The Gunfighter and the Heiress (22 page)

“Do I what?”

Bart cast him a withering glance. “Being deliberately dense doesn't suit you, Van. If you care about Nat—”

“
She
left
me,
” he interrupted in a harsh tone then clamped his mouth shut before he called unnecessary attention to himself.

“Maybe she was waiting for you to ask her to stay, but you didn't show up until she was long gone,” he ventured. “That didn't send her an encouraging message, you know.”

Van focused on his second plate of food. “I'm sorry about your Elizabeth,” he said quietly.

Bart gnashed his teeth. “She isn't mine and her daughter isn't my child.” Clearly, Bart's noble decision still haunted him. “Now here I am in the middle of nowhere, stuck with you. It's too late for me, but you have a chance to be happy,” he said intently. “If you think you don't deserve her or that you aren't good enough because her family descended from titled nobility, then you're wrong, my friend.”

Although Van anticipated years of tormenting memories, he refused to chase down Natalie. Bart had taken the moral high road and Van wasn't going to hold Natalie back. She was ready to spread her independent wings and fly. She had earned it.

“I'm leaving for Fort Sill and the reservation this afternoon,” Van said, then washed down his meal with coffee. “You'll be deeper into the middle of nowhere if you come with me.”

“Stagecoach or horseback?”

“Horseback. We'll travel light.” He had to. He had burden aplenty. The excessive weight—of missing Sunshine until hell wouldn't have it—was bearing down on his heart like an anchor.

 

Three days later, while Bart was pestering the fort commander about court-martial proceedings against Suggs, Van made the rounds visiting extended family and friends, who bent his ear with plenty of complaints about the corrupt lieutenant.

Van half turned when he heard a commotion behind him. He frowned, bemused, as two wagons, laden down with stacks of supplies, halted in the center of the teepee village. Whoops of excitement filled the air as men, women and children rushed forward to unload the bountiful goods.

Van ambled over to the driver and guard who sat atop the first wagon. “Is this army-issued?”

“Nope. We came down the military supply road from Fort Dodge to Fort Supply, then to here,” the young private reported. “This is a private donation sent by Mrs. Crow.”

Van's jaw dropped open wide enough for a pigeon to roost. Natalie was furnishing supplies for his people? On second thought, he shouldn't be surprised. She knew exactly how it felt when someone took advantage of her, how incensed she became when Marsh tried to steal her inheritance after he had killed her mother.
She
hated that oppressed feeling, as all Indian tribes did. As
he
did.

While Van watched his people distribute goods that doubled what he'd sent a month earlier, Bart strolled from the commander's office, smiling triumphantly.

“Did you have Suggs and his ring of thieves locked in the stockade?” Van asked curiously.

“I didn't have to do anything.” Bart watched in satisfaction while families carried off supplies to their teepees. “A certain Louisiana senior senator contacted a Texas senior senator and Kansas senior senator who demanded a full investigation of military practices concerning Indian reservations.”

“Louisiana, huh?” Van said.

“Apparently the Robedeaux-Blair family has connections in high places.” Bart hitched his thumb toward the military compound. “Proceedings to court-martial Suggs and two other soldiers suspected of cheating Indians for their own personal profit are already underway. And yes, our man Suggs is in the stockade, eating the spoiled food he gave the Kiowa and Comanche and complaining to high heaven about it.”

Bart glanced at Van. “Shall I contact Nat's lawyer in New Orleans to pass along your gratitude for her crusade
to right the wrongs against your people? Or are you going to thank her in person?”

“I don't know where she's gotten off to by now.” Van stared into the distance, telling himself that Little Miss Sunshine was living the life she had designed for herself and she no longer needed him.

Bart smirked in amusement. “You managed to track her to Phantom Canyon after dark with no help from anyone else. Did you suddenly forget your tracking skills? Damn, that's going to limit future assignments, if that's the case.”

Van scowled at his smart-alecky friend. “That's enough from you.”

“Always glad to be of help,” he replied too cheerily.

Van stood there for the longest time, studying the relieved expressions on his people's faces. For years he had remained suspended between the Indian and white worlds, unsure who or what he was. Only recently had he accepted what he couldn't change. His half-white heritage had allowed him precious freedom. Because of it, he had been able to do many things for his people that he couldn't have done if he lived on the reservation with them.

