The Law and Miss Penny (14 page)

Without bothering to smooth her tousled hair or straighten her skirts, Mariah jumped to her feet and hurried down to the riverbank. Cain was still dousing himself with ice-cold water as she crept up behind him and said, "Why do you feel you must apologize to me?"

He'd been thinking that the only way he was going to cool this raging fever within would be to throw himself into the frigid river, clothing and all. When he heard Mariah's voice, and the message she brought, he nearly did fall in, freezing the lust right out of his body.

After balancing himself, he finger-combed his damp hair, then stood up to face Mariah. Cain saw no censure in her eyes, no mortification or shame in her expression, but he repeated his apology anyway.

"I wanted you to know how really sorry I am for taking advantage of you like that. I acted like a vile, disgusting animal, and there isn't an excuse in the world good enough for me to justify my actions. All I can do now is promise that it won't happen again."
Even if I have to leave you to make sure I keep that promise.

Mariah, still reeling with the newfound sensations, was much too distracted to understand why their embrace had disturbed him so. Quite innocently, she said, "I don't see what you're so upset about. Whatever did we do that's so all-fired disgusting, anyway?"

"Come on, Mariah. I may have forgotten my entire past, but I do remember that it isn't exactly good manners to go around kissing my female cousins and putting my hands where they don't belong—and on a first cousin, at that." He closed his eyes. "I ought to be horsewhipped for even thinking of you in that way."

His cousin. Lord almighty. In her haste to sample the forbidden delights this man possessed, Mariah had completely forgotten about that aspect of their relationship. No wonder he was so remorseful. She was willing to do almost anything to ease Cain's mind—except tell him how wickedly the Penny family had deceived him.

Instead, she offered him the second-best thing: the secret of #20 potion.

Laughing breezily, she said, "It's me who owes you an apology, Cousin Cain. I have a feeling that my new recipe is what's making you act all spunky around me, not some nasty side to your nature."

Cain would have grabbed at any excuse to absolve himself of this crime, but he was pretty sure where this was leading. "What new recipe is that?"

"The tonic I've been having you take twice a day in order to strengthen your blood."

"What about it?"

"Well, truth is, it's not exactly a simple spring tonic. It's a little something I mixed up special to sell by mail order once I got the kinks worked out of it. I didn't think you'd mind too much, so I decided to test it on you. It's a... love potion." She gave him a sheepish grin. "Looks like it works, doesn't it?"

She waited for some kind of response from Cain, but he didn't answer right away, or even look as relieved as Mariah expected him to be. In fact, he looked downright angry. After a nervous chuckle which came out sounding strangled, Mariah went on. "I wouldn't lie about thing like this, Cousin Cain, if that's what you're thinking. Why, in that second batch alone, I dropped in twice the ginseng I usually do, and even added a little myrtle root bark for good measure. As powerful as that potion is, I'm surprised you've been able to remain a gentleman as long as you have."

"Oh, really?" His words were sharp with sarcasm, devoid of any hint of amusement. "I think it's time I let you in a little surprise of my own."

Mariah didn't like the look in his eyes, the glitter of a quiet rage rising up from those emerald depths. She was almost afraid to hear his answer. "You have a surprise, too? For me?"

"Yes, dear cousin. For you. I swallowed one"—he held up a forefinger—"count it,
one
teaspoon of that medicine, and no more."

"But you've gone through better than two bottles of Number Twenty. Surely you didn't just pour it out."

Guilt muting his anger, Cain subdued his tone as he admitted his chicanery. "Not exactly. I managed to find someone who likes the stuff, so I've been feeding it to her."

"You've been giving the love potion to my mother?"

In spite of his raging emotions, Cain found himself wanting to laugh at the thought of unsuspecting Oda drinking down a daily dose of love potion—with slow-moving Zack on the receiving end of her amorous attentions.

"No, Mariah, not your mother," he said, catching his breath. "Daisy."

