Last Promise Read online

  “She might have spent the night in some man’s room somewhere,” Colt said as if he knew what Luke was thinking. “I’m sure she’ll turn up today.”

  “Yeah.” Luke stood and walked to the stove. “What do you say we start Sunday breakfast? I’m sure Victoria and Promise wouldn’t mind.”

  Colt smiled at him. “I’m sure they wouldn’t.”

  * * *

  It was Jake’s turn to drive the buckboard to church with the women and children in the back. Colt and Luke were on horseback riding alongside the buckboard.

  “I noticed no one asked your wives to dance last night,” Luke commented to his brothers.

  “They knew better,” Colt replied.

  “Everyone was too afraid of Colt,” Promise cut in.

  “Afraid of Colt? What about me?” Jake asked.

  “You know Colt looks more intimidating than you two,” Victoria added. She frowned at her husband. “And he had that scowl on his face the entire evening.”

  Her comment ruffled Jake. “He might look more intimidating, but it doesn’t mean he is.”

  Luke didn’t pay attention to their banter. “Every man there asked Mary Ann. They must have thought I’m not intimidating. Did you see that dress she had on? I can’t believe she wore something like that.”

  Colt and Jake exchanged a glance. Their little brother sure had changed his tune. He certainly enjoyed what his sisters-in-law were wearing before he saw Mary Ann’s dress. “There’s a difference. Mary Ann is not your wife.”

  Luke processed that observation. “Well, men should be more polite. She’s new to this country and they should keep their . . . darn eyes above the neck.”

  Before Colt had a chance to caution Luke about his language, Cade asked, “Uncle Luke, are you marrying ’Rina?”

  That question got Luke’s attention. “Marrying who?”

  “Arina,” Cody clarified.

  “The lady who has the bosoms,” Cade said.

  “Where did you get a notion like that?” Luke asked the twins.

  “Where did you hear that word?” Colt asked at the same time.

  “Ma said you brought ’Rina and her bosoms to dinner. When Uncle Jake brought Aunt Promise home, he married her,” Cade explained.

  “No, I was just being nice bringing her to dinner. I’m not marrying Arina.”

  “What’s bosoms?” Cade asked. “We didn’t get to see ’em because we was with Mrs. Wellington.”

  “You’ll find out when you get older,” Jake said, laughing.

  “A lot older,” Colt told them.

  “Ma and Aunt Promise says she likes to show her bosoms. Whatever they are,” Cody said.

  “Yeah. Why can’t we see them?” Cade asked.

  “Ma said they were about to fall out,” Cody said.

  Cade furrowed his brow. “Fall out of what?”

  “I dunno. All I know is Ma said, ‘I’ve never seen anyone who likes to show her bosoms so much and if she leaned over they are sure to fall out all over the place.’” Cody repeated Victoria’s words in a falsetto voice.

  Colt nearly fell off his horse he was laughing so hard.

  “That will be quite enough,” Victoria said. Though her voice was stern, she turned her head so they wouldn’t see her smiling.

  Seeing the reaction they were receiving from the adults, Cade said, “Aunt Promise said Uncle Jake and Pa sure had a good time looking at her bosoms, so I don’t know why we can’t see ’em.”

  “Enough,” Victoria said.

  Hearing his ma was not happy, Cody moved on to another topic. “Who’s Mary Ann?”

  Colt and Jake were very interested in Luke’s response to this question.

  “She’s a lady at the hotel,” Luke said.

  “Who was dancing with her?” Cade asked.

  “Do you boys hear everything?” Luke asked, waiting for Colt to tell them to quit asking so many questions.

  “What was wrong with her dress?” Cody asked.

  This time Victoria answered before Luke. “Nothing was wrong with her dress; it was lovely.”

  “But Uncle Luke didn’t like it,” Cade said.

  “I liked it fine, but so did every other cowboy.”

  “Shouldn’t they like her dress?” Cody asked, confused by Luke’s explanation.

