only a little over three hours’ drive. We’ll be home by midnight. But first I have to tell the sheriff.”
“But there’s been an armed stagecoach robbery and horses stolen from your ranch. I don’t think it is safe to travel after dark.” Not for three hours. Maybe fifteen minutes. She looked into the dark hills beyond the town. Going out there with criminals roaming around didn’t seem like the smartest idea.
“It’s perfectly safe,” said Daniel as he threw a leather strap over her bags and secured it to the wagon’s sides.
“Did you know about the attempted stagecoach robbery?”
His hands stilled. He had lovely hands, the fingers long and strong with a scattering of dark hairs across the tanned backs. “We don’t get the latest news until we or our hands come to town.”
He finished tying the strap, walked around and swung up beside her with a lithe grace.
“Is California so lawless? Is it normal for criminals to be running around?”
“No, it’s not normal.” He sounded terse as if her question bothered him.
“Then how can you think it is safe? The robber shot several men.” And she’d shot him. If he was the vengeful sort, she could be in deep trouble. Bad enough she had to wear her old Sunday best dress to greet Rafael—dressed all in white she was an easy target in the dark.
She didn’t want to tell Daniel that she’d shot the robber, because he would tell his brother and then she’d be exposed for the fraud she was. She just needed to convince him to stay in town and she wouldn’t have to reveal why she feared being targeted by the robber.
Daniel turned and looked at her. “My rif—my shotgun is just behind the seat.” He pulled back a leather flap and showed her. “Right here. I’ll protect you, but really no robber will be out in unfamiliar territory after dark.”
“How do you know it is unfamiliar territory? Do you know who stopped the stagecoach?”
Daniel’s gaze shot away. “We have to go.”
Anna stiffened and gathered her resolve. “I want to stay in town overnight. There is a hotel.”
“No.”
Anna scrambled for the edge of the seat to jump down. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of going off alone with a man she didn’t know, a man who had hugged her intimately with one arm curling around her, fingers almost brushing her breast, and the other pressing her to him. “How do I know you are who you say you are?”
He caught her arm. His grip was sure and firm. “If you want out that bad, I’ll help you down, but we’re going to the sheriff’s first. He’ll identify me. Besides with the stage coming in today and the packet ship leaving tomorrow, the hotel is bound to be full.”
Anna settled back on the seat. His words and low, measured tone made her want to trust him, but she didn’t want to go to the sheriff. That she’d shot one of the robbers would come out. She’d just have to keep the sheriff from revealing her role and have him tell Daniel how bloodthirsty the bandit was—the one who had done the shooting—and convince him it was unsafe to travel with that man out there.
“He’s just a couple of blocks over,” Daniel said.
She knew that to be true. After the sheriff had allowed her to change and clean up in his quarters, she’d spent an hour sitting in a hard chair explaining what she’d seen, because she’d been the only one who’d gotten a good look at the second horseman. But when she’d tried to reveal details, she had been unable to tell them anything, beyond that his hat was low and his multicolored cape was pulled up below his dark eyes. At least she thought they were dark. She couldn’t exactly remember if she could see the color from as far away as she was. That she’d felt mesmerized by his gaze she had kept to herself.
“Why couldn’t Rafael come for me tomorrow?” She’d had to fight through her disappointment that he wasn’t there earlier to shield her from the barrage of questions the way Selina’s beau had shielded her friend. Of course, the stage had been early after they had galloped into town to get the shot men to the doctor.
“I’m here now, and we can’t travel to town at the drop of a hat. We have work to do. Besides, he’ll be worried if you don’t get in tonight.”
Not so worried that he’d come after her himself. She pressed her lips together. Surely the sheriff would be on her side when it came to traveling out of town in the dark.
In front of the sheriff’s office, Daniel set the brake and climbed down. He walked around and offered his hand to Anna. He had to convince her to leave with him tonight. He had to get back and set the horses free in the hills, then make his way to where he and Rafael had climbed out of the creek bed and obliterate their tracks before a tracker could find the spot. He hoped the false trail he set would lead a posse in the opposite direction. Hiding the truth was against his nature, but he couldn’t let them arrest Rafael. The very idea of losing his brother drove a spike through his chest and ripped it straight down, cleaving him in two.
His brother might have behaved like an idiot, but Rafe had been there for him when his father had died, stepping up and teaching Daniel how to ride, how to shoot, how to ranch, even though he’d barely been old enough to know how himself. They’d grieved together, gone everywhere together and grown up together. Rafael was his brother and best friend; he couldn’t risk the truth as much as lying pained him.
Anna slipped her hand in his with an odd demureness that seemed out of keeping with her argument to stay in town.
Daniel had to pound on the door to get the sheriff out of the back, where he lived.
The paunchy middle-aged man opened the door, and a triangle of light spilled out. “What is it, Danny?”
Daniel wished people wouldn’t call him that anymore. He’d turned twenty-two some time ago. Folks should recognize he could be addressed by his regular name now. “We had horses stolen last night.”
The sheriff looked at him for a full second. Daniel’s stomach turned over. Did the man have any idea he was staring at one of the men who’d held up the stage? Damn, Daniel hated lying to people who trusted him. Using the currency of his reputation for being honest and fair dealing made something inside him shrivel and wither. How would he ever face the townspeople again if they learned he had lied?
The man mopped a kerchief across his brow and looked pained. “Never rains, but it pours. Come on in.”
Daniel reached for Anna’s elbow and guided her in front of him. Somehow touching her calmed the stew of dismay churning in his stomach.
She crossed the room and sat in the chair by the desk. He started to cross to the other chair when he spotted his rifle leaning against the wall. For a second he froze, his foot in the air. Damn Rafael for dropping the rifle he’d taken from him.
The condemnation of his brother shamed him. Rafael wouldn’t have dropped the rifle if he hadn’t been shot. Blowing out a long breath, he turned to the woman who’d pulled the trigger. Her gaze darted away. She dropped her head, leaving him looking at that monstrosity of a hat. Not that it was her fault for shooting Rafael, either. He blamed his brother, but he couldn’t let Rafael hang or go to jail for a misguided attempt to see his bride.
The
