Give Me A Texas Outlaw Bundle with Give Me A Cowboy

by Jodi Thomas, Linda Broday, Phyliss Miranda

  “Anna,” he began but made the mistake of stalling a moment to get his thoughts together. He started again, “Anna . . .”

  For the longest few seconds she didn’t respond but finally said, “Yes, he has a ranch house northeast of Amarillo.”

  Anna returned to whatever was going through her mind, and he figured it wasn’t necessarily being taken into custody that she was so concerned about. She’d know in her heart that her father wouldn’t have prosecuted her, but she still had to worry about the bank robberies after she left Galveston. For some reason Ethan could not pinpoint, something a whole lot more serious lay heavy on her mind.

  Suddenly, she seemed to deliberately veer off course. “Did you get your horse settled in? There’s a lean-to, I’m sure you noticed. It’s not all that big, but the horses can get out of the weather.”

  “Thanks. I found it and stored my gear,” Ethan said.

  “Good.” She offered up a small arresting smile. “He’s a beautiful palomino, so glad you got him settled in.”

  “Yellow Jacket likes to sleep outdoors, so I hobbled him—”

  “Hobbled!” Dakota almost knocked his chair over getting to his feet. “Hobbled! Hobbled!” He rushed out the door.

  Tight on his heels, Bones barely escaped through the heavy metal screen before it slammed shut.

  Taken by surprise, both Ethan and Anna rose from their chairs. Ethan glanced from the door to Anna, who was visually distraught. She grabbed her waist and began to shake as though she’d suddenly caught a chill. Her face paled and she looked like her feet wouldn’t hold her up.

  Although Ethan wanted to go after Dakota, he grasped her by the shoulders to keep her from keeling over. Drawn between comforting her and following after the kid, Ethan took care of the most immediate need and gathered her into his arms and held her tightly against him.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, knowing she was taken aback terribly by Dakota’s outburst, but the fact that she felt so good in his arms didn’t escape notice.

  With her hand clutched against her chest, she whispered not so convincingly, “I’m okay.”

  “I’m going after the kid.” He decided that although she was shaken Anna was being honest about being all right, but he wasn’t so sure about Dakota. “It’s raining, and he might get hurt. What did I say to upset him so much?”

  She didn’t speak, but he felt her stiffen beneath his touch. He pulled back and looked in her eyes.

  “We’ve got to talk, Ethan.” She barely lifted her voice above a whisper. “There’re things that happened—things that took place while we were on the run that you should know about.”

  Ethan searched her face for answers but found none. “We’ll talk later, but right now I’m concerned about you and the kid. Are you sure he’s safe out there alone?”

  She nodded her head. “He knows every nook and cranny of this canyon. Please don’t let his strange behavior make you think he’s light in the head, because he isn’t. He’s extremely smart, but sometimes his mind can’t control both his thoughts and his actions.” She bit her quivering lip. “He’s a survivor, and most times prefers to hide his feelings than to share them with others. He’s been mistreated and doesn’t trust anyone. He’s just recently come around to me.” She looked up at Ethan, melting his heart. “He’s a good person and knows how to take care of himself.”

  Relief came to Ethan, but she’d brought up more questions than answers.

  “What did you mean by things I should know, Savannah?”

  Tears welled up in her eyes, and she simply said, “I’m not sure you’ll understand.”

  “Whatever it is, I can help you get through it—”

  “No, Ethan. This is one time I have to do this alone.”

  “You don’t trust me?”

  Anna turned away and began clearing dishes from the table. After a moment, she looked up and said, “I don’t know who to trust, Ethan.”

  A tear rolled down her cheek.

  Chapter 5

  Anna wanted more than anything to trust Ethan, but his lawman’s oath trumped anything and everything on the wrong side of the law. Right now, she certainly was on the wrong side. She couldn’t afford to let him know the whole truth until she had Dakota safely out of harm’s way. Ethan would be furious with her for what she’d done, but she didn’t want Dakota dragged into it . . . if that was possible.

