New Beginnings Spring 20 Book Box Set

by Hope Sinclair

  He’s a rustler, she listened to her memory of Mr. Oakley’s warning in her head. He smuggles cattle… and that’s exactly what this letter is describing: smuggling cattle over the border, into the Arizona Territory. And worse yet… he’s blackmailing a captain to turn a blind eye on the entire operation.

  The man in the corner finished writing the letter, then he brought it to Jace’s desk and placed the paper before him. Jace took the pen and hastily signed a signature at the bottom of the page.

  “This is Miles,” Jace said to Lorraine. “He’s the one who penned my letter to you.”

  Miles turned to Lorraine and offered her a polite—yet decidedly apologetic—smile.

  Lorraine swallowed heavily, wondering how much of the letter Jace had actually written—or dictated to his servant, rather—versus how much of it actually came from Miles.

  The servant carried away the letter and left the office, leaving Lorraine and Jace alone.

  “I called on you to say that I’m fixing to leave by the end of the week,” Jace said. “I’ll be gone at least a month, and I believe that it’s in all of our best interests that we are wed before my departure.”

  “But—” Lorraine protested. She saw a flash of anger ripple through his liquored eyes, a look she recognized before. Matthew had had the same look in his own eyes, more times than she preferred to remember…

  If her experience with Matthew had taught her anything, it was that conversations couldn’t be had when the bottle was involved. If Jace was anything like Matthew, he was prone to snap at the slightest annoyance or disagreement.

  That meant now was not the time to admit that she was having doubts about their union. Now was not the time to disclose that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to marry Jace at all.

  “I’m not sure we could make arrangements that quickly,” Lorraine said, trying to appease the drunk man but at the same time, do her best to delay or offset any major considerations with regard to impending nuptials.

  “Miss Hayes,” Jace scoffed, shaking his head. “Are you somehow unaware that I am the wealthiest and most influential man in all of Tombstone? In all of the Arizona Territory, for that matter? I could snap my fingers and have an officiant here now to record our marriage on the books, Miles as our witness.”

  “I couldn’t,” Lorraine protested gently. “I—I want to be married in the church. It’s important that we say our vows before God. I…”

  “Then we can find you a church,” Jace rolled his eyes in exasperation. “The point, Miss Hayes, is that we haven’t got time to waste. I want you to be my wife before I depart at the end of this week.”

  “Mr. McCoy,” Lorraine said, her voice gentle yet firm. “It wouldn’t feel right. I’d prefer to court properly, to spend more time together before…”

  “More time!” he scoffed. “I gave you that opportunity when I made arrangements for you to have a room in my home, but you declined. How can you say that you need more time? That you want to be courted? Why did you come all this way, wasting my time and money, if you weren’t already certain that you wanted to be my bride?”

  Lorraine knew there was no point in trying to reason with a man who was drunk, let alone one who was drunk and angry. Jace tilted back the bottle and took a giant gulp of whiskey, and Lorraine cringed. After Matthew’s death, she hadn’t been sure if she would ever remarry… but she had been sure of one thing. She had promised herself that she would never allow her life to be poisoned by spirits.

  And now, sitting in front of Jace, she realized that all the money and security in the world wasn’t worth letting another vile and abusive man into her life… into Brandon’s life.

  She could still see the deep emotional wounds that growing up with a drunken father had left in Brandon, permanent scars that would never be erased or forgotten, even though he had been so young when they happened.

  Brandon had experienced horrible things: his mother beaten and abused, the sound of his father scream until the walls shook and the glass panes in the windows rattled. Brandon wasn’t like most children because he had seen too much of the world. he understood too much. He had learned not to cry, because crying meant that his mother would be punished. He had learned not to touch things that weren’t his, and how to keep quiet, how to live like a ghost… because that had been the only way to stay safe from Matthew’s rage.

