“Hello, Captain Stone, what are you doing out here?” Bri asked politely. “And by the way, thank you for lending a helping hand with the raiding party.”
“It was Ellie’s idea to move the wagons to the creek embankment for protection,” the oldest of the three orphans said proudly. “She knows lots of things like that.”
“Ellie?” Hud repeated, growing madder by the minute.
Hud was confused and disillusioned. His passionate mystery woman was Gabrielle Price and that annoyed the hell out of him. Plus, he had wasted emotion and time trying to locate a missing woman whose objective in life surely must have been to drive him crazy and humiliate him to no end.
Glaring holes in Ellie’s drab gray dress, Hud dismounted. He thrust Rambler’s reins at the oldest boy. “Take my horse down to the creek so he can drink. Take the other two boys with you, kid. I want to talk privately with Ellie.”
“The name is Tommy.”
Hud dragged his mutinous gaze off Bri to survey the pale-skinned, gangly boy who looked to be about fourteen and had yet to grow into his oversized feet. He’d trimmed his hair neatly and dressed far better than he had the previous evening. The same went for the other two boys, he observed.
Tommy’s blue-eyed gaze darted from Ellie to Hud, and then to Rambler. “You best not be thinking of hurting Ellie while we’re gone or you’ll answer to us,” he said warningly.
Brave words for three malnourished urchins, Hud mused.
“I’m Howie. I’m Tommy’s brother.”
Hud appraised the boy, who was somewhere near the age of eleven. He was a stocky, chubby-faced lad with pale green eyes and blond hair. He looked as if he, too, was prepared to defend Ellie to the death—if necessary.
“My name is Georgie,” the third kid declared.
Hud nodded a greeting to the thin, frizzy-haired boy who had a long narrow face and big brown eyes. “My name is Captain Hud Stone with the Texas Rangers. Rambler could use a drink since he’s been running hard and fast today.”
Reluctantly the boys led the horse away and “Ellie” pivoted on her heels.
Hud grabbed her arm to detain her. “Not so fast,” he muttered at the back of her head. “You and I are going to have a talk.”
“Oh, good. I’m looking forward to it,” she said with a smirk as he marched her away from the curious members of the repertory troupe.
“You don’t know how lucky you are that you’re my commander’s daughter.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. “That you’d dispose of me if I weren’t?” Bri jerked her arm from his grasp before he cut off the circulation in her arm.
“I’m thinking about it.” He snaked his arm around her waist, forcing her to keep in step with his long impatient strides as he scrambled down the embankment to speak privately at the bend of the creek.
She wasn’t looking forward to being upbraided by Hud, who was clearly outraged to discover she had deceived him. She was embarrassed that she’d kissed him into silence thrice while she was in disguise. She wasn’t sure she could endure the humiliation if she tried to explain her reckless physical attraction to this man who had no use for her whatsoever.
“This is far enough,” she decided as she set her feet.
Unfortunately, Hud uprooted her from the spot and towed her farther downstream. He obviously had in mind to yell and bite her head off and he didn’t want eyewitnesses.
“I’m ready to get this over with.” She wrested her arm free again and squared off for the inevitable confrontation.
When Hud dragged in a deep breath and drew himself up in front of her, she thought he might pop the buttons on his shirt. He looked mad as the devil. Yet, she didn’t anticipate physical abuse from him. Hudson Stone was many things, but she didn’t perceive him as a man who struck a woman in a fit of temper.
Nevertheless, that wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t lambaste her with foul oaths for deceiving him. He looked as if dozens of curses had flocked to the tip of his tongue and he was more than ready to spit them at her.
“I know what you’re thinking—” she started to say but he interrupted her with a slashing gesture of his arm.
“Do you? I doubt it. I really should kill you outright for misleading the rest of the citizens in The Flat as well as me. But your adoring father would have my head for that, no doubt. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth my own execution.” He stalked closer, his hands fisted at his sides, his eyes throwing golden sparks. “I’ll have you know that I do not appreciate being made to look like an incompetent fool!”
His voice rose to a roar. The birds nesting in the overhanging branches flew off.
Ah, that she could sprout wings and do the same.
“But we will get to your cunning charade later,” he snapped as he bore down on her like an ominous thundercloud.
She wondered how much self-control it cost him to resist the urge to strangle her. It looked as if it was taking its toll on him.
“I have a perfectly logical explanation for the charade,” she declared before he exploded with bad temper.
“I’ll bet,” he said, and scoffed. “As for your staged kidnapping, I should file charges against you for that!”
Bri frowned, bemused. “Kidnapping?”
