The Texan's Reward

by Jodi Thomas

  Jacob didn’t look at her as he watched it pour. “It makes me glad not to be out in it.”

  Neither of them said anything else. He seemed like someone she hardly knew. She watched him, wondering how this silent man could be the same man who’d kissed her with such passion. His hands, the same hands that had touched her so gently, now gripped the railing with an iron grip.

  There was a gentleness inside him, but she felt like she had to fight to even be allowed to see it.

  She’d had enough. “Are you going to ignore me for the rest of my life?” She decided she’d rather have him mad at her than not even seem to notice she was in the room. “Can’t we have a calm discussion about what’s bothering you?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, and she knew he was forcing himself not to yell. “I’m waiting for you to come to your senses,” he answered just as formally.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “You will.” He tossed his cigar into the rain. “I know you well enough to know that you never let anything come easy. If I have to, I’ll fight for you as well as with you about this, Nell, but make no mistake, in the end it will be settled with a wedding. Ours!”

  “You’re not bullying me into anything, Jacob Dalton. I’m no longer a child.” Nell tried to sit calmly in her chair, but she had never wanted to stomp away so badly in her life. “This isn’t something you can just decide is good for me and make me go along with.”

  He stood over her looking like a warrior. “Stop trying to make me nuts. One minute you’re cuddling up beside me all warm and willing, and the next you’re telling me you might marry another man. I’ve had enough, Nell. It’s time you made up your mind.”

  She lifted her chin. “I’ll marry when I want to.”

  “You know you love me.” He gave a quick grin as if trying on charm like he might a new hat. “Don’t even try to say you don’t feel something when you kiss me. You’ve always loved me. We’ve both known it.”

  She didn’t buy the smile, so he went back to scowling. Harrison stepped out on the porch, took one look at them, and turned around. The door closed behind him.

  “Maybe I kiss every man like I kiss you,” Nell said when they were once again alone.

  “Have you kissed Harrison like you kissed me?” The ranger’s hands gripped his gun belt.

  “That’s none of your business, Jacob. You’re not my husband, or even my fiancé. You’re only Number Thirteen in line to ask for my hand. Which, by the way, it took you long enough to get here. Were you hoping another might sweep my heart away, and you wouldn’t have to bother with me?”

  Jacob turned toward the front door.

  “Where do you think you are going?”

  “I’m going to go beat the answer about kissing out of poor Number Twelve.” He said the words as if it were a chore he had to do. “Too bad, I really like the man.”

  Nell fought down a laugh. “You will do no such thing, Jacob. If you did, I’d never speak to you again, and that’s a fact.”

  He smiled, for real this time, and walked to where she sat. He knelt down in front of her. “Why don’t we settle this between us and marry? I got here as fast as I could when I heard you wanted to get married. You still want a last name, and it might as well be mine. I don’t know why, but we’re connected, we always have been. You’re a part of me and I’m a part of you.”

  Nell raised her chin. Her pride wouldn’t let her tell him the real reason she turned him down. He deserved more than she could offer. She’d never be able to love him the way he should be loved. She wasn’t sure she could even be a real wife to him. What if their lovemaking brought her too much pain? How fast would his love die if he thought every time he touched her she was in pain?

  Nell closed her eyes. She shouldn’t have let him kiss her in the first place. She should have known better. But, just for a few minutes, she wanted to live the dream of being in Jacob’s arms. Only, in the end, the pleasure they’d shared would cost them both dearly.

  “I can’t,” she said brushing his hair with her fingers. “It wouldn’t be fair.”

  He met her gaze and held it. “To who, Nell? To me or to you?”

  “To you,” she finally admitted. “I could never be the kind of wife you’d want.”

  He stood, suddenly angry. “How do you know what kind of wife I want? Now who’s making decisions for the other?”

  Walking to the far end of the porch, he leaned against the railing. He seemed so powerful, so strong, but she was hurting him, and it ripped her apart.

