by Aimée Thurlo
Jake handed him the rifle.
Nick took it. “I’ll use it only as a last resort. No way I’m risking a fire fight with Christopher and our uncle out there.”
“Then maybe I should go. I’m a better fighter,” Jake said, “and they owe me.” He told them about how Annie had been ambushed earlier. “I’d love the chance to tear that cocky guy’s head off.”
“I’ll do it for you. I’m trained in hand-to-hand. I have some moves even you wouldn’t see coming,” he said, then saw Jake nod. “When you let them see you,” Nick added, “don’t give them a clear shot, and always hold the artifacts directly in front of you. They’ll hesitate to shoot, knowing that they might damage what they’ve waited all these years to get.”
“You’ve got it,” Jake said. “Just watch yourself out there, brother.”
Nick nodded, then took Eden’s hand in his. “I will be back with Christopher. I swear it.”
Before she could do more than blink back her tears, he’d slipped away.
Nick moved as quietly as he could over the landscape, using every instinct and skill he possessed. As he circled, he heard his brother and Eden suddenly start arguing. Their voices were loud and carried easily. He froze, wondering what had happened. Then he heard what they were saying, and smiled, understanding. It would be just one more diversion to confuse Rita and Wayne.
“We have the artifacts,” Eden said, staying in the shadows, but holding the mask out so they could see it clearly. “But I swear that I will rip the mask apart and shatter the fetish against a rock unless I get my son back now.”
“If you destroy those artifacts, your son will die,” Rita yelled. “Don’t be stupid. Just put them down on the ground. There’s no reason for anyone to get shot.”
“Give me my son!” Eden yelled out, her voice hysterical.
Nick knew that her acting had been no stretch.
“Give me a moment with her,” Jake yelled to Rita. “I can get her to listen to reason.”
“Do it!” Rita screamed at him. “This doesn’t have to end up a disaster for all of us.”
Their playacting kept Rita and Wayne distracted. Nick moved in close and crouched behind a bush six feet away from Christopher’s carrier.
From where he was hiding, Nick could see that Thomas had been forced to get down onto his knees, and Rita was watching him, looking over toward Jake and Eden every few seconds. She held a pistol casually down by her leg.
Wayne had a pistol too, and was closer to Chris. Seeing his son’s vulnerable position filled him with a fear so intense it was nearly paralyzing. One stray bullet and his son would be dead. He put the rifle down.
Then, guided by some unerring instinct for survival, Thomas turned his head. He saw Nick and nodded. A split second later, though his hands were tied behind his back, he lunged forward like a track star leaving the blocks. Thomas hurled himself into Rita, knocking her to the ground with his shoulders and head.
As Wayne scrambled to help his sister, unable to fire without hitting her, Nick tackled Wayne from behind, throwing him face forward into the sand. Twisting one of Wayne’s arms painfully, he tried to get him to drop the gun. But Wayne fought with the tenacity of a madman, and his weight lifting had obviously paid off. The man was as strong as an ox. With Nick holding on to him, he still managed to lift them both to their feet.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw Thomas struggling to keep Rita pinned to the ground as his brother Jake came forward to help him. Eden was somewhere behind him, headed toward Chris.
Wayne had almost managed to pull away, but Nick still held on to both wrists, forcing the gun to stay between them at eye level.
“Keep this up, Wayne, and the gun will go off. One of us will get shot right in the face. I’m willing to give up my life so that no one else gets hurt. Are you?”
They struggled a few inches from each other, eye to eye, neither flinching nor looking away. Wayne tried to knee Nick in the groin, but Nick anticipated the move, smacking Wayne’s knee with his own. Wayne groaned.
Realizing it was hopeless now that he could see his sister was already captured, Wayne released his hold on the gun. “Forget it. That dumb mask isn’t worth this.”
“Good call.” Nick stepped back, pointing the pistol at him. “On the ground, face down. And lock your hands behind your head.”
“Good fight, brother,” Jake said, coming over to help. He slipped a rope around Wayne’s wrists, and started to tie him up. “I’ll take care of him now. Our uncle has the woman under control.”
Nick glanced over and saw Thomas sitting on Rita Korman’s back, the barrel of the gun pressed against the side of her head. His hands were now untied, supplying the rope that was restricting Wayne. “I guess he does,” Nick said with a chuckle.
Nick turned to Eden, who was holding Christopher in her arms. “He’s all right!” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “I don’t know what to say. This is the second time you’ve risked everything for us.”
