Her Forbidden Gunslinger by Harper St. George

Over his inert form, she met Gray’s quick glance and knew a moment of panic. He seemed a stranger to her, completely cold and remote as he focused on the task. She didn’t know who he was. He clearly wasn’t the man who had shared so much with her. The panic overwhelmed her, bringing her to her feet and making her run from the room and the confusion. She meant to run out the front door but it was wide open and there were even more men that way. So she turned and ran out the back. She didn’t know where she hoped to run, only that she had to get away.
    “Sophie!”
    She’d barely cleared the back door when she heard Gray’s voice. It spurred her forward toward the gate in the walled backyard, but she didn’t make it. He grabbed her just as her fingers were grasping to pull it open and dragged her back against him. Solid arms closed around her, but she refused to be subdued so easily and fought him.
    “Why are you running? Sophie, stop fighting me!”
    She went limp in his arms but only because she was still struggling to breathe. “What are you doing to me?” It was more a breathless plea than the furious question she’d meant it to be.
    He buried his face in her hair, his lips warm against her ear. “Sophie.” The tortured whisper burned as it rasped over the open wound of her heart.
    His chest was so strong and solid against her back that she couldn’t stop herself from reveling in it. She closed her eyes, causing more tears to fall. It meant she was shameless and beyond any hope, but any chance she had to touch him was heaven to her and more than she could resist. And as his lips caressed her skin, she moved her head to give him better access to her neck. Only a moment more, she promised herself, only a moment to take with her for the rest of her life.
    When he loosened his arms and moved a hand up to cup her face, she finally found the strength to pull away and bucked against him until she wrenched free and turned to face him. But he was persistent and grabbed her arms, pulling her close. Her hands settled on his chest, pushing, and stayed there deadlocked.
    “Don’t look at me like that.” She was surprised to see the depth of pain in his eyes. “I can’t bear that I hurt you.”
    She almost reached up to touch his face, to try to soothe the pain from his eyes, but then she remembered that
she
was the injured party. “You were going to let me get married,” she accused.
    “No! That never would’ve happened.” To emphasize the words, he pulled her flush against him and his arms went around her. Sophie realized how useless her struggles had been. “The wedding wasn’t supposed to happen, but for the latecomers it wouldn’t have got as far as it did. We’d hoped to arrest them before you even came downstairs, but LaSalle was determined to move things on as quickly as possible and we didn’t have a chance. I hate like hell that you were there. I didn’t think Sinclair would let you come in.”
    “Who are you, Gray? I don’t understand what happened.”
    “LaSalle, Beaudin and a few others were supposed to be arrested. Sinclair’s been following them for years. They’ve been buying up land with mining potential, usually by forcing people to sell. Some people have gone missing or been found murdered. There’s a whole slew of charges, but the wedding was an opportunity to get them all here in one place.”
    “Who are you?” she asked again, needing to know that more than anything else.
    “Everything I told you I was.” He spoke slowly, his gaze holding strong to hers. “Sinclair and Brand are marshals. Cole and I are just helping out for the reward money and because I owe Sinclair a favor.”
    “So you let me go all this time thinking I had to marry that monster?” She watched him swallow.
    “I know. Be angry.” His fingertips touched her cheek. When she would have pulled away, they curled around the back of her head, refusing to let her. “It wasn’t just me I had to consider.