Passions Wild And Free

by Janelle Taylor

  “That’s very clever and astute,” she remarked, impressed.

  Randee walked to the window and gazed outside. If it was only a coincidence that those two men were gang members, she needed to know and not let unfair suspicions breed within her. Besides, it was time to tell Marsh she could identify the raiders, as he would see the ranch attic soon and guess her tightly guarded secret. By revealing it now, she would prove her trust in him. Too, those men whom he had been challenged to slay might have been after her ….

  “Something’s troubling you, woman. Spit it out,” he coaxed.

  Randee faced him and asked, “Did you know those two men?”

  “Most men reveal their names after a gunfight. If they win it, they stand around in the saloon, drinking and boasting.”

  “Then, your answer is no,” she pressed.

  “That’s correct. What’s your point,” he asked, baffled.

  Randee divulged softly, “They were members of the Epson Gang. Maybe they were sent after me and you were in their way.”

  Marsh walked over to her and stared down into her face. “You’re trying to tell me something important, aren’t you?”

  “My uncle’s ranch had small open spaces in the attic, just beneath the overhanging roof, for releasing heat in the summer. The coverings had just been removed because winter was over. By walking across the beams from one side to another, I could see everything that happened all around the house. After the killings, the gang members removed their hoods to search the house and finish their grim work. I saw their faces,” she confessed.

  Marsh had suspected this news, but it still stunned him to hear it revealed. “Do you realize how much danger you’re in, woman?” he asked. When Randee nodded, he said, “I’m glad I got you out of Wadesville, but I doubt those men were searching for you. There was another raid below Fort Richardson yesterday, so they couldn’t have gotten here this quickly. Maybe they were advance scouts or riding on their own now. I’m glad you finally told me the truth, Randee. This means I’ll have to guard you more closely.”

  “I’m sure you suspected I knew more than I was telling. That’s why you agreed to bring me along, wasn’t it?”

  “You’re right,” he admitted, then grinned. “I should have known you were too smart to fool.”

  “You are, too, but I was afraid you’d leave me behind if you no longer needed me for clues.”

  Marsh made another admission, “I would have, if things got too dangerous for you. But now it appears as if you’re safest with me, considering you’ve got that gang and your stepfather looking for you.”

  “There’s something else, Marsh. The entrance to the attic is hidden behind a chest in one of the bedrooms, so those villains didn’t find it or me. If they spy on their victims beforehand like we suspect, then they knew about my existence. Obviously they must have thought I was away that morning. I heard them searching the house, and I saw the mess they made after I left the attic.”

  When she halted for breath, he assumed she was finished, and ventured, “Like you said, when they couldn’t find you, they probably figured you were gone somewhere. They wouldn’t have known you were around that day if you hadn’t placed that notice in the papers. That was rash, woman, but it can’t be changed now.”

  “That isn’t my point, Marsh. Remember all the raid sites we’ve visited?” He looked puzzled until she added, “Everything was destroyed. Yet, they didn’t burn the Carsons’ house. Isn’t that a bit strange?”

  Marsh thought hard for a minute. “There has to be a clue there, woman. If they didn’t know you were hiding inside, then it couldn’t have been to spare you. But who would want that house?”

  “I don’t know. Uncle Lee built it, and he’s been the only owner of that land besides the Indians. But it must have been left standing for a reason. I just can’t think of one.”

  “I’ll put it on our list of curious clues. See there, I need to keep you around just for using your brains.”

  “Among other things,” she jested seductively.

  “Mercy, woman, I am a bad influence on you. I may have to wash your mouth out with soap before this week’s over.”

  They laughed and embraced.

  “Are you in any trouble about that shooting?”

  Marsh shook his dark head. “Things like that happen in every town all the time. There’s no law against self-defense.”

  “If those bandits hear about you gunning down two of their men, they’ll be after both of us. We should get moving fast, partner.”

  After having slept late and being slowed down by the gunfight and long talk, it was early afternoon before they left town. They gathered their possessions and walked to the livery stable. They mounted Midnight and Rojo and left Brownwood behind.

  They had planned to check out Camp Colorado, a post evacuated in ‘65, but Marsh told her it was unnecessary. He’d learned the day before that there were numerous farmers in the area, and no one had had any trouble with Epson Gang raids. In a way, that was good, because it meant that section was out of the attack area. So far, all raids had remained inside that oblong territory which Marsh had mentioned—a clue they both found intriguing, but not yet enlightening.

  They retrieved the dynamite from where Marsh had concealed it the night before, and continued their steady journey northeastward. With stops here and there to check old raid sites and to rest, Marsh and Randee made it to a nice camping spot before dark, twenty-five miles beyond Brownwood.

  Thursday was much the same, and they camped near the Leon River shortly before dusk. After Marsh checked out the surrounding area, they took a swim and made love by the river’s edge. Afterwards, they lay snuggled together on overlapping bedrolls and talked.

