The Ranger's Wife (Hero Hearts; Lawmen's Brides Book 1)

by Natalie Dean

  Jack offered a nervous laugh himself, but let it die in his chest as he looked back at Piper. She was looking at them like they were monsters.

  “Sweetheart,” Benjamin began. “Respect is like a weapon all by itself out here. Sometimes you can calm a situation by using or demanding respect, but you always go armed with a real weapon too. Sometimes there is time for talk, but the rest of the time…is for bullets.” He touched her shoulder kindly. “Why don’t you help Jack get cleaned up? I’m sure he could use your help. I’ll get another couple of hands and take care of things out here.”

  Jack nodded and moved towards Piper, taking her by her hands. He gently led her away, careful to not move too quickly because of her foot and ankle.

  “I have some supplies in my saddle bag.”

  “Thank God! There you are!” a familiar voice cried out, silhouetted against a freshly stoked fire. Charles ran up to the pair and unabashedly took Piper’s hands from Jack’s.

  “I'm all right, Charles.” She responded with a tight-lipped smile. “I can’t say the same for a few others, including Jack. Please excuse us. Jack’s been hurt.”

  “Oh…I’m…sorry to hear that Marshall.”

  Jack regarded Charles with a growing sense of dislike. His words didn’t match the glint in his eyes whatsoever. Jack began to wonder if Charles would like nothing better than to see him removed from Piper permanently.

  “Charles, Marshall Graves has an unpleasant task ahead of him tonight. Perhaps you could see about helping him?”

  Charles nodded soberly. “Sure, Piper. I can do that.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled tightly again and moved away from him with Jack.

  “I’m sure he wishes I had just died,” Jack grumbled.

  “Now why would he wish such a horrible thing?” Piper’s voice held a tremor that hadn’t been present earlier. He hoped the reality had hit her that he could have died and that she might be sorry. He suspected it had more to do with seeing the bodies.

  “I think the reason is obvious.” He couldn’t see her face properly, but he was sure she was blushing.

  “I’m going to let Bonnie know I’m alright. Sit by the fire, and I’ll be right back.”

  Jack got his supplies and took a seat on the ground next to the fire. The excitement of the evening was already washing away, and he was left with the guilt of having shot two men. How could he explain to Piper that this was just the way it was? Benjamin had told it just fine, but he had left out the human aspect of it. He had to shoot those men, but he still felt guilty. They had lost one of their own from the caravan, and that number was one too many, but would it have been higher if he hadn’t done what he had.

  “Bonnie wishes you well, and sent a couple extra pieces of cloth in case you need them.” Piper eased herself down beside him and watched with catching breath as Jack removed his vest and then his shirt. The shirt had a tear along the left arm and was soaked in blood.

  “Was it a gunshot or a knife?” Her lips puckered in a frown as she inspected the wound.

  “A knife,” Jack winced as he poured water from his canteen over the wound. “There’s some fine thread and a needle right here beside me. Run some water over that needle and then hand it to me, please.”

  Piper did as she was told. She had seen the local doctor stitch her father’s leg after a nasty fall down the front steps once before, but it was a far more sterile affair; not something done by a campfire in the wee hours of the morning while bandits were being placed in shallow graves nearby.

  She watched in silence as Jack threaded the needle and asked her to pour more water over the wound. He had several old scars on his arm and one deep and wide scar just under his collar bone. She was curious about the scars she could see and the ones she was sure existed out of her sight, but what caught her attention more was the way Jack’s muscle looked in the firelight. He wasn’t a bulky man. He was formed from tight, sinewy muscle. The normally covered flesh of his back and chest was a shade or two lighter than the skin of his face, neck, and hands. It proved he was a man who didn’t shy away from the outdoors and from the work he had to do. She wondered what that tight muscle would feel like under her fingertips. She wondered if his skin would smell of the earth he was so accustomed to roaming.

  “Piper?”

  Piper blinked and ran her tongue over her lips.

