The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition)

by Bittner, Rosanne

  Brand heard at first the thunder of many horses coming after him, but Shadow soon left them behind. Shadow dashed down an escarpment, loose gravel sliding with him. The horse whinnied and stumbled slightly, but Brand Selby rode a horse with as much ease as he breathed; he hung on, easing Shadow the rest of the way down, then charged through the center of the gulley below. He knew he was near the peaceful stream where he had made love to Rachael for the first time. Now he prayed there would be more beautiful moments for them like that one. What had happened to poor Rachael?

  Far in the distance he could see the long, dark shadow, and he knew it was the red-rock wall of a butte that meandered northward, breaking up the open plains. There were any number of caves and holes and crevices along that butte wall in which a man could hide. He did not let up on Shadow, realizing that Jason and his men might be too far behind to catch up, but that they might keep coming anyway. He headed Shadow up the other side of the escarpment, slowing the animal then for just a moment to look back. He could see the orange flames, now far behind him, and his heart ached at the sight of his cabin and barn burning. He wonderd if they had killed his horses yet.

  Shadow snorted and tossed his head, and Brand could feel lather on the horse’s skin when he petted its neck.

  “Just a little farther, boy. We’ll hide out for a few hours, then I’ll find a way to get back to Austin and find out if Rachael is all right.”

  He knew the danger of trying to sneak to Lacy Reed’s boardinghouse, but he had no choice. Besides, Austin would be the last place Jason Brown would even look for him. It was more likely the man would form a new posse in the morning and come hunting for him in the hills. Already Brand had his own plans. It was Jason Brown who would be hunted, not Brand Selby. And Brand would do the hunting.

  He kicked Shadow into motion again, riding out across open land then toward the butte. He knew every crack and crevice of that rocky bastion. He would wait until morning light, then head back to Austin. Jason Brown was going to pay for trying to get him hanged. If Rachael was all right, he intended to head out and do some scouting. He had little doubt he would come across Comancheros who were being paid by none other than Jason Brown.

  Shadow charged into a dried-up arroyo, his hooves spraying mud but no water. The horse thundered on at his master’s command, disappearing into the night.

  “Hold up! Hold up!” Jason shouted to the others.

  Saddles squeaked and horses shuffled and snorted as the men slowed their mounts and gathered around him. “We’ll never catch him after dark like this,” Jason announced.

  “What should we do, Jason? We can’t let him go.”

  “He won’t get away. You men from town don’t need to go galavanting into Indian country and risking your lives. We’ll head back to town and me and my boys will hunt down Brand Selby ourselves.”

  “The man ought to hang,” one of the townspeople grumbled.

  “And he will hang,” Jason promised. “My men and I are experienced at this. No need for all of you to endanger yourselves. Selby could be heading for the Comanche for help.”

  “Let’s go shoot down the rest of his stock,” someone yelled. “And burn down all his outbuildings—tear down his fences.”

  Several others responded in the affirmative.

  “We’re depending on you to get him for us, Jason,” said another.

  “Don’t worry about that. You just get the rope ready. It might take a few days, but we’ll be back with Brand Selby.”

  There was a low mumble among those who had come from town as they turned their horses and headed back. Jason waited until they were out of hearing range, then turned to his own men. All of them had come with him—Sam Greene, and the three new men—Dan, Hank, and Wendel. Jules was not with them, and Jason was glad none of the townsmen seemed to notice. The night had been one of confusion and heated emotions.

  “What do we do now, Jason?” Sam asked.

  Jason’s horse turned in a circle, sensing its master’s frustration. “Damn!” Jason muttered. “I didn’t want Selby to get away. The bastard!” He turned and faced Sam. “We have to go back to town for tonight. I have to make an appearance in town tonight so I’m not linked in any way to Rachael’s disappearing. We’ll head out in the morning—just before sunup. In the meantime, Jules should be on his way to Lobo’s camp. We should get there just a few hours after Jules gets there with Rachael. I just hope to hell he caught her and she’ll be there!” His burning jealousy and hatred could be felt by the others through the darkness. “That bitch will regret the day she set eyes on Brand Selby!”