He nodded sharply. “Don’t ply me with that innocent look. I swear, given your acting ability you should be a member of this theatrical troupe.”
“Thank you,” she smarted off, annoyed with his attitude and his harsh criticism. He suddenly reminded her of her lecturing mother and she had responded accordingly. “I will admit that pretending to like you has been something of a stretch—”
“Same goes for me, Princess,” he interrupted sarcastically. “The point is that, because of your stupid stunt, statewide newspapers are running stories about your supposed abduction. Marshal Long is gathering a posse to search for you. So is the commander at Fort Griffin. Not to mention that your dandified fiancé has been dashing all over town trying to find you and he’s blaming me for losing track!”
Despite Hud’s harsh reprimand, Bri stared curiously at him. “I told you yesterday that I would find my own way cross-country and that I wasn’t going to inconvenience you more than I have already,” she reminded him sharply. “And what the devil are you ranting about? I didn’t stage my abduction. I simply gathered my satchels and hiked off to buy Tommy, Howie and Georgie new clothes so they could make a fresh start.
“Then I contacted Milton and Lelia Korn, the managers of the theater troupe, and asked if they could find jobs for the boys so they could rise above the alleys of The Flat. For God’s sake,” she added emphatically, “they were living under a broken-down wagon and surviving on crumbs from the garbage!”
Hud ceased glowering furiously at her and relaxed his stance. But his amber-colored gaze still bore attentively into her.
Bri grabbed a quick breath and continued in a calmer voice. “Milton and Lelia consented to hire the boys to set up scenery and props for the shows. Also they plan to give them bit parts if they are interested.”
“You go around doing good deeds like this often?” he asked, studying her skeptically.
It was none of his business and she had no idea why she decided to confide in him. “While I was in Houston I befriended Benji Dunlop, who lived in the streets. We became acquainted when he tried to rob me. Then he changed his mind and lectured me for gallivanting alone at night. I asked him to show me what his life was like.”
“You are kidding.”
Bri shook her head and her bonnet brim flopped over her forehead. She pushed it away. “Despite what you think about me, I detest society’s pretentious ways and its meaningless parties. I could never live up to my mother’s expectations and I refused to become the prissy debutante she wanted. I decided to make friends with someone who didn’t have to like me because I was the commander’s daughter or Anna Roland Price’s only child.”
“Roland?” he hooted and blinked owlishly.
Bri smirked at his stunned reaction. “Recognize the name? Of course you do. Although the Price family acquired their wealth from cotton, the Rolands are made of money, or at least that’s what my mother has always told me. In addition, there are hotel entrepreneurs, land barons and railroad magnates whose aristocratic lineage surpasses all other prominent families in the South. And of course, I have a certain responsibility to my elite family’s reputation.”
She smiled regretfully. “Because of my birthright, lots of people in Austin and Houston treat me like royalty. They try not to offend me because they might need to drop my name, use me to do them a favor or beg for money. So you see, Captain, you just never know who your true friends are. Money and name recognition confuse the issue to the extreme.”
Hud didn’t say anything, just kept staring at her with those long-lashed golden eyes and an unreadable expression on his ruggedly handsome face.
“Benji befriended me and taught me how to fight and how to survive in the streets.”
A pang of regret stabbed into her chest so she retrieved the pocket watch then brushed her fingertips over the gold-plated case. “My truest, dearest and most devoted friend died in the back alleys, refusing to give up this watch because I gave it to him as a gift.” Her eye misted as she stared at Hud. “I loved him because he loved me for who I was on the inside. Because he enjoyed teaching me to fend for myself. He made certain I could see beyond the elegant drawing rooms of high society to the underbelly of the city. In addition, I could tell him anything and he never sat in judgment.”
Bri stared into the distance, muffled a sniff and tucked the watch into her pocket. “Giving those three boys a chance at a better life is my way of paying homage to Benji. Once Tommy, Howie and Georgie develop pride and confidence in their ability to work and to earn a living I plan to fetch them.”
“Very touching, Mizz Price, but staging your abduction—”
“You are not listening,” she cut in tersely. “I did not stage anything. I simply found an alternate mode of transportation and left town.”
“Your room was ransacked. Who did you hire to trash the place?”
“I didn’t do it and I didn’t hire it done,” she insisted.
“I saw the room myself and I suffered nine kinds of hell because I felt guilty for not being there to protect you as your father expected me to do.”
“And I told you that I didn’t want or need your assistance,” she persisted. “I gave you my blessing to continue your manhunt without bothering with escort duty.”
“You should have notified your fiancé,” he retorted. “He ranted at me until my ears burned.”
