A Bargained-For Bride

by Marcia Lynn McClure

“Well, why did you wait until I’m half dead, darlin’?” Boone asked. “I ain’t myself right now…and that don’t seem fair.”

  “No, no. I only wanted…” Jilly continued to stammer.

  She gasped, however, when suddenly Boone’s hands released her face, his arms banding around her as he pulled her onto him, rolling her over on the bed until he hovered over her.

  “You gotta give me a fair chance, Jill,” he said, smiling down at her through still very fatigued-looking eyes. “I can put ol’ Jack Taylor to shame in every way…but not when I’m half dead from ridin’ down an outlaw.” He chuckled. “But I’ll tell you what…I’ll give it a try anyhow, all right?”

  “Boone, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Jilly began.

  But a kiss the like Jilly had never known or even ever imagined silenced her. As Boone’s mouth descended to capture hers in a warm, moist, intimate kiss, Jilly lay breathless beneath him, swept away to unfamiliar and unexpected, yet extraordinary, pleasure!

  Again and again he kissed her, coaxing her into accepting and then returning his impassioned affections. Every part of Jilly’s insides were trembling uncontrollably! She felt overly warm, but wonderfully so! Over and over her mouth met with Boone’s, mingled in a shared exchange of intimate desire, longing, and emotion. Gone was Jilly’s self-loathing over allowing Jack Taylor to kiss her—for in comparison to Boone Ramsey’s skillful, manly kisses, Jack Taylor’s were like being licked by a puppy.

  All too soon, however, Boone broke the seal of their lips, and Jilly lay quietly beneath him, struggling to catch a regulated breath.

  “You taste better than I even imagined, Jill Ramsey,” Boone told her. “And one of these days, when I’m not so worn out, I’m gonna have my fill of you, girl. You hear me?”

  “Why haven’t you ever kissed me again?” she couldn’t help asking, even as he placed a lingering kiss on her neck, causing goose bumps to cover every inch of her body. “Other than on our wedding day? Why haven’t you ever tried to—”

  “Because I wasn’t sure you’d let me,” he interrupted. “And even if you did…I wasn’t sure I could stop once I’d started.”

  Jilly smiled, inhaling the sweet scent of his skin at his shoulder.

  “Now you go on to bed and quit millin’ around,” Boone said, rolling to his back once more. “I gotta get me some sleep or I won’t be worth a hill of beans tomorrow.”

  “All right,” Jilly agreed, disappointed. She could’ve lingered in Boone’s bed exchanging kisses with him forever!

  Quickly she climbed over him and out of his bed. But he caught her wrist and stalled her when she started to walk away.

  “And, Jill?” he began.

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t be comin’ in like that and kissin’ on me unless you intend to stay next time, all right?” he said. “It’s too hard on a man. You’re damn lucky I’m so worn out and sore from that posse ride.”

  Frowning in lacking a full understanding of what Boone was going on about, Jilly shrugged and said, “Okay. Good night, Boone. Sleep well.”

  Boone chuckled, sighed, and said, “I’ll try.”

  Jilly halfheartedly returned to her own room. Her senses were still quivering from the effects of Boone’s kisses. All she wanted was to stay in his bed with him—be held in his arms and kissed all through the night. She couldn’t imagine a more wonderful way to drift off to sleep!

  And then the ugly imp of doubt began to seep into her thoughts. Boone had kissed her, held her, caressed her—but he’d also been nearly drunk with fatigue. Jilly began to wonder if he would’ve done the same had he not been so tired. Perhaps what he’d said had been true—that he’d been uncertain as to whether she would allow him to kiss her again. Then again, she couldn’t imagine why any woman would refuse a kiss from Boone Ramsey!

  Even still, doubt had managed to creep into her thoughts, and there it nested—for hours and hours—until the rooster crowed and the first rays of sunshine glinted on Jilly’s bedroom window, causing her eyes to close in search of shade, finally sending her off to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  The sound of voices woke Jilly from her deep sleep. Sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes, the memory of the night before—of Boone’s impassioned kisses—washed over her, sending every part of her being soaring with delight and hope.

