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Sim backed away, striking the wall behind him instead of hitting Caleb. “Ma told me to find him. It was one of the last things she said to me. She wouldn’t have lied.”
“Then go. I ain’t gonna stop you. Maybe I’ll even wait around ’til you get some sense knocked into that hard head of yours.”
“Don’t do me any favors.”
“Hey.” Caleb grabbed Sim behind his neck and shook him like a newborn pup. He turned up Sim’s palm to display the lumpy scar made six years ago with a dull knife and an oath meant to last for eternity. “We’re blood brothers. Nothing can change that. So you do what you gotta do, and then we’ll light out of this town so fast even the dust’ll catch fire.”
Sim almost smiled. Caleb was good at painting pictures with his words, making Sim believe anything was possible. Even a whore’s son becoming one of the great MacLeans.
“I gotta go,” Sim said. “If I don’t come back, you’ll know my pa took me in.”
“Or you’re dead,” Caleb said, only half joking. “If they kill you, I’ll avenge you right proper, don’t worry about that.”
Sim pulled his hat brim lower over his eyes. “Why would they kill me?”
But Caleb didn’t have to answer. The MacLeans were rich, and also ruthless in protecting their property and their name. Frank MacLean had never come to see Evelyn after Sim was born. He could snuff out an inconvenient trespasser without attracting the slightest notice from anyone purporting to uphold the law.
Deliberately Sim rolled a cigarette, taking special care with the precious tobacco. Caleb lit it for him and rolled his own. They smoked together in silence. Sim crushed the butt under his boot and set off for the undertaker’s. Caleb went his own way, but Sim knew all he had to do was whistle and Caleb would be there, right at his side.
If Frank MacLean accepted his bastard son, Sim would try to bring Caleb in with him. Sim had never believed in fate, but he knew there were only two ways his life could go. If he didn’t find a place with his father’s family, Caleb would set the course for both of them.
Sim shivered in the afternoon heat and almost crossed himself the way his mother had taught him when he was very young. He didn’t think there were saints or angels in heaven who listened to the prayers of people like him. He wouldn’t try to pray for himself. But there was no one else to pray for her, and so he would go to the church and light a candle and pretend someone could hear him.
“Hey, kid!” Charlie shouted from the boardwalk of the Cock ’n’ Bull Saloon across the street. “She used to be a good lay, your mama.” He lifted the bottle in his hand. “Here’s to all the whores in Texas. May they never—”
He broke off as Sim turned on his heel and strode toward the saloon. His hand slapped at his hip for the gun that wasn’t there, but his expression was weapon enough. Charlie squealed and stumbled through the swinging doors.
Sim’s fingers curled around the invisible butt of his imaginary pistol. He couldn’t afford a gun. Caleb said he had something about him that worked just as well as a loaded six-shooter for scaring people off—when he chose to use it.
He went to the undertaker’s and found that his mother’s “friends” at the Rose had paid for her coffin and burial. He didn’t go to the whorehouse. He had Evelyn’s handkerchief, and that was the only memory of her he wanted to keep.
The next morning he set out for the MacLean spread, perched on a ewe-necked bit of crow bait Ethan Cowell had lent him in exchange for two days’ work mucking out the livery stable stalls. The horse returned to town before he did. The doctor pronounced it a true miracle that Sim survived the beating, let alone made it back to Hat Rock on foot.
When Sim recovered enough to ride, he and Caleb stole horses and gear from the livery stable and rode out of Hat Rock so fast that the dust caught fire.
Sim laughed until even the wind was sated with his tears.
CHAPTER ONE
Cochise County, Arizona Territory, 1881
TALLY HATED TOMBSTONE. She hated its dusty streets lined with saloons and brothels, its crowds of miners and gamblers and cowboys out for a little “fun,” its almost frantic attempts at respectability.
Tombstone reminded Tally of herself. She was as dusty as its streets, as false as the bright facades that lured the naive and reckless into the gambling halls, where fortunes were lost and won every hour of the day and night. She blended right in with the more ordinary class of men, and that was exactly the way she wanted it. No one looked twice at a figure clad in baggy wool trousers and a loose flannel shirt, or a face smudged with dirt under a sweat-stained hat.
Miriam, with her dark skin and simple cotton dress, attracted scarcely more attention, and neither did Federico. People of all races came to the mines or passed through the deserts and mountains of southern Arizona. Tombstone was no longer the mining camp of a few years past but a fully incorporated city of seven thousand souls, with five newspapers, its own railroad depot and a telegraph. There was a whole new world to be won here, a new life to be made by those willing to work—or risk everything for luck.
