Texas Rain

CHAPTER 32

Rainey slipped from the laundry room window into Travis's arms. She felt numb with worry and fear. She'd let Dillon and Travis discuss protecting her as if she were not responsible for herself, but deep down she knew that the longer she stayed around Travis, the more danger she put him in. When she got the chance, she needed to disappear.

But tonight didn't seem the time. A fog had settled over the town earlier, and now a slow rain hung in the air. The weather would make her escape easier, but it left a feeling that the whole world was crying.

Travis held her hand as they moved in the darkness down the alley to where Roy had the wagon waiting. When he reached the wagon, he turned and lifted her into the back between boxes and bundles of what looked like supplies, then swung in beside her. In an instant they vanished beneath blankets.

Travis opened his arm and pulled her against him as Roy set the horses into motion. He moved slowly, as if he were in no hurry. To all that might glance in their direction, Roy looked much like Owen did when he made deliveries.

"You all right?" Travis whispered. They were so close she felt his breath on her cheek.

"Yes."

They remained silent for a few minutes, and then he whispered close to her ear. "I wish we were back in your room on the third floor."

"Me, too," she answered, remembering how she'd lain beside him without her clothes and without embarrassment.

"Rainey?" he mumbled.

"Yes."

"I love touching you."

She stilled. It was the first time she'd heard him use the word love. He hadn't said he loved her, just touching her. The wagon rattled along. Rainey closed her eyes and remembered how it had been for a few short hours. No one would ever guess that the hard man beside her could be so tender. He'd made her feel beautiful, if only for a few hours. The memory of the way he'd kissed her warmed her still.

After a while the wagon came to a stop and Travis slipped from beside her. "I'll be back in a minute. Don't move."

Rainey poked her head out enough to see the outline of the judge holding Duck at the back door. The boy began to fight and kick the moment he recognized Travis coming toward them. The judge let him go. Duck flew down the path to Travis.

As always, Travis engulfed the boy in his hug. Watching, Rainey saw how much the child meant to him.

"Thanks," she heard Travis say as he moved closer to the judge. She couldn't hear more. Roy climbed from the wagon and loaded more supplies.

Travis finally stepped away from the judge and said, "We'll be in touch."

When he put Duck in the wagon, Travis told him to lie down in a voice Rainey thought sounded harsh. Duck didn't seem to mind. He smiled back at Travis and cuddled down next to Rainey. Travis lay on the other side of the boy and covered them all with a buffalo hide as Roy started moving again.

Rainey reached her hand above the boy and touched Travis's shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"You know that cellar where Dottie collected the wine you stole?" Travis whispered.

"No," she said. "I'm not going there." She couldn't bring herself to even think of climbing back in that cellar. She'd face the kidnappers again before she'd hide in the darkness of that place.

His hand gently brushed her cheek. "Dome's waiting there with a lantern. The saloon is long closed. We'll only have to pass through to her part where her husband's restaurant used to be. It was the only place we could come up with where no one would look and you both would still be close."

Rainey tried to slow her breathing as the wagon rattled. The boarded-up restaurant would be the perfect place to hide. It was right in the middle of town so the Rangers would have no trouble watching over them, and no one probably even remembered Dome's husband once ran the place.

When they got to the alley, she pointed to the cellar door. Roy opened it and Travis moved down first with Duck on his arm. The boy didn't like the idea of going into darkness any more than Rainey did. He hid his face in the collar of Travis's coat.

Rainey followed once she saw the warm glow of a lantern lighting the way.

The cellar didn't look nearly so frightening in the light. Bottles and barrels were scattered around, but after a few feet there was a clear path to the back stairs. Halfway up the stairs divided, one set to the saloon, the other to the restaurant.

"My husband's partner closes when the last customer leaves, and doesn't open up until noon or after. We'll be settled in by then."

Rainey followed Dottie into the small restaurant kitchen. Two huge ovens stood in one corner with a low fire burning in one. Pots and pans hung from an iron circle above a worktable. Except for the dust the place looked as if the cook had just walked out.

Dottie spread her hands in welcome. "Roy and I thought no one would notice smoke in this fog, so we braved a fire. I've been dusting off everything while I waited for you to get here, but I'm afraid the place still has a layer of dirt on it."

Travis sat Duck by the lantern and crossed to the far door. "I'll check out the front. Duck, you stay with Rainey."

To Rainey's surprise, Duck nodded.

Dottie set another lantern on the counter. "My husband loved this place. He'd cook every night, but we didn't make any money until he started having a private card game in the restaurant after nine." She sighed as she ran her hand along the wood as if saying hello. "Life was so sweet. We'd work here, then go home to a little house he'd built for me. When he died, I tried, but I couldn't sell this place. Finally I had so much debt I had to sell my house. I thought of trying to make this into a home, but who wants to try and sleep when the other half of the building is a saloon."

"I love the kitchen," Rainey whispered. "Your husband really knew what he was doing when he set it up. It's a baker's dream."

