The Ruination of Essie Sparks (Wild Western Rogues Series, Book 2) (35 page)
Read The Ruination of Essie Sparks (Wild Western Rogues Series, Book 2) Online
Authors: Barbara Ankrum
They would not look like other families, which suited him fine. He had no desire to be like others. He wanted to be himself. Like Cade was.
Still, it felt strange to be surrounded by people who cared what happened to him after being alone so long. Aside from his new family, Ollie Warren, Pink and a few of Ollie's ladies were here for the wedding, too. Ollie and her girls had decorated the place with greens, and Pink had cooked the food that had been making his stomach growl for the past hour, laid out on the long table along the wall.
Walks Along Woman and Red Moon and several others of the tribe attended as well, with Red Moon reciting a Cheyenne prayer over them as they spoke their vows. And he'd heard that the Donovans, who couldn't be here, had generously sent them four train tickets to visit them in Front Royal, Virginia, when they could all find the time. The prospect of a train trip across the country to the East stirred his imagination. Perhaps it would be an adventure, like Huckleberry Finn's.
Or perhaps he shouldn't wish for another adventure quite on that scale.
A handful of Tom Newcastle's friends had come, too, the ones who hadn't shown up asking for Cade's death that day. Though they'd never caught those men who'd sold Little Wolf to Chen Lee, Mitchell Laddner was run out of town on a rail just shy of being tarred and feathered for his part in the abuse of children at the school. Reverend Dooley had been disgraced and immediately dismissed from the Industrial School, replaced by a new headmaster who had promptly dismantled the Wages of Sin and was changing things for the better there. Chen Lee had been arrested for the murders of his girls, to which Shyen Zu and Little Wolf had testified. His opium house was shuttered now and gone, which was, he supposed, the best he could hope for the girls Chen Lee had left behind.
Now, Shyen Zu appeared beside him, in a creamy-colored dress Essie had gotten her for the wedding, and she nudged him in the ribs. "What you forget? Quick, quick, little brother."
He frowned and glanced up to find most of the room staring at him. Cade was gesturing to Essie's finger.
Little Wolf practically jumped, realizing he'd forgotten the only job he'd been given here today. He pulled the gold ring from his pocket and handed it to Cade.
Sliding it onto Essie's finger, Cade spoke the last of his vows and the two of them kissed as the preacher pronounced them married. The room broke into applause. But no one could have looked more tickled than Tom Newcastle himself. He nodded at the small band he'd hired, who struck up a dance for Essie and Cade.
It was no secret that Cade couldn't dance, but Essie didn't seem to mind. Instead, after a few minutes of shuffling together on the dance floor, she leaned close and whispered something in his ear.
He stopped trying to dance and pulled her back to look at her with a shocked expression on his face. Though there was too much noise to hear his words, Little Wolf saw the word "
Baby
?" form on his lips. Essie nodded with a secret smile of her own. Cade swept her into his arms again in front of the whole crowd, none of whom had any idea that their family was about to grow yet again.
Tom Newcastle stood beside him with a cup of punch, which Little Wolf was quite certain was spiked, and cleared his throat.
"What do you think of this whole shebang, Little Wolf?"
"They're very happy. And I am, too."
Tom nodded with a smile.
Little Wolf smiled up at him. "Should I call you grandfather now?"
"Do I look old enough to be a grandfather?" Tom spread his arms wide. Indeed, he did not, in his finely cut black suit and string tie. His eyes twinkled in the candlelight. "But for you and Shyen Zu, I'll make an exception and consider myself lucky."
But Little Wolf knew better. He was the lucky one here. And that luck had only just begun to unfold before him.
The End
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The Ruination of Essie Sparks
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Want more from Barbara Ankrum?
Here's an excerpt from
HOLT'S GAMBLE
The Wild Western Hearts Series
Book One
~
"You don't mean to sleep in
here
tonight, do you?"
Holt shot Kierin an indulgent look and laughed. "Damn right I do." He struck a match against the wooden side of the wagon and lit the lantern that hung from the bow.
"But... but I left a stack of blankets for you outside. Jacob said... I thought... you'd sleep under the wagon."
