Intimate Strangers (Eclipse Heat Book 2) (35 page)

Chapter Three

Naomi decided this might be her best opportunity. She backed out of her hiding spot, brushed the cobwebs from her dress, and hurried out the alley door. Her thoughts were centered on the man leaving instead of the two remaining bounty hunters.

She’d been contemplating how to stop the unproductive disagreement between her quarry and the bartender. Mr. Wolf had resolved the issue without her help, raising her respect for his aim but leaving her in doubt of his sense.

He could have gotten himself killed before I find the girls.
She knew from overhearing the amount of money the men collected in bounty she couldn’t afford to hire all three of them.

“I don’t need the one named Deacon to think for me. I can do that,” Naomi muttered. “And we have to find the outlaws before any killing can be done, so Sam McCallister isn’t of interest.

“Charlie Wolf is a good tracker—according to Deputy Sikes, the best. He also looks intelligent and very capable of killing with expertise.” Heat flooded her loins as she watched the muscles in his shoulders rippling under his bronze skin. “With him, I get all three,” she muttered her justification, assuring herself she wasn’t indulging in prurient thoughts at this critical moment.

As her choice of bounty hunters walked down the middle of the street toward the livery stable, Naomi followed, pondering how to broach the subject of employment to him.

“Excuse me,” she called weakly after his departing back. She stilled her impulse to scamper for cover when he pivoted, turning in the dusty street to study her from steel-gray eyes.

He appeared more predatory up close than he had from a distance. She wet her lips, preparing to begin negotiations, but nothing but a nervous
ahem
escaped her throat. Though she tried as she returned the man’s gaze, Naomi couldn’t force words from her mouth.

Mr. Wolf shrugged, turned back toward the barn and she watched helplessly as his long strides carried him away.

I cannot waste another night. We must get on the trail of the kidnappers now.
She clenched her teeth and hurried forward, placing a detaining hand on his arm. As soon as she touched him, she knew it was a mistake. The muscles she’d admired from afar rippled beneath her fingers. The arm itself felt as hard as a hickory limb.

“Excuse me, sir. I’d like to speak with you if you have the time this evening.” Apprehensively, Naomi peered into a face devoid of expression, meeting the man’s enigmatic gaze.

Though she was taller than fashionable and accustomed to standing shoulder high to most men, Naomi had to tilt her head. Charlie Wolf stood half a head taller. The sculpted muscles in his arms and chest made him twice as wide as her as well.

He scowled, his lips forming a thin line, signaling his irritation. Rather than meet the piercing gaze, she focused on Mr. Wolf’s mouth.

“If you have the time,” she repeated in a whisper. Unfortunately, looking at Charlie’s lips, she remembered his mouth on the other woman’s bosom and heat flooded her face, scalding her senses.

“I don’t.”

“You don’t what?” She blinked stupidly, trying to figure out what he meant.

But he didn’t answer her. Instead, he appraised her appearance, his glance roving slowly over a dress torn in several places and stained with Patrick’s blood. When she’d rolled under the porch, she’d felt the material give. The thought made her nauseous and jolted her from her malaise. She needed to obtain this man’s help. She waited, forcing herself to remain calm beneath his inspection.

She trembled under his glance. He was bigger than she’d originally thought and his overwhelming maleness frightened her. Evidently in his mind, the two words he’d spoken ended the conversation. He shrugged her hand off, walking away.

Maybe I should wait for federal troops to rescue the girls like Sheriff Stanton suggested.
Then she remembered the length of time Stanton had predicted it would take just to get men ready to mount a rescue.

Impossible. We must go now.
Naomi straightened her spine, hurrying after Mr. Wolf. When once again she touched his arm seeking his attention, he growled a very rude expletive. Covering her hand, he pulled her along beside him toward the barn entrance and her indecision was no longer relevant. Stopping, he raised the bottle as if to take a drink, then paused, handing it to her first.

