Lipstick and Lead Series: The Complete Box Set With a Bonus Book

by Sylvia McDaniel

  “I know. She refuses to talk about what happened or even tell us which outlaw she tried to bring in. Every time Meg and Zach come out to check on her, she won’t tell Meg or myself anything,” Ruby said. She lined up the cans on the fence post, taking aim with her Baby Dragoon pistol.

  “Do you think she was raped?” Caroline asked.

  “Meg asked her and she said no,” Ruby said, watching her sister. “In fact, she laughed and got kind of hysterical. Then she asked Meg if Zach had raped her? I thought the two of them were going to get into a fist a cuff over that remark.”

  Ruby raised her arm, steadied her hand as she aimed at a tin can, then squeezed the trigger, hitting it in the center and sending it flying off the fence post.

  “Part of me thinks I should stay here and watch over her, but I really want to go hunting again. I miss it. Annabelle has been home two months,” she said with a sigh.

  “I want to go with you,” Caroline said, her voice soft. “I want to see for myself if I can bring in a bad man. I want to tie him up and make him pay for whatever he’s done.”

  Ruby whipped around and gazed at her cousin. A laugh rumbled from Ruby’s chest. “You’re not going anywhere with me until you learn to shoot. You’re not accidentally shooting me because you don’t know how to use a gun.”

  Caroline planted her hands on her hips and pouted her bottom lip. “That’s why I’m here. You were going to show me how to handle a gun. I even went to the mercantile and bought me a six shooter.” She laughed. “I told old man Smith that I was buying it as a gift.”

  “You want to go bounty hunting with me?” Ruby asked shocked.

  “Yes,” she said her blue eyes dancing with merriment.

  “Have you told your mama you’re going hunting?” Ruby said.

  Caroline took a deep breath. “Not yet. There’s no sense in stirring up the pot until I learn how to shoot. Once I’m good with a gun, then I’ll tell Mama, but she's going to be mad enough to eat the Devil with his horns on.”

  “You have to tell her,” Ruby said. “I don’t want her worrying about you like we worried about Annabelle. It was terrible.”

  “You’re right. But I’ve got to go. She invited Jimmy Brown, the hog farmer to the house for dinner. She thinks he’d be a good husband for me. That man stinks. I’m not marrying a stinky, hog farmer.” Caroline shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “So why do you want to go with me?” Ruby asked. “What’s in it for you?”

  “I reckon I can learn to take care of myself. Not be dependent on my mother or anyone. If I can earn money, I won’t need them,” she said, with a defiant snap of her head, her voice so soft Ruby had to listen carefully to hear her.

  “You’re going to have to toughen up if you’re going with me. You’re as soft as a goose-hair pillow.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m here to learn from you,” Caroline said. “I’d be right honored for you to teach me what you know. Then we can hit the trail, you and me, the petticoat avengers, bringing justice to the prairie.”

  Ruby stared at her cousin and shook her head. She really didn’t believe Caroline was tough enough to become a bounty hunter, but the sting operations went down better with two working together. And Ruby had no one to help her now that Meg had retired.

  “Can you become defiant in your attitude? Men, especially outlaws, should fear your name.”

  Caroline thought for a moment. “I think I can make them fear me.”

  She must be crazy to be taking on her soft spoken shy cousin. She was desperate to go hunting though and she needed a partner.

  “Okay, I’ll teach you. When we’re out on the trail, hunting for bad guys, you need to listen and do exactly what I say. Your life could be in danger if you don’t.”

  Caroline’s hazel eyes sparkled with delight and she brushed her black hair back off her shoulders. “I’m ready to prove that I’m a capable woman.”

  Ruby almost laughed. Caroline’s voice was so soft that she looked more like a young girl than a woman capable of taking care of herself.

  “Oh no,” Caroline said, her eyes widening.

  “What?” Ruby asked and whirled in the direction of where Caroline was looking.

  She watched as her sister, Annabelle leaned over and retched onto the ground.

  “Oh my,” Caroline said. “That’s the second time today she’s not kept her food down.”

  “I know. She’s been feeling poorly now for over a month. I keep trying to get her to go to the doctor, but she refuses,” Ruby said, worried about Annabelle.

  Annabelle straightened up, put the back of her hand to her forehead.

  Ruby walked towards her. “You all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re pale and shaking. The chickens are fed. Go lay down for a little while. I’ll put them up before dark.”

  Tears sprang into Annabelle’s eyes. “Thanks, Ruby. Please don’t tell Meg that I’ve been feeling poorly. It’s going to be all right.”

  Ruby frowned. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Don’t be,” Annabelle responded. “When are you leaving? I know that you and Caroline have been over there whispering. When do you plan to go hunting again?”

  “Not for awhile. Caroline wants to go with me and I need to train her how to use a gun. I’m not taking a woman with me who can’t shoot.”

  Annabelle smiled. “We were lucky our papa taught us so much.”

  “Yes, we were. Now, you go rest and Caroline and I are going to shoot some tin cans. Unless, you’d like to join us. You always were good at hitting a can.”

