Dangerous (8 page)

There were five hundred dollars attached to his name, and she aimed to garner that money with or without her sisters’ help. She’d turn this bastard in and then return home to think about his kisses, while taking her pistol out for target practice. There was a tin can with his face on it waiting back home.

After they dropped the bodies inside the graves, they stepped back and caught their breaths. Sweat trickled down Beau’s face, and the muscles of his arms looked large and beefy. A strong muscular man, Beau Samuel was not someone you messed with.

“It’s warm today,” he said, taking his handkerchief and swiping the beaded moisture from his brow.

His tongue wet his lips, and she had the urge to step into his arms and experience the pleasure of his mouth once more. Just the memory of his lips on hers had her body heating from the inside out. But kissing him again wasn’t going to happen. He was an outlaw, and she didn’t need that kind of heartache. She just needed the five hundred dollars reward money.

“Yeah, it is,” she said, gazing at him in the sunshine. There was something deliciously incongruent about him.

How many outlaws would have taken the time to fulfill the wishes of a dying man by burying his body and his son’s by his dead wife? And how many outlaws would have stopped after kissing her last night?

Was there really honor among thieves or was Beau Samuel different?

“Bow your head and let’s say a little prayer,” he said, looking at her with a sheepish look on his face, like he was afraid she’d say something about him praying over the dead man and his son.

“Father, accept these souls into your loving arms and forgive them for any sins they may have committed. In your son’s name, amen.”

Annabelle raised her head and didn’t say a word. An outlaw saying a prayer over the men his gang had killed? She shook her head. This man was very complex, but he was still an outlaw with a bounty on his head, which she intended to collect.

“As soon as I finish covering the bodies, we need to get on the trail. We’ve already been here longer than we should have been.”

“You don’t think they’ll come back, do you?”

“No, but I’m not sticking around to find out. We need to get further down the trail before dark.”

“Why are they searching for you?” she asked.

He took his canteen and lifted it over his head, letting the water splash down over his face. Then he wiped the extra moisture away with his handkerchief.

As he cleared the water droplets from his face, his gaze lingered on her. “I’m a member of the gang. After the hold-up in Wichita, I hid the bank money. They want their share.”

A small piece of her heart hardened at the realization he was not a good guy. Whatever doubts she’d had about whether or not he was truly a wanted man and outlaw disappeared. The man had robbed a bank then hidden the money from the rest of the gang. No wonder there were five men chasing him. No wonder they wanted to kill him.

“Do you want a share of the money?” he asked, with a teasing grin on his face.

A part of her wanted to slap that silly smile right off his face. Farmers and ranchers had worked hard for that cash only to have it stolen. And he was acting like it was nothing. She took a deep breath and built a wall around her heart against this man. She smiled. “Not on your life. What I want is the bounty on your head and I aim to get it.”

She turned and walked away from him, letting him stew on her goal. He may have thought she’d given up, but she hadn’t. And actually, she had him to thank for that. Because if he hadn’t given her that kiss last night, she might have returned home and sent her sister Ruby after him.

But now it was personal. That kiss and his consequent rejection this morning had sealed her resolve to hand him over to the law. She wanted the first man who had ever kissed her to rot in jail, and she planned on helping him find his way there.

*

Back on the trail, the easy banter between them from yesterday had disappeared. There was a tense silence, and Annabelle knew they were both thinking about that poor farmer and his son. The Harris gang included some of the worst outlaws she’d ever heard of, not the usual longriders Meg and Ruby pursued. Silently, she prayed her sisters were on their way. They were almost two days ride from Zenith, and with any luck, her sisters had seen her tracks and would find her.

Every time they stopped, she’d left her initials in the dirt or a scrap of her petticoat when Beau wasn’t looking, trusting her sisters would find the signs and know they were on the right trail.

Annabelle raised up in the saddle, trying to give her bones a rest from the constant jarring.

“Saddle weary?” Beau asked.

“A little,” she said.

“You know, you haven’t slowed me down much. I’m surprised. You must do a lot of work around your farm,” he said, glancing over at her with admiration.

