Jodi Thomas - WM 1

by Texas Rain

  The room was silent. She stared at Dillon. “I’m very tired. May I go?”

  Dillon looked like he wanted to ask her more questions, but Roy stepped before her and offered his hand. “Of course,” he said. “Someone take her to where the widow is recovering.” He looked sad. “I’d take you myself, but I must file a report.”

  “I understand.” Rainey felt like a sand doll with a hole in her toe. All the sand in her was draining out fast and she needed to get somewhere where she could rest. “You’ve been very kind, Ranger Dumont. If you weren’t already married a few times, I’d set my bonnet for you.”

  The other Rangers laughed and Roy looked proud of himself.

  Dillon stood between her and the door. “You understand, Miss Adams, that your life is still in danger.”

  She nodded, wanting to ask when it hadn’t been. Since she walked out of the dorm months ago, she felt like she’d been looking over her shoulder for trouble. At the time her greatest fear had been that her father would catch her. All she’d thought of was disappearing. Now she knew there were men far worse than her father.

  Dillon moved aside, letting one of the others escort her to the door.

  By the time Rainey got to the porch, a buggy waited for her. The Rangers helped her in, and a young man drove her straight to the Baileys’ home.

  “Are you sure Dottie Davis is here?” Rainey said as she climbed out.

  “Yes, ma’am. She’s recovering under Dr. Bailey’s care. Miss McMurray insisted on it.” He walked her to the door, knocked, then handed her over to Mike Saddler.

  She smiled, remembering the young Ranger and thinking that he must be Sage’s riding partner that Travis had been so worried about.

  Ranger Saddler looked overjoyed to see her and, like Roy, hugged her as if she were kin. He directed her inside, and within minutes, Rainey was sitting in the Baileys’ huge formal dining room. Dottie, wrapped in a quilt that covered most of her bandaged arm and shoulder, sat across from her while the housekeeper served them the first meal Rainey had had in two days.

  Mike disappeared, saying he’d be back in a few minutes.

  The two friends both talked at once, telling each other what had happened while they were apart.

  “We’re heroes.” Dottie laughed. “Everyone in town knows about us. We’re all the talk.”

  Rainey found that hard to believe.

  Dottie shoved around food on her plate, trying to catch it using the fork in her left hand. “It’s true. Everyone has stopped by to check on Sage and to tell me how brave I was having a shoot-out with the Norman boys. Even Judge Gates stopped by twice. He sat by me on the couch and patted my hand.” She giggled. “I don’t know if he likes me, or if he figures he was next on their list.”

  Rainey found it all too much to take in. “Where are the McMurrays?” She thought Sage at least would have greeted her. In fact, now that she noticed it, the entire house seemed empty.

  “Travis came in half an hour ago. He told us he got you safely to the Ranger station, then said he wanted to see the doctor right away.” Tears bubbled in the widow’s eyes. “He collapsed a foot inside the door and Ranger Saddler had to carry him to his room with a little help from Sage and the Baileys. They’re all in there now, I think. He’s hurting bad.”

  Dottie gripped Rainey’s hand. “I was so excited to see you, I forgot about him. I’m sure he’ll be fine. When Mike came through to answer the knock, he nodded and said, ‘Travis is in good hands. Dr. Bailey is the best in Texas.’ ”

  “But he never complained, not once.” Rainey lost her appetite. “I knew he was hurting, but I didn’t know . . .”

  The widow stopped her rant. “Now, don’t you worry, dear. Men can be all brave and silent for just so long. As soon as they get home, they let a wall down and stop pretending they’re invincible. He had a job to do, and he did it.” She smiled. “And I’m guessing he didn’t want you to see how badly he was hurting. You should have seen the look on his face when he discovered you’d been kidnapped. I almost felt sorry for the outlaws.”

  Rainey watched the door as she nibbled at her food. She wanted to run and find Travis, but maybe Dottie was right. Maybe he didn’t want her to see him as less than her man-of-oak.

  After dinner Rainey curled into the chair feeling warm and safe. For a while, they didn’t talk, they just relaxed. Then the housekeeper came in to tell Rainey that her room was ready.

