by Annie Boone
“I certainly will keep you informed. Thank you, Sheriff.”
Clayton reached out and took her small hand in his own. Giving it a gentle squeeze, he leaned in and lowered his mouth close to her ear, so close he could smell her lilac scented hair. Then he whispered, “Make sure that you are careful, Elizabeth. This sort of thing is dangerous.”
To Clayton’s total surprise, Elizabeth returned his squeeze and gave a brave smile.
“Thank you.”
Before he could say anything else, she had pulled away from him and was starting toward the door. It was time for her to rejoin her fiancé.
Watching her walk out of the church and across the yard, Clayton grimaced when he saw Mason step forward and put out an arm to grab Elizabeth, pulling her small body to his side. Then he flashed her a wide smile that everyone noticed.
How could Mason even pretend to care about her after all he’d done? Mason that saw Elizabeth as nothing more than just a piece of property he could jerk around at will.
Closing his eyes, Clayton silently prayed that the Lord would keep Elizabeth safe during her time on Reeve Ranch. Clayton had grown close to the young woman in the short time that they had known one another. While he might have sworn off relationships, he couldn’t ignore the feelings that were rising up deep within. He didn’t know how he could live with himself if something happened to Elizabeth at Mason’s hand.
Chapter Ten
Although Elizabeth remained firm in her resolve to bring her fiancé to justice, she had to secretly admit that his apology had taken her somewhat aback. There was still a part of her that hoped he truly would change his ways. While it was a pleasant thing to consider, Elizabeth had to admit to herself that she wasn’t surprised when that dream was crushed to bits in front of her very eyes.
As the days passed, one grueling day drifting into another, it became obvious that Mason’s feelings toward her weren’t getting better. If anything they were worse.
Elizabeth was carefully watching herself, looking for any opportunity to collect evidence that would be used against Mason.
One night when Elizabeth was cleaning up the dinner dishes, she noticed that her would-be husband was testier than he normally was. She had noticed him drinking more than usual, a habit she was quickly learning soured his already bad disposition.
“Elizabeth Brown.”
Mason slurred her name somewhat as he stepped up next to her and put his large hand on her shoulder.
“Or should I say Elizabeth Reeve?”
Sucking in a deep breath of air, Elizabeth tried to brace herself for what might come next. She hated the touch of his hand on her body but she fought the urge to try to jerk away from him.
“Why don’t we get married now?” Mason asked.
“What reason is there to wait?”
What reason was there to wait? Elizabeth could give him nothing but good reasons to wait. But, rather than speak her mind, Elizabeth simply said, “I’ve only been here a little over a week. I think we need to spend a little more time getting to know each other.”
When Elizabeth noticed the scowl that crossed his face, she wondered if she needed to remind him that their short relationship hadn’t been all sunshine and roses.
Standing up straighter and squaring her shoulders, she calmly added.
“I think we can both admit that things have been rocky the last few days, Mason. I believe that we need to take a bit of time to get past that before we rush forward with a wedding.”
Deciding it was the right time to speak about it, she added, “It would be nice if the bruise on my face faded before the wedding too.”
Obviously, her words were the wrong thing to say. She had pushed too hard. In an instant, Mason had his hands around her neck, clasping tightly against her windpipe as he stared at her with a furious gleam in his eye.
“What do you mean bringing that up again?” Mason questioned, his eyes narrowing and his angry breath hot against her cheek. “I told you we were past all of that.”
Struggling to get air, Elizabeth reached up to clamp her hands on his fingers and tried to force him to release his grip. Mason let her go, laughing as he watched her double over the table as she gasped to catch her breath.
“I think I’ve had enough of your mouth for one night.”
He peered down his nose at her writhing body before spitting and turning away.
“It’s time for you to get to bed. Get to bed before you make me do something I’ll really regret.”
Before Elizabeth knew what was happening, Mason had her by the arm and was jerking her through the house and up the stairs. Pushing her bedroom door open, he gave her a shove that sent her spiraling across the floor.
Slamming the door shut behind him, Elizabeth could hear Mason stomping away, back down the stairs.
Working to pull herself up into a sitting position, Elizabeth rubbed her hand against her sore arm, willing her flesh to stop hurting. Mason’s grip had been tight, and her arm certainly hadn’t fared well against his harsh treatment.
Tears formed in Elizabeth’s eyes as she considered the way the once-charming man was now treating her. How could a man who had been so kind at one time turn into such a brute? Between sniffs, Elizabeth decided that it was time for her to collect the evidence that she could find against Mason and then leave the ranch. She was beginning to be frightened of what her fiancé might do if she stayed much longer. The first time he had smacked her, now he strangled her. Elizabeth shuddered at the thought of what he might do next.
Gathering courage, she determined that the locked barn was her best hope at catching Mason in the midst of his illegal activity. She wasn’t sure what the wretched man was hiding in there, but she knew she had to find out.
Counting her options, she gently opened her bedroom window and peered out at her surroundings. A large tree was standing right outside the window, its large, stable branches reaching out toward her in an inviting manner.
