Her Bodyguard (12 page)

“Someone safe, then. You were her love, but you’re dangerous.” Apparently satisfied by her conclusions, Mari folded her arms and thoughtfully tapped a finger against her mouth. “Well, then. You want me to draw attention to myself. How best to go about it? Hmm…back in our Menace days, this part always went to Kat. She’s always harbored a love for drama.”

Luke would bet that if Mari’s sister did the acting, Mari wrote the script. “I don’t care how you do it. Let’s just get it done. We’ll be arriving in Trickling Springs before too long.” He wanted to be ready with a plan by that time.

“All right.” She brushed her hands together. “Don your boxes, Mr. Garrett, and let’s proceed.”

Luke tugged his hat low on his head, then stacked Mari’s picnic basket and satchel on top of Sister Gonzaga’s suitcase, and hoisted them into his arms, effectively concealing his face. “After you.”

Mari opened the door, lifted her chin and sailed into the car. “Come along, Virgil,” she said in a sharp, shrill tone. “I refuse to share a passenger car with that woman one minute more. I know she’s your mother, but honestly, how dare she claim you’d rather eat her fried chicken than mine? Everyone knows I make the best fried chicken in Wichita County. Why, haven’t I won the blue ribbon three years in a row?”

Peering around the boxes in his arms, Luke surveyed the left side of the passenger car. Many of the women had turned to look at Mari. The men paid her little mind. He couldn’t see faces to identify Murphy or any of the Brazos Valley gang.

As Luke shifted to peruse the passengers on the right side of the train, Mari raised both the volume and pitch of her voice. “And if that isn’t enough, how dare she make such a critical comment regarding the size of my bosom? I’m not ashamed of being generously endowed!”

Every head in the place twisted around to take a gander at Mari McBride’s endowments. Luke immediately spied Kid Carver and Harry Mortimer. A quick glance back to the left revealed Hoss Ketchum seated next to Finn, himself. So, Sister Gonzaga was right. Careful to keep his burden balanced, Luke turned and retraced his steps.
Pay attention, Mari.

“I think your mother is a mean, old, jealous biddy,” Mari continued, continuing up the aisle. “She doesn’t like it that you’re sweet on me. She doesn’t—Virgil? Virgil! Where are you going? Come back here.”

He managed to step out onto the platform without tipping his burden. Through the opened doorway, he heard Mari exclaim, “Well, of all the nerve!”

A man near the back of the car drawled, “Guess he’s run back to his mama. Here, dumplin’. Why don’t you share my seat with me. I’ll be happy to—” slap “—yeow!”

“Villain,” she snapped, then let Luke know she was following him by calling, “Virgil? Virgil!”

Deciding it prudent to put some space between himself and the Brazos Valley gang, Luke backtracked through two more cars before stopping to wait for Mari. He set down the suitcases, then rummaged through the picnic basket. He took his first bite from a chicken leg just before Mari stepped out onto the platform.

It required conscious effort for Luke to keep his eyes from dropping to her…endowments. Looking at her face proved distracting enough. Her blue eyes sparkled and color painted her cheeks. Her beauty shone like morning dew on spring green grass. She’d obviously enjoyed her stint on stage.

Noting the raided picnic basket, she sent him a chastising look. Luke swallowed, held up the chicken leg and said, “I’ll be sure to tell Mama how good this was.”

She grinned. “Blue ribbon.”

This time, he couldn’t keep his attention from dipping below her shoulders.
Definitely blue ribbon.

“She was the beautiful redhead halfway down on the right side, wasn’t she?” Mari asked as he concentrated on finishing his snack.

“Hmm?”

“The woman wearing green who sat next to the banker. Was she your, um, old friend?”

After thinking a moment, Luke recalled the redhead sitting next to Kid Carver. So Mari thought Carver looked like a banker. Considering his occupation, that assumption wasn’t far from wrong.

“I don’t know the redhead,” Luke told her. Then, in an attempt to distract her from any more talk about the identity of his quarry, he added, “You did a good job. Bold, but effective.”

She shrugged. “The men weren’t paying attention. My grandmother always says the quickest way to catch a man’s notice is to lead with your chest.”

“Something tells me I’d like your grandmother.”

