly taunting outside raised her fear several notches. She prayed Luke and Sheriff Daniels would get back soon. Both lawmen had lit out after a young boy brought news of a shooting in one of El Paso’s many saloons.
“Come over to the window, Miz Foltry. Ain’t gonna hurt you none. Jus’ wanna talk.”
That sinister voice was familiar. She couldn’t swear, but it sounded like Pete Morgan, Jeremiah’s closest friend. The one she’d turned the pistol on when the man tried to grab her that fateful night.
Whatever this mob’s intentions, she knew it didn’t bode well for her. From the blackness, arms shot through the bars, grasping at air. She pressed into the cell wall. She hoped the square window measured too small for a man’s girth. For if they did remove the bars somehow…God help her.
Her chest hammered with sheer terror, and Jeremiah’s sneering words echoed in her head. You’re nothing to me. With a snap of my fingers I can squash you like a bug. And the beauty of it is that no one can stop me.
“Keep looking forward,” she whispered Duel’s words.
Uncontrollable tremors shook her. Please let Luke and the sheriff return before things reach a more critical stage.
Holding Duel’s shirt to her face, she breathed his fragrance. The smell of him enveloped her. She tried to imagine the feel of his arms around her. Behind tightly clenched eyes, she pulled his face into view. The proud, chiseled features of her beloved.
“I’ll be with you, darlin’. In your heart. When you’re scared and alone, just close your eyes and listen. I’ll be there.” Those parting words comforted her now.
As she stood remembering, an unfamiliar noise came. Her eyes flew open. A wad of spit glistened on the floor a few feet away.
While she speculated on the origin, another wet glob slingshotted, landing near the first. Raucous laughter brought out her anger. These scum were of Jeremiah’s ilk, taking pleasure in tormenting helpless beings. Hurry, Luke, she prayed.
“Do you men have a license for loitering?” Luke’s soft twang from beyond the window brought immeasurable relief.
“Don’t need no license.”
“You do now.” A deadly warning lurked behind Luke’s reply.
“One Ranger against the six o’ us? Gonna arrest us all?”
Then she heard the sheriff’s familiar growl. “I’m thinkin’ we can handle the job, Morgan. Now, break up the party or I’ll arrest the lot of you fer not only loiterin’ but spittin’ on public property.”
“Jus’ paying your jailbird a call, Sheriff. No harm in that. After all, the slut deserves it for killin’ Jeremiah.”
The wall outside shook violently as something slammed against it. Jessie could only imagine the cause. However, the grunt that followed and Luke’s terse threat confirmed her suspicions.
“I ever hear you use that word again, you’re a dead man, mister.”
“Jus’ calling a spade a spade’s all.”
A split second later, the grunt turned uglier. Sounds of misery underscored the guttural noises.
“If I catch you spitting into her cell again, I’ll rip off your arms and feed ’em to the mangy curs that roam the streets. You got that?”
“You silver-tongued devil, Luke.” Jessie could hear, rather than see, the broad grin that must cover Sheriff Daniels’s face. “Stole the words right outta my mouth. Now, boys, that goes for any of you yahoos who come within ten feet of my jail.”
Grumbling followed, but the group seemed to take the advice to heart. Shuffling footsteps moved away from her window. She collapsed onto the narrow cot.
However, one man shot parting words that made her freeze. “I’ll get the rest o’ this town together, an’ we’ll be back. Only next time it’ll be to hang the murderin’ witch.”
“Better get you an army, ’cause you’ll need it. The woman will have a fair trial or my name’s not Luke McClain.”
Oh, God. They mean to take me out of jail and str
ing me up like a piece of meat. No one can keep me safe. Luke and the sheriff can’t hold off the entire town.
A few moments passed before Luke and the sheriff came inside. Sheriff Daniels’s normally placid features had turned two shades of red.
“Spittin’ in my jail. Threatening to lynch my prisoner. Great day in the morning!”
Luke didn’t break his stride until he had the iron door unlocked. Concern cast a pall on his young features.
“You all right, Jessie?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice. Panic rippled as though over the rigid bumps of a washboard. Each thud reaffirmed the possibility that she might not live to see her husband and little girl again. Nothing assured her tomorrow’s sunrise would come.
He held out his arms. “Come here.”
She flew into the haven. He wasn’t Duel, but he was family, and his touch comforted.
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Jessie. You believe that I’m not gonna let that mob in here, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Yet deep inside doubts bubbled like fermented yeast. He’d do his best to keep her from harm, that was a given. After all, he came from the same strong cloth as her husband.
But can two good men stop an enraged mob bent on revenge?
*
“The circuit judge’ll be here in three days, Jessie. Wonder what in the devil’s keeping Duel.”
Her stomach lurched. If Luke was worried…
“Do you suppose he had trouble?”
“I know my brother, and he’d be here unless he hit a snag.”
Duel hadn’t deserted her. He wouldn’t. He’d promised to come. Still, a small voice nagged. Why should he waste good money on a losing cause? They’ll hang me in the end anyway.
“I talked to your ma like I promised.”
Luke’s unease was plain to see. He’d clearly opposed her wishes.
“Did you make her understand?”
“Aw, Jessie, it made her cry. I almost bawled myself. Me a grown man. Don’t ever ask me to do anything like that again.”
“I won’t,” she murmured through stiff lips.
