Unforgettable

by Rosanne Bittner

  She toyed with her cup as she spoke, wishing she could send him on his way. It would be easier on both of them. But who better to defend her against the power of Nolan Ives than Ethan?

  She pursed her lips in thought, then finally told him. “Nolan Ives sent one of his men here last night. He broke in and…threatened me…let me know how easy it would be to burn me out or…get into my room in the middle of the night. He said I’d be wise to sell out to Mr. Ives. The message was very clear.” She straightened, facing him squarely. “But I’m not budging, nor will I ever sell out to Nolan Ives. They’d have to kill me first!”

  Ethan felt a deep anger at the thought of some man breaking in and bullying her, after all she’d been through, and considering her youth and vulnerability. It made him want to kill someone, and he knew what infuriated him most was the thought of some man forcing himself on her, taking what he knew damn well he now considered his, even though he could probably never actually possess her. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “You’ve got your man. You don’t need to pay me. All I need is food and a room to sleep in. I’ll find part-time work during the day to pay general expenses and keep my horse at the livery.”

  Allyson wanted to hug him. “Just like that? What about going up north?”

  “It can wait. What I’ll do is keep watch for a few weeks, and at the same time I’ll interview a few men myself who can take over when I leave. I know better than you who’d be dependable and who can handle himself. You trust my judgment?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then it’s settled. That son-of-a-bitch Ives is not going to use his money and power to destroy what you’ve worked so hard for. I know what this place means to you, Ally.”

  Her eyes teared with gratitude. “It means everything to me, Ethan. I’ve always wanted to have something all my own. If it wasn’t for Nolan Ives, I’d be the happiest woman in the world.”

  Ethan wondered if that was true. Didn’t she realize there was still something unfulfilled in her life? Didn’t she want a husband and family?

  “I’ll file a formal complaint with the law. They should know Nolan Ives has threatened you.”

  “It won’t do much good. I have no doubt Mr. Ives has the law in his back pocket. He left for a while, went back to Chicago. I was hoping it was for good, even though he’d built a house here. He came back just a few weeks ago, and he’s been buying up property all around me. He wants to choke me out, but I won’t let him.” She swallowed to keep back the tears. “I know men like you don’t think much about material things, Ethan, but for me, this is everything. It’s all I have, more than I’ve ever had in my life, and Toby died to help me get it. I can’t give up, I just can’t.”

  Ethan folded his napkin and put it on the table. “You won’t have to. I’ll make sure of it. You just show me which room is mine and I’ll put my gear in it. I’ll spend the rest of tonight keeping watch outside. I’ll work at night and sleep mornings. Do we have a deal?” He put out his hand.

  Allyson looked at the big, strong hand, remembered that hand gently grasping at her breast, working magic in private places. She was almost afraid to touch it, but she reached out and clasped it. “We have a deal. Thank you, Ethan.”

  Ethan squeezed her hand lightly, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. He wondered why he always seemed to lose his good sense when he was around this woman. Hadn’t he just told himself minutes ago that tomorrow he would leave for North Dakota? After all, he’d made that promise to his father, and he’d heard there was some kind of new trouble with the Sioux over a new religion.

  He let go of her hand, telling himself this was just for a little while, just for the summer. Then he’d go north. He would not let this be anything more than a job, because trying to go any farther with Allyson Mills was like beating his head against a rock. He would set Nolan Ives and the law straight, find a good man to work for her, then leave. That shouldn’t be so difficult.

  Allyson was busy convincing herself of the same thing. For the moment she was just greatly relieved for Ethan Temple’s mere presence. He would work for a while, find her a good man, straighten things out with Nolan Ives, and leave. That was all there was to it.

  His touch left a tingle throughout her whole body, and for the moment she could not quite meet his eyes. She walked into the kitchen and returned with a large piece of warm apple pie, then smiled at the way he devoured it along with another cup of coffee.

  “Well, God works in mysterious ways, Ethan. I prayed last night for help in knowing what to do about Mr. Ives, and today you showed up. Maybe now I can get a decent night’s sleep.”

