Corsets and Cuffs: (Sweet Historical Western Romance) (Baker City Brides Book 3)

by Shanna Hatfield

  “Sheriff, it’s kind of cold and dark over here,” Dale whined. “And I could sure use a trip into the woods to do my business unless you want me to do it right here.”

  Appalled, Brianna shot the rustler a scathing glare before she turned back to Tully. “He’s disgusting.”

  “Yep, he is.” Tully got to his feet and untied Dale, escorting him away from their camp. While they were gone, Brianna removed the ribbon from the end of her braid and unwound the strands then braided it again. During the course of the day, so many wisps had come out of the braid, more of it hung free than remained restrained. She took another piece of jerky from the pouch Tully had left beside her and leaned back against the log.

  Inspired by her surroundings, she retrieved her notebook and pencil. She jotted down notes in the light from the fire, recalling everything she could about Tully tracking down Dale, the rustler’s capture, and building the fire.

  By the time Tully returned with Dale, Brianna had filled four pages in her notebook. At the thief’s continued whining that he would freeze to death if Tully didn’t let him stay by the fire, Tully tied him to a tree that was marginally closer.

  “Sheriff, this ain’t gonna work. I can’t get no sleep trussed up like a turkey. I promise I won’t vamoose if you just let me sleep on one of those saddle blankets by the fire.”

  Tully snorted and stared down at his prisoner. “What makes you think I care if you freeze or die? You’re a wanted criminal, Dale, and this isn’t a luxury hotel. Shut up and go to sleep.”

  Dale huffed and whined, so Tully returned the dirty sock to his mouth and tied the kerchief over the top. “Sweet dreams, Mr. Darcey.”

  Brianna swallowed back a giggle at the disparaging look on Dale’s face.

  When Tully sank onto a saddle blanket beside her and released a weary sigh, he held out a blanket he’d taken from a bedroll behind his saddle. “Take it, Fred. It’ll be a long, cold night if you don’t, even with the fire.”

  She accepted the blanket but gave him a questioning glance. “What about you? Won’t you get chilled?”

  “No, darlin’, I’ll be fine.” Tully poured a cup of coffee and held it out to Brianna. After she took a sip, she handed it back to him and he took a long drink, watching her over the brim of the cup.

  The intense light in his eyes and the look on his face left her unsettled and nervous. In need of a distraction, she asked Tully about the various mines, and the town’s distinctive title of Queen City of the Mines.

  “Did you know the hotel where you stayed houses the third elevator to be constructed west of the Mississippi River?” Tully’s deep baritone voice sounded soothing as he spoke.

  Brianna shook her head. “I did not know that. What else is unique about Baker City?”

  “Other than having the most handsome sheriff west of the Rocky Mountains?” Tully teased.

  She laughed. “That is not a fact, but an opinion, held almost exclusively by you and a few of the twitterpated young girls in town.”

  He leaned close to her and nudged her arm with his. “I don’t care what those little ninnies think. However, I do care about the opinion of one incredibly beautiful woman named Fred.”

  At that moment, with Tully pressed close to her side, Brianna could have easily fallen into his arms and remained there throughout the night. In the firelight, he looked like a bronzed statue she’d once seen on display in New York City.

  No matter how much she refused to tell him she found him unbelievably appealing, Tully Barrett was one of the most attractive men she’d ever seen.

  “If I ever meet a woman with the horrid name of Fred, I’ll inquire as to her thoughts of a puffed up, arrogant officer of the law.”

  Tully chuckled and tossed another piece of wood on the fire. They both watched the sparks dance upward.

  Silence settled around them and Brianna contemplated how she’d ever get to sleep, especially when she needed to, as Dale Darcey stated earlier, do some business.

  She refused the coffee he held out to her and seemed unable to settle down. Tully figured out the reason for her restlessness and stood then pulled Brianna to her feet.

  “Come on, Fred. Why didn’t you say you needed to make a trip into the bushes?” He lifted a burning branch from the fire, took her hand in his, and led her away from the camp.

