The Outlaw Bride (11 page)

Will paused at the suggested bulge of a shoulder holster. “I’ll take the gun,” he said.

The visitor let out an oath, then handed over a small pistol concealed beneath his coat.

“And what do you have in your case?” Will asked.

“Just some legal papers.” He opened it.

Will rifled through the case, then unlocked the cell door. “Go on in.”

“I’d like to talk in private,” Jerome said.

Will ignored Jerome and sat, assuming his resting position, feet on desk, head leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes. “You want to talk to my prisoner? Talk.”

Jerome stood awkwardly inside the cell, facing Callahan, who was lounging by the window.

Callahan let him wait for a few seconds before asking, “Don’t you think you’re a little early, Jerome? I have until November to make my loan payment.”

“No, you don’t.”

Callahan caught one of the bars in the window with his hand. “What do you mean?”

“That’s why I’m here. Your mortgage has been paid. In full.”

For a long time, Callahan simply stared at Perryman’s lackey. “I don’t understand. Who paid it?”

“Don’t know. Just know they closed out the paperwork. I had business in Laramie, and Perryman asked me to tell you that you’re out of debt. Too bad the other ranchers aren’t as lucky.” He smiled.

“Who paid it?” Callahan asked again softly, through gritted teeth. “I asked you, who paid off our mortgage?”

Jerome started backing up. “That’s confidential information. I couldn’t tell you even if I knew. And I don’t. Too bad about your cattle. But it looks like you’ve still got your land. Let me out, sheriff.”

Will opened the cell door, allowing Jerome to scurry out.

From his window, Callahan watched as Jerome tipped his hat to one of the bar girls walking down the wooden sidewalk. Then he climbed on a handsome dun-colored horse tied to the rail out front and rode off.

Callahan hit the wall with his fist and let out a roar. It made no sense. Ben was missing. Who the hell had paid off their mortgage? Why?

“Looks like that about sews it up, Callahan,” Will said.

“What does that mean?”

“You answered your own question. Your ranch note got paid. What did you and your brother do with the rest of the money?”

“You think I’m that stupid, Spencer? Can’t you see, someone is trying to frame me.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but I mean to find out.”

“Since you’re behind bars, you’d better hope Josie is as good a lawyer as she is a doctor,” Will said wryly. “And
while we’re talking about Josie, there’s something I want to say.”

“Oh? What?”

“Lubina told me that you seemed … interested in Josie. I’m telling you to leave her alone. Dr. Annie and Dan are due back any day now. When they get here, they’ll put a stop to what’s going on. Josie doesn’t know anything about men like you, and you don’t know how to handle a woman like her.”

Callahan felt an unwelcome twinge of jealousy. Josie was
his
, not the sheriff’s. He wanted to claim her, strike out at the man who was scowling at him. But he couldn’t. “You may be right, Spencer. In fact, I’ve told Josie that myself. But I have a problem. You see, she’s the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known. She gets an idea in her head and you can’t change it.”

“Just so long as it isn’t you giving her the idea,” Will Spencer said. “I’m warning you. You just think you’ve got trouble now. Do anything to hurt Josie Miller and your neck might find its way to a rope.”

Josie knew that Callahan was in trouble. He had a right to be worried. She could defend him from the charges of theft. She could pull out her law books and find cases and examples. But she was in Wyoming, where decisions were based on appearances. If a snake looked like a snake, it was a snake. The money was gone. Ben Callahan was gone. If she didn’t find an explanation, that could be enough for a conviction. She’d already sent for Judge McSparren, but the truth was, she couldn’t be certain the judge would be open to more legal maneuvering. This time she needed witnesses, facts. And the facts were somewhere between Laramie and Sharpsburg.

She needed to talk to her old law professors, but that was impossible. The only way out was to start asking questions. And the place to start was Sharpsburg. That decision made, she started packing. It was after midnight when she heard a pounding on the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and the last thing she needed was another one of her mother’s patients.

“
Señorita
,” Lubina called out curtly, “there es someone to see you.” It was clear from the housekeeper’s voice that this someone did not meet Lubina’s approval.

Josie let out a sigh and started for the door.

“Miss Miller.” Ellie Allgood hurried down the corridor toward Josie. “I wouldn’t have come so late, but I’m delivering a message.” She stopped and glanced worriedly back at Lubina. “I was told we should talk privately.”

