Shane's Bride (Mail Order Brides of Texas #3) (15 page)

Cecily covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes grew wide.  “It never occurred to me.  I was out of my mind.  I was reliving Long Nose coming after me.  I ran away a few times, until he burned my back.  After that if he thought I looked at him wrong he threw me on the ground and burned me again.” She dropped her hand as she closed her eyes.  “I’m surprised a wolf or a bear didn’t finish me off last night.”

“I was scared to death to find you gone.  I had hoped you’d feel safe at the house.” He gave her a semblance of a smile.  Disappointment engulfed him.

Reaching out she grasped his hand with hers.  “I do.  I feel safe with you.  I think I had more of that nasty medicine than usual.  I remember you giving me some after I ate but then later…” Cecily shrugged.  “I just don’t know.  Everything turned into a strange dream and it was so real to me.”

He stood and pulled her up.  “Let’s get you home where you belong.”

Chapter Eight

Within a week, both Lucy and Elliott were gone.  Cecily had no idea where they went or if they went together.  Lucy never inquired about the room above the mercantile.  No one had seen them leave, and it was puzzling.  Cecily’s back was still painful, and Doc stopped by just in time for dinner to tend to her.  Shane treated her with kid gloves, and she wasn’t quite sure whether she liked it or not.  On one hand, it was nice to have his attention but on the other hand, she wasn’t a helpless ninny.  The ground had been tilled, and tomorrow she would begin to plant.  It was something she’d been looking forward to.

Poor Boy came rushing into the kitchen, gasping for breath.  “They’ve come to get you Cecily, we better hide!”

She dropped the towel she’d been holding.  Her heart began to pound.  “What do you mean who’re ‘they’?”

“There’s a band of Indians headed this way, and I heard talk that they were Long Nose’s Indians.  I’ve got to hide you.  Shane said so.”

Automatically, she grabbed the shotgun, all the shells she could carry, locked the door, shuttered the windows and shooed Poor Boy into the root cellar.  She followed him down and locked the door.  Thank goodness she had finished her rag rug.  She just hoped that it would hide the opening to the root cellar.  They could hear horse hooves pounding upon the earth.  Her hands began to shake, but she managed to get the shotgun loaded.

Poor Boy curled up in the corner, and he covered his head with his hands.  Somehow, she’d have to make sure they were safe.  She looked around, wishing she’d found the time to explore and locate the other entrance she was convinced existed somewhere.  She lit a lamp and began to inspect each wall.  Most were lined with shelves of supplies.  She didn’t see anything on her first pass through, so she stood in the middle of the room perfectly still waiting to feel the fresh air.  It was coming from behind the shelves with the many lanterns on it.

The shattering of glass above drove a spike of fear into her heart.  She knew that laughter it belonged to Choked Bear, Long Nose’s best friend.  She froze for a second and then forced herself to snap out of it.  She grabbed Poor Boy by the hand and together they pushed on the shelf.  To her relief, it swung open into a very narrow passageway.  It was filled with cobwebs, but she didn’t care.  Better a spider than Choked Bear.  Heightened excitement filled their voices, and the door to the root cellar rattled.  She grabbed an extra lantern, snatched up her shotgun, and pushed Poor Boy into the passage.  It was surprisingly easy to close the door to the passageway.

“Where are we going, Cecily?” Poor Boy asked as his voice shook.

“I don’t know where this leads, but we need to be very quiet.  They mustn’t find us here.” She nudged Poor Boy forward.  They walked slowly and silently as the cobwebs swept over their faces down the long passageway.  Cecily kept looking over her shoulder half expecting to see Choked Bear behind her.

Finally they came to the end of the tunnel.  Poor Boy pushed against the wall and when the door opened, he turned and grabbed her around the waist in fear.

Cecily urged him forward and they stepped into a room filled with barrels of beer and casks of whiskey.  Cecily closed the door behind her and sagged against one of the barrels.  It looks as though Mr.  Asher wanted to be able to go to the saloon without anyone else knowing.  Probably his wife.

“Now what?” Poor Boy asked with worry written all over his face.  Cecily put down the lanterns and her shotgun and then hugged Poor Boy to her.

“I suppose we alert someone upstairs and have them get word to Shane that we’re safe.” Poor Boy stepped out of her embrace and nodded.  They started up the stairs when they heard mumbling and grumbling about the Indians.  One man was all for using them for target practice while another wanted to hand Cecily over so they’d go away.

