“He was looking at me like a prize heifer as Father explained it would make our families jointly one of the biggest landowners in Montana. Mother protested to no avail. Father hadn’t consulted her on the matter at all.” Suzanne swiped a tear from her eye. She wouldn’t cry; if she did, she’d lose her courage, and she’d gone too far now for that to happen.
“Weeks before my birthday, I rode away from my family. Mother had secretly made arrangements for me to run away. And I did. I got on a borrowed horse and rode until it took me to a new town and a new life. I believe in my heart that that horse knew exactly where it was going. Nothing is ever going to change my mind of it. Father believed me to be at my Aunt Clara’s getting ready for the wedding.” Suzanne smiled at Cyrus then let the tears she’d been hold back fall from eyes. “Montana Sue was born that night, and Suzanne Butler was lost—forever.”
Cyrus absorbed the information, his mind reeling as he sorted through things. Like most people he knew, they both had secrets and lived with pain. Was either one worse than the other? He didn’t think so. The pain and its story may be different, but the pain was real.
“I must be completely honest with you though. It is quite a tale you weave,” Cyrus said, testing her sincerity. If she was a good storyteller, he’d know it. “Some may even think you’re a born novelist, Suzanne. That you’d read far too many stories about the wild west.”
Cyrus peered into her widened eyes. Her arms were now folded around her small waist. Her nostrils flared like a wild mare. He couldn’t tell if she was angry, didn’t believe him, or both. No matter, he’d gotten his answer, and it was good enough for him.
Suzanne Butler hadn’t made up the story—this time. He doubted she would be telling any fables in the future, as long as she stayed on the ranch that is.
“It’s not a tale; it’s the truth!” Suzanne hissed between clenched teeth, her rosy lips drawn into a thin, straight line.
“Yes, I can see by your eyes that it is. Forgive me, I had to be sure. We both have tales to tell, truth or otherwise it would seem.” Cyrus placed his elbows on his knees and leaned toward Suzanne. “I’m not a stranger to Regan Murray—if he is the same scoundrel I had a run-in with during the war.”
“You…you know Mr. Murray?” A look of dread marred her beautiful face. “Is that why you came for me? To return me to my father? You’re a hired man!”
Cyrus’s gut twisted, and he squashed the urge to sit next to her. No matter how much he wanted—needed—to assure her that he was anything but Murray’s hired man. He wasn’t anyone’s hired man.
“No, Suzanne, I’m not. I haven’t seen that dirty sum’bitch since the war. Pardon my language, but your mother did the right thing in sending you away. The man isn’t fit to be called a human being, let alone a man, that’s all I have to say on the matter.”
“How well do you know him then?” Suzanne asked with an indignant sniff. “Father seemed to have been impressed with him, where I get the feeling you are anything but.”
Cyrus sat back again, images of that day along a Virginia country road when his unit came upon Murray and his no-good band of men. He’d already ripped open the front of a young girl’s dress, exposing her developing breasts. The girl was sobbing hysterically. Her mother and father held back by the clabberheaded idiots who worshiped Murray. The girl’s dress was hiked up over her hips, exposing her bottom. Murray had her around the waist, one hand held her over, and with his pants around his ankles was poised to deflower the girl while his men looked on, hooting and hollering encouragement.
One well-placed bullet and the assault ended.
Cyrus shook his head, chasing the image away. “I can’t say why your father is so impressed by the man unless Murray’s holding something over his head. Let’s just say Murray isn’t fit to have any woman in his life. I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
“Then you understand why Mother sent me away. Why I had to hide these past years.” Suzanne gave him a pitiable glance, lowering her brow slightly.
“Yes, and why you run now.” Cyrus leaned in, lowering his voice. What he had to say was private, and he intended to keep it that way. “Beau did a little investigating after we had arrived in Dodge City. He told me that he’d learned you were on the run having left your betrothed at the altar. The reason I was late this morning was to send a telegram to my younger brother, Cord, and one to the Pinkerton Office in Chicago.”
