Miranda instinctively tried to brush him away, but stopped when she realized his hold on her wasnt bruising or possessive, like Lewiss had been. Nor was it controlling like Fathers. Treys touch was firm and binding, but as respectful as a promise made and kept.
I could put you and Josie in jeopardy
Dont you worry about that. Were tough, arent we, Red? He gave the little girl wrapped in one arm a slight squeeze.
Thats right. Were real tough. Josie bobbed her small chin once despite the heartbreak in her eyes.
So am I. Could she stay? Should she?
For the first time in months, Miranda felt the mantle of fear slide off her shoulders, leaving her weak and tired and strangely at ease. The longing in her heart spurred her. She stepped forward, twisting away from the burn of Treys fingers curling into the rise of her shoulder.
She was lonely, after all. Miranda eased along the seats flanking a window made dark by the brutal storm. I usually travel alone, but just this once, just for you, Josie, Ill make an exception.
She avoided Treys gaze, but felt it heavy on her back as she grabbed her skirts and slid across the plush velvet.
Wait. Again, his touch stopped her, leaving a hot, aching feeling where the weight of his hand settled on her forearm. Ill take the window. Its colder.
Im no delicate female. She turned her shoulder and settled into the seat, brushing off his concern as if she didnt need it.
But in truth, it had been so long since anyone had known or cared if she were warm or cold, safe or in danger. Her chest squeezed tight. She felt grateful as this man settled beside her. She tingled deep inside when his broad shoulder brushed hers.
Surely, she wasnt making a mistake in staying. In trusting that the bounty hunters, or their hired men, couldnt follow in this storm. But as Trey dug Josies doll from his bag, Miranda didnt relax, or stop fearing the ruthless men on her trail.
The lamplight, meager in the first-class cabin, played across Mirandas face, highlighting the soft slope of her nose and the rosebud softness of her lips. She turned from the window to answer something Josie had asked.
Mirandas voice was like music, like melody and harmony, and flowed as sweet and quiet as a Brahms lullaby. Low and spellbinding, the sound moved through him. The clack of the wheels on the track and the scouring blast of the blizzard faded into the background until all he could hear was Mirandas alto sweetness as she agreed to braid her doll Baby Beths hair.
The door swung open in front of them and, propelled by the severe wind, crashed against the wall with force enough to shake the car. Miranda jumped with a look of panic, and her pupils became big black disks. Her slim body tensed, ready to run or fight, he didnt know which. When the conductor stepped into the car and pulled the door back into place, Trey watched the relief soften Mirandas face, but the tension squeezed tight in her shoulders and spine did not ease.
Dont worry. Trey laid his hand over hers, felt the cold, silken texture of her skin and the bone-hard tension of muscles bunched, ready to fight. He isnt armed.
Oh, really? She lifted one brow, the sardonic twist of her mouth somehow endearing. She was afraid, but she wasnt cowering. Or, he guessed, willing to admit it.
This is one threat I can handle. He winked at her, pulling out the ticket cards from his breast pocket.
Im not here because I need protection.
Of course not. A woman traveling alone is an even match against six armed ruffians.
Im not helpless. Her chin shot up. And those brutes may be armed, but so far Ive been able to outwit them.
Until you stopped to help us.
It was torture, but someone had to do it. She flashed him a quick smile, wavery but true.
He was dying to ask what she was running from, who the men were on her trailbounty hunters, by his practiced eyeand why they wanted a woman with eyes as gentle as dawn. She was from moneyhed learned to read a person at a single glance in his line of workher hands were as smooth as watered silk and her face appeared as soft as morning. The cut of her gray cloak was simple, but the worsted wool was of a high quality. Every stitch, every garnish, every button, no matter how sedate, spoke of her station in life, one high above his.
Women well born and gently raised were never found alone on a Montana mountainside. Curiosity burned, but hed learned patience in his profession, too.
He explained Mirandas absence of a first-class ticket to the conductor and offered quietly to pay the difference. But the kind-eyed man only waved his hand, his gaze falling on Josies brand-new leg brace and moved on, the understanding quiet but unmistakable.
The train inched along through the towering peaks of the Rockies, invisible from the window where the gray and white of the unrelenting blizzard blocked everything from their view.
