Imitations of a Lady Read online

  Cora closed her eyes and shook her head violently, wishing she could close her ears as easily. “Stop,” she said.

  “I gave her a dilemma. Either your mama came back to work for me, or she gave me her little girl for later use. And, can you guess what she chose? She chose her hide over yours. You were born of my saloon, and you’ll spend your life working for it.”

  Lies. That’s all he was capable of producing. Cora wanted to believe that, but the tears streaming down her cheeks told a different story. Instinctively, she pulled the revolver from her pocket, cocked it, and aimed the weapon at Milton’s smug face.

  Milton’s smile dropped, and he retreated from Cora’s reach. “Seems you forget where you belong. I ain’t never seen a true lady aim a gun at a man before.”

  Cora took a sharp inhale of air. “You forget; I’m no lady.”

  Milton’s eyes widened, and he fell to his knees. He opened his mouth to protest, but the butt of a rifle clashed against his head before Milton could speak.

  A sob broke from Cora’s lips, and she fell to her knees, still clutching the gun at her chest.

  “Miss Cora Burns,” a familiar voice bellowed. “Seems I got here just in time to save you.” Deputy Everett Myers came from around the corner. He loomed over Milton, tying the man’s hands together.

  “I was about to save myself,” Cora said, wiping at the tears still sprouting.

  Everett shook his head. “You tell yourself that.”

  Cora’s gaze fell to Milton and his bulging pockets. “Deputy, before you take him away.” She dropped the revolver and darted toward the man strewn across the ground. “He was about to take off with my money—money your wife left me before she departed Crooked Creek.”

  Everett pulled the bills from Milton’s pockets and handed them to Cora. “I reckon she told me something or other about that.” He reached into his pocket and retrieved another hundred. “And your reward money, Miss Burns, for the assistance in the capture of a criminal at large.”

  Cora placed a hand at her heart and gasped for breath. The good Lord had watched over her that day—in more ways than one. Somehow, He’d prevented Cora from making the biggest mistake of her life, all the while preserving the future she’d almost lost.

  “One more thing,” Everett said, tightening the rope. “You might want to count that cash. Charlotte has a tendency to throw in surprises.”

  Chapter 26

  The swing creaked against its hinge, back and forth through the breeze. Deputy Everett Myers, from Cora’s past home of Crooked Creek, had hauled away Milton and promised justice. Luckily, the event had taken place behind the house, away from the celebration. Jesse was ashamed he hadn’t been a better aid in Cora’s time of need. He’d underestimated Milton’s strength, or overestimated his own.

  But there she sat next to him, not a scratch to be found on her. He breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Milton told me my mother worked for him, that she gave me up with the promise of my future work. She did it to satisfy some debt,” Cora said, shaking her head. “I never assumed my mama was the good kind, but that? Was I nothing more to her?”

  Jesse’s heart wrenched in pain. How he wanted to ease the weight settling in her brow, the heartache written across her glossy eyes. “Do you think he told the truth? Maybe he only said it to weaken you, to get you on the train back to his saloon.”

  Cora shrugged, wiping a lone tear. “I don’t care anymore.”

  Jesse lifted a brow. “Either you aren’t being honest, or you’ve got a strange way of not caring.”

  She laughed amidst her tears. “I can’t very well lie to you. The words stung. But these tears?” She wiped them again and smiled. “They aren’t for my mama. I’m done with that. I was raised by a woman a hundred times my mama’s equal. Maggie loved me and taught me, protected and defended me. She was the one that determined to send me here in place of Lettie. These tears are for Maggie, for the gratitude that’s been choking me since I heard Milton’s words. I don’t doubt they’re true, and because of that, I owe Maggie even more.”

  Jesse’s heart softened, and he reached for one of Cora’s hands, encompassing it in both of his. “And for all Maggie has done for you, I love her too.”

  Cora smiled softly, returning his gaze. “But there’s something else.”

  “Yes?”

