Her Bodyguard (28 page)

The comment frightened Mari. What secrets were they keeping? Instinctively, she shifted closer to Kat.

“Murphy’s not a problem any longer,” Luke said.

“He’s in jail. What the hell do you have, Rory, that’s worth all this trouble?”

Rory hesitated. He scowled and hemmed and hawed, then sighed. “Pirate treasure.”

“What?”

Tossing her husband a scornful glance, Kat elaborated. “He and the Dickersons fished with an old man who lived on the south end of Galveston Island. When they were all drunk one night, the fisherman confessed to having found part of Jean Laffite’s treasure. Rory talked the poor man into showing them, and when he did, the Dickersons murdered him.”

Luke closed his eyes and grimaced. “Murder. Dammit, Rory!”

“Hey. I didn’t know they were gonna up and do something like that,” he defended. “I felt real guilty about it.”

“Not so guilty that you didn’t take your share of the bounty, though, right? Not so guilty that you turned yourself into the law.”

Rory snorted. “Sure. Right. That sounds funny coming from your mouth, jailbird.”

Now Mari shifted a step back toward Luke. He shot her a quick, curious look before addressing his brother. “So, what are they after, Rory, other than your hide?”

“An altar cross,” Kat offered dully.

“Pa used to talk about it, remember, Luke?” Rory said. “It’s the lost Sacred Heart Cross. The one Spain was sending to the church in the New World when Laffite took the ship. Folks always thought it might turn up in Texas. It’s beautiful. Solid gold and encrusted with jewels—the heart-shaped ruby in the center is as big as a hen’s egg.”

Kat wrapped her arms around herself. “He said he was going to give it back to the church.”

“Sure,” Luke snidely observed. “Right after he magically turns himself into a dove of peace.” He frowned at his brother, and scratched the back of his neck. “You have managed to land yourself in a world of trouble, haven’t you? Where is the cross? Do you have it with you?”

“No. It’s hidden.”

“He didn’t think we should travel with it,” Kat added. “He told me he was protecting me.”

Sarcasm all but dripped from Luke’s tongue as he drawled, “Isn’t that just like good ol’ Rory, protecting his womenfolk.”

Mari decided she’d had enough. “What is it with you? What do you know about Rory that you’re not telling us?”

The two brothers shared a look. Luke said, “Maybe you should go ahead and tell her. Just get it all out in the open now. She’s gonna have to know.”

“Know what?” Kat demanded.

Watching the men, witnessing the silent communication between them, Mari had a thought. An ugly, awful, horrible thought. She recalled Luke’s unshakable belief that his brother would not marry her sister. She remembered his shock and his heated reaction to the news at the church in Paradise Prairie. Why would he react that way? Why would he make such cutting remarks to Rory about “leaving something behind” and “protecting his womenfolk”?

Unless the something he left behind was a woman.

Was a wife.

Oh, dear Lord, no. Surely not
.

“It’s really not necessary.” Rory said to Luke, “There are better ways to do this.”

Damn you, Luke, for not telling me
.

“To do what?” Kat demanded. “What is this all about? What else are you keeping from me?”

Mari knew her sister. Better for Kat to rip a scab off a wound all at once than to pick at it little by little. “Answer her, Rory.”

Pleading now, Rory said, “Kat’s a sweet, sensitive girl.”

Luke gave Mari a quick, apologetic glance, then looked sadly at Kat as he said, “So is Melissa.”

That’s it, Mari thought. I was right. She reached out and took her sister’s hand.

Luke continued, “She gave birth to a son on February tenth, Rory. She named him Brian, after your father.”

With that, understanding dawned in Kat’s expression. She gripped Mari’s hand hard. “You deserted a pregnant mistress, Rory?”

“I…uh…no. I…uh…oh, hell.” He sank down on the bed and buried his face in his hands.

Her heart breaking for her younger sister, Mari reached up with her free hand and cupped Kat’s cheek. “I don’t think he means his mistress, Katie-cat. I’m afraid he means his wife. I’m afraid the bastard you married is a bigamist.”

“A bigamist?” Kat shot a disbelieving look at Rory. He didn’t respond. Didn’t even look up. “No…”

Kat’s eyes rolled back and she swooned. Unprepared for that reaction—she’d never known Kat to faint— Mari was slow to react. Thankfully, Luke didn’t hesitate. He caught her before she hit the hardwood floor.