Were going so slow, will we be able to climb through the mountains? Miranda pocketed her ticket stub, directing her attention away from the doors to Josie, who held out her dolls miniature hairbrush. Despite the interruption and the storm, Baby Beth still needed to look her best.
Hard to tell. They may take us only as far as Pine Bluff. Josie shifted on Treys knee, and he felt the stiffness easing from her little spine. He watched Miranda take the brush and begin grooming the dolls flyaway hair. The telegraph wires could go down in a storm like this.
Miranda dropped the brush. It clattered to the floor with a thud, but the sound was lost in the friendly noises inside the car as passengers talked. She shrugged one slim shoulder. I can only hope those wires are down.
I doubt the telegraph people would share your hopes, but then, sometimes modern inventions can work against a person. With one hand on Josies shoulder to balance her, he reached with his free hand just as Miranda bent forward at the same time.
Their foreheads brushed. He could feel the wisps of a few rebellious tendrils, breezing across the skin of his brow as brazenly as a lovers touch. His body reacted hot and hard, but he didnt move away even as the blood thundered through his veins and his breath grew short and choppy.
I cant reach it. She didnt blink, and a small frown tugged down the soft corners of her mouth, drawing his gaze and making him wonder just what her soft, bow-shaped lips would taste like if he kissed them. Her grin grew. Your big head is in the way.
My head is big?
Bigger than mine. A wicked smile teased at one dimple, and his stomach felt as if it were falling straight down to his tailored boots. In my experience, the amount of charm a doctor exudes is in direct proportion to the arrogance hes trying to cover up.
You have a lot of experience with doctors? Now he had to know. He had to get a little more personal with this woman who made even an affirmed bachelor like him feel more hot and bothered than hed been in a decade. You look healthy to me.
My father is one. The words popped out of her mouth before she thought, and she sat up, forgetting Josies hairbrush. Im engaged to one.
Engaged? He quirked one dark brow, as if to say, now, thats interesting, before he knelt a little farther, stretching those magnificent shoulders and arching his broad, well-constructed back to rescue the brush beneath the seat.
Miranda watched as he straightened, nodding easily at Josies Thank you, Uncle Trey. Curiosity twitched at his mouth. Does your fiancé know youre unchaperoned and in trouble?
No, and Id like to keep it that way. She couldnt believe it. Six long months shed kept her secrets safe, and in less than an hour, shed opened up her heart and her life to a man she didnt knowto a doctor, no less, to the kind of man she was running from. She couldnt believe it, couldnt stomach her weakness.
Shed been alone too long. She felt starved for someone to talk to, someone with kind eyes, or a child who needed a little help. Shed just opened up like this, without control, without consideration to what would happen to her if those bounty hunters found her.
They would drag her back to Philadelphia, to a wedding she did not want, and to a father she could never stand to look at again.
I know how to keep a confidence. Treyshe didnt even know his last nameflashed her a wink. The devil shone in his eyes and in the cut of his one-sided grin. Im a doctor.
I know what you are.
Handsome, charming, debonair. Kind to children and damsels in distress. Twin dimples danced and beguiled, and he was far too sure of himself. Yet with those wicked eyes and the mesmerizing cut of his muscled body, he was that and more.
See? She tugged at her bonnet strings. I knew the arrogance was in there somewhere.
No man is perfect. He winked a second time. He was humoring her. Or maybe he could feel it, toothe way the train slowed.
They must be approaching the next station. A whistle blared faintly above the blast of ice, muted by the ever-present howl of the wind.
Was she in luck? Had the vicious storm knocked down the telegraph wires? Or would someone looking for her board this train? Her palms turned clammy and her fingers felt wooden and stiff as she began French-braiding Baby Beths hair in accordance with Josies careful instructions.
Beside her, Trey turned in his seat to watch as the station eased into sight, the storm broken by the shelter of tall buildings.
Snow still swirled, but Miranda could see the faces of the waiting passengers blur on the other side of the frosted glass. Men, women, children. Trepidation curled around her heart, cold and foreboding.
Somewhere in the crowd was a man searching for her. She knew it. She could feel it.