  But her zenith was short-lived, for once more she heard voices coming from outside the house—voices raised in excitement, mingled with the sound of horse hooves.

  “Jill!”

  Jilly gasped as she looked to her open window to see Boone astride his horse.

  “What’s goin’ on?” she asked, still drowsy with the lingering effects of a deep sleep.

  Boone shook his head. “Somebody fell down in the old mine shafts just outside of town, and I’m ridin’ out there to help. You go on about your day, and I’ll be home soon, all right?”

  Jilly was instantly angry. “No! It’s not all right! Why do you have to go, Boone? You just got back from that posse ride…and before that it was the well and the little Graham girl! You’re gonna get hurt one day!”

  But Boone smiled and shook his head. “No, I won’t,” he assured her. “But I’m flattered that you’re worried about me.”

  “Boone, don’t go,” Jilly said. “Please…I worry so much when you’re off doin’ somethin’ like this.”

  “I’ll be careful, Jill,” Boone said, however. “You don’t worry and just have yourself a nice breakfast. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  But as he turned and rode away—as three other men on horses joined him—a great and oppressive sense of doom settled over Jilly just like an ominous thunderhead. He’d become too confident! Boone was always the one saving everybody from everything, and it had buoyed up his confidence too much. The mines were treacherous; everybody knew it, and everybody stayed away. Furthermore, Jilly knew that the last time someone had fallen in the mine, he and the man who went in after him ended up dead and buried under fifteen feet of rubble.

  Quickly she hopped out of bed and washed her face and hands with the pitcher and bowl on the small table in her room. Brushing her hair, she braided it back as fast as she could and then dressed.

  Jilly was glad Romeo was so cooperative when it came to being saddled. It meant that she wouldn’t be too far behind the men that had ridden off toward the mines.

  “Yah!” Jilly shouted, causing Romeo to bolt out of the barn at a dead gallop.

  The tears brimming in Jilly’s eyes made it difficult to see, but she still rode hard toward the mines. She had to stop Boone from going after whomever had fallen in. Something was spurring her on—screaming to her mind that she had to stop him. Was it a premonition? Would this be the time that Boone’s kind heart and heroics killed him?

  Jilly’s tears spilled over as fear overtook her. She had to stop Boone! It was all she could think of. He couldn’t continue to risk his life for everyone in Mourning Dove Creek. Sure, someone needed to help others—but did it always have to be Boone Ramsey?

  She knew what people thought—that he was heroic. But more than that, she suspected they thought Boone was expendable. After all, everyone else in town had families—wives and husbands, children, grandparents. But Boone had had no one for so very long that folks had begun to think it was all right for him to risk his life to save someone else. After all, if something tragic happened to him, who was there to mourn him?

  Jilly’s fear increased, as did her anger, as she rode. Perhaps not everyone thought Boone was expendable—perhaps no one did. But the way everyone allowed him to risk life and limb over and over again made her suspect that some did. But he wasn’t! Boone was more important than anyone—at least to Jilly he was. And now he did have a family to mourn him if tragedy struck—her!

  As she rode on, the sound of saddle leather shifting in rhythm with Romeo’s gait, the sound of Romeo’s breathing ringing in Jilly’s ears, she thought of nothing but Boone—of how much and how long s
he’d loved him. Not for the scant space of two weeks since he’d asked to marry her, but for as long as she could remember, even before she’d taken him that silly orange over ten years before—and she wouldn’t lose him! She wouldn’t lose him, ever, and certainly not because some fool fell into a mine he shouldn’t have been poking around anyway!

  *

  “Be careful down there, Clarence,” Boone hollered into the mineshaft as he helped lower Clarence Farley. “Them walls will crumble and come fallin’ down on you quicker than you think.”

  “Give him some slack there, Boone,” Doolin Adams instructed as he leaned over the hole that had opened up and swallowed Clarence Farley’s little brother, Arthur. Turning to glare at Davey Graham and Willy Lillingston, Doolin scolded, “What in the hell were you boys doin’ out here anyway? You know how dangerous these old mine shafts are!”

  “We didn’t know them shafts stretched out this far from the mine’s openin’,” Willy explained.