  “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”

  Jack suppressed the laugh that tried to skip past his lips. He had seen how she had been looking at him.

  “I asked if you would get me a clean shirt from my saddle bags.”

  “Oh. Yes. Of course.” Piper pushed herself up from the ground and went to Jack’s horse. She returned as promptly as she could under the circumstances of her injury with a neatly folded shirt of some dark color. He seemed to only wear dark colors.

  “I’m sorry you had to see the bodies, Piper.”

  Piper didn’t want a reminder of what she had seen. She doubted she would ever forget it.

  “You did what you felt you needed to, Jack. I don’t have to like it or approve of it.”

  Jack looked at her while he chose his words carefully.

  “Piper, you realize I will still be a Marshall after we are married. I don’t plan on bringing my work home with me, but you will have to come to terms with the fact that sometimes I have to do ugly things to keep others safe.”

  Piper touched her skirts, her head angled downward. Jack couldn’t read her expression, and it unnerved him.

  “I understand, Jack. I just…”

  “You just what?”

  “I just don’t know if I can live with it.” She raised her head, and he could see a defiant positioning of her features. Her face might as well have been a brick wall.

  “So…you’re saying that you may not marry me?”

  “I don’t know what I’m saying yet. I need some time to think.”

  Jack nodded and twisted his mouth to one side, moving his eyes to the fire.

  “You do that, Piper. In the meantime, I’ll just keep doing my job, protecting the people of this caravan.”

  Later, as the sun began to streak the sky with pink, Piper fell into a fitful sleep. Jack’s words haunted her and made her feel guilty. But the thing that interrupted her sleep the most was the mental images of Jack’s bare chest in the firelight.

  Chapter Six

  “You should ride with me today,” Charles insisted, as he smiled at Piper.

  “I can’t ride a horse, Charles.”

  “No, but you can ride in my carriage.”

  Piper looked up at him quickly.

  “The little carriage is yours?”

  “Yes, although it will need new wheels I’m afraid by the time we reach Detroit. I just couldn’t leave it behind. It’s too attractive.”

  Piper smiled. “I thought it was a fine looking carriage when I first saw it! I love the fringe around the roof. Why haven’t you been using it?”

  “Well now, I couldn’t ride my horse and drive the buggy. I hired William over there to drive it for me. It’s been a long time since I could just be in the saddle enjoying the outdoors.”

  William gave Piper a wave, and her smile disappeared. If there was a person in the caravan who frightened Piper, it was William. He was young as it were, but he had a weathered angry look about him, that made him appear older. He was generally un-kept most of the time.

  “Had he worked for you in Boston?”

  “Sometimes. I felt bad for him and offered for him to do this. He might have a better shot in Detroit.” He smiled down at her. “You know, a fresh start.”

  “That’s kind of you. You must be a humanitarian at heart.”

  “I try my best.”

  “Let me tell Bonnie. I’ll be right back.”

  Charles called after her, his gaze following her from under his lashes.

  “Better tell Jack too.”

  Piper’s footsteps halted their uneven gait. She glanced back once.

&
nbsp; “No need for that.” She turned back and began limping again.

  Charles looked back at William, and they smiled at each other in a matching conniving way.

  Jack poked around the field for several minutes trying to find the best wildflowers he could. He preferred the flowers of fall and their darker colors, but the pastels of spring were nice too. He wanted to find a few of the prettiest. Piper deserved the prettiest. He had missed having her in the wagon seat beside him, and when Benjamin had ridden up to inform him that she was riding in the little buggy with Charles, he knew he had better start doing something to win her heart. He didn’t want her to go to back to England. He certainly didn’t want to live in Detroit with her if she was intent on someone else. He wouldn’t want to risk running into her and say Charles Dewitt on the street. She was here now. She was here to be his wife. He wanted her to be his wife. She was head strong and a bit of a snob, but there was something about Piper Renwick that had stirred something within him. He didn’t want to have to choose another.

