Faith (Goldwater Creek Mail-Order Brides 1) (13 page)

J
ax had waited
in his office until he heard Faith and Robertson pull away in the buggy. He couldn’t bear to look at her and was half afraid he might call her back.

His footsteps echoed as he walked down the hall to the front door. The house was achingly empty now. Glancing into the library, his eyes fell on the poetry book on the table. He walked over, pushing aside the packet of gold dust and picking up the book.

Faith had made a new cover. The book that had meant so much to Mary and had even symbolized Mary to Jax had been mended and renewed, but his relationship with Faith was over. Tears burned the backs of his eyes, but only for a second. Jax couldn’t stomach feeling sorry for himself.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, in an instant, he snapped off his feelings for Faith and hardened his heart.

He walked out the door, unhitched Indigo and swung up into the saddle. The familiar creak of leather and earthy scent of Indigo gave him little comfort. He needed to get to the safehouse to make sure Faith’s treacherous behavior hadn’t ruined more than just his heart.

He rode at a fast gallop. The speed and power of the horse helped him forget his troubles and cleansed his thoughts. His only mission now was the saloon. He would throw himself into business. That way he would never risk losing his heart again.

He was relieved to see that nothing appeared to be amiss at the safehouse. Lucky thing he had trusted his intuition and not told her about it. And thankfully, Robertson had found out about her when he did—one more day and Jax might have brought her out here.

He rode around the exterior just to make sure before dismounting and heading inside. The smell of freshly baked bread hit him as soon as he opened the door. Laughter bubbled out from the kitchen. Apparently, the women were no worse for wear. Maybe Faith had not had time to give their location away to Cleb or Lefty.

The house was furnished with well-worn hand me downs and leftovers of which there were precious few in Colorado Territory. Out here, everyone had to make things last. Furniture was made by hand and used until it became fire wood. But still, the house was homey. Jax was proud of his efforts to help the saloon girls.

Rosie and Bessie Mae peeked their heads out from the kitchen. “Hi, Jax. I wondered who that was,” Bessie Mae said.

Rosie craned her neck to look over his shoulder. “Where’s Faith?”

Jax’s mouth hardened into a tight line. “Faith wasn’t the person we thought she was.”

“We know. Rosie told us. Poor Faith,” Bessie Mae said.

Poor Faith? Jax narrowed his eyes at Bessie Mae. “You sympathize with her?”

“Of course. We all do.” Bessie Mae covered her mouth as she let out a raspy cough, then turned to Rosie. “Don’t we?”

“Yes, of course. I just wish she’d told you sooner,” Rosie said.

“Told me sooner?” Jax looked at the two women incredulously. Why weren’t they as angry at Faith’s traitorous behavior as he was? “Well, I guess it would have been better if she did. Then I wouldn’t have shown her the saloon.”

Rosie looked at him curiously. “Sure. I guess. So, where is she?”

Jax shrugged. “On her way to Boston, I hope.”

“Boston? Why would she go there?” Rosie asked.

“Well, I can’t have her stay here, not after what she did.” Jax was getting sick of the questions. He wanted to forget about Faith, but that was impossible with Rosie and Bessie Mae’s constant harping.

Bessie Mae grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute, so she told you about Lefty and her sisters and you sent her away? What in tarnation is
wrong
with you?”

“Wrong with
me
?” A seed of doubt took root in Jax’s stomach. What were the women talking about? He turned away, not wanting them to see the pain on his face. “
She
was the traitor. Why, she could have ruined everything if she’d told Cleb about the safe house.”

Bessie Mae fisted her hands on her hips. “Why, Jax Blackburn, I thought I knew you better than that. Even after Faith told you the whole story, you still
blame
her? You didn’t try to help your own
wife
?”

Jax stared at Bessie Mae, the doubt quickly sprouting. What did she mean by ‘after what Faith told you’? Faith didn’t
tell
him anything. Had he acted too hastily? “Help her?”

Rosie gnawed on her bottom lip. “Yes, help her. Just what, exactly, did she tell you this morning?”

Jax thought back to his conversation with Faith. It hadn’t exactly been a
conversation.
It had been more Jax yelling and Faith shrinking away from him.

He remembered walking through the door, trying to control the red-hot anger cursing through his veins. Faith had been standing just inside the door. She’d looked beautiful. Radiant.

Looking back now, he realized she’d seemed excited and a bit worried, as if she was going to tell him something important and wasn’t sure how he would react. But he hadn’t let her say a thing—he’d ordered her out and never even given her a chance to reply.

What if Robertson had been right and there was an explanation for her alliance with Lefty?

