Sagebrush Bride

by Tanya Anne Crosby

  Elias observed Cutter a moment longer, and then, without another word, turned to watch as Magnus and his men set up camp about forty feet away from where Elizabeth remained on the downward slope. The area where she sat was devoid of trees, carpeted only with tall grass, while at Magnus’ back there was another thicket, just like the one in which Cutter was concealed.

  In spite of the fact that Elizabeth was sandwiched between them, Cutter still had a clear shot at Magnus… if only it weren’t getting so damned dark… if only his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  He shook his head, ridding himself of the black film that was slowly obscuring his vision.

  What puzzled him most was the fact that Magnus wasn’t making any attempts to hide his camp at all. It was as though he were using Elizabeth as bait. But why? He turned again to Elias, his eyes narrowing, glinting in the dusky light—the sun was going down fast. Maybe then he could make his move. “You said Magnus had papers?”

  Elias nodded, shifting only the briefest glance toward Cutter, noticing that the hands that only moments before had held the carbine steady were now wavering. “That’s right.”

  Cutter shook his head again distractedly. And then his eyes focused once more. “What sort of papers?”

  Elias’ gaze narrowed, and he suppressed a cough. Instinct told him that Cutter wasn’t about to admit weakness to anybody, not even himself. “A letter from General Sully,” he said, clearing his throat. “Accusing you of desertion… offering leniency in return for cooperation.”

  “What kind of cooperation?”

  “Didn’t say.”

  “Bastard was bluffing.”

  Elias shifted a glance toward Elizabeth and Katie. “Didn’t appear as though he was bluffing to me.” Then back to Cutter. “That’s a mighty serious allegation, McKenzie.”

  Cutter knew it wasn’t possible. He wasn’t U.S. military, just under contract, and his contract hadn’t been renewed, at that. “The dispatch actually charged me with desertion? To the letter?”

  Elias returned his scrutiny to his granddaughter, and then trained his carbine on Lieutenant Magnus Sulzberger. “Well, no… not precisely. There were three lines—read something like… in reference to absenteeism without leave… will consider leniency in exchange for—” his glance returned briefly to Cutter, and he cleared his throat “—assistance, I believe.”

  Cutter nodded, satisfied. “Like I said, the bastard was bluffing.”

  “Don’t make sense. Why would he do that?”

  “Desperate men do desperate things,” Cutter answered, shaking his head briskly, blinking again to ward away the haze shutting down like a veil over his eyes. “Sully’s career might hinge on his next campaign. Reckon he thought it’d make me mad enough to come lookin’ for him. And he was right. I’m sure he figured getting me there was half the battle, ‘cause then he could bend my ear, bribe me, whatever. Y’ see, he needs something from me I won’t give up.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My nose.”

  Elias gave him a skeptical look, and then nodded, his voice rising slightly with the question. “He wants you to scout? Seems a lot of trouble to go through just to get you to scout. Why didn’t he just ask?”

  “He did,” Cutter replied coldly, focusing his sight over the barrel of his carbine.

  “And?”

  “I told him to go hang himself.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t ever aim to be a part of another Sand Creek!” The ensuing silence was thick. “You wouldn’t happen to know how Sully knew where to find me?” he asked suddenly.

  The silence thickened.

  “I do,” Elias answered at last.

  Cutter gave him a brief glance. “Yeah?”

  Elias drew his brows together. “I had every right to use my connections to check you out, McKenzie, and that’s precisely what I did—as soon as I heard from your sister that you and Elizabeth were on your way. You’da done the same thing!’’

  “Yeah,” Cutter relented after a moment, giving Elias another quick glance. “Reckon so.” He turned his attention back to the small group in the distance. With the fading light, his targets were becoming too indistinct. And damn him, if he didn’t feel like he was on fire.

  He couldn’t believe a small cut would take him down. Hell, he had scars from bigger wounds that hadn’t bothered him half as much. Sweat beaded on his lip. “What I can’t figure is what role Sulzberger has in all of this,” he mused aloud. “Unless… ”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless he’s got his own plans—’less he aims to use that letter of Sully’s to his benefit.”

