An Unexpected Groom Read online

  West scowled like he’d tasted something bad. “Let’s just get this done, Lem, and we won’t ever have to deal with this slimy rat again. Which can’t happen soon enough, far as I’m concerned.”

  The colour drained from Ransom’s face. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who you are.”

  “Give it up, Ransom,” West snapped. “We don’t have time to coddle you anymore. Ely’s gone and got himself locked up and he could be blabbing to the marshal about us right now, for all we know. We’re leaving and we’re taking the contents of that safe with us.”

  Ransom’s pale face turned red, a vein throbbing in his neck. “You promised I wouldn’t be suspected of involvement. Now everyone knows.”

  Vernon’s mouth dropped open. “Mr Johnson was right?”

  Ransom ignored him. “This wasn’t the deal. I told you to wait and...”

  Lem darted forward, shoving him against the wall and wrapping one hand around his throat. The revolver jammed into his cheek. “Up to now I’ve let you think you had a say in all this because having someone on the inside of a bank ain’t something that comes along every day. But you got yourself into this. Man can’t hold his tongue when he’s got some liquor in him shouldn’t be drinking at all. Maybe this’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut about how you’re using the bank to scam people. Now you’re going to do what I say, when I say it.” He released Ransom and shoved him in the direction of the door to the back. “Get going.”

  Ransom caught the edge of Jesse’s desk to stop himself from falling and coughed for air, rubbing at his neck.

  “I said get!” Lem shouted.

  Ransom flashed him a look of utter hatred before turning in the direction of the door.

  “Watch them,” Lem said to West as he pushed Ransom out the room.

  “With pleasure,” West said, settling his leer on Louisa again.

  Seeing the danger, Jesse whispered in her ear. “Get behind me.”

  She raised her face to look at him then turned her gaze on West. Seeing his approach, she climbed from Jesse’s lap and moved to stand behind him, gripping the back of his chair.

  Jesse fixed West with a stare. “Stay away from her.”

  West gave a derisive snort. “Or what?”

  He didn’t answer, but when West moved to go around him, he moved into his path. The thug changed direction. Jesse went with him.

  “Get out of my way, cripple,” West snarled.

  “No.” Jesse’s heart pounded, his mouth felt like a desert, and his stomach sat somewhere around his ankles, but he would die before he let the monster in front of him anywhere near Louisa.

  West raised his revolver and cocked the hammer. “All right then.”

  “No, please don’t!” Louisa ran around Jesse, stopping between him and West and raising her hands. “I’ll... I’ll do what you want. Just don’t hurt him.”

  Jesse reached for her frantically. “Louisa, no!”

  West’s leer returned. “Now that’s more like it.”

  “There’s no need for this,” Vernon said from where he stood in one corner of the room. His hands shot up when West’s revolver swung round to point at him. “I just mean, you can take whatever you want from the bank.”

  “Already getting all the money,” West said, returning his attention to Louisa. “Only one thing here I want.”

  Jesse grasped his push rims and tensed to move. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but West wasn’t going to lay one finger on her.

  West took a step towards her, his eyes sliding disgustingly down her body.

  The door to the front room burst open and Jeb rushed in. “Where’s Lem?”

  “Out back getting the money,” West said, frowning in annoyance. “Shouldn’t you be watching the street?”

  The back door opened and Lem and Ransom entered, each carrying bulging leather bags.

  “Lem, something’s wrong,” Jeb said. “Street out front just got real empty. And I can’t see Ralph and Luther no more.”

  Lem dropped his heavy bag onto the floor. “There’s a door at the back. Go see if it’s clear outside.”

  Jeb nodded and headed for the back.

  “West, check the street out front again.”

  Clenching his jaw, West cast a glance at Louisa and strode into the front room.

  Jesse wheeled up to her and took her hand.

  “Please don’t do that again,” he said when she looked down at him.

  Her eyes shimmered with moisture. “I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

  “I’ll see you in jail for this, Rotherford,” Mr Vernon growled, his eyes on the bags of money. “After all I’ve done for you.”

