He laughed. “No, I guess you’re not.”
“And if I take Caroline home, then my sisters are going to insist I stay. This way I can continue doing what I want. But you’re right, Caroline needs to return to Zenith before she shoots someone who’s not a criminal or she gets shot.”
Deke took Ruby by the arm as they crossed the street to the other side. “You know I’m impressed with how you’ve caught these last two criminals. You’re good. We even work pretty well together.”
She turned to face him and was struck by how his dark hair and emerald eyes could send a girl’s pulse racing. Even hers, though she wasn’t interested in pursuing a chase that would only end up with her heart aching once again. “Thank you.”
She halted on the wooden sidewalk and stared at him. For a moment, she considered asking him to join forces with her, but then she realized that would never work. He’d want to take control. “You’re good too. I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.”
“Maybe,” he said. “I want to get out of this business. Soon. Before someone shoots me. You need to be thinking about what you want to do besides bounty hunting. Eventually, you realize you’re going to die if you keep chasing outlaws.”
Even her own father had died at the hands of a criminal. But a man could expire sitting around watching cattle munch grass.
“Take care.” He turned, and she watched as he walked away, his boots echoing on the planks of the sidewalk.
If she’d been interested in attaching herself to a man, he would still be her first choice. But she had plans. Regardless of what Deke said, she loved her job and had more bounties to catch and a cousin to send packing.
*
Later that evening, sitting in their hotel room, Ruby counted out Caroline’s portion of the money and handed it to her.
The young woman’s eyes grew wide as she stared at the stack of cash. “In the last two days I’ve made more money than I would have made all month working a job. I like being a bounty hunter.”
Ruby sighed, bit her lip, and gazed at her cousin. “Caroline, this isn’t working. I should never have brought you out on this hunt. You’re not ready.” She watched as Caroline absorbed the news that she was sending her home.
Her face tightened and her eyes widened. “But we’ve captured two criminals,” Caroline said defiantly. “This last one I caught by myself.”
Ruby didn’t want to make her cousin feel bad, but she feared for Caroline’s life. She didn’t want to take her body home. “You did catch him, but your shot was way off, thank goodness. But what if you’d killed him? How would you have felt? Or what if you’d shot me?” She licked her lips. “I know you want to do this, but I think it’s best you go home and practice your shooting skills. Then you can rejoin me once you’re better.”
Though that time period would be several months down the road. Time enough for Caroline to develop her gun skills. And while maybe Ruby should take Caroline home, she knew better than to try to get away from the farm without someone with her. There was no way her sisters would knowingly let her hunt alone.
Caroline hung her head, her voice that whispery soft caress. “I know I’ve had two shots misfire, but I don’t want to be forced to marry that horrible, stinky, pig farmer.” She crossed her arms across her chest. Big tears formed in her eyes, making Ruby feel guilty as sin. She didn’t want to hurt Caroline. She only wanted to protect her until she was ready.
“Then don’t get married. Go home and practice your skills. When I come back for the birth of Annabelle’s baby, then you can come out with me again. I’m not saying you can never go bounty hunting with me again. Practice and get better, then we’ll go together. I just don’t want to be responsible for you getting killed.”
Ruby could see the determination in Caroline. She knew she wanted to do better, and the woman had a very good reason. When a girl approached the old age of twenty, mothers began to get nervous and tried to force their daughters to accept any proposal. That’s what Caroline’s mother was doing. She wanted her daughter to marry the pig farmer. It was a marriage proposal. Accept it, her mother had insisted, like Caroline should settle for less than what she wanted.
Drawing her shoulders back stiffly, Caroline sighed and lifted her head. “Okay, you’re right. I wasn’t ready. But when you return home, I’m going to be so dang good at shooting I’ll be able to knock all the cans off the fence without closing my eyes or my hand shaking.”
Caroline scooped up her share of the bounty and stuffed it in her skirt pocket. “This is a start. Now I know what I’m getting into and what kind of money I can make, I have a goal to work toward. A goal where I can go alone. A goal where I’m a good bounty hunter.”
If only there was a way to make her sound tough. Right now, she still talked like she was soft as cotton and not as durable. There wasn’t a criminal alive who was going to tremble in his boots at her gentle, mellifluous voice.
“Please don’t go out on your own. You’re not ready yet,” Ruby said, gazing at her cousin, hoping she would listen to reason. She wanted Caroline to like being a bounty hunter, but Ruby didn’t want to see her get hurt.
“I won’t. I’ll wait for you, unless you do something stupid like get killed or married,” Caroline promised.
Ruby started laughing. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m careful. I’m not worried about getting killed. And I’m never getting married.”
“Yeah, well, you better tell that to Deke. That man looks at you like he’d enjoy nothing better than a good roll between the sheets with you.”
“You don’t have to get married for that.”
“Ruby, you need to save your virginity for your husband,” Caroline insisted.
“I’m not getting married. And I’m not having sex with Deke Culver. I once asked him to bed me and he refused.”
“Ruby!” Caroline exclaimed. “What were you thinking?”
