The Bounty Hunter's Bride

by Victoria Bylin

  Beau held up the peeled apple. “Who’s first?”

  “Me!” Ellie took the fruit and bit into it.

  A drop of juice shot in Emma’s direction. The older girl jerked back as if Ellie had spit on her. “Cut it out!”

  Dani didn’t know what to do about Emma’s foul mood. She was hurting, but hurting others wouldn’t bring her father back. Dani touched her stiff shoulder. “It was an accident, sweetie.”

  Emma’s mouth trembled. “I know.”

  Beau had a second apple in hand. He finished peeling it and offered it to Emma. “This one’s for you.”

  She took the apple and heaved it as far as she could. “I don’t want it.”

  Dani gasped. “Emma!”

  Beau shot Dani a look, the one that belonged to the lawman who’d broken up fights in Denver. I’ll handle this. Dani welcomed his help. She understood the cause of Emma’s anger but didn’t know how to handle it. When Dani felt melancholy, she wanted to be left alone. When she cried, she did it in private. She didn’t understand Emma, but she suspected Beau did.

  He handed Emma a third apple. “If it makes you feel better, throw this one, too.”

  Tears flooded the girl’s eyes. “Nothing makes me feel better.”

  Beau worked his knife around the fruit. This time the peel broke. “It can’t be fixed, but it’s still an apple and it tastes good.” He held the fruit out to Emma.

  The child shot daggers with her eyes. “What’s going to happen to us?”

  Dani wanted to know, as well, but she’d hoped to discuss the matter with Beau in private. He’d conceded the milking contest, but did that mean he’d approve the adoption? Neither of them had told the girls about Harriet Lange. Until now, his nieces had been too afraid of Beau to ask about the future. When they approached Dani, she’d told the truth. Their Uncle Beau had legal authority and was still deciding.

  Emma’s outburst made the waiting seem cruel. Dani looked pointedly at Beau. “I’d like to know, too.”

  “I see three possibilities,” he replied.

  Esther paid no attention, but Ellie stopped chewing the bite of apple.

  Emma tensed. “What are they?”

  “You’re not going to like the first one.” Beau kept his gaze on Emma. “I asked Mr. Scott to find a boarding school.”

  “No!” she cried.

  Beau held up one hand. “Hold on. That’s not likely to happen.”

  “It better not.” Emma raised her chin. “I won’t leave my sisters.”

  “Fair enough,” Beau said. “The second option concerns your Aunt Harriet.”

  Ellie turned to her big sister. “Who’s she?”

  “She’s a witch!”

  “Emma!” Dani cried.

  “She’s mean,” the child declared. “We visited her when I was little. She’s mama’s great-aunt. She’s old and ugly and she slapped my hand for touching one of her stupid little teacups.”

  Dani felt outraged but cautioned herself. Judge not. “That was a long time ago.”

  “I don’t care,” Emma said. “If she liked children, she’d have some of her own.”

  “Not necessarily.” Dani’s back stiffened. Maybe, like herself, Harriet Lange hadn’t found the right man. Dani had jilted Virgil Griggs and ended up the town pariah. Perhaps Miss Lange had a similar story.

  Beau’s voice broke into Dani’s thoughts. “We don’t know what Miss Lange is like.”

  Emma frowned. “I know she doesn’t like me.”

  Dani weighed Emma’s comments and worried. Harriet Lange had asked for Emma only, not the younger girls. Beau, thinking money was a problem, had offered to pay an allowance for all three girls. If Harriet Lange took the offer, how would they know she’d done it out of love? Judging by Beau’s frown, he’d gone down the same road.

  Ellie had her half-eaten apple in her hand. “Uncle Beau?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why can’t you stay with us?”

  “I’ve got business elsewhere,” he said simply.

  Ellie hugged her knees. “If you stayed, you could marry Dani.”

  No one said a word, not even Emma.

  Ellie’s voice sped up. “She’s pretty and she can cook. Emma and I can do most of the chores. Esther’s too little, but she’s fun. That counts for something, doesn’t it?”

