A Betting Bride

by Rebecca de Medeiros

  At Serena's shock, David laughed. "You can't hide the fact that you are becoming fat as a tick. Everyone in town has been talking about your pregnancy. Doesn't matter that you haven't confirmed it."

  "How is my baby going to help you?" Serena questioned the madman as she squirmed in his painful hold.

  "The town will think that I heroically saved you from a man who had gone insane with jealousy and tried to kill you," David shook his head at her as if she were a complete simpleton not comprehending his agenda. "Everyone knows that you agreed to marry me before he stole you away from me."

  "You are the insane one if you think that anyone will believe Alec is capable of hurting one hair on my head. I will never marry you, ever," Serena spat back in his face, earning herself a sharp slap to the left side of her face. The strength of the hit was so great; it brought her to her knees in front of the prone Alec.

  "Trudy Bixby hit me harder than that when we were school children! Try again, maybe this time you can hit like a man and not a little girl," she taunted him.

  Serena scooted away in the opposite direction of her husband and tried to goad the fool into attacking her. She hoped that by doing so, it would buy them time enough for Alec to regain consciousness and get free. It was a dangerous risk, but she could not let him just shoot the man she loved.

  "Don't worry you little witch, after we are married, I will show you how to behave. I have a few little wedding presents picked out that will help aid you in learning your way," David said as he rubbed one hand across his groin. "All whores love my little punishments."

  "I will fight you," Serena hissed as she began scooting crablike backwards trying to evade him. Coming up against a boulder, Serena knew that she was trapped. Her arms wrapped around her belly, and she started praying that her plan had not been so foolish that she had put her baby at risk.

  "Fighting will only make this more enjoyable for me," David laughed at Serena's look of disgust as he advanced on her.

  One hand going to his waist, he began unbuckling his belt and Serena's heart began to pound faster. She had a clue as to what he intended, but she would not make this easy on him. Serena knew that she was in deep trouble if her husband did not awaken soon, for she did not know how long she could hold up against the bastard.

  Kicking a foot out at him, she connected with his shin, making him curse aloud. She felt satisfaction in the hit until he started to laugh evilly.

  "Tsk... tsk ... someone needs to be taught the proper way to greet her husband."

  "You are not my husband!" Serena shouted at him and tried to kick out at him once again, but he quickly evaded the action and grabbed a hold of one of her ankles. Pulling her flat upon her back, Serena's head hit the rock she was cowering against hard. Her vision blurred.

  David placed the gun on a rocky shelf above her head and stooped low to grab her shoulders. Shaking her roughly, he grabbed and ripped the neckline of her dress low exposing the tops of her swollen breasts.

  "I am going to teach you to respect me," he snarled at her as his mouth sought the skin that he was abusing.

  "Stop!" Serena screamed as she kicked her legs out and her fists battered about his shoulders and head. He knelt painfully on her legs, trapping her further.

  "That is good, fight me," David encouraged as he wrapped a hand around her throat. He squeezed tightly.

  Serena tried to cry out, but without the ability to take in oxygen, she was unable to utter a sound. She clawed at David's face, raking her nails down the flesh until she drew blood. Soon she was too weak to continue to fight. Her head felt fuzzy, and her body became numb as David lightened the pressure on her throat. The first gulp of air burned her lungs agonizingly.

  "Please," Serena gasped out weakly. Even with all of her struggling, she could not dislodge him from her. Fear coursed through her.

  With a mighty roar and a strong yank, David was pulled off of Serena from behind. As Alec, bleeding heavily, tackled him. Fighting to wrestle David to the ground, he grunted in pain as David delivered a sharp blow to his injured side. On and on the men on the ground pummeled each other with sickening thuds. Each man fought trying to dominate the other, in their struggle for life or death.

