by Stacy Reid
The baby yawned and rubbed his eyes sleepily. She reached for him, and Joshua handed him over. Grayson smiled up at her, and she brushed a fingertip lovingly across his cheek. “I think it’s time we head back. I didn’t walk with a blanket for him.”
Despite the heat of the day, the afternoon grew chill and the night would be cold. They walked back toward the main house in silence. For all his talks of courting a woman, Joshua hardly knew where to start. His brother Noah was the one who had an easy time of it with women, and they seemed to make themselves go silly over him. What the hell would Noah have done? “There’s a poster in town,” he said abruptly.
She stopped. “Of wanted men?”
“Advertising a circus coming to town. They’ll be in by this weekend.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen them.” She frowned and waited, and he felt like an idiot.
“Maybe you would like to see one of their acts…with me.”
She stared at him for the longest time. “I would like to avoid Blue Lagoon until I leave. Abraham Hardin—”
“Would not dare approach you.”
“And what if he should?”
“I will deal with him when he does.”
Her breath hitched. “He knew you won me that night. He believed we ran away together. Once he sees us together in town, he will approach, Joshua, and I can already sense you will tell him what happened to his brother. There will be a fight. Is there a way to avoid that?”
“You want me to lie?”
He saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes and his heart clenched.
“Could you?”
“A man must own to his actions. Otherwise, he is nothing but a coward.”
“And you’re not a coward,” she whispered. “And when the smoke clears from the guns what will I see?”
“I won’t go hunting a fight.”
“But you won’t run from it either,” she said fiercely, her eyes flashing. “Do you think about that when you’re talking about courting?”
He had never made excuses for the life he had led, and he wasn’t about to do so now. “No, but I’ll start thinking about it now.”
A long silence stretched between them. “Am I to believe that?” she finally asked.
“I’m not an easy man. My needs and wants in life are simple. Maybe because I have wealth, but I worked hard for it. I’ve been herding cattle and buffaloes, breaking broncos and building the Triple K to the spread it is today from when I was eight. I have gold. I have land. I have family…but I’ve never had a woman I would call my own.”
She stiffened, taking his meaning. He watched the shock ripple through her eyes. Hell, he should have handled that announcement with more finesse. The breath that came from her was shaky, almost fearful. “And you want me to be your woman, no one else.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve had a husband before,” she whispered, wetting her bottom lip. “He wooed me back home, and for a wild moment in time, I thought I could love him. Benjamin Hardin was handsome and charming, and he knew how to spin a good yarn. Virginia did not fare well after the war, and our home had been burnt to the ground. We stayed in St. Louis for a while then Mamma went to Boston, my brother chose London, and I chose Benjamin Hardin. It was the gravest mistake of my life.” She had been backing away with each word that came from her lips. “For four months I endured several beatings. That night in the Honey Pot Saloon with you, that was the only night I had ever felt pleasure and some measure of safety. It was all so fleeting sometimes I wondered if it was part of a fevered dream.” She looked down at their son. “Then I realize it wasn’t and how lucky I was to escape that man.”
The wistful note in her voice worried him. She did not sound like a woman who was apt to think on his proposal. “Bethany—”
She shook her head, and he stopped. Emotions darkened her eyes, but she held his gaze. “He beat me, something fiercely. Sometimes for days I laid abed and thought I would die from the pain and the shame of it all. I swore I would never place myself at the mercy of another husband. While I know you are nothing like Benjamin Hardin, what you are asking me is not easy.”
Something hopeful stirred in him. “We'll go slow.” He made the promise against his better judgment, for he wanted nothing more than to make her his woman. The certainty he felt, he had never felt about anything else in his life. “I would never hurt you or our son.”
“I believe you,” she said softly, but she still took another step back from him. “But there is no getting around the fact you’ve killed people and have a reputation. In Virginia, I went to balls, Sunday picnics, and church. Then in St. Louis balls and society galas. There is a life in Boston waiting for me, one that I truly want.” She stopped moving, her eyes searching his face as if she wanted to strip his soul, reach inside him and know his darkness. “Could you move back east, with Grayson and me?”
Joshua faltered, the question catching him off guard. Immediately his scalp tightened, and his skin started to itch. He was not a man made for the refinements of Boston. He liked the wildness of the west, the open lands and rolling meadows of his ranch. He was born on the frontier, and the land itself felt like it was a part of his soul. He had never imagined leaving it. “Is that what you want me to do?”
She looked away. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “Meeting you again, Joshua, was never something I anticipated. You are entirely unexpected, and I hardly know what to do with the feelings you stir in me.”
A pulse of raw pleasure went through him. She had feelings for him, and from the softness and hunger in her gaze, they were the sweet kind.
He’d take that for now.
Feminine laughter spilled through the open windows on the second floor, bringing a smile to Joshua’s face. He listened to Beth’s soft southern drawl, mixed with Sheridan’s cultured British one as they tried to speak over each other. The smell of roasted pork floated on the air as the cook whipped up what promised to be a satisfying dinner. And Grayson slept content lying on his father’s chest.
“Sheridan will be a bit lost when Beth leaves for Boston,” Elijah said, glancing up at the open windows.
