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Bride of Shadow Canyon
Bride of Shadow Canyon
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Bride of Shadow Canyon

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“I won’t drop you.” His arm wrapped around her waist as he took the reins into one hand. His large palm slid across her side and covered the flat of her stomach. “Is that better?”

Lord above! No, it wasn’t better. Had she been able to find her voice, she would have told him so.

“We can slow our pace just as soon as we get some ground between us and Weaver.”

After a half hour of riding, Jed was growing increasingly annoyed. They were traveling at a nice easy pace, yet she continued to squirm and shift about, apparently searching for just the right spot to rest her tender backside.

“Sit still, goddamn it!” he finally shouted.

“I beg your pardon, but your lap is far from comfortable.”

“Yeah?” he quipped. “Well, you keep wrigglin’ your backside, and my lap is only bound to get harder.”

She stiffened like an iron rod, sitting perfectly still.

That did the trick, he thought. It obviously hadn’t been her intention to aggravate him, but he hadn’t been exaggerating. Her squirming about had quickly become slow torture.

Hell. He knew she was going to be a whole heap of trouble the moment he and Buck stepped onto that train and found her abandoned carpetbag. Elizabeth had become hysterical when they’d informed her that her sister had been escorted off the train by two men in Lake’s Crossing. Buck needed to stay with his wife, which was just as well. His best friend had helped him out plenty of times in the past, but stalking was not one of Buck’s finer skills.

Walter Buck Coleburn couldn’t sneak up on a deaf blind man, and Jed had a hunch the men who’d escorted Mrs. Rachell Carlson off the train were neither deaf nor blind. As usual, he’d been right. He wasn’t about to lead Satan’s army back to his ranch. Rachell wouldn’t be stepping foot in California until he was sure she was free of trouble.

A grumbling sound distracted Jed from his thoughts. When it sounded again, he grinned, realizing it was Rachell’s stomach.

“You tryin’ to tell me you’re hungry?”

“How kind of you to notice,” she said in a dull tone.

“It’s either that or there’s a grizzly on our tail.”

Rachell glanced up at the man above her, surprised by his unexpected show of humor. His eyes sparkled in the moonlight. Somehow, his soft expression increased her uneasiness. She wished those chiseled features would return to stone.

“What?” he asked, holding her gaze.

Rachell shook her head, annoyed that she’d been caught openly staring at him, again. She felt a jolt of alarm as he tugged on the reins. “Why are you stopping?”

“Relax. You’re safe with me.” He lifted her from his lap and gently eased her down. She shivered as her bare feet touched the damp ground.

“Sage could use a rest,” he said, dismounting. “I have some dried beef in my saddlebags, and I thought you might want your boots.”

“You have my boots?”

“Red leather’s hard to miss. I grabbed ‘em off the table while I was chattin’ with Juniper.”

She’d been such a bundle of nerves, unable to bear the sight of more bloodshed, she probably wouldn’t have noticed if he’d taken the piano. She hadn’t even thought about young Juniper being left alone in that town. He’d been so brave to tag along with the others, doing his best to protect her. “Do you think Juniper will be all right?”

Jed pulled her boots out from under a rope tied around the pack behind his saddle. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling sympathetic toward your captors?”

“I would hardly refer to Juniper as one of my captors, Mr. Jed. He’s just a boy. June isn’t like the others. He’s not bad.”

“If he doesn’t change his line of work, he soon will be,” Jed said with dark certainty as he held out her shoes.

“Only my boots?” she asked with a ring of disappointment.

The coldness came back into his eyes, firming his features. “I had you in one hand and my gun in the other.”

She avoided his harsh glare as she accepted the boots. “Thank you. I didn’t intend to sound ungrateful.”

“Just put your boots on. I want to get as far from Weaver as I can before sunup. We won’t be making camp tonight.”

“The sooner we reach California, the better,” she said as she pulled on a boot. “I was eleven when I last saw my sister.” Sadness washed over Rachell like a winter chill as she recalled the day Elizabeth’s late husband had carted her off to California. Never knowing her mother, she’d been raised by Elizabeth and their housekeeper, Amity. Six months after her sister’s departure, their father had sent her away to boarding school.