  Ethan grabbed his hat, jammed it onto his head, and hurried out the door.

  Anna removed her apron, hung it over a chair, and followed.

  Sheets of rain blinded her. By the time she stepped from beneath the jutting rock overhang that protected the door, she could barely make out the lawman, who headed toward the lean-to.

  Cold sopping dirt whipped around her ankles, making it harder for her to walk. Mud and water clutched the hem of her calico skirt and weighed it down to where she had to struggle with each step. She caught up with him by the time he reached the corrals.

  “Son of a bitch!” he bellowed.

  Angry flashes of lightning arched from cloud to cloud before zigzagging from cloud to ground.

  Even with the thunder and wind gusts, she knew by the tone of his voice he was gnashing at the bit. He removed his Stetson, ran his fingers through his hair, and put the hat back on.

  “What’s wrong, Ethan?” She grabbed him by the arm, not so much to keep him from walking away, but to steady her so she didn’t fall in the sludge.

  He stared ahead. A muscle quivered in his jaw, betraying his deep frustrations. He set his chin in a stubborn line before hauling off and kicking the hell out of one of the corral posts, shaking the railing.

  “What’s the matter?” Anna asked again.

  “I should’ve gone with my gut.” Rain dripped from his hat. “But I never took the kid for a horse thief.”

  The accusation flying around caught Anna off guard.

  “He’s not a thief. Ethan, think about it,” she spouted, trying to ignore the stinging rain slapping her on the face. “He couldn’t have gone far in the rain. There’s only one way out of the canyon and it’s flooded, and he didn’t take your saddle.”

  “Only because it wasn’t here for him to steal.” His jaw quivered. “I had Yellow Jacket hobbled right here, and now he’s gone. What in the hell do you want me to think?”

  “I know where he is, Ethan. He’s taken the horses to higher ground, where they’ll be safer.”

  “You know or you think you know? They were plenty safe here.”

  His words stung almost as much as the raindrops lashing out at her.

  “He didn’t think they were. Let’s go back inside and I’ll fix a pot of coffee. I can explain. Please trust me. He won’t hurt Troubadour nor would he harm your horse. He’s not trying to run away; he’s just doing what comes natural for him. He might not be able to communicate with humans like we think he should, but he has a special gift when it comes to animals. He’ll take care of them.”

  “He knows horses?”

  “Better than anyone I know. So let’s go.”

  The trip back to the dugout, although it was probably less than a hundred yards away, was even worse. Bucketfuls of cold rain came down harder, faster without giving them any reason to believe Mother Nature had any plans to make it stop.

  The stream coming down from the headwaters of the Red River ran bank to bank with water hungrily lapping at the path. A quagmire of clay sucked her feet into the mud, hampering her every step. Torrential sheets of rain made it impossible to see the dugout clearly. When she lost her footing and almost fell, Ethan took her hand to keep her upright.

  Thoughts of hobbling slid around Anna’s mind like her boots on the red, soggy dirt, making her stomach churn and her throat tighten.

  If only she’d paid attention and noticed that Ethan had hobbled his horse . . . if only.

  There were no decisions left to be made. She would have to tell Ethan everything . . . or at least what she could without taking a chance on getting Dakota ar
rested.

  By the time they reached the doorway, their boots and the hems of their clothes caked with mud, a prairie dog trapped in his hole during a flood couldn’t possibly have been any more soaked. The only difference was Ethan and Anna weren’t likely to drown.

  Ethan held the screen for her but didn’t come in. Instead he called out, “If you’ll toss me my saddlebags, I’ll change into something dryer.”

  “And with a lot less mud on them, too.” Anna smiled, wondering if there was anyplace in the canyon that hadn’t turned terracotta except for the dugout’s floor. Well constructed, the structure was totally dry inside except for a tiny bit of moisture that had collected in the corner right above a nail used to hold up her clothesline.

  Don’t forget to repair the leak, one side of her mind warned, while the other remembered, You won’t be living here come tomorrow.

