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She stared into his pale gray eyes and said, “Because I didn’t love him and he wanted me to elope to anywhere, as long as it was out of the territory. Which made me wonder if he felt the need to run from the law. Tony was likable and he was kind to me but he was very secretive about his past.”
Just when she thought she might be making headway with the other marshals a shout erupted in the distance. Lori glanced over her shoulder to see a man in his midtwenties—with raven hair and a bronzed complexion that resembled Gideon’s—galloping toward them, riding an Appaloosa gelding.
Gideon tugged on her leash as he headed toward the new arrival, forcing her to scurry to catch up with his long, urgent strides.
“What’s wrong, Glenn?” Gideon demanded as he reached out to grab the Appaloosa’s reins.
“Galen was shot in the arm last night when two horse thieves swooped down to steal our horses,” Glenn reported gruffly. “You have to come, Gid. Sarah and I have tried to keep Galen down so he can heal, but he’s determined to find our prize horses….”
His voice trailed off when he glanced past Gideon to appraise Lori with his dark eyes. “Ma’am,” he greeted politely. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Gideon rolled his eyes and said, “Lorelei Russell, this is my youngest brother, Glenn.”
“Hello, Glenn.” She flashed him a smile as she stepped up beside Gideon. “I’d shake your hand but your big brother has mistakenly tied me up.”
“She’s wanted for murder.”
Glenn’s dark eyes popped and his jaw sagged against his chest. “She’s your prisoner?” he chirped incredulously.
“I’m not guilty but your mule-headed brother refuses to listen to reason,” Lori inserted.
Gideon glanced at her in annoyance then looked over his shoulder at the men in the cage. “How many of you are innocent?” he called out to the prisoners.
All the outlaws gave a shout while Gideon stared pointedly at Lori. “You can see why your proclamations fall on deaf ears. Everyone around here is misunderstood, just like you, hellion.”
“Well, she doesn’t look guilty to me,” Glenn said as he gave her the once-over again, paying particular attention to Lori’s alluring curves and swells.
“Looks can be deceiving and don’t you forget it, Glenn.”
Hell and damn, thought Gideon. His twenty-six-year-old brother wasn’t immune to Lori’s charms, either. Just what he needed, a love-starved little brother taking Lori’s side.
“Are you coming?” Glenn asked anxiously. “Sarah is upset.”
“Who’s Sarah?” Lori inquired.
“Galen’s wife. She’s afraid he’ll take off while I’m fetching Gideon and she can’t chase after him because she’s five months pregnant.”
Gideon pivoted toward his horse. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he called to the other marshals.
“What about the woman?” Phen Wilson questioned as he glanced from the cage of men to Gideon.
Gideon blew out a frustrated breath. As much as he wanted to get this sassy spitfire out from underfoot—because he’d proved he couldn’t trust himself with the forbidden temptation she presented—he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her in camp, either. It wasn’t that he didn’t expect the other marshals to treat her humanely. It was just that she was…
He scowled at himself. It was just that she fascinated him and he didn’t want to leave her here indefinitely to captivate one of the other lawmen to the point that he stole a few kisses and caresses from her. Plus, he didn’t want her to work her wiles on the other lawmen who might accompany her cross-country. There was no telling what might happen while she and one of his fellow marshals were alone.
“I must be out of my mind,” he growled to himself as he scooped up Lori and plunked her down on Drifter’s saddle.
All three marshals waggled their eyebrows and grinned speculatively. Gideon hated what they were thinking. But he couldn’t leave her behind. He felt so conflicted he wanted to swear two blue streaks. Nevertheless, he clamped down on his tongue, ignored the taunting stares and mounted Pirate.
While Glenn took the lead, and Gideon held the reins to Lori’s strawberry roan gelding, the procession headed north. Twenty minutes later, Glenn dug into his saddlebag and leaned over to offer Lori a slice of home-cooked bread and a stick of beef jerky. She smiled gratefully as she accepted the food with her bound hands.
“Thank you, Glenn. Truth is that I’m famished. I’ve been living in a cave for several days with little nourishment.”
