Bri sawed through the rope that Powell had wrapped around her ankles. The process took a few minutes. Since she was buried in the bedspread, she couldn’t tell how much attention Powell was paying to the wagon bed. Not much, she hoped.
Despite her throbbing headache, Bri mentally geared up to attempt escape. It would have to be quick and sudden, she reminded herself. Otherwise, Powell would have time to react.
Bri rolled over to her stomach and inched her way from the bedspread like a butterfly shedding its cocoon. When her head emerged, she could see that Sylvia and Powell were staring straight ahead as they drove the wagon down the north road in the cover of darkness.
This was her chance to attack.
Bri crouched down then sprang up to blindside Powell. He howled in surprise when she knocked him off balance then shoved him sideways. Powell squawked as he cartwheeled off the side of the wagon and landed facedown in the dirt.
Sylvia screamed bloody murder, spooking the two horses that thundered off into the night. Bri cursed mightily when the horses’ momentum sent her sprawling in the wagon bed. She climbed onto hands and knees then pulled herself onto the vacant spot on the seat. The reins had slipped between the horses and whipped against their flanks, alarming them even more than Sylvia’s high-pitched shriek.
“We’re going to die!” Sylvia railed hysterically as the horses raced at breakneck speed.
“Stop being so melodramatic,” Bri snapped as she jackknifed her body over the seat in attempt to reach the flapping reins.
“Stomp on the brake, Sylvia!” she yelled as she groped for the reins.
When Sylvia finally reacted she dived over Bri’s legs to reach the brake. The horses reared up when the wagon wheels locked. Then they bolted sideways, causing Bri to tumble to the ground. Sylvia screeched again, setting off the frightened horses.
Bri didn’t move a muscle until the horses and the wagon rolled forward and left her in the clear. Having had the wind knocked out of her, she lay there for a moment to catch her breath.
“For God’s sake, woman, can’t you take at least one day off from mayhem?”
Bri climbed to her knees then twisted around to see Hud mounted on Rambler. The marshal and her father were five horse-lengths behind him. He was glaring at her as he rode up to offer her a boost so she could climb on Rambler.
Sylvia was still screaming her head off as the horses headed north—and didn’t show the slightest sign of stopping.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he half twisted in the saddle to brush a kiss over her cheek.
“No, I have a splitting headache. What is there about me that makes people want to pound on my skull?”
“Gee, I can’t imagine. You being the calm, laidback, nonconfrontational person you are,” he teased. “I want to club you over the head and I’m one of the people who likes you.”
“You do?” She smiled as she snuggled closer.
“Yes, but I’m mad as hell because you’ve scared another ten years off my life. You just couldn’t wait, could you? Had to go after Powell by yourself,” he muttered.
“You know I like to nip problems in the bud instead of allowing them to fester.”
“Yes well, sometimes those problems bite back. Like your ex-fiancé. I really hate that guy.”
“I’m not fond of him, either…What are you doing here?”
“I changed my plans after Jarvis told me Powell paid him to abduct you from The Flat,” he said in a gruff tone.
Even though she could tell he was annoyed with her, Bri looped her arms around his waist, leaned her head against his muscled back and breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.
“I must admit that the confrontation didn’t go as I planned.”
“Things rarely do.” He nudged Rambler sideways when Marshal Long thundered past to overtake the runaway wagon.
“How did you find me?” Bri asked, enjoying the feel of Hud’s swarthy body meshed against hers.
“We checked the hotel and found you gone,” Hud replied. “Then we went looking in the alleys. Your three boys were visiting their old haunt and they saw Sylvia and her male companion toss something in the wagon behind the freight office. Naturally I thought you might be that something, given that you have plunged from one disastrous misadventure to the next since I met you.”
Bri ignored the censure in his voice and gave him an affection hug. “When I found out that Sylvia was pretending to be me, so Powell could draw more attention to himself for his campaign, it infuriated me. I went after him immediately.”
“It was a clever ruse,” Hud remarked, “but no one can be you, Bri. You’re one of a kind.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank God,” he added sarcastically. “One of you is all the world can handle. Even your father is beating himself black and blue because he couldn’t keep track of you, either. He’s more understanding and forgiving of me since he fell into the same trap.”
Hud slung his right leg over the pommel then hopped agilely to the ground. He handed the reins to Bri. “I’m going to chase down your ex-fiancé. When I catch him, you can have first crack at him like you wanted.”
