Chapter One

      Dove Creek, Wyoming

      October 1860

      Josephine Dooly lay low over her horse’s back. She whispered soothing words in his ear, even though she felt sure he couldn’t hear them over the yells of the bandits in hot pursuit of her. Her heart raced, adrenaline ran full throttle through her veins and pounding heart.

      She doubted the bandits were after her money; they wanted the bags of mail in her possession, but if they stopped her, they’d get both and it wasn’t in her to let them have either. She meant to keep the hard-earned money she had on her person—and her mother’s locket. Josephine had a wedding trousseau to buy and a household to set up. Bandits out for the thrill of the steal were not going to alter her plans one little bit.

      “Just a little farther, boy. We’re almost there.” The Pony Express station just ahead was Josephine’s destination. Once she rounded the bend, she knew the men would stop chasing her. Ole Mac, the previous stock tender, had said so when he’d given her instructions about this part of her run.

      Thankfully, this was Josephine’s last ride for the Pony Express. She still couldn’t believe that cutting her hair and shortening her name to Jo had gotten her employment with the Pony Express. But she thanked the Lord that it had. There’d been some close calls and a few lonely days, but she’d made it by the grace of God.

      As promised, once she rounded the bend, the bandits turned back the way they’d come. She let out several loud whoops of her own and patted the horse’s neck as she sped into the Pony Express station, where another rider waited to take her place.

      She handed off the mochila and slid from the pony all in one motion. The other rider raced away, leaving Jo and the station manager standing in the yard in front of a tall barn.

      The Pony Express station stock tender turned to look at her. “Boy, you look plum tuckered out.” With a good-humored laugh, he slapped Josephine on the back and only her quick reflexes kept her from flying through the air and falling on her face.

      He motioned toward a building a few feet away. “Welcome to the Young family home station. I’m Andrew Young. My brother Philip is in the bunkhouse. Head on over. He’ll make sure you get something to eat and show you to a warm bunk, where you can bed down.”

      Josephine nodded. This was her first time at this station, but she knew that in another ten miles she’d be in Dove Creek—and that was her final destination. She’d hired on as a Pony Express rider simply to get here.

      She lowered her voice to sound like that of a young boy’s. “Thanks, believe I will.” Her legs felt as if she’d marched through mud and it had dried on her boots, weighing them down. She walked to the small bunkhouse, happy for a little time to rest after her last run.

      A smile tilted her lips. She’d made it to the Young Home Station. It had taken a couple of weeks, but she was here. And her uncle was none the wiser. She’d managed to escape his plans to marry her off to a distasteful gambler as payment of a large debt he owed. What kind of uncle did that to his niece? Apparently hers, as that was exactly what had happened. But she’d outsmarted him.

      Answering Thomas Young’s ad for a mail-order bride had been her saving grace. And the scariest thing she’d ever done in her young life. Well, that and signing on to be a Pony Express rider.

      Her forehead puckered in thought. What would Thomas’s brothers Andrew and Philip think when she revealed that she wasn’t a boy but their brother’s mail-order bride?

      Josephine hoped Thomas would be as happy to see her as she would be to see him. She’d not had the luxury of time to wait and see if he’d send her money to travel to the West, but had of necessity found her own way to Wyoming.

      Josephine knew she’d had no choice. After her mother’s death, her father had become depressed and one day just disappeared. Leaving her behind to fend for herself. At first her uncle had paid little attention to her, but soon he’d realized that she could become profitable to him. To escape her uncle and his plans, she’d signed on with the Pony Express and never looked back.

      Josephine pulled her shoulders back and raised her chin, readying herself to meet Philip Young. She touched her hand lightly against her chest, comforted by the warmth of her mother’s locket. The jewelry was the only thing left of her mother, besides Josephine’s memories, and she cherished it above all her possessions. Fortunately, her uncle hadn’t known she possessed it or it would have been long gone.

      She pushed the sad thoughts aside and entered the bunkhouse. She yawned and weariness filled her. Josephine knew that once she told Philip who she really was, she’d need a couple of hours’ sleep before heading to the town of Dove Creek. She hadn’t waited for Thomas’s letter and now only hoped that she’d be given the directions to the relay station that he ran. If she understood correctly, it was a mere five miles on the other side of Dove Creek, so shouldn’t be too hard to find.

      Nerves warred with hunger as she thought about this new life she planned to carve out for herself. Josephine prayed once more that she’d made the right decisions in answering a mail-order-bride ad, joining the Pony Express to escape her uncle and then marrying a man she didn’t know. Some might say she’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire; Josephine didn’t know, but she was about to find out.

      * * *

      Thomas Young leaned against the stone fireplace, watching snow drift silently to the ground in light, fluffy flakes. Living at a Pony Express relay station was the perfect life. He and his brother Philip had everything they needed. They attended to the Pony Express station that rested on the far side of the Young Home Station, which was always their first and last stop on their rides. Their ma liked this because it meant she got to see her adopted sons at least once a week. The home stations offered a bed and meal, whereas their small station offered only a fresh horse and more miles to ride between home stations.

      Thomas heard the bugle blow seconds before the young man came into sight. The Pony Express rider came in fast and hard. Not all the riders used the bugle, but this one did. Thomas pushed himself away from the fireplace wall. He hurried to the barn and pulled out the already saddled horse that the rider would exchange. He’d take care of the exhausted horse as soon as the Express rider was on his way.

      The young boy rode low over his horse’s neck. The powdery snow lifted from the horse’s hooves like steam from an overheated kettle.

      Thomas braced himself for the horse exchange. The boy practically leaped from one horse to the other in one motion. Thomas recognized him as Juan. “Adios!”