A Cowboy for Christmas (11 page)

“Why, thank you, Dan,” she told him.

Dwylah went on back to the ladies’ sleeping room for a moment, leaving Penny alone at the table.

Since it was still light out, Penny went out on the small porch. She knew Dan would be right back and it felt good to be up moving around. She’d been thinking of her father during dinner, and she’d made up her mind that once she got to
the ranch, she was going to make his final days as full of happiness as she could. She wanted him to know that she had loved him all this time and had missed him, too.

Dwylah came out to join her there on the porch. “You’ve been a little quiet tonight.”

Penny looked at her traveling companion. “I’ve been thinking of how much I’ve missed, being away from my father this long.”

“He’s going to be so thrilled to see you. I’m sure he’s counting the days until you show up, just like we’re counting the miles until we get there.”

Penny smiled. “It does seem as if we’ve been traveling for an eternity, but it will all have been worth it once I get to see him again.”

“Yes, it will,” she agreed. “I’m going to go settle in. Just bring the prayer book on back with you when you come.” She was glad that tonight there would only be the two of them sleeping in the women’s quarters. The privacy would be wonderful.

“I will.” Penny watched her friend go inside, and then, since it wasn’t dark yet, she decided to walk back and see if she could find Dan and help him look for the prayer book.

Lee had just started back up to the station from the stable when he saw the pretty little gal who was traveling with them out walking around all by herself. He couldn’t believe his luck. He was certain that she’d come out there just looking for
him, and he was certainly going to oblige her by going after her.

“Well, howdy, little lady,” he said, going straight up to her.

Penny had seen him when she’d first left the porch, but she hadn’t paid much attention until he called out to her.

“Hello,” she responded, stopping right where she was and wondering what he wanted.

“How you doing tonight?” he asked, his gaze going over her hungrily as he came to stand with her.

Penny saw the look in his eyes and was immediately uncomfortable being alone in his presence. She knew she had to get away from him. She glanced around in hopes of seeing someone else nearby, but right then there was no one around. “I’m fine,” she answered. “And I was just going back in.”

She turned and started to move away and was shocked when he grabbed her by the arm.

“There’s no reason for you to leave just yet, little darling. Why, I’d been hoping I could find a way to get you alone here tonight, and you must have been thinking the same thing.”

“Let me go!” Penny tried to pull herself free.

“You don’t really want me to let you go, now, do you?” he said, pulling her closer in spite of her resistance.

Penny struggled harder against his hold.

Lee was ready to drag her off behind the stable so he could kiss her when suddenly he heard someone shout.

“Get your hands off her
now
!”

Dan had just found Dwylah’s prayer book and had started back to the house when he’d seen Lee go after Penny. He was furious with himself for leaving her alone, but he’d thought she had sense enough to stay with Dwylah inside the station.

“What—” Lee could handle wild women, but this cowboy looked real tough and real mean. “We’re just having a little fun here. She came outside looking for me. She was wanting to be with me, ain’t that right, honey?” He tightened his grip on her arm threateningly.

“I said,
Let her go
.” Dan’s tone was cold and commanding.

Lee was many things, but he wasn’t a fool. He finally loosened his grip on the girl.

Penny had never been so glad to see anyone in her whole life as she was to see Dan right then. She ran straight to him and was thrilled when he took her in his arms and held her close. For a moment, she buried her face against his chest as she trembled in relief.

Dan could feel her trembling, and took her by the shoulders and held her back away from him so he could look down at her. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

“He didn’t hurt you?” Dan glanced fiercely at the other man, who was backing away, before looking back down at her.

“No, you showed up just in time.”

A rush of unexpected emotions jarred him as he gazed at Penny. Her beauty and innocence touched him in a way he’d never experienced before, and a tremor of sensual awareness stirred within him at the feel of her so close to him. Dan called upon his strict self-control to force it away.

“Go back inside with Dwylah,” he said. “And here, give this to her.” He handed Penny the small prayer book.

“You found it.” She took the book from him.

“Yes. Now go.”

