A Marriage Deal With The Outlaw. Harper St. George
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Still keeping a firm hold on her gaze, he caught her fingers in his and raised them. His hands were broad and slightly calloused and his skin was dark against her pale fingers. His lips brushed the back of her hand in a featherlight caress, not even leaving a hint of moisture behind. “Safe travels, mi corazόn.”
He dropped her hand and followed his friend. She opened her mouth to call to him, but then stopped when she realized there was nothing to say. Would she ask him to call on her in Boston? Give him—a stranger who’d been chasing an obvious criminal—her name?
There was nothing to do but watch him go. When he’d disappeared through the door, she walked to the door of the compartment she shared with her aunt and paused. She took some breaths and waited for her fingers to stop shaking before she went inside, forgetting all about the scones and her father in the dining car.
Castillo tensed when the study door opened. He was expecting his brother Hunter to join him, but he was always on alert when at the Jameson Ranch. He didn’t belong here, and no amount of familiarity with the place would change that. His blood might be that of a Jameson, but his heart and soul would always be that of a Reyes, his mother’s family, the people who’d raised him when his father had abandoned them. He belonged in Texas at the Reyes hacienda, not here.
“I didn’t mean to pull you from supper.” Castillo looked over at Hunter and threw back the last of his whiskey. Setting his tumbler on the mantel, he turned from the low-burning fire and crossed the room to pull him into a hug. Even after having known his half brother for the better part of five years, Castillo sometimes couldn’t believe how similar they were. Where Castillo was dark, Hunter was light, but their frames, strong jaws and green eyes had all been inherited from their father.
“We just sat down,” Hunter said, as if he wasn’t bothered. “Why don’t you join us? You must be starving.”
Hunter’s wedding was only a week away and guests had already begun to arrive. Castillo had only just arrived at sunset, tired and irritable from tracking Bennett Derringer in what had been a fruitless effort. It was as if the man had jumped from the train and vanished. Castillo and Zane had found the place they’d thought he landed, and a few footprints leading east, but Bennett had walked on the tracks to hide his path and there’d been no sightings of him in any of the towns farther along the line. The thought of socializing with strangers and making pleasant conversation wasn’t appealing to Castillo. Instead, he’d had a bath and come straight to the study.
“I’m not fit for company,” he muttered and fell into one of the overstuffed chairs before the fireplace.
Hunter poured himself a whiskey and refilled his brother’s tumbler, handing it to him before taking a seat in the other chair. “What happened? Your telegram was vague.” He looked around the room. “Where’s Zane?”
The telegram had only stated that he and Zane had been detained with a possible lead. It would’ve been foolish to say more in a communication that was impossible to keep secret.
“Zane stayed in town at Glory’s.” Castillo had been tempted to stay at the brothel and avoid the houseful of people a little longer, but he couldn’t put off this conversation with his brother. Not with the possibility of Derringer nearby posing a threat. “We saw Buck Derringer’s son on the train. Or, rather, he saw us. He recognized us and ran.”
“Ran? On a train?” Hunter smiled, sitting forward at the prospect of an exciting story.
Castillo shrugged and took a sip of the twelve-year-old aged whiskey he liked. It sat warm on his tongue before going down to heat his belly and ease his tired muscles. “He tried. Ended up jumping off when we were just outside Moreland. We got off at the station and found some tracks, but we never found him. I know he must’ve been hurt from the fall, but he just disappeared. Like his father.”
Hunter frowned into his own tumbler. “You don’t think it was coincidence that he was on the train?”
“It was an accident that we saw him, but he didn’t just happen to be on that train. What are the odds that when Derringer ran away with my grandfather’s money he’d settle here?”
“Zero. We would’ve heard about him moving here.” The Jamesons knew everyone in the area, especially if they were throwing around money.
Castillo nodded. “He’d have been looking to get far away from Texas, but all the signs pointed to California.”
“So, he’s heard we’ve been looking for him and he’s come to find us first?” Hunter said.
“Could be. There aren’t many people left who knew Tanner Jameson when he married my mother. Those who did either died in the war or moved on after it was over. But it’s possible Derringer made the connection and figured out I’m his son. Since he couldn’t find me in Texas, he could be sniffing around up here.”
“Then the ass should know we’re ready for him.” Hunter tossed back the rest of his whiskey and stood up, pacing with excited energy at the prospect of finally catching the man they’d been chasing for the past few years.
“No, Hunter. I won’t have you involved. Your wedding is in a week. Zane and I will go and that will lead him away, if he’s even here. I don’t want to put Emmaline and her sisters at risk. And the guests...” Castillo ran a hand over his head. He hadn’t even thought about all the guests who were due to arrive and the nightmare of protecting them from possible attacks by Derringer and any hired guns the man might’ve brought with him.
“Are you kidding me? It’s my wedding.” Hunter paused in his pacing and held his arms out wide. “You’re my brother. I want you here.”
Castillo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to miss the wedding, but honestly, avoiding an awkward confrontation with their father held its own special appeal. “I want to be here, too, but not if it’s safer for everyone if I’m not.”
“It’s not safer. If Derringer knows you’re a Jameson then he knows I’m your brother. I imagine he’d be happy to take us all out, because he knows if anything happens to you, Zane and I won’t stop hunting him until he’s dead.”
It had been over three years since Derringer had murdered their grandfather. Hunter had been riding with him ever since to track the killer down. It had made them closer than most brothers, with a loyalty that ran deeper than blood.
But, still, Castillo felt like an outsider in his father’s home, especially now that Hunter was getting married and had his own family to consider. “I don’t want you putting your family at risk for me.”
“Brother?” Hunter waited for Castillo to look at him before finishing. “I never would’ve met Emmy if it hadn’t been for you. You, Zane and Emmy are my family. We stand together to take this man down. Besides, Buck Derringer may not even be here. You only saw Bennett.”
Castillo rose to his feet. “But this isn’t what you meant when you pledged to help me find Derringer. We never meant for the fight to end up on your doorstep. It already came far too close when Ship Campbell and his gang found their way here just a couple months ago.”
“That was my fight, too. It wasn’t just yours. That was about saving Emmy from them as much as it was about getting Miguel back. We fought together then and we’ll fight together now.”
“Together,” Castillo said, grasping his brother’s arm. Perhaps this was ideal. Between the ranch hands and the men in the gang, they’d have enough to take Derringer down. “I promise you, Hunter, I’ll make sure Derringer doesn’t get anywhere close to Emmy.”
Hunter nodded. “We’ll take precautions, but Derringer won’t attack with so many guests here. My mother’s invited her family from Boston, so there’ll be a few arriving every day. Derringer will stay hidden, and in the meantime we’ll quietly figure out where