The Texan's Reward (9 page)

“I would.” Harrison stood at attention.

“Good, I’d like you to stay here until I get back. I’m going to track the rider. It’l be ful daylight by the time I get my horse saddled.”

“Wait.” Parker leaned and poked his finger through the bullet hole in the wicker of Nell’s chair. “I’ve got a few

questions.”

Jacob looked bothered, but he gave the sheriff his due. This was his territory. He had a right to take charge.

“Did you see the shooter?”

“Yes, but it was dark.” Jacob knew what the old lawman wanted, so he might as well give it to him as fast as

possible. “He sat tal in the saddle. Thin. A big hat, shoved back on what could have been black or brown hair. It

was too dark to make out his face. He fired one shot with a rifle. A man who can aim at that speed is trained.”

“Or lucky,” the sheriff mumbled. “We got a few cowhands in town who are out of work and needing money

something terrible, but I don’t think they’d fire at a woman. Maybe he could have been trained, but why’d he be

here?”

“I’m guessing he was on a mission, because he didn’t ever look my direction until I fired on him. Then he leaned

low, blending with the horse, and rode out. He was out of range before I could center him in my sight.”

“Any chance you hit him?”

Jacob shook his head. “I doubt I could even pick him out in a crowd unless maybe he was riding. He could sure

handle a horse.”

“Great,” Nell whispered. “Brag on my assassin. He sounds perfect.”

Gypsy rushed from the kitchen with a tray of mugs. She handed Nel the only cup of tea among the coffee cups.

“Not too perfect. He missed.”

Nell thanked her for the tea and looked at the old hooker turned housekeeper. Gypsy had on the same faded

dress she’d worn for the past three days. She had dressed in her underthings and gowns for so many years that

it never occurred to her to not sleep in whatever she happened to have on. The idea of changing clothes at

dawn and dusk seemed a waste of time to her. Nel had bought her several new dresses, but she claimed to be

saving them in case she had to go to town. Which she never did, except after dark once in a while to buy a bottle

of whiskey she said helped her sleep.

While everyone in the room theorized as to why anyone would shoot Nell, Jacob reloaded his rifle from a chest

of supplies next to Nell’s desk. Fat Alice had always kept a stock of arms for protection, and Nell had continued

the habit. He handed Harrison a rifle and handgun from her stash.

Rand looked at the weapon, not handling it with the ease Jacob had, but familiar with it.

Jacob raised his rifle to his shoulder and faced Nell’s twelfth suitor. “I’m asking you straight out, Harrison, and I

want you to tell me the truth. Wil you stay here until I return? I’d feel safer knowing that you were near.”

“You mean in town?”

Jacob shook his head. “I mean here at the house. I’d feel better if I knew either you or Parker guarded the place.

Whoever that rider was, it won’t be long before he figures out that he missed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he

dropped by for another shot.”

Nel had been quiet long enough. “Don’t I have any say about this, or are you just inviting men to stay with me

without even asking for my opinion?” She knew Jacob made up his mind about a man quickly. The ability to pick

who he could trust had saved his life more than once, but she needed time to decide who she trusted.

Jacob glanced at her, then turned back to Harrison. “It won’t be an easy assignment. She’s likely to make you

sleep on the porch, but I have to know she’s safe, and the sheriff ’s responsibilities are to the town. I may be

gone for a few days. If I hit trouble, it could be a week.”

“I’l check on the ladies every night about suppertime.” Parker nodded his thanks to Marla for a fresh cup of

coffee. “I’l spend as much time as I can out here. Between us, we’l keep an eye out for trouble.”

Harrison nodded toward the women. “Not one of these ladies looks helpless,” he said to the ranger. “I could

sleep in the barn. But I’ll stay only if Miss Nell agrees. It’s not your decision to make, Ranger. It’s hers.” There

was no doubt in his tone that he was talking about more than where he’d sleep.