  Her head reeled as Serena tried to stand, so she clutched at the rock behind her in support. The sharp edge of the boulder cut into the tender skin of her palm painfully as she slid back down a bit. Pushing back the need to weep, Serena tried once again. No matter what it took, she was going to succeed she promised herself. Her only objective, at that moment, was to reach the gun that David had left lying forgotten, upon there. She said a prayer of thanks as she felt the butt of the pistol slide into her palm. Slumping back down, Serena steadied the gun in her hands and prepared to shoot.

  David thrust a knee into Alec's midsection. The hit stunned Alec enough that David managed to reach into his boot. Pulling a knife from a sheath hidden inside of the leather, David slashed at Alec. A second trail of blood pooled through Alec's shirt. Serena prayed the cut was not too deep.

  As the men rolled in a tangle of bloody limbs, Serena could not get a proper aim in order to shoot the man that was attacking her husband. The weapon shook in her hands as she imagined shooting the wrong man. Visions of Alec dying by her own hand paralyzed her.

  The opportunity came for a clean shot as Alec, weakened from blood loss, lost his grip on David and was pinned beneath the man. David was gaining ground, but made a fatal mistake. He rose to his knees preparing to drive the knife that he held into Alec's chest.

  David grinned. "You're going to die, Wentworth. I want you to know that after I sink this into you, I am going to sink my prick inside of your wife."

  "Sink this!" Serena shouted.

  She did not think twice, she pulled the trigger. Her aim was true as the bullet hit. It entered through the back of his skull. David's forehead exploded spraying gore as his body slumped over in death, on top of Alec. Serena would see none of this as she passed out on the ground. The kickback had been stronger than expected, and she was knocked back. Her head slammed hard into the very rock that she had so desperately tried to climb only short minutes ago.

  "With faith all things are possible."

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  "Alec, why don't you go get yourself changed?" Bethany laid a palm against his shoulder and gently kissed the crown of his head. "You cannot do anything for her right now. Doctor Fisher needs to examine her."

  "I can't leave her. She needs me," Alec refused.

  "Sweetheart, if she wakes up and sees you covered in blood, Serena is going to have a fit." Bethany walked toward the bed and checked the bandage on her daughter in law's head. The bleeding had stopped thankfully, but there was a large goose egg that still worried Bethany.

  When Alec had stumbled home, an unconscious Serena in his arms, Bethany had felt fear. When she had seen his injuries, Alec's mother had nearly fainted. The deep gash in his middle looked serious. The side of his face was swollen and bruised. It wasn't until he told her that most of the blood he wore was not his that Bethany could breathe easier. Luckily both Mrs. Wyatt and her sweet son, Oscar, were there to lend a hand in patching up the pair.

  She'd had Hunter go and fetch the doctor and notify the reverend of the body on the roadside. Without a sheriff in town, the reverend was the only person she could think of that would know what to do. Bethany had done her best this time not to let her boy down. He needed her, and she was going to make sure her hardheaded child listened to her.

  "My darling, she is resting peacefully. The bump on her head seems to be the only injury. Trust me. She will be up and about in no time."

  Grasping her son by the hands, Bethany pulled him to his feet and walked Alec to the door. She nearly pushed Alec through it as she ordered him.

  "Get yourself cleaned up and changed. After the doctor is finished examining her, I will prepare you something to eat."

  "If she dies..." Alec tried to speak, but the words stuck in his throat.

  H
e couldn't imagine his life without the woman. He had thought that he had experienced hell before... that was nothing compared to what he would face if he lost her. He loved her so much. He had realized today, that all of these years, his heart had always been hers. From the very first moment, to his very last breath, he would love her.

  "She is not going to die. I am here now, so move out of the way."

  The gruff sound of the doctor's voice coming from the doorway made both mother and son jump. He stood with a bag in hand and an impatient scowl on his face. "Move," he pointed at Alec who blocked his entrance to step aside.

  "She is pregnant, Doctor," Alec informed the grouchy man as he allowed him entrance to the room.

  "I am not surprised by that, boy. It seems in between patching you lot up, and removing bullets, I am constantly informing these ladies in town they are expecting." Emery huffed. "For such a small town, you folks around here have a nasty habit of getting yourselves shot, stabbed, and your ladies pregnant. I can see the entertainment in one of those activities but I question your sanity on the other two."

