Page 29 of For the Roses (Claybornes' Brides (Rose Hill) 1)

  He woke up with her face in his groin. He thought he’d died and gone to heaven, but as soon as the mist of sleep wore off, he knew he’d gone straight to purgatory instead. Mary Rose wasn’t seducing him. She was sound asleep. Her feet were tucked under his chin. She was simply trying in her sleep to get warm.

  It took him forever to move her away from him without waking her up. Then he got up as quietly as he could. He walked barefoot outside and stood in the rain.

  It didn’t help one damned bit.

  July 11, 1865

  Dear Mama Rose,

  Today is my birthday. I wish you were here to celebrate the day with me.

  Now that the war is over, you’ll be able to come to your family, and that will be the best present a son could have.

  We pray for Lincoln’s soul every night. I try not to get angry anymore about his senseless death, and I’m consoled by the words from his last inaugural address. Here’s the part I like the most:

  “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

  Love you,

  Travis

  10

  Some son-of-a-bitch took a shot at them on their way home. Harrison was paying attention. He rode by Mary Rose’s side, and the second he spotted the glint of metal through the pines directly ahead of them just where the crook in the trail began to turn, he shoved Mary Rose off her horse, drew his six-shooter, and fired a scant second too late.

  The enemy’s bullet passed through his right side. Harrison barely reacted to the sting of pain. He was leaning close to Mary Rose’s saddle now, his gaze fully directed on the forest ahead. Had she been riding her mount, the bullet he caught most certainly would have killed her.

  And that realization sent him right over the edge.

  “Stay down,” he ordered.

  He didn’t take time to find out where she’d landed. He goaded MacHugh into a full gallop. Harrison’s only determination was to find the bastard and destroy him with his bare hands.

  He got a good look at the coward’s face, but when he reached the next bend in the trail, the culprit was gone. Harrison followed the tracks and was disappointed to see they ended near the cliff above the river. The coward had obviously jumped. Harrison only hoped he drowned.

  He backtracked and found Mary Rose sitting on a rock with her gun in her hand. She didn’t seem to be the least upset by what had just happened.

  “Are you all right?” His voice was gruff, angry.

  “Yes, thank you.” Her voice was as bland as a drink of water. “Would you please fetch Millie for me?”

  Harrison nodded, then went after the mare. When he returned, Mary Rose was standing in the center of the trail. She’d put her gun away and was trying to smooth down her hair.

  He gave her the reins, then started to dismount so that he could help her, but she was quicker than he was. She got settled in the saddle, smiled at Harrison, and then nudged Millie into moving.

  Honest to God, she looked as if the ambush had been an everyday occurrence.

  “Are you really all right?” he asked again.

  “Yes. My backside’s going to be as black and blue as yours though. I landed hard. You did throw me into the bushes, Harrison. Next time I would suggest you merely tell me to duck.”

  Harrison let her ride ahead of him. He didn’t want her to notice he was looking over his injury. He could feel the wetness under his shirt, and when he glanced down, the stain of blood was oozing downward.

  It didn’t feel like much of an injury to him though. Blood wasn’t gushing out, and he took that as a good sign. He was thankful the bullet had gone through.

  He took the time to get his leather vest out of his saddlebag. He put it on as quickly as he could. He grimaced over the pain that shot up his side when he moved his arm, then forced a smile because Mary Rose turned in her saddle to look at him. He nudged MacHugh so he could catch up with her now and ride by her side.

  “Are you cold? You could use Corrie’s quilt if you are,” she suggested.

  “I’m all right,” he answered. “Aren’t you cold?”

  “No, my clothes dried out. They’re wrinkled but warm. Did you catch whoever was trying to kill us?”

  “No.” He gave her a hard look. He couldn’t help but remark on her composure. “You act as though this sort of thing happens all the time. Does it?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then why are you acting so calm?”

  She waited for him to catch up with her before she answered. “Because you aren’t.”

  “I’m not what?”

  “Calm.”

  He thought he looked and sounded perfectly calm. He guessed he didn’t.

  “The expression in your eyes makes a mockery of your tone of voice.”

  “What’s wrong with the look in my eyes?”

  “Cold . . . angry . . . you’re furious you didn’t catch the man, aren’t you?”

  “He jumped over the cliff. I hope he drowned.”

  “He probably did.”

  “Weren’t you afraid at all?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “I applaud you then. You hide your feelings better than I do. I thought I was the master of that game. I guess I’m not.”

  “Is it important to be a master?”

  “In a courtroom it is.”

  She smiled and reached over to pat his knee. “I’m certain you do very well in a courtroom.”

  “You’re something else, Mary Rose. Honest to God, you are.”

  She didn’t know if he’d just given her praise or not. He was smiling though, and so she decided to take his remark as praise.

  “Living with Cole has taught all of us to be prepared for surprises. It’s all part of our lives out here.”

  “Your brothers will be home by now.”

  “Probably. We’ll reach the ranch in another half hour or so.”

  “What do you think he wanted?”

  “Who?”

  “The coward who tried to kill us.”

  “Our horses or our money. He might be hoping for both.”