  He wrapped a broken stem around his gathered flowers and studied the bouquet with a critical eye.

  “Well, now, that’s right pretty.”

  Jack grunted and refused to look at Benjamin. He was losing his touch. He hadn’t even realized his friend had approached.

  “You better get a move on with your courtship. Piper and Charles have been giggling and having a good ole time over there on that blanket eating their lunch. Bets around the camp are that she will be a Dewitt once we reach Detroit and not a Walker.”

  Jack lifted his head to see if Benjamin had his joking face on. He sighed audibly once he saw that he didn’t.

  “I can’t just waltz over there and give her these with Charles Dewitt sitting there.”

  “Sure you can. She’s spoken for. Spoken for by you.” Benjamin poked him in the arm.

  “Ow! Easy on my arm!”

  “You need something to rile you up. Now get over there! Look he’s packing things up anyway.”

  Jack watched as Charles began carrying what was left of their lunch back to the buggy. He hurried over as Piper began folding the blanket they had been sitting on.

  “Piper?”

  Piper turned slowly and glanced down at the small bouquet he held out to her.

  “What’s this?”

  “I…uh…picked these for you.”

  She didn’t take the bouquet and shook her head instead.

  “Are these little wildflowers supposed to make things right between us?”

  “I want them to be a start.”

  “You’ll have to do better than that,” she replied coldly. “Tell me. The advertisement your father placed; did you prompt him on what to say? Perhaps you pulled your big gun out and held it to his head?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I was expecting a gentleman, Jack! An educated, intelligent gentleman! What I got was a rough man who kills for a living! The advertisement was a lie!”

  A hush fell over the camp as Piper, with red cheeks, let out her pent up disappointments and anger.

  “Nothing in that advertisement was a lie. The only thing omitted was that I’m a Marshall. I don’t know why he didn’t put that in. I wasn’t present for the creation of that advertisement.” Jack allowed the hand that held the bouquet to fall beside his thigh. He couldn’t keep the hurt from his eyes or his voice. Piper was undaunted by either.

  “Perhaps you should have taken your marital affairs into your own hand instead of relying on your father.”

  “You were in the same fix as me. We were both commanded to marry. Both of our fathers had a hand in this.”

  “It’s different for women, and you know it, Jack.”

  “I don’t rightly know anything, Piper.” Jack cast a defeated look over Piper’s shoulder at Charles’s smug face before turning away. He stopped where a little girl of about ten was playing with her doll on the grass.

  “Here you go, sweetie,” he said and handed her the flowers.

  “These are pretty. Thank you,” she said and shyly took them from his hand.

  “I’m glad you think so,” Jack said and walked away as proudly as he could through all the watching eyes.

  Piper sat upright, her body rigid and her heart hammering. There had been gunshots again. Again! She scrambled to the back of the wagon, a bizarre repeat of the night before happening again, right down to Bonnie sitting up and gathering her children to her hen style.

  “Oh Lord, not again!” she cried out.

  “Stay here!” Piper worked her way from the back of the wagon ignoring Bonnie’s cautions and begging for her to stay.

  The chaos was twofold compared to the night before. She could hear a woman’s scream, and closed her eyes momentarily, her hand bracing herself against the wagon.

  Father, please protect us!

  Piper eased around the edge of the wagon just enough so she could see the center area where the campfires from the evening before had been burning. Men were running, guns drawn, the light of the full moon reflecting off of the dark metal. She caught a glimpse of Jack as he ducked behind a tree, his voice ringing out sharp orders for Benjamin. She wondered momentarily who was the higher ranking Marshall.

  Piper moved backward, her breath catching in her throat as a pair of rough hands grabbed her. She screamed, flinging her arms overhead as she tried to land blows on whoever her assailant was. Rough fabric was pulled over her head, and she could smell a musty odor as if the fabric had held old potatoes.

  “Shut up!” the voice commanded. “Shut up, or I’ll break your pretty little neck!”

