Outlaw's Honor. B.J. Daniels
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met. He felt his breath escape him. That feeling he’d had at the Chokecherry Festival of being shot through the heart was mild compared to this one. He was right. The woman had put a curse on him, he thought as he dragged his gaze away.
“Give me a minute and I can settle up with you on the tips.”
“Don’t worry about that tonight.” Her voice was low, sultry in the empty bar, darkness deep against the windows. “But I would love a glass of wine. Red. Something cheap and sweet would be wonderful.”
He laughed as he looked at her again. “I took you for something more exotic. Champagne, maybe.”
“Really?” She moved with fluid grace to the bar, slid up on a stool and, dropping her elbows to the bar top, cupped her chin in her hands as she settled her gaze on him. “Was it my backpack with my entire life in it? Or my bike?”
“I haven’t seen a bike like yours before.”
“You know motorcycles?”
“I know horses, but I can appreciate a vintage bike like that,” he said as he poured her a glass of wine and himself a diet cola.
“It was my father’s. It has a 750 cc V-twin engine so it moves. Gets good gas mileage. I can go over three hundred miles on a tank of gas.” She shrugged. “It gets me where I want to go.”
“And where is that?” he asked, seeing her obvious love of the bike that had belonged to her father.
She smiled, lighting up the darkened saloon. “Wherever the road takes me.”
“I’m envious.” He could see it surprised her.
“But you have everything here.”
Darby had to chuckle at that, remembering what Billie Dee had told him was wrong with him. “Not everything.”
Mariah’s eyes narrowed. “You really think you could get on a bike and just go and leave all of this behind?”
“Some days I definitely do. But then I remind myself that most places are pretty much the same. I don’t think what I’m looking for is over that next hill.”
She cocked her head, studying him. “What is it you’re looking for?”
He shook his head and glanced away. “That’s just it, I don’t know. Excitement. Adventure. A challenge. Hitting the road like that sounds almost...”
“Romantic?” She scoffed. “It’s not.”
“What are you looking for?”
Mariah frowned. “I’m not. I’m just...going.”
They drank in companionable silence for a while. It was a quiet dark night outside the saloon. Even the earlier traffic on the road had stopped. Darby felt as if they were the only two people left on Earth.
He kept thinking about what it would be like to get on that motorcycle parked outside and just go. “Is there any place you haven’t been?”
“A few.” She shrugged as he refilled her glass and his own. She stared at the wine for a long moment and then, lifting the glass carefully, took a sip.
“You’re right though,” she said quietly. “Most every place is like another.” When she raised her gaze, he saw sadness there.
“Earlier did you say you were a Romani?” he said, changing the subject. He hadn’t wanted to make her sad. He loved her smile too much.
She nodded. “My grandmother was Romani and determined to keep the culture and traditions of her people. She came to this country as a young girl in the 1930s, hoping to find a better life.” Mariah met his gaze. “She thought it was just a matter of luck. Unfortunately, she also believed there was a curse on our family.”
“Even if you wear the evil eye necklace?” he asked, half joking.
Mariah smiled. “You don’t believe in curses?”
“No, but lately...” He shook his head, sorry he’d brought it up as she finished her wine and slid off the barstool. He thought she might bring up the bracelet.
“I should get going. What do I owe you for the drinks?” She looked at him in a way that made his heart beat faster.
“It’s on the house.”
“Sleep well, then.”
Her words brought a chill of both excitement and anxiety. Was she trying to warn him that tonight would be the night? “You too.”
She started out but stopped in the kitchen doorway to turn as a vehicle roared past. Darby looked up from behind the bar to find Mariah silhouetted against the kitchen light. He stared at her profile with both shock and admiration.
The image of the Roma Queen on the bracelet. Mariah looked exactly like her before she stepped outside into the darkness.
MARIAH PACED THE small cabin. She should have finished this days ago and moved on. Staying in one place was dangerous—even in such a small town so out of the way in a remote part of Montana.
Her first week at the Stagecoach Saloon had gone by in a blur. Each day, she told herself that she needed to get her bracelet and move on. Each day, she found another excuse not to do what had to be done.
These nights working with Darby... She shook her head. The work kept her busy. It was afterward, after they closed the bar, when they visited over something to drink. When they talked. When she looked into the cowboy’s gray eyes...
Shaking her head now, she told herself that she didn’t like the way being here made her feel. She didn’t like the way Darby made her feel. Had she forgotten how dangerous all this was—and not just for her?
Mariah stopped in front of the cabin window that looked out on the rolling hills and the town of Gilt Edge in the distance. What am I still doing here?
What if Darby had gotten rid of the bracelet? Just tossed it out like a piece of junk? Or had it appraised and sold it? That was another possibility.
Why don’t you just ask him for it?
She knew that was what he was waiting for. Was that why she hadn’t done that the first day she’d walked into the Stagecoach Saloon? What was the worst he would have done? Accuse her of taking his wallet? She’d seen him pick it up after she’d dropped it. He couldn’t prove she’d tried to take it.
But after she’d heard that his brother was the sheriff... She didn’t want any trouble. And she could hide out here a while just as easily as anywhere else. If Darby Cahill was going to call the sheriff on her, he would have that first day when she’d asked for a job. He could have laughed in her face. He could have sent her packing.
So why hadn’t he?
Was it possible he hadn’t remembered her?
No, she thought, thinking back to their conversations. He was curious about her. Curious about her evil eye pendant. Curious no doubt what she was waiting for. And him? He was waiting too. Waiting to see what she was going to do.
It was time to end the suspense. She needed to get the bracelet back and move on.
Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She quickly checked it since only one person had the number. She’d lied to Darby about not having a phone, always leaving it behind when she went to work.
Taking a shaky breath, she answered the call, knowing it would be bad news. “Yes?”
“He was here looking for you.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“No, of course not. Auntie handled it. She wouldn’t let him inside. He wanted you and then he asked for me. Auntie told him neither of us had been