Dangerous Heart

by Tracey Bateman

  But if she didn’t get herself back to camp before Blake figured out she’d disobeyed his orders, she’d be on her own and might not have any choice.

  With a sigh, she sat up, patting Tulip’s neck. She noted the wagon train was so far in the distance, she could barely see the smoke rising from the campfires and the circled wagons.

  “Dadburn it,” she muttered. “I didn’t know we went that far.” With a kick to Tulip’s flanks, she headed back toward the wagon train. But just as the mare broke into a trot, the sound of horses coming from behind shot fear up her spine. She spun around in the saddle, finding herself surrounded by a dozen or more riders. Her heart slammed against her chest as she gripped her rifle without lifting it from the holder on her saddle. No one had to tell her who they were, even before her eyes adjusted to the waning light. “So it was you,” she said to the group in general. Gratified that her voice barely shook, she made an even sweep of the motley bunch. Laughter rumbled through the band of outlaws. “That’s right, gal.” Her pa rode forward.

  “What are you doing so far from home, Web?” she asked.

  “Well, whaddaya think we’re doin’? We come lookin’ for you,” Web said.

  “Yeah,” a shadowy figure spoke up. Ginger recognized his voice—that sarcastic, haughty voice, setting her teeth on edge. “Besides there’s too blasted many wanted posters in Kansas and Missouri for us to stay put. We thought we’d follow your trail and see if you’re ready to come back. We got a new job planned.”

  “Shut up, Lane,” Web commanded. “No one asked you to talk for me.”

  Faced with the reality of Web’s presence, a sudden fear dropped over Ginger like a heavy robe. She wasn’t the same person they had known. How could she explain how she had changed, without causing Web to force her to leave the wagon train?

  “Well?” Web growled. He gave a shudder and hunched over from the waist.

  “You okay, Web?”

  “Don’t worry about me, gal.” The look on his face was so fierce, Ginger shrank back. She must have imagined his moment of weakness.

  “S-sorry, Web.”

  “Forget sorry,” he snapped. “Just answer the question.”

  “What question?”

  Web’s eyes narrowed. “You sassin’ me, gal?”

  Swallowing hard, she shook her head as the memory of his backhand against her cheek made her cower. “No. But I didn’t hear the question.”

  “That’s because there wasn’t one spoken.”

  Ginger’s heart did a flip as the moonlight illuminated the chiseled features of a man she’d never seen before. A square jaw, wide-set eyes, a firm brow. He wore a leather coat and a bandana around his neck.

  “Mind yer own business, Elijah,” Web said.

  Was that sweat on his forehead? Ginger frowned. How could he be sweating in this cold? Forcing her gaze and concern away from Web, she settled on the newcomer. “My apologies.” His gaze never left Ginger. He smiled when he spoke. “I believe Web would like to know if you’re ready to return to the fold.”

  “She knows what I mean.” Web stared down the newcomer, but clearly was losing the battle of wills. He turned his attention back to Ginger, giving her a squinty-eyed glare. “Now, I’ve given you plenty of time. It’s time to come back, whether you got it done or not.”

  Web’s aversion to revenge was the reason he’d taken so long to allow her to go after Grant in the first place. He considered it a waste of energy.

  “It’s not that simple, Web. I can’t just walk up to him and put a gun to his head.”

  “Don’t believe her, Web. She’s done gone soft. I can see it, plain as day.” Lane Conners had been riding with Web for so long Web treated him like a son. But that didn’t mean Ginger was going to take any nonsense from him.

  Ginger bristled under his teasing grin. But she refused to engage in a useless argument with a useless man.

  Web shifted in his saddle. He glared at Lane. “Leave her alone.”

  Lane leaned forward, his movement mimicking Web’s. The way his eyes raked over her caused all the hair on Ginger’s neck to stand up straight. He didn’t have to say a word for her to hear him loudly. She never felt quite right around Lane. Even if Web believed him to be the one to take over for him some day.

  Web turned a silent gaze on her and frowned. “What are you sayin’?”

