He shook his head in amazement when Jack moved to the bottom of the steps and put his hand out to her. The gesture was gallant, and obviously pleased Emily, for her smile widened and her eyes began to sparkle.
Travis was suddenly having difficulty catching his breath. The closer she got to him, the faster his heart beat until it was thundering in his ears. The heat was getting to him, he told himself, and surely that was the reason he was feeling so peculiar. He loosened the collar of his shirt. Odd, but that didn’t help at all.
Emily was as regal as a princess as she came down the stairs. Her head was held high and her attention was centered on her escort and no other. She reached Jack’s side, placed her hand on his arm, and walked close to him into the dining room.
The crowd was all but climbing the walls to give them enough room.
For the hardworking people in Pritchard, it just kept getting better and better after that. It was indeed a magical night for everyone, for not only did Jack eat with utensils, he also patiently waited after supper for the servants to remove the tables from the center of the room so he and Emily could dance.
They were the only couple on the floor. Jack stunned everyone once again when he took Emily into his arms. The couple glided around the room to the gyrating sounds of Billie Bob and Joe Boy’s Band. Jack proved to be light on his feet and, in fact, was far more graceful than any other man there. He oozed charm as well, and Miss Emily Finnegan, the crowd decided, was having the time of her life.
The evening ended at one o’clock in the morning when Joe Boy’s arm wore out from sawing his fiddle. Jack escorted Emily to the lobby again. He clasped hold of her fingers, leaned down, and kissed her hand. He whispered something to her too that made her burst into laughter. Jack even managed a grin, and after she kissed his cheek, he actually smiled.
He waited until Emily had gone upstairs, then turned and strutted out of the lobby as content as a man can be. By the time he’d reached the street, the eye patch was on the ground behind him, the jacket was draped over a hitching post, and his tie was in the water trough.
And the Jack Hanrahan they all knew and feared was back again.
* * *
Emily had just gotten into bed and pulled the covers up when she heard the scrape of a chair or a crate being dragged along the hallway floor. She bolted upright, threw her covers off, and ran across the room to make certain the latch was properly secured.
She had remembered to turn the lock after all. She leaned against the door for several minutes. Blessedly, the sound wasn’t repeated, and she decided then that whoever or whatever it was had gone away.
She returned to her bed and got down to the more important business at hand. She desperately needed to cry, and she fervently hoped that by the time she was finished, she would have gotten Travis out of her mind.
She didn’t succeed; crying didn’t help one bit.
It was time to go home.
Eleven
She had overslept. She was going to miss the stagecoach if she didn’t hurry. There wasn’t even time for breakfast, which was fine with her because she was too upset to eat anything anyway. She dressed as quickly as possible, threw her things into her satchels, and ran downstairs to ask one of the staff members to please take her bags to the station.
Her luggage got there a few minutes before she did. Fortunately the street was deserted, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to engage her in conversation. She simply wasn’t in the mood to be civil today.
She wasn’t in the mood to go back home either, but she was still going to do it. She tried to be happy about seeing her family again. She couldn’t manage it though. Going back to Boston wasn’t her only solution, but it was definitely the safest one, because she knew that if she stayed here, she’d throw herself at Travis in no time at all and become thoroughly ruined. And wouldn’t her parents just love that.
Emily’s patience was about worn out when the stagecoach came barreling around the corner on two wheels and pulled to a rocking stop in front of her. Dust flew up around her, and she hurriedly moved back behind her satchels to get away from it.
The driver was a tall, lanky man with a curt, no-nonsense way about him. He jumped down from his seat, adjusted his bright blue bandanna around his neck, and tipped the brim of his hat to her.
“I’m running late, ma’am. You’d best get on inside while I fill up my water jug. I’ll tell you my rules when I come back out.”
He opened the door for her before he went inside the station. A few minutes later, he came out again and began to throw her satchels up on the roof of the coach.
He spoke as rapidly as he worked. “If you hear any gunshots, you hit the floor. Try to curl up under one of the seats. Don’t look out the window, no matter how much you want to. I just can’t tell you how important that rule is, ma’am, so try to remember. I’m not expecting trouble, but I’m always ready for it. Now, if you’re needing to stop for a minute, lean on out the window and shout at me. Unless you hear gunshots first. Then don’t lean out. I’m hoping you won’t need to stop though, because that will make me even later getting to my next town.”
“I won’t need to stop,” she promised.
He climbed up on top of the coach, tied the satchels, then jumped down and opened the door again.
“You got your ticket ready?”
“Yes.” She handed it to him and sat back against the warm leather bench.
He gave her a sharp look. “Is something wrong, ma’am? You got tears in your eyes. It’s none of my business, of course, unless you’re feeling puny. Then I ought to know about it.”
“No, sir, I’m not sick. It’s just the dust in the air that’s making my eyes water.”
