The Marshal's Rebellious Bride (4 page)

She thought of the crumpled telegram in her pocket. It
had arrived the day before. Now she pondered murder. Make that murders, of both
her interfering brothers.

“What are you doing, Sweetling?” her Aunt Mae asked,
limping up next to her. Her bones were clearly aching again.

“Are you real fond of my brothers?” Whiskey asked. “I
mean
real
fond? Because I’m
contemplating their demise.”

Mae chuckled, her double chin bobbing. “There have
been a few times when I doubted they had a full head of sense between them.”
She shook her head knowingly. “Like now. But I would miss them, dear, should
you decide to do them in.”

Whiskey ran a hand over the side of the basket. “They
would deserve it. Promising to sell
my
share of the ranch without even asking me.” She pounded the basket edge with
her balled up fist. “To that U.S. Marshal friend of theirs.”

“Morgan Rydell.” Mae looked thoughtful. “I met him
once. A hard man, dangerous I hear. But he’s been a loyal partner and friend to
Taos for a long time.”

Whiskey, too, remembered the big Texan she’d walked in
on one day back home, walked in and found him in nothing but his long johns. Oh
yes, she’d thought about that encounter more than once. He was a man of few
words, even fewer smiles—or so Taos had once told her. And he had a
deadly reputation with a gun, which meant there would always be someone looking
to take him on, wanting to make a name for
himself
.

Ace had been fast, too, but not fast enough.

Her heart hurt.

She shoved the painful thoughts aside. “Those
scoundrels also ordered me back home by the end of this month.”

“You had been talking about—”

“
My
idea!
My
decision as to when and why.” Tears
burned her eyes. “I am
not
selling my
share! But I am going back home. To stake Keno and Taos out on the prairie, to
let the sun bake them, to let the rattlers do their worst.”

When she glanced at her aunt, she found her smiling.
“You have every right to be annoyed with them.”

Whiskey snorted as a breeze swept around them and
smells of musky hay and dirt drifted up in the warm air. “I’m a damn lot more
than ‘annoyed with them.’ Damn their worthless hides!”

Her aunt’s immediate raised eyebrow warned her to
control her choice of words. She’d had her mouth washed out with soap more than
once since she’d come to stay here. She’d even been spanked a time or two for
one reason or another. She had the worst temper in the family and sometimes she
paid the consequences for letting it loose in front of the wrong person.

“Sorry. They’ve just pushed me too far this time.” She
tromped down her anger with them, or tried to. “I’ve worked hard here, with
you, learning all these animal doctoring skills. I’ve been planning to use them
on the ranch…
our
ranch. And then I
hoped to convince the community to let me take care of their animals as well.”

“I thought you had been considering that. You’re
wonderful with horses, dear, even cattle.” Mae looked out the doorway toward
the corral and two of the battered animals they had adopted this last year: a
one-eyed mule named Taos because of his stubbornness and a hat-munching camel
named Keno. “With other animals, too.”

She followed her aunt’s gaze and knew she couldn’t
leave these special two “pets” behind when she went back to Kansas. She would
have to figure out a way to take them with her.

“You know I’ve had a difficult time getting my
neighbors to trust me with doctoring…”

“But they do now.” Whiskey smiled. “I’m patient. I’ll
eventually bring people around.”

Her aunt chortled. “Patient! Honey, you don’t have a
patient
bone in your body.”

Whiskey pursed her lips in annoyance, huffed, knowing
that was pretty much true.

“You’ve got many other good qualities, though,” Mae
soothed. “Everyone I know has come to love you, and they’re all going to miss
having you here. Almost as much as I will.”

Whiskey didn’t want to get into the whole “missing”
issue because she would miss her aunt a lot. But her life wasn’t really here.
They both knew that.

She went back to the matter that frustrated her. “I
love the ranch, always have. More than any of my family does. I’ve known for
several years now that neither Keno nor Taos want to stay there much longer. I
had hoped to convince them to sell
me
their shares. I know Brandy would.”

Mae started to respond but Whiskey barreled on with
her thoughts. “They know how I feel about the ranch. And they must know that
I’ll never agree to sell my share. Which means they’re going to force me to be
partners with Morgan Rydell. Not damn likely! No damn way!”

Again her aunt frowned in disapproval. Again Whiskey
reined in her temper. She detested the taste of her aunt’s soap.

“It appears I’ll have to go home and do battle with
three idiot men. As sure as the sun shines in the east every morning, I’m going
to convince that marshal to
not
buy
into the ranch.”

She looked across the farmyard at the mule standing
close to his good friend the camel. Morgan, the skunk—aptly named, she
thought—without the ability to ward off enemies by spraying them with
nose-wrinkling perfume, scurried under the corral fence. He waddled over to lie
down in the patch of shade his bigger friends created. Such an odd trio, but she
loved them dearly. She especially enjoyed the names she’d chosen for them,
fitting names for each one.

“Since I’ll be traveling by train… Well, I can take
them all with me. If you don’t care, that is.”

“You can’t travel that far in a boxcar.” Her aunt
looked worried, intrigued at the same time.

“Sure I can.” Already she was thinking about what else
she could take with her in that kind of space.

“Your brothers will have a conniption fit,” Mae said
with a chuckle.

Whiskey beamed. They would and that made the plan even
more appealing. She decided to go a step further. “About your balloon…”

Mae’s eyes widened and she turned toward the gas
balloon that had served well during the War Between the States when it had been
used to deliver messages. It had been a gift from one of her aunt’s beaus a
number of years ago. She’d only flown it a half dozen times since then, twice
with Whiskey. “Your brothers—”

“They will absolutely hate it. Yes, I know.” She
reached out to lovingly touch the basket. “You’ll never use it again, will you?
And I’d really like to have it, at least borrow it.”