  Elias’ brows rose. “How’s that?”

  Cutter’s eyes sought Elias’ again in the growing darkness. Red-rimmed, they glittered like black glass with the last light of day. “To grease that bullet he’d like to put in my back,” he replied without emotion. “That’s why.” There was silence a moment, and then he added, “Elias… I want you to ride back into Fulton City. Bring the law back with you.”

  “What in damnation are you talking about, McKenzie” he whispered furiously. “I’m an old man, sure enough, but not so useless I can’t help out here! My granddaughter needs me!”

  “Yeah… and that’s precisely why you’ll go,” Cutter replied coolly, giving him a firm nod. “Because your granddaughter needs you.” The two faced each other in static silence.

  Elias’ eyes narrowed. “You trying to tell me something, McKenzie?”

  It stung Cutter to have to concede any weakness at all… but it was that… or lose Elizabeth and Katie out of stubborn pride. He couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. And he was losing it fast. He nodded, wincing as he shifted his position slightly. Pain fired through his left leg, and he grunted as it burst into his hip. “Reckon I am,” he replied hoarsely. “If you go now, Elias, you can make it back before daybreak. You have my word that I won’t go after ‘em alone unless I have to.”

  The indecision was as clear in Elias’ blue eyes as the torment was in Cutter’s.

  “My word,” Cutter assured through his teeth. Sweat trickled down his temples. “And if they pull out, I’ll leave you a trail a blind man could follow.” Still Elias didn’t reply. “Whatever it takes, I won’t let them harm a hair on your granddaughter’s head.”

  Elias cursed under his breath. “I know,” he relented, looking away briefly. There was a long stretch of silence, and then he said, “I know about the two of you… know you’re not married to her.”

  “Sulzberger tell you that, too?” Cutter snarled.

  Elias nodded, and Cutter scrutinized his features when he turned to face him finally, but there was no contempt there. None at all. He nodded back, conceding the fact.

  “It don’t matter none to me,” Elias revealed, glancing again toward Katie and Elizabeth, and then back. “I can tell you love her. If you can give my granddaughter half as much… she’ll be one lucky girl. It ain’t up to me to judge ya, anyhow—not either of ya. You see… Miss Mimi and I…” He averted his gaze suddenly. “I’m gettin’ up in years now… and, well…”

  “You don’t have to say it,” Cutter yielded. “I know.”

  Elias nodded. “Yes, I do. You see… I want this time with Mimi. I spent too little time with my wife before she died. Too little time with my son. And I don’t aim to make that mistake again. I’ve loved Mimi a lot of years now… put off livin’ my life the way I saw fit to because… well, because I didn’t want to offend my son. He was real close to his mother… but John’s gone now, and I know you’ll make a real good father to Katie,” he continued, looking down at the ground beneath them. “Anyhow, just wanted you to know before I go.” He looked up abruptly, searching Cutter’s expression. “You do plan to marry the girl, don’t you?” he asked.

  Cutter’s eyes narrowed slightly. He wanted to assure the old man that he would, if Elizabeth would have him, but pride wouldn’t let him. “That’s between myself and Elizabeth,” he
said through clenched teeth. “Now… you’d best be going.”

  Elias nodded slowly and began to shimmy down the branch. “Reckon I better,” he agreed with a weary sigh, “if I’m gonna get back before sunup… ”

  Almost from the moment Katie had opened her eyes, she’d begun to wail uncontrollably. And despite the fact that her mouth was jammed full with cloth, she continued to shriek, clinging frantically to Elizabeth’s neck in the darkness.

  Biting her lip until it throbbed, Elizabeth prayed that Magnus and Colyer wouldn’t become angered again. On the other hand, she was certain Katie and her shrieking was the only thing keeping Colyer from abusing her. She hadn’t mistaken the look he’d given her before stalking off with Magnus.

  Muttering about whores and screaming brats, all three of them had moved away from her, toward the warmth and light of the campfire, leaving herself and Katie only the cold, empty darkness.

