Outlaw’s Bride (9 page)

“What happened?”

“She never showed up.”

“Why not?” Patch asked.

“Because some bastard stopped her on the way and beat her up and raped her!”

Patch forced herself to remain calm in the face of Frank’s all-too-apparent rage. “When did you realize she wasn’t coming?”

“I waited there till the sun had almost set. I figured her father must have caught her trying to sneak out of the house and stopped her. Just in case something else had gone wrong, I backtracked the trail to her house. That’s when I found her. She was …” Frank’s voice broke.

“
You
found her?” Patch asked. “Why weren’t
you
suspected of raping her?”

Patch watched as Ethan and Frank exchanged guilty glances.

“You might as well tell her,” Ethan said. “It’s way past time we spilled the whole story.”

Boyd sat up straighter. “You boys been keeping secrets from me?”

“It didn’t concern you,” Ethan said curtly.

Boyd’s face shadowed. “I can leave if you’d rather not include me now.”

Frank fidgeted in his seat. “Hell, Boyd, I always wanted to tell you, but Ethan—”

“I figured the less you knew, the less you’d have to lie,” Ethan said baldly.

“So what happened?” Patch asked impatiently.

“My family had been invited to the Trahern house for Merielle’s birthday party,” Ethan began. “When we got there, Merielle was missing. Everybody was out searching for her. I knew she was supposed to be meeting Frank, because he’d warned me at school earlier in the day to stay away from the hideout.

“I headed in the direction of the cave. I didn’t get far before I found Merielle. Frank was with her. Her torn underclothes were on the ground beside her. Her nose was bloody, and she wasn’t conscious that I could tell. Frank had her in his lap, rocking her in his arms.”

He was also crying like a baby, Ethan remembered. He flashed a look at Frank, took a deep breath, and said, “I didn’t know what to think. Before I could say a word, Dorne Trahern came riding over the hill. He saw the same thing I did. Only he came to a different conclusion about what had happened.”

“He thought Frank had raped Merielle!” Patch said.

“Dorne was always hotheaded, but he went plain loco. And with good reason, I suppose. If it had been Leah …” Ethan lowered his eyes to
concentrate on the stray thread in his Levi’s he was twisting between his fingers.

Patch looked from Ethan to Frank and back again. “How do you know Frank didn’t do it?” she asked.

Patch watched Ethan chew on his lower lip. When he raised his eyes, she could see they were troubled. Suddenly she realized that
Frank
was the one Ethan suspected!

“Merielle loved Frank,” Ethan said. “I don’t think he would have needed to use force with her.”

“What if she said yes at first and changed her mind later?” Patch asked. “Would Frank have been willing to stop?”

Ethan thrust all ten fingers through his hair. That was the question he had been asking himself for more years than he cared to count. “Hell, Patch. I don’t know. Ask Frank!”

“Frank?”

“I loved Merielle. I would have cut off my hand before I hurt her. But there’s no way I can prove my innocence.”

“If you were there, why was the rape blamed on Ethan?” Patch asked.

“No one ever knew I was there,” Frank said.

“What?”

Ethan picked up the story where he had left off.

“Dorne didn’t stop to ask questions. He came off his horse with his gun in his hand. At first I thought he was going to shoot Frank in cold blood. At the last instant he turned the gun and started pistol-whipping Frank.

“Frank was hanging on to Merielle, so he wasn’t in a position to defend himself. I tried to stop Dorne, but he was ten years older than me and forty pounds heavier. The best I could do was grab his wrist and hang on. I … I didn’t realize he had his finger on the trigger.

“I was just trying to get him to leave Frank alone. Only the gun went off. Twice. One shot hit me in the leg and crippled me. The other caught Dorne in the thigh. His wound shouldn’t have been fatal, but the bullet cut an artery, and blood spurted out so fast … he never had a chance. He bled to death before our eyes.

“For years afterward I tried to convince myself that Dorne deserved what had happened to him. Now I see his death for what it was. A tragic, avoidable accident.

“Anyway, I talked Frank into leaving while I stayed there to try and smooth things over.”

“You left Ethan to take the blame?” Patch demanded of Frank. “How could you?”

