“Hmm, I thought you were coming to see me, but instead you’re admiring the architecture, Miss Hagen.”
Ingrid stepped back in surprise, Joshua having opened the door without her even realizing it. At once he caught her hand and drew her inside the building, his broad smile thrilling her to her toes.
He looked younger, happier, and she thanked God, too, for the blessing of this wonderful man in her life. He seemed as mesmerized by her smile, Ingrid blushing furiously as he captured her in his strong arms and gave her a kiss just inside the door.
“Mr. Mayor!” she laughed against his lips, but then she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, not caring if any passersby saw them.
Nor the bookish clerk, Elias Smith, who assisted in the mayoral office, and who coughed with embarrassment from a nearby desk and looked away.
Joshua heard the man, though, because he released Ingrid and drew her toward Elias’s desk.
“You know my bride-to-be, Ingrid Hagen?”
“Y-yes, Mayor, of course. A good day to you, Miss Hagen, and many felicitations on your upcoming nuptials.”
“Thank you, Elias. You’ll be attending our wedding, won’t you?” Ingrid asked him, the older man still appearing flustered as he glanced from her to Joshua. “The whole town’s been invited.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it, but if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave the two of you alone and go eat my lunch outside.”
“Don’t let me kissing my beautiful bride-to-be rattle you,” Joshua said as his clerk seemed not to hear him, but grabbed what appeared to be a sandwich wrapped in paper and hurried out the door.
“Oh, dear, we’ve shocked the poor man,” Ingrid murmured, though she couldn’t have been more delighted when Joshua drew close to kiss her again—shocking herself, too.
What had become of the shy young woman that would have ducked her head and fled at such a public display of affection? Love had made her bold and so happy…so happy.
“I can’t believe I won’t see you until tomorrow,” Joshua whispered against her lips, pulling her closer. “I know Caleb and your sisters are waiting for you, but stay with me a little while longer, my love.”
My love. How sweet those words sounded, his kiss, the wonder of his embrace, making her dizzy. She couldn’t bear that she wouldn’t see Joshua until their wedding, either, but she would be spending every moment with Kari and Anita at Walker Creek Ranch until she was driven in a flower-bedecked carriage to the church.
“I must go,” she murmured, not wanting to leave but forcing herself to pull gently away from him. “Give Emily and Davy a hug for me. Just think, Joshua, soon we’ll be a family!”
“They can’t wait and neither can I,” he said gruffly as if emotion had tightened his throat, Ingrid certain she saw a wetness in his eyes that made her blink away moisture, too. “I love you, Ingrid.”
“I love you, Joshua Logan.” With a tremulous smile, she spun around and hastened from the building, blinking anew as her heart swelled with such joy she thought she might burst from the intensity of it.
The hotel lay at the end of the block, Ingrid scarcely noticing the passersby who greeted her as she hurried along, her thoughts were so fixed upon Joshua and their wedding.
A school holiday since Wednesday had given her the time she needed for any last details before the Saturday ceremony at two o’clock. Now with her dress finished, everything was done, Ingrid ticking off completed tasks in her head just to make sure.
She was so distracted that she didn’t notice a sudden commotion until it was too late. Two men with red bandanas covering the lower half of their faces burst from the bank, guns drawn and saddlebags slung over their shoulders, Ingrid nearly colliding with the taller one.
“Look, that’s the gal who came into the jail looking for her brother, the one marrying Joshua Logan!”
She gasped as the second man tossed his sack to the other robber and grabbed her, a callused hand pressed to her mouth as a guttural voice threatened, “Scream and you die.”
Horrible reality crashing in upon her, Ingrid was swept roughly from her feet and handed up to the man who had already slung the bags over the saddle and mounted his horse.
His accomplice had no sooner jumped atop his own horse when both men set off at a gallop in a cloud of dust, the pounding hooves no match for Ingrid’s heartbeat hammering in her ears.
Chapter 10
“Sheriff Logan—Lord help us, I mean Mayor Logan! Two men just robbed the bank and they’ve taken Miss Hagen!”
Joshua lunged from his chair and ran out of his office, Elias just inside the door and pointing frantically out at the street.
“They grabbed her and carried her off! I was sitting outside and saw the whole thing—”
“Which way did they go, man?” Joshua demanded, his heart in his throat. “Which way?”
