by Debra Cowan
So why was the big man here instead of with his mother and sisters? Unless... “Did you already stop to see your family?”
“Yeah. Catherine and the baby are still there.”
“So what brings you here?” Bram was afraid he knew.
“I have some questions, starting with what the hell is going on with you and my sister?”
Chapter Nine
Bram froze. “You stopped in town on your way out to see your family.”
Jericho nodded. “And I’m not likin’ what I heard.”
Jake had mentioned there being talk in Whirlwind. Because Bram knew the likely source was Millie Jacobson, he had discounted it, thinking people would do the same. Evidently he’d been wrong.
He swiped the towel across his wet shoulders. “Want to go in the house?”
The man’s blade-sharp gaze panned the yard, then shifted to the house. Bram could hear his family’s voices inside.
“Let’s talk in the barn,” Jericho said.
Bram nodded. The former lawman wanted to keep anything about his sister private. Bram wished he could’ve done the same, but short of hobbling Millie’s lip, he didn’t know how he could have.
Jericho left his horse at the water trough and followed Bram into the shade of the barn, palming off his light-colored hat.
Figuring this would take a while, Bram leaned against the corner of a stall. “How much do you know?”
“My ma told me what’s going on.” He stood with his arms folded, his feet planted wide. “I want to hear it from you.”
Bram fingered the bullet graze on his right cheek. “Starting with me chasing Cosgrove from the shoot-out at Theo Julius’s ranch?”
“Start with when you found my sister at your cabin.”
Bram nodded. “I tracked Cosgrove’s horse there from Monaco, but he wasn’t there. Deborah was. I had no idea she’d been anywhere near him. No one did, because she’d left a note for your family saying she was going on to Abilene for her meeting with the school board.”
“But she was forced to write the note.”
“That’s what your ma and sisters believe.”
“Was she hurt when you found her?”
“She had cuts and bruises.”
Jericho paced to the next stall. “Was she... Had she been—”
“No,” Bram said quickly.
A pained look crossed the other man’s face. “Could that be another thing she’s forgotten?”
“Maybe, because she can’t recall anything that happened in Monaco, but Annalise believes that Deborah wasn’t hurt that way.”
“Annalise checked her out?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Jericho exhaled loudly. “When you found Deborah, she had no memory?”
“That’s right,” Bram agreed.
“How does that happen?”
“I don’t know. And neither does Annalise. She’s waiting on a letter from a doctor friend of hers in Philadelphia who’s had a patient like Deborah before.”
The other man was quiet for a moment. “Talk about the money.”
“She had forty thousand dollars with her, the same amount Cosgrove robbed from the bank.”
Jericho moved in front of Bram, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “So, you decided to bring the money home with her and use her as bait to draw out Cosgrove.”
“It started out that way,” Bram admitted.
“And now?”
“It’s still the one thing that I know will get that bastard here.”
“And what about my sister’s safety?”
“She has protection twenty-four hours a day. Me and two of my ranch hands, both excellent shots.”
A muscle bunched in Jericho’s jaw. “Where’s the money now? Here at your ranch?”
“No. It’s been returned to the bank and they’ve agreed to keep silent about it. In exchange, I promised them Cosgrove.”
“I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” The other man ran a hand through his hair, then resettled his hat on his head. “Has there been any sign of him?”
“Not yet. My men and I check the area hourly for new footprints, any signs of a presence other than ours. Davis Lee wired all the lawmen around about the lowlifer being on the loose and he hasn’t had any news.”
“I plan to talk to him, too.” Jericho leveled a look at him. “Why didn’t you let me know what was going on? You can imagine how I took it coming from Millie
Jacobson.”
Bram straightened. “That wasn’t an attempt to hide anything. Everything was after the fact. By the time I found out Deborah had been grabbed by Cosgrove, she was safe with me. The only other thing I could’ve told you was that she had no memory of herself or anyone else. There was nothing you could’ve done.”
“Has she recalled anything? She didn’t know me, Catherine or the baby.”
“She’s recalled a couple of things, but none that even hint at what went on between the time she left and when I found her. Something happened to her, but she still doesn’t know what.”
“I can understand why you didn’t contact me, but I don’t like that you’re using her to bait a trap for that bastard.”
“She’s as safe as she can possibly be. The rest of your family, too. She won’t get hurt. None of them will.”
“I hope you mean that.”
“I do.” Bram frowned, slinging the towel over his shoulder.
“Good, then you can tell me what you plan to do about compromising her reputation.”
“What do you mean? Yes, we spent the night together in a cabin, but nothing happened. There was a dust storm. What were we supposed to do? If we hadn’t taken shelter together, we could’ve died.”
Jericho nodded. “I agree there was no alternative.”
“Well, then?”
“Millie isn’t going to let this go. I suspect it’s already spreading like wildfire. When I told Ma that the gossip wouldn’t hold water because you and Deborah are engaged, she said that was no longer the case.”
“That’s right.” Bram shifted from one foot to the other. “We broke things off the night before she left home.”
