Renegade (12 page)

Samantha had suggested he find the newcomers rumored to be in the area “up north” in her stead. She had said that from the information she had gained, the newcomers were possibly the bank robbers Pinkerton was seeking, but she didn’t have time to search for them while she pursued current possibilities.

With such a vague location, he did not believe Samantha thought he would find them easily. That concerned him, especially since a sixth sense told him that Matt Strait held the answer to the puzzle she hoped to solve.

Yet he had followed Samantha’s suggestion.

The answer to why was simple. Thomas Rigg was a friend, and the friendship between them had not
been severed by death. He was devoted to Samantha with a fidelity that would not end until the day he, too, expired. He was determined to make her life complete in the meantime, whatever it took to do so.

Samantha’s reaction to his appearance puzzled him. He did not believe her excuse for sending for him. She had always been independent. Perhaps she had sent for him in a weak moment and was sorry she had. Perhaps she had realized belatedly that she could solve the case by herself and didn’t need him. Whatever, the die was cast. He was there. The fact that she had sent for him had galvanized him immediately into action simply because it had evinced an uncharacteristic vulnerability that had concerned him. But whatever her reason, he did not intend to leave until he was sure she was all right.

His decision reaffirmed, his mind drifted and his eyes grew heavy. He watched a cloud trail across the moon as a prelude to the sleep he well deserved.

The night darkened.

The fire in his campsite sputtered.

Nighttime fragrance rustled in the foliage around him, but Sean ignored all the familiar sounds and fell asleep.

Samantha was comfortable in the circle of Matt’s arms as he lay in bed beside her. His body was warm, and a scent that was totally masculine and Matt’s own
filled her. She inhaled deeply in an attempt to draw it in, her tongue flicked out, wanting to taste the flesh so close to her own.

Mmmm…it was delicious, and she—

Suddenly uncertain if she was dreaming, Samantha snapped her eyes open and glanced at the bed beside her. In the dim light of impending dawn stealing through the blinds of her hotel room, the gaze of light eyes met her own. Matt’s mouth covered hers and Samantha indulged his kiss. She took it deep inside her. After all that had happened, he had not left her. That realization gave her hope.

“I have to leave, Samantha.”

Reality was hard. Unaware that she was frowning, Samantha listened as he continued. “I can’t put off telling Jenny any longer. I want to be sure she doesn’t hear any rumors that might be circulating before I can explain everything to her.”

Reality glared more brightly.

“What’s wrong, Samantha?”

“Nothing. I want you to tell her.” Samantha nervously pushed back a gleaming lock that had fallen onto her forehead. “I’m just not certain what you’re going to say.”

When Matt did not respond, Samantha asked, “What are you going to say, Matt?”

“I’m going to tell her…” Matt hesitated and then shook his head. “This is hard for me, Samantha. Jenny has always been my friend. We’ve never kept secrets from each other.”

“She’s your friend and you were going to marry her?”

“I know it’s difficult for you to understand, but being with a woman was previously just a matter of fulfilling a need for me. There was nothing else involved—no emotion that survived the moment. I never had an attachment to the women involved, and I thought it would never be any different. When my father died and I assumed responsibility for the ranch, I started to think differently. I couldn’t let the ranch slip away. My father had worked all his life to keep it for me. It was the only home I had ever known. I had to make a serious effort to save it, and I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Jenny was in the same position as I was since her father was getting old and she didn’t have any brothers to take over his land.”

Samantha’s frown darkened at that remark and Matt explained carefully, “This is a hard country, Samantha. Without a man at her side, Jenny’s life will be difficult after her father passes—almost impossible. The boundary of her ranch borders mine and her father sincerely likes me, so I figured the solution was easy. I honestly thought friendship would be enough for marriage because I had no trouble being faithful to Jenny until I met you.”

Matt paused and then whispered, “Everything changed then.”

Samantha’s heart pounded. She waited for the words she wanted to hear, but Matt continued
instead. “I have to tell Jenny that it isn’t going to work out the way we planned. I owe her that much.”

