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She pulled back and looked at those around her. “People are looking at us.”
“Let them look.” He kissed her again, softly this time and only briefly. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’m fine.”
“Jack didn’t hurt you?”
“No.”
He studied her face, his mouth opening several times before he blew out a ragged breath. “Owen said Jack made you work the front room in order to eat.”
She smiled. So that’s what that look on his face was about. “I served drinks. That’s all.” Relief flooded his features. “And I don’t want to talk about it now. I’m just ready to go home and put all this mess behind me.”
Ben jumped up onto the sidewalk. “You and me both.” He grinned, leaning one hip against the post holding the roof up. “But first I want a steak as big of Owen’s over-sized head and a soak in a tub of hot water.”
“I heard that, Ben.” Owen stepped up beside her, Issac following along behind him. “My head ain’t over-sized but a hot bath and steak dinner does sound like a good idea.”
“Yes, it does.” Issac pulled her from Jesse’s grasps and gave her a tight squeeze. “It’s nice to have you back, Alex. I was worried about you.” He looked to Jesse. “What did the sheriff say about Jack?”
“He’s wanted in three states. He really was a lawman, he just wasn’t an honest one. He’ll be behind bars a while.”
Owen scoffed. “It won’t ever be long enough for me. I hope he rots in there.”
“Why are you so mad?” Ben asked, grinning. “Those women Jack forced to take care of you not treat you right?”
Owen’s face turned blistering red. “Shut up, Ben.”
“Did they tuck you in at night?”
“Shut up!”
Alex smiled as they bickered and looked back at Jesse. He was staring at her and all she wanted to do was crawl back into his arms and never leave. He’d told her he loved her the night Jack showed up and she’d been prepared to say the same but everything was different now. They were going home and things wouldn’t be so easy there. Her pa and Hugh had to be told they were married and Lord knew how those two would react. She dreaded the thought of telling either one of them.
She’d have to prepare a speech for them but at the moment Ben and Owen were preoccupied with food and Issac was in a hurry to sell the wagons and chuck wagon and head back to Willow Creek. He already had a ticket on the stagecoach heading out first thing in the morning. She was tempted to go with him but she and Jesse had a lot to sort through. Luckily it was a long ride home. They’d have time to figure it all out.
Thirty
Something was wrong. Jesse sighed, watching Alex as she rode ahead of him with Ben. Whatever this new development was, it left him with a bad feeling. Everything had been fine up until two days ago. So what changed?
Their last night in Dodge City hadn’t gone as planned but even though they had to share a room with Ben, Issac, and Owen, she’d still acted as if everything was okay with them. There hadn’t been any chance for secret kisses—or anything else—with the lack of privacy and bedding his new wife out in the open wasn’t something he wanted to do either so he gave her some distance but this silence was killing him. Had he done something wrong?
For the past two day’s she’d tried to ignore him. Would barely even look at him, truth be known and he had a very bad feeling. His hopes of spending the next week at the hotel in town with her were being dashed with every mile closer they got to Willow Creek.
Familiar territory appeared just after noon. The cowboys who had ridden back with them all gave a hoop and holler and took off for town. Ben and Owen stayed behind and headed to the ranch with them. The closer they got to home, the faster they all seemed to ride. When the Avery place could be seen on the horizon, Alex urged her horse into a full gallop, Owen, and Ben chasing after her. It was all he could do to keep up. It was a race all the way to the arched gateway leading into the property.
Their arrival was noticed if the number of ranch hands coming into the yard were any indication. The front door on the house opened moments later, Holden, Laurel and Alex’s brothers all coming outside. When they reached the house, Alex was the first one off her horse. She ran to her family as if she couldn’t get to them fast enough.
“It’s about time y’all got back here.” Issac grinned at them as he came around the side of the house. “I was beginning to worry.”
Ben and Owen dismounted and headed toward the barn and for the first time since taking off with the cattle drive all those months ago, he wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted nothing more than to head home—with Alex—and tell Rafe and Grace of their adventure but at the moment his heart was standing on the porch, wrapped in the arms of her family and he was loathed to leave without her despite the fact she had been avoiding him.
He looked toward Issac, the question of, “did you tell Holden what happened?” on the tip of his tongue but the sound of a horse galloping into the yard stilled the words. The last person in the world he wanted to see came racing to the house. Hugh Jacobs must have heard of their arrival from the cowboys they’d been riding with. He was all smiles when he reached the yard and wasted no time jumping from his horse and rushing up the steps. When he grabbed Alex and kissed her right there in front of everyone, he bit his tongue until blood filled his mouth.
It took Issac touching his leg to tear his attention away from them. “I didn’t tell anyone about the marriage. I figured that was best left to you and Alex.”
Jesse wasn’t sure that would happen now. Alex pulled away from Hugh and glanced his way but turned her head too quickly to see her face. Laurel ushered her into the house a moment later, Hugh Jacobs following along right behind her.
What in the hell just happened?
