Texas Brides Collection (5 page)

She didn’t need him, and neither did Moira…or any sensible woman. And he claimed to be a God-fearing man. He needed to spend more time in his Bible and less time on himself.

“Miss Serena.”

She startled and dropped the towel, narrowly missing the fire. “That’s the second time today you’ve scared me,” she said, ready to take on the devil if necessary. Her gaze flew to his eyes, and she clearly met the contrite ranger. He held his dusty hat, toying with the brim and standing as though he’d been riding for a month without a stop. The pleading look in his eyes softened her…a little.

“I apologize for snapping at you. Don’t know what got into me, and…I didn’t mean to ruffle your feelings,” he said, then expelled a heavy breath.

Serena bit back a curt remark. Maybe he had the Rangers’ next job on his mind—or the one they’d just come from. Pa rarely talked about the perils and circumstances about his work, and sometimes he was short when he fretted over a matter.

God instructed her to forgive.

“It’s all right. You have your own feelings, and it’s none of my business anyway.” She bent to lift the kettle from the fire.

“I’m not used to women,” he continued and bent to help her.

Serena smiled. That word sounded better all the time.

“Haven’t seen my little sister or Ma in quite a spell. Guess I’m not used to y’all’s ways.”

She nodded. “I think we got along better when you considered me a little girl.”

His eyes brightened, and he took the kettle of corn from her. “Oh, but then I learned the truth and got into trouble.”

Serena laughed, and the two walked toward the cabin. “I’m glad you’re coming for my birthday.”

“I think I’d like it…very much. Will I get in the way of your friend?”

“Moira?” Serena’s heart suddenly plummeted.

“I didn’t remember her name, but you might prefer having her all to yourself.”

Her insides relaxed. “No, the more the better. In fact, Ma mentioned having all the Nialls come for supper. They’re a wonderful family who care about each other and love the Lord. Mrs. Niall visits a lot when Pa’s gone—makes Ma laugh and tells her stories about Ireland.”

“I reckon being the wife of a ranger is real hard,” he said. “Not too many women could handle it.”

“Depends,” Serena replied slowly, as a bushel of answers raced across her mind. “If a woman loves a man, she can’t be happy unless she’s a part of his life.”

He opened the cabin door. She turned to thank him, but his gaze peered into hers and sent an unsettling chill up her spine.

“Imagine you would know.” He hesitated, wetting his lips. “I mean, since your pa’s a ranger and all. You’d know what kind of woman it took to marry up with one.” His face reddened again, and she felt her own grow warm.

“I suppose,” she said, placing a jar of honey on the table. “I don’t know any other way.”

He cleared his throat. “Would you be interested in taking a walk this afternoon and leaving your ma and pa to some time alone? Your ma looked real upset when we left them out there.”

“I’d take kindly to your offer,” she said. “The river’s a nice cool spot.”

“And I haven’t been wading for fun in quite a spell.”

Silence permeated the room.
Oh, Lord, are You making progress?

Standing in the small room, arranging the rest of the meal about the table, Serena felt Chet’s gaze studying her. Oh, for a woman’s figure. She didn’t relish the thought of Chet staring at a fence post. Her nose stuck out farther than her bosom.

She decided to sit across the table from him. With everything ready but the corn bread, they’d eat as soon as Ma and Pa came in from the barn. In the meantime, she had the handsome ranger all to herself.

Searching for a topic that steered away from her fragile emotions, she remembered he and Pa would be leaving in the morning.

“I’ll be praying for you and Pa’s trip to the Rio Grande,” she said, wishing her voice sounded stronger, more encouraging.

“Appreciate it,” he said and laid his hat on the floor beside him. “We need all the prayers we can get.”

Silence filled the corners of the cabin, and Serena wished she had something to do.

“Blueberries,” Chet said, breaking the quiet surrounding them.

She lifted a questioning brow. Did he have a hankering for berry pie?

“Your eyes,” he said, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his shirt, “are the color of ripe blueberries.”

Before Serena could respond, the sounds of Ma and Pa laughing met her ears. Her parents entered. Ma’s hair had slipped from her tightly wound bun, and her cheeks were rosy.

Pa’s wide smile quickly changed to a frown when he saw Chet and Serena seated at the table. “After we eat,” he said to Chet, “you and me are gonna have a long talk.”

C
het had been hungry before James made his announcement, but his appetite soon disappeared. Second time today the cap’n announced a need for them to talk, which meant he planned to do the chewin’, and Chet would do the listenin’.

Now he sat across from the cap’n, who cut his gaze at him sharper than a bowie knife. He was in a fine pucker about something. He’d been around James Talbot long enough to recognize a bad mood.

Serena already made him feel peculiar, and with her sitting so close beside him, droplets of sweat rolled down his cheeks. Fortunately, Mrs. Wilkinson still acted normal, and she smiled comforting-like while passing him the corn bread. Every bite of food hung in his throat, worse than his own cooking. The meal seemed to take forever.

Awhile later, James cleared his throat, rattling Chet’s nerves. The cap’n stood and downed his coffee.

“Good food, Rachel,” he said with an appreciative nod. “Chet, you coming?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, sliding off the other end of the bench he shared with Serena. “Thank you, ma’am, for a fine meal.”

Rachel smiled. “You’re welcome, but you didn’t eat much.”

Chet noted a glimpse of compassion in her eyes. She must know what had upset the cap’n. He stole a look at Serena. She looked as confused as he felt.

