by Becky Lower
• ♥ •
He’d only called her sweetheart because the endearment chafed her. He could read that much in her eyes. He enjoyed getting her dander up. And he enjoyed calling her sweetheart. He enjoyed way too many things about her. He could track as well as the next person, but he let her take the lead. She assumed she was more familiar with the land in these parts. And for right now, he’d let her keep the illusion.
Besides, his nose hurt. He ran his fingers over the bridge. Not broken, as she’d said, but definitely sore. He winced as he quickened his stride to keep up with her, since his nose still throbbed. “Why don’t we stop in the first town we come to and get something to eat? My treat.” James chuckled as his words caused a scowl to form on her gorgeous face.
“Why don’t you keep your eye out for berries, instead?” She strode even faster. “They make a fine meal, and they’re free, which is all you can afford since you happen to be destitute right now.”
He had no problem keeping up with her, which, he could tell by the way she held her back straight, annoyed the hell out of her. She must have forgotten he spent years in the military, marching almost every day, eight to ten miles a day. It hardened a man, and even if some of his muscles had atrophied while at the gaming tables, he was still in good shape. At least, good enough to keep up with a woman.
“All right then. No breakfast. So why don’t you fill the void in our day by telling me a bit about yourself? You’ve been the one asking all the questions so far. Now, it’s my turn.” Her obvious annoyance made his lips curve upward.
“What would you possibly have a question about?” Elise snapped.
“I’ve already asked how you became so adept at using a whip. A question you ignored a bit ago. It’s not a skill most well-bred women have need of.” He motioned with his head toward the leather around her waist. “And why, as a well-bred woman, were you alone on the wild streets of St. Louis in the first place?” It was not as idle a question as he tried to make it. He had no knowledge of her background, other than she came from a large family of half-breed ranchers. Maybe the time had come to dig deeper into her background and why she affected him so. But then again, maybe he didn’t want the answers. Still, he waited for her response, his stomach tightening. Maybe she could sidestep questions about her past as well as he could. Two could play this game.
She sighed and fingered the whip. As if she’d prefer to unravel it and use it on him. He took a step away from her but still kept pace with her. He could almost hear her teeth grinding together. Her firm jaw made him aware she didn’t care for his line of questioning. For having the tables turned.
“Have you always been this annoying?” She slid a sidelong glance his way.
“Yes. Now answer the question.” He kept his gaze straight ahead.
“No wonder your woman left you. Which question do you want me to answer?” She attempted to gain more time.
He had done the dance enough times himself to be familiar with it. He grinned. “The first. How’d you learn to use the whip?” He ran a hand over the leather strip wrapped around her.
She shied away. As if she were a wild horse. As if she couldn’t stand his touch. But he didn’t buy her reaction for a second. Her lips didn’t lie. She could stand his touch quite well.
She sighed again, heavily this time. “All right. I’ll tell you. But I’m only doing so to fill up the time until I’m done with you.” She narrowed her eyes and speared him with her glance. He winked at her. She took a deep breath. “And, I expect retribution.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded. “So spill.”
“My family owns a ranch on the outskirts of town. Our business is rounding up wild horses, breaking them and selling them. My father started the business years ago, long before I was born.” She glanced over at him before facing forward and quickening her pace. “As you have already been told, I’m half Indian, Ojibwa. My mother lived in a camp in Canada. My father was a French fur trapper, and he wintered over in the camp one year, met my mother, and relocated her to the states.”
James enjoyed the lilt of her voice, the intoxicating combination of French, English and Ojibwa accenting her voice and making his insides jump. More than the lilt of her voice affected him. She took her time getting to the answer, but he didn’t need her to hurry. At least she hadn’t given him another evil stare or the cold shoulder. She actually appeared to be warming up to her story. When she glanced his way again, he merely nodded.
“My father had a nice, comfortable business going, until the Civil War. Then, everything exploded.”
“Why?” James shook his head.
“Because both sides had Calvary divisions. And, as Indians, we didn’t take a side. We thought we’d let the white folks slug it out among themselves. But we could use the war to make a profit.” She grinned for the first time since she’d awakened.
“So you were forced into service, since both the Union and Confederate forces needed mounts?” James brushed his hand over his still aching nose.
“Precisely. Before the war, my job had been to stay home and help to break the horses, so I honed my whip skills in the paddock. My brothers never allowed me to ride out with them and rustle up wild horses. But the war changed all that and I had to assist in any way I could. The whip helped considerably when I had to work with the others to wrestle a hundred horses at a time back to the ranch.” She shrugged and fingered the whip again.
“And now, you use it on people instead of horses.” James murmured.
“Only if they act like an ass.” Elise smiled sweetly at him, and batted her eyelashes. “Which a lot of men seem to do.”
“You certainly have a broad vocabulary of swear words. That’s also something a well-bred woman wouldn’t necessarily have knowledge of.” James tried to bait her.
“Also the benefit of having brothers. And being on the trail of wild mustangs for weeks at a time.” She picked up her pace. “Let’s get moving. We can probably get to Fort Defiance by afternoon.”
