The Marshal's Rebellious Bride (26 page)

His heart racing and his pants bulging with something
he didn’t want to draw attention to, he set his coffee cup on the counter. Then
he grabbed his hat from a peg and headed for the back door. “I’ll go feed your
animals before—”

“I don’t need you to take care of my animals,” Whiskey
protested.

Annoyed, he faced her and caught the amused looks on
the other men’s faces. Brandy’s lips, too, were twitching in suppressed
amusement. “Lord, but you’re a cantankerous woman. I was just offering to
help.”

She shifted on her chair, clearly remembering what
happened when they cross-threaded too much. She backed down. “Fine. Feed them.
I want to stay here a while longer and talk with Brandy anyhow. There are some
matters we need to get straight.”

“I thought we discussed one of those matters
yesterday,” Morgan said and gave her a warning glance.

“It’s okay, Morgan,” Brandy interrupted. “My sister
and I really do need to talk.”

The sisters were pulling together on this and he wasn’t
sure he liked it.
 
“Fine. Just
behave yourself, Angelina.”

Clearly deciding this was a good time to leave, Chase
and Taos slid back their chairs. “Time to head on in to town,” Taos said. But
he pinned his sisters with a telling look. “I better not see any black eyes or
bruises when I see you two next. Keep it civil or…” He let his warning to both
of them hang in the air.

In response they sent him identical glares.

Tyler, too, decided it was a good time to make an
escape and got up to follow Chase. His brother, in turn, slid an arm around
Tyler’s shoulders. “Why don’t you go help your father with the mule and that
crazy camel. I’m riding into town with Taos. Got some supplies to pick up.”

Whiskey watched Tyler hesitate and noted the brief
flash of hurt in Morgan’s expression. Even if she was still kind of upset with
him, she had to say something. “Your dad will need your help feeding my skunk.
You know Morgan won’t go anywhere near your father, and he’ll be hungry this
morning, too.”

Tyler bobbed his head, looking important now. Then he
hurried out with his father.

Chase and Taos walked out of the house as well, which
left Whiskey alone with her sister, a sister she still didn’t fully trust around
Morgan.

As if Brandy understood her thoughts, she said,
“You’re being a silly goose. That man is not the least bit interested in me.”

“You’re a beautiful woman, delicate, the kind of woman
a man feels a need to take care of. Morgan’s a man who takes care of people,
protects them. I’m not anything like you.” She really hated feeling inferior to
her sister. He had hated it, too, enough to thrash her yesterday.

Brandy rolled her eyes. “You don’t really know me
anymore. None of you do. I’m
not
some
fragile little woman who needs a man to watch after her, like you all seem to
think.” She snorted. “I’m really disgusted that you all feel that way.”

Whiskey shook her head. “Truth is, Brandy, you don’t
look a damn bit different than when you left with Dad for England. Prim,
proper, pretty. That sums you up.”

Again Brandy snorted. “This is all a show for me now,
Whiskey. Just another show.”

Shifting gingerly on the chair, she studied Brandy,
wondered about what she claimed. She started to question her when Brandy pointedly
asked, “Does it still hurt so bad?”

Cheeks heating, she stood not at all interested in
eating now and embarrassed as well. “You know?”

Brandy shrugged. “The marshal was pretty upset with
you yesterday. He appears to me to be a man of action, more so than words.” She
stood, too, and started carrying dishes to the sink. “So he spanked you, didn’t
he? For acting crazy jealous.”

“More or less.” Whiskey moved to help clear the table.
She remembered hearing the whisper of his belt being pulled free of his
trousers. She recalled the feel of the straw under her palms as she leaned on
the hay bale, almost felt the coolness of her bottom as he pulled her drawers
apart. When she thought about that first awful lash, she forced the memory
aside. “I wasn’t ‘crazy jealous.’”

One of Brandy’s slender eyebrows went up in disbelief.
Then she stepped next to her and said sympathetically, “Men can be such trials
to women sometimes. But this big, gruff marshal, this man of action, loves you.
Anyone can see it whenever he looks at you.”

