Carol Finch (13 page)

“Have you calmed down enough yet to tell us what the blazes you’re doing back in Texas unannounced?” Noah questioned, as he, Shiloh and Gideon rode abreast.

“And then you can explain what possessed you to share a pallet with that half-breed Ranger,” Gideon added in the same irritated tone of voice.

Shiloh angled her chin to meet their disapproving stares. She had rehearsed her explanation several times, hoping to maintain her objectivity and composure when she confronted her brothers. Amazing how much easier it was to confide in them, after plunging from one disaster to another with Hawk as her companion and protector.

The excitement and threat of danger had never stopped while she was with Hawk. Now she understood why nothing seemed to faze him. His life was a series of life-threatening challenges and he was trained to cope with whatever adversity came his way.

Just as he was probably accustomed to bedding a woman and then going his way without a second thought or any sentimental attachment whatsoever.

The demoralizing thought stung like a wasp, but Shiloh refused to react in front of her brothers.

She shifted restlessly on the saddle as the procession followed Echo River toward the ranch house to the
northwest. “The fact is that I fancied myself in love with one of Cousin Bernice’s acquaintances. He discarded me in favor of a young lady with a larger inheritance,” she announced, pleased with how steady her voice sounded. She was also amazed that the sting of angry humiliation and bruised pride were no longer hounding her.

When had that happened?

“He discarded you?”
Gideon parroted as he stared at her in shocked disbelief. “Who is this fool? He couldn’t have selected a better marriage prospect than you. And how much of an inheritance and dowry does the idiot think he needs at his disposal? Yours is nothing to sneeze at!”

Shiloh smiled at her brother’s fierce loyalty to her. “Antoine Troudeau is an aristocratic sponge that relies on the hospitality and generosity of others to gain entrance into New Orleans society. I didn’t discover that until it was too late.”

Noah frowned warily. “
Too late?
Exactly what does that mean? And if it means what I think it means then how long will it take me to reach New Orleans to defend your honor by blowing the Frenchman to pieces?”

Shiloh was greatly relieved that she hadn’t lost her innocence to that silver-tongued adventurer who was short on integrity and character. Instead, she had offered herself to Hawk, knowing that he wasn’t going to be her husband, permanent lover or an integral part of her life.

So what did that say about her morals? And again, what was there about Hawk that made her break her own rules to satisfy the overwhelming desire he inspired in her?

Shiloh decided to reply to her brother’s comment rather than contemplate the reasons for her reckless
abandon last night. “I only meant that I
thought
I was in love with Antoine. I realized, too late, that he was a mirage of practiced charms,” she explained. “I suspect the same thing happened to Aimee Garland. Except he probably compromised her, in hopes of attaching himself to her fortune and forcing her father to announce a betrothal that would set Antoine up for life.”

“At least you showed sensible restraint,” Gideon said, then studied her pensively. He glanced around to make sure the cowhands were still out of earshot. “Now, would you mind telling me why you and that supposed Ranger were snuggled up under the same quilt?”

There was a biting edge to Gideon’s voice and a stony expression on Noah’s face while they waited for her response. Shiloh decided there was no time like the present to inform her brothers of her plans for her future, and then explain her state of mind the previous night after her near-death experience. She intended to set the record straight, once and for all, so she could get on with her new life—immediately.

“As I said, I was attacked by wolves while Hawk was confiscating his brother’s stolen horse from the two bandits he was tracking. He arrived in camp to drop two wolves after I shot the one that tried to eat me alive. I was rattled and unnerved by the ordeal so I helped myself to Hawk’s stash of whiskey to recover my composure. I drank a bit too much and nodded off.”

Her brothers muttered and scowled, but they didn’t interrupt.

“When nightmares about the incident awakened me, Hawk offered me a shoulder to lean on. We were exhausted and we unintentionally fell asleep on the same pallet.”

That was the truth, she reminded herself. She simply omitted that private encounter in which Hawk taught her the meaning of passion. If anyone was to blame for their midnight tryst it was she. Of course, her brothers would refuse to believe that. They would prefer to blame Hawk because they had gotten the wrong impression when they first met him.

