Redemption In Red Desert: A Clean Western Historical Romance Novel

by Ember Pierce

  * * *

  He tried to recall what he had heard about Smith. Dangerous and unpredictable, but, the way he heard tell, the man was not too smart. Which was fine with him.

  * * *

  The only worse than an outlaw was an intelligent outlaw.

  * * *

  He smiled as he remembered a comment he’d heard from a sheriff once after an outlaw had made a blunder. “If we must have outlaws,” the sheriff had said, “may they be stupid outlaws.”

  * * *

  Snow was falling heavier. Kristian felt the flakes melt on his face, rolling down his jaw. Yes, it was messy and inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it was lovely.

  * * *

  The white cover of snow on the gray and green trees was beautiful, and it always gave him a sense of peace. It was this sense of serenity and beauty that gave the West a great deal of its charm and summed up the condition of the West—and life itself.

  * * *

  This parcel of land cloaked in white and, at least for now, peacefulness could not be matched for grace and beauty. But there were, of course, dangerous animals around, some of which could look very graceful and dignified until they sunk their teeth into you.

  * * *

  In the West, you had to be on your guard while appreciating and respecting the land. Considering his experience with O’hara, that was true of dealings with humans, too.

  * * *

  A wet glob of snow hit him on the back of the neck, and he jumped slightly. He halted Hawk, reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigar.

  * * *

  He enjoyed an occasional cigar and, thank goodness, Bonny did not have the same objections to tobacco that she did to alcohol. He flicked a match and pulled the flame to the tobacco.

  * * *

  What the heck happened to his guts? he asked himself.

  * * *

  He wasn’t a bully. He didn’t intimidate other people. He wouldn’t be pushed around, but he was kind.

  * * *

  Like John. John had been a courageous man, but he certainly didn’t bully anyone. But when he began the descent into drink and poker, it had changed elements of his personality.

  * * *

  He puffed on the cigar, sending smoke through the clear mountain air. Bonny had given back his personality.

  * * *

  That nicer, gentler man who would not be pushed around. But a strong man who would not be intimidated, either. Somehow, he had lost that.

  * * *

  He spurred Hawk on and the horse trotted north, toward where Smith should be.

  * * *

  Let’s be honest, he told himself. That was why he’d sent for a ma-l order bride. There were women in Red Desert, some very fine women.

  * * *

  But none of them, in the state he was in, considered him to be a suitable husband. And to be truthful, he wasn’t, not by a long shot.

  * * *

  What woman would want a husband who got drunk a lot, cowered before the man who loaned him money and put his future in debt due to his behavior? That was why he’d sent fifteen hundred miles to find a wife.

  * * *

  There was a different Kristian, before the drinking and the poker, and a few women in Red Desert would have loved for that Kristian to have come courting. But the old Kristian had died when he had started drinking.

  * * *

  But now, the drinking Kristian had died—and not a second too soon.

  * * *

  He reached for the binoculars again and pressed them against his eyes. Not even the animals seemed to be stirring.

  * * *

  The land was getting hilly, with some rocks in the ground. He moved the binoculars to bring the small hills into better focus.

  * * *

  Then he saw the flash of light, where it should not have been.

  * * *

  Sunlight, reflecting off an object. With astonishing quickness, he grabbed his rifle and jumped from his horse.

  * * *

  When he hit the ground he rolled over, heard the shot, and felt the bullet whiz over him. It chunked into the ground kicking up some snow.

  * * *

  He peered out from behind a tree. He saw where the shooter was, behind a huge elm tree possibly thirty feet above him.

  * * *

  He couldn’t make out the face of the man, except the heavy red beard. The man yelled at him.

  * * *

  “Figured someone would come after me! But you’ve made a mistake. I was raised in these parts. This is like home to me. I know it.”

  * * *

  He lowered his voice. “You’ll die out here, but the snow can cover you and give you a nice funeral.” He fired again and the bullet whizzed off to Kristian’s left.

  * * *

  “Give yourself up and you won’t die. Give in, and I won’t shoot you. Other men might not be so courteous.”

  * * *

  The outlaw paused for a moment. “That voice sounds familiar. Think I’ve heard it before. You a bounty hunter, or are you just a local man wanting to make some money?”

