The Wedding Ransom (38 page)

Talk almost immediately turned to Barlow Hill.

“I say we head on over to that house of his,” Lucky said. “Get this over with before supper. Snake put a ham on to cook this morning, and I’d just as soon not share my meal with that toad one more time.”

“He’s expecting to marry Maggie in the morning,” Ben observed. “I halfway anticipate some trouble from him.”

“Shoot,” Rafe scoffed. “He can’t give us any trouble. We come armed with a contract, a calendar, and a bag of precious gems. His hands are tied.” Sliding Callahan a glance, he added, “And besides, we’ve got the law on our side.”

“Will wonders never cease,” Gus said.

“I never expected to see the day, that’s for sure,” Snake added.

After further discussion, the decision was made to wait until Snake pulled his pecan pie from the oven before heading over to Barlow Hill’s lakeside mansion. The pirates all agreed it wasn’t fair to make Snake miss out on the fun, and nobody wanted to risk burning the dessert. They congregated on the front porch while they waited, Nick, Luella, and Ben each lighting up their pipes while the others sipped tall glasses of sweet tea.

Lucky had just taken out his harmonica to play a tune for Maggie when the thud of approaching horse’s hooves attracted their attention. Rafe identified the mount at once, and he uttered a soft curse. The familiar sorrel cantering up the drive was ridden by the one man in Texas Rafe didn’t want to face. Not now, anyway. Not this soon. He’d counted on having until tomorrow to figure out how best to say the words that had to be said.

Luke Prescott reined his horse to a stop to calls of welcome from Luella and Ben. Maggie rose from her seat and stood beside Rafe, slipping her hand into his. Touched by her gesture of support, he smiled tenderly down at her, then braced himself and said, “Hello, Luke. We didn’t expect you this soon.”

The former Texas Ranger slid from his saddle, grimacing a bit as his legs hit the ground. “I left the Winning Ticket early.” He smiled at Ben Scovall. “After all the talk you gave us about Lake Bliss water, when my bum leg got to paining me, Honor decided I simply had to come give it a try. Personally, I think she just wanted to get rid of me for a bit.”

“You two still arguing about baby names?” Luella asked.

“Yeah.” Luke scowled and stretched the kinks from his muscles. “I don’t know why she’s so dead set against Thelma.”

He fastened his reins to the hitching post, then accepted Luella’s welcoming hug with a grin and a return squeeze. “Lawsy, Luke, take care with an old woman’s bones,” Luella laughed.

“Where’s an old woman?” Luke asked, looking around.

Luella slapped his shoulder. “Brought that silver tongue of yours along with you, I see.”

They spent the next few minutes discussing the conditions of Luke’s trip from the Winning Ticket, then Maggie asked if he’d like a tour of the hotel. But before Luke could accept her offer, Rafe interrupted. “He mentioned his leg is hurting. Why don’t I show him the bathhouse first. Let him try out the mud baths on that old wound of his.”

“What about the maggot?” Gus asked, pointing across the lake toward Barlow Hill’s mansion. “You want to be in on that, don’t you, Malone?”

“Yeah. Definitely. But I need to talk with Luke—”

Maggie took hold of Rafe’s arm and looked keenly into his eyes. “We’ll wait. You have your talk with Luke, Rafe. Once you’re finished, we’ll go see to our landlord.”

Rafe nodded. If he could still walk when Luke got through with him, that is.

His partner knew him well enough to sense more in the moment than a dunk in a vat of recuperative mud, and he arched a brow toward Rafe in question. For the first time in memory, Rafe couldn’t meet his friend’s gaze. “Grab your saddlebags and follow me,” he said gruffly, striking out across the yard.

Luke did as he asked, and neither man spoke again until they’d entered the gentlemen’s bathhouse. Rafe pointed out a hook on the wall for Luke to hang his clothes. “You want to tell me what’s going on?” Luke asked, stripping out of his shirt.

“Not necessarily,” Rafe replied as he yanked off his boots.

The pirates had equipped the gentlemen’s bathhouse with plenty of masculine accoutrements, including a well-stocked bar and a humidor filled with Havanas. Naked, Rafe splashed three fingers of bourbon into a pair of glasses, appropriated a couple of smokes, and carried them over to the square-shaped mud bath where Luke stood eyeing the sludge suspiciously. “This is supposed to make me feel good?”

“Happy as a pig in slop,” Rafe replied, handing his friend his drink.

