The Rancher Takes A Bride Read Online Free PDF

my lead chucker on ya," Henrietta yelled back. "Why do the men get a separate cell, while we're all crammed into one? I don't think it's fair."
    "Who said women were ever treated fairly?" a woman called Buckskin Sue replied, sitting on the floor leaning against the cool steel bars. With only two cots, the four women in the cell had to take turns lying down.
    "I'll recite poetry if I don't have to pay next time," the man yelled back.
    The women groaned.
    "Nothing in life is free, honey. You'll pay just like all the others," Betty informed the man.
    The door to the cell area opened. "Quiet down in there."
    Rose turned, her tears momentarily forgotten, and faced the deputy. "Why should we keep it quiet?" Rose said, raising her voice. "I didn't ask to be put in here. The charges are hearsay."
    The door slammed shut.
    "Honey, is this your first time?" Henrietta asked.
    She glanced up at the whore. "Yes."
    "What are you in for, Miss . . .?"
    "The name's Desirée Severin." She glanced through the bars. "Fraud."
    "You're that lady who runs the séance parlor," Henrietta exclaimed.
    "Yes. The Last Word ."
    Betty smiled. "What we need is something that would pass the time away. Did you bring a deck of cards, Henrietta?"
    "Nope. I was working upstairs when the law decided to haul us in."
    "They interrupted a séance I was holding for several customers when they visited The Last Word ." Rose sat back for a moment and gazed at the group of women. "I can't stand just sitting here in this cramped space."
    "Yeah, it's a shame there's nothing to do," Henrietta drawled. She gazed quizzically at Rose. "Not unless you lead us in one of those—what did you call it? Sea ..."
    "You mean séance?" Rose asked.
    "Yeah."
    "Let's do it!" Buckskin Sue said, jumping up from the floor. "Tucker Burnett won't like it one bit."
    "The marshal wouldn't be happy at all to hear I'm speaking to the dead here in his jail," Rose replied.
    "That's the more reason to do it," Betty agreed.
    "All right," Rose said, focusing her anger and her fears momentarily pushed aside. "Form a circle. Hold onto your neighbor's hand and close your eyes."
    "What are you women doing?" the man two cells down cried.
    "Ignore that man," Betty said flippantly.
    "Okay, let's find out who died in this jail," Buckskin Sue said as she grabbed hold of Henrietta's hand, closing the circle.
    Henrietta shivered. "That's scary."
    Rose started to sway and moan. It was a performance of a lifetime as she cried, "Spirits, heed our call. Visit with us once again so that we can glean from your wisdom."
    "Marshal!" the man yelled, banging his tin cup against the steel bars. "Stop them. Stop them or let me out. They're performing some kind of magic in here. Let me out!"
    Tucker Burnett burst through the door and strode to the cell. "What the devil is going on in here?"
    Rose smiled for the first time since she'd been arrested. "Marshal Burnett, would you care to join us? I'm trying to contact the spirits in your jail."
    "Lady, you aren't doing any such thing. Not in my jail."
    "Why? You don't believe I can speak with the dead, remember?"
    Tucker frowned. "Lady, your kind of trouble I don't need. You've got my jail in an uproar."
    "Then let me out."
    "Can't do that, Miss Severin. Now don't be holding any more rituals in my jail."
    Without waiting for a reply, he headed toward the door.
    "Marshal?" Rose called.
    He turned back, a frown on his face. "What now?"
    "Come here." Rose walked up to the barred door and stretched her hand through the bars. "Give me your hand."
    "What for?"
    "Just do as I ask."
    Reluctantly, he gave her his hand. She pulled his palm up to where she could see through the bars. With one finger she traced the lines on his palm. She dropped his hand, smiled, and took a step back.
    "What?" the marshal asked, annoyed.
    "You have a troubled past, Marshal," she said, taking another step back, her voice shaking. "Your day of reckoning is coming. Soon."
    He shook his head. "You're trying to