“You believed him?”
“Yes … no. I don’t know. I was determined to get away from them as soon as I could. When we arrived at the cabin, I tried to run, but they caught me and Hayden threatened me with his knife. I don’t know where I would have gone even if I had escaped. That cabin was in the middle of nowhere. Speaking of which, how did you find me?”
“With your father’s help. He contacted a friend of mine in Waco. A Texas Ranger. Lyle came to me and asked if I would help find you. I know these parts pretty well, so he figured I’d have a better chance than most. He already knew that you had left the train after Simon. I started at the water tower. It wasn’t too hard to follow your tracks. There were only a few places where they could hide you. I nosed around a little, and when I saw the car leave with Hayden and the other man in it, I decided to take a chance to see if you were in the cabin.”
“Lucky for me you did. I was terribly afraid of Squirrelly Eddy kept telling me that he wouldn’t bother me …” Kate’s words trailed off as she thought back on the attack in the cabin. She was truly lucky to be alive.
“Eddy was wrong, wasn’t he?”
“I haven’t thanked you for getting me out of there. I want to do that now. I don’t know how much longer they would have left me alone.” Kate placed her hand on his arm and glanced at his profile. “Thank you, Mr. Castle.”
“Mr. Castle was my father’s name. Don’t you think you can call me ‘Tate’?”
“Only if you’ll call me ‘Kate. ’ So far you haven’t called me anything.”
A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I called you plenty of things after your bag fell down and cream spilled on my boot. Even my daughter said I smelled like flowers.”
“Your daughter? How old is she? What’s her name?”
“She’s six years old, and her name is Emily.”
“Who stays with her and your wife while you’re away?” Kate asked, thankful that he’d begun talking about his life.
“I have a couple who has been with me for many years. Yelena and Jorge are my family now.”
It occurred to Kate that she was completely relaxed and comfortable sitting in this dim cave alone with this man, although she wished he would talk about himself without her having to ask questions. She had known almost from the first that he was not a talker and asking seemed the only way to get to know him.
“Have you lived here long?”
“All my life. I was born on the ranch where I live. My father brought my mother there after they were married. He raised horses. Now I do.”
“Your parents are not living?”
“No, they are both gone.”
“I guess you think I’m asking a lot of questions?”
“Yeah, I guess I do, but I was getting ready to ask a few myself. What was a girl like you doing traveling across the country alone?”
“I was on my way to California to join my uncle. I thought I would be perfectly safe on the train. So did my father. It never entered my mind that I would be kidnapped.”
“How did they get you off the train?”
“I got off at the water tower to get a breath of fresh air. Squirrelly got off too and put a gun in my back. He tried to force me to go into the woods, and when I refused, he hit me. Later we were joined by Hayden and Eddy.”
“Your luggage is probably still on its way to California.”
Kate looked up at him and smiled. “You didn’t get all the things that spilled out of my valise. I picked up one thing and put it in my pocket. Later Squirrelly grabbed it. Eddy made him give it back to me.”
“That was not my finest moment.”
“I’m sorry you were embarrassed. I have a lot to apologize for as far as you are concerned.” She removed her hand from his arm.
“Shall we call it square?” he asked.
“Square,” she answered as they shook on it.
Chapter 12
KATE WOKE FROM A SOUND SLEEP. For the briefest of moments, she was still in her dream, dining with her father at Tony’s restaurant. The two of them were happy, eating good food and laughing at one of her father’s silly jokes. As reality returned, she peered through the darkness of the cave to the entrance. There she could make out Tate’s silhouette. He sat with his back toward her, his wide-brimmed hat still on his head. For a moment, she wondered if he was asleep, but even as the thought crossed her mind, he removed his hat and placed it on the blanket beside him.
Kate hesitated for a moment before she stood up and slowly went toward him. The stone floor of the cave felt cold and rough against her sore, bare feet. Tate’s head turned as she approached, but he remained silent.
Kate sat down close behind him on the blanket.
“Did you get any sleep?” he whispered.
“A little,” she said, imitating his quiet voice. “I dreamed I was with my father.”
“A bad dream?”
“No. It was a nice one. We were dining in his favorite restaurant.”
“Are you hungry? There’s one biscuit left.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think I could eat another biscuit.”
“Especially one that’s been in a saddlebag for three days?”
“I’m sure they were good when you put them in there, but I think I’ll pass.”
“My daughter, Emily, likes them right out of the oven, with plenty of butter and jam.”
Kate was pleased that he now spoke so openly about his personal life. But what about his wife? She wanted to ask but was afraid that he would clam up and stop talking.
“How about you? Do you have children?”
“No. I’m not married.” In the silent seconds that followed her answer, Kate decided to ask the question that had floated in and about her mind since they escaped the cabin. “What about your wife? Won’t she be worried about you?”
“I don’t have a wife.”
“Did she die?”
“She up and left. She’s dead to me,” Tate said coldly.
“She left her little girl?”
