Under a Texas Star (20 page)

Knowing the man
's fighting style, Jase was prepared when Locke launched from the saddle and lunged at him, bellowing with rage. Grandee backed up and Locke hit the dirt, face first. When he started to get up, Jase knocked him across the head with the stock of his rifle.

"Stay down!" he ordered.

He tied a rope around Locke's hands and arms and jerked it tight. Locke ended up eating dust.

"Dumb move, Locke."

"Had to try."

Jase strode toward the man he had winged.

Jed McKinley.

The boy was clutching his shoulder, almost curled up in a ball from fright. When he realized that Jase wasn't going to finish him off, he almost fainted with relief.

McKinley's mount had run off, so Jase took the saddle from Locke's horse and propped Jed against it. Using two bandanas, he bound up the boy's wounded shoulder. Then he used Locke's bandana as a makeshift sling.

"Don't move, boy," he warned. "Not if you value your life."

"Yes, sir," came the faint reply.

Jase went to check on the other man he'd shot.

The man was lying on his stomach. Dead.

He rolled the body over.

Roy Parker.

"Marshal," Locke called. "Jed didn't know we were supposed to kill you. He isn't a killer. Fair is fair. He just came along to frighten you."

Jed nodded in assent.

"Another thing," Locke said, "this ain't over yet. The boss wanted to take care of your deputy personally."

Jase's stomach churned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I suggest you ride."

Marly rode hard. She'd only be in the way if she followed Jase. That did not mean she had to like it. She had every intention of circling back if he didn't catch up soon, but before she knew it, she was in the hollow where Strothers had been killed.

A chill crept over her.

Trouble slowed. Marly spurred him on, intending to get through as fast as she could, then double back over the high ground.

But it was too late. Trouble's hesitation killed him.

Marly heard the shot after she felt the bullet hit.

"No!" she cried.

Trouble leaped forward and skidded as he fell.

Shocked, Marly didn't kick her feet out of the stirrups in time and her leg was trapped as the horse collapsed onto his side. Trouble lifted his head and heaved a ragged breath. Marly tried to free her leg, but failed. The horse's weight fell back before she was clear. She shifted, straining to reach the saddle holster.

"Don't bother."

Gabriel Baker strode from the bushes, his rifle pointed in her direction. Marly closed her eyes and flattened her body against Trouble, using the horse's body as a shield.

The report sounded like a cannon.

But Marly was not the target.

She opened her eyes. A dark hole pierced Trouble's head, and the shudders that wrenched Marly's heart and pounded her pinned leg stopped.

"At least you have some sense of decency," she called out. "Even if you are a coward."

"Well," Baker said, moving closer, "it looks like I have you at a serious disadvantage. You can't talk your way out of this one, Deputy Landers, and you have no friends here to
―"

The sound of hoof beats interrupted him.

In his moment of distraction, Marly reached for her carbine, but Baker was quicker. He took the rifle from her saddle holster and ran back into the shadows.

Jase rode up, his rifle ready.

"Watch out!" Marly cried
.

Baker emerged from the brush. "Welcome, Marshal. Please throw down your guns and dismount. I will kill your deputy if you don't obey." He waved the rifle from Jase to Marly, then back again.

"I'm not playin' your game, Baker," Jase said, sounding unnaturally calm to Marly's ears. "You're gonna kill Landers no matter what I do. And now you gotta kill me too. What makes you think I'm gonna make it easy for you?"

"Wishful thinking," she retorted. "Just like Baker wishes Amabelle loved him instead of me."

Marly's taunt hit home. Baker shifted his stance and she could see him well enough now, even if Jase couldn't. Determined to get Baker's attention, she twisted into an awkward semi-sitting position, propped up by one hand and holding onto the saddle horn with the other.

"It must really burn you that not only does Amabelle prefer me, but her brother wants me in the family as well. Even if you kill me, she won't marry you and you'll never get to add Egan's land to your own."

She got what she wanted
―Baker's rifle pointing at her head.

Jase caught the dull glint of gun metal. He fired a quick shot.

Damn. He missed.

Baker stepped out of the shadows and took aim.

In the second it took for Jase to drop his rifle and draw his Colt, another shot rang out
in the night.

Baker dropped to the ground.

Jase moved so fast, he wasn't aware of his feet hitting the ground. He didn't holster his Colt until he had checked Baker.

The man was dead. One bullet through the head.

Jase ran to Marly's side.

"You okay?" she asked, a tendril of gun smoke hanging over her like a halo.

Shaky laughter upset his balance and he fell back onto the dusty road. "You are the coolest hand I ever met, Marly Landers. A natural born Ranger who doesn't need any help."

Marly gave a snort. "I could use some help getting free."

Muttering an apology, Jase hefted the Trouble's body enough to allow Marly to get her leg free. The dead weight of the horse hit the ground again with a tremor and a puff of dust.

"Let me check your leg," he said.

With practiced hands, he palpitated her leg from knee to boot top, then cautiously flexed her ankle.

Marly winced.

"You seem to have full range of motion in your joints," he said.

With a little help, she was able to stand. She took a few tentative steps on her own, then returned to Jase's side.

"Well?" he asked.

"I've been better," she admitted. "But I'll do. How about you?"

"I'm fine."

She grabbed his right hand. "You're bleeding."

"Just a scratch."

