The Outlaw Bride (21 page)

“Ed!”

Connor bolted out of his chair as Ed Devers burst into the sheriff’s office, supporting the weight of a larger man.

“Give me a hand, Con.”

Connor opened the door to the empty cell and helped Ed drag the injured man onto the bed. Blood saturated the top half of his jacket. There was no way of telling whether he was more dead or alive.

“What the hell is going on?”

“It’s Slade.” Ed’s words gripped the dagger Kate had driven into his heart and twisted it hard. “I got word Beesom escaped from Bakers. Nate and I tracked him down just outside of town,” he said, motioning to the man on the cot. “But he’d already gotten to Slade. By the time we caught up to him, the whole damn gang was riding hard to get here. We tried to stop ’em, but there were too many. Nate took a bullet. Figured it was best to try and outrun them to give you fair warning.”

“He’s come for Kate,” Connor said, leaving the cell and grabbing his gun belt, strapping it around his waist. She said he would. That he’d never let her go. Guess that was one thing she hadn’t lied about.

Ed followed him out. “Kate? Your housekeeper?”

“Slade’s wife.” Connor held up a hand before Ed could ask. “It’s a long story and we’ve got no time. I sent Kate to church to say good-bye to Jenny. We best get her somewhere safe.”

Regardless of what she’d done, Slade would have to kill him dead before he let him lay a hand on her.

“Get the doc and meet me at the church.”

***

“What’s the matter, Katy? Cat got your tongue?” Rogan pushed her further up the aisle separating the rows of pews.

Katherine’s brain churned and raced. Her gaze swept the crowded church. There were too many people here. Too many innocent lives. She spied Jenny near the front with Bart and Amelia. Her heart picked up speed.

Will stepped forward. “Can we help you, stranger?” Katherine closed her eyes and prayed he would not try to be a hero. “You’re more than welcome to join our services this morning, but we don’t allow guns in the church.”

Rogan chuckled, cold and harsh. “That a fact?”

“What do you want,” Katherine whispered, forcing the words past the fear in her throat.

He pressed his mouth against her ear. “You and me, we got a little unfinished business.” From the corner of her eye she could see Rogan’s finger trace the ugly scar that cut down his temple and stopped near the edge of his cheekbone. The skin around it puckered and pulled. Three months ago he’d nearly caught her, but she’d hit him with a hot poker, leaving him sprawled on the floor of her hotel room.

What she wouldn’t give to have that poker in her hands now.

Katherine shook her head. “I’m not leaving with you.”

“Oh, I think you are, Katy. I didn’t come all the way into town to fetch you just to leave empty handed.”

Near the front of the church, Bart stood up.

Rogan waved the gun at him. “I’ll shoot you where you stand, old man, you even think of gettin’ heroic on me. And I’m warnin’ you now. Once I get started shootin’, I’m not going to be overly inclined to stop.”

She looked over at the deputy. “Please Bart, he means it.”

All around her Katherine could hear the muffled cries and quieted rumbles of outrage of the parishioners. Katherine tried not to think of poor Jenny, bearing witness to this. She prayed once again for some type of divine intervention that would allow her to get this man out of the church and away from the townspeople. Away from Jenny.

Rogan grinned, an action that should have made him handsome, but instead just made him terrifying. “These people know who you are, Katy-girl? Do they know you’re my wife? Or are they still under the misguided belief you’re this—” he raised an eyebrow, “—mail-order bride, was it?”

The congregation grew silent. Frank Beesom. Damn his miserable hide. He’d broken free and made it back to Rogan. Had he told him about Connor? Her heart squeezed. Grant had killed Rogan’s younger brother. Rogan would not leave town until he had his revenge. Unless she gave him reason to.

“Leave these people be, Rogan. They have nothing to do with this.”

“Don’t much matter to me whether they do or not.”

Fear clamped down on her heart. This couldn’t be happening. But it was. It was every one of her nightmares unfurling before her. Only her nightmares had never included more innocent lives being taken.

“Tell me Katy-girl, did your precious sheriff know who you really were while you were out there playin’ house with him? Or did you crawl into his bed without him bein’ any the wiser? Did he know he was plantin’ his seed in a Slade?”

She jerked against him. “You’re a disgusting pig. Connor never—”

Rogan’s arm held her tight. His gun taunted the parishioners, pointing it at one then another, watching them flinch.

