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Exhaling a huge sigh, Willow hoped High Plains would provide the solutions needed to set things right with his expectations...or at least offer a hideout from anyone learning she had authored the tales that had stirred up so much gossip.
She probably wouldn’t have to worry about either if they found her all shriveled up between the coach seats.
“About ready to get out of there, miss?”
No, I enjoy my knees poking me in the chin, she thought, but called upon the only gracious bone left in her body when she hollered instead, “Yes, please. I need help down, if you don’t mind.”
The coach door swung wide and the driver’s darkly stained leather glove thrust inside, offering a hand. “Problem?”
“I’m kind of stuck.” Willow inched her slender frame toward him, finally managing to scoot sideways enough to twist her legs without shifting her crinoline petticoats too high. Use his language, she reminded herself. “Thank you, partner. I’m much obliged.”
“Better hurry—you’ll want to get inside somewhere,” he warned. “Looks like it’s fixing to drop buckets out here.”
“How ’bout I help? You take care of getting her bags down,” offered a deeply masculine voice. “Then we’ll both change out the team.”
What had they been doing? Discussing the weather?
A hand twice as big as the driver’s reached in and latched on to Willow’s forearm, giving a mighty jerk that unfolded her.
“Thank y—” Her breath escaped as momentum carried Willow out, one of her boots skidding off the first step down, the other meeting only air.
Out she tumbled, tripping on the step, only to land face-first into the broad chest of a massive-sized man and knock him flat on his back.
He roared with laughter and batted away the feather sprawled on his face. “Welcome to High Plains, lady. Glad to meetcha.”
“Oh, do pardon me, partner.” Her lashes blinked rapidly, trying to widen her dust-filled eyes enough to see clearly.
“Bear. The name’s Bear. Blacksmith and liveryman.” Amusement shone in his brown eyes as he waited for her to stand. “And I figure that was most of my doing. My wife says I don’t know my own strength sometimes.”
The bald man stood and handed Willow her hat, an apologetic expression slanting his lips to one side. “Guess I’m gonna have to buy ya a new one, miss. That bird looks plenty plucked.”
She accepted her hat and shook her head. “No need, Mr., uh...” She realized she didn’t know if the name he’d given was his first or last. “Bear. The hat was already ruined before I got out of the coach.” She launched into a brief explanation.
“Anybody else in there?” He looked past her.
“No, I’m the only one left,” she informed, wondering if he’d deliberately cut her explanation short.
“Well, then is there anything else I can do for ya since I handled ya too rough?”
Willow glanced around the immediate vicinity, taking note of the people milling on the sidewalks, a couple of vendors hawking their wares, a wagon parked in front of what she thought she remembered was a mercantile. She hadn’t been here since she was fourteen years old, when her niece was born. She’d not really paid that much attention to the town at the time. Boys were too much her focus back then. Willow supposed that was where she’d gotten her imaginings of what Will Ketchum might look and sound like. Texas males had a swagger about them and an interesting accent.
“Can you tell me if Daisy Trumbo or Snow McMurtry have been here today asking for me?” she finally inquired. “I’m their sister, and they were supposed to meet my stage.”
Bear walked to the back of the coach and took the baggage the driver lifted down, then set the mail sacks closer to his quarters. “So you’re the one,” he said. “Come to think of it, you kind of look like them, and they said you’d probably arrive without a bonnet.”
Did she have to be so predictable? And what did he mean when he said, “So you’re the one”? “Then they’ve been here and gone?”
“Told me they still had too much to do for the wedding tomorrow to stick around for a late stage. Some never arrived at all and several you’ve missed, according to Tadpole. Oh, sorry, that’s what I call your niece, Ollie. She’s my fishing partner. Guess you can understand the sense of their thinking.”
Relief and frustration washed through Willow as she brushed back her hair. She hadn’t missed the wedding as she’d feared but the man knew from dealing with stage arrivals and her niece that Daisy had expected her long before now. Some first impression she’d made on Bear.
“I’m supposed to tell ya they’ll check back around three to see if the stage made it or not.”
They meant if I made it or not. Willow wished she didn’t always disappoint them. That was something she really meant to work on while she was here. Though both loved her deeply, she wanted them to be proud of her, to see that she could improve and to have faith in her when it counted most. She didn’t want to fail them or herself anymore.
