“How much is he worth to you?” Tessa asked.
“Five hundred dollars—cash. How does that sound to you?”
Tessa couldn’t help but be intrigued by the offer. It had been a slow year and that kind of money would keep her in good stead for another year easy. If catching this outlaw was what she needed to do then she was all game.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Tessa said as she hopped on her horse, Spirit. As she started to trot off she paused a minute to look back. “If you try to stiff me on the money, then you will have a much bigger problem on your hands.”
Williams gulped loudly in fear.
Tessa smiled and began her journey. It was necessary to put fear in the people who hired her to bring in scumbag outlaws, because sometimes they were bigger crooks then the outlaws she was hunting. She'd had a few experiences where she had to get nasty with someone who tried to stiff her on payment. Many thought they could get away with it because she was a beautiful woman and the last kind of person most would ever expect to be a hard-assed bounty hunter.
But they didn’t know her. They did not know the pain that resided within her heart and all of the tough times she’d been through. When her husband Jeffrey died after being thrown from a horse that was spooked by a rattlesnake, she’d become a widow at the age of sixteen. He’d been the only man she’d ever loved and she had sunk into a deep depression for several years. She was almost ostracized from her community for being a widow at such a young age, as if it had been her fault that her husband was killed in a freak accident three months after they'd been married.
He’d been fourteen years her junior and had made a name for himself as a local blacksmith. But when he died the business had to go with him. The money was pretty much gone with it since he was just starting to make a decent profit from his business in the town of Stillwater. After he died Tessa had been forced to move back in with her folks at first.
After several months of whispers behind her back and vacant stares every time she even went into town Tessa had decided she’d had enough and decided to branch out on her own. Her family had urged her not to go. What was a woman in her position going to do for work? She didn’t know and she didn’t care.
She eventually found work helping out on a small ranch and living with the rancher, John, and his wife, Edna. They were lovely people. The work was drudgery, but it was a living for now and she was away from people who knew her and her situation; that was all that really mattered at the time.
One night two outlaw brothers, The Claytons, broke into John and Edna’s home. They were on the lam and needed a place to hide out. They had picked the wrong house.
Since she was five Tessa's father had taught her how to shoot, how to throw knives, and how to fight. He always said that a woman couldn't walk with a man's shadow around her twenty-four hours a day; there was going to come a time when she had to defend herself or even fight alongside her husband.
Before the Clayton’s even knew what happened, Tessa had a gun on both of them. She ordered them to sit in a chair while John tied them up. They tested her and tried to escape but she fought like a tiger, breaking the elder Clayton’s nose and flipping the other to the ground. While they were still dazed John tied them up and then went to fetch the Marshal.
It was Marshall Lewis who told her that she should think about a career in law enforcement. The idea rang true to her and she realized that she did have a marketable skill, but playing it safe and helping drunks sleep it off in the drunk tank was not her idea of an interesting life. She wanted the big action. That was when she decided to become a bounty hunter. She would get to travel and she would help put away scum.
She’d been doing that for over ten years now. It was a lonely life, but with her heart still shattered into pieces over the sudden death of her sweet Jeffrey, she was fine that way. She realized that with Jeffrey she had suppressed her tough nature quite a bit. Being young she felt that was what was necessary to get a husband. No man wanted a woman who was tougher than he was, she supposed. That was another reason she loved being a bounty hunter; she was able to be as tough as she was and if she ever did meet a man he would already know this and he would have to be ok with it. Most men could not handle this, unfortunately, so loneliness continued to haunt Tessa.
But she kept holding onto hope that she would meet a man who was tougher than she was.
She was sure he was out there somewhere.
Chapter 2
Tessa hopped off her horse and tied it to the trough. She took her hat off and fanned herself for a second, trying to shake off some of the midsummer Texas heat. She was still tired from yesterday. She'd been riding since sun up and it was almost sundown. She made it into town just before Sundown last night and crashed into bed without even bothering with supper.
She awoke before dawn and got everything ready. She just wished her sleep had been more restful. It felt almost like she hadn’t slept and she wasn’t really sure why.
She had stopped in the town of Wilbur yesterday to grab a bite and rest for a spell when she overheard a few clerks from a nearby Mercantile talking about the shipment of goods that was due to come in the next couple of days. The older gentleman told the younger man that a train full of goods was making the rounds through the area and it would be stopping in Crater Falls the next day and then coming on to Wilbur the day after that. He was really excited because he was finally going to get some of the tonic and quinine that he had ordered weeks ago. His town doctor was fit to be tied over when those medicinal items would be available.
Tessa knew that if Isaac had his ear to the grindstone like she did then he would definitely be waiting for that train to come through Crater Falls. He would rob as much as he could in that one fell swoop and then be on his way, disappearing like a ghost in the night.
But she was ready for him.
