Page 77 of Conveniently Wed
But the marshal didn’t have enough manpower to help them, especially once they moved the cattle out.
If anything happened, they were supposed to let the marshal know. Lot of good that did.
The man hadn’t seemed particularly inclined to help them anyway, not after Ricky’s bust-up at one of the saloons.
What would Fran think? Before supper, she’d challenged him by saying his forceful way with Ricky wasn’t working.
Tonight’s revelation at the jail had been a shock. Had he been softening toward her all this time?
Was he actually beginning to trust her?
Maybe the next two days on the trail would clarify things for him.
He didn’t have to solve everything tonight. He was torn up about Ricky, tired from sleeping on the ground and watching cattle at night.
At the end of the cattle drive, could he really give their marriage a true chance?
He didn’t know.
But for the first time…he wanted to try.
13
Fran woke to a light tap at the door with a foreboding sense of panic building in her chest.
What had happened the night before? Edgar had never returned to let her know the resolution of Ricky’s situation. Or if they’d discovered anything about the man watching them on the street.
It was still dark outside the hotel window.
Another light tap on the door had her out of the warm bed, her feet bare and the plank floor cool enough to jolt her fully awake.
Had Underhill’s men found them?
“Fran?”
The surge of relief at hearing Edgar’s voice through the wood panel actually brought tears to her eyes.
She blinked them away and cracked the door open.
In the soft lamplight in the hallway, he was a welcome sight, rumpled shirt and Stetson and all.
She tucked her hair, loose down her back, behind one ear and made sure she was hidden behind the door. She didn’t have a wrapper, after all.
“You girls ready to ride out?”
“What? You just woke me up, and Emma’s still sleeping…” She let her words trail off as she registered the corner of his mouth that had ticked upward. And then she played back his question in her mind. “No railroad?”
“No.” Nothing more, just the simple answer.
“Ricky all right?” she asked.
Shadows in his eyes darkened.
She wanted to throw her arms around him. Comfort him. But in her state of dishabille, that would be terribly improper. Even though they were married. Someone could pass in the hall and see.
She settled for a wobbly smile. “I’ll wake Emma.”
The morning had passed in a blur of rounding up the cattle in the near-dark and passing out of Tuck’s Station.