“No matter what the reason or the excuse, it did not bode well for our hired hands to see you snuggled up with a man,” Gideon replied tersely. “That is exactly how rumors that can ruin a woman’s reputation get started.”

Shiloh sighed appreciatively when she spotted the stone-and-timber ranch house in the panoramic valley a mile away.
Almost home.
Back to where she should have been allowed to stay in the first place. It certainly hadn’t been
her
idea to go husband hunting in Louisiana.

“Rumors are of no concern to me,” she said belatedly.

“They should be if you want to protect your up-standing reputation,” Noah countered. “Gideon and I care.”

Shiloh stared at one brother then the other. “I do not want either of you trying to find me a suitable match,” she declared firmly. “Once was more than plenty. The fact is that I have decided not to marry. At all. Ever. I intend to share more of the responsibility in managing our ranch, too.”

“What?”
Noah and Gideon crowed in unison.

“You heard me.” Shiloh thrust out her chin and stiffened her spine. “I think marriage is overrated for women. And thanks to you, I’ve learned what it’s like to enjoy freedom and independence during my up
bringing. I am not interested in the restrictions proper society places on women like Cousin Bernice. I don’t want any part of it.”

“You’re blaming
us
because you’ve decided to be a spinster?” Noah croaked, frog-eyed.

“I’m not blaming anyone for anything,” Shiloh corrected. “Least of all the two of you. You raised and cared for me after Mama and Papa passed on. I am only saying that you needn’t feel responsible for marrying me off because I
don’t want
to be married off.”

“I think you’re just soured on men because of your dealings with that Antoine character,” Noah surmised. “You can’t judge all men by the mistakes of one man.”

“That’s what Hawk said and I realize now that he and you are right. I was bitter and resentful, but I’m over that now,” she declared with a dismissive flick of her wrist. “I simply want to live by my own rules in Western society.”

Noah and Gideon exchanged glances that suggested they wanted to debate that issue, but decided to pick their battles with her. “There’s no rush and no need to be rash about your decision,” Gideon said diplomatically. “You can always reconsider if you meet someone who changes your mind.”

She thought perhaps she had already met that special someone, but she refused to harbor any illusions about Hawk reappearing in her life. Whatever fond attachment she had developed for him—and she refused to examine her feelings for him too closely—she knew they were one-sided.

A pragmatic and sensible woman should adapt the nonchalant attitude men adhered to when it came to trysts and such. She told herself that passion was purely physical and short-lived. She cautioned herself to keep her emotions separate from the breathless passion she
had discovered with Hawk. Like him, she had taken what was offered in the moment that was a spontaneous space out of time and reality. If she were smart, she would consider their tryst an experimental introduction to physical passion—and nothing more.

“So…have we seen the last of that Texas Ranger?” Noah asked, watching her all too closely.

“I expect so,” she said carelessly. “Unless his investigation can be furthered by any information you might contribute. That and my eventual civic duty to identify the outlaws in court to make sure they pay penance for their many crimes.”

“Too bad Logan Hawk didn’t bother to question us when he had the chance,” Gideon said as he halted his horse beside the hitching post near the corrals. “We came across several suspicious characters while searching for you.” He gave her a meaningful glance. “Don’t venture off by yourself again, Shi. The area is more dangerous than it was when you left. Noah and I were frantic to find you because we imagined all sorts of horrible fates befalling you.”

“I’m sorry,” she said contritely. “I really didn’t mean to worry you. I should have notified you of my arrival, but I was embarrassed and hurt by Antoine’s betrayal. I needed time to compose myself before I encountered you. I simply ran into unforeseen trouble on my way home from Cerrogordo.”

“I’ll say you did,” Noah snorted. “That fiasco ought to be more than enough excitement to last you a lifetime.”

“One would think,” Shiloh murmured as she dismounted.

Despite her firm resolve, the memory of her secret tryst with Hawk followed her inside the house and remained like an unwanted guest that refused to go away.

