Ana Leigh Read online

Page 20


  The minutes felt like hours as Rose waited for Kate’s return. The sheriff and his posse could ride in at any minute.

  As soon as she saw Kate coming down the street, Rose picked up Zach’s saddlebags. Now that the time had come to execute the most difficult part of the plan, she was suddenly calm and in complete control.

  Plate in hand, Kate reached Joe, and Rose began to move cautiously closer to them. As she sneaked up behind him, Rose heard Joe say, “This sure is fine-tastin’ pie.”

  “I’m glad you like it, Joe,” Kate said, watching Rose’s approach.

  Rose drew a deep breath and with all her might swung the saddlebags at Joe’s head. The plate slipped out of his hands and he fell unconscious to the ground.

  “Good heavens, did you kill him?” Kate put her head to Joe’s chest, then looked up, relieved. “He’s still breathing.”

  “He’ll be okay; it just knocked him out.” Rose opened the saddlebags and dug out bandannas and the pieces of rope they had cut earlier. “Hurry and tie up Joe while I get Zach.”

  Rose ran to the barn door and called out, “Zach, it’s Rose.” She knew if she tried opening it without warning, he’d likely shoot her by mistake.

  “Rose! What in hell are you doing down here?”

  “Open the door; it’s safe to come out.”

  She wanted to fling herself into his arms when he slipped the bar and stepped outside. “What happened? Where are the others?” he asked.

  “I’ll explain it all later. Right now we’ve got to get out of here.” She ran back to Kate, who had bound and gagged Joe, and was now sitting against a tree in the process of binding her own ankles together. Rose knelt beside her. “I hate to do this to you, Kate.”

  “Just go ahead and get out of here.” She thrust up her arms and Rose quickly tied her wrists together. “Good luck, you two.”

  Rose and Kate exchanged a long look, then Rose tied the gag on her mouth. “Can you breathe okay?” Kate nodded. “Thank you for everything.” She kissed Kate on the forehead, then turned away.

  “What next, General Lee?” Zach asked.

  “Grab those saddlebags and come with me. I passed a hitching post that had some horses tied to it. We can take two of them and get out of here.”

  “They hang horse thieves you know,” he said lightly.

  “Have you got a better idea?”

  “Not at the moment.” He picked up the saddlebags. “Let’s go, Rosie.”

  As they hurried away, Rose noticed that he was limping. “What’s wrong with your leg?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  When they reached the hitching post, Zach recognized the horses. “These are Lazy R mounts. That’s the sorrel Tait always rode. Take that black; it’s a better horse than the other three,” he said as he climbed up on Tait’s sorrel.

  “Where are we headed?” she asked.

  “West.”

  They galloped out of Brimstone and within seconds were swallowed up by darkness.

  Shifting to get more comfortable, Kate glanced over at Joe. He’d regained consciousness in time to see Rose and Zach ride away, and was now struggling to free himself. Kate did the same to keep up appearances.

  After about fifteen minutes Joe succeeded in freeing his hands, and he’d just finished untying Kate when the rest of the gang returned from the restaurant.

  Bull’s lips narrowed in a disgusted line when Joe told him of Zach’s escape. “How could he have gotten out of that barn without you seein’ him?”

  “He had help, Bull—two people rode off on the west road. I only got a glance, but it looked to be a woman with him.”

  “Most likely that Dubois gal,” Pike said.

  “Them two’s been together all this time. You dumb idiot! Why wasn’t ya watchin’ like ya wuz supposed to be doin’?”

  “I wuz till I set down to eat my pie.” Joe looked around and picked the pie up off the ground, brushed it off, then proceeded to eat it.

  Bull tramped over to Kate. “I suppose yer gonna tell me you didn’t see who wuz with him either.”

  “It all happened so quickly, Bull, I really don’t know.”

  “I think ya do. Yer coverin’ up for your murderin’ girlfriend, ain’t ya?”

  “Bull, you knowed as well as I that gal never killed—”

  Bull smacked him across the mouth. “Shut up, Joe.”

