The Outrider (Redbourne Series #5 - Will's Story) (13 page)

One. More. Hour.
She could wait that long.
After all, it was only sixty minutes.

“Our train leaves Kansas City at half past six.”
Elizabeth couldn’t resist one last reminder. She turned around only to be
greeted with the sight of the woman who had come in on the stage fawning all
over Will and she turned back toward the street. She didn’t want to be anywhere
near them, so she decided that she would head over to the mercantile and ask Mrs.
Day if she could bide her time reading in the corner of the store until the
driver had finished his little break.

“Come on, Caspar,” she called.

The coonhound dragged herself to her feet and
followed Elizabeth as she headed down the boardwalk. When she came to the break
in the walkway, she paused, searching for a way to protect herself from the still
pouring rain as she crossed the street. She had her satchel, but was hesitant
for anything inside to get any wetter than they already were—especially her
books. The rain continued to fall in a cascade of showers. Fat droplets pelted
at the ground creating a host of puddles forming in the ruts of the dirt road.

A strong arm swooped around her, urging her down off
the step and into the street. She glanced over at Will’s smiling face as he
covered her with his jacket until they arrived under the next covered boardwalk.

Caspar howled, still following close behind.

“I decided that maybe I was the one who wanted to
snuggle a little longer,” he whispered with a grin on his infuriatingly
handsome face. “You cleaned up fast. I like the braid.” He winked.

Elizabeth stood there. Stunned.

He flashed another smile that spread across his
face, showing off whiter teeth than she had ever seen on a man—especially a
boxer, then he turned back toward the stage and left without any further
interaction.

Didn’t he know what he was doing to her? Of
course, he didn’t. He had no idea who she was and that irked her even more. How
dare he flirt with her after nearly kissing that other woman. Maybe it was for
the best that she was moving a thousand miles away to marry some preacher from Colorado.
Maybe it was for the best that she would never see Will Redbourne again. Maybe,
in her heart, she was still a wishful thinker.

She headed into the mercantile, now, more intent
than ever on losing herself in a good book. She would just forget about him and
his voice that sent gooseflesh down her arms to her toes.

Will Redbourne who?

Will could not stop thinking about the woman’s
lips. How close they’d been. How full and inviting. He’d never seen her around
Stone Creek before and was a little saddened he wouldn’t have the opportunity
to learn more about her or get to know her before he left.

“Hey, Paulie,” he said when he got back to the
telegraph office, “do you know her?” He grabbed the other outrider’s arm and
spun him to face the mercantile just before she slipped inside.

“Nope,” Paulie dismissed and turned back around.
“Never seen her before.”

Someone had to know who she was.

“You met Otis’s replacement yet?” Raine asked as
he walked up behind Will.

“Just at a glance. Didn’t get much of a feel for
him yet.”

“The bank is transferring a lot of money. I’d
feel much better if I were coming with you.”

“Why don’t you?”

“The sheriff needs me here.”

“You mean the town needs you here in the absence
of the sheriff.”

“Very funny. Sheriff Butts—”

Will sniggered under his breath.

“—has done a lot for this town.”

“Recently?”

Raine didn’t answer immediately.

“Either way, it’s up to you, little brother, to
make sure that this bankroll gets to Kansas City. I couldn’t trust anyone
more.”

Will reveled for a moment under Raine’s praise.
He wanted nothing more than to make his brothers, and his father, proud.

“By the way,” Will said with an amused snort, “you’ll
never guess who came in on the stage today.”

“Oh, Deputy Redbourne.” The sing-song sound of
the woman’s voice almost made Will feel sorry for his brother.

Almost.

Raine closed his eyes and shook his head.

Will laughed. “Yep.”

“MaryBeth,” Raine said as he spun around to face
the lavish blond woman. “When did you get back to town?”

“Didn’t Will tell you?” Her mouth extended into
an exaggerated pout. “I’ve been visiting my mother in Colorado and just got
back this afternoon.”

“Does Cole know you’re back?”

“Oh, no. I thought I would surprise him. Do you
think I’d be able to stop by later this afternoon?”

