He shrugged. "I don't know much else. I can't read or write. My folks are dead. I got no place to go. It's all I can do."
"You're wrong about that. You are young enough, you could learn." She felt a sudden pity for Darrel; he wasn't a hardnosed outlaw, like the other men. She wanted to help him, but changing his mind and his life style might scare him too much and put her in tremendous danger with the other men.
"Are you talking about me sitting in a classroom with kids and trying to learn? That would look funny. Don't you think? Look, we better go back, Jimmy John will come looking." He started to move toward her but suddenly a man jumped out from behind a tree and knocked Darrel on the ground with the butt of his gun.
Not just any man, a man with magnificent strength and agility. Not only was he strong, but he had the face of a man that could turn any woman's head.
Shannon nearly screamed. "Oh my God…why did you do that?"
The stranger glared at her.
"Ma'am, you are definitely in my way right now. I'm a Ranger and I've been after this bunch for months. You best be quiet and stay out of the way." The man said glancing about.
A Ranger? Was that some kind of law out here?
Shannon stared at him; he was muscled and tall, and quite handsome. He wasn't a part of this bunch, but a Ranger. She'd never heard of a ranger.
"Are you the law?"
He looked incredulous at her and a slight smile broke over his well-formed lips. "I am. Now, be quiet. Where are the rest of them?"
She put her hands on her hips and frowned. "How can I be quiet and answer at the same time?"
"Ma'am this is no time to go into it. Just answer my question." He directed coming closer and grabbing her arm.
"They are in the cabin." She answered.
"All of them?"
"Yes…"
"How many are in there?" He looked into her eyes and something softened in his glance.
"There are five of them, one of them I just operated on." She explained in a whispered voice.
"Operated? Like a doctor?" He narrowed his gaze.
"That's right, I'm a doctor they brought me from town up here and I took a bullet out of the youngest one's shoulder. He's harmless." She assured him.
"Good, now, I want you to stay right here and let me take care of this." He told her.
"I can help!" She put her arm on his and stayed him for a moment.
"No you can't. I don't want to have to worry about you while I’m taking care of them. So you do exactly what I say and you'll be home before you know it." He said, moving toward the cabin, his gun ready.
"Don't kill them…they aren't that bad." She insisted.
"Ma'am stay out of this. It isn't your business." He muttered as he made his way closer. He glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned. "But I don't kill unless I am forced to."
She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it quickly.
Just then, Wes came out and headed for the lean-to.
The ranger moved in on him and knocked him in the head with the butt of his gun from behind.
Shannon watched with trepidation. She turned away and hid behind a tree.
The ranger edged closer to the house. Another one of the men came out and headed for the outhouse. The ranger waited until he was through, then on his way back to the house, he hit him too.
He ran back to her side. "Take this rope, and tie these men up. Can you tie a knot?"
"Of course I can." She huffed.
"Good, tie them up." He insisted.
"But I’m…"
"Do it…if you want to go home today." He told her.
As he moved again toward the house, she tied Wes up while he was still out cold. Then she moved toward Thornton. He was moaning and she hurriedly tied him too.
Moments later, the ranger came out with Jimmy John and Elmer.
Jimmy John spotted her and shook his head. "I knew I should have shot you myself."
Shannon moved closer now. "Why didn't you?"
"I guess because I never seen a smart lady and a pretty one in one body before. You got hair like fire…" He shook his head. "Always was partial to redheads."
The ranger tied Elmer and Jimmy John and he began loading them on their horses.
"What about Billy?" She cried.
"Billy?" The ranger looked at her.
"The one that was shot?" She said.
"He's in there on the bunk, I didn't bother him. I don't think he's in any shape to move around much. But once I get these on their horses, I'll bring him out."
"He's not able to travel yet." She argued.
"Ma'am, he has to be. I'm not coming back after him."
Shannon gritted her teeth. Who was this bully of a lawman?
