“This is beautiful. Are you sure it’s okay to be here?” He lifted her from the buggy and she spread a blanket on the ground. “The owner isn’t going to run us off with a load of buckshot?”
“No, the owner gave his permission, but if you want to ask him, go ahead.” He lay on the blanket and patted it.
“We should have asked before we got here.” She sat close to him and spread her skirt around her, but not before he saw her shapely legs and felt a response below his waist.
“Just say it out loud,” he teased. “You never know where he might be.”
“Sir, can we use your property for a picnic?” Her throaty laugh excited him.
“Be my guest,” he answered. Her head jerked around.
“Really, Josh. The owner might get upset.” She gently put her hands on his chest and shoved him on his back. When she leaned over, her breasts pressed against him. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Who says I’m not the owner? Actually, I bought it about a year ago. I had a well dug, but haven’t gotten around to building a cabin yet, although I’m working on it. A couple of times a month I come out here and hunt.”
“This is your ranch?” Pink splotches colored her cheeks and wonder filled her eyes. “You tricked me.”
“Yep, I own it. There’s a special reason I brought you here.” He sat up and pulled her around to sit facing him. “This place is special and so are you.” Her little hand was warm and soft in his big calloused hands. He reached into his vest pocket. “I love you, Annabelle, and can’t imagine life without you. Will you marry me?” He pulled out an engagement ring. She squealed and threw her arms around his neck.
“Yes, I’ll marry you. I can’t imagine a life without you either.” He slipped the small diamond ring onto her finger. “I love you so much.” She held out her hand and stared at the ring. “It’s perfect.”
They kissed and he felt her breasts pressing against him. He could no longer deny his body and lay her down on the blanket. In moments he had her undressed. His eyes feasted on her smooth delicate body. “You’re so beautiful. I can’t wait to make you my wife.” After spreading kisses over her body, he shed his clothes and slowly entered her, savoring their passion until finally they exploded with pleasure.
After dressing, Annabelle opened the picnic basket. “Do you want chicken or ham? There are some hard-boiled eggs, too.” She fed him chicken and he fed her ham and they laughed. Soon he helped her to her feet and interlaced fingers with her. They planned the house he would build for their family. Standing at the crest of the hill, he wrapped his arms around her and caressed her. She touched her stomach and imagined their child growing there.
Josh held onto her, stealing kisses, as he drove back to town. He wanted to get married as soon as possible and get her out of the saloon business.
At the livery, Josh stopped the buggy and helped her out. “Let’s get you into the saloon before someone takes a shot at you.” Solving Woods’ murder had suddenly become urgent; his future wife’s life depended on it.
He left her in the office with the order, “Stay in here. Things might get rowdy out there and I don’t want you exposed to danger. Keep that gun close by at all times and if in doubt shoot first and I’ll ask questions later. I want us to grow old together.” She pressed herself against him and slid her arms around his neck. “I love you, Annabelle. If anything happened to you, I would die.”
“I would die without you, Josh. I’m certain I can find something to do around here until you get back.” She gestured at the general disarray around her.
A quick kiss and he departed, closing the door behind him. Once again he headed to Lauren’s place to question her. Her girls denied she was there, but he searched the establishment. He failed to find her, but he found a dress with the same buttons with one missing and the dress she’d worn this morning with a button missing. He found a gun, but it wasn’t the same caliber that had killed Woods. Lauren could have disposed of it. He took the dresses to his office and left them there.
When he came out of his office he saw smoke bellowing from the other side of town and broke into a run. Flames shot from the saloon high into the air. His blood pounded through his ears. Annabelle promised to stay in her office in the center of the saloon. He had to protect her. He wasn’t going to fail this time.
He slid to a stop across the street from the saloon. Flames licked the sky from the upper rooms and the roof and spread to the front of the saloon. There was no way to stop the fire; it would burn the building to the ground. Judging from the flames, the back seemed still intact and he ran around to the alley. The back door was locked. He tried kicking it with all his strength, but it wouldn’t budge. He should’ve known Woods would put the heaviest and strongest door in the rear. He moved to the front of the saloon and to his amazement found it still intact.
Lauren stood in front of the saloon yelling, “Burn. Burn.” Rufus appeared in the doorway. When he tried to come out, Lauren raised a pistol and fired a shot at him.
“What the hell you doing, Lauren?” Rufus shouted. “I have to get out. The damned building is on fire.”
“The Chances Are Saloon is rightfully mine. If I can’t have it, no one can,” the mad woman shouted. “I want that bitch to die just like that two-timing son of a bitch Woods did. The Chances Are was supposed to be mine.” She fired another shot at the door. “The lying bastard promised to marry me, not her. After everything I did for him she took him away from me. The bastard deserved to die and I’m glad I killed him.”
“Drop the gun, Lauren,” Josh shouted over the crackling of the fire. She turned to face him and fired a shot in his direction. His pistol easily slid from its holster and he pulled the trigger. Her legs folded as a bright red stain over her heart spread across her chest coloring her white blouse. She fell to the ground.
With a tinge of regret Josh holstered his Colt.