After checking with the train station pretending to be a mercantile owner in town she retrieved the train's schedule and according to that, it would be arriving midmorning. This gave Tessa just enough time to wolf down a hearty breakfast and get herself set up. She figured that Isaac would not wait until the train came into the station, but that he would rob it a few miles down when it changed tracks. It had to stop for a few minutes to do this and it was the perfect time to commit the robbery.
Tessa quickly ate, hopped on Spirit, and made it to the junction within a half hour. Then she waited. She was not sure which direction Isaac would be coming from and she damned sure did not want to be seen by him, so she picked a fairly hidden spot from behind a few trees with some good shrubbery overgrowth around it.
It was only about a half hour later that she saw the train pulling into the junction and coming to a stop. She felt her body tensing up slightly. She knew that Isaac had to be close by. It was just a matter of time before he made his move. And she was going to be ready for him. She loved this feeling--The excitement and the adrenaline pumping through her body right before she confronted an outlaw for the first time. Hopefully, this would be the last time for Isaac and, hopefully, he would go quietly. But they hardly ever did. So she was always prepared for that.
She watched with deep focus and anticipation while the two engineers stepped off the train and initiated the switch of the track so they could continue the course that would lead them to the train station where they would unload their commissary onto several horses and stagecoaches that would deliver the items to the local business in the town.
There he was.
Isaac flew out of the trees on a jet black horse. He appeared to be about to crash into the train, but at the last second, he leaped from the horse, pulling his guns out all in one swift movement that he must have done a thousand times. The engineers cringed as they saw the maniac with the gun approaching them. They instinctively held their hands up high.
“Good job, boys. I’ll take it from here,” Isaac said. He threw some rope to one engineer and ordered him to tie his friend up. The engineer quickly did as he was told.
/>
Tessa knew that this was the perfect time to pounce, while Isaac was momentarily distracted watching the engineer to make sure he did a good job with the tie up.
Using the groves of trees she ran from point to point like a ninja, until finally she was only feet behind Isaac, but still hidden from view by the dense brush. She took a deep breath and stepped out from her hiding place, her pistols held high.
“That’s enough, Isaac,” Tessa said.
Isaac barely blinked as he turned his head slowly to look at her. His guns stayed focused on the engineers who were very much interested in this turn of events.
“Wow, aren’t you too pretty to be a lawman?” Isaac said.
Tessa did not respond immediately. She was caught a bit off guard by how handsome Isaac was. He was tall with long black hair, intense blue eyes, and a bit of scruffy stubble that made him seem even more dangerous looking. But there was a beauty to his looks. Part of it was the blue eyes, but he had the sexiest smile that Tess had ever seen. Just watching him flashing her that killer grin she could feel her heart beating faster in her chest.
“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Isaac teased.
“Drop the gun and put your hands on your head,” Tessa said.
Isaac laughed loudly. “Wow, I’ve never heard that one before,” he said sarcastically. “But somehow when you say it, I almost want to do it. A beautiful woman holding a couple of guns; now you can’t get sexier than that.”
“Cut out the jokes and do as you're told. I will not hesitate to fill you full of holes. I get paid either way.”
“Oh, so you aren’t the law. Got myself a beautiful bounty hunter. What is the price on my head, darling?”
“$500.”
“Wow, I thought I was worth even more than that. That’s disappointing.”
“You have until the count of three to drop the gun and do what I say or I will shoot. One.”
“Three,” Isaac said as he turned on her with lightning fast speed and opened fire at her.
Tessa leaped to the ground flipping over several times, remembering some of the martial arts skills her father had learned from a trip to Japan before she was born. He had taught her several ways of defending herself with a technique called "Karate". It had served her well in her life.
She barely missed a bullet grazing her arm as it pinged off the ground mere centimeters from where she landed and she felt her body bounce once again into the air where she was able to land and duck behind a tree.
She could not believe that she was still alive after that. How did he turn and fire on her that fast? She was starting to see where his nickname “lightning” came from.
“Whoo! Now that was an impressive little lady," Isaac said. "Of course, it is less impressive since I didn't really want to kill you. That was more of a warning. Get on your horse and ride away from here and pretend you never saw me. You won't get another."
Hearing that man’s smug voice filled Tessa with rage and she spun around the tree and opened fire on Isaac. The two engineers quickly ran for cover behind the train while Isaac was distracted.
Tessa expected Isaac to duck or turn for cover, instead, he just returned fire on her still laughing that smug laughter of his. Tessa emptied her guns and turned back behind the tree while Isaac continued to fire. She quickly reloaded, her fingers fumbling slightly with the bullets. It had been a while since someone had given her this much of a firefight. Usually, the man would have been dead already or realize that it was a lost cause and thrown down his guns.
But Isaac seemed to be reveling in the fight. Was he really that crazy?
Well, if he had a death wish he had picked the right woman for the job.
Tessa spun back around from behind the tree prepared to unload both guns on Isaac, but he was not there any longer. He had disappeared into thin air. What in the—
Pain in her hands.
