Cowboy of Mine

by Red L. Jameson

  When Jake regained consciousness, hoping to God the blue-eyed man would just leave him the hell alone, there were two detectives wanting to know how he’d gotten shot. Of course, the blue-eyed man appeared, and Jake had disappeared. To be fair, the blue-eyed man had apologized for not taking him on a direct route to where he thought Jake ought to be, saying mayhap there was more to time traveling with mortals than he’d anticipated. Jake had slugged him across the jaw, which the blue-eyed man recovered from all too quickly and then laughed. Not in a patronizing way, but had laughed all the same. The bizarre time-traveling man had promised him he’d landed Jake in the right time, the right place—Montana in 1887. He just had to travel to Plateau and get himself the job as the sheriff.

  Jake wondered, as he always did, just how the hell he was ever going to get back, he pondered if he ever would. Mayhap this age was meant for him, for him to do something, for him to discover...ach, who knew.

  “You sure you don’t have a hollow leg?” Tom asked for the hundredth time.

  The dining room had been full of men, all black-smeared miners, and two women. Now though, there were only a few men sitting in a corner table, playing cards with a small bottle of whisky between them. It surprised Jake how little alcohol the miners consumed.

  Laura softly giggled while sipping her tea or coffee, Jake couldn’t quite tell what it was. She shook her head. “Leave him be. He likes to eat.”

  Jake gave her a quick grin, then returned to the roasted meat and potatoes. If he weren’t such a shy man, he’d personally thank Mr. Wan for the food. Mayhap he’d have to deny himself the luxury of his sheepishness and show his gratitude for having real food in his belly. In Arkansas Jake had had to make do with beans and that was about it. He wasn’t too sure if he’d ever eat a pinto again, he was so sick of them.

  “How’s Mr. Matlock?” Laura asked.

  Jake had made sure to check on the drunk inmate, giving him a dish of the roasted meat, but Mr. Matlock vomited into a bucket and only required water. And a lot of it.

  “Not feeling well, but tried to apologize for what he’d said.”

  Laura nodded. “When he’s not in his spirits, he’s actually quite nice. Educated, I would guess. Like Meredith.”

  “Meredith’s educated? Er, Miss Peabody. That is, Mrs. Peabody.” The words had shot out of Jake’s mouth too fast, and he bit his tongue, wishing he didn’t sound so damned eager for any morsel of information about the bonny elf woman. He still had yet to find out if she was married or not.

  Laura kept nodding. “Miss Peabody. And I never met a person more knowledgeable. When she first came here, she begged for books. Had to go to Great Falls all the time to check out books. But seeing as how it’s so cold, and one never knows when a blizzard is coming, she’s stuck here. Probably going a little mad without her books.” Laura’s eyes widened. “I mean, she’s not mad. Not at all.” She shook her head a bit maniacally.

  Tom coughed, pursing his lips until white lines showed around his mouth. Jake pieced together their puzzle. As much as Laura protested Meredith’s insanity, it was obvious she had doubts. As did Tom. For some reason, Jake had no doubts, though he’d spent only a few minutes with the woman.

  “She’s—how to put it?—she’s not insane,” Tom said with a laugh.

  “No. Heavens, no.”

  Jake wondered if Laura might shake her head off, her movements turning frantic.

  “She’s just...” Tom wiped his mouth with his white cloth napkin. “She...”

  “Being that educated and being a woman,” Laura spoke quickly, “I’d bet she feels, you know, like an outsider. That’s all.”

  “Like she might feel as if she were from another time,” Tom added.

  Jake instantly stilled at those words, his fork full of savory meat dangling in the air. From another time. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, was Meredith from another time? Like him?

  Laura smacked her husband’s arm playfully, but Jake saw her lips pursed in a quick frown that disappeared as she spoke. “I’d bet she craves for a time when she could be around other well-learned people, women.”

  “Ah, honey, you’re real knowledgeable.” Tom swung a huge arm around his wife’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze.

