by Reece Butler
Kate clasped her hands and pressed them to her chest. The deputies and sheriff couldn’t see what was happening on the ground. She saw a flash of triumph on Rivers’s face. He pointed his cuffed hands at the men on the ground as if he held something between them. Hames scrambled away but the banker had grabbed the agent. Both of them watched Rivers. Jennet looked terrified. He tried to pull the agent on top of him as protection. The banker must have pulled a gun to shoot Rivers, who yanked it from him.
Kate couldn’t look away. Someone was going to die at that close range. Rivers, grinning like the devil, moved his hands from the agent to the banker and back, as if deciding who to shoot.
A rifle cracked, followed immediately by the pop of a small gun. One of the horses screamed and bucked. Kate jumped, banging the back of her head on the window frame. She pulled back into the room, eyes streaming as she rubbed the sore spot.
She didn’t want to miss anything, so as soon as she could see again, she looked out. The horses were racing out of town, the driver barely hanging on. Gibson had managed to shove the banker out of the way and haul himself to his feet. He grimaced at the dead prisoner at his feet. He hauled Jennet to his feet, looking furious enough to strangle the banker. Hames sat on the boardwalk, furiously scribbling in his little book.
Kate looked around. Everyone’s attention but hers seemed to be on the commotion by the bank. No one else seemed to notice that the boy, and his rifle, were gone from the hotel balcony. Even the ravens stared at the ground as if memorizing everything. They peered around, silent and watchful.
“Deputies, don’t let anyone leave town!” yelled Barstow. “I need to see all of you, now.”
“Free whiskey at Baldy’s!” yelled another, louder, voice. The men in the crowd hesitated for a moment and then scrambled toward the saloon.
“Trust Ross to know how to hold them,” said Lily. She sounded breathless. “Thank goodness no one else was hurt. I thought for sure Rivers was going to shoot Jennet or Gibson. I was hoping we’d need a new banker.” She smiled and nodded toward the empty balcony. That Casey is a good shot. I shall have to see that the boy and his brother are rewarded.” She gave a brisk nod. “I’ll ask Sophie to offer them space to bunk down in her storage shed. They can be night guards for her, paid by all the food they can eat.”
“Gabe and Oz, go listen at Baldy’s,” ordered Barstow over the noise and commotion on the street.
Kate turned back to watch. A huge man and a shorter one ran toward Baldy’s Saloon. Kate remembered them from the posse. The short one pulled off his hat, revealing reddish-blond hair, and pulled ahead. He must have said something because the other man roared and put on a burst of speed. The two of them arrived at the doorway together and fought to get in. They reminded Kate of how the McInnes men scuffled with each other over almost everything. They looked too different to be brothers, or even cousins.
She turned back to the action to see Barstow scowl and point to something on the ground. The Pinkerton agent returned the look and crouched. He lifted something in a handkerchief. It was too small for Kate to see what it was, but she figured it must be the banker’s gun, used by Rivers.
“If we were men we could go down there and find out what’s going on, instead of waiting until they tell us,” said Kate. She rubbed her sore head. “I expect we’re the only ones, other than that boy, who saw what happened.”
“Sheriff Barstow and Mr. Gibson will want to speak with us later,” said Lily from behind Kate. “The men will fuss, but I’m going down to the street. There hasn’t been as much excitement in Tanner’s Ford in some time.” Lily smiled demurely and fluttered her eyelashes like the courtesan she used to be. “I’m sure your head would feel better with a little air. Shall we bring our parasols and stroll down the boardwalk?”
A few minutes later their heels clopped along the wood.
“Lily Thatcher, what are you doing here?”
Ross wore nothing above his belt but a leather vest and hat. He addressed Lily, frowning with muscular arms crossed, but his glare also included Kate. If she hadn’t met him previously under far more positive circumstances, she would be quivering in her boots.
“I am taking a stroll on the boardwalk, of course.”
“Why? And don’t give me any nonsense.”
Lily pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose. Kate expected her to tell a tale, but she must have known Ross meant business.