“I would like to hire you,” she said, declining the drink, returning the bottle, and taking the opportunity to explain her purpose in stopping him.

“You mind drinking with a half-breed?”

Naomi questioned her original assessment of his intelligence when his main concern seemed to be feeding her the spirits. Apparently if she wouldn’t drink with him, she had no power to hold his interest.

After he tipped the bottle, drinking deeply, he released her, resuming his trek toward the stables. Hastily she caught up, shaking his arm to get his notice this time. He plowed to a stop, looking at her in astonishment.

“I have need of your services,” she announced grimly.

“Likewise,” he said, leering at her in a deplorable fashion before he gave a disgusted snort, and resumed his walk to the barn. 

“I have no idea how I could be of service to you, Mr. Wolf,” she muttered, hurrying to keep up. She touched his arm again reassuringly. “I’m certain we can find common ground.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He peered at her closer, the rock-hard muscle of his lower arm flexing beneath her fingertips. “I’m not looking for work right now, anyway.” His stern words brooked no argument.

“But this can’t wait. A band of crazed men attacked the school where I’m a teacher. Patrick, our handyman, said they were Comancheros. Sheriff Stanton disagreed with his opinion. Nevertheless, Patrick was killed attempting to defend us from the savages.”

“And you’re bothering me with this why?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest, listening to her at last. Naomi hurried to tell her story.

“Whoever they were, the outlaws carried away my students. The deputy said you’re the best tracker in the country. I need you to find them.”

Mr. Wolf’s stoic expression didn’t invite more but she added, “The morning started as usual with the academy boarders seated at the table eating porridge. The real cook and the kitchen supplies were to arrive later this week with the rest of the girls.” It occurred to her that the rest of the students wouldn’t arrive now and her teaching position might be at an end. “I don’t know what will happen now.”

“How did you escape?” Charlie asked.

“I had opened a window hoping for a breeze. When we heard shots, the girls ran toward the front of the room to see what was what.”

That was such a mild way of explaining it. When the first shot resonated from the area of the barn, interrupting the stolid silence of breakfast, the girls had sent benches flying as they hurried to the front window.

Gently, girls,
she’d admonished them, demonstrating restraint and proper deportment.
Remember, a lady always maintains poise and calm, even in dire circumstance. Nor does one show extreme curiosity, as it is an emotion of the lower classes.

“I told the girls to stay seated. There had been problems with a skunk. I assumed the noise had been made by Mr. Wilson shooting the varmint.”

“Was Wilson the hired man?” Mr. Wolf asked.

“Yes.” Patrick had greeted her at the Flat Rock stage depot three weeks before when she’d arrived in Texas. Naomi had been prepared to meet a board member or at least the headmistress. Instead, the caretaker had been assigned the task of transporting her and later her students as they arrived. Naomi swallowed bile, picturing the old man the last time she’d seen him—dying from gunshot wounds.

“The girls claimed that watching the hired man shoot a polecat was probably the most exciting thing they’d see for a while.” Admitting that she’d been unable to control the girls embarrassed Naomi. The young ladies had ignored her, pushing and shoving to be the first at the front view.

Though Naomi had silently agreed that boredom lay ahead of them, she’d continued walking slowly toward the door to illustrate gracious dignity. Even though she was secretly as interested in the outdoor disruption as her students, she was careful to model restraint. As she passed the open side window, she looked out, prepared to enjoy the meadow below, the one spot of green in a world of brown dirt, red dust, and gray sky.

“From the side window, I saw the riders attacking.” Reliving the moment of horror, she told Charlie Wolf, “Wild savages raced across the meadow, whooping and screaming as if they were banshees. I shouted a warning to the girls but it was too late. Men rode their horses up on the porch and burst through the door.”

“You going to tell me how you got away?” he asked, showing remarkably little sympathy, reminding her he was also part wild savage.

