A Time For Love: (A Time Travel Romance) (Dodge City Brides Book 3)

by Julianne MacLean

  “Touch her, and you’re a dead man,” Truman ground out.

  Jessica felt the heat of his fury in the pit of her stomach and was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of it. She took one look at Corey and guessed he felt the same way. He cleared his throat nervously, and then continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

  “If one of you was in pain,” he continued, “maybe the other might think more carefully about givin’ us what we want. Love is funny like that, ain’t it?”

  Jessica touched Truman’s shoulder. “Maybe we should give it to him.”

  He shook his head. “No, because he won’t let us live anyway. If we’re going to die, we’ll die together—right here.”

  Jessica’s hand dropped, certain that her contribution to the discussion had moved things along. It was a good thing, too, because she sure as hell was tired of wasting time, and she wanted to beat this ass to a pulp.

  Truman looped one thumb through his gun belt. “Even if we did agree to give it to you, do you think we’d be fool enough to keep it on us?”

  Corey smiled, his mouth curving in a manner that made Jessica wonder if he knew anything of human kindness. “No,” he said, sardonically. “I’ve never taken you for a fool, Wade. You either, Junebug. That’s why I came down here. I figured it’s time I cashed in on some of those smarts of yours.”

  Chapter 21

  Corey paced back and forth, pondering what to do. “I figure,” he said, “if two people have a common enemy, that just about makes them partners, don’t you think?”

  Truman leaned at his ease against a post. “Tell me more.”

  Smoke spiraled upward as Corey took a deep drag off his cigar. “Bart’s been vexing me lately. He’s been gettin’ too big for his britches, acting like he should be the new leader of this outfit.”

  Jessica noticed Truman’s patience wearing thin; he was tapping his thumb on his empty leather holster.

  “So what do you plan on doing about it?” he asked.

  “Them boys left me here while they went into Dodge for some ladies. But the way I see it, when they come back, you and me will have developed a proper friendship, and you’ll be takin’ me to where you hid that little piece of paper.”

  Jessica felt a spark of adrenalin. Their plan was working, progressing as it should, yet what they possessed was only a small shred of the information they needed to save themselves.

  “If you don’t consider me your friend,” Corey continued, “I won’t take too kindly to that. I might just shoot you right here. The lady’ll be more obliging, I’m sure, when she sees how ugly a man can be when blood’s drippin’ down his face.”

  Truman looked down and kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot. “I think we can work something out.”

  “Good. Now, the bank’ll be open soon, so why don’t you tell me where you hid that combination?”

  Jessica sucked in a quick breath as everything began to make sense. Lou must have had the bank safe combination in his possession when he was shot.

  She slid a glance at Truman, wondering what he was going to do next, when all of a sudden, he grabbed her by the elbow and roughly pulled her closer.

  “You’re gonna have to ask the lady,” he said. “She hasn’t told me yet, and I’ve been romancing her night and day. Maybe you can kiss better than I can.”

  Jessica gasped in horror, struggling. “Truman!”

  His fingers bit into her flesh.

  Corey smiled and took a step forward. “A kiss sounds good.”

  Light from the lantern swept across his stubbly face, deepening the shadows under his craggy features. Jessica could smell him now—the stale odor of his filthy body, the fetid stink of his breath. She shrank back in disgust.

  Corey puckered and stepped forward. “No!” she screamed, struggling and hoping that Truman would not let it happen. She wanted to follow his lead, but she was also certain that at any moment, she was going to fight this.

  All at once, Truman let go of her, punched Corey in the face and kicked him off his feet. He fell against the stone wall, hit his head, and collapsed to the ground with a tremendous thud.

  Dropping to his knees, Truman seized his gun and checked it for bullets. He clicked it shut, grabbed Jessica’s hand, and without another word led the way up the stairs.

  “You were going to let him kiss me!” she pointed out, none too pleased about it either.

  “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, you were! He was only inches away!”

  Truman stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around at the small, deserted house. “Just be glad, love, that he was so slow on the draw.”

  They ran outside to the barn. Finding Thunder still saddled from the night before, they mounted together and galloped up the road toward town.

  Three hours later

  Eating breakfast with Angus did little to calm Jessica’s fears. Consuming an entire pot of coffee didn’t help matters either. Her mind became a stampede of disoriented worst case scenarios, while she explained everything to Angus and waited for Truman to return. He had ridden off to fetch Dempsey and arrest the gang, who had spent the night at Rosalie’s whorehouse.

  She’d have to get used to worrying, she supposed, as she rolled up her sleeves to wash the dishes. It wasn’t easy loving a lawman—in this century or any other.

  She pressed down on the pump handle and rinsed the plates with the cold water that gushed out and splashed onto her shirt.

  While she stared at the sparkling drops, an agonizing question nagged in her brain. She and Truman were from different worlds, and she still hadn’t told him where she came from. When he learned the truth, would he even believe her? Would he think she was insane or lying to him again for some reason?

