Come the Spring (28 page)

“He's sure,” Grace answered before Daniel could speak.

Harry gave up. “I'll fetch you a riding crop then. You're going to need it with this hell-raiser.”

“No, thank you,” Grace said.

“I'm telling you, she won't do what you want unless you lash her. You're going to need the riding crop.”

The argument would have escalated if Daniel hadn't stepped in. Harry, he decided, was in the wrong line of work. The man was afraid to get near the horse. Daniel quickly saddled the mare and led her out to Grace.

Harry was pleading with Grace now. She wouldn't accept the crop, even when he told her he'd give it to her for free.

“It's time to get going,” Daniel announced. He tied her valise behind the saddle and then lifted her up so that he could adjust the stirrups.

She felt as light as a handful of feathers. He couldn't hide his smile when she put her straw hat back on her head. White ribbons trailed down her back. He thought she looked as though she was about to go for a Sunday ride through the park.

Looks could be deceiving, he knew. She'd surprised him when she'd proven to be so knowledgeable about horses, and the way she sat in the saddle told him she hadn't exaggerated about her riding experience.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked.

“We just might make it to the train,” he replied. “That's what I was thinking.”

There was a speck of dirt on his chin. Before she could think better of it, she reached over and gently brushed it away.

He reacted as though she'd just struck him a hard blow. He jerked back and turned away from her.

“Let's go,” he ordered. “Harry, open the back doors for us. We'll go out that way.”

“How long will we be in Texas?” Grace asked.

Daniel was about to swing up into his saddle when she asked the question. He turned to her. His arm was casually draped over his saddle, his head was tilted ever so slightly to the side, and she thought he looked
exactly like one of the wild and rugged gunmen of the West she'd read stories about. The wilderness men, as they were called, were bigger than life and couldn't be tied down. They roamed the land seeking adventure and danger, and left broken hearts behind them. Was Daniel like that? she wondered. She thought perhaps that he was. He just looked the type who would never, ever settle down.

“There's no way of knowing,” Daniel answered, wondering why she was frowning so intently. “Why do you need to know?”

“I have other commitments,” she said. “They're personal. Could you please make a calculated guess, Daniel? I really do need to know.”

“It's going to take us a week or two to get to Blackwater, depending on the amount of trouble we run into,” he said. “Then you'll have to stay until the trial's over and the other men have been caught—”

“Why?” she interrupted. “That could take months.”

“I can't let you go on your way until I'm certain none of the other gang members will come after you.”

She closed her eyes. “All right then,” she agreed. “You're telling me I could be in Texas for as little as a few weeks or as long as two months.”

“Could be longer.” he told her.

Her reaction surprised him. Tears came into her eyes. “Then it's settled.”

“What's settled?” he asked, confused by the sadness he heard in her voice.

She was so disheartened she could barely think what to do. “It's over,” she whispered. “And I've lost.”

“Grace, what are you talking about?”

“I don't blame you, Daniel. Really I don't.”

“Will you make sense?” he demanded. “Explain why you're so upset.”

“My future,” she cried out. “It's ruined. Even one
month's too long. Don't you understand? No, of course you don't, but it doesn't matter. It's all my own fault for having such silly dreams. I've wasted too much time already, and I'd never be able to become established in the amount of time I have left.” Her sigh was long and weary. “I have to make a stop at the telegraph office before we leave town.”

“No,” Daniel said.

“I'm sorry, but I must insist.”

“Tell me why,” he argued.

“When a person dreads something, isn't it best to hurry and get it over with as soon as possible so he'll stop dreading it?”

Daniel didn't have any idea what she was talking about. Harry obviously did though, for he stepped forward to offer his opinion.

“Do you mean like getting a tooth pulled?” he asked.

“Yes, it's exactly like that,” she agreed.

“She's telling you she's got to send a wire now so she'll stop dreading it,” he told Daniel.

“I don't need an interpreter,” Daniel snapped. “You can send the wire from Blackwater. Now let's get going.”

She shook her head. “Waiting would only put off the inevitable.”

After making that statement of fact, she turned the mare and tried to ride out the front doors. Daniel muttered a blasphemy before chasing after her.

Harry grabbed hold of the mare's reins and held tight. “Your husband's getting irritated, ma'am. What have you got to do that's so almighty important it can't wait?”

She burst into tears. “I have to get married.”

Twenty-Seven
 

“I don't wish to talk about it.”

“I don't care if you wish to or not,” Daniel said.

“You're going to tell me why you have to get married.”

She decided to ignore him. She leaned back against the padded seat inside their private compartment and looked out the window at the passing scenery. The train was traveling at a neck-breaking speed, and because they were in the last car, the compartment violently swayed every time the train slowed to go around a curve. The motion was making her nauseous, and judging from the tightness around Daniel's mouth and his gray countenance, she thought the motion was making him sick too.

“Are you feeling all right?”

“I'm fine,” he snapped.

“You needn't be surly with me, Daniel.”

They sat across from one another in the tiny room. There was supposed to be seating for four adults, but he swallowed up all the space on his side. His long legs
were sprawled out in front of him, making it impossible for her to leave without making him move first. She wasn't going anywhere, however. The door was bolted from the inside so that no one could intrude.

