A Mail Order Bride for the Sheriff: Mary Ann & Warren (Love by Mail 4)

by Christina Ward

  She looked around, maybe they’re in the barn? She clutched her basket and went around the house. Green fields swayed quietly all around the lonely building. The houses were quite spread out on this side of town, with mostly farmers tending the good soil of the hills.

  She turned a corner and walked up to the barn. She rattled the door open and glanced inside, but there was no one there. Maybe Hannah and Jeremiah went to town? She was about to lock up the door behind her when the thunder of hooves made her heart skip a beat.

  Five men, all on horseback, formed a half circle around her, their faces half hidden by cowboy hats and bandanas. Mary Ann gripped her woven basket, eyes darting around the men, looking for an opening. But the only way out was behind her, back into the barn and she closed the door just a moment ago.

  “That her?” said one man with an ugly red scar down the right side of his face.

  “Yup.” The one with a golden tooth smirked at Mary Ann. “C’mon, lass, time to come with us.”

  Mary Ann broke out in cold sweat, her heart thundering. Despite the chill in the air and the dryness of her throat, she forced herself to speak. “Wh-who are you?”

  “Don’t need to know,” the scarred man said. He nodded to two of his men, one almost seven-feet-tall the other hunched over like an old man. Without further instructions they approached her.

  Mary Ann, looked around frantically.

  “Help! Anyone! Someone! Help me!” But there was no one around, and they wouldn’t hear her in the next house down the road even if she screamed her lungs out.

  “C’mon,” the gold-toothed one hissed.

  Another man grabbed the basket out of her hands and tossed it aside. The large one grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away, but she managed to hold onto the door handle.

  “Lemme go! Help!”

  The door opened as they dragged her away.

  “C’mon, woman! No one can hear you.”

  But someone might. She wouldn’t go easy. They had to drag her kicking and screaming out into the field.

  The large one grab her by the waist and flung her over his shoulder. She screamed again and pounded his broad back with her tiny fists.

  “Shut up missy. No one’s gonna hurt you if you behave yourself.” He hauled her back to their horses.

  They tied her hands and feet, and threatened to put a bag over her head. She went quiet then. With tears in her eyes she was eventually dropped onto a horse’s back as if she were a sack of potatoes.

  “Let’s get outta here!” the scarred man yelled.

  Placed in front of the tall bandit she could only watch the house grow smaller and the town disappear over the horizon as the group galloped for the woods.

  Chapter 7

  Warren slammed his fist on the table. “Where are the others?” he hissed.

  The bandit flinched but kept his mouth shut.

  The station felt smaller and smaller with each passing minute. He was angry at the bandit for not responding to his questioning, embarrassing him in front of the others. Warren circled the man like a vulture, stalked him like a wolf. He was about to bare his teeth like one, too, when someone coughed and Warren realized he might need to draw the line somewhere.

  He’d assembled a small posse in the short amount of time they had last night, and they were able to catch up to the bandits. Unfortunately, they’d only captured one man; the rest of the outlaws had scattered into the woods. Warren’s heart was lodged in his throat the whole time. The mayor said there might be more than one group roaming in the area.

  He looked around at the handful of men he had to drag to the hunt. Three farmers, two hunters, and a deputy from the next town who had been chasing this particular group for a while now. Warren wished he had a deputy of his own. Or two. It wasn’t uncommon for outlaw groups to have ten or twenty members. And how many helping hands did Warren have?

  He gritted his teeth.

  “Sheriff Turner?” One of the hunters tapped him on the shoulder and jerked his head towards the station’s doorway where two women stood.

  Claire and Hannah wrung their hands, faces drawn. Warren nodded to one of the men. “Ray, take over, will you?”

  He approached the women. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “There’s been a break-in at my farm,” Hannah said, lips pale. “I think someone might’ve been trying to steal our livestock.”

  “What was stolen?”

  Hannah looked at Claire, who said, “Actually, nothing.”