  “Hell.”

  “Quit fretting about him. He’s gone now. Let’s talk about something else. I still can’t get over Corrie’s thoughtfulness. She had to walk a fair distance to bring us the quilt. It took courage, don’t you think?”

  “She wanted you to have the quilt. Not me,” he corrected. “You can’t know that for certain,” she argued. Harrison smiled. He did know Corrie had covered Mary Rose up, but he hadn’t admitted he’d seen the woman. His reason was probably foolish. Corrie belonged to Mary Rose. He wanted her to be the first to see her friend . . . if and when Corrie was ever ready to present herself.

  “You still look angry, Harrison.”

  He couldn’t help that. “Damn it, Mary Rose, you could have been killed. I’ve got a right to be angry. If anything ever happened to you . . .”

  She turned to look at him. “Yes?”

  He let out a sigh. “Your brothers would kill me.”

  “Would it kill you to admit you’d miss me?”

  “No, it wouldn’t kill me. Of course I’d miss you.”

  She was extremely pleased. She changed the subject once again. “I’ve considered what you said about Travis, and I’ve decided I will have a talk with him. I don’t want him to become overly upset about Eleanor. I’ll have a firm talk with her too. She can’t boss my brothers around. Travis will listen to me. Eleanor probably won’t. Still, I’ll try. Travis’s birthday is coming up soon. He’ll be on his best behavior so I’ll give him a nice present.”

  “When is his birthday?”

  “July eleventh,” she answered. “I’ve almost finished knitting a sweater for him. I

think he’ll love it. The color complements his eyes. He won’t care about that, of course. He’ll love it because it will keep him warm. When is your birthday?”

  “February seventeenth,” he answered.

  He didn’t ask her to tell him her birthday. He assumed she didn’t know the actual date and that her brothers had made one up so she would have her own celebration.

  Besides, he already knew the date of Lady Victoria’s birth, January second.

  “January second.”

  She said the words a scant second after he’d thought them. He couldn’t believe he’d heard right. Then he thought he had inadvertently said the date out loud.

  “Did you just . . . What did you say?”

  “January second,” she repeated. “My birthday. Is there something wrong with January second? You look a little stunned. Honestly you do.”

  He couldn’t answer her. His throat had already closed up on him. Stunned? That had to be an understatement. His mind was reeling with all his impossible possibilities. How in God’s name could she know her actual birthday?

  “Adam’s birthday is November twentieth, Cole’s is April fifteenth, although to be perfectly honest with you, he really isn’t sure of the date because he doesn’t have any proof, but a neighbor remembered him and thought he was born then, so he decided to use it for his celebration date, and Douglas’s birthday is the very last day of March. I didn’t leave anyone out, did I?”

  He shook his head again. “Did you make up your date for your birthday or do you have proof you were born on January second?”

  “I have proof,” she answered. “I came with papers.”

  Harrison leaned back in his saddle. The words were echoing in his mind over and over again.

  She came with papers.

  Everyone was waiting for them. Eleanor was pacing back and forth on the porch, Adam was standing in the doorway, and Douglas and Travis were both sitting on the porch railing, leaning against the posts.

  Cole had just walked out of the main barn when Douglas shouted to him and pointed in their direction.

  The hotheaded brother’s hand, Harrison was quick to note, immediately went to his gun. The expression on his face indicated he was thinking hard about using it.

  Harrison let out a weary sigh. Honest to God, he didn’t have time for this nonsense. He felt like hell. His side was on fire now. His day wasn’t going to get any better though, because he had finally made up his mind not to wait any longer. One way or another, Mary Rose’s future was going to be decided before he went to bed. He was going to tell the brothers about their sister. He would get the information he needed first, of course, and if he had to resort to shooting a couple of them in order to find out what he wanted to know, then by God, that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  He wouldn’t procrastinate any longer. He’d be married with six children if he didn’t do something soon.

  “Harrison, don’t frown.”

  “Sorry. I was thinking about shooting your brothers.”

  “Please don’t,” she whispered. “Smile, for heaven’s sake.”

  “They look like a lynch mob.”

  She turned to look at her brothers again. Harrison was right. Three of the four did look like they wanted to string Harrison up from the nearest tree. Eleanor appeared to be ready to fetch the rope. Her hands were on her hips, and she was glaring at them.

  “Adam looks happy to see us. I’m sure he’ll be reasonable. Just give your explanation quickly before Cole . . .”

  “Sweetheart, we didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Then why do I feel like we did?”

  He smiled when he realized he felt the same way. “I’ll take on Cole. You start on the others.”

  “You take on Cole, and I take on four? Sounds fair to me,” she teased.

  She turned to watch him head for the barn. Millie wanted to follow, but Mary Rose forced the mare to move toward the house.

  “Take off your gun,” she suggested to Harrison in a loud whisper. “Cole doesn’t usually like to shoot an unarmed man.”

  Harrison shook his head at her and continued on. He slipped off MacHugh when he was about a yard or so away from Cole. The stallion continued on into the barn. Harrison would see to his needs after he’d dealt with the brother. Cole came storming over to face him. “You low-down son-of-a-bitch. If you . . .”

