Dangerous (23 page)
Annabelle licked her lips. “I can’t do this anymore. I have to talk to him. I’ve got to find Beau.”
For two months she’d tried to banish him from her heart and soul, but his presence seemed even stronger now. Her chest ached with sadness and longing, and God, she hoped he would have her. She’d leave everything behind just to spend time with her outlaw lover.
“Like hell,” Ruby said. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Yes, I think I have,” Annabelle replied, raising her voice. “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I dream about him. I can’t live without him. I’ve got to find him and talk to him, tell him…”
There were so many things she needed to tell him. So many things about their time together that she’d looked back on and thought he was too good a man to be an outlaw. But that bank bag had been clear evidence he was a criminal.
Ruby frowned at her sister. “You’re not leaving without me riding with you.”
“You need to stay here. You’re training Caroline, and the two of you are going hunting soon.”
Who would take care of the farm with everyone but Meg gone? Annabelle’s beloved chickens would have no one to look out for them, but they would find someone to feed them. Her place was with Beau, not here.
“No, you’re not going alone. Let me grab my things, and we’ll do this together. This is what got you into trouble to begin with. You tried to go on your own.”
Annabelle sniffed. “I know. But I’ve got to find him, and I didn’t want to ask you to go with me. And Meg…she’s happily married.”
“Annabelle, we’ll do this. It’s okay. We’ll find Beau.”
“Thanks, Ruby,” she said. Maybe it would be better to have another person along. Especially as poorly as Annabelle had felt in the last few months.
“I’ll run to the house and pack a quick bag. Wait for me.”
“I will,” Annabelle said. She loaded her belongings into the saddlebags. Today, she knew how to take care of herself on the trail, but that day she’d followed Beau out of town she’d been such a greenhorn is so many ways. No more.
She pulled her horse through the door of the barn and almost ran smack dab into a man.
“Slow down. There’s still plenty of cash in the bank.”
Oh, my God.
It was Beau.
Her heart leaped into her throat and tears welled up in her eyes. Dang, but she cried so easily now. He repeated the very words he’d said to her when they’d collided the first day. She stepped back and gazed into his emerald eyes. She could smell the familiar scent of soap and a campfire.
“Beau,” she cried, staring at him in surprise. “What…what are you doing here?”
“Annabelle,” he said, his voice rough, his green eyes warm. “I came to talk to you. I had to find you.”
“But the law, won’t they be after you? We need to go, my brother-in-law is a sheriff,” she said, glancing around like Zach would come out at any second. She had to get Beau out of here before her sisters realized who he was and turned him in for the bounty. They would too, just because they knew how this man had left her so fragile.
“It’s okay. I’m not really an outlaw,” he said, reaching out and touching her cheek. “You left before I could come back and tell you the truth. I’m not wanted. I was a Pinkerton agent.”
She licked her lips and stared at him. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But that wanted poster? It showed you were a bank robber.”
He wasn’t an outlaw? He wasn’t wanted by the law?
“We did that so the outlaws would believe I was wanted just like them. It was all a lie so they would accept me into their gang. The Harris gang.”
A spark of anger zinged down her spine. “Are you telling me you let me believe you were an outlaw the entire time we were together when you weren’t? My God! Didn’t you think I deserved the truth?”
She’d agonized over the fact she had to turn him in, and now he was telling her it had all been one big ruse to catch criminals? She wanted to kick him, yet it was so good to see him.
“I’m afraid so, sugar. I couldn’t tell you until after we reached Fort Worth and I handed in the money from the bank. Then I could tell you,” he said, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth. His hands reached out for her. “But when I returned to the hotel, you were gone.”
She doubled up her fist and hit him in the arm. “Gosh, darn it, Beau Samuel. You lied to me. I was so torn between turning you in and you hanging and my family. I’ve been all busted up inside, fearing I’d made the wrong decision.”
He ran a finger down her cheek. “I’m sorry, but if you’d stayed where I told you, then I would have confessed everything that afternoon.”
“And done what? Sent me home, that’s what you’d have done. Why are you here now?”
So, he wasn’t wanted. Then he better be here for all the right reasons, or she would turn her sisters loose on him and let him suffer the consequences.
Annabelle sighed. No, she wouldn’t, though she’d like to.
“I would have given you this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of one hundred dollar bills.
Annabelle’s eyes widened. “What’s that for?”
