Chapter 36
The lean-to consisted of two thick low-hanging cottonwood branches draped with pine boughs. It provided little shelter and no room to sit fully erect but at least it got Lily off the spitting man’s horse. And she figured that the sooner they stopped, the closer they were to Wylder, so she didn’t care about the accommodations.
The ride had been insufferable and more than once her captor’s hand found its way to her bottom. She’d wanted to jump down and run but knew it wouldn’t end well. The one attempt at flight when they’d grabbed her hadn’t gotten her far.
Who could tell what consequences she’d face if she angered them? At their mercy, it felt best to cooperate until the opening to shoot one of them presented itself.
Her left wrist already had a red welt from the dirty, scratchy length of rope they used to tie her to the tree’s thickest branch. She tugged at it whenever they weren’t looking her way, hoping to somehow weaken the knot without bringing down the structure’s roof onto her head.
Their horses nickered from beneath a nearby tree. They’d tied their mounts less thoroughly than they had her, so she planned to ride off on one when she got free.
“Whadda we do now? We can’t keep her tied up like that forever.” The one called Wade seemed less thrilled they’d kidnapped her than his partner did. He kept glowering at her, almost as if he wished she’d disappear. “We didn’t need to take her.”
The spitting one sneered. “Hell, we got ourselves a bargainin’ chip in that there woman. We call the shots now.”
“How do you figure?”
The man spat. Then he let out a laugh that sounded like a choking donkey and she wondered how much tobacco it took to make a man sound that way. The tail end of his laughter dissolved into a series of gurgles and gagging noises. They brought a smile to her lips, so she turned away. She didn’t trust him not to hit her if he saw so she ducked her head to her shoulder for good measure. It didn’t pain her one bit that he suffered an affliction.
“She were with Harvey, remember? The two of them was sittin’ pretty out at his place, kissin’ like newlyweds.” The last he followed with a cackle.
The blood in her veins turned to ice. They’d spied on them! And she and Theo had assumed they were alone when they deepened their affection for one another.
“But how does that make any difference? What’re we gonna do with her?”
She heard a twig crack behind the lean-to and realized they walked while they talked. She fixed her gaze on the ground in front of her and pretended to examine a leaf. Better if they believed she didn’t hear their plans.
The spitting man snorted. Then she heard him spit. “We ain’t gonna do nothin’ with her. By now that soiled dove what saw us from the window of the Social Club’s got the sheriff’s ear. She’s yammering ’bout how a woman got herself picked up and rode off with. It’ll take ’em some time to find her. By then, we’ll be gone.”
The stupidity of their plan nearly made her scream. It lacked everything, including a tangible result. The way it sounded, the disgusting man had scooped her up on a whim.
They’d traveled around to stand beneath a cluster of trees downwind of the shelter. Gratitude swept through her. The one man smelled worse than his horse, and any distance gave her belly a chance to settle.
She watched them through downturned lashes.
“What good does that do?” Wade slapped a hand against his thigh. Anger tinged every word. “We stole a woman just to let that sheriff find her? Shit, we’ll be lucky if that Wylder fella don’t get it in his head to come after us and string us up!”
“For what? Taking some long-toothed female? Hell, they’s not worth anything. Asides, this one’s built like a snake on stilts. She’s past her prime and too tall for anyone to want her back—’cept Harvey, that is.” He turned his gaze on her and narrowed his eyes. “We’ll get his attention right quick. Should be enough to show him we mean business.”
The frontier stretched out behind them. Dusty brown soil dotted with dried scrub. A tumbleweed spun off into the distance, headed for parts unknown in its own erratic way. A dust devil rose nearby, a sudden swirl of dirt rising into the hot air, then falling as suddenly as it appeared.
Lily wished she were still home on Violet’s porch, her feet propped on that basket she used as a footstool. This scorching heat and rugged terrain were bad enough, but she faced two horrible men who’d hurt her without giving it a second thought. She wasn’t safe here—somehow she had to find a way back to that lavender house with its humble back porch and the loving family who were probably, even now, wondering where she’d gone off to.
