Miracle Jones (37 page)

She’d had to face Raynor, of course; he’d wanted her to identify Brody.
Then he’d asked her dozens of questions, and though several times she’d opened her mouth to tell him about Blue, her brother’s threat kept filling her head, turning her stone cold with fright.

It hadn’t helped that Harrison had stood beside her, frowning at her careful statement of facts.
Did he know she was hiding something from him?
She’d promised not to hide anything, but she was afraid Blue would kill him straight out with no chance for explanations if he found she’d told Harrison about him.

And she was certain he
would
find out.
Blue was half Indian, and he could move like a shadow.
She’d learned that for herself.
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to possess this same trait; otherwise she would slip silently away and take care of him her own way.

She shivered, wondering if she could actually kill him.
If he were threatening Harrison, yes, no doubt.
But if she just had to face him and make a decision in cold blood…

Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.
She would leave and that was that.

“You let that blond doctor friend of yours sleep in your bed,” Uncle Horace observed, shaking her from her thoughts.

“He was hurt.
I insisted that he stay here.”

Uncle Horace groaned.
“You’re gonna get a reputation like your mama’s.”

Miracle clamped her lips together.
She didn’t think she could bear a lecture on behavior today!
Should she tell Uncle Horace that the bounty hunter was really Blue?
And that Blue was really the chief?

No.
Blue had threatened Uncle Horace, too.
If she told him, she would also be putting his life in jeopardy, and Uncle Horace had no chance of defending himself.
He wasn’t young or strong like Harrison, nor was he handy with a gun.
No, her first plan of leaving town seemed the safest solution.
If Blue meant what he said about wanting her to leave with him, by all rights he would chase her down first before taking vengeance on Harrison and Uncle Horace.
If she were extremely clever, she could lead him on a merry chase before he ever caught up with her.
Of course, when he did catch her, her plight would be pretty desperate.
But she couldn’t think about that now.

“This Harrison Danner is engaged to the Garrett woman.
He won’t be havin’ you.”

“He’s not engaged any longer.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he told me so himself.” Miracle scraped back her stool and sat down at the plank-board and barrel table, glaring across at Uncle Horace, who was looking at her through anxious eyes.

“Don’t mean he’ll marry you,” he pointed out.

“Did I say anything about marriage?” Miracle demanded furiously.
“I don’t lie to myself, no matter what you think.
Harrison wants a mistress and nothing more.
The only way he’d marry me was out of guilt.
And that’s the reason I can’t stay in Rock Springs any longer!”

Uncle Horace’s chin dropped.
“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m leaving,” she said with finality.
“I’m going away.”

“Not without me, you’re not.
What about finding your father?
That man’s got to be here and –”

Miracle held up one hand.
She didn’t want to go into
that,
either.
“I don’t want to find my father.
You and Aunt Emily are all the family I need.
I should have realized that before.”

Touched, he gazed at her affectionately, reaching a hand out to enclose hers.
“What about Blue?”

“You were right.
Aunt Emily didn’t know what she was talking about.
Blue isn’t coming here.”

He shot her a suspicious glance.
“You’re bein’ entirely too agreeable, Miracle, my girl.”

“Honestly!
You’re always bellyaching about my not agreeing with you.
Now that I have, you should be happy!” She jumped restlessly to her feet.

“What are you doin’ now?” he hollered as she headed for the stairs.

“Packing” was Miracle’s taut answer.

¤   ¤   ¤

From the moment they’d gotten back to the house Emerald had been acting mysterious and secretive, Kelsey thought to herself.
She’d called several of the farm hands inside, the only ones who could stomach her, and she’d given them secret orders.
They’d ridden off a few minutes later.

What was Jace’s scheming wife up to?

Kelsey caught up to her sister-in-law in Emerald’s pink and silver boudoir, expecting to find her primping in front of her mirror.
Instead she was standing at the window, gazing across the open fields to Danner land, smirking.

“What are you doing?” Kelsey demanded.

“Oh, Kelsey!
You gave me a fright.” In truth Emerald had nearly jumped from her skin.
“What do you mean by coming in here uninvited?” she added indignantly.

“I heard you talking to Jace at the infirmary.
I talked to him after you left.”

“So?”

“So Miracle Jones had my tin box all these years, and Harrison thinks my father gave it to her because she’s half Garrett.”

Emerald’s lips pinched together.
“Jace and I don’t believe it.”

“Why not?
From what I’ve heard of my father, he had lots of mistresses.” Kelsey hid her bitterness.
She had no love for her father, an uncaring philanderer without a shred of conscience.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if she is or she isn’t,” Emerald went on tautly.
“She’s a breed.
She’s not white.
She has no rights to anything.” Her black eyes regarded Kelsey hatefully.
“All she’s good for is a quick tumble in bed with Harrison Danner.”