  “Of all the inappropriate topics you’ve broached, that may be at the top of the list.” Brianna allowed him to lead her into the darkness with only the glow of their improvised torch lighting the way. Propriety dictated she should release his hand and demand he leave her to her own defenses, but common sense prevailed.

  “Surely, not. My inquiries about your corsets and drawers should rank higher, don’t you think? If I haven’t discussed them enough to be number one on your list, I could launch into a conversation about them right now. Perhaps I better do an inspection to see what you’re wearing.” Playful, he reached down toward the hem of her split skirt.

  For his benefit, she slapped his arm and pretended to be affronted. His teasing made her feel safe and cared for, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

  “There’s a bunch of bushes right over there where you can take care of your needs. I’ll wait here for you.” Tully gave her a slight push in the direction he indicated.

  Brianna hurried over to the bushes then caught him watching her. “Turn your back, Sheriff! Have you no decency?” She walked around the bushes until she was out of sight on the other side.

  “None whatsoever.”

  When Brianna rejoined him, he handed her the branch then filled his arms with firewood on the way back to their camp.

  After dumping the wood he’d gathered onto a pile he’d started earlier, he walked over to where Dale slept against the tree. Carefully, he removed the kerchief and sock from the thief’s mouth then draped a saddle blanket over him.

  “Why did you do that?”

  Tully shrugged. “I don’t want him to choke on that thing while he sleeps. As long as he stays quiet, I’ll leave it out.”

  Surprised by Tully’s kindness to the rustler, she kept her thoughts to herself. Tully rolled back the log they’d leaned against and spread out the two remaining saddle blankets end to end, making her a bed.

  “Go on and get comfortable, Fred. I’ll cover you up with the blanket when you get yourself settled.”

  She stretched out on her back, longing for a pillow. Tully flicked the blanket and it settled over her, wrapping her in its warmth. It smelled of wood smoke, leather and horse with a hint of Tully. Wishing she could write down the smell before she forgot it, she breathed deeply, attempting to memorize the masculine scent.

  A startled squeak burst out of her when Tully stretched out beside her on the outside of her blanket.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered, turning to look at him.

  He set his hat on the log and folded his arms behind his head. “Looking at the stars.”

  Brianna lifted her gaze and stared at the velvety sky above her, twinkling with thousands of stars.

  “Oh,” she whispered, enchanted by the sight. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Yes, it is,” Tully studied her, not the sky.

  Afraid he might kiss her again, and worried he wouldn’t, Brianna pointed out a few constellations her father had taught her.

  “I’m sorry about your dad, Brianna. It sounds like you were close,” Tully said, glancing over at her again.

  Tears stung the backs of her eyes and she nodded her head. “We were close and I miss him every day.” Determined not to cry, she looked inquisitively at Tully. “What about you? Do you have parents who worry about you? A brother or sister?”

  Tully remained silent so long, Brianna wondered if he’d gone to sleep with his eyes open, but he finally released a weary sigh. “No, I don’t have anyone, just Thane and his family, Maggie, and now Ian. Thane and Mags have been all the family I’ve had since I was seventeen.”

  “I’m, sorry, Tully.” Brianna worked a hand free fr
om her blanket cocoon and managed to grasp his hand in hers. His skin was cool to the touch and she worried that he was going to freeze, lying on the cold ground. She yanked on the blanket beneath him until he rolled to the side.

  When he stared at her, she held up the edge of the blanket. “If you can behave yourself, slide under here so we both stay warm.”

  Tully thought it was the single worst idea he’d ever heard, but he couldn’t tell her no. He didn’t plan to stay there long anyway. As soon as Brianna fell asleep, he’d sit up and keep an eye on both her and Dale.

  Slowly, he rolled beneath the blanket then slid an arm under her back, pulling her close to him. Her head rested in the curve of his shoulder while his hand settled at her waist. Content and strangely happy, he could have stayed in that position the rest of his life.

  The faint fragrance of flowers tickled his nose while the amber glow from the fire turned Brianna’s creamy skin into a temptation he found hard to resist.

