Free Outlaw’s Bride by Joan Johnston

right here. I think I’d like to hear what your friends have to say.”
    Ethan frowned. “Don’t blame me if you hear something you don’t like. Go ahead, Boyd.”
    Boyd took a sip of coffee and set down his cup. “How’s your ma doing?”
    “About the same,” Ethan replied. “I’ve had Doc Carter in to see her, but he says there’s nothing wrong with her that he can fix. He said just make sure she gets plenty of rest and get her to eat whatever she will.”
    “Too bad. With your ma so sick, your kid sister would be in a bad way if anything ever happened to you.”
    “Don’t you think I know that?” Ethan snapped.
    “One of these days Trahern is going to get lucky. Wouldn’t it be better to sell this place and head for greener pastures?”
    “These pastures are plenty green for me,” Ethan retorted.
    “Boyd is right,” Frank said. “It’s too dangerous for you to stay here, Ethan. Trahern isn’t going to give up. He wants you dead.”
    Ethan smiled grimly. “I’m still alive.”
    “But for how long? You’ve only been back homea month, and he’s already sicced a pack of killer dogs on you,” Boyd said.
    Patch cleared her throat. “What would happen if Trahern found out who really raped his daughter? Do you think he would give up his quest for vengeance against Ethan?”
    Boyd and Frank stared at Patch as though she had grown another eye in the center of her forehead. Then they stared at Ethan.
    Ethan felt his ears getting red. “Patch has this crazy idea about hunting down the rapist.”
    “After seventeen years?” Frank asked incredulously. “We looked for clues at the time, and there weren’t any!”
    “If there weren’t any clues, why does everyone believe Ethan is guilty?” Patch asked.
    Patch couldn’t get any of the three men to meet her gaze. At last Ethan said, “Because Merielle’s father found me a half mile from his house holding his daughter in my arms, her face all bloody and her clothes half ripped off.”
    Patch felt queasy. That was certainly damning evidence. But not enough by itself to condemn a man to a lifetime on the run. Her brow furrowed as she thought aloud. “How did you come to find her? I mean, what were you doing there?”
    Ethan shoved his chair back from the table and stood in agitation. “Are you so sure I didn’t do it?” he challenged.
    Patch shoved her own chair back and stood facing him nose to nose. “Absolutely, positively sure.”
    The tension in the room was palpable. Suddenly,Ethan collapsed back into his chair and dropped his head into his hands. He made a frustrated, growling sound in his throat. “Aw, hell,” he muttered in disgust. “Believe what you want. It won’t change what everyone else thinks.”
    Patch sat back down. Before Ethan had spoken, she had convinced herself that he hadn’t been anywhere near Merielle Trahern when she was raped. Obviously, she had been deluding herself. Proving his innocence might be a bit more difficult than she had thought. “We have to find out the truth,” she croaked past the sudden lump in her throat.
    “It’s too late,” Boyd said flatly. “You’re both kidding yourselves if you think you’ll find the culprit after all these years.”
    “We certainly won’t if we don’t try!” Patch retorted. Her fear that Ethan might somehow be involved after all caused her voice to come out sounding shrill. The look of shock on Boyd’s face at her outburst made her realize that her ladylike facade had slipped. But she was fighting for her life. Being a lady came a distant second.
    “What about Merielle?” Patch asked. “Is there any chance she’ll ever regain her memory?”
    Boyd shook his head. “After seventeen years? I’d say it’s damned unlikely.”
    Patch turned to Frank, who hadn’t said a word. “Frank? What do you think?”
    Patch wished she hadn’t asked when she saw the wounded look in Frank’s gray eyes.
    “For a long time I kept hoping …”He knotted his hands and