  Ransom gaped at him. “All you’ve done for me? What have you ever done for me? Seventeen years I’ve worked for you and I barely even get a pay rise once in a blue moon. I...”

  “Yeah yeah, no one cares,” Lem snapped. He raised his voice. “What’s going on out there, West?”

  “Road’s empty,” West called back.

  There was a crash from the rear of the bank.

  A voice shouted, “Come out here with your hands up.”

  A door slammed shut.

  Jeb ran into the room. “Deputy’s out there. Might be more.”

  Lem grabbed both bags of money and handed one to him. “Everybody, out front.”

  They crowded into the lobby and Jeb and his revolver shepherded Jesse, Louisa and Vernon against a wall.

  Lem went to the front door and opened it a crack.

  “You’re surrounded, Lemuel Carver,” Marshal Cade shouted from outside. “Throw your guns out and come out with your hands in the air and you might walk out of this alive.”

  “We’ve got hostages, Marshal,” Lem yelled back. “You try anything and people start dying.”

  “You want to add murder to robbery?”

  “Don’t matter, long as I don’t go to jail.”

  Jesse touched Louisa’s arm to get her attention and beckoned her closer. When she leaned down he whispered, “If they start shooting, get down behind my chair.”

  She stared at him in horror. “No! I can’t use you as a shield.”

  He cupped his hand to the side of her face. “Please, Louisa. If you were hurt...” He stopped as his voice trembled.

  She closed her eyes and rested her forehead onto his shoulder. “Dear God, please keep us both safe.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. “Amen.”

  The sound of the front door slamming startled them apart.

  “What are we gonna do, Lem?” Jeb said.

  Lem looked at the floor.

  “Lem...”

  “Shut up and let me think!”

  Jeb lapsed into silence, glancing nervously out the window.

  Half a minute later, Lem lifted his head. “Jeb, you see the horses across the street?”

  “Yeah, they’re still there. Marshal probably doesn’t know they’re ours.”

  “Good.” He gestured at Jesse with his revolver. “Get him out of that chair. I don’t want him doing anything rash.”

  Jeb eyed Jesse uncertainly. “But, Lem, he’s a cripple.”

  Jesse ground his teeth. If one more person called him a cripple...

  Lem rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I can’t believe we came out of the same woman. Just put him on a chair, or throw him on the floor, I don’t care. Just anywhere he can’t move!”

  Puffing out a breath, Jeb grabbed a chair, planted it beside Jesse, and walked around behind him.

  Belatedly, Jesse realised what he was going to do. “Don’t you dare...”

  Jeb’s hands thrust beneath his arms and he was hoisted into the air and dumped onto the chair. He let out a frustrated growl as Jeb pushed his wheelchair across the room, leaving it well out of reach.

  Louisa rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”

  He swallowed his anger and took her hand. “I’m fine.” He noticed Jeb wouldn’t meet his gaze.


  “Right.” Lem hefted the bag of money over his shoulder and grabbed Ransom, wrapping his left arm around his neck and holding the gun to his head with his right.

  Ransom yelped. “What on earth are you doing?”

  “Grab yourselves a shield,” Lem said. “We’re getting out of here.”

  “A shield?!” Ransom exclaimed, struggling.

  Lem tightened his arm until he started to choke. “Do you want me to shoot you right here? Or do you want to stay out of jail?”

  West strode to Louisa and grasped her wrist, forcing her hand from Jesse’s and pulling her roughly against him.

  She cried out. “Jesse!”

  “Let her go!” He reached forward, freezing when the barrel of West’s gun swung round to push into his forehead.

  “Can I shoot him, Lem?” West said. “Just let me shoot him before we go. He’s useless anyway.”

  “No shooting. We fire a shot in here the marshal will come in, guns blazing. We need to do this smart.”

  “You are a lucky man,” West said. Then his eyes went to Jesse’s legs and he smirked. “Or maybe not.”

  Jeb grasped Vernon, propelling him to join Lem and Ransom at the door. West dragged Louisa to follow.

  She twisted round to look back at Jesse, her eyes wide with fear.

