Tempting the Marshal: (A Western Historical Romance) (Dodge City Brides Series Book 2) (33 page)

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TAKEN BY THE COWBOY

(Dodge City Brides – Book Three)

HERO AND PROTECTOR

Former bounty hunter, expert gunslinger, and the toughest sheriff Dodge City has ever known, Truman Wade is a real man from the tip of his black Stetson right down to his spurs and leather boots. He’s never met his match in a gunfight, but he’s never met a gorgeous, gutsy woman from the twenty-first century either…

TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Newly single after a rocky breakup with her self-absorbed fiancé, newspaper columnist Jessica Delaney crashes her car in a lightning storm and soon finds herself dodging bullets in the Wild West. Before the night is out, she’s tossed in jail for a murder she didn’t commit, and if things don’t seem complicated enough, the impossibly handsome sheriff in charge of her arrest has danger written all over him—and a sexy swagger to die for. Jessica knows she needs to get home, but when Sheriff Wade’s enticing touch sets her passions on fire, she begins to wonder if fate has other plans for her, and soon she must choose between the life she longs for in the future…and the greatest love she’s ever known.

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Read on for an excerpt
…

Excerpt from

TAKEN BY THE COWBOY

Dodge City Brides Series – Book 3

Copyright © 2011 by Julianne MacLean

Prologue

Dodge City, Kansas

Present day

Jessica Delaney sat in the waiting room outside the Operating Room, barely able to move, much less comprehend what had just happened to her brother. “How much longer?” she said to her parents. “He’s been in there for two hours.”

Jessica’s mother blew her nose, while her father sat in silence, squeezing his wife’s hand. “I’m sure they’re doing their best,” he said. “We’ll hear something soon.”

Jessica rose from her chair and walked to the edge of the waiting room to peer down the long hall at the surgery doors to the O.R. She thought of Gregory lying on the table under the lights, a team of masked surgeons working over him. What were his chances? Did anyone ever survive a bullet wound to the chest?

Feeling nauseous all of a sudden, she returned to her chair and sat down. She stared at a framed painting on the wall and wished this day had been different. Gregory didn’t deserve to be lying on that table. He was too young, and such a good person.

At least the gunman was behind bars. The convenience store clerk had noticed the out-of-state license plate just before he called 911.

An orderly in a white uniform walked by pushing a cart stacked with folded blue hospital gowns. Jessica watched him while he steered the cart onto the elevator. When the doors slid shut behind him, she thought of Liam, her fiancée.

Should she call him and tell him they were still waiting for news?

Jessica chewed on a thumbnail and recalled their conversation hours ago, when she’d called him at work….

“Liam, something terrible just happened. Can you come with me to Dodge?”

“When? Now? I’m in a meeting. I can’t just skip out.”

She fought to keep her voice steady. “Gregory’s been shot. He’s on his way to the hospital. I need to go right now, and I’d really like you to come with me.”

He was silent for a moment. “God, Jessica…is he going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I need to go now—to be with Mom and Dad.”

“Of course. You should go.”

“Can’t you come?”

She heard him sigh heavily on the other end of the line. “It’s a really bad time, Jess. We’ve got clients coming in tonight. It could be a million-dollar deal. If I’m not there, it might cost me my job—and you don’t know what kind of day it’s been for me.” He began to tell her about the mountain of emails and texts he still had to get through.

Jessica covered her forehead with her hand. She didn’t want to hear the details. Not now.

She interrupted him. “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll go alone.”

“Let me know how he’s doing. Call me later.”

“Sure.” She hung up without saying goodbye and drove from Topeka to Dodge alone….

The squeak of the surgery doors swinging open pulled Jessica from her thoughts. She stood up to look down the hall again and saw a doctor in O.R. greens walking toward them. His shirt was drenched in sweat. “Mom, Dad…someone’s coming.”

Her parents stood up.

The doctor, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, kept his eyes on Jessica as he walked the length of the hall. A terrible rush of anxiety exploded in her belly as he came to stand before them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Delaney,” he said, “I’m Doctor Jake Spencer.”

He shook her father’s hand, while Jessica put her arm around her mother.

“I’m sorry to tell you this,” the doctor said. “We did everything we could for Gregory, but I’m afraid he didn’t make it.”

Jessica stared blankly at the doctor, who kept his gaze fixed on hers. His eyes filled with empathy, while hers filled with tears.

Her parents said nothing for a moment, then her mother let out a sob. “Please, no.”

The doctor put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Delaney. The wound was deep. The bullet entered his chest and punctured a lung. It lodged in the wall of his aorta. We tried to stop the bleeding and put a graft in place, but it bled too heavily, and we couldn’t stop it. We did all we could do. I massaged his heart to pump it manually, but…I’m very sorry.”

