Texas Passion

by Sara Orwig

  “You hardly know a soul in town and you won’t start tongues wagging with one simple waltz. For all they know, I’m your brother.”

  “I’m married and I shouldn’t dance again,” she said in a low voice, hating to refuse him and longing to step into his arms and dance for hours.

  “No one will notice and you’re a stranger to most people.” Dan turned and pulled her to the circle of dancers, knowing his remark was a lie—every man there would notice Rachel’s fiery hair, her beauty. He watched her, damning himself for not arresting Eb in Fort Worth and turning back there.

  He pulled Rachel into his arms, beginning to dance, his gaze locked with hers. He wanted all her fire and loving, yet he could not have more than the few kisses and caresses he had taken. He hurt with a depth of pain that he hadn’t thought he would ever suffer again.

  They moved in silence while she gazed up at him solemnly as if she realized something disturbed him. There were no words to ease what he would do.

  When the dance stopped, Dan kept his arm around her waist, holding her against his side as they stood with the crowd to wait for the next number.

  “Dan, we should—”

  “Here comes your father.”

  Pa appeared, moving out of the throng with the dark-haired woman at his side. “Rachel, I want you to meet Abeyta Galvez. Mrs. Galvez, this is my daughter Rachel Johnson. This is Dan Overton.”

  “How do you do,” Abeyta Galvez said in a soft voice. “Your father has told me about your trip west. You were very helpful, Mr. Overton.”

  “A family alone is a target.”

  “Now everyone is safe in my beautiful city. This is my home and I hope I never have to leave it.”

  Music began and Pa tugged on her arm. “One more dance and then I should take Lissa back to the hotel.”

  “It was nice to have met you. I hope you like it here,” Abeyta said.

  “Thank you,” Rachel answered, wondering about her, noticing a ring on her finger.

  Two dances later, Eb Kearney appeared with Lissa in his arms, her head on his shoulder. “I’ll get Josh and take the young ones back to the hotel. You two can go to the hotel when your sister and Mr. Murdock go back.”

  “Good night, Pa,” Rachel said, brushing Lissa’s cheek with a kiss. “Night, Josh.”

  “Good night. Night, Mr. Overton,” Josh said, gazing up at Dan. “We’ll see you tomorrow, won’t we?”

  “You probably will,” he answered in an impassive voice.

  Josh flashed him a smile and turned away with Pa.

  “You’ve been good for him.”

  “Josh has all the family he needs.” Dan replied gruffly. His fingers closed on her arm. “I want another dance with you.”

  She looked up at him, unable to refuse as they began to waltz. The world faded away. Only the music and Dan kept her attention and she felt tension spring between them. Soon they would part. Would she ever know this kind of excitement again? Would he leave San Antonio and never return?

  She glanced at the dark shadows outside the ring of light. People had gone and there were fewer dancers now, more room for them to move about. Dan took longer steps and she matched them, feeling invigorated, excited in his arms. He watched her with a smoldering look that made her pulse race. At the same time, she knew he was angry over something, yet even when he was somber, dancing in his arms left her breathless, wanting more.

  The music ended and a guitar player stepped forward to announce the fiesta was over.

  “Where’s Abby?” Rachel asked. “I should find her before we leave.”

  Looking over the crowd, Dan spotted William Murdock’s blond head next to Abigail who was laughing up at him while they sauntered slowly across the Plaza.

  Dan glanced down at Rachel at his side. If Eb didn’t stand between them, Dan knew there were other problems. If he wanted to marry again, what could he give her? He had promised all his savings to his father. Dan could never go back to work at a bank. He wanted to ride with his people, to spend his days on the open frontier.

  He felt a pang of regret that was gone as quickly as it had come. You’re as likely to ask Rachel Kearney to marry you as you are to move to Baltimore and work in a shoe factory. Sooner or later you’ll arrest Eb Kearney, and then she’ll hate you.

  He remembered dancing on the empty, dusty street behind the courthouse with her, remembered the feel of her soft body pressing against his. His gaze slid to Rachel and he drew a deep breath. How had she come through even the war years without a man wanting to marry her? What would happen to her when he took Eb back to Mississippi? McKissick was a ruthless bastard.

