Free Kiss of The Christmas Wind by Janelle Taylor

1
     
    “I’m sorry, Carrie Sue, but I have to leave at dawn, just as soon as it’s light enough to see their tracks. It’s my job; I’m the marshal of Gates.” Thad Jamison stroked his wife’s flaming red hair, mussed from the cover she’d worn while doing evening chores in the near-freezing weather. He gazed into her violet blue eyes as he continued, “The little Adams girl was shot during that bank holdup; I hope she’ll be all right. And I hope you’ll be all right, too. Lordy, I hate leaving you alone again so soon, but I have to bring those two robbers to justice and get that money back. Folk here depend on me.”
    An array of conflicting emotions came and went in her gaze. Carrie Sue’s voice was strained as she replied, “I know, T.J., but it isn’t fair. You’ve hardly shaken the trail dust off your boots since your return. It’s almost Christmas, our first Christmas.” Carrie Sue hung up the thick coat she had removed and draped her wool scarf atop it on the large peg. Her cold fingers tried to straighten her hair, but her husband grasped them between his larger ones to warm them. She looked into his smoky gray eyes. “This is the first holiday season I’ve looked forward to in years. It’s my first home since I was a young girl and my parents were . . .”
    Thad lightly pressed his forefinger against her wind-dried lips. “Don’t think about the past again, love; it’s over.”
    Carrie Sue moved his finger aside to refute, “Over? How can it be over when we’re still controlled by it? My pardon was based on you taking this lawman’s job and risking your life every day. If that weren’t true, we could be ranching, like we half-do now. I’m sorry I got you into this trap. I’m ashamed of all those years I rode with Darby’s gang of outlaws.”
    Thad didn’t want to bring up her dark past again, but he saw how much it was on her mind tonight; her mood had been troubled ever since the rider delivered his shocking news just before dusk. Thad’s first duty was serving as the marshal of Gates and the surrounding area; he’d been appointed by President Grant himself. If he’d been in town at his small office, he could have stopped the holdup and prevented a little girl from getting shot. But, having just returned from helping the law out in Fort Collins—north of Gates—he’d been helping his wife with chores she had done alone for over two weeks. He had been home less than three days, and now this . . .
    But he couldn’t let Carrie Sue blame herself for this predicament. He smiled gently and said, “I prefer to think of you as a daring desperado who had no choice in what she did if she wanted to survive. The Texas Flame is dead, love; you’re Mrs. Thaddeus Jerome Jamison now and forever. You were trapped in that miserable life, with no one to help you break free.”
    She returned his smile and caressed his chilled cheek. “Until you came along, Mr. Texas Ranger, and saved me from myself and the law. There’s so much I wish I could change about the past. It sounds crazy, but Darby tried to protect our victims from harm. Darby worked hard to hire only men who wouldn’t kill except in self-defense. But he made mistakes where a few were concerned.”
    Carrie Sue snuggled into her husband’s arms as she murmured, “I wish I’d never gotten involved with my brother’s wickedness even if we did start off seeking justice. After the Hardings killed my parents and stole our ranch, I was just too stricken with grief and anger to think clearly.”
    Thad rested his cheek atop her head, his ebony hair a striking contrast to her fiery locks. “You were young and confused, love. Darby should have known better than to drag you into his bloody schemes, but I guess he was also hurting and too riled to think clearly. It just got out of control, and then it was too late, or almost too late. At least I got you out of that mess alive.”
    Carrie Sue Stover Jamison had never imagined she could