“You’re a nice man, Jonah Danhill,” she murmured against his chest.
A
nice man
wouldn’t be thinking the kind of impure thoughts that were chasing around in his head at the moment. The feel of her full breasts pressed against his rib cage was arousing him to the extreme. The feel of her arm draped over his chest reminded him of being wrapped in a cocoon of living flesh. He wanted her in the worst way, wanted to be
inside
her, sharing the same flesh, the same breath.
The erotic thought played havoc with his self-restraint, especially when her enticing feminine scent kept wrapping itself around his senses and practically drowned him. Gritting his teeth against the onslaught of tormenting temptation, Jonah shifted sideways and turned his back on her. Which was just as bad, because Maddie cuddled spoon-fashion against his back and looped her arm around his waist.
Her breath stirred against his neck, causing goose-flesh to pebble his skin. Desire clenched inside him and one arousing fantasy after another flooded his mind and left him hard and aching. Damn it, even if he’d been made of stone he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t crack under the intense pressure of wanting her like hell blazing.
After what seemed forever he heard her methodic breathing and felt her slump in slumber. Jonah thanked Indian and white men’s deities equally for granting him relief.
One more day, he chanted silently. Surely he could endure one more day of nearly impossible temptation
before she found another guide to lead her back to familiar territory.
Jonah winced when an odd sensation nipped at him. He didn’t want to visualize another man cuddling up with Maddie. He’d buy her a bedroll, Jonah decided immediately. And he’d make double damn certain that her next guide had the restraint and integrity to keep his hands off her.
Hell! Where in the blazes was he going to find a saint on such short notice?
Maddie awoke the following morning with a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach and a dull throb thudding against her skull. The whiskey, she recalled. Though drinking had taken the edge off her nerves, there seemed the devil to pay later.
Raising heavy-lidded eyes, she glanced sideways, not surprised to note that Jonah was up and gone. She smiled slightly, remembering that she’d practically had to twist his arm to get him to share the bedroll with her.
Drowsily Maddie pushed upright and scrubbed her hands over her face. She needed to get up and get moving. She predicted Jonah had the horses saddled already and was champing at the bit, eager to be on the way to the fort so he could drop her off.
Maddie stepped from the cave to draw in a deep breath and revel in the lingering scent of rain that hung in the early morning air. Her gaze drifted across the valley and she admired the spectacular view for a long moment. With her senses cleared—partially—she ambled over to the pool to wash her face, then reversed direction to gather the bedroll and gear.
Jonah glanced up to see Maddie, the saddlebags, satchel and bedroll slung over her shoulder, making her way down the trail. Her face was pale—the aftereffects of her bout with whiskey, he diagnosed. Nonetheless, she had gathered up the gear and climbed down from their elevated campsite to join him.
“How’s your head?” he asked without preamble.
“And good morning to you, too,” she replied. Maddie walked over to tie the gear behind the saddle. “Sleep well, Jonah?”
The casual tone of her voice provoked him to frown. She was laboring under the erroneous notion that resisting the temptation she presented wasn’t driving him crazy. Well, she was dead wrong about that, but he’d shoot himself in the foot a couple of times before he admitted it.
Jonah suspected that most men drooled over this fetching female, and he wasn’t about to join the ranks of her hopeless admirers. And for all he knew she could be a cunning crook who was using him to protect her stash of money during her getaway. Hell, there could be wanted posters out on Maddie Garret and he wouldn’t know for sure unless he visited the nearest sheriff’s office to check.
“Jonah?”
He corraled his rambling thoughts and shot her a quick glance. “I slept just fine, thanks for asking,” he replied in a clipped voice. “We’ll forgo breakfast since we’ll be at Fort Griffin by noon. Ready to ride, Garret?”
When Maddie swung into the saddle Jonah’s be
traying gaze riveted on the shapely curve of her derriere. He swore ripely and mounted his horse.
Jonah circled the sandstone bluff and headed north. Although Maddie commented on the rugged beauty of the hills that were dotted with juniper and mesquite, Jonah kept a sharp lookout for unwanted company. Two hours into the journey they encountered a supply wagon. The ogling stares that the two bearded men directed toward Maddie didn’t escape him. Although she waved and smiled cordially, Jonah nodded curtly.
“Are you always this grumpy or are you having a bad day?” Maddie questioned belatedly.
“I’ve found that if you treat every stranger like a potential enemy you’re never surprised if trouble comes your way.”
When she shook her head in dismay sunlight blazed like fire in that mass of curly hair. Jonah did his damnedest not to notice how utterly appealing she was to him.
