Stacey Kayne Read online

  “Do you really mean that?” she gasped, truly touched by his words.

  Jed lifted his head, needing to see the expression that went with her soft-spoken voice. “Honest to God,” he said, holding her enamored gaze, wondering how she could have any doubt after the night they’d shared. Lord, she was beautiful. And such an innocent. Yet he’d taken her, again and again. Each time their shared passion had grown more intense.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked, her eyes holding his gaze as he hovered over her.

  “That you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

  Her shy smile stirred Jed in such a way it scared the hell out of him. There was nothing sexual in the warm sensations rippling through his mind, body and soul.

  Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to touch her because in the back of his mind, he knew he wouldn’t be able to let her go. After the way she’d loved him through the night, he couldn’t imagine she wanted to be let go. No woman had ever looked at him with the open adoration he saw in her green eyes or responded to his touch until she clung to him, crying out her love in mindless abandon.

  Would she still feel the same way when they reached California? The possible answer to that sent a cold wave of dread crashing through him.

  He didn’t know which feelings to trust, the caution tugging at his heart, or the love blossoming in his soul. One thing was certain. One night with Rachell wasn’t enough. Hell, he didn’t know that a lifetime would be enough, but he was willing to spend the rest of his trying to find out.

  “I think you’re beautiful,” Rachell said, pulling him from his thoughts and into a deep kiss that made it impossible for him to think at all.

  By the time dawn touched the sky with hues of pink and peach, they had the horses saddled and the supplies loaded. They’d gone back inside the warm cabin to wait for Buck, and Rachell managed to find a way to pass the time. Her hands were twisted into Jed’s long silky hair, her tongue deep inside his wonderful mouth when a knock sounded at the door, interrupting what had been a thoroughly enjoyable kiss.

  “Come on in, Buck,” Jed called.

  Rachell’s heart constricted with pain, knowing her time with Jed had just come to an abrupt end. She tried to move off his lap but Jed held fast to her waist.

  The door squeaked open. A large, blue-eyed cowboy stepped into the wedge of morning light. He beamed a bright smile as his gaze settled on them, then quickly removed his hat, revealing thick golden hair.

  “Rachell,” said Jed, “this is Buck Coleburn, your sister’s husband.”

  “Rachell, it’s a fine pleasure to make your acquaintance. Jed has told me some mighty fine things about you, and Lizzy’s sure gonna be glad when we get you back to the ranch.”

  Jed had told him nice things about her?

  She felt the blush warming her face as she stood to accept his outstretched hand, fully conscious of Jed’s hand still resting on her hip. “Hello, Mr. Coleburn.”

  “Call me Buck, darlin’. I don’t answer to any other name for no one but your sister.”

  Buck sat in the chair across the table from them. Jed guided her back down to his lap.

  There are only two chairs in the cabin, she reasoned.

  “Sweetheart, why don’t you get Buck a cup of coffee?” Jed suggested, his tone far gentler than she’d have expected from him in front of his friend.

  What was he doing? His open display of familiarity would have anyone thinking they truly were a married couple.

  Oh, Lord.

  She felt as though she’d been hit by the side of a mountain as realization sunk in. The look on his face after they’d first made love…he’d looked like a man who’d just been given a life sentence. In Jed’s mind, he must have felt he had.

  I can’t take you without binding us in a marriage we’ll both regret.

  She should have realized Jed wouldn’t take her without upholding his sense of duty and honor. She wouldn’t let him do it! She refused to trap him in a marriage he didn’t truly want.

  “Please,” Jed prompted, acting as though he had no idea why she was sitting there looking up at him.

  She forced a smile and shifted her gaze to Buck. “Of course.” She rose and turned toward the stove.

  Buck hadn’t missed a lick of their exchange. He flashed an inquisitive gaze toward Jed as Rachell turned her back. Jed glanced back toward the woman responsible for the smile shining in his eyes.

  So that’s the way of it. She’d crumbled his defenses. There was no missing the signals that things had become intimate between them or the confusion in Rachell’s expression over Jed’s open display of affection. Hell, Buck found it to be damn frightening, himself. He’d never known Jed to be the sentimental sort.

