Twilight in Texas (6 page)

“I’m sorry about Ephraim.” She tried to find a place to start the apology. “If you’d rather dine alone?”

Wolf slowed. After several steps, he answered, “I’d rather dine with you, Molly. If it’s agreeable?”

She was thankful for the shadows as a warm blush climbed her throat. “It’s agreeable with me. But you must allow me to pay. It’s only fair.”

Wolf stopped so quickly she almost stumbled. He widened his stance in front of her as if preparing for a fight. “I asked you to join me for dinner, Molly Donivan. I’ll be the one paying. You’ve done me a great favor this day by keeping up with the princess, but the meals we share are in no way payment.” The huge man looked nervous as more than one person passed them, staring. He lowered his voice, realizing he addressed her far too harshly. “You do me an honor by allowing me to take you to dinner.”

He cleared his throat. Molly wouldn’t have been surprised to hear him say, “Dismissed.”

His outburst might have frightened some women, but it made her feel right at home. Molly slipped her hand beneath his arm. “Thank you, Captain, for reminding me of my manners. You do me an honor by being my friend.”

“Then it’s settled, I’ll pay.”

The muscles along his arm were so hard she had trouble believing they were covered with flesh. Yet she knew he’d never hurt her. “You may regret your words, Captain, for I’m starving.”

He laughed as they hurried into the cafe. His laughter, like the man, was full, warm, and welcoming. Fewer people stopped eating to stare than had last night. The waitress gave them a table at the side by the windows instead of in the middle. Molly relaxed, realizing she wasn’t on stage. No one cared if she had dinner with the ranger two nights in a row. As a general’s daughter, she’d always felt as though her every move was being watched and talked about. It felt good to be just one of the crowd.

Suddenly, they both had a hundred things to tell the other. Molly related stories about Callie Ann. Wolf talked of his problems at the office. The Digger brothers had missed their hangings, thanks to a newly arrived witness who swore they were with him at the time of the stage robbery. No one but the Diggers believed the man, but the judge said it was worth checking out the story.

There were also reports of trouble on the border. Several of the young rangers were antsy to go. Wolf knew if they went, he’d have to go along to watch over them. Now, four years after the war, men who hadn’t seen battle were receiving the circle-star badge. They were fine young men who grew up with the stories of the War Between the States. As Texans, they’d been weaned on hardship and they
handled weapons as though born with a gun in their hand. But they still had lessons to learn, if they planned to stay alive.

“To add one more problem to my list,” Wolf said as he finished off his sixth piece of pie, “the judge told me that since the Diggers are still alive, they have to be told about their niece. He’ll give me a few days to locate another relative. If there is none, and the Diggers are still breathing, it will be their decision as to what to do with Callie Ann.”

Without caring who might be watching, Molly placed her hand on Wolf’s. “We can’t let that happen. There must be something we can do. The child has been sheltered and loved, even doted on, I suspect. She can’t be given over to two outlaws.”

He stared at her fingers warming his hand with a caring grip. He didn’t move, didn’t breathe.

“We’ll think of something,” she said. Her touch appeared to turn his hand to granite.

Molly straightened, embarrassed by her own boldness. She wasn’t the kind of woman to make advances. She told herself she wasn’t even attracted to Captain Hayward. He’d certainly been nothing but a gentleman and of course offered only friendship. She shouldn’t have put him in such a situation. Planting her hands in her lap, she stared down at them.

“Molly?” he questioned. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” She couldn’t meet his gaze. She was too old to be holding hands in public with a man she’d just met. Her father had always held her to a high standard. She’d let that standard slip.

Wolf sat waiting, as if he planned not to move until she answered. She could feel him staring at her, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to say more. The waitress stopped by and asked if they’d like more pie. She raised an eyebrow when Wolf said no.

Molly folded her napkin. “I’d better be getting back.” She stood.

He hurried to stand beside her and pay, then offered her his arm as they stepped outside. Molly accepted, but didn’t allow herself to move close against him as she had last night.

“What’s wrong?” he asked again when they were alone. “And don’t say nothing. We were talking, really talking, as I’ve done very few times in my life with a woman, then all at once you won’t even look at me.”

She could hear the frustration in his voice, reminding her of a little boy beneath all the muscles and hair. The boy reached her where the man never could have.

“It wasn’t you. It was me. I’m never so forward. I hope you don’t misread my action.”

Wolf was silent for several steps. She could hear the click of her heels along the walk, but he moved silently in moccasin boots.

With a sudden sideways step, he pulled her into the total blackness between two buildings. She let out a little cry as her back brushed against the wood of the side wall of the mercantile. She could feel the warmth of his body only an inch in front of her.

Her heart pounded in her throat, but she didn’t move. To her surprise, she still felt no peril from the man before her. The nearness of him seemed more protective than endangering. She could hear him struggling to find words and waited, guessing he needed the darkness as his crutch.

“I can read a week-old trail even after a rain.”

She could feel his words brush her cheek.

“I can read a lie in a man’s face and know the instant he’ll draw a gun by watching his eyes.”

Even straining, she couldn’t see his outline, but the warmth of his body so near made her very much aware of him.

“I haven’t been around many women in my life, Molly, but I swear to you, I’ll never misread anything you say or do.”

“But I didn’t want you to think…”

“Think what? That you were being forward? You touched my hand, Molly, nothing more. I think that’s allowed if we’re to be friends.”

She let out a long breath and relaxed. “Of course it is.” There she went again, just like her father always said she did, making dragons out of clouds and wars from battles. “You must think me foolish.”