For six years she’d lived at Miss Abigail’s Academy for Young Ladies. Six years of being an outcast, a dandelion in a garden of roses. Not a day had gone by that she hadn’t dreamed of returning to the farm and people she loved. When that day finally came, she’d returned home to nothing but a brick chimney stack surrounded by rubble, ruined crops, and the state torn apart by war, along with the family who’d given her up.

“I lost touch with Elizabeth during the war,” she said in a neutral tone, pushing the painful memories from her mind as she tugged on her second boot. “It was a miracle I managed to locate her. I had no idea her first husband had died or that she had remarried. A man came up to me after a show while I was working in Kansas and said he’d heard my last song once before, sung by a little redheaded woman in California as she hung out her wash.”

Securing her boot laces, Rachell smiled at the single stroke of good fortune she’d received in so many years. “He gave me the name of her husband’s horse ranch and Elizabeth and I have been exchanging letters for the past seven months. She was kind enough to find a job for me, at my request. Her husband’s nephew has a ranch not far from his. I only hope Mr. Darby hasn’t hired another housekeeper. I don’t wish to be a burden on my sister.”

“Ben hasn’t hired anyone else.”

Kneeling over her unlaced boot, Rachell looked up in sharp surprise. Jed stood beside his horse, his arms crossed over his wide chest as he stared down at her. She suddenly realized she’d been prattling on without regard to his presence.

His expressionless gaze sent a shiver down her spine. Just who is this man?

“You know Benjamin Darby?”

“Yes.”

“How was it that my sister came to hire you, Mr. Jed?”

“Your sister didn’t hire me. Buck’s a friend of mine.”

“Buck?”

“Your sister’s husband, Walter ‘Buck’ Coleburn. I volunteered to find you and bring you back safely. You’d make that job a whole lot easier if you’d be truthful with me.”

She dropped her laces and glared at him. “I’ve not said one untruthful word thus far.”

Jed grunted. “Why is Sumner after you?”

“I’ve been working in his establishment for the past four months. I knew he’d be angry when he discovered I’d left, but I never imagined he’d send men after me.”

“You worked in a brothel?”

“A saloon!”

“You’re a whore.”

She sucked in a hard breath before shouting, “I am not!”

Her sharp response surprised Jed. He hadn’t said it as an accusation or a question. Just the simple truth. Apparently, she wasn’t ready to be truthful.

She sprang to her feet, her posture stiff as a soldier’s, her expression as hard and lethal as a warrior ready for battle.

“I sing, Mr. Jed. Nothing more.”

“He hired all those men to fetch a songbird?” Jed shook his head. “I don’t buy it. You must have taken something of his or be something of his. You’re not his mistress?”

“No, I am not. Nor am I a thief. Maxwell knew I was intending to leave. He had gotten it into his mind that I was his woman and had tired of taking no for an answer.”

Jed knew there had to be more to the story than she was telling. He turned away from her harsh glare and mounted his horse. He held his hand out to help her up, but Rachell didn’t move a muscle.

“Comin’?” he asked when she continued to stall.

He couldn’t hold back a grin since she stomped toward him making some sort of growling sound. “Sugar, you can’t weigh a hundred pounds,” he said as he lifted her up and onto his lap. “If he wanted you, what was to stop him from taking you?”

“Titus.”

“What?”

“Titus. He’s been with me for the past five years. When I began to sing in saloons, he protected me from Sumner and others like him.”

Jed noted the distinct sadness in her tone as he urged Sage into motion. “I take it this Titus fellow is no longer around. Your boyfriend ran off?”

“He was a friend, not my boyfriend, and no, he did not run off. Maxwell Sumner had him killed.”

“If you’re so all-fire sure of that, why didn’t you just turn Sumner in to the law?”

“Because the sheriff of Mason County wasn’t about to investigate the murder of a black man. More than likely, he’s the one who shot Titus. Maxwell owns the law in that town.”

The words he’s been with me took on a sour meaning for Jed. “I don’t suppose Titus received wages for his protective services?”

“Half of anything I earned.”

Jed’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That’s awfully generous for a hired guard.”

