Free Bushedwhacked Bride by Eugenia Riley

marry up with one of my boys, we’ll even let you send your people a letter.”
    “Thanks,” she muttered frozenly. “I can’t wait.”
    Gabe leaned toward Jessica with a grin. “Speaking of marriage, have you decided yet which one of us you favor?”
    Even as Ma would have protested, Cole stepped in. “Hey, boys, she’s not just picking out a new pair of danc ing slippers. Give the lady some time.”
    Jessica regarded Cole coolly. “Thanks for defending me, Mr. Reklaw, but you’re still assuming a lot. As I men tioned to your mother this afternoon, I’m not sure I want to marry at all—much less, one of you five.”
    “One of us four,” corrected Billy. “Cole ain’t compet ing.”
    Jessica flashed Cole a nasty smile. “Well, he could have fooled me.”
    Cole laughed heartily while his brothers glowered with suspicion. “Cole, have you been a’sparkin’ Miss Jessie behind our backs?” demanded Gabe.
    “Would I do that?” he countered innocently.
    “Sure as Sunday,” asserted Luke.
    “Yeah, in the blinking of a hog’s eye,” added Gabe.
    Cole only chuckled.
    Meanwhile, Billy flashed Jessica his most winsome smile. “Ma’am, please, you must marry up with one of us. I promise we’ll treat you just like a princess.”
    “Yeah, we’ll even buy you your own mule if you’d like one,” put in Gabe.
    As male chuckles swept the table, Wesley snorted a laugh. “Gabe, have you been eating loco weed or some thing? What would a lady want with a mule?”
    Luke elbowed Wesley. “Well, she could use that there soap Gabe gave her to scrub it.”
    The men had another gut-splitting laugh at Gabe’s ex pense. Then Ma beat her fist again. “Enough of this marriage talk and sparking. Miss Jessie is right. She only just arrived here. You can’t be expecting her to choose up a husband for at least a day or two.”
    At this pronouncement, Jessica went wide-eyed.
    “And besides, Miss Jessie and I are gonna be right busy sewing up her frilly new wardrobe,” Ma continued smugly. “Why, we’ll be going into town tomorrow to pick out all the fabrics and trimmings.”
    Luke glowered. “I don’t think so, Ma. You’re forgetting Miss Jessie’s our prisoner. What if she gives us up to the law?”
    “Miss Jessie ain’t gonna do that,” Ma protested. “Are you, honey?”
    Jessica thought quickly. The town, wherever it was, meant possible escape. “No, of course not. My lips are sealed.”
    “But they’re expecting her there, Ma,” argued Billy. “I mean, ain’t they?”
    Six sets of eyes focused on Jessica; she struggled not to squirm.
    “That’s right,” stated Luke. “Do they know your name in town, sugar?”
    Jessica floundered. She had no idea how to deal with these questions. “No, I don’t think so,” she answered carefully.
    “But how can they be expecting you, if they don’t know your name?” asked a clearly perplexed Billy.
    “Search me,” muttered Jessica.
    Billy grinned. “May I?”
    Hearing Cole’s insufferable chuckle, Jessica blushed, while a clearly outraged Ma tossed an ear of corn at her youngest son. “Hush up, you little toad!”
    As Billy ducked the cob, Luke leaned intently toward his mother. “Ma, we still can’t be sure it’s safe to allow Miss Jessie to go to town.”
    “Yeah, she could expose us all to danger,” argued Wes.
    Ma appeared torn. “If she does, I’ll give her a good switching.”
    “I won’t say a word,” declared Jessica. “Believe me.”
    Now Cole leaned forward. “Go on and take her to town, Ma. Truth to tell, if Miss Jessica should give us up, breathe even one word of our whereabouts to anyone in town, I’ll be dealing with her—and it’s a reckoning she won’t like.”
    Cole’s arrogant assertion made Jessica shiver, and she glared at him.
    But once again his brothers weren’t pleased. “How come you get to deal with her?” protested Billy.
    “ ‘Cause I’m the eldest male in the family, and it’s up to me to punish any