Rory scrambled off the bed, making room for Luke to lay her gently on the mattress. Mari stroked her sister’s hair saying, “Kat? Kat, are you all right?”

Rory Callahan cleared his throat. “Um…Maribeth? Don’t worry. She saw a doctor a couple weeks ago, and he told us it’s not unusual for a woman to faint when she’s pregnant.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ANGER SAT IN LUKE’S stomach like a cold, hard stone as he took control of what had become an ugly scene. Kat, having revived from her swoon, lay sobbing into a pillow. Mari sat beside her sister, a mama grizzly protecting her cub, literally baring her teeth to either man who attempted to speak. Rory wore the shifty expression that usually meant he was about to flee. Better make his brother his first priority.

Luke grabbed Rory by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “C’mon. She’s obviously not of a mind to talk to you right now.”

His brother was only too happy to quit the room. His outlook changed, however, when Luke escorted him to the Parsonsville jail, identified himself as a Texas Ranger, then asked the local sheriff to lock up his prisoner until Luke made preparations to take him back to Fort Worth. “What? You a Texas Ranger?” Rory scoffed with derision. “That’s as big a lie as anything I ever told Kat.”

“Shut up.” Luke removed his Warrant of Authority from a hidden pocket inside his gun belt and proved to the sheriff that Rory’s angry protestations were simply the ravings of a guilty man. A short time later he exited the jailhouse, leaving Rory safely behind bars.

Talking with Mari occupied the next spot on his list of priorities. He wanted privacy for this conversation— chances were it wouldn’t be pretty—and damned if he’d hold it in a whorehouse.

He stopped two women exiting the general store, explained that he needed a nice spot to watch the sunset with his sweetheart. They told him of a bluff called Inspiration Point on the Colorado River within walking distance of town. With giggles and good luck wishes, the ladies sent him on his way. He hoped they didn’t take note of his destination.

Back at the saloon, he stopped for a quick shot of Dutch courage, exchanged a few words with one of the working girls, then headed up the inside stairs. The women hadn’t moved, though instead of crying, Kat lay sleeping, with Mari seated on the mattress beside her staring out into space. She looked sad and heartsick and defeated, and seeing her that way broke Luke’s heart. “Mari, we need to talk. Will you come with me?”

“I can’t leave Kat.”

“Just for a little while. I’ve arranged for a woman to stay with her.”

“Where is your brother?”

“In jail. Sheriff locked him up for me. I didn’t want him running off.”

“Jail.” She nodded. “Good. That’s where he belongs.”

“Come with me, Maribeth.” When she didn’t respond, he added, “Surely you have a thing or two or twelve you’d like to say to me.”

Then he saw it, a brief flash of fire in her eyes, and it made him feel marginally better. Mari might be down, but she wasn’t out. Not by a long shot.

She stroked her sister’s hair, then looked at him and nodded.

A purple dusk drifted across the land a short time later as Luke escorted her along a well-worn path leading out of town. They didn’t speak, only the birds in the trees and the scuttle of gravel beneath their feet breaking the heavy silence between them.

The path sloped gently upward, and before long, they stood atop weathered stone. Beneath them, the deep green river drifted in peaceful solitude on its long and winding path toward the Gulf of Mexico. The hill country gradually gave way to the lowlands rolling east and south, allowing Luke to trace miles of the river’s course as it meandered over sand, slower and flattened between tall, bright cottonwoods and oak and pecans. Though it couldn’t compare with the true mountain vistas he’d seen while tracking the Harmon Gang through Colorado and Wyoming last year, the view was enough to make a man stop and recall his unimportance in the grand scheme of life.

Yet when he looked at his companion, saw her standing tall and strong and proud against the majestic crimson-and-gold backdrop of an early fall sunset, he sensed that he’d lived his entire life for this moment.

He drew a deep breath, collected his thoughts, then confessed the one thing that mattered the most. “I love you.”

Never before had he spoken those three words to a woman.

They were absolutely the wrong words to say.

She whirled on him like a storm, thunder in her expression, lightning flashing in her eyes. Her words pummeled him like hailstones. “How dare you. How dare you say that to me now, under circumstances like these! Haven’t you spoken enough lies already?”

