McKinnon's Bride (Willow Grove, Texas Series Book 1)

by Sharon Gillenwater

  “If we don’t find them, it could be. A professional will be more likely to kill Jessie if Quint testifies. On the other hand, he might be more careful with her, not as prone to accidentally harm her, or let someone else hurt her. Quint said one of the men who got away, Hobson, was mean, could get real ornery at times.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the one who hit me.”

  “It wasn’t. The description of the one who hit you fits the other man, Ira. Quint never heard his last name. Hobson is larger, more grizzled. I doubt even his own mother would consider him handsome. So that could mean Hobson has left or was waiting for them somewhere. If he’s with them, Ira wouldn’t be able to keep him in line, but this other man would.” Cade sighed, released her hand, and leaned back in the chair. “So in that sense, I’m glad he’s involved.”

  “Will Quint testify?”

  “He’ll have to. But we’re not worrying about what he says right now.” He forced a smile. “We intend to find Jessie before Doolin’s trial starts. We’ve already talked to the prosecutor, and he’s agreed to put everyone else ahead of Doolin if we have to.”

  “Will the judge agree to that?”

  “If we explain what’s going on, he will. He’s a good man. He’ll do his best to give us as much time as we need.”

  “So you’re certain Doolin is behind this? Not just somebody with catawampus loyalty?”

  “I’m sure he’s behind it. Proving it is another matter.”

  “You go find Jessie. Then we won’t have to worry about Doolin anymore. Quint will send that scoundrel to prison where he belongs.”

  “If we can prove he ordered Jessie’s kidnapping, too, he’ll stay in the pen until he rots.”

  Nola chuckled, then winced and touched the side of her head. “I expect if you find this Ira feller, he’ll be real happy to lay as much blame as he can on him.”

  Cade stood and leaned down, kissing her forehead. “We’ll let you know as soon as we find her. You get plenty of rest and let Lydia take care of you.”

  “I’ll be out of this bed by tomorrow. Those children need me. In fact, why don’t you see if they want to come sit with me a while. Tell Ellie I need some cuddle time.”

  “I will. After I spend a few more minutes with them.” Cade went into the family parlor. Lydia sat on the couch with Brad on one side and Ellie on the other. The children scrambled down and ran to meet him when he came into the room,

  “Are you gonna find Mama?” Ellie looked up at him with tear-swollen eyes.

  He kneeled down in front of them, gathering them to him, one arm around each child. “We’ll find her, sweetheart.”

  “Uncle Quint told me he’d lie at the trial if he had to,” said Brad. “But isn’t that wrong? Won’t he go to jail if he does?”

  “He might. But you just keep praying that we find your mama before he has to deal with that.”

  “Are those bad men going to be mean to Mama?” Tears welled up in Ellie’s eyes.

  “I don’t think they will, honey. There isn’t any reason for them to. And Doolin respects your mother. If he’s behind this, he would tell them to treat her well.” Cade met Brad’s troubled gaze. “She’ll be all right, son. Jessie isn’t any wilting violet. She’s resourceful. You can bet she’s trying to figure out how to get away from them right this minute.”

  “She might make it, too.” Brad’s expression eased slightly. “She handled a bunch of scary things when we were coming out here.”

  Ellie nodded, her curls bouncing. “Remember when she drove those nasty men off with the shotgun?”

  Cade stiffened. Jessie hadn’t mentioned anything like that to him. “What men?”

  “Once we met some men on the road. The other time, two followed us out of a little town, but Mama sent them packing.” Brad glanced at Ellie, then back at Cade. “I was wishin’ mighty hard that we had another gun. But Mama stood her ground and didn’t act one bit scared. She just leveled that shotgun at a gut and told them she’d kill them before she let them do anything to her or us. She spent a lot of night’s sleeping sitting up against the wagon wheel, that ol’ gun across her lap. Sometimes, when she got real tired, she’d let me sit up and keep guard for a couple of hours while she slept.”

