The Cowboy’s Outlaw Bride

by Cora Seton

  “I swear I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached,” the woman went on. “I’m so scattered these days.” It was Fila Matheson, if Olivia wasn’t mistaken.

  “We all are, honey. Let’s go look again.”

  Olivia reached the object she’d spotted—and had to smile despite her irritation. The small pocketbook had been inserted into a row of books at one end of a shelf. She imagined Fila had been engrossed in a novel when she’d done that and forgotten it when she moved down the row. She herself had done something similar countless times in this library.

  Ignoring Noah, who was still trailing behind her, she left her cart where it was, pulled the purse off the shelf and walked toward the front of the library just in time to see Fila and Marta disappearing into the nonfiction section.

  “Fila? I found it!”

  Fila reappeared. “Thank goodness. I thought I’d lost my mind.” She rushed over and took the purse. “This thing needs to stay attached to me at all times. I’m constantly setting it down and losing it.”

  “Glad I could help.”

  “Good thing you spotted that,” Noah said.

  Olivia bit back a sharp retort. He’d just accused her of breaking and entering her best friend’s house. He didn’t get to pretend all was well with them. “You’d better check if your wallet and credit cards are still in there,” she said to Fila.

  Fila’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you think someone got into it?” She opened it immediately and pulled out her wallet.

  Olivia caught Noah’s gaze and held it. “There’s a Cooper present. Can’t take too many chances when one of them is around.”

  Noah sighed.

  Fila paused, wallet in hand. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You haven’t lived in Chance Creek long enough. You don’t know I’m a hardened criminal.”

  Fila’s gaze slid from her to Noah, and one corner of her mouth quirked up. “Glad you warned me. Here I thought you were just a nice woman who worked at the library.”

  “I never said you were a hardened criminal,” Noah said.

  “But you thought it,” Olivia told him. “And that’s enough.”

  Fila backed away. “Thanks again for finding it, Olivia, you’re a life saver.” She went to check out her books.

  Noah waited until Fila had moved to the counter. “I probably deserved that.”

  “You did.”

  “I know,” he admitted. “And I don’t blame you for being pissed. You’re right. I thought you were stealing the clock, and I didn’t give you a chance to explain.”

  “You changed your mind?”

  “Yeah, even before I ran into your aunt, and she set me straight.” He shook his head. “She shouldn’t have needed to, though. I don’t know why I was being such an idiot.” He took her hand. Rubbed his thumb along her palm. “I think I’m just not used to trusting anyone to get too close. Outside my own family, that is. And even then…”

  “Yeah, I know.” For a moment neither of them said anything. Then Olivia bit back a smile. “Virginia will be so pissed I brought it back.”

  “Why did you?”

  Olivia blinked at him. “Because we don’t need things any worse between our families than they already are.”

  Noah nodded. “I don’t know what to do,” he confessed. “Nothing’s going right these days. My job doesn’t earn enough. My ranch is facing a drought. My family’s about to lose its chance to win the Ridley property, you keep taking chances you shouldn’t and I can’t see you without starting a riot.”

  Olivia chuckled. “Yeah, that last part is a drag.”

  “I want to see you again, you know.” Noah moved closer. “You’re all I think about.”

  Olivia caught Fila grinning as she scooped up her books and left the building. Marta busied herself behind the desk.

  Olivia touched Noah’s arm. “I think about you a lot, too.”

  “I think we need to—”

  When a bit of plaster dropped down from a discolored patch in the ceiling nearby, they both jumped.

  “Everything all right over there?” Cab called.

  “We’re okay,” Noah called back.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Marta said, hurrying over. She peered up at the damp patch. Noah squeezed Olivia’s hand and hurried to join her. Olivia followed close behind.

  “That doesn’t look good.” Noah peered upward, too.

  “I don’t know what to do anymore,” Marta said. “If the ceiling is going to come down, we’ll have to close the place. That’s dangerous!”

  “Can’t you call someone in to fix it?” Olivia asked.

  “We don’t have enough in petty cash to cover something like that. If I was younger, I’d climb on the roof myself, but—”

  “I’ll take a look,” Noah said.

  Cab and Caroline joined them. “Looks like the place needs a bit of work,” the sheriff said.

  “Noah’s going up on the roof,” Olivia told him. “Caroline, are you okay?”

  Caroline nodded. “We’re heading to the station.”

  “Want me to come?”

  “That’s okay. When we’re all done, Cab’s driving me to Billings. I’m going to stay with my sister and her husband for a while until everything gets straightened out. I should have done this a long time ago. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “You never expected the man you loved to become a monster,” Olivia told her. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I feel like a fool.”

  Olivia hugged her. “I’m going to miss you. Can I come visit?”

  “Definitely. Someday I’ll get my life back, but until then thank you for everything you’ve done.”

  A half hour later, Olivia held the ladder as Noah climbed down after doing a thorough examination. “Well?” she asked.

  “It needs more than a patch. I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you want to hear.”

  “It’s not fair. This place means everything to Marta.” Olivia tried to get a hold of her emotions, but there were too many problems to deal with at once.

