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Gabe made a step of his hands.
“I can check my own stirrups, and I don’t need a boost.” Belle climbed into the saddle in one easy motion. “They’re fine.”
“Good. The ground is rocky around here, so stick to the paths,” Gabe said as he mounted.
They rode at a granny pace for ten or fifteen minutes—until Belle couldn’t stand it anymore. She resettled the red hat on her head, yelled, “Race you!” and took off like greased lightning.
She glanced over her shoulder to find that Gabe was gaining fast. The mare wasn’t a match for the big brute he rode, so she slowed, then pulled up.
“What the hell are you doing?” Gabe shouted when he stopped beside her and grabbed the reins.
Her eyes widened. “I beg your pardon?”
“You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“On a horse? I don’t think so. With equal mounts, I could ride bareback and beat you any day of the week.”
He glared at her for a minute, then his expression softened and morphed into a grin. “You probably could.”
Dear Reader,
When I wrote the first three books about the Outlaw family of Naconiche, a fictitious small town in the Piney Woods of East Texas, I hadn’t planned to write more about them. Folks seemed to enjoy the stories of the three older brothers who were all named for famous outlaws and all in law enforcement—J. J. (Jesse James) Outlaw in The Sheriff, Frank James Outlaw in The Judge, and Cole Younger Outlaw in The Cop—and I received lots of e-mail urging me to give the other two siblings, Belle Starr Outlaw and Sam Bass Outlaw, books of their own. I listened. This is Belle’s book.
Belle, the only female among four brothers, was determined to succeed in law enforcement as well, so she aimed high and became an FBI agent. After a lot of soul searching, Belle rebelled against tradition and left the FBI. She married a Colorado rancher at the end of The Cop, but things went sour quickly. She heads back to Texas to find a new life and ends up in Wimberley, a picturesque little town in central Texas, where she meets her fate among another group of characters as colorful as those in Naconiche—and an angel of a hero. Wimberley is a real town, and you can check it out on the Web. They have real market days there as I’ve described, but if you go looking for the businesses and characters I write about, you won’t find them in Wimberley. They’re all figments of my active imagination. I hope you enjoy Belle’s story.
To love and laughter!
Jan Hudson
The Rebel
Jan Hudson
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jan Hudson, a former college psychology teacher, is a RITA® Award-winning author of thirty books, a crackerjack hypnotist, a dream expert, a blue-ribbon flower arranger and a fairly decent bridge player. Her most memorable experience was riding a camel to visit the Sphinx and climbing the Great Pyramid in Egypt. A native Texan whose ancestors settled in Nacogdoches when Texas was a republic, she loves to write about the variety of colorful characters who populate the Lone Star State, unique individuals who celebrate life with a “howdy” and “y’all come.” Jan and her husband currently reside in Austin, and she loves to hear from readers. E-mail her at JanHudsonBooks@gmail.com.
Books by Jan Hudson
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
1017—THE SHERIFF*
1021—THE JUDGE*
1025—THE COP*
SILHOUETTE DESIRE
1035—IN ROARED FLINT
1071—ONE TICKET TO TEXAS
1229—PLAIN JANE’S TEXAN
1425—WILD ABOUT A TEXAN
1432—HER TEXAS TYCOON
For the members of Austin RWA and my fabulous editor, Kathleen Scheibling
With special thanks to the Pattersons for their help, and to Kit Frazier, who saved my bacon, I dedicate a special sugar dance.
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 Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter One
Exhausted from battling the blowing snow of a late winter storm, Belle Outlaw knew that she couldn’t make it another mile. The skies had been clear when she left Colorado, but the weather had turned nasty. She’d hoped to make it to Texas but was now desperate to find a place to stop for the rest of the night. When she spotted a flickering motel sign ahead, she knew her prayers had been answered. Pulling the U-Haul trailer into the portico by the office, she stumbled out of her SUV and rented a room from the sleepy desk clerk.
“Bad out tonight,” he said as he handed her the key to unit ten.
She only nodded.
