The Kissing Stars (28 page)

“This could be a trap,” Gabe mused aloud. “The partner is an unknown in this equation. Bodine might pick a stupid spot for the rendezvous, but the person who successfully broke him out of prison is no fool. If that person was Monty and he chose the spot, then we can count on something fishy happening.”

And I don’t want my son anywhere near it
.

Turning to the Ranger, he asked, “How close are we to Dagger Mesa?”

“Ten minute ride, tops.”

Gabe nodded, feeling a sense of relief. Robards had handed him a way to protect his son. He’d intended all along to stash the gold before reaching the appointed spot, and a ten minute ride was close enough, but not too close, to his way of thinking. “Any chance anyone followed you back this direction?”

“No.” Robards shook his head. “We’d have seen them. We all kept a sharp eye out, didn’t we Lieutenant Blackwell?”

The remaining Ranger nodded. “Sure did.”

Gabe made a slow study of the land surrounding them, then pointed toward a boulder-strewn area a couple hundred yards off the trail to the east. “There. We can’t hide our tracks but at least the place is defensible. No one will sneak up on our men in the daytime, and I hope to have this mission completed by dark.”

“But we can’t leave the gold behind, I tell you,” Will said. “The letter said to deliver it to Dagger Mesa. He’ll hurt Doc if we don’t.”

“We have no choice, son,” Robards told him. “Bodine will have to understand that.”

It stuck in Gabe’s craw to hear Robards call Will
son
, especially since the boy listened to the Ranger rather than argued. Ready to get on with the mission, Gabe tugged on his reins to turn his horse toward the rocks when Ranger Blackwell spoke up.

“There’s a better spot to hide the gold up yonder a short ways. It’s protected on three sides; you’d only need one man to keep watch.”

Gabe sent him a sharp look. Was that an honest suggestion or could Blackwell be part of this conspiracy? “I like this spot just fine.”

He really didn’t, though. He was sitting on the horns of a dilemma long and sharp enough to make a longhorn bull jealous. Which was more dangerous? To take Will with him and risk him around Bodine or to leave him here alone or with a Texas Ranger who was, in effect, a stranger? Why the hell didn’t the boy stay home in Aurora Springs where he belonged?

Because he’s an awful lot like you. You wouldn’t have stayed where it was safe, either
.

“Let’s get this gold stashed, shall we?”

They rode to the ring of boulders and started unloading the gold. Gabe eyed the sky and was glad to see it clear. Colonel Wilhoit had told him earlier that rainfall was higher this year than normal, much higher, in fact. The desert was amazingly green in spots with water available in the gullies and washes, a fact he took comfort in for the most part. The draw back was this spot he’d picked to leave his son, while defensible, provided little in the way of shelter.
C’mon, Montana. The boy’s not made of sugar. He won’t melt if he gets a little wet
.

Still, he couldn’t help but fret a bit. Maybe this was part of what fatherhood was all about, worrying about things he shouldn’t be worrying about.

Tucking that thought away for further consideration at a later time, Gabe removed the last bag of coins from Pollux’s saddle, barely ducked a well-aimed spit, and deposited the money with the other bags. He was searching for just the right words to use to tell Will he’d be staying behind when the boy observed, ‘“I knew this would happen. Ain’t no way she’d stay behind.”

Gabe followed the path of the boy’s stare and felt his stomach sink.
How the hell can she stand to ride that hitch-gaited camel with the headache she is bound to be fighting still?

Tess ordered Castor to kneel, then slipped from the dromedary’s saddle. He was glad to see the color returned to her cheeks when she marched up to Gabe and slugged him in the stomach. “How dare you take my son and leave when I’m asleep. You have more nerve than a broken arm, Gabe Cameron, and I’m getting real tired of it.”

“Montana,” he corrected automatically, rubbing his stomach. “How is your head, darlin’?”

“Angry. All of me is angry.”

“I don’t see why. Every hour counts right now, Tess, and you obviously needed rest.”

“Like I’d get any rest after being left behind while you take my son into a potentially dangerous situation? I won’t be left, Gabe. Never again.”

“Our son.” Gabe sighed “I did what I thought was best.”