  Dani’s heart broke in two. Not for Ellie, who looked desperate. And not for Emma, who looked helpless. But for Beau, whose eyes had taken on the color of grass stirring helplessly in a breeze. Across the blanket, she saw the man who’d loved Lucy and married her, the sheriff who’d sung in the church choir in the tenor she’d heard bouncing in the cavernous barn.

  Her heart raced with feelings she couldn’t name. She loved Patrick. She always would, yet she’d come to know Beau in a way she’d never known his brother. She and Patrick had traded dozens of letters, but he’d never shared his secrets. Dani had his photograph in her box of keepsakes, but she’d never seen his eyes change with emotion the way Beau’s were changing now. The dark glint had turned into a twinkle that matched the grass. He looked at Dani with a wry smile, silently sharing the humor of Ellie’s naive remark.

  She smiled back.

  Beau’s eyes lingered on hers, but then he blinked. The twinkle faded, leaving behind the man who’d called himself Cain. Looking away, he hurled the half-peeled apple into the stream. It bobbed once and raced away.

  Beau kept his eyes on the apple. “It’s not possible, Ellie.”

  “Why not?” the child asked.

  Dani felt sorry for them all. “Your Uncle Beau and I are friends, but we don’t love each other.”

  Esther wiggled in Dani’s lap. She hadn’t sucked her thumb since they’d left the house, but she had it in her mouth now.

  “Why not?” she mumbled through her fingers. “You could be our mama and he could be like Pa.”

  Dani blushed. “It’s not that simple.”

  Esther pressed even closer. “I want you to stay.”

  “Me, too.” Emma glared at Beau. “My pa wrote to Dani every week. He said you disappeared.”

  Dani knew why, but Emma didn’t. Someday the girls would learn more about their Aunt Lucy and Beau’s loss but not this minute. “Emma, there are things you don’t understand.”

  “Then tell me,” the child demanded.

  Beau’s expression stayed blank. “My name’s on the will. That’s all that matters.

  “But it’s not right,” Emma insisted. “Dani knows us. She knows about cows, too. A lot more than you do. And they like her!”

  Beau shifted his gaze to Dani. His expression shot her back to her mother’s kitchen and the times her parents traded looks she hadn’t understood. Those moments usually involved her brother getting into trouble. Beau, she realized, wanted her to understand him in a way the girls couldn’t. They were two adults—equals—addressing a problem.

  He made his voice formal. “Birthing season’s a tough time of year. Tell me, Miss Baxter. Can you handle it?”

  “Yes.” She’d helped her father.

  His brows lifted with surprise. “Can you build that silo you’re planning?”

  “I’d hire someone.”

  “What about the alfalfa?” he asked. “Can you handle the planting, harvesting and the baling?

  “If I have to.” Dani held his gaze. “The seed should have been in the ground two weeks ago. If you can’t finish it in the next day or two, we should hire help.”

  Emma chimed in. “Howie Dawes will do it. Pa hires him every harvest. We all help. We can help Dani, too.”

  Ellie sat straighter. “I can do a lot.”

  “Me, too,” Esther said.

  Beau drummed his fingers on his knee. “I’ll be straight with you, girls. The third option is to leave Dani in charge and get back to my work, but I can’t. I have to do what’s best, not what’s easy.”

  Emma frowned. “This is best.”

  “Hear me out.” Beau held up his hand. “You girls have lost t
oo much already. I know that. I want to see you safe and settled. How that happens is my decision.”

  The suck-suck of Esther’s thumb beat with Dani’s heart.

  Beau looked at the child, then at Emma. “I’d like to speak to Dani in private. Can you watch out for your sisters?”

  Emma stared at Beau with the haughtiness of a little girl playing dress-up. “Of course, I can.”

  “Good.” Beau focused on Dani. “Let’s take a walk.”

  When she nodded yes, he pushed to his feet. Dani slid Esther off her lap, tried to stand and wobbled. Her leg had fallen asleep. Before she could steady herself, Beau grasped her elbow. Blood rushed to her toes. They tingled, but not as much as her elbow. She thought of Beau milking cows and peeling the apples. He had strong hands, steady hands. She’d come to trust him…except where it came to the girls. Dani knew best about the adoption. She had to prove it to him.

