The Texan and the Lady (8 page)

“But where?”

“I don’t know. It’s been hours and I’ve looked everywhere.”

Jennie pulled the marshal’s jacket tighter around her shoulders. “We have to find the boy.”

Audrey shook her head. “I’ve seen kids like him before. They know how to take care of themselves. If he doesn’t want us to find him, we might as well not waste the energy looking.”

“But …”

“But I’ve already been to town and back looking and it’s too late to walk the road again.”

Jennie knew Audrey was right. “He’ll come back.” She tried to make herself believe her words.

“Of course,” Audrey agreed. “He’ll be back when he gets hungry.”

Chapter 8

A
s he walked the back alleys of Florence, Austin cursed himself for kissing Jennie good night. He’d told Sheriff Morris that he’d make a late check of the town. From the way he was feeling, he figured he’d have time to circle the little settlement ten times before his anger settled down enough for him even to trust himself around anything but a grizzly bear.

She was driving him mad, he decided as he crossed soundlessly between two buildings. He almost wished Buck Lawton and his gang would show up tonight. He’d take all twenty of them on single-handedly if it would help put her out of his mind. She had such a soft-sounding name. Jennie. The kind of name men made up songs about out on the trail, to settle the herd. But her name didn’t match the way she made him feel, be it anger or need. She was the first woman who’d made his solitary life seem more a curse than a blessing.

She’d gotten more upset that he didn’t believe her lie about never being kissed than she had about him actually kissing her. Did she think him simpleminded? No woman who looked like she did, with hair of midnight and eyes the color of evergreen, could have reached full growth without men fighting over her.

How many times had he told himself he’d never care for a woman who lied, and as near as he could tell it was a universal trait of the gender.

Austin circled the depot and headed back toward town, trying not even to look in the direction of the Harvey House. Paying little notice of the leaves blowing across the road or the crackle of winter sounding behind him, he moved through the night.

He wasn’t about to care for her, he thought. Not if she were the last woman west of the Mississippi. Not if she came to him and begged him to forgive her for lying. Miss Jennie Munday could wait until she was old and gray before he’d bother to kiss her again.

“Evenin’, McCormick,” Spider Morris whispered as they passed the lights of the Harvey House.

Austin jerked so violently he almost tripped. “Where’d you come from!”

Morris laughed away Austin’s question. “I’ve been walking in your tracks a spell now. Hell, if I’d have had a mind to, I could have tattooed the stars and bars on your back for all the notice you’ve paid.”

“I knew you were there.”

Spider waved his defense away and pulled an ancient pipe from his pocket. “Sure you did, son. You were just interested in my heritage when you almost fell over your feet there. Tell me, how’d you live so long in Texas without getting bushwacked?”

Austin knew the old man well enough to realize that he might as well take the ribbing quietly or he’d never hear the end of it. “I guess I got more on my mind than usual.”

Spider Morris sucked on his pipe stem while he cradled his rifle in his arms. “I feel the same. I don’t know what it is, but I can almost taste trouble in the air.”

Austin thought of reminding Morris that any taste was probably coming from the wool and tobacco in his pocket, but he knew what the old man meant. After a while a lawman developed a sense for danger. For no reason at all, he’d tighten his muscles and walk a bit softer. Austin couldn’t remember how many times the feeling had passed over him strong enough to make him check the bullets in his Colt, or untie the leather holding his rifle in place on his saddle.

Spider lit his pipe. “It was a night almost like this one six years ago when Buck Lawton and his gang robbed the train. The six-fifteen out of Kansas City was late that night. Some gamblers from Dodge had been up to the city for a high-stakes card game. Talk was the game had run all day and all that night when they decided to move the table down to Dodge. The gamblers boarded the train planning to make it to Wichita by dark.”

When Morris seemed more interested in smoking his pipe than continuing, Austin asked, “And the train was robbed near here?”

Morris nodded as he smoked. “I think Buck planned to rob it anyway for the strongbox, but the quarter million in table stakes the gamblers carried made it all that much sweeter a pie.”

“But from what I’ve seen of gamblers, they don’t part with their stakes that easily.”

