A cagey expression crossed his face then twisted into a mask of mockery. “Bet you got yourself in trouble. Always knew you were a whore at heart.”
“No, I didn’t get into trouble. Moving to Boston wasn’t my idea. When I got the chance, I ran away. That’s all there is to it.”
“Bet your whore of a mother is looking for ya.” He sniggered. “In fact, I’d bet money on it.” He hunkered down and grinned. “Pa says you’re still mooning over Cord.”
“When did you talk to him? I haven’t seen you around since I came home.”
“Been around…on the quiet.”
“Looking for another bank to rob? Another woman and baby to kill?”
“Tate’s the sheriff. He would say something like that. Bastard.” He hawked up a glob of spittle. It landed next to her boot. She drew her foot away.
“Cord’s honest, and he’s a good man. You used to be friends.”
“Was ’til he stole my woman.”
“Guess she had better sense than to marry someone like you.”
Without a warning word or even a change in expression, he reached out and backhanded her.
The blow jarred her, but more than hurting, it made her mad. “I always loved him. And now I’m going to marry him.” Let her brother chew on that.
“You cain’t marry Cord Tate. Case you forgot, the sheriff wants to hang my ass.”
“Like you don’t deserve it.” Stall for time. Cord would come looking for her. He had to. “If you stick around here, that’s exactly what’s going to happen, whether I marry him or not.” She struggled against the ropes and shook her head. “As miserable a creature as you are, we grew up together—brother and sister. I don’t want to see you hang. Why don’t you leave Texas? Go to Canada or Alaska. Cord certainly won’t be trying to find you up there. Change your name, and while you’re at it, your way of living.”
“My way of living? You’re one to talk. Letting him use you like a fifty cent whore.”
“What do you mean? How do you know—?”
“Told ya. I been around on the quiet. You were too busy to know I was in the house. But I saw him sticking his prick in your—”
“Never mind what you saw!”
“Guess you liked it a lot. You was begging for more.”
God, he watched them making love? Her face burned, but she wasn’t about to let her brother get away with anything. “We’re getting married day after tomorrow. Besides, he can use me anyway he likes long as it doesn’t hurt.” She spat on the ground. “What’s it to you anyway? What goes on between a man and his wife is their business.”
“Boston turned you into a whore. Was that your ma’s plan all along? What happened? She sell you to the highest bidder?”
“Pretty much, only…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” No sense in telling her crazy, stupid brother about her mother’s plan. Too humiliating. Besides she wouldn’t put it past her brother to try and cash in on it by telling Theodore Darwin where she was…if he hadn’t already.
If he wasn’t taking her to Darwin or her mother then where?
He rose to his feet, leered then unbuttoned his pants and pulled out his Johnson.
Her heart stuttered in her chest. “No, you can’t,” she pleaded, hating that she whined. “I’m still your sister.”
“Think I want to have a go at you? No way. Just gotta piss, that’s all.” He laughed. “Excuse me. I need the fas-silly-tees, too.” Each syllable broadened and exaggerated with his raucous laughter.
As fast as she could, she inched back painfully and tucked her feet under her to avoid their getting wet. “Sonofabitch! Turn around at least!”
“You weren’t too proud to see the high-and-mighty sheriff’s prick. Figure seeing mine won’t give you the vapors.”
Instead of rising to his bait, she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Matter of fact, you did more’n look at his prick.” He laughed again, more like the cackle of a coyote crossed with a setting hen.
“Shut up!” If she wasn’t trussed up like a hog going to market, she’d take great pleasure in shutting his mouth herself. When they were children, he’d seemed quite ordinary. Sure, he teased her a lot, but that was what big brothers did. But once he hit fourteen, his teasing turned mean and many times made her uncomfortable. At the time she wasn’t sure why she avoided him. She just did.
Now that she was older and a tad wiser in the ways of men, she was certain not-so-dear half-brother Tom meant her harm more than once. Luckily she’d been a clingy mama’s girl and gave him little opportunity for unhealthy mischief.
