Defiant (14 page)

“So everyone’s talking about that, are they?” Rachel had expected the gossip to start, but not quite so soon.

Michelle looked a bit embarrassed for her friend. “There’s talk going around, but anyone who lived through that storm last night knows you and Kane did what you had to do to survive. There’s no scandal involved in that. It’s called staying alive.”

“I’m glad no one’s trying to stir up any trouble about it. I was worried for a while last night about being unchaperoned with him, but we really had no choice.”

“Gee, it must have been hard for you to suffer through all that time alone together,” Michelle teased in mock sympathy, wanting to lighten their mood.

Rachel smiled. “I can’t say much for the accommodations, but Kane was wonderful.”

“What did you do?”

Rachel looked guilty for a moment, then confided, “He taught me to play poker.”

“He did?” Michelle was shocked and then started smiling. She asked, “Did you tell your father what you did to pass the time?”

“No, and I’m not going to, because there was no gambling involved. We didn’t place any bets. We were just trying to amuse ourselves while we waited out the storm.”

“Well, I’m just glad you’re back safely. That’s all that matters. Have you heard anything more from your mother?”

“Nothing yet, but I’m sure she’ll either be back later today or send word.”

“Let’s hope Mrs. Franklin and her babies are doing all right.”

Michelle got up to leave, and Rachel walked with her to the door.

“The next time you plan a big adventure like this, let me know. Then I can figure out a way to travel with you, and we can arrange to have Nick rescue us when we get in trouble.” Michelle smiled at the thought, imagining how romantic it would be to be stranded that way together. Thinking of romance and knowing Rachel’s feelings for Kane, she had to ask conspiratorially, “Rachel—”

Rachel heard the change in her friend’s tone and wondered at it. “What?”

“Did Kane—? Did he kiss you?”

Rachel blushed at her friend’s question, but confided, “Yes. He did.”

Michelle was delighted for her friend and gave her a quick hug. “That is so-o-o romantic! Are you going to see him again soon?”

Rachel frowned at that question, for, when they’d reached town, her father had driven straight home and Kane hadn’t followed. “I don’t know—but I hope so.”

“I hope you do, too! The sooner, the better.”

“You come by the Silver Dollar for an early lunch any day, Sheriff—I’ll be glad to wait on you—and serve you up something real special,” Melody told Pete as she lay naked on the rumpled bed; she was covered only by a sheet. She was watching him get dressed with open interest.

“You did just that today, darlin’,” Pete complimented her as he strapped on his gun belt.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some dessert?” she asked in a husky voice.

Her tone was sensual and inviting, and Pete was tempted, but he’d already spent too much time with her. He had to get back to work. He gave Melody a lewd grin. “I know you’re a sweet little thing, but if I stay here any longer, people are going to start wondering why I took such a long lunch hour.”

“Because you were hungry?” she purred, letting the sheet drop away to bare her breasts.

Heat rose within Pete again, but he tried to ignore it.

Melody pouted when he seemed unaffected by her deliberately seductive move. Most of the men she served fell all over themselves in their rush to get back into her bed when she did that.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a little something more?” She rose up on her knees before him and let the sheet fall completely away from her. She watched Pete closely, enjoying the struggle he was going through. Very few men had ever been able to just walk away from her when she began enticing them this way. “Dessert never takes very long—and you know I’m a real good cook. Wouldn’t you like something—sweet?”

Pete considered how quiet it was outside and knew an extra few minutes wouldn’t matter today. He walked over to the bed and took Melody up on her offer.

The dessert she offered was sweet, just as she’d said, and he did enjoy it.

He left her a big tip on the bedside table for the quick, satisfying service.

When Pete made his way downstairs, the bar was still mostly empty.

“Business pretty quiet so far today, Silas?” Pete asked, looking around.

“So far, but it’s early yet. Not everybody can get away for lunch like you—if you know what I mean,” he said with a conspiratorial smile. He made it a point to have his working girls give the
sheriff anything he wanted, any time he wanted it. It kept the lawman happy and encouraged him to look the other way when there was any trouble at the Silver Dollar.