“You’re mine, Katy-girl. It’s about time you settled yourself to that fact. Now we’re gonna leave here, all well behaved like, and not cause a fuss. Is that clear?”

“You can’t take her!”

Jenny’s voice, torn raw with fear, rose above the quiet sobs of the women and children.

“Well, well, well. And who might you be?”

Sharp talons of fear clawed into Katherine’s gut and dug deep. “Leave her alone.”

Rogan ignored her. “What’s your name, little one?”

Amelia’s urgent murmurs reached Katherine’s ears though the exact words were lost, drowned out by the hammering of her heart.

“J-Jenny. Jenny Langston.”

“Well ain’t that the thing.” Rogan laughed and cocked his head to one side to gaze at Katherine. “Pretty chummy with a dead man’s kin, ain’t ya, Katy? You think you could just ride into town and make things all better? Make up for the fact you got blood on your hands?”

“I didn’t kill him, you bastard.”

Rogan shrugged. “Makes no never mind either way. People die, Katy. That’s just the way of it.”

Katherine struggled against him. “He didn’t die, he was murdered!”

Rogan smiled. The distinction meant little to him. To her dying day, she would never understand how he could kill a man then walk away as if he’d done nothing more than swill a shot of cheap whiskey.

“Maybe we should take her with us.”

“Over my dead body,” Bart said, taking a step forward.

“That can be easily arranged, old man. Just one more step and they’ll be plantin’ you outside in the bone orchard.”

“Bart, don’t,” Katherine pleaded. Tension saturated the room. She had to act. She turned her head to look up at Rogan. “Leave them alone. I’ll go with you without a fight, if you’ll just leave them alone. I’ll give you whatever you want.” The words tasted like bile on her tongue.

Rogan smiled, and for a brief moment something flared in his eyes, some emotion Katherine couldn’t quite grasp. “Sure you will, Katy. But you won’t like it, will you?” His voice dropped to a whisper. The knuckles of his gun hand lifted to stroke the side of her face, almost tender. His eyes watched the motion of his hand where it touched her skin, but she sensed he didn’t really see it. His brow furrowed. “Why is that? Why do you always turn away from me like I’m nothin’ better than the dirt beneath your feet?”

Katherine swallowed. “You’re a murderer.”

Rogan’s smile withered and a strange emptiness filled his dark gaze. “Everybody’s gotta make a livin’, Katy. I just chose mine by the gun.”

His hand dropped away and he gazed at the congregation, then to the door behind them, debating his options.

“You got a horse?”

She shook her head, not wanting him anywhere near Connor’s office. “No.”

“You try anythin’ stupid, Katy, and I’ll kill you right dead. Then I’ll come back for the rest of them. You got that?”

She nodded once, swallowing past the fear. She could do this. If it saved Jenny, if it kept everyone safe, she could do this.

“Good girl,” Rogan said, the words sliding over her like a thick ooze. He turned to the others. “Now here’s the way it is. I see just one of you so much as peek your face out this door, and I’ll put a bullet in her head faster than you can spit.”

Rogan no sooner had the pronouncement out when the sound of gunfire volleyed in the distance. Several of the parishioners jumped. A few screamed. Rogan chuckled, an ugly rumbling sound Katherine had come to hate. “Looks like my boys have found your sheriff, Katy.”

Her eyes widened. “No…”

He lifted a brow. “Didn’t think I came here all on my own, did ya? Let’s go.”

***

Connor never made it past the front door of his office.

“Get down,” he shouted, pushing Ed to the floor and crouching low behind the desk. Another gunshot pierced the still morning. A chill settled over Connor that had nothing to do with the cool October air.

“Slade,” Ed said through gritted teeth. He kept low and threw himself behind the desk with Connor. Together, they inched their way toward the window.

The street was clear, but movement on the roof across the street caught Connor’s eye. He lined up his shot and squeezed the trigger. A man grunted and toppled from the roof, landing with a thud on the road below.

“How many men is Slade running with?”

“There were three others, near as we could tell,” Ed said. “Guess two now. Down there.” Ed motioned with his chin to the corner alley. Connor watched as Frank Beesom ran out and dove behind a rain barrel. Ed fired off two shots but both missed. “C’mon out, Beesom. Ain’t nowhere for you to go. We got you surrounded.”

