DUST CIRCLED LIKE TINY WHIRLWINDS IN THE SHADOWY barn as a dozen Texas Rangers saddled horses and prepared to ride.
Lewton Paterson, dressed in his best white suit, moved among them, a stranger amid these heroes. As always, he felt alone no matter how many surrounded him, but tonight his solitude was almost suffocating. He told himself he was never brave and had no desire to risk his life for any cause, yet the excitement around him seemed contagious.
Rangers were just normal men, he reminded himself. They didn’t even wear a uniform, only the dusty weathered clothes of men born to the wilderness. Lewton matched their height and probably most of their skills, but he wasn’t one of them. He never would be.
For Lewt knew his heart. He had never been, nor would ever be, daring. In twenty-eight years he’d seen nothing worth risking his life for, nothing he loved worth dying to protect. If he hadn’t found it by now, he never would. For him, life was a game and the man leaving the table with the most chips won.
“Lewt!” Duncan McMurray yelled from ten feet away. His half-wild horse stomped around the ranger and snorted as Duncan saddled the mount as casually as if they were dancing. “You decide to give up gambling and join us on our quest?”
Lewt slipped between two horses and joined his friend. “Compared to rangering, gambling seems like a peaceful profession. Where are you men headed tonight?”
“The border.” Duncan pulled the cinch tight across the mare’s belly before he added, “Chasing cattle rustlers. Captain McNelly says we’ll cross the river tracking them down even if the army won’t. Ranches have lost enough cattle to cowards who run across the border to hide.”
Lewt shook his head. He’d met the tall, bone-thin Leander McNelly. He was just crazy enough to follow outlaws straight into hell, and these men—including Duncan—would ride right beside him. Duncan McMurray was a successful lawyer, like his father, by trade, but a wild kid ran in his blood. “Maybe you should sit this one out, Duncan. You’re due to leave at dawn with that load of potential husbands for your cousins. No one expects you to ride with the rangers every time.”
Duncan frowned as he strapped on his gear, and Lewt sensed he’d already had this argument with himself. “There’s been a change of plans. The ‘suitors’ will have to handle matters without me. I’m needed here. One ranger less in this fight might swing the balance. Besides, I sent all three men the train tickets and reserved rooms for them at Crystal’s place across from the station if they need a room tonight. If they’re too dumb to figure out that they need to get off at Anderson Glen tomorrow night, hire a buggy, and drive out to Whispering Mountain, they’re sure too dumb to marry my cousins. The three men coming to court the girls can consider getting there their first test.”
Lewt laughed. “You don’t fool me, Duncan, you hate playing matchmaker. You’re running out on the job! I’ve always had the feeling you’re half afraid of those girls.”
Duncan opened his mouth to argue, then shrugged. “I grew up with them pestering me. They made my life hell wanting me to play with them, or worse, wash more than once a week. There’s not a man in the state good enough for any one. My dad, being a former ranger, will understand why I have to ride tonight, but my uncle Teagen’s bound to throw a fit. I could send out royalty and he’d still find fault in any man thinking of marrying his little girls.” Duncan swore. “Only they’re not little girls anymore. All three are well on their way to being old maids.”
“How about letting me go along?” Lewt teased his friend. “I wouldn’t mind a chance to marry into one of the finest families in Texas.”
Duncan swung into the saddle laughing. “No offense, friend, but if I sent out someone like you to the ranch, my father and uncles would take turns