  “Lettie.” Cora inhaled, closing her eyes.

  Jesse couldn’t help watching the way her misty lashes tangled together, the way her cheeks seemed to drain of color. Whatever she wished to divulge hung heavy on her heart. “Go on,” he said, interlacing his fingers in hers. “You can’t tell me anything I won’t understand.”

  “I want to take Lettie’s baby,” she said in a hurry. “I know that’s a lot, probably more than you’re willing to take on. What blossomed between you and me is beautiful and real, as unexpected as it was, but I won’t let you court me without knowing my intentions. If Lettie will allow it, I want to take her child and raise it as my own. I can’t let that baby grow up with the same worries I did.” Cora’s shoulders fell. “I understand if what you’ve just heard troubles you.”

  The edges of his lips tugged, his heart filling to its capacity. Her heart, so tender and good, was wrapped in a ribbon of courage and strength, grit and directness. He dropped her hand, instead lifting his to her face. “Dear Cora, I’ve never been more in love with another person in all my life.”

  She hiccuped back a new set of tears. “You mean it?”

  He dipped his head lower, pressing his mouth over hers in response. Her arms, in turn, anchored at his neck, and she pulled herself higher to better position herself. Jesse couldn’t help but smile between breaths and kisses. Her kisses were soft and tender, strong and fiery—just as she was, and Jesse hoped for, more than ever before, that he was worthy of such a genuine lady.

  When she pulled away, she dropped her head to his chest. She fell in sync with the rise and fall of each of his breaths. Jesse wrapped his arms around her, and they sat in comfortable silence, rocking back and forth on the wooden swing.

  At long last, Cora exhaled. “Tell me something real, Jess—something you’ve never told anyone.”

  He smiled. “I want to marry you, Cora Burns.”

  She startled, lifting her head to meet his gaze. “Marry me?”

  “If you’ll have me.”

  Her lips parted, the edges tugging upward. “Only if you’ll allow me the honor of bestowing our first wedding present.”

  Jessie let out a slow breath as she pulled a fabric bundle from behind her back.

  “Eleven-hundred dollars. I’ve counted it thrice over, determined I was mistaken. But the deputy’s good wife, Charlotte, wrote of sending five hundred, all the while sneaking double that amount in the bottom of the stocking,” Cora explained.

  Jesse’s brows rose, tangling in confusion. “Stocking? What are you speaking of?”

  She grinned, flicking her head toward the opposite hill, the one Jesse dreamed of owning one day. “It’s more than enough for you to build your house and start your own herd. Here,” she said, handing it to him. “Take it. For our home, for your herd.”

  Jesse peeled back the fabric and thumbed through the bundle of bills. “You can’t be serious,” he said, looking down at Cora. “It’s more than I’ve ever earned. I can’t take this from you, Cora. I won’t.”

  She smiled and folded her arms. “Didn’t you say my stubbornness was part of what drew you in? Besides, I wouldn’t offer such a sum, unless I had an interest in that plot of land.”

  She most certainly would be the most head-strong partner he’d ever taken on. But the challenge behind her lovely eyes, the emotion enveloping his heart—he’d never been more eager to try his hand at such a venture. He took the bundle, catching her hand along with the money. “And this is your only condition to marrying me?”

  She nodded.

  “Then I’ll be making my own. I’ll only take you on, Miss Cora Burns, if you’ll promise t
o never stop that singing of yours.”

  “That all?” she said, swatting her other hand against his chest. “You couldn’t keep me from music any more than I could keep you from the cattle.”

  He laughed, resting his head against hers. “I reckon it’s settled then. All that’s left is the wedding.”

  “And the baby,” Cora reminded him.

  Jesse threw his head back and laughed once more. “Perhaps we should meet the pastor at the church this afternoon, just in case Lettie’s baby needs a sibling to keep her busy.”

  Cora threw her arms around him, planting her lips on his. “I reckon it’s settled then.”

  THE END

  Kate Marie Clark

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