Texas Homecoming (15 page)

She was on her own.

“Come with us,” the man said, his smile more of a leer now. “If you’re real good to us, we’ll buy you some new sheets. There’s lots of cows about. Won’t be no trouble to round up a bunch.”

“You have no right to those cows,” Pilar said, her back against the storefront. “They belong to my brother. If you take them, you’ll be stealing.”

“We can’t steal what we already took,” the man said. Abruptly his wheedling grin turned to something cold and ugly. “Now you come along. There’s no use screaming. Ain’t nobody gives a damn what happens to a woman like you.”

He reached for her once again. Pilar put her hands behind her to keep him from dragging her off. She looked
frantically for help, but the three men had formed a tight circle around her, cutting off her view. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her in San Antonio. Women couldn’t be attacked on the street and dragged off to be raped by a gang of thieves.

One man pulled her arm from behind her back, gripped her by the wrist, and started to drag her behind him. She opened her mouth to scream, prepared to fight him as best she could, when a body burst into the tight circle around her.

Cade’s fist connected with the face of her would-be abductor and sent him flying through the air to land nearly a dozen feet away. Showing remarkable resilience, the man scrambled to his feet, and barreled into Cade. He didn’t fight with his fists. He kicked, scratched, even tried to bite Cade, all the while screaming obscenities at Pilar.

A particularly powerful blow to his jaw sent the man stumbling from the boardwalk into the street, where he collapsed almost under the hooves of a mule tethered to a post. Cade started toward the man, fists raised. Pilar opened her mouth to call him back. Her first words were drowned out by two explosions.

Someone had fired a gun.

She whirled around to see one of the other men crumple to the ground, a second stagger against the wall, his hand grabbing at his side.

“That one pulled a gun on Cade,” Rafe said, pointing to the man who now lay still. “That one has a knife.” The weapon lay at the man’s feet. “The cowards were going to attack him from behind.”

The sound of the shots had caused Cade to turn back to Pilar. “Did they hurt you?”

“No.”

“But he had his hands on you.”

“Only for a moment.”

A crowd had gathered drawn by the sound of the shots.

“I saw it,” announced a young man in a white shirt and suspenders. “I saw everything.”

“What happened?” an older man asked. He looked like he was used to being in command.

“I saw everything,” the young man announced again. “I was inside,” he said, pointing to the window of the store right behind them, “stacking cans of peas. Those men attempted to abduct this woman.”

“Do you know them?” the stranger asked Pilar.

She shook her head.

“Why should they want to abduct you?”

“They wanted to use her as a sex slave,” the young man said. “I heard them. They said they would buy her anything she wanted as long as she treated them good.”

Pilar felt heat flood her body. She was certain her face had turned crimson. Cade moved next to her, providing a partial shield from the curious gazes all around.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Just get me away from here.”

“I’m taking her to the Menger Hotel,” he said to the older man, who appeared to have taken command of the situation. “She needs rest and a doctor.”

“I’ll need to talk to her,” the man said.

“Who are you?” Cade asked.

“I’m Preston Wilcox,” the man replied. “I’m a member of the mayor’s council. We’ll need this young woman to tell us exactly what happened.”

“I saw everything,” the young man repeated. “I can tell you anything you want to know.”

“You can find us at the hotel,” Cade told the man.

Cade took her by the arm and started toward the hotel without waiting for the man to answer. “Find Holt,” he said to Rafe when they were clear of the crowd. “Now tell me exactly what happened,” he said to Pilar.

“They’re three of the squatters who took our hacienda. They think I’m your … that I’m … that all of you—”

“I can imagine what they think. Go on.”

“They tried to get me to go back to the hacienda with them.”

“I shouldn’t have left you,” Cade said.

“You couldn’t know what was going to happen. It’s over. I just want to forget it.”

“You’ll be able to lie down in just a few minutes. Rafe will bring Holt to your room as soon as he finds him.”

“I don’t want a room, and I don’t need a doctor. I’m fine.” At least physically. Mentally and emotionally she wasn’t doing as well. She wanted to go home, to surround herself with the familiar and the safe. It shocked her badly when she realized she was thinking of the ranch, not the diViere hacienda.

She made no objection when Cade propelled her inside the hotel, made arrangements for a room she could occupy immediately, and escorted her to the second floor.

