Her Outlaw (31 page)

“You place a lot of faith in me. I’m afraid that’s a mistake.”

“Now why do you say that?”

She looked away from him. “You say you’re selfish, but I’m the selfish one. You tell me you’re facing the ultimate test, and all I can think about is how awful that is for me.”

“It is awful for you. I have to tell you, Emma, if our situations were reversed, I’d be…well…it wouldn’t be pretty. Being the one left behind takes more courage than being the one going.”

“I’m ashamed.” She couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to think about the children, the home, anything. That was all in the future. Her cold, empty future.

“You absolutely shouldn’t be ashamed. You’re human. A dear, wonderful human with a heart as big as Texas. I’m a lucky man to have known you. A lucky man to have loved you, and especially, to be loved by you.”

“Luck, hah,” she scoffed. “Better for you that you’d never met me. After all, I’m the Bad Luck bride.”

He stroked his thumb down her arm. “Don’t be that way, Texas. I had this lump in my head long before I met you. Look, I’m still a believer in fate. I think we were meant to meet and be important to one another, but we were never destined for happy-ever-after. I feel lucky we had happy-for-a-time. These months with you, they’ve been more than I ever could have imagined. I never dreamed I’d have a woman like you in my life.”

He paused a moment, took her hand. “But I don’t want you to think that happy-ever-after can’t happen for you. Someday, you’ll meet a man who can give you that. That happy-ever-after person is still out there waiting for you.”

“No,” she said flatly. Angrily. “I will not listen to this. How dare you say that to me!”

Dair placed his finger against her lips. “Listen to me, Emma. Open your mind for just a little bit. Every step on our life path prepares us for the next one. Whether you can see it now or not, I’m a step on the path that’s leading you to your fate, to your true destiny.”

She closed her eyes and sighed, snuggling close against him. She understood what Dair was trying to do, but the man didn’t have a clue. The only destiny she had was to bring bad luck…

Emma’s eyes flew open. Bad luck.

Her pulse sped up. Bad luck. Destiny. Fate.

Fairies.

Oh my oh my oh my.

She sat up. “Dair, who gave you this diagnosis?”

“I went to a doctor. Two of them, in fact.”

“Where?”

“London. They both were reputable men, Emma. I know what you are thinking, but they didn’t make a mistake.”

“But—”

“You’ve seen me have the headaches. You know they’re getting worse. One physician told me I might see Thanksgiving, but at the rate they’ve been increasing, I doubt I’ll last that long.”

Destiny. Fate. And fairies.

Magic. Miracles.

She drew a deep breath, then said, “A few minutes ago you asked me to keep an open mind. Now I’m asking you to return the favor. Dair, you said that you believe in fate and that you think we were meant to meet and be important to one another, and I agree with that. But maybe it has to do with more than our love life. Maybe it has to do with life itself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dair, I’m not ready to write you off as a dead man. Maybe there is a cure out there that the London doctors didn’t know about. I know a doctor in Fort Worth…he’s young and smart and he studied medicine back east. Maybe fate brought us together so that I could tell you about him. So that I could save your life. Maybe that’s my task.”

“Your task? What do you…oh. That fairy tale.” Pity and heartbreak softened Dair’s expression. “Texas, don’t do this to yourself.”

Anger flared like a match. “Don’t you dismiss me.”

“I’m not dismissing you. I can’t let you get your hopes up. I’ve already caused you enough pain. I don’t want to cause you any more.”

“Then come with me to Fort Worth. Let’s go tomorrow.”

Dair shook his head. “I don’t have time to waste, Emma. You probably won’t like hearing this either, but I may as well get it all over with. Tomorrow Logan and I are going after the Sisters’ Prize. Holt and Cade will remain here to watch over you.”

The anger within her intensified to fury. How dare he. Did he honestly believe that after everything they’d been through, she’d let him ride off into the sunset? She opened her mouth to rail at him before experiencing second thoughts. She was tired, physically spent and emotionally exhausted. And he was a stubborn, pigheaded man. Why go through the effort of an argument when better ways to solve the problem existed?

“If you think that’s best…”
You’re stupid.
“I’m tired, Dair. Hold me while I sleep?”

His hesitation showed he didn’t quite trust her. Maybe he wasn’t entirely stupid after all. “Of course I’ll hold you.”