  Dan slid his arm around her waist as they crossed the Plaza. If you stay and work for Eb Kearney for even a month, you’ll be in love with her. He looked away from her. He hadn’t thought it possible that he would ever love again, but he knew he was on the verge of losing his heart. And it wasn’t just Rachel. He thought about Josh and Lissa.

  “There’s your sister up ahead, walking with Murdock.”

  “Hurry and we can catch up with them!” Rachel said, pulling away from him. He reached out to slide his arm across her shoulders and hold her back. “Let them go. They’re headed for the hotel. They don’t need us at their heels. He might want to kiss her.”

  “Abby barely knows him!”

  “Your little sister is growing up.”

  Staring at him with a frown, Rachel turned to look at Abby. “I don’t even see them now.”

  “I do and I’ll keep an eye on them. Murdock’s all right. I talked to him a while tonight.”

  “You might have made a rash judgment.”

  “It’s usually not difficult to tell what kind of man a person is.” He kept his arm around her shoulders while they walked along in silence.

  A block from the hotel Dan saw Will Murdock draw Abby into a darkened doorway. He wondered if Rachel was aware of where her sister was as they passed the building and entered the lobby.

  “Thank you for taking my family to the fiesta tonight,” Rachel said solemnly, turning to look up at him.

  “You’ve been to your first fiesta,” he said, his mind running over their moving next to McKissick. “I’ll be by to talk to your Pa in the morning.”

  “It won’t do you any good to try to talk him out of this because we’ve already paid Horace White. You’ll just worry Pa.”

  Dan couldn’t resist touching her, trailing his fingers along her throat, moving his hand across her shoulder. “Maybe, but I want to talk to Eb anyway. You like a fight, don’t you, Red?” he asked softly, fighting the urge to take her back outside into the shadows and kiss her again.

  “I don’t want Lyman McKissick to stand between my family getting what they need. And this is a blessing for us in so many ways. We never expected to acquire so much for the price Pa had to pay.” She glanced beyond him. “Here comes Abby.”

  Abby and William Murdock stood inside the doorway talking and then Abby left him, heading up the stairs.

  “I’ll be right up, Abigail.”

  “Rachel? Fine,” Abigail said dreamily, gazing at Rachel as if she hadn’t really seen her.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Rachel watched Abby go upstairs.

  “First love is overwhelming.”

  “Abby’s not in love! She just met him.”

  Dan Overton was amused. “She looks like a woman in love to me. And I don’t think time matters. What about when you fell in love with Elias?”

  She blushed, and he realized the lie was bothering her conscience. “We had known each other forever. Maybe once, a long time ago when I was Abby’s age before the war I felt that way, I don’t remember now.”

  Wondering if there was someone back home she was talking about, Dan touched her cheek. “Then that’s a shame, Mrs. Johnson,” he said softly. “Every woman and every man should have one love like that, one love that makes you feel breathless and as if all things are possible.”

  “What was your wife’s name?”
<
br />   “Solange. My son was Timothy.

  “What kind of accident was it?” The moment she asked, she bit her lip and frowned slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry into your life.”

  “Their carriage turned over.” He gazed beyond her remembering, feeling the bitterness well up. “Some men were after her carriage, and the driver was fleeing on a dusty, rut-filled road. The carriage went around a corner too sharply, turning over and smashing into a tree. By the time we found them, Solange and Timothy were dead, the driver had a broken arm and leg. He lived two weeks, but infection set in and he died.”

  “How dreadful!” Rachel stared at him, hearing the anger and bitterness in his tone as he told her, knowing it was long before the war, yet he carried scars from the hurt that he would never lose. She placed her hand against his cheek. His gaze swung back to her, and his eyes narrowed. He stared at her and fire sprang to life in his dark eyes.