“It’s all right, Lubina. It’s only Miss Allgood, one of my clients. Go to bed. I’ll call you if I need you.”

Reluctantly the housekeeper returned to her room behind the kitchen.

“Come in,” Josie said.

“Thank you,” Ellie said quickly. “I won’t be long, I promise.”

Once inside the parlor, Josie closed the door behind them. “What’s wrong, Ellie?”

“I don’t rightly know. Mr. Callahan asked me to fetch you. He’s in a real tear.”

“Callahan? Is he ill?”

“Ill-tempered, maybe, but I don’t think that’s what’s got him stirred up. He says he’s got to see you tonight.”

“Did he say why?”

“He had a visitor this afternoon. Now he claims he may know who’s behind the missing money. I’m supposed to bring you to the jail.”

“Why didn’t he send the sheriff?”

“The sheriff rode over to Sharpsburg.”

“And you don’t have any idea who his visitor was?”

“A man, a dandy in a suit. That’s all I know.”

Josie thought about her packed traveling case. “Let me change into my riding clothes and get my hat and my law books.”

In ten minutes they were riding toward Laramie and Josie was deep in thought, mapping out her plans. She would ask for a jury trial. The evidence was all circumstantial. With any luck she could cast enough doubt about his guilt to get him off.

Josie realized that Ellie was prattling on about something. “I’m sorry, Ellie. What did you say?”

“I was asking you about Sheriff Spencer. Do you care for him?”

Josie shook her head, confused at the question. “Will? Care for Will? Is he sick?”

“Not his health, Miss Miller. Don’t you know the man is crazy about you?”

That stopped her. Dan had suggested the same thing once, but Josie hadn’t taken him seriously. “Why would Will be crazy about me?”

“I don’t know, Miss Miller … Josie. Maybe because he’s a man and you’re a lady. Does he need a reason?”

“I’m not interested in Will, not that way. If a woman cared for a man, he’d know, wouldn’t he?” She let her horse slow for just a moment, then said, “I mean, Will is just a friend. Actually, he’s more Annie’s friend than mine.”

Ellie let a slow smile curl her lips. “It’s Callahan, isn’t it? You’re sweet on him.”

“Don’t be silly, Ellie. I’m not sweet on Callahan.”

“You can’t fool me. I heard it in your voice. There’s something between you two, I can tell.”

Something between them? She tingled at the mention of his name. Her insides felt like Lubina’s yeast dough, rising in the sun. It quite simply overwhelmed her when she allowed herself to remember his touch.

“Josie?”

She didn’t answer Ellie; she couldn’t. This kind of truth was private.

Ellie’s whoop was her own response. “Good for you. You sure you know what you’re doing? You could be getting yourself into a mess of trouble.”

“Ellie, I’m not getting myself into anything. He’s my client. Nothing else.”

“Yeah, and Will Spencer’s going to suddenly forget I work in a saloon and invite me out for a Sunday drive,” Ellie said with a touch of bitterness in her voice. “I mean, he’s too old for me, anyway, and I’m too … used for him. You’d do better to go after him and leave Callahan for me.”

Josie finally grasped the reason behind Ellie’s questioning. “You really care about Will?”

“Everybody seems to know that but Will.” Ellie slowed her horse and glanced at Josie, frowning. “He doesn’t even know I exist.”

“If he doesn’t know you exist, it’s because you haven’t made him aware of the real you, the woman who stood up to Virgil Wayne, the one who cares about other people. You’ve proved yourself. You even look different, Ellie. Just keep on standing up straight and looking Will in the eye, and he’ll notice.”

“As long as Will is interested in you, I’m thinking that he won’t notice me. But maybe if you and Callahan—”

“There is no
me
and Callahan,” Josie snapped. “I’m his attorney, nothing more. Tomorrow I’m going to Sharpsburg to talk to the banker who holds the mortgage
on Callahan’s ranch and anyone else I can find. I have to defend Callahan in court, and I need more than case law. I need facts.”

“You’re going to Sharpsburg alone? I can’t let you do that. Look what happened to Callahan, and he’s a man.”

“But I’m not carrying five thousand dollars.”

“That’s not the only valuable thing a woman has to lose,” Ellie argued. “I’ll go with you. And don’t worry, I know how to use a gun.”

