Eighteen

Don’t go to the barn. Her request had lingered like a double helping of sweet-potato pie long after he made his way out the door.

“You can sleep in the house tonight,” she’d urged.

“I can’t bed down knowing you’re only a few feet away, Jess. Don’t trust myself.” He tried to explain all the while her wild-honey taste clung to the inside of his mouth. The kiss had drained every last shred of resistance. “You’d be a fool to trust me.”

“I don’t understand what it would hurt, Duel.” The agony in her tone had matched the tightening in his belly.

Didn’t she realize her mere presence sent unbearable torture through his body? Being close to her did a damn sight more than hurt.

“When I move into the house, it’ll be into your bed, madam.” He hadn’t meant to be so blunt. Must’ve been the kiss that made him so reckless. “You and I both know you’re not ready.”

The weeks passed in a blur and Duel couldn’t ever remember being so happy. He worked in the fields every spare minute but reserved the nights for his girls. Marley had begun to talk a lot better and chattered all the time like a magpie. Jessie’s kisses kept him hopeful that one day he could accept her offer and sleep in her bed. Now, warm, sunny rays drenched Duel as he knelt in the field and grabbed a handful of soil. Around him a sea of small, tender shoots poked their heads from the rich black dirt.

The sorghum should make a bumper crop. That is if insects or hail didn’t get it before harvest. Then he would hightail it to Austin and get the best darn lawyer money could buy.

Correction. He’d have to settle for second best. The finest in the whole state of Texas was Tom Parker. More than likely, time hadn’t dimmed Parker’s hatred. After all, the retired judge blamed Duel for the loss of his only daughter. He seriously doubted Parker would give him the time of day, even if he did swallow his pride and seek the man out.

“I’ll find a good lawyer, Jess,” he muttered into the wind. “We’ll clear your name. We have to—for Marley’s sake. And mine.” He added the last quietly, as if afraid to speak too loudly.

Duel crumbled a dirt clod between his fingers and watched it scatter in the wind. Though her trust had grown by leaps and bounds from their first meeting, Jessie still had moments when she’d drawn back as if expecting blows. He’d made progress, but it wasn’t fast enough to suit him.

“I’ll just have to be patient.” Tell that to the burning need that wound past his groin clear down to his toenails. He wanted Jessie more than he’d ever wanted any other woman.

“Son, that’s what I keep tellin’ folks. Patience.”

The gravelly drawl came from directly behind. Deep in thought, Duel hadn’t heard his father’s approach.

“Morning, Pop.” He rose to stand at eye level. “What brings you out so early?”

Walt snorted. “This ain’t early. Already milked Roy’s two cows, gathered a basket of eggs, an’ arm-wrestled Saint Peter.”

A chuckle erupted at the image of his father trying to harness Vicky and Roy’s Saint Peter. The white mule fought the bit harder than any animal he’d ever known. Contrary as the day was long.

“Took a while, huh?”

“Longer’n it’d take to tussle with the devil an’ handcuff him.” Walt put both hands inside the bib of his overalls, hooking his thumbs on the outside rim.

“You came all this way to complain?”

“Came to get some of Jessie’s vittles. Like her cookin’ a whole lot better’n your sister’s.”

That wouldn’t take much, seeing as how Vicky burned everything she put on a stove. Couldn’t even boil water.

Walt squinted against the sun. “Ain’t it about breakfast time, son? Don’t tell me I missed it.”

Just then Jessie stuck her head through the open kitchen window. “Breakfast is ready, Duel.” She noticed Walt and smiled prettily. “Morning, Walt. Come on in. I’ve made plenty.”

“Much obliged, Jessie.” Walt lowered his voice to a loud whisper. “How’s the courtin’ going?”

“Prefer to call it becoming familiar. And, if you must know, it’s going better’n expected.”

“That’s my boy.” The man slapped Duel on the back. “Chip off the old block. It’ll be worth all the effort. That woman’s the salt of the earth.”

They washed up at the well and, minutes later, sat down before flapjacks, fried eggs, and sausage.

“Saw a ring around the moon last night.” Walt piled a heap of flapjacks on his plate and drowned them with thick sorghum.

