Lightning and Lawmen Read online

  Baker City Brides, Book 5

  A Sweet Historical Western Romance

  by

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  SHANNA HATFIELD

  Lightning and Lawmen

  Baker City Brides Book 5

  Copyright © 2018 by Shanna Hatfield

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions.

  For permission requests, please contact the author, with a subject line of “permission request” at the email address below or through her website.

  Shanna Hatfield

  [email protected]

  shannahatfield.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Shanna Hatfield

  How did a simple hello turn into something so complicated?

  Love is about to leave one lawman thunderstruck in this sweet historical romance!

  Cultured and full of grace, Delilah Robbins agrees to accompany her meteorologist father to his new post in Baker City, Oregon. Expecting a primitive place, she’s delighted to discover an up-and-coming town with plenty of surprises as well as a place she can turn into a sanctuary for her beloved birds. As she settles into life in the western town, she unwittingly creates a riff between two deputies when they both fall for her charms.

  Deputy Dugan Durfey only meant to extend a friendly welcome to a newcomer. But the moment he set eyes on the meteorologist’s delightful daughter, Dugan’s heart was no longer his own. Since his best friend and fellow deputy suffered the same fate, Dugan struggles to do what’s right. He’ll fight jealousy, outlaws, and a wily raccoon to keep Delilah safe, but the greater battle lies in overcoming his fears to profess his love.

  Filled with humor, adventure, and plenty of sweet romance, Lightning and Lawmen highlights the history of the era and blends it with the timeless feelings of discovering true love.

  To those who seek to do what is right…

  Chapter One

  Baker City

  March 1892

  “It’s an unmitigated disaster.”

  Delilah Robbins stood in the doorway of the house about to become her home and glanced down the entry hall strewn with papers, trash, and broken shards of what might have once been blue-flowered dishes.

  “Surely, it can’t be that bad,” her father said as he walked up the porch steps. Ross Robbins shifted the traveling cases in his hands and moved behind Delilah, pushing the door open wider with the toe of his boot. He emitted a long, low whistle as he shook his head. “Perhaps calling it a disaster was painting it in a rosy light.”

  “We can’t possibly stay here, Papa. It will take days to clean up this mess.” Delilah started to step into the house, but her father set the cases on the porch and pulled her outside.

  “I’m concerned the house may have been ransacked and robbed. It would certainly explain the mess. Stay out here while I locate the sheriff.” Ross didn’t wait for her to agree or argue as he took the porch steps in two long strides and headed into the heart of town.

  A resigned puff of air escaped from between her lips as she glanced across the porch. Delilah spied a rickety chair that looked as though a strong gust of wind might turn it into kindling. Weary and disheartened, she settled her skirts over the cracked seat. When the wood creaked, she cringed and waited for it to collapse beneath her.

  Amazed when it held her weight, she released a sigh and set the hatbox in her left hand on the porch floor. The filthy boards needed a good scrubbing. A new coat of paint wouldn’t hurt, either.

  She settled the leather bag with her father’s important papers on her lap, loosened the top clasp of the dark blue wool cape she wore over her traveling suit, and looked around with interest. The house was near the southeast end of town. In fact, she could see a bustling lumberyard in the distance with what appeared to be a river flowing near it.

  The sound of the gurgling water provided a lulling background to the duo of birds chirping from a nearby tree. Delilah cocked her head and listened. Robins. The cheerful song of the birds meant spring was quite likely on its way. Truthfully, it looked as though spring had well begun its arrival in the Eastern Oregon town that was to be her new home.

  A week ago, when she and her father had left their lovely home in Washington, D.C., the weather had been frigid and a late season storm was on its way. Papa had been intent on beating the snow out of town, which explained why they’d arrived in Baker City without most of their household goods. Her father planned to spend a few weeks in town before he fully committed to taking over the meteorological post in Baker City. If they decided to stay, they’d have the rest of their belongings packed up and shipped to the mining town.

  For years, her father had served under the War Department’s Signal Corp. Then last summer the weather stations, telegraph lines, apparatus, and all the office equipment right down to every accounted-for pencil were transferred from the Signal Corps’ Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Weather Bureau. Personnel, most of them military people, were given the option of transferring. Of course, military men like her father were honorably discharged to be able to join the civilian ranks of the new organization.

  Ross Robbins had spent several agonizing days trying to determine his best course of action. Delilah had encouraged him to follow his passion, which had always been the weather. Eight months ago, he’d left a twenty-year military career to continue his work as a renowned meteorologist.

  Delilah balked at first when her father had received the offer of an opportunity to travel to the West to take over a station that had been abandoned, again, by the meteorologist in charge. Three different men had worked at the station in the last few years, but none of them stayed long before gold fever struck and drew them into the mines.

  Her father, ready for a change, had jumped at the chance to explore a new territory. Delilah didn’t share his enthusiasm. She’d never lived anywhere other than their comfortable brick home in a residential area just a few blocks from where her father had worked. And she’d spent years perfecting the elaborate gardens at the house.

