A Bride for Frank, page 6
He nodded. “I understand and I don’t blame you. I feel the same for all of my brothers. What is the deputy’s name?”
“Roy Slade.”
Frank hung his head and shook it slowly before finally speaking. “I know him. He’s not to be trusted. I’m surprised he waited this long. Everyone in Prescott knows the circumstances of our marriages.”
She sagged in the saddle but whether from relief or sadness she wasn’t sure. “I know, but what else can I do? I have to leave. He’ll always be back. I’ll never be free.”
“If you want to leave so badly, you can leave, but know this...you will always be my wife. There will be no divorce…ever.”
Her eyes widened. “You’d let me leave?”
He shrugged. “If that’s what makes you truly happy, then yes, I’d let you go.”
“You wouldn’t fight for me to stay?”
He clenched his jaw and then huffed out a breath. “I am fighting for you the only way I know how…by giving you what you want. I want you to stay because you desire me and want to be my wife. I don’t want you always looking down the road and wondering what life could have been like if you’d made a different decision.”
Suddenly, she felt like the worst person in the world for not being willing to give up her dream for this kind, generous man. But she couldn’t. Not now, when she was so close. Maisie looked up at him. “So, you’ll let me go?”
He looked at her with his eyes narrowed. “No, I don’t think so.”
“But you just said—”
“I know what I said.” His horse pranced sideways, and he reached down and patted his neck. “It’s okay, Demon. It’s okay, boy.” Frank sat up and looked over at her. “I’m coming with you. If that man is really after you, you’ll need me.”
Panicking she shook her head. “I don’t—”
“Before you say anything that will make me second guess myself for this decision, I don’t care about the money. You can have it all.” He reached over and cupped her cheek. “After what you went through for all those years, you deserve it. You deserve every happiness, Maisie.”
She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, for a moment forgetting they were on horses, in the middle of a clearing in the forest with the sun beginning to come up. Suddenly, she realized Slade didn’t say she had to come alone. Her body relaxed and she enjoyed Frank’s ministrations.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead, then each of her temples, her nose and the corners of her lips. Then he stopped.
Her eyes flew open. “Frank? What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
“I want you too much and I won’t take you in a broken-down shack.” He jutted his chin toward Fiona’s cabin. “Or on the ground. You mean more to me than that. Where are you supposed to meet him?”
“Flagstaff.”
“We have to go back to Prescott for supplies to get to Flagstaff. We’ll have to camp at least one night because there’s no place to stay between Prescott and Flagstaff.”
She nodded her head. “Agreed. I have the money for the supplies but the stores might not want to sell to me.”
He turned Demon. “But they will to me plus I need to send a message back to the ranch and let them know we’ll be gone for a while. I don’t want anyone worrying. Let’s go.”
“You’re really doing this? Coming with me?” She looked over at him, wide-eyed. “Buying supplies for me?”
“For us.”
“Thank you.” She said softly and then she grinned. Happier than she’d been in a long time. It appeared someone finally had her back. Frank would help her, and he was still treating her like a lady. Even after she said she’d leave? More importantly, did she want to stay here with him? Did her happiness lie here with him rather than alone somewhere else?
Chapter Six
Frank watched Maisie as they rode side-by-side. She was beautiful and kind. She’d do anything for her sister, which was another reason he was sure she was coming back. Maisie couldn’t leave Lottie behind, even though Lottie was married to Brodie now.
The deputy named Slade was driving her…making her take risks she wouldn’t have otherwise.
“Would you have come for the money if not for Slade?” He had to know. Had she planned on staying with him?
She shrugged. “I don’t know. When we were first on our way here in the stagecoach, we talked about what we wanted to do. The only reason I would have collected the money then was if you were like…” She looked over her shoulder, as though her dead husband would suddenly appear. “Donald. If you were like him, I was leaving as soon as I could. And I might have tried to kill you before I left so you couldn’t hurt anyone else. And I wouldn’t have stopped to pay Slade. But, if I want to stay, I have to pay him. I don’t have a choice. I can’t let him hurt Lottie, and then I needed, maybe still need, to be by Lottie’s side.”
“I’m very glad you didn’t find reason to kill me.”
“Wait…the night is young.” She laughed.
He threw back his head and chortled. “I like your attitude, Maisie. You don’t let much get you down, do you?”
She shrugged. “I never thought about it. I just keep going, but I believe Lottie is the one who keeps my spirits up. She’s so…free. She’s the one you ought to talk to about staying positive. Even when we were in the Yuma prison, she woke up with a smile on her face every day. She kept us going.” Her voice quieted. “She’s pretty amazing, my little sister.”
The horses were close enough, he reached over and took her hand, then leaned down and kissed the top. “I happen to think her big sister is pretty special, myself.” He wished there was enough light to see her blush. She was extra pretty when she was rosy. It was like time fell away, and she looked like a young girl again.
She pulled her hand back. “I’m not special. Nothing about me is special.”