When he came out, he was carrying Billy. He gave her a horse, laid Billy over the saddle on his horse, and mounted behind him.
"Let's get out of here." He told her.
Despite his tactics the ranger had managed all of them and in a matter of minutes. He might impress some females with his arrogant approach to the law, but not her. She was worried about Billy and infection setting in.
"What's your name, and where is your badge?" She asked, unable to settle her nerves.
"The name's Jesse Cutler. I'm a Texas Ranger." He announced. He flashed a badge at her as they rode out of the yard slowly.
"Texas Ranger? Aren't you a little far from home?"
He moved his hat back, displaying a dark head of hair, and eyes that mesmerized her every time she looked at him. That was part of the reason she didn't like him, she was instantly attracted to him.
She knew her accomplishments in many ways, but men left her in a tizzy. She'd never been courted regularly, never been engaged. Never came close to a real relationship. Her inferior complexes were showing. But how was she to cope with such a handsome Texas Ranger?
Unlike the outlaws, he was clean and shaved and he didn't have a stench about him either.
Shannon had no time for courting. Her life was filled with medicine. However, Jesse looked at her as though he could read her mind, and he smiled.
That smile melted something within her. Never had she had that kind of reaction to a total stranger. It scared her.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"I'm taking them to Texas, and I reckon I'll drop you off along the way." He remarked.
"I can find my own way home, once we get out of these trees." She informed him.
"The forest has a way of making your sense of direction go hay wired. I'll see you home."
Darrel was coming to and he looked up and around him all of a sudden. "What's going on?" He asked, seeing her beside him.
"This…Ranger is taking you to Texas, he says." Shannon explained.
"Was he with you all along?" Darrel asked.
"No…this was all his idea. I've never seen him before." Shannon frowned.
Because of being up so long, Shannon began to yawn and Jesse noticed. "You're about to fall asleep in the saddle. We better camp here and start again in the morning."
"We're not riding through?" She asked startled that he wanted to stop.
"I don't think that is too good an idea, the shape you are in. Besides, this kid in my lap needs some rest too."
"Don't mind me." She insisted with another yawn.
"Afraid I have to. I'm responsible for you too, lady." His glance slid from her boots to her head of glorious red hair. "What are you doing with this bunch?" Jesse asked as he helped them all down and roped them to a tree trunk.
Darrel lifted his head, "I went to fetch her for Billy."
"A woman doctor?" Jesse shook his head. "Just my luck."
"That's right, I'm a doctor. I took the bullet out of Billy's shoulder."
"And did you think for one moment that these men were going to let you go home?" He asked.
"I was hoping, yes." She answered as she moved toward the creek that they camped by. She washed the coffee pot and came back. Jesse had lit a fire
and she prepared the coffee.
He sat by the fire on the opposite side of her. "Won't be long, we'll have you home, safe and sound. However, I'd like you to know it isn't a good idea to come with total strangers to help someone. Maybe you'll rethink that when we get you home."
"I didn't give her any choice," Darrel hollered.
"Maybe you learned a little then…" he eyed her.
"A doctor goes where she is needed." Shannon replied giving the Ranger a look on intolerance.
She got a blanket from her horse, and then she untied theirs and gave them all a blanket. She bent to check Billy. He had a fever. She looked in her bag, found one last clean bandage, and washed his face.
"He's got an infection. You can't take him clear to Texas, he's too ill." Shannon insisted. "He'll never make it."
"I can't nurse-maid him, he goes with the others." Jesse insisted. "He'll have to take his chances."
"That would be murder!" She shrieked.
"Lady…they are outlaws. I'm taking them in." He frowned. "It's as simple as that."
She took her blanket and curled up on the other side of the fire. It was a while before she finally went to sleep.
However, morning changed everything. They woke up to company. Four people stood around them, staring down at them with rifles in their hands.
Not ordinary people either, Shannon noted quickly.
Jesse nudged Shannon. "Don't be alarmed but we have company."
