Claudia Dain (21 page)

"How about Junction City? You ever see Fat Alice? She's something to see, you ever get that way. Good land around Junction City, even down toward Council Grove."

"There's good land everywhere," Tucker said.

"Guess that's why you're doing so well."

"That, and I work hard." Bill said bristling.

Jack looked at his thickened waistline and soft hands. "Yeah."

If Bill had had that whip he seemed so fond of, he might have gone for it then. But he didn't have it.

"Come on in, Bill. Anne's waiting," Nell said from the doorway. The light flooded out onto the porch, though not as far as where Jack sat on the step; he remained in deepening shadow. Twilight was sliding into full dark at a nice clip. Bill went in without another word for Jack. Jack stayed outside. No one invited him in.

For a man who'd lived most of his life outside, he didn't know why he had the sudden urge to be invited in.

Yeah, he did, and she stood right in that parlor, accepting a kiss on the back of the hand like it was nothin', letting a man touch her who had no business touching her, with her whole family looking on and smilin' their pleasure. Lord, even the dog was smiling, his tongue hanging out his tail going like a windmill. Even the dog...

Jack eased off the porch and into the night, leaving the warm glow of the houselights firmly behind him. He wasn't leaving Anne alone on the dark streets of Abilene with a man who was that friendly with a dog.

They didn't see him as they walked to the restaurant, though he followed close enough to hear the pride in Tucker's voice and the hesitation in Anne's. They didn't see him when they entered, but he watched the warm reception they got when they walked to their table. People smiled and greeted them, Tucker grinned and clapped a fellow on the back, Anne smiled without showing her teeth and sat down when Tucker pulled the chair for her.

She didn't show her teeth much, not in talking or smiling, or even in eating, for that matter. Bill did most of the talking. Bill did the ordering. Bill did the gesturing. Bill did the smiling and the laughing. Anne did the listening.

It appeared to be a one-sided courtship with the weight on Tucker's side.

Jack stood in the darkness that blanketed the main street of Abilene, hidden from all eyes, in no one's thoughts. That was just the way he liked it. He didn't want anyone sniffing along his trail. He didn't need anyone at all.

He watched Anne in the golden light of the Demorest, her dark hair shining in a wavy mass atop her head, her skin smooth and glowing, her blue eyes brilliant in the gentle lamplight. Her expression guarded. Why would a gal be wary when out with her regular beau? Bill leaned across the table, smiling, talking excitedly. Anne smiled politely and rested more firmly against the back of her chair. A fool would have no trouble reading that picture; Bill's aggressive pursuit, Anne's passive withdrawal. And he was no fool. Except maybe where she was concerned.

She had leaned into him, seeking his kiss. She had come to his hotel, seeking him out. She had pressed herself against him not three hours ago, demanding a kiss from him that he'd been too ready to give. She hadn't been wary, or cautious, or reserved. Not then. She was being all those things now with Tucker. Damn, but the woman had it tumbled; she was supposed to encourage her town beau, not the dusty-heeled bounty hunter.

She didn't have the first idea of how to look after herself.

That's why he was following her. She couldn't be trusted on her own with a man—he knew that well enough from personal experience, and her mama ought to know it, too. But Bill Tucker was an approved beau for Anne and looked on the verge of asking her to be his woman, that was the difference. A mama would make allowances if the man was ready to submit to the halter.

But Bill Tucker had ridden the trail, traveled a lot, and was good with a whip. And dogs tied themselves in knots for him.

That's why he was following them. Anne needed someone to watch out for her, and Bill just plain needed watching.

Anne turned at that moment to smile at a woman at a nearby table, her first genuine smile of the night. Tiny dimples appeared in each cheek and her cheeks flushed pink. The woman said something and Anne chuckled, ducking her head for a moment and then raising it, her face alight with pleasure, her light blue eyes crescents of momentary delight. Then Tucker said something and Anne calmed down, pressing her lips against her smile and readjusting the napkin in her lap. Tucker nodded to the woman and she nodded back, her smile still in place. Tucker'd only managed to knock the smile out of one of them and it was coming to be a sure bet that it'd always be Anne.

