CHAPTER FIVE

Lori spent the next morning avoiding the Ranger. She kept telling herself she had to think of him that way. Not as Morgan Davis. Not as an individual, not as a man she’d kissed. Dear Mary and Joseph, how they had kissed. She flushed every time she remembered it, which was altogether too often.

She had to think of him as the man taking Nick to hang, not a man who had aroused such remarkable sensations within her, that deep, wanting need that had pulsed inside her all night long, keeping her from sleep, from being able to think. She had never felt such things before, had never experienced the irresistible lure to explore them farther.

Even less did she want to think of dinner, of those few moments when he had lowered his guard and she had sensed that wistfulness, that wry acceptance of a lonely childhood that almost made him likable. Almost.

She hated her body for betraying her, her mind for allowing any emotion other than fierce anger.

Over and over again, during the long night, she reminded herself of exactly what he was. A Ranger who could, and would, without compunction, destroy her brother—and with him, her family. If anything happened to Nick, it would break all their hearts, especially her mother’s.

Lori suffered through the night, through dawn, the torment of both her physical and emotional reactions to Morgan Davis. She finally rose and sat at the window, watching the street below fill with people. She sat unmoving until she saw the Ranger leave the hotel, heading for the stage office. Probably checking on the stage again, she thought balefully. And then she left her room—to send a telegram to her friend in Denver.

She next went by the stables to visit Clementine and was told by the owner that she was not allowed near the horse. Tears did nothing to bend the man’s resolve, and she guessed that the Ranger had slipped him a few extra dollars. Full of simmering anger, along with grudging appreciation for his foresight, she visited the mercantile to see what she could find that might be helpful. Unfortunately, she didn’t have sufficient money for a gun, but she was good at improvising and soon found something useful.

She kept looking around to see if the Ranger was following her, but she saw nothing. He was either very good at following discreetly, or he felt confident enough in his own plans that he disregarded her as a threat. He would pay for that piece of male arrogance, she told herself. Over and over again she told herself that—to keep from remembering last night.

She fingered the bottle of laudanum she had just purchased and considered her plan. Lori knew the Ranger would probably keep tabs on both the mercantile and the gunsmith’s shop. He was too careful not to. At least she hoped as much. It was important that he know about her little purchase.

She had pondered all night over how to outfox him, after reaching the conclusion that charm wasn’t going to work—not with a man who had practically been born a lawman. The alternative made her physically ill. Her stomach constricted, and she knew she was committing herself to something that would forever haunt her. But she saw no choice, none at all. She couldn’t let Nick down; she represented his best opportunity, no matter what either man thought She couldn’t take a chance that Nick would escape on his own—not with the singularly careful way the Ranger handled him.

But she had to have a gun, and she had to have wits. Her cunning could be of much more value than violence. She searched every alternative open to her. She was depending on the Ranger’s caution, that he would discover her purchase, think she planned to drug him and steal the weapons, and would be waiting for her tonight.

Two men through here two days ago, looking for your man. The sheriff’s words. Bounty hunters. The Ranger had been speaking the truth—but, then, he would, she thought somewhat bitterly.

So they hadn’t been safe at all. Lori wondered whether Nick would ever be safe again. Certainly not as long as Morgan Davis was alive.

She forced her thoughts back to the immediate problem—freeing Nick now. Then they could worry about the future. She looked at the bottle of laudanum she had bought. Considering the Ranger’s extreme distrust of her, he would probably be checking on her movements as well as items in her room. In fact, she was depending on it.

Lori knew there was no way to free Nick from the territorial prison. Nor could she harm Morgan Davis before he left with her brother. If a Ranger was killed, another would be sent to retrieve Nick. They would, in fact, probably send an army. Morgan was very much one of theirs, she had discovered from her conversation with him last night.

No, she would let the Ranger take Nick back into custody—then she would ambush them someplace along the way. But she had to have a gun, and she had to slip away from the Ranger before he put her on the stage in the morning and she lost her chance to follow them. The Ranger knew there were bounty hunters on the trail, and he wouldn’t tarry long in Laramie to look for her. Nor would he take the route across open plains. She figured, instead, he would try to slip through the mountains.