Willow exhaled a long breath, setting her shoulders to the two-and-a-half-hour wait, wishing that was all the time it would take to improve herself and give her an idea how best to get started learning fact from fiction. She’d considered different ways to go about satisfying her editor’s request in the time she’d be here watching the children. After all, who knew better about Texas than Texans?
Bear took her baggage to the livery and set it just inside the door. “We’ll keep these here until your sisters turn up. You can go about your business for a while and your bags will be waiting for ya.”
When she didn’t move, he motioned to his quarters next to the livery. “My wife’s taken ill or I’d invite ya in. Are you a Miss McMurtry or a Mrs. Somebody?”
She realized she hadn’t given him her name. “Miss Willow McMurtry. I’m the youngest of the three.”
“If you’ll give me some time to help Gus get the team changed and the stage on its way, Miss McMurtry, I’ll see what I can do about getting ya some tea.” He motioned across the road. “Of course, you could always wait over at the diner. I can let your sisters know where you are when I see them. You must be hungrier than a polecat if you’ve been traveling all morning.”
Though she would have loved to go inside, Willow shook her head, which served only to loosen her top knot of curls. “Not hungry at all, and I don’t want to put you to any trouble, especially with your wife sick. I’ll wait until I’m at Daisy’s.”
The last thing she wanted was to make her first public appearance in a crowd looking this side of insane. It was embarrassing enough that Bear had seen her this way. Visiting the diner was out of the question. “Mind if I just wait out here?”
She explained that she wanted to put her best foot forward, so to speak. Even though she hadn’t, in fact.
“No problem.” Bear glanced up at the overhanging clouds and started backing up. “I’ve got to get that mail in and sorted before it gets wet. Feel free to take shelter inside the livery. I always keep a couple of fresh blankets on the shelf, if ya get chilled. There’s a lantern or a stove, if you need it. Like I said, I’ll let the ladies know you’re here if they don’t spot ya right off.”
“I appreciate it, and I hope I get to meet Mrs. Bear when she’s...” Willow could tell he was eager to be about his business. She’d learned that people tended to back up from her when she kept prattling and they really wanted to be on their way.
The driver said something to the smithy and Bear took the opportunity to dash away to grab the mailbags.
Maybe she ought to make a list of all the don’t-dos she needed to remember. One: don’t get too chatty, she chastised herself, even if the Texan is chatty himself. She’d always been told Texans were known to be the strong silent types. She’d have to revise that old belief. They liked their women less talkative than themselves.
Her eyes focused on the town again, and she thought it might be best to take this time to familiarize herself with what she remembered about High Plains. She didn’t want to leave the livery yard. That way her sisters could easily spot her, and she preferred not to be by herself in the livery. She hated being alone. At least out here, she could watch people milling around.
It was then she saw him.
A dark-haired stranger standing in the alley between the boarding house and the mercantile, leaning against one of the outer walls. Tall and lean, he wore a long black duster that hung to the top of his spurs, and his boots stretched clear to his knees. The duster was pulled back over a pistol-filled holster that rode low on his right thigh. His right hand remained gloveless, making anyone aware he was proficient at shooting from that side. Her gaze swept past his broad chest, and she noted he favored a scruff of a beard and mustache. A hat shaded his eyes. Though she couldn’t determine their color, the force of their intensity touched her even this far away as she sensed him staring at her.
A chill of recognition ran up her spine, yet she’d never met the man. A handsome stranger who’d suddenly stepped out of her imagination? A hero? A villain?
Whoever he was, he looked exactly as she’d pictured Will Ketchum in her mind. Like the kind of man who would have ridden with her grandfather in his days of ranging. Her fictional character had sprung to life as a flesh-and-blood man right in front of her.
Would he talk like Ketchum?
If the stranger proved to be on the right side of the law, he just might be an answer to her prayer.
She started pacing, wondering how she could gain a proper introduction to him. Maybe she needed to practice saying “howdy” a little better.
* * *
The stage had come and gone. Still, the slender reddish-blond-haired woman remained in front of the livery talking to herself. Gage Newcomb thumbed up his hat brim and admired her persistence, if nothing else. How long would she wait for whoever was supposed to have met her there?