“Bossy bitch! I’m calling the shots here. Ain’t you figured that out yet?”
“So, what’s your plan? Have you figured out how you’re going to escape with your hide intact once Cord catches up with you?”
“Don’t mock me! I won’t have you making fun.”
Her eyes still shut, his backhand across her face came hard and fast, but more expected this time. Her vision blurred. Tears stung her eyes from the bright points of pain across her cheek.
“Now keep your trap shut or I’ll shut it for you.”
Chapter Ten
By the dawn’s first light, Cord, his two brothers and seven more well-armed men gathered at the Tyler spread, the Double Bar T. After they dismounted, he led the search party around the ranch house to the barn.
“Watch your step. It was pitch black last night. Couldn’t see anything in the way of tracks. Don’t know if we can pick up a trail or not, but we’ve gotta try.”
He squatted on his heels and studied the ground between the house and barn. “She didn’t ride out through the valley. I would’ve met her.” More plains and hills out the back way, but in general the terrain was flatter. “Most likely whoever took her took her out that way.”
“Sure enough. Star’s mare is missing.” He pointed. “That way. Two sets of hoof prints off to the northeast.” Not surprising since there was a dead man and a strange horse wandering the property. He used it the night before to carry the stranger’s body back to town.
“Maybe she left on her own,” Bud Christy offered with a shrug. “Tyler women ain’t know’d for sticking ’round.”
A flash of anger burned through Cord’s chest. He shook his head. “No-siree, Bud. Star and me—we have plans. Getting hitched on Sunday.”
He eyed the group of men and dared any one of them to laugh.
None did. None dared.
“Not gonna be easy. Ground’s rocky,” his brother Nash said with a discouraged air.
“Makes no difference.” Luis, Cord’s other brother, hunkered down and gazed at the faint prints then frowned. “We got to get a move on. He’s got an eight hour lead.”
“Mount up!” Cord and the search party headed back to the front for their horses. Worry bunched his shoulders into a knot. Somehow he had to find her. She wouldn’t have run away. Not now. Not with their marriage just a day from being a fact.
Just before climbing into the saddle, he stopped and turned to his youngest brother. “Luis, you’re the best tracker. You lead.”
More than a little chilled from the night time temperatures dropping, Star shivered, unable to feign sleeping any longer. Her back muscles ached. If fact, her entire body ached from lying on the ground all night.
“Get up!”
“I can’t. You have to help me.” If her bastard brother would just get close enough she’d kick his cojones clear up to his throat.
“I’ll help you all right.” He kicked her thigh with the toe of his boot.
A sharp pain shot though her upper thigh. She winced and glared at him with her best let-me-get-free-and-see-what-I’ll-do expression then gave up and rolled over to her knees and eased to her feet, struggling a bit to regain her balance. “Where’re you taking me?”
“You’ll see soon enough.” He grabbed her roughly, ready to throw her body over the saddle.
Think. “Just let me ride upright and tie my hands
in front of me. It’s all I’ll be able to do to keep in the saddle.”
“Can’t take a chance on you gettin’ away. You’re worth too much.”
A shiver of fear speared its way through her. “Worth too much? I’m not the one with a bounty on my head.”
“You’d be surprised.” He let out a grating laugh.
Somehow she had to get away before he got her on the horse. She kneed his gut, and he grunted and dropped her. She landed on her feet and took off in a dead run.
Dammit. Nothing but plains and hills as far as she could see. If she could just get far enough ahead, she could slip into one of the caves that abounded in the area.
Hell. Who was she fooling? How could she outrun a man on a horse when all she had were her two feet?
Her brother recovered quickly—too quickly—and grabbed her by the collar of her shirtwaist and shook her like a dog with a rabbit. “Not so fast.” He shoved her to the ground then whipped a rope around her ankles as if she were a runaway calf.
