The Texan and the Lady (3 page)

Austin McCormick leaned against her shoulder for a closer look at the riders, showing little more interest than a bachelor who looks at a baby.

Jennie shoved him away prodding him with her finger, tapping hard against his chest. “Do something! They’re trying to stop the train.”

Though Austin still appeared only mildly interested in the men outside the window, the woman beside him had finally drawn his full attention. “How about I break your finger if you poke it in my ribs again, lady?”

If looks could have killed, Jennie Munday would have had the marshal staked and burned in a blink of her green eyes. She hadn’t left home to be shot by robbers her first day out. “I’m not standing by and letting innocent people be attacked. Give me that gun! I’ll do something myself.” She grabbed for the Colt at his side. “Those things couldn’t be very hard to operate if you can handle one.”

Suddenly, Austin came alive. Before her fingers closed around the handle of his gun, he’d jerked her arms and twirled her in the seat until her back was flat against his chest. “Never lay hands on a man’s sidearm!” he whispered with deadly calm. “Call it a matter of pride, but a man’s gun is his alone.”

Jennie struggled, thinking she’d like to wound more than the man’s pride. Between clenched teeth she answered, “Then do something or we’ll all be killed.”

The marshal didn’t ease his hold on her. His grip was so tight, she could feel his heart pounding between her shoulder blades, and the slow rise and fall of his chest moved her a fraction with each breath. Suddenly, fear won the race in Jennie’s mind. A fear that had nothing to do with train robbers. A fear unlike any she’d ever known in her quiet, calm, dull life in Iowa. She realized this man would be deadly to cross and probably just as dangerous to care for. Yet a tiny part of her longed for the warmth of a man’s body against her in a caress and not in anger.

The marshal shifted slightly so that his words came close to her ear. “If you’ll take a minute to notice, Miss Munday, you’ll see they’re firing in the air. My guess is the worst we’ve got here is a robbery by a handful of greenhorns, and with any luck no one will get killed.” He paused and slowed his words even more, as if she were a child who needed time to digest each sentence. “If they were trying to kill us, they’d be shooting at the train not at the clouds; and, as crowded as this car is, someone would already be dead.”

Jennie felt his words warm the side of her face. His breath brushed lightly against the lace of her high collar. The faint smell of cigars and leather blended with the hint of whiskey, reminding her of how totally different this man was from any she’d ever met.

“I’ll not stand by and be robbed.” She tried to pull an inch away, but his grip was iron. “I’ll not let them have my life, or even my bag without a fight. It’s all I have to my name.” She tried to hold herself stiff, but she could feel his warmth against her back. Her heart pounded louder than the thunder of horses outside, and for the first time in her life she felt she had touched adventure. She could feel it, see it, smell it in the air. Adventure all wrapped up in fear and noise and panic around her … and in the man beside her. Adventure better than any dime novel could ever have painted.

Austin chuckled suddenly. “I doubt there’s much of interest in your bag to a train robber. More likely, they’ll take only jewelry and money. Maybe a payroll riding in the mail car.”

He relaxed his grip on her arms and slid strong fingers along her sleeves to rest at her waist. “If I let you go, will you promise not to try and shoot anyone?”

“Excluding you?”

Austin laughed again. “Tell you what. If I promise not to let anyone bother your bag, or the child you keep hidden beneath your skirts, will you promise not to shoot me? Then we both might get through this robbery alive.”

Fire danced up her neck and onto her cheeks. A million words came to her mind, but none seemed to form in her throat. She nodded and twisted in his arms until she could see his eyes. Something dark and bottomless flickered in his stare, a flash of summer gold inside the brown depths. Perhaps a look of passion sparkled there, as she’d seen only when men looked at other women. She was too much a novice at the games men and women played to read the look.

“How did you know about the child?”

“I’m a man who makes a habit of knowing what’s around me. The kid’s been wiggling for an hour.”

“You won’t tell anyone?” The train was braking to a stop, but Jennie couldn’t take her gaze off the man only a breath away. Her need to protect True suddenly outweighed the threat of robbery. The marshal was right—except for her novels, she had nothing of value in her bag. But the child, that was another matter.

