Drew (The Cowboys) (13 page)

“Do you mind if we take some pictures?” one of the others asked.

“Come by tomorrow morning about this time,” Cole said. “We can set some up then.”

“I don’t want any pictures,” Drew said.

“I told you, Miss Townsend is very shy,” Cole said. “We’ll have to keep this low-key, and we insist upon approval of all pictures before they’re used.”

“Certainly.”

Cole knew the reporters would agree to anything to get a picture. They’d print what they got regardless of whether Drew liked it or not.

“Come early tonight,” Cole said. “Miss Townsend is the first act after the opening parade.”

“Is she going to shoot our hats off again?” one of the reporters asked.

A devilish smile appeared on Drew’s face. Cole had never seen that look before, but he knew it wasn’t a good sign.

“I think it would be a great trick to line all of you up and send your hats into the next county, but I think I’d prefer to use
my fella
as a target tonight.” She smiled even more sweetly. “Let’s hope I don’t pick that time to miss.”

Cole decided he just might not enter the ring tonight. There was an old saying about those who ran away living to fight another day. The way Drew was looking at him now, he’d be lucky to make it to another day.

“Zeke,” Drew said, “why don’t you show these fellas out? I need to talk to Cole.”

Cole considered trying to sneak off with Zeke, but he figured she’d shoot the heels off his boots. He stayed and awaited his fate.

“What did you tell them about my shooting game to feed my family?”

Cole breathed a sigh of relief. She might not like what he’d done, but apparently she was more concerned, at least right now, with the background he’d made up for her.

“I told them your parents weren’t very good at living rough, so you learned to shoot game to feed your family.”

“You didn’t mention Jake and Isabelle?”

“I just said you were taken in by a couple who adopted eleven orphans. I didn’t mention their names. I knew you wouldn’t want me to.”

“My not wanting it hasn’t stopped you before. Why should it now?”

“Believe it or not, I’m not trying to make you mad.”

“You couldn’t prove it by me.”

“I’m doing this for your own good. I know you don’t want to do it yourself because you’re naturally shy.”

“I’m not shy. I just don’t like strangers knowing my business. If I read a lot of stuff in those papers, I’ll—”

“You can’t blame me for everything they write. You know reporters make up stuff.”

“I
can
blame you for their being here in the first place.”

“Why did you let Zeke catch you?”

He’d been thinking about that the whole time. She’d said from the first she didn’t want to let him catch her, but he felt slighted anyway. He had known she might decide not to use the jump, but he’d figured if she did, she’d let him catch her. It was his idea. It wasn’t fair to cut him out of it.

“You were busy with the reporters.”

He felt a surge of relief. She hadn’t said she hated him and would shoot him through the heart if he so much as laid a hand on her. She hadn’t said she’d quit the show before she’d let him touch her. She’d given him an excuse that sounded halfway believable.

“Besides, you’re still supposed to be a stranger coming down out of the stands.”

“I can’t do that now. The reporters know I’m part of the act.”

She didn’t look surprised. He guessed she’d already figured that out.

“I guess there’s no reason not to let you set up the bull’s-eyes and the candles.”

“Or catch you when you dismount.”

“Zeke will do that. He has time to get back to his horse before I’m done.”

“It’ll be a close call.”

“He knows.”

Cole decided not to push. With a little luck, Zeke would find he didn’t have enough time. Drew’s act was spectacular, but it was short. “I’ve thought of a new trick,” he said.

“I think that’s enough for tonight.”

“You’ll need something for tomorrow.”

“We’ll do the candles.”

“Want to go through it again?”

“Okay.”

Cole was careful not to smile. Little by little he was working his way inside her defenses. He was convinced she liked him. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help it. He’d never had to trade on a woman’s affections before, but the captain had told him it might be necessary to get the kind of information they needed to convict the robbers.

He hadn’t wanted this assignment. He didn’t like the idea of lying to a woman about his feelings, but he was trying to stop a criminal. He told himself any lie was acceptable if it would lead to the robbers’ capture.

But he didn’t feel like that now. He felt like a traitor. He felt dirty. He wasn’t talking about some unknown stranger any more. He was talking about Drew Townsend, a woman he liked. And despite the facts, the more he learned about her, the harder it was to believe she was a criminal.

But it wasn’t his job to argue with evidence gathered by law officers from several states. He was to infiltrate her operation and find a way to betray her. He would do that because it was his job. But if he found she wasn’t guilty, he would try his damnedest to clear her name.

Millville, Illinois

Cole looked irritably about him. There wasn’t much about the town of Millville to interest a visitor. It looked prosperous enough with its three- and four-story brick buildings and its busy streets filled with people going about their business on a Thursday afternoon. He missed the trees of older, more established towns. It had been his experience that founders of towns were too anxious to lay out lots and sell them to prospective buyers to pay much attention to aesthetics. That usually had to wait for the second generation.

“It looks like a nice little town,” Myrtle said to him. She had asked Cole to help her buy some new material. She had meant to ask Drew, but she had disappeared.

That was the real source of his irritability. Last night’s show had gone off without a mishap. After the crescendo of publicity that had begun with those first newspaper articles a week ago, the crowds were larger, the applause more vigorous.

Drew didn’t seem to be affected by their success or the prospect of achieving stardom. She’d practiced with him each morning in a depressingly efficient manner, speaking only when necessary. This morning she’d disappeared almost immediately afterwards. A diligent search hadn’t turned up anyone who knew where she’d gone. No one knew where to find Zeke or Hawk, either.