He couldn't do as much as Natalie Blair, high and mighty heiress of a shipping fortune, of course.

The thought of her generosity provoked mixed emotions. He could do as Bart suggested and correspond with her Louisiana lawyer or he could—

“Well?” Bart said, breaking into Van's conflicting thoughts.

“Well what?”

“I asked if you wanted to head home or stay the night here,” Bart prompted.

Home? Back to the suite he had shared with Natalie after they negotiated their marriage and he slept by her side…until she rode out of his life without a proper
goodbye. Now his hotel headquarters were filled with the sweet, tormenting memories of her lingering presence that would likely drive him as close to loco as he ever wanted to get.

It was bad enough that he was carrying around the tattered yellow gown she'd left behind, as if it were his security blanket, or some such ridiculous nonsense. No one had considered him a sentimental fool in all his thirty-two years of existence. So why had he tucked the garment in his saddlebag?

Damned if he knew.

“Do what you want,” Bart said impatiently when Van didn't respond. “I'm going back to Wolf Ridge. I still have a law practice and clients who depend on me. Let me know where you are and I'll send a telegram with a list of potential assignments and the contact people.”

Bart swung into the saddle. “If by chance you happen to cross paths with Nat, give her my fond regards.” He smiled wryly. “Too bad she didn't ask
me
to marry her. I'd have packed up and gone on her grand adventure with her.”

With a playful salute, Bart reined his horse south. And still Van stood there as if he'd grown roots. He watched his best friend disappear from sight and then stared at the village of teepees near the fort. His gaze swung northwest, wondering if his wayward wife had learned enough defensive techniques and survival skills to stay out of trouble.

Or perhaps she had hired a guide to lead her into the mountains she was anxious to explore.

Natalie alone in the wilderness with another man? The distasteful speculation soured his mood in one second flat.

Wheeling around, Van walked off to find Teskee and Chulosa. He damned well needed someone to distract him from his troubled thoughts.

T
wo weeks after Natalie left Taloga Springs she halted in the high meadow in the magnificent Rocky Mountains. The afternoon sun splattered over the towering ridges and rugged peaks. Admiring the panoramic view, Natalie dismounted from her newly purchased black gelding with its white stockings and a white blaze down its nose. The horse had been an impulsive buy in Colorado Springs because it reminded her of Durango.

Her new breeches and shirt had been special-made by a talented seamstress in Dodge City. As was the tailored jacket that boasted concealed pockets galore. Her unique style of dress had drawn puzzled glances in each town she entered during her travels, but when she gave her name at hotels, no one seemed surprised that she was a bit eccentric.

“After all,” she had overheard several people remark, “she is married to Donovan Crow and that explains everything.”

Her new oversize saddlebags held another set of clothing, boots and secret compartments where she carried
spare bank notes to pay her way across Colorado. She had contacted Wells Fargo to return her family jewels back to New Orleans for her lawyer to place under lock and key. She had acquired a pathetic-looking pack mule in Pueblo because the poor thing needed a friend. The animal was laden down with food supplies to last her for a week, along with a tarp to fend off inclement weather.

A woman on an adventure didn't bother with tents when tarps, makeshift stakes and tree limbs served her well. She had learned that recently—but she chose not to recall who taught her because it triggered memories that still hurt too much to resurrect. Perhaps after a few months she would allow herself to remember a lopsided smile, silver-blue eyes and shiny raven hair. But not now. Not yet.

Natalie cupped her hand over her eyes, then stared up at the rocky crest thirty feet above her. She intended to make the climb, just because the peak was there and she needed to focus on one challenge after another to fill the empty loneliness that had become her constant companion.

Tethering her horse, Natalie began her ascent, using footholds in the rocks. She paused once or twice to catch her breath. Eventually she reached the summit that provided a spectacular view of a canyon filled with jagged rocks, tall timber and an eagle soaring in the cloudless sky. The bird screeched and the haunting sound rippled through her aching soul until tears filled her eyes.

Natalie inhaled a deep cleansing breath of mountain air. She told herself that she had learned pride of accomplishment and self-confidence the past month. She had seen amazing sights and she had only begun her adventures. Yet, something vital was missing. Even her prize horse, the majestic views, her custom-made wardrobe and unlimited freedom didn't satisfy the gnawing ache inside her.
Perhaps in a month…or three…she would allow herself to admit what was missing from her life.

