Read Online The Lawman Claims His Bride (Love Inspired Historical) by Renee Ryan - Free Book Online

pause. Everything felt right between them.
    Then Trey ruined the moment. Again. “Logan, you should think about this one thing. You’re basing your entire decision about Megan’s innocence on information Mattie didn’t divulge last night. Why cooperate now?” he asked. “And with you, of all people?”
    “Because she’s Mattie Silks. We both know she reveals what she wants, when she wants, to whomever she wants. I believe in her own, twisted way, Mattie’s been protecting Megan all along.” Like a mother would.
    The realization didn’t sit well with Logan. He didn’t like the idea that a woman like Mattie Silks might actually think of Megan as a daughter. It was yet another reason to get her out of town quickly.
    “I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said,” Trey admitted. “But for Megan’s sake, I won’t allow you to act in haste.”
    “Megan is innocent,” Logan reiterated. “And the primary witness to a murder. That puts her under my protection now.”
    “I’m aware witness protection is under your jurisdiction,” Trey said through snarled lips. “I’m not going to fight you on that. What do you have to say about this, Shane? Is Megan capable of making a journey like Logan is suggesting?”
    Shane nodded. “Yes, as long as he makes frequent stops.” He turned to speak to Logan directly. “You must allow her to rest whenever necessary.”
    “I have no intention of pushing her beyond reason.”
    “Of course not,” Shane acknowledged. “Didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”
    “She’ll also need a chaperone for the trip,” Trey pointed out, in a tone more like a father than a lawman.
    “I know that, too.” In fact, Logan had already begun working up a list of chaperones in his mind.
    He knew of several suitable women he trusted implicitly, all of them connected with Charity House. He didn’t see a problem with asking any of the ladies to accompany him and Megan to his family’s ranch, until his gaze met hers.
    There was something in her eyes he couldn’t quite define. That look, it was the same one she’d given him earlier, as though she was...afraid?
    Was she afraid of him?
    Surely not. Something else had to be causing her worry.
    “Megan, I’m confident we can find you a suitable chaperone, one we can both agree on.”
    His words seemed to upset her more, so much so that tears gathered in her eyes.
    Tears!
    Megan was going to cry.
    No, Lord. Please, no.
    Logan could stand anything but that. Unlike his brother, Hunter, he’d always been powerless in the face of female tears. Even as a boy, Logan’s baby sisters had wrapped him around their little fingers with nothing more than a whimper. It hadn’t taken the little darlings long to learn how to use that particular weapon mercilessly against him.
    But with Megan, her tears were different. They’d always been...terrifying. Gut-wrenching.
    “Please, sweetheart, don’t cry.” Hoping to avoid the inevitable, he took her hands in his and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “We’ll get married instead. Before we leave.”
    She gasped at his blunt delivery, her eyes wide with shock.
    You’re botching this, Logan.
    He softened his voice, took a deep breath and tried again. “Megan, I want to marry you.” At the sight of her skepticism, he added with more force, “I do.”
    “You two can’t get married right now,” Trey and Shane said at the exact same moment, their voices melding into one, cruel sentence.
    Paying no heed to either man, Logan gripped Megan’s hands a bit tighter and stared into her eyes. His mind traveled back to the time when her guardian had told him to wait until she was older, until he could provide for her properly.
    For five years, he’d followed another man’s advice. He’d worked hard to prove himself as a lawman, moving up the ranks until he was no longer someone’s deputy but a U.S. Marshal in his own right.
    What good had come from that route? Megan was in trouble. Her life was