The Bargain Mail Order Bride Read online

  “I can’t, either,” he whispered in return. It was hard to stand still with everything going on, but somehow he managed to stay in place. “I knew it was a lot, but that was better than I expected.”

  “You worked hard, Carl,” she said. “You deserve this.”

  He squeezed her hand. “You helped me. I never would have gotten this far without you.” He lowered his head and kissed her.

  “I can’t blame you two for being happy,” Jefferson called out as he came out from the backroom.

  Carl’s face warmed, but he was too excited to be embarrassed that the man had caught him kissing his wife.

  Jefferson secured the cash with a clip. “I suppose I won’t be seeing you in town much longer.”

  “Nope. We’re leaving.” Carl opted not to say where, just in case news that she was a Wanted woman would make its way up here again. “And we’re not coming back.”

  “If I don’t see you before you head out, I wish you two a lot of luck,” Jefferson said.

  “Thank you.” Carl accepted the money and tucked it into his leather sack next to the three jars. Then he put the strap over his shoulder, took Juliet’s hand, and left the store. “Let’s get those stagecoach tickets,” he told her.

  ***

  The following week, Carl pulled up to Abe’s cabin and got down from his horse. After he tied the reins to the front porch rail, he bounded up the steps and knocked on the door.

  Phoebe answered, a one-month-old baby girl in her arms. “Carl,” she greeted in surprise. “Is everything alright? Do you need help with something?”

  “No,” Carl replied. “Everything’s fine. I wanted to talk to your husband about the stream. I’m done with it, and I wanted to let him know he could have it.”

  “You and Juliet are leaving town?”

  He might have laughed at her shock if he hadn’t been so excited to be finally going to Canada. “Next week. We already got stagecoach tickets.” He glanced over her shoulder but didn’t see Abe in the cabin. “Is Abe here?”

  “Yes. He’s in the barn. I’m sorry I didn’t say so sooner. I was in shock. I didn’t expect you to come here with this kind of news.”

  “At least it’s good news for everyone.” He tipped his hat to her. “I’ll talk to him and then I’ll be off your land.”

  Before she could respond, he made his way down the porch and over to the barn. He caught sight of Abe from the entrance. Abe took one look at him, shook his head, and retreated back inside.

  Carl hesitated for a moment. For all he knew, Abe could be getting a gun to force him off his property. But then he saw Abe pick up a pitchfork and poke it into a pile of hay.

  Relaxing, Carl resumed his stride. He entered the barn and decided to state the good news right away. “As of today, the stream is yours. I no longer have any use for it.”

  Abe frowned at Carl as he stopped tossing hay into the horses’ troughs. He set the pitchfork on the floor of the barn and gave him a good, hard look. “You’re giving me the stream?”

  “Yes. As of today, it’s all yours. You can do whatever you want with it.”

  Abe set one of his hands on his hips as if he didn’t believe him.

  “This isn’t a trick, Abe. I’m telling you the truth. Juliet and I have enough money to leave this town. The stream is yours. I’m giving it back to you.” When Abe still didn’t say anything, Carl pulled their father’s will from his back pocket and ripped it up. “There. See? The will is destroyed. Now the judge can’t come back and tell you that the stream isn’t yours. I mean it. I’m done with it. I have no more use for it.”

  He held the ripped papers to Abe, and after a moment, Abe took them. “You really don’t want any of the gold that’s left in the stream?”

  Carl shook his head. “I got more than I’ll ever need. Juliet and I will live very well off the amount we collected.”

  “I never thought I’d say this, but I actually believe you.”

  “Good because I’m telling you the truth. You are free to do anything you want with the stream.”

  As he went to leave, Abe called out his name.

  He turned around, and for the first time in his life, Abe smiled at him. “Thanks, Carl.”

  Carl smiled in return. “You’re welcome, Abe.”

  Then he left the barn, excited by the future waiting for him and Juliet.

  Chapter Twenty

  While Carl was talking to Abe, Juliet secured the newly washed fancy green dress to the clothesline next to the other laundry she’d just done. She and Carl still had another week to wait before the stagecoach was due to arrive, but she saw no reason why she shouldn’t get her disguise ready. No doubt by now her brothers would be resuming their search for her. That was, of course, if they ever let up on it during the winter months.

  Either way, it didn’t matter. She hadn’t been caught up to now, and she wasn’t about to take her chances. Once she left this town, she risked being noticed by them if they happened to be along the way. Her best bet was to keep up the pretense of being a wealthy young lady with blonde hair. This time, she’d be going with her equally wealthy husband. And thankfully, Carl had a nice suit that would complement her dress. The suit, as it so happened, hung next to her dress on the clothesline.

  While she would miss the cozy cabin tucked away in a quaint little town with nice people like Caroline, Allie, and Phoebe, deep down, she knew her best option was to go to Canada.

  Done with the laundry for the moment, she picked up the basket and started to head for the cabin when she sensed that she was being watched. A chill ran up her spine, and Sammy’s words came back to her. “The last thing you want to do is turn your back on danger,” he would say. “Everyone has a sense about them that lets them know if something is amiss. Those who ignore it end up regretting it. Don’t be one of them.”

