Dancing with the Devil

Chapter Fifteen

Audrey stiffened. "I'll have you know I can keep up just fine and I won't be spoken to as if I'm some helpless wallflower. I own my own horse ranch and am very active in running it and I work in the fields, hunt and do everything a husband would normally do." 

"Well bravo to you. Let's give the woman a damned cookie," Ance muttered. "And if you can do everything I can do just as good as I can do it then stop asking for special treatment." 

Audrey clenched her fists and glared up at him as they walked and Penelope stared back and forth between them with wide eyes. "You are one angry piece of work, aren't you? I wanted to dine with you and thank you for taking such good care of my daughter  and saving her from that man but now just thinking about thanking you for anything makes my stomach churn!"

"Well that's a damned relief because I don't want your thanks. If you had kept a better eye on the girl then maybe that man wouldn't have got his hands on her to begin with." 

Audrey felt as if she'd been punched in the gut. All the air left her in a hurry and she stopped dead in her tracks and simply stared at him. Not a bit of guilt could be seen in his dark blue eyes as he stared right back. 

Penelope whimpered. "Stop fighting! It wasn't anybody's fault.... I don't like it when people fight...." 

Audrey attempted to compose her thoughts but Ance was the first to speak. "You're right," he admitted, his voice holding just a touch of softness that hadn't been there moments before. "Barnaby is the worst kind of man and it wasn't your mama's fault... I shouldn't have said that. Let's go get something to eat." 

And just like that Ance was walking away again. Audrey caught up more quickly this time and didn't say a word as they stepped up the café steps. Ance had gutted her with that harsh comment but it wasn't her fault that Penelope had been taken! 

It was Rodger York's fault but that man was currently dead--if any justice in the world existed--and Audrey would never let another bad thing happen to her daughter. 

***

Ance sat across from Audrey at the café table and couldn't seem to stop glaring at the woman. 

He didn't like her. 

It wasn't her fault, necessarily. Ance had an automatic dislike of most things female, but this dislike went deeper. 

Audrey was taking Penelope away from him and no matter how hard Ance tried, he simply couldn't find a single thing wrong with the woman! She seemed intelligent, witty at times, strong, independent, capable and it was clear that she loved her daughter. Not to mention she was beautiful! Sure she had lines around her eyes and dark freckles and her build was full and strong instead of slim and slender but there was something about her--something in the brightness of her smile and the strength in her eyes that Ance was attracted to.....

And that was yet one more reason to not like the woman! 

The meal was finished and Ance knew it was time to leave. His heart hurt at the knowledge that he would never again see Penelope. How could he live without that little girl?

If her mother had been an old hag who was hate-filled and evil and undeserving of Penelope, then it would have been easy for Ance to steal the girl away... but Audrey was none of those things and while Ance might not be what the world would call a good man, he also wouldn't want to cause anyone the pain he himself was feeling just now. 

Ance had spent his entire life keeping walls around himself and avoiding attachments. He had never lost anything he'd ever missed and he'd never dreaded a single goodbye he'd ever spoken but this time was different. 

As the trio left the café, Ance adjusted his hat, cleared his throat and looked down at the little girl who held his heart. "I gotta be going now Penelope...." 

"Going?" Penelope frowned. "Going where?" 

"Wherever the wind takes me," Ance replied tightly. He didn't look at Audrey but he could feel the woman's dark brown eyes on him.

"But... but mama and I are going to go home and we have a big house, don't we mama? Ance doesn't have a house, mama. Can't he come stay at our house?"  

Ance shook his head quickly, "No, I don't think your mama wants me coming to live at your house, Penny. I'm not cut out for staying put in one place." 

Penelope's eyes filled with tears as she stared up at him. "But I'll never see you again." 

Ance sighed, hardened his jaw and crouched down. "Not many good things have happened in my life, Penny, but I can certainly say you've been one of them. Now it's time for us to part ways and for you to go with your mama but I won't never forget you." 

"I won't forget you either," Penelope whispered as tears slipped from her eyes. Ance wiped one away with his thumb, cleared his own throat to remove the emotion clogging it and quickly stood straight. He adjusted his hat, tipped his head to Audrey, who also seemed to be fighting back emotion, and quickly turned his back and strode away, desperate not to look back at that little girl and see the sadness in her eyes. 

He ignored the mother and daughter arguing quietly behind him as he walked and Ance was nearly to the livery where his horse was stabled when he heard Penelope cry out his name. He turned just in time to see her limping her way across the road with tears in her eyes as she desperately reached for him. 

Ance felt his heart twist at the sight of the broken hearted girl but then it dropped when he saw the wagon turn onto the main street. The horses were at a full gallop, dust was flying from beneath the bouncing wheels and the massive hunk of wood and horseflesh was all barreling toward his Penelope. 

Audrey's voice cried out and Ance saw her move but knew she'd never reach the girl in time. Throwing caution to the wind, he dashed forward, scooped Penelope up and made a dive for the other side of the road, barely avoiding the crashing hooves as the wind from the carriage blew against him. 

Audrey met him at the side of the road and, after ensuring Penelope was unharmed, scolded the sobbing girl gently for rushing out into a road. Ance glared down at Penny. "You should have known better than to do something so foolhardy!" he warned. 

"I don't want you to leave!" Penelope cried out, tears streaking her freckles cheeks. 

Ance sighed and sat her on her feet. He didn't say another word as he strode toward the wagon driver who had got his horses to come to stop and was watching them with worried eyes. 

"Is she okay?" the young man asked shakily. 

Ance laid his hand over the revolver on his hip. "A hell of a lot more okay than you're going to be. What the hell were you thinking when you came barreling down the road that way?" 

"I'm sorry, mister!" the man exclaimed. "I have a man in the back of the wagon who's real sick and I was trying to get him to the medicine man in town." 

"You could have killed my girl," Ance growled, taking another slow step forward. 

"I'm sorry," the man repeated, his hands shaking as they held the reins tightly. "But this man was burned real bad and I was taking care of him but then a fever hit and I gotta get him some help or he's gonna die...." 

Ance was aware of Audrey coming to stand beside him with Penelope's hand firmly in hers. He glanced at the woman and saw that she had paled considerably and her brown eyes were wide as she covered her mouth with her free hand and shook her head. 

"What's his name?" she whispered. 

"Who?" Ance grumbled. 

"The man--" Audrey addressed the young man on the wagon. "Do you know the man's name you have in the back?" 

"York," the young man replied. "U.S. Marshall Rodger York."  

A/N: Dun dun dun! Of course he isn't dead.... that would have simply been TOO easy!