by Connie Mason
He swallowed a smile, imagining her surprise when she'd awakened and found him missing. Her anger must have been stunning. The smile died abruptly as he considered how to convince her to return to Cheyenne. He didn't want her to see him behind bars. Nor did he wish for her to be present if he was obliged to marry Delia Wingate. He loved Meg too much to see her hurt.
The stage hurtled over the road at breakneck speed, bouncing the passengers around like wooden pegs. Once, Meg was literally thrown into his lap. His arms tightened around her for a blissful moment before he set her back in place across from him.
They stopped at a way station for the night. The passengers piled out and stretched, then headed for the house to eat the meal the station master's wife had prepared for them. After they had eaten, the women spent the night in one room and the men in another. Meg followed the men.
Much to Jess's relief, the men hit their bunks without bothering to undress. Jess directed Meg to a bunk in the far corner of the room and took the one next to her.
The other men were already snoring when Jess hissed, "You're going back to Cheyenne tomorrow."
"I'm going to Dodge," Meg returned. "You can't stop me."
Jess had no answer to that. It galled him to think he had no control over meg. He was still fretting and fuming over Meg's stubbornness when sleep abruptly claimed him.
The passengers boarded the stage early the following morning after a hurried breakfast. Moments later the stage lurched forward, and Jess knew intuitively that nothing he could say would convince Meg to turn back. She didn't seem to realize her presence in Dodge wouldn't help him, that it might even make things more difficult for him.
Most of the passengers were dozing when a spate of gunshots jerked them awake. No one besides Jess and Meg seemed to realize what was happening. Jess immediately checked his guns, as did Meg and the cowboy, and moments later the stage ground to a halt. Jess searched for a target but was thwarted when someone stuck a gun through the window and ordered everyone to toss their guns out the window or be blown to kingdom come.
"Jess," Meg whispered, "we can't give up our guns to those outlaws."
"We have to," Jess said grimly. "If we don't do as they say there are likely to be casualties, deaths even. Innocent lives are involved. I don't want one of the victims to be you. Most likely they'll just collect our valuables and leave."
Briefly Jess considered shooting and taking his chances, but the thought of Meg being hurt in the melee quickly dissuaded him. Reluctantly his guns joined those bring tossed out the window by the frightened passengers. Meg's were the last to go. Then the door was jerked open and the passengers ordered out.
Jess glanced at the outlaw and recognition slammed through him. It was Jay Calder, the man who had shot Meg. Meg must have recognized him at the same time, for Jess heard her gasp.
"This is a holdup," Calder growled. "Line up beside the coach while my partner collects your valuables. You, too," he ordered, motioning for the driver and guard to climb down from the driver's box.
Jess caught a glimpse of the second outlaw and his heart sank. Jay's brother Lucky was the man holding a gun on the two men in the driver's box. Jess's first thought was that the guard had fallen asleep on the job, allowing the Calders to overtake them without warning.
"Move it," Lucky barked when the men didn't move fast enough. Jess thought it regrettable that Lucky had survived his wound.
Then the guard made a tragic error. He reached for a shotgun hidden beneath the seat. He wasn't fast enough. Lucky fired and the guard fell back, mortally wounded. The driver gaped at his dead partner and quickly clambered over the guard's body, joining the passengers standing beside the coach.
"Nice work, Lucky," Jay congratulated. "Now relieve these good people of their valuables."
"Now wait a damn minute," the businessman blustered. "I'm not going to stand for this."
Without warning, Jay clubbed the businessman upside the head with the butt of his pistol. "Anyone else want to object?" he growled.
The elderly woman promptly fainted.
Jess stepped in front of Meg to protect her in case the bandits recognized her as the bounty hunter who had shot Lucky. The passengers began emptying their pockets. Lucky raked in the loot, grabbing whatever jewelry they wore while Jay kept his gun trained on the passengers. Jess had little of value except his father's pocket watch, and he refused to part with it. While both bandits were concentrating on the businessman's full pockets, Jess surreptitiously slipped the watch from his pocket and concealed it in the waistband of his trousers.