Gideon shifted uncomfortably in the saddle when Glenn stared disapprovingly at him. However, in his defense, Gideon had been busy interrogating Pecos Clem’s cohorts and tracking down the dangerous fugitive. Then he’d spent the day trying to ignore a woman who posed so much temptation that he’d broken his rule about becoming involved with any prisoner—especially a woman prisoner—and stopped just short of burying himself in her lush body in a weak, mindless, lusty moment.
Sweet mercy! What had he been thinking?
“Surely you don’t think she’s guilty of anything except being too beautiful for her own good,” Glenn murmured for his ears only.
“I have a good deal more experience with fugitives and their melodramatics than you do,” Gideon said confidentially. “You start believing every sad tale someone tells and you could wind up shot, stabbed or knocked unconscious, while your fugitive makes a fast getaway and leaves you for dead.”
Glenn glanced over at Lori and smiled longingly. Gideon had to admit that she looked exceptionally fetching with her flame-gold hair dancing in the breeze and the sun spotlighting her beguiling figure. He knew from personal experience that staring into her alluring features and getting lost in those entrancing golden eyes could make a man believe what she wanted him to believe.
Clearly, Glenn had made a snap judgment. Thanks to encouragement from his lusty male body, he’d decided Lorelei Russell was a victim of circumstances beyond her control. Certainly not a murderess with a hefty reward on her head.
A lot the kid knew, Gideon mused sourly.
“What can you tell me about the horse thieves?” Gideon asked, hoping to distract his moon-eyed brother.
“Not much to tell,” Glenn replied then bit into Sarah’s mouthwatering bread. “It happened last night. We heard the horses stamping around in the corral and we dashed outside to check on them. The thieves wore bandannas over their faces and they started shooting. Unfortunately, Galen was in the direct line of fire.”
“What kind of horses were they riding?” Gideon asked. “Did you notice any brands?”
Glenn shook his head, munched on his food and frowned thoughtfully. “Just brown horses, I guess. It was dark and foggy, but I didn’t see any brands…. More bread, ma’am?”
Gideon sighed in exasperation while Glenn smiled and extended more food to Lori. She graced Glenn—the smitten fool—with a dazzling smile that practically outshone the sun.
“Thank you, Glenn. It’s very generous of you to share your food with me. I appreciate it.”
My, she was pouring on the charm, wasn’t she? If Gideon had to listen to much more of this sticky sweetness he’d have a toothache. And Glenn had an idiotically happy expression on his face that made him look about twelve.
“No trouble, ma’am. Shame on Gid for not offering you food until now.”
“Please call me Lori,” she insisted, casting him another dimpled smile.
Glenn bowed from the saddle, looking as charming and rakish as Gideon had ever seen him. “Lori it is. Where do you hail from?”
Gideon thought he was going to be sick. Nonetheless, he remained silent while Lori filled Glenn in on her life story. The cynic in Gideon wondered how much truth there was to it. He tried to pretend he wasn’t listening and didn’t give a damn, but he was curious about her.
“My father was a lieutenant colonel in the army and we moved from one post to another for years. I was eleven when I lost my mother and younger brother to a diphtheria epidemic. Papa said he couldn’t be around military posts without the memories of Mama breaking his heart. He acquired a special trader’s license and we opened a trading post in the Osage Nation. When the number of travelers increased and the stage company wanted to provide service in the Pawnee Nation to the south we staked the river to provide ferry service.”
She smiled at Glenn again and ignored Gideon as if he were invisible. “What about you and your family, Glenn?”
“Our father was a French trapper,” he replied. “Our mother was full-blood Osage. I was twelve when someone killed our father and stole his furs while he was on his way to Rendezvous.”
“I’m sorry,” Lori commiserated. “It’s difficult to lose a loved one.”
“Yes, it is,” Glenn murmured. “Out of loneliness and desperation, my mother remarried two years later.”
“Unfortunately, the abusive bastard played the role of the attentive suitor convincingly…until he got what he wanted. A place to stay and rapport with our people so he could cheat us all,” Gideon added bitterly.
“I’m sorry about that, too,” Lori murmured.