“That’s what Buck found out. By the time the firing stopped, half of Lawton’s men were dead and most of the gamblers. Buck never made it back to the car carrying the strongbox, but he did get the gambling money. Afterwards none would say just how much money was on the table, and we never even found the carpetbag the robbers stuffed the money into.”

Austin was interested, but not in any treasure hunt for lost millions. Stories about hidden gold and lost mines were the fabric of legends worn only by fools. “So why Buck’s hatred for Florence?”

“That’s what puzzled me some.” Spider Morris dusted his ashes on the road and tried refilling his pipe. “Oh, we hunted him down, but he wasn’t hard to catch with a bullet in his leg and another wedged in his cheekbone. He seemed to take it real personal when we sentenced him to life.”

Austin laughed. “Puzzles me, too. After all, you only sent him to jail for the rest of his days. Why should he be mad?”

Morris rubbed his week-old beard, rearranging whiskers in every direction. “No, it wasn’t that. It was like he hated not just the folks who caught and tried him, but the whole town. I could see it in his eyes. He’ll never lose that kind of hate until Florence is in ashes.”

“But why?”

The old sheriff shrugged. “When we caught him, one of the posse said he was with a woman dressed in black traveling clothes. In the fighting she disappeared. Some say she took the money; others say she broke Buck’s heart by not even showing up at the trial. There was even talk that she was wounded when she ran.”

“Maybe we’ll find out if he returns,” Austin said.

“When he returns,” Morris corrected. “He’ll be back, and when he comes, we’d better be ready for him. I got a feeling all hell is gonna break out in this town.”

A movement in the shadows beside the dry goods store made both men stop in midstep. Austin silently eased his Colt from leather. He motioned for the sheriff to wait while he moved in closer. Morris raised his rifle with polished skill, showing that his dislike for guns hadn’t corroded his instinct.

Slowly Austin removed the first box. “Might as well come out now and save me the trouble of moving all this trash.”

Spider laughed. “You’re going to be real sorry you said that if there’s a skunk behind there.”

“Any critter would have had sense enough to be real still or run before now. Whoever, or whatever, is in this trash is courting a bullet.” He knocked another box free from the pile, and it rattled across the alley.

A minute hung in silence. Austin raised his hand to remove the next box, but something moved near his feet. He stepped back as a tiny child crawled from the trash. The same child he’d glimpsed on the train, only slightly cleaner now and with short hair.

“I ain’t no critter.” True stood tall. “Name’s True, and I weren’t bothering nobody. Can’t a body get some sleep without having the law knocking the door down?”

Austin allowed no emotion to show in his face. “Not much of a door.”

“Ain’t much of a house, but it was this or sleeping at the Harvey House, where they seem to think bathing is healthy for a body. Henry told me I’d be safe enough here. Guess he didn’t know about you two.”

“Henry?” Austin looked around for someone. “Who’s Henry?”

“He’s this boy I met yesterday.” True watched both lawmen carefully. “Can’t say if he’s a friend yet. I already had to beat him up once today.”

Morris couldn’t resist joining in the conversation. Old men and children seemed natural allies. “If you don’t mind me asking, True, why’d you have to beat up this poor fellow Henry?”

True pulled on oversized pants. “‘Cause he made fun of me not knowing how old I am. He says he’s eight, but I’m littler so I must be five or six. I sat on him and kept hitting him in the face until he said I could be eight, too.”

Morris tried to hide his laughter. “And where is this friend, Henry?”

“He’s got a home he has to go to when it gets dark.”

Austin didn’t miss the longing in True’s voice. He watched the child closely as he asked, “But you have Jennie Munday and the Harvey House.”

True shrugged. “When they ain’t trying to scrub me raw. I keep telling them it ain’t healthy to take your long johns off till spring. I ain’t bathing while it’s winter, and that’s a fact.”

“But you’d be warm and well fed there. Surely a bath would be worth that.” Austin squatted down to the child’s level.

“I’m fine on my own. Once my belly’s full I can make it for days between meals. As for warm, I don’t figure on taking advice from a man who doesn’t even wear a coat out on a winter night.”

Austin glanced down, just noticing he’d left his coat with Jennie.

Morris started to say something, but Austin cut him off. “So True’s your name,” he said to the boy.

