The Kissing Stars (6 page)

His eyes focused, and he blinked once, then twice. The second time an accompanying wince betrayed the knowledge of where he was—and when. Tess held her breath, waiting for his next reaction in order to formulate her own response. She expected him to act defensive or perhaps apologetic. What she didn’t anticipate was regret. Regret and maybe even dismay.

Dismay. Well, isn’t that flattering
.

His reaction gouged at her vulnerabilities and pricked her pride, so she adopted the challenging, snippy tone that used to drive him crazy and demanded, “Get out of my bed. You don’t belong here.”

He didn’t move an inch, although the flare of temper in his eyes told her he still didn’t care for snippy. Anticipation skittered up Tess’s spine, and in that moment, she felt more alive than she’d felt in years. Fighting with Gabe had always been stimulating; making up pure heaven.

“Where the hell was I supposed to sleep? With the pig? Sorry, darlin’, but the floor is hard and cold, and this bed is big enough for two. And besides…” He lowered his voice to a low, silky drawl. “According to you I’m still your husband. That gives me every right to be here.” His gaze dropped, made a deliberate, assessing journey that ended on her still-naked breasts. “That gives me rights, period.”

Yes
, screamed her body.

No
, hollered her good sense.

“I’m confused,” she admitted with a cry.

“I’m shocked,” came Andrew’s voice from the doorway.

With a yelp, Tess pushed Gabe off of her, yanked the sheet up to her chin, and stared in distress toward the crowd of people standing in the open doorway. “Andrew? Twinkle?”

“Us, too,” Amy Baker said, clapping her hands over her husband Jack’s eyes, her wedding ring flashing right along with her bright blue eyes. “And Colonel Jasper. I must say, I’m surprised at you, Tess.”

“Well, I’m impressed,” Twinkle said, fingering a dangling earring as her measured gaze swept over Gabe’s bare chest.

“What’s this all about?” Colonel Wilhoit demanded. His medals lifted as he filled his lungs with air. “We don’t have time for any nonsense. Tell her, Twinkle.”

“Let me catch my breath,” the older woman replied, fanning her face with her hand “The last time I saw a chest that intriguing I was—”

“Hush, everyone,” Tess demanded, heat staining its way up her neck and burning her cheeks. She’d never been so embarrassed in her life. This was even worse than when her father discovered her and Gabe making love in the Rolling R’s barn. Positive she didn’t want to hear Twinkle finish that sentence, she took the conversation in a different direction. “What’s happened? What about the quarantine? Andrew, why are you out of bed?”

“His fever broke about two this morning,” Gabe’s voice rumbled from beside her. “That’s when I decided to get some sleep.” He reached for the trousers tying at the end of the bed and said, “Ladies, consider this fair warning. I’m fixing to put on my pants.”

At that Jack Baker mimicked his wife’s actions and covered her eyes with his hands as Gabe rolled out of bed. Twinkle folded her arms, obviously impressed.

“Tess, who is this man?” Andrew scowled, his freckles glowing bright against a complexion paled by sickness.

Tess turned a pleading gaze toward Twinkle. “Edna?”

Twinkle grimaced Tess only used her real name when she lost all patience. “Rosie broke the quarantine, but Andrew didn’t figure it mattered because he was feeling so much better.” She tossed Andrew a chiding look and added, “Without knowing you had a guest—Andrew didn’t bother to tell us—we thought to let you sleep in. But then the trouble started.”

“Trouble? What trouble?”

“It’s bad business, Tess,” Colonel Wilhoit said. “You won’t be happy about this.”

Sheet clutched tightly to her chest, Tess reared up and demanded. “Explain.”

They all started talking at once, and Tess couldn’t make any sense out of their words. When Gabe put two fingers in his mouth and blew out a shrill, ear-piercing whistle, she tossed him a grateful glance. He said, “One at a time, please. Missus Twinkle, why don’t you start.”

