by Chloe Carley
He entered the small mud shack where Ollie had disappeared. “I’m taking her back to town and putting her on the first train out of here. Get the boys ready to move out when I return.”
“Where are we going?” Ollie asked. “You never did say?”
“We’ll head toward Santa Fe. Rio Arriba has reportedly just received a large shipment of merchandise heading for the gold fields. They intend to open up a bank and it’s being funded with money that should be arriving by armed stagecoach in a few weeks. We need to get up there and set up surveillance.”
“I like the sounds of this job,” Ollie told him gleefully.
Roy added, “This is our last job. We’ll have enough for each of us to disappear after this and adopt normal lives.”
“I’m heading for the border and a nice sandy beach somewhere with a pretty senorita who doesn’t mind me being lazy all day long.” Ollie gave him a wide grin that showed several missing teeth. The rest were horribly tobacco stained. . The man rarely changed or laundered his clothing, and Roy didn’t know the last time he’d seen the man care for his scraggly grey beard. He was a sight that made most people turn their heads the other way. A pretty senorita? Ollie had better hope to find one that was more interested in his money than his looks or manners. He is sadly lacking in both.
Roy laughed. “A pretty senorita sounds good right about now. Maybe I’ll join you.”
“The more the merrier. Go get rid of your sister. I’ll make sure we don’t leave any evidence around that would tell the army we were here.”
“I’ll be back by sunset.” Roy turned toward the door, but Ollie called him back.
“Good luck. She’s seems like a handful.”
“She’s stubborn, but she’s always listened to me before. I’ll send her on her way with a promise to join her in a week or so. That should give us enough time to complete the job in Rio Arriba and disappear. She’ll be upset for a bit, but she’ll get over it.” And she’ll be alive to live the rest of her life. She’ll get over my deception with time, and who knows, one day maybe I’ll be able to come back and join her without looking over my shoulder for the hangman. Maybe I can even send her some money to help her start fresh.
“Heartless talk coming from her brother,” Ollie commented, pulling him back from his wishful thinking.
Roy eyed the other man. “What would you have me do? Make her part of our gang and risk her neck in a noose?”
Ollie shook his head. “No, you’re doing what needs to be done. Just don’t know that I could have been that heartless to my own sister, were she still alive. The army took care of that long before you and I met up. They used her as bait, not realizing that I wasn’t the worst threat they faced. They were in Comanche territory and the Indians came in and burned the entire town, with everyone trapped inside their houses. Anyone who tried to escape was shot with an arrow and scalped while still alive.”
“That’s why you hate the Comanche so much?”
“That and other reasons. My sister got out of the house alive and they took her and a couple of other women with them when they left town. The army was too busy trying to regroup and didn’t go after them until the next morning. They found all of the women dead, their bodies burned, and all cut up. I have a similar hate for the army, as well, for their part in her death,” Ollie informed him.
Roy nodded, completely understanding the other man’s thinking. If something had happened to Riley like that, I wouldn’t have stopped until every last man responsible was dead by my own hand. Call me ruthless, but this outlaw lifestyle isn’t for the weak.
There wasn’t anything Roy felt he could say so he addressed the current situation—his sister’s untimely arrival. “I’ll be back soon. Be ready to ride.”
*****
Riley watched Roy disappear inside the small mud house and crept as close to the window as she could without being seen. With everything she’d heard about Roy and his outlaw activities, she didn’t trust him. She’d seen that other man with him, the one from the posters and whom the sheriff had said was the second vilest criminal in Texas. He looked mean and as if he didn’t care about anything except his own skin. How could Roy have hooked up with men like that? He wasn’t a bad person. He sat beside me in church for all of those years, and yet … I can’t deny—and he didn’t bother to do so either, that a criminal is exactly what he’s become. What happened to you, Roy?
She forced her thoughts back to the present and leaned forward, the better to hear her brother’s conversation. She co vered her mouth with her hand when his words registered. Her brother intended to take her back to town, put her on a train with a promise to join her, and then just disappear from her life forever.
When she heard booted feet coming toward her, she darted backward, slipping through the rails of the corral just in time to appear as if she was examining something on the ground and hadn’t just been spying on him.
“What are you doing?” Roy asked her.
“Examining my shoes. They’ve been very scuffed up since arriving in El Paso.”
