Outlaw Hearts(34)
“Please don’t talk that way,” she said, her cheeks feeling hot again.
He sighed, picking up the rifle stock and oiling the wood. “Sorry. I just want you to think twice about what you’re doing. It’s like the sheriff said. You’re a beautiful woman and unattached. That’s awful ripe bait for lonely men. Most will respect the lady that you are, but don’t count on all of them knowing or caring about the difference between a proper lady and one that’s not so proper. My mother was a proper lady, a good woman. I guess that’s why in spite of the life I’ve led, I’ve always respected a good woman.”
Miranda felt a rush of warmth at the words. “Well, I guess I should say thank you, if you meant that as a compliment.”
“I did.” He amazed her with a smile and a wink. Miranda felt herself blushing more. She set aside her knitting and added more wood to the fire, thinking about his warning about Nevada. She knew he was right about the danger of going into wild country like that alone. Even if she traveled with others, who was really going to care anything about her?
Somehow it all came together then. Jake Harkner was going west too. Why not hitch a ride with a man who could protect her better than anyone else she knew? But would he protect her? She glanced sidelong at him, watching him work. Maybe the only reason he hadn’t harmed her here was because she was so close to town and someone would find her. Maybe alone with such a man, day and night out in the middle of nowhere, would be another matter. Still, when he had spoken about respecting a good woman, something rang true in his voice and his eyes.
Yes, Miranda, she thought, you truly have lost your mind. She stirred the coals. “You really shouldn’t leave tomorrow. I’ll worry about you, Jake. You can’t tell me you aren’t still in pain.”
He began putting her rifle back together. “Sure I am. That doesn’t mean I can’t travel. The worst is over. I’ll heal just as well on the back of a horse as in that bed, and it’s too dangerous for both of us for me to be here. If someone did discover me and there was a shoot-out, you could get hurt.” He looked at her. “You changed the subject. We were talking about you going to Nevada and how I think it’s too damn dangerous. Take it from a man who knows how most of those worthless bastards in places like that think. That’s no place for somebody like you.”
Miranda had the strange sensation that she’d lost control of her speech and thoughts, that the normally sane and logical Miranda Hayes had vanished in the last few days and a stranger had occupied her body. “What if you took me?” she found herself asking.
The room hung uncomfortably silent for a moment as their eyes met. A look of astonishment moved through Jake’s eyes, followed by cynicism. “I didn’t think you were that crazy.”
She folded her arms, stepping closer. Why are you doing this, Miranda? she argued inwardly. “I need to go to Nevada, Jake, and you said yourself how dangerous it is. I could have turned you in a long time ago, but I didn’t, so you owe me something, besides the fact that you’ve been sleeping in my bed for over a week, eating my food. I cleaned up after you when you kept losing everything I put in your stomach. I’ve bathed you, cut your hair, taken a bullet out of you; and you’ve told me things I’ll bet you’ve never told anyone else. I think we’ve gotten to be pretty good friends. I’ve helped you. Now you can help me. I think it’s the perfect solution. I can go ahead to Independence like I said I’d do, and we could meet somewhere along the way. No one in Kansas City will know what I’ve done once I leave, and we wouldn’t have to travel completely alone together. Maybe I’ll join a wagon train, and you could join up later as just a traveler going in the same direction. Then you’d be along if I had any problems, and I’d feel safer knowing you were there.”
“Safer? With a wanted man along? An outlaw?” He shook his head. “Jesus,” he muttered, turning his attention back to the rifle.
Miranda waited, feeling more embarrassed and foolish with every silent moment. She watched him put the barrel back on the rifle and tighten some screws. He cocked it then and grinned sarcastically.
“I’ve been trying to tell you the kind of man I am. You just don’t get it, do you? Men like me don’t dawdle along with a wagon train full of farmers and prospectors and women and kids. We might rob them, but we don’t travel with them.”
“Then you could meet me at Independence and we’d go it alone.” This is insane! Totally insane! Why did she feel this need to keep him around? Was that all it was? Was that why she had come up with such a foolish idea, just because she didn’t want him to ride out of her life?