“Wait! You had your brother probe into my past? My word wasn’t good enough for you?” Suzanne sputtered, her checks flaming a deep red.
“No, not at all. I mean, yes your word is enough for me, Suzanne.” Cyrus breathed in deeply. Once again, he was left to explain his older brother’s actions, as always. “Beau has a tendency to be suspicious of strangers. Since Maggie’s death, he’s become over-protective of Johnny. He didn’t believe I’d asked enough questions of you. It’s his nature, and we’ve all grown so used to it that it doesn’t bother us any longer.”
“Is there anything else I should know about before we arrive in Fort Worth?” Suzanne glanced out the window then back at him, her face tight with slits of emerald fire spitting at him. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage, Cyrus. Should I be prepared to take the first train back?”
“Yes, and no. No, to taking the first train back. Yes, there’s more you need to know. I told Cord to have the preacher on hand in case I felt we should be married to offer you protection. Being married to me will do that.” Cyrus watched the expression in Suzanne’s eyes change from relief to a dazed look of disbelief.
The words he’d spoken were sinking into her mind as well as his own. And now that he’d said them aloud there would be no going back. He’d become more obligated to Suzanne Butler than ever before. He was bound to protect the woman he found himself becoming very much attracted to the more time he spent with her.
And now she was to be his wife!
8
Fort Worth, Texas
Suzanne sat in the buckboard next to Cyrus. Her new brother-in-law rode along with them, analyzing her she was sure. He kept his eye on her as if he were trying to figure her out. Well, good luck with that one. Sue didn’t know who she was, so why should anyone else?
Except she was now Mrs. Cyrus Kennedy. And although his arguments had made sense to her an hour ago, Suzanne still had reservations about, well, everything. It had happened so quickly that she felt it may have been a dream.
When they’d arrived in Fort Worth, dusk had begun to fall. The streets were bustling, even at the lateness of the hour. Wagons filled with cotton and other goods lined the street while the men who accompanied them scurried about. It was a wonder Cyrus had found his brother among the crowd, but there he was in all his young innocence.
“It’s market day,” Cyrus explained, cupping her elbow and leading her off to a young man in his earlier twenties if that.
“Cordell, this is Suzanne Butler.” Cyrus introduced them then put his arm around her waist. The gesture anything but simple and its meaning very clear. He was claiming her for all of Fort Worth to see if anyone cared to pay attention. And thankfully no one was.
“Ma’am,” Cord tipped his hat, his smile full of mischief and his eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’m to trust you are to be my sister-in-law then?”
“Um, well, I don’t believe that has been fully agreed upon, has it, Cyrus?” Suzanne gave Cord a small smile then glared at Cyrus. They had some things to settle now that he knew about her past.
“We should talk—on the way to the church,” Cyrus replied as cordial as any man being challenged could she supposed. “Cord, we’ll meet you at the church. I trust you have the information for me as well.”
“That and more, Cy,” Cordell answered then walked off through the crowded street.
Suzanne walked along next Cyrus, weaving through the people milling about. She looked up seeing the church steeple above the rooftops. There in the house of God, her life was about to change, but would she?
“Watch out!” Cyrus pulled her into his arms with urgency and swung her away from the street. “Another streetcar has jumped the rails. Progress seems to keep finding its way to Texas.”
“Oh.” Her body on fire, it was all she could muster at the moment watching men jump to the aide of the car and its female passengers. “Cyrus, why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?” Cyrus released her from the safety of his arms then put a hand upon her arm again, his step quickening.
“The church. Getting married.” Suzanne matched his pace as best she could, or she’d have been dragged along behind him. “I need to understand why you would go to such lengths for a complete stranger. You hardly know me. For all you know I’m a cheat and a liar.”