As much as they’d all tried, Cole wouldn’t listen
to reason when it came to MaryBeth Hutchinson. All he saw was her bouncing
curls and slender waistline. He couldn’t see past the exterior to see that she
was only looking for a man of status and wealth—all of which, every Redbourne son
would have as part of their inheritance if they married before their
twenty-sixth birthday. For her, it seemed, nothing else mattered and none of
them wanted to see Cole get hurt.

“He’s working with Tag out in the corral today. I’m
sure he wouldn’t mind if you stopped by,” Raine said with a smirk.

Will elbowed him in the side.

“Are you both going to be home for supper?” she
asked, feigning innocence.

“’Fraid not,” Raine said, pretending
disappointment, “there’s a lot of work to be done here in town. But, I am sure
Cole will be pleased to see you.”

Her toothy smile exposed a large portion of her
gums and her eyes lit up with delight—though he imagined that the prospect of
courting any man of status would have the same effect.

MaryBeth’s heavily floral scent lingered long
after her uncle had come to retrieve her.

“Dad’s going to have your hide for sending her
out to the ranch.”

“Nah. Cole will learn sooner or later. And you
have to admit, it’s amusing to watch.” Raine laughed to himself and Will joined
in.

“Poor Charcoal.”

While Mr. Phillips switched out horses for the
stage, Will and Raine headed over to Millie’s to grab a bite to eat before the
short journey ahead. They were seated by a window with a perfect view into the
mercantile where the woman he’d given a ride into town sat in the corner
reading.

“Raine,” he said after finishing his last bite of
chicken fried steak, “who is that woman over there?”

His brother looked out the window. “Which woman?”
he asked as several young ladies passed by the restaurant in small groups.

“The one reading in the mercantile. I’ve never
seen her before, so she can’t have lived here long.” Surely, he hadn’t been so
preoccupied with his own life that he wouldn’t have noticed a beauty like her.

Raine squinted. “I’m not sure. It looks like it
could be Mrs. Jessup. Why do you want to know?”

Mrs.?
Will fought the disappointment that rose up in
his throat. Then the last name struck a chord in his mind.

“Jessup?” Will ignored his brother’s question. “The
woman who bought Old Ferg’s place before it burned down?”

“One in the same.”

“What’s her story? Why would somebody want to
burn down her house? Has she been here long enough to have earned a grudge
against her?”

“I don’t think it was Mrs. Jessup they were after,”
Raine said with a shake of his head. “Ferg had gotten himself into some trouble
with some seedy people. He left in a real hurry and I think Eliza Beth paid the
price.”

Will’s conversation with Professor Cromwell ran
through his mind and now his curiosity was piqued even more.

“Is she English?” he asked, suddenly distrustful
of the beautiful woman. A man couldn’t be too careful where Sterling Archer was
concerned.

“I don’t think so, but honestly, I’ve barely
spoken with the woman. Grace and Ethan were pretty protective of her ever since
that first night when they took her under their wings. They are who you should
be asking—though, apparently, she moved here with her husband, but he’s not
around anymore.”

“Why not? Where is he?” Will cursed himself for his
interest. He didn’t have time to ride back out to the ranch and talk to his
brother and his wife.

“Honestly, I’m not sure the man even existed.
There is something about that woman that just doesn’t fit, but I don’t get a
bad feeling about her.” Raine stared at him for a moment. “Why are you so
interested?”

Will’s gaze returned to the window. Mrs. Day had
a large broomstick in her hand and was shooing a dog from her store.

“Huh? Oh, I’m not really. Just curious.”

“Mmmhmmm,” Raine replied unbelievingly. “I’ve
seen that look before.”

Will pushed away from the table and set some
coins down in place of his plate. “I’ll be back,” he said, grabbing his hat
from one of the empty chairs at their table and headed out the door.

What had she called the dog?

“Caspar,” he said with a follow-up whistle. The
pup happily made her way toward him and he led her over to the livery where she
would be able to rest out of the rain. Most animals were accustomed to being
outside in most types of weather, but for some reason, he liked the thought of
having something that belonged to Mrs. Jessup—if that was indeed who she was. He
gave the liveryman some money to hold onto the hound and to keep her from
wandering off.

“She’s not a horse,” the man protested loudly as
Will walked away.

He turned back over his shoulder. “You’ll make
do.”

