Authors: Johanna Lindsey
H
aving found a watering hole, Casey set up camp a bit early the next day to take advantage of it. And with Damian offering to do the hunting again, she managed a quick bath while he was gone, including washing her hair, which didn’t need washing. She tried not to think about why she felt a bath was necessary, other than to use the excuse that she no longer needed to cultivate her grimy look.
She was still drying her hair when Luella Miller showed up. Casey’s jaw nearly dropped at the sight of her. And not just because it was a shock to see someone else out here. She did some rude staring without even being aware of it. But then, she’d never seen a woman quite this stunningly beautiful before.
Pale blond hair under a fashionable bonnet. Big blue eyes thickly lashed. Skin so ivory it was almost translucent. Big breasts. A tiny waist. A petite height. Big breasts. All lacy from her parasol down to inserts in her dainty boots. Big breasts. Was she repeating herself? She couldn’t
help it; those were
really
big breasts for such a small woman. It was a wonder she wasn’t stoop-backed from being so top-heavy, but her posture was straight as a board, if not a little thrusting.
“Thank God,” was the first thing the Vision said, quite breathlessly, though she hadn’t rushed forward. “You can’t imagine how glad I am to see you. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to sleep out here alone tonight.”
Casey wasn’t sure what that remark had to do with anything, but to be polite, she said, “You’re welcome to share the fire and some grub.”
“That is
so
kind of you,” the woman said as she came forward with her hand extended. “I’m Luella Miller, from Chicago. And you are?”
Casey stared at those delicate fingers, with impossibly manicured nails, then quickly looked away, afraid Luella was expecting more than a simple handshake, and hand-kissing she wasn’t about to do. “Casey,” was all she said. The outstretched hand she deliberately ignored.
“Is it all right if I sit on this?” Luella asked with a smile, indicating Old Sam’s saddle, which had been placed beside the fire. But she sat down on it before Casey said anything, taking a positive response for granted. There was a long sigh as she added, “This has been
such
a ghastly journey. And here I was assured that it would be a simple matter to get to Fort Worth, Texas.”
Since she was staring at Casey expectantly, Casey politely asked, “That’s where you’re headed?”
“Yes, for my great-uncle’s funeral. But my maid ran off on me in St. Louis. Can you imagine? And then the train was delayed, something
about tracks needing to be replaced before it could continue south. I was hoping to make it to Fort Worth before the funeral, but I really have to be there before the reading of the will, since I’m likely to be mentioned in it. Otherwise I could have waited for the train.”
“So you—er—decided to walk to Fort Worth?”
Luella blinked, then laughed. “How delightfully funny. No, of course not. I met this nice minister and his wife who were journeying south by wagon, and they were kind enough to let me travel with them—at least I thought it was a kind gesture until they abandoned me.”
Casey raised a brow. “Abandoned you how?”
“They just left me. I honestly could
not
believe it. We had stopped for lunch today and I went off to—well, to have a few minutes to myself, and when I came back, the wagon was racing down the road and soon gone from sight. I waited for several hours, thinking, well, hoping, they would return for me, but not they or anyone else came along. So I continued south, but the road seemed to just disappear. I suppose it isn’t well traveled enough to remain obvious, now that the railroad is so much more convenient—at least when it’s running. So I’m afraid I got quite lost quite quickly.”
For someone who had been wandering around lost all day, she looked mighty neat and clean. But then, some folks just refused to let dirt get anywhere near them. Which was why she’d confiscated Old Sam’s saddle for a seat, rather than attempt to sit on the ground.
“I suppose they took your belongings with them?” Casey remarked.
“Well, now that you mention it…and I had quite a few expensive jewels in my portmanteau, as well as all my money in my purse.” Another sigh. “You think they meant to rob me all along, that that’s the only reason they offered to take me south with them?”
“Appears so.”
“But people don’t
do
that to me.”
Casey managed to keep from snorting. The lady obviously thought that because of her beauty, all offers of assistance were sincere.
“Most thieves aren’t particular about who they rob, Miss Miller.”
“Well, that minister, if he even is one, must be blind,” Luella insisted.
“Perhaps he was posing as a minister merely to gain your trust. But there isn’t much you can do about it until you report it to the authorities.”
Another sigh. “Yes, I know. And I still have to reach Fort Worth within the week. You wouldn’t happen to be going south, would you?”
