“Because God says it is.” Brett turned to the back half of his Bible. “Here in First Corinthians we are told . . .” He trailed his finger down the page. “Here it is. ‘Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.’”
“I don’t know that word—forni-somethin’.” Sometimes she felt plum dumb next to her husband.
“Fornication. It means an unmarried man and woman engaging in an intimacy that is supposed to be reserved for marriage.” He stared at his Bible, but his voice didn’t falter.
“You mean a man and woman ain’t supposed to sleep together until after they’re married?” Connie asked. “Is that why you tried to go off and leave me those first two nights?”
Brett grinned. “You catch on quick.”
Connie thought of Potiphar’s wife and of Joseph. Was Brett saying those people in his story was like her and him? She searched Brett’s face. “Do you think I’m ugly?”
Brett laid his Bible aside with a short laugh. “Where did that come from?”
“Just tell me, Brett. Do you think I’m ugly?”
His eyes, dark in the flickering light, warmed as they traveled over her face. A slow smile touched his lips. “I think you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
A flush moved through Connie’s body and rose into her face. She looked down at the gentle flames of the campfire. If he thought she was pretty, then what was wrong with her? “Don’t you like me, Brett?”
Brett’s hand touched her shoulder, and moved across her back to draw her close to his side. With his other hand, he pushed her head until it nestled in the hollow under his chin. “I married you, didn’t I?”
She pulled back and saw the teasing light in his emerald eyes. “You married me ’cause that preacher had a shotgun pointed at you.”
Brett laughed. “Don’t you think he’d have let me go if I’d argued the point?”
Connie searched his face for the truth. “You mean you wanted to marry me?”
“Now I didn’t say that.” Brett looked away. “It just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.”
Connie didn’t know whether to hit him or crawl off and cry at his words. She crossed her arms and scooted away. “Reckon we better get to sleep so’s we can get back on the road. Sooner we get to Springfield, the sooner you can get shed of me.”
~*~
Brett felt Connie’s withdrawal and told himself that was what he wanted. Their marriage wasn’t real. Their relationship wasn’t real. In a few days they’d part and probably never meet again. Connie would find a good man to love. Someone who could appreciate her. He would see beyond her outer beauty to the tender heart that beat within, the vulnerability, the little girl who had been frightened and hurt too many times in her short life. He would love her and take care of her. She would love him, too.
His thoughts hit a wall of jealousy that rose in his heart. He didn’t want Connie loving another man. She was his. A sound very much like a sob came from her pallet. He moved close and touched her shoulder. “Connie?”
“Brett.” She turned toward him as he leaned over her. Their faces stopped within inches of touching. And held. He looked into the depths of her dark, blue eyes moist with tears. He couldn’t move away.
“I like you, Brett.”
Connie’s words stroked him like a gentle caress. He followed the flickering light down her face to her full, red lips and moved a fraction of an inch closer. “I’m glad, because I like you, too, Connie.”
A smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Her voice sounded low and soft. “A little ole kiss wouldn’t be fornication, would it, Brett? ’Specially not since we’re married all legal like.”
He couldn’t pull away. He couldn’t turn from her appeal. The distance between them disappeared, and his eyelids lowered. His lips touched hers as he crushed her close to his heart. This kiss was not the quick meeting of lips like the one that had sealed their marriage vows. Deep and searching, his lips claimed hers while heat spread through his body, taking him to a place from which he could never return. Soon, they were both sitting with her crushed in his arms. Her hands circled his neck, urging him closer.
He pulled away first. His breath came in quick pants. “I’m sorry, Connie. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Before she could respond, he stood. “I’ll go and check the horses again while you get settled in. You’re right, we need to get some sleep.”
Outside Brett looked up at the clear sky and waited for his body to return to normal. Standing in the Ozark Mountains, still shaken by his intense attraction to Connie, Brett forced his mind from her to marvel at God’s wondrous works.
