The Bounty Hunter and the Heiress (24 page)

“He'll just have a knot on his head for trying to interfere.
You're
the one I want dead,” the widow snarled without taking her squinty-eyed gaze off Raven.

He grimaced, knowing what a knot on the head felt like. Emmett was in for a mind-scrambling headache.

“I told Emmett I would dance on your grave. But when I offered to pay to have you gunned down I couldn't get any takers from my clan of yellow-bellied brothers-in-law.”

Raven didn't bother to mention that his own stepbrother had been taking potshots at him for over two weeks—for free. That might set off the crazed hag.

“Now I hear you've married money,” she hurled in a begrudging tone. “When I saw you ride over to the marshal's office I decided to take matters into my own hands. I'm not afraid of you!” Her smudged face puckered with disdain. “You murdered my Buster. How am I supposed to get by without him?”

“No more stolen money stashed away to support yourself?” he remarked insolently. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Like hell you are,” she seethed.

Raven cast a discreet glance toward his weapons again, estimating how much time he needed to grab a pistol to defend himself. He also wondered if Widow Flanders was a better shot than James. Of course, at this close range, she didn't need to be an expert markswoman to blow him to smithereens.

She cocked the hammer and sighted down the barrel. “I hope you told your bride ‘fare thee well' when you left her bed this morning. You won't get another chance. Once you're dead and gone I
will
dance on your grave!”

 

Eva perked up immediately when she noticed Raven's paint pony tethered on the hitching post in front of the jail. She shouldn't have been surprised that Raven wanted to swing by the office to make sure his stepbrother was enjoying all the
dis
comforts of the foul-smelling jail.

Her thoughts trailed off and alarm sizzled through her when she noticed the door was standing wide open. A scraggly-looking woman was squared off, as if she were involved in a showdown with someone inside the office.

“Dear God!” Eva yelped when she suddenly remembered Widow Flanders had placed a death wish on Raven's head. Apparently, she had decided to do the dastardly deed herself.

Frantic, Eva snatched the reins from Roger's hand and snapped them over the horse, prompting it to clip-clop down the street at a faster pace. She aimed the carriage directly at the open door.

“Eva? Have you gone mad?” Roger growled as he tried to reclaim the reins. “If you hit the boardwalk you'll overturn the carriage…What the blazes—?”

Despite Roger's concern and Sadie and Lydia's gasps of alarm, Eva bolted to her feet and dived off the moving carriage. She expected to hear the pistol discharge any second and she had the unmistakable feeling that Raven was the spiteful widow's target. The thought of losing him terrified her and she was hell-bent on preventing his death.

“Stop!” Eva screeched, hoping to draw the woman's attention.

The widow glanced over her shoulder to see who caused the commotion. Eva remembered that she had made the same crucial mistake the day she had captured James—momentarily. Then, as now, distraction altered the course of events.

Eva launched herself at the stout woman and grabbed her around the knees, sending her sprawling on the floor. The pistol exploded prematurely and the shot went wild. It slammed through the wall that separated the cells from the outer office. Eva remembered hearing a yelp from the other side of the door, but she was too intent on wrestling the pistol from the widow's grimy fists before she took another shot at Raven, who had dropped to the floor and rolled behind the desk.

“Get off me!” the widow screeched like a demented banshee. “Eye for an eye!”

Eva had quite enough of wrestling the smelly widow around on the dirty floor where the marshal lay like a displaced rug. She used her splint like a club to wallop Widow Flanders upside the head, stunning her momentarily. But the vicious woman bared her claws and came up fighting.

Eva managed to get in another brain-rattling blow before she felt herself being hoisted completely off the floor. She looked up to see Raven grinning in amusement while he held her aloft against his hip.

Cursing colorfully, the disheveled widow reached for the discarded pistol but Raven planted a moccasined foot on the weapon then scooted it from her grasp.

“Lady,” he said, “you might have killed me, but if you had, you would have realized that dealing with my wife just wouldn't have been worth it. If I let her loose on you again, she'll tear you to pieces. Guaran-damn-teed.”

The widow glared at him and Eva, but she made no move to reach for the pistol again.

“Wise choice,” Raven said as he set Eva to her feet then scooped up the discarded weapon. He handed it to Eva then gathered his knife and peacemakers from the desk. “If she upsets you in the slightest, sweetheart, shoot her.”

Eva smiled devilishly when the widow cast her a speculative glance. “If you're thinking I won't bat an eye at shooting someone who has evil designs on my dear husband, then you are correct, madam. You can join your outlaw husband for all I care.”

“Good Lord!” Roger crowed as he, Sadie and a half-dozen onlookers crowded around the open door. “Are you going to shoot her, Eva?”

“She tried to shoot Raven. What do you think?”

Roger stared somberly at the widow. “Ma'am, I wouldn't move a muscle if I were you. I've seen Eva in action twice. She definitely means business.”