Wolf laughed suddenly. “No, I don’t think you’re foolish. I just wish you would relax a little so I could. I know you must think I’m a man of the world, but when it comes to women, my education runs a bit short.”

Molly couldn’t stop her laughter. She’d never, for one moment, thought him a “man of the world.” He was a man destined to remain alone just as she was a woman who’d always wear the tag “old maid” like her two aunts back in Philly. She felt like they were two people who’d never had a partner to dance with and, suddenly, they had the floor to themselves.

“Shall we dance, Captain?” Molly giggled as she reached out her hands and touched his shoulders.

If Wolf thought her mad, he gave no sign. His hands moved around her waist, and he lifted her off the ground, twirling her around amid the shadows. What he lacked in grace, he made up for in enthusiasm.

For the first time since her father died, Molly felt young. She chuckled into the blackness around her and felt his strong arms holding her high as he spun.

They were still laughing as they staggered like dizzy drunks to her store.

Wolf reached to open the door, but her hand stopped him before he touched the knob. He glanced at her in confusion.

Directing his attention with her stare, Molly watched a drop of crimson drip from the top half of the door.

She watched as he pulled his hand away and smelled the liquid.

“Paint,” he whispered.

Molly continued to stare at the door as her eyes adjusted to the shadows. Printed in paint the color of blood were the words
Move or Die!

M
OLLY WATCHED
W
OLF CAREFULLY
open the paint-splattered door and edge inside the drugstore with his Colt drawn. She followed, holding her breath.

No one greeted them. The place was tomb quiet. Light from the street flickered off the colored bottles along the walls, creating tiny rainbows against the shadowy backdrop. Familiar smells tiptoed in the semi-darkness, welcoming Molly and reminding her of home.

Wolf replaced his gun as soundlessly as he’d drawn it. He pointed up. She understood he meant for her to check on Callie Ann.

When Molly returned, he had his back to her as he waited at the bottom of the steps. He didn’t move as she neared, but she had no doubt he was aware of her presence.

“She’s sound asleep,” Molly whispered.

“So is Ephraim. Sawing logs with the best of them,” Wolf answered in a low voice he must have thought was a whisper.

She’d figured the lawman would ask questions and try to get to the bottom of her problem. He’d have to be blind not to see she had trouble.

But he simply said, “How can I help?”

Molly sat on the second step and put her chin in her hands. “I don’t know. Someone wants me out of here. Maybe it’s because I’m a Yankee. Or maybe it’s my being a woman, or that I’m taking business away from another. All I know for sure is they want me long gone and have since I arrived.”

“Any idea who?” Wolf lowered himself to the step above her. His knee brushed her shoulder, but neither of them acted like they noticed.

“Half the people I’ve met in Austin. It started as veiled comments and hints the day we moved in. More a feeling that I didn’t belong here than anything one person said. Someone even suggested Ephraim might be contagious with his cough, but I convinced them otherwise. Even after a month the Open sign might as well say ‘Quarantined.’

“After I spoke out to try and clear the back streets of opium, the threats seemed more directed at me. I’ve had to replace windows and clean paint off the sidewalk and back door. But if they think they can pester me into leaving, they’d better think again.”

Wolf rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. “I hoped tonight was the first threat. The kind of person who’d do this doesn’t like to be ignored.”

She shook her head. “Someone’s trying to put me out of business, that’s all I know. Or maybe it’s more than that. The threats aren’t aimed at Ephraim or really even at the store.”

He leaned back against the steps and said in what sounded official, “You made any enemies, Miss
Donivan?”

Molly laughed. “More than you’d think, Captain. Even my two old-maid aunts threatened me a few months ago when I said I was heading to Texas.”

When he didn’t laugh, she continued, “They threatened to come for a visit.”

He relaxed.

“But seriously,” Molly added, “my father was always fighting for one cause or another, even before the war. I was right by his side. After he died, a few gentlemen in Philadelphia wanted me to marry them so they could handle my affairs. When I refused, some predicted I’d never make it on my own.” She shook her head. “But I don’t think any of them would go so far as to follow me to Texas to destroy me.”

“Your father left you well off?” Wolf inquired.

Molly closed her eyes, knowing how she answered the question might determine whether or not they remained friends. Men always said a woman having money made no difference, but she’d learned the hard way that it did. “My father never made much more than his military pay his entire life. His legacy to me was a few hundred dollars, which I used to get here,” she answered, telling herself it was the truth. After all, he hadn’t asked how much her mother left her.

“Any reason someone wants you out? Maybe it’s not you at all but the property.”

“Not unless you count Mr. Miller. He offered to buy the store so he can expand. Caskets seem to be a growing business in this town.”

Wolf leaned forward, brushing his hand over her shoulder, gently spreading a warmth that passed through her clothes to her skin.

“Don’t worry,” he encouraged. “You can make a go of it. Maybe it’s just a prank and we’ve seen the worst.”

Molly rested against his leg as naturally as if she’d done so for years. “It’s good to have someone to talk to. I’ve tried to make light of the threats in front of Ephraim. He’s not well. I think the worry would be bad for him.”

“I noticed how ill he is.” Wolf’s fingers rested at the back of her neck, moving slowly over the flesh between her collar and where her hair pulled upward into a bun. “This morning there was blood in his handkerchief after he coughed. He tried to hide it from you and the child.”

Molly rested her chin atop his knee. “I didn’t know about the blood. He said he was getting better. He said the bleeding had stopped,” she whispered, more to herself than to Wolf. “He’s all the real family I have left. My aunts told me never to speak to them again if I left without their permission. I feel like I’m out here all alone and Ephraim doesn’t have the strength to fight beside me much longer.”