Shepherd's Song

by Moore, S. Dionne

  Tyler noted the dull glow around the campfire and slipped farther into the darkness. His eyes shifted back to the fire,and he realized something was moving. A slender figure. It could only be one person. On cat feet he inched closer, in-credulous as he watched Renee lift a gun and slip it into her waistband. She turned her back on the man and dropped to her knees in the dirt. Tyler could just make out her wielding a stick, digging in the dirt. What was she doing? He inched closer then saw the figure behind her move a little, releasing a gut-ripping snore.

  To her credit, she didn’t startle. She just stabbed harder at the dirt. What could be so important? He wanted to yell at her to run. He gained the circle of dim light when she glanced up. Her mouth gaped open for a gasp or a scream, he wasn’t sure which, but she caught herself and relaxed, recognizing him. He saw the depression in the ground she’d been digging at with the stick. A gun. She was trying to dig out under a gun to pull it free from underneath one of the men. Her progress had taken her about halfway.

  The man to her back moved again. Tyler swung forward now, fast, but careful not to kick dust. He lunged for the gun in her waistband just as the man at her back shot upright. Pivoting on the ball of his foot, Tyler brought the butt of the gun down hard and Lance slumped back, unconscious.

  ❧

  Renee scooped the freed gun from the ground. Tyler gave her a shove that propelled her into the darkness. Heart thundering, she shot a look back over her shoulder. Tyler stood there, gun aimed at Dirk. Dirk didn’t move, probably in too deep a sleep to have heard the grunt of his comrade as he took Tyler’s blow.

  When Tyler turned to follow, relief crashed through Renee. She tried to keep herself from running, but anxiousness to be out of the camp, now that her deed was done, pushed her pace. Rich loomed in the darkness. His hands shot up to still her momentum as he slipped Sassy’s reins into her palm. He held his hand out for her as she bounded into the saddle.

  Tyler broke through. Renee kicked her foot free of the stirrup and held Sassy steady as Tyler mounted behind her. Rich started out on the sturdy paint he’d chosen. They rode as fast as they dared in the darkness, alert for movement behind them. Renee’s tension mounted until she realized Rich, of all people, would know these trails best. Tyler, too. She could trust them.

  When the sun broke over the horizon, she saw it. Having been on the southwestern side of the mountain in summer pasture, it was the first real sunrise she’d seen for a while. She drank in the colors, warm in the natural embrace of Tyler’s arms.

  She noted the way Rich kept his eyes to the ground. At times he would stop and let them ride ahead. Renee didn’t understand but neither did she ask, afraid to know the answer.

  “You might as well try and get some sleep.” Tyler’s voice sent a shiver through her. She sat up straighter, embarrassed to realize just how much she had slumped against his chest.

  “I’m not tired.”

  His chuckle lit fire in her cheeks. “Couldn’t have proved it by me.” His arms snuggled against hers as he adjusted the reins from one hand to another. He breathed against her ear. “Rest, Renee.”

  She sat upright, refusing to give in, wanting to touch and heal the raw, bloody wounds around Tyler’s wrists, but the rocking of the horse and the warmth emanating between them lulled her. As she drifted off, she thought she felt a slight pressure against the top of her head. Must be dreaming.

  thirty-one

  They weren’t far from Rich’s ranch now. Sassy had kept up well with the hurried pace. Tyler frowned. And hadn’t the long-legged frame of the horse been part of the reason he’d bought her to begin with? An outlaw needed the fastest horse he could find.

  Rich worried him, though. The man knew something Tyler didn’t, judging by the way he kept stopping to search for tracks and signs.

  They were breaking free of the mountain now. A stream ran near the base. He would let Sassy drink her fill before the flat-out run to Rich’s ranch. Once there he could take the money and make the long trip down to Cheyenne. He should have done it a long time ago.

  Renee shifted against his chest. She felt so right in his arms, light and beautiful. Her hair tickled his chin, and he breathed in the pure pleasure of knowing that she was safe. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head as he had done numerous times.

