Issued to the Bride One Airman (Brides of Chance Creek Book 2)

by Cora Seton

  The slingshot went flying. The burning ball of cloth singed them both and they scrambled apart, kicking and yelling on the small landing, while Cass and Jo jumped out of the way back into the workshop. The missile, still burning, fell down several steps and stopped. Sadie slapped the flames from her shirt, singeing her hands, but hardly feeling it.

  Cass lunged between them for the pistol Grant had dropped again. So did Grant, his shirt still on fire. He knocked her off her feet and got there first, but Sadie scrambled to grab the pistol, too, just as Jo chucked one of the remaining missiles—unlit—at Grant and struck him on the cheek. He huffed out a breath as Sadie tried to twist the pistol out of his hand. Cass reached to help. Sadie dug her fingernails into Grant’s hand, drawing blood.

  “Fuck… you.” His grip on the gun was loosening, but before she cold yank it away, he backhanded Sadie with his free hand, wrapped his fingers in her hair and lifted the pistol to her head.

  “Sadie!”

  It was Connor at the base of the stairs, a gun in his hand.

  Too late, Sadie thought. Too late to save her. Too late for her to tell him she’d been wrong.

  “Say goodbye,” Grant snarled, pressing the gun’s barrel against her cheek. “Fuck!”

  Sadie fell back when he suddenly let go. Caught a glimpse of the gun inexplicably in Jo’s hand. Heard the deafening double crack of two shots exploding in the close quarters. Struck her head against the wall so hard she saw stars.

  Grant staggered against her. Sadie drew back. Missed a step—

  And tumbled down the flight of stairs.

  “I hear gunshots,” Brian yelled, leaping from the truck the moment Connor hit the brakes.

  Connor followed seconds later, not bothering to turn off the vehicle. Both of them raced into the carriage house, Sean at their heels, and Brian swore when he saw the flames licking up the walls that encompassed the stairwell to Alice’s loft. The shrill barks and yips of the puppies followed them, along with Ron’s muted shouts, but the dogs were leashed and couldn’t get out of the truck bed, and, bound hand and foot, Ron couldn’t get away, either.

  Connor leaped for the opening to the stairs in time to see Grant grab Sadie and put a gun to her head. He cried her name, aimed and fired—just as another shot rang out. When Sadie pitched down the stairs, he thought he’d hit her. He raced to catch her, pulled her into his arms. Felt her all over, looking for blood.

  There was none. Connor knelt on the stairs, cradling Sadie. The woman he loved.

  “Cass? You okay?” Brian shouted, passing him on the stairs.

  “We’re—we’re okay.” Cass’s voice came from the upper landing.

  “Connor?”

  He bent over Sadie, kissing her forehead in relief. She was alive. She was okay. So were Cass and Jo. But who had shot Grant at the same time he had? Two bullets had buckled him. His prone form still lay at the top of the stairs.

  “You’re okay,” he told Sadie. “Everyone’s okay.”

  Sadie sat up slowly, a hand pressed to her forehead. Connor followed her gaze to where Cass cradled Jo on the upper landing. Brian was bent over Grant’s still form beside them.

  “He’s dead,” Brian called down.

  Sadie let out a breath as if she’d been holding it. “You got him.”

  “I got him,” Connor agreed. “But I wasn’t the only one.”

  At the top of the stairs, Jo sobbed in Cass’s arms as Cass stroked her hair.

  Connor met Sadie’s wide-eyed gaze. Nodded. “Jo got him, too, I think.”

  When Sadie buried her head against his chest, he held her as if he’d never let go.

  It was evening by the time Cab and his deputies left Two Willows. Grant’s body had been removed, the scene of his death blocked off with police tape. Jo and Sadie had been treated and released at the hospital, both of them bruised but otherwise unhurt, although Jo had already agreed to see a counselor the following day.

  Connor knew their real wounds were inside. Sadie was tearful. Jo withdrawn so deep inside herself it worried him. He’d always considered her the gentlest of the Reed sisters. She’d been afraid for her life—her sisters’ lives—when she’d helped kill Grant. It was impossible to know whose bullet had ended his life, of course. Probably either shot would have done him in.