“Since when have you ever cared about a lady’s shoes? And what are you dressed like that? You hate dresses.”
Riley sniffed and tossed her chin into the air. “I’ll have you know I’ve grown up since you left.”
Roy smiled, not believing a word she said. He could see the light of defiance in her eyes and he hadn’t missed the way she was constantly pulling at the fitted bodice, as if she was terribly uncomfortable in such a confining garment. He nodded toward his horse. “Let’s go.” He deftly mounted up without any hesitation.
“Where are we going?" she asked, gasping in surprise when he reached down and pulled her up behind him on the horse, her skirts riding up above her knees and giving anyone watching them a glimpse of her bare limbs. She hurriedly tried to pull them down, but they were trapped beneath her. She used her brother’s shoulders to lever herself upward and finally got them straightened out.
This is a perfect example of why women should be allowed to wear trousers!
Roy glanced over his shoulder at her and arched a brow. “Ready yet?”
Riley scowled at him and huffed out her breath. “You never answered me. Where are we going?”
Roy turned around and started his horse moving. “Back to town.”
“Oh, good. I’m sure the sheriff…”
“I’m not going to turn myself in,” Roy informed her in a disbelieving tone. “I told you what would happen if any of us were caught. I’m taking you back to town. You don’t belong out here.”
“Neither do you,” Riley argued.
“That is merely your opinion. I want you out of El Paso. It’s no place for a young woman like yourself.”
“Are you coming, too?” Riley asked, playing along as she tried to process everything she’d heard.
“Not right now. I have some business to attend to first. I’ll join you in a week or so and we’ll see about getting a piece of land to work. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come after Ma and Pa died and help you get everything settled. It sounds like you had a hard time of it. I’ll make it all up to you when I get back home.”
“You said a couple of weeks?” Riley asked, playing along that she hadn’t already heard his plans.
“Yeah, something like that. I need to tie up a few loose ends here. I don’t want anything I’ve done here to follow me back and taint you. It’s not quite September yet, I should be home before the middle of September, at the latest the end of the month.”
Riley nodded, her temper flaring at how easily the lies tripped off his tongue. Liar! Liar! Mother would have tanned your hide for telling so many lies.
She remained quiet for most of the ride back to town. Roy took her straight to the train station, promising to retrieve her belongings from Mrs. Jensen and bring them along when he joined her. The train was already boarding when they arrived, and she noticed Roy made a point of keeping his head down and murmuring his responses.
He handed her
the proper money and waited off to the side while she purchased a ticket and asked for her trunks to be loaded onto the train. The ticket man nodded and advised her to hurry. He would make sure her trunks made it onto the luggage car, but she needed to head to the passenger car right away.
She kept glancing at her brother, watching how he refused to look anyone in the face and kept his hands tucked into the pockets of his trousers. They were covered with leather chaps. He’d removed the leather thong that kept his handguns secured in their holsters.
He doesn’t want anyone here to know who he is. He’s also prepared for trouble. Roy—what happened to you? You weren’t a bad man when you left home. You were my brother. You’re still my brother and I’m going to do whatever I can to get you out of this mess you’ve created.
Riley couldn’t even fathom announcing her brother’s identity to anyone; not without a plan for how to help him keep from hanging for his crimes. She played along, not wanting to jeopardize his safety any longer than necessary.
He escorted her to the passenger car and waited to make sure her bags were being loaded back onto the train. He’d paid for her ticket to Missouri and for that, she supposed she should be grateful, but just now she was angry.
“All aboard,” the purser called out, looking at her in question.
She tearfully hugged her brother goodbye.
“Goodbye, shortstuff,” Roy said gruffly, invoking her childhood nickname. He searched her eyes for a long moment and sighed. “I’m sorry about the parents.”
Riley felt tears clog her throat and remained quiet.
Roy disengaged her arms from around his neck and gave her a little push toward where the purser stood waiting to help her board the train. “Be good.”
She climbed aboard, helpless to do anything else but comply. She stood in the open doorway, wishing there was some way she could make everything right in both of their worlds.
Roy didn’t stick around to watch the train depart, and Riley knew it was because he was afraid of being recognized. She waited until he’d disappeared from her view and the purser cleared his throat behind her. She turned and nodded at the man whom she recognized from her earlier travels.
“Miss, you’re returning home?”
