by Paty Jager
When Craven was in jail, she would make Gil see marrying her would be the best thing to ever happen to him.
At the camp, Jeremy struck his flint together angrily, lighting the dead grass and leaves he’d piled in a ring of rocks. Darcy sat on a nearby rock and waited. She knew when he was ready to talk; he’d give her an earful. He couldn’t stay quiet for long. Thinking back, the walk from the lake to the camp was the longest he’d ever gone.
Gil dropped the saddlebag by his saddle. “Need any help?” he asked.
“I can cook.” Jeremy said. He looked straight at Darcy. “My parents taught me lots of things I ain’t forgot.” He shoved a skinned rabbit on a stick and held it over the fire.
“You snare that?” Darcy asked, trying to start up some kind of conversation, before Jeremy exploded from lack of air.
“Yes, while I was waiting for you.” He sent her a look that said it would take more than conversation for her to win back his acceptance.
“I thought I saw a berry bush back there a ways.” Gil stood. He nodded towards Jeremy and left the clearing.
She needed to talk with her brother, but she wasn’t sure he was ready to listen.
“Jeremy, what you saw –” His eyes remained void of emotion when he looked at her. “Jeremy, blazes, don’t make me feel guilty for what you saw.” Darcy jumped to her feet and paced between the trees and the fire where Jeremy squatted, twirling the rabbit on the stick.
“Gil makes me feel like I’m special.”
“You are. You can do anything you set your mind to. You don’t need to go rollin’ around bare-assed with a man to feel special.” Jeremy stopped turning the stick and looked at her. “Darce, you ain’t like other women. You don’t need to bed a man to make him give you things.”
“Jeremy.” She looked at him with disbelief. “Have I hauled you around so much all you’ve seen is the bad side of people? I don’t want anything from Gil—other than his love.” She pressed a hand to her stomach to stop the fluttering. “I know he loves me. I can see it in his eyes and feel it when he touches me.” She walked to the fire and squat down beside him.
“Can you remember Ma running her hand through your hair or just touching your cheek when you said something clever?”
He watched her with watery eyes and gulped. “Yeah.”
“How’d it make you feel?”
“All fluttery and special. I knew she loved me.”
“That’s what being with Gil does for me.” She touched his arm. “I feel the way I did when Ma or Pa praised me. All sqooshy inside and loved.”
He wiped at the tears trickling down his face.
“Don’t make it something it isn’t. I love him, and-and,” she faltered. She couldn’t say for sure he loved her. He hadn’t said so himself. “We’ll get married. You and I will live with him on a ranch near Baker City.” She hugged him.
Jeremy dropped the rabbit in the fire and hugged her fiercely. “I’m sorry for what I said. I just didn’t want to lose you, too.”
“You’ll never lose me. I won’t let you.” She kissed his forehead. “You better tend your rabbit or we’ll go to sleep hungry tonight.”
Jeremy grabbed the stick and blew on the flames climbing the carcass.
Darcy laughed and helped put out the fire.
Gil returned to a scene that made him smile. Darcy laughed as Jeremy told about seeing the men charge out of the cabin with her following in flames.
“I didn’t think anything could scare me as bad as seeing you on fire.” Gil sat next to Darcy and took her hand in his. He watched Jeremy closely. The boy smiled and pulled a leg from the cooling carcass. Gil smiled back. They must have talked the problem out.
He’d done some thinking while filling his hat with berries.
“If you two are up to it, we need to eat and get moving. Craven has a head start, but he’ll stick to the roads. I know a short cut.” Gil glanced at Darcy. She looked a lot better than when they found her. He smiled. Their lovemaking could have something to do with her glowing eyes and soft smile. Or the fact she felt safe with him. His chest puffed a little, thinking his presence made her feel safe. He never wanted her to be scared again, or having to handle things on her own.
“If we need to get going to catch Craven, I’m ready.” Darcy stood.