The widow half collapsed and lay submissively on the floor while Raven dribbled water over Emmett's head. The injured marshal groaned then wiped the water from his face.

Groggily, Emmett climbed to his hands and knees. “What happened?”

“Widow Flanders tried to make good on her death threat,” Raven explained as he assisted Emmett to his wobbly legs then steadied him. He inclined his dark head toward Eva. “That's when my wife showed up to rescue me.”

Eva inwardly snickered when the bumfuzzled marshal glanced from her to Raven. Clearly, he was trying to figure out what the supposed marriage was all about.

It was about one-sided love, but Eva kept the truth to herself because she was enjoying the fact that Raven was smiling at her.
Really smiling,
as if she had pleased and amused him in some way.

Ah, he had a glorious smile and she wished she could be around to see him smile like that more often.

“Help!” A wailing voice reverberated around the jail cells.

Bemused, Eva and Raven opened the door, while the marshal and Roger pulled the widow to her feet to lock her up. To Eva's surprise, James was sitting on his cot, cradling his bleeding shoulder. He looked disheveled. Not at all the cocky rascal who had swaggered through ballrooms, boasting of a fortune he had acquired at someone else's expense.

Eva and Raven turned simultaneously to stare at the hole in the paper-thin wall.

“The widow must have shot him accidentally when I knocked her arm aside. The bullet went astray,” Eva declared. She turned to glance at the widow, who was being marched into the cell beside James. “Nice shot, Mrs. Flanders.”

The widow didn't seem to appreciate the irony because she hissed and growled like a disturbed cat.

“I need attention!” James demanded as he stared at the red stain spreading across his shirt. “I could bleed to death.”

“I'm busy,” the marshal said unsympathetically. “I'll get to you in a minute…Roger, fetch the doctor, will you?”

“Gee, your wound looks like the gunshot I received from you, James,” Eva pointed out. “As I recall you didn't lift a finger to help me.”

His reply was a scowl.

Following on Roger's heels, Raven curled his hand around Eva's good arm to escort her to the outer office. “I owe you my life,” he murmured against her ear, sending goose bumps skittering across her skin.

“It still doesn't make us even,” she insisted. “I owe—”

Her voice trailed off when she spotted Lydia and Blackowl standing together at the back of the crowd of bystanders gathered at the front door.

“What's happened now?” Lydia questioned as she tried to shoulder her way through the crowd. “Are you all right, Eva?”

“She's fine,” Raven answered for her.

To her surprise, Raven closed and locked the door. When he turned back to her, his expression was somber.

“Now, about our pretend marriage, Evangeline…”

E
va marshaled her composure and stiffened her spine. She knew this was her last encounter with the legendary bounty hunter she had come to love. Earlier she had wondered why Raven had looked at ease and in such good humor—considering the widow had nearly succeeded in blowing his head off. It must have been because he knew he was leaving Eva behind very soon. He was thrilled to be rid of her, once and for all.

She wanted to sit down and bawl her head off.

“How did you handle passing the word about our pending divorce?” she managed to ask without her voice cracking completely. “I want to make sure we have our stories straight before I tell it around town.”

Someone pounded on the door and said, “What's going on in there?”

It sounded exactly like Lydia.

Raven didn't reply, just shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. Eva watched him curiously. She promised herself that no matter what he said, she was not going to blurt out her feelings for him or beg him to stay. That would make him uncomfortable—especially if this turned out to be his official farewell.

“Blackowl and I paid a visit to Felix Winslow this morning,” he said out of the blue.

Eva blinked owlishly. She had no idea where he was going with this conversation and it kept her completely off balance. All she could think to say was, “Oh?”

“I didn't like that skinny, self-important gent,” he remarked. “I told him I didn't want to see him within speaking distance of you…or else.”

Eva managed a chuckle. She could visualize Felix cowering beneath Raven's ominous glares. She wished she could have been there. “Or else what?” she asked.

Raven's gold-green eyes glistened with mischief. “I left it up to his imagination. Furthermore, I didn't want to put the slightest restrictions on my methods of retaliation.”

Someone pounded even harder on the door. It was Blackowl. “I have the supplies gathered, Raven. It's time to ride.”

Eva swallowed hard and battled the tears that threatened to flood her eyes. He was leaving and she wouldn't see him again. “Where are you going?”

“Blackowl thinks we should travel to Indian Territory to select Cheyenne brides. He claims that is our destiny.”

“I see,” Eva said quietly—and wondered if he could hear her heart breaking in two.

Raven reached into his shirt pocket then held up two items of jewelry in front of her. Eva stared stupidly at the diamond ring and gold band that he placed in the palm of her hand.

“You bought these from Felix?” she squeaked, confused.

“Yes.” Raven grinned wryly. “He gave me an exceptionally good price.” He took the rings and placed them on her finger. “I want you to wear these instead of your mother's gold band.”

Still dumbfounded, she stared at the expensive rings that sparkled in the sunlight then she peered up at him. “Why?”