  Still, he’d served in the military for years. This wasn’t the first time he’d ended a life.

  It would be a lot harder for Jo to get past what had happened today.

  Lena had been furious to find out what had happened while she’d been out on the range with Keira and Dalton. “I can’t believe I didn’t hear anything. How could I have not known?” she kept saying. Connor worried about her, too. Grant must have pulled down the fence to distract as many of them as possible; he’d only needed to grab one sister to be able to negotiate for what he wanted.

  Lena blamed herself for not guessing it was all a ruse—and of course Dalton felt he was to blame—but neither of them could have known. Lena had positioned herself on the back porch again, and Brian knew she was keeping watch because there wasn’t anything else she could do to make things better.

  When Cass, Alice and Jo went to curl up on the couch in the living room, the television on for company, Sadie hung back with Connor. His family had already left the ranch, to give the rest of them space and time to recover. There were sheriff’s deputies positioned in the driveway again. Nothing more would happen tonight.

  “Cab locked Ron Cooper up? For what—puppy theft? Or did he have enough proof he and Grant were working together?” Sadie asked.

  “Ron had outstanding warrants back in Tennessee. He’s being extradited. He’ll be escorted back where he came from, and according to Cab, he’ll definitely see some jail time.” Connor was more grateful than he could say Ron’s past had caught up to him. He wouldn’t have been able to stand it if the man had gone free.

  “And Grant’s dead, so that’s that. Cab said the case is obviously self-defense. Jo won’t be prosecuted. Neither will you.”

  Connor tried to hide his reaction. Must have failed.

  “What?” Sadie asked.

  “I hope that’s that.”

  “But you don’t believe it?”

  “We won’t be prosecuted, but I think we need to be careful. I think you all started a fight and it’s not over yet.”

  Sadie’s shoulders sagged. “At least Jo’s dogs are back. She would have been devastated if they’d been killed.” He knew Sadie was worried about her sister, too. Jo hadn’t been in love with Grant—not yet—but she’d been well on her way toward falling for him.

  And she’d shot him.

  She’d need looking after. She’d need peace and quiet. Connor wondered if that was possible here at Two Willows.

  Hadn’t they had enough trouble?

  “Will you step outside with me?” Connor snagged two beers out of the refrigerator and led the way. They passed Lena on the porch and walked into the garden. He popped the top off one and handed it to Sadie, taking heart from the fact she still wore her engagement ring. “How about us?” he asked quietly. “Are we going to survive this?”

  Sadie sighed and took a long drag on her bottle, then wished she had something warm to drink instead. Despite the heat of the day, she felt cold. “I want to. I love you,” she said simply. It was true, and there wasn’t anything more to add to that statement.

  “You sound hesitant.”

  She thought that over. “I’m… afraid. When I love people—they don’t always stick around.”

  Connor nodded. “I know what you mean.”

  She knew he did, but… “Your parents seemed pretty cozy earlier.”

  “I’m afraid to hope that’s true,” he admitted. “I want it to be.”

  “I think it is. I think they’re going to try for a second chance.”

  “I’d like a second chance,” Connor said. “Sadie, I never want to hurt you.”

  “I know that. I really do.” She met his gaze. “But if I let
myself love you—really love you—things can happen outside our control. What if Grant had killed you?”

  “What if he’d killed you?” Connor countered. “I couldn’t stand it, lass. I couldn’t. But I wouldn’t give up loving you all the same, just to keep my heart safe. Life is… hard. Love is risky. It means taking a chance. But the rewards—” He took her beer, set it down. “The rewards make up for everything.”

  “Do you believe that?” she asked as he pulled her into an embrace. In answer, he kissed her, and the world switched back on with a blare of a radio turned up loud. This time the feeling was almost too much. Her nerves had been stretched past their limits these past twenty-four hours. Still, she couldn’t turn her back on the connection she had to this ranch.

