10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

" I t was that bounder Jonesie from the river, I just know it," Isa said hotly, sweating despite the bite in the air that reddened their noses and the tips of their ears beneath their hats. They walked along Navasota's outer street, having hitched a ride from a couple of barefoot boys on a buckboard.

Junior, carrying their bags, shook his head.

Seeing this, Isa snapped, "What?"

"I told you not to talk to those men." His voice was an accusing growl, his profile hard, set, and stubborn. Eyes firmly on the road, he looked like a pack mule, overloaded with saddlebags and supplies. Fastenings trailed behind him, slapping his back with every step he took. Isa carried their saddles, and her arms screamed at the persistent weight.

"How is this my fault? It isn't as if I expressed to him that I wanted our horses to be stolen, Junior." His name was bitten out like a bad taste in her mouth. She hoisted his saddle higher on her back, a deformed turtle with their two saddles making for an awkward shell. Junior paused with her, only walking when she continued on. "And considering how forward that juggins was being, I was immoderately kind to him."

He grunted as though doubtful at her ever having been kind to anyone.

"We should split up. I'll go to the livery while you visit the sheriff," she suggested, needing a modicum of distance between them. The urge to club him over the head was increasing.

"We'll split up when pigs fly. Navasota is dangerous."

Downtown Navasota was so wild that women and children were discouraged from visiting it in broad daylight. During their trek along back roads and trails to avoid it, Junior had explained that only the lawless frequented the downtown buildings. Lawmen were known to hide and watch while criminals overran the area that was full of gaming halls and saloons. On Sunday morning, an undertaker hitched up his buggy to collect the bodies after every wild Saturday night. Not only was the town notorious for its shootouts on Main Street but some claimed outlaw John Wesley Hardin used to frequent its gaming halls.

Junior had tracked the horse thieves right into its streets.

Although they were on the outskirts of the town, Isa felt the sizzle of excitement. She'd finally get to see downtown Navasota, a place filled with gamblers, prostitutes, and drunks.

"There's the livery," Junior gritted out next to her.

Her excitement fizzled away. Sulkily chewing her lip, she watched him. He regretted escorting her to Dogwood; she could see it in every taut line of his body. He'd been a reluctant companion before their kiss. Now that their horses were stolen, he probably couldn't wait to be rid of her. She worried about their animals. Isa hoped Mirage sank her teeth into the men's sorry backsides.

As soon as they entered the livery's threshold, Isa and Junior dropped their burdens, groaning and stretching.

A man walked out of the shadows, his small brown eyes curious. "Help you?" he asked, wiping his hands on a greasy rag. A revolver handle peeked out of his overall pocket.

"Sure can. A couple of men come by here in the early hours with a couple of horses and a mule?" Junior gave descriptions of the animals and the possible culprits who had stolen them.

The beady eyes narrowed slyly. "Now, I'm not real sure."

Jaw bulging, Junior reached for his wallet.

Isa peered into the shadows of the livery, eyes adjusting. On a whim, she called, "Red! Red, you want some breakfast?" The loud braying of a mule echoed from the depths, and a satisfied smile crawled across her face. "Found one, Junior."

The livery owner's mouth widened in a disingenuous smile. "I was sold a mule just this morning, but only a mule. You can see why I'd misunderstand."

Junior didn't smile. His eyes were coldly fixed on the other man. "You go get our mule, and then you show us every stall in this place, mister."

The man swallowed hard, tucked his rag in one overall pocket—carefully avoiding the revolver in the other—and led Junior through the livery. Isa stood guard over their belongings, gun drawn and eyes watchful. When Junior returned a few minutes later, he was alone except for a swaybacked nag and a happy Red, whose long mule ears perked at seeing Isa.

"Got this beauty for fifty dollars." Junior patted the deep dip in the old mare's back. "The men rode at dawn. Overalls in there says he overheard a scarred man talk about selling a horse in Bryan."

Isa's stomach fell. "That's north."

Junior nodded. "Couple days' hard ride. I'll leave you in a hotel a town over—"

"The hell you will." She holstered her revolver and tugged a saddle blanket out of their pile of things. "I'm going with you."

Temple flickering, Junior wordlessly saddled the nag while she saddled Red. Without another word to each other, they overloaded their animals with their bags and headed to the sheriff's office.

