Brides of Durango: Tessa

by Bobbi Smith

  “Oh, you’ve done that,” Jared said with a half smile.

  “I want to make sure,” she said softly, reaching up to him and drawing him back down to her.

  Tessa kissed him hungrily, needing to know that he wanted her. She had never been aggressive with a man before, but then she’d never felt this way about a man before. She’d felt nothing when Will had kissed her, but Jared’s kisses left her breathless and excited. She knew only a driving need to get closer to him, to touch him and to hold him.

  Jared meant to send her from him, but somehow at the willing touch of her lips, all logic fled. It was just the two of them, alone, and they would not be interrupted. He lifted his hands to frame her face as he pulled away from her one last time.

  “If you stay . . .”

  “What you trying to save me from, Marshal Trent?” she asked with a throaty laugh.

  “From me.”

  But Tessa would have none of it. She had waited a lifetime for this man and this moment.

  Tessa did not speak, but simply kissed him again, and in her kiss Jared found his answer. He groaned and surrendered to his need for her. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to his bed. He laid her gently upon the softness and then followed her down.

  Kiss after passionate kiss roused their desire to a firestorm. Jared’s lips left hers to explore the sweetness of her throat as his hand sought the curve of her breast.

  Tessa tensed at his bold touch, then relaxed and gave herself over to his lovemaking. She wanted this. She wanted him. Tessa gave no thought to anything but the wonder of being with Jared. When he began to unbutton the bodice of her day gown, she helped him, and then reached out to unfasten his shirt. She wanted to be close to him. With eager hands, she helped him take off his shirt, and she caressed the width of his chest and shoulders, marveling in the heat and strength of him. She’d wanted to do this when they’d lain before the campfire—and now she could.

  Jared had to make sure she was willing, especially after what had almost happened with Boyd. She was an innocent—an angel.

  “Tessa,” he said seriously as he paused long enough to force her to look at him. He marveled at how beautiful she was. Her hair was spread about her in all its silken, burnished glory. High color stained her cheeks.

  “What, Jared?” She, too, was studying him, memorizing the hard, lean lines of his face and the fiery passion in his gaze. He was the handsomest, most wonderful man she’d ever known.

  “If you want to go . . .” Heaven knew he wanted her to stay, but he had to offer. It had to be her decision. He would not force her.

  She lifted one hand to his lips to stop him from talking. “Shhh.”

  Taking her hand away, she looped her arms around his neck and drew him down to her.

  It was her unspoken invitation that shattered his barely maintained control. Jared closed his eyes as he began to kiss her again.

  Shouts outside the house shattered their temporary haven.

  “Marshal Trent!” a man’s voice yelled. “Marshal Trent! Hurry! It’s an emergency!”

  Jared was up off the bed immediately, swearing under his breath. He began to pull on his shirt and button it.

  “What is it?” Tessa asked, getting up quickly. She was startled by the interruption and suddenly very aware of where she was and what had almost happened. She quickly began to button her bodice and straighten her clothing.

  “I don’t know. Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He rushed from the room to answer the door, shutting the bedroom door behind him.

  “Marshal Trent! We got trouble!” Harvey Landon was shouting as Jared opened the front door.

  “What’s happened?” Jared asked as he stepped outside to see what all the excitement was about.

  “There’s a fire!”

  “Where?”

  “About four blocks over!” Harvey was running in the direction of the fire to help out.

  “I’ll be right there!”

  Jared ran back inside to find that Tessa had finished straightening her clothes. He quickly told her what had happened.

  “Four blocks over?” she repeated. “That could be close to my house!”

  “Let’s hurry!”

  They were almost out the door when Jared caught her by the arm and stopped her.

  “What?” She looked up at him, wondering why he was hesitating.

  Jared paused only long enough to kiss her one last time. “Now, let’s go.”

  Tessa followed him from the house, and they ran in the direction of the smoke.

  * * *

  Elise was grinning broadly as she entered the newspaper office. Trace looked up from his desk, saw her expression, and knew she’d been up to something. He got up and came out front to find out what she’d done.

  “You are too happy,” he said. “What have you done now?”

  “Me?” she asked with wide-eyed innocence. “Why, I haven’t done a thing except . . .”

  “Except?”

  “Well,” Elise began, “I saw Tessa this morning and mentioned to her that Jared might be a bit under the weather. I told her that I thought it would be good if she went to his house and checked on him, because he hadn’t gone in to work today.”

  “Did she go?”

  “Yes,” she answered triumphantly.

  In spite of himself, Trace started to grin, too. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but you’re not getting a story out of this—unless it will be a society-page announcement about their wedding.”

  “Yes, dear,” she promised, knowing that that would be enough as long as their friends were happy.

  “Fire!”

  They both heard the shouts and immediately ran from the office. As they stood in the street, they could see the smoke billowing up over the buildings.

  “That wasn’t the kind of lead story I was hoping for,” Elise said as they hurried to help.

  “Let’s hope it’s not too serious,” Trace said.

