The Outlaw Takes A Bride (The Burnett Brides) (17 page)

Regardless of what he’d done, she still wanted him, and that’s what irked her the most.

Why did this man stir her passion? What about him drew her to him regardless of the consequences? She had a nice man waiting for her here in town, and all she could think about was the one who didn’t want her, the man who, for all she knew, was wanted by the law.

But the sweetest night of her life had been spent in his arms, and she knew from personal experience that it wasn’t always that way between a man and a woman. She knew it could be worse, much worse.

Beth had no choice. She had to forget about Tanner and return to her original plan of meeting her husband- to-be. For no matter what she felt regarding Tanner, Tucker was the man who wanted to marry and support her.

Tanner turned sideways in his saddle and looked back at Beth, his gaze brief and impersonal. “We’ll be spending the night at the El Paso Hotel. I’ll get us two rooms, and then tomorrow afternoon, when the stage is due to arrive, you’ll be there to meet him.”

Two rooms, not one they could share but two, to complete the separation.

She nodded her head in agreement. “I would like a chance to rest and clean up before I meet him.”

“Good, the hotel is down the street a ways.”

He turned back around in his saddle, and Beth stared daggers at his back.

No, he hadn’t made her any promises; in fact, quite the reverse, but she hated Tanner for what he was doing. She hated him because he’d made her feel more than any other person.

She cared about him, and that scared her even more. They had experienced one incredible night of pleasure in each other’s arms, and now he was giving her up. For that reason, she could barely stand the sight of him.

Yet she couldn’t endure the thought of never seeing him again. And then there was the man she had traveled to meet and marry. The man she had already betrayed.

***

Eugenia sat across from her youngest son in the restaurant of the El Paso Hotel, her family in tow, waiting to greet the afternoon stage.

“Mother, we’ve met this damn stage every day this week, and she hasn’t shown up yet. When are you going to give up?” Tucker asked.

“Her telegram said two weeks. It’s only been eleven days since we received the telegram.

“She’ll be here soon,” Eugenia replied, wanting to whack her youngest son on the hand as she would a troublesome child.

“I don’t have time to sit here and wait every day for a woman that I have no intention of marrying,” Tucker informed her, his rebellion stronger than ever before.

“Would you just give this a chance? She may be the woman you’ve been waiting for all your life.”

“I doubt that.”

Before Eugenia could reply to her youngest son, Mr. Phillip Kincaid the owner of the El Paso Hotel, stopped by their table.

“How was everything?” he asked.

Eugenia glanced up at the man and smiled. “It was lovely as usual. Your restaurant is one of our favorite places.”

“It would have been even better if my mother and younger brother were getting along,” Travis informed him.

The gentleman smiled. “The joy of families. So what brings the group of you to town?”

“We’re awaiting the arrival of a soon-to-be new member of the family,” Eugenia said laughing. “Or at least I hope so.”

“Oh? Who is this person?” he questioned.

“Elizabeth Anderson, Tucker’s fiancée,” Eugenia said as she smiled at the man. She’d known him for years, though since their children were grown and their spouses had died they’d said very little to one another.

Tucker frowned. “Not my fiancée, Mother.”

Rose, Travis’s wife, lifted her brows and patted Tucker on the arm. “Your brother seems to have adjusted to being married quite nicely. He doesn’t have any regrets, and neither will you if she’s the right one.”

“No one is going to force me to marry anybody,” Tucker, a normally cheerful man, objected.

Eugenia sent him a look she hoped conveyed her irritation at his stubbornness and then returned her gaze to Mr. Kincaid. “Travis is finally married, and now I’m working on Tucker, but he’s not cooperating, as you can tell.”

The elderly gentleman laughed. “I keep trying to get my granddaughter to move back home from Arizona so that I can do the same thing, but so far she refuses me.” He turned to Tucker. “You remember Sarah.”

Eugenia watched as Tucker gazed up at the older man, a rapt expression on his face. “Yes, I remember Sarah. I ran into her at Tombstone several years ago, right before I came home.”

“That’s right,” the older man said. “I remember her mentioning it. The two of you were friends.”

“Yes.” Tucker glanced at Mr. Kincaid. “Is she doing all right? Is she still a doctor?”

“She’s doing fine. Wouldn’t give up being a doctor; she loves medicine. I only wish she would come home and practice here, where I could visit with my grandson.” “Grandson? She got married?”

“Yes,” the older man replied.

“Excuse me, Mother, Mr. Kincaid. I think I’ll return to the jail, since the stage is not due for another hour. I’ll meet you back here before it arrives.”

“If you must!” Eugenia said, watching her youngest son stand. “Don’t be late! She could arrive today.”

“Yes, Mother.” Tucker rolled his eyes and walked through the restaurant and out the door.

***

Tanner met Beth downstairs. They had checked in yesterday afternoon late, and he hadn’t seen her since then. Since that fateful morning, he’d carefully chosen when and what he said to Beth, avoiding her as much as possible.

He had to. It hurt too much to think of her being in another man’s arms. Yet he had nothing to offer Beth. Whatever feelings he had for her were better left unrealized.

He watched as she walked to his side, her auburn curls carefully coiffed and pulled up off of her neck. The dress, the same emerald green one she’d worn at dinner that night, displayed her curves to their finest. Though not the latest fashion, the material was made of fine brocade that he knew was quite expensive.

Beth appeared every inch the lady, and he envied the man who would be meeting her today. But Tanner could never be the man in her life. She deserved better.

“We’re all checked out. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she said, her words clipped and short.

The stage was due to arrive at noon, and it was already eleven. Time was running out for the two of them, and Tanner knew it. But there was nothing he could do. Beth was meant for someone else, not him.

