Carol Finch (5 page)

“I am not on anyone’s wanted list. Well, except for perhaps—” She jerked up her head and glared at him. “Don’t try to sidetrack me, Cal. The point is that you could have
stolen
that badge and that little black book.”

“Right, just like
you
probably stole the money you’re carrying. My guess is that you trussed yourself up like
an overweight old widow to conceal your identity and throw lawmen off track. Then you hopped a stage for parts unknown,” he countered. “Admit it, I’m right about you, aren’t I?”

She stamped her foot in frustration again. “No, you couldn’t be more wrong! I did not steal anything! And if you really are a Ranger then you should be more concerned about my welfare instead of threatening to abandon me!”

He tucked the silver star in his holster. “If you want sympathy and concern you’re barking up the wrong tree, lady. I already have an important assignment, and you aren’t it.”

Quinn released one of the horses hooked to the team, then grabbed his knife to cut off a section of the reins to fashion a harness. He had brought along his own bridle, anticipating that he would have to confiscate a horse. But Piper needed a means to control her mount when she rode off—in the opposite direction that he was headed.

He flicked her a quick glance, noting that watching him create a makeshift harness had distracted her. He rather thought she looked impressed by his adaptability. Not that he cared what she thought of him, of course. The sooner he ditched her the happier he would be.

“Here.” He thrust the reins at her. “This makeshift tack will get you to the next stage stop. You can catch the next westbound coach that comes through, if that’s what you want to do. It makes no difference to me.”

Leaving her holding the reins to the horse, Quinn
fished into his saddlebags to grab his bridle and bit. Then he strode over to pick out a horse for himself.

“I will pay you to escort me to the next station,” she negotiated.

“With what? Stolen money?” He eased the bit into the horse’s mouth and placed the bridle in proper position. “No thanks. I have more pressing things to do besides play nursemaid to an imposter and thief.”

“I am not a thief!”

He derived tremendous pleasure in throwing her own words back in her face. “Fine, then
prove
it.”

She stalked over to station herself in front of him, determined to gain his undivided attention. His betraying gaze dropped to her heaving bosom and he cursed himself soundly for being the least bit attracted to a woman who was far more trouble and frustration than she was worth.

“I didn’t lie to you when I said I was bound for Fort Davis. I’m on my way to join my sister, Penelope. She is married to Captain Matthew Duncan. Part of the money and jewels I’m carrying are compensation for my sister.”

Okay, so maybe he could believe that part since her last wish—while she was dangling off the cliff—was to contact her sister. But Quinn had been fed so many concocted and convoluted lies in his day that he had learned never to take anyone at his word until checking the story thoroughly. He had no way of knowing how or where she had acquired the money and valuables.

“My charade as an elderly crone was for my own protection,” she repeated slowly and distinctly. “I am trav
eling without a chaperone and I was taking precautions so I wouldn’t invite trouble from untrustworthy men. Surely you can understand that my disguise was a necessary deception.”

She stared at him. “
Especially
since
you
were charading as a shiftless gambler.” She arched a challenging brow. “Double standards, Calvin? Hmm?”

Well, she had him there. But that didn’t change the fact that he had been traveling undercover on official business and now he had a ring of ruthless desperadoes to track down. He didn’t have the time or inclination to deliver Piper Whoever-She-Was to her sister. He knew she wasn’t being completely honest with him and he didn’t trust her, so he wasn’t going to bother with her.

Quinn figured Piper would be reasonably safe on the next leg of her westward journey. He couldn’t give her a guarantee, of course, because this isolated area of rugged mountains was home and hideout to all sorts of predators.

The bandits that had held up the stage had headed north, but that didn’t mean there weren’t smaller groups of desperadoes prowling the area. If she was lucky she might reach the next relay station without encountering difficulty.

He frowned thoughtfully. He would give her a fifty-fifty chance. He glanced at her appealing physique. On second thought, that was probably too optimistic.

Cutting away another section of the long reins, Quinn secured the leather strap around her horse’s girth, then tied her bulging satchel in place.

