Wild West Wife. Susan Mallery

made the tears come. She crouched with her back up against the tree, brushing the drops away as they fell. The cold crept up her skirt and made her shiver. Her teeth chattered. She tried to think about being warm, about a blazing fire, but that only made her discomfort worse.

      She shouldn’t have run away. She should have stayed put and found another way to—

      A gunshot cut through the night. Haley jumped and pressed her hand over her mouth to hold in a scream, not knowing what the sound meant. Had the men who must surely be looking for them found Jesse? Was he dead? Maybe it was Indians, or outlaws or someone frightening and she would be better off staying quietly here by the tree. Maybe she should—

      Another sound drifted to her on the chilly breeze of the night. The faint whisper of her name. And then she knew. Jesse had fired his gun to let her know where he was. He was looking for her and couldn’t find her, so he wanted her to find him.

      She took off in the direction of the shot and his voice. She screamed for him. “Jesse! Jesse, I’m over here.”

      He called back an answer. She raced through the trees and the brush, ignoring the branches that caught at her clothes and scratched her face and hands.

      She stumbled over a tree root, fell to her knees, then righted herself and kept running. Her chest ached from lack of air, her legs were heavy, but she pushed on.

      “Haley? Are you all right?”

      “Yes,” she called back and broke through a few waist-high bushes. Jesse stood in a clearing, the two horses behind him. In the darkness, she couldn’t make out his features, but she recognized the size and strength of him.

      “Jesse.”

      He turned toward her. “Dammit, Haley, what were you thinking? You could have been killed.”

      She recognized his anger as concern and once again she fought the tears. “I’m fine,” she murmured, barely able to form the words.

      He strode over to her, put the rifle on the ground and grabbed her forearms. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

      Before she could answer, he pulled her roughly against him.

      She went willingly because she had no thought to protest. He was warm and she felt so very cold. Strong arms came around her and despite his strength, his embrace quickly gentled. She leaned against him, absorbing his heat. He rubbed her back.

      “Running off was damn stupid,” he said. “You could have died.”

      “I know.” She buried her face in his shoulder. “But I had to try.”

      “Don’t do it again.”

      “I won’t.” She could smell the pleasant scent of his body. As she snuggled closer, she tried to remember if she’d ever been this near a man. She didn’t think she had, and felt a pang of loss. It felt nice to be hugged. Especially by Jesse.

      “You could have died.”

      She raised her head and found him staring at her. In the darkness, she could barely make out his eyes boring into hers. She thought she read concern there, but she wasn’t sure.

      His mouth twisted. “We’d better get camp set up and a fire started.” He shifted until his arm was around her, then he led her toward the horses. “Did you fall off the saddle? Are you hurt?”

      “No. My horse jumped over a stream and I couldn’t stay on. When I hit the ground, everything went black. I’ve been wandering around for a while, waiting for you to find me.”

      He grabbed the coat draped over her saddle and wrapped it around her. “Sit down,” he said, pointing to a fallen tree. “I’ll get the fire started, then we’ll eat.”

      As he worked, she huddled inside the sheepskin coat. Gradually the shivers faded. By the time he got the coffee brewing, she was nearly thawed, although her feet felt as if they would be frozen forever.

      “Did I get close to town?” she asked as he opened a can of beans. “I know I was heading west. At least I thought I was.”

      He dumped the beans onto two tin plates and set them close to the fire. The light illuminated his features and she saw the corner of his mouth turn up in a smile. “You were heading due west, but Whitehorn is a little north of here. If you’d kept in that direction for a while you would have eventually run into an outpost.”

      Well, that was something. At least she wasn’t completely lost. “How far is the outpost?”

      “About fifty miles.”

      The hint of a smile turned into a grin. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “Fifty miles? I wouldn’t have made it.”

      “I know.” He looked very pleased with himself.

      “You think you can tell me what to do just because you’re the only one who knows where we are and where we’re going.”

      “Don’t you forget it, either,” he said.

      Without wanting to, she smiled in return. She’d made her escape, which at least salvaged her pride, and now she was safely back in camp. Perhaps it was better this way. She believed that Jesse wouldn’t hurt her, so for now she could be patient. Eventually she would get to Whitehorn and be with Lucas.

      The thought of her fiancé brought a familiar gladness to her heart. How lucky she was. Lucas Stoner was everything a woman could want in a husband. Tall, kind, gentle, loving. She continued to recite the familiar list, and as always the words brought her a measure of comfort. But the thought of marrying Lucas also made her feel slightly wistful, and for the life of her, she wasn’t sure why.

      * * *

      Haley kept her word and didn’t try to run away again. Probably she hurt too much, Jesse thought as he reined in his gelding and waited for her to catch up. It was their third day on the trail and she was barely keeping pace with him.

      As her horse tramped along next to his, Jesse glanced over at her. She’d given up trying to keep her hair in a tidy bun at the base of her neck. Instead, she wore it in a long braid that hung down her back. The sun had left freckles on her nose and cheekbones and fatigue had left shadows under her eyes. None of the scratches she’d gotten wandering in the forest had become infected although a few red marks still marred her otherwise smooth skin.

      She looked at him and rubbed her left cheek. “Do I have dirt on my face?”

      He shook his head. “You look tired.”

      “I am. The ground is hard and I’m not used to sleeping outside.” She glanced at the sky, then at the trees around them. “Although I think I could get to like it around here. Maybe a little bit more if I could actually sleep under a roof.”

      “Soon,” he promised and wondered if he was telling the truth. “Go on with your story.”

      She thought for a moment, then nodded. “As I was saying, this poor woman was about to give birth to what later turned out to be twins and her husband kept swaying on his feet. The doctor told him to leave, but he’d promised her to be with her through the birthing. It was her first time and she was so afraid. Anyway, sure enough, his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor like a stone. The whole house shook.”

      She chuckled at the memory. “He was a large man, too. Tough. Worked in the railroad yard. The doctor was so surprised, he went over to the man to see if he was all right. Which left me to deal with the mother. Of course the twins decided they were ready to be born, so there I was, juggling slippery babies and one excited mother while the father was out cold through the whole thing.”

      “Was he all right?”

      “Sure. He had a bump on the back of his head, but otherwise he was fine. And very proud. Two beautiful baby boys had come into the world.” She grinned. “I told the mother that next time she should tell her husband to stay outside the room, where he belonged.”

      Jesse