She peered into his amber-colored eyes and smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
When Hud jogged off, her father reined up beside her. “Daughter, you are making me old before my time,” he chastised her. “You were supposed to wait for me to provide reinforcement…just in case problems arose…which they did.”
“I’m sorry, Papa. After I found out that Powell had pretended to rescue me and was taking all the glory to win votes I was too furious to wait. I certainly wanted to catch him unaware. I walked in on him and Sylvia, but he knocked me against the wall and I reinjured the knot on my head. When I woke up I was in the wagon bed, wrapped up like a mummy.”
“Next time you tear off on a harrowing crusade, I’m giving Captain Stone a direct order to go with you,” he huffed irritably.
When Hud saw Powell limping away from the road, favoring his left leg, he lowered his head and rammed the dirty, low-down politician in the back. Powell yelped in pain then his breath came out in a whoosh when Hud landed on top of him and slammed his face in the dirt—thrice for good measure.
“Oooff…ouch!” Powell grunted when Hud kneed him the back then grabbed him by the nape of his fashionable jacket and hoisted him none too gently to his feet.
Hud stared into Powell’s smudged face and reminded himself that he’d promised to hand over this deceitful scoundrel to Bri. Nevertheless, before he could stop himself, he doubled his fist and punched Powell in the jaw.
The politician stumbled backward, lost his balance and sprawled spread-eagle in the dirt. Now, thought Hud, the man’s expensive clothing is equally soiled on both sides.
“Bri!” Hud shouted. “If there’s something you want to say to this worthless, conniving, murderer, do it now so I can kill him!”
Powell gaped apprehensively at Hud while Bri trotted up on Rambler. Glowering at Powell, she walked the horse over his prostrate body to hold him captive.
“I have known some sneaky, manipulative individuals in my time,” Bri spat furiously at him. “But you are the most self-centered, maneuvering bastard ever to walk the earth.” She glared pitchforks at him then snarled at him again. “Your family won’t be able to buy you the election or buy your way out of jail because I will make the charges against you stick. Everyone in this state will know what kind of man you are because I’ll be shouting it to high heaven. How dare you pay to have me abducted and then try to do it yourself when your scheme backfired!”
Hud grinned while he listened to Bri read Powell every line and paragraph of the riot act. Powell was afraid to move, for fear Rambler would stomp him in the ground. He had to lie there while Bri blasted away at him with both barrels blazing. She was magnificent in her fury and Hud thoroughly enjoyed watching Powell get what he had coming.
“Furthermore, you are not half the man Captain Hudson Stone is,” she snapped at Powell. “He has impressive character, high morals and unwavering scruples. And for your information, I never had the slightest intention of marrying you, just because my mother made the arrangements. You are a hopeless bore and Hudson Stone has ten gallons more personality than you do,” she ranted at Powell. “When word of your corruption and betrayal spreads across the state, even people who once associated with you will turn their backs on you. You are finished!”
Hud glanced sideways when Commander Price walked up beside him. “Has she taken a breath yet?” Winston asked, smiling at his daughter like a proud father.
“No, she’s just getting warmed up.”
“While she’s giving Powell hell, I want to apologize for being so hard on you.”
Hud shrugged nonchalantly. “I deserved it. I didn’t give your daughter full credit for being as capable, willful and courageous as she is, but I won’t make that mistake ever again. I’m a lot happier now that I’ve accepted Bri for what she is, instead of measuring her against average women.”
“You’re a wise man, but even giving her credit isn’t enough to keep in step with Bri,” Winston remarked. “I found that out for myself tonight.” He faced Hud directly. “I officially retract every insulting comment I made to you.”
“Apology accepted. Even though she made me look bad repeatedly, this has been an interesting week. I was reluctant to take the assignment but I’m glad I didn’t miss out on it.”
Winston eyed him speculatively. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you have taken a personal interest in my daughter, lively and high-spirited though she is. Am I right?”
“Yes, sir, I have,” Hud admitted as he shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. “If that offends you—”
“Glad to hear it,” Winston interrupted, smiling. “It will take someone of your caliber and mettle to keep up with her, to watch over her…at a distance…because she has been smothered and restrained far too long already. Now that she’s tested herself in difficult situations and discovered that she can handle herself effectively she won’t back down.”
Hud glanced at Bri, who was still chewing Powell up one side and down the other. Winston was right, he realized. Hovering over Bri only made her indignant, defensive and determined to fight her own battles and to make her own decisions. She wanted to enjoy the same privileges men took for granted. She was proud of her skills and abilities and she wanted the chance to use them. Restricting her made her rebellious.
