Surely not in front of Amanda. Certainly they wouldn’t do physical damage to a woman—and yet, he thought bitterly, they would if it served their purpose. Though the roughnecks might be clumsy here, where they were out of their element, they’d no doubt have brought with them all the harshness of crime in the city. He should have recognized the type at first glance, and would have, had he not been thinking of Lin.
“I don’t see anything ahead,” Cleary said abruptly. “We need to split up. This road curves around a bit, and if one of us goes cross-country we can catch up.”
“Why not both of us?”
“In case they pull off the road, we’ll have lost them between here and up ahead,” Cleary said. “This way, we stand a better of chance of finding them. If one of us comes on them, we’ll have to follow along and keep out of sight.
“On the other hand,” he said quietly, “if the opportunity comes to step in, don’t be afraid to shoot first. They won’t hesitate to draw guns on us.”
“Or use Amanda and Lin as shields,” Nicholas surmised. “I’ll go on ahead, and you cut through the woods. You know the country better than I do.”
They separated, and Cleary disappeared through the trees. The tracks were straighter now, running down the middle of the rutted road, and Nicholas kept his horse to one side, the better to distinguish the freshest wagon wheel impressions from the dusty cover left by the wind that blew during the night. His gaze swept the narrow road, halted, and went on, and then his breath caught as he spied the small shoe, clearly marking the trail he followed.
“Amanda,” he whispered, halting his horse to pick up the bit of leather footwear. He could buy her a hundred pair to replace it, but for some reason, he was compelled to lift the shoe with one hand, brushing the dust from the upper and wedging it beneath the heavy leather belt that circled his hips. Foolishness, he supposed, but the sight of it warmed him. She was alive, and without a doubt, Lin had told her to leave the shoe for him to find.
That was another thing to encourage his aching heart—knowing Lin trusted him to follow. No matter how bruised and battered her image of him must be this morning, she had faith in him. He hugged that bit of knowledge to himself. If she believed in him in this one small thing, he could build on it, work to redeem himself in her sight.
In a matter of four or five miles, he began slowing his pace. If the men traveled at top speed, they would still only be making half the progress he was on horseback, and if Cleary had managed to thread his way through the forest in a straight line, he would certainly be showing up before very long. Unless the wagon had a greater head start than he’d assumed, he needed to keep a sharp eye out.
He rounded a bend, trees blocking his view of the road ahead, and pulled up short. Not more than fifty yards ahead a wagon sat immobile, the horses’ heads down as if they’d been pushed hard over the past hour. Unused to long hauls, the livery stable horses were hacks at best, and being driven at top speed would wear them down rapidly.
A tree lay in the road before them, blocking their path, and two men struggled to move it to one side, their curses reaching him. Nicholas narrowed his eyes, scanning the side of the road, seeking a bit of movement, certain suddenly that Cleary had something to do with the obstacle the kidnappers had encountered.
There. To his right, just inside the tree line. A flash of color caught his eye and he focused intently on the spot. Another movement alerted him, and he caught a glimpse of Cleary’s hand holding a gun. No doubt fearful of shooting at the wrong angle, where a bullet might penetrate the wagon bed, the sheriff waved his revolver in a subtle motion, silently urging Nicholas forward.
He turned the horse to one side, then rode a dozen feet into the trees, sliding from the saddle as he dropped the reins. The animal obligingly lowered his head to the grass beneath his feet, and Nicholas melted into the brush, making his way toward the wagon in silence, gun in hand.
A small head peeped up over the wooden slat, and a small hand covered Amanda’s mouth. With a childish gesture that made his heart ache, she lifted her other hand to wave in a furtive manner at him, and he motioned quickly for her to get back. She nodded and obeyed, probably making her way to Lin to let her know he was there—if Lin was awake and aware of what was going on.
At that thought, he deliberately put her from his mind, aware that the woman and child were between himself and his target. From the shelter of trees ahead, he watched as Cleary stepped into the open, shouting at the men, both of them lifting their heads from the tree they were dragging aside. Cleary’s gun was visible, but was obviously not enough of a deterrent to the ruffians.
