Dorothy Garlock (17 page)

Lord, he wished he'd come right home after the meeting instead of going to the hotel to inquire about Justine Byers's niece. Carsie might be alive if he had. An impulse to show up the dark-haired man who had been so highhanded on the street corner had led to his asking Miss Jones to go walking with him.

Something had happened between the time he left the house and his return about three hours later that put Carsie in such a rage that she told Dinah to tell him to go fuck himself. Had someone called? Dinah hadn't heard the phone ring, but then she wouldn't if she had been out in the rooms where she and Casper lived.

Hunter had told the officer everything he could remember about the last time he had seen Carsie, including what she had said to Dinah.

Hunter poured a jigger of whiskey from the bottle on his desk. He had drunk more the last couple of days than he had for weeks. After downing the drink in one gulp, he turned out the light, swiveled his chair and stared at the darkened windowpane. Thoughts of Carsie vanished when he remembered a pair of violet eyes set in a calm beautiful face.

He had thought a lot about Laura Hopper since meeting her on Monday morning, and he now knew much more about her. Perry had written down everything he had found out about the beautiful girl. She was twenty years old and had been married to Bradley Hopper for two months when he fell off a Westfall derrick and was killed.

Laura's daughter had been born four months later, which meant that she had been pregnant when she married. She had lived with her parents until her father died suddenly. Now her mother cleaned rooms at the hotel and they both did the hotel laundry. Laura ironed for a few special customers. He, Hunter, was one of them.

The young mother didn't socialize or go to church, Perry discovered, although her mother attended the Baptist church service. He had noted that Laura kept close to home and seldom went to town.

The one little bit of information that interested Hunter the most was the fact that Laura's husband had been killed on one of his derricks. It gave him an excuse to call on her and try to become better acquainted.

Right now he wasn't sure of his intentions toward Laura Hopper. He needed someone in his bed to play with, but he wasn't sure that Laura was that kind of playmate. Of course, he wouldn't know that unless he spent some time with her.

He needed a diversion badly …something other than business. He turned back to the desk and turned off the light. There was nothing he loved more than a challenge.

Chapter 11

T
HE LIGHT OF DAWN WAS COMING IN
through the east windows and birds were chirping in the big ash tree beside the back porch.

Suddenly Thad awakened and his feet hit the floor.

He knew instantly that someone had come into the hotel lobby. He tilted his head and listened to the low murmur of male and female voices. The man was speaking to Mrs. Evans, who for the past few days had taken a turn at the desk early in the morning.

Thad eased up off the cot and, not bothering to put on either boots or shirt, went quietly down the hallway to where he could see into the lobby.

The tall man standing at the desk wore denim britches and a shirt bleached to a faded blue by many washings. Heavy boots, planted firmly on the floor, supported a body as sturdy as an oak tree with broad shoulders and a head of shaggy sun-bleached blond hair.

“This is a decent hotel.” Thad spoke gruffly as he crossed the room on his bare feet. “We don't allow roughnecks and wild shidepokes in here.”

Alarmed, Mrs. Evans stepped back from the desk.

The man turned toward the voice and a smile creased his tired face.

“God, Thad. You'll have the woman thinkin 'I'm Pretty Boy Floyd.”

“You're too damned ugly for her to think that.”

Thad turned to the front desk. “Mrs. Evans, this mud-ugly son of a gun is Joe Jones, the black sheep of the Jones family.” He grabbed Joe by the back of his neck and they danced around each other like a couple of bear cubs. “Glad to see you. You're a day or two early.”

“Blue and I beat it right up here when we heard you found the body of a murdered woman. Scared the hell out of me. Is Jill all right? ”

“She's fine. Same old Jill; full of sass. You know I'd not let anything happen to our little sister.”

“Did you know that you're in all the papers? The Tulsa paper said that you were a roustabout looking for work and that you and your dog found the body. What in the hell were you doing out in the country late at night, and when in hell did you pick up a dog? ”

“It's a long story.”

Joe turned and spoke seriously to Mrs. Evans. “I've been keepin 'this son of a gun out of hot water since he was knee-high to a short frog. As soon as I turn my back, he's in trouble up to his neck.”

“I'm not in trouble, but you will be if you wake up everyone in this hotel.” Then, “Where's Blue? ”

“Sleepin 'in the car. We got here a couple hours ago.”

