Dance With A Gunfighter (41 page)

Tanner smiled, his shoulders relaxed. "Right. Come on
over here and tie me up."

"Gabe, don’t you realize? He’s paid off the sheriff.
Why do you think nothing happened to Tanner or any of his men after what they
did to your family?"

"The sheriff can’t be that bad!" Gabe cried.

"Listen to the woman, Jess." Tanner grinned,
cocky and seemingly unconcerned. "Sheriff’s a good man. He even told me not
to kill this little gal. But then, she’s got those Indians living out here with
her. I decided to kill her and scalp her--then the town could get rid of the
Indians, too."

"Damn you, Tanner," Gabe cried.

Tanner straightened, his arms still raised high. Ignoring
Gabe, he addressed McLowry. "I’m getting real tired of standing here, baby
brother. Seems to me, you got two choices. You can shoot me in the back or you
can take me to the sheriff in Jackson. Which is it?"

"There’s a third choice, Will. You can turn around
and face me. A showdown. Right here. Right now."

"You with a gun pointed at me? I don’t go in for
suicide."

"I’m putting my gun in my holster, too, Will. You can
turn around, real slow."

Tanner faced him. McLowry stood with his arms wide at his
sides.

Gabe wanted to cry out, wanted to run between them to stop
this thing, but she knew any distraction she made might hurt Jess. She couldn’t
stop them, just as she couldn’t stop what had happened to her family. Covering
her mouth with her hands to prevent herself from making a sound, she silently
eased back toward the stable, toward Maggie, and the rifle in the scabbard.

"Don’t wait for your men to help you, Will. A couple
of U.S. marshals from Tucson picked them up already--lawmen you haven’t paid off.
It’s your move."

"No way. You always were the quicker draw. I’m not
pulling my gun on you."

"You bragged from Durango to Santa Fe that you were
the fastest gunman in the west, Will." McLowry cocked his head. "You
saying you were lying?"

"Why are you doing this for her, brother? Why don’t
you join up with the gang again? We’d do well, go far."

"You and your gang hurt what’s mine and those I care
about. It’s my fight now."

"Well, I can see why you care about that gal
there," Tanner said, his drawl heavy and tinged with laughter. "I
still remember what it was like having her that day on the ranch. We killed her
old man and brothers, then found her. She tell you about it, Jess? No? Guess
she was ashamed--seeing her kin killed, and then loving what me and the rest of
the boys did to her. Got real fired up over me. Better than any whore I’ve had
before or since. But then, you know that, too, don’t you, baby brother?"

"Shut your foul mouth!"

"Didn’t she tell you about it? Don’t tell me she
pretended she was a virgin for you? She sure was when I took her. Can’t be
twice, from what I hear. Still, she went down on me real good for someone’s
supposed to be so innocent. You don’t hear her saying it’s a lie, do you?"

Gabe bit down hard on her lip, not allowing herself to cry
out in protest. Tanner wanted her to do just that. Any sound from her might
distract Jess.

"It’s true, Jess," he continued. "I had her
every way I could--so did the others. Tell him how much you liked
it...Gabriella."

When Jess heard the sound of her full name, his eyes
darted toward her. In that instant, Tanner drew his gun and fired.

At Tanner’s motion, McLowry’s wrist flicked toward his gun
and in a single action slid it free. Tanner’s shot hit him in the side,
knocking him backward to the ground and causing his return fire to miss its
mark and hit Tanner’s leg.

Gabe froze until she saw that Jess wasn’t badly hurt. As
he scrambled behind a corral post, she ran into the stables.

Tanner rolled behind the water barrel where she had just
been hiding, and pulled the trigger again. His shot ricocheted off the corral
post.

McLowry forced himself to his feet, fighting off pain and
shock. Bracing his shoulder against the skinny post, he took aim, waiting for
Tanner to show.

Tanner’s gun slowly began to move forward along the side
of the water barrel. Soon Tanner’s hand would show, then his arm, then an eye
as he took aim. That was when Jess would shoot. That was when he’d be forced to
kill his own brother.

A shot rang out. Tanner’s gun flew from his hand. He gripped
his wrist, his hand a blood-soaked mass of torn flesh. He stared at it a
moment, then doubled over in pain.