He’d made it his business to check out and make himself familiar with every new male or female who landed in High Plains these past few weeks, learning early on that Stanton Hodge knew no remorse in enlisting anyone to help him escape the long arm of justice. Lady, gent or fresh-out-of-short-britches lad could be party to Hodge’s plans, so it wouldn’t surprise Gage at all if this shapely newcomer had come to town to lend the outlaw aid.
But Hodge hadn’t shown yet. Maybe the sidewinder was waiting for the weather to blow over.
Wherever the elusive horse thief might be holed up at this point, Gage meant to find him and turn him in or die trying. After that, he’d ride off into the Davis Mountains downstate and live his life alone, far away from so-called civilization. Far away from pity. Far enough to make sure he became a burden to no one.
That was the only way he could deal with accepting a future he’d wish on no soul.
He had tracked his longtime adversary here, ready to put an end to their six-month cat-and-mouse game before he gave his notice that this was his last manhunt as a Texas Ranger. He’d always brought in his man before. He didn’t plan to fail his captain this time either.
Hodge had managed to stay out of sight so far. Gage suspected the viper was playing it slippery until things settled down from the recent bank robbery and town-burning attempt that were so fresh in everybody’s mind here in High Plains. The thief probably wished he’d headed some other direction when he found out about the recent crime spree. Hodge liked rattling about his feats and the wait to pull his next theft must have been eating at his ego.
That was the one thing Gage could count on. Lack of bragging rights would lure Hodge from his snake den to make a quick strike before things got too dull. Gage knew that was when he’d catch him off guard. The outlaw had been curled up and cozy too long now. Gage sensed the man would be getting anxious, and the woman pacing across the street might just be the pretty twist of petticoat Hodge would use to carry out his next crime.
He sure hoped not, but she wouldn’t be the first woman he’d had to lock up.
As a man who saw the world as dark and the people in it as ready to do whatever they could to get away with something, Gage rarely gave the benefit of the doubt. He’d learned the hard way that a woman could be just as nefarious as any man.
But a man was his focus now. Gage rubbed the scars beneath and around his eyes, feeling the raised flesh and vowing vengeance once more upon the man whose actions were forcing him to choose a new way of life for himself. Being a Ranger was everything to Gage. If he lost that, he would be nothing. His failing eyesight would take his soul, his heart, his whole life. If a man looked weak, he’d forever bow down to others. Gage couldn’t bear the thought of losing his whole identity.
Stanton Hodge had stolen something far more precious than the horses Gage was tracking him for.
He pushed aside his self-pity, and despite the clouded day and the threat of rain echoing in the thunder that rumbled above, he squinted hard to define this new arrival’s approximate age.
Long years of riding saddle all over Texas made distances seem farther than they appeared, but she couldn’t have been more than forty or fifty feet from where he stood. Still, he couldn’t quite catch the color of her eyes or whether she had freckles. All he noted was that she was in her late teens or early twenties, and she had stealth to her walk, which revealed a long stretch of legs and decent health.
Maybe she would prove the break he was looking for in the case. Hodge often chose a young, impressionable gal able to travel fast.
Gage decided he’d watch her, find out her identity and make sure she was not sister, sweetheart or any other connection whatsoever to the man he would bring to justice.
The wind got up again, wailing through the alley and buffeting him hard enough that he had to rock back and forth on his spurs to catch his balance. A quick glance at the pretty lady revealed she fought the gale, as well, swatting down her billowing skirt.
A loud crack of thunder echoed across the sky. Then within seconds, large pellets of rain splattered the ground, leaving rows of golden eagle–sized dots. Grayish-yellow clouds dipped so low he could almost touch them, signaling their weight would not be contained any longer. High Plains was about to receive an onslaught of hard, pounding rain that would become a gully washer by the time it ended. Best to seek shelter until the Texas sky finished its tantrum.
Most folks took heed and headed inside the closest door available. Not the newcomer. She put her hat back on and glanced up at the sky, swiping at the dangling feather as if it were a pesky fly biting her. The wind suddenly spun her around so fast she fell to her knees. Gage bolted toward her to help, but she jumped to her feet and shook the dust from her skirt.
The steam of her anger seemed to radiate across the thoroughfare as the downpour came, soaking her from hem to haphazard hat.
The bull of a blacksmith ran out of his quarters and spoke to the woman. Gage halted in his tracks, waiting to see what she would do. The smithy pointed to his home, but she shook her head and elected to disappear inside the livery instead.