“Think I’ll take my chances. Ain’t no way in hell, I’m—ungh!” Ed grinned as his shot found its mark, but it turned to a scowl when he heard Beesom’s curse. “Son of a bitch!”

“Bastard can’t even do the decent thing and die proper,” Ed grumbled. “What you want to do, Con?”

He wanted to find Slade. But wherever the man was hiding, he was well out of sight.

“You best come on out, Sheriff,” Beesom taunted. “If’n you don’t, I’m guessin’ you’re going to have a church full of dead people afore the service is even halfway over.”

The blood in Connor’s veins turned to ice. “What are you talking about?”

“I ain’t come back here because I like the hospitality, Sheriff. We come back here to get that lil’ housekeeper you been hiding out. Why, Rogan’s at the church collecting her now. Who knows, maybe they’ll renew their vows while they’re there.”

“Christ!” Jenny was in that church. And Kate. Connor bolted for the door, Ed’s shout falling on deaf ears.

He was beyond listening.

Connor ducked into the alley next to The Last Chance Saloon. From his vantage point, he could see Rogan had Kate on the opposite side of the street. Her yellow calico stood out against the dusty road. They were arguing as he hauled her along by the arm, but even as the two drew nearer, their words were pulled away on the breeze. Jenny was nowhere in sight. For that, at least, Connor was thankful.

“Dammit, Con, least you could do was wait.” Ed moved to crouch beside him.

Connor motioned to the street. “He’s got Kate.”

“That ain’t good. Gives him leverage.”

Connor nodded. “I know.”

“Might be we have to forget about that. Put it out of our minds so we can do what needs doin’. You start worryin’ about the consequences and there’s sure to be some. Gotta put your head first on this one, Con. Leave your heart back in this here alleyway. It’s just gonna get you and Kate killed if you don’t.”

The truth had an ugly ring to it. But Connor didn’t know how to separate his fear for Kate’s safety from the worry that one wrong move on his part could spell her end. But they had to do something, and fast. He couldn’t let Rogan get away. As long as the man was free, he was a threat to Kate.

“Hello, boys.”

Ed jumped. “Jesus, old man! Don’t be sneaking up on someone like that. You’re liable to get shot.”

Bart grinned. “Ain’t seen you outdraw me yet, Devers.”

Ed muttered under his breath and turned back to watch Slade, then pointed toward the church. “Where’s he going?”

“I think he’s planning on paying you a visit, Con.”

Connor started. “What’s he want with me?”

“Seems he doesn’t like the idea of you and his
wife
,” Bart said, lifting an eyebrow. Connor realized he would have some explaining to do when this was all said and done.

“Not to mention your brother killed his brother,” Ed added. “Could be he’s lookin’ for some payback.”

“Shit.” This was going from bad to worse fast.

Bart rested a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “I told everyone else to stay put inside the church. Will and Amelia are doin’ their best to keep everyone calm. Figure there’s little chance of Slade doublin’ back there. But just in case, we’d best get some fire power over there anyway.”

Will was adamant that no guns ever pass through the door of his church, but Connor was willing to bet he’d make an exception today.

“How’s Jenny?”

“Madder than a hornet. Doesn’t understand why we let the bad man take Kate.”

Connor glared over his shoulder. A whole church half-filled with men had him wondering the same thing himself. “How exactly did that happen?”

“Kate offered herself up as the sacrificial lamb if he promised to leave the church without killin’ anyone. Wasn’t anything we could do about it without having him start shootin’ just outta spite.”

Ed let out a low whistle. “One brave housekeeper you got yourself, Con. Any woman married to Slade is gonna know he don’t take well to bein’ walked out on. Hell, he dropped a man in Reno just for gettin’ up from the table before his meal was done.”

Connor gave Ed a hard look. “Thank you. Good to know.”

“I’m just sayin’, man’s got a hair-trigger temper.”

“You two gonna sit here jawin’ on it all day or you gonna do something about it?” Bart asked.

Slade and Kate had made it halfway down Main Street. She had started dragging her feet, slowing them down, but she was no match for Slade’s strength.

Connor’s office was on the corner. The building had only one door in. If they made it there, the two would be pinned down and trapped inside. There was no telling what Slade would do under those circumstances, but Connor doubted it would be good.

