Cowboy Cried Wolf

High Noon Part 1

Hank’s POV

“Let me get this straight… you’ll pay me back the money if I pretend to be your husband to shake off this Fredrick O’Shea from coming after you?” It was the stupidest idea I had ever heard, let alone one I would follow. I was already betrothed to my chosen mate anyway; a buxom blond named Angelina out in California. I had left there there in her father’s pack as I get set up out here, wanting to breed horses for us wolves who would be faster and meaner than the average ones we were known for training.

The Arabian had been a gamble, but I wanted a horse that would outrun death itself if it came to it. Plus the papers and the pedigree it had made it worth the wait and the saving. “I’m sorry, but that is too much trouble for the likes of me to even remotely consider. Plus; I’m already taken.” I shook my head no at her, her shoulders slumping a little.

After a minute though, a new fire was lit from within her, making me curious about what she thought of. “I’ll give you half.” She finally said.

“Half of what exactly?…” I didn’t need half of some poor crop duster’s poor scrap of land, I had ten acres outside of Waco with my name on it. A small start, but mine all the same.

“I’ll give you one thousand acres of land if you can deal with Fredrick O’Shea for good. We don’t have to be legally married; but we need to make it seem like I am to get him to shove off and leave me alone.”

Fucking hell! There was no way this little scrap of a woman had that kind of land under her name, let alone one so close to a wolf pack to be owned by a human. “You’re shitting me.” She was crazy or something for sure, making me believe that her crazy is what made my own wolf act out as well, the smell of it driving me insane right now as well.

“I’m not shitting you. You seem like a kind and trusting man, which is more than the fellows that are around here. If you can do this for me long enough to get those bastards to leave me well enough alone, it’s all yours.” She lifted her chin slightly, glaring into my eyes.

Her brown eyes held a fire in them, daring me to defy them in the slightest, making my heart catch a little in my throat. “Prove it.” I narrowed my eyes, calling her bluff.

She smiled then at me, a Cheshire grin that basically screamed ‘I’ve got you now’ at me. “Here; proof.” She pulled papers out of her pocket; the delicate pages slightly wrinkles and dirtied from her escapades last night, but otherwise still in good shape.

It was the deed to land alright; along with every single detail about her. Apparently her father had paid thirteen cents per acre, right before prices began to skyrocket to how they were now. The dates showed that he bought them in the late eighteen forties, about forty five years ago. Apparently he had listed his address as from Indiana at the time, moving this way from there about twenty four years ago. Everything was legit though, down to the letter.

It was a deal I could hardly refuse; one that could very well change my life overnight. “Alright… but we have to get some facts straight before we get ahead of our selves.” I agreed, holding my hand out to her to shake.

*****

June’s POV

Hank held out his hand to me, the large fingers covered in nicks and scars; showing he was not a man who shirked work. I grasped his hand with mine, the warm feeling of it making tingles go from my fingers up to my arm. It was a pleasant feeling that had my legs almost feeling like jelly as I sat there.

“What are your stipulations?” I asked him, having a few of my own to make clear as well.

“I have a mate waiting back for me in California, so I can’t marry you for real.”

“Done deal, I have no plans of really marrying anyone to begin with. I just want that bastard O’Shea to leave me alone; which is something he won’t do unless I’m married.”

“And why is that?” The man tilted his head sideways at me, curiosity reflecting there.

“It is in my inheritance from my father that if and when I marry, my husband will become the executor of the estate. Fredrick knows this and is after my land, nothing more.” I shook my head, the disgust I had for the man was making my skin crawl.

“f**k; now I really want to marry you.” I did a double take at the man, sighing and smiling slightly when I saw his slightly teasing grin. “But all seriousness aside, how come I can’t just take all the land? Wouldn’t us being ‘married’ mean I get everything.”

“Well, yes and no. If you were to die or we were to ‘divorce’ all of the land would go back to me. Also if I were to die, the land gets transferred to a Comanche tribe that he let settle on it.” I handed him one of the papers, letting him read it for himself. “He has a lawyer in Indiana with copies of these documents as well.”

“What keeps the Indians from killing you to get the land?” He glanced over the papers, reading them in detail.

“They had an understanding with my father. Apparently he saved the medicine man’s daughter from a circus as an attraction and returned her. The Chief swore a life debt to my father and any children he sired; being me.”

“It seems he thought of everything.” He handed the documents back to me, letting me fold them and put them in my pocket. “But that still doesn’t tell me how you plan to split your land with me.”

“I’m going to write to my father’s lawyer of the situation and have your portion added in as payment. You just have to promise to still allow the Comanches free roam of the land.” I stood up and dusted off my night dress, along with the stranger. “And I guess we should get formalities out of the way now that we’ve talked business.” I blushed, holding out my hand to him again. “I’m June. June Tulip Crawford.”

“Hank Avery Forester.” He shook my hand again, the warmth spreading to my bones as he did. “Now, Miss June, where is your house from here?”

I took in the surrounding woods to get my bearings, taking in the slightly familiar trees and fauna. “We’re closer to the town than we are my land, I’m afraid. And I’m not really…. dressed… for a day in the town.” I shuddered at the looks I would probably get from the townspeople, a bunch of busybodies who liked to gossip. “But… I have an idea for that as well.” I smiled at Hank, pulling the blanket a little more tightly around my shoulders.