  She yanked her hand back, suddenly feeling a mixture of desire and danger. So often he exuded an aura of danger. All the time on the trail, she had thought it was because he was after Pa. Now she didn’t know what caused it, but she felt it again. And he wanted her in the most basic male way. His look was intense, blatant. It made her draw her hand back swiftly, but it also heated her. And she was aware of him, knowing now that it was the painful loss of his wife and child that made him solemn, wary, and bitter. She was aware physically of him as well, memories spinning in thought of him dressed only in the breechcloth, of swimming with him when he was nude, of his powerful body that was unforgettable. Disturbed, she felt an awkward moment as she gazed up at him.

  “Thank you for your escort tonight. I didn’t want to walk across town alone,” she said finally.

  He nodded and she turned to climb the stairs, Dan walking alongside her. At the top of the stairs, she faced him. “I know you’re down the hall the opposite direction from us. I’ll say goodbye here.” Rachel gazed up at him, still feeling the same acute awareness of him. He leaned down, brushing her lips so lightly with his.

  “Good night, Rachel,” he said in a husky voice.

  She turned away, going down the hall and Dan watched her graceful, seductive walk. He wanted to pick her up in his arms and carry her the few yards to his room, to his bed, to watch desire dance in her emerald eyes. He remembered her in the creek with him, the perfection of her body, the enticing thrust of her breasts. He drew a deep breath, feeling as if the walls had closed in on him.

  At the door of her room she turned and slanted him a look that made his heart thud. It was a mixture of innocence and provocation. Her full lips curved in a smile before she disappeared inside her room and closed the door.

  In that moment he became determined to possess her. Before he arrested Eb Kearney, he was going to seduce Rachel. He wanted her beneath him, hot and wild and fulfilling all the enticing promises of her kisses.

  And he would give to her in return. She was never meant to go through life without knowing passion. He strode down the hall to his room, looking at his reflection in the mirror as he yanked off his collar. “You’re as much a bastard as McKissick,” he snarled at himself. “At least McKissick offered marriage.”

  Dan paced the room, stopping to stare out the window. Lights glowed brightly from a cantina across the road down the block. He stared at the night, swearing under his breath. Go to Eb and tell him that he was from Pinkerton’s. Eb would have to sell the place and get out.

  Feeling a heavy weight descend on him, Dan mulled what to do, finally deciding he would arrest Eb, give him a chance to sell out so he would have a stake for Rachel. Then Dan would take Eb, Rachel, and their family on a stage to Galveston where they could catch a boat to New Orleans and up to Vicksburg and home. He hadn’t wanted to travel back to Mississippi with all of them, but he couldn’t get around it now.

  He clenched his fist. He didn’t want to fall in love, didn’t want to become involved with any family, but he wanted Rachel. He looked at the glow from the cantina.

  “Damn,” he said softly under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. If he could just get his blood cooled, view Rachel as he did other women, he could think straight and act without worry.

  Dan changed to a chambray shirt and buckled on a gunbelt, striding for the door. Minutes later he stared at the telegram in the clerk’s hand. To: A. Pinkerton. Will have P.B. in custody soon. Will wire upon arrival in Shreveport. D.O.

  Dan nodded. “It’s correct. Send it.” He left, striding across the road to the Red Garter Saloon.

  At three in the morning he left the saloon. His body was hot with wanting a woman, yet he didn’t want just any woman. It was one woman who had captured his desire and made him ache and spend sleepless nights in torment.

  With a pocketful of winnings, he went back to his room, closing the door behind him, still thinking about Rachel, images tormenting him of her asleep, her spill of sun-colored hair spread over a pillow. He yanked off his shirt and tossed it down. He wanted her and had wanted her since that first night. He drew a deep breath as he stripped off his clothes and stretched out between cool sheets that could not assuage the heat he felt. He wanted her beneath him, her long silky legs around him. She was a mature woman, independent enough to know what she wanted and make decisions about what she did. He wouldn’t be seducing a starry-eyed innocent like Abigail, but a twenty-two-year-old woman who had full responsibility for a family, as much responsibility as many men.

  He wanted to take some of the cares off her shoulders. He remembered waltzing with her and the carefree expression on her face, the moments in the creek when she had laughed with him.