  “Your mama is a very brave woman. And you’re brave, too.” Cade hugged them both at the same time. “She’ll be just fine. Now, Nola wanted y’all to come in and see her.” He kissed the top of Ellie’s head. “Said she needs some cuddle time. But be real careful climbing up on the bed and don’t bounce her around. Her head still hurts.”

  “Okay.” Ellie gave him a kiss, then walked slowly down the hallway.

  Cade leaned the side of his head against Brad’s. “I’m proud of you, son. You handled yourself well this morning, tending to Nola, then going to Quint for help.”

  “I wish I’d gotten up sooner. They’d been gone almost two hours before I woke up. Poor Miss Nola laid on the floor that whole time. She even knocked a chair over, but I was so asleep I didn’t hear it. I sure was scared when I found her.”

  “I would have been, too.” He still was. They all were, even though they tried not to act like it.

  “I wish I could’ve stopped them.”

  “When a man’s holding a knife on somebody, it’s hard to do much to him without the other person being injured. You go on and see to Nola. She’s feelin’ poorly because she couldn’t help Jessie. Try to cheer her up a mite.”

  “I’ll try. But I don’t feel too cheerful.”

  “I don’t, either. Worrying doesn’t help any, but praying will. We have to trust God to take care of Jessie. You keep your eyes and ears open. If you see anybody else coming around here that you don’t know, raise a ruckus.”

  “Yes, sir.” Brad turned and gave him a fierce hug. “Find my mama. Bring her back so we can all be a family.”

  Cade’s eyes misted over. “I will, Brad. And we’ll become a family next Wednesday, just like we planned. I love you, son.”

  “I love you, too. When you find Mama, be sure to tell her we’re all right. And Miss Nola, too.” His voice cracked. “She’ll be worried about us.”

  “I’ll set her mind at ease.”

  Brad nodded and went down the hall to Nola’s room, wiping his eyes with his hand.

  Cade stood, blinking back his tears, and noticed Lydia drying her eyes, too. “Thank you for staying and taking care of them.”

  “I’m glad to do it. Wish I could do more.”

  “This is the best thing you can do for any of us. I don’t think they’ll try anything else but keep watch anyway.”

  Lydia glanced at a Winchester rifle leaning in the corner of the room. “My dad brought that over before he went to the sheriff’s. I know how to use it.”

  “Good. I’d better go before they leave without me.”

  “Keep faith,” she said softly.

  “I am.” He nodded and left quickly, riding over to the sheriff’s office. About twenty men had gathered in front and were listening to Proctor give instructions.

  “I’ve already asked some of you to guard the jail and the prisoners. The rest of you stay here in town and be ready to ride if we need you, or take your turn at guard duty tonight. The only way we’ll find them is to try and track them, and if too many go out at a time, it could just cover up the trail. We know he used a buggy because we found the tracks in back of the house. But there’s been so many people in town the last few days and this morning, that we lost the trail after he got on the more traveled streets.

  “Ty, Cade and I will each take a road. We’ll each take one man with us. Nolan, you’ve done some tracking, haven’t you?”

  The man nodded. “A little. Not near as much as you three, though.”

  “Take Asa with you. He’s done a little, too, so between you, you should spot something unusual. You take the north road.” He looked at Ty and Cade. “I’ll go west, Ty east and Cade south. If you find anything, one man comes back. He can send men out to bring in the rest of u
s. Look until dark. If you don’t find anything, come back tonight, and we’ll see what else we can figure out.”

  Quint moved beside Cade. “I’m going with you.”

  “Good.” He glanced up at the noonday sun. “I wish we could have started four or five hours ago.”

  “Four or five hours ago, we didn’t know we had a problem.”

  They guided the horses back from the crowd and headed south. Cade understood why the sheriff had sent him that direction. It was his territory, he knew it well. Which was what bothered him. “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Doolin to send them out this way. Too big a risk of running into me or somebody she knows.”

  “Or that we’d find them too easily. ’Course, he might have left it to Ira to pick a place to hold up. Ira’s not real bright. And if the other man is a stranger, he wouldn’t know the best way to go.”

