Claiming the Cowboy's Heart (26 page)

The pair shifted. Seth had Harry’s knife-wielding hand by the wrist.

She aimed at Harry’s head, refusing to think what might happen if she missed. She had to take her chances. She sucked in air, steadied her hand and squeezed the trigger.

The blast battered her eardrums. An acrid smell tainted the air.

Harry screamed. “You shot me.”

Obviously not in the head or he wouldn’t be yelling like that.

Harry held a bleeding hand. “Lady, you’re crazy.”

“Crazy enough not to stand by and let you hurt another person.”

Seth pushed the man to the ground face down and planted his knee in the middle of his back. “Nice shot, Jayne,” he said.

“I meant to hit him in the head,” she admitted.

“You put him out of commission, that’s the main thing. Grab a rope off his saddle.”

She hurried to do his bidding.

He trussed the man up solidly then rushed to her side. He took the gun from her hand and stuck it in his waistband. He lifted up the front of her dress, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to her throat.

“Are you okay?” he asked, though his voice cracked.

“I’m fine.” She touched her fingers to his ribs. “But you’re hurt and I’m again responsible.”

“No, he is.” He nodded toward Harry Simms. “You saved us both.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” Harry yelled.

They ignored his muttered complaints.

“I’m okay,” Seth said.

Jayne’s knees folded. Her vision blurred. Seth sank to the ground, taking her with him, and held her close. Shivers raced through her, rattling her teeth.

Seth rubbed her back. “You were very brave.”

She clutched his shirtfront. They’d both end up stained with each other’s blood. She should likely care and do something about it, but instead she merely held on to him.

He pressed his cheek to her hair.

“Where did you come from?” she asked. “I thought you left.”

“I did. But I came back.”

She didn’t want to leave the shelter of his arms but she must see his face when she asked her next question. “Why did you come back?”

“Because of you.”

That didn’t provide any information.

Harry thrashed about. “You can’t do this to me.”

Now was not the time and place to ask questions. She pushed to her feet. “We need to get you to the ranch and tend that wound.”

“My horse isn’t far away.”

“I’ll get it.” He must feel worse than he cared to admit because he sat there as she headed for the place he indicated.

But she had gone only a few yards when Eddie, Slim and Roper rode into view.

“I heard a gunshot,” Eddie said when he saw her.

She nodded, her voice suddenly gone.

Eddie dropped from his horse and raced to her side. “You’re hurt.” Blood from Seth’s wound blotched her dress. Perhaps a drop or two of her own had spattered on her bodice.

“I’m okay. Seth has a knife wound.” She led them back to the clearing.

Seth struggled to his feet. “Good to see you.”

Eddie jerked Harry to his feet. Slim brought his horse forward and they swung him into the saddle. No one paid attention to Harry’s continued protests except Eddie.

“You kidnapped my sister. That’s a capital offense.”

Harry glowered. “She’s got something of mine.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

Roper led Seth’s horse forward and Seth swung into the saddle. Jayne noticed his lips were white and suspected he was in a lot of pain.

His gaze met hers and he smiled in a slow, intimate way that touched her heart. Whatever his reason for returning, they could wait until the business with Harry Simms was over and done with to discuss it.

Eddie pulled her up behind him and they rode for home.

As soon as the women saw them, they rushed forward. Linette immediately guided Seth upstairs. She would tend his wound and make sure he would live. But Jayne’s heart followed him up the steps. She couldn’t wait to have him to herself so he could explain why he’d returned.

Mercy and Sybil took Jayne under their wings and helped her change into a clean dress. They demanded all the details of what happened.

Sybil tenderly washed Jayne’s neck. “It’s only a nick.”

“You really shot him?” Mercy asked again.

“I had no choice. He meant to kill Seth.”

“You’re a very brave woman,” Sybil said.

“And a good shot.” Mercy’s voice was filled with awe.

Her strength returned. She could finally look at the situation fully. “I’m not a good shot. I meant to shoot him in the head but somehow managed to hit his hand.”