  “Well . . .” Luke started, but Cade interrupted.

  “Is she real pretty like Ma? Ma said she was real pretty.”

  “Yeah, she’s real pretty,” Luke said.

  “Why don’t you invite her to dinner? Does she have bosoms?” Cody asked. “Maybe we can see hers.”

  Luke rolled his eyes when Colt and Jake started laughing again. Their question reminded him of Mary Ann’s low-cut gown, and her bosoms, and what almost happened behind the church. Last night’s kisses changed everything. “I think I’ve invited enough ladies to dinner.”

  “Nope, you got to bring them home so you can get married,” Cade instructed.

  “I’m not wanting to get married,” Luke told them.

  “Why not?” both boys asked at the same time.

  “I like to enjoy all the ladies.”

  “Luke.” Colt’s tone was a warning that he was talking to impressionable young ears.

  Luke shrugged at him.

  “Maybe you can marry lots of ’em,” Cody said.

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Colt told them.

  “What if you like lots of ’em, like Uncle Luke?” Cade asked.

  “You have to narrow it down,” Colt explained.

  “Did you have to narrow down Ma?” Cody asked.

  Colt knew his wife was listening. “Nope, I knew the moment I saw your ma she was the one for me.”

  “What a good answer, husband.” Victoria smiled at him. “But as I recall there were several women vying for your attention.”

  “What’s vying?” Cade asked.

  “Your father was very much like Uncle Luke and Uncle Jake, popular with the ladies.”

  “Then why can’t you marry more than one?” Cody questioned.

  “Grown-ups make it hard to understand,” Cade told his brother.

  “That they do. But I don’t want to marry one or ten.” Luke leaned over to ruffle Cody’s hair just as a shot rang out.

  “Down!” Colt yelled. Jake pulled the buckboard near a clump of trees and jumped over the seat to position himself over the boys and the women. Colt and Luke backed their horses to the side of the buckboard shielding them the best they could.

  “Where?” Colt asked.

  Jake and Luke understood he was asking what direction the shot came from, but they didn’t know. Within seconds they heard a horse in the distance. Luke and Colt took off after the sound of the hoofbeats. Jake jumped from the buckboard and helped everyone to the ground. Thirty minutes passed before Colt and Luke came back.

  “See anything?” Jake asked.

  “No, we lost him,” Luke said.

  Jake handed Luke his hat with his finger in the bullet hole through the crown. “I think someone was aiming for you, little brother.”

  “Looks like I moved at the right time.” He inspected the hole in his hat. “Dang, this was my Sunday hat.”

  “Any ideas?” Colt asked as he helped the women in the buckboard.

  “Not a one,” Luke answered.

  “You haven’t been sniffing around any married women, have you?” Jake asked.

  “No way. Besides the dance, I haven’t been anywhere but the saloon. And I only danced with single women last night.”

  “Except one,” Colt said.

  Luke quickly went through the list of women he’d danced with. “Yeah, Arina.”

  “Do you think this has anything to do with Sam’s death?” Colt asked.

  “I have no idea. I’m in the dark on this and I’m not sure what I can do about it from here. If that bullet was meant for me, how did the shooter tell us apart?” He might not be mistaken for Colt since he was the largest of the three, but he could certainly be
mistaken for Jake.

  “Your horse,” Colt and Jake answered at the same time. Colt and Jake both had black horses and Luke’s was a buckskin.

  Colt looked at his wife and boys. “Honey, is everyone still wanting to go to church?”

  “Absolutely,” Victoria responded. “I’m confident you and your brothers can handle any problems.”

  Colt winked at her. His wife always made him feel invincible by her confidence in him. “Jake, let’s go.”

  * * *

  They arrived late to church so Luke had to wait until the service was over to tell Arina about Sam. When the family entered the hotel, Luke headed for the stairs. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.” Mary Ann was behind the desk when Luke passed and he stopped to say hello, forgetting about his decision to let other cowboys fight over her. This morning she was dressed in a pristine white shirt and a black skirt and he noticed she was buttoned up to her neck again. Luke thought she looked even lovelier than she did last night. She didn’t need to show so much skin.

