Emmy (Gold Rush Brides Book 2) Read Free

while he did his job.
    ~ * ~ * ~
    Thirty minutes later, the sheriff had spoken with everyone but Emmy. She was sitting in the jail’s empty cell along with, but not next to, two other ladies. They were whispering to each other and casting vicious glances at her. She felt a bit like a criminal, sitting in a cell — even if the door was open — and her travel companions weren’t making it any better.
    Finally Sheriff Wilder called her over. Her pride still stung at being berated for merely wanting to look her best on her wedding day. Most men groveled for her affection, so just to teach this brute a lesson, she would give him the cold shoulder. That would show him!
    The sheriff sighed as she sat down primly in front of his wobbly little desk, looking out the room’s small window instead of meeting his gaze. While she was, of course, punishing him, she also had trouble breathing when she looked him in the eye. Something about him made her insides feel funny, and she didn’t like it one bit.
    “Miss Gibson, I’d first like to apologize for my outburst earlier. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
    He sounded contrite enough, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily so she simply tilted her head in acknowledgement. He sighed again and she felt a little thrill at his discomfort. Served him right.
    “So I’m sure you heard everyone else’s stories about the robbery. Is there anything you can add?”
    It was true that everyone else had given very detailed accounts of the events, including her temper tantrum, which had embarrassed her more than she cared to admit when she heard it from their point of view. She was used to getting her own way, but it had never occurred to her that she might be putting everyone’s lives at risk by standing up to the highwaymen. A twinge of shame at her selfishness twisted inside her stomach, not that she would ever let anyone know that.  
    “I can’t recall anything beyond what the others have described, I’m afraid. Everything happened so quickly, that much of it is already fading from my memory.”
    “Alrighty then,” he said, scratching some notes down into a ledger. “You said you’re getting hitched tomorrow?”
    She flicked her gaze over to meet his for a moment and was surprised by a flash of something there but it was too quick to identify. Averting her eyes again, she nodded mutely.
    “It’s downright odd to me that your husband-to-be didn’t come find me when your stage was late.” He didn’t phrase it as a question, but it was a question nonetheless.
    “He’s not expecting me until tomorrow morning. I took an early stagecoach from San Francisco. My friends there thought it would be nice to have a day to get rested and freshened up before my wedding.”
    She could see him nodding out of the corner of her eye. “Sure, sure. Well, what’s his name?”
    “Roy Kirby.”
    “I can send word for him to come fetch you—”
    Emmy spun toward him, aghast at the suggestion. “Oh no! I couldn’t possibly let him see me like this. I’m hideous! And those ruffians ran their vile hands all over my wedding dress, so that needs to be cleaned up. No, I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”
    Sheriff Wilder was dumbfounded at her stubbornness. He stared at her bug-eyed before finally asking, “Where are you going to stay?”
    Emmy straightened her back and looked him in the eye. “Just point me to the Bailey House Hotel. My friends gave me a reference letter for the manager. Apparently he’s arranged a special rate for us.”
    He raised an eyebrow at her. “Us?”
    Emmy blushed, suddenly shy about her situation. “I…I’m a mail order bride,” she whispered, worried the rest of her company would hear and judge her harshly. Appearances meant everything to her, now that she had nothing else.
    She hadn’t mentioned it to anyone during her travels from the east coast, not really out of shame, but simply because it didn’t occur to her to share it. Her life