Lawfully Mine Page 4

  Emily!

  Shocked, Elias jumped to his feet, leaving the stunned Holladay crouched behind the bushes. He stared at the scene ahead of him, unable to believe what he was seeing. He felt misled, as his sister was in the arms of a tall, brown-haired man and looked happy to be there. Wasn’t she trying to get away? Where was the clothing she’d been wearing when she was captured? Had this man had his way with her, ruining her chances for marriage in the future?

  Emily looked so radiant, so happy. She was dressed head to toe in a modest calico gown with puffed sleeves. It wasn’t anything like what she’d chosen for herself before when she went shopping, but it suited her. Disturbingly, he noticed that apparently not only the dress suited her, but the man in her arms did, too. Her hand lay on his cheek and he looked to be staring at his sister with the same desire he felt just moments ago for Holladay.

  Glancing down, he saw that Holladay had joined him after getting to her feet. She looked completely confused and torn, staring between his own surprised expression and the couple just ahead of them.

  “Is that her?” Holladay whispered. Elias stared at the duo holding each other and felt his temper building. He’d been stopped from kissing his Ellie. He’d be downright angry if he’d watch his own sister kiss some man that had captured her, while he’d been worried this whole time. Then he realized that he’d only thought of Emily’s safety part of the time. The rest of the time he’d been sniffing after Holladay like a dog in heat. Shame, anger and rage ran through him, causing his blood to boil.

  “Emily? Get away from him,” Elias’ voice interrupted as he pulled the hammer back on his gun that had unknowingly made it to his hand. He didn’t realize he’d pulled it, yet here it was aimed directly at the brown-haired man ahead of him.

  “What are you doing?” Emily yelped. Her voice and expression looked surprised. She turned towards where he stood, still wrapped in the man’s arms. She had the good graces to blush at being caught kissing some stranger.

  “I’m saving you, you ninny!” Elias bit out, completely dumbfounded that there was a tone to her voice. He recognized it. It was the same outraged tone that she’d used whenever he’d tattled on her as they were growing up. She was mad and surprised that he’d interrupted. Goodness, he was mad that she’d interrupted his chance to kiss Ellie Holladay! Goodness knows he’d been trying to think of a way to do so and get it out of his system!

  “No guns! That was the rule from the very beginning and you broke it – creating this whole mess,” Emily quickly reprimanded him, pointing at the Colt that Eli held pointed at the couple unwaveringly.

  “Put the gun down,” the man’s icy voice bit out harshly. Eli stared at him, hearing his heartbeat pound in his ears as he knew that his anger was getting the better of him. How dare she start canoodling with the enemy! How dare they interrupt is own chance, too! The man who was holding Emily smoothly moved and drew his own gun. He held it aloft, pointed directly at Elias.

  “Eli – please put it away,” Emily pleaded, stepping directly in front of the man. Eli watched as she put her hand on his arm and tried to push it down, away from where he stood. When the man didn’t budge an inch, she began stabbing her finger into his arm trying to adjust his aim away from where Eli stood. It was a stupid, childish move that was bound to get him shot at this rate. One slip of the trigger and he, or Holladay, would be the recipient of a bullet. Eli shoved Holladay quickly behind him.

  “What are you doing?” both men yelled at the same time towards Emily as she continued to poke at his arm angrily.

  Eli could have sworn that the man was trying not to laugh at his sister. But he was going to be quite angry if he got shot by her stupid actions. Just as he was getting ready to yell at her, Emily stepped directly between the two men’s guns. She shut her eyes and stretched out her arms in an effort to shield her captor. She cracked open one eye and stared at him, checking to see if Elias had dropped his aim from the man she was protecting.

  Elias stood there, shocked at the ornery display Emily was making. He was confused. Didn’t she want to be saved? The tall man cursed wildly from behind where Emily was standing and put his hands around her waist, picking her up bodily and putting her down to the side of where he stood. Emily then extended her left foot out as far as possible and stepped back in front of the man, causing Eli to chuckle at the antics between the two of them. This poor man had his hands full with his sister. If it wasn’t such a weird situation, he’d say that the man deserved whatever grief Emily gave him. Instead, it was kidnapping plain and simple.

