With reluctance, he removed his arms from around her. “We need to leave, darlin’.”
Aching with the cold, he shifted her away. Mary Jane groaned softly. “Do you think they are looking for us? Why were they looking for us? None of this makes sense.”
He kept his voice low as he expressed his suspicions. “They must have staged the hold up as a two-pronged attack. My brother placed Claypool and Hoop to follow us on the train.”
“Then your brother somehow knew what train you would be on when you left Philadelphia? How?”
Elijah shook his head. “He probably didn’t. Someone must have told him I was getting out of the penitentiary. He knew I’d come after him and that the law would be all-fired to catch him as well. He ran but left instructions for his friends to watch me. They had to follow me everywhere—that’s the only way they could have known which train I was on. My brother and the buzzard with him must have camped on the incline.”
“Even so, they would have to know which train you were on.”
He scratched the beard growing on is chin. “They played their odds. If they didn’t get the right train they could still rob it. If they got the right train, Claypool and Hoop would rob everyone and then deliver us to my brother. Simple. Claypool and Hoop probably paid off the engineer so he’d stop the train if he saw anyone ahead getting ready to blow the track.” He tapped the side of his head with an index finger. “Amos used black powder or something to blow part of the tracks. The only way the iron horse would have stopped in time without derailing would be if the engineer already knew when and where to stop. Someone paid him. Times are hard on the Allegheny Portage Railroad. It is getting old and worn. There’s probably more than one engineer who needs the money.”
She stood and shivered, her eyes wide and face pale. “That is quite a conspiracy, sir, but I think you must be correct.”
He stretched into a stand, his muscles cramped, his body weary from trying to stay warm at night. “That means my scallywag brother has taken significant steps to kill me.”
“Just as you have formed plans to kill him?”
Anger edged upward. He hadn’t said a thing about killing Amos, so she had to be guessing. “I wouldn’t put innocent lives in danger to kill Amos.”
“Of course not.” She sighed. “I am sorry.”
He almost growled back, but her softened words stopped him cold. He had put her in danger, a complete innocent in his sordid situation.
“I apologize, Mary Jane. I drew you into this trouble.” He laughed, but the sound was filled with self-loathing.
Freed of her corset and crinoline, Mary Jane appeared more vulnerable and less stoic. A freedom flowed around her like the loose trappings of her skirt. Thank the heavens her long hair was tied up to her head instead of loose around her shoulders. Not only would it tangle in their headlong flight for survival, he wouldn’t have resisted touching it. Despite her admirable courage, how could she survive this wilderness?
Bleakness darkened her expression. Irritation raised its head. Irritation because he placed her into this position through no fault of her own.
“You’re right, Mary Jane. Every guiltless soul on that train is in danger because of me. I tried to protect you and brought you peril instead.”
She shook her head. “No, I am sorry, Elijah. You have done an admirable job of protecting me. You could not have known your brother would try and harm you.”
“Fate has a way of placing obstacles in our path, doesn’t it?”
“That is for certain. Now, I am a murderer. What will the law make of what I did?” She put her arms around herself, drawing in tight as if she could disappear into the rocks. “I killed that man, Elijah. I saw a glimpse of his open eyes. I took his life from him.”
“You defended yourself against his attack. That is not murder. But it’s never easy to kill.”
Her gaze flashed to his. “Who did you kill?”
“Only Claypool. I shot back at him after he shot at me first. When they dragged you off the train, it scared me, Mary Jane. Scared me so bad I could feel it tightening around my throat like a noose on the gallows.” Harsh memories gripped him. “As soon as Hoop took you into the woods, I pulled out my weapon and told Claypool to give up his. He turned and fired. I moved just in time and took my own shot. I missed. He ran into the woods and that’s when I went after him and you. He turned on me and fired again. I shot him in the chest.”
He didn’t like reliving those moments when he crashed into the woods. “I feared the worst. Instead I found Hoop with his skull dented in and you nowhere to be found. I was relieved because he was dead, but worried. All I knew was that I had to find you.”
Her expression slid from harsh recollection to stoic resignation. “I…thank you, Elijah. I would not have survived without you.”
He brushed the end of her nose and removed some dirt. “Don’t thank me too soon, darlin’. We’re somewhere between Cassandra and Portage. There is plenty of wilderness left to survive, and we don’t have supplies.”
She sighed. “We are caught out here in the middle of wilderness with no defense from monsters, and I do not mean of the animal kind.”
“There are those too.”
She waved one hand. “Do not remind me.”
Elijah walked towards her and clasped her shoulders. When he spoke, he meant every word. “I vow I’ll get you out of here. I won’t let anything or anyone harm you.”
“I know.” Her voice sounded soft and convinced, and her eyes reflected new hope.
“We survived last night with nothing more than the clothes on our backs. There may be hunter’s cabins this far down the mountain. If we continue southwest we will either run into one at some point or run into the town of Portage. In the meantime, there are other ways to survive.”
Her eyes warmed, and some of the worry disappeared. “If I had to find myself trapped in the woods, there is no one I would rather be trapped with, sir.”