Somehow Belle managed to drive to a place near the door of her assigned room, lock her SUV and make it inside. She didn’t even try to bring in her overnight bag. It was well below freezing outside, but she was burning up. Fever, she knew. With her luck she’d probably die alone in some ratty motel room in the middle of nowhere, and the maid would find her when she came to clean the room.
She ought to call somebody—but who? She didn’t want her parents to worry about her, and her older brothers had families and didn’t need to come charging to her rescue. That left Sam, her baby brother. Sam Outlaw, the Texas Ranger. Texas Rangers could handle anything.
It took three tries before she managed to correctly dial Sam’s number—and four rings before he answered.
“Oh, Sam. Thank God you’re home.”
“Belle? Is that you? Where the hell else would I be? Do you know what time it is?”
“I give up.”
“It’s one o’clock in the morning.”
“Sorry, Sam. Sorry. I need help. Come get me.”
“Belle, have you been drinking? Where are you?”
“Only coffee. I don’t know. A motel somewhere in New Mexico, I think. Or maybe I made it to Texas. I tried.”
“Where’s Matt?”
“Matt who?”
“Matt, your husband.”
“I have no husband,” Belle said. “Come get me, Sam. I think I’m dying.”
“Belle, hon—”
The phone went dead. She let it drop, fell back on the bed and wrapped the spread around her like swaddling.
“GABE, GABE, WAKE UP!”
Gabe Burrell opened one eye. Where was he? Oh, yeah, Sam’s lake house. “It can’t be time to get up yet, Sam. I just got to sleep.”
“Listen, we’ll have to cancel our fishing trip. I think my sister’s sick and I have to get to her pronto.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Damned if I know. She was talking crazy. But if Belle asked for help it has to be bad.”
Gabe threw back the covers and grabbed his pants. “I’ll go with you.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I traced the number to a little motel in a place that’s a grease spot on the map near Dalhart in the panhandle, but now the phones are out in that area. I think there’s a municipal airport nearby.”
“Make us some coffee while I check out the weather conditions to see what we can fly.”
BELLE FOUGHT TO OPEN her eyes, but they didn’t want to cooperate. Everything was bright and blinding white, and she felt as if she were floating. Was she in heaven?
Shielding her eyes from the dazzling brightness, she made out the silhouette of a man. His hair was spun gold and lit by a bright halo.
“Who—who are you?” she croaked. Her tongue was thick, and her mouth felt packed with cotton batting.
“I’m Gabe Burrell.”
“Gabriel? I thought St. Peter was in charge here. Where’s your horn?” He chuckled. “My horn? I don’t have a horn, darlin’. Sorry.”
“Gotta have a horn.”
“Years ago I had a saxophone but it’s long gone.”
“No sax. A trumpet. Blow, Gabriel, blow.”
He chuckled again, and she was going to ask what was funny, but she was too tired.
When she opened her eyes again, the angel was gone and Sam was sitting beside her.
“Sam?”
“In the flesh.”
“Aren’t we in heaven anymore?”
“No, Ding-dong, we’re in the hospital. You’ve been sick. Pneumonia. You’ve been pretty much out of it for three days. How are you feeling?”
“Like an elephant’s sitting on my chest. Three days?”
“Yep. You’ve been a mighty sick little gal. If Gabe Burrell hadn’t flown me here, we might have lost you.”
“Gabriel flew you here?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know he could take passengers. Did he find his horn?”
“What horn? Belle, honey, you’re talking a little crazy. Gabe doesn’t have a horn that I know about. And he flew me here in a helicopter.”
“I guess angels don’t use their wings anymore. They’ve gone high tech.”
Sam laughed. “What in the world are you talking about? Gabe’s no angel. Trust me on that.”
“Are you sure?” Belle asked, but before she heard Sam’s answer, she slipped away once more.
Belle didn’t see her brother again until she was sitting up having breakfast. Nurse Ratched—or her clone—had checked her IV, cranked up the bed and taken the cover off some vile-looking mush.
“Eat,” Nurse Ratched had said before she sailed out of the room.
Belle sneered at the gray glop on her plate. “She’s got to be kidding.”