Dottie looked around. "It's cozy, isn't it? The judge said I could stay with him and the Baileys' were nice enough to offer me a place until my arm heals, but somehow, I wanted to come here. It's like I'm scared and I need my Henry to protect me." She smiled. "Maybe a little part of him is still here."

Roy bumped his way into the kitchen carrying blankets and supplies. "Where do you want these?" he said. "The judge sent over food enough for an army."

"Here, oh the counter," Dottie said. "The front is full of the furniture I couldn't sell."

Travis returned. "Roy give me a hand and we'll move something against the front door. Then the only way in and out of here will be through the cellar. There's a streetlight right outside the windows. It shines through the boards, so we'll have no trouble seeing in there."

Roy dropped the supplies and followed Travis.

Dottie pointed with her free arm as Rainey began to organize the blankets. "The judge insisted on sending twice what we'll need." She grins. "He worries about me as much as my Henry would have. Do you think it's a sign that his name is Henry, also?" She smiled. "If I married him, I wouldn't have to go about learning a new name."

"I see your point. It wouldn't do to call your second husband by your first husband's name."

Dottie nodded. "I think it's a sign."

Rainey carried another load to the corner. "We can make beds over here. We'll put Duck's closest to the stove so he'll be warm."

"He might get burned."

Rainey shook her head. "He's careful and I think it makes him feel safe."

A half hour later Duck was sound asleep and Dottie lay beside him, her injured arm propped on pillows. Her soft snoring blended with the crackling of the fire. Roy sat on the chair by the stairs to the cellar half asleep. In many ways he reminded her of Travis. Neither man ever seemed to go off alert. Being a Ranger was far more than a job she realized; it was a way of life.

Rainey poured out a cup of coffee from the pot left warming on the stove and passed through the door to the front room. Travis sat watching the street from a small opening in the boards covering the windows.

"You awake?" she whispered, knowing he would be.

He turned in her direction. "Coffee would help."

She moved slowly toward him. "I've got a cup."

He was no more than a shadow, but she watched him lower his rifle as she neared.

"I know you don't like me to ask, but how is your leg?"

Thin beams of light slashed through the boards, and she could see his face clearly for a moment before he moved. He looked tired and worried.

"It aches a little. If I could I'd check to make sure none of the stitches are bleeding. Much as I hate to admit it, the doc's wraps did the trick. Between that and taking out that tiny piece of metal, my leg's stopped swelling. But the doc told me to keep an eye out for any bleeding."

Rainey handed him the cup and turned back to the kitchen without a word. Five minutes later she returned with a small pot of warm water and a stack of bandages.

"What's that?"

"Water," she whispered. "Now, keep quiet of you'll wake the others." She couldn't see his face, but she guessed he'd raised an eyebrow like he always did when he thought she might be crazy.

"Stand up," Rainey whispered.

"Why?" he asked as he did what she asked.

"I want to check for bleeding on those stitches. I don't want you getting infected."

He didn't move. "Where'd you find bandages?"

"I ripped a few strips off of one of the sheets the judge sent over." She moved closer. "Now remove your trousers."

"I don't think so. You couldn't see if I'm bleeding in this darkness, and we can't turn a lantern up for fear that someone passing might see in."

Rainey tugged at his belt. "I don't have to see the stitches. I only have to feel them. If I feel blood, or even dried blood, I've got water to wash it off and clean rags to wrap the wound." She put her hands on her hips. "Now, are you going to take those trousers off, or am I?"

He laughed. "All right, Rainey, I'm too tired to argue."

He unbuckled his gun belt and lay it beside him on a table.

"Don't worry, Ranger, it's so dark in here I won't see a thing."

He didn't laugh as he shoved down his pants. "The cut is on the back of my left leg, just below my hip," he instructed. He pulled up his shirttail and turned so that one of the beams crossed his leg.

She would have bet she'd embarrassed him, but she didn't stop. They both knew the wound needed tending. Rainey was thankful for the dark. She'd never seen a man's leg exposed, and this wasn't just any man's leg. This was Travis's.

Her hand touched his hip, and she felt the muscles tighten beneath her fingers. Her fingers moved down to the bandage at the top of his leg. Several spots of caked-in dried blood stained the soft cotton. She pulled a chair up and sat as he turned the wound toward her and waited. Her hand shook as she wet a rag in the warm water. She dripped water over the bandage and slowly soaked the cotton away from the wound. No wonder he hadn't been comfortable with the bandage of dried blood tied to his leg. She brushed her fingers over the unharmed skin as if in comfort.

He took a breath when she tossed the bandage aside, but didn't look at her.

Again she slid her hand down his hip slowly until she brushed over the stitches that had poked into his flesh on either side of a two-inch cut.

He sucked in air.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He didn't answer, but the muscles in his leg were so tight she thought he really could be made of oak. Carefully, with feather touches, she washed the wound, then let it dry. Her hand moved up to his waist.

"I've no more cuts," he said almost harshly.

"I know. I just wanted to touch you. In the times we've been alone and you've touched me, you've never let me touch you."

"It's not something a woman wants to do to a man."

Rainey spread her hand over his warm skin. "How do you know? Have you been with many women who told you that, or are you just guessing?"