Miranda, use this barrette. Josies grip was warm against the back of Mirandas knuckles.
She turned to see trust as true as the shine on her mothers locket. This is mighty pretty for a dolly to wear.
It matches her traveling dress. Josie tugged at the buttons on her coat, revealing a dark dress made of the same beautiful fabric.
A fancy doll, fine clothes, barrettes made of lustrous mother-of-pearl and gleaming gold. It smacked of her own childhood, one where a housekeeper polished the furniture daily, according to Fathers instructions, in a house ruled by decorum and not by love. Mirandas heart twisted. She did not regret for a moment her flight from home and all the privilege shed left behind.
What she hated was leaving now.
You take good care of Baby Beth. Miranda pressed her hand briefly against the side of Josies cheek, the skin child-soft and precious. Goodbye, dear heart.
Where you goin? Josie tipped back her head as Miranda stood, her lower lip beginning to quiver.
Remember my mothers locket. Miranda pressed the childs hand to where the gold winked in the lamplight. Thank you for keeping watch over me, Trey.
He stood, scooping the child up easily in one arm. Theres no need for you to leave. Your ticket was for Missoula, which is a long way from here, on the other side of the Rockies.
Shed developed quite a skill for slipping off a train unnoticed while hired guns climbed on. This is where I intend to get off.
I dont think so. Youre not going to leave like this. Trey towered over her, one-hundred-percent might, blocking her way. From here on out, until this train reaches Willow Creek, Ill be your good-luck charm.
The ability to speak seemed to flee as Miranda tilted her head to get a thorough look at the man who stood between her and doing the right thinggetting off this train when violent men were after her. They might not care whom they hurt. But she did, she cared.
The door at the rear of the car banged open, propelled by a hard gust. Miranda jumped, her gaze darting around Treys well-hewn upper arm to the dark-jacketed man striding down the aisle. Two holsters hugged his denim thighs, and both beefy hands were poised above the handles of the battered revolvers.
A bounty hunter. There was no mistaking the determined, ruthless gait or the emotionless set to his eyes. She eased back, trapped between the window and Trey.
Im not only a dashing traveling partner he leaned close to murmur, his breath hot against the outer shell of her ear but did I mention I was a fantastic dinner companion?
No, you failed to list that as one of your many flaws, she whispered past a dry throat. Fear trembled through her, leaving her cold and shaking. Fortunately for you, I have a sudden urge to leave this car.
Me, too. Shielding her from sight with his body, he backed out into the aisle.
Miranda slipped ahead of him, pushed open the door. She knew the bounty hunter, still searching the faces of the seated passengers, was close, but he hadnt noticed her.
Yet.
She stepped into the next car, and Treys hand settled against the small of her back, guiding her through the dining car and toward the table tucked away in the back. Wait. Treys hand guided her to a stop. He stepped close so the hard curve of his shoulder and the plane of his chest pressed against her back.
Heat scorched her as they touched. Her skin felt ready to blister, but Trey didnt move aside. She heard the door behind them slam as the bounty hunter strolled into the car. She stiffened, but Trey held her steady.
May I seat you? a waiter appeared.
Please. Treys rum-smooth voice warmed her, gave her hope. My wife would like a window table.
This way.
Miranda held her breath as the bounty hunter prowled past. He barely even looked their way. Josie reached out for her, and she took the child into her arms. Treys deception had worked. The hired gun was looking for a woman alone.
She breathed a sigh of relief when he left the car.
Am I a genius or what? Trey winked, his grin jaunty.
I wouldnt go that far. She thanked the waiter, who pulled out a chair for her. But you did good. Thank you.
Why, anything for my wife.
She laughed and couldnt remember the last time she had. It had been before her fathers betrayal, before she left a world shed loved, never to return again.
Chapter Three
R elax. Trey handed the menus to the waiter, who hurried away with their order. The trains pulling out. That no-good hired gun could have scouted the cars and climbed right back onto that platform. He could be wiring ahead to his cohorts that you werent on this train.
Hed meant to comfort her, but the worry lines slashed deep in her brow remained. Or maybe he did see me. Maybe hes just biding his time
No, men like that dont like to wait. He would have tried to get you off the train before it started to roll.