Wade waved an arm toward her. “Why will he think that? It’s not as if we’re killin’ her or anything.”
The spitting man put a hand on the other’s shoulder and grinned. She saw evil in the way he looked at her, so much that gooseflesh rose on her arms.
“Not this time, we ain’t.”
The next hours passed in a blur.
The men dozed beneath the trees near their horses, so she worked hard on the knots in the rope. The length they’d used was thick and its filthy knots had grown tighter from her pulling her arm away from the branch.
She considered shooting one of them, but which one? And if she missed she’d have both foul-tempered and bent on revenge. No, better to try to wiggle her hand out of the loop around her wrist, although blood ran down her forearm and the area felt as if bees stung her flesh.
Still, she tugged and twisted—and waited for a chance to run.
The sun dropped low in the sky. An afternoon chill crept into the air. She shivered and wished she’d never gone to town.
Hard to believe she’d been crouched beneath the pine branches all day. Her head, back, and legs ached. Her gut rumbled and her throat and mouth were so dry they felt glued closed.
Time dragged but she kept pulling on her arm. The shoulder throbbed now but the branch had begun to wobble. She looked toward the men, still prone beneath the trees. Then she checked the point where the branch met the shelter’s roof. It showed signs of coming loose. She wondered how hard she’d have to yank to bring it down. She hoped her legs would hold when she tried to stand.
Wade sat up and put a hand to his eyes to scan the horizon. He stood, then kicked the other man in the thigh with the toe of his boot. “Get up. We got company.”
The other rose and squinted toward the distance.
Lily followed their lead, but the side of the lean-to blocked her vision. She heard hoofbeats but they didn’t seem close. The men, however, moved quickly.
“Hell, we wasn’t supposed to sleep that long.” Wade ran to the horses. He began to untie one’s reins from a low-hanging branch. “We should been long gone, damnit.”
The other man spat. He tucked a chunk of tobacco into his cheek and held up a hand. “Now don’t go gettin’ yourself worked up. A change o’ plans is all this is.”
“Whaddaya mean?”
He pointed to Lily. “We’ll take her with us, is all. Get a jump on ’em then let her go when we get far enough ahead.” The men and horses were to the right of the shelter. He passed Wade and strode toward her. “C’mon, we got someplace to go.”
Lily used every ounce of strength to pull against the support branch. A loud cracking sound split the air as branches fell on top of her.
“Hell, what’s she doin’?” Wade sounded shocked that she resisted.
She threw her body toward the left side and prayed the thick branch wouldn’t knock her unconscious. It didn’t, so she crawled from beneath the boughs and came to her feet. Her legs were shaky, but she forced herself to run for the trees.
“Get her!” The spitting man yelled. “She’s gettin’ away!”
She heard thundering footsteps but didn’t turn to look. Ducking low branches and scrambling over pinecones and brush, she ran between trees as if the devil himself were on her tail.
Her skirt hooked on a branch. She twisted and pulled until it tore, then she ran some more. The spitting man, with his wheeze and cough, fell behind but Wade pursued her like a weasel in a henhouse.
A tree root caught her toe, and she went flying. Pain shot up her ankle as she came down hard on her left shoulder. Before she could get to her feet, Wade grabbed her by the back of her skirt.
“I g-got you n-now, bitch!” His breath came in gasps, but his strength didn’t seem affected by their scramble through the trees. He pulled hard on her skirt, flipping her over as if she were a fish lying on a sandy beach.
She landed on her back, the air forced from her lungs.
“Let go!” She kicked, but he tugged her toward him. “Stop it!”
Her hand clasped around the compact derringer, so she yanked it from her pocket and pressed the trigger. The flash startled her, but she pushed against him as the gun went off.
The man fell back, howling in pain, so she struggled to her feet and ran.
“You bitch—you shot me!”
Her ankle screamed but she forced herself to go on. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t move quickly—she put space between them and if it meant ruining her ankle for the rest of her life, so be it.
She ran for herself but also for the life inside her. There had never been more to protect than there was now, and she didn’t intend to let anything happen to her child. Whatever it took, she’d keep her baby safe.