Outside, he fell into step beside the cap’n. “Don’t recollect what I did to anger you, but I reckon you’re about to tell me.”

“I am.” His tone reminded Chet of the many dismal times on the trail when they’d be riding into a dangerous situation against the odds.

They strode away from the cabin and toward a huge post oak shading a corner of the pasture. Chet had enough of waiting, but the Bible had a lot to say on patience. So he leaned against the tree, first kicking up a mound of fire ants and then daring to peer into James’s blue eyes, almost as intense as Serena’s.

“We’re leaving in the morning,” the cap’n said, standing square in front of him without a trace of friendliness. He looped his thumbs in the waist of his pants.

“Yes, sir.”

“And I want you to forget everything about Serena.”

Chet raised a brow. “Serena? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be acting like you’ve lost your senses.”

Suddenly Chet felt anger race through him. “Well, maybe you ought to explain yourself, ’cause I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

James’s jaw tightened. “You’ve been looking at her all day like some moon-sick calf. And I’ve already told you that no ranger is going after my daughter.”

Chet couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re seeing things. I’m not interested in Serena. I’ve only been making polite conversation.”

James shook his head in disbelief. “For one ranger—a lick smarter than the rest—you sure are acting stupid.”

Then it hit Chet. The uneasiness around Serena, the way he liked to see her smile, and those eyes. Maybe the cap’n did know something he didn’t. He glanced at the cabin and back to James.

“I had no idea,” Chet said, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Well, take notice,” James said, jamming his finger into Chet’s chest. “Don’t be putting any fancy ideas in her head or dreaming up any of your own.” He peered out over the horses grazing in the pasture. “I’m fixin’ to promote you to lieutenant. You’re a good ranger and you have the respect of the other men. Being a single man is the easiest way to do the best job.”

Chet expelled a heavy sigh. “I understand about Serena, and I appreciate the promotion.”

“Good. We’ve settled this little matter, and now we can head back and get us some more corn bread and honey.”

Wonderful
, Chet thought.
Something else to stick in my throat
.

Back inside the cabin, Chet couldn’t bring himself to look at Serena. What had happened to him since he learned Cap’n James Talbot’s skinny little girl had grown into a woman? She still looked the same, didn’t she? He’d noticed her pretty face before, but he’d never really talked to her until today. Or experienced such unnerving thoughts about a woman.

He swallowed hard. Flashes of last night and today darted across his mind. He admired Serena, and she’d surprised him a time or two, but he thought he kept those notions to himself. Obviously not. He hoped she hadn’t sensed the same thing.

“Chet here just got a promotion,” the cap’n said after a few moments. He’d piled his plate high with corn bread, added a hill of butter, and poured honey over it. “He’s now Lieutenant Chet Wilkinson.”

“Has a good ring to it,” Serena said, flashing him a smile.

“A lieutenant has to deal with a lot of responsibility,” Rachel said, refilling his coffee mug. “But I’m sure you’ve earned the title.”

The cap’n offered a wry smile. “You earned it last August at the Battle of Plum Creek when we fought Buffalo Hump over his prisoners and loot taken at Linnville. You demonstrated real grit, and I haven’t forgotten it.”

Chet remembered how the Tonkawa Indian scouts had assisted the Rangers in tracking down the Comanche warriors who had attacked and destroyed an entire Texas town. “They would have made off with it all, if Buffalo Hump hadn’t been so concerned about saving his loot, especially the nearly three thousand head of horses.”

James is right
, Chet thought.
My life is too risky to ask a woman to share it with me
. Suddenly Chet startled. When had he begun thinking about Serena as a wife? He felt himself grow increasingly uncomfortable. No doubt he looked as red as a ripe tomato.

“I’m committed to the Rangers,” Chet said, knowing the cap’n expected him to share his beliefs. “God first and Texas second.”

“As it should be,” Serena replied, folding her hands on the table in front of her. “Your folks will be glad to hear the news. I know I’d be proud if we were kin.”

The cap’n cleared his throat, and Chet felt an invisible bullet pierce his heart.
Lord, help me. I think I’ve fallen in love with Serena Talbot. How does a man prepare himself for something like this? I haven’t been looking, and she isn’t the woman I thought You wanted for me. Worse yet, I’m bound by my pledge to the Texas Rangers and her pa to do nothing about it
.

Serena hummed her way through the chore of clearing the table from the noon meal. Pa and Chet were outside, probably talking about what awaited them along the Rio Grande.

“The palomino sure has made you happy,” her mother said, gathering up the dishes to wash them outside.

“Oh, yes. Fawn is a beautiful horse.” Serena remembered again Chet’s likening her eyes to ripe blueberries. “Some other things besides my birthday gift have me feeling good.”

Ma stood in the doorway with her hands full. She paused and set the load back on the table. “Chet noticing you?”

Serena couldn’t help smiling. It seemed to start from her heart and burst through to her face. “I believe so. He asked me to take a walk this afternoon so you and Pa can have some time alone. Maybe I’ll know more before he and Pa leave in the morning.”

“Your pa knows.”

Serena felt her stomach twist. “He does? Did he say so?”

“Yes, and he’s not pleased.”

She sighed and peered into her mother’s eyes. “With me or Chet?”

“Both.”

“So I imagine Pa will talk to him about it on the way to the Rio Grande.”

Her mother shook her head. “He already has—right after we ate.”

“So that’s why Chet didn’t say much,” Serena said, thinking out loud. She blinked back a single tear and focused her attention on covering the honey jar.