Carol Finch (12 page)

“I’m furthering my education,” she replied smartly. “I’ve decided to build up my resistance so I don’t blush at the sight of a naked man.”

He arched a thick brow. “You’re planning on seeing a lot of naked men, are you?”

“The more the better,” she insisted flippantly.

To her disbelief he proceeded to unfasten his breeches, then let them pool around his bare feet. Helplessly she stared at his powerful male body. Her breath clogged in her chest, as she noted that he was aroused. She averted her attention to his washboard belly, his hard, muscled thighs and athletic legs. She noticed the scar on his left shoulder, the bullet hole on his thigh and the knife wound on his ribs—souvenirs of hard-fought battles with outlaws, no doubt.

Her face exploded with color again, when he caught her making a thorough study of his incredible body.

“Never let it be said that I didn’t do all I could to help expand your limited horizons, hellion.”

When he sauntered into the water, smiling rakishly, she was still staring admiringly at every corded tendon and rippling muscle on his magnificent body.

Galen Fox leaned his good arm against the supporting beam on the front porch and watched his younger brother lead the string of prize horses up the path to the house. Galen frowned pensively when he noticed the two stringy-haired men tied to their saddles. The prisoners, who looked to be in their late twenties, brought up the rear of the procession.

“Glenn and Gideon must have captured the thieves,” Sarah remarked as she came to stand beside him. “I wonder if this means Gideon decided to take Lorelei back to see her father and pursue an investigation. He certainly had his mind made up
not
to do it, didn’t he? Stubborn man, your big brother.”

“Hazard of the job, sweetheart,” Galen murmured as
he slid his good arm around Sarah’s waist and kissed her. “Luckily, I have you to smooth off my rough edges and keep my life in perspective. Gid doesn’t have that luxury.”

“That’s why I decided that it would take some gentle nudging on our part to push him in the right direction.”

Galen chuckled as he stared into Sarah’s obsidian eyes that twinkled with mischief. “Thanks to your efforts, I hope Gideon learns a great deal on his road of discovery.”

When Glenn halted in front of the house, Galen shifted his attention to his younger brother. “Everyone all right?” he asked as he strode down the steps to open the corral gate.

Glenn nodded his dark head. “Gid and Lori are fine, but Sonny caught one of my bullets during the showdown.” He gestured to the dark-haired, dark-eyed man who sported a bandage on his thigh. “I patched him up as best I could but he could use some medical attention.”

Sarah lurched around to enter the house. “I’ll fetch my herbs and poultices.”

Galen stared grimly at the captives who had shot him. “You boys should try raising your own horses instead of stealing them from other folks. Is this your first offense?”

Teddy nodded his red head and said, “We’re sorry about that, mister. We got scared when you came charging from the house to fire off a shot. So we fired back.”

Galen stared grimly at the thieves. “
Mine
was a warning shot and you know it. Yours wasn’t and you
stole
our horses.”

“We were desperate,” Sonny put in as he grimaced and shifted to find a more comfortable position on the saddle. “We were sent out to capture Lorelei Russell, but she hid out too well. The Widow Burgess told us not to come back without her. Plus, the widow will sell the stage station and
ranch now that her husband and foreman are dead. We’re out of work. We thought we’d start up our own herd.”

Galen frowned pensively as he and Glenn strode back to the porch. “These men were sent to capture Lorelei?”

“Apparently. But they claim they didn’t see who shot the victim. They came from the bunkhouse and were ordered to give chase. Lori still maintains the shots came from the underbrush and the widow just presumed Lori fired the fatal shot because she grabbed one of the victim’s pistols to return fire.”

Galen stared off into the distance for a long moment. Then he said, “Gideon will sort it all out. All we needed to do was get him going in the right direction.” He patted his young brother’s shoulder. “You did your part to ensure Gid’s hot pursuit, and Sarah did her part by doctoring Gid’s food so he’d sleep later than usual the next morning.”

Glenn grinned. “It wasn’t a hardship to ride out with Lori as my companion. There is a lot about that spirited female to like and I did my best to make Gid jealous.”

Galen and Glenn chuckled conspiratorially and Galen said, “It’s obvious he’s interested in her, but he’s fighting the attraction tooth and nail.”

“How is it that a man who’s brutally honest most of the time can’t be honest with himself? He has to know that Lori intrigues him. Why is he fighting it so fiercely?”