Casey really wished she could say no, but couldn’t see any way around the truth, except to avoid mentioning that she was headed for Fort Worth as well. “We’ll be stopping in the next town south of here.”
“We? Then you’ll take me with you?”
“I meant my friend and I. He’s hunting up some dinner for us right now. But yes, of course we’ll take you as far as the next town.”
They continued talking, at least Luella did, mostly about her life in Chicago. From what
Casey gathered, she was a twenty-two-year-old rich society debutante who lived with her indulgent brother. She was supposed to have married,
eight
times, but each time she had canceled the wedding at the last moment, sighing that she was just never sure if her fiancés wanted to marry her because she was so beautiful or because they really loved her. Eight times to figure that out seemed a bit much to Casey, but she didn’t say so.
And then Damian returned, and Casey had to witness him making a complete jackass of himself as he stared incredulously at their beautiful guest. He probably didn’t hear a word Casey said as she explained who Luella was and what she was doing in their camp. He didn’t even think to dismount, just sat there ogling the lady.
And Luella had definitely noticed how handsome Damian was. Casey had never seen so much eye-batting and simpering from one female before. It was purely disgusting, but Damian didn’t seem to think so.
“I told Luella that we’d take her as far as the next town,” Casey said, finishing her explanation.
“Yes, of course we will. She can ride with me.”
How quickly he said that. And he might even be able to manage it. After all, he and the pinto had been getting along much better. But the idea annoyed the heck out of Casey.
Which was why she pointed out, “The extra weight could set that pinto of yours to bucking again. Better if she rides with me.”
He nodded. At least he wasn’t going to argue.
But Luella sure looked disappointed.
He finally dismounted and dropped his kills pretty much in Casey’s lap—without looking. His eyes he couldn’t seem to take off Luella. And he was quite formal about introducing himself. Casey rolled her eyes when he did the hand-kissing bit that she had avoided.
For the rest of the evening, those two talked, finding just about everything in common, both coming from the same social background. Casey was ignored for the most part. Though at one point Luella tried to politely include her in the conversation, if an “I hope we’re not boring you, Mister Casey” could be considered polite.
But Damian’s thoughtless, “She’s not a mister” was the piece of tinder that exploded Casey’s temper.
She couldn’t believe he had pointed that out. And it didn’t help that Luella was sitting there giggling, saying, “Don’t be silly, I know a man when I see one.” But when no one joined in with her laughter, she looked shocked, giving Casey a closer scrutiny, and then was embarrassed about her remark, all of which had been unnecessary.
But Casey wasn’t noticing Luella just then, she was pinning Damian with a you’re-real-close-to-being-shot look, and, standing up, told him, “I’d like a word with you—in private.” She marched off into the darkness.
He did follow her—thankfully, since that part hadn’t been guaranteed—and after a few moments was heard to say, “Hold up. I don’t have eyes that see in the dark like you do.”
She stopped, but only because they were far
enough away from the camp not to be seen, much less heard. “I can’t see in the dark any better than you. I just make sure I note the layout of the land before it gets dark, something you should be doing already.”
“Fine, if you say so.”
She ignored the testiness of that reply. He’d reached her, and she was too busy poking him in the chest—hard. “Why the
hell
did you tell her about me? Do you think that’s something I share with just anyone? It’s none of her damned business who I am. If I had wanted her to know, I would have done the telling myself, now wouldn’t I?”
“Are you annoyed with me, Casey?”
She detected the humor in his tone, as if he were convinced she had nothing, really, to be upset about. It was the last straw. She growled low and swung at him. How he saw it coming and avoided her fist, she didn’t know. But in the next moment she found his arms locked around her to keep any more fists from flying.
That was probably all he’d meant to do, just restrain her. But Casey went perfectly still, shocked at having his body pressed so close to hers. And her stillness must have set his mind to thinking of other things, because suddenly he was titling her head back and kissing her.
A
n accident. That was what Damian had called the kiss that had shocked Casey to her core. He had tasted her, started her insides churning strangely, her pulse racing something fierce; then, with a soft caress against her cheek, he’d set her away from him.
“This was an—accident. It won’t happen again,” he told her before he walked away.
He had left her dazed and…she couldn’t even figure out everything else she was feeling. And he had returned to the campfire, sat down, and resumed his conversation with Luella as if nothing—certainly nothing earth-shattering—had occurred. Casey had gone off to find a boulder to sit on and pulled out a few hairs in her frustration.
