“Please put my husband’s belongings in my room,” Maddie said. “Boone will be using the spare room in the west wing.”
Jonah’s brows shot up as he dragged his wary gaze away from the bowlegged cowboy and stared curiously at Maddie. He hadn’t expected her to carry this farce of a marriage right into her own home. But on second thought, if the lanky cowhand dropped Jonah’s belongings in her room, it would pretty much guarantee that everyone
believed
the marriage was official and consummated.
A faint smile pursed his lips as he sent Maddie an approving glance. The little lady was as sharp as a cactus sticker. Apparently she was as mistrustful of the cowboy’s convenient timing and possible eavesdropping as he was.
“One of these breeds is your husband?” the disrespectful cowhand snorted as his gaze bounced back and forth between Jonah and Boone.
Maddie surged to her feet, glaring at the hired hand. “Next time you decide to walk into this house uninvited,
don’t,
” she scolded sharply, and then sent him a challenging stare. “I’m half Irish, Clem. Would you like to make something of
that,
too?”
“No, ma’am,” the man mumbled, ducking his head and trying to look properly ashamed.
Jonah wasn’t buying it. Apparently Maddie wasn’t, either.
She snatched the gear from Clem’s hands. “I’ll take care of the luggage myself.
You
are dismissed—permanently.”
Silence reigned as the hired hand turned and stalked off, but not before he cast Jonah and Boone a derisive glance.
Maddie wheeled back to her foreman. “Carlos, if anyone else is heard making disrespectful comments about my husband and my friend, I want them fired on the spot. Is that understood?”
“Sí, querida.”
Carlos fished the most recent ransom note from his pocket and handed it to her. “We lost another fifty head of cattle while you were gone,” he reported. “Another Indian necklace and broken arrow was found in the area.”
Maddie wilted into the nearest chair. “I’ll deal with that tomorrow. Right now all I want is to get Chrissy home safely.”
“Wise idea, princess,” Jonah murmured as his gaze followed Clem out the door and down the steps. “First things first.”
A
very Hanson glanced up from tallying expenses in his ledger when Jesse Gibbs walked into his office unannounced. “You damn well better have good news,” he muttered as Jesse parked himself in the chair across from the desk.
“I didn’t get the money or even get a shot at Maddie’s husband,” the man reported. “She never went to her hotel room last night. I don’t know where the hell they got off to.”
“Damn!” Avery’s fist hit the desk with a hard thud. “Then please tell me that you had the chance to pick off her husband this morning.”
Jesse shook his head. “Those two half-breeds watch their backs carefully. I couldn’t get close enough to take a shot without being seen.”
Avery slouched in his chair and drummed his fingers on the desk. Hell and damnation, he needed to get his hands on that ransom money before Maddie delivered it. He needed her to turn to him in desperation.
“If you want me to keep tracking Maddie’s hus
band so I can get a shot at him, then it’s going to cost you.” Jesse extended his hand, palm up.
Avery gnashed his teeth, then reached into the bottom desk drawer to retrieve money. “I don’t know why I’m paying you when you’ve botched up royally.”
“Because I can ruin you.” Jesse grinned goadingly. “The sheriff would be interested in hearing what I have to say about your involvement with old man Garret’s death and your other illegal activities. And I know plenty….” he added, slowly and deliberately. “I’m sure Tipton would like to know about informants, rustling cattle and a few other matters that you have tried very hard to keep private.”
Scowling irritably, Avery handed over the money, then shooed Jesse out of the office. “Don’t come back until you have something to show for the fee I’ve paid you. And make certain no one sees you sneak out the back door.”
When Jesse left, Avery treated himself to a few more succinct curses. Jesse Gibbs had to go. The man knew too much and he was causing more trouble than he was worth.
A wicked smile slid across the rancher’s lips when an inspiration popped to mind. If all else failed he could send Clem Foster—his ace in the hole—to clean up this mess. Gibbs was getting too cocksure of himself. It might be time to shut him up—permanently.
“Mind telling me how we’re going to come up with a thousand dollars we don’t happen to have with
us?” Boone questioned as he and Jonah ambled through the upstairs hall to stow their gear.
“Old ranger trick,” Jonah replied.
Boone snorted caustically. “I thought Indians were the only ones with old tricks.” He halted and whistled softly when the plush furnishings in his room distracted him. “Would you look at this place? I’ve never stayed anywhere this fine.”
Neither had Jonah. He hesitated to touch anything, for fear it would break and cost a fortune to replace. He couldn’t imagine living in this house, either. Talk about feeling completely out of place!
