A Lady Like Sarah by Margaret Brownley Page A

capable of a serious felony. She said her brothers had stopped the stage. Did that mean she wasn't there? That she had nothing to do with the actual robbery?
    He knew what it was like to be wrongfully accused. His work in Boston came to an abrupt halt when a wealthy widow accused him of taking advantage of her. Nothing could be furÂther from the truth.
    Mrs. Geoffrey Thornhill , an active member of the church, called one day asking for him. She sounded desperate. He hurried to her home to offer counsel and was stunned when she made her true intentions known. He turned her down as kindly as he could, of course, but whether out of anger or spite, she reported him. It was his word against hers. When she threatened to withhold a substantial amount of money from the church if he wasn't reprimanded, Justin was asked to leave.
    It was only because one of his superiors believed in his innocence that he was given a second chance—not to clear his name, but to continue to carry out the Lord's work, this time in a little church in the small Texas town of Rocky Creek.
    But the second chance came with a severe warning: he was told to stay away from trouble—and there lay the problem. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Sarah was trouble, whether or not she actually had a hand in robbing that stage.
    Yet he couldn't just turn his back on her. What kind of preacher would just walk away? What kind of man? These questions kept him tossing and turning for the remainder of the night.
    The next day Justin was in the worst possible mood. His head ached, partly from lack of sleep, but mostly because he had made the decision to fulfill his promise to Owen and take Sarah to Texas. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. It meant he would have to fight to save her.
    He didn't know if he could or even if it were possible, but he had to try.
    What choice did he have? Now that he knew the extent of her problems, he could no longer justify letting her go. When he was ordained, he had taken an oath to obey God's comÂmandments, and that included the one about obeying the laws of the land.
    He knew many preachers who struggled with this very commandment, especially during the War Between the States, when conscience was often at odds with the law. There was no way he could justify letting Sarah go under these circumÂstances. The Bible was clear on that account.
    He would fulfill his promise to the marshal, take her to Texas, and demand that she be tried in front of a lawful court. If she was innocent as she claimed, all they'd have to do was prove it. Yet making the decision brought him no peace of mind.
    Aligning himself with an outlaw against an entire town could have grave consequences for him as a preacher, and he could well lose his ministerial rights. The thought of not being allowed to preach God's Word again was more than he could bear.
    Why, God? he asked in tortured silence. Why are You doing this to me? He'd never questioned God's will in the past. Why, then, did he question it now?
    To make matters worse, it was already hot and the air heavy with dust. Every step felt like walking uphill.
    Owen had slept fitfully through the night, and it was obviÂous that the lawman had taken a turn for the worse. His skin was hot and clammy; the wound on his shoulder appeared even more red and swollen than it had the day before.
    Owen needed medical help, and he needed it now.
    As far as Justin could figure, they were still fifteen or more miles away from the closest town. With a wounded man and handcuffed woman in tow, he'd be lucky if he got there by late afternoon.
    He only hoped there was a doctor in residence. If not, at least they should be able to obtain clean bandages and maybe even find a decent bed.
    If things weren't dismal enough, Sarah was at her combatÂive worst. She begged him to free her, and when he refused she became even more difficult to handle, forcing him to pick her up, haul her over his shoulder, and set her on