The Halsey Brothers Series Read online

  The Halsey Brothers Series

  Paty Jager Christina Keerins

  Windtree Press (2013)

  * * *

  Rating: ★★★★★

  Tags: Literature Fiction, Westerns, Fiction, Romance, Western, historical, adventure, suspense, FICTION / Romance / Historical / Western, FICTION / General

  Five historical western romance books.

  Marshal in Petticoats

  After accidently shooting a bank robber, Darcy Duncan becomes marshal of a town as accident prone as herself. And she’s not about to take orders from a corrupt mayor or a handsome drifter.

  Gil Halsey discovers the new marshal is a passionate woman hell bent on proving the mayor is corrupt and dodging outlaws to clear her name.

  Outlaw in Petticoats

  Zeke Halsey has wanted Maeve Loman since he first set eyes on the prickly schoolteacher. Even as she thwarts his advances, he sees the desire burning in her eyes. Offering to help her find her father, he hopes they both live long enough for him to prove to Maeve he isn’t going anywhere.

  Miner in Petticoats

  Ethan Halsey, the oldest of the Halsey brothers, is determined to fulfill his father’s wishes to provide for his brothers. The only drawback is a feisty woman who refuses to part with the land he needs.

  Aileen Miller has had two husbands. She isn’t about to allow another man to dictate her life or the lives of her two children.

  Can they work together and achieve their goals or will their growing attraction shatter their dreams and disrupt their families?

  Doctor in Petticoats

  Dr. Rachel Tarkiel gave up on love after a devastating accident and settled for a life healing others. Blinded by a person he considered a friend, Clay curses his circumstances and his limitations. Can their love overcome their internal fears and the obstacles life throws at them or will a mysterious man keep them apart forever?

  Logger in Petticoats

  Hank Halsey believes he’s found the perfect logging crew—complete with cooks—until he discovers Kelda Nielson would rather swing an axe than flip eggs. Strong and stubborn, Kelda Nielsen grew up falling trees, and resents any man who believes she’s not capable, until Hank. Will her deceit ruin Kelda’s chance at love or will hardheaded Hank realize it’s more than his love that puts a sparkle in her eye?

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Marshal in Petticoats

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Foreward

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Outlaw in Petticoats

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgement

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Miner in Petticoats

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgement

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Doctor in Petticoats

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Logger in Petticoats

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  -- Thank you

  This is a work of fiction, Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  HALSEY BROTHERS SERIES

  Copyright © 2013 Patricia Jager

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Name of Press except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Windtree Press

  Beaverton, Oregon

  Visit us at http://windtreepress.com

  Cover Art by Christina Keerins


  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  First Edition

  Marshal in Petticoats © 2006

  Outlaw in Petticoats © 2008

  Miner in Petticoats © 2009

  Doctor in Petticoats © 2010

  Logger in Petticoats © 2012

  Second Edition

  Marshal in Petticoats © 2011

  Outlaw in Petticoats © 2011

  Miner in Petticoats © 2011

  Doctor in Petticoats © 2012

  Published in the United States of America

  Marshal in Petticoats

  Halsey Brother Series

  Paty Jager

  Windtree Press

  Beaverton, OR

  2

  Dedication

  Special thanks to my friend and mentor, Nicole, who believed in my storytelling and honed my writing.

  To my mom, Regina Norman, who believed in me and told me I could do anything if I set my mind to it.

  3

  Foreward

  The town depicted in this story was an actual mining town on the John Day River in Oregon. At the time the story takes place, the town was called Susanville. But when the miners stole the post office (yes, they really did) thus taking the name of the town with them, Susanville became Galena after an ore found with silver.

  If you travel to Galena, you will find a few buildings. And up the canyon at Susanville you can find remnants of a small community and the footings of a stamp mill.

  Marshal in Petticoats

  Chapter 1

  Galena, Oregon

  1886

  “What kind of bullets does this take?” Darcy Duncan cradled a shiny, new rifle in her arms.