  “What?” Warren raised his brows and looked over his shoulder at the bandit still tied to the chair, awaiting interrogation. He lowered his voice. “Listen, ladies, I have a really big problem I need to sort out here. If there was nothing stolen –”

  “Someone got into the barn,” Hannah said lips trembling. “The gate was broken, it flew off its hinges; the barn door was left wide open and I locked it up myself this morning; there were fresh footprints left in the mud too. Many prints of both hooves and boots. And someone threw a basket into the vegetable patch.”

  Warren sighed and massaged his forehead. “Why would the thieves leave a basket in your garden?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I’m not sure, but please, Sheriff…” Unshed tears glistened in the corner of her eyes, threatening to spill over.

  Warren turned to the deputy. “Can your mayor spare any more men for our posse?”

  The younger man shook his head.

  Warren wanted to throttle someone. What was he going to do? The longer they stood here scratching their heads, trying to make the bandit cooperate, trying to help the frightened women, the less chance they had of actually catching both the culprits and the outlaws that got away.

  He spied Claire trying to comfort Hannah. The woman was visibly shaken. If Mary Ann was here, she’d at least be able to help put Hannah’s fears to rest. If Mary Ann was here, though, what would she tell him?

  Warren approached his desk, while keeping an eye on the bandit now being interrogated by the deputy, and the two women near the doorway.

  “You’re still not gonna say anything?” Warren shouted at the man.

  The latter merely growled and spat in anger.

  Warren dropped his head, and saw the Bible on the desk. He took it, thought of his wife, and opened the Good Book. His eyes fell on Philippians, chapter two, verse four. He took a deep breath and looked at the bandit, now having a staring contest with one of the hunters, and the women hunched near the doorway. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

  Warren gestured the women to approach him. Hannah wiped a tear from her eye. Guilt ate at him. “I’ll send a man over to your house. Is your husband at home?”

  Hannah shook her head. “He’s over at Mr. Dubson’s.”

  Warren nodded and called one of the hunters. “Jem, go with Hannah and Claire. There’s been an attempted robbery at Hannah’s home. There might be clues as to where the thieves went.”

  Jem, a young, broad-shouldered man, nodded.

  “Thank you so much,” Hannah said. The women were about to leave, when the bandit jumped up from his chair.

  “Hey!” he said, bloodshot eyes staring at the women. “You look familiar, lassie.” He narrowed his eyes at Hannah, but the deputy wrestled him back to the chair.

  “Like she’d know anyone like you!” the deputy spat. “She’s a fine, upstanding woman…”

  The women hurriedly left, as Warren grabbed the deputy’s shoulder and steered him away from the captured bandit.

  “Calm down, Ray. Let me handle this.” The younger man looked at him, brows furrowed. “I need you to get me another man. Uh...” Warren looked down, searching for a name. “A trapper named Henry Briggs. We’ll need his help to track down the rest of his group.”

  “If he ever talks.” The deputy glared at the bandit.

  “I’ll get him to talk, or Henry will find the clues in this scoundrel’s possessions.”

  Warren led the deputy towar
ds the door and lowered his voice.

  “Now, once you send Henry over could you… could you go to my house and see how my wife’s doing? You know, just in case she’s worried about me”

  ‘Cause I’m worried for her being all alone in the house with these outlaws on the loose.

  The deputy nodded and left. Warren turned to the bandit and cracked his knuckles. “Now, lemme hear you sing.”

  * * *

  Warren sat on a log and dropped his head in his hands. Normally the outdoors would have a calming effect on him, but at that moment the vast, empty wilderness only heightened his fears. After an hour of searching, they still had nothing. They had a trail to follow, all right, but still no bandits. Either the captured outlaw was lying or they were already too late.

  “You sure the Mayor couldn’t have at least given you more weapons?” Henry Briggs sat beside him.

  Warren shook his head. “Said we’d have to make do with what we have.”

  Henry rubbed his face. “And what if the bandits are more than we can handle?”