  Now, she was in a western town that didn’t appear quite as uncivilized as she’d anticipated, unless she considered the state of upheaval in the house that was to have been their new home.

  Afternoon sunshine illuminating the clear blue sky made her tip back her head to soak up the glorious rays spilling through a missing section of the porch roof. The tang of approaching spring mingled with the yeasty aroma of baking bread and the mouth-watering smell of roasting meat in the air. A slight breeze, redolent with the mixture of scents, caressed the tendrils of her hair that had escaped the confines of the once-tidy chignon she’d hastily fashioned early that morning.

  At least the pleasant weather was one thing working in Baker City’s favor. In spite of the house’s disorderly status, she would greatly enjoy spring days in the area if today was any indication of what the future held. She pushed the cape from her shoulders, closed her eyes, and relaxed against the chair, enjoying the peaceful moments before her father returned.

  “Maybe this place won’t be all bad,” she whispered, allowing her grip on her father’s
bag to loosen.

  “Baker City tends to grow on most folks, if you give it a chance,” a deep voice said, startling her from her musings.

  Her eyes snapped open in surprise. Pride straightened her spine as her glance settled on a man standing a few yards away on the winter-browned grass on the other side of the porch railing.

  Sunlight glinted off a shiny silver badge pinned to the front of a long duster. She studied the black western-style hat on his head, similar to those she’d seen cowboys sporting on the train. The lawman wore a tan flannel shirt topped with a dark vest and a neckerchief the color of crocuses. Dark blue denims encased muscled legs while dust covered the toes of his worn boots.

  Slowly, her gaze glided from his boots back up to his face. A square jaw covered in a rakish growth of stubble, firm lips, and a straight nose proved to be a handsome combination. But it was the man’s eyes that captured her attention.

  The same shade of blue as the azure spring sky overhead, his eyes held amusement, interest, and welcome. The thickest, longest eyelashes she’d ever seen on a man rimmed his expressive eyes. A pity, it was, for a man to have such luxurious eyelashes.

  Delilah could think of a dozen women she knew who would die for eyelashes that long, dark and thick. The same dozen women would most likely faint at the sight of such a rugged, indisputably attractive man. The thought of seeing some of them fall off their chairs if this sheriff’s deputy walked into one of their exquisitely ornamented drawing rooms drew out her smile.

  “New around here?” the deputy asked, taking two steps closer. The slightest hint of a swagger accented his movements. He lifted a foot to the porch and leaned his elbows on the railing, gifting her with an easy, albeit slightly crooked smile.

  Delilah stood, clutching her father’s leather bag in front of her like a shield. The man unsettled her. She didn’t know if it was his western manners or speech, or just the overt masculinity that exuded from him, but something about the deputy left her utterly discomfited.

  “My father and I just arrived. We planned to move into our new abode,” she said, tilting her head toward the still open front door. “However, it appears the house has been robbed.”

  “Robbed?” The deputy’s smile dropped as quickly as his arms from the porch railing. He hurried up the steps and inside the house without another word.

  Delilah remained outside, but listened to the sound of his boots thudding across the hardwood floor. The crackle of paper and the crunch of broken pottery carried out to her as he strode down the hall. The deputy soon appeared in the doorway and gave her a long look that left her feeling overheated and apprehensive.

  “You sure the place was robbed, ma’am? Ol’ Eugene wasn’t much for keeping house. I’m not sure it looks any different than it did the day he left.”

  “Gracious!” Delilah muttered, staring over the deputy’s shoulder at the chaos behind him. “Surely you aren’t saying the previous occupant of the house willingly resided in such a condition of utter disrepair.”

  The deputy leaned a brawny shoulder against the frame of the door, as though he had all day with nothing better to do. He grinned, kicking up little brackets around the right side of his mouth. “No, ma’am, I’m not saying it with that many words or quite so eloquently, but Eugene Sutler ranks only slightly higher than a pig when it comes to cleanliness.”

  Delilah tightened her clasp on her father’s bag and glared at the deputy. “And Mr. Sutler was the former meteorologist?”

  “That’s right. I heard a new one was coming from back east, but no one mentioned it would be a woman.” The deputy gave her what might have been an endearing smile if she’d noticed it instead of focusing on the trash lining the floors behind him.

  “My father, Captain Ross Robbins, is the meteorologist,” Delilah answered absently, then forced her attention back to the deputy.

  “Well, this is sure a sorry way to welcome you to town, ma’am,” the deputy said, removing his hat and revealing a head full of thick, short brown hair. A band encircled his head where the hat had rested. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, loosening the depression, while Delilah’s eyes followed his every move.

  Disconcerted by her sudden yearning to reach out and run her fingers through his hair, she scowled and took a step back.

  “I reckon I should introduce myself. The name’s Dugan Durfey. I’m a deputy at the sheriff’s office.” He tipped his head to her with polite solicitousness. “We’re mighty glad to have you here in Baker City, Mrs…?”