“He was the one who was sorry,” Glenn remarked. “He shoved our mother during one of his mean drunks. When she hit her head and collapsed, he left her to die. Gideon went after him. He’d been working with the Osage Police to support our family and he tracked down our stepfather. The fool tried to shoot Gideon out of the saddle.”
Lori glanced curiously at Gideon. “Were you injured?”
He nodded. “I took a gunshot in the thigh.”
“But he put our stepfather down and the bastard didn’t get up again,” Glenn said grimly. “Gideon became brother, mother and father to Galen and me after that.”
Lori wondered if Gideon’s abusive stepfather was the first fatality of his job as a law enforcement officer. But she didn’t ask. Both men lapsed into silence for several minutes after telling the grim tale.
When she glanced at Glenn, he was staring at her with masculine appreciation. Even if his cynical older brother didn’t trust her, Glenn seemed willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Too bad he wasn’t a marshal who’d listen to her story and agree to open an investigation.
“What do you do these days, Glenn?” she inquired as she resettled herself more comfortably in the saddle.
“I help Galen with the horses and other livestock. I do most of the field work while he’s on police duty on the reservation.” He glanced quickly at Gideon then looked away. “I want to serve with the Osage Police like Galen, and like Gideon did before Judge Parker recruited him to be a Deputy U.S. Marshal.”
“So why haven’t you?” she questioned.
He hitched his thumb toward Gideon. “Because my big brother says having two brothers being shot at on a daily basis is enough. But it turns out I’m as good a shot as Gid, not that it matters to him.”
Gideon barked a laugh. “Not even on your good day, kid. When you can hit a target, backward and blindfolded, we’ll talk.”
Glenn’s broad chest puffed up like an offended toad’s. “I’m twenty-six years old, damn it… Excuse my language, Lori. I can do whatever I want, if I want. You aren’t my boss anymore.”
While Glenn and Gideon exchanged teasing taunts, Lori smiled to herself. She missed having a brother. For years, it had been only Lori and her father, working together to establish the trading post to feed, supply and transport travelers.
After hearing about Gideon’s dealings with his scheming, abusive stepfather, she understood why he was wary of believing strangers’ stories. She knew he felt the burden of responsibility to care for and protect his family. She wondered how it would feel to have him protect her rather than distrust her motives and spew his cynicism at her.
Come to think of it, why had he brought her along when he could’ve foisted her off on his fellow marshals and be done with her? That’s what she’d expected, but he’d surprised her.
She couldn’t help but ask him about it.
He shifted awkwardly on the striking Pinto-and-Appaloosa stallion. For a moment, she didn’t think he planned to answer. He didn’t bother to do her the courtesy of glancing in her direction when he finally spoke.
“You’re my prisoner and I’m collecting my bounty money.”
The comment cut her to the core. She told herself she suspected as much. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust the other marshals to keep her captive. It wasn’t because he thought she might come to harm while caged with known outlaws who might maul her or molest her during the trek to Fort Smith.
No, it was about the money he’d collect when he delivered her to trial.
“At least you’re honest,” she mumbled.
“One of us should be.”
Lori gnashed her teeth. “I’m really beginning to dislike you intensely, Marshal Fox.”
“It’s not my duty to win friends, Miz Russell.”
“Good thing. You’d fail miserably. You have the charm and disposition of a rattlesnake.”
Glenn chuckled at the unflattering exchange. “Too bad Galen isn’t here to enjoy this. Very few people dare to talk back to my big brother.”
She figured the only reason Gideon allowed her to get away with it was because he didn’t want to shoot her or strangle her while his youngest brother was an eyewitness.
Chapter Four
“Ah, home at last,” Gideon declared three hours later.
Lori stared into the lush valley, admiring the rock-and-timber home butted up against the north hillside to block off cold winter winds. The ranch boasted one of the most panoramic settings she’d seen for miles. A spring-fed creek meandered through the meadow to flow into the nearby river. It passed close to the two-story home and oversize barn similar to the one at Burgess Ranch and Stage Station.
There were a half-dozen large sheds equipped with stalls for cattle and horses. Dozens of horses grazed in the pasture. But apparently, someone had stolen the prized breeding stock. Considering the fine quality of broodmares and colts on the ranch, the top breeding stock must be something extraordinary.