  The merchant on the other side of the counter cleared his throat. She turned her thoughts and gaze from the gun to the merchant’s bald head. Both the glass counter and his head shone glossy in the sunlight streaming through the large window. Did he spend hours polishing both?

  The man plunked a box of .45-70 shells on the counter. Darcy picked one up. The bullet was nearly the same size as her pointer finger. Something this size was sure to bring down food, keep claim jumpers away, and scare their uncle should he find them. She shivered. So far they’d not been dogged by him, however, she knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up to her and Jeremy. He held deep grudges. Ones her pa hadn’t known or he wouldn’t have left them in his brother’s care.

  “I’d like to take a look down the sight outside,” she said, setting the stock of the gun against her shoulder.

  “Just bring the gun back and pay for it. I don’t take kindly to people walking off with what they ain’t paid for.” The man scowled at Jeremy, who fingered a knife small enough to get lost in the pocket of a pair of trousers.

  “If I like it, I’ll pay for it,” she said and knocked Jeremy’s hand away from the knife before walking to the door.

  The bullet in her hand made gripping the gun awkward. She slid the cumbersome ammunition into the chamber of the rifle. Slipping the bullet in her pocket wouldn’t work. The man would think she was stealing. Neither she nor Jeremy, her twelve-year-old brother, had stooped that low even when their bellies went empty more than a day.

  She stepped out of the store onto the hastily thrown down plank walkway. The board wobbled under her feet, causing her to lose balance. Darcy grabbed Jeremy’s shoulder to keep from making a spectacle and clutched the rifle against her body. With her luck she’d drop the dang thing and have to pay top dollar for a scuffed up rifle. They didn’t have enough money to waste on her clumsiness.

  When her legs steadied, she raised the butt of the gun to her shoulder and sighted down the barrel. Squinting one eye, she tipped her head, and held the sight on a man walking across the street. Then another man appeared between the gun and her prey. She moved the gun, following him as he walked. Just like a deer in the woods. Only these deer weren’t nearly as agile.

  A cry rang out. Two men burst from a building across the street. Darcy trained the sights on a man with a bandana over his face, carrying a saddlebag. He vaulted onto the saddle of a horse tied to a rail. His movements resembled a leaping deer. This was more like hunting. The horse whirled around.

  “Look!” Jeremy slapped her on the arm. “A bank robbery!”

  BANG! The rifle rammed against her shoulder, a spasm of pain shot up her neck. Black smoke curled from the end of the gun and rolled back along the barrel. The caustic smell of burnt gunpowder burned her eyes and stung her nose. Through her tears, a blurry object fell forward over the neck of the horse and landed with a thud on the ground.

  “Oh, blazes!” Her stomach convulsed as she stared at the motionless body beside the horse’s nervous hooves. Darcy pushed the rifle at Jeremy. He shook his head and shoved it back at her. She scanned the storefronts and cringed as every person along the street, save the man lying face down in the dirt, stared at her. This was worse than the last town. At least there she’d only knocked the mayor’s wife into a pile of cow manure.

  Killing a man was serious.

  “Darce?” Jeremy touched her arm and pointed to a rotund man headed their direction. The cigar hanging from his mouth puffed like locomotive.

  “Let me do all the talking.” She swallowed the lump of fear bobbing in her throat. Thrown in jail or being hung would leave Jeremy all alone. She’d do whatever it took, short of killing another person, to keep her brother from living alone or worse, back at their uncle’s.

  “What a shot!” exclaimed the man from a few yards away. He waddled up to Darcy and whacked her on the back. The momentum of the swat knocked her forward.

  “Blazes!” she sputtered, regaining her footing. She scowled at the man. He didn’t appear to be upset, but rather congratulating her. Darcy looked him over closer. Yep, he didn’t seem angry. A shiver slithered down her back. Something wasn’t right. She’d never been congratulated for being clumsy before.

  “Young man you just saved the people of Galena from having to round up a posse and reclaim their money.”