Leaving Boone to stow his gear in the very lap of luxury, Jonah pivoted on his heel to stride down the hall. He stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the enormous suite that belonged to Maddie. Thick gold drapes hung from the vaulted ceiling to the polished wood floor. Bay windows provided a spectacular view of the towering canyon walls with their red, purple and white layers of stone. Jonah felt like the Great Spirit himself, gazing down on this panoramic valley dotted with grazing cattle, sheep and horses.
He turned to appraise the massive marbletop dresser and ornately carved wardrobes. The four-poster walnut bed was covered with a white lace spread and plump pillows fit to prop up a king.
Or a princess.
Jonah was still standing in the middle of the colorful Aubusson rug, his jaw scraping his chest, when Maddie swept into the room. She walked right up to him, flung her arms around his neck and kissed the breath out of him. He suspected she still saw him as her port in the storm, as she had last night. He’d be
come the place she came for solace when the world caved in on her. But right now, Jonah felt as if the world had caved in on him.
He responded ardently and immediately to the honeyed taste of her lips. As if they possessed a will of their own, his hands glided over the supple curves of her body, and he pulled her full length against him. He devoured her for one long, breathless moment before the voice of self-preservation reminded him that he couldn’t let himself—or her—pretend this supposed marriage was more than it was. Which after last night was much
more
than it should have been.
It took all the willpower he could muster to break the kiss when his aroused body screamed for more. “Maddie, don’t.” He set her at arm’s length. “Don’t get caught up in this charade. Last night just happened. It shouldn’t have, but it did. You were looking for consolation and I was willing and eager enough to help you forget the troubles you’re facing and the bitter memories I had to deal with. We used each other, and that’s all last night was about.”
Maddie staggered as if he’d slapped her. Jonah despised himself for what he had to say and do, but if he was going to protect himself from these tender feelings that played hell with common sense, he had to make her understand that he was nothing more than the means to an end for her.
“Are you saying that last night meant nothing except—”
“We took pleasure and comfort in each other.” He cut in bluntly. “You even offered to pay me, as I recall.”
Damn, this was killing him by inches, but it had to
be done—for her own good and his. He couldn’t allow her to confuse reckless passion with true affection. He was a realist, and realistically speaking, they had nothing in common but one incredible night in a space out of time. He would drive himself crazy if he let himself believe it could be more than that. He had to make her see what he’d known from the beginning.
He wasn’t what she needed and he never would be.
When her chin snapped up he knew he’d hurt her feelings and her offended pride had rushed to her rescue. Good. If that sustained her until he retrieved her sister and made her world right again, then fine by him. Besides, he could deal better with this tempting female when they were at odds. He’d already proved beyond all doubt that the slightest invitation from her was his complete undoing.
“I’ll have to write you an IOU for last night’s lesson,” she muttered, averting her gaze. “As you well know I don’t have sufficient funds to cover the hike in the price of the ransom, much less pay you for what I owe you.”
Maddie did an admirable job—if she did say so herself—of controlling the feelings of hurt and rejection that lambasted her. She knew Jonah didn’t love her, even after she’d practically thrown herself at him last night….
Practically? Don’t kid yourself, princess,
jeered a taunting inner voice that sounded a lot like Jonah’s. She
had
thrown herself at him. She had wanted one night of reckless pleasure in his arms. Like a fool, she’d hoped for more, and Jonah was making it crystal clear that he wasn’t interested. Obviously he’d
found her lacking, and preferred someone who was skilled at pleasuring an experienced man.
She had no right to be angry with him, she reminded herself. Jonah was only being his usual plainspoken, straightforward self. Nonetheless, the rejection cut to the quick. He didn’t want her. He’d had her once—well, twice, actually—and obviously that had been plenty for him. There was always another nameless female in another nameless town between here and the Rio Grande who could provide what he needed occasionally.
When humiliated tears threatened to cloud her eyes, she turned her back to him and squared her shoulders. “Where is this extra money you claim you can loan me to make an even eight grand?” she asked, her voice nowhere near as steady as she would have liked.
“You let me worry about that,” he insisted. “Boone and I will take the money to the designated spot.”
“No.” She wheeled around, her spine stiff, her chin uplifted. “
My
sister,
my
problem. You have done more than enough. It’s plain to see that you don’t want to be here. Not with
me.
Especially not in this place.”
He advanced on her, looking more ominous and formidable than she’d ever seen him. Maddie refused to cower. He could snarl and growl to his heart’s content, but she knew he wouldn’t physically hurt her. He’d had plenty of chances and he’d never been anything but tender when he touched her. Jonah Danhill might be hell on outlaws, but he wouldn’t abuse her. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name.
But he could break her heart, without leaving a telling mark on her.
