Heart of Mine (Bandit Creek) Read online

  PRAISE FOR AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR MICHELLE BEATTIE

  Love by Accident (WINNER OF THE 2011 STAR CONTEST FOR BEST SELF-PUBLISHED PARANORMAL ROMANCE)

  "…is a roller-coaster ride of emotions which will have you going from teary-eyed sadness to smiling with joy all within the flip of a page. The characters are real and honest in this heartfelt contemporary romance with a twist of the paranormal. At the heart of it all, is a romantic love story about overcoming the past, and fighting for a happy future. - Clare, Two Lips Reviews

  (WINNER OF THE 2011 STAR CONTEST FOR BEST SELF-PUBLISHED HISTORICAL ROMANCE)Another Chance

  "Known for her Berkley pirate series, author Michelle Beattie proves she's equally at home among the cowboys and frontiersmen of the old west in her new novel, Another Chance. She pulls you into the world of her characters, deftly weaving in the historical feel, with heaps of sexual tension. If you like cowboys, and enjoy a good romance, you'll love, Another Chance. - Roxy Boroughs, author and playwright.

  PRAISE FOR THE PIRATE SERIES

  A Pirate's Possession

  "Beattie has made her reputation creating fast-paced, exciting high-seas adventure romances with feisty heroines, daring heroes, rapid-fire dialogue and a heady mix of passion, pleasure, and exploits. Her third novel is a delight to read with plenty to savor for the pirate fan hidden within all of us." 4 Stars. Romantic Times

  Romancing the Pirate

  "Beattie's passion for the seas sparkles on every page, as does her love of adventure and or creating a sensual love story between headstrong characters." 4 Stars. Romantic Times

  What A Pirate Desires

  "This fun romance features a feisty heroine, a tortured hero and a sassy parrot along with strong doses of betrayal, action, and plenty of cunning." Publisher's Weekly

  Other Titles by Michelle Beattie

  From Berkley Sensation

  What A Pirate Desires

  Romancing The Pirate

  A Pirate's Possession

  Available as ebooks, the winners of the 2011 Star Contest for self-published books

  Another Chance - winner of the 2011 Star best historical romance award

  Love By Accident - winner of the 2011 Star best paranormal romance award

  HEART OF MINE

  A Bandit Creek Historical Western

  By

  Michelle Beattie

  Copyright 2012 by Michelle Beattie.

  Cover art by April Martinez

  All rights reserved

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to use excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author's imagination.

  www.michellebeattie.com

  My thanks to my beta readers, Vicki, Brenda C and Brenda S, Donna and Taryn. This novella is better for your input. Thank you. To the lovely ladies and one fine gent who make up CARWA, I'm honored to be among you.

  To the pioneers who came out west with little more than a dream, thank you for your hard work and effort. Thank you for blazing the trail.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  EXCERPT FROM WITCH IN THE WIND by Brenda Collins Deeks, the next Bandit Creek novella coming May 1, 2012

  ONE

  Bandit Creek, Montana 1897

  Laura Gibbs had always secretly hoped to share a bed with Jake Evans, but she'd never imagined it would be like this.

  She pinched her eyes closed, drew the sheet higher until it covered her chin. She didn't dare look over; it was terrifying enough to hear Jake's low, even breathing beside her. To worry about what he'd do when he awakened and saw her there. If he assumed, as her father had planned, that they'd been intimate last night, he may very well deem the damage done and want to bed her again.

  With a snuffle, Jake rolled over and tossed a leg over hers, which were clamped tightly together. Laura froze. His skin was hot but a shiver shimmered over her. She loved Jake, had since her body began to change into womanhood. But she wasn't ready to give herself. Not like this.

  He must have realized he wasn't alone. A deep growl rumbled from his throat. He shifted closer. His hand snuck underneath the covers. Laura's eyes flew open. Her arms covered her breasts, but she couldn't protect...everything. His hand slid over her bent arms, fingers cleverly finding any skin that wasn't covered.

  Laura's heart leapt about in her chest like a trapped wild mustang trying to kick its way free. When Jake awakened and saw her there, he'd be livid, and she'd be forced to continue the deception her father had thrust her into. A deception she never would have agreed to if she'd been left any other choice. But, when Hugh Gibbs wanted something badly enough, he stopped at nothing to achieve it. A cruel truth Laura had witnessed firsthand growing up.

  Clearly realizing his hands weren't going to find the glory they were after, Jake's leg resumed the conquest. Using her rigid limbs as leverage, he shifted closer to her until-

  Laura jammed her fisted hands into her mouth to keep from squealing. As much as she could with Jake's leg trapping her, she shifted away from him.

  "Where do you think you're going?" his gravelly voice asked as he once again moved closer until his body pressed tightly against hers. Until she felt that against her leg.

  He was aroused and eager, but he didn't even know who he was in bed with.

  A single tear ran down her cheek.

  Jake opened his eyes. Morning light spilled from his curtain-less windows, enabling Laura to see the emotions cross his face. Confusion and disbelief reigned. His brow creased. He blinked several times as though he couldn't believe whom he was seeing. "Laura?"

