Rania Ropes a Rancher Read online

  Hilda looked over Rania when she stood up to go inside the house. “You know you’re about to bust the front out of that shirtwaist, and your skirt band is looking uncomfortable. How about we go shopping in Clear Creek after you eat?” Hilda’s eyes sparkled as a big grin spread across her face. Her sister might dress like a man to make ranch life easier, but she sure was a woman who liked to shop.

  Chapter 7

  Jacob carefully put the new bottle of Lilac Water in his saddle bag, thinking of the static the shopkeeper gave him for having to buy another one since Jacob had “dropped” the first. You’d think Mrs. Taylor would just be happy for another sale, but no…apparently it was a crime to spill a bottle of “eau de perfume” which she called the cheap bottle of toilet water. Actually, Jacob wished the store did have some fancy perfume to give Rania, but this was the best he could find in this frontier town.

  Instead of swinging into the saddle and riding back to Rania’s right away, he decided to walk down the block to see if Adam was in the marshal’s office. He hated to admit it but he was reluctant to face Rania’s cold shoulder—because he knew he definitely deserved it. Maybe Rania would soften up to his groveling after a little more time apart. Jacob knew Rania was the right woman for him, but he was going to have to win her trust again.

  Adam jumped in his chair when Jacob opened the jail door, then shuffled the papers on his desk to cover a letter he was reading when Jacob came in. “Got a love note you don’t want me to see, Adam?” Jacob teased.

  Adam scowled at Jacob, and then confessed, “No, I’ve been reading Millie Donovan’s letters to Sam Larson again to try to figure out how to contact her about his demise.”

  “It took us only ten minutes—weeks ago—to read those letters and I know there was no way to contact her. Why are you reading them again?” Jacob had been feeling bad all afternoon, but his brother’s discomfort lifted his spirits a little bit.

  “Just curious,” Adam said crossing his arms. “What are you doing in town in the middle of the afternoon, and why do you smell like…lilacs?”

  Jacob knew Adam was going to chew him out when Adam learned he had walked out on Rania, so he took a seat on the other side of the desk to get it over. Plus, Jacob needed his brother’s advice on how to make things right with Rania—and his mother, although Jacob wouldn’t tell Adam all the conversation the two of them had. Jacob hurt the two most important women in his life and he needed help to get back in their good graces.

  ***

  Rania’s spirits were better by the time she and Hilda rode into town. They decided a few yards of material weren’t worth hitching the horses to the wagon, so they rode Rose and Nutcracker instead.

  After arriving and giving the horses drinks from the water trough by the livery, they left them in the livery during their shopping. The day was warm and the horses would enjoy the shade until they rode home. Rania walked alone to the store because Hilda was talking to the livery man about her latest horse race, and Rania wanted to spend time in the store looking at material choices.

  Rania turned the doorknob and walked two steps through the door of Taylor’s store when she heard a man talking to the storeowner’s wife. The man’s voice made her freeze halfway through her third step.

  “Hello Mrs. Taylor. I’m on my way to the Montana Territory on this afternoon’s train…”

  The air was knocked out of her chest when she realized the man who attacked her two months ago was just a few feet in front of her. She turned quickly without looking at him, hoping to get out of the store before he saw her—and before she passed out from the panic that was about to overtake her body. She thought she was safe in Kansas but he had followed her up here!

  ***

  Hilda opened the marshal’s office door wide enough to ask, “Adam, can I take Rania into your house for a bit? She had a scare and…” Hilda stopped when she opened the door wider and saw Jacob sitting in the other chair. “Hello, Jacob,” she said coolly.

  “What’s wrong with Rania?” Jacob asked as he stood up.

  “Not your concern. Rania thought she heard Sid Narker’s voice and she fainted. When she started to wake up, she threw up, so I came in here to see if we can get into your house. She’s very upset, plus covered in her own vomit.”

  “Narker?” Adam snorted. “I know he’s a slick weasel, but he’s not worth fainting over.”