  Ginger jerked her chin and held herself straight in the saddle. “I’m trying to take care of it without getting a wanted poster with my face on it. Sometimes you got to be smart about things.”

  All humor fled Lane’s face. “You sayin’ we men ain’t as smart as you?”

  “Would she be wrong?”

  Once again the newcomer was speaking up on her behalf. Ginger’s heart lifted at the support. Lane, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as impressed.

  Lane turned. “Shut up, Elijah. You don’t even know her.”

  “Ah, you do make a striking point. Perhaps I’ve been presumptuous.” He sent Ginger a wink. She couldn’t help but be amused by his baiting.

  Lane gave a satisfied nod, but Elijah added with a half-grin, “I do, however, know you. And I can’t argue with her implication.”

  Without awaiting a response from Lane, he urged his horse forward and tipped his hat to Ginger. “As Lane so astutely pointed out, I haven’t had the pleasure of your acquaintance, Miss Freeman.”

  Web moved his horse forward. Ginger tensed. Web had already told Elijah to mind his own business. He wouldn’t stand for the man’s interference for too awful long. No telling what was about to happen, but one thing was sure—it wouldn’t end nicely for Elijah. “This is my girl, Ginger. Ginger, this is Elijah Garrett. Started riding with us directly after you run off.”

  Ginger bristled. It wasn’t like she’d run away. She had a mission to accomplish—a seven-year-old mission. One that she’d finally felt ready to undertake after she’d spotted Grant among the travelers in Hawkins, Kansas. It was a stroke of luck that the gang had ridden into that rough prairie town the day before the train arrived. After all that time of reliving the day her older brother had died—all that time hating the doctor with a fiery passion—she’d been given a gift. The chance to make him pay. There wasn’t much law in Hawkins, so the gang camped out in the area and rode into town when restlessness got the better of them and they wanted to visit the local saloons. Grant Kelley had been at the general store, looking at oil for rubbing on leather, when she’d spotted him. Hightailing it back to camp, she shook with excitement as she told the rest of the gang whom she’d just seen.

  Web thought it was foolishness but had given in—as long as she returned in three months. At first, she’d simply trailed the wagon train, keeping back a safe distance and eating jerky meat day in and day out, rather than risk a fire. If there was one thing Web had taught her, it was how to hide. To lay in wait and not get herself caught. So that’s what she’d done, as she waited for a chance to catch Grant alone.

  That time had finally come when the wagon train halted outside of Fort Laramie. Most of the settlers had gone to the fort, but the doctor hadn’t. With so few guards remaining in camp, the timing seemed perfect. Another gift. But Toni’s scream had shattered the silence that night as Ginger followed him and when she ran to the other woman’s assistance, she’d been discovered. A couple of days later, Sam Two Feathers, the head scout for the train, had offered her a job, keeping an eye on Toni Rodden. Since then, she’d made herself a valuable member of the wagon train through her tracking and hunting abilities.

  Why did Web have to show up out of nowhere and ruin it all?

  The stranger cleared his throat rather loudly and she realized that he was waiting for an acknowledgement from her. “Nice to meet you Elijah.”

  “Likewise.”

  She turned to her pa. “He’s the only doctor on the wagon train. If I kill him now, it might be bad for the rest of the folks.” Web shook his head. And again, Ginger noted the way he hunched over at the waist.


  “You sure you’re okay, Web? You seem awfully sick to me.”

  “You let me worry about me. Let’s talk about you. It’s time, gal. You either do what you came to do, or you give up the notion. Either way, you been gone long enough. We got to get on with things.”

  Lane released a quick breath. “We got to get on with the new plan, and we need her to do it. I say, we let the doctor go, and Ginger comes back to the gang.”

  Web pierced him with a look so fierce, even Ginger shrank from it. “Since when did you start givin’ orders around here?”

  Lane retreated. “Sorry, Web. Just makin’ a suggestion.”

  “Well, don’t,” Web snapped. He slanted a gaze at Ginger, his expression leaving no doubt in her mind that he was serious. “You got a week. Then it’s time to come back to us. We got a plan, and we need a female to pull it off.”