  A sad feeling overcame her. Like her mind, her heart had a difference of opinion. One part was sad about leaving the free-spirited and simple life of the new frontier to return to the fast-paced, hectic lifestyle of Galveston. And though anxious to see her family again, she dreaded facing her parents and having to come clean with them. It would hurt not just in her heart; it would hurt others she trusted.

  Considering how much conflict she already had within her heart about telling Ethan the truth, she knew it would be virtually impossible for her parents to understand.

  A clap of thunder caused Anna to jump and it certainly cleared her mind. How could she have forgotten the man standing outside her door soaked to the gills? Except for propriety’s sake, there was no reason he had to change clothes outside in the pouring rain when the dugout was perfectly dry.

  She had to raise her voice a little so he could hear her over the storm. “You don’t need to change out there. I’ve got a curtain that separates the room in half, so we can both have our privacy.”

  Anna heard him stomping muck from his boots. By the time he entered, he’d already taken off his hat and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a muscular chest covered with crisp brown hair. She had to pry her gaze away. Yes, ma’am, he’d physically grown into the man she always imagined he would. A powerful, well-muscled body moved with easy grace as he removed his shirt, exposing a big dose of his beautifully proportioned body. A more devilishly handsome figure she’d never seen. He shot her a smile that sent her pulse racing.

  “Sorry about that.” He reached for the curtain and pulled it far enough along to hide him from view. “Didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

  “You didn’t embarrass me. It’s not like I’ve never seen a man naked before.” She turned her back and began loosening the ties on her boots. “Plenty of them.”

  “Hmm, so if I didn’t embarrass you, what caused that sweet little blush on your cheeks?” His boot hit the dirt floor with a thud. “And I wasn’t naked. You wanna see naked, wait about ten seconds and pull the curtain back.”

  “Ethan Kimble, you’re a scoundrel and have been ever since I’ve known you.”

  No denial from him. Honesty had always been his strongest attribute.

  About as cold as Anna could ever recall being, she quickly undressed, dried her hair with a flimsy, thin towel, and slipped on dry clothes. He’d probably not be too keen on her wearing pants and a shirt, but with only one change of clothes, she had no choice.

  By the time Ethan pulled the curtain open, dressed in a dry shirt and pants, the coffee brewed softly on the stove. She pulled two cups from the cabinet.

  He seemed to make no attempt to cover his scrutiny as he looked her up and down as though he was appraising a mare. He drew in his lips approvingly, which only made his dimples entrench themselves deeper into his cheeks. So, if he disapproved of a woman wearing pants, he was doing a good job of covering it up.

  The welcoming smell of strong, freshly brewed coffee seemed to soften the mood, reminding Anna of her parents when they’d sit and share after-dinner drinks in the parlor.

  “We won’t be gettin’ out of this canyon until the water goes down, and from the looks of those clouds, that won’t be for a while.” He lowered his big frame into a kitchen chair. “So, you’re stuck with me, Savannah, whether you like it or not.”

  Anna filled two cups of coffee and set one in front of Ethan. Before she could move her hand away, he caught it with his strong fingers. “We can’t avoid this forever. It’s time we talked.”

  The day had arrived that she’d had nightmares about for months . . . her day of reckoning.

  Chapter 6

  Ethan moved his hand away from Savannah’s and accepted the coffee she offered but couldn’t keep his eyes off her. As much as he’d like to ignore her, the soft glow of the low-burning lantern only highlighted her beauty. He wondered if she even realized how lovely she was, not just in looks but in actions. Although she was given every comfort of life growing up, she rarely took advantage of it. Unless one counted the times her parents would make unnecessary excuses for her behavior when they thought she acted inappropriately, reflecting poorly on them as parents. Like the pants and shirt she had on. No doubt Abigail Parker would make plenty of excuses for her daughter’s lack of fashion sense. Frankly, he liked the way she was dressed, as it reflected her sense of independence, plus those pants looked pretty dang good stretched across her rump.

  Anna was always at her mother’s beck and call. Anna did things from the goodness of her heart, while her mama made sure everything she did looked good for her and her family.