So this was where Gideon and his brothers had grown up, she mused as she cast him a discreet glance. She predicted the men had built the spacious home and outbuildings with their own hands. Lori wondered how Sarah Fox dealt with the three brothers who came and went from the ranch. She sincerely hoped Gideon treated his sister-in-law with more trust and respect than he did Lori. Otherwise, the woman should seriously consider whacking Gideon’s hard head and knocking some manners into him.
As the threesome rode downhill a petite woman with shiny black hair, expressive brown eyes and olive complexion—that hinted at her Osage and white ancestry—stepped onto the covered porch. She wore a calico gown that modestly concealed her rounded belly.
The instant Gideon dismounted Sarah flew into his arms. “Thank goodness, Glenn found you!” she gushed as she hugged the stuffing out of Gideon. “I can’t keep that mule-headed brother of yours down without resorting to every Indian remedy of a sedative. He wakes up and swears he’s going to hunt down those thieves. You have to do something with that crazed brother of yours, Gid!”
No doubt, the whole family expected the eldest brother to resolve all problems they encountered. Being unflappable, self-reliant and more than capable, Gideon quietly reassured Sarah that he would take care of Galen. Then he strode toward the porch. He stopped abruptly then lurched around to glance at Lori. As if he wasn’t sure what to do with her.
She shouldn’t feel offended because she was his afterthought. You are a fool to expect anything from that hard-nosed marshal, she reminded herself sensibly. She was one of his many duties and she was nothing more than a dollar sign in his eyes. What did she care what he thought of her? She didn’t, she told herself fiercely. As far as she was concerned, Gideon Fox was a pain in the ass, the gigantic obstacle standing between her and freedom and exoneration.
He was also her first shocking experience with irrational lust. She still couldn’t fathom why Gideon intrigued her. She knew he wouldn’t blink an eye at shooting her down if she attempted escape. At most, she was nothing but a convenient warm body to him. Someone to wrestle around in the grass and kiss because there wasn’t another available female for miles—with the exception of his pretty sister-in-law. Well, she had a grand suggestion as to what he should do with her, she thought huffily. He could release her and she would promise never, ever to bother him again.
“Glenn, do something with Lori,” he requested as Sarah grasped his hand and tugged him up the steps.
“Come on, Lori,” Glenn said, jostling her from her contemplations.
To her surprise, Glenn untied her feet from the stirrups and discarded the infuriating leash attached to her manacled wrists. With courteous care—something Gideon Hard-Hearted-Fox knew absolutely nothing about—Glenn scooped her from Drifter’s saddle and set her on the ground. She noticed Glenn took his sweet time setting her on her feet and releasing her. His body brushed against her, but to Lori’s frustration, she didn’t feel the same tingles of awareness that Gideon set off.
She wished she had. Glenn was arrestingly handsome, with a muscular build, thick raven hair and twinkling black eyes. Plus, he was only a few years older than her and he didn’t treat her with such wary distrust.
“I’m sorry I can’t do anything about the cuffs,” he murmured without backing away. “I would if I could. But I’d have to answer to my big brother.”
“It’s all right, Glenn. I appreciate your consideration.”
To her surprise, he slid his arm around her waist and shepherded her up the steps into the house. When they stepped into the spacious parlor and dining area, she heard gruff voices wafting down the hallway.
“Sit down, you idiot!” Gideon boomed like thunder.
“Get the hell out of my way!” came another deep, agitated voice that she presumed belonged to Galen Fox.
Glenn shuttled her down the hall and they paused in the doorway. Lori assessed the dark-haired, bare-chested patient who had a bloodstained bandage wrapped around his upper right arm. Galen, who looked to be a couple of years younger than Gideon, thrashed wildly on the bed while Gideon tried to shove his head against the pillow. Galen attempted to backhand Gideon while Sarah scolded her partially sedated husband for tearing the stitches and defying his older brother’s orders.
“See what I mean, Gid?” Sarah fussed. “None of the remedies to sedate him are as effective as they should be.”