  “I just hope to God we’re enough,” Warren muttered. He’d heard from Sheriff Miles that Henry Briggs was a former fur trapper, a capable hunter, and skilled gunslinger. His experience helped them immensely already. But Henry was right. Their posse lacked men and guns.

  “I think you need a deputy,” Henry said, “or several.”

  “I think so, too,” Warren said, watching the men lead the horses to a nearby brook. “But we ain’t got the funds for that. The sheriff can’t keep asking you to help out whenever bandits are nearby, after all. You’ve got a shop and a wife to look after.” He looked up at the sky.

  Henry nodded, his light blue eyes narrowed. He was probably thinking about the bandits and what drove them to this part of the state. Warren started wiping his badge, eyes darting through the trees. They had to stop to let the horses rest after riding all afternoon. They shared a small meal of bread and meat too while they caught their breath. They’d be back on the trail in a few minutes with more hills to climb and woodlands to search.

  That’s when a glimmer caught Warren’s eye. He turned to the left. There it was – a shiny object in the woods? Warren stood up abruptly. Henry mirrored him. “What is it?”

  Warren stalked over to a young tree and began clearing the grass with his boots. When he finally found it, his heart leaped to his throat. A bracelet... with three tiny blue gems.

  He picked it up. It looked exactly like… No! It couldn’t be. Mary Ann was safe back home…

  “Look someone’s coming,” one of the men shouted pointing in the direction of the town.

  And sure enough a rider raced towards them. Warren clenched the bracelet in his fist. Eventually Ray, the deputy, caught up with them. He jumped down off his horse, face flushed with exertion.

  “Sheriff,” the younger man went straight to business, “you’ve caught the trail?”

  Warren nodded, throat dry. “We have.”

  He cleared his throat, still hoping the item in his hand wasn’t what he thought it was.

  “And... my wife? You told Mary Ann not to expect me for dinner?”

  Ray scratched his head. “Actually, Sheriff... Your wife wasn’t at home, but a boy – I think his name was Tim – said he saw her with a basket heading out of town, he said she was going to a friend’s house to buy vegetables.”

  Warren’s fingers dug deep into his palms. “When?”

  “Early morning, I think. I asked around, and I even went to the pastor, but she wasn’t there. So I decided to follow your trail.”

  Warren held his clenched fist to his chest. Henry looked at him with a questioning look and the rest of the men turned to him too. Warren felt blood drain from his face.

  “Are you alright, Sheriff?”

  “They took her,” Warren said. “The bandits took my wife.”

  Chapter 8

  Mary Ann pressed herself against the tree, trying to stay out of sight, desperately praying for salvation. The bandits kept her hands tied in front of her and made her sit at the foot of a tree. At least her legs were free for a little while. She looked around the dark woods, fear filling her stomach. It wasn’t even night time and she jumped at every crack of a branch, and bird call echoing in the distance.

  Two men stood beside her like stone pillars, while the other three fought over something. Their raised voices meant they clearly felt safe, away from anyone wanting to eavesdrop.

  “I say we get the treasure first,” the gold-toothed one argued.

  The one with the scar took out a piece of paper, stared at it, then looked at Mary Ann. “We need to get her to the boss.”

  The other man, with a bald spot, said, “But Davy’s men will clear the loot from under our noses.”

  They seethed, unable to come to a decision. Mary Ann cleared her throat and licked her lips. “Please,” she began, “I won’t tell anyone. If you just let me go.”

  “Can’t, lass,” the tall man beside her said, “you need to come with us.”

  “But I’m just an ordinary housewife,” she said, casting her eyes down. She put her palms together. “I know, in your heart, you are good men.”

  They snorted and smirked.

  “Nobody is born wicked,” she continued, giving the scarred man a meaningful look. “And anyone who turns away from their evil ways is welcomed back into the arms of the Lord.”

  The one with the gold tooth laughed, then pounded on a tree. “Nice one, missy. But that ain’t gonna work.”

