by Jillian Hart
“Hold on,” Corinthos said to his men. “Braddock will see reason. I know he will. Our good sheriff doesn’t have much of a choice.”
Cooper saw it all in an instant. Three men, revolvers drawn, all facing him. He couldn’t outshoot all of them, no matter how good he was with a gun. But how could he let Corinthos go?
“Think about those girls of yours.” Another voice, this time from behind.
Cooper felt the cold press of a pistol at his neck.
“Think about how much they need a father. One wrong move, Braddock, and they’ll be orphans.”
Cold fury flooded his chest. Cooper clamped his jaw shut. Sweat broke out along his brow. The last thing he intended to do was leave his daughters without a father, and yet his honor smarted. Allowing these outlaws to simply ride away went against everything he believed in.
“Maybe now you will listen to my proposition, Braddock.” Corinthos gestured with his handcuffed wrists at one of his men.
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say.” Cooper bit back the sour taste in his mouth. He would not be bribed, would not compromise his honor. It made him sick even to think about it. The man they called Dusty took the jangling ring from his belt and Cooper couldn’t stop him.
“Listen up, Braddock. Your very existence depends on it.” The cuffs clicked apart and Corinthos tossed them into the dust at his feet. “You know what I want.”
“I’m no criminal.” Sheer anger pounded through him.
“Braddock, you can just turn the other cheek and let us do our work. It’s as simple as that. Think about how much your girls need you alive and well. As I see it, you don’t have much of an alternative.”
What these men proposed speared black fury through his chest, hot and all-consuming. The revolver bit into his neck, reminding him he could do nothing but watch as Corinthos turned to face him, a victorious sneer bright in those cold eyes.
There would be another time to prove his honor.
“This here’s for the slug you put in me, Braddock.”
The outlaw’s fist hit Cooper square in the face.
“You made yourself a bigger hero today, brother,” Tucker commented from the corner where the doc’s nurse was tending the gash along his ribs.
“What do you mean?” Cooper winced as the doc stitched the cut over his eye. “Corinthos got away.”
“You saved your bride.” Tucker’s grin broadened. “Even got punched protecting her. Already the entire town is abuzz about it. You’re such a hero.”
“They ought to be furious at me because I couldn’t bring down the gang.” The doc tipped Cooper’s head back to get a good look at his swelling eye. He swallowed a groan of pain.
“They’d rather know more about your wedding. At least now, since the gold shipment we hauled up the cliff is locked away in the bank’s vault and Corinthos’ man is still safe in our jail.” Tucker chuckled. “You almost fooled me with your act, blaming Katie for writing those letters. That’s priceless. And just like you. You’re too tough to admit you have a softer side.”
“I have no softer side.” Cooper’s face flamed. “Am I gonna live, Doc?”
“Looks like it.” He turned to wash his hands in a basin. “But you’re going to have quite a shiner.”
“Black eyes don’t bother me.”
“Makes his softer side less obvious,” Tucker teased.
“Watch it. I can still whoop you.” Cooper stood with another groan. Bringing down Corinthos and his gang might be harder on the body than he thought. “Thanks for patching me up, doc. You know where to send the bill.”
“What about your bride’s?” The doc reached for a towel. “Frankly, I would treat her little girl whether she had the money or not. But you’ll soon be her husband and responsible for her bills.”
Cooper kept Tucker silent with a glare, knowing dam well his brother would have something to add. “Yes, doc. Anna’s medical bills are my responsibility.” He could do no less. But this notion of marriage, well, time would prove that false soon enough. But if the doc thought they were to be married, who else thought so, too?
His guts twisted. His daughters might need a mother, but nothing was that simple. He couldn’t just marry a stranger to make unruly Katie and shy little Maisie secure. They had love. They had him.
The unmistakable sound of muffled crying came from the room within. He hesitated, uncertain if he should enter. When he peered through the threshold, he saw Anna at her daughter’s bedside, her back to him, her shoulders hunched forward. Her slim body shook with the power of her tears. Alarm speared though him. Something was wrong with the little girl.