“Who?” Sam said.
“Nurse Ratched. The warden who was just in here.”
“I thought her name was Vivian Johnson. What was she kidding about?”
“Eating this stuff.”
“You must be feeling better,” said a blond man who followed Sam into the room.
“As compared to what?”
The man chuckled. Belle recognized the sound. “Gabriel? I thought I dreamed you.”
“Gabe, just plain Gabe. Would you rather have a hamburger?”
“No, but I’d kill for a nice, thick milk shake.”
“What flavor?”
“Strawberry.”
“I’ll be right back,” Gabe said.
After he left, Belle said, “Who’s he?”
“An old friend of mine. He’s my insurance agent and fishing buddy. Now that you’re back from the dead, you want to tell me what’s going on with you and Matt? Last I heard after you quit the FBI and married him last Christmas, the two of you had settled down on his ranch in Colorado and were happy as a pair of beetles in dung.”
“We were—or at least I thought we were until he came in one day and announced that he’d been seeing his old girlfriend again.”
Sam looked shocked. “His old girlfriend? Matt?”
“You aren’t any more surprised than I was. They grew up together and were high-school sweethearts. Seems she came back to town after her marriage soured, and she and Matt got together. The ink wasn’t even dry on our marriage license when she cried on his shoulder and one thing led to another. Now they’re in love, and she’s pregnant.”
“The son of a bitch!”
“My sentiments exactly,” Belle said.
“He can’t do that to my sister! I’m going to Colorado and whip that bastard’s ass.”
Belle rolled her eyes. “Simmer down. You’re not going anywhere. If I meant so little to him then I’m glad to be rid of him. We’ve already filed for divorce, and it should be final in a couple of weeks, but I was too sick of Colorado to stick around any longer. And may warts grow on my nose and my ears fall off before I go calf-eyed over a man again.”
Gabriel strolled in, grinning and bearing a tall plastic cup. “At your service, ma’am. You like one straw or two?”
“Just one. Thanks.”
He peeled the paper off the straw, stuck it into the cup and handed her the milk shake. She sucked up pure ambrosia. “Thanks. This is heavenly.”
He looked pleased with himself. Now that she had a chance to examine him more closely, Belle could see that Sam’s friend was far from angelic. He was devilishly handsome and his grin was straight from Old Scratch himself. Good thing she’d sworn off men or she might have been totally captivated by Gabriel. Gabe. She had to remember that—just plain Gabe.
“Gabe,” Belle said, “thanks for flying Sam here. I understand that I might not be around if you two hadn’t shown up. I wasn’t even sure where I was.”
“Glad to do it. It was good that you stopped when you did. There was a nasty storm going on.”
“I remember the storm,” she said, “but not much else after that. Sam, when can I get out of this place?”
“You’ll have to ask your doctor, but I wouldn’t count on it being for a while yet. You’re still on intravenous antibiotics.”
“But I don’t like being sick.”
“Belle,” Sam said, “don’t whine. You’re lucky to be alive.”
She slurped her milk shake. “You didn’t call Mom and Dad, did you, Sam?”
“No. Sick as you were when we got here, you roused enough to get a death grip on my shirt and make me promise that I wouldn’t. I haven’t called anybody. Want me to?”
“Lord, no. You know I can’t stand hovering. Cole nearly went bonkers from all their attention when he was laid up. When I’m feeling better, I’ll call and tell them about—you know, the other.” She slurped on the straw again, but the cup was dry.
“Want another one of those?” Gabe asked.
“Want? Yes. Can I hold it? No. I think my stomach shrank. Thanks for this one. I think I’ll go to sleep for a while.”
“I LIKE YOUR SISTER,” Gabe said as he and Sam walked down the hall.
“Me, too,” Sam said. “She’s one of a kind. Did I ever tell you that she was an FBI agent?”
Gabe nodded. “I think you told me when you explained about the Outlaw family’s tradition of being named after famous outlaws and all being in law enforcement. You’re Sam Bass Outlaw, and she’s Belle Starr Outlaw. And you have brothers Jesse James and Frank James.”