“Not so fast.” He pulled her down next to him. “I want to tell you the plan.” When she put her hand on his leg and softly rubbed back and forth, the words he’d carefully planned to say vanished. She had no idea the sparks it set off inside of him. He put a hand over hers, stopping the caress. When he could think again, he began.
“We know Craven is headed for Baker City, the nearest Railroad. He’ll have to purchase a ticket and wait for the next train. I also know the train only leaves Baker City twice a week. He missed Sunday’s train and will have to wait for the next one. That will be Thursday. Day after tomorrow.” He looked at Jeremy.
“I know a short cut to Baker City, but I want you to take your sister to Sumpter to my brothers. Tell them who you are, and why I sent you.”
“Oh, no. I’m not getting stuck in some hole while you chase Craven. I’ve been after this guy since the day he offered me a bribe.” Darcy jumped to her feet and looked down at him, her jaw set.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He stood up, pulling her into his arms. “I want you safe so we can marry.”
The determined look wavered a little as he voiced his marriage proposal for the first time. But he could tell by the set of her shoulders it wasn’t enough to stop the indignation his comment spawned.
“If you treat me like I haven’t a brain in my head and need to be protected, you better not go out and buy a new suit, ’cuz I won’t marry a man who thinks I’m helpless.” She jabbed her clenched fists on her narrow hips and glared at him.
“I don’t think you’re helpless. I want you safe.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, trying to soothe the hackles he seemed to so easily raise on her.
“I want to be with you,” she stated.
How could he leave her behind when she looked at him with those big gray eyes filled with love?
“Okay, we’ll all go to Baker.” She rose up on her toes to kiss him. He held a hand in front of her puckered lips. “But you have to follow orders.”
He cringed when she smiled sweetly. “I’ll do whatever you say.” Her arms circled his neck, and he was rewarded for giving in with her soft, sweet lips.
Gil forgot where they were and what he’d just given up, when she pulled away. He grabbed her hair, dragging her lips back to his. If they were going to risk their lives for some mining town, he, by God, was going to take every opportunity to taste her sweetness.
“Ahem?” Jeremy cleared his throat, and Gil lifted his head.
He smiled at the dazed look in Darcy’s eyes as her body sagged against him. He knew one way to keep her quiet.
“Let’s saddle up and get out of here,” he said, setting Darcy on a stump and moving to his saddle. He and Jeremy saddled the horses while Darcy doused the fire.
They mounted, and Darcy swung up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and they headed east as briskly as they could through the trees and undergrowth. He wanted to leave her in Sumpter, but short of hogtying her, he knew there was no way he could make the woman stay. She would find a way to head after him on her own. It was best to have her with him where he could keep an eye on her.
He patted her clasped hands and smiled. If they could keep up a fast pace, he figured they’d reach pa’s mine in Sumpter in a couple hours. They could sleep a few hours and reach Baker City the next day before noon.
Chapter 17
The moon illuminated the night sky when Gil approached the familiar cabin. The building hadn’t changed much in ten years. The rapid beating of his heart startled him. It didn’t beat from fear, but anticipation.
Through the years, he’d told himself over and over again he didn’t need his family. They were be
tter off without him, but he’d longed for their approval. Now, he approached his childhood home and wondered if they would greet him and his future wife with open arms or shun them.
He watched the dark cabin. Did any of his brothers still live here and work the mine? He could be walking into some stranger’s home for all he knew. It wouldn’t surprise him any to find his brothers had all scattered.
All that remained here for them were bad memories. As he scanned the area around the cabin, happy childhood recollections came flooding back. The day Ethan introduced him to shaving, the way the smells of cooking would float out the open door when they came up from working the mine. The sight of his parents holding hands and talking with their heads bent close after he and his brothers were tucked in bed. Gil gulped down the knot of emotion constricting his throat. Dang, he’d missed his family.
He hadn’t realized how much until he saw the cabin. A sob shook his body, and Darcy’s arms tightened around him. She placed her head against his back in a quiet gesture of comfort.
