“Now that you’ve had a decent night’s sleep and I’ve checked your wound again, we are going to have a private talk, young lady,” Bri’s father said firmly the next morning.
While the Rangers prepared coffee and breakfast, and Hud strode off to rouse Jarvis, her father shepherded Bri away from camp. He halted when he was out of earshot of the other men then pivoted to frown at her in disapproval.
“Hud tells me that you left The Flat without him. Yesterday morning when he woke up you were gone. He thought you were headed west without him. Why was that?”
“Captain Stone is a tattletale,” she replied, smiling playfully. “I wouldn’t have thought it.”
Her father wasn’t to be cajoled out of spouting his lecture. His brows flattered over his narrowed brown eyes and he stared sternly at her. “I respect and appreciate your independent and self-reliant nature, you know that, Bri. Unfortunately, this is wild, unforgiving country. Ruthless heathens run loose, as you found out yesterday. Captain Stone also told me that he felt responsible for your striking off alone from The Flat because he was impolite and judgmental when you two first met.”
“I—” She tried to wedge in a comment but her father talked over her.
“However,” he added, using the commanding tone he usually saved for his army troops and Ranger battalion, “he assured me that you felt justified and that you were on a crusade to rescue three young orphans.”
Bri huffed out a breath. “Goodness, Captain Stone did spill his guts to you, didn’t he?”
“Hud is a former soldier and now a highly regarded Texas Ranger,” he reminded her. “He wanted me to have all the facts to explain how he managed to lose you twice. And do not think for one minute that I didn’t express my displeasure to him. I most certainly did. He is one of our best men, but even he can’t keep track of my strong-willed daughter, who has to take responsibility for her part in this rescue-party fiasco.”
Bri wisely kept her trap shut while her father clasped his hands behind his back and paced along the riverbank. “Since we are closer to The Flat than Angel Mesa, I have decided to escort you to town,” he announced.
“Good, I have a few matters to attend while we’re there.”
“The boys?” he guessed correctly.
She nodded. “I’m taking them with me on a sightseeing trip west.” She was also going to have Powell arrested for kidnapping if he was still in town.
“I’m not in favor of your traipsing off to explore the west with only three young boys for protection,” he objected. “I also know about the incident with Powell that prompted you to cancel your engagement.”
Bri rolled her eyes and sighed. “Captain Stone has a loose tongue, indeed.”
Her father flung up both hands. “Now don’t go stomping off to chew on his ear for offering me explanations for your behavior and actions. Actually, he defended you to me and shouldered all the blame.”
Hud had defended her?
“I learned from Jarvis yesterday that he and his partner were paid to kidnap me as retaliation for rejecting Powell’s engagement,” she reported. “Fortunately for me, I left town earlier than planned. Otherwise, I might still be stashed out of sight and at the mercy of Jarvis.”
“What?” her father howled in outrage, his eyes popping.
Bri nodded sharply. “In fact, if not for the bungled abduction in The Flat, Jarvis wouldn’t have known who I was. He captured me yesterday, planning to ransom me to you and to blackmail Powell, who arranged my abduction.”
“What!” her father roared furiously.
“Is everything all right?”
At the unexpected sound of Hud’s voice, Bri lurched around to see him striding toward her.
“Everything is fine,” she insisted.
“No, it is not!” her father boomed like a cannon.
Bri clamped her hand over her father’s mouth to shush him. “It isn’t anything I can’t handle,” she told Hud.
Hud’s amber-colored gaze bore into her. “I’ve heard that before from you and it always makes me nervous.”
“Did you have something to report, Captain Stone?” Bri asked, sounding as military-like as her father.
The faintest hint of a smile quirked Hud’s lips. He glanced from Bri to her father. “As a matter of fact I do, Commander Price. After serving Jarvis a breakfast of empty shells that he used to blast away at Bri, I applied a few tried-and-true methods of persuasion. Jarvis admitted that he shot Speck Horton.” His expression became very serious. “Also, Jarvis had planned to use the confiscated badge to pass himself off as a Ranger, if the situation presented itself in the future.”
“Conniving rascal,” her father muttered sourly.
“I request permission to escort Jarvis to Tascosa and see that he is bound over for trial immediately. Marshal Vickers can hold him in custody and we can set a court date quickly since the circuit judge resides in town.”
“Very well,” her father replied. “I’m escorting Bri to The Flat to—” He glanced at her curiously when she shook her head in warning. “So we can visit before I return to duty.”
Bri stared at Hud, knowing this was likely the last time she would see him, knowing she could never bring herself to confide her feelings for him because he didn’t intend to be a part of her future. It broke her heart to know that of all the men she could have had, because of her wealth and social connections, she couldn’t have the only man she wanted.
What had Hud told her? Ah, yes, he had said that sometimes you had to let go of the very thing you treasure most—or something to that effect.
The thought prompted her to reach for the waterlogged pocket watch. Her heart twisted in her chest when she realized she had lost that, too. It must be somewhere between here and the buffalo wallow, where Jarvis had jackknifed her over her horse and led her away. Her link to Benji was gone and her soul-deep affection for Hud would become a bittersweet memory very soon, too.
