Free A Lady Like Sarah by Margaret Brownley Page A

looked distraught enough without her adding to his dismay with unsavory talk. "He's not a lawman. He's a preacher," she said. She doubted the good-for-nothin' Mitchells respected anythin ', let alone a man of the cloth, but it was worth a try.
    The man's eyebrows disappeared beneath the brim of his dusty felt hat. "A preacher?"
    "Yeah, and if you bother a preacher, God will punish you, He will."
    The man nodded toward the handcuffs on Sarah's wrists and spoke to Justin. "Don't tell me you preach so bad you have to handcuff people before they'll listen to you."
    His brother laughed at the joke and grabbed Sarah roughly by the shoulder. She glared up at him. It had been years since she'd last come face-to-face with him, so it wasn't too surprising that he didn't recognize her. "We got no money. We got nothing. So jus' leave us alone, you hear?"
    Shorty's beadlike eyes raked the length of her. "I think the little lady underestimates her true worth. What do you say, Pete?"
    Pete grinned. "I say it's worth checkin ' out."
    Shorty knelt beside Sarah, grinning. "It'll be my pleasure."
    Justin tried to sit up, but Pete stayed him with his shotgun. "Hold it right there, Preacher."
    "Leave her alone," Justin warned , his lips thin with anger. "If you touch her, I'll—"
    Pete laughed in his face. "What do we have here? A preacher making threats?"
    "I'm asking you in the name of God to leave her alone." When his plea went unheeded, Justin struggled to sit up again, but his efforts were rewarded by a whack on the side of the head with the barrel of the gun.
    Justin fell backward with a groan, and Sarah cried out. There wasn't much she could do with Pete holding a rifle on them and Shorty leaning over her like a bull in heat.
    He groped her and she kneed him. He fell back and eyed her in surprise. "Well, now, ain't you a little spitfire? How lucky can I git ?"
    "You touch me, and my brothers will be on you faster'n you can crack a whip. The last time you crossed my brothers, you ended up with a scar the size of Texas. This time you ain't gonna be so lucky."
    Shorty released her, his hand flying to his cheek. "You're not—"
    "My name's Prescott," she said, enjoying the look of horÂror and disbelief on his face. "Sarah Prescott."
    He couldn't have jumped back faster had he stumbled upon a nest of rattlers. "Come on, Pete. Let's get outta here. With that, he ran toward his horse.
    Pete responded with a curse and then raced after his brother, his spurs jingling like silver coins in a gambler's hand. The two men mounted their horses and took off running.
    Sarah laughed. "Would you look at that! They ain't got enough guts to hang on a—" Upon seeing the preacher's horrified face, she broke off in midsentence. "Don't tell me . . . a lady ain't supposed to mention body parts." Proud to have fig ured that out for herself, she gave her head a triumphant toss. "Ain't that so?"
    "Uh . . . no . I mean yes." He grimaced and rubbed the side of his head.
    Alarmed, she scooted to his side, her cuffed hands held in front. "Looks like you got yourself a bruiser," she said. "At the rate you're goin ', you ain't gonna make it to Texas with or without me."
    He brushed away her concern. "Did I hear you right? Did he say you were a . . . Prescott?"
    She bit her lip. "I reckon there ain't nothin' wrong with your ears ."
    He groaned but whether from pain or something else, she couldn't tell. "This is worse than I thought," he said.
    "I guess you heard about us," she said.
    He sat up and shook his head as if warding off a dizzy spell. "I heard that they killed a Wells Fargo passenger."
    "My brothers ain't killed no one," she stormed, "and don't say they did."
    He looked at her long and hard, his thoughts hidden behind his dark expression. Finally, he pulled the key from his pocket and took off her handcuffs and heaved them away.
    "Handcuffs make you too vulnerable," he explained. "If there's a problem, you can't defend yourself."
    She laughed. "I