An Inescapable Attraction

by Sydney Jane Baily

  In any case, all movement halted for a split second—the other horse stilled then shied sideways, no shots were fired, even the conductor had fallen silent—then gunfire erupted in earnest both from the back of the train and from the remaining man at the front.

  However, Thaddeus decided the odds were now in his favor. Though four men could stop a train, three men couldn't hold it, not if even a few people on board were armed.

  On his belly, he crawled a few more feet. Taking aim at the other man on horseback crossing back and forth in front of the engine, he steadied his gun when he heard Ellie scream. At least, he assumed it was Ellie.

  Raising his head, a bullet whizzed past him. He'd been spotted, robbed of his advantage.

  Focus, he told himself; taking aim, he shot the other man off his horse and knew with grim satisfaction that gunman, at least, wouldn't be getting up again.

  The engineer blew the whistle, signaling that the train was going to move again, and the gunfire exploded once more from the rear. He heard Ellie scream his name.

  Blast! Scrambling on all fours along the carriage roof, Thaddeus ignored the ladder's rungs, using its rails to slide down to the platform. He thrust the door open and came up short. Ellie stood cornered, gun raised in her shaking hand, facing the conductor and three passengers.

  "What in the hell?" Thaddeus exclaimed.

  "She has to get off this train, and they'll let us go," the conductor said, never taking his eyes off the revolver Ellie held. "That's what one of those bandits up front told me."

  "As a passenger of this line, I have rights," Ellie stated in her haughtiest voice. "You can't throw me off the train."

  "I have to do what's best for all the passengers," the conductor insisted as shots sounded once more, both from the front and the rear. The train lurched to a stop again, and the passengers in the carriage sent up a collective cry.

  "While you were cowardly trying to sacrifice this woman," Thaddeus said, "one of the men from the back has circled around to the front."

  "There are already two at the front," the conductor said, keeping his gaze trained carefully on Ellie.

  "I took care of them."

  The conductor swiveled his eyes to Thaddeus for the first time. "And you are?"

  "This isn't the time for introductions. Can't your spotter get one shot off at the gunman in the back of this train?"

  "He's been hit already. You can see the blood running down from his window."

  Ellie gasped and exchanged a look with Thaddeus.

  He could tell by her expression that she was feeling responsible for everything that had gone on, and she started to lower her weapon.

  "Ellie, darlin', you keep that gun pointed just like you're doin'. What did I tell you?"

  "To stay here."

  "Right. Good girl." He turned to the conductor. "Do you have any more weapons?"

  "The engineer has a rifle."

  "Then for heaven's sake, decide, man. This is your train. Are you going up front to take care of that shooter, or are you going to handle the one in the back?"

  "Unarmed?" the conductor spluttered.

  "Take my gun if you're going to the back, and I'll go up front and use the engineer's rifle."

  The conductor hesitated a moment.

  "I'll go to the back." He held out his hand. Thaddeus stared at him hard. He swallowed and gave him his gun.

  Winking at Ellie, Thaddeus turned to go. Clear as a church bell, he heard a hammer cock. Son of a bitch! Putting his hands up, he spun slowly to face the situation.

  Sure enough, the conductor pointed Thaddeus's own weapon at him.

  "I've been up front doing your job," Thaddeus ground out, wondering if he could kick his revolver out of the man's hand before he pulled the trigger.

  The conductor's hand shook, nearly as much as Ellie's. "My job is to keep the passengers and this train safe. The greater good of all is the important thing here, over the good of you and your troublesome lady."

  A second later, an explosion rent the air. Thaddeus flinched, but it was the conductor who dropped. It took Thaddeus another moment to realize that Ellie had pulled the trigger. She stayed on her feet but had been forced back against the window and was staring, eyes wide, at what she'd done.

  First things first. "Ellie, get the hell away from that window."

  He didn't have to say it twice; she dropped to the ground in front of her seat. He turned his gaze to the compartment of shocked passengers. "Can anyone here handle a gun?"

  The man with the newspaper got up from his crouching position between the seats. "I can, young man. I was in the war in the sixties and fought with the Army of the Potomac under McClellan."

