The Irish Westerns Boxed Set

by C. H. Admirand

  The sound of a sharply indrawn breath behind her was the only clue that someone else was there.

  Burnbaum’s softly spoken admission went right to her heart. Pearl knew all about not being wanted. She still hurt when she remembered how it had been, first with her father and then with her husband.

  “I refused every man’s offer,” she said, straightening to her full height. “I was not, and still am not, that kind of woman.”

  Burnbaum raked his hands through his hair and spread them out in front of him, palms up. “I didn’t know.”

  Pearl watched the play of emotion on his face, and she believed him, just as strongly as she believed he wouldn’t hurt his son. She nodded.

  “I…I’m sorry, Miss Pearl.”

  Words so long coveted, ones she thought she’d never hear, went right to her aching heart. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. She couldn’t wipe them away, undone by the simple apology. Would the rest of the town believe her now? Would it matter?

  “Jake!”

  Pearl whirled around to see Sarah Burnbaum standing there. But it was the man who stood next to her most vocal detractor that had her heart jolting back to life.

  “Davidson.” He was back! Would he stay?

  They gazed at each other, and she knew he’d heard more than she wanted him to. More and more of her past was no longer a secret from him. Would it make a difference in how he felt about her? His leaving had shaken her to the bone.

  “You left me.” The words sounded sharper than she’d intended. She hadn’t wanted to sound as if it mattered one way or the other if he had.

  He took a step toward her. “I had to.”

  “Without saying goodbye? No explanation? I woke and found you’d gone.” Pain lanced through her as she recalled the devastating sense of loss that had threatened to suffocate her.

  “I did what I had to do.” He took two more steps.

  “You still haven’t told me why.” And that’s what hurt the most.

  “Lincoln could have killed you too!” He shouted his reason, and her heart nearly burst with joy, knowing she’d been right to trust him. He wouldn’t be so angry with her if he didn’t care.

  “I had to be sure he was behind lock and key and that the marshal knew to be on the lookout for Stanton.”

  “Is that all?”

  “I made sure you were safe, watched over last night,” he whispered. “You were not really alone.”

  “But you weren’t there!” she cried.

  He closed the gap between them and grabbed her upper arms, shaking her. “Bloody hell, woman, I can’t lose you.”

  Pressing him for more, she asked, “So you left because you thought you had to in order to protect me?”

  His anger evaporated. “And the girls,” he rasped, sliding his hands down to hers, lifting first one then the other to his lips. Brushing his lips across her knuckles.

  Love for the man swamped her, but she wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily. She’d been afraid she would never see him again. Her heart still ached from the loss.

  “Jake,” Sarah pleaded, “Don’t tell them.”

  Burnbaum’s face crumbled. He took a step away from his wife. “Marshal?”

  “Don’t tell him,” Sarah begged. “Please!”

  Everyone stood still, waiting for either Jake or Sarah to speak.

  Burnbaum slumped over and stared down at his hands. Pearl could have sworn he shrank before their eyes.

  “I followed Sarah to your place.”

  “Jacob!”

  “Shut up, Sarah!” he snapped. “This has gone on long enough. He glared at his wife and turned to the marshal, saying, “It ends here and now.”

  Justiss stepped closer to Sarah and waited for her husband to say more.

  “Sarah started the fire.”

  “Nooooo!” Sarah wailed.

  “I wanted to put it out, but I heard a horse coming and saw Lincoln heading up the road.”

  “But why didn’t you go back and help us out of the barn?” Pearl demanded.

  “I didn’t know anyone was inside. I had to get Sarah home to protect her.”

  Davidson stiffened beside Pearl. “What about the horses? For God’s sake, you’d let them burn?”

  Burnbaum straightened to his full height. Throwing his shoulders back, he met Davidson’s glare. “I’d give my life for Sarah or my boys.”

  Davidson slowly nodded.

  “Who put the plank against the door?” Pearl needed to know.