Tally was willing to work, but luck was definitely not going in her favor. She dodged a heavy wagon loaded with lumber for some new construction at the corner of Second and Fremont streets. The smell of cheap perfume drifted from the nearest cathouse, temporarily overwhelming the stench of horse droppings, whiskey and unwashed clothing.
If André was here, it might take her days to find him. But Tally didn’t know where else to look. Her brother had made arrangements to buy fifty yearlings and two-year-old heifers from a rancher in northern Sulphur Spring Valley, but he should have been back at Cold Creek a week ago. She’d sent Elijah after him at the end of the first week, and now her foreman was missing, as well.
God knew the ranch couldn’t afford to lose any hands in the middle of calving season, even if rustlers had run off with half their stock last winter. Bart and Pablito would make do as best they could, but an old man and a ten-year-old boy didn’t have the time or strength to handle all that needed to be done.
There was a chance that André had met with some mishap. Apache renegades raided American settlements from time to time, and Arizona was an outlaws’ haven. But Tally didn’t believe André had run into that kind of trouble. Far more likely that he’d become distracted by the gambling halls and carnal temptations of Tombstone.
Tally sighed and surreptitiously pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, wiping the dust from her mouth. Miriam, whom Tally wouldn’t think of sending into the saloons, was off buying supplies in the dry goods store while Federico investigated the establishments that catered to the Mexican traders and miners. That left Tally with dozens of saloons and bordellos to visit. She dreaded the brothels most of all.
For that reason as much as any other, she chose Hafford’s Saloon, known for the hundreds of exotic birds painted on its walls rather than for its soiled doves. She walked up to the polished bar and leaned against it like any one of the men.
“What’ll you have?” the bartender asked.
Tally considered her limited supply of coins and ordered the smallest drink she could get away with. “Maybe you can help me,” she said as the barman slapped the shot of whiskey on the counter before her. “I’m looking for my brother— André Bernard. Blond hair, brown eyes, a few inches taller than me. Have you seen him?”
The bartender looked askance under his bushy gray browns. “You just described ’bout a hundred men who passed through here the past couple of days. I can’t remember all of ’em.”
“Then perhaps you’ve seen a black man, very tall….”
“Not as I recall.” He scratched his unkempt beard. “Might ask the faro dealer. He always remembers a face.”
Tally hid her disgust and downed the whiskey. It would affect her a little, but not too much. She’d learned to hold her liquor those first years in New Orleans.
“Listen, boy,” the bartender said with a confidential air of one doing a great good service, “I’d hold off that stuff if I was you. Wait until you’re a mite older. And stay out of Big Nose Kate’s!” He laughed uproariously at his “joke” and slapped the counter so hard that Tally’s empty glass bounced.
A shadow fell over Tally and the bartender. The newcomer seemed very tall in comparison to the stout barkeep—lean and taut with muscle, dressed in the wool pants and coat of a cowman rather than the duds of a miner. His black hat shaded his face, but something in his manner, the way he cocked a hip against the bar and dominated the space around him, alerted Tally’s instinct for danger. She paid for her drink and turned to go.
“Hey,” the bartender said, grabbing her shirtsleeve. “What name should I give if your brother comes looking for you?”
“Tal,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Tal Bernard.”
“Good luck.”
Tally tipped her hat, but he was already serving the tall newcomer. The skin between Tally’s shoulder blades quivered. She walked quickly to the gambling tables and searched out the faro dealer. He looked like a panther about to pounce as she approached, but he was pleasant enough when she explained her mission. A few of the gamblers took pity on the boy and speculated among themselves as the dealer laid the cards on the table.
“I think I seen him,” a miner offered. “About so high, curly yeller hair? Saw him at the roulette wheel over at the Crystal Palace, oh, near ten days ago. You say he’s your brother?”
Tally nodded, her heart sinking to the soles of her boots.
“Don’t think he did too good. Lost a heap o’money. Heard him talk about buying gear and heading into the Chiricahuas to make his fortune.” The miner chuckled. “Poor feller. Looked like he might know something about beeves, but mining…” He shook his head. “I’d ask over at the harness shops and livery stables. He’d’a needed a couple good mules, at the very least.”