Twinkle nodded, got distracted for a moment while he buttoned his pants, then said, “Rosie got into your star shed, Tess. She ate up last month’s log and made a general mess of things. Worst of all, I think she might have damaged your new telescope.”

Dismay blew through Tess like a dust storm. She’d ordered the telescope months ago, and it had been waiting for her in Eagle Gulch upon her return from Dallas. Busy nursing Andrew, she had yet to have the chance to cart it up to the observation post. “Oh, Rosie.”

“Don’t blame her, Tess,” Colonel Wilhoit said, stepping forward and squaring his shoulders. “It’s my fault. I’m afraid I didn’t secure the door good enough last time I went in the shed.”

“Oh, enough about Rosie,” Jack Baker exclaimed, tugging his wife’s hands away from his eyes. “The telescope isn’t the worst of it. Tess, your beau rode in a few minutes ago. Captain Robards brought word of trouble. It’s serious, Tess.”

Her stomach sinking, Tess ignored her husband’s curious look. “How serious?”

Colonel Wilhoit harrumphed. “There’s been another incidence of vandalism out at the railroad spur construction sight. A fire destroyed a tool shed. The Ranger says somebody claimed they saw an Aurora Springs wagon at the scene of the crime.”

Tess hung her head and sighed. “Oh, Twink. What did you do this time?”

“That’s just it,” the gray-haired woman said, her voice hazy with bewilderment. “It’s not me. I didn’t do anything. I’m innocent.”

“Innocent? You?” Tess repeated.

“Yes.” Twinkle nodded briskly, then added, “The problem is…Oh, Tess, I hate to tell you this…Captain Robards wants to talk to Doc. He said the railroad wants Doc arrested.”

“Doc!” Tess froze, her heart twisting. “They want to arrest Doc?”

“Captain Robards says an eyewitness claims he set the fire.”

Oh, no
. Tess’s breath left her body in a rush. “And Will? What about Will?”

Twinkle shook her head. “I don’t know. Robards didn’t say a word about Will. Surely he would have mentioned if the Rangers were looking for Will, too. If Doc did this mischief on his way to the Big Bend, he kept the boy hidden.”

“That’s right, Tess,” Colonel Wilhoit said. “I don’t believe young Will is in trouble.”

For a long moment, nobody spoke and the only sound to be heard was the
tick tick tick
of the mantle dock. Tess’s mind was a whirl. Doc would never destroy the railroad’s property, never. No matter how appealing the idea. Nor would he put Will into harm’s way. Would he?

While she thought through the problem, Gabe glanced from Tess, to the Aurorians, then back to Tess again. “So,” he said, pointing a thumb toward the crowd. “Which one is Doc?”

A groan slipped from Tess’s lips. For one short second she debated dumping the entire problem in her husband’s lap. But Gabriel “Whip” Montana’s reputation held her back. This man might go after Doc and do him in.

And if Doc has led Will into trouble, I’ll want to kill the man myself.

CHAPTER 4

TESS ORDERED EVERYONE BUT Twinkle out of the house, her excuse the need to put herself to rights. Her distracted air told Gabe she really wanted time to think. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head, but she kept her lips sealed tight as a jar of pickled beets. Her reticence didn’t sit well with Gabe. Once upon a time, she would have shared her thoughts with him. Now, she hustled him out the door with nary a nod, leaving him to the not-so-tender mercies of the inhabitants of Aurora Springs.

They surrounded him like a pack of dogs. He was the bone.

“So you’re Cameron?”

“‘Bout time you showed up.”

“Nervy of you to jump right back into her bed.”

Gabe ignored them as he shrugged into the shirt he’d grabbed on his way outside. The early morning air carried a crisp hint of autumn, and sunshine felt good on his face as he lifted it toward the sky. Even better was the unmistakable aroma of coffee that floated past him on the breeze. Gabe turned his head toward the scent and caught the swish of a sorrel’s tail from the corner of his eyes. His?

