The Innocent and the Outlaw (Outlaws of the Wild West)

by Harper St. George

  Reaching out to touch Castillo’s arm, she implored him one last time. “Please.” His sharp gaze came back to her, striking her with their intensity and how similar they were to Hunter’s. He really was a very handsome man with his high cheekbones and granite jaw, but there was a danger that lurked beneath the surface, a ruthlessness that made a shiver run down her spine. “He can’t hurt you now.”

  Only once his gaze finally released hers to move on to Hunter, his brow raised in question, did she think that she might have gotten through to him. Hunter nodded his agreement and then Castillo relaxed, his gun going back into its holster.

  The moment the gun disappeared, Ship looked up to meet her gaze. “Em, I want you to know that I never meant for you to be in harm’s way. I never wanted you to be taken. I should’ve done better by you. I know that. I only ever wanted to give you and the girls a good life.”

  “I can do that.” Hunter’s voice surprised her. “I can take care of them and give them a good life.”

  She looked up at him in surprise and he met her gaze.

  “If you’ll let me.” His voice lowered. “Please let me take care of you.”

  Her lips parted but she had no idea what to say. Ship didn’t give her time, because he spoke first. “Is that what you want, girl?”

  To be with Hunter for the rest of her life? Yes, but not as his obligation. She didn’t say that, because now wasn’t the time. “Yes, I love him.” That much was true at least. Hunter’s arm tightened around her waist in response.

  “Then you won’t have to worry about me.” Ship turned his words back to Castillo. “All I wanted is for the girls to have some security.”

  “I’ll give them that. More than that. They’ll be educated and find good marriages later, if that’s what they want.” Hunter promised.

  Castillo nodded toward the dapple horse that Eduardo had led over. “Your mount’s waiting. Get the hell on it before I change my mind.” Then he turned on his heel and walked back toward Miguel.

  “Where will you go?” she asked Ship just as he was mounting.

  “Back to the farm.”

  Hunter released her long enough to retrieve the satchel and pull out a bound roll of bills. Once Ship was mounted, he pushed the roll into Ship’s hands and then stepped back to put an arm around her shoulders.

  “I won’t take your money,” Ship argued.

  “Consider it a bride price.”

  Emmy was stunned, but she didn’t take the time to consider what exactly Hunter was saying. She just wanted to see Ship safely gone. “Please take it, Ship. I want to know you’ll be okay.” She ran forward and pressed her hand to his.

  He didn’t take her hand, but he didn’t pull away either. After a moment he nodded and spurred his mount forward. “We’ll both be okay, girl.”

  Hunter was at her back as they watched him go. She felt sad for Ship, but she wasn’t sorry to see her old life go. Once he’d ridden into the night, Hunter moved to her side, keeping his arm at her waist.

  “Let’s get you inside.”

  Chewing her bottom lip, she nodded, uncertain of how to talk to him after everything that had happened...after all that he had said. There was tension in the arm curled around her waist and she wasn’t entirely certain if it was simply leftover from the confrontation or if it was because of her. She nodded and let him lead her back to the house, keeping a watchful eye on his stony profile.

  They paused near Miguel and Hunter walked over to talk to the boy. Once he was sure he was okay, he came back to her and took her hand, walking toward the house. He didn’t look at her once. Not until he’d walked them to his bedroom and let her go to close the door behind him. Only then did he turn to face her, his back pressed to the door as he studied her. A lamp that he must have lit to read her note still burned low on the desk, giving the room intimacy.

  “You scared the hell out of me. You know that?” His face was stern.

  “I know and I won’t say I’m sorry for what I did, but I’m sorry you were afraid.” Clenching her hands into fists, she leaned against the bed, uncertain of how this conversation would go.

  He let out a breath and all of his tension seemed to leave with it as he walked toward her, coming to a stop just inches away. “I meant that, you know.” His voice was low and deep, rumbling through her.

  “The bride price?”

  He nodded and tilted her chin up when she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Will you marry me?”

  “It’s too soon. We barely know each other.” And good things like this don’t happen to me. She didn’t add in that last part, but it was the rational voice in her head coming through. This time she could hear it clearly.

  “It’s not too soon. I love you, Emmaline Drake. I love you so much I can’t think of facing a day without you. Seeing you at Pete’s mercy, knowing your life hung in the hands of that imbecile, that was torture. I want you in my life, Emmy. I want to be a part of your life. I need you with me. I want you to marry me.”

  It almost killed her to hear him say the words she wanted to hear so badly, but then to have to turn him down. “But don’t you understand? That’s just what I mean. You don’t want to marry me. My father is Ship Campbell, for heaven’s sake. You don’t want that. A lot happened tonight and we’re all too wound up.”

