by Linda Broday
His dark eyes softened. “Well, what about this Uncle Sam?”
“Samuel was the baby of the family. Nothing left for him to inherit. So he went West to find adventure.” Grief surfaced again. “The details are unsure, but somewhere in Black Rock, he got arrested and hanged within an hour.”
Even after all these years, the words still choked her.
“Folks can read justice a bit different out here.” Keith mentioned, but something like shock glistened in his eyes along with the lantern she’d lit.
She lifted her chin. “No matter his crime, guilty or innocent, a man deserves a trial and a defense. That’s when Badge wanted to come West. And he convinced me to come, too. You know all the rest.”
This time, Keith rested his chin in his hands, elbows on tall knees, beheld her with warm eyes. “I don’t think I know the rest at all, Miz Barbara.”
Like his belt binding her to the bed, his gaze tied her up in such a long, slow, tantalizing way she ached to submit. His manly scent of sky and pine washed over the aroma of the meal. And the rippling muscles beneath his shirtsleeves had her eager to curl tight in his embrace.
What was she thinking? She had to face him in the morning and he might be stuck here for days! Face hot, she turned practical and got up to tidy the dishes.
“I’m truly not very exciting, Sheriff. Just a woman stuck in a man’s world and not wanting to stay there.”
“You’re all woman. Make no doubt about that.” He turned from her to stoke the fire. She grabbed a bar of soap to keep her hands from caressing the strong broad shoulders calling out to her.
Chapter Six
His fingers shook like a man facing the gallows while he loaded up the stove. Him, a strong, stalwart sheriff who faced down crooks and rifles, getting himself unsettled by a female. Sharing quarters with this woman started his skin goosing. He wanted her. And truth is, she wanted him back. No vanity at all; he knew the look, read the signs.
But she’d only let him stay inside so as not to freeze to death in the muck of the stall. He read that sign right, too.
Watching her scurry about, he stretched his legs by the fire. She sure looked like a regular woman cleaning up after her man. Like a woman ought. At the thought of what else a woman did for her man, his shoulders tightened. With a grunt, he forced away desire and the brief memory of her white flesh naked on the bed.
She looked over from the plate rack at the sound. “More coffee? I’ve plenty of supplies, too, should we get snowed in a while.”
Snowed in a while. His groin pulsed at the delicious and dreadful thought. Patty Mae. “I also have vittles to share. But hoping I can dig out tomorrow and leave you to your peace.”
The reality of leaving already hurt deep down. But he deserved it, chasing out Patty Mae like he’d done.
“To turn me in, you mean.”
Her voice startled him, but her pretty face calmed him. He shrugged. “Don’t know what I’ll do about that.”
The smile she tossed him held both fear and relief. “Well, I’m done clearing up. It’s a bit early to…retire.”
She spoke careful and he was glad. If she’d said “go to bed” instead, he’d have tripped over his excited member.
“I think Chief Dee left a pack of cards. Would you…do you like whist? I know a version for two players.” She talked soft, nobody else having to think her a man. And the tone touched him like he imagined her tender fingers might.
“I fear poker’s more my game.” He cleared his throat to hide the lovely image. “But I got pieces and a chessboard in my kit. You play?” Of course she would, raised in a house of rich smart lawyers. Regret coursed through him. It was them got her into this fix.
For a flash, her forehead wrinkled. Was she surprised he wasn’t a dullard who couldn’t play the game? But what she said next weakened his knees.
“Why, what a fine thing to carry with you!” Her smile started a hitch of his breath. “And yes, I do play. It’s been a while, though.”
He managed a stride to his supplies without revealing his turbulent manhood. “My pa carved it,” he said, setting up the game, “the nights he stayed in line shacks around our place.”
“I didn’t know you were a rancher.” Barbara brought two cups of coffee, but the table had no more room, so she set them on the floor. She smiled again and his belly quivered.
The sweet feeling couldn’t last, not with the past tossed in. “Pa ranched til Slim Billy Quicksilver scammed the place out of him.” Keith clenched a fist.
“What? Did you alert the authorities?”