  “Well, I’ll be… ,” the man muttered aloud and picked Emily back up, intent on moving her again. This time, Emily struggled wildly, flailing her arms angrily.

  “Elias James Jessup! You put that gun away right now or I am never speaking with you again! You shoot me and I will haunt your scrawny hide! You hear me, Mister?” Emily’s voice called out angrily towards where he stood. Before Eli could answer, he felt Holladay’s hand rest casually on his hip as she walked from behind him. Good golly, the woman had voluntarily touched him, and it burned through his clothing, searing his body. It was a simple touch of the hand, but it froze him in place.

  “I hear you,” Holladay said calmly, pulling her own gun as she stood next to Elias.

  “Who are you?” Emily squeaked in surprise. “No guns!”

  “Singleton! If you are done playing with your toy…” Holladay had a bland look of disdain on her face. Elias looked between the two of them and realized they knew each other. He felt a burst of jealousy and humor as he saw that his sister had drawn the same conclusion.

  “Hey there, Holladay.”

  “Hey! I’m not his toy!” Emily snapped angrily.

  “My sister isn’t his toy.”

  “This,” Holladay said coolly, looking toward where he stood. She waved her gun at Emily with a practiced wrist movement, “This is your beloved sister?”

  “Beloved is a bit much, Miss Holladay,” Eli admitted with a full grin.

  “Holladay, if you’ll be moving along, I’ll be collecting the bounty on this one,” the man said evenly, removing his gun from his holster one more time.

  “Cade, please! No guns,” Emily pleaded. Eli frowned as he watched his sister pull the lowest card in the deck. Crying. He saw her begin to sniffle. “Please, Cade, let me talk to him.” Cade slowly put his gun back in the holster with an exaggerated sigh as he mumbled something indecipherable. As Emily moved to step towards where he stood, the man grabbed hold of her arm. The brown-haired man stared directly at him.

  “Emily, he has a choice and needs to make it,” he said menacingly and then called out, “Holladay, I will be taking your friend in for charges of theft and murder.”

  If lightning could have struck him at that very moment, he’d have gratefully died at the devastated look his Ellie gave him. Her beautiful face that he’d touched only moments ago, those lips and those eyes, were now locked on him with a look of betrayal instead of desire.

  “What? He told me that he was searching for his kidnapped sister!” Holladay tucked her gun away into her holster. Elias was certain that she was teetering on the brink of using it and probably put it away to keep from shooting him, as she’d threated so many times in the last few days.

  “These are the Jessups. Your fellow over there is Elias Jessup, the brains of the group and this young woman is Emily Jessup, the pretty lure that reels men in.”

  “Hey! He isn’t the only one with brains!” Emily cried out angrily and kicked the bounty hunter directly in the shin. Eli stared, shocked at the outrageous behavior Em was displaying and the look of surprise on the man’s face. He actually looked embarrassed as Elias barked out a laugh along with Holladay. Her laugh washed over him, taking any anger from his soul as he stared at her expression full of mirth.

  “The sister isn’t kidnapped. She’s going before the judge for petty theft. Elias, however, shot a man in Cleburne. The man died in the alleyway. He’s probably going to hang
for murder,” the bounty hunter informed Holladay coolly. Eli knew in his heart that what the man said was true. He’d never see California, never kiss Holladay and never have a family of his own. He’d swing from a noose soon enough if this man had his way. Just then, he heard Emily scream out and collapse onto the ground, lifeless.

  Elias moved to rush to his sister’s aid. However, Holladay put her arm out in front of him as the man named Cade pulled his gun yet again on him.

  “Don’t you touch her,” he bit out fiercely, surprising Eli at the barely contained rage in his voice. “You’ve done enough to ruin her life. Move on and I will take care of her when she comes to.”

  “Is she dead?”

