The Outlaw Takes A Bride (The Burnett Brides) by Sylvia McDaniel Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes.
    “Traveling will only break open the stitches. I’d rather you waited.” The doctor began to wrap new gauze around the wound.
    “It won’t be long, Beth,” Tanner said.
    “I’m going to change this bandage. After this one, I think we’ll be able to leave it off completely.” He quickly wrapped the material around her shoulder and tied it in a knot, leaving her arm in a sling. “You’ll be well and ready to travel in no time, Mrs. Tanner.”
    For a moment, Beth was stunned. Had he just called her Mrs. Tanner? She glanced up at him quizzically.
    “What did you say?”
    The doctor began returning his equipment and supplies into his doctor’s bag. “Don’t worry. Your wound is healing very well, and I don’t see any complications. The stitches will have to be removed in about four days, and after that you’ll just have some tenderness and soreness left.”
    The man stood ready to walk out the door.
    “No, what did you call me?” she asked.
    Tanner came up behind her and leaned over, his gaze sending a clear warning. Then he kissed her on the cheek, his lips warm and supple. “It’s all right, sweetheart. You’re going to be just fine. We’ll get you to Fort Worth, you’ll see.”
    “But—”
    Tanner stepped away and opened the door. “Thanks for coming by, Doctor. We’ll see you in a couple of days.”
    The old doctor frowned. “Good-bye, then. Send for me if you need me.”
    The doctor stepped out of the room, and Tanner firmly shut the door behind him. Beth gazed at Tanner quizzically.
    “Did he just call me Mrs. Tanner?” she questioned. She stared at the worried expression on Tanner’s face. “Why?”
    “Because the good doctor and everyone in the hotel thinks we’re married.”
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    Eugenia sat nervously in the buckboard, glancing up and down the street. The stage was several hours late, and Eugenia feared what the delay meant.
    What if the young woman didn’t show? What if she’d changed her mind and decided to stay in Georgia?
    Her imagination ran wild as she twisted her hands nervously around the umbrella handle, twirling it fretfully. The umbrella provided little shade from the hot Texas sun, but it occupied her hands and kept her from fidgeting quite so much.
    “Eugenia, come inside out of this blistering heat. We’ll have plenty of time to greet Miss Anderson once the stage arrives,” Rose, her daughter-in-law, admonished.
    “I promised her that I’d be waiting. That I would be the first person she saw when she arrived.”
    Rose glanced up at her, clearly annoyed. “Eugenia, did you promise her that you would be the first person or that Tucker would be the first person she saw?”
    Sometimes the girl was way too smart. Yet she had fallen in love with Travis, and Lord knows, Eugenia had been ready to give up on that boy finding any woman to love him.
    “Well ... it was me, of course, but I signed Tucker’s name.”
    “That’s what I thought. So let’s wait inside,” Rose reproved.
    Eugenia started to climb down from the wagon, and Rose held out her hand to help her disembark. “Thank you, dear. You’re right, it would be cooler inside, in the shade.”
    “Much,” Rose agreed.
    “So where did my sons take off to?” Eugenia questioned.
    “They’re sitting inside sipping lemonade.”
    Eugenia looked at her in surprise. “Lemonade?” Rose laughed. “I told them I would start reading tea leaves for everyone who entered the cafe if they even considered ordering whiskey or beer.” She smiled. “Travis knew I would, too, so he told Tucker they’d get something stronger later.”
    Eugenia patted Rose on the arm and chuckled. “A woman who knows how to handle my son—I love it.” She sighed. “Now if everything will work out for Tucker the way it has for Travis, I’ll be so happy.”
    They stepped up onto the wooden sidewalk, underneath an awning, out of the sun. “Eugenia, why are you pushing your sons into marriage? Why can’t you