Whirlwind Wedding (20 page)

She blinked. His voice was strained, tortured. He sounded as if he was in agony, while she was elated. He removed his hand, just held her in place with the welcome nearness of his body.

“Then why won't you touch me? Kiss me like you did before?”

A muscle worked in his jaw. Hesitantly, he cupped her face. “Because I'll be leaving.”

“I don't care.” She felt his hand tremble against her cheek. “Is it because you think I'm afraid? I'm not. Not of you.”

Despite the tenderness in his eyes, a pained look crossed his face. “We shouldn't be talking about this. It can't happen.”

“It can if we both want it,” she whispered.

He looked at her as if he were committing her to memory, one finger gently tracing the shell of her ear, touching the sensitive hollow below. She should've been ashamed of her boldness, but she wasn't. Mortified that she was baring her soul to him, maybe, but not ashamed.

His silver gaze was soft. “I can't take you like that and walk away.”

“Then don't go,” she begged quietly.

“If we did this, I would still have to leave and you would be here, changed. Ruined.”

“No, not ruined.”

She could tell he was struggling with something, and he seemed to have trouble speaking. “I don't want you to hate me when I go, Catherine.”

“I could never hate you.”

“You don't know everything about me.”

“I know enough.” She touched his face then, as she'd been aching to—the strong jaw rough with stubble, the scar high on his left cheekbone. “I know you're kind and noble and would never let anyone hurt me.”

He stiffened as if bracing for a blow. Every careful word seemed to take a measure of control as he answered, “Someday you'll meet someone and you'll want him to be your first.”

“You're the one I want, the only one I'll ever want.”

He shook his head and turned his face into her palm, pressing a kiss there. “Must you make it so hard on a man?”

“I want to give myself to you. No one else.”

“Woman, you try me,” he muttered.

She read desire in his eyes, saw it battle with restraint. He brushed his thumb down her cheek, across her bottom lip.

She held very still, trembling as a hot restlessness churned inside her.

His head descended and a thrill shot through her. Then he froze. Her heart thundered in her ears and she stared into his eyes, willing him to touch his lips to hers.

He turned his head away and closed his eyes. “Andrew.”

“Andrew!” The anticipation that had arced between them disappeared. How could he be thinking of her brother at a time like this? “What does he have to do with this?”

Jericho swallowed hard. “He's yelling for you.”

Completely absorbed by the man in front of her, she hadn't heard a thing.

“Catherine?” She heard Andrew now in the distance, his voice sharp with impatience.

Jericho's eyes glittered with savage need as he stepped back. Frustration and disappointment tore through her.

“Catherine!” Her brother's voice was filled with a panic she'd never heard before. “Catherine!”

“You'd better go,” Jericho said quietly.

Confused, her emotions tangled and bruised, she turned, heat stinging her cheeks as she moved to the corner of the barn.

Just as she started up the side of the building, a small dark blur barreled into her. Andrew, she realized, closing her arms around him. “What is it? What's wrong?”

Worry carved a deep frown in his forehead. “I couldn't find you. I thought something had happened.” His words tumbled out in a frenzy.

“It's all right. I'm here.” She hugged him tightly, smoothing a hand over his hair. Ignoring the hollowness in her stomach, she focused on her brother.

He was shaking, and Catherine stroked his back. After losing their mother so suddenly, she shouldn't have been surprised that her brother would fear she might disappear, too. “I won't leave you, Andrew.”

He squeezed her hard. At least one male in her life wasn't pushing her away.

Then he drew back and looked at her, his eyes suspiciously bright. “I thought you were gone.”

“Now, where would I go?” She kept her voice light, trying to ease his agitation.

“Just… You can't go anywhere alone. All right?”

“Has something happened in town?” Perhaps his fear had nothing to do with their mother's death. “Have the McDougals done something else?”

She was sure it was guilt that flitted across his features. “Have
you
done something?” she pressed.

“No. I swear.” His blue eyes were earnest as he released
her. “It's just not safe around here. You shouldn't go out alone.”

Behind her, she heard a movement in the grass and half turned. It was Jericho with the horse. Facing the man whom she understood so little about was the last thing she wanted. She hugged Andrew to her, then tugged him forward. “Let's go to the house.”