He took a step toward the bam and peered through the open doorway. Yep, both of them. “I see y’all found my horses. Do I need to get them fed and watered?”

The young husband said, “I took care of it.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. Are you Doc?”

“I’m Jack Baker and I want you to tell us why you were ‘taking care’ of Tess.”

His wife jumped in. “You better not have hurt her.”

The uniformed gentleman swelled up like a peacock and demanded, “Who are you and what were you doing to poor Tess?”

Bunch of busy hens
, Gabe thought, grimacing. He was tempted to check his ankles to see if they had “Peck me here” painted on them. He cleared his throat. “Sounds to me like we all have a question or two. If y’all will button your beaks a moment, I’ll start the answers.”

One by one, they quieted. Gabe let the silence rest in his ears a moment, knowing that as soon as he spoke, the noise would start up all over again. Then, tipping his hat toward Mrs. Baker, he said, “I am Tess’s husband, but my name is Gabe Montana. Some folks call me Whip.”

“Whip Montana?” Jack Baker repeated. “The school-house hero?”

“You’re not Tess’s husband!” his wife exclaimed. “Gabe Cameron is her husband’s name.”

“I still go by Gabe. I got stuck with the Whip a few years back when I used one to my advantage while trying to prevent a train robbery.”

Andrew shook his head. “I don’t understand. Tess didn’t mention any name change when she said you might be visiting.”

“Look, call me anything you want as long as it’s not Cameron. I’m of a serious mind about that.”

As the Aurorians shared a look, Gabe nodded toward the man he’d found in bed with his wife. “I could use some introductions myself. You’re Andrew…?”

“Ross. Andrew Ross.” He folded his arms across a fringed, buckskin shirt and nodded toward the others as he said their names. “Jack and Amy Baker. Colonel Jasper Wilhoit. And Twinkle is inside with Tess. We are all very good friends of Tess’s. In feet, we refer to ourselves as family.”

“All right.” That didn’t surprise him. Tess always had been one to take in strays. “I heard a couple other names, too. Doc and Will are where?”

“Gone,” Tess said from the doorway to the house. She wore a pretty blue dress that matched her eyes, and she strode purposefully across the porch and down the front steps.

Admiration and a fair dose of lust warmed Gabe at the sight of his wife. The woman was all grown up and showing a side of herself he’d never seen before. She wore authority like a mantle, determination like a lance. The air around her sizzled with energy. She was a Valkyrie prepared for battle. And Gabe all but swallowed his tongue at her beauty.

Their gazes locked and Gabe fantasized about surrender.

Amy Baker broke the spell by demanding, “Is it true, Tess? You’re married to this man, to Whip Montana?”

Without looking away, Tess shook her head. “Yes, I married him. But I married Gabe Cameron.”

“I’m not him, Tess,” Gabe warned. “And you should be glad for it, too.”

“I still don’t understand,” Andrew repeated.

Gabe looked away first, and Tess said, “No matter what he calls himself now, this is the Gabe you’ve all heard about. I see I should have provided more details when I told you he might be visiting, but in all honesty, I was more concerned with seeing to Andrew’s recovery. Now, I want to think this situation with Doc through a bit before I speak with Lionel Robards, so I’ll check my star shed first. Is he waiting at my house?”

“No,” Jack answered “The Ranger captain is in the kitchen. Amy fixed him breakfast.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him to have made this all up in order to make another run at your biscuits,” Tess said tossing Amy a smile. “Haven’t you noticed how often he visits right at breakfast time? That’s no coincidence, believe me.”

The young wife ducked her head bashfully. “Oh, Tess. It’s not that I think he’s simply so anxious to see you he makes the trip faster every time he visits.”

“He does cut quite a dashing figure,” the colonel observed, darting a sly look toward Gabe. “Would you like us to entertain him until you’re ready to see him, dear?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Just go about your normal business. I’ll check in with everyone once Lionel leaves. Then we can figure out what to do next.”