“I think he’s afraid he’ll make a mistake, like our mother did when she married our stepfather,” Galen remarked. “She let herself be fooled into thinking he was kind and considerate. Then he got what he wanted.”

“Yeah, our home, control of our finances and our mother,” Glenn added on a bitter note.

“Gideon was the oldest and he was left to deal with Mama’s mistake. We all suffered because of it, but Gideon vowed never to be deceived again. He doesn’t want to
believe Lori’s claim of innocence because she intrigues him so much. He’s afraid he’ll be wrong about her and come away looking like a fool.”

“Well, I believe she’s innocent,” Glenn maintained.

“I sincerely hope we aren’t wrong since all three of us conspired to throw Gid and Lori together. If things turn out badly we are going to make a pact never to tell Gid that we set him up. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Glenn said, “Gid would probably shoot us both if he knew we tampered with his fate.”

Galen nodded and grinned. “At least he’d go easy on Sarah, even if he found out the matchmaking scheme was her idea. Gid likes her better than us or so he says. That’s all that will save her.”

G
ideon and Lori were a quarter of an hour into their westward trek to the trading post when he glanced sideways to study her captivating profile. It would be so easy to believe Lori’s version of the story because—despite his better judgment—he’d become physically and emotionally involved with her. But he’d been deceived once before and the repercussions to his entire family had been disastrous. He did not intend to live through an ordeal like that again.

Nevertheless, Lori was burrowing her way into his well-guarded heart as no other female ever had. Yet, Gideon vowed to proceed with great caution and he absolutely refused to let her make a fool of him. No matter how much he desired this flame-haired firebrand, he vowed to maintain a mental distance. Even if he’d been unable to keep his hands off her. Because one touch demanded another. Until they’d become as intimate as a man and woman could get.

Before he became sidetracked again, he said, “Start
at the beginning of your…er…friendship with Anthony Rogers and don’t leave out anything, no matter how awkward or embarrassing,” he insisted.

“Tony had been in the area for two years,” Lori informed him as they circled a boulder-strewn hillside to follow the tree-lined creek. “He never mentioned his past, just said he’d lived here and there and worked in the Creek Indian reservation by Tulsey Town. I always wondered if he’d become crossways with the law since he avoided the subject so noticeably. He might have started a new life with a new name.”

“So that’s why you wondered if a bounty hunter had taken a shot at him that fateful night?”

“It was the only thing that made sense,” she replied. “If his past was about to catch up with him that might explain why he proposed suddenly and insisted that we elope to anywhere I wanted to go, as long as we left the territory immediately.”

“He courted you for how long?” Gideon asked.

“About three months. He usually came by the trading post to gather supplies so I knew who he was. Occasionally, I delivered supplies to the ranch and stage station. Before Hubert Burgess died accidentally, Tony began stopping by in the evening and we spent more time together. He was pleasant company and very respectful.” The look she shot him indicated she couldn’t say the same about Gideon.

“What kind of accident killed Hubert?” Gideon asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. But as I said, I want to get a general idea of what was going on during the time leading up to the murder.”

“Hub Burgess was chasing off cattle thieves when he
took a fatal fall from his horse,” she reported. “No one has any details because he was alone when it happened.”

“Who found him?” Gideon asked.

“Maggie Burgess and Tony, I think. When Hub didn’t come home for supper they went looking for him.”

“And Tony was pursuing you
before
the accident? Correct?”

“Yes. About three weeks.” She stared quizzically at him. “Do you think Hub knew about Tony’s past and threatened to expose him? Maybe the accident wasn’t an accident.”

Gideon waved her off. “I’m just trying to put the events in chronological order. Go on, please.”

“Tony showed up to gather supplies one evening and asked if I wanted to go riding. So I did. He came by to see me once a week, even though he said he had more chores to tend after Hub died. I wondered at the time if Hub’s sudden death inspired him to live in the moment instead of working constantly.”

Gideon had certainly adopted that live-in-the-moment philosophy the previous night. He’d turned a deaf ear and blind eye to caution. He’d surrendered to his forbidden desires for this amber-eyed beauty whose questionable involvement in Tony’s death tormented him to no end.

Absently, Lori patted Drifter’s muscled neck then shifted to a more comfortable position in the saddle. “It seemed Tony became more serious in our friendship the following month. His kisses…” Her voice trailed off and she squirmed awkwardly on her horse. “I need
all
the details and facts,” he insisted. “Go on.”

