Ranger's Wild Woman (5 page)

“My grandfather was a medicine man. I inherited some of his skills and many of his medications.”

“I know who you are,” Hannah said suddenly. “Red Hawk was your grandfather. He was a famous medicine man in this part of Texas. I remember reading about him in the newspaper.”

Hawk nodded. “It’s true.”

Hannah stared down at the thrashing cowboy under the blanket. For the first time, she began to feel panic, and a little forgiveness seeped into her soul. Not too much forgiveness, because he was still a louse for kissing Cissy, but she didn’t want him to be sick. “Can you help him?”

“Do you want me to?” It seemed his eyes asked her for another answer. “Do you care?”

“I want him well. He’s ornery and pigheaded, but I don’t wish him ill.”

Hawk glanced at Cissy, but then knelt at the side of Ranger. He placed a palm over Ranger’s face. “The fever is very high. But I will do my best.”

Ranger’s eyes snapped open, staring and glazed. “Maverick isn’t coming back, bro,” he told Hawk.

“I know.” Hawk nodded as if they were indeed brothers, and as if he knew who Maverick was.

“I’d better go find him.”

“Someday.” Hawk pushed Ranger down gently. “Sleep now.”

But Ranger’s gaze had found Hannah. “I’m dying,” he told her. “Just like the dinosaurs.”

She gasped. “Don’t say that!”

His head rolled to the side. “Marry me.”

“What?” Hannah stared at him, her shock greater than her worry right now.

“You have to marry me so I won’t die.”

“Wait.” The forgiveness zapped right out of her heart. “Look, cowboy. You said the Curse of the Broken Body Parts would visit you if you fell in love. So far, nothing’s busted on you, so let’s stay ahead of the game. I am not about to believe that I am your cure for a hot head and pierced feet.”

“I have to marry you,” Ranger insisted. “Cissy read one of those girly magazine advice columns to me, and it said that marriage can actually make someone healthier. It has to do with dopamine.”

“You
are
a dope.” Hannah shook her head at Hawk. “He’s lost it. Could the damage be irreversible?”

Hawk didn’t answer.

“
You
marry him, Cissy,” Hannah said, standing. “Although I’ve never heard of a wedding ring curing anything.”

“I have,” Archer said. “People do it all the time. A joining of souls makes each half of the union stronger. It’s like…it’s like spirit healing. Internal buffering against inner demons. Double-taping a pipe for strength, if you need an illustration.”

“Hannah,” Ranger said on a gasp. “Say yes. I know what I’m doing. Those lovelorn columns all say a man just needs the right woman to change his world. His whole outlook. And a married man is the
happiest and healthiest species of male on the planet. They live the longest. Say yes!”

“Oh, all right,” Hannah said crossly, not meaning it. Pacification was the plan at the moment. He wouldn’t remember this absurd conversation later, anyway. “Yes.”

“We didn’t all hear you,” Ranger stated, his tone determined. “Witnesses.”

“Yes!” Hannah exclaimed, totally annoyed. “But just to save your life.” A sigh of exasperation left her lungs. Trust that when she finally got a proposal from the man she loved, it was because he saw her as a tool to his own well-being. “Now go to sleep, Ranger. You need to break that fever, or I’m dragging you into a city for conventional medicine.”

But no one paid her last words any mind. Hawk put a rope wedding band on Ranger’s left ring finger and took Hannah’s hand to tie an identical ring on her finger. He murmured some guttural words, moved his hands over both of them and then closed his eyes.

“What’s he doing?” Hannah demanded of Cissy.

For once in her life, Cissy seemed at a loss around a handsome man. “I don’t know. Hawk, are you all right?”

“Maybe a good shot of penicillin might be best for Ranger—” Archer said, stepping forward.

Hawk took Hannah’s hand and placed it inside Ranger’s.

Instantly, the angry redness left Ranger’s skin. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

“Hey, he turned into a human rock. What just happened?” Hannah demanded.

“The fever left him,” Hawk said with a broad smile. “Apparently, you are good medicine for this cowboy.”

“Lovely,” Hannah said. “Just lovely.”

“That was amazing,” Archer said.

“That was a miracle,” Cissy said.

“It’s what happens when two people surrender their spirits to each other,” Hawk said, satisfied.

Hannah stared at the rough rope ring on her finger. “Okay, that was a Hallmark movie moment. For his sake, I hope the cure takes, I really do. However, I really can’t use a husband while I’m dealing cards on a riverboat,” she told Hawk. “When he’s well, can you undo this thing?”

Hawk nodded, looking worried. “It’s not a good idea. Unjoining is unhealthy.”

Hannah could think of more unhealthy things. “So is hanging around until the sand hits the fan. What happens when he snaps out of it and realizes he’s tied to the one thing he wanted the least?”