She needed a gun and her horse. And she thought she knew exactly where and how she could get them.

The sheriff!

When she was in his office, she hadn’t missed seeing the number of gunbelts hanging from the wall, probably those of the unfortunates locked in his jail. She just might be able to liberate a gun, one that wouldn’t be missed for a while. She doubted the sheriff counted them each time a visitor entered his office. And she could appeal to him for the return of Clementine. She tried to remember every word the Ranger had said to the sheriff. Nothing damaging about her, nothing that would create suspicion. And Lori hadn’t missed the admiration in the Laramie lawman’s eyes.

She brushed her hair now until it literally shot off sparks. She had fashioned it into a French knot last night to look older; today she let it hang loose to look younger. Young and innocent—and in need of help to escape a heartless Texan.

Lori tucked the bottle of laudanum into the small carpet bag, tore a piece of sheet from the end of the bed, and tied two strips around the upper calf of her leg, three inches apart She then pinched her cheeks to bring color into them. After checking the streets, she hurried to the sheriff’s office.

He was sitting exactly where he had been before, and he stood slowly as she entered, nodding to her, the gleam of admiration obvious in his eyes. Lori bit her lips nervously and gave him a wide-eyed, pleading look.

“Sheriff Castle …”

He looked pleased that she had remembered his name.

“I … I was hoping you could help me.”

He smiled. “If I can.”

“Can he … can that Ranger really take my brother back to Texas? He’s innocent. He shot to protect me when that … man he’s accused of murdering tried to … tried to rape me.”

The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “That so?”

She nodded. “But his family was influential, and his father put up that reward money. That’s all the Ranger cares about … and the fact that someone mistook him for my brother. He doesn’t care about justice at all.”

The sheriff eyed her shrewdly for a moment, then relaxed. “I wish there was something I could do, miss, but he has that Texas warrant.”

“That doesn’t give him any say over me, does it?” she asked.

He shook his head. “None I can see.”

“He’s taken my horse, told the stableman I can’t even see it.” She blinked tears back. “Clementine’s the only thing I have left.”

“No other family, miss?”

“My father in Denver,” she said, her eyes filling with tears again. “He’s getting on in years—this is going to kill him. I have to get to him, but the stage takes too long … and there’s Clementine. I’ve had her since I was …” She looked away, her voice trembling.

He looked at her in horror. “You can’t ride alone, miss. Not in this country.”

“I thought you might know … some trustworthy person I could hire to accompany me.” Now that, she thought, should relieve his conscience.

There was a noise in the back, where she guessed the cells were. He looked impatient, but the noise grew louder as if there was a fight back there. More like a gift from God, she thought. She had been praying for a disruption of some kind.

“I’ll be back in a moment, miss,” he said, and went through a door to the back of the building. Lori moved quickly to where the gunbelts were hanging and removed a weapon from one of the holsters in the back, covering it with another. She returned to the front of the desk, sat, and swiftly pulled up her dress, fitting the gun into the strips of cloth tied to her leg. She had just smoothed her skirt over her legs when the lawman returned. Lori was dabbing her cheeks with a handkerchief.

“Sorry, miss,” he said, sitting back down and regarding her sympathetically. “Just offhand, I don’t know of anyone, but I’ll make inquiries, and I’ll tell Jim Evans at the stable to let you see your horse anytime you want.”

“Do you think … I can ride Clementine out to see my brother before …” Tears started to trickle down her face again.

“Doggarn, I don’t know why not,” he said. “I’ll just give you a note for Jim. And for the warden out there.” He hurriedly wrote out the notes, muttering about Texas Rangers who thought they were God.

Lori told herself not to overdo it as she gratefully took the notes, but she gave the sheriff a blinding smile. “It’s nice to know someone cares about justice,” she said, “not just rewards.”

“I’ll be on the lookout for someone to accompany you,” he said, “but I don’t hold out much hope.”

“You’ve already been so good and helpful,” she whispered brokenly. “I won’t forget it.”

