Sweet Talking Lawman (25 page)

As they approached
the sinkhole where Rance had been shot, Rafe lifted a hand and the group came
to a stop.  The distant sound of a night bird and the occasional squeak of
leather against leather as a horse shifted restlessly were the only sounds audible
as they waited quietly, their ears straining.  They sat silently,
listening, Rafe’s eyes on Spur, watching for any subtle changes that might
signal the presence of people.  After a few minutes of casting around the
area, his nose to the ground, the bulldog trotted back over and sat down on the
grass beside Rafe’s mount, his tail wagging, completely relaxed.

Levi nudged his mount
forward and stopped beside Rafe.  “What do you think?” his voice barely
above a whisper.

His coffee brown eyes
black in the darkness, the sheriff never looked at his deputy as he continued
to scan the darkness around them.  “I was hoping Spur would show some
interest around here, but I guess not.”  He cast a quick look over his
shoulder at the men behind him and came to rest on Mesa on the other side of
him.

Lord have mercy, he
thought mutely.  It should be a crime for a woman to look so beautiful
sitting astride a half trained horse, in the middle of a group of lawmen,
searching the night for God only knew what might be out there.  He must be
out of his mind bringing her along tonight.  But what choice did he
have?  Whoever took that shot at her could get to her, if he left her at
the house.  He couldn’t allow that to happen, even if she was the most
bullheaded, stubborn, independent woman he’d ever been around, he wouldn’t
allow that to happen.  He simply would not think about how good her body
felt against his, or how her sweet kisses robbed him of all reason.  He
shook his head, trying to redirect his thoughts, but it didn’t work.  He
swore softly and bumped his heel against the mare’s side, asking her to move
sideways toward Mesa on the blue roan stallion.  When their knees touched,
it drew her attention and she looked at him.

The look in his eyes
melted her anger.

He leaned toward her
and spoke softly.  “Mesa, I love you.  Will you marry me?”

Her perfectly shaped
brows arched in disbelief.  “Really, out here in the woods in the middle
of all these men.  You’re asking me
now
?”

A slow smile melted
across his face and he nodded.  “You can think about it ‘til we get back
to the house, but then we need to let Uci know so she and Jenny can help you
plan the weddin’.”  He cast a quick glance around him before looking back
at her.  “It needs to be soon.”

In spite of her
earlier pique, her heart melted just like her anger had, and she lifted one
hand to touch his face as she nodded.  “Yes.”

He grinned, then
swung around and looked at Levi.  “Let’s split into two groups.  I’ll
take Anderson, Mesa and Bob.  You take Clark and Gibby.”

Levi nodded. 
“I’ll head for the main road to the highway and work in from there.”

Rafe nodded. 
“We’ll ride toward the national forest and see what we can pick up.  Keep
your radios on but low volume, and if you spot anything back off and let me
know.  These people are dangerous, but we don’t want to let them get
away.”

Levi nodded.

Bob nudged his horse
toward the group.  “I didn’t quite hear her answer.  Did she say
yes?”

Mesa laughed behind
her hand as Rafe turned to face the old man.

“You got super
hearin’?” he asked.

Bob shook his
head.  “Don’t need it out here.  As quiet as it is tonight, you can
hear a cricket fart.  I heard her, I just didn’t understand what she
said.”

The rest of the group
snickered softly.

“Then ask the damn
cricket what she said,” Rafe groused as he turned his horse and rode
away.  Mesa fell in behind him, smiling at Bob and nodding her head.

They rode the woods
for another two hours, searching for any sign of vehicular traffic, without
success.  Spur trotted along, enjoying the unexpected outing in his own
canine way.

Rafe’s group was
paused for a listening break when the radio crackled and Levi’s voice came
through softly.

“Sheriff, we got a
truck moving real slow onto the back side of the ranch from the national
forest.  It’s following an old logging road, moving to the southwest.”

Rafe smiled.  “I
think we’re close to that road, probably a couple of miles inside the
ranch.  Just sit tight where you are for now.  If you see any more
traffic, key the radio, but don’t talk.  I’m gonna see if we can follow
the truck if it comes this way.  If it turns or stops before it gets here,
we’ll start movin’ toward it.”