“I think Harrison’s in love with her.”

Emerald was horrified, but then something out the window caught her attention.
“Oh, good heavens,” she declared.
“Looks like one of the ewes is caught in the fence.
I’d better have MacDougal help her.”

She rushed out of the room.
Kelsey stared after her.
Since when did Emerald care a whit about any of the livestock?

She crossed to the window and looked for herself.
The two hands Emerald had sent out were coming back, chasing a frightened herd of Danner cattle into Silver Stream, running them so fast it was likely the poor animals would break their legs unless they slowed down when they hit the creek bed.

Fury ran like hot lava through her veins.
Now she knew what Jace had told Emerald to do: go after the Danners.
Apparently getting shot while helping Harrison had been the last straw for Jace.
Especially since he refused to believe Kelsey hadn’t wanted out of her engagement.
Now Jace wanted revenge.
And he was going after Danner blood.

She ran downstairs to the gun closet.
Wrapping her hand in the length of her skirt, she smashed her fist through the glass, unlocking the case from the inside.
Grabbing her rifle, she checked the chamber, then she yanked open the drawers below, pulling out extra cartridges.

“What in God’s name are you doing?” Emerald shrieked at the top of her lungs.
She was standing in the archway to the den.

Kelsey smiled coldly.
“I’m going to stop your friends from slaughtering Danner cattle.
After that I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?
What do you mean, ‘leaving’?”

Kelsey walked forward until she pushed a stumbling Emerald backward with the barrel of the rifle.
She would take the derringer, too, she decided calmly, though she didn’t like handguns as well as rifles.
They weren’t as accurate.
Then she would pack some clothes, and some of those breeches she’d saved from when Jace was a boy, the ones that fit her.
She would wear them under her skirts so she could ride Sadie Mae astraddle.
And Maggie would leave with her, too, she decided, whistling for the rangy mutt even as her plans were formed.

“Jace will have your hide for this, Kelsey Garrett!” Emerald threatened, sputtering.

“Jace’ll have to catch me first.”

¤   ¤   ¤

“I won’t let you leave without me,” Uncle Horace declared, positioning himself in the lean-to door, blocking Miracle from leading Gray from his stall.

“I have to,” Miracle argued.
“If I don’t, terrible things will happen.”

“What do you mean?”

She couldn’t tell him about Blue, but she could give him an equally powerful reason.
Sighing, she said gently.
“You know I’m falling in love with Harrison Danner, and like you’ve told me, it can’t work out between us.
If I stay, it’ll be worse.
I
will
be like my mother.
Don’t you see?”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“Later.
You’re still waiting for another shipment.
Anyway, I need you to stay to make sure Harrison doesn’t come after me.
Lie to him if you have to, but don’t tell him where I’m going.”

“Where
are
you going?”

“Somewhere far away.
I’ll let you know when I get there.”

Miracle led Gray past Uncle Horace into the fading twilight of a cold November night.
Shaking his head, Horace followed her to the street.
Neither of them noticed the still, black shadow that had overheard everything they said.

¤   ¤   ¤

“Trouble out at the Danners,” the deputy said, gasping for breath as he pulled his pony up short in front of the search party.
It had taken him the greater part of two hours to find them.
Both he and the pony were panting and exhausted.

Harrison brought his mount around sharply.
The deputy had been instructed to stay in Rock Springs.
The fact he’d chased them down meant things were serious.
“What kind of trouble?”

“Don’t know exactly.
Some livestock’s been killed, and a field’s burning.”

Harrison whipped around, slapping his reins on the horse’s flanks.
What the hell was going on?

“How did you hear of it?” Raynor asked the deputy.

“Kelsey Garrett rode into town, rantin’ and ravin’.
She thinks her
brother’s
responsible, if that don’t beat all.
But hell, we all know poor Jace is recoopin’ at the infirmary, under Tremaine Danner’s care.
It sure weren’t Jace’s fault.”

Want to bet?
Harrison thought grimly.
“You’ll have to keep up the search without me,” he said through his teeth as he aimed his mount in the direction of Danner property, “while I take care of a few things at home.”

Chapter Seventeen

Gray never had been known for his speed, so Miracle tamped down her sense of urgency and let the plodder lurch onto the main road.
Hellfire and damnation, but the beast was slow!
If she escaped from Blue and Harrison it would only be by the luck of the gods.

That thought turned her mood so black that she scowled at the swaybacked gelding.
“Giddyap, you.” She kicked him in the sides – sides that were so huge it damn near split her in two just to ride the monster.