  If she did end up staying here, she certainly wasn’t going to stay home and embroider all day. She’d want to start up a business, and maybe a running club. Or she could become an inventor and strike it rich with everything she knew about industry and technology. At the very least, she would open a pizza shop with delivery. She really missed pizza—with extra cheese and pepperoni and bacon and hamburger.

  Once she laid the dishes out on the counter to dry, she went into the parlor to see Angus. He was reading by the window with a silver pistol resting on the cushion beside him. Jessica stared numbly at the weapon. When had she become so indifferent to guns and bullets, and even death? Did life mean so little here?

  They both looked up when they heard hoof beats approaching. Angus reached for the pistol while Jessica pushed the white lace curtain aside with one finger, but relaxed when she discovered their unexpected guest was Deputy Dempsey.

  Please, let Truman be safe.

  She watched Dempsey hop off the horse, tie the reins to the front railing, and dig into a saddlebag. She stayed indoors while Angus walked onto the covered porch.

  “Deputy Dempsey, I hope things are well?”

  Dempsey removed his hat and climbed the steps. “Couldn’t be better. The gang’s behind bars, and we’ve notified the bank about the stolen combination to the safe. We’ll be following up on that in the next few days.”

  Jessica, hearing the good news, exhaled a long-held breath. She walked out to the porch. “Is Truman all right?”

  “He’s fine. Looking pretty black and blue, though. The doctor’s checking him over now. I brought this for you.” Dempsey held out her satchel. “It was in the Russells’ barn.”

  Jessica reached out and took it from him. She looked inside to find her red shoes still tucked beneath her gowns.

  “I just thought I’d come out here and let you know,” he added. “Sheriff Wade said he was gonna do everything in his power to make sure the people of Dodge learn to forget those rumors about Junebug Jess. He said he knows there ain’t no such person, and he wants you to feel that you can stay in town if you want to.” He ti
pped his hat. “Well, I better be getting on my way.” Turning, he stomped down the steps, mounted his horse, and galloped away.

  Jessica stared after him.

  Angus laid a hand on her shoulder. “Looks like somebody wants you to stay in this century.”

  Strangely, however—despite everything Jessica had gone through with Truman, and no matter how desperately she longed to be with him—something deep inside her told her that this was not where she belonged.

  The heels of Jessica’s shoes clicked along the dry, boarded sidewalk while a familiar cow-scented breeze blew into her face and whipped up a torrent of light dust in the street. It whirled in a circle, and then settled down just as a horse-drawn wagon rolled by and stirred it into a pirouette again.

  When she reached Zimmerman’s Hardware Store, Jessica looked through the window, wondering if the storeowner had sold her necklace yet. Not that it mattered. Liam was long forgotten. Their relationship had been as fake as its stone. She was better off without the necklace, so she started down the boardwalk again.

  She stopped a second time, however, when another thought struck her. That necklace was a piece of the future. Something told her she should have it. She turned back toward Zimmerman’s and nearly collided with a dog who must have been following her.

  There, gazing up at her with big brown eyes and an eager panting smile, was a white Jack Russell terrier very similar to George, her dog back home.

  A pain squeezed her heart as she remembered how George used to sit on the floor between her legs to wait for supper while she would stand with her feet braced apart, opening a can of something. God, she missed him. She hoped her parents were taking good care of him.

  She knelt down and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Hi there, cutie. Where did you come from? You look just like my dog back home.”

  “Hello.” Those familiar black boots stepped into her range of vision.

  Jessica immediately stood. She hadn’t seen Truman since they parted after escaping the gang’s hideout, and for some reason, there was a strange awkwardness between them now. “Hi.”

  Just then, the dog nudged his nose under her skirts and sat down between her feet.

  “This a friend of yours?” Truman asked, looking down.

  Jessica laughed. “No, I’ve never seen him before, but this is exactly what my dog does.” She lifted her skirts to let him out from under her petticoat and knelt down again to pat his head. “Does he belong to anyone?”

  “Yeah, the Peterson’s. His name is Leo.”

  Jessica continued to ruffle Leo’s ears while he licked her chin. “Too bad, because I would have loved to take him home with me.”

  A young boy called out from across the street. “Leo! Come on! We gotta go!”

  Leo looked at Jessica and hesitated.

  “Go on,” she said, waving a hand as she rose to her feet. “He’s calling you.”

  Only then did the dog dash off toward the Peterson boy.

  For a long moment, she watched them run together down the boardwalk and felt a deep ache of longing in her chest.

  “Care for some company?” Truman asked. “I’d like to walk you home.”

  “That would be nice,” she replied, “but I need to go into Zimmerman’s. Will you come in? I’ll just be a minute.”

  “Sure.” He opened the door for her, and the bells jingled.

  Jessica walked in and approached the clerk at the counter while Truman waited at the window, watching the street.

  “Can I help you?” the clerk asked.

  “Yes. Do you still have that necklace I sold you?”

  “The diamond? Yes, just a minute.” He went out back, and returned after a few seconds. “Here it is.”

  She admired the large sparkling stone, which dangled from his fingers like a pendulum.