True nodded once without volunteering any other information.

“Well, I’m not fond of children, but there’s an extra bed over in the back room of the jail. You’re welcome to sleep there tonight.”

With a fist almost black with dirt, True shoved hair from his deep blue eyes. “Well, I ain’t partial to marshals. Even if I didn’t have another place to sleep, I’m not sure I could bed down in the same room with one.”

Austin’s face didn’t alter. He understood the game True was playing. “If you’ve another place, what are you doing out here? It might snow by morning. There’s a stove in the jail’s office.”

True stared at him as though talking to a wooden Indian. “I wasn’t sleeping here for the night. I was just resting until those women get bathing off their minds. Then I’ll go back and be warm and snug until next Saturday night.”

“Plan on disappearing every Saturday night?”

If the child had been his height, Austin would have walked softer around True, for the anger in those blue eyes was unsettling. “I figure my plans is my own business, Marshal; but I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t plan on keeping you informed of my whereabouts.”

Austin finally couldn’t hide his smile. He was starting to like this dust rag of a kid. “You don’t like me very much do you, True?”

“I don’t know,” True answered honestly. “I didn’t like the way you yelled at Miss Jennie on the train, but you were real careful carrying Miss Delta off when she was hurt.”

Austin shoved his hat back. “Tell you what, True, until you decide if I’m a good guy or a bad one, why don’t you give me a chance? I could use some help over at the office every day that you can find the time.”

“Maybe,” True answered. “You pay?”

“Two bits a day.”

Austin could see the child adding up the money. “I might, Marshal. I may need some traveling money. From the way you two were talking when you woke me, this may be a town to be leaving from.”

“Well, until you do, I’ll depend on your help.” Austin extended his hand for the child to shake.

True hesitated. Tiny fingers rested in Austin’s palm for only a blink in time. “I’ll be there,” True said.

“One other question,” Austin added. “Is Jennie Munday your mother?”

True’s eyes hardened again as if seeing a trap. If the answer was yes, Austin would know Jennie had lied to him. If it was no, he’d know True had no home.

“Does it matter?” True asked. “Can I still have the job one way or the other?”

“One way or the other,” Austin answered.

Smiling suddenly, True darted around Austin. From the darkness, he heard True yell, “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how I answer. I’ll take your two bits a day, Marshal, but you can keep your questions to yourself.”

“True!” Austin shouted, but only silence answered. Silence, then Spider Morris’s laughter.

Chapter 9

H
aven’t seen your marshal this morning,” Audrey mumbled as she sampled her fresh-baked roll. “Fact is, I haven’t seen him but that first morning in the week we’ve been here. You figure he left for Texas while we weren’t watching the road, or maybe he’s made up of mostly shadow like our True?”

Jennie pinned her apron on without looking up. “First, he’s not my marshal, and second, when have either of us had time to watch the road even if we cared?”

Audrey’s laughter filled the quiet predawn kitchen. “Oh, he could be yours, honey. He could be. I saw the way he looked at you. Beneath all that anger burns a mighty big fire.”

“I don’t think so,” Jennie lied. She’d sent his jacket with True to the jail without even a note.

“Trust me.” Audrey dusted her hands free of flour and poured herself a cup of coffee. “I’ve seen that kind of fire before in a man. It may come out as anger or rage or heaven knows what, but it’s going to boil into passion when the flame gets hot enough.”

Jennie laughed. She’d never heard such nonsense, but it was fun to dream of such a possibility. She’d found herself looking for him every evening, but he hadn’t come to take her walking again.

“Not that I’m an expert on men,” Audrey admitted. “But, I’ve felt the warmth a few times. Trouble was I’ve never found a fellow I figure to be man enough to handle the wanton woman I’d become if I ever allowed myself to fall in love.”

Touching her lips, Jennie remembered Austin’s kiss as Audrey continued talking about the perfect man. Jennie guessed Austin would be man enough for her, but she feared she’d probably disappoint him greatly. She didn’t know if she’d be woman enough to make any man happy, much less one as strong-minded as Austin McCormick. He’d need one of those women she’d read about in her novels. Women full of strength and fight. Women who could survive all alone on the frontier.