“And isn’t that what always gets us into trouble?” She punctuated her sentence with a sharp poke in the chest with an index finger. “And I don’t care if we are smack dab in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert” —
poke
— “or in Aurora Springs”—
poke
— “or New York City,”—
poke
—“don’t you ever run off and leave me without discussing it first, do you understand?”

Ranger Blackwell chuckled “I think she means it.”

Will said, “I told him you wouldn’t like it, Mama. He just ignored me.”

Gabe communicated his displeasure at the lie with only a look. He didn’t need to do more because Tess rounded on her son and gave him the sharp edge of her tongue, too. The boy hung his head and took it, apparently no more willing to add to Tess’s upset than was his father.

Finally, Gabe figured she’d had long enough to air out her lungs so he reached out and tugged her around to face him, then shut her mouth with a kiss. He intended simply to interrupt her rant, but right away the kiss turned into something infinitely more complex.

Her mouth was open so he couldn’t help but take advantage of that little detail. He slid his tongue in and immediately lost his train of thought.

“Montana!” The protest in Captain Robards’s voice eventually broke through the sensual haze in Gabe’s mind. “We don’t have time for that. Let the lady go and let’s get on our way.”

Tess broke the kiss before he did. “We shouldn’t do this in front of Will,” she said softly.

His gaze darted toward his scowling son. “I don’t know. Maybe this is exactly what Will needs to see. I wish I had more time to pursue it.”

“What’s our plan?”

“Our plan is that I’m gonna leave and find Monty. I’m giving official notice.” As her long, curled lashes narrowed, he led her beyond eavesdropping distance of the others, ignoring his son’s glare as he did so, and added, “I have a confession to make. I’m awfully happy you felt like following us.”

“You are?”

“I am.” He quickly told her about the rendezvous spot and added, “From the way Robards described the terrain it would be nigh on impossible to protect Will. I mean for him to stay here with Blackwell and keep an eye on the colonel’s gold, but I was torn about leaving him with someone I’m not certain I trust.”

She shot a quick glance toward Blackwell. “But he’s a Ranger. He’s the law.”

Gabe chided her with a look. “I’d feel better knowing you are here with him, Tess. Just in case.”

“I guess I should be glad you trust me.”

He stared deeply into her eyes. “Darlin’, I could tell you I trust you with my life, but that’s not nearly as important as the feet that I trust you with my son.”

“Well, you should. I’ve kept him safe for eleven years, haven’t I?”

Before he could answer, Ranger Blackwell called, “Montana? Daylight’s wasting. Let’s get a move on or are you planning to make camp?”

“Actually, I’m planning on you making camp, Blackwell. If one is needed, that is. I have every intention of being back here before nightfall.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think we need someone to stay behind and guard the gold.” He turned to Will. “Your mother’s injuries are paining her, and she can’t go any further. She plans to stay here and guard the gold, and I’m hoping you’ll stay behind and help guard her. We shouldn’t ignore the possibility that Bodine wants us to dump the gold before we meet up with him. Could be this is a ruse to get his hands on it without turning over his prisoner.”
If Will’s beloved Doc truly is a prisoner, that is
, Gabe silently added. “I can’t see any way around splitting up, and I’ll feel better if you’re here to watch over the situation. Bodine wouldn’t be…kind to a woman as beautiful as your mother.”

Will scowled and lifted his voice in protest “But what about Doc? Don’t you need me—”

Tess manipulated the moment with a theatrical wince and sway, her hand pressed to her head. The little moan she let out didn’t hurt either.

“I’ll take care of her,” Will said, hurrying to his mother’s side.

Minutes later, Gabe and Lionel Robards mounted up and headed out. Once he spurred his horse, Gabe purposely didn’t look back. He was on his way to rescue Monty Cameron from the likes of Jimmy Wayne Bodine.

If he looked back, he might just turn around.

THE UNEASY feeling crept up Tess’s spine like a desert centipede.

Gabe hadn’t been gone ten minutes before the back of her neck began to twitch with a sense of menace. She wished Twinkle were here. For as little as Tess actually believed Twinkle’s supernatural superstitions, she had to admit the woman knew what she was doing when it came to hunches. Tess wasn’t nearly so adept.

Probably it’s nothing
, she told herself, scanning the desert around them with a keen eye. As flat as the land was and with such little cover, nothing bigger than a snake could sneak past three pairs of eyes standing watch. She was simply reacting to the seed Gabe had planted in her mind about a trap.

