Bittner, Rosanne (18 page)

Tess
was surprised at her sudden desire to defend John. She had herself thought him
not much different from those he hunted, but the fact remained he'd risked his
life for her, and he'd been nothing but respectable and kind ever since.

John
wanted to smile, moved by Tess's defense, as well as curious. Was she actually
beginning to like and respect him? He glanced at Ken, who
was
grinning.

"All
right, all right," Caldwell said, waving them off. "Make a report
here to the sheriff," he told John.

"I'll
make my report to Captain Booth and no one else," John answered.
"I've brought Mrs. Carey back untouched, except for some bruises and
humiliation. She was treated pretty bad, so give her your respect. You've got
no need to ask her any questions. I'll answer all questions. This is Ranger
responsibility. Higgins has no hand in this. I'd like you to help Mrs. Carey
find a room, maybe at Mrs. Baker's boarding house. She needs a few days to
decide what she'll do next."

Higgins
scowled at John, irritated at John's snubbing him. Caldwell sighed, nodding to
Tess again, whom he knew through dealings with her father. "I'll be glad
to help you. I truly am sorry about your father and your husband. I had a great
deal of respect for both of them. Someday Texas will put a stop to such horrors
and be rid of its outlaws and renegades."

"Then
you don't really mind
how
we
get rid of them?" Ken asked
mockingly.

Caldwell's
thick eyebrows came together in a scowl. "We're supposed to be trying to
civilize Texas, Mr. Randall. That means even those who go after the thieves and
murderers must be halfway civilized in how they apprehend these men."

"If
the men I'm after would just as soon gut me out as look at me, then that's
exactly how
they'll
get treated!" John put in. "Now, since
apparently you recently talked to my captain, maybe you could tell me where he
is."

"He
was at Fort Bliss, the last I saw him, trying to explain your last escapade to
Lieutenant Ames, who found the mess you left behind." Caldwell took Tess's
arm. "Come on, Tess. I'll take you to the boarding house. I'm sure several
of the ladies in town will offer their help however they can, and I'll let my
wife know you're back. Maybe there is something she can do."

Tess
doubted the haughty Harriet Caldwell would offer much help. "I'll be fine,
Mr. Caldwell." She looked up at John, suddenly feeling too rushed. There
was so much to say. After all they had been through, it didn't seem right to
just leave and end it so quickly. "I... what can I say, Mr. Hawkins?"
She turned to Ken. "Mr. Randall? There is no way to thank you."

John
knew by her eyes she was really thanking him for convincing people she'd been
left untouched. "Thanks aren't necessary. Good luck with whatever
decisions you make, ma'am," Ken told her.

"I
hope you don't go back out there and get yourself wounded or killed." She
looked up at John. "Please do be more careful, Mr. Hawkins."

He
could not help a grin. "I don't much think about being careful when there
is only time for saving my hide. I've been honored to know you, Mrs.
Carey." He turned away and told Ken to mount up. "Let's ride to Fort
Bliss," he said.

Without
a glance back, the two men rode off. Tess stood there feeling suddenly
abandoned, lonely. She wanted to call out to John to wait, but she knew it
would look bad, just as he did if he stayed and lingered over goodbyes. She was
sure he had more to say, as she did, but then a man like John Hawkins would
never allow himself feelings for a woman like her... and she should never allow
herself feelings for a man like John Hawkins.

"He'll
be back," Caldwell was saying to Higgins, "to pay a visit to Jenny
Simms, no doubt."

A
sharp pang of jealousy stabbed at Tess's heart, something she thought silly and
sinful. She reminded herself that her own husband was fresh in his grave. John
Hawkins was untamed, uncivilized, a wandering nomad who didn't even know how to
read. Again she reasoned that her odd attachment to the man was only due to his
having been the one to rescue her, as well as her only hope and salvation for
the last few days. She would forget him soon enough.

"That
there Jim Caldwell's got some kind of burr in his butt over you, and I can't
quite figure out why," Ken told John. "You two ain't never had any
real run-ins that I know of. Is there somethin' you ain't tellin' me?"

