The Outlaws: Rafe (6 page)

"We're not going to Pueblo."

She tried to tug the reins from his hands without success.
 
"You're mad!"

"No, just prudent.
 
There are ways to reach Canyon City without going through Pueblo.
 
Canyon City is where you're headed, isn't it?"
 
She nodded.
 
"We're skirting Pueblo, going directly to Canyon City."

"We?"

He slanted her a look that sent goose bumps down her spine.
 
This was crazy.
 
He comes riding back into her life and takes charge without so much as a by your leave.
 
Who in the world did he think he was?

"What are you doing here?
 
I never expected to see you again after you rode off yesterday morning."

"Who are Dexter and Chandler?" he asked without preamble.

The breath froze in Angela's throat.
 
"Dexter and Chandler?
 
How did you...?
 
Who told you?"

"I overheard an interesting conversation between two Easterners in the saloon earlier today.
 
Their names were Dexter and Chandler.
 
I assume you know them."

Angela blanched.
 
"They're in Pueblo?
 
Already?"
 
Her hands flew to her mouth.
 
"Oh, no!
 
How did you know about them?"

"I told you, I listened to their conversation.
 
I didn't pay much attention until your name was mentioned.
 
They were talking about a gold mine.
 
Then everything fell into place.
 
I remembered you telling Reverend Conrad that you wanted to reach the Golden Angel without delay.
 
You might as well start from the beginning and tell me everything."

After a moment's hesitation, Angela took a deep breath and said, "Desmond Dexter is my stepfather and Anson Chandler is the man he intends for me to marry.
 
Desmond paid scant attention to me until he learned my father had died and left me half interest in a gold mine near Canyon City.
 
One day he brought Anson Chandler around, insisting that I marry him.
 
A wedding date was set but I had no intention of marrying that gold digger."

"What about your mother?"

"She passed away a few weeks before I received news of my father's death.
 
I hadn't seen Father since I was ten years old, but we kept in touch.
 
Mama divorced him years ago and moved to Wichita.
 
She hated Colorado and the gold camps.
 
A few years later she married Desmond.
 
I detested him on sight."

"So you left without telling anyone.
 
You must have done some fancy talking to get the Conrads to take you along with them."

"They needed a someone to lead the singing and I was qualified.
 
I convinced them that I had my stepfather's blessing."

"You invented that story about a fiancé waiting for you in Pueblo, didn't you?"

"Yes.
 
It was the only way Reverend Conrad would let me remain in Pueblo at the end of the circuit.
 
After Pueblo, the Conrads were to return to their home base in Wichita.
 
I led them to believe my fiancé and I would marry in Pueblo and continue on to the mine together."

"Surely you weren't so naive as to think Dexter and Chandler wouldn't follow you."

"I was hoping they wouldn't, but I should have known they were too greedy not to follow."

Rafe shook his head.
 
"You know, lady, you're plumb loco.
 
What made you think you could reach your father's mine on your own?
 
You're so damn innocent it's disgusting.
 
You have no idea of the dangers awaiting a woman traveling alone in this day and age.
 
You had a taste of it in Garden City, that should have been warning enough."

"I couldn't stay in Wichita and marry Anson Chandler," Angela insisted.
 
"I have a home waiting for me out here, all I had to do was get to it.
 
Reverend Conrad was a godsend at a time when I needed him.
 
I figured it would be simple matter to get to the mine from Pueblo.
 
Father wrote that Canyon City is but thirty miles from Pueblo, and the mine but three miles up Red Rock Canyon.
 
I figured I could make it in two days."

"That's under good conditions.
 
What if you had to contend with a broken axle, or Indians, or men bent on mayhem?"

Angela knew Rafe was right but she hadn't let herself think about that.
 
Besides, until Ordway and the Indian scare, the plan was for the Conrads to take the revival to Pueblo before returning home.
 
She had no idea when she left Wichita that things would turn out the way they did.
 
If not for unanticipated circumstances she would be traveling with the Conrads to Pueblo instead of with a man who now had the right to call himself her husband.

"When I left Wichita the plan was for the Conrads to take the revival all the way to Pueblo.
 
It doesn't matter if things didn't work out that way.
 
The distance between Canyon City and Pueblo isn't so far that I couldn't travel alone."

"What did you intend to tell the reverend when your fiancé failed to show up in Pueblo?"

Angela shrugged.
 
"That he was late in arriving."

"And what did you intend to do when your stepfather and fiancé found you, Angel?"

"Don't call that man my fiancé," Angela bristled angrily.
 
"And don't call me Angel."

"Why not?
 
It fits."

In his letters, her father had always referred to her as his Angel.
 
It had been a very private thing between them.
 
Hearing that special endearment on another man's lips seemed almost sacrilegious.

"I prefer Angela," she said tartly.

 
Rafe grinned.
 
"I prefer Angel.

She heaved an exasperated sigh, abandoning the subject for the time being.
 
"Do you think Desmond and Anson will give up on me when I don't show up in Pueblo?"

"I doubt it.
 
They didn't appear to be the type to give up easily.
 