“You’ve spent entirely too much time associating with murderers and thieves. They are poisoning your outlook on life.”
Jonah didn’t reply, just headed north at a fast clip. When he spotted the flag flying on Government Hill, where the fort was located, he veered west to approach the community from the opposite direction than the two bushwhackers might have anticipated.
“Our first order of business is to find a guide,” Jonah said as they trotted into the Flat that sat at the base of the hill overlooking the river.
“I told you I’m going alone.”
“Not acceptable.” Jonah grabbed the mare’s rein,
just in case Maddie decided to be contrary and tried to take off in the wrong direction.
“I am not your responsibility,” she muttered in annoyance. She reached into the pocket of her breeches for the money to pay Jonah for his services. “Here. Take this and go.”
Jonah ignored her as he weaved around the horses and wagons that filled the streets of the community. He made a beeline for the fort and rode right past the soldiers who tried to waylay him. Jonah wasn’t wasting his time with peons. He was going to speak to the highest-ranking officer at the fort.
“What’s your commander’s name?” Jonah asked the young soldier who was standing guard outside headquarters.
“Major Thorton,” the soldier informed him, though his eyes kept straying appreciatively to Maddie and the trim-fitting garments that advertised every shapely curve and swell she possessed.
“Jonah Danhill, Texas Ranger,” Jonah announced authoritatively, then flashed the badge he kept tucked in his pocket.
The soldier snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.” Turning an about-face, he preceded Jonah and Maddie through the door. After quick introductions, the soldier exited and Jonah got right down to business.
“I’m looking for an experienced scout and guide to escort my wife west while I return to Coyote Springs,” Jonah declared.
Major Thorton thoughtfully stroked his goatee and frowned. “Why can’t she take the stage? That would eliminate the need for a guide.”
“She prefers to ride horseback,” Jonah replied,
then flashed the major a wry smile. “My life is much easier if I give my wife what she wants.”
Major Thorton chuckled as his gaze darted around Jonah’s shoulder to appraise Maddie. “I usually follow the same policy for the same reason,” he agreed. He propped his fingertips together, contemplated for a long moment, then said, “I would recommend three men. One of them is a civilian scout we employ on occasion. You can probably find Kiowa Boone at Wild Card Gaming Hall down at the Flat. He usually prefers to trail north, not west, but he might be convinced to help you if the price is right.
“Henry Selmon is a buffalo hunter who has been all over these parts,” the major continued. “When he’s in town he frequents the Crested Butte Saloon. Your last prospect is Yancy Clark, who rides shotgun for freight wagons headed up the cattle trail to Dodge City. You can probably find him at the mercantile shop that he and his brother own.”
Jonah nodded gratefully. “I appreciate your help, Major.”
Thorton came to his feet behind his desk and extended his hand. “Good luck finding a guide, Mr. Danhill. With a pretty wife like yours, I can understand why you want to be selective.”
Maddie silently fumed when Jonah turned around and shoveled her from the office, as if she was too stupid to find the door by herself. The way he was lording over her made it seem as if they truly were married.
Maddie made up her mind there and then that if she did marry eventually she was not going to be dominated and ordered around. She’d spent the past
months making decisions for herself, and she was not going to depend on any man the way she had allowed herself to blithely do with her father.
“Don’t give me that mutinous look,” Jonah said as they descended Government Hill.
Maddie jerked up her chin and glared at him good and hard. Not that it fazed him. Going up against Jonah Danhill was like banging her head against a stone wall. Nonetheless, she was not going to be walked over and treated as if her opinion counted for nothing.
“I do not want a guide,” she told him firmly and decisively.
“Tough. You aren’t leaving town without one,” he retorted. He halted in front of a shabby saloon and dismounted. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
Maddie glared meat cleavers at his departing back as he strode off. When she eased her horse away from the hitching post, impulsively deciding to turn tail and ride away, hell-for-leather, Jonah wheeled on her and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Do not make me track you down. It’s what I do and I’m damn good at it.”
“All this and conceited, too.”
“No,
confident.
I’ve been tested repeatedly. And if you leave while I’m inside the gaming hall I’ll be mad as hell
when
I track you down, so stay put!”
Although everything inside Maddie rebelled, she sensibly reminded herself that outrunning Jonah would be a waste of time and effort. Besides, she could dismiss her unwanted guide the moment Jonah rode east, and he would never know the difference.
She gave him a mocking bow from atop her mare. “Yes, master. Anything else?”
