The Marshal and Miss Merritt Read online

  Cahill Cowboys

  Texas’s Finest

  In the heart of America’s Wild West, only one family

  matters—the legendary Cahills.

  Once a dynasty to be reckoned with,

  their name has been dragged through the cattle-worn mud,

  and their family has been torn apart.

  Now the three Cahill cowboys

  and their scandalous sister reunite.

  With a past as dark as the Texas night sky, it’s

  time for the family to heal their hearts and seek justice….

  CHRISTMAS AT CAHILL CROSSING

  by Carol Finch October 2011

  THE LONE RANCHER

  by Carol Finch November 2011

  THE MARSHAL AND MISS MERRITT

  Debra Cowan December 2011

  SCANDAL AT THE CAHILL SALOON

  Carol Arens January 2012

  THE LAST CAHILL COWBOY

  Jenna Kernan February 2012

  Author Note

  Welcome to Cahill Crossing! Settle back and let yourself be drawn into the lives of four proud Texas siblings torn apart by tragedy and reunited by a common devotion to their late parents. As a reader, I always thought a Western series like this would be great, so I eagerly accepted the offer to participate.

  Brainstorming ideas about characters and setting and story was a fun and rewarding challenge. One of our easier decisions was choosing the Texas Hill Country as our setting, because we all thought the area beautiful. Determining a family name? Not so easy. But once we decided that, our characters began to take on their own personalities. Thanks to my fellow authors, Carol Finch, Carol Arens and Jenna Kernan, for a great experience.

  In this book, you’ll meet lawman Bowie Cahill, the second Cahill sibling, and Merritt Dixon, his widowed landlady. Bowie has returned home for one reason only: to find out who murdered his parents. But along the way, he reclaims his place in the family and finds his future with a woman who convinces him there are still some things worth trusting.

  Happy trails.

  For all you Western fans—you’re the best!

  DEBRA COWAN

  THE MARSHAL AND MISS MERRITT

  DEBRA COWAN

  Like many writers, Debra Cowan made up stories in her head as a child. Her BA in English was obtained with the intention of following family tradition and becoming a schoolteacher, but after she wrote her first novel, there was no looking back. An avid history buff, Debra writes both historical and contemporary romances. Born in the foothills of the Kiamichi Mountains, Debra still lives in her native Oklahoma with her husband.

  Debra loves to hear from readers. You can contact her via her website, www.debracowan.net.

  Other titles by DEBRA COWAN

  available in ebook format:

  Harlequin Historical

  Whirlwind Bride#690

  Whirlwind Wedding#722

  Whirlwind Groom#738

  Whirlwind Baby#859

  Whirlwind Secrets#979

  Whirlwind Reunion#1023

  Happily Ever After in the West#1039

  “Whirlwind Redemption”

  †The Marshal and Miss Merritt #1067

  Other works include:

  Silhouette Intimate Moments

  Special Report #1045

  “Cover Me!”

  Still the One #1127

  *Burning Love #1236

  *Melting Point #1370

  *Wild Fire #1404

  Silhouette Nocturne

  Aftershock #49

  “Seeing Red”

  Silhouette Romantic Suspense

  The Private Bodyguard #1593

  The Vigilante Lover #1598

  The Forbidden Bride #1602

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Prologue

  Central Texas, early 1880s

  Bowie Cahill ripped off his black string tie and undid the top button of his starched Sunday shirt, cussing under his breath. His parents, Earl and Ruby Cahill, had perished in a wagon accident and would never see the land they had sold to the railroad become a town named Cahill Crossing. It wasn’t bad enough that he and his siblings had just buried their parents, but now Quin, the oldest, had called a meeting and was throwing out orders like it was his God-given right.

  “I have a job, in case you’ve forgotten, brother,” Bowie snapped, peeling off his dark suit coat. “I can hardly oversee the horse operation, the livestock and hired hands if I’m already working as the county sheriff in Deer County.”

  Quin kept talking, now directing his comments to Leanna.

  “Annie, you’ll be in charge of the meals, our house and its staff, just like Ma.”

  Bowie’s baby sister narrowed her eyes. Lips pursed, she glared at Quin. She looked a lot like Ma when she did that, Bowie thought.

  He wasn’t sure about his sister, but he knew his brothers were feeling the same guilt he was. Any one of them could have prevented the wagon accident if they had been with Ma and Pa.

  “Why do we have to change things right now?” Leanna asked, looking pale in her black silk mourning dress. “We haven’t even dried our tears yet. I need to go upstairs and bawl my eyes out, not go fix you something to eat.”

  She rose from her place on the couch, smoothing her skirts as she told Quin she wouldn’t order the staff around. “Honestly, I’d rather move out on my own than let you take advantage of me.”

  “This isn’t about what you want, Annie. It’s about what’s best for the 4C. We are family and we stick together.”

  Quin turned to face his youngest brother, who was looking out of the window toward the place where their parents had been buried. “Chance, you’re working with me. You’ll be helping with the breeding and cattle, and you’ll give the orders to the cowboys while I’m gone on roundup come spring and fall.”

  “So, I’m your hired hand?” Chance asked.