Still upset over all that had happened, Penny cast one last quick look in the other man’s direction. Then without saying another word, she hurried back into the station.

Lee was still standing there, leering at Penny as he watched her go.

“Wipe that look off of your face,” Dan snarled. “You don’t look at a lady that way.”

“So, you’re wanting to keep her all for yourself, are you? I saw the way
you
was looking at her.” Lee sneered at him. “You just don’t want to share her.”

His insult to Penny’s character infuriated Dan, and Dan covered the distance between them in
an instant. Before Lee could even react, Dan hit him and knocked him to the ground. He stood over him, glaring down at him. His tone was as cold as the look in his eyes when he told him, “Miss Anderson is a lady. Remember that. Don’t ever go near her or talk about her again. Do you understand me?”

Lee was quaking as he wiped the blood from his lip. Angry as the man seemed to be, Lee was afraid he might go for his gun, and he was real relieved when he didn’t. “Yeah.”

“What?” Dan demanded.

“I understand you.”

Dan gave him one last threatening look and started to turn away to go check on Penny. It was then that he saw the driver and the man riding shotgun come out of the stable with the man’s two friends to see what was going on. After Dan had given an account of the situation, the driver pronounced: “You and your friends won’t be riding out with us in the morning.”

“What?” Pete snarled, stepping up to the driver.

“We’ve got ladies on this run,” the driver said, “and we don’t need men like your friend, here, causing trouble for them.”

“We paid our fares!” Lee argued.

“Yes, you did, and that’s why I’m letting you wait here at the station for the next stage that’s coming through. There will be one the day after tomorrow,” the driver dictated.

The three men wanted to argue, but they knew there was no use.

“All right.” Lee gave in. Both the driver and the man riding shotgun looked real mean, and though he and Pete and Carl were always ready for a good fight, he didn’t see any point in trying to take them. One more night at the way station wouldn’t matter.

“And listen up!” the driver continued. “I don’t want you anywhere near the women. You and your friends will be sleeping out in the stable tonight.”

“Yeah,” he replied again.

Again, Pete and Carl glared at their friend but said nothing. It wasn’t unusual for Lee to get himself in trouble.

Dan was satisfied with the way the driver had handled things. He left them to go check on Penny and found her in the main room with Dwylah, the stationmaster, and his wife.

Knowing they needed a moment alone, the stationmaster and his wife went out to talk to the driver and find out all that had happened.

“The driver’s taken care of things.” Dan explained to Penny and Dwylah what the driver had ordered the three men to do.

“That’s good. That’s real good. Thank you, Dan,” Dwylah declared, very proud of him.

Dan looked to Penny once more. Why, if anything had happened to her, he would never have forgiven himself. “From the way things are going,
I’m not going to be able to let you out of my sight even for a few minutes. I told you to wait inside.”

Penny was a little shocked by the fierceness of his tone. “I’m sorry.”

He went on, “From now on, I may just have to tie you up and keep you with me all the time.”

Dwylah stood silently back, watching the interaction between them with more than a little interest and fighting down a smile.

The stationmaster came inside then. “I’m glad you weren’t injured, Miss Anderson. Sometimes the boys on these runs can get a little wild, but it’s all taken care of now.”

Dwylah spoke up. “Yes, it is, and I think it’s time for us to call it a night.”

“I think you’re right,” Penny agreed. She looked up at Dan once more, trying to judge his mood. His expression was closely guarded, though, so she couldn’t really tell what he was thinking. In that moment, she almost felt as if he were her guardian angel. He had been there to save her when she’d been in trouble. She didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t come to help her when he did. She reached out to gently touch his arm, and in that simple touch she could feel the strength of him. “Dan, thank you.”

Dan nodded, all too aware of her hand on his arm.

Dwylah wasn’t about to let him off that easily. When Penny moved away, she went after him.

“Come here, you,” she declared, grabbing Dan by the arm.

Her move surprised him, and he frowned slightly as he looked down at her, wondering what was troubling her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” She kept her hold on his arm and pulled him down to her so she could kiss his cheek. “You’re my hero, Danny.”