Austin didn’t answer, but only held her to him as though his arms could stop any harm from reaching her. In the glint of his eyes, she saw it then, the last glimpse of a knight long ago buried by life’s hardness. The armor might be tarnished from battles fought, but the metal was still solid and pure.

“I won’t tell anyone.” His words were low, rusty from the few times he’d used total honesty in his speech. “Your child is safe.”

All the dreams lonely little Jennie had ever dreamed came true. She looked into the eyes of a real hero, and for a moment, she believed what she heard.

Then she remembered that dreams are never real and heroes exist only in the pages of the books. His words were somehow a trick, a deception to lure her into a belief in him that might not hold true. Well, Jennie Munday wasn’t some moonstruck schoolgirl! She was a woman long past marrying age and long past falling for a washed-out marshal’s tricks.

She straightened, pushing him away with her thoughts more than with her body. “I’m sure the child will appreciate your silence.”

Austin’s eyes narrowed to slits. “And you?”

Jennie raised her chin. “The child isn’t mine but …”

“Don’t bother to lie.” His words were steel as he turned toward the gunmen outside. He hadn’t even noticed they’d stopped, but now his trained gaze took in the number of robbers and every detail about them.

“I’ve never lied in my life, Marshal McCormick.” She could feel the muscles along her spine tighten. How dare he think the child beneath the seat was hers! How dare he call her a liar!

“I noticed how open and forward you were with introductions when I sat down.” The spinster beside him drew Austin’s attention as though the robbers were no more than flies compared to the tiger by his side.

“The child was there when I took the seat.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday, lady. You’ve been guarding that youngun like a mother hen this whole trip.”

“I’m surprise you noticed, Marshal. You were so busy sleeping and drinking your lunch. I’ve had to sit next to a snoring drunk, and you dare mention a harmless child wiggling beneath the seat.”

Both ignored the noise outside as armed men filed into the car, frightening the other passengers into silence.

Few things bothered Austin more than parents who didn’t take care of their children. Memories mingled with anger as he raised his voice. “It’s not any of my concern, but the little one couldn’t be too comfortable down there huddling on the cold floor.”

Jennie wasn’t about to apologize for something she had no control over. In fact, she had been concerned about the child’s comfort as well, but knew she didn’t have enough money to buy another ticket. She stood and yelled, “I’m telling you, the child is not mine!”

He unfolded from the seat and looked down at her. “And I’m telling you, you’re about as sorry an excuse for a mother as I’ve run across …”

The leader of the gang of robbers jabbed the butt of his rifle hard into Austin’s side. But as the masked man cleared his throat to order the loud couple back into their seats, Austin swung around and slammed his forearm into the bothersome intruder’s face.

In one bone-shattering second, all hell broke loose. The man who’d interrupted Austin and Jennie’s argument fell backward into a cluster of women huddled together in fright. His rifle fired wildly, shattering the windows above Jennie’s head. He dropped the weapon and grabbed his nose, jerking the bandanna mask from his face to try and stop the gush of blood.

Austin completely ignored the man he’d harmed. He grabbed Jennie and dropped to the floor between the seats. In less time than it took her to blink, the marshal pulled his Colt and fired at another masked robber blocking the car’s entrance. The gun dropped from the robber’s hand as he fell backward out of the car, his shoulder splattered in crimson.

Suddenly everyone in the compartment seemed to move at once. A redheaded woman in the last bench rose like a warring Amazon and attacked the unlucky bandit left guarding the back exit. She grabbed a hatbox from the rack and swung it at him. He fought her off as he tried to raise his gun and aim.

But the tiny woman Jennie had noticed sleeping on the back bench cocooned in a wine-colored coat suddenly came alive to defend her friend.

“Get down, Audrey!” the tiny woman shouted as she pulled a Patterson pocket pistol from her coat. “Drop that gun, mister, or you’re a dead man!” The little gun shook in her hands while she tried to aim.

As her petite partner stepped forward, the other woman hit the floor none too gently. “Go ahead and shoot him, Delta!” the redhead yelled.