What kind of beau would knock the smile out of a woman?

What kind of gal would let him?

The kind of gal that needed watching.

Without knowing how it happened, he realized that he'd hired on for the job of doing just that.

Jack stayed in the shadows, watching the couple in the warm light of the restaurant, chewing on a piece of hardtack that had been stuffed into the bottom of his pocket. Miss Daphne hadn't had to spring for his supper after all. She must be as pleased as punch about that.

He was still standing in the dark, his back holding up the storefront across the street from the Demorest, when they came out. Tucker took Anne by the arm and led her down the street toward home while Anne was fussing with fastening her cape. The spring night air wasn't cold enough to show breath, but it wasn't much warmer. She'd need to have that wrap firmly tied down. Couldn't Tucker have waited while she got herself pulled together before he dragged her off down the street?

Jack eased off the wall and followed them, leaving the boardwalk to walk in the quiet of the dirt street. He needn't have bothered being so careful; Tucker was so busy listening to himself talk that he wouldn't have raised his head for a stampede.

"Here, let me help you," Bill said, positioning himself in front of Anne so that he could grab hold of the ribbons that would hold her wrap shut.

"No, I can manage it," she said, her voice muffled as she tried to look down to a spot just under her chin.

"It would have been easier in the light," he said, his large fingers mixing in with hers and getting everything jumbled up even more.

"Yes, it would have," she said, except he hadn't given her a chance to get her cape on before he had charged out of the restaurant with her by the arm. It was hard to tie a ribbon with only one hand available. Bill didn't seem to realize that.

She finally got herself together and breathed a sigh of accomplishment. Bill was looking down at her with a smile on his face. She smiled back. He lifted her chin up with one finger and smiled even bigger. He always did that before he kissed her.

Anne's smile faltered and she jerked her head away from his touch. It was just a little jerk, but he noticed.

"What's wrong, Anne?" His voice wasn't raised, but he kept that one finger firmly planted under her chin, forcing her face up to his. It was uncomfortable. "You'll kiss Jack Skull in broad daylight? A man like that? A man you hardly know? But you won't kiss me now, when we're alone?"

She flushed and wanted to walk around him, just leave him there in the dark of the street for embarrassing her like that. But she didn't move. She did jerk her head away from his extended finger and backed up a step to put some distance between them.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "I... I don't know how that happened." That was the sad and honest truth. "I'm sorry you had to hear about it." A flat-out lie.

"Anne, the whole town's heard about it, those that didn't actually see it," Bill said, the anger in his voice as bright as a lamp. "Didn't you think that people'd be worried about you? You mixing with that bounty hunter and them all knowing about you and me. Are you sorry it happened or sorry I found out about your infidelity?"

Anne's head came up at that her blue eyes suddenly as sharp as a blade. "Acts of infidelity are reserved for the married. I'm not married." And never would be, if she had her way. Which she would.

"Let's talk about that," Bill said, easing off on his own anger to assuage hers. He moved in close to her, pulling her under the shelter of his arm as he continued on down the street.

There weren't any lights up ahead. The Demorest, with its golden light pooling on the dirt street, was long behind them. Up ahead was only darkness and in the far distance, the lights of home. All the stores in between were closed and dark. The moon was out and the sky was clear, but it was only a crescent moon and its cold, spring light was feeble. Bill guided her carefully along the boardwalk, their steps loud and hollow in the night, his arm snug along her shoulder. Her right arm was pressed so close to his side that she couldn't move it.

"You know how I feel about you, Anne," he said, his eyes circles of sincere blue under the dark sweep of his thick brows. He didn't wait for her to answer. "I think you're the prettiest girl between here and Texas, and the sweetest."

He turned his face and kissed the side of her face, just near the ear. She shivered. He tightened his grip and stopped walking. Anne, by necessity, stopped too.

Jack didn't stop.

"I've wanted to ask you something all night, Anne." Bill turned Anne in his arms and raised her face for a kiss. His mouth came down on hers softly, confidently. It was a gentle kiss, designed to inspire a gentle response. Bill seemed pleased.

