Page 17 of Short-Straw Bride

“Of course she wasn’t helping them,” Travis snapped. “If she were, there’d be no point in making all that racket to bring us charging out of the woods like the cavalry, would there?” Travis bit back the rest of the words that sprang to his tongue, shocked at his vehement reaction. Neill didn’t know Meredith. Shoot. None of them did, really. Including him. Questioning her loyalty was reasonable—more reasonable than blindly defending her character based on two encounters that totaled less than a day’s worth of time in her company.

Travis grimaced. Was he really so susceptible to a pair of bright blue eyes and a pretty smile? He’d better get a grip on his reactions before he ended up doing something stupid.

“She probably found one of Pa’s hunting guns,” Crockett said. “The case in the den isn’t lock—”

“Quiet!” Jim’s sharp voice brought Travis’s head up. “I smell smoke.”

Smoke? Travis sniffed the air, and alarm gouged through him. He smelled it, too.

Had a spark from one of the fallen torches managed to catch? He’d not seen any evidence of fire when he signaled the boys to give chase. Had he left their home unprotected?

Had he left Meredith unprotected?

“Yah!” Digging his heels into his horse’s flanks, Travis charged toward home.

7

As the trees thinned, the smell of smoke grew stronger and an eerie orange glow winked at him from between the pines. Travis tightened his grip on the reins and leaned low over the saddle, urging his mount to a pace that bordered on hazardous. So close to home, though, the ground was familiar, and Bexar responded without hesitation.

The barn came into view, and Travis gritted his teeth. The thing was glowing from within like a jack-o’-lantern, an occasional flicker of flame licking through the hayloft door to tickle the outer walls.

How could he have been so stupid? He hadn’t even thought to check the interior of the barn before he went tearing off after Mitchell’s men. He’d simply assumed he’d interrupted them in time. His thirst for justice had outweighed his common sense.

Travis reined his horse around to the side of the barn closest to the trough pump and pulled up short. A host of empty pails, tubs, and even cooking pots lay scattered beside the trough, firelight gleaming across their tin surfaces.

Surely she wouldn’t have . . .

Travis leapt from the saddle and scaled the corral fence. “Meredith!”

Sadie shot out of the barn and circled his legs, almost tripping him. She barked and dashed back toward the barn. Travis sprinted after her.

Thick, dark smoke hovered near the rafters, and the stench of burning wood and hay enveloped him. He squinted through the haze, searching the ground for any sign of Meredith. When he spotted a feminine figure battling the blaze along the west wall, relief hit him with such force his knees nearly buckled. Then anger stiffened his joints and propelled him toward the woman whose dark green dress had faded to a sooty gray.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Travis snatched the damp blanket from Meredith’s grip as she swung it behind her shoulder. The rag pulled free without any resistance. Her obvious exhaustion only heightened his ire. “I told you to wait at the house.”

Meredith pivoted toward him and blinked as if she couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing. “Travis?” A spark of clarity flashed in her eyes before she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Thank God you’ve come.”

The contact was so unexpected, it nearly threw him off-balance. Travis didn’t quite know what to do. He’d been shouting and scowling a second ago, and now he had a grateful female pressed up against him. How had that happened?

“I tried so hard, Travis. I really did.” She tipped her face up to look at him. The soot smeared across her cheeks and forehead made the blue of her eyes even brighter. “I had the east wall put out and started on the west when the flames reached the loft. Do you think you can save it?”

“Don’t know. The boys and I will try, though.” He separated himself from her and took her hand. “We need to get you out of here first.”

She stumbled along behind him as he steered her out to the corral. Crockett was already working the pump to fill the trough while Jim and Neill righted the buckets.

“The heart of the fire is in the loft,” he called out to his brothers. “Do what you can, but don’t put yourself at risk. If the roof catches, get out. We’ll move to containment. Make sure the house doesn’t catch.”

Travis didn’t release his grip on Meredith until he had her at the fence on the far side. “Go up to the house.”

“I can help.”

“No, Meredith! I don’t want you anywhere near that fire.” The very thought made him shiver despite the heat pouring out of the barn.

“I managed not to burn myself to a crisp for the thirty minutes it took you to get here.” She crossed her arms and glared at him, her spunk reviving. “I think I can find a way to preserve that tradition a little longer.”

“The answer’s no.” He turned his back on her and strode away, praying she’d obey. If she were one of his brothers, there’d have been no question. He was the head of the family, and his word was law. But she wasn’t an Archer. And he had no idea how he’d handle her if a direct order didn’t work.

She leapt past him and moved into his path, forcing him to halt. “Let me work the pump.”