A Woman Worth Marrying Chapter 1

The cell where Annabella Worthington lay smelled of urine and vomit. There was a broken mattress and an old blanket lying on the side. Rats scattered back and forth as she lay there with tears streaming down her face. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to be in Houston by now and in the arms of the man she was engaged to. Damn him for not picking her up. If only he had picked her up, she wouldn’t be in this situation. She brushed the tears back and ran her hands through her tangled brown hair. The hair she took extra care in putting together looked like a pile of melting ice cream on her head. The dress she spent two months sewing was now torn and covered in dirt and something she didn’t want to know. This could be the worst day of her whole life. No, probably not the worst day. Nothing could top off the day her parents died, but this was coming awfully close.

Annabella Worthington, daughter of oil founder, Alan Worthington, was worth close to a million five and she had no idea. Her parents died four years ago leaving her in the care of her great aunt who died last month. Before her aunt died, she’d made sure Annabella would be taken care of and that man who would do the taking care of was businessman Ty Baker in Houston, Texas. He’d been courting her for a few weeks and suddenly proposed. Although she found that Ty was a quiet, reserved man, she agreed because she knew her aunt wouldn’t be alive for much longer. On the way to meet her fiancée, her carriage had been tipped over by a random shooting involving wild Indians and the lawmen believed her to be a part of the whole mess. No one would take her word for it and they put her in jail to teach her a lesson. But four days later, she suddenly learned that teaching her a lesson meant selling her off to the highest bidder. Now she was waiting in fear of what would happen next.

She heard footsteps and voices chattering outside. She got up and walked to the iron bars. A man approached the cell she was in and smiled at her. His smile made her stomach lurch and his sea blue eyes held nothing but a fear she felt would make her die young. He was wearing a black suit with a black hat in one hand. A rich watch dangled from his wrist and he smelled of spice and something not so nice.

“Who are you?” she asked with a voice that trembled.

He smiled and looked her from head to toe. “You’re as beautiful as the sheriff here claimed. You’re going to make me so much money, girl.”

Her eyes shot wide and she stepped back. “You can’t do that to me. I have rights.” “Not here in Band Fork you don’t. Here, I’m the law and I say you’re mine.”

Anger shot through her. “Do you have any idea who I am? I’m the fiancé of Ty Baker, businessman in Houston, Texas and I demand you release me now!”

He laughed and placed his hat back on his head. “Be nice, girl, or I’ll show you how we treat women who talk back here and it’s not something you’ll enjoy.”

She swallowed down fear as he walked away from her. Tears filled her eyes and she slammed her hands against the bars. What was she to do now? She turned around and looked around for a way to escape. She shoved the dirty mattress aside and was met with cold hard stoned walls. She cursed silently and turned around when she saw the sheriff walk to her cell. In his hands was the key to her freedom and she knew she had to do something now or suffer at the hands of that wretched man. The sheriff, a man she heard them call Boone unlocked the cell door, she lunged forward with all of her might and tackled him down to the ground. They both hit the ground and she kneed his groin making him groan like a small child. She grabbed his gun from his holster and bolted toward the door. She found a horse outside, untied him, and got up on him. With one final order, the horse galloped away.

 

Jedidiah Caine threw another log into the fire and watched the sparks fly. The wind was wicked tonight and lying out here with his crew was beginning to freeze his ass off. The moon was high above the trees and there were the sounds of coyote howling in the distance. Jedidiah was a tall man with broad shoulders and a stomach like a washboard. His shoulder length brown hair was what attracted most women to him. He looked like a dangerous man from a distance because of his height and his dark eyes. But being a ranger, he’d been taught to throw everyone off guard for his own protection. He pulled the blanket around his shoulders as his two other partners, Sam Jones and Bruce Track, shifted beside him. The fourth, Hunter Gordon, was on watch guard by the hilltop. The four were Keynote’s Devil’s Own Rangers. They lived on a piece of land forty miles outside of Band Fork, a land where they built with their own sweat and blood and was made home by a woman who they found beaten and raped. Mia Tarrows became like a second mother to the four of them and taught them all the requirements of being a gentleman. Jedidiah would die for her as would the other three.

“You’re quiet tonight,” Sam said.

Jedidiah turned to face him. “What are you implying?” “Usually you’re the one singing into the night.”

Jedidiah laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re my biggest fan.” “I’m your only fan.”

He laughed and placed his hand behind his head. Sam Jones was like the brother he never had. In fact, all three of them were. Sam came to Devil’s Own a few years ago, severely malnourished and clung onto him like a brother. Sam was a tall man with a big heart. He’d watched Indians killed his entire family and he still fought the nightmares that haunted him. Bruce Track was the youngest of the four and was treasured among everyone. He was quick to kill, but he did it only with those who deserved the knife. He came from a broken home and when he found Sam and Jedidiah, he turned his life around from criminal to lawman. Hunter was the rebel of his family and was thrown out when he refused to do the wrong thing. His father swore he was dead to him and with the Devil’s Own Rangers, he found family again. The three of them were like family to Jedidiah and he would give his left kidney to save any of them.