They had been on the porch for a while, talking business and the fact Joshua planned to head to their ranch in the Colorado territory.
“And I admit I will be a bit lost when you head back to the Triple K.”
Joshua sensed his brother wanted to know his intentions. Would he allow Beth to go east, while he wandered or returned to their ranch? Though he desired to court her, he didn't believe in using force. She'd had enough of that in her life already. "When are you coming back to visit Ma? I told her about Sheridan, and she is very eager to meet her.”
His brother sent him a taunting smile, green eyes very much like his own, watchful. “I sent Ma a long letter, and you are avoiding talking about Bethany. She does not seem to be afraid of you. In fact, her shoulders lose their tension when she hears your voice.”
“I don’t plan on letting her go.”
“How did you persuade her to stay?” Elijah demanded, a mocking glint in his gaze.
"You know very well she is not convinced yet. But I aim to." There was a lingering fear in Bethany’s eyes Joshua did not like. He wasn’t sure what had put it there. Abraham Hardin’s presence in Blue Lagoon, or Joshua’s promise that he would woo her and make her his woman.
“You want to marry her?” Elijah asked.
“Without hesitation.”
“You love her?”
Joshua hesitated. He had no business loving any woman or allowing one to love him. He wasn’t an outlaw, in fact, he often rode on the side of the law. But Joshua was a man with a reputation, and many fools had come hunting him because they had heard he was fast with his gun, and they needed to be better. It didn't matter to them that he didn't ride the outlaw trail, nor did he seek infamy. The only thing that mattered to those fools was their wishes that they could possibly tell the tale of besting a Kincaid. “Sometimes I get restless…and I have to ride.”<
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“I know,” Elijah said quietly, his eyes reflecting demons he still fought.
“A few times I’ve wondered if a woman would be content with the need I have in me to see the mountains, the canyons, and the valleys. There are times where for weeks I simply roam, and the peace I feel is incomparable.”
Except when I had kissed her.
“Maybe she’ll ride beside you.”
He liked that idea, even though it seemed far-fetched. He had traveled far and wide, ridden the trails, Socorro, Missouri, Santa Fe, had fought the Sioux, Utes, Arapahos, Cheyenne, Apaches, and he’d fought in the war and outside of it. His wanderings had exposed him to the wild beauty of the west, and the savagery that seemed inherent to human nature. “She’s not like anyone I’ve known in the past. She is a lady, a bit like Ma and Sheridan, but Beth is softer. When I stand before her gentle beauty and her ladylike qualities, I feel brutal…and uncouth.” And undeserving of her. Hell, she wouldn't want a man like him in her life. It was clear to him she craved for a different kind of life, one less lawless. The West has broken many men, and what it does to a woman is unspeakable. He hated the very idea of its savagery ruining her. His brother’s first wife Emma had died to escape the brutality of the west. She too had been gentle, almost like spun glass.
Except…Beth had been fierce and courageous when she fled Benjamin Hardin. She was a fighter. Joshua knew he would never hurt her, and he wanted to show her that.
Her shock when he revealed he had killed Benjamin Hardin had surprised Joshua. What had she imagined he would have done with a man who had beaten and used her so cruelly? And that highlighted their differences even more. He was raw and fierce, she was sweet and gentle, he was the wind that would blow powerful and strong, and his strength would either bend or break her.
“But you still want her?”
“I feel something fierce when I am with her…and since that night in Liberty, I haven’t taken another woman. Memories of her prevented that, even though I never thought I would see her again.” He didn’t want her broken or hurt. He wanted her loved and protected. “It will be mightily difficult to tempt her into giving me and the west a chance.”
And Joshua finally understood. The west was for men who were willing to kill. It had no room for the soft or the tender heart. He swore softly. He should saddle up and get out. Return to Triple K and see his family, taking over the running of the spread as his father and mother wanted.
His brother faced him. “Beth has a way of bringing out a man’s protective instincts, but she isn’t fragile. You know I believe the west isn’t any place for ladies, and Bethany and Sheridan…” Elijah sighed. “They’re ladies through and through. They belong to a different world, Joshua. Fine balls and afternoon teas.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying if you want her, you’ll have to do everything to bring a little east to her.”
"Can you be any more cryptic?"
Elijah grunted. “Show her that you can be sweet.”
Sweet? Incredulity filled Joshua. “You were truly singing to Sheridan last night.”
The babe stirred in his arms and came awake with a wide yawn. His eyes widened when he peered up into his father’s face and not his mother’s. Grayson’s face scrunched into a frown, before bestowing on Joshua a toothless smile.
“He’s a beautiful boy,” Elijah said. “Ma is going to faint when she sees him.”
“That he is,” Joshua replied, unable to mask the pride in his tone, not that he wanted to. “I meant to speak with you earlier, but you were with Sheridan.”
“What is it?”
“There might be some trouble in town.”
His brother stiffened. “Bartley has returned?”