  “You know him?”

  “Yes,” Adam answered. “Sid Narker worked at the Bar E for about a month until Elison kicked him off the place, then Sid gave the land agent guff for not letting him take over Noah’s claim. Not sure where he’s been the last few weeks.”

  “Sid came up here after he left our cattle drive?”

  “Hilda. Quit screeching. What are you talking about?”

  “I didn’t believe Rania when she told me. Surely it’s someone with the same last name! Sid is about five foot ten, and dark brown straight hair, on the long side. Didn’t have a mustache or beard back then. He used to ride a mean, white gelding, and was always playing with the cartridges for his Henry rifle.”

  Adam looked puzzled. “Sounds like him. But did he have a fairly large scar on his right temple? Looks like he took a rough hit with something and it didn’t heal right.”

  “I gave him that scar when I whacked him with a tree limb! He attacked Rania in Texas when we were driving cattle up here!”

  “And Rania’s alone in the alley while Narker’s roaming around town?!” Jacob roared as he knocked over the chair he had been sitting in.

  ***

  Rania was sitting on Adam’s porch step when Jacob came running around the corner, with Adam and Hilda close behind.

  “You better deputize me Adam, because I need to be legal when I kill this Narker,” Jacob was seething through gritted teeth after seeing Rania looking so pale and silent.

  “I’m missing three–fourths of a story here. What’s the deal between the twins and Sid Narker?” questioned Adam.

  “I’m just putting two and two together between the bits I’ve gotten from Rania, Ma, and now Hilda today. Rania told me this morning that she’s pregnant. I stormed off without giving her a chance to explain. I’m guessing Narker…forced himself on her.”

  Adam stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Jacob, and then at the women huddled together on the steps. Adam squatted down by Rania and asked softly, “Rania, is Sid Narker the man who violated you?”

  Rania raised her light blue eyes to Jacob—instead of Adam—and said with firm words, “Yes, and I’m pregnant because of Sid’s attack.”

  Adam stood up, ready to head back to his office. “Jacob, take the women into my house and stay with them. I know what Narker looks like so I’ll start looking for him. Rania, where did you hear him?”

  “I was opening the door to Taylor’s store and he was talking to Mrs. Taylor. I turned quickly when I heard his voice so didn’t get a good look at him. I don’t know if he saw me or not.”

  “Okay, I’ll head to the store first. Again, Jacob, stay with Rania and Hilda.”

  “He’s free to leave and hunt for Sid too, Adam. We can take care of ourselves,” Hilda said as she slipped into the house behind Rania. Jacob heard the lock turn on the door, effectively keeping him from apologizing to Rania for his stupid assumptions earlier in the day.

  ***

  Adam and Jacob scoured every place in town that they could think of, but finally decided Mrs. Taylor was right. Narker told her he was leaving on the afternoon train and the train station agent confirmed a man with Narker’s description had bought a train ticket.

  “Rania, may I please talk to you privately before you go home?” She hadn’t looked Jacob’s way once when Adam told Rania and Hilda about their search for Narker. Adam suggested they eat supper at the café before they rode home—because Adam didn’t keep food in the house, but the women declined.

  “We’ll go fetch your horses while you talk,” said Adam, grabbing Hilda’s hand and pulling her along to leave Jaco
b and Rania on the porch alone.

  “I’m so sorry, Rania, that you were attacked and so very sorry for not listening to you this morning. I was wrong to jump to conclusions before you could explain the circumstances.” Jacob stepped toward Rania like he wanted to wrap his arms around her, but she stepped back, out of his reach.

  “I know you feel bad about everything now, but why couldn’t you have waited for my explanation instead of just leaving mad?” Rania questioned.

  “Jacob, when I said I was pregnant, you looked at me like I was the scum of the earth. Yes, I put off telling you because I was afraid of what you’d think, and you proved me right.”

  He felt guilty because what Rania said was true. Jacob knew in his heart that Rania wasn’t a loose woman, but hadn’t even taken a second to ask about the circumstances before coming to his own snap judgment.