She rose up and looked in the eyes of a big woman clothed in a bearskin coat. She had a flop hat on too. The old woman was impressive. The three men with her were young and dressed the same. Although they looked rough, they didn't reek like Jimmy John's bunch. They were clean, but still the clothes they wore and the beards on them made them look scruffy.
"Now what we got here?" The woman looked about the camp.
"I'm Jesse Cutler, Texas Ranger, and I’m taking this bunch to Texas." He announced extending his hand to the woman.
"You don't say. A lawman, huh?" She huffed but didn't shake his hand. Instead, her eyes went around the camp curiously.
"Yes ma'am." Jesse nodded.
"Kinda out of your territory, aren't you?" The woman eyed him with precision.
"Kinda."
She didn't shake his hand. "Who's this gal you got with you?" She asked her glance landing on Shannon.
"I'm Shannon Greer, Dr. Shannon Greer," Shannon stood up and came toward the woman, extending her hand to her.
"Doctor? They got women doctors now?" She laughed. "Did you hear that boys, this gal's got education?"
"Never seen a female doctor before," The tallest son came toward her, his brown eyes taking her all in with one swoop of a glance. He was lean, tall, and quite over-bearing. Oddly enough, his teeth weren't yellow, and his clothes didn't smell bad.
He leaned toward her, and looked at his Ma. "She don't stink, Ma."
"Easy boy, she's way over your head. Well, I smell coffee," the woman said.
"Yes, help yourself." Jesse nodded.
"Well, now, that's right friendly of you. You two married?" She asked, trying to intimidate the Ranger.
"No!" Shannon assured her.
"You got a man back home or somethin'?" The woman asked as she sipped her coffee and eyed her.
"No…" Shannon stared at the woman
"Well, sit yourself down and tell me all about it, then. Because, I don't hold with no female traveling with a bunch of rangy men like them and not married to one of them. One of those rascals over there your husband?"
"No, of course not. You don't understand. I came out here to doctor the young one over there." Shannon pointed to Billy as she sat beside the woman. "I barely know any of them."
"And yet you camped out with them, like you did. That ain't very lady-like you know." The woman said. "You got guts lady, I'll give you that. Don't you know any or all of these rascals could have had you?"
"That wasn't what they were after. I'm a doctor." She tried to explain. "What's your name?"
"They call me Ma. These here are my boys, that's Tate, Roy, and Hemp. All mine." She said proudly.
Shannon nodded to them.
Jesse moved about restlessly. "Look, it's nice to meet you all, but we have to be on the trail now if we want to get to Texas. You understand I’m sure."
"No sir, I don't. And you be sittin' yourself down so we can talk a bit more. Don't be in such an all-fired hurry. And since you are the most handsome, I reckon you and the lady here should marry up."
"What?" Shannon nearly shouted. "I don't think you understand. I've never laid eyes on any of these men until yesterday. And I’m not about to marry one of them. It's my job to heal people…not marry them." Shannon shouted indignantly.
Ma shook her head. "Don't get so high and mighty, gal, I can't allow it. It breaks all the rules of the hills. It ain't done…."
"You can't allow what?" Jesse stepped in now, upset that this woman was causing trouble.
"Unmarried women don't travel with a passel of men. It just ain't done. You marry her or we'll just have to shoot her. Unmarried women don't run around in the woods, with rangy men like this. It ain't respectable." Ma said matter-of-factly. "Dying would be easier than facing those folks that are so high and mighty back in town. They find out you been sleepin' in the woods with this bunch, you won't be no healer no more."
"What's one got to do with the other?" Shannon asked her hands going to her hips, her eyes blazing.
"Marry her? Shoot her? Are you crazy?" Jesse turned his anger on her now. "She's not a prisoner."