Mercy and Sybil stared at her. Mercy started to laugh. Then Sybil joined her.

Jayne stared at them both. “I might have hit Seth.”

“You already did once and he survived,” Mercy managed to gasp out.

“But at least you did what you could.” Sybil choked out the words in between laughter.

Poor Seth. She truly might have injured him again.

What must he think? He’d taught her all he knew and she still couldn’t hit what she aimed at.

A tickle began beneath her ribs and raced upward to escape as a burst of laughter.

The three of them fell on her bed and laughed out their tension and fear and relief.

After a moment, Jayne sobered. “I hope the knife wound isn’t too serious. Let’s see if Linette is done yet.” If she was and Seth felt up to being on his feet, Jayne meant to have a talk with him.

The three returned to the kitchen where Eddie waited for her. “Sit down. Tell me what happened.”

Mercy and Sybil sat beside her. Before she began, Linette returned. “I want to hear. too.”

“So do I.” A deep, familiar voice drew her attention to Seth.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve been hurt worse. I was shot once, you know.” His grin said he meant it to be teasing.

“I’m sorry. Somehow I feel I am to blame for this time, too.”

Mercy moved over and made room for him at Jayne’s side.

“You likely saved our lives.”

She nodded. He’d said it before. All she had to do was believe it.

She turned to her brother and began her account of the day’s events. “Harry Simms is his name. He was never arrested.” She told how Harry had set up some poor man to appear to be him.

She told every detail. “He wants a key that I don’t have.” She ended by relating how she’d missed her target.

“I meant to shoot him in the head.”

Her friends muffled a laugh but Eddie smiled at her. “My little sister can take care of herself.”

“She sure can,” Seth answered.

Their praise gave her food for thought. She had taken action rather than cowered in fear. She’d missed her intended target but nevertheless had disarmed the man.

Yes, she could take care of herself.

But she’d learned a second, equally valuable lesson.

Taking care of herself could be a lonely business unless she had a partner.

Why had Seth come back?

Chapter Nineteen

J
ayne hoped she and Seth would get a chance to talk but Linette had supper ready and after the meal, everyone continued to hang about.

Mercy and Sybil didn’t leave her side, as if afraid she would disappear again.

“You aren’t leaving again in the morning?” Jayne managed to ask Seth as they all clustered about the table, reading the newspapers brought back from town. It grew increasingly obvious that no one intended to leave Seth and Jayne alone. Whether intentional or not, she couldn’t say.

He shook his head. His eyes promised they would talk. And with that she had to be content.

Around the table Sybil covered a yawn and Linette’s head bobbed.

“We’ve kept you up long enough.” Sybil patted Linette’s arm.

Jayne’s sister-in-law had weary lines about her eyes, from hard work and her pregnancy. Jayne sprang to her feet. How selfish to be thinking only of getting a chance to talk to Seth. “Yes, it’s time for bed.”

Mercy rose and the three friends headed down the hall to their bedrooms.

Jayne paused just before she ducked out of sight and called “Good night.” She meant it for all of them but her gaze went only to Seth who stood in the hallway that went in the other direction.

His smile blessed her as he lifted a hand in a tiny wave.

Until tomorrow, she promised herself as she went to her room. He had come back. Surely that meant good news for her.

She didn’t have the strength to think of other reasons he might have returned.

The girls had made her put on the dress she’d worn when Seth had taken them to the waterfall up the mountain. When she’d taken it off she hadn’t planned to wear it ever again. It reminded her of his announcement that he meant to leave. He’d given her no reason to hope he’d come back or that he cared for her in the slightest.

Now she willingly hoped and believed he’d changed his mind.

She lifted the skirt to her nose and breathed deeply of the memories. The cool dampness of the spray of water, the sweet pine scent. She touched her fingertips to her lips, recalling the warmth of his kiss. How she’d thought it so full of promise.

Perhaps there would yet be a promise. She jammed her hand into the pocket. Her fingers encountered something hard. She dug deep and pulled out a little stone.