  Piper struggled as her body was lifted from the ground, but she clamped her mouth shut as she was instructed. She cursed the wide skirt and petticoat over the flexible caging beneath. Women didn’t stand a fair chance in a situation like this with all the many layers of clothing they had to wear.

  Another set of hands was on her, and she felt her body being lifted higher. Soon air blew around and under the sack over her head as the horse she was sitting sideways on took off at a gallop. The man controlling the animal called out as he left the campsite: “I have her!”

  Several guns fired, and Piper felt the man bend over her, his lips uttering more curses than she had ever heard at once. She was positive she heard the hiss and whizz of a bullet coming close to her face. She fought tears as the sounds of the camp became distant, and the horse’s hooves pounding the earth became more distinct. More horses soon joined, but she couldn’t distinguish how many. Riotous laughter echoed around her; a celebration for their sin.

  Lord Jesus, please deliver me from their hands.

  “Jack!” Benjamin turned a full circle in the middle of the camp, his eyes wide and desperately searching. “Jack!”

  “Here!” Jack called, his head bowed over Mr. Baxter. Mrs. Baxter let out a wail as Jack looked up at her and shook his head. He staggered to his feet, his mind filled with rage as he watched the older woman lay her body over her husband’s.

  “He was trying to protect the money,” Jack said as Benjamin stood by his side.

  “Jack…” Benjamin began. His voice was strange, and Jack looked him full in the face.

  “What?”

  “They took Charles Dewitt. And…”

  “And what?” Jack yelled, grabbing his friend by the shoulders.

  “And Piper.”

  Jack let go of Benjamin and backed away, his head spinning and his stomach forcing bile up his throat.

  “Eight,” Jack said. “There was eight of them. That means that originally there was eleven.”

  Benjamin nodded. He knew Jack needed to allow his Marshall instincts to take over. He needed to hunt. His emotions would have to wait.

  “We’ll get them.” Benjamin nodded.

  Jack holstered his gun.

  “We’ll get them, and then they will die.”

  Benjamin watched the determined back of Jack as he began taking an assessment of the damages and helping the injur
ed. He had no doubt that was exactly what Jack planned on doing once they caught up with them.

  Chapter Seven

  What was left of the caravan began moving forward before the sun had risen. The sky had the lighter navy blue color of predawn, but Jack couldn’t wait. The gang hadn’t taken all the money, there was more in another wagon, and they couldn’t take any chances. Plus, there was the injured who needed tending. Mr. Baxter was dead, several others were shot or stabbed and may not live, and Piper and Charles had been kidnapped. Plus, another man was missing, William the hired buggy driver of Dewitt’s. No one had seen him since the attack, and Jack couldn’t waste valuable time looking. Maybe he had been taken hostage too.

  Jack looked up at the boy of no more than fourteen whom he had asked to drive the Baxter wagon. He looked down at Jack, his face pale, and his eyes unsure.

  “You’ll do fine. Another wagon will go ahead of you, just follow. Have you never driven a wagon before?”

  He shook his light colored head. “No, Sir...I mean yes, just not one this size, and not over rough ground.”

  Jack smiled reassuringly. “You’ll be fine. You’re going to do your father proud. Your brother is driving the family wagon and you’re driving this one. Your Dad would be bursting with pride for the two of you.”

  The boy nodded and seemed to relax. Jack wished someone could give him a pep talk. He mounted his horse and waited for Benjamin to give the word that the rear was ready.

  Piper. Piper, I will find you, and then I will give you whatever you want. If you want freedom, you can have it. If you want a fancy house void of a farm, you can have it. By God, if you want Charles Dewitt, you can have him! I’ll marry you off myself; just please, please be alright.

  “Rear is ready. I have two men with rifles back there. You and I will lead, with an occasional ride to the back to check on things.” Benjamin gave Jack a critical eye when he saw the distant look on his face. “We’ll get them, Jack, but first we need to get to that town to make a plan and to see about our injured.”