  After he arrested her pa, Dan knew she would want to place a gun against his head and pull the trigger. Even so, he had to take Eb Kearney back to Mississippi to stand trial.

  Chapter 14

  Heading northwest, Josh was astride a new roan purchased in San Antonio. Along with them were four men Pa had hired. Wondering if Pa had done the right thing, Rachel studied them as she drove the wagon. One man was William Murdock. A black-haired thin man was Oscar Nolan. Another man appeared the most unlikely to be willing to fight because he was as short as Abigail and couldn’t weigh much more. Zeb Blake wore rimless glasses and a pistol on his hip and his sandy hair stuck out like spikes beneath his stained gray hat.

  Pa said he had made it clear to each man the dangers he might face, and Zeb was willing to take the job. The other man was a Spaniard, José Solana who was stocky, swarthy, and had a ready smile. A scar laced his face from temple to jaw and gave credence to Pa’s assurance that he was willing to fight.

  All of the men except José had fought in the war. She knew Oscar and Will came from small farms in Kentucky and Tennessee. Nolan had worked last year with two men who had blazed a trail north, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. Eb felt lucky to have him, but Rachel wondered why he hadn’t stayed with Goodnight and Loving. Pa said José was born in San Antonio, and Pa knew nothing about Zeb’s past.

  Abigail was in high spirits, Rachel suspected due to William Murdock working for Pa. Josh and Lissa both seemed excited as if they were on a new adventure.

  Her gaze went to the familiar tall figure on the sorrel riding ahead of them. Once again Dan had offered his services. He told Pa he had a few extra days and he would come out and help get Pa set up. Pa insisted he would pay him, so Dan finally agreed to go on the payroll.

  Rachel was excited to have him along, but there was a nagging curiosity why he had taken up with them out of Fort Worth and never let go. She wished it was because he wanted to be near her, but she knew that wasn’t why. That wouldn’t be what had brought him to their campfire in the first place. There was some reason he was sticking with them, and she couldn’t figure what it was. But after all this time how could it be Pa?

  That meant Pa was safe! They had made it to Texas and the past was over and done. She felt like smiling all the time. And Dan Overton was still with them and now, so soon, she felt she could reveal to hi
m that she wasn’t Mrs. Elias Johnson, that she had never been married. The only cloud on her joy was Lyman McKissick, but in the warm sunshine with such promise for freedom from the worries in Mississippi, she could push fear of McKissick aside.

  The men led the new horses Pa had purchased and she looked at the animals as if they were precious jewels. This would be their start in Texas.

  From talking to men at the land office, she knew they might face other dangers besides McKissick because they would be on the frontier.

  Now with four armed men, she felt safer. Her burdens had eased, and she was hopeful that things would be good.

  Five hours out of San Antonio, Pa rode back beside her. He motioned with his arm. “Rachel, this is the eastern boundary of where we’re going to settle. From now on we’ll be crossing our own land.”

  She gazed at the land that had changed little for the past few miles. It was rolling, dotted with juniper, abundant mesquite, prickly pear, occasional oak and cottonwoods. Exhilarated, she wanted to grab a handful of dirt because this Texas home was what she had dreamed about and it was safe for Pa.

  Within half an hour they halted beneath the shade of tall cottonwoods beside a small trickle of water in a wide, dry bed. She climbed down off the wagon and strode to the creek to splash water on her arms and face. She pushed away her bonnet.

  “You’re on your own land now,” Dan said quietly behind her. She turned as he tossed off his hat and knelt to scoop up a handful of water to splash on his face. He wiped water and sweat off his forehead with his shirtsleeve.

  “We’ve made it to Texas,” she said with satisfaction, relishing every tree and bush. Her gaze shifted to Dan’s solemn face. “I’d fight anyone to keep this.”

  Something flickered in the darkness of his brown eyes and his jaw hardened. “You’re going to have to, Red,” he said quietly. “You can bet the place on that.” He strode away from her and she wondered what made him so gruff and taciturn. All morning he had ridden without talking to her.