  Ginger swallowed hard. “What do you mean? What kind of plan? I thought I was done with helping out that way.”

  “You was, but you ain’t a young’un no more. It’s time you started earnin’ your keep.”

  She didn’t have the nerve to say what she wanted to say—that she’d just as soon they leave without her. That she’d rather make her own way than have to go back to the outlaw band. That she’d finally learned what it was to associate with decent, hard-working folks who valued her for what she offered as a person. “Look, Web, I have to go. They’re going to expect me back pretty soon.”

  Lane let out a snort. “They’re expecting you back? You answer to those people now?”

  “I have to fit in, or they’ll get suspicious.”

  “The little lady’s right,” Elijah spoke up with a silky smooth voice that in no way matched his profession, as far as Ginger was concerned. “There’s a smart way and a foolish way to go about these things. She’s chosen the smart approach. Patience shows intelligence.” He smiled a lazy smile. “And virtue.”

  Web let out a grunt and stared the new member of the gang to silence, then turned back to Ginger. “You go on back. But remember what I said. One week. Oh, and keep an eye out for Buddy. He never came back with us after the raid this morning.”

  “Buddy? I thought he was going to study with that doctor in Hawkins.”

  “Dr. Michaels?” Web spat as though the very word tasted foul. “Turns out he weren’t really a doctor. Couldn’t even set a broken leg. Too bad, too. We coulda used a doctor around here.” He grunted and touched his hand to his side and winced.

  “You suffering?” Ginger asked, then cringed as she waited for his bark.

  “I told you I’m fine.”

  “Sorry, Web.”

  Poor Buddy. All he’d ever wanted was to study medicine. It would have been his chance for freedom—no matter what Web had planned. Buddy would have left and never come back. He wasn’t cut out for being an outlaw any more than she was. Her fifteen-year-old brother was, by far, the youngest member of their group, and Ginger had hoped this opportunity would allow him a way out; otherwise, she never would have left him. “Web, how is it that no one noticed that he was gone before you got back to camp? He’s just a boy.”

  “He’s half-grown. The boy can take care of hisself.” Web focused his gaze on her. “Besides, he’ll likely be comin’ to find you before he shows up back here.”

  Ginger hoped so. The alternative would mean he’d been shot during the raid and lay somewhere all alone, either dead or hurt.

  She started to turn Tulip around then hesitated. “Listen, Web. Be careful and stay out of sight. The train has a couple of real sharp trackers. You won’t be able to hide if you stay this close to the wagons.”

  He gave her a nod, and his expression seemed to soften a little in the moonlight. But that sickly look remained, touching off another round of worry in Ginger

  “Ain’t that touchin’? Don’t listen to her, Web.” Lane shifted in his saddle. “I think it’s ’cause she knows there’s something valuable in that wagon, and she wants it for herself. Why else would she have been gone this long?”

  Her stomach dropped. Lane could only be referring to the supply wagon. It did have valuables in it, but mostly seed and supplies. Valuable to be sure—to a band of pioneers looking to build life and break land in a new country. Certainly nothing worth stealing for these thugs.

  Web turned back to Ginger. “You get on back and keep your eyes and ears open for Buddy.”

  Ginger shrank back a little under his stern command. “Okay, Web.”

  She headed Tulip toward the camp, the quiver in her gut making her want to turn away, ride across the mountains, and never lay eyes on Web and his gang or the wagon train ever again.

  Grant tried hard not to keep his gaze focused toward the west. He had plenty to do without worrying about a rough-talking, buckskin-wearing female. He expelled a frustrated breath. It was no use. He was worthless until he knew she was safe.

  He slapped his thigh as the frustration hit him full in the gut. She ought to be back by now. During the past fifteen minutes, clouds had begun to roll in, swallowing the light of the moon and stars, and it was near impossible to see past the glow of their own campfires.

  He clomped awkwardly through camp, toward the direction she’d ridden.

  “Good evening, Grant. What on earth could be plaguing your mind so much that you’d walk right by me without so much as a word of greeting?”

