Daring (13 page)

He reached into his pocket for the flask he carried with him for when the pain became excruciating, when he could no longer live with the agony of what had happened, of what he’d done.

Tipping the flask to his lips, he drank deeply and stared down at the dog that once again rested beside his feet. So young. So innocent. Only needing food and companionship and giving unconditional love in return, whether or not her human was a good person or evil, only loving the person who took care of her.

Above him, a door opened, and he watched in fascination as Ruby came running down the back stairs wearing a flowing white gown. For a moment, he thought something was wrong, but then she laughed a delightful sound as she ran out into the cold rain in her nightgown.

Was she meeting someone in the dark? He didn’t think so, but still what would send her flying out of the hotel in her nightclothes?

Frowning, he looked around to make sure no one else could see this fair-haired beauty that had suddenly appeared. She giggled and laughed and sounded like the young girl he’d first met so many years ago, before life had dealt them both terrible blows.

She twirled around in the rain in her nightdress, her hair free and flowing down her back, a fairy princess dancing in the rain. Rain pelted her, plastering the wet material to her figure, showing the outline of her curves. God, she was beautiful.

Thoughts of Laura disappeared. Here was a woman who was strong, who took life by the horns and rode that steer until she tamed it. Here was a woman who had a strong vibrant sexual nature, but who wanted a man who deserved her.

He should have taken her that day so many years ago and married her. Maybe then, Laura would be alive, and Ruby wouldn’t be risking it all, searching for bounties.

With a sigh, he watched her run her hands down her body as she raised her face to the sky. He should go in before she found him watching her, before she realized he could see the curve of her breasts, the smoky aura of her nipples, and the juncture between her thighs where her womanhood nestled. He should go in, before he did something really foolish like join her.

Standing, he motioned for the dog to go with him. The puppy whined and Ruby turned toward the sound.

Their eyes met across the field where she stood, while the rain spilled from the sky. In the darkness, she walked toward him, her steps sure and confident. His heart froze in his throat the closer she came, his shaft hardening at the sight of her beauty.

When she reached his side, her hand touched his cheek and pulled his head to hers, planting her lips over his. For a moment, he was shocked, but then he pulled her into him and melded her wet body to his. His lips slanted over hers, and he kissed her like a man who had lost everything and she’d rescued him. He kissed her like he’d never kissed Laura.

He released her lips, and she stared at him questioning. “You better go up.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Dawn is going to arrive soon. That cold front is coming in, and you’re soaking wet. You don’t want to catch your death of cold,” he said, his voice raspy. The urge to throw her on the ground and take her right there was uppermost in his mind, but that wasn’t possible.

She glanced at the sky, sighed and looked him in the eye. “I know you think you killed your wife, but sooner or later, we’re going to satisfy this thing, whatever it is between us.”

Her words had him groaning as he kissed her again. This time he took control, and he wasn’t gentle, but rather rough, as his mouth closed over hers. His lips possessed hers as his tongue swept through her mouth, needing to be as close to her as possible. There was this attraction, this need to join with Ruby, since the time he’d first met her. He’d wanted her all those years ago, but now he was a different man, and she was a different woman. Yet, still there was this need, this ache that demanded satisfaction.

She pushed back from him, separating them. They stared at each other. Her bosom rising and falling, and he could feel his heart pounding inside his own chest, his blood pumping life, making him feel more alive than he’d felt in the last eighteen months of hell.

“You’re right. I should go in.”

He smiled. “Did you get scared? Decide that maybe this thing between us shouldn’t be resolved?”

She licked her lips and grinned at him. “I didn’t say that. But outside the hotel in an outlaw town, right before dawn, is not exactly where I’d pictured our first time.”

“Just so you know. I swore never to marry again.” As soon as he said the words, he hated them. They sounded cowardly, yet they were true. He’d killed one woman; he wasn’t about to chance a second one.

“Who said anything about marriage?” she said, staring at him. “I’ve got bounties to hunt, and you, you’re ready to quit the business. Nothing was said about forever, just about the right moment at the right time.”

