They must have been a lot more worried about Jack getting free.
“I can’t untie you,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry about me. We’re close to the shore. Run. Get help.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.”
He scowled. “Do what I say this time. Run.”
“What are my chances of surviving alone in this wilderness? I’m a city girl.”
Jack bent his head and sighed. “Why are you being so headstrong?”
“I’m not. I’m just realistic.”
“You’d better keep your voice down, or you’ll be dead and hauled overboard.”
Hauled overboard? Colleen grinned as the plan appeared in her head.
She stood up, grabbed Jack by the collar and called on every ounce of strength she had to haul him to his feet. With his hands tied, he wobbled, losing his balance, which made it easier for her to push him overboard and jump in after him.
The icy water gave a painful shock as she plunged in, making her bones ache and turning her skin numb. Thank the Lord that her brothers taught her to swim when she was a young girl.
But the quiet lake where she swam with her brothers didn’t try to pull her under or slam her against rocks like the river’s current. The water pulled at the heavy material of her mangled dress, trying to pull her down deeper and dragging her against a submerged branch from a falling log. If she got caught on it, she and Jack would both drown.
She fought her way to the surface as she swept the water with her hands, searching for Jack. Her fingers snagged in wet fabric. She made a fist and kicked harder, up to the surface. Jack coughed and spluttered as he emerged next to her. She adjusted her grip to the back of his shirt, so she didn’t need as much strength to keep his head out of water.
The river had carried her father along than she’d expected. But they weren’t out of danger yet. Butch stood on the bow of the boat, pointing a gun at her. She had to get them out of shooting range.
“Under,” she yelled, then took a deep breath and pulled Jack back down.
Kicking and using her left arm, she swam downstream with the current until she was nearly exhausted. Her arms and legs felt like they were freezing on the outside and burning on the inside because of the cold water and the immense effort of pulling them both through the water.
Her lungs were near bursting. Were they far enough away from Butch? She hoped so, because she couldn’t manage this one moment longer. She had to breathe.
Colleen surfaced again with a choking, gasping Jack, only to get slammed against a boulder by the current. Luckily, the river was shallow enough here for her to stand.
She turned. Butch’s boat moved slowly out of sight around a bend. Butch waved his gun at them, shouting something inarticulate. But he didn’t bother shooting. She’d made it out of range.
Either that, or he’d decided to save his bullets for the pursuit they’d be sending after him.
Colleen hauled Jack out of the river and around to the other side of the boulder for protection. Just in case.
Jack was gasping loudly, just now getting his breath back. “Knife... in my right boot. Cut me loose.”
Shivering, teeth chattering, she squatted next to his feet and carefully slid her right hand into his boot, feeling around with her fingers. Her cheeks burned—from the icy water, she told herself. Not because she was practically groping his leg as her fingers searched for the knife hilt.
Anyway, this was a question of life and death, not reputation. Blushing was pointless.
Her fingertips finally smooth hardness of the knife handle, and she was careful not to turn the blade and accidentally cut Jack as she withdrew the weapon from its hidden sheath. Standing up too fast, she almost lost her balance and had to grab his shoulder for support as the world went grey around her. She blinked hard until she could see again.
“I was afraid you were going to drop it in the stream there for a moment.”
“So you could lie on your back and let me pull you all the way downstream?” Colleen peeked around the river and took a deep breath. Butch and his gang weren’t pursuing them. It almost seemed to good to be true.
It felt like it took forever to saw through the wet rope and free Jack’s hands.
“Where’d you learn to swim?” Jack rubbed his wrists to improve circulation to his hands.
“I had a lot of brothers.”
He nodded. “You’re pretty strong, too.”
“My mother always said I was sturdy.” She couldn’t blame the burning of her cheeks on icy water this time. She’d gotten a lot of grief for being taller and bigger-boned than the other girls when she was growing up, and she hadn’t enjoyed it. ‘Amazon’ was one of the nicer things they’d called her.
“Amen,” Jack said. Somehow, it sounded like a compliment.
She felt something slimy on her leg. It moved. She glanced down. Screamed.
Jack clapped a hand over her mouth. “It’s just a leech. I’ll get it.”
Frozen, Colleen watched as he bent down and grabbed the black worm-like thing between two fingers and yanked. Ow. Where the creature had been attached to her shin, there was now a small round spot that hurt when she touched it.
Panic seized her. What if there were others. “Turn around,” she croaked.
He did. She quickly ran her hands up and down both legs, over her hips, even peeked into the neckline of her dress. No more of the horrid little things.
“Okay, you can look now.”
Jack turned back and smiled at her. “A couple of leeches is nothing to a sturdy girl like you.”
And somehow, she couldn’t help smiling back.
“Want to check me?”
She punched him in the arm.
His smile got wider. “Hey, I’m a delicate thing. Faint at the sight of blood. Not brave like you.”
Why couldn’t she stop blushing?
He shielded his eyes with his hand and looked in both directions, like he was trying to get his bearings. “Let’s get farther into the trees where we aren’t visible, and then you follow the river. Every town along the river will have sentries posted by now.”
