Mary Connealy - [Kincaid Brides 03] Read online

  When she finished, Rafe looked closely at her rubbing, and the attention he was paying warmed her heart.

  “Are there more fish fossils?”

  Nodding, Julia said, “There is so much more, Rafe. I could write about the wonders of this one cave room for a year. I’ve already started a book. Can you see how exploring down here could last me a lifetime?”

  “I can indeed. Now show me the rest.” He switched his lantern to his left hand and reached out his right to her. She took it and pulled him between the stalagmites and fossils, talking as they went.

  Julia smiled. “Thank you.”

  She tugged on his hand until he turned to face her. She stretched onto her toes to kiss him. His strong hand sliding around her waist drove out the shivers and the dark imaginings. “I love you, Rafe Kincaid. Thank you for understanding about this cavern.”

  “I think the cavern is finally safe. We’ll be careful in unexplored caverns, in case the floors might be thin, but the rest of it is finally safe. No half-blind tracker thinking he can force some secret about treasure from you.”

  “A secret treasure I know nothing about.” Julia wondered what fortune her father had taken and where he’d hidden it.

  “No wandering, confused brother to scare us all to death.”

  “Well, except he’s still confused and he’s wandering right now.”

  “But not in the cavern,” Rafe pointed out.

  “No outlaws to threaten Audra.” The outlaws had mentioned a boss, but Julia didn’t remind Rafe of that.

  “Now all we need is to get someone who can draw.” Rafe’s brow furrowed.

  “We’ll worry about that later. Let’s go home. It’s suppertime.”

  They walked out together, and Julia caught herself grinning to realize that the cavern was in fact safe now.

  “Jasper, wake up.” “Jasper, wake up.”

  The jab in Jasper’s ribs sent him grabbing for the knife. It wasn’t there, so he attacked and had things under control before he was fully awake.

  And looked down to see his wife glaring at him—with his hands wrapped around her throat.

  He shook his head to clear it of the lingering nightmares and let her go.

  “You want to go after your money, then go. I can tell it’s making you crazy.”

  “What happened? I thought you . . . someone . . . was stabbing me.”

  “You were dreaming. You were yelling about your treasure. I tried to wake you up and you attacked me. I mean it, Jasper. Go if you’ve a mind to. I’m not going to sleep at night afraid my husband might use me to punch out his frustrations.”

  “I punched you?” Jasper’s stomach lurched.

  “No,” she said grudgingly, as if she wanted him to feel guilty.

  Jasper sat up on the edge of the bed. The dream swirled in and out of his thoughts. He’d been hunting. Searching everywhere. His money. It was driving him mad. He’d put the derringer back in the box last night. He’d done the right thing. Then in his dream he’d gone to the hotel to have it out with Kincaid.

  Jasper had nothing to do but let the frustrated anger build.

  “I thought I was over it.” He buried his head in his hands. “When I saw Kincaid in town . . . it’s been . . . been eating at me. All that money. The work of a lifetime. I’m going after it, Trix.”

  ———

  “What would a fortune do for you? A bigger house? Silk shirts? We don’t dare draw attention to ourselves, not now that we know there are wanted posters out on you back in Houston. Living quietly is our best chance to be happy.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt anyone, Bea. I’d sneak around. I lived by my wits in the Louisiana bayou country after my father kicked me out. I know how to slip around unseen and how to follow a trail.”

  “You haven’t done any of that since you were a boy.”

  “I was good. I can do this, Bea. I can listen, get the lay of the land. Figure out where that money is, grab it, and come back. No one will be the wiser.”

  “I told you once, Jasper, you leave to go after that money, don’t bother coming back.” She turned away as if to go to sleep.

  “You’re my wife.” He grabbed her shoulder and slammed her onto her back. Her hands came up to block her face and he saw fear.

  Jasper thought of how he’d left her to a terrible life for years, when he should have married her. “I’m not going to hit you, Bea. How can you think that for a second?”