She shifted, lifting her hate-filled gaze. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Are you deaf? Titus was more to me than a hired guard. He was the closest friend I’ve ever had. And now he’s dead, because of me.” She twisted, putting her back to him.

“Here,” he said, holding out the large piece of dried beef he’d taken from his saddlebags. She snatched it with a mumbled thank-you.

Jed guided Sage through the moonlit countryside, silently contemplating her story. He wasn’t a man easily swayed by succulent pouting lips and water-filled eyes, but something about Rachell pulled at the hollows of his chest.

A droplet of moisture hit his hand, telling him the glaze of tears he’d seen in her eyes was cascading down her fair cheeks. Yet she didn’t make a sound, refusing to brush the wet trail from her face and draw attention to her emotional release.

Damnation. He didn’t know what to make of this woman. She was lousy at playing the part of a damsel in distress.

He gave himself a silent word of caution. Imps were cunning little creatures, known for their mischief and trouble.

Chapter Two

The man is a barbarian!

He hadn’t even bothered to wake her before dumping her from his lap, sending her stumbling forward then staggering backward. Disoriented and unable to catch her balance, Rachell fell back onto her sore bottom in a flutter of oversized green calico.

She had never fully appreciated the padding of petticoats until now when she was without them. Her thin skirt offered no protection against the hard ground.

Ignoring Jed’s mumbled words of apology, she gazed about the small town, making no effort to rise. Good Lord. How long had she been asleep? As her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, she realized the town was actually a cluster of saloons built inside a narrow mountain crevasse. “Where are we?”

“Charlesville.” Jed stepped down from his saddle. “Get off your butt. We have business to take care of.”

Rachell glared up at the man towering over her with his hands on his hips. Jed turned away and tethered his horse to a hitching rail six feet beyond the double doors of a saloon. Rachell barely suppressed a groan as she stood. The solid, unmoving ground had begun to feel quite good beneath her. She pushed her hair away from her face and gasped as Jed moved behind her, wrapping his hands around the long mass of tangles.

“You need a horse,” he said as he tied her hair back with his handkerchief. “Can you ride?”

“Yes, I can ride.” She stepped away from him the second his hands left her hair.

Jed ignored her inquisitive gaze. Hell if he knew what had possessed him to take the liberty of tying her hair back. Must be my lack of sleep. He’d ridden the entire night, intermittently looking down at the woman sleeping in his arms.

She’d fought hard to stay awake, but he imagined she hadn’t slept much, if at all, in the past few days. Once she’d lost the battle and drifted to sleep, she had slept sounder than he thought anyone possibly could on horseback. She’d curved around him like a warm blanket, damn near crawling inside his shirt.

She’d been pretty in the moonlight, but in the warm glow of the early-morning sun, she’d been downright sensual. Every soft sigh that left her throat as she nuzzled against his warmth had torn at his flesh. When they’d finally reached Charlesville he’d been so desperate to get her off him, he’d simply shoved her from his lap, realizing too late, she’d still been pretty much asleep. He was lucky she’d landed on her butt and hadn’t been hurt.

“We’ll find you a horse then get you into some decent riding clothes,” he said as he walked past her.

“Unless there’s food included in this plan of yours, I’m liable to eat the horse rather than ride it.”

“And food,” he agreed.

“I’m starving.”

“First we’re getting a horse.”

“Food,” she insisted, coming up behind him.

“Horse,” he countered and increased his stride.

“You’re intentionally being disagreeable because you’ve made up your mind not to like me!”

Jed stopped, turning back at the sound of her sharp voice.

Concentrating on keeping up with his long-legged strides, Rachell nearly ran into the rigid surface of his body. She skidded to a stop and met his hard gaze with one of her own.

“It doesn’t matter a whit whether I like you or not,” Jed said matter-of-factly. “You’re Buck’s sister-in-law and I gave my word I’d bring you back safe and sound. Starving you wouldn’t rightly be to my benefit, now would it?”

“Uh, Jed?” called a shaky voice from behind Rachell.

She spun around to find a tall blond man standing behind her with his gun drawn and aimed straight at Jed’s chest.

“Howdy, Emmit,” Jed greeted in a casual tone. “Thought that was you headed this way.”