He flushed with pleasure, ready by now to go to war with the Ranger, who had no business in Wyoming anyway, by his reckoning. People around there didn’t treat a lady so poorly, practically stealing her horse and all.

“I’ll walk you back to the hotel, miss,” he said.

The last thing she needed was to be seen in his company. She hoped the sheriff was also the last person the Ranger would expect she might go to for a gun. She shook her head. “Thank you,” she said, “but … I …”

Another tear dribbled down as she made a creditable show of trying to compose herself. “You’ve been so kind. Please … understand, but I need to be alone … I had so hoped you might be able to help Nick.”

He shook his head. “It’s out of my hands.”

“I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” Lori said with a sudden burst of inspiration. “Is there … a back way?”

He nodded, his eyes full of sympathy. “I have rooms upstairs. There’s a side entrance.”

Again she smiled, a sad, grateful smile that she knew was difficult to resist. Smiles came naturally to her, and she’d learned long ago how effective they could be. “After that horrible Ranger, I never thought I could admire a lawman again.” She held out her wrists to him, and the marks on them were evident. “He even tied me up because I said he didn’t have any right to take in Nick.”

The sheriff swore softly, then said, “Begging your pardon, miss. He needs to be taught some manners.”

Lori shook her head. “He’d just take it out on my brother. Please don’t say anything.”

“I’ll let him know he’d better show up in Texas with a live prisoner,” the sheriff said. “A good lawman has that duty.”

She looked at him with her eyes wide. “You would do that?”

“Yes, miss. Don’t like that kind of lawman any more than I do lawbreakers.”

Lori reached up on her tiptoes and spontaneously gave him a kiss on a cheek. “You’ve restored my faith in the law,” she said shyly.

His face went red again, and he abruptly moved to the door he’d disappeared through earlier. Beyond that there were stairs to the right; to the left there was another door, the top part barred. She followed the sheriff up the stairs to a landing. There were two doors in the hall and one on the end, which he approached. He took out a set of keys, unlocked the door, and held it open for her.

She looked out on a small porch, with steps leading down to an alley that ran beside the building. She turned back to the sheriff. “I can never thank you enough.”

“No need, miss. You need anything, you come see me.”

She nodded.

So far, so good.

She tried to be happy about her success, but she kept seeing the Ranger’s face the night before, that quick flash of humor, those moments when she’d glimpsed a deep loneliness within him. The gun felt very heavy against her leg.

Tears burned her eyes. Success had a very bitter taste.

Morgan listened intently to the owner of the mercantile as he packaged the supplies the Ranger had just purchased.

“Oh, yes, she was in here,” the man said to Morgan’s question. “Pretty little thing. But why would she want a gun?”

Morgan sighed. So he was right, after all.

“Hope she’s feeling better,” the man said.

Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Feeling better?”

“Terrible headache, she said. I suggested a few drops of laudanum. Sure hope it helps. Doc’s out of town, or I would have sent her to him.”

“Laudanum?” Morgan repeated.

The man nodded, pleased with himself for his helpfulness.

Thoughtfully, Morgan left. So that was what she intended. Another … friendly dinner. Drugged coffee. And then only God knew what she had planned—he sure as hell didn’t. He’d never met anyone like her. Christ, just thinking about her last night, that kiss. Part of him went rigid at the recollection, even as he warned himself against her. He’d tried to tell himself all night that the kiss had been just another confidence game, another act. A swindle.

Still, she couldn’t have faked her response to him. She had been too angry at herself. He had seen that fury in her eyes, had recognized it because he’d felt the same damn disgust at himself.

At least he didn’t have to worry about her the rest of the day. He would ask her to dinner again, pretend to drink whatever she would drug, and then wait for her next move. There was really damn little he could do until then. The jail was filled. He couldn’t ask the territorial prison to confine her when there was no warrant for her, and he had no legal reason to hold her. He would feel one hell of a lot better when she was on the Denver stage tomorrow. One Braden was enough to worry about.

