Dorothy Garlock (14 page)

“You'll stay, won't you, Thad? ”There was a pleading look in her eyes.

“Of course I'll stay. You couldn't get me out of here with a winch and a towline, ”he said in an attempt to lighten the tension. “I'd be out of my mind to leave when I've got three good meals a day and three pretty women fussing over me.”

Jill snorted, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, then said, “Because the man killed once doesn't mean he'll do it again. It may have been an accident and he was afraid to report it, so he … tried to dispose of…the body.”

“He may have brought it from Tulsa or some other place, ”Radna suggested. Jill had thought her unshakable, but she had showed signs of fear when told about the murdered woman.

“I'm staying. I'm not willing to take the chance.” Thad ran his fingers through his hair. “I'm not trying to scare you ladies; but a man who would do such a thing has got to be crazy, and you can't predict what a crazy person will do.”

“I'll start wearing my pistol again, ”Radna said. “I used to wear one all the time.”

“Good idea, if you don't shoot yourself in the foot.”

This time it was Justine who snorted. “Radna can out-shoot any man in town. I've seen her in action.”

“Is that so? ”Thad cast an admiring glance at Radna. “It's a comfort to know I've got a backup. Are there other guns in the hotel besides that shotgun out under the front desk? ”

Radna and Justine looked at each other. “I have a six-shooter under the mattress, ”Justine said. “I don't know why: I couldn't use it.”

“I put it there, ”Radna said.

“Why do you have a gun, Aunt Justine? ”

“Habit, honey. This was rough country when I first came here.” Then: “Is Nettie cleaning the rooms? ”

Radna answered, “She started cleaning as soon as the first guest left. Laura is in the wash house.”

“The wash lady is here? I'd better get out there and be sure the washer is working.” Thad stopped beside Jill as he left the room. “Stick close. I'll be right back.”

Jill threw up her hands. “Oh, for goodness 'sakes.” Then she complained in low tones to her aunt, “He's carrying this stick-close thing too far. The next thing I know, he'll be standing outside the lavatory when one of us goes in there.”

“I heard that.” Thad had come back to stand behind Jill. His hands gripped her shoulders to keep her from turning and hitting him. “It's a good idea. Call out the next time you ladies have to use it and I'll guard that door with my life.” Shaking with laughter, he followed Radna into the kitchen.

Chapter 9

O
H … LAURA LET OUT A CRY OF ALARM
when she looked up and saw Thad's large frame filling the doorway of the wash house. With a look of fright on her face, she hastily backed up to put herself between the big dark man and the wagon where her little girl lay asleep on a pillow.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm staying here at the hotel and helping out for a while. I've been repairing the washing machine and the wringer. Is it working all right? ”When she only stared at him, he said, “Ah, hell. I don't blame you for being scared after what has happened.” Thad stepped out of the wash house and yelled, ”Radna! ”

“What? What's wrong? ”Radna came running out onto the porch. The door slammed behind her, scaring the dog, who scurried under the porch.

“Come out here and tell this girl she doesn't have to be afraid of me.”

“Is that what you're yelling about? ”Radna stepped off the porch and came down the slat-plank walk. She looked up at Thad and winked. “A girl would have to be out of her mind not to be afraid of you.”

“You're not.”

“I'm not young and pretty.”

“Ha! You're sure not old and
ugly.”

“Are you flirting with me? ”

“You bet! The girl is scared of me, Radna. Tell her I'm harmless.”

“You want me to lie? Oh, all right.”

Thad enjoyed his exchanges with Radna. She was bright and always had a witty comeback. He followed her into the wash house.

“Laura, this is Thad Taylor. He's from Justine's hometown back in Missouri. He's helping out here for a while. He's harmless but a big flirt. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. If he gets fresh, threaten to tell Jill. That'll cool him off because he's crazy about her.” Radna's head barely came to Thad's shoulder. She tilted her chin to look up at him. “You didn't think I knew that, did you,
Buster
? ”

“Doesn't surprise me a bit.” Thad couldn't help but return her grin. His eyes found the girl backed up to the wagon. “Is the washer working all right? ”

“I've not started it.”

“I fixed the wringer. It worked when I put a dry shirt through it.”

