Newton (Prairie Grooms Book 9) (17 page)

“No time for discussion now. Sadie’s informed you of the situation?” Logan nodded. “Good. You still keep a rifle in the back or your wagon?”

“Of course I do,” Logan replied.

“Get it. As soon as Cozette has changed, we’ll leave.”

“I’ll go see about some horses.” Sheriff Hughes said. He too had been staring at Duncan throughout the conversation, and now hurried out the door.

“Don’t bother telling me,” Susara said as she reached the group. “I heard.” She took Sadie by the hand. “I guess this means it’s just you and me for dinner.”

“And me!” Sally Upton called as she crossed the dining room. “I couldn’t help but overhear some of it. And I don’t like being alone when there’s trouble going on.”

“Quite right, Mrs. Upton,” Duncan said. “Sadie, Susara, stay here. I’d let you drive the wagon home yourselves, but it’s too dark. Besides, I don’t want you out there with unsavory characters about.”

Sadie and Susara nodded in agreement as Mrs. Upton stared at Duncan’s guns. “Where in tarnation did you get those?”

“England,” he said in explanation, turned on his heel and headed for the stairs.

“No sooner does the man get back, than the trouble starts,” Mrs. Upton commented with a shake of her head. “Well, there’s no help for it.” She wedged herself between Sadie and Susara, putting an arm around each of them. “Let’s fetch dessert.”

“I can’t eat now,” Sadie said. “I’ll be too worried until they return with Arya.”

“Me too,” Susara added.

“Ladies,” Mrs. Upton said. “I have to have something or I’ll go plumb crazy thinking about it. At least sit with me.”

Sadie sighed. “All right, but I don’t know which is worse.”

“What?” Susara asked.

“Being on this end, worrying about whether or not a family member will be brought home safe, or
being
the family member and wondering if
you’ll be brought home at all.”

“If anyone would know, it’d be you,” Susara said. “Maybe I will have some dessert.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mrs. Upton said and ushered them back into the dining room.

“
A
nd another thing
!” Spider yelled in the new arrival’s face. “I found her, so I’m gonna keep her!”

“No, you’re not,” the other man stated calmly.

Spider wasn’t having it. He raised his gun and pointed it at the man’s face. “Get on out of here before I put a window in yer head!”

“If you had the guts to shoot me, you’d have done it a long time ago.”

Spider backed up a step. “Don’t push me!”

Despite her current predicament, Arya was finding this fascinating. She could catch most of what they said (or in Spider’s case, yelled). From what she could gather, someone else wanted the duchess and it wasn’t to ransom her. On the contrary, the newcomer was there to retrieve her for some other man, but she had no idea who or why.

“Let’s get down to the business at hand, shall we?” the newcomer asked. He pushed Spider’s gun aside, reached into his coat and pulled out a small bundle.

“What’s that?” Spider asked, suspicious.

“See for yourself,” the man said and tossed it to him.

Spider caught it, loosened the drawstrings that sealed it and looked inside. “Well I’ll be …” He looked at the man in shock. “Are ya serious?”

“Turn her over to me and what’s in that pouch is yours.”

Uh-oh,
Arya thought. This wasn’t good. It was one thing to be held captive by a band of imbeciles, another to be handed over to a seemingly intelligent man with a clear-cut agenda. Worse, he wasn’t alone. So far she’d only seen one other man with him, but who knew if there were more lurking somewhere? She pulled at her bonds, and felt the ropes stretch. Maybe they were old …

“Come now, I haven’t got all night. Give me an answer.”

“I dunno – what if I could get more from a ransom?” Spider asked. “I did ask for fifteen thousand …”

“Twenty,” Clinton corrected.

“… twenty thousand dollars,” Spider said.

“I thought it was ten?” Johnny asked.

“Will ya shut up!” Spider snapped. He fingered the bag, then tested its weight in his hand. “This is a lot of gold dust, but not twenty thousand worth.”

“There’s more. Do we have a deal?”

Spider took the drawstrings of the pouch in his teeth, tightened them, then shoved the pouch into his coat pocket. “Who you workin’ fer? Why’s he so interested in this duchess?”

“Let just say she’s a long lost relative that he wants found.”

Spider eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t believe ya.” He belatedly remembered he still had his gun drawn and pointed it at him. “I’ll have to think about yer offer.”

“That would be most unwise,” the man said in a soft, menacing voice.

Arya shivered at that and worked harder to free herself. She was in the shadows now, hoping they were too busy arguing to pay attention to her. But that might not last long. If Spider told the man no, he and his men might get themselves shot. If he said yes, she would simply be in the new man’s hands all the quicker. Regardless, she could tell the newcomer wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. She needed to move fast –

Snap.
Arya froze. The idiots must have bound her wrists with rotten rope. Her hands were free! Now she had to deal with the rope binding her ankles and the one they’d used to lash her to the tree.