“You’ve got a problem, you send a Ranger. This is what I
do,
princess,” he breathed. “You’re going to stay right here in your palace and wait for Boone and me to deliver your sister to you.”
“You made it perfectly clear that you didn’t want to be involved in the first place.” She hurled the retort back at him. “At every leg of this journey you have announced it was the end of the line for you, that it was as far as you intended to go. Frankly, I’m amazed you have come this far. And for the life of me I can’t understand why you’re still here.”
He opened his mouth to interject a comment, but Maddie waved him off, determined to have her say. “It’s obviously not because you have a strong and lasting attachment to me.” When her lower lip quivered in response to the hurt and rejection twisting in her stomach, she bit down hard with her teeth, determined not to reduce herself to tears. “I don’t want to be more beholden to you than I already am. You can stay here while I’m gone, if you please. Or you can leave for good. It doesn’t matter one whit to me!”
“Damn it, Maddie.” He grabbed her arm when she lurched toward the door. “I’m the expert here. Let me do my job.”
Tears swam in her eyes again, but she held them at bay, held her ground. “Just leave this place. I know it haunts you, and with good reason. I will handle this matter myself!”
“Trouble in marital paradise?” Boone teased as he propped himself against the doorjamb. “I always en
joy a good fight, especially when I’m not involved. What’s this one about?”
“About domineering, mule-headed, infuriating men!” Maddie exclaimed as she jerked her arm from Jonah’s grasp, then stormed from the room.
“She must be referring to you,” Boone said, lips twitching. “I’m the most easygoing, good-natured man I know.”
Jonah raked his fingers through his hair and huffed out an agitated breath. “Miz I-Can-Do-It-Myself insists on delivering the ransom money,” he told Boone.
Boone jerked upright. His playfulness vanished in one second flat. “Like hell!”
“That’s what
I
said, more or less.”
“Leave that hellcat to me, Danhill. I’ll talk sense into her while you’re printing this money we supposedly have in generous supply.”
“Talk to her?” Jonah snorted. “Waste of time. I want her tied up in knots so she can’t follow us to the ransom site.” He spun toward the door. “I have a few things to check on before dark, but I’ll be back. Count on it.”
Boone blinked. “Are you kidding about the ‘tied up in knots’?”
“No,” Jonah called over his shoulder. “I’ve never been more serious in my life. I want her safe and sound until we deliver her sister to her.
If
we can do so….”
Maddie felt like a boiling caldron of nerves. She had no idea how she was going to pay the ranch expenses after the losses from rustling, but she’d have
to worry about that another day. Rescuing Chrissy was top priority. Recovering from the sting of Jonah’s rejection was a very close second.
She didn’t know where Jonah had ridden off to, but he was gone and she was glad of it because it was difficult to maintain her composure around him. Boone she could tolerate. He didn’t set off devastating explosions inside her when she glanced in his direction.
Boone had been following her around most of the afternoon, asking inane questions about the ranch and the hired help. The only time he’d left her alone for more than ten minutes was when he’d gone in search of the rude-mannered cowboy who had interrupted their conversation earlier. Maddie wasn’t surprised to discover that Clem Foster had disappeared into thin air.
Maddie had wised up after all the misfortune she’d encountered these past months. In fact, she’d become as mistrusting and suspicious as Jonah. It hadn’t taken her long to conclude that Clem might well be the informant who made it possible for rustlers to know where and when to strike without detection. Now that she thought about it, the rustling reeked of an inside job, and she should have suspected as much months ago. Unfortunately, she had been reeling from the endless search for her missing father and sidetracked by the mountain of responsibility heaped on her at short notice.
If Clem was in cahoots with the Comanche raiders—who might well be connected to Avery—Maddie would sic the sheriff on him. Her devious neighbor would find himself under arrest. Clem Foster, too. The
nerve of that man making derisive comments about half-breeds, when
he
was probably a conniving outlaw who had betrayed her and robbed her blind!
Maddie released a frustrated breath as she tucked the money in the leather bag. When Boone ambled into the parlor she stared somberly at him. “I want your promise that you won’t interfere with the captive exchange,” she demanded. “I don’t know where that mulish man went off to, but make sure he doesn’t follow me, either.”
“Whatever you say, Maddie,” Boone replied as he plucked up the pouch. “But you can’t leave until Jonah arrives with the extra money.”
“Right.” She’d have to see Jonah again before she rode off. That should put her in a fine temper.
The thought no sooner darted through her head than she felt a presence behind her. She pivoted to see Jonah standing in the parlor door, a saddlebag draped over his massive shoulder. “Do you have the money?” she asked stiffly.