“Like I said, Miz Barbara, the law reads different out here. Pa did all he knew to do.”
“Quicksilver is a slick one, I’ll grant you…” She stopped in distraction, picked up the white knight. “Why, the pieces are beautiful! I’d say your father had quite an eye and very adept fingers.”
“A bit rustic,” was all Keith said, although her compliment pleased him. “I took to the game easy. Strategy, capture, sacrifice. Protecting something at cost of something else. I guess that’s what started calling me to the law.”
The knight at her lips, Barbara stared at him. “Then you know. You understand.”
“Understand?”
“The call. How some things call to you. You just can’t avoid them.”
“I—” Was she comparing her…her deceit to him becoming a sheriff? He hedged. “Chess is a good thing. Been around forever.”
Not like a woman play-acting as a man.
Her lips tightened. Of course she realized what he meant. “So have women.”
“Sit down. Let’s start.” He wasn’t in the mood for debate. Women had their place. So did men. “Pa used two types of wood for coloration. You can go white.”
True, white had the advantage, going first, but he was a gentleman. And he fully expected her to bring out the knight she’d almost kissed. A very womanly gesture, he recalled, feeling the quiver once again.
But her first move was the King’s pawn. His, King’s bishop’s pawn. Two moves later, having protected her Queen by means of her King’s bishop, Barbara had a clear path up the row to checkmate his King at F7.
It happened so quick he was short of breath, like he’d fought an actual war.
“You’re good.” And she was. He swallowed the cuss he’d have said had she been a man. But all he read in her eyes was a gentle triumph. He grudged out respect. After the time he’d given her today, he’d expected a good dish of gloating.
“Thank you. You want to go again?”
“Yeah.” While she reset the game, he replayed her four moves in his mind. Hmm. He might as well act like he and his deputy didn’t exercise their brains over this very game each and every afternoon. Black went first in the next match. He’d let her think he was copying her because she was so good…
Well, she was good. And…he slurped a sip of Arbuckle’s and ate crow. She’d done a good job as a judge, too. Tonight, coffee went down easier than an imaginary bird. She’d likely been right about Moosejaw. Way back when, somebody else keeping strict to the letter of the law and Pa could have kept his land.
After copying Barbara’s first two moves, Keith saw her relax. His Queen was ready, protected by the pawns behind her. He slowed way down like he was caught in deep, hopeless thought. His King’s knight played twice, same move, to G5, sending his Queen happily on her way to the kill square.
Barbara gasped. “You are good.”
“Surprise ya?” He held his own triumph in polite check.
“No. Not a whit. You’re a lawman. Good at strategy and capture. Well done, Sheriff.”
“Likewise, ma’am. And pleased if you’d call me Keith.”
“Then, it’s Barbara. No ‘ma’am’, for me. Again, Keith?”
He shook his head. One victory apiece was fair, and easier on the mind. “Tomorrow, maybe.”
“All right then. I do think I’ll ready up for the night. We have plenty of snow to melt, so I’ve no qualms about hea
ting up some of my stash of water. I’ll leave some wash water for you, if you want.”
“Thanks kindly.”
In the lantern light, her cheeks pinked, bright. He felt for her, sharing such tight quarters. She might have been close with her brother, but her sharing hygiene habits and chamber pots with Keith was causing her womanly mortification despite her acting like a man these two years. To ease her awkwardness, he got up and made a show of strewing a blanket by the stove.
Which, dammit, kept the small place unexpectedly warm inside. He’d have no need to sneak beside her to warm her up. Then his breath caught. Patty Mae…
Despite the mistakes, the memories, he managed to sleep easy, all things considered—and that being a beautiful woman in a bed nearby. Once he heard her up using the chamber pot, and he pretended a deeper sleep than he needed to.
Pretended to wake up when he heard her sobbing. Him finding her out, of course.
“Miz…Barbara, you all right?”
“Yes. I…sometimes the dead of night brings back my grief. I still miss Badge so much. Aunt Hetty. Even Mama and Papa.” She sniffed.