With a tug, she guided him out of the gully and examined the wound in the pale starlight. Before he could stop her, she returned to the dead horse and retrieved the canteen from her saddle.

"I'm sorry about Trouble," he said in a quiet voice.

She shrugged.

Jase knew this wasn't Marly's usual stoicism. She was on the edge of being overwhelmed. Her hands were shaking as she cleaned and bandaged his wound, using a clean handkerchief and her bandana to hold it in place.

"That's great," he told her.

No matter that he wanted to hold and comfort her, this wasn't the time for sympathy. They had miles to go and she needed to hold it together for a little while longer.

"You take Grandee and ride back to town
―"

"No," she argued. "Not without you. There might be more of Baker's men. We shouldn't split up."

He blinked, taken aback. "I have to go back. I left a wounded man back there. Young Jed caught one of my bullets in his shoulder. Roy Parker's dead. Locke's
back there too, tied up. There's one horse left between them. The others ran off. Baker's should be around here..."

Marly limped up the road and ducked into the brush.

"Marly!"

She reappeared with Baker's black gelding.

"Dammit, Marly."

Leading Baker's horse, Marly went to Trouble and gave the horse a last gentle pat. "You done well."

She picked up her carbine where Baker had dropped it and took his longer rifle as well. After topping the magazines of both and replacing the spent shell in her revolver, she shortened the stirrups and mounted the black. Placing Baker's rifle in the saddle holster, she kept hers across her lap.

Jase stared at her for a moment, then gave in to the inevitable.

If he'd wondered why Locke had warned him about Baker, he got his answer soon enough. Locke had taken advantage of Jase's absence to make his escape.

Jed McKinley had passed out. They slung him across Baker's horse and tied him to the saddle.

Marly mounted Grandee, behind Jase.

"What about Baker and Parker?" she asked.

"The dead will have to fend for themselves," he said. "For now, at least."

When they came to the hollow and had to pick their way carefully around Trouble's body, Jase could feel Marly's face press against his back. Her tears couldn't penetrate his jacket, but he felt the tremors that shook her.

He clamped her arm to his side, covering her hand with his injured one. If the bandages had allowed it, he would have clasped her hand. Instead, her fist clenched a handful of his shirt.

Marly managed to pull it together and was riding upright by the time they reached town. The first order of business was seeing to the injured man so they went straight to the doctor's house.

Leaving Marly with the doctor, Jase made a beeline for The Haven. He hoped to find Tierny. The Lazy-E foreman wasn't around, but he saw Birke and deputized him on the spot.

"Your first task," Jase said, "is to retrieve Baker and Parker's bodies and their effects."

Birke wasn't particularly honored.

"Round up a few men," Jase added, "And get some lanterns and a buckboard from the livery."

"I know the drill," Birke assured him.

"Good, 'cause I'm making you responsible for retrievin' Landers' saddle, holster and bridle too. And I want Trouble buried off the trail."

"I could round up the hands I need from the shanties and pay them in horse meat."

Jase hesitated.

Birke cleared his throat. "I don't think Landers would grudge a few poor families fresh meat."

"I don't suppose he would. But we're not gonna tell him, okay?"

Doc Whitney summoned his son to help Jed McKinley into surgery. Then he turned his attention to Marly.

"Marshall says a horse landed on you."

Marly shrugged. "I'm okay, sir."

"Doubt it. But you're walking, so follow me. If Jed starts babbling out a confession, you'll need to take notes. I'll have my hands full."

She figured the Doc's son was about her age. Taller, broader and sporting the beginnings of a moustache, he looked older. A handsome young man, she thought with amusement, if his complexion wasn't so green.

"Dad, can I..."

"Go!"

Jed was awake and trying to sit up on the examining table.

Doc pushed him down gently. "Stay put, son. I don't want you passing out on my floor." He started gathering up equipment.

"I can help," Marly offered. "I often helped our doctor when I was living with my aunt."

"Bullet wounds?"

"A couple of times. Mostly broken bones and cuts. I'm not squeamish."

Doc's face broke out in a broad grin. "Let's put that to the test."

Marly passed, but Jed fainted again.

By the time the bullet was extracted and Jed was sleeping with the aid of laudanum, Doc Whitney seemed to have forgotten he was going to examine Marly.

That was fine with her.

Bone weary and wanting nothing more than her bed, she thanked the doctor and assured him she'd be back to see the patient in the morning.

"Afternoon will do," he replied, yawning. "Practically morning already and I gave him enough opiates to put a horse down."

Jase was waiting for her on the front porch.

"Doc says Jed will be out until the afternoon," she told him.

"Okay."

She looked down at her bloody clothes. "I helped Doc."

"I can tell."

He took her by the elbow and guided her back to the office. While she washed and changed, he made coffee. He hardly spoke until she was settled in an armchair.

"Baker was driven to murder by insane jealousy," he said. "Although he never admitted to orderin' Locke to kill Strothers, Locke made it clear he was actin' under orders. He said Baker planned to kill you himself."

"Locke said all that," she asked.

"He said
most
of that," he conceded. "I didn't stick around for a full statement once Locke made it clear you were a target. You and I know Baker killed Strothers as surely as if he held the knife. Locke was just the instrument. But for you makin' him jealous enough to come after you personally, I might never have been able to prove Baker's connection."

"You would have done the same."

"Maybe. But you're the one who saved our lives tonight. I'm proud of you, Marly Landers. Very proud."