“I do enjoy your lunch hour. Your waitresses serve it up real good, Silas. I’ll see you later.”

Pete left the saloon and started back to the jail to see what Nick was up to.

“Did you have a good lunch?” Nick asked, looking up from the desk when Pete walked in the office.

“You know it,” he said with a more than satisfied grin. “What’s been happening here?”

“Nothing much, except for the talk I heard about Rachel Hammond’s accident.”

“Something happened to Rachel? What?”

“Evidently she was on her way back from the Franklin ranch yesterday when the storm hit. Her buggy was wrecked and her horse ran off. She was stuck out there all alone until Kane McCullough found her,” Nick explained.

“McCullough? What was he doing out there?”

“He was just passing by, I guess. Who knows? But it was lucky he showed up when he did. Otherwise, Rachel would have been stuck out there all night.”

“Where is she now?” Pete asked.

“I think she’s probably back home.”

“So she’s all right?”

“As far as I know,” Nick told him.

“I’m going to go pay her a visit and make sure. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.”

Nick wasn’t surprised that Pete was going to see Rachel. He’d figured his boss would want to look in on her, being sweet on her as he was. But Nick had deliberately not told Pete everything he’d heard around town that morning. Pete would hear the rest of the gossip soon enough, but he wouldn’t hear it from his deputy.

Pete wasted no time getting over to the Hammond house, and he was glad when Rachel answered his knock at her door.

“Why, Pete—this is a surprise,” she told him. “Won’t you come in?”

“Thanks, Rachel.” He went inside and waited in the foyer, hat in hand, while she closed the front door.

“Who is it?” Martin called out from his study.

“It’s Pete, Papa,” she answered.

Martin came out to welcome him. “Good to see you, Pete. Come on in and sit down for a while.”

They all went into the parlor and settled in.

“Nick told me you’d been in an accident, and I wanted to come by and make sure you were all right,” Pete told Rachel. “What happened?”

She quickly told him of her adventurous trek home and how she’d been stranded in the storm. “It was amazing that Kane showed up the way he did.”

Pete was struck that she was calling McCullough by his first name. A surge of jealousy went through him. “I’m glad he did. If you’d been left out there all night, you would have been in grave danger. What time did you finally make it back to
town?” He wondered how they’d managed to travel during the storm.

It was then that both Rachel and Martin realized he hadn’t heard the whole story of what had transpired. They shared a quick look of understanding, and then Rachel went ahead and told Pete the full truth of how they’d ended up in the abandoned homestead.

“We didn’t get back to town until this morning. There was no way we could travel after dark when it was raining so hard.”

“So you spent the night there alone with him?” Pete repeated, shocked.

She lifted her chin a little at his reaction. “Yes, and thank heaven Kane saved me. Without him, I might not have made it back at all.”

“But your reputation—after spending the night with a man like McCullough. He’s nothing but a fast gun—”

Martin had anticipated that Pete might react this way, and he was ready for him.

“My daughter’s reputation is immaculate, Peter,” Martin declared in a stern tone. He knew what a lot of the lower-minded folks around town would be thinking, and he wasn’t going to abide it—not from them and certainly not from Pete. “Kane McCullough may be a fast gun, but he was a fast thinker yesterday. The man saved my daughter’s life, and for that I will always be grateful.”

“You’re right, of course.” Pete looked at Rachel, backing down a bit in the face of her father’s righteous
indignation. “I have to be getting back to work, but I just wanted to come by and let you know I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Thanks, Pete,” Rachel said as she walked him back to the door to see him out.

Pete was a bit frustrated, and his mood was pensive as he returned to the office. He believed what Reverend Hammond had said about Rachel’s reputation being unspoiled, but he couldn’t help wondering how the gossips around town were going to handle the situation. Some of the ladies could get real ugly with their insinuations and small talk, and he hoped Rachel wouldn’t suffer from their attacks.

“Why didn’t you tell me everything that happened with Rachel?” Pete challenged Nick when he entered the office. “I don’t like surprises.”