“Don’t say.” Duel looked up from his task of fixing Marley Rose’s plate. “Think it means rain?”

“Darn tootin’. Never knowed it not to.” The man chewed on a large bite and winked at Marley. “Ain’t that so, angel?”

“G’anpa.” The child offered a handful of flapjack to her idol. Syrup oozed from between her fingers and ran down her arm.

“No thanks, angel. You eat it. Got me a whole plate over here.” Walt shoved another forkful in his mouth. “Mmm. Best darn flapjacks a man ever ate, Jessie.”

“How’s Vicky? I’ve been so busy of late that I haven’t had time to visit.” Jessie passed Walt the plate of sausage.

“That girl’s got more irons in the fire than the blacksmith in Sherman’s army.”

Duel laughed. “Always did, Pop. That’s because she’s so blasted nosy. Wants to know everything that’s going on.”

“Just like Luke. I swear those two took after your mama. Wonder if Luke’s found that woman yet.” Walt stuffed his mouth with sausage and chewed thoughtfully. “Son, did you notice the handbill over at Dexter’s store?”

“I saw it.”

“Gave me the chills, all righty. Murderin’ her husband. Wish that woman didn’t wear the same name as our Jessie.”

The sunshine streaming through the open kitchen window suddenly lost its warmth. Jessie shivered. If wishes were gold, she’d be the richest woman in the territory. Not a day went by that someone didn’t remark about her name. She felt the noose tightening around her neck and almost choked on her food. They’d come for her sooner or later. God help her that it would be later. A sparkle on her hand released a deluge of pain. The ring Duel had placed on her finger. She twisted the keepsake nervously and prayed for one more month, a week, one more day of peace and happiness.

Then she met her husband’s steady gaze. It told her that he’d stand beside her. No matter what came, he’d be there. Even if he couldn’t stand to sleep in the same house where he’d made love to Annie. Before she realized his intention, he reached for her hand. A reassuring squeeze renewed her flagging hope.

“The scuttlebutt in town says you an’ Hampton had a slight disagreement. Folks say Hampton ended up on his butt.” Walt gave Marley and Jessie a guilty look and amended, “I mean his rear end.”

Duel released her hand. A low rumble in his throat preceded his reply. “Got what he deserved. Reckon he’ll mend his ways from here on out and leave my wife alone.”

* * *

True to Walt’s prediction, the rains came a few weeks later. The thunder and lightning bounced off the hilltops and shook the farmhouse in the lush valley like a giant angrily shaking its toy.

Marley Rose wailed in terror. Her little fists kept a death grip on Jessie’s dress. Jessie hugged her close and watched Duel through the window. The storm scared her too. She wished he’d come inside. But he’d been determined the rain wouldn’t stop him from checking on things outdoors.

“It’s all right, sweetie.” She smoothed the hair back from the girl’s tear-stained face. “I won’t let anything hurt you. This big, bad storm will pass. Shhh, you’re safe and sound.”

Even as she tried to calm Marley’s fears, a jagged streak of lightning darted to the ground. It struck a tree a few yards from where Duel stood.

A scream burst from her throat before she could stop it. Outside, force from the lightning knocked Duel to the ground.

“Oh, God!” Her blood turned to ice. She frantically wiped beads of moisture from the pane. If he wasn’t dead, he needed help. “Please let him be all right.”

Heedless of Marley’s terrified wails, heedless of the pouring rain and dangerous lightning, she put the child down and ran to Duel’s side.

By the time she reached him, he groaned and tried to rise to his feet. With all the strength she could muster, Jessie helped him stand.

“Are you hurt?” she screamed to be heard over the rumbling and crashing.

He appeared dazed and disoriented. “Don’t think so.”

Jessie gripped his arm and tried to direct him to the house, with him resisting every step. Then she noticed yellow and red flames licking from the roof of the barn.

“Lightning’s hit the barn!”

He followed her gestures, the enormity of the crisis finally sinking into his confused brain. “Preacher!”

Thick smoke swam up her nostrils, stinging her eyes, when Duel swung open the barn door.