She had to face some facts. This attraction she felt for Damian had escalated into something much stronger than she could handle. She wanted his kisses. She probably wanted more than that, but she balked at delving too deeply into what kisses could lead to.
But none of it mattered because she couldn’t picture him in her future. He was a tourist eager to get back to his way of life. She knew he’d never fit in her world, nor would she fit in his. But unfortunately, knowing that didn’t put an end to the “wants” he stirred in her.
She was going to have to decide whether to further explore these newfound feelings, knowing full well that there would be no permanence involved. Or whether to renew her efforts at keeping her distance from this man, and hope they’d be going their separate ways sooner rather than later. He had no real interest in her, but more
accidents
could happen—that was if they could part company with Luella Miller, whom Damian
was
obviously interested in.
On the one hand, she ought to be glad Luella had shown up, because she kept Damian so occupied that it seemed he wasn’t even aware that Casey was part of their little group. But on the other hand, it bothered her too much, the way he all but drooled over the lady.
And it didn’t look like they would be getting rid of Luella as soon as Casey might have hoped. The southbound train showed up the next day, rolled past them in the distance, and was waiting there in the town they rode into about an hour later. And it was the same train, with Damian’s fancy parlor car still attached to it.
Of course, he just
had
to invite Luella to share it with them, since they were all going to the same destination. And what objections could Casey give without flat out admitting she was jealous?
By the time the train arrived in Fort Worth a few days later, it really looked like the lovely lady from Chicago was about to corral her ninth fiancé.
In the several days that they had traveled together, there had been only one instance when Damian seemed to actually get annoyed with Luella. It was when she mentioned knowing his mother, who apparently lived in Chicago as well and was part of Luella’s social circle.
Obviously, or at least obviously to Casey, Damian didn’t want to talk about his mother, not even casually. Yet Luella didn’t notice that and went on and on about the woman, mentioning how she knew about her first husband, how she’d been widowed several years ago from her second husband, how she seemed quite lonely now, living alone in her big house, and that Damian ought to come visit her.
He finally just up and walked out of the car to the open platform at the back. Casey, ensconced in her plush chair across the aisle, mumbled that some folks just didn’t know when to shut up.
Luella, not listening as usual, did glance her way to say, “Now what got into him?”
Casey shrugged, smiled, and replied, “It probably got too stuffy in here for him.”
Luella pouted and fanned herself. “I suppose. It
is
rather warm in here, isn’t it? But then, he makes me warm, too, if you know what I mean.”
Casey didn’t, and didn’t want to. Luella densely ignored her frown and added, “But I
imagine I have that effect on him as well, which is a good thing. We
do
make a splendid couple, don’t we?”
Did the woman really want her to answer that? She really was something! Casey allowed that Luella was quite something to look at, a bit too beautiful, in fact, but she couldn’t understand how any man could tolerate for very long someone as vainly full of herself as Luella was. Damian ought to have more sense, but then, there was no accounting for some people’s tastes.
And there was still another side to Luella—a side Luella had quite carefully kept from Damian. Yet the woman had no qualms about revealing her underlying nastiness to Casey, whether intentionally or not.
It was at the last depot, when the train had stopped for lunch, that she had pulled Casey aside to tell her, “I thought you might be jealous of me, but Damian has assured me that you aren’t interested in him. Not that it would matter. You would hardly make a suitable wife for him, you’ll have to agree. And besides, when I want something, I don’t let anything stand in my way, so do try to remember that, dear.”
Casey couldn’t imagine why Luella had been prompted to say all that, unless she wasn’t feeling quite secure in her position. Casey had been too shocked to reply immediately, then lost her chance when Luella sashayed off to rejoin Damian for the quick meal, and Casey wasn’t about to make a scene.
That had been yesterday. But now that they’d reached the large town of Fort Worth, still
named after the military post that had started it, Casey was going to make sure that she’d seen the last of Luella Miller.
The lady had talked Damian into escorting her to her uncle’s house, but Casey said her good-byes there at the station and went off to see to the horses. She then checked into a cheap hotel, since she didn’t know how long it was going to take her to ferret out some information on Henry Curruthers in a town this size.
By the time Damian found her that evening in the small hotel restaurant where she was dining alone, she already had good news, which she had planned to tell him in the morning. She hadn’t expected to see him tonight, having figured he’d be dining with his ladylove.