"Just check the wound." His words could not have been colder, but his skin remained warm to her touch.

She brushed her fingers over the stitches and found the skin dry. "No more bleeding."

When she started to wrap the leg, he took the bandage away from her and did it himself, then he pulled up his trousers.

"I thought men wore long Johns all winter."

"Rainey, we shouldn't be having this conversation and yes, they do. Mine, however, seemed to have disappeared when I collapsed at the Baileys'."

"Oh," she whispered. "Wonder who took them off." She couldn't help but giggle at the possibility of the round little housekeeper doing it.

He buckled on his gun belt. "Good night, Rainey," he said as if they'd never been more than strangers. He obviously didn't see any humor in their conversation.

"Good night." She was almost to the kitchen door when she stopped, turned around, and went back. "Are you angry, or just being you? Sometimes, I swear, I can't tell."

"I have no idea how to answer that question," he snapped. "I'd find it hard to be anything but me."

She tried again. "All right, answer me this. Would you like to kiss me good night, or do you prefer to just snap at me in the hope that I'll run away?"

He lowered his voice, his words meant for just her ears. "I wouldn't mind a kiss, if you're offering. But this is hardly the time or place. You've been through a lot tonight. You probably need rest."

Before he could continue with his list of reasons not to kiss her, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. He didn't respond. She might as well have been kissing a statue. So she leaned closer and tried again. If he planned to remain cold, she wasn't going to make it easy on him. Her fingers dug into his hair and pulled him down a few inches. "We've both been through a great deal tonight," she whispered, her lips brushing his. "But I need to know how it is between us."

When her lips pressed against his, he snapped inside. Like a dam breaking, he pulled her against him and kissed her soundly. The hunger she tasted in his assault no longer frightened her.

When she pulled away, she whispered, "Travis, you remind me of a river. There's a strong current of feelings flowing in you, but I swear I have to crack the ice every time I want to get to you."

"Are you complaining, or bragging that you can do, so easily, what no woman's ever been able to do?"

"What's that," she whispered as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.

"Make me feel," he whispered. "Make me care."

He lowered into the chair and pulled her on his right leg. Then he kissed her again the way he swore he'd wanted to all night.

Rainey returned his kisses, but as he drank his fill of her, she moved her hands over his shirt. She wanted to know this man. She wanted to know his body as well as he knew hers.

When she unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt, his hand closed around hers, stopping her progress.

Rainey straightened, pulling away from him. "You're not stopping me from touching you, Travis McMurray, so there is no use in fighting."

He laughed and pulled her hand to his lips. After kissing her palm lightly, he whispered, "I've no desire to stop you, but now is not the time or place. I promise one day I'll spread out for you on a real bed and let you touch me wherever you like."

She pulled her hand away and unbuttoned another button. "Then, tonight, I'll be satisfied by feeling your heartbeat."

He didn't stop her and she moved her fingers beneath his shirt and slid across the wall of muscles to cover his heart.

She smiled as she pressed her palm over the beating. "I feel the center of you. I feel your heart."

"No," he whispered as he kissed her ear. "You are my heart."

They held each other until dawn. She'd drift into sleep and awaken to the feel of him moving his face against her hair, or sliding his hand gently down her body. When she stirred, he'd rock her gently against him and kiss her softly. She'd slide her hand over his heart and fall back asleep with the pounding of it against her palm.

When sunlight woke them both, he straightened and set her away from him. "Go back to the kitchen. You'll be safer there."

His words didn't sound harsh, but they weren't loving, as she'd hoped for. He was ordering her again. Doing his job, nothing more.

Rainey picked up the cold coffee cup and moved toward the door. She wanted to turn around and run to him. She wished she could make the gentle man who held her in the night be the man who faced her in the day.

"What is it?" He stood behind her.

Rainey didn't turn around. "I wish… I wish…" How could she tell him? He'd had to be strong to survive. He needed to be strong for them all to be safe, but she needed to know how he felt. Just saying he loved the way she felt wasn't enough. Just telling Mike that she was his didn't matter. "I wish," she tried again. "I wish I could write to you about how I feel. I wish you could write to me. Somehow in your letters I saw you clearer. I felt closer to you all the time, not just at night when we touch."

"I've never had time for words," he answered.

"I know. I understand, but I still need them. Maybe because I never had them, either."

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her against a dusty table. Standing behind her he shoved with his body until the table pressed into her legs. Then, he leaned over her, bending her down until his hand touched the thick layer of dust.

Rainey fought down a cry. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she wanted gentleness, and, except for the shadows, Travis didn't seem to have any.

He slid his free hand around her waist and held her tightly against him as his fingers moved in the dust, printing boldly three words.

I love you.

When she didn't move, he wrote them again and again and again. His hold around her was tight, his body stiff behind her, but he wrote the words over and over.

Tears filled her eyes and dripped atop the dust.

She fought his grip and twisted in his embrace. "How many times are you going to write it?"

He stared down at her, his jaw set in granite, his body unyielding, his eyes filled with need. "Until you believe me."