Heart of Gold (5 page)

Now the sun was getting awful close to setting behind the Big Horns, and once it was gone, so was his hope of tracking his boss’s wayward daughter. No light meant he couldn’t see her tracks. He only hoped she planned to bed down instead of continuing on. There were too many things that could happen to a rider in the night. If her horse stumbled, or shied…

And then he topped a rise and caught sight of a riderless Misty standing near a grove of trees and all rational thought fled his mind. He kicked his horse into a gallop and only saw the landscape flying by in fractured pieces.

When he reached Misty, he threw himself off the animal, shouting, “Opal!”

Where was she?

Desperation, fear clawed at his throat as he imagined her body lying broken on the ground somewhere—

And then she appeared out of the trees, hair wind-tousled and falling out of a simple braid, frowning fiercely at him.

“Go away, Charlie.”

The stubborn tilt of her chin and her flashing eyes sent relief spiraling through him. He strode over to her and took her upper arms in his shaking hands.

She was alive. Unhurt. He hadn’t failed to find her.

“What’s the matter?” Opal demanded, then seemed to change her mind. “Nevermind. I want you to get back on your horse and go back and tell my father you didn’t find me.”

He ignored her finger pointed toward Turk. “That’s not going to happen.”

That pert chin hiked up. “I’m not going back, so unless you plan to escort me to Sheridan, you’re wasting your time. I must get back to the children and I have a wedding to plan.”

Her sassy attitude quickly overpowered his relief and he scowled. “Do you even know where you’re going? Because Sheridan is that direction.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You’ve backtracked some and it’s probably a two-day ride from here.”

He thought he saw her lower lip tremble, but she simply crossed her arms and glared at him.

“And I don’t know if you thought about this before you ran off, but horse thievin’ is a punishable crime out here.”

“I didn’t steal Misty,” she said quickly, hands gesturing wildly as she went on. “I planned to have her boarded in Sheridan until you or my father could come get her.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I have to get back to Omaha.”

Before he could follow up on her mention of a wedding—why hadn’t he heard about her suitor before this?—the sound of a pistol hammer being cocked froze him in place.

“Well, lookie here…”

Three scruffy, ill-kept men stepped out of the brush, weapons pointed at Charlie and Opal. “Looks like we’ve stepped in the middle of a lover’s spat or sumpin’.”

“Reckon you two had better not make any fast movements.” The largest of the men, with a scraggly black beard, waved his pistol at Charlie. “And I’d ‘preciate it if you’d throw down that gun belt you’re wearin’.”

Charlie reached to unbuckle the leather belt at his waist, lowering it gently to the ground even as he stepped in front of Opal. He didn’t like the light in the men’s eyes as they looked on her greedily.

How had he let himself get so distracted? If he hadn’t been so focused on making sure Opal was all right, he would’ve sensed the men sooner.

“Whatever it is you’re after,” and Charlie had a sneaking suspicion about what it could be, “I’ll ask you to leave my wife out of this. She can ride on back the way she came.”

“Wife?” One of the men asked, a leer in his voice. He spat a wad of tobacco on the ground. “Pretty lil thang like her ain’t married to a cowboy like you, is she?”

Charlie cut his eyes toward Opal, praying she would play along with his white lie. Although the illusion of being married might not buy her much protection if these were the sort of scoundrels he thought they were, they might think twice about their plans with a husband around bent on protecting her.

“She is,” Opal said faintly, moving to Charlie’s side and slipping under the arm he raised to wrap around her shoulders.

She trembled like an autumn leaf in a windstorm.

“We ain’t here for the woman,” Black Beard said to the other men. “We want the gold.”

Opal stiffened against his side and Charlie squeezed her once, hoping to offer what little comfort he could. He’d thought right. These were the same men that had chased and shot at them on their way to the Circle B from Sheridan. One of the men moved with a noticeable limp and had suspicious dark stains on his dirty trouser leg.

“I’ll take you to the mine,” Charlie said. “Why don’t you just let my wife go?”

“No deal,” said Black Beard, who seemed to be in charge. “She might ride to one of the neighbors and get a posse stirred up.”

She might, if she had any sense of direction or knew where any of the neighbors lived.

“She comes.”

Charlie chose not to argue with the man further. His mind raced ahead, trying to figure a way to get her out of this predicament.

“Slim, go get the horses,” Black Beard ordered, and one of the men moved back through the woods to where they must’ve stashed their mounts.

Charlie moved toward his horse, wondering if he could boost Opal into the saddle and get her out of here before the bandits would notice. He wasn’t too worried about himself. He knew the other cowhands would follow the tracks from the three other horses and catch them eventually. Might not be tonight, since the sunlight was already fading, but Charlie didn’t doubt his ability to hold his own against the three of them. He just wanted Opal out of the way and back to safety, where she belonged.

“I’m thinkin’ ya don’t need two horses between the two of ya,” Black Beard said, moving over to where Misty stood, placidly chewing some long grass stalks. He looped her reins over her saddle and slapped her rump, sending her galloping away. “It’ll be easier to keep an eye on both of ya if you ride together.” There was no mistaking the warning in his manner or his voice. Charlie couldn’t risk getting Opal hurt. Now she’d have to stick close to him.

“Shouldn’t we be settling down for the night? We can’t ride after dark, can we?” Opal asked. “How will we see where we’re going?”