  She hadn't moved and remained still and stiff beside him, the blankets at her lips. She imagined her eyes were as large as his. Since words failed her, Laura simply nodded.

  Jake's gaze roamed over her. Laura felt naked. Of course it didn't help that under the covers she was naked. They both were. Heat poured over her as though someone had dumped liquid fire over her head.

  Jake's cheeks colored as well and he eased away. Thick blonde hair fell over his forehead. His face was a combination of angles and lines that culminated with a pair of penetrating coffee-colored eyes.

  His hand reached for her. Laura's heart tripped over itself but his fingers stopped on her cheek, where he gently wiped the tear that had snaked its way to her jaw.

  "Did I hurt you?"

  Laura hadn't thought she could feel any lower but his words shamed her. She was knowingly deceiving him and he was worried about her. She lowered the blankets to her neck.

  "No, you didn't."

  Well, that's something, then." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Laura. I don't remember last night at all. The last thing I remember is being in the Powder Horn Saloon."

  "You were drunk," Laura volunteered, hoping he wouldn't remember the rest.

  Jake frowned. "I've never been so drunk that I've forgotten making lo-"

  Laura's face burned as Jake swallowed the rest of his sentence. She knew he was digging in his memories, trying to remember their coupling. "You weren't at the saloon last night," he sta
ted.

  Laura swallowed, licked her dry lips. "No. I saw you...later."

  Jake ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "I remember tossing some coins on the table, I was getting up to leave when-" His gaze grabbed hers. "Your father was there. He offered to buy me a drink."

  Laura licked her lips again. "I didn't see him." But she knew Jake didn't believe her. His jaw was ticking and his eyes were sharp.

  "I know I didn't bring you here. What's really going on?"

  No, of course he'd never have taken her home, because she was Laura Gibbs, poor daughter of lazy, smooth-talking, money-grubbing Hugh Gibbs. Who'd ever want her? Other than the old miner her father threatened to sell her to if this farce didn't work. The thought reinforced Laura's wavering will. She wouldn't marry a man old enough to be her father. She wouldn't give her body, her soul, to a man she didn't love.

  "It's as I said. You were coming from the saloon and-"

  Beyond the bedroom and down the stairs, Jake's front door crashed in.

  "Jake Evans!" Hugh Gibb's voice thundered from the entryway of Jake's sprawling log house. "What have you done with my daughter?"

  "Damnation," Jake cursed as instinct shot him out of bed.

  She caught a glimpse of naked leg and backside and turned her head. She yanked the cover to just under her nose as her father's heavy tread thumped up the stairs. Of course he knew exactly where Jake's room was as he'd been the one to carry him there to begin with. Despite it being her father's idea, Laura nonetheless cringed when he stomped into the room. Alone with Jake she could fool herself into believing that she could be good for him, that she could make him happy. But with her father in the room, she couldn't hide the fact that, despite having no alternatives, she was as guilty in this scheme as he was.

  Hugh Gibbs wasn't nearly as tall as Jake. In fact, Jake was at least half a head taller, but her father nevertheless made an impression. Dressed in his best suit--which Laura's wages had paid for--his beard neatly trimmed and his midnight hair slicked back, he seemed everything he wasn't; wealthy, successful. Concerned.

  His girth expanded as he drew a righteous breath. "Jake, you filthy, no-good snake in the grass! You've ruined my daughter!"

  Hugh's flinty gaze slid from Jake to Laura. Dollar signs pulsed in her father's eyes, making her stomach churn. If only it hadn't come to this. Daring to look, she slid her glance Jake's way. He'd pulled on a pair of pants and while Laura was glad he wasn't naked any longer, the sight of his well-muscled chest captivated her attention more than it should have considering the circumstances.

  Jake's stare grabbed her. The cold that snapped from it made her shiver. She was a good person, struggled every day to make the folks of Bandit Creek see that she was nothing like her father. She wasn't an opportunist. She wasn't dishonest and she surely wasn't lazy. But Jake's disgusted expression had bile burning the back of her throat. Clearly he considered her no better than her four-flusher father.

  Finally, he turned away from her and she was able to breathe without his contempt choking her. She wasn't sure how her father managed it, since Jake's scorn doubled when he looked at Hugh.

  "Don't think I'm not wise to you. My uncle is barely cold in the ground and already you're sniffing around trying to get your fingers into my share of his mine holdings. Well, you've barked up the wrong tree this time. I've watched you swindle folks around here, but you won't get around me. You're not getting your shiftless hands anywhere near my money."

  Hugh pointed a finger Laura's way. "You bedded my daughter! You ruined her chance of ever getting married to a respectable man. You won't get away with that, not as I live and breathe."

  Jake took a step toward him. "Don't tempt me," he growled.

  Undaunted, Hugh tugged at the hem of his jacket, ran a hand over his hair. "Fine. Then you've left me no choice but to tell Sheriff Wilson that you raped my daughter. I believe it'll be the noose for you."

  Jake whipped around, met Laura's eye. The color drained from his face. Mercy, she'd never thought it would come to this, but from Jake's perspective it could very well look as though she was afraid of him. As though he'd hurt her. He'd seen her tear when he'd awakened. She'd been cowering in the blankets ever since.