“Kate and I watched the whole thing from the second floor. No one else had the same angle. I thought the sheriff and that nice Pinkerton man would wish to hear what we have to say.” She stared back as Ross narrowed his eyes at them. “I saw Casey shoot the mayor. The boy might know who Rivers was aiming at.”
Kate opened her mouth to say what she’d seen, but Ross interrupted.
“Not the Pinkerton agent?” Ross directed his question to Lily. She gave a ladylike shrug.
“One would expect that, but perhaps not.”
“Dang it all, Lily, you should not have been up there watching.” He switched his fury to Kate. “Neither of you should. Moving a prisoner is always dangerous. You could have been killed and the judge would have me strung up for not taking care of you.”
“My husband knows neither he nor any other man can keep me from doing what I wish.” She gave a ladylike harrumph. “I’ve not heard you so upset since Amelia was kidnapped.”
“Don’t remind me of that,” said Ross with a groan.
As part of her introduction to Tanner’s Ford, Lily had told Kate a few things about Ross’s early life. How his mother, Sunbird, had sent him to be raised by her Bannock Indian family so his jealous older stepbrothers wouldn’t kill him. How four men had raped and murdered his young cousin in front of his eyes. Though a child himself, he’d killed the first man that day. Shamed at not killing them all, he vowed to find the others, then torture and kill them. But when two of them kidnapped Amelia and were put in jail, they were found with a single bullet to their brains. Ross was accused of their death, but the fact he’d been denied his vengeance was proof someone else had stopped them from speaking. No one knew who had ordered, or carried out, the killings.
“Ross, look at this!”
Kate recognized the hoarse voice as belonging to Trace Elliott. After a last warning glare at Lily, Ross strode over to Trace, who held the mayor’s hat.
“I think Rivers was the one,” added Trace.
Ross looked down. He shuddered. He tilted his head back, his teeth bared. Tendons stood out in his neck. He clenched his fists in front of him and his muscles bulged.
“No!”
A deep scream, animalistic in its pain, erupted from his throat.
Lily gasped. She grabbed Kate’s arm, trembling.
“Oh, my,” she whispered. “It was Rivers, all this time!”
Ross threw his hands up and wide in an explosive movement. The sky suddenly erupted with ravens. They dove off the rooftops, swooping into the street. The harsh sound of their calls and rush of their huge wings filled the air. Lily tossed her parasol aside, picked up her skirts, and ran toward Ross.
Kate snatched the dainty silk and lace confection from the ground and hurried after Lily. She stopped when she saw Rivers. She stared down, shocked at seeing her first dead man. He lay, eyes open and legs spread wide, on his back. His cuffed hands bracketed the bright red staining his white shirt. Rivers had faced Kate, and the hotel. Casey must have shot him in the chest, killing him almost instantly.
He’d kept his hair very long on one side so he could comb it over his head. He’d landed with his hair flopped back, revealing his bald head. The deep gashes in his skull looked grotesque. He must have been attacked by something long ago. Perhaps a bear? No, these were gouges more than claw marks.
“All this time, he was here, laughing at us!” roared Ross. He clenched the mayor’s hat so hard Kate thought he might rip it apart.
Ross switched to a language Kate didn’t understand but it wasn’t necessary. He was cursing River
s into the seven depths of hell, or worse. He pulled his lips back, baring his teeth in an expression so fierce his face looked like a caricature of the devil. He turned his attention to the dead man and his eyes opened even wider.
“Get Amelia and the boys here, now!” screamed Lily.
Ross howled what had to be a war cry and threw the hat away. He reached under the back of his vest and pulled something out. It flashed in the sun. He leaned over, grabbed Rivers by the hair and half-lifted him. He grunted with effort as he made a slicing motion with his other hand.
Only when blood gushed and the body fell to the ground did Kate realize Ross held a knife in his hand. A very big, very sharp knife. And in the other he now held Rivers’ head by the hair. The eyes stared and the jaw dropped open. It dripped blood.