  Lorraine loved her son’s insight and profound wisdom, but she hated that it was partially a byproduct of seeing so much abuse, anger, and heartache. She knew that it was too late to change the past… There was nothing she could do about the sort of man that Matthew Hayes had been, and there was nothing she could do to erase the things that Brandon had seen.

  But she could change the present. She could control the future.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. McCoy,” she said. “But after careful consideration, I cannot accept your proposal of marriage.”

  Jace slammed the bottle down onto the desk, and if the floor and walls of the house hadn’t been made of brick, Lorraine was sure the entire room would have rattled.

  “What did you say?” he asked, his voice gritty and dark.

  “I can’t marry you,” Lorraine said. Her voice was quavering—her entire body was shaking with a combination of fear and the exhilaration of speaking her mind.

  There was something thrilling about taking control of her own life, and for the first time—no matter how terrifying the prospects seemed—she felt genuine hope. Hope that no matter what happened… no matter how poor or hungry or tired they felt… no matter what, they’d at least be free. Lorraine and Brandon never needed to live in fear of a man again.

  What happened next occurred in a flash, so quick that Lorraine hadn’t even fully processed what was happening until it was done. She saw Jace stand up from the desk, saw his hand reach for the bottle, saw him raise his arm.

  And then the next thing she knew, the bottle was hurling toward her...

  NINE

  Her body reacted before her mind. She crouched down to the ground before she realized what was happening, and it was only after she heard the sound of glass shattering against the stucco wall and smelled the overpowering stench of spirits flooding the room and puddling at her feet, soaking the hem of her skirt, that she made sense of what had happened.

  She glanced up at Jace, expecting to see shock or remorse painted across his face. Even Matthew had seemed disappointed with himself after he would strike her. But there was no mercy in Jace McCoy’s hardened eyes. There was no remorse. Just rage.

  Lorraine felt the sudden grip of fear, and she turned to run through the door. Jace reached her before she could, his hand gripping around her wrist.

  “You’re not going anywhere!” he bellowed, his voice raspy from booze and rage. She resisted, desperately trying to pull away from him, but he only tightened his grip on her wrist.

  He jerked her back into the room, and she cried out as she felt the pain of her shoulder dislocating from the force of him pulling her back.

  He pushed her against the wall, and she felt his hand wrap around her neck and jaw, forcing her face forward so she was staring at him.

  “You will be my wife by week’s end,” he said, droplets of spittle flying from her lips as he hissed into her face. “Do you understand me?”

  The weight of his hand on her throat was too much. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to swallow, but she couldn’t do that either. She felt the blood collecting in her face, and she felt herself growing faint from being deprived of oxygen.

  “Do you understand me?” he shouted.

  This time she nodded.

  “Good,” he said, releasing her neck. “You are never to disobey me again, do you understand?”

  She nodded again, taking deep gulps of breath and trying to recover. Her hands flew to her neck, feeling the imprint his hand had left on her skin.

  Even Matthew had never treated her this way…

  Her mind was racing, trying to plot a way to escape. She needed t
o find Brandon. She couldn’t do anything until she had Brandon. She was confident that he was safe with Macha, but there was no telling what Jace might do…

  She felt a flash of guilt for getting Brandon involved in such a dangerous situation, but she ignored the feelings. There would be plenty of time to deal with her guilt later. For now, her priority was survival. She needed to get herself and Brandon to safety. That was what mattered.

  Before she had made up her mind about what she needed to do, her body was in motion, She was running through the door, running through the house, desperately trying to determine which direction to go… Where had Macha taken her son?

  She heard Jace’s heavy footsteps catching up with her, but she kept running.

  “Brandon!” she cried out. “Brandon!”

  She heard the boy’s cry in the distance, and her heart sunk in her chest. Brandon never cried… He never cried.

  Lorraine turned on her heel toward the direction of her crying baby, but she found herself suddenly face to face with Jace McCoy. He was blocking the corridor, one hand planted on each stucco wall, blocking her from escaping.

