Renegade Read online

  She touched his face as he set her down but did not let go of her. As suddenly as they had given free rein to their happiness at being reunited, they now grew serious, searching each other’s faces, silent questions asked and answered. Cody tossed his hat on the desk and lowered his lips to hers. “Never leaving you for that long again,” he murmured. His kiss tasted of longing and desire and a need that crackled like a spark between them. He smelled of sweat and smoke from a campfire. She ran her palms over his chest and back, needing to assure herself he was real and unharmed.

  “Tonight,” she whispered. “Promise me tonight.”

  “Just try keeping me away,” he said thickly as he kissed her again, this time trailing kisses down her cheek and the open collar of her dress.

  Touch me. Love me. She wanted to scream the words, so great was her desire for this man.

  But when the rise and fall of voices in conversation from people passing outside finally penetrated the haze of their passion, he reluctantly eased away from her and turned his attention to Jake’s jacket. “What’s all this?”

  She told him what she had discovered, watching as he slid the note from the uniform pocket and read it, then stared at the photograph. “I was going to leave this for you and then go have a look around at the smokehouse. I mean, if we missed these clues, there might be something there.”

  “No, Lily. I don’t want you involved in this.”

  “But I am involved,” she protested. “I know it’s slim evidence, but I think Victor was using a threat to me to get Jake to do something for him. Something Jake refused to do and that got him killed. I’ve been part of this from the beginning, Cody. I have to make this right. For Jake.”

  “I’ll get justice for Jake, Lily. You need to stay out of it.”

  All her life, Lily had been around men who thought they had the right to determine what was right or proper for her. Well, no more! Not even Cody was going to decide what she could or could not do.

  At the same time, she was smart enough to know challenging Cody’s authority would get her nowhere, so she lowered her head for a second, hoping he would take the gesture for acquiescence, and then asked, “Did you find the outlaw camp?”

  “I did. My guess is you were right about them planning to strike during the Independence Day celebration and that party you’re planning for Emma, but we’ll be ready.”

  “We?”

  He nodded. “I’ll round up some men here in town and from the ranches and deputize them, then fill them in on the plan.”

  “And just what is the plan?”

  He grinned and tweaked her nose. “Nice try.”

  “Cody, I want to help.”

  He hugged her close, resting his chin on her hair. “I know, darlin’, and you can.”

  She looked up at him. “How?”

  “By staying out of it—making sure Grace is all right, since I’ll probably be needing Nick’s help.”

  “But—”

  “Look, Lily, if we’re going to foil this robbery and catch the culprits in the bargain, it’s important that most folks here in town have no idea there’s anything going on. Can’t have them come rushing out if they happen to hear gunfire, for example. That’s where you and Aidan and the other Harvey people come in. If the gang does strike during the celebration or the party, your job is to make sure everyone thinks it’s just some kids setting off firecrackers or a dustup at one of the saloons.”

  There was no use arguing with him, so once again, she changed the subject. “You need to wash up, Sheriff Daniels,” she said as she ran her fingers through his thick hair.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, a couple of days on the trail can leave a fella smelling a little overripe, I expect.” He backed away from her. “I’ve got some business to attend to first, but I promise when I see you tonight, I’ll be smelling sweet as saddle soap.”

  She laughed. “And speaking of that, I have to get changed and to my station in the dining room.”

  He walked with her to the door. “How’s Grace?”

  “Better. She sleeps through the night most nights, and there’s been no more bleeding. And she eats like every meal is her last.”

  “I reckon I could do with one of George’s famous breakfasts. Do you know what’s on special this morning?”

  “I know he made Grace huevos rancheros.”

  Cody licked his lips. “Washin’ up can wait. Lead the way, Miss Travis.”

  Together, they returned to the hotel. Cody stopped to say hello to Grace while Lily ran up to her room to change into her uniform. When she and Emma came downstairs not twenty minutes later, Cody was seated at the lunch counter, a plate of food in front of him and the coffee in his cup sending up a smoke signal of steam.

  “Well, he’s back,” Emma said with a wink. “So what are you going to do with your nights now, my friend?”

  “I have no idea what you mean.”

  Emma laughed. “You know exactly what I mean.” She gripped Lily’s arm, and her expression turned serious. “Just be careful. It was one thing for Grace to be with child before she finished her contract—she and Nick were already married.”

  “You know something, Emma? You’re already starting to sound a good deal like Miss Kaufmann, and I have to say, it doesn’t suit you.”

  “What is it Cody always says? ‘Just doing my job.’ That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “And I have to remind you that you haven’t started the job yet,” Lily replied with a nudge. “So I’m assuming if I happen to be a bit late for curfew tonight, I can still count on my dear friend?”

  Emma frowned. “You know I think you and Cody were made for each other, Lily. Just be careful, okay?”

  Lily linked arms with Emma. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Chapter 12

  As soon as he polished off his breakfast, Cody headed for the smokehouse. It was a long shot, to be sure—weeks had passed since Jake’s killing. But he wanted to check. The building was small, square, and dark. The only light came from an opening in the roof that allowed the smoke to escape. Of course, if the meeting had been at the smokehouse, there was no reason to assume that meant inside the building. This setting, well away from the hotel, at night? Three men could have easily met without anyone seeing them, even if they stayed outdoors. Jake could have endured a beating that took his life without anyone hearing.