Jack wasn't.

"Kissing in public," he said from the darkness. "That just might be illegal."

This time it was Bill who jerked away, whirling to face the voice of the man he couldn't see. Anne closed her arms over her chest and ducked her head down, ashamed to the core. Kissing two men in one day; she'd get a reputation for being just plain common.

"Then you'd be the first to be arrested," Bill said, making her want to groan in shame. "Besides, she's spoken for."

Anne's head jerked up and she looked at Bill for the slimmest moment before looking at the spot where Jack's voice had come from. Jack stepped into her range of vision, coming out of the darkness like a cougar and looking as dangerous as one.

He still looked good.

"You asked and she answered?" he asked Bill.

"Well, no, but we—"

"Then I'll escort the lady home, with your permission, ma'am."

Jack's eyes raked over her and she felt herself flush to her feet. Bill was forgotten in that instant. Unfortunately, Bill seemed to realize it.

"I don't leave a woman in the middle of the evening," Bill said. "I'll escort Anne home."

"Ma'am?" Jack asked, waiting for her to say what she wanted him to do.

"Come on, Anne," Bill said, taking her arm firmly.

Jack stepped up and stood in front of Anne, blocking her. If Bill forced it, she'd have to run right into Jack Skull, chest to chest. Bill wasn't going to force it under those conditions.

"Answer him, Anne," Bill said in exasperation.

She knew what she wanted. It wasn't going to make Bill happy. What was worse, she knew that Jack knew what she wanted.

"Thank you," she said. "Please join us."

"Yes, ma'am," Jack said, taking her other arm and walking off down the street. For a second or two there, he thought Bill might be left behind. He caught up quick enough, hanging on hard to Anne's arm. The woman would probably have bruises tomorrow.

Why didn't she say something and shake him off?

Same reason she didn't shake him off; she was too polite to make a fuss over her own murder. Jack shook his head at her dangerous vulnerability.

"You don't want to be here, you can go anytime," Tucker said, misreading Jack's action.

"I want to be here," Jack said. "I'm the sort that does what he wants, not what he should."

Anne coughed a bit and lowered her eyes to look at the dirt under her toes.

"I didn't figure you for anything else," Tucker said scathingly.

Jack figured he was counting on Anne's presence to protect him; he didn't see Tucker as the sort who'd say something like that without a witness around to make sure he didn't get hurt. Trouble was, he was right, at least around Anne. Jack didn't want to do anything to make her any more skittish than she was. Tucker didn't seem to give a damn.

"You take a good look, Tucker," he said, "and you'll see right clear what kind of man it is you're talking to."

"I know the kind of man. I don't need to look again."

Jack laughed and looked up at the starry sky. "What you gonna do when Anne steps out from between you 'n' me, Tucker? You gonna stand and face me, telling me you don't like the sound of my spurs?"

Tucker didn't say anything. That about said it all.

"He doesn't mean anything," Anne said quietly. It wasn't a sure bet who she was speaking to; could have been to both of them.

No one said anything for a spell after that. The sound of their footsteps on the dirt was soft and indistinct. He let the sound of it soothe him, urging the anger out of his blood.

Here she was, kissing two men in one day, one of them a stranger and the other a shade too slick. And when they growled over her as if she were a scrap of bone, she didn't get mad like she ought, she got sorry and apologized. For someone else. Damn, but she should be hissing at Tucker for bullying her and snapping at him for horning in where he had no call. But she wasn't doing anything like that; when anyone else would get mad, Anne Ross got sorry.

And found herself with two escorts shadowing her home.

Well, he wasn't leaving.

The body of that poor gal, lying dead on the prairie, thinking she was being courted by some smooth-talking man, lay like a heavy blanket on his mind.

He damn sure wasn't leaving.

Anne was stuck in the middle, without an arm to call her own. Her head came to about his shoulder, even with her hair piled up like it was. Her arm was soft under his hand, soft and round. She smelled as clean as prairie grass.

Even sharing her with Tucker, he liked walking beside her.

The lights from her house seemed to grow larger and brighter and then they were on her porch. All three of them.