Tempting the Marshal: (A Western Historical Romance) (Dodge City Brides Series Book 2)

by Julianne MacLean

  “No, and I don’t intend to just yet. This is difficult to say, Elizabeth, but I think Zeb might be involved somehow.”

  “Do you have any proof?”

  Fletcher felt suddenly ill equipped to be having this conversation. He lowered his gaze. “No.”

  “Something tells me you want my help.”

  His eyes lifted. “Yes.”

  Elizabeth sat back. “He’s my husband, Fletcher. You’re asking me to go behind his back.” The wind and rain continued to rattle the window, obscuring the view outside. Elizabeth stared blankly at it.

  “What do you need?” she asked finally, meeting his gaze.

  “I need to get into his study for another look around.”

  “Another look? Fletcher, don’t tell me…”

  “Sorry, sis. I was pressed for time.”

  She shook her head at him. “All right. I’ll send Matthews on an errand. I’ll ask him to…oh, I’ll get him to book the church for your wedding. That should keep him busy. Reverend O’Grady loves to talk.”

  They both stood. “Thank you, Liz. And is there anywhere else you know of where Zeb keeps papers or correspondence?”

  “The store, perhaps. I’ve only been in the office once, and he shooed me out.”

  “Then that sounds like a good place to try next.”

  * * *

  Late in the afternoon, just as the dark clouds began to separate in the sky over Newton, Jo drove toward her brother-in-law’s homestead in a buggy she’d hired from the station. She sat next to the quiet driver, her eyes burning from the long train trip across the stormy plains. It had been exhausting, to say the least.

  Not to mention heart-wrenching. She had sat uncomfortably in her hard seat with her forehead resting against the cool windowpane, watching lightning split the sky in the distance, but thinking only of Fletcher and the danger they were all in.

  She also wanted to tell him that he needed something more than a drifter’s empty existence, moving from town to town in the name of the law. Everything she’d learned about Fletcher since she first met him told her that what he really wanted was a real home and a family. That’s how he was raised, and until his father’s tragic death, it had been what he wanted out of life.

  But Jo supposed that such thoughts of the future was putting the cart before the horse. First, she and Leo had to survive, and Zeb Stone had to finally get what was coming to him—because he couldn’t continue to profit from the pain and losses of others. There simply had to be some justice in the world.

  Knowing it was time to see Leo at last, and not wanting him to know about the details of the situation, she forced a smile and climbed down from the leather buggy seat. She wondered what he would say when she appeared unexpectedly at the door. He would probably think she had come to check up on him. Somehow she would have to convince him that was not the case.

  Wishing there had been time to let someone know she was coming, she accepted her valise from the driver, lifted her skirts, which were trimmed with mud at the bottom, and walked across the dirt yard to the house. Three chickens clucked and scurried out of her path.

  Before she reached the steps, the front door swung open and Matilda walked onto the covered porch. Her cheeks were flushed with concern. “Josephine! What are you doing here?”

  “Hello, Matilda. I needed some time away, myself, and thought I would join you. Where’s Leo?”

  Cecil, Edwyn’s brother, appeared behind Matilda. “Good heavens, Jo, what are you doing here? Didn’t you get the wire?”

  “What wire?”

  “The wire we sent a few hours ago—no, obviously you didn’t get it.”

  Icy dread began to coil through her veins. “Where’s Leo?”

  Matilda came down the steps and took hold of Jo’s bag. “Maybe you’d better come inside.”

  “No, I won’t come inside until you tell me what’s going on. Where’s Leo?”

  Cecil came down a step. “He went back to Dodge City.”

  “What!” Jo hollered. “You let him go?”

  “He went on his own without telling us. He left a note and took the morning train.”

  “Let me see the note.”

  Cecil darted into the house and reappeared with a sheet of paper, handing it down to Jo.

  “It says he knows who killed Edwyn,” Jo read in a panic, “and he’s going to take care of things. Take care of things! What does he mean by that?”

