Luke's Runaway Bride

She flushed and snatched her dress closed. Her misty blue eyes flared. A gentleman would have looked away, her gaze seemed to accuse. Well, he sure as hell was no gentleman. But he did look away, scouring the room for his clothes while she adjusted hers.

His boots sank into the plush braided rug. He stepped to a leather wing chair and retrieved his bloodstained shirt. Pain jabbed his right side. He eyed the whiskey on the polished desk. “Mind if I take a drink?”

“Help yourself.”

It slid down his throat like fire. He took another, until the pain retreated and his thoughts spun.

How could he get Daniel to follow him to Cheyenne? Even if he didn’t want the boy, or stuck to his unlikely claim that Adam wasn’t his, Daniel should at least do the honorable thing and sign release papers so someone else could adopt the child. The last thing Maria Ramirez had done before diphtheria took hold of her was go to the town hall and register the boy’s legal father as Daniel. A month ago, after her death, the judge had told Luke nothing could be done for Adam until those release papers were signed or refuted by Daniel. If he’d only agree to see the boy…

Luke thrust an arm into his sleeve. Now suppose Jenny went to see the kid first, without Daniel…. Luke shook his head. No. Impossible. This was a delicate situation, and the last thing Luke wanted was to upset her. He needed her, the boy needed her, calm and rational and happily married to Daniel.

Happily married. Luke adjusted his collar. So Daniel was finally tying the knot. Well, good luck to him. Luke had never been tempted. Not with what he’d seen in his own family.

As he buttoned a cuff, Jenny leaned her supple body against the desk and tucked herself in her feather wrap. Peacock feathers and lavender corsets. What other surprises did she have under there? He tore his gaze away and smoothed his sleeves. “How’s Daniel doing these days?”

“Very well. He’s sponsoring the Widows and Orphans Charity Ball tonight,” she said with pride, “raising money.”

Luke gritted his teeth. Daniel should be looking after his own son. He hadn’t even bothered to attend Maria’s funeral when Luke sent the telegram. A second telegram went unanswered, too.

But Jenny was innocent, Luke told himself, and he’d try to be kind. “When’s the wedding?”

“January.”

“The dead of winter?”

She stumbled for words. “Spring or summer would have been nice, when the blossoms are out, but…January’s fine, too.” She crossed her arms defensively. “It’s Daniel’s slowest time of year, selling property.”

“Ah, I see….” Hell, Luke didn’t blame her for falling for Daniel. Six years older than him, Daniel had been his only friend in that difficult year when his father had died. Luke had grown up respecting Daniel, admiring his easy wit and mathematical skills, his ability to work hard and do his share of the farming chores, his popularity with girls. Later, Luke admired Daniel for getting himself educated in the railroad business. And hadn’t Daniel even lent Luke money once, so Luke could buy his ma a penny vase, the only store-bought present she’d ever received in her hardworking, miserable life?

A voice nagged inside his brain. But wasn’t Daniel also the one who’d taunted Luke with the shame of how his father had died? How his father was hanged?

Luke ran a hand through his unruly hair, and the sound of Jenny’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Where do you live?”

“Wyoming Territory,” he grumbled.

“Oh, Wyoming’s pretty.”

He tucked his shirt into his denim pants. “You been there?”

“Once, last month with my father. He’s setting up the new junction outside of Cheyenne.”

“Your father works for the railroad?”

She nodded and smiled. “Vice president of operations. He’s working tonight. One of the trains derailed south of the Springs, and he’s working to get it hitched back up. He’ll be sorry he missed you.”

Luke didn’t care to meet her father or anyone else.

“That’s how Father and Daniel met,” Jenny continued in her innocent tone. “I mean, when Father was buying land for the railroad. He took out a loan with Daniel.”

Luke searched the room for his jacket and warned himself to keep quiet about Daniel’s business. But now that he knew where Daniel was tonight, that’s where he’d head. Straight to the ball. Hell, why not settle things as planned?

Luke still had the extra rail ticket in his pocket that he’d bought for Daniel tonight. Daniel could meet Adam, make his decision. He could even catch the next day’s train home, with or without the boy. There were only two trains a week between Denver and Cheyenne, and Luke had carefully thought out each possibility before he’d left.

“If you’ve just arrived in town, have you heard?” she asked. “There was a robbery in Daniel’s office this afternoon.”

