The Teacher's Star

uh, I’m not sure…”
He shot her a teasing grin. “A little nervous, Mrs. Anderson?”
Head held high, Delia brought the skirt of her brown dress up between her legs and stepped onto the block before swinging a leg over the mare’s back. Her husband ran a hand over the mare’s side and then she felt the warmth of it on her calf. Her eyes swung to his. Admiration made his brown eyes a warm cocoa tone. The man certainly put on a good act for Paps.
Now, as the late January darkness intensified the cold, she hung on to the pommel as she bounced along on the mare’s back, struggling to keep her feet in the stirrups when she desperately wanted to grip the horse’s barrel with her legs. Amazingly, her husband looked back occasionally to check on her progress. He hadn’t struck her as a caring man. Maybe she’d misjudged him.
Like she’d mistakenly been convinced he was a criminal. A marshal! That fact had yet to completely sink into her mind.
With the warrant for Jubal Yarborough now in hand, what would Rol do? She supposed it didn’t really concern her. She planned to get rid of her badge that night when she could retrieve it from her petticoats. She’d give it to Rol and be finished with her stint as a secret marshal.
Another worry gnawed at her. Why had Rol chosen a black and white horse for her? Did he know about her parentage? Was he hinting that he did?
He’d said its colors were perfect for her. Did she dare ask him? Could she hint around the topic without mentioning her mixed blood?
The question of an annulment came back to her. Did he think they’d get an annulment because she had colored ancestry?
No chance to speak with him presented itself as they rode on in the gathering darkness. He stayed ahead of her, his shoulders stiff as if searching for danger. For herself, she had all she could handle staying on the horse. Determination kept her in the saddle. Thank the Lord the horse seemed willing enough to follow Rol’s big bay stallion.
After what seemed like hours to her as an unskilled rider--but probably had not even been thirty minutes--lights appeared on the horizon. Her husband’s shoulders relaxed ahead of her. Her husband! What could she have done to stop that from happening?
The sad truth was Rol Anders embodied qualities that she’d secretly dreamed of in her perfect man. Tall, handsome, not afraid to face danger, and a loving father. That made being married to him so much worse. She had the husband she’d always wanted, yet it wasn’t a real marriage. And never would be real.
She sighed and startled at a laugh near her. Rol had stopped his horse, allowing her to catch up with him. Delia had been lost in her thoughts and hadn’t noticed that.
“Ride that tough on you?” His tone was almost teasing. He’d never been friendly toward her, except as part of this farce he’d created.
Not wanting to explain her sigh, she simply nodded. “It’s not something I do often.”
He chuckled. “I’d warrant it’s not something you’ve even done before. That is, if the way you clung to that pommel was anything to go by.”
Her lips tightened and she said nothing. Why answer him when she knew he was only teasing and not trying to start an argument?
Breaking the suddenly heavy silence, he pointed toward the buildings ahead of them. “I’m taking you to the shed where I keep my horses rather than the house.” Evidently he could make out her questioning frown in the twilight since he explained, “Eenie will be there. I want you with me when I explain about the marriage.”
Her small nod must have satisfied him. It was difficult to make out much of his expression in the increasing blackness. However, he said nothing more, only turning away to head into the ranch.
Rather than going to what she recognized as the barn, he headed toward a large shed behind it. Her horse and his seemed eager to be inside for the night as their pace increased. The bay nickered and a call from the shed answered him. This brought a nicker from her horse, as well.
Not her horse. Merely, the horse she rode. None of this would be a part of her life for long, she reminded herself.
Rol dreaded the next few minutes. Eenie made clear her dislike for Miss Perkins in a dozen different ways over the last three months. Now, he would have to explain that he’d married the woman. And just how did he tell the girl that they weren’t keeping his wife for long?
Eenie suddenly appeared in the doorway of the shed. Probably the nicker of his horse had caught her attention, he guessed. Faint lantern light seeped out the door, alerting the girl to the presence of another rider coming with him. As he neared he saw her neck crane to see around him.
Dismounting quickly, he moved to help Delia from the mare. As Rol turned back with reins in hand, he glimpsed Eenie’s curiosity turn to recognition and shock.
Without speaking, her father led the horses into the shed and removed the saddle from first the bay and then the paint. He didn’t know how to begin the conversation and it seemed Delia was determined to leave the telling up to him.
When neither he nor Delia spoke, Eenie’s question burst out in a sudden shower. “Why is Miss Perkins here? How long’s she staying and where’s she sleepin’? We only got the two beds, Pa.” Suspicion turned to a child’s form of skepticism as she finished speaking with a toss of her wild brown hair. Hair that clearly hadn’t been brushed that day.
Looking at her brave, lawman husband, Delia could clearly see his face blush in the lantern light. The man