Whirlwind Reunion

by Debra Cowan

  Knowing Annalise was in danger had a cold sweat trickling down Matt’s spine.

  Gunshots blasted through the air as he and Russ kept up a steady hail of bullets against the outlaws. Davis Lee, Riley and Bram did the same from the other side. The scent of gunpowder burned the air. Bullets whizzed past, dug into the ground around them.

  Matt saw George Landis fall, then Pat. Another man went to his knees, but from this angle Matt couldn’t tell who. Two more fell.

  Abruptly, the shooting ceased. One lone shot rang out from the barn and Matt eased up to the corner, waving to show the others it was all right to stop.

  Six of the Landis brothers lay dead, but this fight wasn’t over yet.

  Suddenly, the door to the bunkhouse swung open. Julius stood in the doorway with Annalise in front of him like a shield, the barrel of a revolver drilled into her temple. One arm was clamped around her neck, his head right against hers. He held her inside the cage of his body, his legs spread wide enough to position his feet on the outside of hers.

  Matt focused on her. There was terror in her pale face, but she was calm. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.”

  Julius tightened his arm around her throat and she clamped one hand on his arm, rising on her tiptoes in an attempt to escape the pressure.

  “Let her go.” Matt barely managed to keep his voice from shaking. “You’ll never make it out of here alive.”

  “With her, I will.”

  Out of the corner of his eyes, Matt saw Davis Lee, Riley and Bram creep out of the barn toward the bunkhouse. None of them had a clear shot at the bastard. Any bullet would hit Annalise.

  The thought made Matt sick to his stomach. He didn’t know how to get her out without hurting her.

  He saw Bram disappear around the side of the bunkhouse then return, shaking his head. That could only mean that Cosgrove was no longer inside. Matt reasoned that since the bastard hadn’t come out the front, there must be a back window or door that he’d sneaked out of. But that didn’t give anyone a better shot at Julius.

  Frustrated, racking his brain, Matt whipped his gaze back to Annalise. She was staring hard at him.

  She looked pointedly down at her free hand. She was trying to tell him something.

  What was she thinking? Matt didn’t know, but emotion swirled in her eyes, asking him to trust her. He gave a barely perceptible nod and kept talking to Julius.

  “So how did this work? You paid the Landis brothers to rustle cattle for you?”

  “Sounds like you’ve got it figured out,” the man sneered.

  “Well, surely you’ve figured out that your partners are all dead now. You’re on your own. Surrounded. Put down your weapon and let her go.”

  “I’m taking the lady and we’re walking out of here.”

  Over his shoulder, Matt murmured to his brother. “Annalise has something in mind. Be ready for an opening of any kind.”

  Tension frayed his nerves. He didn’t know what she planned and he hated the idea that he couldn’t protect her, but right now there was no way to do that safely. If she had an idea, he was all for it.

  If anything happened to her—

  He swallowed hard, tried to keep Julius’s attention on him. “If you put one mark on her, you’re a dead man.”

  Something flickered in Julius’s eyes. Matt wanted to think it was fear, but he couldn’t tell.

  He saw Annalise slowly, slowly ease her hand into her skirt pocket and close around something.

  Her gun! He’d forgotten that she had been carrying it since her return.

  He realized what she meant to do a split second before she did it. Aiming the gun toward the ground, she pulled the trigger, blowing a hole right through her dress and Julius’s foot.

  The man screamed. In what appeared to be pure reflex, he dropped his arm from around her neck and shoved her away. Matt sprang from his hiding place and rushed toward them.

  Stumbling, Annalise darted toward him. Julius raised his weapon. Matt caught Annalise with one arm, firing at Julius at the same instant.

  Several shots rang out in rapid succession. Then silence.

  The businessman lay on the ground, his eyes open and glassy. Sharp relief ached in Matt’s chest. Unsteady at her close call, he closed both arms around Annalise and buried his face in her neck, tears stinging his eyes.

  Her mouth dry, her entire body quivering, Annalise held on tight. She had been so relieved to see Matt that her knees had nearly buckled. No matter how things were between them, she knew Matt would die trying to protect her. So would those other men. It was the code they lived by.

  She didn’t know what she would’ve done if they hadn’t shown up, but she would have killed Julius herself before she let him hurt her baby. The baby. Matt’s baby.

  Against her chest, his heart hammered as hard and fast as hers. He smoothed a hand down her hair, murmuring soothing words to her, and she let herself be held a little longer.

  In the background, she heard Russ say he and the others had found a wagon. They were going to load the outlaws’ bodies into it and drive them back to Whirlwind.

  Annalise knew that neither Matt nor any of the other men with him had had a clear shot at Julius. She had sensed Matt’s frustration, felt it herself, but she’d had an idea. All she’d needed was for him to trust her. And he had!

  She didn’t know how much weight to give that.

  His brother and the others had loaded the wagon and were ready to go. Riley went inside to get Edward.

