The Marshal and Mrs. O'Malley

by Julianne MacLean

  “I reckon I’m going to need it tonight.”

  She knew he planned to stay awake and guard her safety, but where did he plan to do it? From downstairs—or closer to her bed? The idea of him nearby while she slept made her tremble with apprehension. Would she be able to stay out of his arms?

  Warily she filled the stove with kindling and lit it, then prepared the coffeepot and set it to boil. She sat down at the table across from Fletcher and reached for a cookie. “Do you think anything will happen tonight? Zeb’s already tried once.”

  “Killer or not, Zeb has a very good reason to keep you healthy for the next few months. He wants a wedding to ensure my election to the sheriff’s office.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “Yes, after I convinced him of it.”

  Jo swallowed the sweet shortbread. “Clever of you, Marshal, but I still wouldn’t trust him. If he thinks I might expose him, our wedding will hardly seem important, even if it does get you the job of sheriff.”

  “Well, there’s more to it than that.”

  He gazed at her uncertainly and her stomach lurched with dread. “I’m not sure I want to know.”

  Fletcher ran his fingers through his hair. The nagging sensation in her gut refused to be still.

  “Tonight I learned that Zeb wants your land,” Fletcher said finally. “He knows you won’t sell and he wants me to get it by marrying you.”

  The walls seemed to be closing in around Jo. She was beginning to understand.

  “Is that why he killed Edwyn? For the land?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A chill grew inside her. “How could he do that? Take a man’s life—Edwyn was a father!—just for a piece of land! I don’t understand!”

  “Jo—”

  “If Zeb thinks he can get away with this…” Her thoughts began to race dangerously as she considered the implications of Zeb’s intent. “The land is to go to Leo after I’m gone. If anything happens to—”

  Fletcher covered her hand with his. “I won’t let that happen. You’re safe with me and Leo is safe with his uncle, and all this will be cleared up before we let him come home. Trust me.”

  She stood up. “Maybe I should just sell to Zeb. Get out of here while we can. The land isn’t as important as our lives.”

  “No, Jo. I know what it is to give up your home and everything you’ve worked for because something didn’t go according to plan. It can change your life forever. I won’t let that happen.”

  “But Fletcher…”

  “I’ll keep you and Leo safe, I promise.” Fletcher’s eyes burned with intensity as he looked up at her.

  Jo struggled with the anger and fear boiling within her. She dropped her forehead to her hand to suppress the throbbing in her head.

  “The thought of ever losing you…” Fletcher continued. “It makes me want to destroy him, too.”

  Jo’s anger cooled at the sound of those words on Fletcher’s lips. He didn’t want to lose her?

  Slowly she sat back down. “So you do believe that he’s capable of murder?”

  “Yes.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “Will MacGregor’s murder tonight, for starters. Besides that, I find that I want you to be safe more than anything. Your devotion to your family and your home moves me, Jo.”

  Jo covered her face with her hands, her heart breaking from the shame she had for so long been trying to escape. “Oh, Fletcher, I don’t deserve admiration from you. When I walked into Zeb’s store to kill him that night, I told you I was doing it for Leo—for our safety, but that’s not entirely true. I was doing it for me, too.”

  Fletcher leaned across the table and covered her cheek with his warm hand. “You don’t have to say—”

  She pulled back. “I’d dreamed of that moment with more hatred than you can ever imagine. I wanted to watch Zeb plead for his life. I wanted to squeeze the trigger over and over, to watch him die for what he did to my family. Is that what you call moving?” Tears found their way down her cheeks.

  Fletcher shook his head at her. “Anyone in your position would have had those thoughts. I certainly had them about the men who killed my father. But I didn’t kill them and you didn’t kill Zeb.”

  “I would have if you hadn’t walked in when you did.” She gave in to the sobs that shook her.

  “No, you wouldn’t have. I saw it in your eyes, and believe me, I’ve seen enough killers’ eyes to know.”

