Lassoing a Bride

by Gail L Jenner et al.

  “Like I told you, he has friends and family around here. They shelter him, keep him hid. With so many people on his side, he can disappear at a moment’s notice. It doesn’t hurt that when he does show up, he spreads his money around pretty freely.”

  “Stolen money,” Emily pointed out.

  “Sure,” Agatha said with a shrug, “but it’ll help feed a businessman’s family just the same as honest money, and not everybody has the same scruples you do, honey.”

  Emily supposed that was true, too, but it still annoyed her that a man like Clay Galloway could be considered almost a hero in some quarters. She had read stories about the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood, and she supposed some of the people in Buffalo Flats felt that way about Galloway.

  She never would, though.

  * * *

  When the time came the next morning to gather her things and head to the depot so she could return home, Emily found that she didn’t want to. Despite everything, she had enjoyed this trip so far, and she found her Aunt Agatha—or Aggie, as the older woman insisted on being called—to be a fascinating person. Aggie had plenty of entertaining stories, some of them rather bawdy, about being a buffalo hunter and running a saloon. Here in her normal surroundings, she was nothing like the aunt who had visited Pitchfork.

  Emily’s family wasn’t expecting her to return for at least a week, so there was no reason she couldn’t stay, whether Aggie really needed her help or not. When Emily brought up the idea, she responded, “Shoot, yeah, girl. I told you, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. Ever since I sold the saloon and retired, I’ve been gettin’ a mite bored around here. Having a visitor helps.”

  Several days passed pleasantly. Aggie was doing some canning and preserving, so Emily was able to help her with that. While they were working, they talked quite a bit about family. Her older brother Micajah was studying to be a lawyer, she told Aggie, who nodded approvingly.

  “That boy always struck me as somebody who’d make something of himself,” she said.

  Emily’s sister Hope and her younger brother Thad seemed to trying to outdo each other in seeing who could be wilder and more reckless, and living on a ranch gave them both plenty of opportunities to get into trouble.

  “I don’t understand it, either,” Emily said, “especially where Hope is concerned. I know she’s always been a tomboy, but she should be growing out of that by now.”

  “Some girls never do,” Aggie said. “They always want to be right there in the middle of things, ridin’ and ropin’ and shootin’ just like the boys. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Is that why you became a buffalo hunter?”

  “I hunted buffalo because there was good money in it. Oh, sure, it was hard, bloody, filthy work, but it paid well. And hell, your Uncle Harley was doing it, so...”

  Emily smiled. “So you did it to be around him, too.”

  “We’re not talkin’ about me,” Aggie said gruffly. “We were talkin’ about your family. I suppose your pa’s the same big ol’ bellerin’ bull he always was?”

  Emily smiled. That was how most people saw Grady Savage, all right, but Emily knew his truly kind nature. If anyone ever needed help, Grady Savage was usually the first to show up and provide it. He just didn’t want anybody making a big fuss about it.

  Later that night, as she was trying to doze off in Aggie’s spare bedroom, she thought more about her family and realized that she missed them. Maybe it was getting to be time to go home after all.

  The sound of something scratching at the window broke her out of that pleasant reverie. It was a tree branch, she told herself. Possibly a cat. She sat up in bed...

  Then gasped as a form swung itself in through the open window and a man’s voice drawled, “Howdy, darlin’. Did you miss me?”

  Chapter 7

  Before Emily could cry out, Clay Galloway bounded into the room and clamped a hand over her mouth. She struck at him, fighting back instinctively, but he used his other hand to grab both of her wrists. He leaned over the bed, his weight pressing her back against the pillows and mattress. She was all too aware that she wore only her nightdress.

  “Now stop that,” he said. “There’s no need for you to fight. I’m not gonna hurt you. I never hurt a woman in my life, and I sure as blazes don’t figure to start now.”

  Emily stopped struggling. She didn’t want to anger a notorious outlaw. There was no telling what he might do.