Cole followed Myrtle into what appeared to be a warehouse containing thousands of bolts of cloth. “Don’t panic,” Myrtle warned. “I’m not going to look at everything.”

“You couldn’t,” Cole responded. “We’re only going to be here for a few more hours.” Cole noticed he was the only man in the building. He took that as a bad sign.

“You don’t have to look at anything until I ask,” Myrtle said. “You can spend your time thinking up more tricks for Drew.”

He spent his time being irritated.

He didn’t feel that he was doing a good job on this assignment. He was supposed to insinuate himself into Drew’s inner circle, but he couldn’t do that when he couldn’t even find her. If three people could disappear from under his nose, he obviously wasn’t qualified for this job. It was no consolation that no one else knew where to find them. Nobody else had any reason to keep an eye on their movements. He did, and he’d failed.

His captain wouldn’t be pleased.

Then there was the personal side. There shouldn’t have been a personal side, but it was useless to pretend there wasn’t. It wasn’t like he’d fallen in love or become infatuated, but he had developed a strong liking for Drew. He was ashamed to admit it was rapidly turning into a powerful physical attraction. It was a very inconvenient way to feel about a woman he was supposed to spy on.

It affected his judgment. It made him want to see everything Drew did in the best possible light, thus causing his inner feelings to be at variance with his duty. It was a very uncomfortable and unnerving situation. It had never happened to him before. He didn’t like it.

“You’d never know it from the way she talks, but she has a wonderful eye for color,” Myrtle was saying. She showed him two pieces of cloth that seemed identical to him. “I can’t decide which is the best match.”

“Either one looks fine to me,” Cole said.

Myrtle laughed comfortably. “But you’re a man. Everybody knows men are practically imbeciles when it comes to judging color.”

It wasn’t his strongest point, but Cole resented the imbecile remark. “If it doesn’t match, I’m sure they’ll let you exchange it.”

Myrtle’s frown indicated
she
wasn’t certain. “I don’t think we’ll have time to return
it
before we leave town.” She put the bolts back. “I think I’ll wait for Drew. I’m sure St. Louis will have a wider selection.”

“I can’t see how,” Cole said, remembering the confusion of hundreds of shades of blue and purple.

They were doing two shows in Millville. As soon as they could get everything torn down after the show and loaded on the train, they would leave for Wilton Springs. They usually had only one show in a town before moving on to the next engagement, but later in the month they were scheduled to spend four days in Memphis. Cole wasn’t happy about that. His family lived in Memphis. He wasn’t worried about having to visit his mother. He always did that. He was concerned someone in the show might discover he was a member of one of the wealthiest families in the city.

That wouldn’t help him in his work.

“Do you always depend on Drew to do things like help you match material?” Cole asked Myrtle.

“No, but she likes to help. She’s taken a real interest in us regulars, especially those of us who have been here for years.”

“How so?”

“She’s advising us on how to invest our money so we’ll have something when we retire. Most of us had just ignored it. But Drew made us realize that’s stupid. She’s made us start putting money aside.”

Cole stopped in his tracks. “Do you mean she makes you give her your money?”

“No.” Myrtle chuckled. “Though I think she would have if we hadn’t agreed to her scheme.”

“What scheme?”

“Each week she marches us down to a bank and helps us deposit our money.”

They were approaching the local bank. Cole felt as if a cold hand had suddenly closed around his heart. “Does she know anything about your accounts?”

“Of course. She has all our records. We’re not very good at things like that.”

Cole had a sinking feeling. He could see all these trusting old people depositing their money year after year, handing over their records to Drew. But when they went to get their money, they’d find their accounts had been emptied long ago.

And their friend Drew Townsend would have disappeared.

“Have you ever deposited any money in this bank?” Cole said, indicating the building in front of them.

“I think so, but I don’t remember.”

“Let’s go inside and find out.” If Myrtle had an account, he had to know if the money was still there.

“I don’t remember my account number.”

“It’s okay. All you need is your name.”

They entered the building together.

“There’s Drew,” Myrtle exclaimed. “She can help me pick out the material on our way back.”

Seated in the middle of the lobby, like a spider surveying her prey, Drew watched everything going on around her with an eagle eye.

“What’s she doing here?” Cole asked.

“Now I know I don’t have any money in this bank,” Myrtle said. “Drew always checks out every bank before she lets us use it. She says you can’t tell about the honesty of a bank until you’ve observed the customers that come through its doors.”

Cole had a different explanation for Drew’s presence. A robber could never decide how best to rob a bank until she’d spent several hours observing its operation.

Chapter Eight

Drew wasn’t happy that her reaction on seeing Cole enter the bank with Myrtle was to smile up at him. She hadn’t been expecting him, or she’d never have let her feelings betray her. She’d been having trouble with her response to him ever since Earl talked her into jumping into his arms. She’d never been in a man’s embrace before, so she had nothing to compare it to, but she didn’t think she ought to be thinking about him so often. Or wondering if it would feel the same when …
if
she jumped into his arms again.

Nor should she have started comparing him to other men and deciding he was more handsome, more charming, stronger… well, that was exactly the problem. She shouldn’t have been thinking any of that. Zeke was bigger and stronger, but there was no question that Cole was more handsome. Maybe she ought to send for Will. No other man seemed particularly handsome when Will was around.

“I wish you hadn’t come to town without telling me,” Myrtle said as she approached Drew. “I have to buy more fabric, and you know how I depend on your eye for color.”