Bound by a Secret
When Katrine Brinkerhoffâs cabin is attacked, only sheriff Clint Thorntonâs heroism saves her. She owes Clint her lifeâand her help catching the men responsible. All she has to do is trust in Clintâs plan to protect her family. But she canât let herself care too deeply, not when her past carries secrets that would drive him away.
Infiltrating the murderous gang is a dirty job, yet Clint is determined to see it through. The brigands will face justiceâand they will never harm Katrine again. Clint would give his life to keep the beautiful settler safeâ¦but will he be willing to risk his heart?
Bridegroom Brothers: True love awaits three siblings in the Oklahoma Land Rush
âYou can tell me one of your stories while I lay the corner timbers.â
âYou want to hear one of my stories?â
Snapping the reins, Clint set the horse to a gentle trot toward the spot a bit outside of town where Katrine and her brother had staked their claim. âI like your stories.â
She laughed. âLars thinks you find them silly.â
âThey are.â Clint laughed right along. âSome of âem, at least. But thereâs a place for silly. Weâve got all the serious we need, and then some.â
She eyed him, head cocked to one side. âSheriff Thornton, you surprise me.â
âI think we can dispense with the âSheriff Thornton,â donât you? You can call me Clint.â
âWell, then, I suppose you may call me Katrine.â
She offered a shy smile. The breeze sent strands of her hair playing across her cheeks. It looked like spun sunshine to himânot that heâd ever say such a thing to her face. Clint swallowed hard and turned his eyes to the path. âThank you kindly, Katrine,â he said. âIâll do that.â
* * *
ALLIE PLEITER
Enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, RITA® Award finalist Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. An avid knitter and unreformed chocoholic, she spends her days writing books, drinking coffee and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a B.S. in speech from Northwestern University and spent fifteen years in the field of professional fund-raising. She lives with her husband, children and a Havanese dog named Bella in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.
Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight.
â2 Samuel 10:12
In memory of my dear mother-in-law, Clarice
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Allie Pleiter for her contribution to the Bridegroom Brothers miniseries.
Chapter One
Brave Rock, Oklahoma Territory
June 1889
Fast wasnât fast enough.
Clint Thornton ignored the knot of iron tightening in his gut. He told his fear to go away, to stop growing colder and heavier with each minute, each uncrossed acre, each dangerous stretch of land between himself and the Brinkerhoff homestead. Oklahoma was hot and dry in June. A fire could turn deadly in a split second. And the fastest fire of all was one that had been set to kill.
He bent over his horse, boots digging into the animalâs flanks. Faster. Clintâs breath tightened to short, hard gasps. If he failed, Katrine would soon be gasping as well, lungs frantic for air, throat singed by the heat, chest bound by the dread of a cabin burning around her. The men threatening the homestead were once soldiers, after all, men trained in the taking of lives. A renegade soldier was a dangerous man indeed. Clint had learned they were seeking to burn a cabin to the ground tonight, but only when heâd followed a gut instinct to check on the Brinkerhoff place had he learned the blood-chilling truth.
Snapping his reins against the horseâs sweating flesh, Clint pressed on toward the four torchlights circling the tiny, nearly finished dwelling in the middle-of-the-night darkness just over the hill.
Katrine had nothing to do with any of this, but that wouldnât stop the cavalrymen or the flames they were about to set. They were looking to kill her brother, Lars, the witness to their crimes, and if she happened to die as well it would be of no consequence to them.
Clint yelled out to the men, hoping to distract them and buy Katrine more time, but he was still too far away for them to hear. The knot in his gut seemed to constrict around his whole body as he watched the leader of those men. In a cruel trick of moonlight, Clint saw Samuel McGraw casually, almost amusingly, touch his torch to the roof of a shed next to the cabin. Air fled Clintâs lungs in a helpless whoosh that seemed to say âtoo late.â