How could she explain to Caroline or anyone else the complete loss of power a woman felt when a man forced himself upon you and treated you like a whore? How could she explain the loathing that swept through your body and how she’d shriveled up inside to escape the revulsion that permeated from every pore?
“I was thinking I wanted a man to erase all the bad memories of Clay Mullins’s attack. Deke refused, saying I wasn’t old enough.”
“Well, you were just a girl.”
Yes, she’d been young, but she had friends who were married and expecting their first baby by that age. Then, to erase the bad memories and to understand why a man would overpower a woman just to have sex, she’d gone to the one man she’d had such a compelling attraction to. And when he’d turned her down, it had been crushing. Totally defeating.
Now, she was cured. No need for an escort, a husband or a man in her life. She could live independent and alone.
“I was old enough. And I’d just buried my papa. I was ready to learn what it’s all about. Now, I just don’t care.”
“At this moment, it seems he’s ready and you’re not.”
“Deke Culver is the past. Bounty hunting is the future. No man tells me what to do. I’m an independent woman.”
*
The next day she walked down to the sheriff’s office before the scheduled time to put Caroline on the stagecoach to Zenith. She’d be home in two days with an adventure to talk about. She’d promised to let Ruby’s sisters know she was all right, though Ruby knew they would be angry she was bounty hunting alone. Thank God, they were both pregnant or else they’d come looking for her, insisting she come home, and Ruby wasn’t ready to settle down with a husband and babies. She enjoyed this life, though she was about to experience her first hunt without anyone’s help.
Strolling down the wooden sidewalk, she meandered toward the sheriff’s office. She wanted to take a look at the latest wanted posters and see if she could make some quick money before she had to return home and help Annabelle and Meg.
Pausing outside the jail, she gazed at the
posters that were hanging on the wall. There were rustlers, bank robbers, thieves, and wayward women. There were also drawings of people who were missing. As she stared at the posters, Deke strolled up beside her.
He chuckled. “Looking for a new bounty to hunt?”
She gave him a sideways glance. “You can say that? I bet you’re doing the same.”
Of all the people to run into today, she’d hoped to get out of town before seeing him again. They’d caught up, had a little fun snagging a criminal, and now she was ready to move on. Though she had enjoyed gazing at his dark hair, muscled chest, full lips and emerald eyes once again, looking was all she could do. Someday, a woman would capture his wayward spirit and enjoy every inch of Deke. Just not Ruby.
“Need a new outlaw to chase,” Deke said softly. “Where’s Caroline?”
“Packing. I’m taking her to catch the stagecoach at noon,” she replied.
Turning toward her, he raised his brows and stared.
“She agreed she needs more practice.”
He sighed. “Thank God, we’ll all be a little safer now. After the second time her gun misfired, I knew we were in danger.”
“She told me she closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger.”
“It’s a wonder you weren’t hit,” he said, not looking at her, but staring at the notices on the wall. “Who are you going after next?”
Like she would share that information with him. Did he think she was that much of a greenhorn? She darted him a quick glance and frowned. “Now, why would I tell you? You’d race after him and steal my bounty. I’m not disclosing anything to you.”
Besides, she wanted to put as much distance between her and Deke Culver as she could. Few men made her feel safe, but with Deke, she felt sheltered and secure. She didn’t understand why, but with Deke, she almost felt protected. Still, she wasn’t willing to stick around and find out why. She didn’t have time to explore the baser feelings of life.
He grinned and continued studying the public notices.
Suddenly, the door to the sheriff’s office opened and the lawman stepped out. “Saw you two out here looking at the posters and realized I had a new set that just came in. Thought you might be interested in them.” He took a hammer and nail and pounded the first one up on the wall. Then he hammered a nail into a second sign, stepped back, and smiled. “Keep up the good work.”
After he disappeared back into the office, Ruby and Deke stepped up to see the new bills. He tried to block her way, and she walked underneath his arm, coming up between him and the notices.
“Get out of my way,” she said, pushing him back. “I was here first.”
Deke chuckled and pulled her snug up against his chest; her head fit perfectly below his chin. “I think there are plenty of outlaws here for both of us.”
“Maybe, but I’m wanting the ones that are local and will be quick and easy.”
“Huh, those are the ones I want as well.”
“Imagine that,” she said in a drawl. She took a deep breath, realizing being this close to the man had her body tingling with nerves. Why, with Deke, did her body light up like a prairie fire? The heat rapid and fast acting.
“Who are the new criminals?” he asked, looking again at the posters.
“John Leverton, Billy Clanton, and James Rivera…the man who killed Papa…” Her voice trailed off.
“What?” Deke asked, looking back at the posters.
“I thought you turned him in,” she said, rounding on Deke, her fists clenched and her heart pounding inside her chest like a hammer on an anvil.
Deke’s green eyes flashed with hatred. “I did. I took him to jail, turned him in, and collected the bounty. Remember, I brought half the money I collected to you and your sisters.”
“But he’s out. He’s running free, while my father is six feet under,” she said, raising her voice at Deke. All the anger and frustration from her father’s death spilled into her blood, slamming her like a herd of cattle gone wild.
