He nodded and finished off his sandwich. “Kirby was a damned good man. When he passed on, I cried, and the last time I’d done that was the day Ma died.”
“Were you happy on the Crown Seven?” she asked.
He smiled, revealing a bit of the easygoing youth he’d likely been. “More than I’d ever been in my life. The second year we lived there, Kirby surprised us by giving us each one-sixth of the ranch, with the promise we’d each gain another sixth when he passed over.”
“That was generous of him.”
“That was Kirby Morris. The Crown Seven was my home, and I’d have been content to stay right there and raise cattle.” His expression hardened. “You know the rest of it now.”
He stared at the ground, his expression somewhere between furious and troubled. She reached over and laid a hand on his arm; his tightly coiled muscles filled her with concern.
“Will you go back?” she asked, knowing she was prying but believing he needed to get this pent up rage out of him.
“I don’t know.” He stared off across the plains, his mouth set in a grim line.
“So that’s it?”
He shifted restlessly, that hand fisting again and again. “It’s over and done with now.”
“But Miss Jennean heard there was a dispute about your shares,” she said. “You could still own part of that ranch.”
“Maybe. Tavish said that the Crown Seven sold, but he never mentioned anything about a title dispute.”
“He might not have known about it.” She laid a hand on his forearm. “You should go back to the ranch, if for no other reason than to settle this bad blood between you and Reid.”
“I don’t rightly give a shit if I ever see him again.”
She knew that was a lie.
Dade wasn’t a chameleon who changed his feelings at whim. He was hurting inside over the betrayal. She just wasn’t sure how to help him deal with the pain.
Maggie sensed the abrupt change in him before he got to his feet. His right hand curled around his sidearm so instinctively that she doubted he realized just how lethal he looked.
“Rider coming,” he said. “Pack up.”
Her heart hammered with the force of a sledge striking a blacksmith’s anvil. Please don’t let it be Carson.
This far away she couldn’t tell who was approaching. She ignored the aches and twinges as she hurried to gather up their provisions.
“I’m betting he’s on one side of the law or the other,” Dade said as the lone rider drew closer.
Maggie agreed. The man sat the horse with military precision, his hat low to shadow his face, his left hand holding the reins while his right hand rested on his thigh.
A rifle barrel extended from the scabbard. But it was the sun glinting off the sidearm strapped to his hip that caught her attention. The rider could likely pull his gun in the blink of an eye.
“What do we do?” she asked, her throat parched despite the sweet tea Miss Jennean had furnished for their lunch.
“Say no more than you have to.”
Maggie would gladly adhere to that advice. She was comfortable playing whatever role Dade deemed necessary, trusting him as she hadn’t trusted anyone in so long.
The cowboy was doing his best to protect her reputation and would likely palm her off as his sister. In public. In private was a whole different thing. Just thinking of what they’d done last night made her ravenous for more of the same.
She dabbed at a trickle of sweat that took a meandering trail down her throat and disappeared beneath her collar. A shiver played over her skin as a snippet from last night returned to tease her.
Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning she’d complained about being hot. Dade had dribbled cool water over her bare skin, helping a lady out, he’d said. Then he’d proceeded to lap it off her skin.
She closed her eyes and smiled, having loved every deliciously wicked second of what had transpired after that. This man certainly knew how to make a woman feel adored.
The loud splash brought her eyes popping open. The intruder crossed the creek and stopped less than twenty feet from them.
“Dammit to hell,” Dade said, his voice no more than a breath of sound.
Her gaze flicked from Dade’s rigid form to the rider. A shaft of cold passed through her as his pale, glacial eyes skewered her to the spot.
She’d never seen such emotionless eyes. As for his face, she couldn’t tell if he was as old as he seemed or if he’d simply led a hellish life.
“Well, now,” he said in a gruff voice that abraded her nerves. “Who you got there, boy?”
“A man ought to remember his children.” Conviction rang clear and loud in Dade’s voice, and for one heartbeat Maggie almost believed that she was Daisy Logan.
So this was the infamous outlaw who’d taken his children to the orphanage. She had absolutely no respect for anyone who turned their children out, and looking into his cold gray eyes didn’t change that opinion. But the fate they’d been dealt at the orphanage was far better than what they’d have had living with their outlaw father.
She held her breath as the outlaw’s steely eyes flicked from Dade to her. “Daisy?”
The man was smart to question that, for she looked nothing like Daisy. Still, she wasn’t about to reveal Dade’s lie. He had reason to hide the truth, and she’d given her word that she’d go along with whatever ruse he wanted.
“Who are you?” She forced her chin up, attempting a brave front though her knees were knocking something fierce.
“Clete Logan,” he said, his chest puffed with the false pride only an outlaw could have. “Your pa.”
She turned to Dade, positive that Daisy wouldn’t remember this man either. “Is he?”
“Yep,” Dade said. “Except he gave up that right when he left us standing on the steps of an orphanage in the dead of winter.”
“You got a good memory, boy,” Clete said. “I did what had to be done.”
“You did what you damned well wanted, and that was ridding yourself of the responsibility of a family.”
