Lorelei clutched her gown to her chest and willed Braddock not to say anything about Corey.
“I know you’re looking for the kid that helped Mulcahy with the robbery. You’re not half as smart as you think you are, Braddock. Look at her holding that dress. She’s married to somebody. And don’t tell me it’s you.”
“You think that’s funny, Langston?”
Langston took a step back and banged into the open door of the wardrobe. “You’re not married.”
“You keeping tabs on me, Langston? I don’t like that either.” Braddock pulled the man’s pistols from his belt. “Lorelei, come hold these guns. Langston and I are going outside.”
The perpetual blush that colored Langston’s cheeks drained. Even the tufts of dark red hair sticking from beneath his hat seemed to pale. “I don’t want to fight you, Braddock.”
“Then you shouldn’t have bothered Lorelei.”
Lorelei juggled the pistols while Braddock unhooked his gun belt. He draped the thick leather over her shoulder. His gaze dropped to her thin chemise. His eyes flared slightly, but his voice remained controlled. “Get dressed, sweetheart.”
She backed away, afraid that the moment she turned, Braddock would lunge for Langston. She wanted the deputy marshal out of her house, not beaten to a pulp. She didn’t need any more trouble with the law.
“Honey,” she said tentatively, “he didn’t hurt me.”
Langston’s gaze landed on her, half disbelieving, half pleading. “She can’t be your wife. She’s too…small.”
Braddock grabbed Langston by his brown vest and jerked him hard, sending his cream-colored hat tumbling to the floor. “Don’t look at her. Don’t even think about her.”
Lorelei took an instinctive step in their direction, then hung back. Getting between them would be a mistake. They both towered over her, but Braddock handled the other man like a rag doll. He dragged him to the door and tossed him outside.
Lorelei laid the guns gently on the bed, picked up Langston’s hat, and followed them out the door.
Braddock stood splay legged on the porch while Langston sat in the dirt where he had landed.
“You’d better forget you ever saw her. And if you tell anyone anything to put her in danger, I’ll hunt you down and make you one very sorry deputy marshal.”
Langston stood and brushed off the red dirt that coated his clothes. “I’m not one for hurting women, but she’s broken the law.”
“Have you heard anything I’ve said?” Braddock took a menacing step off the porch.
“It’s a little hard to believe, don’t you think, Braddock.” Langston backed up abruptly, tripped, then fell in the dirt again. “You? Married?”
“You can believe it and ride out of here in one piece, or I can beat you until you do.”
Langston inched to his horse, then cautiously got to his feet. “Can I at least have my guns back?”
“Sweetheart, get his guns.”
Lorelei scrambled into the house to retrieve Langston’s weapons and hat before Braddock changed his mind and there was bloodshed. She hurried back, intending to hand Langston his pistols, not trusting the two men to be in swinging range. She had seen her brothers come to blows often enough to know one wrong move and Langston and Braddock would be rolling around in the dirt. Braddock’s outstretched arm stopped her before she stepped off the porch.
He took the guns from her. Using his whole body, he reared his arm back and propelled one pistol then the other out into the barren landscape. Each landed with a fountain of dust, then disappeared.
Langston followed the metallic arcs before he turned back to Braddock. “How the hell am I supposed to find them?”
“You can use those keen lawman skills you’ve been bragging about.” Braddock took the hat from Lorelei and sailed it at Langston, who fumbled to catch it as it hit him squarely in the chest. “You want your knife back, too?”
Langston settled his hat on his head, then turned his back on them. He mounted his horse and galloped away without another word. Just within shouting range, he abruptly circled.
“You won’t get away with this. You interfered with the investigation of a deputy marshal. That’s against the law. Even your buddies back in Washington can’t change that.”
“Let them know all about it,” Braddock called. “Don’t think harassing an innocent woman is going to get you a permanent position.”
“Your family doesn’t have any influence out here. If you’re hiding something, I’m going to be the first to find out.” Langston redirected his horse and trotted to where his guns had landed. Together, Lorelei and Braddock watched him scour the brush for his weapons. He either found them or gave up, because eventually he spurred his horse off into the haze of heat rising in the distance.