CHARITY'S GOLD RUSH (A Strike It Rich in Montana novel) (24 page)

             
He glanced out the window to full dark. Supper had been pleasant enough to make him forget the passing of time. “We should head to the hotel.” He dug the cost of the meal out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.

             
With the children ahead of them, Gabe placed his hand on the curve of Charity’s back, and steered her outside. Her flesh warmed his palm through the thin calico dress
, alerting
him
to her womanly softness
. He would like to wrap his arm securely around her, but didn’t relish getting punched. Her feistiness was one of the things he loved about her.

             
His steps faltered. Loved about her? Heaven help him. Had attraction deepened to something
much stronger
?

             
Charity peered up at him. “Are you all right?”

             
“Sure
, j
ust tripped o
ver
something.” His crazy thoughts.

             
An orange glow
like the end of a burning cigarette
showed by the livery, then fell and was snuffed out. Gabe narrowed his eyes to see through the night.
A light flickered on in a nearby window and illuminated the man’s face.
Amos? “Charity, take the children back to the hotel. There’s one more thing I need to check on.”

             
“Now?” Charity frowned. “Nothing is open except for saloons.
You aren’t going gambling, are you?
”

             
“Pa?” Sam tapped his shoulder
and pointed
. “
I think that’s the
man
we saw
at the mercantile today. He said he was our cousin and was bothering Ma.”

             
Amos sauntered across the street.
The strike of a match glowed on hi
s face
as
he
lit
another cigarette.

             
Gabe turned to Charity. “Why didn’t you tell me he bothered you today?”

             
“It was nothing, Gab
riel
. Really. Mr. Harper ran him off.” She laid a hand on his arm. “Please don’t go after him.”

             
“He shouldn’t be allowed to bother my family.” Heat rose up Gabe’s neck and into his face. “Now, do as I’ve asked.”

             
She stiffened. “Come along, children. The master has spoken.” She took them by the hand and marched down the sidewalk, heels clicking,
skirts swaying,
toward the hotel.

             
He hadn’t intended to make her mad, but he sure seemed to do that a lot. Gabe tugged his hat more firmly on his head and jogged in the direction
in which
Amos
had
disappeared. He wasn’t sure what he’d do once he caught the man. He knew what he wanted to do, and acting on that want would land Gabe in jail
, n
ot to mention give him one more thing to repent of.
Something he definitely did not want.

             
Amos
looked Gabe’s way, then
dashed around the corner to the saloon and raced inside. Gabe followed, pushing through the swinging doors into a smoke-filled room. Immediately a heavily painted woman in a scarlet dress sashayed his way
displaying more of the female form than should be showed to men not her husband
. Gabe shook his head and studied the crowd for Amos.

             
There
he was
, b
eside the bar, w
ith a w
hiskey already in hand. Gabe bellied up next to him. “Got a concern with my missus, Amos?”

             
“Can’t say as I do.” Amos tossed the drink back and waved for another. “Just getting acquainted since she’s mothering my cousins.”

             
“Distant cousins.”

             
“Still blood. More than you can say.” Amos turned and leaned against the bar, elbows propped on the polished oak. “Kind of funny how you think getting hitched is going to save your land. I wonder if your lovely wife knows how you’re using her.”

             
“My wife knows everything.” Gabe jabbed his index finger into Amos’s chest. “Stay away from my land, my wife, my children.”

             
“Or what?”

             
“I’ll take the law into my own hands.” Gabe gave
him
one more hard jab then stormed back outside. He paced up and down the street, allowing the night air to cool his anger before heading to his room.

             
He shouldn’t have allowed Amos to rile him. But just looking at the man made Gabe want to punch him in the nose. And now, he’d threatened him in front of witnesses. Did he even use the brain God gave him?

###

             
Charity rushed the children to the hotel. Asked,
Gabe had
said. Ordered was more like it! Gabriel Williams rarely asked for anything. Most likely she’d have to bail him out of jail come morning. Maybe. She might leave him there to rot!

             
“Come on, you two. Time for bed.” She unlocked the door to their room and smiled at the sight of two beds. Thank goodness she wouldn’t
have to
sleep next to Gabriel. She wasn’t ready for such intimacy. Not unless he professed to love her and asked her to stay
past their agreed upon date
.
Otherwise, he could stay on his side of the room and she would stay on hers.

             
Once Meg and Sam were tucked into bed, Charity blew out the lamp
and toed off her boots
. S
he pulled the room’s only chair, a straight-back
ed
one made of oak
,
to the window, and sat down to wait.