Josie patted her saddlebag. “You mean the gun you gave to me? So do I, if I have to.”

The moon was high overhead when they rode into town—too bright for secrecy, Josie decided, riding straight up to the jail and dismounting. “Take your horse around back and wait for me, will you, Ellie? Leave mine out front. If anyone comes, you mustn’t get caught.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ellie climbed from her horse and started around the building, then stopped. “Are we breaking you in or Callahan out?”

Ever since the dandy representing Perryman had left, Callahan hadn’t been able to stay still. Who had paid the loan, and why had Perryman thought it important enough to send someone to tell him? It couldn’t have been because he was concerned. Perryman didn’t know the meaning of the word. There had to be a deeper motive.

Reluctantly, Will had agreed to check out the loan payoff at the Sharpsburg bank, leaving Callahan in the care of the newly deputized hotel manager. He’d seen Ellie walking past the jail, and through the bars on the window, he’d convinced her to fetch Josie. But that was hours ago. Callahan caught the bars and shook them angrily. “Josie!”

Callahan’s thoughts kept going back to Jerome. There
was something not quite right about the man. He’d been dressed like a banker, but he didn’t seem comfortable with his mission. Callahan had been convinced something was wrong when Jerome left on a big dun-colored horse. The scene kept going around and around in his mind. Where had he seen a horse like that before?

Where? He started back across the cell, then stopped mid-stride. Damn! As clearly as if he’d been thrust back in time, he remembered. When he and Ben had been ambushed, he’d ridden away from the thieves, trying to divert them so that Ben could escape. Then pain. His horse had stumbled and he’d been thrown. Just before he passed out, he’d seen the horse, the dun-colored horse. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the rider, only the brand on the horse’s haunch—white, a shape like a crescent moon.

Now he’d seen that mark again. Perryman’s lackey was riding the same horse as the man who’d shot him, or a horse with the same brand. Where was Josie? She had to get him out of this jail.

He heard the sound of a horse—no, horses. Someone was coming. The outside door opened.

He waited. He knew who it was without having to see her. He recognized Josie’s scent—the same scent as on her pillow.

“Callahan?” she whispered. “Just hold on.”

Callahan heard her fumbling with the lock. She swore again, talking to herself as she worked at the door. “You can do this, Josie. You still remember how. All you need is a hairpin,” she muttered. A second later Callahan heard the rattle of the lock as it snapped.

The door swung open and Josie ran to the bunk. “Callahan, what’s wrong?”

He grabbed her, jerking her forward so that she fell
across him. He intended to twist away and slip out the door. As much as he hated to do it, it was time to find his own answers. But there was one answer he needed first—from Josie.

He kissed her. She struggled briefly, but was no match for a determined man. It was a rough kiss, built of Callahan’s frustration and the knowledge that he wanted this woman, wanted her badly, wanted her to the point of risking capture by delaying his jailbreak for a kiss. It was easy to tell himself that he was only interested because he needed her help—until he touched her. Then every lie went out of his head. He softened his kiss until he felt her tentative response.

That did it. He was lost. She hesitantly allowed his tongue inside her mouth. They kissed, over and over, twisting, canting their heads, hands pulling against collars, buttons, shoulders. Her mouth was hot, her breathing sporadic, her purring soft as she pushed herself against him.

He pulled back. “Damn! I didn’t intend to do this. You drive me crazy, woman.”

She stared up at him, her lips swollen with passion and her eyes filled with confusion.

Callahan drew in a deep breath, trying to focus on his escape plan. “Something happened today, Josie. I think I know one of the men involved in the holdup, but I have to get out of here to prove it, and you have to help me.”

“You can’t go,” Josie whispered, dragging her shattered senses together. What was she doing? She reminded herself that she was here as an attorney, not some wanton woman whose body was nestled seductively against a man’s. She jerked herself free and sat down on the bunk. “Until I reach Judge McSparren, there’s no way you can be released.”

“Josie, I can’t wait. I have to get out of here.”

“No. And if you sent Ellie to get me so that I could break you out of jail, forget it. Callahan, I’m sworn to uphold the law. You’re a prisoner who happens to be my client. If you think kissing me senseless is going to persuade me to commit a crime, you’re wrong.”