“There’s only one of him and two of us,” the larger one shouted. “Shoot him, Dennis.” The other man obligingly sought his gun out, groping in the band of his trousers.
Cleary nailed him, the bullet hitting his arm, drawing a howl of pain from the kidnapper. He fell to the ground, clutching his hand and arm to his chest.
The other man, obviously the leader of the pair, drew his pistol readily and shot wildly at Cleary, stepping to one side of the road, the better to hit his target. It was all Nicholas needed, giving him a clear shot. The bullet tore through the man’s right shoulder, spinning him like a top, his gun flying in the air, the expended bullet streaking upward.
“Don’t move, either one of you,” Cleary shouted. But Nicholas barely heard the sharp order the lawman gave, so intent was he on reaching the wagon.
He leaned over the side, his gaze meeting brown eyes that closed even as he watched. “Lin!” He called her name, but there was no response from that quarter, only a small body that hurtled over the low side of the wagon, into his arms. He gripped Amanda tightly, leaning back to look into her eager face.
“Are you all right?” he asked harshly, assured by her nodding head. And then she began to cry, as if the events were too much for her to take in.
“Uncle Nicholas, I was so scared, but Linnie said you’d come after us.”
“Did she?” His heart warmed at her words.
“And I told her I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to us.” Tears streaked her cheeks as she sobbed anew.
“I’m going to put you down,” he said, lowering her to the road. “I need to see to Lin, now.”
“I think she went to sleep,” Amanda said in a whisper, peering up at him, then clambering up into the wagon bed.
Fainted is more like it. Glancing for a moment at Cleary, he received a nod of encouragement, then climbed into the wagon bed. His fingers worked quickly, untying the rope that bound her, but Lin lay like a stone, limp and unresponsive. His fingers trembling, he slid his hand to her throat to feel her pulse. It was erratic, but strong, and he lifted her carefully from the rough wooden floor into his lap.
“Lin.” He spoke her name quietly, unwilling to startle her awake, and bent his head to press his lips against her forehead. “Lin, open your eyes,” he said, his voice sharper, as if sheer volume would rouse her.
“Draw your gun and hold it on these fellas,” Cleary said from beside the wagon. “I’m going to tie them up and I want that barrel aimed at a vital part of the big man while I’m getting my rope from my saddle.”
“I can do that,” Nicholas told him. Shifting Lin to his left arm, he drew his gun. “You know, mister,” he said, speaking to the nearest thug. “I’d really like a chance to shoot you in your tracks. Maybe you could move just a little and give me a good excuse.”
“Not me, mister. I’m not budgin’ from this spot,” the cowed gunman said. “It’s against the law to shoot an unarmed man, anyway.”
“And is it against the law to kidnap a woman and child and abuse them?”
“We didn’t hurt them none, neither one of ’em.” He nudged his partner with the toe of his boot. “Tell him, Dennis. Tell him we didn’t touch that woman.”
“I’ll bet you left bruises on her,” Dennis grumbled. “This whole thing was all your doing, Hal. Don’t try to make me the fall guy here.”
&nbs
p; “Who hired you?” Nicholas asked, drawing back the hammer on his revolver, the sound a threat in itself.
“Some big shot in New York,” Dennis blurted. “He hired Hal and I was talked into coming along.”
“What was his name?” And even as he asked he spoke the syllables in his mind. Vincent Preston. He’d bet every cent he owned on it.
But the stubborn look passing between the two men on the ground told Nicholas that his question would go unanswered for now. No doubt they feared their employer as much as they did the cocked gun he held on them.
Beyond them, Cleary stood with the rope in his hand, a grin saluting Nicholas’s shenanigans. “You gents ready to be trussed up for jail?” he asked cheerfully. He looked up at Nicholas again. “Has your lady managed to sit up and take notice yet?”
“I’m all right.” From his left arm, where he’d cradled her head, Lin spoke quietly but firmly in answer to Cleary’s words. She stirred a bit, as if gauging the hurt she’d suffered, and winced as her body shifted against the wagon bed. “I’ll probably be black and blue from bouncing around in here,” she said, closing her eyes against the sunlight.