“I’ll get Preacher. You get the goat,” he said.

She tried, but her lungs burned. Coughing overtook her, making it impossible to see her surroundings.

Duel reappeared, shoving a wet cloth over her mouth and nose. “Hold this. It’ll help.”

Feeling more than seeing her way, Jessie groped through the gloom. Though midday had barely passed, heavy clouds coupled with dense smoke made the goat’s whereabouts a guessing game. She’d inched along several feet when a chorus of blehs met her ears.

“I’m coming,” she called, her voice little more than a rasp through the cloth.

Had she made it all this way to be doomed to a fiery end? Her burning, watering vision could barely discern the animal’s shape. The cloth that had helped keep smoke from her mouth fell as she struggled to untie Marley’s Cheeba. She lost precious minutes when the stubborn knots refused to yield.

When at last the rope came free, Cheeba bolted for the exit, leaving Jessie to follow blindly, gasping and choking.

Blessed rain and fresh gulps of air welcomed her through the portal. She’d made it. Exhausted, limp, and coughing, she lay on the soaked ground for what seemed an eternity before she tried to locate Duel.

“Duel, where are you?” Haze still blocked her vision, distorting the world around her. “Duel!”

There was no answer. No sight of him. Alarm swept over her in towering waves.

“Please answer me, Duel.” Her voice shook.

Fearing the worst, she got to her feet. Much as the fire and smoke terrified her, she’d go back in if it came to that. She’d enter the mouth of a dragon to save the man who’d stolen her heart.

Before she’d taken two steps, he stumbled from the structure. He was leading Preacher, and Yellow Dog lay draped across his arms. Duel’s soot-blackened face was a sight to behold.

Joy that he had survived made her giddy.

“Thank the heavens above! You made it.” She hurried to relieve him of his burden. But she’d no more than claimed the dog’s weight when Duel collapsed, lying prone in the mud.

“Duel!”

Careful as she could, she laid the limp retriever beside her husband. She didn’t know if Yellow Dog was alive or dead, but Duel became her first concern.

“Speak to me.” She quickly turned him over and brushed mud from his blackened face.

Instead of a roaring, wild creature, the storm now had become a passive lamb. Light rain romanced the gentle land, kissing the treetops and tender shoots in the field.

Mindless of her own soaked-to-the-bone state, Jessie lifted Duel’s head onto her lap and smoothed wet locks of hair off his forehead.

“Duel, please talk to me. I can’t imagine what life would be like without you. I’ve never before known anyone as honorable and kind as you. Don’t leave me.”

His eyelids fluttered, but didn’t open. For this giant of a man, her knight who could turn darkness into day, his lethargic condition shocked her. Usually a vital man, Duel now showed a vulnerability she didn’t like.

With her fingertips, she traced his full, pleasure-giving mouth. Then almost as if against her own volition, she bent and placed her lips on his.

Nothing mattered—not the rain, not the burning barn behind her, not even Marley’s cries from the house. In that moment, in that sphere of time and space, only she and Duel existed. He tasted of smoke and desire. Fire and ice.

Suddenly he began to wheeze and cough, his eyes staring into hers. Jessie released her pent-up breath.

“Preacher. Gotta get Preacher out,” he rasped, jerking to his feet.

“You already have.” She pointed to the horse, who snorted and nodded his head as if to say, “I’m just fine.”

“Dog?” His quick glance located Yellow Dog, who by this time had recovered sufficiently to raise his head. Soft whimpers stole from the animal’s throat. He knelt. “Thought you was a goner for sure, boy.”

“Did the dog get trapped in the barn?” Yellow Dog’s soulful eyes spoke clearly of his pain. She joined Duel by his side.

“Yeah. That was what took me so long. A beam fell, trapping him and Preacher.” The dog didn’t resist when Duel painstakingly felt his legs, then his whole body. “No broken bones. Could have some bleeding inside, can’t tell.”

Yellow Dog licked Jessie’s hand with his velvet tongue, but kept wary eyes on Duel.

“Will you carry him into the house?” she asked. “I want him out of the rain tonight.”

“Two Bit’ll love that.”

