Bride of Shadow Canyon. Stacey Kayne

Jed glared down at her with his wintery eyes. Rachell glared right back. It wasn’t her fault!

      “Usually is with the pretty ones,” the judge commented. “So, just where do you plan to take the lady?”

      “Nevada.”

      “Uh-huh. You could wait here for ‘em. I’ll see that you get a fair trial after the killin’ and be happy to serve swift justice to those who go against you and manage to keep livin’.”

      Rachell sucked in a gasp. She could have sworn he’d just given Jed permission to kill and offered assistance with the leftovers. He was visibly agitated when Jed declined the offer.

      “Suit yerself,” he snipped. “Is she a lady of a respectable stature?”

      “She claims to be.”

      “Uh-huh.” Judge Widell skimmed her over, his expression reflecting Jed’s skepticism. Rachell told herself it didn’t matter what any of them thought.

      “So, you’ll be traveling alone,” the judge added.

      There was a distinct change in Jed’s posture. His stance widened, his strong body seemed coiled to strike as though someone had pulled a gun on him. “What are you getting at, Judge?”

      “Just gettin’ the facts straight so I can make a fair judgment. So you’re claimin’ you fired yer gun in self-defense. You got collaboration to that effect?”

      “Mrs. Carlson will attest to the fact. You won’t find a soul in Weaver who’ll say different.”

      “All right then, self-defense it is. As for disturbing the peace and destruction of property, yer fine’s three hundred dollars.”

      Rachell sucked in a sharp breath. Three hundred dollars!

      “Fair enough.”

      Shocked, she looked up at Jed’s relaxed expression. Hopefully he had three hundred dollars. She didn’t have a dollar to her name.

      “Five dollars for the marriage license,” the judge said quickly, “and we’re done.”

      “Marriage license?” shrieked Rachell.

      “Wait just a damn minute!” Jed roared simultaneously.

      “You know the law, Jed. She’s an unchaperoned lady traveling in the presence of a man.”

      “We’re not in Texas and she’s a widow!”

      Judge Widell stood, shouting over them. “Defendant is found innocent on all counts of murder, by the powers invested in me I now pronounce you man and wife!” He rapped his gavel. “Court adjourned!”

      Rachell suddenly felt dizzy. “This can’t be legal!”

      “Damn it, Widell! You have no cause to—”

      “I’m old, not blind, Jed! I watched you ride into this town. I saw the way you was lookin’ at her before you dumped her in the dirt. You ought to be thankful I’m thinkin’ of yer soul.”

      His words reduced Jed’s protest to muffled curses. Rachell gaped up at him. Surely not! The man couldn’t stand her.

      Buster strode toward them and placed a document on the table.

      “If you want to ride out of this town with the lady, you’ll sign the paper,” said Judge Widell.

      Jed held the judge’s gaze for a long, silent moment before he took the pen from Buster. He scribbled his name onto the bottom of the marriage document then held the writing quill out to her. “Sign the damn paper.”

      Dear Lord, she did not want to be married to this man. But she supposed a temporary bind didn’t really matter. After all, she’d already spent a year of her life in a paper-bound marriage.

      “My gun and my blade,” she heard Jed say to the sheriff as she signed her name.

      “Here’s how it’s gonna work,” called Widell. “If you can get that pretty redhead to California without consummatin’ the marriage, you’ll have no trouble gettin’ an annulment. Although, if I’s a bettin’ man, I’d wager yer married for life, Jed Doulan.”

      Laughter erupted throughout the now crowded saloon. Rachell was hauled up and slung over Jed’s wide shoulder. “Put me down,” she shouted, trying to ignore the lewd comments following them from the farce of a courtroom.

      “Button your lip, wife.”

      He swung into his saddle, still holding her like a sack of potatoes.

      “I am not your wife! Put me down!”

      His hands clamped around her waist as he brought her down onto his lap. “I swear, woman, if you don’t shut that—”

      She slammed her fists against his chest. “I will not be tossed about like a sack of oats!”

      “You better get control of those hands before I hog-tie you and throw you over the back of this saddle.”

      “You wouldn’t dare!” Rachell froze as her gaze settled on his fierce expression. He looked mad enough to do that and worse. She hoped he didn’t see the fear that spiked through her at the sight of his cold eyes. “Why aren’t we going to California?” she asked, annoyed that her voice was soft as a whisper.

      “I know trouble when it’s biting me in the ass,” he said as he urged his horse into motion. “I’ll be damned if I’m taking it back to my ranch.”

      “Your ranch?”

      “The Double D. The Darby and Doulan Ranch. Ben is my partner. He has two young boys and his wife recently had a baby. They don’t need your trouble. You won’t step foot onto our place ‘til I’m sure you’re not being followed.”

      “You can’t—”

      Jed reined his horse to a hard stop. Unrelenting eyes glared down at her. “Lady, let’s get somethin’ straight. I’m in charge of this rescue operation. I can do anything I damn well please.”

      “What about the horse and clothes? Food! You said—”

      “I changed my mind. I’m getting out of this damn town before anything else goes wrong.”

      

       Try to do someone a favor and get saddled with a wife!

      The scenario was all too familiar. How many times can a man be wed against his will in one lifetime?

      For Jed, that total had just hit twice in his thirty-nine years. The marriage he’d blindly walked into a lifetime ago suddenly seemed as though it had happened only yesterday. He’d been nineteen when he’d tracked down the two Indians who’d jumped his friends in their sleep, robbing them of all but their boots and drawers. He’d been amused to discover Buck and Tom had been hog-tied and shystered by a ten-year-old Ute Indian boy and his eighteen-year-old sister.

      Raised by a Cherokee and able to speak a few Indian dialects, Jed learned that Running Bear and Malika were trying to get home after escaping from a rival tribe. Had he even suspected that their father would give him the hand of the very daughter he’d brought home in appreciation for their safe return, he wouldn’t have escorted them into their camp.

      Before he had a firm handle on their language and what was happening, he’d been shoved into a teepee with his pretty young bride. And there’d been damn little either of them could do about it, without bringing shame upon Malika and insulting her father.

      In the three years they spent traveling between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas they’d had their enjoyable moments, but in all that time, she’d never been truly happy with him. Jed was certain he had loved Malika. He respected her courage and strength. He’d spent three years trying to prove his worthiness of her love, as she proved that all the passion in the world couldn’t penetrate a heart betrayed by fate.