Charity (Brides of the Rio Grande Book 4) Read online

  Charity

  BRIDES OF THE Rio Grande

  Peggy McKenzie

  Copyright 2019 by Peggy McKenzie

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means , including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design-Dar Dixon @ Wicked Smart Designs

  Editor-Trayce Layne @ 3C Edit Services

  About this book

  BOOK FOUR

  BRIDES OF THE RIO GRANDE SERIES

  Misfit and social pariah Charity Montgomery has heard it all before and she doesn’t give two hoots what everyone thinks about her rough and rowdy ways—well, no one except a certain lawman who ignores her at every turn. If there was just some way to get his attention, she knew she could convince him she was the only woman for him.

  Miles Grayson has seen every kind of crazy during his ten years as a lawman, but he has never seen anything like the red-headed firebrand who has her sights on him—and he’s never wanted anyone more even though she’s the kind of woman who’ll get him killed.

  She’s a woman without boundaries. He’s a lawman who demands respect. What can go wrong when these two opposites attract? Just about everything.

  Historical Liberties

  BRIDES OF THE RIO GRANDE SERIES

  Have you ever fallen in love with a place and you just had to keep going back? Well, there is a place like that for me. Creede, Colorado. I felt an instant connection to the little historical mining town, and I just had to make it the setting for this series.

  Sometimes, a historical place doesn’t always fit into the timeline of your fictional story. That’s where historical liberties enter into the picture. Creede wasn’t really a town in 1883, and there was no lawman either, but what would my fictional town be without the stoic, brave and dependable Sheriff Miles Grayson? Exactly.

  If you find yourself falling in love with this town too, please follow the links below to learn more. You’ll be glad you did.

  https:// www. colorado. gov/ pacific/ creede/ town-history-0

  https:// www. colorado. gov/ pacific/ creede

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  If you enjoyed this book…

  More books in the series…

  Peggy McKenzie & Friends

  Angel Creek Christmas Brides

  About the Author

  The End

  1

  Creede, Colorado

  June 1888

  Charity Montgomery sat back against the train seat and looked out the window at the passing landscape. High mountain deserts had faded away to the majestic mountains of the San Juans.

  The Denver Rio Grande steam engine chugged up the ever increasing grade toward Creede, the quaint little mining town where her family now lived, pulling the four remaining passenger cars. For the first time in two years, she was going home.

  A sigh escaped her lips.

  “Are you alright, Charity? You seem a bit melancholy today. I would think you would be overjoyed to be going home.”

  Charity pulled her gaze from the window and met the kind knowing eyes of Agnes Hanover, her traveling companion and her benefactor.

  “Aggie, you are always fretting about us girls. I’m fine. I was thinking about Creede and the last time I was here. I hadn’t realized until just this moment how much I had missed it. I suppose it’s the first time I’ve ever called a place home and it actually meant something to me,” Charity admitted.

  “Well, Creede is your home. It’s where your family is now. Your sisters were so excited when I told them you were coming home this summer. I know they can’t wait to see you. Two years is a long time to be away from the ones you love. Don’t you agree?”

  “Yes, it’s a long damn—” Charity stopped short at the sight of Aggie’s raised eyebrows. “Sorry. Old habits. Yes, it has been a long time to be away from those I love.” She was certain Aggie knew she wasn’t just referring to her sisters, their husbands, and her nieces and nephews either. The woman confirmed Charity’s suspicions when she spoke again.

  “Have you had any word from him during your absence?” Aggie was always the direct one. Polite. But straight to the heart of the matter. Perhaps being married to an attorney such as her husband, Hiram, had taught her to be that way.

  “No. Not a single word, but I hadn’t expected him to write. Miles doesn’t strike me as the stationary and pen sort anyway.” She tried to joke away her pain at the unceremonious way Sheriff Grayson had delivered his ultimatum to her, but he had given her a choice. Go to this school Hiram and Aggie were offering or go to jail. She had chosen the school although jail would have been a shorter sentence. Two years was, indeed, a long time to be away.

  Charity tried to think what it was that pushed the man over the edge to make his demands, but over the edge he had gone and the only thing that would appease him at the time was her agreeing to go.

  Aggie smiled. “He was rather direct in his approach. Hiram and I still talk about how flustered he was when he threatened to hog tie you, throw you over his saddle, and deliver you to the nearest military fort. He was very adamant about you staying out of his sheriff-ing business if I recall.”

  Charity smiled and averted her gaze back to the window. Aggie saw too much. “Yeah, I kinda wish I’d let him do it. That mighta been kinda fun, don’t you think?” She grinned at Aggie’s feigned shock at her bold statement.

  The woman was proper, but certainly not a prudish one. Aggie smiled back with that little twinkle in her blue eyes Charity loved. “Charity Montgomery. You little minx.”

