“Shut up, woman.” To get his point across, Cutler increased the pressure against her throat and smiled when she cried out in pain.
Enjoying himself, he ran a finger across the trickle of blood, then lifted it to his lips. “Tastes real sweet, doesn’t she?” In the blink of an eye his smile was gone. His eyes darkened with rage. “If you want her to live, Prescott, you’ll do as I say. Now.”
Izzy watched in horror as Matt tossed aside his gun. And was left to face the madman with nothing but his bare fists. And the anger that simmered inside him.
Chapter Nineteen
Matt studied the woman in Cutler’s arms, taking in the torn gown, the pain-glazed eyes, the blood oozing at her throat. It tore at his heart to see her like this. But at least, he consoled himself, she was alive. For now.
He should have had a plan. But when he’d seen her shawl buried in the snow and had heard the sounds of a struggle going on inside the lean-to, there’d been no time. He’d been half-mad with pain and rage and fear.
He cursed and called himself every kind of fool. When fighting a madman, there are no rules but one. Survival.
“All right, Cutler. I’m unarmed. Since your fight is with me, let the woman go.”
“Oh, that’s real good, Captain.” Cutler threw back his head and laughed. “You and I already had our fight. Now it’s time for fun. Only I’m going to have all the fun. And all you get to do is watch.”
He pointed with the tip of the knife. “Sit down over there. Where I can see you.” He tossed Matt a strip of rawhide. “Tie your ankles with this.” He watched Matt’s movements, then said, “Do you take me for a fool? Tighter.”
Satisfied, he handed Izzy another length of rawhide and removed his own pistol from the holster. “Tie his hands behind his back. And don’t try anything funny or I’ll have to shoot him. And you can have the pleasure of watching him die.”
As she crossed to Matt, Cutler added, “’Course, I’d rather he’d live, so he can see what I’m going to do to you.”
Matt brought his hands behind his back. “Are you all right, Isabella?”
She knelt behind him and struggled to keep her voice from trembling. “I’m fine, Matthew. Especially now.” It was true, she realized. The moment she touched her hand to Matt’s she experienced a strange sense of peace. “Is Del all right?”
“Just scared. Not for herself. For you.”
Cutler waved his pistol. “Shut your mouths and get done with it. Tie his hands. Now.”
Izzy wrapped the rawhide loosely around Matt’s wrists, then got to her feet.
“Get back over here. And be quick about it.”
Izzy returned to Cutler.
Seeing the look on her face, he scowled. “You look too smug. You think you’ve fooled me, don’t you?”
She shot him a sly smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Prescott’s bonds.” He swore fiercely. “You didn’t tighten them, did you?”
She shrugged. “I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself.”
“Oh, I will, Miss High-and-Mighty.” He gave her a rough shove. “And then I’ll deal with you.”
With the knife in one hand, his pistol in the other, he stalked to Matt’s side and bent down. “Let me have a look at those wrists.”
Before Cutler knew what hit him, Matt landed a fist squarely in his nose, snapping his head back. Blood spurted, spilling down the front of his shirt. For a moment Cutler was too stunned to react. Then, instinctively, he tossed the knife to the dirt and his fist shot out, catching Matt a glancing blow to the temple.
Matt was ready for him. Though his ankles were still bound, he kept his feet planted firmly while he aimed a blow to Cutler’s midsection that had him grunting in pain. Then another to Cutler’s jaw that sent his gun dropping from his grasp before he toppled backward.
Matt dropped to his knees to retrieve the pistol. But as his fingers closed around it, Cutler brought his knee to Matt’s groin and he doubled over in pain.
Cutler scrambled around in the dirt until he located the gun. With blood spilling down his face, he stood over Matt and took aim. “Say goodbye to your bride, Prescott. This is the last time you’ll see her. And just so you understand, before I’m through with her, she’ll be begging me to kill her, too.”