“Anna?” He stepped into the room, then hesitated. She must not have heard him, she was crying so hard. Lord, he felt sorry for her situation. Nothing could be more defeating than watching your child like this, not knowing if she would live or die.
He laid his hand on her shoulder, and she jumped at his touch. How he ached to fold her in his arms and protect her, hold her tight against his chest. The urge was stronger than before, stronger than he’d ever known.
But he held back. He couldn’t let himself care for her. Maybe as a citizen to protect, but nothing more. Not the way a man cares for a woman. And never the way a husband cares for a wife.
“What’s wrong with Mandy?” He asked the question, although he knew he wouldn’t like the answer. The child lay so still in that bed asleep. She had been gravely injured, the doctor had said. There were no guarantees:
“She sat up and asked for a cookie. A cookie. I know now she’s truly going to be all right.” Anna’s lush bottom lip trembled. More lustrous tears glistened in her eyes. “I hadn’t dared hope. I mean, I prayed, I wished, but it almost seemed too much to ask.”
“Corinthos didn’t upset her, then.” Cooper was relieved. The little girl was fast asleep. Her breathing came soft and deep, in a more natural rhythm. Even he could see the change.
Anna’s eyes glistened up at him, her soft face shadowed with fatigue. “She woke up and was afraid, but that was all. No real harm done. Not like you.”
Her hand came up and brushed near his bruised cheekbone. Her soft touch made his skin tingle. “Aw, it’s just a black eye.”
She pulled her hand back. “The men got away. I saw them through the window riding off toward the mountains.”
“Against my will.” As long as the Corinthos gang rode this country, his town and the people in it weren’t safe. Especially Anna.
“Will he come back?” Not fear for herself, but for her daughter. He heard that loud and clear in her voice.
His throat filled. “Definitely.”
She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, her forehead crinkling, her face paling. “I hate being this afraid. Now that Mandy’s recovering, I want to keep her that way.”
“You have my word of honor, Anna. I’ll protect her with my life.”
“Because it’s your job, right?” She brushed a tentative finger against the upper point of his silver badge.
“Because she needs it.” He knew he shouldn’t do it, but he held out his hand anyway. Anna wouldn’t misunderstand. She was a fair and sensible woman. She seemed to accept their situation, that he wasn’t looking for a wife. “Should we go find Mandy that cookie?”
“I don’t have a penny on me.”
“My treat.”
Pride flickered in her eyes. Then she took a breath. “I’ll accept for Mandy’s sake: There’s something else.”
“Name it.”
“I’m going to take you up on your offer. When Corinthos walked into this room, I realized I need you, Cooper. I need your help.”
“Help, now that’s something I can do. This sheriff is at your disposal.”
Anna placed her small palm against his. Her heat scorched his skin, kicked through his blood.
Cooper had forgotten how nice it was to walk beside a woman, to simply hold her hand.
With every step they took through town, Anna wondered how mu
ch she could confide in Cooper Braddock. With muscles bulging beneath his cotton shirt, he looked able to defeat any outlaw. That he’d pledged to help her gave her some comfort.
But trusting a man wasn’t something she could do. Cooper might be heroic, but he was still a stranger to her. If she’d learned anything in her life, she knew better than to lean on a man. She might accept Cooper’s initial help in securing a place to stay, but that was all. She had always made her own way. She had her pride.
“We aren’t going to the bakery?” Anna asked as they strolled past the shop. The wonderful smell of baked bread scented the air outside the shop’s front door.
“Mrs. Potts makes the best cookies in town. Besides, my sister left a satchel of clothes she wanted to give you, and I forgot to bring it this morning.”
“She doesn’t even know me.”
“She thinks you’re going to be her sister-in-law, regardless of what I say.” He lifted one brawny shoulder in a lopsided shrug. “Maybe you can do me a favor.”
“If I can.” She would do nearly anything to repay Cooper his kindness.
“Then you tell her the truth about the letters. She refuses to listen to me.”
Anna laughed. Walking beside him down the tree-lined street made her feel bright and happy. Then she heard a small rustling in a giant fir above. A bird, maybe. Then a limb shifted and a little girl’s face peered out from amid the soft green needles.
