The Mavericks (19 page)

So what was different now? He knew the answer—at least, he knew the superficial answer. Suzette. It was the
why
that baffled him. From the first, she'd acted as if they'd known each other long enough to be comfortable riding together, taking care of the horses, or sitting around the campfire. But it was a mystery to him how that could have happened so quickly with a total stranger.

Okay, he wasn't totally mystified. He'd felt a special attraction to Suzette from the beginning. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, but he'd never been as attracted to a woman as he was to Suzette. He could remember a couple of times he'd lost his head, but it was different this time. The strength of attraction was there without the feeling of insanity, the feeling he was losing control, the feeling he was falling and there was nothing to catch him.

He wondered if he should try to dress her. He'd managed to wake her long enough to put her chemise on, but he hadn't objected when it was clear she'd much rather be warmed by him than her clothes. He pulled her closer and tucked the blanket more closely around her.

As he began to drift back to sleep, he reminded himself that this was a short-term relationship. It was important that he not construe anything that happened in the next few days to mean they could have more than these few days together. He didn't have the kind of money Suzette needed for her sister. And even if he had, it wouldn't have made any difference. She wanted her sister to have a place in society. That was so important to Suzette, she was willing to remain sepa
rated from her only living relative for the rest of her life to make it happen. It was so important, she was willing to pretend to be somebody she wasn't.

That was something Hawk would never do. Any woman who wanted to be his wife would have to be proud of him, willing to consider his differences a strength rather than something to be ashamed of. If Suzette couldn't admit that she sang and danced for a living, how could she possibly take pride in being married to a half-breed?

She couldn't, so that was the end of it. He ought to take what he had and be grateful for it without asking for the impossible. But just before he slipped over the edge into sleep, Hawk admitted he could never give up hope that someday he'd find a woman who could love him just as he was.

Zeke didn't know what woke him, but he came wide awake with the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He sat up and looked around the camp, but nothing seemed out of place. Gardner had spread out his bedroll on the other side of the wagon. Zeke could just barely make out the dark shape against the ground, but he didn't see any movement. He listened carefully, but nothing came to his ear beyond the usual sounds of the night. For a moment he thought he might look inside the wagon to make sure Josie was okay, but he changed his mind quickly. All she needed was to see him attempting to crawl into the wagon in the middle of the night to convince her that her worst fears were true.

It would have been different if Suzette slept in the
wagon, too, but she'd gone to bed down with Hawk. Zeke hadn't liked that one bit. Zeke and Hawk had been with several women during their years together, but none of those relationships had ever affected their feeling of being brothers. There had been times when Zeke thought Hawk might have found someone to marry, and there'd been one time when Zeke thought he'd found the woman of his dreams, but the relationship between the two men hadn't changed.

Zeke wasn't sure that would be true with Suzette. He didn't know why he felt this way, but he got the feeling she was the kind of woman who would claim a man's first loyalty. He liked Suzette. She seemed immune to the kind of temper that plagued Josie. Still, she would be the type of woman who could come between even the closest of brothers.

Zeke didn't remember what he'd been dreaming before he woke up, but it must have been really depressing to leave him in such a rotten mood. Or maybe he should blame his bad mood on his irrational attraction for Josie, or her refusal to listen to his warning about Gardner. Not that Josie couldn't take care of herself under normal circumstances, but running into a man like Gardner wasn't a normal circumstance. Not when he was a rich theater owner and Josie was in need of a job. Josie might think she could take care of herself in any situation, but Zeke had lived long enough to know that a woman who didn't have a man she could depend on was vulnerable.

But that wasn't his worry. Even if he'd wanted it to be, Josie wouldn't allow it. He listened intently, but heard nothing to alarm him. He lay back down. It took
a few seconds to get comfortable again, but the moment he stopped moving, he heard a sound in the brush surrounding the wagon. There was no way he could go back to sleep until he found out what it was.

