Clara let out a deep breath. “They locked Mr. Wiley and Mr. Benton in that room.” She pointed inside the stable.
Roman placed Jones’s pistol in the holster he wore and pulled a key from his pocket. “Why don’t you let them out, and then we can take these two up to the marshal.”
Clara took the key from him. “There’s a woman at their camp.”
“Miss Porter,” Roman said. “I can’t believe she stood by Hoskins.”
“I think she was helping. Perhaps they’re in love,” Clara said. Her words sat between them, heavy, and she almost wished she could take them back. But Roman didn’t look away. Not entirely sure what to think of that, Clara made her way inside the livery and let the other men out of the locked room. She happily handed Mr. Benton back his shotgun when he emerged. She’d be grateful to never need to handle one again, although, she decided, it might not be such a bad idea to learn how to actually use it. Perhaps it was something Roman could teach her.
She squeezed her eyes closed as the men managed to awaken Hoskins after tying his hands. Here she was, assuming Roman had seen how helpful she could be and had changed his mind about her.
And assuming her heart could trust him again after he’d summarily decided to send her away.
She stood quietly aside as they rounded up the escaped horses, none of which had gone very far, and then helped return each horse to its stall. She was rubbing the nose of one particularly pretty white horse when Mr. Wiley and Mr. Benton offered to take the thieves to the marshal.
“It’s best if I talk to Wright, since I know these two,” Roman said. “Besides, I need to let him know they’ve got Miss Porter as an accomplice back at their camp.”
“Mrs. Hoskins,” Hoskins, who was apparently her husband, spat at Roman. “We’re married.”
“Congratulations,” Roman said, his voice flat. “I doubt you’ll spend much time together in prison.”
Hoskins looked as if he was ready to say more, but Mr. Wiley cut him off.
“You can talk to Wright later. We’ll let him know about the woman. Besides,” Mr. Wiley said with a glance at Clara. “I think you’re needed here.”
Roman frowned and Clara looked away, her heart sinking. She’d proven nothing at all.
He still wanted nothing to do with her.
Chapter Twenty-five
ROMAN WATCHED BENTONand Jeremiah leave with Hoskins and Jones in tow. He had a million things to say to the men who’d stolen his horses, but none were more important than what he needed to tell Clara.
When he could finally see them no longer, he shut the door at the front of the stable and turned.
Clara had gone one by one down the stalls, soothing the horses by talking gently to each one and petting them on the neck and the nose. She stood in front of Granger’s stallion now, saying something in her sweet voice that Roman couldn’t hear.