“She didn’t
tell
me anything. What could she say? Robertson had already discovered that she’d been working with Lefty, from his contacts in Boston. I told her to pack up and leave. Robertson is taking her to the train station right now.”

“You mean, she didn’t tell you?”

Jax almost exploded with anger … and fear. Fear that he had done the wrong thing. Because by the look on the women’s faces, there was more to this than he’d thought. “Tell me what?”

“Faith wasn’t
working
with Lefty. She was being blackmailed by him.”

Rosie related the story Faith had told her the night before and Jax’s heart sank deeper in his chest with every word.

“She was going to tell you everything this morning. She was going to
trust
you, hoping the two of you could figure out what to do together.”

Jax’s eyes flicked from Rosie to Bessie Mae. “You mean she was only here because Lefty threatened her sisters?”

“Yes. She didn’t want to betray you,” Bessie Mae said. “She had no choice. You would do the same if it came to family.”

Jax rubbed a hand over his face. He should have listened to Robertson, but he’d reacted without thinking and now Faith was gone.

What had he done?

“Well, if she’s on her way to the train station I say you better get going, young man.” Bessie Mae shoved Jax toward the door. “You better go after her and beg her to come back before you let the best thing that’s ever happened to you get away.”

Jax was on Indigo and thundering down the trail before he even realized he’d reacted. His mind raced … how long ago had Faith left? Had the train already come? If he took the shortcut to town, he might be able to catch her.

He only hoped that if he did, she would forgive him.

He urged Indigo faster and the horse complied as if he knew how urgent Jax’s business was.

They rounded a corner and he saw puffs of dust in the distance. Another rider was coming. No, not a rider, a buggy, and it was traveling dangerously fast for the trail. Jax squinted at the buggy, his blood growing cold when he recognized it as
his
buggy. Buttercup was racing toward him, pulling the buggy with Faith in the driver’s seat.

Where was Robertson?

And then, as he watched them speeding toward him, his worst fear happened.

The buggy wheel hit a rock in the road.

Buttercup faltered, lurching to the side and bringing the buggy with her.

The buggy almost righted itself, but then two wheels landed in a ditch, throwing Faith from the buggy.

Jax watched helplessly as Faith’s body flew through the air, then plummeted to the ground where it lay motionless.

J
ax's heart
crashed into his ribcage. He leapt from Indigo and ran to Faith.

“Faith! Speak to me!” He lifted her limp body in his arms. Was she alive? Her face was so pale, as if no blood ran through her veins. He didn’t see any blood. At least not on the outside, though he knew from what had killed Mary, internal bleeding was even more dangerous.

The buggy wheel lay on the side of the road, the buggy itself lurching cockeyed. Buttercup stood impatiently in front of it, flicking her tail and eyeing Faith nervously.

The horse seemed fine, but Faith … why wasn’t she opening her eyes!

Jax pressed his fingers to the side of her neck, his heart leaping when he thought he detected a faint pulse.

“Faith! Faith!” Were her eyelids moving?

Jax held her to his chest, tears brimming in his eyes. What had he done?

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured as he rocked her still body. “I was such an ass. Please let her be okay and I’ll spend the rest of my days making it up to her.”

Faith’s eyes fluttered open. “Jax?”

“My darling, are you okay?”

She looked around with unfocused eyes, then her eyes zeroed in on him. “Jax!”

“Shhh.” He pressed his finger to her lips. “Don’t try to talk.”

She swatted his finger away. “No, there’s no time! Lefty and Cleb are on their way to the safehouse. They’re going to kill—”

“Well, isn’t this nice.”

Jax jerked his head towards the voice and found himself looking down the barrel of a Smith and Wesson held by Cleb Masters.

Jax shifted his weight, putting himself in between Faith and the two men.

“Who’s your friend, Cleb?” Jax asked, even though he’d already guessed it was Lefty.

“I’m an old friend of your wife’s,” Lefty said. “Too bad you won’t be around long enough for us to get acquainted. Did you know she was a double crosser and a liar?”

“Don’t talk about her that way.” Jax kept his tone even, although he was boiling over with anger. It wouldn’t do to lose his head right now. If he could keep them talking, he might be able to buy some time to overtake them. Even though it was two against one, he still might be able to do enough damage to keep them from harming Faith.

On the side of the path, Indigo flicked his tail. His reins trailed down into the dust, dragging along as the horse sidestepped closer to Cleb and Lefty.

Lefty jerked his head at Cleb and they both slid off their horses. “Now, you’re gonna tell us where that gold mine is or your pretty wife’s gonna get it.”

Jax tensed, pushing Faith even further behind him. No matter what, he would not let them harm her.