“Raven! Open this door!” Blackowl roared as he rattled the hinges. “We have places to go!”

“In a minute, damn it!” Raven yelled back.

“Raven?” Eva prompted, puzzled.

He expelled his breath in a rush then he said, “I'm in love with you, Evangeline. And I think you love me, too. No one but Hoodoo and Blackowl ever cared enough to save me the way you did when you came flying through the doorway to tackle Widow Flanders before she blasted me to kingdom come. That has to mean something…doesn't it?”

His words echoed through her head and her mouth dropped open wide enough for a sparrow to roost. “You love me?” she chirped incredulously.

“Eva!” Lydia shouted. “What is going on in there?”

“Give me a minute!” Eva shouted back. “I'm busy!”

“I'm crazy about you,” Raven admitted as he pulled her into his arms and held her possessively against him. “I wasn't sure I could feel anything, or
wanted
to feel anything after suffering through the heartache of losing my family in the massacre. But you touched every emotion I had buried deep inside me and made me feel alive for the first time in years. I don't want to go back to the empty existence I led before I met you.”

He sketched her features with his forefinger, rerouting the tears that dribbled down her cheeks. “I've never wanted anything or anyone as much as I want you, Eva.” He kissed her tenderly then said, “I've been searching for my soul for years and I've discovered it's with you. I want to wake up beside you all the days of my life.”

“Oh, Raven,” she whispered brokenly. “I—”

He pressed his fingertip to her trembling lips to shush her. “Since you saved me from the bloodthirsty widow I was hoping you cared enough to agree to a real marriage. Not just a convenient arrangement to hold the money-hungry adventurers at bay.” He brushed his thumb over her flushed cheek then asked, “Do you, Evangeline?”

“Yes!” With a squeal of delight, she flung her arms around his neck—ever mindful of her splint and his head wound—and showered him with smacking kisses.

Raven savored her zealous response and thanked his lucky stars that he'd worked up the courage to ask her to be his wife. It hadn't been easy, what with Blackowl hounding him to ride away from temptation. His cousin was afraid he'd become too sentimentally attached to Lydia so he wanted to clear out fast…and take Raven with him.

But his heart knew where he belonged. It was here in Colorado with Eva.

“I've been miserable since the moment I woke up this morning to find you gone,” she murmured against his lips. “I was afraid you were going to tell me goodbye for good.”

“I discovered that is impossible.”

“I don't care where you go or what you do, so long as you'll take me with you,” Eva insisted. “I don't want to be without you, Raven. Not ever.”

“Agreed,” he said without hesitation. “I thought we might divide our time between here and my cabin. There's the gold mine to oversee and Blackowl to console because he's fascinated with Lydia and is nobly trying to keep his distance, in case she doesn't feel the same way.”

Eva tipped her head back, her dark eyes twinkling with pleasure and approval. “She does.”

She traced his lips then arched a curious brow. “Are you certain you want to make this official? You know what a pain I can be. In addition, I have developed a reputation as a free-spirited misfit in Denver. Today's fiasco will only contribute to the rumors that I'm as unconventional as a woman can get.”

Raven hugged her close then kissed the tip of her upturned nose. “To be honest, you aren't quite the pain in the ass that I've made you out to be, sweetheart. Besides, a man with a reputation like mine can't possibly settle for a normal kind of woman,” he teased affectionately. “Despite what others might think, I'm convinced that we are a perfect match.”

She beamed in pleasure. “I will be honored to marry you, Jordan Daniel Raven. I will love you the rest of my life.”

He stared down into her beguiling face, knowing this spirited, vital woman had made his wildest dreams come true because she loved him. And he loved her with every part of his being, with every beat of his heart.

“I'm thinking of giving up bounty hunting in favor of training and selling horses.” He pressed her ever closer, loving the feel of her lush body meshed familiarly to his. “I'm sure we would make a fine pair of manhunters, given your impressive skills in capturing James and the widow. But I've dodged enough bullets. I was hoping you might be satisfied with a less dangerous lifestyle.”

“I'll adapt,” she promised as she toyed with the buttons on his shirt, leaving him wishing they were anywhere besides the office, where onlookers were trying to beat down one door and the marshal and the two people who hated him most were behind the other.

“Making love with you for the rest of my life will be excitement aplenty,” Eva whispered provocatively. “I'd like to begin right now—”

“Oh, excuse me,” Marshal Doyle mumbled as he burst in through the door that led to the cells. He raised a questioning eyebrow then inclined his head toward the locked door.

“Crowds,” Raven said as he smiled adoringly at Eva. “I'm having a devil of a time getting a moment alone with my wife.”

“Then why don't the two of you go on home and lock your own doors,” Emmett suggested with a knowing grin.

“I do believe we will.” Raven clasped Eva's hand and opened the door to embrace the rest of his life with the woman he loved standing beside him forever…and forevermore.