Outlaw Bride (Lawmen and Outlaws) Read Free Page B

after her violent attack. Feeling awkward, he took a deep breath and ended up communicating in a soothing tone he hadn’t used in years.
    “Now, now, ma’am. Forgive such talk. Things are all right. I won’t go speaking any more things so distressing to your feminine feelings.” Like a pa, he patted her arm.
    Likely the horrors of her day had caught up with her, now with night upon her. Darkness was always a time when demons slid into his own mind and dreams. Even in the gloom around him now, he didn’t mind admitting to a quiver of unrest. But he’d held onto his Army issue Colt .45 Peacemaker, slung a Bowie at his belt. Had kept a knife in his boot since he was a tad of eight. That was when Ma married The Devil.
    And maybe if he kept himself thinking on this young woman’s tragedy, the sorrow over Tawana would keep away for once. Somehow darkness and loneliness always wed up with each other just at bedtime, breaking his heart worse than the first time.
    By then, the girl was shaking so hard he pulled her against his chest. Her heart pounded against his beneath the blanket bundling her. One of her arms climbed around his neck, the other hugged his back. It was nice, holding a woman in his arms again. Until he remembered the dangers of giving away his heart.
    Not to mention his vow of faithfulness to Tawana.
    But this poor girl trembled so hard she might be a rickety tree in a winter wind. He didn’t resist putting his lips against her hair, mumbling words, not of love, but of peace and comfort.
    Words promising her again and again that everything would be all right.
    “Let’s get you tucked into bed,” he said finally, able to get to his feet with her in his arms. “I’ll be right close by, all night long. Whatever you need.”
    After he settled her in the wagon, he set to secure the animals. “Now, ’Gade, it’s up to you to keep us safe. You sound the alarum, boy, you hear?”
    Then he couldn’t help laughing. He wasn’t all by himself anymore. His passenger must think him right addled to keep conversation with a dog.
    Checking her face, he saw it once again twisted with tears. And she was shaking hard as ever. That blanket pushed up to her ears wasn’t doing the trick. Truth was, the night was colder than last. He had no choice.
    After poking between his teeth with his knife tip and chewing on some river grass, he rinsed his mouth and washed his face. Then he hopped in the wagon and settled himself beside her. He meant no disrespect. Two bodies were warmer than one.
    A heat long forgotten seeped into his bones, crept into the notch of his legs, that place of wonder that Tawana hadn’t gotten to know. His chest hurt. They hadn’t had time for much at all.
    And he scolded his unruly brain. Likely his passenger belonged to some other man, same as himself still belonging to Tawana. He reined in his feelings.
    Then he remembered The Devil who had been his mother’s legal mate. She might be running from such a fiend.
    Truth to tell, the safest place for her was that convent up ahead. Safest for him, too. He felt snowed under by his feelings.
    Not just as protector, but as a man.
    ****
    The air was cool, the morning sun warm on her face when Jessy Belle woke up, her backside spooned up against Cleeland Redd. His arms held her tight, clasping together just under her bosoms.
    She shivered but with heat. My God, had he spent the whole night next to her? Even if he had, she had no fear that he’d taken advantage. He’d promised to keep her safe from her own brother and he was friends with nuns.
    Besides. Even with the sun’s warmth, her face boiled. She knew down to her bones a man like Cleeland Redd would make sure a woman remembered a night of his loving.
    Truth was, Cleeland Redd beat out any other male she’d ever known just with his behavior alone. Even on the trail, he kept himself clean and presentable, hadn’t cussed once or chawed tobacco or treated the critters mean. Or worst of all, passed