Cleb laughed. “Protecting the little lady, eh? We’ll see how protective you can be with a hole in your leg.” He lowered the gun slightly so that it was aimed at Jax’s thigh and cocked the hammer.

“
Bang
!”

The sound of the gunshot echoed in Jax’s ears and he braced himself for the lightning hot pain he knew would follow.

B
ut no pain came
. Instead, Cleb fell down, clutching his hand which was now red with blood. Lefty swung his gun around to shoot whoever had shot Cleb but before he could, Indigo kicked out his powerful hind leg. Jax heard a sickening crunch as Indigo’s hoof connected with Lefty’s elbow. Lefty groaned, collapsing to the ground.

Jax stared in amazement at Bessie Mae standing on the edge of the road, a Colt 45 in her hand.

“’Bout time someone shot him,” Bessie Mae said.

Jax jumped up to secure the guns. It didn’t look like either of the men would be shooting anyone for a long time. Bessie Mae had shot the gun right out of Cleb’s hand and by the looks of it, he wouldn’t be holding a gun any time soon. Indigo had put Lefty out of commission, likely breaking his arm judging by the way he was rolling around, clutching his arm and moaning.

Jax tensed as he heard the thunder of horse hoofs. Did Cleb and Lefty have reinforcements? Maybe Silas O’Toole?

Ryder Devlin whipped around the corner, relief flooding his gray eyes as he surveyed the scene in front of him.

“What in tarnation is going on?” His eyes stopped at Bessie Mae who was still holding the gun. “Gram?”

Bessie Mae shrugged. “Did what I had to do. Now, let’s get these two tied up until Sheriff Fuller gets here.”

“What are you all
doing
here, anyway?” Jax asked as Ryder pulled some rope out of his saddlebags. The two men got busy tying Cleb’s and Lefty’s legs together, even though neither one of them were in any condition to go far.

“Billy Sullivan was making a delivery when he came across Robertson lying in the road. Robertson sent him off to the safehouse to warn us that these two were up to no good.” Bessie Mae inclined her head toward the two men on the ground. “Rosie ran to get Ryder and the sheriff and I came here to head them off.”

Ryder frowned at Bessie Mae. “Gram, that could have been dangerous.”

Bessie Mae coughed, then waved her hand dismissively. “Pshaw. Never had so much fun in my life.”

“Is Robertson okay?” Faith was standing, brushing the dirt from her skirt and looking at Ryder with concern in her eyes. Jax’s heart leapt. Gratefulness washed over him—Faith was okay.

He would never let anything harm her again, he decided as he stood beside her, slipping an arm around her shoulders.

“He’ll be okay,” Ryder said, “I sent Billy over to fetch Doc Schumann for him.”

Jax frowned, looking back at the buggy. How had Faith come to be driving the buggy? “What happened to Robertson?”

“They shot him when we were on the way to the train station. They said they were coming here. Robertson was in no shape to endure a buggy ride. I was on my way to warn you when…” Faith gestured toward the broken buggy.

Warmth spread through Jax’s chest as the realization hit him. Faith had driven the buggy even though she was terrified of horses—she’d done that to warn
him
. To keep
him
from getting hurt. What a fool he’d been to send her away.

Jax put his hands on Faith’s shoulders. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Faith looked down. “Forgive
you
? I’m the one that came out under false pretenses. I’m the one who was going to betray you.”

Jax tilted her chin with his thumb so that she was looking at him. Her eyes, clear as the summer sky, were full of doubt and hope. “I know now that was only because you had to. Who could blame you? I would have done the same for my sisters.”

Something flickered in her eyes and he saw some of the doubt drain away. “You mean you don’t hate me for it?”

Jax shook his head. “It’s you who should hate me for accusing you without even stopping to listen to your side of the story.”

“You don’t owe me anything. You never promised a real marriage in your letters anyway, and I wouldn’t blame you if you still wanted to send me back to Boston,” Faith said. “With Cleb out of commission, you’ll be able to follow through with your plans with little opposition. You don’t need a wife for that anymore.”

Jax glanced down at Cleb. It was true, he thought. Or at least part of it was true. He’d likely be able to open the saloon without much opposition now, but he still
needed
a wife. Not just any wife, though. He needed Faith. Needed her to be by his side from this moment forward and he hoped that she wanted the same.

“It’s true. I haven’t been acting like a proper husband in a real marriage now, have I?” Jax got down on one knee and looked up at Faith. “But I intend to change that. Mrs. Jackson Blackburn, will you stay and be my wife? My real wife?”

Jax’s heart stopped beating as Faith blinked down at him in silence, then a smile spread across her face and she nodded. “Yes, I think I’d like that very much.”

