But women weren’t like that. Were they?
“No, I don’t love him, but I would have liked to talk to him before he left.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I beg your pardon!”
“He’s got you besotted. You never acted crazy before.”
“So I’m crazy, am I?”
Buc couldn’t see the trap he had built for himself. He sensed that Victoria was taken with Trinity when she ought to be looking to him. He was jealous, and he was angry.
“You’re about to let your infatuation with him cause you to throw away five years of caution, you’ve stopped looking over your shoulder.”
“But you’ve been looking over my shoulder for me, haven’t you?” Victoria demanded, furious. “You’ve been looking over my shoulder, and around the corner, and under the bed, and behind the door for five years. You had me so thoroughly terrified I did it, too.”
“Don’t turn away from me, Victoria,” Buc said, bringing his horse up to Victoria until their knees touched. “I haven’t thought about anybody else for five years. I love you. I want you to be my wife.”
“I’m sorry, Buc, but I’ve already told you I don’t love you.”
“But you’d marry that saddle bum—”
“Buc, be reasonable. I’ve just met Trinity. I don’t love him, and he doesn’t love me.”
“He’s got you hypnotized. He wants to marry you so he can get the ranch.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I won’t let him have you. I’ve looked after you all these years and I don’t mean to stop now.”
“This is absurd.”
“Are you going to meet him? Tell me!” Buc shouted.
“Yes, I’m going to meet him. To say goodbye.”
“I knew it,” Buc shouted. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He left a note asking me to meet him on the ridge, but he’s not here.”
Buc moved closer to Victoria and grabbed her horse’s reins. “I’m taking you back to the ranch. I won’t tell your uncle what you’ve done, but you’ve got to promise you won’t do anything like this again.”
“Take your hands off my reins,” Victoria ordered. She was so furious her lower lip quivered uncontrollably. That just made her madder. “How dare you threaten to say anything to my uncle. You’re the most presumptuous, egotistical hardhead I’ve ever met. I’m not going anywhere with you. And I won’t be treated like I’m doing something wrong.”
“I’m only doing it for your safety. You know I never think of anything except you.”
“Then it’s high time you started. First chance you find, get yourself into Flagstaff. Get drunk or whatever you want to do, but don’t come back until you’ve gotten over this crazy idea I’m going to marry you.”
Victoria tried to back her horse away from Buc, but he still held the reins, and his strength gradually forced her mount alongside his.
“Nobody’s going to have you except me.”
Buc tried to kiss Victoria, but between trying to control his own mount, keep his hold on her horse, and take an unwilling Victoria into his embrace, he couldn’t manage.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s unwise to attempt to make love to a woman on horseback, particularly if you’re riding separate horses?” Trinity’s voice came from close behind them.
Victoria ceased to struggle. She didn’t have to. Instinctively, she knew Trinity would make everything right.
“Damn you to hell,” Buc cursed. Whirling about to face Trinity, he let Victoria go so suddenly she nearly fell out of the saddle. “I said I’d kill you if I ever saw you on Mountain Valley range again.”
“So you did, but then some of us make a practice of promising more than we can deliver.”
The two men swung down from their saddles.
Victoria was furious at Buc for forcing a fight and angry at Trinity for agreeing so quickly. Couldn’t men find a less barbaric way to settle an argument?
“Stop it right this minute,” she said as firmly as she could. “I won’t be fought over. Neither of you has any claim on me.”
Neither man paid her any attention, and that angered her even more. How dare they pretend they were fighting because of her when it was nothing more than stupid male vanity! They were no different from range bulls or wild stallions.
“I have a score to settle with you for attacking me from behind,” Trinity told Buc. “A man of courage makes his presence and his intent known. Only a coward attacks from behind.”
“I don’t waste time talking to rattlesnakes,” Buc said. “I just crush them.”
“I don’t crush easily” Trinity responded, “especially not by coyotes.”
“Stop it!” Victoria cried as she drove her horse between the two men. This won’t settle anything.”
“Stay out of the way, Victoria,” Trinity said, trying to shove her mount aside.
Buc came around the back of the horse, attempting to catch Trinity on the blind side once more. Victoria’s horse sidestepped, causing Trinity to lose his balance. He dived under the horse’s belly to escape Buc’s deadly rush.
“Stand and fight like a man,” Buc said.
“I will, when you stop trying to get me from behind.”
Trinity, the smaller and faster man, slipped around Victoria’s horse and drove his fist into Buc’s jaw. He followed that by a powerful punch to Buc’s midriff. Buc doubled up with a groan of agony.
“Stop it,” Victoria said. “Can’t you see you’re acting like animals.”
“I didn’t start this fight,” Trinity said, “but I won’t back down.”
“You’re both crazy” Victoria cried, but Trinity didn’t hear her. Buc had regained his feet, and he charged Trinity with all the fury of a wounded bull.
Once again Trinity spun out of Buc’s reach, but not before he smashed the big man’s face. The blood which gushed from Buc’s nose seemed only to make him more determined to murder Trinity.
This fight had an entirely different character from the first one. Then Trinity had been taken by surprise and the fight stopped before he could recover. This time, Trinity set the tempo and style of the conflict. Buc fell to his knees in less than two minutes.
