Authors: McKenna Chase
“Word travels fast,” Jake muttered. His gaze dropped to her blouse and his eyes rounded.
She glanced down. “Oh, shit.” She hurried to button her blouse back up.
“Bad timing on my part I see,” Jake’s acquaintance said with a grin. “Should’ve figure, you two being newlyweds and all.”
“It’s not what you think,” Jake attempted to explain.
“What I think,” he said, his gaze moving over her again in a more thoroughly assessing manner, “is that you’re one hell of a lucky man to have found yourself a wife like her.”
“We’re not married,” Jake said. “She’s here, but it’s not by choice.”
The man’s thick brows shifted into a menacing scowl. “You’re holding her here against her will?”
“No,” Jake replied with a sigh.
“That’s a damn good thing,” the man replied. “I’d hate to have to shoot a friend.” He flashed her a toothy grin. “Jake here and me rode together with the Rangers. Should still be ridin’ together,” he added, his gaze shifting to Jake.
“I’d trust this man with my life,” Jake admitted with a nod.
The Texas Ranger held out his hand to her. “Name’s Hank Lafferty.”
“Hank?” Jake repeated, a dark brow lifting.
“Lafferty to most folks,” the man replied. “But you can call me Hank.”
“Brianna,” she said, sliding her hand into his much larger one.
“Pretty name for a pretty gal.” He shook his head. “I have to say I never thought any woman would be able to hog-tie my boy here, but I can certainly see why he finally decided to give up his rough riding ways.”
Hank Lafferty was a smooth talker and a flirt, but she liked him. And she couldn’t blame him for not believing what they’d told him. “It’s nice to meet you,
Hank
.”
“Brianna’s here because she fell back through time and landed in my corral.”
Hank turned to her. “Has he been drinking?”
She shook her head. “No.” Apparently Jake did trust this man implicitly. “I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow I really did fall back through time and land here.”
He studied them carefully and then shrugged. “Reckon you two are free to dress up the way you met any way you want. With a filly as pretty as her, keeping her is what you gotta worry about.”
Jake wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her up against him almost possessively. “What brings you all the way to Wyoming?”
The Ranger’s expression sobered. “Can we have a word in private?”
“Darlin’?”
She smiled. “I don’t mind.”
Jake stepped aside to speak to his friend. Not far enough to keep their conversation secret.
“I’ve been hot on Deke’s tail for the past two weeks.”
Deke? Brianna’s ears perked up.
“Lost him a couple of days ago,” the Ranger admitted with a frown.
“Damn it, Lafferty,” Jake muttered with a glance her way. “You might have mentioned that sooner. Shit. I have to get Brianna out of here - today.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said stubbornly.
“The hell you aren’t! And why are you listening in on our conversation? It was supposed to be private.”
“Then maybe you two shouldn’t speak so loudly,” she pointed out.
“You might not wanna get her too riled up while she’s holdin’ that rifle in her hand,” Lafferty noted with a grin.
“I’m damn well gonna paddle her ass with that rifle if she doesn’t stop being so gawddamn stubborn,” Jake growled as he walked over and removed it from her hand.
She planted her hands on her hips. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Yep,” Hank Lafferty nodded. “She’s the perfect woman for you.”
“That’s what I keep trying to tell him,” she said with an I-told-you-so smile aimed Jake’s direction.
Jake muttered several curses. “Does either of you get the seriousness of the situation?” Grabbing Brianna by the arm, he headed for the corral.
“What are you doing?” she said, struggling to break free of his grasp.
“Getting a horse for you.” He glanced back at Lafferty who was following right behind them. “You’re gonna take Brianna back to town with you and keep her there until tomorrow’s stage comes.”
“But I’m not ready...”
“I’ll send your things on another stage,” he said, ignoring her protests.
She jerked free and slipped through the corral fence in a flutter of skirts. “I’m not leaving. I landed here,” she said pointing to the spot, “for a reason. Fate sent me to you, Jake Dawson. You need-”
Her words were cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Wood splintered as the bullet clipped the top rail of the corral fence. Brianna shrieked.
A second gunshot rang out.
“Brianna!” Jake cried out as he scrambled over the corral fence to get to her.
There was an odd, burning sensation in her arm. She looked down at the blood on her sleeve and then up just as Jake reached her, shielding her with his body. Everything went into slow motion around her.
Jake fired into the distant woods. “Keep your head down,” he said, his words tight with emotion.
“You’re gonna pay for killin’ my brother, Dawson!” Deke Johnson hollered from his hiding place along the edge of the woods behind the barn. “And I’m gonna start with your wife!”
“You’re gonna have to go through me to do it,” Jake snarled, firing again.
“You’re gonna have to go through two of us,” Hank hollered as he sprinted away from the tree he’d taken cover behind.
Deke fired, missing the Texas Ranger as he cut behind the barn.
Jake fired again. “Hold on, darlin’,” he said as he shielded her with his body.
A second later, a volley of gunshots rang out in the woods. Deke burst out of the pines and made a run for new cover – the wagon.
Jake rose up and fired another shot. Deke stumbled and fell, slamming into the side of the wagon.
“Got you, you bastard,” Jake muttered as he stood.
Lafferty moved in for a closer look, nudging Deke’s lifeless body with the toe of his boot. “Deader than a doornail,” he shouted.
Jake lowered his gun with a heavy sigh. “It’s finally over.”
Brianna got to her feet, swaying unsteadily. “Jake...”
He turned, all color draining from his face as his gaze dropped to her bloodied sleeve. “No,” he gasped.
“I love you,” she managed to get out before the blackness claimed her.
* * *
“Brianna,” a familiar voice called out to her in the darkness.
“Jake,” she murmured.
A soothing hand caressed her cheek.
She fought to open her eyes, only to close them again, the glare of the arena lights above nearly blinding her.
Arena lights?
Her heart sank. That meant she had fallen back through time. Or, even worse, that she had never left in the first place. Had everything she’d shared with Jake all been a dream?
“Come on, darlin’, I need you to open your eyes for me.”
Her thick lashes fluttered as she willed her eyes to open. A familiar face hovered above her, making her gasp. “Jake? You’re here.”
He smiled. “Did you honestly expect me to let you go traipsing off through time right after you tell me you love me? A man has a right to respond to something like that, you know?”
“You followed me?” she said, stunned.
“I’d follow you to the end of time,” he replied. “Or, in our case, into another time, just to be with you. I love you, Brianna.”
People rushed over to them in a shuffle of feet.
“Should we call the doctor?” a man asked from the crowd.
“Bri!” Marissa gasped, pushing through the circle of riders to kneel beside her friend. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s just a scratch,” Jake assured her.
“Thanks to you,” her friend replied. “I don’t know where you came from, but when you went over the rail with her you probably saved her life.”
“Seems to be a habit of his,” Brianna muttered.
Her friend placed a hand to her breast. “Oh my God, Brianna, when I saw you fall I about had a heart attack. And...” her rambling trailed off as her gaze shifted. Confusion swept across her friend’s face. “What are you wearing?”
Brianna lifted her head to find she was still wearing the blouse and skirt Jake had bought for her. No wonder her friend was looking at her that way. “It’s a long story. One I can’t wait to tell you about. But I’ve held up this rodeo long enough. Jake...”
“Darlin’.” He lifted her up into his muscular arms, something he did so well, and carried her out of the arena and to their new life together. Her hero. Her love. Her cowboy for all time.