  “No, but you’ll be if you don’t go now.”

  “What happened?”

  “She fainted. The stupid girl loves you even though you’ve led her down the wrong path. You’ll end up being the death of her if you don’t leave her alone. Let her discover who she is and what she wants to do with her life. Now, get the blazes out of here.”

  Elias was mortified at the harsh truth. This had been his idea from the very beginning and he could see Emily’s innocent face as she looked at him trustingly. He’d always taken care of her or tried to, even if it was doing something he knew was wrong.

  “Holladay? Get him out of here before I lose my temper!” Cade bit out, staring angrily at Holladay. He then turned back to Emily and was cradling her against him, patting her on the cheek and talking softly to her.

  “C’mon, thief. We need to have a talk. Your sister is safer with him than anyone else right now. Trust me.” He heard the cold tone of Holladay’s voice and felt her warm hand slip into his. Her little hand felt like an anchor as his mind whirled and stormed in confusion. He allowed himself to be led away from where his sister lay in the arms of a cold bounty hunter.

  5

  Dallas, 1880

  They rode off and Elias felt astray. He couldn’t go home to their parents. His father said until they changed their evil ways, they weren’t welcomed back. Emily was with the bounty hunter and headed to jail. And he was alone with a woman that could barely look at him right now. Waves of guilt, shame and confusion rolled over him like waves on a beach. Everything that had felt so right was so very wrong.

  “Where are we going?” he finally asked.

  “Dallas Courthouse,” she replied in a flat, emotionless voice.

  “I suppose I deserve this,” Elias whispered to himself aloud, staring at the clouds above. His father would be so devastated that his only son was hung for murder and theft. His sister would be crushed and he’d miss her terribly. They’d been close growing up and had relied on each other quite a bit over the last few months as they moved from town to town. What would he do without Emily? And Holladay? His Ellie, or so he’d taken to calling her in his own mind, would never let him close again. He’d betrayed her, and she didn’t seem like the forgiving kind.

  “Why’d you do it?” Holladay asked, pulling her horse to a stop. “I don’t understand.”

  “We couldn’t get by,” Elias whispered, looking at Holladay’s hard eyes. “Emily and I simply wanted a better life. Food, clothing and to see the world. Well, I did and I talked her into it.”

  “No, I meant why did you lie to me?”

  “Ellie,” he breathed, devastated at the hurt in her eyes as she stared at him accusingly. “I didn’t know you. And who would ever help the Jessups escape to commit more theft? Once word got out that I killed the man that was molesting my sister, no one would ever aid a murderer, much less a beautiful woman like you. I lied so I could get help finding her. I vowed to protect her, and I have done a pretty bad job of it.”

  “Yes, you have and now she is in someone else’s hands.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t you ever lie to me again, are we clear Jessup?” she said angrily and nudged her horse forward again.

  “Ellie…” he started and then stopped. She was angry, and it was enough that she’d be the one he spent the rest of his free time with. He prayed she wouldn’t stay for his hanging but part of him hoped she would. Maybe she could keep him from weeping in fear as they put the noose around his neck. He’d try to be brave. But the idea of hanging in front of the woman he cared for terrified him. He would admit it easily.

  “Don’t Ellie me, Elias. I am not ready to talk just yet,” she bit out.

  “We might not be able to later. Dallas is just ahead.”

  “Are you planning on escaping?”

  “No. I’m tired of running and letting down the people I care for. Let’s get this over with,” he said flatly. “If they hang me, will you make sure Emily isn’t there? I don’t want you to watch me suffer, but I’d like for at least someone to be there at the end. I don’t want to hang alone and surrounded by strangers,” his voice trailed off as he felt regret burn in his gut.

  “Emily will not be there, I promise you,” Holladay strangled out in a voice he barely recognized as she stared ahead, swallowing hard.

  “Thank you.”

  Elias and Holladay quickly rode into town. He made no effort to run or make things difficult for her. The last thing he wanted was to see hatred or bitterness in her beautiful, blue eyes. He wanted her to look at him like she had earlier. He wanted to touch her face and kiss her before he was sentenced to hang.