  “You gonna strip her down and use that whip on her, boss?” Greene asked with a grin. “Hope we get to watch.”

  “Oh, you can watch, all right. And I’ll be doing more than that to her! After that, anybody can have at her that wants to. I’ll sell her off to Lobo and we’ll find Brand Selby and shoot him on sight. Nobody will give a damn now if we kill him. Everybody thinks he’s guilty anyway. Lobo will leave and the raiding will stop. With Brand dead, it will all make sense.”

  “We’ll be cleanin’ up a lot of problems all at once, won’t we, Jase?” Greene put in. “We make a bundle off the Comancheros for the woman and we get rid of Brand Selby.”

  Jason turned and watched the house burn. “And I’ll finally get my hands on Rachael Rivers!”

  “What about her brother?”

  Jason enjoyed the smell of the smoke in his nostrils. “We’ll just tell Joshua we found Rachael dead when we were hunting down Selby—that Selby turned on her and gunned her down. If Jules has her, it will be because she rode out to warn Selby. That makes our own explanation easy. Rachael rode out to warn Brand Selby, then rode off with him and he killed her. Joshua Rivers will never know his sister is living in hell down in Mexico. Serves her right—the whoring little bitch!”

  “What if she never left Lacy’s place after all, boss?” one of the others asked.

  “I’ll worry about that later. There are other ways of getting to her. In the meantime, she can witness us bringing back Brand Selby’s dead body!”

  “We have to catch him first, Jase,” Greene put in. “That ain’t gonna be easy. You know Selby. He’s part Comanche, and nobody knows these parts like the Comanche.”

  “We’ll get him. We’ve hunted down Comanche before. He’s a wanted man now. If we don’t get him, some citizen will. I don’t doubt he’ll come sneaking back to Austin to try to find out what happened to his precious white squaw, but he doesn’t dare show his face around here! He’s a dead man, any way you look at it, and once he’s out of the way, there will be nothing left to stop us from continued business with the Comancheros. We will be rich men.”

  There were snickers and nods from the others. “It’s all a piece of cake once we get rid of Selby,” Greene laughed.

  “Yes,” Jason answered. “I had hoped once I could share my success with Rachael Rivers at my side. But that can never be now, and that woman is going to suffer, Sam, suffer dearly for what she’s done to me!”

  They headed back to Austin.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lacy rubbed her puffy eyes, downing yet another cup of coffee. The sun was already rising, and she had not slept all night. Gray Legs had come back, without Rachael.

  Lacy was frantic with worry, her mind full of questions. If Rachael had reached Brand, perhaps Brand had decided to leave Gray Legs behind because the horse was too slow. But it didn’t make sense that all of Rachael’s supplies had been left tied to the horse. The only other answer was that Rachael had somehow taken a spill from Gray Legs and was lying out in the wilds somewhere hurt; or worse, that she had been taken by outlaws or Comanche—perhaps a band of Comancheros.

  Tears came to her eyes again as she sipped the coffee. She should be starting breakfast, but she was not in the mood. She had to decide what to do about Rachael. Should she ride out herself and try to find her? She had no idea which way to go, and for a woman to ride out alone was very dangerous, esp
ecially now.

  Lacy knew she couldn’t even go to Jason Brown for help. It was too late, anyway. Jason and his men had probably already ridden out to search for Brand Selby. But by now Jason couldn’t care less what happened to Rachael Rivers, and Lacy suspected he might even have something to do with Rachael’s disappearance. That’s what worried her the most. As far as going to any of the other men in town, their attitude would be the same as Jason’s. Lacy could still hear the names whispered behind Rachael’s back at the dance. There was not a soul in Austin who would be willing to try to find the poor girl. Lacy’s only hope was that Rachael had reached Brand and they had gone off together. But again, why would they leave behind Rachael’s carpetbag and blankets?

  Lacy put her head down on the table. With dread she realized Rachael couldn’t have reached Brand. Bert Peters had ridden with the mob that had gone out to Brand’s place, and he said Brand had still been there—that he rode off alone and got away.

  “There was no woman with him?” Lacy had asked anxiously.

