The Gunslinger's Untamed Bride. Stacey Kayne

one of his warm, hypnotic smiles as he held the boy’s wary gaze.

      “All right.” Kersey pushed back from the table. His worried expression didn’t change as he took the hand of his youngest sister.

      “That’s a good man,” Juniper said, thumping the boy on his shoulder as he led his excited siblings to the door. He tucked the coin into Kersey’s hand.

      The boy’s lips twitched with a grin. “Thanks, Juniper,” he said softly, and followed his sisters outside.

      Masterfully done, thought Lily. Juniper Barns wasn’t short on cunning.

      The door slammed shut, initiating a bleating cry from the cradle just beyond the sofa.

      “What’s all this about?” Mrs. Donnelly asked rather sternly as she bent over the cradle. Lily caught a glimpse of the plump, pink-cheeked infant wrapped in the blue blanket before the widow hugged him to her bosom, rocking him gently the way mothers did, instantly silencing his cry.

      “We need your help, Emma. A guard was killed today and money stolen.”

      Mrs. Donnelly gasped, her arms tightening around her baby. “Killed? They didn’t sa—” Her words cut off as though realizing she was about to say something she shouldn’t. “I didn’t know.”

      “I know you didn’t,” Juniper said, his tone soothing. “I’m sure Calvin didn’t want to worry you. He did come to see you today, didn’t he?”

      Tears welled into the woman’s brown eyes. “They’re good men, Juniper, trying to fend for their families.”

      “I know that. As long as the money’s recovered and everyone cooperates, the only men facing charges will be the gunman who killed the guard and the man who assaulted Miss Palmer.”

      Lily could hardly believe his audacity, to make such assumptions. They would all be facing charges!

      “Oh, my gracious.” Mrs. Donnelly’s wide gaze landed on Lily’s skirt. The state of her attire left little doubt that she had indeed been assaulted. Her initial attacker stood beside her, posing as a sheriff.

      “Are you all right?” the woman asked.

      “Quite well,” Lily assured her. “Thank you. As Sheriff Barns has said, we need to recover the stolen funds.”

      “They just want what was owed to them.”

      “And we have every intention of distributing the wages, which are now missing.”

      “This whole town is waiting on their pay, Emma,” said Juniper. “Everyone will get their wages. But it has to be done properly. We have to get that money back.”

      Tears spilled across Emma’s cheeks, twisting the ache in Juniper’s heart. He hated having to press her for information. This family had been through so much heartache in the past few months.

      “Did they say where they were headed?”

      She nodded, sniffing back more tears.

      Juniper knew how much it cost her to implicate her brother.

      “A man was with him,” she said. “Calvin called him Chandler.”

      “You didn’t recognize him?”

      “No. He wasn’t a pleasant fellow. He kept shouting at Calvin and scaring the children.”