Neither man struck me as being particularly likable.
 
Or trustworthy, and I'm a pretty good judge of character.
 
I heard them say that if you didn't show up in a couple of days they would wire Ordway to see what happened to you."

"I knew it was too much to hope for," Angela bit out.
 
"Consider me warned.
 
You can leave now, if you'd like."

Rafe sent her a disgruntled look.
 
"I thought I'd string along with you as far as the mine."

Angela fell silent as she contemplated three, possibly four days and nights in Rafe Gentry's daunting company.
 
Something inexplicable drew her to this man, though she willed it otherwise.
 
And it terrified her.
 
She had no idea who or what Rafe Gentry was.

"I'm going to start looking for a campsite," Rafe said as the sky began to darken and the forest around them thickened.
 
The horses are tiring.
 
A storm is brewing over the mountains and I don't want us to be caught in it while we're still on the road."

"Are you sure it's safe to stop?
 
What about Desmond and Anson?"

"There's plenty of cover hereabouts.
 
I'll pull into the first likely spot I see.
 
I don't think we'll have to worry about them for a day or two."

Truth be known, Angela was more concerned about being alone with Rafe.
 
Spending another night with him was a nerve-wracking proposition.
 
She liked his kisses too well.
 
If she wasn't careful, Rafe Gentry might become too important to her, and instinct told her he wasn't anxious to shoulder responsibility.
 

Rafe found a perfect campsite in a secluded spot nestled against a wooded hillside.
 
Thick trees surrounded them; overhanging branches protected them from unwanted company.

"I intended to buy supplies in Pueblo," Angela said as Rafe lifted her down from the wagon.
 
"There isn't much to eat besides beans and cornbread."

"Game is plentiful in these parts.
 
Start a fire and make the cornbread.
 
I'll take care of the horses and hunt fresh meat for our supper."

 
Rafe returned thirty minutes later with two plump rabbits, which he had skinned and spitted.
 
He set them over the fire to cook.

"Coffee smells good," he said.
 
"I found a mountain stream not far from here if you've a mind to wash up.
 
I notched the birches so you can find your way.
 
I'll watch the rabbits if you want to go there before it gets too dark."

Angela gathered towel and soap and followed the trail Rafe had marked.
 
She found the stream with little difficulty and washed quickly in the frigid water.
 
When she returned to the campsite, she found Rafe sitting on a rock, sucking on a cup filled with steaming coffee.
 
She saw he had laid out plates and silverware and set them nearby.
 
He poured coffee into a second cup and handed it to her.
 
The warm liquid slid down her throat and settled comfortably in her stomach.

A rumble of thunder and flash of lightning suddenly split the silence.
 
Wind sloughed through the trees, showering them with sparks from the fire.

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Rafe said as he eyed the ominous sky.
 
"Take the food inside the wagon and light the lantern.
 
I'll put out the fire and join you.
 
We'll have to finish our meal inside.
 
Hurry," he urged as the first raindrops hit the ground.

Before the deluge hit, they were safely ensconced in the wagon with the remains of their feast spread around them.

"I hope you don't mind sharing your sleeping quarters tonight, Angel," Rafe said.

 
His voice was edged with roughness as he considered the coming night.
 
Being in the same space, breathing the same air as his Angel wasn't going to be easy.
 
Keeping his hands off of her was going to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done.
 
The only way he'd touch her was if she wanted it, and he knew damn well that wasn't going to happen.

"Perhaps it will stop raining soon and you can sleep beneath the wagon," Angela said hopefully.
 
"This is a small wagon and I don't think we'd..."

"Shall we get ready for bed, Angel?" Rafe said, cutting her off in mid-sentence.

Open-mouthed, she stared at him as if he were the devil come to earth to tempt her.

Rafe knew exactly what Angel was thinking for he was thinking the same thing, in vivid color.
 
Sighing regretfully, he pushed his wayward thoughts aside.
 
"Don't worry.
 
I won't touch you unless you want me to."

The color slowly returned to her face.
 
"I...wasn't worried."
 
She dug into a chest and handed him two blankets and a pillow folded into a bedroll.
 
"This is the best I can offer.
 
There's just enough floor space for you to stretch out."

Rafe stared a the bedroll, then at the cot, which looked big enough for two, and frowned.
 
"We could share the cot."

Her eyebrows rose until they nearly touched her hairline.
 
"I think not.
 
The bedroll will have to suffice."

Grumbling beneath his breath, Rafe spread out the bedroll and proceeded to take off his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't sleep in my clothes.
 
It's going to be a long night, I suggest you get into your sleeping gear."

His shirt hit the floor.
 
When he worked open the buttons on his tan twill trousers, Angela blushed every way to Sunday and turned her head.
 
With studied calm, Rafe removed his trousers but not his underwear and scooted down between the blankets.

"I'm covered," he said, eyeing Angel's rigid back.
 
"You can look now."

Angela turned around slowly, her gaze finding him stretched out on the floor.
 
Her sigh of relief was so exaggerated he couldn't help grinning.
 
"Are you going to get undressed?"