  Matilda shook her head. “I don’t know, Josephine, but he’s probably arriving in Dodge right about now.” Jo stuffed the note into her bodice pocket. “When’s the next train out of here?”

  “The last one for the day will leave in about an hour.”

  Jo darted toward Cecil’s barn, leaving her bag with Matilda for safekeeping. “I’ll need a horse to get me to the station.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Cecil said, following. “Don’t worry, Josephine. We’ll find him.”

  “Just get me to the station, and then send a wire to Marshal Collins. He needs to know what’s happening.”

  * * *

  With a hiss of steam and a coughing sputter of smoke from the smokestack, the train from Newton puffed wearily into Dodge City. Leo made his way down the aisle, holding on to the backs of the seats to keep his balance as the train shuddered to a slow stop. Local folk gathered on the platform, but none were there to greet him, he knew. For once, he was on his own, able to complete his business in town before going home to surprise his ma with the good news.

  He patted his coat pocket one more time to check for his father’s letter, then started off toward Zeb Stone’s Dry Goods to see that it was delivered to the most powerful man in Dodge. If there was one person who could make use of such a letter, it was his good friend, Mr. Zeb Stone.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  When the door to the jailhouse opened, Fletcher leaned forward at his desk, expecting a complaint about a drunken brawl or a stolen horse. He stood quickly when he recognized his sister. “Liz, what are you doing here?”

  Elizabeth walked in wearing a dark blue afternoon dress and a matching velvet hat with ribbons and a face veil. She clutched her reticule in her tiny gloved hands, peering uneasily toward the jail cells. “May I speak to you in private?”

  “Of course. We’ll go outside.” Fletcher moved around the desk and escorted her out the door and around the side of the building. “What is it?”

  She glanced over her shoulder. “Did you see Zeb today?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t talk to him. I waited for him to leave the store, then I checked out his office.”

  “Did anyone see you?” she asked anxiously.

  “Don’t worry. I have a knack for that kind of thing.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Fletcher leaned against the wall. “What brings you here, Liz? You seem nervous.”

  “Well, I just don’t want to get into trouble with Zeb. Ever since we went through his den this morning, I’ve been worrying. What if he notices something out of place?”

  “He won’t. I put everything back exactly where I found it.” Fletcher stepped away from the wall. “You don’t seem convinced.”

  “I’m just…well, the real reason I came here is because I have something more to tell you, and I fear I may be going too far.”

  “You can trust me, sis. I’ll take care of everything.”

  Her chin began to quiver and she lowered her face and pressed her finger under her nose. “I’m not sure you can.”

  “Why not? What’s wrong?”

  She took a moment to regain her composure. “Zeb is my husband.”

  “I know that, Liz,” he said gently. “But if he’s guilty of something, I can’t let it go because he’s married to you. Do you understand that?”

  Her gaze darted upward. “Of course I do. That’s not what I mean to say.” She paused, biting her lip. “If he is in some kind of trouble with the law, as his wife I will have to support him. But what if…what if I don’t wish to?”<
br />
  Fletcher relaxed against the wall, coming to understand her predicament. “Then you won’t. I’ll be here for you, no matter what.”

  She wiped under her eye and sniffed. “Then I came here to tell you that Zeb came home this afternoon, and went into his study for quite some time. After he left, I looked in and noticed the rug had been moved slightly.” Leaning closer to Fletcher, she quietly added, “It was not in the same place it was when we were in there this morning.”

  Fletcher’s pulse quickened. “What are you telling me?”

  “That I believe he keeps papers under the desk. In the floor.”

  “Did you see them?”

  “I pulled the rug aside and lifted the floorboard, saw what was there, but I was afraid to touch anything. Matthews was hovering around in the front hall and, if he caught me, he would most certainly inform Zeb.”

  “You did the right thing. Where is Zeb now?”

  “He said he was going back to the store, but I followed to come here. I just saw him go to the Long Branch.”