  He grinned. “Glad to oblige.”

  “You sure you aren’t too tired to start tonight?”

  “I’ll be all right. We might as well show Ives right off that you’re not folding.”

  They both rose, and she grasped his hands. “Thank you, Ethan.”

  Their eyes met, and Ethan was tempted to pull her close and taste that mouth again. “You get a good night’s sleep,” he told her. “You work hard—you need your rest.”

  She pulled away, turning toward the kitchen. “Come and get your gear. I’ll show you to your room, then come back here and clean up. My room is right off the kitchen if you need me.”

  Ethan followed her, watching the gentle sway of her slender hips beneath the black velvet skirt, and flashes of how it had felt to be inside her stabbed at him. He got his gear, then followed her back through the double doors. She led him to a room at the end of the hall and took a key from a pocket of her skirt, unlocking the door. She turned then, handing him the key. The door swung open, and for an instant Ethan thought how nice it would be to pick her up and carry her to the bed. Would she fight him again?

  Allyson felt a rush of desire mixed with fear. He towered over her, all strength, a man who had already claimed her, touched her in secret places. What was this she felt? What was this sudden urge to try that again, to know if something like that got more pleasurable as time went on? “I thought a room at the end of the hall would be quieter, since you have to sleep in the daytime. This room is away from the street, and as far as you can get from the kitchen and restaurant.”

  Ethan took the key, touching her fingers lightly. “It’ll do fine.”

  Allyson suddenly felt an urge to run before she did something foolish. She ducked past him and headed back up the hall, turning at the double doors. “Thank you, Ethan. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow. And please, be careful.”

  He grinned. “Always am.”

  She smiled, remembering other times he had defended her. “I know. It’s just that I feel badly enough about Toby. I don’t want another death on my hands because someone protected me.”

  He shrugged. “We all take our chances.” He watched her disappear beyond the double doors, then picked up his gear and went into his room, throwing everything onto the bed. “You’re a damn fool, Ethan Temple,” he muttered. “A damn fool.”

  11

  Ethan waited behind a stack of crates, sure he had seen someone move through the alley toward the back entrance to Ally’s kitchen. He had been watching her place nights for almost two weeks with no trouble. Out of the several men he had helped Allyson interview for the job, two seemed well qualified, and he decided that if things were going to remain this quiet, he might as well have Allyson hire one or both of them and be on his way. There had been no problems so far, and seeing Allyson every day was taking its toll on his ability to resist the foolish desire to have her for himself. She had kept things cool and formal, “strictly friendship,” she had said about their relationship; but he had read something more in her eyes, he was sure. That was what kept him here.

  There! Someone darted close to the back entrance. He had long ago trained himself literally to see in the dark, having spent a good share of his life doing this kind of work, smelling out trouble, watching for people sneaking onto Indian lands. He moved on silent, moccasined feet from the shadows across the alleywa
y to a group of barrels near the back entrance. Someone was bent over near the back door, putting something down in front of it. He saw the flare of a match then, saw it being tossed toward the door. Whatever had been put in front of it burst into flames.

  Ethan darted from behind the barrels just as the man stepped back to observe his heinous crime. He rammed his six-gun into the man’s back. “Put it out, quick!” he growled. “Or you’re a dead man!”

  “What the—”

  “Hurry up!” Ethan jabbed with his gun, at the same time quickly yanking the man’s own gun out of its holster and throwing it aside. The man hurriedly bent down and kicked away the hay he had piled at the back door. He stomped some of it out, and the rest continued to burn harmlessly in little scattered piles in the alley. Suddenly the man swung a foot around and landed it in Ethan’s middle, sending him sprawling into the pile of empty barrels, which came crashing down around him. Ethan covered his head, felt the bruising blows to his back and arms. He quickly charged away from them, realizing the culprit was running down the alley.