H
awk frowned suspiciously as he watched the two bandits dismount from their stolen horses then duck into a far-flung line shack that sat inside a grove of cottonwood trees. He wasn’t absolutely certain whose property the cabin sat on, but he had the unshakable feeling that it was well within the borders of the Drummond’s sprawling ranch—land that once belonged to the Apache, land he had roamed uncontested until the white man decided to stake their claim.

He cast off the bitter thought and tethered the horses.

Two hours later, no one else had arrived at the secluded shack and neither of the men had exited. Hawk cautioned himself that the endless, solitary hours required for surveillance were dangerous duty for a man with too much on his mind and too much time on his hands.

Although he’d vowed not to give that adorable spitfire another thought, he couldn’t get her off his mind. Visions of curly auburn hair, vivid green eyes and a luscious body kept dancing in his head. He craved her still…and that scared the living hell out of him.

Scowling at himself, Hawk lay down on a knoll of grass that allowed him a clear view of the shack. Retrieving his field glasses, he watched and he waited. Then he waited some more.

Four hours later darkness descended and still no one came or went from the shack.

He snapped to attention when it dawned on him that he had seen two pigeons flutter into the cupola atop the cabin. One bird flew off a short time later.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” A wry smile pursed his lips as he retreated to the place where he had left the horses to graze.

No wonder these outlaw gangs were so difficult to tie together, he mused. The mastermind didn’t
have
to meet at a central headquarters if he didn’t want to. He cleverly contacted gang members by carrier pigeon.

Now all Hawk had to do was find out if the brothers Drummond had birds in
their
belfry.

For Shiloh’s sake, he hoped not.

Shiloh frowned warily when she heard the sharp rap at the front door. It was long past dark and she had come downstairs to join her brothers in the parlor. When Noah opened the door, she gaped in surprise at Hawk, who loomed on the porch. She noticed that he didn’t bother to glance in her direction, just kept his gaze fixed on Noah and Gideon.

Despite her vow to put her encounter with Hawk behind her, her traitorous body responded to the unexpected sight of him. Something about him called out to her, no matter how valiantly she battled against those warm tingles that rippled down her spine.

“You cleaned up better than expected,” Hawk said as he studied Noah and Gideon critically.

“Are you lost?” Noah questioned, ignoring the backhanded compliment.

“Hardly. This land was part of the Apacheria, long before you land-grabbing palefaces showed up to steal it from us,” Hawk said sourly, then invited himself inside.

His onyx gaze still didn’t drift to Shiloh.

“I want to ask you and your brother a few questions.” He bore down on the brothers Drummond. “Like why the bandits I’ve been tracking are holed up in a line shack near the western boundary of
your
property.”

Shiloh stared incredulously at Hawk. So did her brothers, she was relieved to note. To her, that indicated innocence. However, it didn’t appear to sway Hawk’s low opinion of her brothers.

“That line shack sits empty most of the time,” Noah said.

“I haven’t stopped there in weeks,” Gideon declared.

“Well, somebody sure as hell has.” While Noah and Gideon bristled in offended dignity, Hawk tossed out his next question. “How many carrier pigeons are caged in your attic?”

Shiloh stared blankly at him. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Plenty.” Hawk’s intense focus riveted on Noah. “Are you going to answer the question or should I ask your brother?”

“We don’t keep homing pigeons,” Gideon snapped.

“Good, then you won’t mind if I take a look for myself.”

Without waiting permission, Hawk strode toward the staircase then disappeared from sight. He returned five minutes later. His expression was neither pleased
nor relieved that he’d found nothing but cobwebs, extra furniture and old trunks in the attic.

“Now, if you’re satisfied,” Noah remarked smugly, “perhaps you would like for us to offer you a description of the men and their horses that we happened onto while we were trying to locate our missing sister last week. Then maybe you will be inclined to tell us why you need to know if we house caged pigeons.”

Shiloh couldn’t keep silent for another second because it went against her basic nature. “Were you able to question the two bandits that shot Fletch?”

“No.” Hawk cast a quick glance at her then looked away.