  “He likes his brandy, that’s for certain.” Fletcher took Elizabeth by the arm. “Let’s go back to your house. I want to see what’s under that desk.”

  “Are you sure, Fletcher? Maybe this is too dangerous.”

  “Danger, my dear sister, is what I’m here for.”

  * * *

  Zeb pulled his gold timepiece from his coat pocket and squinted to read the time. “I suppose I should saunter down to the store,” he said casually to the bartender. “I don’t trust anyone but myself to count my cash.”

  The bartender snickered and gathered the empty glass and brandy bottle from Zeb’s place at the bar.

  “I’ll settle up with you next week,” Zeb said, turning unsteadily to leave the saloon. “And that brandy is putrid. Don’t serve it to me again.”

  He staggered once, then gained his footing and pushed through the swinging doors into the dusky evening light.

  A few minutes later, Zeb reached the mercantile, walked in and shut the door behind him. He flipped the sign over to read CLOSED.

  “Did we make a bundle today, Gerald? I certainly hope so. My tab at the Long Branch is getting out of hand.”

  Gerald laughed dutifully, then reached under the counter. “The O’Malley kid delivered this for you this afternoon.”

  “O’Malley, you say?”

  “Yes, sir,” Gerald replied, holding the sealed envelope out. “It’s addressed to you, sir, as mayor of Dodge City.”

  Zeb slowly moved forward and grasped the letter. “A bit premature, perhaps, but I do like the sound of it. You can count the cash tonight, Gerald, but if you leave with one cent of my money, you’ll regret it.”

  Zeb walked toward the back of the store and went into his office. He sat down at the oak desk, leaned back and crossed his legs. “This should be amusing,” he said aloud to himself.

  He ripped open the envelope and held up the first page to read:

  Dear Mayor Stone,

  I thought you should be the one to see this.

  Sincerely,

  Leo O’Malley

  Zeb flipped to the next page to discover a letter written some time ago by the boy’s father.

  Dear Cecil,

  I have a most disturbing matter to discuss with you regarding the cattle-rustling enterprise that I mentioned in my last letter. It seems the guilty party is a man named George Greer. I’ve finally come to suspect him after spotting one of his men branding cattle on my land. He drove them to town through a section of fence he removed and repaired afterward. I did not risk a confrontation, but I plan to inform the county sheriff and the town council anonymously. What will occur after that I can only hope will not involve me greatly. I have not told Josephine about this matter. You know how independent she can be. I trust you will keep it to yourself until I’ve had a chance to contact the right people.

  Your brother, Edwyn

  Zeb stared silently at Leo’s brief note for another minute, feeling his head begin to throb as he considered the boy’s obvious meaning. Then, with an angry thrust, Zeb shoved back his chair and stood. The boy was ambitious to deliver this note the week before the election, Zeb thought with mounting fury. What the devil did he hope to gain from it?

  This would have to be taken care of immediately.

  * * *

  Quite some time after dark, Jo and Cecil leaped off the evening train and onto the wooden platform in Dodge City. Jo raised her skirts to hurry toward the jailhouse—her boots pounding over the damp ground as she went—all the while praying that Fletcher would be there. She reached the calaboose and pulled open the door, but found the jailhouse and cells empty.

  “Come on, he might be upstairs in the clerk’s office,” she said to Cecil, who was faithfully following behind her.

  She dashed up the stairs on the outside of the building, but found the door locked. She clutched at the knob, shaking it in frustration.

  “Where else would he be?” Cecil asked as they descended the steps.

  “He might be patrolling the streets, but I can’t spend all night searching for him. I have to find Leo.”

  Cecil glanced toward the saloons and theaters on the south side of the tracks. “That ain’t no place for a lady. I’ll look for Marshal Collins and explain things. You go home. That’s the only place Leo would have gone.”

  “I hope so.”

  Jo hesitated, trying to think if there was another, better alternative. “I wish I had my gun,” she said under her breath, frustrated at the feeling of helplessness, then she wished Cecil luck and ran toward the boardinghouse where Fletcher had promised to leave her wagon.