  "Will you take my gun, sir?" Thaddeus picked it up from where it had fallen out of the conductor's hand and stepped over his wounded body.

  He gave it without qualms to the aged Union soldier, who took it and said, "If you go up front, young man, I'll see what damage I can do to that ruffian in the back."

  "Yes, sir," Thaddeus agreed before turning his gaze to Ellie and giving her what he hoped was a stern look that she'd obey. "Ellie, you—"

  "I know, I know," she said, on her knees between the seats. "I'll stay put."

  He nodded and disappeared back through the carriage door.

  Thaddeus threaded his way through the alarmed passengers in the next two carriages, telling people to keep calm and keep low, until he reached the coal car. He had to scuttle over the top like a beetle over rocks. Twice he was shot at before he dropped into the cab of the locomotive.

  The fireman was dead, as he'd had less cover at the open end of the coal car. The engineer had been shot in the arm. It didn't look mortal, though the man was in rough shape and couldn't hold a rifle.

  Thaddeus stripped off the fireman's shirt knowing the man would never need it again, and looping it high on the engineer's arm, he tightly tied it to make the bleeding stop.

  Picking up the rifle that had fallen to the floor, he grabbed the engineer's hat and lifted it above the window. A shot went right through it. Evidently, Stoddard had hired a better shot than most of his usual goons, who were more apt with their fists than their accuracy.

  But Thaddeus was certain he was better. He had to be, and the engineer's rifle was a quality Winchester. The question was, how to get off a shot without getting his head blown off?

  "Peephole," the engineer said abruptly. "Made it myself." He gestured to a metal disk fastened with a bolt.

  Thaddeus raised it and peered outside. Sure enough, he could see a rider going back and forth twenty feet away, either waiting for a signal or for the chance to get off another shot. Tan buckskin pants and shirt, gray hat, long black braid—it was the Indian tracker. Sure enough, he'd led Stoddard's men to them yet again.

  Thaddeus put the rifle's barrel to the hole, but the Indian went out of view, probably circling to the other side of the engine.

  "Made only the one," the engineer said with a shrug as Thaddeus glanced at the other side of the locomotive.

  "If I were you, when this is over," Thaddeus advised, "I'd make one on the other side, too."

  The engineer smiled wryly. "Reckon you're right, at that."

  Thaddeus waited. Meanwhile, he heard his own gun report from the back of the train and prayed to God the Union soldier was a sure shot.

  Horses' hooves signaled the return of Stoddard's tracker to Thaddeus's side of the train, and he wasn't about to waste another opportunity to take out this irksome thorn in his side. He took careful aim, and even though the man and horse were moving, he fired.

  The Indian went down hard, face in the dirt, and his horse ran off a few steps and then stopped to graze. For an instant, Thaddeus felt regret at the waste of such a capable and skilled tracker. Then it passed. The half-breed had chosen the wrong employer, plain and simple.

  Rising to his feet, Thaddeus glanced at the engineer. "I don't suppose you'll be able to get this train going."

  The engineer grinned. "Wit
h a little help. Only thing stopping us is the dead man pedal. And I'm mighty glad it don't apply here."

  Thaddeus helped the engineer back into his position, wedging his foot on the pedal that acted as a brake if it wasn't depressed. Before long, they began to inch forward, then rumbled up to speed. For a few minutes, Thaddeus took over the fireman's role, shoveling coal into the engine, but when it was fully stocked, he said, "I've got to go on back and see how everyone's doing."

  "You do that. Tell the conductor—"

  Thaddeus cut him off with a shake of his head, not bothering to explain how the conductor got injured.

  The engineer, his expression grim, glanced at the dead fireman behind him and then back at Thaddeus, no doubt thankful to be the last crewmember still standing.

  "Well then, son, you go tell everyone we're not stopping nowheres till we get to Gilman. We're going straight through. It'll take half hour or so. They got a good doctor in Gilman, so that's where I'm getting off. I bet a whole bunch of other folk'll want to get off, too. We'll send the sheriff back to see about the mess on the tracks."