"My dog?" She gasped and clutched her bosom. "You've been feeding that concoction to my sweet little Daisy?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't see any harm in it. She loves it, and actually sits up on her hind legs to beg for her dose each morning and night."

Mariah wasn't at all happy about the idea of her precious little dog imbibing all those roots and herbs. She ought to lecture Cain about the danger he'd put the animal in by messing with her diet, but she couldn't help bursting out in laughter instead.

Cain grumbled under his breath as he said, "I don't see what's so damn funny about any of this."

"Oh, but I do." Still laughing, Mariah leaned against his broad shoulder for support. "Daisy's been getting all google-eyed whenever you're around, and she's the kind that never, but never cottons to strangers." After another burst of laughter, she admitted, "Why, I was beginning to get a little upset about the way you'd 'stolen' my Daisy away from me, and here all the time, it was just my potion. It does work."

Cain peeled her fingers off his arm, and then took her by the shoulders. "I wouldn't waste your time patting yourself on the back or worrying about that dog, Mariah. You're better off concerning yourself about me."

"You? But—"

"Daisy drank the potion. That means I don't have a damn excuse in hell for my behavior."

So stunned was Mariah by this declaration, and what it might mean, she could offer nothing more than a blank look by way of response.

Cain filled in those blanks, making sure she understood. "That's why I apologized to you earlier, and apologize still. I want you, damn it, and I want you in a way no cousin has a right to. Even with your limited understanding of these things, you must have some idea of what I mean by that."

Mariah thought back to the way his body had pressed against hers in the willows, the heat and urgency in him, and there was suddenly no doubt in her mind what it meant when Cain said he wanted her. She shivered from head to toe, and then moistened her lips. "Yes. I think that now I do understand."

"Then you'll also understand that it's become a problem I'm going to have to deal with real soon. If I can't, I'll have to move on." Cain took her by the hand, accepting her shocked silence as censure, and began walking up the hill to where she'd left her bonnet, pulling her alongside him. "We'd better get you fixed up now, and then head back to the hotel. It's getting dark."

* * *

Late the following morning, Tubbs and Artemis rode into Durango, refreshed from the night they'd spent tucked away in the ponderosa pines just outside of town. They came in from the west, curving around to the north with the trail along the Animas River, and reached the town limits at a wide street called The Boulevard. From there, Tubbs, who'd learned the layout of the town when the Doolittle Gang had bungled their attempt to relieve the Bank of Durango of its assets, led his partner down Fifth Street to Main Avenue, where most of the town's businesses were located. They'd just turned the corner at the Denver & Rio Grande Depot, when Artemis spotted a commotion on the corner of Seventh Street.

Wild just to be in Durango, and with his hero, of all people, Artemis could hardly stay still in the saddle. When he twisted sideways to face Tubbs, he nearly toppled off his horse as he asked, "What do you suppose is going on up there?"

Tubbs squinted. The last time he'd been in town, there'd been a small group of tepees set up on that spot, Utes in town to do a little trading. It was a good cover for robbing the bank, or so Billy Doolittle had foolishly thought. As they drew closer, Tubbs realized that this time it wasn't an Indian encampment at all, but a group of townsfolk crowded around a white wagon trimmed with bright red and blue paint. "It's nothing," he said. "Just one of those traveling medicine shows."

"No kidding?" Artemis whipped his head around. "Is it one of them real Indian medicine shows with doctors and magic elixirs and such? And what about music? I love music."

"I expect it is, kid, but it ain't none of our concern." Dismissing the entire subject, Tubbs concentrated on the reason they'd come to Durango in the first place. He decided to head straight to Tenth Street and the gambling halls—the place he would most likely run across Marshal Slater—and urged his mount into an easy lope, encouraging the kid to do the same.

Artemis hesitated, calling after him. "Hey, wait up a minute, would you? Can't we stop at the show for a little bit?"

Slowing his mount until the two were riding side by side again, Tubbs muttered, "Oh, hell, kid. We got work to do in this town. I don't have time for that kind of nonsense."