“Papa, would you mind if I thanked Captain Stone in private for escorting me cross-country? As you reminded me, I need to apologize for causing him so much frustration and distress this past week.”
Her father bobbed his head then stared sternly at Hud. “In return, Captain, you can apologize, again, for your wrongful assumptions about my daughter and for your neglect that left her in a killer’s hands yesterday.”
On that parting remark, Commander Price strode off to rejoin the other Rangers.
Hud watched until Winston was out of earshot before turning his full attention to Bri. There was something going on here. For some reason Bri was withholding information from him and he wanted to know what—and why.
“Mind telling me why you shushed your father when he was trying to explain something to me?”
“Yes, I mind. Unlike you, who tells everything he knows to his commanding officer—”
“Not everything,” he interrupted with a pointed stare.
She blushed but she added, “I prefer discretion.”
Hud snorted at that. “I call it withholding valuable information in most instances.”
“For instance?” She elevated a challenging brow.
“Like the time you left The Flat without bothering to tell me. Like throwing money at me for giving you lessons in passion and then wandering off without alerting me.”
“Surely you’re smart enough to figure out why I did it,” she sniped, tilting her chin to a defiant angle. “I was certainly astute enough to deduce why you moved your pallet to the far side of the cavern after I seduced you twice.”
Hud gaped at her. She thought he had rejected her? Hell, he had tried to be courteous and considerate and she had misunderstood. If she’d taken it the wrong way, was that why she’d tossed money at him? Had she felt insulted, as he had?
“Listen, Bri—”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter now,” she interrupted.
Hud grunted uncomfortably when she launched herself in his arms unexpectedly and kissed the breath clean out of him. His brain broke down in the time it took to blink. He forgot what he intended to say, just kissed her ravenously, urgently. He knew this was the last moment of privacy they’d share—ever. He wasn’t about to waste precious time talking when he could hold Bri in his arms, inhale her tantalizing scent and commit every treasured moment with her to everlasting memory.
Sometimes you have to let go of the priceless treasure you want to keep in order to survive, the sensible voice in his head said. Don’t hold onto impossible dreams. You aren’t good enough for her and you damn well know it.
Hud clutched Bri to him and devoured her lips. His hands roamed over her lush curves and swells, savoring the feel of her shapely body beneath his fingertips. He held her possessively against him, letting her feel the dramatic and immediate effect she had on him.
“I’m going to miss you like crazy, despite everything,” she whispered when she broke the heated kiss. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“You were worth it.” He brushed his thumb over the rigid peak of her breast and watched her expressive eyes darken with desire.
“So were you,” she rasped. “No hard feelings?”
Hud grinned rakishly as he glided familiarly against her. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.”
Her impish laughter filled all the empty crevices in his soul. She reached up to smooth his tousled hair away from his forehead then pushed up on tiptoe to place one last kiss to his lips. “I wish—”
She sighed audibly then stepped away. He wondered what a woman who had everything she could possibly want—and then some—might possibly wish for. As for him, he’d like to share one last uninterrupted moment of pleasure with her. But that had been impossible this morning because she had strode off to bathe while he used unfriendly persuasion on Jarvis.
“Goodbye, Hud,” she murmured before she walked away.
“Goodbye, Bri. Tell the boys hello for me.”
She glanced back and smiled at him. Then she disappeared from sight like a shimmering dream swallowed up in shadows.
Hud watched Winston Price and Bri ride down the road. An uncomfortable twinge clamped around his chest. He’d felt as if there was more he needed to say to Bri, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Now it didn’t matter because he hadn’t been able to speak privately with her before she rode away.
Marcus Yeager whistled appreciatively as he saddled his horse. “That is one gorgeous woman.”
“That she is,” Hud agreed.
“Some men get all the easy duties.”
Hud grinned good-naturedly when Marc chuckled teasingly.
“If she wasn’t the commander’s only daughter and entirely too bold and independent for her own good, I’d say she’d be the perfect female,” Floyd Lambert remarked as he strapped his saddlebags in place.
“She’s also the kind of woman who could get a man discharged from duty if he overstepped propriety,” Major Ketter said with a meaningful glance in Hud’s direction.
Hud tightened Rambler’s cinch and kept his expression carefully blank because all eyes were on him. “I’m relieved Commander Price is here to take Bri off my hands.” Liar! “I want to make certain Jarvis is locked up tight.”
His companions’ taunting smiles faded as they nodded in solemn agreement.
“As soon as you hand over your prisoner to Marshal Vickers in Tascosa and fill out the paperwork, you’ll need to ride to The Flat,” the major declared.
Hud glanced up and frowned. “Why?”
“Our new recruit will be arriving soon and you’re breaking him in.”
He supposed that’s just what he needed to preoccupy him from bittersweet thoughts of that indigo-eyed siren.
Hud waved farewell when the Rangers rode west. Then he walked his horse over to order Jarvis to mount up. The drunken outlaw was still groggy and surly from his hangover. Hud set a swift pace, anxious to have Jarvis behind bars, awaiting a trial.
