THE OUTLAW BRIDE Read online

  "M-maybe I should leave?" It was Sara, still standing in the driveway, though she'd come closer now.

  "You're family, too, Sara. Come on, you may as well hear this. Hell, you won't ever hear another tale like it, I can promise you that," Elliot said.

  Sara tilted her head. "Okay, I'll come, too."

  Elliot held Esmeralda's hand tight. Hell, he had no idea how all this was going to work out. But she was right, it was time to tell the family the truth. He just hoped to God they didn't decide to have him committed before he could convince them that he wasn't crazy.

  The entire Brand clan gathered in the parlor, and it was so packed there was standing room only. Jessi and her husband Lash shared the easy chair nearest the fireplace, little Maria-Michele playing on the floor at their feet. Taylor had the rocking chair, and Wes stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders. Adam and Kirsten were on the sofa, beside Ben and Penny—and Penny's belly couldn't get much bigger without popping, Elliot thought. She was a week overdue with her firstborn, and Ben was a nervous wreck. Chelsea sat in the recliner, and Garrett had dragged a chair in from the dining room, turned it backwards and was straddling it. He was holding Chelsea's hand. Sara was pacing nervously back and forth. Hell, only cousin Marcus and his new wife Casey were absent, and Elliot figured they would have been there, too, if they'd been given any notice.

  He stood beside Esmeralda in front of the fireplace, and since there were no more chairs to be had, he sat down on the stone platform the hearth rested upon. He had hold of Esmeralda's hand, so when he tugged, she sat down beside him, close beside him, her side pressed to his. On his other side was a rack full of fireplace tools, wrought-iron poker, shovel, tongs. Beside those was a round ironwood rack. At his feet, ol' Blue lay sleeping. But when Elliot cleared his throat, even the aging hound dog lifted his "brow" and perked up his ears.

  "I guess … maybe Esmeralda should start," he said.

  She swung her eyes to his, and they were wide and dark and uncertain. She was always so forthright, so sure of herself, so outspoken. But it was plain she didn't want to be any of those things right now.

  "Okay, then I'll start." He drew a breath, sighed, and looked around the room. His family loved him. He didn't have to worry. "But I have to ask you all to keep quiet until I finish. This is gonna sound like … like something out of an episode of The X-Files, and you're gonna be tempted to interrupt and ask questions. Don't. I probably won't know the answers, anyway."

  Glancing nervously at one another, the family nodded at him to go on.

  "All right. See, Esmeralda lived with her father on a big ranch in Texas. She grew up there. Her mama died giving birth to her and was buried there. But there was considerable … bigotry in this particular town at this particular time. And once Esmeralda changed from a little girl into a young woman, the local boys were prone to … harassing her."

  He glanced at her to see if she approved of what he'd said so far. She met his eyes and said quietly, "Harassing me is a very pretty term for what they did. But it will do for now." Then she looked away.

  Elliot squeezed her hand. "I know."

  She looked up, met his gaze, and he felt a warmth pass between them, a kind of unspoken pact. They were in this together.

  "Anyway, her father—Luis Montoya—decided it would be best to send Esmeralda to Mexico to live with her aunt for a while. So that's where she went. While she was away, things went sour on the ranch." He looked at her again, silently asking her to fill in the parts he didn't know.

  She nodded. "There were people in town who wanted my father's land. And they conspired to get it. Water holes went dry, because they had blocked the source further upstream. Wells went bad, and crops were lost to prairie fires that started without any apparent reason. Except perhaps arson. Of course, at first my father didn't realize he was being sabotaged. He just thought it was a run of bad luck. He was forced to take a loan from the bank in order to cover the losses. When he shipped his cattle to market in the fall, he would have enough funds to repay the loan in full. He used the ranch as collateral." She blinked and Elliot watched her face carefully, knowing this was all difficult for her to relive. So fresh. Like yesterday, really. "He never would have risked the land he loved unless he was certain he could pay the debt. I know this." The wetness brimmed now. She sent Elliot no more than a glance, and he knew she was in trouble. He jumped in, taking over without hesitation.