His face heated at his mistake. Her grief was real and eternal. How could he ever add to it?
“Come here, Keith. It would be nice just to…have you near. Somebody who knows the truth. Someone where I don’t have to pretend anymore.”
He had no choice but to sidle in beside her, but cuddled her more or less like a weeping child. “It’ll be all right. I promise.” With his big, clumsy hand, he patted her head.
“How can you know?”
“I’m aware you had honorable intentions in what you did. You had a vow to keep. And your legal mind is a good one. I’ve accepted Miz Borchers is blind as a bat. You had to decide like you did, and I apologize for my rudeness. I expect Moosejaw will get his comeuppance some other day.”
“You’re a man of the law, Keith. You have to turn me in. And more than that—I need to give myself up.” Her voice drifted against his shoulder. “I believe I always knew it wouldn’t, couldn’t last. It’s just—”
“What, darlin’?” The moniker slipped out, but not just because he was in bed with her. It seemed to fit.
“I’ve long admired you. Wondered how it would feel, being held in your arms.” Her lips found his neck.
Although her confession excited him, he made light of what he heard. “Why, thanks kindly, I guess. First time I’ve been so admired by a man.”
Her chuckle rippled against his shoulder. “Keith, I’ve got prison staring down my throat. This is likely our last chance. Our only chance.”
“Chance for what?” Even in his eagerness for her, he held back.
“I’m no squeamish virgin, Keith. Part of Aunt Hetty’s tutelage claimed men and women are equal.”
“Ain’t so. Women get the babies.” He coughed.
“Well, Aunt Hetty told me of—of ways and times so they didn’t.”
“This one of those times? Or ways?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m ruined anyway. The world will soon know what an impostor I’ve been.”
“Whatever your past, I can’t wrong a woman, Barbara. No matter her reputation. Not again.” He made a move to leave her side, but she grabbed his arm.
“What do you mean?”
“I loved her, Red Cliff’s pretty schoolmarm. I had my betrothal ring on her finger. The date was set. Then I got wind of Pig Nose Tuxler in a gambling hole in Eagle.” His words slowed to a trickle. “Went down to arrest him, and saw my Patty Mae arm in arm with a dandy man. Handsome as the devil. Saw her kiss him. I ran back to Red Cliff and waited her out. In my wrath, I never let her explain. I broke her heart with my distrust, and she left town.” Then he spoke in a torrent, his fingers firm yet gentle around Barbara’s. “Some weeks later, the man—a watchmaker—came to town, delivering a specially engraved pocket watch she’d ordered for my wedding gift. I went to find her, but even with my detecting skills, she was long gone.”
Barbara’s hand tensed against his. “Keith, in your defense, you saw her kissing another man!”
His heart lightened. Was she on his side? Or was it just the lawyer side of her, looking at both sides?
“He was a good friend of her pa, is all. That’s why she gave him a kiss. But with her pa dead, he didn’t know Patty Mae’s whereabouts neither.”
“That’s a terrible tale. Maybe we could put our heads together and find her for you.”
“I’m thinking…” His voice was slow, for the truth was still getting born, “I’m thinking I don’t need her any longer.” His fingers curled into the hair he’d longed to touch. “Let’s get some sleep now. We’ll think on everything in the morning.”
“But, Keith…”
He kissed away one last tear. “In the morning, darlin’.”
Chapter Seven
Not her wildest dream, not after Keith had ripped the whiskers off her face, had Barbara spending the night in his arms. They hadn’t made love, but he’d thrilled her with the promises of his weather-scarred lips and warm hands.
“I won’t take advantage, not with you weak and weeping,” he’d said, clamping off her invitation with a long, slow kiss.
The dark hour before dawn gave way to the last gasp of wind, the last swish of snow as it stopped.
With a sigh, she snuggled against him, warm and safe. Keith deeply asleep against her pillow, she rose to use the chamber pot, feeling no embarrassment at all. After, she peeked out the window into the gray dawn. Sadness swamped her. The gusts of wind had carved out many shallow sworls of snow. Keith would be digging his way back to town before long. And then, her life as Badge Audiss would be over, and life as a felon would begin.