  “And to you, I think,” Noah said softly. He leaned against the ladder and reached for her. “I am really sorry. I’m more than happy to organize a work party, but the library needs to cover the cost of the shingles.”

  “Where is Marta supposed to get the money for that?”

  The strangest look came over Noah’s face, and he bent forward and kissed her, catching her off guard. “I think I know.”

  “Where?” she asked again.

  “Give me a week.”

  “To do what?”

  “Trust me, okay?”

  “But—”

  “One week!” He kissed her again.

  And refused to tell her anything more.

  Chapter Ten

  “We’re raking it in,” Jed gloated that night after dinner when he’d counted up the day’s take from the tubing business. They were all gathered in the living room, and Noah kept looking at the clock, kicking himself for ever thinking Olivia had tried to take it again after they’d been together.

  “Glad to hear it.” Noah knew this was his chance. “Because I know exactly what to spend it on.”

  “Our bills,” Stella said acidly. She was seated at a desk in one corner, going over their accounts, and from the amount of times she’d sighed in the last fifteen minutes, they couldn’t be in good shape.

  “No, not our bills,” Noah contradicted her. “The library.” He was seated in one of the easy chairs, where his father used to sit when he was alive.

  Maya laughed. “The library?” Curled up on the couch, she was flipping through a magazine too fast to be reading any of the articles.

  “It needs work. Bad. I was there today when part of the ceiling collapsed.”

  “What were you doing at the library?” Liam asked suspiciously. He was prowling the room near the back windows, looking out over the pastures every now and then.

  “What do you think?” He wasn’t going to admit he’d g
one to find Olivia. “I went up on the roof, and it needs all new shingles. I want to raise money to help fix it.”

  “Why the hell would we do that?” Jed demanded.

  Maya was the first to get it. “It will be our project, to help us win the Founder’s Prize.”

  “The library needs a ton of work,” Noah agreed. “Most of it we can do ourselves. We just need to raise the cost of the materials. It’s an old building—it’ll look great when we’re done.”

  “That’s pretty smart,” Stella said. “We still need to pay our bills, though.”

  “We’ll pay them.”

  “What about the letter-writing campaign?” Liam demanded.

  “We can do both.” Although Noah hoped Liam wouldn’t have time to follow through with the letters. This library project could solve a number of problems if it kept his brother busy.

  “I don’t know,” Jed began.

  “I do,” Noah said firmly. “The town’s going to shut down this tubing thing any day now. Nothing about it is legal, so why don’t we make money while we can—and have one final fundraising day as soon as we can pull it together? We’ll have a barbecue, music and dancing, tubing all day. A big party. People will love it.”

  Jed was nodding. “And we’ll win the Founder’s Prize.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. But Olivia would be happy.

  That was all he cared about.

  “That’s brilliant,” Olivia said into her phone when Noah told her about the fundraiser. She was sitting in her truck outside Crescent Hall, ready for a party planning date with the Hall women for the gala, but she was grateful Noah had called to fill her in.

  “Can you stop Lance from doing anything drastic until I’m done?”

  “I think so.” She wasn’t sure what to think about Lance’s actions lately. He’d been keeping to himself, barely acknowledging her when they were in the same room, but he hadn’t gone after Liam, and he hadn’t touched the creek, even though that meant hauling well water out to a trough for the cattle every day. “I need a good excuse to keep him from taking matters into his own hands.”

  “Even if he knows we’re raising money for the library?”

  “I’ll explain that to him, but I can’t be sure.”

  “We’ve set the fundraiser for a week from Saturday. I promise as soon as it’s over, I’ll set things to right with Pittance Creek.”

  “Sounds good. My gala’s the night before that. I hope the fundraiser goes great.”

  “Good luck with the gala.”

  “I’m going to need it.” She didn’t ask when she’d see him again. Not until both events were over, that was for sure. Both of them were much too busy.

  Olivia knocked on the Halls’ front door, hope and worry warring within her. On the one hand, she loved that Noah had taken on fundraising for the library with such verve. On the other, she wasn’t sure Lance cared enough for the library to hold off when he’d already waited so long to get revenge for the way the Turners had diverted the water from Pittance Creek.

  When Regan let her in, she was happy to set those thoughts aside and concentrate on the party preparations. Once again she was in awe of the women, who’d worked hard to make everything so easy on her.

  Even more, she was taken with the sound of their children playing in the living room. She, Regan, Ella, Storm and Heather were working in the kitchen, with one of the women moving between the rooms to keep an eye on the younger kids. Now and then a child toddled into view—or belly crawled, as the case might be—and gave Olivia a once-over or a gummy grin.

  “That’s Lainey,” Regan said when a baby cried from one of the bedrooms. She disappeared and came back some minutes later bearing a bundle of cooing baby. Olivia’s heart melted on sight.

  “Want to hold her?” Regan asked.

  “Yes. Please.” Olivia held out her arms, and Regan placed the baby in them. “Oh, aren’t you sweet,” Olivia gushed. Lainey really was, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a pert little nose. “Oh, I want one.”

  “Any prospects in sight?” Ella quizzed her. “Some cowboy we don’t know about?”

