Lisa Plumley - Mail-Order Groom

Well, that and the fact that they were brothers, of course. Brothers watched out for one another. Especially the Bedell brothers. If they’d had a motto, that surely would have been it.

Well, that, Linus considered, or else “shoot first, steal second, skedaddle third.” Feeling clever for having thought up that witticism, he chuckled. But he sobered quickly. Roy was laid up. He’d been hurt bad in his tussle with that do-gooder detective who’d been trailing them. They’d all been forced to hole up in a Morrow Creek boardinghouse until he got better.

Because of that, Roy had appointed Linus as his second-in-command on this operation. That meant Linus had to buckle down. He knew his brother was depending on him. He couldn’t let Roy down. Now, thanks to what he’d just overheard, he wouldn’t.

That big man’s footsteps grew fainter. That was a good sign. Shuffling sideways as silently as he could in his oversize stolen boots, Linus sneaked a glance around the corner of the station. The big man was all the way across the yard now, headed for the fenced corral and makeshift barn. Linus had already searched that whole area. He’d found no sign of the station lady’s nest egg. Now he smelled like cow patties, to boot. That just went to show—it wasn’t all wanted posters and high livin’, being part of the Bedell gang, no matter what anybody thought.

Linus wished folks would recognize that. He and his brothers were just tryin’ to get by as best they could. They didn’t want to hurt nobody. But so long as chowderheaded ladies kept on fallin’ for Roy’s sweet-talkin’ ways and signing up for his marriage schemes, those swindles were going to continue.

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