Wide-eyed, Casey spun toward the sound.
The appearance of the gun was enough to quiet the ruckus she’d started, but only momentarily.When the bartender began to speak, she knew her chances of succeeding were swiftly fading.
“Hold your seats, men.That there is Casey Ruban.Old Delaney Ruban’s granddaughter, so unless you’re real tired of living, I suggest you suck it up and stay where you’re at.This shotgun won’t do nearly as much harm to you as the Rubans can.”
“I heard he’s dead,” someone muttered from the back of the room.
“But the rest of them aren’t,” the bartender said.
Casey spun toward the men in sudden anger.“Let me finish.”
At that point, they were so caught up in what she’d said, they would have let her do anything she asked.
“I need a husband.”
Someone cursed, another laughed a little nervously.
Casey chose to ignore it all.“I’m willing to marry the first unattached man who’s got the guts to stand with me against my family.”
When no one moved or spoke, hope began to die.This was a crazy idea, as crazy as what Delaney had done to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to quit.Not yet.
With an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and a shame unlike anything she’d ever known, she lifted her head, selling herself in the only way she knew how.She started walking, moving between the tables, staying just out of reach of the daring men’s grasp.
“I’ll live with you.Cook your food.I’ll even share your bed.”
Total silence reigned and Casey could hear their harsh, rasping breaths as they considered taking her to bed and suffering the consequences.If this hadn’t been so pitiful, she would have smiled.It would seem that Delaney was going to win after all.
A sound came out of the shadows.The sound of chair legs scraping against the grit and dirt on the old wooden floor, and the unmistakable rap of boot heels marking off the distance between Casey and the back of the room.She squinted against the smoke and the harsh, overhead glare, trying to see, and then when she did, felt an overwhelming urge to run.
The man haddon’t carein his walk and the coldest eyes she’d ever seen.Their deep gray-blue cast was the color of a Mississippi sky running before a storm front.An old, olive drab duffel bag hung awkwardly on the breadth of his shoulders, as if it had to find a place of its own somewhere between the chip and the weight of the world.
He was tall, his clothing worn and ragged.But it was the still expression on his tanned, handsome face that gave her pause.
Before she had time to consider the odds of winding up facedown and dead in a ditch at some murderer’s hands, he was standing before her.
Casey took a deep breath.Murderer be damned.Her grandfather had already signed her fate.At least she was going to be the one who controlled the strings to which it was attached.
“Well?”she asked, and surprised herself by not flinching when he reached out and brushed at a wild strand of hair that had been stuck to her cheek.
Ryder Justice was surprised by the vehemence in her voice.He’d been around long enough to know when someone was afraid.From the moment she’d walked into the room, her fear had been palpable, yet just now when he’d touched her, she hadn’t blinked.And the power in her voice told him there was more to her backbone than the soft, silky skin obviously covering it.He also knew what it felt like to be backed into a corner, and for some reason this woman was as far in a hole as a person could get and not be buried.And, he was tired of running.So damned tired he couldn’t think.
“Well, what?”he asked.
Casey’s breath caught on a gasp.His voice was low and deep and an image of him whispering in her ear shattered what was left of her composure.Hang in there, she warned herself, then lifted her chin.
“I asked a question.Do you have an answer?”
Ryder touched the side of her cheek and felt an odd sense of pride when, once again, she stood without flinching.
“About the only thing I have to my name is guts.If that’s all you need, then I’m your man.”
“Hey, man, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” the bartender warned.
Ryder’s gaze never wavered from Casey Ruban’s face.Once again, his voice broke the quiet, wrapping around Casey’s senses and making her shake from within.
“I know enough,” he said.
“My name is Casey Ruban,” she said.“What’s yours?”