John
rode silently for a moment, sure he could still smell that fancy soap Tess
Carey had washed her hair with. He pulled a thin cigar from a pocket on the
underside of his leather vest. "What?" He put the cigar between his
teeth while Ken let off a string of expletives over the fact that he had not
heard a word that had been said.

"Get
your mind back on matters at hand, Hawk," he scolded. "Where in hell
are you driftin' off?" He halted his horse. "It's
her,
ain't
it? It's Tess Carey!"

John
just kept Sundance moving at a slow walk. "What are you talking
about?"

Ken
trotted his horse up beside John's. "You know damn well what I'm talkin'
about. You're thinkin' so hard on that there Mrs. Carey you didn't even hear a
word I said just now."

John
shrugged. "She went through a hell nobody even knows about, and she's
going to try to keep it all inside. Now she's alone and not sure what to do.
You don't know how I found her, but I expect you can imagine. It's hard to help
someone in a situation like that and then just leave them off somewhere and
forget about them."

"Ha!"
Ken raised up in his stirrups and took a plug of tobacco from his pants pocket
and bit off a piece. "That ain't
never
bothered you before! You're
sweet on that woman. You, John Hawkins, the man of no feelin's, sweet on that
little bitty, redheaded, stubborn, back-talkin', independent widow woman who, I
might remind you, would never look twice at you under normal
circumstances."

John
halted his own horse and lit the cigar. "I never said I was sweet on
her."

"Just
bein'
concerned
about her makes you sweet on her. That's sayin' a lot
for a man like you. You forget how well I know you, John Hawkins. I also know
you said once you'd never have any association with any white woman unless she
was a whore like Jenny."

"Jenny
isn't really a whore."

"Well,
she
used to
be one, and she still
is
whenever
you're
around."

John
puffed the cigar and got his horse into motion again. "Jenny and I are
good friends."

"Yeah,
and you'll pay her a friendly visit after we report in, I'm sure."

"Probably."

"And
don't think she don't know you're havin' thoughts about that there Mrs. Carey.
Jenny's a smart woman when it comes to things like that. There's no foolin'
her."

"Probably
not."

"So,
your
admittin'
you're havin' thoughts about Mrs. Carey!"

"I'm
not admitting anything. She's just different from any other white woman I've
had occasion to help out or associate with. I admire her courage, that's all.
And you know how I feel about rape. I'll get over it after a couple of
hours."

Ken
spit some tobacco juice into the dirt. "Why is it I don't believe
you?"

"I
have no idea."

"You
ain't gonna forget this one. This one is different, ain't she?"

"No."
John cast him a look that said he'd better not take the conversation any
further. "I'm no fool when it comes to things like that, and you know it.
I simply admire the woman's courage and spunk. It's nice to know there are a
few white women out there who have those qualities, and I've never had a lady
like that stick up for me like she did."

"Which
brings us back to what I was askin' you about in the first place. She defended
you against Jim Caldwell, and I was askin' why Caldwell seems to have it in for
you. Why do you think that is? You've never done nothin' against him."

John
shook his head. "I'm not sure. I guess he figures I'm not respectable
enough to be representing Texas."

"No,
it's somethin' more. Almost seems like he wants you out of the way. Hell, the
way he carried on about you blowin' up them rustlers, you'd think he knew them
himself."

John
considered the remark as he rode on silently, taking a couple of drags on the
cigar. He looked over at Ken. "You know, for somebody as ignorant as you
can be, sometimes you have damn good insight."

Ken
grinned. "I was just jokin'. How would a man like Caldwell know men like
Derrek Briggs?"

"I
don't know. Maybe he
didn't
know him. It's just interesting that he
would care about what I did to some cattle thieves. He knows rustling's been
getting worse in this part of Texas. A lot of ranchers have been complaining,
and we probably solved a good share of the problem when we took care of Briggs
and his bunch. Caldwell should be glad about that, being a rancher
himself."

"I'd
say so."

