The Texan and the Lady (7 page)

Touching the string, Jennie answered, “Thank you.” Her brothers and sisters would have made a long round of jokes about it, just as they had the red ribbons she tied on the posts so she could find her way to town, even though it was only a short distance away.

“Why don’t you take the linen out back to the wash house and call it a night?” Mrs. Gray was already moving away. “Be sure and tell Audrey we’ll need her in the kitchen at four in the morning.”

Nodding, Jennie lifted the bundle of linen. “Good night, Mrs. Gray.”

“Good night.” Mrs. Gray allowed her shoulders to lower slightly as she slowly climbed the stairs.

Jennie marveled at how the woman could have an ounce of fat on her body, for she was in constant motion. Whenever something hadn’t been done properly, she was there to straighten things out. When one man refused to wear his coat, she was beside him, softly telling him it was the policy at all Harvey Houses. She didn’t order him to either put on his coat or leave, she only asked if he’d be dining with them or would rather have his meal boxed.

Jennie walked toward the laundry house several yards behind the hotel. She could make the trip in the dark; she’d made it many times already today. The cold air felt good on her warm skin, and the sky was more dusty blue than black. The Kansas sun had melted away all trace of the early morning snowfall, but the slight north wind promised more.

As she turned to walk back to the house, she saw a lone man standing by the back steps. For a moment, alarm shook the exhaustion from her, then she realized the too-tall outline could be no one else but the marshal.

Taking a deep breath, Jennie decided now was as good a time as any to face him. It shouldn’t take her more than a few minutes to make plain how she felt about him. She couldn’t go the rest of her life avoiding him. Besides, he couldn’t prove there was a child. Not without climbing the stairs to the girls’ wing, and Mrs. Gray would have him tarred and feathered before he was halfway up the steps.

“Evening, Marshal.” Jennie nodded as she passed.

“Miss Munday.” Austin touched the brim of his hat. “I was wondering if you might have the time to talk to me now.”

“I’m not sure Mrs. Gray would approve of us talking out back like this. She has very strict rules.” Jennie took the first step up the stairs. She waited, holding her breath for him to argue, but he didn’t. She took the second step.

“Walk with me, Jennie.” Austin’s voice was so low she wasn’t sure she understood what he said.

“What?”

“I said walk with me.” He pushed his hat back as if aggravated he had to ask twice. “I’d like to talk with you awhile.”

Closing her eyes, Jennie tried to make herself believe what she’d heard. How many times had she dreamed of hearing a man say such words to her? She’d told herself she’d probably never hear a man say “I love you,” or tell her how pretty she was, but sometimes she prayed for someone just to want to talk with her. How many thousands of times had she hoped some man would ask her as she left church to stroll the few hundred yards to her house? And how many times—every time—had she walked alone?

Jennie turned around, unwilling to throw away her one chance. It didn’t matter that the night was cold or that it was late. Now she could say she’d been asked. “I’ll walk with you only down to the depot and back. It wouldn’t be proper anywhere else.”

Austin nodded as if her words made sense to him and offered his hand. When his fingers accepted the weight of her hand, he realized he should have taken off his gloves. He wanted to feel the touch of this woman. He wanted to know that someone who seemed so strong and determined could be real and not just a silhouette of what he thought he saw.

Jennie felt the soft warmth of leather as well as the strength beneath. “Marshal McCormick, I ask only one favor tonight. Could we not argue? I’m afraid I haven’t the energy.”

Austin moved her hand to the bend in his arm. “Agreed. I’ve done my share of fighting for one day also.”

They walked in silence along the dark path to the front of the hotel. When Jennie’s shoe slipped slightly, Austin’s fingers tightened over her hand. Protecting. Guiding.

Several yards away from the front fountains of Clifton House, he spoke. “I’m not much good at just talking.”

“I noticed.” Jennie laughed; “But to tell the truth, neither am I.”

Austin nodded as they passed the shadowy outlines of other couples bracing the chilly night for a few moments. “How’s Delta doing?” he asked when they were once again alone.

“Very weak.” Jennie relaxed a little. “Once we got a few pounds of food into her, she looked better. Audrey told Mrs. Gray she’ll need at least two weeks of total bed rest before she tries even getting dressed. But she did sit up for a while this afternoon.”

