LITMIR.BIZ

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and she started to say something, but whirled around instead, stamping on Gabriel’s toe.

      Swallowing an oath, Gabriel decided to let it go. “Is somethin’ else wrong, Miss McCabe?”

      She turned slowly and glared at him. “Wrong? Other than several men on this train wanting to kill my father, what else could possibly be wrong?”

      “Not anything I can think of, ma’am. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up a bit.” He nodded toward the door.

      She didn’t budge. “I’d like to know what you intend to do about protecting my father. After all, you are a sheriff.”

      Gabriel started to say just what he was thinking—that he couldn’t care less about her father—but his background as a peace officer prevented him. “Exsheriff. It depends, Miss McCabe, on whether or not an attempt is made to harm your father while he’s on this train. Should I be present if that happens, I will, by all means, do my best to see that he isn’t harmed, even though I am no longer an officer of the law. Now, if you’ll excuse me…?”

      He leaned past her, opened the door and waited until she left, nose in the air. Gabriel watched her all the way to the end of the corridor. Her skirts swished back and forth across the dusty floor.

      Damn fool woman. It was enough to make a decent man want to throw himself off a train. Or into her compartment come nightfall.

      Gabriel rubbed his chin, shook his head, then looked at his watch. Ten forty-five in the morning. It had already been a long day.

      Outside the car, a man yelled something Gabriel couldn’t decipher. Trina screamed.

      Gabriel ran into the corridor. Trina stood at the end of the car, gaping in horror at something outside on the landing.

      “Papa! Oh, dear God…!” she muttered.

      Gabriel pushed past her and jerked the door open. He scanned quickly back and forth before stepping onto the snowy platform next to Senator McCabe. The passenger car door opposite slammed back and two men came outside.

      “What happened? We heard a man yell, then somethin’ that sounded like a wildcat!”

      Gabriel looked carefully at their faces. One appeared to be stunned, but the other watched Gabriel warily. A twitch winked one eye.

      “I didn’t see anything.” Gabriel held on to the rail and leaned out into the wind, trying to see down the track behind them. It wouldn’t have surprised him to spot a body dragging from the undercarriage, but there was no sign of anyone, dragging or otherwise.

      Trina came out of the Pullman, grimacing and holding her handkerchief over her nose, her eyes red and moist. She began to shiver immediately.

      “Papa? Are you all right?”

      He didn’t answer right away, just stared at Trina as though trying to decide what to say or do next. Gabriel sensed the senator was hiding something.

      “I’m fine, Trina. Get back inside before you catch your death.” He turned to Gabriel. “Hart, you were out here mighty fast. You must’ve seen something.”

      “Sorry, Senator.” Senator McCabe ushered everyone except Gabriel back into the passenger car. Trina wasn’t happy, but she minded her father.

      Gabriel went back into the Pullman. Something had happened out there and he didn’t like it. Trina had seen something, but she wasn’t telling anyone about it. He thought again about the two men talking outside his door. Maybe one of them had decided the other was about to break, or that he wasn’t going along with the plan, whatever that might have been. Maybe, just maybe, one of those men had met with an unfortunate accident and had “fallen” off the train. If that proved true, then someone else might have a similar “accident” before the train reached Silver Falls.

      Gabriel watched Trina tiptoe sneaky-like out of the passenger car. It didn’t surprise him at all. She fought the wind, managed to get back into the Pullman and closed the door with Gabriel’s help. He thought she might shiver into pieces right there in front of him.

      “Miss McCabe, it’s cold out there, in case you hadn’t noticed.” He reached into his compartment, fetched his coat, then slung it around her shoulders. When he pulled the front together, she stumbled up against him, surrounding them both with that intoxicating fragrance.

      She looked up into his eyes, her bottom lip still quivering with cold, and Gabriel had the sudden urge to kiss her. He pushed her away instead, cursing under his breath at such a blame fool notion.

      “You needn’t curse at me, Mr. Hart. I’m not the one who pushed that wretched man off the train.”

      “How do you know what we heard was a man departing the train?” Gabriel went back into his quarters, leaving the door open, knowing she’d follow him inside either way.

      “Not departing, Mr. Hart. Pushed. There’s quite a big difference.”

      “And you saw him get pushed, did you?”

      Trina hesitated. “Well…” She looked all around the small room, at the ceiling, at her shoes, everywhere except at Gabriel.

      He turned to the window and watched the snowy trees marching steadily past. Now the lady was hiding something. She’d called her father’s name at the window. Who else had she seen on the platform? Why would she protect the person who’d pushed a man off the train unless…

      Trina decided to lie. “No, I didn’t see that man pushed off the train. But it doesn’t take a scholar to know that’s exactly what happened.” She came over to the window where he stood and touched his arm. “If you could…”

      Gabriel stiffened.

      She removed her hand, embarrassed by his reaction, and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Mr. Hart, but I have every reason to believe that my father could be the next man thrown from this train. Are you going to wait until that happens before you do something? What sort of sheriff were you, anyway?”

      Gabriel released a long sigh and wished the pounding in his temples would stop. “A good one. All right, Miss McCabe. I’ll see what I can find out. From your father.”

      “My father! Certainly you aren’t going to alarm him—”

      “If there’s someone on this train who wants to kill your father, then he sure as shootin’ has a reason for it. I’ve never seen the time yet where the object of another man’s hate wasn’t aware of that hate. Your father knows. He just hasn’t decided to tell me yet. If he wants my help, he’ll have to trust me with the truth.”

      “What you say makes a good deal of sense, but I doubt you’re going to learn anything from my father. I assure you he’s as upright and honest a man as you’ll find in these days of scoundrels and renegades.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin to emphasize the words.

      So, the lady didn’t want him to talk to her father. He thought he knew why. Her bottom lip stuck out just a fraction. The impulse to kiss that pouty lip swept through him again. Damn! What could he be thinking of? “All right, ma’am. Now, if you’ll excuse me…again…”

      Trina handed his coat back to him, straightened her skirt and her ruffled shirtwaist blouse, sniffed once, then left, feathers bouncing.

      Gabriel closed the door and wished like hell Senator McCabe and his bothersome daughter had chosen a different train to Silver Falls, or that whoever it was who had kissed Trina’s cheek at the depot had come along. Then her husband-to-be would be up to his eyebrows in this mess.

      Everything in his gut told him he had no business messing around with the senator and his troubles. Exsheriff or not, Gabriel was a passenger on this train just like everyone else, and what he wanted most in the world right now was to be left alone with his thoughts of killing Otis Blackburn. That woman had a way of distracting him from the business at hand. If he played his cards right and stayed out of everyone’s way, maybe he could avoid any complications with the

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