‘‘Her family?’’ Adam leaned forward with interest.
Wes shook his head. ‘‘If there is any. She must have been picked up during the raids before the war. All her kin might have been killed, or decided the state was too wild and moved on. All I know is I have to try to find them.’’
Nichole leaned close and placed her hand on Wes’s arm. ‘‘I’ll help,’’ she offered. ‘‘I’ll use my connections at the marshal’s office.’’ She glanced toward the laundry room. ‘‘In the meantime, let the girl be. My guess is she’s got wounds on the inside that may take longer to heal than those we see on the outside.’’
Three days later, to Wes’s frustration, no one had been able to get the woman called Allie to talk. Texas was too big a state to search every settlement for her kin. Her name wasn’t much help, and he’d begun to question that he’d heard her say that. Maybe he’d only dreamed it.
She seemed to be changing before his eyes. If he hadn’t seen it happen, he wouldn’t have believed the creature in the cage and this shy girl were the same person. Nichole, with her limited skill as a seamstress, had managed to cut down two dresses for Allie. But the browns and dusty blues that looked so striking on Nichole faded Allie into the woodwork. She wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her hair, and the brown mass of waves always seemed to cover her face. She moved like a whisper from room to room.
On the third evening, Wes was able to sit at the supper table without feeling like he might fall over at any moment. He decided he’d had enough of her silence. His mood, never sunny, was made even worse by his injuries. Allie refused to eat with anyone. In truth, he hardly saw her now that he was awake. She kept to the background.
‘‘Allie!’’ he shouted when he entered Adam’s office and saw her by the windows.
She jumped at the sound of her name and glanced around as if looking for a place to run.
‘‘Don’t be afraid to talk to me.’’ Wes stumbled over his words as he neared. ‘‘How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not going to hurt you?’’
She seemed to shrink before his eyes, melting into the dark cape she wore across her shoulders like armor.
Wes was determined not to back down. This couldn’t go on. The woman had to talk sometime. ‘‘Nichole said the marshal thinks he can help you find your family… if you can remember your full name. He’s already got the word out over most of Texas.’’ Wes was within three feet of her now, but he wasn’t sure she was listening. ‘‘Is Allie short for something? Allison? Alisha? Allene?’’
She didn’t raise her head.
‘‘You probably have relatives worrying about you. Do you remember your home? Were you captured on a farm, or some little settlement? If you speak English, you must remember something. Give us something to go on.’’
Wes stared at the ceiling and swore. He felt like he’d asked these same questions a hundred times. He didn’t have to look at her to know what was happening. She was shaking with fear and backing as far as she could into the corner. He’d seen her watching the rain and guessed she was just waiting for a break in the weather to run. But to where? To who?
‘‘Allie,’’ he tried again, not wanting to think of her dying out in the wild somewhere. Maybe she was just wanting to run from people. If so, a hundred deaths could be waiting for her. ‘‘Allie, listen to me!’’
He reached for her wrist and pulled her toward him, determined to make her understand.
Like a sudden explosion of dry lightning across the sky, Allie came to life. She jerked the arm he held and fought wildly to pull away.
For a few seconds, Wes’s grip tightened, pulling her closer as if to quiet the terror he saw in her eyes.
But he was the cause of the fear. Her struggle only intensified. She swung her free hand, frantically trying to hit his head. Her bare feet kicked at his legs. Her teeth bared like an animal preparing to bite.
Wes turned loose of her wrist and backed away. He felt like a fool. She was a wild creature, he could see it in her eyes. She would have killed him if she could have. And for what? For asking her full name. If he had any sense, he’d be worried about the wolves who might be unlucky enough to try to attack her. There was no reasoning with this woman. It would be better to allow her to go her own way.
Without turning his back to her, Wes walked to the center of the room. All the pain in his body was forgotten as he watched her slip back into the corner. ‘‘I know you understand me!’’ he shouted, as if somehow he could win a battle he’d already lost.
He tried to pull his nerves together. He’d never been afraid to face anything in his life. He’d always been one to ride headlong into danger, but how could he handle her? No matter what she did, he could never raise a hand against her. But he’d seen the fear in her eyes and knew she’d kill him if he ever tried to touch her again. That made him about the biggest fool on earth, because he knew he’d stand there and let her.
The memory of the woman who’d slept beside him played through his thoughts. He closed his eyes and remembered how she’d let him touch her hair and how soft and willing her body had felt against his.
‘‘I’m not going to say I’m sorry.’’ Wes opened his eyes. ‘‘I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Allie, only get you to talk to me. I swear I’ll help you find your family. But you’re not making it easy. You have to tell me what you know about your past. Any little detail.’’
She turned to face the rain once more, as if she hadn’t heard his words.
‘‘Can’t you even answer me?’’ He tried lowering his voice, but he’d never had much cause to sound gentle and kind.
Her head dropped slightly, and he thought he saw a tear. He didn’t move to comfort her. He’d already gotten too close once tonight.
‘‘You have nothing to fear from me. We’ll stay married so you will be safe until I find your family, then you’ll be free of me. I owe you that much for saving my life.’’
He could see her shoulders curl in as she pressed against the icy window. He had no idea where she wanted to be, but it definitely wasn’t with him.
‘‘All I ask is that you help me to help you. Nothing more.’’ Wes set his jaw. Why should helping her come any easier than anything else he tried? ‘‘I want no wife in my life or my bed. You’ve no worry or fear there.’’ He had to say the words out loud, even if he was the only one listening. ‘‘As soon as the weather clears, we’ll start the search.’’
He never wanted to see the hatred in her eyes again. But the only way he’d be rid of her was to find her a safe place to stay. He’d have an easier job finding someone to adopt a porcupine.
She avoided him the rest of the evening, acting like he was the enemy. Since he’d been feeling better and moving around, Allie had taken to sitting in the sewing room upstairs with Nichole. She seemed to like Nichole, for Nichole was the only one in the house who accepted her on face value, never asking questions, never demanding answers. Also, unlike the cook, his sister-inlaw felt little need to keep a conversation going when it was one- sided.
Wes undressed for bed and stretched out on top of the covers, not caring that the air chilled his skin. He’d felt lousy all day, but it had nothing to do with his wound. How could a woman who didn’t speak or ask a blasted thing of him make him feel so angry?
Long after the house had grown quiet, the bedroom door slowly opened.
‘‘Evening,’’ Wes said, knowing she wouldn’t answer.
Allie slipped into the room and placed clean clothes on the dresser.
‘‘You still mad at me?’’ Wes waited a moment just in case there was an answer. ‘‘Not that I care one way or the other. A man can’t go around apologizing for something he didn’t do.’’
He watched her closely, wondering where she’d sleep tonight. Since he’d been able to stand on his feet, she’d curled into the chair in the corner every night. He was surprised she stayed in the same room with him if she feared him so much.
The thought occurred to him that maybe nowhere else felt safe either.
Allie wrapped her cape around her and tucked her bare feet up into the chair as she curled into a ball and closed her eyes.
Wes watched her for a while. She looked so tiny. She didn’t stand tall enough to reach his shoulder, and her arms looked thin to the point of starvation.
Her hair was just curly enough to look like it grew wild around her. In the firelight, he thought he could see red streaks running through it. But at dawn, he would swear gold drifted through the strands.
Wes opened and closed his hands. How he wanted to touch it again. Which made no sense, he decided,