  “If my mama finds out about this, I’ll be skinned alive for sure!” Davey Graham whined.

  “Well, you oughta be,” Boone grumbled. “You three boys are more trouble than a nest of yellow jackets, I swear.”

  “I got him!” Clarence hollered from the mine sinkhole. “Haul us on up, Boone! And do it quick. I think Arthur’s got a broken arm.”

  Doolin Adams shook his head. “You best run into town and get your daddy, Mona,” he told the Havasham girl who had run into town looking for help in the first of it.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Adams,” Mona said as she turned and started running back toward town.

  Boone puffed as he worked to help Sam Rutherford haul Clarence and his brother out of the hole. Wrapping the rope around his waist, Boone reached down and took hold of Arthur’s good arm when the boy finally broke daylight.

  After he’d assisted Clarence out as well, he accepted the handshake his friend offered.

  “Thank you, Boone,” Clarence said. “It seems you’re always around to help everybody out of a pickle.”

  “Yes, it does seem that way, doesn’t it?”

  Boone was startled at the sound of Jilly’s voice—even more startled when he turned to see her dismount Romeo and begin storming toward him.

  “You have to stop this, Boone Ramsey!” she cried, tears streaming down her face. Boone’s eyes widened with astonishment as she placed her small hands on his chest and shoved him backward. “I will die of worry if you don’t stop runnin’ off to pull every idiot out of every mess they tumble into! Do you hear me?”

  “Jill,” Boone began, still rattled by his wife’s emotional outburst, “the Farley boy…he fell into a shaft and—”

  “And I’m sorry that he did!” Jilly cried. “But you can’t always be the one to risk your life for someone, Boone! I can’t take it all the time! I mean, I know it’s part of who you are—and I do love that about you—but I’ll end up in the asylum if you keep goin’ off every day to face danger for the sake of someone else! I swear I’ll go crazy!”

  Boone glanced to Doolin—to Jilly’s grandpa—hoping for some assistance in calming his overwrought granddaughter. But Doolin Adams was too busy chuckling with obvious amusement and simply shrugged.

  “And you!” Jilly said, pointing to her grandpa.

  “Me?” Doolin asked, surprised and pointing an index finger to himself.

  “Yes, you,” Jilly confirmed. “You quit eggin’ him on, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Doolin said—though he was still smiling.

  “Jill…I’m sorry I worried you so,” Boone said, reaching out and taking hold of her arm. “I didn’t realize…but I guess I do run off a lot and leave you home to worry, don’t I?”

  “Yes, you do,” Jilly said, melting into sobs.

  As everyone stood staring at him, Boone simply reached out and gathered Jilly into his arms. “I’m sorry, Jill. I’m sorry. I’ll be more thoughtful of your worryin’ from now on, all right?”

  “All right,” she sniffled against him, quite pitifully, and causing all the men standing around to smile with understanding in Boone’s predicament.

  Boone was more than just astonished; he was awestruck. What had happened? Why was Jilly so upset? Sure, he’d run off a lot of late to help folks, but he’d thought she wouldn’t really care too much. Yet then he thought of the night before—the way she’d crept into his room and kissed him. He thought of how she hadn’t resisted—not a moment—when he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her the way he’d wanted to kiss her all along. Surely she didn’t truly care for him—not as deeply as it appeared she did in that moment. Maybe it was just her way of paying him back for beating the pride out of Jack Taylor. He’d knocked old Jack around a bit, so that now the whole town thought Boone and Jilly were really in love. Maybe this was her way of returning the kindness—making believe that she was so overly worried about him so that the whole town would think she’d married him because she’d wanted to and not because her grandpa had forced her. That must be it—Boone was sure of it.

  “Come on, Jill,” he said, taking hold of Romeo’s reins as the horse approached. “Let’s get home, all right?”

  He felt her nod against him where her head was pressed to his chest, but she didn’t move.

  “Come on,” he coaxed again. “We’re finished here, aren’t we, boys?” Boone glanced around to see Clarence Farley’s mouth hanging open, Doolin Adams still smiling, and everyone else looking just downright uncomfortable.