Jacob opened his mouth to argue, but Nel spoke first. “Al right. You can stay. You’l already be here most of the

day working on the books. There’s no need for you to sleep in the barn, Mr. Harrison. After all, we’re almost

engaged. Gypsy can set you up a bunk in my office. I think if there is a floor between us we’ll still be

respectable.”

“Almost engaged,” Jacob mumbled. “I’l be back as fast as I can.”

He didn’t look at Nell as he stormed from the room with the sheriff close behind. As he walked, Jacob listed

things he wanted changed as fast as possible. The gate fixed and locked. The window upstairs replaced before

nightfall. All doors to the house kept bolted at all times.

When they were out of hearing range, Nell glanced at Randolph Harrison. He must feel like he’d been drafted

into the army. He examined the six-shooter Jacob had left out of the chest of weapons, then began loading it

from a box of shells in the storage cabinet. He handled a gun well, but didn’t look like he enjoyed the task.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Harrison looked up as though surprised anyone else was in the room. For a moment, he didn’t say anything,

then he cleared his throat. “I’m honored to help.” He straightened. “But I hope there wil be no need.” Crossing

to the door, he started to put the weapon on a high shelf, then changed his mind and put it within easy reach for

someone in a wheelchair.

Nel smiled. In his simple action he’d told her that if trouble came, he knew she’d be wil ing and able to back him

up. “You’ve already been of great service by offering. Jacob would never leave me unless he believed I’d be safe.

I’m not too worried about being kil ed. In truth, I’m more interested in why anyone would want to.”

“You’re a rich woman,” he said flatly.

“Not so rich,” she answered. “I’d give it all up if I could walk again.”

“We can’t rewrite what’s happened to us.” Harrison refil ed her tea and passed the cup to her. “No matter how

much we’d like to.”

They drank in silence as Gypsy went upstairs to bring down Nel ’s dress, and Marla whispered she would pack

the ranger a knapsack. Nell watched the bookkeeper as he studied the fire. He didn’t seem to feel the need to

talk this morning as he had yesterday. Maybe if they weren’t talking about the ranch, he felt he had nothing to

say.

The time alone with him wasn’t unpleasant. Neither was it as comforting as being with Jacob. But it might be, in

time, when she knew Mr. Harrison better. She could get used to a marriage with times like this built in. At least

she wouldn’t be alone.

But she couldn’t see herself ever running her fingers through his hair. In fact, she couldn’t even picture Mr.

Harrison with a hair out of place. He kept to an order in everything he did.

She studied her twelfth prospect. He wore the same suit he’d worn yesterday, but his col ar was fresh. His shoes

were far from new, but he’d blacked them and polished the leather recently. He’d probably be the kind of

husband who wanted dinner exactly at six and who walked with a cane each night after eating just because that

was what he thought proper. She’d seen men like him when she’d been back East. Men who never raised their

voices, who weren’t given to excess, and who shaved their faces clean every morning. Men of order.

She smiled. Too bad there weren’t a few more such men in Texas.

Sheriff Parker banged his way through the door, swearing that if it weren’t for his bad leg he’d be riding out with

Jacob.

Nell thought of yelling for him to close the door but watched Mr. Harrison silently stand and close it without

commenting.

When Parker reached the center of the room, he looked up. “Oh, Nell, Jacob wants to see you for a minute on

the front porch. He made a point of tel ing me he planned to have a word with you alone.” Parker headed for

the coffeepot.

Gypsy crossed from the stairs and wrapped a shawl around Nel . With the housekeeper holding the chair and

Harrison offering his arm to grip, Nell slowly stood and shifted her feet until she could lower herself into the

wheelchair.

She thanked him without meeting his eyes while she wrapped the shawl around her body then tied it behind her

waist. “Everyone, please, move into the kitchen. I can smell Marla’s rolls, and they are best eaten hot. I’ll say

good-bye to the ranger and join you in a few minutes.”

The sheriff was already at the kitchen door, but Harrison hesitated.

Nell gripped the wheels of her chair. “I can make it to the porch on my own. Don’t worry, Mr. Harrison.”

He bowed slightly. “Of course.” If possible, he looked as embarrassed as she. “Please call if you . . . or the ranger

. . . need me.”