“No need to call me sir. My name’s Kelley. Now, if you do happen to get sick, well then, just lean on out the window and shout at me. Unless you hear gunshots. Then don’t look out. I can’t stress enough the importance of remembering that rule, ma’am.”
He shut the door and climbed back up on his seat before she could even tell him what her name was much less assure him she wouldn’t look out the window.
The coach gently rocked back when the horses turned and started down the main street. They gathered speed as they clipped along, and by the time they’d passed the general store near the center of the street, they were in a full gallop.
Emily folded her hands together in her lap and closed her eyes. The decision to leave had been made; there wasn’t any going back, and she was determined to come to terms with the fact that she would never see Travis again. God willing, she might even find a little peace.
A gunshot suddenly rang out. Kelley let out a shout, and Emily was flung forward when he pulled on the reins. The horses skidded to a stop.
Emily landed on the floor with her skirt draped over her head. She quickly got back up on her seat and adjusted her clothing. She saw people coming out of the hotel and couldn’t help but notice that none of them looked very alarmed.
She couldn’t imagine what was going on. She looked out the window to find out. Unfortunately, Kelley spotted her.
“Ah, now, I told you not to do that,” he cried out.
“Mr. Kelley, what’s happening?”
“Travis Clayborne’s what’s happening, ma’am.”
She didn’t even have time to react to Kelley’s explanation before Travis’s roar filled the carriage.
“Emily Finnegan, get out of that stagecoach. I want a word with you.”
She was so startled by the command, she struck her head when she jumped back against the seat. She only stayed there a second or two. Then she leaned out the window again.
And that was when she saw Travis striding down the street toward her.
She was certain she was going to keel over from heart strain right then and there. He looked wonderful and sweet and adorable . . . and furious.
He walked with his usual arrogant swagger. The man was obviously feeling perky again, and when she considered how close
he’d been to dying—at least she thought he’d been close, no matter what the doctor said—his recovery was almost miraculous.
She let out a sigh. As much as she dreaded it, she was going to have to tell him good-bye. She wouldn’t cry, no matter how overwhelming the urge, and the sooner she got it said and done, the quicker she could leave.
She decided to meet him halfway. Yes, that was what she should do. She would shake his hand, tell him thank you and good-bye, and be on her way.
She had second thoughts as soon as she opened the door. She noticed the telltale, now-you’re-going-to-get-it glint in his eyes, and promptly shut the door again. She thought she knew why he was there. He had gotten out of his sickbed and ridden all the way down to Pritchard from the Perkinses’ home just to tell her she was crazy again. He was stubborn enough to do such a foolish thing.
“Mr. Kelley, make him go away.”
“Begging your pardon, ma’am, but no one tells any of the Clayborne brothers what to do. You’d best get on out and find out what he wants.”
Travis shouted to her again. “Now, Emily!”
She stepped out into the street, shut the door behind her, and started walking toward him.
“Don’t you dare leave without me, Mr. Kelley.”
“That’s sort of up to Clayborne, ma’am.”
She shook her head to let him know she didn’t agree. She continued on toward Travis, muttering all the while. “If that man makes me cry, I swear I’m going to borrow his gun and shoot him. Just see if I don’t.”
Kelley heard her. “I’d be real surprised if Travis lets you have his gun, ma’am.”
Emily ignored the driver. She stopped when she was about twenty feet away from Travis and put her hand out in a silent demand for him to stop where he was.
He ignored it.
“You were really going to do it, weren’t you, Emily?”
“Do what?”
“Leave without saying good-bye.”
“Travis, please lower your voice. You’re drawing a crowd.”
She turned to the boardwalk on her left and waved her hand at the group of men and women gathered there. “You there, move along, please. Go on, now.”
When she noticed no one paid any attention to her request, she added a frown and then turned back to Travis.
“Yes, I was going to say good-bye.”
“Is that so? Were you planning to shout it out the window of the stagecoach on your way out of town?”
“No, I wasn’t going to shout it. I was going to write a letter to you.”
His frown intensified. He didn’t like hearing that bit of news at all. “You were going to write?”
She held her ground. For a second or two she thought Travis was going to keep on coming and walk right over her, but fortunately he stopped when he was a couple of feet away. She considered backing away from him, then changed her mind. He was deliberately trying to intimidate her, and she simply wasn’t in the mood to put up with his antics today.
She was the one with the broken heart, for the love of God, and he had only gotten shot.
“Let me get this straight,” he snapped. “You were hell-bent on going up to the crest so you could tell O’Toole face-to-face that you’d changed your mind and weren’t going to marry him, but you didn’t think you owed me the same consideration?”
“Millie told you.”
“Damned right she told me,” he said. “If you had mentioned your change of heart a little earlier . . .”
“You wouldn’t have taken me up there.”