“Is Mary Pat asleep? ”Radna went to the wagon, bent down and smoothed the dark curls back from the baby's forehead.

“She's tired. We were up early this morning.” Laura's voice was barely above a whisper. Her eyes went anxiously to Thad as he moved into the room.

“I'd think that she'd fall out of the wagon.”

“I have to tie her in when she's awake. She doesn't like that very much.”

“I'd not like to be tied down, either.” Radna looked up at Thad, who stood behind her gazing down at the sleeping child. “Mr. Handyman, can you fix a little pen for her out in the shade? Before long it'll be too hot for her in here.”

“Sure. I'll pound some stakes in the ground and get some chicken wire. My friend back in Fertile made a pen like that for his boy who was about the same size.”

“And she needs a bucket of sand to play in.” Radna picked up the child's little hand and placed it on her palm.

“Is she walking? ”Thad asked.

“Running is more like it, ”Laura said with pride. A smile lightened her violet eyes. “I have to get as much done as I can while she's asleep.”

“Here's the rest of it.” Mrs. Cole crowded into the wash house with an armload of bedsheets. Laura went to meet her and relieve her of the bundle. “I'll be finished in there in another hour and be out to help you.”

“Let me know if you have trouble with the wringer.” Thad backed out the door, went to the hotel porch and scratched the dog's head while he waited for Radna, then followed her into the kitchen.

“That girl out there is as skittish as a wild colt. I was afraid she was going to fly out the door.”

“Since her husband was killed, Laura hardly shows her face in town. When she does, every horny male who gets a look at her beats a path to her door.”

“Why would they do that? She didn't look like a loose woman to me.”

“She's not a loose woman.” The tone of Radna's voice made that perfectly clear. “She's a nice girl with heavy loads on her shoulders. One of them is keeping food in that baby's mouth and the other is being sinfully beautiful, which draws men like flies to a honey pot. Didn't you notice? ”

“Now that you mention it, she is pretty.”

“Oh, Lord. You've got a worse case than I thought.” Radna filled the dishpan with water from the teakettle and then dropped in a bar of P&G soap.

“What do you mean by that? ”He looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“You're so smitten with Jill you can't see beyond your nose.”

“Of course I like Jill. Love her, even. She's like a little sister to me — ”

“Don't give me that sister hockey,
Buster.
You're nuts about her. But back to Laura. I don't know why she married a no-account like Bradley Hopper in the first place. Some say that he forced her and got her pregnant. She's never said. Anyway, one night he got stinking drunk, climbed a derrick up to the crown block and fell fifty feet to the ground. Killed him deader than a doornail. I think that God did it as a favor to Laura.”

“Holy smoke! I'd better go out there and take another look at her. If she's that good-looking and doesn't talk much, I might be missing out on something. I like a woman who doesn't give me a lot of sass, not like a certain pint-sized, black-haired, smart-talkin 'female I know.”

After Mr. Evans and his wife came to take over the front desk, Jill fed her aunt, then she ate supper at the kitchen table with Radna and Thad.

“Did you hear any news about the murder when you went to the store? ”Radna asked the question while she filled their glasses with iced tea.

“Nothing new except that an officer is coming up from Oklahoma City. The sheriff isn't giving out any news, so the old news is being hashed and rehashed. Everyone has an opinion on who she was and who killed her.”

“I suppose they think it was a crazy Indian that did it.” Radna sat down and pushed the plate of cornbread across the table to Thad.

“How'd you guess? ”

Radna rolled her eyes. “Any fool would know that an Indian would have taken her scalp, not her whole head.”

“What else are they saying? ”Jill asked.

“That it was done by someone who escaped from the insane asylum.”

“I can believe that.”

Thad helped himself to a serving of cornbread. “Radna, you make darn good cornbread. My mama would love you. Are you spoken for? ”

“I thought you were going to marry Laura.” Radna saw the hand that lifted the fork to Jill's mouth hesitate.

“She turned me down.” Thad's eyes, shining with amusement, were on Radna and didn't see the loss of color and the stunned expression on Jill's face.

“Poor Thad. I guess it's up to you, Jill.”