Nell tried to smile. “Thank you.”

Without another word, she turned toward the front door that Gypsy held open. Nel accepted the flour sack

filled with supplies for Jacob and put it in her lap as she propelled herself forward.

When she passed, Nel whispered to Gypsy, “Please close the door behind me.” She wasn’t sure what the ranger

wanted to tell her, but she could never remember him feeling the need to say anything in private. Maybe he

knew something about the shooter and didn’t want to frighten the others. When she’d been a kid, he’d

sometimes acted as if she were his partner fighting the bad guys. He’d often given her a mission, like asking her

to keep her eyes open for something, a kind of horse, a man with a scar. She’d never known if his orders had

been a game, or real.

Nel heard the door close almost as soon as she’d crossed the threshold.

Sunlight greeted her, but the day held no warmth. Jacob stood several feet away, tightening the cinch on his

saddle. When he heard the door, he looked around. Worry lines wrinkled his forehead as he moved to stand in

front of the porch railing. He was a handsome man, solid and brave, but for some reason he looked a little

nervous for once.

“Now don’t start lecturing me,” Nell began. “I’m not completely helpless. I can take care of myself. And don’t

worry. I promise I’l keep the gun near me. If I answer the door, it will be in my pocket.”

As she handed him the food, she noticed that with her on the porch and him on the ground in front of her, they

were the same height. Nell couldn’t help but smile. She’d only been eye to eye with him a few times in her life.

“I’m not worried about you,” he said. “Parker will be close, and if Harrison steps out of line, you’ll shoot him.”

Nel crossed her arms. “Then why did you ask me out here in the cold?”

“I wanted to say good-bye.” He looked more angry than friendly.

Nell didn’t even attempt to hide her surprise. “All right. Good-bye. Be careful.”

He pul ed off his hat and stepped closer. “I wil , but I need to remind you about something before I go.”

“What?” Nell fought to keep from using a few of the swear words she’d spent four years at school trying to

forget. Jacob was worse than ten parents. “I already told you I’ll be careful.”

“That wasn’t it.” He grinned.

Without warning, he leaned across the banister between them and kissed her on the mouth. It wasn’t long, or

hard, but it was a kiss. A real kiss. Not a brotherly kiss or a friend’s kiss, but the kind of kiss a man gives a

woman.

Only their lips touched. She could have pul ed a fraction of an inch away and broken the kiss. But she didn’t. His

mouth was warm and bold against hers. About the time she got used to it, he stepped back.

Nel couldn’t find words. She could barely hang onto a thought. Jacob Dalton had kissed her.

He plowed his fingers through his sunny hair and smiled. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I got here.”

Then, without another word, he walked to his horse, swung up, and rode away.

NELL SAT ON THE PORCH UNTIL JACOB AND HIS HUGE black horse disappeared from sight. The cold of the day

crept into her, but she didn’t want to go inside. She needed desperately, if only for a few minutes, to be alone.

Jacob had kissed her. Not because she’d asked him to, or in greeting as he used to do when she’d been a kid, or

even on impulse.

He’d kissed her for no reason at all.

Nel touched her lips. She’d been kissed a few times at school parties. Thinking back, she decided she had been

kissed better, longer, softer, with more passion. But she’d never been kissed like this.

There was something solid about it. A promise. A claiming.

Nel wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She’d always thought of herself as independent. She wasn’t sure she

liked being claimed.

But he hadn’t said a word. Only that he’d been wanting to do it for a long time.

He hadn’t even been romantic. No evening shadows, no candlelight and music, no holding hands and tender

words. What had he said? That he needed to remind her about something.

What? She wanted to scream. That he was a man? That he cared about her? That they were stil both young?

What had he reminded her of with one kiss?

Nel turned back to the house. Maybe he wanted to remind her that she was a woman, or maybe that she

should wait for him to come back. It wouldn’t matter, she told herself. She’d wait. She couldn’t think of marriage

while her life was being threatened. But waiting wouldn’t change anything. She stil could not marry him.