  “Hey, Bull,” Cain said, running up to them. “ ’Pears like MacKenzie rode off on Tait’s sorrel. And the black that Pike wuz riding’s gone, too.”

  “Shit!” Bull looked furious and turned his wrath on Kate. “Ya know more than yer tellin’ me, so start talkin’ or that face of yours ain’t gonna look so pretty when I’m done with ya. Where are they headed for?”

  Fear rose in Kate, as chilling as a blast of northern air in winter. These men were murderers—and she had angered the worst one of them.

  “I’ve told you everything I know, Bull. This all has been very distressing to me. I’m going back to the restaurant.” Kate turned to leave, but Bull grabbed her arm.

  “Ya gonna be more distressed, sister, if ya don’t tell me where they’re headed.”

  She cried out in pain when he twisted her arm, forcing her to her knees. “I swear I don’t know. They didn’t say. Please stop, you’re hurting me.”

  “I’ll break your damn arm if you don’t tell me.”

  “Let her go, Bull. Can’t you tell she’s tellin’ the truth?” Joe yelled. “Who cares about MacKenzie anyway? He don’t mean nothin’ to us.”

  “He killed Tait,” Cain said.

  “So what? I never liked Tait either,” Joe argued. “ ’Sides, Tait was a damn fool to think he could outdraw MacKenzie. We all seen how fast he is.”

  “Yeah, well, MacKenzie prodded him into drawin’,” Pike declared in defense of his dead leader.

  Snarling, Bull shoved Kate to the ground. “This is wastin’ time. Let’s get movin’. MacKenzie’s got a big enough head start on us as it is.”

  Kate lay still, too petrified to move as they continued to argue.

  “Why risk our asses goin’ after him?” Joe asked. “Let’s just clear out like we planned.”

  “You ain’t figured it out yet, have ya? The money Tait took from Rayburn’s safe wuz in the saddlebags on the sorrel MacKenzie rode off on. We gotta find him.”

  “But you ain’t got no horse, Bull,” Joe said.

  “No, you ain’t; ’cause I’m takin’ yours.”

  “What am I gonna do?”

  “Steal one, if yur comin’ with us.”

  Relieved that Bull hadn’t put a bullet into her, Kate got to her feet as the gang hurried to their horses. If she was any judge of human nature, Zach MacKenzie would have no problem evading this gang. But Bull had raised a good question: just where was he headed when he and Rose rode away? He could have chosen any direction, so why west?

  She brushed herself off and was on her way back to the restaurant when the sheriff and his posse rode up.

  “Howdy, ma’am,” the sheriff said. “Ain’t it pretty late for you to be out walkin’ the streets, Miz McDermott? Especially with the recent murders.”

  She considered the sheriff not much better than the gang that had just left. “It’s a lot safer now that Tait’s gang of outlaws have left.”

  “What gang?”

  “That other posse you deputized. Sheriff Bloom, how could you give Jess Tait and his gang of outlaws a legal right to shoot innocent people!” Her eyes blazed with indignation. “They admitted that Tait killed Stephen Rayburn and stole money from his safe.” She put her hands on her hips and stamped her foot in the dust. “And you . . . you’ve been out trying to hunt down an innocent man and woman. While you were gone, Tait tried to kill Zach MacKenzie: the only man in this town willing to stand up against that lying bully, and accuse the real murderer. Fortunately Tait failed, and Zach shot him before he had a chance to try it again. Then, thanks to your blunder, your deputies tried to shoot Zach, but he mana
ged to take cover in that old barn down the street. Are you following me?” she asked, making no attempt to conceal her anger. She paused to take a breath.

  “Reckon so. MacKenzie’s down in the barn now,” he said.

  “I didn’t say that. He escaped, and those scoundrels took off after him because he rode off on Tait’s horse.”

  “They were just doing their duty. Horse thieving’s a serious crime in these parts, Miz McDermott.”

  “Oh-h-h, you’re impossible!” She was so angry she shook her fist at him. “You don’t seem to care about murder or cattle rustling, but stealing a horse is a major crime. For your information, Sheriff Bloom, duty had nothing to do with it. Those cutthroats rode after him because Tait left the money he stole from Rayburn in his saddlebags. Now, just what do you intend to do about it?”