  “Jacob, can we go back to being friends?” She’d been miserable all day. It felt like it had been raining in her heart. “Can we not talk about getting married for a while?”

  He slowly turned and walked back to her. “All right. Set the rules, Nell. I’ll play your game.”

  She felt the chill of his words all the way to her bones. “I don’t know the rules.”

  “Then how will I know when I step too far? I feel like you’ve drawn lines in the sand, and I have no idea where they are. I swear I seem to bump into one every time I talk to you.”

  She had no answer. Everything seemed so cold if she had to set down rules. But, he’d been right. He did seem to step over the line. It occurred to her that maybe, for Jacob, there was no line between them.

  Gypsy stepped onto the porch, saving her from answering. The little woman hurried up to Nell and asked, “If you two are finished arguing, the rest of us would like to eat. Dinner’s getting cold.”

  Nell nodded. “We’re on our way.”

  This was Wednesday’s first time downstairs. They should make the dinner special. “We’ll talk about this later.” She stared at Jacob, daring him to argue.

  “We sure as hell will,” he added and held the door as she moved inside.

  She could feel his anger as she passed him. He was a straightforward man. Right and wrong were clear in his mind. Playing games was not something a man like him had ever done.

  She avoided his gaze as they ate dinner. Marla had baked a cake and decorated it with sugar in honor of the baby’s first party. Everyone brought presents. Marla gave Wednesday a comb and brush set with hummingbirds carved on it. The girl cried because she’d never had anything so nice. Nell gave her a Bible to write her son’s name in. Harrison bought a windup top that clanked as it rolled around. The preacher gave her a handkerchief with fine lace to use when she wanted little DH christened. Gypsy gave her ribbons and a rattle made from a gourd.

  Mrs. O’Daniel offered the most unusual gift, a tiny pouch to put a piece of the umbilical cord in. She said the Apache mothers wore them so they would always be connected with their sons. Jacob brought in a crib he’d found in the attic and repainted. But the air was so damp the paint hadn’t dried, so with blue paint on his hands he promised he’d finish it again on a sunny day.

  Everyone laughed and talked at once. Nell tried to push the argument with Jacob out of her mind. She would never hurt him, but she couldn’t ruin his life.

  When dinner was over, she didn’t miss the look Jacob gave Harrison. Something was up; she could feel it. The men had spent most of the day busy and away from the house. Even the preacher seemed to have something on his mind. She’d seen the sheriff ride in twice, but he’d done his talking to the men in the barn.

  The fact that Jacob had strapped his Colts on that morning had started her thinking, and now that they were moving toward the door, she knew something was wrong.

  She rolled toward them. “What is it?”

  “Nothing.” Harrison was a lousy liar.

  “We just thought we’d go into town,” Jacob said without looking at her. “The rain seems to have let up, and I figure we’ll be back in less than an hour.”

  “Both of you?” Nell tapped the arm of her chair, hating the invisible chains that held her to it.

  “Brother Aaron said he’d sit on the porch while we’re gone. He says if he hears even a mouse in the barn, he’ll fire off a couple of shots. We’ll be b
ack at full gallop.”

  Harrison placed his hand on Nell’s arm. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be back in no time. We just want to check on Hank and talk to the sheriff.”

  His reassuring words did little to calm her. She guessed what they were about. They were going to help Hank, maybe even get him out of jail. She couldn’t say more without worrying the others.

  She met Jacob’s eyes. “Whatever you are planning, I’ll help if I can. You know that, don’t you?”

  He nodded and lifted a rifle. “I’m not expecting any trouble.” His smile seemed a little forced.

  Maybe he didn’t expect it, Nell thought, but he would be ready if it came. That was Jacob’s way.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be back in time to have another bowl of Marla’s cobbler with you before we all turn in,” he said as he moved toward the door.

  “Be careful.” She turned to Harrison, knowing Jacob was making light of whatever he planned. They wouldn’t be going out in the rain if it wasn’t something important. They wouldn’t be leaving her. “Take care of him. He’s not fully recovered from the knifing.”

