Texas Blue (35 page)

Em didn’t miss the glint in his eyes. He was teasing her, but she wasn’t sure exactly about what.

Duncan was born for this life. He loved the adventure, the fight. She simply hoped they all lived to tell the story.

He tipped his hat and yelled, “I’ll catch up to you before you reach the mission doors.”

She rode with her rifle across her legs, ready if needed, but her thoughts were on Lewt. She’d told herself that last night had been more dream than reality. She’d found him alone and wanted to kiss him one more time. His life would never blend with hers, but she needed the memory of this one man. He’d touched her body and soul deeper than anyone else ever had. He’d made her feel desirable and wanted beyond all reason. Even when she knew what he was, she still longed for the touch of his hand and the taste of his kisses.

Before she faced Lewt again, Em knew she had to make up her mind about how she felt about him. She thought she knew how he felt about her. He hated her for making a fool of him. For lying to him and letting him share his secrets about wanting to marry rich without telling him who she was. She also knew he wanted her. Not just a woman or a wife, but her.

It took them more than two hours to get the wagon back to the mission. Her cousin rode in at full speed just as the priest closed the gate. She saw no sign of Wyatt and guessed he was somewhere up ahead scouting things out.

Duncan spent thirty minutes convincing Anna that she would be safe there without him. Finally, he put a second lock at her door and a tiny hole so she could look out before she unlocked either bolt.

With Sumner and the two cooks promising to stand guard over her, Anna finally turned loose of Duncan’s hand.

Em hugged Sumner.

“I should be going with you,” he whispered. “I need to look out for you.”

Em smiled. For the first time she saw that the old man liked her. “I’ll be all right with Wyatt and Duck. You’re needed here.”

He looked at the two cooks and frowned, as if worried he might be the one facing true danger. “You take care of yourself,” Sumner warned, “just as I plan to. Bring that wild cousin of yours back in one piece along with that gambler. He’s starting to grow on me even if he’ll probably never be much of a horseman.”

She smiled. “He’s growing on me too.”

Duncan and Em left the mission at a run. They rode McMurray horses bred for strength and distance. It was time to put them to the test.

An hour later they reached the spot where she’d last seen Lewt playing cards on his bedroll and talking with the outlaws as if he were just passing time. Wyatt was waiting for them. He’d ridden ahead and knew the direction so they didn’t have to worry about tracking, which was a good thing because a winter rain began to fall. Not a soft dribble of a rain, but large plops that erased the trail of a road completely.

It was afternoon when Duck called a halt. Without a word, they moved into the shelter of the trees and climbed down to let the horses rest.

“The trail’s gone,” Wyatt said. “We’ve gone beyond where I saw them turn off. They could have veered off to the east or west by a few hundred feet and we couldn’t see them in this rain. We’ve no way of tracking them now. We’d be better off to stay here for a while. With any luck they’re holed up somewhere just ahead of us.”

Em stared out into the sheets of rain curtaining her view. Lewt was out there somewhere alone, and there was no way for her to get to him.

“When this rain stops, we’ll ride on. We have to give it another try.” Duncan’s words didn’t sound like he held much hope.

As she often did when she rode the range, Em ignored the cold. She felt wet to the bone, but she wouldn’t complain. Her thoughts were on Lewt and finding him. In the rumble of the winter storm, she thought of Lewt’s arms around her and how he’d said he’d wait forever for her to come to him.

As soon as the rain stopped they raced across the land, each studying the afternoon shadows, each hoping for one sign. A campfire. A shot to kill game. The reflection of a rifle off the aging sun.

Nothing. Finally, it was too dark to continue. They camped in a dry spot beneath an old elm. Em curled up in her blanket and thought of Lewt holding her hand and wondered if he was close, thinking about the same thing. Wyatt offered her jerky and a biscuit, but she was too tired to eat.

Before dawn the next morning they were back in the saddle, three shadows moving beside a muddy road. If the gang stopped for the night and didn’t leave until morning, they’d be leaving a trail in the mud now.

If they were following the right road, Em thought.

If they were even going in the right direction.

If Lewt was still alive and with the band. She feared that the outlaws might think him worthless and kill him, or worse, discover that he was lying and torture him for information.

The sun was high when Wyatt found a camp by a swollen stream. Seven or eight horses, he guessed. The same number of men. From the remains of a fire, it looked like they had stopped long enough to rest the horses, cook rabbits, and maybe warm themselves. The ground was still wet enough to follow their tracks across the campsite.

Em stood very still as Wyatt read the tracks. “There’s blood,” he said, “but it looks like it’s from the rabbits. This could be our men, or a dozen others traveling. Whoever stopped here did so after the rain. I’m guessing they left one, maybe two hours ago. They must feel pretty certain they’re not being followed if they stopped to cook.”

“Wyatt,” Duncan called from twenty feet away. “Look at this.”

They all moved to a muddy spot behind a rock. No footprints stomped across the spot, but someone had drawn a circle and inside written
WM
.

“What’s it mean?” Wyatt asked.

“Whispering Mountain,” both Duncan and Em said at once.

Wyatt picked up a playing card tucked just beneath the rock. “Maybe it’s Lewt telling us not to follow but to meet him back at the ranch.”

“Or maybe he wanted to leave a symbol that would mean nothing to the men he was with, but would let us know he’d been in this camp.”

“We should still try to follow.” Thunder threatened again as if calling her a liar.

Wyatt shook his head. “From the looks of it, they crossed into the stream here. We have no idea which way.”

Em wouldn’t give up. “Why don’t we separate until the rain starts? I’ll do upstream; Duck, you go downstream. Wyatt, you cross and ride north like they’ve been going. With luck, before it starts raining we’ll pick up some hint of a trail.”

