Brides of Texas (40 page)

She couldn’t see his face clearly through her tears, but his voice was calm. Katie bit her lip, started to nod, and then blurted out, “Stepbrother.”

“Stepbrother.” His voice grew deeper as he echoed her words.

Katie reached over and patted Elspeth’s back. “I have to go now. You take good care of her.”

His left hand shot up and manacled her wrist. “You’re not going anywhere.” He hauled her in his wake over toward the workshop, bellowing, “Duncan!”

Duncan shot out of his workshop. “Aye?”

“Take Elspeth.” Chris gently transferred her and pressed a kiss on her cheek as she babbled a stream of sounds. His tenderness made Katie cry all the harder.

“What’s amiss?” Duncan held the baby protectively.

“Miss Regent.”

“Katie?” Duncan gave her a baffled look.

“You’ll never guess what she’s been hiding.” Chris didn’t even pause. “Whelan’s her brother.”

“Brother?” Duncan’s brows shot upward.

“Stepbrother,” she corrected tearfully.

“What other lies have you told us?” Chris demanded.

“I never once lied.” Anger shot through her. “The night you brought me here and I discovered what you are, I begged you to let me go. You’d hidden the truth, and when I confronted you, you proclaimed you’d never once lied to me and that your personal information was none of my business.”

“It wasn’t.”

“You can’t have it both ways, Christopher Gregor. You can’t fault me when you did the selfsame thing!”

“ ’Tis not the same thing a-tall! My business is to bring that criminal to justice.”

He marched her down the street, kicked open the jail door, and shoved her into a cell. The keys jangled loudly as he locked her in.

“What are you doing? You can’t lock me up. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Accessory after the fact,” he said curtly. “You have knowledge concerning a criminal and did nothing to bring him to justice. Any blood he’s shed since the day of our shootout—that blood is on your hands, Miss Regent.”

“That’s outrageous!” She clenched her fingers around the bars and rattled the gate. It made a horrible clatter but didn’t yield. “How could I possibly know what he was doing when you were with me?”

“Criminals have hideaways. Where’s your brother’s?”

“I told you I didn’t know where my brother was. I told you the day we met!”

“I scarcely believe you’d announce to all and sundry that your brother’s face was on a W
ANTED
poster and you knew his whereabouts.”

“I haven’t seen him in five years. Not until that day.”

“That makes for a touching story, but I don’t buy it. Not for one second. He’s been all around Texas, wreaking havoc. You think I’m so thickheaded, I would think his stumbling into you in the wide open spaces of Texas was just a coincidence?”

Slowly, she uncurled her fingers and let loose of the bars. Sinking onto the narrow wooden plank bed, she held her shaking hands tightly together. “Believe whatever you want to. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Chris sat down at the desk and pulled a sheet of paper from the drawer. The only sound in the jail was the scratch of his pen’s nib on the paper.

I’ve been such a fool. I knew this day would come and he’d be furious. I knew it. So why did I always look forward to him coming home? And why am I so hurt that he’s acting just as I knew he would
?

Minutes passed. Finally, she said, “The clock’s not wound.”

He kept his back to her and gave a maddening shrug.

“Just how long are you planning on leaving me in here?”

“As long as it takes.” He swiveled the oak chair around. The smile on his face chilled her to the core. “The game has changed, Wren. I’m no longer chasing the rat. I’m setting a trap with irresistible bait: you.”

It didn’t escape her notice that he’d reverted to calling her “Wren” or “Miss Regent.” The way he’d pronounce “Katie” accentuated his Scottish burr, and it always made her feel as if a tiny measure of affection or protection came with the name change. But that was gone now.

“Aye, Wren. He’ll come to get you.”

“You’re wasting your time. He left me behind when Mama died. If he wouldn’t take care of me when I was only fifteen, what makes you think he’ll suddenly turn into a dutiful brother? Not everyone is blessed to have fine brothers like you do.”

“Your story is touching, but it’s hogwash, and we both know it. A lass out on her own at such a tender age wouldna be able to afford a fancy sewing machine. I dinna ken why I didna wonder about that earlier. But that alone condemns you.”

“I scrimped and saved and sacrificed for that machine!”

He gave her a mocking smile and applauded. “I believe you missed your calling in life, Wren. You should have become an actress. ’Tis rare to find such talent.”

Stinging from his insult, she backed away and sat on the board. “You don’t want justice; you want revenge. You’re mistaken, though. You loved your friend. My stepbrother doesn’t value me.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“I’d like an envelope, please.”

Chris held his hand out by the bars. “Pass me the letter.”

“The United States mail is private!”

“Your letter isn’t in the mail yet, and it’s standard practice to review all communications entering and leaving a jailhouse.” He stared at her.

“Oh, all right.” She huffed, yet she carefully turned her hand sideways so the pages wouldn’t become wrinkled.

An intelligent woman, Kathryn Regent might well have a code of some kind. Chris moved to a sunny spot and looked down at the paper.
Dear Lucille
…

Chris snorted. He’d not underestimate her. The woman was as wily as could be. He shoved the letter onto his desk. “You don’t really expect me to send that.”

“I do. Even the Romans permitted Paul to send letters from jail.”

Duncan came in, and Chris spoke to his brother, “Stay here for a few minutes while I send off a few telegrams and do another errand.”

“Have you taken leave of your senses?” Duncan gawked at him. “Open that cell and free that lass this verra minute!”

“I don’t tell you how to make shoes and saddles. Don’t tell me how to do my job.” He kept possession of the keys and stalked out of the jail.