Without so much as a word to him, Tess headed for one of the sheds. Gabe stood and watched her until she disappeared inside. He was entranced by this new side of Tess’s personality. She’d always been confident in herself, but she’d never acted so…assertive. In fact, the Tess he’d married used to express her opinion, then look to him to make the decision. Now she up and told him and everyone else what to do. Damned if he didn’t find the change in her intriguing. “I wonder what other surprises she has up her sleeve.”

“Looked to me like you had a good enough view of our Tess’s sleeves as it was,” grumbled the colonel before strolling toward the barn.

The Bakers walked hand-in-hand into the house next to Andrew’s, and Twinkle muttered something about fall tomatoes before striding toward the garden. That left Gabe to track down the Ranger by himself which suited him perfectly. It worked better for a man to meet his wife’s “dashing beau” by himself.

He followed the scent of coffee to the free-standing building that served as a kitchen and sauntered inside. A pot of the aromatic brew sat on a stove and a pretty-boy Ranger occupied a chair at a long table eating cream gravy and biscuits with a fork.

Gabe knew a number of Rangers across the state, but this fellow was a stranger to him. Broad shouldered and blond, the Ranger had those classically handsome features that women sighed over. Gabe disliked him on sight.

“Morning,” he said casually, striding toward the stove. He poured a cup of coffee and joined him at the table, straddling a chair to sit down.

“Yes?” asked the Ranger captain. He frowned and set down his fork.

Gabe eyed Lionel Robards’ plate. “You’re a fork man, hmm? Personally, I always considered biscuits and good cream gravy as one of life’s perfect finger-lickin’ foods.”

“Who
are
you?”

Gabe debated his choice of reply. Considering the stink he’d made recently about the ineptitude displayed by some companies of Rangers, his reputation might well have preceded him. This fellow would button his lips at the mention of Gabe’s name. However, if Robards considered himself Tess’s beau, he’d damn sure shut up the moment Gabe named himself as her husband. He set down his coffee and extended his hand “Gabe Montana. Glad to make your acquaintance, Captain Robards.”

“Montana.” The Ranger shook his hand with a firm grip, then eyed him studiously and added, “Hmm…Whip Montana?” At Gabe’s reluctant nod, he continued, “I know you. I heard you came through Eagle Gulch a few days back. You’re the special investigator for the Brazos Valley Rail Company.”

His moss green eyes narrowing suspiciously, Captain Robards continued, “I’ve been wondering what brought you to this part of the world. Not the vandalism along the rail line, surely. The Brazos Valley isn’t building this spur and besides, the Rangers are on the job of tracking down the vandals. We don’t require your help.”

Professional rivalry. Having run into this in the past, Gabe suppressed a sigh. He was continually amazed at how men allowed their own petty jealousies to get in the way of everything from friendship to getting the job done. He had no quarrel with honest competition, but it didn’t belong in every venue. If a criminal needed catching, what did it matter who did the work as long as the villain ended up behind bars? Gabe had no patience for prima donnas, but he knew when it was best to play his cards close to his vest.

“I haven’t come to Aurora Springs in an official capacity. In fact I’m on a leave of absence from the railroad. I’m here for personal reasons.”

The Ranger’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”

Gabe nodded and lied, “I’m toying with the idea of relocating from southeast Texas, and this part of the world intrigues me. I stumbled across this place yesterday. You know, these springs are the best source of water around.”

It made all the difference in the world. Robards visibly relaxed and offered an indulging smile. His teeth were white and straight. Tess would like that.

He chuckled softly. “Sorry, Mr. Montana, but if you’re here in Aurora Springs hoping to buy land in this canyon, I’m afraid you’ve wasted the trip. I had my eye on this property myself but the owners refused to entertain any offers.”

“Really?” Gabe paused to sip his coffee. “And who holds the deed on these acres?”

“Well…” Robards paused to take another bite of biscuit. “Tess’s name is on the paper, but she says it is community property. You should understand that the inhabitants of Aurora Springs are turned a bit differently than most, but then, you’ve probably already seen that yourself.”

