A Desperado's Bride (Book Fourteen of the Brides of the West) Read online

  A Desperado's Bride

  Rita Hestand

  A Desperado's Bride

  (Book Fourteen of the Brides of the West)

  Rita Hestand

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright© 2016 by Rita Hestand

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN # 9781311543455

  Cover Design by: Sheri McGathy

  License Note

  This book, A Desperado's Bride is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without express written permission of the author. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy or copies. If you did not purchase this book or it was not purchased for your use, please go to Smashwords.com to purchase your personal copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  A Desperado's Bride is a work of fiction. Though some of the cities and towns actually exist they are used in a fictitious manner for purposes of this work. All characters are works of fiction and any names or characteristics similar to any person past, present or future are coincidental.

  ~Dedication~

  Sometimes people get off to the wrong start, have bad breaks in life. They aren't really bad people, but they might make bad decisions or have some strange circumstance. To all of you out there under this yolk, I say there is hope, if you really want it. Find yourself a good mate, and work on changing your circumstances. Don't be a desperado any longer.

  God Bless

  Rita Hestand

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  About the Author

  Rita's Other Books

  South of the Pecos,

  1881 Texas

  Chapter One

  Chance Montgomery pushed the swinging doors to the side, standing there holding them open while he sized up the room. The Lady Belle Saloon was a big wide open place, with ceiling fans and a bar as long as one whole wall. There were multiple chairs, a pool table, and a sitting area. He walked with a definite swagger toward the bar, bold and controlling, his hands in easy access of his gun.

  As his gaze swept the room slowly he eyed each table he passed. At the center table two cowboys sat drinking beer and talking. A man with a bowler hat sat at the piano, playing a few sour notes with a few of the good ones. Tension eased within him as he spotted a beautiful girl at the end of the bar, staring at him. With light brown hair and wide gray-green eyes that a man couldn't forget, she gave the impression of sadness, somehow. There was something faintly familiar about her, but until he could place her, he wouldn't speak to her. He silently wondered if he had known her once.

  He ambled up to the bar, leaning on his elbow, he glanced around the room again.

  He laid a coin on the bar, the coin spun, and he tapped it with his hand.

  No one recognized him, that was understandable, he'd grown his hair out, until it was long, over his shoulders and he wore a mustache and beard now. He'd probably grown a couple of inches since he'd been here last. A few glanced his way, some stared, but no one recognized him, and no one spoke to him. He waited for the bartender to take notice, as he began to relax.

  A little boy of about five or six came rushing into the saloon. His face was red obviously from running. He looked like a miniature cowboy, with a big hat on his head, and worn out scuffed boots. He couldn't reach the bar, so he ran around it and looked at the bartender. "I need to buy some milk." He said in a small voice.

  The bartender ignored him too.

  But the girl at the end of the bar saw him and bent to her knees. "Gabrielle, what are you doing in here?" The young woman asked her voice soft and full of patience.

  "I gotta get some milk for Thomas."

  "Milk?" The woman asked.

  "Yeah, Mama's milk dried up, so I gotta gets some milk. I got some pennies, will this buy it?" He produced about a nickel's worth of pennies and placed them in her hand. The look on his face said he knew it wouldn't but he had no choice but to try.

  The woman looked at his meager few pennies and went behind the bar to get the milk. She poured it into a small clean bucket and handed it to him.

  He put the pennies in her hand, she smiled and took his pennies. "Thank you young man, now be sure and tell her if she needs more to let me know."

  The boy smiled and winked at her and scooted under the door, careful to set the bucket down as he moved.

  When she went to put the pennies in the register though the bartender bit her head off. "That ain't enough to pay for that milk. What did you give that black kid milk for? You know we don't serve them here."

  The woman narrowed her eyes with a sudden frown and placed her hands on her hips, "Because he's a kid, and his mother needs to feed her baby. Baby's have to eat no matter what color they are Leroy. You want to starve a baby for a little milk?"

  She reached into the top of her dress and pulled out a small purse and took out the money to pay for the milk. "Next time that boy comes in here for milk, you give it to him, Leroy. She can't pay for the milk, her husband left her with four kids to take care of. And she hasn't been eating. That's why she doesn't have any milk. I'll pay for it if he doesn't have the money, understand?" She moved away from him.

  "We don't serve his kind in here, especially milk." Leroy snapped. "I don't want him thinking he can come in here and get what he needs all the time."

  "Leroy, we serve them now!" She said holding her head high and smirking at him. "Why don't you try to be a little more human?" The woman shook her head with disgust.

  Chance watched the her, fascinated with her good deed. He hadn't seen anything like that in ages. It warmed his heart. But it was the woman he stared at, small, delicate boned, with a perfect figure and a face he'd never forget. Or had he? He'd swear he knew her from somewhere.

  Shrugging the warm fuzzy feeling she gave him, he turned his thoughts inward now.