“You and Chris are a part of me,” he said, drawing her close and keeping Christopher between them. “You’re blood of my blood. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” He tilted up her head up, ready to kiss her and show her exactly what he meant.
Jake came up just then and poked him in the back. “Save it for later.”
Nick turned his head and scowled at his brother, but then saw Mora’s vehicle pulling up, followed by two pickup loads of newly deputized men.
Nick’s gaze swept over Eden’s face tenderly.
“Go,” she whispered. “We can pick up where we left off later.” Slowly and deliberately, she ran her fingertip down the length of his chest slowly. “And we won’t have to rush.”
“You’re killing me, woman,” he murmured, and he heard her husky laugh as he moved away.
As Deputy Torres and some of the others cuffed the prisoners, Nick filled the Captain in on what had happened.
“You did good work here today, Deputy Black Raven,” Mora said as Nick finished briefing him. “But what about Marc Korman and his son, Patrick?”
“We have no evidence to indicate they were ever part of the theft or conspiracy,” Nick said.
Thomas approached them, interrupting their conversation. “I have a little gift for you, nephew.” Thomas looked at Mora. “It’s good you’re here to hear this, too” he added, then continued. “I overheard Rita and Wayne talking, and found out they were the ones who led Eden’s grandmother to believe Tall Shadow was involved in framing Isabel Maes. They’d hoped that if word got around, everyone would back off. But of course, that ultimately backfired big time. Wayne was the one involved in the sniper attack on me and also took some shots at Eden and Nick near the sacred mountain.”
Nick looked over at Eden, and the love he saw shining in her eyes as she gazed at him stole the last piece of his heart. “If you don’t need me right away, Captain, I’d like to take care of some personal business.”
“Go. You’ve earned it. I’ll take the artifacts back with me now.”
Nick glanced at his uncle for a long moment, then looked back at Mora. “My uncle risked his life for all of us here today. Without his help, things may not have gone as well as they have. I think he deserves to be the one who turns in the artifacts and collects the reward money. Do you agree?”
“I have no problem with that, providing he goes in with a police escort,” Mora said.
Nick looked back at Thomas. “But the deal only holds if you promise to use the money to square your debt with the casinos.”
“Sounds fair to me,” Thomas said.
Nick moved away and took Christopher from Eden’s arms, but before he could say anything Captain Mora came up to him.
“If your uncle is going to return the artifacts, you’re riding with him.”
“Yes, sir.” Giving Christopher back to Eden, he brushed her lips with a kiss. “We’ll be together later,” he murmured, holding her gaze, but not elaborating further.
&
nbsp; “I’ll be waiting.”
BLACK RAVEN RANCH was decked out for a celebration. Nick and Jake had burned the diary in a private ceremony. The wrongs of the past had finally been set right and it was now time to look to the future.
Lights shined brightly in all the downstairs rooms as evening settled over the land. A buffet had been set up in the patio, and family favorites such as green chile stew, horno baked breads and bread pudding lined the table.
Eden walked around the garden holding her son and watched the last rays of the fading sun dip down below the horizon. For the first time in a long time, she could be proud of who she was and of her parents. No one would ever put her or her son down again.
As a gentle rain began to fall, she moved back to the shelter of the covered porch. Hearing someone coming from inside the house, she started to turn around, but Nick never gave her a chance. Wrapping his arms securely around her, he pulled her back into him.
“Rain is a good sign. It means that the dead have found peace at last,” he whispered.
“We’re all finally free to start our lives fresh.”
“Now all that’s left is for you to say yes,” he murmured.
“To what?”
“To everything,” he said, nuzzling the sensitive skin below her ear. “But to getting married in particular.” He turned her around in his arms. “So what do you say?”
She sighed. “Do you realize that you’ve never told me that you loved me?”
He cupped her face in his hands. “How can you not know that? I’ve showed you what’s in my heart. Actions speak louder than words.”
“At times, actions have definite advantages,” she said with a tiny smile. “But a woman needs to hear the words, too.”
“Tell her you love her and kiss her, you idiot,” Jake prompted from inside the house.
Nick pulled her away from the windows into the shadows, then faced her, ignoring his brother. “I’m crazy in love with you, Eden. I figure you’ll need to hear it said as often as I’ll want to show you. So let’s work this out.” His slow grin was devastatingly sensual. “What do you say. Marry me?”
“You’re a man of action. Convince me,” she whispered.
As his son slept in her arms, Nick covered Eden’s mouth with his own.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-0322-1
BLACK RAVEN’S PRIDE
Copyright © 2000 by Aimée and David Thurlo
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*Four Winds
**The Brothers of Rock Ridge