Her Bodyguard (32 page)

Janna took the opportunity to tell her brothers more about her fiancé Harper owned the house next door, and he’d become acquainted with Janna during a dispute over a barking dog. Like his neighbor, Horace Wentworth, Jared Harper owned a shipping company.

“I love your sister. And her girls,” he reassured Luke. “It took work to win her, but I was a determined man. I intend to spend the rest of my life making her happy.”

Well, how could a loving brother argue with that?

Luke took another sip of coffee. “I’ve wanted her to kick Finn Murphy out of her life for going on a decade. The man is poison.”

“He’s evil,” Jared Harper said flatly. “I met him just last week.”

Luke’s cup banged against the table. “You met him? Tell me you visited him in jail.”

“Yes. The Texas Rangers notified Janna that he’d been arrested. She wanted to be certain he’d been notified about the divorce. It was important to her symbolically.” Harper took a sip of his coffee, then casually observed, “He had a message for you should we meet.”

Just as casually, Luke remarked, “Oh?”

“He said to tell you he knows your weakness, and that he intended to say hello the next time he visited Fort Worth.”

Mari
. Hell. Luke shrugged, and tried to tell himself not to worry. His friends were keeping an eye on the McBride sisters. “Murphy undoubtedly has a date with a hangman. Won’t live to see Thanksgiving this year.”

The conversation was interrupted by an infant cry and a coo. Belatedly, Rory expressed interest in his son. Luke and Jared Harper cooked breakfast while Janna oversaw the introduction of little Brian to his father.

In the hours that followed, Luke had little time to dwell on Finn Murphy and his threats. He had a decision to make. His main reason for dragging Rory back to Galveston no longer applied. Rory didn’t need to take responsibility for Melissa and her son. George Honeycutt had done that. Luke could wash his hands of his brother, leave him to fight his own legal battles, and return immediately to Fort Worth and Mari.

It was a tantalizing idea, and he might have done just that had Janna not asked him to give her away at her wedding in two weeks. Luke decided to use the time looking into Rory’s legal troubles and seeing if he couldn’t save him from hanging. As a Texas Ranger, Luke couldn’t ignore his brother’s crimes. As a brother, he had to do whatever possible to help.

His first discovery surprised him and Rory, both.

“The fisherman is alive,” he told his brother, returning to Janna’s home after having confirmed the fact. “Apparently, he recovered from the beating and gunshot wound the Dickersons gave him and returned to his daily routine.”

“So I’m not a murderer!” Rory exclaimed, heaving a sigh of relief. “What did he tell you? Did he say anything about me?”

“I didn’t speak with him. Unfortunately, he sailed south a week ago to do some fishing off the Yucatan Peninsula. You’re not off the hook, Rory. The sheriff has issued a warrant for your arrest.”

“A warrant? For what?”

“Theft.”

“Hell. I could still hang!”

Luke nodded. “You need a lawyer. I’ll talk to Janna’s beau, get the name of someone from him.”

Jared Harper’s attorney told Luke that the ownership of pirate booty was a gray area to begin with, and that he felt confident he could get the charges dismissed by Janna’s wedding. Hearing that, Luke planned to catch the first train out of town following the ceremony.

Four days before the wedding, the lawyer brought the good news that Rory was officially a free man. That same afternoon, Luke received a telegram from Fort Worth.

“A sheriff nabbed the Dickerson brothers during a bank robbery attempt in Palo Pinto County,” Luke told Rory. “They’re in jail.”

Rory let out a whoop of joy, then rushed out of Janna’s home where he’d been hiding. He spent the rest of the day carousing and raising hell all over Galveston. That was the last Luke saw of him before the wedding.

Rory was his old charming self at the reception at the Wentworth mansion, and when Luke realized he’d danced three straight dances with a pretty young woman, he dragged him away from the ballroom at the Wentworth mansion. Outside in the rose garden, Luke unloaded on his brother. “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded. “If you just have to have a woman, visit a brothel! Don’t prey on another poor virgin. Don’t leave yet another bastard baby in your wake.”

“Hey, wait one minute. Melissa’s boy isn’t a bastard and Kat’s won’t be, either. I intend to marry her. Again. Give her baby a name. I’m not totally without honor.”