“They became like yours,” she described without glancing in his direction. “But my responses were lukewarm.”

“Unlike your responses to me?” He couldn’t help but tease her. He loved to tease her, just to watch her feisty spirit burst to life.

Sure enough, she glared at him. “Do you want to hear the details or not?”

He bowed nonchalantly from atop Pirate. “Please proceed and I’ll try my best not to interrupt.”

Her response was a smirk that implied he couldn’t keep his mouth shut if he tried.

He thought they had that in common.

“Tony was more like a brother, sort of like my relationship with Glenn,” she explained. “Enjoyable company and interesting to visit with, but not—”

“Got it,” he inserted, feeling extraordinarily pleased that she didn’t lump him in the lukewarm category with Glenn and Tony. Even if Gideon couldn’t explain or control his compelling attraction to Lori, he didn’t want the feelings and sensations to be one-sided. He did have his pride, after all.

Too much, if the truth be told.

“The day before the disastrous incident, Tony sent me a message. I stopped by the stage station after I delivered supplies to one of our elderly customers,” she elaborated. “When I met with him, he made the odd comment that he hadn’t meant to fall in love with me, but he’d come to care deeply about me. Then he proposed and suggested we elope that very night.”

“Hadn’t meant for it to happen?” Gideon repeated curiously.

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I wasn’t sure what that meant, either.” She shot him a quick glance. “I doubted my irresistible charm got to him. It doesn’t seem to have any effect on
you.
”

A lot she knew. He’d found her impossible to ignore. She’d haunted his dreams since the day she’d walked from the fog like every man’s fantasy come true. Apparently, Tony had fallen into the same trap that lured Gideon.

Unfortunately, Tony’s desire for Lori turned fatal.

“Let’s not deny the truth, honey,” he suggested. “You’re tempting and alluring. A man would have to be dead a week not to notice you.”

She scoffed. “Thank you so much for that flattering compliment.”

“You’re welcome. Now get on with your story.”

“I didn’t know how to respond when Tony said he loved me. Then he dropped down on one knee and proposed. He insisted he would take care of me and that we’d go wherever I wished so we could make a clean break and a new start.”

“Clean break and new start. That’s what made you wonder if his past was about to catch up with him,” Gideon presumed.

She nodded her flame-gold head. “He didn’t sound desperate exactly, but he was
most
insistent. I told him that I cared for him, but I wasn’t in love with him.” She stared somberly at Gideon. “It was difficult to say that to him because I considered him a dear friend. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”

“It doesn’t bother you to hurt my feelings with your snippy remarks?” he asked teasingly.

“Again,”
she said, tossing him a dour glance, “do you want to hear this or don’t you?”

“I’m all ears, hellion, and I’m sitting on the edge of my horse,” he claimed, tossing her a wry grin.

She shot him another dirty look, but she went on. “I urged Tony back to his feet and that’s when we heard the rustling in the underbrush on the west side of the barn. The first shot zinged over our heads and struck a tree. That’s when Tony stepped protectively in front of me and caught the bullet.”

She clenched her hands on the pommel of the saddle
and it was a moment before she cleared her throat and continued, “He collapsed against me and I grabbed one of his pistols to return fire when the sniper fired the third shot.”

Gideon had checked the pistol to note one shot had been fired, but he only had
her
word that she had fired into the underbrush and not at Tony.

“He said he was sorry he’d gotten me into this. Then he told me to run. But I refused to leave him when he wilted to the ground. When the gunfire caught Maggie Burgess’s attention, she dashed toward us.”

“Where was she?” Gideon asked.

“I’m not sure. In the station on the far side of the barn, perhaps. She might’ve come down from the house. I’m not sure because the barn and trees blocked my view. But I’ll admit my focus was entirely on Tony’s injury.”

She swallowed hard and tears glistened in her eyes. Clearly, the incident had affected her. Gideon gave her a moment to compose herself. Yet, distrust flared in his mind. He wondered if this story was a hoax and
she
was the one who secretly desired Tony, despite what she said about feeling nothing but friendship.

Gideon had heard criminals weave many an elaborate and twisted tale in his time in law enforcement. The fact that he was vulnerable to this alluring woman made him fight like the very devil to keep an unbiased perspective.