“With your permission I’d like to take Bri back to the hotel to recuperate,” Hud requested. “She told me she had a splitting headache after suffering another painful blow to the back of her head.”
Winston nodded agreeably. “I’ll help Marshal Long haul Powell and his lady friend to jail. Then I’ll swing by one of the restaurants to bring food to our rooms since we missed out on supper.”
No sooner had Winston stopped speaking than Sparrow arrived on the scene, driving the wagon. Sylvia was hunched over next to him on the seat, bawling her head off. While Winston mounted his horse, Hud borrowed Sparrow’s pinto gelding. He walked the horse over to tap Bri on the shoulder.
“I’m not finished with him yet,” she insisted hotly.
“You can march over to the jail in the morning and give Jarvis and Powell another tongue-lashing,” Hud suggested helpfully. “Right now you need to rest and recuperate so don’t try to talk me out of it. I’m putting my foot down in this instance, so don’t argue with me because I’m the long arm of the law and I’ll throw you in the calaboose if you cross me.”
When he grinned teasingly at her, Bri drew in a steadying breath. She cast Powell one last mutinous glance while her father and the marshal put him in cuffs and tossed him—none too gently—in the back of the wagon.
“I’m sorry!” Sylvia wailed, startling the horses again.
Hud reached over to grab the reins before the horses tried to bolt and run away again.
Bri flapped her arms to gain the marshal’s attention. “Sylvia wasn’t a willing participant in the murder scheme that Powell dreamed up,” she announced.
Sylvia’s jaw dropped open and she stared at Bri in stunned amazement.
“I overheard Sylvia trying to discourage Powell but he strong-armed her into accompanying him tonight. He even threatened her life if she didn’t keep silent.”
“Thank you,” Sylvia mumbled brokenly.
“Just do me a favor and be more particular about the men you become involved with,” Bri advised.
After the tearful actress and the men rode away, Hud leaned over to give Bri a quick peck on the lips.
“Does that mean you aren’t mad at me anymore?” she asked.
“It means nothing of the kind,” Hud replied as he walked his borrowed horse down the moonlit road. “But that was very sporting of you to let Sylvia off the hook. Also, I’m granting you a reprieve, even though I’d like to give you the kind of lecture you delivered to Powell, because you have a hellish headache.”
“You are a most thoughtful and considerate man,” she praised, and flashed him a bewitching smile.
“Not to mention my sterling character, upstanding morals and noble scruples,” he teased, sitting up a little straighter in the saddle. “You made me sound like a saint.”
“The veritable dark angel with one wing in the fire,” she added, chuckling. “Best kind of angel there is.”
“Just not the guardian angel who has been watching over you to make sure you emerge unscathed from your near brushes with disaster,” Hud murmured as he reached into his pocket.
He dropped the misplaced watch in the palm of her hand. “I found this beside the buffalo wallow. I’m sure your friend Benji has been looking down from up above, exceptionally pleased at how well you’ve handled yourself in the face of adversity the past week.”
He stared into her eyes, watching them well up with tears. Yet she was smiling as she rubbed her thumb over the watch. Hud wondered if he had purposely neglected to give her the watch this morning so he’d have an excuse to see her again. Letting go of her was turning out to be more difficult than he’d hoped. Hell, it bordered on impossible.
“You exposed a corrupt rancher and a crooked politician. You helped capture a ruthless murderer that I’ve been chasing and you have rescued three young boys from poverty and starvation.” He reached over to wipe away the tears that dribbled down her cheeks and he grinned playfully. “I don’t know how much more excitement and adventure you need to make your life complete, but there’s always next week, I suppose.”
“Hud, you probably don’t want to hear this but I l—”
Bri caught herself the second before she blurted out her heartfelt feelings for him. She clamped her mouth shut and tucked the watch in her pocket.
“What were you saying?” Hud asked, refusing to break eye contact. “Finish the sentence, Bri.”
When she compressed her lips, refusing to continue, Hud gave up and said, “I think I know why you have clung fiercely to Benji’s memory. He taught you valuable survival skills and allowed you to see the world through his eyes. His impact on you is unmistakable and it influences you still today.”
“You have made an impact on me, too.” She reached over to give his hand a fond squeeze. More than he would ever know.
“Until now I’ve been envious of the orphan who befriended you,” Hud admitted as he brought her hand to his lips. “I don’t resent him anymore. If not for him, you wouldn’t see me for who I am and you wouldn’t understand where I’ve come from. Also, Benji taught you to be a scrappy fighter who holds her own against difficult odds. I can’t fault him for that.”