“Yes.” Now that her journey was about to begin, her mind was spinning. “Will we be making the same stops as my first journey?” she asked, a plan already forming in her head.
“Sure will. First one will be about three hours north of here. Eventually the tracks will be connected between that stop and Santa Fe, but I hear they’ve been having Indian trouble. Nothing’s going to happen until they get that situation under control.”
Riley settled down next to the window to formulate her plan. Roy was going to be heading north to Santa Fe with his men. Rio Arriba must be somewhere close. If she could get to Santa Fe, she might have a chance of talking him out of robbing and destroying this town. Maybe she could even talk him into taking her with him when he crossed the border.
She smiled as she realized she now had a workable plan. At the next stop, she would quietly slip off the train when no one was looking and make her way to Santa Fe.
Surely there would be someone along the trail who wouldn’t mind letting her ride with them. Her plan would be much simpler if she had access to her prized trousers, but they were in her room at Mrs.
Jensen’s and she’d raise too many suspicions if she started asking passengers on the train if anyone had an extra pair they could loan or sell to her.
No, she would just have to make do dressed as a female for the time being. She sighed at the thought of having to leave behind the carpetbag she would likely never see again.
She’d kept her most prized keepsakes of her parents in there, but their loss would be worth it if she could convince Roy to give up his life of crime. She’d reach the town where he was headed. Surently when Roy realized the great efforts she’d made to save him, he’d change his mind. He was her brother and the last member of her family.
He was worth saving, even if he didn’t realize it at the moment.
Chapter 7
Eight days later…
Riley clenched her hands by her sides, forcing herself not to react to the tongue lashing she was currently getting from the pompous Mrs. Clarice Young.
The woman had a very high opinion of herself and, with her husband so focused on getting his family safely to California, there was no one to naysay her uppity attitude or to reprimand her when she issued unfair expectations of the hired help. Mainly, Riley.
When she’d gotten off the train eight days prior, she’d grabbed her skirts in both hands and headed away from the tracks and toward the trail of dust she could see in the distance.
She’d walked a mile or so when the circle of wagons had appeared in the distance. She had headed directly for them. There had been four families who were heading to Santa Fe, along with their earthly belongings.
Finding them had seemed like a sign from above and Riley had sent up a silent prayer for God’s providence.
She’d also taken it as a sign that she was doing the right thing by trying to help her brother save himself. She’d introduced herself to the man who appeared to be in charge, Mr. Thomas Young. She’d asked for their help in reaching Santa Fe and had agreed to help in any way she could.
She’d even offered them the small amount of money she had tucked into her pocket, but they’d refused to take it.
Mr. Young’s wife had piped up, reminding her husband how hard watching their young son was becoming.
Riley had agreed to help watch the Young’s son, Peter, as well as several of the other younger children, in exchange for the travelers taking her along on their journey. Everything had been going fine until Peter had taken it upon himself to go wandering off. Not wanting to risk the anger of the young man’s parents, she’d gone after him.
The wagons were circled up and camped with no plans to move again for at least two more days. One of the young women had gone into labor and had delivered a healthy baby girl late last night and everyone, even the snooty Mrs.
Young, had agreed to give her a few extra hours to rest and recover before they began their journey again.
Their ultimate goal was to reach California, but that would never happen before winter arrived.
For now, they were hoping to reach Denver, Colorado, and spend the snowy months there, leaving for California the minute word came back that the mountain passes were open. After hearing these plans, Riley had been planning to help herself to a pair of men’s trousers and slip away during the night.
The wagon train was going to head close to Santa Fe but would be turning north long before they actually reached the New Mexico Territory town.
According to Mr. Young, they only had a few more miles west to travel and that would bring them as close to Santa Fe as they were going. His rough estimate had been that Santa Fe would be less than ten miles from their location at that point, and Riley planned to cover those miles on foot and arrive in the town by the end of the tomorrow.
She already had her escape planned out. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of the fact that she, a girl traveling alone, was going to head out into the wilderness all by herself.
Of course, they would find out when they finally stopped to make camp for the night and went looking for their traveling babysitter. Instead of finding her inside the Young’s wagon, suffering from a bellyache, they would find a hastily written note and her dress as repayment for the men’s clothing she’d taken in the wee hours of the morning.
It was currently hidden beneath the feather-stuffed mattress in the back of the Young’s wagon.