  “Thank you, darlin’,” Buck said as he took the cup of coffee Rachell offered him. A tiny slip of a woman, her resemblance to Lizzy didn’t go beyond the shade of her eyes and the sweetness of her smile.

  Jed’s hand extended toward her as she stepped back, ready to guide her back to his lap. She seemed reluctant to accept the intimate gesture, slowly placing her hand in Jed’s. His fingers entwined with hers as he drew her toward him.

  “Sumner on his way?” Jed asked in a casual tone, as though holding the little redhead in his arms was nothing out of the ordinary.

  “Yep,” Buck answered, and took a deep drink of strong coffee. “In a roundabout way. Word has it his camp was a mess of confusion this morning. I imagine he wasn’t too pleased when he woke up and found he was a few Indians short of a war party. Ben said his camp looked like a henhouse gone haywire at dawn. Running Bear estimates they’ll be at the neck of the canyon by noon. Ben and the others have taken their positions.”

  “What about the boy?” Jed asked.

  Buck tried not to notice as Jed’s arms banded Rachell’s waist. “Your gun slick was the first at his post,” Buck assured him. “You’re gonna have your hands full, my friend. But nothing you can’t handle,” he quickly added, seeing Rachell’s expression cloud with concern.

  Jed murmured something against her ear then kissed her cheek. The soft smile that touched Rachell’s lips showed she’d been comforted.

  Buck watched the entire exchange in sheer amazement. Damn if he wasn’t witnessing a miracle. Buck drank the last of his coffee, wondering how Jed had managed to hold out as long as he had. The love shining in Rachell’s eyes had him good and snared now. The past week of missing his own wife suddenly seemed a lifetime.

  “Should we head out now?” Buck asked, seeing as Jed didn’t seem in any hurry to go anywhere.

  “Yep,” he said, easing Rachell up as he stood. He walked to the stove and closed the dampers. “You know where you’re headed, right?”

  Jed stopped near the door, his woman tucked beside him, both of them wearing buckskin britches. He couldn’t help but notice that the top of Rachell’s head didn’t quite reach Jed’s shoulders.

  “I’m not gonna show up at the base of Devil’s Bend only to realize you confused it for Avalanche Peak, am I?”

  Buck laughed. “I know where I’m headed. You just worry about keeping that hide of yours lead-free. Me and Rachell can pick our way over these mountains just fine.”

  “Wait!” Rachell turned her wide eyes on Jed. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Sugar, we talked about this.”

  Rachell’s lily-white face stoned over. Her hands rose firmly to her hips. “I recall talking, but I don’t believe you were listening.”

  She’s Lizzy’s sister all right. Buck knew that razor-sharp tone and thunderous green gaze quite well.

  “I won’t leave you to face the trouble I brought here,” she said. “Buck just said you’re going to have your hands full. You need me.”

  “Don’t doubt it,” Jed said with a flicker of a smile. “Which is why I need to know you’re safe.”

  Rachell shook her head, not about to give in on this one. She wouldn’t be sent away! “Jed—”

  “You’ll be safe with Buck.
Keep that loaded rifle by your side.”

  “I don’t want—” He cut off her words by swiftly covering her mouth with his. She couldn’t deny the passion he called from her and returned his deep rhythmic kiss. Just as suddenly, her arms were ripped away from him, his voice saying, “Get her out of the canyon.” The door slammed shut as she opened her eyes.

  “He’ll be all right, Rachell,” Buck said from behind her. “The man is a born warrior.”

  “Damn him!”

  She would not be sent away!

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Buck glanced again at the thick brush Rachell had disappeared through near fifteen minutes ago, saying she needed some feminine privacy. Growing concerned, he called out her name.

  Nothing came back but the sounds of the forest. And the echo of distant gunfire. They’d been riding for well over two hours, but they were still close enough to hear the fight taking place in Shadow Canyon.

  “Rachell!” he shouted again.

  When she didn’t reply he rode through the tall manzanita, then continued past more manzanita and pines, none of which his sister-in-law had squatted behind.