“Once it starts raining there will be no trail to follow. We all agree to come back here even if we find something.” Wyatt didn’t look like he liked the plan, but like the others he didn’t want to stop hunting. “If it doesn’t rain, we turn back in one hour no matter what.” He looked straight at Em. “If you find something, anything, don’t get too close, just turn around and come back here.”

She nodded.

“Em, watch for the place where horses have come out of the stream.” Duncan turned his horse downstream. “That’s the only clue we’ll need to pick up the trail.”

“I know what to look for,” she snapped. Both of them were treating her like a child on a rabbit hunt.

Duck laughed. “That’s my Em. Nobody could ever tell you anything.”

She was already heading upstream and didn’t answer. The stream was shallow, not more than three or four feet in the center, but wide enough that two or three horses could easily ride abreast.

Now and then she felt the splash of water but blamed it on a branch she’d brushed or her horse splashing. She didn’t, couldn’t feel the rain, for if she did it would mean that she would have to stop, and Em had no intention of stopping. Her horse fought the current, so after a few hundred feet, she rode the edge of the stream, not caring that she left a trail. No one was following her.

The trees grew denser, with dead moss hanging off their branches that reminded her of huge spiderwebs wide enough to swallow her if she wasn’t careful. In places, thanks to the rain, the water splashed over its banks. Twice, her horse stumbled, tossing her into the water, but she didn’t stop. She had only an hour to find the trail, and if she didn’t, she’d have to turn around and pray that Wyatt or Duck had found something.

In a bend in the river, she slowed, searching both banks for any sign. Her horse was tired and she knew the outlaws’ mounts would have been also. They couldn’t stay in the water much longer or they’d be traveling on foot.

Her teeth were chattering, but she didn’t care. She wouldn’t stop. In the stillness just before she rounded the corner, she thought she heard voices. Em walked her horse onto the bank and listened, then moved slowly forward.

After only a dozen steps, Em froze. Men not thirty feet beyond the trees lining the stream were talking. Yelling almost. Laughing. Swearing.

She looped her horse’s reins over a branch and moved as silently as she could toward the noise.

Ten feet into the brush and trees, she saw the men she’d been looking for circled around a campfire. For a moment, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Lewt was in the middle of them playing cards.

She counted them, unsure if there had been six or seven tracks in the mud. She counted five men around the fire besides Lewt. One on the ground looking more like he’d passed out than fallen asleep. Frantically, she watched the trees. Were they all present, or was one missing?

Again and again her gaze traveled to Lewt as if her eyes were hungry for just the sight of him.

All day in her mind she’d pictured him suffering, maybe even dying. It had never occurred to her that he might just be playing cards with the outlaws. She didn’t know whether to feel angry or relieved. She’d found him. He was surrounded, and worse, he appeared to be one of them. The man was a chameleon. Change his clothes, change his company. It didn’t matter. He blended in.

A twig snapped from a few feet behind her and Em felt something slam against her head a moment before the world went black.

L
EWT WATCHED ONE OF THE MEN WALK INTO CAMP carrying Em over one shoulder like she was no more than a deer he’d killed for supper. He felt his own heart stop and it didn’t start up again until he heard her moan in pain.

She was alive.

“Look what I found,” the troll of a man shouted. He had wide shoulders and trunk legs but not the height that should have gone with the rest of his body. As the world’s shortest giant stomped into camp with his trophy, Lewt watched silently with the others. He knew if he tipped his hand now, his life as well as hers would be worthless.

The self-appointed leader of the group, a big sloppy man named Binns, moved closer. “Where’d you find her?”

“Down near the water. She was watching us,” the troll said as he dropped her near the fire. “I wouldn’t have hit her so hard if I’d known she was a woman. Dressed like that, I thought she was a man.”

“Where’s her horse?”

“I must have spooked him ’cause he took off downstream.”

The leader swore as he jerked Em’s chin up to have a look at her. “Never seen her before. Kill her.”

Lewt took a step, but the troll widened his stance and shoved the leader. “How come you get to say what we do with her? I’m the one who found her. I’ve about had enough of you thinking you’re the boss around here.”

The leader’s anger was barely in check. “She looks half dead from you bashing her head in. What do you care if we finish her off? Kill her. We’ll need to be moving on as soon as it’s dark, so toss her body in the stream. She’ll float down a few miles and turn into someone else’s problem.”

The troll of a man must have known he couldn’t win, so he tried bargaining. “How about I play with her while it’s raining, then I’ll kill her before we leave? I couldn’t tell much with that coat she’s got on, but she might be something worth a look.”

Lewt saw his chance. “I got a better idea. Why don’t we play cards for her? We’re all too broke to play for money, and playing for something makes a more interesting game.” He stepped up and fanned the cards as he studied the troll. “It’d be an interesting way to pass the time. I say she’s worth a hundred toward the pot. You win, you have her and extra money.”

The leader frowned. “Why would we risk our money to play for a half-dead girl when back at Three Forks we get all we want for free? Toledo don’t care long as we don’t hold up the cash flow.”

All the men seemed to agree. Lewt had already figured out that between them they had very little cash. That was probably how Toledo kept them working for her. She gave them room, board, and women, but no money. A man with money might think of leaving. A man with empty pockets would stay and work his shift.

“I don’t get free women,” Lewt said. “And I don’t have a hundred dollars, but I’ve got my vest. That should stand me for twenty in the game.”

The troll was interested. He must think he had nothing to lose. “String the girl up so we can all see her. I’ll play this fool a few rounds. If I win your twenty, I’ll have me a new vest and I’ll still have my fun with her. If you win a little off of me, I’ll let you have a turn if there’s time after I’m finished.”