He didn’t like the nagging voice inside that whispered he might miss that intriguing challenge she represented. He had a feeling that the brother might represent an equally challenging one, once his sister was safely out of the way. Still … there was something about Lorilee Braden that made him feel very much alive, made his body rumble with pleasure and his mind smile. He didn’t know when last it was that he had bantered as he had last night, when he’d smiled and even teased a little. And when she smiled … it was like the brilliant first glimpse of the sun after a fortnight of storms.

He decided he would get some sleep that afternoon. He sure as hell didn’t think he would get any that night, and he knew he had to leave in the morning. The warden had said he could keep Braden no longer, and Morgan knew the bounty hunters wouldn’t be far behind now.

Yep. Sleep was what he needed now. If only he could keep her from haunting his dreams, if only his body could relax, numb itself against its own primal reactions.

Lori heard him come down the hall, heard his footfalls stop at her door, then continue on to his own room. She knew they were his, the way they hesitated outside her room. She also knew it simply because she felt it.

She changed clothes, slipping into her split skirt and shirt. She didn’t dare take the carpetbag, which meant she would have to leave her dress, but she very carefully wrapped her pants and shirt and tucked them, along with her coat, into her bedroll. She slipped into the corridor after making sure no one was there. The stairs led down into a main lobby, and she couldn’t take her bedroll that way. At the end of the hall, however, was a window and a fire escape, which led to the back of the building and an empty lot.

She dropped the bedroll out the hall window, then leisurely strolled down the corridor, walked down the stairs, and out the door. The stable was just a few doors away. She handed the sheriff’s note to the stubborn stable owner, whose attitude changed abruptly. He saddled Clementine for her.

“I’ll be back soon,” she said, dispensing another smile. “I’m just going to see my brother.”

She had to restrain herself from urging Clementine into a gallop. Instead, she very sedately walked the mare down the street as the stableman went back inside the barn, and then she doubled back, turning down a road to the back of the buildings. She retrieved the bedroll, quickly buckling it to the back of the saddle. The pistol she had stolen from the sheriff remained well anchored on her leg. Once she was out of sight of town, she would place it in the saddlebags. It was rather uncomfortable, despite the small sense of security it gave her.

She should have several hours before the Ranger discovered her missing. With luck it would be dark. By then her tracks would be mixed with so many others leading out of town, he would never find her.

But she would find him. She had a very good idea where he would head once he left Laramie with Nick. And because the Medicine Show had traveled the towns of north Colorado, she suspected she was far more familiar with the area than he. Lori knew just where to watch for him. If he didn’t show by noon tomorrow, she would know he had decided to take the direct route across the plains, and she could easily catch up with him. He couldn’t travel very fast, not with Nick, who would slow him as much as he could.

Morgan knocked on her door, then tried the doorknob. It was locked, and there was no sound inside. He went down to the desk and asked the clerk for a key. Since he had paid for the rooms, he received no argument. Morgan was beginning to have a very bad feeling about all this. Night had fallen; the stores were closed. She should have been in her room.

He unlocked the door and lit the gas lamp. The carpetbag, partially open, lay on the bureau; the brown-checked dress was carelessly thrown on the bed. Other than those two items, the room was empty. He went to the carpetbag. There were a few personal female items within, including a corset. He located the bottle of laudanum and balanced it in his hands as he tried to think.

She had left enough of her belongings that she could still be in town, but he had the uncomfortable feeling he’d been outsmarted. That feeling was growing more acute by the minute.

Where would she have gone?

He ran down the steps and strode quickly to the stable. Lorilee Braden’s mare was gone. He confronted the stable owner, who showed him the note from the sheriff. She’d said she would be back shortly.

How long ago?

The man shrugged. “Four … five hours.”

“What direction?”

“I didn’t watch.”

Morgan swore to himself. The man had been charmed by Lori. That much was obvious. He wasn’t going to offer one bit of information. Morgan was tempted to confront the sheriff, but there was no telling what tales Lori had spun to convince the lawman to interfere. Morgan doubted he would get much cooperation from him now.

It was too dark to trail her. At least Braden should be safe enough in the territorial prison.