“Shut it, you two. Everyone knows you sing like a broken record,” Bruce said from beside Sam.

Jedidiah laughed, but it was stopped short when they heard the cry of a woman in the night. Now Jedidiah hated the sound of a woman’s scream. It brought back memories of when his sister and mother were killed. He sat up and saw that the other two had sat up too.

“It sounds like it’s not far from here,” Sam said as he readied his gun.

“I’ll go take a look. One of you go warn Hunter. I don’t doubt he heard it,” Jedidiah said.

“I’ll go with you,” Bruce said as he stood up.

The moon’s rays guided them down the ragged path as they followed the sound of the scream. Again, they heard it and they both shifted. It was coming from behind them. Slowly, they turned around and Jedidiah brought out his gun. A gun shot in the night had them both on the ground for protection. Jedidiah heard Bruce curse as they slowly crawled on the ground. Over the top of the hill, they saw fire and Jedidiah lowered himself to the ground. Ten Indians were seen standing around the fire and laughing. At first, Jedidiah couldn’t understand what they were looking at until one of them moved and he saw her lying there on the ground, hands and feet bound. The girl was fragile and looked exhausted as the men poked fun at her. She was wearing a thin gown that showed more of her body than it was supposed to cover. One of the Indians knelt down and tucked his fingers under her chin, but she bit his fingers. He ended up slapping her across the face hard enough that she tumbled over. Jedidiah winced as she lay there unmoving.

“Bastards,” Bruce whispered beside him. “You think they already had her?”

“No,” Jedidiah replied. “If they did, they would have killed her already.”

The same one who had hit her walked to her and tore down the front of her gown. She screamed and he kicked her side. She coughed and turned over moaning. Jedidiah signaled for Bruce to go to the other side. Once his friend was gone, Jedidiah crawled down over the top of the hill and pointed his gun. Bruce always knew that Jedidiah had the first shot and when he fired his gun, he heard Bruce fire his. The group of men was taken by surprise and started finding cover, but it was too late for them. No one was getting away alive, he would make sure of it. After ten rounds of gunfire, all of the men were lying dead on the ground. Jedidiah hurried down and saw her sitting there with eyes as big as the ocean. Tears were streaming down her face and she was staring at him. He lifted the hem of his shirt out of his pants and she sucked in a breath.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said as he took his shirt off.

He slipped it around her head and down her body. He removed his knife from his boots and cut the ropes that bound her hands and feet. He slipped his shirt all the way down her body and his fingers brushed against her cold, icy skin. She was shaking and tears were running down her face.

“I’m not going to hurt you, ok? Are you hurt anywhere?”

She didn’t answer him, only stared at him with those big blue eyes of hers. Dirt scattered from the other side and Bruce came down before them. She jumped and he caught her in his arms. She was so small, coming up to only his chin.

“It’s ok. He’s one of mine,” Jedidiah said.

“Is she ok?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t said a word yet, but I think she’ll be fine after some food and rest.” “Don’t talk about me as if I’m not standing right here,” she said sternly.

Jedidiah turned and stared at her. “Oh, so she does have a voice.”

“Let me go,” she demanded.

Jedidiah laughed. “I haven’t taken you so you can’t demand that of me.” “Then step out of the way.”

“Listen, lady, it’s the middle of the night. You’re nowhere near town and there are bound to be more of those men around this area. It’ll be better for you if you stayed with us until morning and we can return you to your home.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“We’re rangers.”

She was silent for a moment. “So you’re lawmen?”

He nodded and wasn’t prepared when she took off running. He shouted for Bruce to take the other side as he ran after her. He cursed out loud as the wind whipped at his naked chest. He saw the ends of her hair flying up and before long, caught her around the waist, lifted her up, and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“Just what do you think you’re doing? I told you I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

She let out a kick that connected with his shin. It made him see dots for a moment. “Let me go! I don’t believe you! You’re going to sell me off just like him!”

After recovering from his injury, he turned her around and held her shoulders. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“The sheriff from Band Fork was going to sell me to some leech that was going to make money off of me. If you’re anything like him, you can go die for all I care!”

Jedidiah loosened his grip on her arms. “You met the sheriff from Band Fork?”

 She tried to kick at him again and he wrapped his arms around her, smashing her against him. Something like lilacs and strawberries crawled up his nose and tickled his senses. He tried to steady her kicking legs when he lost balance and they both fell to the ground, him taking the grunt of it. He turned so she was pinned underneath him and held her legs underneath his and trapped her arms with his hands.

“Look, lady, I don’t appreciate you kicking me when all I did tonight was saved you from a possible raping by ten men. Now, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I swear to you that I am nothing like that leech of Band Fork, ok? Now if you promise not to run and not to kick me, I’ll let you go.”

Footsteps were heard and then Bruce’s voice, “Man, Jedidiah, you sure do move fast.”