  It was a long moment before she felt she was steady enough to stand on her own. Still trembling, she pulled back to look up at Matt. His face was pale, his eyes filled with emotion. “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t. Quentin saw you leave town. The description he gave of the man’s horse fitted one of the Landis brothers’ mounts. We formed a posse. Just stopped here to warn Julius. Edward clued us in that you were here.”

  Her pulse skipped at the thought of what might have happened to her if fate hadn’t been on her side. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  “You’re welcome.” With one rock-hard arm wrapped snugly around her, he stroked her hair back from her face.

  She stiffened slightly, but he felt it and lowered his hands to her waist. Pain flared in his eyes, reminding her of how they’d left things between them the last time they were together. Had it only been that afternoon?

  Turning, she quietly thanked Russ and the others.

  Bram’s voice came from inside the bunkhouse. “One of the Landis brothers was gut shot and he’s dead in here,” the rancher said.

  “That’s Frank,” Annalise explained.

  “Bram thought he hit one of them during the brief time we saw them a couple of days ago,” Matt said.

  She nodded. “He’d lost too much blood by the time Sherman came for me.”

  “Is that how he got you to go with him? Told you his brother needed a doctor?”

  “He didn’t say his brother, just a friend.” Stepping out of Matt’s hold, she moved back. He seemed reluctant to let her go. “He said they were both ranch hands at the Eight of Hearts. When I realized Sherman was part of the Landis gang and Cosgrove was involved with them, he said I couldn’t leave because I knew who they were and that they’d been rustling cattle. At first, I thought Mr. Julius wasn’t involved, but it became clear he was.”

  Matt’s jaw tightened. “When he grabbed you, it scared the hell out of me.”

  “Me, too.”

  A corner of his mouth lifted. “And you took care of him. That was something to see, Angel.”

  She couldn’t be angry at him right this minute—the man had saved her life, after all—but she was still hurting over his earlier accusations.

  Which was another reason she still couldn’t believe he had trusted her enough to let her take charge for that moment, especially in a situation in which he definitely had more experience than she did. He hadn’t even hesitated.

  Matt’s smile faded.
“I guess the thefts he and Cosgrove reported to Davis Lee were lies, just to avert suspicion, if there was any. Did Julius admit to rustling the cattle?”

  “No, but Cosgrove and the others already had. Plus I found a running iron in the bunkhouse. There’s a section of wall where they practiced changing brands, among them the Triple B’s.”

  “I’m glad to have some proof,” he said huskily, his gaze so soft on her face that she felt herself flush.

  “Hey, look here!” Davis Lee appeared in the doorway of the bunkhouse, holding up a pair of shoes with a cow hoof attached to each sole. “Looks like your and Annalise’s theory about this was right. It couldn’t have been easy to imitate the stride of a cow, but they did it. They strapped these shoes on over their boots on the nights they stole the cattle. It’s pretty ingenious.”

  Bram and Russ tied their horses to the back of the wagon loaded with bodies and started toward Whirlwind. Davis Lee took the cow-hoof shoes and the running iron, riding off with Riley.

  She and Matt were alone. He studied her face. “I’m going to drive you back.”

  He wasn’t asking permission, Annalise recognized, yet he was waiting to see what she said. He probably expected her to protest, but she didn’t.

  They needed to talk. She didn’t yet know whether she was going to stay in Whirlwind, but she knew she had to tell Matt about the baby.

  As he helped her into the buggy, he replayed that image of Julius holding her hostage. Matt had felt as though his heart might never beat again. He could’ve lost her. Remembering his last words to her, he realized he still might.

  He offered her his canteen of water. After she drank her fill, he slid it beneath the seat and climbed in beside her.

  She kept her attention on the prairie stretched out before them. “You said Quentin told you he’d seen me leave Whirlwind. Did he come to the ranch?”

  “No. I was in town.”

  Her gaze searched his, but she didn’t ask the question plain in her eyes.

  “I was in town for you. It didn’t take me long after you left the ranch to figure out I had to find you and apologize.”

  An uncertain look crossed her face. “Matt.”

  “Please, let me.” He hoped with all he was that she would listen to him, believe him. And change her mind about them. “There’s no excuse for those things I said to you earlier.”

  “I just don’t understand why you did. I thought we had started fresh.”

  “So did I.” The lingering hurt in her voice made him want to gather her close, but he didn’t. “That’s what I wanted.”

  “You have a funny way of showing it,” she said sharply.

  He winced. “I know. I was a real bastard.”

  “But why?”

  “Fear, for one thing.”

  She frowned. “Fear?”

  “Coming home and finding Pa like that…. He looked as though he was already dead and it brought back memories of my ma.”

  “Because she died of a tumor?” Annalise’s voice softened with understanding.

  For the first time, Matt felt a flare of hope. At least she was still listening. “Partly, but more because when she died, Russ and I promised we would take care of him.