Or was he?

Morgan was beginning to wonder if anything was beyond the wily Miss Lori. He just hoped to hell she hadn’t somehow got her pretty hands on a gun. He doubted, though, that even if she had, she was capable of killing anyone. Her weapons, he believed, were her charm and wits.

He saddled his bay, rode to the territorial prison, and found his prisoner still there. No young lady had asked to see him. Morgan almost decided to take Braden then and there, but his supplies were still in his hotel room, Braden’s bay still at the stable. He might as well wait until morning.

What in the hell was Miss Lorilee planning?

Morgan only knew he preferred bounty hunters to Miss Lori any day. But now it seemed he might have both of them on his trail. He knew how to handle the hunters, but he was beginning to realize he didn’t know how to handle the woman.

It was a humiliating discovery.

Nick never thought he would be glad to see a lawman’s face, but he was damned grateful to see Morgan Davis’s, even if it did look so irritatingly like his own.

The last two nights had been hell. He knew now that he would rather hang than spend time in a place like the Wyoming Territorial Prison. His cell had been little more than a tomb, four feet by seven feet, containing a hammock and a slop bucket. He had never realized before that he hated and feared small places, though he had always preferred sleeping outside, even as a small lad, to spending nights in the cramped, crowded interior of the Medicine Show Wagon.

Apparently because he was a temporary resident, he had been left his own clothes, rather than forced to wear the black-and-white-striped uniforms of the other inmates, and his hair had been left unshorn. But there was a stench that remained on his clothes, even as he held out his hands for the handcuffs and followed the taciturn Ranger outside to the horses. He felt as if he could breathe for the first time since he was locked in the small cell. The panic, the constriction in his chest, the fast, painful beating of his heart dissipated in the bright light of day. He took full swallows of sweet air, felt the morning sun bathe him with freshness.

He waited patiently as the Ranger once more used the second set of handcuffs to lock his wrists to the saddle horn. He noted there were only the two horses and wondered about Clementine.

“Lori?” he said.

The Ranger’s jaw set.

“She’s on the Denver stage?”

The Ranger didn’t answer as he finished his task and mounted his own horse. Nick’s horse was already on a lead.

“Damn you, Davis. What about Lori?”

Morgan looked back, his face expressionless, but Nick sensed—no, he felt—a cold, simmering anger. For a moment he thought the man wouldn’t answer, but then he appeared to change his mind. “She left on her own last night.”

“What do you mean, on her own?” Nick’s hands tightened around the saddle horn as he kicked his bay to move up even with the Ranger.

“Just what I said. She took off yesterday afternoon on her horse.”

“And you let her? A woman alone?”

“Would you prefer I had her locked up with you?” Davis said, his voice rough with anger.

If Nick hadn’t been so worried, he would have smiled at Davis’s obvious discomfort. So Lori had outsmarted him in some way. That was a good sign. If Lori could do it, it meant the Ranger wasn’t as good as he appeared to be.

But Nick was worried about Lori. There was no telling what she might do now. He had wanted her out of this, on her way back to Jonathon. Only when he believed Lori was safe could he plan his own moves. Now …

Lori had always been reckless, perhaps because she had always been so good at everything she tried. Or perhaps because she had been so enchanting as a child, everyone forgave her everything.

“What will she do, Braden?” Nick was surprised at the question. Surprised it was asked. Surprised that Davis expected an answer.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I never know what she’s going to do next.”

“There’s a bounty hunter named Whitey Stark on our trail, probably no more than a day behind. He and at least two others. They won’t be gentlemanly if they meet up with her.”

“Is that what you are, Davis? A gentleman?” Nick asked mockingly. “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

The Ranger turned and stared at him through eyes that were colder, harder than Nick thought his own had ever been. “Don’t worry about it, Braden. Your sister is very good at playing men for fools.”

Nick felt an icy chill go down his back. He wasn’t sure what Lori had done, but he knew he wouldn’t want to be in her shoes if she met the Ranger again.

He just prayed that she was making her way to Jonathon to enlist help, even as he feared it was a fruitless hope.