“And the boy. Is he with you?” His question was so casual, Jennie didn’t react at once.

“What boy?” She tried to pull her hand from his arm, but his fingers trapped hers.

“The boy who rode halfway across Kansas under your seat.” Austin stopped walking and faced her. The light was too dim to see her eyes, but he didn’t have to see the look in those green depths to know she’d lied.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Marshal.” Jennie forced her voice to be calm as another couple passed only a few yards away.

Austin took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t want to hurt the boy, just make sure he’s somewhere safe.” Austin could tell by the way she still tugged, trying to free her hand, that she didn’t believe him.

Suddenly, he admired her very deeply. Anyone who looked at her could tell she was a fine woman, unaccustomed to lying. Hell, she probably carried a Bible everywhere with her. But she was willing to lie to protect a child. A child she claimed wasn’t even hers. A barrier cracked around his heart that he’d held tightly in place since his brother died years ago.

“I need to know …” His words were more to himself than her. “Because I remember how it felt to be out in the world at that age. I know how cruel people can be when they think of you as no more than a maggot.” He was no longer looking at her, but into the darkness, into his past. “I know how hard it is to tell good folks from the bad when they’re all twice your height. You’d be surprised how often a handout comes with strings. If the child’s not yours, I want to know that he’s all right.”

“You were alone at True’s age?”

“No.” Austin looked away from her into the shadows. “I had a brother a year older. At least we had each other until he died just before the war.”

“Was he all that was left of your family?”

“Yes.” His answer was emotionless now as he pulled himself back to the present.

Jennie’s fingers tightened slowly over his arm. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Austin didn’t look at her. “I didn’t tell you to hear how sorry you were. I told you so you’d understand why I need to know if the boy is all right. If he’s not with you, I plan to look for him and keep looking until I find him. I don’t think I can sleep tonight unless I know he’s at least warm and safe.”

Jennie moved closer to Austin. Somehow in the darkness she could see the lonely little boy in the shadow of the man. “True’s warm and safe,” she whispered. “And the handout has no strings tied to it.”

The marshal nodded once. “I’m glad.” He pulled his hat low so that even in the faint light only blackness covered his face. “Could we make a deal, Jennie? I’ll ask no more questions, if you’ll promise to let me know if the boy needs anything.”

Jennie smiled. She could see the knight’s armor shining again beneath the hard crust of this lawman. “Deal.”

Austin suddenly seemed nervous. “We best get back.” He turned toward the hotel.

“Yes,” Jennie answered. “It’s getting cold.” She couldn’t help but feel a little sad. Now that the marshal had said what he needed to say, her one-and-only stroll with a man was over.

Austin stopped and lifted her hand from his arm. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it over her shoulders. “I’m sorry.” His voice tumbled over the words. “I should have noticed you didn’t have on a coat.”

Jennie stared at him in disbelief. Never had a man been so kind to her. She warmed, not from the feel of leather, but from his action.

They walked in silence all the way to the back door of the hotel. He could have taken her in the main entrance, but they both seemed to agree silently to say good night in the shadows.

When she took the first step, she turned, trying to think of what to say. She didn’t want to leave him, but there seemed no more words.

Finally breaking the silence, he said, “I enjoyed the walk.” He shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I don’t suppose you’d want to walk with me again sometime?”

“Why?” Jennie asked. She was old enough to know things were usually not as simple as they seemed.

Austin removed his hat. “I guess I’d like to talk to you some more.”

Jennie couldn’t hold the giggle. “Oh.” They’d spent most of the walk in silence.

Austin shifted from one foot to the other. Damn if this woman didn’t have a way of crawling under his skin and tying up his nerves. “I’m probably not the kind of man who usually asked you out back home.”

“No,” Jennie answered. She assumed the marshal wasn’t asking because he was interested in her. There had to be another reason. Maybe he wanted to find out more about True, or maybe he’d seen Delta’s wound and knew, as she had with one look, that it hadn’t been caused by a gunshot.

Jennie had to know the truth. She wasn’t some young girl who wanted to dream of what a man might think. She moved closer. With her feet on the first step, she was almost at eye level with him. “If we go walking again, Marshal McCormick, what would be the purpose?”