By the time he’d sent the necessary telegrams and arranged for an article to run on the front page of the
Gazette
, Chris dared to hope he’d finally bring down Whelan. He’d need to deputize several men in town and was making a mental list of likely prospects when he walked back into the jailhouse.

“What,” he roared, “is going on here?”

Mercy was pushing a quilt through the bars of Wren’s cell. Carmen finished making up the bunk in the adjacent cell. A canning jar with flowers sat on his desk. Rob tromped in with a fresh bucket of water and a dipper, and Elspeth slept contentedly in a wicker basket in the middle of the activity.

“You put the lass in our care,” Duncan asserted. “Aye, you did. So we’re caring for her.”

“I remembered you saying something about protective custody when you brought Katie home to us.” Mercy straightened out and rubbed her lower back. “So Carmen and I decided she needed help making this dreary place more comfortable. We’ll each take turns staying with her. It’s not proper for her to be alone with you.”

“She’s locked inside the cell.”

“And a sad state of affairs that is.” Robert gave Chris a baleful glare. “I’ll not hold with blaming an innocent for the wrongs someone else has done.”

“Does it occur to any of you that Whelan has managed to avoid capture even with two bullet holes in him? That she might be tipping him off?”

“And how would I be doing that?”

“Any number of ways. Telegrams—”

“Carmen and I would know if she’s sent any.” Mercy shook her head. “She hasn’t.”

“Letters. She wrote one today.”

“To Lucille?” Carmen smiled. “I hope you told her cook how much we love that recipe for the spaghetti.”

“See? She’s been sending letters.” Chris spied something and stomped across the floor. He opened the small, glass-fronted door on the clock and stopped the pendulum. After closing it, he opened the face and reset the hands. “No one touches that. No one.”

“It’s just a clock.” Mercy gave him a baffled look.

“Connant’s clock.” Chris stared at them. “The hands mark the time of his passing, and there they’ll stay until Whelan’s brought to justice.”

“Time waits for no man,” Rob said.

“Time might not, but I do. God’s put the means in my hands to capture Connant’s murderer. I’ll sit and wait. The rest of you, out of here. I’ll not have you in danger.”

“Oh, we’re safer if we’re all together.” Carmen smiled. “Don’t you think so, Mercy?”

“Absolutely. Why, if you are at your house and I’m at mine, and Duncan’s in his shop and Rob is in the clinic, Whelan might sneak up on any or all of us. There’s strength in numbers.”

“You have a point.” Chris paused a moment. He knew he had their attention. “Carmen, you and Mercy can go stay at her grandda’s or with your sister. Rob, you can go along. Duncan, I’m deputizing you.”

“But—”

“This isna a voting matter. I’m the law, and you’ll obey my edict. Rob, Duncan—your first duty is to your wives and the bairns. You ken ’tis a dangerous trap I’ve set.”

“If it’s dangerous, you can’t put Katie in the middle,” Mercy protested.

“I am in the middle of it.” Katie’s admission surprised him. “Whelan is wicked. From the beginning, I’ve feared for your safety. Please, please go. I can’t bear the thought of you being in danger because of me.”

“Let’s all have a word of prayer before you go,” Duncan said quietly.

They started to join hands, and Rob slid his hands between the bars. “You, too, Katie.”

“It’s kind of you, Rob, but I don’t belong.”

Carmen opened her mouth to protest, but Duncan shook his head.

Chris joined them, but it felt wrong. He felt like an outsider in his own family, and they’d wanted to include his enemy’s sister.

H
aving slept on hard pallets most of her life, Wren decided sleep would be a refuge. She curled up with her back to Christopher and huddled beneath the summer-weight quilt Carmen brought her. All evening long, men came and left. They’d spoken in low murmurs and cast odd looks at her.

Lord, I don’t know what to do. Everything is so mixed up. Only You can untie all of these tangled threads. Please, Father, keep each of my new friends safe. Don’t allow harm to come to any of them. Set Your angels about them for protection
.

My attitude was wrong. Deep in my heart, I knew I should have told Chris the truth a long time ago. He was kinder to me than anyone has ever been, but fear and pride led me to keep my secret. Through it all, I haven’t had faith that You would work things out. I confess that shameful fact and beg Your forgiveness. Be my refuge and strength, Father, I pray. Amen
.

“Katie, lass,” Duncan called softly. “Dinna weep.”

She hadn’t realized she’d been crying. She took a few choppy breaths. “I’m sorry. I’m okay.”

“Aye, you’re fine. Chris, I’m rememberin’ that prayer Ma taught us. ‘Now I lay me—’ ”

Chris’s deep voice joined in, “ ’—down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.’ ”

“ ‘If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.’ ” Wren said softly, “When I was a little girl, a friend at school taught me that.”

“Ma didna like that last part,” Chris said.

“Nae, she didna. I’m trying to remember. Something about say and day.”

Chris cleared his throat. “ ‘In everything I do or say, I’ll serve my God both night and day.’ ”

“That’s so very dear.” Wren snuggled into the pillow. “You were blessed to have such wonderful parents.”

“Aye, we were.” The brothers spoke the same words at the same time.

The unity they displayed stunned her.
What would it be like to have grown up in a home where the parents were godly and love flowed so freely? What would it have been like to have a brother who loved me
?

The next morning, the rail station manager showed up with Katie’s belongings. Chris was off somewhere doing something secretive. Leonard from the mercantile had been deputized and left in charge. Uncertain of what to do, he allowed Wren to have her sewing machine in her cell so she wouldn’t be bored.