A Worthy Pursuit (29 page)

When Franklin’s grip loosened, Dan holstered his weapon and with an exaggerated grunt, lifted Lily over his head. Her glazed eyes registered no change as she flopped into her new position like a half-stuffed doll. Dan kept hold of her hands to protect her from falling backward. “Hold on to your uncle Dan now, and I’ll give you a ride.”

“We don’t have time for a ride,” Franklin admonished, though Stone’s blade kept him from moving to stop them. “Our train is boarding.”

“I’ll gallop the boy down to the freight platform then meet you back at the main station,” Dan said. He took off with a skipping stride toward the freight platform, making appropriate horse noises. Only Stone knew the detour he would take, escaping with Lily back to the livery. Dan would see to her protection.

Stone would see to Franklin.

28

“I don’t take kindly to people stealing my bounty.” Stone growled through teeth clenched into the shape of a grin for the sake of the other passengers approaching the platform.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have put Dorchester off.” Franklin tried to twist away from the point of the knife, but Stone’s iron grip on his shoulder held him fast. “The man’s not exactly patient, you know. Your little stunt of taking the girl to Barrett’s ranch gave me the permission I needed to jump the bounty. If you’d been serious about collectin’, you’d have had the girl back in Houston by now.”

Stone kept his voice hard as he forced Franklin onto the platform and toward the line of people waiting to board. “There were complications.”

Franklin snorted. “Yeah. I heard about your
complications
. Fell for a skirt. Never pegged you for the gullible type, Hammond.”

“Tell me something.” Stone turned to smile at a passing lady. “Did Dorchester tell you Miss Atherton has legal custody of the kid?”

“Who told you that? The teacher?” He guffawed. “What’d she do? Blink her eyes at you until you believed her lies?”

Stone’s fingers bit into the man’s shoulders harder than necessary. Hard enough to make the big man bend slightly at the knees to escape the pain. “She had a paper. Signed by a judge. A paper a colleague of mine in Austin verified. Dorchester played us.”

“Ease up, man.” Franklin winced. Reluctantly, Stone dialed back the pressure. He had a role to play, after all. And it wasn’t a chivalrous part.

The family from the hotel with the quarrelsome kids slowed the steady progress of the line as one of the boys threw a tantrum and refused to board. Stone held Franklin back a few paces, not wanting to get too close to anyone. No one besides Franklin needed to hear what he was about to say.

“Why do you think I’ve wasted all this time wooing a dratted schoolmarm?” Stone turned his head and spat. “I ain’t about to be hauled away on kidnapping charges. Even if I snatched the girl and got her to Houston, what’s to stop the teacher from pressing charges against me? Or you, for that matter.”

Franklin shrugged. “You could kill her.”

Stone fought down a gag. Kill Charlotte? He couldn’t even pluck a hair from her head without regretting the pain it would cause her. “Better to woo her, gain her trust, and not have to worry about a hangman’s noose. You know how fickle women are.” He eyed Franklin knowingly. “Give ’em a little affection, make ’em promises, and soon they’ll be selling out their own kid for a chance at running away with a handsome devil like myself and the fat reward I’ll earn. ’Course, if I happen to take the reward and get the running away done before she catches on, well, that’s just a lesson learned, ain’t it?”

Franklin shook his head, a chuckle of admiration rumbling from his chest. “You always were a wily one, Hammond.”

Stone urged him one step closer to the train. The line was moving again now that the boy’s father had wrangled his screaming son and forced him up the steps. One after another, the passengers boarded. Link after link, the chain shortened, until only two people stood between Franklin and the railcar.

“Go to Dorchester,” Stone commanded, pressing the knife just a little closer to make sure Franklin understood the importance of compliance. “Tell him I don’t appreciate his interference. I’ll have the girl to him before the end of the month, and I’ll expect full compensation. If he doesn’t like the delay, that’s his problem. He should’ve leveled with me from the beginning.”

“I ain’t your errand boy, Stone.”

“No, but you’re Dorchester’s lap dog. You’ll tell him.” Stone ushered him a step closer to the train, but a subtle change in the way Franklin moved set Stone’s instincts flaring.

In a blink, Franklin reached across his midsection and drew a pistol from a shoulder holster under his coat. Stone did the only thing he could think of—he threw his body hard against Franklin, pinning his still-bent arm to his chest.

“I’m gonna miss you, man,” Stone declared, embracing a struggling Franklin to him in a bear hug he hoped looked more like a farewell offering than the stranglehold it was. If Franklin managed to get his finger on the trigger, he could blow a hole through them both. Stone was banking on the man’s self-preservation restraining him, but a man eager to make a name for himself was unpredictable at best. Stone needed to claim control. Fast.

Careful to keep his knife arm on the inside of Franklin’s coat as he wrapped him up, Stone inched the blade toward the tender flesh of the man’s underarm. Just a little higher. There!

He jutted the knife upward in a sharp thrust. Franklin grunted.

“Drop the gun or I push it in to the hilt,” Stone growled in his ear. The blade was only about an inch into the fleshy part of his side beneath his armpit. Far enough to draw blood, but not far enough to do any real damage. A full thrust, though, could sever a blood vessel. Franklin stilled, recognizing his peril.

Stone gave him a few rough pats on the back, jiggling the wound painfully against the partially embedded blade, encouraging him to comply. Franklin swore under his breath.

A throat cleared nearby. “Time to board, sir,” the porter stated. “We have a schedule to maintain.”

“Drop it and get on the train,” Stone ground out, “or I’ll drop you on the platform with a gusher that will drain you before the doc arrives.” He pounded Franklin’s back again then raised his voice. “Take care of yourself, Walt.” Stone tightened his hug. Franklin groaned.

