Carol Finch (17 page)

Finally, Gideon understood what had put Lori to flight and left her thinking he’d betrayed her. She must’ve recognized Reece and assumed he’d joined forces with Gideon so they could arrest her for murder.

“He is a former Deputy U.S. Marshal,” Gideon explained as he reached out to comb his fingers through the curly strands that dangled over her flushed face. “He and I worked together for three years.”

“So naturally he tried to shoot me last night,” she said caustically. “When that didn’t work he tried to kidnap me.”

“I didn’t shoot at you,” Reece protested, still holding her in place. “If I had, you’d be wounded or dead. I happen to be an exceptionally good shot. Same as Gideon. Judge Parker doesn’t hire law enforcement officers who can’t hit the side of a barn, you know.”

Her reply was another skeptical scoff.

“This is Reece McCree,” Gideon introduced. “He left Judge Parker’s force to hunt high-profile killers for bounty. He is also Tony Rogers’s stepbrother.”

“Tony wasn’t pleased when his mother married my father, but he lived and worked with us in the Creek Nation until he was old enough to venture out on his own,” Reece elaborated. “Tony and I got along fine. I’m here to find his murderer.”

“So you have a personal vendetta against me?” she muttered cynically. “Gee, that makes me feel so much better.”

She felt the brawny bounty hunter go still above her. “Are you admitting that
you
killed Tony?”

“Certainly not! I already told you he took a bullet for me when the sniper shot at us,” she told Reece. “If you were worth your salt, you and your friend, Fox, would be trying to figure out what Tony was running
from
that earned him a bushwhacking.”

“Lori,” Gideon said too softly, putting her sense of self-preservation on alert again. “We are on your side, no matter what you think right now. In addition, our mysterious sniper
took a shot at me while I was on my way to the stage station this morning.”

She jerked up her head sharply and stared warily at him.

Gideon nodded somberly. “I followed the shooter to the river, but I couldn’t find any tracks. When I reached the stage station, I discovered it was Reece who had been on hand last night when the shot was fired. He sneaked upstairs for only one purpose. To get answers from you, not abduct you… Let her up, Reece.”

“Only if she cries uncle,” Reece stipulated.

Gideon and Lori exchanged glances. She glared at him, wondering if he had shared the intimate details of
cry uncle
with his former associate.

“I didn’t,” he insisted, as if he’d read her mind.

“You didn’t what?” Reece asked as he eased off her back and came agilely to his feet.

“Nothing,” Gideon said, casting her a discreet glance.

Reece gallantly helped Lori to her feet then doubled over in a bow. “I’m hoping this will be our last tussle, Lorelei.” He smiled wryly, his silver-gray eyes glittering with amusement. “I’m still nursing a hellish headache after we tangled last night. I’d rather not battle you again, if you don’t mind. You play rough for a girl.”

Lori rubbed her stinging wrists then stared accusingly at him. “So do you, Reece.” She studied him long and hard. “You really didn’t try to kill me last night?”

“Nope.” He reached into his vest pocket for a cheroot and lit up. “I wanted to know if you could identify the elusive sniper, but I don’t know who shot at you or why. I wanted to question you before I spoke privately with Gideon this morning. After we exchanged information, we joined forces, in hopes of finding the sniper.”

Lori expelled a self-deprecating sigh. “I’ve become so
suspicious of everyone’s intentions that I’ve turned into Gideon Fox.”

Gideon scowled and Reece snickered at that.

The anger and frustration drained out of her and she offered Reece a peace-treaty smile. “I’m sorry I assumed the worst about you. When I saw you and Gideon in the hallway together, I thought you’d convinced him that I was responsible for Tony’s death and you’d come to take me prisoner.”

“You should have trusted me,” Gideon grumbled, then gnashed his teeth. “Oh, right. What was I thinking? You’ve become as much of a cynic as I am.”

That was true. Now she understood why Gideon reacted so cautiously when working cases. Blind trust could get you killed, and she’d operated on that philosophy today.

“When you’re wanted for murder and have a reward on your head, you don’t hang around to find out why a bounty hunter and Deputy U.S. Marshal have come to call,” she retorted. “Your tone of voice made me wary, as well, Gideon. You sounded a little too nice, which is completely out of character. So I figured it must be a ploy to trap me.”

Reece choked when he tried to inhale smoke and laugh at the same time. “Not accustomed to niceties from Fox?” he wheezed. “Smart woman to question his agenda.”

“Go away, Reece,” Gideon demanded sourly. “
Again,
you aren’t helping.”

“No, I told you this is more fun than I’ve had in ages.”