“Drive all night? ”

“Left at sundown yesterday. Broke a fan belt and had two flat tires. Good thing I had a couple extra tubes. A certain clabberhead I know used the last of the patches and didn't replace them.”

“You can't blame that on me.”

“Maybe not, but I'm sure as hell goin 'to try.” Joe whacked Thad on the shoulder. “What did Jill say when she saw you? ”

“I don't remember her first words, but somewhere in there she yelled, 'Thad Taylor, you shut up. ' ”

“Sounds like her.”

“Come on back to the kitchen and I'll make you a cup of coffee.”

“First I'd better get Blue. He might come stumbling in here and scare hell out of the lady.”

While Thad was filling the teakettle, Radna came from her room wearing a loose, Indian-style dress. Her hair was plaited in two loose braids. She moved so quietly that she was beside Thad before he knew she was in the room.

“What's going on? Why are you up so early? Who were you talking to out in the lobby? ”

“Shoot, Radna. I was trying to be quiet. Does anyone or anything move around here that you don't know about? ”

“Not if I can help it.”

“You haven't had much sleep. I heard you come in just after the clock struck two.”

“Yeah, I had a wild night out on the town.”

Thad set the teakettle on the stove and threw his arm across her shoulders. “You worry me, girl.”

“Girl? Hell,
Buster.
I'm old enough to be your mama.”

“You don't look it.”

Joe and Blue came in the back door. Joe paused in the doorway when he saw Thad with his arm around an Indian woman.

Joe Jones was a handsome young man. His blond hair was soft and wavy, his eyes sky-blue. His well-muscled body was hard and strong. The grin on his face was so contagious that Radna couldn't help but return his smile.

Thad crossed the room in quick strides to hold out his hand to Blue.

“Lord, Blue, you look like you've been run on a rim for five miles.”

“Hell damn. I'm 'bout dead, that's why. Young pup hit every dadburn bump between here and Ponca.”

“Both of us would have been dead if I hadn't squeezed him out from under the wheel, ”Joe explained. “I went to sleep and woke to find that he'd decided to take a shortcut across the prairie. 'Bout jarred my guts out.” Joe's smiling eyes went past Thad to the woman who stood beside the stove.

“This is Radna, good friend of Aunt Justine and Jill and now my best girl. I've asked her to marry me.” Thad grinned at the astonished look on Joe's face.

Radna rolled her eyes. “Pay him no mind. This boy's got about as much sense as a drunk hoot owl. I take it you're Joe, Jill's brother.”

“That's right, ma'am.”

“Are all the Jones kids as pretty as you and Jill? ”Radna asked.

“No, ma'am. I'm the prettiest by a long shot.”

Radna laughed. “Modest, too.”

“Yes, ma'am. Modest and pleasant and pretty and smart.”

“Bull-foot! ”Blue muttered. “He's 'bout as pleasant as a boil on the butt.”

“This galoot beside me is Randolph Bluefeather, usually called Blue. He's got a mite more sense than Thad, but you'd never know it.”

“That wouldn't take much.”

“We knew him a year before we learned the Randolph part of his name. If you want to make him mad — and you will because he's an ornery cuss and stubborn as a Missouri mule when he gets his back up — just call him Randolph.”

“I'll remember that.”

Blue acknowledged the introduction with a nod of his head when she didn't offer her hand.

Radna stepped to the doorway and looked down the hall.

“Everything's fine. I never heard a peep out of her all night, ”Thad said when she turned back. “The door is locked and I've got the key in my pocket.”

“Well then, I'll wash up and fix breakfast. Fire up the oven, Thad, if you want biscuits.”

Thad showed first Joe and then Blue to the lavatory in the hall and told them about turning over the OCCUPIED sign on the door when they went in and reversing it when they came out.

After washing his face in the wash dish Radna kept in the kitchen and running the comb through his hair, he knocked gently on the door to Jill's room. When there was no answer, he knocked again, then opened the door.

In the light coming through the window, he could see that she was sleeping soundly, her tousled blond head pillowed on a bent elbow. Leaving the door open a crack, Thad went inside. The sheet covered only her legs and hips. He gazed down at her soft breasts showing plainly beneath the thin nightdress and felt a strong surge of desire.

