McKettrick's Choice by Linda Lael Miller Page A

climbing up to take the reins.
    â€œCheer up,” Lorelei said. “This is a new beginning.”
    Five minutes later, the rain began.
    Â 
    M ELINA STARED mutely at the gallows, a raw wood structure, half-finished, shimmering in the heavy rain. Shewas soaked to the skin, as was Holt himself, and the Captain, but she seemed oblivious to everything but the mechanism where Gabe was slated to hang.
    She’d ridden behind Holt all the way down from Waco and refused to stop at the Cavanagh place to rest, put on dry clothes and wait for the rain to let up. Watching her now, Holt wished he’d taken her there anyway.
    She shivered in the downpour, hair dangling in wet strands down the sides of her face, looking bedraggled and small in Holt’s coat.
    Still mounted, the Captain lifted the collar of his canvas duster. “Warm as bathwater,” he said of the rain, his voice pitched low. “Just the same, we’d best get that woman someplace dry.”
    Holt swung a leg over the Appaloosa’s neck and jumped to the ground. He said her name quietly, reached out to lay a hand on her slight shoulder.
    She shrugged him off. “I want to see Gabe,” she said. “Right now.”
    â€œThere he is,” the Captain said. “That window, yonder.”
    Both Holt and Melina looked up. Sure enough, Gabe was gazing down at them, his face like chiseled stone, his hands grasping the bars.
    Melina took a step toward him, staggered a little.
    Reaching out, Holt caught hold of her arm.
    â€œWhere is the way in?” Melina wanted to know.
    â€œTomorrow,” Holt reasoned.
    She shook her head, and water flew from the thick tendrils of hair. “Now,” she said, laying both hands on her belly.
    â€œMight as well show her inside,” the Captain said. “If you don’t, we’ll be at this all day.”
    The old man was right. Melina was already prowlingback and forth like a caged cat, and she looked as though she’d climb the drain pipe if that was what she had to do to get to Gabe.
    Holt took her arm, and this time he didn’t let her pull away. Gabe stared down from his cell, looking as if he might chew his way past those bars and jump two stories to the ground. “This way,” Holt said.
    â€œI’ll tend to the horses and then join you,” the Captain said, leaning from the saddle to catch hold of the Appaloosa’s reins. “After that, I’d accept a drink if you’re offering one.”
    Holt merely nodded.
    The Captain set out on his errand, and Holt squired Melina into the courthouse and up the stairs to the jail.
    â€œNo women allowed,” announced old Roy, sitting in a corner next to the window, watching the rain and whittling.
    Holt ignored him. Took the keys down off the hook next to the inside door.
    â€œWait just a minute,” Roy protested. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”
    â€œI heard,” Holt replied, working the lock and then putting the keys back in their place. “I just don’t give a damn.”
    Melina streaked through the opening, and Holt followed.
    â€œI could send for the marshal!” Roy called after them.
    â€œHe’s just downstairs, testifying in Judge Fellows’s courtroom.”
    â€œYou do that,” Holt replied, quickening his pace to catch up with Melina.
    She strode past the other cells as if she knew exactly where Gabe was—and maybe she did.
    Gabe was waiting at the front of his cell. “I toldyou I wanted her to stay in Waco!” he hissed, glaring at Holt.
    â€œMaybe you should have told her, ” Holt retorted.
    â€œWhy didn’t you send word, Gabe?” Melina asked, getting as close to the bars as she could with that stomach of hers. Holt could still feel it pressing against his back, during the long ride from Waco. “I did send word,” Gabe answered. His voice was harsh, but his eyes consumed Melina, and he reached through the bars