  “I reckon that’s possible.”

  But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was moving farther away from his love instead of toward her.

  Chapter 24

  Starr suddenly veered off the road and headed across the prairie, making the sharp turn so quickly it threw Jessie against him. She hadn’t detected any particular landmark and wondered if he did.

  “Lost your way?” She mumbled against his shoulder, struggling to right herself.

  “Nope.” He slowed the horse slightly and pushed her back to a sitting position. “Benefit corner.” Jessie glared at him, and he shrugged, amusement lighting his dark blue eyes. “Close as I’ll get.”

  She honestly didn’t know what to make of him. He’d kidnapped her. He was a gunslinger or something akin to it. He might even kill her. Yet he kept surprising her with moments of compassion or humor. Would a cold-blooded killer have a sense of humor? At least a normal one?

  An hour later, he drew the buggy to a halt beside a small creek.

  “We walk from here.” He pointed at a narrow trail that went up a rugged hill, then got out of the buggy and tied the reins to a small mesquite. Returning to her side, he helped her from the vehicle. “Do you still need the coat?”

  “No.”

  He unbuttoned the jacket, lifted it from her shoulders and slipped it on. Picking up the canteen, he took a long drink.

  “I could use some of that.” Jessie licked her dry lips. Her throat was dry, and her head ached from hunger. And everything else that had happened.

  “Turn around and I’ll untie you.”

  “It’s about time.” She turned her back to him. He freed her hands and let her rub her wrists for a minute before giving her the canteen. After she drank her fill, she handed it back to him.

  “Let me check the bandage,” he said. She raised her arm, only because she couldn’t see the injury well enough to take care of it herself. He touched the pad to make certain it was still in place and tugged on the knot. “Doesn’t look like it bled much after we wrapped it. Feel up to a walk?”

  “Do I have any choice?”

  He smiled. “No. Besides, there’s food at the dugout. If you’re as hungry as I am, that’s a good enough reason to keep moving.”

  “I’m starving.” She glanced at the noonday sun, wondering how long it would be before Cade found them. Would he be able to follow the buggy tracks? Or would too many other vehicles have gone over the same streets before he even knew she was missing? This way, my love. Listen to my heart. She sighed and shook her head at such foolishness.

  “What are you thinking?” Starr motioned for her to go in front of him.

  She started toward the trail. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing you want to share with me.”

  “That’s right.”

  Suddenly, his hands covered her shoulders, halting her. His grip was firm, but not painful. “I’m not going to kill you, Mrs. Monroe.”

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “What if my brother testifies against Doolin?”

  “He won’t. Not if he believes you’re in danger. That’s what makes this such a good plan. If everybody does what they’re supposed to, no one actually gets hurt. Except for the old lady—I hated that—and the cut on your side, which was an accident.” He released her and put his hand at the small of her back, prodding her forward. She complied, the thought of food urging her on. “I hadn’t expected you to fight so hard. Though I reckon I should have,” he added in a thoughtful tone.

  “Why?” She lifted her skirt to keep from stepping on it. Even without the three inch strip he had cut off, she would trip over it going uphill if she wasn’t careful.

  “Ira said he heard you came from East Texas in a wagon. Just you and the children.”

  She nodded and paused to catch her breath. The hill was steeper than she’d expected.

  He waited until she started walking again. “So how did you meet McKinnon?”

  “I was looking for my brother, but he wasn’t there. Cade hired me as his housekeeper.” She heard him chuckle.

  “He’s smarter than I thought.”

  “Smart enough to catch you.”

  “We’ll see if he still has what it takes.”

  Jessie spun around to face him, almost losing her footing. His hand shot out to steady her. “You know Cade?”

  His expression became guarded. “I met him when he was a Ranger.”

  “When he arrested you?” she asked sweetly. She thought she saw his lip twitch before he frowned at her.

  “Get moving. My stomach is eating a hole in itself.”

  “Then I should drag my feet.” But she didn’t. Her stomach was gnawing on itself, too.