  Olivia hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Not… really.”

  “That doesn’t sound too convincing.” Regan watched her with a smile on her face.

  “It isn’t going… too well. His family doesn’t like me.” She wished she hadn’t said that last bit when Regan and Ella exchanged a look.

  “So he’s a Turner,” Ella said.

  “How’d you know that?”

  “It’s not rocket science. There was that photo of you and Noah that made its way around the internet. I wasn’t sure if it was real or fake.”

  “It was real,” Olivia told her shortly.

  “Well, I for one believe in true love,” Regan said staunchly. “I bet you and Noah find a way to work things out.”

  “Thanks.” But Olivia wasn’t sure of that at all.

  Back at home, newly inspired by the Halls’ tidy, cheerful home, Olivia decided it was time to start her project of spiffing up Thorn Hill. She decided to make two lists: one for tasks she could do right away, and one for bigger projects that required money, supplies or additional help. She had made it through the kitchen, living room and front entranceway when her phone rang. Olivia smiled to see it was Noah calling. “Hey, handsome,” she greeted him.

  “Can you get away?”

  Her pulse picked up. “Now?”

  “At the cabin.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She decided she could finish her list another time.

  “Can’t wait.”

  Olivia hung up and ran lightly up the stairs to her room to get ready. She tucked her list in the drawer of her bedside table, surprised to find she was looking forward to crossing items off. She was ready for her life to change.

  “Why can’t everything be this easy?” Olivia said a half hour later when Noah took her in his arms. It had been no problem to sneak across Turner land to Camila’s old cabin. All the lights in the main house had been blazing, leaving the pastures dark and quiet. Noah’s embrace tightened around her, and he rested his chin on her head. When she looked up, he grinned down at her.

  “Because then we’d all be lazy.”

  “I’d like to be lazy for once.”

  “Me, too.” Noah kissed her, and Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck. She loved how Noah’s mouth tasted under hers. How his hands felt on her skin. How he revved her up and turned her world upside down whenever he was near.

  Olivia sighed when they parted again. “I want to be with you all the time.” She bit her lip, hoping that hadn’t sounded too needy, and gasped in relief when he lifted her. Her legs around his waist, she let him carry her to what once had been Camila’s bedroom and nearly cheered when she realized Camila had left her bed behind.

  Who could blame her? With Carl’s money she’d decorated her new ranch house with lovely new furniture.

  Noah tossed her on the bed, and Olivia shrieked, then laughed when he leaped after her. He rolled her over on top of him. “Have your way with me,” he commanded and lay back as if ready to let her do all the work.

  Olivia didn’t believe it, and she was right. The moment she began to unbutton his shirt, his hands came up to help her out of her blouse. He struggled with her bra while she wrestled with the button of his jeans. Laughing, she finally gave up. “Get those off,” she ordered him while stripping out of the rest of her clothes.

  “I could watch you all day,” Noah told her as she made short work of her jeans and panties.

  “Oh yeah?” She climbed back on top of him as he shimmied out of his clothes, clinging to him as he rolled around to get them off.

  “Yeah.” Noah gripped her hips, lifted her a few inches and moved her to a more advantageous spot, growling with pleasure when she moved against him. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Do you think so?” She thought he was beautiful, too. His body hardened by work, scarred here and there and rugged, just like she liked him.
She bent to kiss him, letting her breasts graze his chest. Noah moaned again.

  “I didn’t ask you about protection before,” he said.

  “Too late now,” she joked and shrieked again when Noah sat up quickly. “I’m kidding,” she told him. “I’m on the pill, and I’ve been checked out.”

  “Scared me.” He pulled her back down again. “But if you’d gotten pregnant, I’d have done the right thing. You know that, right?”

  Olivia wasn’t sure how to answer that, and Noah was already nudging against her, urging her to let him inside her again.

  “Olivia?” His voice was husky.

  “Yeah, I guess I know that, but I hope you know that’s a chance I wouldn’t take. Not without a husband and a plan.”

  He stilled. Sighed a moment later. “I didn’t mean—”

  “Didn’t you?” She hated to ruin the moment, but this was important.

  “Yeah, I guess I did. But not because I think you’re reckless. I just want you to know I’m not.”

  “Except you were,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah. Except I was.”

  “Ironic, huh?” she couldn’t help adding. She wriggled again, reminding him of how they were touching each other.

  “You’re not going to let this slide, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Fine.” Noah began to move again. “You’re right. When we made love, I was the reckless one. You were the careful one.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And you know what?” he asked, flipping her over again so that now he was on top. “I think I’m going to be reckless all over again.”

  Olivia gasped as Noah slid inside her and moaned when he slid back out. Hell, he felt amazing, and she was so ready for him, she thought she’d lose her mind right away.

  She loved that he could laugh at himself. Could joke with her.

  Could make her feel like this.

  He captured her hands and lifted them over her head, stroked into her so strongly she arched her back with happiness. As he worked in and out of her, Olivia gave in to the pleasure.

  Noah looked at her like he wanted to memorize her as they moved together. Olivia met him thrust for thrust. Kissed him until the taste of him filled her senses.