  Charity grinned again and settled back against the train seat. She studied the woman sitting across from her. “You and Hiram have been married a long time, haven’t you?”

  Aggie nodded. “Yes, a long time.”

  “How did you and Hiram meet, if you don’t mind me asking such a personal question.” Charity had heard little drips and drabs about Hiram and Aggie’s love story, but no one had ever just come out and told it all.

  She watched Aggie hesitate. “It ain’t none of my business, Aggie. I mean, it isn’t any of my business so do not mind me at all. I was just curious, that’s all.” Charity was still trying to talk like a lady, but twenty some odd years of talking like a mule skinner outweighed two years at a fancy lady’s finishing school.

  Aggie reached over and patted Charity’s knee. “I don’t mind sharing our love story with you, sweetheart. It’s just that…there are some not-so-happy parts that I would prefer not to relive. You understand, don’t you?”

  Charity knew about the not-so-happy parts in one’s life. Just about every part of her life had some pain associated with it. “Yes, I do understand and I’m sorry I brought it up.“

  “Thank you.” Aggie sat back against the train seat again and worried with something in her reticle. Charity returned her attention to the scenery drifting past the window. Tall pine
trees stood guard along the Rio Grande river’s rock-dotted banks. Heavy boughs of soft green needles rocked in the gentle mountain breezes. It was as if they were waving her home. It felt so very good to be back.

  The loud bang of a gunshot sounded close by. Aggie jumped, her eyes round in shock. “What do you suppose that’s all about?” Another shot went off and the sound of a scuffle near the train’s rear door signaled a problem.

  “Aggie, keep your head down and pretend you are asleep.” Aggie did as she suggested. She was getting ready to assume the same position when the door banged open and the wounded conductor was shoved in by a man wearing a bandana over his face.

  Charity stood and patted the pocket of her traveling dress. She never traveled anywhere without the protection of her two shot derringer close at hand. A girl could never be too careful on the streets of Boston.

  “Charity, where are you going? It could be dangerous. Aggie whispered and reached out to grab her arm. She saw him look around the almost empty train car and his eyes lit on her as she made her way up the aisle.

  “Sit down, woman. Sit down now.” The man pointed his gun at her and barked directions.

  “That man is wounded,” she stated as-matter-of-factly as she could staring down the business end of an outlaw’s gun.

  Charity cast a look around at the other passengers. An elderly gentleman and his wife sat in a few seats in front of where she and Aggie sat. Another man, perhaps in his forties, sat with his half-grown son—about sixteen—sat across from the elderly couple.

  All the other passengers that had ridden down from Denver had gotten off the train at the hot springs at Wagon Wheel Gap. That was fortunate for them, but not so much for the few remaining passengers.

  “I said sit down. Are you stupid or somethin’?” The man behind the mask mumbled at her.

  Mentally, she rolled her eyes. Why did all men think women were addled brain idiots? Even this moronic oaf assumed because she didn’t jump to obey his command, she was a dim-witted imbecile. Men.

  She made eye contact with the wounded man. “Are you alright, sir?”

  He nodded. “I think so.”

  Charity could see he was losing a lot of blood and if someone didn’t help him staunch it, he might very well die before they reached Creede. And that was entirely unacceptable.

  “I said sit down.” his repeated.

  Instead of following his order, she batted her eyes at the idiot and rested the back of her hand against her forehead. “I’m sorry, sir. I would sit down, but I simply am unable to do so at the moment.” She whined in her best damsel-in-distress voice. She pretended to stumble and catch herself against the closest train seat.

  “And why the hell not?” The man stepped closer, waiving his gun at her. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Charity bent over as if she had the ague and moaned for dramatic effect.

  The man stepped closer. “I asked you a question, woman. Are you sick or somethin’?” She could see the tips of his scuffed boots and could feel the cold steel of the man’s gun barrel against her shoulder. He was close enough to put her plan into motion.

  She nodded, still bent over at the waist. “Yes, sir. I’m sick alright.” Charity gritted her teeth and placed one hand on her stomach and the other inside her dress pocket. Her fingers gripped the pearl handle of her pistol.

  The robber poked at her with the barrel of his gun again and it was making her mad. “Please don’t do that. Sir.” Charity really didn’t want an altercation with this man. She had worked too hard these last two years to be a lady, or at least look and act and talk like a lady. But she would never stand by and watch this low life piece of cow crap hurt these innocent people without trying to do something to prevent it.

  He chuckled and poked her with the gun barrel again. “You talking’ to me, little lady?”

  Her fingers clinched and she called on every ounce of self-restrained she possessed to answer the man calmly. “Yes, sir. I am talking to you, and I asked you very politely not to poke me with your gun. I find it very…irritating. Sir.” She loaded the last word with heavy sarcasm so even this bone-headed jackass would get the message that she was getting being sarcastic.