Kate’s stomach lurched. She pressed her hand over her mouth and stepped back. Ross screamed something more. He strode into the street and threw the head underhand, as if bowling. The ghastly thing rolled toward the saloon, chased by a hoard of giant black birds.
They pounced on it, pecking viciously. Kate turned away from the sight in horror. Trace, his brothers Nevin and Gillis, and two other men held Ross. He fought like a wild thing, screaming curses, until Lily stepped close.
“Oh, my poor boy,” she crooned.
She wrapped her arms around his bare chest and pressed her face on his heaving stomach, hugging him. It took a moment, but he shuddered and sank into himself, his brown face ashen. He lifted one hand to touch her, found it covered in blood, and dropped it again.
“He always wore a hat,” he blurted. His voice sounded hollow. “I’m too late, again.”
“Ross? Where’s my husband?”
A brown-haired woman raced down the boardwalk behind a huge raven as if chasing it. She was maybe an inch taller than Kate. Lily held on to Ross until Amelia threw herself at him. He bent over her, his shoulders shaking. His long, black hair covered his face.
Kate looked away, wishing to give them privacy. She found Lily, tears silently flowing, in Trace’s arms. She wrapped her arms around herself, too stunned to think.
“What in tarnation are you doing here, Kate?”
Zach strode toward her, Rusty just behind. The sheriff must have just finished with the deputies. She caught a quick glimpse of Rusty’s grimace before Zach stopped in front of her, blocking everything else. He set his fists on his hips and glared down as if everything was her fault. After what she’d just seen, she wanted his arms around her. But if he didn’t want to comfort her, she was not going to tolerate his censure. She was sure Rusty would hug her, but the way Zach looked he might go berserk if she touched his cousin.
“I’m picking up Lily’s parasol,” she said, pretending to be calm. She held it up as proof, but he brushed it aside.
“I don’t mean just now,” growled Zach, furious. “I saw you watching from Lily’s window. That was bad enough. But then you rushed into the street where a murder had just happened, and stood near a wild man with a knife—you could have been killed!” He pushed close, trying to intimidate her with his size. “I’ve a mind to put you over my lap and—”
“And nothing!”
Here she was, in pain, horrified over what she’d witnessed, feeling Ross’s anguish and his love of Amelia, and all Zach could do was yell and threaten her. She stepped back, glaring just as hard. When he didn’t step forward, she set her jaw.
“You have no right to tell me what to do, Zach McInnes. As I said before, you’re not my husband, my father, or my brother. I’m my own woman, and I’ll do what I think is right!”
She emphasized her last words by jamming Lily’s parasol into his chest. It didn’t even cause a dent. His narrowed eyes suggested it wasn’t one of her best moves, but then she caught a flicker at the corner of his lip that suggested he wasn’t boiling mad at her anymore.
“You think you could hold off a determined man with that bit of lace?” The lip flicker increased.
“For all you know there’s a stiletto inside,” she boasted.
He snatched it out of her grasp and tugged on the handle. Nothing happened, so he tossed it back. She caught it awkwardly in both hands. That allowed him to step close. Way too close. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and looked up.
The flash in his icy-blue eyes melted to something far warmer. He shifted, moving the parasol so his aroused groin pressed against her belly. Kate caught Lily’s parasol before it fell. She licked her dry lips, realizing she wanted more than a gentle hug from him.
“Aw, Kate,” he whispered. He held her shoulders, looked her in the eyes, and sighed. “I saw you in that window when I left the jail and I got worried. My heart almost stopped when those guns went off. And then you were so close when Ross pulled that pig sticker.” One corner of his mouth quirked up as he gently brushed his knuckle over her cheek. He sighed from the bottom of his lungs. “I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”
She dropped her eyes, unable to face this too-gentle Zach. “You’d find someone new to cook, clean, and all,” she grumbled. She waited, tension coiled like a snake. Finally, he pulled her tight against his warm body, and just breathed.
“You’re a lot more than that, Katherine Mason.” He rested his chin on her head.