“Emily hasn’t suffered because of her leaving.”
Kate looked out into the dark night and wondered about the strange conversation that she was having with this man whom she had known for such a short time. What kind of woman would leave her daughter? What had happened between Tate and his wife?
“Tell me about you,” Tate said, obviously wanting to change the subject.
“What do you want to know?”
“Anything you want to tell me.”
“Well … I’ve lived in New York all my life. My father and mother came to New York from Pittsburgh, where my father worked in the steel mills. My mother died when I was little, and my father threw himself into his work. Now he owns a steel mill, but I don’t think that he’s entirely happy with his life in New York. Oh, I also have a half-sister. Her name is Susan.”
“So your father remarried, then?”
“Yes, when I was quite young. I think that he was lonely, and he thought I needed a mother. My stepmother is a society woman. Sometimes I think that neither I nor my father quite come up to her expectations.”
“How about your sister?”
“She’s more like her mother. She likes the society life too. Her days are filled with shopping, her nights with dancing.”
“And you? What was your life filled with?” A pause. “A man?”
“No, I went to nursing school, and for the last couple of years, I’ve worked in a clinic in the city. I loved every minute of it! It was very satisfying because most of the people we helped were poor. When my uncle in San Francisco offered me a job in his hospital, I decided to accept it. I wanted to travel, to see the country and help people who need help.”
“What did your father think about that?”
“He has always encouraged me to make my own decisions, and he made it clear that he would stand by me in whatever I decided to do. My stepmother, on the other hand, was against the idea. Being a nurse isn’t society enough for her. Sh
e is sure that I’ll be back home in a few months.”
Somewhere off in the distance, a coyote howled. Kate’s fear of the unknown was replaced by her desire to talk with this man.
“Didn’t you like the life of a pampered rich girl?” Tate asked.
“I never thought of myself as being pampered, but I guess I was. I didn’t want the life that my stepmother wished for me.”
“What was that?”
“She wanted me to find a husband, preferably a rich one, with a family background that would help her socially.” Kate made a small chuckling sound. “She was terribly disappointed in me, but she has Susan, who loves society as much as she does.”
Kate leaned a little bit closer to Tate’s broad back and, just for an instant, thought about resting her head against him. It would be comforting to touch him while they talked, but she didn’t dare. Instead, she leaned toward the cave entrance and gazed at the sea of stars in the sky.
“I didn’t know stars could be so bright,” Kate said. “In New York City, there are so many lights that you scarcely notice them.”
Tate snorted. “I know. I’ve been there.”
“You have?”
“When I was younger, I left the ranch for a bit and spent a couple years roaming around the country. City life didn’t impress me too much. After a while, I decided home wasn’t such a bad place after all.”
“At least you got to see some of the world.” Then, pointing at the sky, she added, “And you have all these stars every night.”
“My father used to tell me stories about sailors who sailed the ocean guided by the stars,” Tate said, “and about the pioneers who got their bearings by reading the stars in the sky. At night, they would place their wagon tongues in the direction they wanted to travel the next day. I guess my wagon tongue was always pointed here.”
“Wasn’t there a trail to follow?”
“The first to go West didn’t have a trail. They had to find their own way.”
“I’ve always heard that a lot of the people who came West were massacred by the Indians. Is that true?” She wanted to keep him talking.
“Don’t believe what you see in the movies or read in Wild West magazines. More people died from drowning as they crossed the rivers than were killed by the Indians. At first, the Indians were very helpful to the pioneers. Gave them food and shelter, helped them to live off the land. But then, as more and more people came, they began to feel they were losing their land, and they did lose most of it. That’s what happened to Luke’s people. They are an offshoot of the Chiricahua Apaches. They left the reservation and settled in these hills. I’m not sure how long they will be able to stay here. It’s almost hunted out, and they have no way to make a living.”
“Why did they leave the reservation?”
“Luke’s father told me that there were too many rules and regulations. Different from the life that they had been living for hundreds of years. They probably felt a lot like I did in the city—out of place. They wanted to be free.”
Kate realized that life for the Indians was complicated. What she had seen in magazines or heard on the radio was a far cry from the reality. “Does the government help them?”
“Not if they aren’t on the reservation.”
“But what about the children? Luke mentioned something about a mission school. Who pays for that?”
“Well… we did manage to get the government to send a teacher after we built the schoolhouse.”
“Did you have something to do with that?” She heard the pride in his voice when he mentioned the schoolhouse. There was far more to Tate than she would ever have thought that night on the train platform.
He grinned. “A little, maybe.”
“I’d like to visit a real Indian village sometime. I’m sure that it’s different from what I imagine it to be. People back East think Indians are still savages. There isn’t anything savage about Luke.”
“Except his sense of humor. Maybe you can come back sometime and visit. But first we’ve got to get out of here and get you back to your father.”
In the midst of their easy conversation, Kate felt a shiver, remembering that they were being hunted by a man who might kill them if he caught them.