The room was light and airy, decorated in a style wholly foreign to Pilar, who was used to the heavy Spanish style of the hacienda. The wallpaper was white with thin trellises of tiny pink flowers. All the furniture was painted white and covered in near-white fabric. The bedspread was white with touches of the same pink used on the wall. Even the pitcher and basin were white. The window looked out on a quiet inner courtyard.

Pilar felt safe.

“Lock the door behind me,” Cade said. “I’ll bring Holt up the minute he gets here.”

“I’m all right. Really. I don’t need—”

“Maybe, but I intend to make sure. Now lie down. You’ve had a bad scare.”

“Okay, but you tell Holt I’m neither hurt nor hysterical. If he’s got any bad-tasting medicine, I refuse to take it.”

Cade smiled. “I’ll tell him. By the way, I don’t intend to let you out of my sight again.”

The door closed. Pilar listened unmoving, unbreathing, until she heard his footsteps disappear down the hallway. She let her breath out with a rush, clasped her arms tightly around herself.

Cade
liked
her. Not just as a cook or in appreciation of what she’d done for his grandfather. He liked her for herself. He’d kept asking if she was all right. He’d spent some of his precious hoard of money on an expensive hotel room for her—he hadn’t even asked the clerk the cost of the room—and now he wanted Holt to attend to her.

She’d been left to manage a whole ranch by herself, had been attacked and driven from her home by squatters, and had learned to cook for an old man who constantly belittled her. She was as tough as any one of Cade’s precious Night Riders.

She smiled broadly as she looked up at the white ceiling. It was absolutely wonderful to have someone determined to take care of her. She didn’t mind being treated as though she were so fragile the slightest upset might break her. It was a welcome change.

But it wasn’t Cade’s treatment of her that caused her to continue smiling as she closed her eyes. It was the look in his eyes. No one had ever looked at her like that, made her feel as if she were the most important person in the
world, that he’d lay down life and limb for her.

Not Manuel. The most emotion she’d seen in his eyes was when the cook served up a particularly rich dessert. She couldn’t imagine him flinging himself into any fight. Yet Cade hadn’t hesitated. He would probably have beaten the man even worse if Rafe hadn’t shot his companions.

That memory caused her happiness to wane for just a moment, but nothing was powerful enough to dislodge the euphoria of knowing that Cade felt as strongly about her as she did about him. She didn’t worry about the fact that their families were enemies, that neither one could possibly love the other, that any thought of marriage would be insanity. She blocked out all thoughts of the future. She wanted to enjoy the knowledge that a man was willing to fight to defend her. She wanted to savor the look in his eyes, the sound of worry in his voice, the tenderness of his touch as he brought her to safety.

She felt herself begin to grow drowsy. She tried to stay awake. She didn’t want to lose one precious minute of this day, but before long she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into a wonderful daydream.

She was dressed in a white gown of such diaphanous material it billowed around her like sheer curtains at an open window. Somewhere apple blossoms scented the air with their heady perfume. The sky was so blue it seemed like a solid canopy overhead. The air was soft with the warmth of spring, moist with the promise of life. It was her wedding day.

Her groom awaited her at an altar built with branches of apple blossoms. Relatives from both sides of her family—some of them long dead—lined the path between her and the altar. Ahead her grandmother detached herself from the crowd of well-wishers.

“You must be happy. This is your wedding day.”

She said it over and over again until it became a singsong chant. Pilar’s feet carried her forward until she reached the altar and her groom turned toward her.

Manuel. She cried out, but no sound came from her throat.

“You must be happy. This is your wedding day.”

No one listened to her protests. The guests started applauding, softly at first, then louder until it sounded like the pounding of a drum. The priest called her name, asked her to take this man as her husband. She shook her head, but he kept calling her name over and over as the clapping grew louder and louder.

Terror pulled Pilar from her dream. A fine film of perspiration caused her clothes to stick to her body. She unclenched her hands, tried to still the rapid pounding of her heart. It was only a dream. It was—

The sound of knocking, a voice calling her name over and over. It wasn’t part of her dream. Someone was pounding on the door and calling her name. She sat up, struggled to bring herself fully awake.

“Pilar, open the door.”

