The Outlaws: Rafe (35 page)

There was a bitter edge to Rafe's voice.
 
"Congratulations."
 
He couldn't help being caustic.
 
He wouldn't be a wanted man today if Delia hadn't gotten herself in the family way.
 
Obviously Ted Poppins was the father of her child.
 
It was good that he'd found his conscience and returned and marrying the mother of his child.

"What's Wingate doing here?" Rafe asked, turning his attention back to Angela.

"He's come to recant his story about the bank robbery, Rafe," Angela said.

Rafe stared at her, his face a mask of utter amazement.
 
"I don't know how you keep doing that, love."

"Doing what?"

"Saving my life.”

"How did you get Wingate to tell the truth?" Rafe asked, shifting his gaze from Angela to Delia.

"It was Delia," Angela explained.
 
"I met her by chance.
 
I was headed to the bank to beg Mr. Wingate to admit the robbery was a hoax when we ran into one another.
 
We got to talking.
 
She was with me when I confronted her father in his office.
 
When she learned what her father had done, she urged him to make amends."

"I never asked Papa to find me a husband," Delia explained.
 
"He took it upon himself to deal with you and your brothers in that fashion."
 
She blushed profusely and looked away.
 
"I know you and your brothers must think ill of me, but once I met Ted and fell in love, I wanted no other man.

"Ted was a somewhat...reluctant to marry me when he learned about the baby," she continued.
 
"He left town in a hurry, but I knew he'd come back when he realized he had a responsibility to me and our child.
 
But Papa couldn't wait.
 
His pride got in the way.
 
I'm sorry, Rafe.
 
I feel as though this is all my fault."

"You couldn't have known what your father intended," Rafe grudgingly allowed.
 
"All I want now is vindication for me and my brothers."

"And you're gonna have it," Sheriff Jenkins said as he walked over to join them.
 
He unlocked the cell and swung the door open.
 
"You're free to go, Gentry."

Rafe stepped through the opening and breathed deeply.
 
Then he pulled Angela into his arms and kissed her soundly.
 
"Don't you ever follow orders?" he asked after he'd kissed her breathless.

"Not when it concerns your life," she responded saucily.

Rafe lifted his face from Angela's and saw Delia dragging her father forward.

"Papa wants to apologize," Delia said.

"Er...yes, indeed.
 
I was concerned about my daughter's reputation and acted unwisely.
 
You and your brothers angered me; I never expected to be turned down.
 
Once I made the accusation, pride prevented me from backing down."

"You ruined the lives of three men, Wingate," Rafe said with bitter emphasis.
 
"What happened to our family farm?"

"Well...er...I..." Wingate blustered.

"He bought it for back taxes and gave it to me and Ted for a wedding present," Delia revealed.
 
"I'm sorry, Rafe."

"There's nothing you can do to get the farm back," Wingate insisted.
 
"You would have lost it in any event."

"I've grown quite fond of the place, Rafe," Delia said.
 
"I don't think I can give it up, and Ted is trying hard to make it as productive as it was before the war.
 
I hope you'll settle for knowing the land is being taken care of by people who love it."

"I've already accepted that we've lost the farm," Rafe allowed.
 
"Jess is a doctor, not a farmer, and Sam would rather chase after rainbows than be tied to land.
 
As for myself," he sent Angela a tender look, "I have other interests right now."

"Here's your guns, Gentry," Jenkins said, handing Rafe his gunbelt.
 
Rafe promptly bucked it around is hips.

"Before I leave," Rafe asserted, "I want something official to take with me, words to the effect that the Gentry brothers are no longer wanted for bank robbery."

Jenkins nodded.
 
"It will take a few minutes to write out the paperwork.
 
I'll make sure the wanted posters are removed from circulation, so you needn't worry about that.
 
Word might not reach every city in which a poster is placed, so don't lose the document I'm preparing for you."

"Don't worry, sheriff, I won't let it out of my sight."

Wingate and Delia had already taken their leave when Rafe tucked the document affirming his innocence inside his vest pocket, took Angela's arm, and exited the jailhouse.

"I've taken a room at the Dodge House," Angela said, eyeing the sea of mud standing between her and her destination.

A grin split Rafe's features as he swung her into his arms and stepped into the street with the aplomb of a chivalrous knight.
 
"I've been looking for an excuse to hold you in my arms ever since I left the jailhouse," he bantered.

Rafe skirted around the stagecoach that had just pulled into town to discharge passengers and carried Angela across the street to the hotel.
 
He didn't give a damn what people thought.
 
He'd gone through hell for the right to hold Angel in his arms.
 
Unfortunately he still had a long way to go before he could claim Angel without fear of being hung for murder.

Pressing her face against his chest, Angela whispered her room number and Rafe headed down the long corridor.
 
She produced the key from her reticule and unlocked the door.
 
Rafe carried her inside and kicked the door shut with a booted heel.
 
Then he lowered her to her feet and kissed her with all the love and longing pulled from the depth of his soul.

Her fingers plucked at the buttons on his shirt.
 
Rafe moaned against her mouth.
 
Her touch scorched him.
 
His loins turned to stone.
 
He wanted to topple her on the bed, throw up her skirts and thrust himself inside her.
 