An hour outside of Rock Springs, on the road west of the city, Miracle changed her mind about leaving.
She’d never run away from a fight before; she wouldn’t run away now.
Harrison needed her information if he were ever going to protect himself.
What could have possessed her to think otherwise?

Furious with herself, Miracle yanked Gray around.
She’d been afraid to become his mistress and have people call her an Injun whore.
Her pride had smothered her good sense.
What could Blue do if Harrison were prepared?

Remembering her black-hearted brother, she shuddered.
She knew well and good that he could, and would, hurt Harrison, maybe even kill him, but he could do that anyway, she argued with herself.
Best to let the man be prepared.
She
would want to know if someone were threatening
her
life!

The knife was strapped to her thigh, and she felt its comfort as she turned Gray back to the faint twinkling lights of Rock Springs.
She felt a kinship with those lights.
This rural town with its pompous members of the Ladies Aid Society, its raucous saloon, its elegant hotel, and its Danner family of doctors was where she wanted to call home.

“Where’s your courage?” she demanded aloud of herself.
She loved Harrison, well and truly.
She would give him an ultimatum.
Marriage or nothing.
She could at least give him the chance to reject her, and if he did… maybe she wouldn’t love him as much.

But if he accepted her, the potential risk to her pride would have been worth it.

Billy Greaves was standing outside the infirmary, looking toward the eastern sky as Miracle slowly reached the edge of town.
She followed his gaze.
The moon was shrouded by a blanket of smoke.

Smoke?

“Billy,” she called to him.
He ran over to Gray, which was certainly faster than waiting for the gelding to come to him.
“What’s happening?” she asked sharply.
“Where’s that smoke coming from?”

“Danner property, ma’am.”

“Danner
property?”

“Someone set fire to the fields.
Dr.
Danner thinks it’s Jace’s doing.”

“Which Dr.
Danner?”

“All of them.”

“But isn’t Jace still in the infirmary?” She glanced through the window of the front door.

“Yess’m, but they believe Jace ordered his hands to do it.
He’s plenty upset that Dr.
Danner was allowed to cut on him.
Says if he don’t walk again, he’ll have Dr.
Danner brought up on charges.”

“That’s ridiculous!
Jace had a bullet in his thigh and Tremaine had to take it out.
Besides, Harrison said Jace’ll be fine.”

“Well, Jace don’t seem too upset about goin’s on at the Danner place.
He just lays in bed and smiles.”

“Is Tremaine at the house?” What about Harrison?
Had this disaster brought him back from his search?

“Yep.
Wish I could go, but someone’s gotta keep an eye on Garrett.” He shot her a hopeful glance.
“You wouldn’t mind taking care of him, would’ja?”

“I
would
mind.” Miracle smiled to take the sting out of her words.
“I’m going to help.” She kicked Gray again, and the animal moved forward with a faint burst of speed, which Miracle sought to maintain by cooing to him and slapping him lightly with the reins.

It was normally about an hour’s buggy ride from Rock Springs to the Danners’; it should be half that time on a fast horse, which unfortunately Miracle didn’t possess.
She chafed at Gray’s lack of speed, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She was passing the drive that led to the Garretts’ when the sound of rushing wheels brought her swiftly around.
Gray shied backward and snorted as the Garrett carriage careened onto the main road.

It was Emerald at the reins.
Spying Miracle, she pulled up short, quivering with fury.
“Damn you, you half-breed
bitch!
It’s all your fault!” She jabbed her finger at Miracle, declaring as if she were the voice of judgment, “You started this feud!”

Miracle was speechless, a state so rare that she couldn’t honestly say she’d ever experienced it before.
But then her temper rescued her.
“I
started it?”

“Harrison broke his engagement to Kelsey because of you!
That was a slap in the face!
Then you have the nerve to claim to be a Garrett!
You’re nothing but a dirty, trouble-causing Indian, that’s what you are!
All you Indians should be put on reservations, or thrown in jail!”

“Who set fire to those fields?” Miracle demanded, gesturing toward the billowing smoke.
She was so enraged she could hardly speak.
“It was a Garrett.
If anyone should be thrown in jail, it should be you!”

Emerald half rose out of her seat.
Miracle jumped down from her horse, stalking toward her.
No, it wasn’t ladylike to fight, but hellfire, how she itched to get her hands around Emerald’s lily-white neck!

“Get on!” Emerald yelled at her team, slapping the reins down hard.
Miracle had to jump back to keep from being smashed beneath the carriage’s wheels.

Emerald had escalated the feud at Jace’s suggestion, Miracle realized.
She wondered what Kelsey felt about Emerald’s and Jace’s evil deeds.