  “No, ma’am.”

  When Lacy told the man Rachael was missing, he had just shrugged and shook his head.

  “A woman goes out into that country alone, she risks the consequences,” was all he had said. “She should have known better than to be messing with a half-breed. Maybe she reached him and he killed her and left her to burn up in the fires. That would explain why the horse came back.” Peters shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Reed, but it seems like a proper ending for a girl who’s done what she did.”

  Lacy had ordered him out of the house for his remark, and the man was upstairs packing right now. Lacy sipped some more coffee, wondering where Brand had gone, how she could get word to him that Rachael was gone. If anyone could find and help her, Brand Selby could.

  The sleepless night began to catch up with her then, and her eyes closed, but her light sleep lasted only a few minutes before someone knocked at the front door. She jumped awake, thinking for a moment before realizing what she had heard. Rachael? She got up from the kitchen chair and walked on aching legs to the front door, opening it to see Joshua Rivers standing there. Immediately Lacy’s eyes showed her contempt.

  “What do you want?” Lacy snapped.

  Joshua noticed the woman’s disheveled look, the dark circles under her eyes.

  “I want to know if Rachael is here. We might as well have our last say.”

  Fire came into Lacy’s eyes. She could see that Joshua was still in a great deal of pain. He was pale, and he stood slightly hunched over, but she could feel no sympathy for him.

  “No. Rachael is not here,” she answered coolly. “By now she’s probably either dead or perhaps being raked over by Comancheros who will send her off to Mexico.”

  Joshua frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  Lacy was so angry that her eyes teared. “You’re a damned fool, Joshua Rivers! I hope some day you love someone as passionately as your sister loved Brand Selby. And I hope something happens to take the woman away from you! Maybe then you’ll understand what you’ve done to Rachael! Your own sister! You should have known just by the kind of person she is that—”

  “Where is she!” Joshua interrupted.

  Lacy blinked back tears and stepped aside. “I don’t know.” She motioned him inside.

  Joshua limped through the door and Lacy closed it. She led the young man to the kitchen, then pulled out a chair. “Sit,” she told him.

  Joshua sat down gladly. Everything hurt and stung. The doctor had removed the arrowhead, which had been thwarted by a rib from doing any dangerous inner damage. But the rib in which the arrow had lodged was cracked and extremely painful. The wound had been stitched, and his midsection was tightly wrapped. The rest of his body was scabbed and badly bruised, and every movement seemed an effort.

  But Joshua couldn’t bring himself to just lie around waiting to see what had happened to Brand and Rachael. He bought a change of clothes with money he still had in his pocket from the day of the raid, then went and got his horse from the livery where other men had taken it. Stu Bates at the livery had loaned him a saddle, and Briggs, the supply store owner, had let him take a repeating rifle on credit. Because it was Sunday, Joshua could not get to his bank savings, although what he had would be far from enough to buy a whole new herd of cattle and all the material he would need to rebuild. That was something he would probably not be able to do for a long time to come, but for now it didn’t matter. All that mattered was to find the strength to ride out and find Jason and the others and have a hand in bringing down Brand Selby.

  Lacy turned from the stove where she had poured Joshua a cup of coffee. “I suppose you know they didn’t catch Brand Selby last night,” the woman told him, setting down the cup of coffee in front of him. “And I’ll tell you right now I’m glad of it!”

  “Well, I’m not!” Joshua answered. “I just came to check on Rachael before I go after Jason and help him find Luke and bring Selby in. And at least they burned down Selby’s place and killed his stock, just like what his Comanche friends did to me! He’s got nothing left to come back to now.”

  “Doesn’t he? You think anything Jason and the men around here have done will stop him from coming for Rachael? He loves her, you stupid fool! You’re blaming the wrong man, Josh. You mark my words. I’ll tell you who’s behind the raids—the man who wants Brand Selby blamed so he can get Brand out of the way for once and for all. Jason Brown.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Joshua almost yelled.

  Lacy put her hands on her hips. “You’re the one being ridiculous, Joshua Rivers!”

