The Outlaw Bride (27 page)

Jacob smiled. Rachel would make a good mother. Too bad she didn’t have children.
Children.
The thought hit him in the gut like a bullet. He’d spent most of the night making love to her. Suppose he’d given her a child?

Savagely, he ripped a dry blanket into strips and dipped them into the grease he used to keep the wagon wheels lubricated. Then he piled twigs and dead limbs in a triangle.

Inside the wagon, the trunk slammed shut, drawing Jacob’s attention. He gazed at Rachel in a chemise and petticoat. Looking up, she saw him watching, blushed, and turned away, uncertain now that it was daylight. They’d become two separate people again.

Jacob shook himself.
You have to make a new plan, one that lets her know you aren’t going to leave her.
The oxen appeared to be in good shape, and they had supplies. Farming might not be what he’d done in the past, but for Rachel, he could learn.
Fire, get the fire going and some coffee made, and then you’ll talk.

But first, he needed one of Rachel’s matches.

Jacob reached under the wagon seat and pulled out the carrying case she’d hidden Moses in. Somewhere
inside was her packet of matches. Rummaging through the bag, he came across a rumpled paper.

He smoothed it out and read the words once, then again.

It was him. It had to be. Rachel had said he’d called out Sims or something like that. And he knew he had a brother. But robbery? Armed and dangerous?

Jacob—no, Ben. Ben Callahan. Suddenly the strange fragments of dreams made sense. He’d been carrying the money bag at the time he was being chased. He was caught, beaten, and left for dead.

What had happened to his brother?

And why hadn’t Rachel told him?

He was still staring at the flyer when she pushed through the canvas covering. “Jacob?”

He lifted his gaze, catching her stricken one. “You knew? All this time, you knew?”

“Only since I went to the trading post.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Jacob. I was going to, but I was afraid you’d leave me.”

Jacob glanced around. “I’ll find someone to take you to your land, Rachel. Then I have to go. I have to find my brother.”

“But you’ll be arrested, Jacob. There’s a reward.”

She looked beautiful, wearing a soft green dress with lace around the neck. Her hair hung loose, falling to her shoulders, the color of new honey. The kisses they’d shared last night had left her lips swollen, her cheeks pink. She was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen and, even if she had lied to him, she was his.

At least she had been, when he was Jacob Christopher, the answer to her prayers.

But he wasn’t that man any longer. The part of him that he’d filled with a new life of loving Rachel was gone, and the hole it left was cold and deep.

“I knew you’d go when you saw the flyer. I won’t try to stop you. Leave now, I’ll get to my land alone. And Ben—that sounds wrong somehow, but I know that’s you—Ben, I wouldn’t change what happened. I was married for eight years, but last night was the only time I ever felt loved. If your life doesn’t turn out to be what you want, come back to me. I’ll be waiting.”

As if she’d been called, the mare, still wearing her bridle, trotted slowly out of the woods, came to the wagon, and stopped.

“Go on, Ben,” Rachel said. “Go home.”

But it wasn’t easy. He saddled the mare, mounted her, and said, “Rachel Christopher, you did a wrong thing, but what I did might be worse.”

She looked puzzled.

“I made love to you when I didn’t have a right. And I’d do it again. Christ, I’m riding away when I may have given you a child.”

“No, Ben,” she said stoically. “I won’t let you carry that on your conscience. I’m barren. That’s one of my sorrows, but it’s true. So you go back to your past and
know that these days we’ve been together have been the happiest times of my life.”

“I can’t let you go on alone, Rachel. I give you my word. I’ll find the wagon train and somebody to take you to your land. I’ll send money so you’ll be able to hire a farmhand.”

Then he thought about the money he’d been carrying, stolen money, according to the flyer. If he was a thief, he’d stolen at least once. To help Rachel, he’d steal again—if he had to.

Unless …

The flyer. There was a reward on his head. With the reward money Rachel could hire help. She could survive.

He was wanted by a Sheriff Will Spencer in Laramie. Ben wasn’t certain where Laramie was, or how he’d get there. Then it came to him. The fort. Rachel had gone to the trading post to avoid exposing him to the army at Fort Bridger. There would surely be a telegraph line and payroll money at the fort. He made up his mind. “Get ready, Rachel,” he said decisively. “We’re heading for the fort.”

Being chased was his last memory of his past. All he could hope for now was that Sims could clear up the past, that Ben Callahan wasn’t a thief, that Will Spencer was a fair man, and that tomorrow would not be the disaster he seemed to be heading for.

If he could only remember.

19
 

Rachel protested all the way to the fort. “I can’t do this, Ben. I can’t hand you over to be arrested. You’re no thief.”

“I never thought so, but obviously we’re both wrong, Rachel.” He hadn’t told her that he remembered carrying a money pouch, that he’d been chased by men he didn’t recognize.

“I won’t do it.”

“Then I’ll turn myself in.”

She caught his arm and forced him to look at her. “No matter what you say, you’ll always be my husband, and I want a future with you. If it means giving up that land, so be it. I won’t miss what I never had. We’ll keep heading west until we find a place where nobody will ever find us.”

“There is no such place,” he said softly, wishing he could take away the turmoil in her eyes. Life had worn
her out, but she still had bright dreams. He’d miss that optimism, but the truth was more important.

“Of course there is,” she argued softly.

“Even if there was, I couldn’t make a life with you without knowing the truth, not now.”

“Then I’ll just wait at the fort until we know.”

He took her hand and held it. “No, that might be months. You need to get to your land so that you can get ready for winter. I meant to go with you, but now … I can’t. I don’t know what will happen, but when it’s settled, if I can, I’ll come and find you.”