All for her love of the law. The irony pounded in her head.
A tornado of snow crashed through the door Keith had repaired after his temper. He jumped from the bed, gun aloft, and Barbara screamed.
She sagged against the wall in shock.
A wild-eyed monster clad in a snow-covered bearskin pointed a rifle steady at her, then alternated to Keith. And back again.
“Rakestraw? What the hell?” The monster clicked the trigger at Keith, then Barbara. “Where’s that libelous judge? I followed him here, got thrown from my horse. Laid dead as a doornail in the storm til I come to a while ago.”
Keith’s Peacemaker grunted back. “Put down that rifle, Enos Peabody. Nothing you do here will bring back your brother.”
“Like hell.” He fired, but Keith aimed better. Peabody crumpled onto the sheriff’s bedroll on the floor.
Keith hurtled from the bed to hold Barbara close. “Thank God you’re a woman now. Or you’d have been shot dead.”
Her heart raged against her ribs. “We must help him.”
“Nope. I never miss.” His arms tightened.
“Oh, Keith, when nobody attacked me on the way here, I thought I was safe and hidden. But I won’t be hidden for long.”
“No. No, I’ve been consulting with myself the whole night long. In your arms.” His smile was almost shy. “Enos, here, makes my pondering easier. He’s given us the answer we need.”
“What answer?”
“On how we can be together. How I could court you proper.” His rough finger flickered across her cheek. “Because I’m well on my way to loving you. But most important, how we can keep Judge Audiss’s verdicts in place.”
She shook so hard her teeth rattled, and he scooped her up as easy as a sack of grain, tucked her back in the bed like a child. “You’re freezing, and had a shock to boot. I’ll take care of Enos.”
Frigid air swirled through the shanty as he opened the door to haul the body onto the front stoop. After, he closed up tight and rushed to Barbara’s side, took in her heat. Stroking her hair, he muttered against it.
“Soon’s it’s clear enough, I’ll head to Red Cliff with the corpse. My deputy and several others know I left to accompany Badge Audiss to Turkey Creek, to protect him against the Peabodys. I can say this Peabody sh
ot the judge on the bridge and the body washed downstream. Nobody will search in this weather. Then Enos turned on me, and I shot him.”
“But Keith, you shot him in self-defense anyway. Why the deceit?” She remembered the law, remembered her own web of lies. Keith was ever and always an honest man.
“I’m thinking of you, darlin’. And me.” The corn husk mattress crushed under his weight, and his lips landed on her mouth, sparking her toes. “You hide out and reappear as a real woman, sometime soon.”
“It makes perfect sense, Keith. But it’s a lie.”
“That it is.”
“Remember how angry you were, finding out the lie I’ve been living?” Shame heated her skin even in the frigid morning air.
“I do. But I relented when I learned the reasons. And I already told you things read different out here. As for Enos, you could have died today. Much less, me. He set out to kill.” Keith kissed her cheek now. “I’ll give up the law if you ask. If you think my honor too tainted to continue as a lawman.”
Barbara chewed her lip in thought. “I think we both should start afresh. I should make peace with my family and let them know what happened to Badge. It’s not fair, Mama thinking him a successful judge here in Colorado. And I still have some money from Aunt Hetty.”
Keith frowned. “I got plenty of money saved to provide for you.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “Not that. I mean, what if we look into things, hire Pinkertons, to find out the truth about Slim Billy Quicksilver? How he managed to obtain the Rakestraw ranch? What if we work together to regain your heritage?”
“I’d say so. Then I could live there forever. With you.”
Beneath his mouth, hers bloomed like a rose. In his fervor, his hand caught her nightgown, pulling buttons from the holes. He halted, frowning, at the sore on her flesh and brushed her necklace away. “What’s this? What happened to you?”
“The linens I used to bind my chest.” A blush she felt but couldn’t see warmed her all over. “They were so tight they crushed the locket into my skin.”
“Why, it’s a perfect heart.” He bent to kiss the wound, his lips starting a new fire.
