Texas Moon TH4 (30 page)

Janice could manage happiness just by watching Betsy. Betsy couldn't run in the three-legged sack race, but she almost won the egg contest, tripping at the last minute and splattering her egg all over the winner. The loss didn't seem to bother her. Just the fact that she had been able to play thrilled her. Perhaps, at long last, she was growing out of the bad spells.

The time for the horse race came soon enough. Peter grabbed Janice, kissed her hard for luck, and ran off to join the others. She clenched her fingers into fists and watched him go without raising a word of protest when what she wanted to do was scream and rail against the fates.

"That man of your'n is riding a mighty mean stallion, ain't he?"

Janice looked up in surprise at the tall stranger leaning against a nearby walnut tree. His grizzled beard probably hadn't been cut in weeks, and his worn leather vest was probably more disreputable than the one Jason Harding wore. Still, he looked like a relatively harmless old man, until he shifted his stance and she could see the guns he wore on his hips.

Except for this one, the men were all around the paddock or the track. Carmen and Evie and Jasmine were all concentrating on keeping the children away from the horses and out from under the feet of the men. No one heard the question but herself. She ought to ignore him and walk off, but she couldn't. Something compelling about the stranger's gaze prevented her from dismissing him.

"I don't know much about horses," she offered carefully, moving toward the other women and away from him.

"Reckon he can keep the brute on the track?" the stranger inquired, undeterred by the distance she created.

He must be trying to decide on a wager. Janice wasn't precisely certain how betting worked, but she couldn't be less than honest with the man. She nodded. "Peter can ride him. I've seen him."

The old man grinned and fished in his pocket for a cigar. "Oh, I saw him all right. Put on a pretty show for the greenhorns, he did. Had that animal on his back feet like a dancing bear. Odds are twenty to one against his winning and five to one he'll get himself killed out there. I wouldn't want to see the boy killed. If you say he can ride him, I'll take your word on it."

Killed? She hadn't considered that alternative. With rising panic, Janice searched the paddock for some sign of Peter and the horrible animal he'd chosen to ride. She had considered his winning or losing, but she hadn't thought he'd be foolish enough to get himself killed. Surely Tyler wouldn't let him ride a horse that dangerous.

She couldn't see anything but a blur of milling horses, riders, and dust. When she looked back to the tree, the man was gone.

The stranger appearing and disappearing like that made her even more nervous. She didn't like it. Checking to see that Betsy was safely sitting on the carriage seat, bouncing up and down with Melissa in an attempt to see the track better, Janice forced herself to walk closer to the railing.

She knew the race was over a mile long. The track was little more than a field that had been used once too often for racing. Over the years, distance markers had been tacked up haphazardly, and today a form of starting gate had been built. The grass was thick and dry, and there didn't seem to be any obstacles in the way. Janice couldn't see anything that would pose a danger, other than the horse itself. She might know nothing of horses, but surely the men did. They would know if it was safe to race the stallion.

Manuel materialized at her side, and she sent him a quick glance. He was probably a year or so older than she. He'd been running his uncle's ranch back in Mineral Springs until Peyton had sold it to the Hardings. Now that Manuel had seen his kid brother through college, he was footloose and fancy-free, figuring Jose could support their youngest sister Maria and uncle now that he was a lawyer.

Manuel's Mexican good looks were an oddity here in Natchez where everyone seemed to be blond and fair, but he didn't seem to have any trouble attracting girls. If she wondered why he'd chosen to stand beside her and not one of the Southern belles looking his way, his first words answered the question.

"Pete said I'd better keep an eye on you. Can't quite tell if he expects you to throw something at him or to faint. I told him you're more likely to take a ruler to his hand, but he ain't seen you behind a school desk, and he doesn't believe me. Are you going to do anything rambunctious, Mrs. Mulloney?"

His dark eyes laughed, but they watched too. Janice smiled at his concern. "I'll wait until after the race if I mean to do anything rambunctious. That pretty girl with the blue ribbon is looking over here. Why don't you go entertain her with your wild tales?"

Manuel pulled on his hat, studied her face one more time, then grinned. "I just might do that. Do you think she'll believe the one about me blowing up the town?"

"That one gets bigger every time someone tells it. I thought Daniel was the responsible party."

Manuel shrugged and started to walk away. "Don't think there were any responsible parties at the time, but it's a great attention-getter."

Janice laughed and returned her gaze to the track. She should be thankful Peter wasn't like Manuel, with his eyes always following a different lady. She watched the horses lining up at the gate and wondered if following gold was any better than following the ladies.

At the gunshot starting the race, she jumped, startled, and grabbed the railing to steady herself. Peter's stallion was equally surprised by the noise. The animal reared and whinnied and lost ground to the steadier participants. While Peter wasted time bringing his mount into line, Janice cried out in frustration and pounded the fence—which shocked her even more.

Peter jerked his mount back to order and sent the animal after the rest of the pack. The horse's heavy muscles rippled under a shiny coat of black. Janice couldn't see any of the physical faults Peter had noted that first day. The stallion was huge and fast. Had he not delayed his start, he would be way ahead of the others by now. As it was, he had already passed the slower horses and gained on the heaviest part of the pack.