Her heart swelled with hope as she cupped it in her palm. Smooth and heart shaped, it had lain hidden in her pocket, forgotten until now.

A tremble filled her heart. The promise of that day had disappeared as Seth rode away. But now he had returned.

Hope danced across her nerves.

Clutching the rock, she went to her trunk and dug through the contents until she found her little treasure box. In it were items of sentimental value. She set it on her bed. A smile caught her lips as she opened it and lifted out a tiny gold locket. Mother and Father had given it to her when she was six years old. Perhaps one day she could pass it on to a daughter. Her throat tightened, as she pictured a tiny girl with hazel eyes like Seth’s and a smile that turned her heart to liquid honey.

She set aside the locket and picked up a valentine card her sisters, Bess and Anne, had made for her. For days they had labored over their secret. Bess was only about twelve years old and Anne nine at the time. The card they’d crafted was a little uneven in places but every time Jayne looked at it she remembered the way they had smiled as they presented it to her.

Next were four picture cards from the trip when Father had taken them to Paris. She sat back on her heels. Life had seemed so simple then. She would never have believed so much tragedy would hit her in a few short years.

She put the cards on the bed beside the other things and put her heart-shaped rock on the bottom of the box. Right beside the locket Oliver had given her. She touched the heart and key. Stirred them across the bottom.

The key didn’t match the heart for proportions. It was too large and heavy. Oliver had said she needed a big key because he had a big heart. At the time she’d put it down to Oliver’s likeness for doing things in a large way.

Where’s the key?
Harry had been sure she had it. Insisted he’d seen it. Was this what he meant? Could this be the key he sought?

A key to what? She studied it for a long time, searching her mind for a clue. What had Oliver said when he gave it to her? Nothing that seemed to indicate anything unusual. But several times he’d caught the charms as they hung from her neck and then said something cryptic.
You have the key to my heart and so much more.

Another conversation surfaced in her mind.

“Of course.” Now it all made sense.

She returned to the kitchen. It was dark. But she saw light in the hall. She found Eddie in the library, entering figures into a ledger.

He set aside the pen as she entered. “How are you doing?”

She shrugged. “Fine. I found this. Oliver gave it to me on a chain with a locket.”

Eddie examined it carefully. “It seems rather large to hang on a chain about your neck.”

She nodded. “I thought so, too, but it seemed sweet of Oliver to give it to me.” And then Oliver had died and she couldn’t bear anything that made her remember the details of his death so she’d put it in her treasure box and forgotten it as she tried to forget about Oliver’s murder.

“Oliver used to joke about a box he’d asked to store in a garden shed on our property. Said he didn’t think his parents would value it as they should and might even destroy it. He said someone had given it to him. He valued it for some reason, though he never said why.” She’d never thought to ask him. Or if she had, she’d quickly dismissed her curiosity. Oliver did not like her to ask too many questions. “I asked the gardener if he minded and of course he didn’t. I think this is what Harry was after.”

“I think you’re right. I’ll send the key to Father to check out.”

“If the box is full of money as Harry said, who does it belong to?”

“I really don’t know. I guess Father will have to get his lawyer to sort things out. I don’t think you need to worry about it, though.” He leaned back and studied her. “I guess that solves the mystery surrounding Harry.”

“Now I can rest in peace. Not that I think he’ll ever be a threat to me again.”

“What about Seth?”

She blinked. “Seth was never a threat to me.”

“Not physically. But I think emotionally he can hurt you very badly. Did he say why he came back?”

“We haven’t had a chance to discuss it.” She tipped her chin in a gesture of determination. “We will in the morning.”

He laughed at her little show of firmness. “Let me know how it goes.”

She rose, bent to kiss him on the forehead and pat his shoulder. “I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

He grinned. “Getting real independent, are you?”

She smiled down at him. “Not so independent I don’t need friends and family.” And a husband.

He opened his mouth, likely to add the same words she’d added silently.

She patted his shoulder again, not giving him a chance. “Good night, big brother.”

“Good night, little sister. Though not so little as you used to be.”

Nor so weak or fearful, she added silently.