  “Coming home to find him in a coma scared me out of my wits. Here he’d had a surgery I knew nothing about, and I felt like I let him down, let them both down.”

  Annalise sat silently with a thoughtful look on her pretty face. Matt realized he’d stopped the buggy at some point and they were stock-still in the middle of Eight of Hearts land.

  Looking at the gunshot hole in her skirt, he lightly fingered the fabric. “I love you, Angel. I’ve never loved anyone but you and I never will.”

  Her blue eyes were full of anguish and confusion. “That wasn’t enough before.”

  “It was, but I was too much of a fool to know it.”

  She frowned.

  “Earlier, you asked me to leave you be, but I can’t. I’m truly sorry for the things I said. I know I busted something we’d only started to put together again. I do trust you. All I want is a chance to prove it.”

  She studied him for a long moment, the silence scraping across his nerves. “You didn’t hesitate when you learned I had an idea about how to get away from Julius. You didn’t even blink.”

  “That’s because I knew you wouldn’t do anything rash.”

  “You trusted me even though you didn’t know my plan.” A soft smile curved her lips. “That told me more right there than a thousand words.”

  Hope flared. “Does this mean you can forgive me?”

  Her green eyes searched his face. Finally, she nodded. “Yes.”

  “Does this mean you still love me?”

  She nodded.

  “Are we truly reconciled? For good?”

  “Yes.”

  Emotion tightened his chest. Matt dragged her into his lap and kissed her hard. When he let her up for air, she laid a palm on his chest.

  The sober, slightly dazed look on her face had him asking, “What is it?”

  “We aren’t just talking about us anymore.”

  “We aren’t?” He held his breath. Was she truly pregnant, as he’d suspected when he spotted the lemons in the kitchen?

  Taking his hand in hers, she laid both on her stomach. Matt felt tears prick the backs of his eyes.

  “We’re going to have a baby.”

  Overwhelmed with joy and fear and gratitude at this second chance, he couldn’t speak. He closed his eyes then opened them to find her looking uncertain.

  He kissed the end of her nose, unable to keep from smiling.

  She drew back to look at him. “You knew,” she said in disbelief.

  He laughed. “Not for sure. I found lemons in your kitchen and Quentin told me you had only lemonade at the Pearl today.”

  “Just hours ago, you would’ve accused me of keeping it from you.”

  “And I would’ve been wrong.”

  “Did you really believe I would tell you?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “You didn’t doubt it once?”

  He rubbed his hand across her stomach, feeling the stiff shell of her corset. “When I first realized you might be expecting, I wondered if you had kept the news from me because I was such a jackass earlier.”

  “That wasn’t why.”

  He grinned. “It was because you didn’t know yet.”

  “That’s right. Why were you so sure I’d tell you?”

  Lifting her chin, he leveled his gaze into hers. “Be cause I believe you’ve never knowingly held anything back from me. Took me a while to figure that out, huh?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Angel. This has been a long time coming.” He brushed his lips against her temple. “Whatever happens from now on, I’ll be there and you can trust that.”

  She framed his face in her hands, saying softly, “I do.”

  Epilogue

  Later that evening after washing up, Matt and Annalise stood in the Whirlwind cemetery with their arms around each other. A light breeze drifted around them as the sun set. They stared down at the new grave marker for their son.

  Matt reached out and traced the carving in the sandstone memorial. “Hardy Fine Baldwin,” he read, his voice gruff. “When did you do this?”

  “About a week ago, just after you and I discussed it.”

  “Do you know how much this means to me?”

  “I think so.”

  Squeezing her waist, he brushed a kiss against her temple. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She laid her head on his shoulder.

  He was getting another chance with her. She was giving him another chance. Matt wasn’t going to botch this one. He could’ve lost her permanently during that shoot-out. He had no intention of wasting any more time.

  Reaching over, he laid a hand on her stomach. “I want this baby to have my name. I want you to have my name.”

  She searched hi
s face. He hoped she could see his commitment.

  “We’ll make it this time, Angel. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together. I never want to be without you again.” She had to believe him.

  A slow smile curved her lips, her green eyes shining up at him. “I feel the same way.”

  “So…you’ll marry me?” He was even more nervous than he’d been the first time he asked her. She hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  “Where will we live?”

  “We’ll work it out.”

  “You’ll need to be at the ranch.”

  “We can build you a clinic halfway between the Triple B and Whirlwind.”

  Pleasure warmed her face. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “I’m really hoping you’ll say yes.”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  After a long kiss, he murmured against her lips, “What do you think about having four kids?”

  “You really have been thinking about this!”

  “So? What do you think?”

  “Four?” She wrinkled her nose. “That’s an awful lot of lemons.”

  “And I’ll be here for every one of them.” He pulled her close. “I’ll be here, Angel. Always.”

  She cupped his cheek and said the most important words she’d ever said to him, “I know.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7954-8

  WHIRLWIND REUNION

  Copyright © 2011 by Debra S. Cowan

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.