  Giving her fleeting looks of apology, O’Neill had bound her hands behind her back, and then her feet, tightly, so that she couldn’t escape. To be certain they were not actually cutting off her circulation, Magnus had inspected them afterward. They were rubbing her raw now, and she gave a desperate little laugh at the notion. Where had they expected her to flee? They were in the middle of nowhere, for mercy’s sake!

  Because they’d been unable to pry Katie away from her, or even quiet her, they’d tied the poor child’s hands around Elizabeth’s neck. Her little legs were stretched around Elizabeth’s waist and bound as well, and then they’d shoved a dirty sock into her mouth, containing it with a filthy gray neckerchief around her face. It was so big that it covered most of Katie’s face, and Elizabeth had had to jerk it down with her teeth so that Katie could see anything at all.

  How cruel could people be? Guilt gnawed at her as she acknowledged the fact that if it hadn’t been for her own determination to raise the child as her own, Katie wouldn’t be suffering at the moment.

  Her teeth chattered, though not from the chill night air, but from the stark raw fear she felt for this innocent child. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she began to tremble as she rocked Katie, trying to calm her stifled sobbing.

  ‘‘Cutter,” she whispered, nuzzling her cheek against the velvety wetness of Katie’s tiny face. ‘‘Where are you?” Did he know what had happened to them? Dear Lord, what if he’d thought she’d left him deliberately?

  No matter what Elizabeth did, what she said, nothing seemed to soothe Katie, and the muffled whimpers were beginning to shatter her own composure. God only knew, she understood Katie’s fear, understood her hysteria—she actually felt like screaming herself—but Katie’s panic made her feel a failure. What would Katherine have done? she asked herself mournfully.

  Rocking back and forth, rubbing her cheek against Katie’s damp, silky curls, Elizabeth held back her own tears, knowing her own hysteria wasn’t likely to help Katie out of hers. “Katie,” she pleaded, her whisper broken. “Katie, sweetheart…” In spite of herself, a sob escaped, but she bit her lip, holding back the rest. “I won’t let them harm you, darling… I swear it—oh, Lord! What have I done?” She swallowed another sob before it could manage to escape her throat. “Katherine… oh, Katherine, I’m so sorry. Help me.”

  Helpless to do anything but bring Katie down with her, she lay back wearily upon the grass, thinking of all the dreams she had begun to weave around the child nestled against her. Every one of them included Cutter.

  After a moment longer, Katie’s tearful sobs finally turned into sleepy whimpers as she went limp with exhaustion. Fighting back her own fatigue, Elizabeth closed her eyes and drifted.

  Her thoughts filtered back to the day she’d met Cutter. Hard to believe it had been such a short time ago; it seemed a lifetime had passed. So much had happened since then. So much had happened to her. She was different, regenerated, like a butterfly that had only just burst from its cocoon.

  Arrogant and infuriating as the man was, he’d somehow squeezed himself into the heart she’d thought long dead. For so long she’d been careful not to let anyone—not anyone—into her life, because then she wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of their leaving.

  With Cutter… the risk had seemed worth taking. It didn’t matter what he was. It never had, she realized in that moment. And if she ever got the chance again, she’d make him see that, too.

  Dear God, she loved him!

  Her heart began to pound, and she became instantly alert, fully aware of her surroundings, every rustle of grass. She stifled the urge to cry out his name, sensing his presence. She could almost smell him in the slight breeze, but could see nothing.

  With no moon, the darkness was impenetrable.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Elizabeth’s heart nearly flew out of her breast when warm fingers brushed her leg unexpectedly. Stifling a cry of panic, she lay as still as she was able, afraid to wake Katie.

  Please, oh, please be Cutter, she implored silently. Dear God, what if it wasn’t? What if it was Colyer?

  She couldn’t bear it. It had to be Cutter! Why didn’t he speak? Well, of course she knew why he didn’t speak! she scolded herself hysterically. Sweet heaven above!

  Awkwardly the hand groped about her lower legs, feeling for something, and then finding it, halted at the thick rope that lashed her feet together. With bated breath she waited, listening to the sound the knife made as it sawed through the rope.

  At last there was a final rent and her legs fell free, numb but liberated.