The sound of Dusky Lady blowing through her nostrils woke Hawk. Even though he heard nothing to alarm him, he rose to his knees and immediately reached for his rifle. Dusky Lady was hobbled. If a cougar or something else was stalking the mares, she was the one least able to defend herself.

“What is it?” Suzette asked, her voice husky with sleep.

“Something has disturbed the horses,” Hawk said as he slipped his feet into a pair of moccasins. “I'm going to see what's wrong. Stay here and keep warm.”

“Wait. I'll come with you.”

She started to throw aside the blanket, but he stopped her. “You're not dressed.” He reached for the extra rifle next to his saddle. “Keep this beside you until I get back.”

“I want to help.”

“You can help by staying out of danger.”

Being careful to avoid patches of dried leaves, Hawk melted into the brush, moving through the thickets of tamarisk and willow and avoiding the thorns of mesquite and prickly-pear cactus until he could see the horses silhouetted against the horizon in the moonlight. The mules grazed on, seemingly impervious to any potential danger, but the mares and the saddle horses were on their feet and alert, their heads turned away from the river. Hawk saw nothing, but he heard something moving toward them from the direction of the mountains. No cougar or other predator would make so much noise.

It could only be somebody attempting to steal the mares.

Moving quickly and staying close to the ground, Hawk ran to Dusky Lady.

“Easy, girl,” Hawk said softly. “As soon as I get rid of these hobbles, I want you to hightail it up the trail. I'm gonna draw those low-down, horse-thieving scalawags out in the open where I can get a shot at them. We'll catch up with you in the morning.”

With deft fingers, Hawk removed the mare's hobbles. He still saw no sign of intruders, but the horses hadn't returned to their grazing. Whatever had spooked them was still out there. Hawk gave Dusky Lady a slap on her haunch. “Get going.”

The mare whinnied, shook her head up and down, then started down the trail at a trot. The mules continued to graze, but one after another the mares turned and followed Dusky Lady. Almost immediately Hawk heard a shout and saw a man burst from a juniper thicket and run out into the open yelling at someone
still concealed to get moving before the horses got away. Hawk sank to his knee, took careful aim, and fired. The man threw up his arms and fell to the ground.

Immediately the quiet of the night was shattered by a fusillade of rifle shots.

Hawk dived behind a low bank amid bullets hitting the ground all around him. Once over the bank, he crawled quickly on knees and elbows until he was about twenty yards from where he'd fired the first shot. Working his way through the underbrush on his belly, he lay perfectly still until he saw three men moving toward the river. Incredibly, the mules had gone back to grazing as soon as the echoes of the rifle shots died away. At least he wouldn't have to worry about them going berserk.

Hawk knew Zeke was out there somewhere, probably with Gardner right behind him. If these three men were the only thieves, they shouldn't have any problem driving them off. Taking time to make sure his aim was perfect, Hawk fired at the closest thief. Then he backed up until he was over the bank once again, but this time he sprinted toward a large cottonwood on the edge of the river. From that vantage point he could see that the man he'd shot was down on the ground, groaning and holding his leg. Hawk didn't want to kill the man, but he did want to make sure he never tried to steal any more horses.

The sound of a rifle shot brought Zeke bolt upright. The burst of gunfire that followed had him on his feet and reaching for his rifle. Hawk had gotten him into the habit of wearing moccasins to bed so he wouldn't
have to stop to put on his boots. He crossed immediately to the wagon.

“Somebody's after the horses.” He hoped Josie was awake enough to hear and understand him. “Stay here until I get back.”

Josie stuck her head from between the canvas flaps. “What about Suzette?”

“Hawk will take care of her. Gardner can stay with you.” Since the man hadn't awakened, he probably wouldn't be any good in a fight. But when Zeke rounded the wagon, he saw that Gardner's bedroll was empty. “Gardner's not here. He may have gone to see what the shooting's about, but I don't trust him.”