“We got lanterns,” Black Beard grunted. “How far is it, cowboy?”

“Coupla miles, to my recollection.” With Opal still huddling under his outstretched arm, Charlie felt her tense and thought she probably remembered how he’d adamantly refused knowing about any gold. And he still didn’t know of any. But would she believe him after this?

“But—” Afraid she might blurt something out and ruin the crude plan he was concocting, Charlie did the only think he could think of to keep her quiet. He curved his arm around, pulled her close, and kissed her. Her lips were cool and sweet and tasted of sunshine. 

Looking down into her face was too much for him—he didn’t want to see it if she was angry—so he pressed his cheek to hers.

“We’ll be all right,” he whispered against her warmth. “If you just keep quiet.”

He expected the glare he got, but it made him smile anyway as he put one foot in his horse’s stirrup and swung into the saddle, then reached down for Opal.

~~~~

Chapter Seven

How had things gotten this bad this quickly?

Opal clung to Charlie’s middle, her chin against the back of his shoulder. He seemed so calm, unruffled, even though they were surrounded by three rough men with rifles trained loosely on them. With each of the three men carrying lanterns, the swaying, odd circles of light created strange shadows. The ground beneath the horses seemed to get steeper and steeper as they moved toward the mountains.

Yet being with Charlie, she still felt safe. She knew he’d do everything in his power to keep the cutthroats from hurting her.

And she couldn’t forget the press of his mouth against hers. Her first kiss, and it had been everything she’d imagined:

Heart-stopping.

Pulse-pounding.

Dizzying.

Who could have imagined her father’s foreman could ignite such an intense reaction?

“Where are we going?” she whispered, when she couldn’t hold her silence any longer.

He shook his head slightly, then addressed their captors. “You fellas mind if the wife and I switch around a bit? She’s been in the saddle all day and gettin’ a little tired.”

They were allowed to stop for a few moments and Charlie shifted them around so she sat across the saddle in front of him and could rest her head on his shoulder.

She couldn’t help tensing at the intimate position, but Charlie tucked her head against his neck, his chin against her forehead, and urged the horse to move forward again.

After a few moments, he whispered against her temple. “There’s an old miner’s shack nearby.”

She slid her arm behind his back and pinched his side. He didn’t move, but huffed a warm breath into her hair.

“There’s no gold in it. Your pa checked the shaft pretty thoroughly when he added this area to his spread.”

The momentary hope thrilling through her flitted away and as it did, exhaustion took its place. She sagged against Charlie, allowing him to support her weight.

He seemed to sense her melancholy and growing fear, because he used the hand not holding the reins to squeeze her to him. “Several of your pa’s men are out looking for you-us,” he murmured, almost silently. “They might not catch up to us tonight, but if we can last until morning…”

He didn’t finish his sentence but Opal could guess what he’d meant. The cavalry would arrive in the morning, so all Opal and Charlie had to do was stay alive until then.

“Whatever you do, just stay close to me.”

His nearness was difficult to bear. She’d responded to his kiss, relied on his warmth and strength now. But her feelings for him also unnerved her. She had to remember he was still on her father’s payroll, was still loyal to Frank. She knew she could trust Charlie to keep her alive, but something inside her wanted to trust him for more—and she wasn’t entirely sure that was a safe option.

Unable to fully relax, she became aware of Charlie’s tension when at last a crude shack rose out of the darkness ahead of them. A trickle of water sounded nearby. A stream? The bandits sat straighter in their saddles and started murmuring excitedly, but Opal couldn’t tell their exact words.

“Remember to stay close to me,” Charlie murmured into her hair.

The next few moments were a blur of terror and motion. While the other men were distracted, Charlie pushed Opal off the horse and followed her down, covering her body with his when they hit the ground.

“Hey!” One of the men cried out and then a gun boomed, but Charlie had already rolled them away. His horse whinnied and galloped off, disappearing into the darkness.

“Stay low to the ground,” Charlie ordered softly, pushing Opal forward behind an outcropping of rocks.

“I’ve got a derringer in my pocket,” she whispered fiercely as she scrabbled over the rough, rocky incline, scraping her hands in the process. “It only has one shot.”

“And I’ve a knife in my boot,” Charlie responded, hand at her waist. “Neither does us much good except at short distances. What we need is a good hiding spot. Maybe we can find the mine shaft…”

A shot rang out and rocks chipped a few feet away, spraying Opal with fine gravel. She cried out, unable to stifle the noise, and Charlie’s arms came around her, pulling her into his chest.

“Are you hit?”

“No, no—” she gasped, “It just frightened me.”

Light from one of the lanterns spilled in their direction. Could the bandits see them? Charlie swept her fully into his arms. “It should be here—”

And suddenly, they plunged past a leafy, fringed obstruction into a deeper, more consuming darkness.

Opal’s grip on his shoulders had tightened to the point of pain, but Charlie wasn’t going to complain. He had one shot at getting them out of this, and he intended to make it work. He couldn’t fail. Not now.

“The mine shaft was partially covered by that overgrown tree. You’d better pray they weren’t close enough to see where we ducked inside. If they think we’ve disappeared into the night, they might chase after and then we can head in the opposite direction. Maybe run into one of the other cowhands.”