  * * *

  “I know you and you know me. Kristian Downing.”

  * * *

  “Downing. Shouldn’t you be face down in the gutter? Heard you were having trouble standing up straight, much less shooting straight.”

  * * *

  “You heard wrong. Give yourself up. You’re not going to get away.”

  * * *

  “You let me worry about that. Turn around and go back, and I’ll let you live. If not, you’ll die out here.”

  * * *

  Kristian surveyed the territory. His opponent was behind the oak, but the best position was on higher ground—a much better location about twenty feet up.

  * * *

  There was another oak at that distance. If he made it there, he could control the mountain. Which meant he would try to make the short trip to the second oak.

  * * *

  “I’ll give you one more chance, Downing, then I’ll kill you. Leave now and I won’t shoot.”

  * * *

  “You give up and I won’t shoot. You know me, I can handle myself. You won’t get away.”

  * * *

  “You could handle yourself before you became a drunk. I doubt you could even shoot straight now.”

  * * *

  He made a dash for the higher tree. But Kristian, expecting that move, was ready. He aimed and fired.

  * * *

  The outlaw groaned and gritted his teeth when the bullet hit his shoulder. He spun around and collapsed in the snow, the rifle falling from his hands.

  * * *

  His right arm had been hit and was weakened. Before he was back on his feet, Kristian was there, pointing a rifle at him.

  * * *

  “Glad I didn’t have to kill you,” he said. “That would have bothered my wife. She would have wanted it done legally. So now, when they hang you, it will be legal.”

  * * *

  O’hara took the money, opened his desk drawer, and shoved it inside. Accepting several hundred dollars would have made most people happy, but O’hara had a scowl on his face.

  * * *

  Kristian and Bonny had huge smiles on their faces. Sheriff Wade Sheffield had neither a small or frown on his face. He had the stern look of a no-nonsense lawman.

  * * *

  Kristian took a piece of paper and slammed it on O’hara’s desk.

  * * *

  “Sign it,” he said. “You can read it if you want, but it says I have paid off any debt I owe you.”

  * * *

  O’hara didn’t bother to read it. He raised a pen and swiftly signed it.

  * * *

  “Now, you may want to get out of town,” Sheffield said. “And stay out.”

  * * *

  “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m a businessman, doing business.”

  * * *

  Sheffield’s cold blue eyes flashed b
luer and colder for a second. “I won’t haggle with you about details. Technically, I don’t think you have broken the law. Not yet, anyway.

  * * *

  “I don’t think a prosecutor could get a jury to bring in a guilty verdict. But I think you’ve played this game before and you’re aware of the law.

  * * *

  “I think you probably skirted it very carefully. But when this gets out, I don’t think people will want you in town.

  * * *

  “Your businesses will begin to lose customers and money and, in a while, I don’t think anyone will do business with you.

  * * *

  “I think the young lady here has already described your dealings, and her theory has already been backed up by Wes, your poker-playing buddy.

  * * *

  “What you did smells to high heaven, although it may have been legal. So I can’t technically throw you out of town so take this as a business and legal suggestion—you should move your business someplace else, as soon as possible.

  * * *

  “And by as soon as possible, I mean by the end of the month. If not, I will find a charge to run you in on.”

  * * *

  Kristian shook his head. “But I still don’t understand why you picked on me. Why did you keep loaning me money? You made some profit, but it wasn’t that much.”

  * * *

  “Because, honey, he knew of your talent with locks,” Bonny put in. “Remember the time when you were much younger than you opened the safe at the bank?”

  * * *

  “Yes, that was fun.”

  * * *

  “Well, I was talking with people around town and, you know, Red Desert is one of the main locations to and from Cheyenne and other bigger cities in the state.

  * * *

  “Sometimes, banks have to transport money, and once in a while they store their money here, isn’t that right Mr. O’hara?”

  * * *

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  * * *

  “One of Mr. O’hara’s other friends is Stephen Talbert.”

  * * *

  “The vice president of the bank?” Sheffield asked.