  “That little red fox ditched me!”

  If anything happened to Rachell, Jed would skin him alive and tack his hide to a tree.

  Hell. His own wife would fillet and smoke his remains.

  “How the hell did we get socked in here?” Jed shouted between blasts of gunfire, covering Running Bear and his men as they dropped back.

  “There’s too damn many of ’em,” Ben shouted. “There must still be seven men for every one of us. Good thing you planted ammunition along our trail, or I’d have been out a long time ago.”

  Pressing his back against the boulder, Jed glanced at his business partner as he reloaded his rifle then scanned the stretch of brush between them and the next rise of stone. Ben Darby was a few inches wider and taller than him. At the moment, they were crouched behind the only rock big enough to cover his colossal hide.

  “We have to move,” Jed said. “Those men are gonna end up in our laps.”

  Ben fired three shots then sank back down. His sharp blue eyes met Jed’s gaze. Sweat dripped from dark curls beneath his hat. “I know. If it wasn’t for the snipers you had high on those cliffs, we’d have been torn to shreds when we fell back into the mouth of this canyon.”

  Gabe and Abel O’Conner had surely saved their skins. But now that they were on the opposite side of the stone divider, they couldn’t provide them with cover. This narrow channel went for another hundred yards before it opened up and offered a wider range of cover. The steep mountainside curved around the deep canyon. If Jed had had the manpower, he would have posted snipers on the southern ridge behind them.

  They needed cover.

  “Any sign of Sumner?” Ben asked.

  “Nope,” Jed answered, firing off a few more shots. “He’s fighting like a coward, sending his dogs in to chew up his prey.”

  “If he thinks you’ve got Rachell up at the cabin, he’s liable to find a way to sneak around us once we get beyond this narrow passage.”

  “Juniper’s posted near the cabin. Sumner won’t slither out of this canyon without being detected. But if they keep driving us back, this fight’s going to end up inside that shack. Get ready to move back. I’ll cover you on three.”

  On the count of three, Jed stood, homing his rifle in on anything that moved as he fired a consecutive round of bullets. He saw at least fifteen heads duck for cover as he backed across the uneven ground. Ben reached the next pile of rocks and took over blasting at the herd of men rushing them deeper into the canyon as Jed turned and dove for cover.

  Pushing himself up from the hard ground, Jed looked up into Running Bear’s face. “Boy, don’t you know you’re being ambushed?” he asked, as he twisted and lifted the barrel of his rifle to the top of another boulder.

  “Now their turn to run over open ground,” Running Bear said, taking position beside him.

  “They’re gonna rush us!” Ben shouted.

  Sure enough, guns blasted as a wall of men rose up.

  Their shots were answered by rifle fire from overhead. A man fell for every shot that rang out from the high perch.

  Who the hell?

  The group of attackers dropped for cover.

  “Ben, you brought Corin?” Jed asked, not knowing of anyone other than Ben’s wife, the girl he’d helped raise, who could shoot with such long-range accuracy.

  “Hell no! She’s at home with the baby.”

  As the echo from the last shot died off Jed cupped his mouth and pierced the air with a hawk’s cry.

  The answering screech didn’t belong to Corin.

  “That’s not my wife,” Ben affirmed.

  “Oh, hell,” Jed said under his breath. It’s mine.

  His heart constricted as he frantically scanned the scrub and tree-lined cliff, willing the gunman to be anyone but Rachell. He couldn’t locate the shooter, but knew just the same that it was her. “Oh, God.”

  “Imp?” asked Running Bear.

  “I told her to stay with Buck!”

  “Imp?” Ben asked.

  “Wife of Jed,” said Running Bear.

  Ben flashed a broad smile. “I’ll be damned.”

  She opened fire.

  “Them boys better keep low,” said Ben. “She’s hell on fire with a rifle.”

  “We move now, brother.” Running Bear grabbed his arm, pulling his gaze away from the hillside.

  Jed bit out a curse and ran for cover, assuring himself Rachell was out of range at her high vantage point. “I’m gonna tan her hide!”