She sank down on the cliff and dangled her booted feet over the edge. She leaned back, bracing herself on her hands and closed her eyes. Yessirree, she was living her dream—

“Nice view, sunshine.”

Crow's amused baritone voice came from out of nowhere.

“Awk!” Natalie was so startled that she jerked upright quickly—and she nearly catapulted herself off the cliff.

Crow clamped his hand on the nape of her shirt and yanked her backward before she nosedived into a broken heap.

“Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you,” he murmured against her ear.

Those gone-but-not-forgotten sensations assailed her when he sank down behind her and pulled her against the hard wall of his chest. He settled her between his legs and rested his chin on the crown of her head so he, too, could dangle his legs over the ledge and admire the breathtaking view.

“Where did you come from?” she questioned, her voice nowhere near as steady as she would have preferred.

“Back side of the peak,” he informed her. “Taking the Cheyenne footpath is easier than climbing up the stone face of the crest.”

“How did you find me?”

His quiet chuckle reverberated through his chest and echoed through her suddenly sensitive body. Odd, she'd felt dead for two weeks—adventures or not—and suddenly she felt happy and wildly alive.

“You might be surprised, but people pay me an
exceptional amount of money to track missing persons all over creation…if the price—”

“—is right,” she finished for him. “Yes, I know, Crow. I was one of your customers.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, noting he'd cut his hair short and his ruggedly handsome face was clean-shaven. “So why are you here? Are you off to another high-priced assignment?”

“More or less.”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Since when did you become so vague? I could always count on you to be blunt and to the point…. Oh wait, I remember now. Since I didn't stick around for your lecture on following your orders of staying put, you're here to rake me over the coals. Right?”

“You're right, sunshine. You didn't stick around…to say goodbye. Rather rude behavior for the high priestess of the shipping world.”

“So you are here to jump down my throat for disobeying you,” she concluded, hugely disappointed.

“Actually, Bart wanted me to send along his kind regards and Chulosa and Teskee wanted me to thank you for your generosity. Suggs and his cohorts are serving jail time, thanks to you.”

Natalie tilted sideways to stare into those hypnotic silver-blue eyes fanned by long thick black lashes. “You came all the way to Nowhere, Colorado, to relay the messages?”

“No, I brought you a gift that you didn't wait around for me to give you.” He reached into his pocket to display a compass. “Didn't want you to wander so far off course that you couldn't find your way back.”

She accepted the gift and blinked back the infuriating tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Natalie was trying to remain nonchalant so her feelings wouldn't
show. She was not going to throw herself at Crow and beg him to take her with him on his next assignment, even if she had to promise to stay put when he told her to. Well, she amended, she would
try
to follow orders. That's all she could promise. She couldn't and wouldn't stand aside and see him hurt. Ever.

“Also, I wanted to give you this,” he murmured, reaching into another pocket.

Natalie gasped when he held up a silver wedding band embedded with two oversize diamonds and two sapphires that reminded her of the colorful depths of his eyes. Her heart twisted in her chest and she barely found enough air in her deprived lungs to draw breath.

“It's beautiful,” she whispered as he removed her mother's gold band from her left hand and replaced it with his expensive gift.

“So are you, sunshine.” He dropped a tender kiss to her cheek. Again, he reached into his pocket. He fished out a role of large denomination bank notes that—dollar for dollar—looked suspiciously like the ones she had used to pay him. “I'm prepared to pay you generously to take an assignment for me.”

She stared at his chiseled lips—that she wanted to kiss so badly that she could barely stand it. Her gaze dropped to the money rolled up in his fist. “What do I have to do?”

His expression softened. “Stay married to me for all the right reasons. Don't go haring off without me. I can't stand myself when I'm not with you, sunshine. Nothing has been the same since you left me behind.”

 

And that is the honest truth,
Van thought to himself. He had been miserable and lost—and cranky, according to Bart.

He watched her dark eyes widen in disbelief and her
jaw sag against the collar of her crisp linen shirt. His attention dropped to the full swells of her breasts and the trim indentation of her waist. Gawd, but she was a welcome sight to behold! He thought he'd never track her down. She had been on the move like a tumbleweed blowing wherever the restless wind took her.

“The right reasons?” she repeated, bewildered.