Frank flushed. “I wanted to stay—”

“It was my idea,” Ethan said. “Because of all the gossip about Merielle and Frank, Trahern would have been willing to believe Frank was guilty—and Frank had told me he wasn’t. I figured I had a better chance of explaining things and avoiding more bloodshed if I was alone.”

His lips twisted into a rueful smile. “Neither of us ever dreamed Trahern would accuse me of Merielle’s rape.”

Ethan laced his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. He remembered everything
that had gone through his mind at the time. It had been like a nightmare from which he was going to wake up any second. Only it wasn’t a dream. He could recall every word he had said, everything he had done as though it were yesterday.

He had known the bang and echo of the gunshots would bring all those searchers on the run. They weren’t going to give Frank Meade any more chance to explain than Dorne had.

Ethan had dragged himself on hands and knees to Frank and yanked on his friend’s bloodied shirt. “Frank, you’ve got to get out of here. People will be coming soon.”

“I can’t leave Merielle,” Frank had said, sobbing.

“Don’t you understand? You’ll only make things worse if you stay.”

“I’ll tell them I found her like this.”

“You think they’re going to give you time to explain, considering who you are and with the picture of you holding her like that staring them right in the face? If they find you with Merielle, they’re going to start jumping to the wrong conclusions. You’ve got to get out of here!”

“I can’t just leave her here all alone!” Frank protested.

“Give her to me,” Ethan said. “I’ll take care of her for you. Go to the cave and wait for me. I’ll meet you there when I can.”

“I want to stay here,” Frank said stubbornly.

“Dammit, Frank! Don’t argue with me. Just get out of here. Now!”

Frank had barely stumbled to his feet when they
heard the sound of hoofbeats. “Run! Run! Merielle will need you by her side when she’s well again,” Ethan had shouted.

Frank had taken one last, anguished look at Merielle and fled.

Ethan had stayed, believing that the adults descending on the scene would recognize Dorne’s death was an accident. He planned to substitute himself for Frank in the scene where Dorne attacked with his weapon. It never occurred to him that anyone would even consider the possibility that he had raped Merielle Trahern.

It was only later that he realized how stupid, how childishly naive, he had been. Jefferson Trahern had been the first to arrive. Ethan’s father, Alex, had been riding at his side.

Frank interrupted Ethan’s reminiscence to ask, “What happened after I left Merielle, Ethan? You never said.”

Ethan continued his reflections aloud. “Jefferson Trahern came riding over the hill. If my father hadn’t been with him, I’d be dead now.”

Boyd whistled his appreciation of the life and death situation Ethan had found himself in. “So that’s why Trahern tried to ruin your pa. I always wondered why he blamed the father for the sins of the son.”

Ethan continued as though Boyd hadn’t spoken. “By now it was nearly dark. Trahern was crazed with grief when he realized Dorne was dead. When he saw Merielle … I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so wild. His eyes bugged out, and he started foaming at the mouth. His fists were
clenched so hard he was drawing blood with his nails.

“He hit me hard enough in the jaw to roll me over. I lost my hold on Merielle, and she slid a little way down the hill from us. He completely ignored her, just grabbed hold of my shirt and pulled me up far enough so he could reach my face to hit me again.

“Pa dragged him off a little, and pretty soon they were fighting. Pa yelled at me to take Dorne’s horse and get away. I didn’t know where to go. I figured they’d look for me at home. And I was afraid the cave was too close, so I didn’t even stop to tell Frank what had happened, because someone might have found me there. So I just started riding.

“I didn’t realize I was heading in any particular direction, but I ended up at Boyd’s place. You weren’t there, Boyd, but one of the women from the Silver Buckle, Dora Deveraux, had come to spend the night with your pa. Dora dug the bullet out and put on a bandage. But I couldn’t stay at your place. They’d be sure to look for me there.

“So I took off. My leg started bleeding again and I was damn near bleached white by the time I came upon what I thought was an empty line shack. I staggered inside, and that’s when I found Seth Kendrick and his daughter. A day or so later we rode on to Seth’s ranch.

“Seth hid me until my leg healed. At least, as well as it was ever going to. One of Trahern’s hired detectives found me there six months later, and I had to run again. I kept running until Trahern’s
men caught up with me seven years ago. You know the rest.”