Half an hour later, they exited the sheriff's office in disgust.

"Those are the most worthless law dogs I've ever met," Junior sneered, angrily untying his livery mare from the hitch. "They wouldn't even take out their goddamned wanted posters."

Isa agreed. "We'll just have to track them ourselves. They went north—"

" We aren't doin' anything. You will stay behind somewhere safe while I catch these horse thieves myself. Bryan's law enforcement is better than here. Hell, anywhere is better than here."

Grabbing his arm before he could mount, she said, "You're not leaving me anywhere, John Junior. You're taking me with you."

"The hell I am. You'll just slow me down."

"I will not!"

"The answer is no, Isa." His jaw ticked, and his eyes glittered beneath his buckskin hat.

Isa didn't care if steam came out of his ears.

Swallowing her anger, she released his arm and said smoothly, "Of course. Go ahead. Catch them by yourself."

He lifted a boot in his stirrup. Paused. "You'd better not be planning anything stupid."

"Nothing I do is stupid." She pretended not to hear his snort of disbelief. "I'll warn you just this once—if you leave me with a stranger somewhere, I will follow you."

Junior pulled his boot free and turned on her. "You'll do no such thing, or that paddlin' I gave you last night will feel like child's play."

"That was child's play, and if you touch me like that again, I'll break your trigger finger. Don't think I won't!" A group of cowboys with droopy mustaches walking toward the mercantile glanced their way. "I will follow you. You know I will. Sol taught me to track, and just who was it who found the bandits when Poppy was taken? Me . I'm coming with you!"

He cursed and turned his rigid back on her, mounting with enough force to make his horse stumble. Once mounted, Isa had to kick Red to a trot to catch up. They left the muddy streets of Navasota without hassle, and she felt a twinge of disappointment that there had been no shootouts or street brawls. Perhaps it was because it wasn't even noon; all the troublemakers were asleep. Junior didn't seem to think that mattered—he stayed annoyingly close, his bandana up and his hand relaxed over the engraved ivory grip of his .45 Colt. He was a lookout in a crow's nest, his hawk eyes everywhere at once, focusing on every walking or riding body for a hint of danger. By the time they reached a point in the road where four sets of hooves, two carrying men, veered off to a cut road, Isa was as jumpy as him.

"That's Mirage, alright," Isa murmured when Junior dismounted to study the ground. She pointed at markings in the dirt. "She drags her right hoof when she trots."

"I don't know if my nag will keep up with this pace." They were the first words Junior had spoken in an hour.

"Their mounts won't be able to, either." Isa tossed a few sunflower seeds from her bag into her mouth. "Remember how skinny and poorly they were? Here. Let me get on the mare. Red will take your weight better."

He acquiesced, and they set off at a brisk pace. The swaybacked mare looked eager for a run, and Isa's heart softened for the poor creature. Over the horses' hoofbeats, Junior asked, "What are all these symbols all over your saddle?"

"My favorite mathematical equations," she said around her shells. "Calculus, the standard model, Euler's equation, a few more. A series of numbers and symbols as answers to the workings of our world is beautiful, don't you think?"

Junior said nothing. He watched her, his face carefully blank. It was a far cry from the man who had pinned and kissed her last night. There wasn't a moment where The Kiss didn't loiter in the corner of her mind like some predator in wait. Or a poisonous gas. The memory of his hungry mouth on hers made her self-conscious, so she jerked her head forward like the chicken she was, unable to face him.

JUNIOR'S BLACK MOOD followed them from Navasota to the rocky creek they spied through the trees and brush. Their lathered animals raised their heads excitedly when they smelled water. After they dismounted and watered their thirsty mounts, Isa grew conscious of Junior quietly stewing on something next to her. She nodded at a low, mossy shelf where water ran off into a miniature waterfall.

"Care to take a dip?"

"It's too cold," he grunted, checking his timepiece. According to him, their steady pace had shrunk a couple of hours between them and the thieves. Evidently, Jonesie and his cohort made constant stops.

"It's not that bad. It'll wake us up. The animals need to rest anyway."

"No." There was enough bark to the word to make Isa bristle.

"What happened to you?" She turned her back to him and made her way to the little waterfall.

