The Texan and the Lady

by Jodi Thomas

  As her body crumpled helplessly, Jennie’s last sense was of the cape being wrapped tightly around her, cocooning her in velvet blackness.

  “Got you now, Delta,” the attacker laughed as he lifted her to his shoulder. “And you’ll wish you were dead and buried in that grave with your name on it before I’m finished with you tonight.”

  Chapter 25

  You’re not going with me, son, so you might as well stop following me.” Austin’s voice echoed off the inside walls of the barn.

  “But, Marshal,” True ran to keep up with Austin, “I’m the one who told you Jennie was kidnapped. If it weren’t for me, she’d have been miles away before anyone missed her.”

  Austin jammed his rifle into its sheath and crammed an extra box of shells into his saddlebags. “I haven’t got time to argue, True. You stay here and keep your eyes open for more trouble. I’ll be back before dawn.”

  “You’ll be dead before sunrise if you go out in this blizzard.” Spider Morris entered the barn, shaking snow off him as he moved.

  Swearing beneath his breath, Austin knew the old man was probably right. But he couldn’t just stand around and let some stranger take Jennie without doing something.

  “Besides,” Spider moved nearer, “whoever took her will hole up to wait out the storm. He’s not going anywhere until the weather clears a bit. Our best chance is to check out every house in town and wait till morning.”

  Austin didn’t want to think about what a man who was capable of kidnapping might do to Jennie while waiting. “You check town; I’m going!”

  Spider shook his head. “Well, if you’re determined to head out tonight, you might want to think a minute before you go off half-cocked. My guess is there’s only a couple of places he could have made it to in this snow. There’s an old abandoned farmhouse a few miles north of here, but the road’s so grown over you’d never find it in this snow.”

  “And the other place?”

  “If a fellow knew where to look, he could find a cluster of caves just past the bend of the tracks heading toward Kansas City. It’s not far, but no one would hear a woman scream from there. Not in this storm. Problem is unless you know where the caves are, you’ll walk right past them.”

  True pushed past Spider and planted feet toe-to-toe with Austin. “I know where the caves are; Henry showed me. I could find them with my eyes closed. And I know what the kidnapper looks like. He’s the same fellow who took Delta’s trunk.”

  Austin pulled his fingers into leather gloves. “Tell me where to look, kid.”

  “No. I ain’t goin’ to do it.” Tiny fists braced on slim hips, followed by a look that meant to fight both men if need be. “I’m the reason she’s kidnapped. She came out to the barn looking for me. I’m going to the caves with or without you. Only difference will be that when I get there, I’ll be alone if you keep trying to tell me what to do.”

  Austin squatted down to True’s level. “Son,” he tried to make his voice calm, “this storm is no place for you to be wandering around.”

  “I’ve slept out in worse and survived. Last winter I would have considered this a warm night compared to some I was out in.” True didn’t budge. “You’ll never find her without me.”

  “I’ve got Sheriff Morris,” Austin countered.

  “Don’t count on me.” Morris shook his head. “I haven’t been out to those caves in years. They’re something only the younguns around here play in. I probably couldn’t find them on a clear day.”

  “Well, hell, I’m not taking a child!” Austin tried to sound determined. What kind of lawman takes a kid on a hunt? He’d be laughed out of Texas if this story traveled south.

  “Well, hell,” True answered. “I don’t see as you have much choice. Besides I care about Jennie just as much as you do.”

  Spider could see the stubbornness reflected between the two and figured they had to be kin, whether Austin admitted it or not. “We’ve no time to argue,” the old sheriff said as he pulled off his gloves and handed them to True. “Take my gloves and coat, True. You’ll be as warm as need be. If True really knows the way to the caves, you two should be back in an hour.”

  Already weighted down with layers of wool, True pulled on the sheriff’s coat and gloves, looking like a ball of rags and worn leather. Spider’s waist-length coat hung to the child’s knees. “Time’s a-wasting, Marshal.”

  The last thing Austin wanted to do was take a kid along with him to look for Jennie, but he had no choice. He grabbed the back of True’s coat and lifted the orphan onto his saddle.

