The Sheriff’s Runaway Bride

by Arlene James

  She knew at once who held her. Fear rose in her throat, and she instantly reached out to God with mind and soul.

  Chapter Four

  Gasping, Kylie wrenched away.

  “Now, now,” Vincent crooned, crowding her into a stack of padded chairs. “I just want to talk. After all, we were supposed to be on our honeymoon right now.”

  “I have nothing to say to you.”

  “Kylie, baby, listen. I made a mistake, but it’s not Sherilyn I want.” He dipped his head as if to kiss her.

  “I made a mistake, too, Vincent,” she ground out, placing both hands against his chest and shoving. It was like trying to move a brick wall. “I made the mistake of thinking I could be happy with you. Now please let me go!”

  “I’ve been letting you go for months,” Vincent grunted, yanking down her hands. “Maybe that’s the problem.”

  “Let me go!”

  “Don’t push me, Kylie. I don’t want to do something we’ll both regret.”

  “Very wise,” said another voice.

  Kylie sagged with relief.

  Vincent spun to face his cousin. “This is none of your business, Zach!”

  “You want to be alone with him, Kylie?”

  “No.”

  “Then it’s my business,” he said.

  Vincent turned a fulminous glare over one shoulder. “You’re going to regret that.”

  “Leave her alone, Vincent.”

  Suddenly, Vincent launched himself at Zach. The next instant he reeled across the room, bumping into a table crowded with seasonal artificial flower arrangements. Zach followed, pushing aside a flimsy lectern with one foot. Vincent came up swinging, but Zach caught his fist in one hand and stepped close.

  “I’m armed, Vincent, and entitled to defend myself. Think about that.”

  Jerking away, Vincent stumbled backward. He fell against the corner of the closet and careened right out the back door, somehow managing to get down the steep stairs on his feet. Kylie moved forward without even realizing it until she stood crammed in the doorway shoulder-to-shoulder with Zach. Weaving and huffing, Vincent lifted a hand, pointing at them. Just then, Sherilyn came around the corner of the building.

  “Vincent? What’s happening?” She hurried over and tried to steady him. “You okay?”

  Vincent shoved her away. Sherilyn reeled but didn’t fall. Sparing not so much as a glance for her, he jabbed his finger at the doorway. “You two have embarrassed me for the last time!”

  “You’re embarrassing yourself, Vincent,” Kylie said quietly.

  He glared at her, but what she’d said seemed to sink in finally. Whirling around, he stalked off. Sherilyn ran after him. He could be heard growling, “Get away from me!” as Zach pulled the door closed.

  Kylie shoved the bolt home and turned to put her back to the door, sighing. “Thank God you came when you did. Again.”

  “I saw him follow you inside,” Zach explained. “By the time I could get over here…” He shook his head. “It was all I could do not to run, but I didn’t want to attract attention. I won’t hesitate next time.”

  Glad for that, Kylie nodded. Reaching out, he pushed the closet door closed. Kylie opened it again and twisted the lock in the center of the knob before closing it once more.

  “What now?” Zach asked.

  She pretended not to understand the question. “Now, we watch some fireworks.”

  “Okay,” Zach said on a sigh. “Pressing charges against Vincent would do no good and probably make matters worse. Besides, no real harm occurred. I’ll let it go. This time.”

  “I think that’s best,” she said, moving swiftly toward the sanctuary.

  When she heard the clumps of Zach’s boots on the floor behind her, she switched off the light and stepped out into the larger room. The darkness had deepened just in those few minutes since she’d crossed the space earlier. She groped her way past the piano then found herself slightly disoriented. A touch on her arm startled her, then his hand slid down and found hers. He tugged her forward. She followed gratefully, breaking the contact only when they reached the foyer.

  Kylie waved her hand at the woman seated on the church lawn. “This is my mom, Lynette.”

  Zach dipped his head. “Ma’am.”

  “You must be Zach Clayton.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Nice to meet you.”

  “What was going on?” Gene asked, peering toward the deepening shadows at the rear of the building. “I thought I saw Vincent coming from back there.”