  “I’m…um…I’m sure we can finish up here just fine, Boone,” Sam Rutherford assured him.

  Jilly pulled away from Boone then, angrily brushing her tears from her face. “I’m sorry, you all. I don’t know what came over me. I’m just awful tired this mornin’. Boone’s been gone for three days, and I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.”

  When Sam Rutherford and Doolin Adams chuckled, Boone just smiled and took Jilly’s arm, leading her to Romeo and helping her to mount.

  “I’m right behind you, all right, Jill?” he asked.

  She nodded, looked to her grandpa, saying, “Bye, Grandpa,” and rode off at a very slow gait.

  “So she didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, is that it?” Doolin teased Boone.

  “That’s enough out of you, Grandpa,” Boone scolded playfully.

  “Well, you best get home and settle her down, Boone,” Doolin said, smiling. “When a man’s wife is out of sorts…the whole world is out of sorts.”

  “I’m gatherin’ that pretty quick,” Boone said.

  Hurrying to his own horse, Boone mounted and rode out after Jilly. He was still stunned of course—stunned not only by her emotional outburst and apparent concern for his well-being but also in wondering if it were all just a show for the men in town or if it were sincere.

  She couldn’t face him. She’d been so foolish! Jilly couldn’t believe she’d acted so rashly—so emotionally—and in front of her grandpa and several men from town. They must think her the biggest idiot ever born!

  And she cringed when she began to imagine what Boone must think of her. He probably thought she’d already lost her senses and needed to be locked up in an asylum! It was why every time she heard the trot of his horse behind her, she spurred Romeo to a faster gait. She just couldn’t face Boone!

  Jilly knew he could easily ride up and overtake her; his horse was much faster than Romeo. But he didn’t, and she was silently appreciative of his sensibilities. As she rode toward home with Boone at her back, Jilly tried to regain control of her chaotic emotions. Whatever was wrong with her? She couldn’t fathom it. All she knew was that she was embarrassed at acting so irrationally—and that she loved Boone Ramsey and didn’t want him to cast her aside for acting such a fool.

  “I’ll put him away, Jill,” Boone said as they stopped before the barn. “You go on in and…and do whatever you need to do, all right?”

  Jilly managed to nod and then fled as quickly as she could to the house.

  Studying hersel
f in the looking glass in her room, she was further mortified with humiliation. Her cheeks and nose and lips were still red from crying, and her hair was loose and flying every which way. It was a wonder all the men at the site of the mine shaft sinkhole hadn’t run away screaming in terror at her horrid appearance—especially Boone.

  Trying to calm her nerves, Jilly splashed her face with cool water, brushed her hair, and braided it into a loose braid once more. She heard Boone enter the kitchen through the back porch door—heard him pull a chair out from the kitchen table. He was sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her—and she knew she’d have to face him sooner or later.

  Therefore, opting for sooner, Jilly inhaled a deep breath in an effort to gather her courage and left her room to go to the kitchen.

  Going to the sink, she worked the pump a moment as she retrieved two drinking glasses from the cupboard. Filling each glass with cool water from the pump, she then carried them to the kitchen table, setting one glass on the table in front of Boone and the other on the table in front of her as she took her seat across from him.

  Jilly didn’t look at Boone, of course—not at first—not until he said, “So what was that all about?”

  Then, feigning ignorance—for in truth, she really did wish the whole thing could just be forgotten—she said, “What was what all about?”

  Boone grinned and puffed a laugh. “Were you just givin’ back to me for beatin’ the snot out of Jack Taylor? Is that it?”

  And there it was! Boone had offered her an escape! All she had to do was tell him that, yes, she was returning the favor he’d done for her by beating Jack Taylor down. She didn’t have to tell him that his constant heroism for the sake of others frightened her to death—that she worried constantly over his safety. She didn’t need to confess that she’d finally admitted to herself that she was in love with him.

  Yet Jilly knew that, if she ever hoped to win any part of Boone Ramsey’s true affections, then the time had come for the truth.

  And so she answered, “No. I wasn’t just returnin’ a favor.”