Page 99 of Conveniently Wed
Edgar worried for Fran. What would Underhill do when he realized he’d captured her instead of Emma?
They were running out of time. He knew it.
A single shot brought his head up. Ricky. On a bluff within sighting distance. Must be about a quarter of a mile away.
He must’ve found the tracks they were all looking for.
Edgar kicked his horse into a gallop, noting that the other cowboys were making for Ricky’s location too.
Before he’d gone half the distance to his brother, a lone rider coming from the wrong direction caught his gaze.
Edgar’s hand went to his rifle by instinct, and he went to meet the man.
He got close enough to see that the man rode like a city boy. The horse wasn’t any kind of decent. Seller probably took himfor a ride. He was pale, not like he’d been surprised, but like he was sick.
And his dark hair and features were familiar.
“Halloo!” Edgar hailed the man.
The man reined in the horse—badly—and his hand went to his waist. Armed.
“I’m looking for a pair of young women,” the dark-haired man called out. “My sisters.”
His familiar features suddenly made a lot more sense. “You Daniel?”
The man’s shoulders relaxed the slightest bit. “You seem to know who I am,” the man said. “Might I have the pleasure…?”
Edgar took off his hat. Took stock of himself. Hair, tangled and matted from his hat and the wild ride that morning. Beard, too long. Clothes, trail-dusted and well-worn.
He didn’t look like much.
“I’m Edgar White. Riding with my brothers and some other cowboys. I’m Fran’s husband.”
The brother looked surprised. “I understood she and Emma only came west several days ago. How did you come to marry her? Have you taken advantage of my sister?”
Edgar supposed he deserved that suspicion, but he had a little of his own. “I understood you abandoned the both of them. What do you care that she’s in trouble now?”
Daniel’s face took on the look of a thundercloud. “Is that what she told you?”
Edgar shrugged. “In as many words.” Although Fran had been more worried about what had happened to her brother than anything else.
Daniel suddenly coughed. And couldn’t stop. He hacked and hacked, nearly unseating himself from the horse. If the horse hadn’t been so old and uninterested, it might’ve taken offense,but as it was, it stood still, grazing on some of the grasses in front of its feet.
Finally, the cough stopped. Daniel took a white kerchief from one pocket and dabbed at his mouth.
The violent cough had brought some color to his cheeks, but he still looked peaked.
“I’ve been ill.”
Edgar could believe it, judging by the other man’s pallor. “All right now?”
Daniel nodded, still looking as if he could vomit or fall from the horse. “Where are my sisters?”
“Emma is with one of my brothers. Riding back toward Tuck’s Station.”
The other man didn’t look particularly happy that she wasn’t right there. “And Fran?”
“It’s complicated.”