  Ethan was not letting him get away. He rammed his six-gun into its holster and took off after him, his youth and longer legs helping him reach his prey in moments. He leaped onto the man’s back, knocking him to the ground, the man’s face scraping through the gravel as he slid a couple of feet. Ethan jerked him up and yanked him around, swinging a big fist into his face. The man sprawled backward but got back up again, plowing into Ethan with his head down and shoving him against a building. Ethan gasped when his back hit the wall, but he managed to grasp the man by the shoulders, pushing him away and holding him at arm’s length with one hand so he could use his other hand to slam his fist into the man’s face. Again the culprit went sprawling, and this time got up more slowly. Before he could regain his senses, Ethan pulled him fully to his feet and slammed him against the wall of a building, ramming a powerful forearm against the man’s throat and pinning him, pressing just tight enough to cut off most of his air and render him helpless. He pulled out his six-gun again and pressed its barrel against the man’s temple.

  “Now, let’s get something straight,” he growled. “I know who sent you! You tell Nolan Ives to leave Ally Mills and her place alone, or he’s the one I’ll be coming after, and this whole town will know what he tried to do! Everybody likes Mrs. Mills. They’d run Ives out of town on a rail if they knew he tried to burn her place down! I’ll let it go this one time, but this is the last warning!”

  Their eyes had adjusted to the dim lamplight in the alley, and Ethan recognized one of the men who had been with Ives a year ago, but not the one who had shot Toby. In turn, the man recognized Ethan. “What the…hell are you…doing back here…Indian?” the man managed to choke out. One of his eyes was turning black, and his lips were swollen and bleeding. One side of his face was scraped raw.

  Ethan just grinned, blood trickling down his own face from a cut on his forehead. “The point is I am back, and every night I’ll be prowling in the shadows around Ally’s Place. If this happens again, you or whoever else comes around will be dead!”

  “Ethan! Ethan, what’s happened?” Ethan recognized Ally’s voice. She was farther up the alley, looking for him. He stepped back, and the man he had chased down slumped to the ground. “Ethan!” Allyson spotted him and wrapped a robe tighter around herself as she ran toward him.

  “Hey, what’s going on down there?” a man called down from a window.

  Ethan looked up, realizing it was the far end of Allyson’s boarding house and the man roomed there. “It’s all right,” Ethan yelled up. “Just a little trouble with a thief. I took care of it. Go on back to sleep.”

  The man closed his window, and Ives’s man got up and ran off into the darkness, just as Allyson reached them. “What happened? I heard the barrels fall, and I saw some straw on fire in the alley! Ethan! You’re bleeding!”

  “I’m all right.” He winced at the pain in his shoulders and one arm, knowing he was badly bruised from the barrels. His ribs were also sore. He’d been so intent on catching Ives’s man that he hadn’t noticed he was hurt until now.

  “What happened?” Allyson put an arm around him as they walked back to the kitchen door.

  “Three guesses. You saw some of the straw still on fire.”

  “Someone really tried to set fire to my building?” Allyson put a hand to her chest.

  Ethan opened the back door, and they went inside. “I don’t think he’ll be back. I told him I know who sent him. Ives knows now that you’re protected. He won’t want to take the chance I’ll catch the next man he sends and drag him out in public and make him tell who’s behind all this. You’re too well liked and Ives wouldn’t want the publicity.”

  Allyson led him into her room and told him to sit down on the bed, then turned up the oil lamp on her nightstand. “Let me wash that cut,” she said. She hurriedly grabbed a washcloth and towel from a drawer in her wardrobe, then went into her washroom and poured some water from a pitcher into a bowl, carrying it out and setting it on her nightstand.

  “I could have taken this guy to the sheriff,” Ethan was saying, wiping at some of the blood with his hand. “But I figured if we can end it right here, it’s better for you. Trying to take someone like Ives to court wouldn’t be easy, and it might stir up too much of an investigation into your own life again. It’s best to let sleeping dogs lie if we can. Maybe Ives will think the same thing. Neither one of you wants the publicity, for different reasons.”