  “But you know what? I don’t care what you think of me now. I had to protect my family and I have a clear conscience because I believe they’re alive because of me.”

  Jacob gripped his father’s hat tightly in his hand, trying to imagine what his father would have said in this situation. He didn’t have the years of solid marriage that his parents had when they faced a similar pain together, but he had to think of the right words to express his sorrow and love for Rania now.

  Instead of his father’s wisdom, Jacob heard his mother’s recent words. Tell her what’s in your heart and ask her to be honest with you. Don’t let the past hamper your dreams for a wife and family.

  But right now Jacob couldn’t get past the problem of raising a baby who wasn’t his. A child fathered by a rapist was blurring the image of his ideal family.

  “Rania, again, I’m sorry for what’s happened. I believe we could still have a future together, but I just need time to sort through my feelings about the baby on the way.”

  “I…I love you Jacob, but if you can’t accept my baby, you need to leave us alone. I know you feel an obligation to check on me because of your mother’s request, but it would hurt too much to see you every day, so please stay away now.”

  “Rania, please…”

  “No, Jacob. I can look after two sheep and a dog. The horses are all out in the pasture on their own. Narker is on his way to Montana Territory, so I can breathe a little easier now and get on with my life.” Rania looked down at her boots, down the street…anywhere but to his face while she said her piece.

  Jacob felt like such a heel, but he couldn’t say the three words that would make a difference to Rania. Maybe some time apart would be the best for them. But yet…when he tried to picture his perfect wife, Rania’s image still came to mind. How was he going to get over his stigma about Rania’s baby?

  When Adam brought Duncan to the house, Jacob took the reins, and then swung up on the saddle. “Rania, can we talk again later?”

  Hilda looked at him and then her sister. “I’ll check on her from now on, Jacob. If we need anything we’ll go over to the Bar E,” Hilda softly stated.

  “Actually, why don’t you all leave me alone for a few days,” Rania said when swinging into the saddle herself and urged Rose to a quick trot out of Clear Creek, leaving the three looking at her stiff back.

  Chapter 8

  The afternoon played over and over in Rania’s mind as she rode Rose toward home. Rania hated to act rudely, especially to Hilda, but she had to get away. Hearing Sid’s voice had unnerved her more than she cared to admit. It made her skin crawl thinking back to that night. She thought she had gotten past cringing when someone, especially Jacob, touched or kissed her, but the bad memories flooded back when she heard her attacker again.

  Could she ever get over the emotional distress of that night to enjoy married life? Jacob immediately came to mind, but that dream of married life with him vanished with the confrontation that had occurred between them.

  Ever since Rania was a young child, she had dreamed of being married to a handsome man and the mother to a happy family. At first she thought they would all live in a red house, with the potato field planted next to it. The dream scene changed to a wooden–framed house in the Hill Country of Texas when they moved to America. Her recent dream of living on the Wilerson ranch and raising a family with Jacob was probably unlikely now.

  It was a relief to be home. All she wanted to do was to crawl into bed. There was still a foul taste in her mouth from heaving her lunch into the dirt, so Rania decided to stop by the house and get a drink of water before unsaddling Rose. It would only take a minute, so she dropped the reins and went into the house. As she dipped the tin cup into the bucket of water by the dry sink in the kitchen, she glanced around the room. She stared at the flower vase on the table. How could the roses she and Jacob picked this morning have turned black already?

  Rania went over to take a better look and saw the wild pink roses were gone from the vase—and dried flower stems had taken their place. She gasped because they looked like dried stems of the Texas bluebonnets Sid picked every evening for her when they were on the trail.

  Before she could yank them out of the vase, throw them on the floor and grind them into dust with her boot heel, she heard a cough from behind the front door. She guessed who it was and steeled her courage to face the man who had turned her life upside down.

