Free The Marshal's Rebellious Bride by Starla Kaye

knowledge.
    Morgan ground his teeth. Yes, Tyler was his other
weakness. He didn’t want his son caught in the middle of some kind of showdown
down in Texas. He didn’t want Marino anywhere near his son.
    He clenched his hands, tried to breathe easier. “I
wired Chase a while ago to bring Tyler up to Kansas. He’ll be safer here at the
ranch.” At least he sure as hell hoped that would be the case.
    “Your brother’s a good man. He’ll get Tyler here all
right. But you could turn in—” Taos said determinedly.
    He shook his head. “I can’t turn in my badge and
settle down anywhere until things are finished between Marino and me. I’m
taking him in, dead or alive. Dead would suit me just fine.”
    Taos nodded in acceptance. Keno, too, who had been
quietly listening, nodded in grim agreement.
    With one last look at the balloon, Morgan started
walking toward the end of the street and the town’s church. “Time to take care
of this wedding matter.”

Chapter 4
     
     
    “Taos, you stop it right now!”
    At the furious sound of Whiskey yelling at her
brother, Morgan stepped out of the barn where he’d been working on some tack.
Only it wasn’t her brother that had the spirited woman riled. The nutty mule
with one eye was in the midst of trying to open the corral gate. Again. He’d
heard from her brothers how the ornery critter had already escaped twice at
night. The brothers were tired of going after him and bringing him back to
their frantic sister. He hadn’t helped with the chore because he’d spent the
last two days out on the far range mending fences. Basically, he’d been
avoiding her. He’d needed some thinking time. He had more worries circling in
his head now than ever before and she was a big part of them.
    “If he’s so hot up to leave, you ought to let him go.”
He tipped his hat brim low against the mid-day sun. The day was another
sweltering one.
    She turned to glare at him, put her hands on her hips.
“He doesn’t really want to run away. He’s just bored.”
    “Bored?” She was even nuttier than the mule.
    “He’s used to me riding him every day or so, but I’ve
been too busy. He’s feeling cranky about being ignored.” She reached to pat the
side of the mule, who had finally given up on nosing the latch undone.
    The mule swiveled its head around, bared big teeth and
moved his mouth close to her arm.
    She moved out of his reach not seeming at all
concerned.
    Morgan was, though. He immediately started forward,
fury lengthening his strides. “Damn animal tried to bite you! He’s dangerous.
Get the hell out of there.”
    She merely shook her head, the sun glistening off her
red-brown hair even more with the movement. “Taos would never hurt me.” To
prove her point, she edged closer and gently stroked the mule’s long nose. Now
the beast seemed happy at her touch.
    His steps slowed and he watched the tender way she
dealt with the mule. He could almost swear the animal was smiling in pleasure.
He wondered what the touch of her small, soft hand would feel like against his
face or on his…
    He froze. Shit. This was exactly why he’d kept his distance from her. She played with his good
sense. She made him think about things that he shouldn’t be thinking about, at
least not until they were married.
    Annoyed, he shifted his focus to the britches she had
on that he didn’t like and had gone back to wearing. That didn’t help him much.
Now his thoughts turned to wanting to pull them down to warm that sweet bottom
of hers for no particular reason. After that he’d…
    Shit! Shit,
shit, shit!
    He fought to get his wayward thoughts under control. “I
reckon your brothers told you we made arrangements with Reverend Chester.” He
hoped to hell that she couldn’t see how his body had reacted.
    “You shouldn’t have bothered.” The look she shot his
way was nearly hot enough to fry him, and, oddly, it made him even harder.
    “The wedding is three weeks from today.”
    He walked