Did he really? She wanted to believe it, but their
developing relationship hadn’t been easy…for either of them. She voiced her
secret fear. “Maybe he’s just accepting the situation that our brothers forced
him into.”

When Brandy would have interrupted, she added, “Oh, I
know he’s lusting after me. I’ve seen that in his eyes, felt it in his kiss.
He’s a man; they have needs. Or so I’ve heard Keno say.”

“Well, that’s true enough.” Brandy grinned. Her eyes
danced with mischief. “He kissed you?”

Whiskey chose to ignore the prodding question. Instead
she swept a hand up and down in front of her and then looked at her sister.
“Look at me. Look at you. If a man truly had a choice, do you seriously think
he’d choose
me
?”

Brandy blinked in obvious confusion. “We’re twins. We
look identical except for our clothing and the way we wear our hair.”

Knowing it was foolish but unable to resist, she said
in a rush, “I need to know for sure. Know if he actually wants me.
Me
. That he’s not just settling for me when
he really wants you, now that you’re here and he’s seen you.”

“You’re not talking about—”

“Yes, yes I am.” She tugged Brandy out of the room.
They had only done what she had in mind once before and it had definitely not
worked out well for either of them. But she
had
to do this. She just had to.

* * *

Morgan looked uneasily back at the corral to where
he’d left Tyler hand feeding that ridiculous skunk. The mule and the camel
stood close by them, clearly content at all being together. The crazy animals seemed
to like him as much as they did Whiskey. Still, he hadn’t wanted to leave Tyler
alone with them but he’d needed to go have a word with Whiskey. He didn’t like
her being upset with him and he still didn’t trust her with Brandy. This
jealous reaction was nonsense. He didn’t like it at all. Maybe he should have
given her more of a thrashing yesterday. Maybe he’d need to do it again today.
He hoped not.

He listened for sounds of arguing, for sounds of two
women fighting, which Taos had hinted at. He sure didn’t want to see that
happen. But all he heard was a quiet conversation and the sound of water
splashing. As he stepped into the kitchen he froze at the sight of the two
sisters doing the dishes together. Both wore britches and tucked-in shirts.
Both wore scuffed boots. Both had a long braid dangling down their backs.

They turned in his direction at the same moment and
two sets of identical eyes looked at him in challenge. Two stubborn chins
lifted. He knew without a doubt that this had been Whiskey’s idea, that she was
testing him in some manner. And he didn’t like that notion.

They were identical in so many ways, but he knew
exactly which of the two women was the one who owned his heart. He wasn’t of a
mind to let them off easily, though. He could play this game as well, at least
to a certain extent.

He walked straight to Brandy and pulled her into his
arms. It didn’t feel right and he nearly stopped at her quiet gasp of surprise
and at Whiskey’s quiet growl. But he was determined to teach them a lesson. So
he planted his lips on Brandy’s and gave her a very short kiss. It just wasn’t
the same as kissing Whiskey, no kick-him-in-the-gut feeling.

When he released Brandy, she slapped him. An instant
later Whiskey slapped his other cheek.

He glowered at them both, although he didn’t mind
their reactions. “I’m sorely tempted to turn you two over that table and burn
your butts.”

Brandy’s shoulders stiffened and she moved out of his
reach. “It was
her
idea,” she
protested.

“One you went along with.” He didn’t like the way
she’d thrown her sister to the big, bad wolf.

“I suppose, but she was very determined.”

Whiskey’s expression said silently that she’d love to
throttle her traitorous sister. Then she looked at him and fire sparked in her
green eyes. She stormed away and she sped out of the room. “I’m
not
marrying you! Not! Not! Not!”

He started after
her,
so mad
he only saw red. The red Whiskey’s butt would soon be. He hadn’t taken two
steps before Brandy latched onto his arm and stopped him. “Wait! You knew all
along, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.” He tried to shake her off.