Tally thanked the miner and trudged out of the saloon. André must have gone crazy. He knew that money had to go for cattle or the ranch could fail. And he knew less about mining than she did. If he really had gone to the mountains, it was probably because he was too ashamed to face her and had thought up some cockeyed scheme to recoup his losses.
No, André wasn’t crazy, just rash and sometimes thoughtless. She had hoped this time he would prove responsible. She had needed to trust him with the money she’d saved from her marriage, needed him to show that he cared as much about Cold Creek as she did.
She’d expected too much.
Still, reckless or not, André was her brother. He knew what she’d been, and he hadn’t turned his back. He was the only family she had left. Even if all the money was gone, she had to find him and bring him home.
Tally began the wearisome rounds of Tombstone’s numerous corrals, stables and supply stores. By late afternoon she knew that André had indeed bought a pair of mules and all the appropriate gear, and had set off from Tombstone over a week ago. His likely path would take him east, toward the Chiricahuas, but well north of Cold Creek’s little side valley.
Tally muttered a curse she saved for only the worst situations and returned to the stable where she had left the wagon and horses. Miriam and Federico were waiting for her in the shade of the building. Federico looked as though he’d eaten a sour lemon, and Miriam was furiously knitting the shawl she’d begun on the ride to Tombstone. She stopped when she saw Tally.
“Bad news?” she asked softly.
“Bad enough. André gambled the money before he bought any cattle and went back to the mountains with mining gear.”
“Madre de Dios,” Federico muttered.
“Elijah?” Miriam said.
The worry in her voice revealed far more than her dispassionate face. Tally knew how much she cared for Elijah, and he for her. God help the man if he ever made Miriam cry.
“I can’t find any evidence that Elijah was ever in Tombstone,” Tally said.
“He’s been gone a week,” Miriam said, crumpling the shawl between her graceful hands.
“He may be looking for André in the Valley. It’s a big area to cover.” Tally pushed back her hat and blotted the perspiration from her forehead. “We can’t afford a hotel tonight. We’ll sleep in the wagon and decide what to do in the morning—if you don’t mind bedding with the horses, Rico.”
The Mexican shrugged. “What will we do tomorrow, señorita?”
“I can find him for you.”
Tally whirled to face the man from Hafford’s—the one who had made the uncharacteristic shiver race down her spine. His back was to the sun, so she still couldn’t make out his features. But his height was a dead giveaway, and his voice, deep and rough, made her think of dark alleys and smoking guns. He was what the girls at La Belle Hélène used to call a “long, tall drink of water.” Tally’s mouth had suddenly gone very dry indeed.
She held her ground, staring up into the shadows of his eyes under the black hat’s brim. “Who are you?”
“Someone who has what you need.” He angled his head so she could see that the slitted eyes were the palest gray tinted with green, nestled in a web of wrinkles carved by sun and wind. His hair was a brown so dark as to be almost black. No single element of his face could be called handsome, yet the overall effect was one of compelling strength and inner power. Few women would fail to look at him twice.
“You followed me here,” Tally said.
“I heard you was looking for your brother,” he said, glancing over her shoulder at her companions. Federico took a step forward, compelled against his mild nature to assume the role of gallant protector. “Call your man off. I mean you no harm.”
“It’s all right, Rico,” she said, never taking her gaze from the stranger’s. “Why do you think you can help us?”
The man drew closer, crowding Tally up against the wall of the livery. She dodged neatly, keeping her distance. He smelled of perspiration, as everyone did in the desert, but it was not an unpleasant odor. In fact, he smelled different from any man she’d met. He moved easily, smoothly, like a puma or a fox. But he didn’t offer a threat, and if he wore a gun, it was well hidden under his coat.
“My name’s Sim Kavanagh,” the man said. “I heard your brother ran off to the mountains after losing big at the Crystal Palace. They say he’s a tenderfoot who wouldn’t know a pickax from a shovel, so I figured—”
“André’s no tenderfoot. We have a ranch on the other side of Sulphur Spring Valley. He—” She wasn’t about to confess André’s irresponsibility to this man. “He has dreams, sometimes,” she finished awkwardly.
Kavanagh narrowed his eyes. “He’s your older brother? Sounds like you look after him. He gamble away all your money?”
Tally bristled. “What is your interest in my brother, Mr. Kavanagh?”
“I was a scout for the army. I know all the ranges—the Dragoons, Chiricahuas, the Mules. Tracking’s what I do. And right now I need a job.”