“When Maggie came running, she commenced screaming and blaming me for shooting Tony. But she didn’t arrive in time to see what really happened. She looked at the gun in my hand and assumed I’d shot Tony. Then she grabbed Tony’s spare pistol and tried to shoot me.”

“So you ran,” he finished for her.

She nodded bleakly. “Maggie went a little crazy and she was intent on shooting first and asking questions later.
She’d lost her husband and her foreman and I suppose she was so overcome with grief and anger that she directed it at me.”

Gideon could understand that. Grief and anger were powerful emotions. He’d dealt with them during those abusive years with his stepfather where he’d taken the brunt of the man’s violence to protect his brothers and mother as often as he could. Emotions had exploded inside him when he rode off to find the man who’d caused his mother’s death. The situation had come to a head—and ended badly. But Gideon didn’t regret sending the devious bastard to hell where he belonged.

“I mounted Drifter and rode in the opposite direction of the trading post so I wouldn’t drag my father into this,” she told Gideon. “I heard Maggie shouting for Sonny and Teddy to give chase because I’d murdered Tony. As Sonny and Teddy said yesterday, they didn’t see what happened and only followed Maggie’s orders. They trailed after me and I hid out in caves for several days before I saw you taking Pecos Clem into custody. Then I came to you for help.”

She stared at him stonily. “My mistake was believing that I’d be considered innocent until proven guilty by the Deputy U.S. Marshal I willingly contacted for assistance.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel bad it won’t work,” Gideon replied. “I had received the message about a female murderer on the loose, same as the other marshals had. I rarely encounter a fugitive who isn’t a prime suspect in a crime. There’s a price on your head and someone passed the word throughout the territory.”

“Maggie,” she guessed. “She kept screaming and crying and claiming I would pay dearly for what I’d done.”

“This presents another problem,” Gideon mused aloud.
“With a price on your head, someone might decide to shoot you. Dead or Alive. That’s the standard procedure for suspected murderers on the loose.”

“Even if I haven’t been formally charged?”

“Even if,” he maintained. “Judge Parker is a no-nonsense kind of man. His main concern is protecting his law enforcement officers from harm and incarcerating criminals.”

Lori glanced uneasily around the wooded area. “If something happens to me, please promise to get to the bottom of Tony’s death. Someone was hiding in the bushes, taking shots at him.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” The cynical question popped from his mouth before he could bite it back.

Lori glowered at him. “No, it wasn’t me. I still maintain that Tony’s death has something to do with his secretive past and his eagerness to leave the area as soon as possible. With or without me, I expect.”

When she lapsed into silence, Gideon did the same. He would have to do some checking with the other marshals and with Judge Parker about a possible fugitive who might have taken an alias to escape captivity. Somewhere there might be an outstanding warrant with Tony’s physical description. That might answer the puzzling questions that pertained to this case.

“How long before we reach your trading post?” Gideon asked in a lull in their conversation.

“We should arrive this evening,” she predicted.

Gideon surveyed the unfamiliar terrain, wondering if bushwhackers lay in wait, hoping to make a profit from the price on Lori’s head.
His
head might get in the way, he mused, taking another careful survey of the area.

“We’ll stop here for a meal,” he decided, then swung from the saddle. “I prefer to arrive after dark. No sense
making ourselves sitting ducks, in case your high-profile case draws greedy bounty hunters.”

He could almost guarantee it had. Gideon would bet his reputation someone was out there waiting to collect. Someone might shoot at him, and that never failed to ruin his good disposition—whatever he had left of it.

Lori felt she’d taken gigantic strides with Gideon. For the first time since she approached him, he had listened intently and posed questions. He might not believe her side of the story, but he had admitted to her that he shouldn’t have judged her guilty so quickly.

Anticipation sizzled through her as she led the way through the darkness to reach the trading post. She hadn’t seen her father in almost two weeks and she knew he was worried—and horrified—by the charges against her.

“Halt,” Gideon murmured as he grabbed Drifter’s reins.

Her senses went on full alert as she scanned the moonlit path, wondering what he had heard that she had missed.

Without warning, Gideon dismounted and pulled her down beside him. “We’re going to get off this path,” he whispered in her ear. “Something or someone is out here. I’m not familiar enough with this area to take a shortcut through the trees. Lead the way, Lori.”

She veered south, weaving in and out of the trees to follow the bend of Winding River. It required an extra quarter of an hour to reach the place where her father docked their ferry each evening.