  “I’m guessing Lincoln. We didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

  The marshal nodded. When he moved toward Sarah, Pearl stopped him. “Let her go.”

  “But Pearl—” Justiss began.

  “She’ll be punished enough, knowing she’d almost killed Samuel.”

  Sarah crumpled against her husband and wept.

  The marshal nodded to Pearl and ushered the couple outside, leaving her and Davidson alone in the stable.

  “You’ll forgive me.” Davidson sounded sure of himself.

  “Why would I?” she demanded, trying to push away from him.

  He pulled her close and slid his hands to the small of her back. Dipping his head down, he whispered, “If you can forgive Jake Burnbaum, you can forgive me.”

  “I haven’t forgiven Jake yet.” She reached up and brushed a lock of hair from his eyes. “But I will forgive you. Not because you deserve it,” she said, “but because I trust you.”

  “Then you’ll still have me?” His lips traced the curve of her jaw. He nipped the cleft in her chin.

  Love for this man overflowed from her heart, dousing the remnants of her anger and uncertainty. “I gave my word.”

  His slow smile filled the dark corners of her soul. His love purged the hurts she’d held onto for too long.

  “Your girls swear you never go back on your word.”

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she tugged on his neck until his mouth was a breath away from hers. “I love you, Pearl.”

  Before she could tell him how much she loved him, he sealed his pledge with a mind-numbing kiss.

  Davidson drew back and grinned. “Feel like celebrating life with me, Pearl?”

  With a whoop of joy, she tightened her hold on the man who’d thought to steal her ranch and ended up stealing her heart. “Won’t the horses mind?”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s the rats that worry me.”

  Their laughter echoed through the stable as he swept her into his arms and strode through the doorway into the sun-washed afternoon. “I’ve got you now, Pearl, and I will never let you go.”

  She smiled up at him. “If you think you can change your mind and leave, I will hunt you down.”

  “With a wagonload of girls,” he added.

  “Armed to the teeth,” they said at the same time.

  “Now,” he said, setting her on his horse and climbing up behind her. “About your next lesson.”

  She looked over her shoulder at her wagon. “What about the wagon?”

  “Reilly is supposed to be here shortly and will take care of it for you.” He kissed her softly, nipping at her lips. “Now, about your next lesson.”

  She sighed when Davidson eased back. “At least let me have my rifle.”

  He slipped from the horse, grabbed her Winchester, and remounted. She leaned back against him. “What else is there?”

  “I could tell you,” he drawled,” tightening his arms around her. “But I’d rather show you.”

  She shivered.

  As he guided his horse back to their ranch, he bent his head to whisper in her ear, “Now where did we leave off?”

  Chapter Thirty

  A mile from home, Smythe forgot all about his plans for seduction when Pearl bent slightly to the right and pulled her Winchester from the leather sheath where she’d attached it to his saddle. He watched her check to see that it was ready to fire then laid it across her lap.

  “Are you expecting compan
y?” He already knew she was.

  She didn’t answer him.

  The first shot rang out, shattering a rock at the edge of the road. A warning.

  He slid off the horse, grabbed her rifle, slapped the horse’s flank and the beast took off.

  Smythe didn’t have time to see whether or not Pearl rode for home. He had his gun up and fired back.

  Another shot exploded in front of his left foot. He returned fire, but he was shooting blind. He didn’t know where the attacker was. The rock or the stand of trees?

  The gunman was toying with him. If the gunman was worth his salt, he’d have killed either one of them by now.

  The sound of hoofbeats riding hard toward him had him looking up. “Sonofabitch! Just this once, couldn’t you just do as I say?”

  Pearl slid off the horse, motioning for him to follow her. The next shot hit where he had been standing a second before. He followed Pearl behind an outcropping of rocks.

  He wouldn’t have a gun if not for her. Amazingly, she not only had her rifle, but she had that damned Colt he knew she kept in her kitchen drawer.

