Badlands Bride. Cheryl St.John

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СКАЧАТЬ off, leaving a trail of dust on the horizon.

      They were all still alive. Hallie shook so badly she finally dropped her arms, and the heavy gun barrel hit her knee.

      A cackle rose on the air. “Whoo—ee!” Mr. Tubbs chortled, and spat a brown stream on the ground. “The fella what sent for you’s got a job cut out for him!”

      She swung her attention back to Olivia. “You all right?”

      The slender woman stood and brushed her clothing off without taking her eyes from Hallie. “Th-thanks t-to you,” she stammered, and promptly burst into tears.

      Hallie groped behind her for the coach and sat on the step. “I figured we’d all be next.”

      “I would rather have had them kill me,” Evelyn said softly.

      A moan rose from the ground. Zinnia unfurled from her faint and sat. She blinked about like an owl, rolled to her hands and knees and stood, wobbling. “What happened? Where are they?”

      “Miss Wainwright scared them away,” Olivia said, a look of amazement adding to her already bizarre appearance. Tears streaked her dust-caked cheeks and her bright hair stood out around her head like frazzled yarn.

      “That she did!” Mr. Tubbs cackled and dusted himself off. “Whoo—ee! That she did!”

      Zinnia’s ragged hiccuping breath jostled her ample breasts.

      What had she done? Hallie regarded the baggage strewn across the ground and their clothing flapping in the wind. What could possibly happen to top this?

      Her mouth curved into a relieved but jubilant grin. Boston Girl Foils Attack On Women. What a story!

      

      Cooper glanced up at the sun. He’d just decided to unhitch the black and ride out to meet the stage when he spotted a cloud of dust on the horizon.

      Anticipation rolled head over heels in his chest. He didn’t have to like her. It didn’t matter what she looked like. He didn’t care how old she was or if she was a widow ten times over. All that mattered was that she could read and write, and she’d promised him that in her letter.

      It would probably be easier if he didn’t like her, since she was, after all, a white woman, and she would not like him. She didn’t have to like him. City women were vain and shallow. Her reasons for coming out here probably bore as much desperation as his for needing her.

      The small dot appeared on the horizon, and his gaze followed it. What would prompt a city woman to come to the Dakotas? Love for a man? Not in this case. Lack of funds? Probably. No other prospects for marriage? Miserable thought.

      “They’re comin’!” Stu shouted.

      Slowly, Cooper strode to where the others stood watching the approaching Concord. He could make out the driver, Ferlie Tubbs, now, and sighed with relief.

      Hooves pounded the earth, the jingle of harnesses and rings loud in the expanse of clear air. The stage drew near, distressed wood and leather creaking to a stop.

      Ferlie squinted down at Cooper.

      “Trouble?” Cooper asked.

      The toothless ribbon sawer spit a thick stream of tobacco on the dusty ground and nodded. “Sonsa-bitches ran us down back at Big Stone Lake.”

      “Everyone all right?”

      “Alive,” Ferlie said.

      “Hurt?” Cooper asked in alarm.

      “Nah. Skeered the bejesus out o’ the fat one, and the orange-haired crybaby bawled the whole damned way.”

      Cooper wondered whether he was marrying the fat one or the orange-haired crybaby.

      “The hellcat’s just madder’n a bear with a sore ass,” Ferlie continued.

      The door was flung open and, without waiting for assistance, a young woman in a dusty green dress with a matching hat askew on her head raised her skirts nearly to her knees and jumped to the ground. She wasn’t fat and her hair, beneath the ridiculous hat and dust, was nearly as black as a Sioux’s. The hellcat.

      Her eyes, dark from this distance, surveyed the windswept vista and weathered log building and finally regarded the four men. Cooper met her stare. She was young, strikingly beautiful, with winged brows and a full mouth—definitely not a woman without better prospects in the city.

      A sniffling sound came from inside the coach. She cast a significant glance over her shoulder and quickly stepped away saying, “One more mile in there and I’d have forgotten I was a lady.”

      The whining came from a short young woman whose drab dress resembled a sausage casing. She appeared in the doorway, another girl with wild hair the color of a stewed carrot holding her elbow. Tearstains streaked the dust on both their faces.

      Ferlie jumped down.

      “What happened?” Vernon asked, Stu and Angus at his side.

      “Six of ‘em,” Ferlie said. “Rode us down at Big Stone. Robbed the womenfolk. Skeered ’em good. Woulda done worse.”

      Vernon clenched his fists.

      “This brave young woman took a gun away from one of those border ruffians and saved us,” the redhead explained, pointing to the hellcat. Beside her the fat lady sputtered into a fresh bout of tears.

      The men cast one another skeptical looks.

      Finally Vernon took the initiative and spoke. “Which of you is Miss Blake?”

      The fat one sniffed. “I am.”

      Vernon reached for her gloved hand. “Pleased to meet you. Would it be all right if I called you Zinnia?”

      A smile bloomed on her round face. She ogled Vernon as though he were rain for her parched soul. “Mr. Forbes?”

      The hellcat stepped closer to Cooper—or maybe just farther away from the woman with the red and swollen eyes.

      Vernon tucked his package beneath his arm and awkwardly assisted Zinnia from the coach. “You’re safe now,” he said. “You need a good hot meal and a night’s rest.”

      “Miss Mason?” Stu asked, approaching the redhead.

      She nodded. “Olivia.”

      The hellcat stepped back to the doorway of the coach and peered in. “Coming, Evelyn?”

      Cooper stepped beside her and took the blushing young woman’s gloved hand while she held her skirts and managed the step to the ground. She was painfully plain-faced and shy.

      “Evelyn? Evelyn Reed?” Angus took her hand from Cooper’s. He wore a nervous grin on his awestruck face. “I’m Angus Hallstrom. You musta been scared sh—” He stopped a second. “Real scared.” The two stepped aside and the woman kept her head down as he spoke.

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