  Spider handed Austin a lantern. “Best as I can remember, there ain’t but three caves, so it won’t take you long. Follow the tracks until True tells you to turn off.” The old man looked very tired. “And head back in an hour, no matter what. I don’t want to have to look for your bodies come morning.”

  Austin climbed up behind True. “We’ll be back with Jennie, if she’s out there.” He pulled his hat low and motioned for Spider to open the door. When the icy wind hit them like a blast, Austin leaned forward instinctively, protecting True as much as he could.

  JENNIE THOUGHT SHE was in a nightmare as the world came back into focus. Her body was so cold she had no feeling in her hands and feet, and the side of her face ached. The world was so black inside the wrappings of her cape, she wasn’t sure if her eyes were open or closed.

  Trying to move slightly, she felt a rope binding her. One loop cut into her throat, then the rope ran along her back, circled her waist, and continued to below her hips, where it bound her legs together. The taste of dirty cloth filled her mouth from the gag that twisted into the corners of her lips.

  The sudden crash of a bottle made her stop wiggling. She could hear someone moving around only a few feet from her. The steps seemed heavy and slow. Since she couldn’t feel the wind, she guessed she must be inside, but without the smell of animals, it couldn’t be the barn.

  A flicker of light blurred its way through the material covering her face. Another flicker. She smelled the warmth of a fire even before she felt it.

  “There.” The sound of a man’s voice came closer to Jennie. “Now the fire’s going, it’s time we had a little talk.”

  A huge, beefy hand slid along the cape covering her. “There seems more to you, girl, than I’ve felt before. Maybe you grew a little now that you’ve been eating regular.” His hand stopped over her breast, trying to feel her through the layers of clothing.

  Jennie jerked, rolling away. The cluttered floor slowed her progress, but she moved blindly, trying to get as far from the voice as she could. With a sudden, violent tug on the rope, the man pulled her back. “Well, now, you’re awake!” he shouted. “Wouldn’t be no fun feeling you when you couldn’t let me know how much you like it.” She tried to twist away, but he held the rope tightly.

  “When you gonna learn, girl, that you belong to me? Pa gave you to me last year and said I could do whatever I wanted with you. Most time you’re more trouble than you’re worth, running from me, but tonight we’re gonna have a fine time.”

  Evil laughter distorted his voice. “I ain’t never taken you when I didn’t have to worry about making too much noise and waking Pa up.” He howled like a wild animal. “This is gonna be a long night. I’m gonna let you scream until you can’t scream no longer. I heard if a woman does that one time, she ain’t likely to do much yelling again no matter what a fellow does to her. I’ve been planning this time ever since you ran away. There’s a lot I can do to you that I ain’t done before. Then come morning, you’re gonna tell me what you did with that deed.”

  He grabbed the rope binding her throat and yanked it hard toward him. “You be still when I want you, girl,” he ordered. Without caring that he was choking her, he tugged at the rope. “That’s better!” he yelled when she finally stopped trying to pull away.

  “Easy now, Delta.” His words were slurred with whiskey. “I’ve drunk too much to fight you untied, so we’ll have to leave you bound till you
settle down. If you cause me any trouble, I’ll beat you until you can’t stand up, then I’ll untie you and we’ll dance awhile.”

  He laughed when she reacted to his words. “You got sense enough to be good and afraid of what I’ll do. In that way you ain’t as dumb as your ma. Pa will probably have to beat her the night before we put her in the ground. But it don’t have to be that way. Once you learn how, you’ll treat me real nice. I won’t have to hit you but ever’ once in a while, just so you don’t forget.” He snorted in delight and pulled the rope, making her hooded head move up and down as if in a nod.

  “Like that, do you?” He relaxed his hold on the rope as he guzzled more whiskey. “Before I’m through, you’ll be begging me to let you stay with me. If you ever leave me again, you’ll be going in a box to the cemetery. Remember that, girl,” he threatened.