It was the first time anyone had called him Danny in years, and it touched something deep within him, hearing it from her. He couldn’t help himself; even as serious as he was right then, he found himself smiling down at her. “I was just doing my job, ma’am.”

Dwylah’s heart swooned at the change in him when he smiled. She’d always thought he was handsome, but he had always been so serious. Now, when he smiled at her—why, she thought he was downright breathtaking. “Oh, you! Good night.”

“Good night,” he told them, and he kept watch until they were safely in the back room with the door locked.

It was a short time later as Penny and Dwylah were getting ready for bed that Dwylah brought up the topic she’d been pondering for some time now.

“I’ve been thinking . . .” Dwylah began.

She sounded so serious, Penny grew curious. “What about?”

“About how lucky you are.”

“I am?”

“Oh yes. Didn’t you hear Danny? He said he wasn’t going to take his eyes off of you. He said he might even tie you up and keep you with him all the time from now on,” she finished with an impish grin. “You would definitely be one lucky lady if he decided to do that.”

“Oh, Dwylah!” Penny couldn’t help it. She started laughing with her outrageous friend.

“You know, he is so sweet—and so handsome. I was just wondering if I could convince the stage driver to take us to the nearest justice of the peace, so I could get him to marry me before somebody else snatches him up.”

“A woman could do a lot worse,” Penny told her, remembering what it had felt like to be in his arms.

Both women were smiling as they went to bed.

As Penny lay curled on her side on the hard cot, the memory of the whole scene with the man named Lee returned. A shiver of disgust went through her at the thought of his hands upon her, and in the same moment, she remembered how she’d felt when Dan had drawn her to him. A distant memory of dancing with Richard at the ball returned, and Penny realized being in Dan’s arms had been far more exciting than being in Richard’s. She was wondering what it would be like to dance with Dan—or even to kiss him—as she drifted off to sleep.

And she was in Dan’s thoughts as he lay awake on his cot in the back room. He was still angry with himself over what had almost happened to her that evening. He hadn’t really let his guard down, but he knew he would have to be even more vigilant on the rest of the journey. He couldn’t let any harm come to her.

For a moment, Dan remembered how it had felt to hold Penny close and he fought back a groan as he rolled over, seeking sleep. He knew he wouldn’t get any rest at all if he kept thinking about Penny.

At dawn, everyone was up and moving.

“The weather’s clear and cold today,” the driver remarked when he pulled the stage up in front of the way station and jumped down to help load up the luggage. “We should make some real good time.”

“That’s good news. The sooner we get to Sagebrush, the better,” Dan said as he came out of the station with the women. He caught sight of Lee standing near the stable and gave him a look that sent him scurrying back into the stable. After helping the women into the stage, Dan climbed in, too, and sat down opposite them.

“All right,” Dwylah began. “Now is the perfect time.”

“The perfect time for what?” Dan asked, sensing she was up to something.

“It’s the perfect time for you to tell us some of your stories about the Wild West! I need to learn
all I can about ranching before we get to the Lazy Ace.”

“So you’re planning on staying on at the ranch?”

“For as long as Penny needs me,” she affirmed. “Now—what’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to you?”

“Well, there was the time when I was working for another spread and there was an Indian raid—”

“Indians?” Dwylah’s eyes widened with interest. “Tell me everything!”

And he did—within reason.

Six days later

Lacey McCormick was desperate. In her life, when things got bad, they usually always got worse, and now it had happened again.

Here she was, walking along the dusty road, wearing a thin coat over her red satin working dress from the Midnight Saloon, and her riding boots. Lacey was thankful that she’d been able to escape the saloon last night and get this good head start. Otherwise Phil, the saloon owner, might have caught up with her already.

At the thought that Phil might be coming after her, Lacey glanced quickly back the way she’d come. She was relieved there was no sign of anyone behind her as far as she could see. She didn’t really know if he would try to track her down or not, but she wasn’t going to take any chances or let her guard down—not yet.