Levi acknowledged his
instructions as Rafe turned and looked at Bob.  “I want you and Mesa to
leave now and head back to the house.  It looks like the action will be
here and I don’t want y’all anywhere near it.”

“I’m not leaving,”
Mesa replied softly, drawing his eyes to her.

“Sugar, this is not
the time for this,” he said firmly.  “I want you safe.”

She shrugged and
turning, pulled a pistol from a pocket on the back of her saddle and slid it
down into the waistband of her jeans in the middle of her back.  “Bob and
I will stay back, but if you get in trouble, we’ll be here to help you.” 
She cut her eyes to her old foreman.  “Are you armed?”

He grinned and
nodded.  “Yes ma’am.”

“Dammit to hell,”
Rafe swore.  “Why are y’all armed?  I brought you with me to protect
you.  Nobody told you to come armed.”

Mesa smiled as she
leaned toward him and stroked his cheek.  “You’ve finally asked me to
marry you.  Do you think I’m gonna take a chance on losing you now?”

Behind him, Rafe
heard Murphy Anderson stifle a snort of laughter, and a reluctant smile twitched
at the corners of his own mouth.  He looked at the two men, his brows
arched, then swung his attention back to her.  “I consider this
insubordination.”

Mesa grinned. 
“So fire me.”

He leaned close
enough only Mesa heard his words.  “Oh, sugar, I plan to set you on fire
but,” he set back in his saddle, his eyes holding hers.  “We’ll talk about
that later.”

Her face burned and
she was thankful for the concealing darkness.

“In the meantime, you
and Bob will take Spur with you and move over into that grove of scrub oaks and
stay there,” he instructed.  He looked at Murphy Anderson.  “I’m
gonna make sure we’re close enough to the road to hear any traffic, but I want
you to hang back a little.  If we’re close enough I’ll come back here.”

As Mesa turned her
mount toward the thicket of small oak trees, Rafe spoke again.  “Spur,
watch her.”  His hand signal indicated Mesa and the dog whined softly, but
as she rode away, he obediently trotted alongside the blue roan stallion.

Well screened from
the road, Mesa, Bob, and the bulldog sat silently and waited while Rafe rode
out of sight for a few minutes.  Shortly he returned to where Anderson was
and they sat quietly, anticipating the sound of a slow moving vehicle.

After a few minutes,
they heard the distant rumble of a motor and their nerves tingled with
expectancy as it gradually grew louder, and then they could see the lights
flashing through the surrounding woods as it jostled along the rough two-lane
trail in their direction.  Rafe and Anderson turned their horses so the
lights wouldn’t accidently pick up any eye shine from either animal, but the
truck took an unexpected turn and changed direction.

“Damn,” Rafe
swore.  “I didn’t realize there was a turnoff that close.”  He swore
again when Bob and Mesa came out of the thicket to join him and Anderson.

“I bet I know where
they’re going,” Bob said as he approached.

Rafe’s attention
centered on the old cowboy.

“There’s an old shack
on a river bluff back there.  Use to be somebody’s home place.  Been
deserted for many, many years.  Me’n Rance rode back there several years
ago.  Just happened up on it by accident.”  His bushy brows knitted
in deep thought.  “I think there was an old log tobacco barn that was
still in pretty good shape too, if I remember right.  It’s about a mile
and a half from here.”

Rafe looked
skeptical.  “I wouldn’t think any buildin would survive with the rainy
season floodin’ the river like it has the last few years.”

The old cowboy shook
his head.  “It’s on a high bluff and set back far enough from the water
that boaters would never see it, so I doubt it’s ever even been
vandalized.  Not many people would boat this far up the river and then
just randomly get out to explore the bluff.  Fishermen float, boaters
boat.”

Rafe shrugged. 
“We’ll head in that direction, but let’s wait for Levi’s group.”  He
lifted his hand held radio and spoke softly into it.  “Any more traffic,
Levi?”  There was only a random crackle of sound for a long minute and
then Levi’s voice broke the silence.