  Thaddeus made his way back to his carriage, reassuring passengers as he passed through the cars. Damn if he didn't feel like the law.

  He reached his car and swung the door open, and his gaze landed squarely on Ellie, still crouched, gun in her hand. And next to her, standing guard, was the Union soldier.

  "Thaddeus," she cried out, dropping the gun to the floor and launching herself into his arms.

  The soldier sent him a timid smile. "Got him with one shot," he said, referring to the gunman he'd apparently killed at the back of the train. Then he bent to pick up the gun Ellie had let fall. He held it out along with Thaddeus's own revolver. "My name's James Ellis, by the way."

  Thaddeus removed one arm from around Ellie and took his gun back. In truth, he felt undressed without its solid weight in his holster. Then he took the other gun and slipped it into the back of his waistband.

  "Thaddeus Sanborn," he said, and shook the man's hand.

  The conductor groaned, and Thaddeus was glad that Ellie hadn't killed him, for her sake. Still, the man was gravely injured.

  "He's probably more comfortable on the floor than in a seat, but let's move him out of the way."

  "I think I hit his thigh," Ellie offered, sounding shaky.

  Thaddeus figured that, at such close range, she had shattered his large leg bones and shredded his muscles, and in all likelihood, the man would never walk again. But he wasn't going to tell her that.

  "I'm happy to have you watching my back any time, darlin'," Thaddeus told her. And he meant it. He'd been alone so long, it was strange reaching out to Ellie and the Union soldier for help.

  After they settled the conductor, Thaddeus said, "I'll go check on the spotter."

  "No," James Ellis said. "You've done enough. Stay here with your pretty missus, and I'll see if anything can be done for him."

  Thaddeus collapsed into the nearest seat and grabbed Ellie onto his lap, unmindful of what the other passengers thought.

  "You were stupendous," he told her.

  "All I did was shoot the conductor."

  "I look at it more as you saved my life." He brushed a kiss across her lips.

  She blushed. "You saved the whole train." She put her hand up to his face, her palm on his cheek. "I love you."

  His breath caught, and he went still as a statue. A hundred thoughts and emotions flooded his mind and heart at hearing Ellie say those words while looking deeply into her sparkling blue eyes, dancing like rainwater. He recalled how exquisite it had been to move inside her body the night before, to kiss her, and to have her come undone beneath him. He remembered the urge to leave his hometown and everything he knew behind, feeling worthless because of her. And he dredged up the terror in his gut at seeing Stoddard's men take her away.

  And he wondered how he could live with the constant worry of what could happen to her next—if he admitted his love and took what she was offering. But he didn't believe she loved him, not for a second.

  He captured her hand and removed it from his cheek.

  "Don't confuse gratitude with love," he cautioned, and watched the expression on her face change from one of obvious devotion to one devoid of any sentiment whatsoever.

  "Why, you're right, of course." And stiffly, she climbed off his lap and into the seat beside him.

  Damn it! He'd hurt her feelings, but she had to understand that the likes of her was not meant to go willy-nilly falling in love with the likes of him.

  When she was out of this mess with Stoddard, she could have her pick of fine gentlemen, maybe even a Bostonian, such as Reed Malloy.

  Thaddeus didn't want her thinking she had to declare her love and tie herself to him. Though, when this was all over, if they found themselves still in close company...

  "Look, Ellie, I didn't mean—"

  "No, no, you're right, Thaddeus." She turned a sweet smile his way looking completely composed again, and he thought, perhaps, he'd merely embarrassed her, not offended her.

  She shook her head. "You're right. My emotions are running high. It's not every day that I'm in a gunfight. Well, it has become more common lately, but still, it left me feeling all-overish."

  She turned away and looked out the window, and his stomach clenched as though he'd just lost something precious, had let it slip right through his fingers. For the smallest of moments, he'd been the recipient of her admiration, if not truly her love.

  "How long until we're at the next station?" she asked, her voice resolute and unperturbed.

  When he didn't answer right away, she turned. "Thaddeus, are you all right?"