It was Owen. She got up, crossed to the door, and fumbled with the lock before getting it open. “Sorry, I fell asleep. Where is Holt?”

“Forget Holt. Cade and Rafe have been arrested for murder.”

Chapter Fifteen

They hurried along the boardwalk, Pilar having to trot to keep up with Owen. “When did it happen?” she asked. “I just lay down a few minutes ago.”

“You slept two hours.”

“Why didn’t Holt tell me?”

“I didn’t know. I only found out when I went looking for Cade. The clerk said when Broc, Ivan, and Nate tried to stop the soldiers from taking Cade and Rafe, everybody ended up in a fight. The soldiers called in reinforcements and carried all of them off to jail.”

“But why?”

“The men who tried to abduct you said ex-Confederate soldiers had attacked them and taken their woman. Once the soldiers heard they were Johnny Rebs, they didn’t listen to anybody else.”

“It was self-defense.”

“That’s not what those men said.”

“But they’re thieves.”

“Can you prove it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You may have to.” Owen’s gaze narrowed. There was nothing of the flirtatious, carefree young man about him now. Pilar could easily imagine this man going on a dangerous night raid. “Cade always said your family and his were enemies. Is that true?”

“Y-yes.”

“He also said you’d do anything to get back at the Wheelers for the land they stole.”

His words shocked her. She hadn’t felt that way for so long, she’d almost forgotten that she ever had.

“What are you going to say when you talk to the major?” Owen asked.

“I don’t know. I—”

“You can’t say anything about stealing. If you do, they’ll never let him go.”

“I wasn’t—”

“I don’t care what anybody did in the past.”

Pilar could hardly believe the undercurrent of menace in Owen’s voice. “But you got into a fight with him. I’d think you’d be happy he’s in jail.”

“That has nothing to do with this. Cade’s the only reason any of us survived that… that surprise attack. I owe him my life,” Owen said.

“I didn’t know—”

“Cade would never tell you. I’ve got to know you’ll do everything you can to convince them to let him go.”

“And if I don’t?” She didn’t know why she asked that question. She wouldn’t hesitate to do anything she could to obtain Cade’s release, but a macabre fascination with the change in Owen made her want to see what he might do.

Owen’s eyes grew even harder. “You can lose people you love just as easily as others have.”

Pilar’s blood ran cold. She had no doubt that he was talking about her grandmother. “I can’t believe you would do something like that.”

“I wouldn’t have five years ago.”

“Did the war change you that much?”

“Not just the war.”

“What?”

“We don’t have time to discuss it. The longer they keep Cade, the harder it’ll be to convince them to let him go.”

Moments later, Owen touched her arm and came to a stop. “The commander’s office is just around that corner. I can’t go with you. If they lock me up, too, we’re lost.”

“But surely—”

“It’ll be up to you to convince the commander. If you don’t succeed, we’ll have to think of something else.”

Pilar entered the building, her thoughts in such disorder she didn’t know how she was going to marshal an argument. She wanted to know what had happened to turn Owen into a different man. She wanted to know how Cade had saved so many lives, what had happened to the ones he wasn’t able to save. She didn’t want to think of what would happen if she failed to gain Cade’s release. It shocked her to realize she’d already begun to take his presence for granted, begun to assume he would always be around.

The young officer remembered her. He ushered her into Major Kramer’s office immediately.

“Courtney says you’re here to ask for the release of several ex-Confederate soldiers,” Kramer said without waiting for her to be seated.

“I’m here to speak on behalf of Cade Wheeler and his
friends,” she replied, disconcerted by the major’s changed demeanor. The switch reminded her uncomfortably of the change in Owen.

“Do you know they tried to steal a man’s woman, that they killed one of his companions and wounded the other?”

“I’m the woman they tried to steal.”

She let that piece of information sink in while she took a seat. When she looked up again, his expression was different, though still not as friendly as earlier.

“You’ll have to explain that.”

The major remained silent while Pilar related what had happened.

“Didn’t anyone stop to inquire about what was going on?”

“They didn’t threaten me at first. Later there wasn’t anybody near. They were trying to drag me away when Cade arrived. Rafe shot them to protect Cade. I saw the gun and the knife. So did the young man who works in the store.”