“My dear Suzanne, you aren’t any of those things.” Cyrus all but laughed, then stopped looking her in the eye. “Because if I don’t, you’ll not live past your next birthday once Murray has you in his clutches. You’re a very attractive woman, Suzanne, and no matter how strong you think you are, that monster will beat you down. I’ll not have that happen on my watch.”
“Your watch? And you think by taking me as your wife, it will save me?” Suzanne spat, both appalled and thrilled by his need to protect her. And he found her attractive! “And if it doesn’t then what?”
“Yes, I do.” Cyrus picked up their pace again. “As my wife, Murray will not have a claim to you any longer. If he thinks otherwise, then he’ll have me to deal with.”
“Let me tell you something, Cyrus Kennedy. No man has claim to me, just so we are clear on that matter.” Suzanne looked away from him, her blood racing through her veins. She knew he was right, but she’d be damned if she admitted it to him. “So, what you are saying is that you are asking me to marry you so that I will live? That’s how you see it?”
“Damn it, Suzanne! That’s exactly how I see it,” Cyrus hissed under his breath.
“Nothing more? There are no other obligations I’d be expected to perform?” Suzanne asked as a rider came up behind them.
“Everything is ready, Cy,” Cord called out, sliding out of the saddle. “I think you should wait until Beau is back and Johnny has time to at least meet Miss Butler. That’s all I’ve got to say on the matter.”
“There’s no time for that any longer,” Cyrus said, opening the church gate.
“Wait! Cord is right.” Suzanne stepped through the gate and stopped. Her heart pounded in her chest with anticipation. She felt like she was about to swoon, and she’d never swooned in her entire life. But she had to give it another shot, appeal to his emotions as a father.
“Johnny may not like that you’ve married his tutor after all. He’s a boy, Cyrus, that has had too many disruptions in his young life.” She hoped that would have him thinking twice about this crazy idea.
“All right then. Would you agree to a ‘business’ arrangement then?” Cyrus offered, but by the look on his face, Suzanne had a feeling this was far from him conceding. No, Cyrus Kennedy was a man who usually didn’t give a compromise to anyone for anything.
“Depends on what you are offering,” Suzanne said, suspicious of his good intentions, and her ability to abide by them.
“This is what the offer is. We walk through those doors and are wed. You will keep your own room; I’ll not expect you to come to my bed nor me to yours. The only people to know we are man and wife are the ones who have witnessed the ceremony. After the matter of Murray has been taken care of you are free to divorce me and leave of your own accord.” Cyrus looked from her to Cord. “Are we all in agreement?”
“Yes, even if it is a hair-brained idea,” Cord agreed, nodding his head.
“Good. Suzanne?” Cyrus asked, looking like a mix of a rabbit about to be skinned alive and a stud about to be let out with a mare in heat.
“You have left me with little choice.” Suzanne drew back her shoulders and stepped up to the church door. “Let’s get this done with then.”
Cyrus pulled up to the depot dock where his new wife’s trunks had been unloaded from the train. His wife! He was married! What the hell had he gone and done? He’d married a complete stranger out of a sense of duty to protect her from an animal. Why?
Glancing over at Suzanne staring at her hand he wondered if she felt the same. She’d given him several reasons not to get married, but he’d not heard a word—not really. His only thought had been on saving her life the only way he thought plausible without any bloodshed.
It was too late now. They’d said the words under God’s roof and in front of witnesses. What was done was done.
Suzanne sat in silence next to him, well as far from him as the buckboard seat would allow. The quick and easy conversations they’d experienced since first meeting each other gone. A frost was settling in, and he had to do something to thaw it before ice formed. He’d not take Suzanne home to his family until things were a bit warmer between them.
“Cord, would you mind attending to Suzanne’s trunks?” Cyrus turned to Suzanne when Cord dismounted and headed toward the station manager. “Suzanne, I didn’t see any other way. I still don’t. If there was, I’d have figured it out.”