Rufus ran out of the saloon violently coughing as soot shimmered through the air. “Annabelle’s trapped inside her office. I tried to get her out, but part of the building collapsed blocking the way.”
Josh crashed through the front door and a seemingly impenetrable wall of fire. He fought his way through popping wood, intense heat and fire that blistered his skin. The pain failed to register as he made his way to the office. “Annabelle. Annabelle! Talk to me!”
He heard Annabelle’s screams for help over the fury of the fire. She was alive.
“I’m here, Annabelle,” he shouted. A huge burning timber blocked the door to her office. Strength rushed through his veins as he tossed it and other debris to the side. Heat had warped the frame and the door wouldn’t open when he pushed on it. No! This wasn’t going to happen again. He wouldn’t survive losing Annabelle.
“Stand back, I’m coming in!” He lifted his leg and crashed his boot against the door. It gave a little.
“Josh, help me.” Annabelle coughed on the other side.
Putting his shoulder to the door, he heaved his body against it. This time it sprang open and hot air rushed into the room. Through the dense smoke, he managed to find Annabelle sitting on the floor coughing. He struggled to breathe—he had a promise to keep and he wasn’t going to fail.
“We have to get out of here. The building is coming down around us.” He pulled her to her feet, but she couldn’t stand on her own. Scooping her into his arms, burying her face against his chest, he made his way to the front door of the saloon, dodging flames and falling debris. Her skirt caught on fire, but he quickly pulled it up and smothered the flames. Moments later he saw the wall of fire at the door separating them from safety. He shielded her from the flames and with one last burst of energy ran through the flames and broke out into the street.
In the safety of the open air, he took a long, deep breath of fresh air before he set Annabelle on her feet. They held onto each other and watched in silence as the building collapsed. Her hand flew to her mouth when she saw Lauren’s body on the ground. Mr. Webber was kneeling ne
xt to the corpse, tears streaming down his face.
The banker staggered to his feet with Lauren’s gun in hand. “Who killed her?” The crowd watched in silence. “I want to know who killed her.” No one answered. “Who killed my sister?” he yelled. A collective gasp filled the air at Webber’s rant. She was his sister?
Josh led Annabelle over to Rufus, never taking his eyes off Webber. “Watch her.” He slid the Colt from its holster and held it at his side.
“She set fire to the saloon, and when Rufus tried to escape she fired a shot at him.” Josh moved away from Annabelle and toward Webber. “I told her to drop the gun and she fired at me. I had no choice.”
“Lauren only wanted what was hers. The no good son of a bitch broke the engagement, saying he couldn’t marry a whore. Said he needed a respectable wife and laughed at her. The Chances Are would have been hers after she killed him, except for that damn will.” Webber raised his arm and pointed the gun at Annabelle. “He left it all to that tramp.”
Josh tamped down his anger; it wouldn’t help him in a gunfight.
Webber continued to rant. “She didn’t leave town; then Monty and Randy didn’t kill her at the jail. Lauren went crazy after that bitch made her leave the Chances Are. Everyone here knows Lauren deserved this place more than anyone. She’s responsible for the death of four people.” He pointed the gun at Annabelle. “I intend to kill her, Sheriff. The town will thank me for it. If it wasn’t for her, Woods and Lauren wouldn’t be dead.” Webber played to the crowd. “That bitch has got the sheriff on her side and stole everything that should’ve been Lauren’s.”
“I can’t let you do that, Webber. Which one of you killed Woods?” Josh shut out everything but Webber. “I suggest you walk away from this now before any more blood is shed.”
“Lauren did. She shot Woods when he said he was marrying that bitch.” Josh’s blood ran cold. “Once that bitch died, Lauren could have gone back and taken over the Chances Are. Things would have been the way they were supposed to be. Lauren would own the Chances Are, I would own the bank, and our brother Carl would be back to run the gaming tables. Now I have to kill you both.” Carl was their brother?
Josh saw Roger off to the side. One way or another, the banker wouldn’t survive if he decided to fight it out.
“Drop the gun, Webber. If it was all Lauren, then I have no problem with you walking away from this.” It’s not too late he whispered under his breath. The barrel of the pistol pointed at Annabelle started to rise as Webber began to squeeze the trigger. Josh’s shot hit him in the heart. The man pitched forward to his knees. He tried to raise the gun, but he fell forward and landed face down in the dirt.
***
Annabelle ran to Josh and slid underneath his arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” He wrapped his arms around her. “They were bad seed.”
She buried her face in his chest. “I was so scared he would kill you and I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“When I saw the flames and realized it was the saloon, I almost went crazy thinking about losing you.” He kissed her right there in the middle of the street. “It scared me to think you depended on me and I’d let you down.”
“You would never let me down. I knew you’d come for me.” He kissed her again.
Mrs. Johnson approached them. “I’m sorry you lost everything, Miss Yeager. Why don’t you come on over to the store and I’ll help you replace your clothes and things.” Annabelle turned to Josh whose mouth had fallen open. Now that the Chances Are was gone, Annabelle was respectable again and Mrs. Johnson wouldn’t miss making a sale.