  "Before he could get the cattle to market, he was attacked by rustlers. Shot in the back, the cattle taken."

  "Oh my God!" Chelsea said, rising to her feet. "Was he…?"

  "He didn't die … right away. One of his vaqueros got him back to la casa, and sent a rider out to bring me back home to him as fast as possible. Somehow … my father held on until I got to his bedside three days later."

  Elliot looked around the room, saw Wes lower his head, no doubt feeling guilty for his suspicions about Esmeralda now that he was hearing what hell she'd been through.

  "My father had an amulet that he often wore. It had been handed down through the generations of our family, but it was older than any of us and had been on our land long before our people had. It was said to have powers … mystical powers … to return human beings to their rightful place. I never believed it. But my father gave it to me before he died … along with everything else he owned. The ranch hands and I were saying words over my father's grave, which was right beside my mother's on the land where I had been born and raised, when the banker came with papers and claimed he now owned the ranch. He gave me only a day to clear out."

  "That can't have been legal," Garrett said.

  "Oh, it wasn't. But the sheriff was the banker's brother, and the leaders of the outlaw gang of rustlers were more of the same family. The cattle were stolen, so the debt could not be paid, and because the debt was not paid, the ranch was forfeit. But I was determined to fight for my property. And then…" She lowered her head, bit her lip.

  "She got to be too much of a pest to these men," Elliot said. "Threatened to go over their heads to get justice. One of them decided to teach her a lesson. He … um … he grabbed her, took her outside of town and assaulted her." Elliot's jaw went tight as he tried very hard not to envision what Esmeralda had gone through. "She killed him in self-defense. But since his family ran the town, she found herself behind bars before she knew it, and facing a death sentence."

  Now Garrett's head came up slowly, and for the first time Elliot saw skepticism in his brother's eyes. "Come on, Elliot. No one family would have that much influence. There would have been a trial, an investigation."

  Elliot nodded. "Yeah. Today there would have been. But all of this happened…" He drew a deep breath, looked at Esmeralda.

  "It was the summer of 1881," she said softly.

  There was dead silence in the room. Then finally, Jessi said, "Oh, I get it. This is a joke. It's one of Elliot's jokes, right, El? I mean, come on, you usually do so much better than this." She smiled across the room at her brother, but when he met his sister's eyes, he couldn't return the smile.

  "Taylor found an artifact on a dig, and she asked me to take it to the University for her. Remember?"

  Jessi nodded. Taylor's eyes narrowed.

  "Okay, so I had it. I was driving along, and I was curious as to what was so important about this find, so I took it out of the box. It was a small piece of quartz, carved into the shape of a human skull. And there was something engraved on the back. Words in some language I didn't recognize. I read it out loud, and there was this flash, and that's when I hit the tree. That skull thing got hot. So hot it left a mark in my hand." He held up his hand, palm out, so they could all see the scar the thing had left. He even got up and walked around the room, giving them each a closer look. "But after the crash, the skull was gone. I got out of the truck to go find a phone, started back toward town, but … well, the town looked odd. And when I glanced behind me, the truck was gone. Just … just gone."

  Jessi was shaking her h
ead. "You banged your head in the crash, Elliot. You were disoriented, is all."

  "That's exactly what I thought. So I kept walking, heading into town, and when I got there, I saw horses, and wagons, and I thought I was on some movie set. It was like an old western. But there was a gallows in the middle of town, and this woman—" He turned now, looking back to where she sat. "This beautiful woman, with her dress torn and her face bruised, was standing there with a rope around her neck. And the sheriff standing beside her…" He shook his head and eyed his oldest brother. "Garrett, he looked so much like you he could have been your twin. I thought it was you, at first, playing some kind of trick on me, or maybe acting out a role in some hallucination I was having. But he wasn't. His name was Garrison. Garrison Brand."

  "Oh, come on now, Elliot," Wes snapped.

