Authors: Sheriff McBride
Lauri Robinson (9 page)
Dressed in his Sunday suit, Adam shuffled his feet, waited for Cal and Jake’s wives to walk across the parlor and sit in the front row beside their husbands. A sixth sense made his head turn to stare at the back of the room. His jaw went lax.
She was an angel, for nothing on earth could be as beautiful as the woman walking toward him. Shimmering material floated around her like a glistening mist. His mouth went dry.
Locking his knees and planting his heels, Adam willed his body not to swoon. A lawman couldn’t faint at his own wedding. Hell, a McBride couldn’t faint period. The thought cleared his mind, and with a grin that had to reach his ears, he held out his hand, eagerly wrapping it around one of his bride’s tiny ones.
Hannah stepped up beside him, and as the music faded, Reverend Ostlund opened his Bible to start the ceremony.
Adam was immersed in the service, whole-heartedly repeating the words as instructed and listening with awe as Hannah pledged her love and life to him. When the disruptive noise sounded in the back of the room, he ignored it for a moment, but as the rest of the room became focused on it, he comprehended someone was protesting the wedding.
He pulled his gaze from Hannah’s startled face to peer into the crowd. Near the parlor door, a pounding noise grew louder, and a smothered shout kept being repeated. He leaned to peer about and see who or what was making the noise.
Nathaniel Kingston bounced his chair across the floor. The gag on his mouth prevented Adam from understanding what the man shouted. At that exact moment he realized Reverend Ostlund had said something about speak now or forever hold your peace.
He’d taken about all he was going to take from the pompous little man and shot a glaring look toward Cal. “I thought I asked you to take care of him.”
“I did, I tied him to a chair in the back of the room. I told you, I wasn’t going to miss your wedding.”
“A hell of deputy you make.”
“I’m not a deputy, I’m a rancher. You’re the one who loves the law.” Cal leaned back, rested his arm across the back of Josie’s chair.
Every nerve ending sizzled.
Kingston’s racket became louder. Adam glanced to the back of the room. Two identical looking young men were lifting the prisoner, chair and all. Their gazes met Adam’s. He gave a nod.
Grins grew on their faces as they carried Kingston out of the room. An echoing slam signified they’d taken him outside.
Adam’s inquiring look settled on Hannah. She bit her lip, wondering if he would leave their wedding to deal with the prisoner.
“Your cousins?” he asked.
She nodded. Didn’t he remember they’d just escorted her across the room?
“I think I just found my new deputies.”
A smile lifted her lips until a voice said, “I don’t think so. Those are two of my best cow hands.”
The look Adam sent toward his brother made her hands go cold.
“So?” he challenged.
“So, they don’t have time to be your deputies, they have full time jobs,” Cal answered.
Hannah glanced between the two men and their stare down.
“We’ll just have to ask them, won’t we? Let them decide if they want to poke cows, or protect their town.” Adam ended the sentence with a prideful tone.
“Ah, Sheriff?” Tom’s voice came from the back of the room.
Joe stepped up beside him.
Hannah gave them both a questioning stare.
“Don’t worry we tied him to the porch. He ain’t going anywhere,” Joe said.
“But, Sheriff, if you’re looking for a deputy, you might want to look at your new wife, or soon to be wife,” Tom said.
Joe nodded. “She can out shoot and out ride both of us.”
Adam’s startled look made her face contort into a nervous grimace. There were a few things she hadn’t told him about.
“Really?” he said.
She held her breath, but Tom didn’t. “Hell yes. How do you think we got away from the posse after us back in Ohio?”
Adam’s eyes grew wide.
If she had a gun right now, she’d settled it on her cousins. She glanced back at Adam, swallowed the frog in her throat. “I didn’t kill any of them, didn’t even injure anyone. I just shot their hats off, scared them enough so they quit following us.” Her knees were threatening to collapse. She turned to send both of the boys a nasty glare.
Adam let out a laugh that echoed off the walls. “So, I’m not only getting a wife, I’m marrying a sharp-shooter?”
“Yup, she can shoot the head off a tweety-bird at a hundred yards,” Joe said.
Hannah’s face burned, everything from her neck to her scalp was on fire. She knew it wouldn’t do any good to scowl at the boys, instead she turned pleading eyes to Reverend Ostlund, silently begged him to get on with the service.
The reverend covered the smile on his face with his hand, and gave a soft cough.
Adam’s eyes became apologetic as he glanced to the reverend then back down at her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for our wedding to be interrupted. I sincerely hoped it would be a simple, perfect affair.”
Cal let out a guffaw. “Like that was possible.”
Hannah couldn’t help it. A glee-filled giggle rippled up her chest and over her lips. She covered her mouth as it became stronger.
“Hannah?” Adam asked.
“I-it’s a-all ri—” she tried to assure him, but her laughter couldn’t be stalled. She rested her head against his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Nothing in a McBride’s life is ever smooth.”
She lifted her face, brushed a finger over his mustache. “Nothing in my life is ever smooth either.”
He chuckled. “We do make a good pair.”
She nodded.
“Well, if you’re such a good pair, hurry up and marry her,” Cal said from his seat.
Josie thumped her husband on the back of the head as the crowd filled the room with laughter.
When the sound settled to a low murmur, Adam glanced at the Reverend. “You better hurry up and get this wedding over. You may need to preside over Cal’s funeral yet tonight.” His gaze glanced off his brother before it settled back on her.
The humor in his green eyes made another giggle escape before Hannah turned her attention to the reverend’s final statements. Once the ceremony ended, and permission to kiss was given, Adam said, “I love you,” as his lips descended upon hers.
Happier than she ever dreamed of being, Hannah slipped her arms around his neck, enthusiastically awaiting his lips. “Of that, Sheriff McBride, I have no doubt.” And she didn’t.
Lauri Robinson’s chosen genre to write is western historical, and when asked why, she says, “Because I know I wasn’t the only girl who wanted to grow up and marry Little Joe Cartwright.”
Lauri lives in rural Minnesota where she and her husband spend every spare moment with their three grown sons and five grandchildren. She volunteers for several organizations, including her local library, and spends most fall weekends filling the freezer with homemade foodstuffs from the bountiful harvest of her husband’s green thumb. She’s a diehard Elvis fan (yes, she’s been to Graceland), and loves to spend Sunday’s watching NASCAR, either live or on TV. However, she says her favorite weekends are spent in the woods of northern Minnesota on the land homesteaded by her great-grandfather.
Lauri’s books range from short novellas to full length series and sweet to spicy. You can see her latest releases and find out what’s happening by visiting her blog at:
www.Laurirobinson.blogspot.com
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