Mr. Phillips may act grumpy, but Will had a
feeling that by the time he returned, the liveryman would be reluctant to
relinquish the dog back into his custody.

By the time Will walked back into Millie’s place,
Raine had already finished his food and was in a deep, seemingly heated
conversation with the sheriff, who looked like he’d just stepped out of the
saloon.

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, though
drizzles of rain continued to fall, lighter now, but wet all the same. He
leaned up against the doorframe of the café, waiting for Raine to finish his
business.

“Let’s go.” Raine’s jaw flexed, his eyes fixed on
a point in the road as he pushed past Will and marched toward the jailhouse.

Water collected in the brim of his hat and fell
in a stream in front of him. “What bee’s gotten into your bonnet?” Will asked,
trying to lighten the suddenly darkened mood.

“Control your thoughts, control the fight,” Raine
muttered under his breath.

Will smiled with a level of satisfaction he
couldn’t have imagined from such a small thing. Raine had just recited one of
the mantras that Will had learned while training with Jem Mace in England. He’d
tried many times over the last little while to share the wisdom in his mentor’s
words, but, until now, had believed they’d fallen on deaf ears. It was nice to
hear.

“He let them go,” Raine said, his jaw flexing and
his hands clenching and unclenching. “Told them to get out of town.”

“Who?”

Raine took off his hat and shoved his hands
through his hair. “Those blasted Reynolds brothers. They are the ones who went
to Ferg’s house the other day and harassed Mrs. Jessup. It was their whiskey
bottle that I found in the burned wreckage, and it was them who burned down
that house.”

“How can you know for sure. You just said you
didn’t have any proof.”

“The sheriff had proof. He’d overheard them
laughing about it over at the saloon. When he found out that I had arrested
them, he sobered up long enough to make his way back to the jailhouse. He told
them that if he ever saw their scrawny hides again he would keep them locked up.”

“Why would he do something like that? This isn’t
the first time they’ve been in trouble.” Will tipped his hat at Millie, who
passed by with a wink, then closed the door behind them.

“He said that he didn’t want to break their
mama’s heart,” Raine strode purposefully toward the telegraph office. “I think
he was just too drunk to think straight.”

“Can we go after them?”

“I’ll send a wire out and we can have Charcoal
draw up a wanted poster to be circulated, but I am not sure what good it’ll do.
As long as they never show their faces in Stone Creek again, I guess I’ll have
to be good with that. For now. It’s just not in my jurisdiction.”

Will could see the conflict on his brother’s
face. He’d always said that wrong was wrong, no matter where you lived. He
wondered if Raine ever felt envious of Rafe, being able to chase the bad guys
down wherever they were, but refrained from asking.

“Besides,” Raine said, turning back as he pulled
open the door, “you’re headed out in less than an hour and you’ve got plenty on
your plate to do when you get back before you head to England. Things will all
work out around here. It always does.”

Will glanced up in time to see the stagecoach driver
step out of Millie’s and head toward the saloon. He hit Raine’s arm with the
back of his hand and jutted his chin in the man’s direction.

Raine nodded and allowed the door to the
telegraph office to close.

They hurried to catch up with him.

“Excuse me,” Will said as they reached him. “I
just wanted to introduce myself. Will Redbourne, one of your outriders for this
run.”

“Redbourne, huh?” the man asked as he pulled up
short and narrowed his eyes at Will, then moved his appraisal to Raine. “I knew
a Redbourne once. You any relation to a Rafe Redbourne?”

Both Will and Raine chuckled.

“He’s our brother.”

His face lit up and a reluctant smile broke onto
his face. “Best damned bounty hunter I ever met.” He pulled at his suspenders
and let them snap back into place. “He’s real good at spottin’ a problem. You
as good as him?”

Will wasn’t sure what to say. He’d spent the
better half of his life trying to make his older brothers proud, to live up to
the expectation that they’d created, and to be worthy of being called a
Redbourne. Before he could say anything, Raine interjected.

“You won’t find a better rider, fighter, or guard.
Ever. He’s not only good with a gun, but he’s excellent with his fists, and
with his brain. You’ll be glad you have him along and on your side.”

Will looked at Raine, trying to keep the surprise
from his expression.

“Well, glad to hear it. Name’s Ellis Glenn.” He
stuck out a hand for Will to shake.