by Stacy Reid
And to think all this time she’d been at the Whispering Creek ranch. There had been no plans in his mind if he had found her. There had simply been a deep-seated need to know she was safe.
She stirred, and with a distinctly unladylike curse, kicked the covers from the bed onto the floor. Her nightgown rode up to her mid thighs, and startling heat shafted him. It was damn dishonorable of him to stare, but he did. She was significantly slimmer than what he remembered, but she still had that lush ripeness to her figure. He’d like nothing better than to gather her in his arms and sample the sweetness of her lips.
For months when the cattle trails had been lonely, he’d lain awake nights, imagining touching his tongue to the smoothness of her skin, then skimming up to flick at those plump berry lips.
A rough sigh escaped him, and he scrubbed a hand over his face.
This is not what he should be thinking about now. While he had been hot on Bartley’s trail, an epiphany had shot through Joshua. He had been hunting a man with the intention to kill him. He would have done so without any mercy or hesitation because that man had hurt a woman only because he had the power to do so. Before he’d known he had a son, he would have spent weeks, or months hunting him if necessary.
But he had sat atop his horse, staring toward the trail leading to Denver, where all evidence pointed that was where Bartley headed. Then Joshua had glanced back, over the vast lands and rolling mountains which directed him back to this ranch, this woman, and his son.
And he hadn’t hesitated. He had turned around with a knowledge beating in his heart. He wanted to be a part of his son’s life, more than how he wanted to find Bartley and bring him to justice, more than how much he wanted to wander.
A whimper tore through the room, and he lowered his gaze to Bethany. She dreamed, and it was easy to deduce they were unpleasant. Her breath panted, and a low moan came from her throat. Her face was pale, her body tight with tension.
“Do not hit me again!”
Her voice was a mixture of defiance and raw fear, and Joshua knew it was the memory of her husband who haunted her. He hoped no one else had hurt her, for he would hunt them down like the dogs they were and end their miserable existence. The west bred a different kind of man, men who were more lawless, who understood more than their eastern counterparts that only the strong survived in these parts. But it was a depraved kind that hurt women and children, and it had never been his way to have mercy on those kinds.
“Easy,” he murmured, resting a hand on her head, understanding how difficult it was to shed the horrors of the past.
He’d left the war with memories he wished would never resurface, but sometimes they snuck under his barrier when he slept and tormented him. Though most of his fights had been the good fight, the knowledge of what he had done, and would continue to do at times. The acts that had been necessary to protect his loved ones filled him with a restlessness that gave him no peace.
He’d fought against Cheyenne renegades, who had taken his brother’s wife and child some years ago. And only a couple months after that tragedy, he had again grabbed his rifle and .44, tracked and hunted a band of Comancheros who’d taken his youngest sister, Jenny. He’d done it alone, for Elijah had been broken with grief, his younger brother Noah had been in California, and their father had been laid up in bed with a couple of bullet wounds earned in trying to stop his daughter’s abduction.
Joshua hadn’t waited for his cousins as his father had demanded. He’d headed out on their trail immediately. The fight to get her back had been bloody and brutal, and at the end of it, he had taken the lives of nine men. While it had been necessary, there were days he closed his eyes, and the raw, metallic scent of blood and the screams and pleadings of those men would resurface.
Bethany shuddered, whimpered again, and after several more minutes she took a long, ragged breath, and slept easier. A heavy ache lodged itself in his chest. And now looking down at this woman who had stolen a piece of him when she had fled that night…he wanted her too.
Chapter 5
Beth tied the reins of the buck wagon she had ridden into town, near the hitching post by the general store. Stepping onto the boardwalk, she walked briskly to the stage station which also served as a depot to send her telegram to Boston. Her mother would be anxiously awaiting her answer, and Beth was pleased to tell her she would be journeying to see her soon.
The door to the general store opened with a jingle, and little Sarah Wilkson darted through the opening, laughing, a fistful of candy clutched in her hand.