“Ow!” She pulled back, rubbing the lump she’d received courtesy of Lily’s window. He let her go as far as his outstretched arms and looked her over.
“You’re hurt. What happened?”
“Nothing,” she muttered, embarrassed at doing something so foolish. She wouldn’t complain when others were in far worse shape.
“Kate, I want the truth,” he warned.
“I banged my head on the window when I heard the guns,” she muttered. “It’s nothing.”
He raised her chin with his finger. She tried to keep her eyes down, but she’d have to face him eventually. She met his blue eyes and frowned. “What?”
“What are we going to do with you?” he whispered, shaking his head.
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling away. This time he let her go. “But there’s others that need help.”
Zach looked around, his extra fourteen inches of height giving him a much better idea of what was happening. She looked as well. Rusty stood near, head down so his hat covered his face. His shoulders seemed to shake, as if he was laughing.
“You’re the only woman who doesn’t have a man holding her,” said Zach.
“I’m strong. I don’t need one.” She lifted her chin to prove it.
“Yep, you’re strong,” he agreed. “And I like that you are. But maybe you want a man to hold you anyway. Lily’s had to be strong all her life, but Trace is helping her home. Judge Thatcher would be holding her if he wasn’t waiting on the Bannack City road to make sure Rivers didn’t have anyone waiting to help him escape. Ross is taking his wife and mother to the hotel. They’re both quiet, but very strong, women.”
Kate looked at the trio. “I think Ross is the one who needs Amelia, not the other way around.”
Zach looked at her, his eyes hooded. “And maybe I need to be held,” he said quietly.
Zach, admitting weakness? He’d always had his brothers and cousin to support him. With no one to hold her, she’d had to stand alone. All her life she fought to hide the forlorn hope that someone would help her, someone who understood. But no one, other than Mama, ever did. And Mama had no power to help. But she didn’t want to be a small, powerless woman soothed and comforted by a big, strong man. She had her own strengths, and wanted to use them. Just like the other valley women, she wanted to be seen, and appreciated, for herself.
Ross wasn’t the only man who could kill within seconds. Most of the men in the valley were the same. They were hard men, even brutal when they had to be. But they could also comfort a crying baby or helpless kitten. All of them were sure enough in themselves to let their women be strong.
Life was dangerous in the West. The men she used to think of as monsters were nothing compared to Rivers. Simi
lar men existed in the East, no doubt. But she’d been sheltered from all but Father’s petty cruelty.
She’d wanted to be alone, strong and powerful. But the last hour proved that no one could survive on their own unless they denied their heart. That, or were so full of evil that they had no heart, just a lump of cold, cruel, gold. An unholy, corrupt type of gold that men, and some women, would do anything and everything to possess.
She had no gold. Neither did the McInnes men.
She did, however, have a heart. One that with every beat showed her love for them, and craved it in return. She knew all three wanted her, but how deeply? Did they want her heart, her love? And would they return it?
If not, she’d have to leave. She couldn’t bear to see them and know they’d locked her out of their hearts. Her hands suddenly started shaking. She dropped Lily’s parasol. She tried to bend over to pick it up, but now her whole body shook. A cold ache deeper than winter settled into her bones. How could she face the horrors of life without love?
She said she was strong, and it was time to prove it. She forced her womanly trembles from her body by standing stiff and tall. Just like she had when Father crushed Mama’s dreams by smashing her figurines. Like Mama, once she no longer had anything to lose, she could be even stronger.
She’d give herself a few more days at the Running W, just in case they could show they returned her love, and then she’d go away. Lily would advance her the money for a stage. She’d find someone kind to marry. A quiet man who cared for her just enough. Someone she could be fond of and respect, but not love.
Zach knelt and picked up the bit of fabric and lace. She avoided his eyes until she got herself under control. Then she put a brisk smile on her face. He mirrored it hesitantly. She wrapped her arms around his chest as Lily had Ross. He returned the gesture after a moment, holding her quietly.