  "I didn't believe it, either. But when the guy shoved her around up there, I knew he meant business. And his brothers, the banker Allen, and the outlaw Waylon—your own twin, Wes—kept calling me Eldon and acting surprised to see me. Turns out Eldon looked a lot like me, and he was the one Esmeralda was about to hang for having murdered. Hell, even she thought I was him."

  Esmeralda nodded. "I couldn't believe it when I saw him moving through the crowd. At first I thought it was Eldon Brand's ghost, coming for my soul. But then … then he pulled a gun from someone's holster, and he made them let me go. He put me on a horse and climbed on behind me, and we rode like the wind. I couldn't understand what was happening. He was so like Eldon … and yet, he couldn't have been more different."

  Elliot gave her a slight smile. "Glad you realized it." She smiled back, but it was nervous, watery. "We rode hell-bent for leather, with that whole Brand family on our tails. And we finally had to stop to rest the horse, and that's when I noticed the necklace Esmeralda was wearing. The family heirloom her father had given her. It was the crystal skull. The exact same crystal skull Taylor had given me to take to the University. I asked her about it, and she told me it was said to have mystical powers."

  Esmeralda nodded. "The next thing we knew, we were surrounded. They started shooting at us. Elliot begged me to read the words on the back of the crystal skull, to try to make it repeat its magic—even as he was pulling out a gun and risking his life to save mine."

  Taylor was on her feet now. "This can't be true..."

  But Wes was blinking, shaking his head, blinking again. "I … I felt something when I handled that piece. I should have paid attention. That crazy old Shaman Turtle—he told me never to ignore feelings like that, but I…"

  "She read the words," Elliot said. "There was that flash again. And there we were, on the ground, still surrounded by Brands, only they were you guys, and I was threatening to shoot you all with my finger."

  "And the amulet?" Taylor asked eagerly.

  "It was gone," Esmeralda said. "But look … it left the same mark on my skin that it did on Elliot's. It grew very hot … and it burned me." Parting the collar of her shirt slightly, Esmeralda got up and came to the center of the room where Elliot now stood. She turned in a slow circle so they could all see the mark left by the amulet.

  Garrett was shaking his head in disbelief. "Okay. Okay, I … I don't know what happened to you two … but this is all … well, it can't be what you think it is. There has to be some logical explanation. It's all just … well, you're just mixed up. I mean, Elliot hit his head and, Esmeralda, you might well have been hurt in that accident … maybe in some way you don't even remember."

  "It would be very rare for two people to hit their heads and have the same hallucinations from the injury, Garrett," Chelsea said softly.

  "Chelsea's right," Jessi put in. "No, this isn't a delusion … it's some kind of a scam." As she spoke, her narrow-eyed gaze raked over Esmeralda. "Rest assured, honey, you aren't going to put one over on this family. And just because my brother can't see through you doesn't mean the rest of us can't. I don't know what you're up to, but—"

  "She's telling the truth, Jessi." It was Wes, once the biggest skeptic of them all. Now studying the ways of the Shaman he was born to become. "I don't know how or … or why any of this happened … but I believe her."

  "My God. Wes, do you know what you're saying?" Taylor asked. She was a scientist, his wife. And her eyes were huge. "We're talking about time travel here."

  Wes met her eyes and nodded. Taylor held his gaze for a long moment.

  Adam said, "Hell, Einstein believed it was possible."

  "You guys have all lost your minds!" Jessi said.

  "It will be easy enough to check out, Jess." This was Penny, who had a private investigator's license and planned to open up an office in town once the baby was old enough. "I mean, all the details given here can be checked out. Like the names of those … those so-called Brands. What town was it again, Esmeralda?"

  "It was this town," she said softly. "It was Quinn, Texas."

  Penny nodded. "And the ranch…?"

  "Jeez-Louise, Penny, don't you get it?" Jessi shouted. "It was this ranch. It was the Texas Brand. And she's come here with this far-fetched fairy tale to try to scam us out of it. She wants our home, can't anyone see that?"

  Every eye in the room turned to Esmeralda. She lifted her chin slightly, facing them all. "My story is not a scam … it is not a lie. But Jessi Brand is right about one thing," she said, her voice shaking but loud. "This ranch you call your own rightfully belongs to me. And if I could possibly do so, I would take it from you."