Patch had listened carefully to Ethan’s story, but it raised more questions than it answered. “Sheriff Lachlan told me that Boyd testified on your behalf at the trial. But if Boyd wasn’t at home, how could he know anything about what happened that night? Was he invited to Merielle’s birthday party, too?”

Boyd snorted. “Hell, no. My father was just a hired hand on Trahern’s ranch, a regular drunk, who worked when he was sober for enough money to get drunk again.”

“But you’re rich now!” Patch blushed a furious red. Imagine saying such a thing, and with such disbelief, to Boyd’s face, as though no one who had come from such humble beginnings could have turned his life around so completely. It was just that she hadn’t expected such a past from a man as suave and well-mannered as Boyd had shown himself to be.

“I’ve made the most of life’s opportunities,” Boyd said with a rueful grin.

“So where were you when all this happened?” Patch queried.

“I was out hunting down my pa to bring him home.”

“Where, exactly, was your home?”

“A line shack on the edge of Trahern’s property.”

“Was anyone with you who could give you an alibi?” Patch asked.

“My father. But he wouldn’t make much of a witness.”

“Why not?”

“He was drunk then, and he’s dead now.”

Patch let her gaze shift from one man to the other around the table. Any one of them might have raped Merielle Trahern. They all had opportunity. None had an iron-clad alibi. However, with just the little she knew of them, she couldn’t imagine any of these three men doing such a thing.

“I guess that’s that,” she said.

Ethan cocked a brow. “What’s what?”

“We need some more suspects.”

Ethan laughed. He couldn’t help it. “More suspects? Who did you have in mind?”

Patch shrugged. “I don’t know. But they’re out there. All we have to do is find them.”

“Do you have someplace in mind to start?” Boyd asked.

Ethan rubbed the stubble on his chin. “We could start with Careless Lachlan. He conducted the investigation.”

Boyd snorted. “What investigation? It was an open and shut case.”

“The sheriff will have whatever information there is,” Ethan said.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Boyd asked.

“I’ll do it,” Ethan said. “You can start making a list of every man in town at the time who was old enough to do the deed.”

“What about me?” Frank asked.

“Have you ever talked to Merielle about what happened that day?” Ethan asked.

Frank shook his head. “I couldn’t.”

“Try. It may be my only hope.”

“All right,” Frank said, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’ll try.”

A brief, awkward silence followed, broken finally when Boyd rose and said, “Guess I’d better be heading home.”

Frank stood as well. “Me, too. Thanks for the supper, Miz Kendrick.”

“You’re welcome, Frank. And you, too, Boyd.”

“If you’re going to call me Boyd, I hope you’ll allow me to call you Patricia,” Boyd said with a smile meant to charm.

Patch was charmed. “Of course,” she said.

Ethan gritted his teeth.

“You don’t have to see us out,” Boyd said. “We know the way.”

Once they were gone, Patch and Ethan sat back down at the table. Neither of them looked at the other, but they were both very aware that his fingertips lay only an inch or so from hers on the scarred tabletop.

“Well,” Ethan said. “You got what you wanted.”

“Only the first part,” Patch replied. “There’s more to what I want from you, Ethan Hawk. Much more.”

Ethan caught himself reaching for her and abruptly rose to his feet. He had no business getting involved with Patch Kendrick, no matter what she wanted from him. “You need any help clearing the table?”

Patch stood and gathered up a handful of dishes. “Sure, if you don’t mind.”

Ethan’s willingness to help was one of the things she had liked about him when she was a child. As a woman, having learned over the years how rare such helpfulness was, she admired him all the more.

They worked together in surprising harmony.

He made sure to treat her like a younger sister.

She made sure to act like a lady.

Because Patch had first loved Ethan when she was a child and he was an adult, there had been none of the sexual nuances that sprang up between them now. She was pleased when Ethan made an effort to ease the tension by reminiscing about the time he had spent with her in Montana and teasing her about her infatuation with the Masked Marauder, who had been a sort of local Robin Hood.

Patch had forgotten how easy it was to talk to Ethan. She had confided often in him as a child. Now she wanted the opportunity to share with him her hopes and dreams as a woman. Only there were matters that had to be settled first before he would be ready to contemplate a future that included her.