“Most men do.” Like a terrier with a bone, she returned to her questions. “So, the couple you were looking for wasn’t in that car? We put on that show for nothing?”

“No. They were there. They…” Luke let his voice trail off as the railcar door behind Mari began to open. The hand on the doorknob sported an Irish Claddagh ring Luke recognized at once. “Damn.”

With no time to plan, he did the only thing he could do.

He pulled Mari into his arms and kissed her.

CHAPTER SIX

MARI’S HEART SKIPPED A beat when Luke’s mouth covered hers. Her entire body pulsed with surprise, then sensation. So much sensation that she lost all sense of time and place.

A delicious warmth flowed through her as his hands cradled her head. Restless longing seeped into her veins as his fingers threaded through her hair. His tongue skimmed her lips, probing, then plunging. Shocking her. Thrilling her. No other man’s kisses had ever made her feel like this.

Tentatively, she followed his lead and touched his lips with the tip of her tongue. The heat within her intensified as their tongues met, teased and stroked, and their mouths clung. Her arms rose, and she clutched his shoulders while his hands slid lower, made slow circles down her back. He angled his head one way, and then the other, until she didn’t know when one kiss ended and the next began.

Urgency gripped her, a wild, reckless yearning that allowed her to melt against his hard muscular form. To surrender.

Then an amused voice drawled, “Attaboy, Virgil.”

She stiffened, tried to break away, but he held her in a viselike grip. “No,” he murmured against her mouth. “Wait.”

Then he kissed her again.

This time she managed to resist the spell he wove. Barely. The only thing keeping her from falling was the knowledge that their actions were being observed.

“Think he’d come up for air, wouldn’t you?” asked another voice, different from the first.

“I don’t know, Kid. If it were me, I’d be in danger of burying myself in that bosom and smothering to death. You know I’m partial to a nice set of tits.”

Mari stiffened, then buried her head against Luke’s chest. Luke went completely still, a sense of menace radiating from his body. His right hand released its grip on her hip and slid to his own thigh, resting on his gun belt.

Holy Moses. A lump rose in Mari’s throat. She didn’t like the insult either, but considering the circumstances, it certainly wasn’t a shooting offense.

She gripped his arm in warning. He ignored her.

Yet, he didn’t turn around.

He doesn‘t want these men to see his face. It wasn‘t a woman at all. It’s these men. Who are they?

Luke cleared his throat, then spoke in a raspy tone. “I’d appreciate it if you fellas would excuse me and the lady.”

“I’m sure you would,” the one called Kid replied.

“Sounds to me like he’s wantin’ to stick it to her real bad. Go ahead, Virgil. I don’t mind watchin’.”

Mari knew the instant he made up his mind to act, because his hard, taut body suddenly went fluid. Loose.

He’s going to shoot them!

Reacting instinctively, she wrenched herself away from Luke and advanced upon the strangers in full harpy mode. “How dare you speak that way! Why, I’ve never been so insulted in all my life. Your mothers would be so ashamed of you. Virgil? Escort me away from these villains.”

She took hold of his arm and attempted to propel him forward. She’d have had better luck moving a mountain. “Virgil,” she said again, stressing the name.

Still, he didn’t move.

“Virgil Beaudine! There’s a time and a place for everything and this isn’t it.”

After a long moment’s pause, he rasped, “Yes, dear.”

Mari’s knees went weak with relief. She tucked her arm firmly around his and attempted to lead the way back toward their seats. Instead, keeping his head turned away from the men, he led her back the way they’d come.

Once inside the car, he found an empty seat, shoved her into it and said, “Don’t move.”

“Wait!” She clutched his sleeve. “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”

“Sit. Stay. Hush.” He pulled free of her and turned, headed for the door.

Sit? Stay? Hush?
What am I, a cocker spaniel?

Never one to submit to such autocratic demands, she started to rise, but an unexpected lurch in the motion knocked her back into her seat. Brakes screeched and the train began to slow. Mari glanced out the window. No town. No station. Why were they stopping?

Before she could reason it out, Luke was back at her side, his expression grim, his manner rushed. “C’mon,” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

“You just told me to sit and stay.”

“Don’t be difficult.”