Carefully lifting one leg after the other over the window sill, she stepped out onto the tree branch, her heart pounding in her chest as she carefully made her way down to the ground.
As soon as her feet hit the soft ground, Elizabeth took off running, trying her best to remember where the foreign barn was located. In the distance she could hear a coyote howling, the sound sending a shudder down her spine as she considered the warnings that both Mason and Clayton had offered about avoiding the animals.
Scrambling across the fields, she was beginning to worry about being lost when the view of the strange shed-like barn finally came into sight. Determination fueled every step as she ran to the barn. She’d get into that barn this time. She wasn’t going to just sit back and spend the rest of her life wondering what might be behind those closed doors. Even if it took tearing the door right off the hinges, she’d do whatever it took to get a peek inside.
When Elizabeth reached the door, she was surprised to see that the padlock had been removed. Feeling her heart thump rapidly in her chest, she jerked the door open, and tried to see into the darkness of the small building.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the moon shining through the cracks in the walls, Elizabeth could see that there was fresh straw spread out across the flooring. It had obviously been ruffled. The smell of fresh horse manure permeated her senses. However, the building was completely empty.
Knitting her brows together, she tried to make sense of it all. It was obvious that some livestock had earlier been kept in the barn, but they were now long gone. Had Mason had them taken away to be sold or were they simply moved to a different location on the ranch?
Elizabeth’s heart sank as she took stock of what she was seeing. There was no evidence in this barn that could possibly convict Mason. In fact, there was nothing that could be considered evidence of anything. It was simply a barn that had housed animals at some point. That was hardly enough to draw suspicion on any man in the west. They were almost all ranchers and farmers. She needed something ind
icting and it didn’t look like she had it.
She took in a long drag of cold air as a sinking feeling hit hard. She had only two options, leaving Mason’s ranch now and giving up on the chance of spying on him and collecting more evidence, or staying to get something concrete and risking her very life in the process.
“What are you doing out here?”
The ice-cold voice took Elizabeth by complete surprise. She was frozen in place, too scared to turn to see who might be behind her. A large man’s hand reached out and turned her around. Spinning on her heels, Elizabeth found herself staring into the steely blue eyes of Mason himself.
“Mason.”
She almost choked on his name as her mind frantically searched for a sensible lie that would explain she was doing out in the secret barn.
“What are you doing out here?” Mason asked again, his voice so calm and controlled that it made her even more frightened.
Shivering in spite of herself, Elizabeth said the first excuse that came to mind.
“I decided to take a walk and I got lost. I didn’t recognize this building, so I decided to just see what was inside.”
Watching his eyes, Elizabeth could see that he didn’t buy into her lie.
“I didn’t know how to get home, so I thought I could hide in here until morning.”
“Liar!” Mason screamed.
He raised his hand and brought it down on Elizabeth’s face, giving her such a hard slap she was sent spiraling into the dirty hay. A sharp pain told Elizabeth her lip was cut and hot tears streamed from her eyes. Reaching up to wipe at her lip, she felt the warm blood as it dripped onto her hand.
“You think you can come out here and snoop into my personal business?” Mason barked as he towered over her.
“If that’s what you think, then you’ve got something coming to you.”
Grabbing her by the wrist, he jerked her back to her feet and then dragged her back to the house, practically pulling her along behind him.
Taking her upstairs to her bedroom, Mason threw her inside with a shove and jerked the door shut, leaving Elizabeth completely alone with nothing but her pain and misery. She actually breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the door locking, assuring her she’d be left unharmed for at least a little while.
“I’m sick of playing your games.” Mason snarled through the thick wood door, his menacing voice booming past the walls into her room.
“I’m sick of waiting on you, too. I want to marry you and you will be my wife. Like it or not, we will be getting married tomorrow.”
With that, he banged his fist against the door and then stormed away, probably off to get more alcohol downstairs.
Standing in the middle of the bedroom, Elizabeth wiped the blood from her lip and tears from her eyes. She couldn’t stay here any longer. No matter how much she might want to bring Mason to justice, she could no longer risk her life and she certainly wouldn’t marry the man. Her hands shook as she considered the possibility of him storming back into her room to take advantage of her that very night.
Determining that she had to leave immediately, she turned back toward the window. Opening it wide, once again, she climbed out onto the familiar tree limb that had aided in her escape only hours earlier. But this time, her descent wasn’t quite as easy.
Frightened at the prospect of Mason catching her in the act of trying to get away, Elizabeth hurried too fast and fell to the ground, twisting her ankle as she hit the grass beneath the tree.
She bit back her cry with a grimace and struggled to stand. There was no one she could call for help and she couldn’t safely wait to catch her breath either. So she forced herself onward, hobbled to the barn and hurried to saddle one of the horses.
Thankful that she had experience riding on her parents’ plantation, Elizabeth worked as fast as her shaky fingers would let her. With every sound she heard, she grew more scared and more certain that Mason was going to catch her. She didn’t want to even imagine what he might do to her next if he caught her trying to get away. Climbing up onto the horse, she gave it a soft nudge with her boots, urging it forward. While she might not know the countryside in the area very well, she knew enough to make her way back to town.