  Cody ambled around the perimeter of the adobe building, noticing how a pile of sagebrush used to stoke the fire had been knocked awry. Something glinted in the sun, and he bent to pick up a button. He turned it over, looking at it. It was the kind of button that Harvey employees received when they’d been with the company for a certain number of years. Could be Jake’s—or belong to somebody else from the hotel. It wasn’t any use as proof that Jake had been there.

  He bent and studied the ground the way he used to study trails when he worked as a scout. There, the marks of something—or someone—being dragged. And nearby, a stain in the darkened sandy earth that could be blood. And a tooth.

  Had Jake been missing a tooth when he died?

  Cody couldn’t recall. The man’s face had been such a bloody mess. But Doc would know. He dug the tooth from the ground with the point of his knife and pocketed it. Come on, Jake. Give me more.

  Around the back of the smokehouse was a pile of ashes, no doubt dumped there when one of the kitchen staff came to tend the low-burning fire. Cody knelt and sifted through them, using the point of his knife again to collect bits of charred paper and set them aside. The smokehouse fire was built from sagebrush and mesquite, not paper. So why were the scraps there?

  He intensified his search, spreading the ashes carefully as he hunted for anything that looked like a message or maybe a map. Having exhausted the ash pile outside, he entered the smokehouse and used a shovel leaning against one wall to fill a bucket with more ashes.

&nbs
p; He sorted through the fresh supply—ashes that still held the heat of the fire and in some places continued to smolder. The search yielded four more bits of paper. Careful not to further damage the unburned parts, Cody laid out his clues, anchoring each slip or corner of paper with a small rock. Two showed numbers: R3 and 12. One was a bit of hotel stationery. Two more had markings like a map—or more like the layout of a building’s interior.

  After repeating the search with three additional buckets of ash that yielded nothing, he stood, folding his knife and putting it away. He never took his eyes off the puzzle he’d laid out on the ground as he tried to imagine what might have happened that night.

  Jake had been summoned for a meeting—a meeting where he was expected to deliver information.

  Cody stooped to pick up the pieces that looked like a hand-sketched map. A scribbled word trailed off into the charred edge.

  Fron…

  “Front?” Cody muttered. “Front desk?”

  Had Jake provided a map of the hotel lobby, showing the way to the safe?

  He picked up the pieces with numbers. Combination for the safe in Aidan’s office? But how would Jake know that?

  Carefully, he gathered the clues, laid them in a bandana he untied from his neck, and wrapped them before placing them in the pocket of his vest. He took one more look around before heading back to town and over to Doc’s office.

  “Yep. Jake’s front teeth had been knocked loose, and one was missing,” Doc confirmed after Cody explained his question.

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  “Smokehouse makes sense,” Doc added as Cody prepared to leave. “His fingers were burned pretty bad. He also had these bruises and cuts around his wrists, like somebody grabbed him real hard or held him down with something sharp enough to cut.”

  The shovel.

  Cody imagined Johnson—or more likely his partner—forcing Jake’s hands into the fire. He’d seen torture in his days working for the army, and fire was a favorite method for getting a man to talk. “Thanks again, Doc,” he said as he headed to the mercantile. It was time to start drafting his posse, and as mayor, Frank Turner was the man he could trust to provide names.

  * * *

  With Cody safely back in town, Lily couldn’t seem to stop smiling. As she served her customers, she thought about what she might wear for meeting Cody later. At least to herself, she couldn’t deny her focus was as much on what she might wear under her shirtwaist and skirt as choosing an outfit from her limited wardrobe. His eyes had widened with admiration when she’d worn her dark-green wool skirt with the matching jacket, the day they’d gone to visit Grace. And she knew he liked her to wear her hair up, so he could remove the pins and comb his fingers through it. The fancy boots? Definitely. She imagined him cupping her calf as he pulled one off and then the other, and she shivered with anticipation. And then she was shivering with something far more sinister.

  “You little hussy,” she remembered her stepfather saying as he pushed her against the desk in his study, the morning he’d caught her running away. He’d kneaded her breast with one hand while the other tunneled under her skirt and petticoats in a failed attempt to pull down her pantaloons. Failed because she had fought back. Failed because she had bitten his earlobe and tasted blood. Failed because when he leapt back in pain, she had run.

  “Lily?” Emma was staring at her with concern. “Are you unwell? You’ve gone quite pale.”

  Lily forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just a little tired. Between work and watching over Grace, you and I have been burning the candle at both ends. Sunday can’t come soon enough. Nick will be with Grace all day, and we can get some sleep.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t go out and see Cody tonight,” Emma ventured.

  For an instant, Lily thought perhaps Emma was right. Except not because of her weariness—but because she realized she was unworthy. It didn’t matter that she’d done nothing wrong, that she had never given in to the advances of her stepfather or Victor.

  Eventually, her past would matter, so why continue a relationship that could not possibly end well? Cody had ambitions—political ambitions. She was hardly the proper wife for someone who might one day be the territorial representative and living in Washington, DC.