Something must have caught Jay's eye for he swung his gun around to Jess. "What did you just do?"
Jess lowered his head, hoping Jay wouldn't recognize him. It had been dark the night of their encounter, and there was a fair chance neither of the Calders hadn't gotten a good look at him. His hopes were shot all to hell when Jay's eyes narrowed on his face.
"Say, I know you," Jay said. "You're the pilgrim we met up with outside Cheyenne a while back, ain't ya? I see you've managed to escape the law. What did you say your name was?"
"Jess," Jess said, recalling that he hadn't mentioned a last name on the occasion of their one and only meeting.
"Oh, yeah, I remember now. My brother nearly bled to death after that damn bounty hunter shot him. I hope you sent that blasted female straight to hell."
Jess merely stared at him. Jay was distracted when Lucky suddenly exclaimed, "Sonuvabitch! I thought that female menace was dead!"
Jay spotted Meg standing behind Jess and grabbed her arm. He pulled her forward and yanked off her hat. Inky black hair cascaded down her back in a silken waterfall. Jess stepped forward to protect her and was promptly stopped by the barrel of Jay's gun.
"What the hell happened, pilgrim?" he blasted. "You were supposed to finish her off." He gave a snort of disgust. "Did the little whore get to you? Did she offer her body for her life?"
Jay leered at Meg and pulled her against him. "Me and Lucky could use a taste of what you gave the pilgrim."
Jess objected violently as he launched himself at Jay. "Take your filthy hands off her."
Jess didn't see the blow coming as Lucky came up behind him and bashed his head with the butt of his pistol. Darkness and pain closed in on him, and then he knew no more.
Meg watched helplessly as Jess made a slow spiral to the ground. She tried to go to him but Jay's arm tightened brutally around her.
"Let me go!"
"You ain't going nowhere, bitch," Jay snarled. "You shot my brother. He nearly bled to death before I got him to a doctor."
Meg kept mum, though she badly wanted to remind Jay that he'd killed a bank guard without remorse, and had shot her and left her for dead.
"Let me go to Jess," Meg cried, trying to break free of Jay's ruthless grip.
"Is he your lover?"
"None of your business."
The barrel of his gun bit into the soft flesh of her neck. "I'm making it my business. Is the pilgrim your lover?"
"Yes. Yes!" she repeated unashamedly.
Jay sent her a grim smile. "You must be damn good. Me and Lucky are gonna find out just how good you are real soon." His smile faded. "A word of warning. We're hard to please."
"Lucky," he called to his brother, "get the other passengers into the stage, and put the pilgrim in with them."
A terrible fear seized Meg. "What about me?"
He smirk was far from comforting as he rubbed his groin in an obscene manner, giving hint of precisely what he wanted from Meg. "I got plans for you, lady."
Meg renewed her struggles and received a jarring blow to her head for her trouble. It was hard enough to subdue her, but not enough to render her unconscious. She watched helplessly as Lucky and the cowboy loaded Jess into the stage. She was still reeling from the blow when she was rudely pulled away from the stage and tossed aboard Jay's horse. Jay mounted behind her as Lucky slammed the stage door shut and leaped into his saddle.
Helple
ssness swamped Meg as she glanced over Jay's shoulder and prayed that Jess wasn't badly hurt. As for herself, she knew exactly what she was up against and steeled herself to fight for her survival.
# # #
Jess didn't come around until the stage pulled into the small border town of Wilson, Kansas to report the robbery. Had he not been incoherent from the blow, he would have demanded that the stage stop and let him out to go after Meg. Unrelenting fear seized him. The Calders had a substantial head start; he worried that he couldn't catch up to them in time to save Meg from grave bodily harm.
Groggily he climbed out of the coach and arranged with the driver to leave his bag and Meg's with the station master in Dodge. Then he retrieved Meg's horse from the rear of the coach and joined the other passengers who had been robbed of their belongings. Someone sent for the sheriff and he appeared directly. Everyone wanted to talk at once and Sheriff Durant was slow to sort things out. Finally he came to Jess.