Cecily stood on the step afraid to go farther.  “Poor Boy, I need you to find Miss Noreen and let her know we’re safe and that we have to get the message to Shane.”

Poor Boy shook his head crossed his arms and went back down the stairs.  She followed him back down.  “You don’t like my plan?”

The expression on Poor Boy’s face was one of the hardheaded mule.  “Is something wrong? Why won’t you go up there?”

He looked everywhere in the cellar except at her and took a deep breath.  “I don’t like this place.  Before I found Eats, John Hardy had me working here.  All he did was backhand me and punch me, and the customers were just as bad.”

“Poor Boy, I’m so sorry, but John Hardy is dead.  I say good riddance.  He was an awful man who hurt a lot of people.  But he’s not here.  Noreen owns the place now, and she’s a nice woman.  I’d go myself but you heard how some of them would like to exchange me for the Indians leaving, and I can’t let that happen.  Most of all I don’t want Shane going after the Indians thinking they have us.  They’ll kill him.”

Poor Boy bit his top lip and for a moment she thought he’d refuse.  Then he took a deep breath and nodded.  “You can count on me, Cecily.” He slowly climbed the stairs, and Cecily said a prayer when he was out of sight.

It seemed to take forever, and Cecily couldn’t help but think that Poor Boy had gotten in some kind of trouble.  The sight of Noreen coming down the steps relieved her worry and she quickly took the saloon owner’s offered hand.  They slowly went up the steps and then Noreen smuggled her down the hall to a stairway leading to the second floor.

“Poor Boy is waiting for you in room three.  Don’t you worry, I have someone going after Shane, and the rest of the town is armed and ready.  There’s been a lot of talk about just giving you to the Indians.  No matter what, don’t leave the room.” Noreen let go of her hand and shooed her up the stairs.

Cecily quickly opened the door to room three and closed it behind her.  She leaned her back against it and braced herself as Poor Boy came flying at her, hugging her tightly.  “We have to be quiet.  Noreen sent somebody after Shane.  All we can do now is wait and hope.”

****

Flames reached into the sky, and the scent of charred wood filled the air, as Shane watched in shock while his house burned.  There’d been no sign of Cecily or Poor Boy, and all he could think was they were either dead or captives.  Not many of the Indians had gotten away, and he was more inclined to think they were dead.  His heart squeezed so painfully, his emotions became raw.  He’d never even told Cecily how he felt about her.  Dammit, he had let her go on thinking that no man would ever want her and he should’ve set her straight from the very first.  He wanted her.  He figured Poor Boy would eventually go back to Eats, but if he hadn’t he would have always had a home with Shane.

Wood still burned as the structure tumbled leaving fiery embers in its place.  He couldn’t look away, he just couldn’t.  He’d always remember this was the place where his love died.  Misery settled around him and he was oblivious to the others watching with him.  Cinders, Keegan, and Cookie had all come out to help.  They were good men they were good friends.  The fact that they let him be and didn’t say a word meant a lot to him.  Did they kill Cecily and Poor Boy before the house was set on fire or did they just let them burn alive? He got off his horse went to the closest bush and was sick.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned he tried to give Keegan a semblance of a smile but he knew he failed.  “They’re dead, Keegan, they’re dead.  Funny isn’t it? I should’ve been the one person who could have protected them, and I didn’t.”

Keegan opened his mouth but closed it again as another man from town rode hell-bent straight toward them.

“Sheriff! Noreen sent me.  Miss Cecily and Poor Boy are both fine,” the young man said in a breathless rush of words.

“Were they at the saloon?” Shane didn’t wait for an answer he jumped on his horse and in a flash headed toward town.  He barely waited for Jester to slow in front of the saloon before he jumped down.  He ran through the swinging doors and looked wildly around the room.

“Shane, this way,” Noreen yelled out as she gestured toward the stairs.  “Room three.”

He didn’t have time to thank Noreen as he ran up the rest of the stairs and burst into the room.  His heart beat wildly, and he was out of breath as he stood in the doorway.  A more wonderful sight he’d never seen.  Cecily and Poor Boy sat on the bed clutching each other, eyes wide with stark terror.  He took one step in and opened his arms.  It hardly took any time at all before Cecily clung to him.  He held her with one arm and opened the other arm to Poor Boy who joined their embrace.