  Walking over to the bed, Doc Fisher laid his bag on the table next to it and turned to Alec.

  "Didn't your mama tell you to go get cleaned up? You get gone now... don't want to be disrespecting her now, would you?"

  "No sir," Alec nodded in agreement.

  "Well go on then. Get gone. Miss Bethany, you wouldn't mind assisting me, would you?" Emery paid no attention to Alec as he slipped through from the room. He was all business now. "Hold this lantern up would you? I want to check her eyes." He asked the handsome woman standing so near to him.

  "Yes, Doctor."

  Bethany grabbed the light and held it high in the location that Doctor Fisher had indicated. Stepping near to him, Bethany felt a slight flutter in her stomach. She had not felt that in a long while, not since Hunter and Willow's father died. She knew what it was - it was attraction. Bethany had thought that she could never feel desire for another man after the way her body had been sorely abused, but it proved her wrong. She felt embarrassed by the scars that slashed across her throat. The ugly jagged line marked her from ear to ear.

  "Call me Emery," he suggested, and for the first time in nearly twenty years of doctoring patients, his hands shook.

  Serena took her sweet time waking from her faint. Her head pounded, but she was more hungry than anything else. Shifting in the bed, she glanced about the darkened room.

  "Alec... Alec," she whispered to the man sleeping in the chair by her bedside. He looked so uncomfortable slumped in the small chair. His bare feet were propped on the end of the bed. With an evil grin, Serena leaned down and ran a tip of her nail up the sole of his foot and laughed as he startled awake nearly falling from the chair.

  "Jesus, Serena! You scared the shit out of me!" Alec grouched before coming close to the bed and kissing her brow gently. "How do you feel?"

  "My head aches a bit, and I could use a pickle or two... but other than that, I feel fine," she replied, squeezing his hand in comfort.

  "I will bring you the whole damn jar, sweetheart, just don't ever scare me like that again," Alec ran his knuckles down one soft cheek.

  "Sorry, I didn't realize that you were that ticklish on your feet," Serena shrugged weakly.

  "I meant, don't take chances ever again!" Alec said exasperated. "If I ever tell you to run and don't look back, woman, you do it."

  "I could never leave you. Alec, I love you."

  "I love you too, but we are going to have to work on the obeying part of our marriage vows," he cast a stern look in her direction.

  "Don't worry, Alec, I am sure you will eventually get the hang of obeying me, but first, could you get me a pickle?"

  He would have corrected her crazy assumption that she was going to be calling the shots in their marriage. But, when he returned to their room pickle jar in hand, she was fast asleep. Placing the jar on the table by the bed, Alec shed his clothes and crawled into bed beside her. Wrapping her in his arms he sighed. Good things were ahead for them, he could feel it. But no matter what the future held, he knew that they would face it together, and that fact made him smile.

  Epilogue

  The winter wind blew harsh over the land as the New Year rang in moving toward the early month of February. With it, came new life as Melody O'Malley welcomed a baby daughter that the couple promptly named Moira Elizabeth to honor Gabriel's grandmother who had passed many years ago. Serena and Alec were asked to stand in as god parents and were glad to do so as it would be great practice for when their own little one came sometime in the middle of June.

  The town had seen three funerals and two weddings within a month's span which had kept Reverend Peterson busy. Thomas Bixby's funeral was the first, and although Serena and Alec had not attended, she had heard quite a bit of gossip about how Trudy was uninvited to the event, by her own mother no less. Serena found herself actually feeling sorry for the girl that she had spent most of her growing years resenting.

  David Harris's funeral had come next and had been sparsely attended. The surprising attendance of around ten whores that worked the rooms over in Rattle Snake Canyon, just about gave David's poor mother a conniption fit. Especially when they told all in attendance that they had just come to make sure the pig was indeed really dead. One even approached his mama for the dollar that he owed outstanding for services rendered. That Mitzi Jane Borland sure was a brass one.

