Nicole Foster - Jake's Angel

Jake sniffed warily at it, not liking the smell or the look of the pale-green liquid. “By the time you’re through with me, I’ll have tried every weed in the territory. Whiskey would be kinder.”

“Not to your head.” She waited until he’d downed the herbal brew, then gently pushed him back on the pillows. Her fingers brushed his forehead, pushing aside a heavy dark wave of hair that stubbornly refused to stay aside. “No fever. I think you’ll do, Mr. Coulter. A week or so and you’ll be up and around again.”

Her fingers lingered for a moment on his skin and Jake captured them with his own, absently rubbing her hand, enjoying the smooth feel of her. “Is that a promise, ma’am, or a threat to throw me out then?” he asked, his voice low and dark, teasing her.

“Perhaps both,” Isabel said, freeing her hand from his disturbing touch. “I must go. The boys will be waiting, and you need to rest. I’ll be back in a few hours with supper.”

Jake stared after her, wondering what had caused the crack in her cool facade, and why he found it so pleasing to know he’d played a part in it.

Isabel had just finished cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and was getting ready to make certain the boys had fed and watered all their animal boarders for the night when a loud rapping sounded at the front door. Pushing her hands down her skirts to dry them, she hurried to answer it.

“Cal,” she said, opening the door to a tall, squarely built man holding a battered hat between his hands. “What brings you here this time of day?”

Isabel forced herself to sound casual, but she’d known Calvin Reed all her life, even before he’d taken over as sheriff in Whispering Creek, and knew he wouldn’t be stopping by twice in two days simply to chat. She remembered her grandmother’s talk about Jerico Grey and wondered just how much of it had been rumor.

“Wearin’ out my welcome, am I, Belle?” Cal asked.

Isabel smiled a little over the familiar nickname, one only Cal used. He’d taken to calling her that ever since she was a little girl and Calvin Reed had been a young deputy, paying court to her mama after her papa had abandoned them.

“Of course not,” she said, leading him inside with a hand on his arm. “Come inside and I’ll get you some coffee.”

Cal ran a hand over his graying hair. The lines in his face seemed deeper, and his eyes sober, telling Isabel more than any words he was worried over something.

“I hate to turn it down, but I’d best get my business out of the way first. I need to speak to your new boarder, if he’s in any shape to have a conversation. Elish tells me you slipped him one of your fine elixirs to get him out of the Silver Rose this mornin’.”

“He’s well enough to talk to you.” Isabel hesitated, then started, “Cal…”

“Now don’t you worry, honey. I just want to see what his business here is. With this recent string of robberies at the mines around here, I can’t be too careful.”

“Do you think…” Isabel stopped, not certain if she wanted to put her fears into words. But it would be better to know. “Is it Jerico?”

“Now Belle—”

“Is it? He did it before. He was robbing camps all over these mountains before he fled the territory.”

“Don’t you worry, now. I know you were sweet on him once. Don’t bother to tell me it’s not true,” he said, holding up a hand to ward off her protest.

“I was a girl, in love with the idea of loving a dangerous man. You can trust my illusions about Jerico faded quickly. If you’re thinking he’d come back to Whispering Creek for me, you’re mistaken.”

“You’re probably right. I suspect his reasons for headin’ this way have more to do with him havin’ the law on his tail in Texas.”

Isabel saw a shadow of doubt in Cal’s eyes and put her hand on his arm, looking straight at him. “If I knew anything, I would tell you. The thought of Jerico coming back here, after all these years—” She shook her head, trying to rid herself of her uneasiness. “I seem to have a knack for attracting the wrong kind of man,” she said with a small smile.

“Like your new boarder? Well, now, he’s probably just what he appears to be, one of them thorns in a sheriff’s side whose luck’s run a little muddy. I’ll have a talk with him, but I doubt he’s too dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Isabel said more to herself than Cal as she turned and led him up the staircase, to the loft.

She knocked once at Jake’s door then opened it halfway and looked inside. Slouched in the rocker he’d shoved next to the window, he was looking out at the deepening evening, a slight frown tensing his face. He’d pulled on a man’s robe he’d found draped over the bed, loosely tying it at the waist.

He turned slightly when he heard Isabel step into the room, and then looked back to the window with a view of the rear garden. “Back again with your weeds so soon?”

“No,” Isabel said, watching him carefully for his reaction. “You have a visitor. Sheriff Reed wants to meet you.”

“Yeah, I’ll just bet he does,” Jake drawled.

He shifted to look at Cal and surprised Isabel by grinning. “I suppose you’ve decided I’m responsible for robbing every mining office between here and the Texas Panhandle.” Rubbing a hand through his hair, he gave a wry shrug. “Can’t say that I blame you.”

“Then maybe you can tell me why you are here in Whispering Creek, and we can get this settled and leave Mrs. Bradshaw with some peace of mind.”

“I don’t know if it’ll give her any peace of mind but I’ll tell you why I’m here. Jerico Grey.”

Isabel caught her breath and the slight sound caused Jake’s gaze to shift sharply to her. She tried to keep her expression blank, to conceal the twist of emotion she felt hearing Jerico’s name over again after not even thinking it for so many years, and this time hearing it from a stranger.

“What’s your business with Grey?” Cal asked, his expression wooden.

“The same business I’ve had for over six months, only now I intend to finish it.” Pushing himself up out of the rocker, Jake limped over to the corner where Isabel had propped his saddlebag and fished out a mud-spattered badge. He turned and handed it to Cal.

Cal rubbed away the dirt and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned.” Answering the question on Isabel’s face, he smiled broadly and said, “It looks as if we were paintin’ us a devil’s face on an angel, Belle. Mr. Coulter here is a Texas Ranger.”

“He’s a…” Isabel stared at Cal a moment, trying to decide if she felt relieved Jake Coulter wasn’t an outlaw or angry for how thoroughly she’d been taken in by his appearance.

As Cal’s words sank in fully, she whirled on Jake, her eyes blazing. “I suppose you enjoyed playing the wounded gunslinger, letting me believe I’d let an outlaw into my house, around my boys. You have a strange way of amusing yourself, Mr. Coulter.”

“If I wanted entertainment, I’d have stayed at the Silver Rose, Mrs. Bradshaw. I came here for rest and privacy. I’d just as soon Grey didn’t hear that I’m laid up. None of us want him to come looking for me under your roof. I don’t know how much you know about Jerico Grey, but you can trust me when I say he’s not the kind of man you’d ever turn your back on.”

All traces of warmth had vanished from his face as if they’d never been there and Isabel felt a shiver up her spine looking at the ice in its place.

Jake Coulter might be one step on the right side of the law, but Cal was wrong. He was dangerous, maybe even more so than the man he vowed to bring to justice.

Jake watched her, trying to decipher the odd play of emotions on her face. Anger, worry, he could understand. What confused him was the strong sense that Isabel Bradshaw’s interest in Jerico Grey was more than concern a woman alone would have for herself and her family knowing an outlaw was somewhere in the area.