But he’d find them, all right.
Yes sir. Billy Joe Crane was gonna be somebody in this territory. Somebody important. Just as soon as he got rid of the girl and her friends so he could get to all that shiny yellow gold.
He started down the hillside one careful step at a time. He was gonna be real quite. He wasn’t gonna kick any rocks or breathe loud or nothin’. He wasn’t even gonna let the kerosene slosh in the can he carried.
He thought of the girl down there and ground his teeth.
That interferin’, breeches-wearin’, Apache lovin’ bitch. After tonight she’d leave this valley, and it would be his. He’d set himself up like a king. Maybe even invite that Mex slut—what was her name?—Martinez. Carmen Martinez. Maybe he’d let her visit now and then whenever she needed a good bangin’. He grinned and rubbed his crotch. She was a hot one, all right. She’d be back for more of what he had. Just thinking about it made him hard.
An hour later he was still hard when he crept from the last line of hills to the back of the barn. He’d kept the barn between him and the house so he wouldn’t be spotted. Now he moved to the corner and peeked around the side.
He watched, holding his breath, as the shadowy form of the girl stood in front of the house. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. The action drew the white shirt tight across her breasts. Crane rubbed his crotch again and thought he’d like to give her a try.
But he’d rather have her house and the valley.
She picked up her rifle and strolled off toward the creek on the other side of the house. He relaxed. Damn, but she was makin’ this easy.
Crane started to pour the kerosene along the back wall of the barn, then stopped. He remembered seeing the big dummy and those two little Apache nits go into the barn every night. They were in there now. Them gut-eaters owed him four lives, by God.
Near the front corner of the barn he found a six-foot tree limb that hadn’t been cut into firewood lengths yet. Hefting it in his arms, he carried it—quietly—to the big single door in the front. He butted one end against the ground and the other against the door. No one would get out that way, and even the girl wouldn’t be able to move that brace. He repeated the procedure at the rear door.
Daniella breathed in the warm night air as she picked her way across the narrow creek in the darkness to check on the sheep. At least her sleepless nights could now be put to use standing guard.
She remembered last week’s fire with a shudder. Even now she could smell the burning fumes of kerosene. Would the smell never leave her?
The sheep moved restlessly at her approach, but Simon’s dog whined a greeting and butted his nose up against her hand. He’d been up in the hills guarding his flock the night of the fire, otherwise they might have had some warning.
Warning. If she’d had warning the day after the fire—warning that Travis would kiss her—she might have avoided him. Avoided those firm, demanding lips. Thrilling lips.
Her hand was halfway to her lips, intent on rubbing them. She stopped and made herself stroke the dog instead. No matter how many times she tried, she would never be able to wipe away the feel of that disturbing kiss. Disturbing, because it hadn’t scared her. And that scared her.
The dog stiffened beneath her hand and raised his nose in the air. He growled low in his throat, then barked and took off toward the creek. With her mind still reliving Travis’s kiss, Daniella turned to see what excited the dog.
Light flickered through the trees.Light?
Not light!Fire!
Daniella pointed her rifle in the air and fired three rounds as she ran. The light grew brighter with every leap she took.
When she broke through the trees and dashed forward, the barn was engulfed in flames.
Tucker, wearing nothing but his long flannels and boots, met her in front of the house. They each spotted the brace on the barn door at the same time.
“No!” she screamed. “Simon! Chee! Shanta!”
The log itself wasn’t burning yet, and neither was the door. But Daniella and Tucker together couldn’t budge it.
“The axe! Where’s the axe?” Daniella screamed.
Tucker found it stuck in a log just around the corner. As he reached for it, a shot rang out and whizzed past his shoulder. He sprang back around the burning corner of the barn. Daniella realized she’d dropped her rifle in front of the house. She made a mad dash across the clearing. Another shot barely missed her feet. She reached her gun and threw herself against the front of the house.
Where? Who? Why? she wondered frantically.
“Came from over yonder,” Tucker shouted, pointing a gnarly finger toward the northeast.
Daniella’s mouth went dry. Her heart clapped like racing hooves on hard ground. They were pinned down good. Any move they made could be seen for miles because of the fire, while whoever was shooting remained hidden in darkness. And the boys were trapped in the burning barn. She could hear them coughing and choking and pounding on the door.
By God, she wasn’t about to let them burn alive in there! “Get ready to grab the axe, Tucker! I’ll cover you.”
Tucker gave a sharp nod and pushed up the sleeves of his faded red undershirt. “Let’s do it, girlie!”
Daniella darted from the end of the house and fired in the direction Tucker had pointed while he grabbed the axe. Thank God and Mr. Spencer for her repeating rifle. She followed Tucker back around to the front of the barn where they were out of the line of fire.
While flames licked hungrily up the dry, weathered walls and crawled across the roof, Tucker hacked away at the brace holding the boys trapped inside the inferno. By the time the brace gave way, the hinged side of the door was in flames. The latch was so hot he had to use the axe to release it.
From inside, the boys threw themselves at the door and it crashed open. Tears of relief washed clean streaks down Daniella’s soot-covered cheeks.
