Chapter 37
Theo rode flat out, spurring his mount to move faster than the wind. The frontier stretched before him and while he had faith in the sheriff and his men, he couldn’t rely on them to find Lily.
One of Miss Addie’s girls had run to fetch the lawman after she witnessed two men abduct a woman. That he’d been near the jailhouse and heard the ruckus seemed a blessing. Had he been at the homestead instead of in town hoping to bump into the woman who’d caught his heart, he wouldn’t have known anything about this. Worse, he wouldn’t be able to offer to help find Lily.
The sheriff had sent two other pairs of men on the hunt. He’d taken one other fellow with him and had invited Theo to join their party, but it made sense that the more who spread out and searched, the better the odds of finding her. He didn’t need help rescuing Lily. If he found the men responsible for carrying her off, he planned to tear them limb from limb. Slowly, so they suffered.
Damn, but loving a woman was harder than he thought it would be. He’d imagined hearts and flowers, and maybe even some social dances, but riding across the frontier as if Satan chased him had never entered his mind. No one mentioned this part of courting when they brought up the topic of finding a wife—and a good thing, too. This could frighten even a brave man away.
He reached the river and let the horse stop to drink. No sense killing the animal, especially when he crossed land on horseback more quickly than he did on foot. No, let the horse drink its fill, then he’d continue the search.
A native appeared on the other side of the river. They considered Medicine Bow River sacred, a place to make offerings and give thanks, and a spot of healing. The man sat astride a beautiful Appaloosa. He directed the horse into the water. They emerged a few yards downstream from where Theo sat on his mount.
The man rode nearer. When they were close enough to speak without shouting, he stopped.
He wore a faded cotton shirt, leather trousers, and moccasins on his feet. A seen-better-days bowler sat on his head and shaded his eyes. His long black hair hung in twin lengths down the front of his body to his chest. The ends of his plaits were tied with leather.
They nodded a greeting. The man might be Cheyenne or Arapaho, Theo couldn’t be sure. But what mattered more than what tribe he belonged with was his willingness to help find Lily.
He wasted no time. “I’m looking for a woman. She’s been abducted and I just want to find her and take her home.” The man hadn’t said a word, so he hoped he understood English. “Have you seen someone like that? A woman taken by two men, maybe struggling to get free?”
The other man looked into the distance for a few moments, then he met Theo’s gaze and shook his head. “No. I have not seen the woman you search for.” He tipped his chin to the water rushing by. “But I ask my ancestors to keep her safe until she is found.”
Theo would have dismounted and shaken the man’s hand if he weren’t in such a hurry to find Lily. So many spoke badly about those who inhabited this land before the white man spread westward, but he’d never had any reason to do that. Every interaction, like this one, proved that men could be civil with each other and act in good faith, regardless of the color of their skin or place of birth.
He touched the brim of his hat and turned his horse. He’d look upstream a bit, then head back to Wylder. With any luck the sheriff had already rescued her.
“Thank you. I’m grateful for your help—and that of your ancestors, too.”