  “You’d have to ask him,” Kylie said with a shrug, linking her arm through Zach’s.

  He managed not to start at the contact, the way she had when he’d taken her hand back there in the sanctuary. It had been an automatic gesture on his part, a way of saying that he was with her there in the dark. This…he didn’t know what this was.

  “Well, everybody’s heading over to the football field,” Gene noted, hauling himself out of his chair.

  “My Jeep’s parked over there,” Zach said. “Guess I better follow the crowd.”

  “You kids go on and enjoy the fireworks,” Mrs. Jones told them. “We’ll lock up this place and watch from here.”

  To Zach’s surprise, Kylie chirped a cheery “Thanks, Mom,” and turned him toward the green. Zach plastered a smile on his face and gave her parents a parting wave.

  “Come over to the Feed & Supply when you’re done,” Gene called as they walked away.

  They had put all of ten feet between them and her parents before Kylie loosened her hold and softly said, “Thanks for not telling them about Vincent cornering me. My dad worries.”

  “He should,” Zach said. “How did you get mixed up with Vincent, anyway?”

  She sighed. “He started asking me out when I was in high school, but Dad thought he was too old for me back then.”

  Because he and Vincent were about the same age, Zach lifted his eyebrows at that. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-two.”

  That made her eight years younger than him. “Yeah, I can see why your daddy would think that. Then.”

  She nodded. “Well, as soon as I got back to town about a year ago, Vincent started asking me out again.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see why not. One thing led to another and eventually he asked me to marry him.”

  Zach nodded. Sounded perfectly reasonable, so why did it chafe him? Clearing his throat, he asked, “What brought you back here?”

  She sighed, reached behind her with her free hand and tugged her braid around to drape over one shoulder. “My father borrowed money to go into partnership with Vincent’s grandpa, Samuel. The price of silver had bumped up, and Samuel had a lead on a ranch east of town with a rich assay report but not enough money to buy it outright.” Zach could feel what was coming next, but he kept quiet and listened. “Turned out the assay reports were done ten years ago by a firm that’s gone out of business. Dad didn’t know until he started contacting mining companies, trying to interest them.”

  “They did their own assay reports, I assume.”

  She nodded. “And declined further involvement. Meanwhile, Samuel bought cattle and started running them on the land. Dad couldn’t afford to do the same, so he’s stuck making payments on the loan while Samuel plays rancher. For a while, it looked like Mom and Dad would lose everything because Dad had to put up the Feed & Supply as collateral on the loan. I dropped out of college and came home to help out.”

  Zach shook his head, drawing the only possible conclusion. “So when Vincent promised that Samuel would buy out your father’s share of the ranch if you married him, you agreed.”

  “Something like that,” she admitted softly. “Pretty stupid, huh?”

  “Maybe.” They’d walked all the way across the green. Zach drew to a halt at the corner of Hawk Street and Morning Dove Road, looking down at her. “It’s also loyal, trusting and selfless.”

  She scoffed. “Hardly that. It looked like an easy way out, if you want to know the truth
. I convinced myself that Vincent was the answer to my prayers. Like I said, stupid.” She grimaced, adding, “It might have worked, if I’d really connected with Vincent, but I realize now that I was using him. I didn’t even try to feel the way I should have.”

  “Whoa!” Zach gaped at her. “You’re going to stand there and blame yourself? You caught him with another woman.” He glanced around and lowered his voice, adding, “On your wedding day, for pity’s sake.”

  Kylie lifted a hand to the top of her head. “I know. I guess it took that to wake me up, though.” She shook her head, adding, “I don’t even understand it myself, really. I never wanted to come back to Clayton. I was happy in Denver, and I’ve always intended to get back there, but with Mom and Dad’s financial mess…” She shrugged.

  “You wanted to help your family that much?” Zach asked, feeling humbled. Sure, he’d come back to Clayton to help out family, but he stood to gain, too. He couldn’t positively say that he’d have come back if something hadn’t been in it for him. That brought a twinge of shame.