An instant later, as Daniella and Tucker helped the choking, gasping boys away from the barn, the roof caved in with a tremendous crash and roar. A wall of flame shot high into the sky and danced there for long seconds before collapsing down upon itself.
When Travis rode in the next afternoon Daniella swore under her breath. At least this time he’d waited until she’d got some sleep.
He pulled the buckskin to a halt and leaned down on the saddle horn while staring at the charred remains of the barn. Little tendrils of smoke still rose from a few smoldering piles of rubble. A muscle in his jaw ticked as his eyes narrowed. “Son of a bitch,” he said through clenched teeth.
When his gaze shifted and settled on Daniella, she braced herself for further outburst. She didn’t have long to wait.
He swung down from the saddle, dropped his reins to the ground, and started toward her. She turned her back on him, not willing to cope with his obvious anger. What did he have to be angry about? It was her barn, damn it.
An instant later Travis grabbed her arm and jerked her around to face him. When his voice came, it was rough and hard, and it shook with barely checked fury. “Damn you, Dani. If you’d listened to me and let me put a guard at the mouth of the valley this wouldn’t have happened. We might have even caught the bastard.”
She yanked her arm free of his grasp, vaguely aware that his anger and his harsh grip hadn’t frightened her. It was something to think about, when she had more time. But right now he needed to be set back on his heels.
“For your information, Mr. Know-It-All Colton, your guard at the entrance would have been useless. Whoever set fire to the barn came and went from the hills,” she said, nodding toward the northeast.
Travis’s brown eyes narrowed even more. “How do you know?”
“Because that’s where the shots came from.”
Daniella closed her eyes and thought,Damn you, Tucker, keep your big mouth shut.
“Shots?” The coldness of Travis’s voice sent chills of dread racing down her arms.
She ignored the feeling and glared at him.
“Yes, shots.”
“That cuts it. You’re not staying here. You’ve got five minutes to get your things together.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You’re coming home with me if I have to drag you kicking and screaming all the way.”
“Over my dead body,” she hissed. “If you think for one minute I’ll stay in your house and watch you drape yourself all over that—” She clamped her mouth shut. Her eyes popped open wide. What have I said?
The brown slits of Travis’s eyes slowly opened to reveal dancing gold highlights. He threw his head back and roared with laughter. When he could speak again, he said, “Is that why you left the ranch?”
Mortified, the heat in her face nearly suffocating her, she pretended ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His grin was disgusting. “You’re jealous.”
“I most certainly am not,” she said, recovering her composure. “You have to like somebody to be jealous. And right now I don’t like you, Colton, not one little bit. You and your know-it-all attitude aren’t welcome here, so just go home where you belong. We don’t need you or your help.”
“I think you do,” he said softly, his grin fading away.
“Well you’re wrong.”
Travis stared at her a minute, then glanced away. “All right, I’ll leave. But I’m sending some men back to stand watch over this place.”
“They won’t be welcome.”
“And they’ll stay until we catch whoever’s setting these fires, or until you come to your senses and come home with me. It’s not safe here, Dani. I only want to keep you safe.”
A few minutes later she watched him ride out. A dozen different emotions swamped her, the most prevalent of which was disappointment. He hadn’t kissed her.
Next came confusion. Nothing new there. She’d been confused since the day she met Travis Colton.
Even with Tucker, Simon, and the boys around her, she felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness press against her chest. The child in her womb chose that moment to make it’s presence known. It was the first time she’d felt it move. The reminder of it’s existence—as if she needed a reminder—was enough to make her want to crawl into a hole and hide. On her knees. Curled up into a tiny ball of misery.
Pure stubbornness kept her on her feet.
That afternoon Daniella watched as Benito and Carlos rode through El Valle and took up positions in the hills north and south of the house. So. Travis had done it. She had no doubt their younger brother, Jorge, was at the main entrance to the valley.
She felt trapped. Both by Travis and his men, and by whoever was trying to burn her out of her home. The latter had to be Crane. She had run him out of the valley and stolen Shanta and Chee out from under his nose. From his view, he had reason enough to hate her.
That meant whoever stayed at El Valle with her was in danger.
Since the stage line no longer came through Tucson, she didn’t see how she could get to Boston. She didn’t know the territory she’d have to cross to the north to find the stage, and she didn’t know the Apache tribes that roamed there. As much as she wanted to get rid of the child she carried, she wasn’t willing to die trying.
Travis’s offer of help till the baby came was unacceptable. Aside from the fact that she’d have to watch Travis and Carmen together and suffer their sympathy and pity, no one on the Triple C would take the child and raise it. The child would be much better off with someone other than herself. She’d never be able to give it the love every child deserves.
That left only one place where she had any hope of giving the child to someone else to raise, and it would also serve another purpose. At supper that evening, she told Tucker and Simon she was taking Chee and Shanta home.
“When?” Tucker asked.
“We’ll leave as soon as it’s full dark. The boys will have to ride Butch and Ben. That’ll leave you two with just the mules.”
“We ain’t goin’ nowheres anyhow. How long you gonna be gone?”