Gil squeezed the hands clasped around his middle and eased the horse forward. No light shone in the windows, meaning whoever lived here had retired for the night. He made extra noise, and a light flickered inside.
“Who’s out there?” he heard a familiar voice call. Darcy’s arms tightened around him, and he felt her heart patter against his back. She was nervous, too.
“Gil.” He called back.
Banging and movement could be heard in the cabin. Another light flickered on and a man stood in the doorway holding a lantern. Gil felt like someone poked a fist in his belly. The man standing in front of him had broad shoulders and looked exactly like his father. It had to be Ethan, his oldest brother. Their ma always said he was the spitting image of their pa.
“Whatcha got little brother?” Ethan asked as if they’d seen each other just yesterday instead of ten years earlier. He stepped out of the doorway and another strapping man filled it.
There was no denying the other man was Hank. His good-humored grin stretched across his face as he slipped his suspenders onto bare shoulders. He looked back over his shoulder and said, “Clay get some clothes on, our little brother’s returned, and he’s got company.”
Gil lowered Darcy to the ground. He needed to do something to keep from jumping out of the saddle and blubbering like a baby. He’d talked himself into believing his brothers had written him off, and here they were acting like he’d only been off on a hunting trip. The relief that flowed through him made his legs weak as water. If he’d known he’d get this kind of reception he would have returned a long time ago.
He watched Darcy tug on her shirt and look across at his oldest brother. Gil smiled. She’d help him through this tough time. He dismounted, motioning for Jeremy to do the same. Taking Darcy by the hand, he led her up to Ethan, who stood a half a head taller and looked formidable standing with his arms crossed over his chest, squinting in the dark at Darcy. Gil figured he wondered why his brother was holding the hand of some boy.
Before he could make introductions, Gil was swept up in Ethan’s arms. He hugged him tight and passed him along to Hank, who squeezed him and passed him on to Clay who studied him a moment and slapped him on the back before giving him a hug.
“Where have you been hiding?” Clay asked, keeping an arm around him. “We looked for you when you first left, but no one had seen you.”
“I took off for the gold country east of the Snake.” He looked up at his brothers and wondered how he could have ever turned tail and run. “Lately, I’ve been working the Chandler ranch north of Baker City.”
“You’ve been that close, and we haven’t run into you?” Hank slapped him on the back and tipped his hat back. “Damn you’re still the ugliest of all.” They all broke into raucous laughter over the family’s standing joke that Gil was the ugliest, when in fact they were all the spitting image of one another.
Ethan stepped forward, holding the lantern up to get a good look at Darcy and Jeremy. “You leave for ten years and come dragging home a couple of kids.”
Gil saw the flash in Darcy’s eyes. He stepped forward, grasped her hand, and led her up to Ethan. “This is Darcy Duncan and that’s her brother Jeremy.” He saw the look of amusement in his brother’s eyes.
“Welcome, Darcy and Jeremy. I don’t know what you did to get this scoundrel to come back home, but I’m much obliged to you.” Ethan motioned to them to enter the cabin. Hank stepped aside, but clamped a hand on Gil’s shoulder as he went by.
Gil stopped just inside the door and looked around. It had always been a cozy cabin with six boys stacked along the walls in bunks, but the boys had grown to men and they nearly filled the cabin.
“Haven’t any of you married and moved out?” he asked, noticing four beds.
“Ain’t been lucky enough to find the right woman.” Hank smiled at Darcy and offered her a chair.
“Don’t be looking at mine,” Gil said, moving to Darcy’s side.
Laughter rang through the small confines.
“Guess that answers our question,” Hank said, taking a seat beside Darcy.
“So how did you two meet?” he asked, drawing all the eyes in the cabin to Darcy.
“I shot a man and became marshal of Galena,” Darcy said innocently.
Gil grinned as his brother’s jaws dropped, and they stared at the woman he loved with awe and curiosity. He was pretty sure his brothers had never met a woman like her before.
“And you had to throw our rowdy little brother in jail?” Clay asked.