“I’ll give you a step up,” he offered, linking his fingers together to form an improvised stirrup.

She stared at him with those fascinating silver-blue eyes. “Perhaps we could compromise,” she suggested, flashing him a charming smile.

It was difficult not to respond to her smile, but he managed. “I never compromise. You start making exceptions then that’s all you get done. I was sent here to locate the outlaws’ hideout in this wild tumble of mountains so a Ranger battalion can attack. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Then I’m going with you. Once you have pinpointed the hideout, you can escort me to Fort Davis.”

He stared incredulously at her. The woman had gumption, he’d give her that. “Lady, I will be traveling across rugged terrain.
I’m
used to it.
You
aren’t. By dark you will be whining and complaining and I have heard enough of that while you posed as Agatha Stewart. The answer is
no.
”

When she refused to accept the step up that he offered, he hooked his arm around her waist and swung her onto the horse. “You can’t miss the relay station at Perdition Pass. It sits at the base of the canyon, directly beside the road. You can probably make it there a few hours after dark.”

He handed her one of his Colts. “Keep your eyes peeled for varmints. These craggy peaks and valleys are known for panthers, wolves, rattlesnakes and a few other—” His voice dried up when she turned his own firearm on him.

Just went to show you that offering an ounce of kindness to anyone in this part of the country could get you shot, he mused cynically.

“In case you’ve already forgotten, I saved your life an hour ago,” he muttered as he stared at the speaking end of his pistol, and then glared at her.

“You aren’t finished saving my life yet, Callahan. I am going with you or you are going with me, but I’m
not
venturing off by myself. When my veiled hat went over the cliff with the coach I lost a vital part of my protective disguise. I do not intend to become the target of every scoundrel I might encounter.” She poked him in the chest with his pistol. “
You
chose which direction we’re going first. But
we
are going together.”

Quinn knew he could disarm this feisty female in the time it took to blink. But damn if he knew why he allowed her to keep the upper hand. Maybe it was because she was so impossibly attractive that he liked looking at her. Maybe it was the prospect of sending her off alone to be hurt—or worse—that got to him.

If she
did
meet with disaster he would probably feel guilty as hell about it.

He didn’t have to be a fortune-teller to know that the kind of men who might cross her path would use and abuse her for their own lusty pleasure. And she was right. Trussing herself up in that padded black gown wouldn’t do her much good if she didn’t have the veiled hat to conceal her bewitching face.

“Well?” she demanded impatiently. “It’s your call.”

Piper was dismayed when he turned his back on her momentarily to retrieve his horse. He didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder. Obviously he didn’t believe she would gun him down. Which she wouldn’t have.
That would have defeated her purpose of trying to hire a guide and protector.

Considering that she had never fired a weapon in her life, Piper didn’t like her chances of making the long ride to the next stage station if she might have to confront predators of the four-legged and two-legged varieties alone. She had no idea what awaited her and that made her apprehensive and twitchy.

The only logical solution was to stick with the irascible Quinn Callahan. And if he was a Ranger then she was better off with him than riding west alone, wasn’t she?

She watched Quinn fashion another strap to hold his saddlebags and bedroll in place before he hopped onto the horse. Then he leaned out to slap one of the spare horses on the rump, sending it galloping westward. The remaining horses followed suit and disappeared around the bend.

Piper extended the firearm to Quinn, butt first. “Here. I really hadn’t planned to shoot you,” she admitted.

“Nice to know,” he mumbled as he holstered his Colt.

He trotted the horse right past her without saying another word. She gaped at him, pretty certain this hard-hearted rascal was going to abandon her. She knew he didn’t like her. He didn’t trust her or believe her story, either. Damn him, he
was
going to leave her alone to face whatever calamity came her way.

Just when she had given up and decided that Quinn Callahan didn’t have one smidgen of conscience or humanity in him, he halted his horse before he veered around the outcropping of rock. He stared grimly at her.

“Looks like we’re stuck with each other,” he said sourly. “Are you coming or not?”

