From the back of the church, a voice drawled, “Well, now, ain’t this cozy? Looks like I was almost too late.”
Nick dropped Emily’s hand and whirled around. Clay Galloway stalked up the aisle toward them as people gasped at the sight of the gun in his hand. The Colt pointed at Nick.
“I’d have been here before now if my dang horse hadn’t thrown a shoe,” Galloway went on. “I was gonna come in right when the preacher said that business about speakin’ now or forever holdin’ my peace. This is gonna necessitate a change in plans.”
With a sharp movement, the outlaw swung his gun to cover Sheriff Reynolds.
“Hold on there, lawman. I see you reachin’ for a gun. You don’t really want a shootout in here, do you? Too big a chance innocent folks might get hurt.”
“Damn you, Galloway,” the sheriff said. “You won’t—”
“Now don’t go tellin’ me I won’t get away with this. I’ve heard that before. But you know what? I always have.” Galloway turned his attention back to Nick and Emily. “I figured since everybody was here already, includin’ the preacher, I’d just go ahead and take the groom’s place. Reckon it’s too late for that now. The preacher’s done pronounced you husband and wife. I can’t very well ask a married woman to run away with me.” The barrel of the gun came up a little toward Nick’s chest. Galloway smiled and said, “But I reckon I can take a widow with me.”
Emily dropped the bouquet of wildflowers she still held in her right hand, thrust the derringer she also held in that hand toward Galloway, and pulled the trigger.
The little gun went off with a sound like snapping a branch. Galloway yelped and rocked back as blood appeared on the left sleeve of his shirt. The gun in his other hand sagged.
Nick dived toward him, big fist coming around to smash against Galloway’s jaw with stunning force.
Galloway dropped the gun and staggered back a step. Nick went after him, long pent-up rage exploding inside him. He swung punch after punch at Galloway and drove him back along the aisle. The outlaw tried to put up a fight, but he didn’t have much of a chance against the furious Ranger. When they reached the back of the church, a terrific left and right knocked Galloway through the open doors. He finally lost his balance and crashed down on his back in the dust. He groaned, tried to lift his head, and then sagged back to lie there moaning.
Nick stood for a couple of seconds, his chest heaving from emotion and exertion, then took a deep breath and said, “Clay Galloway, in the name of the State of Texas, you’re under arrest.”
Rapid footsteps coming down the aisle behind him made him turn around. Emily hurried up to him and threw her arms around his neck.
“Nick! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he told her as he embraced her. She lifted her head and looked at him, and he kissed her. Nothing in the world could have stopped him from doing so. Love for this woman filled his heart and every inch of his being. There was no point in denying it or trying to pass it off as anything else.
“Ladies and gents,” Walt Landry said in his booming voice, “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Nick Braddock! What God has joined together, let no man put asunder!”
* * *
“Wait a minute,” Nick said later after Galloway had been locked up in Sheriff Reynolds’ jail. “You mean we’re really married?”
“Why, I thought that’s what you wanted, son,” Walt said in apparent astonishment.
Emily smiled as Nick raked his fingers through his close-cropped hair and looked befuddled. She had never seen him more adorable than he was at this moment.
They were standing inside the church with Walt and Aggie. Everyone else was outside, getting ready to enjoy the dinner on the grounds that would follow the wedding.
“The marriage was supposed to be a fake, just to lure Galloway here,” Nick said.
Walt gave him a stern, solemn look and said, “Son, you don’t really think I’d do something so sacrilegious as invokin’ the Lord’s name, right here in church, for something that wasn’t real, do you?”
“But...but...” Nick looked over at Emily and asked, “And where did that blasted derringer come from?”
“I told you, I’m Grady Savage’s daughter. I don’t travel unarmed. Besides, I thought it might come in handy.” Emily smiled. “And it did. Galloway was about to shoot you. No girl wants to be made a widow on her wedding day.”
“But it wasn’t supposed to...Ahhh!” Nick threw his hands in the air. He asked Walt, “Can anything be done about this?”
Aggie said, “You can enjoy bein’ married to this fine young woman.”
Walt nodded and said, “Miss Aggie’s right.”
“I’m not going to live my life as a divorced woman, Nick Braddock,” Emily put in. “Besides, if you abandon me, my father will hunt you down. I promise, you don’t want that.”
Nick looked at her with narrowed eyes and said, “If I thought there was anything...” He stopped and frowned. “There’s just one thing I can’t get past.”
“What’s that?” Emily asked, praying that his answer would be the one she wanted to hear.
“I love you,” Nick said. “No matter how we got to this place, there’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.”
“Nick—”
She couldn’t say anything else for a moment because she was too busy kissing him.
When he lifted his lips from hers at last, Emily said, “There’s just one more thing. We’ll have to have another wedding, this time at Pitchfork. My mother won’t stand for it otherwise.”
“That’s the truth,” Aggie said.
“That’s fine with me,” Nick said. “I wouldn’t mind trying this again, only with no outlaws next time.”
Emily laughed and said, “Well, I can’t promise that.”
She slipped her hand into her husband’s hand, smiled up at him, and together they went out into the sunshine of their new life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR—LIVIA J. WASHBURN
Under the names Livia J. Washburn and L.J. Washburn, Livia Reasoner has been writing award-winning, critically acclaimed mystery, western, romance, and historical novels for thirty years. She is married to, author James Reasoner. Livia and James have had a long career working together, tweaking and editing each other’s stories. In recent years she's become involved in publishing, producing books for Western Fictioneers, and now for Prairie Rose Publications. Livia lives in the Texas countryside with her husband, and her dogs. Her website can be found at www.liviawashburn.com.
PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS
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et al., Lassoing a Bride
Lassoing a Bride Page 17