Overwhelming affection struck him between the ribs and demanded action. He slipped his arms around her waist and brought her into his body. As she sighed deeply, his body relaxed. He’d lost Maureen because he couldn’t protect her against Amos.
I’ll be damned if it happens to Mary Jane too.
He kissed her forehead and tucked her head against his shoulder. She felt far better and more comforting in his arms than the weapon tucked in his waistcoat pocket. Drawing strength from her life, her beauty, the extraordinary emotion she’d already shared, he held her close.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
She leaned back far enough to see into his eyes. “I do.”
He nodded and released her. “Good. Then we need to leave quickly and walk as far as we can before the end of the day so we can find shelter. If we’re lucky we’ll stumble upon those hunter’s cabins or maybe a farm or other abode. I have a few shots left in my weapon, so we’re good there. Stay close to me at all times. We’ll find water first.”
They left her corset, crinoline and crumpled hat in the rock shelter and headed into a cool morning. A mist settled along the ground like the smoky trail of a mythical dragon. He didn’t know whether to hope it wouldn’t rain or to wish it would. Rain would slow down Amos’s search, but it would impede their progress, too.
Elijah’s breath sluiced in and out as he measured what to do first. Damn good thing he had a sense of direction. Mary Jane walked alongside him. Though she kept her gaze mostly on the ground and held her skirts up so she could see where she walked, the determination in her face gratified him. She was strong and healthy, and he wouldn’t fail her.
“Thanks be to St. Patrick,” he said.
She glanced at him with a bewildered expression. “Pardon me?”
“I’m thanking St. Patrick that you’re a clever, strong woman.”
She clambered over some large rocks in her path. “Am I?”
“I’d bet my life on it.”
“Please do not, Elijah. You cannot imagine…”
“What?”
“When I was running from that man I was sure they had already killed you, and I was on my own. I was terrified. I was not strong. And the thought of you dead…”
“Yes?”
“I could not… I could not imagine it.”
He sensed she held something back in her confession. Could she have some deeper feeling for him? He thought maybe she did, and though he shouldn’t want it and an alliance between them would never work…by all the saints, he yearned for a woman’s affection. For one woman to trust him and care for him.
“You fled for your life,” he said.
“Like any person would. It is natural, not brave.”
He didn’t look at her, but the anxiety in her voice had stifled what he planned to say next. If anything happens to me, you continue on. Don’t give up. He’d told her last night, but it might need saying once more.
Elijah kept moving, though he almost stopped and gather her into his arms. “You put enough power into that rock to kill the man who would have…who knows what he would’ve done. You did what you must to survive, and most women wouldn’t think of that so quickly.”
Elijah reached for her forearm and held secure as they forded more rocks and a mud patch.
They remained quiet as he led her towards water. Traversing through thick, enormous stands of hemlock, rocky terrain and tall grass presented a beautiful and demanding landscape. He wished Amos planned this so-called robbery closer to a town. Yet he knew Amos’s mind well. Of course he would pick an isolated spot. Blowing rails in the twisting, treacherous areas of the railroad would prove too daunting, but out on the long incline it had not hampered the outlaw. Amos was a bastard, but a clever one.
Elijah followed what he’d learned in Ireland about wilderness survival. His Da, scum that he was, had taught them at least that much. Da had taken Elijah and brothers to a God-forsaken mountain near Galway that promised hellfire land and unforgiving weather. Land in Pennsylvania outmatched Ireland for animal hazards, and that worried him.
Thirty minutes later, he spotted a stream trickling over and between rocks. Mary Jane looked relieved beyond measure, her face pale.
He crouched beside a mini waterfall where a heavy cascade fell about three feet over a large bolder. “Here. This water looks clean.” He put his fingers into it, smelled it, tasted one finger. “Smells and tastes fresh. Drink your fill. We’ll follow this stream.”
She stepped nearer the water and almost slipped. She righted herself before he could reach for her. Kneeling streamside, she cupped clear water in her hands and brought it up to drink. She consumed several handfuls, then splashed her face a couple of times. She wiped her face on her long sleeve.
As he watched, she opened the neck on her dress almost to her breasts.
When she caught him gazing at her creamy flesh, she smiled shyly. “Are you staring, Elijah?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He tossed a grin her way. “But I’ll look away to preserve my sanity.”
They continued, their silence at odds with the forest, which came alive around them with chirps, wind rustling the treetops, and the cracking of twigs beneath their feet. He wished they could make quieter tracks, but with brush underfoot, it proved near impossible. He quickened their pace until they reached a hill that sloped upward into the blue sky. Clouds started to settle low. Perhaps more rain would come.
“Darlin’, we’re going up this.” He pointed at the hill. “I am, anyway. Stay down here for the moment while I see what is on the other side.”
She shook her head. “I will not stay down here by myself.”
They worked their way through the brush that pulled at their clothes and scratched exposed skin. Upward, upward until he heard her breath rasping. Her face flushed, dewed with the beginnings of sweat. They halted at the crest.
She sighed and shaded her eyes with her right hand. “More trees.”
More hemlock and other trees he couldn’t identify sprawled across in endless wonder, but he saw the railroad tracks from here through a tall stand. Deeper into the woods, and not quite within sight of the tracks, stood a small cabin. Smoke curled lazily from its stack.