Junior stopped brooding long enough to glare at her. "Nothing happened to me. I grew up. Maybe you should try it out."

Isa sat next to the bank and began to unlace her boots. "Growing up isn't the same as being a stodgy wet blanket. And that's what you are. When's the last time you let yourself have fun?"

"The last time I wasn't around you."

It took everything she had not to throw her boot at him. "Go ahead and pout, then. But I'm at least going to dip my feet in before we get back on the trail." Boots and stockings off, she set them to the side and scooted closer to the sandy, rocky edge. The water shimmered, reflecting the cloudless evening sky. When her toes touched the surface, she jumped, bunched up her split skirt, and resolutely shoved them the rest of the way in. "This water is freezing!"

"Told you," Junior said behind her, and she could hear him tying the animals up, followed by the crunch of horsey teeth eating grain. When his footsteps came closer, she twisted around. Wouldn't it be just like him to push her in? At the warning flash in her eyes, his lips twitched. "Don't you trust me?"

"Hell no."

He tutted. "Didn't Miss Pickney teach you not to cuss?"

"I've never been so idiotic as to curse in front of her."

Wonder of wonders, Junior plopped down on the bank beside her to tug off his own boots and stockings. She hid a surge of approval. The Junior Isa had known was adventurous and unable to resist a dare; the old Junior would never back away from a taunt. From the corner of her eye, she watched him hold his breath and slowly ease his long, pale feet into the water. She quashed the urge to splash him in case he retaliated with something worse.

Sensing her thoughts, he glanced warily at her. "If you push me in, I'm taking you with me."

"I wouldn't do any such thing," she defended hotly.

"Like hell. You were thinking about it."

"Thinking isn't the same as doing."

An explosive sound left his throat. "It used to be. You'd think of something one second, and it was out there the next. I'm surprised Sol never lost all his hair because of you."

Isa did splash him then. Droplets of water darkened his faded denims, and he laughed. It was the first time he'd done so since before The Kiss. Their eyes met long enough to resurrect the antics of the night before, and Isa was the first to look away. During the long, silent day's travel, Isa had had plenty of time to examine what the kiss had meant. They hadn't spoken of it, and Junior's mood was too foul to bring it up. She'd eventually concluded that it hadn't meant anything and was all in good fun.

"I never plan on marrying," she heard herself say, carefully avoiding his eyes. "I had considered David, but I only see him as a very good friend."

"The way he went off to lick his wounds with some other female means you made the right choice." When she said nothing, he asked, "What'll you do when you get back home?"

What would she do when she returned home? "I'd like to spend the holidays with family, primarily. Possibly help Minnie at the hotel or Mrs. Hobb at the general store, just to stay busy. And train Mirage when I get her back. What are your plans? Will you stay a while, or will you be off on Ranger business again?"

He was quiet for almost an entire minute. "I don't know." It was so softly said that she hardly heard him.

"You could—" she began, then stopped, pretending an interest in the cypress, pine, and hawthorn trees around them. Orange and yellow leaves littered either side of the creek, and she reached out and grabbed a handful of yellowing leaves from a chinaberry tree, reaching dangerously far over the water. Above them, the sky was a tapering rectangle of blue framed by treetops. Wisps of pink-tinged clouds moved sluggishly in the sky. It was getting close to sunset.

"I could what?" Junior's voice was a rich, low vibration between them.

Isa shrugged as though it didn't matter. "You could stay home for the holidays. Like I am." She didn't look at him. "It's just an idea. I may be…gone for a while."

Junior's interest sharpened into a knife point. "What's that supposed to mean? You're going back to Austin?"

"Perhaps one day. Eventually."

"Hey." Junior crooked a forefinger around her chin, turning her face toward him. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you going somewhere?"

Isa said slowly, "I don't know if I want to tell you."

Smoothing his features into innocence, he released her chin and gestured to himself. "You can trust me."

Isa stared at him, deadpan.

Junior cracked first, his innocent expression twisting back into its normal arrogant one. "I'm not gonna say anything, Izzy. What happens on the trail stays on the trail."

She thrust a pinky out. "Promise me."

His face curdled as though he'd stepped in dog scat. "C'mon, we don't have to—"

"Do it, or I'm not telling you a thing."