“Since I’m there most of the time by myself, I don’t have much choice,” she responded.

“I thought you had two sisters.”

“They’re out bounty hunting, so we can keep the farm.”

He shook his head and laughed. “Oh, yes, the bounty hunter sisters. I’m not certain I believe they’re real. Kind of like that husband and sheriff you mentioned the other night.”

Maybe he had a small point about her husband and sheriff. But she couldn’t wait to see her sisters again. “When you meet them, you’ll know it’s real.”

“I grew up on a farm,” he said.

“Really?” she said, unable to imagine him working in the fields. “What made you decide to leave?”

“We lost the farm and had to move into town.”

A frown furrowed his brow, and she could see the memory wasn’t a good one, but she couldn’t feel sorry for this man. She had to keep her barriers up between them.

They rode along the trail, meandering around some tall scrub oak. She glanced over and saw a small lane. At the end of that wide trail, a house sat. She could see smoke spiraling from the chimney. “Hey, there’s a farmhouse. ”

Part of her was ready to get off the trail and the other part of her didn’t want to leave him. Both parts knew it was best if they separated from Beau. There was a powerful attraction between them, and it could only lead to heartache.

He glanced over at it and nodded his head. “Yeah, I saw it a ways back.”

“Aren’t we going to stop?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“What do you mean nope? You couldn’t wait to get rid of me yesterday.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Oh, no.” She pulled her horse to a stop as hot white anger rushed through her blood, shocking her. “I’m not going any further. First, you told me you would tie me up and leave me on the trail. Then you told me at the first farmhouse we came to you would leave me, and now, you’re saying nope. Well, I’m the one who’s putting an end to this little adventure we’re on. I’m done. I’m calling it quits.”

He glanced over at her, a daring glint in his emerald gaze. “What happened to getting your five hundred dollar bounty?”

Like a teakettle, the pressure was mounting, and she was about ready to explode. “I’m still going to get it. But I’m going to wait until my sisters catch up to me, and then we’ll go after you together.”

A smile graced his face. “That’s my smart, sassy mouth girl. I knew you wouldn’t give up on getting that reward.”

“Hell no, that reward will make the farm ours.”

“I’m real happy for you. But I’m not going to leave you with strangers at a farmhouse that might be attacked by the Harris gang. I’m not having your dead body on my conscience.”

Aargh
. She wanted to leave him behind. She wanted to get away from his boyish charm and his sweet, tempting mouth and his hard chest. She wanted to find her sisters and then come after him with a vengeance. But the thought of dying like that farmer and his son was terrifying.

“And that’s better than being attacked on the trail in your company? Don’t you think they’ll kill you and me both if we’re found together?”

“Maybe. But you saw what they did to that farmer. Is that what you want? Do you want to take a chance? I can protect you better than a sodbuster.”

Annabelle’s emotions felt like a broomtail flippin in the wind in a cornfield, blown in every direction. Part of her longed to stay with the farmer, part of her wanted her sisters to find them on the trail, and part of her wanted to stay with Beau and for his lips to explore hers once again. “I want my sisters to catch up and help me wrangle you to the nearest sheriff.”

He grinned at her. “I can’t wait to meet these sisters of yours.”

“You may regret saying that.”

“Come on, let’s go. You’re going with me.”

Why now and why with this man had she suddenly experienced her first kiss? Why an outlaw, a man her papa would have hauled into town for his bounty? And why like this out on the prairie?

Because of her own silly pride for thinking her sisters had all the fun, while she sat at home and talked to the chickens.

L
ater that afternoon, Beau’s worst nightmare came true. He glanced behind him and saw the Harris gang riding hard toward them, sending his heart to pounding and his breath straining. He had a choice. Try to get away from them with Annabelle, or stop and act like he was glad to see the gang he belonged to and he’d been busy searching for the outlaws everywhere.

Though he hated the second option, he couldn’t help but think it would serve him better than trying to outrun them and risking either himself or Annabelle being shot.