  Jennie wanted to throw up. She’d never known such evil existed in the world. Her heart pounded so wildly she thought it might explode. She forced herself not to move as she listened to him drinking and mumbling to himself.

  “You’re learning,” he yelled after a long silence. “You wait there nice-like until I finish this bottle, then we’ll have a look at you.”

  While she heard him swallow several times, she tried to figure out where she was. The voice had to be that of Delta’s stepbrother, Ward. Somehow he’d come back, and he thought she was Delta. At first Jennie found that idea ridiculous, though she had been wearing Delta’s cape and the barn had been very dark. Was he drunk enough to mistake her for a petite blonde?

  Ward pulled on the rope around her neck. “Ain’t you ever gonna ask about your ma?” When she didn’t even try to answer through the gag, he dropped the rope, letting her head fall backward against the floor. “Your ma was mighty upset when you left. She kept walking around, calling you like you’d just been hiding somewhere around the house. Finally Pa had to shut her up. She hasn’t said nothing ever since.”

  Jennie moved, fighting to get farther away.

  “Now, stop that!” he yelled, suddenly angry. “Or I’ll take the whip to you.”

  Jennie froze, guessing he’d take great pleasure in whipping a woman.

  His hands grabbed the material of the cape. “I should have broke you back home and saved myself this trouble now. Ain’t never had a woman to ride ever’ time I wanted to. When I get you back home, I’ll want you waiting in my bed ever’ night.” He laughed, as though he thought his plan brilliant.

  When his fingers pulled at the cape, he swore at the ropes binding her. “This damn cape is getting in my way. Roll over on your belly.” She could hear him moving around, throwing another log on the fire, tossing the bottle against a far corner.

  Because she didn’t move onto her stomach as he’d ordered, Ward kicked her so hard it seemed as if her entire body left the ground at once. “I ain’t in no mood to not have you mind, girl.” He yanked at the rope. “You got anything to say about that?”

  As all the air was suddenly cut off, Jennie fought to keep from blacking out. Even through the layers of material, the rope was sawing into her flesh.

  “I didn’t think so.” He dropped the rope and let her head hit the floor once more. “You’re learning fast. Now, roll over.”

  Jennie did as ordered. She could feel blood dripping from her nose and forehead, and she couldn’t seem to get enough air into her lungs. The side of her face throbbed in pain, and she was sure blood was matting the hair on the back of her head.

  Jennie tried to breathe as she heard him moving above her. Suddenly, without warning, she felt a knife slide between the rope and her throat. She wasn’t sure whether to pray that his hand would be steady enough to cut the rope without cutting her, or to pray he slipped and ended this nightmare once and for all.

  When the rope suddenly slackened, Ward jerked the cape and her body rolled free. “I figure you’ve had enough beating to remember your place.”

  She pulled at the gag in her mouth as she stared at the remains of a cabin around her. Any hope she’d had that she was in a place near help vanished, for she’d never seen this one-room shack. From the layers of dirt on everything, she figured that neither had anyone else in years.

  “What the hell!” Ward yelled and stepped back. “You ain’t Delta!”

  As she blinked away pain, all Jennie could say was “I told you. Delta is dead.”

  “No, she ain’t!” Ward stormed toward Jennie. “I seen her wearing this very cape four nights ago. She thought she could leave, but I seen that Harvey House schedule on the wall back home and knew she’d be at one of the houses. The man in Kansas City told me Florence was the only place hiring, so I waited around till I saw her. You and her cooked somethin’ up to keep me from getting my land.”

  Jennie knelt and pulled the rope from around her feet. His talk was giving her time to clear her mind. “Your land? I thought the land belonged to Delta and her mother. Not you.”

  He raised his hand to strike her, but she was faster. Jennie darted across the room and looked around for something to use as a weapon. The only way this man would ever touch her again was if she were dead.

  Ward scrubbed his face with his hand, trying to sober up. He could handle a beaten Delta, but he wasn’t so sure about this woman. From the look of her, she could claw his eyes out and scramble them for breakfast.