  “But I have to go back to the boardinghouse.”

  “It’s been closed,” Dottie whispered. “The three sisters refused to stay there after the kidnapping. They moved into their half-finished living quarters over their shop. The last I heard they were helping with the hammering.”

  “What about Mrs. Vivian?”

  “She refuses to leave her home. The sisters said she was bolting all the doors and windows as they were leaving.” Dottie shook her head. “She thinks her husband is coming back to that house and nothing short of a fire will get her out of there.”

  “But I can’t afford to live here.” Rainey looked around her at the fine furnishings.

  “There is no charge,” the housekeeper said. “Dr. and Mrs. Bailey would like you and Mrs. Davis to stay here as their guests.”

  “Really?”

  “I have the room next to Mrs. Davis made up for you and a bath is waiting.” The housekeeper smiled a true welcome that Mrs. Vivian would have never given away.

  Rainey almost said she would sleep here in the chair, but a bath sounded wonderful. She followed the housekeeper up a flight of stairs and into a bedroom four times larger than her little place at the Askew House. It had curtains over the windows and a rug that almost touched the walls on all sides of the room. A big bed with a nightgown folded atop the covers stood to the left, a tub in front of the fire to the right. A teapot warmed on the bricks and crisp white bath sheets waited in a chair next to the tub.

  “Will there be anything else?” the housekeeper asked.

  Rainey turned to thank the housekeeper. “Would someone let me know how Ranger McMurray is when they know something?”

  “Of course,” the housekeeper said as she pulled the door closed behind her.

  Rainey slowly removed her clothes, feeling every sore muscle and bruised place on her body. She looked in the mirror, seeing a dark spot along her ribs and an almost black circle on her hip. Her cheek had turned several different colors of skin and her left eye had a mark so black it looked like she’d spread a finger-width of coal across it.

  Slipping into the tub, she let the warm water wash across her tired body, soothing all the aches. She washed her hair and scrubbed the dirt from her hands with a soap that smelled like a flower garden. Her feet were finally warm. She leaned back in the tub and closed her eyes.

  She was almost asleep when she heard a knock at her door.

  Rainey jumped, surprised that the water had grown cold. Splashing out, she wrapped in a towel, then crossed the room and slipped into a nightgown that someone had laid out for her. “Yes?” she said, finally answering the door.

  “It’s me, Sage McMurray.”

  Rainey opened the door, and the strange thing that had happened to her very few times in her life before today happened again. Sage rushed toward her and hugged her.

  “Thank God you’re safe,” Sage said when she stepped back. “I was so worried about you.”

  When Rainey only stared, Sage’s eyes widened. “You are Rainey Adams, aren’t you? Don’t tell me I got the wrong room.”

  Rainey smiled. “I am.”

  Sage relaxed. “I can’t believe you were so brave. I’m so glad Travis found you. I wanted to come along, but he wouldn’t let me. You could have been hurt or killed.”

  “I’m fine,” Rainey answered. “How is Travis?”

  Sage put her arm around Rainey as if they were old friends. They moved to the fire. “He’s sleeping. The doctor gave him something to help him rest. We’ll know tomorrow if he did any damage to the muscles, but Dr. Bailey is
having his leg wrapped in hot towels every two hours to increase the blood circulation. After seeing him hurt months ago, I should have been prepared, but I swear I feel his pain.” Sage rambled on. “He’s my big brother and I can’t stand it when any of them are hurt.”

  “He shouldn’t have come after me,” Rainey whispered.

  “No one could have stopped him,” Sage answered, her eyes wide with surprise that Rainey didn’t seem to understand. “He said you were his.” She said the words slowly, watching Rainey’s reaction.

  “I am his friend,” Rainey managed to say.

  “Would you mind if I stay for a while?” Sage tilted her head. “You look familiar.”

