Sharon Sala - Annie and the Outlaw: The Wild West (Silhouette Sensation) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 597) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No 597)

Annie And The Outlaw

Book Jacket

Prologue

Kansas Territory Mid-1800s

T he noonday sun was at its zenith, beaming down with relentless persistence upon the crowd gathered around, the hanging tree at the edge of town. A gusty wind did its bit in making what was left of Gabe Donner's last minutes on earth miserable by blowing sand into his eyes and against his cheeks, stinging his already bruised and battered face with a rude reminder that sensations would soon be a thing of the past.

"You cain't just hang him," a woman sobbed, and cradled her belly, swollen to near bursting with an overdue baby. She threw herself between the angry crowd and the man on the horse who was about to be lynched. "He saved my life. If it had'na been fer him, you people you God-fearin', law-abidin' citizens woulda run me down."

"Get back, Milly," a man shouted from the back of the crowd. "He was part of the gang who robbed our bank. Just because he couldn't bring himself to hurt you, don't change the fact that his buddies have done gone and made off with our life savings."

Gabe cursed and squinted his eyes. It was a hell of a day to die. But he'd been heading toward this for most of his life, and he knew it. Somewhere around the age of twelve he'd taken a step in the wrong direction, and there'd been no one in his life who'd cared to call him back.

The woman called Milly screamed as two men pulled her out of the way. Gabe's gut kicked as the horse beneath him danced sideways from the noise and shouts. The rough fiber of the rope around his neck and hands ate into his skin like a saw-toothed rasp. He winced, aware that losing a little skin was nothing to what was about to transpire.

He stared down at the woman who'd uselessly pleaded his cause and still could not believe he'd done what he had. One minute he'd been riding out of town with the rest of the gang, just ahead of a hail of gunfire, and the next thing he knew, he found himself leaping from the horse and throwing himself onto the ground, using his body as a shield between the pregnant woman and the pounding hooves of the horses ridden by the posse giving chase; He sighed and swallowed another curse. Why the hell couldn't she have been home having that baby?

"Gabe Donner do you have anything to say for yourself?" a man asked.

He grinned and shrugged as he looked down at the sobbing woman. "Whatever you do, ladydon't name him after me."

In spite of his dusty, blood-stained clothing, a week's worth of whiskers and a badly needed haircut, the smile transformed his face. His handsome features and devastating grin made her sob even harder. It seemed such a tragic waste of manhood.

Wrenching free of the man beside her, she dashed forward. Pressing a shaking hand on Gabe's leg, she felt the jerky tremble of long thigh muscles under stress. "May God have mercy on your soul," she whispered.

And in that moment Gabe felt one small ounce of his guilt lifted and delivered. He winked.

Then, before the stunned assembly, he took away their decision and some of their joy by doing the deed himself. He kicked the horse, sharply jabbing his spurs into the animal's sweaty flanks. The horse neighed wildly, rearing up on hind legs in sudden objection to the pain, and then burst forward, as if coming out of a starting gate.

A couple of curses and then a hush came over the crowd as the man's long, lean body jerked in the dusty wind. One by one they turned and walked away, suddenly shamed by their kangaroo court and the

ruthlessness of it all.

The sobbing woman was escorted back to her house, where she fell into bed and promptly gave birth, as suddenly and painfully as Gabe Donner had died.

And then there was nothing but the creak of the rope against the tree limb as the solid weight of his body swung back and forth back and forth.

A loud roar filled Gabe's ears. Fire swept across his face, and the smell of sulfur scalded the insides of his nostrils and burned his eyelids. Confusion was uppermost within his heat-fogged brain as he tried to decipher the words being screamed at him in a virulent tone.

"You were mine!"

The air around Gabe reverberated from the sound of the voice. He inhaled, then wished that he hadn't, as the sulfuric steam once again scalded his throat and lungs. He stood his ground, unable to move from the spot on which he'd landed.

"Right up until the last moment, your soul was mine! And then what did you do? You ruined it! It might have been excusable if it had only been the woman but no! You had to go and save a baby! An unborn one, at that! They still belong to Him!"

The hiss that accompanied the accusations sucked the air from Gabe's body. He began to get the message. The voice screamed and spat, shouting obscenities Gabe had never imagined as he absorbed the implications of his situation.

I've done it now! I've gone and made the Devil mad! This is too damned

scary, even for me. From the way he's spitting and cussing, it seems I don't even belong in Hell.

The voice seemed to filter through the skin over his bones, insidious by its very nature, imbuing him with a sensation of scorched flesh and degradation. Yet he saw nothing but the constant swirling clouds of fire and steam. If he hadn't been so stunned, he might have laughed. It seemed he was doomed to mess up, even in death.

"Get out! Get out!" the Devil screamed, and Gabe's body quivered from the onslaught of sound. "You don't belong here. There's nothing I hate worse than a sanctimonious sinner!"

And before Gabe could blink, the fire, the smoke, even the voice, had disappeared, and he felt himself being tossed aside as if he were so much garbage. It was as if he were left hanging in a vacuum where no one and nothing existedexcept himself.

God! he thought, and with the thought came the being. "Gabriel."

The voice was solace after sin. Grace after a lifetime of gratuitous living, and Gabe shivered.

"I never thought we'd be having this conversation," God said softly. Gabe shivered. Neither had he.

"You surprised me, my son," God said. "You were one that I thought I'd lost. But right at the last moment, when it actually counted, you did something right."

If an immovable force hadn't been holding him up, Gabe would already have fallen. He'd endured more than a human could bear this day, and yet

he was being forced to stand and listen again to his sins and the lack of compassion with which he'd lived his life.

"However, that in itself is not enough for all your transgressions to be forgiven," He continued. "Remember, it wasn't you who begged for mercy on your soul it was the woman."

Gabe's head dropped, his chin nearly touching his chest. This is it, he thought I'm about to get the shaft here, too.

"No, Gabriel. Heaven does not give shafts only second chances."

Gabe's head jerked up, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled and his mind absorbed the clear, pure sound of God's laughter. He almost smiled. If he'd known God had a sense of humor, he might have tried religion a long time ago.

As badly as Gabe wanted to, he could not speak. All he could do was stand and listen to his fate being handed out.

"This is my command!" God said, his voice deepening with a powerful force as the sentence He had decided to impose was made clear to Gabe. "You will go back. Soul intact, flesh and bones. To the human eye you will seem as all men. But heed me, Gabriel!"

Gabe's body shook, and he blinked rapidly as a blinding light sent him to his knees.

"If you can learn what it truly takes to get to Heaven, then you will be granted entrance and eternal life."

Dear God it will take two lifetimes to undo the damage I've done, Gabe thought.