“Ranger
is
pretty much of a rascal,” Cissy said, worried. “He’s going to think she somehow tricked him into this. Ranger is the only man I know who says he doesn’t want to be married and means it.”

Archer blinked. “They have a point. Can we leave him here with you for a while? We could head on down the road, and maybe you don’t mention what
cured him. When he’s a hundred percent, you could ship him back to Malfunction Junction.”

Hawk shook his head. “He needs her close by.”

“Well, three hundred miles is close enough,” Hannah pointed out. “Our spirits can dial in long-distance.”

Hawk grinned. “Now I know why his aura changed colors when he saw you. You are the right woman for him. He runs, you run. Together, you can run like wolf mates.”

Hannah shook her head. “Even if I believed that there was a right person for everyone on the planet, I can assure you that the man under that blanket wearing nothing but black boxers is not my destiny.”

“He’s your husband,” Cissy reminded her. “Sort of.”

“Yeah, well.” Hannah went to stand at the mouth of the cave, looking out to where the sand had finally settled, leaving the arroyo dusty. “Not for long.”

“It’s come to my attention,” Archer said to Cissy as he slid next to her on a rock under the stars that evening, “that there’s no huzzah-huzzah between you and me.”

She couldn’t help looking surprised. “Should there be?”

He grinned. “Not that I know of. I just thought I’d mention it.”

“So it’s mentioned. What else is on your mind?”

“The fact that my twin is married for the moment. You and I are not.”

“Right-o,” Cissy said with a nod. “And it’s staying that way.”

“Precisely. I vote we ditch them.”

Archer now had her full attention. “Ditch…your brother? And my traveling buddy?”

“Hey. It only sounds cold. There is a method to my madness.”

“Not an obvious one.”

“Look, we’ve already established that we’re safe alone together.”

“Much safer than even you can comprehend after your stupid suggestion. Like I would ditch Hannah,” she scoffed.

“Hmm. Honor amongst rival hairdressers. I didn’t factor that in,” Archer said.

“Maybe you should have factored in honor amongst brothers. Then you might have had a measurement by which to gauge your witless idea. Let me weigh this out.” She held up two palms, pretending to hold something in each. “Turncoat in this palm. Brother in this. Turncoat. Brother. Hmm, I think blood outweighs personal agendas every time, Archer.”

“So do I,” he said eagerly. “You’ve misunderstood my goal.”

“You want to leave a sick man and a woman without a cell phone in a canyon cave with a stranger. What was the goal I didn’t get?”

“They need to be alone together—in order to give their marriage a chance.”

“Archer,” Cissy said, enunciating her words, “they are not really married. It’s a ruse, while Ranger is out of his head. Their union is as flimsy as those rope rings.”

“Shh! Don’t let Hawk hear you say that!”

“Why not?” She shrugged as he glanced around nervously. “He was very clear about that mumbo-
jumbo being a psychological edge more than anything.”

“Yes, but there’s a possibility the marriage could take, if it’s given a running start.”

She crooked a brow. “You’d want that?”

“Uh, yeah. You don’t know what it’s like to live in a house with no women. Hannah will fit right into our family. She’d like us. We’d take real good care of her.”

Cissy frowned. “I don’t think Hannah has that in her cards, so to speak. She was more excited about getting out to the riverboat than I was.”

“Well, she just needs some time with my twin. He’ll change her mind.”

“Okay. Let me see if I follow. You and I are going to hit the highway and take off somewhere.”

“You and I can head in the direction of the riverboat scene. If Ranger and Hannah decide they don’t like each other, they can catch up.”

“Why does this seem unfair? You were the stowaway. He was the man with the mission. And you’re planning to leave him behind.”

“Marriage could be his mission, if we give him a chance to find out. Don’t you think? We could be adding to the successful outcome.”

“His or yours?”

“Both. Look, I was in the back seat having a snooze. I didn’t know my twin was planning a road escape. I was just looking to get away from Mason for a while. There’s almost no place to get away from
him these days, so I picked the truck. Next thing I know, the truck is moving and I’m about twenty miles down the road. Ranger’s talking to himself, muttering like a madman. Should I have left my bro to his own devices? Not me. I figured he needed someone to help him through his trauma. If you lived at Malfunction Junction right now, you’d understand the necessity of brotherhood.”

“Mason is that bad?” she asked with a frown. “He seemed nice enough when he came to the rodeo.”

“It’s not only Mason. It’s Helga the Horrible.” He sighed deeply. “She keeps us on our toes to the point we can’t ever relax. And she is devoted to Mason. He returns the feeling. The rest of us don’t get a vote, but if we did, she’d be voted out.”