“What were you doing back there, anyway?”

Her brother's question was innocent, but Catherine's entire body burned with embarrassment. She still hadn't been able to calm the staccato beating of her heart. “Helping Lieutenant Blue off his horse. He was trying to ride.”

Her brother glanced back, looking relieved. “I'm glad he's here and you weren't by yourself.”

He didn't shrug away from her hand on his neck. Since when had he been
glad
Jericho was here? “Are you sure you're not in any trouble? You'd tell me if you were, wouldn't you?”

“I'm not in trouble. I just don't want you to go off anywhere unless me or the Ranger know where you are. Since school's now out for the summer, I can go to town with you or wherever you need to go.”

What had come over him? Making certain she was escorted to town, warning her not to go anywhere alone? “All right, I'll be sure and let you know—”

“Hello?” Davis Lee's voice interrupted them, and a moment later he strode around the house. “Ah, here you are.”

The sheriff pulled off his hat and slapped it against his thigh, sending dust flying. He looked tired, dirty, and sunburned, which didn't make him any less handsome. His smiling gaze encompassed both of them. “You're a sight for sore eyes, Catherine.”

“Are you only now returning from chasing the McDougals?”

“Yes.” He stared intently at her and a quizzical expression
crossed his face. She didn't recall that the sheriff had ever looked at her that way before.

Feeling a little wary, she asked, “Have you eaten? Can I get you something to drink?”

Jericho limped around the side of the barn, leading his horse. As the two men greeted each other, Davis Lee's gaze shifted to his cousin, then came back to rest on her knowingly.

“I just came by to tell Jericho that we didn't catch the gang. They headed west, but we think they doubled back. We can't find any sign of them in any direction past Big Spring.”

Jericho's face hardened and he said something under his breath.

Flanked by the two large men, Catherine suddenly felt the need to escape. “Will you be going out again soon?”

Davis Lee knew she had been behind the barn with Jericho. She could tell by the faintest flare of surprise in his face when he eyed his cousin.

The sheriff smiled at her without a trace of censure. “Not unless we hear something or pick up another trail. The Baldwins are checking their herd for more dead cattle and making sure there are no new campsites on their land.”

Heat flushed her entire body, but embarrassment wasn't what had her stomach tightening. When Davis Lee had left with the posse on Monday night, he'd had every intention of returning and escorting her to the fort.

Her nerves jangling, all Catherine could think about was having a word with this man who had been so kind to her. “I've got some pie. Let me get you a piece.”

“That sounds good, but I can't stay.”

“I'll wrap it up.” She squeezed Andrew's shoulder and moved toward the sheriff.

Jericho stood by the barn, his face impassive, his gaze burning with that silver light.

Davis Lee looked past her to his cousin. “We're having a town meeting tomorrow night. It would help if you were there.”

“About the McDougals?”

The other man nodded. “We should be able to come up with a good plan.”

“All right. I'm all for that.”

Catherine fell into step with the sheriff, and Andrew trotted behind.

“Hey, Andrew!” Jericho called. “Would you mind helping me with Cinco? I plumb wore myself out.”

Since he had used neither saddle nor bridle and could brush down the horse himself, Catherine knew he was giving her a moment with Davis Lee.

Andrew hesitated, then seemed to decide that Catherine would be all right, since she was with the sheriff. “Okay, yeah.”

She watched her brother jog back to the barn, carefully keeping her gaze from Jericho's. Relieved that Andrew was staying behind, she continued with Davis Lee along the side of the house and to the front. She started up the porch steps.

He put a hand on her arm. “Wait.”

She stopped, giving him a smile.

“I—We— Aw, hell, there's no way to ease into this, so I'm just going to say it.” He shoved a hand through his hair, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “I can't help noticing there's something going on between you and my cousin.”

Her cheeks flamed. So Davis Lee had known that she and Jericho were behind the barn together. What the sheriff didn't know was that his cousin wanted her, but had no intention of acting on that. Her confusion deepening, Catherine shook her head. “You mustn't think that. It isn't true.”

“If you're trying to spare my feelings, I appreciate it,” he said gently. “But it isn't necessary. I've known for a while that you're interested in my cousin.”