What? He was going to abandon her to chase after Butch and his gang?
“Are you crazy? You’re unarmed and outnumbered.”
Jack tucked his shirt down his trousers, then bent down to let the knife slide down his right boot again. “Everyone else will be looking for Butch’s gang downriver. They know I know their plan, so they’re probably going to change it as soon as possible. They’ll get away unless I follow them.”
“And then what?” She stared at him. “I didn’t just drag you halfway down the river so they could kill you.”
“If I don’t catch them, I blew my cover for nothing.” He blushed. “Not for nothing... I mean... of course I couldn’t let them kill you and your husband--”
“He’s not my husband, and he never will be now,” Colleen snapped.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I mean, Miss.” He winked.
She raised an eyebrow. Did he find the situation funny? “Do you have a gun in your other boot?”
“No.”
At least he stopped looking amused. But he still looked determined. She sighed. “Which way’s the nearest town?”
Jack pointed. “That way.”
There were no visible signs of civilization, but why would he lie about that?
“If you don’t come with me to Austin, then I’m coming with you.” As he opened his mouth to protest, she added sweetly, “Oh, is there some reason you think that chasing after robbers without a weapon is a bad idea?”
He growled. But he didn’t argue with her.
“Once we get back, you can have the sheriff there spread the word about the robbers heading upriver. You’ll have a posse backing you up.” And I won’t have to worry that I’m responsible for your death.
Jack sighed and started walking. “I’ll make sure you get to Austin.”
Chapter 7
They
made camp that night on the top of a hill. If sitting down at the base of a tree in damp, dirty clothes, without food or fire for comfort counted as “making camp.”
At least she wasn’t alone.
In the nearby valley, thousands of golden lights clustered together. “Is that Austin?”
Jack nodded. “We should be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
Then what?
Then she would have to say goodbye to Jack. The thought made her unaccountably sad and a little bit desperate-feeling.
It had been miserably hot and humid all day. Colleen had never smelled quite like this before. She slapped at a mosquito that attacked her neck. Their constant swarming around her drove her crazy. Every few seconds, another one attempted to bite her. She itched everywhere.
She sat down. What a mess she was. Skirt cut to her knees, what was left of it further ripped and torn as she walked through the woods. She didn’t dare take her shoes off.
She probably looked just as awful as she felt. Sweaty and sore. The hairdo that she’d put so much effort into yesterday had slid down and left. While she couldn’t do much about being sweaty—she wasn’t risking another leech, no matter how brave Jack thought she was—she could do something about her hair.
Colleen reached up and removed all the hairpins from her bun. Some of the hair stuck together, so she combed it with her fingers. Then she began to plait it into a single braid.
Jack removed a tiny packet from his vest pocket and unwrapped it. Matches. He grinned. “The oiled paper kept them dry. I can start a fire.”
“Don’t you think we’re warm enough?”
“The smoke drives off the mosquitoes. But if you prefer to be eaten alive, you don’t have to sit by it.”
Colleen bit her lip. Did that man know everything?
He soon had a small fire burning. Colleen sighed and moved downwind. The smoke made her eyes sting and her lungs burn. But Jack was right. The mosquitoes left her alone.
She’d never been so exhausted in her life. She just sat there, staring at the flames that danced in the dark night, listening to the crackling of the fire and the growling of her stomach. Nothing to do about it, though. They had no food, so they just had to keep going until they reached Austin tomorrow.
She took a deep breath. Then cleared her throat.
“How did you come to be a member of Butch’s gang?”
“There’s a bounty on their heads. I joined months ago, but they had me cooking and taking care of the horses until this train job. I knew they were testing me, to see if I could be trusted.” He bent his head and lowered his voice. “I planned to do one job with them, then turn them into the sheriff on the next one.”
She shifted her feet again. For a while they both stared into the flames.
“What happens after they catch the robbers? Do you move on to another bounty?”
“No, this was going to be my last hunt. I just accepted a position as a sheriff’s deputy in a little town called Salvation.”
Salvation. “Is that in Texas?”
He nodded. “What about you?”
She shrugged. “I was going to Hearne, to marry Harold. Now, I don’t know. There’s nothing for me here in Austin.” She thought about it for a moment. “Maybe I can find a job as a schoolteacher.”
Jack laughed.
Did he find that funny? “You don’t think I could do it?”
“I think you’d be bored out of your skull.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t have a lot of options. I’m a ruined woman. Who’s going to want to marry me now?”
“I don’t know.” He looked as if he was contemplating her options. “There’s probably a man or two out there who likes his women... sturdy.”
Colleen was glad that it was so dark that he couldn’t see her flush. “That’s not funny.”
“I didn’t mean it to be.”
Insufferable. That’s what he was. Making light of her situation when he was the reason she was disgraced.
But he was also the reason she wasn’t trapped in an impossible marriage with Harold. So maybe she could find it in her heart to forgive him. Eventually.
Colleen sighed and lay down to sleep. The ground was hard and uneven beneath her sore body, but although she was tired as never before, it was difficult to relax enough to fall asleep.
What kind of man would marry her now? She’d been alone with a gang of robbers, and now she was alone in the woods with a man. A stranger. Who would marry her after that?