  Her steps slowed, and she tried to determine what her next move should be. If she alerted the person hiding in the trees that she knew he was there, she might not get a chance to take the offense. And right now, the offense was her best chance.

  Since the person wasn’t in a hurry to catch up to her, she opted to resume her leisurely pace. A twig snapped behind her, but it was a good distance away. As long as she didn’t let him know that she realized he was there, she stood a decent chance of getting to the cabin before he exposed himself.

  Releasing her breath, she continued her way to the small porch, counting each step she took in an attempt to keep her focus. By the time she made it to the cabin, she had to fight the urge to bolt inside. He was approaching, but he was still taking his time.

  She turned the knob and went into the cabin, softly closing the door behind her. Then she threw the basket down and shoved her heavy trunk to block the door. After that, she grabbed the rifle hanging on the wall and checked to make sure it was loaded before she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled over to the window that would give her a good view of her surroundings.

  She set the rifle quietly beside her, and, still on her knees, she peaked out the window. Her breath caught in her throat when she caught sight of the man who was moving from one tree to another. It was Sammy! So after all this time, he’d managed to track her down. She retrieved the rifle and lifted the window enough so that she could stick the front end of the gun through the opening. She bent her head until she had a clear view of him. There. Now if she had to shoot him, she could.

  She swallowed the lump in her throat as he made his way further up the hill toward her cabin, his steps methodical and slow, much like a predator who was seeking its prey. Her finger caressed the trigger. She didn’t want to do it. The last thing she wanted to do was take a person’s life, even if it was someone as corrupt as Sammy.

  She took a deep breath and released it, counting each second as it passed. She had to stay focused. If Sammy was here, it was because he was angry with her. Otherwise, he would have sent one of their other brothers, Tim or Micah, to get her.

  By the time he made it to the
porch, she called out, “Stop right there.”

  He hesitated for a moment, his gaze going to the window. Then, he took a step forward.

  She shot a warning bullet, almost blowing the hat off his head. “I told you to stop, Sammy.”

  He stepped back. “You shouldn’t have run, Juliet. Running always makes a person look bad.”

  “I had no choice. I couldn’t live like that anymore.”

  “Then you should have been smart about it. You should have faked your own death. That’s what I would have done.”

  “That wouldn’t have worked, and we both know it.”

  He grinned at her. “Perhaps not with me and our brothers, but no one else would be looking for you. You’re in a lot of trouble, Juliet, and there’s no way you’re getting out of it.”

  She renewed her grip on the handle of the rifle. “I’ll tell them you were behind everything.”

  “And who are they going to believe? You’re the one on the Wanted posters, not me.” With a smirk, he added, “There’s a huge bounty on your head.”

  For a moment, it seemed as if all the air had been knocked out of her. She was on Wanted posters? There was a bounty on her head? It wasn’t just her brothers pursuing her? Others were, too?

  “Things look bad for you,” Sammy continued. “Real bad. It wasn’t easy for me to betray our parents’ memory by turning you over to the law, but you gave me no choice.”

  The sound of a horse neighing diverted her attention for a second. Just one second. At first she thought it was Carl coming back from Abe’s. But instead, she saw Eric on horseback, followed by Tim and Micah who also rode horses. Tim held the reins to a fourth horse. The horse Sammy had no doubt taken up here.

  Her gaze went back to Sammy who shrugged. “You could shoot me, I suppose, but that will only make things worse at this point, don’t you think?”

  Her lower lip quivered, and she fought back the tears filling her eyes. As angry as she was with him for pinning all those robberies on her head, there was nothing she could do to change the situation. She had had a hand in the crimes. She wasn’t completely innocent. She was just chosen to take all of the blame.

  “Be reasonable, Juliet,” Sammy said, his voice soft. “You’re cornered. There’s no way you’re going to escape a second time.”

  Someone shifted off his horse, and she glanced over as Eric tied his horse’s reins to a nearby tree.

  “You should never have run off,” Sammy said. “You had to have known things would have ended this way.”

  Eric came over in their direction, and a tear slid down her cheek. Sammy was right. She was trapped. Short of killing all four men, she wasn’t going to get out of this mess, and she didn’t have it in her to kill anyone. Another tear ran down her face. Carl was going to be so disappointed when he found out. There was no way she could hide this from him.

  “Juliet,” Eric called out. “I suggest you put down the gun and come with us.”

  After a moment, she lowered the gun and set it on the floor.

  In the next instance, Sammy forced the door open and shoved the trunk aside. He went over to her and knelt beside her. “I’m a marshal, Juliet,” he whispered. “And I told you that no one would suspect you of any crimes as long as you did what I wanted.” He put his hand under her arm and brought her to her feet. “I didn’t want it to come to this, but you left me with no choice. The minute you betrayed me, I couldn’t protect you anymore.”

  He let go of her just as Eric came into the cabin. Right away, Eric’s gaze went to her hair. Without her wig, he could now see how dark it really was. She took the moment’s distraction to wipe her eyes so he wouldn’t see her tears.

  “Where’s Carl?” Eric asked her.