  “I will.” Harrison lightly kissed her cheek. “I promise.”

  Jacob had been pulling on his coat, and Nell thought he hadn’t noticed Harrison’s light kiss, until Harrison joined him at the door and the ranger mumbled, “When you get through covering my back tonight, I may have to beat some sense into you, bookkeeper.”

  Harrison didn’t look the least bit frightened. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and beat some into you, Ranger.”

  They were gone before she could hear more.

  While the others talked and sewed baby things in a circle around the fire, Nell asked Mrs. O’Daniel to help her to her room. She got ready for bed but rolled to the window to wait.

  The men had already been gone over an hour.

  She listened to the clock chime once more. Two hours, she thought, realizing they’d told her once too often that they’d be home early. They’d both been trying to oversell a lie.

  Trouble whispered in the wind tonight, and all she seemed able to do was wait.

  CHAPTER 26

  BECAUSE OF JACOB’S SHOULDER AND THE POSSIBILITY that Hank might be coming back with them, the men took the buggy to town. Harrison drove while Jacob leaned back in the seat, trying to stay out of the drizzle. But the leather bonnet was old and sagged in several places. Everywhere it sagged, it leaked, making tiny waterfalls.

  Jacob Dalton had been in a dark mood all day and was tired of acting as if the fight he’d had with Nell didn’t bother him. He hated being confused almost as much as he hated being angry, and right now he was both.

  “You want to talk about it?” Rand asked politely but without any great interest.

  “No,” Jacob answered, not even trying to pretend that he didn’t know what the bookkeeper was talking about. The people inside the house might not have been able to hear what he and Nell had been talking about on the porch, but the windows probably provided a grand view.

  “She loves you, you know?” Harrison acted as if he hadn’t heard Jacob’s answer. “Everyone knows.”

  “I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”

  “You’re right,” Harrison admitted. “I’d be the last person to talk about courting a woman. I only courted one in my life, and she tried to have me killed. So I’m no good at advice.” He drove for a few minutes before adding, “But even I could give you a few pointers.”

  Jacob didn’t really want to talk, but he had a feeling Harrison did. So he might as well herd the conversation away from Nell and him. “How’d the woman you courted try to kill you?”

  “Have me killed,” Rand corrected. “She wasn’t the type of woman to get her hands dirty doing anything like that herself.”

  Jacob leaned up a little. “All right, tell me.”

  Harrison hesitated.

  “Look, if my love life is in the pot for discussion, so is yours.” It was so dark Jacob couldn’t make out Harrison’s face, but he had a feeling the bookkeeper was smiling.

  “Fair enough,” Harrison answered. “I’m the second son of a big cattle rancher down by Victoria. My father runs cattle over five counties.”

  “Start with the truth,” Jacob said before he thought to stop himself.

  Harrison laughed and didn’t take offense. “Let me finish. After I was born, my mother had enough of my father bossing her around and moved to Chicago. When I was old enough, I saw him summers for a few weeks a year, and my mother hated even that. He wouldn’t support her, and she had to work long hours to see that I got educated. Even though I was a baby when we left, my father seemed to take it personal. He never cared much for me.”

  “When my mother died, I had to quit school and go live on the ranch. My father treated me with indifference, but my older brother hated me. Since I hadn’t grown up riding, I was of little use, until my father discovered I was good with figures. Then he wanted me with him, not to do the ranching, but to keep the books.”

  “Which made your brother angry to be splitting some of his old man’s attention?”

  “Right. To make matters worse, we both fell for the same girl. I don’t know about him, but I still believed in love and fell hard.”

  “And?”

  Harrison paused as if he’d never told the story before. “She came to my room one night. We made love in the dark without saying a word, but when it was over and she was curled in my arms, I whispered how much she meant to me. Something about the midnight stars and blue sky, if I remember correctly, I was only seventeen.”