Turned a bit differently was a polite way to say it
, Gabe thought. “I did notice the camels.”

The Ranger nodded. “Castor and Pollux, named after the stars. They’re descendants of Jefferson Davis’s experiment with the importation of dromedaries to be employed for military purposes. Those animals fit right at home here in Aurora Springs. Now, don’t get me wrong,” he hastened to add, “I think the Aurorians are for the most part fine people, but one can’t deny their…how shall I put it…eccentricities.”

“I’ve never met a woman named Twinkle before,” Gabe observed as he idly sipped his coffee and tried to think of a way to best broach the subject of this man’s courtship of his wife. He wanted to settle this beau nonsense before Tess showed up.

Robards waved his fork. “Don’t sell Twinkle short. If you can overlook her colorful dress and misguided beliefs, you’ll soon realize the woman is a treasure.”

“What do you mean ‘misguided beliefs’?”

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, please. I won’t judge the woman. I’m just curious.”

After a moment’s silence, Robards said, “It’s the…” he held up his hands and wiggled his fingers in the air “…lights.”

“
Lights?
” The word combined with the motions grabbed Gabe’s attention, diverting his thoughts from Tess.

Robards snapped his fingers and sat back in his chair.

“That’s right. You’re new to the area. I guess you are not familiar with the tales of the Aurora Springs Ghost Lights, or Kissing Stars like Tess calls them.”

“Can’t say that I am.”

“It’s a long story, but suffice it to say the Aurorians claim they see unexplainable bouncing balls of light in the night sky near here,” said the Ranger. “Twinkle thinks they’re ghosts. She says her crystal ball is energized by the stars and that’s how she contacts souls on the other side.”

Gabe scratched his chin. “I saw her séance tent at the Texas State Fair. I thought she did all that as an act—not that she believed it.”

“Oh, she believes it. Everyone around here believes something foolish about the Mystery Lights. Take the Yankee colonel, for instance. He’s a water witcher and he told me that the magnetic energies put off by the stars empowers his divining rods. He believes the star-charged rods will lead him not to water, but to diamonds.”

“A treasure hunter,” Gabe said, wondering what life path took a much-decorated soldier in such a direction.

“Not just any treasure. It must be diamonds. Why, the man happened to stumble across a cache of stolen gold—stagecoach robberies were regular occurrences in these badlands until recently—and the colonel brought it back to Aurora Springs as an afterthought. He wasn’t looking for gold, you see. Just diamonds.”

“Interesting approach,” Gabe observed. He thought of the other residents of Aurora Springs, the Bakers and Andrew Ross, and wondered about their beliefs concerning these so-called stars. And Tess, of course. Surely she had professional reasons for being here.

Robards must have followed his line of thinking. “As far as I can tell, Miss Cameron is the only one here in Aurora Springs with a sane approach to the story. She claims to be searching for a scientific explanation for the lights’ presence.”

Gabe nodded. That fit with what he knew of Tess. “Have you seen these spooklights?”

The Ranger scoffed, but his gaze shifted away from Gabe. “Of course not. There is nothing out there to see. It’s just a bunch of foolishness that I am afraid is causing trouble.”

Gabe polished off his coffee, then rose to refill his cup. “What trouble?”

“Oh, I don’t think I should go into all of that.”

“You mean the fire at the rail yard?”

The Ranger’s eyes narrowed, but before he could reply the door swung open. Tess swept inside, still in her warrior goddess mode. She halted in the middle of the room, leveled a frown at Gabe, then turned to Robards. “Lionel? What’s this nonsense about a fire?”

The Ranger stood, his mouth stretching into a smile. “Good morning, Tess. May I say you look exceptionally beautiful in that dress. The shade of blue is a perfect match to your exquisite eyes.”

She waved off the compliment. “Doc didn’t do anything and you know it, Lionel.”