  “We go out together,” Lem said. “Keep your hostages in front of you, guns at heads, fingers on triggers.” He sounded as if he’d done it before.

  Jesse looked around desperately for some way to save Louisa.

  At Lem’s bidding, Ransom opened the door a fraction.

  “We’re coming out,” Lem shouted. “We’ve got hostages with us. You try and shoot us, they’re the ones get shot.”

  Jesse’s eyes landed on a pole leaning against the wall in the corner by the door. It had a hook on one end and was used to open the tall, high windows that faced the street. It was usually kept behind the counter. Ransom must have been using it before the robbers came in.

  “Go on,” Lem said to Ransom.

  Jesse glanced at them, checking if he was being watched, but as usual he might as well have been invisible. That was finally a good thing.

  Ransom pulled the door wide and Lem manoeuvred him out onto the boardwalk outside.

  The pole was several feet beyond Jesse’s reach. It would take a miracle, but it was his only chance.

  He shuffled himself to the edge of the chair and gripped the armrests.

  Jeb followed Lem out, Vernon clutched in front of him. West was behind them, his arm around Louisa’s chest, forcing her back against him.

  Jesse had only seconds before he lost her.

  Help me, Lord. Make my legs work.

  West pushed Louisa into the doorway.

  “Louisa! Get down!”

  She obeyed Jesse’s command without hesitation, softening her knees and sagging in West’s grasp.

  Commanding his legs to obey him for once in his life, Jesse launched himself from the chair.

  West spun round, raising his gun.

  Jesse’s feet took two impossible strides. He grabbed the pole and swung it with all his strength. The end hit the side of West’s head.

  Jesse’s legs gave way beneath him and he crashed to the floor.

  The room echoed with a gunshot. Somebody screamed.

  Shouting and gunfire erupted outside.

  Jesse looked up to see West lying several feet away, unmoving, Louisa on the floor beside him.

  A window shattered. Vernon plummeted through the doorway and rolled into a ball against the wall.

  Louisa raised her head. “Jesse!” She scrambled to her hands and feet and threw herself down beside him.

  He wrapped himself around her, shielding her with his body as chaos rained down around them. Squeezing his eyes shut, he held the woman he loved tight against his chest and begged God for her protection.

  Bullets ricocheted off the walls above. Shouts came from the street. Somewhere behind Jesse, Mr Vernon whimpered. A volley of gunfire shattered another window. Someone cried out.

  And then silence, so abrupt it echoed in Jesse’s head.

  When nothing happened for at least ten seconds, he opened his eyes. The sounds of running feet and then shouts of “Hands in the air!” came from outside.

  “Louisa?” he whispered into her hair. “Are you all right?”

  Gasping in terrified breaths, she moved her face from his chest and lifted her eyes to his.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “Are you?”

  He searched his body for pain. “No.”

  A vision of West holding the gun to her head came to him. What if he’d lost her? The thought of spending the rest of his days without her sent a shock of pain through his chest worse than any bullet could have. He needed her. She held his life in her hands.

  “Don’t leave,” he whispered, staring intently into her beautiful face. “Please stay with me.”

  Her breathing stilled and for a few seconds she didn’t say anything. Then she raised a trembling hand to his cheek. “Jesse...”

  “Everyone all right in here?”

  Her gaze moved beyond him and he looked back to see Marshal Cade standing in the doorway.

  “Is it over?” Mr Vernon said from the corner where he was huddled.

  “Yes, it’s over.” The marshal’s boots crunched on broken glass as he walked inside. “We’ve got the gang in custody, including the two they had outside. Well, most of them.”

  Mr Vernon’s gaze shot to the door. “Most of them?”

  “All those who are still in my jurisdiction.” He walked over to Jesse and Louisa as they sat up. “You two okay?” He offered Louisa his hand.

  She swayed a little when she stood and Jesse reached up to steady her. Cade brushed a few shards of window glass from the seat of Jesse’s wheelchair and pushed it over to him then went to West’s still form and bent to press two fingers beneath his jaw.