She was so close he could feel her breath brush the collar of his shirt. She smelled of soap and cinnamon and woman. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d stood this close to a desirable woman. “Jennie …,” he whispered and saw the question in her emerald eyes. “Jennie.”

All his life he’d acted with logic, but she was drowning his senses like hundred-year-old moonshine. Before he let reason rule him, Austin pulled her into his arms and lowered his mouth over hers.

His kiss was hard and demanding, the only way he’d ever known. Before he touched her, he hadn’t really thought much about how she’d feel in his arms, but now he knew—she felt perfect. He realized he’d wanted to kiss her from the moment he’d seen her sitting alone on the train so proper and untouchable. Her back might be overstarched, but her lips were made for kissing … full, warm and inviting.

His hands circled her slender waist and lifted her off the step as he continued. She felt so good pressed against him. Austin fought the urge to pull the ribbon from her hair and see how far her ebony mane would tumble. Her lips were soft and yielding beneath his mouth, yet every muscle in her body remained flexed.

As he traced the outline of her bottom lip with his tongue, he wondered how long it would take the fire he was kindling to move through her body. She would be paradise to hold when she melted with passion. She’d be the kind of woman to make every dream he’d ever had come alive.

“Relax, Jennie,” he whispered against her cheek. “Kiss me back.”

“I’m waiting for you to stop.”

Austin pulled an inch away and looked down at her. “You’re not enjoying this?” He didn’t think of himself as much of a ladies’ man, but the few women he’d kissed hadn’t complained. Jennie looked at him with repulsion, as if she were watching a wolf spider crawling across her bare toes.

He set her back on her feet and fought to keep anger from exploding in his words. “Why didn’t you push me away if my kiss was so unpleasant?” The light from the kitchen reflected in her eyes and showed curiosity, but no passion, and her cold look wounded him dearly. “Hell, Jennie, I thought you were just standing there waiting to be kissed. Now you look at me like I did something terrible by taking you up on your offer.”

“I’ve never been kissed before.” Her voice shook slightly, but her eyes stared hard at him.

“I find that hard to believe. If ever I’ve met a woman with a mouth meant to be tasted, it’s you, Jennie.” He didn’t know why she was lying, but he hated her for it. “You must come from a town long on idiots and short on passion, or you’re lying to me again. I’m afraid I’ll have to believe you’re lying.”

She didn’t want to explain why she’d never been kissed. She wanted kindness, not a cross-examination. Since he was the only man who’d ever tried, she tended to believe
he
was the shortsighted one, not every other man in the world.

“What made you think you had a right to kiss me, Marshal? I don’t understand. Have I done or said anything that made you think I would welcome such an advance?” She tried to pull away from his grip. “I’d like to know so that I can be careful not to repeat the behavior.”

Austin lowered his hands from around her waist. “No, ma’am. I guess I was out of line. Would you like to slap me, or shall I slap myself, Miss Munday?” In truth he felt like a fool. Her words had already hit him harder than her hand ever could. The passion he thought he’d seen banked in those emerald eyes was false. Jennie apparently had no more warmth in her than a tumbleweed in January. Oh, she’d tasted good, all right, but Austin decided it would be a cold day in hell before he came back for another sampling.

“Good night,” he blurted, suddenly in a hurry to be out of her sight.

“Good night.” Jennie turned and climbed the stairs. She made it all the way to the landing before tears started falling.

“My family would have been proud of me,” she whispered. “I showed no emotion.” Fighting down the sobs, she straightened. “Then why do I feel so empty inside?” she wondered. “Why couldn’t I have kissed him back?”

“Jennie!” someone shouted from the back staircase landing. “Jennie, is that you?”

“Yes.” Jennie forgot her troubles and ran toward the sound of Audrey’s voice. “Is something wrong? Is Delta worse?”

“No,” Audrey answered as Jennie reached the top of the stairs. “It’s True.”

“Did Mrs. Gray find him? Is he sick?”

“No.” Audrey pulled Jennie into their room. “I cut his hair and went down the hall to get the water for his bath. When I came back, he was gone.”