No decent man would. Even if a doctor’s examination proved her virtue was intact, people would talk.
But that wasn’t the worst.
The worst was that she didn’t want to find another man to marry.
Because the only man she was attracted to was Jack.
Chapter 8
Colleen woke up and stretched, then rubbed her eyes. The air smelled fresh and clean, free of smoke, and the sky was painted with broad strokes of pale blue and pink.
Strangely, even after sleeping on the hard ground, her body wasn’t aching. She felt good. Ready to march the final stretch to Austin.
Some coffee and warm, buttered toast would have been nice. Too bad she hadn’t thought to throw the bandits’ rations overboard after Jack.
Jack, who was gone.
Jack’s hat, which he’d removed before lying down, was nowhere to be seen. The fire had been stamped out. She could see his boot prints in the ashes. And in the damp earth next to the fire, he’d scratched something with a twig.
I know you can make it, sturdy girl. Eat some eggs and cornbread for me when you get there.
Her stomach plummeted. He’d gone after the robbers by himself after all.
Suddenly she was totally awake. She was sure she knew how to find him, but what was the point? Another day without food and she’d be too weak to help him anyway.
No, there was only one thing she could do. She had to get to Austin as fast as possible and send help.
She cursed the time she’d spent sleeping. If only she’d woken up earlier enough to argue with him. If only they’d kept walking last night, instead of stopping so she could rest. If only he wasn’t so pig-headed.
If only she didn’t care about him. If he died…
She got to her feet and started walking.
Five hours later, it took all of Colleen’s concentration to keep putting one foot after the other. She was hungry, thirsty and immensely tired, but she kept going. She walked to the rhythm of the three words that were on her mind: Austin, sheriff, Jack, Austin, sheriff, Jack.
Every step got harder. With every step, her fear for Jack grew. Was he facing down Butch right now? Was she already too late?
She saw a few rickety buildings ahead. And a dirt road. She’d reached the outskirts of Austin. How far could there be to get to the sheriff?
On wobbling legs she continued, only stopping when the world swayed to wildly around her, struggling to recapture her balance. Nausea overwhelmed her. If only she could sit down, find shade to rest in, but there were none. She began to have trouble breathing.
She was dying. She’d failed Jack.
Then it all went black.
Colleen had no idea how much time had passed when she came to. She heard the snorting of a horse. Then she felt weightless. Was she rising or falling? She landed on something soft that smelled like wood and leather.
Nice.
Darkness swallowed her again.
The next time she woke, she found herself surrounded by strangers, sitting in a carriage.
“What happened? Where am I?” she asked the matronly woman sitting on the seat in front of her.
The woman clapped her hands. “Oh, I’m glad to see you awake. We feared you were going to die. We found you lying on the roadside. I’m Mrs. Mary Rowan, pleased to meet you.”
The woman had kind eyes and a warm smile. Colleen took her outstretched hand. When she spoke her throat was sore and her voice sounded rough, not like her at all. “Pleased to mee
t you, too, Mrs. Rowan. I’m Miss Colleen O’Byrne.”
“Just call me Mary, Colleen.”
Colleen smiled at her and then looked out of the windows. “Where are we going?”
Mary leaned forward and patted Colleen on her hands. “We’re taking you to the hospital, of course. What happened to you?”
“Please, I’m fine, I need to talk to the sheriff. Could you please... I mean, is it possible that you take me there?”
“Of course.” Mrs. Rowan turned around and gave an order to the driver. Colleen noticed that two young men sat with next to the driver. They bore such a strong resemblance, she guessed they were Mrs. Rowan’s sons.
Five minutes later, they arrived at the sheriff’s office. Colleen thanked Mrs. Rowan for her help and for saving her life. But when she tried to get out of the carriage, her legs wouldn’t support her. Luckily, one of the sons grabbed her arm and supported her as she entered the sheriff’s office, where he helped her to sit down on a chair.
He asked for a glass of water for her, and Colleen gulped it down. For a moment, her queasiness returned, but it faded quickly, thank goodness.
A young man in leather trousers and vest approached her, grabbed a chair and sat down in front of her. “The sheriff isn’t here right now. I’m his deputy. How can I help you, Miss?”
She told him about Jack and how the train robbers had hidden their tracks, attempting to make people believe that they went downstream, when they in reality were headed upstream. And now Jack had gone after them alone and unarmed.
“Can you give me some details about the landscape and what you saw?”
As Colleen told him what she remembered, the sheriff made notes on a map of the area.
“This is very helpful. This gives us a better chance of figuring out where the robbers are headed.”
“You’ll go after him?”
The deputy nodded. “Sure. Don’t you worry, Miss. We’ll set out as soon as the sheriff returns.”
“How soon will that be?” Colleen’s stomach churned. Jack was alone out there. He might already have caught up to Butch’s gang.
“He’ll be here soon. He’s expected to arrive around sundown.”
“Jack could be dead by then. He’s alone against six robbers and he’s unarmed.”
Winning The Bounty Hunter's Heart (Mail-Order Brides of Salvation 4) Page 4