Brandy beamed at him. “I told her you would. I told
her you loved her, really loved
her
.
Loved the impossible, trying woman she can be at times.”

He relaxed and heard Whiskey’s steps slowing down in
the hallway. She was listening. “She makes it damn hard. I really should call
this wedding off.”

He heard Whiskey’s sucked in breath and half-smiled.
“Not doing it, though. She’s marching down that aisle to become my wife in
seven days.”

Noting Brandy’s approving grin, he raised his voice a
notch. “Hear that, Angelina Wakefield? Seven days.”

Just as he’d suspected she would, as he’d hoped she
would, she snapped, “I’ll think about it. But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I
were you.”

Fully smiling for the first that he could remember in
a long while, he tipped his hat toward Brandy and moved to the back door. “I’m
going to help the men round up some cattle that need branding. I’ll see you
both at supper. And no more of this trying to trick me nonsense.”

* * *

Whiskey was restless the next morning, just as she’d
been the night before. Neither her brothers nor Chase had returned from town,
although they’d sent word back with one of the ranch’s hands that they’d
decided to stay overnight in the rooms over the Dusty Trails. Morgan, too, had
not returned from working with the cattle. He also had sent word back to her
and Brandy. Knowing all of the men in her life were all right wasn’t enough to
settle her nerves today.

“How about we go into town? I could use a new dress
for your wedding,” Brandy said as she walked up next to the corral where she
was watching Tyler brush down the mule.

“I’d like to go see Camelia, too,” she said, grabbing
onto the excuse to get away from the empty-feeling ranch.

A couple of hours later Whiskey walked down the
boardwalk and headed toward the Dusty Trails Saloon. Brandy was spending time
with the dressmaker having a gown fitted. And she had visited a bit with
Camelia, listened to the broken-hearted disappointment in her friend’s comments
as she’d mentioned seeing Taos strolling arm-in-arm with a widow in the area,
and decided she needed to have a word with her oldest brother. She’d left Tyler
eating candy and drinking lemonade with Camelia at the general store. A quick
check at Tao’s new law office found him not there. So she intended to try the
saloon.

As she’d walked along she’d been stopped by what
seemed like half the people in town, everyone eager to confirm that the wedding
was still on in another six days. Even Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp had crossed
the street to specifically come taunt her about getting married. Finally she
was on her way again. She wanted to burn Taos’s ears about his not noticing
that her dear friend was in love with him. What really irritated her was that she
knew he also liked Camelia. He was just being an idiot for some reason.

She stopped on the boardwalk opposite Keno’s saloon to
determine her best way to get through the light wagon and horse traffic.
Suddenly a chill went up her spine. Like someone was watching her. The same
feeling she’d had a couple of other times lately. She quickly looked behind
her, and then around her. Just like the other times she didn’t spot anyone
nearby who appeared to be paying her any particular attention.

Still she felt uneasy as she hurried across the dirt
road. Her hand was on the batwing doors when she heard her brothers talking to
Chase near the bar. Morgan’s name was mentioned and she froze.

“I stopped by the telegraph office a while ago,” Taos
said, sounding concerned.

“Any news on Marino?” Chase asked angrily.

“No. A couple of sheriffs had returned wires, but all
they had was rumors.” Taos blew out a breath. “The U.S. Marshal’s office down
in Texas wants Morgan back on the job. Now.”

Her hand flew to her heart.
No! He promised me.

Chase said in dismissal, “He got a wire a couple of
days ago about that. He already wired back that he’s heading to Texas after the
wedding.”

Her knees threatened to buckle. She felt faint. He had
lied to her, told her what she’d wanted to hear. Her eyes filled with tears and
she ran back across the road, nearly getting run over by a wagon that managed
to miss her.

She’d no sooner stepped on the other boardwalk than
Brandy caught up with her. “What’s wrong?” her sister asked, seeing her dash at
the tears trickling down her cheeks.