Trailing one hand along the bulkhead and keeping her head down, she was just a few yards away when someone carrying a big box bumped into her. She lurched sideways. As she did, her cap flew off and her hair tumbled down.
Time stood still as the man stared at her and she stared back. Then, he reached for her just as she bolted. He shouted for help. Abby ducked another swipe, scrambling and half-crawling toward the plank. Using the dagger, she slashed at a hand reaching for her and then rolled, slashing at another, causing both a howl and a roar of anger. In seconds, she was surrounded, held tightly by both arms while the captain came forward.
“You should have stayed in your cabin, wench.” He motioned to his men. “Take her below decks and tie her down this time.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Abby stopped struggling. That voice only belonged to one man. She peered around one of the men hanging on to her and nearly wept with relief.
Luke stood by the rail, pistol pointed at the captain. Below him, on the dock, her brother Ben was closing in with what looked like an army behind him.
Luke gave her a quick glance before returning his wolf-colored gaze on the captain again. His voice was feral when he spoke. “I suggest you release my fiancée.”
The captain gestured and the sailors stepped back. Abby rushed to Luke. He tucked her against his side, his gun still trained on the captain as they backed slowly down the gangplank. They had hardly put their feet on the pier when Ben’s army of men rushed by to board the ship where all hell broke loose.
But Abby wasn’t watching. Her eyes closed as Luke brought her into his warm embrace and covered her mouth in a long, hot kiss.
Epilogue
Four months later…
“I’m glad you decided to keep the Ladies’ Club going,” Delia told Abby as they sipped tea—from a different ship—and listened to the ladies’ friendly boasting about exotic spice recipes that they kept inventing.
“I am, too,” Abby answered. In truth, she had been afraid after the Neptune Maiden’s captain’s arrest, they weren’t going to be able to find another supplier, but Luke had made inquiries—with a little help from the Pinkerton Agency—and found a legitimate importer.
He’d also gathered the widows together and been totally honest about his “scheme”, assuring them all of their money would be returned. To Abby’s surprise, the women had asked if they couldn’t actually go ahead with the plan to expand. They rather liked the idea of investing their own money and having a percentage of profit.
And then, after Luke had announced they were getting married, those ladies went into a true competition frenzy for the best sweets at the reception they insisted on holding.
Ben ventured into the room to let Abby know he had the individual tea sacks for the ladies when they left, but since that didn’t really need an announcement, Abby suspected he just wanted to wink at Delia.
“I never did like John,” Delia said as Ben left. “Your brother is a much better shopkeeper.”
Abby smiled. “That’s because you’re sweet on him.”
Delia didn’t bother to deny it. “Well, he is a gentleman, charming, witty, considerate—”
“Criminy! You make him sound like a saint.”
Delia giggled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
Abby didn’t want to ask how far she had already gone, but she hoped her brother and her best friend would eventually marry. She certainly could vouch for the pleasures that married life brought. “I will admit Ben seems to be enjoying his new role.”
“And he’s good at it.”
She had to agree. Like a reformed sinner, her brother scrupulously kept tabs on every penny in the till.
“Unlike that scoundrel John,” Delia added with emphasis. “He wasn’t quite as clever as he thought he was.”
“No argument there.” His fastidiousness had been his undoing. Although he had adopted a façade of merely being a shopkeeper, he hadn’t been able to keep his illegal activities entirely to himself. When the authorities had gone to the rooms he rented, they’d uncovered several ledgers where he had painstakingly entered every penny from his opium trading as well as details of each laundering scheme he’d done. Luckily, for his victims, he’d been somewhat of a miser. The money in his bank account—which had been confiscated—was more than enough to pay back Luke’s grandmother and her friends. And Pinkerton’s was now tracking down the other folks who had been swindled, as well. “I’d say justice has been served.”
Delia nodded. “Everything ended well.”
The little bell over the front door tinkled and Abby looked up to see that Luke had entered. He stopped by the counter to talk to Ben. Whatever words were exchanged, the two of them laughed together…a far cry from when they were ready to call each other out.
Abby smiled as she watched. It was a good thing they were friends, now, because in just a few months, Ben would become an uncle. And tonight, after she and Luke made love in their new home on Steiner Street, she’d tell him that he was going to be a father.
Things hadn’t ended at all. The future was just beginning.
About the Author
Cynthia Breeding has been horse-crazy since she was three years old and loved watching old westerns where the good guys wore white hats and always won. Currently, she lives on the Texas coast not far away from one of the biggest ranches in the world. You can see more of her work at www.cynthiabreeding.com
CATCH A DREAM BY CYNTHIA BREEDING
Beautiful schoolteacher Elizabeth O’Malley travels through time from the 21st century to awaken in a barn in Texas—in 1849! To make matters worse, when she’s discovered by Texas Ranger Miguel de Basque, he believes she’s a prostitute suffering from amnesia—how else can her skimpy attire and wild tales of time-travel be explained?
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Gunslinger: A Six Guns and Prairie Roses Novel Page 15