“Ahh!” Tessa yelled out as she felt the gun in her back.
“Don’t move,” Isaac whispered.
Tessa froze. She felt humiliated. How had this happened?
“Don’t feel bad,” Isaac said as if reading her thoughts. “No one gets the drop on Lightning Isaac Swayne.”
Isaac grabbed her guns from her hands and placed them in his bag as he moved to stand in front of her. He was eyeballing her up and down with a weird smirk on his face. He was even more handsome up close, but Tessa was too furious to let herself feel it.
Suddenly Isaac reached around her and pulled her tightly. She thought he was going to kiss her and though a strong feeling was coursing through her body to let it happen, the fact that he was a criminal who might be about to kill her made her cringe.
“You are so beautiful,” Isaac said.
He laughed to himself and winked at Tessa before turning around and jogging towards his horse. Tessa felt paralyzed. The man had taken her guns and left her virtually defenseless for the moment.
She was so furious with herself that she remained in her hiding spot for several seconds. She almost felt that he would shoot her if she came out before he was gone. But then again, if he wanted her dead he would have done it.
Tessa heard galloping moving away from her. She ran from her hiding place out to the clearing just in time to see Isaac riding away on his horse swerving into a grove of trees. He had a good head start on her, but she could still catch up to him if she hurried.
But she had to check on the engineers and make sure they were both ok. They might have been hit by a stray bullet. Isaac didn’t seem to care who he hurt.
She opened the door of the train to see both engineers cowering behind a few seats.
“Are you ok?” Tessa asked.
Both men came out from hiding, still trembling in fear. But neither had been shot. They were both very lucky.
Tessa knew that she would be hard pressed to catch Isaac by now. It was almost impossible to see which way he might have gone after going over that ridge in the near distance.
But there would be another day.
And this time he would not get away.
Chapter 3
Her next chance to capture Isaac came just two weeks later. While investigating a holdup Isaac did of a bank in Wheelersburg Tessa stumbled on a bit of information. She was having a drink in the bar next door to the bank when she overheard talk about a big horse deal that was going down the next day. Lester Fare, a rancher outside of town was just purchasing a run of horses from a horse trading fair. He had been in communication with the seller, Peter Allen, for some time. The man had groomed the horses to be the best and now they were grown and ready to be sold off for race horses and some would be work horses. Others would be used for breeding purposes as well.
Horse trading was big business in those parts. An opportunity like that would have been too good for Isaac to pass up.
Tessa introduced herself to Lester and told her about Isaac.
"Oh, yes. I've heard of that scallywag. He was having a drink in this very bar right before he went into the bank and robbed it. I would never have guessed that I was drinking just a few feet away from one of the most wanted men in these parts," Lester said.
“Did he happen to overhear you talking to anyone else about the horse trade?”
Lester thought a moment. “Well, now that you mention it, I was talking with Hector the bartender here about it a bit. You think he would try to steal my horses?”
“If they are as valuable as you say they are, he would.”
“What can I do to help?” Lester asked.
Tessa smiled then told him the plan.
The next day Lester went about business as usual and met with Peter Allen about the deal. He arrived early before the fair was supposed to begin so he could have first dibs. He had agreed to pay double what Peter was asking for this privilege.
Tessa was hiding behind the nearest barn, ready to strike when Isaac made his move. Lester had agreed to help her any way that he could, but they did not tell Peter Allen anything about
the plan. The fewer people that knew about this the better.
Lester and Peter were just getting business underway and Lester was looking at a few of the horses. They were magnificent animals and they were sure to be worth a pretty penny. They had been conducting business for no longer than five minutes when Isaac showed up, riding up from the hills on his horse like he owned the world. He didn't even attempt to hide himself; the ranch was fairly well secluded and there was hardly anyone else around except a few ranch hands.
Isaac held his gun on both Peter and Lester who instantly put their hands up in the air.
“Well, let’s not beat around the bush here,” Isaac said. “I’m taking these horses with me, in case you two hadn’t figured that out by now.” He pointed at Peter. “I want you and your buddies over there to load the best horses up to a wagon and I’ll be needing a few of your hired hands here to come with me to help me manage that many horses.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll need horses where you are going,” Tessa said stepping up behind Isaac and burying her gun in his back.
Isaac laughed, that same cocky laugh. Tessa could not help but feel a bit turned on by his defiance. What was it about this man that was so damn magnetic?
“That’s funny. I was hoping I’d see you again,” Isaac replied. “I guess you didn’t get the message the first time. I guess I’ll just have to kill you this time.”
“Get off the horse,” Tessa said. “Slowly.”
Isaac paused a second then raised his hands innocently for a second before starting to climb down off the horse. Tessa watched him closely, but she still didn’t see the move coming.
As Isaac brought his other leg over the top of the horse to climb off it as he swung the leg downward, his boot connecting perfectly with Tessa's gun knocking it to the ground.
Sold To The Dragon Princes: The Novel Page 63