“No, I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have gotten shot either, and you wouldn’t have been in such a dangerous position. And by the way, Miss Finnegan, you won’t be stepping out with any other men ever again, not even Jack Hanrahan. You got that?”
“Murder’s frowned upon in these parts, Mr. Clayborne.”
“Do you have any idea what would have happened to you if those bastards had gotten hold of you?”
“Yes,” she cried out. “I know exactly what would have happened. I also know I almost got you killed. I’ll never forgive myself for that. My only excuse is that I was trying to do the decent thing. If I’d known the O’Tooles were rodents, I assure you I wouldn’t have gone up there. Oh, get it over with, why don’t you? Tell me I’m crazy again. I know you want to.”
“Fine. You’re crazy. I swear you don’t have a lick of sense in you.”
“I’m not the one who got out of his sickbed and rode all the way to Pritchard just to tell someone she’s crazy.”
“That isn’t why I came after you.”
“Then why did you come here?”
She noticed he was having trouble coming up with an explanation. She also noticed the large crowd now surrounding the two of them. They seemed to have appeared out of thin air, and more were hurrying to join them.
She was appalled. “Don’t you people have chores to do? This is a private conversation. Move away, now.”
No one budged an inch. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a gentleman leaning against a hitching post. He had a wad of money in his hands, and each newcomer who arrived stopped to give him more before running into the street.
“Well, Travis? Why did you come after me?”
“I thought I wanted to give you a piece of my mind—” he began.
She interrupted him. “I wouldn’t if I were you. You can’t afford it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back inside the coach and be on my way. The driver has a schedule to keep. Mr. Kelley, where are you going?” she called out when she saw him running toward the man at the hitching post.
“Just making a friendly little bet, ma’am.”
“Damn it, Emily, pay attention to me.”
She was suddenly so miserable inside she wanted to scream. “Why should I? Everything is your fault. You made me fall in love with you, and now I’m so upset I can’t think or sleep or eat.”
She didn’t realize what she’d blurted out until a woman behind her let out a little sigh. “She loves him.”
Travis was looking outrageously complacent. She put her hand out toward him again to try to ward him off.
“I will recover from this affliction,” she said. “Besides, loving you doesn’t change a thing, so don’t get any foolish notions. I’m going back to Boston.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am, and nothing you say to me will change my mind.”
“You tell him, girl,” a woman called out. “Don’t let no man push you around.”
“If she loves him, she ought to stay,” someone else shouted.
The men in the crowd grunted their agreement. Emily was mortified by the audience. She turned to the woman who had suggested she stay, and whispered, “You don’t understand. If I stay, I’ll disgrace my parents and become thoroughly wanton.”
The woman’s head snapped up and her eyes widened. “Do you mean to say you would . . .”
Emily nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“You’ve got to go home, then,” she stammered.
Travis threaded his fingers through his hair in frustration. The thought of losing Emily terrified him, and he didn’t know how to make her stay.
God, she was stubborn.
“You love me, but you’re leaving. Have I got that straight?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I do love you, and I am leaving. It all makes perfectly good sense to me.”
“Of course it does,” he snapped.
She refused to argue with him. She turned around, waved for the crowd to get out of her way, and headed back to the stagecoach. She was almost running. Travis stayed right by her side.
The crowd chased after them.
“I vowed never to do another rash thing for the rest of my life, and staying here would not only be rash, it would also be sinful. I’m going home.”
Travis was getting madder and madder by the second. He was consumed with panic and didn’t like the feeling at all. He couldn’t let her leav
e him. Didn’t she understand how important she was to him? Without her, life wouldn’t be worth living.
He didn’t want to live without her.
The truth slapped him in the face, and he came to a dead stop. “Son of a gun,” he whispered, “I love her.”
Emily was sweet and good and loving, and all he wanted to think about now was keeping her by his side for the rest of his life. He was going to have to keep her out of that stagecoach first.
He caught up with her, heard her say something about a “rash” again, and patiently waited for her to finish rambling.
She finally stopped talking and gave him an expectant look. “Don’t you agree?” she asked, wondering what had caused the sudden smile.
“Sure I do.”
“She’s leaving now,” someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
“She’d be ruined if she stayed,” a woman called out.
“Amen,” someone else shouted.
They reached the stagecoach. Travis pulled the door open for her.
She put her hand out to him. “Good-bye, Travis.”
“You expect me to shake your hand?”
“It would be the polite thing to do. Why are you smiling?”
“I’m a happy man.”
She was crushed by the sudden change in his attitude. Her hand dropped back down to her side. “I’ll write to you.”
“That’ll be nice.”
“Will you write back?”
“Sure I will.”
There wasn’t anything left to say. She turned to get back inside the stagecoach then.
“Just one thing,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Kiss me good-bye.”
Twelve
She married a crazy man. She was so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. She had even laughed out loud several times while she’d been in the bath, for she was filled with such an abundance of joy and love she couldn’t keep it all inside.