A Love to Last Forever (16 page)

“Then we might be here a long time.”

Nick couldn’t deny that he enjoyed their closeness. Her body was pressed against his, and a million thoughts raced through his mind. Right at the head of the pack was his desire to kiss Beth Gallatin soundly. He resisted the urge, however. He’d been worried about her being compromised by other men, and the last thing he wanted was to take unfair advantage of her.

“I’ve got all night,” Nick finally replied in a barely audible voice.

Beth glanced toward the open stable door. “Don’t you think folks are going to be surprised to find us like this? Seems rather . . . well . . . intimate, to my way of thinking.”

How could she talk like that? How could she just stand there, all calm and collected, and talk of intimacy? Nick let go of her hands and stepped back. “If you run, I’ll just come after you.”

“It’s not like I’d go all that far,” she said. Beth took off the kerchief around her neck and wiped at her face. “I’ll tell you why I was at the saloon if you’ll tell me first why you were there.”

Nick knew he had nothing to hide and shrugged. “I was helping Simon. Ellie sent word that something was wrong, and she needed to talk to him. Simon knew Rafe would never let them slip off together—especially tonight with all those customers. So I was going to keep Rafe preoccupied while Simon found Ellie.”

“So you weren’t there to drink or . . .” She let the words trail off as she met Nick’s gaze.

“You were the one holding a beer, as I recall,” Nick countered. Even dirt-smudged and wearing her father’s old clothes, Beth Gallatin was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her nearness was intoxicating. Why couldn’t she see how much he’d come to care about her?

“I was just trying to look like the rest of the crowd so no one would notice me.” She tucked the dirty cloth into her pocket but didn’t attempt to leave. “I certainly wasn’t there to drink beer, however. I’m surprised you’d even think that of me.”

“I’m surprised you were even
in
Rafe’s Saloon. I think that tops your thoughts on the matter.”

Beth shrugged and her reddish brown hair rippled down against her shoulders and arms. “I didn’t know it was a competition.”

Nick shook his head. “I’ve told you why I was there, and it was nothing more than that, Beth. I’ve given up living like that, and I don’t intend to start with it again. You have my word.”

“I’m glad, Nick. I really am. I hated that you went there. I wish Rafe’s business would dry up and blow away. I can’t bear . . . well . . . knowing what’s going on over there. It just breaks my heart.”

Her soft voice was nearly Nick’s undoing, but he held himself in check and pressed for more explanation. “If you don’t like the place, why were you there?”

“Well, I don’t suppose you can get much madder than you already are,” she said with a halfhearted smile. “We went there to drug the cowboys.”

“What?”

She gave a nervous giggle. “Lacy and I just wanted to put an end to the night’s activities, so we drugged the men who were still at Gallatin House by putting laudanum in their coffee.”

“You did
what
? Are you out of your mind?” Nick couldn’t help but raise his voice. “That stuff can kill a man.”

Beth bent down and picked up her hat. “If you plan to keep yelling at me, I’m going home.”

“You’re going home, all right, but not until I hear the rest of this story.” Nick crossed the distance to where Beth toyed with her hat. “So you went to Rafe’s to drug the cowboys. How did you plan to accomplish that? Slip laudanum into each of their glasses?”

Beth shook her head. “Lacy was working with Cubby to put it into the liquor when you saw me.”

“Lacy went with you?”

“Yes.” Her face paled all at once. “Oh no. She’s still there, and now she’s alone. I left her when I knew you’d found me out.”

Beth moved toward the door, but Nick pulled her back. “Wait. You can’t just go barreling in there again.”

“But I can’t leave her to deal with Rafe alone. He already hates her.”

“I’ll go in and get her out, but you aren’t going anywhere near the place.”

“Just try to stop me,” Beth said, pushing hard to get away from him.

Nick easily reclaimed his hold on her and pulled her against him. “That’s not a difficult task.” The feel of her in his arms made it difficult to keep his mind on the matter at hand. “Look, the more time we spend arguing about this, the more time Lacy will be alone.”