  “I ain’t arguing with no woman!” Ward yelled. “If you know about the land, then you know where the deed is.”

  Storming like a raging, blind bull, he moved toward her. He was within three foot of her before he saw the stock of an old rifle in her hand. As Ward took another step, she raised the wood and swung.

  The dried timber splintered against the side of his face. Blood from a hundred tiny cuts streaked across his hairless head and cheek. As another blow struck him, Ward screamed in pain.

  He swung blindly, storming around the room, out of control.

  Seeing her chance, Jennie was out the door before he could wipe the blood from his eyes.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Ward yelled and ran after her. “You ain’t leaving here alive!”

  Jennie knew she’d have no chance if she left the cabin. She had no idea which way to walk to find help, and if she didn’t reach warmth fast in this weather, she’d freeze to death. Her only hope was to stay near the house or barn.

  Staggering outside, she crumpled into a ball amid the clutter on the dilapidated porch. It was a gamble. If Ward hesitated at all, he’d see her. But he didn’t. He ran into the blizzard shouting what he planned to do with her if she didn’t stop.

  She waited until his voice was several feet away, then moved in the blackness along the side of the house until she reached a barn. It looked like a dozen snowflakes might destroy it, but she could hear a horse. Ward hadn’t taken the time to properly put away his mount, and the poor animal was still saddled.

  Talking softly to the animal, Jennie felt for the reins. Since Ward had come into town on the train, there was a good chance that this horse belonged to either the Harvey House stables or the livery in town. As she climbed into the saddle, Jennie just prayed the horse had a better sense of direction than she did.

  “Take me home,” she whispered as she tied the reins to her hands. “Please take me home.”

  She kicked the animal into action and lowered her head. The wind seemed to cut into her dress, but she’d risk freezing to death before she’d go back into the cabin for the cape.

  As the horse moved through the night, she could hear Ward scream somewhere in the distance, but Jennie didn’t turn around. His voice grew farther and farther away. Tears streaked her face for the first time since she’d been kidnapped. She was safe from him. Now all she had to do was reach shelter before she froze to death.

  Closing her eyes, Jennie pictured herself back home riding to town, always looking for the few red ribbons her family tied to tell her which fork in the road to take. Only now there were no more ribbons, and even if there had been, she couldn’t have seen them
in the storm. Tonight there seemed no direction for her except away from Ward.

  Chapter 26

  Marshal! Marshal!”

  “Yes, True?”

  “I gotta stop.”

  “What? Out here in the middle of nowhere? Why?” Austin tried to see through the blinding snow. They’d only turned off the tracks twenty feet before. Surely the cave couldn’t be so close to the train tracks.

  Before he could react, True threw one leg over the saddle horn and slid off Austin’s horse. “I’ll be right back. But like Henry says, ‘A fellow’s got to do what he’s got to do.”’

  Austin swore. He’d never been around children much, but stopping in the middle of a manhunt didn’t make any sense. “What’s the problem?” Austin yelled.

  “I forgot to go before we left town!” True yelled from somewhere in the blizzard. “And it ain’t easy with all these clothes on.”

  Austin couldn’t believe what was happening. He was standing in the center of a storm trying to find a cave, the location of which only a child knew, in time to save Jennie. And … and his guide had to stop and go to the privy.

  “All right,” True yelled. “You can help me back on the horse now.”

  He reached down and lifted True into the saddle with one hand. “How much farther?”

  “Straight ahead. I’ll tell you when we get so close we have to go on foot.”

  True’s judgment proved to be correct. Within a few minutes Austin followed the child into the first cave. It was so well hidden by trees and rocks the marshal wasn’t sure he could have found it on a bright day much less in the middle of a storm.

  There was no sign anyone had been in the cave since the snow started. A foot of drifted snow protected the entrance with not so much as rabbit tracks across the powder.

  They moved to the next cave, then the last.

  True ran to the back of the shallow rock room calling Jennie’s name. Austin stood at the entrance slowly swinging the lantern back and forth. He didn’t need to go any farther. The only footprints were True’s.