Her voice softened and he bent closer to hear the words she spoke. “I knew you’d come for us, Nicholas. I prayed.”
“You’re not leaving me,” he said firmly, watching as her eyelids unfurled and her brown eyes examined him dubiously. “I mean it, Lin. I won’t let you go.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do what you want. That hasn’t changed.”
“Hush,” he admonished her gently. “I know that. But what I want has changed.” He kissed her gently, holding her with tenderness, fearful of what might lie beneath her clothing, what harm she’d been dealt.
“You won’t…” She halted, unable or unwilling to remind him of the night before when he’d handled her roughly, when he’d come close to forcing the issue. She couldn’t bear it should he not desire her, not need her in his life. But the circumstances must be different.
As though he understood her dilemma, he smiled. “I want you to marry me, Lin. We’re going to make a life together.”
“Can we go home now?” Amanda’s plaintive cry brought Lin to attention, and she struggled to sit upright. Another sound caught her ear, and she turned to see five riders heading in their direction.
“Where were you when I needed you?” Cleary called out. He grinned as the men slid to the ground, almost as one, then surrounded the downed kidnappers.
“These fellas ready for the hangin’ tree?” Sam Ferguson asked, his burly form resembling that of a man set on revenge.
“I see Cleary’s got the rope handy,” another man said, his thumbs wedged in his pockets.
The two men, well terrified by this time, uttered cries of disbelief as the posse circled them. Lin could not work up a moment’s sympathy for the pair of them, even as she recognized the tomfoolery being bandied about. The men might hang for their crimes, but not today. Not while Cleary was sheriff.
“Well, I don’t know,” the lawman said laconically. “Maybe it would save having the judge make a trip here from Dallas if we just went ahead and took care of things ourselves.” His expression was stern, but the look he darted in her direction let her in on the plot and she settled back to enjoy the shenanigans of the men.
Now that the whole thing was wrapped up, tension eased, even Nicholas relaxing beside her. Until she moved without thinking and uttered a stifled groan. He looked down at her and his features grew stern and angry.
“You are hurt, aren’t you?” he asked. He looked up at their audience. “One of you help me get her on my horse. I’m taking her home. When you get back to town, somebody stop by and send the doctor over to my place. I want him to take a look at her.”
Against her protests, he signaled Sam Ferguson, and the burly giant lifted her tenderly from the wagon bed into muscled arms that surrounded her carefully. Nicholas mounted his gelding, then held out his arms, and Sam deposited her in his embrace.
“Cleary, bring Amanda along,” Nicholas said.
“Do I get to really ride on top of a horse?” Amanda asked, smiling at the sheriff as lifted her out of the wagon and settled her in front of him on his saddle.
“You bet,” he replied. Then he turned to the men. “Just don’t forget to load this pair of vermin into the wagon before y’all leave me here.”
With hands that lacked tenderness and attitudes sorely wanting in respect, the men tossed the bound prisoners into the wagon bed and one climbed onto the seat, turning the wagon in a half circle in an empty area off to one side, before he headed back to town.
Lin rested her head on Nicholas’s chest, content to be quiet as he traveled at a sedate pace. The wagon and all the horsemen, including Cleary, soon passed them by, Amanda waving a farewell over Cleary’s shoulder.
“Thank you, Nicholas,” Lin said quietly. “I knew you’d come after Amanda. There was never a doubt. If I’d been more aware of my surroundings, I might have noticed the men waiting for me. I fear this is all my fault.”
“I won’t deny that Amanda was a big concern,” he said after a moment. “But you have to know that I feel more guilt about this whole thing than you could ever scrape up.”
“You?” She lifted her head, the better to see his face.
“I’m the one who chased you out of the house, Lin. Might as well have just turned you out in the middle of the night as to treat you the way I did. I’ll warrant you bear bruises from my hands, alongside those you gathered up today.”