  He shook it off, whatever it was that had momentarily come over him. What he was or wasn't, he was not what Ellie needed, though he'd spent a lot of years wishing he could be.

  "The engineer said half an hour, but that was about ten minutes ago."

  She nodded and looked away again.

  * * *

  They didn't have long to wait for the next train, and this time, they had a sleeper car. Or Ellie did. Thaddeus decided she could use a rest, and he needed time to think. Alone. What was he hoping to accomplish besides helping her out of a terrible situation? Did he want her beholden to him, or to start depending on him? Was he ready to settle down in one place, maybe Spring City, and carve out a life for them both?

  Try as he did, he couldn't come up with the answer. She was so easy for him to love, despite what others had said about her all his life, but he didn't know what he could do to satisfy her. He went over and over it in his head.

  If she still wanted to travel, he could do that with her, he supposed, though this lifestyle was wearing thin. But if she wanted to live in her house in Spring City, how would he occupy himself? Was he any better a choice for husband now than he'd been at eighteen?

  He had some money squirreled away—and some was even in an honest-to-goodness bank account—but he couldn't simply put his feet up and sit on her porch for the rest of his life. He was not like Dan, who had never minded following his father's footsteps to work at the feedstore.

  Thaddeus had toyed with the idea of becoming a bounty hunter, but that seemed a tad dirty, in his mind. Often, the bounty was based on some poor sap's bad luck. Why, any given year, there could be a bounty on his own head for some rash decision or other. He'd ruled out sheriff and deputy. Who in their right mind would put him in charge of a town?

  No, first, he had to make his fortune with the ill-gotten gain in his bag. Then, he would figure out the rest of his life. And if that included Ellie, he'd be a happy man, but he just couldn't see it happening.

  Pulling his hat down over his eyes, he drifted off to sleep, his questions still unanswered.

  Chapter 10

  Misgiving roiled in Eliza's stomach like butter in a churn as the train neared Boston. She thought of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, who was "half sick of shadows." Far beyond half sick of trains as she passed through Indiana, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania, Eliza decided if she never got on one again as long as she lived, it would be too soon.

  That was childish—she knew she'd have to get on a train again eventually to get back home. But as much as she wearied of the feel of the tracks, she felt equally nervous at getting off the train and facing Thaddeus's sister.

  She'd once told Sophie Dalcourt, who was then still Sophie Malloy, Reed's middle sister and, thus, Charlotte's sister-in-law, that she had never read Charlotte's work. That was one of the few lies she'd ever told, that and pretending to be in love with Riley Dalcourt.

  Eliza had, indeed, read Charlotte's articles whenever she came across one and knew her to be a talented writer. But she had trouble thinking of Charlotte as anything other than Thaddeus's too-clever sister, the one she'd loved to torment because she envied Charlotte her family.

  That was before the cholera took half of Charlotte's family, and they'd stood more as equals when the devastation was over. Except Charlotte had a brother who meant everything to Eliza, while she had only her father, domineering, controlling, loving, and powerful. Until he wasn't anymore, until he was dying.

  And as she'd dreaded would happen, Eliza ended up alone in the world, whereas Charlotte somehow, against all odds, stood surrounded by family—husband, children, brother, and in-laws.

  In preparation for living by herself, Eliza knew early on during her father's illness that she had to present the strongest appearance to the world; otherwise, every man jack would walk all over her as soon as she became an orphan. No matter what property or businesses she owned, if anyone believed she didn't have a spine of pure steel and a hot temper to go with it, why she'd be bear bait or worse. So, she got engaged to Riley and maintained her independence at the same time.

  And then she lost it to Stoddard. That had been a blow. She'd been careless and arrogant, not to mention reckless because a part of her didn't care about her past, her holdings, or even her future. A part of her grieved for her lost hopes and dreams.

  Now, she headed into the dragon's den, as she'd come to think of Charlotte's home, protected by Reed and his family, too—all strong women who dearly loved Charlotte, according to Thaddeus. And here she was with a reluctant knight, who would no more defend her against his sister than wear a lady's corset and pigtails.