  * * *

  Jo had no idea what time it was when she finally drove into her own yard, back aching and eyes burning from fatigue. She’d worked the horses hard to get there, fearing the worst, wanting nothing more than to find Leo safe in the house, munching on sugar cookies, but when she saw the dark windows and dark bunkhouse, her hopes sank.

  Still clinging to the possibility that he might be in his own bedroom upstairs at the back of the house, she hopped down from the wagon and went to the door. She ran up the stairs.

  “Leo? Are you here?”

  The absence of a reply sent her bursting through every door, her hopes shrinking with the discovery of each silent, empty room. She gathered her skirts in her fists and ran down the stairs. “Leo!”

  The kitchen, too, was empty. Where was her son?

  Struggling to think clearly, Jo went into Edwyn’s study and lit a lamp, took a rifle from the display on the wall and loaded it. She carried it through the dark hall to the front door and walked out of the house and into the cold night.

  For a few seconds, she stood on the porch looking all around. She could make out the rolling pasture where crickets chirped and a cow called out from somewhere in the distance. There was no wind, not even a whisper of a breeze.

  She looked toward the barn and noticed light through a crack in the vertical plank wall. Her insides jolted with new hope. All she wanted now was to take Leo into her arms and know that he was safe, to hold him for a few minutes. After that, she would think of nothing but protecting him.

  She ran down the porch steps and across the yard. She heard a horse nicker, a pig snort. Her feet tapped lightly over the damp dirt.

  As she drew closer to the barn door, her heart began to pound against her rib cage.

  Jo stopped just outside and leaned a hand against the wall. Last night, Fletcher had helped her to face her fear and go inside. Now, she was alone.

  Struggling for breath, she tried to smother the anxiety rising up inside her. She could not let it keep her from finding Leo. She straightened and forced a deep breath into her lungs, reached for the door latch and pulled it open. The barn was quiet.

  She stood in the open doorway peering in, her blood pulsing through her body at an alarming speed. She wanted to call out for Leo, but could push nothing from her fear-constricted throat. Again, she tried t
o get a breath.

  Suddenly, a hand squeezed around her arm and yanked her into the barn. Her rifle was plucked from her grasp.

  Disoriented, she stumbled forward onto the hay-strewn floor. Something struck her in the back of the head, and she lost consciousness.

  * * *

  Feeling numb, not quite understanding where she was or what was happening to her, Jo tried to make sense of her thoughts. A dull ache throbbed at the back of her skull. She fought to open her eyes, but her injured body just wouldn’t cooperate with her brain.

  “What’s happening?” she managed to mumble, but to whom she had no idea. She felt herself being lifted and placed on the back of a horse. She knew she was straddling it, leaning forward with eyes closed, her cheek resting on its coarse mane. Her wrists were bound together behind her. Thoughts began to form.

  Her eyes flew open just as a rope came down over her head and tightened around her neck.

  Shock flooded through her. She bolted upright.

  The horse took a startled step sideways. Nearly losing her balance and falling off, Jo realized with surprising clarity that the mare was the only thing keeping her from hanging.

  “Whoa, girl,” she said, trying to calm the horse, who had taken a few steps forward. The rope was stretched and pulling against Jo’s jaw. “Move to the left, girl.”

  “I doubt she knows her left from her right.”

  The sound of Zeb’s deep, surly voice sent a wave of nausea through Jo. She looked down and saw him standing by the tack room door, aiming a rifle at her.

  “Where’s Leo?” she demanded, but her voice was raspy under the tightening of the prickly rope.

  “I was hoping you’d tell me.”

  Thank goodness, she thought, Zeb hadn’t found him. At least not yet.

  If she was going to keep breathing, Jo needed slack in the rope. She pressed her knees together to get the horse to move.

  “There’s no point in trying,” Zeb said, lowering the rifle to lean on it.

  “You’re going to slap her on the rump anyway, right?”