Luke glanced at the glass in Rafe’s hand. “Liquor, Malone?”

Rafe lifted the glass in salute. “False courage.”

“Well, hell.” Luke grabbed matches from the pocket of his pants and proceeded to light his smoke. After taking two deep contemplative draws, he demanded, “What’s wrong, Rafe?”

With his drink in one hand, his unlit Havana clamped between his teeth, Rafe slipped into the mud. He gestured for Luke to join him.

Luke tested the temperature of the mud bath with a toe, then shrugged and stepped right on in. He took a seat on the rock bench opposite Rafe. “This stuff stinks.”

“It’s not so bad. They’ve rigged a cistern on the roof so a person can rinse off with rainwater if he finds the smell too offensive. It’s better in the ladies’ bathhouse, where you can rinse off in the spring where the water enters the lake. That water is hot as a pistol and hasn’t soaked up the scent of the lake yet.”

“You spend much time in the ladies’ bathhouse?”

Rafe managed a grin. “As much time as she will allow me.”

“I assume you mean the delightful Miss St. John?”

“Yeah.” Rafe took a sip of his drink. The liquor burned a fire down his throat. “I love her, Luke.”

“So what else is new? You fall in love with every woman you run across.”

“Maggie is different.”

Rafe took a puff on his cigar.

“Obviously she’s a little different. I haven’t seen you drink over a woman since Elizabeth Perkins threw you over for Jasper P. Worrell.”

“I’m not drinking because of Maggie.”

“You’re not? Then maybe you better tell me the why of it.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.” Rafe blew out a long, smokey sigh. “I’ve a story to tell you, partner, and it’s not very pretty.”

“I’m listening.”

Rafe twisted his lips, exhaled a deep breath, and said it flat out. “I betrayed you.”

The former ranger straightened. “Betrayed me?”

“Yeah. I broke my word to you, Luke. I went back to my old ways.”

“You’re stealing again?”

Luke’s incredulous look made Rafe want to bury his head in the mud. “When I left the Lone Star this last time, I ended up at Andrew Montgomery’s cotton plantation. I stole a bag of jewels from his safe.”

“Good God, Rafe. Your amnesty! Is that why Callahan is here? Did you get caught?” Luke shoved to his feet. “What are we doing sitting around in a damned mud bath? We need to be figuring a way out of this. They’ll hang you, Rafe. I’ll be damned if I let that happen.” He shoved his fingers through his hair, heedless of the trail of sludge he left behind. “You’ll have to leave Texas. Go west.”

“What!” Rafe was amazed. He had anticipated a number of reactions from Luke, but this wasn’t one of them. Luke had always been a by-the-book type of man. His honor went bone deep, and he had little tolerance for those whose integrity didn’t run so strong. In fact, Rafe had often wondered why Luke hadn’t given him the boot years ago. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I swore on my life I’d never steal again, and then I went and did it anyway. Aren’t you going to ask me why?”

“I could ask, but the answer doesn’t matter all that much.”

Rafe was flabbergasted. “How can you say that?”

“I know you. I know the man you are today. If you acted the thief again, I know you had a very good reason to do so. Tell me how I can help you. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you hang.”

Suddenly, unaccountably, Rafe got angry. He tossed back the rest of his drink, then slammed his glass down upon the ground. “I don’t know why the hell not. I deserve to hang, Luke. I deserved it years ago, and I’ve always been too much a coward to face it, to face you. I let you down in the worst way. You know it, and I know it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, now, Luke. We both know what wasn’t said the day you asked for my oath that I wouldn’t steal again. It had something to do with your being a ranger, true. But it had more to do with your being Rachel’s husband and Daniel and Sarah’s father.”

Luke grew marble-statue still. “What does my first wife and family have to do with any of this?”

“It’s what I said I’d do! It’s what I’d promise I’d do! I didn’t watch out for them, Luke. I told you I would, and then I went off with Callahan. I broke my word to you and your family
died
.”

The word echoed through the bathhouse.

“You stupid son of a bitch.” Disgust rolled off Luke in waves. “I can’t believe we’re not related by blood. You and I are so much alike it’s scary.”

“What—”

“Hell, Rafe. You aren’t to blame for what happened to Rachel and the kids, any more than I am. Have you felt this way all along? Has this been eating at you ever since the war?”

“I told you I’d watch out for them. I left them, and they died.”