  She couldn't have him believe that. Not when the only time he'd touched her was to wipe the tear off her cheek. She opened her mouth but her father spoke first.

  "Well, since you refuse to answer, I'll head to the sheriff's office now." He spun on the heel of his well-polished boot.

  "Wait." Jake's voice was as rigid as his shoulders. His chest rose and fell with his breathing. His hands fisted at his sides. "Since I am a man of honor, I'll marry Laura, but," he emphasized, and this time he did close the distance that remained between him and her father. "I will also be seeing my attorney regarding my will. If anything suspicious should happen to me, all my money and properties will go to my nieces and nephews in Missoula." His smile never reached his eyes. "In case you had another scheme cooking."

  "Jake, I'd never hurt you!" Laura exclaimed. His scathing glare told her he didn't believe it.

  "You can't let my daughter live in poverty!" Hugh argued.

  "Why not? You have," Jake answered.

  Shame was an uncomfortable cloak and it fell heavily on Laura's shoulders.

  "You've no need to worry for Laura, however. While I'm alive your daughter will be looked after. You, however, are never to step foot in my home again," Jake said before her father could argue further. "Now, you've accomplished what you set out to do. Since you found your way to my room so easily I assume you can find your way out in the same manner."

  Jake crossed his arms over his chest. Furious or not, he was beautiful. While the sunlight underscored her father's faults, it did the opposite for Jake. It cast a glow on Jake's skin, called attention to his narrow hips and broad chest. Morning stubble darkened his cheeks and jaw, but it only added to his ruggedness.

  "There is one other matter," her father drawled, a smug grin curving his lips. "I've arranged for the preacher to perform the ceremony this afternoon. Since my darling daughter didn't come home last night, I had things arranged before I came over."

  "Of course you did," Jake answered.

  "I'll meet you two at the church in an hour." Hugh's merciless gaze locked onto his daughter and the warning in them was as clear as in his words. "Don't do anything else to disappoint me, Laura." Then, whistling a lively tune, he turned and left Laura and her future husband alone.

  Still clamping the sheet underneath her chin, Laura waited. She couldn't move, not with Jake standing right there and her naked as the day she was born. But he didn't seem in a hurry to leave either. After an interminable silence, his arms fell to his sides.

  "Until today I never would have put you in the same category as your father. I've seen you about town; I know how hard you work. I thought it was to prove you weren't like him." He shook his head. "You had me fooled," he sneered.

  He stopped in the doorway, his back to her. Speaking over his shoulder he added, "Get your clothes on. We can't be late for our own wedding."

  He didn't slam the door, but he may as well have because the sound of him leaving, the finality as the door clicked shut, reverberated loudly in her head. Sliding down onto the bed, Laura balled the covers and pressed them to her lips. Her father's plan had worked. Jake had been tricked into thinking he'd bedded her and because of that she'd soon be his wife. It solved one of Laura's problems; she'd be out of her father's house. She didn't fool herself into thinking she'd be out from under his control.

  Nothing would keep Hugh from coming after Jake's money and, in turn, coming after her. Laura had known that when she'd been strong-armed to agree to her father's plan, but she'd chosen her fate regardless. Her father thought it was the threat of selling her to that filthy miner that had made her yield to his demand. There was little doubt that had played into Laura's considerations, but the prospect of being married to Jake had carried the most weight.

&nb
sp; And the hope that one day, if she worked hard enough and poured herself into making him happy, he would grow to love her back.

  Downstairs the door closed as Jake went outside, reminding Laura she needed to hurry. She threw off the covers and hurriedly dressed in yesterday's clothes. Buttoning her shirtwaist, Laura faltered. It was her wedding day, and what did she have to show for it? Yesterday's worn clothes, a man who'd been blackmailed into marrying her and a father who wasn't giving away his only daughter, he was selling her.

  Loneliness and misery fisted into a hard knot in her chest. Laura breathed deeply until the pain subsided, then she bucked herself up. Laura Gibbs was a fighter.

  Besides, however bleak her future may look, it was still a step up from her past.

  ***

  How in God's name had this happened? Jake braced his forearms on the corral rail, looked out past his small herd of Palomino horses to the snowy mountains beyond. He'd been so careful, so damn careful. Since childhood, when he'd first overheard a group of his so-called friends talking about how they only spent time in Jake's company for the candy sticks he bought them, he'd been suspicious of people using him for his family's money.

  He'd put those suspicions aside when he'd fallen in love for the first and only time. Surely, the woman who claimed to love him wouldn't use him. He'd been proven wrong in the worst possible way. He'd overheard his fiancée scheming about ways to get his money, plotting against him while wrapped in the arms of another man.

  From then on, Jake had closed himself off. He had business acquaintances and family. Nobody in between. Animals, he'd decided as his favorite mare came plodding through the spring muck for a pat, were the only ones that didn't want anything from him. Which was why he'd built his house far enough from town to avoid people, and why he'd surrounded himself with animals. Besides horses, he had chickens, a dozen cows, and enough barn cats to keep the mice under control.