It nearly took more control than he possessed to break off the kiss and hold her hands away from him.

"I'm filthy and I need a shave," he choked out."

"I don't care," Angela whispered as she dragged him toward the bed.
 
"Love me, Rafe, love me now."

They sprawled across the bed.
 
Rafe moaned as need pounded through him.
 
Loving Angel was his destiny.
 
He kissed the corner of her mouth, her jaw, the sensitive spot just below her ear.
 
His fingers made short work of the buttons on her dress as he pushed it off her shoulders and lowered his mouth over her nipples, sucking them through the thin material of her shift.
 
Everything he wanted to say to her went out of his head as she arched against him, crying out her need.

Rafe raised himself enough to shed his gunbelt, push his trousers down around his ankles, and rid her of her dress and petticoats.

"Hurry, Rafe," Angela panted.

There was no time for finesse, no time to love her properly, they were both too needy, too hungry for one another.
 
His hand slid down between their bodies, into her moist heat, and came away wet.
 
Her slender thighs came around him as he covered her with his body.
 
He kissed her deeply and slowly.
 
When she returned his kiss, Rafe felt as if she'd reached inside him and ripped out his heart.
 
With a groan of surrender he opened her with his fingers and pushed himself inside her tight passage.

He heard her breath hitch, felt her tighten around him, drawing him deeply inside her, until she had all of him.
 
His hips lifted and fell as he surged forward, creating a glorious rhythm that brought them both to a gasping, explosive climax.

"I'm sorry," Rafe said when his breathing returned to some semblance of normalcy.
 
"You deserve better than that."
 
He gave her a quick kiss and rose from bed.
 
"I'll do better when I return."

"Where are you going?"
  

"To the bathhouse down the street.
 
I won't be long."
 
He pulled up his trousers and bucked his gunbelt in place.
 
"Wait for me."

Rafe sank down into the tub of hot water with a grateful sigh.
 
He washed quickly, then rested his head against the rim and relaxed.
 
He must have dozed, for he was jerked awake by the unmistakable sound of a pistol hammer being drawn back.
 
Instinctively he reached for his gunbelt he'd placed on the floor beside the tub, but it wasn't there.
 
He glanced upward, into the eyes of the last man he expected to see in Dodge City.

"Desmond Dexter!
 
What in the hell are you doing here?"

"Chandler wired me that Angela had disappeared.
 
I deemed it my duty as her next of kin to return to the Golden Angel and see to the running of the mine.
 
I boarded a stage in Wichita for a return trip to Canyon City.

"I happened to see you carrying my stepdaughter across the street when the stage stopped in Dodge to discharge passengers.
 
I feared you might have spotted me but you had eyes only for Angela."

"Remove that gun from my face," Rafe said tersely.

"Oh, no, you're not getting out of this one, Gentry.
 
News travels fast in a town this size.
 
While I was pondering how to proceed, I heard that the banker lied about the bank robbery, and that the Gentry brothers are no longer wanted for that crime."

"That's right," Rafe said warily.

"How do you suppose the sheriff will react when he learns Rafe Gentry is wanted in Colorado for murder?"

Rafe bit out a curse.
 
"Damn you, Dexter!
 
What do you want from me?
 
Why are you so determined to hurt your stepdaughter?"

"Angela was always a haughty little bitch.
 
I stayed with her mother because I knew that one day Angela would come into a lot of money from her father.
 
I handpicked Chandler to marry her after he promised to share the wealth with me.
 
Then the little bitch had to strike out on her own for Colorado.
 
She couldn't wait for me or Chandler to accompany her after the wedding.

"But that's not the half of it.
 
You entered the picture and screwed up everything.
 
When I saw you and Angela on the street today I knew my luck had changed.
 
Step out of that tub and get dressed."

Rafe didn't argue.
 
Being caught with his pants down, so to speak, was embarrassing.
 
He dried quickly and dressed.
 
He made a quick move toward his guns, and felt the business end of Dexter's gun pressing into his back.

"It seems like you hold all the cards," Rafe drawled.

"Indeed I do."

"What do you want from me?"

"You're going to return to the hotel, ask for paper and pen, and write a note to Angela."

"And what exactly is this note supposed to say?" Rafe asked warily.

"It's to say that you've thought it over and decided to go it alone from here.
 
You're to tell Angela that you'll never be free of those murder charges, and that Colorado isn't healthy for you.
 
Tell her she'd be in your way.
 
Then wish her a happy life."

"You're mad if you think Angel will believe that."

"You'd better make her believe it," Dexter warned.
 
"Do you want to drag Angela down with you when I inform the sheriff you're wanted in Colorado for murder?
 
I have the wanted posters with me.
 
It would take little effort to present them to the sheriff.

"I gather Angela fancies herself in love with you," Dexter continued.
 
"She'd be devastated should you end up swinging at the end of a rope.
 
Is that what you want for her?
 
She'd be better off if you quietly disappear from her life.
 
Your violent past will catch up with you one day, then what will become of Angela?"

"All you want from Angel is her money," Rafe charged.
 
"You care nothing about her or her future."

"Not true.
 
I'll make sure she weds well and the mine prospers under my direction.
 
What can you do for her but make her life miserable?"