The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection

by Bell, Angela; Breidenbach, Angela; Carter, Lisa

  Gloree went to the window to watch the stars. The sky looked as if God had tossed diamonds into the darkness and allowed them to stick in place.

  A movement caught her eye. A shooting star!

  She smiled as she settled her son in his cradle and climbed into bed, nestling herself against her husband. He turned and wrapped her in an embrace as he drifted back to sleep.

  The words Pitt had underlined in his Bible drifted through her mind as she fell asleep.

  “For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”

  “Oh yes,” she whispered. “He certainly has.”

  Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a Romantic Times Book of the Year winner as well as a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of more than fifty novels with almost two million copies in print in the United States and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan, she has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award as well a Reader’s Choice Award and Book of the Year by Romantic Times magazine.

  Kathleen is a paralegal, a proud military wife, and an expatriate Texan cheering on her beloved Texas Aggies from north of the Red River. Connect with her through social media at www.kathleenybarbo.com.

  Railroaded into Love

  by Rose Ross Zediker

  Chapter 1

  Montana

  1895

  She can’t stay here.” Noah Manning gave his brother, Seth, a hard stare. His raised voice echoed off the walnut-paneled walls of the railroad chapel car Emmanuel.

  “Why not? There are living quarters back there.” Seth flashed Noah a lopsided grin and pointed to the door behind the pulpit.

  Noah paced in front of the first row of pews trying to ease his building anger. He chanced a glance at Pastor Glass, who sat on the deacon’s bench. The pastor, who’d just turned the pulpit of the church on wheels over to Noah, raised his bushy brows. His pursed lips pulled into a frown, which seemed to elongate his already long face, and reminded Noah of the proprieties for a man serving God.

  Clearing the angry words he longed to shout at Seth from his throat, Noah aimed his gaze at the two-seat pew where Seth and the young woman handcuffed to his brother’s wrist sat.

  “I’m sorry. A chapel railroad car is not a hideout for an…”

  “Outlaw?” The word snapped from the young woman’s lips. “I’m not an outlaw. You of all people know I was raised to honor God’s commandments.” She jerked her arm, leaving his brother’s hand dangling in midair. Narrow eyed, she glared at Noah.

  Me of all people. What did she mean? Was she referring to his pastoral position? Noah rubbed his temples with his fingertips hoping to quell his tension and confusion over this entire situation.

  “Tell your brother to release me.”

  How did she know Seth was his brother? Had Seth babbled on to the poor young thing while traveling to the train station?

  Noah’s eyes met the young woman’s. “I can’t do that unless I know why he took you into custody. Perhaps you could enlighten me?” Noah’s voice slipped into the even tone he used to comfort the sick.

  “I have no idea why the marshal arrested me.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. The corners of her mouth drooped, and sadness veiled her pretty face.

  A thread of compassion wove through Noah’s heart at the girl’s distress. He turned to his younger brother. “Why did you arrest her?”

  “Because she wouldn’t come here peaceably.” Seth rubbed his jaw and grinned.

  Noah didn’t have time for games. He wanted to grab Seth by the lapel that proudly displayed his marshal star and give him a good hard shake. Knowing his actions would deepen Pastor Glass’s frown and possibly cost him his first missionary assignment, he quirked a brow at Seth instead.

  “You do know the train pulls out in thirty minutes and the chapel car goes with it.”

  Seth nodded while he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small key. “I know the train schedule. I also know the next town where the chapel car is scheduled to sit on the spur track for a month, which is why she needs to stay with you.”

  Noah watched Seth insert the key into the handcuffs and release the young woman from her capture. “She is telling the truth. She is not an outlaw; however, her brother is. He’s wanted for rustling.”

  “That’s not true!” The young woman stopped rubbing her wrist and jumped to her feet. Her pretty blue eyes rounded. She fisted a hand on her hips.

  Her expression and pose struck Noah with familiarity. He wrinkled his brow while he took his first good look at the young woman. Auburn ringlets, which had escaped the thick braid knotted at the nape of her neck, framed her heart-shaped face. Her hair color and the rosy glow on her high cheekbones reminded him of Mrs. Callahan, his Sunday school teacher and best friend’s mother.