“I heard there are two other houses on your property. There’s also a new hair salon if you were of a mind to have some female companionship for a while. Sorry, Archer. I’m just not buying all this pitiful me, let’s take off and leave my brother behind. What’s your real reason for wanting to leave him behind?”

He eyed her hopefully. “Being alone with you?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m in love with another man.”

That thought seemed to give him pause. “Do I…know him? It’s not Ranger, is it? That would explain your unwillingness to desert him.”

“It’s not Ranger.”

“But…I know him. You didn’t say I didn’t.”

She turned away, guarding her gaze. “Archer, I
don’t know you very well, and…we don’t really need to be having a conversation this personal.”

“The thing is, I think Ranger really likes Hannah. He needs to be alone with her if anything is going to be achieved.”

Cissy faced him again. “How do you know that?”

“Because he wanted to marry her.”

“To get well. Bottom line, he’s using Hannah because he’s hallucinating. I’m not leaving my friend for that reason.”

“Uh-uh. He asked for her. Any girl might have worked the spell, even you. But no sparks flew between you two. But now, him and Hannah, they just about set the whole truck ablaze.” He looked at her for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Look. I’m leaving. I’m taking the truck. I didn’t want to leave you behind, because you don’t fit in the picture. You’ll just be a third wheel. You’re safe with me, because there’s no…um, attraction between us. But if you want to stay by Hannah’s side, so be it.”

“But wait. What are they going to do for food?”

“Hawk has supplies. And I left Hannah some of those magazines of yours. The ones with the recipes in them.”

He started walking up the hill. Cissy bit her lip, then glanced toward the cave. Was he right? Did he have a point? Or was he simply being a rolling stone?

Yet, he didn’t strike her as being totally irresponsible. A bit chauvinistic, maybe. But guilty of one-upping Ranger, no.

“Wait,” she called, running after him. “Where are we going again?”

“To that riverboat of yours. Hannah can catch up with us there. When she gets Ranger over his fever. If she still wants to find Mississippi.”

They struggled up the rock incline together. He never turned to offer her a hand, and she appreciated that he let her take care of herself. “Shouldn’t we say goodbye?” she said on a gasp of exertion.

“Defeats the point,” Archer explained. “Hannah would freak about being left alone with him. Remember, she was a very reluctant bride. I do believe she’d abandon him in a heartbeat. Don’t you think she’s probably the kind of girl who finds it difficult to be honest with herself?”

“I think if you see that in her, it’s because you recognize it from self-examination.” She grabbed hold of a boulder and heaved herself up onto the road. “I think you should know, she’s planning on discarding him the instant he’s upright.”

“I know. I was amazed that she agreed to do the rope-ring thing at all.”

Archer followed, his breath heavy, as well.

Beside the truck, waiting with a grin and a duffel, was Hawk. “I told you there was an easier way to get back to the truck.”

“I must have missed that part,” Archer said.

“Well, possibly I told your twin. No matter,” he said cheerfully. “You owe me a ride.”

Cissy blinked. “How do you figure?”

“All that down in the cave,” he said with a wave of his hand. “A real doctor would charge you. I’m only asking for a ride.”

“Don’t you have a vehicle?” Archer asked curiously.

“Yeah, but I’m going far away. There’s no place to keep it. I’ll be back one day, but I don’t know when.”

“Hold on a minute.” Cissy held up a hand. “You’re going to leave a sick man here alone?”

“He has his wife,” Hawk pointed out, “the conveniences of my cabin and my truck keys. What more does a man need in life?”

“Your cabin and your truck keys?” Archer repeated. “Did I miss something?”

“Cabin’s up there,” Hawk said, pointing his finger up a large hill toward a forest of dense, skinny trees. “So’s the truck. You didn’t think I lived in that cave, did you?”

“Yes,” Archer and Cissy said at once.

“Nah.” Hawk threw his stuff into the truckbed. “I do anthropological studies on the Native American totems and relics. It’s family history, but it’s also Texas history. And it’s important. But I’m ready for a long break. And I left them a note about using the cabin. Promise. They were sleeping like babies when I left, all fever gone. So,” he said with a glance at Archer, “can I horn in or is this a private party?”

“No,” Archer and Cissy said together.

“Hey. We’re getting good at that,” Archer said. “We think alike.”

“Only when we’re saying no. Archer and I are not having a private party, and I don’t care if you horn in.” Cissy climbed in the front seat. “But I’m driving, fellas. My mother always told me not to get into a strange car with stranger men.”

She pulled her blond hair into a knot and waited with her hand out for Archer to give her the keys, which he did.

“I’ll flip you for the front seat,” he told Hawk.

“I’d rather sit in the back, actually.”