  She turned around and went up the trail. Halfway up, where the footing was particularly tricky, she stumbled, but he caught her again before she could fall. His action didn’t surprise her. And that worried her, because she was beginning to trust him.

  They went over the hill and down the other side, which wasn’t quite as steep nor as rugged. After that, the trail twisted and turned through the brush until they suddenly stepped into a clearing. A dugout had been built in the side of another hill. It was protected on both the left and right by tall cliffs.

  “Who owns this?”

  “Nobody. Ira said one of the early cattlemen built it when he first came out here. There were still Indians in the territory then. It was abandoned a few years ago, but the stove is good. We got the cobwebs out, but that’s about all. Don’t know if the roof leaks.” He glanced at the bright, cloudless sky and peeled off his coat. “But I doubt we’ll have to worry about that.”

  Ira came out the door and nodded politely. “Ma’am. I tried to clean up in there some more. It’s cool inside. That’s about all I can say for it.” He noticed the strip of cloth at her waist and the blood on her dress. His eyes grew round, and he swallowed hard. “What happened?”

  “She tried to warn the old lady. Moved quicker than I anticipated, and I cut her. It’s not too bad. Should heal up fine.” Starr touched her back again, nudging her forward. “We need to eat. Go tend to the horse and hide the buggy.”

  “Yes, sir. I just carried in a fresh bucket of water from the creek.”

  Starr pushed the door open wider and gave Jessie a slight bow. “You’re very humble abode, madam.”

  She stepped inside, wrinkling her nose at the musty smell, but grateful to be out of the sun. Ira was right. It was cool inside. Starr followed her and suddenly the one room seemed much smaller. She glanced at the bed, which was barely big enough for two, then looked up to find him watching her. “For how long?”

  “Until I say it’s time to leave.”

  Or until I find a way to escape.

  ***

  As they had expected, Quint and Cade didn’t find anything to indicate Jessie and her kidnapper had gone south. They turned back toward town shortly before dusk, covering the distance at a gallop. When they arrived at the sheriff’s office, Ty was right outside the door, about to enter. Asa and Nolan’s horses were already tied to the hitching post out front.

  Ty stepped back to the
edge of the boardwalk. “Find anything?”

  “No. You?” asked Cade.

  “No. We followed the tracks of four different vehicles. But they all either came from ranches or went back to them. We checked each one, and everyone had a legitimate reason for traveling.”

  “Same with us.” Cade followed Quint and Ty through the doorway. The grim expressions of the men already in the office sent a surge of dread through him. The sheriff nodded, then looked down at his desk.

  There, in the middle of it, was a bloodstained handkerchief and scrap of cloth. Cade’s breath caught, and his throat thickened. Picking up the small piece of cloth, anguish filled his soul. “It’s Jessie’s,” he whispered. He met Quint’s agonized gaze. “It’s from her old blue dress. The one she wore the first time I saw her.” He stared at the blood for a minute, then cleared his throat, looking up at Proctor. “Where did you find it?”

  “About twenty miles north of town.”

  “They were lying in the grass a couple of yards from the road,” said Asa.

  Dear God, what did he do to her? Cade turned away from the others, unwilling for them to see his pain. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the horrible image his mind conjured up. Did she fight him? Or did the terrifying ghosts of her past paralyze her? He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the concern and understanding in Ty’s eyes.

  “Look at the handkerchief,” his brother said quietly. “The blood has been diluted, as if the cloth was wet at the time. And the stains are streaked.”

  Cade dragged in a deep breath and stared dully at the handkerchief in Ty’s hand.

  “Like someone cleaned a wound. The piece of her dress is from the hem, and it’s the right width for a small bandage. Remember when Pete got gored by that Longhorn, and Nola ripped off the bottom of her skirt to bandage him up? Maybe he’s the one who’s hurt, not her.”

  It wasn’t much consolation, but it prodded Cade’s mind to start working again. “Kindhearted as she is, she’s not foolish enough to help the kidnapper if he was wounded.”

  “Not unless he held a gun on her. She might not have had any choice.”