  The scarred man barked at the gold-toothed man to stop laughing.

  “Feed the horses, we need to be moving soon.”

  But the bold man wasn’t letting it go. “She’s not going anywhere, and if we show up with her and the treasure, the boss will be impressed. Come on, we might not get a second chance like this.”

  The scarred man paused for a while and eyed Mary Ann as he stroked his chin. “We’ll go after the treasure. Feed the girl and pack up. We go in five minutes.”

  The men moved to their horses, even the two guarding Mary Ann. She looked around for a way to leave another clue. She’d already left behind her bracelet, pins from her hair, the earrings and even her handkerchief. For the first time in her life, she wished she had more jewelry to spare.

  The horses slowly chewed their feed and the men busied around the animals, but no one approached her. Her stomach grumbled. Dinner time was near and she hadn’t had anything to eat all day. Her eyes fell to the edges of her skirt and the decorative lace sewn to it. Slowly, she lowered her hands and began tearing at the material. No one heard. She ripped strips faster. Almost there...

  “Caught ye!” the man with the bald spot grabbed her hand.

  He growled at her and shook her by the shoulders.

  “You’ve been leaving a trail behind, have ye?!”

  The man raised a hand to smack her. She closed her eyes and covered her head with her hands.

  “Lloyd!” The scarred man grabbed Lloyd’s hand and pushed him away from Mary Ann. “We’re supposed to bring her back unharmed.”

  He looked around his men frozen in place. They really did fear his raised voice.

  “Grab your stuff. We’re leaving now.” He glared at Mary Ann. “Get ‘er up.”

  Mary Ann bit her lip as they swung her up a horse again. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. She repeated the prayer, willing her heart not to burst from fear.

  Chapter 9

  They walked up the hill, bodies tired, hope diminished, nearly exhausted from the lack of sleep. They camped late and got up early to try and catch up with the bandits who kept slipping out of reach. Warren almost wanted to give up, throw his hat and badge down, but instead he prayed silently as he held on to the bracelet.

  The bandits had taken his wife. He wanted to rage against the wind, wanted to ride Thunderbolt straight at the outlaws leaving his men behind. But
he couldn’t. He was still their sheriff, and he had a responsibility to the town.

  He stepped over dried leaves and twigs, when he suddenly realized that the ground was shaking. He looked around. Henry had noticed, too. Warren got off Thunderbolt and stealthily jogged forward.

  “Sheriff?” Ray asked.

  Warren ignored him and continued to creep uphill. The other men stopped and looked at each other. Warren crawled behind some boulders and trees. Careful not to give his position away he peeked into the dry valley below. He was glad the edge of the woods ran up so close to the precipice.

  He counted nine bandits galloping towards an old mineshaft. They stopped right in the open.

  A rush of excitement filled Warren. They found the outlaws! And they had the high ground too. But what were they doing here? And where was Mary Ann?

  The men pulled out a ragged paper and pointed fingers at it and then at the ground. Two of them pushed each other arguing over something, then Warren heard the word “treasure”.

  This was a treasure hunt?

  Henry tapped his shoulder. The rest of the group positioned themselves nearby each taking cover behind boulders, trees or thick shrubs. Henry had one eye through a crack between two rocks and whispered. “There’s a second group coming.”

  Five men approached the mine shaft and the group that got there first tensed up.

  “There’s going to be a fight,” Warren muttered.

  “Warren!” Henry nudged him. “Look!”

  He peeped through the crack and shot up. Had Henry not pulled him down at the last minute he’d have been off scrambling into the valley to confront them.

  “Don’t!”

  “They have my wife!”

  “Maybe they thought they could ransom her,” Henry said, “or keep her as hostage so you’d let them go if they ever get cornered.”

  Warren pounded a clenched fist against the rock, but then he heard the clicks of several guns being readied. He peeked over the boulder to see the two groups arguing. All the men tense. He was sure a fight would blow up any moment. And Mary Ann was going to be caught in the crossfire.