He didn't want to leave Josie, but she knew how to handle a rifle. Since Hawk had bedded down close to the river, Zeke decided to circle around the other way and try to catch the horse thieves in a crossfire. He didn't like the ominous quiet that had fallen after the initial burst of gunfire, but he knew Hawk wouldn't make himself a target. There probably weren't five white men in the Arizona Territory who could find Hawk when he didn't want to be found, and Zeke had the advantage of being difficult to see in the dark.

Before long, Zeke caught the sound of whispered conversation on the light breeze blowing from the south. The sound of boots on rocks and clothes brushing against branches and thorns told him the thieves weren't used to walking quietly through the desert landscape. He'd moved into position to the east of the thieves when Hawk's rifle shot had broken the stillness. The moans of the wounded man were momentarily drowned out by return gunfire. They sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness that followed.

“I think my leg's broken,” the man said.

“Dammit, this was supposed to be easy. We come in while they're sleeping and run off the horses before anybody wakes up.”

“How bad is Munson hurt?”

“Bad enough he ain't breathing.”

“Where the hell is that guy with the rifle?” a third voice asked.

“I don't know, but I'm getting the hell out of here. If Gardner wants them horses, he can get them himself.”

Anger boiled up from Zeke's stomach. Why hadn't he paid attention to his instincts instead of putting his uneasiness down to jealousy over Gardner's attention to Josie? That woman was messing up every part of his life. The sooner he could be rid of her, the better. Pushing his anger aside for the moment, he worked his way through a tangle of plants until he was directly behind the thieves. The mules were grazing on the far side of an open area, but Zeke didn't see any sign of the mares or the riding horses. He was tempted to put bullets into the two men still on their feet, but Hawk was obviously hidden across the clearing. There was virtually no chance he'd miss at such close range, but Hawk might not know it was Zeke shooting and might return fire.

“I've got both of you in my rifle sights,” Zeke said, speaking from his place of concealment in a mesquite thicket. “Drop your rifles.”

The men turned and fired blindly into the thicket, but Zeke dove behind a large rock.

“That wasn't very smart. Drop your rifles, or I'll start shooting. And I won't miss.” To emphasize his point, Zeke fired at the rifle held by one of the men. When the bullet shattered the stock, the man yelled
and threw the rifle to the ground. The other man dropped his rifle and raised his hands.

“Hawk, you over there?” Zeke shouted.

“Yeah,” came the answer. “Want me to plug them from here?”

The two men whirled to face the second voice coming at them from the darkness.

“No. I say we tie them to their horses and drop them off at Redington. Let the Redfields and the Sozas take care of them. They're not especially fond of horse thieves.”

“We didn't steal any horses,” a man with dirty blond hair said. “We was just riding through minding our own business when whoever's hiding in those trees by the river shot Munson.”

“Tell it to the Redfields,” Zeke said.

“Where the hell are you?” the blond demanded.

“Where I can keep an eye on you. Come on out, Hawk,” Zeke called.

Hawk emerged from the trees along the river, his rifle leveled at the two men left standing. Zeke kept his eye on the man with the broken leg just in case he went for his gun. Zeke was not happy to see Suzette step out of the trees not far from where Hawk had emerged. In a situation like this, a woman was a complication they didn't need. She carried a rifle, but did she know how to use it? He thought of Josie back in the wagon and hoped she had stayed put.

Zeke emerged from hiding. “Where are the horses?” he asked Hawk.

“I sent them off with Dusky Lady. We'll pick them up in the morning.” Hawk turned to the thieves. “Where's your boss?” he asked.

A warning look passed between the two men before the blond answered, “We ain't got no boss.”

“I heard you say Gardner was the one who wanted these horses.”

“I don't know no Gardner,” the blond said.

Zeke wasn't going to waste time arguing. “Now put your hands behind your backs while my partner ties you up.”

The blond looked apprehensively at Hawk. “He ain't going to scalp me, is he?”

“Not unless you try to get away.”

Zeke waited impatiently while Hawk tied the hands of first one man and then the other. “What are you going to do with
him
?” he said pointing at the man with the broken leg.