CHAPTER 23
Travis walked slowly back toward his rooms at the Baileys'. He needed time to cool down. He'd never felt such a need for a woman-no, not a woman-Rainey. If he'd stayed any longer, he would have made love to her right there in the alley.
He laughed. Maybe he had it backward. Maybe she would have taken him, for she was definitely doing her part. What they did couldn't be called a good-night kiss. What he'd felt was a mating. A mating that would leave a hunger in him for the rest of his life.
He knew now for a fact what he'd sensed from the first. She belonged to him, just as he belonged to her. It didn't matter if they were together or not, she was and would always be his match.
Judging by what she said, she'd made it plain she didn't want to see him again. But that last kiss had made all her talk a lie. She wanted him, needed him the same way he needed her, but she didn't want to love him. She didn't want marriage and forever, and he knew he'd never settle for something less with her.
He looked around. The saloons were closed, the cafes hadn't opened yet. It was sometime after two. The only place he knew of where people would be awake was the Ranger office. If any bad guys slept in jail tonight, some Ranger would be keeping an eye on them, and there he'd find company.
Ten minutes later when he opened the door, Mike looked up at him from the desk and smiled.
'Come in,' Mike almost shouted. 'It's so quite around here I was starting to get spooked. All we got are drunks tonight, and they're no fun when they start to sober up.'
'You here again?' Travis raised an eyebrow. 'Don't they let you go home anymore, kid?'
Mike shrugged. 'I played poker with Roy yesterday and he won the night off. Come to think of it, every time I play cards with Roy, I end up pulling his night duty.'
Travis laughed. 'He has to win, kid. He's got two wives to keep happy.'
Mike leaned closer as Travis took the seat across the desk. 'You really think that's true? About the two wives and all those children.'
'I know it's true. I'm met them both.'
Mike shook his head. 'Why do you think a man would do that, saddle himself with two women? I'm not even sure I could handle one.'
Travis poured a cup of coffee, then stared at it. 'Maybe it's true love. If it can happen once, maybe it can happen twice.' He sloshed his coffee around in the cup. 'How many days has this pot been warming on the stove?'
'Not long. I just forgot to dump out the grounds from the last pot. It's all right if you drink it through your teeth.'
Travis frowned before he realized Mike was kidding.
A prisoner from just beyond the open door leading to the cells yelled for them to call it a night. 'I need my beauty sleep before my hanging tomorrow.' The man sounded like he'd had far too much to drink.
Travis pointed toward the cell and lowered his voice. 'We got a hanging tomorrow?'
Mike shook his head. 'No, I just told him that if he threw up in that cell, I'd see him hang.' The kid shrugged. 'I may have gone a little overboard with the threats, since he believed me, but I sure do hate cleaning that place up after Dillon lets the drunks go come morning.'
Travis laughed, remembering his early years when he'd been the lowest-ranked Ranger and had to do the jobs no one else wanted. 'What you got planned for your life after you've served your time as a Ranger?' He leaned back in his chair, knowing the one question would help pass the night.
Mike stood and made a new pot of coffee as he talked. 'I've never given it much thought. I guess I always figured I'd die in the line of duty. My family's all gone. There'll be no one crying over my grave.' He smiled. 'I guess if I had one wish, it'd be to have some pretty girl miss me when I'm dead, but that ain't likely. Roy has time to find two wives, and I don't even know an unmarried girl that don't charge by the hour.'
'You're better off,' Travis answered, thinking of Rainey. 'The more I'm around them, the more I think I'll never understand them. Take my sister, she's got this crazy idea that one day she'll just bump into a man and fall in love.'
'Is that how it works?'
'Hell if I know. The last one I bumped into stole my horse.'
Both men laughed. The drunk yelled again. They lowered their voices and decided to play cards for who would buy breakfast. The night passed with good company and bad coffee.
At dawn Travis silently slipped back into the drawing room. Duck was still sound asleep by the fire. He sat down on his bunk and pulled one boot off when the door to Sage's room opened.
'Oh, good,' she whispered. 'You're up.'
He slowly put the one boot back on and stood, trying to look like he'd just woke. 'I couldn't sleep,' he answered honestly.
'Me, either. I'm picking up my new dresses from the sisters this morning.'
Travis thought if such a thing ever kept him awake, he'd shoot himself, but he tried to focus as he gave up the hope he'd had of sleeping a few minutes before he had to meet Mike and buy breakfast.
Sage tidied up the room, something she always did when she couldn't sit still. Her long braid swished back and forth as she circled. 'Mrs. Bailey won't be up for another hour to cook breakfast. I feel trapped in here. If we were home we'd all be having coffee by now. What is it about these people in town who start their day by the clock and not the sun?'
Duck sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked so tiny in his big white nightshirt. Thank goodness he no longer woke frightened and crying.
Sage tossed Travis the boy's clothes. 'Your turn.'
Duck saw the clothes and came fully awake and ready to run.
Travis laughed. 'I'll buy you a cup of coffee at the bakery if you'll help me catch him.'
Sage nodded and circled behind the boy. Together they fought their way through dressing him in no time. When they finished, Travis brushed down Duck's hair with his hand.
Duck smiled up at him and Travis wondered if all this battle over clothes wasn't a game to the boy. He offered his hand. 'Want to go have a cookie?'
Duck climbed into Travis's arms.
'He can't have a cookie.'
'I'm sure the bakery has one,' Travis answered. 'We can't feed him breakfast or Mrs. Bailey will get mad at us.'
'You spoil him.'
Travis laughed as he opened the private exit from their wing of the house. 'And you don't? You're the one who taught him that his pockets were for carrying cookies. Half the time when I pick up his clothes at night, crumbs tumble out.'
Sage followed. 'I'm not the one who bought him a knife. A knife, Travis, for a three-year-old.'
'It'll be another year before he's got the grip to open it.'
She lifted her skirts an inch as they walked through the tiny garden with its beds covered in straw. 'Oh, then he'll be four and I guess it will be fine.'
Travis didn't understand her problem about the knife. It was better than a rifle. 'We all had knives by the time we were his age, and none of us cut off our fingers.'
Sage didn't look relieved. She pulled the fur-lined hood to her new velvet blue coat high and smiled up at the gray sky. 'Do you think it will warm up enough today for me to go riding?'
He knew his sister missed riding every day, but he couldn't let her go alone, and he didn't think his leg was strong enough yet. He'd thought of trying it, but wasn't sure he wouldn't make a fool of himself. He'd wait until he got back to the ranch and then test his leg. 'I tell you what, you find someone who can keep up with you on a horse, and I'll keep Duck while you ride.'
'It's a deal. But what about your test at nine?'
He felt safe. 'I'll take him with me if you find a riding partner on this cold morning.' Dr. or Mrs. Bailey didn't look like they could even climb up on a horse, and the only other people Sage met were dressmakers.
The wind hit them as they reached the street, and Sage pulled deep into her coat as they hurried to the tiny