  Serena and Alec had chosen to spend that entire day in bed, trying to blot out the memory of their near death experience. Making love until you were too tired to move even a toe, tended to help do that.

  The third funeral came as a surprise to all in town. Joe Vernon the young saddle bum that had robbed the bank and shot Mathias Sinclair in the back. Everyone had figured him gone for good, getting away with all that money he had stolen. Twenty five days after the robbery, he was found crumpled at the foot of the drop off cliff that stood between the Lucky M ranch and the Bar S. People figured he had fallen off his horse and broke his fool neck. He never should have stolen Mathias's horse; it had just done what horses tended to do and tried to find its way back home to its feed. There was a large turnout for the kid's funeral, though most people went because of the mystery surrounding his death.

  The kid's body had been badly decomposed and scavenged, but his gear and most of his clothing had been intact. The only thing missing besides the horse that had made its way safely to his corral many days before was the money bags. People around town had been off in search of the treasure ever since the saddle bum's body had been found. They took to calling it the ghost of Joe Vernon's gold. Stories would be told far and wide of a hidden treasure guarded by the ghostly presence of a crooked headed ghoul.

  The joyous event of one of the bachelors marrying brought happiness to the town to overshadow the bad. It was attended by nearly the entire town, and money finally crossed the palms of those who bet that the pair would wind up together. Fergus, Mrs. Wyatt and Winnie Lawrence made themselves a bundle off of the other fellas that had decided to place a wager. Who would have thought Bertie Brown would have found her a groom before so many of the sought after ladies in town?

  Although he was already wed to his bride, Alec had decided to stand up before all and pledge his life to the woman he loved, the very woman that had saved him from a lifetime of living in fear of the past. So on a crisp Sunday after church services he had surprised her with a ceremony that the town had secretly arranged. He had even arranged for a beautiful ivory dress with ice blue silk flowers embroidered on the bodice for her to wear. With the help of her mother, Alec had made the day a sacred memory. Serena's father had even been carried into the church so that he could attend. Her brother was still bed bound and unable to attend, but as he was not really on speaking terms with his sister, it was for the best.

  With every new day, Serena showed Alec how to be the loving husband and soon to be father that he could be. He could not imagine his life without her in it. W
aking up beside her every morning, placing his palm against the now sizeable bump his son was growing within, was the highlight of his days.

  He knew his wife still worried over her father's failing health, but with the added help of both his mother and himself, it took some of the burden off of the shoulders of both Charlotte Sinclair and Serena, and he enjoyed spending time with George. He was even once again on polite speaking terms with his friend Mathias. Alec visited him at least once a week at his ranch. Of course, the man had been too weak at the time to kick Alec off of his property, but grudgingly he began to accept his new brother in law's presence.

  The last event of the month had been a shocker to all, especially Serena. She had nearly fallen out of bed when Alec had stormed through their bedroom door waking her from one of the many naps that she had been finding herself taking these days.

  "Married? As in death do you part married?"

  "Yes, sugar. That kind of married,"

  Alec reclined against the mound of puffy pillows on their bed next to her. Playing with the enclosure of her sleeping gown, he wiggled his fingers in far enough to capture one stiff nipple and tweaked it.

  "Stop that." Serena smacked at his hand distractedly while she tried to process the shocking information. "Mathias married Trudy god damned Bixby!" she wailed miserably.

  "Trudy Sinclair now, my love, but yes..." Kissing the side of her neck, he tried to work her nightgown above her hips. "You know I love it when you say dirty words..."

  "But... but... I hate her!" Serena wailed again loudly in his ear, making Alec wince.

  "We can't blame them. When Trudy's mother threw her out of the house for staying to help nurse Mathias instead of returning to town with her, she had nowhere else to go," Alec murmured as he nibbled his way down her stomach, kissing the delightful bump of his baby. "He just made their living arrangements a permanent and decent one is all."