The Texan's Reward (35 page)

Kelly lost all his huff and puff as fear flashed in his eyes. “Stop this, Sheriff.”

“Way I see it, this lady, all helpless, has a right to protect herself in her own house. I told you not to come in here pushing people around. Most folks in this part of the country don’t take wel to being bossed for no good

reason.”

Kelly knew when to cut his losses. “I apologize. In my anger and panic at fearing I may have let a killer go free, I

stepped over the line. I hope you wil accept my deepest regrets.”

Nell smiled and lowered the gun. “I will, and I’ll allow your man to search upstairs, providing he doesn’t disturb

anything. You are welcome to look through the barn and outbuildings, provided we understand one another

that you will never storm my house again.”

Kel y looked surprised that she would make such an offer. She caught the flicker in his eye and knew he was

thinking that anyone al owing a search would have nothing to hide.

He nodded toward the younger man. “Sammy, look upstairs, but make sure you disturb nothing.”

The man nodded and took the stairs two at a time. The first door he tried, everyone downstairs heard a

woman’s scream.

Sammy stumbled backward, almost tumbling down the stairs.

A moment later, Mrs. O’Daniel appeared, her robe wrapped around her like a towel. “How dare you come into

my room while I’m dressing!” She looked down at the sheriff. “Sheriff, thank God you’re here. Arrest this man!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t see nothing, and what I saw I’m real sorry I looked at.”

Kelly appeared irritated. “Get on with it, Sammy. I’l meet you at the horses in five minutes.”

He touched his hat with two fingers as he glanced at Nel and disappeared back through the open front door.

Gypsy waved him good-bye with the old gun stil in her hand.

A few minutes later, Sammy climbed the small flight of stairs to the attic room.

Nel heard him open the door, then start apologizing again. He stumbled his way down to ground level. When he

reached Nel he asked, “Did you know what you got in the attic?”

“What?” Nel closed her hand around the gun in her lap.

“You got a young woman with her dress open, and she’s feeding her baby. Should she be doing that in public?”

“She was in the privacy of her bedroom.” Nell tried to look angry. “I believe you were the one out of line.”

Sammy’s face turned scarlet. “I’m real sorry. I never seen a woman doing that before. Not all open like that.”

He was out the door so fast, Nell didn’t have time to laugh. A minute later she heard them ride away.

Mrs. O’Daniel and Wednesday appeared on the landing, both smiling.

“Wel ,” the nurse finished buttoning her uniform. “We did our part.”

“How did you think of it?” Nel had to ask.

Wednesday giggled. “Gypsy told us if a man sees a little skin, he don’t see nothin’ else in the room. So I set on

Hank’s bed with him right behind me and started feeding the baby.”

“And I decided I’d get whoever came up the stairs rattled before he even got to the attic. I may have shown an

inch too much, I fear, for the fellow almost tumbled down the stairs.”

“Do you think we’l get arrested?” Wednesday asked.

“Not if they didn’t find Hank, and even if they had, you could hardly be arrested for feeding your baby.”

Wednesday smiled. “I’m going to go back up and sit with Hank for a while. It’s something I can do to help, and it

is a quiet place to feed DH.”

Nel agreed and rol ed into the study to do her part in helping Harrison plan their next move. They had to find

Dalton.

The bookkeeper leaned over a map he’d rol ed out on the table.

“Where could Jacob be?” She asked the question that she knew was on both their minds.

“He didn’t ride out. Dusty’s stil in the barn. He’s too big to be lying around in the mud. Someone would have

noticed by now. My guess is the posse has him, or rather had him.”

“You think they made sure something happened to Jacob so he wouldn’t take custody of Hank by the time they

picked up the other three outlaws.”

Harrison nodded. “Maybe they kidnapped him, or left him tied up somewhere. Only somehow, they lost track of

him and may think he actual y got Hank out. Otherwise, they’d be beating it out of Jacob right now and not

searching barns.”

Nell looked up from the map. “You don’t think they kil ed him, do you?”