¤   ¤   ¤

“The fields’ll burn out,” Harrison said to one of the neighbors who’d come to help.
“There’s no wind.
It was just a mean-minded trick to let us know what they think of us.”

The man spat out a stream of tobacco onto the ground.
“Them Garretts is nasty.”

“I’m more concerned about the cattle.
We lost three of them.”

Harrison voice was so grim the man didn’t have to ask what had happened.
The poor animals had broken their legs, and Harrison, because it was part of his job, had to put them down.

Thanking the man, Harrison walked back toward the house, where his father stood by the back fence, watching.
Lexie had helped him with the animals, then had gone back to her family, tears of fury and helplessness blinding her.
Tremaine had taken one of the Danner hands into the house to treat some minor burns.
Both of them were ready to burn and lynch Jason Garrett.
Harrison felt the same way.

Joseph Danner saw his son’s face and shook his head.
“It’s Jace’s way of getting even.
It’ll pass.”

“Getting even for what?”

“For Kelsey.
For you falling in love with Miracle Jones.
For Miracle being half Garrett.”

Joseph, because he’d known Joshua Garrett, was convinced Miracle was indeed a Garrett.
But Harrison was surprised that his father thought he was in love with Miracle.
He hadn’t told him that.

“Well, I’d sure as hell like to pay Jace back in kind,” he growled.

“That would really get the feud going.”

The burning field was under control, so they turned wearily toward the house together.
A horse’s hoofbeats sounded, and Harrison whipped around, ready to confront another onslaught of Garrett mischief.

But the hoofbeats were slow and steady.
A rider appeared at the edge of the drive, urging her mount with sharp kicks and sharper words.

“Miracle?” Harrison asked, crossing to her exhausted plodder.

“Oh, Harrison!”

She slipped from her mount and ran straight to his arms, a move so unlike her that he held her tightly for several moments before demanding, “What’s wrong?”

She scarcely knew how to begin.
But there was no time to save herself.
“It’s – it’s Blue.”

“Blue?”

“My brother.
He’s here in Rock Springs, and I think he’s one of the highwaymen.”

There was utter silence.
It was Joseph Danner who finally spoke.
“I thought you didn’t know your brother.”

“I don’t.” Miracle pulled herself away from Harrison, who let her go without resistance.
Her chest was tight.
“I’d never met him until he showed up at the shop.”

“When?” Harrison was terse.

“Several weeks ago.”

“Weeks ago?
You met him several weeks ago and you never told me?”

Miracle took offense at his harsh tone.
“I didn’t know who he was at first.
He said his name was Gil and he was a bounty hunter, but then, the night you were shot, he – he was the one who pushed me in the mud.”

She was suddenly yanked away from Joseph, Harrison’s hard hand encircling her upper arm, dragging her away.
“You said it was Brody,” he reminded her through his teeth.

“Brody was with the woman, at the wagon.
I was running to tell you when Blue suddenly jumped out and threw me down.
He told me who he was, and he –”

“Why didn’t you tell me?
For Chrissake, Miracle!
Why the hell did you lie?” His voice was thunder, the crack of doom.

“Because he threatened you!
He said he would kill you if I told!”

“You should have told me anyway!
The man’s a murderer.
We’ve been searching for him for weeks, and you decided to keep that little secret to yourself?” He was in full fury now.
“You promised not to hide anything more from me.”

“He told me he’d hurt you,
and
Uncle Horace, if I said anything.
Hellfire, Harrison!
All I wanted to do was keep you alive.”

“I can keep myself alive,” he ground out.
“But that other woman is still missing, and my bet is she’s dead.
We might have been able to save her, if you’d told the truth.”

The blood drained from Miracle’s face.
“Harrison…”

“Shut up and let me think.”

She’d never seen him so angry.
God’s truth, she didn’t blame him.
But he blamed her for someone’s death… no, she couldn’t bear it.

The blaze of orange brightened the western sky.
Miracle turned dully in its direction.
The air was already thick with smoke from the burning fields.
It caught in Miracle’s throat and made her feel sick.
But this was different.
Brighter.
And it was coming from
Garrett
property, not Danner!

“Harrison!” she shrieked.

He’d been striding toward the house, but now he whipped around, following the direction of her pointing finger.
Joseph, too, glanced around at her screech of fear.

“It’s the Garrett house,” he said quietly.

“No, it’s the barn,” Harrison contradicted, breaking into a run toward the stables.

Miracle didn’t wait.
She knew Harrison was too angry with her to ask for her help.
She jumped back onto Gray and turned the reluctant beast toward the Garrett property.
She’d barely gotten a hundred yards when Harrison came thundering out of the stables on a coal-black stallion that passed Miracle as if she were standing still.