Be My Texas Valentine (30 page)

“You ruined it all by working with those women to get things all stirred up about the railroad, when I’ve got to have it to survive. Without it, I’ll lose everything.”

Why did the railroad mean so much to him except for what it’d bring him as a businessman? How could he lose everything if the railroad bypassed Farley Springs?

“You made it so easy for me when you walked out last night and ran into the arms of Hunter Campbell,” Gideon said. “I hadn’t planned on your accidental demise until just before your birthday, but you gave me the perfect opportunity. Everyone knows we fought and you ran off.”

Like an explosion, true fear like none she’d ever experienced in her life ramrodded her body. The words
accidental demise
bounced off every part of her mind.

What had she ever done to him to make him want to hurt her?

“I know you’ve always felt you were saddled with me and put upon because you just happened to be there when my parents died and ended up having to bring me back to Farley Springs, but why do you want me dead? Surely you’re not that insecure that you think my relationship with Hunter would affect you in the least.”

He took a step toward her and slapped her across the mouth with the back of his free hand, forcing her head to snap backward. “Shut up. Just shut up.” Anger blazed in his eyes. “I’m not insecure!”

She raised her hands up enough to use her sleeve to wipe the blood from her mouth. “At least, I deserve to know why you want me dead. I know it isn’t because of whatever you think my involvement with the women’s group might be.” The salty taste of blood assaulted her mouth. “And it has nothing to do with Hunter, so tell me the truth.” She looked him straight in the eye, not backing down in the least. “If you’re going to kill me, you owe me that much. I’ve lived with the guilt and unknown too many years to carry it with me to the grave.”

“You really don’t know, do you!” He eyed her like a caged animal. “All that money spent on schooling and you didn’t get anything but book learning. They didn’t teach you enough to be able to see the truth when it hit you in the face.”

Pools of sweat collected on Gideon’s forehead, although the air was cold. His breathing became more labored and his chest heaved when he spoke.

Deep inside, Laurel had known for a long time that not everything added up with the story she’d always been told about the events surrounding the deaths of her parents, but she had nowhere to turn and no one to ask to find out the truth.

For months after they died, she lived in a haze, going to school and not really caring one way or another about much of anything. She’d even learned to accept the ugliness of her resentful, bratty cousin.

Gideon Duncan continued his pacing, as if not knowing what his next move would be, while keeping a gun on his captive. It was becoming more obvious that the man who normally calculated his every move was becoming more confused and agitated.

If Laurel could stay calm and not say anything to set him off, maybe she’d best him and survive. Unless she played his game against him, she was a dead woman and she knew it.

Hunter’s advice from his father raced through her mind: never put anything on the table, be it money or property, unless you can afford to lose it.

Laurel made a crucial decision. If she could keep him talking about the past, it’d keep his mind off the present.

The one question she wanted answered the most was the hardest to ask, but she couldn’t leave this world without knowing. It was the core to everything that had ever happened to her. “How did Mama and Daddy die?”

He let out a nervous sigh and his expression clouded in anger. “You haven’t figured that out.” His nostrils flared in fury. “Then you’re more stupid than I thought.” Like the trained lawyer he was, he avoided her question while erecting smoke screens for distraction.

A shadow beyond Gideon caught her eye, but she quickly lowered her gaze, not sure if it was a tree limb blowing in the wind or maybe a tumbleweed. But she prayed it was help. Surely someone had seen them leave the livery and thought it odd.

Tiring, Gideon leaned against one of the two walls that could hold his weight, wiped his forehead, but kept his pistol aimed on her. Possibly he’d seen the same movement as she had, because he alternated his gaze between the opening and her.

He steadily slid down the wall as slow as molasses running uphill until he reached the floor, while keeping an eye peeled on her.

Afraid to say much, Laurel tried to untie her hands, but he’d bound the leather strips too tight. A burst of cold air came through the opening that was once a door. Cold shivers ran over Laurel. Thoughts of Hunter’s coat around her to keep her warm made the waiting bearable.

She racked her brain trying to figure out why Gideon wanted her dead; other than she’d become an albatross around his neck.