“How long will you be paying penance for last night?” This was getting interesting, she decided. Nicholas on his knees was something she’d never thought to see, even if the position was not literal. Although she had a notion it could come to that.
His jaw set stubbornly. “For as long as it takes.”
“You said that once before,” she reminded him.
“So I did,” he answered. “I believe we were referring to Amanda’s future that day. And I think her future is settled now. Am I right?”
“You’ll be keeping her, I assume.” Her heart was beating heavily, and she wondered that he could not feel the vibration, his arm surrounding her, his chest firm beneath her weight.
“You know I will.” He was silent, only the song of birds filling the stillness as they rode through shade and sun, the road twisting and turning beneath trees, then back into the blinding light of day.
“How long will you make me wait until you forgive me, Lin?” He looked down, and his eyes were haunted. “I know I hurt you badly. I told you last night there were no words to offer as an excuse or apology. I drank half a bottle of whiskey and still couldn’t put you out of my mind. All I could think of was that I’d been harsh and crude and you’d be leaving me.
“I’ve never treated another woman that way,” he confessed.
She focused on his profile, looking upward from where he cradled her in his arm. “Do you love me?” The words were hard to come by, and she spoke them slowly, dreading it should he totally deny the emotion.
His mouth tightened and he looked down as if he searched for an answer in her eyes. “I don’t know,” he said finally.
Well, that wasn’t as bad as a negative answer. He hadn’t said an outright no.
“Do you love Amanda?” she asked.
“She makes me feel protective and I enjoy her company,” he began, then hesitated. “Damn, I don’t know what it’s supposed to be like, this loving another person. I’ve never been sure what the word means, Lin. I care about people, like Cleary and Augusta and little Nicky. I care more than that for Amanda, and I feel differently about you than any other human being I’ve known. But whether or not the feeling is what you’re calling love is a question I can’t answer.”
“I’ve made you uncomfortable,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” The single word was harsh, sudden and emphatic. “You never have to apologize to me for anything, sweet. You can say or do whatever you please around m
e.”
“You’re giving me a blank page to write on,” she said smugly, shifting as sore muscles clenched in protest to her unnatural posture.
“I’ll give you anything you want,” he vowed. “Just ask away.”
“Don’t make me see the doctor, please,” she whispered politely.
“Anything but that,” he amended. “I want to be certain you’re all right.”
“I am, I promise you. I’ll even let you look at my arms and legs and see for yourself.”
He leaned back and looked down his nose at her, his expression dubious. “You’ll expose your skin to me?”
“Within reason,” she said, tempering the offer.
“All right, we’ll forget the doctor visit. Just don’t plan on reneging when the time comes for my inspection.”
“Well…” Her hesitation was long, and then she smiled. “If we’re going to be married, I suppose you’ll see most of me anyway, won’t you?”
“Most of you?” His eyes lit with a fire that threatened to melt her where she lay. She was vulnerable, stretched across his lap, leaning against his left arm, and his gaze did a slow survey of her, the clothing she wore not seeming to hamper his ability to see beneath the surface of cotton and lace.
“You can count on that being all of you, ma’am.” He drew back on the reins, and his horse responded readily, coming to a halt by the side of the road.
She felt a slow flush rise from her breasts to her throat, and then heat washed over her cheeks as he lowered his head. With a groan, he took her mouth, parting her lips and invading the dark warmth within, teeth and tongue joining the foray as he took possession of that almost virgin place.
She’d never been kissed so thoroughly. Indeed, she’d only been the recipient of small pecks on the cheek or lips by two young men who had managed to brave her father’s anger long enough to snatch a forbidden kiss. Nicholas had the dubious privilege of being the only man to ever truly give her the caress of a man, full grown.
His touch was addictive, she’d found, and her mouth opened to his coaxing without hesitation. He groaned and moved, his hand busy beneath her shoulder, looping the reins over the saddle horn, if she was any judge. And then those long, gentle fingers returned to her, sliding beneath the buttons of her dress, releasing them from the bound buttonholes and spreading the opening wide to reveal the fine batiste of her vest.
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