  He'd do what he came to do and leave this place and never come back. He'd thought of this place as a hellhole. Carterville they called it. After old man Carter. Chance wondered about him. Nothing had happened to change his opinion of this town, except that woman's act of kindness. It was so unexpected. So out of place in a town like this. But then, maybe things had changed here in Carterville.

  "Beer," he told the bartender who slowly meandered down the length of the bar. The man was in no hurry. He was a burly man of fifty or more, with dark hair parted down the middle and a handlebar mustache, and an apron tied around him, he looked intelligent and knowledgeable, but uncompromising too.

  "Sure." The bartender poured him a beer and left him without a word. Chance thought most bartenders were friendly, but not this one.

  A drunk over in the dark corner of the room glared at him, and a man in an impeccable suit kept glancin
g his way. One looked as though he'd just stepped on his foot, and the other looked as though he wanted to sell him something. Chance cared for neither.

  He looked at the bartender and finished his beer. "Hank Hardin around?"

  The bartender stared at him strangely. "I imagine he'd be at his ranch this time of day."

  "Would that be the old Montgomery place?" Chance asked staring at the man, wondering if the name would jar him.

  "Montgomery. Hank has had that place a good ten years or more. Don't know any Montgomery's. I only moved here about five years ago, so anything before that is a mystery to me, mister."

  Chance nodded, "Thanks…for the beer, then."

  He drank it slowly, staring back at the drunk and the gentleman. As he finished his beer he slammed the glass on the bar, and began walking out.

  Chance felt the swinging doors tap him on the back as he walked away. Ambling out into the sunlight, he stopped when he heard a voice behind him. A nice, soft feminine voice.

  "Mister," a woman called from behind him on the boardwalk.

  Chance turned around and the dancehall girl stood staring at him. She sure was pretty and something stirred inside him just looking at her. Strange, he hadn't reacted to a woman in a long time. Such an instant attraction was not common with Chance. He'd learned to control his urges in that respect. Or he thought he had.

  "Aren't you Chance Montgomery?"

  He stood staring at all the curves and beauty of the woman, small but perfect came to mind. High pouting breasts, a slim waist, and a curve to her hips made him lick his lips. He certainly wasn't against being friendly.

  He squinted from the sunlight staring him in the face, he pulled his hat lower to shade his eyes. The satin of her gown caught the flash from the sun and nearly blinded him.

  "Do I know you? You look somehow familiar."

  He could see the disappointment in her eyes even from this distance. That same disappointment registered in his memory. "You don't recognize me, do you?" She said in a soft voice.

  "Should I?" He kept trying to recall but nothing came to mind.

  She shrugged. "I guess not. I'm Rebecca's sister," She said softly.

  "Reb…. her sister? Why, you were just a kid, last time I saw you! Jenny, isn't it?" He smiled at her. "You were only eleven or twelve the last time I saw you. No wonder I didn't recognize you."

  His voice was friendly now, his face turned into a smile she hadn't expected, obviously.

  "Yeah, time has a funny way of changing things, doesn't it?" She asked, wrapping a light shawl around her shoulders.

  "What were you doing in there?" He pointed to the saloon with his head.

  "I work there." She said simply, coming closer.

  "Work there? Why would you work in a saloon?" He asked wide eyed and coming closer.

  She hung her head and no longer looked him in the eyes. "I wasn't sure it was you. You've grown a head of hair and a beard and mustache since the last time I saw you too. You been gone a long time." She gave him a quick once over. "I work there, because my father died of a heart attack not long after Rebecca died. Mom was already gone. I was the only one left and the house wasn't paid for, so I lost it. They evicted me. Through me out. And I started working there. Oh, I tried a lot of things before I resorted to the saloon, running a freight wagon, working on a farm, nothing stuck…but that." She explained her brow going up as though he should have known all this. "Nothing paid well enough to pay my bills. I had to eat and I needed a roof over my head."

  "How long you been working there?" He asked, as though not pleased with the information.

  "Long enough." Her mouth twisted when she said it.

  She came to stand beside him now. Her eyes going over him thoroughly.

  "Have you eaten today?" He asked suddenly.

  "No, why?"

  "Let's go get something to eat." He encouraged her. "I'm hungry."

  "You buying?" She asked.

  "Sure, come on." The easy comraderies shocked them both, as they glanced into each other's eyes. He grabbed her hand led her over to George's café.

  She stared at his hand, as though the gesture to take her hand was strange to her.

  It was a small place, but the food was good, at least he remembered it used to be.

  But a Mexican was running it now and he offered them a couple of burritos and some hot link sausages. Chance frowned. Mexican food this early in the morning didn't appease his appetite. He was definitely a ham and eggs kind of man. "Would you happen to have some ham and eggs with coffee?" He asked.

  "Sure senior."