“Bart, wake Bentley up.” Connor said, jerking his head toward the saloon. “Have him take some of his men and go back to the church. Barricade yourselves in there and keep everyone away from the windows. Get the kids hidden under the pews. Ed and I will deal with Slade.”

“What about his men?” Bart asked. “You sure you don’t need any extra guns out here?”

Connor shook his head. “Beesom’s injured. One man’s dead. That leaves Slade and one other. We can deal with them. I’d rather you make sure the townspeople are safe.” And that the man who had been like a father to him was well out of harm’s way. If the worst came to pass, Connor needed to know Jenny would still have a home to go to.

Connor waited until Bart disappeared inside the saloon.

“We can’t let him reach your office, Con. Nate’s in there helpless as a babe. If Slade sees him, we might as well start diggin’ his grave right now.”

Connor didn’t have time to agree. A shot broke through the eerie quiet.

“Shit!” His attention snapped to the commotion in the saloon. He heard Bart’s shout.

“What the hell you doin’, Bentley?”

Garrett Bentley stood in the doorway of The Last Chance, rifle drawn on Slade.

Slade pulled Kate against him and fired a shot in Garrett’s direction, forcing him back inside. The saloonkeeper took refuge behind the swinging doors and fired a return volley that fell short of the mark.

“Stop shooting, you imbecile!” Connor yelled. “You’ll kill her!”

Slade fired another shot, this one closer to the alley. Connor and Ed had been spotted. A flurry of curses carried from across the street as Slade shouldered his way with force through the door of Milo’s Haberdashery. Within seconds, a small pane of glass broke and shards tinkled against the boardwalk like chimes in the wind.

They’d succeeded in keeping him from reaching the sheriff’s office, but at what cost?

Ed scowled. “There goes the element of surprise. Looks like he’s settling in for a fight.”

Only the need to see Kate safe overrode Connor’s desire to throttle Garrett Bentley. “Get down to the church now! I see that damn gun pointing anywhere near Slade and I’ll shoot you myself.” The last thing he needed was some idiot who spent his morning breathing cheap whiskey fumes shooting up a storm and getting them all killed.

Ed surveyed the street. “We gotta rush the place. No other way.”

Connor considered. He hated it, but it was their only option. The longer they left Kate with a desperate Rogan, the less probability she’d have of getting out alive. He studied the distance between the alleyway and the haberdashery. “If we loop around behind the saloon to the other side, that’ll take us down the street a bit.” He waved his gun to his right. “We can come up on him, get to the front door. He doesn’t have a wide firing range through the small break in that window, but he’ll try either way.”

Ed nodded. “We’ll be movin’. Less chance he’ll be able to hit us.”

Connor didn’t like their odds—there was no telling just where Rogan’s remaining man was stationed—but those were the only odds they had to play at the moment.

“Ready?”

Ed nodded and bolted down the alley. Connor followed on his heels. Once they reached the street, bullets rained from two different directions, slamming into the ground. Puffs of dried dirt kicked up close to their feet as they made a mad dash toward the store, zigzagging back and forth to make themselves less of a target.

They reached the side of the store. Connor pressed himself flat against the wall. Ed dropped to a crouch, aimed toward the roof of the bakery across the street, and fired. A rifle clattered to the street below, discharging on impact.

“Three down,” Connor said.

“Yup.” Ed pulled his hat off and swiped at his forehead before jamming it back on. “And Beesom’s injured, which means he’s probably crawled off somewhere to safety. He ain’t big on dying. That leaves just Slade. Guess you’ll be goin’ in there?”

Connor nodded. There was no other way. If Slade remained in there for too long he’d grow more desperate by the minute. He bunched his muscles, ready to spring. “Distract him.”

Ed fired a shot into the sidewalk near the window. Rogan’s gun barrel jerked back inside. Connor lunged for the door, driving his shoulder into it. The door gave way with a sickening crack and slammed against the back wall. Slade fired as Connor somersaulted through the opening, but the shelves that ran down the middle of the store kept him protected as bullets split the wood around him.

“Connor!”

Katherine’s heart stopped. She watched Connor roll behind the waist-high counter at the front of the store. It provided refuge from Rogan’s direct line of sight. She held her breath, waiting, praying none of Rogan’s bullets had found their mark.

“It’s all over, Slade. Let the woman go.”

Katherine gasped air in relief. Thank God, he was unhurt.