Pain shimmered in Luke’s laugh. “Did it ever occur to you that it was my fault? Rachel and the kids weren’t your responsibility. They were mine. I’m the one who should have been there to help them cross the Colorado. I’m the one who should have been there to pull them from the water before they drowned.”

“But
I
was the one who promised you I’d keep an eye on them,” Rafe insisted. “You are my family, Luke. Your family is my family. I failed them and I failed you.”

“Oh, really? Well, how about the times you’ve saved my family? Saved me? Aren’t you the man who pulled me from a river not long ago? Aren’t you the one who protected Honor from that sorry excuse of a father of hers in my absence? Hell, Rafe, use your brain. Did Rachel berate you when you left with Callahan to join Houston’s army?”

“No.”

“Do you think if she were standing here today she’d blame you for not being with her when it came time to make that river crossing?”

“No. She wasn’t that kind of woman.”

“And, I’m not that kind of man either! I never once blamed you, Rafe. To be perfectly honest, it’s not very flattering for you to think I would.”

Rafe closed his eyes. “It’s not that I thought you blamed me, so much as I blamed myself. I loved them, you know. As much as I love Honor and your new family now.”

“I know. It killed me to lose them, and I carry that hurt with me every day. But hear what I say, Malone. You are in no way responsible for what happened to Rachel and the babies. The oath I asked you to give had nothing to do with them. It had everything to do with you. You’re like a brother to me, Rafe, and I didn’t want to lose you, too. I’ve learned a lesson or two since Honor came into my life. It takes a strong man to forgive a man who wrongs him. It takes an even stronger man to forgive himself. Now, I don’t think any forgiving needs to be done, but you apparently do. So quit being a weak sister and forgive yourself, all right? Then tell me why the hell you put yourself in danger of getting hanged all over again.”

Rafe studied Luke’s eyes and read the truth of his words. A wave of relief as big as the Gulf of Mexico washed over him, and a slow smile broke across his face. Everything was going to be all right.

He reached for Luke’s matches and lit his cigar. Settling back into the mud bath, he said, “You see, it all started with a cutlass against my neck and a call to adventure.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke and Luella stayed behind at Hotel Bliss when Maggie, Montgomery, Rafe, and the pirates headed for Barlow Hill’s lakefront mansion. Nick tagged along to lend the event an official air.

“Our timing is just right,” Snake said, motioning toward the wagonload of departing day laborers. “If I end up having to kill him, it’ll be better to do it without witnesses.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. Rafe made a dismissing wave with his hand, silently telling his brother not to be concerned.

They filed up the front steps and entered the house. Barlow Hill came hurrying toward them. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “You’re tracking dust into the house!”

Rafe glanced at the pirates and said, “I think Maggie should have the honors.”

She nodded her thanks and stepped forward. “Mr. Hill, we have had a change in plans. There won’t be a wedding tomorrow.”

Rafe frowned at Maggie’s choice of words. No wedding? Well, maybe he’d have to do something about that.

Ben Scovall stood beside his granddaughter. He removed the contract for the sale of the Lake Bliss property from his jacket pocket and unfolded it with a flourish. “Recall our agreement, Hill? Well, we have met your terms.”

Hill grabbed the contract from Ben’s hand and glanced over it briefly. “I don’t… I never thought…” His head snapped up. “You have somehow acquired one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars?”

Lucky grinned. “Show him, Gus.”

Gus pulled the blue velvet pouch from his pants pocket. Working the bag open, he said to Hill, “Hold out your hand.”

“What? Why?”

“Never mind.” Gus knelt and emptied the bag. Gems in a splendor of colors spilled out onto the entry hall’s hardwood floor.

Barlow Hill gasped. “Good Lord.”

“It’s the money you demanded for Hotel Bliss, and then some,” Lucky said.

Snake added, “Consider it a bonus for a quick departure. Like, by tonight.”

Moving at a snail’s pace, Hill knelt beside the gems. Wonder filled his voice. “Look at the size of that ruby. This is worth a fortune!”

“And it’s all yours with a signature at the end of this paper,” Ben said. “Who has the pen?”

“I do,” Lucky said. “Got the inkwell, too. I think there is still enough in it even though I spilled most of it in the grass.”

Hill’s eyes were as round as coins. “I don’t understand. You’re giving these jewels to me? Maggie informed you of the wedding tomorrow, and this is her dowry?”