“Was it irresponsible and impulsive? Yes, on both our parts. I’ll take part of the blame for this sham as well. I’m a grown woman, and I am more than able to take care of myself.” She looked at him, the glare from before their wedding ceremony softening slightly. “And I realize you didn’t think there was any other way. I only wish you’d have considered taking a bit of the time to discuss it with me first. There are so many things to consider, and now that we are wed, I wonder…” Suzanne looked away but not before Cyrus noted a glimmer of moisture in her eyes.
“Wonder what will happen if Murray shows come and tries to claim you?” Cyrus had been wondering the same thing, and more. Would he risk a possible gun battle over a woman he barely knew and risk injury to his family and men? Evidently, he would without reservation.
“Not exactly, but it is a concern. I don’t want to be the cause of you losing another loved one. And then there’s Johnny to consider. How you are going to explain it when Father and Murray ride into the ranch to take me away and you are defending an employee with a gun in your hand ready to kill?” Suzanne’s questions were valid, and yes, he’d thought about them for a brief moment. By then his mind had already been made up, hadn’t it?
“I’ll deal with that when and if it happens.” Cyrus cringed inside. His words sounded stern even to his ears. “It doesn’t change the fact that we are now married, Suzanne. No man would dare take a man’s wife from him—not on my land anyways.”
“Even if they were married in name only in a secret ceremony?” Suzanne looked over at him, the flood in her eyes about to burst forth.
Cyrus smiled, reaching to take her hand in his. “Yes, even in name only. You have my word. You have to trust me, Suzanne, will you do that?” And why should she you fool? She knows you as much as you know her and neither amounts to more than a hill of beans if that.
“Yes, for as long as I can” Suzanne smiled slightly. “You’ve left me with no choice at this point. A bargain is a bargain, Cyrus.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Cyrus agreed, knowing the longer Suzanne stayed in his life, the more he’d want her to never leave. It had already become all too evident to him that he cared for her in so short a time. Some marriages had been built on less than that and survived, hadn’t they? So why wouldn’t his to Suzanne Butler of Montana. And when the time came that he couldn’t hide his attraction to her anymore, then they’d do things proper.
If she agreed to it.
The wagon bumped and jostled as the last of the trunks were loaded into the back. Cyrus jumped down from the wagon, paid the dock worker and then had a few words with Cord before riding ahead of them, giving Cyrus time alone with Suzanne.
Cyrus urged the horses forward, the wheels of the wagon groaning under the weight of their cargo. He couldn’t wait to get home and his feet on familiar ground
again. Back home to Johnny. Back home where his world would have a sense of normalcy.
Except it wouldn’t be the same. He was bringing home a wife. A wife no one could know about. A wife he had to treat like an employee. He prayed he had the strength of mind to keep the rouse up for as long as possible.
What in the world had possessed him to take Suzanne as his wife? Surely not only to protect her? He could, and would, have done so without giving her his name. The moment he’d seen her he knew in his soul she was meant to be on the Double K, there was no doubt in his mind. So, had he married her because he didn’t want to take the chance of her running at the first sign of trouble? And why was he asking for trouble when he’d lived in peace for so long?
Cyrus knew exactly why he’d lost his mind and suggested, no, insisted on marriage. He wanted her plain and simple in his life. In his house.
And in his bed. In his arms. Their bodies tangled between the sheets. Her head on his bare chest sleeping softly after an exhausted night of making love.
But it would never happen. He’d given his word, and a man’s only as good as his word.
One day he’d damn his word and may the good Lord, and Suzanne, forgive him when he did.
The silence between them was killing Suzanne. This wasn’t any way to start a partnership. That’s what their marriage was—a partnership. And she was the silent partner.
In order for a partnership to work, they had to at least act like they were working together. How did one simple ceremony and two little words change everything between them? They’d seemed so compatible until their stories had been told. One of them had to the first to speak, and Suzanne had never been accused of being standoffish.
Suzanne sucked in her bottom lip for a moment then decided to take the plunge into the icy waters. “Cyrus?”
Brides Along the Chisholm Trail Boxset Page 30