She followed his gaze to the blazing structure that seemed destined to ashes. “Nothing you can do. At least we saved the animals.”

The dog didn’t resist when Duel lifted him. That fact alone revealed the depth of Yellow Dog’s misery.

Jessie grabbed the goat’s tether, intending to lead her to a spot beside the house that offered some shelter.

“Oh no, you don’t. I’ll not have that ornery beast in my house. No sirree.” His black scowl left no room for compromise. “I’m not Noah, and that house yonder ain’t a blasted ark. Next thing I know, you’ll be having Preacher in for tea an’ crumpets.”

“Not entirely what I had in mind, Duel.” A giggle slipped out at the visual image of the horse sitting at her kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea while the goat butted Duel every time he bent over. “The poor thing’s dripping wet. I’m going to put her against the house under the eaves. Unless you object to that?”

* * *

Marley fussed over her Boobie like a mother hen. An old rug served as a bed, and nothing would satisfy the little girl until she had tucked a blanket over the animal.

Dry now, albeit a bit under the weather with some nasty chills that came and went, Jessie felt unusually happy. More than she had a right to. A cloud of doom, heavy and dark, hung over her head. Trouble on a fast horse was racing toward her. Until it arrived, though, she’d allow herself to enjoy the moment of tranquility. Darkness had fallen, putting the events of the day on a page of the past. Tomorrow would begin a fresh page. Who knew what it would bring?

At the moment, she had a sweet, darling child to watch over. Her wandering gaze brushed past Marley, who sat beside Yellow Dog with one tiny hand resting on his back, to Duel, who dozed peacefully in the chair. And she had the best husband any woman could want, for however long time allowed her.

The dim glow of the lamps softened Duel’s chiseled features. She’d come close to losing him today. So close her stomach turned somersaults when she remembered.

His head rested against the high chairback, long legs stretched out in front of him. He belonged to her. They shared the same name.

A stirring wound through her, beginning as a lazy stream. She loved this man, her knight who had appeared from nowhere on the Texas Plains. Admired his honesty and forthrightness. The focal point of her attention shifted to the way his hair curled possessively around the high neck of his rough chambray shirt as if to gloat its privilege.

When she let her gaze roam freely down his muscular legs, a heat radiated from within her. A different heat from that of a quick and searing brand, this kind attached, melding itself to her soul. In that instant she realized, no matter how hard she tried, she could never separate herself from it.

Her breathing quickened at the swift revelation.

She loved him.

Didn’t much matter if he returned the favor. She suspected he’d never feel toward her—or any woman—the way he’d worshiped his Annie. Yet she accepted and lived with that knowledge.

Sudden light-headedness came that had nothing to do with her emotional well-being. This nauseous, sick whirling told Jessie she’d caught something.

“Papa, Papa.” Marley had gotten tired of watching the sleeping dog and now demanded Duel’s attention. “Boobie, Papa.”

Sleep-glazed eyes squinted at the girl. “Ain’t it past your bedtime, Two Bit?”

Jessie suppressed a grin. He’d not corrected Marley’s “Papa.” Her gaze met his half-raised eyebrow innocently. The full import of the day’s events hadn’t sunk in yet. Most likely he hadn’t given any thought to the night.

“Yes, it is.” She held out her hand, fighting the chills that shook her. “Little girl, your bed is calling.”

Instead of the obedience Marley had shown in the past, she jerked away. “Boobie. Mine Boobie.”

Duel lifted the distraught child into his lap. “Yellow Dog—Boobie—will be right here. Go to bed like a good girl. Maybe he’ll feel like playing with you tomorrow. Okay?”

Marley’s wide, dark eyes darted from Duel to the animal as if to digest what he’d said. “Cheeba?”

“Shoot fire! Yes, Cheeba too.” He ruffled her dark curls with affection.

“Choot! Choot!”

“Uh-oh. Duel, you’re going to have to watch what you say. She picks up everything.”

Amid a chorus of ‘choots’ Jessie carried her to bed.

“Guess I’ll head for the…” A bright flush stained Duel’s neck and traveled still higher. “Just this minute realized I don’t have a barn to go to. I’ve no place—”