“Eaton isn’t my fiancé.”
Hud smirked. “Better tell him that. I don’t think he knows it.”
“Oh, yes, he does,” she countered. “I didn’t want to be engaged to him in the first place. That was my mother’s doing. She decided to make a match with her best friend’s nephew. I tried to leave Austin without the haughty bore tagging along, but he refused to take no for an answer. I have been looking for the right way to call off the betrothal and he provided the reason the first night we arrived in The Flat.”
Hud crossed his arms over his broad chest and propped himself against a tree trunk. He arched a thick brow and slanted her a look that said, This better be good. “Please go on. I can’t wait to hear this.”
Despite his caustic comment she continued, “As it turned out, I caught him with another woman. It was the perfect excuse and reasonable grounds in my book.”
“I’m still listening.”
Bri shifted self-consciously from one foot to the other. She was not looking forward to discussing Eaton’s infidelity because it led to the heated kiss in Hud’s dark room. “First of all, you should know that I make a habit of dressing in concealing garments that help me blend into the background when I venture onto the streets alone.”
“Because your friend Benji taught you to be cautious and inconspicuous,” he guessed.
“Exactly. ‘Blending in is always best,’ he said.” She inhaled a bolstering breath and plunged ahead. “On my way back to my room that first night, I decided to stop by Eaton’s room to inform him that I had decided not to marry him. I heard male and female laughter on the other side of the door. Naturally I decided to investigate.”
She saw his lips twitch slightly. “Naturally, you being you.”
She ignored the taunt. “I poked by head around the door to see a trail of discarded clothing.”
Hud chuckled softly. “That must have been a shock.”
Her face went up in flames, remembering that she’d received an eyeful. “Thanks to the placement of the mirror over the dresser in the adjoining bedroom I saw Eaton in bed with the red-haired actress from this theater troupe.”
“I’m sorry,” he surprised her by saying.
She shrugged nonchalantly. “If I cared a whit for the blustering politician I might have been devastated. But I don’t. Never have. Unfortunately, I squawked in embarrassment and unwittingly alerted him to my presence in the sitting room. Eaton got up to investigate the unidentified sound so I had to make a quick getaway before he caught me.”
She knew the instant Hud put two and two together and came to the correct conclusion. His gaze settled directly on her. “Eaton’s room wouldn’t have happened to be right next door to mine, would it?”
Bri looked the other way and nodded. “Yes. Naturally, I ducked into the first door within reach so Eaton wouldn’t see me. I was too rattled to confront him after seeing him and his lover naked in bed.”
“And there I was in the dark, ready to step into my waiting bath,” he commented. “So naturally you kissed me to get even with him.”
Bri’s face flushed with embarrassment. “I wasn’t getting even. I was afraid you were going to call attention to my presence when you demanded to know why I barged into your room. I had to shut you up before Eaton came to investigate.”
“A blow to my head would have worked as effectively,” he mocked.
She flashed him a disgruntled glare. “I didn’t have a club handy. Knowing you as I do now, I realize I should have knocked you silly.”
It would have been better than facing him now that he knew who she was. That erotic kiss in the dark was right there between them. She would die of shame if Hud asked her to explain why she hadn’t stopped kissing him after the danger of discovery passed. Nor did she want to discuss why she had become carried away with him—again and again—when they met later in the alley.
Her honesty with Hud would only reach so far. She would cut out her tongue before she confided that his smoldering kiss and intimate embrace aroused her. She couldn’t even explain her volatile reaction to herself, much less him!
“So…when the coast was clear you darted off.” He squinted at her accusingly. “But you failed to mention that we had met previously when I arrived at your room to make a formal introduction the next morning.” He frowned momentarily. “You must have recognized my voice, even if you didn’t have a clear view of my face, just as I didn’t have a clear view of yours that night in my room.”
Bri refused to meet his probing gaze. She felt awkward enough as it was. She wanted to be done with this conversation so she hurried on as fast as she could. “Your can’t-be-bothered attitude toward escort detail annoyed me so I didn’t bother to mention our previous encounter. You made it abundantly clear that you had no use for your assignment or me so I made other arrangements. As for my engagement to Eaton, I did confront him later that same evening when he was on his way to the theater to watch Sylvia Ford’s performance. I told him I knew about his indiscretion.”
“And he said…?” Hud prompted.
“He offered the typical male response, of course,” she replied sourly. “He plied me with the nonsense that the affair meant nothing to him and that he was still devoted to me and to our future. Eaton is a pretentious oaf who only sees me as a benefit to his campaign. If he appeared upset by my disappearance it was likely a melodramatic act, coupled with the realization that my family won’t promote his campaign.”