  Her heart pounding without mercy, she watched, her eyes wide, as the shadow crept up to her face… so close that she could hear the breath between them… but the darkness was too thick.

  She couldn’t make out the face.

  “Ma’am?” the voiced called out softly.

  Elizabeth recoiled from it instantly. It wasn’t Cutter! her mind shrieked. Oh God—it wasn’t! In that moment she felt as close to madness as she had ever been in her life. She must have made some terrified sound, because in the next moment, a hand slipped tightly over her mouth, trapping a scream in her throat.

  “Ma’am? It’s me, Jacob O’Neill. Don’t scream. I won’t hurt ya—” O’Neill’s words were cut off abruptly as the barrel of a rifle slammed into his back.

  “Damned right you won’t, Blue-boy!” came a seething whisper.

  Hearing Cutter’s drawl at last, Elizabeth felt her heart slam against her breast. She swallowed, unable to speak momentarily for the emotions that welled within her. Relief. Joy. Anger! Why had it taken him so long?

  “I’d sooner see you in hell,” Cutter continued. Despite the fact that his strength was exhausted, and his body was staggering on the brink of hell itself, his voice sounded hard. “Now, get those hands up where I can see ‘em,” he said through his teeth.

  O’Neill’s hand went up slowly, moonlight glinting off the knife as it ascended. “I was gonna let her go, mister—I swear it! If ya’d but come a second later, ya’d have heard me say so. I was aboot to cut her hands free, is all… S-Still will… if y’ll let me?”

  A chill silence met his declaration, and he went on without being prompted. “Mister,” he advised in a nervous whisper. “If I’m gonna set her free, we’re gonna hafta hurry, ‘cause my watch’ll be over in another twenty minutes.” Still, only silence met him. “If ya ain’t gonna let me,” O’Neill continued, swallowing with difficulty, “then ya might as well put a bullet in ma back now, ‘cause Sulzberger will, if you don’t. If not him, Colyer then—he don’t like you too much on account of you slicing his ear.”

  “Some folks have no sense of humor at all,” Cutter remarked so softly that it sent a chill down Elizabeth’s spine. “Pity that. I’d’ve thought he was chock-full of it.”

  He don’t like you too much on account of you slicing his ear, Elizabeth heard again. She shivered at the subdued violence in Cutter’s answer—that and the fact that their exchange triggered a memory—the day she’d asked him why his horse had only half a right ear.
>
  “Someone’s idea of a practical joke,” his voice echoed in her ear. “… Don’t reckon the man’s laughing any longer… . Just went a little too far in trying to provoke me, is all.”

  “What did you do to him?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Her shoulders trembled faintly at the conclusion she drew, while at her breast, Katie began to stir, whimpering softly in her sleep.

  “All right,” Cutter agreed abruptly, jabbing O’Neill in the back once more. “Cut her loose, then.”

  “Yes, sir!” Jacob reached for Elizabeth immediately, almost eagerly. “Think ya can sit up for me, ma’am?”

  Elizabeth nodded briskly, and then realizing he couldn’t see her gesture, she said, “I think so… ” And she tried, but her lack of arms to use for balance, along with Katie’s weight, brought her back down. She rolled slightly atop of Katie, waking her with a start. At once Katie began to whimper behind her gag.

  “Shush, sweetheart,” Elizabeth whispered frantically. “Cutter’s here to take us home now. Don’t cry.” While she soothed Katie, Jacob helped her sit upright and immediately began to carve into the rope that bound her hands at her back.

  “Be real still, now, ma’am… wouldn’t want ta cut ya… Just another—”

  From somewhere within the darkness, gunfire erupted without warning. O’Neill’s remark ended with a gurgle and a choke as a bullet struck his windpipe. Elizabeth screamed as he slumped forward, into her, bringing her down under his weight. Katie screeched in terror, and Elizabeth reached for her instinctively, snapping the last frazzled thread of rope in her panic. Within seconds, another bullet whizzed by. And then another, striking the ground to her right. Recoiling from it, Elizabeth cried out in panic, trying to free herself and Katie from O’Neill’s dead weight. He was too heavy!