Finally, something shifted against Stone’s belly. Keeping his grip against Franklin’s upper body, Stone sucked in his abdomen and pulled his hips back. A hard metallic object slid down his front and thudded onto his boot.

Stone immediately released Franklin, slid his knife free, and gave him a
friendly
shove toward the steps. Franklin stumbled, but righted himself before the porter could offer assistance.

“See you at the end of the month.” Without looking down, Stone slid his foot out from under Franklin’s pistol then covered it with the sole of his boot. He waved along with the others who’d gathered on the platform, yet he didn’t relax his guard until he caught a glimpse through a window of Franklin taking a seat near the front of the railcar, his right hand gripping his left arm and pinching it close to his side. He’d not be making any mad dashes to leap from the train.

Still, Stone pinned his stare on the man, not taking any chances. He didn’t look away until the whistle blew and the
train chugged past the station. Only when the Houston & Texas Central Railway sported nothing but empty tracks as far as his eye could see did Stone give up his vigil and head back to the livery, one gun heavier than when he’d started out.

Frank Root, the livery owner, met Stone at the stable door. “Barrett took the girl to my place.” He pointed deeper into town and gave a handful of directions. “She was still pretty groggy, but she was startin’ to come around. Jabbered about Dead-Eye Dan ridin’ to her rescue so much it almost put Barrett to the blush.”

Stone grinned. Lily was coming back to herself.
Thank you,
God!
But the urge to see her for himself throbbed in his chest. He murmured his thanks and set off down the road, stretching his stride to its full length.

“My missus will have the kid back to rights in two shakes,” Frank called out after him. “Don’t you worry.”

Stone lifted a hand to show that he’d heard but didn’t break stride. Lily was his responsibility. He was glad for the help, but he intended to see to her care himself from here on out.

When he reached Frank’s home, he pushed through a small wooden gate. The creak of the hinges brought a scruffy brown dog out from under the porch like a rock from a slingshot. The mongrel barked and ran circles around Stone’s boots, nipping at his ankles. Stone ignored him and marched forward undeterred.

An apron-clad woman materialized at the front door. “Hush, Jasper!” She pointed an imperious finger at the tree shading the porch’s corner. “Go sit over there and leave the poor man alone.”

Jasper stopped circling and raised his head to look at his
mistress. He gave a final defiant bark then sauntered over to the tree as if it were where he’d been intending to go all along.

“Sorry about that,” she said, opening the door wide as Stone climbed the steps. “He’s extra protective when Frank’s away. You Mr. Hammond?”

Stone fingered his hat brim and dipped his chin. “Yes, ma’am. I’m here for Lily.”

A smile lit Mrs. Root’s face, deepening the lines around her mouth in a way that made it impossible not to curve one’s lips in return. “Such a doll, that one. Even with all she’s been through, bless her heart. She’s inside.”

Stone removed his hat and crossed the threshold.

“In the parlor around the corner to the right,” his hostess directed, tacitly giving him permission to go on without waiting on her. Permission Stone gladly accepted.

Crossing into the parlor, he was nearly felled by a blond-haired missile striking his knees. Lily threw her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his belly.

Stone reflexively reached down and cupped the side of her head with his hand, his thumb running over her soft tresses. She was alive, safe, protected. Suddenly, his throat felt scratchy, and he had to clear it before his voice would work properly. “You seem to be doing better, squirt.”

Her sweet face tilted up to look at him. “Miss Lottie said you would come. I knew I just had to be brave and wait. But the yucky medicine that man made me drink kept making me sleepy.” She released her hold on his waist and twisted her lips in obvious disgust. “I finally get to have a real adventure, and I don’t even remember half of it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stomped her foot. The fierce action threw her off balance. Stone grabbed her shoulder to steady her. Apparently the laudanum’s effects hadn’t completely abated.

“That man is on a train headed far away from here, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore.” Stone patted her awkwardly then stepped back.

“Oh, I’m not worried,” Lily assured him. “Mr. Barrett told me you were putting the fear of God into him.” She gave a little nod then started reciting Scripture as if she had the book of Proverbs open in front of her. “‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. . . . The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way. . . . By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.’” She glanced back up at him. “Now that you’ve put the fear of God into him, he’s sure to be a much nicer man.”

Somewhere in the corner, Dan sputtered and coughed. Stone shot a glare in his direction.

“Well, that’s not exactly . . .” Was he supposed to tell a nine-year-old child that he’d threatened the man with physical pain and possible death in order to keep him in line? He could just imagine what Charlotte’s reaction to that explanation would be. He swallowed. “I did my best to convince him to change his ways, but no one can force someone to fear the Lord. They have to make that decision on their own.”

Lily nibbled her lip thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right.”

Mrs. Root bustled into the room just then, saving Stone from more truth-skirting. “Look what I found in one of my daughter’s old trunks.” She held up a blue calico dress with a small lace collar. “It might be a tad longer than you’re used to, but I bet it would work.” She held out her hand to Lily. “Come on, sweetness. Let’s go try it on and get you looking like a girl again.”

Lily grinned. “It’s so pretty!”

Taking the girl’s hand, Mrs. Root led Lily out of the room and down the hall.

Once the sound of a door clicking shut signaled their privacy,
Stone strode over to where Dan sprawled in an armchair and flopped into the matching rocker across from him.

“Told Franklin I’d have Lily to Dorchester by the end of the month.”

Dan let out a quiet whistle. “Only two weeks away. Doesn’t give us much time to gather the evidence we need to pressure the man into calling off the hunt.”

Stone tossed his hat onto the settee to his right, leaned back, and grimaced. “I know, but I had to make him think that I still intended to bring her back. Otherwise he’d just send more bounty hunters after us. Now that Franklin knows I have the girl, my options are limited.”