“He must have escaped or someone rescued him.”
She tore the poster off the wall.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
The sheriff stepped out. “What’s all the commotion out here?”
She raised the notice in her clenched fists, fighting back the angry tears that threatened to spill. No crying woman ever received respect. She could not let her emotions get the best of her. “How did he get loose? He killed my father. He should be hanging.”
Raising his hand, the sheriff ran his fingers through his hair. “Some of his friends rescued him. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. Sheriff Jim Handley was killed in the escape.”
The agony of losing of her father knifed her, sending pain radiating through her. Her lungs refused to expand, and she feared she was going to faint. Rivera had killed again. Another family was enduring loss because of this man.
That was it. Now, she knew exactly who her next bounty was. Now, she had a purpose. “No, I hadn’t heard. I’m sorry to hear about the sheriff. Any news on Rivera’s location now?”
“No, but he’s got family in Hide Town, near Fort Griffin. But I’d be very careful. That town is known for harboring outlaws and their families. The law is not reliable if you get my drift.”
A crooked town and sheriff she could deal with. She couldn’t abide the idea of her father’s killer running free. Rivera must be caught. She walked down the steps of the office. “Thanks, Sheriff.”
Deke grabbed the bridle of her horse. “Just where are you going?”
“I’m going after Rivera. This time he’s not going to get out so easily. This time he’s dead. I’ll kill him myself.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“You’re not going with me.”
“Why?” he asked, staring at her. “I know what he looks like. All you’ve got is a poster. I know his habits, what he likes. I’ve chased and caught him before.”
He gazed at her. Those eyes had drawn her to him the first day they met, that day he’d brought her gravely wounded father home.
“I work alone.”
“And you’re going to die alone. Don’t do this, Ruby,” he said softly. “I know you’re still angry with me over the past, but we could do this much quicker together. You need to think about Annabelle. She’s going to need you at home.”
Ruby thought about it for a moment. She really didn’t want to hunt by herself. And more important than anything was catching the man who’d killed her father. Deke knew things about Rivera that she didn’t. He was right. Together, they could find Rivera much faster, so she’d be home by the time Annabelle’s baby was due.
The only real problem she could see about riding with Deke was being with him. She enjoyed looking at him, she even kind of wanted to kiss those full lips that beckoned to her, but she’d never forgiven him for the past, and now her purpose in life was to live as an independent woman without a man.
She’d better make some rules quick. “As long as you don’t come near me, we’re good.”
He frowned at her. “I’m not making any promises I can’t keep. There’s always been this pull between us. Only now you’re older.”
Yes, there was this enticing lure she felt whenever he was around, but she wasn’t going to act on it. “And I’m wiser,” she said. “We’ll work together to find this outlaw, but afterwards we go our separate ways. You don’t kill a McKenzie and get away with it.”
Chapter Four
Caroline rode her horse to the farm to let Ruby’s sisters know how she was doing. As she entered the yard, Annabelle’s husband came out of the house.
“Good morning, Caroline,” Beau greeted her. “Good to see you. Where’s Ruby?”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said, alighting from her horse.
“Oh, no. She’s okay?” Beau asked.
“She was fine the last time I saw her,” Caroline said.
Leaving Ruby had been difficult; no one liked to come home in defeat.
For a moment, Caroline felt a twinge of shame. She’d been a hindrance and unable to help Ruby, but she was going to change that. The next time Caroline went bounty hunting she’d be prepared.
“Meg is visiting Annabelle, so you picked a good time to drop by the house. Let me know if you need some support in there. Together, the sisters can be a little intimidating,” he said smiling.
Intimidating? No, the sisters were going to grill her like a Confederate spy in a Yankee prison.
Caroline nodded as she walked into the house. Might as well get this over with, so she could get home and face her mother. That would be the biggest challenge of the day.
When she entered, Meg stood. “Caroline! Where’s Ruby?”
Annabelle walked over and hugged Caroline, her belly protruding. “Good to see you. Sit down. Where is our wayward sister?”
Sitting in the rocking chair across from Meg and Annabelle, Caroline’s stomach clenched with nerves. The two of them waited patiently, and she knew they were not going to be happy with the news. “Ruby sent me home.”
“What?” Meg said. “What is that girl thinking?”
“She said I’m not ready and she’s right.” As much as Caroline hated to admit it, Ruby was legitimate to send her home.
“Well, then she should have come home with you,” Annabelle said, fury in her gaze as she stared at Caroline. “If I wasn’t eight months pregnant, I’d be climbing on my horse and going after that girl.”
“What happened?” Meg asked. “Maybe we need to send our husbands after her.”
Caroline told them how they had brought in the two bounties and how Ruby had introduced her to Deke Culver. “When I left Ruby, she and Deke had just learned James Rivera was loose. He broke out of jail. They were going after him together.”
“James Rivera is out?” Meg asked, her voice rising. She stood and her dress showed the faint outline of her pregnancy. “We should go help them bring that outlaw in. He needs to hang.”
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