His confession startled Tally into silence. A man like this Sim Kavanagh wasn’t the type to admit such a need any more than she was. She examined him more closely. His clothing, though of good quality, was much worn and patched at the seams. He’d been down on his luck for some time…or perhaps he was simply a scoundrel on the run. Surely even an outlaw wouldn’t consider what they had worth stealing.
Federico appeared at her shoulder. “How do we know you are what you say you are, señor? How do we know you are good at what you do?”
Kavanagh shrugged. “I’m willing to take half pay before, half after your brother’s found.”
“I can’t pay much,” Tally said. “You’d do better to look elsewhere for employment.”
“When your belly’s empty,” Kavanagh said, “even a few pesos look pretty damned good. You got supplies?”
This was moving much too fast for Tally. She didn’t trust men. That was the principle tenet of her life. “We can’t be sure he went into the Chiricahuas,” she said. “I sent my foreman to look for him, but he hasn’t returned, either.”
“Soon as I leave town, I’ll be able to tell which direction your brother rode—and your range boss, too, if he was in Tombstone,” Kavanagh said with an offhand conviction that brooked no argument. “Your brother’ll be headed east on the road to Turquoise if he’s making for the Valley. You pay me two dollars now and give me directions to your ranch, and I’ll deliver your brother within the next two weeks.”
Tally laughed. “Two dollars is your idea of half pay?” She turned her back on Kavanagh, and ice ran up and down her spine. Ice like the color of his eyes. “If I hire you, it’s one dollar now and one when you bring André back. Alive.”
Kavanagh also laughed, and the sound wasn’t pretty. “He have a bounty on his head?”
“No. And I might as well tell you that he can’t have much money left himself, so robbing him won’t do you much good. As you said, he can’t tell a shovel from a pickax. If he found anything worth mining, it would be a miracle.”
Federico laid his hand on her arm in warning. Kavanagh barely shifted, but Tally was aware of the tracker’s movement as if he had been the one to touch her.
“You don’t think too highly of me, do you, boy?” he said with a faint smile. “What taught you to be so suspicious so damned young?”
Life, she wanted to answer. And men like you. She turned and met his cold eyes. “I don’t know you,” she said. “I don’t know if anything you say is true. I could spend another day asking around town for references, but I don’t want to lose any more time.”
“I give my word that I’ll do exactly as I say or forfeit the money.”
His word. A man’s word meant as little to her as a snap of her fingers, but Kavanagh’s gaze held so steady that she began to believe him. Those eyes…
She shook her head to clear it. “There’s only one way I’ll hire you, Mr. Kavanagh, and that’s if I go with you.”
“I work alone.”
She ignored him. “Federico, you take Miriam back to the ranch and wait. Maybe Elijah and André will turn up while I’m gone.”
Federico’s black brows furrowed above his brown eyes. “No, seño—no, Mr. Bernard. I will not leave you alone with this man.”
“You don’t think I’m afraid?” She smiled at Kavanagh. “What could Mr. Kavanagh do to me, Rico? Steal a few dollars and my horse?”
Kavanagh snorted. “You ain’t coming with me, boy.”
“I am, or the deal’s off.” She pulled a coin from her wallet and tossed it in the air, catching it in one hand. “One dollar now, one after, and I go with you. Take it or leave it.”
She expected Kavanagh to leave it. She could see in his eyes how little he liked being ordered about, and there was a quiet menace simmering under the calm, cool air he affected. She was a little afraid. If he found out she was a woman—and he very well might, with them traveling together…
Zut. There wasn’t a thing he could do to her that hadn’t been done already. And she had her .44 hidden under her coat. She was prepared to shoot if any man touched her against her will, and the law would be on her side once they knew she was a woman. At least as long as they didn’t know what kind of woman.
“You drive a tough bargain, kid,” Kavanagh said gruffly. “But I’m making one thing clear. If you can’t keep up with me, if you fall behind, you’re on your own, and I still get my money for delivering your brother.”
Tally nodded. “I agree.” She waited to see if he would offer his hand, and when he didn’t, she bucked up her courage and offered hers. “My name’s Tal Bernard.”
He hesitated, then clasped her hand hard enough to squeeze the bones. The feel of his rough skin didn’t repulse her as much as she expected. She pulled her hand away, flexing her fingers behind her back, and tossed him the coin. He caught it so fast that she didn’t even see the gesture.