  Rainey pulled a lap quilt around her shoulders and pointed to the two chairs by the fire. She was glad for Sage’s company, but she needed time to figure out how to tell Sage that their paths had crossed once before. “Please, sit down. We have lots to talk about.” She didn’t meet the girl’s gaze. “I think the housekeeper left tea in that pot. Why don’t we have a cup?”

  Sage looked nervous but got right to the point. “You mean a great deal to my brother. Have you known him long?”

  “No.” Rainey wasn’t surprised by Sage’s directness, and she had no idea how to answer the girl.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything, you know.” Sage laughed. “We’re going to be best friends either way.”

  Rainey handed her a cup of tea.

  Sage smiled. “Mrs. Bailey does love her tea. Travis hates the stuff, you know.”

  “I know,” Rainey answered before she thought and caught Sage’s blink of a smile at her words.

  As they drank Sage talked about all that had happened after Rainey had been kidnapped. Finally she noticed Rainey fighting to keep her eyes open.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll listen tomorrow because tonight I seem to be the one doing all the talking.” Sage stood.

  Rainey nodded and walked her to the door. She said good night and climbed into bed without turning off the light. Before her body warmed the covers, she fell asleep.

  Deep in the night Rainey woke with a start. For a moment she couldn’t remember where she was. All she knew or felt was a deep need to make sure Travis was all right. As sleep left her brain she feared someone looking for her might have gotten into the house. What if the Norman brother who got away had returned to kill Travis or her?

  With a lamp she slipped from her room and climbed down the stairs to the left wing, telling herself she’d check on Travis and be back in her room before anyone knew.

  CHAPTER 28

  TRAVIS DIDN’T BOTHER TO OPEN HIS EYES. HE’D HEARD the mantel clock chime three and knew it would be at least another hour before anyone checked on him. Dr. Bailey had insisted on tying him down, claiming he didn’t want Travis rolling over in his sleep. Travis felt like a prisoner. His left leg had been wrapped and soaked in an oil the doctor swore would take the swelling out. The doctor had also put something in the tea Sage had forced down him, but it wasn’t working. He remained wide awake.

  The doc had probably been right about tying him down. He would have been up checking to make sure Rainey was all right if he could have gotten out of bed. He’d caught a glance of her just before she disappeared into the Ranger station office. She’d looked frightened, her green eyes darting around searching for him. His pride wouldn’t allow him to ask for help to get off the horse. Instead, like a fool, he’d let her go in alone. He told himself Dillon would go easy on her. Roy would watch over her.

  So he’d ridden over to the Baileys’ knowing he had to see the doc. He’d all but fallen off his mount and stumbled up to the door like a drunk. He hadn’t made it more than three feet inside the house before the pain peaked and he blacked out. He had no idea how they got him to bed, but when he woke up, everyone was crowded around following the doc’s orders and treating him like some kind of puppet they all wanted to handle. He fought them worse than Duck usually did when they removed his clothes for a bath. But between trying to stay dressed and trying to hold his leg still, he lost the battle with clothes.

  The whole experience had been painful and humiliating. The only thing that would have made it unbearable would have been if Rainey had been there.

  Travis heard Michael Saddler snoring in the seating room beyond his bedroom door and knew the young Ranger was there not only as guard, but to keep Duck happy. The boy had dragged his bedding into Travis’s bedroom three times before Mike showed him that the door between the rooms would stay open, the fire would be left burning, and Mike would be near.

  “I plan to beat a few years’ life out of Saddler when I get on my feet,” Travis mumbled. The young Ranger had held him down while the doc dug into his leg. Just before Travis passed out, he heard the doc say he knew there must be lead left in the leg, but he couldn’t seem to find it. Saddler smiled and said, “Keep digging.” Then he’d slammed all two hundred pounds of himself onto Travis’s chest to hold him down.

  When Travis came to again, the doc had quit digging into his flesh and was busy wrapping his leg so tightly he could feel it throbbing. The bandages were warm and soaking wet. As they cooled Travis felt warm spots where his blood soaked through. As if the whole operation hadn’t been humiliating enough, Dr. Bailey ordered the bandages changed every two hours. He’d heard of Indian torture ceremonies with less pain.