  “Go down to the Long Horn and have a drink. Me and the boys have been riding most of the day. We’re hungry, thirsty, and tired.”

  Kate was on the verge of screaming with frustration when Charlie Jenkins, the telegraph operator, ran up to them.

  “Sheriff, have you seen Zach MacKenzie? He’s been waiting for this telegram all day.” Jenkins held up the paper clutched in his hand.

  “Nope. Understand he rode out of here.”

  “Pursued by a bunch of outlaws trying to kill him,” Kate spoke up, with a derogatory glance at the sheriff.

  Jenkins chuckled. “They best hope they don’t succeed. He ain’t no outlaw. Zach MacKenzie’s a Texas Ranger.”

  Chapter 23

  Despite the need to put distance between them and Brimstone as quickly as possible, Zach followed the road at a moderate speed. It would be foolhardy to gallop across the rugged terrain at night; one of the horses might step in a pothole and break a leg. Right now a healthy horse was more necessary than his Colt. His shoulder ached, his leg felt like it was on fire, and the ride wasn’t doing either of the wounds any good. He was still losing blood. Eventually they’d have to stop to treat the wounds, or he wouldn’t be worth spit in the wind.

  Zach turned his head and glanced at the silent rider behind him. Conversation was impossible at the moment, but Rose appeared to be doing fine. She had a lot of grit. Fiery and feisty, willing to challenge him even about the time of day, but in a crisis she trusted his judgment.

  There was so much he had to tell her. He couldn’t help but worry how Rose would take the news that he was a Texas Ranger. She made no secret about how she hated lawmen, and probably would be more upset that he was a Ranger than a lowdown drifter. Yeah, she’d hit the roof for sure.

  But he couldn’t have told her sooner. He’d been working undercover; then she’d become engaged to the very man he suspected.

  Zach grimaced in pain, thinking of Will Grainger. Will had been his contact with the Ranger office, but more than that, had been a mentor to Zach—as he had been to Josh before him. He loved the old-timer, and when Pike and Cain had brought in Will’s body, he’d wanted to start blasting at them right then and there.

  Granted, he’d had plenty of time to admit the truth to her today, but they both had too much on their minds to muddy up the water any more than it was already.

  As soon as they were out of this mess, though, he’d set her down and explain.

  Knowing Rose, she’d be madder than hell. Zach grinned. The beauty was, she’d get over it just as fast. Because now they were committed to each other. It was a new feeling—one he hadn’t understood before.

  He’d always been curious about those special looks between his father and mother, but now he understood what they meant: commitment. An unspoken message that said, right or wrong, I’m there for you.

  And that was the feeling between Rose and him. It meant he’d put her welfare ahead of his own, as she would for him. Sure, somewhere in the mixture he knew that loving her and wanting her physically was part of it, too; but the feeling went far beyond love, or sex, or the desire to be with her above all others. It was like what they were doing now: riding through the night together, no physical contact of any kind, not even talking—yet having an awareness of each other that comforted.

  He’d never expected that one day he’d know this feeling.

  And it felt good.

  When large raindrops began to splatter the dust, Zach reined in and Rose rode up beside him.

  “There’s a poncho in my saddlebags. Better put it on.”

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’ll be okay.”

  Rose dug the garment out of the saddlebags, and by the time she managed to get it on the storm had moved in on them.

  Jagged lightning pierced the darkness, accompanied by earsplitting booms of thunder. Rose jerked in fright every time one of the luminous spears streaked from the sky.

  She was scared of lightning—petrified of it. She’d carried the fear in her heart since childhood, when her mother had warned her that lightning was a sign of God’s anger for their sins.

  Now, helpless and unprotected, Rose hunched lower in the saddle and feared His anger was directed at her. Were her and Zach’s sins so grievous to have incurred His wrath?

  In no time, the rain began to cascade in waterfalls off the granite summits of the buttes, flowing like rivers through the gulches and narrow ravines below to gorge even deeper into the existing gullies. Visibility had narrowed to a few feet, and conversation was impossible. She felt relieved when Zach motioned to the rocky wall bordering the road. Although it couldn’t offer any protection, she figured that standing in the storm was a darn sight better than riding through it.