The
strange thing is, John thought, Caldwell himself has had no complaints of
cattle being stolen. "Seems strange that Caldwell's the biggest landowner
and cattle rancher in these parts, but he's had no trouble with rustlers. Yet
other ranchers in the area
do
have problems. What do you make of
that?"

Ken
spit again and scratched at the ever-present batch of whiskers on his chin.
"Don't know." He frowned. "You still thinkin' Caldwell might
have somethin' to do with the rustlin'? Jesus, Hawk, you're talkin' about Jim
Caldwell, one of the most important men in this area. He'd have no need to get
caught up in somethin' like that."

John
shrugged. "Well, how did he
get so
big? It's a known fact he's
tried to badger a few neighboring ranchers into selling out to him, including
Henry McDowell, Tess Carey's father. He has a lot of gall doing that, seeing as
how most of his own ranch was given to him free and clear by Colonel
Bass."

Ken
shook his head. "You thinkin' he could have had somethin' to do with them
bastards that burned out Tess Carey's ranch and made off with her?" He
removed his hat and wiped sweat from his brow. "I can't believe that.
Caldwell is the one who has been screamin' for more law and order around here.
He's talked about bringin' in a preacher for the white Protestants, and a
schoolteacher. His wife runs a quiltin' bee, and they both go to barn raisin's
for neighbors and all. He wouldn't be mixed up with rustlin' cattle!"

He
would if it meant adding to his own wealth, John thought. "Probably
not," he answered aloud. "But I'll tell you one thing, if I ever
discover he
did
have anything to do with what happened to Tess Carey,
Jim Caldwell will be one sorry man."

"One
dead
man, you mean."

"Most
likely."

"You'd
never get away with that one, Hawk. You'd have to have some awful good proof.
If you went and killed a man like that, they'd hang you for sure. And now we're
back to the subject of Mrs. Carey. You just admitted if Caldwell had anything
to do with what happened to her you'd kill him. That tells me you do have
special feelin's for the woman."

"I've
killed for others before, people who meant nothing to me."

"You're
avoidin' the facts here."

John
stopped again, facing Ken with the cigar still between his teeth as he spoke.
"The only facts here are that you talk too much and you make too much out
of nothing. Another fact is, if you don't quit trying to make me admit I have
feelings for Tess Carey, I'm going to knock you right off that horse. She's
just a woman I helped, like a few others. I admire her guts, and that's the end
of it. We're as different as the sun and the moon. She's the kind of woman I'd
never associate with if she was the last female in Texas, and she's the kind of
woman who probably drives a man to drink after a time. I have no doubt Tess
Carey is glad to be rid of both of us, so shut up about it and let's go make
our report to Booth and see what he's got for us to do." He turned and rode
off.

Ken
shook his head. "I'll be damned," he muttered. "She got to you,
Hawk. She got to you real good."

"Why
don't you just sell your place to me?" Jim Caldwell leaned back in the
leather chair behind his desk, and Tess hated the sound of squeaking leather,
as though the expensive chair announced that the man who sat in it was some
kind of royalty. "You must realize, my dear, that Colonel Bass always
meant for me to have all of it. He only gave your father that piece because he
knew your father needed something of his own, and because Henry had worked for
Bass for so long back in San Antonio. Bass told me himself if it weren't for
that, he'd have given me that land."

"I
have no way of knowing that, Mr. Caldwell. Maybe it's true, but the fact remains
the land is mine now, and I am not ready to decide just what I will do with
it." Tess could hardly believe she'd come to Caldwell's office at his
supply store, but what choice did she have if she was going to survive here?
She sat straight and proud, facing the man squarely. "All I am asking is
that you allow me to work for you in some capacity in return for your taking
care of my ranch, keeping the fences mended, feeding the chickens that were
left behind, having someone help me harvest the corn, clean up the debris,
things like that. Whether I sell or not, I have to keep the place in order, and
I can't do it alone. Nor can I pay someone cash to help me do it. Although I do
have some money in the bank, I have to be careful how I spend it, so I am willing
to return labor for labor."