“Me? You’re calling
me
difficult?”

He didn’t speak again until they’d once again exited the car onto the vestibule. Then he looked her dead in the eye and said, “They’re robbing the train. They’ll kill me if they get a good look at me, and since they’ve seen us together, they’ll probably kill you, too.”

“Kill me?”

“After they rape you.”

Despite the fact she’d been acting as silly as her younger sister, Mari wasn’t stupid. “Where shall we hide?”

Luke slipped the guard chain from its mooring then pointed off toward a section of high grass. “There.”

“We’re jumping from the train?”

“Leave your knees soft when you land, then roll. Once you have control, get up and run like hell.”

Mari watched the ground roll by and her stomach churned. “All right. It’s all right. I’ve jumped from a train before. Of course I was a child then. A limber child. I—”

He put both hands on her rear end and lifted her, sent her sailing from the train. Mari hit the ground hard, bottom first, then she rolled like a tumbleweed across the rocky dirt. Stones skinned her hands and one elbow. Something sharp pierced her skin. But when she finally came to a stop, a quick survey of arms and legs confirmed she’d escaped relatively unscathed.

Scrambling to her feet, fearful of hearing a gunshot at any moment, Mari darted toward the shelter of the waist-high grass. Luke caught up to her, grabbed her arm and forced her to run faster. They spilled into the grass, snapped the stems of a half dozen sunflowers, then lay flat against the ground. “Keep your head down,” Luke warned.

“I intend to.”

She attempted to observe the developments by watching him, but he proved impossible to read. He lay still as a stone, moving nothing but his eyes. Long minutes dragged by.

Finally, Mari could stand no more. “What’s happening?” she whispered. “Who are these people?”

He waited a long moment before responding. “Train’s stopped. Had to have been a prearranged rendezvous. Their horses must be on the other side. I can’t see ‘em from here.”

“How long does it usually take to rob a train?”

“Depends.”

She waited for him to elaborate, but he remained frustratingly silent. When this was all over, they needed to have a talk about his infuriating lack of communication. Finally, she lost control of her patience. She carefully, cautiously, lifted her head.

Well, she didn’t see anyone with a gun pointed in her direction. In fact, she didn’t see anyone at all. Not outside the train, anyway. Everything appeared normal, but then a bend in the track leading away from them prevented her from seeing the locomotive, coal car or the first two passenger cars.

“Lie still,” Luke said. “I’ll be right back.”

Keeping low to the ground, he rose. He moved parallel to the railcars, making his way forward with silent, deliberate grace that made Mari think of a mountain lion stalking his prey. Even under difficult circumstances like this, she couldn’t help but notice that Luke Garrett truly was a magnificent animal.

He kissed like a dream.

Oh, stop it, Mari silently chastised herself. He’s an outlaw. That kiss was nothing more than a diversion, a way for him to hide. She should forget it.

She knew she’d never forget it.

“Fine. But think about it later,” she murmured, her breath sending seeds from a dandelion pod flying. Somehow, it didn’t feel seemly to worry about a simple kiss during a train robbery.

Except that kiss wasn’t at all simple.

Luke reached the bend in the track, then suddenly, he abandoned his attempt at stealth and stood. He took three long strides toward the train, then glanced her way and motioned her to join him.

As she began to move, an ominous sound to her left caught her notice, and she glanced in that direction. And froze.

The snake lay coiled atop a large flat rock. It was tan in color, with dark diamond-shaped patches running from its broad, flat, arrow-shaped head down its back to its tail. Its rattle-tipped tail.

Dear Lord.

Mari’s mouth went as dry as the dirt beneath her, and her blood ran cold. Instinct told her to remain totally still as she tried desperately to recall anything she’d ever learned about diamondback rattlesnakes.

She’d helped Emma take her class to a rattlesnake “milking” demonstration at the Texas Spring Palace about a week before the fire last spring. According to the lecturer, diamondbacks were large, fearless and aggressive snakes that were apt to stand their ground and fight rather than retreat from a threat.

I’m no threat
.

A bite wasn’t always fatal, either. With prompt and proper treatment, many victims of a rattlesnake bite will live.

And I could get prompt, proper treatment here in the middle of a train robbery in the middle of nowhere
.