The storm had passed. Millions of stars twinkled from the velvet darkness like diamonds flung out by a careless hand. But Brett knew there had been nothing careless about the placement of the stars. On the fourth day of creation God had placed the moon, the sun, and the stars in the firmament of heaven with great care.
He remembered a passage of Scripture he’d learned in Sunday school when he was a small boy. He spoke aloud the words the Shepherd King David had sung thousands of years earlier.
“‘When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of him and the son of man that Thou visitest him?’”
When King David, walking on his roof, looked down and saw Bathsheba bathing, had he been overtaken with the same burning temptation to possess that Brett had in the cave with Connie? No doubt he had. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. David had yielded to the temptation of a beautiful woman and, although God forgave him for his sin, his family was destroyed. Joseph, on the other hand, had resisted and God had blessed him beyond measure.
Yet Connie was legally Brett’s wife. How could he be expected to resist such a temptation? She was more than willing, and she was his to take. Still, he couldn’t give in to his own fleshly weakness. Connie deserved better than that. She should have a man’s love first and then his lifelong commitment. He couldn’t lose his heart to her. They were too different. Unequally yoked. He remembered his stepmother speaking to him about this very subject. He was a new Christian, and Connie had no concept of salvation. Separation in Springfield was still the only solution. In the meantime, he would do his best to witness to her of Christ’s love while he kept his hands to himself.
~*~
Shortly after daylight, Connie woke to see Brett slipping out with the rifle in his hand. He’d bring back breakfast soon, and she’d be ready. She crawled to the outside, thankful to be out of the cave. By using some dry wood, she soon had a fire going and a spit made for the game Brett would shoot. An hour later, Brett returned with a couple of rabbits. He took the sharp hunting knife Connie had brought with her and began skinning his catch.
Connie watched him a few minutes before she spoke. “Ain’t you gettin’ awful tired of eatin’ rabbits?”
Brett looked up with a grin. “They’re better than nothing.”
“I reckon.” She looked toward the left. “I saw a field of strawberries over yonder when you was huntin’. I reckon I’ll go back and pick us some while you’re roastin’ them rabbits. Ain’t nothin’ sweeter than wild strawberries.”
Brett nodded. “It would be a welcome change.”
Connie picked up her hat and stood. “I’ll be back in a little while,” she said over her shoulder.
“Hey!” Brett called after her. “Shouldn’t you take a gun?”
She shook her head. “Don’t need no gun to pick strawberries.”
~*~
Brett watched until she disappeared from sight through the trees. As he finished skinning the rabbits, he thought of the changes that had taken place in his life since his arrest. The fact he’d ended up on the trail with the girl he’d seen peeking at him from a porch post seemed more than unlikely. He sobered as he thought of the responsibility that had b
een thrust upon him.
Connie hadn’t been raised to know the way to God. But she was intelligent and quick to catch on. Already she’d been controlling the profanities that had spilled at first so heedlessly from her lips. After she met Mom and his sisters and saw how ladies conducted themselves, she’d model herself after them.
Maybe he could read to her some more from his Bible. He’d teach her of God’s plan of salvation. When she understood, he was sure she’d accept Christ. Then maybe they wouldn’t have to separate.
He laid the rabbits to one side and set about building a fire. As soon as the meat was cooking over the open fire, he sat down on a fallen log. He took a small whetstone from his pocket and sharpened Connie’s wide-bladed knife until it was once more razor sharp. He should get up and put the knife back in her bag, but instead he stuck it into the log beside him and watched the spot where she’d disappeared.
She should be back soon. Seemed like she’d been gone a long time just to pick a few strawberries. He stared into the trees as unease gnawed at his stomach. Maybe he should’ve insisted she take her guns.
Chapter 10
Connie filled her hat with the small, sweet strawberries. She lifted one to her mouth and popped it inside. If only she could make biscuits to go with them, but even if she had the ingredients, there wouldn’t be time. They needed to be on the trail as soon as possible.