"Drop your gun, Jess," Gabe ordered, her voice
fierce, "or I swear I’ll do the same to you!"

"Keep out of this Gabe," Jess yelled, stumbling forward,
his gun still pointed at Tanner, while his free hand pressed hard against the
blood-soaked bullet wound on his side just above his waist.

"I won’t let you kill him."

"He’s no good. He deserves to die."

"He’s your brother!"

"Not anymore."

She stepped forward, her rifle stock against her shoulder,
ready to do whatever it took to stop them both. "There’s been enough
killing. You realized it long ago, Jess. And you've helped me to realize it,
too. We’ll turn him over to the law in Tucson."

"Your revenge can end here, Gabe," Jess said,
his voice cold. His face was pale and he blinked hard. "Here, where it all
began."

"I want justice, and I’ll have it. But more important
to me, Jess, is you. What you’re ready to do to him, for me, would destroy you."

"I’m doing it for me, too, for us, and for the child
we would have had."

"It’s too much."

He cocked his gun. "No. It’s not nearly enough."

"I understand, Jess. Believe me, I do," she
cried. "But that’s not the way. We’ll stop off quick at the doctor in
Jackson City to tend your wounds and Tanner’s. The doctor’s a good man. He’ll
keep it from the sheriff if we tell him what we suspect. From there we’ll go
straight to Tucson and the law. We will see justice done."

Jess took a deep breath, then nodded.

"Are you strong enough to keep that gun on him while
I get rope to tie him?" she asked. "I don’t want you passing out on
me, Jess McLowry."

"Go," he said.

As she headed toward the barn, McLowry kept his gun
trained on Tanner.

Tanner pulled himself up to a sitting position, his back
against the water barrel, his bleeding hand cradled against his stomach and his
wounded leg stretched out straight. His face was twisted with pain, his
breathing ragged. "Pull the trigger, Jess-boy. You aren’t going to let some
little woman boss you around, are you?"

Jess-boy...

Jess’s head swam, his ears painful with a strong buzz as
Tanner’s sneering face turned hazy. His thoughts swirled back, twenty years or
more, to a time before the war, before the killing. To the time when he’d been
so proud of his much older big brother he could barely stop from popping the
buttons on his shirt front...

Jess blinked hard, trying to clear his head. "If
you’re so ready to die, Will, just make one move for that gun I know you have
hidden in your boot. Or the one at your back. That’s all it’ll take, just one
little move."

Will grimaced. "I’m not that brave, Jess-boy. Despite
all, I’ve done. That’s a hoot, isn’t it, baby brother?"

Gabe came out with the rope. Jess told her where to find
the extra guns and knives Tanner carried and remove them. She tied him tight,
several times over to make sure, then they lifted him onto the buckboard.

Chapter 32

A month passed after their trip to Tucson. A month during
which Will Tanner was hanged for murder.

Now, Gabe stood on her porch, her arms folded. The trip
from the doctor’s house on the outskirts of Jackson, to the U.S. Marshal’s in
Tucson had been a descent into hell. Tanner had chided them both continuously,
his words vile and his innuendos ugly. But even worse than Tanner’s lies had
been Jess’s silence.

Her chest had ached with unshed tears for him. She had
been unable to think of any words or condolences that didn’t sound trite. He
was going to turn his brother over to the law, and they all knew what the
outcome of that action would be. Tanner was everything evil, but he was Jess’s
only living relative.

The torment he felt must have been all but unbearable.

They delivered Tanner to the marshal, and told him enough
about the sheriff in Jackson City that he would be arresting the man as well.
When the ordeal was over, Jess had simply walked away from her without a word.
Well, perhaps that hadn’t been exactly true...

An unspoken word had passed between them. It was good-bye.

She had returned to her ranch alone. Alone, over the long
summer days, she had watched the monsoon rains sweep the desert, rains that
washed the land fresh and clean and gave new life to plants and animals.

They were strong, these desert plants. They seemed hard
and craggy, thorny and ugly, but they held onto life with a tenaciousness that
was glorious, and when given bounty, they drank deeply, saving their life force
for a time when living was difficult again, and simply surviving from one day
to the next seemed impossible.

