Jessica Frost: The Good, the Bad, and the Naughty

He tried to move his body away from John, glaring first at him, then at Belle. “All right! All right! She went to the train station with two others from our gang.”

“Train station?” Mat asked.

“Why?” Belle continued.

“She found out the bank was deliverin’ a large amount of bonds and gold to the train, and she plans on stealin’ it.” He sneered. “And she’s taking along your boys to help her steal it.”

Her heart jumped to her throat. “Why Trevor and James?”

He chuckled. He obviously noticed her reaction. “Sally is really Isabelle LaRue, and she found out your boys are Texas Rangers who know the combination to the train’s safe.”

“Sally is Isabelle LaRue? Trevor and James are Texas Rangers?” she said out loud to herself, trying to assimilate his statement. Shock made her slump to the chair beside her, and she stared at him in a daze.

Tom absorbed her reaction and apparently reveled in it from the sly smile he gave her.

“Ha, you didn’t know that about your boys, did you? Guess you didn’t know they was usin’ you only for their pleasure, too, huh?” He paused and added the final stabbing touch. “How does it feel, Belle, to be a two-man whore?”

John leaned down and punched him, the blow so hard Tom passed out.

She stood up, bewildered.

John held her hand while Mat dragged the unconscious prisoner to the other side of the room where he would remain hidden if anyone decided to come down to check the room out.

“You all right, Belle?”

She looked up at John. “Huh?”

“What the bastard said about you and the Rangers, it isn’t true, right?” he asked with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Brewing humiliation heated her cheeks. She diverted her gaze to the door. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is we got to get to the train station before she kills them and takes off with the gold and bonds.”

She pointed her finger to Mat. “You, go get Sam and meet us at the train station.”

“Got you,” Mat responded, hustling to the door to leave.

She followed his cued exit and John tailed her, slipping the gun in his pants.

“What are we going to do when we get there? We got only one gun?”

She shrugged. “We’ll see when we get there.” Instead of heading to the front of the inn, she headed to the wooded area behind the inn.

“What are you doing?” John shouted.

She shooed him away with her hand. And without looking at him, she said, “I got to go. Go see if you can get us some horses on the road, and I’ll meet you up front.”

Her heart drummed in pain. She could barely breathe. It was true she needed to relieve herself, but she also needed a minute alone.

Tears had threatened to break free minutes ago. Tom’s harsh, accusing words cut deep to her core of strength, leaving her vulnerable and hurt. She wouldn’t be any good to anyone unless she got a rein on her emotions.

They arrived at the train station in record time. John stopped a man on horseback on the road in front of the inn. He explained who he was and that it was an emergency. The kind man agreed to lend him his horse and so when Belle joined him, refocused and ready, they galloped off to the train station.

And now that they were here, Belle hadn’t the faintest idea what to do next.

John stared at her. “So what do we do now? Do we wait for Sam and Mat to get here?”

She shook her head. “No, it might be too late then.” She dismounted and walked to the back of the train. “We don’t even know if they’re still here. They could have left with the gold and bonds already.” And her heart sank to her stomach with the thought.

All these months, she thought Sally was her friend. But she’d been wrong. Dead wrong. She turned out to be a ruthless, dangerous criminal.

Belle had also been wrong about Trevor and James. Although she still was angry with them and deeply hurt, she couldn’t deny her feelings. She had fallen in love with them. And now, when the possibility that Isabelle LaRue had escaped with the gold and bonds and perhaps hurt them, or worse, killed them came to mind, it made her heart tear into two.

Wiping her moist eyes so John wouldn’t see, she said, “The safe is in the express car. So we sneak up and see who’s there.”

As they inched their way to the car, she prayed to God the two men she had fallen in love with were still alive.

They waited in the deafening silence in the express car. Trevor and James sat beside the safe waiting for the bank to deliver the gold and bonds on board.

No passengers boarded the train yet. They’d only be boarding in a couple of hours, right before it left the station. For security reasons, only the train personnel were there and of course the expressmen who would protect the safe and all the valuables in it.

Because of this, James and Trevor easily snuck Wild LaRue and her henchmen into the express car where the safe was housed without anyone noticing. Now they remained hidden behind a storage section in the car so they wouldn’t be seen by the bank guards when they arrived. But LaRue and her henchmen still had their eyes on them and would shoot to kill if they tried anything smart.

Trevor hovered on the brink of madness. His mind travelled miles away, worrying about Belle. Was she all right? What would they do to her? Ruthless LaRue was notorious for killing any and all witnesses in her path of heists, especially lawmen who stood in her way.

Since he and James were Texas Rangers who could identify her, he knew she would be killing them once she got the goods, but he prayed they would let Belle go. After all, Belle was an innocent bystander who got caught in the middle of this.

LaRue and her gang could escape to another town, maybe this time even high-tail it to Mexico. Belle wouldn’t be a threat to her or her gang. They could let Belle go free without fearing she’d have the lawmen after her.

And just as he stared out the car window worrying about her, he saw the top of a pretty head peek in.

Belle!

What the hell was she doing here? She saw him, and he signaled her with his eyes that LaRue was on the other side of the car hiding. She nodded and then disappeared from his vision.

His heart jumped to his throat, and his palms perspired. What would she do? God, he hoped the smart thing, which was let the other workers on the train know they were being kept captive and have one of them get the sheriff and his deputies.

He glanced at James, but he didn’t seem to have noticed her. He was dying to signal to him, but he didn’t dare. LaRue had the eyes of a hawk and she was focused on him and James now. So he just stood there waiting for the right opportunity.

And when the knock came at the door about forty minutes later, his heart dropped from his throat to his stomach and his legs went weak.

James walked to open it when LaRue whispered, “No heroics, boys, or Belle gets it.”

James nodded and just as he opened the door, he said in shock, “Belle?”

Trevor panicked.

Why the hell did she do such a stupid thing?

LaRue jumped out from behind the storage trunk and rushed to the door. She signaled with the gun.

“Damn it, get in here, or I’ll kill ’em,” she whispered.

Belle stepped in holding her hands up in front of her. “Don’t hurt them, please.”

As soon as the door shut, LaRue frowned, cursing, “What the hell are you doing here?” She took a quick glance outside. “Was this stupid idea Tom’s?”

Belle shook her head. “No. He’s tied up and unconscious back at the inn.”

Flabbergasted, LaRue stuttered, “W–what?”

“Mm-hmm, my brothers and I knocked him out and tied him up.” Belle nodded. “He’s the one who told us about your plans.”