  As though she read his thoughts, she grasped at the thread of their maudlin conversation to take their minds off the attraction sizzling between them. “What happened to your family? Where were you before you met Thane and Maggie?”

  The last thing Tully wanted to do was tell her about his past, but something about being with her, about staring up at the stars together, loosened his tongue and weakened his resolve.

  “I was seven when both my folks died one winter of small pox. My sister, Becky, and I went to stay with a distant relative. I don’t know if he was an uncle or cousin. We’d never seen him before, but he made us call him Uncle Blye. We only lived with him a few weeks before he started beating on us, and then he tried to… um… Becky was twelve, you see, and looked mature for her age. He um... he tried to…”

  Brianna squeezed his hand and he cleared his throat. “I brained him with the bottle of whiskey he’d spent the evening drinking and the two of us ran into the nearest town. The pastor let us spend the night then took us to an orphanage the next day. We stayed there until Becky was eighteen. They forced her to choose between living on the streets, working in a brothel, or marrying a man who would pay the director of the orphanage a tidy sum for furnishing him with a young bride. She opted to marry. The beast who took her strangled my sister two days after they wed.”

  “Oh, Tully.” Brianna’s heart ached for the pain Tully had endured.

  He swallowed hard before he continued. “When I found out she’d died, I wanted to kill that man with my bare hands. I might have done it, too. I ran away from the orphanage and headed over to the jail. Blinded by my grief and fury, I wasn’t thinking straight. On my way there, a rancher stopped me and asked if I’d help him load his wagon with a shipment of lumber that had arrived on the train. I tried to refuse, but he insisted on me going with him. As I helped him load the lumber, I told him what had happened. When we finished, he paid me for my help and offered me a job. I worked on his ranch until I was fifteen.”

  “Why’d you leave? Did he treat you poorly?”

  Tully glanced down at her, shifting slightly so she rested more comfortably against his shoulder. “No. He was good to me. From him, I learned about grace and forgiveness, and reacquainted myself with the Lord. That rancher treated me like a son, but then he died. His only child, a spoiled rotten girl who’d moved to the city, returned with her husband and took over the place. The new owners and I didn’t see eye to eye on anything, so I left.”

  “Where did you go?” Brianna could picture a young Tully, putting up a brave, defiant front to hide the depths of his emotional wounds. To some degree, he still did the same thing.

  “I wandered from town to town, working odd jobs. Then I ran into Thane and we became fast friends. Shortly after we met, we took up with Maggie and her husband, Daniel. We came to Oregon and that was that.”

  “But, Tully, you endured so much as a child and went through your adolescent years largely alone. How on earth did you become such a fine man?”

  Pleased Brianna thought he was a good person, Tully tried to be, even if he sometimes fell short of the mark. “Maggie, Daniel, Thane and I were good for each other. We helped each other grow up and we knew with unwavering certainty we could count on each other. Thane’s brother mostly raised him, and he was a wonderful person, or at least from what I’ve heard. Maggie and Daniel both had good parents. My parents were the best, they just passed away far too soon. I think all of us had a good foundation, even if life tossed us around a bit.”

  Brianna reached down and squeezed his hand where it rested at her waist. “They’d be so proud of you, Tully Barrett. Now tell me how you became the sheriff.”

  “Well, after Daniel was killed in a mining accident, I wasn’t too interested in mining anymore. Thane begged me to continue for a little while longer. It wasn’t long after Daniel died that we hit a rich vein of gold. Maggie and I sold our shares of the mine to Thane. She started her dress shop. I bought my place on the edge of town and went to work for the sheriff as a deputy. Thane kept mining. He bought the ground where the ranch house is and started purchasing more property and mines. He owns one of the largest spreads in the area, as well as gold mines and one silver mine. As for me, when the sheriff retired, I got his job.”

  “And you love every minute of it.”

  Tully’s chuckle vibrated through her, making a sweet tremor pass over her. He assumed she was cold and cuddled her closer, tucking the blanket around her shoulders.