  She lowered her hands. “You’ve never been like that. It was just a reflex. Plenty have, you know. In my old life a lot of men had plenty of evil in their hearts.”

  Jasper pulled her close. She didn’t fight him.

  “Bea, why don’t you come with me?”

  “No. I told you, I’m not going to live like that anymore. I want a decent life.”

  “Then come with me and keep me on the straight and narrow. I am not going to hurt anyone. I promise you that.” Jasper suspected he was lying, but honestly, if Bea came along . . . “You can help me, darlin’. You can stop me if I stray.”

  “You can stop yourself.”

  Jasper kissed her long and deep. “Please. For better or for worse, you promised.”

  “For richer or for poorer, you promised that.”

  “Sure, but why not try and be richer if we can?” Jasper kissed her again and felt her love for him. He used that. “You can save me. You can be the judge of what we do.”

  “Jesus needs to save you, Jasper. That’s not a job for a wife. You need to choose it for yourself.”

  “I do choose it.” And Jasper thought maybe he did. “I want to live an honorable life.”

  It was true. He wanted that. But there was nothing wrong with an honorable life with some money.

  “Come with me, Bea. Be my partner in this. We’ll scout around, not hurt anyone. And I’ll . . .” Jasper had a really good idea and it was the clincher that would lure her along. He wanted her at his side mainly because he wanted to come home to her. And if she threw in, then she wasn’t cutting him out of his life. “I’ll give a nice donation to the new church. A real nice donation. I don’t want to live a life of luxury in a mansion. I promise you I’m going to go straight. I don’t want to attract undue attention by having money I can’t explain. But that money is mine. I’ll do good with it, but I can’t do it if I don’t have it.”

  Bea was a smart woman. Too smart. Too used to lies. Untrusting as all get out. But she loved him and he knew it. She wanted to be with him.

  “You’ll really give some to the church?”

  “I will. And you can help me decide how much. We won’t make a huge donation right at first because that might raise suspicions. But we’ll give enough to make fixing up the church easy. And we’ll give steady for the rest of our lives.”

  There was a long silence and Jasper fought back the urge to kiss her again, to tempt her.

  “All right. I’ll come.”

  Jasper smiled and lowered his head.

  Bea slapped a hand on his chest. “But we will do things my way. And when I say we go home, we go. You have to promise me that, Jasper.”

  “I’ll swear it on a Bible if you say so, Bea. We’ll try and get that money back and whether we succeed or fail, we’ll do it honorably. I promise.” A chill blew down Jasper’s spine as if a window had been left open. What happened to a man who swore an oath on a Bible when he knew he might not keep his promise? God was supposed to be forgiving. Jasper decided then and there he’d be testing that when this was over. And maybe, just maybe Jasper could keep that oath. The only thing he knew for sure was swearing it wouldn’t stop him from doing things however he saw fit.

  He’d find his money, get this hunger for it settled, then make his peace with God.

  When he returned with his money, he’d come as a man of faith and settle gracefully into the life Trixie wanted so bad.

  Chapter

  9

  There was a sort of ring around Callie.

  Seth could almost see the
donut. Callie was the donut hole and then there was the donut, a ring around her he couldn’t enter. But he was right outside the donut, leading the little band of traveling Kincaids when the trail was narrow. Riding alongside Callie when the trail was wide, ready to jump in if she collapsed.

  Every time he got a little too close—say into the eatin’ part of the donut—she’d snarl at him. He didn’t mind that so much, kinda fun, but he could see being mad tired her out.

  He said, “A donut would taste good about now.”

  “What?” Callie asked from behind him.

  He turned and smiled. “Nothing.”

  She muttered, but he didn’t want to know what she was saying so he didn’t ask.

  They set a steady pace. Him mostly in the lead, carrying Connor on his back. Callie in the donut hole. Heath bringing up the rear. Heath was young, but he was a steady hand. Gavin Kincaid had a knack, it seemed, for forcing his children to grow up young.