  He told her about many of the odd jobs he had done since leaving home at seventeen: frontier guide, freight-wagon driver, cowhand, scout for wagon trains, and trail boss. Several positions surprised her when he added to the list: small-town deputy, guard for gold shipments and payrolls, and shotgunner for a stage line. He didn’t mention his work with Galvanized Yankees during the war, which had led to his selection as a government agent for President Grant. Nor did he tell her that many of those jobs. had been covers for secret missions.

  “I can’t imagine the Durango Kid earning a living by working for the law or by holding down a steady job. You must have been countless places and seen all kinds of things.”

  “Yep, I reckon I have, Miss Hollis. Maybe I’ll tell you all about them one day, if you’re real good and patient.”

  “Both are near impossible for a headstrong vixen like me, but I’ll try my best,” she vowed amidst intentionally skeptical laughter. “You’ve done an awfully lot of things in less than fifteen years. Can you tell me why you left home?” she asked hesitantly.

  Marsh released his hold on her and flattened his back against the ground. He folded his arms and tucked his hands beneath his head. Sighing deeply, he stared at the stars above him.

  Assuming it was a touchy matter, she quickly said, “If you prefer not to talk about it, I’ll understand. I’m too nosy at times.”

  Marsh slowly and painfully related most of what had happened between him and his father. “I just couldn’t look him in the face anymore. We were fighting all the time, and tearing my mother apart. I figured the best thing to do was leave home before things got worse. By the time I learned the truth and understood his side, it was too late. I was already set in my ways, and all I could bring them was trouble. Now that.they’re gone, I have no home and parents to return to, if I ever got that yearning. I’m used to being on my own. It might be selfish, but I like it that way.”

  Randee did not take offense at his last few sentences, as she had known his feelings from the beginning, and now she understood them even more. Just because they differed from hers, that didn’t make either one of them right or wrong. She had to stop hoping and believing he would change for her; she had to accept him for the way he was— which had to be wonderful since she had falle
n in love with him. To this man, home represented anguish, disappointment, betrayal, weakness, entrapment, and resentment. As with her, he had felt as if he could never return. He had made a life for himself elsewhere, nowhere, and it suited his current emotional needs. “It’s a shame you and your father couldn’t have worked out your differences before you were forced to leave home, but I understand your reasons and feelings. If you hadn’t left home and learned the skills you possess today, you wouldn’t be alive to use them for justice. And without them, Marsh, you couldn’t have saved your home and parents. Don’t you realize that? Please, stop challenging death to prove you’re stronger and smarter than it is. Fate chooses the moment for us to be born and to die. All we can do is fill the time between them with as much happiness as we can find. It isn’t a fatal flaw to grasp as much of life as you can hold.”

  He turned his head to look at her. She had sat up while speaking and was stroking his bare chest as if to comfort him. Moonlight sifted through her tawny hair, bathing it and her body in a silvery glow. If she realized she was nude and uncovered to the waist, it didn’t show on her lovely face. Her breasts were firm and supple, and her skin invited his touch. She looked like an angel sitting there, one come to save him from himself. How could he not want her, take her?

  “Come here, Randee,” he entreated huskily. “I need you.”

  The request was a simple one, a stimulating one, a revealing one. Randee went into his arms and sealed their lips. They made love passionately, as if battling unseen ghosts and cleansing their souls of them.

  As she watched him sleep afterwards, she recalled how he had said need, not want. She smiled happily and joined him in slumber.

  Friday evening, they reached the town of Granbury, which was beautifully situated on a tranquil lake. In 1854, Thomas Lambert had united his settlement with another one called Stockton and made it into a thriving little town. In ’59, a man named Jacob de Cordova had accumulated land scrip— certificates indicating the right of the holder to receive payment later in cash— for more than a million acres. Billing himself as the “Publicity Agent for an Empire,” he had lectured throughout the East to promote interest in Texas.

  Marsh and Randee had dressed as simply as possible and registered as a couple, hoping to go unnoticed in this town so close to Wadesville.

  As they prepared to go downstairs to eat supper, Marsh said, “I felt naked coming into town wearing that Colt of yours just to keep from attracting attention to us. We shouldn’t have come here tonight.”

  “How else will we gather information if we stay out in the wilds?” she teased to calm his unusual tension. “You couldn’t leave me alone out there while you rode in alone. I may be a nuisance, Logan, but you’ll have to endure me for as long as we’re partners.”

  Randee was gazing out the window as Marsh retorted, “You’re anything but a nuisance, woman. You’re more like— “

  “Marsh, come here quick,” she told him. When he joined her, she pointed to three men standing outside the saloon talking. “There’s three more of them. What’ll we do? You can’t take on three men.”

  “Not fairly,” he replied, a cold edge to his voice as he eyed the half-Indian, the gaunt Mexican, and the burly black man.

  “Either the gang’s nearby, or those men are resting between raids.”

  “For certain we can’t ask questions with them in town. I’ll fetch you some supper to eat up here, then I’ll take a look around.”

  “What if you’re recognized?” she asked worriedly.

  “I should have said sneak around, woman. I won’t take any unnecessary risks, so stop fretting. This has to be done, Randee. And, no, you can’t tag along. Stay put so I can concentrate.”