  “Now that you know everything about me, I think it’s your turn to divulge all your deep, dark secrets.”

  Brianna did not intend for Tully or anyone else to know the real reason she’d fled to Baker City, but she loved listening to his deep voice rumble in the stillness of the night and wanted to keep him talking.

  “I told you my father passed away, didn’t I?” she asked.

  “Yep. You mentioned he died recently. You also said you needed to come up with some money to keep his cotton mill operating.”

  “That’s correct. Father was robbed and brutally stabbed on his way to the bank.” Brianna sniffled and willed her tears away.

  “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry.” Tully kissed the top of her head. “What happened?”

  “The cotton mill has been in my family for four generations. It’s been a very lucrative business, but Father ran into some financial hardships a few years ago. He borrowed heavily from the bank, worked hard to get things back on track, and began paying on the loan. The last year, he’d done so well, he’d saved enough to repay all the debt early and was on his way to make that final payment to the bank when someone robbed him and stabbed him to death.”

  “Brianna, that’s terrible. Is there anything I can do to help? Did they catch his killer? Find the money?”

  She shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. The man who killed him escaped and the payment wasn’t made to the bank. I have until the first of August to make the payment or the bank will take the factory, my home, and all of Father’s holdings.”

  “And that’s why you were so dead-set on selling your father’s partnership in Clive’s mine.”

  “Yes, but you know how that turned out. The money I make at the paper would be only a tiny drop in the bucket of what is owed.” She sighed. “I do so wish my bag would turn up.”

  Tully laughed softly. “So you’re still thinking if you had those corsets you could get a job at the Gilded Spur?”

  “No!” She jabbed an elbow into his side and he grunted. “You’re positively detestable!”

  “As long as we’re both clear on that,” he teased, trying to tickle her side. She didn’t so much as move let alone giggle. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who aren’t ticklish.”

  “I might be ticklish, but I won’t tell you where.”

  Tully’s breath blew across her cheek in tantalizing tendrils as he bent his head down close to her face. “I’ll look forward to discovering that very spot one of these days.”

  She turned her head and attempted to glare,
but his face was enticingly close to hers. “I don’t know what sort of woman you think I am, Tully Barrett, but I’ll have you know I don’t…”

  He silenced her with a tender kiss that effectively scattered her thoughts. Unable to recall what she meant to say, nothing else mattered except how wonderful she felt resting in Tully’s strong arms against the solid warmth of him.

  Twice more he tantalized her lips with his kisses before he lifted his head and smiled. “Close your eyes, Brianna. Close your eyes and relax. I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered and started to hum a lullaby she hadn’t heard since before her mother died.

  Content and at ease with Tully, she stared up at the stars, wishing on the brightest lights overhead. Wishing for a future with the man she loved with all her heart.

  Sparks danced like fireflies in the midnight sky when Tully added a log on the fire. He poured a cup of coffee and nursed it as he watched Brianna sleep.

  The glow of the fire highlighted her face as she rested on her side, snuggled beneath the blanket he’d tucked around her.

  Once she closed her eyes, she’d fallen right to sleep. The sound of her soft, even breathing assured him she slept, so he carefully moved his arm and rolled away from her.

  The temptation to hold her all night was almost more than he could bear. Nippy night air did little to cool his feverish longing for her, but it wasn’t the time or place to make any declarations.

  As she spoke about her father and his brutal death, Tully knew she still hadn’t told him the whole story. Miss Brianna Dumont was hiding something. He wouldn’t rest until he found out what, exactly, had driven her from her home, chasing the hope of a prosperous mine clear across the country.

  Something about her father’s death seemed strange and he planned to find out what.

  For now, though, he studied the sweet way Brianna’s lips turned up at the corners and her eyelashes fanned her smooth cheeks.

  Never, in all his life, had Tully wanted a woman like he wanted her. He’d never even imagined wanting someone so much it made his heart ache with every beat. The yearning for her wasn’t just a physical longing.