  “You just told me that you’d obey me,” Jace said, his words slurring with anger and drunkenness. “You lied. I don’t take too kindly to women who lie.”

  There was nowhere to go but backwards, and as Jace took a slow step toward her, she stumbled backwards down the corridor, trying to keep a safe distance between them. But he was closing in on her… and there was only so much of the corridor left before he’d have her trapped at a dead end.

  She felt panic shoot through her veins as his imposing form towered over her, and her heart sunk in her chest when she saw his hand rest on a shiny silver pistol in the waistband of his pants. He grasped the handle, his finger looping over the trigger.

  And then, just as she felt all hope whither up in her soul… just as she became certain that this was the end…

  BAM!

  The sound of wood striking stone startled them both, and they both turned to see the front door of the ranch thrown open and a man stormed in.

  Lorraine recognized the man right away. It was Finn Oakley!

  “Put ‘em up, McCoy,” Finn said, raising a revolver toward the man. The authoritative bark of his voice caught Lorraine off guard. This wasn’t the same kind, soft-spoken shopkeeper who had revived her after fainting or gifted Brandon nectar drops.

  Jace chuckled. He slipped his hand off the pistol, but he didn’t put his hands up.

  “What a man does in his own home is none of your concern, Oakley,” Jace said, staggering toward Finn Oakley drunkenly.

  “When a man puts his hands on a woman like that, it is my concern,” Finn said firmly, nodding his head at Lorraine. Her hands rushed instinctively to her neck again, and she could tell by how swollen and tender the skin felt that she must have bruised instantly.

  Jace’s face went red with fury.

  “She belongs to me,” Jace said. “Just like the house you’re standing in now belongs to me. And what I do with my possessions is none of your business.”

  “Miss Hayes isn’t anybody’s property,” Finn said, and despite the tension, Lorraine felt her heart suddenly swell. She had never been defended by a man before, and her admiration for Mr. Oakley only grew stronger.

  “Of course she is,” Finn said. “Now get out of my house before I get the law down here.”

  “I saved you the trouble,” Finn said, and with his gun still pointed at Jace, he reached his free hand into his pocket and withdrew a silver star-shaped badge. “I am the law.”

  As soon as Finn said the words, a line of marshals stormed through the open door of the ranch, surrounding Jace McCoy with their guns cocked and raised.

  “Jace McCoy,” Finn said, “You are hereby under arrest for the crimes of cattle rustling, smuggling livestock across the Mexican border, attempting to bribe or blackmail a member of the United States Army…” He glanced at Lorraine, and she saw the briefest flicker of softness return to his eyes before he turned back to Jace and added, “...the battery and attempted murder of Miss Lorraine Hayes, and the attempted kidnapping of Brandon Hayes.”

  “I didn’t try to kill her!” Jace protested, ignoring all the other charges.

  “Those bruises on her neck suggest otherwise,” Finn said.

  One of the marshals had already reached Jace, and in a swift motion the marshal had removed the pistol from Jace’s waistband and had the drunk man pressed against the rough stucco wall.

  “Kidnapping?” Jace continued to protest as the marshal bound his hands behind his back.

  “We found an Indian woman with the child,” Finn said, but his answer was directed toward Lorraine, and now his voice was softer. “They were about a mile from here on horseback when we detained them.”

  And that’s when Lorraine could control her emotions no longer. She felt her body collapse against the wall and her knees give out as she hit the floor… Everything was starting to go white, and she knew she was fading away, knew she was fainting again. But just like before, she was powerless to stop it.

  Then she felt a warm hand clasp comfortingly on her shoulder, and her eyes fluttered open to see Finn Oakley hunched over her.

  “Don’t worry,” he was saying. “He’s ok. We have your boy. We have Brandon. He’s safe…”

  It was the combination of Finn’s warm hand on her shoulder, and his comforting words of assurance that slowly helped Lorraine catch her breath and resist fainting.