  “Now, just hold on, Quin,” Bowie said. “We should all have a say in what we want to do. I have my hands full as a lawman and I can’t do that job—from a county away, I might add—and mess with the ranch. You may have bossed us around as kids, but we’re not kids anymore. Ma and Pa are dead. That’s the end of an era.”

  “How ungrateful can a man get?” Quin fumed. “You think you’re honorable and responsible enough to draw a lawman’s wages? You can’t even own up to your family responsibility.”

  He looked Bowie up and down, his lip curling. “Just because you wield your gun and use it to control others who don’t behave any better than you do doesn’t make you a model sheriff. You need to resign and take your rightful place on the ranch, as Pa wanted.”

  Temper starting to boil, Bowie advanced on Quin. It had taken a brutal jilting for Bowie to get the guts to leave the ranch and try something different, but he had done it. “I’m good at what I do.”

  “You should be using your supposed talent to round up the bandits and rustlers that threaten the 4C and your own family. Do I need to remind you that Pa was none too thrilled when you walked away from here to defend people you didn’t even know?”

  Bowie didn’t need his brother telling him that Pa hadn’t liked it when Bowie had left the ranch for the law. Earl Cahill had been clear about that.

  “You disappointed Pa.” Quin glared.
“He grumbled to me plenty of times. And who do you think got stuck with the extra chores? It damn sure wasn’t Annie or Chance.”

  “Is that why you’re so mad? Because of the work?” Bowie snorted. “Hell, hire another hand or two. It’s not like we can’t afford it.”

  “How do you know what we can afford? You haven’t been around for two years and I’m fed up covering for you. Hell, I’m surprised you bothered to attend today’s funeral. Better late than never, I suppose.”

  Jaw clenching tight at the snide remark, Bowie growled.

  Quin growled back. “You hightailed it outta here after Clea North jilted you. She decided you weren’t good enough for her, right? Can’t blame her for thinking that.”

  Bowie couldn’t believe his brother was bringing up one of the worst events of his life.

  “You thumbed your nose at family obligation, pinned on a badge and refused to compromise for anyone.”

  “All I’ve ever done is compromise!” Bowie yelled. “And walk in your shadow for all of my twenty-nine years. Well, I’m sick of it! I’m not quitting my job to become your errand boy!”

  Before he even realized he’d taken a step, he shoved Quin against the wall, sending Ma’s treasured porcelain wedding bowl crashing to the floor. The pieces skittered away and Bowie saw that Quin had cut his hand.

  Annie cried out behind them. Quin lowered his shoulder and knocked Bowie into Pa’s big leather chair.

  “Accept your responsibility,” Quin commanded. “Let someone else get his head blown off defending law and order. I need help with this ranch. It belongs to all of us. Our first obligation is here, and here you’ll stay.”

  Bowie scrambled to his feet. “Go to hell and take your orders with you. Nobody put you in charge.”

  “Someone has to take charge. You aren’t around often enough to do it.”

  “You’re not Pa and you’ll never be able to fill his boots, no matter how hard you try.”

  Quin’s shoulders went rigid. “At least I’ve been here to fulfill Pa’s dream of expansion.”

  “Yeah,” Bowie jeered. “Until you went to the spring cattle sale in Dodge City and got waylaid by a couple of whores. ’Scuse my language, Annie.”

  Quin jabbed a finger at Bowie. “I covered for you more times than I care to count while you chased after one skirt or another! You knew I might not be back in time. You should’ve been here to take up the slack, for once. “Especially when you got word that Pa had broken his wrist. You knew he would need help driving to and from Wolf Grove to meet with the railroad executives.”

  “I was working that day,” Bowie gritted out. “There was a dangerous prisoner in my jail.” Still, he could’ve, and should’ve, left that responsibility to his deputy in order to meet his parents in Wolf Grove and drive them home, but he hadn’t. He had assumed Quin would be with their parents; he was always where he was supposed to be. Except this time.

  Bowie hadn’t been there, either, and guilt had chewed at him ever since he’d gotten word about the wagon accident.

  Chance stepped between his brothers. “I’m not staying to take orders from either of you anymore. If I do, I’ll never be anything but your kid brother. Pa’s gone and I’m through being a ranch hand.”

  “You’re part owner of this ranch,” Quin gritted out. “As such, you have to work just like the rest of us. We are doing what is best for the 4C.”

  “Ranching isn’t in my blood, Quin, and I only stayed this long for Pa.”

  Quin exploded. “Ma and Pa are barely in the ground and you two are turning your backs on this ranch? Pa wanted us to be the most influential ranching family in Texas and, by damned, we will be!”

  “That’s what you want, Quin,” Bowie snapped.

  Chance nodded. “I’m going.”

  “Me, too,” Annie said firmly.

  Quin stared at their kid sister as if she had betrayed him. “This is our home, our way of life, our birthright! You aren’t going anywhere and neither are Bowie and Chance.”

  “You just watch,” Bowie said.

  Fists clenched, Chance got right in Quin’s face. “I damn sure am.”

  “Stop fighting and yelling at one another,” Annie demanded, moving between them. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret!”