"Nope, but you've impugned her honor." She said the word as though she were proud to know what it meant. As though she'd learned it from an educated tinker or something. "It's the law around here. You are leading these boys to Texas, but you got a woman with you, a woman that sleeps in the same camp. Ain't fittin'. Ain't done in these hills. Because in these hills, I'm the law and everyone here knows it. I won't allow this. She's unmarried, unprotected, on her own. Any one of these no-goods could take her, and it would be your fault. Don't you see? You’re job's to protect her. Now she don't seem to have the gumption to know better, and I'm here to straighten that out."
"Now look, I'm not marrying this woman, I barely know her." Jesse insisted. "And as a lawman I can't be responsible for how fitting it is. She can go home as soon as we get out of this forest. Alone, and no one will be the wiser. She's here now because I didn't want her getting lost in the forest for days."
"So you were protecting her, so to speak." The old woman shrugged.
"So to speak." He repeated, his eyes glaring at the woman and her sons.
"Then we'll just have to kill her. 'Cause if she ain't under arrest, then you cain't take her no further without marrying her. I won't allow it."
"Kill her?" He put his hand on his gun, but the three boys pulled theirs out and pointed them at him. Slowly each boy cocked his gun, aiming the guns straight at him.
"And if you don't settle down. We might have to kill you too. Us hill folks don't care much for lawmen. We make our own laws here and the people abide or else."
"I don't know where you came from, but things aren't done that way in Texas.
"Well sonny, you ain't in Texas. This country is unsettled and a lot of people are moving here, for a new start. But I've been here for years, and I am the law here. And I say she gets married or she don't go no further."
Jesse tried to reason with her. "The woman is a doctor. She came to doctor that young man over there; she took a bullet out of his shoulder. Now, she wants to go home. What did you expect me to do, turn her loose in these woods to get lost?"
"You don't understand our ways up here, so it's best you do as I say and don't argue. All I'm asking of her is to marry, that's all, then we'll be on our way and you can too."
Shannon wanted to try another tactic. "I see your point, you are protecting me from all of them, and that's quite noble of you, but…as a doctor I'm used to these situations. A doctor mus
t go where the sick and wounded are. He was sick. I made him better. Now, all I want to do is go home. Since the ranger is the law too, I don't see why that is a problem. He can escort me to the edge of the forest, and then I'll ride on alone, home."
The old woman looked him over. "This is my territory not yourn. And we do things my way." She looked at Shannon, and then turned to Jesse. "You marry her, or we'll just have to shoot her and bury her out here, away from all her kin and the shame she'd face back there in town." Ma said not changing her mind. "Why it's sinful traveling with so many men and not married to one of them. You see there wouldn't be any problem if she had a man of her own that brought her here so she could doctor that young man over there. But she don't. And none of you are married to her, so you don't have a lot of rights where she's concerned. She's alone, and I won't have it on my conscious that something bad could happen to her. If I was to just up and ride out of here, and one of you rascals decided to have her and leave her for dead, that would play on my mind forever. No sir, she's getting married, today."
Jesse glanced at Shannon. His eyes met hers and he didn't see one ounce of fear in her face. More anger than fear.
"Look, if you are so worried about her honor, you can take her back to town. Now, I'm sorry, but I'm taking these men in, and I'm taking them in now…"
"I don't think so." The old woman looked at her sons.
They aimed their cocked guns at him once more.
Jesse saw the glum look on their faces. "I never touched her." He explained.
"Don't matter. Ain't fittin' that she's out here alone with all of you. Folks in town sees it, they won't have nothing to do with her. You may not realize it, young lady, but I'm protecting your honor and maybe even your business. You go back to town, unmarried and they find out, you won't have any patients from then on. That's how they are around here. Most the women here came out as mail-order brides. They expect a woman alone to either marry or be a spinster, but a spinster can't follow men into the woods alone without a husband or a daddy along with her. It's just not done. Now I could get one of these fellas to marry her. Must be someone that wants to marry her. She's right pretty with all that red hair shining."
Darrel spoke up. "I'll marry her!"
Shotgun Bride (Book Six of the Brides of the West) Page 3