“And how long do I wait?” she asked, with a rare touch of bitterness in her voice. “A month? A year? Five years?”

She was right. He could go to jail. He was being selfish by asking her to wait. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You have to get on with your life. If you find someone—forget about me. That’s the best idea.”

Rachel didn’t argue any further. And for the first time, she didn’t sing.

That afternoon they reached the fort. He stopped the wagon at the gate and gave her one last look. He wanted to tell her that he’d fallen in love with her, but he didn’t. Their life together was over. He’d ask the commanding officer to recommend someone who could escort her to her land, perhaps stay on through the winter. The reward money would pay for that.

“Rachel,” he said softly. “Thank you. Whatever happens, I will never forget that you gave a future to a man who had no past. I’m almost sorry that I have it back.” He thought about Brother Joshua and repeated his words: “Perhaps it’s God’s will.”

Rachel pulled her hat from her head and rubbed her arm against her forehead. She looked tired. “You forget, Jacob—I’m a heathen.”

————

Back in his stable prison cell, Callahan pressed his eye to the crack in the wall, straining to see a coach drawn by two gray horses rattle down the street and stop in front of the hotel.

It was picking up two women. Ellie wore a soft blue dress trimmed in lace and ribbons and—he almost didn’t recognize Josie, who was wearing a scandalously low-cut dress with a pale pink satin bodice. A velvet flower of the same color was placed at the waist, a similar flower curling up and over the shoulder. The skirt had a kind of apron in a darker shade of pink and fit her like a glove. He smiled as he watched her adjusting her steps to the tightness of the garment. He realized that he’d never seen her as the lady she was tonight, and he’d never seen her so uncomfortable. It made him smile.

The carriage driver assisted Ellie inside. He turned back to Josie, who struggled for a moment, then hiked up her dress and climbed in without any help. She hadn’t looked across the street, but Callahan knew she was watching now. Why hadn’t she come to talk to him about her plans? Why hadn’t she broken him out?

Dr. Annie, Dan Miller, and a young girl who had to be Josie’s little sister had left at noon. He didn’t know where the grandfathers were, but they weren’t acting as Ellie and Josie’s escorts, and neither was Will. Callahan bristled. Surely these two women weren’t going alone. He’d warned Will and the Millers that Josie might be in danger. Why wasn’t she being protected?

Fear feeding his anger, Callahan slammed the iron cot against the wall over and over until he ripped off one leg. He’d use that to work on the chink in the wall. Nobody else understood the danger Josie was in, but he did, and
he refused to let anything happen to the woman he loved.

“Be still, Josie. This road is bad enough, and you know that dress is held together with pins and prayers. I’ve decided that we ought to go into the dressmaking business instead of opening a restaurant.”

“Fine. If that’s what you want.”

“It is. I sew better than I cook. But if you don’t stop fidgeting, you’re going to tear your gown apart before we get to the ball,” Ellie snapped. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m worried, Ellie. I should have sent you on with Dr. Annie and Dan.”

“Why?”

“Last evening someone was … outside the saloon when I left, and all day I’ve felt like I was being watched. Now you’ve got me in a dress that’s so tight I can’t move. I feel like I’m caught between two hard rocks. Couldn’t you find a corset that was made for a woman instead of a child?”

“Not if you wanted to get into Darla Mae’s dress. She’s at least a size smaller than you, and I couldn’t make any more room in the bodice than I did, at least not in time for—” Ellie stopped short. “What do you mean
outside
the saloon?”

Telling Ellie would scare her to death, but not telling her could put her in danger. “A man stopped me,” she finally explained, “and warned me not to replace the money.”

“Did you tell Will?”

“No. I should have, but I didn’t see who he was. But don’t worry, the driver won’t let anything happen to us,
and the only thing that could possibly do me harm is this corset. What in the world is it made out of?”

“Whalebone and steel. The girls like them because they make their waists small and their … their bosoms bigger. Stop trying to switch the subject, Josie. You can’t fool me,” Ellie said knowingly. “Exactly what is it you’re planning for tonight?”

“Planning? I’m not planning anything, Ellie. I’m just going to have a look around. That stolen jewelry has to be somewhere. If can find it, I can prove to Judge McSparren that Callahan didn’t steal the money.”

Josie glanced out the carriage window at the moon, almost half full now. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It would have helped if there had been clouds. Or if her dress had been darker. Moving in and out of the shadows would have been easier that way.

Ellie was right. She was up to something, and the guilt she felt was beginning to overwhelm her. Most of the illegal things she’d done in her early life had revolved around herself—her survival. But this time, she was breaking the law not for herself, but for an outlaw.

She wanted to curse, but she didn’t have enough breath to get the words out. Maybe she’d feel better if she’d been able to talk it over with Callahan, if he’d come with her. But she couldn’t take a chance on bringing him along; he’d have found a way to stop her.

She had to find that jewelry.

Find the money.

Get Callahan out of jail so that … so that what? All her life she’d sworn she’d never lie with a man, never care about one, never marry.

Well, her plan to remain unmarried didn’t look as if it was going to change. No matter what Callahan felt—and
she was sure he cared about her—he’d made his position clear. No wedding. She stretched and her dress dipped lower. The stitching at the top of the neckline grated on her nipple, and a shiver of pleasure ran through her.

Callahan.

The carriage came to a stop. “Well, we’re here, Josie, safe and sound.”

Josie tugged at her bodice and opened the door before the driver could get to it. “Let’s go.”

Hiking up her dress once more, she put her feet on the ground, then rearranged her skirt. Thank goodness Darla Mae was tall. They’d still had to stitch two lengths of wide ribbon around the bottom of the skirt to hide her riding boots. She had to make certain she didn’t dance.