"You claim your friend was taken by the outlaws," he questioned. "Want to tell me what happened?"
"Doctor Gentry didn't see it," the cowboy injected. "He'd been struck down. But the outlaw named Jay took her up on his horse against her will and carried her off. Funny," he said, thumbing his hat to the back of his head. "We all thought she was a man. But Jay seemed to know her. Knew Doctor Gentry, too."
"Doctor Gentry," the sheriff repeated. "A medical doctor?"
Jess nodded. "Can we get to the important issues, sheriff? My fiancée is missing. What are you going to do about it?"
"The Calders are a menace to society, unfortunately they're slippery as eels. It will be a day or two before I can get a posse together. We're a small town. Might have to send down to Goodland for men."
Jess's fists clenched at his sides. "That won't do. I'm going now."
"Hold on a minute, Doc. Explain how the Calders knew you and the woman."
"Meg Lincoln is...was...a bounty hunter. Jay Calder shot her when she cornered him and his brother after they fled from a bank robbery they'd pulled off in Cheyenne."
Durant rubbed his bristly chin. "Meg Lincoln? Heard about her. What about you? Where do you fit in?"
"I saved her life and that's all I'm going to say right now. Time's running out, sheriff. The Calders neglected to clean out my pockets after knocking me cold. I'm going to buy a pair of guns and light out of here before the trail gets cold."
His face set in grim lines, Jess turned abruptly and made for the door. The sheriff made no move to stop him, though he stared thoughtfully at his departing back.
Hang on, Meg, Jess mutely pleaded as he headed for the nearest gunsmith. I'm coming.
Less than an hour later Jess was fully armed and carrying enough food to last several days as he returned to the place where the outlaws had stopped the stage and taken his Meg. He fervently hoped the tracking skills he'd learned over the years would eventually lead him to the woman he loved.
Chapter Sixteen
Meg held herself as stiffly as possible within Jay Calder's brutal embrace. Jay took outrageous liberties with his hands while they rode at breakneck speed over rough terrain.
Once away from the stagecoach, Jay had stopped long enough to bind her wrists in front of her. He understood that she was dangerous and had bound her as a precautionary measure.
"Where are you taking me?" Meg asked over the din of pounding horses hooves.
"None of your business," Jay hissed into her ear.
"Jess will find you no matter where you take me."
She said it with confidence despite her misgivings. Jess was a doctor, not a skilled tracker. Even if he did eventually find her, it would be too late. She knew her time on earth was limited. The Calders wouldn't allow her to live. After they used her, they'd kill her. Her face hardened. Not if she could help it. She wasn't helpless, she knew how outlaws thought and intended to outsmart them.
At nightfall they stopped beside a creek and Jay promptly tied Meg to a tree while the brothers brought out their supplies and sat down to eat a cold meal of bread and cheese and drink from a bottle of whiskey. Meg was offered nothing to eat but she didn't mind. Her stomach roiled at the very thought of food. But she did have another pressing need.
"Calder!" Meg called, catching the brothers' attention. "Untie me. I need to...go behind the bushes. And I'm thirsty."
Jay lurched to his feet. "I ain't untying you. I don't trust you. If we give you an inch, you'll take a mile."
"I need to go," Meg repeated.
"Damn female," Jay complained as he untied her from the tree and used the extra rope as a tether. "You can go as far as this rope will take you, but I ain't untying your hands."
Meg's legs nearly buckled when she tried to stand. Long hours in the saddle had stripped away their strength. But soon her blood began circulating again and she walked to a clump of bushes. She cast a warning glance at Jay and stepped behind them.
"Don't try anything funny," Jay warned, tugging the tether as a reminder.
Meg struggled with the fastenings on her trousers, and for one of the few times in recent memory she wished she were wearing a dress.
"Hurry, I ain't got all day," Jay grumbled.
Meg reappeared from behind the bushes and walked defiantly toward the creek.
"Where are you going now?"
"I'm thirsty." She dropped to her knees beside the creek and scooped water into her mouth until she'd drank her fill.