“Dear Lord, I thought I’d lost you both.  It’s a miracle you survived, and I’m grateful.” He felt tears forming behind his eyes and try as he might to keep them at bay, they trailed down his face as he held Cecily and Poor Boy close.  Poor Boy was the first to step out of the embrace, and then Cecily took a step back too.

“I wasn’t sure we’d make it.  I had a feeling there was another entrance to the huge root cellar under the house, and I’m so glad I was right.  Behind one of the shelves was a passageway.  We followed it for a long time and we ended up here at the saloon.  I wonder why they built it? Actually I have my suspicions.  It certainly did save our lives.” She gave Shane the sweetest smile ever.

Shane tried to dry his eyes to no avail.  His emotions got the best of him and he couldn’t help himself.  “There’s so much I want to tell you, so much I thought I missed telling you because you were dead.”

Cecily stepped closer to him and stroked his whiskered cheek with her fingers.  “There’s no need for you to say anything.  I had the same fear in my heart when I thought of you out there fighting Indians.  That’s how it is with friends, they care about each other.”

The breath whooshed from Shane’s lungs; he was pole axed.  They were talking about two different things.  He talked of love, and she talked of friendship.  He had hoped, he’d thought, and he’d gotten it all wrong.

“Can I go out and see all the action?” Poor Boy asked gesturing toward the door.

“Go right ahead.  It should be safe by now.”

“Thanks Shane, see you later, Cecily.” Poor Boy ran from the room.

Shane sat down on the bed and drew Cecily down onto his lap.  He tucked her head under his chin and held her close, savoring the feel of her next to him.  Why couldn’t she feel the same way? He’d have to take what she offered and be grateful, but it was going to be damn hard.  He stroked her arm for a while then pulled back from her just enough for him to put finger under her chin and lift her face to his.  He stared into her beautiful brown eyes, and his heart jolted.  It wasn’t friendship he saw shining in her eyes, it was love.  Perhaps she didn’t really know how she felt.

He kept her head tilted as he lowered his until their lips touched.  He waited for her to pull away or to gasp and protest, but she did neither, so he continued kissing her.  Her plump, soft lips were a treat to him, and he knew he’d never get tired of kissing her.  Somewhere along the line she snaked her arms around his neck, and when he moved to take a break from their kiss, she pulled him back down to her mouth for more delightful kisses.  She was the sweetest sweet, and he sure wished she was his.

She finally broke off the kiss and let go of his neck.  As she drew back, she stared at him with wonder in her eyes.  “That was the nicest kiss I’ve ever had.  Thank you.” Her expression changed from one of wonder to one of wistfulness.  Then he realized she didn’t understand his intent.  Nothing was ever easy when a female is involved.  He’d have to come up with another way of showing her his love for her.

****

Cecily stood and walked to the window, drawing the curtain open with hands that shook.  There was so much whirling around in her head it was hard to think.  It was late afternoon and she needed to find a place to spend the night.  The saloon was not the answer, but then again her reputation was so bad already...  She glanced over her shoulder and admired Shane’s profile.  Even covered in soot and ash, he was a handsome devil.  His kiss had awakened something inside of her, and she wasn’t sure what it was.  Sadly, she’d never find out.  Sighing, she looked out the window again.  Where would she go from here? Shane could stay at the jailhouse.  Someone was bound to take Poor Boy in.  That left her.

Swallowing hard, she turned around and tried to smile at Shane, but her lips trembled.

Shane instantly rose from the bed and came to her side.  He reached up and tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear.  “You’ve had to be brave through all this, and I bet you’re tired.”

“I just do what needs to be done, that’s all.  There’s no special bravery involved.” She studied his face, and she could easily see the worry he bore.  It was like looking into his soul.  He had enough problems of his own he didn’t need the extra burden of her.  “I guess this will be goodbye.  I hate to ask, but do you think you can pay me for the few days I worked?”

Shane frowned.  “Of course I can pay you.  Just what is it you’re planning to do? You’re not leaving town, are you?” Shane took her hand and held it tight, caressing the back of it with his thumb.  I  know the house burned down and things might look a little grim right now, but I plan to rebuild, and my plans include you.”