The look in Tucker’s eyes told her he had a good idea what she was planning, so there was no use in denying it.
“If they’ll have me, I’ll be staying several months.”
“If they’ll have ya,” Tucker said with a snort.
“I think you and Simon should take the money from my…father…and go stay in town until I get back.”
“What the devil’d we wanna do that for?”
“Because until we get rid of whoever’s trying to get rid of us, it’s too dangerous to stay here. Simon and the boys were nearly killed last night, and you were shot at. Whoever we’re up against, it’s me he’s after. I won’t have either of you hurt because of me.”
She and Tucker argued for several more minutes, with Simon looking more distressed with each word, before Tucker relented.
“All right, dangit,” he said. “We’ll go to town. You jist be careful on the trail, ya hear?”
Daniella reached over and squeezed his hand, making him blush from the top of his beard to the roots of his thinning hair. “Thank you, Tucker. It’ll ease my mind knowing you and Simon are safe. When I come back we’ll rebuild the barn and start over.”
Tucker lowered his gaze to his plate. “We’ll rebuild the barn.”
Simon reached across the table and grabbed Daniella’s sleeve. He shook his head vigorously, not wanting her to go.
“I’m sorry, Simon. I have to go. It’s just until…” She couldn’t even say the words, and ended by waving her hand in front of her stomach. Simon blushed and ducked his head.
“Then what?” Tucker demanded.
“Then I’ll come home.”
“Alone?”
Daniella watched Chee and Shanta struggling with the forks she’d insisted they learn to use and ignored the feeling that she would be betraying a helpless child,her child, abandoning it. Her voice hardened with determination. “Yes. Alone.”
A few hours later, Daniella, Chee, and Shanta slipped out of the valley under the cover of darkness. They took a seldom used game trail that led to the stream separating El Valle from the Triple C, the place where she’d told Travis and Matt good-bye that day. No one would cross the Triple C to get to her valley—they wouldn’t dare—so she knew Carlos would be stationed farther east in the hills.
She was right; they went quietly, undetected, and headed southeast. When they reached Cochise’s summer stronghold high in the pine covered mountains five days later, Daniella was ready to drop from exhaustion.
After so many silent days on the trail, the sudden wave of sound that crashed over them when they burst into the clearing was a shock. An old yellow dog greeted them first. It darted from beneath a bush and nipped at Blaze’s heels. The mare kicked out and the dog gave a yelp, tucked its tail between its legs, and lit for cover.
Five nearly naked toddlers sat playing in the dirt beside the second wickiup. As Daniella and her two companions rode near, first one child then another raised his head and stared, until they all gaped and the riders. One youngster jumped up and ran around the wickiup toward the front shouting, “Shimá! Shimá! Shuh!” Mother! Mother! Look!
The woman came out. Her eyes widened upon spotting Woman of Magic. When she saw who rode with her, she shouted. Others came at her cry. As Daniella, Chee, and Shanta rode through camp a joyous procession formed behind them. Women left their chores, and men and children left their games to welcome home two they’d thought were lost to them forever.
By the time they reached the center of camp, the riders were forced to stop because of the crowd of people around them.
Cochise came forward and greeted the newcomers, then gave his usual frown at Daniella’s breeches and shook his head. But when he put his hands on her waist to lift her from the saddle, the welcoming warmth in his eyes turned to confusion, then stunned amazement.
“¡Tu es encinta!”
Daniella felt her face heat up unbearably as the eyes of the crowd a
ll turned to her as one. She felt the stares drill into her abdomen and wanted to crawl off like some wounded animal and hide. Just beyond Cochise, Loco caught her gaze and grinned. A chill ran down her spine.
Cochise lifted her to the ground and the attention was drawn from her—thank God—when Shanta and Chee started telling how they’d been captured by the big white man with hair the color of flames, then saved by Woman of Magic and her friends.
An impromptu celebration broke out. Songs were sung around the campfires of the Chúk’ánéné of how Woman of Magic, with the help of the Yellow Hair and the Crazy Old One, saved the two boys from the enemy. It was past dark before Daniella was able to slip into the empty wickiup Travis had slept in when they had come for Matt.
Loco followed her and stood outside her door. She knew he was there, but refused to acknowledge him. He would not enter without permission—that sort of thing was not done among Apaches—so she ignored his calls. After a few minutes Cochise came and sent him away, then asked for admittance.
Daniella closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d seen him staring at her protruding stomach all afternoon and evening. Him and everyone else. Knowing it would do no good to put him off, she called for him to enter.
As was his way, it took Cochise nearly a half hour of small talk to get to the point. “You are with child. Have you taken a husband?”
When he mentioned her condition, Daniella lowered her eyes and studied the turned up tab at the toe of his moccasin. His second sentence, however, brought her gaze up to his with a jerk. “A what?”
Before he could answer, Dee-O-Det called for admittance.
Grateful for the interruption, she ignored Cochise’s scowl and invited the shaman within.
When the old man was seated, Cochise said, “She is with child. I have just asked her if she has taken a husband yet.”
Apache-Colton Series Page 22