She wanted to deny it; the interest would certainly never lead to anything. “If I did anything to injure you—”

“Hush now. We had no understanding between us. I enjoyed our time together.”

“So did I,” she said sincerely, plucking at the folds of her skirt. “You're one of the kindest men I've ever known.”

“You were raised in a convent, Catherine,” he said dryly. “There
were
no men.”

She laughed softly, her unease fading. “I'll get your pie.”

“Can I take you up on that offer later? Right now I'd sure like to get a bath.”

“Of course. Anytime you want.”

He swung into the saddle, smiling down at her fondly. “You know you can come to me if you ever need a friend.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You okay?” His blue eyes were kind.

She smiled. “Oh, yes. I'm glad you're home safe.”

“Me, too.” He grinned and touched his hat to her as he clucked to the horse.

Jericho might want her, but he wasn't going to do anything about it. Catherine watched Davis Lee ride off, thinking she was a fool to want his cousin rather than him.

W
hy don't you want me?
Catherine's question seared him all over again the next day, and Jericho felt like groaning in frustration. How could he
not
want her? Her declaration that she wanted to give herself to him had him hard and aching still.

Kissing her would've been a dozen kinds of wrong, but he hadn't stopped wishing he'd given in and done it. He could still taste the dark honey of her mouth from their first kiss, feel the shy touch of her tongue on his neck from the other night. The memory of her soft bottom in his lap and her hip pressing into his erection had him seeing double. Hell, he should just shoot himself right now.

His restraint was starting to fray like bad rope. The temptation to take what she offered, to possess her, rode him hard, but he couldn't take her innocence. Not after the assault she'd suffered. Not with what he was planning to do to her brother.

Which left him in the same rock-hard place regarding Catherine that he had been in before Davis Lee had left with the posse. He wanted her, but couldn't have her.

The strain between him and Catherine was noticeable enough that at supper Andrew eyed them both curiously. The
boy rattled on about the school session being over, the trip he and his friends planned to take to the creek by Eishen's pecan grove. Jericho and Catherine both talked to Andrew; they didn't talk to each other.

Though there were still signs of worry in the boy's face, he hadn't said anything else to Jericho about the girl who was being threatened. With school letting out, maybe those bullies had decided to leave her alone.

After the meal, Jericho reminded Catherine that he was going to the town meeting. She nodded, saying nothing as she bent over a shirt she was mending. All day she had avoided his eyes and him whenever possible. The same thoughts that had been circling through his head since yesterday still chased him as he walked to town.

He was closing in on Andrew. All he needed was for the kid to sneak out one more time, and Jericho would be on his trail. That realization didn't bring the satisfaction it should have, just a hollow ache in his chest. The murders of Hays Gentry and Ollie Wilkes and the others made it impossible for Jericho to let the kid and the outlaws walk away.

The men of the town met in the schoolhouse. Davis Lee delayed the meeting, waiting on Riley and the Baldwins, as well as some others, but after thirty minutes he began. Riley finally arrived, announcing that two of his horses had been stolen. Jake Ross came in right behind him, saying the same thing. Three of his chickens were missing, too. J. T. Baldwin said his housekeeper had reported two blankets missing from the clothesline. It was the McDougals; it had to be.

By the end of the meeting, the men had divided into teams of two, working six-hour shifts to watch both ends of town. Davis Lee and Jericho planned to ride out to Riley's and Jake's to see if they could pick up any tracks from these new thefts. While his cousin went to saddle his
mount at the livery and get a lantern so they wouldn't destroy any evidence they found, Jericho went back to Catherine's for his horse.

Davis Lee rode up as he brought a saddleless Cinco around to the front of the house. After drawing the gelding next to the porch, Jericho limped up the steps to the door. Catherine answered his knock, looking disturbed when he told her about this latest rash of incidents. He didn't want to leave her and Andrew alone, but it wouldn't be for long.

Hating the way her eyes were shuttered against him, he clenched his fist against his thigh. She answered all his questions in a quiet, flat voice. Yes, Andrew was already in bed. No, she wouldn't let anyone in. Yes, the shotgun was loaded and behind the door.