  She lowered her head then.

  Elliot reached out, closed his hand around hers. "That took a lot of courage to admit to this crew, Esmeralda. And if they have half as much, they'll admit that if they were in your shoes, they'd feel exactly the same way."

  She looked up at him, a slight frown puckering her brows, her eyes searching, surprised and confused.

  "I want that woman out of this house," Jessi said. "Hell, better than that, I want her in jail! Garrett, surely some part of this dog-and-pony show she's concocted must be illegal?"

  Garrett shrugged helplessly, glancing at his wife for advice. But before Chelsea could speak, Esmeralda did. "I do not blame you," she said. "I will leave tonight."

  "The hell you will," Elliot said. His hand tightened on hers, and he faced Jessi dead on. "You gonna have her sleeping out in the street, Jess? Huh? Her claim is over a hundred years old, and even then it was made to look bogus. What the hell do you think she's gonna do, take us to court with this story? You think a judge in the world would believe it?"

  Jessi glared at him as if she thought him an idiot.

  "She's no threat to us. But that doesn't change the fact that her claim is legitimate. I know. I was there, dammit. She's staying. She's got free run of this place, and she's damned well staying. Because if she goes, I go."

  "Oh, for Pete's sake, Elliot—"

  "I mean it. I'll go."

  He saw the stunned expressions on every single face in the crowd. Well, most looked stunned. Garrett looked worried, too. Chelsea thoughtful. Penny curious. Wes looked shaken, but Elliot detected support there. And when he glanced Ben's way he saw approval. A slight nod, strong eye contact that told him that Ben, at least, thought he was doing the right thing. Always quiet, Ben would stand by him in this.

  "That's the story. That's the truth. That's why the amulet vanished, and it's why Esmeralda screamed bloody murder when she saw the television for the first time. It's why I had to drive fifteen miles an hour bringing her back here that first day. She damn near got carsick, even then. She'd never been in a car before, never even seen one. It's why she was wearing the clothes she was wearing. It's why she was so afraid of you all when she saw you—because you look just like those other Brands, the ones so bent on killing her. It's all absolutely impossible, but it's the truth. I'm your brother. I wouldn't make something like this up and I'm not fool enough to be tricked into believing tall tales. You know that. You ought to take me at my word. That ought to be enough for you, but if it's not, then take a ride toni
ght. Out past the east fence line just past the ridge. Cross the stream, where it vanishes into that scrub lot. Take a look at what's out there. We've been here all our lives and never noticed it. But Esmeralda took me right to it. You check that out if you need proof."

  He lowered his head. "I'm tired. I'm going up to shower and head to bed. I'll give you until morning to decide what you want to do." He turned to Esmeralda. Held out a hand.

  She looked at it, then lowered her head, shook it slowly. "I … think I'll go walking. I'm too tense to sleep just yet."

  He frowned, wondering if walking was what she really intended to do. "Esmeralda, don't run off, you hear?"

  Her lips thinned. "It's clear I am no longer welcome in this house, Elliot."

  "You're welcome with me," he said. "And I'm not gonna let you go off alone after … after today." He looked toward the window. Dark outside, now, and the air would be chill. "I'll get us a couple of jackets, and we'll both go walking, okay?"

  She nodded quickly. "Sí. Okay."

  Elliot raced up the stairs, determined not to leave her alone with his family for more than a minute or two. Even that might be too long. Damn that Jessi, when she felt her family was threatened she was like one of Penny's bulldogs with a hangnail. She would tear Esmeralda apart if he gave her half a chance. The rest of the family might be willing to hear him out, give him the benefit of the doubt, give Esmeralda half a chance.

  But not Jessi. She was too damned hot-tempered and overprotective, particularly of him. If he didn't know better, he would think maybe Jessi was jealous of him and Esmeralda.

  And Esmeralda was like a firecracker on a hot plate. Hell, if the two of them ever went at it, he would hate to see the results.

  * * *

  Chapter 9

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