Her Bodyguard (24 page)

LUKE WENT tearing out of the church as if the devil were at his heels. Halfway down the walkway, the red haze of his anger cleared long enough for him to recall his duty. He pivoted and returned to the church where he grabbed Mari’s arm and began pulling her toward the door.

“What are you doing?” she protested, attempting without success to dig in her heels.

“We need to get back on the train.”

Abandoning her resistance, Mari called her thanks back over her shoulder to the reverend. Luke slammed the church door behind them with a bang.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mari asked. “I don’t understand, Luke. We’ve proved they survived the fire. You should be happy. Thrilled. Your brother’s alive!”

“Not for long.”

Mari grabbed the rolled-up newspaper from his back pocket and hit him with it. “Why are you so angry? You’re frightening me.”

Luke didn’t answer her question. He couldn’t. After everything that had happened, all his no-good, sorry family had put hers through, he couldn’t get his tongue to wrap around the facts. Not without thinking it through, anyway.

Maybe there was a way to fix this. He simply needed to calm down and concentrate. He’d find a way. Hadn’t he been cleaning up after his family in one way or another for a good part of his life?

“Luke?” She slapped him again with the newspaper.

He let out a growl and yanked it out of her hands. “Would you stop that?”

“Would you talk to me?”

“Aargh!” he growled. He stopped, shoved the newspaper back in his pocket, then took a deep breath and exhaled in a rush. “Fine. You’re right. I’m sorry if I scared you. Let’s just get back on the train, and we can talk about it there.”

She tapped her foot against the pathway, considering him, then said, “You promise me you’ll talk to me? No more of the icehouse attitude?”

“What icehouse attitude?” he responded belligerently before turning to head back to the train station. Though he knew what she meant. When a man felt off balance with a woman, he tended to guard his tongue. And now this. He couldn’t believe Rory had up and married Kat McBride. Other than wringing his brother’s neck, maybe punching his face a time or twelve, Luke didn’t know what he wanted to do about it.

The train whistle blew as they approached the station. Mari increased her pace. “Do I have time to send a telegram? Emma will be so thrilled to hear this bit of good news.”

“The train is fixing to leave, Mari. Your telegram will have to wait until the next stop.”

“Where is the next stop?”

“San Antone. Should be there in about three hours.”

Mari nodded. “I’ll need to send Emma word of our arrival, anyway. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find them the minute we get to town. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“It’d be something, all right,” Luke drawled, picturing how he’d react to the first sight of his brother.

Mari shot him a narrow-eyed look as they passed through the station. Upon reaching the platform, she said, “I am anxious to hear what has you in such a tizzy.”

Luke took her elbow, steadying her as she stepped up onto the train. “I’m a Texas Ranger,” he growled softly into her ear. “We don’t have tizzies.”

Mari snorted, then held her tongue as they returned to their seats. From the look in her eyes, Luke could tell that particular blessing wouldn’t last long. In self-defense, because he still wasn’t certain just what information he wanted to share, he pulled the newspaper from his back pocket and opened it to an inside page. It was a regional newspaper with news from surrounding towns. Almost immediately, he caught a headline that read Magnified Magician Puts On Dazzling Show In Parsonsville.

Quickly, he scanned the article.
Masked magician…beautiful assistant
… Luke checked the date on the paper. Yesterday. The performance was night before last. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered beneath his breath.

Newsprint crackled as Mari pushed the paper away from his face. “Don’t try hiding, Luke. It’s time for you to—” She broke off, apparently seeing something in his expression that alarmed her. “What is it? What did you read?” She gasped and clutched his arm. “Is it Murphy?

Is there something in there about him? Did he escape the Rangers?”

Hell, that’d be all he’d need, Luke thought. “Not Murphy. Magnifico.”

“Who?”

Luke wasn’t paying attention to Mari. Even as the train whistle blew and the wheels began to roll, his mind raced toward a decision. The article didn’t say where the act was headed next. Parsonsville sat at the intersection of two of the major roads through the Texas Hill Country. Stagecoaches ran through it, but it wasn’t on a rail line. It was a half day’s ride from Paradise Prairie. They could remain on the train and send telegrams upon reaching San Antonio, or…

“Come on,” he said, standing. He threw his saddlebags over his shoulder, then took her arm. “Hurry. We’re getting off.”