  Joshua looked away. Lacy sat down near him. “Drink some of that coffee,” she told him. “You look terrible. You probably shouldn’t even be up walking around.”

  “I’ve got no choice,” Joshua said in a calmer voice. “Luke is out there somewhere. I’m going to ride out and find Jason and his men and help find Luke. Luke comes first, then Selby.” He took a sip of coffee.

  “You go riding out to help Jason Brown and the man will find a way to do you in, Joshua. My guess is that wherever Luke is, Rachael is with him by now.”

  Joshua set down his cup. “What do you mean? What’s happened to Rachael?”

  “Do you really care?”

  “I do if she’s in trouble.”

  “You didn’t act much like you cared last night.”

  Joshua looked down at his coffee. “She deserved that. If it weren’t for her loving that half-breed—”

  “Oh, Joshua, use your head, boy! You’ve behaved like a child instead of the man you’re supposed to be, and I hope your parents don’t know what you’ve done. If they do, they’re sorely ashamed of their eldest son!”

  She got up and poured herself more coffee while Joshua stared at his own cup. “Where’s Rachael?” Joshua asked again.

  “It’s like I told you. I don’t even know for sure. Can’t you see by this ugly old face that I’ve been up all night?”

  Joshua looked at her. “How can you not know where she is?”

  Lacy rubbed her eyes. “She rode out last night, as soon as we hurried home from the dance. She was determined to go and warn Brand that Jason and the others were coming after him—that he’d been blamed for those raids.”

  Joshua gripped the tin coffee cup tighter. “She rode out alone?”

  “She knows the way to Brand’s place. But she’s never gone after dark, Josh; and a couple of hours later my horse showed up back here—with all her supplies still on it.” Her eyes teared again. “Something has happened to her, Josh. And I don’t know who to turn to. Nobody in this town is going to go looking for her. They don’t care now. If she went off with Brand on a faster horse, she would have taken her supplies with her.”

  Joshua frowned, fingering his coffee cup. “She didn’t go with Brand—not the way the men who came back from there tell it. They said they surrounded the house, but Brand wasn’t inside it. He was in the barn. He went tearing out of there
like a bat out of hell, and none of them could catch up with him. A man can’t ride that fast if he’s got the weight of an extra person riding with him. Not only could the horse never gain that speed, but it would be way too dangerous after dark like that. Those that saw him say he was alone, and there was just the one horse.” He met Lacy’s eyes. “And you’re right—even if Rachael did go with him, she wouldn’t have left her supplies behind. It wouldn’t make sense.”

  “Oh, Josh, she’s either lying out there somewhere hurt, or Comanche or outlaws got her. My God, Josh, you’re her brother! Won’t you at least go out there and try to find out what happened to her?”

  Joshua sighed deeply, running a hand through his thick, sandy hair. “Damn,” he muttered. “I’ve never been so mixed up in my whole life. I haven’t even had time to mourn my own brother. My ranch is ruined, and I’ve got another brother out there with the Comanche. Now my sister is missing. What the hell is going on, Lacy? I don’t know which way to turn.”

  “Well, my advice is not to turn to Jason Brown. It’s time you opened your eyes and saw Jason for what he really is. Don’t you think it’s quite a coincidence that all this raiding started as soon as Jason got back from his last outing? And you know the man hates Brand Selby. Brand knows things about Jason he probably never even told you. Isn’t it convenient that Jason blames the raids on Brand? He wants the man dead, Joshua. And now that he knows about Brand and Rachael, he wants him dead even worse. But more than that, he’ll want revenge against your sister.”

  Joshua looked at her in disbelief. “Jason would never hurt Rachael.”

  “Wouldn’t he? You didn’t see him yesterday morning when he came here to get her final answer on marrying him. You didn’t see the look in his eyes when she turned him down again, Josh. You didn’t see how he grabbed her—the bruise he left on her arm. You didn’t see how his fist was clenched like he wanted to strike her. She’s always been afraid of him and you know it. Just think about it, Josh. Maybe she saw things you didn’t simply because Rachael is a woman, and Jason’s attentions to her were different from the friendship he shared with you. A woman knows, Joshua. She senses the danger in men like Jason.”