“No, you’re just totally without heart.” Luke scooped a handful of pebbles off the dirt path and tossed them one by one toward a cottonwood tree he’d chosen as a target. “What makes you think Kat McBride will even speak with you again, much less marry you?”

“She’ll forgive me,” Rory said with a casual shrug. “They always do.”

Sadly, Luke couldn’t argue with that. Ever since Rory was a baby, all he’d had to do was smile at a female and she was his.

Luke gazed up into the inky black sky and shoved his hands in the pockets of the new suit he’d purchased to wear when he gave the bride away. He honestly didn’t know what was best. Would Kat and her child be better off if she married Rory? Or, would it be kinder in the long run if she never saw or heard from his brother again? Without a doubt, having Rory Callahan for a husband would be a bad bet for any woman. Was giving Kat’s child legitimacy enough to offset what was bound to be a lifetime of disappointment and pain as Mrs. Rory Callahan?

No, not in Luke’s opinion, it wasn’t. This was Texas—The Land of Beginning Again. Hell, half the people populating this state were bastards, if not by birth, then by act.

Of course, Luke wasn’t a woman, and they tended to have different viewpoints about such things. Still, Kat had to know that Rory Callahan wouldn’t change. Any woman who thought he might was betting awfully long odds.

But in the end, Luke’s opinion didn’t matter. This was Kat’s decision to make.

Luke dragged his attention away from the sky and pinned his brother with a look. “So, are you determined to return to Fort Worth?”

“I am.”

“For Kat, or the pirate’s treasure?”

“For the sake of my child,” Rory declared, though his eyes shifted as he said it.

Dammit, I called that one
. “A warning, Rory. If you cause Kat or any member of her family one more minute’s worth of pain or trial or trouble, I’ll take it out of your hide. You understand?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, then.” Luke threw the last of his pebbles, then faced his brother. “I’m leaving on the morning train. If you want to come with me, I won’t stop you.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A HUSH HUNG IN the sultry evening air as Mari sat alone on the back porch swing at Willow Hill, watching a pair of squirrels play on the branches of the towering bur oak that shaded the gazebo. The house was quiet, her parents and the boys away for a meeting at school. Kat rested in her room and Emma had holed up in Papa’s library, polishing her knowledge of the Revolutionary War in preparation for a lecture the following day.

Mari toed the ground and set the swing moving, glad for the peace at the end of a busy day. The past two weeks had been both the happiest and most miserable weeks of her life. The McBride family as a whole was ecstatic. Individual members had had their ups and downs.

A screen door squeaked and Emma approached, carrying two glasses of lemonade. Mari scooted over on the swing to make room for her sister. “So, do you now know everything there is to know about the American Revolution?”

“No, but I am more knowledgeable about muskets. That’s what’s important to nine-year-old boys.”

The two women sipped their drinks in companionable silence and watched the scampering squirrels. “The way they chase each other reminds me of Tommy and Bobby,” Emma observed.

Mari laughed. “Or Billy and Kat years ago. Remember how he’d pull her pigtails, then run, and she’d chase him and yank his ears?”

“I saw Kat pull Billy’s ear in the kitchen before supper. I thought that was a good sign.”

“Her color is better, too.”

Guilt and remorse had sapped Kat’s strength in the days following her return to Fort Worth. Twice she’d experienced cramping that sent her to bed, and the doctor had advised Jenny that her daughter must come to terms with the turmoil in her life or the safety of her babe would be threatened. After that, their mother and Aunt Claire shut themselves in Kat’s room and the three women developed a plan to smooth Kat’s reentry into Fort Worth society.

Papa hadn’t liked it at all.

“Do you think they did the right thing, Mari?” Emma asked. “Mama’s plan?”

Mari gave the swing another push. “I worried about Kat confessing to the fire marshal that she’d accidentally started the Spring Palace fire. I understood that she felt she needed to take responsibility, but I was afraid of what the authorities might do.”

“Just between us, I think Papa had already talked to Captain Reese.”

“Really?”

“Remember those weeks after the fire? Papa tried to learn every bit of information he could about what happened. I’ll bet the fire department already knew everything Kat and Billy told them yesterday.”