Bri settled more comfortably on the padded seat of the stagecoach that rolled toward The Flat. She and her father had been fortunate to arrive at one of the stage stations minutes before the eastbound stage pulled in to hitch up fresh horses.
She had quickly changed into her drab gray dress and bonnet while her father tied their mounts to the back of the coach. Since the only passenger stepped down to wait for the southbound stage, they had the coach to themselves for the last leg of the journey. They were making excellent time that afternoon and the driver predicted they’d reach The Flat in time for a late supper.
“Now about those orphans,” her father commented as he sprawled out on the seat across from her.
“You’ll have the chance to meet the boys this evening,” she declared. “The theater troupe is due to arrive back in town today and set up for tomorrow’s performance.”
Her father pulled a face. “Is this because I sided with your mother about your friend in Houston? How many orphans do you plan to save on your way to the west coast?”
“How many innocent victims do you plan to save by placing Ranger battalions on the frontier to control lawlessness?”
Her father sighed audibly then slumped back on the seat. “Touché. I understand your need to rescue orphans to compensate for your friend who didn’t survive. But taking in all of them isn’t feasible, Bri.”
She shrugged casually. “I will be satisfied if I can place abandoned children in caring homes or find them jobs to support themselves. It is my way of honoring Benji, who taught me how the other half lived.”
Her father finally nodded his approval. “I made a mistake with your friend Benji,” he admitted. “I was afraid your friendship might become more than your mother could tolerate. She can make a person’s life miserable when she really tries.”
Bri smiled wryly. “You’re right. Mother doesn’t relate to anyone beneath her elevated station. She would have put great effort into making Benji feel unwanted and unaccepted at our estate. I should have tried to place him elsewhere so I could visit him on occasion.”
She thought of the lost pocket watch that she had carried faithfully for years. A reminder of a lost friend. Then she thought of Hud’s priceless heirloom necklace that belonged to his grandmother. He had sacrificed the keepsake to feed himself and Speck. Now her watch had gone the same way as Hud’s family heirloom.
“When we reach The Flat, I’m heading directly to Powell’s room, if he’s still in town,” her father insisted. “I will delight in placing that conniving scoundrel in chains and having him transported to Austin in disgrace to face scandal and prosecution.”
Bri flung up her hand. “Powell paid to have me abducted. I intend to have my say and my revenge first,” she demanded emphatically. “After that you can drag him through the street in chains. Drag him all the way to Austin if you want. But I want to see the look on his face when he realizes I survived and that his own treachery will cause the downfall of his reputation and his political ambitions.”
“That reminds me,” her father said, staring curiously at her. “Why didn’t you want Hud to know that Powell paid Jarvis to abduct you?”
“Because I have detained and frustrated him long enough. He is anxious to put his obligation to his dearest friend to rest by incarcerating Jarvis,” Bri explained. “It is my mission to repay Powell personally.”
She stared earnestly at her father. “When I detoured north with the boys so they could become acquainted with the theater troupe, I cost Hud a day of traveling. When we realized Jarvis was in The Flat I urged him to backtrack, but he refused to abandon me. I don’t want him to think it’s his responsibility to deal with Powell. Hud is the kind of man who honors obligations and I don’t want to be his obligation. I refuse for Hud to put his important trip to Tascosa on hold for me.”
Her father was watching her so closely that she felt the need to fill the stilted silence. She chose her words carefully. “The time I’ve spent with Hud has…endeared him to me. I respect and admire him greatly and I don’t want to waylay him from arraigning Mad Joe Jarvis.”
There, that didn’t sound so serious that it might alert her father to her deep-felt affection for Hud. She wasn’t about to confide to her father that she had fallen in lust and then hopelessly in love with a man she had known less than a week, a man who only wanted to appease his needs with her when the situation presented itself.
Couldn’t have her father storming off in a blind rage to gun down Hud because she had seduced him, now could she?
“I saw how upset and worried Hud was when you were captured,” her father replied. “He cares about you, too, and he would want to know that Powell set you up.”
Hud desired her, but she couldn’t tell that to her father, either. “His reputation was at stake because you gave him a direct order and he had yet to carry it out,” she said.
Her father smiled. “I think there’s more to it than that.”
So did she. Lust.
“The point is that we said our official goodbye and I thanked Hud for his time and his effort in keeping me safe. Now it’s time to let go.”
You have to know when to let go, she reminded herself.
“I still don’t see why—”
Bri ran out of patience and made a slashing gesture with her hand to forestall another probing question. “I don’t need some big, strong Texas Ranger to fight my battles for me. I don’t need him to come riding in to save my day. I can deal effectively with Powell. I want to deal with him. I relish the opportunity. If anyone is going to punch Powell in the mouth it’s going to be me.”
Her father chuckled. “Fair enough, sweetheart. You can rant and rave at him and smack him around a few times. Then I’ll barge in to put him in shackles. We’ll both have our fun with the worthless fiancé your mother handpicked for you. Deal?”
“Deal,” she confirmed. “The only thing that devious, backstabbing politician will be running for is his life.”