“So you can see why your night together is damaging to her?”
Yes, Bram saw it. “Short of stringing Millie up, what do you think I can do about it?”
Jericho nailed him with a look. “There’s one way to stop the gossip.”
It took a moment for Bram to grasp the meaningful look on the other man’s face. “You can’t mean marriage!”
“Not at this point, but—”
“But what!” Bram shoved a hand through his still-damp hair. “Get engaged? Some old biddy is not going to dictate to me like that.”
Jericho took a step toward him. “We aren’t only talking about you.”
“He’s right,” a familiar voice said.
Bram glanced over to see his brother in the doorway. Inwardly, he groaned.
Jake walked in, greeting Jericho with a nod before his black gaze homed in on Bram. “An engagement would at least hinder the gossip.”
This was a bad idea all the way around. “Y’all don’t know that I asked Deborah to marry me and she said no. She was going to teach. That was the night before she left with that bastard Cosgrove.”
“It’s doubtful you’ll have to go through with a wedding,” his brother mused as if Bram hadn’t spoken. “Just stay together long enough to shut Millie up.”
“That could work,” Jericho said quietly.
There suddenly seemed to be no air in the barn. Feeling cornered, Bram looked from one man to the other. “This is plumb crazy.”
“Maybe so,” Jericho said. “But my sister’s reputation is being ruined.”
“
That’s not my fault.”
“It’s no one’s fault,” the former Ranger said.
“But it’s on you as much as it is her,” Jake added.
Bram glared. “Has it occurred to either of you that she might not be willing to go along with this?”
Looking frustrated, Jericho pinched the bridge of his nose.
Jake folded his arms. “You need to at least talk to her, Bram. See what she thinks.”
Hell! He wanted to flat-out refuse, but he couldn’t dismiss the fact that this gossip could ruin her. Might already be doing so. Still, a fake engagement, no matter the duration, would tangle him up even more with her. He was trying to let her go. But he didn’t want Deborah to pay for something innocent that was being turned into something ugly. And she would bear the brunt of the damage, Bram knew.
Even so, neither her brother nor his had any idea how prickly things were between Deborah and him. Recalling the argument they’d had the night he had called it quits, he shook his head. “She’s liable to refuse and I can’t force her to become my fiancée.”
“Just talk to her,” Jake urged.
Jericho nodded. “My sister is a practical woman. She’ll see the merit.”
Feeling completely whipped, Bram closed his eyes. “Fine. I’ll talk to her. That’s all I can promise.”
“Thanks.” The former lawman shook his hand. “I knew you’d do the right thing.”
Bram nodded.
“You can add me to guard duty,” Jericho said. “That will knock everyone back to six hours.”
“All right, thanks.”
“Noon shift?”
“Whatever you want.”
“I’d like to know when you talk to Deborah.”
“Okay.” He watched as Jericho walked out and rode off. He wasn’t convinced this was the right thing to do, but he didn’t know what was.
Jake studied him. “It’s obvious you still care about her.”
“That’s the damn problem,” Bram muttered, tension coiling through him.
“If she’s your fiancée, the talk will die down.”
“I know that’s the hope. She won’t be my real fiancée. I’m not proposing to her again.”
“You don’t have to. Just tell her what’s going on. This really is the only way to salvage anything of her reputation.”
He needed to let her go, not yoke up with her again.
Oh, hell. He might as well get this over with and talk to her, see what she had to say.
* * *
She’d said no. Again. Bram still couldn’t believe it. The next morning he dismounted near the church and tied Scout under a copse of trees with several other horses.
Last night he’d tried to explain to her the thinking behind his not-real proposal.
Her blue eyes had sparked with a temper he hadn’t seen in a while. Absolutely not. You nearly had apoplexy over that kiss. We are not getting engaged.
Apoplexy was going a bit far, Bram thought. He’d liked that kiss, wanted to do it again, but that would be going backward. No matter what he had said, there was no reasoning with her. Jericho had said Deborah was practical. She was a mule-headed woman, was what.
Other horses grazed on the slope alongside his, and empty wagons lined up on Main Street. The singing inside confirmed that he was late for services.
He slipped in and sat in the back next to Quentin and Zoe Prescott, automatically seeking out Deborah. There she was, near the front with her family—and Mitchell Orr, whose blond hair stood out like cotton next to all the raven-haired Blue women. Bram clenched his jaw tight until he registered that Orr sat next to Michal, not Deborah. It wouldn’t surprise Bram if her sisters had maneuvered things that way. He couldn’t help a smile at that.
His attention shifted back to Deborah. A wispy white dress with blue stripes molded to her trim back and tapered in at her small waist. A waist he knew he could span with his hands.
Tiny sleeves bared the slender arms that had slid around him for that kiss. Her hair was swept up high in the back to fall in a midnight-black curtain to her shoulders, revealing the elegant line of her velvety neck. His gaze was riveted on the tender patch of skin behind her ear where he had put his mouth plenty of times.
Hmmph. Thinking like that only stirred him up, so he quit.