With that, she turned and walked up the stairs. He watched her go, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. Maybe admitting to wanting each other had not been a good thing. If she weren’t in such a precarious position, he would ride away. But he couldn’t leave her while she was working at the local saloon as a card dealer in a town where the only law that existed was vigilante law.

*

Late the next night, while Ruby was dealing cards, she glanced over and saw Deke sitting at the bar, his back to the wall, turned to where he could watch her and drink. Last night had answered so many of her questions about Deke.

Not only was the man a tough cowboy, who had ridden with her father, he also had a soft streak. He liked to heal horses, rescue puppies and women. Yes, he’d married, but it wasn’t a love match, but rather a woman needing a husband. And because they’d been friends, he’d volunteered.

She dealt another hand of cards and glanced at the scurvy lot of men sitting at her table. There was no doubt in her mind that most of them were probably just one step ahead of the law or a bounty hunter. Maybe after she caught Rivera she’d return to Hide Town and clean the village up without the sheriff’s help.

“Okay, gentlemen, who wants to open the bidding?”

“I’m in for a quarter,” the man to her left said.

“I’ll raise you a dime,” another man said.

A surly man who had stared at her all night growled. “I just remembered who you are. It took me a while, but you’re one of those bounty hunting women.”

Ruby sent the man a skeptical glance as the others at the table stared at her, their faces scowling. She threw her head back laughing. “What have you been drinking tonight? You need to share that loco juice with the rest of us. It’s given you fanciful ideas.” Her heart was pounding like a train with a full load of coal and an empty car. Somehow she had to convince everyone this man had no idea what he was talking about.

“No, I remember you. You and that redhead sister of yours brought a man into the Dyersville jail. I couldn’t believe my eyes that you girls had brought in a hold-up man wanted for murder.”

Ruby gave him her sternest look. “Place your bid, sir. I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, but I don’t have a redheaded sister. And do I look like the kind of woman who could bring a man to justice? Really?”

The men at the table chuckled and laughed at the idea. She leaned over and rested her chin in the palm of her hand, giving him a great view of her cleavage. She smiled and turned on her charm. “If I could be doing a man’s job, do you think I’d be working in a saloon?”

He frowned. “Well, then you’ve got a twin sister out there because I never forget a face.”

“And this woman who brought in this criminal, what was she wearing?”

“She was wearing pants, and you were wearing a skirt.”

“Honey, did it look like this?” Ruby let her hand flow down her dress.

“No.”

“Then it wasn’t me. This dress is my working outfit. When I’m at home, I lounge around in my robe,” she said, trying to get their minds on the idea of what she was wearing rather than on her being a bounty hunter. “Keep drinking, cowboy, and maybe even share some of that loco juice of yours.”

The men at the table all guffawed.

“Are you in or out?” she asked.

He frowned at her. “I’m out. Somehow I’m going to prove you’re a bounty hunter.”

“You’d be better served to improve your card skills. You didn’t do so well tonight.”

The men laughed again, and the man threw down his cards and slunk away. Icy fear rushed through Ruby like a stampede in a snowstorm. She smiled at the men sitting at her table. So far, they were buying her tale, but for how long? And how long before the man returned with proof of her existence?

“Gentlemen, where were we? This
bounty hunter
wants to play cards.”

As she dealt the next cards, she looked up and saw Deke watching her. He glanced over to where the man went out the door and gave her a nod.

She turned back to the men at her table, just as Madam Hutchins cleared her throat.

“Ruby, George will relieve you after this hand. Meet me in the office.”

Like a river, unease pumped through Ruby’s veins at the idea of going to Mrs. Hutchins’s office. The woman missed nothing that was going on in her saloon, and obviously, she’d overheard the conversation at Ruby’s table.

“Thank goodness, boys, I’m getting a break. George won’t deal you as good a hand as I will. I have Lady Luck on my side. But don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

She finished her hand and went in search of the madam. Time was not her friend, and she needed to find Rivera and get out of here soon, before she was exposed as a bounty hunter and before Mrs. Hutchins found some way of forcing Ruby to work upstairs.