“It all seems like a bad dream. I just want to wake up and have it be over.” Kate paused, then added, “My father will want to meet you and thank you for helping me.”
“I have to admit, when Lyle first asked me to look for the woman who disappeared, I didn’t want to come,” Tate said, breathing deeply. “But knowing that Hayden could be involved, and Lyle seemed to think that he was, it was a pretty sure thing that the woman would never come back alive; and if she did, she’d be ruined. Knowing all that, I couldn’t have stayed home.”
“I’m so glad you did come looking for me.” For a brief moment, she laid her cheek against his back. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Tate felt the warmth of her against his back and was surprised by the strange feeling that swept over him. “Better hold off on those thanks until we get out of here.” He stood up, looked down at her, and said gruffly, “You had better get some sleep.”
“Will you sleep?” Kate asked, disappointed that their conversation had come to an end.
“I’ll doze at the entrance to the cave. You’ll be all right.”
“I wasn’t worried about myself. We’ve both had a rough day.”
“We won’t get any rest if we sit here jawing all night.” He reached a hand out to her and helped her to her feet. “Can you find your way back to your bedroll?”
“I can find it.” Kate placed her hand on his shoulder. “Good night.”
Tate watched as she made her way farther into the darkness of the cave and settled herself down onto the bedroll. He sat quietly looking out into the starlit night.
He now had a slightly different opinion of Miss Kather-ine Tyler. She wasn’t the pampered rich girl he had thought she was. She was the victim of a greedy man and his nephew.
The sound of a sniffle reached his ears, and he turned around to look into the darkness. He heard the sound again, realized Miss Tyler was crying, and went back to where she lay on her blanket. He stood silently for a moment, looking down at her. He knelt down beside her and said, “Why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying. I just got choked up for a minute.”
“You were crying. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would hear me. I usually don’t bawl like a baby,” she said, and swallowed a sob.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“I’m just tired, that’s all. I’ve been telling myself to buck up. Things could be worse. I could be out here by myself, or even worse, still be back in the cabin with Hayden and Squirrelly”
“You don’t need to be scared now. We’ll be all right here for the night, and in the morning Luke will be back. He will let us know what Hayden is up to.”
“There’s more than Hayden to be scared of. What about snakes and bats back here? Can I move up closer to you?” Kate sat up and leaned against him. He put his arm around her.
“You’ve held up real good.”
“For a city woman?”
“That’s what Luke calls you. I’ve never called you that. Well” —he chuckled—“at least not out loud.”
Kate didn’t seem to catch his attempt at humor. Wiping the end of her nose, she said, “I don’t think Luke likes me much. He’s always expecting me to do something stupid.”
“Luke’s had a couple of bad experiences with women from the city.”
“Women? He’s just a boy.”
“I don’t mean that kind of experience. I know of one who was especially hateful to him.” Tate did not want to tell her it was his ex-wife who had made Luke uncomfortable when he came to their home.
“You’ll feel better after you get a good night’s sleep.” Tate felt the hot tears on her cheek when he placed his face next to hers. He found himself reluctant to move
away from her. His heart was doing strange things while he held her.
“We’ll get out of here, won’t we?” she asked softly.
“I can’t promise that, but I can promise that I’ll do my level best to get you out.” His voice came gently to her ears. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I know you will.”
Shifting his body, he tried to form a more comfortable cradle for her. He raised his head and looked down at her. Her breath was on his mouth. In the dim light, he could see the outline of her face. It was pale and calm.
She lifted her arm and slipped it around his neck, pulling him to her. He gave a long, shuddering sigh and wrapped her in both of his arms, hugging her close.
“Are you all right now?” he whispered. He didn’t want to like this woman. He didn’t want to have feelings for her. To him, she wasn’t quite real, a fairy or a shadowy woman out of a dream. On the heels of that thought came a contradictory one: This was a real flesh-and-bone woman he was holding in his arms.
Suddenly Tate’s arms dropped from around Kate and he stood. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t afford to have feelings for her. “Come on. I’ll bed you down closer to the entrance.”
Kate was reluctant to let go of him. She reached for his hand and held it in hers as he pulled her to her feet. Tate bent down and scooped up her blanket. She followed him through the darkness to the front of the cave, where he laid out the bedding.
“Here you are. I’ll be sitting over here where you can see me. You won’t be left alone.”
“What about you? Are you going to sleep?”
“I’ll sleep, but don’t worry, I’m a light sleeper.” With that, Tate sat down, leaned against the side of the cave entrance, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned his head back.
Kate felt a fierce wave of longing, a desire that had begun when Tate put his arms around her. Unlike most rich girls, she had no interest in her father’s wealth. She dreamed of finding a man who would love her for herself. Instinctively she knew that this man was a man of integrity. He wasn’t interested in what lined her father’s pockets. As quickly as she thought it, she pulled her thought back. He was just being kind, and she shouldn’t make much of the embrace. But, try as she might to make it trivial, it had been comforting to be held in his arms.
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