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

Once he left, Trevor started to swoop in to hug and kiss her. James tailed him, saying, “Pretty lady, you put us through hell.” But Belle put up her arm to stop him.

The look in her eyes bore a hole through his heart.

How the hell would she pull this off? She had played it over and over in her head while she and John rode to the train station. She promised herself she’d steel her emotions and not risk getting hurt anymore. What they had was over. They’d be heading back to Texas in a day or so, and she would stay here.

There was no room in their lives for their complicated fling to continue. The only person who would continue to get hurt was her because she had fallen in love with them both. And she couldn’t endure any more of it.

Taking a deep breath, she put her arm up to block Trevor’s advance. A lump formed in her throat, but she swallowed it.

“Look, boys, I’m sorry, but we can’t do this anymore,” she said with inner determination,

Trevor’s expression saddened while James asked, frowning, “Why not?”

She glanced at the window. “Because what happened between us wasn’t real. I planned the whole thing so I could find out what you were up to in Fort Smith.” She moved farther away to avoid their intense stare.

“You see, I came here incognito a few months back when the robberies started, to investigate them. My brothers John and Mat were in on it, but I didn’t tell my brother, the sheriff, Sam, because I knew he wouldn’t allow me to come.

“And when my brothers told me you were hired as the new expressmen, I found it odd that out-of-towners would be hired instead of lawmen from here. I figured you were the ones responsible for the train robberies happening around these parts.”

Trying to keep her emotions buried, and right now it pained her unbearably to do so, she stared at them purposely with a blank expression and added, “I decided to seduce you to try to find out the truth about why you came here.”

“No, it was more than that.” James shook his head.

“Belle.” Trevor tried to take her hand.

She felt the tears brimming, and she wanted to jump into his arms, both their arms, but she couldn’t.

Breaking free from Trevor’s hold, she ran out of there mumbling, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Two weeks later

She dragged her feet as she stepped into the office. John took one look at her and frowned. “Boy, did you wake up on the other side of the bed this morning or what?”

“Don’t start with that again, John.” She knew she didn’t look great. Her hair was tied in a tight bun, she wore no rouge, and her extremely conservative dress looked more like a housecoat than a dress. Plain and baggy. But she could hardly care less. The past couple of weeks had taken their toll on her. She had no energy to enjoy life anymore.

Now that her spying work had ended and Isabelle LaRue and her gang caught or killed, there was no reason for her to continue her charade of singing at the saloon. The fact was, she didn’t really enjoy it. She loved to sing and play piano, but to have horny, perverse men drooling at her night after night turned her stomach.

There were only two men she wanted horny and gawking at her, and they were many, many miles away in Texas. They left the day after they captured LaRue. They tried to talk to her several times that day and the day before they left, but she refused. She hid out at John’s place and asked him and Mat to make excuses for her. She knew if she’d seen them, then her heart would shatter into a million pieces and never mend again.

But unfortunately, it still shattered in a thousand pieces, and so far, she still hadn’t put it back together. Hopefully, with time, she’d be able to move on. In the meantime, when Mat came to her room this morning telling her Sam wanted her to come to the office to talk to her and that it was important, her spirits lightened a bit.

She hoped her eldest brother had finally come to his senses and realized what an asset she’d be as one of his deputies in Little Rock. She asked him time and again to let her try out for the job, but he refused.

After both their parents died in an accidental fire when Belle was only thirteen, he took it upon himself to take care of his little sister. Even though, she grew up before his eyes, he obviously still saw her as his baby sister. The job would be too dangerous for a girl, he had told her over and over again.

Mat and John disagreed with him and let him know their opinions, but unfortunately, their reasoning landed on deaf ears. He was the sheriff, and his decision was final.

To prove her overprotective brother wrong, Belle came up with this whole complicated plan of going to Fort Smith. Mat and John refused to help her in the beginning, but once she explained her detailed scheme, they agreed with hesitations.

She found out Eden’s Paradise looked for a singer, and she decided to try out for the job. She knew Eden’s Paradise was the most popular saloon in all of Arkansas and if the bandits responsible for the train robberies in these parts were still here, then that would be the place they’d frequent.

She’d been right. Of course, she didn’t figure out Sally was really Wild Isabelle LaRue and that she and her gang had been responsible for all the heists. But when all the cards were played, she did end up catching the criminals responsible. So it had to count for something, right?

Looking around in the office this morning, she asked, “Where’s Sam?”

John pointed to the office in the back. “In there. He’s with someone.”

“Okay, then I’ll wait.” She moved to sit next to him.

But before she could sit, he added, “No, he told me he wanted you to go in. Whoever it is wanted to talk to you.”

Creasing her forehead, she stood straight and mumbled, “Hmm,” as she headed for the door.

Knocking, she heard her brother respond, “Come in.”

When she opened the door, her eyes registered a tall, husky man stand to greet her. Her brother did the introductions as she closed the door behind her.

“Belle, I’d like you to meet Captain Peak. He was the Texas Ranger captain in charge of the train robberies case you solved.”

“Howdy, Miss Belle.” The captain’s smile widened as his hand stretched out before him. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet the lady who took down one of the most notorious outlaws in the West.”

“Thank you, Captain Peck.” Her cheeks heated at the compliment as she shook his hand.

He gestured with his hand. “Please, have a seat.”

He glanced at Sam, then continued. “I came in a few hours ago and have been talking here with your brother. He has been filling me in on all the details of Isabelle LaRue and her gang’s capture and just how much you were involved in the takedown. And that is why I asked him to call you here.”

“Oh?” Belle looked at her brother in confusion.

The captain turned more to his side, toward her, and leaned his elbows on his knees as he continued. “Well, the Texas Rangers are in need of more Rangers, and from all I’ve heard about you and your quick draw and cunning, I believe you’d be the perfect Ranger. There is a particular case that’s been on my desk for the past few months, and we’ve been having one hell of a time solving it.”

He took a deep breath. “Truth be told, we need a female Ranger spy on this particular case, and unfortunately we have no female Rangers at this time.” He paused a second and then asked, “So, Miss Belle, would you be interested in joining our team?”