  From her fire, Toni Rodden’s amused voice transcended Grant’s thoughts. He felt his ears warm as he changed his course and walked the five short steps to join her. “Sorry, Miss Toni,” he muttered.

  “Don’t worry yourself about it. I was only teasing. Coffee?” Toni held up the tin pot. With a modest, crocheted shawl draped across her shoulders and her hair pinned up in a proper style, it was impossible to tell Toni had once been a fancy woman. For all intents and purposes, she looked just like the rest of the women in the wagon train. Only she was different. Special, in fact, because she’d caught the eye and captured the heart of Sam Two Feathers.

  He glanced about, despite the futility of the action. “You haven’t seen Ginger, have you?”

  “Ginger? I assume she stayed with Yellow Bird all day. I haven’t seen her since she hightailed it out of our tent during the outlaw raid this morning. Haven’t you been over there to check on your patient?”

  “Yes, I have. She isn’t there.”

  “I’m sorry, then; I don’t know where she is. Perhaps with Fannie?”

  That did it. Grant expelled a frustrated breath. “I best go after her.”

  In the light of the fire, Toni’s soft brow wrinkled in concern. “What do you mean?”

  He glanced at the road west.

  A soft gasp escaped her throat. “Do you mean to tell me Ginger rode off alone?”

  “’Fraid so.”

  “But Blake ordered everyone to stay in camp. I heard him. Why on earth would Ginger do that? Especially after Blake warned her about disobeying orders.”

  “Why ask me anything about that woman? I don’t understand why she does half of the things she does. She probably doesn’t even know.”

  A smile tipped Toni’s lips. “You may be right about that.” She looked over his shoulder and gave a nod. “At any rate, you don’t need to worry anymore. She’s back.”

  Grant’s stomach tightened with a combination of relief and irritation. He turned to find Ginger stomping back into camp leading Tulip—a ridiculous name for a horse, as far as Grant was concerned.

  “Excuse me,” he said to Toni, not bothering to remove his gaze from Ginger.

  “Of course.”

  Grant’s heart raced as he stalked the twenty yards across camp. Breathless, he reached Ginger just as she finished hobbling Tulip and turning her loose for the night.

  “Where have you been?” he demanded.

  She brushed past him, walking toward her tent. “Riding. Just like I told you earlier when I left.”

  “Don’t you have any idea what might have happened out there?”

 
; “’Evenin’, Toni,” she said, ignoring his words altogether.

  Toni smiled. “I’m glad you’re back safely.”

  Drawing herself up with attempted dignity, Ginger squared her shoulders. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Frustration beat a steady rhythm through his temples. “Ginger!”

  “Land’s sake!” She stomped one leg and jutted her chin. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”

  “Because I worry about you. You don’t seem to understand that there are very real dangers out there, just waiting for a lone woman without a lot of fear and even less sense. Between outlaws, Indians, and wild animals, you’re mighty lucky you weren’t killed. I expected to find you dead.”

  A frown creased her brow and she looked toward Toni. “Can you please explain to Mr. Kelley that I’m not his responsibility and that I’d appreciate it if he’d just mind his own cockeyed business?”

  Toni cleared her throat. “I would, except that he has a point. It was a little frightening, considering the circumstances, Ginger. If those outlaws are still out there—”

  “Exactly,” Grant burst in. “What if you’d run into those outlaws? Or a bear?”

  Rolling her eyes, Ginger shook her head, twisting her face into a scowl directed solely at him. “I’m here aren’t I?” she said with a huff he had grown accustomed to over the past couple of months. He didn’t care for it any more now than the first time she’d directed her disdain in his direction. “Not that it’s your business.”

  “It’s my business when you disobey direct orders from the wagon master and put yourself in harm’s way.”

  Her eyes shifted with fear. “What makes you think I was in harm’s way?” She gulped.

  Toni stepped forward. “Ginger, I think you should go find Blake and try to smooth this over. He’s probably not thinking too highly of you right now. The best thing you could do is go to him before he sends for you.”

  Grant watched Ginger’s face as her emotions clearly warred inside her. Finally, she gave a slow nod. “I reckon you’re right.”