Brides of the West (28 page)

Lauren stood in front of the saloon yelling,
“Burn. Burn.” Rufus appeared in the doorway. When he tried to come
out, Lauren raised a pistol and fired a shot at him.

“What the hell you doing, Lauren?” Rufus
shouted. “I have to get out. The damned building is on fire.”

“
The Chances Are
Saloon is rightfully mine.
If I can’t have it, no
one can,” the mad woman shouted. “I want that bitch to die just
like that two-timing son of a bitch Woods did. The Chances Are was
supposed to be mine.” She fired another shot at the door. “The
lying bastard
promised to marry me, not her. After
everything I did for him she took him away from me. The bastard
deserved to die and I’m glad I killed him.”

“Drop the gun, Lauren,” Josh shouted over
the crackling of the fire. She turned to face him and fired a shot
in his direction. His pistol easily slid from its holster and he
pulled the trigger. Her legs folded as a bright red stain over her
heart spread across her chest coloring her white blouse. She fell
to the ground.

With a tinge of regret Josh holstered his
Colt.

Rufus ran out of the saloon violently
coughing as soot shimmered through the air. “Annabelle’s trapped
inside her office. I tried to get her out, but part of the building
collapsed blocking the way.”

Josh crashed through the front door and a
seemingly impenetrable wall of fire. He fought his way through
popping wood, intense heat and fire that blistered his skin. The
pain failed to register as he made his way to the office.
“Annabelle. Annabelle! Talk to me!”

He heard Annabelle’s screams for help over
the fury of the fire. She was alive.

“I’m here, Annabelle,” he shouted. A huge
burning timber blocked the door to her office. Strength rushed
through his veins as he tossed it and other debris to the side.
Heat had warped the frame and the door wouldn’t open when he pushed
on it. No! This wasn’t going to happen again. He wouldn’t survive
losing Annabelle.

“Stand back, I’m coming in!” He lifted his
leg and crashed his boot against the door. It gave a little.

“Josh, help me.” Annabelle coughed on the
other side.

Putting his shoulder to the door, he heaved
his body against it. This time it sprang open and hot air rushed
into the room. Through the dense smoke, he managed to find
Annabelle sitting on the floor coughing. He struggled to breathe—he
had a promise to keep and he wasn’t going to fail.

“We have to get out of here. The building is
coming down around us.” He pulled her to her feet, but she couldn’t
stand on her own. Scooping her into his arms, burying her face
against his chest, he made his way to the front door of the saloon,
dodging flames and falling debris. Her skirt caught on fire, but he
quickly pulled it up and smothered the flames. Moments later he saw
the wall of fire at the door separating them from safety. He
shielded her from the flames and with one last burst of energy ran
through the flames and broke out into the street.

In the safety of the open air, he took a
long, deep breath of fresh air before he set Annabelle on her feet.
They held onto each other and watched in silence as the building
collapsed. Her hand flew to her mouth when she saw Lauren’s body on
the ground. Mr. Webber was kneeling next to the corpse, tears
streaming down his face.

The banker staggered to his feet with
Lauren’s gun in hand. “Who killed her?” The crowd watched in
silence. “I want to know who killed her.” No one answered. “Who
killed my sister?” he yelled. A collective gasp filled the air at
Webber’s rant. She was his sister?

Josh led Annabelle over to Rufus, never
taking his eyes off Webber. “Watch her.” He slid the Colt from its
holster and held it at his side.

“She set fire to the saloon, and when Rufus
tried to escape she fired a shot at him.” Josh moved away from
Annabelle and toward Webber. “I told her to drop the gun and she
fired at me. I had no choice.”

“Lauren only wanted what was hers. The no
good son of a bitch broke the engagement, saying he couldn’t marry
a whore. Said he needed a respectable wife and laughed at her. The
Chances Are would have been hers after she killed him, except for
that damn will.” Webber raised his arm and pointed the gun at
Annabelle. “He left it all to that tramp.”