  Laura brightly smiled at her husband, patting his chest a few times, but then turned toward Jake. “She knows things about the past, like the politics of the constitution and such. Fascinating. Maybe you’d like to talk to her some about that?”

  Jake nodded absentmindedly.

  What if Meredith was like him? A lost time traveler?

  He lowered his fork, no longer hungry. His stomach was a mass of knots like fishermen’s nets tangled on the shore. He knew what that looked like. He missed the North Sea, the coast of water close to his hometown of Durness, so much his bones hurt with the thought.

  However, the consideration that Meredith was like him overpowered any other sentiment. He’d been so lonely this last year. So alone. To be around another who felt similarly...it would be powerful salve, he thought.

  As if his contemplations summoned her, suddenly running into the dining room of the Stop was Meredith. Only, at first Jake wondered if he imagined her dressed with—well, she wasn’t dressed. She was in her skivvies—a white shift, light blue corset, and a dark gray petticoat. Her tiny pink toes looked near frozen, and her nose had turned a bright red.

  Laura shot from her chair. “Oh, Lord.”

  “I—I—” Meredith stuttered.

  Laura wrapped her arms around Meredith as Jake and Tom stood, not too sure what to do.

  “Meredith, what are you doing without your dress on?” Laura’s tone was close to reprimanding.

  The way Meredith turned to Laura with such despair, such panic, Jake wasn’t too sure if he should shove aside all social protocols and hold her in his arms. Meredith’s eyes, already so huge, were round and wide. And they were purple. A light purple he’d never seen before.

  “There’s—there’s a man on my porch.”

  “What’s that she said?” Tom asked, seeming to notice the men in the corner staring at Meredith.

  “Go get a blanket, Tom,” Laura ordered.

  Tom started to move, but stalled staring at Meredith.

  “There’s a man on my porch,” Meredith repeated.

  “Honey, you’re nearly frozen through. What on earth goes through your mind?”

  Jake was taken aback that Laura had to ask. There was some man on Meredith’s porch. She was scared. Petrified. Obviously. That’s what had gone through her mind.

  “Do you know the man?” Jake asked quietly, calmly.

  Meredith shook her head, still in Laura’s arms.

  “Oh, sweet woman, are you sure you saw what you say you saw?”

  Now Jake was angry. What the hell? There was a man on Meredith’s porch who had scared the living daylights out of the woman. Were the people of Plateau that bad at addressing criminals in their town?

  Well, he wasn’t.

  “Where’s your home, Meredith?” He tried to temper his voice, sound as gentle as possible.

  Meredith swallowed and opened her mouth.

  “Now,” Laura spoke before Meredith could, “honey, you sure you saw a man? On your porch?”

  Meredith nodded, slowly leveraging herself away from Laura’s arms.

  “You sure?” Laura asked again, adding even more fire in Jake’s veins.

  Damnation, this was a terrible way to treat the terrified woman, making her second guess herself.

  Meredith finally freed herself from Laura. Her panic quickly dissolved into a frown of bone-crushing sadness. Jake couldn’t handle her lips turned down the way they were.

  As fast as he could, he wrapped Meredith in his coat, holding the lapels closed over her lusciously curved body. “Meredith, where do you live? Let me catch the man on your porch.”

  “A little outside of town, on the east side, away from the mine.”

  “She lives close to the creek,” Tom said. “Bu
t, Jake, I don’t think—”

  “Are you all right?” Jake interrupted, not wanting to hear one more word from Tom or Laura. Damn, he thought he was a good judge of characters, but this was despicable the way they treated Meredith as if she were making it up, as if she were...mad.

  The moniker came back to Jake. Mad Mere.

  Was she...?

  Her eyes somehow widened all the more after Jake had asked if she was all right. Those otherworldly eyes, so beautiful, so unlike anything he’d ever seen, were full of pain, shame, and still terrified. Something had spooked her. And he was about to find out if it was real or imagined.

  Meredith never answered, but kept her gaze glued to his.

  “I’m goin’ to yer house and make it safe for ye.”

  She blinked.