Beth stilled and looked up at him, her lips only inches away. Worried about what he might do, Nick released her abruptly. “If there’s trouble, I’ll need you to go for help. You can hardly do that if you’re in the thick of things.”

This seemed to make sense to her. “All right, we’ll do it your way.” She tucked her hair back up and pulled the hat down tight over her head. “Let’s go.”

They walked the short distance to the saloon. A jaunty tune from the old piano could just be heard from beneath the loud voices and revelry.

“Stay here,” Nick said as they came around the back of Rafe’s.

“Nick?” a voice called out.

Nick instinctively grabbed Beth and pulled her close, then relaxed as he saw it was Simon and Ellie. “We’ve got problems,” Nick told his brother.

“What’s going on? Who’s he?”

“
He
is Beth Gallatin,” Nick replied.

“Beth?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Beth tilted her chin up so they could see her features more clearly. Ellie giggled. “You’re a sight.”

“I’m sure I am,” Beth admitted, “but that’s not important right now. We have to find Lacy.”

“What’s happened to Lacy?” Simon asked.

“It’s a long story,” Nick replied. “I’ll tell it to you as we go.

You ladies stay here.”

“Now, wait just a minute,” Ellie said, hands on hips. “If Lacy’s in trouble, I want to help, too.”

“He doesn’t like getting help from women,” Beth told her.

Nick shook his head in frustration. “It’s dangerous. Beth and Lacy snuck into Rafe’s dressed like this. They had plans to drug the cowboys with laudanum and put them all to sleep for the rest of the night. I saw Beth, and she took off running. I followed her. Lacy was left behind, and now we need to find her and get her out before Rafe recognizes her.”

“Then you need my help,” Ellie said matter-of-factly. “Rafe won’t think twice about my being there, and I can get into places you can’t.”

“She’s got a point,” Simon agreed.

Nick conceded the point. “But Beth stays here.”

“That wouldn’t be all that safe,” Ellie said, glancing over her shoulder. “There are men everywhere, and those who aren’t looking for a good time with the ladies are itching for a fight with the men. Someone’s likely to try to pick a fight with Beth, just because she’s small and they figure they can take her.”

“All right, then she can go home and wait for us,” Nick said. “But time is getting away from us while we stand here arguing.”

“I’m going with you, and that’s final,” Beth said, starting for the door. “You can either come with me or go back to what you were doing.”

“Wait,” Ellie called. “Let me go in first. I’ll go in the back door and check with Cubby. You three wait there, and I’ll come back and let you know what’s going on.”

“That’s probably the best way,” Simon agreed. “We can just wait and keep watch.”

Nick gritted his teeth and nodded. He wasn’t at all happy with the way things were going, but there was nothing to do about it. He’d deal with Beth later, but right now it was most important to get Lacy out of danger.

The foursome walked past the rooms where Rafe’s girls handled their affairs. Nick hated that Beth should be in the midst of such debauchery. He wanted to blame Lacy for the events of the evening, but he had a sneaking feeling that Beth had probably masterminded a good portion of their actions. What had ever possessed them to make such a daring play?

He was still contemplating this as Ellie motioned them to wait off to one side. “You boys stay here, and I’ll get us a bottle,” she said, playing her role quite well.

Simon leaned toward Beth. “Did you really imagine you could put them all to sleep?”

She shrugged. “It seemed reasonable enough at the time. Lacy figured Cubby could slip it in the beer and whiskey, and no one would be the wiser. We both figured men pass out all the time from their drink, so this wouldn’t be all that different.”

“It’s different, because you’re in the middle of it,” Nick hissed. “And there’s the fact that if a man chooses to drink himself unconscious, it’s his choice and no one else’s. You took matters into your own hands and robbed him of that.”

She crossed her arms in defiance. “Seems like a stupid choice to me. Maybe I was actually helping them not to drink so much.”

“You could have killed someone, too. How will you deal with it if Ellie comes back to report men are dying in there because of what you did?”