  They knew every volunteer would be needed to control the fire. As they neared the site of the fire, they stopped to stare at the mass confusion. The scene was chaotic. Everyone knew that if the fire spread, there might be no stopping it at all.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jared approached the burning house from the rear with Tessa close behind him. The smoke was thick and acrid, but that didn’t stop him. He knew how deadly fires could be, and he wanted to make sure no one was trapped inside.

  “This doesn’t look good,” he told Tessa after quickly surveying the scene.

  Some of the people from town were already there, trying to get a bucket brigade going. Their efforts weren’t very organized, and there was no sign of the volunteer firefighters or the horse-drawn fire engine.

  “We’d better get some buckets of our own and see if we can help them!” Tessa said, starting around to the front to join the others.

  It was just then that Della Emerson appeared in an upstairs window, holding her youngest child, a toddler named Mark. She saw Jared and started to scream.

  “Marshal Trent! Help me!” she cried. Smoke was billowing from behind her, choking her.

  Jared and Tessa both looked up, and Jared immediately started toward the back door.

  “Jared! No!” Tessa shouted at him, fearing for his life, knowing it was too dangerous for him to go inside the burning house. “Wait!”

  He glanced back at her without pausing. “I have to go. I can’t wait!”

  Across the distance, their gazes met. Time seemed suspended for a moment and then he turned away. He kicked in the locked back door. The fierce heat blasted him, but it didn’t stop him. He charged inside, determined to save the woman and her child.

  “Jared!” Tessa called his name, but he had disappeared from sight.

  “What is it?” Steve asked. He’d heard Tessa shouting and rushed to her side. “Where is Jared?”

  “He just went inside!”

  “Help!” Della cried again.

  Steve looked up a
nd saw the woman with the child. The smoke was about to overcome her, and the heat of the flames was threatening her. He knew she was in desperate circumstances.

  Tessa gripped Steve’s arm. She looked at him, her expression terrified. “Jared’s trying to save her, but I don’t know if he can! The fire is out of control!”

  They both began to choke as the wind shifted directions and smoke billowed over them. It was then that they heard a resounding crash as part of the flooring collapsed inside.

  “Oh, God!” Tessa stared in horror as the flames seemed to leap even higher. “Jared!” she called, and started toward the house, frantic to go to him and help him.

  Steve had to grab her forcefully to stop her. “No! I’ll do it! You wait here!”

  Julie and her mother ran up just then, ready to help in any way they could.

  “Here!” Steve said, putting Tessa into her care. “Watch her!”

  Julie gave him a frightened look, wondering what he was planning to do. “Steve?”

  Steve didn’t respond. Without a thought for his own safety, he entered the fiery hell of the burning house. Jared had gone in there trying to save the woman and child, and he might be in trouble. Steve knew he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

  Tessa, Julie, and Adele stood motionless, watching, waiting, terrified by what they feared was happening inside. The woman had disappeared from the window, but they didn’t know what that signified. Out in front of the house, they could hear the arrival of the horse-drawn fire engine, and they prayed the blaze would soon be under control.

  Tessa felt almost numb, as if the world around her wasn’t real. She felt detached from reality. Everything around her seemed distant and otherworldly. All she could think about was that Jared had gone inside the inferno, and she didn’t know if he would come out alive. She held her breath, fearing something horrendous might have happened to him.

  “Where are they, Julie? Why haven’t they come back out?” Tessa asked.

  “I don’t know.” Julie had gone pale when Steve had rushed inside to try to help Jared. She told herself she didn’t care about Steve. She told herself he didn’t mean anything to her, but the fact that he had put himself in harm’s way to help others surprised her. He was a cowboy—probably a gunslinger—but he was also a man who saw danger and did not run from it, who saw someone in need and went to help. She offered up a prayer that he and Jared and the others trapped inside would be safe.

  “I’ve got to do something!” Tessa declared. She started forward, meaning to follow the two men inside. She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to do something to help them.

  “Tessa, no!” Julie called out. She chased her friend, grabbing her shoulder, trying to stop her. “You’ll be killed if you go in there. You have to wait. Steve and Jared will be back. I know they will.”

  “But what if something’s happened to Jared?” she asked in torment.

  “He’s fine. You’ll see!” she said, trying to encourage her friend even as she held her back. “You have to trust them!”

  They stood in silence amid the smoke and heat. Each minute seemed an hour, and their tension grew with every passing moment. Tessa clutched at Julie’s hands, while their gazes were fixed on the gaping opening that had once been the back door. They could see no sign of movement. They heard no more cries for help. There was only the deadly crackling of the flames as they devoured all in their path.

  More of the townsfolk gathered around them.

  “Did Marshal Trent go in after Mrs. Emerson?” someone asked.

  “Yes,” Julie answered, knowing that Tessa was incapable of responding at that particular moment.

  “Ain’t that just like the man,” another said, proud of their lawman.

  They all stood together, paralyzed by fear, haunted by what might be happening inside. They were tormented by nightmarish visions of what the men could be facing in their efforts to save the woman and child.

  Jared had entered the house and had raced through the smoke and flames, heading for the stairs to the second floor. He had just started up them when a wall collapsed and part of the floor gave way in the hall. A beam struck him, knocking him backward down the steps and leaving him stunned.