  Holladay strode up the steps of the courthouse confidently as he walked behind her, torn. As they entered the courtroom and moved to take their seats, he saw his sister towards the front of the room slide down into the bench unconscious and quickly surrounded by men. Men that included the bounty hunter that had dragged her there and the judge. Elias was certain that his sweet younger sister was terrified and felt a surge of protectiveness well up inside of him.

  “Emily! Sit up and answer the man!” Cade prompted, holding her prone form up in the bench. Her face was utterly pale, devoid of any emotion.

  “Leave her alone! This is your fault!” Elias yelled out, locking eyes with the bounty hunter. Cade’s hard, yellow eyes were blistering with anger towards him. Fine, the man blamed him for Emily’s situation. He could live or die with that, so long as they didn’t terrorize her before they sentenced her. The judge yelled at him to sit down, but it was Holladay’s hand that steadied him, leading him back to his seat.

  “Miss Emily Jessup, you’ll need to answer some questions for me and the jury. Please come forward. Singleton, if you have to drag her up there, do it. I have plenty more to do today than to humor a lady that has no constitution to her.” Cade Singleton walked Elias’ sister up towards the front of the courtroom and set her in the chair. He stood directly behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. It looked like he was holding her in place. This made Elias see red as the man stared him down across the room. Cade looked possessive of his sister and domineering. Emily put her hand on top of the bounty hunter’s and smiled weakly at the judge.

  “So, you are accused of theft?” Judge Ryan asked her.

  “Yes, your honor,” Emily confessed, her voice cracking.

  “Says here you stole fifty dollars from a J.R. Hobson of San Antonio And, well… you’ve got quite a list here actually, young lady. A dollar here, ten dollars there. Total stolen from several accounts was over one hundred dollars. The bounty on your head was ten dollars, a fraction of what you’ve stolen. How do you plead?”

  “I am guilty, your honor.” she whispered. “Horribly, horribly guilty and full of regret.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, sir,” Emily stared at the ground sobbing, “My family was starving and we couldn’t get by. I was so tired of seeing some people doing well and others struggling. We had no clothing, no food, nothing. So, we stole a dollar from a man that had bragged about swindling a card shark. We took the dollar and bought a slab of bacon. The next time we took something else and bought some warm clothes, and so on. I was hungry but that didn’t make it right. I just wish there had been someone or something out there to help us, to
coach us and teach us before we went down that road. Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it differently? Absolutely. Did I actually steal the money? Yes, sir, I did. And I am sorry.”

  “Do you have the money now?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Singleton, do you have anything to add?”

  “Sir, if I might have a few minutes?” Elias ground his teeth at the confident, arrogant look on Cade Singleton’s face. The judge nodded, and he continued speaking. “I’ve never skirted my duty to this country or felt compelled to do otherwise. But in the last few days, I’ve been challenged. You see, I’ve known what justice is all my life. Right, wrong or otherwise. There’s never been any doubts… until now.”

  “Sounds like one of my dedicated men has been compromised by a little lady.”

  “Sir, I prefer not to think compromised but rather enlightened. You see, I’ve been questioned by one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever come across. This person challenged my authority, has shown proof that there is more to the element of what is right and what is wrong… and even questioned my way of thinking.”

  “Cade,” Emily reacted, blushing mightily as the judge turned and yelled at her to be quiet. Interruption was not something he tolerated apparently.

  “This person challenged me, your honor. They said that someday I would do something that conflicted with my sense of justice. Something that would be right yet feel wrong. They even said that they’d like to be there to rub, and I quote, ‘my snide face in that event when it happened’.” The jury, a group of older men, began to laugh and chuckle among themselves.

  Even Eli was tempted to laugh if it wasn’t such a sad situation. That sounded just like Emily. He missed some of what was said quietly between the trio up front but was disturbed to hear his sister pleading with the bounty hunter. Was he goading her or setting her up to hang?