Clete Logan went still, his hand poised at his sidearm. She feared he’d pull it in a spurt of anger. “You still wearing a tin star, boy?”
“Nope,” Dade said, clearly keeping to his word now and saying no more than necessary.
Not that it mattered. They’d both riled Clete Logan, and a man who’d deserted his family would likely have no qualms about shooting either or both of them dead right now.
The old man thumbed up his hat, revealing a face that looked as if it’d been chiseled from bedrock and baked in hell’s inferno. “That holdup in Placid have anything to do with you turning in your star?”
“Not one damned thing.”
Animosity arced between the two men like sheet lightning, the energy so strong it raised the fine hair on her nape.
“Reckon you heard about Seth and Brice,” the old man said.
Dade nodded. “Allis Carson made a sizable reward off them.”
Saddle leather creaked as the old man shifted his position. “Carson made an enemy too, one who will track him to hell.”
Maggie caught the quick set of the old man’s jaw and angry curl to his upper lip and knew he was in pain. But it was the flash of awareness in his cold eyes that stole her breath.
Clearly the outlaw was after the bounty hunter hired to find her. Did that mean Carson was in this area as well?
“You on his trail now?” Dade asked, as if reading her thoughts and fears.
“Not sure. I lost his trail outside La Junta a day back. But I heard he was heading to Eminence to round up a horse thief.” Clete Logan stared at Dade for a long uncomfortable moment, as if silently challenging him. “I need your help cornering him, boy.”
“I want nothing to do with him or you.”
Dade turned his back on the outlaw and stowed the provisions in the pannier that Maggie had gathered up. Clete Logan’s eyes went so black and angry they looked like flint, and for on
e moment she feared he’d draw his gun on Dade just for the hell of it.
With a curse, the outlaw kicked his horse’s flanks and rode off. But Maggie had the uneasy feeling they hadn’t seen the last of Clete Logan or the bounty hunter he’d vowed to kill.
Chapter 19
They reached the outskirts of Ravanna late that afternoon, and Dade was mighty grateful that they hadn’t met up with anyone else on the road. Still, he kept his eyes peeled and his senses honed for any sign of Allis Carson or Clete Logan.
With his old man dead set on finding the bounty hunter and extracting his brand of vengeance, Dade was more determined than ever to keep Maggie hidden. That meant keeping her name secret.
He reined up and looked her over. Her shoulders tended to droop and her mouth was pursed, but her eyes were alert. Likely her worries ran alongside his own.
“I’d planned for us to pass ourselves off as brother and sister,” he began, “but with Allis Carson this close to us, we’d best change plans.”
“Yes, I’ve used that identity too much now for it to still work as a disguise,” she said. “Do you have any suggestions?”
He shook his head. “Pick a name that don’t stand out.”
“Ann,” she said. “It’s my middle name, though I doubt many folks know it.”
“Ann Morris it is.”
Her big blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “And what is your alias, dear brother?”
He gave her mare’s line a tug to bring her alongside him, then leaned over and stole a kiss, no more than a quick peck, but one he felt sizzle through his veins all the same.
“As in my wife,” he said, and had the satisfaction of seeing desire flare in her eyes. “I’m not leaving you alone at night and the one decent place here won’t rent a room to a couple who aren’t married.”
That stole the color from her cheeks. “There’s no need to explain.”
Damn, did she think he was using that as an excuse to bed her? “I won’t force you, Maggie.”
“I know,” she said, color returning to kiss her cheeks and nubbin nose. “It’s all right, Dade.”
He hoped to hell she felt that way when their time together ended and he delivered her to St. Louis. He sure didn’t want her pining for him or worse, to leave her with a baby swelling her belly.
That meant he either had to leave her alone or use utmost care each time he took her. For damn sure he couldn’t be with her without having her again. So he had to keep a clear head around her.
That wasn’t easy to do. He’d never given up control of his thoughts and body before, but it had nearly happened twice last night. Both times he’d just barely remembered to pull out of her before spilling his seed.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Yep, he’d surely lost himself in this woman. “Nope. Just getting a feel for the place.”
He forced his gaze from her questioning one and took another gander at Ravanna. The drawback of a small town was that most folks would remember them. But their only other choice was bunking down on the plains,and that would leave them sitting ducks for anyone who happened by.
“Miss Jennean’s foreman said they have a hotel. Nothing fancy, but it’ll do for the night.” He picked it out among the structures and resumed his perusal of the other buildings.
There were several shops, churches, a bank, a livery, and a big courthouse. Houses ranged from small shacks to fine homes. The whole town was laid out well.
It looked peaceful and welcoming. But Allis Carson could already be here.
He could be inside a shop jawing with whomever would pay him the time of day. He could be hiding in the livery, just waiting for the unsuspecting to pass by.
Dade wouldn’t know until they rode in–until it was too late. But he couldn’t stay out here on the plains either. Nope, they had to take the chance.
Clete Logan seemed to think the bounty hunter was headed to Eminence, a rival town some miles from here. He believed his old man about as far as he could throw him. But the fact that the outlaw seemed to be headed to Eminence cinched Dade’s decision to ride to this town.