“Sarah Wilkson,” Beth scolded. “I hope you did not steal those candy corns.”
She thrust them behind her, having the decency to appear shamefaced. “I’m sorry Miss Galloway. Please don’t tell my pa.”
Beth came to a pause in front of one of her most promising students. She smiled at her gently. “What did I tell you about stealing?”
She worried at her bottom lip, her green eyes widening. “That it ain’t right.”
Beth dipped into her pocket and withdrew her purse and gave her a few coins. “Now go and pay Mr. Jenkins for his candies.”
“Ah shucks Miss Galloway, would you go for me?”
"No," Beth said firmly, ensuring she suppressed all trace of humor. "You must face the consequences of your actions. You will apologize to Mr. Jenkins as well."
With a heavy sigh, she returned. A few seconds later, she appeared rubbing her knuckles, a shine in her eyes. Evidently, her fingers had been rapped quite sharply.
"Now you take the candies to the schoolyard and hand them out."
“Miss Galloway, I paid for these!”
“I paid for them.” Beth walked over and ruffled her short mop of curly blonde hair. “You will only take one, Sarah Wilkson and give away the rest. I am trusting in your honesty that you will do as I ask.”
Her shoulders straightened, and her little chest puffed out. “You can sure right depend on me, Miss Galloway.”
“Now run along and—”
The rest of her words were smothered by a large gloved hand which clamped tightly over her mouth. Her scream of fright was muffled, and Beth’s heart surged wildly when a powerful arm banded across her waist and dragged her from the boardwalk.
Everything happened so fast she felt disoriented. They stumbled into the alley between the bank and the mercantile, her mind frantically searching for comprehension. An unattached woman of questionable background was too much temptation for some men to resist, and she’d had to defend her virtue a few times with her Winchester since her arrival in Blue Lagoon. But no one had ever accosted her in such an outrageous manner.
She was released, and she whirled around, the words of anger burning in her throat froze. What felt like minutes passed. Somewhere up the street, a door slammed, then a moment of silence followed. Though the noonday sun shone brightly, a bone-deep cold seeped through her body. “Abraham?”
“Ah, Mrs. Bethany Hardin. I have been looking for you.” Abraham Hardin’s face was harsh and menacing, his smile cruel.
Nausea clutched her stomach, and she wrenched herself from his embrace only to lose her footing. She managed to prevent herself from falling and with dignity, lifted her chin. “And why have you been searching for me?” she queried politely, determined not to show any fear or uncertainty.
This man was as vicious as his brother. Though he had never placed his hands on her, he had watched as his brother ‘disciplined’ her once. The very memory of the riding crop biting into her skin, and how she had crawled on the floor to escape filled her with shame and dread. Abraham had sat at the table, eating beans with cold roast beef, never interfering, simply watching her pain and humiliation with dead eyes. Beth was still unable to eat beans and beef.
Her gaze skipped from him to the men formed in a loose circle behind him. She counted fourteen men, all hardened, with eyes that held little kindness or emotions. Her husband was not among them, and a slow relief filled her. Opposite the stage station, was the
sheriff's office and jail, but she didn’t think they would give her the chance to run over there. “I am no concern of yours, and you will excuse me.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Well now, that depends on the answers to some of my questions.”
The smell of unwashed flesh from the men as they crowded her assailed her nostrils. A terrible dash of fear and anger clawed through her. “What questions?”
“Git on in the saloon boys, I can handle this little filly.”
After assessing her with disgusting leers, they melted away, too slowly for comfort. It was then she became aware of Sarah hovering close by, leaning on the side of the mercantile. She seemed frozen with indecision as if she was not sure what was happening.
“Go on, Sarah, head on to class now,” Beth urged, wanting her away from the situation, and hoping she would be savvy enough to alert someone.
Little Sarah swallowed nervously, seemingly aware for the first time that the situation was taut with danger. Good girl, now run to safety. Beth gently prodded her away, her stomach knotting into tight bands when Abraham placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, with enough strength where she winced.