Before he could squeeze the trigger, his body gave a sudden convulsive jerk. There was a look of stunned surprise on his face. Then, as realization dawned, it slowly dissolved into a look of pain mingled with fury.
He turned, aiming the gun at Izzy. Before he could fire, his legs folded and he dropped, as if in slow motion, to the floor. The hilt of Izzy’s knife protruded from his back. Blood spilled down his shirt in everwidening circles.
Across the room, Izzy watched with a mixture of horror and revulsion as he gave up his life. Then, as if in a daze, she crossed to Matt’s side and sliced through the rawhide binding his ankles.
“I’ve never…killed before.” Tears of shock, of relief flowed down her cheeks to form dirty little streaks.
“I know.” Matt leaned against the wall, cradling her in his arms.
“He was going to kill you, Matthew. I couldn’t let him do that.”
“It’s all right.” He brushed his lips over her temple, rocking her the way he’d often rocked his children.
“I’m sorry I brought you so much trouble. But I didn’t know what else to do. He was going to hurt Del. I had to find a way to stop him. He was an evil man.” She looked up at him, her eyes a little too bright. “Why, Matthew? Why are some people so evil?”
“I don’t know. The whiskey, maybe. Or maybe something that went wrong when they were young. But there’s no excuse for it. We all have choices to make in this world, Isabella.” His eyes were bleak. “And some people make the wrong ones.”
“He always enjoyed hurting me. Even when I was very young. He knew the names hurt.”
Matt clenched his teeth, feeling a new rush of anger and protectiveness that blazed like fire in his gut.
“But I could take the names. Izzy the Gimp. Miss High-and-Mighty. Those are only words, after all. But what he really liked was firing up the other men and trying to get them to hurt me, too. He was the one who dared Otis Blandin to follow me into the stable. Poor Otis never would have thought of it himself. I think…”
He waited. When she didn’t go on, he said, “What do you think, Isabella?”
“I think Harlan Cutler wasn’t enough of a man. And so he tried to hide it by acting like he was more of a man.” She glanced up. “Does that make any sense?”
“It makes perfect sense.”
“But I never wanted to take his life.” The tears started afresh. “I never wanted to take anyone’s life.”
“I know. Some have a taste for killing. And some of us are just thrust into it. And the memory of it lingers for a long time.”
“Is that what happened to you, Matthew? Were you thrust into killing?”
He thought of the war, the sounds of gunfire and bayonets clashing, the cries of the wounded, the smell of death. There were times he’d feared he would never be able to put it behind him. But with time, and the love of his children, he’d forged a new life. New memories to be savored.
“It wasn’t for me, Isabella. But I did what I had to. And so did you.”
“Will I ever forget?”
“I hope so. I’ll help you all I can.” Matt wrapped his arms around her and held her, stroking her hair, murmuring words meant to soothe and comfort.
Then he caught sight of her hands. They were charred and blackened, covered with raw, ugly blisters, some puckered, others oozing fluid. “Dear God, Isabella. What did he do to you?”
She lifted her palms, staring at them in surprise. With all that had happened, she hadn’t even been aware of how badly burned they were. “I had to break free of the rawhide. It was the only way I knew.”
He kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips. “Oh, my sweet, brave Isabella.”
She gave him a brave smile.
He gathered her once more into his arms and held her.
Outside the wind howled and the storm finally blew itself out. And as the hours passed, the storm brewing within Matthew faded, as well. He hoped, he prayed the cruelty and the killing were finished. As for him, he would be content to spend the rest of his life like this. Holding his wife. Knowing she was safe.
The hounds set up a chorus of barking that had the children racing to the door of their cabin. When they caught sight of their father in the saddle, holding Izzy in his arms, they raced outside and circled his horse.
“I knew you’d find her, Pa.” Del was crying and tugging on the reins.
“Are you all right, Isabella?” Benjamin and Clement were reaching up to take her as their father dismounted.