  He exhaled on a harsh laugh and sank to his knees before her, taking her hands in his. “You’re too damned stubborn. Give me some credit for knowing my own mind. I love you. I’ve known that for a while. I made up my mind about marrying you last night. Ask my brother if you don’t believe me.”

  She didn’t want to believe him, but she did. It scared her how easily she trusted everything he said. “What of the children?”

  “What of them? They seem happy here. I love them, too.”

  “But I’m the closest thing to a mother they have. Though they do have Ship, he’s never been around. It doesn’t seem fair that you would have to be their...” She stuttered over the word.

  “To be their father? This isn’t something I decided on a whim, Emmy. I love you and all that comes with you. That includes Ginny and Rose. They’ll still have their father, but I’ll be there for them, too.”

  “What of your parents?”

  “It doesn’t matter. My mother isn’t part of my life and my father will love you.”

  “Your father... I haven’t even met him and the ranch is his home.” She tried to pull her hands free, but he held tight and brought her palm to his mouth.

  After he kissed her, Hunter nodded, looking slightly amused. “He’ll love you. But he’s rarely here. He has a house in town. We can get our own house, if that’s what you prefer.”

  “But your life with the gang, with Castillo. I know how important they are to you. I can’t ask you to leave that, but I can’t marry an outlaw, Hunter. I just can’t live that life again and I can’t put the girls through that.”

  “I know. I don’t want that either. I’ve spoken with Cas and I’ll work out another way to help, one that doesn’t take me from home as often.” His expression became solemn again. “I can’t promise that I’ll never have to go, but I can promise it won’t be often. I can promise to be by your side far more than I’m away. Can that be good enough to start? You’re important to me. The family we make will be important to me. I won’t risk that.”

  She wanted to say yes. She wanted it so badly she couldn’t even imagine her life if she said no. “I want to believe you, Hunter.” And she did believe him, but it was so hard to give in to that belief.

  He laughed and she sank down to sit in his lap where he pulled her against him. His hands roved up and down her back as his forehead pressed to hers. “Then say yes. What’s stopping you?”

  “I don’t know how to say yes. My life... I just never get what I want. That’s not how things work for me.”

/>   “Then take what you want. Make things work that way.”

  She stared up into his green eyes, sure that she’d never seen a more beautiful sight in her life than the love she saw staring back at her. “I love you. I love you so much it scares me.”

  “I know. When I read your letter, I knew that I’d been so blind to not tell you how I needed you, how I’d do anything to keep you with me. I love you,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. I know that you’ve never been able to rely on anyone, but I promise you can rely on me. I promise you I won’t let you get hurt.”

  She laughed, but it got caught on the tears threatening to clog her throat. He was always making sure she didn’t get hurt and he’d risked his life more than once for her. The least she could do was risk her heart. Just this once. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” And just that easily, she took what she wanted and made it hers.

  Epilogue

  Emmy couldn’t look away from the band of gold encircling the finger on Hunter’s left hand. On her husband’s left hand. It was a perfect match for her own slightly smaller one. Even the thought made her breath catch. They had exchanged vows mere hours ago and her mind still hadn’t caught up to the fact that this magnificent man was hers.

  She stared at that hand, fingers clasped with hers, and couldn’t resist reaching out to caress the strength there. He looked down at her and gave her that half smile she adored before bringing her hand to his lips.

  “It’s right in here.” His eyes twinkled with mischief as he led her into the stables and let her go to pull the door closed behind them.

  Music from the wedding celebration still going on in the house followed them outside, but it was softer here. A large group of people had spilled out onto the lawn to enjoy the warm summer night. One of them laughed, but it barely reached them in their cocoon. It was the first time since they’d taken their vows that they’d had a moment alone. For some reason she felt nervous—possibly because he’d enforced a two-week period of celibacy on them before the wedding—and fidgeted with the lace of the short train she’d draped over her arm.

  The lantern caught, the blaze lighting his face as he hung it back on its post. He was so handsome in his formal wear that she’d had trouble keeping her hands to herself all night. But she’d tried to maintain some propriety. She knew there was talk about how improper it was that she had lived at the Jameson Ranch before the wedding. Though Hunter hadn’t cared in the least, she had wanted to prove to his father’s friends that she wasn’t some loose woman using Hunter for his money. She thought it had worked, either that or no one from town really cared while imbibing the champagne, escargots, and all the other exotic and wildly expensive food his father had brought in for the reception.

  Hunter had concocted some story about how their families were distant acquaintances and that he’d lost his heart the moment he saw her. She’d laughed at that part when he’d told her the story while wearing that devilish grin on his face. But he’d maintained that it was true.