When the cold metal barrel pushed against his forehead, fear widened the robber’s eyes. He dropped his gun and raised his arms in slow motion, surrendering to a woman half his size.

Near the front of the car Marshal McCormick lifted the leader to his feet. The outlaw still held his fist to his nose, fighting to stop the blood gushing over his unruly mustache. Austin jammed a gun into the man’s ribs and shoved the bandit toward the front of the car. “Tell your friends it’s over, partner, or your lungs will be having new holes to breath through.”

The robber’s eyes glinted graveyard cold. “You wouldn’t shoot me in front of the women.”

Austin twisted the man so he could see the back of the car, where a small blonde held a pistol on another gang member. “Hell, if I don’t,
she
will.”

Both men looked around the car. All of the once-frightened passengers were angry. The petrified young ladies who’d screamed in fear when the bandit fell against them now inspected their blood-spattered traveling dresses and stormed with revenge. It looked as if any one of the passengers would gladly have served as hangman at a moment’s notice.

“See a friendly face?” Austin asked.

The man turned toward the door and yelled, “Frank, let the engineer go! We’re done for. It’s over.”

“Tell all your men to come out with their hands high,” Austin ordered as he shoved the man forward.

The command was followed. Robbers, little older than boys, stepped from the train.

The conductor and several other men moved slowly in front of them to collect weapons.

Austin turned to Jennie as he reached the exit. “I’m not through talking to you, lady.” His eyes were still stormy.

It frightened her to know that catching the robbers had been little more than a day’s work for him. She was the cause of his angry stare.

Jennie could sense everyone on the train watching her. “Well, I’m through talking to you, Marshal McCormick.” She lifted her chin, irritated by his words and the way he’d made her feel. “Did you find it necessary to shatter that poor man’s nose for interrupting our discussion, or were you actually trying to do your duty?”

Austin’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You’re the one who wanted to shoot them, remember? Besides, we weren’t having a discussion, lady. We were having an argument. I’m mighty sorry the train robbery got in the way, but as soon as I get these men tied up and doctored, I’ll be back to finish what you started.”

“I have no intention of talking with you further, Marshal.”

“Good!” Austin pushed his prisoner forward. “‘Cause all you need to do is listen. I plan on doing all the talking.”

Chapter 4

L
end me a hand. This girl’s been shot!” the redheaded woman in the back screamed above the train’s long whistle.

Jennie twisted in her seat as everyone between her and the back of the train jumped to offer aid.

“Quiet, Audrey,” the petite blonde beside the shouting woman insisted as folks moved closer. “It’s nothing. Only a scratch.”

Someone in the crowd shouted, “Look, there’s blood all over her coat!”

Another yelled, “We oughta string them fellas up!”

Jennie raised one eyebrow at the marshal, who was about to take his place on their shared bench. She didn’t give him time to sit down. “Don’t you think you’d better investigate?” How could he be so calm, when the girl was wounded? Jennie wondered if folks often had to explain the marshal’s duty to him or if he’d simply lost his senses this trip. She decided the man could have driven a temperance leader to drink. He had the oddest habit of getting riled over nothing and looking at the shocking with indifferent eyes.

She’d hoped to be at the final stop before he made it back to his place beside her, so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions about the child beneath her seat. Her luck had held to within a few miles of Florence, Kansas. The train was already slowing for the last bend when he stormed into the car. His gaze never wavered from her face, leaving no doubt that he planned to finish their argument.

Now, while everyone in the car was talking about the wounded girl, Austin McCormick turned his dark gaze toward Jennie. “I don’t remember anyone dying and leaving me in charge of this train, lady. Why is it every time something happens, you nominate me to do something about it?”

“But you’re a federal marshal!”

“On leave, lady. Hell, when I pick up my orders in Florence, I may be going back to punching cows in Texas. Meeting a few more women like yourself would sure make those lonely drives seem more appealing. You’ve taken up trying to run my life faster than a babe takes to a mother’s milk.”

Jennie didn’t try to hide the impatience in her voice. “We have to do something to help if that woman’s been shot. I’m not surprised someone was hurt with as many bullets as there were flying through this car. We have to at least stop any bleeding until we can get her to a doctor.”