Aaron stood to one side, staring not at his father and Izzy but at the horse behind them, which carried a blanket-draped figure. “Is that Sergeant Cutler?”
“Yes, son.”
“Did you kill him?”
Matt glanced at his wife, then at his son. “It’s a long story. Let’s get Isabella inside first. She needs a little tending.”
“Yes, sir.”
The children hurried ahead to hold the door while Matt carried her inside and settled her in a chair by the fire. Then he led the horses to the barn and placed Cutler’s frozen body in the back of the wagon. As long as the air remained this cold there was no rush to haul the body to Sutton’s Station and file a report for the territorial marshal.
Inside the cabin Aaron pulled up a bench for Izzy’s feet. Benjamin hurried to the bedroom and returned with pillows for her back. Clement poured her a cup of coffee. Del climbed up in her lap and hugged her fiercely.
“I was so afraid, Isabella.”
“So was I, Del.”
“You were?” The little girl pulled back to see her face. “You didn’t act like it. I thought you were so brave.”
“I didn’t feel very brave. I just did what I had to.”
Aaron knelt down beside her chair. “Pa said you saved Del’s life.”
Izzy clutched the child tightly. “I would have done whatever I had to for Del. Or for any of you.”
Benjamin studied her hands. “How’d you do that, Isabella?”
“Sergeant Cutler tied my wrists with rawhide. The only way I could get free was to stick them in the fire.”
The thought of such a desperate act had them sucking in their breath.
“Does it hurt?”
“Only a little.”
The children looked at her with quiet respect.
Matt, who had been watching and listening in the doorway, cleared his throat. “Why don’t you let Isabella rest now, and give me a hand rustling up some food.”
“Yes, sir.” The boys got to their feet.
Del didn’t move, except to draw her arms even tighter around Izzy’s neck. And from the looks of it, she was prepared to hold on all day. In fact, she looked as though she might never let Isabella out of her sight again.
* * *
“The snow held off.” Matt entered with an armload of logs and nudged the door shut behind him. “But judging from that sky, it’s not far behind.”
“Much snow up in the mountains?” Aaron turned from the fire, where he’d cooked venison just the way Izzy showed him.
“More than usual. Once it gets here, we’ll be spending a whole lot of time inside.” Matt winked at Izzy, loving the flush that rose to her cheeks. “Can’t say as how I’ll mind it this year, though.”
“How are these biscuits, Isabella?” Clement held the plate out to her, forcing her to taste.
“Mmm.” She nibbled, smiled. “Perfect, Clement.”
“Are those eggs ready yet, Del?” Matt watched as Benjamin finished setting the table.
“Just about ready, Pa.”
The little cabin had taken on a festive air. The previous evening Matt and Izzy had answered all the children’s questions and, at Izzy’s insistence, had sat with them until they’d fallen asleep. Then, exhausted, they had tumbled into their own bed.
Sometime before dawn they had awakened and had come together with a love, a tenderness that had surprised them both.
Now, feeling that they had crossed yet another barrier, they began to relax and enjoy their reunion. This special breakfast felt like a celebration.
Aaron placed a platter of venison on the table. “How are your hands this morning, Isabella?”
She held them up. “Healing nicely. Thanks to Dr. Goody’s Liniment and Elixir. And to your father’s quick treatment.”
“Pa knows how to fix anything,” Benjamin said proudly. “One time I fell out of the wagon and broke my leg. Pa fixed it good as new. See.” He paraded around the table to prove there was no lingering limp.
“Goodness.” Izzy put a hand over her heart. “How in the world did you fall out of the wagon?”
“It was late. Ma was coming back from town and she was…” He stopped, appalled at what he’d almost said. He cast a stricken look in his father’s direction.
Matt was scowling.
No one said a word.
“I almost forgot to wash up.” Benjamin rolled his sleeves and made a production of washing before returning to the table. Without looking at the others, he bowed his head and said, “Well, aren’t we going to ask a blessing?”