  “Not before she saves yours,” Ben shouted, keeping on Jed’s heels.

  Shouts from the other men grew louder as they closed in behind them. He prayed Rachell had the sense to stay up on the ridge where she’d be safe from the gunfire. And Sumner.

  Jed needs me.

  Rachell had never sensed anything so strongly. Thank God she’d listened to her intuition. She wasn’t sure who Jed had expected to answer his birdcall, but she hoped she’d done an adequate job without giving herself away.

  Leaving Storm Cloud staked up on the ridge, Rachell descended the hillside and retraced the path she’d taken with Buck early that morning from Shadow Canyon. With the sun glaring down from overhead, there wasn’t much in the way of shadows as she inched her way along the sheer cliff. The sound of gunfire echoing off the high canyon walls was unending, just as it had been during the war when the Carlsons’ estate had become a battlefield.

  Fighting her fear as deafening sounds cracked from all directions, she entered the narrow channel leading into Shadow Canyon. The strong scent of sulfur stung her nostrils. She leaned forward, and glanced past the cabin she could see in the distance where the canyon opened up into a meadow. A bend in the stone hid the battle she could hear.

  Gun smoke lingered in the meadow like a veil of fog. The shouts of many men echoed to create a roar of voices. Clutching her rifle, she sprinted toward the side of the rotted shack.

  She sucked in a few hard breaths, her heart hammering with the rush of her pulse. The shouts and gunshots seemed to grow louder, moving closer. She was creeping toward the front of the cabin when two hands grabbed her from behind. Rachell screamed as she was whipped around.

  “Miss Rachell!” Pale blue eyes glared down at her. “What are you doing here?”

  “Juniper!” Rachell sucked in a wheezing gasp, his grip on her arm half supporting her after he’d frightened her so. “You scared the devil out of me!”

  “Devil, hell! He’s headed straight to this canyon!” June holstered his revolver and gripped both her shoulders. “Jed’s not gonna like this,” he said, scanning dirt and short dried grass as if looking for a place to stash her. “You gotta go. Now.”

  “Check inside!” a man’s angered voice shouted from the front side of the cabin.

  Maxwell.

  Rachell’s wide gaze locked with June’s. Both pressed their ba
cks to the rough wood. Rachell raised her rifle as Juniper drew a gun. They listened for the sound of anyone coming around either side as crashes and curses came from inside the cabin.

  “She not in here,” another man shouted. “I’ll search the grounds.”

  Footsteps pounded toward them from both sides of the cabin as the sound of gunfire increased.

  Oh God.

  “Trust me,” June whispered into her ear, just before he snatched the rifle from her hands and shouted, “I’ve got her, Mr. Sumner!”

  Rachell stiffened in Juniper’s grasp. “June?”

  He shoved her beyond the corner of the cabin. Her throat burned as she swallowed a shriek. Maxwell stood before her, his silvery straight hair blowing wildly about his face, his dark eyes black with rage. One of his large henchmen moved in beside her and clutched her other arm.

  A smile eased across his lips, which did nothing to comfort her. A shudder of fear moved through her as Maxwell stepped close. She’d never seen him so disheveled. Dried grass and stickers clung to his usually impeccable clothes and hair. Small scratches marred his face, as though he’d crawled through dried grass and scrub all the way there.

  “Why are you doing this?” she demanded, drawing courage she didn’t know she possessed.

  His brow creased in confusion as he scanned her from head to toe. She supposed she didn’t look much like his Miss Nightingale in her buckskin shirt and britches.

  “I’m not who you think I am!”

  “You belong with me.” His tone harbored no doubt as he tugged her away from June and into his arms. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

  The whispered command rustled her hair as the arm tightened around her waist.

  “She was tryin’ to sneak out the back way,” said June.

  “Good job, Juniper.”

  A bullet whizzed past them, pounding into the cabin. They all crouched low as two more shots ricocheted off the wood.

  “Tell them to stop!” Maxwell shouted, keeping her shielded with his body as he dragged her toward the cabin door. “Tell them I have her, damn it! I have her!”