  The other marshals took over, arresting not only Jace, but several other members of his staff, including Miles, who had been detained as soon as he attempted to leave the ranch with Jace’s letter for the Captain at Fort Huachuca.

  There was a lot going on in the house: arrests being made, weapons and paperwork being seized, cattle being herded and inspected…

  But the entire time, Finn never left Lorraine’s side.

  EPILOGUE

  A lot changed in the town of Tombstone following the arrest of Jace McCoy and his crew of no-good, cattle rustling outlaws. In total, twenty-one people were arrested throughout the town for their connection to McCoy’s operation, twenty men… and one woman.

  The one woman arrested for her involvement in the cattle smuggling operation was none other than Camille Rogers. Apparently she had been involved all along, and everything—bringing Lorraine to Arizona, arranging the marriage—it had all been part of a master plan that Camille and Jace had spent years concocting.

  Lorraine wasn’t sure exactly what the plan had been, but it didn’t really matter. It would never come to fruition, and both Camille and Jace would likely be spending many years to come behind bars once they stood trial and were found guilty.

  Finn Oakley assured Lorraine that they would be found guilty—and even if they weren’t, even if they somehow managed to break free—the cattle ranchers of the wild west didn’t take too kindly to rustlers and thieves. There were dozens of ranchers holding a grudge for the cattle that had been stolen from them, and now that they knew the culprit behind the operation… well, they’d make quick work of Jace.

  The Rogers had been so embarrassed by their daughter’s involvement with the scheme that they felt eternally indebted to Lorraine. They had practically begged her to stay in their home. A safe life for her and Brandon was the least they could provide, after everything that had transpired.

  Lorraine had been quick to assure them that she didn’t hold them responsible for what had happened. They hadn’t known! And while she accepted their invitation to stay at the family home as long as she needed, she didn’t intend to rely on their hospitality for long. She was starting her own business!

  The town of Tombstone was in dire need of a seamstress, and Lorraine was skilled and eager to begin saving up money of her own. Finn offered her a counter at Hartley’s General Merchandise Store, and she immediately set up inside the store. The business was a hit, and within a week she had earned enough money to buy herself a new pair of shoes�
�� and a new dress, too!

  Lorraine was equally quick to forgive Macha. The Indian woman had been full of such remorse, and Lorraine knew at once that the woman had never meant to hurt her or Brandon… she had just been following orders.

  That gave Lorraine an idea. She asked Macha if she’d be willing to accept a new role, this time working for her. With her new business as a seamstress, she was spending more time out of the house, and it wasn’t fair to Brandon to ask that he sit in the shop all day when he should be acting like a child. Besides, she saw how fond Brandon had grown of the woman.

  Macha accepted, and so each day when Lorraine went to work, Macha would bring Brandon outside to play. Lorraine had never seen her son so happy, so free to laugh and squeal and run and play… All the things that living with an abusive father had trained him not to do.

  While all was well with Macha and the Rogers, the biggest revelation of all came from Finn Oakley himself.

  It turned out Finn was a secret agent who had moved to Tombstone not too long ago, on a special mission to bust the McCoy cattle smuggling operation. He had spent months and months collecting information and building his case.

  When Lorraine arrived, he was put in a terrible predicament. If he told her what he knew, he could compromise the entire sting. But if he didn’t warn her to stay away from McCoy… well, then he wouldn’t be performing his duty as a man.

  In the end, it had all worked out. Finn had determined that he had enough information to make his arrests, and on his way to serve the warrants, he and his men had intercepted Macha and Brandon fleeing the ranch on horseback.

  Lorraine still shuddered to think of what Jace had planned for Brandon. His only instruction for Macha had been to bring the child to a meeting point far out in the desert. Even Macha didn’t know what to expect once she got there, and the Indian woman confided in Lorraine that if she had known of any place that she could safely take the boy, she would have defied Jace’s instructions for Brandon’s sake.