“Yes. Of course.” Izzy glanced around, then spoke the words that had become their special blessing.
As they passed the food and began to eat, she found herself wondering, not about the words Benjamin had said, but about what he hadn’t said. It had to do with their mother. Whatever it was, they all knew.
When it came to their past, and especially their mother, there was definitely a conspiracy of silence.
“Wind’s picking up. Just a matter of time before the first storm of the season hits.” Matt came in from the barn and slapped his hat against his thigh before hanging it on a peg. “I thought maybe I’d head down to Sutton’s Station.”
“Alone?” Izzy looked up from the table, where she was painstakingly braiding Del’s hair. She had removed the dressings from her hands, but her fingers were still stiff and awkward.
Matt nodded. “That way the boys can be here with you and Del.”
“Matthew.” She laid down the brush and crossed to him, placing a hand on his sleeve. “The danger’s passed. You can’t spend the rest of your life worrying about our safety.”
“And why can’t I?” He kissed her, hard and quick. “I took a vow that said I had that right.”
“Oh, Matthew.” She felt a sudden flutter around her heart. When he said things like that, it nearly took her breath away.
“What’s this?” He tipped up her chin. “Tears?”
“Just—” she swallowed “—I’ve been all blubbery since I got back here. I guess it was coming home and having the children fussing over me and all. I’ve never had anyone care about me before. It’s a little…”
“Overwhelming?”
“Yes.” She sniffed.
“Good.” He kissed her again. “I hope twenty years from now you’re still feeling overwhelmed by all of us.”
“I will.”
“Promise?”
From across the room Del called, “Isabella. When are you going to finish my hair?”
Izzy laughed and took a step back. “No more distractions.”
He caught her shoulder. “Until tonight. Then I plan plenty of distractions.”
She was still blushing when she returned to Del’s side.
They all looked up at the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
Matt picked up his rifle, then opened the door to peer outside. “Well, I’ll be. It’s t
he stage.”
As Izzy and the children crowded around the doorway, he shot Izzy an embarrassed frown. “Sorry. I forgot to send word to Webster Sutton that we wouldn’t be needing it after all.” It seemed like a hundred years ago since he had considered sending his new bride back to her home in Pennsylvania. Now it was the furthest thing from his mind.
He strode forward. “I’ll just tell old Boone it was all a mistake. He’ll understand.”
“Maybe he’s got mail for us, Pa,” Aaron called to his retreating back.
“Maybe. I’ll ask.” While Izzy and the children continued to watch from the doorway, Matt called out a greeting and stood talking for several moments to the grizzled old driver.
Suddenly the door of the stage opened. A woman stepped out and called Matt’s name.
He turned and stared at her without saying a word.
Izzy had never seen such a dazzling creature. Her gown was red, with a flounced skirt, long, slender sleeves and a low neckline that revealed a great deal of flesh. Her figure was stunning, with a tiny waist, softly rounded hips and high, firm breasts, most of which were exposed. Her yellow hair was arranged in flirtatious sausage curls that had been pulled to one side and tied with a red ribbon.
Izzy was aware of a sudden tension among the children. Though they were all watching the woman, they hadn’t spoken a word.
“Shouldn’t we invite her in?” Izzy turned to Aaron. “I could make coffee.”
“She won’t want coffee.” Aaron’s tone was flat.
“And how would you know that? Who is this pretty lady, Aaron? Don’t tell me you all know her.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. His eyes, she noticed, were as dull, as lifeless as his words. “She’s our ma.”
Chapter Twenty
Izzy stood riveted to the spot. Too shocked to speak. Too numb to weep. All she could do was foolishly stare at this ravishing creature who was standing in a pool of sunlight, exchanging words with the driver, who, despite his advanced age, was looking at her as though she were the object of his every fantasy.
The Courtship of Izzy McCree Page 21