James’s steps grew lighter as they neared the fort and civilization. Since appearances were everything, he’d prefer to make a better presentation than that of a damp, dirty and hungry man.
“I need clean clothes and a hot meal first.” He held her arm, the thought of hot, crispy bacon and eggs over easy making his stomach growl. “Let’s stop before we get to the fort and fortify ourselves.” He glanced at her, putting on his best hangdog face. It usually made the women melt.
She glared at him. “Not feeling so good, Slick? Tell you what. We’ll stop for food, since we do need to keep our energy level up. But no buying clothing until we get to the fort.”
He sighed and let go of her. He’d have to be content with breakfast. But he would keep his thoughts confined to a vision of a tub filled with hot, soapy water. And the woman trotting along beside him up to her neck in it. With him. They’d finish getting clean, maybe make love in the tub, don their new finery, go out on the town and come home to make love again. Yes, he could keep those visions with him all day. If her soft breasts were any indication of how the rest of her body would feel, he’d be willing to wait a day or two to find out. But he would find out before this trip ended. After all, she had his money in her drawers. And he needed to distract her long enough to retrieve it. He only hoped he wouldn’t be the one getting distracted.
• ♥ •
Clay and Cody woke the morning after the big poker game with a huge hangover and an empty saddlebag. Mr. Flynn had plied them with liquor after James Garnett and the lovely woman in the distracting red gown had left the gaming room, encouraging them to continue to play with him. They foolishly used the last of the money from the saddlebag, which Cody had stashed away their first day on board, and Mr. Flynn ended up taking the entire purse for the evening.
“Damn Garnett and that woman. If not for them, we’d have something left to take home to Daddy.” Clay placed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun bouncing off the waves. “She wat
ched me like a hawk all night, so I couldn’t pull a card from my sleeve.”
“And you were watching her instead of what was going on at the table, gawking at her like you’d never seen a woman before. You’d been losing every night, even before the woman appeared. Can’t blame her for last night’s turn of events. She was a tasty morsel, though, wasn’t she? Wonder where she’s at now.” Cody got to his feet. “Maybe we can sweet talk her into buying us breakfast.”
Clay paced around the freight deck. “Forget about breakfast. What about our plans to buy the ranch? We had a shot at it by stealing this saddlebag stuffed with cash and obviously the paper was worth something. Now, we’ve got nothing to use. We need another plan. Should we kidnap a woman and try to sell her to Josie? I bet the lady in the red dress last night would fetch a hefty price. Or rob a bank?”
“Get serious, man. We blew our only chance to buy back our land. Daddy will not be pleased.” Cody shrugged. “Let’s just head on home and figure out what to do once we’re back in Texas.”
Clay glared at his brother. “You never did care to take chances. That’s why you bail out of a card game when the going gets tough instead of trying to bluff your way to winning. We need to arrive in Texas with money enough to buy back our land, and we sure as hell can’t expect to run into a fortune while we head home with our tails between our legs.” They made their way to the main deck, hoping to find food along the way. “As I see it, we’ve got two more days aboard ship. That gives us time to come up with a plan.”
“Well, Clay, I can’t even think much on an empty stomach. Maybe some folks have left their half-eaten breakfast trays by their doors. Come on. First things first.” Cody headed up to the main deck, where the more expensive staterooms were located. They lucked out and found a couple trays that had been barely touched, and took them back to the freight deck.
As the wilted toast and runny eggs were devoured, Clay discussed their various options. “How about breaking into some of those empty staterooms? I bet we could find some baubles there worth something. Like what that lady in red had around her neck last night. I’ll bet old Garnett paid a pretty penny for that trifle.”
Cody wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Maybe we could find that lady in red and have her sponsor us for the rest of the trip. She looked like she had a lot of money. And she’s certainly a better attraction than a card table.”
“Yeah, Cody, you’ve got about as much chance of catching her eye as we do finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Why don’t we figure out where Garnett and his lady friend are staying and pose as the housekeeping crew? That way we can scoop up all their money lying around, and maybe even take that necklace.” Clay paced the floor. “All we need are some different uniforms. Bet we could find some in the laundry room.”
Cody stood as well. “Sounds like a better plan than robbing a bank. Let’s go find out what room the great Garnett is in first, then find the laundry and steal some clothes. We may get lucky and find enough to pawn so we can buy Daddy’s ranch back. But no more card playing!”
Clay glanced at his brother and shrugged. “We’ll see.”
CHAPTER TEN
Elise’s stomach had been growling for well over an hour before the town appeared. James had been right about the need for fuel for their bodies, since they were hiking back to St. Louis. They’d need to cross the Mississippi again, and blend back into the forest, which she’d much rather do by going over the river on a bridge rather than taking another swim. But if need be, she’d get wet again.
First things first. Food and clean water to wash up with. She’d need to use some of James’s money for the food, but wasn’t that why she took it in the first place? She glanced sideways. His wounded nose had stopped bleeding, but one eye had started to blacken. Even though the wound had been unintentional, she grinned at the outcome. The cheeky obwaam. He never should have been fondling her breasts, anyway.
