A/N: As most of you know, this is the continuation of Lady Prince; I hope you enjoy it!

Prologue

It had been a whole three months now that Rachel had been in the year of 1887. She'd adjusted very well into her new environment, gradually coming to terms with the lack of electricity, Internet and rock music. Some days, secretly, she wished she could go back, take Charlie with her, but she knew he wouldn't respond so well to such a request. Or would he? There was only way to find out his reaction, and of course that was to raise the question. One thing was certain in her mind and that was she never regretted coming back. She'd saved him.

Rachel sat alone with her knees to her chest on a boulder not far from where she and the rest of the men had been camping out. The sun was just rising across the horizon and it brought a smile to her face as she watched it. The sky was full of beautiful shades of orange and red. For a moment she closed her eyes and basked in the growing glow of the sun.

Around her shoulders was her long dark brown leather jacket, and it always kept her so warm. The first thing Charlie had done when they'd left Contention was make sure that Rachel had her own set of guns and was appropriately clothed. Rachel smiled to herself as she thought back on Charlie's immediate reaction upon seeing her new clothes, her outlaw attire. For the first time since meeting him she'd seen him speechless. His green, lusting eyes trailed down her and a sly smile erupted on his face.

"You're up early," Kinter said, his voice gruff and hoarse. The broad, red haired man stood behind Rachel and looked down at her, drawing his thick over jacket in around himself to keep out the biting cold.

"Didn't sleep too well last night," Rachel replied, not bothering to look up and make eye contact. Truth be told she was never completely comfortable without Charlie by her side; she worried continuously about him when he went off on his own, and then she wasn't entirely trusting of the men whom she shared places in Charlie's re-formed outfit with. However, as of yet, none of them had tried anything stupid because they knew full well if they crossed Charlie by harming Rachel, they'd be lying in the dirt and shit with a bullet between the eyes.

Around an hour later and the relatively small group were riding out to meet up with the head of their group, Charlie Prince. Their breakfast had been quick and not much conversation was passed between any of them.

When Charlie was absent from the group, it was Rachel who stood in for him. The men of the group preferred Rachel's leadership skills as she was less harsh than Charlie, not pushing them half as much. She basically went along with the orders Charlie had put in place and then let the men do as they wished. The first time Charlie had announced his departure from the group to find out information needed in conjunction with raids, Rachel had been stubborn, stating she was going with him. But eventually she gave in after a very fiery argument.

Rachel was now extremely skilled in riding a horse after many an hour being taught by Charlie to ride properly. For the first six weeks of her coming back to stay with Charlie, she'd been his student. They'd completed intense riding and gun training, but Charlie had always been patient with her.

It was Rachel's first time of shooting from a gun and she felt the pistol's cold surface in her shaking hand. Charlie was stood behind her, his arm around her shoulder and positioning her arm and the weapon accordingly. "Relax," he told her, whispering in her ear. "You don't have time to tense up," he continued. "An ugly fat guy is runnin' at you and you need to be sharp."

Rachel smiled and eased herself back against him, enjoying having him so close to her. She let her gaze travel down the barrel, studying the target Charlie had quickly drawn on the wall of an old, deserted farm house. Then her finger pressed slowly on the trigger, until suddenly a crack hit the air.

"Not bad," Charlie told her, smiling. For her first time ever firing a gun she'd missed the very centre of the target by a mere couple of inches. "You just need to relax. Think of the gun as an extension of your hand."

When Rachel had changed her life around, in all literal senses of the term, she'd been scared her passion she shared with Charlie would soon fizzle out. They were both extremely fiery personalities and she secretly feared that fire would burn out in time. But, truth be told, in the three months she'd remained with him, Rachel had only grown to love him more. Now that Charlie was the leader of the group and had Rachel at his side, he seemed more confident and proud, although a couple of his men had commented on Rachel being the weak link of the group and he was no longer as strong as he'd once been. By having Rachel in the group he would always been watching out for her, although during raids Rachel was always the mastermind behind plans. She usually acted as the diversion and preferred it this way; not many people suspected women as being sly and contriving. In one particular raid back in Flagstaff, Rachel had even dressed up as a prostitute, although that was one situation she'd rather remained omitted from her outlaw résumé.