“He told us substantially the same story.”

“Then why didn’t you arrest those men instead of Cade?”

“Cade and his men got into a fight with half the regiment. I have half a dozen men in the infirmary this very minute, and that many more nursing bruises and contusions. They came very close to overpowering the whole regiment.”

Pilar tried hard not to look pleased, certain that would cost her any sympathy the major might feel for her.

“They’ve been very protective of my grandmother and me,” Pilar said. “Ivan Nikoli is some kind of Polish count. He treats my grandmother like a queen.”

“I’m sure the young lieutenant whose head he nearly cracked open will be delighted to hear that.”

“They were defending a lady, Major, something that’s
very important to Texans. I’m sure you appreciate how they must have felt.”

“I also know how my men feel.”

It appeared the major might have been willing to let them go if it hadn’t been for the fight. Now he had to save face.

“Have you considered how these men might feel toward your brother? He’s a traitor to their cause. They probably want him dead.”

“The Confederate courts have been disbanded. There’s no one to convict him.”

“I expect they’ll hold their own trial, then hang him.”

She couldn’t imagine Cade or his friends hanging Laveau, but the Owen she’d seen today could have done anything. Would Cade feel that way under similar circumstances?

“Cade Wheeler was the leader of a group of raiders who were nearly wiped out in a surprise attack. He might hold your brother responsible.”

“Laveau couldn’t be responsible,” Pilar said, shocked at the thought. “He’s known Cade all his life. We’re neighbors.”

“But he’s still a traitor to the Confederate cause. You might want to reconsider getting these men out.”

“But you can’t keep them in jail more than a few days for fighting.”

“If you support Clarence Odum’s story—he’s the man who you say tried to rape you—I can try them for murder. They’d be sentenced to hang. That way it would be safe for your brother to come home.”

Pilar couldn’t believe her ears. This man whom she’d thought so considerate was calmly asking her to lie to allow him to save face by hanging innocent men.

“Even if I believed that Cade or his friends would harm my brother, I couldn’t lie so you could hang them. Clarence Odum is a thief and a murderer. He and his friends brutally murdered three old men, faithful and trusted servants. They would have carried me off with them today if Cade hadn’t stopped them. They would have shot Cade in the back if Rafe hadn’t stopped them. I’m sorry your men got hurt, but you shouldn’t have believed a man like Clarence Odum.”

“My men are reluctant to believe anything an ex-Confederate says.”

“How would you feel if people refused to believe you even though you had witnesses to support your story?”

The major didn’t appear gratified to find himself facing a woman who had the courage to turn the mirror of prejudice back on him.

“Even if I dropped the charges filed by Mr. Odum, I couldn’t let them go. They resisted arrest.”

“Wouldn’t you resist an unfair arrest, especially when you doubted you’d be treated fairly in prison?”

“Are you saying I abuse my prisoners?”

“You seem to think Cade would have abused you if the circumstances were reversed. Why should I think you’d act differently?”

“Ma’am, I’m an officer in the United States Army.”

“Then it’s your responsibility to protect honest citizens.”

“We do.”

“You didn’t protect me. I was assaulted in the middle of San Antonio.”

“The fact remains I can’t release these men. They’ll have to stand trail for—”

Pilar got to her feet. “I want to see them.”

The major looked startled. “Women aren’t allowed in the prison area.”

“Why not? Don’t you trust your men to treat a lady with respect?”

“Ma’am, you seem determined to disparage the character of my men.”

“And you seem determined to punish five men merely because they’re better fighters than your soldiers.”

“Six.”

“Five. Holt is a doctor. I insist on being allowed to see Cade.”

“I can allow only family into the prison.”

“I’m family. I’m engaged to marry him.”

Pilar’s knees felt so weak she worried that her strength wouldn’t last until she reached the home of Preston Wilcox. He was an ex-state senator. She hoped he could do something to help. Cade.

She didn’t know what had possessed her to say she was engaged to Cade. The words had popped out of her mouth before she’d even thought of them. Maybe she’d been thinking them for a long time but couldn’t admit it, unable to face the fact that she wanted to be the wife of a man her family hated and despised.

No, she couldn’t have done anything so preposterous, not even subconsciously. She’d been upset, not thinking clearly. She’d said that because she’d hoped she could see Cade to make certain he was okay. She owed him too much to balk at such a small lie.