Lieutenant Blackwell certainly wasn’t the source of her disquiet. On the contrary, his presence reassured her. He took his guard duty seriously, and his friendly manner toward both Tess and her son eased any concern that he might be a threat. If the man intended to hurt them, he’d have never apologized with such vigor as he had when he accidentally bumped Will, sending him sprawling into a fresh pile of camel droppings.

Keeping her eyes focused on the area she’d been assigned to watch, she tuned into what Will was saying to the Ranger now. Ah, it was the story of how Rosie had knocked the Hero of Cottonwood Hollow school flat during the state fair pig race. Tess bit back a sigh, wishing she could rewind the clock and somehow prevent his finding out about his father the way he had.

Blackwell displayed no reserve in reacting to the boy’s story. In fact, his laugh was so mirthful that it drew Tess’s gaze.

Just in time to see the red badge of blood splatter across his chest

The sound of the gunshot blasted through her mind simultaneously, and then the moment seemed to pass in slow motion. “Will!” Tess cried, diving for her son even as the Texas Ranger slumped to the ground.

“Mama!” Will shouted, turning in circles and waving his gun with a shaking hand.

Tess got him down behind the shelter of one of the boulders. Fear pounded through her veins; her heart beat triple-time. She held her breath, her mind racing as she tried to decide what to do as she waited for another gunshot.

A voice threaded up from the other side of the boulder, menacing, threatening, and amused. “Scared you, didn’t I? I love to do that. Now, throw your guns outside this here ring of boulders and I won’t have to shoot the boy.”

Will’s arms grabbed her around the waist and he buried his head against her bosom. She could feel him trembling and she wanted desperately to tell him everything would be all right. But she wouldn’t lie to her son, not now. Not when it might be the last thing she ever said to him.

Tess threw away her gun and instructed her son to do the same. Immediately thereafter, a face loomed up from behind one of the rocks. Black hair, thick, bushy brows. Mean green eyes that glimmered with an unholy light. Thin lips showing a smile sporting two broken teeth. “Jimmy Wayne Bodine.”

“Yep.”

Tess shuddered all the way to her bones. He scrambled over the top of the rock, keeping his Colt revolver pointed their direction. A dozen questions boiled in her head, and they popped from her mouth in no conscious order. “We didn’t see you. How could we not have seen you?”

He grinned evilly. “That’s ‘cause I was already here. I’ve been watching for you. Expected you either today or tomorrow. Doc said you’d drop the gold, so I fixed hiding places in every logical spot. I was tucked beneath a wash of scrub in the gully here and every one of you walked past me half a dozen times. I wanted to laugh but I kept quiet. I’ve been watching you coming at me. You and your camels and that dead man Whip Montana.”

“Dead?” Will gasped.

“Sure. He’s been a walking dead man since I took my first step outside the Walls in Huntsville. Tell you what, I didn’t like giving up my chance to kill him just now. But the boss, he wants it done a certain way. That Doc sure does like games, don’t he?”

The boss? Doc? Oh, no
.

“You’re lying!” Will accused recovering enough to unwind from his mother and stand alone once more. “Doc wouldn’t kill my father!”

Bodine shrugged. “He’s not planning to. That’s my pleasure, and my payment for Doc’s breaking me out of jail.”

Tess felt as if her feet were sinking into quicksand.

No, she couldn’t believe this. But the timing fit. The wanted poster fit. She didn’t understand. “Why? Why is he doing this?”

“The boss?” Bodine gestured with the gun for Will to step away from Tess. When he added a glare, the boy moved. “I don’t rightly know why he’s after Montana, except for something he said about payback. Doesn’t matter to me because my reasons are all I need to turn that sonofabitch into worm food.” He gazed at Tess with a predatory gleam in his eyes and added, “And after seeing the way he ran his tongue down your throat, I’m thinking he’ll especially hate what I have in mind for you.”

Plans for me. Oh, Lord, help me
.

“Boy,” he said to Will. “I want you to start loading that gold right back on that monstrosity with the hump on his back. Handy of your pa to leave the camel here for me. We won’t need to go fetch the travois I have stashed in the gully to move the gold to my hiding place. Go on, now. We don’t have all day. I have plans for when we get to where we’re going.”