She wanted to pound him over the head for treating her like a nodding acquaintance when they had become so much more. She presumed Hawk was trying to leave the impression that their connection hadn’t been the least bit personal. At least she
hoped
that was his motive. Otherwise, she was going to be insulted that he was acting as if she wasn’t there—and counted for nothing.

“I kept surveillance on the two hombres for several hours before it dawned on me that carrier pigeons entered and left the shack. Carrying messages, no doubt. I didn’t want the men to alert their cohorts to my presence so I didn’t approach them.” He stared pointedly at Noah and Gideon. “You were my first two suspects so I came here first.”

Gideon snorted. “Thank you so much for your faith in our integrity.”

Hawk shrugged a broad shoulder. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re as guilty as you presumed me to be when you tried to string me up by the neck.”

Noah had the decency to wince. “We told you that
we were in an emotional whirlwind because we couldn’t find Shiloh. Naturally we assumed you were up to no good when we found the two of you—” He flung up his hand when Shiloh opened her mouth to tell him to shut his mouth. “She assured us that you were only consoling her because of her near-death experience and her wild nightmares.”

Consoling
her? Is that what folks called wild, incredible passion these days? Hawk cast Shiloh a discreet glance. He wasn’t sure if he was annoyed or relieved that she hadn’t told her brothers the whole truth about what happened between them.

Furthermore, he couldn’t tell by the carefully guarded expression on her face if she was pleased or dismayed to see him standing in her elegantly furnished parlor after they had parted company abruptly this morning.

Not that her reaction to his arrival made a damn bit of difference, he tried to convince himself. He was here on official business and that’s the only reason he’d shown up.

“Shiloh informed us that your Ranger battalion suspects there is a connection between the four criminal factions preying on this area.” Gideon gestured for Hawk to take a seat on the fancy chair that looked as if it cost more than he made in a month’s salary.

Hawk declined the offer, noting the difference between his bare-bones existence and the luxuries that surrounded the Drummonds. “That’s right,” he said, casting his comparisons aside. “I can identify men from two gangs, but there are at least two other factions targeting local ranches, banks and stage lines. They’re on the move constantly.”

Hawk listened attentively while Noah and Gideon
offered detailed descriptions of the men and their mounts that they had spotted through their spyglasses while searching for Shiloh.

“We saw four men camped out north of Cerrogordo,” Noah reported.

“There were five riders camped southwest of town,” Gideon informed him. “None of the men appeared to be cowboys affiliated with nearby ranches. When we were certain Shiloh wasn’t in their camp we rode off to search elsewhere.”

Hawk ambled over to pluck up a piece of stationery that sat on the walnut desk. “May I?”

“Of course,” she said generously.

“I’d like to send a message to Captain Tipton so the Rangers can concentrate their efforts on the area near town. Considering the methods of operation for the gang I investigated, I predict another well-orchestrated strike soon,” Hawk said. “I’d like to press your most trustworthy employee into service to deliver a message and my brother’s horse to Ranger camp. I need to stay here and keep an eye on the two fugitives. I also want to reconnoiter Frank Mills’s ranch.”

“I’ll see that George Porter delivers your message and the horse,” Noah promised. “He’s an old, trusted cowboy who has been here since our parents homesteaded this place.”

Hawk wrote out a brief message, then handed it, face-up, to Noah, in case he was suspicious of what Hawk included in the letter. “Shiloh can give directions to Ranger headquarters since she spent one night there.”

When Hawk turned to leave Gideon said begrudgingly, “If you’d like to spend the evening here, we can…furnish a room. We…uh…we’re grateful for what you did for our sister.”

Hawk inwardly winced and purposely avoided glancing in Shiloh’s direction, for fear his expression might reveal telltale emotions to her brothers. He doubted the brothers Drummond would offer him the slightest hospitality if they knew his idea of comforting their distraught sister hadn’t ended with a consoling pat on the shoulder.

Leaving the Appaloosa and two spare mounts for the courier to return to headquarters, Hawk exited the grand three-story home that testified to the Drummonds’ success in ranching—at the Apaches’ expense. If the house wasn’t a prime symbol of the drastic difference between his lifestyle and Shiloh’s, Hawk didn’t know what was. No doubt about it, they’d grown up in drastically different worlds.