“She stays.”
She met the gaze of a very properly dressed blonde woman leaving the mercantile. The woman looked away from the alley, with her nose turned into the air. Beth hoped she would turn to the sheriff and warn him, but she did not hold out much hope. Folks in Blue Lagoon were not apt to interfere in any business, not theirs. “I have nothing to say to you with a child present.”
“You’ve grown some claws,” he mused. “Curious.”
She went still. He held her stare, and Beth forced herself to hold his gaze, ignoring the sharp cramping inside her stomach. Why was he in Blue Lagoon? Had her husband somehow found her? Abraham released Sarah, and after the smallest of hesitation, the child darted away. Beth almost sagged with relief.
“Where is my brother?”
It was the last thing she expected him to ask. “Benjamin?”
“He’s the only one I have.”
Confusion rushed through her. “I have not seen him in about two years.”
“Curious, it’s about the same time I last saw him.”
She searched his face wildly. He was telling the truth. “The last time I saw your brother…” He had been facing down Joshua Kincaid. Dear God. “He was plotting with the Caitlin brothers to bust you from a jail down in El Paso. He left that night, and I never saw him again.” That had been her husband’s plan, and why she had so desperately needed to flee that night. His stint in El Paso would see him away from her for several days, giving her a head start she had needed to disappear from his life.
"Strange, that is the last I heard of him as well. He had plans to bust me out, the posse was ready and was to meet him at Bluff Point. Except he never showed in El Paso, and as I hear tell it, you left town the same night he disappeared.”
Her legs trembled, and she leaned against the side of the building. “I beg your pardon?”
His cold eyes assessed her keenly. “Why did you leave Liberty?”
She allowed her lips to curl in disgust. “Surely you are not that dumb.”
Surprise flared in his gaze, and she braced herself for his fist, determined to react should he dare hit her. She watched him, every minute detail, preparing for when she would need to defend her life. “Your brother was vile to me. So, I planned to leave him. I planned it for months, and when word reached Liberty that you were caught in El Paso for a bank robbery, I knew he would ride out to rescue you. So, I used that chance to escape him.”
He stepped in too close for comfort, leaning in, so he almost brushed her. “Then where is he?”
“I am not your brother’s keeper,” she said through gritted teeth.
Abraham rocked back on his heel, considering her. “My brother sent word to me that he was coming. He never showed, and I’ve been rotting in that hell hole ever since. I was only just liberated," he said with a sickening smile which hinted at the violence that must have been used to secure his release. "I was only liberated these last few weeks, and I have been searching for Ben. I knew your brother had a place yonder over these mountains. Imagine my surprise when I rode into town last evening and folks seem to know you but as a Miss Galloway. They didn’t seem to know my brother though.”
Beth had run to her room that night, changed out of her torn clothes, used a spoon and pried open the floorboard and took the money she had carefully hidden away. Then she had packed a saddle bag with food and essentials and had hurried down the stairs to the large kitchen and through the back, and then to the corrals. She hadn’t looked back, and she hadn’t waited on the man who had asked her to. She had ridden away hard, sold the horse and ridden the stage, and had run for days without rest until she had reached the Whispering Creek Ranch. She hadn’t thought to wonder what had happened to Benjamin Hardin. In fact, she hadn’t cared. She had gotten away from his unchecked brutality, and that was all that had mattered.
“I came here alone. I do not know where your brother is.” She attempted to walk away, and his hand darted like a striking rattlesnake to clamp on her forearm. There would surely be bruises on her arms later. She tried to pry his fingers loose, but they were like steel talons. After staggering to get her balance, she threw her head back and glared at him. “You will release me, Abraham Hardin! You asked your questions, and I answered.”