“Make yourself useful and go fetch our horses,” Gideon requested in a sticky-sweet voice.
“Please?”

Reece winked conspiratorially at Lori. “I see why that syrupy tone makes you suspicious. It’s not his usual gruff, authoritative style.”

When Reece left—
finally
—Gideon reached out to
pull Lori into his arms. Then he kissed her thoroughly, repeatedly. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding and the tussle.”

She reared back in his encircling embrace and studied him with somber, amber eyes. “Why
are
you acting differently all of a sudden?” she asked suspiciously.

“Because I’m convinced you had no part in Tony’s death.”

Apparently, she was having none of that because she gave an unladylike snort. “When did you come to that conclusion?
After
you spoke to Reece? You certainly weren’t willing to believe
me
when
I
told you. Which proves how little faith and respect you have for me.”

He inwardly winced because he knew she was right. He owed her a dozen apologies for his bad behavior. “I’m sorry about that, too. But I told you that I have to assume the worst about people to get the job done. Now I know you aren’t capable of murdering anyone…except me for doubting you.”

He flashed a charming grin, hoping to return to her good graces, but she continued to study him skeptically. “Reece and I compared notes. Now we’re both on your side.” He tried out his very best smile and said, “Actually, I’m a reasonably nice person once you get past my tough exterior.”

She smirked, assuring him that it would take time to convince her of his redeeming qualities. But he vowed to make up for the past week, no matter how long it took.

“And you call me cynical and suspicious?” he murmured when she continued to stare doubtfully at him. He reached out to wipe a smudge of dirt from her creamy cheek. “You turned and ran the instant you thought I’d betrayed you. You didn’t ask questions first. That is a shining example of the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Fine, Mr.
Kettle,
we’re too much alike,” she agreed. “But I’m fed up with hiding and being labeled a criminal. Tonight I intend to set a trap and catch whoever is responsible for shooting at me. I don’t know if it’s the same person who shot Tony or if an unscrupulous bounty hunter is trying to beat Reece to the reward on my head. But I damn well plan to find out.”

Gideon nodded pensively as he retrieved the pistol he’d confiscated from Lori. Then he handed it back to her. “You’re right in thinking there might be two snipers running loose. But I suspect whoever shot at
me
this morning is the same person who shot at
you
last night.

“When I canvassed the areas where both shots were fired, at the trading post and near the river, I found boot prints and empty shell casings. Unfortunately, the tracks led nowhere. Whoever took the shots cleverly retreated, as if he hadn’t been there at all.”

He led Lori toward her strawberry roan gelding then boosted her into the saddle. “As for Tony’s killer, he might have gone into hiding. Or he could be lurking around, waiting to see if you’re convicted of the crime before he skulks off.”

“Did you find any useful evidence near the stage station?” she asked while she waited for him to mount the borrowed horse.

“Nothing on the scene. It’s rained since the incident. Plus, the sniper carefully removed any evidence that he was there.”

Her shoulders slumped defeatedly. “So there is no way I can prove my innocence or the existence of a sniper since I’m the only one who claims to know where the shots originated.”

“There is no one to prove you
didn’t
see a sniper,” Gideon clarified. “According to what Sylvester Jenkins
told me when I interviewed him this afternoon, Tony had been courting someone else in the months leading up to his interest in you. John Little Calf mentioned the same thing this morning.”

Lori glanced up quickly then frowned. “Are you suggesting a spurned girlfriend? But we know the shooter is a man.”

“The one who shot at you and me,” he corrected. “We didn’t see any boot prints from the night someone shot Tony so we can’t say for certain. Did Tony mention another woman or did you hear any rumors that he was seeing any local women?”

Lori frowned pensively. “He mentioned a few families in the area on occasion. But I can understand why a man wouldn’t want to drop another woman’s name while courting me.”

“Reece and I are going to make the rounds in the morning to find out if there is a ‘woman scorned’ in the area. Either that or a cuckolded husband might have retaliated to spite his cheating wife and eliminate the temptation. I’ve handled similar cases before.”

“Did you speak with Maggie?” she questioned attentively.

He nodded. “She didn’t seem to be aware there were other women besides you in Tony’s life. I made an effort to drive home the point that we only have circumstantial evidence against you. She finally admitted she didn’t actually see what happened, just jumped to conclusions. I ordered her to remove the Reward posters until I close the investigation.”

When Reece arrived with both horses in tow, his silver-gray gaze bounced back and forth between them. “Have we kissed and made up yet? We’re all done hitting one another, I hope.”

