Shotgun Bride (Book Six of the Brides of the West) Read online

  She gasped. "Why…I never."

  He sent her a sexy smile over his shoulder. "Maybe it's time you did."

  Shannon turned her attention to Darrel and Susan. But she didn't see them, all she saw was that magnetic smile of Jesse's. She literally shook herself.

  Susan started talking to Darrel and it was interesting how she began to relax around him. Could Jesse be right, about a reason?

  Chapter Twelve

  Colorado was beautiful and the scenery kept it from being so tiresome. The mountains created a background, the clear blue of the sky, seemed somehow more attainable from here. As though one might reach up and touch the stars in the heavens.

  Even Jimmy John and the boys seem to find it more interesting than other parts of the country they traveled, the wonder of the hills, the trees, the rocks and the mountains mesmerized them.

  Susan had opened up now and was talking to Shannon, Jesse, and Darrel. The others she tried to ignore.

  Since Darrel made his intentions clear, he tried to include Jesse and Shannon as they talked.

  Shannon realized that what Jesse said was true. Darrel was no different from anyone else, he needed someone to make his life complete too. Susan might be that someone. It merely shocked her to realize that Jesse could see all of this, and she couldn't.

  Although she didn't flirt with Darrel, Susan was open and trusting around him.

  "Did you homestead in Wyoming?" Darrel asked her as she was sitting on a log and rocking her baby.

  "No," She glanced up at him. "We were traveling through it. We'd been with a wagon train, but they left for California like all the other gold fevered people. We were going to Oregon. We never got that far. The Arapaho's and Cheyenne were trying to escape the confines of the Shoshone Reservation at that time. At least some of them. When they overtook our wagon, they killed my folks immediately. I was in the wagon with my little brother, he was sick. They took us both to their camp, but my brother soon died too. Then I knew I was all alone."

  "You must have been terrified." Shannon shook her head.

  "At first I was. At first they didn't treat me so well." She laid the baby down for a nap, and then turned to look at all of them once more. "The Cheyenne had captured me, and taken me to their camp, where I lived for a short while. But as time went on, and I realized I was going to be with them a long time, I decided to be more cooperative. I had seen what they did to the women who rebelled against them."

  He stared at her now, smitten by her tale.

  "I was traded to the Arapaho after a few months and from there my life was better. I had seen several things happen to the captives that were with me. Some they killed outright. Others they traded and some they simply made slaves of them. I don't think I saw a one go home. I did see some white men that came to the camp. I think they were fur traders for their horses were full of skins. I saw how they looked at us, I heard the ugly things they said. After a while, I decided I'd be better off with the Indians."

  She glanced at him again to see if he was dismayed by her remark.

  Darrel merely nodded. "You had to make a decision."

  "Then what happened, after the Arapaho's got you?" Shannon wanted to know.

  "With the Arapaho I became friends with many of them. They had beliefs a lot like ours; they lived reasonably well in tipis made from buffalo hides. The women took care of the female children, and the warriors took care of the sons. As I came of age, the chief's son took an interest in me, he had no wives, and he had no children. When they began accepting me into their tribe, he started being very nice to me. Before long, he asked to wed me. After a while, the chief agreed it would be a good match, and his son brought many horses to trade for me. We were married in the camp.

  "By accepting his proposal, I saw it as a way to fit in better as I had decided to stay with them. He gave many horses for me. It is the price one pays for a wife. The more horses, the more valuable the bride."

  Darrel nodded with a smile.

  "We were married, and I got pregnant very quickly, and that made him and his father very happy. The baby was a boy, and that too pleased them. But with a son, he tended to forget about me, so much, and only wanted his son. He started being ugly to me when a young Indian girl started paying attention to him. I heard him talking one night, saw him courting her. I realized I was in danger. When he beat me, I decided I had to escape and take my baby with me. He was the one thing that belonged to me. I had no more kin, no one, but my baby…I wasn't about to leave him behind."

  "I don't blame you. He's a beautiful baby." Shannon smiled. "Where did you learn such good English, I mean, you were young when taken…"

  She looked down for a minute, then back and straight at her. "The other captives, most were older, all were women except a few young boys. Anyway, at least the women were all close to marrying age, they talked with me. We made a pact to always speak English together. So we would not forget. Only one girl refused, but she had been with them since a baby, and she was more Indian than white. As we soon would be."

  "Were there many captives?" Shannon asked.

  "Several, women, in several camps I was in. We made friends quickly and because I was younger they tried to protect me."

  She was silent a moment, then smiled reflectively.

  "The Arapaho were not a bad people. But they depended on the buffalo, and as they dwindled in number, the Indians were very unhappy. You see they survived from the buffalo, as it fed, them, clothed them, and they made many uses of one animal. Nothing was left to waste; every part of the animal was used in some way. It was an important animal to their survival. Still is, although they see now that the buffalo will soon be gone. The white men kill it, and waste it. With most of the big herds gone, life became more difficult for them. There were only two directions for them to go, to the reservation to live out their lives, or as renegades. The people were divided. The old ones chose the reservations, while the younger ones wanted to fight."

  "I'm glad they were good to you."