  She finally believed him. She’d spent countless hours over the past months replaying the night they’d met and the day that followed. There had been something drawing them together even then. Something inexplicable had happened and he had felt it as much as she had. It was why he’d followed her to Helena, and it was why he’d asked her to marry him. The past months had been like some enchanted fairy tale, but she finally believed that it was real.

  Hunter walked the few feet separating them and smiled, arms going around her waist to hold her close. His eyes were positively glowing with the love he felt for her.

  “I don’t need another wedding present from you.” She’d been telling him this for weeks, when he’d first starting hinting at a surprise. Touching the sapphire necklace he’d given her that morning, she said, “This is more than enough.”

  “That’s not a wedding present.”

  “What is it then?” Her hands moved up the strong length of his arms, settling on his broad shoulders. The train slipped down between them, but she couldn’t help touching him.

  “That’s because it was pretty and made me think of you. It matches your eyes.”

  Of course. He was so generous with her and the children. It didn’t surprise her at all that he’d buy something so expensive for such a frivolous reason as that. “I only need you. You’re enough for me.”

  Moving a hand up her body to cup her cheek, he said, “And that’s exactly why I want to give you everything.”

  She laughed at that, her nerves flitting away at his touch. “You already have. I have everything I could possibly want.” It was true. A new wardrobe that she was sure rivaled the best-dressed woman in town, any book she could ever want to read, and he’d even opened an account for her with fifty thousand dollars at the bank. Though she never planned to touch it—or step foot near his banker, Mr. Westlake, since he was one of the men at the brothel that night—it had been a nice gesture. Hunter had even hired tutors for the children. It amazed her how good he was with them and how concerned he was with their happiness.

  Even Tanner Jameson had surprised her. An older, near duplicate of Hunter, he was more carefree than she’d anticipated for a man of his wealth and influence. If there had been any hesitation on his part to accept her as his son’s choice, she hadn’t seen a glimmer of it. He’d welcomed the news of their engagement with open arms and had more fun than she had planning the ceremony, even insisting on a gown that cost more than she’d even known gowns could cost. She had talked him down to something simpler, something the modiste said would work well with her small frame. Something she actually liked, all the while knowing that what she wore didn’t matter. She’d have married Hunter in the coarse, brown dress she’d been wearing the first time he’d kissed her as long as it meant he was hers.

  “No.” Shaking his head, he kissed her gently. “There’s one more thing you need.” Then he took her hand and led her past the stalls lining each side.

  Hurrying to save the length of lace from the stable floor, she followed him. As he turned the corner at the end to the large stall in back, her breath caught, already suspecting what he planned. Using his free hand, he unlatched the door to show the mare and foal she knew lived inside. The mother snickered a soft greeting while the foal, who had been born soon after Emmy had arrived, slept at her feet in the straw, their golden coats just barely catching the light from the lantern left behind.

  “The foal is yours. We’ll raise her, train her, and when she’s older you’ll ride her.” His arm tucked around her waist drawing her to his side. “I think if we do this together, it’ll help you conquer your fear.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her face into his shoulder. “This is too much.”

  He turned and brought his hands up to her face to tilt it back. “What’s wrong? What do you mean?”

  The concern in his eyes brought an ache to her throat so that she had to swallow several times before she could talk. “You’ve run out of tangible things to give me so you’ve moved on to the intangibles. Love, security, hope, now this. What’s next?”

  “Everything. Emmy, this is only a small part of what you’ve given me. You realize that, right?” He searched her face for the answer and must not have seen certainty, because he continued. “I love you. You’ve given me a life I never realized was possible.”

  “I love you, too. Come on.” Grabbing his hand, she pulled him from the stall, pausing only long enough for him to latch the door.

  “Where are we going?” But his tone was light again, h
e knew exactly what she wanted.

  “The public wedding celebration is over as far as I’m concerned. You’ve kept me waiting for two weeks—”

  “I just wanted to make you miss me.” He pulled her up short and dragged her close for a searing kiss.

  Smiling, she slipped out of his grip and ran to the stable door, pausing to grab a length of rope looped on a hook. “Time to consummate your marriage, Mr. Jameson.”

  “What’s the rope for?” He grinned as he stalked her. “I can assure you, you won’t need it to drag me to bed.” He grabbed her hips before she could dart away and pulled her flush against his body.

  “You tied me up once, it’s only fair that I get to return the favor.”

  He growled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door. They ran all the way back to the house. No one approached them and they were able to slip upstairs without the ribbing she had feared. Once in the safety of his bedroom, their bedroom now, he kissed her with all the pent-up fears and longings of the past months. He was hers now, just as she was his. The way it was meant to be. The way it always would be.

  * * * * *

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