“So you staged your abduction to spite him and me.”
Bri rounded on him and stamped her foot in annoyance. “For the last time, you hardheaded, rock-hearted Ranger, I did not ransack my own room to worry him or make you look incompetent! I left my room as neat and tidy as it was when I rented it. I have no idea who rummaged around in there or why. That was not my doing!” she all but yelled at him.
Hud rubbed his jaw and stared thoughtfully at her. “I interviewed the man who rented the room next door and he claimed he heard a crash of furniture and a male voice. He didn’t get involved because he wasn’t aware that it was your room, nor that of the man he heard clamoring around in there. You didn’t pay someone to make your scheme believable?”
Bri glared at the relentless Ranger. “I have no explanation for what happened after I left. I rejoined the boys in the alley, bought them new clothes, cut their hair and hiked off to make arrangements with the Korns’s Theater Troupe. The caravan left before daylight and the soldiers joined us two hours later.”
It aggravated Bri that Hud continued to stare at her as if he was trying to decide if he believed her story. Well, she didn’t care if he did. She didn’t need his acceptance or his assistance to reunite with her father. According to Lieutenant Davis, there was a Ranger camp along the trail that led to Fort Elliot. Bri had decided to visit the site and locate a more willing escort among the ranks.
Indeed, she and Hud already knew each other better than they should. As badly as she hated to admit it, she wasn’t sure she could trust herself alone with him. There was obviously some flaw in her character that overrode her usual inhibitions when she came within kissing distance of this man—especially when they were alone in the dark.
“Ellie? Are you all right?”
Bri sagged in relief when Tommy’s adolescent voice wafted downhill. She glanced up the embankment to see all three boys staring worriedly at her.
“I’m fine,” she assured them with a cheery smile.
“The Korns want to move out now so we can reach a good camping spot for the evening.”
“I’ll be right there.”
She surged forward then stumbled back when Hud grabbed her arm unexpectedly.
“Hold it, Ellie. It is my duty to take you to your father and that is exactly what I’m going to do. Whether either of us like it or not.”
“I explained that I don’t want or need your assistance. Benji trained me well. I didn’t need your help when that mangy buffalo hunter tried to molest me, either.” She tapped one thigh and then other, calling his attention to her two concealed weapons. “I never leave home without carrying at least two weapons, Captain.”
“Nonetheless, I’m doing the job I was sent here to do,” he insisted as he helped her negotiate the steep embankment. “We can travel with the troupe today then veer southwest to join my battalion tomorrow.”
“Thanks but I’d rather not,” she muttered.
“Why not?” He paused momentarily and flashed a scampish grin that she itched to wipe all over his suntanned face. “Because you’re afraid you can’t resist kissing me again?”
The ornery rascal, she fumed, hating that he was right. “Of course I can resist you, Captain Stone,” she said to save face. “I wouldn’t have kissed you at all if it hadn’t been necessary to shut you up. But I won’t resort to such drastic measures again. And I assure you, kissing you was nothing short of drastic in the first place.”
When he chuckled, she wanted to kick him in the shins. However, he didn’t give her the chance. He hoisted her uphill, set her on solid ground and led her along with his swift pace when he strode off to fetch his horse.
Hud’s thoughts and emotions were spinning like a Texas tornado. The very last thing he wanted was for the mystery lady he lusted after to be the commander’s daughter that he was unwillingly attracted to. She was sharp-witted, intelligent and spirited. She was packing concealed hardware on her slender thighs…
He gnashed his teeth when erotic visions sprang to mind.
Do not go down that road, he told himself. Gabrielle Price is off-limits for a dozen good reasons.
Even knowing that, his body hardened, remembering how Bri/Ellie’s kisses put him in a sensual tailspin and wiped everything except lust from his mind. Damn it, now he couldn’t stare at her petal-soft lips without remembering, with vivid clarity, how good she tasted. Without remembering how he had run his hands over her luscious curves and swells. Without remembering how the tantalizing scent of her perfume infiltrated his senses and fogged his brain.
“Slow down,” Bri scolded him. “I can’t keep up while I’m wearing this restrictive dress.”
“Fine with me if you want to take it off.” Hud slammed his mouth shut when he realized he’d put the arousing thought to tongue.
He glanced over his shoulder to see Bri bristling with irritation. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right,” he mumbled. “I meant that if you want to change into more comfortable traveling clothes then have right at it.”
She smiled enigmatically. “I intend to if I have to ride off alone with you. I always place comfort and practicality above fashion and convention.”