“It ain’t over by half,” Rogan shot back. “I got the girl. So unless you want her blood spilt, you’ll be lettin’ me walk outta here.”

Katherine didn’t doubt Rogan would do it. She’d left him. In his mind, that was a killing offense. If it came down to a choice between her life and his freedom, she had no illusions which one he would choose.

The barrel of Rogan’s gun pressed against her temple. She tried to draw back from its heat, but there was nowhere to go.

“Hear that, Katy? You be a good girl, or you’ll be a dead one. Now I’m guessing that door leads to an office,” he said, pointing his gun to a curtained doorway along the side wall. “And that office most likely has a door to the outside. Am I right?”

“I don’t know.” She’d only been in the store once. He pressed the barrel tighter against her flesh. Katherine bit back the pain. “I swear I don’t know!”

“Then you best persuade that sheriff of yours that he needs to step down and let us out of here.”

The thought of leaving with Rogan, of what would happen to her when she did, roiled in Katherine’s gut until she thought she’d be sick. But the idea of anything happening to Connor was even worse.

“Let us go, Connor. Please. It’s okay. I—I want to go. He’s my husband.” The words echoed in the still air, hollow and unconvincing.

“Never gonna happen, Kate.”

She closed her eyes. Damn the man for being so stubborn. “If you love me, you’ll give me the chance to get out of here, Connor. Please. The law will see me as an accomplice. If they catch me, I’ll hang!”

“Better listen to the lil’ lady, Sheriff. Sure would hate to see this pretty neck stretched, wouldn’t you?”

“Can’t say I care one way or the other if she gets her neck stretched. She’s a Slade. Far as I can tell, that’s reason enough to tighten the noose.” The cold indifference startled her, and she realized with a sudden clarity that this wasn’t about her at all. He didn’t want to protect her, or even see her safe. He just wanted his revenge for the death of his brother. The truth of it lodged itself in her throat. She guessed she had earned his derision, but that didn’t take the pain of it away.

“I’ll kill her, Sheriff. You don’t let me ride outta here, I’ll shoot her where she stands.” Desperation filled Rogan’s voice.

“That’s just one less bullet I have to use, Slade.”

The words cut into Katherine with more force than any gunshot.

Rogan cursed and surged to his feet, dragging Katherine with him. Firing shots in Connor’s direction, he made a break for the backroom. Katherine waited for Connor’s return fire, but nothing came. No shots. No sound. Nothing.

“Connor!”

With a rough yank, Rogan pulled her back against him. “Shut up!”

“Yoo hoo!”

Rogan spun quickly, his gun arm stretched out. He used her body as a shield. Ed Devers stood in the back doorway that led into the alley.

“Goin’ somewhere?” The man seemed completely unconcerned with the fact a wanted criminal had a gun trained on him. Then again, he held the same position, his gun pointed just above Katherine’s head.

“I’ll kill her, you don’t let me pass. I already killed your damn sheriff.”

“I don’t die that easy, Slade.”

The voice came from behind. Katherine barely had time to register the surge of joy that swept through her when Rogan turned again. The momentum swung her around and she used it to push away from him, stumbling backward and landing hard against the narrow file cabinet next to the desk. Gunshots echoed loudly, reverberating in the small room. The acrid scent of powder burned her nostrils.

Katherine’s gaze flew to Connor, then over to Rogan. A look of surprise froze his features. It was the last expression he would ever wear.

Slade dropped to his knees. Then, like a felled timber, he keeled over.

“Connor!”

Kate flew into his arms. Her weight knocked him back a step, bringing everything back into focus. He wound his arms around her and tried to hold her tight but his left arm wouldn’t work properly. His upper body burned as if someone had stabbed him through the shoulder with a hot blade.

Kate stepped back and blinked, her gaze going from his face to his chest and back up again. “Connor?”

Her voice faded into the distance. From the shadowed corner of his eyes he was vaguely aware of Ed approaching, but it was Kate’s beautiful face filled with worry and fear that held his attention.

“Connor…you’re shot.”

He read her lips more than heard her voice. There was a strange rushing in his ears.

“Kinda hurts,” he muttered, but he wasn’t sure if the words were coherent. Blackness encroached. Arms reached around him and he smelled the sweet scent of lavender mixed with a faint tinny odor. Then he was falling down a deep, dark hole that seemed to have no bottom.