Whirlwind Groom

Whirlwind Groom
Debra Cowan

JOSIE WEBSTER WAS NOT A BORN KILLER…But her thirst for justice could make her one. The outlaw who'd murdered her parents and fiancé had gotten off scot-free. And now the only thing standing between her and vengeance fulfilled was Sheriff Davis Lee Holt, who held her quarry prisoner…and completely captured her heart!A woman with secrets needed watching, and lawman Davis Lee Holt intended to watch Josie Webster like a hawk. Why would a seamstress need shooting lessons? Or be curious about the jail? But after nursing her for a near-deadly snakebite, he faced a much more compelling problem: he loved a woman he couldn't trust!

The hard warmth of his body proved very distracting. “Do the ladies you know carry weapons, Sheriff?”

“We’re fixin’ to find out.”

His silky voice did things to her insides that she couldn’t recall having ever experienced with her late fiancé. “I don’t have a gun. I told you I want to learn how to shoot.”

His gaze slid down her body, then back up to meet her eyes. “Do you want me to search you?”

She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“I will if you don’t show me what you’ve got hidden.”

“What kind of man are you that you would put your hands on me?”

“The kind who wants an answer,” he said hotly. “Now, either show me or I’ll get it myself.”

The thrill that shot through her veins told Josie she did not want this man touching her. She instinctively knew she wouldn’t forget it…!

Praise for new Historical author Debra Cowan’s previous titles

“Penning great emotional depth in her characters, Debra Cowan will warm the coldest of winter nights.”

—Romantic Times on Still the One

“Debra Cowan skillfully brings to vivid life all the complicated feelings of love and guilt when a moment of consolation turns into unexpected passion.”

—Romantic Times on One Silent Night

“The recurrent humor and vivid depiction of small-town Western life make Debra Cowan’s story thoroughly pleasurable.”

—Romantic Times on The Matchmaker

Whirlwind Groom

Debra Cowan

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To guys in white hats.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter One

West Texas, 1884

T oday was the day and Josie Webster’s nerves were as twitchy as fat on a hot skillet. In the building September heat, she watched the jail of Whirlwind, Texas, and waited for her chance. Only a minute or so now, and she would have it.

Covered by shadows, she stood across the street from the sheriff’s office. The alleyway between the livery stable and saloon was warm, but at least out of the sun. Main Street, wide enough for two wagons to travel at once, bustled as people made their way through town for supplies or business. On the east end of town toward Abilene, a church at the center point of Main and North Street served as the school and had opened its doors to students almost two hours ago. The telegraph and post office as well as the Whirlwind Hotel shared the same side of the street as the jail.

Three doors to her left a thin, older man swept the porch in front of Haskell’s General Store. Directly across from her was the blacksmithy. No one paid a lick of attention to her.

Heart hammering in her chest, she patted the scalpel tucked inside the special sleeve she’d sewn into her bodice. Her doctor father had taught her and her mother how to use the instrument as a weapon after an attack by an old beau had nearly gotten her mother raped. The blade was a reassuring reminder that Josie would never be at the mercy of a killer like the one who sat in the jailhouse across from her.

Nearly two years ago, Ian McDougal had murdered her parents and fiancé in Galveston. Because of a corrupt judge, the outlaw had walked away without spending one night in jail. He and his brothers had resumed their killing spree throughout Texas. When the other three had been killed a few months ago in a shoot-out near Whirlwind, Ian had escaped. He had finally been captured near Austin by a U.S. Marshal. Now he awaited trial in this small town hundreds of miles from Josie’s home.

She had arrived the end of August, and in the four days since she had reached this breezy dry town on the other side of the vast state, she constantly felt parched, her throat gravelly. The stark air was quite a contrast to the thick, liquid air of her home on the Gulf.

So far, Whirlwind’s sheriff had followed the schedule Josie had observed the past few days. He had already finished his first cup of coffee, taken the prisoner out to relieve himself in the outhouse behind the jail and whittled something. Now it was time for the sheriff to leave his deputy in charge and go over to the Pearl Restaurant for the piece of pie he had every morning at nine-forty-five.