  Allyson wet the rag and wrung it out, then knelt in front of him and gently pressed it to the cut. “It’s already scabbing over. All I can do is wash around it.”

  Ethan watched her, thinking how beautiful she was in the soft lamplight. For a moment they were both quiet as she gently washed blood from his face. Ethan noticed she was trembling, and he ached to hold her. Pain shot through his shoulders then, interrupting his tender thoughts.

  Allyson saw him wince and catch his breath. “You’d better take off your jacket and shirt.”

  “I’m all right—just bruised. Wooden barrels are heavy, even when they’re empty.” He took the cloth from her and finished washing his face himself. “I’d better get back out there till dawn. I’ll just have to wait till then to lie down and wallow in my pain.” He smiled, but not convincingly.

  “You should see a doctor, Ethan.”

  He laughed lightly and stood up, suddenly feeling uncomfortable sitting on her bed, having to look at her in that soft flannel robe, aching to touch the warm curves beneath it. “If I saw a doctor for every injury I’ve ever had, I’d be in his office at least once a week and I’d be broke trying to pay him. I don’t need any damn doctor.” He held the rag to his bruised right hand for a moment, then reached over and laid it in the bowl. He noticed then there was a little loose dirt on her sheets. “I’m afraid I got dirt on your bed. I should have brushed off better before I came inside.”

  Allyson looked over, a sudden memory stabbing at her—lying back in blankets, Ethan Temple hovering over her, taking her to a place she had never been before. But then there had been the sudden pain…“It’s all right,” she answered. She looked up at him, hoping he could not read her thoughts. “If all I get out of this is a little dirt on my bed, I’m lucky.” She touched his arm. “What would I have done if you weren’t there to stop him? I don’t know what to say, Ethan.”

  “There’s nothing to say. You hired me to do a job, and I’m doing it.”

  Her eyes teared. “What if he had killed you, or hurt you a lot worse?”

  “You know I can take care of myself. And right now, he’s hurting more than I am. You just go back to sleep knowing everything is fine.”

  Allyson could not resist the temptation to stand on her toes and kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Ethan.” She watched his dark eyes, knew he wanted more than a kiss on the cheek. Everything had been very proper between them since he returned, and they had had plenty of chances to talk and share supper. They were friends now, and
she wanted nothing more than that. But sometimes…when he was close to her this way…when she thought about all that he did for her…and remembered that night in the tent…

  She turned away, nervously brushing the dirt from the bed. “Ives wouldn’t be crazy enough to send anyone back again tonight, would he?”

  Ethan rubbed his sore arm. “I don’t think he’ll send anyone back at all. Like I said, I gave his man a pretty stern message, and I doubt if Ives wants to look like the bad guy. He might try something through legal methods, but I doubt he’ll stoop to something like this again. Fact is, I’ve found a couple of good men who could probably take my place. I’ll keep watch myself for maybe another month, then I’ve got to go up to North Dakota. I can’t stay here forever.” I can’t be around you like this day after day, Ally, without wanting you.

  “I understand,” she answered. I don’t really want you to go, Ethan, but I’m afraid of what will happen if you stay. I can’t do that. I don’t want a man in my life. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  He smiled rather bashfully. “No, but I’ll know by tomorrow afternoon. These things always get worse before they get better. At least the bastard didn’t shoot at me.”

  Her eyes widened, the child in her becoming curious. “Have you ever been shot?”

  He opened and closed his right hand, working it against the pain. “The kind of work I do, I’ve been shot at several times, but so far I’ve only been hit once. I was handling some trouble between ranchers and Indians. One rancher apparently figured I was just one of the reservation Indians and took a pot-shot at me just because I was approaching to talk to him about coming too close to a reservation area. Luckily, some army troops were nearby and heard the shot. They came by and identified me.” A look of terrible bitterness came into his eyes. “The cattlemen had me tied by the wrists to a saddlehorn, a bullet in my lower left side; I had nearly passed out. They were going to drag me through rocks and brush until I was dead.”