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“That’d surely be a help if you can be ready.”
“Just need to put on my dress and braid my hair. I won’t be five minutes.”
Naomi dressed quickly and left the room on Bobby’s arm. He sent her into the dining room for breakfast while he talked to the desk clerk of the small hotel. The rolls with butter tasted like sawdust, and she shook her head at the serving girl offering her coffee, opting for water instead to sooth her dry mouth. What was keeping Bobby?
Finally he entered the dining room, looking handsome as ever in his shirt, trousers, and boots, his gunbelt slung low on his hips. When a young and pretty chambermaid turned her head to stare at him, Naomi winced as a jolt of jealousy struck her. Who did that woman think she was? Bobby, though, didn’t give the young lady a look.
“Ready, angel?”
“Don’t you want anything to eat?”
“I had a few slices of bread while I was doing business,” he said.
“Any good news?”
“Well, if I’m wanted by the law, it hasn’t come over the wire yet.” He snickered. “Course the fella might’ve recognized me from my description and didn’t let on, and he’s callin’ in the law as we speak.”
Her heart lurched. “Oh, Bobby.”
“I’m just teasin’. I can read a man good as a book. The fella’s clueless. Let’s go.”
“All right.” She stood and followed him out of the hotel where his horse was waiting, saddled and ready to go.
He helped her up and settled in behind her.
“Before we go— Never mind.” She’d been thinking of Ma and Pa and Ruth, and how worried they must be. But if she wired them, she’d risk Bobby’s life, and that she could not do. She’d find another way to communicate.
“We’re headin’ east, angel, to Minnesota. If I can’t pick up some money on the way, it’ll be slim livin’ until we get there.”
“I’m a preacher’s daughter. I’m used to going without. I don’t mind.” And she didn’t. “As long as I’m with you.”
He kissed the side of her neck and kneed the horse into a canter.
* * *
Bobby kept off the beaten trails, hoping to avoid any lawmen or bounty hunters who might be headed his way. He knew how to cover his tracks—a necessity in his line of business—and took extra care. He was now carrying precious cargo.
How could he ever become worthy of the gift Naomi had given him? Somehow he needed to find a way to make an honest living. Not that bounty hunting wasn’t honest. No sirree. He prided himself on a job well done. The fewer criminals in the world the better. But it was no life for a woman. No life for his woman.
They’d been riding a while with only a short stop at noon to gnaw on some hardtack and drink from his canteen, when his ears perked at the rustling wheels of the afternoon stage. He slowed the horse and stayed off the trail, hiding in the tall grasses and cottonwoods, not wanting to attract attention.
“Angel?”
“Yes?”
“You feel like a rest?”
“I’m fine.”
“Well, I think a rest would be good. There’s a stage behind us, and I’d just as soon let it get ahead of us, if you understand my meanin’.”
“You don’t want to be seen. I understand.”
He stopped the stallion and helped Naomi down. “Let’s just lie low for a bit. Have a drink from the canteen if you want.” He handed it to her and then dismounted himself.
Her thirsty gulps echoed in his ears as he concentrated on the approaching stage. It seemed off, as if it were coming up quicker than normal. Damn. Had they found him? He was ready to put Naomi on the stallion and tell her to ride like the wind when a gunshot rang from the direction of the stage. “Stay here,” he hissed to Naomi, and he bounded through the grasses to get a better look.
The stage rolled into his view, the horses whinnying. A mounted gunman trailed them. He fired again. A lone stranger.