  “Is he alive?” Jesse said, pulling himself up into his chair.

  “Yup.” He straightened. “Which one of you laid him out?”

  “I did.” Jesse silently thanked the Lord he hadn’t killed the man. A death, even West’s, was something he didn’t want on his conscience.

  “Nicely done,” the marshal said, moving the unconscious man’s hands behind him and slapping on a pair of handcuffs. West groaned.

  Jesse took Louisa’s hand and was surprised at how cold it felt. The usual rosy glow of her complexion was missing, her skin pale.

  “Louisa?”

  Her gaze moved slowly from the man on the floor to him.

  “Marshal,” he said, not taking his eyes from her, “would you mind getting Miss Wood a chair?”

  Cade took one look at Louisa and rushed to fetch the chair Jesse had been dumped into earlier. He placed it behind her and gently took her elbow.

  “Miss Wood, would you like to sit?”

  He helped her onto the seat and Jesse moved to her side. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body and she leaned her head against his shoulder. If they’d been alone, he would have drawn her into his lap where he could hold her as close as humanly possible.

  “What do you mean you have most of them in custody?” Mr Vernon said again. He hadn’t moved from the corner.

  A grim look shadowed the marshal’s face. “I mean one of them isn’t going to be bothering anyone in this life again.”

  Understanding dawned on Vernon’s face. “Oh. I see. What about my secretary?”

  “Mr Ransom is a mite the worse for wear, but he’s alive. Bullet grazed his shoulder. From the way he’s carrying on you’d have thought he was dying.”

  Mr Vernon pushed to his feet as rapidly as his out of shape form would allow. “You must arrest him immediately! He’s been taking money from my customers. He was helping them rob the bank!”

  “Already got him in a cell,” the marshal said. “He tried to pretend he was an innocent hostage, but the men in the gang didn’t
take too kindly to that.”

  West groaned again, raising his head to look around blearily.

  Deputy Fred Filbert appeared at the door. “Everything all right in here, Marshal?”

  “Got another one for you, Fred,” Cade said, indicating West.

  Fred walked over to him and hauled him roughly to his feet. As they passed Louisa, she turned her face away and pressed it into Jesse’s shoulder. Not caring who saw, he tightened his arms around her, whispering words of comfort he hoped would help.

  “I need to get back to the office,” Marshal Cade said, “but I can send someone to fetch Pastor Jones if you want?”

  Jesse nodded. He wanted to keep Louisa with him, but he saw the sense in getting her home as soon as possible.

  Mr Vernon approached from across the room, brushing off his clothing. “Well, it appears I owe you an apology, Mr Johnson. I should have believed you from the start. Miss Wood, if there’s anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  She lifted her head and gave him a small nod.

  Running footsteps approached outside and Jesse’s father burst through the front door. “Oh, thank goodness.” He crossed the room in two long strides and sank to his knees in front of them, reaching out his hand to cup Jesse’s face. “When I heard the shooting and then someone said there was a robbery at the bank, I thought...” He blinked the sheen of moisture from his eyes.

  Jesse took his hand. “I’m all right, Pa. We both are.”

  Peter wrapped his free hand around Louisa’s and bent his head. “Thank You, Father, for protecting my boy and Louisa.”

  Jesse blinked his suddenly burning eyes and added his silent thanks to his father’s.

  Chapter 26

  The following hour passed in something of a haze.

  Pastor and Mrs Jones arrived at the bank and took Louisa home. Jesse went with them, unwilling to let her out of his sight, while his father returned home to reassure the rest of his family that he and Louisa were safe and unharmed.

  Marshal Cade arrived soon after to get their accounts of events in the bank.

  “It’s a good thing you came and told me about your suspicions beforehand,” he said when Jesse had finished relating all that had happened. “When I overheard Mrs Ogilvy telling her husband how Mr Ransom had made some strange excuse for the bank being closed, I knew something had to be up. Though I admit, I wasn’t expecting it to be a full blown bank robbery. First one since I’ve been here. Mr Vernon’s nigh on apoplectic right now.”