“Just stay put.” Muttering, Jonah spun on his heels and disappeared inside the saloon.
Maddie glanced longingly at the restaurant down the street. Despite Jonah’s agenda of locating a suitable guide, Maddie decided their next stop was going to be the café because her stomach was growling to beat the band. After that, she intended to rent a hotel room and relax before she began the next leg of her journey in the morning.
Though she hated to admit it, she was going to miss having Jonah underfoot. He hadn’t gotten attached to her, but she had definitely become attached to him. The simple, undeniable fact was that she was attracted to him, fascinated with him, no matter how much she wished otherwise.
Maddie sighed heavily and shifted restlessly in the saddle. There was something to be said for having a pretend husband, she mused. You could lose one as quickly as you acquired one. It was a pity that Jonah was in more of a rush to get her off his hands than she was to part company from him. She was starting to like the man—a lot. It would have soothed her feminine pride considerably if Jonah felt the same way about her.
No such luck, she mused dejectedly. At this very moment he was scouring the saloon, looking for someone to take her off his hands so he could hightail it out of town—pronto.
W
ithout asking around, Jonah singled out Kiowa Boone at a single glance. The man looked to be three or four years younger than Jonah and exactly what he’d expected—a half-breed who offered his scouting services to the army, to freight companies and wagon trains. For a price, Kiowa Boone led the way through the frontier—and avoided confinement on the reservation. Boone was a kindred spirit with whom Jonah could easily identify.
Boone glanced up from the table where he sat with his back to the wall—a technique Jonah always observed so he could see trouble coming before it pounced on him. Unspoken recognition and connection passed between Jonah and the scout, who tossed down his poker hand and came agilely to his feet.
“You’re looking for me.” It wasn’t a question but rather a statement of fact.
Jonah sized up the rugged-looking scout, who stood a few inches shorter than himself. Other than a difference in height, Jonah saw the same dark, angular features that he encountered when he looked in the
mirror. Two of a kind, he mused as a faint smile pursed his lips.
“Got a problem,” Jonah declared.
“Our kind usually do,” Boone remarked as he glanced around the gaming hall. “We have to deal with palefaces.”
Jonah chuckled as he led the way to the door. It had been a while since he’d had the chance to associate with someone who understood what he felt. He liked the dark-eyed, raven-haired half-breed immediately.
Pausing outside the gaming hall, Jonah gestured toward Maddie, who waited impatiently. “My wife,” he announced. Strange how that lie tumbled so easily from his lips these days.
Boone’s brow shot up like exclamation marks as his appraising gaze bounced from Maddie to Jonah. “You, my brother, are one very lucky man.”
Jonah didn’t bother to debate that issue. “She is heading west and I have to return to Coyote Springs. The name’s Jonah Danhill. I’m a Texas Ranger,” he added.
The scout nodded pensively. “I considered that option myself, but I’d want a guarantee that I wouldn’t have to go up against one of my own kind.”
“I asked for the same guarantee. My commander respects my wishes. I can make the necessary contacts if you’re interested.”
“Might be,” he murmured as he stared appraisingly at Maddie.
“What is taking so long?” Maddie asked as she gave Kiowa Boone a quick once-over. “He’ll suit me just fine. Now let’s go eat. I’m starved.”
“Your woman has a sassy mouth.” Boone smiled wryly. “I like that in a woman.”
“You wouldn’t if you had to deal with it repeatedly,” Jonah countered as Maddie stared irritably at him. “Regardless, I will pay you to escort her to the ranch located northwest of Yellow House Canyon.”
The light evaporated from Boone’s dark eyes and his expression hardened. Jonah realized that the man experienced the same resentment that tormented him. “Not interested,” the scout said with absolute finality.
Jonah nodded in understanding. “Figured you’d feel that way. Not that I blame you. I’ll find someone else,” he said as motioned to Maddie.
After Jonah mounted his gelding, he met Boone’s penetrating stare, then reined away from the hitching post. He could feel the scout’s gaze on him as he and Maddie headed down the street.
“Well? Is it settled?” Maddie asked curiously.
“Kiowa Boone declined the offer,” Jonah said as Maddie bounded from her horse and made a beeline for the restaurant.
“I intend to eat and rent a room for the night. You can scour the town for a guide, if you’re so inclined, but I plan to be refreshed and ready to ride at dawn.”