  “At Abe’s,” she forced out.

  All at once, everything had changed. The future she and Carl had planned was now gone. There would be no Canada. No quiet and peaceful life. No years to look forward to. She wasn’t sure what her life would look like from here, but whatever happened, she’d have to spend it apart from Carl. When she answered a mail-order bride ad, she had no idea she was going to fall in love with him. But she supposed this was the punishment due to her after all she’d done. She only wished she wasn’t going to hurt him in the process.

  “I’ll write Carl a note and tell him what happened,” Eric said before he went to the small desk.

  “I’ll take her out,” Sammy told Eric.

  Eric nodded as he retrieved a piece of paper.

  Sammy put his arm around hers and led her out of the cabin. “Do you want to know what gave your location away?” Sammy asked once they were safely out of Eric’s hearing range.

  “I left a train or stagecoach ticket somewhere without realizing it?” she asked.

  “No. There was a rumor about a couple who struck it rich out here, which is odd considering this area was supposed to have been picked over already.”

  “I don’t have the gold we stole from that man, Sammy,” she told him. “I gave it back to his wife. The gold Carl found in the stream is rightfully his.”

  “Is that your story?”

  “No. It’s the truth.” She stopped and faced her brother. “I didn’t take any of that gold with me, Sammy.”

  “How much gold does Carl have?”

  “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “It might. How much gold is there?”

  “It’s none of your business. You won’t get any of it.”

  He shrugged and urged her to keep walking. “Well, since I’m the one turning you in, I get the bounty on your head and unless Carl has more than $25,000, I’m not interested in it.”

  Her jaw dropped, and she almost tripped. Twenty-five thousand dollars? The bounty on her head was that much?

  Sammy gave her a satisfied smile. “I stand to make a very good profit from turning you in. You running off the way you did was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  They reached the horses, and she glanced at Tim and Micah, trying to gauge what they thought of the events playing out in front of them. Tim shook his head at Sammy then glanced at her, concern in his eyes. Micah, on the other hand, wouldn’t make eye contact with either of them.

  Sammy hopped up on his horse and held his hand out to her. “Come on up,” he ordered.

  Struggling to hold in her emotions so she wouldn’t completely break down, she accepted his hand and got on the horse. At least she got to sit in front of him, which was a small blessing in and of itself. She really couldn’t stomach to look at him right now.

  Eric came out of the cabin and went to his horse. In silence, he led them to town.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  An hour later, Juliet sat in the jail cell, trying not to think about what was going on around her. She chose to ignore Sammy as he talked to Eric about all the people she had stolen money from. He made it sound like she single-handedly performed every theft, and worse, he even claimed she had shot a man during one of her robberies. At this, she almost protested. No one had ever been shot during any of their activities. But what would it matter what she had to say? She was a woman. A Wanted one at that. And Sammy was a marshal.

  He, Tim, and Micah had been careful to never get caught. She hadn’t gotten caught, either, but Sammy had decided to put all the blame on her out of spite. She’d known they would be mad. Sammy, especially, would be mad. But she hadn’t thought he’d make her an outlaw. Never once had that occurred to her.

  She spent her time braiding and unbraiding her hair, trying to decide how she was going to explain any of this to Carl. It was easier not to think about it. She would much rather focus on something—anything—other than the impending conversation she’d had to have with him. This just wasn’t the kind of thing a wife wanted to tell her husband.

  “Juliet?”

  Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked at Eric who stood at the door of her cell. “Do you care to give me your side of things?”

  “I don’t have any of the money we stole,
” she told him, knowing that even as she said the word “we” she was inviting more questions.

  Eric’s eyebrows furrowed. “We?”

  “All of us robbed people,” she replied.

  Sammy glowered at her, and Tim and Micah had the decency to look away, their faces turning red.

  “I didn’t do it alone,” she added. “I had a part in the thefts. I won’t deny that. But they were in on it, too.”

  “You’re lying,” Sammy barked.

  Eric glanced over at him. “I already heard your side. Now, I’m listening to hers. She sat quietly while you talked. If you can’t do the same while I listen to her, then you’re welcome to leave.”

  Sammy gritted his teeth but didn’t argue.

  Eric waved for her to come over to him.

  With a glance at Sammy, she stood up and approached the bars so that she was across from Eric. “What do you want to know?”

  “How did the robberies work?” he asked. “What method did you four use?”

  “My job was to provide a distraction,” she replied, keeping her voice low though Sammy and the others could probably still hear her. “They tracked down men who were wealthy. Sammy used his connections with local sheriffs to find out where they’d be coming through in parts of Texas. We would wait until the men were away from their money before we made our move. Often this would be when the men weren’t in their hotel room or when they were away from their horse. I would pretty myself up and ask them for help with something.”

  “Help with what?”

  “Sometimes it was to help with a broken wagon wheel. This worked well if we were in the middle of town during daylight. If it was night, I would request the man help get my brother out of trouble, like a brawl or an injury. It didn’t really matter what the distraction was as long as I was able to detain the men long enough for one of my brothers to give me the sign Sammy was done with the job.”

  Eric frowned. “How many of these did you do?”