“Hmm,” Mari mused. “You may be right. So do you think Captain Reese told the truth when he told Kat that his investigation failed to pinpoint a definitive ignition point, and that they’d had two other reports of carelessness with fire that night? That boys playing with matches in the agriculture hall could have just as easily caused the conflagration as Kat’s knocked-over candle?”

Emma shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think it matters as long as the Spring Palace fire was an accident. Accidents happen. If telling her story helped Kat feel better, then I’m glad she did it. I’m even more glad that Captain Reese told her they hadn’t publicized the matches incident, and that they wouldn’t be publicizing her confession, either.”

“Me, too. Hopefully, having this burden off her back will ease her burden.”

Emma sipped her lemonade and waited a full minute before saying, “Yes. Maybe then she’ll act a little nicer to you.”

The swing creaked as Mari rose and walked to the porch rail, and tossed the ice from her glass into the rose bed below. “She’s upset with me because of my feelings for Luke. I hate that. I knew she’d react this way.”

“She told me she wouldn’t object if Luke Garrett came courting.”

“Yeah, she told me the same thing. Joan of Arc never looked any more the martyr.”

Emma smiled. “She’s not lost all her talent for the dramatic, has she? You realize she’s feeling jealous, don’t you? She lost her love, even though it wasn’t real, and you found yours. What’s more, you found true love.”

“Did I?” Mari gave her sister a wistful smile. “He left me. I may never hear from Luke Garrett again.”

“Now who’s being the dramatic one?” Emma rose and linked arms with Mari. “Believe me, you’ll hear from Luke Garrett again. Sooner rather than later, if I have my guess. The man cares for you. He arranged bodyguards for you and Kat before he left town, for goodness’ sake. Even Papa was impressed by that.”

“Yes, well, I’m glad the Dickersons are in jail and those men are off the job. I’ll never again take for granted the pleasure of privacy. It was unnerving to walk out here and know someone was watching, even if I couldn’t see them.”

“I know.” Emma tossed her ice after her sister’s. “I’m hoping that now, life around Willow Hill will return to normal.”

“Normal ear pulling, frogs in our beds, Papa snatching kisses from Mama in the mudroom…”

Emma laughed. “It sounds heavenly. Speaking of frogs in our beds, I think I’ll go upstairs and give my own a thorough search. I saw Tommy with a cup of worms earlier. Are you coming in?”

“Later. Looks like there’s a storm brewing. I think I’ll watch for a while.”

Emma took Mari’s empty glass and headed inside. At the door, she paused. “Mari?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been thinking. I hope you’re right about the necklaces and the tasks we’re supposed to accomplish. It’s nice to think I might have something to look forward to.”

As Emma disappeared into the house, a flash of light drew Mari’s attention skyward. To the northwest, an arched crescent of gunbarrel-blue cloud rolled high and fast toward the city. While Mari watched a trident of lightning claw across the dark churning cloud, her mind lingered on the change in her elder sister.

Emma was healing, finally, and it filled Mari’s heart with gladness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if her theory regarding the necklaces someday proved true? Emma should have a new man in her life, someone to fulfill her dreams of happiness and love. Someone who would give her a family of her own. She was a good woman. She deserved happiness. It brought Mari such pleasure to see her sister looking forward again, rather than living in the past.

With a sweep of leaves and sand, a slam of cold air hit Mari placed both hands on the porch rail and leaned forward, lifting her face into the wind, experiencing an uplift of spirit. She’d think positively from now on. For Emma, for Kat. For herself.

“Come back to me, Luke,” she said into the chilling breeze. “Come give me another chance.”

The land fell into shadow as cloud consumed the last flame-edged tints of sunset. Lightning forked across the sky. Thunder cracked and boomed while fat drops of rain spatted down through the violent air.

Mari welcomed the bluster and wondered if this would prove to be the first norther of the season. She hoped so. It was time for a change. Time for something new.

A flurry of lightning turned the darkened sky a flickering white, illuminating the black-clad figure half-hidden by weeping branches of the willow nearest the house. Beneath the wide brim of a hat pulled low, eyes gleamed like a cat’s, and Mari gasped. Yet, even as fear flared within her, she recognized the man and love warmed the chill in her blood. “Luke.”

Was she imagining the moment? Had the yearning in her heart conjured up a phantom the likes of which to make Roslin of Strathardle proud?