“Papa.” A loud whisper.
Cooper tipped back his head. “Maisie, are you still up in that tree?”
“Yep.” More whispers. “Is Anna my mama yet?”
“Remember what I said about that?”
“She’s not my mama.”
Anna held her breath as the golden-haired slip of a girl deftly climbed from one limb to another. It was such a dangerous height and far to fall. But Cooper appeared unconcerned, as if little girls climbed trees every day.
“Did you eat all those molasses cookies?” Cooper lifted his daughter from the lowest bough.
“I tried, but Mrs. Potts stopped me.” Maisie’s pink gingham dress snapped in the breeze. She hit the ground skipping. “I’m sorry you ain’t my mama, Anna.”
“Me, too.” Her breath lodged in her throat and she couldn’t say one more word.
Sunlight slanted through the pine needles, dusting Cooper with a dappled, golden glow. He knelt to rescue a bedraggled stuffed bunny from the grass. His dark shirt, halfway unbuttoned, gaped just enough for her to see the muscled expanse of his chest. The sight of his suntanned skin left her reeling. What a man.
He’s not yours, Anna. She couldn’t let her daydreams become confused with reality. He might be a hero, but he didn’t belong to her. It was in his eyes, in the distance he kept between them, slight, but unmistakable. He didn’t want to like her.
Well, she didn’t want to like him. She wasn’t about to pine after a man who didn’t want her. Even if he was heroic and brave, strong and noble.
His voice, rich as evening, rumbled over her. “Come inside, Anna. Maisie and Harry Bunny will keep us company.”
“Give me Harry Bunny, Papa. Please!” Maisie jumped up, and Cooper snatched the stuffed animal just out of her reach. She giggled, then he handed it to her with a smile warm enough to melt the earth beneath their feet. The little girl shone at the attention, hugging the worn pink bunny tight in her arms.
Maisie looked up, noticed Anna watching her and ducked behind her father’s knees.
Cooper started up a set of wooden steps. Anna saw the house for the first time, made of neat logs and chinking. Paned glass windows viewed the street and the trees, and a generous porch caught the shade. It looked so snug and cozy, the perfect home for a little girl to grow up in. A house straight out of Anna’s dreams.
“You’re awfully quiet.” Cooper’s voice vibrated across her skin, luring her like a fish to a fly.
Hooked and fighting it, Anna focused hard on the path beneath her feet. “It’s been an eventful day. You have a beautiful place here.”
“Did you think I lived in a cave?”
A teasing light lit his eyes. Maybe he was afraid she was wishing after his home, thinking she wanted what Katie had offered.
Well, this home had never been hers, and never would be. She had taken a big risk answering that handwritten proposal, and it hadn’t worked out, that was all.
“A cave would suit you better, Mr. Tough Sheriff.”
“Now, only if you could convince my family I’m tough.” He chuckled, rich and deep. “They keep saying I have a softer side.”
“I haven’t seen the slightest evidence of that.” She could tease, too. In truth, Cooper was the gentlest man she’d ever seen. So tender with his daughters, his love for them honest and heart-deep.
She followed him into the beautiful log house and froze stock-still in the middle of the parlor. “Now this is what I’d expect in a cave.”
He quirked a brow. “Sure, it’s a little messy.”
“Messy?” Anna breathed in the sight. The polished wood floors, the honeyed-wood walls, the gray stone fireplace in the center of the parlor were nothing short of perfect. Children’s toys littered the floor—a small cowboy hat, a set of blocks, a toy train. “It’s a great home for little girls.”
“Is that you, Sheriff?” a woman’s sharp voice broke the stillness.
“Yes, Mrs. Potts.” Cooper gestured toward the kitchen. Anna followed him into a sunny, spacious room with a cookstove and worktable along one wall, a big bright window and eating table along the other.
A plump woman turned from the stove and wiped her hands on her ruffled apron. “I suppose you’ll be wanting coffee. And I just finished with the dinner dishes.”