  They didn’t travel as fast as Seth would’ve gone, but then Seth rarely rode his horse without risking his neck. Riding was way more fun if there was a little danger. He had a baby on his back so maybe it was time to be a little more careful.

  He blanched and looked over his shoulder at Connor. He could just see the top of the little guy’s head, covered with a cap. “When you’re old enough to ride, you’d better not risk your neck.”

  “What?” Callie’s voice pulled his eyes on past Connor to see her watching him.

  “Nothing.” He smiled and turned back, facing forward.

  She muttered again.

  He didn’t ask.

  The trail wound around the base of a mountain or two, sometimes they’d climb awhile, then descend, and sometimes they’d switch back and forth as they went up and down. Heavy woods on both sides of the trail, some with branches that reached out to grab a person. Boulders higher than a horse to wind around. If the trail was wide enough, he’d drop back to ride beside Callie, not right beside her. She was the donut hole, after all. But close.

  The wind picked up and snow began sifting down. It fell light for this time of the year. In October they’d had some snow almost every day, but they hadn’t gotten any of the heavy snowfalls of winter yet. But it was time. Seth saw the darkened clouds and he felt the weight of the oncoming weather. He loved riding in a blizzard. It’d be hard on Callie and Connor, though.

  A glance at her showed a jaw clenched to bite down on pain. She stared down at her pommel and didn’t notice him looking. And Callie struck him as a noticing kind of woman.

  The trail widened again and Seth dropped back to Callie’s flank—well, her horse’s flank—well, her flank, too. Shaking his head, Seth didn’t think it was a good idea to focus much on Callie’s flank. “Heath.”

  Callie jerked her chin up, and Seth knew she’d been dozing in the saddle.

  The boy came alongside Seth. He sat a horse well, held the reins like he’d done his share of it, kept the packhorses in line. Heath had watchful eyes like anyone who’d lived in a hard land. The ones who didn’t watch were all dead.

  Seth dropped back farther, leaving Callie out of listening range—taking into consideration that she probably had razor-sharp hearing. She did everything else with unusual skill.

  Speaking low, Seth said, “Callie’s about all in. Keep an eye on her. If she looks like she’s falling, give a shout.”

  Heath gave Seth a look that had no ounce of good nature in it, but the boy understood.

  “I’d thought about sleeping out tonight.” A stiff gust of wind cut down Seth’s neck as if goading him to hurry. “But with this weather, we might see a blizzard by morning. I want to get to my brother’s cabin.”

  “I can keep going as long as you can,” Heath said with a frown.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out. You’ve got a claim on what Pa left.”

  The kid huffed at that.

  Seth didn’t blame the boy, although it sure wasn’t any of Seth’s fault. “We’ll push on late.” Then he added with a whisper, “If my wife doesn’t fall off her horse.”

  Seth had to fight back a smile to think of the damage Callie would do if she heard him say such an insulting thing.

  Heath jerked his chin in a gesture Seth was starting to recognize. The boy wasn’t one for unnecessary chatter.

  Seth kicked his horse and caught up with Callie just as the trail narrowed. He was glad of an excuse to not have to talk to her because he was afraid his worry would show. As he passed, her hand shot out and grabbed his horse’s reins. Then she shifted her grip to his arm.

  “Something wrong, honey?”

  A fire-breathing dragon was riding on horseback.

  “I haven’t fallen off my horse since I was six months old,” Callie said. Her fingernails sank so deep into his arm, he was afraid he’d have claw marks cut into his skin—and he was wearing a buckskin jacket. “And I didn’t fall off the horse then. I just hadn’t gotten to ride until that age.”

  Razor-sharp ears for a fact.

  “If it wasn’t for the blood loss, I’d have never suggested such a thing. I apologize.” Seth ran those two words through his mind a few times: I apologize. He needed to get comfortable with them because he had a feeling he was going to spend the rest of his life saying them with some frequency. “Now if you’ll take your pretty little claws out of my skin, I’ll lead the way.”

  She snarled at him. Claws and maybe fangs. She was a regular little wildcat. Marrying her had to be the sanest thing he’d ever done.