“Good. You can keep me warm.” She thought better when she was warm and she had plenty of thinking to do.

First, I need to find a gun.

D
AIR SLEPT LIKE A DEAD MAN
and when he awoke well-rested and refreshed long past his normal awakening time, he credited his newly clean conscience for the good night’s sleep. They say confession is good for the soul. It seemed to be worth something for the soulless, too.

The sheets beside him were cold, Emma long gone. Good. He could use a little time to shore up his defenses before facing her. Leaving her today would be the hardest thing he’d ever have done.

He expected she might argue a bit before he left, too. It wasn’t like Emma not to complain when he made decisions for her, but last night she’d been exhausted. He doubted he’d be so lucky this morning. That’s if he could trust her to stay behind. He halfway expected her to try and follow him.

Dair sat up and took a quick inventory of his physical condition. That heavy sensation that often preceded his headaches wasn’t in evidence. Good. He didn’t need that on top of everything else, though he knew he was due another bout. He’d had a nice break from them since arriving at the children’s home, but he couldn’t expect that to continue.

Dair dressed and left the cabin in search of breakfast and Emma. It looked as if a nice day were in the making. Hot, of course, but it was summer in Texas. His mind was on the journey ahead as he made his way up to the main house. His mother’s old place was a half day’s ride from here. While he couldn’t formulate a definitive plan of action until he determined who and what awaited him, he expected that by suppertime tonight, he’d know who had pinned the murder on Emma. Dair looked forward to making the bastard pay.

“Mr. Dair. Mr. Dair.
There
you are,” little Genny said as she and two other girls skipped down the path to meet him. “We’ve been waiting for you forever. We need your help.”

“Oh? For what?”

“It’s a trick the boys are playing on us, Mr. Dair,” one of the other girls explained. “We need to figure out how they do it. Will you help us, please? It won’t take long.”

“Sure, honey. What would you like me to do?”

Genny’s smile was angelic. “First, you lace your fingers behind your back like this.” She twirled around to demonstrate.

“All right.” Dair did as requested.

“Can you hold your arms out away from your back a little further, Mr. Dair?” the third girl, Lila, asked from behind him.

Dair extended his arms and heard Sarah count, “One. Two. Three.”

Cold metal touched his wrists.
Snap. Jangle.
They’d cuffed him. Not a pleasant sensation for a thief. “Girls? I don’t know what sort of trick the boys are playing on you, but it needs to end. Unlock the handcuffs and I’ll see that they—”

“We were lying to you, Mr. Dair,” Genny confessed, her smile unapologetic. “Miss Emma asked us to do it.”

“What?”

“She has the key.”

Anger pumped through Dair’s veins. Of course she had the key. Dammit. He should have known she surrendered too easily last night. He shouted, “Emma!”

She sashayed out the front door of the main house, her expression both challenging and set, dark circles under her eyes. Johnny followed at her heels carrying her satchel and wearing a sheepish grin. Dair pinned her with a furious glare. “Emma, this isn’t funny. I want these cuffs off now.”

“I’m sorry, Dair. I can’t do that. Not until we’re on the train, and I have your word that you’ll cooperate with my plans.”

He squeezed a word past the cords in his throat. “Plans?”

“After discussing train schedules with Logan, Holt and Cade, it appears we can be in Fort Worth by suppertime. We’ll see Dr. Daggett first thing tomorrow morning.”

Logan, Holt and Cade? Those bastards. “Grey! Driscoll! Hollister! Get your butts out here!”

The reply came from the cabin his friends had claimed as theirs. “That’s not a good idea, MacRae,” Holt called.

“Now!”

After a moment, the door to their cabin opened and the men stepped outside. Wearing bed sheets. “She stole our clothes,” Cade explained.

Dair whipped his head around to stare at Emma. She looked him right in the eyes. “You thought I’d simply lie there next to you and wait for you to die? You should know me better than that, MacRae.”

Admiration rang in Logan’s voice as he said, “Woke us in the middle of the night, she did. She waltzed in and demanded all our things. Said it was wash day. Said she’d found fleas and lice on the kids and everything we had owned needed to be deloused. Hell, I was still half asleep and her voice reminded me of Nana Nellie. I didn’t think twice.” Scratching his bare chest he added, “I’m still itching from the very idea.”

“Not until morning came and we went looking for something to wear,” Cade agreed. “That’s when she told us she was holding our britches hostage.”