“This probably isn't at all proper,” she remarked.

“What isn't proper?”

“Traveling together. It would be frowned on in England for an unattached man and woman to share a compartment together without a chaperone.”

“I'm a lawman,” he reminded her. “That changes things.”

“You're still a man.”

“Last time I looked I was,” he told her with a grin.

She looked out the window again, but not before he saw her smile. “Are you ready to tell me why you have to get married?”

“No, I'm not ready to tell you.”

“Are you in trouble, Grace?”

She didn't look at him when she answered. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

His mind leapt from one possibility to another, but she wasn't the type of woman who would let a man touch her before marriage. She was innocent and sweet and definitely untouched.

“You aren't pregnant.”

“Good heavens, no,” she stammered out. “How could you think that I…”

“You said you had to get married, and you said you were in trouble. I simply put the two together, but then I changed my mind. It's a long trip to Texas, Grace, and eventually you will tell me what I want to know. You might as well do it now.”

“Daniel, I had no idea that men could be such nags. Very well, you win. I made a promise to my parents that I would marry Lord Nigel Edmonds if things didn't work out here. They haven't,” she added.

“I still don't understand. What didn't work out?”

She frowned in vexation. “My parents are titled
and therefore highly positioned in society. They're also quite poor, and it's been very difficult for them to keep up appearances. They've borrowed against their land, and they haven't been able to make the interest payments to their banker. They've been terribly humiliated.”

“Has anyone suggested to your father that maybe he ought to think about getting a job?”

“Oh, no, that wouldn't do. He's titled,” she repeated.

“Being titled won't put food on the table.”

“No, it won't,” she agreed.

“If he can't or won't work, then he's going to have to sell his land and whatever else he has of value.”

“That's why I'm getting married.”

“I still don't understand.”

“I'm all my father has left, Daniel…”

He leaned forward. “Are you telling me he's selling you?”

“No, no, of course not. He simply arranged a suitable marriage for me.”

“And will this marriage solve his financial problems?”

“Yes, it will.”

“Then he's selling you.”

“No, he isn't,” she snapped. “Arranged marriages that benefit both families have been going on for centuries. My father isn't doing anything wrong. In fact, he's been extremely patient with me. I asked him for a year's grace, and it was my hope … my dream really, foolish though it was … that I could make a go of it here. I wanted to purchase land with my inheritance from an uncle—”

“And make enough to support your parents in the style they're accustomed to?”

“No, you've jumped to the wrong conclusion. My parents are quite elderly. They were in their forties when I was born,” she explained. “But they aren't set
in their ways. If the ranch could support them, they could leave England and come to me. Isn't that adventurous of them? You'd like my parents, Daniel. They're very practical, and you'd have that in common.”

“You're not old enough to be shouldering such responsibilities.”

“Age doesn't have anything to do with it. The day I was born my future was determined.”

“Why?”

“Because I was born a lady.”

“I know you're a lady,” he replied, smiling.

“No, you don't understand. I was born Lady Grace Winthrop. The title carries certain responsibilities, and I would shame my parents if I didn't honor their wishes.”

Daniel was intrigued by the vast cultural differences between the two of them. What was important in England didn't matter at all in the United States.

“Titles don't mean anything here.”

“I know,” she said. “What is important here? Money?”

“To some,” he allowed.

“What's important to you?”

“Honor.”

“But that's exactly what I was trying to say. My honor is at stake. I must do the right thing.”

“A man's word is more important in the United States than his position in society.”

“Being responsible is extremely important to me,” she countered. “I have specific duties.”

“Like getting yourself hitched to a man with money and power?”

“If it will help my family, then yes.”

“You don't like it much, do you, Grace?”

She refused to answer him.

“No, you don't like it much at all,” he said. “You wouldn't have asked for a stay of execution if you
agreed with your parents. Do you love the man they've chosen for you?”

“I'm sure I'll learn to love him. He seems a decent sort.”

“Seems decent?”

She blushed. “I don't know him well. In fact, I've only met him once. I was introduced to him at a charity ball, and I'll admit he didn't make much of an impression on me. I shouldn't be talking like this, should I?”

“There's nothing wrong with being honest,” he told her. “You must have made quite an impression on him.”

“It seems I did,” she said. “He sent a note to my father the very next day requesting an audience. Mother told me Nigel fell in love with me immediately, but I don't believe that nonsense.”

“I'll wager it was lust at first sight.”

“I don't think we should talk about this anymore. It seems to upset you.”

“I'm not upset,” he snapped. “It just seems so barbaric of your father.”

“Daniel, arranged marriages are customary in some societies.”

“And you're a dutiful daughter.”

Her spine stiffened. “As a matter of fact, I am. It was quite wonderful of my parents to give me a year's…”

“Reprieve?”

“Sabbatical,” she corrected. “They wanted me to have the chance of fulfilling my dream. They have tremendous faith in me.”

His blue eyes bored into her. “But you don't have much faith in yourself, do you, Grace?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why are you giving up so easily?”

“Because I'm going to Texas,” she answered. “I
cannot be in two places at once. I've already used up four months, and going to Texas might take as much as two more. I won't have much of a life until you've caught all of the members of that horrible gang, because you're going to insist on protecting me and that might take you months and months.”