  The memory of Mrs. Callahan brought a smile to his lips. She was the woman who instilled the love of God and His law in Noah. There wasn’t a more Christian family in all of Rosebud County, Montana. Sorrow pushed the happy memory aside and tugged away his smile. Mr. and Mrs. Callahan passed away from an influenza outbreak shortly after he left his small hometown in 1890 to attend seminary school.

  “Boy, you should see your face. It took you long enough.” Seth’s guffaws rolled through the chapel car pulling Noah back to the present situation.

  Noah looked at his brother and shook his head. The only thing that kept him from throwing up his hands in exasperation was Pastor Glass’s presence. When Seth had entered the chapel car with the lovely young woman, he thought one member of his family had come to support his vocation and first pastoral position. Or as cozy as Seth and the young woman seemed, sitting shoulder to shoulder, maybe they needed to be pronounced man and wife. Never had he dreamed Seth planned to dump this young woman into his lap. “What took me long enough?”

  Seth kept laughing.

  The young woman’s hands flew into the air. “He thought you finally recognized me. I’m Molly Callahan.”

  “Little Molly Callahan?” Noah lifted his hand chest high. He blinked his eyes several times. This petite young women with her womanly curves couldn’t be his best friend’s lanky younger sister. “I can’t believe it. You’re all grown up.” Noah stepped toward Molly, arms outstretched.

  Molly held out a halting hand. “Five years does turn a thirteen-year-old girl into a woman. I always thought you were smarter than this brute of a brother of yours, but I guess not.” Her eyes narrowed. “You do realize Seth is accusing my brother and your best friend, Cass, of being a rustler.”

  Noah’s arms turned to lead, dropping to his side.

  Pastor Glass cleared his throat. Noah drew a deep breath and held in a frustrated sigh. No doubt the good pastor would wire the supervisor of Christian Missionaries about this incident. His missionary service on the railroad line would be over before it’d begun.

  “Why do you want Molly to stay with me?”

  “Cass keeps rustling the rancher’s cattle. He is holed up somewhere near the next town. We need to smoke him out before a war is started over the fence lines going up across Montana like happened in Wyoming a few years back.”

  Molly turned hate-filled eyes on Seth. “He is not a cattle rustler. He’s a businessman.”

  “Yeah, he’s in the business of stealing cattle and selling them for profit.” Seth snorted and stood. “And he’s getting all the wealthy ranchers riled up.”

  Molly fisted both hands to her hips and glared at Seth. “He is not.”

  Noah stepped between the two of them, finding it hard to believe Cass rustled cattle for a living. “Are you sure about Cass?”

  Seth reached into his pocket and handed Noah a folded piece of paper. Noah didn’t have to open it. Even backward, he could read the silhouette of the large black letters—WANTED. Cassidy Callahan and Noah had shared all the boyhood rites of passage and turned into fine, honest men. This just couldn’t be true.

  “Could this be a mistake?” The thin paper rattled when Noah shook it toward Seth.


  Seth’s lips drew into a grim line. His eyes conveyed his regret while he gave his head a discreet shake.

  Noah preached God’s laws, but he couldn’t ignore man’s laws. He turned and surveyed Molly. She oozed defiance from her stance to her expression. If he agreed to this, it would be trouble. Something he didn’t need on his first church assignment.

  “Can’t you just watch their home place?”

  Molly’s shoulder’s sagged. She slowly slid down until she sat on the pew. “There is no home place. Cass lost it when Pa and Ma died.”

  Noah heard the shame in her voice. He stepped to the edge of the wooden seat and knelt down beside Molly. “I’m sorry. Where have you been living?”

  Moisture pooled in Molly’s blue eyes. She bit the corner of her lip before dropping her gaze.

  “She lives at a saloon.”