“I jumped out the window, landed on the ground, rolled under the school, and hid in the crawlspace under the building, listening as my charges were attacked.” Naomi bit her lip to stop its trembling. She knew from the rough sounds, thumps and cries she’d overheard that terrible things had happened above. “We need to go after them. The outlaws didn’t linger at the school.”

“You plannin’ on huntin’ ’em down?” Charlie Wolf asked.

Naomi nodded. “I was unable to think of any way to save my students at the time, but I listened to what the gang leader said.”  It had gotten quieter and she’d watched the savages push and drag the girls to the extra horses the bandits led. “A man named Jericho was in charge.”

“You sure you heard the name right?” Charlie demanded, his expression changing from grim indifference to fierce attention.

“Of course I’m sure about it.” Naomi snapped. “He bragged about how they were going to trade the girls to a man named Harvey Collins. While they were celebrating their success, the gang leader said, ‘Collins didn’t lie. White girls like these’ll bring us plenty across the river. We ain’t out a thing if he don’t come up with his part of the trade’.”

She blinked back tears before appealing to the bounty hunter’s better nature, hoping that he had one. “Another outlaw said, ‘Hell, Jericho, I’m for takin’ ’em to Mexico even if he does come up with his end of the deal’. Mr. Wolf, I can’t abandon my charges. They only have me right now to rescue them. I need you to help me find them.”

“And then what?” he growled.

“I haven’t come up with my plan yet, but it’s imperative that we catch up to the kidnappers. My students are resourceful and if they are able, they will participate in their own escape.”

Naomi stood outside the barn trying to find some way to persuade a man who looked every bit as savage as their attackers to help her. She’d thought all day about it. She could reach the girls sooner than the proposed posse if she had a good tracker. She gazed at Charlie Wolf and knew he was her best hope.

“How many riders hit the place?”  His indifferent attitude had changed to interest.

“I think there were at least twenty.” Naomi hurried to answer. “When I saw them coming toward the school, I didn’t count, but…” Her words faltered and she shuddered, hugging her arms around her body, suddenly cold.

“Take a drink, you’ll feel better.” He didn’t wait for her to agree but handed her the bottle again.

“No, thank you.” Naomi returned the bottle, the contents untasted, watching the sinews in Charlie’s neck tauten as he tilted his head, swallowing the whiskey in deep gulps before he stopped drinking and gave his attention back to her.

“You were smart to hide.” Praising her cowardice, he covered her hand still lying on his arm and led her into the barn.

“Get your ass out here, Wallace,” he yelled loud enough to reach into the shadowy dark corners of the building.

“You heat that water for me?” he asked when the old man shuffled into the open pointing a pitchfork at them as if for defense.

Naomi might as well have been invisible as the men transacted business, but Charlie Wolf didn’t release her so she couldn’t disappear. She drew herself upright and waited while he gave the old man orders. She had no intention of leaving until Mr. Wolf agreed to help her with her rescue.

“Did just what you said, Charlie Wolf.” The old man’s head bobbed ingratiatingly. “Filled the trough half full of hot water and set the buckets of cold beside.”

“Get lost for the rest of the night.” Instead of the thank you that Naomi thought such a task should receive, the bounty hunter rudely ordered Wallace to get out.

The old man’s unintelligible mutterings accompanied a speculative look at Naomi. She stared back at him, offering no explanation. Charlie threw him some money and the old man’s curious expression changed to a grin. He left, smiling and pocketing bills, evidently unconcerned with what happened in his barn the rest of the night.

As soon as Wallace disappeared through the door, Charlie Wolf released her hand and walked away without word or glance. Standing where he’d left her, Naomi watched him strip his vest and drop it on the floor.

Following that, he tossed his hat on a bale of straw and the handkerchief from around his neck fluttered to the floor. Testimony to her years of picking up after others, Naomi automatically stooped and retrieved it. When she was again upright, she saw that he’d stopped by the horse trough at the end of the aisle.