Gold Rush Bride

“We’re getting married. This morning.” Crockett tossed her a cold look. “Isn’t that right?”

All at once, Kate felt the world slip out from under her feet. Crockett gripped her tighter, and she was suddenly aware of his body heat, the strength of his big hand and muscled arm.

“What kinda bull is this?” Landerfelt narrowed his eyes at the both of them.

“No bull, just fact. There’s nothing in town law says a married woman can’t operate a business. Especially if it’s her husband’s business. And nothing in the law says I can’t own property. I marry her and it’s mine.”

“W-wait a minute.” Kate’s head began to throb. “I thought you said—”

“I changed my mind.”

“There’s no preacher for miles.” Landerfelt’s face went bloodred. He reminded her of that boxer again. The rage in his eyes told Kate he wasn’t giving up.

Out of nowhere, Mei Li’s head popped in between them. “Mr. Vickery marry. He make legal.” She grinned at Kate. “I help. You come now. We make ready.”

“But—”

“I’ll get Vickery.” The tawny-haired man who’d thrown Landerfelt’s crony through the window and had spirited Mei Li from off the wagon slapped Will Crockett on the back. He tipped his hat at her and cracked a crooked grin. “I’m the best man, I reckon. Matt Robinson, ma’am.” He grabbed her hand and shook it until Kate thought it would break loose from her arm. “I mean, Mrs. Crockett. Back in a flash.” He took off at a full run.

Kate felt as if she were outside her own body, looking down on the preposterous scene unfolding around her.

“You won’t get away with this, Crockett.” Landerfelt grabbed his horse’s reins, then shot her a murderous look. “You, neither, you—”

Crockett grabbed the neatly pressed lapels of Landerfelt’s jacket. Kate waited for him to speak, to defend her with some choice words, but he said nothing. After a few tense seconds, Landerfelt swore and pulled out of the frontiersman’s grasp. The crowd parted as he jerked his mount down the street toward the livery.

“Married?” Kate stared at Crockett, openmouthed. The reality of the situation dawned on her.

“That’s what you wanted, right? Get married, keep the store, make enough for your ticket home.”

She nodded, dumbstruck. That’s exactly what she had proposed to him last night. “Aye, but—”

“Fine. It’s a deal.” He grabbed her hand and shook it. Not as hard as Matt Robinson had, but firmly and with a cold intent in his eyes that made her forget all thoughts of changing her mind.

“I want the mule, the horse, and whatever we make off this wagon load. We’ll sell it all today. Now, in fact.”

“But the driver…” She gestured to the buckskin-clad driver who’d manhandled her and had received Will Crockett’s fist in payment. His nose was bleeding. It definitely looked broken. “My father didn’t pay for it all, just a deposit.”

Crockett walked over to the driver, who was just coming around. The man touched a gloved hand to his broken nose and groaned.

“Don’t worry. Dan, here, will wait for his money, won’t you, Dan?” Crockett placed his booted foot on the driver’s knee and pressed down.

“Ow! S-sure. Whatever you say, Will.”

“And he’ll deliver the next load to you on credit.”

“What?”

Crockett put his weight into it, and the driver yelped like a dog. “Right. C-credit. No problem, Mrs. Crockett.”

Wonderful. More credit. Just what she needed. Kate stood there, feeling rather weightless, as if she were in the middle of some eerie nightmare. Mei Li took her hand and pulled her in the direction of the Chinese camp.

“We make ready, quick quick. Mei Li help.”

Will Crockett jammed his hat on his head and shot Kate a stony glance. “I’ll leave you enough cash to get by on. Be back here in an hour, and we’ll get it over with. I’ve got a ship to make.”

Mei Li yanked the buckskin drape closed across the glassless window in the tiny shanty where she’d told Kate she lived with her father and her brothers.

“No mother, four brothers,” Kate repeated. “Just like me.”

She took in the assortment of unusual objects, cooking gear and other domestic possessions jammed into the tin-and-timber shack. The air was thick with an exotic potpourri of pungent scents. She’d never known any Chinese. Had never seen any until she stepped onto the wharf in San Francisco less than a week ago. How her world had changed since then.

“You sit.” Mei Li nodded at the carpet-covered ground. “I fix wild hair.”

“Wild?” She smoothed her auburn tresses and ignored the girl’s well-intentioned command. “My hair’s fine. Besides, it’s not as if it’s a real wedding.”

“It real enough. Will Crockett real man. You real woman.”

Kate fought a smile. Aye, Will Crockett was a real man. His behavior that morning had been nothing short of chivalrous. She recalled, with a bit of shameless glee, how he’d decked the wagon driver. Crockett had watched out for her. Protected her. First against the driver’s manhandling, then against Landerfelt’s threats.

Her stomach tightened every time she thought of it. No man had ever gone out of his way to protect her. None, save her brothers back home. And they didn’t count, really. They were family; it was expected.

Aye, Will Crockett had been gallant, but in a cool, almost unfriendly manner. As if the whole affair was just an unsavory business arrangement he’d gotten caught up in. “Kate, you dolt.” She shook off her girlish stupor and plopped cross-legged onto the carpet.

Mei Li frowned down at her. “What mean dolt?”

“Fool.” For that’s what she was. Of course Crockett viewed it as a business arrangement; that’s exactly what it was. She needed his name to keep the store, and he needed—

What did he need? What was Will Crockett getting out of the bargain that was important enough to overrule his stalwart refusal of the night before? Her father’s horse and a bit of coin? Surely it wasn’t worth the trouble to a man in such a hurry to leave town.

“Mei Li, why do you suppose Crockett’s marrying me?”

The girl ignored Kate’s earlier protest and worked to tame her hair into some kind of fantastical upswept arrangement. “He like. I see it.”

“No, you’re wrong. Mr. Crockett doesn’t like me.” He’d made that clear last night. He’d chastised her, in fact, for her outrageous proposal. His censure had made her feel dirty, cheap. She recalled those dark, judgmental eyes of his and how his lips had tightened into a thin line. “No, he must have a good reason to be doing this.” But what was it? He was leaving in a matter of hours. What possible inducement—

“Crockett need money. Pay for ship.”

Kate twisted around so she could see Mei Li’s face. “What do you mean? He doesn’t have the money already?”

“Money gone. Horse, too. Pay for debt.”

“He owed someone a debt?” Well, she wasn’t the only one in hot water, it seemed.

Under her breath, Mei Li muttered another of her seemingly endless strings of Chinese expletives. “He pay Landerfelt. But no Crockett’s debt. Cheng’s debt. My papa.”

“What?” Will Crockett had used the money for his ship passage to pay off the debt of a Chinese laborer?

Mei Li nodded. “Papa in big trouble. Run card game. Break law.”