“You just better be glad he wants you alive or the buzzards would already be circling for their dinner.”
“What he? Where are you taking me?”
“Shut your trap.” He threw her across her mare and tied the reins to his pommel. “Let’s just see you try to get away now.”
Only one person could be behind the reward offer. Teddy Darwin. Had he followed her all the way to Texas? Or was it just one of his hired Pinkerton agents?
Teddy she could manage…provided she could just get loose.
The sun grew high overhead, and although Tom stopped and watered the horses, he didn’t offer her so much as a sip from his canteen.
“You bastard. I’m dying of thirst. If I’m dead you won’t get your reward. Isn’t that right?”
“Just shut up. Ain’t all that far. Another day’s ride.”
“I can’t go that long without water!” But he just kept riding and ignoring her. If she could just see where he was taking her. But no, she’d lost her bearings. It seemed like he’d circled around some. So maybe she wasn’t as far from home as she thought.
In the distance she heard the clatter of a train. They were close to the tracks. Maybe ten miles or so from the ranch.
Or twenty.
Time passed so slowly. The ground, for that was all she could see, grew rockier, and their progress had slowed. She was no longer jostled around like a sack of feed corn. Shadows lengthened, and the sun had passed its zenith. Hunger and thirst were bad, but hanging with her head down for hours had left her dizzy and confused.
If he would just stop somewhere.
Anywhere.
Then finally some shade, more shadows. He was leading her through an opening between high steep boulders then to a cave entrance. His old hideout near the San Saba mines?
The horses slowed then stopped.
“Took you long enough to reach this godforsaken place.” The sound of a new voice reached her.
An unfamiliar one. One without a Texan drawl.
“Alive and kickin’ just like you ordered. Mighty tempted to bring her otherwise, though.”
“That wouldn’t have been wise.” The newcomer’s voice was educated and matter of fact.
Even dizzy and confused, she didn’t miss the ominous threat underlying his tone. It certainly wasn’t old Teddy Darwin. No, his patrician lisp was only too familiar.
“Why would you treat your sister in such a manner?” the stranger asked.
“She’s feisty. ’Fraid she’d get away from me.”
Two strong arms grabbed her and pulled her from the back of her mare and set her on her feet.
A wave of dizziness washed through her, and she staggered. The stranger reached out and steadied her then bent down and untied her feet. She leaned against his shoulders to keep her balance. The acrid smoke of a small cigarillo reached her nose.
“Water,” she gasped. “Thirsty.” The words came out in a croak.
Her vision cleared a bit, in time for her to see him glare at her brother.
The stranger threw down his cigarillo and guided her over to a rock. “Sit.”
“Fine.” She sat.
He ambled over to a black stallion and fetched back a canteen. “Drink.” He held it for her.
She gulped the water. It was warm, but fresh enough. Water dribbled from the corner of her mouth. Turning her head, she tried to wipe her mouth on her shoulder.
“I’ll loosen your hands, if you promise not to run.”
She glanced around and rolled her eyes. “Where do you think I’d go?”
His grim face relaxed for a moment. “You have a point.”
He untied her hands. She rubbed them until the feeling began to return. She took some time a good look at the stranger. Tall, dressed in black from head to toe, he was handsome but grim, with angular features and pale eyes that didn’t smile.
“Aw-right. I brung her. Now pay me. You can tend to all her complaints after I vamoose.”
“Five hundred, I believe?”
“That’s right.”
“Five hundred? That’s an outrage,” she said. “You sold me out for five hundred dollars?”
The stranger said dryly, “Think you’re worth more, do you?”
“Yes, not to mention, there’s such a thing a family loyalty.” She folded her arms across her breasts. “Obviously not in my family.”
“Listen to the whore running her mouth about family loyalty. I don’t claim kin. No, sir.”
“Rest assured, young lady, you’re worth quite a bit more to my employer.”