Luke’s gaze snapped to hers. “A robbery?” An uneasy feeling trembled through his gut. “What time was that?”

“Four o’clock.”

What? He took a shaky step back. “What do you mean?”

“At four o’clock, a man robbed Daniel.”

The hair at the back of Luke’s neck stood on end. What was going on? He’d been there at four—an hour past closing, with no sign of a robber. Surely Daniel wouldn’t… “What did the man take?”

Warm lamplight danced across her solemn expression. “Ten thousand dollars.”

Ten thousand dollars? A lifetime of money.

Luke stared at her and gulped. He hadn’t taken a cent. Was Daniel trying to set him up for a fall? Dammit! Was Daniel trying to blackmail him to keep quiet about the boy?

“Daniel said no one was harmed. He got a good look at the man, though, and gave an accurate description to the sheriff.”

Luke staggered back, the news hitting him like a blow behind the knees. The sheriff was involved? Daniel planned on framing him? As hard as they’d physically fought in the past, Daniel had never pulled a stunt like this before. What kind of man had he become? Was he good enough to be a father to Adam? Was he even good enough to be a husband to this innocent Jenny, with her powdered hair and stick pin?

Luke swallowed past the rock in his throat. And where the hell did that put him? He’d heard about Denver’s hanging judge. In this town, it’d be Daniel’s mighty word against his. If Luke were caught, what would happen? Would he be hanged just like his father? He felt the blood drain from his head. Anything but that. He grabbed his jacket and his breathing came in gasps. “Did he tell you anything about the man?”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “No, he said he didn’t want to frighten me.” Her gaze skimmed down to his chest at the same time his hand shot up to conceal the bloodstain.

She stared at his shirt, then straight at him. The sheen in her eyes changed and he saw realization dawn. Redness crept up her neck as she stumbled backward. “You’re the one—”

“It’s not what you think. I didn’t steal any money—”

She stared at him as if he’d crawled out of a sewer. Rage churned his veins. Inwardly, he roared. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t go to the ball for Daniel; he’d be shot or arrested. But he also couldn’t forget about the boy! Dammit! If this was Daniel’s way to shut him up, it damn well wouldn’t work.

A crazy thought fired through his mind and tangled with the whiskey and the pain.

Luke held her gaze, her wild eyes. Why not? Maybe she needed protecting from Daniel herself, and he’d be doing her a favor. And if Daniel was in love with her, he’d do anything to save her. Wouldn’t he? Would he tell the truth about Adam then? Would he sign the papers? Would he explain to the sheriff that he’d been mistaken about the robbery?

No, maybe Luke was imagining the worst. Surely Daniel wouldn’t have…

Could Luke risk it? Hanging from the gallows like his father…

His heart drummed. Thirty-six hours. That’s all he’d need her for. He’d borrow her for thirty-six hours. He’d take the most valuable thing Daniel had and force the son of a bitch into a chase. Luke would release her after Daniel caught tomorrow’s train to Cheyenne and settled their affairs.

Thirty-six hours.

She stumbled backward as he stared at her with deadening calm. By the stricken look on her face, she knew she was in desperate trouble. She lunged for the gun on the desk, but she was no match for his years of fighting experience. He reached it first. Breathless, she stepped back and faced him as he leveled his weapon on her.

He sucked in a cool, shaky breath. “You’re coming with me.”

Chapter Two

“What do you mean, I’m going with you?” Jenny panted. Prickles of terror raced up her spine. Who the hell was this man and what did he intend to do with her? He swayed above her, breathing hard, his damp shirt plastered to the black hair on his powerful chest, a six-shooter pointed straight at her. What chance did she have?

Beneath her hot velvet gown, sweat beaded between her breasts. She’d never let him take her without a fight. Inch by inch, she leaned back against the desk and secretly stretched her fingertips toward the whiskey decanter. If she could reach it, she’d fling it in his face. Better yet, in his wound.

His cool gray eyes glinted, as cold as gunmetal in a snowstorm. His expression was a mask of granite. “I’m taking you to Wyoming.”

The muscles in her face sank. “Why?”

His pale lips thinned. “Because it’s the only way Daniel’s going to listen to what I have to say.”

She doubted he was any friend of Daniel’s. At heart, he was just a criminal who’d stolen ten thousand dollars. When Daniel got ahold of him, he’d see to it the man paid for his crime. “Where in Wyoming are you headed?”