  Annabelle reached out and placed her hand on Ruby’s arm. “No, I need to rest. But would you put up a can for me and draw a dark haired man with emerald eyes?”

  Ruby smiled. “Will do. And I’ll make certain he gets one right between those green eyes.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a sigh and strolled towards the house.

  Caroline walked up to Ruby. “Is she all right?”

  “She says she is, but I’d give anything to find the man that did this to her. I’d like to show him when you mess with one McKenzie sister, you get all of us.”

  “She won’t tell you his name?”

  “No, said she didn’t want anything to happen to him. She knows we’d be hunting him with a vengeance and he’d be swinging from a rope.”

  Beau rode beside the wagon that could be loaded with a box of gold and money from the San Antonio Bank and Loan Company. It was his job to escort the money to Austin. But the bank was sending out three different shipments, three different directions and none of the parties involved, knew if they were carrying the actual goods or if they were a decoy.

  Either way, their lives were on the line protecting the cargo, but Beau had a hard time staying focused. This was his third trip for the bank since Annabelle had deserted him in Fort Worth.

  At first he’d felt a sense of relief, then anger. Now, gosh darn it, now all he could do was think about the buxomly blonde. He missed her. His chest ached at the memory of her violet flashing eyes, the way she smiled and the way she gave as good as she received. Annabelle was a woman who let him know exactly how she felt. And he liked that about her.

  She’d made him realize that he was a good man who deserved the love of a woman and a family. His own family had sent him packing, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t have a wife and kids.did it? Annabelle was his family and she’d made him feel loved and special and God, how he missed her.

  In a thousand years, he’d never imagined himself falling in love. But she’d captured his heart and now all he could do was think about her, instead of focusing on the job that he’d once found enjoyable. The job that proved he was a good, honest man, not an outlaw.

  But since Annabelle had charged into his life, he loathed this job. She helped him realize he was a good man regardless of his family. He no longer needed this job to prove his self worth.

  The Pinkerton’s had use
d him and he’d known it all along. Using them back, he now longed for something different. He wanted to return to his roots and maybe start a farm. Raise some cattle and pigs and even a few chickens.

  This life of riding the trail, either protecting or searching for someone had grown old. He’d reached an age when he no longer wanted to show the world that he wasn’t like his brother or his family. He no longer had to prove to anyone who he was.

  He knew exactly who he was and didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.

  He wanted to be Annabelle’s man.

  As soon as they reached Austin, he’d made up his mind. He would telegraph the Pinkerton office in Fort Worth and tell John he was done.

  Finished. He was resigning from the Pinkertons.

  The image of Annabelle floated in his mind and he sighed. He needed her by his side. He needed to find Annabelle and if she’d accept him, he wanted to be her husband. To promise her forever. To love that sassy-mouthed woman from now until the end of time.

  This was no longer the life for him and instead he wanted the two of them to begin their life together, either on her farm or start another farm. It didn’t matter to him as long as she was by his side.

  Jesse and Frank may find him and kill him, but until they did, he wanted to be Annabelle’s man. He needed her to know that she was all that mattered and that she’d branded her initials on his heart.

  Shots rang out and he glanced around. He was going to get killed if he didn’t get his mind off of Annabelle.

  He saw the riders on the hill.

  “We’ve got company, gentlemen,” he said.

  They picked up their speed and Beau watched as the riders sat on their horses gazing at them from a distance. Hopefully, they wouldn’t follow. But his gun was out, his men alerted and they were prepared.

  In another hour, they’d reach Austin and then he could go after the woman he loved.

  Annabelle had made a decision. She couldn’t go any longer without talking to Beau. She had to find him. She had to speak to him. It had been two long months since she’d seen him. She couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep and she couldn’t wait any longer.

  Soon everyone would know.

  In the deepest recesses of her heart, she’d hoped he would come for her. But that wasn’t happening.

  The sun had risen, she’d fed the chickens and done as many chores as she could. Now she was leaving. She grabbed her saddle bags and walked out the door, she glanced back one last time uncertain she would ever return.

  She wasn’t going to tell Ruby, until right before she left. This way she’d have a shorter time period of having to listen to Ruby pitch a fit that she was leaving.

  Ever since she’d gone after Beau, they’d been watching her like a hawk. And she was sick to death of everyone treating her like she was about to break. She took a deep breath and sighed. She was about to break. She felt like a piece of fine china that if you tipped her over, she’d shatter.

  She walked to the barn and saddled her horse. Tying the cinch on tight she had no clue where to begin to locate Beau. If she had to, she’d go to Missouri and find his family, but she was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. She was hoping that he was still right where she’d left him, in Fort Worth.

  And that’s where she was headed. The wild, wooly city of Fort Worth, Texas.

  The barn door opened and Ruby came inside. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Summer has arrived and it’s already getting hot this morning.”

  Her eyes widened and she stared at Annabelle. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

  Annabelle licked her lips. “I can’t do this anymore. I have to talk to him. I’ve got to find Beau.”

  For two months she’d tried to banish him from her heart and soul, but his presence seemed even stronger now. Her chest ached with sadness and longing and God, she hoped he would have her. She’d leave everything behind just to spend time with her outlaw lover.