Cooper planted both hands on his hips, emphasizing the width of his capable shoulders. “Don’t worry about the dishes. I’ll do them.”
“If you ask me, that older girl of yours ought to start being responsible for some chores around here. That’s what she needs. Discipline.” The hired woman banged the coffeepot on the stove, the harsh thunk echoing in the pleasant room.
Anna jumped. Goodness, was the housekeeper always this sour? No wonder poor Katie had taken desperate measures to find a mother. Then Cooper leaned close and gave her a secretive wink.
“I have to be forgiving of Mrs. Potts’s attitude,” he whispered, so close his breath felt hot against the side of her face and she could smell the man and pine scent of him. “Every other available housekeeper in this county refuses to work for me.”
“Katie’s become notorious?”
“Exactly.” His whispered word tickled her ear.
Sizzles streaked down her spine. Anna took a steadying breath and willed her body to stop reacting.
The skipping tap of a little girl’s shoes announced Maisie’s approach from upstairs. She was still dragging her worn pink bunny. “Gotta get some more cookies. Me and Harry Bunny are hungry.”
Cooper pulled out a chair at the blue-clothed table. “The plate on this table is half empty. It was full when I left for work this morning.”
“I’ve been sneakin’ ’em.” Maisie’s whispered confession wasn’t guilty at all.
Charmed, Anna could not hide her smile. How she wanted to see mischief shining like that in her own daughter’s eyes.
A crisp white curtain blew m with the breezes from the opened window, snapping sassily behind him. “Come sit down with us,” he invited, his eyes sparkling with humor. “If you dare.”
“I’m willing to live dangerously.” Anna crossed the room, trying to avoid the muttering Mrs. Potts in the center of the kitchen. A kettle banged against the iron stove. Cooper’s gaze met hers, and his lopsided smile drew her closer. He was like no man she’d ever known before.
“Maisie! I see that.” Cooper turned around, half laughing.
Caught, the little sprite shoved an entire molasses cookie into her mouth while still holding another in her free hand. “Oops.”
Mrs. Potts harrumphed from t
he stove.
“I really like cookies,” Maisie confessed with a full mouth.
Anna’s heart crumbled. Katie had wanted a mother who could make cookies. Cookies her little sister loved.
“Sit down here and eat like a civilized little girl,” Cooper admonished warmly. “Not like some wild animal.”
“I ain’t wild, Papa.” Maisie happily settled into a chair and bit into her second cookie. “But maybe I wanna be an animal and have feathers.”
“You can see how rough my life is.” Cooper rolled his eyes in feigned agony. “I don’t know how I survive it.”
“You look like you’re suffering.” Anna took the chair he offered, his nearness filling her head, leaving her weak.
Mrs. Potts banged the coffeepot down on a trivet, then marched away, mumbling something about manners.
A whinny outside the kitchen was Anna’s first clue before the ruffled curtains parted and a pony’s nose poked through the open window. A wide tongue lashed out and big yellow teeth snatched a cookie from the stacked plate.
“Katie,” Cooper scolded.
“Hi, Bob.” Maisie gave the brown-and-white pony an affectionate pat.
Bob nickered in answer before withdrawing her head and trotting away from the house.
Anna wrapped her arms around her middle and giggled. All the trauma of the past few days, the worries over whether Mandy would live or die, her penniless state, Dalton Jennings’ threat, Corinthos coming after her, it all faded as wave after wave of pure merriment washed through her.
“That’s it!” Mrs. Potts slammed shut the oven door. Rage lined her unpleasant face. “I’ve taken about all I can stand of this...this nonsense.”
Anna felt the joy ebb away. She heard the scrape of Cooper’s chair as he stood and wondered if she should leave.
“Mrs. Potts. Please. I know my girls are—”
“Wild, undisciplined heathens! Wanting to be animals. Hanging from trees. Ponies eating from the table.” She tore off her apron with quick, angry movements.
“Perhaps another raise would make a difference?” Cooper reached for his billfold.
“No money is worth this headache day in and day out. Pay me my wages. I’m through putting up with your undisciplined children.”