If he thought it would have done any good, Artemis would have dropped to his knees and kissed the man's boots. Instead, he implored, "Please, Tubbs. I've always wanted to go to a medicine show, but Pa never would take us—said he could brew all the tonic we'd ever need right there in his still. The one time I asked Billy to go, he just laughed at me."

Although Tubbs doubted the kid had intentionally mentioned his brother's cruel ways in order to get his sympathy, it did persuade him. "Oh, hell, why not."

Artemis let out a whoop, startling Big Red so badly, the sorrel almost dumped him.

"Remember what I said about that mouth of yours, kid." Tubbs had his hands full controlling his own mount. "We'll stop for ten minutes. No more."

A low fence surrounded the usually vacant lot, and as the pair dismounted and tied their horses to its top railing, Artemis apologized. "Sorry I shot off my mouth like that. I'm trying not to get so danged excited, really. It just drives Billy crazy when I get to hooting 'n' hollering."

Tubbs broke into a rare smile. "No problem, kid. Now get on up there and see what it is you just got to see." He checked his watch. "Don't forget—ten minutes."

"Aren't you going with me?"

"I'll be close by." Again he glanced at his watch. "Nine minutes and fifty seconds, kid. Don't waste it talking to me."

Without another word or even so much as a thank you, Artemis vaulted over the fence and joined the crowd. It didn't take him long to wriggle his wiry body past the farmers and women who were blocking his view, and in less than ten of those precious seconds, he had a spot at the head of the crowd. A tall skinny man was playing the banjo and singing "God Bless America," while a short woman with a cigar butt poking out of the corner of her mouth pounded on a tom-tom.

Artemis clapped along with the beat, swinging his hips to the rhythm. When the other members of the audience turned to stare at him, he grinned and exaggerated his movements as if he were a part of the entertainment.

Then the music abruptly stopped, leaving Artemis as a kind of one-man band, and an Indian princess stepped out through the back door of the wagon. Artemis froze in mid-clap, his hands held high as if in surrender when the woman came into view. She was without a doubt the most incredible and fascinating creature he'd ever seen. Forgetting to think his actions through, he stepped forward beyond the boundaries drawn for the crowd, and greeted her.

"Morning, ma'am," he said as he yanked his hat from his head and squashed it flat beneath his armpit. "You're just about the prettiest thing I ever did see."

Mariah was generally prepared for almost anything from her audience, for in the medicine-show business, anything could and did happen, but this grinning young man took her completely off guard. She glanced at Zack, who seemed to be as surprised as she, and then back at the young man. Before she could ask him to step back behind the boundary, he started talking again, this time fingering one of her braids as he spoke.

"Are you a real live Kickapoo Indian? I didn't think there was such a thing."

As Mariah tried to think of a way to ease the man back into the crowd, Cain looked up from his post at the head of the wagon and noticed her dilemma. He'd been scanning the audience in his role as Brother Law the Bouncer, looking for agitators who'd already stopped by the saloons for a belt of confidence, or self-righteous citizens thinking of discrediting the Penny troupe. When he saw the young man at Mariah's side and her clear discomfort in his presence, Cain started in her direction.

As he bulldozed his way through the crowd, liking the way he felt, the sense of authority that went with his new role, it occurred to Cain that the youth might be one of the ruffians who'd accosted Mariah the night before. Incensed by the idea, when he reached the young man, he grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up short, and said to Mariah, "Is this one of the little thieves who knocked you around last night?"

Stunned by the hint of Morgan Slater she saw in his eyes, as well as by his incorrect assumption, Mariah stuttered as she said, "N-no."

The twitter in Mariah's voice only served to confirm Cain's suspicions. She was frightened, and after what had happened to her, he supposed she had a right to be. His anger growing, Cain tightened his grip on the young man's arm. "You miserable little son of a bitch—what'd you do with the money you stole from her?"