“What do you need us to do, boss?”
“We believe Miss Evans’s sister rode off with Cody. We need to find them. Get the other men, tend to the most basic chores, grab some food, and then meet me at the house in say … twenty minutes.”
“Right, boss.” The man’s expression darkened as he looked at her. “Sorry about your sister, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” She watched him trot back to the other men, said something, and they scattered in different directions.
“I need to eat then get going.” He started toward the house, and she hurried to keep up.
“I’ll admit I’m worried about my sister. This isn’t the first time Jenny made a bad choice.” But it was the first time she’d run off. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked at Austin for a moment. “Surely you don’t want to marry her after this.”
He flicked a sideways glance at her. “I can’t think of that now. Besides the fact Jenny ran off, Cody stole two of my horses, and in Texas, that’s a hanging offense.”
She hated to think of any man hanging, especially someone her sister might care for. Suddenly her heart bucked, and she stared at Austin.
“What?”
“What about Jenny? Could she also hang?”
Austin’s expression softened. “Not too likely. Texas hasn’t hanged many women.”
“But she stole your horse…”
“Brody said he saw Cody alone with the two horses, so in my book, he’s the guilty party. I imagine Cody sweet-talked her into going with him.”
“I’m so sorry for all the trouble we’ve caused your family.”
“I’m the one who wrote to your sister first, after seeing her ad in the newspaper.”
Rebekah stared out at the peaceful hillside where cattle and several horses grazed. How could Jenny have run off with that man when she was already committed to marry Austin? It cut her to the quick to think Jenny might have fallen for a man who had no qualms about stealing from the men who employed him. It sure didn’t speak much to his character. Did Jenny truly have feelings for Cody, or was he just a way to get her out of marrying Austin? She shook her head. What a fool her sister was to choose a poor cowboy thief over an honorable man like Austin. Her heart broke for him. It broke for herself, because she didn’t know if she’d ever see her sister again. She’d come to accept leaving her sister here, knowing she’d be safe and well cared for, but having Jenny riding off into the unknown was something altogether different. What would become of her sister? Her hands quivered, and tears burned her eyes.
Austin stopped at the bottom of the porch steps and turned to her. “Hey now, tears won’t help a thing.” His palm slid down her arm to grasp her hand. “Don’t fret. I’ll do my best to find her.”
“Thank you.”
The door opened and Travis and Annie rushed out. “Perla told us that Jenny is missing.”
Austin nodded. “Gone is more like it. She packed some things and rode out with Cody—we think.”
“Cody! Why, that charlatan—” Travis’s dark eyes flashed.
“Yep. He’s not getting away.”
A muscle ticked in Travis’s jaw. “I can check in town since I have to go to my office, and I can keep my eye out for them in case they show up later.”
“I’ll ride with you. I want to see if they got on the stage.” Austin’s voice faded as the men entered the house.
Annie’s sad expression almost made Rebekah cry. “I’m really sorry, Rebekah.”
“I can’t but help feel this is my fault.”
“Why would you think that? Jenny is well old enough to know her own mind.”
“I was so determined that we’d both find a husband before we were homeless that I didn’t listen to my sister. She truly wasn’t ready to marry, but since my fiancé had said she couldn’t live with us, she didn’t have a choice.”
Annie took hold of her hand. “It would seem she did, and she found a way to get what she wanted.”
Thoughts buzzed Rebekah’s mind like a colony of hornets whose nest had been disturbed. Had Jenny taken a fancy to Cody and decided he was the man she wanted? Or had she merely sweet-talked him in to doing what she wanted him to do? What would be the cost of his compliance? Her stomach clenched. Had her sister made another disastrous choice?
Chapter Eight
Rebekah awoke from a troubled sleep. After lunch, Annie had insisted she stop pacing the front porch and rest. She tried, but disturbing dreams had haunted her—one where Jenny was on trial for stealing a horse. Rebekah’s clothes stuck to her body, and she longed for some fresh air. She quickly rearranged her hair and smoothed down her hopelessly wrinkled dress, and went looking for Annie.
Women’s voices drew her to the parlor. As she stepped around the corner, she took in the sight of five women, standing in the middle of the room. They hadn’t noticed her yet.
“Well, are you going to keep us all in suspense?” A tall woman who looked part Mexican jiggled the arm of the chatty dark-haired woman Rebekah remembered from the hotel.