“I’m not lying about this,” Luke declared.

“Oh? And I’m supposed to know that how? Because you’ve always been truthful with me? Because every word out of your mouth is gospel? Because honor and honesty are your watchwords?”

Luke grimaced, heaved a sigh, jammed his hands into his pockets and looked away. He guessed he had that coming to him, that and more. But damn, the first time ever that he had bared his heart, she used it for target practice. That was hard on a man.

He attempted to speak calmly, convincingly. “Believe what you will, Mari, but that’s the God’s honest truth. This whole thing with Rory and your Kat, it’s a damned bad deal. I handled it the best way I knew how.”

She braced her hands on her hips. “Oh? And you think neglecting to mention the fact that your brother was a bigamist constituted handling it well?”

“What good would it have done for me to tell you?” he said in a halfhearted effort to defend himself. “You would have spent every minute of every day since we left that rose-covered church fretting yourself half to death over this situation.”

“Not to mention being distracted from the other activity that kept
me
busy and
you
smiling like a cat in cream for the past four days,” she responded with a disdainful sniff.

Luke’s temper flared. “Now wait just one minute.”

“I asked you point-blank if you had any other surprises, any other family skeletons, and you avoided the question. You
made love
to me in order to distract me!”

“That’s not why I—”

“By the way,” she continued, as though he hadn’t spoken, “considering what I’ve learned regarding the your family, I probably should ask. Do you, too, have a wife and child stuck away somewhere you haven’t bothered to mention?”

It was a slap to the face and Luke sucked in a breath. The sick feeling in his stomach intensified. Quietly, he asked, “Do you think so little of me, Maribeth? Do you truly believe I have so little honor?”

Seconds stretched like hours as he waited for her answer. He was losing her. Right here, right now. He could sense the situation spiraling out of control.

“I don’t know,” she finally replied, each word chipping away at Luke’s heart. “I don’t know you, Luke Garrett. I thought I did. I believed in you. I trusted you. But you’ve harbored too many secrets. Told me too many lies. I don’t know who or what to believe anymore.”

Luke’s pulse pounded. His chest ached. A lump of emotion lodged in his throat.
Goddammit, Mari!

Desperate now, he reacted like a man, not with words, but with action. He grabbed her, yanked her against him. He cupped her cheek in his hand and demanded, “Believe this.”

He captured her mouth with his, pouring all the frustration, pain and heartache churning inside him into his kiss. Silently, he implored her to open her mind and her heart. Wordlessly, he demanded that she believe him, believe
in
him.

With a sob, she tore herself away.

“That’s the truth, Mari,” he said, breathing heavily, his heart wrenching at the sight of the tears now streaking down her cheeks. Tears he had caused. Not her sister, not Rory. Him. “That’s the God’s honest, bare-naked truth. As plain as I can say it. Maybe I should have told you Rory already had a wife. Maybe I should have sacrificed these last few days when things have been so perfect between us.”

Mari wrapped her arms around herself and rocked slowly side to side.

Luke fished in his pocket for his handkerchief, then held it out to her. When, finally, she took it and wiped the wetness from her cheeks, he cleared his throat. “But you know what? I was selfish. I didn’t want to bring all that up. I didn’t want family sins and obligations to come between us. I’ve spent a good portion of my life cleaning up after my family, and this time, for these few short days, I wanted some time for myself. I wanted this time with you.”

He took a step toward her and spoke from the bottom of his heart. “I love you, Maribeth McBride. I’m
in love
with you.”

“Oh, Luke.”

“And you know what else? I think you’re in love with me, too.” He paused, waited for her to respond with more than his name, only Mari remained silent.

“Dammit, Maribeth.” He reached for her again.

“No!” She pushed him away, turned away from him. She paced back and forth across a plot of land no bigger than a grave. “It’s over. All of it. Kat has been found. My goal is accomplished. My sister and I will leave for Fort Worth first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll work out a story on the way home. Emma will have told everyone that Kat eloped, so we’ll just tell them she’s now a widow. Her husband had an accident. A tragic accident. He’s been hit by a train. Maybe gored by a bull. Something really awful.”

Everything inside Luke went cold. He wanted to grab her, to physically stop her.
You’re not leaving me!
He managed to keep his fists clenched at his sides as he flatly said, “No. You’re not traveling alone.”