James’s stomach had protested the lack of food loudly for hours, so Elise expected he’d say something soon. But the man needed to work for his meal. What could she devise? She led them to the first tavern they passed, where she excused herself to go to the privy. She needed a bit of privacy to retrieve enough of James’s money from where she’d stashed it to pay for their meals. As soon as they sat, he asked for a bowl of cold water and soaked the bloodstains from his handkerchief while he glanced at the food offerings. She gazed at the treasured piece of cloth. The question most on Elise’s mind burned into her brain. Now or never.
She put her hand over the menu and stared at James. “I’m willing to pay for your meal, in exchange for an answer to the question you keep dodging.”
He made a noise in the back of his throat. “It’s my money in the first place, sweetheart, if you’ll recall.”
She smiled. “Ah, yes, but possession is nine-tenths of the law. And although you might be holding the cards, I’m the one with the money. Do you agree to answer my question?” She waved the menu in front of him. “Anything on here in exchange for telling me more about your lady friend.”
“You are a dog with a bone, aren’t you?” he growled. “I told you she no longer matters.” His gaze flickered over her before he stared at the tabletop.
He finally raised his gaze to her. “I’ll take the steak and eggs with a side order of bacon. Lord, I’m hungry.” He grinned at her. “Nothing better than a good hike through the forest to whet one’s appetite.”
Elise’s heart rate sped as James quickly explained how he supposedly had closed the door on his past. Being able to control his emotions no doubt helped him during the war, but it needed to stop now, if she were to ever get a true answer. “You say she no longer matters, but I don’t buy it for one second. You are dying for her to hear of your success.”
“I can’t blame her for her actions. Never have.” The way he spoke about her made Elise’s heart crack open. Obviously, he had cared deeply for her. Still did. And that angered her. Red dots formed in front of her eyes and she blinked them away.
James glanced over, a pensive look on his face this time instead of the smirk she’d grown familiar with. He tugged out the lacy white handkerchief from the bowl of water and spread it on the table. “I carried this all through the war without getting it bloody. And now, because of you, it’s finally got blood stains on it.”
The hanky had been embroidered with intertwining letters J and M. The material was wrinkled and stained a bit, old stains in addition to the new blood. Elise touched the letters softly. The letters his lady friend embroidered with her own little delicate hands, no doubt. Her fingers fisted again.
“You loved her very much. This M lady. What is her name, anyway?” She didn't need his nod of agreement. It was a statement of fact.
“Madeline.”
Elise ground her teeth together. “But will your show of success, your vindication, make things better? Make you stop hurting every time you reflect on her? Every time you utter her lovely name?”
He shrugged. “That’s been my plan since the war ended. I have no wish to backtrack to the way things were with her before I went off to war. However, I do need her to see I wasn’t the man she thought I was when she shunned me, that I had a reason for my choices. But plans have a way of being upended at a moment’s notice and what once had importance may not be so compelling anymore.”
Elise shoved back her hair from her face and braided it into a single long coil. She could barely control her own anger against the woman. “You’re still amassing your fortune, you still plan to open a business in San Francisco and get word back to her about how you’ve made a success of yourself. You’ll undoubtedly climb onto the next riverboat once we part ways. I don’t see where things have changed all that much.”
James crossed his arms over his chest. “Things have changed. I have jumped off a boat to follow another woman into the wilderness. Yes, you have taken my money along with your paper, for which I’ve yet to be paid, which justifies my reason for following you. But
I could probably have won that much and more had I stayed on board the riverboat.”
He shrugged and spread his hands wide. “I would have made enough this trip to quit gambling altogether and open my business. Instead, I have chosen to follow you. I don’t regret a dime of what I’m losing by not staying on the riverboat. My jump into the drink won’t get me to San Francisco any faster, but you’re a far bigger prize than a pot of money at the poker table. And much prettier.”
Elise faced James, her heart beating so hard against her rib cage she could swear he had to hear it. He said all the things she had hoped he would from the moment they met, but somehow his old love, this Madeline, kept getting in the way. “Nice speech, Slick. But I’m not some prize animal at auction. I don’t buy your sweet words for a minute. You still say her name like a caress. Mine sounds harsh coming from your lips.”
“My lips like your name just fine, Elise.” He swooped in before she could put together a reply and kissed her. He backed off a bit and whispered, “My lips like your mouth, too.” He wrapped a hand around the back of her head and drew her back to him.
Damn him. Her lips liked his, too.
• ♥ •
He could tell he’d unsettled her. Her shortness of breath, the way she fanned herself with the menu, made him wish to drag Elise back to him and make love to her mouth until her eyes crossed. His fingers itched at the thought of undoing her braid and running them through her waist-length hair, so black it had a blue sheen to it.
Instead, he put on the face that had gotten him through so many rough patches while in the military and acted unaffected. Maybe the time had come to leave the blood stained handkerchief behind. He glanced at it, lying by the dish near his elbow. His fingers caressed the intertwined letters, J and M.