Lori nodded and graced Reece with a dimpled grin. Gideon watched his hard-edged friend melt into a puddle of mush. Reece’s all-consuming gaze swept over her curvaceous body in masculine appreciation, testifying that she had a potent effect on
all
males of the species. Proof positive that no man was immune to this unique female’s dazzling smiles and irrepressible spirit.

Gideon knew his friend had suffered a tragic emotional loss when his fiancée died. Reece lived with the constant torment that her killer remained on the loose. Even so, Reece was captivated with Lori and it showed, just as it had with Gideon’s younger brother, Glenn.

“Now that we’re all grand friends again,” Gideon said as he led the way through the trees, “can we go to the trading post and eat? I’m starving. I plan to grab a quick bite before standing lookout tonight and finding out who’s taking potshots at us.”

While they rode toward the trading post, Lori questioned Reece about his formative years as Tony’s older stepbrother and about Reece’s service as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. Although Reece carried a torch, and a burden of guilt because of Angela’s death, Lori’s attention was good for him and she won him over in nothing flat.

Before long, they were talking and laughing like old friends. Which left Gideon riding in silence and feeling like an extra person in the world. He tried to convince himself he wasn’t a tad bit jealous because it gave him time to mull over what Syl Jenkins, Maggie, John Little Calf and Reece had told him earlier.

Someone was definitely lurking about, waiting for the opportunity to collect the reward on Lori’s head. Gideon didn’t intend to locate the culprit
after
he shot Lori. He didn’t want to endure the hellish torment Reece suffered.

Although…Gideon mused as he cast his troubled friend
a pensive glance, Reece didn’t look quite so miserable now that he was basking in the glow of Lori’s radiant smile. Again, Gideon told himself he wasn’t envious or jealous of the undivided attention Lori showed Reece….

But he couldn’t quite make himself believe it.

“W
ell, it’s about damn time,” Clive grumbled when Lori slipped in the back door of the trading post after dark.

Her father smothered her in a bear hug and held her protectively while Gideon and Reece filed in behind her. “What is going on around here? Or is a father not supposed to know?”

“I didn’t realize Reece was Gideon’s former acquaintance and it spooked me,” she told her father. “He’s the man who—”

She shut her mouth so fast she nearly snipped off the tip of her tongue. Her father’s hazel eyes narrowed on Reece, who tried to flash an innocent smile, but her father didn’t appear convinced. “
You
are the man who sneaked in here last night and held my girl at knifepoint?” he growled accusingly.

“I was trying to restrain her but I hadn’t planned to draw blood. She turned out to be a handful,” Reece explained. “If it makes you feel better, she drew
my
blood when she hammered me on the head with the coatrack.”

Her father glanced down at her. “No wonder you ran scared.” He focused his disdainful gaze on Gideon and Reece. “You are peas in a pod. If this is any indication of how you bungling lawmen protect my girl then you are dismissed,” he said with the authoritative tone of a military officer.

“We are not soldiers under your command,” Gideon protested.

“Damn good thing, too. You’d be in the stockade for failure to perform your duties satisfactorily.”

“Everything is fine now, Papa,” Lori reassured him. “We cleared up all the misunderstandings. Gideon and Reece have learned that Tony was seeing someone else before he turned his attention to me. Do you have any idea whom he was seeing? Did you hear any rumors that might provide promising leads?”

Her questions diverted his attention from Gideon and Reece. He frowned thoughtfully. “I recall a couple of women who fawned over Tony when they were at the post at the same time he was picking up supplies for the ranch and stage station.”

Gideon nodded pensively. “John Little Calf thought there were one or two, as well, but he couldn’t name names.”

“Syl Jenkins thought the same thing. He said Tony didn’t mention names but he slipped off at night on a regular basis.”

“One of them is Beatrice Ogden,” her father informed them. “The other is Theresa Knott. Their families live in the Boomer camp a few miles east of the stage station near the river.”

Gideon and Reece muttered sourly. It was evident they had no use whatsoever for the invading whites who squatted on tribal lands and petitioned the government to open the Indian reservations for settlement.

“One of them wouldn’t happen to be married, would she?” Gideon asked.

Her father nodded. “Theresa is married, but that didn’t stop her from flirting openly with Tony while she was here. However, both women seemed eager for his attention. Bea was buzzing around him, batting her eyes so furiously that she was causing a draft.”

Lori strode off to throw together a quick meal for Gideon and Reece while Gideon offered her father an account of the ambush he endured this morning. It bothered her that someone was trying to dispose of Gideon—probably to scare him off and collect the reward without competition. She wondered if Reece would be next on the list since he’d united with Gideon.

Even her father might be in danger, she mused uneasily. The sniper knew she’d returned and he could be waiting to pick off the men protecting her.