But still…

His gaze fixated on the shapely silhouette that appeared on the second-story balcony. Hawk cursed himself soundly when his heartbeat picked up at the sight of Shiloh. Forbidden yearning streamed through him, turning him hard and aching in the time it took to blink.

“Well, hell,” he muttered when he realized that he had dismounted and was heading toward the back steps that led to the upper gallery.

He should leave well enough alone and ride off into the night.
Should,
but
couldn’t,
damn it. He had seen for himself that Shiloh had returned home, safe and sound, and he had noted that her limp wasn’t as pronounced as it had been the past few days. There was no reason whatsoever for him to have a private word with her—away from the watchful eyes of her protective brothers.

Hawk moved silently across the gallery when Shiloh disappeared from view. He halted when he saw her
pacing the palatial room with its massive oak furniture, frilly bedspread and gold brocade canopy. Damnation, she resembled a fairy princess ensconced in her grand palace—and he wanted to tumble her onto that soft feather bed and remove her expensive satin gown and undergarments one piece at a time so he could feast his eyes, his lips and his hands on her….

Stop it!
the voice of logic shouted at him. He knew he should turn and walk away before she realized he was standing outside the open door. But whatever it was that he sensed had been left unsaid between them when her brothers showed up unexpectedly this morning still needed to be said.

Too bad Hawk couldn’t figure out what he should say. He simply stood there, soaking up her exquisite beauty, remembering every delicious moment of the heat and the passion he had discovered in her arms.

Hawk tapped lightly on the doorjamb. Shiloh didn’t clutch her bosom or faint like a frightened damsel, he noted. She lurched around, her full skirt and petticoats swishing around her hips and ankles as she prepared to defend herself. Although she looked like a delicate lady, Hawk knew she was bold, courageous and took pride in learning to defend herself.

He couldn’t help but grin when she doubled her fists and mentally braced herself for an oncoming attack. You had to admire a woman who didn’t panic at the first sign of trouble.

Shiloh relaxed her stance when Hawk materialized from the shadows. “I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

“I wanted to make sure you’re really all right. Without your brothers hovering around, ready to answer for you.”

“I’m fine, as you can plainly see,” she said stiffly.

She acted about half-annoyed with him. Since he didn’t know diddly-squat about what made a woman tick he was at a loss to understand why. Maybe she simply wanted to be rid of him.

Well, he could understand that, but he still needed to say something about what happened between them.

“About last night,” he began awkwardly, then shifted from one booted foot to the other. “I—”

Shiloh flung up her hand to forestall him. “We are going to pretend it never happened,” she burst out before he could string together some sort of appropriate comment—whatever the hell that might be.

Hawk arched an amused brow. “We are?” He watched her lurch around to pace from one end of the oversize, expensively furnished suite to the other.

“It’s the only sensible thing to do.” She wheeled around to pace in the opposite direction. “If you’re here because you think I expect something from you, then rest assured that the blame for last night’s reckless behavior lies at
my
feet.”

“Really? I could have sworn it was
my
fault that things…er…progressed to…um…”

She halted abruptly and glared at him. “Stop stammering, Hawk. It’s unnecessary to cast about for a polite way to say that we took a reckless tumble in the grass.”

For all her bravado, Hawk noticed that her face had gone up in flames. He bit back a chuckle. Shiloh could pretend to be worldly and nonchalant, but he could tell she felt as awkward and uncertain as he did. She, however, chose to plow full steam ahead, pretending that what happened between them wasn’t a monumental, life-altering incident.

He propped a shoulder against the doorjamb then folded his arms over his chest while she resumed her nervous pacing. “Right. A quick tumble. Didn’t mean a thing to either of us. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Exactly.” She didn’t glance at him, just kept wearing a rut in the imported carpet.

“So…you don’t expect me to apologize for
my
lack of restraint because you think
your
lack of restraint caused us to end up where we did?”