“Ouch!” he said, grabbing for his hat that suddenly went flying to the floor.
She gasped at the sight of the bandage wrapped around his forehead. “Oh, my God, you’ve been hurt. What happened?”
He reached in and took her by the hand. “Come outside, please.”
She quit fighting him, the sight of that bandage frightening her. “I still don’t want to hear what you have to say.”
He pulled her gently out of the stage. She dug her heels in beside the other passengers. “I’m not going any farther.”
Tanner had known she would be upset with him, but he had thought that by now she would have cooled down a little. Yet somehow he couldn’t blame her. He’d hurt her badly.
He tugged at her, and she refused to budge. “I thought we could go off in private and talk.”
“I’ve told you multiple times now, I’m not going to listen to what you have to say. I’m not moving from this spot!”
“Fine! Then this is where we’re going to talk,” he said, determined.
He let go of her hands and stood in front of the three people who had been on the stage, seeing only Beth in front of him.
“I told you that night I was wanted. But I didn’t tell you I had made a deal with the governor that if I brought in the Bass gang I would be cleared. I had to leave to fulfill that duty, and I didn’t know if I would live to see another day. I had to leave knowing that you would be taken care of, that even if I died, you’d be safe.” He paused. “That’s how I got this bandage. Sam’s bullet grazed me. I thought I was going to die, and I knew at that moment in time that I loved you more than life.”
She gasped, and he paused to catch her reaction.
“I realized that you had made me a better man. You had helped me face the death of Carter, to see that I was a good man who had faced some terrible tragedies and made some poor choices.”
She stared at him as if she were bored, and he suddenly feared he would never reach her. He took a deep breath, anxious that she hear him.
“Beth, Lord knows I’ve made a mess of my life. I’ve done so little that’s right, and I realize that I have no right to ask anything of you. But I’m here now to take you back to Fort Worth, to take you back to my family, to keep you safe, watch over you. I have no chance of ever being a man who is worthy of you, who deserves you, but I’m here to throw myself at your mercy and tell you that I love you.”
He watched, hoping that he would see a softening of her expression; instead, her eyes flared, and she put her hands on her hips.
“You are the most stubborn, irritating man I have ever met. You tell me that the sacrifices I made during the war were done out of love, and yet the next morning I awaken to find you gone. Gone! What am I supposed to believe?” She took a step closer to him and poked him with her finger in his chest. “Damn you, Tanner Burnett. We shared so much that night, and then in the morning you were gone! Then you ride in here and expect to carry me off like—like some war prize. You’re not taking me anywhere unless you do it with a preacher and a ring.”
“Huh?” he said, confused. “I don’t understand. I said I loved you.”
“Ask her to marry you, young man. That’s what she’s waiting for,” cried the old lady.
He glanced at the woman and then back at Beth, who waited. “But how could you want to be married to me? I have nothing to offer you. I’m a deserter, an ex-outlaw. I’m not the marrying kind. How could you love me?”
“You’re an idiot for not realizing that I have loved you since I opened my eyes in that hotel room in San Antonio and saw you bending over me. I love you for the gentle man I know is inside of you. I love you for the way you take care of me. I love you for the way you’ve helped me understand the past. I love you for the things we have in common. I love you, Tanner Burnett, just the way you are. And if we have to spend the rest of our days running from the law, so be it. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care.”
She was crying. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and he wanted to gather her up in his arms and hold her, comfort her, but he knew he owed her more.
Feeling like a fool but knowing he would act even more foolish if it would keep Beth in his life, he bent down on one knee in front of everyone that was on the stagecoach.
“Beth, I love you. I love you for the courageous person you are. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want us to grow old together, have children. But most of all, I want your love. Will you marry me and spend your life with me?”
All eyes turned and stared at Beth, who was now sobbing. “Yes. Yes, I’ll be your wife.”
Tanner stood, and Beth flew into his arms. For a moment they merely stood there, enjoying the warmth of their arms around each other, the feeling of being truly together for the first time.
He glanced up and saw the stagecoach driver motioning everyone back into the stage. “Come on, folks, we need to get going, and these folks need a little privacy.”
The older woman swiped her hand across her cheek, clearing away her tears. “That was so touching. Best wishes to both of you.”
The stagecoach driver saluted them and then stepped up into the box. Within seconds the vehicle was on its way once again.
Still holding each other, they watched the coach roll off into the distance. Beth glanced up at Tanner. “Did you really mean what you said? My past doesn’t tarnish me? Doesn’t make you think less of me?” she asked.
“Beth, you’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known. You are my inspiration. You sacrificed yourself for your family, and I think you are the most courageous person I know. You gave yourself in an attempt to save the people you love. And I’m so glad that you love me.”
“I do love you, Tanner. I really do.”
He kissed her deeply, their mouths mating as if they would never part. Finally, they broke apart.
“Take me home,” she whispered.