  “We can’t hold him off for long,” she whispered.

  He nodded, lifting the rifle to aim toward the other side of the road. “Long enough.” He fired a warning shot. It would be the only one; he planned on conserving whatever ammunition they had left. Smythe prayed they would get lucky, but didn’t count on it.

  A gunslinger would have plenty of ammunition. Who knew how much Pearl had with her?

  Fifteen minutes and three rounds later, Davidson’s admiration for the woman at his side steadily grew. “Why did you bring all the extra bullets?”

  She snorted and said, “So we wouldn’t be caught unaware.”

  He loved the way her sharp voice cut him to the quick. “Good thinking.” He smiled at her.

  She frowned up at him. “Keep your eyes on that stand of trees over there.”

  “To the left of the boulder?”

  She nodded. “That’s where that yellow-belly is hiding.”

  “How do you know for sure? He could have moved.”

  “He could have, but we would have seen him.”

  She sounded so sure of herself that he was starting to believe her.

  “I think you should make a run for the ranch,” he told her. “I can cover you.”

  “No.”

  “Pearl—”

  “Don’t ask me to leave you,” she pleaded. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Same difference.”

  “Not to me.”

  “Well, it is to me.”

  The catch in her voice had him turning to look at her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “You’re scared?”

  “Damned right, I’m scared.”

  “Is that why you won’t leave?”

  “Hell no! Stupid man,” she mumbled.

  “Then why?”

  “Because I don’t know how good a shot you are, and I’m right handy with my Colt. We can switch off if you’d rather use the handgun.”

  “I’ve never met anyone like you, Pearl Lloyd.”

  “I hate that name,” she whispered.

  “Pearl?”

  She shook her head. “Lloyd.”

  “I think I can do something about that.” And he meant to just as soon as a justice of the peace or a parson could be found.

  Her smile transformed her face from pretty to beautiful.

  “I love you, Pearl. You won’t change your mind about marrying me, will you?” He was half afraid she would.

  “Damned poor timing,” she said, squeezing off another shot. This time it didn’t ricochet off anything. It sounded as if it hit something solid—like a man.

  “Got him.” She grinned and started to stand up.

  “Not so fast,” he grabbed her arm. “Let’s just be sure.”

  He put his hat on the tip of her rifle and lifted it high.

  A shot echoed and his hat flew off the rifle.

  Her expression said more than she did. He was right and she knew it. What were they going to do now?

  “How much longer do you think we can hold out?”

  “It’ll be sundown soon. He may try to rush us then.”

  “How do you know so much about gun fighting?” She was a woman, for God’s sake!

  She shrugged. “I’ve lived in Colorado Territory for the last fifteen years.”

  “Does this sort of thing happen often?” It was no way for a woman to have to live her life, constantly protecting her land and loved ones.

  She shrugged. “Now and then.”

  “Is this what happened with O’Toole’s Gang?”

  She shook her head, never taking her eyes off the boulder. “They were already inside. We’d just served them dinner and some of my best whiskey.”

  “Someday you’ll tell me all of it?”

  She met his gaze. “Someday.”

  “Come on out with your hands up, Baker!”

  They looked at one another. What was the marshal doing all the way out here when they’d just left him in town? “Do you think he followed Baker out here from town?”

  Davidson wasn’t sure. “I don’t know.”

  “I said, come out with your hands up!” The marshal sounded as if he were ready to spit nails.

  The shot echoing through the sun-baked silence was Baker’s answer.

  “He won’t give up, you know.” Pearl almost sounded sad.

  “He will.” Smythe had bet his life and bargained with God to let the gunslinger give himself up so that Pearl wouldn’t be hurt in the crossfire. He’d made so many promises when he’d had to leave her without saying goodbye, it would take a lifetime to keep all of them. He didn’t care, as long as she was safe.

  She leaned close and whispered, “Don’t ever forget that I love you, Davidson Smythe from Boston.”

