Chapter 4

Marks fell asleep on the well-worn sofa not long after he had finished eating, but Nick stayed awake. He helped Nancy clean up the dishes he and Marks had used, and they began talking quietly. Nick did not want to wake Marks up. This was the only peaceful part of this day, and he wanted to savor it, to talk with someone who would actually be quiet now and then.

After they did the dishes, Nick and Nancy sat back down at the table. Nick watched Marks for a moment, saw his lips moving. "It's like watching a little kid," Nick said. "Still moving, still talking even though he's asleep."

"What is his crime? Why are you taking him to Placerville?" Nancy asked.

"He's wanted for robbing a mercantile and shooting the shopkeeper. Didn't kill him – I don't think Marks could kill anybody except maybe talk them to death."

"Do you think he might be innocent?"

"He might be," Nick admitted. "But that's not for me to say. I'm just supposed to deliver him."

"Do you do this often?"

"No, hardly ever. But the Stockton deputy was laid up, and the sheriff called in a favor, so, here I am."

Nancy smiled. "You may have to turn back in the morning. If we get a foot of snow here, you can bet there's two feet before you get to Placerville."

"We'll have to make that call in the morning. Right now, I'm just enjoying – " He nearly said being with you, but he hesitated at the last moment. He was almost embarrassed to say it.

"Enjoying what?" Nancy asked.

Nick sighed. "It's so nice and peaceful here. Marks is not a peaceful fella. He talked my ear off all day. I'll be really happy to deliver him to Placerville, and I hope I can do it tomorrow."

"Then it's back to Stockton?"

Nick nodded. "Got a ranch to run. My brother and the foreman can do it just fine, but I like to tell myself they really can't get along without me."

Nancy laughed again. She had a lovely laugh, like a small stream running fast over rocks.

Nick, get a hold of yourself. Yes, she's lovely, but this is one night, and you're not alone. And she lives a day away from you.

But maybe she's the type of woman you ought to be looking for. Maybe the loveliness you want is really down deep, not on the surface.

"Do you have a big family?" Nancy asked.

"My mother, three brothers and a sister," Nick said. "We're marrying off my sister to my best friend in June. My youngest brother lives back east – we'll probably be marrying him off any second, too. My older brother is the lawyer in San Francisco. He's a widower but he'll probably be getting remarried before too long himself. My younger brother Heath and I run the ranch."

"No marriage in sight for either of you?" There was a twinkle in her eye when she asked the question.

Nick understood why. "No, I guess we're just too busy running the ranch." He chuckled. "Sorry, I've got marriage on the mind lately. I didn't mean to be that embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing," Nancy said. "Sounds like your family is undergoing a lot of changes. And here you are escorting a prisoner out in the snow – not exactly what you wanted to be doing right now, is it?"

"Do you always read people's minds so soon after you meet them?" Nick asked with a smile. He didn't intend it to be snarky.

"No," Nancy laughed. "But I don't normally spend this much time alone with someone I just met."

"Is there a man in your life?" Nick asked before he even realized he was asking it. Then he quickly said, "I'm sorry. That was way too nosy of me. It's just the way the conversation was going – "

"No," Nancy said. "No, it isn't too nosy and no, there isn't a man in my life, other than my father. He needs a lot of care when he's home. I've actually been enjoying a bit of a respite while he's in the hospital, but I'm hoping he'll be home soon."

"A lovely woman like you should have more of a life than that."

"I will have, someday. I'm a patient person."

Nick chuckled. "That's one of my failings. I have all the patience of a mustang with a saddle on its back for the first time."

"Well, patience is an art. You have to learn how to do it."

"Oh? How did you learn?"

"Taking care of my father. Taking care of this place. Being alone a lot. None of that time is wasted to me. I've made good use of it."

Nick shook his head. "You are one of the most remarkable women I've ever met."

Marks suddenly started talking in his sleep, mumbling words and sentences that did not even seem to go together.

Nick raised an eyebrow at Nancy. "Amazing, isn't it? Here you are, quiet and peaceful, and there's your complete opposite, talking his head off even when he's asleep."

Nancy smiled and got up. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to try to make you comfortable on the floor in front of the fire, since your prisoner there has taken up the sofa. Let me get you some blankets and a pillow."

She went into one of the bedrooms and soon came out with a pillow, blankets and a towel.

"You can wash up in the kitchen sink when you're ready," Nancy said and put the linens in his arms. "Good night."

"Good night, and thanks again for putting us up," Nick said as Nancy went back into the bedroom.

She smiled before she went through the door and closed it.

Nick heaved a sigh and looked at Marks on the sofa. He tossed the bedding on the floor in front of the fire and said quietly to his sleeping prisoner, "Start talking again and wake me up just once, and you'll be on the floor and me on the sofa."

XXXXXXX

Morning came with the sun shining brightly through the front window. Nick had slept soundly, so if Marks started talking during the night, he didn't hear it. Nick put his boots on and made his way out the back door to the outhouse. The snow was not deep, not even one foot. When he came back in, he washed his face at the kitchen sink, and by then, Marks was stirring.

"Gotta go," was the first thing he said.

Marks had slept with even his boots on, so he got up fast and headed for the door. Nick went out with him, just to be sure he didn't take off. Marks was oddly silent even after they came back in and Nick tossed him the towel, telling him to wash up.

Nancy came in from the bedroom as Marks finished at the sink, and she said, "It will take me a while to get some eggs from the hen house, but I can make breakfast for you if you like."

"I think we'd better get going," Nick said. "There's not much more snow out there, and I think we can make Placerville tonight if we leave now."

"I hope you slept all right," Nancy said.

"I slept like a baby, like a baby in his cradle," Marks took off and kept right on babbling about how well he slept.

"Stop," Nick said and held his hand up, and Marks stopped. "We should saddle up and go. Thank you again for being such a wonderful hostess."

"My pleasure," Nancy said. "If it turns out you have to turn back, I'll be here til the day after tomorrow."

Nick put his winter coat on, saying, "I'll remember that. Good-bye."

Then he ushered Marks out the door and to the barn. Marks's mouth immediately took off.

"That was one fine place to spend the night, Deputy. Boy, that supper was just as fine as I've ever had, and even that sofa was more comfortable than any bed I can remember. Makes me wish we did have to turn back before we got to Placerville. And I want to ask you something – do you think your brother the lawyer might take my case? I didn't rob that store and I didn't shoot that storekeeper, and I can prove I wasn't in Placerville…."

Marks kept on talking the whole time they saddled up and even as they started out of the barn, but Nick was not paying any attention to him. Until he took his last look at Nancy Tyler's house, he didn't hear a word Marks said, thinking instead about the sweet, quiet evening he'd spent with that lovely woman. Lovely. That was the word that fit her. Nick realized that the only word he ever used for women he was attracted to before was "beautiful," but Nancy was lovely. He liked that word a lot better.

But then they were on the road again, and Marks was still talking. "I suspect the snow won't be deep enough to make us turn back. That's too bad, don't you think? It would be worth hauling all the way back to Stockton just for some more of that apple pie. Wonder if they got good apple pie at the café in Placerville? I guess that's where my food will come from. They got a little place right across from the jail ="

Nick stopped and turned around. "Marks, shut up and shut up now, or I swear, I will gag you and keep you gagged all the way to Placerville."

Marks shut up, but within twenty minutes or so, he was at it again. Nick just sighed and let the space between him and the man lengthen again as they moved on up the road to Placerville – and he let his mind drift back to the night before that was worth every word Marks was saying.