  “This trail divides ahead and I can either lead or spend the ride hollering at you when you pick wrong.” Seth grinned at her. He knew he shouldn’t. She wasn’t all that fond of him. But he liked her more every minute. He’d’ve never been content with a woman who didn’t terrify him at least a little. That wouldn’t have been any fun at all.

  “We need to take a break. Connor needs a dry diaper by now.”

  “The night clerk showed me the way of diaper changing.” Seth sure wished she’d be impressed. He’d slept beside her long enough last night that he wanted her to like him something fierce. “You want me to do it?”

  “No. Not this time. We need a break, anyway.” She let go.

  Seth chafed at the delay, but he yelled, “Hold.” Then he swung off his horse, and by the time he’d fetched the satchel tied on the back of Callie’s horse, Heath was leading their horses into the woods and tying them to a low branch that had protected a bit of windswept grass from being buried in snow. The horses fell to cropping grass with a sharp crunch. The wind gusts were picking up speed and the snow was coming faster.

  Callie made short work of the diaper change to keep the little boy from being exposed to the cold more than a second longer than necessary. Then she produced bread and jerky for the youngster, who ate it like he was starving.

  Which he probably was.

  Seth was ashamed of himself for not noticing. Callie took a few steps away and put a tree between herself and the menfolk. Seth didn’t like it. He walked over to see what she was up to and his little wildcat snarled again.

  He didn’t run. He’d never given much thought to how babies ate, but it stood to reason.

  “Get out of here.” Callie shifted a blanket around so she was covered from neck to knee.

  “How are you feeling?” He wanted to stay. He’d never seen anything as natural and loving as the way Callie cuddled Connor to her breast.

  “I’m feeling like I about got skinned by four armed gunmen yesterday. I’m feeling like I’m short about half the blood I oughta have. I’m feeling like if you don’t get out of here, I’ll show you how I feel instead of telling you. Go on now.” She’d said the last in a kinder voice.

  “Connor’s a lucky little boy to have you for a ma. I’m going to try and make him glad he’s got me for a pa, Callie. I’ll do my best to be a good husband, too.”

  Her lips turned down and she looked away, to stare down at the completely swaddled baby. “All we can do is see what h
appens, Seth. I don’t trust you. That’s what it all amounts to. It’s not that I don’t want to trust you. I’ve just got too much sense.”

  Seth had to admit that spoke well of her.

  “Now go stay with that hungry boy. And give him more jerky before he decides to eat the horses.”

  They were back on the trail in a few minutes with Connor strapped on Seth’s back again. He got ahead of Callie, but still not real far ahead. The donut thing was still working on him. The gray clouds kept getting darker, blotting out the sun. The wind swirled and seemed to come from all directions. Snow began to build up on the trail in spots. Mostly it scudded along, the trail swept clean by the wind. But a sheltered spot every now and again had a healthy coating of snow. Between the heavy woods and the mountains, the sun was only a midday thing along this trail and they’d barely gotten started by midday. Even when the sun wasn’t covered by clouds, it dipped behind the mountain early. What little light the sun cast through this storm barely kept the world dark gray instead of black.

  Seth pulled Connor around in front of him to tuck the blankets over his head. The baby swatted at Seth, and when Seth pulled the blanket up, the baby gave a deep-throated chuckle. Seth covered the boy again. The little flailing hands broke loose of the blanket and Seth lifted it. The boy’s wild blue eyes met Seth’s and they both laughed.

  Seth played at that for a long time, enjoying his child more than he’d ever imagined. Finally Connor tired of the game and his eyes grew heavy. Seth pulled him close until Connor’s chubby cheek rested against Seth’s chest, pressed right against his heart. It hurt in a way so sweet and good, Seth couldn’t understand what he was feeling. But he didn’t tuck the sleeping boy away in the blankets and into the pack for a long while.

  Finally Seth gently wrapped the baby, making sure all his toes and fingers were protected from the growing cold, and put him back in the pack.