“No, he actually brought me a prisoner I didn’t want.” Her answer got a chuckle out of the bunch.
Gil took her hand. “I was in Galena looking for Pete Chandler. He’s the son of the rancher I work for. Mr. Chandler told me if I brought Pete back, he’d give me the foreman job at the ranch.”
“Have you found him?” Hank asked, furrowing his brow in thought.
“I know the gang he’s riding with. They kidnapped Darcy.” The brothers all looked at her. “She got away, which is a long story.” Gil raised her hand to his lips. His brothers raised their eyebrows.
“I’ve asked Darcy to come with me to the ranch after we catch Craven.”
“Who’s Craven?” Ethan asked, putting a pot of coffee on the wood stove.
“I haven’t said I’d go with you,” Darcy said, and the whole lot of them roared with laughter.
“Didn’t we teach you the woman has to be agreeable to marriage? You can’t just drag her to a preacher and force her to marry ya,” Clay said, slapping his thigh at his own humor.
Gil turned red. She was agreeable to marriage. He hadn’t offered to make an honest woman of her. He cleared his throat and looked into her sad eyes.
He had to make a commitment if he wanted to keep her.
“I didn’t ask her to marry me.” He felt the hard stares of his brothers and Jeremy. “Yet. We’ve got things to work out first.”
A big hand thumped him on the head, knocking his hat to the floor. “You don’t drag a woman around and play with her emotions if you aren’t prepared to settle down.” Ethan stood beside him glaring down. “Is this the kind of behavior you acquired over the last ten years?”
“Little brother,” Hank began, “you don’t dally with a woman’s affections. Either you marry her or you break clean, you don’t sully her reputation to make yourself happy.”
Gil felt like a schoolboy getting lectured by the teacher. He was a grown man. He knew what he’d asked Darcy wasn’t proper. But it had been right at the time. Now looking into the uncensored eyes of his brothers, he knew he’d done Darcy a great injustice.
He faced her. The smattering of freckles he found endearing were faded from the heat of her embarrassment. Her eyes searched his for some comfort.
“I know we discussed this. I do plan to marry you. I’m just not sure when.” He saw a flicker of surprise in her gray eyes, before they softened and a smile spread across her face.
“Thank
you for asking,” she said in a breathy whisper that sent vibrations of need shooting through his body.
“But unless you can provide a stable place for me and Jeremy to live, I’ll have to say no.” Darcy watched Gil’s expression collapse into uncertainty. She wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, but she knew to do that would compromise her position. She had to look out for Jeremy’s well being as much as hers.
Darcy glanced around at the men staring at her and Gil. They were all taller and just as handsome.
“Are you old enough to marry my little brother?” Ethan asked, pulling out a chair and sitting beside her.
“I’m nineteen and me and Jeremy have been living on our own for the past five years.” She looked at him and wondered if Gil would get that big. Her gaze flitted over all of them. How had so many good-looking men in one family managed to stay unmarried?
Gil squeezed the hand he still held. She peered into his eyes and saw need and fear mingling in the brown depths.
“Can we talk about this after we get Craven and Pete?” he asked, moving his thumb invitingly back and forth across her wrist. The movement sent flashes of heat up her arm and straight to her heart.
“Who’s this Craven you keep talking about,” Ethan asked, placing his chair in between them.
“We’re chasing Mr. Craven. He stole from the bank, and we’re going to bring the money and him back. ’Cuz Darce is the marshal.” Jeremy piped up. He sniffed the air and looked at Ethan. “Is that fresh bread I smell?”
Hank slapped Jeremy on the back and roared with laughter. “Yes. I remember being your age, I bet you can’t ever get enough to eat?”
Jeremy’s eyes opened wide. “Darce keeps me fed.”
Darcy looked at the men. They were all just as curious about her and Jeremy as she was about them.
“Jeremy cooked us a rabbit for dinner, but he probably is hungry again. He’s going through a growing time.” She smiled at Hank, and he cut several slices off a large brown loaf sitting on the table.