Author’s Note
Sam Bass was a legendary outlaw who robbed local stages in the Fort Worth area between 1877 and 1878. During this time, he learned that local cattle traders received large sums of money via the trains; then his focus changed to train robbing, which drew the attention of the Texas Rangers, the Pinkertons, and Wells Fargo. A member of his own gang, Jim Murphy, was working with the Texas Rangers to bring him to justice before he left Fort Worth. The law finally caught up with him in Round Rock, Texas, on July 21, 1878. I have taken the liberty of changing the dates to 1874, to better suit my story.
An excerpt from the next book in the Burnett Brides Series available in June!
The Marshal Takes A Bride
February 1875
Marshal Tucker Burnett was the last unattached male in a family that had experienced more weddings in the last year than he cared to remember. And he planned on retaining his single status. With a shudder he thought of his two strapping brothers who had succumbed to his mother’s matchmaking ways and was more determined than ever to hang on to his freedom.
First it had been Travis, the oldest of the three, and then his long-lost brother Tanner had fallen under the spell of love and settled down.
Tucker shivered, more from the thought of marriage than the cold, as he leaned against the wall of the El Paso Hotel and waited for the stage, his hat pulled down low, shading his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest He was a wandering man, no ties, no attachments, no ring binding him to forever.
Turning his attention to the present, he cast his gaze to the dusty empty street His mother had sent him on what he was certain was a fool’s errand. For the last month, his mother, Eugenia had made him promise to meet the stage from Abilene, Texas, twice a week, awaiting some mysterious package.
Tucker feared what kind of package his mother was referring to and only hoped it wasn’t like the last surprise she had given him, a mail-order bride who had fallen in love with his older brother Tanner. Eugenia’s kind of surprises, he didn’t need.
After his mother’s last attempt at matchmaking, he had warned he
r to stay out of his business, and he had meant every stinking word. She had promised him that this package was for the much-anticipated newest family member, baby Burnett.
His brother Travis and his wife, Rose, were expecting their first child this spring, and his mother had turned her attention away from finding a mate for her remaining unmarried son, to the arrival of the first grandchild. And thank God she had. Unlike his brothers, he intended on keeping his freedom.
A sharp, cold north wind swirled about the street, picking up dust, stinging exposed skin with a painful reminder that spring was still weeks away. The stage turned the comer of Main Street and came rattling down the road, the horses eager to reach their destination. The wooden contraption pulled to a halt in front of Tucker, the dust settling back to earth. He pushed back his hat and uncrossed his ankles, putting both feet firmly on the ground. God, he hoped whatever his mother had ordered arrived today, so he could quit this silly errand.
Tucker watched as the driver climbed down from the box and dropped to the ground. He placed a small step down in front of the door for the passengers to step on before their feet touched the ground. The driver swung open the door, and a small boy who looked to be around the age of two jumped from the stage to the step, laughing gaily. A feminine hand covered by an emerald glove held the toddler’s small fingers securely. Tucker’s gaze went from the child’s hand up the arm to the woman who wore die green gloves. His eyes found hers and became lost in those pools of blue sky he had never forgotten. For a moment he thought the ground was going to fall out from beneath him as he stared across what seemed like the thousand miles that had separated them until just this moment.
Dr. Sarah Kincaid had returned home looking more beautiful than when he had left her almost three years ago, and it appeared she hadn’t come home alone.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” he muttered beneath his breath. He swallowed at the sight of the woman he had chased around the schoolyard as a boy. The doctor who had kept him from dying in Tombstone. The good woman whose bed he had left in the middle of die night
Dear God, she had returned. After three years would she still be angry? He let his gaze travel over the blond hair that was carefully coiffed beneath a stylish hat that added a minimal amount of height to her already tall frame. The color matched her green traveling coat which hid the generous curves he knew so well.
Their eyes met and held for what seemed an eternity, and Tucker’s mind replayed the memory of Sarah’s bare shoulder being kissed by a sliver of moonlight, the sheets tangled about her waist and hips, her breasts peeking from beneath a blond curl.
That one night in her arms had been the biggest threat to his freedom he had ever experienced, and he had left before she tempted him into staying forever. He had left before he knew whether he had ruined a perfectly good friendship by having sex with the lady doctor. And now here she was proudly standing before him on this cold February morning, shivering, a child gripping her hand.
“Momma,” the child said, tugging on her hand, eager to scamper down the step and escape the confines of the carriage.
“Just a moment, son.” She stepped down from the coach, her eyes never wavering from Tucker’s. She walked toward him and he met her hallway.
“Tucker Burnett,” she acknowledged, her voice stiff and formal as if the night they had made love had never happened.
“Hello, Sarah. How have you been?” He swallowed, his palms suddenly perspiring.
“Just fine,” she politely responded, the warm, friendly smile he remembered absent from her full, sweet lips. “I’ve come to visit my grandfather.”
They stared at one another, their conversation stilted and awkward. Tucker resisted the urge to put her back on that stage, shut the door and tell the driver to continue right on out of town. He knew the thought was irrational, yet somehow he didn’t care.
That one night with die doctor had made him forget his dreams and act irrationally.