  “That’s better,” Galloway said quietly. “I’ve been askin’ around about you, Miss Emily Savage. I know you’re Aggie Stirling’s niece. Aggie’s a good ol’ gal, so I figure you must be, too. You want to come out skylarkin’ in the moonlight with me?”

  Emily shook her head.

  “Aw, come on!” Galloway urged. “We won’t do anything you don’t want to do, I give you my word on that.” He chuckled as he leaned over so close that she felt his warm breath against her ear. He whispered, “But after you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll want to do it all, honey. And that’s a promise, too.”

  His lips brushed her cheek. He lifted his hand from her mouth, but before she could cry out he was kissing her, muffling any sound she might make.

  Emily had been kissed before, but never with such intensity. This was no cowboy stealing a peck at a church social. This was a serious kiss, the sort that led to other things.

  But Emily didn’t want it to lead to anything else. She knew Clay Galloway believed she wouldn’t be able to resist him. He was used to women sighing and giving in to his every desire.

  Not her. She kissed him back hard, but it was only to make him think he had won so he would let his guard down.

  Sure enough, he lifted his lips from hers, chuckled again, and said in smug self-satisfaction, “See, I knew you’d come around—”

  Emily screamed.

  It was a shrill, ear-splitting scream, too, and caused Galloway to jerk away from her.

  “Hush now,” he said. “I don’t want any trouble—”

  Emily took a deep breath and screamed again.

  Aggie’s cane thumped in the hall outside the bedroom door. She yelled, “What’s going on in there? I’ve got a gun!”

  That was no idle threat. Everybody in Buffalo Flats was aware that Aggie knew how to shoot.

  Galloway leaped to the window but paused before he climbed out. He looked back at Emily, who was now sitting up in the bed, and said, “This ain’t over, sweetheart. You and me, we’re destined to be together. I knew that as soon as I laid eyes on you.”

  Then he dived out the window, disappearing into the dark night.

  Aggie threw open the door and charged into the bedroom, her cane in one hand and a big, silver-plated .44 caliber Remington revolver in the other.

  “Land’s sake, girl!” she exclaimed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Clay Galloway was here,” Emily replied.

  “Galloway!” Aggie waved the gun from side to side in search of a target.

  “He’s gone,” Emily told her as she swung her legs out of bed and stood up. “He went back out the window.”

  “What the hell did he want?”

  “Me,” Emily said in a small voice.

  She knew it was true, too. The outlaw had set his sights on her, and as formidable as Aggie was, Emily wasn’t sure if her aunt could stop him.

  More than ever now, she thought it was time for her to go home.

  * * *

  Nick Braddock’s shoulders had a weary slump to them as he rode into Buffalo Flats. He had spent days trying to track down Clay Galloway’s gang, but he was no closer to locating the outlaws’ hideout than he had been when he started.

  He had picked up their trail following the train robbery he’d interrupted, but the tracks had petered out on rocky ground and Nick hadn’t been able to find them again. Galloway was mighty good at not being found. No matter how much Nick hated the man, he had to give him credit for that.

  Ever since then he’d been ranging back and forth
across the country around Buffalo Flats, but every ranch where he’d stopped to ask questions, the had met him with the same stony, unresponsive hostility. Galloway had too many friends in these parts. They weren’t going to betray him.

  Even though Nick wasn’t the sort to give up, it seemed like he had run up against a dead end. But he hadn’t been back to Buffalo Flats in quite a while—not since what had happened with Laura, in fact—so he decided to pay a visit to the settlement. He could say hello to a few old friends and maybe even ask some questions about Galloway, although he didn’t expect to get any useful answers.

  His first stop was the Baptist church. The preacher, Walt Landry, was those old friends he wanted to see. The sound of hammering drew Nick behind the whitewashed church, where he found the white-mustached Landry nailing together a set of shelves.

  “Nick!” the preacher said as he set his hammer aside. He thrust out a hand to shake, then pulled Nick into a back-pounding hug. “Good to see you again, boy. What brings you back to Buffalo Flats at long last?”