  Wife?

  “Lily?” Emma was watching her closely, her brow furrowed with worry.

  “You may have a point, Emma,” she conceded. “Perhaps I’ll send him a note, beg off in favor of catching up on my rest.”

  Her decision certainly did not seem to satisfy Emma, who continued to look at her with concern. “I wasn’t seriously suggesting you not see him. Cody’s been gone for several days, and you were worried. Of course you should meet him.”

  Needing to disarm Emma’s angst, Lily laughed. “And I was teasing you,” she said with a forced smile. “Now I really need to get back to work.”

  She would meet Cody and break it off with him. She’d even suggest he take another look at Abigail Chambers. She was older, more respectable. She would make a perfect political wife.

  As soon as her shift ended, Lily hurried upstairs to claim the bathroom. She washed her hair and braided it into one long, thick plait. Once back in her room, she pulled on black stockings, her plainest undergarments, and a dull gray skirt with a maroon jacket she’d not worn since arriving in Juniper. She was fastening her serviceable work shoes when Emma joined her in the room.

  “That’s what you’re wearing?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “It’s June, Lily, and that’s an outfit more suited to February.”

  Lily shrugged. “The nights can still be quite cool.”

  “I thought the idea was having Cody keep you warm,” Emma said. “And please don’t tell me you’re going out in the night air with a wet head. You’ll catch your death.”

  Lily shrugged again. Silence filled the room. Emma continued to watch her as she finished dressing.

  “What’s going on, Lily?”

  She’d never been able to lie to Emma. Lily sat on her bed and stared down at her folded hands. “I like Cody—more than like him. I think I might love him. And he thinks he’s in love with me, but, Emma, that simply cannot be.”

  Emma sat beside her, stroking her back. “Why on earth not? You two are perfect for each other. Please don’t tell me you are still worried about that horrid man who tricked you.”

  “Cody is going places, Emma. He’s planning to run for the position of territorial representative and head to Washington. One day, he might even be a state governor. A man like that—with those ambitions—needs a woman who is…who can…who isn’t…”

  “Lily Travis, you listen to me. You are as suited to a life as the wife of a powerful man as anyone I’ve ever met. You are smart and beautiful, and your training as a Harvey Girl will make you a wonderful hostess. You grew up in Chicago, meaning you’re certainly no country bumpkin. From where I sit, you are the perfect representation for women all over the country as we enter a new century. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see you hosting parties at the White House one day.”

  Emma’s praise was so exaggerated that Lily couldn’t help but feel a little better. She fought a smile and met Emma’s worried expression. “The only way I’ll host anything at the White House is if I stay a Harvey Girl for the rest of my days and some future First Lady hires us to serve.”

  “Fiddlesticks. And another thing. You would be furious if the shoe were on the other foot. You do not get to decide what’s best for Cody any more than he gets to decide that for you.”

  Cody had once told her the same thing.

  “But you don’t know the whole story,” Lily objected. “There are things from my past, men other than Victor Johnson. My stepfather—”

  “I don’t need to know the whole story, Lily. I know you. You can tell Cody about whatever it is that you’ve decided makes you unwo
rthy, but my guess is he’ll say the same thing I’m telling you now. Whatever happened in the past is just that—the past. The woman you’ve become may be stronger for those things, but no matter what, you are not to blame.” She stood and went to the wardrobe they shared. Opening the double doors, she stared at the contents before pulling out the dark-green outfit Lily had first thought of wearing. “Now, get out of that sackcloth costume and put this on,” she instructed.

  Lily could not help but laugh. “Did I mention you are becoming quite bossy?”

  “You did and I am. Now change. I’m going down to sit with Grace. Stop on your way out and say good night.”

  As usual, the talk with Emma had lifted Lily’s spirits. Her friend was right. It was not up to her to decide for Cody. She had told him the truth—all of it—and now he would need to decide for himself. If he truly loved her, wouldn’t he choose a future together over his political ambition? And what if he did? And what if sometime in that future, he regretted that choice and resented her?

  “Stop this right now,” she whispered as she fastened the last button on her jacket, then hurried down the stairs.

  “Much better,” Emma announced when Lily stopped in the doorway to Grace’s room.

  “You look lovely,” Grace added.

  Lily grinned. “Don’t wait up, my dears.” And the last thing she heard as she hurried outside was Emma’s admonition that she be back by ten.

  Maybe she would. And then again, maybe not.

  * * *

  After Cody spoke to Frank, he rode out to the Lombard ranch and met with Nick and his boss. John Lombard chose three of his best ranch hands for the posse Cody was gathering and offered the names of neighboring ranchers Cody might want to contact as well. Their meeting ran later than Cody expected, and he was pushing his mount hard to make it back to town in time for his tryst with Lily. The last thing he wanted was for her to take matters in hand and go off on her own.

  The sun was already behind the mountains, and only a pale hint of daylight remained as he rode into town. There—he spotted the silhouette of a woman climbing the path behind the hotel. Knowing what light there was would be gone in minutes, he left his horse with the blacksmith and headed for the cow path that would lead him up into the foothills.