“If you won’t tell me about my parents’ death, then I deserve knowing why you want me dead,” she demanded, trying not to aggravate him more than he already was.

“You don’t need to know anything.” His lips thinned with anger. “If you’d just done what I told you to do and not got involved with the Campbell bunch.”

“I don’t understand how being friends with them caused a problem for you.”

“You wouldn’t. You twit.”

“But you and Hunter are working together to bring the railroad to town.”

“And it would have happened except you decided to get all high and mighty on us and sabotage the whole thing.”

Laurel wanted so badly to argue with him, but decided the best approach would be to patronize him. “I’m not the president. That article is misleading. I only made Melba Ruth Campbell believe that I wanted to help. I can see now that paving the streets would be more beneficial. She offered me a job, but I didn’t take it, because I knew you’d come through at the bank.”

Think, Laurel! Stay calm and cool. Don’t let him get under your skin.

“I want to know what I ever did to you ... so I can change it.” She once again found herself playing coy with him.

“I never planned on having to deal with you for the rest of my life.” A sudden thick chill hung on the edge of his words. “The last thing I needed was another brat to deal with.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“I haven’t decided. There’s an abandoned well out there. Nobody has been here at this line shack for years, not since it burned down when the prairie fire got most of the Campbell land, including their house. Nobody would ever look for you here.”

She tried to keep calm, and use her good senses. That was the only thing that would keep her alive.

A partial shadow crossed in front of the opening. This time she knew it wasn’t a branch or a tumbleweed. Hope washed over her. She needed to keep Gideon distracted, so he wouldn’t notice what she thought she saw. “I deserve knowing why,” she pressured him, recognizing he was getting more confused by the minute.

“Just shut up.” He rubbed his forehead.

“Tell me and I’ll never say another word.”

“If it’ll shut you up, I guess it won’t hurt. As soon as I figure out the best way to dispose of you, you’ll be dead anyway.”

“Did my parents really commit suicide?” Laurel asked, choking on the question.

“I said shut up, I’ll do the talking!” Gideon bellowed. “My sister married way below her station in life. Your dad took her right after the wedding back to San Antonio to take care of his precious cotton gins. When Father died, your mother and I jointly inherited the family bank but she didn’t want anything to do with it. Just wanted me to send her share of the profits to her every now and again, and she was happy. So that left me to do all of the grunt work, spending sleepless nights, while she reaped the profits without lifting a finger.”

Laurel refused to accept what she was hearing, but had to stay alert to watch for any movement and noise coming from outside. Her uncle rambled on about how poorly her father had managed the cotton gins, while Gideon was working to buy up land around Farley Springs in anticipation of the railroad coming through town without asking Laurel’s mother’s permission.

His world was about to come to an end when Laurel’s mother asked to liquidate her shares in the bank. He didn’t have the money any longer because it was all invested in land in his own name and she didn’t know it. He’d had her parents prepare a new will and trust, naming him as a trustee, thus giving him adequate time to rebuild the trust account at the bank. But that never happened.

“So you see, you are supposed to inherit your trust on your birthday, but the money is all invested in land ... so you have nothing. Everything you might have had now belongs to me.”

Laurel took a deep breath and tried to understand the awful truth, but had trouble absorbing what was being thrust at her so quickly.

“But that doesn’t tell me anything about my parents’ deaths,” Laurel said.

Hunter stepped through the opening, backed up by Stubby.

Two Winchesters were leveled at Gideon Duncan.

“Go ahead and answer her question, you bastard,” Hunter demanded. “Tell her who killed her parents.”

The reality of what Hunter was implying turned Laurel’s stomach. She’d never heard anything about someone killing her parents.

“Two against one.” Gideon kept his pistol aimed at Laurel from his sitting position on the floor. “I can have her brains all over this shack before either of you can get off a shot.”