  And through it all, the boy watched, shaking with fear. Duck didn’t like sleeping a room away from Travis, but he finally curled down in his covers making sure he could see Travis through the open door.

  Travis hoped that in an hour when they came to change the bandages, they’d be quiet enough that they didn’t wake the boy. He promised himself he wouldn’t swear, no matter how much it hurt.

  When Sage had last checked on him, Travis had heard Mike gently tell her to get some rest, there would be plenty to do in the morning. He’d said that Travis had been drugged and would sleep for a few hours.

  Only I’m not asleep! Travis wanted to yell. I’m awake and bored. While he’d been out the second time, someone had tied him down at the waist with a sheet and bound his good leg into the covers so that he couldn’t move it. His arms and shoulders were free, but they might as well have been bound as well for all the good he could do.

  Travis felt like his mind was sloshing through a fog. He was surprised his body didn’t hurt. The last few miles to town he’d had to struggle to keep from screaming. If he hadn’t been so worried about Rainey, he would have demanded they stop. But with Eldon Norman still loose, they needed to get her to safety before the outlaw figured out that she’d killed his last brother.

  Closing his eyes, he remembered how Rainey had melted into his arms so easily when they’d stopped to rest. She’d acted as if she would have stayed on that blanket beneath the tree for the rest of the afternoon and he wouldn’t have minded at all. He’d forgotten about the throbbing in his leg when he’d touched her. She’d been the only medicine that he needed.

  Rainey had no idea of the danger she was in. All the Normans were hate-filled men, even the old man. The Rangers had never been able to pin anything on the father, but the sons were reckless. They’d all been in and out of jails by the time they could shave. Every time they went on trial, Old Man Norman would ride into town and be in court every day. When his boys were sentenced, he’d wait outside to cuss every Ranger and judge involved.

  Travis turned his head slightly. He sensed someone in the room. A movement in the air that hadn’t been there before. A shifting of shadows.

  He reached for his gun that he’d insisted Mike leave near the side of the bed and slowly opened his eyes a fraction.

  Rainey stood before him in a nightgown that covered her from throat to toes. She leaned over him, looking very much like an angel come to call.

  He returned the gun to its hiding place. “Looking for something?” he whispered.

  She jumped, then like a child looking at a snake, leaned a bit closer. “You scared me to death,�
�� she scolded. “I was just making sure you were breathing.”

  He studied her closely in the light coming from the door. If she knew just how much the firelight revealed what lay beneath her nightgown, she would have been horrified. He decided, purely to save her feelings, he wouldn’t tell her. “I’m breathing. Come closer, I don’t want to wake the others.”

  Rainey glanced at the open door. Duck was curled into a ball by the fire. Mike’s snoring kept time with the ticking of the clock.

  She moved closer. “How are you?”

  “Thanks to the doc,” Travis lied, “I feel much better, but for some reason, I’m wide awake.”

  She sat on the edge of the bed. “Me, too.”

  “Think you could keep me company for a while?”

  “Of course, but I have to be gone before anyone wakes. I think this is most improper to be in your bedchamber.”

  Travis smiled. “I know it is.” He slid his hand over hers. “Tell me how it went at the station. Dillon wasn’t too hard on you, was he?”

  Rainey curled atop the covers on his right side and pulled her feet beneath her gown. “No. I think he might have been, but your friend Roy wouldn’t let him.”

  Travis didn’t look happy. “Any word about the last brother?”

  “Not that I know of.” Her voice shook slightly.

  “Rainey,” Travis whispered. “Are you cold?”

  “A little,” she admitted.

  “Curl up beside me like you did last night. We could talk and pass the time.”

  She hesitated. His arms and chest were bare tonight. She could see the strength of his muscles and the dark tan of his skin. She wasn’t surprised to find his chest looked like it had been carved of oak.

  “Are you afraid of me?” He had to ask.

  “No,” she answered without thought.

  He waited.

  Slowly, so that she didn’t touch him, she moved beside him. He could feel her warmth an inch away. For a few minutes she shivered, then finally relaxed.