  "Just some bacon and biscuits for me…" Jenny told him, "With coffee."

  The coffee was great and Chance drank the first cup down quickly, waiting for the cup to be refilled.

  "George doesn't own it any more, huh?" he asked her, eyeing her over the rim of the cup.

  He couldn't quite get over the fact that she had filled out so much. Although small, her waist was tiny, her breast plump and high, her hips flared. Perfect, his mind echoed. He drew breath. He remembered Rebecca being a beauty, but Jenny…had certainly turned into a swan. He never figured on her being such a gorgeous lady, why, she was prettier than her sister. And that was saying something.

  "No, he left town about five years ago." She studied his frown. "A lot of things have changed since you've been here."

  "I suppose they have. So, why didn't you leave this God forsaken town, Jenny?"

  She leaned back in the chair and studied him. "Didn't have anywhere to go." She shrugged. "I was thirteen, Chance. I didn't know what hit me when the Sheriff came and told me I had to leave. I'd already sold all the valuables in the house I had to stay in the house and eat. When I left there was nothing left. Because Dad had so many enemies in this town, no one seemed anxious to jump in and help me. I was one of the Carter girls. So I decided I had to take care of myself. But jobs weren't plentiful for a girl of thirteen I can tell you. One of the girls that used to work here, told me about needing more girls. So I went to work here."

  "Didn't you have an aunt in Philadelphia?" He asked. "I seemed to recall you and Rebecca visiting her a time or two."

  "Yeah, but I wasn't any where near her favorite. She didn't want the likes of me. Especially after I whored my way to make a living for myself at thirteen. She was a prim was a proper lady and I didn't fit the bill. I don't think I ever fit the bill. Someone from town wrote her and told her dad died, and she came out, but her nose was so high in the air, I knew we wouldn't get along."

  When he raised a brow at that, she explained more. "She couldn't stand the embarrassment. I couldn't stand her attitude. I used to write her when Rebecca was alive, she was always wanting to know what Rebecca was doing, who she was seeing. Real interested, in her. Not once in all those years did she ask about me. Not that I'm bitter, I'm not. I didn't like her much anyway. I loved Rebecca, she was my confidant, my friend and when she died, I was as devastated as you or dad. She might have been spoiled and catered to, but she always had time for me, always."

  The way she said that had his head turning to stare at her. Little Jenny had to whore her way….? God, that went straight to his heart, and at thirteen!

  "My God. I'm so sorry, I wished I'd known." He told her, stretching his hand to hers and covering it with his own. Then he looked at her hands, she still bit her nails. "When you gonna stop doing that?"

  She chuckled, "Everyone has some bad habits."

  There was a long silence as his hands covered hers again.

  "Why, would you have come running to save me?" She snickered.

  "Maybe…"

  She sighed. "Listen, you did the right thing by leaving. Dad was out of his head about Rebecca dying, and the fact that she was running away with you to get married," Jenny told him. "It didn't help things. He'd have killed you if you'd have stayed."

  "I figured he'd blame me for it."

  "Oh yeah, he did." She chortled. "Even when the preacher told him you didn't have time t
o get married and you said you'd be back to take care of it later, he wouldn't believe it. Swore he'd kill you the next time he saw you. You were going to make his daughter live in sin. And all the time he was spouting this off to me, Rebecca lay dying." Jenny remembered. "He swore you must have forced her to leave home. It was the fact that she left him that bothered him so. She was the apple of his eye. She was everyone's favorite." Jenny's voice went raspy. She looked up at him with those gray-green eyes and tried to smile. "Including mine. When Momma died, Rebecca kind of became my second Momma. She was everything a girl should be."

  But he noted the fact that the smile didn't quite reach her lips.

  "It wasn't anyone's fault. Rebecca wanted to marry you, but with dad and his men chasing after you, you couldn't get it done. And then, the accident happened."

  "He sure didn't know her very well, did he?" Chance glanced around. There was an older couple sitting at one table and a cowboy sitting by himself at another. He looked back at her and she was staring at him.

  "No, but he thought he did." Jenny smiled. "I guess all parents have illusions about their children."

  His eyes met hers.

  "Jenny Mae Carter." He leaned back in his chair now and stared at her with a widening smile. "It's hard to believe you've grown up."

  "I hate that name. It sounds like a cow!"

  "Then change it…" He smiled sexily at her.

  "Change my name? To what?"

  "Whatever pleases you."

  "I always like the name Elizabeth, it sounds so sophisticated." She smiled at him.

  "You just aren't an Elizabeth…" He chuckled.

  "No, what am I then? Plain Jane?"

  "How about Jen…" He asked staring into her eyes once more. "And there's nothing plain about you, from where I'm sitting."

  "Jen, yeah, I guess that does fit me better. Not very exciting, but it does fit."

  "So tell me, do you like your job. Do you like living here?"