But she would very much like to be married to a man
like
Cade.

Not that her lie had helped—Major Kramer had still refused to let her see Cade.

She had tried to get Owen to come with her to see the ex-senator, but Owen said he’d better start working on their backup plan.

Finding the correct number on an iron gate, Pilar stared at the house, her heart in her throat. Preston Wilcox was obviously a wealthy man. The three-story house of brick with its limestone columns and tile roof intimidated her. She told herself not to be foolish, that her family’s hacienda was just as impressive. But she was aware that her dusty and wrinkled appearance didn’t reflect her background. Taking a deep breath, she opened the gate and walked in.

Mr. Wilcox was in. A maid whose glance indicated that she thought Pilar wasn’t entirely respectable instructed her to wait in the parlor. Unused to such treatment, Pilar nearly spoke sharply to the young woman but held her tongue. Just a few years earlier she would have made the same evaluation. Mr. Wilcox’s entrance didn’t relieve her tension.

“Do I know you?” he asked.

“My name is Pilar diViere. We met earlier today. A man was trying to abduct me. Cade Wheeler stopped them. When two others tried to attack him from behind, one of Cade’s friends shot the men.”

“I remember now.” The senator’s brow grew dark. “We have too many men like that in Texas, robbing and stealing with no one to stop them.”

“The man went to the commander of the Army troop here and told him that ex-Confederate soldiers stole his woman and shot two of his friends. The major sent troops to arrest Cade and his friends. The soldiers wouldn’t believe Cade or the witness. When they tried to arrest Cade, they got into a fight. Now Cade and his friends are in jail,
and the major won’t let me see Cade. I’m afraid he means to make an example of him.”

“Nobody wanted to see the Yankees in Texas,” Mr. Wilcox said, “but if they had to come, we hoped they’d do something about rustlers and squatters. I can’t do anything tonight. By the time I see the people I need to talk to, it’ll be too late. Meet me here in the morning. We’ll go down to the Alamo together.”

The Union Army had commandeered the old mission site for its headquarters.

“Can you get Cade out?” Pilar asked.

“I’ll do my best.”

What if his best wasn’t good enough?

Then she’d have to depend on their backup plan. She hoped she hadn’t misjudged the men of Texas.

“We should have left town while we had the chance,” Cade said to no one in particular.

“I never thought that piece of trash had the brains to turn his own story around so it would frame us,” Rafe said.

“They’re smart enough to have seen an opportunity and taken advantage of it. The question is whether they have enough discipline to hold on to their stolen property.”

“Your grandfather did,” Nate said.

Cade’s belly tightened. He didn’t like being lumped with squatters, but his grandfather’s methods hadn’t been all that different. At least he didn’t abuse women. The tightness in his belly grew more acute. What did he call trying to make Pilar think he liked her so he could get information about her brother?

He was trying to rationalize what couldn’t be justified, but if he couldn’t figure a way out of jail, it wouldn’t matter. None of their arguments had swayed the major.

“What do we do next?” Holt asked.

“Let Cade figure it out,” Nate said. “He got us into this mess.”

“He told you to stay out of it,” Broc said.

“Hell, you can’t expect me to stand by and watch a bunch of slimy Yankees arrest Cade. Damnation, man, I couldn’t look myself in the face if I did that.”

“Then stop blaming Cade and think of a way out of this.”

“I’m going to sleep,” Nate said. “Thinking makes me tired.”

“You haven’t thought much.”

“We don’t have to in Arkansas.”

“We should all go to sleep,” Cade said. “Maybe we’ll get some ideas during the night.”

“All I’ll get are nightmares of having my neck stretched,” Nate said.

“They’re not going to hang us. We’re more likely to get hard labor.”

“I don’t like that any better,” Broc said.

“We’ll have a better chance of escape,” Holt said.

“I will not do hard labor,” Rafe announced. Then he pulled up his knees, rested his head on them, and went to sleep.

They didn’t have beds. Not even pallets. They’d been thrown into what had once been a convent on the grounds of the Alamo, a group of buildings that had begun life as a mission for the local Indians. It had long ago been turned to other uses, most recently by the Confederate forces during the war.