Thankfully, Spider was an even bigger idiot than she’d thought. “Nah, I ain’t gonna give up my prize so easily. I already done asked for twenty thousand, so unless yer plannin’ to cough up twenty-five …”

“Thirty!” Johnny hissed.

“Which part of ‘shut up’ don’t ya understand? Anyways, unless yer plannin’ to cough up thirty-five …”

Arya tried to lean forward to untie her ankles, but the rope binding her to the tree stopped her. So that would have to come first. She kept watching the men as she fingered the bonds behind her, feeling for a knot. If she was really lucky, they’d knotted it near her … aha, they did!

“Enough of this!” the newcomer snapped and pulled his gun.

BANG!

Arya jumped, but was smart enough not to make a noise. She couldn’t afford to draw any attention, not right now. Quickly she untied the knot and loosened the ropes, then reached for her ankles and fought with the bonds until they too were loose. Her captors needed to invest in some new rope if they wanted to stay in the ransom business.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the newcomer declared as he poked a finger through the new hole in his hat. “Don’t you realize how much a Stetson costs?”

“What do ya expect, bargin’ into my camp and wantin’ to steal my prisoner? Ya got me stirred up – now I’m liable to shoot anyone!” He aimed for Clinton, who’d decided this was a bad job and had been trying to slink away unnoticed. “Moresy! Get yer sorry hide over here!”

Clinton was stupid, but no fool. He yelped in alarm and took off at a run.

“I said get over here!” Spider yelled, aiming into the darkness as his men dove for cover. He fired, then leaned slightly forward, listening. Nothing but the shot’s echo reached his ears. “Did any of ya hear a body drop?”

His men glanced at each other and shook their heads.

“Ya mean I missed? Dagnabit! A couple of ya go after that worthless varmint and bring him back here!”

Johnny and the other of his men trotted into the darkness.

“No, wait!” They stopped and walked back into the firelight. “Don’t … don’t bother bringin’ him back alive. Just shoot him and drag back the carcass. My night’s ruined anyway.”

“That’s not all that’s ruined,” the other man drawled as he put on his hat. “We’re taking the girl.”

“Back to that, is it?” Spider snapped as his other two men pulled out revolvers. “Seems to me ya need to learn how to take a hint. It’s well past time for ya two to leave – I’ve had enough foolishness for one evenin’.” He smiled in satisfaction as he heard his men’s guns cocked.

Then he saw the satisfied look on the other man’s face as at least a dozen other men strode into the firelight, guns drawn.

“You were saying?”

“Er …” Spider said as his eyes bounced from one gun to the next. Then he scowled as he heard
his
men drop their guns. “I guess I’ll just take that thirty-five thous–”

“Ten. That’s what’s in the pouch.”

“Ten!” Spider barked. “But what about the thirty-five?”

“I never agreed to that.” The man snatched Spider’s gun out of his hand. “We’ll call the ten your … finder’s fee.”

Spider growled at him, then spit on the ground. “Go ahead then, ya worthless sidewinder! Take her!”

“I knew you’d see it my way.” The man turned to where the prisoner was tied … froze … then spun back and leveled Spider’s own pistol at him. “You lying toad.”

Spider rolled his eyes. “Don’t ya ever stop? Ya got what ya wanted, didn’t ya?!”

“Doesn’t look like it.” The newcomer nodded to the side, inviting Spider to see for himself.

Spider did, and saw … some empty ropes tied around a tree. The duchess was gone! “Oh, for cryin’ out lmmgph!”

The newcomer had shoved the barrel of the gun into Spider’s mouth. “Where is she?” he growled.

“Hwhh gwm mnff?”

The man frowned, pulled the gun out and placed it against Spider’s forehead. “What was that again?”

“I said, how should I know?”

“You’d better find her, or you’re a dead man.”

“Me? She’s yer problem now! I’ve done collected my
finder’s fee
. Ain’t my problem no more!”

“You may be right … but I’m pretty sure this bullet in the chamber
is
your problem.”
BANG!

The others stared as Spider dropped like a felled steer. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Now then,” the newcomer said, looking around at the two remaining members of Spider’s former gang. “Are you going to co-operate, or do you want to follow this idiot?”

Johnny and the other man quickly assured him they would gladly obey.

“Glad to hear it. Now, all of you – spread out and find her! If you don’t, it’ll be your heads too! If you do –” He knelt down by Spider’s body and fished the bag of gold dust out of his coat. “– this bag of gold goes to the one who gets her. Now move it.”

Most of the men complied. But Johnny, always curious, held back. “Hope you don’t mind my askin’ …”

“You’d better hope I don’t,” the newcomer said softly.

Johnny gulped. “… but, um … where’d y’all get all that gold?”

The man looked at him with an odd expression as men mounted horses, lit lanterns and headed out in all directions. “I’m told it comes from a place called …” He scanned the darkness around them, as if he dared not speak it. “… Muirara.”

N
ewton and Seth
had been searching for nearly an hour by the time Sheriff Hughes returned with help. “Thank the Lord you’re here,” Newton said.