Whatever bounty Gabe may have been given was gone now. She
could sustain herself no longer. Inside the house earlier, she had tried to
pack a few clothes, but she couldn’t seem to decide which to bring and which to
leave behind. Out on the porch she hoped to clear her head.

She had made plans to go to Denver, to visit Chad, and to
give some thought to living there. Manolo and Kaiya could take care of the
ranch while she was gone, while she was deciding whether to return, or to sell.
Chad had told her the Rocky Mountains were quite beautiful, and that the snows,
when they came, were so cold and so deep they didn’t seem real. He assured her
she’d love them.

She doubted it.

She turned to go back indoors, but she’d only reached the
doorframe when she pressed her forehead to it. She didn’t want to leave, but
staying, remembering, was so very hard.

The sound of approaching hoof beats made her turn and
straighten her spine, her head high. As she squinted hard against the bright
sun at the figure on horseback, her heart began to beat faster. The
flat-crowned hat, the long, lazy way he sat in the saddle...

She put her hand to her chest, then slowly began to move
forward. Tears filled her eyes. Then she was running down the front steps and
across the yard, running to him. Her tears, unshed for so long, now fell.

Jess dismounted.

She hesitated for just a moment, unsure of why he was
here, but unable to find the words to ask him.

"Gabe." He took a step toward her and lifted his
arms. She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him, just as his
tightened around her. Her gentle tears turned then to heavy sobs, filling her,
wracking her, and she didn’t know why. At this moment, all that mattered was
that he was with her once more. At this moment, she could touch him, feel him,
hold him. She had no doubt that he would leave again, but right now, he was
here. Tears of thanks, joy, and loss poured from her eyes.

‘What’s all this?" he murmured, running a thumb over
her wet cheeks. "Are you so unhappy to see me?"

She shook her head, unable to talk, unable to do anything
but bury her face against his shoulder and let fall all the tears she had kept
within her for so long.

"Finally," he whispered, pressing his lips to
her forehead as he held her close and guided her toward the shelter of the
house.

They sat on the porch and he patiently held her as she let
go of the grief she’d bottled up. She didn’t know where so many tears came
from, didn’t know how she had held them inside.

After a while she pulled back and lifted her gaze to his.
"I’m so sorry--"

"Hush." He took off his bandanna and used it to
wipe her nose and eyes. His gentleness made her cry again.

Her fingers lightly touched the front of his shirt.
"It’s all wet."

"Yes."

She could see an unreadable glint in his eye. She was
being foolish again. "I don’t know what came over me."

"It’s all right," he said as he eased her head
against his shoulder once more.

She wanted to ask why he was here, but afraid of the
answer. Instead she sat quietly in the comfort of his arms and wished this
moment could last forever.

After a while, he spoke. "You’re not at the
celebration."

"Celebration?" For a moment she couldn’t think
of what he was referring to. "Oh, the Jackson City anniversary. I stopped
going to them."

"Never know who you’ll meet there, right?" he
said.

She remembered the festivities so many years ago where
they’d met. "Some real ornery cowboys show up now and then, that’s for
sure." A stray tear trickled from the corner of her eye and she wiped it
away.

"Would you come with me to the dance tonight?"

She lifted her head. "You’re just playing with
me," she said, her voice husky as she repeated her words of an eternity
ago.

He gave her that funny lop-sided grin of his. "Not
likely."

"I..." Her heart skittered. Still, his request
made no sense. She looked down at her denim trousers and man’s shirt.
"I’ll have to change."

"You’ve got a red skirt that’s mighty pretty on you,
Miss Gabriella."

She tried to smile, put a hand on her hip and said
saucily. "Did I ever tell you what I did to the last man who called me
that?"

"I heard tell he was hanged."

The smile vanished from her face and her eyes teared up
once more. "God, Jess..."

"It’s all right," he said softly. "Some
things can’t be helped, and some people, when they get broken, can’t be made
right again. I knew what the end would be for Will; I just didn’t know when.
Now, go get dressed."

She hurried into the bedroom, trying to stop her tears,
but failing miserably. She didn’t understand why he had asked her to go to the
dance--it was the last place on earth she felt like going to right now. Still,
to be with Jess, she’d go through hell if he asked her.