Five

“‘If that lookin’ glass gets broke, Papa’s gonna buy you a billy goat.’” The nursery rhyme took Jessie back to when she was a child. She’d snuggled in her mother’s lap, listening to the same song. Worries were an unknown commodity back then. Funny, it seemed only yesterday. Mama and Papa loved her. She had never displeased them, only Jeremiah.

“Will a nanny goat do?”

She stiffened. Duel’s slow drawl startled her. Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t heard him enter.

“Did I spook you?” His gentle tone calmed her fear, reminding her he was nothing like Jeremiah. Respect and compassion oozed from this tall Texan.

She shifted Marley Rose from her shoulder, laying the limp form in her lap. “What was it you asked? Something about a goat?”

Her gaze followed him as he removed his Stetson and hung it on a nail beside the door. The hat seemed a natural part of him, as much as the Smith & Wesson strapped at his hip. Most likely, he’d hung it there a hundred times before. And a woman named Annie would run to greet him with a smile…and a kiss. Jessie swallowed, relegating the vision to a scrap heap.

“The song. I wanted to know if a nanny goat would do? Already got her one of those.”

The image of him fighting to pull nephew George’s shirt from the animal’s mouth earlier in the day brought the barest hint of a smile to her lips. The tug-of-war had ended with Duel, his pride along with his rear, in the dirt.

“It’s a fine gift for Marley.”

He ran his fingers through his thick, dark-brown hair in exasperation, then growled, “Thing is, I’m not her papa. Never will be.”

“You’re the only one the poor little thing’s got.”

Feathery black lashes fanned against Marley Rose’s cheeks. The child’s beautiful face reflected her quiet inner spirit. She was so precious. Jessie’s chest ached. How could anyone wager their own flesh and blood as easily as they would a horse or an unwanted pair of boots?

Green-tinged bruises peeked from where Jessie’s sleeve had ridden up, reminding her she’d known such a cruel one. Jeremiah had taken perverse pleasure in destroying a person’s will, instilling mortal fear, then putting his mark on all he owned. She quickly pushed the fabric back to cover the distinct fingerprints.

“That may well be, but I’m only a man who opened his arms, not his heart, to the child. She’ll call me Duel.”

The firm closing of the door behind him squashed any rebuttal she might have made. Dark sorrow fell as she watched his proud carriage disappear. She knew he had uttered the words rashly. He couldn’t mean them.

“Give him time, my darling.” She brushed a gentle kiss across the sleeping child’s forehead.

* * *

Duel shifted his weight from one foot to another. “Jessie, ma’am, I’ve got something to say, and I want you to hear me out.” He hated the instant distrust that leaped into the space between them. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. “Don’t get me wrong, I still intend to keep my bargain.”

At the word bargain, she grew still.

“But?” The word shot from stiff lips.

“Problem is Marley Rose here.” He ruffled the child’s soft curls, her infectious grin reinforcing his plan. The little darlin’ needed a mother, and he couldn’t have found one more suited for the job than if he’d handpicked her himself. If he could only convince the lady of that.

Therein lay a big problem. Jessie cringed each time he stepped too close. Could he live with that? With the reminder of what another had done? Although he would never lay a hand to her, he felt as if he shouldered the blame simply because he was a man. Each time he shut his eyes, the memory of what he’d seen made his insides crawl.

He took a deep breath. The welfare of the little one had to come first. “My plan to let my sister raise the child has changed. Vicky has all she can handle and I find I can’t give Marley Rose up. I’m keeping her. I hate like hell to ask this, seeing as you’re in a hurry to leave and all.” Not knowing what to do with his hands, he hooked his thumbs in his gun belt. “What I want to ask is, could you see your way clear to staying on a few more days?”

Her blue eyes clouded, and he hurried on, the words spilling out like marbles from a broken jar. “Just till…for Marley Rose’s sake.”

“Stay? Live here with you? On this farm?”

Heat rushed to his face as he realized how it sounded. Damn! He could stare into a killer’s eyes at twenty paces and not feel this rattled.

“Purely a business proposition, Miss Jessie, nothing more. For Marley.”

He watched Jessie wet the healing cut on her lip with her tongue and wished he knew the direction her mind took. On second thought, maybe he didn’t want to know. Women were a mystery to him despite the fact that he once was married to one. The toes of his boots suddenly gained interest.