Harrison shook his head. “No. They’re the good guys, remember. But in this case we just met an overachiever in

Anthony Kel y. They want to bring al the outlaws in and be the big heroes. Jacob helped them in the hunt, but

he’s getting in the way of their glory.”

“So, if they don’t have him, and he didn’t ride away, he’s where?”

“Somewhere in town. And my guess is about now he’s waking up with one hel of a bump on his head.” Harrison

smiled down at Nell. “You want me to go to town and find him.”

She nodded.

He reached for his jacket. “You know, Miss Nel , being your bookkeeper is a busy job, but being your friend runs

round the clock.”

“Want to quit?”

He winked. “Not a chance.”

JACOB ROLLED OUT FROM UNDER A BENCH. CLOTHES tumbled in an avalanche over him, and he swore as he

opened his eyes and tried to focus.

Sitting up, he shoved all the fabric away and looked around, finding himself in the ugliest room he’d ever seen.

The walls were painted, by someone possessing little talent, with birds and flowers. Cheap jewelry and hats

hung on nails near the low ceiling. Clothes were piled everywhere, and perfume thickened the air.

“Morning, Ranger,” a woman’s voice squeaked.

Jacob looked around. It took him a few seconds to pick her out from all the colors. “Morning,” he mumbled as

he felt the knot on the back of his head. “Where am I?”

She smiled with stained teeth framed by dark red lips. “I found you last night in the al ey, passed out cold. It

smelled like someone broke a full bottle of whiskey over your head. I got Dave to haul you in here ’cause I feared

whoever hit you might come back to finish the job.”

“Thanks.” Jacob stumbled over a mountain of clothes. “I think?”

She shrugged. “You were nice to me once, Ranger, and Pearlie don’t forget. Dave said about an hour after we

moved you in here, a pair of young fellows came in looking for you. They claimed to have seen you stumble off

the walk, but we remembered noticing you pass earlier, and you didn’t look like you were drinking. Dave didn’t

tell them nothin’.”

Jacob tried to untangle his arm from a scarf that had grown attached to his shirt. “Have any idea what time it

is?”

“After noon, I’d guess.” She patted powder on her throat. “We opened early on account of so many people in

town come to see the outlaws off this morning. Once the sheriff and that posse got them loaded on the train,

everyone was wanting to drink and talk it over.”

Jacob combed his fingers through his hair. He smel ed of whiskey, perfume, and mud. “Could you do me another

favor, Pearlie, and loan me a horse?”

“Dave’s got one tied up out back. He won’t need the nag till he rides home tonight. You’re welcome to it till

then.”

Jacob thought of offering her money as thanks, but knew it would cheapen what she did. “I owe you one,” he

said. “Thanks for the favor.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Ranger. That’s what friends are for.”

Handing him his hat, she added, “We couldn’t find your gun. Dave said it’s probably lost in the mud.”

Jacob brushed his empty holster, feeling strange without the Colt on his hip.

“Next time you come spend the night, Ranger,” Pearlie’s painted-on eyebrows danced, “try to be awake.”

Laughing, Jacob promised, guessing that they both knew he’d never return.

He took a deep breath as he stepped out of her bungalow behind the bar, but most of the smel s walked along

with him. Crossing to the al ey, he took the only horse tied there. He wanted to clear town as fast as possible

before someone saw him and rumors started about him being a drunk. Or worse, if Nel found out where he’d

spent the night. She was already mad at him. Any news might push her over the line into hating him, and that

would probably ruin his chances of marrying her.

Halfway home, he ran into Rand Harrison driving Nell’s buckboard.

“Morning,” Harrison said as calmly as if they were simply passing.

“Not much good about it,” Jacob answered. “They send you to look for me?”

Rand nodded.

“Mind if I take this horse back before I start explaining?” Jacob’s head pounded.

“You think you can stay in the saddle?”

Jacob swung the horse around and let Rand worry about keeping up with him.

When they returned Dave’s horse, Harrison looked at the run-down saloon. “You spend the night here?”

Jacob tied the horse. “Yeah. You planning on reporting to Nel ?” He thought of threatening Rand if he did, but it

didn’t seem right to pester a man about telling the truth.