  Assisting her at the annual church bazaar to help needy children was one of his fond memories. His own mama used to say, “That girl would take in a grown wolf if she thought it needed help.” He’d only known Anna to be considerate of others. Nothing like the spoiled brat she portrayed when she rode out of Galveston or the pistol-packin’ mother grizzly who confronted him earlier.

  But the problem still existed that he hadn’t come more than six hundred miles to tout her attributes, but to take her into custody and protect her until he got her safely home.

  Soft rain continued to pitter-patter on the roof.

  “Who’s going to start, Anna?”

  She cupped the coffee mug in her hands. “I guess I should.” She inhaled deeply. “The first thing you need to know is that I didn’t know Gator Graves or Shorty Duncan before—”

  “I’ll be the judge as to what I need to know.” Once the words were out he recognized how easily she could wind him up. The lawman in him took over, asking, “Then the witness who saw you in the dining room with Graves was lying?”

  Just thinking back to his interview with Bradford Jackson III made his jaw tighten involuntarily. Ethan had never agreed on much with the man, but then he’d had plenty of good reasons, going back a lot of years. Most of the town folks, although sympathetic that he’d lost the sight in one eye as a child, still didn’t trust the boot-lickin’ flannel-mouthed bastard.

  “Hear me out. Then you can grill me, Ethan.” Her tone was velvet-edged steel. She shoved the coffee away from her and folded her hands together on the table. “Just listen, and it’ll all make sense.”

  Useful investigating was always slow work, particularly since Ethan already had most of the facts. He found himself wanting to hurry her up and get to the information he didn’t already know. He’d received updates on his hunt for Anna. He knew how and where all of the robberies took place and who was involved, so all he wanted to know was the why and what of them. Why did Anna, who had everything in the world a young woman could ever want, get involved in the first place? What was she forced to endure while on the run?

  In order to draw the answers out of her, he’d have to be more patient and do the job he was trained for. Listen, evaluate, and sort out truth from fiction.

  “Go ahead.” Ethan folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. “I’ve always been a little impatient.”

  “A little?” She quirked a brow and shot him a wary smile that stung to the core. “I didn’t know Gator Graves until he app
roached me at dinner one night. He presented himself as a jewelry salesman and had a Patek Phillipe pocket watch he knew I’d been looking for.”

  “For your mother’s birthday?” he half asked, half stated. “What did it look like?”

  “A beautiful piece of jewelry. Blue enamel with an inlay of red and pink roses, in a four-leaf clover design accented with diamonds.” She rubbed her arm a little bit, as if trying to wipe away some of the ache in her heart. “It took me a while to save up for it.”

  Could be the truth. Ethan remembered seeing Anna’s mother, Abigail, with a watch pretty much matching that description, and when he’d complimented her on her selection, she’d said it was a birthday gift but never said from whom.

  “Go ahead,” he coaxed her, wanting her to relax and give him every bit of information that might help.

  “I agreed to meet him after my Theater and Art Guild meeting at the Fillmore Opera House. Before I knew it, he’d stuck a pistol in my side and forced me to the balcony . . .”

  She buried her face in her hands and began to weep softly. Although he wanted to comfort Anna, Ethan refrained from touching her. She had to get her story told in her own way. Maybe something she said could help him save her from a life in prison.

  Anna wasn’t sure she could go on and tell Ethan all of the facts but knew she had to be honest with him. She loathed that she had lost her composure and let him see how fragile and vulnerable she was. The truth would be the only way he could help to save her, and she was on a slippery slope with it at the moment.

  Anna crossed her arms on the table and rested her forehead on them. For the first time since she’d arrived in the Texas Panhandle with Dakota at her side, she allowed memories to flood the barriers she’d erected in her mind.

  Praying for strength to coherently tell Ethan what had happened, Anna described how the cold steel felt pressed against her rib cage and how she tried to reason with the big Cajun and about staring straight ahead at the unlit stage of the Fillmore Opera House.