Gage’s curiosity got the better of him as he watched the blacksmith dash home. Feather Hat’s stubbornness made him wonder why she refused the better place to wait out the rain. He’d met Bear and his wife not long ago. Both were kind people who seemed to be well liked by everyone. That meant Feather Hat wasn’t from around here. She was a stranger who didn’t know them well enough to trust their hospitality. All the more reason to find out her identity and connection to Hodge, if any.
Soaked to his boot tops, Gage took off at a dead run for the livery. If she questioned his presence there, he would just tell her that he’d taken shelter in the nearest place he could find. That should allow at least some polite conversation between them and maybe he might learn a few things about her.
He stepped out of the rain and shook water from his duster, then tilted his hat to empty its brim. The sound of a match being struck against wood flared his nostrils as the pungent odor of sulfur and hissing kerosene filled the air.
“Ouch, that hurt!” exclaimed a female voice, then, “Oops! No! Oh, please, no, not that!”
Instinct made Gage look for a stove or a lantern, but reality flared in front of him as flames crept up one of the stall walls.
She had dropped the match.
* * *
A low, angry voice cut the air like a whip. “See if there’s water in any of those buckets. Hurry!”
Willow heard the man’s command before she saw him. He didn’t sound like Bear. Not taking time to look at him or wonder who he was, she did as instructed and ran into the first stall ahead of her. Sure enough, one of the water buckets remained half-full.
“Here’s one.” She thrust the pail toward him and assumed he would take it.
“Throw what you’ve got over the flames and grab another,” he ordered. “I’ll beat out what I can with this.”
She heard him beating something against the wall and, with a quick glance backward, realized where he’d come from. He’d taken off the trail coat she’d noticed earlier when she studied him in the alley.
Will Ketchum to the rescue, she thought, wishing this stranger could be the man she dreamed might someday come true.
“I—I broke my nail when I struck the match against the board.” She shook her forefinger, embarrassed that such a small pain had caused all this. “It made me drop the match.”
Horses whinnied in their stalls, their powerful legs dancing to get away from the threat that sent gray vapor spiraling into the air.
The stranger kept beating his coat against the wall. Orders fired in rapid succession. “Find another bucket, lady. Be careful. Don’t go near the horses. They’ll stomp you to death. Got to get this out before it reaches the loft. That hay goes up, we’ll all go up with it.” One glance in her direction told her he wasn’t worried about the finger she still held up.
She hurried, only to find nothing in the next three stalls. All that remained were the feed tins with the horses. Thunder roared overhead and a crack of lightning rent the air, telling her that it had struck close by.
Please, Lord. Don’t let this happen to me. Don’t let me burn down the livery on the first day here. And while it’s raining, at that. If You’re going to let it rain, let it be enough to put this out, please.
“There’s no more. What do I do?” She searched for the blankets Bear had said were stored somewhere and found them on a shelf above where her baggage had been set.
Why hadn’t she just grabbed one of them to keep warm instead of trying to light a lantern so she could see to make a proper fire in the potbellied stove?
She’d made a fire, all right.
Willow grabbed a blanket and shook it open to help him beat out the flames. A daddy longlegs spider ran across her hand. She screamed in fear.
The man raced toward her, swatted the spider away and exchanged his now-charred coat for the blanket.
“That kind of spider isn’t poisonous even if it bites you,” he assured her as he ran back and attacked the flames even harder.
The fire seemed to be climbing faster.
“Take empty buckets,” he insisted. “The trough is outside closer to the blacksmith’s quarters. Bring back what you can carry without spilling. Fast as you can. And don’t worry about your nails.”
Nails were the last things on her mind. Being burned or bitten occupied her every thought. She grabbed the pails and ran, determined to carry both back full and in time. She spotted the trough quickly and the first bucket wasn’t that hard to fill. The second proved almost unmanageable once she was done and tried to lift both.
With every step, the water sloshed over the sides until she had to take slower ones to keep from spilling it. Her pulse raced, thrumming in her ears, lodging in her throat in a dry knot that felt as if it were drumming to her heartbeat.
As she finally reached the livery, she had to set a bucket down to open the door but forgot to move it back far enough to allow her enough space to enter. Not now, she prayed. Please let me prove helpful. I’ve got to save him. The horses, too.
What to do? What to do? Willow took one boot and scooted the bucket backward. It inched away. Another scoot. Too hard this time. The bucket tilted.
