Her Bodyguard by Geralyn Dawson Page B

girl, Maribeth. The sisters and I will pray for God’s blessing upon your quest.”
    “Thank you,” Mari replied with complete sincerity. “I trust you’ll be discreet with this information?”
    “Of course, dear.” Then the nun’s eyes narrowed and she turned toward Luke. “And just who are you, sir?”
    He removed his hat. “My name is Luke Garrett, ma’am. Miss McBride has asked me to provide her protection during her search.”
    “Garrett? Yes. I should have recognized you.” She gave him the look Mari and her sisters had dubbed “The Evil Eye” in their youth. “You’re the wicked lost soul who leads God’s wayward children into sin in Hell’s Half Acre.”
    He winced, scratched the back of his neck, then sighed. “I shouldn’t do this, but…” He leaned forward and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “That’s not my true identity, Sister Gonzaga. I’m actually a Texas Ranger working incognito in Hell’s Half Acre.”
    Mari rolled her eyes.
    The nun clasped her hands above her prodigious bosom and studied him. Mari thought he must have inherited some of his brother’s acting talent, too, because he managed to appear totally sincere.
    Watching him, Mari knew a brief moment of doubt. Surely he wasn’t telling the truth about that, too!
    No, the idea that Luke Garrett could be a Texas Ranger was too big a stretch to believe. Incognito, indeed. Why, to pull that off, he’d need acting skills to put ol’Rory’s to shame. Besides, Mari personally knew two Texas Rangers. They traded in her shop. One was tall, thin and talkative, the other short, stocky, quiet and shy. They were different as night and day. Yet both men possessed a certain quality, a quiet confidence, which identified them as members of the Ranger corps.
    Luke Garrett, on the other hand, had the brazen swagger of a criminal. He was nothing like the Texas Rangers of her acquaintance.
    Sister Gonzaga must not have known any Texas Rangers, because apparently she bought into his story. Nodding, she said, “I will pray for you both.”
    “Thank you.” To Mari, Luke said, “Do you intend to stand all the way to San Antonio?”
    Mari didn’t really want to sit behind the nuns for the next three hundred miles. A quick scan of the car for an available seat told her she didn’t have much choice. By now, undoubtedly, the seats in the other cars had been filled. She smiled wanly and sat beside her bodyguard on the hard wooden seat.
    Luke put his hat back on, tucked his chin against his chest and promptly fell asleep. Without an excuse or apology, he just closed his eyes and started to snore.
    Mari marveled at his ease. The man had just lied to a nun—not just any nun, but the nun—then drifted off to sleep like an innocent. Even in the worst of her Menace days, she’d never worn guilt so easily. It was something she’d do well to remember as she traveled with Luke Garrett.
    Mari shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. She took one deep breath, then two, and willed herself to relax. She was on the train, on the way to San Antonio. On the way to find her sister. She could do nothing more about anything until they arrived at their destination. In the meantime, she should follow Garrett’s example and rest and conserve her resources.
    Weariness tugged at her bones, the result of overtaxed emotions and very little sleep. Though the letter had arrived in yesterday’s post, she hadn’t opened it until half past eleven. After absorbing the shock, pondering the possibilities, she’d awakened Emma and they’d discussed possible courses of action until the wee hours of the morning. Even after she’d climbed into bed and switched off the lamp, sleep remained elusive as her blood hummed with excitement. She’d dozed until dawn, then watched the sun rise with a heart overflowing with hope.
    Mari turned her face toward the warm, though welcome, breeze streaming through the open windows and smiled. She shut her eyes and relaxed