“Yeah, another truck
just passed and there was a jeep SUV right behind it.”

Rafe frowned. 
“Why don’t you give Gibby your radio and let him stay there out of sight and
warn us of any more traffic comin’ in.  You and Clark head in this
direction.  We’ll stay out of sight until the truck and jeep turn
off.  Then we’ll wait for you near the turn off.  We might need to
call for reinforcements.  This looks like a pretty big operation.”

Levi responded
affirmatively and Rafe shifted in the saddle to look at Bob.  “You and
Mesa can come with us for part of the way, but when we start getting close I
want you both back away from the action.”  He cut his eyes to the
woman.  “Got that?”

She nodded and Bob
grunted his acknowledgement.

“Right now, we’re
lookin’ at probably between six and ten people, so far.  But they won’t be
expectin’ us, so we have an advantage.”

Mesa watched him with
nervous eyes.  She knew Rafe was an experienced law enforcement officer
and was well trained, but she couldn’t help the knot of apprehension that
tightened around her heart.  Four officers facing up to ten men who had
already shown they weren’t concerned at the thought of shooting people. 
Her horse danced restlessly between her legs, feeling her tension and she stroked
his neck to soothe him, but it didn’t seem to help.

Spur sat near Rafe’s
mount, whining occasionally and casting worried eyes toward the cut off the
vehicle had taken.

The sound of another
approaching engine warned that the second truck and the jeep were advancing
toward the fork in the road, and the group grew silent except for
To
’s continued restlessness.  Mesa stroked
his neck, trying to calm him and Rafe eased the palomino mare he was riding to
the side, closer to the roan stallion.  The mare gently nosed the restless
roan’s shoulder.  The closeness of the other horse worked wonders and
To
immediately calmed, to stand quietly next to
the mare.  Mesa shrugged and glanced at Rafe.  He nodded and winked
at her.  Leaning toward her he whispered.  “We like havin’ our women
close enough to touch.”

  The
automobiles slowed and made the turn and the sound of their motors slowly
receded into silence.  Shortly after that they heard the sounds of Levi
and Clark approaching through the woods, parallel to the dirt track.

Once the others had
joined them, the group moved through the woods corresponding to the track the
vehicles had taken.  The sounds of the horses traveling through the brush
was surprisingly loud, but Rafe wanted to stay off the dirt track in case another
vehicle came later.  He didn’t want to leave hoof marks in the soft
dirt.  In the darkness they approached a copse of small trees a little
further from the road and they headed for it.  After they reached it, Rafe
lifted one hand and brought them all to a stop.  He dismounted and
motioned for his deputies to follow suit, but for Bob and Mesa to remain
mounted.  He stepped up beside the young stallion that she rode and rested
one hand on her knee, looking up at her.

“This is as far as
you and Bob go.  I want y’all to wait here with the horses and stay out of
sight.”  His hand stroked her knee absently as he spoke, his voice barely
above a whisper.

Mesa nodded.  “I
understand, but how will we know when it’s over?”

“You might not know
anything for a while, but,” his whispered voice grew stern.  “You are not
to come any further.  Do you understand?”

She nodded again, but
Rafe couldn’t get past the fear that she didn’t plan to follow his
instructions.  “Mesa,” he tried again.  “I need you to promise me
that no matter what happens, you will not come stormin’ in there thinking
you’re ridin’ to our rescue.  Stay. Here. Promise. Me?”

She looked at
him.  “I’ll try.”

He shifted his
attention to Levi.  “Get back on your horse and take her back to the house. 
We’ll try to wait for you to get back before we go in.”

Surprise marked the
deputy’s face, but after a second he nodded and swung up into the saddle.

“Alright,” Mesa’s
whispered response was rasped out coarsely, knowing Rafe wouldn’t wait until
Levi returned, but would go in being short one deputy to make sure she was
safe.  She couldn’t let him do that.  “I promise I’ll stay
here.  I’m not going back to the house and leave you here short a
man.”  She dismounted and stepped up close to him.  “But you better
not get hurt.  You hear me?”