Elizabeth wasn’t sure where she’d go once she reached Plainsville, but she had to get away from Mason before he did worse to her than he already had.
Chapter Eleven
Clayton rolled over on his stomach and pulled the pillow over his head to try to drown out the noise that had woken him from his sleep. Still only partially conscious, he blinked multiple times before recognizing that the noise he was hearing was his name being called out repeatedly. Pulling himself into a sitting position, Clayton rubbed his hands against his face and yelled back, “I’ll be right down.”
Grabbing a nearby pair of pants, he pulled them on over his shorts and let out a groan as he made his way toward the door and then down the steps into the sheriff’s office.
There were benefits to living over the sheriff’s office, one of them being that people could reach him for help at any time of the night. But there were also negatives to living over the sheriff’s office, one of them being that people could reach him for help any time of the night.
Bracing himself for whatever might be ahead of him, Clayton held his lamp up higher in the air as he made his way into the office.
Clayton nearly jumped in surprise when he made out the form of a small woman standing in front of him. As he got closer to her, he instantly recognized her as Elizabeth Brown. In the light of the lantern, he could see she was limping with every step she took, and her lip was swollen with dried blood caked to it.
“Elizabeth?” He muttered her name, unable to believe it was really the girl he’d been talking to in church only days earlier.
“Sheriff Clayton.”
Elizabeth took another step toward him and winced in pain.
“Elizabeth Brown,” Clayton repeated. “What has happened to you? What did he do to you?”
“It was Mason.” Elizabeth tried to form the words to explain what had happened, but it seemed she could hardly put a sentence together.
“Mason. I had to get away. He, he, he hit me. I had to run.”
The woman was shivering, probably as much from fear as anything else. She needed a warm place to relax and Clayton knew that the sheriff’s office wasn’t going to provide her with much in the way of comfort. While Clayton could take her up to his room, it contained little more than a bed, and protecting her virtue and reputation was upmost in his mind.
“Right now, you need a place to rest,” Clayton stated before she had a chance to answer his original question. “We’ll worry about the story once you’re feeling better. Hang on a minute.”
Hurrying up the stairs, Clayton grabbed a large quilted blanket. He took down and threw around her shoulders. Bundling her up like a little child, Clayton guided her out toward the livery where he hitched up his wagon.
Lifting her up onto the wagon seat, Clayton’s heart skipped a beat as he held her body so close to his own. It was impossible to ignore the attraction he felt for her, and that, mingled with a deep desire to protect her from harm heightened his senses.
Once he was seated beside her, Clayton put his arm around Elizabeth and pulled her close to him. He explained that he wanted to keep her warm in the chilly night air, but Clayton secretly just enjoyed the feel of her body against his.
After a few miles of travel, Amy and Bart’s large ranch came into sight. Urging his horse forward, Clayton said, “I’m taking you to my sister’s house. I just want you to have a place where you can get some rest and get cleaned up. The sheriff’s office isn’t a place to do either. Once we get to the house, we can get all this sorted out.”
Elizabeth nodded, her entire body shaking with fear.
When they arrived at Bart and Amy’s ranch house, the couple was already sound asleep in bed. Not ready to give up, Clayton banged on the front door until Bart finally arrived, carryin
g a lantern and dressed in a long nightshirt.
“Clayton,” Bart exclaimed, his eyes getting large as he recognized his adopted brother-in-law, and then squinted in confusion at Elizabeth.
“What are you all doing here?”
Clayton sighed first. Then he explained.
“Elizabeth needs a place to rest for a few minutes and we need to get a few things out in the open.”
Without asking another word, Bart ushered them inside and then hurried to get Amy up. Within a few minutes, the couple was dressed and gathered in the sitting room, confused looks on their faces as they watched Elizabeth collapse onto their sofa.
“Elizabeth.”
Amy spoke her name so softly that Clayton wasn’t sure he heard it.
“What is going on? What are you doing out in the night? Where is Mason? And what happened to you?”
Taking a seat beside the young woman, Clayton waited anxiously to see what she would reveal. Elizabeth sat up straighter and began her story.
“Mason, he’s a charming man when you initially get to know him, but things change the longer you’re around him. He has changed so much since I first arrived at his ranch.”
Looking up at Amy with eyes begging that her friend believed her, Elizabeth continued.
“He pulled the wool over my eyes, just as he has over everyone else’s. He cares for no one but himself. Saturday night, I made him mad and he slapped me in the eye. Then, tonight, he tried to choke me. I escaped out the window, but he caught up with me and busted my lip.”
Elizabeth’s chin quivered as she clearly spelt out the details of the attack.
“He locked me in my room and told me I’d have to marry him tomorrow, so I climbed out the window and was getting down a tree when I fell and twisted my ankle.”
Amy’s mouth dropped open and Bart glanced at her in a gesture of complete apprehension. Clayton felt his hands knot into fists at his side. A surge of anger overtook him as he wondered what terrible things had happened to the young woman at his side.