  “You’re wrong. I’ve been telling myself this was all for Leo and our safety, but I have to accept that I’m not the person I once was. Knowing you has made me see that I’m capable of terrible things and I deserve what’s coming to me. I deserve to go to prison.” Wiping away tears so she could see, she stood and moved to the stove.

  “I don’t deserve any favors from you, Fletcher. You saw your father murdered and, still, you wouldn’t kill those men. We’re different, you and I. You don’t have the heart of a killer.”

  “I would kill to protect you,” he said from behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

  She turned to face him. The honesty and affection she saw in his eyes startled her. Was he blinded by his feelings for her? Or did he understand her more than she understood herself?

  Tenderly Fletcher wiped a tear from her cheek. He glanced down at her hand. “You took off the ring.”

  Jo could barely speak. She was still so shaken by his kindness. How could he be so forgiving? “I gave it back to Elizabeth. I didn’t think it appropriate to wear it.”

  “Because we’re not married,” Fletcher said matter-of-factly.

  Jo nodded, trying to keep her eyes from filling with tears again.

  “It looked nice on you.”

  “Thank you.” To hear him speak those words made her long for him, and at the same time made her feel more empty than ever.

  He reached down and laced his fingers through hers. “When I told you my mother would have wanted you to wear it, I meant it.”

  “You don’t have to say that.”

  “It’s true.”

  Jo felt as if her heart was touching his through their joined hands. “Fletcher, I don’t know what I would have done these past few days without you.”

  He kissed her fingertips and her whole body awakened beneath the heat of his lips.

  “I’m glad I found you,” he said softly. “Not because of what’s been happening…just because.”

  A sense of urgency filled her as he touched her cheek. Her eyes fell closed and she turned her face into his palm.

  “I’d really like to kiss you,” he whispered.

  “I think I’ll collapse in a heap if you don’t.”

  Her last words were smothered on her lips as his mouth came down to claim hers. The kiss was velvety and tasted like the sugar cookies. Jo reached up to his shoulders for support, deepening the kiss until her entire body melted into his. She trembled from the overwhelming sensation of love in her heart and her complete and undying trust in this man.

  As the coffeepot hissed and steamed and filled the air with its heady aroma, Jo held Fletcher tighter than she’d ever held anyone.

  “Let me stay with you tonight,” he whispered into her ear, his hot breath sending gooseflesh down her arms and legs.

  “I thought we’d already decided that,” she managed to say.

  “No, I mean let me stay with you. In your bed.”

  Her senses spun madly for the thing she had so wanted but dared not suggest.

  Giving herself to the heat of Fletcher’s desire, she nodded, then felt him sweep her off the floor and into his capable arms. She buried her face into the firm wall of his chest and let go of all her fears. She wanted to give him everything, no matter what the future had in store for them. Closing her eyes, she let him carry her up the stairs to her dark bedroom.

  Once inside, he kicked the door closed with his boot, carried her to the bed and gently laid her down. She inched back toward the pillow, watching him in the m
oonlight from the window. He pulled off his vest and draped it on the wing chair in the corner of the large room, then unbuttoned his shirt and crawled onto the bed to lie beside her. His nearness overwhelmed her to the point of trembling.

  He held her in his arms, kissing the top of her head. “Are you all right?” he asked gently.

  “I’m fine.”

  “This can’t be easy for you. I know this is where you and Edwyn—”

  “Fletcher, there’s something you should know about Edwyn and me.” She sat up to talk to him. “I cared deeply for Edwyn and I respected him. He was a kind man and a good father, and I do miss him, terribly, but we never loved each other, not the way a man and woman ought to.”

  “But he was your husband.”

  “Only on paper. His heart always belonged to someone else.”

  “Someone else?” She heard the shock in Fletcher’s voice. “How could you have respected him so much if he was—”

  “No, it’s not like that. He was never unfaithful. It was a woman he had loved before me, before he came to America. They were engaged, but she broke it off to marry another man. That’s why Edwyn left his home and his country.”