             
Amos wandered past the hotel and glanced up at the window as if he knew which room was theirs. Charity ducked behind the curtain.
A moment later,
she
made
out Gabriel’s form headed her way
.
Amos ducked into a nearby alley.
What was that evil man planning? Was he lying in ambush for Gabriel?

             
Charity leaped up
and tried to open the window. Nailed shut.
She needed to warn her husband. He
possibly
headed toward the hotel and danger.

             
She grabbed her boots and slipped her feet into them.
Her boot caught in the hem of her dress, and she stumbled
, banging her shin on the bed frame
.
She hissed against the pain.

After checking to make sure the
children slept
, she dropped
the room key into her pocket
and
slipped out of the room
,
clos
ing
the door behind her.

             
Hitching her skirt above her ankles, she thundered down the stairs
with an odd jerking gait after hitting her leg
, past a startled elderly couple, and into the street. Gabriel came her way with his head down. She thought of calling out to him, but didn’t want to alert Amos that she knew he was close
by
. Instead, she took a deep breath and walked
, or rather limped,
toward her husband as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

             
A hand grabbed her arm and jerked her into the alley. Before she could scream,
her captor
clamped
a hand
over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist, lifting her off her feet.

             
She kicked, connecting with
his
shin, and heard a grunt. She bit the fleshy part of her attacker’s palm. He released his grip. She stomped
hard on his foot. When he let go of her, she dashed into the street and collided with Gabriel.

             
“Charity? What’s wrong? What happened?” He gripped her shoulders.

             
She pointed to the alley. “Someone grabbed me. I didn’t get a look at
his fa
ce.”

             
“You
didn’t see him
?” He stared intently at her. “Are you hurt?”
             
“I’m not hurt.” A little bruised maybe.
And scared.
“I saw no one but Amos a few minutes ago, but this man felt bigger.”

             
“That could be the fear talking.” Gabriel released her and cl
e
nched his fists. “I’ll kill him.”

             
She grabbed his sleeve. “I’m not positive it was Amos. I fought and got away. Please don’t accuse someone without proof.”

             
He shook free. “What if he would have … hurt you? Done … despicable things?”

             
She placed a hand on her churning stomach. “He didn’t.
He
wouldn’t.” Everyone in Virginia City knew her. No one would hurt her, would they? Of course, someone new could have drifted to town and taken advantage of a foolish woman
going out at night alone.

             
Gabriel glance
d
down the alley then took Charity by the elbow and pulled her back to the hotel. He stopped in the shadows at the corner. “What are you doing outside alone?”

             
“I was waiting for you by the window, and
—a
”
S
he yanked free. “I saw Amos duck into the alley and thought he was lying in wait for you. I came out to warn you.”

             
“As much as I appreciate the thought, you could have been killed, or worse.” He bent to make his eyes even with hers. “I never took you for a simple woman.”
He knocked on her head. “I thought God gave you more sense.”

             
“Simple?” She planted her fists on her hips, wanting nothing more than to hit him.
Forget about how scared she had been.
“See if I worry about your safety again, you ungrateful lout!”

             
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed
. “You are an infuriating woman.”

H
e pulled her close.
Twisting
his
fingers
in her hair, he bent and claimed her lips with a ferocity that matched the anger burning in her chest. She planted her hands against him,
prepared to shove him away,
then relented, melting
against him
.
Her hands drifted up his muscled back and around his neck.
His arms lowered, wrapping around her. Charity closed her eyes and drifted with the sensation.

###

             
Tears burned Amos’s eyes as he watched Gabe kiss his bride. His fingers twitched over the six-shooter on his hip. It would be so easy to aim and pull the trigger. But if he missed, he’d hit Charity, and killing a woman was something he could not live with.
He had not sunk that low.

             
What were they thinking kissing in public? Had they no shame? Maybe Charity wasn’t as virtuous as Maggie had been after all.

             
Amos wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve. He had almost laughed out loud when Gabe confronted him in the saloon. The man was itching for a fight. One that Amos was more than ready to give him. But if he were to kill Gabe, it needed to look like an accident.

             
The children and Charity would suffer no matter how he died, but they would want nothing to do with Amos if they knew he took away their father and husband.
Amos wanted nothing more than to
be
a husband and
a
father. And he would do almost anything to obtain what he considered his right.

19

             
If Gabe pulled Charity any closer they would meld into one being. He’d never tasted anything so sweet; felt his blood rush quite so fast
;
felt hair as silky soft as
hers when it
cascaded over his fingers
. It wasn’t until a drunken man staggered by, throwing out obscene suggestions that Gabe realized he
’d
kissed Charity on the street corner like a common thug.
A disorderly cowpoke in town for a bit of frivolity.