She stood in the doorway, looking at him as if she wanted to escape. Lamplight brushed one side of her face and he suddenly ached to trace the line of gold with his lips, across her cheek to her mouth. He moved to the edge of the porch, using it as an aid to mount, the same way Dr. Butler had suggested he get in and out of the wagon. Mounting from the left didn't spook his horse, so he put his good leg over Cinco's back and sank down gingerly to straddle the animal.

Catherine's gaze flickered to his leg and her lips tightened, but she didn't speak.

“I won't be gone long.”

She nodded, her face impassive, her blue eyes unreadable in the darkness. “Be careful, both of you.”

Davis Lee's buckskin pranced impatiently and he threw an expectant look at Jericho. Finally dragging his gaze from her, Jericho turned Cinco and rode with his cousin toward town and Riley's ranch.

The guarded look in Catherine's eyes hollowed out his gut. He had to stop thinking about her. To that end, he focused
on the painful muscles stretching in his thigh, glad he had not waited until now to get on a horse.

They were through town and heading for Riley's ranch when Davis Lee spoke. “What are you going to do about Catherine?”

“What do you mean?” Jericho leveled a look at his cousin.

The other man took his time in answering. “I've got a pretty good idea what the two of you were doing behind the barn last evening.”

“We weren't,” he said flatly. “Even so, I know what it looked like and I'm sorry for that—”

“I already knew which way the wind was blowing. Catherine and I worked it out, but things didn't appear too rosy between you two back there. She seemed ready to bawl and you looked like you could kill a buffalo with your bare hands.”

Jericho set his jaw. He had seen how miserable he'd made her. He didn't need his cousin going on about it. “It won't be long until we catch the McDougals and I'll be gone.”

“So you really are going to leave?”

“I won't be able to stay,” he said gruffly.

“You don't think you and Catherine—”

“You know it doesn't matter what I want. I came here to arrest her brother and catch those outlaws. When she learns about that, she isn't going to want to be within a hundred miles of me.”

What twisted at his conscience even more was the closeness he'd seen developing between her and Andrew. She would be more than angry because of Jericho. She would be devastated.

Davis Lee slid him a sympathetic look. “I'm very glad I'm not you, cousin.”

Jericho grunted, his gut a mass of knots. His path was clear, but instead of asking himself if he could find a way to
bait the kid into visiting the gang, he was trying to figure out a way to keep from hurting Catherine.

And that was when he knew. He didn't just want to take Catherine Donnelly to bed. He wanted a little piece of her heart, just like she'd taken from him.

 

Catherine sat on the top step of the porch, her arms hugging her knees into her chest. She hadn't been able to sleep, so she had quietly slipped outside, careful not to wake Andrew. For the last half hour, she had been telling herself that it wouldn't be long before Jericho was well enough to leave. She only had to keep up her guard until then.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a movement and turned her head. The dark shape of one short leg swung out of Andrew's open window. Where did he think he was going? She started to rise, then stopped as he eased to the ground and took off running toward town. She would follow him and see where he went, what he did during these late-night trips.

He had better not be meeting Creed and Miguel for more smoking or any other kind of mischief.

She let him get more than twenty yards away before she slipped quietly off the porch and hurried after him. There was no hiding place on the rippling prairie between her and Whirlwind, so while she could easily keep Andrew in sight, she would also have no cover if he turned around.

Being careful, she stayed near enough to see him, but not so near that he could hear her skirts swishing through the grass. Moonlight shimmered around them, making him easy to follow. He never turned around. Either he was too intent on his destination or he had done this so often he didn't fear getting caught.

He darted behind the schoolhouse, then across North Street to disappear behind Cal Doyle's law office. The town was dark
and quiet, and being a weeknight, so was the saloon. Catherine eased around the corner of the law office in time to see Andrew duck down and disappear into the wall of Haskell's General Store. The wall? She moved closer and spotted a ragged gap sawed in the wood, just big enough for her brother to crawl through.

Was he the one stealing from the store? Why? First appalled, then angry, she folded her arms and waited. Several minutes later, she heard a grunt, then saw a pair of hands holding a lumpy bag emerge.

He dropped the bag to the ground and stuck out his head, level with her ankles. Slowly his gaze traveled up to her face. “Oh, no.”

“Come out of there right now,” Catherine whispered furiously.