When services ended, he waited as people filed by. He spoke briefly to Zoe and Quentin, then Zoe’s brother, Zeke. Chesterene Eckert gave Bram a pretty smile. When the redhead walked by with a young woman who was new to town, he saw her look back at Deborah.
“With one man a month ago,” she said in a low voice to her friend. “And now she’s with a different one.”
Bram stiffened, glancing back. Orr wasn’t even next to her. The store clerk was sandwiched between Michal and Jordan.
Frowning, he caught Deborah’s gaze on him. Her eyes narrowed, which didn’t stop him from looking his fill of her, from her flat-brim hat, over her full breasts and down to the black shoes peeping out from her skirts. Her features turned cool and challenging. That only put a throb of desire in his blood, which he doubted was her intention.
Stay away. Her message was clear and Bram was happy to oblige.
Last night she’d made him mad. He’d made her mad. Nothing he had said could sway her. Neither could anything her brother or mother said.
Well, Bram had done what her brother and his had wanted. That was the end of any engagement talk.
He made his way outside and helped Emma unload the hampers of food she’d brought for the all-church picnic. After setting the baskets in the shade of a sprawling oak his sister-in-law chose, he returned to the wagon for quilts to spread on the ground.
As if Deborah were a lodestone, Bram’s gaze was drawn back to her. He admired the classic lines of her profile and her thick midnight-black hair. He wanted to put his hands in that mass of raven silk and mess it up. She looked so pretty as she stood talking to Josie and Davis Lee.
Mitchell Orr stopped to speak to her and Bram’s eyes narrowed as he was hit with a savage sense of possession. Maybe one day he would stop feeling that she belonged to him. Because she didn’t. Not anymore.
It took effort to look away from her. When he did, he caught Millie Jacobson with her eyeballs fixed on him. He tipped his hat to her and her two young daughters as they walked past with a woman Bram didn’t know.
Millie’s husband, Verle, didn’t attend church. Bram couldn’t blame the man, he thought darkly as he caught Millie’s words to her friend.
“Deborah Blue.” She pointed surreptitiously at Deborah then made a small gesture toward him. “Alone.”
“Overnight?” The other woman sounded scandalized.
“Yes.”
Bram’s temper started to boil. If that gossipy hen were a man, he would call her out. He hoped Deborah hadn’t seen the women whispering and pointing.
She stood holding her niece, Evie, when two little girls ran up to her. Millie’s daughters.
They hugged Deborah, one of them having to stretch to reach her waist. With a surprised smile, she handed Evie to Marah and bent to speak to the children.
One of the little girls twirled, showing off her pinafore. The other fluttered a handkerchief in front of Deborah. She made a fuss over them, smiling warmly even though Bram knew she had no idea who they were.
She really would make an excellent teacher. He wanted that for her. He just wanted her to do it here, where he could see her without an hours-long ride.
His smile faded when Millie marched up to her daughters, snapped out something and dragged them off with her.
The raw hurt on Deborah’s face had Bram moving before he even realized it. What had that woman said? Why had she hurried her daughters away? Bram was afraid he knew.
The woman swept past him, towing
the little girls in her wake. “You can’t associate with her,” she said to them.
“Why, Mama? I like Miss Deborah.”
“She has low moral character.”
Bram stopped dead, his hands balling into fists. Had he really just heard that? He started to turn and call to Millie, but he noticed Mrs. Blue and Jordan standing only feet away.
The pallor of their faces and the fury in their eyes told Bram they’d heard the woman’s poison.
Catching Deborah’s name again, he glanced around to see Chesterene and her friend under a nearby tree. Both were staring at Deborah and whispering.
Anger ripped through him and he thought his head might explode.
The gossip Jericho and Jake had mentioned was worse than Bram had realized or would even have believed. At this rate, Deborah’s reputation would be completely
ruined by day’s end. And at church, no less.
Had anyone ever done murder in a churchyard? He might be the first.
You could nip this in the bud, a little voice said. Propose the fake engagement again.
No! How many times did he have to be hit in the head with that board?
Still, he was the only one who could help her. Fully aware that she wouldn’t welcome his assistance, Bram strode over to her anyway.
She had turned away, but he could see fury on Jericho’s stern features. The big man’s gaze was directed at Millie. Catherine’s beautiful face was drawn and sad. She squeezed Deborah’s hand.
Just remembering that comment from Millie to her daughters set Bram off all over again. Before he could talk himself out of it, he boomed, “I’ve come to claim my fiancée for lunch.”
He slid an arm around Deborah’s trim waist.
She went rigid, as he’d expected, and tried to pull away. “What do you think you’re doing?”
His hold tightened as he bent to her. “Later you can cuss me out all you want, but for your sake, go along with this.”
Approval glinted in her brother’s eyes and Catherine gave Bram a grateful smile. Behind her, Marah’s and Michal’s eyes went wide.
“We talked about this last night,” Deborah said tersely.
Bram squeezed her waist. “Look around. People are staring and talking. This is more serious than I realized.”