  Shivering, Rose watched as Zach began to check along the base of the rocky wall. After several feet she could no longer see him through the downpour, but he reappeared a few moments later.

  Grabbing the reins of her horse, he motioned to her to follow. After about twenty yards he stopped at where his horse had been tethered to a scrub of tumbleweed.

  “There’s room to shimmy under that layer of rock over there,” he shouted, above the thunder.

  Rose nodded and crawled under the projecting slab of rock. Zach followed close behind, and she shifted onto her side to make room for him. They were cramped, lying face-to-face on their sides, but at least it got them out of the storm.

  Rose was shivering so hard her teeth began to rattle.

  “What are you doing?” Zach asked, when she began squirming in an effort to get out of the wet poncho.

  “This poncho’s wet and bulky.” She worked it up to her waist, then managed to raise her head and shoulders high enough to enable Zach to shove it over her head. Although her skirt was sodden, her bodice was only damp.

  Zach pulled Rose closer and she willingly cuddled against him. Gradually the warmth of their combined body heat penetrated through her wet clothing, and she stopped shivering.

  “This storm should pass over soon,” he said. His breath was a pleasant warmth at her ear.

  “Keep talking, MacKenzie. It feels good.”

  He kissed her until she was breathless. “How does that feel?”

  “Even better,” she said.

  “I have a pint of whiskey in my saddlebags. We could use it right now.”

  “Don’t even think of moving,” she commanded. “I’m just beginning to feel a little warmer. Besides, I can’t swallow lying down.” She attempted a smile.

  “Smiling, Miz Rose?”

  “Trying to. Sorry, but it’s the best I can offer when lying soaking wet under a rock while lightning and thunder are scaring the sass out of me. I’ve got a confession to make, Zach. I’m scared to death of lightning.”

  He hugged her tighter. “Honey, I told you I won’t let anything happen to you”

  “Right now I’m having a hard time believing you. Let’s try that kiss again.”

  He covered her lips, and for a few precious seconds she put everything out of her mind except the pure pleasure of the kiss. But regretfully, all good things had to come to an end.

  “Did it help?” he asked.
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  “Yes, but these wet clothes are a problem. If I had them off, I’d be in good shape.”

  He slid his hand inside her bodice. She gasped aloud when his cold hand touched her breast, but soon she felt the rise of heat as her body began to respond to the gentle massage.

  “I’d say, wet or dry, it feels like your body’s in fine shape, Miz Rose.”

  “I swear you’re perverted, Zach MacKenzie. You aren’t actually thinking about sex at a time like this.”

  “I do nothing but think about sex. However, I’m doing this for medicinal purposes: to warm you.”

  “Under any other circumstances I’d say you’re lying, but it is helping to warm me, so don’t stop.”

  He chuckled. “It’s helping to warm me, too, Rosie.”

  “Just the same, I hope we can get out of these wet clothes soon.”

  “Now who’s thinking about sex?”

  She nipped at his ear. “You know what I mean.”

  “Once the rain stops, we’ll be able to change clothes. I’m sure I can find something dry for you to put on.”

  “I’m ahead of you on that one. I stuffed some of my clothing into your saddlebags.” She yawned and her eyelids began to droop. “I think I’m falling asleep.”

  “If you’re afraid of lightning, how can you fall asleep in the middle of a storm?”

  “Because you’re holding me, Zach.”

  “That’s sweet, honey.” His voice trailed off and his hand stilled, her breast still cupped in his palm. Then the slight brush of his even breathing on her temple confirmed to her that he had fallen asleep.

  She closed her eyes.

  Rose was awakened by Zach kicking away the saddles he’d piled across the front of the opening. It was daylight, and more importantly, it wasn’t raining.

  When Rose squirmed out after him, she winced with pain. The effects of the beating had been exacerbated by sleeping on the ground in wet clothing. She was so stiff and sore she could barely move, and felt as if every bone in her body was aching.

  Zach was checking the horses, and she called, “Good morning.”