  Shannon thought about her being a captive, and how she must have had to use her wits to survive. She wondered if her parents had taught her how to survive with the Indians or if she simply learned it on her own. But Susan went on to tell it.

  "When I first came to the Arapahos I did not know what to expect, but I determined that I would be a good worker and try to get along. Because even the Cheyenne appreciated a good worker and treated them better. Then, when I realized that the white people would no longer accept me in their world, that going back would only be a mistake, I chose to marry an Indian. My thinking was, I would be even more protected with a husband. And I was for a while. When I married I was still very young. I had a lot to learn yet. It did not come easy for me, as their ways were much different. When I had the baby…then they began to accept me as an Arapaho."

  "Look, I know you don't know me very well, but I want to help you. Take care of you…" Darrel began.

  The girl looked at Shannon and Jesse. She blushed a bit.

  "I could put you in great danger." She reacted.

  "I've been in danger most of my life." Darrel admitted. "I'm not afraid."

  "I will think on it." She answered him, and then went to feed her baby once more.

  Jimmy John overheard them and shouted. "You gonna take a squaw for a wife, Darrel? If that don't beat all."

  "Shut up, Jimmy John. It's none of your business." Darrel shouted.

  Billy laughed too, "She's pretty, but not worth the risk."

  "That's my concern, not yours." Darrel faced the men he'd rode with. He seemed to see them in a different light now, as though they had suddenly become strangers to him.

  "Never figured you for an Injun lover." Thornton glanced at the girl once more, his interest in her feeding her baby obvious by the leering look on his face. "But she's shore pretty. I wouldn't mind…"

  Darrel went to cover her once more.

  "Why do you cover me? I am not doing any wrong. It is something very natural.
I must feed my baby."

  "Yes, but those fellas over there are just too low-down. They have no manners." Darrel explained. "You don't understand, they aren't nice men."

  "I have offended them?" She asked.

  "In a manner of speaking, they are offending you." Darrel nodded. "So next time, use the blanket and cover up."

  She nodded, and glared at the men.

  They laughed at her.

  "Why do you want to take care of me?" She asked simply, staring at Darrel as he went to move away from her.

  "I'm not sure…I just do." Darrel answered.

  "You are a good man." She smiled at him.

  Darrel stared at her a long time, then nodded and walked off.

  "Do you think the Indians will come after her?" Shannon asked Jesse as he poured himself a cup of coffee and cupped his hands over it. The night air in the Rocky Mountains could be chilly. Coffee warmed him.

  "You can pretty well bet they will." Jesse acknowledged.

  "Then we are all in danger?" She asked, her eyes widening.

  "'Fraid so." He glanced at the girl.

  Shannon shook herself as she joined him by the fire. "What are we gonna do?"

  "Tonight, nothing, tomorrow…we're going to ride." He said taking a sip of the coffee and staring into the cup. "Will you take the baby with you?"

  "If she'll let me. She doesn't let him out of her sight." Shannon glanced at her now.

  She saw how Thornton leered; it made a shiver run down her spine.

  "Why does he keep staring at her like that?" Shannon asked in a strangled voice.

  "Thornton?"

  "Yeah…Thornton."

  "I think you know the answer to that as well as I. He's a man to watch all the time. I figure it won't be long; he'll try to make a break for it. However, before he does, he might try something with her first. So we've got to watch him too."

  Shannon shook her head. "I'm beginning to see why you didn't want me along."

  "Wish you'd have seen it sooner. Now you are in this too. Maybe you can see a little of what I see. We got plenty of trouble following us. The Arapaho for one, the chance of Thornton trying to make a break for it, another, and Darrel offering to take care of her. Me trying to get them all to jail. And then there is you…"

  "I've not caused any trouble, I hope." Shannon stared at him with reproach.

  "It would have been simpler had you gone back to your home on the Willamette." He said and started to walk off.

  "I'm sorry, I know you don't understand why I busted into your life like this. But I couldn't be sure of anything back then." She felt her anger growing. "To tell the truth I didn't know if you were an honorable man or not. I didn't know if you'd come back, or leave me there to worry for the rest of my life."

  "Something change your mind?" He asked staring at her now as he turned to face her once more.

  "I didn't know what kind of man you were then…" She swallowed hard, realizing what she just said.

  "And do you know now?" His brow went up a notch.

  "I think so…You're respectable and decent, I know that." She turned away from him. "I think you would have come back, if you were able. Nevertheless, I was afraid, since you are a ranger, you might not be able to come back, and that would have been terrible for both of us. It was the not knowing. Had I not come along, I might have gone years not knowing what happened to you."

  Suddenly he took her arm gently and guided her into the woods a bit. Hew stopped abruptly and turned her around to look into her eyes. "I would have come back, and I will give you a divorce or annulment, or whatever you want to call it, if you want it."

  "Well…I appreciate …"

  She couldn't finish. Because he was staring at her and as he stopped he pulled her hard against him and kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

  Stunned, Shannon moaned against his lips.

  He raised his head. "I've never had a woman with me on a trip like this. Especially one I wanted…" He said then kissed her once more. This time the kiss changed.