“So would I,” Archer said, “she’s a bit temperamental for such a beautiful woman.”

“She does have a healthy spirit. I might not be man enough to handle it.”

Archer snorted. “Same. She did say she was in love with someone—” He looked at Hawk suspiciously. “It couldn’t be you, though. We just met you.”

“True,” Hawk said cheerfully. “That’s okay. I’m just looking for a ride, not a woman. I’ll sit in the back. You look like the type that gets carsick if he sits in the back seat too long.”

“I—” Archer blinked, realizing he’d been roped into something he didn’t want to do. And in his own brother’s truck!

“Come on, Archer!” Cissy called. “We’re not making a very clean escape!”

That was true. Archer jumped into the front seat
next to Cissy. “Bye-bye,” he said to his twin. “See ya on the wild side!”

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Cissy started the truck and pulled off.

“I am.” Archer closed his eyes. “It’s not every man who gets to do a good deed for his brother. Trust me, Ranger wasn’t going to realize he was in love with Hannah until he was stuck with her.”

“He wanted to marry her!”

“That was his subconscious speaking. You don’t think a rope ring and some vows uttered by a fledgling medicine man-amateur anthropologist are going to hold Ranger to a state of wedded bliss, do you? All bets are off when his brain kicks back into gear. Trust me. All of us Jeffersons have very strong control over our subconscious desires!”

R
ANGER SAT UP
, realizing he felt like a new man. “Hey, look. No red. No fever.”

Hannah turned to give him a narrow eye. “Hey, look. No Cissy. No Archer. No Hawk and no truck. We’ve been dumped.”

He brushed sand from his hair and then from his shoulders. “They’ve probably gone to run an errand.”

“I don’t think so. There’s Hawk’s knife.”

A hunting knife held down a note, which lay on top of her leopard-printed duffel and Ranger’s duffel. “Feel free to use my cabin and my truck. I’ll be gone for a few months on a tracking mission for a missing
person. Sheets are clean. Best of luck. Hawk,” Ranger read. “That’s generous of him.”

“Considering we don’t want to use his cabin and his truck, I don’t find it that generous. And Cissy was supposed to be my friend. My new sister-in-hearts.” That was the unkindest cut of all. She’d been deserted by the one person she’d thought she could trust in this adventure.

“They probably figured I wouldn’t get well for a while. And you’re my wife, so you’re supposed to nurse me. Right? That’s what they would think? I mean, if you look at it that way, them leaving doesn’t seem all that wrong.”

“Hey.” Hannah turned, her red-tipped hair askew, her lips swollen and chapped from the wind. “I’m not your wife. You’re well, so it’s over. Okay?”

He stood, and she held up a hand. “Keep that blanket securely around your waist.”

“You’ve seen me in my boxers before.”

“Yes, but we weren’t alone before. And we were drinking tequila. It seemed all right then. It doesn’t now.” She turned so he couldn’t see the blush on her face.

“I like modesty in a woman.” He reached for his duffel and pulled out some jeans.

“I don’t care what you like,” Hannah said tightly. “It’s great that you’re better, so now we can move on with our lives and quit pretending.”

“You saved my life. I’m your servant forever,” he
said playfully. “See? I’m even going to put on a shirt.”

She burst into tears. “Stop playing around!”

“What?” He was genuinely confused. “Hey, come here.” Gently, he pulled her into his arms.

“No.” She shoved herself away from him. “You don’t understand. You nearly died. And you were talking like an idiot. All that marriage stuff was weird. You were weird. I didn’t like it.”

“Oh, you’re stressed.” Ranger nodded wisely. “You didn’t want to lose me.”

“No, I really didn’t care about that,” she said with a sniffle.

“Oh.” She’d totally stuck a fork in his ego. “You weren’t worried about losing me? Then why are you crying?”

“Because I thought you might die. And you talked me into doing something bizarre. You said you never wanted to get married,” she said accusingly.

“I didn’t. I don’t.” He shrugged as he put on his shirt. “So what’s the biggie?”

He really didn’t get it. “The biggie is that we did. And I didn’t want to. But you scared me, and so I had to. You and that freaky Curse of the Broken Body Parts thing. You didn’t even break anything! It was all just inflamed!”

“True.” Ranger looped his belt into his jeans and shook out his boots. “And now I no longer believe I’m susceptible to the curse. Clearly, it has bypassed me.”

“So?” She was afraid to hear the answer.

“So we can get a pretend divorce to undo our pretend marriage.”

Of course that’s what he would say. He tricked her into marrying him using false pretenses. It was sort of like, you show me yours first, then I’ll keep mine a secret. She’d been cajoled into showing her feelings first—and then when he’d seen her hand, he trumped her.