  She pressed her lips to his, and he knew she was saying goodbye. He grabbed her. “You are not going out there.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve tested fate one too many times lately. First with O’Toole, then the gunman,” she said, running a hand over her scarred cheek.

  “I’ll protect you.” As a promise, it was weak. He couldn’t see the other man, so how could he truly protect her?

  She leaned against him and whispered, “I thought I would die in the fire.”

  He had too. “I knew you wouldn’t,” he lied.

  She kissed his chin. “That’s what I love about you, Davidson, your optimism.”

  “Pearl—”

  “Later,” she whispered.

  “I’m going to count to three,” he heard the marshal call out. “And if you don’t toss your gun into the road and put your hands in the air, I’m coming in—and you will be a dead man.”

  Two shots sounded.

  The marshal had his answer, and not the one he’d hoped for. Smythe would take that to the bank.

  A barrage of gunfire answered those first two shots.

  Smythe looked at Pearl. “Did you know the marshal wasn’t alone?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t imagine who he’s convinced to join a posse.”

  In the silence that followed, he wondered if this was what life would be like out in the wilds of Colorado Territory.

  Then he realized it wasn’t all that much different from the streets of Boston near the waterfront after dark, although more often than not, knives were used rather than guns.

  “Smythe, you and Pearl all right?”

  “As rain, Marshal,” Pearl answered and started to stand up.

  Terror such as he’d never known arrowed through him. He couldn’t speak, was afraid he wouldn’t have time. He tackled her to the ground as a single shot rang out.

  The breath left her lungs in a whoosh of air, but she didn’t complain. She didn’t move. Their gazes met.

  This time the answering gunfire from the marshal’s men went on for five full minutes. When the shooting stopped, Davidson let go of her. “If yo
u ever do anything that stupid again, I’ll have to hurt you.”

  “You saved my life,” she whispered.

  “Again.”

  She smiled. “Again.”

  “But you owe me.”

  She grinned up at him. “How do you figure that?”

  They could hear the marshal calling out orders to his men. “Well now, you shot my hat, the rock between my feet, and would have shot my manly parts!”

  “I’m too good a shot to hit what I wasn’t aiming at,” Pearl confessed.

  “So you never intended to shoot the part that makes me a man to smithereens?”

  Her smile was a mix of impish delight and sensuous woman.

  “No.”

  “Don’t believe a word she says, Smythe,” the marshal drawled, leaning against the boulder they’d used for shelter.

  Davidson looked over at the man who’d saved them both. “I owe you one, Marshal.”

  “I quit keeping score years ago.” He looked at Pearl. “Are you hurt?”

  “Only my pride,” she answered, brushing the dirt from her chin where she’d landed hard on the ground when Smythe tackled her.

  “Baker won’t be giving you any more trouble.”

  “What about Stanton?” Pearl asked. “Won’t he just hire someone else?”

  The marshal nodded. “Why don’t you ask him?”

  “He’s here?”

  “Arrived just as you two were leaving,” he ground out. “That’s why I chased after you.”

  “Lucky for us that you did, Ben,” Pearl whispered.

  “I’d heard rumors that Baker was in the area, but didn’t know I’d find him in time to prevent more bloodshed.”

  “He’s dead?”

  The question seemed superfluous, but the marshal didn’t seem to notice. “Stone cold.”

  “How do you know Stanton hasn’t hired more than one gunslinger?”

  Davidson wrapped an arm around her. “We don’t.”

  “But—”

  “Let it go for now,” he urged. “Justiss promised we’d be able to question Stanton tomorrow after he was through with him.”

  She wanted to drop it, wanted to let it go, but fear wouldn’t let her.

  All the way back to the ranch house, doubts assailed her. Worry kept her from relaxing. The marshal insisted that two men ride with them all the way to the ranch as a precaution. Pearl started to refuse, but gave in when Davidson insisted.