  Mary Ann saw Luke and his family when they arrived, and she’d noticed Luke had changed his clothes. He certainly didn’t have time to sleep after leaving the hotel at dawn. She didn’t look up when he spoke to her. “Back so soon?”

  Luke figured she was referring to the fact he’d picked up Arina for the dance last night. He thought it odd she wouldn’t look at him. Perhaps she was embarrassed about what happened between them at the dance. “You look beautiful this morning.”

  “I’m sure you say such things to every woman you see. At all hours of the day or night.”

  She sure sounded testy this morning. “You’re the first woman I’ve said it to today,” he teased. She still refused to look at him, so he tried again. “How are you today?”

  “Perfect.” She walked from behind the desk without sparing him a glance and walked into the restaurant.

  Luke stood there looking after her wondering what in the heck he’d done wrong this time. Were all women such a puzzle? He’d have to ask his brothers if their wives were as unpredictable as Mary Ann. He shook his head. No figuring women. He hustled up the stairs to get his business over with.

  Arina answered her door on the first knock, and to Luke’s surprise she was dressed.

  “Oh . . . hello, Luke, do come in.”

  Luke thought she acted like she was expecting someone else. He walked in and closed the door. “Arina, I have bad news.”

  One look at Luke’s face and she said, “Sam’s dead.”

  Luke nodded. “I received a telegram from Tom Sparks, the supervisor at the mine. He said they found Sam in the desert. He’d apparently been there for some time.”

  Arina moved close to Luke and put her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “That’s terrible news.”

  Luke didn’t know what to say or do, so he ended up patting her on the back. He heard her sniffling, but he didn’t know if she was really crying.

  She pulled back and looked up at him. “What does this mean? I know Sam had a will, but I don’t know what this means.”

  Luke hadn’t even thought that far ahead. “We’ll find out all of the details when we get to Arizona.”

  “But what about the mine? Are you going back to oversee the mine?”

  Luke thought about his contract with Sam. It stated if anything happened to either one of them, the surviving person was sole owner of the mine. Their agreement had been signed before Sam’s marriage, and Luke never gave it another thought until this very moment. Interesting that it was the first thing Arina was asking about. It made him think about the incident earlier. Was that shot this morning a coincidence? Colt’s words rang loudly in his head. There are no coincidences.

  * * *

  Mary Ann saw the McBride family at the table and she thought Luke was probably upstairs with his . . . whatever she was to him, so she stopped and talked to them. She genuinely liked Luke’s family and adored his nephews.

  “We didn’t see you at church this morning,” Victoria said.

  “I’m afraid last night’s dance was too much for my uncle, he’s a bit under the weather this morning, so I was taking care of him.”

  “I do hope it’s nothing serious,” Victoria said.

  “I think it’s just a cold.”

  “Give him our best?” Colt said.

  After she conversed with the women briefly, Mary Ann hurried to the kitchen. She didn’t want to be at the McBride table if Luke and Arina were joining them.

  * * *

  Luke politely asked Arina if she wanted to have dinner with the family. He hated to leave her alone when she’d just heard the devastating news. While he wasn’t positive he could trust her to display some decorum, his conscience wouldn’t allow him to desert her at such a time. Arina declined his invitation, saying she preferred to be alone right now. Before he left he told her he would be back later to make plans to go to Arizona. He wanted to pay his respects to Sam and try to find out what happened to him. He’d need to attend to business while he was there.

  When he left Arina’s room, he realized two things: It was the first time Arina hadn’t made any sexual overtures, and there was a black cowboy hat on one of the bedposts. He also noticed the coverings on the bed were in complete disarray. Obviously Arina didn’t spend the night alone. His mind drifted to Detrick. He didn’t think Detrick spent the night with her since he always wore a brown hat. So who belonged to the black Stetson? Arina didn’t seem particularly surprised over the news of Sam’s death. Of course Sam had been gone so long that she may have just accepted the fact that he was dead.