  “Is that a fact? You.” He poked her. “Don’t.” He poked her again. “Like it, do ya?” He poked her once more and as far as Charity was concerned, it was one too many times. A girl had limits on just how much she was willin’ to take.

  She slowly straightened to her full height of five foot nine inches and stared the robber down. Her eyes focused on the man’s brown ones just above the filthy bandana he wore to hide his identity.

  “That’s what I said. I. Don’t. Like. It. Are you hard of hearing or just plain stupid?” She doubled up her left hand into a fist while her right hand rested on the pistol inside her dress pocket.

  Adrenaline pulsed through her body as she prepared for whatever came next. It had been two years since she had had an honest-to-goodness fist fight. She was up for it and the exhilaration at the thought pushed a wide smile across her face. Yes, sirree. She was most definitely up for it.

  “Charity, please be careful.” She heard Aggie’s voice pleading with her.

  The man’s shocked dark eyes glared at her. “Are you callin’ me stupid, lady?” He deliberately poked her again with his gun barrel and waited for her reaction. She knew with certainty the idiot taunting her wasn’t expecting a woman to challenge him. Well, it was time to set the bone-head straight.

  “Yeah, I can see where you’d take offense to me calling you stupid. It just don’t seem right now, does it?” She said exaggerating her words. He looked somewhat appeased. “But it is kinda hard for me not to speak the truth when it’s plain as the nose on my face.

  “And if you think that you can keep poking me with that gun barrel after I’ve asked you real nice to stop, more than once I might add, then you are even dumber than you look.”

  The wrinkles around his squinty eyes told her was grinning at her like he thought this whole damn thing of poking her with his gun was funny. But if he did it again, he would learn that she wasn’t kidding.

  He reached out and jabbed her with it again. “Whatcha gonna do, little lady? You gonna wrestle me for it? I might like that now that I think about it,” he taunted her.

  Charity shook her head and offered him a sweet smile. “Sir, I’m quite offended that you would assume that I would resort to that sort of thing. Can’t you see that I’m a lady?”

  The man eyed her with confusion at her change of tactics. “Ladies do not wrestle, sir. We would rather punch at our adversaries.” Then she doubled up her left hand and punched him as hard as she could, hitting him square on his nose. She smiled with satisfaction to hear it break under her bruised knuckles.

  He slid to his knees cupping his profusely bleeding nose. She chastised him like a misbehaving school boy. “Now, if you will remember, I asked you real nice to stop poking me. Didn’t I? So the way I figure, that broken nose is on you, buckaroo.”

  “Ow, you bitch.” The man growled, blood dripped out of his nose and off his chin. He rose and cupped his broken nose with his left hand. Then he raised his gun with his right hand. “I’m gonna kill you, you red-headed she-devil.”

  Charity pulled the trigger on her two-shot derringer from inside her dress pocket sending a bullet through her dress and into the man’s thigh. He fell backwards and flailed on the train floor grabbing his leg. “I’m gonna kill you, you—”

  Charity stood over the man. “Yes, you’ve said that already. I believe you left off the red-headed she-devil part if my memory serves me correctly.”

  He roared and reached for his pistol lying next to him on the floor. She cocked the second shot in her pistol. He froze at the sound.

  She smiled down at him. “There’s another one where that came from if you don’t leave that gun right where it is. I know you ain’t the brightest kid your momma had, so let me be clear. The next bullet is going straight into that empty head of y
ours if you don’t start playin’ nice. Got it?”

  The conductor entered the car and stopped short. “Um, I just came to tell you that someone tried to rob the train, but it looks like he wasn’t alone.”

  Charity spoke to the conductor. Her eyes and attention fully focused on the man lying on the floor, blood soaking his pant leg. “How many others?”

  “Just the one in the next car, but he did better than this one. He got away clean.”

  “This one was just too dumb to run.” She grinned at the man glaring at her from the floor.

  “How long before we get to Creede, conductor? You might want to check on your co-worker there. Either this man or the one that got away shot him. He’s bleeding pretty bad.”

  “We are pulling in now. Should be stopped in less than five minutes.”

  “That’s excellent news. Would you please send someone to get the sheriff as soon as we arrive? I fear the gentleman on the floor could use a doctor too. I would surely hate for him to bleed to death before he can stand trial.” She kicked the man’s gun toward the conductor. “You might want to keep that pointed on him until the sheriff arrives. He’s a bit dense between the ears and he’s just stupid enough to push his luck.”

  She returned to her seat and offered Aggie a sweet innocent smile and watched the train depot appear in the windows.

  She inhaled a deep breath of clean mountain air. “I’m so glad to be home.”