Samantha nodded in solemn agreement. Everything Matt had said was true. He owed Jenny the truth, yet he wasn’t aware that the whole truth was that she loved him, and although she had come to Texas with another dream in mind, her hunger for him had compromised everything she had worked toward most of her life.

Samantha remained wordless when Matt stood up, naked in the dawning light. Unable to avert her gaze, she scrutinized the strong body that hard work had earned him. Always aware that he dwarfed her in height, she had somehow not realized that his shoulders were so broad. His arms and chest rippled with power as he reached for his clothes, and his legs were corded with muscle.

Samantha looked at his narrow waist. A familiar heat suffused her when her gaze followed the trail of fine, dark hair that dwindled to an area below his beltline where curls surrounded a part of him that she had briefly considered hers alone. She had worshipped his body as he had worshipped hers, so fully that he had shuddered uncontrollably at her ministrations. She remembered acutely the way he had joined his flesh to hers then, swelling inside her even more when passion assumed control. She remembered vividly the throbbing that signaled his release
and the satisfaction it had dealt her the moment before she joined him.

Yet she now wondered if those moments—ingrained forever in her memory—meant the same things to him that they meant to her.

The sense of dread that she avoided in Matt’s arms swelled anew. Matt hadn’t asked her if she had kept any other secrets from him when she confessed her true reason for being in Winston. She hadn’t volunteered to tell him about Sean, or that Toby, Matt’s father’s old acquaintance, knew more about his past than he realized.

Never more conflicted, never more aware that she was naked in more ways than one, Samantha drew the coverlet up to shield herself when Matt approached the bed. She remained silent when Matt kissed her. She was still silent when he closed the door behind him.

Sean didn’t believe it! The abandoned cabin that had been described to him as merely being “up north” stood before him in an area that had recently been partially cleared. He had discovered its location accidentally, but sooner than anyone had believed he could.

He had awakened that morning at dawn to a day that promised to be warmer than usual. A modest breeze had rustled through the trees as he had cooked a hasty breakfast over a renewed campfire. He had
then carefully extinguished the flames and resumed searching for the cabin that he had begun believing more and more was merely a figment of Josh Harden’s imagination.

A brief stop at a nearby town too small to deserve a name had led him to a trail he had followed without conviction. Yet he had arrived directly at the cabin he now viewed from the protection of a wooded copse—which had to be
the
cabin.

Surprised, but too experienced to act until he was more secure in his present circumstances, Sean scrutinized the area in typical Pinkerton fashion. He noted that the few stumps in the yard had been recently cut and judged that the cabin’s occupants had not been there long enough to make a true mark on the land. The partially constructed barn added to that assumption, as did the newly plowed personal garden barely visible behind the cabin. As for the ranch house itself, the windows appeared to have been recently cleaned to afford better visibility, and the doorstep freshly swept. He suspected the interior had been recently set about. The smoke rising from the chimney revealed further signs of life.

From appearances, the occupants of the land intended to stay, but he had not yet seen a living soul.

He frowned at the lack of horses or a corral to house them, of a cow for milk, of chickens that were a staple for most ranchers starting out on their own. He assumed there was a woman in the house, considering
the freshly planted personal garden, but…something was wrong.

As if in silent response to his questions, the door of the cabin opened and a fellow about forty years of age emerged. His hair was long and he was unshaven. He motioned to someone behind him, and a young fellow in his early teens walked out into the sunshine. They started toward the barn just as a few horses from a remuda concealed in a wooded copse came into sight and neighed at them.

The young fellow laughed and started in their direction while the older man continued on toward the barn.

He noted one thing clearly. They were unarmed. It was time to make his appearance.

Riding out of concealment, Sean came to within a few feet of the men in time to see them both scramble for the shotguns lying near the doorway of the cabin.

“Don’t try it!” his deep voice boomed, halting the scrambling feet as Sean continued tightly, his gun drawn. “You don’t want to make that mistake.”