Hunter stepped between Gideon and Laurel, shielding her with his body. “Stubby or me, if not both of us, will have you down before your bullet clears the barrel. To get her, you’ve got to kill me first. That’s two shots.” Hunter kept a steady aim on the overstuffed man trying to bring himself to his feet while keeping aim on his captive. Hunter continued, “Why don’t you go ahead and tell her the rest of the story? How you put arsenic in her parents’ coffee to make it look like they’d committed suicide because you needed control of her mother’s inheritance to keep the bank solvent. They didn’t have any financial problems; you just made it look like they did. You don’t have the guts it takes to kill anyone.”

Suddenly, Hunter rushed Gideon, knocking him back to the ground, and snatching the pistol out of his hand, while Stubby pointed his Winchester right at the old man’s head.

“For two cents, I’d tie your flabby ass to Buckey and let him take you anywhere in hell he wants, but the ol’ bushwhacker doesn’t deserve someone like you on his back. Besides, I’d much prefer to see you hang for killin’ Laurel’s parents and doing everything you can to destroy her.”

Hunter tied Gideon’s hands behind his back and, with Stubby’s help, pulled the banker to his feet.

“You’re the sorriest sonofabitch I’ve ever met,” said Hunter.

With a smile on his face, Stubby kept the nose of his Winchester pointed directly at Gideon’s heart.

After untying Laurel, Hunter took her into his arms and wiped away her tears. “And you’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known.” He kissed her forehead.

“I’m sorry that you had to learn the truth about your parents in such a horrible way,” he said. “I’m truly sorry.”

“I think deep inside I’ve known for a while, but wouldn’t admit it because it was sure to open up too many old wounds that I wasn’t sure I could face. I never believed Mama and Daddy killed themselves, although Gideon pounded it into my head that it was all my fault. For years, I’ve carried the guilt that maybe, just maybe, it was.”

“Hush,” Hunter said tenderly. “It wasn’t your fault.” He kissed her fully on the mouth.

Shaking, Laurel whispered, “How did you find us?”

“Buckey came here straight as an arrow. I guess he did what he’s known for and got loose as soon as he could and came to the ranch for help.” Hunter smiled down at her, then said, “Notice I didn’t call him a hammerhead?”

She rewarded Hunter with a warm, dazzling smile.

“If you’re okay, I need to get you safe. Take you out to the ranch because we’ve got a couple of things to resolve this afternoon.” He returned her smile. “Mama is gnawing at the bit to get you started on your new job, plus she wants to order some material for new curtains in your room upstairs.” He raised an “I told you so” eyebrow at her.

“And we’ve got to work out the details of the Valentine’s Day festivities,” she said.

“I’ve been thinking about something Stubby said. Why can’t we do one big event? I’m thinking you’ll be so busy with Mama that the hat shop can wait, so I could donate Bobbie Ray’s building to the citizens for a library. With the men’s help, we could build shelves, paint it, and have us the best library in the Panhandle.” He felt damn proud of himself for giving his friend the credit. “I think you’ll be a great leader of the women’s group.”

“So with a big joint hootenanny, we’ll raise enough money for both projects. You’re so tricky, Mr. Mayor.” Laurel threw her arms around Hunter’s neck and kissed him. “I love you so much.”

He sheepishly smiled down on her. “And I’ve been loving you, Miss Laurel, since the day you stepped off the stagecoach and walked into my life.”

So the president of the Men’s Club and Miss Laurel Dean Womack, the new leader of the Women’s Society, forged an inseparable bond stronger than the West Texas wind. They cochaired the most profitable Valentine’s festivities ever held in the little piece of heaven known as Farley Springs, in the heart of the Texas Panhandle.

From the Author

To my fictional town of Farley Springs, Texas, the spring of 1887 brought with it the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad, but the town never became the shipping Mecca that Hunter Campbell dreamed of.

Historical Note

In the spring of 1887, the Fort Worth and Denver City advance building crew of approximately five hundred men camped in tents a mile southwest of the Amarillo Creek bridge to the Frying Pan Ranch pasture in the Texas Panhandle.

Freight service became available in October 1887, and cattle shipping began to focus on the newly platted town of Amarillo as a railhead. The city grew to be the largest rural shipping point for cattle in the nation.

Amarillo became the county seat of Potter County, Texas, in 1887, and today it is still a major railroad shipping point.