“Then I want more, too,” Tom shouted. His stance widened and his hand hovered in the air at the level of his gun butt.
“No. In fact, considering our deal was to deliver her in good condition, I would be within my rights to reduce your fee to half what we agreed. If you wish more, you must earn it. I suggest you accompany us to meet my employer and make your demands personally.”
“I will!” Her brother shook his head and strutted back and forth then nodded. “She’s a feisty one. You might need some help getting her there.”
The stranger shot a quick glance in her direction.
She wrinkled her nose. “Two men to handle one woman. That’s rich.”
“You might be correct, Tyler.”
She swallowed her relief. At least the stranger wasn’t intent on humiliating and mistreating her. At least, that was her first impression. Her gaze darted from side to side. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t still try to get away.
“You’re safe with me,” her new captor said.
Sheer exhaustion drained her body of energy. She trembled. If she could just make her feet move. Somehow she had to get away from both of them. “Who are you? You’re a Pinkerton, aren’t you?”
Narrowing his gaze, the man sat down on a rock and studied her. He tipped his hat with two fingers. “Agent Fields, at your service, ma’am.”
“And you’re employed by…Theodore Darwin.”
Coolly, he nodded his agreement.
“You know…” She raised her chin a notch. “You’re not the first he’s sent after me.”
“He must value you highly.” His tone was dry as if he couldn’t understand why anyone would value her.
“He’s a lecherous old puke.”
He raised a skeptical brow. “I’m to bring you to him. That’s all I’m paid for. What happens afterwards is nothing to me.”
“But I’m getting married on Sunday.” Surely he could see she wanted no part of Teddy Darwin.
“Really?” The Pinkerton shrugged. “I have no information regarding Mr. Darwin’s intentions.”
“I’m not talking about marrying Teddy Darwin. I’m promised to the sheriff of Kenton Valley, and I just imagine he’s already on my trail.”
Fields raised his brows. “I wonder.”
“Why would you say that? I’m missing and I’m definitely worth finding.” Damn straight she was.
“Considering the amount of trouble
you’ve already caused your brother and Mr. Darwin, it’s conceivable the good sheriff will give up the chase and count his lucky stars.”
“Oh, no, he won’t.”
He laughed. “Already taken him to your bed, have you?”
“I’m expecting his baby,” she lied without even a heating of her cheeks.
“Admirable.” He nodded as if truly meant it. “A woman who knows how to get what she wants. Certainly didn’t waste any time. Did you?”
“Told you my sister was no better than a whore…like her no-good ma.”
“What a wonderful brother I have. She raised you after your ma died. You should be grateful instead of sullying her name.” Why she was defending her admittedly no-good mother was a mystery, but apparently blood was thicker than water. “You do know you’re dealing with a bank robber, don’t you?
Fields nodded. “That’s his problem. Not mine. The reward on you is significantly higher than any bounty on his head.”
Try as she might, she couldn’t help but think about when they were young. There was actually a time when she loved her big brother. He looked out after her. He hadn’t always been this bad. Maybe if she hadn’t left home, he wouldn’t have turned to robbing banks.
“Better get a move on,” the Pinkerton said. “I’d rather not spend another night in this cave.”
“Used to better lodgings are you?” She lifted her lip in a sneer. “That is, when you’re not kidnapping women.”
He took a step forward. “It’s a job. That’s all.” His gaze traveled up and down her body.
She shivered and crossed her arms as if she could protect herself from his steely gaze. “Please. You seem a reasonable man. I’m promised to another.
“The story I heard is you were first promised to Mister Darwin.”
“He’s old—at least forty.”
“Is he now? That ancient? Miss Tyler, it’s unfortunate, but I was hired to bring you unharmed to Mr. Darwin and make no mistake, I will do so.”
“They say his first wife did away with herself.”
Fields frowned. “You can’t believe everything you hear.”
She set her hands on her hips. “Right after my mother informed me we were engaged, he tried to force himself on me. Most undignified.”
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