“I am taking you back to Liberty. The ranch needs minding, and you will tend to it while I look for—”
Beth laughed. She wasn’t sure who was more startled by her outburst. She sobered at the anger that narrowed his gaze. “I am not going anywhere with you,” she challenged. “You will have to drag me in the dirt to your horse, and I doubt the good folks of Blue Lagoon will stand for such mistreatment of their womenfolk.”
Except she bluffed. Sheridan had been accosted in front of some of the town’s finest a few weeks ago, and they had done nothing. Beth had no hope they would try and help her, but she had to try something.
A shrewd light appeared in his eyes, and her mouth went impossibly dry. Benjamin had often bragged Abraham had at one time advised General Lee on war matters. He’d always been different than Benjamin, less brass, more the thinking kind. And she could see the cogs turning behind his dispassionate eyes. Men like Abraham were smart and ruthless and could have easily chosen to be a part of the new fabric in the south after the war. But he chose west and Beth had been so foolish to not travel with her mother east. Thomas had already sailed to England, so she had accepted being courted by Benjamin Hardin, a man she had thought had honor and charm. God, how she had allowed herself to be deceived.
She would never be able to pinpoint what had alerted her. It was more of an awareness than a sound. It was as if she felt Joshua. She glanced at the mouth of the alley, overlooking the main street. The blood thundered in her ears, all the usual sounds of the town faded. The creaks of the boardwalk, the raucous laughter that spilled from the saloon and the rattle of the buckboard. Her chest suddenly felt tight, her skin sensitized, and everything inside of her was fixed on the man that rolled towards her with that natural sensual grace. His dark-blue shirt was tucked into black denim, with a blue bandana tied loosely around his neck, and his hat pulled low over his head. He wore guns strapped low on his slim hips with a casual ease that was not present in the other men.
“Have you ever heard of Joshua Kincaid?”
Abraham stiffened.
“I see that you have,” Beth snapped. “He is coming toward us now, and I suggest you release me.”
Abraham's eyes went sharp. “What business is it of his?”
Somehow, she knew Joshua would not take Abraham’s action lightly, and she wanted no bloodshed or a gun battle. “You will release me!”
“Funny, I heard Kincaid was in town at that time too, and he won a night in your bed. And now I find you and him in the same town. D
id you run out on my brother with a drifter?” The question was asked with such smooth iciness, fear bit along her skin.
Still, he released her hand and stepped back.
“I do not know what happened to Benjamin, and I would appreciate you leaving me alone. Good day to you, Abraham,” she said, and walked from him.
Joshua was only a stone’s throw away, a curious stillness to his lean frame as he took in the scene in a sweeping glance. Trying to show a calm mien, she tilted her gaze and stared at him. “Good day, Mr. Kincaid.
He came forward, his expression inscrutable. “Bethany,” he said, tipping his hat.
For several moments she could not respond. How familiar he was as if he had seen her a few hours past and not almost two years. But then they had been as intimate as a man and woman could get. Her face heated, and his eyes sharpened.
“Mr. Kin…Joshua.” Beth swallowed. “I am surprised to see you in Blue Lagoon, but I am in a bit of a hurry to return home if you will excuse me.” She could not manage a confrontation with him now, not while Abraham Hardin looked on.
“Are you being troubled?”
Joshua’s tone was low, but there was something so deadly in it that Beth felt her scalp tighten.
“No…this gentleman was simply asking direction to the Tinsmith’s office.” She offered Abraham a tight smile and walked away. Beth didn’t look back, but she could feel both men’s stare burning into her shoulders. Her nerves were too shattered to continue to the stage station. Instead, she made her way to where she had hitched the buck wagon. She just wanted to return home and hold her son. And plan to flee from Blue Lagoon as fast as possible. She would ask Elijah for an escort until she reached east. Beth was confident he would send a few seasoned ranch hands with her.
Little Sarah was standing on the boardwalk by the restaurant, and Beth waved, and smiled, hoping she had reassured her all was well. Then she pointed toward the schoolroom on the next graveled street. Her message was clear for Sarah nodded, and moved toward the schoolyard.