  “I’ve been chasing Clay Galloway,” Nick replied.

  A frown darkened Landry’s rugged face.

  “I spent many a night praying for that young man,” he said. “But it never took. I guess some folks just put themselves beyond the reach of God’s grace.”

  “Yeah, I reckon. But he’s not gonna be out of the reach of a bullet if I ever get my sights on him.”

  “You know what the scripture says about he who lives by the sword, Nick.”

  “Sure, but law and order’s my job, Walt, and sometimes that means I have to use a gun.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Landry clapped a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “But let’s not argue about that now. Come on in the parsonage. There’s coffee on the stove.”

  “That sounds good—” Nick began, then stopped as something in the street caught his eye.

  The buckboard from the train station rolled toward him with old Jesse Engleton at the reins. Sitting next to Jesse was another familiar figure: the young woman from the train who’d nearly been carried off by Clay Galloway.

  “—but I’ve got something else to tend to right now,” Nick went on, finishing his reply to the preacher. “I’ll see you later, Walt.”

  “All right,” Landry said. “Be careful, son, and vaya con Dios.”

  Leading the sorrel, Nick moved to intercept the buckboard. Jesse hauled back on the reins and brought the vehicle to a stop. Nick thought the woman looked about as surprised as he felt. He hadn’t expected to ever see her again.

  He wouldn’t have expected the sight of her to set his heart to beating so fast, either.

  He took his hat off and nodded to her, saying, “Good mornin’, miss. I didn’t know you were stopping here in Buffalo Flats. I hope you’ve recovered from that run-in with the Galloway gang.”

  She smiled, and there went his heart, even faster.

  “Yes, I have, Ranger Braddock, thanks to you saving me from those outlaws in the first place.”

  “Just doing my job, miss.” He frowned. “Wait a minute. How’d you know my name? As I recall, we were never introduced.”

  “My aunt told me. Agatha Stirling.”

  “You’re Aggie’s niece?” The revelation surprised the question out of him.

  “That’s right. My name is Emily Savage.” She laughed, and the sound of it made something inside Nick turn a flip. “There. Now we’ve been introduced.”

  With obvious reluctance, Jesse said, “I hate to interrupt, Miss Savage, but if you’re gonna make that eleven o’clock eastbound, we’d best be gettin’ on to the depot.”

  “You’re leaving?” Nick asked. For some reason he didn’t like the sound of that.

  “I’m afraid so. I just came for a visit. I have to get home.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “The Pitchfork Ranch. It’s about halfway between here and San Antonio.”

  “I’ve heard of it,” Nick said. “You’re Grady Savage’s daughter?”

  “That’s right. Do you know him?”

  “Heard of him, that’s all. He helped settle this whole part of the country. You must be proud of him.”

  “Of course I am.” She sighed. “But I guess I have to be going—”

  “Wait.” Nick wasn’t sure why the word came out of him so emphatically, but it did. He hurried on, “I mean, I sure wish you weren’t leaving town right now.”

  Emily’s face hardened. She said, “I have a good reason to, and you know him. His name is Clay Galloway.”

  Nick’s hand tightened on the hat. “What about him?” he asked in a flat, hard voice.

  “He showed up at my aunt’s house last night looking for me.”

  White-hot rage welled up inside Nick. It was bad enough that the attempted train robbery had endangered this fine young woman’s life. Now, from the sound of it Galloway was up to his old tricks, pursuing any woman who struck his fancy without any thought as to who might be hurt by it.

  A train whistle shrilled in the distance. Nick said, “Jesse, why don’t you take Miss Savage’s bags on down to the station and wait for her there? I’d like to have a few more words with her.”

  Before Jesse could answer, Emily said, “Isn’t that rather forward of you, Ranger?”

  “I’m sorry. I mean no offense. But it’s important. I want to know more about Galloway.”

  Emily looked at Jesse, sighed, and nodded. “I’ll be there before the train pulls out.”