“Daniel will know where.”

Her jaw stiffened. “I’m not going with you.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

She stretched her arm to the point of pain until her fingers grazed cool glass. She swallowed, gripped the bottleneck hard and swung it. A river of gold liquid spewed onto his chest. Bull’s-eye.

Luke sprang back and yelped, clawing at his shirt. She winced, but before he could recover, she stretched for the rock on the other side of the desk and flung it, too. He glanced up in the nick of time and, cursing her, reared out of its path before the rock could whack him on the chest. It thudded on his boot.

His mouth twisted. “Dammit, woman!”

She dashed toward the door, but a firm hand gripped the back of her dress. Strong fingers dug into her bare shoulder. He yanked her closer and she gasped when she met his blazing eyes. A swath of wavy hair fell across his forehead. His temples glistened with sweat. All she smelled was whiskey. Dear God, what would he do to her?

His face was flushed a deep ruby, but he kept his grip steady on the gun. With each tick-tock of Daniel’s silver clock on the desk, her stomach quivered.

Then, with an unexpected heave, Luke tossed her away, unharmed. Dabbing at his shirt with a towel, he growled. So maybe he wouldn’t hurt her. Her mind reeled, searching for another escape.

The faint sound of footsteps came from the hallway. Their startled gazes collided. Olivia.

Luke dove at Jenny and cupped a hand to her mouth. She shrank back, dodged his callused palm and bit down on a finger. Hard.

“Ahhh!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to his chest, crushing her breasts against him.

For one breathless moment they were close enough to kiss.

The shocking thought sent a current racing down her thighs. He wouldn’t dare!

Emotions battled across his face. He looked like a man trapped by something he wanted to explain.

He inclined his dark head and she gasped. Would he kiss her? No…once again he slid a hot, firm hand over her lips, stifling her protest.

She stilled under the pressure. His hand carried the scent of fresh air and grass. He splayed his other hand against her bare shoulder blades and heat seeped into her skin.

He was a barbarian. A criminal.

Wasn’t he?

With her soft curves flattened against his firm chest, she felt his heart drumming in unison with her own. Daniel’s touch never affected her like this. Daniel’s arms felt secure and comfortable. Luke’s touch was anything but. How dare he!

She somehow found the courage to pound on his wounded ribs. He staggered at the light blow and she tumbled back.

His breath tore out of him in a painful gasp.

The doorknob creaked.

“Keep still,” he whispered, raising his gun, “and you won’t get hurt.”

She stiffened. What sort of monster was he?

Olivia hummed as she stepped through the doorway, tray in hand, laden with buns, scones and jerky. Her billowing gown rustled. “Here we are, with plenty to eat….” She glanced up and her voice trailed off. Jenny met her terrified gaze with her own.

The tray toppled to the floor. Buns rolled in all directions. “I knew it was the third thing, I knew it!” Olivia bellowed, wailing as if she were being scalped. She grabbed her skirts and ran.

Luke cocked the hammer of his gun with a loud click. Olivia stopped cold. When she slowly turned around, the women stared numbly at each other. Jenny frowned fiercely, desperately wishing her friend, at least, might escape. Her breathing was harsh and rapid.

“Keep quiet,” he said, “or I’ll…shoot the both of you.”

Trembling, Jenny stepped closer to Olivia. She shot him a hostile glare. “I’ll never help a stranger again.”

Luke pushed a hand through his hair and glared at her in exasperation. “Yes, you will. You can’t help it.” He struggled to catch his breath. “Woman, you tire me out.”

She stood her ground.

Finally, he tilted his rugged face toward Olivia. “Do you have a husband, ma’am?”

Scowling, Olivia shrugged a shoulder. “No.”

Jenny stepped forward. “What’s that got to do—”

He raised his palm in the air and silenced her. “Just answer the question. Who do you live with?”

The worry lines around Olivia’s eyes sharpened. “Jenny and her father.”

Slowly, his gaze traveled to Jenny, and another qualm of fear shuddered through her. “Well, that’s good,” he said. “No one’s going to miss you then. It’ll seem natural Jenny took you with her on her trip.”

Olivia slumped against her. A cold shiver whispered over Jenny. “You intend on taking us both?”

He nodded. “You can each be leverage for the other.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, leverage?”

“You’ll see soon enough. If you do as I ask, without fighting back, then you’ll return to Denver with no harm done. If you fight me, it’ll take longer, but you’ll still lose, and you’ll get bruised along the way.”