“Please don’t hit him again,” Victoria begged. “Can’t you see he’s too weak to continue?”
The hell I am” Buc said, getting to his feet.
But two more powerful blows from Trinity’s fists sent Buc to the ground again, unable to get up this time. Victoria slid out of her saddle and rushed to his side.
“You’ve nearly killed him. Why didn’t you stop when I asked? I thought you were different, but you’re just like all the rest.”
“I didn’t start this,” Trinity protested, but Victoria seemed not to hear him.
“Get his horse. I’ve got to get him home.” Victoria tried to help Buc rise. He stunned her by pushing her aside.
“I don’t need your help.”
“You’re hurt. Your eye’s so swollen you can hardly see.”
“Leave me alone,” Buc shouted. “I don’t need a Jezebel to help me into the saddle.”
His words shocked Victoria so badly she stepped back giving Buc a clear view of Trinity’s back as he attempted to catch Buc’s horse. Without warning, Buc pulled his gun.
“Watch out!” Victoria screamed.
Trinity threw himself aside just as the bullet smashed into the rocks close to his head. Victoria threw herself on Buc’s arm. The next moment Trinity had wrestled the gun from Buc.
“I think it’s time you went home,” Trinity said. “I’ll forget you tried to shoot me in the back, but if you ever pull a gun on me again, I’ll kill you.”
“You’d better kill me now,” Buc said, savage fury in his voice. “If you don’t, I’ll be on your trail until you’re dead.”
“Go home, Buc,” Victoria said. “Think up something to tell Uncle Grant. I don’t want him to know what really happened.”
“Are you coming?�
��
“No. I can’t go with anybody who’d try to shoot a man in the back.”
“You don’t warn a poisonous snake before you shoot it,” Buc spat.
“He’s a man, Buc. And any man deserves to see his opponent face to face.”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
“Buc, I’ve already told you—”
“Don’t lie to me.” Buc wiped some of the blood from his mouth. “I know you love him. I could feel you start to tremble the minute you heard his voice.”
“What’s the point in answering when you won’t believe anything I say?”
“Go on then. Go away with him. Turn your back on everybody who’s ever worried about you, tried to keep you safe, wanted to take care of you—”
“Stop it!” Victoria nearly screamed. “You’ve done everything you could to make me feel indebted to you, to feel guilty if I do anything you don’t like, but it won’t work any more. Say what you will, do what you must, but I’m going to start making my own decisions.”
“You mean you’re going away with him.”
Victoria looked upward as though beseeching God to give her patience. “Buc, I’m going to ride a short way down the trail with Trinity. If you want me to go back to the ranch with you, I’ll be back in a little while.”
“I can make it on my own.”
“Fine. We won’t speak of it again.”
“I’m not done yet,” Buc said. “I’ve got plenty more to say.”
“Not to me. Let’s go,” Victoria said, turning to Trinity.
Trinity helped Victoria mount up and then vaulted into his saddle. Victoria twisted around until she could see Buc. “I never wanted any of this. I wish things could have gone on between us as they always had.”
“They couldn’t” Buc said, “not once he came.”
Victoria turned and headed down the trail.
“Why did you fight him?” Victoria asked after they had ridden in silence for some time.
“He didn’t leave me much choice.”
“You didn’t have to hurt him so badly.”
“Maybe you forgot he attacked me from my blind side two days ago.”
“He was just angry,” Victoria said. “He thinks you’re taking me away from him.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” Trinity said, his voice caustic. “A bullet kills no matter why it’s fired.”
“I know that.”
“Then act like it. You’re blaming me because I won. Would you have blamed me if he’d shot me? Not that hitting somebody in the mouth and being shot in the back are quite the same.”
“Now you’re being just as insufferable as Buc. You can’t seem to think you’re a man unless you shoot somebody else or beat them up.”
“As a matter of fact, people say I’m usually quite even-tempered. I’m just not used to being cussed out for trying to defend myself.”
“I’m not blaming you for defending yourself.”
“It sounds like it to me.”
“I guess I’m just feeling guilty. Buc fought you because of me. Somehow I feel responsible.”
“Don’t. Nothing you can say will change Buc’s mind. I know. I listened to you for a little while before I spoke up.”
Victoria turned to face Trinity. “You mean you eavesdropped on our conversation?”
Now it was Trinity’s turn to roll his eyes heavenward.
“You don’t have to eavesdrop when two people are shouting at each other in the middle of a mountain trail. You could be heard for miles. Besides, I wanted to make sure you weren’t having a private conversation before I broke in on you.”
“We were.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you break in?”
“He started to force himself on you.”
“That wasn’t any of your business.”
“Probably not, but I felt partly responsible.”
“Why is everybody determined to take responsibility for what I do?”
“I thought it might have been something I said. You seemed willing to marry him when I arrived.”
Victoria sighed, much of her anger disappeared leaving her limp and downcast. “You know, there are times when I almost wish you hadn’t stopped here.”