  “Yes’m,” he said. “But the conductor on this run don’t allow for no delays.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Emily started to get down from the buckboard. Nick put his hat on and stepped forward quickly to give her a hand. He took hold of her arms and set her on the ground next to the vehicle. Her hands came up and rested naturally on his broad shoulders. As they stood there like that, they couldn’t help but look into each other’s eyes.

  Nick had never seen anything so fascinating and compelling in all his life. The nearness of her, the warmth of her flesh under her clothes, the sweet smell of her hair, all of it made his pulse hammer wildly in his head.

  She cleared her throat, and the slight pressure of her hands against his shoulders made him realize he ought to let go of her. He did so and stepped back a little, but he didn’t want to get too far away from her.

  As the buckboard rattled off toward the depot, Nick said, “Tell me what happened last night.”

  Emily did, and as she described the way Galloway had blatantly stolen into her bedroom and tried to get her to run away with him, the anger inside Nick grew stronger. That was just like Galloway, and hearing about it stirred up all sorts of bad memories.

  But it stirred up something else in Nick’s brain as well. He said slowly, “It sounds like Galloway’s really fallen for you.”

  “A man like that isn’t capable of feeling any real emotion,” Emily said. “He just wants to...indulge himself.”

  “I suspect you’re right.” Nick turned his head and looked at the nearby church, its whitewashed walls gleaming in the morning sun, its steeple rising over the trees around it. “Clay’s the sort of man who thinks he should always get what he wants. Even if the quarry’s not really that important to him, he hates to lose. Hates it worse than anything.”

  “I think we’re in total agreement where Clay Galloway is concerned,” Emily said. “A man like that needs to be behind bars where he can’t hurt people anymore. I hope you catch him.”

  The wild idea in Nick’s head came together. He said, “I’m mighty glad to hear you say that, Miss Savage.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I think you can help me catch him.”

  Emily’s eyes widened in surprise. She said, “Me? How in the world can I help a Texas Ranger capture an outlaw?”

  “It’s pretty simple, really,” Nick said. “All you have to do is agree to marry me.”

  Chapter 8

  “Marry you?” Emily repeated. She h
ad never been more flabbergasted than she was at this moment.

  “Well...not for real,” Nick said. “We’d just have to pretend to be engaged.”

  “Why on earth would we do that?”

  “To set a trap for Galloway.” Nick looked distinctly uncomfortable as he added, “I guess that’d make you the bait.”

  Emily didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry. Clearly this Ranger had lost his mind.

  She had been surprised and happy to see him when he walked toward the buckboard. She had assumed that she would return to Pitchfork and probably never see him again, but suddenly here he was, right in front of her. Fate had brought them back together.

  But evidently Fate had a few tricks up its sleeve, like this crazy idea Nick had just presented to her.

  “You think if we pretend to be engaged, it’ll lure Galloway from his hideout?”

  He nodded. “Nothing happens around Buffalo Flats that Galloway doesn’t hear about, one way or the other. You probably don’t know this, but him and me, we go back a ways.”

  “I’ve heard something about that,” Emily said carefully.

  “Oh. From your aunt, I reckon. I’ve known her since I was a kid.” He smiled. “Next to my own ma, I reckon Aggie Stirling’s just about the finest lady I’ve ever met.”

  Emily couldn’t help but return the smile.

  “I feel the same way about her,” she said. “But that doesn’t change anything. This plan of yours seems pretty far-fetched to me, Ranger Braddock.”

  “Call me Nick,” he said. “And as for Galloway, trust me when I say that if he hears you and I are getting married, he’ll try to stop it. If he wants you, and from what you’ve told me there’s not much doubt that he does, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep me from having you.”

  The thought of Nick Braddock having her made a sudden warmth kindle inside Emily. Hearing him say it like that just fanned the flames. The notion of the two of them possessing each other greatly intrigued her.

  She tried to push that reaction away and said, “I don’t think I can help you, Nick. I have to get home. In fact, if I don’t get to the station right now, I’m liable to miss my train—”