Riding alongside the tracks two figures on horses made their way.
“Is that—,” she started.
“Shhh.” He caught her hand and pulled her down so they crouched and barely could see over the ridge. “If that’s Amos and his accomplice, we don’t want to go anywhere near that cabin.”
Within a few moments the two figures headed towards the structure. One figure left his horse and went to the abode. Elijah waited, his hand still clasped in Mary Jane’s. Suddenly the man who had walked towards the cabin stumbled back. A woman left the cabin and stepped onto the porch, rifle pointed at both men.
Elijah strained to hear conversation. He couldn’t hear a thing except a bird twittering and squawking above his head. With a defiant shake of her long gun, the woman gestured for the interlopers to fall back. Rather than fight her, the man climbed onto his horse and his partner kicked his own horse into flight. Both riders urged their animals into the woods and farther west.
“What was all that about?” Mary Jane whispered her question.
He stood and brought her with him. “A brave woman living alone, or her man isn’t home.”
“Is it safe to approach her?”
Elijah shook his head. “Let us take one challenge at a time. If we make it down this hill alive, I’d say we’ll have time then to consider whether she’s safe or not.”
“Good thinking, Elijah.”
“No, darlin’. It’s pure fear.”
When she tossed him an irreverent grin, he realized she didn’t think he’d meant it. He kept her hand secure within his and started the journey.
Mary Jane tightened her grip on Elijah’s large palm as they made their way down the crumbling hillside with cautious steps. Her boots had little gripping power and rocks under her feet shifted. Elijah’s Hessian boots performed much better—he did not slip once. The water she consumed earlier helped her feel stronger. She had felt faint before they discovered the healthy stream. Her breath rasped in her throat, her heart pounding from exertion and apprehension. She gathered her voluminous skirts in one hand. Her small reticule, which she managed to keep in her headlong flight from the train, banged against her wrist. She had kept her gloves and that helped every time her hands met bare earth.
“I wish I had trousers to wear right now,” she said in a low whisper of frustration.
He did not look back. “Mrs. McKinnon, I’d give about anything right now to see you in those trousers.”
A small giggle escaped her throat. “Sir, you are quite incorrigible.”
He glanced back once and paused on the hill to throw her a teasing smile. Not long ago she couldn’t have expected more than a grim expression. His smile, when it came, warmed her heart clear through. With a man like this, a woman could not rely on a cozy and conflict-free life.
She had never scaled or descended a hill this steep before and turned her attention to reaching the bottom safely. She gripped his hand like a lifeline.
“Any tighter, darlin’, and my hand will fall off.”
She loosened her hold but did not say a word—trying not to stumble took priority. As Elijah edged down the slope with careful precision, she could not ignore an odd reaction to him gathering inside her. His body flowed like a wild creature, each step certain. Strength, potent and feral radiated from Elijah. His hand, so large and capable, held hers firmly but gently. Despite everything she knew already, this man possessed secrets she longed to understand. Stranded in this wilderness, she did not know if she would ever have opportunity to discover his hidden depths. Striving for survival must remain her only thought. They reached a clearing and took stock.
“I’d suggest that I approach the cabin alone, but that might make the woman suspicious. So we should go together,” Elijah said.
They walked slowly towards the structure, and her appre
hension rose moment by moment. What if the woman came out firing? It did not bear thinking about, so Mary Jane banished the fear to one corner of her mind. They approached the cabin from the east side.
As their feet echoed across the small porch, the door swung open and the woman stepped out, rifle pointed at them.
Chapter Twelve
Time seemed to slow as Mary Jane and Elijah confronted the older woman. Silvery gray hair piled atop the woman’s head and her sack-like, dark gray dress showed her heavy black boots up to the ankle. Though the generous size of the dress obscured her figure, the lady appeared thin and considerably shorter than Mary Jane. Her craggy face, lined with furrows and heavily wrinkled about the eyes, proclaimed great age. Yet she looked sturdy and invincible, like a goddess who had lived in these mountains and had no plans to ever leave.
The woman brought her rifle up a little higher. “What in tarnation do you want?”
Elijah held up his hands. “We mean no harm, ma’am. There was a train robbery up the incline, and we escaped.”
The old woman nodded. “You see those men who came by the cabin? Those the robbers?”
“We believe so,” Mary Jane said. “At least from the hill we thought it might be them.”
“They are part of a gang.” Elijah said. “Two of the robbers are dead. The men that stopped by your cabin…one of them is my brother.”
The woman’s rifle had sagged in her arms, but she brought it up to full bear on her visitors. “Your brother?” The woman’s aqua eyes flashed. “You’re not a part of his gang?”
Elijah shook his head. “No, ma’am. As sure as God is my witness.”
The old woman shifted on her feet. “That don’t make no sense.”
“It is a long story.” Mary Jane put out one hand. “I am Mary Jane…McKinnon and this is my husband, Elijah McKinnon.”
The lie slipped from Mary Jane’s lips, and she chastised herself for telling it. On the other hand, it made sense to keep the woman in the dark as far as their marital status.
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