He pointed his gun toward the heavy drapes. “Now, Olivia—ma’am—pack up the food you just brought in. We’ll put it in my saddlebag. Jenny, you find us some notepaper. We need to leave a message.”

With skirts swishing, Olivia did as she was told. As she crouched beside the desk, reaching for the fallen jerky, she peeped up at the stranger.

Jenny watched her friend scamper to do his bidding, and humiliation seeped into her. She scooped her shawl off the floor and stepped in front of Olivia. “If it’s Daniel you’re after, why don’t you take me and let Olivia go?”

Luke focused his intense gaze on Jenny. “You’d trade your life for your friend’s?”

She shuddered. “You plan on killing me?”

“No. I didn’t mean it like that.” His forehead creased in furrows, as if he were disgusted with the thought, and in an inexplicable way, Jenny believed him. She’d attacked him with whiskey, thrown a rock at him, even bitten him, but he hadn’t hit her back. She knew many men would.

She flung her shawl over her shoulders, fidgeting with the colorful feathers. Maybe he planned on getting even later, on the road. Her throat tightened. She took an abrupt step forward, smoothing the velvet at her sides. “Leave Olivia out of this. Please,” she added, staring up at his stubborn face, shivering at the memory of his touch. This was what Daniel got in return for his help all those years ago? Daniel’s family had helped this man get back on his feet, and in gratitude, he threatened Daniel’s fiancée?

Luke inclined his windburned face. “She must mean an awful lot to you.”

Her hopes rose as she stared at his stubborn features. Perhaps he had a heart, one she could appeal to. “Olivia’s been with me since I was a baby. We grew up together and I consider her a sister. She’s the only family I have in Denver, besides Father.” Her brothers were joining them in the spring, but if the four of them were here now, they’d pound the living daylights out of him. Rightly so. He deserved a wicked beating.

Luke’s eyes flickered. He looked her up and down, and she felt herself flush. “I hope Daniel appreciates your loyalty.”

She blinked. What did he have against Daniel?

“Keep packing,” Luke snarled to Olivia. With maddening arrogance, he turned to Jenny. “I appreciate how you feel toward your friend here, but I can’t take the chance.”

“What chance?”

“The chance that she’ll tell everyone in town I took you at gunpoint. Daniel’s more likely to follow us alone, without the law, if I keep this quiet for him.”

She glared at him. “The whole town will know, anyway. It’ll be Daniel himself who’ll tell them.”

“Oh, no, he won’t.”

Jenny squirmed. “Of course he will. He’ll get the sheriff and they’ll get a posse together. And,” she added with a hot twinge of delight, “they’ll string you up from the nearest tree.”

His gaze was calm and cool, but a twitch of amusement pulled at his mouth. “I know you’d be in the front row to watch. But believe me, Daniel won’t tell a soul.”

She swayed back and gripped the desk behind her, more uncertain than ever. “Then…then my father will.”

“No,” he said, pulling his vest off the chair and sliding his muscled arms into it, “your father will go along with whatever twisted explanation Daniel gives him of your disappearance. I don’t rightly care, as long as Daniel comes to get you.” He moaned with obvious pain, and Lord forgive her, she prayed his pain would double. Then maybe they could escape.

But he seemed so sure of what he said, and this confidence, this audacity, bewildered her. “Why?”

He swung the gun toward her. “You ask too many questions. Now pull out a paper and write Daniel a note.”

She stomped behind the desk. Pulling the top drawer open, she rifled through it. “I suppose you have your story all made up. What lies do you want me to write?”

“Write the truth.”

Her gaze swung to his in surprise. She watched him calmly toss his jacket over his broad shoulders. Why was he doing this?

Money, of course, she told herself with repulsion. He wanted money for their return. That’s why he was kidnapping them. That’s what he’d taken at Daniel’s office today. He didn’t have a money bag with him, she noticed with a frown, but he’d had plenty of time to stash one.

Plopping into the chair behind the desk, Jenny dipped the quill into the inkwell and began writing, mortified at her thoughts…about their heated embrace earlier, her curiosity about being kissed. She wasn’t to blame. He’d attacked her. She thrust out her chin.