Van gathered his nerve and bared his heart. “First off, because I'm in love with you. And secondly, you are perfect for me.” How many times had she said those last words to him and made him feel ten feet tall?

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she wilted sideways before he could grab her. He did manage to latch on to her knee before she tumbled off the ledge. Sweet mercy, she had fainted on him?

Fainted?
he thought as he came to his feet to hoist her up so he could cradle her in his arms. Was this the same daredevil who defied murderers and thieves and fought her way out of some of the worst scrapes imaginable?
Now
she fainted?

He would never understand this wife of his—but he'd like to spend the rest of his life trying.

While her head dangled off the side of his arm and her flaming auburn hair waved in the breeze, Van carried her to the spot where he had followed the footpath to the peak. He sidestepped down to the meadow and circled to the stone face of the summit. He chuckled when he noticed her new horse bore a striking resemblance to Durango, just as her clothing reminded him of the garments he favored. She had become the female version of her gun-for-hire husband, he mused wryly.

Knowing her, she would hire herself out for assignments after she tired of sightseeing and began to yearn for a different kind of adventure and excitement. He was
afraid the thrill of defying danger had seeped into her blood. There would be no holding back this spirited beauty now.

Van eased Natalie onto the plush grass, then grabbed his canteen to dribble water on her peaked face. She came to with a sputter and a cough then shook her head to clear her dazed senses.

“Did you say what I thought you said?” she chirped.

Van couldn't help himself. He angled his head to savor the long-awaited taste of her lips. Two weeks of starvation, he mused. It was a wonder he had survived this long without her.

“You mean that you are perfect for me? Yes, that's what I said.”

She flapped her arms dismissively. “No, the
first
part.”

“The part about loving you?” He smiled into her upturned face. “I didn't know what love was until you, sunshine,” he told her softly and sincerely. “I merely existed until you blew into my life like a cyclone and touched off so many emotions I didn't know how to control any of them. I don't expect you to love me back so I'll gladly pay you—”

His breath exploded from his chest when she lunged at him, knocking him off balance and leaving him flat on his back. She hovered over him, while flaming red-gold strands of her hair danced in the breeze. Tears flowed from her eyes and tumbled onto his cheeks.

“
Pay
me?” she said brokenly. “You'd have to pay me
not
to love you back, Crow. Even then, I couldn't
not
love you. You might as well ask me not to breathe. I love you so much it hurts and I've been miserable all these lonely days and nights without you. I've wanted you beside me each time I've gazed at a panoramic sight. Something was always missing and that something was
you.
”

The uncertainty he'd carried with him for a fortnight, wondering if his confession-from-the-heart would be well received, gushed out with his ragged breath. He reached up to brush his thumbs over her cheeks, rerouting her tears…and he felt an unfamiliar mist in his own eyes.

“I never realized I needed anyone or anything until I spent two hellish weeks without you, sunshine.”

He gestured toward the gown he had draped over Durango's saddle. Natalie giggled in delight when she realized he had purchased a new yellow gown to replace the one damaged during her ordeal with the Harpers.

“If I can't kiss you first thing in the morning and the last thing at night then I'll have no life at all,” he murmured. “I love you like crazy, sunshine.”

“I love you, too. More than simple words can ever express.” She brushed a tender kiss over his mouth and his heart melted down his ribs. “Where do we go from here, Crow?”

“Wherever you want, for as long as you want. I want to see the spectacular sights of the West through your fresh set of eyes.” He shrugged casually. “After that, we could take a few assignments of a less dangerous nature.”

“You mean it?” A pleased smile settled into every bewitching feature of her face.

“I've never been more serious in my life.”

She grinned impishly as she unbuttoned his shirt to splay her hand over his chest, making him sizzle with desire in less than a heartbeat. “Ever made love in the mountains, Crow?”

“I never made love at all until there was you,” he whispered as he removed her shirt and skimmed his hands over her satiny flesh.

She laughed and said, “If you keep saying all the right
things, Donovan Crow, you can have whatever your heart desires.”

He cupped her smiling face—surrounded by a cloud of frothy auburn curls—in his hands. “All I want is you. If this isn't paradise, then I'm as close as I'll ever need to be.”

Then he cherished her body with his hands and lips and his own aching body. He made a solemn vow that he would love his wife with all his heart and all of his soul beyond forever.

And he did.

They are together still…walking hand in hand on a mountaintop overlooking Eternity.