  “What?” Noah failed to keep his shock out of his voice. Molly buried her face in her hands. Noah chanced a glance at Pastor Glass, whose repulsed expression cinched Noah’s fears. He’d be wiring the supervisor.

  “You heard me. Cass dumped her there to live and work.”

  Molly’s hands flew from her face. She glared at Seth. “I don’t work there.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “Not in the way you are implying.” Molly’s pleading eyes roved Noah’s face. “I play the piano and sing for the customer’s. That. Is. All.”

  Standing, Noah drew in a deep breath. He couldn’t believe Cass would take his sister to live in a saloon where anything could happen—especially to a pretty young woman like Molly. What had happened after Noah left their hometown? He needed more details. He pulled his pocket watch from his jacket. Fifteen minutes until the train pulled out of the depot. He looked at Pastor Glass. His stern expression sent Noah a message. He needed to send his brother and Molly away.

  Noah knew what he had to do. He squared his shoulders, cleared his throat, and looked at Molly. His mind flashed back to the spunky little girl who tagged after her brother and helped her mother bake bread and hang clothes on the line. They were such a happy family. How could things have taken such a horrible turn? Sadness squeezed his heart.

  He didn’t like how Seth was using Molly as bait. However, in good conscience Noah couldn’t let Mrs. Callahan’s daughter go back to living and working in a saloon.

  “She can stay here.”

  “No she can’t.”

  Molly had half breathed a sigh of relief when the older pastor bellowed his protest. The cool spring air thickened inside the tight confines of the church car.

  “Miss Callahan living with Pastor Manning would be very inappropriate.” The elderly gentleman strode around the pulpit and stood before Noah. “Such behavior should not be tolerated in society and is never allowed for a man of the cloth.”

  The rapid patter of Molly’s heart made her breathing shallow and her head light. She couldn’t abide the life she’d lived for the last five years one moment longer. The saloon owner had kept her locked in her room except for the time he expected her to entertain. Molly shuddered at the bawdy songs he’d forced her to sing and play.

  If Cass was alive, why hadn’t he come back for her? Years of hurt burned her eyes.

  She needed to find Cass. She needed to warn him he was the target of a manhunt. She needed answers. She couldn’t get what she needed locked in a small bedroom.

  She’d witnessed Noah solving many school-yard squabbles in her youth. Surely, he could convince the pastor she could stay. She looked at Noah. He stood stupefied. His mouth agape, moving in a wordless protest.

  The sight before her doused her small flame of hope like coffee on a campfire. She had to do something. Molly surveyed the chapel car. The last time she’d stepped foot in a church was her parents’ funeral. The small country church paled in comparison to the opulence of this chapel.

  Although compact, the chapel housed a small coat closet, deacon’s bench, altar, and pump organ along with a magnificent brass lectern and chandelier. Small panels of stained glass lined the ceiling above the windows. Who knew what lay behind the wooden door with the etched portrait of a man in the glass door window?

  Molly stood. All the wood, brass, and glass would need a woman’s attention. Many bachelors employed housekeepers. “I can be his housekeeper and assist during services by playing the organ and leading the singing.”

  When Molly stopped looking around the railcar sanctuary, she realized all the men’s eyes bored into her.

  A lopsided grin took residence on Seth’s rugged features. Although he had the same dark hair and eyes as Noah, he wasn’t nearly as handsome. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  Molly didn’t fight her satisfied smile. She’d found a way to gain freedom.

  “Calling Molly a housekeeper doesn’t solve the problem.” Noah looked to the pastor. They shook their heads in unison.

  “True.” Seth rubbed his chin before his lips curled into a cocksure smile. “Making Molly your wife will, though.”

  Chapter 2

  Nah, nah, no.” Noah stretched out his arms and waved his palms at his brother.

  The sly smile slipped from Molly’s lips. She swallowed hard. She understood Noah’s sputtering and hand gestures. The last thing she wanted to do was marry Noah Manning, yet his response tugged at her heart.

  Hurt moistened her eyes. She’d clung to her Christian upbringing but had realized long ago no God-fearing man, the only kind she’d be yoked to, would ask for her hand in marriage. Entertaining in the saloon had soiled her reputation. Spinsterhood was her future.

