by Nerys Leigh
“Why not?” she called.
There was a pause during which Val’s lips found their way to her neck. She tilted her head to allow him better access.
“I don’t want to hang,” Mr. Foster replied.
Val raised his head, a bemused expression on his face. She shrugged a little, as confused as he was.
“You won’t hang, Mr. Foster,” he said. “You can’t be hung for embezzlement. You haven’t killed anyone.”
“That we know of,” she whispered.
“You really think he’s killed someone?” he whispered back.
She considered for a moment before shaking her head. She was still surprised Mr. Foster had a gun. Up until they’d arrived to take him in and he’d started shooting, she would have laid money on the timid bank clerk not being able to hurt a fly. Although he had stolen from the bank, so he wasn’t exactly innocent.
“I won’t survive in jail, with all those criminals,” he said, his voice quaking.
“You’re a criminal, Mr. Foster,” Val pointed out. “You stole more than a thousand dollars. You’ll fit right in.”
“I won’t. You might as well kill me here.”
“All right then, you throw down your gun, I’ll shoot you, and then we can leave.”
Belle burst into silent giggles, leaning her forehead against his shoulder.
“You can’t shoot me! You’re a Pinkerton agent!”
“Mr. Foster,” Val said, “today is my one-year wedding anniversary, and instead of my beautiful wife and I spending the day in our rather nice hotel room, we’re here trying to bring you in. So if it gets us out of here faster, I will absolutely shoot you.”
There was another pause. “Um… congratulations?”
She clamped one hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud.
Val shook his head at her, grinning. “Thank you, Mr. Foster. So what do you say? Are you going to give up? I can shoot you or not, your choice.”
It took him a good fifteen seconds of silence to decide, during which time Val pressed her up against the stone column currently shielding them from Mr. Foster’s badly aimed pistol and gave her a heated kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes.
“All right,” Mr. Foster called, “I’m giving up. Please don’t shoot me though.” When they didn’t respond, he added, “Um, hallo?”
Val’s lips slipped from hers and he cleared his throat. “Good choice, Mr. Foster. Place your gun on the floor and back away from it.”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave her one more, too brief kiss before they peered around the corner of the column. Mr. Foster was standing with his hands high above his head, looking extremely nervous. His revolver lay on the floor a few feet in front of him.
Weapons raised, they left the safety of the stone pillar. Not that it looked like Mr. Foster was a danger any longer. His legs appeared to be shaking. Belle almost felt sorry for him.
While Val retrieved the gun, she approached the soon-to-be erstwhile bank clerk. “Mr. Foster, we are making a citizen’s arrest for embezzlement. Please turn around and place your hands behind your back.”
He lowered his arms and she reached into her pocket for her handcuffs.
Suddenly, he lunged forward, grabbing for her gun. Jerking it out of his reach, she drove her left fist into his diaphragm. He doubled over, clutching at his stomach.
“Need any help, darling?” Val said, straightening from where he’d picked up the pistol.
“No thank you, dear.” She kicked the back of Mr. Foster’s leg and he dropped to his knees with a yelp. “I repeat, put your hands behind your back.”
This time, he obeyed. She cuffed his hands and pushed him down onto his face on the floor. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was men who thought she was an easy target simply because she was a woman.
“Stay there until I say you can get up.”
He didn’t reply, but he did stay down.
She strolled over to where Val was watching her, his usual amused expression in place.
“I love it when you get rough,” he said, sliding his hands around her waist.
Smiling, she wound her arms around his neck. “Happy anniversary.”
One year since she’d met and married Valentine Stevens, a too handsome man with an infuriatingly smug smile. On that day, she would never have believed she could have been so blissfully happy to be his wife. To her, marriage had been something to avoid.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
He drew her close and she leaned into him, her eyes dropping to his lips.
“Can I get up now?” Mr. Foster said.
“No!” they replied in unison.
Laughing softly, Val rested his forehead against hers. “Happy anniversary, Mrs. Stevens. I love you.”
He told her every day, but she never tired of hearing it. And she never would. “I love you too.”
“My shoulders are hurting,” Mr. Foster whined.
Val heaved a sigh and stepped back. “I guess we should get him to the marshal. But after that we’re going right back to the hotel.”
“Yes,” she replied fervently.
“Honestly, they really are painful.”
Rolling his eyes, Val leaned down, hauled Foster to his feet, and propelled him towards the door. “I can still shoot you, you know.”
Laughing softly, Belle followed them out of the bank.
She had the best life in the world.
THE END
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Dear Reader
Thank you for reading An Agent for Belle and I hope you’ve enjoyed Belle and Val’s story. If you have a moment, I would love for you to leave a review on AMAZON. Reviews help other readers to find my books and I’m incredibly grateful for every single one!
If you enjoyed this book, you’ll love my Escape to the West series. If you recall, Belle told Val about her older sister, Louisa, during their conversation at the restaurant. Louisa’s story is told in the fourth book of the series, An Unexpected Groom, where she does a little investigating of her own. It seems detective work runs in the family! All the books in the series are standalone stories and can be read in any order, but if you’d like to start at the beginning, No One’s Bride (Escape to the West book 1) is available for only $0.99 HERE.
I will be writing more books in the Pinkerton Matchmaker series, but in the meantime next up is Parker J. Cole with An Agent for Arielle. Keep enjoying those Pinkerton heroes and heroines!
If you’d like to contact me about anything, please do get in touch via my FACEBOOK page or WEBSITE or at [email protected]. I love to hear from readers!
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