Sam nodded. “J.J. is the sheriff of Naconiche County, and Frank is a judge there.”
“And isn’t there another brother?”
“Cole Younger Outlaw. He was a homicide cop in Houston, but he teaches criminal justice these days. My brothers are all married now and have families.”
“Didn’t I remember that Belle was married, too?”
“She was,” Sam said. “She’s getting a divorce. The SOB she married turned out to be a louse.”
Gabe shouldn’t have been pleased about that, but for some reason, he was. Even ill and without the usual female paint, Belle Outlaw was a stunning woman. She was gutsy for sure, and she had a great sense of humor. Plus, he’d seen a side of her that he doubted she showed very often. Her vulnerability. She’d drawn out his protective streak and made him want to bundle her up and cradle her like a baby. In short, she fascinated him.
“How are we going to work getting your sister back to Texas?” Gabe asked. “And exactly where are we going to take her? Is she planning to stay with you?”
“Beats me,” Sam said. “I’ve been thinking about that some myself. I know you have a business to run, and you can’t hang around here forever. I suppose you can take off anytime now, and I’ll drive her back to Austin.”
“I’m not in any hurry. Matter of fact, didn’t you tell me that you have to go to an important training session next week?”
Sam nodded. “In Virginia. Since I have to be gone, and I’m in the middle of moving, I’m going to try to talk Belle into going home to Naconiche.”
“She doesn’t want to go?”
“Nope. I suspect that partly she’s concerned about my mother’s tendency to hover, but mostly I think she doesn’t want to talk about the mess with Matt.”
“The husband?”
“The soon to be ex-husband.”
“Maybe she could fly home with me and stay in Wimberley to recuperate while you’re gone. My sister will be there, and her clinic is right next to the house.”
“Her clinic?” Sam asked. “What kind of clinic?”
“She a vet. And my mother is there, too. She’s a little flaky, but she makes good chicken soup.”
“Your mother or your sister?”
Gabe laughed. “My mother makes good chicken soup—when she remembers to put the chicken in the pot. She’s an artist of sorts and a little flighty. She’s not a hoverer for sure—more of a soarer, I’d say.”
“Sounds…interesting.”
Gabe grinned. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“I’m willing to park Belle with you if she’s willing. I have to warn you though. Belle’s as stubborn as a mule.”
“So am I. Flora says it’s my most endearing trait.”
“Who’s Flora?”
“My mother. I have a cook and a housekeeper if Flora forgets the chicken. Also, I think having someone her own age around will be good for my sister. Most of her friends are animals. We have a menagerie at our place. Belle’s not allergic to animals, is she?”
“Lord, no. That’s Cole, my oldest brother. And only to cats. We all grew up with lots of critters. Give Belle a horse or a dog, and she’s happy as a pig in slop.”
Gabe laughed. “Then she’ll fit right in. Shall we go back and tell her our plans?”
Looking pained, Sam hesitated for a moment. “Let’s wait and surprise her later.”
Chapter Two
Belle wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened. She blamed all the antibiotics for turning her brain to mush. But here she sat in a helicopter headed for Texas with a man she barely knew, albeit a very attractive man. And a kind one. She had to admit the flight in the chopper was less daunting than a road trip. Even so, she’d slept off and on for a good part of the time they’d spent in the air.
Rousing from her doze, she looked around, trying to get her bearings. “How much farther?” she asked Gabe. Because of the noise, they had to use headphones and mikes to talk.
“We’ll be setting down in a few minutes. Are you tired?”
“Not so much tired as stiff. Are you sure that your family won’t mind having a surprise houseguest?”
“They won’t mind, and you’re not a surprise. I called ahead so Suki could shoo the chickens and pigs out of the guest room.”
Belle wasn’t quite sure if he was teasing or not. She knew very little about Gabe except that he was Sam’s friend and insurance agent. “Who’s Suki?”
“The housekeeper.”
“Is she Asian?”
“Some on her mother’s side, I think. She’s mostly a mixture like the rest of us. Suki’s barely over five feet tall, but she’s been ruling over the wild mob in our household for several years.”