Reluctantly, he hooked his rough pinky through hers. "You gonna spit on it, too?"

"Of course not. I'm a lady."

Junior's head went back in laughter. Isa let herself enjoy it, her eyes following the jut of his Adam's apple beneath the old scar that said more about him than his confessions ever could.

She braced herself. "I'm going to travel abroad after the new year."

He stopped laughing to stare. "Travel abroad?"

"Across the Atlantic. I'd like to see London and Paris, Rome and Greece. I'd love to walk the vineyards of Italy—I've read Italy has the most beautiful cathedrals known to man."

"But you're not religious." His voice was as curiously blank as his eyes.

"What if they're so exceptional that I find my religion?"

He waved off her teasing and shifted on his sandy seat. "Who are you traveling with?"

And there it was, the question she dreaded.

"Myself," she said offhandedly, brushing invisible lint from her wrinkled sage blouse. She was beginning to smell ripe. Now that she thought about it, so was he.

The single word seemed to ignite him. "By yourself?" Junior asked carefully, as if making sure he understood. In the filtered sunset, his irises were a paler blue than normal, richly contrasting with the warm colors of fall around them. She didn't like their alertness.

"Yes, by myself . And you must keep it a secret." Isa hid the prick of fear that confiding in him was a mistake. The last thing she wanted was for him to blabber to her family before she was ready.

Junior's lips flattened below the golden stubble of a growing mustache. "You could get hurt." He clamped his lips shut. Then, as though he couldn't help himself, added, "You can't just travel to a different continent and not tell anyone!"

He acted like he didn't want to keep her secret at all! "I did tell someone. I told Miss Pickney, David, and now you."

"Hot damn, I'm honored," Junior drawled sarcastically. He pulled his feet from the frigid water and stood. "I can't wait to lose all my teeth to Sol's fist when he finds out I kept something like this from him. I suppose it'll be up to me to tell him if your ship goes down? Or if you get robbed and taken advantage of while you're walkin' those streets in London, hm?"

"I have it all planned out. I'll hire a companion as soon as I touch land. They do things differently there—you can't just travel around unchaperoned, or they'll think you're a loose woman."

His frown dug a groove between his straight, tawny brows, and she began to worry. If he told her brother or ( God forbid ) her mother, she wouldn't step foot out of the county alone again, much less the country.

She clambered apprehensively to her feet and repeated, "You can't tell anyone, Junior. You promised. And a man is only as good as his promise." The space between them was heavy with a resentful hush, and a twitch of panic made her desperate. "I'd never tell anyone your secrets. Never."

He didn't respond, and their only congenial tête-à-tête of the day altered into something uncharitable. Worried blue eyes turned flinty, as glass did when struck too hard by something heavy and blunt. Wordlessly, he turned his back on her and readied their animals for another bout of tracking. The lack of communication frustrated her, forcing her to follow his lead.

Isa would never understand men. Just when she thought they were simple creatures driven by their baser instincts, they would roll over and show a side of themselves that was distinctly impalpable. But…infuriating man or not, his condemning silence made her think. Would it be such an unforgivable sin to travel abroad without notifying her loved ones? If something unspeakable did happen while she was gone, would it fall to Junior's shoulders to confess that he had known her plans all along? Troubled, she mounted the livery nag and considered the likelihood that she had just made Junior a whipping boy with her confession.

Mouth pursed, Isa kicked the mare forward, flanking Junior on the trail. He barely spared her a passing glance. "I'll tell them." When he didn't react, she repeated it louder. "I said, I'll tell my family my plans! Just don't mention it to anyone before I get a chance to; I want to be the one to do it."

For a moment, he acted deaf and dumb. Was the impossible man going to ignore her the whole way home? But, after an uncomfortable beat, his stiff carriage relaxed a degree in the saddle, and he nodded curtly.

"Remember the Grenert Brothers?" he asked after a moment's companionable silence.

Isa blinked at the subject change. "Yes. What about them?"

"I'm getting a feel for the men we're following, just like I did with the Grenerts."

"And?"

"I have an idea." Junior glanced at her…and winked.

She was forgiven. The hard block in her chest dispersed into soap bubbles, rising into her brain. Only the boots in her stirrups kept her body from floating away.