“What!”

He pulled her to her feet and out of her seat. “Faster, Mari. It’s a lot easier to do this when the train is going slow than after it picks up steam.”

“We’re jumping off the train?” she said as he pushed her up the aisle toward the door. “
Again?
”

“But…wait a minute.” She planted her feet. “What about my clothes? I don’t want to do this again. My bag is in San Antonio!”

Luke reached around her to open the door leading to the landing. “Your clothes are in San Antonio, but night before last, your sister was in Parsonsville.”

Mari’s head twisted around, her eyes bright with hope. “How do you…she was in the newspaper?”

“Go, Maribeth.” He put a hand to her back and propelled her out onto the landing. “This train gets to going any faster and you’ll fall when you land, maybe rip your dress. I don’t want to hear any whining about it because you won’t have anything else to wear.” He unhooked the safety chain. “Now, go!”

Mari jumped, hit the ground feetfirst, then promptly lost her balance and fell on her knees. Luke made the jump upright. He helped Mari to her feet and winced when he saw the tear in the fabric of the blue dress. Rather than complain, she brushed the dirt off her skirt, then offered him a brilliant smile. “We found them?”

“I think so.” He gave her a quick synopsis of the article, and explained why he believed the pair were Rory and Kat. “Magnifico was my character, mask and everything, but I never used it in public. It’s too much a coincidence to think that somebody else would come up with something that close. Not when we know Rory’s been in this general area within the past three months.”

“I think you’re right. Kat has always liked the name, and she’s such an actress. She’d make a great magician’s assistant. Oh, Luke.” She threw her arms around him. “This is wonderful, wonderful news.”

Luke winced as her words raised little welts of guilt on his conscience. She wouldn’t be nearly so happy if she knew what he knew. Damn, but his secrets were becoming burdensome. They’d never bothered him before, but this time…

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!”

He didn’t know what to do about his secrets, but when she punctuated her thanks with a sisterly peck on the cheek, for the first time since leaving her bed that morning, Luke knew exactly what to do with Mari McBride.

He put his hand beneath her chin, tilted her face up to his, and captured her mouth in a long, thorough kiss.

MARI APPROACHED Parsonsville tired and sore and swearing that once this trip was over, it’d be a cold day in August before she climbed on the back of a horse again. Yet, at the same time, she was more excited, more filled with joy and thankfulness than she’d been in…well…her entire life. Chances were good that before this day was done, she’d see her sister again.

She’d spent much of the four-hour ride imagining the reunion. Probably, the moment she laid eyes on Kat, Mari would squeal with delight and throw her arms around her sister for a good long hug. She’d likely cry and kiss her cheeks, then, once that first rush of relief and good feeling was done, she’d either shake her silly or give her a roundhouse to the jaw.

Beneath her gratitude lay a cold and bitter fury. How dare Kat McBride Callahan have done this to their family! Her sister had much to answer for.

Yet underneath her anger lay a seed of doubt. Up until this incident, selfishness wasn’t part of Kat’s nature. Yes, she loved melodrama and being the star of attention, but the sister Mari knew and loved would never have knowingly caused her family this sort of overwhelming grief.

“Time will tell the story,” Mari said to herself as they rode past the first houses at the edge of town. She might just need to save one of her punches for Luke’s younger brother.

Mari kicked her horse and rode up beside Luke. “Where should we look for them first? The hotel?”

“Yeah. Even if they’re not staying there, it’s where they held the magic show, according to the newspaper.”

Scanning Main Street, Mari spied the hotel in the middle of the block on the right. “There it is. Thank goodness.”

Luke’s mouth quirked in a grin. “You just want off that horse.”

“As soon as possible,” she replied with a sigh. Something cool to drink didn’t sound all that bad, either. A bath. Clean clothes. But first, Kat and Rory.

They dismounted in front of the Red Hawk Hotel and secured their horses to a hitching post. As they climbed the steps to the front door, Mari blamed the weakness in her knees on the hours in the saddle. Truth be told, her nerves were a wreck. Luke must have sensed her tension, because he caught her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

The lobby of the Red Hawk Hotel boasted a carved oak bar that doubled as a registration desk. Luke escorted Mari to a bar stool and ordered them both lemonade.