  Hellfire, his brogue had come through. Couldn’t be helped. And hopefully she was the only one who’d heard it.

  “I’ll go with you.” Her voice sounded so...weak and scared. Not the woman’s voice he’d met this morning.

  He shook his head, knowing he should let go of the lapels of his coat, but not able to force himself to do it. “No. Stay here—”

  “Yes, honey. Stay here. I’ll make a nice room for you upstairs.” Laura’s own voice sounded pleading.

  Meredith shook her head. “I can’t pay you.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Tom said.

  Meredith’s dark feminine brows furrowed. “Thank you, but, no. I can’t. Mr. Cameron—Sheriff Cameron will make sure the man’s gone. I’ll be fine back home once the man is gone.” She straightened her wee posture and squared her little shoulders, barely visible in his coat. There was the lass he’d met, that fae woman who had stolen his breath when he first saw her.

  Jake could guess she didn’t want to stay with Tom and Laura because they’d been dismissive about her being threatened, but he didn’t like it that she might be close if the threat persisted. Still, he wasn’t sure if being around Tom and Laura would be much good for Meredith’s heart. It was obvious she was hurt by how Tom and Laura had reacted. And Jake didn’t blame her.

  Ach!

  He sighed, thinking he’d keep Meredith far from her house, keep her safe, as he inspected her home. “Fine.”

  Meredith smiled up at him, as if he was some sort of hero. He wasn’t, of course. But with a grin like that pointed at him, he wanted to be.

  In one swoop he picked up Meredith, hating that her wee toes looked so painfully cold on the dirty floor. She made a startled sound but instantly wrapped her arms around his neck. That felted damned good. He marched out, vaguely hearing Tom and Laura make stuttering starts to halt him. But he wouldn’t be stopped. This was one way to find out just who Meredith Peabody was.

  *

  Jake set Meredith on her horse, then told her to wait while he retrieved his horse from the livery. She merely nodded, her eyes still wide and so violet.

  Through the velvet blackness of the winter night, the Montana frost was already settling in, making his breath cloud. But Jake clearly saw all the glittering stars above, a sure sign of no snow.

  He rode close to Meredith’s paint, then extracted his plaid, hoping it didn’t smell too dirty. Tethering his horse to a pole, he lowered himself then extracted Meredith from her dappled horse without a word. She made another little noise, her eyes staring at him the whole time, but didn’t say much. Placing her on his horse, he then wrapped the plaid around her, trying to tuck the ends around her dainty feet. Once he felt the chill on her skin though, he stopped and tried to warm her with his hands. He glanced up to see her reaction, but she merely looked at him with those huge eyes of hers. No complaints, no words. But her lids fluttered, and her shoulders seemed to relax under his coat once he got her toes a little warmer. Satisfied that she wouldn’t get frostbite, he then secured the plaid around her feet again, tied her horse to the back of his saddle, then hefted himself behind Meredith.

  She wiggled, and at first Jake thought she was trying to distance herself from him. But then he noticed her draping one leg around the saddle horn, ensuring he had room in the saddle, which was very snug with two people in it. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled the reins the direction she’d told him her house was located.

  He’d have to say something to her eventually, but for the time being he was too distracted with the way she felt against him, the softness of her backside, the scoop of her waist in his hand. And the way she smelled—a mixture of vanilla and sweat pea blooms. He wasn’t sure if she applied the aroma or if it was her.

  He swallowed, trying to regain his thoughts, trying not to nuzzle the back of her head.

  She placed a cold hand over his. “I’m that house, down near the creek bed. I left all the lights burning.”

  He nodded, but then realized she couldn’t see him. Jake tried to think of words, something to say, but could only concentrate on her palm still on him. He liked her little hand, so dainty.

  She was here, in his arms because some man was prowling on her porch. Or she was mad, as Tom and Laura clearly thought. He needed to remind himself that he wasn’t taking a turn with the lady. He wasn’t here to court her. She needed him to protect her, and he’d better damned well do his job.

  “You saw what the man looked like?”