  And she couldn’t turn her back on Connor, either. For better or for worse, she loved him. Truly loved him. And he loved her, too. When she’d needed him most, he’d come for her.

  There was no going back now.

  “I believe in us,” Connor said, and kissed her again. “I believe in our future together.”

  Sadie leaned against him. Felt his strength. His love.

  “I believe in that, too.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‡

  “So here we are again,” Cab said, sitting across the battered kitchen table from Connor and Brian the following morning.

  “Here we are again,” Brian agreed.

  “I’ve talked to the women. I’ve talked to your family, Connor. Now I want to hear what you two have to say. Two Willows draws its fair share of trouble, doesn’t it? You beginning to rethink your methods for getting rid of those drug dealers?” the sheriff asked Brian.

  Connor was glad he’d commissioned Dalton to take his parents away again for the day. He’d loaned them his truck, given them a list and sent them to Billings to pick up the things for the wedding that were difficult to find in town. Max was patrolling the kitchen, sniffing in every corner. He didn’t seem to want to let Connor out of his sight. Connor was okay with that.

  Brian shrugged. “Seems to me our only other choice was to roll over.”

  “That may be, but what I want to know is how come I never get called until it’s too late to do anything about the trouble?”

  “Honestly?” Brian said.

  “No, keep lying to me.” Cab shook his head in disgust.

  “We didn’t think you’d take puppy theft all that seriously,” Brian went on. “It didn’t seem like a number one priority for the County Sheriff’s office. But it’s the kind of thing that could rip this family apart.”

  Cab considered this. “Yeah, I can see that,” he said. “But here’s what I want you to see. This is bigger than you think. So far you’ve dealt with a few two-bit local boys, and a couple more two-bit out-of-town boys. That doesn’t mean they won’t send in the big guns sooner or later.”

  “I think we’ve made our position clear. We’re not going to back down if they do,” Brian said.

  “Maybe so,” Cab said. “That doesn’t mean they’ll quit coming.”

  Connor leaned in closer. “We’ve got more men on the way.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Cab said. “You might need them.”

  Every time Sadie moved, she ached. If there was a part of her body that had been left unscathed by her tumble down the carriage house stairs, she hadn’t found it. Even her fingers hurt, which made cleaning the upstairs bathroom difficult.

  But for some reason she needed to clean the upstairs bathroom. Needed to clean every room in the house. Only motion could stop the delayed reaction of fear and shock that brought her screaming out of a nightmare before the sun rose.

  She had spent the evening close to Connor, touching him often to remind herself he was really there. They’d agreed to go forward with the wedding as planned, even though they were all thoroughly shaken by Grant’s attack.

  Sadie had thought she was all right, but when she’d woken this morning, shaken and terrified, she’d known she needed to do something tangible to clear Grant’s influence out of the house.

  Cass had found her scrubbing the kitchen floor at 5:00 a.m., opened her mouth to ask why, then shook her head, grabbed the broom and began to sweep the rest of the rooms on the first floor.

  Alice joined them soon after, and had taken on the job of dusting all the knickknacks in the house, picking them up, wiping down the shelves and mantelpiece and everywhere else they sat, before cleaning them and replacing them.

  When they had finished their morning chores down in the barns, Jo and Lena came back and pitched in. Lena was still pale, her lips set in a tight line. Sadie knew she was furious with herself for not being there when Grant had struck. Nothing any of them said could calm her down. She had grabbed rags and a bottle of cleaner, and was currently cleaning every window in the house.

  Jo was…a shadow of herself. So insubstantial Sadie was afraid if she didn’t keep watch on her, she’d disappear for good. Already she ached to dose Jo with tinctures and healing teas, but she knew what her sister needed most was time. In theory, her sister was cleaning, too, but for Jo that consisted of spending the whole morning in front of the linen closet, taking out the sheets and blankets and towels, unfolding them, refolding them and putting them back again, until Cass finally drove her to town to the meet the counselor, and brought her back to rest on the couch for the remainder of the afternoon.