Jonah glanced around to locate Crested Butte Saloon and Clark’s Mercantile. Although he wanted the matter settled and out of the way, he followed Maddie inside the restaurant and took a seat. The café was bustling with patrons, several of whom darted speculative glances at Maddie, then at Jonah. He had the unshakable feeling that no one in attendance thought
the attractive female belonged in his company. It was a prejudice he’d encountered for half his life.
Since the crowd seemed harmless, Jonah ordered his meal, then stood up. “I’ll check out one of the other possible scouts before lunch arrives.”
“Fine,” Maddie said stiffly. “Heaven forbid that you have to spend another few minutes with me when you could be locating someone to pawn me off on.”
“Look, princess—” he tried to object, but she cut him off with a slashing gesture of her hand.
“Just go.”
And off he went. Jonah walked across the street to request that the barkeeper at Crested Butte Saloon point out the potential scout. Jonah frowned disapprovingly when his attention was directed to a scraggly haired buffalo hunter half sprawled across a table, his hat askew on his head. An empty glass sat a few inches away from the man’s grimy hands, which were tipped with filthy fingernails. Flies buzzed around him.
It was high noon and Henry Selmon, the sorry son of a bitch, had already passed out.
No way in hell was Jonah going to entrust Maddie’s safekeeping to this pathetic drunkard. Without shaking the snoring buffalo hunter awake, Jonah wheeled around and exited the saloon. Two down and one to go, he mused as he strode toward the mercantile store to locate Yancy Clark.
Jonah introduced himself to the short, stocky Clark brothers, who were carrying supplies to the back of the store to load in the wagon waiting in the alley. When he explained his request, Yancy shook his frizzy red head.
“Too busy,” he said as he shoved the wooden crate across the wagon bed. “I’m heading out to Dodge City with supplies in the morning.”
Frustrated, Jonah returned to the restaurant and plopped into his chair to devour the meal that awaited him.
“That was fast…. Well?” Maddie prompted.
“Selmon is a drunk and Clark is taking a shipment of supplies north first thing in the morning,” he reported between bites.
“Then the matter is settled,” Maddie declared. “Since you refuse to accompany me, then I will use your tactic of avoiding the open road and following tree-lined creeks. I’ll ride west tomorrow and you can head east.” She dropped money on the table to pay for her meal, then rose to her feet. “If you feel inclined to say goodbye, you can find me at Horning’s Hotel.”
Exasperated, Jonah watched her walk away—and noticed that at least a dozen admiring male gazes followed her until she disappeared from sight. Jonah sighed heavily. That woman drew entirely too much attention, just by living and breathing. It would be impossible for her to make an unescorted jaunt across the frontier without getting herself in trouble.
Maddie paid for her hotel room and carted her satchel upstairs to find meager but tolerable accommodations. All she wanted was an afternoon nap on a real bed. Then she would gather a few supplies before she enjoyed a hearty supper and settled in for a good night’s sleep. She also wanted to forget that Jonah Danhill had stomped on her feminine pride and
hurt her feelings by racing around town, trying to foist her off on someone else so he could be rid of her.
She supposed this was her comeuppance for rejecting several suitors who didn’t interest her in the least. Suddenly she had stumbled onto a man who intrigued her and inspired a host of feminine yearning. Unfortunately, Jonah viewed her as a nuisance and inconvenience, and he didn’t trust her.
Being rejected was hard on her pride, but she would learn to deal with that, just as she’d learned to deal with all the obligations and difficulties she’d encountered after her father disappeared. For sure and certain, her personal disappointments were no match for the terror Christina was enduring. Maddie resolved, there and then, to focus all of her thoughts and efforts on blazing a path toward home to deliver the ransom money.
Sprawled faceup on the lumpy bed, Maddie closed her eyes and ignored the image of coal-black hair and intense green eyes that floated across her mind’s eye. Jonah Danhill was just a footnote in the annals of her life, she reminded herself sensibly. She had survived without him before she met him and she would manage just fine without him now.
On that determined thought Maddie fell asleep.
A century later—or maybe it was only a few minutes; she couldn’t say for sure—Maddie was jolted awake to see that the same two cowboys who had been chasing her were hovering over the bed. She felt the spitting end of a six-shooter jammed against her throat.
“Give us that money and you can be on your
way,” one of them growled ominously. “We’re damn tired of chasing you all over creation. Now hand it over.”
Maddie had no weapon with which to defend herself, and the money that might save Christina’s life was stuffed in her satchel at the end of the bed. Although she didn’t want to involve Jonah, she said the first thing that popped into her head in order to buy herself precious time.
“My husband is carrying the money,” she wheezed.
