My Outlaw by Linda Lael Miller

Author:Linda Lael Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-07-11T09:52:55+00:00

CHAPTER 11

"I'm not going," Darby announced, even as Keighly fiddled with his string tie the following Sunday morning. Simon was being sworn in as the new marshal, at a casual ceremony to be held in town, after church.

Keighly didn't even pause. "You are," she said. "You gave me your word last night and it's too late to back out now."

"Last night you were-we were-" Darby actually colored slightly. "I agreed under duress," he finished.

"Nevertheless," Keighly responded cheerfully, "you promised." She brushed his shoulders, powerful and taut under the spotless cloth of his best coat.

Darby was frowning as he escorted Keighly outside. Even after he'd helped her into the buggy one of the men had hitched up at her request and climbed into the seat to take the reins, he didn't say anything.

Keighly couldn't bear the silence. "Your refusing to attend the ceremony won't make Simon change his mind about being marshal," she said, as they headed along the rutted, twisting track that would take them to Will and Betsey's place, four miles from their own. Angus would be the only member of the family not to be there, and he was

staying away only because he was still too ill to make the journey.

Darby gave Keighly a look of mock sternness and then grinned somewhat sheepishly. "I can't work out, Mrs. Elder, whether you are a good influence on me or a bad one."

"A good one," Keighly assured him confidently, smoothing her skirts and then slipping her arm through his. She'd been working hard on her sculpture for the past few days and had made no more terrifying shifts between centuries, and she was quite content, all things considered.

Darby's expression turned serious again as he gazed, unseeing, at the road. "Doesn't it worry you, Simon serving as marshal? He's all Etta Lee's got, and he's the firstborn. If anything happened to him, what do you suppose it would do to Angus?"

Keighly laid her head against Darby's shoulder for a moment, in an effort to lend some simple comfort. "I don't like the situation, either," she confessed. "But I can understand Simon wanting to do something he considers important. Besides, it isn't our business how he lives his life, is it? I doubt you'd welcome any such interference in yours, Darby Elder."

"He should consider Etta Lee and Angus," Darby insisted.

"Etta Lee would be devastated if Simon was hurt or killed; we all would. But she isn't alone in the world-she has you and me, and Will and Betsey, and her very devoted grandfather. And Simon can't live to please Angus any more than you ever could."

Darby rolled his eyes. "It's a wonder to me that there are so few female lawyers," he said, with fond irony. "God knows, nobody can frame an argument quite like a woman."

Keighly smiled, though any reference to the future always brought an ache to her heart. "I feel duty bound to tell you, Mr. Elder, that in the twentieth century, there will be a great many women practicing law.

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