“Do you want me to wait here with you until he arrives?”

“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll be fine,” she said, glancing down, twisting her gloved fingers.

A sense of relief swept through him. He didn’t think that he could willingly hand her over to another man. And he certainly didn’t want to know what that man looked like or even his name. Because then he would be tempted to find her, make sure she was all right, and that could never be.

“Look, I ... I know that the last few days have been—” He didn’t know what to say. His heart was in his throat, and he had to let her go.

“Tanner?”

The memory of a small boy calling his name, running after him, paralyzed him.

“Is that you?”

The voice sent chills down Tanner’s spine. It was a voice from his past. It was a voice he had certainly hoped to avoid. He whirled around at the sound of his name.

There, before him, stood his baby brother. He stared in disbelief at the boy he had left behind who had become a man, a man who wore a badge.

Tucker gasped. “Well, I’ll be damned, it is you. You’re alive.”

Tanner was suddenly grasped by his younger brother in a bear hug that almost squeezed the breath from his body. Reluctantly, he returned the man’s hug, his body tense, his mind whirling with the realization that he was trapped. A surprising sense of joy filled him at the sight of his brother, but he quickly pushed it away.

Tucker held him at arms’ length and stared at him in shocked surprise.

“My God, man, where have you been? We all thought you were dead. Wait! Everyone is here. They’ll be so glad to see you.”

Tucker leaned back and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Mother, Travis, get out here quick. You’ll never believe who’s here.”

Tanner didn’t have a chance to escape. He glanced up, and there in the doorway of the hotel restaurant stood his family, his mother, his older brother, and a lady he’d never seen before. Everyone was here except his father.

With a past like his, he’d planned on never seeing them again. Yet there was no way he could escape!

His heart almost stopped at the sight of his mother. It’d been so many years. Her hair was grayer, her body a little heavier, but her expression at the sight of him filled his throat with unshed tears.

“Tanner!” she cried.

The sound was a half-sob, half-scream, and then she rushed into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and cried against his shoulder. He was stunned at her reaction, and a sense of pain he’d long ago buried wrapped its painful tentacles around his heart.

“Mother,” he choked.

Her hands were touching his face, his cheeks, and she reached up and feathered kisses on his face, sobbing and crying.

He hadn’t meant to hurt her so badly. He didn’t know what he expected, but he’d never thought she would react this way to his coming home. He swallowed back the tears that suddenly clogged his throat and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

“Oh, my God. I told them you were alive. I just knew I would feel it if you were dead. And now you’ve come home,” she sobbed. “I’ve waited for this day for so long.”

Tanner couldn’t say anything; his throat closed with unshed tears at the sight of his family, so happy to see him. He’d never thought they would want to see him ever again.

He’d sneaked away like a thief in the night and thought they would only be angry if he ever returned home. He’d done them so wrong, and they were welcoming him home, like the prodigal son. He didn’t merit this kind of reaction. He didn’t deserve to be with them.

Wait until they found out he was an outlaw. Then they wouldn’t welcome him home.

“We’ve waited so long for your return,” his mother said, wiping a tear from her face.

His mother kept her arm around him and slowly dried her tears.

Travis, his older brother, stepped forward and wrapped his arm around his neck and gave him a brief hug. “It’s good to see you again, Tanner. We’ve all missed you.”

Tanner nodded his head, cleared his throat, and rapidly blinked back tears.

Travis stepped back and took hold of a woman’s hand, then pulled her forward. “I’d like you to meet my wife, Rose. We’ve been married for several months now.”

“Nice to meet you, Rose,” Tanner said, grasping the woman’s hand. She was a short woman with a mass of brown curls and twinkling green eyes. There was a certain mystique about her that was intriguing.

She held on to his hand a little longer than necessary. “Hmm. I’d like to read your palm a little later.”

Travis laughed and rolled his eyes. “If you’re smart, Tanner, you won’t let her.”

She shrugged and continued to watch him.

Eugenia spoke up. “Leave her be, Travis. She knows what she’s doing.”

Rose smiled at her husband and gave him a wink. Tanner watched as his older brother almost melted before his eyes. This was definitely a new side to Travis.

“Where’s Papa?” Tanner asked, his curiosity suddenly overcoming him about where his father could be.

For a moment they all glanced at one another, and the air suddenly seemed tense. Then his mother squeezed him even tighter.

“Your father passed away several years ago, Tanner. He loved you and waited for your return right up until the day he died.”

A deep sense of sorrow overwhelmed Tanner. His insides clenched with the knowledge that his father was dead, and he quickly shut out the pain that threatened to consume him. His father was gone; there would never be the chance to redeem himself. His father went to the grave not knowing that he’d been right about the war, that his son had run during the last battle.

“So, I guess you were on your way out to the house,” Tucker said hitting him on the shoulder.

Tanner glanced back behind him, looking for Beth. She stood off to the side, her eyes wide, taking in the scene of his family greeting him.

“Huh, yeah,” he lied.

“Who’s this?” Tucker asked noticing Beth for the first time. He stared at Beth, a frown creasing his forehead.

“This is a friend of mine, Beth,” Tanner informed them. He took her by the hand and pulled her forward

Beth released Tanner’s hand and gazed at everyone, her hazel eyes wide.

Tucker glanced at her oddly. “You look familiar.”

Eugenia frowned staring at Beth, and then she suddenly gasped. “Oh, my!” She pointed at Beth. “I recognize you from the tintype picture you sent us.”

Tucker suddenly frowned. “You’re the woman we’re meeting at the stage today, aren’t you?”