“I'm not so desperate that I'd take someone's leftovers, ”Jill said sharply. “I don't play second fiddle to anyone.” She got up and took her plate to the dishpan.

“Hey, you can't be finished. You didn't eat much.”

Thad's chiding voice irritated her. Jill's lashes momentarily screened her eyes. A blush colored her cheeks, so recently pale, with flattering color. Her mind not understanding the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Jill ignored him.

“I'll sit awhile with Aunt Justine, ”she said to Radna and left the kitchen.

“What got into her? ”Thad's brows lowered over his puzzled eyes.

“Oh, Lord, ”Radna exclaimed. “Men are so dumb.”

Jill managed not to be alone with Thad for the rest of the evening. As soon as Radna came to sit with Justine, she went to her room, undressed and washed, using the small basin on her washstand. When finished, she put on her nightdress and turned off the light. Instead of getting into bed, she raised the window shade and looked out at the star-studded sky.

All day she had suffered a growing homesickness for the peace and quiet of the farm back in Missouri. Her eyes filled with the tears she had kept at bay since supper.

There were so many people in this place that she couldn't step out onto the porch, either front or back, without seeing someone or someone seeing her. She couldn't walk down the street without some man in oily clothes wanting to talk to her or walk beside her.

She was lonesome for her family.

Visions of home flashed before her eyes. She wondered what her sister Julie was doing. Did Jack and Jason, her brothers, miss her? Was her daddy cutting hay? Thad was dear and familiar. Was that the reason she'd begun to have romantic thoughts about him?

Trying to think of him objectively, Jill realized that he was an exceedingly attractive man with a way about him that would endear him to any woman. He was protective, amusing, and when he talked to a woman he gave her his full attention, as if she were the only woman in the world.

Laura must have been impressed. Of course, he was teasing about her turning him down. He was far too smooth to try to court her on such a short acquaintance, but Radna must have had some basis for saying that Thad wanted to marry Laura.

He had spent a couple of hours making a pen in the shade of the wash house for Laura's little girl. When he was finished, he lifted the child over the fence. He and Laura watched the little girl toddle around enjoying her new freedom. How could a woman not fall in love with a man who was as handsome, kind and gentle as Thad?

What in the world was she thinking of? She wasn't in love with Thad. He sure wasn't in love with her.

Impatient with her thoughts, Jill went to bed, hoping that she might switch off images of Thad with Laura. Rather than being dispelled, they seemed to intensify as she lay there. She tossed restlessly as visions of the beautiful dark-haired children Laura and Thad could have filled her mind. Her body was tired, but her mind refused to shut down.

Finally, when she fell into a fitful sleep, she dreamed of being lost on the prairie and being found by a man with a long knife. His white hair stood up in spikes all over his head and his eyes glowed like fire. More frightened than she'd ever been in her life, she screamed and ran though high grass that twisted around her ankles.

A large man ahead of her blocked her way. She couldn't get around him. Her feet became so heavy she could hardly lift them. The man with the knife reached for her. His hand touched her shoulder. She awakened and sat up with a cry of fright. A dark shadow loomed over her.

“No! Get away! ”she shrieked and lashed out at the hard body with her fists.

“Jill, it's me, Thad.” His hands gripped her shoulders. “Wake up, honey.”

“Thad? ”

“What scared you, sweetheart? ”He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms. “Was it the fire bells? They woke me and I heard you cry out.”

Jill's breathing was short and shallow with fright. It felt so good to be against his chest, enclosed in his arms. Her arms locked around him as if she were being swept out to sea. She couldn't seem to get close enough to him. She burrowed her face in the curve of his neck and gulped for breath. He was warm and solid and … safe.

“You're all right.” His voice was soft and raspy. “Sweet girl, you're all right.” Her breasts, soft against his naked chest and the wetness of her tears on his neck, were now causing his heart to do funny things. It had taken off like a runaway train when he heard her cry out.

“I was so … scared — ”

“Don't cry, honey. You're safe here with me.” His hand caressed her back and pressed her to him.

“I didn't hear the fire bell, ”she whispered when her heart slowed enough so that she could speak. “I had a bad dream. A man …was chasing me with a knife.”

“You cried out. It scared me to death, sweetheart.” He brushed the damp hair back from her face.