Janice discovered she was digging her fingers into the fence post, but she didn't bother trying to pry them loose. She sensed the crowd forming behind her, knowing the women by their perfumes, hearing the loud shouts of the men as Peter pulled the stallion to the outside of the track to go around the herd. That maneuver meant his horse would have farther to run, but it was safer than forcing his way through.

Tyler screamed instructions Peter couldn't possibly hear. Benjamin simply yelled in some relentless rhythm that duplicated the pounding of the horses' hooves. Janice dug her fingers into the railing and prayed.

She screamed with the crowd when Peter's stallion pulled ahead of all the others but one. She screamed as the two lead horses came around the stretch, neck and neck. She screamed herself hoarse when Peter's mount pulled ahead by a nose. And she screamed hysterically when a gun went off near the gate, sending the stallion wheeling in panic, flinging his rider to the ground.

Janice was over the fence before anyone could stop her. The pack of horses racing down the track were no more than a horde of insects to her ears. The crowd roared as the stallion flew across the finish line, riderless. Men scrambled over the fence to haul Peter out of the rush of hooves pounding his way.

They had him on the edge of the track at the railing by the time Janice reached him. She fell on her knees and held his head in her lap and bent over him just as the last horse flew by. Peter managed a lopsided grin. "I told Manuel to keep an eye on you. That boy can't do anything right."

"I hate you, Peter Mulloney," she whispered so no one could hear. Not that anyone could hear for the screaming and shouting and cursing going on all around them. "If you haven't broken your neck, I'll do it for you."

He moaned as he shifted position and closed his eyes. "I knew you were the kind of woman who would give me wifely consideration. I did a good job picking you, didn't I?"

She wept then. Tears crawled down her cheeks, and she despised herself for them, but she couldn't stop. She buried her fingers in Peter's hair and held him close while doctor climbed over the fence to examine him. She was behaving like an hysterical female, she knew, but she hadn't been prepared for this. She could plan so many things, but she couldn't plan disasters.

"You're goin' to have to let him go, ma'am. He needs to sit up so I can see if there's any bones broken." The doctor had already done a thorough inspection of Peter's legs, now he waited impatiently for Janice to release his patient.

Peter lifted one eyelid to peer at the physician. "Don't you think I ought to just rest here awhile longer? My wife won't kill me if she thinks I'm dying."

The side-whiskered physician harrumphed and bit back a grin. "You pretty durn well near killed yourself, I figger. Maybe she'll take that into account." By this time, Tyler and Benjamin were shoving back the crowd and bending anxiously over the fallen rider.

When Peter managed to sit up without falling over, they stepped back with relief. Janice wrung her hands to keep from striking out at all of them. They'd lost the race and had nothing to show for it but a thousand-dollar debt and a lump at the back of Peter's head.

Peter winked and tapped her cheek. "Quit fretting, Jenny-belle. I'll live." He looked up at Tyler. "Don't suppose a horse crossing the finish line without a rider counts, does it?"

Tyler snorted. "I'm going to find the damned cracker that shot that gun and ram him down the barrel. Are you going to get up from there or do we have to carry you?"

Peter tentatively stretched his legs. Finding them still in working order, he wrapped an arm around Janice's shoulders. "You look beautiful even when you cry, Mrs. Mulloney, but you'll not get rid of me this easily. Help me up, and I'll find us some way out of this."

Janice wiped at her tear-streaked face, then wrapped her arm around him. She didn't think he really needed her help. He was just looking for some way to hold on to her a little while longer. It didn't matter. It was all over. They had lost. She didn't know what the future held, but she had married this man for better or worse. They would make the best of it somehow.

Peter limped slightly once he reached his feet, but he steadied himself on Janice's shoulders and kept his arm there as he headed off the track.

"I'll wire Daniel for the money I owe you if it's going to leave you short," Peter told Tyler as the other man walked alongside of him. They both watched as Benjamin took the reins of the stallion that had cost them so much.

"I'll not be short," Tyler answered absently, watching a man in top hat and frock coat pat the stallion' neck. "I had me a few side bets."

Peter turned to stare at him. "Side bets? You bet against your own horse?"

Tyler's grin was lazy and disarming as he continued watching his animal. "Never put all your eggs in one basket, Mulloney. That's the key to successful gambling. The odds weren't great, but they paid back the original bet."

Peter nodded. "Lesson learned. Well, if you don't mind then, I'll wait a while to pay that debt. I have to go into Houston and see if I can borrow from those banks Harding told me about."

Janice looked up, startled at this new development. He still meant to try to buy the gold mine?

Tyler stopped a few yards short of the crowd gathering around the stallion. He tipped his hat back, looked around to make certain no one listened, then answered, "No need to do that. I've got the cash."

Peter shook his head as if the fall might have worked something loose. "You've got the cash? I thought..."

Tyler shook his head and grinned proudly at the stallion rearing back at all the sudden attention. "I've sold that devil, Mulloney. The damned fool man gave me enough to buy a gold mountain. You interested?"

Peter coughed, grabbed Janice tighter, and looked from his host to the wild horse. "You sold him?"

Tyler pulled a pocket full of bills from his shirt and handed them over. "When his new owner tires of trying to tame the devil, I'll get him back, for a third of the price. Get yourself back here before then. Next time, I mean to win that race."

Janice looked in wonder at the huge stack of bills. She'd never seen so much money in her life. She looked up at her husband's astounded face and saw the excitement building there.

He was about to leave her for a damned gold mountain.

Chapter 25