Jax stood and took her in his arms, his lips pressing against hers, softly and then more demandingly as he pulled her tight to him. Jax’s heart opened, his mind whirled and his senses were lost in the scent of lavender and Faith’s soft body melded against his.

“Ahem.”

Jax had almost forgotten there were other people there. He broke the kiss reluctantly and turned to Ryder. “What?”

“Looks like you better get the missus home. I’ll help you fix the buggy.” Ryder started toward the buggy and the two of them inspected the wheel. It was unbroken. Just the pin holding it onto the side of the buggy had sheared off—easily fixed with a spare Jax kept in the buggy.

“It’s good as new,” Ryder said as they hooked Buttercup up to the front. “Why don’t you guys go back to the ranch? I told Billy to have Doc Schumann bring Robertson there. I’ll wait for the sheriff.”

Jax glanced down at Lefty and Cleb. Their legs were tied together, Cleb was unconscious and Lefty lay on his side unmoving but managing to glare up at them. “If you’re sure these two won’t give you any trouble.”

Ryder held up his gun. “I’ll be more than happy to shoot the first one that moves.”

Jax led Faith to the buggy, his arms around her shoulders. “I can’t believe you drove this thing.”

Faith shrugged. “Me, either. But somehow my fear of horses didn’t seem so important anymore when the alternative was losing you.”

Faith reached a tentative hand out toward Buttercup’s muzzle. “I might even get to like them, especially if they show as much good sense as Indigo did when he kicked Lefty.”

“You can say that again. Indigo always did have good sense,” Jax said as he helped Faith into the buggy.

Indigo let out a whinny from where he was tied behind the buggy and Faith laughed. “Sounds like he agrees.”

Jax slapped the reins and Buttercup sauntered off. Faith turned a quizzical face to Jax.

“So, after all this, there really wasn’t even a gold mine?”

Jax looked back to make sure they were far enough away from the others, then a sly grin crossed his face. He switched both the reins into his left hand, then dug into his pocket with his right and pulled out his closed fist. He grabbed Faith’s hand and slipped a small pebble into it, then curled his fist around hers for a second before letting go to pick up the reins again. “I never said there wasn’t any gold mine.”

She turned her hand over, uncurling her fingers to reveal something gold and shiny. Her eyes grew wide as she watched the sunlight glint off the small piece of gold. “Well, I’ll be.”

“There’ll be no secrets between us anymore, Faith. You have my promise,” Jax said.

“And you mine.” Faith slid close to him and sealed her words with a kiss.

Under normal conditions, Jax would have taken his time on the ride home, maybe even tried to coax a few more kisses from Faith’s soft lips, but he was anxious to make sure Robertson was okay. The man was more than just his driver. Robertson had been a friend of Jax’s father and he was more like family than anything else.

Maisie rushed out of the front door as they pulled up to the ranch. Her hands fluttered around her face. “Lordy be, you’re alive!”

“Yes, we’re fine.” Jax let the woman smother him in a hug before she mercifully turned her attentions on Faith.

“And you. I’m so glad you’re home!” She hugged Faith, then turned a glaring eye on Jax. “Where you belong.”

“Have you heard anything of Robertson?” Jax asked as they walked up the steps toward the front door.

“Oh, that man! He’ll be fine. Just a little bullet hole that Doc Schumann stitched right up. He’s laid up in the back bedroom. Gonna drive me crazy.”

As if knowing they were talking about him a loud groan came from the back of the ranch. “Arrgghh! Where’s my water!”

Maisie slid her eyes to Jax. “See.” Then she cupped her hands around her mouth. “You hold your horses. I’m comin’.” Then she rolled her eyes and trundled off toward the kitchen, muttering under her breath.

Faith let out a breath. “I’m glad he’s okay.”

“Me, too,” Jax said. They were still standing in the hall, his arm around Faith’s waist. He didn’t want to let her go, but realized she was probably exhausted. Maybe she should lie down? He didn’t want her to get worn out.

“You’ve had a rough day. Maybe you should go lie down?” Jax said.

Faith turned to face him. Her hand touched his cheek, tracing the side. Her eyes were deep with an emotion that touched Jax to his core. He tightened his hold on her waist. “I think you need to get off your feet. I can’t have anything happening to you. I nearly lost you for good and I can't let that happen again.”

Faith’s heart melted at the look on his face. Her fingers reached to her throat, closing on the velvety brown ribbon around her neck. She lifted it over her head, letting the key dangle in between them.

“I do think lying down might do me some good, but I don’t believe I’ll be needing this anymore.”

Jax’s face split into a wide smile and they started down the hallway, this time heading in the same direction.