  He’d reached Harrison before he finished his threat and decided to punch him instead.

  Harrison was ready for him this time. He caught Cole’s fist in the palm of his left hand and held on tight. Then he started applying pressure.

  “If I what?” he challenged in a voice as cold as January.

  Cole’s expression went from rage to astonishment in the blink of an eye.

  “If you . . . Damn, you’re quick. Let go of me. You’re squeezing my trigger finger.”

  “Are you going to try to hit me again?”

  “No. I’m thinking about shooting you now. Then I’m gonna shoot Mary Rose.”

  “I’ll kill you first.”

  “Hell.”

  “Nothing happened, Cole. We got caught in the rain, that’s all. Walk with me into the barn. I got shot. I want to find out how much damage there is without letting Mary Rose know.”

  Harrison let go of Cole’s fist and walked inside. His legs felt weak to him, but he was certain food would take care of that.

  “What happened to you? Did you try something with Mary Rose? Did she shoot you?”

  “Of course not,” he snapped. He paused near the kerosene lamp and waited until Cole got the flame going.

  “Where’d you get hit?”

  “In my side. The bullet just nicked me. It passed through.”

  “Let me have a look.”

  Cole was all business now. He moved Harrison’s arm out of his way and slowly pulled his shirt up. Then he bent down to get a closer look at the injury.

  He inwardly blanched when he saw how serious the wound was.

  “It’s just a scratch, isn’t it?”

  Cole straightened up. He wondered if Harrison knew how puny his voice sounded. He was fading fast and in need of immediate care.

  “Just a scratch,” he agreed.

  Harrison started to retuck his shirt in his pants. “Some coward tried to ambush us near the ridge. I went after him, but he’d already jumped into the river.”

  “Did you get a look at his face?”

  Harrison nodded. Then he started to walk outside. “I should talk to Adam before I clean up.”

  Cole moved to his left side and put Harrison’s arm around his shoulder. He forced him to lean into him.

  His voice was mild. “He’ll give you something to put on your puny cut. You were a gentleman, weren’t you? I sure as certain wouldn’t have been if I’d been with a pretty girl. Of course my sister’s different. I would have had to kill you if you’d touched her.”

  “I’ll be sure to let you know if I do,” Harrison replied.

  Cole thought it was strange Harrison didn’t seem to notice he was holding him up. His worry intensified. It wasn’t like Harrison to be so agreeable,

  “I’m taking you to the bunkhouse. Adam will come to fix you up. The little scratch is actually deeper than I let on. It’s still puny, of course, but you being a city boy and all, well, it should be looked after. I’ll go save Mary Rose this time. You’ve already had a turn with the bushwhacker.”

  “What are you going to save her from?”

  “My brothers. Why do you think everyone was upset? You took Mary Rose off and left us with the witch. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for that. She took a shot at Douglas. She said it was an accident, but he doesn’t believe her, not after she ‘accidentally’ shot at the stagecoach driver. None of us believe her. We’re giving her the boot before she kills one of us.”

  Harrison managed a weak smile. “Then you weren’t worried about your sister’s virtue?”

  Of course he’d been worried, but he wasn’t abou

t to admit it. He’d seen the way Harrison stared at his sister. Mary Rose had been just as busy staring at Harrison.

  “No, I wasn’t worried about you two. I was going to say that if you go off with Mary Rose and leave us with Eleanor again, we’ll all take turns killing you. That’s what I was going to say. I decided to punch you instead. I figured a good punch would get my point across much quicker.”

  Harrison staggered, regained his balance, and continued on. He thought he’d stepped on a rock and that made him stumble.

  “Ah, hell, you’re going to make me carry you, aren’t you?”

  Harrison didn’t answer Cole. He couldn’t. He’d already passed out in his arms.

  Mary Rose let out a shout, picked up her skirts and came running toward them. Everyone followed her.

  “What did you do to him. Dear God, what did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Cole shouted back.

  She didn’t believe him. “What happened to him?”

  She bent down and looked at Harrison’s face. She saw how pale he was and promptly burst into tears.

  Douglas was the next one to reach them. “Did you kill him, Cole?” he demanded.

  “No.”

  The injury was serious, but it wasn’t life-threatening, and in Cole’s mind that meant Harrison was still fair game.

  “What happened?” Adam asked.

  Cole’s grin was devilish. “He fainted.”

  January 15, 1866

  Dear Mama Rose,

  Yur suns are mean to me. Adam make me sit by myself at the table just kause I kicked Travis. Adam is a bad boy. Tell him I don’t have to sit there by myself. I made a picture for you.

  Mary Rose

  11

  They were never going to let him live it down. No sir, not ever. Fainting was apparently something mountain men never did, and all of the brothers, including Adam, took fiendish delight in telling him so. Over and over and over again.

  Harrison suffered through it, but only because he didn’t have any choice. He was too weak to strike back, and once he’d finally regained his strength, three of the four brothers had taken off. Adam stayed home, of course, but Harrison left him alone. The oldest brother had to keep Eleanor calm, and Harrison believed that was enough punishment for any man to suffer.