  “Damn you, Marsh Logan, if you get hurt out there alone …”

  Marsh silenced her with a heady kiss. When their lips parted, she warned, “That trick won’t work every time, Mr. Logan.”

  “I know, but it’s fun trying it,” he jested mirthfully.

  “You are a vexing devil,” she accused.

  He kissed her again before replying, “And you are a beautiful angel. Relax, woman, haven’t you heard I’m indestructible?”

  “No one is, not even the Durango Kid. Please be careful.”

  Marsh brought her meal back within fifteen minutes, changed into his ebony garments and left the room.

  It was too dark and Marsh was too skilled to be visually followed outside. Randee picked over her food to pass the time. She had waited for Marsh Logan all of her life; now she was waiting to see if he was lost to her forever ….

  Chapter Twelve

  This time, Marsh returned shortly after midnight, frowning and weary. He looked at her and said, “I got them all, but I didn’t learn anything from those bastards. They were as close-mouthed as I would have been. I just didn’t expect them to be so stubborn and brave. That worries me, woman.” He stretched out on the double bed without undressing and rested his arm over his eyes.

  Randee watched him from her side of the bed, and decided to keep silent until he was ready to explain what happened tonight. He needed to get things straight in his head and rest a while. Maybe killing wasn’t as easy for him as she had imagined it would be for a gunslinger. Or maybe he was just depressed over this frustrating matter. He was accustomed to getting what he wanted, until tonight, until this gang. Clearly he wasn’t used to defeat of any kind, and it felt bad to him.

  Finally he sat up and half turned to her. He was glad she had given him time to relax and think before asking any questions; most women would have been jabbering away the moment he returned. When she smiled encouragingly, he reached out and caressed her cheek. She cocked her head sideways and nuzzled his hand with her eyes closed, looking serene and radiant. He liked the way she gave him space and comfort when he needed them, and he needed both tonight. He felt better just having her nearby, better than if he’d had a shot of aged whiskey. Yep, it was good having somebody special to share good and bad times with, somebody to talk to, somebody to lean on for a change, somebody who understood him and his crazy moods.

  He revealed wearily, “I hid their bodies, so we should be able to leave in the morning without any problem. I wish we could ride out now, but we can’t risk grabbing someone’s notice. Once they’re missed, along with those other two, somebody’s gonna get awfully curious about their deaths. ‘Course, we knew this was going to happen sometime. I just hate drawing them in on us and endangering you. Are you sure you won’t go somewhere and hide until this matter is over?”

  “Please don’t ask me to leave you alone to face this peril. I’ll be fine, honestly. If you leave me somewhere, you’ll only worry about them locating me and that’ll destroy your concentration. We’re better off sticking together. Did you stop to think that maybe they were more afraid of their boss’s wrath than afraid of you and death?”

  “That must be true, because they died in silence. It’s just that men like those are usually cowards when they don’t have their cohorts surrounding them. They played innocents up to the end.”

  “I’m glad you got them, Marsh, because they weren’t innocents. That Indian was the one who killed my uncle. He slit Uncle Lee’s throat, then dropped his body to the ground and viciously kicked it over and over. And that Mexican raped and beat the housekeeper before slaying her. I wanted to look away from such horrors, but I watched so I could remember each one of them and despise them enough to kill them when the time came.”

  He drew her tawny head against his chest and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry you had to witness such savagery, but they’ll pay, every one of them. I swear it.” “If those raiders are working nearby, what are they doing with all those stolen cattle and goods? They’d need a large place to corral them and store everything. Plus room to alter their brands before selling them. How can that much activity and stock go unnoticed?”

  “Somebody big and important is protecting them. Maybe those infernal State Police are in on this mess. Whoever it is, their
boss knows enough about this territory to hide them good. Darn it all, we can’t stop every large cattle drive and check brands and ownership, so we’re right back where we started, with nothing but questions and more questions. Dammit, Randee, we need a lucky break in this case!”

  She noticed his last word, but assumed it was a holdover from his deputy days. She heard his heart thudding swiftly as she hinted, “Maybe you can pick up some current news in Wadesville tomorrow.”

  “If those bastards are spreading out in local towns to rest a while, I wouldn’t know a stranger in town if I bumped into one. But I don’t want you.going there, with them in this area. By now, they could know about your threat and be waiting around for your return.”

  Randee realized how worried he was over her safety, and it warmed her. “I’m not arguing with your order, Mr. Logan, so calm down. Why don’t we get some sleep and talk about this in the morning?”

  “Sleep isn’t what I need, woman; you are.”

  Randee leaned away to look up into his smoldering gaze. “I was hoping your needs matched mine tonight.” She unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, then pulled off his boots. Marsh stood beside the bed and eased out of his pants. He watched Randee lift her gown over her head and toss it to the floor before he doused the lantern and joined her. He pulled her into his arms, and simply held her for a long time.

  Mercy, she had become a special part of him! Maybe that was why he had failed tonight, a lack of attention and the urge to get back at her side quickly, an intoxicating arrangement that could end at any time. Maybe he hadn’t used enough time and pain to withdraw information from those bastards. But he couldn’t leave her behind; she was in too much peril, and he needed her every day ….