The thought unsettled Lori. The haunting torment of watching Tony die trying to protect her made her squirm restlessly while eating her meal.

“Are you all right?” Gideon asked, watching her astutely.

She favored him with a smile. “Thinking the worst about you and Reece tonight upset me. But I’m better now.”

The answer seemed to pacify him. But later, when he followed her upstairs, he tugged her into his arms. “I’m sorry you got the wrong impression when I brought Reece here with me. You scared ten years off my life when I realized you were gone. I thought the sniper might have captured you when you dashed off. Do
not
scare me like that again, hellion.”

He angled his head to kiss her and Lori fell in love with him all over again. This evening she’d been so angry and disappointed in him that she’d felt utterly betrayed. Now
he was being so attentive and nice to her that she lost her whole heart to him.

The gentler side of Gideon Fox was impossible to resist so she didn’t bother trying. She yielded to his breathtaking kiss and arched into his masculine contours, wishing they could spend one uninterrupted night together in the privacy of her room on her feather bed instead of the hard floor of a cave or the chilly water in the river.

“Ahem.” Reece cleared his throat and grinned devilishly. “Clive sent me up here to chaperon, in case something
untoward
—his word, not mine—might be going on.”

“Don’t you have somewhere else you could be for a few minutes?” Gideon asked irritably.

“No. I told you, I’m the designated chaperon.”

Gideon dropped one last kiss to Lori’s lips, and she savored the addictive taste of him until he backed up to stare imploringly at her. “Please don’t climb out the window while Reece and I are standing watch.
Promise me.”

She expelled an agitated breath. “I don’t know why I can’t stand guard, too. I’m handy with a pistol and rifle.”

“You’re the target,” he reminded her darkly. “Now promise me.” He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look him squarely in the eye. “If you’re in here, I won’t be distracted, wondering if someone sneaked up to knock you out and drag you into the trees.
Promise me,
hellion.”

She sighed heavily. “Oh, all right, if you insist, but I’m doing this under protest.”

“Duly noted.” He gave her a loud, smacking kiss.

“How much longer are these negotiations going to take?” Reece checked his timepiece. “Our sniper might be setting up camp already, and we aren’t in position to do anything except get shot.”

“Neither of you will do anything to put yourself in harm’s way,” she said adamantly. “Is that understood?
No grand heroics on my behalf. I’ll have none of that.
Promise me.
”

“Fine. We promise all the way around,” Reece said with an impatient flick of his wrist. “Now go to your room and stay there, wildcat. We have scouting to do.”

Reluctantly, Lori pivoted toward her room. If she didn’t know her gallant protectors would be checking up on her, she’d take her own position as posted lookout.

“Keep a pistol handy,” Gideon told Clive as he descended the steps. “You are Lori’s last line of defense.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Clive said loftily. “I know how to defend a position on a battlefield and how to protect my only child. You two, I’m not so sure about.”

When Gideon and Reece closed the door behind them, Reece said, “We let one pint-size female pull one over on us and our reputation is ruined for life. Clive will never let us live this down.”

“Probably not. Never mind that Clive had no idea she’d gone missing,” he said with a snort. “But Clive dislikes me because he’s convinced himself that I demanded favors from Lori to make her captivity more tolerable during our trek cross-country.”

“Ah…” Reece grinned slyly. “Shame on you, Fox, for taking unfair advantage of that helpless little daisy of a female. Overpowered her, did you?”

“Right. You know how easy it is to subdue that firebrand.”

Reece massaged the knot on his head. “Indeed I do.”

Gideon’s smile faded as he walked off the front porch He’d be ready and waiting if the sniper struck again tonight. If not, he’d ride to the Boomer camp, first thing in the morning, and interrogate the two women Clive mentioned by name. The sooner he found a likely suspect the sooner
he could prove Lori’s innocence and remove the rest of those Reward posters that were plastered around the stage stations and trading posts in the area.

On that determined thought, Gideon gestured for Reece to prowl the perimeters on the east side of the trading post while he scouted the west side.

Lori paced the room for an hour, pausing at irregular intervals to crane her neck out the window. Careful not to make herself an open target, she didn’t burn the lantern or stand directly in front of the window.

One hour became two then two became three. Still, she didn’t hear shots fired or shouts of alarm in the darkness.

Finally, she bedded down for the night, dismayed that Gideon and Reece felt the need to stand guard until dawn. She was still tossing and turning when she heard a faint tap on her door.

“Lorelei? Are you still in there?” her father called softly.

“Yes, Papa, I’m still here.”

He took it as his cue to open the door. He walked over to the end of the bed. “I’ll stand guard outside your room.”