  “How’d she take it?” Colt asked when Luke took a seat beside him.

  “I think she’d already convinced herself that Sam was dead.” Maybe it was easier for him to believe that she saw herself as a widow than it was to know she had a man in her bed while she thought she was still a married woman. He hated to think Sam’s wife would dishonor him in such a way.

  “And you don’t think she knew Sam was dead when she arrived here?” Jake hadn’t trusted her motives from the beginning.

  Knowing Arina had actually acted on her physical desires without a care about Sam forced Luke to rethink the entire situation. He’d almost convinced himself that she was throwing herself at him out of fear. “I can’t say one way or the other.”

  “No one had taken a shot at you until Arina came to town, so I’d say someone wants you out of the picture.” Colt was worried for his brother, and logic told him Arina was involved with the incident this morning.

  Luke thought his brother was closer to the truth than he realized. “Arina said something that reminded me of my contract with Sam. On his death, I inherited his half of the mine.”

  Jake whistled. “Well, little brother, I’d say that changes things. In the event both of you died at the same time, what happens then?”

  “My half goes to you two. Sam’s half would go to his next of kin. He wasn’t married at the time of the agreement, but that would be Arina now.”

  “I don’t want you going anywhere alone,” Colt said.

  “I’ve got to go to Arizona for Sam’s burial, and to see if I can piece together what happened.”

  “Someone will go with you,” Colt stated. He wasn’t about to entertain any arguments. His brothers were both home now, and as far as he was concerned he was their guardian angel.

  Luke didn’t want to remind his big brother that he’d been on his own for ten years. He knew Colt was just being cautious and he was trying to protect him out of love. It meant a lot to Colt that the family was back together, and he was determined to keep them all safe.

  Hearing someone enter the hotel, Luke glanced up to see if Mary Ann was at the desk. He saw a tall man walk directly up the staircase without stopping at the desk. He thought he had seen the man before, but he couldn’t place where.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The family had just ordered dessert when Luke looked up and saw Arina coming down the staircase on th
e arm of the same man he’d noticed earlier. He finally remembered where he’d seen him before. He’d been on the stagecoach with Arina, but they didn’t act like they knew each other. Luke noticed he was wearing the black hat he’d seen on Arina’s bedpost.

  “This is a strange twist.” Luke looked at his brothers and nodded in the direction of the staircase. “I saw him get off the stagecoach before Arina and it didn’t seem like they knew each other. I haven’t seen him since he arrived.”

  Jake glanced at the man standing beside Arina. “Maybe he’s staying at the boardinghouse.”

  Suddenly, Colt jumped to his feet, pulled his pistol, and checked the chamber.

  Victoria glanced at her husband and saw the murderous look in his eyes. “Colt?”

  “It’s Creed Thomas,” Colt growled.

  Before Colt could walk away, both Luke and Jake jumped up and moved in front of him.

  “Are you sure?” Luke asked.

  Colt’s eyes didn’t leave Thomas. “I’m sure. He’s older and added some weight, but it’s him all right.”

  “Who is Creed Thomas?” Promise whispered to Victoria. She seemed to be the only adult at the table who didn’t know the name.

  Victoria jumped up and reached for Colt’s arm. “Colt, what are you going to do?”

  Hearing the fear in her voice was the only thing that momentarily stopped him. “Honey, take the boys out the back way and wait for me at the livery.” He didn’t want any stray bullets putting his family in danger like they did his mother years ago.

  “But . . .” She wasn’t sure what to say, the only thing on her mind was she didn’t want to lose her husband.

  Colt took her by the shoulders. “I promised I wouldn’t go looking for him and I didn’t. I never promised I wouldn’t kill . . .” He glanced at his boys seated at the table with their large eyes glued on him and he amended his words. “I never promised I wouldn’t face him if he came here.”