  When Connor and Brian finished with the sheriff, they came to seek the women, but when they took in the industry with which the sisters were cleaning, Connor grabbed Max’s collar, held up a hand to stop Brian, and both men and dog backed out the room, out of the house, and disappeared.

  By dinnertime, Sadie was as sore as she’d ever been in her life. Her back, which had already ached from her fall, now ached from bending over and scrubbing just about every floor in the house. Her knees could barely straighten when she stood up. Her wrists hurt from the pressure she’d exerted on the scrub brush.

  When she went out to the greenhouse, fetched a thick bunch of dried white sage and lit it in the kitchen, her sisters appeared as if she’d summoned them—even Jo—and together they started in the basement and wound through the house, making sure the cleansing smoke blew into every corner, cupboard and closet.

  When it was done they returned to the kitchen, where Sadie blew out the sage and tapped it against the damp sink to put out the flames. She felt lighter. More hopeful.

  Grant was gone, and he’d never bother them again.

  “I don’t want to cook,” Cass said in a brisk voice, as if to bring them back to normal life. “Because if we messed up the kitchen again now, I think I’d cry.”

  “We have to feed Connor’s family,” Alice said as Connor’s truck pulled in to park near the carriage house, and the O’Rileys began to get out. Dalton had kept his parents away from the ranch the whole day. Sadie figured they’d be hungry and tired by now, too.

  “At least the house is clean for your wedding, Sadie,” Jo said quietly.

  “You know what?” Alice asked. “Maybe it’s time for another movie night.”

  No one answered her for a moment. Then Cass said, a little uncertainly, “Popcorn and margaritas?”

  “Don’t forget the pizza first,” Lena said as her stomach growled.

  Sadie’s shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch. If her sisters were well enough to want a movie night, maybe everything would be okay after all.

  “I’d better check on the animals first, though,” Lena said. She paused, and Sadie knew why: it was Jo’s cue to say she’d come, too.

  But Jo didn’t say anything.

  Sadie’s heart sank.

  Cass pulled her phone out of her pocket when it buzzed. “Brian and Connor already took care of the evening chores. They’re on their way back to the house. Brian and I will take care of everything for our movie night,” she said, texting him back.

  Jo trailed after Cass, Alice and Lena when they went outside to greet the O’Rileys and wait for Br
ian and Connor. Sadie followed, eager to see Connor again.

  Cass intercepted Brian when he came, while Alice explained to the O’Rileys their plans for the evening.

  “Why don’t you go inside and relax?” Sadie told them. “Jo, would you get them some lemonade? Lena, can you come with me a second?” She’d had an idea. When Jo disappeared with Connor’s family inside, Max following the crowd, his tail wagging, she whispered it into Lena’s ear.

  “It’s worth trying,” Lena said and headed for the carriage house.

  Connor waited for the back door to close before he reached for Sadie’s hand. He’d worried about her all day. He knew the violence that had happened at Two Willows affected the women deeply. Last night she’d assured him she was ready to go through with the wedding, but when he’d come across her scrubbing the floor this morning, he’d been afraid she’d changed her mind. Women cleaned like that when their hearts were in turmoil.

  It had been a struggle to back off and give her space, but he thought now he’d done the right thing. When he looked at Sadie he could see her turmoil was gone.

  “Are we still good?” he asked, just to be sure.

  “We’re still good.”

  “Walk with me?” He led her toward the maze, not knowing why but feeling like he should. This was a time for clarity. When they reached the center, he led her to the stone.

  “After everything that’s happened, I want you to know you can be one hundred percent sure of me,” he told her. “I love you. I don’t want any other woman. I don’t want any other home. I want to be here with you—forever.”

  “I know—”

  He put one hand on the flank of the stone. Kept hold of Sadie’s hand with the other. “I want the stone to tell you.”

  Connor bent down and kissed her.

  The flash of intuition, the brightening she always felt when they touched, flared up stronger than she’d ever felt it, immediately wrapping her in a Technicolor swoop of sound.