He scrambled to obey, keeping his gaze on the ground.

“Are you the one who's been stealing from Mr. Haskell?”

“Yes,” he mumbled.

A pain stabbed through her chest as she gestured toward the gunsmith's shop next door. “And the cartridges from Mr. Doyle?”

He nodded.

“Why?” Catherine was assaulted with anger and sadness and guilt. Why was he stealing? For thrills? Because he was lashing out at the death of their mother? Rebelling against his sister?

He still hadn't answered, and irritation flared in her. She picked up the bag and opened it. Moonlight glinted off the metal of several tinned goods. She felt the smooth skin of apples and a wrapped wedge that she identified as cheese. “I know you do not need this food.”

He didn't speak, just looked up at her with a mix of agony and stubbornness in his expression.

“Take this back inside right now.”

“But Catherine—”

“Do it. And come right back out the way you went in. Don't even think about using the front door.”

He hesitated, uncertainty turning to fear on his face. “I can't,” he moaned.

“Andrew,” she warned. “You return those things, then we're going to tell Deputy Ross what you've done. And when the sheriff returns, you're going to tell him, too.”

“No, Catherine! I can't.” Andrew's voice trembled with panic and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

“Don't think to play on my sympathy.”

“I'm not.” A tear dropped onto his cheek and he swiped it away with the back of his grubby hand. He looked conflicted and she saw terror deep in his eyes.

Concern edged in with her anger. “Andrew?”

“I can't tell, Catherine. They'll kill me and maybe you, too.”

His words were so unexpected that she drew back, asking sharply, “What are you talking about?”

He dragged his arm under his nose, his words broken as he tried to stop crying. “I didn't want to do it.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look.

“I didn't! When I said no, they said they were going to kill me if I didn't help them. And they said they would get you and the Ranger. I didn't know what else to do.”

His words poured out with a raw desperation. Catherine struggled to make sense of them. “Who, Andrew? Who threatened you?”

He wiped his face against his shoulder, his voice a mere whisper. “The McDougals.”

“The…” Shock washed the starch right out of her legs and she put a hand against the wall for balance. She didn't want to believe it, didn't want to hear anything else about it, but she
could see by the icy whiteness of her brother's face that he was telling the truth. “How long has this been going on?”

His gaze slid away. “Since before you came.”

He had been running errands for the McDougals. “When you sneak out of the house, is it to steal things for them?”

“Sometimes. At first I just wanted to be with them.”

“Why would you ever want to be with men like that?”

“Ma was sick and I didn't have nobody.” He snuffled. “They told me stories and taught me to play cards. I didn't see the harm. I fetched things for them and cleaned their guns, stuff like that.”

“How did you even meet them?”

“One day I saw Ian—he has consumption—in the alley between the Pearl Restaurant and the telegraph office. He gave me some money and asked me to go to Haskell's and buy him some medicine.”

One of the McDougals had tuberculosis?

“When he left, I followed him, and the others saw me. Since I had helped Ian, they didn't mind having me around.” Andrew shrugged. “After that they asked me to bring 'em stuff and they took me to their camp a couple of times.”

“And when did you begin stealing?” Her brother had felt so alone that he had tried to make a place for himself among outlaws? “After I arrived?”

He nodded. “I know I should've quit going there, but I was mad that you tried to boss me around. I didn't even know you. And I didn't like the Ranger being in our house.”

Incredulous, Catherine inhaled sharply. “You knew he was after them and you said nothing? Oh, Andrew. They killed his friend. And Whirlwind's stage driver.”

“I know,” he said miserably.

She understood how lost and lonely he had felt after their mother's death. Then he'd been thrust into the company of a sister he had never met before. Their father was dead, and be
cause their mother's illness had taken all her strength, Andrew had probably received little attention during those months before she passed away.

Her brother edged up to her, his expression earnest. “I didn't want to tell them things anymore or steal for them, but when I let them know I was finished, they got mad. They thought I'd told Sheriff Holt where they were camped. That's when they—” His voice broke.

“They what, Andrew?” Her own voice was ragged with apprehension.

His face twisted in a grimace and he lifted his shirt, turning so she could see his side. In the darkness, she could only make out a black blotch. “What is that?”