Stacey Kayne – The Gunslinger's Untamed Bride (страница 10)
A few moments later the wagon slowed to a stop and she heard muffled voices.
“It’ll have to go on the back,” said Chuck. “I’m plumb full up here.”
Something thumped into the wagon.
“Where can I find the sheriff’s office?” Regi asked.
She squirmed and tried to scream, drowning out Chuck’s reply. Her muffled screams were lost in the groan and creaks of the wagon as Chuck cracked his whip.
She rocked against the buckboard.
Juniper collapsed into the chair behind his desk, his gaze landing on the revolver he’d taken from Lily. He scrubbed a hand over his face. The rage he’d seen in her emerald gaze ignited a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Her pretty green eyes had blazed with hell’s fury before he’d tossed the blanket over her. He had a notion that when not encumbered by a head injury, Lily Palmer was a force to be reckoned with.
Not unlike her father.
He remembered the ol’ man-hunter quite well. Though rumored to be ruthless in his occupation of bringing in some of the most infamous criminals in the territory, Red Palmer had actually seemed a decent sort of fellow. Juniper had spoken with him several times over at the general store and in the saloon. On many of those occasions he’d mentioned the wife and daughter he had stashed up in the mountains.
Juniper had never been forced to shoot someone he’d been cordial with—until the night Red went after him like a loco steer. He’d never faced a more terrifying adversary. He sure as hell hadn’t expected to live beyond that night. Part of him still wished he hadn’t.
Would he ever outlive his reputation as a gunfighter?
He was so damn tired of fighting the past. Juniper closed his eyes, silently praying that Lily Palmer would take his advice.
“Good afternoon.”
Juniper opened his eyes as a little man in a bowler hat and ruffled suit stepped into his office.
“Reginald Carrington,” he said, rushing toward the desk, extending his hand.
“Sheriff Barns,” Juniper said as he stood and shook the man’s slender hand. His last name, dainty grip and frilly white shirt explained a lot. “I take it you’re the new owner.”
“Of sorts. We arrived a short while ago and I seem to have lost my charge.”
“Your charge?”
“My partner, actually. Lily Carrington.”
“Yes. She insisted on being present for the inspection and must have taken a notion to have a look around on her own. Quite like Lily, you see. She’s very involved in all of her projects. The boy from the mill suggested I’d find her here.” The man’s brows pinched inward as he glanced around the office.
“She’s not here,” Juniper said, the sick feeling in his stomach turning to a ball of flames. He wondered if this dandy was her husband. “She’s on the ox wagon headed down the mountain.”
“The wagon that just left a short while ago?”
“Yeah.”
“You must be mistaken. We stopped the driver. Lily wasn’t with him.”
“She was, you just didn’t see her because, uh … she was on the buckboard. Under a blanket.”
Reginald’s dark eyes grew wide. “I beg your pardon?”
“Women aren’t allowed up here. She was unconscious when—”
“Of course not. That was how I found her. She had stepped into the path of a lumber hoist.”
“Is she all right?”
“She seemed all right.” Other than wanting him dead. “When she woke up she didn’t say anything about being a Carrington. She just said her name was Lily. I sent her down the mountain the best way I could without causing a ruckus with the men.”
“If she allowed you to send her off without a fight, she was far from all right! Lily is hardly some docile flower.”
“I noticed.” Juniper rubbed at the tense muscles in the back of his neck. “Believe me, she was fighting mad. Did I mention she was handcuffed under that blanket? And gagged?”
Reginald blinked several times, his expression seeming frozen in place. “You accosted the owner of this camp and sent her—”
“The
“Your
His slow, clear pronunciation didn’t make the announcement any less of a shock. “Oh, hell.”
“Indeed.” Laughter tickled from Reginald’s throat. “You poor man. Don’t think for a moment I’ll be able to save this situation. Lily controls everything, and her wrath could make the devil tremble.”
Somehow Juniper didn’t doubt it. Cursing, he reached for his hat. “Can you ride?”
The dandy snapped straight as though pricked by a pin. “Of course I can ride. I wouldn’t have kept up with Lily all these years if not.”
“If that means you can keep the devil’s pace and stay in a saddle, you can come with me.”
Outside he motioned toward the brown-and-white mare tethered beside Scout, his chestnut stallion. “You can take Günter’s mount. You’ll likely have to raise the stirrups.”
Reginald didn’t hesitate, stepping up to the horse to make necessary adjustments.
“She your wife?” Juniper asked as he slung into his saddle, the notion refusing to take hold in his mind.
Reginald glanced up from a stirrup. “Heavens, no. Lily’s my second cousin.”
“Then how is she a Carrington?”
“By birthright, Sheriff Barns. Her mother was Rose Carrington, youngest of four siblings to inherit the Carrington fortunes, a quarter of which went to Lily after Aunt Rose’s death.” He mounted the mare with reassuring ease. “A moment with Lily should convince anyone that she’s a Carrington through and through.”
“I don’t think so,” Juniper muttered as he spurred his horse. Reginald had clearly never met Lily’s daddy.
They beat a fast trail out of camp. As they rode down the wide road cut into the mountainside, gunfire echoed across the sky.
Juniper met Reginald’s startled gaze. Both men reined in their horses, listening to an echo that sounded no farther than the next bend in the winding road.
“Hey, Reginald? Why did you stop the wagon?”
“To send our strongbox down to The Grove.”
Juniper’s heart clenched. “You put the payroll on an unarmed wagon?”
“Surely not! We sent our guard along.”
When the load of logs came into view the team of oxen were at a standstill. Chuck was nowhere in sight.
“Chuck!”
“Over here!”