“No, no I doubt I’ll ever take it up again.” Mae
looked thoughtful. “You’re already better at flying the balloon than I ever
was. Still…” She drew in a breath and nodded. “You may take it.”

Whiskey did a little dance of excitement. “Wonder if
I’ll be able to convince the train conductor to let me out with the balloon in Spearville,
the town just north of Dodge City?” She knew she could be persuasive when she
really wanted something…well, except sometimes with her brothers. “Oh, I’m sure
I can convince him.”

Her mind spun with details as she studied the nearby
folded up balloon envelope and stack of rigging. She needed to drag it all out
and make sure the pieces and parts were still there. And she needed to make
sure there was still some gas in the container, at least enough for a short
ride.

“You’re not… you’re not thinking about flying into
town?” Mae gaped at her, shocked, and then amused. “Your brothers will
definitely have fits.” She laughed, grinning. “I almost wish I could see their
reactions.”

Whiskey just smiled.

Chapter
Two

Dodge City, Kansas

June 1878

Whiskey gripped the edge of the basket made of woven
willow branches and the valve line at the same time. She hazarded a glance over
the side. Dodge City was finally well within sight. She pulled on the line to
open the valve and release another spurt of flame, which in turn sent more hot
air into the balloon envelope. It wouldn’t be long now.

Her stomach swirled with nerves. It felt like she
hadn’t been home in a very long time, like she was a completely different
person. She knew her mind now, knew what she wanted with her life.

Every couple of minutes, she continued the process of
opening the valve and forcing hot air into the envelope to keep her altitude.
She had done this ever since she’d started the short flight back in Spearville,
Kansas, much to the amazement and delight of the train’s passengers. At the
time she’d gone up and begun her flight it had seemed like great fun. In truth
it was a lot of hard work. Her arms ached from the constant exertion with the
valve. Her hair—while tied back in a long braid—was a mess. Strands
had worked loose and the braid itself continually whipped around and hit her.
She was more than ready to land and plant her feet on solid ground.

The sporadic wind picked up speed, jostled the balloon
and jerked her nearly off her feet. Her head snapped in reaction; every part of
her body cried out in misery. She couldn’t recall having had all this trouble
before, but then she hadn’t flown alone. Evidently the task of flying a balloon
was much easier with two people involved.
Something to
remember next time.

If there would be a next time.

If her brothers didn’t cart her
beloved balloon off somewhere and burn it to dust.

Her brothers
. They would not be pleased with this little
adventure,
with her not using the train ticket they’d sent
her. Well, in a way she had. She had traded it in—and paid extra—to
use a box car on the Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe train instead of riding in one
of the passenger cars. But she didn’t care if they weren’t happy with her. She
was
not
happy with them! No sir. Not
one little bit. They had a lot of dang nerve deciding to sell the ranch to that
low-down, mangy U.S. Marshal friend of Taos’! Selling all
but
her share, which she would never ever sell, that is.

Morgan the skunk cringed at her feet and gave what
sounded like a whimper. He had somehow scampered out of the
box
car
and made it clear that he intended to stay with her no matter what
mode of transportation she chose. But now it was plain that balloon flying
would not be in his future.

She looked over the side again and found the buildings
of Front Street much closer. The train, which had remained in Spearville long
after she’d taken flight, was puffing closer as well. She sucked in a steadying
breath and went into action. Landing a balloon was tricky business and working
with the different winds took a lot of concentration.

* * *

Morgan swore he would rather crawl bare-assed naked
across the desert than go into town today. Standing in the shade of the barn
with Demon saddled and fidgeting, he took a long draw on the cigarette he’d
just rolled. Where the hell was Taos?

Sweat trickled down his back and he rolled his
shoulders in an attempt to loosen the shirt glued to his skin. Damn late June
day was hotter than a cathouse. He squinted into the sun.
Still
no sign of his friend.
Another minute or two and he’d find something
better to do. Like patching that fence in need of repair or replacing the wheel
on the ranch wagon. There were a lot of chores that he could be helping the
hands with instead of taking time to traipse into Dodge…to fetch Whiskey.

His gut churned. They’d gotten her wire a couple of
days ago saying she would arrive on today’s afternoon train. He wasn’t jumping
up-and-down eager to see her. Taos was, though.
Keno, too.
But they were planning on handing her over to him, as his wife.
Wife
! He still had nightmares about that
notion. ‘Course they hadn’t actually told her about their plan yet, so maybe
there was a chance it wouldn’t happen. Maybe his nightmares would end.

“Ready to go?” Taos strode from behind the house and
headed for the corral by the barn. His horse was already saddled and Morgan
hadn’t even noticed it happen.

“Where the blazes have you been?” he grouched, tossing
down his cigarette and stomping it with the toe of his boot. He guided Demon
over to the corral.

Taos mounted and snapped back, “I was doing some last
minute needlework. What did you think?”

He rode out of the corral and stopped to latch the
gate. “I had some personal business to take care of. Besides, I figured you
were not all that excited about heading into town so quickly. Guessed wrong it
appears.” He grinned up at Morgan. “Maybe you are anxious to bring your sweet
little bride-to-be back to the ranch after all.”

Morgan curled his lip, which only made Taos chuckle.
“If we’re
gonna
go, then let’s go.”

They started down the ranch road in silence. Finally
Taos said, “I’m looking forward to seeing Whiskey again. We shouldn’t have let
her stay down in Arkansas so long sulking. The ranch doesn’t feel right when
she’s not here.”