“It’s the bounty on the Harris gang and the five hundred dollars reward money I promised you. It’s a thousand dollars.”
“Really?” She gazed up into his eyes. Was he truly giving her the money for the Harris gang?
He grabbed her hand and put the cash in her palm. “It’s yours.”
“Oh, my God,” she said, looking around. “We did it. We did it. We can pay off the note on the farm.”
“There’s one more thing,” he said.
She watched him take a deep breath, and then he got down on one knee. His emerald eyes gazed up at hers, glistening with tears as he took her hand. Her heart started beating so fast she felt certain she was going to faint.
“Sugar, we had one hell of an adventure together. One that changed me forever. One where I fell in love with you and realized I didn’t want to be a Pinkerton man anymore. I want to wake up each morning in your arms with you as my wife. I love you, Annabelle, and I want us to get married, buy a farm, and raise a family. But most of all, I want you by my side until the day I take my last breath. Marry me, Annabelle. Please marry me.”
Tears of joy welled up in Annabelle’s eyes, and she launched herself into his waiting arms. “Damn it, Beau Samuel, I love you so much. I was on my way to find you. I’d decided I couldn’t live without you regardless that I thought you were an outlaw. Yes, I’ll be your wife, but you have to promise me one thing.”
“What, sugar?”
“I want a proper wedding night, somewhere other than a cold dark root cellar with a tornado whirling overhead. You planted a seed that afternoon—a seed that is growing inside me. In about seven months, we’re going to have a child.”
A smile brightened his face, and he ran his hand over her belly. Then he stood and pulled her into his arms. “A baby,” he said, and she knew he was thinking of the family he’d lost. He laughed. “Sugar, you got it. Whatever makes you happy, it’s yours.”
She reached up and pulled his lips toward hers. “You make me happy, Beau Samuel. You. I want you in my life as my husband. I love you.”
She layered her mouth over his and felt a sense of homecoming overcome her. She had everything she wanted in life—her darling husband-to-be, a baby on the way, her sisters, and her farm with all her chickens.
Life was good.
_________________
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed
Dangerous
as much as I loved writing this story. With Annabelle’s story, I took the liberty of giving Jesse James another brother. His mother was married three times and had four children. Two with her first husband and then two with her third husband. In my story, I added Beau, a son by her third husband, Dr. Reuben Samuel. When I read how the Pinkertons threw an incendiary device into the Samuel house, killing nine year-old Archie Samuel, Jesse’s half-brother, and blowing off the arm of Zerelda Samuel, Jesse’s mother, I had to create a fourth son—a Pinkerton agent. I hope I’ve shown you Beau’s turmoil of how the Pinkertons treated his family while trying to catch his brother. All speculation on my part.
Ruby and Deke’s story is next and should be available very soon.
I have one small request. If you’re inclined, please leave a review. Whether or not you loved the book or hated it, I’d enjoy your feedback.
Reviews are difficult to obtain and have the power to make or break a book. Here is a link to my author page on Amazon. You can find all my books here:
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Reading one of my books is like spending time with me, and I just want to say
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Sincerely,
Sylvia McDaniel
Western Historicals
The Burnett Brides Series
Boxed Set
Lipstick and Lead
Daring – April 2015
Determined – June 2015
Deceived – August 2015
Southern Historical Romance
The Cuvier Women
Boxed Set
The Cuvier Women
Contemporary Romance
Short Sexy Reads
Racy Reunions Series
Paying For the Past
Cupid’s Revenge
Sylvia McDaniel
Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning author of western historical romance and contemporary romance novels. Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented romances, Sylvia is the author of The Burnett Brides a historical western series, The Cuvier Widows, a Louisiana historical series, Lipstick and Lead, a western historical series and several short contemporary romances.
Former President of the Dallas Area Romance Authors, a member of the Romance Writers of America®, and a member of Novelists Inc, her novel, A Hero’s Heart was a 1996 Golden Heart Finalist. Several other books have placed or won in the San Antonio Romance Authors Contest, LERA Contest, and she was a Golden Network Finalist.
Married for nearly twenty years to her best friend, they have one dachshund that reigns Queen Supreme over the house and a good-looking, grown son who thinks there’s no place like home. She loves gardening, hiking, shopping, knitting and football (Cowboys and Bronco’s fan), but not necessarily in that order.
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