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He tried to keep the smile tugging at his lips from forming but failed miserably. “Why Mrs. Samuels, I do believe you like me.”
She snorted unladylike and rolled her eyes. “Don’t go getting a big head. I still hate you as much as I did last week.”
He grinned and tugged her close. “I hate you, too.”
She smiled. “I hate you more.”
Jesse grabbed the back of her head and pulled her forward, his lips brushing hers as he whispered, “Not possible,” before kissing her. It was brief and not nearly as deep as he wished but now wasn’t the time for more than a few chaste kisses. With Jack and his men so close by, he needed his wits about him and Alex had a way of making him lose himself so completely, Jack would be able to knife him in the back without him even hearing him.
He broke the kiss and laid back down, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. “Is there anything I can say or do to make you ride to Dodge City before the sun comes up like I want?”
“Nope.”
“Didn’t think so.” He lay awake for hours, listening to the mumbled conversations going on around the campfire. Isaac never peeked under the canvas to wake him but he knew the man was still sitting there keeping watch. He could see his shadowy outline by the wagon wheel.
He slid away from Alex, trying not to wake her and climbed out from under the wagon. The sky was covered in clouds, the surrounding darkness so inky black he could barely make out the cattle.
The horses were hobbled a short distance from the wagon and he stepped carefully to not alert anyone he was up and headed toward them. He found Owen sleeping near a tree, the kid curled up as if he were a mere boy instead of a teen on the cusp of being a man.
He woke him with a shake to his shoulder. Owen blinked up at him, then sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I have a job for you if you’re up to it.”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
“Hear me out before agreeing.” He told him of his plan, the one Alex refused to carry out and the trepidation on Owen’s face nearly made him change his mind about asking but of all the men there, Owen was the least likely to be missed. He kept to himself, barely spoke to anyone other than Alex and Isaac and he avoided Lewis and his friends like the plague.
It didn’t take long to convince him to go and Jesse readied a horse as Owen packed up his gear.
He led the horse to the outer edges of the camp and held the reins while Owen tied his bedroll to the back of the saddle.
“Are you sure you can do this?”
“Yes. I won’t let you down.” Owen climbed into the saddle and took the reins, nodding his head in his direction before softly clicking his tongue to get the horse moving.
When Jesse could no longer see him, his breathing returned to normal. He headed back to the wagon, choosing to sit down beside of it with Isaac instead of crawling back underneath it with Alex. Sleep wouldn’t find him tonight. With Alex in danger, he wasn’t sure he would ever sleep again.
Twenty-Four
Someone was yelling. Alex opened her eyes, blinking against the dim light while trying to make out the voice she heard. It didn’t take long to recognize who it was. Jack was barking out more orders and from the sounds coming from the other side of the canvas hiding her from their view, the cowboys were running to do his bidding.
She glanced beside of her, already knowing Jesse wasn’t there—the heat from his body was absent this morning—but she looked for him all the same. The disappointment she felt at not finding him there was still new.
In what crazy world was she living in now that she wanted to find him nestled against her back when she woke in the mornings.
Sitting up she finger combed her hair into place before braiding it again, then crawled out from under the wagon. The cattle were restless, the cowboys who usually sat around the fire waiting for breakfast, absent. Jack’s presence destroyed what little bit of normalcy they had. The only people she saw sitting around the fire now were the men Jack brought with him and Lewis.
Isaac was cooking, the bruising on his forehead visible from a distance. For the first time since sneaking away to join the cattle drive, mounting her horse and heading out to help herd the cattle held little appeal. She headed toward Isaac and kept her voice pitched low when she asked, “Where’s Jesse?”
He looked her way before throwing a glance over his shoulder. “Close by. I don’t imagine he’d go so far as to let you out of his sight for long.”
She hid a smile at the notion. As much as she loved arguing with Jesse, knowing he’d protect her without question was one of the many benefits to their new arrangement, the only benefit she’d had since Jack showed up. Their midnight exploration under the wagon was a thing of the past since that bunch of bandits took over the camp. As much as she tried to deny the fact she enjoyed the intimate touches, truth was, she’d been fully prepared to go as far as any newlywed couple would.
There wasn’t a question in her mind about how serious Jesse took their marriage. He may have dragged her to the altar in an attempt to get her to go home but from the very first kiss as man and wife she knew, deep down, that he meant every word of his vows.
Her plan to try and get a divorce once returning to Willow Creek wasn’t even an option now. Jesse would never let it happen. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to call it quits. They argued and got under each others skin, but she did enjoy his company—when she didn’t want to kill him. Besides, if she wasn’t married to Jesse, everyone would expect her to marry Hugh and if the time away from home told her anything, it was that Hugh Jacobs was not what she wanted. She’d not missed him once, nor thought of him much, to be honest. Her waking thoughts were always of Jesse.
She glanced around the area and spotted him near the horses. He was talking to Ben, both of them deep in conversation. “Any idea what he has planned?”