He hoped he didn’t live to regret it. “Let’s get a room and treat ourselves to a meal tonight.”
They reached the town in short order, and Dade headed straight for the hotel. Once he got Maggie settled, he’d see to their horses and make sure they were safe.
So far the only attention they had drawn was from the pair of old men sitting outside the general store. That would generate enough talk. Who else was watching?
He was so attuned to looking for trouble that he almost missed her wince as he lifted her from her mare. He set her on her feet but didn’t let go of her.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
“Just give me a moment,” she said, and when she wouldn’t look at him he knew.
Dade called himself ten kinds of an ass. He’d loved her long and hard last night then put her astride a horse and forced her to ride all day.
She needed to soak out the kinks and soreness. She needed rest. She needed him to keep his damned pecker in his britches tonight.
“I’ll see if the owner can draw you a hot bath,” he said.
She nodded. “That’d be very nice.”
“Come on.” He escorted her into the hotel.
A cherry-cheeked matron stood behind the counter. “Good day to you.”
Dade brushed two fingers over his hat brim. “Same to you, ma’am. Me and the missus would like a room. A bath too, if you can provide it.”
“That can be arranged.” She opened a book and angled the pen his way. “If you’d just sign here, Mr.–”
“Morris,” he supplied.
He caught himself from scrawling just his name and wrote Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Morris instead. A strange feeling of rightness settled in his soul as he put the pen back in the holder.
It didn’t matter that he liked seeing his name teamed to a lady’s. Didn’t change anything that he felt good being the other half to Maggie Sutten.
Like everything else in his life, this couldn’t last. He’d do well to keep that in mind.
The smiling woman handed him a key. “Room four at the end of the hall. It’s much quieter and private.”
Her innuendo wasn’t lost on him. “Thank you, ma’am. I’ll see my wife to our room then fetch our bags.”
“My son will see to those bags,” the woman said. “You just set them inside the door, and he’ll take them up for you.”
“Much obliged,” Dade said and took Maggie’s elbow.
This was a woman he’d never tire of touching. She wouldn’t bore him with chatter either.
Nope, she’d been through the hell of being shuffled off to an orphanage. She understood how being unwanted tore at a person’s soul.
He didn’t know all of her past yet–she’d not offered, and he hadn’t pushed. But he knew how secrets kept hidden could fester like a sore.
He still felt off balance from meeting his pa today. So many years since he’d laid eyes on him, but the pain of rejection was as fresh as if it’d just happened.
It was clear the old man hadn’t wasted any energy worrying about his children. Hell, he’d believed Maggie was Daisy. The man didn’t even know his own daughter.
“I am looking forward to the day when I can stay in one place for an entire week without ever getting on a horse,” Maggie said.
She moved slowly up the stairs. Anyone who didn’t know her would have thought she was just taking a ladylike stroll. But Dade caught the slight wince when she bent just so and the unnatural stiffness to her back. She was hurting, and he wasn’t sure that a hot bath would ease all her discomfort.
That could pose a problem tomorrow, for they had just as long a ride into Dodge City. She’d do far better in a well-sprung buggy, but he doubted he’d find anything besides farm wagons and buckboards in this town.
He unlocked the door and let her enter first. She made straightaway to the armless chair by the window and eased
onto it.
“Finally something to sit on that isn’t moving,” she said.
Guilt took a bite out of him again. Yep, it was mighty clear that not all of her discomfort stemmed from sitting a saddle all day. A good part of her misery could be laid at his feet for loving her long into the night.
She needed rest from the saddle and him.
“You aren’t going to be in any shape to ride again tomorrow.”
She hiked her chin up, her lips pursed in that way that told him she was getting her back up again. “Is it wise to spend more than a day here?”
“With Allis Carson close by? Nope,” he said. “The sooner we get to Dodge City and the Iago Theater, the better off we’ll be.”
“Then we ride again tomorrow.”
“You need rest, Maggie,” he said. “I’ll fetch our bags so we can settle in.”
“Don’t take a foolish risk because of me. I’d rather suffer a little inconvenience now than risk getting caught here by Allis Carson.”
“All right. I’ll arrange for a bath to be brought up to you while I’m seeing to the horses and getting a feel for the town.”
Dade slipped from the room before she could protest any further. It took no time at all to remove her satchel and his saddlebags from the horses.
A request to make his wife’s stay comfortable was easily procured as well. “I’ll have your things taken to your room first, then set up her bath,” the matron assured him.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
He left the hotel and stood on the wide porch a moment, getting a feel for the town. While it didn’t look to be in decline, it didn’t seem to be growing either.
It was a sleepy Western burg where nobody seemed to be in any hurry. Still he took care riding to the livery.
The liveryman met him at the wide open doors. “Afternoon. What can I do for you?”
“Need to board my horses overnight.”
“You’re passing through?”
“On our way to Dodge City.”
“You got kin there?” the liveryman asked as he stabled the horses.
To Dade’s way of thinking, he’d said more than enough about his destination. Folks in small towns tended to have long memories. Time to cover their trail.
In a Cowboy’s Arms Page 25