Trinity let Victoria explain all the things that had gone through her mind in the last few days. A judicious question now and then kept her talking steadily as they rode farther and farther from the ranch. She became so caught up in what she was saying, she didn’t notice the distance.
Neither did she notice that the farther they rode, the more rigid Trinity’s expression became, his body more tense.
An enormous pressure had built up inside her over the last few years, and she had to get it out of her system. Once she vented all her frustration, she turned to trying to get Trinity to agree to investigate Jeb’s murder. He kept insisting she ought to hire professionals, but he never actually refused. Victoria felt sure if she just kept talking, she could talk him into it.
She had been talking steadily for nearly two hours when she abruptly drew rein.
“Where are we?” she asked. “I don’t recognize anything.”
“We’re still on your uncle’s range,” Trinity assured her. This appears to be a game trail. I haven’t seen any signs of hooves, so I guess it’s not much used.”
“I’d better turn around,” Victoria said. “It’ll take me hours to get back to the ranch. I want to see how Buc’s getting along.”
“Ride with me to the other side of the ridge,” Trinity asked.
Victoria noticed his eyes didn’t shine with their usual energy and good spirits. He seemed unusually tense, even upset. It made her feel a little less downhearted to think he was unhappy about leaving.
“I’d better turn back now,” she said. “I shouldn’t have come so far. I don’t know why you let me talk so much.”
“I like to hear you talk.”
“Thanks, but I’m worried about Buc. You really hurt him.”
“Are all your thoughts for him?”
“No.” She decided to tell the truth. “I’ve wondered a great deal about you, but I’ve made up my mind not to ask any more questions. You’ll be a lot easier to forget if I don’t know so much about you.”
“You’re going to forget me?” Trinity asked.
The injured vanity in his voice made Victoria smile.
“I’m going to try very hard. I already have too many ghosts to live with. I don’t need any more.”
“Sure you won’t ride to the crest of the ridge with me?”
“I can’t.”
Trinity shrugged, seeming to accept the necessity for doing something he didn’t want to do. She wondered again if there were some way for him to stay but knew there wasn’t. He had to go.
Trinity brought his horse alongside Victoria’s, both mounts pointed in the direction of the ridge. “See that pink shelf just beyond the saddle on the left?”
Victoria followed the direction of Trinity’s hand.
“Yes,” she said, wondering what the ridge could have to do with his leaving.
“Make for that point.”
Before Victoria could ask Trinity what he meant, he rent the air with an earsplitting yell. At the same time he brought his crop down on the rump of her horse. The animal sprang forward with a scream of surprise and fear.
Trinity’s actions were so sudden and unexpected they threw Victoria into a panic. She raced toward the ridge with unquestioning faith, certain Trinity wouldn’t drive her mount ahead of him unless there was some dire emergency.
When they reached the ridge, she tried to pull up, expecting Trinity to explain. He drove her on, whipping her horse across the rump until it raced along the mountainside at a mad gallop.
A sudden suspicion pierced Victoria’s heart like the sharp, cold blade of a knife.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, her words ripped out of her mouth by the cold wind.
All traces of feeling
s had disappeared from Trinity’s face—all compassion, all humanity. He stared at her out of a stranger’s eyes.
“I’ve been deputized by the sheriff of Bandera to take you back to Texas to hang for the murder of your husband.”
For a moment Victoria’s brain refused to accept any of what Trinity had said. It couldn’t be true. If it were, Trinity wasn’t any better than the rest. In fact, he was worse. Much worse.
A moan of anguish tore from Victoria, and she threw herself from the saddle.
Chapter Eight
Victoria’s unexpected action caused Trinity to cast aside his pretended detachment.
“You crazy fool!” he shouted. Throwing his gelding on its haunches, he galloped back to the spot where Victoria had pitched headlong from the saddle. The mountainside fell away in a tangle of intertwining vines over a carpet of pine needles. He hoped it was enough to break her fall. They were a long way from a doctor.
The sound of something running through the undergrowth told Trinity Victoria was alive and on her feet. Throwing himself from his saddle, he leapt over the side after her.
It seemed every bush hit him in the face. There must have been a lightning fire a few years back. Everything was about the same size, his eye level. He couldn’t see Victoria, but he could hear her, scrambling down the mountainside just ahead of him.
“Slow down. You could kill yourself.”
He received no answer except the sound of Victoria crashing through the brush. He redoubled his efforts.
“You’re lost. You don’t know where you are.”
He crossed a trickle of a stream and scrambled up and over a small spur which angled off the main ridge.
“You can’t stay here by yourself at night.”
The sound of her flight grew dimmer, and Trinity started to wonder how long it would take to catch her. She could dive under the dense brush while his height forced him to break a path through the tangle. He could only follow by stopping periodically to listen for the direction of her flight. They entered a stand of aspen, and he caught sight of her through the slender tree trunks which shot up from the meadow floor like thousands of silver needles.
Calling on his greater strength and better conditioning, Trinity sprinted after her, determined to catch her before she could disappear in the undergrowth farther down the mountain. But his boots weren’t made for running, and his stride resembled a halting stumble rather than a smooth lope. His only consolation was that Victoria struggled along in the same kind of boots.
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