He tilted his head. “I don’t know about that. You’ve survived horrific times in your life that would probably have broken most women. You survived being sent to prison for two and a half years. Maybe it wasn’t your full sentence and maybe it was. They do give you credit for good behavior and that shortens your sentence. It’s entirely possible that the warden didn’t tell you that you’d served your sentence and were free, so that he could get you to marry us.”
“What?!” she shouted. Her horse pranced to the side. She reached up and patted her neck. “It’s okay, girl. I could be free without the marriage?” she spoke softly.
“Perhaps, I don’t know for sure. We’d have to wire the warden and find out, but it’s definitely a possibility. But even if you were, you’re married…we’re married. All of you would have had the same reduction as I assume you were all model prisoners."
"Actually, we were. We were determined not to get into any trouble. That’s why we volunteered for every chore we could.” She grinned. “If we could take on extra chores, then the other prisoners were likely to be grateful, as they would possibly have more free time.”
Suddenly, she frowned and looked as though bile burned her throat.
“Or it could have worked against us and that person was given some worse tasks to perform. In those cases, we had to make it up to that prisoner…in whatever way they decided. But we always maintained our dignity, and we stuck together. None of us would have made it alone.”
He wanted to ask what she’d been forced to do, but he decided he really didn’t want to know. “Maybe. Maybe not. You’re mighty strong on your own. Taking off, even though you knew I’d follow you—”
“In my defense, I thought it would take you a lot longer to catch me. I was actually hoping to set up some sort of camp before you found me. Now, it appears, you’ll be setting up camp.”
“How do you figure I’ll do it?”
She laughed. “Because you’re too much of a gentleman to let a woman set up camp all by herself.”
He frowned. “You’re right I am. It wouldn’t sit well with me, and my father would have my hide if he were still alive. Ladies are to be cherished.”
She snorted. “Well, that lets me out. I’ve never been mistaken for a lady.”
He heard a bit of regret in her voice. He didn’t know if she heard it or not. He pulled up on the reins.
She did the same. “What’s the matter?” Maisie looked around them into the forest on either side of the road.
He dismounted and dropped the reins, knowing Demon would stay. Then he walked over to Maisie and held up his arms.
She hesitated and then leaned down into his arms.
Frank immediately pulled her in close. “You’re my wife, Maisie Campbell, and I won’t have anyone, including you, disparaging you.” He lowered his head and took her waiting lips with his own
She was eagerly meeting him and pulling his head closer. Maisie eased back for a moment; her hands buried in his hair. “Have I told you I like your hair longer? Don’t ever cut it short.” Then she fitted herself to him and ran her fingers through his hair and the curls over his collar.
“I’ll keep it long, just for you,” he whispered against her lips. Then he deepened the kiss, taking them perilously close to making love right there in the middle of the road. He pulled back, his breath coming in pants. “We have to stop, Maisie. We have to stop…now.”
She blinked several times and then looked around them. Maisie smiled. “Looks like we almost got carried away. When we make camp, I promise to get totally carried away by you.”
He rolled his eyes and looked to the heavens. “You’re not making it easy on me.”
She laughed.
The sound was a balm to his heart. When had he let her get so close? They’d only been married for about nine weeks. Was that long enough to fall in love? He certainly felt like he was in love with her. He couldn’t think of anything but her. Even when he was throwing bales of hay or mucking out the stalls in the barn or riding a horse until the animal was green broke, Maisie was always there. Her smile, her laugh. Her eyes when they darkened with lust or, like now, when they sparkled with mischief.
He pulled her close, then took her face between his palms, gently, reverently. “Maisie.” He lowered his head.
“Frank, I—”
With his lips on hers, he cut off whatever she’d been about to say. He didn’t want to hear how she would be leaving after she paid off Slade. In some ways, he hoped they wouldn’t find Slade and she’d come home of her own free will. Otherwise, he hoped she paid Slade and decided she didn’t have enough to go away on her own, but he didn’t want to trap her. She deserved so much more. He wanted to give her everything, and if finding this mine was what she wanted, he’d help her do it.
When they reached Prescott, it was early and the mercantile was just opening.
“Maisie, you wait here. It won’t take long for me to get everything we need.”
She waited just outside of town.
Frank returned with a mule loaded with all kinds of equipment and bags full of stuff.
“Looks like you bought out the mercantile.”
“I got everything we’ll need.”
They headed north from town toward Flagstaff. They passed the ranch without stopping.
“I don’t want to stop and have anyone try to talk us out of this course of action. I’m sending them a message later today. Todd at the mercantile will see that it gets to them.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
They could only travel twenty or so miles a day. The horses weren’t trained for anything faster or more grueling than that. And they still had to get back home on those same horses. Not that the animals were unfit; they weren’t, but they were also not used to being ridden all day, every day.
The distance from Prescott to Flagstaff was about ninety-five miles and it would take them about five days to get there. The first place they camped was in a small clearing in the woods, away from the road a bit so they had some privacy.