“My dearest Daniel,

A man who claims to be your friend, Luke McLintock, is holding a gun to my head—the same man who tried to rob you this afternoon. He says he’s taking me to Wyoming, along with Olivia, says you’ll know where to find us. Please find us quickly, Daniel, and if something should happen…”

She paused, then wrote “know how much I love you.”

Guilt slithered up her spine. It was the first time either one of them had mentioned the word love. And she’d done it only at gunpoint. It didn’t matter, she rationalized; these were tragic circumstances.

She blamed this cowardly man for turning her mind upside down. Well, he wouldn’t get away with it. Daniel, together with her father, would send every available man and bounty hunter after them.

“All right.” He yanked her off the chair with a muscled grip. “Let’s go.”

She’d try to stall him. Daniel and the others might already be searching. “What about my dress?”

“What about it?” His grip felt like iron. He lowered his gaze to the velvet gown, reminding her how bare her shoulders were, how much the bodice gaped without its button.

“We can’t travel in these clothes. They’re uncomfortable. We’d like to change.”

His gaze traveled to Olivia. Her poor friend stood trembling in her burgundy satin. He eyed Jenny with suspicion. “Do you have extra clothes here?”

“Well, no. But my house is only five streets over.”

He snorted. “Nice try. Forget it.”

“At least let me get needle and thread for my button. Daniel’s butler keeps a sewing basket in the kitchen.”

“I haven’t known you for very long,” he said, humor tugging at his lips, “but I do know one thing.” He raised a black brow and his charcoal eyes flashed, evoking another flash of fury. “If you do locate a needle, it’ll only wind up stuck in my eye.” His gaze skimmed her gaping dress. “I’m not letting you look for a needle. Your missing button doesn’t bother me.”

She felt her face blaze. She yanked her shawl around her.

His eyes grew wide with amusement. “As a matter of fact,” he added, “hand over the pin that’s in it.”

She gasped at the outrageous request. “No gentleman would ask such a thing of a lady.”

“I don’t rightly care.” He raised his gun. “Now hand it over. Nicely.”

Men out West certainly weren’t the same as the men in Boston! In Boston they had manners, they said please and thank you and they never looked directly at your…your bosoms! Jenny felt her nostrils flare as she groped for the pin.

“Drop it,” he commanded.

It pinged off the floorboards.

As they walked out the door, the two women in front, Luke grabbed a hunk of bread from Olivia’s sack. He ripped at it with his teeth, like a hungry tiger chewing on flesh. The man was truly an animal.

God, he couldn’t be a friend of Daniel’s.

A quarter moon lit the deserted street and houses. Orange leaves swirled at their feet. Huddling together, the women walked ahead of Luke and his horse. Where were they going? Jenny squeezed Olivia’s trembling arm.

Trains hissed in the railway yard behind the far trees. They were headed in that direction. Good. Jenny breathed faster, gulping down the scents of damp earth and oil. They d be more visible on a train than by horse. Other passengers might come to their aid.

Their captor directed them around some tall pines. A number of railway cars sat in the station. As a result of the derailment, the trains headed south had no place to go. But her father had told her the trains headed north to Wyoming or east to Omaha were still running on time. This brute had obviously timed his departure well, for the Wyoming train was whistling, as if waiting for them.

In the distance, above the rumble of the steam engine and the clatter of baggage being loaded, she heard the conductor call, “Thirty minutes to departure.”

They approached the train from the shadows. Glancing down the line of cars toward the platform, past the trunks and crates of vegetables, Jenny spotted a crowd. Capes and bonnets, walking canes and cowboy hats. Her muscles tightened with hope. Did she recognize any faces? They weren’t in anyone’s line of vision yet, but another fifty yards and she’d yell out to them.

She dodged a puddle. The train hissed and she jumped back in alarm.

A gun dug into Jenny’s back and she was forced to keep walking. So help her, the first chance she got, she’d hold a gun to his head and let him know how it felt.

They passed an open boxcar stamped Union Pacific, and a short, blond man stepped out from the shadows. “Boss?”

Oh, no, thought Jenny, Luke knew him. The lithe stranger, who had a wide, flat nose and muttonchop sideburns, guided Luke’s horse up a makeshift ramp. He glanced at them. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t ask, Tom, I’ll explain later. I didn’t get to Daniel, but I’ve got his woman and her friend. Forget about the tickets—we’ll have to stay with the horses and women. We’ll split them up. You take this one,” he said, tossing a shocked Olivia into the man’s arms. “The blonde comes with me.”