Bri blinked back the tears that threatened to flood her eyes again. She wanted to launch herself from the saddle, throw herself into Hud’s arms, and tell him that although Benji had been the infatuation of her youth, Hud had become the love of her life. Instead, she held her tongue and refused to burden him with a confession he probably didn’t want to hear.
Not that she’d had the chance. The new Ranger recruit strode up to introduce himself. Bri made her own way to the hotel for a much-needed bath while Hud became acquainted with his new partner. She wondered if she’d see Hud again. She speculated how long it would to take to get over loving him. Her best guess was about a hundred years.
An hour later Bri laid her head back against the stack of pillows on the bed in her hotel room and expelled a weary sigh. She had bathed and changed into her nightgown and her father had arrived with a supper tray. When he tried to spoon-feed her, as if she were a helpless invalid, she protested. Smiling good-naturedly, he handed over the silverware.
“So what’s next for you?” her father inquired while she sipped the steamy soup.
“I’m not sure.” Bri felt at loose ends since the boys had stopped by to check on her and announce that they had decided to remain with the troupe indefinitely. “I still want to see all the sights the western frontier has to offer. Maybe I should hire an escort to show me all the scenic places between here to California.”
Winston snorted. “Probably wouldn’t find any reputable takers. Besides, you like to live dangerously and anyone who is honorable enough to feel responsible for you would go crazy trying to protect you.”
Bri blinked when her father’s voice grew more agitated. Then she smiled cajolingly. “I have accepted the fact that being a conventional female doesn’t suit me. I was hoping you could accept that, too.”
Winston blew out his breath. “In my effort to make certain you were nothing like your mother, I think I might have overencouraged you to become a bit of a daredevil. Now there is no holding you back.”
Bri shook her head ruefully. “I don’t know what has gotten in to me lately. I seem to have developed a need that I can’t fulfill, something that continues to elude me. The shallow life in high society’s ballrooms and parlors isn’t for me. Adventure and challenges inspire me.”
Winston nodded in understanding. “High society didn’t suit me, either. Which is why I made a better soldier and Ranger and left your mother to the world of socialites and soirées that she craves.” He patted her arm then leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead. “I was pressured by my family and they made a poor match for me. I wish much more for you, sweetheart.”
Bri watched her father walk away with the empty supper tray then she heaved a melancholy sigh. After all she’d endured the past week, she longed to savor every moment that she had cheated death. She didn’t want to lie in bed alone. She wanted Hud, but he had met up with the new Ranger recruit and there was no telling where they were. In a saloon, perhaps, washing the trail dust from their throats.
She still didn’t know if Hud intended to stop in to say goodbye before he rode back to the Rangers’ camp. She couldn’t sneak off to Hud’s room, because she didn’t know where it was.
An impish smile pursed her lips, wishing she could pop in on him as she had the first night they met.
Except this time she wouldn’t dart off after one kiss.
“Damn it,” she muttered, missing him like crazy. “Of all the men I’ve tolerated as suitors the past few years, I don’t get to spend the rest of my life with the only man I truly want.”
Bri pounded her pillows to relieve her frustration. It didn’t help. “There should be a rule written down somewhere stating that the man who has your heart should love you back.”
When someone knocked on her door unexpectedly, she glanced across the room. “Yes?”
“It’s Hud. Can I bother you for a few minutes?”
You can bother me for the next fifty years and you won’t hear me complain. “Come in.”
Her gaze roamed appreciatively over his powerfully built frame when he stepped in and dominated her room with his presence. He smiled and breathed new life into her collapsed heart. Bri tried very hard not to blurt out her feelings for him, but it was difficult when the words ached to fly free.
“Feeling better?” Hud asked.
“Yes, thank you for asking,” she said, then silently added, By the way, I love you. “How did your meeting with the Ranger recruit go?” Stay the night. I want to be with you and the thought of losing you forever is killing me bit by excruciating bit!
“He’ll do,” Hud said as he locked the door behind him.
Bri’s eyebrows elevated two notches and her gaze leaped back and forth between him and the doorknob.
“Never can tell who might barge in unannounced. I was set upon by the kissing bandit in this very hotel.”
“Really? How intriguing.”
“Yes, it was. Very. Since then I’ve been chasing her all over creation.” He came to stand at the foot of her bed. “There’s something I need to talk to you about, Bri.”
