Hitched!

Still, the gambler in him told him to stick to his plan. He couldn’t throw this woman to the wolves. “My wife can have anything she wants or needs,” he said. “Just name it.”

And she did, including hair dye and a pair of sharp scissors. He hadn’t even lifted a brow, but he’d hated the thought of what she planned to do to that beautiful hair of hers.

It definitely brought home the realization that he’d underestimated just how much trouble this woman was in. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I drop you at the truck stop? You can get a hot shower, get out of those clothes and I’ll come by with everything else you need.”

“You don’t know my size.”

“I’m good at guessing.” He saw her hesitate. “Trust me.”

Like a dog that’d been kicked too many times, her look said, When hell freezes over.

She told him what else she needed, which turned out to be just about everything. He had to wonder what was in that backpack. It looked full. But apparently there wasn’t much clothing in it.

Whatever was in the backpack, it was something she wasn’t letting out of her sight. She kept the backpack close, taking it with her when he dropped her at the truck stop.

Jack watched her walk away, her head down as if trying to go unnoticed, and told himself he was going to regret this.

JOSEY DIDN’T EXPECT to see Jack Winchester again as he drove away from the truck stop. She wouldn’t have blamed him. She’d caught the look that crossed his handsome face when she’d asked for the dark hair dye and scissors.

Only a fool wouldn’t get the implication of that and Jack, she suspected, was no fool. By the time she’d showered, she’d found the items she’d asked for waiting for her just outside the shower door.

She took the scissors to her hair, surprised by how painful it was. It was just hair. It would grow back. But she knew she wasn’t upset about her hair. It was all the other losses in her life.

She let the dye set in her short hair as she avoided looking in the mirror, then took another shower, wondering if she would ever feel truly clean again. In the bags he’d left for her, she found jeans, shirts, a couple of summer dresses, sandals, undergarments, a robe and nightgown, and even a pair of cowboy boots.

Josey shook her head, amazed that he would make so many purchases including the two scarves she’d asked for. He really was good at guessing. He’d not only guessed her sizes right down to her shoe size, but he’d chosen colors and styles that she might have chosen for herself.

She’d been so touched, it had choked her up, and she realized how long it had been since someone had been nice to her.

Jack was waiting for her in the shade outside beside the Cadillac. It surprised her that she’d been dreading his reaction to the change in her appearance. She’d worn the boots, jeans and Western shirt he’d bought her, as well as a scarf tied around her neck that went with the shirt.

He smiled when he saw her. His gaze took in her hair first, then the rest of her. “I see the clothes fit.”

“Yes, thank you.” She felt strangely shy.

“I like your new look,” he said, nodding, as they climbed into the car.

“You do?” she asked, and braved checking herself in the vanity mirror. It startled her, seeing herself as a brunette with short curly hair that framed her face. Her green eyes appeared huge to her. Or maybe it was the dark shadows under them. She didn’t even recognize herself.

“It suits you,” he said.

“Thank you.” She snapped the visor up. Who was she kidding? Changing her hairstyle wasn’t going to save her. Nothing would. It was just a matter of time before the rest of her world came crashing down.

She saw Jack looking at her backpack again, even more curious. She’d put her dirty clothing and sneakers into one of the shopping bags, and had to stuff the second bag with the new clothing.

She’d have to watch him closely until she had an opportunity to hide the backpack’s contents for safekeeping during the week at the ranch.

If she lasted the week. If there was even a ranch, she thought, as Jack drove south on a highway even less traveled than the last one they’d been on.

She no longer trusted herself to separate the good guys from the bad.

JACK STUDIED JOSEY as they left town. The new hairstyle and color only made her more striking. A woman like her couldn’t go unnoticed, if that was what she was hoping. So far, he thought she was safe. The truck stop hadn’t been busy, and the clerk there hadn’t given either of them a second glance. She’d been too busy watching the small television behind the counter.

Jack had noticed that when Josey came out to the car she’d carried both bags of clothing he’d purchased for her as well as that backpack she refused to let out of her sight. With her dirty clothes in one bag and the other bag overstuffed with her new clothes, he was even more concerned about what was in her backpack.

“You didn’t have to buy me so much,” Josey said now as he drove east out of town.

“I wouldn’t want my grandmother to think that I’m cheap when it comes to my wife and her wardrobe.”

His expression sobered at the thought of his grandmother, Pepper Winchester. He didn’t give a damn what she thought, but he did want her to believe this marriage was real. It hadn’t crossed his mind to bring a “wife” along. Not until he’d picked up Josey beside the road and had this overwhelming desire to help her. No good deed goes unpunished, he could hear his father say.

Jack admitted that his motives hadn’t been completely selfless. Having a wife would allow him more freedom on the ranch, freedom he would need.

He thought of his mother and told himself he was doing this for her. It wasn’t about revenge. It was about justice.

As he glanced over at Josey, he knew he would have to be careful, though. Josey was a beautiful woman. He couldn’t afford to get involved in her trouble and lose sight of why he was really going to the ranch.

He reminded himself Josey had gone along with the “marriage” because she needed to hide out somewhere safe for a week—just as he’d suspected. What was there to worry about?

“I hope we’ve got everything we need,” he said, glancing back at Whitehorse in his rearview mirror. The tiny Western town was only about ten blocks square with more churches than bars, one of the many small towns that had spouted up beside the tracks when the railroad had come through.

“A few more miles and it will be the end of civilization as we know it,” Jack said. “There are no convenience stores out here, nothing but rolling prairie as far as the eye can see.”

“It sounds wonderful,” she said.

“I should probably fill you in on my grandmother,” Jack said, as the road turned to gravel and angled to the southeast. “She’s been a recluse for the past twenty-seven years and now, according to her attorney, she wants to see her family. The letter I received made it sound as if she is dying.”

Josey looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry. A recluse for twenty-seven years? I can understand why you might not have been close.”

“I was six the last time I saw her.” But he remembered her only too well. Her and the ranch and those long summer days with his mother, all of them living a lie.

AS JACK DROVE OUT of Whitehorse, Josey felt a little better. She’d been nervous in town, trying hard not to look over her shoulder the whole time. At the truck stop, she’d just about changed her mind. She desperately needed to put more distance between her and her past. But the only other option was hooking a ride with a trucker passing through, since there appeared to be no place in this town that she could rent a car or even buy one.

Also, why chance it when she could hide out for a week at some remote ranch? She was anxious to do the one thing she needed to do, but it would have to wait just a little longer. She certainly couldn’t chance walking into a bank in this town. It was too risky.

But then again, how risky was it pretending to be a stranger’s wife? Even as desperate as she was. Even as good-looking and normal as Jack Winchester appeared.

Who was this man? And what was the deal with his reclusive grandmother? She reminded herself how bad her judgment had been lately, her hand going to her neck beneath the scarf and making her wince with pain. She hoped she hadn’t just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

As the Cadillac roared down the fairly wide gravel road through rolling grasslands and rocky knolls, she tried to relax. But Jack Winchester had her confused. He seemed like a nice guy, but nice guys didn’t fool their grandmothers with fake wives.

Even though she’d fought it, Josey must have dozed off. She woke as the Cadillac hit a bump and sat up, surprised to see that the road they were on had narrowed to a dirt track. The land had changed, becoming more rough, more desolate.

There were no buildings, nothing but wild country, and she had the feeling there hadn’t been for miles.

“Is the ranch much farther?” she asked, afraid she’d been duped. Again.

Sagebrush dotted the arid hills and gullies, and stunted junipers grew along rocky breaks. Dust boiled up behind the Cadillac, the road ahead more of the same.