  As soon as she steadied herself, he let go of her elbow. “Let’s go upstream.”

  With the grass twisting around her boots, she cut across the slope to the bank of the stream. She saw prints where Beau had cast his line and caught tonight’s supper. Ellie’s smaller feet marked the ground next to his. In the distance she spotted a cluster of boulders surrounded by lupines, poppies and tiny pink flowers she didn’t recognize.

  “That’s a good spot,” she said. They could see the girls, but the stream would cover their voices.

  Beau nodded. “I want privacy.”

  When they reached the boulders, Dani smoothed her skirt and sat on a slab of granite. She expected Beau to sit at her side. Instead he stood in front of her with his hands behind his back. She felt like a witness in a court of law and didn’t like it.

  Before she could stand, Beau looked into her eyes. “I have just one question, Miss Baxter.”

  So she’d stopped being Dani. If he thought formality would give him an edge, he was wrong. “What is it?”

  “You traveled a thousand miles to marry a man you’d never met. I want to know why.”

  She’d been expecting Beau to challenge her skills, not her motives. What could she say? That she’d been courted by every man in Walker County and was impressed by none? That she’d been engaged twice and had jilted Virgil Griggs a week before the wedding? Dani still cringed when she thought of Virgil trying to kiss her. She hadn’t loved him, not even a little. He’d smelled like bad onions, and she’d turned her head in revulsion. When she’d broken the engagement, Dani had sealed her future as a spinster.

  That Dani Baxter, she’s as fickle as they come!

  Dani didn’t have a fickle bone in her body. She’d been lonely and had made a mistake when she’d said yes to Virgil, but the town had other ideas.

  Beau crossed his arms over his chest. The longer she waited to reply, the darker his eyes became.

  “Does it matter?” she finally asked.

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Why?

  His voice went low. “There’s only one reason a woman leaves her home for a man she’s never met.”

  Dani stiffened. “What’s that?”

  “She’s running from something.”

  He’d struck dangerously close to home. She’d been running from loneliness but saw no reason to admit it. “You’re wrong.”

  “Am I?”

  “I wasn’t running from anything,” she insisted. “I was running to Patrick.”

  Beau dropped down next to her. Their knees brushed. They both pulled back, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I don’t believe you, Dani.”

  He’d used her given name. It made her feel soft inside, but she kept her back straight. “It’s true.”

  “You didn’t even know him.”

  “We wrote letters.”

  Beau shook his head. “It’s been years since I’ve seen Patrick, but leopards don’t change their spots.”

  Dani’s heart pounded. “What do you mean?”

  “When we were kids, Patrick had a way of avoiding the facts. He saw things as he wanted them to be, not as they were. He was the youngest. Our ma spoiled him.”

  Dani bristled. “That was a long time ago.”

  “Maybe, but I have to wonder…Why did Patrick write to you? Why not find a wife in Castle Rock?”

  Dani had asked herself the same question. Sometimes it haunted her, especially since she had no one to ask. “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t, either.” Regret salted his voice. “I do know one thing and it’s this. If you adopt my nieces, you’ll have a harder time finding a husband.”

  “I’m not looking for a husband. Not anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m grieving Patrick.”

  “I know how that it is,” Beau murmured. “I also know that the pain eases with time. One day you’ll wake up and be ready to breathe again.”

  “Did that happen to you?”

  “In a way.” He stared across the meadow. “I miss Lucy, but I know she’s gone. It’s the hate for Johnson that keeps me on the road. I promised myself I’d bring him to justice. I’m going to keep my word.”

  Dani saw a link. “I made a promise, too.”

  “To Patrick?”

  “Yes.”

  “He wouldn’t expect you to keep it.”

  “But I want to.” Without the girls, she had nothing. For all Beau’s talk of husbands, Dani had no reason to believe things would be different for her in Castle Rock. Except for Patrick, she’d never been in love. She pushed to her feet and faced Beau. “I love the girls. I want to be their mother.”