He pulled his horse to a halt and glanced over at Annabelle. “Listen,” he said, his voice stern. “The Harris gang is about a half mile behind us. Follow my lead and don’t do anything stupid. You’re my wife. Do you hear me? Don’t disagree or you’ll be servicing five randy cowboys. Are we clear?”

Her blue eyes widened with fear, as she pulled up next to his horse. “You better get me out of this alive, or I will haunt you in hell. Do you understand me?”

He reached out and ran his fingertips across the smooth skin of her face. “Sugar, just be your usual charming self.”

The sound of horse's hooves brought his attention back to the situation at hand. Beau waved to the riders like he was happy to see them and said a quick prayer that they would not be dead before sunset.

The riders surrounded them, with William coming up beside Beau. “Where in the hell have you been?”

“What do you mean? I told you when we split up I would hide the bank robbery money, and I’d catch up to you on the way to Fort Worth.” God, he hoped they believed that lie. Or else any second now he’d be feeling a bullet entering his brain.

“I’ve spent the last three days looking for you,” William said, his dark eyes glowing with hatred. “I’ve half a mind to shoot you right now.”

Beau shrugged his shoulders, pretending it didn’t matter, while remembering the man William had shot and left for dead on the trail. “If you don’t ever want to see that bank money again, that’s your choice.”

Silence filled the air as William stared at Beau, his eyes searching Beau’s face.

“Once I lost that posse, I hid the money. Then I was passing by Zenith, and I stopped and married my childhood sweetheart. Gentlemen, meet my lovely wife, Annabelle.”

Maybe since he’d brought his wife, they’d believe he wasn’t trying to steal the money away from them. Though, in a sense, he did plan on keeping the cash from them.

The men whistled, but William didn’t look convinced. He shook his head. “Why in the hell did you bring your wife out on the trail?”

“Now, I know what you’re thinking, William, but it’s not true. I wouldn’t have brought Annabelle if I was trying steal the hold-up money. My plan was to get the money, find you, and put Annabelle at Crockett, where your family is waiting for you. That way she’d be safe, while we’re out earning a living.”

William growled like a ravenous beast. “Where did you hide the money?”

“We’re two days’ ride away,” Beau said, trying to act surprised at the outlaw’s reaction. “It’s near the Red River. Right on the way to visit your wife and family.”

“I should kill you right here for disappearing with the money.”

Beau expected to see the flash of the gun’s nozzle any second. William hadn’t hesitated when he’d killed that poor man for being drunk. The only thing working in Beau’s favor was the missing money, or he knew he would have been dead by now.

He shrugged like his life meant nothing, while he held his breath. “That’s your choice, but with that posse breathing down our neck, I didn’t want to take a chance of getting caught and all of us losing the money and hanging from a tree.”

Refusing to back down, Beau stared at William. The man was a killer. A murderer of innocents, and evil men seemed to flock to him. Did malevolence attract more evil?

“You’ll take us to the money tomorrow. Then we’ll take your wife to join the other women,” William said, though his voice was cold.

They had until Beau located the money, and then he felt certain William would put a bullet in their brains. Sometime between now and the time they reached the Red River, he had to get Annabelle and himself out of this man’s clutches. “Sounds like a plan.”

William signaled to his men, and they all fell into line. Beau glanced over at Annabelle, who hadn’t said a word during all this time.

She pulled her horse alongside Beau, and they rode side by side with the Harris gang surrounding them. Oh no, they weren’t letting Beau out of their sights again.

“What did you say your wife’s name was Samuel?” William asked.

“Annabelle.”

Beau held his breath, fear stealing over him like a bad drunk. If she didn’t answer William’s questions to his liking, the grass could soon be waving over them.

“You never mentioned no childhood sweetheart,” William said, gazing at Annabelle suspiciously.

“Well, I hadn’t exactly planned on marrying her right away,” Beau admitted, his nerves stretching taut as William stared at Annabelle.

“How’s married life treating you, Mrs. Samuel?”

Annabelle huffed out an exasperated breath.

Oh dear, he knew this was going to be good before she even opened her mouth.