Angry at being caught unawares, the older fellow growled, “No, you’re the one who’s making a mistake if you think you can take anything else from us. I’ll die before I let you steal what we have left.”

The younger fellow said resolutely, “You can’t shoot both of us before one of us reaches a gun and brings you down.”

“Let’s stop this here and now.” Sean’s gaze
narrowed. Holding his gun steady, he said more softly, “I’m not here to rob you, if that’s what you’re thinking. This gun is merely to protect me from any false conclusions.”

“That’s what the other fellas said!”

“I’m not one of those other fellas.”

“Who are you, then?”

Instinct told him not to reveal that he was a Pinkerton agent just yet. “I’m just here to ask a few questions.”

“Questions? Then why the gun?”

“For protection, I said. You fellas have a reputation for chasing away strangers, and I don’t want to go until I get some answers.”

“So what are your questions? We’re just homesteaders hoping to work the land.”

Sean questioned, “Then why a race for your guns?”

The older fellow inquired in response, “What did you say your name was?”

He’d had time to better assess the pair, and now Sean felt safe in replying, “My name is Sean McGill. I’m a Pinkerton. I’m looking for bank robbers rumored to be in the area, and I was told you’re likely suspects.”

The older man laughed out loud, a sound lacking mirth as he responded, “We’re victims, Mr. McGill, not crooks.” He hesitated, then said, “My name is Harry Martin. This here’s my son, Jeff. My wife, Mary, is inside.”

Sean looked toward the door.

In answer to his unspoken question, Martin offered, “She ain’t well, thanks to the crooks who robbed us on our way here.”

Sean quizzed, “What’s the matter with her?”

Ignoring him, Martin said, “I’m inviting you to get off your horse so we can talk like you said, but that’s all I’m inviting you to do.”

Sean dismounted and approached him. He holstered his gun. The female face at the window and the distinct glint of the rifle she held poised were the deciding factors. If she had wanted to, the woman could have shot him easily.

He didn’t regret his decision as the older man started to speak.

“I’m sorry, Jenny. I don’t have any excuses for the way I acted.”

Matt and Jenny were alone in the ranch house. She had appeared upset when he rode up, yet his mind had wandered as he dismounted. He had traveled there straight from Samantha’s bed. The taste of her was still in his mouth. Her scent seemed to follow him. Yet he was wary.

His father had loved his mother until the day he died, but he had wasted his life, and Samantha was too much as his mother had been. His father had said his mother was beautiful. So was Samantha. He had said she was charming one minute, harsh the next, and was a true asset in every saloon where she worked. It must have been true, because his
mother had supported herself and Tucker, but that description fit Samantha perfectly, too. No one had to tell him that his mother had taken his father for everything he had before leaving him, either, because he did not remember a time when his father and he did not scrape by.

Although Matt knew the toll loving his mother had taken on his father, he had only recently learned the heavy toll it had taken on the twin brother he had not known existed. The truth was that he was glad his mother had never returned. He was glad he hadn’t repeated his father’s mistake of loving her. He was glad he hadn’t had the same sad childhood as Tucker, too.

Yet Samantha seemed to mirror his mother in countless ways. Her eyes had spoken to him in a way no other woman’s had before, yet that same gaze had proven devious. It had said she wanted him, although he now knew her attraction to him was all part of her plan. It had said she needed him, although he now doubted her total sincerity. Her gaze had made promises to him without speaking a word. He had given in, but now that he was away from her, he wondered if she would follow through with her silent pledge.

Yet Jenny was just the opposite. She was plain and comforting. Quiet and shy, she had never extended herself to anyone but him. To his recollection, she had never spoken an untrue word and had devoted herself to her father, and then to him.

He truly did love her in so many ways, yet he had betrayed her.

His distress evident, Matt continued softly. “I can’t say what happened to me because I don’t really understand why I acted the way I did. You don’t deserve it.”

Jenny’s eyes filled with tears as Matt attempted to continue. She halted his confession with a half smile. “I understand, Matt. You were driven to do what you did because the relationship between us was somehow lacking.”