“Guess my plans could wait a few days.” He looked up in time to see the wrinkle that had creased her brow disappear. “For Marley’s sake.”

The air he released resembled the noise his grandpa’s still had made just before it blew to smithereens.

“But I’ll hold you to your promise.”

* * *

“You did what? Why, you should be shot!” Victoria blasted Duel upon hearing his news that Jessie would stay on with him at the farm. “Furthermore, I won’t let you do it. Such a scandal. What would people say?”

“I don’t care a fig about town gossip.” He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s that young lady. Papa, talk some sense into this mule-headed son of yours.”

Walt McClain calmly looked up from his whittling. He blew the shavings off the wood. “She’s right, son. Ain’t right to fiddle with a woman’s reputation. An’ it appears that might be all the poor soul’s got left. Your ma would turn over in her grave.”

Exasperated, Duel ran his fingers through his hair. “It’ll only be for a while. It’s not like she’s staying for good. Besides, Jessie didn’t seem to object.”

Victoria turned to her husband. “Roy, honey, tell this brother of mine what happened with Jane Sims last year.”

“If Duel wants to end up the same as Jane and Charlie Maxfìeld, then we should keep our nose out of his affairs.” Mirth twinkled in Roy Austin’s eyes.

“What are you two blathering about?” He smelled a dead rat.

Roy lifted one of the twins—Duel had no idea which one because they looked identical—onto his knee. “Jane was riding into town in her buggy and her horse turned lame. Just so happened the rig stopped in front of Charlie Maxfield’s house, so she went to ask for his help. Now, this is all perfectly innocent, mind you.”

“Oh goody, a faewy tale. Cindewella, Papa?” the daughter on Roy’s lap interrupted, clapping her hands.

“Hush, Becky, you’ll make me lose my train of thought. Anyway, Charlie found the horse in a bad way. Put it in his barn and rubbed it down with liniment. Before Jane could get around to borrowing an animal from Charlie, a lightning storm blew in, stranding her.”

“Honey, I love you dearly, but you sure know how to drag out a story.” Victoria took the reins. “To make a long story short, folks brought out the tar and feathers and ran Jane out of town because she spent one night unchaperoned in Charlie’s house.”

“That’s the craziest story I’ve ever heard. Sounds kinda farfetched if you ask me.” Duel wondered what they were up to. If he remembered the same Jane Sims, she chased after anything in britches who wasn’t spoken for. And maybe some who were.

“You didn’t let me get to the best part, darlin’.” Roy affectionately patted his wife’s knee. “Charlie felt real bad for Jane, so he went after her. He brought her back and married her. Now, Jane’s in the family way.”

“Anyone comes to tar and feather Jessie, they’ll have to go through me to do it.” The thought didn’t set well. The brand on her back was still fresh in his memory.

“Uncle Duel, would you shoot ’em?” George’s eyes grew big.

“Right between the eyes. No one’d better dare.” He ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Tarnation, son. A man shouldn’t let it come to that. Think of the little lady, for God’s sake.” Walt folded his knife and dropped it in the pocket of his overalls.

“Pop, what would you have me do? Vicky an’ Roy don’t have room to put her up here. And it wouldn’t do me a lick of good if they could. What I need is a woman to take care of Marley.”

Walt eyeballed his son intently. “You plannin’ on doin’ some farming, try to make a go of the place?”

“Sure am.”

“Whooee! That’s the best news I’ve heard in a coon’s age.”

Victoria tapped her foot impatiently. “You two quit changin’ the subject. What about Jessie?”

“She’s stayin’, and that’s that, Vicky!” Duel jerked on his Stetson and stood, signaling an end to the discussion.

“Not so fast, brother. I’ll not have the McClain or Austin name bandied about Tranquility like a rubber ball.”

“What does ‘bandied’ mean, Mama?” young Henry asked.

“Dummard, it means folks talkin’ about somethin’ they don’t know beans about.” George wore a serious expression.

“Only one thing to do, son.” Walt rose slowly and hitched up the bib of his overalls. “An’ that’s the right thing.”

* * *

The soft whinny of Preacher relayed the news that Duel had returned. Jessie quickly finished wiping dust from the last of the furniture. With no one occupying the dwelling, filth had accumulated atop everything. She’d even opened the windows and given it a thorough airing out.