  “You also want a husband.”

  Dani was tired of being pushed. “Not if he’s as bossy as you are.”

  “Bossy?” Beau chuffed.

  “Yes!” Dani glared at him. “You act like you know what I’m thinking, but you don’t. You have no idea what happened in Wisconsin. If you did—” Too late, she sealed her lips.

  Beau’s eyes glinted. “So you do have a secret.”

  “If you must know, I was engaged twice. Both times, I called off the wedding. Once at the last minute.” She blushed. “Virgil Griggs didn’t appreciate my change of heart.”

  “Why’d you break it off?”

  Dani’s cheeks turned red. “He smelled like onions.”

  Beau burst out laughing.

  “It wasn’t funny at the time,” she said. “I earned a reputation for being fickle. I’m not. It’s just that…” She shrugged.

  “I can’t explain it.”

  “You don’t have to. I understand.”

  How could he? She didn’t understand it herself. She was about to ask what he meant when he focused his gaze on her face. “I have a bit of wisdom for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  His eyes twinkled. “Not all men smell like onions.”

  Her father had smelled like leather. Her brother used bay rum when he shaved. Dani had no idea how Patrick would have struck her nose, but she knew the scent of Beau’s shaving soap. As they’d walked to the rocks, she’d smelled apples.

  The thought rocked Dani to her marrow. For all his bluster, she liked Beau and his bossy ways. Her feelings made no sense. She was grieving Patrick. She had no business noticing the mischief in Beau’s eyes. He had a glint of male superiority, as if he knew something she didn’t.

  Dani bristled. “Are you going to let me adopt the girls or not?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Why not?”

  Silence.

  Dani wanted to scream. “You know I can run the farm.”

  “There’s no doubt about it.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  His eyes locked on to hers. “I like you, Dani. I want you to be happy.”

  “Then give me the girls.”

  His gaze hardened. “Under one condition.”

  “What is it?”

  “Look me in the eye.”

  She did what he asked.

  “Now tell me you don’t want a husband.”
>
  If she rushed her words, he’d sense her desperation. But the longer she thought, the more her heart pounded with the truth. Of course she wanted a husband, someone to love and cherish. She wanted everything God intended for a husband and wife. She wanted her belly to swell with child. She wanted to laugh in the dark and snuggle at dawn. She’d also made a promise and believed God wanted her to keep it. Why else would he bring her to this moment? As painful as this week had been, she felt needed. She had a purpose. She didn’t understand God’s logic, but she felt His love.

  She took a breath to steady herself, then faced Beau. “I can’t say that.”

  He raised his chin. “That’s honest.”

  “There’s more,” she said. “I’ve dreamed of children all my life. I expected to get married and have my own. Instead God sent me here.”

  Beau’s jaw tensed. “Leave God out of it.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “I don’t know why He took Patrick home, but I know what I promised. I want to adopt the girls.”

  “Dani—”

  “Say yes,” she pleaded. “You know it’s right.”

  Barring a miracle, she’d never have a husband. As Beau had said, only an exceptional man would marry a woman with three children. Dani’s courtship days were over. For whatever reason, God had made her a widow without ever being a wife. She raised her chin. Someday she’d come face-to-face with the King of Kings. She’d sit at His feet and feel His love. At that glorious moment, she wouldn’t recall her earthly loneliness. The thought made her strong.

  Beau stood up, putting them eye to eye. “It’s a big decision. You don’t have to decide now.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Why?”

  “The girls need an answer.” So did Dani. “I know what I want.” She wanted to be a mother. She also wanted to weep for what she’d never have. A husband of her own, a child growing in her belly…She stared harder at Beau.

  His expression softened. “If you’re sure—”

  “I’m positive.” She took a breath. “When shall we tell the girls?”

  “Now’s fine. I’ll go to town early in the morning to tell Scott to wire Harriet Lange. As of today, my offer to give her the girls is off the table. They’re yours, Dani.”