  “That goes for you, too, little sister.” The eldest Cahill sibling shoved a hand through his dark hair. “You have plenty of regrets already.”

  Bowie knew his brother was referring to Leanna’s last heated words to their parents.

  Quin looked disgusted. “What a shame that Ma’s last thoughts were probably about your childish tantrum for a new dress.”

  Despite the tears filling her blue eyes, Leanna’s spine locked and she tilted her chin at Quin. “I’m not playing maid to you and I don’t want to be isolated on this ranch!”

  “You spoiled brat! You’ll do as you’re told.”

  “No one made you ruler over us all, Quin!” she yelled.

  “Grow up! You’re not fit for anything other than looking pretty and playing games. You couldn’t come close to filling Ma’s shoes even if you were willing to try.”

  Anger flushed her pretty features as she went toe to toe with their eldest brother. “You can try to hold the ranch together, but you won’t be able to do it alone. Bowie has his own life. Chance doesn’t want yours and neither do I.”

  “You’re going to find a job?” he asked scornfully. “There’s only one place I know where a woman like you can get by doing nothing more than smiling and looking pretty for pay. I can’t picture you as a saloon girl.”

  “If that’s where my dreams lead me, then so be it. I think we should sell the ranch and each take our share.”

  Chance froze, his shocked gaze going to Leanna.

  Bowie’s head jerked toward his sister.

  Quin looked as if he might faint dead away. “Are you out of your damn mind? Sell off chunks of the ranch?”

  Bowie took an involuntary step back. Thanks to his once-busted nose, he knew exactly what Quin’s quiet, steely tone meant. His older brother had been pushed to his limit.

  “Over my dead body!” Quin bellowed. “Ranching is our way of life. It’s who we are. We just buried Ma and Pa on this land.”

  But Annie just kept on. “Making a bigger name for the 4C, for the Cahills, won’t bring back Mama and Papa.”

  Bowie wanted to take up for Leanna, but her suggestion sounded irreverent somehow, downright disrespectful. Still, he had no interest in hanging around to work the ranch when he already had a job he liked. Besides, Quin was much better at 4C business.

  Bowie could hold his own at the ranch and he had a love for the horses, but Quin had more than his fair share of ranching in his Cahill blood.

  “This ranch is our destiny,” Quin declared.

  “Yours, maybe. Not mine,” Chance shot back.

  “Fine! Follow your dreams and see how far you get without your family to back you up. I’ll be here to see the 4C grow and prosper, doing what Ma and Pa wanted, expected.”

  He leveled a hard stare on all of them. “All profits from cattle and town properties go into expanding this ranch. If you leave, you’re walking away with no more than the clothes and belongings Ma and Pa bought for you.”

  Chance scoffed. “More than what I expected.”

  “Take your favorite horse and get the hell out of my sight!” Quin yelled.

  Bowie didn’t need his brother’s permission to take his gelding with him, and he was done asking anything of Quin.

  His older brother stabbed a finger toward the front door as if the three of them were too dense to know where it was. “Go! Defy your legacy if you want. You might as well walk over our parents’ graves on your way by, too.

  “You think leaving here will help you find out who you are?” he asked scathingly. “I can save you the trip. You’re quitters and I’m ashamed to call you family.”

  Chance muttered something foul as Bowie lunged.

  Leanna grabbed his arm.
“No, Bowie. Don’t make this worse.”

  “Stay out of it Annie,” he snarled, shaking off her hold.

  “None of you are worthy to bear the Cahill name.” Quin sneered. “Maybe you should take an alias to hide your shame for defying Ma and Pa. I sure as hell don’t want to claim any of you!”

  Bowie started forward again, wanting to plow his fist into his brother’s face, but he stopped. Quin could argue with a rock night and day, and still never say “uncle.” It just wasn’t worth it to Bowie. He was burning daylight.

  He turned on his heel and strode out of the door.

  “Don’t come back!” Quin yelled. “Do you hear me?”

  Chance and Leanna followed Bowie. Quin’s boots thudded loudly on the porch as he stalked out behind them, cursing them up one side and down the other.

  Bowie mounted up, staring soberly at the big house where he and his family had lived well before the railroad had come, before a town named after the Cahills had sprung up. For years, it had been only Ma, Pa and the four of them, and now it was all gone. His gaze met Quin’s.

  His brother’s eyes were stormy with anger. Well, Bowie was blistered up, too.

  He didn’t like the thought that he couldn’t return to the 4C whenever he wanted. And he’d never seen his brother this lathered up about anything. For a moment, a fleeting second, Bowie thought about trying again to reason with Quin.

  Until the other man shouted, “Don’t think I’ll beg you to come back, because I won’t.”

  Quin spun, stomped into the house and slammed the door.

  Bowie hated the thought of walking away from his family, but he wasn’t going to give in to Quin, either. Not this time. He glanced at Annie and Chance, angry at them, at the whole damn situation. “You know how to reach me if you need to. Y’all might want to let me know the same once you light somewhere.”

  His brother and sister nodded, their faces flushed with the same fury Bowie felt.

  With one last look at the sprawling ranch house atop a lush green treed hill, Bowie kneed his horse into motion and rode away.