“That isn’t nec—”

He flung up his hand, halting her protest. “Yes it is. No one is getting past me. Those young bucks might stumble but I’m your father. You’re all I have left in this world. I refuse to lose you, sweetheart.”

His fierce comment put tears in her eyes. She knew it haunted her father that he could protect his family from most threats but he’d been helpless when disease stole his beloved wife and young son. He was an ex-army officer and he would defend her with his life, even if she objected to anyone making the supreme sacrifice.

As Tony had done.

“I love you, Papa,” she murmured softly.

“I love you, too, Lorelei. I probably haven’t told you often enough, but I’m telling you now.”

He walked over to drop a kiss on her cheek. She looped her arms around his neck and held him close for a moment.

“Try to get some sleep.” He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “One of us around here needs to be mentally sharp tomorrow.”

When he exited, she really did try to rest, but she swore she only nodded off once or twice the whole livelong night.

The next morning the three men serving as Lori’s bodyguards showed up bleary-eyed at the breakfast table. All they had received for their efforts were cramped muscles from trying to rest on the ground—or in her father’s case, in a chair with a pistol draped over his lap.

“I think this is a waste of time,” Lori declared.

Gideon’s ruffled raven head came up and he stared at her through bloodshot eyes. “Who’s running this investigation?”

“A better question might be, who’s running it
right?
” Clive put in as he massaged his aching shoulder. “This can’t go on indefinitely.”

“Reece and I are headed to the Boomer camp to interrogate the women you mentioned yesterday,” Gideon declared. “Maybe we can wrest pertinent information from one of them.”

“Then maybe we’ll finally get somewhere with this case,” Clive grumbled before he bit into his toast smothered with plum jelly.

After breakfast, Gideon escorted Lori upstairs and confined her to her room.

She complained, of course. “I don’t care how long this takes, I am
not
going to take up knitting and I cleaned your spare pistol already. I have nothing else to do since I swept and dusted the upstairs rooms yesterday.”

He chuckled as he kissed away her pout. “I’m sorry, but letting folks know you’re back in the area is an invitation for trouble. Our sniper knows you’re here. We don’t need to see how many bounty hunters you can attract, as well.”

Lori heaved an audible sigh. “If the possibility of a jealous rival for Tony’s affection, or a jealous husband doesn’t pan out, we’ll be out of options, won’t we?”

Gideon nodded somberly. “We’ll have to deliver you to Fort Smith and take the case to court. With Reece and me as character witnesses, I think we can convince Judge Parker there isn’t evidence to file formal charges.”

“Right,” she said, and smirked. “The ‘hanging judge’ is going to set me free.”

“He’s a fair and just man,” Gideon defended.

“So are you, but
you
didn’t believe proclamations of my innocence,” she pointed out.

Gideon grinned guiltily as he traced the curve of her lips. “I have an excellent excuse for not believing you.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Oh? What excuse is that?”

“I was wildly attracted to you the moment you emerged from the fog, looking like a curly-haired angel. I was fighting like the devil not to be deceived by your cherubic face and sinfully alluring body.”

She chortled softly. “You can be suave and charming when you want to be, Marshal.” She draped her arms around his neck and leaned suggestively against him. “And now what do you think of my version of the story and of me?”

“I believe you,” he murmured before he kissed her deeply
and hungrily. “And I’m still wildly attracted to you. Now behave yourself while I’m gone and stay out of sight.”

She backed up a step and eyed him warily. “You’re trying to flatter me into obeying your orders, aren’t you? What happened to all those gruff commands you usually hurl at me?”

“They didn’t work worth a damn so now I’m changing tack,” he said with a grin. “Besides, kissing you instead of arguing with you is a lot more fun.”

His smile and the teasing glint in his hypnotic blue eyes nearly melted her into a gooey puddle.

He dropped another kiss to her lips then spun on his heels. “I have to go, hellion. Be safe.”

“Gideon, I—”

“Yes? What is it?” Gideon pivoted to stare curiously at her when her voice trailed off.

She clamped her mouth shut before she made the colossal mistake of blurting out she was in love with him. Even if he did believe she was innocent, he might think she was professing affection to assure his loyalty when they stood before Judge Parker.

Furthermore, and most importantly, Gideon didn’t love her back. From recent experience, she knew how awkward it was to deal with one-sided love. When Tony declared his love, she’d scrambled to find the right words to let him down gently.

Lori wasn’t ready to deal with rejection right now. Being wanted for murder and becoming the target for a mysterious sniper was enough on her plate.

She flashed a blinding smile and blew him a kiss. “Just be careful, too. I want you back in one piece because I have a few experiments I want to try on you.”