  Kylie lifted a hand. “Look, my little sister is heading to college in a couple months. She has a scholarship. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible. But even with that, it’s going to be a challenge.”

  “You gave up college so she could go.”

  “I just have a single semester to complete. I can do that anytime, online even.”

  “But you won’t until she graduates.”

  Kylie didn’t reply to that. Zach stood transfixed for a moment, caught by the purity of her beauty and the depth of her soul. He didn’t even realize that he’d dipped his head and leaned toward her until a spray of gravel caught his attention. Jerking straight, he glanced around. Others also walked toward the football field, but some who had parked around the square tried to drive the block or so to the school grounds, resulting in what passed for a traffic jam in Clayton. No one seemed to pay them any attention. Besides, he had not almost kissed her just now. Really.

  “I’m parked on Barn Owl between School Road and Goose Lane,” he said, taking her by the arm and walking her along the edge of the green past the grocery. “We can watch the fireworks from the back of my Jeep.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to rope you into keeping me company.”

  “I thought you were keeping me company.” He gazed down at her. “Come on. Unless you prefer to sit in the stands.”

  She made a face. “I’m not big on imitating sardines.”

  Zach laughed. Because the stands on either side of the football field might accommodate a hundred people each, she could be right about the crowded conditions. Many would doubtlessly sit outside the chain-link fence around the field in their lawn chairs, but most would want the seats in the stands. Like her, Zach appreciated a bit of breathing room. They weren’t the only ones. Vehicles of every description lined the street.

  He nosed in on the north side. Swinging open the tailgate on the Wrangler, he sat on the bumper and stretched out his legs before him. He crossed his ankles and leaned back on his elbows. Kylie perched on the lip above the bumper and drew up her feet, folding her arms atop her knees. She asked why he’d moved back to Clayton, and he told her about his grandfather’s unconventional will.

  “So the other four have to come back, too, or no one inherits?”

  “Three,” he corrected. “Arabella has lived here all along, and Brooke and I are already in town. That leaves our sister, Vivienne, and our cousins, Lucas and Mei.”

  “What happens if they don’t all show up?”

  “The inheritance goes to Samuel.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Suddenly a hissing sound filled the air. The next instant, the sky exploded in a shower of red, white and blue stars. After the oohs and ahhs, Kylie said, “Old George gave the city its fireworks every year, did you know that?” Zach shook his head. Obviously, he didn’t know as much about his grandfather as he’d once believed. “I can’t imagine Samuel doing that,” Kylie muttered. “This could be the last time we’ll get to do this.”

  “Could be,” Zach agreed. He hoped not, though. As much as he’d resisted the idea of coming back to Clayton, he found something comforting about being in the midst of the community this way. It provided a feeling of continuity that he hadn’t even realized he’d been missing.

  Almost an hour passed with one breathtaking shower of colored light after another exploding against the night sky. The finale itself lasted a good five minutes. The instant the last firework faded, Zach got to his feet and helped Kylie do the same.

  “Climb into the front seat. I’ll take you over to the Feed & Supply, then come back here to help direct traffic.”

  “You sure?”

  For an answer, he hurried around and opened the passenger door for her. She climbed in. After trotting around the front end of the Jeep, he got behind the steering wheel. Less than two minutes later, the Jeep bumped over the railroad track and into the yard at the Feed & Supply. Gene and Lynette Jones stood next to a dirty, white, somewhat battered, double-cab dualie. They waved as the Jeep came to a halt.

  “Thanks again,” Kylie said, opening her door.

  Zach surprised himself as much as her when he reached across and clapped a hand onto her forearm. She sank back into her seat, her soft green eyes wide. Suddenly very aware of her parents watching them, Zach mentally gulped. His ears burned, and it felt as if he’d swallowed a hot coal.

  “I just…well, I wanted to say that I’m glad you didn’t go through with it. Marrying Vincent, I mean.”