  “Like hell,” Ruby said. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Yes, I think I have,” Annabelle replied raising her voice. “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I dream about him. I can’t live without him. I’ve got to find him and talk to him, tell him…”

  There were so many things she needed to tell him. So many things about their time together that she’d looked back on and thought he’s too good a man to be an outlaw. But that bank bag had been a clear evidence he was an outlaw.

  Ruby frowned at her sister. “You’re not leaving without me riding with you.”

  “You need to stay here. You’re training Caroline and the two of you are going hunting soon.”

  Who would take care of the farm with everyone but Meg gone? Her beloved chickens would have no one to look out for them. They would find someone to feed them. Her place was with Beau, not here.

  “No, you’re not going alone. Let me grab my things and we’ll do this together. This is what got you into trouble to begin with. You tried to go on your own.”

  Annabelle sniffed. “I know. But I’ve got to find him and I didn’t want to ask you to go with me. And Meg…she’s happily married.”

  “Annabelle, we’ll do this. It’s okay. We’ll find Beau.”

  “Thanks, Ruby,” she said. Maybe it would be better to have another person along. Especially as poorly as Annabelle had felt in the last few months.

  “I’ll run to the house and pack a quick bag. Wait for me.”

  “I will,” Annabelle said. She loaded her belongings into the saddle bags. Today she knew how to take care of herself on the trail, but that day she’d followed Beau out of town, she’d been such a greenhorn is so many ways. No more.

  She pulled her horse through the door of the barn and almost ran smack dab into a man.

  “Slow down. There’s still plenty of cash in the bank.”

  Oh my God. It was Beau.

  Her heart leaped into her throat and tears welled up in her eyes. Dang, but she cried so easily now. He repeated the very words he’d said to her when they’d collided in the bank. She stepped back and gazed into his emerald eyes. She could smell the familiar scent of soap and a campfire.

  “Beau,” she cried staring at him in surprise. “What…what are you doing here?”

  “Annabelle,” he said, his voice rough, his green eyes warm. “I came to talk to you. I had to find you.”

  “But the law, won’t they be after you? We need to go, my brother-in-law is a sheriff,” she said glancing around like Zach would come out any second. She had to get him out of here before her sisters realized who he was and turned him in for the bounty. They would too, just because they knew how this man had left her so fragile.

  “It’s okay. I’m not really an outlaw,” he said, reaching out and touching her cheek. “You left before I could come back and tell you the truth. I’m not wanted. I was a Pinkerton agent.”

  She licked her lips and stared at him like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But that wanted poster? It showed you were a bank robber.”

  He wasn’t an outlaw? He wasn’t wanted by the law?

  “We did that so that the outlaws would believe that I was wanted just like them. It was all a lie so that they would accept me into their gang. The Harris gang.”

  A spark of anger zinged down her spine. “Are you telling me that you let me believe you were an outlaw the entire time we were together when you weren’t? My God! Did you think I deserved the truth?”

  She’d agonized over the fact that she had to turn him in and now he was telling her it had all been one big ruse to catch criminals? She wanted to kick him, but yet it was so good to see him.

  “I’m afraid so, Sugar. I couldn’t tell you until after we reached Fort Worth and I handed in the money from the bank. Then I could tell you,” he said, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth. His hands reached out for her. “But when I returned to the hotel, you were gone.”

  She doubled up her fist and hit him in the arm. “Gosh, darn it, Beau Samuel. You lied t
o me. I was so torn between turning you in and you hanging and my family. I’ve been all busted up inside fearing I’d made the wrong decision.”

  He reached out and ran his finger down her cheek. “I’m sorry, but if you’d stayed where I told you, then I would have confessed everything that afternoon.”

  “And done what? Sent me home, that’s what you’d have done. So why are you here now?”

  So he wasn’t wanted. Then he better be here for all the right reasons or she would turn her sisters loose on him and let him suffer the consequences.

  Annabelle sighed. No, she wouldn’t, though she’d like to.

  “No, I would have given you this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out almost a thousand dollars.

  Annabelle’s eyes widened. “What’s that for?”

  “It’s the bounty on the Harris gang and the five hundred dollars reward money I promised you.”

  She gazed up into his emerald eyes. Was it for real. He was really giving her the money for the Harris gang?

  “Really?”

  He grabbed her hand and put the cash in her palm. “It’s yours.”

  “Oh my God,” she said looking around. “We did it. We did it. We can pay off the note on the farm.”

  “There’s one more thing,” he said.

  She watched him take a deep breath and then he got down on one knee. His emerald eyes gazed up at hers glistening with tears as he took her hand. Her heart started beating so fast, she felt certain she was going to faint.

  “Sugar, we had one hell of an adventure together. One that changed me forever. One where I fell in love with you and realized I don’t want to be a Pinkerton man. I want to wake up each morning in your arms, with you as my wife. I love you, Annabelle, and I want us to get married, buy a farm and raise a family. But most of all, I want you by my side until the day I take my last breath. Marry me, Annabelle. Please marry me.”