“Why are you staying here?” was the first thing he asked when he came up to her table.
“Because it’s cheap.”
He shook his head. “Must I remind you again that I’m paying all expenses?”
“One bed’s as good as another, Damian,” she pointed out. “I’ll do fine here.”
“There is an excellent hotel just down the street, where I’ve already paid for a room for you.”
“So get a refund,” she promptly replied, continuing to eat her meal. “And what are you doing here anyway? Didn’t Luella offer you dinner?”
He sighed and sat down next to her. “She did, but I declined. Quite frankly, I couldn’t bear to sit through another night of her incessant chatter.”
Casey almost choked on the piece of steak she
was chewing. Damian pounded on her back to help with the coughing. Red-faced, she snarled, “You’re breaking my bones.”
“Sorry,” he said. He looked disgruntled, probably because she hadn’t been very appreciative of his help. Then he asked, “Is the food any good here?”
“No, but it’s cheap.”
He stared at her for a moment before he burst out laughing. “What is it with you and everything needing to be cheap? I know you make good money in your line of business. You have to, as dangerous as it is.”
“Sure I do, but I won’t have much to show for it when I retire if I go splurging what I make all over the place, now will I?”
He gave her a curious look. “That sounds like you plan to retire soon.”
“I do.”
“To do what?”
“To go home.”
“I suppose to get married and raise little cowboys?” he asked.
She ignored his sarcastic tone. “No, to run the ranch I inherited.”
He was clearly surprised.
“Where is this ranch?”
“That’s hardly important, Damian.”
“So tell me anyway.”
“No.”
His frown was telling. He didn’t like that flat refusal one little bit and didn’t want to drop the subject.
“Your man Curruthers headed south from here,” Casey remarked nonchalantly. “San An
tonio was mentioned, but not as a final destination.”
Incredulous, he asked her, “
How
did you find that out already?”
“I paid a visit to all the stables in town.”
“Why?”
“Because if he didn’t leave town by train, and your detectives say he didn’t, then he had to have bought himself a horse. And his description is distinctive enough to be remembered, which he was.”
“You’d think those detectives would have found that out,” Damian grumbled.
“That was a matter of rotten luck. The fellow who sold him the horse took off the next day to visit his mother in New Mexico. He was gone for over a month, which is why your detectives came up dry.”
Damian shook his head, smiling. “And here I thought we would be here a week at least.”
Casey shrugged. “So did I. Too bad. Now you’ll have to cut your courting short—or reconsider letting me finish this job alone.”
“Not a chance,” Damian said, seemingly little concerned about leaving his ladylove behind. “I told you, I have to be there to be sure you find him. I want to confront him face-to-face. Now, did you learn anything else?”
“Well, he bought a piebald, which is about as easy to spot as he is,” she said pointedly.
He chose to ignore that comment. “You’re talking about a horse?”
“Yes. He was also asking about any new towns in the area just starting up. When Mr. Melton, the horse trader, asked him why, Cur
ruthers laughed and told him he felt like owning his own town. Melton figured that idea was pretty grandiose for such a little runt—his words—but he steered him south, where the Southern Pacific Railroad is causing towns to sprout along its long route and offshoots.”
“So what is your plan?”
“We’ll head down to San Antonio and continue the search from there. It’s pretty settled to the east of there, so my guess is he would have headed west if he really is looking for a new town. But we should be able to find someone to confirm that in San Antonio.”
“Does the train connect to San Antonio?”
“Yes—unfortunately.”
He smiled at her sour tone. “Admit it, Casey. The parlor car is comfortable.”
She wasn’t going to admit any such thing. “The train isn’t wasting any time catching up with its schedule. It leaves bright and early in the morning, so if you’ve got some good-byes to make, you don’t have much time left to make them.”
“Actually, I’m pretty hungry,” Damian said and called the waitress over. “Bring me what sh—” He stopped his order to cough before correcting himself. “What he’s having.”
Casey still glared at him for the near blunder and warned, “This isn’t going to give you much time to let Luella know you’re leaving town.”
He leaned over to pat her arm condescendingly. “Playing matchmaker doesn’t suit you, Casey, so why don’t you let
me
worry about my love life?”
Matchmaker
? She would have spluttered if she’d tried to say anything just then, so she didn’t try. But the look she gave him should have fried him on the spot.