  That moment back there on the corner came to mind, and he suddenly remembered calling her “darlin’” earlier in the day. She hadn’t seemed to notice at the time, but if he didn’t get a handle on his reaction to her, she would think he was hitting on her. Which he was. He couldn’t seem to help himself!

  She smiled and told him softly, “Me, too.” An instant later, she closed the door. “You never did ask me about A.J.’s disappearance,” she reminded him.

  He felt like smacking himself between the eyes. Jamming the transmission into gear, he said gruffly, “I will.”

  First, though, he’d have to find his brain, not to mention a sizable dose of resolve. Common sense wouldn’t go amiss either, he told himself as he drove away. Developing feelings for Vincent’s runaway bride couldn’t bring anything but trouble. He’d best keep his mind on his job and off Kylie Jeanne Jones.

  The continued effort to decode his predecessor’s filing system consumed the following morning for Zach, that and dealing with his father’s cousin Pauley, who certainly had an inflated opinion of his importance as mayor. Time had not treated Pauley well. A small man, he appeared to be considerably older than the late fifties that he was. He swaggered into the deputy sheriff’s office first thing and complained about the arrangement of the furnishings, calling it “unfriendly.” He said this while leaning on the counter that Zach had placed at a right angle to the wall, thereby creating a small buffer zone between the door and the office proper. The file cabinets now lined the long wall in a neat row, and the desk sat at such an angle that Zach could see the computer screen, the door and the street beyond the window.

  Zach chuckled, waved a hand at his father’s cousin and said, “Take it up with the county,” before going back to his stack of files.

  Pauley stood around muttering for a few minutes then left, only to return an hour or so later to report that a cow of Wayne Bonner’s had gone missing. Zach remembered Bonner as a grumpy rancher with a fascination for historical detail.

  “Tell him to file a report.”

  “He’s already filed a report,” Pauley retorted pugnaciously. “With me.”

  “Then you take care of it.”

  Pauley went out sputtering that he was going to complain to the county sheriff that Zach wouldn’t do his job. The sheriff called twenty minutes later to ask Zach to serve an old warrant having to do with a noise nuisance citation. On one Wayne Bonner. Zach happily complied
. Maybe Pauley would think twice before making work for Zach again.

  A grizzled old cowboy who lived a mile or so out of town, Bonner displayed an antique arsenal in his living room. When he saw the warrant, he spat tobacco into an empty green bean can, cursed Pauley Clayton and reported that the cow could be found climbing the mountain on an old elk migration trail.

  “She’ll come home when she gets tuckered. She always does.”

  “I see.” So, Pauley had cooked up the whole thing, just as Zach had suspected. Next time he should pick a co-conspirator who didn’t have a warrant out. “What exactly was the offense?” Zach asked, curious.

  “Oh, it wasn’t nothing,” Wayne grumbled. “Just a demonstration of cannon fire. Wasn’t even shooting balls. Not gonna risk a ball forged in 1860, I can tell you. If I’d been sober, nobody would’ve blinked an eye.”

  No wonder Diggers hadn’t enforced the warrant. Zach, too, felt inclined to cut the old guy a break. Maybe then Pauley would back off. He called the county sheriff and arranged for Bonner to turn himself in the following Wednesday and pay a fine. The old boy looked like he’d swallowed his chaw of tobacco, but he nodded.

  Zach drove back to town grinning, parked next to the county vehicle and walked across the green to take a late lunch at the Cowboy Café. He saw Kylie the instant he stepped through the door.

  She laid plates in front of a pair of teenage boys at the counter, showing them a thousand-watt smile. Zach decided on the spot that the time had come to get Kylie’s story about finding A.J. He walked to the very last stool against the wall and sat.

  Kylie brought her smile to his corner. “Need some lunch? We have buffalo burgers and—”

  “That’ll do,” Zach said, tucking away his sunshades.

  She spun away, calling out, “Give me one with horns.” Turning back to Zach, she pulled a cola from the cooler and set it down in front of him with a glass of ice. “Anything else?”

  “Got a minute?”

  She glanced around. “We’re kind of busy.”