Nick was working at his desk, and he looked up at Pete as he answered, “I hadn’t heard that much, and what I had heard sounded mostly like idle gossip. I figured you’d get the true story from Rachel and her father.”

“I did, and it isn’t pretty.”

“Why? What happened?”

“She spent the whole night—alone—with McCullough!” he snarled.

“But you know nothing happened, Pete,” Nick assured him. “This is Rachel Hammond you’re talking about. She’s the preacher’s daughter. She’s a perfect lady. McCullough might have taken her someplace safe and dry for the duration of the storm, but there’s no way anything else happened
between them. Give the woman some credit.”

Pete muttered angrily to himself.

Nick went on, challenging him, “Would you rather Rachel had been left alone in the storm last night and ended up hurt or even possibly dead?”

“Hell, no,” he snarled, angry that Nick was being so blunt with him.

“That’s right, and while you were gone, a couple of men brought her buggy in. I got a good look at it as it passed by the office. Considering the extent of the damage, I’d say she’s lucky she’s alive.”

“Even so, the town gossips are going to have a lot to say about what happened.” Pete could imagine how they would condemn Rachel’s actions.

“There’s no changing people like that. Since she’s the preacher’s daughter, they’re going to try to make the situation seem worse than it is,” Nick said.

Pete was tempted to go after McCullough but decided against it. He’d let his anger pass and hope that Rachel’s ordeal didn’t get blown out of proportion.

It was late, but Clint was still awake, lying on his hotel room bed, fully dressed. Unable to sleep and feeling on edge, he got up and went to stare out the window. The streets of Dry Springs were quiet. No one was stirring, and yet he felt decidedly restless.

Earlier he’d gone down to the Last Chance for a
drink and to take a look around. He’d found there was still no sign of Tucker and his gang. Nothing had changed while he’d been away. He’d returned to his room and had been there ever since.

Now as the night aged, Clint found himself thinking about what had happened the night before and almost wishing he could turn the clock back. The memory of having Rachel in his arms, of kissing her, haunted him. She was everything that was beautiful and good, and because of that, she couldn’t be a part of his world.

Clint lifted his gaze and saw the church’s steeple over the roofs of the other buildings. Rachel was that close, but she was also that far away. As much as he wanted her in his life, he could not involve her in his quest for vengeance. He could not put her at risk. The men who’d murdered his family wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way. It was for that reason that he would have to keep his distance from her. He was saving her again, but she would never know it.

Only he would know, and that would be his solace.

Chapter Fourteen

Clint stepped out of the telegraph office in Silver Pass two days later holding the response he’d been expecting from Captain Meyers. It was quiet on the street, so he took the time to quickly read the message:

Have no information on the person you mentioned. Ed Riley was the sheriff in Dry Springs for years, and Ben Taggart was his deputy.

Clint had been hoping for some solid background information on Pete Reynolds, and Captain Meyers’s response was disappointing. He couldn’t decide if the fact that there was nothing known about Reynolds allayed his fears or not.

Frustrated, he rode back toward Dry Springs.

And this time as he made the trek, he couldn’t help wondering if it would storm.

Pete had been doing some checking of his own, and he didn’t like what he’d found out about Kane McCullough. He’d sent telegrams to people he figured might have heard of the man and had learned that McCullough was known far and wide as a deadly fast gun—a gun for hire. Pete was suspicious of the gunman’s reasons for being in Dry Springs, and he wondered why McCullough had stayed around so long. He knew he was going to start keeping an eye on him.

Anne had just stepped into the General Store when she saw three of the town’s most upstanding ladies huddled together by the yard goods section. They were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t notice she’d come in. Anne wondered what could have them looking so intense, and then she heard what they were saying.

“I tell you, Catherine, it’s the worst scandal to hit this town in years!” Mary Ann Forester declared.

“I know it’s a difficult situation for them, and I just don’t know what Reverend Hammond is going to do,” the good-hearted Helen Slifer added. She was trying not to be as judgmental as her companions. She knew Rachel and truly cared about her.