  It had been the sound of Della Emerson’s screams that had jarred him back to full awareness. The smoke was threatening to overwhelm him. He knew he had to get up and move or he was going to die. He lifted a hand to his forehead, and when he took it away his hand was covered with blood. Jared staggered to his feet and started up the steps again. Flames were all around him, but he knew he couldn’t retreat. He could not leave the woman and child alone to die.

  Jared reached the landing at the top of the stairs and called out to her. The smoke was leaving him confused and disoriented. “Where are you?”

  “Here! We’re here, Marshal Trent!” Della called back.

  Jared started toward the sound of her voice, staying low, praying that he found her in time.

  Steve had entered the house after him and reached the stairs just as Jared moved off toward the woman. Steve took the steps two at a time, taking care to avoid the flames that seemed to be leaping at him.

  “Trent? Where did you go?”

  “Here!” Jared called back. He had already reached Della’s side and was leading her toward the staircase.

  Steve found them and took the child.

  “Can we still make it down?” Jared asked, knowing how dangerously close the blaze was to the stairway.

  “We have to hurry!”

  “No! I can’t go that way! No!” Della cried, terrified of the searing intensity of the flames.

  Jared grabbed her and held her close to him to shield her as best he could. He looked back toward the window, wondering if they could somehow lower her down that way, but flames had started eating at the walls there. “There’s no other way out. We have to try!”

  She was screaming, but Jared didn’t think about anything except getting back out the door before the rest of the building started to collapse. He’d been lucky that he’d escaped the force of the falling wall without serious injury. He didn’t want to test his luck any further right now.

  Jared charged down the stairs, making sure Steve and the boy were close behind them. Della never stopped screaming, but Jared didn’t pay any attention. He was too busy watching the leaping flames and trying to stay low so he could breathe and see better. He could hear Steve right behind him, and that gave him some measure of relief. Steve’s showing up had been a godsend. Jared didn’t know how he would have gotten both the woman and the child out of the house without his help.

  “This way, Steve!” he shouted over his shoulder as he reached the downstairs hall.

  He was forced to climb over the piles of debris from the collapsed wall, but he managed. He could make out the doorway ahead of them, and he headed for that light, knowing that outside was safety and fresh air and Tessa.

  Jared and Steve came crashing out the back door, gasping for breath, stumbling to safety. Jared was half carrying Della as they staggered from the building. Steve was carrying Mark, who was clutching at him, knowing he was his savior.

  “Thank God!” A cheer went up from the crowd.

  Tessa and Julie raced forward to help. Tessa threw her arms around Jared and Della, guiding them away from the heat of the flames. Without thought, Julie went to Steve and, putting her arm around him, led him and the boy away from the inferno.

  A roar of excitement and relief swept through those who had gathered to watch as the rescuers and victims were taken away to a quiet spot far from the danger.

  “Mrs. Emerson? Are you all right?” Tessa asked as she helped the woman sit down upon the ground.

  “Oh!” She coughed and choked as she tried to speak. “Oh, Marshal Trent, thank you! Thank you! What would I have done without you? Where is my baby? Where is Mark?”

  “He’s right here,” Steve told her, coming to her side to hand over the toddler.

  The boy went eagerly to his
mother, secure in the circle of her arms, knowing that if she were holding him, no harm could come to him. He wrapped his little arms around her neck and hung on for dear life. “Mama!”

  “Oh, darling, we’re safe! We’re safe!” Della said, crying as she held her son to her heart. “Has anybody seen Clara? Where’s my Clara?”

  Della suddenly realized that her daughter was missing. Della started to get up, realizing that she couldn’t see her child anywhere. When she’d discovered that there was a fire in the parlor, she’d run back upstairs to get the baby, who’d been sleeping, while she’d sent her young daughter Clara outside to wait for her in safety. That was how she’d gotten trapped upstairs.

  “Mama!” Clara came running to her mother’s side, crying. “I’m sorry, Mama! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to knock the lamp over!” She was sobbing hysterically. “I tried to pick it up but I couldn’t!”

  “Oh, Clara.” Della then realized how the terrible fire had started. She was heartsick over all they had lost, but relieved that no one had been harmed. Things could be replaced. Lives were lost forever. “It’ll be all right. You and your brother are fine, and that’s all that matters.”

  She held her two children to her bosom and rocked them as she let her own tears flow. Her face was stained and blackened, her hair and clothing singed, but she didn’t care. She had her two most precious possessions. She had her children.

  Tessa looked over at Jared and saw for the first time the blood on his forehead. Her heart lurched at the knowledge that he had been injured.

  “You’re hurt!” she said.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Let me take a look at you,” Dr. Murray offered.

  When the news of the fire had reached the good doctor at his office, he had rushed over to see if he could be of any help. It took him only a minute to examine the cut.

  “It’s deep. Let’s go over to the office, and I’ll clean it up for you.”

  Jared was still worried about the fire spreading. “But I need to—”

  “Go, Jared,” Steve told him, coming to speak with him. “There are enough people here now to keep things under control.”