She wouldn’t feel safe until they were in Springfield and maybe not even then.
She was near the edge of the small open field when she added the final berries to her cache and stood to stretch the kinks from her back. Her thoughts drifted to Brett and the journey ahead until a twig snapped behind her. She tensed as a large, meaty hand clamped across her mouth. An arm, like a band of steel, closed around her waist. She squirmed and fought, but her efforts were as useful as those of a child.
“I figured all along he forced ya to go with him.” The familiar voice rasped in her ear. “But ya went with him of your own free will, didn’t ya?”
His grip on her loosened just enough for Connie to bring her elbow sharply backward into his belly as she sank her teeth into his hand. He uttered an oath. She twisted free and ran. She headed across the small glen instinctively running toward Brett. Then, not wanting to lead the sheriff to him, she slowed to change directions. That was her mistake. The sheriff tackled her and brought her face forward to the ground.
He flipped her over and straddling her, grabbed her wrists, pinning her hands wide-spread above her head. “I oughta kill ya, you little slut!”
As he bent over her, breathing hard from the exertion of the chase, she spit in his heavy-jowled face. He released her left hand to slap her hard across the face. She brought the fingernails of her freed hand down across his unshaven cheek leaving four bloody furrows. He hit her again and for a moment, the world reeled, giving him the opportunity to stand and yank her to her feet.
“First I’m gonna kill that boyfriend of yourn.” He leered down at her. “Then, if yer real nice to me, I might let you live.”
“I’d rather die than be nice to you,” Connie snarled. She refused to give him what he wanted.
“Yeah? That can be arranged, too.” He gave her left arm a vicious yank as he twisted it up behind her back. She winced at the intense pain but refused to cry out. “Before I kill you, yer gonna give me what you promised.”
He released the pressure on her arm and yanked her around to face him. “You been sleepin’ with him, ain’t you, girl?”
Connie stared into his cold, blue eyes. He didn’t know her and Brett got married. Somehow that information gave her satisfaction.
She taunted him with a half-truth. “’Most ever’ night since we left Purgatory, and I reckon you were right about me all along, Uncle Everett, I am like Maggie, ‘cause I love bein’ with him.”
She shrank from the vile name he called her. There was something crazy in his eyes. He was going to hit her again. When the blow came, it was open-handed but delivered with enough force her ears rang.
He called her other names too filthy even for her hearing so she closed her mind to him. When she didn’t react to his verbal abuse, he clamped his hand across her mouth again and half-dragged, half-carried her across the open field toward Brett and the cave.
His mouth never ran down. “I know all about you and your little love nest. I know your lover’s waitin’ there for ya now. We’ll give him a little surprise, won’t we? Maybe I’ll tie him up and let him watch while me and you has us a good time. Don’t that sound like fun? Maybe after I’m done with ya, I’ll let him watch me kill you first. Then I’ll kill him real slow like.”
He laughed. Something so deranged, so otherworldly about the sound made the hair on her arms and the back of her neck rise. She had to save Brett from this madman. She struggled against his imprisoning arms.
“What’s the matter, girl?” He breathed in her ear. “You got somethin’ to say?”
She nodded.
“Iffen you yell, I’ll break your neck.” He loosened the hand he’d clamped over her mouth.
Connie drug in a breath of fresh air before blurting out, “If you promise to leave Brett alone, I’ll do whatever you want.” She gasped, struggling for each breath. “Just let Brett go, and I’ll go with you and be your woman. Or you can kill me if that’s what you want. Only let him go. He never hurt nobody, and I broke him out of jail. He didn’t even want to go. You gotta believe me.”
“Why should I believe you? Yer a liar, just like she was. All those years she told me about her baby brother. How he was a big successful rancher, and all the time she knew he was nothin’ but a two-bit outlaw. But I found out the truth.”