Jackson sat across the small camp from Rachel, watching the burning fire illuminate her face. "You ain't got what it takes to live like this," he snapped, shredding off a piece of meat with his teeth.

Rachel's gaze bore into Jackson as he spoke. If Charlie had been there Rachel knew that he'd have floored the man for speaking to Rachel in such a way. "You know why I'm here, Jackson, and it's got nothing to do with raiding coaches. I do this for Charlie, and you know that."

By the time the evening was beginning to set in, Rachel and the men had finally arrived at their destination which was some dusty, run down town on the outskirts of Phoenix. This was their meeting point with Charlie and already Rachel felt the familiar butterflies begin flapping viciously in her gut. The cool air was gathering momentum and a definite chill was present in the atmosphere. Rachel pulled her brown leather gloves from her saddle bag and put them on, feeling the warmth spread up her hands. As she slid out of the saddle gracefully, she pulled out her guns, checking they were both fully loaded and then swiftly pushed them back into her holsters at her hips. One promise Rachel had made and that was she'd never fire her gun with intent to kill; the weapon was there for protection and self defence.

Rachel sat on her own in the back right hand corner of the saloon a while later, writing a poem while the men leered at the barmaids and drank whiskey shots. She glanced out of the window every now and again, searching for the all too familiar figure of Charlie. Each time she sighed and turned her attention back to her writing.

Patrons came and went, most of them not even noticing Rachel sat alone in the corner. Some of them however noticed her bowed head and felt confused by how she was dressed. She wasn't wearing typical woman attire and the two guns on her hips told everyone to steer clear of her. Rachel enjoyed intimidating people and keeping them away from her; she liked the solitude.

Upon Rachel's next inspection of the old dirt road outside, a wide grin spread across her face. A figure dressed in a familiar white leather jacket with gold vertical buttons on the front was dismounting his horse. Rachel dashed to the set of swinging doors and saw him approaching, about to ascend the steps into the saloon. For a brief second they passed smiles to one another, acknowledging each other's presence and then Rachel stepped up to him and felt herself being swept into a passionate kiss. His bristled lips pressed against hers and his eager tongue fled into her mouth whilst his hands delved downwards, resting just above her holsters.

"You miss me?" Rachel asked teasingly, grinning as she wound her arms around his neck and stood up on her tip toes.

"Why ask such a dumb question?" he asked, raising a golden eyebrow and then proceeding to kiss her again.

In the saloon, Charlie and Rachel sat down with the other five men who were gathered around a table in the left corner of the room, directly opposite to where Rachel had first been sitting. Charlie divulged the information he'd travelled to collect. But something was present in his eyes, and Rachel sensed it; his tone was stern yet his eyes were heavy with something hidden. And then finally when Charlie revealed their next destination, she knew why Charlie didn't seem to be himself. It meant riding to Austin, Texas: Charlie's home town. She remembered all the details she'd read about Charlie on the Internet when she came back to save him.

"Charlie? You okay?" Rachel asked as all the men dispersed, heading for the hotel across the street. "We don't have to go on this raid, you know?" she whispered to him, taking his hand and looking up into his green eyes. "Send one of the others to do it if it's bothering you."

"It's not botherin' me," he half snapped.

"I know you enough by now, Charlie. It's where you grew up," she said again, watching his face grow deeply saddened and disturbed by her words. "Talk to me. Don't shut me out."

Charlie felt the icing on his heart melt once more as he looked into Rachel's eyes. His gloved hand reached out and slid up her cheek, cupping it tenderly in his hand. Rachel's own hand touched his which was on her cheek.

"Ah still don't know why you gave up everythin' for me, Rachel," he said quietly. Then his hand fell away from her cheek and he walked away in front, stepping out onto the quiet street under the moonlit sky.

Rachel trod carefully behind him, following him as he strolled across to the hotel. "Why can't you accept the fact I love you, Charlie?" she asked, stopping in her tracks. "You know I'd do anything for you and you don't see that...at all."

Inside the hotel, Charlie and Rachel retired to bed quickly which was followed by a late night love making session. When Charlie was utterly spent, he fell down beside Rachel, breathing hard. "Let's get married," he said between pants.

"Are you serious?!" Rachel asked loudly, shooting up so she was sat bolt upright.

"Yeah, why not?"