Mrs. Hutchins was waiting for her in the office. “Come in, Ruby.” Her eyes were dark and not at all friendly.

Ruby plopped down in the chair away from the woman and relaxed. “It’s been a busy night tonight.”

“Yes, it has,” the woman said, staring at her. “What can you tell me about that conversation over at your table just now?”

Like a rain shower, trickles of fear spread through Ruby’s limbs, and yet, she smiled and played dumb. “What?” Ruby asked. “The man who thought I was a bounty hunter?”

“Yes, that one.”

“What do you want me to say,” Ruby said laughing. “Do you think I’d be dealing cards if I was a bounty hunter?”

“Maybe. Especially if you were after someone in my saloon,” the woman acknowledged.

Ruby rolled her eyes, playing the consummate actress. The woman wasn’t dumb, but Ruby just needed to redirect her in a different direction, like toward the south end of a northbound animal.

“I’m after having a good time and earning enough money to keep me out of the streets and out of the brothel upstairs. I don’t care what a man does as long as he treats me nice while playing cards at my table .”

The woman leaned back in her chair and appeared untroubled. “Good. That’s what I was hoping you’d say. But I want to warn you. I don’t take kindly to women stirring up trouble amongst my girls if you know what I mean.”

After the sheriff’s arrival at lunch yesterday, Ruby knew they were watching her and Hannah closely. And yet she wasn’t afraid. “Are you referring to Hannah?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Look, the kid needed some encouragement. We went shopping, looked at cosmetics, and then we had lunch over at the diner. Actually, I think I did you a favor. I told her she needed to accept the life that had been dealt to her.”

The girl would be dead by now if Ruby hadn’t stepped in. How could someone take a young woman’s life and throw it away? Yet, that’s what her stepfather had done.

The madam smiled. “Let’s hope so. But if I were you, I wouldn’t associate with the girls. Men will think you’re just one of them and take advantage of you, unless you’ve changed your mind and want to make more money.”

“Like I said, I darn near killed the last man who tried to force me to have sex with him. This time, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill any bastard who lays his hands on me.”

*

Mrs. Hutchins watched Ruby as she laughed and talked with the men around her table. The house had doubled its take in the last week since she’d been dealing. They were earning more than ever before, and now she was contemplating adding another female dealer to the mix. Maybe staring at a woman’s breasts all night, especially ones that were off limits, enticed a man to gamble more.

It was definitely worth considering. But right now, she had concerns about her female dealer. A man had recognized her as a bounty hunter. Emily had never heard of female bounty hunters, but the man had seemed certain she was this woman who had turned in a wanted man.

And then there was her lunch with Hannah. That girl had been nothing but trouble from the time she’d come into the house. The first night she’d screamed bloody murder until they’d had to gag and restrain her. She’d threatened to kill all of them if she ever got loose, and Emily was beginning to believe her.

In the not too distant future, Hannah would be taking a ride with the sheriff, never to return.

Speaking of the lawman, he walked in the door and smiled at her. She waved him over and took him by the arm. “We need to talk.”

The relationship she had with the sheriff was more than just scratching each other’s backs. He was her lover, her confidant, her best friend, and he handled her dirty business. They’d been together for over four years, quietly planning and running Hide Town.

“Oh dear, who do you want me to take care of now?” he asked.

“No one yet,” she said. “Have you ever heard of female bounty hunters?”

He frowned. “I heard some rumors, but thought it was just gibberish. Why?”

“Tonight, at Ruby’s table, a gentleman said she was one of those bounty hunter girls. He accused her of bringing in a wanted man to the Dyersville jail.”

“That little sprite of a girl?” he asked in disbelief and laughed. “I don’t believe it.”

“Said her sister and her did the job.”

“If it’s her, where is the sister?”

Emily frowned and stared at the woman who seemed very well adept at handling all sorts of controversies. Even now, she was in full control of her table, shuffling the cards, and handling the bets. In many ways, she reminded Emily of herself—full of determination to succeed, fearless in the face of adversity. The girl had more spunk than any of her whores, and that worried her.