“Good. A woman after my own heart.”
“I am not after your heart,” she was quick to assure him. “I’m certain that all you have rattling around in your chest is a chunk of rock. I doubt people call you Captain Stone for nothing.”
“Is everything all right, Miss Ellie?” Lieutenant Davis asked as they strode past—or more specifically, as Hud tugged her along with him.
She tossed the boyish looking officer the kind of smile Hud was certain he would never receive from her, given the conflict and personality clashes between them.
Unless they were alone in the dark and she was kissing him senseless…The thought sidetracked him and he tossed Bri a speculative glance.
“I’m fine, Lieutenant,” she declared as she dug her nails into Hud’s arm, silently demanding that he loosen his grasp on her. “Captain Stone and I are former acquaintances.”
“I’ll be escorting her to my Ranger camp to meet with our mutual friend,” Hud added.
The lieutenant’s smile faltered. Clearly, the man was hoping to strike up a courtship with Bri during the journey.
“Ten miles north on this road is a fork in the old Comanche trail,” Hud reported. “I’ll scout ahead while you get this lumbering caravan on the move.” On impulse he waved to the three boys Bri had taken under her wing. “You boys need to learn a few tips about surviving in the wilds. Mount up.”
He glanced at Bri, surprised to note that she was smiling at him in approval. “What?”
She shook her head and the floppy brim on her bonnet bobbed on her face. “Nothing, Captain. We will see you back in camp for supper.”
Leaving Bri to the adoring lieutenant, Hud mounted his horse and rode off with the three orphans trailing behind him.
Eaton glanced out the window when the stagecoach rolled to a halt in another nameless little town on the route to Austin. The story of his ordeal, and the loss of his beloved fiancée to an unknown abductor, must’ve burned up the telegraph lines, because stage agents mentioned it repeatedly. Eaton had cleverly managed to campaign for office without spending an extra dime.
When he emerged from the dusty coach the mayor of the small ranching community was there to greet him.
“I am terribly sorry to hear about your fiancée’s abduction,” the aging mayor commiserated.
“Thank you, kind sir,” Eaton murmured. “Have there been any encouraging words from The Flat?”
The man shook his bald head. “I wish I had good news, but there is no report of her appearance.”
There wouldn’t be, either, Eaton mused. Not unless he ordered Bri’s release. And of course that all depended on which ending brought better results for his campaign. He might have more success with a sympathy vote. Then again, most idealistic saps loved happy endings. Eaton wasn’t going to worry about that now. He’d let that sassy little snip of an ex-fiancée fret about her fate—one that probably hadn’t been too pleasant, considering her abductors.
Swallowing a devilish grin, Eaton strutted off to accept the mayor’s offer to buy his supper.
“What are we gonna do about that kidnapping that didn’t work out the way it was supposed to?” Peter Spaulding said worriedly as he and Joe Jarvis approached the bunkhouse on Ray Novak’s ranch.
“We’re gonna keep the money and let that highfalutin politician think we carried out his plan,” Joe said, then spit tobacco—just for the hell of it—at one of the cows in the pen.
“What if the boss starts asking questions about where we stashed her?” Peter fretted.
“You worry too much,” Joe grumbled. “We won’t be workin’ at this ranch when the politician makes up his mind what to do about his fiancée.”
“Now we have to drift from place to place.” He stared accusingly at Joe. “If you hadn’t gone crazy and shot that Texas Ranger in the first place we wouldn’t be lying low and working for a rancher whose herd has more stolen cattle than legitimate ones.”
Joe scowled as he glowered at Pete. “Keep your voice down before someone overhears you. And anyway, how was I supposed to know he was a Texas Ranger? He wasn’t wearin’ a badge. I didn’t find the damn thing until I robbed him.”
“Maybe we should clear out before those Rangers catch up with us,” Pete said apprehensively. “We can cross the state line into New Mexico.”
Joe shot him a derisive glance. “And do what? Herd sheep instead of cattle? No thanks.”
“We can’t hang around Circle Bar Ranch and have Ray Novak found out that we’ve been paid a lot of money for a job we didn’t complete because Powell’s fiancée wasn’t where she was supposed to be that night.”
While Pete mumbled and grumbled, Joe wondered why he’d allowed the worrywart to ride along with him the past few months. Pete was turning into his walking conscience and Joe refused to be bothered with one.
Lost in thought, Joe strode into the bunkhouse to take his evening meal—his last meal with Pete, he decided suddenly. It was time to put Pete out of his misery. Joe refused to run the risk of his cohort blabbing what he knew about the dead Texas Ranger and the kidnapping scheme gone bad.