The other man’s eyes narrowed on her as he stuffed his pistol a little deeper into the side of her neck. “Where’d you find a husband so fast? Nobody told us about him.”
Rattled though Maddie was, she realized that these two men weren’t working alone. The only other individuals in Fort Worth who knew she was carrying a hefty stack of money were the family attorney and the bank teller.
“My husband should be here soon,” Maddie insisted nervously.
When her assailants glanced expectantly at the door, Maddie bolted into action. Her hand shot upward to shove the pistol away from her neck as she rolled off the side of the bed. Amid snarls and foul curses the pistol discharged—sending feathers flying from the pillow where her head had been. Heart pounding like a tom-tom, she slithered beneath the bed and screamed down the walls. All the while she kicked at the protruding arms that reached beneath the bed to grab hold of her.
“Better get the hell out of here while the getting
is still good,” one of them muttered when the sound of doors opening and closing and the thump of footsteps indicated that Maddie’s wild screams and the gunshot had drawn attention.
Maddie poked her head out from under the bed as the two cowboys slipped between the dingy panels of the curtain and escaped through the window. Bounding to her feet, Maddie darted across the room to watch the would-be thieves drop down onto the wooden crates they had stacked up in the alley to form a makeshift staircase. Although the crates toppled as the men clambered hastily downward, they reached the ground, split up and sprinted off in different directions at a dead run.
Maddie sagged heavily against the windowsill and dragged in a shaky breath. Her gaze swung back to the bed to focus on the pillow and scattered feathers.
That could have been her head, she thought with a gulp.
She was still trying to collect her wits when the door crashed open and Jonah dived inside. With both pistols drawn, and looking as formidable as the devil himself, he rolled across the floor.
When he bounded to his feet, her first reaction was to fly into his arms like a homing pigeon coming to roost. But Maddie clamped her fingers on the windowsill and willfully stayed where she was. She had to remain independent and rely on no one but herself. And by damned, she was going to teach herself to be as unflinching and unruffled as Jonah!
Ignoring the curious bystanders in the hall, Jonah kicked the door shut with his boot heel, then shoved his six-shooters into the holsters. When his assessing
gaze landed on the defeathered pillow, he snatched it up to note that the bullet had gone clean through the mattress.
He spit out a succinct curse and focused his absolute attention on Maddie. “What the hell happened?”
“When?” she asked smartly. “Before or after
my two friends
jabbed a pistol in my throat and demanded the money?”
He stalked to the window and stared down at the disheveled stair steps of crates. He spouted a string of profanities that apparently offended Maddie’s ears because she stared disapprovingly at him.
“
That
will help the situation,” she said sarcastically. “Wish I’d thought to do it.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, then looked her over carefully to determine how much damage her assailants had done. She seemed fine—a little peaked, but still in one piece.
Jonah felt an uncharacteristic shudder riddle him as he slumped in relief. He’d been on his way up the steps when he heard the shot and the screams. He’d knocked bodies out of his way to reach Maddie’s room and he nearly suffered apoplexy when he spied the bullet hole in the pillow and mattress. He considered it an incredible stroke of luck that she hadn’t been shot full of holes.
Maddie pushed away from the window and half collapsed on the end of the bed. She grabbed the satchel containing the money and hugged it protectively. “I was taking a nap and awoke to find those same two scroungy-looking men looming over me, demanding the money,” she elaborated. “I told them that you had the bills stashed away and that you’d be
here any minute. When they glanced toward the door I knocked aside the gun and rolled under the bed.”
“You knocked the gun…” His voice disintegrated into a horrified gasp. “Damn it, woman!” He erupted in bad temper. “You could be the deadest woman who ever lived!”
Maddie bolted up to confront him, toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye. “What was I supposed to do? Lie there submissively, waiting for you to show up when I didn’t know if you would? I
can
take care of myself. I
will
take care of myself!”
“Yeah, that’s what worries me,” he grumbled as his gaze returned to the brutalized pillow. “I don’t like your daredevil techniques.”
“They don’t seem to bother you when you’re the one performing them. And what purpose was that drop-and-roll tactic supposed to serve?”
“Most men aim for the chest. I prefer to come in low and fast. Loaded for bear.”
“I’ll add that to my self-defense repertoire,” she said, then frowned pensively. “One of those men demanded to know how I’d acquired a husband so quickly.”
Jonah’s attention zeroed in on Maddie’s waxen face. He didn’t like the sound of that. Of course, he only had her word for it. She could have made it up to reinforce her claim that she had no idea who the two assailants were. Now she implied there was a conspiracy working against her.