"You're too easy on her," Lucky complained as he watched the proceedings. "I can't forget how I suffered on her account. I damn near died."
"So did I," Meg shot back. "Jess is the finest doctor I know. He saved my life."
"You mean that pilgrim is a doctor?" Jay guffawed. "Here we thought he was an outlaw like us."
"You were wrong," Meg countered.
"Bring her over here, Jay," Lucky said, indicating his bedroll. "I want her now. I ain't never done it to a woman wearing trousers."
"You'll wait, just like me," Jay advised. "We ain't in safe territory yet and can't afford to let our guard down. Her lover could be following with a posse. Wait till we get to the hideout tomorrow, then we can both take our fill of her."
"Over my dead body," Meg hissed.
Lucky sent her a menacing glare. "That can be arranged, but I'd just soon have you alive when I poke you."
"Enough talk," Jay said, tugging Meg away from the water. "You take first watch, Lucky. Wake me at midnight to relieve you."
"What about her?" Lucky asked, glowering at Meg. "Aren't you afraid she'll escape?"
"Not if she's sleeping in my bedroll," Jay said.
"Hey, that ain't fair!"
"Simmer down, Lucky, I just want to make sure she don't escape. I told you, we'll share her when we reach the hideout. Go on, now. Climb up that rise over yonder. You should be able to see anyone approaching from there."
"Shit! Why do I have to take the first watch?"
"Because I said so," Jay retorted. "Go on, do as I say. I need to get a little shuteye before my watch."
Grumbling discontentedly, Lucky stomped off, but not before sending a hungry look in Meg's direction.
Meg listened intently to the exchange between the brothers and wondered how she could use the jealousy between them to her advantage. But first she had to survive the next few hours lying beside Jay. She trusted him no more than she trusted a snake. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he intended to assault her the moment Lucky was out of sight.
Her fears were realized when Jay pulled her over to his bedroll and pushed her down. He stood over her a moment, then he released his trousers, peeled them down to his ankles, and dropped down beside her. His hands unerringly found her breasts.
"Take your filthy hands off me!" Meg hissed. "Lucky's not going to like this."
"Lucky doesn't need to know. It's just you and me now."
"He'll know if I scream loud enough."
He pulled a knife from his belt. "Scream and I'll slit your throat. You're gonna d
ie sooner or later anyway. We may as well have a little fun before it happens."
Meg hacked up a wad of spittle and let it fly into his face. "I'm not going to make it easy for you."
Jay swiped at the spittle running down his cheek with the back of his hand and gave her a look that promised dire retribution. She thought she'd written her death warrant when he put his knife to her throat and drew a shallow crosswise slash, just deep enough to draw blood.
"Do that again and I won't be so lenient next time," he growled.
Pain exploded at the site of the wound. Meg grasped her throat and felt warm blood seeping through her fingers. But that wasn't as terrifying as watching Jay unfasten her trousers and work them down her legs. He was kneeling at her feet, knees spread apart, trying to pull her boots off so he could remove her trousers when Meg reacted spontaneously. She drew her legs back and smashed her booted feet into Jay's groin. Satisfaction ripped through Meg as Jay let out an earth shattering howl and fell backwards onto the ground, rolling back and forth, clutching his wounded member.
"Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!" he shrieked. "You'll pay for that."
He was still writhing in obvious pain when Lucky came running up. "What happened? I heard you screaming clear to the top of that rise."
"Ask that...bitch," Jay managed to gasp out. "She liked to kill me. She might have ruined my balls for good."
Moonlight provided Lucky with a pretty good picture of what had happened. "You tried to take her," he accused. "After you said we'd wait till we reached the hideout. Serves you right."
"Dammit, Lucky, kill the bitch. She's a menace."
Lucky turned mutinous as he stared at her bloodied throat. "No. Maybe later, but I want her first. She put a bullet in me and I want to make her suffer. I'll tie her to the tree so we can both get some sleep. Are you all right?"
"All right! I'm dying, dammit! I probably won't be able to sit a horse tomorrow. I'm sorry I didn't slit her throat. Get her outta my sight."