Mr. Landers stood next to Mrs. Johnson, “On behalf of the town, we’re real sorry, Miss Yeager. Appears some people misjudged both you and Webber and put their faith in the wrong person. We hope you’ll stay in town and give us another chance.”
The words touched her and she turned to Josh. He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “Thank you, Mr. Landers. I’ll do whatever Josh says.”
“I’d thought about moving, but there’s a ranch outside town with my name on it. So I guess we’ll stay around awhile and see how things work out.” Josh shook Mr. Lander’s hand.
She looked at the burning rubble of the saloon. “I might have to spend the night at the jail again.”
“Oh no, you won’t. As soon as I find the preacher, we’re getting married and you’ll spend the night with me at the ranch out under the stars. Looks like we need to get started on that house right away, because I want a house full of young’uns to keep you out of trouble.”
***
Annabelle stood on the porch of the ranch house and watched her husband ride up. He slid off his horse and bounded up the steps. He bypassed her, went straight to the cradle, and picked up the sleeping baby. “How’s our boy?” He tucked Tyler in his arms close to his heart, then wrapped an arm around Annabelle before kissing her. “I missed you both. Seems like I’ve been gone a month.”
“You were gone less than five days.” She leaned against his strong body. “Yet it does seem like months. Did you catch them?”
They sat on the porch swing. “The tip we received was good this time. We caught Carl Thamann and his gang outside Temmings. Carl died in a shootout and the posse took the other three to jail. The Judge’ll be there next week so they should be off to Huntsville right after that.”
“We were worried about you.” The baby scrunched his face and waved his fists as he started fussing. “I think he’s hungry.” She undid her bodice and Josh handed her the baby. Tyler settled at her breast.
“This is a sight I missed seeing.” Draping an arm over her shoulders, he said, “If someone had told me a year ago, I would miss being home with my wife watching her feed our son, I would have locked him up as crazy.”
He watched his son suckle at her breast and brushed his cheek.
Annabelle looked up at him with her beautiful, loving eyes. “This is what I truly wanted when I came west. I’m so thankful I found you.”
“So am I, sweetheart.” He tickled the little baby toes of his son. “So am I.”
The Authors
Ann Lethbridge - writing as Michèle Ann Young
Michèle Ann Young grew up in England, and now lives in Canada working as a full-time writer after an interesting career in university administration. She lives with her husband, two lovely daughters and a dictatorial Maltese Terrier. When not creating stories, she enjoys the ancient arts of tatting and smocking.
The Brides of the West story struck a particular chord with her, since her heroine Tess, is new to North America, and Michèle Ann had fun recalling some of her own surprises about the differences between the Old World and the New when she first arrived on these shores.
www.micheleannyoung.com
Kimberly Ivey
Kimberly Ivey began her career as a freelance writer more than twenty-five years ago. Since then, hundreds of her nonfiction articles, poetry, short stories and essays have been published throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is the author of one children's book, a romantic suspense novel, two novellas, and several short stories in print anthologies.
She has served on the board of professional writing organizations and literacy committees, and enjoys presenting workshops at conferences and to local groups. She is a creative writing instructor at a southeast Texas college.
A mother of three and grandmother to four, Kimberly resides in her home state of Texas with her husband of 31 years, the youngest of her three children, and several spoiled, and demanding pets.
http://hometown.aol.com/kimberlyivey2/index.html
Billie Warren Chai
1Billie lives in Ohio with her husband whom she met while attending the University of Louisville. They have two teenage sons. After graduating, Billie and her husband had several successful business ventures and are now retired.
Billie's stories appear in numerous Highland Press anthologies: Secret of the Blue Moon in Blue Moon Magi
c and Operation Family in Christmas Wishes. Keeping Hannah Safe appears in the Recipe for Love anthology and Calling Hailey's Bluff in Love Under the Mistletoe. Her story Hitting Paydirt will appear in the Love on a Harley anthology. Billie is currently working on two full length manuscripts.
She and her husband love the freedom of touring the country on their motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Road King Classic as they believe in living their lives to the fullest.
www.billiewarrenchai.com
Praise for
Highland Press Books!
Through its collection of descriptive phrases, The Millennium Phrase Book by Rebecca Andrews offers writers concrete examples of rich and evocative descriptions. Browsing through its pages offers a jumpstart to the imagination, helping authors deepen the intensity of scenes and enhance their own writing.
~ Tami Cowden, Author of The Complete Guide to Heroes & Heroines, Sixteen Master Archetypes
***
To Woo A Lady – Erin E.M. Hatton has written a series of short stories covering Regency England and the historical standards and expectations that existed then. I especially liked how she made her characters vulnerable, yet strong. There are no wilting wallflowers here. The men are strong, stubborn and even a bit understanding about the women’s expectations and the realities of the times and world they live in. The author's storylines are believable, enjoyable to read, and take you to a world of time past, with all its warts and pimples as well as beautiful homes and good times at public functions. It's not all peaches and cream, but it's real.
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