Beth’s expression lost its smugness. “You don’t really think that could happen, do you?”

“I know it can. Laudanum is nothing to fool around with.”

“I don’t want anyone to die, Nick.” She looked at Simon. “I really don’t. I just wanted to save Ellie and the others. I just wanted them to stop drinking and doing harm to themselves.”

“It was admirable enough of you, Beth,” Simon admitted, “but Nick’s right. That stuff is deadly. You should never do anything like this again.”

“I intend to see that she doesn’t,” Nick said before Beth could reply. He’d already determined that no matter what it took, he was going to see that Beth gave him her pledge on the matter. “I’m sure Hank and Gwen will be surprised to hear about this.”

“Not nearly so much as you might imagine,” Beth muttered.

Just then Ellie returned with a bottle of whiskey in hand. “She’s not in there. I don’t know what’s happened to her. Cubby said he hasn’t seen her since she gave him the laudanum.”

“Where could she be?” Beth asked anxiously. “You don’t suppose that Rafe has her, do you?”

“No. He and Wyman were still dealing cards,” Ellie said, reaching out to touch Beth with her free hand. “She probably just went home. Why don’t you head over there and see. If she’s not there, we can keep looking for her.”

“Ellie’s right. That’s the best place to start,” Simon agreed. “We can check in over there, and if she’s not back, we can get Hank’s help, as well.”

Beth grimaced. “He’s not going to be happy about this.”

Nick gave an exasperated sigh. “He’s not the only one.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Beth rushed into Gallatin House with Simon, Ellie, and Nick right behind. She rushed from room to room, finding numerous snoring, smelly men, but no sign of Lacy. Hurrying to the kitchen, Beth found it empty. A strange sense of remorse settled on her shoulders. She’d left Lacy to face the dangers on her own, and now her sister was nowhere to be found.

Her breathing quickened. Beth pulled the long coat close to avoid tripping over it as she raced for the stairs. “I’ll go upstairs and see if she’s there.”

As if summoned, Lacy appeared at the top of the stairs. She was dressed quite appropriately in a brown skirt and yellow blouse. She smiled down upon them and spoke as if nothing were amiss.

“I wondered where you were, Beth. You look a sight. Evening, Nick. Simon. Ellie. It’s awfully late for you to come visiting.”

“We’ve been half sick looking for you,” Beth announced. “I ran out of Rafe’s because Nick spotted me. I knew the whole thing would be for naught if he caught me there.”

Lacy laughed as she came down the stairs. “I’ll bet that was the shock of your life, seeing my sister dressed like some kind of drover.”

“To say the least,” Nick replied.

“What’s going on?” Hank called from the top of the stairs. He took one look at Beth and shook his head. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Two groggy cowboys stumbled in through the door behind Beth. They pushed past her, dragging a third man. They didn’t seem aware of their clumsy actions or the people surrounding them, and instead pressed on to struggle up the stairs. They narrowly avoided Hank as he descended.

Hank looked at them rather oddly for a moment, then turned his attention on Beth as he joined them on the first floor. He glanced at Lacy, who was smiling. “So who’s going to tell me what’s going on?”

Beth felt nervous being confronted by her brother-in-law. His piercing blue eyes held her captive. “Well, it’s nothing all that bad.”

“Let me be the judge of that.” Hank eyed her suspiciously. “I’ve come to learn that when you or Lacy tell me something isn’t that bad, it’s probably just the opposite.”

“But . . . well . . . I suppose it’s all in how you look at it,” she answered with a nervous giggle. “I mean . . . well . . .” She looked to Lacy for help.

“How’s Gwen feeling?” Lacy asked.

“She’s sleeping. Now, don’t change the subject. Tell me why it’s after midnight and you two are standing here with visitors, and Beth is dressed like she’s ready to drive a herd to market.”

Lacy folded her arms. “I hardly think it’s wrong of me to ask after my sister.”

Hank raised a brow and turned to Nick. “It’s that bad, is it?”

“It’s bad.”

He looked back to Beth. “You might as well tell me, or he will.”