Josh tamped down his anger; it wouldn’t help
him in a gunfight.

Webber continued to rant.
“
She
didn’t leave
town; then Monty and Randy didn’t kill her at the jail. Lauren went
crazy after that bitch made her leave the Chances Are. Everyone
here knows Lauren deserved this place more than anyone.
She’s
responsible for
the death of four people.” He pointed the gun at Annabelle. “I
intend to kill her, Sheriff. The town will thank me for it. If it
wasn’t for her, Woods and Lauren wouldn’t be dead.” Webber played
to the crowd. “That bitch has got the sheriff on her side and stole
everything that should’ve been Lauren’s.”

“I can’t let you do that, Webber. Which one
of you killed Woods?” Josh shut out everything but Webber. “I
suggest you walk away from this now before any more blood is
shed.”

“Lauren did. She shot Woods when he said he
was marrying that bitch.” Josh’s blood ran cold. “Once that bitch
died, Lauren could have gone back and taken over the Chances Are.
Things would have been the way they were supposed to be. Lauren
would own the Chances Are, I would own the bank, and our brother
Carl would be back to run the gaming tables. Now I have to kill you
both.” Carl was their brother?

Josh saw Roger off to the side. One way or
another, the banker wouldn’t survive if he decided to fight it
out.

“Drop the gun, Webber. If
it was all Lauren, then I have no problem with you walking away
from this.”
It’s not too late
he whispered under his breath. The barrel of the
pistol pointed at Annabelle started to rise as Webber began to
squeeze the trigger. Josh’s shot hit him in the heart. The man
pitched forward to his knees. He tried to raise the gun, but he
fell forward and landed face down in the dirt.

***

Annabelle ran to Josh and slid underneath
his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” He wrapped his arms
around her. “They were bad seed.”

She buried her face in his chest. “I was so
scared he would kill you and I don’t know what I’d do without
you.”

“When I saw the flames and realized it was
the saloon, I almost went crazy thinking about losing you.” He
kissed her right there in the middle of the street. “It scared me
to think you depended on me and I’d let you down.”

“You would never let me down. I knew you’d
come for me.” He kissed her again.

Mrs. Johnson approached them. “I’m sorry you
lost everything, Miss Yeager. Why don’t you come on over to the
store and I’ll help you replace your clothes and things.” Annabelle
turned to Josh whose mouth had fallen open. Now that the Chances
Are was gone, Annabelle was respectable again and Mrs. Johnson
wouldn’t miss making a sale.

Mr. Landers stood next to Mrs. Johnson, “On
behalf of the town, we’re real sorry, Miss Yeager. Appears some
people misjudged both you and Webber and put their faith in the
wrong person. We hope you’ll stay in town and give us another
chance.”

The words touched her and she turned to Josh.
He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “Thank
you, Mr. Landers. I’ll do whatever Josh says.”

“I’d thought about moving, but there’s a
ranch outside town with my name on it. So I guess we’ll stay around
awhile and see how things work out.” Josh shook Mr. Lander’s
hand.

She looked at the burning rubble of the
saloon. “I might have to spend the night at the jail again.”

“Oh no, you won’t. As soon as I find the
preacher, we’re getting married and you’ll spend the night with me
at the ranch out under the stars. Looks like we need to get started
on that house right away, because I want a house full of young’uns
to keep you out of trouble.”

***

Annabelle stood on the porch of the ranch
house and watched her husband ride up. He slid off his horse and
bounded up the steps. He bypassed her, went straight to the cradle,
and picked up the sleeping baby. “How’s our boy?” He tucked Tyler
in his arms close to his heart, then wrapped an arm around
Annabelle before kissing her. “I missed you both. Seems like I’ve
been gone a month.”

“You were gone less than five days.” She
leaned against his strong body. “Yet it does seem like months. Did
you catch them?”

