Read Online Plain Trouble by Kathleen Y'Barbo - Free Book Online

country would involve the busy streets of Bitter Springs, she didn’t let on. Rather she smiled, toyed with her bonnet strings, and then leaned back to lift her face to the sun.
    Maybe Tommy was right. Maybe he had been carrying a torch for Bess Jones since grade school. His heart sure did a flip-flop when he looked at her. And she was a fine woman from a fine family.
    What was it her pa said? A Ranger in possession of a good salary and a desk job was surely going to start thinking about a wife. Was he?
    No. Not when Pale Indian had yet to be caught.

    * * *

    Joe was awfully quiet. He’d hardly spoken on the drive to town.  
    Now with the buildings of Bitter Springs in view, he seemed no more inclined to conversation. Abruptly, he pulled up on the reins and guided the horses to a stop in a sunny outcropping well off the road. From there she could see the town in the valley below and the shimmering water of the Guadalupe River.
    “I owe you an apology, Bess.”
    “Another one?” she asked lightly. “This has become quite the habit of yours.”
    It was flirting, plain and simple, and Bess felt the fool as soon as the ridiculous statement was out. What business did a twenty-seven-year-old spinster have playing the coquette to a broad-shouldered Texas Ranger?
    He gestured toward town, seemingly oblivious to her silliness. “I have a selfish reason for taking this route.”
    “Oh?”
    A nod. “I’d like it very much if everyone in Bitter Springs could see you riding by my side.”  
    “Is that so?” was the best response she could manage.  
    “It is.”
    With that, he slapped the reins and set the horses back on the road toward town. As the buggy picked up speed going downhill, Bess felt her bonnet ribbons give way.
    “Stop, Joe. I did it again,” she called as the bonnet flew from her head and landed somewhere behind them.  
    He hauled back on the reins and brought the horses to a stop. “What’s wrong?”
    Bess pointed to her head then shrugged, again feeling like the fool. “I’ve lost my bonnet. You see, I have this habit of worrying with the ribbons and what with the wind and all, it just…oh, I’m rambling.” She leaned forward to escape the buggy only to feel Joe’s hand on her arm.  
    “Wait here and I’ll go after it.”
    When Joe didn’t immediately return, Bess rose to turn around and see if she could spy him. Failing that, she slid over and took the reins to turn the buggy around. That’s when she saw him face down on a limestone ledge, his arms outstretched.
    Pa’s warning came back to her now. Stick close to the Ranger. You never know what’s out there.
    “Joe,” she called. No response, so she tried again.
    Now she had to choose: leave Joe and go for help or leave the buggy to help Joe. She chose the latter, bounding from the buggy with her skirts flying. Rather than announce her presence to whomever had sent the Ranger down the canyon, Bess elected to move as silently as possible as she picked her way from rock to rock until she was almost close enough to touch the still-prone Ranger.  
    From her vantage point, Bess could see that while his body remained still, his right arm seemed to be grasping at something. “Joe?” she whispered. “Are you hurt?”
    This time he turned his head in her direction, his face flushed. “No. Go back to the buggy.”
    Bess surveyed the situation then returned her attention to him. “But, I-”’
    “The buggy, Bess. Go. Back.”
    Reluctantly she nodded. Rather than retrace her steps, Bess circled around the ranger. When she reached the other side of the outcropping she realized the problem.
    “You’re stuck.”
    He lifted his head to stare in her direction. If this expression was what criminals saw, no wonder the ranger had such good luck catching them.  
    Swallowing hard, Bess moved forward a half step. There she could see his fist wedged between two limestone boulders, the strings of her bonnet dangling in his fingers.
    “Your hand. You