A crafty look twisted his heavy features. “I found the letter he wrote her. I know all about her fancy brother she was always throwin’ up to me. And I know about you too, girl. It’s all there in that letter.”
Connie sucked in what air she could past his heavy knuckles. He was talking about his wife, Rose, but his ranting had a maniacal quality to it that frightened her and told her how serious her situation was. “I ain’t lyin’ to you. I’ll prove it. We can do it right here. Right now. Just promise me you won’t hurt Brett.”
The big hand clamped over her mouth once more. “Oh, yer gonna give it to me, right enough.” The harsh voice rasped in her ear. “But not here and not now. I ain’t about to let your boyfriend have any advantage. I’m too smart for that.”
Connie could scarcely breathe and a great wave of despair washed over her. Burns was going to rape her, and he was going to kill Brett. Her, too, probably. She didn’t matter. Brett did. He was so good. He didn’t deserve to die. She never should’ve let her guard down. Davis warned her about allowing herself to be lulled into a false sense of security. She forgot his teaching and now Brett would pay with his life for her stupidity. There was nothing they could do to save themselves. They were helpless. They were about to die at the hand of this babbling madman and there was no one to know. No one to care. No one to help them.
She thought of the cave and how it appeared almost as if by magic when Brett prayed. He said his heavenly Father cared. He would supply his needs if he only asked. He would help. Faith became a seed planted in Connie’s heart as she thought about Brett’s plea and his belief in the Almighty. Would God hear her? Would he answer her prayer if she asked him to save Brett’s life? As Sheriff Burns tightened his grip on her, she figured she had nothing to lose.
She couldn’t pray out loud like Brett did with the Sheriff’s hand over her mouth, so she hoped the Almighty could hear her thoughts. God, I don’t reckon You know me, but I’m Connie Davis—no, I guess that’s Connie Norris now that Brett and me got married. Anyhow, Brett says You’re his heavenly Father and You care what happens to him. Well, from the looks of things he’s gonna die real soon if You don’t put a stop to this crazy man. I reckon You showed Brett where the cave was. He said that was a miracle, so can You make another miracle happen so Brett doesn’t get killed? I�
��d surely appreciate it, and I reckon Brett would, too. Thank You and bye for now.
“Listen to me, girl.” Burns’ hand tightened painfully on her face demanding her attention. “I know who your pa was. It’s all right there in that precious letter your aunt kept hid from me all these years. I’ll read it to you afore I kill you.” He cackled in her ear. “That way when you get to hell you’ll recognize your pa.”
Connie heard what he was saying but the words didn’t register as her mind raced round and round like a squirrel trapped in a cage seeking a way out. But the only way out was if Brett’s heavenly Father saved them. She didn’t know what to think about that. She’d done what she could by asking. Now it was all up to Him. With Burns’ hand clamped tight over her mouth, she could barely breathe let alone scream to warn Brett.
~*~
The meat was almost done. Brett moved restlessly on the log outside the cave as he glanced in the direction Connie had gone and wondered what could be keeping her. He wasn’t overly worried. She could take care of herself, but still the patch of strawberries wasn’t that far away. She should’ve been back by now.
He closed his Bible and laid it on the log beside the knife. “I should have taken her knife inside when I went after my Bible.” He chuckled to himself. “Connie is likely to shoot me when she sees her knife stuck in the log. I’d better put it up before she comes back.”
He reached for the knife just as a rustling in the trees attracted his attention. A deer darted into the clearing followed by a white-spotted fawn. They bounded past him, scarcely seeming to notice him sitting there.
Before he could turn back to the knife, Sheriff Burns burst into the clearing dragging Connie. The blood drained from Brett’s face, and he started to get up. The sheriff removed his hand from Connie’s mouth and grabbed his gun from the holster. He still held Connie in an iron grip as he rested the gun against her right temple. His voice rasped out. “One move from you, and I’ll blow her head off.”
Connie and the Cowboy (Outlaw Gold) Page 11