  * * *

  “Yes, and Talbert would know when a bank shipment would come in and stay overnight. Then Mr. O’hara hoped to get Kristian to use his talents to open the safe.

  * * *

  “The more money Kristian owned him, the easier it would be to get him to open the bank vault. And Mr. O’hara would get a fast horse and get to a train station with the money.

  * * *

  “Our bank doesn’t open until nine, so he would have time to cross state lines and be halfway to California before anybody was the wiser.

  * * *

  “He had to plan ahead and get just the right time but, if it could get him to San Francisco, it was a risk he was prepared to take.”

  * * *

  O’hara growled even more. “There was no one else in Philadelphia he could have picked instead of you?”

  * * *

  Kristian reached over and squeezed his wife’s hand. “There probably was, but I got the best.”

  * * *

  “End of the month, O’hara. End of the month. That’s your deadline. Make sure you stick to it.”

  * * *

  Sun slanted through the curtains as Bonny brought a plate of eggs to the table. She set it down in front of Kristian, who couldn’t help but groan appreciatively.

  * * *

  Her cooking never ceased to fill him with delight. She smiled back at him as she set her own plate of food on the table.

  * * *

  Kristian took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. Then he said, “Bonny, sweetheart, this is amazing, as always.”

  * * *

  “Thank you,” she said. “Do you have any plans today?”

  * * *

  A slow smile spread across Kristian’s face. “Well, since it’s our first wedding anniversary, I was thinking…”

  * * *

  Bonny flushed and Kristian thought how pretty she looked when she was embarrassed, although he thought she was pretty all the time.

  * * *

  “Kristian,” she said. He knew that she meant the word as a reproach, but there was only warmth in her tone.

  * * *

  He waggled his eyebrows at her, and said, “What?”

  * * *

  “Eat your breakfast,” she said with a grin.

  * * *

  They continued to eat in a companionable silence. Kristian thought back to the beginning of their marriage and how shaky things had been.

  * * *

  He had never wanted to doubt that they wouldn’t make it, but when he thought about how narrowly he had missed being killed by Graves… his stomach turned over.

  * * *

  Setting his fork down on the table, he cleared his throat. “Is there something you wanted to do today?” he asked.

  * * *

  “Actually, I was hoping that we could go into town today. I have some things that I need to pick up at the general store,” Bonny replied as she took a bite of eggs.

  * * *

  “Oh?” Kristian asked. He was still feeling slightly off from the memory of one year ago. He didn’t mean to be distracted on their anniversary.

  * * *

  If anything, the memory should serve to reassure him of how far they had actually come. Of course, he was thrilled that he and Bonny had overcome their challenges and made a good life for themselves.

  * * *

  He had been hoping to take Bonny out to see how the construction was coming on their new house on the far side of the ranch, close to the Red Desert.

  * * *

  He had been working on it with the help of his father and some friends every moment he could spare from his work on the ranch. Bonny had decided that she wanted it to be a surprise, but he thought maybe today she would want to see it.

  * * *

  “I need to get some new dresses,” she said.

  * * *

  “How come?” Kristian asked, picking up his fork again. “I think your dresses are nice.”

  * * *

  “I’m outgrowing all the ones I have,” Bonny replied. “If they don’t have any in the next size, I’ll have to get some fabric to make these bigger.

  * * *

  “Maybe that would be a better idea, anyway. I’m sure I’ll have to let them out again and again.”

  * * *

  Kristian’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Why would you have to…?” he asked as he tried to figure out what she was talking about.

  * * *

  It seemed to him that there was some hidden meaning in her words.

  * * *

  Bonny raised an eyebrow at him and then ran a hand over her belly. All at once, Kristian realized what she was telling him. “Are you…? Are we…?”

  * * *

  “We are having a baby!” Bonny confirmed.

  * * *

  An instant later, Kristian was out of his seat, pulling Bonny to her feet so he could wrap her in a joyous hug. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t know how to say any of it.

  * * *

  He wanted to tell her that he promised he would be the best father he could be. If there was anything their child needed, Kristian would provide it.

  * * *

  He had a great father of his own to look up to.

  * * *

  “I think you’ll be a wonderful mother,” Kristian said as he kissed Bonny on the forehead.