  Rich rode the paint out of the tree line. Though they hadn’t spoken since leaving the camp, they were far enough away now to risk it. Besides, the outlaws didn’t have any of their weapons to come chasing them down.

  “It’s Marv,” Rich started.

  The words stirred Renee to the edge of wakefulness. Tyler tightened his arms to make sure she didn’t fall should she forget she was on horseback. But he processed the threat Rich’s words implied.

  “The ranch?”

  Rich nodded. “He’s planning a double cross.”

  “He doesn’t know where it is, and neither do any of your hands.”

  “True, but he has a huge time advantage. After everyone bedded down, he left. Probably four, five hours ago.”

  “What about the rest? Wouldn’t they get suspicious?”

  “Nothing they can do about it now anyway. Not without their guns.” Rich stroked his chin. “He clubbed Lolly for some minor infraction, which left us without a guard. I’m wondering if that was part of his plan.”

  “Trying to slow them down. Or us.”

  “Hoping there are more dead than alive when it’s all over.”

  Renee sat up straight in the saddle. “Who are you talking about?”

  Rich answered. “Marv was missing when we escaped.”

  ❧

  She should have known. Tyler and Rich said little else until they got to the stream to let the horses rest and drink water. Tyler dropped the reins and dismounted first. “Would you like some help?”

  His eyes shone bright, but dark crescents lent credence to his true state. “You need to sleep.”

  “Sheep and outlaws don’t keep strict hours. I’ll be fine.”

  Renee swung her leg over the horse’s neck and slid down to the ground. She thought Tyler would step away. But he didn’t. When she looked up, his face was so close she felt his breath. He reached out his hand to touch her hair. She felt a tug and realized he was releasing the string that held her hair back.

  He pulled a strand around her shoulder and her heart became a wild, twisting thing. She stayed still as he looped a strand around his finger then let it go. His hand climbed to her cheek and his eyes raised to hers. “When we get closer to Rich’s ranch, I want you to take Sassy and go. Your father needs you, and you need to know about Thomas.”

  It was true. She knew it. She needed to end the agony that she was sure, now, plagued her father over her whereabouts. And she would tell him of her part in Thomas’s death, and beg his forgiveness. If things didn’t work out with her father. . . “I’ll come back. Maybe Rich will hire me to work sheep, too.”

  “Renee.” She could see what it cost him to say her name. “Listen to me.” His hand fell away, and she witnessed his struggle in the pain of his eyes, the twist of his mouth. “I need you to—”

  “To what?”

  “You need to find yourself a good man. One who’ll tame that wild spirit and take good care of you. Do you understand?”

  “I’m coming back.”

  He chuckled, a dry sound that held no mirth.

  “I will, Tyler. I can’t stay away forever. I can’t find someone else.” She reached out to touch him. The beat of his heart, the warmth of his skin solidified her decision. “You’re the only one for me.”

  In the second it took for her words to sink into his mind, she knew he would not touch her. He would not commit himself when he felt himself unworthy or incapable of doing so because of his past. The knowledge freed her, and she rose on her toes to press her lips against his.

  ❧

  Tyler did his best to remain cool to the feel of her hands against his chest. Even as she rose on her toes and he steadied her
with his hands, he determined not to give in to the flood of emotion building. He would put her away from him and know he had done what was best for her. He could send her back to what she knew before the Loust Gang. Hope that she would find someone to love her.

  Her lips shifted against his and he felt her hands fist the material of his shirt, pulling him closer. And when he finally closed his eyes amid the pressure of her lips and realized what he held in his arms, and the good-bye the kiss symbolized, he could hold back no longer. And he didn’t want to.

  thirty-two

  “We became good friends.”

  Rich Morgan’s chuckle rankled Tyler more than the moment when the man interrupted their kiss to tell Tyler there was something he needed to see. “That’s sure how I kiss my friends.”

  Tyler scowled.

  “Look, I can see why you’d be a bear after an old man pulled you away from that beautiful young woman, but we don’t have much time.”