  He cupped her face with one hand, the other he wrapped around her protectively. The kiss was long, languid and searching for unasked questions. She felt the quick pulse at his neck, as her arms floated around him, and she held on. Her lips parted and she welcomed him in, as their tongues waltzed slowly.

  When he pulled away, she looked into his eyes and saw the desire she felt staring at her.

  "I'm not sorry I came…" She whispered, as his forehead fell gently against hers.

  "Neither am I…" He whispered back. "But…from now on, I want you to stay close…and do everything I tell you. I'm not trying to boss you; I'm trying to keep you safe."

  "I know." she barely whispered.

  "Promise me…"

  "I promise," she whispered just before he kissed her again.

  A joy began to sing through her veins as his arms grew more possessive of her, and his lips kept massaging hers into a submission.

  This time he groaned and turned her lose. He seemed to catch his breath as he stared at her.

  She could feel the flush rushing up her cheeks, as she tried to still her racing heart.

  He smiled that slow boyish grin of his and her heart fluttered as he moved back toward the camp.

  She stayed where she was for a few minutes, wanting to recapture what had happened. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. She'd had a man court her before, but this was something different. It was if they had skipped the courting and went right to the wedding. Only they forgot a few things along the way, like getting to know each other and becoming familiar with each other. Those things happened quite….naturally.

  But his kisses were like a brand, as though he were staking a claim to her. And strangely she didn't mind!

  Chapter Thirteen

  It had been over two weeks since they left Utah and the Mormons. The trail was tricky, full of blocked pathways, where trees were downed from storms, rocks that rolled into their pathways. The men were griping more, and the fear of an Indian attack had them all on pins and needles.

  Tension permeated the air.

  Susan had let Shannon carry the baby after a week or so, but insisted on only a half day. She had to feed him and everyone could tell she was nervous about anyone else handling her child.

  The relationship Susan shared with Darrel had become stronger, as she hugged his waist and hung on.

  Now it was obvious to Jesse that someone was following them and he was almost positive it was Arapaho.

  "What are we going to do?" Shannon asked when she spotted movement behind them.

  "Nothing, yet, but we need to stay on alert, especially when we camp. We'll wait until it's dark to camp from now on. They won't usually attack at night."

  "How do you know all of this?" Shannon asked.

  "I've been through here a few times. I've been in enough skirmishes to know a lot about them. I know their ways to some extent. Susan was right about one thing, they are usually good people. But we have something they want badly."

  "What's that?" Shannon looked surprised.

  "That baby!" Jesse answered.

  "She won't give him up…" Darrel announced to them.

  "I didn't figure she would, willingly." Jesse acknowledged. "But eventually, they will attack us and try to take him. We have to be prepared for that."

  "You gonna let us all die because of that kid?" Jimmy John shouted menacingly, his confidence soaring.

  "Not if I can help it." Jesse answered.

  "Why don't you give us some guns to defend ourselves?" Jimmy John encouraged.

  "We'll see. If worse comes to worse, maybe. But not until I see we have no other choice." He turned to Darrel. "If I give any of them guns it will be Elmer and Jimmy John, although we'd have to keep an eye on Jimmy John, he'd run if he could."

  Darrel nodded. "I agree. What about Billy?"

  Jesse glanced at the young man who had suddenly revived and become confident of himself. "As a last resort."

&nb
sp; "I can use a gun." Shannon offered.

  "Good. You may have to." Jesse glanced at her.

  They kept riding, and having that feeling that any moment the Indians could spring on them. It was the same eerie feeling they had just before the cougar had lashed out at Jesse.

  However, they were getting dangerously close to the Colorado border and Jesse figured it would happen before they crossed over. Another week and they were sure to attack.

  A rockslide happened the next day and knocked Wes out of the saddle and down the incline. He rolled for what seemed like forever, the rocks and dust flying.

  Shannon went after him, followed closely by Jesse and Darrel.

  He'd hit his head on a bolder and he was bleeding all over the place. Shannon tried to doctor him but it was no use, he was dying.

  He stared up at Shannon. "I never killed nobody."

  Shannon cradled his head in her lap, tryin to ease the pain. "I'm sure you didn't."

  "It was Thornton that did all the shooting. Jimmy John tried to tell him not to kill anyone, but Thornton enjoyed it."

  "Do you have family, Wes?" Shannon asked.

  "Only a brother still living. Folks died early on. Lost track of my brother after the war."

  His voice was getting weaker, but he seemed to suddenly want to talk. "Will you say a prayer for me…"

  "Of course…" Shannon nodded.

  "There's a place in the bible that goes…"A time to live and a time to die…"

  "Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 verse One."

  "That's it?" Wes raised his hand in the air, and it fell down as he died.

  Darrel shook his head and turned away.

  Everyone got quiet after that.

  Jesse didn't want to stop long for anything with the Indians on their trail. Yet after a quick meal and burying Wes, he pulled out an old and tattered bible from his saddlebags and turned to the verse that Wes liked so much, and he read the entire chapter. Closing the book, he nodded, "Amen."

  They moved on, in silence.

  "We'll be out of these rocks in another hour, let's push on." Jesse encouraged.