They sat on the porch swing. “The tip we
received was good this time. We caught Carl Thamann and his gang
outside Temmings. Carl died in a shootout and the posse took the
other three to jail. The Judge’ll be there next week so they should
be off to Huntsville right after that.”

“We were worried about you.” The baby
scrunched his face and waved his fists as he started fussing. “I
think he’s hungry.” She undid her bodice and Josh handed her the
baby. Tyler settled at her breast.

“This is a sight I missed seeing.” Draping an
arm over her shoulders, he said, “If someone had told me a year
ago, I would miss being home with my wife watching her feed our
son, I would have locked him up as crazy.”

He watched his son suckle at her breast and
brushed his cheek.

Annabelle looked up at him with her
beautiful, loving eyes. “This is what I truly wanted when I came
west. I’m so thankful I found you.”

“So am I, sweetheart.” He tickled the little
baby toes of his son. “So am I.”

The Authors

Ann Lethbridge - writing as Michèle Ann
Young

Michèle Ann Young grew up in England, and now
lives in Canada working as a full-time writer after an interesting
career in university administration. She lives with her husband,
two lovely daughters and a dictatorial Maltese Terrier. When not
creating stories, she enjoys the ancient arts of tatting and
smocking.

The Brides of the West story struck a
particular chord with her, since her heroine Tess, is new to North
America, and Michèle Ann had fun recalling some of her own
surprises about the differences between the Old World and the New
when she first arrived on these shores.

www.micheleannyoung.com

Kimberly Ivey

Kimberly Ivey began her career as a
freelance writer more than twenty-five years ago. Since then,
hundreds of her nonfiction articles, poetry, short stories and
essays have been published throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is
the author of one children's book, a romantic suspense novel, two
novellas, and several short stories in print anthologies.

She has served on the board of professional
writing organizations and literacy committees, and enjoys
presenting workshops at conferences and to local groups. She is a
creative writing instructor at a southeast Texas college.

A mother of three and grandmother to four,
Kimberly resides in her home state of Texas with her husband of 31
years, the youngest of her three children, and several spoiled, and
demanding pets.

http://hometown.aol.com/kimberlyivey2/index.html

Billie Warren Chai

1Billie lives in Ohio with her husband whom
she met while attending the University of Louisville. They have two
teenage sons. After graduating, Billie and her husband had several
successful business ventures and are now retired.

Billie's stories appear in
numerous Highland Press anthologies:
Secret of the Blue Moon
in Blue Moon
Magic and
Operation Family
in Christmas Wishes.
Keeping Hannah Safe
appears in the
Recipe for Love anthology and
Calling
Hailey‛s Bluff
in Love Under the
Mistletoe. Her story
Hitting
Paydirt
will appear in the Love on a
Harley anthology. Billie is currently working on two full length
manuscripts.

She and her husband love the freedom of
touring the country on their motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Road
King Classic as they believe in living their lives to the
fullest.

www.billiewarrenchai.com

Praise for

Highland Press Books!

Through its collection of descriptive
phrases,
The Millennium Phrase Book
by Rebecca
Andrews offers writers concrete examples of rich and evocative
descriptions. Browsing through its pages offers a jumpstart to the
imagination, helping authors deepen the intensity of scenes and
enhance their own writing.

~
Tami Cowden, Author of The Complete
Guide to Heroes & Heroines, Sixteen Master Archetypes

***

To Woo A Lady
– Erin E.M.
Hatton has written a series of
short stories covering Regency England and the historical standards
and expectations that existed then. I especially liked how she made
her characters vulnerable, yet strong. There are no wilting
wallflowers here. The men are strong, stubborn and even a bit
understanding about the women’s expectations and the realities of
the times and world they live in.
The author's
storylines are believable, enjoyable to read, and take you to a
world of time past, with all its warts and pimples as well as
beautiful homes and good times at public functions. It's not all
peaches and cream, but it's real.

~
Aloe, Long and Short Reviews