Sheriff Hughes held a lantern up, illuminating the horses and men gathered. “This was all I could find, but now there’s enough of us to get the job done.”

“Who’s going to help track?” Newton asked.

“I am,” Cozette announced as she hopped off the back of the horse she and Duncan were riding. She went to stand before Newton, armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows.

“You … are?” Newton asked in surprise.

“Rest assured, she’s as good as Seth or Ryder,” Duncan said. “My wife will find yours in no time.”

Newton nodded. Apparently everything he’d heard about Her Grace was true. “I trust you’ll be sufficient for the task, Your Grace,” he told Cozette with a slight bow.

“Have you found anything?” Duncan asked.

“Nothing,” Seth said. “We lost the trail and I can’t pick it up again. It’s too dark.”

Duncan dismounted, went to his wife and took her in his arms. “It’s up to you now.” He looked at her, kissed her tenderly, then said, “Find Arya.”

To the men’s amazement, she smiled, as if looking forward to the challenge. She turned, closed her eyes and stood stock still a moment.

“What in Sam Hill is she doing?” Logan whispered.

“Quiet,” Duncan ordered.

Logan gave Sheriff Hughes a sideways glance, but he only shrugged. Harrison, Seth and Newton stood nearby, watching and waiting.

Cozette opened her eyes. “That way,” she said and pointed.

The men looked at one another. “How can you be so sure?” asked the sheriff.

“Suffice to say, gentlemen, I’ve hunted with my wife enough to know that this is her method – and it works every time,” Duncan informed them. “Let’s go.”

Sheriff Hughes and Logan exchanged another glance, shrugged again and followed.

Harrison sat on his horse, still trying to take it in, as Duncan swung up into the saddle. “Brother, might I ask what you and your wife have been hunting?”

“Remind me to tell you when we get back to the ranch.” Duncan kicked his feet into the stirrups. “That and a few other things will need to be explained, I’m afraid. But now is not the time.”

“Quite,” Harrison said as they spurred their horses and followed Cozette.

“How can she see in the dark?” the sheriff asked. “Heck, I can’t even see
her
!”

Seth and Newton mounted and caught up with them. “Is your wife part cat, then?” Newton asked.

“Not at all,” said Duncan. “But she was raised by one of the finest trackers I’ve ever known, if not
the
finest.”

“Anton Duprie must be quite the man,” Newton said. “I hope to meet him one day.”

“I’m sure you will, but let’s concentrate on retrieving your wife first before she comes to any sort of harm.”

“Agreed.”

The men followed Cozette as best they could. She stopped now and then to let them catch up. Finally she waited until they had all gathered around. Seth got off his horse, handed the reins to Newton and joined her. “Look,” she said, pointing at the ground.

Seth held the lantern up and could see indentations in the prairie grass. “Yep, she was here all right. Her and a few others, from the looks of it.”

Newton jumped off his horse and knelt next to Seth. “I knew it.” He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “How long ago?”

Cozette examined the ground. “A few hours at most.”

“How many?” Newton asked.

She stood. “I would say four, along with your wife.”

“Four!” Newton said. “Good Lord! Where did they take her?”

“This way.” She took off into the darkness on foot.

The men followed, except for Sheriff Hughes, who agreed to stay and watch the horses. “Can barely see my hand in front of my face anyway,” he told the others.

Newton, his heart thundering in his chest, stayed right at Cozette’s side. “We’ve got to find her, Your Grace. The poor dear must be frightened out of her wits. If they’ve harmed her, I’m going to …”

“They have not harmed her,” Cozette stated as she stopped and examined the ground again.

“How can you say that? How do you know?”

He couldn’t see her face well in the dark but knew she was looking at him as she stood. “Because you would feel it in your heart.”

“What?” How could she know about that?

“That, and we have not heard any screams.”

He hadn’t thought of that – and didn’t want to. This whole business had him on edge and he wanted to hit something, hard. Even when they did find her, searching in the dark would take hours. Who knew what atrocities his wife would have suffered by then?

A sudden crack rent the air and echoed over the prairie.

“Pistol shot,” Cozette stated. “Less than a mile away.” She waited for the men to gather around again. “They will see our lanterns.”

“Blow them out,” Duncan ordered. “Seth, go back and have Sheriff Hughes bring the horses as close as he can, then catch up to us on foot. If we’re lucky, they built a fire.”

Newton swallowed hard as a wave of calmness swept over him. “She’s alive,” he whispered.

Cozette looked at him and offered a gentle smile. “Yes, she is.” They moved slowly through the darkness.

The cloud cover was heavy, and Newton knew it was only a matter of time before it started to rain. Thank Heaven they found Arya’s trail before it had been washed away. Now all they had to do was find Arya. She had to be near – he could sense her, as if they were in the same room. The fear he’d felt earlier was gone, but that didn’t mean his wife wasn’t frightened. Perhaps it was just his sense of relief at finding her trail.