  She shook her head. “Well, I saw he wore a bowler hat, not a Stetson like you. And he had on a big duster. It looked dark. His back was to the window.” She shuddered. “He was looking at my...”

  The hand on Jake’s moved, and he guessed it hovered over her pretty lips.

  “Looking at your...?”

  She turned slightly, trying to gaze at him in the eye. “I keep my bath out where the man was and my...device.”

  He narrowed his eyes, not sure how to ask, “And what device would that be, ma’am?” She seemed so secretive about whatever it was.

  Then she sighed and turned more into him, her shoulder cranking into his chest. “I like baths. Well, I’m sure everyone likes baths. But I really like baths. And when I first came here I liked taking a bath, but then...”

  Jesus, why was she talking about taking a bath? Now, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking of her in warm sudsy water, a huge sponge gliding along her creamy skin and finding a few of her tiny freckles. Then the sponge would skim over her chest, right between her breasts—

  He needed to stop fantasizing. Already he was tightening against her. Lord. He gained a little distance, trying to make sure she didn’t feel his excitement at her bath talk.

  “But then...?”

  She bit her bottom lip. “I made a shower. Um, what to call it? See, I have a lot of time on my hands. So I decided to invent a way to get clean with water spilling over my body.”

  Should he place his hand over her mouth to make her stop? Now all he could think about was her naked with water running over her slick curves. He scooted back a little more.

  “And the man was there beside my shower, is what I call it.”

  Jake nodded and swallowed, thanking the Lord her house was close. In a thicket of pines, he stopped and got off the horse as fast as possible, trying to calm his thickening cock, trying to remind himself he was, in her eyes, a hero, and he needed to act like it.

  He tied both horses to a branch.

  “Ye warm?”

  She blinked, but then nodded, and he knew why she looked at him with uncertainty. She kept shaking his thoughts, tempting him senseless without her awares, and he’d spoken with his accent once again.

  He cleared his throat, reminding himself to sound more American. “Stay here while I scout your home.”

  She nodded once more, and he extracted his Colt from his back. Her gorgeous eyes got even bigger at that.

  “Try to keep the horses quiet for me.”

  She nodded again. “You need something to see with? A torch?”

  He shook his head and pointed to the sparkling stars. “I see fine with that.”

  Somehow what he’d said made her smile. She gave h
im the kind of grin she’d given him earlier this morning. It was wide and carefree, as if he weren’t there to search her home for perverts, as if she weren’t in the least worried any more. And he liked it. Made his solar plexus stir with energy.

  Before he got lost staring at her one more time, he turned and silently walked the direction of her house. The night air was already freezing, and it helped remedy his blurred thoughts.

  He didn’t know what it was about her, but he liked her, like the way she looked, the way she talked, the way her huge eyes gazed at him. Liked all of it. And he wasn’t too sure what to do about that, about how his body wanted to touch her, keep touching her, kiss her neck...

  Jesus, focus, he reminded himself.

  He stayed close to the copse, letting it camouflage him, while he studied the ground. The frost was thick and fast, making his own boot prints standout like a red lantern in a city. A few feet from her porch, he stopped and saw dark skid marks along the pale frozen grass. Someone had tried to walk sideways, as if more concerned with looking into her house than making tracks.

  God damn it. He knew it. Meredith wasn’t mad. Someone had been after her.

  He crouched low and listened intently. The first noise entering his consciousness was something moving in her barn. Taking three quick breaths, he sprinted across her front garden, now dead from the season. Then he sprang open the barn’s door.

  Two black kittens arched their backs, hissing and then scurrying away from him. A cow mooed, then another. Chickens began to squawk. Ah, hell.

  He finally took another breath when he was sure he was the only human in the barn. Extending a hand, he gingerly crouched low, approaching where the little black cats had hidden behind some haystacks.

  “Sorry, little ones. Sorry.”

  One of the tikes immediately came out and twirled around his hand, easily forgiving Jake for the fright. The other stayed behind the hay, glaring at him.

  Jake nodded, as if to comrades. “You see a man here, peeking in the windows?”