“Fire away,” she invited with a casual flick of her wrist that belied the turmoil of emotions inside her.
Hud strode over to park himself on the edge of her bed. She caught a whiff of his fresh, clean scent and noticed his raven hair was still damp from a recent bath. He was also clean-shaven and she thought he was the most ruggedly handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
What a shame that all the Price and Roland money combined couldn’t buy his love. What good was all that money now? In Hud’s eyes, she was just the assignment gone bad, the troublemaker who delayed him and frustrated him.
When he skimmed his forefinger over the bruises on her chin and cheek, she nearly melted into a sentimental puddle. “What did you want to talk to me about?” she managed to say without her voice cracking completely.
“Remember that night when I moved my pallet to the far side of the cavern?” he murmured as his thumb brushed over her lips.
Bri couldn’t speak. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth so she just nodded mutely.
“You got the wrong idea.”
“I did?” she chirped.
“Yes, you did,” Hud confirmed. “I didn’t move to get away from you because I was tired of you. I knew I couldn’t keep my hands off you when you were only an arm’s length away. After the ordeal with the flash flood, I wanted you to have the chance to rest.”
Her lashes swept up to stare into his mesmerizing golden eyes. “I tossed money at you the next morning because my pride was smarting,” she admitted. “So…you aren’t opposed to being with me?”
A wide smile spread across his sensuous lips. “No, I was sort of hoping that you weren’t opposed to being with me. I’ve been wondering all evening what it would be like to make love with you on a bed instead of the rock floor in that cave.”
Bri beamed in anticipation as she scooted over to make room for him beside her. “I’d love to find out myself.”
“How’s your tender head?” he asked as he trailed moist kisses down the column of her throat.
“It just got better.” She peeled off his leather vest and sent it flying. “One of us is overdressed.” She helped him out of his shirt so she could splay her hand over his broad chest and sketch the washboarded muscles of his belly.
“Mmm…” Hud groaned in pleasure. “Your father tells me that you’re looking to hire an escort for your tour of the West.”
“I can afford to pay well,” she whispered as she leaned sideways to skim her lips over his male nipples. “Know anyone who might be interested?”
“Me, but I’m here to negotiate.” He tugged the nightgown over her head and tossed it on top of his vest and shirt. “I’m in the market for a wife who will help me build my ranch on the land grant I’ll receive when I retire from Ranger service very soon.”
She reared back and gaped at him. “Wife?”
He nodded and grinned. “I asked your father for permission to propose and he said you were blind and foolish if you didn’t snatch up a fine catch like me immediately.”
“I wouldn’t want to be called blind and foolish,” she said, feeling her heart swell with so much happiness and contentment that she was afraid it might burst wide open.
“Is that a yes?” he asked as his hand glided up her ribcage to caress the peaks of her breasts.
“Yes…” she breathed raggedly as hot sensations scalded her from inside out.
“I’m in love with you, Bri,” Hud confided as he stared intently into her indigo eyes. “When I’m with you, I’m at peace with my life. I can’t lay the world at your feet, but I promise I will love you all the rest of my days. If you want adventure then I’ll be by your side to make sure you have it.”
“You are my world, Hud,” she whispered as she cupped his face in her hands and stared deeply into his eyes. “All I’ll ever need is you because I love you, too. I almost blurted it out earlier this evening.”
He smiled crookedly. “I was hoping that was what you intended to say but I couldn’t pry it out of you.”
“I was afraid you didn’t want to hear that from a troublemaker like me,” she replied as she trailed the pad of her thumb over his sensuous lower lip.
He chuckled lightly as he lowered his head, his lips a scant few inches from her lush mouth. “You’re my kind of trouble, sweetheart,” he assured her. “I tried to do the honorable thing and walk away but I couldn’t tolerate the thought of life without you. Plus, I’ve recently discovered that sometimes you don’t have to let go of your most precious treasure.” He stared intently at her so she would understand that he meant every word he said. “That’s what you are to me, Bri. A treasure. You’re all I need to make me happy.”
She smiled impishly at him, her indigo eyes sparkling as she draped her arms around his shoulders and snuggled suggestively against him. “Really? Prove it.”
“Gladly,” he whispered before he kissed her as if he were starved for the taste of her—which he always had been and always would be. Bri reciprocated with the kind of fiery passion that never ceased to amaze and arouse him. Then he offered all that he was to the only woman his heart desired.
And he loved her devotedly…from that day forward until the end of forever…