Mari wanted to barge ahead with questions, but she took her cues from Luke. He was, after all, the professional. Still, she all but squirmed in her seat as he sipped his lemonade and observed a card game taking place at a round table in front of the fireplace.

Finally, just when Mari’s patience was about to run out, he spoke to the man behind the bar. “This lemonade sure does hit the spot. It’s a hot one today.”

“That’s a fact.” The bartender eyed a thermometer on the wall. “Makes it eight days in a row we’ve hit a hundred degrees.”

The weather small talk continued until Mari got hot. She nudged Luke with her elbow, then shot him a demanding look.

“Hold your horses, sugar,” he chided in a patronizing tone. “Let me finish my lemonade first, then I’ll see about getting us a room.”

To the bartender, he said, “We’re newly wed. I love the little filly, but she’s got to learn who controls the reins. Know what I mean?”

While Mari seriously considered kicking Luke’s shin, the bartender nodded. “You’re a smart man to start out on the right foot.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Mari drummed her fingers against the bar. “Sir, I read a newspaper article regarding a magic show your hotel recently hosted. Is the show still playing?”

“See what I mean?” Luke set down his glass. “Impatient.”

She gave in and kicked him, then stared hard at the bartender. “Sir?”

He cleared his throat. “No. No. The magician performed here for three nights. Last show was day before yesterday.”

“That’s too bad,” Luke observed. “I saw that same fellow perform a few months ago in Fort Worth. I told the missus here about his show and she got all excited to see it. Does he still do that trick where he turns a chicken into a dove?”

“He does.” The bartender shook his head. “That magician fella is something, that’s for sure. Y’all missed a mighty fine show.”

Luke sighed and patted Mari’s hand. “That’s too bad. I know you’re sorely disappointed over that bit of news, sweetheart.” This time, he was the one who gave her a kick.

What was he doing? Why the roundabout questioning? Why didn’t he come right out and ask where the heck his brother was? Glaring at him, Mari snapped. “I am.”

“You know I want to make you happy, Earldean. Tell you what. If the magician is still in town, I’ll see if I can engage him to give a private performance. Would you like that?”

Earldean?
Mari blinked twice. “Yes.”

They both looked to the bartender, who shrugged. “I believe they left town yesterday. She did, anyway. Never saw him except during the performances.”

Mari’s stomach sank from disappointment at the same time curiosity prodded her to ask, “Oh? That’s strange.”

“I thought so. They checked into the hotel about a week before the first show. She’s the one who talked the hotel owner into hosting the event. She’s a go-getter, that one. Pretty thing. Made herself well-known around town, but kept him all mysterious-like. I figured they did it to build interest in their show, but then I got to wondering if he didn’t have reason to keep a low profile. Like maybe he was hiding from somebody. Never did see the man without the mask. Shoot.” He gestured toward Luke. “For all I know, you could be him.”

“Nah.” Luke flashed a wicked grin. “I only work my magic behind closed doors. Right, sugar?”

“So you keep telling me.”

Luke slapped a hand to his heart. “Oh, I’m wounded. You’ve a serpent’s tongue, Earldean.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it since it looks like mine’s the only magic you’re gonna get to see. Unless…” He glanced back at the bartender and casually asked, “Do you know where Magnifico and his assistant were taking their show next?”

He shook his head. “I don’t, but Tom Phillips over at the newspaper office might. He’s the one who interviewed the little lady for the story he printed.”

“We’ll talk to Mr. Phillips, then, but in the meantime, we need to get a room.” He leaned over, nuzzled Mari’s neck. “My magic hands are starting to tingle.”

She slapped him away, Luke and the bartender both laughed, then Luke signed the guest register as Mr. and Mrs. Homer Percy.
Earldean Percy
, Mari thought. The man’s sense of humor was awful.

But he did make her smile.

She waited until they were in their room with the door shut behind them to demand an explanation for his approach. “You gotta understand where you are, Mari. A lot of men come to this part of Texas to hide. As a result, other men come here looking for the first group. If we go in and start asking questions right off, folks tend to clam up.”