  “He told you all this?”

  “No, I found out after we were married for a few years, after Leo was born. That sea chest in the den, it’s filled with the woman’s letters and Edwyn’s, too. She must have given them back to him. He had told me he kept letters from his family in the chest and I had often wondered why he kept it locked. Then one day, I came across the key while I was cleaning, and I couldn’t resist my curiosity. It was wrong of me, I know, but I wanted to understand my husband better and know why he didn’t love me.”

  Fletcher’s eyes were melancholy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “It’s all right. In all the years we were married, I was never heartbroken about it, and that always surprised me. Now, I understand. It was because I never truly loved him, either. We were friends, that was all. And by the time he died, it had been years since we’d been…intimate.”

  Fletcher kissed her on the forehead.

  “Edwyn’s gone, Fletcher. You’re here. That’s all that matters now.” She felt a great weight lift from her heart.

  He raised her chin in his fingers and laid a kiss on her lips. “I don’t want you to regret this.”

  “I won’t. No matter what happens, I…I love you, Fletcher.”

  She had hoped he would say something, tell her everything was going to be all right like he always did, but he said nothing as he gently rolled on top of her and leaned on both elbows looking down into her face.

  In his eyes, she saw sorrow, and she was devastated by it.

  Forcing herself to crush the hurt and think of nothing but finding pleasure in this one night, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. She couldn’t think about the future or all the reasons why he, like Edwyn, couldn’t love her. Not now.

  “Take this off,” he whispered, reaching for the buttons on her bodice and unfastening each one. Within a heartbeat, she was sitting up and shrugging out of it while he removed his shirt and kicked off his boots.

  She lay back onto the pillows and let him straddle her to unhook her corset in the front. As it came loose and he pulled it out from under her, she took a deep breath, welcoming her body’s freedom, but wishing— hopelessly she knew—that he loved her and that he was completely devoted to her as she was to him. But he was not the man he once was—the man Elizabeth described. Jo saw that in his eyes tonight.

  “Now this,” he whispered, pulling her skirt and petticoats down over her ankles. He rolled down her stockings and began to untie her boot laces. “These, too.”

  Wearing only her chemise and cotton drawers, she sat up and pushed him onto his back.

  She felt his Peacemaker against her knee. “This will be the first to go,” she said in a low voice, then unbuckled his leather belt and pulled it away.

  He raised his hips in compliance, but reached for the gun before she tossed the belt onto the floor.

  “I’ll keep that.” His large bicep tightened as he slid the weapon beneath his pillow.

  He rolled her over onto her back again and there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this when there are no promises?” His gaze locked with hers while he awaited her reply.

  “Yes, Fletcher, I want you more than anything, even if it’s just for tonight.” Her body tingled with unleashed desire as he pulled off her chemise and flicked his tongue over her breasts. He removed his trousers while she wiggled out of her drawers and kicked them off.

  They both slid under the covers and finally Fletcher’s hot flesh covered Jo’s. The explosive sensation of his body moving to rest between her legs made her ache for his touch. “I want you inside me now, Fletcher. Time is too precious.”

  She gasped as he entered her, his forehead resting upon hers, their bodies beginning to move together. Exhilarating shivers shook her as her arousal grew to a peak. Within minutes, she was soaring to a new height, pulling him deeper inside and holding him there as her body throbbed and quaked with rapture around him and he spilled fiercely into her.

  Many moments later, when they were finally catching their breath, he gazed down at her. His green eyes were warm with affection, but nothing had changed.

  “You’re trembling,” she said to him.

  “I know. Just give me a minute….” He rested his forehead on hers, his breaths coming slower now. “I’ve never felt like this, Jo. It makes it so difficult to—”

  She blinked back a tear. “Please, Fletcher, I want to pretend for just one moment that nothing outside this room exists.”