Feeling like a cad for looking at her while she was sleeping, he gently pulled the sheet up until it covered her breasts before he eased himself down on the side of the bed. He looked at her for a long moment. Her mouth was slightly open, her long lashes lay on her cheeks. He reached out to brush her hair away from her face with his fingertips, but drew back for fear that he would awaken her.

Would she be outraged to know that he longed to hold her warm and naked in his arms, kiss her in a hundred different places, make long, slow love to her? He had known after he'd been here two days that he wanted to live with her for the rest of their days, wanted to make a family with her.

As he sat there, he thought about how angry he and Joe had been when they learned that she had come alone to the rough town of Rainwater. But if she hadn't come here, he might have discovered too late that she was the woman for him. She might have stayed in Fertile, married someone else and been lost to him forever.

“Honey.” Thad placed his hand on her shoulder. “Wake up.”

Jill's eyes opened. “Thad—? ”Startled, her senses swimming in a pool of confusion, she reached for him.

“Everything is all right, ”he said, quickly taking her hands in his. “Joe is here.”

Jill sat up, holding the sheet to her. “Joe is here? Where is he? When did he get here? ”

“He's in the kitchen and he got here in the night but waited until dawn to come in.” Thad laughed, delighting in her joy. It was hard not to wrap her in his arms and hold her warm, sweet little body tightly to him. Instead his hands slid up her arms for an instant before he stood up. “Get dressed, sugarfoot. Radna's cooking breakfast. Do you want me to bring some water so you can wash in here? ”

“I brought some in last night. Oh, Thad, it's been so long since I've seen him.”

“He's still as ugly as ever.”

“Oh, you! Get out of here so I can get dressed.”

Thad turned at the door for one last look. Their eyes caught. She was smiling broadly. He winked at her before he left the room.

When Thad returned to the kitchen, Radna was stirring a skillet of gravy, and Joe was talking to her as if he had known her forever. Blessed with the gift of gab, Joe never had any trouble carrying on a conversation with the young and the old, male or female.

“We had planned to go on down to Healdton. There's a big oil boom down there. Then Pa wrote that Jill was here in Rainwater. I don't think he realized how rough an oil boomtown can be or he'd not have let her come.”

“Justine may not have mentioned that to him. She was anxious to have some of her family with her.”

“Thad and I decided that we'd better put off going to Healdton and that he'd better come on ahead while Blue and I stayed to finish the job we were on.” Joe caught a glimpse of Thad in the doorway. “He wasn't much use anyway. He'd got the big head after helping to put out a little old oil well fire. He jumped at the chance to run up here and look after my little sister.”

Radna realized that there was a deep and abiding affection between these two men that allowed them to tease each other.

Thad lingered in the doorway. “Don't believe a word he says. He blows so much hot air that every time he opens his mouth I get an earache.”

Blue, behind Thad, gave him a not-so-gentle push and they both came into the kitchen.

“You'd better not pick on me, ”Thad warned. “Radna will scalp you with that butcher knife.”

“Hell damn, Thad, you lettin 'a woman do your fightin 'now? ”Blue said. And then to Joe: “I told you we shouldn't have let him come up here without one of us come along to be nursemaid.”

Blue, some years older than Joe and Thad, seemed rather short when compared to them, but he was thick in the shoulders and chest. His complexion was smooth and dark; his eyes, black as midnight, had deep crinkled grooves at the corners, from squinting at the sun.

Other lines that experience had made marked his face, too. The black, silver-streaked hair that framed his Indian features was brushed straight back, looped behind his ears and chopped off bluntly at the nape of his neck. He was an unlikely companion to the two young men, but the three were obviously fond of one another.

Radna opened the door of the oven. “Biscuits are done. Pour the coffee, Thad. The rest of you take a seat.”

“Joe! ”Jill came flying through the door and launched herself at her brother. “Joe, I'm so glad to see you.”

“Hello, little sis.” He caught her and lifted her off her feet.

“Oh, its been so long! ”She kissed his cheek again and again.

“I'm glad to see you, too. Let me look at you.” He set her on her feet and held her away from him. “Damn! What happened to you? You've grown up and got bumps.” Joe looked over her head at a grinning Thad. “If I'd known that, I'd not have let Thad come up here.”