  He handled the buggy with skill as he maneuvered around rivers of mud. “Before I understood what was wrong, she started screaming and accusing me of things. It seems she had entered the wrong room and now the deed was done, it was all my fault. My brother was the one who was supposed to get lucky that night.”

  “My brother rushed in, a gun in his hand and yelling at both of us. All I remember was a lot of screaming and crying, and then the gun firing.”

  Jacob stopped the story. “Was your finger on the trigger?”

  Harrison shook his head. “No, but I was trying to get the gun away from my brother. The bullet hit her cheek and left an ugly scar. I was arrested for rape and attempted murder. At the trial, I was foolish enough to think she’d tell the truth, and it would all be cleared up as a misunderstanding. But she didn’t. She said I pulled her into my room, had my way with her, and then tried to kill her. She cried on the stand, begging the jury to give me the death penalty.”

  “And your brother,” Jacob asked already knowing the answer.

  “He stood with her, as did my father. I was given ten years of hard time. The first few years in prison, I didn’t much care if I lived or died. I had no family, and the only girl I’d ever loved hated me. I worked on a gang building roads and fell asleep so exhausted at night I didn’t even care that I was filthy and my hands were usually bleeding.”

  “What turned you around?”

  “By accident, the foreman noticed my math skills, and I was moved to his office. He was promoted out of prisons to the state offices in Austin. Within a year I went from wearing prison blues to wearing proper clothes and accompanying him on inspections. He didn’t want anyone to know I was serving time. He knew all about building things, but for me it was all about the numbers. When I got out, he offered me a job, but I wanted to make it on my own, leave all my past behind.”

  “Did you go back home?”

  “Once. The train stopped in Victoria, and I spent the night at the hotel. While I was trying to decide if I should go out to the ranch or not, I spotted my brother in the hotel bar. He didn’t recognize me and was so drunk I didn’t bother introducing myself. I watched him losing at poker from across the room. He’d aged twenty years in the ten years since I’d seen him. Times were hard for me, trying to find work as a bookkeeper with my record. But, after watching him, I figured I got the lesser of the sentences.”

  “What about the gir
l?” Jacob asked as they pulled into town.

  “My brother married her.”

  Jacob smiled, understanding Rand Harrison clearly for the first time. “So what’s your advice for me?”

  “Spend a little time courting Nell,” Harrison said. “I don’t think ordering her to marry you will work.”

  “You’re probably right, but I don’t have any idea where to start.” He quoted Rand. “Saying something about the midnight stars and blue sky didn’t work too well for you.”

  Harrison shrugged.

  As agreed, they pulled up near the saloon. Before Jacob talked to Sheriff Parker, he wanted to see what the townsfolk were talking about. If there was trouble brewing, he’d learn about it here first and not secondhand from the sheriff.

  They stepped out into the rain. Jacob went inside as Rand tied the horse.

  The place was quiet except for a drunk trying to pick out a song on the piano. The ranger took a table near the back and watched the crowd. Harrison circled the room once before joining him so that if anyone was watching it wouldn’t look like the two men came in together.

  They’d made plans to meet Parker here when he made his last rounds. The sheriff had talked with them earlier and said the posse hinted they’d decided to leave tomorrow morning and that there had been no trouble.

  “Maybe no one wants to start anything,” Harrison guessed. “Mobs usually take hours to build up enough courage to act.”

  Jacob agreed, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen. Three of the men from the posse were huddled over by the bar, and every time Jacob looked in their direction, they were watching him. The cowhands gambling tonight didn’t seem at all interested in talking about the prisoners across the street. They seemed far more interested in losing their money and heading home.

  Parker came in and joined them. “It’s so quiet around here tonight I’m starting to get worried.”

  “I know what you mean.” Jacob ordered a round of whiskey.

  “The two wounded men from the posse left on the evening train with a buddy each riding with them. That leaves eight to haul the three outlaws back to Fort Worth. If they leave on the first train, they’ll make it in before nightfall with any luck.”