As much as it pained Joshua to admit it, he said, “He is too much of a coward to ever come back to this territory. Abraham Hardin, the brother of the man Bethany was married to is in Blue Lagoon. He confronted her in town this morning.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“No.” There was a quiet place inside of him that already knew how he would put down any threat to her—swiftly and mercilessly. “But he spooked her. The man was looking for his brother. He believes she knows of his whereabouts.” As succinctly as possible, Joshua told his brother of the encounter.
"Hell." Elijah raked his fingers through his hair. "Anyone else knows you killed Benjamin that night?"
“No.” Joshua looked across the rolling grasslands to the trail leading to the ranch. A cloud of dust appeared on the horizon, as several horses powered toward the WC. A foreboding sense of knowing settled in his gut. “He’s coming.”
“Didn’t waste much time, did he?” Elijah asked, assessing the riders in the distance.
“Bethany.” Though Joshua barely elevated his voice, the happy chattering from above stairs ceased.
Elijah placed his fingers between his lips and whistled sharply, and without any words being exchanged, a sense of watchful intensity seemed as if it blanketed the ranch. Several of the WC’s workers were on the range, but those who were close enough to hear the whistle from their boss understood the message. An enemy approached, and the women must be protected at all cost.
Chapter 7
The massive oak door was pushed open, and Bethany appeared, paling as the thundering hooves grew closer. Joshua handed her their baby. Without speaking, she protectively held Grayson in her arms and went inside. The ranch house was three-story high built in a stone and log structure with large ornate wooden doors at the entrance that would be difficult to break down. Anyone who made it past him today would have a time of it, giving his brother and the women strategic time.
“I need you inside.”
“I am standing out here with you,” Elijah said firmly. “They won’t get past us.”
Joshua turned his head, assessing his brother’s readiness, and the hard glint in his eyes. There was a promise of death in his gaze, a feeling that was resounding in Joshua's heart. "I am not hunting for a fight, not with those precious to us in that house. But if it comes to a fight, it will be bloody, and I need you inside because these men must not get their hands on our women.”
He didn’t have to say much more. Both had seen women without protection in these parts, raped, broken and defeated. While he loved the west and the raw power of the majestic lands, it also had no room for those less fragile. Only the strong and the lawless survived.
“I will cover the yard from my chamber with the Winchester,” Elijah said, a slight tension invading his voice. “There must be no chance for them to enter this house.”
“I’ll ride out to meet them.”
"No, from what I can see more than a dozen horses are coming our way. Let them come to us, so you’ll be covered.” Then Elijah went inside to position himself.
Joshua waited, his guns strapped low on his hips. From his bedroom window, Elijah would have at least six men covered with his Winchester. Miguel, the ranch foreman, hurried from the bunkhouse, a Colt revolving shotgun gripped in his hands. He was tough and could hold his own in a fight, although he hobbled with a crutch.
“What can I do?” he asked, his dark eyes worried but determined.
“I suspect the men coming ride for Abraham Hardin. He must not be underestimated. I want you to cover them from the roof of the bunkhouse. No one should enter this house.”
“You will stay here, and face them?”
Joshua smiled slightly. “I’ll meet them here, Miguel.”
The foreman gave him a long, considering look; then he hurried away to the bunkhouse.
Their horses slowed as they rode onto the ranch. Beth had said he rode with a dozen men, yet Joshua counted at least twenty behind Abraham, a few he recognized as Jericho Sullivan's ranch hands who had been a plague to Sheridan several weeks earlier. It seemed the vermin had not learned their lesson. With men like the Hardin brothers, the number of men riding with them gave them a feeling of superiority as well as invincibility. Joshua walked down
the steps of the porch, walking out to meet them. The men riding with Abraham were all gun-slick and tough, and the stillness inside Joshua deepened. Those with him were a mean, shifty-looking lot, who would not hesitate to pillage and rape. If it came down to a fight, he would more than likely die, but so would everyone standing before him.
“May I assist you, gentlemen?” he asked, coming to a stop several feet from them. There was no disadvantage to being on the ground because Joshua knew something none of the men before him did. He was merciless when it came to protecting those he loved, and failure was not an option.
Abraham rested with deceptive ease against his pommel, chewing his tobacco and watching Joshua, his features expressionless. He was a big man, not taller than most, but broader and thicker, one used to fighting. He seemed a shrewd, tough, dangerous man.
“We’re here for the woman, Bethany Hardin.”
The sound of a shotgun being primed echoed from behind. The dart of fear that went through him was unpleasant. Joshua was going to blister her backside when this was over. He didn’t need to glance behind him, he could smell her elusive fragrance of honey and jasmine, and then there had been that flare of satisfaction from Abraham.
“Bethany will only go where she pleases. Do you wish to go with them?”
"No." Her voice came steady and sure.
“Well I figured she would want to travel with the boy, so I aimed to give her a choice. It matters none to me. You will hand over my nephew.”
Anger burned through Joshua in a cold wave, yet he remained silent, waiting and watching. “You have no nephew here.”
“I hear tell in town that Bethany here has a baby. Now that boy there is kin, and I mean to take him back with me.”
“My son is going nowhere with you,” Beth said, her voice trembling with rage and fear.
Joshua did not allow himself the distraction of even looking at her.