Jessica’s mother leaned into her husband and buried her sobs in his chest. All Jessica could do was stare at the doctor while she listened to her mother’s weeping and the sound of her own blood rushing through her veins. She still couldn’t believe what the doctor was saying.

“Will you be all right?” he asked. His voice was caring. Almost shaky. His green eyes were compassionate and sincere. He reached out and touched her shoulder.

Jessica managed to nod.

“If you need anything or have any questions,” he continued, “you can contact me at any time.” He handed her his card.

“Thank you,” she replied.

He made a move to leave but turned back. He shook his head in frustration. “I’m sorry, Jessica. I did everything in my power to save him. I wish I could have done something to prevent it from happening.”

His expression was tight with strain, as he bowed his head and walked away.

Her grief swelled as she stared after the doctor, until the doors to surgery swung closed behind him. She choked back a sob and turned to embrace her parents.

It wasn’t until many hours later, after they left the hospital and went home to call their friends and relatives, that Jessica wondered how the doctor had known her name.

Chapter One

One year later

Jessica shifted nervously in the driver’s seat, her fingers like vice grips around the steering wheel. She’d driven for two hours, slicing through a rain-battered dusk, wishing that she lived closer to Dodge and her parents. If she did, she wouldn’t have to spend so many hours traveling from one city to the other.

Maybe it was time to move home, she thought, for the tenth time that month. There wasn’t much keeping her in Topeka anymore—not since she broke off her engagement to Liam.

She was self-employed and could write her fitness column from wherever she pleased. All she needed was a good pair of sneakers for running, her laptop, and wireless Internet at a nearby Starbucks. Her apartment was a sublet. She could give a month’s notice and be out of there in a heartbeat. The change would do her good.

Not that she wasn’t happy in her work. She loved what she did. There were no problems in that department, but everything else seemed so uncertain and unpredictable.

Her brother had gone out to buy ice cream after supper one night, and he never saw another sunrise again.

Jessica had imagined she’d be married by now with a kid on the way, but the man she chose for a husband turned out to be a self-absorbed child, and she was suddenly single again, paying off debt from a honeymoon she had no choice but take alone.

Yet, she was ever hopeful, waiting for a sign from above, a clue to suggest what she was meant to do with her life. There had to be some greater purpose.

Should she stay in Topeka, or move home to Dodge to be closer to her parents?

They weren’t getting any younger and wouldn’t be around forever. If she’d learned anything over the past year, it was to make the most of each and every day, because you never knew when it could all end—just like that—with no warning whatsoever.

Come on, destiny. Which is it? Topeka or Dodge?

A flash of lightning and an instantaneous thunderclap caused her to jump in her seat. Rolling her neck to ease the tension in her shoulders, she flexed her fingers on the steering wheel and repositioned her slick palms. The windshield wipers snapped noisily back and forth.

Another crash of thunder overlapped the last. Counting the seconds to keep her mind occupied, Jessica raked stiff fingers through her hair. She’d just finished a cup of bitter service-station coffee, and now her brain, whirling with caffeine, couldn’t match the lightning with the correct thunderclap.

Maybe the radio would take her mind off things. She tuned into a fiddling festival, then tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel to “Oh! Susanna.” Other vehicles passed her at dangerous speeds, their tires hissing through puddles on the slick pavement. She glanced impatiently at her watch, wondering how much longer she’d have to fight this storm.

Ahead of her, a white freight truck lumbered slowly up the incline. Knowing she’d have to pass, she glanced over her shoulder and signaled to cross into the passing lane.

She barely managed to gain any distance when her car suddenly hydroplaned and began to fishtail. Instinctively, she slammed her red stiletto pump onto the brake, realizing too late what she had done. Her heart pummeled her ribcage as she tried to regain control, but it was no use. The steering wheel was useless as the vehicle spun around in a dizzying circle.

Oh! Susanna, don’t you cry for me….

The car whipped around and flipped over, bouncing across the pavement like a child’s toy. The world spun in chaotic circles. Jessica’s head hit the side window. Glass smashed, and steel collapsed like tin all around her.

Frozen with fear, she felt all her muscles constrict.
Please, stop! Get me out of here!

Lightning split the ashen sky. The car lit up and sizzled with one electrifying pulse after another.

The light…it was too bright. She couldn’t see. She squeezed her eyes shut.

All at once, the world became silent except for the echoed thumping of her heart in her ears. There was no pain, only blackness. She felt as if she were floating, detached from everything but the extraordinary quiet, the complete absence of all cares and misgivings. She felt no fear now. Was this death? Maybe she would see her brother….

Something wet trickled down her forehead and onto her eyelashes.

The distinct visceral sensation sucked her out of the tranquil beyond, and when her eyes fluttered open, she found herself lying on her back, gazing up at the dusky sky, watching silvery clouds roll and twist and turn in the most fantastic way.