Holt's Gamble (47 page)

"You're likely to find a Wanted poster in there with my name on it," Clay told him without preamble.

Standing by his side, Kierin let out a small gasp. "Clay..."

Richardson fell silent and looked at the pair.

"Clay, don't..." she begged in a throaty whisper.

"No," Clay argued, staring past her. The muscles in his jaw bunched with determination. "There's no use lying about it. I want it settled. If it means I have to go to jail then so be it. But I won't make you live with this cloud over our heads anymore."

"How can you say that after what we've just been through?" Kierin took his arms, forcing him to look at her. "Oh, Clay... don't you know you're the most important thing in my life? That I'd rather die than live without you?" Tears of desperation formed behind her eyes. "If you have to go to jail,I'll..."

Clay drew her against him and held her tightly. "Damn... I love you too," he whispered into her hair. "Nothing will ever change that." Kierin pressed her face miserably against his chest. "But you know I have to do this. I wouldn't be much of a man if I dragged you down with me."

Richardson threaded his fingers together across his ample chest and leaned back in his chair watching them.

Pulling herself from Clay's arms, she braced her hands upon the lawman's paper-scattered desk. "He didn't do anything wrong," Kierin pleaded. "I don't know what they told you in there, but it's not true. Kyle Jessup and John Talbot would have killed us both that night. It was self-defense..."

"I know," the marshal murmured.

"I swear it. He was only protecting me. I'll testify in—" She blinked, his words finally registering. "W-what did you say?"

The marshal smiled. "I said, I know."

Clay's lips parted in surprise. "You do?"

"Yup. But if you two ain't through, please," he invited, waving his hand good-naturedly, "be my guests. It's been a long time since I saw two people as dead set on loving each other as the pair of you appear to be."

"Marshal..." Clay warned in a low voice.

"Okay, okay." Richardson laughed and threw his hands in the air palms up. "I'll tell you then. I knew about the poster before you even told me. Knew about it when you told me your name back there in the warehouse. This desk may look completely disorganized, but I've got a mind like a steel trap when it comes to names.

"So, I also remembered the second paper that come in on you, Holt. The one that counteracted the first poster." He dug through the stack of papers, finally withdrawing the one he was looking for. "Ah, here it is." He scrutinized it for a moment, then handed it to Clay. "Seems a man named Brown, Scudder Brown, came forward and cleared your name. And several of Talbot's former employees backed Brown's story up. Charges against you have been dropped, Mr. Holt. You're a free man."

"I'll be damned," Clay breathed.

"Oh, Clay—" Kierin breathed.

Matthew let out a full-blooded Cheyenne whoop, and Clay grabbed Kierin and scooped her into his arms. Heedless of all the people around them, Clay dropped his mouth onto hers and kissed her with exquisite thoroughness.

Abruptly he pulled his mouth from hers and dragged her over to the desk before the grinning marshal. "There's only one thing to do then," Clay announced.

Richardson's eyebrows lifted inquiringly while Kierin stared at him, her face still flushed from his kiss.

"Marry us," he told the marshal.

"W-what?"
Kierin sputtered, astounded.

"Now. Tonight," Clay insisted. "You have the authority don't you, Marshal?"

"You're crazy." She laughed.

"About you," he admitted, dropping a kiss on her blushing nose. He turned to the other man. "Well?"

"Hell yes, I've got the authority," Richardson replied with a broad smile. "Is that what you folks want?"

Clay turned to Kierin, bracketed her face in his large hands, and searched her eyes for the answer he hoped to find there. "I don't want one more day, one more minute to come between us, Kierin. I love you. God," he groaned, "I love you so much, I hurt. Say you will and we'll catch the next packet for Oregon. We'll be there within a week. I want to take you there as my wife." He glanced up at her brother. "We'll go there as a family." His eyes pleaded with her. "Say yes."

Stunned by his unabashed profession of love and devotion, Kierin didn't trust herself to speak. She tried to swallow the fist of tears in the back of her throat, but failed.

Clay's face fell when she didn't answer right away, mistaking her hesitation for reluctance. "Unless... you've got your heart set on a big wedding..."

"Oh, you!" Her laughter tumbled out and mingled with her tears. "Now I know you're crazy." Throwing her arms around him, she plunged her fingers into the rich dark hair at the nape of his neck and pressed her cheek to his. She inhaled deeply of his wonderful, familiar scent.

"You're everything I've ever wanted," she told him, "and more than I ever dreamed I could have. I love you too, Clay, and if you wanted to marry me in the middle of a cow pasture, that would be just fine with me. Yes, yes," she murmured, planting small moist kisses on his cheeks, "Yes—I'll marry you. Tonight, tomorrow, any time you want."

The marshal grinned and disappeared into the back room, muttering something about marriage certificates.

"You won't be sorry, honey," Clay told her, holding her close. "I promise you, you won't. It won't be much to start with. We'll have to rebuild the ranch house."

"Fine."

"But I've got some of the finest timberland this side of the Rocky Mountains. Trees so tall you have to nearly break your neck to see the tops. We'll build a house with lots of rooms, and plenty of space for babies."

"Babies?"

"You want babies, don't you?"

Her eyes glimmered with love. "Absolutely."

"And I have the perfect spot picked out to rebuild. It overlooks the most spectacular view you've ever seen."

"Uh-huh." Her gaze traced the perfect shape of his mouth.

"I'll build our bedroom facing east, so we can lie in bed and watch the sun come up every morning. And—"

"Clay?" she whispered.

"Huh?" His faraway expression returned to her.

"Remember when I complained about your being too close-mouthed? And that you only had one thing on your mind?"

"Yeah?"

She smiled. A woman's smile. "Well, forget what I said. If you don't kiss me right now, I'm going to have to do something desperate."

"Sounds serious." Clay shook his head slowly.

"Oh, it is. It definitely is."

She reached up to meet his kiss and he enfolded her in his arms, just as he intended to do for the rest of his life.

The End

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"...an action-packed, sensual love story, brimming over with danger and peopled with an unforgettable mismatched couple who overcome all odds to find true happiness."

~Harriet Klausner, Romantic Times