  “I was thinking of making it into a ring,” the clerk mentioned.

  Jessica cleared her throat. “How much are you asking for it right now as a necklace?”

  “Forty dollars.”

  “But it’s not a real diamond.”

  “Looks real to me.”

  She dug into her purse, counting what she had. “Would you take thirty-eight?”

  “It’s forty dollars.”

  “I see.” She paused a moment, thinking about the irony of it—that Liam probably hadn’t paid much more than that for it back in the twenty-first century.

  The merchant seemed to be waiting for her to agree to the price, but unfortunately, she didn’t have enough money with her. The rest of her reward was at Angus’s house. “Could you hold it for me? I’d like it just as it is.”

  “I suppose I could do that. Only a couple of days, though.”

  “Thank you.” She moved toward Truman who was watching her with curious eyes.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  He opened the door, nodded a thank you to the clerk, and escorted her out. As they stepped onto the boardwalk, a voice called out from a few doors down. “Hey, Junebug!”

  Truman and Jessica stopped and turned.

  “I’d watch out for that sheriff if I were you!” It was Virgil Norton and his gang of rowdies. “He ain’t gentle like I am!” They roared with laughter from a bench outside the Long Branch Saloon.

  “That man,” she said, irritably, “lacks refinement.”

  “Just ignore him,” Truman drawled. “He’s drunk, and he’s more gurgle than guts.” He placed a protective hand on her arm and guided her away. The other hand rested on his gun.

  She and Truman walked past the storefronts and saloons until they came to the end of the boardwalk and stepped into the dusty street.

  “Careful,” Truman cautioned, as he guided her around fresh evidence that this was a cow town.

  “Thank you.” She had become quite adept at spotting these things, but today, her mind was elsewhere. It was time, she knew, to tell Truman the truth about where she came from. If she ever expected to feel genuinely close to him, to end this persistent awkwardness, there could be no more secrets. He needed to understand why she talked the way she did, and why she had very modern ideas about feminist issues.

  Truman’s spurs chinked as four chickens ran past them. “Must be a fire in the coop,” he commented.

  When they reached Angus’s house, they stopped at the front gate. “Would you take a walk with me out onto the prairie tomorrow?” she asked, feeling nervous about the whole thing. “I think it’s time we spent some time together and had a talk—about that secret of mine.”

  Truman eyed her speculatively. “I was wondering when you’d ask. I figured you’d be ready to tell me, eventually.”

  Jessica looked down at her feet.

  “I’ll come by around noon,” he said.

  He left her there at the gate, and she wondered uneasily if this would turn out to be a mistake. Maybe she would be wiser to keep her extraordinary secret to herself and just try to fit in.

  But no. She couldn’t live like that.

  She had to tell him.

  The following day, Jessica stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, gliding a brush down the length of her hair, wondering how Truman was going to react when she told him where she came from.

  What would he think about microwave ovens, movies, and space travel. Would he even believe it? And what if she were able to find a way home? If she could take him with her, would he come?

  She was imagining all that when the sound of hoof beats approached the house. A moment later, a knock sounded at the front door.

  “Jessica!” Angus called up the stairs. “Sheriff Wade is here to see you!”

  A thrill moved through her. Taking one last look in the mirror, she quickly twisted her hair up into a knot on top of her head, pinned it and tucked the stray locks in as best she could. She smoothed out he
r dress, picked up her purse, and headed downstairs.

  When she reached the parlor and her gaze fell upon Truman standing in front of the fireplace, she could go no further. Their eyes met and locked, and her heart turned over in her chest.

  Before she entered the room, Angus donned his hat and told them he was heading into town to run a few errands, but Jessica knew he was simply giving them some time to be alone.

  “Good morning,” Truman said after the door swung shut behind Angus.

  “Good morning.” She strode into the room. “Do you want to sit down?”

  Truman hesitated. He turned his hat over in his hands. His voice was heavy with what sounded like an apology, and Jessica felt a sudden twinge of discomfort.

  “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call,” he told her.

  “But I thought we were going to spend the day together.”

  He shook his head. “Not today.”

  Her stomach began to churn with a sinking dread. “Why not?”

  “Because Virgil Norton was murdered last night.”

  “What!” Jessica exclaimed, her heart suddenly racing. They had seen Virgil only yesterday. “How? What happened?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know. I came to ask you where you were last night. Some time after eleven.”

  Her mind refused to register what he was implying. “You can’t possibly think....”

  “I don’t think anything,” he replied. “Just answer me.”

  She sat down. “I was here, sleeping. You don’t seriously think I did it.”

  “Did you?” he asked.

  “Of course not!”

  He looked down at his boots, as if he didn’t know what to believe. “I had to ask,” he said coolly. “I’m the sheriff, and it’s my job.”

  Jessica could feel her mood veering sharply to anger. “I thought you knew me better than that by now.”

  He gave no reply, and she noticed the muscle at his jaw was twitching. “I’m sorry, Jessica,” he said, “but you’re going to have to come with me.”

  She scoffed in disbelief. “What are you saying?”