  He rolled off her, pulled her in to rest her cheek on his shoulder and kissed the top of her head. “It does exist.”

  Disappointed, she closed her eyes into the warmth of his body.

  “Zeb wants you dead, I can feel it, and I think you’re right. He’s up to something with George Greer, something to do with the cattle rustling, but I have no proof and I don’t know how to get it. It’s making me crazy.”

  “Maybe the wires you sent will help us.”

  “Maybe.” But his tone revealed his doubts. He sat up, leaned against the oak headboard and raised a knee under the light sheet. “Maybe you should leave Dodge.”

  Jo tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and sat up, too. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you could pack a bag and ride off. Go to Leo and take him someplace safe, a place no one knows.”

  “But you’d have to let me go.”

  He said nothing for a moment, then met her gaze with emotion-filled eyes. “I know.”

  “But Fletcher, you’ve never let anyone go in your life.”

  He gently stroked her hair. “Things have changed.”

  Stricken, she leaned forward and hugged him, feeling his hair tickle her neck. “I can’t let you do it. The law is your life. Besides that, I don’t want to leave you.”

  “I don’t want you to leave, either, but I think it would be best.”

  A feeling of sorrow broke from her heart. “Are you just trying to get rid of me?”

  “Of course not. You know that’s not true.”

  “But I’ll be a fugitive.”

  “No one but you and I know what really happened. I’ve never filed papers.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. I wouldn’t want you to always think of me as the criminal you let escape from justice. If I have to face a judge for what I did, I’ll face him. When this is solved, I’ll explain myself and hope for the best. It’s the right thing to do, Fletcher, and God knows I haven’t chosen the right path lately. But you made me see that it’s time I did. I understand if you don’t want to marry me. It wouldn’t help your reputation any once I’m arrested, certainly wouldn’t buy you any votes as sheriff, but at least you’d know I tried to do what was right.”

  Fletcher’s chin shook as he spoke. “I don’t want to be
sheriff, Jo.”

  She laughed and sobbed at the same time. “We have to prove Zeb killed Edwyn. The truth has to come out. I just feel sorry for Elizabeth.”

  “I know my sister. If she’s married to a killer, she’ll want to know.”

  Jo hugged him again, and she snuggled down under the sheet to hold him through the rest of the silent, dark night, with the heartbreaking knowledge that it would be the last time.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “If I’m going to find anything to use against Zeb,” Fletcher said the next morning, tossing the sheet aside and sitting up on the edge of the bed, “I’m going to need some time. I definitely want you to go and stay with Leo in Newton.”

  “I don’t want to go. I told you, I’m prepared to face the law for what I did.” Staring at his bare, muscular back in the pale light of the rainy dawn, Jo waited impatiently for his response.

  “I’m not giving you a choice. I can’t protect you and investigate Zeb at the same time.”

  “I can take care of myself. I know how to use those weapons you took from me.”

  Fletcher picked his trousers up off the floor and shook them before pulling them on. “I don’t doubt that at all, but whether you can protect yourself or not isn’t the point.”

  “Then what is the point?”

  “The point is I’d be thinking about you. I’d be worrying when I wasn’t with you and distracted when I was. Not a good mix for a man in my line of work.” He pulled on his wrinkled cotton shirt but didn’t button it.

  “What if Zeb catches on to what you’re doing? I don’t think I could bear…”

  Shirt half-open to reveal his smooth, muscular chest and rippled stomach, he crawled onto the bed and cupped her face in his large hands. “Zeb is beginning to trust me. And I promise I’ll be careful.”

  She sat up on her knees, and the sheet that covered her fell away. She rubbed her thumbs over Fletcher’s moist mouth. “Do you have to get dressed right now? The men won’t be expecting breakfast yet. They’re always slow when it rains.” Jo pulled him in for another more demanding kiss.

  He gently pushed her onto her back and crawled on all fours above her. “I’ll stay on one condition.”