Relief washed over her like a tidal wave. When she smiled gratefully at him he scowled. Clearly, he was not pleased with his decision to allow her to tag along on his mission.

“What made you change your mind?” she asked as she trotted her horse up beside him, then called to the mutt to join them.

“Must have been what’s left of my conscience,” he grumbled resentfully. “But I’m telling you here and now that if I give you an order, then I expect you to obey without question. No exceptions.”

Piper bristled immediately. He sounded exactly like her domineering father who insisted that the world follow his master plan. No exceptions allowed.

He squinted at her and a ghost of a smile twitched his lips. “Figured you would have a problem with that.” He nudged his mount eastward. “Regardless, if I tell you to duck then I want you to flatten yourself over your horse. If I tell you to ride hell-for-leather then you do it.”

“For my own safety and protection,” she murmured, then flashed him a smile. “I can do that.”

Quinn scolded himself harshly when he felt himself melting beneath her radiant smile, which made her unique eyes sparkle like starlight. Damn it, he didn’t want to be distracted or affected by this female that he was obligated to drag along with him. He predicted she was going to wilt like a delicate rose after scrabbling over this rough terrain for hours on end. Then what was he going to do with her?

Face it, Callahan. You are responsible for her welfare whether you like it or not.

Which he definitely did not.

He would have liked to think that she might have made the long jaunt to the next stage station without mishap. That was wishful thinking and he wouldn’t want to bet her life on it, nuisance though she was to him.

Resigned to traveling at a slower pace to accommodate Piper, Quinn aimed his horse in the direction of the site where the robbery had occurred. He didn’t hear a peep out of Piper, thank goodness, when he picked up the pace to compensate for lost time.

Commander Scott Butler hunkered over his desk at Ranger headquarters in Austin and frowned pensively at the telegram Lieutenant Cooper had handed to him. “Kidnapped female,” he murmured. “Age twenty. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Likely traveling by train or stage.” He glanced up at the lieutenant. “That’s not much to go on.”

“No, sir,” Vance Cooper agreed. “All we know is that the girl’s father thinks her abductor might be headed to the Fort Davis area. But there is no explanation as to
who
might have absconded with her and
why.
”

“We have a battalion working out of Van Horn that might be able to begin a search,” Butler commented, then frowned when he recognized the name of the man whose daughter was reported missing. “Good God!
Sullivan?
No doubt, the girl is being held for ransom and Roarke will be expected to spend half his fortune, in hopes of getting his child back.”

“Sullivan, sir?” Vance Cooper repeated.

Butler nodded. “Extremely wealthy merchant from Galveston. Owns half the businesses in town and con
trols a freighting company that ships all over the world.” He frowned pensively. “We’ll start by requesting information at stage stations to find out if a woman was on board that matches this description.”

“We have Callahan in the field,” Cooper prompted. “He has been riding the stage back and forth between Fort Stockton and El Paso for two weeks, trying to locate the criminals that have been plaguing the area. Too bad we can’t get word to him. He’s the best tracker we’ve got.”

Commander Butler readily agreed with that. He had worked with his share of frontier fighters during his thirty-four years of service with the Rangers. There were several standouts in the rare breed of men who policed this wild country. Quinn Callahan headed up that list. He was tough, resilient, intelligent—and about as affable as a grizzly.

Butler smiled wryly. Cal was a lone wolf who wasn’t much for small talk and lacked polished social graces, but he was hell on outlaws. Cal had kept to himself until Taylor Briggs had befriended him and refused to be held at arm’s length.

Honest to God, Butler never had figured out why two men who hailed from completely different walks of life had become as close as brothers. Taylor could have talked your leg off if you let him and Cal barely gave you the time of day unless it was important that you knew it.

Damn shame about Taylor Briggs, he mused. The man had been a credit to his battalion—until he had tried to follow Cal’s practice of venturing off on his
own to scout and track the desperadoes that had been robbing stages, banks and plundering ranches in southwest Texas.