He nodded. “If you’d like, I’d be happy to carry your bags to your grandfather’s hotel.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. Lucas and I will manage,” she said, her voice polite and cool.
“Lucas?” he questioned.
“My son,” she replied, pulling the boy around beside her.
“I didn’t know you had married,” he said, staring at the child, who twisted behind his mother, more interested in what was going on down the street.
She was married and had a child; he was safe.
“Mrs. Walter Scott James,” she said as she pulled the active boy forward. “Lucas, meet Mr. Burnett.”
The boy was dressed in a blue double-breasted overcoat, and Tucker hoped his mother had never dolled him up in such a fashion. The resemblance between Sarah and her son was obvious with the boy’s blond curls and fair skin. He couldn’t help but wonder about the child’s father. Who was he, and when had she met him?
Tucker bent down to Lucas and tipped his hat. “Marshal Tucker Burnett.”
He gripped the boy’s hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you. How old are you?”
The boy glanced up at Tucker, then pulled his hand away and buried his face in his mother’s skirts. She patted him on the back reassuringly.
“He’s, tired and so am I,” she said, her voice brusque.
“More reason for me to carry your bags to the hotel.” He stood glancing around at the trunks the driver was unloading, wondering which ones were hers.
“Fine,” she said, her gloved fingers pushing a strand of blond hair out of her face. He noticed how her gaze kept drifting to the badge pinned to his chest.
“Marshal Burnett? That’s a far cry from what you were doing the last time I saw you,” she said, a slight edge to her voice.
He saw a flash of anger in her eyes and felt a twinge of anxiety. Dear God, could she still be mad after all these years?
The two good friends had become lovers for just one long, lonely night, and somehow he was afraid he had damaged their friendship forever.
While she lay sleeping, he had dressed and snuck out the back door, leaving her to wake up alone. Yet he had left dozens of women in the same manner he had left the good doctor. So why should she be any different?
“Not long after you patched me up in Tombstone, I decided it was time for a career change,” he told her, the memory of the lonely days he had spent contemplating his life after he left her returning with a poignant pang.
“You’re smarter than you look,” she said, and turned her attention to the unloading of several bags.
He cringed at her remark, though veiled. He had known when he left that morning nearly three years ago that she would be angry. But a man could hope that time and distance would have cooled her fury. After all, she had managed to hog-tie some poor man into family and commitment.
Once the bags were gathered around her, she glanced back at him. “I’m ready if you’d like to take me to my grandfather. I haven’t seen his new hotel.”
“Let me check with the driver, and then we’ll walk. This is his hotel, but the main entrance is down the street a ways.” He stepped over to the driver and asked the young man, “Any packages for Eugenia Burnett?”
“No packages,” the driver said.
“Thanks,” Tucker murmured. He hoped to God that this wasn’t the package his mother had been re-ferring to—that Sarah wasn’t the surprise she was waiting for. Maybe she was just pretending to be all wrapped up in this new grandchild. Maybe she was still up to her matchmaking ways.
“Come on.” He took Sarah by the arm, and she gently but firmly pulled away. Still, she continued to walk beside him. “Is your grandfather expecting you? I hadn’t heard him say anything about you coming home.”
“No. He doesn’t know. I didn’t want to worry him, and I didn’t know when exactly I’d be able to get away. I had to find someone to tend to my patients while I was gone.”
“What about your husband? He let you come all this way without him?” Tucker asked, his curios
ity about the man she had married getting the better of him.
She glanced at him, a sharp, watchful expression on her face. “He didn’t care.”
Tucker frowned. “How long you been married?” She turned her lips up, the smile not quite reaching her eyes. “Long enough, Tucker.”
He grinned and shrugged. “Never hurts to ask.” He wanted to ask her long enough for what, but he didn’t dare. Curiosity about just when and how she had met the man was eating at him; but he knew it was none of his business, and the doctor wouldn’t hesitate to tell him so.
She glanced at Tucker, her head tilted at an angle. Lucas was staring at the adults in fascination. “My husband wasn’t afraid of settling down.
He didn’t leave in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye.”
“Good for you,” he said, picking up her bags. Tucker smiled and gave her a quick glance. She might not be spitting fire, but she was definitely peeved. From what he remembered of their night together, given even the slightest indication that she was willing, he wouldn’t hesitate to charm his way back into her bed for a little frolicking between the sheets. It was a damn shame she was displeased with him and married to boot.
But she had been a threat to his freedom. So in the middle of the night he had run as fast as he could get away.
God had a sense of humor, thought Sarah. After all who would have thought that the first person she would encounter when returning to Fort Worth would have been the last person she ever wanted to see again. But here Tucker Burnett was, walking beside her the short distance to her grandfather’s hotel, carrying her bags and chatting as though they were still old friends.
Fear had almost paralyzed her the moment she had stepped off that stage and seen her childhood friend, the man who had broken her heart, the father of her child.
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The Outlaw Takes A Bride (The Burnett Brides) Page 27