“I think you should go on peaceably,” Holt added. “She makes a convincing argument. I don’t see what it’d hurt to see one more doctor, under the circumstances.”

Dair’s jaw was clenched so tight he had to concentrate to open it to speak. They weren’t going to help him. That was obvious. They wanted him to see another doctor. They wanted him to be poked and prodded only to get the same death sentence. And, they were willing to allow Emma to watch it happen.

Bastards. Betrayal washed through him. In a tone low and deadly calm, he said, “Emma, unlock these handcuffs.”

She lifted her chin. “No.”

Frustration flowed like hot lava. “There’s a killer out there—”

“Who can wait a few more days for justice. Now, walk over to the wagon, Dair. Our train leaves from town in little more than an hour.”

Without taking his gaze off Emma, he said, “Boys. Y’all need to deal with this.”

“I’m not going anywhere dressed in a sheet,” Logan declared. “Besides, I agree with the lovely lady. Go to Fort Worth. See the doctor.”

“Have you forgotten I’m a wanted man? I’d just as soon not die in a jailhouse or at the end of a rope before my time.”

“Emma’s brother-in-law is a lawman,” Holt said. “He won’t let that happen.”

“Besides, those wanted posters are old. You’ve changed a lot since your last bank robbery,” Johnny offered helpfully.

The last time Dair felt ganged up against this way he’d been running from the police in Edinburgh. “With friends like you…”

“Oh, quit whining,” Emma snapped. “They’re not enemies. They want what’s best for you. They care about you, Alasdair. You need to be gracious.”

“Gracious? You want me to be gracious?”

“I want you to live. More than anything else in the world, I want you to live. So, get in the wagon before I shoot you.”

Coming from Emma McBride Tate, that actually made sense.

Dair knew he could put a stop to this. He could refuse to cooperate and wait her out. The woman was stubborn, but he’d developed a near infinite store of patience during his days as a thief. But she looked so brittle…as if she were on the verge of breaking…that he felt compelled to deal with her.

“Tell you what, Em. Let me go deal with the killer, then I’ll go to Fort Worth with you. I give you my word.”

She started shaking her head before he finished speaking. “We’re going today. You owe me, Dair. I could spend an hour explaining why, but that would be a waste of time for both of us. You know you owe me, so here’s my deal. You do this for me, and I’ll consider us even. After that, you can do whatever you want.”

It wasn’t the words she spoke that had Dair reconsidering his position, but the sheen in her eyes. Emma looked like she was about to cry. He realized that never once, through everything they’d been through, had he seen her shed a tear.

That was one sight he’d gladly go to his grave without witnessing.
God, please don’t cry over me, Texas. I couldn’t bear it.

In that moment, he couldn’t refuse her anything. “Two days. I’ll give you two days. That, and I’ll have your word that you will stay home in Fort Worth where it’s safe while I go look for the killer.”

Her lips pursed in a begrudging pout, Emma nodded. Dair demanded, “Say it aloud.”

“All right, you have my word.”

Dair didn’t believe it for a minute, but at least he’d have ammunition in his pocket for the argument sure to come. He turned around and presented his wrists. “The key, please?”

“Not until we’re on the train.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Emma.” He dropped his chin to his chest and shook his head in frustration. “Fine. Be that way.”

He glanced over at Logan. “I’d like you to come with us. We’ll go straight to my mother’s old place from FortWorth.”

Logan nodded. “Miss Emma, can I please have my pants back? I think we’d all be more comfortable if I was wearing more than a toga on this trip.”

Emma called, “Annabelle, give Mr. Grey back his clothes, please.”

“What about us?” Cade protested.

“The children have instructions. You’ll have your clothes back by lunchtime.”

Holt rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re tough, Emma.” To Dair, he added, “I’m gonna hope real hard this doc of hers has a cure. After this morning, the idea of keeping my promise scares me half to death.”

Dair just shook his head and sighed and climbed into the wagon. Though he and Emma had little to say to one another on the trip into town, Logan and Johnny kept the conversation flowing until they arrived a little less than an hour later. Only upon their arrival at the train depot did Emma relent and release him from the handcuffs. Dair rubbed his wrists and posed a question that had occurred to him halfway into town. “Emma, are you certain this trip to Fort Worth won’t backfire on you?”