style="font-size:15px;"> Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter One
Osage Nation, Indian Territory
Early 1880s
Lorelei Russell halted her strawberry roan gelding in the copse of trees overlooking Burgess Ranch and Stage Station. A well-manicured two-story clapboard house, a stage station, three wooden sheds and an oversize barn sat in the lush valley. The spring sunset cast filtered light and shadows in the trees, giving the Osage Hills a fanciful quality.
Dismounting, Lorelei patted her horse, Drifter, affectionately then received a nudge from him on her elbow in response. Hiking off, she reread the note she’d received from Anthony Rogers, foreman at Burgess Ranch.
She had meant to stop by earlier in the day, but she and her father had been busy unloading the delivery wagon that had arrived at their trading post and ferry on Winding River. Then she had made a delivery to a homebound customer before stopping by to see Anthony.
Lorelei had hoped to return home by dark, but Russell’s Trading Post was ten miles south of the station on the stagecoach route. Although the territory had become a refuge for outlaws that holed up in thickly timbered hills and rocky gorges, Lorelei had lived the last decade of her twenty-three years in the area. Her father, a former military officer, had made certain she could take care of herself. She was very familiar with the tree-choked hillsides of the Osage reservation and she could protect herself with a variety of weapons.
Her wandering thoughts trailed off when she glanced at Anthony’s note again. The honest truth was she had procrastinated in stopping by to see Anthony. He had been courting her for over three months but her feelings for him hadn’t progressed past the friendship stage. Unfortunately, she had the impression that Anthony had developed the kind of affection for her that she couldn’t return. It wasn’t that he wasn’t attractive, with his sandy-blond hair, thick-lashed blue eyes and lean physique. He just wasn’t…
She sighed heavily. She wasn’t sure what love was, but she didn’t think this was it.
“Thank goodness you’re here.” Anthony suddenly appeared from the deepening shadows to envelop her in a hug. “I was getting worried, sweetheart.”
“Papa and I have been busy with inventory and customers,” she explained as she backed from his embrace.
He nodded and smiled. “I should have come to the trading post since we’re running low on a few supplies, but I’ve had dozens of last-minute chores to wrap up here.”
“Last-minute?” she repeated curiously.
He reached out to trail his forefinger over her cheek. “I have a confession, Lori,” he murmured as he stared deeply into her eyes. “Every hour I’ve spent with you leaves me wanting to spend even more.”
Lori smiled weakly, but she didn’t have the heart to lead Tony on by saying that she felt the same. When he clutched both of her hands in his own, she tensed. He looked so serious, almost impatient to spew out the words she didn’t want to hear.
To her dismay, he went down on one knee and stared up at her with a hopeful smile. “I’m in love with you, Lori. I want you to marry me and come away with me so we can make a clean break and a fresh start. We can go wherever your heart desires. Colorado, California, Montana. Anyplace you say.”
Her jaw sagged but she couldn’t formulate a sentence when her mind was whirling like a cyclone. He wanted her to elope with him? Leave the territory abruptly? Why?
Tony never spoke much about his past and now she wondered why. Was he a wanted man? Was the law about to catch up with him? Did he feel the desperate need to run for his life?
She knew that Judge Isaac Parker in Fort Smith had sent out several dozen Deputy U.S. Marshals to apprehend outlaws that fled into the territory in hopes of outrunning their crimes. Had someone recognized Tony from a Wanted poster and turned him in?
“Lori? Sweetheart?” Tony squeezed her hand. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me? We can be off tonight so we can begin our new life together and leave this place far behind.”
Lori pulled Tony to his feet. “Why do you want to leave the territory in such a rush?” she questioned intently.
Tony glanced this way and that, provoking more questions she wanted answered. “I hadn’t meant to fall in love with you, Lori, but it just happened. You fascinate me. I want you to come with me. We can leave tonight. Right now. I have money saved up for our trip.”
He certainly avoided her questions, leaving her to suspect that he was a fugitive of justice. Her concern escalated when he kept glancing every which way, as if he anticipated trouble.
“Will you?” he persisted. “I promise I’ll take good care of you, Lori.”
Lori didn’t need a man to take care of her. Her father had spent years ensuring his only surviving child could handle herself with a pistol, rifle and knife and manage several hand-to-hand combat maneuvers. She’d perfected those skills while dealing with several unsavory characters that stopped at the trading post and used the ferry that transported passengers, wagons, stagecoaches and horses across the river.
“I’m sorry, Tony,” she said as gently as she knew how. “You are a dear friend and you know I treasure your companionship. But—”
“But you don’t feel the same way I do,” he interrupted in disappointment. His broad shoulders slumped but he nodded acceptance. “You can’t blame a man for asking. I know I’m not your first proposal.”
“None of them have been as flattering and tempting as yours,” she replied honestly.
“At least I have that. I’ll miss you like crazy, sweetheart.”
When he eased closer to kiss her goodbye Lori sincerely wished she could feel something besides a lukewarm reaction to his embrace. Nevertheless, her heart knew what it felt and there was no convincing it otherwise. She tried to be honest, especially with herself. She couldn’t give Tony what he wanted. She refused to consider marriage until she discovered that unique feeling her father claimed he had shared with her mother, even years after she and her young son had succumbed to diphtheria.
Her wandering thoughts broke off and she snapped to attention when she heard a crackling of twigs in the underbrush. Heavy shadows enveloped the trees, concealing whoever or whatever lurked in the near distance. Tony muttered a curse when a gunshot rang out in the gathering darkness. Lori heard a bullet whistle past her head before it plugged into a tree beside them. She tried to object when Tony tucked her protectively behind him. She tugged on his arm to bustle both of them behind a tree for protection, but another gunshot erupted before they reached cover.
She knew the instant the bullet found its mark. Tony staggered against her, gasping for breath. When another shot ripped through the trees, Lori grabbed one of the pistols in Tony’s double holster and returned fire. She heard the thrashing in the underbrush and thud of horses’ hooves. But her focus was on Tony, who crumpled