"Under the wagon?" he echoed incredulously. "When there's a perfectly good bed in here? Now why would I want to do that?" He peeled off his shirt, grimacing as he eased it off his bandaged left shoulder.
The sight of his naked chest unnerved her. He couldn't sleep here. Or
she
wouldn't. How could she after what had happened between them tonight? The memory of his kiss still burned on her lips.
"Well, then, you could... share the tent with Jacob."
"Look, Princess, this is my wagon, my bed. My shoulder hurts and right now, I can barely see straight I'm so tired. So let's quit arguing and go to bed."
"Fine," she said, gathering up her quilt. "If you're taking the bed, I'll sleep under the wagon."
He stopped her. "No, you won't."
"What do you mean I—"
"I mean you're sleeping in here with me."
"I will not." She yanked the quilt from his grasp. To her chagrin, she heard the delicate stitchery tear.
"You will, by God, if you want the rest of this train to think we're husband and wife."
He was right. How would it look for a ‘newlywed’ couple to sleep apart? At the very least, it would raise unwanted questions, and at worst, she and Holt would become the objects of meddlesome gossip which could get her thrown right off the train. And then what? She really had no choice. No choice at all.
"You're right, of course," she admitted reluctantly. "But..."
"Right. Subject closed. Give me a hand with my boot, will you?" Perched on a crate, Holt proffered a booted foot for assistance.
Kierin stared at him as if he had just asked her to stand on her head. "You—you mean to disrobe?"
He lowered his foot. "That's what I usually do before I sleep, yes."
Of course she'd seen him nearly naked when he had been injured, but that—that had been different. He'd been unconscious, for heaven's sake. He was a far cry from that now.
He raised his foot again. "My boot?"
Kierin nodded halfheartedly and tugged at his boot. It seemed an intimate act—one, she imagined, performed unthinkingly between a husband and wife. Probably as commonplace as a man's fingers unlacing his wife's corset, or hers darning his socks.
But she and Holt weren't married. They were strangers.
"Could you get the other one? Please?"
Silently, she tugged his other boot off as well, setting it aside with its mate. When she had finished, Holt eased himself carefully down onto the narrow mattress, covering himself with the heavy woolen blanket there. A small wave of relief washed over her when she realized he was too tired to remove his pants.
Kierin stood with her arms tightly crossed in front of her, unsure of what to do next. The thought of stretching out next to him, in their bed, recalled memory of the kiss by the river and the unexpected sensations it had stirred inside her. What if he tried to kiss her again tonight? Another, equally disturbing thought struck her. What if he didn't?
"Kierin, come and lie down," he said, almost as if he had heard her innermost thoughts. "You have my word, I won't touch you." He paused, pulling aside the blanket in silent invitation. "Come on."
She'd have been a liar to deny the ridiculous twinge of disappointment she felt at his pledge, yet she teetered on the reckless edge of accepting his proposal. She could sit up all night, make a nest for herself in the corner of the wagon out of harm's reach. But the next logical question reared its ugly head: What about the hundred or more nights that would follow this one?
~
To purchase
Holt's Gamble
from your favorite eBook Retailer,
visit Barbara Ankrum's eBook Discovery Author Page
www.ebookdiscovery.com/BarbaraAnkrum
~
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In another life, Barbara Ankrum was a successful commercial actress in Hollywood, going on auditions while she and her husband raised their two children. At some point, on the way to an audition apparently, it occurred to her that in order to get her creative life in hand, she ought to write a novel. This epiphany sprang directly from her love of romance novels and an obsession with all things Western. After selling the first book, a Western historical, she left casting directors behind and never looked back.
Barbara's bestselling books have been twice nominated for Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award and have won numerous other awards. She also writes contemporaries for Harlequin Intrigue under her own name and for Harlequin Blaze under the pseudonym, Carrie Hudson. After all these years, she still believes in happy endings and feels very lucky to be able to do what she does. The kids are grown now, but Barbara and her husband still live in Southern California with their two cats and a scruffy, unrepentant dog who will, no doubt, find her way into one of Barbara's books soon.
You can contact Barbara through her website at
www.barbaraankrum.com
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