Free Bushedwhacked Bride by Eugenia Riley Page B

swered my question.”
    “What question?”
    “Can I trust you to go into town with Ma tomorrow?”
    She fell silent.
    “You know she’s taken quite a shine to you, wanting to make you up a new wardrobe.”
    “I like her, as well.” Jessica sighed. “But more than that, I’d just like to leave this place—and I wish you and your brothers would simply allow me to do so.”
    “Don’t you like us, Miss Jessie?” he teased.
    “That’s not my point.” She gestured about them. “My heavens, I’m a captive here.”
    “Yeah, that’s right, you’re a captive,” he mocked. “Sit ting on the porch swing petting a kitten. Such torture.”
    “This is not my home,” she argued. “I need to—well, be on my way.”
    “You mean to teach in town?”
    Jessica bit her lip. She still had no idea how to answer such questions. She recovered with a bit of bravado. “My point exactly. I’m clearly wasting my time hanging around here.”
    “Well, sugar, I reckon we’re not willing to let you go.”
    “I’ve noticed,” she said tersely.
    “So tell me again—can I trust you tomorrow?”
    ‘Trust me with what?” she demanded.
    “Not to run away. Not to give us up to anyone, or to let on you’re expected.”
    She released a long breath. “You can trust me.”
    “I’d better be able to,” he went on sternly, “because if you should betray us, break my ma’s heart, even hurt her feelings, you won’t like it when I’m through with you, girl.”
    “All right!” she cried. “You’ve made your feelings crystal clear.”
    “Not yet,” he replied emphatically. “But I will.”
    Oh, he’d done it again, rattling her with a devilish turn of phrase. Jessica dared not speak.
    Quietly, he continued. “Like it or not, for now, you’re one of us, Jessie. And I demand absolute loyalty.”
    Unsteadily, she asked, “Look, why are you making such a big deal of this?”
    “Big deal?” he repeated, sounding confused.
    “Why are you turning this into a federal case? Didn’t I say I’ll keep mum?”
    “Why?” he repeated tensely. “Because if you betray us, we could all be hanged. That answer your question?”
    Jessica was growing exasperated. “You really overesti mate me as a Mata Hari. I don’t even know where I am, who I’m supposed to be.”
    His voice took on a hard edge. “Then you’re not ex pected in town?”
    Jessica groaned. She kept putting her foot in her mouth. Sure, she was confused—damn confused—but that was no excuse to dig her own grave.
    When she didn’t respond, he drawled cynically, “I thought that was a lot of hokum you spouted at dinner, about being expected in town but no one there knowing your name.”
    Again she didn’t reply.
    ‘Tell me the truth now,” he ordered, his voice growing heated. “Don’t make me find out on my own, or you’ll be sorry. Are you expected or not?”
    Jessica expelled a sharp breath. “All right, damn it, I’m not expected in town. Are you satisfied now?”
    Cole’s eyes blazed in the darkness. “Then you lied?”
    “Well . . . let’s say I played along.”
    He grasped her chin in his hand and regarded her sternly. “Quit playing with me, and tell the damn truth. Who are you really? And where are you from?”
    The explosive seconds ticked away. Jessica had no idea what to tell Cole. Should she say she was from the year 1999, and she strongly suspected she’d somehow traveled back in time? Surely he’d never believe that! She wasn’t even sure she believed it herself. But neither could she explain this bizarre nineteenth-century world in which she seemed to be existing. Perhaps she’d died and gone to heaven—or hell.
    “Well?” he demanded.
    The two were regarding each other tensely when abruptly both jumped at the sound of a loud mrooow! A split second later, Jezebel landed on Cole’s thigh and growled low at Jessica.
    Relieved at the distraction, Jessica flashed Cole a stiff smile and removed her fingers from the kitten’s