“You have a wild mob?”
“It seems that way sometimes. You’ll soon have everybody straightened out.”
Belle chewed on that for a while. Sounded like a zoo at his place, and what she needed was peace and quiet. Growing up with four brothers was like living with a wild mob, too, and she often retreated to her hidey-holes to escape the madness. While she adored her brothers and enjoyed people, she also enjoyed solitude. Since she’d left home for college, she’d lived alone, except for an occasional roommate, until she’d married Matt.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Wimberley. Exactly where is it in relation to Austin?”
“About forty or forty-five miles southwest. You were asleep when we buzzed the governor’s mansion a few minutes ago. Didn’t I hear Sam say that you’d gone to the University of Texas?”
“Only to law school. But except for occasional forays downtown to Sixth Street, I never ventured far from campus and my apartment. I pretty much kept my nose in my books.”
“A high achiever, huh?”
Belle chuckled. “You’ve got my number. I’ve always been competitive. But with four brothers, what can you expect? Hustling was how I kept up.”
Gabe smiled and turned his attention to piloting the chopper.
She saw a small town ahead, nestled among rolling hills and with a rocky river running through it. From her viewpoint, it looked like a picturesque village from a movie set.
“That’s home,” Gabe said, nodding toward a place at the edge of town.
She spotted their destination: a large stone house on a hill surrounded by a number of outbuildings. Horses grazed in a pasture, unfazed by the noise of the rotors, and she noticed several other animals as well, including what looked like a llama.
Gabe landed on a pad near a barnlike structure located a couple of hundred yards from the house. A Jeep Cherokee approached as they set down. And by the time the helicopter engine died, a burly man climbed from the vehicle and waved.
“That’s Ralph,” he told Belle. “Suki’s husband, come to collect us.”
Gabe hung up his earphones and climbed from the chopper. “How’s it going, Ralph?”
“Can’t complain. We had rain yesterday.”
Gabe helped Belle from her seat. “Belle Outlaw, this is Ralph Sanderson.”
Belle offered her hand. “Mr. Sanderson.”
“Just Ralph will do, Ms. Outlaw.”
His callused hand took hers in a no-nonsense grip. He had a sweet smile and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She judged him to be in his late fifties, maybe a bit younger.
“Just Belle will do, Ralph.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Belle’s legs wobbled a bit, and Gabe helped her to the Jeep’s front passenger seat while Ralph got their luggage and stowed it in the back. In contrast to the snowstorm that felled her, Wimberley’s weather was gorgeous: clear, sunny and mild.
She rolled the window down as Ralph drove them to the house, and caught a lovely scent. “What’s that smell?”
“Good or bad?”
She smiled. “A sweet odor.”
“You must mean the Texas mountain laurels,” Gabe said. “They’re in full bloom.”
“Oh, yes, I remember now from when I lived in Austin. The little trees with the purple clusters. We don’t have them in East Texas. I always thought they smelled like grape Kool-Aid.”
“Never thought about that,” Ralph said, “but, you know, I think you’re right. What part of East Texas are you from, Belle?”
“A little town named Naconiche, right smack in the middle of the piney woods.”
Ralph nodded. “Been through there. Beautiful area. I grew up in Fredericksburg myself.”
“Heard of it, but I’ve never been there,” Belle said. “Gabe, I don’t think I know where you grew up. In this area, was it?”
“Mostly. My first few years we lived all over the place, and when my mother and stepfather married, we settled here.”
The Jeep pulled to a stop in front of the house, which loomed even larger up close. Built of native limestone, the two-story structure spread out like a fortress on the hill and was shaded by oak trees, which were huge by Central Texas standards but would be called merely scrubs by East Texans. And the Texas mountain laurels, with their purple clusters of flowers, lined a tall fence that meandered along the foot of the hill some distance away.
“You folks go on in,” Ralph said. “I’ll get the bags.”
As Gabe helped Belle up the steps to a large veranda that ran half the length of the house, a blood-curdling scream came from inside. An older woman in tie-dyed purple garb came running from the house and threw herself at Gabe.