  “We were saying good-bye.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, son, that you’re a goner. Done.” Rich Morgan’s smile reached from ear to ear. “You talked children yet? I need more help around the ranch. Start ’em young and they’ll have all the experience they need by the time they’re in their early teens.”

  Tyler knew the man. Knew his good humor would plow through any bad situation. He also knew there was a solidness to Rich that pulled no punches and took no prisoners. Sure, he’d gotten carried away in the kiss. But it had been good-bye. Renee knew that. He knew it. It was settled.

  He snapped a glance over his shoulder to the topic of their conversation. She stood beside Sassy, combing through her hair with her fingers. Watching him.

  “Friends are a good thing,” Rich jibed.

  He scowled over at the man. “What did you want me to see?”

  “If you think you can be civil, I’ll tell you.”

  Tyler hauled in a breath. “Sorry.”

  “She’s got you in knots whether you want to admit it or not. Don’t think I’ve been around for sixty years to all the sudden come up lame. You love her. Why can’t it be that simple?”

  “Is this what you brought me out to talk about?”

  “Someone needed to. And after seeing that kiss, I thought it might be time. She loves you.”

  “Did she tell you that, ’cuz she’s never mentioned it to me.”

  “Doesn’t have to be words, my boy. Remember, while Marv, Lance, and Dirk had you bound up, me and the little lady were spending some time together. Didn’t take long for me to see the way her pendulum swung when it came to you.”

  Tyler lifted his face to the sky and rubbed the back of his neck. His muscles still held the ache of his bondage. Renee was right. He was exhausted. Troubled, too, by her, by Rich’s words, by his reluctance to let her go. “I told her to take Sassy and ride away.”

  “Why?”

  Tyler jerked his hat from his head and shot the man a glance. “I would think it would be obvious.”

  “Are we talking about Anna now?”

  “About all of it. I was an outlaw, Rich. Who’s going to believe that I’ve changed? What’s to say I won’t swing for the crimes I did? Is that what I give her? She’s young—”

  “So are you, son.”

  “She’ll find someone else.”

  “What about you?”

  “If I swing it won’t matter, and if they do let me go, then I deserve to be alone.”

  Rich’s dark eyes stared hard at him, into his gut, until Tyler felt like the man was reading his soul.

  “You wanted to tell me something,” Tyler prompted.

  “If I die, you get the ranch.”

  Tyler groped at the bald statement. What it meant. All that Rich was offering him. “If you die?”

  “Marv’s going to take someone out. Might as well be me. I just wanted you to know that, to give my son something to live on.”

  He flinched. He knew Rich didn’t have family. Had known it since the time he could remember things about the rob-bery. “Me?”

  “You’ve an honest heart. It’s what I saw. You couldn’t do that robbery because it went against what was in your heart. I want a man like that working for me. I’d like to think my son would have been like you, had he lived.”

  Tyler swallowed. Had he lived. . . “You won’t die.”

  Rich’s sober expression immediately melted. “Good. Then I’d like at least five grandchildren.”

  Tyler shook his head. “It’s my fight, Rich. I’ve made my decision. I want you to take that paint and get Renee out of here. I’ll go in alone.”

  “You think you’re the boss?”

  “Rich. . .”

  “I’ll fork my own broncs, son. If this man wants you, then he’s got to go through me first.”

  Tyler slapped his hat back on his head. “We’ll see about that.”

  ❧

  Renee’s eyes burned with unshed tears. She sniffed and held tighter to the material of Rich’s shirt.

  “Never thought he could be so stubborn,” Rich said.

  Renee had to agree. Tyler rode tall in the saddle, his suggestion she ride double with Rich more a command. Rich accepted the idea without a word, though Renee could tell he didn’t like it. Whether because he didn’t want to ride double with her or something else, she had no way of knowing.

  “He wants me to leave before we get to the ranch. Take you away with me,” Rich explained. He grinned at her over his shoulder. “Not a bad idea if I was thirty-five years younger.”

  His good-naturedness warmed the spots of her heart that had so longed for a father’s attention. “How can we do that? Marv could kill him.”