  “Thank you, Deputy Durfey. And it’s miss, Miss Delilah Robbins.” Delilah felt like she should dip into a curtsy with the deputy smiling at her so engagingly. Instead, she stiffened her already straight spine and lifted her chin a notch.

  “Miss Delilah Robbins, huh?” His grin broadened. “A pretty name for a beautiful woman. Sounds like a spring flower, or something, although you smell even sweeter.”

  Delilah didn’t know what to say to his obvious attempt at flattery. No gentleman she’d known would be so forthright with such buttery comments. Were all the men in this western town going to be so free with their opinions and excessive in their flirtatious remarks? She certainly hoped not.

  Her brain scrambled to find a polite way to set Deputy Durfey in his place when her father turned the corner and waved at her, accompanied by another man wearing a badge.

  “Is that the sheriff?” Delilah asked, returning her father’s wave.

  The deputy pushed away from the doorframe and strode over to the porch steps. “Nope, that’s my partner, Deputy Seth Harter.”

  Delilah rapidly concluded the town must have an abundance of handsome men if the two deputies were a representation of the type she’d encounter. Deputy Harter was every bit as good looking as Deputy Durfey. The two men were close to the same size, but from the fringe of hair peeking from beneath his hat, Deputy Harter sported blond hair and an even more affable smile.

  “Lila, this is Deputy Harter. He’s going to take a look at the house,” Ross said as he strode onto the porch. He held out a hand to Deputy Durfey. “Ross Robbins.”

  “Welcome to Baker City, sir. Deputy Dugan Durfey. I was walking by and noticed the loveliest flower soaking up the sunshine on the porch. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain.”

  Ross shot Delilah an odd look and shook his head. “I’m no longer a Captain, Deputy. I was honorably discharged last summer.”

  “Because of the change in the Signal Corps to a civilian organization under the Department of Agriculture,” Deputy Durfey said as a statement, not a question.

  Delilah could sense her father’s astonishment that the deputy would know the details about the end of the Signal Corps and beginning of the Weather Bureau.

  “That’s right.” Ross motioned to the open doorway. “Has the house been robbed or vandalized?”

  “I don’t reckon so. It looks the same as it did when Eugene ran off a month ago.” Deputy Durfey shrugged. “He wasn’t ever real particular about keeping house.”

  Ross settled his hand on Delilah’s shoulder. “You stay out here while I look around.”

  “But, Papa, I should…”

  “Stay,” Ross ordered.

  Delilah stiffened, feeling like a chastised pet instead of a woman grown with a strong constitution and mind of her own.

  “I’ll go with you sir,” Deputy Durfey offered, following Ross into the house.

  Delilah glanced up as Deputy Harter stepped in front of her and removed his hat, offering her a bright smile that showed off a row of perfectly even teeth. “Welcome to our little corner of Oregon, Miss Robbins. Your father told me the two of you just arrived on the afternoon train. What do you think of Baker City?”

  On the walk from the depot to the house, Delilah had been astounded by the variety of businesses they’d passed, expecting the town to be little more than a rough watering hole.

  “I think it’s a place that may prove to be full of unexpected adventures.” She didn’t wish to get
off to a bad start by telling the deputy she didn’t care for the dusty streets or muddy puddles that lingered in the cool shadows. She felt exposed to everything with the valley so open to the elements, although she could see tree-covered mountains in the distance. They’d traveled through sagebrush-dotted hills to the south as the train carried them to Baker City. She’d even seen a little girl riding a red and white pony with a boy on a tall horse along the tracks not far from town.

  If a child could survive living in the area, Delilah knew she could, too.

  Seth Harter grinned and subtly sidled closer to her. “If you ever want someone to show you around town, just let me know. I’d be happy to give you a tour.”

  “That’s very kind, Deputy Harter. Thank you.”

  Delilah gave him a small, tight smile, wondering if there was a lack of women in the area for all the attention the two deputies tossed her way. Flattered as she might be, she just wanted somewhere clean and quiet she could rest. The train trip across the country had been long and tiring. Her clothes were covered in soot and dust. The thought of a hot bath, a decent meal, and a comfortable bed were all that were keeping her going.

  “If you’re of a mind to…”

  Ross reappeared with Deputy Durfey, interrupting whatever Deputy Harter had planned to say. “We absolutely can’t stay here. Every square inch of this place needs a thorough cleaning before it’s fit for humans to enter. Deputy Durfey said there’s a nice boardinghouse in town. Once we’ve acquired rooms, I’ll make arrangements for the rest of our luggage to be placed into storage until the house is inhabitable.”

  “Are you sure, Papa? I could…”

  Ross patted her shoulder and then bent to pick up the pile of cases he’d left on the porch. He’d only picked up one when the two deputies gathered the rest of the luggage.

  “We’ll see you to the boardinghouse,” Deputy Harter said, looking at Deputy Durfey for agreement. The man nodded and motioned for Delilah to precede them down the steps.

  Her father took the leather bag from her. As she picked up her hat box, Ross cupped her elbow in his hand, guiding her to follow the deputies leading the way down the street.