  Darcy stared, opened-mouthed. She couldn’t have shot the bank robber if she’d tried. Sure she could usually bring down a deer, but after a few shots. Her Pa had always called her an accident looking for a place to happen. Only this time her clumsiness killed a man. Her gut knotted as a foul taste rose in her throat.

  “Yep, Darce is a crack shot with a rifle,” boasted Jeremy.

  The pot-bellied man stared at Darcy. It was the first time her appearance befuddled anyone. Her uncle had told her she was ugly, gangly, and nothing but trouble. She hoped the man didn’t think someone this uncomely could be a girl. Hiding behind the male clothing gave her opportunities not afforded other women. She liked the independence and not having to fend off men. She’d had enough of that at the brothel.

  She watched the man’s gaze start at her faded black, short-brimmed hat that held her auburn, fuzzy braid curled atop her head. He skipped her face. His gaze traveled down her body hidden under a shapeless, large chambray shirt tucked into over-large, denim trousers held up with suspenders. Her pa’s old boots were two sizes too big, but they kept her feet covered and hid the Bowie knife she used for protection.

  ”How old are you boy?” The man squinted at her. His perusal made her skin crawl. There was something about his beady eyes she didn’t like.

  “Fifteen.”

  The man nodded his head as though confirming his own thoughts. “What’s your name?”

  “D-Darcy Duncan.” She squeezed her hands around the rifle in an attempt to stop their trembling. Shooting a deer didn’t feel like this. Then her hands trembled with the excitement of a good meal. The gnawing in her belly had nothing to do with hunger. It was disgust at taking a life.

  “I’m Tobias Craven.” The man extended his hand. “You’re new to these parts, I can tell.” He winked and smiled, showing a row of straight, even teeth with two large incisors under a tobacco stained, gray mustache. “We could use someone of your talents in this town.”

  Darcy’s sto
mach twisted with revulsion as her slender hand was enveloped in his smooth, fleshy one. Pa always said a man with a smooth hand ain’t did a lick of work. She looked at Mr. Craven’s shiny, blue vest and fancy suit with a gold watch fob and wondered how he made his living in an upstart mining town like Galena. And why he was so danged honored to meet a scrawny kid like her. He reminded her of their uncle. She jerked her hand out of his as the crowd of townsfolk pressed in on them.

  “Who got him?” someone called out.

  “Must be some crack shot,” said another.

  Jeremy puffed up his chest and climbed onto a sack of corn.

  “It was Darcy Duncan, best shot this side of the Snake River,” he said, making his young voice carry to the far reaches of the crowd.

  “Jeremy! Come down from there.” Darcy tugged on his shirt, dragging him off his perch. She pulled him through the crowd.

  “You know as well as I do it was just an accident,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Yeah, but they don’t know that. Maybe we can get some money out of it.” He rubbed his stomach. “I ain’t eaten all day, and you said the last of the money was for mining supplies and that gun.” He pointed to the rifle she still clutched in her hands.

  “Blazes.” Her throat constricted as she forced the words out. “They’re gonna think I stole this.” She didn’t need stealing added to the other list of things she was sure would be drummed up against her. She spun around to head back to the mercantile. The crowd moved in unison toward them.

  “Criminy! They’re coming to get me already.” Her pa didn’t teach her to be a coward. She stood where she was; ready to be thrown in jail for stealing and killing a man. Course it wouldn’t be the first time she’d tried to talk her way out of trouble. Seemed like everywhere she and Jeremy went, they ended up talking to the local officials. Then have to hightail it and hope their uncle didn’t get wind of where they’d been.

  The crowd stopped a few feet in front of them. Mr. Craven stepped forward.

  “Darcy Duncan, I think the town is behind me when I say we would like to hire you on as our marshal.” The man straightened his spine, tipped back his head, and waved his lit cigar, adding the nauseating fumes to the air around him.

  “Our town has sprung up out of the great necessity to fulfill the requirements of the many gold seekers flocking to the Blue Mountains in search of their fortunes. With this great influx of people we have a need for some law.”