  Drawing a deep breath, Molly tried to conquer her emotions enough to speak. “I believe Noah is trying to say we both believe in the sanctity of marriage. It’s not to be entered into lightly.” Molly dragged her gaze from Noah’s relieved face to Seth’s bemused features. “Or forced.”

  Seth shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He reached for the handcuffs he’d thrown down onto the pew.

  “No.” Noah’s loud protest echoed off the paneled ceilings, drawing all eyes to him. He glared at Seth. “You said she wasn’t an outlaw.”

  Molly stepped backward when Noah forced his lanky frame in the small space separating her and Seth. His broad shoulders, that she barely came to, hid her completely and blocked her view. Standing behind him she felt safe—a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

  Another round of moisture sheened her eyes. Relief urged her to take a step, lean against him, and let his protection envelope her.

  “That’s true.” Seth wiggled his wrist, jingling the handcuffs.

  Molly leaned sideways to look past Noah.

  Seth’s eyes, twinkling with merriment, locked to hers. “Molly has no home unless she wants to go back to the saloon.”

  Molly hitched a brow in reply. She knew Seth was using his school-yard antics to goad her and Noah in an attempt to get his way. If she had anything to do with it, he wouldn’t. Cass would never steal. Their parents had raised them to abide by the Ten Commandments.

  Pastor Glass clicked his tongue, drawing Noah and Molly’s attention to him. He gave his head a small shake.

  Noah turned back to Seth. “I know even you aren’t heartless enough to send Molly back to a life of slavery.”

  Seth shrugged. “If I don’t take her back to the saloon, she has no home. This county has laws. Vagrants are locked up.”

  Molly gasped. The gravity of her situation hit her full force. She had nowhere to go nor anyone to flee to unless she could find Cass. Her knees wobbled. She eased closer to the pew. When the hard wooden seat edge brushed her leg, she sank down on it. Tears burned her eyes, and her bottom lip trembled. Her situation was hopeless.

  She needed help. She needed to find Cass. If Seth was right and Cass’s whereabouts were close to the next town, she needed to stay on this train.

  The instant a tear trickled down Molly’s ivory cheek, something moved in Noah’s heart. The urge to protect Molly overtook him. He turned to Seth. “This isn’t
a school-yard game.”

  His brother sobered. “I know. She only has three choices, return to the saloon, go to jail, or stay here.”

  “Which requires marriage.”

  Noah’s jaw dropped as he looked from Seth to Pastor Glass. Molly’s movement caught his eye. She held her head high and swiped at the tears trickling down her cheeks. She blinked several times before she looked directly into his eyes.

  He caught his breath. He thought he’d see pleading. Instead Molly’s eyes emitted strength. She knew her future lay in his choice. She was ready to face her fate. She gave him a weak smile and stood.

  Shoulders erect, Molly jutted out her chin. Her eyes were directed on something past Seth’s shoulder. She was clinging to her pride, which he guessed was all she had, with all of her might. Noah’s heart twisted. Molly should be giggling with school chums, not facing a grim future. What was wrong with Cass? Why would he do such a thing to his little sister?

  Molly held her wrists out to Seth. “I prefer jail to the saloon.”

  “No.” His firm protest drew all of their attention to him. He inserted two fingers into the neckline of his shirt and pulled to ease the constriction in his throat, knowing full well his clothing had nothing to do with the strangling feeling. He wanted to preach God’s Word more than anything, but out of respect to Mrs. Callahan he couldn’t let Molly go to jail, even if it meant being relieved of his chapel car appointment.

  Noah drew a deep breath and looked Molly square in the eye. “We have no choice.”

  For a brief second her eyes searched his, then she lowered her gaze and gave a short nod of confirmation.

  “Pastor Glass, I know it isn’t customary for the pastor of a chapel car to be married…

  The pastor held up a halting hand. “Under these circumstances, I’ll allow it and explain it to the Christian Council.”