Now, she straightened a lace doily on an oak credenza and gave the room a once-over. The furnishings fairly gleamed with her efforts. Clean as a whistle, if she did say so herself.

Marley Rose crawled over the spotless floor, investigating every nook and cranny. The child seemed perfectly at home. But then, she’d adapted just as easily to life on the trail. In return for her good nature, Marley asked very little, only someone to love her. Jessie swallowed hard and blinked. It was such a small thing to ask, really. It wasn’t something she could hope for herself, but surely it couldn’t be asking that much for a small baby?

Jessie ran her fingertips along the back of the handsome rocking chair. While simple and sturdy described the contents of the room, this was an exception. A curved back and ornate carving told her the purchaser had placed the item in high regard. It spoke of the great love with which Duel and his wife had faced their firstborn’s arrival.

A swift glance out the window at the grave on the hill, then back to the small child who sat playing contentedly, brought an ache to her heart. The gentle breeze made her shiver.

The ease Duel portrayed in handling the Schofield told her farming hadn’t always been his chosen profession. Yet she admired a man who sought gentler ways.

She couldn’t think of anything more honest than a man who tilled the soil. Something solid and lasting. At least she hoped it would be, for Marley Rose’s sake.

Grabbing the broom, she hurried to put it away. A little out of breath, she turned as the front door swung open.

Duel’s arms were full of staples, evidently from the general store in town. He kicked the door, banging it against the wall as he came through. Jessie hurried to help relieve his load.

His approval at her hard work shone in his eyes. “Give you a little water and a broom and you transform a shack into a castle.”

The compliment came out of the blue, and she ducked her head, hiding her quick blush. She’d enjoyed the task and taken pride in making the house a home once more, but she hadn’t done it for his praise.

“I’m not the only one to make changes,” she said shyly. “You’ve shaved.”

He looked different without the stubble. His chiseled features were more defined. Not handsome in the strictest sense of the word, but striking. And wonderful.

“Thought I’d better. Past time for a bath an’ shave.” He set one of the boxes full of goods on the kitchen table and began rummaging through it. “Brought you an’ Marley something.”

It pleased her that he’d thought of the babe, but for him to buy her anything…?

“I don’t think I can accept. Not proper you bringing me a present.” Especially when she had nothing to give in return. And that was one thing she wanted to avoid—being beholden to any man again.

“It’s only a clean dress. Something you an’ Marley Rose are sorely in need of.” Duel found the twine-bound package at last.

She couldn’t argue about the sad shape of her clothing. Though she’d managed to rinse out much of the blood that had covered her, brown spots remained where the stains had set. That, and rips in the sleeve and skirt, convinced her of the necessity of fresh apparel. Still, pride made her hesitate to accept the parcel he held out.

“Take it.” His determined gaze gentled and entreated. “Consider it payment, if you must, for cleaning the house and looking after Marley Rose.”

At last she accepted the offering with downcast eyes. The man’s generosity touched her, and the warmth of his nearness made her regret her decision to stay. His large frame engulfed the room—and her. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to change her mind.

“When she gets a chance, Vicky will get the twins’ hand-me-downs from the attic for Marley.” He started putting the food away and said over his shoulder, “She also mentioned she probably has a few things you can wear.”

“I’m not looking for charity, Mr. McClain.” The brown paper wrapping the garments rustled in her hand. “Besides, I won’t be staying that long.”

His broad back stiffened. “Yes, well…about that.” He didn’t face her, instead stared out the small window. “I have a matter to discuss. Vicky and my father had a conniption fit about you living here with me. Made me see how inappropriate it is and all.”

Was he saying he’d made a mistake, that he didn’t want her after all? Or perhaps he’d discovered the truth about her while in town?

“If you’re having second thoughts—”

“Not entirely.” He turned, but his gaze stayed glued to a spot on the floor. “Ma’am…Jessie…seeing as how you don’t have a husband…and I don’t have a…anyone…I think we should wed.”

At last he raised his eyes to meet hers. “Not that I give a tinker’s damn about my own reputation, but to protect yours.”

All the air suddenly swooshed from the room and left her gasping. “You’re asking…?”

“Jessie, will you marry me?”