  “Don’t worry, little lady; I’ve got a plan.”

  Tyler wheeled Sassy when Rich’s ranch house came into view. His eyes grazed hers before settling on Rich’s. “This is as far as we go,” he said.

  Renee’s chest tightened. Before Rich could bring the paint to a halt, she grasped his shoulders, leaned forward, and swung her leg over the rump of the horse. She stumbled but caught herself.

  She held Tyler’s attention now. Hard, cold eyes masked the warm gaze of the man she knew and loved. He was preparing himself, putting on his outlaw face. She wanted none of it, not after the kiss they shared. His touch had shown her his heart, and she wasn’t going to leave until he knew where she stood on matters.

  His eyes raked over her, hard, like diamonds. She touched his leg. “Get down off that horse and tell me good-bye, Tyler Sperry, then I’ll leave.”

  thirty-three

  Foiled. By a slip of a woman with dark hair and eyes that flashed such an enticing mix of fire and old-fashioned stubbornness. Tyler stabbed a glance at Rich. The man’s raised eyebrows emphasized the quirk of his lips. He should have known the older man wasn’t going to do a thing to help him out. Renee already had Rich on her side of the argument. At least she hadn’t bucked him altogether and demanded to stay.

  He could refuse her request and stay put astride Sassy, but her hand on his leg and the memory of their last kiss eroded his resolve to have the thing with Marv done as soon as possible. With Rich and Renee out of harm’s way, he would be free to live or die, without threat of watching yet another person he loved die for his transgressions. He met Renee’s gaze, knowing the folly of doing such a thing while trying to deny himself. One last kiss. If he lived, he’d hope she would stay away; if he died, it would be his last, perhaps his only, completely happy moment.

  Tyler dismounted. He clung to the saddle for a second, warring with himself, until he felt her fingers against his back.

  “Tyler?”

  He turned and reached for her, wanting to be done with this thing. He was in over his head the moment she curled into him and he felt her lips on his cheek, his nose. He tasted the salt of her tears and followed the path with his lips.

  “Don’t send me away.”

  He closed his eyes, breathin
g deeply of her hair, captured by the scent of her. “Your love will ruin me.”

  Her hands framed his face. “You’ll be stronger for it.”

  “Not facing Marv.”

  “What if he kills you?”

  Her tears flowed freely now. For him. “Then you’ll be strong. You’ll find someone else.”

  “I don’t want someone else. I love you, Tyler.”

  “I can’t put you in harm’s way. Marv would kill you if he could. Please, Renee. . .”

  She rose on her toes and kissed his lips. A quick, light kiss that twisted his insides. She moved as if to pull away. He licked his lips, coldness gripping him. If he never saw her again. . .

  He pulled her to him, kissing her like he wished he’d done from the first. When he raised his head, he buried his face in her hair. Her shoulders trembled, and he tightened his embrace. “Renee. . .”

  She pulled away, fresh tears darkening her eyes and bleeding twin trails down her cheeks. When her fingers rose to his face, he felt the wetness of his tears being brushed away. He clasped her hand and kissed the palm. He took a step back, closing her fingers around the kiss. “I love you.”

  He turned his back and dragged himself into the saddle, leaving her standing there, her hand fisted against her cheek. Rich would take care of her now. Without a backward glance, Tyler kicked Sassy into a gallop.

  ❧

  Marv would be careful, Tyler knew. He would make sure he knew the lay of the land and how many ranch hands were working the place before he rode in. Rich’s hands lived in a bunkhouse a good distance from the main house. This time of year there were two, and unless Rich had given orders for them to keep watch on the house, their duties would keep them away from the main house.

  Marv would have free rein of the place and, Tyler hoped, would leave the hands alone. If they caught him doing something, Marv would shoot them, no questions asked. Tyler circled behind the main house and decided to ride up on the bunkhouse first. If Jesse and Tate saw him, they wouldn’t be overly alarmed and give him away. They were loyal men, both having worked at Rich’s Rocking M for years.