Maisie put together the biscuits first. When they were finished baking, she removed them from the Dutch oven and used cubes of beef steak and some vegetables to make a stew. She could make a new stew each day for a couple of days, then it would be biscuits and beans for the trip back, unless they bought more steak and vegetables in Flagstaff or they hunted rabbits or other small game. All of this depended on Maisie. Was she leaving? Getting on a stage and not going back to the ranch? Or would she return with him?
They rode for five days and came into Flagstaff on the morning of the fifth day. They headed to the rendezvous location that Slade had given her. She followed the directions which sent them through town and farther into the mountains.
Finally, Maisie called. “Frank! This is it. He’s sent us to Donald’s mine. This is the Kunkle mine. I recognize it from the map. Why would he send us here? How did he know about it?”
He rode up next to her. “How long before Slade shows up?”
“I don’t know. He was going to the ranch first, so when I’m not there, he’ll know I’m here.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure we’re prepared for him. You know how to shoot, right?”
She looked up at the sky and rolled her eyes. “I do. If I’d been smart, I’d have shot Donald.” As it was, I didn’t need to shoot him. Someone else had killed him. Slade. She knew that now, but she didn’t when she agreed to pay him to leave Lottie alone.
“That wouldn’t have been smart. You’d have ended up in prison for murder and they would never have let you out. It wouldn’t have mattered that he deserved it.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” She stopped for a moment and then looked back at him. “There’s still biscuits left. We’ll have those and some beans for dinner.”
“Sounds good.” He walked back to their horses and the mule. He unloaded all their supplies, and when he was done, he rigged a rope to a tree and tied the animals to it, with lots of lead, so they would be able to graze. There was plenty of grass for them to eat, and since he’d bought the mule, he’d also gotten grain to feed them.
Maisie grabbed the Dutch oven and then gathered several large rocks for a fire ring before building a fire. Once she had it going and had some coals built up, she set the Dutch oven into the fire and put in two cans of beans to heat. “Sorry the biscuits will be cold, but at least the beans will be hot.”
After dinner, Maisie did the dishes in the stream that ran off the side of the mountain, just down the hill from their camp. That was easier than lugging water up to the camp in a bucket, though she did take the bucket to carry the dishes in.
Maisie couldn’t believe she was nervous, but she still was. What if Frank, who seemed so nice, got angry? Would he hit her? He hadn’t yet, but they’d never been really alone before. What if he was just pretending because of his brothers? They would hear. Would they intervene if he was hitting her? Or what if he was just pretending not to be like Donald to get her to lower her defenses?
She shook her head to clear it. Why was she thinking like this? She knew why. She didn’t have any other men but her father and Donald to compare Frank to. Maisie knew Frank was a good man. He had to be, because she’d already lost her heart to him, and it would kill her to be wrong.
Chapter Seven
Maisie and Frank went to bed early. She was happy to sleep in Frank’s arms. Even with the niggling doubt that remained in the back of her mind, she was determined to enjoy this time. Plus, he was warm, and the night was cold.
He made love to her long into the night and then cuddled her against him afterward.
She felt valued. It was something she’d only felt with him.
“Maisie.”
“Hmm?”
“I care for you, a lot.”
“I care for you, too.” She was surprised that she meant it. She’d never cared for a man in her life, not her father, who sold her, and certainly not the husband he’d sold her to.
Frank kissed her behind her ear and down her neck. “I want to kiss you.”
She turned onto her back but remained in his arms. “I want to kiss you, too.”
His lips met hers, and he delved inside.
She kissed him back, loving the taste of him and the feel of him kissing her. His lips were firm and yet soft against hers.
His hands worshipped her, and she came alive. Soon, he was making love to her again, and she reveled in his care for her. She felt no pain, only joy. For the first time in her life, she felt joy at making love. Even before with Frank, it hadn’t been like this, hadn’t been joyful. What had changed? Whatever it was, she liked it.
Suddenly, she knew what had changed. She’d truly fallen in love with her husband, and it scared her. But he was so different. He was kind and treated her with care. Things she’d never had from a man before. How could she not fall for him?
The next morning, she awoke with the sun as it hit their tent, bathing the interior in a soft, golden glow.
Maisie stretched and turned toward Frank, but he was gone. She heard him outside. He was starting a fire and putting on the coffee. She heard him muttering to himself and chuckled at the sound. She quickly dressed and exited the tent.
“Good morning.” She walked over to him.
He grabbed her around the waist and brought her in for a kiss. After a moment, he pulled back. “Good morning, to you. Coffee will be ready in about twenty minutes. Shall we finish the biscuits for breakfast?”
“Sounds good. I’ll put them in the Dutch oven to heat. What are our plans for today?” She set the Dutch oven in the fire. This would be the last of the biscuits and she’d have to dust out the biscuit crumbs to make the large cast iron pot ready for their next meal.
“I thought we’d follow the map you have of Donald’s mine and see where it leads us. If we get to the spot on the map where he says there was gold, then I’ll start digging and you’ll keep watch outside for Roy Slade. How did you get this map? I would have thought Slade would have taken anything on his body.”