  “Hello, Rania. Do you like the blue bonnets I brought you? I’ll always think of you when I see those pretty flowers in bloom. I picked those flowers for you when I left Texas and have been saving them just for this reunion. Of course they’ve lost their pretty color and fragrance, but I’m sure they still bring back memories of our kisses.”

  Rania slowly turned to face the man she hoped to never, ever see again. His face was in the shadow so it was hard to see the injury that Hilda had inflicted on him. She hoped it pained him until his dying day. She was past scared and on to angry. This man was not going to hurt her again!

  He was leaning, relaxed, on the wall behind the front door so Rania hadn’t seen him when she entered the house. Instead of his favorite rifle, Sid had a six shooter in his hand—which at the moment was held across his chest, instead of aimed at her. “I was happy to see you in Taylor’s Store earlier today. Too bad you didn’t come on in and say hello. I’ve seen you many times—at a distance—through my field glass…” He smiled when he saw Rania’s eyes widen, realizing he had been spying on her.

  Rania tried not to shudder, thinking of Narker watching her walking around the ranch yard, playing with the dog and sheep…and taking walks hand in hand with Jacob. As much as she wished Jacob or Hilda had followed her home, she was glad they weren’t in danger from this deranged man, too. But she’d have to defend herself, and her baby, alone.

  She crossed her arms against her abdomen, firmly realizing she would protect this baby from the man across the room calmly threatening her. The baby was because of him, but only hers to love and protect. This man would never, ever touch a hair on his or her head.

  Narker must have recognized Rania’s determination not to cower because he shifted his stance to face her, now with the pistol pointing more in her general direction.

  “So Rania, you assumed I was on my way to the Montana Territory. I thought it was an excellent plan to get you and your male friends off guard. And I still plan to go north, but with you accompanying me.”

  Rania looked around the room. Narker was too close to the door for her to run past him—and her rifle was missing from its rack. Apparently Sid had spent his time waiting for her by going through the house. He also had her knapsack, presumably packed with some of her clothing, on the floor beside his feet.

  “Yes, your essentials are packed and ready for us to leave. And no, I didn’t pack your derringer hiding in your unmentionables,” Narker chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at her. “All that’s left to do is for you to write a letter to your sister, saying you decided to take the train south to meet your parents,” Narker said as he pointed to the paper, pen and inkwell positioned on the corner of the table.

 
Rania sighed, not seeing a way to get away from Narker, so she needed to write something in the letter that would give Hilda a hint to her dilemma. “Just what am I supposed to write?” Rania asked trying to stall for time.

  “Tell your dear sister that you’re homesick for Texas and want to visit one last time before coming back to Kansas with your parents. And don’t bother writing it in Swedish. I know you both can write and read in English,” Narker smirked.

  Rania rubbed up and down on her tummy, trying to think of a way to get both of them out of this mess. She stilled her hands when she realized Narker was closely watching her.

  “Say, you’re rubbing your belly like a pregnant momma does. Is there a daddy I should congratulate?”

  Rania felt her face turn red with his statement, terrified he’d figured out her condition.

  “I’m sure you and Wilerson have played around, but you haven’t been up here in Kansas very long yet.” Narker paused, his eyes shifting between Rania’s face and abdomen. “Are you carrying my first born? Well, I’ll be damned,” an evil grin spread across his mean face.

  “You know there’s a judge in the next county who owes me a favor. I’m sure he’d marry us, before us head on. You always were sweet on me, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy being with me again.”

  Rania felt like retching again, even if it was dry heaves. She couldn’t pass out again though. She would figure out a way to get away from him, even if it took time to do it.

  Then she noticed the silence. “Where’s my dog?”

  “Oh, I think he’s taking a nap in the barn, after eating a nice batch of poisoned rabbit stew. And if he didn’t, he’s off somewhere trying to find his lost sheep…which are about a mile away.”

  Rania felt sick about King. He had been so loyal to her. The dear dog even walked with her and Jacob—along with the two sheep—because King couldn’t let her out of his sight when she was on the ranch.