“No,” Harrison answered. “You do enough to ruin your chances with her without me adding fuel to the fire.”

When Jacob climbed in beside the bookkeeper, Harrison held his nose.

“Ride in the back, will you? You’re offending the horses.” Harrison thumbed toward the straw behind him.

Jacob stepped over and sat in the middle of mud-covered straw. He felt like a pig being hauled to market. He

even smelled like one.

The bookkeeper laughed while Jacob told him what happened, then swore he could have guessed the entire

story just from the look of the ranger.

Jacob saw no reason for humor. “I failed, Rand. I let that boy down. I gave him my word he wouldn’t be on that

train this morning, and I was out cold when the posse took him away.”

“First of al ,” the bookkeeper twisted on the bench so he could see Jacob, “you didn’t let him down. You were

ambushed in the dark. Any man’s going down if someone slugs him with a ful bottle, even you. And, second . . .”

One corner of Rand’s mouth lifted slightly. “You didn’t break a promise. He’s not on his way to Fort Worth.

Hank’s in Nell’s attic, tucked away in a bed with Mrs. O’Daniel fussing over him.”

The bookkeeper shoved his hat back. “We got him out without anyone noticing and left your signed note on the

sheriff ’s desk.”

“What?”

Rand turned off the road and circled to the back of Nell’s place. “I’ll tell you all about it while you bathe in the

horse tank out by the windmill. If I take you into the house smelling like this, the women will shoot me. I’ll walk

down to the barn and fetch a clean set of clothes I saw Gypsy place on your saddle yesterday.”

Ten minutes later, Jacob stripped and fell face-first into the horse tank. He sank to the bottom like a rock and lay

there for a few seconds, remembering that Mrs. O’Daniel promised to kill him if he got his bandages wet.

By the time he came up for air and scrubbed some of the whiskey and glass out of his hair, Harrison had picked

up the clean set of clothes for him. The bookkeeper relaxed on the bench facing the house and told him al

about what they’d done the night before. He gave every detail of how the preacher kept talking and how Nel

gave up her wheelchair so they could rol the kid out right under the posse’s noses.

“You should have seen her,” Harrison said with pride. “She’s quite a woman.”

“I knew she would be, even when she was a kid. She used to look at me with those big brown eyes and make me

swear I’d wait for her to grow up. To tel the truth, I didn’t think it would be so soon.”

Jacob pul ed off the bandages and splashed water across his bruised and scabbed flesh. Then he reached for a

towel atop the clothes, thankful there was no fresh blood coming from his wounds. He ignored Harrison’s

suggestion that the wounds have fresh bandages and tugged into clean long johns.

Harrison looked out toward the town, lost in his own thoughts.

Pul ing on his clean Levi’s, Jacob walked over to sit on the bench beside Harrison. He leaned his elbows on his

knees as he dried his hair. “I’ve been thinking of what we talked about going into town yesterday. Maybe you’re

right.”

“About what?” Harrison tossed him a shirt.

“Maybe I should court Nel a little. I guess I didn’t figure I had the time with others standing in line. But, looking back, that may be just what she wants. Seems like I went from bossing her around to kissing her. Maybe there

should have been a little of something else in between.”

“I’m stil standing in line,” Harrison announced. “So don’t start thinking that you have too much time. My offer

to marry her any time she says the word is still there.”

“Are you hinting I’m slow at this marrying game?”

“How long would you have waited to ask her if she hadn’t placed the ad? A year? Five years? You would have

left things like they were between the two of you until you both were old and gray.”

Jacob scrubbed his scalp, wishing he could clear his brain. Harrison was right. He liked how it was between Nell

and him for the most part. Sure, they fought and yel ed, but he always knew they’d stay friends in the end.

Harrison interrupted his thoughts again. “I’ll not take back my offer. I made it with honor. But I’l help you any

way I can. Not because I don’t want to marry Nel and own half her property, but more because I think she might

be happier with you. The difference between the two of us, Ranger, is simple. I see it as a business, and you see

it as a life. Even if I married her and lived with her for twenty years, I’m not sure she’d ever love me the way she

loves you.”