Swept Away (23 page)

The first time he’d said,
“I’m going to get you out of here, ma’am. He can’t go on hurting you like this.”

Glynna had told him to leave her alone and get out. That was the first time Dr. Riker had come.

She’d tried to get Dr. Riker away for the same reason. To save his life.

The second time the boy had seen her was since Dr. Riker’s second visit. He’d come in and said nothing, but it was there in his eyes. His wish to protect her. The note
proved he was in communication with Luke Stone and probably Dr. Riker. If Flint found out, he’d kill them all.

God, what do I do?

She thought of that note sent from out of the blue. Luke Stone. Back. Glynna knew nothing except his father had sold the ranch to Greer.

But did she even know that? She only knew what she was told by a man who was the worst kind of evildoer. Lying would be his way. She would assume then that Flint had stolen this ranch and Luke was here to take it back.

Dr. Riker, swearing to help her.

Luke’s note with a plan to protect her and the children.

They had to be connected. Either that or she had two rescuers working independently. She prayed they knew about each other and could work together. They’d need their combined strength.

“As soon as my arm is better, I can milk the cow and gather eggs and tend the garden. I don’t need anyone running those errands. I’m not afraid of hard work.”

“I’m not letting you near my animals. And I’m not giving you a chance to flaunt yourself in front of my men. You stay inside, you . . .” Flint called her a vicious, profane name.

She didn’t react. An honorable woman would say something. She would demand he treat her with respect, but he was too brutal, and she’d heard it too many times before.

She’d decided earlier that she couldn’t ask Dr. Riker to risk his life for her, but now, today, she changed her mind. She’d risk her life, Luke’s life, and anyone else’s life to get out of here. To stay was to watch Flint destroy her children, even if he never laid a hand on them.

Glynna sat there not speaking. Waiting for whatever cruelty Flint would deal out to her, wondering how she’d been swept into this life.

C
HAPTER 15

“We can’t wait any longer.” Dare slammed both fists on the table.

“Where’s John?” Luke surged from where he sat. Usually he could keep himself still, but not today. It had been five days. “He should have been back by now. I’m sick of waiting.”

Vince leaned in the doorway, yet his eyes flared with satisfaction when Luke spoke of action. Jonas sat at the table, a picture of calm. Luke was tempted to punch the man of God just to get a reaction out of him.

“And I’m sick of hiding.” Luke grabbed his coffee cup. He’d be pacing and running into Dare if he didn’t get hold of himself. “It makes me feel like a coward, a rabbit hiding from a wolf.”

“I’m done. If it was just your land, we could wait.” Dare looked Luke in the eyes. “You know that doesn’t mean your land’s not important, but we could get it next week or next month. The end would be the same—you’d have it back. But Mrs. Greer is in danger.”

Luke looked at Vince. “If we wait any longer, the sheriff could come back.”

Vince nodded. “Something’s happened to John. Let’s get this finished so I can go hunting for him.”

“Jonas, you got anything to say?” Dare asked it as if he would turn violent if Jonas disagreed with him.

Jonas held his cup in two hands. Luke realized Jonas was strangling his coffee, more worried than he let on. “I’m ready, too. You’re right. Something’s delayed Big John. It might just be work. Some job he got assigned that he couldn’t get out of, but I doubt it. He wouldn’t let much stop him from coming back. So we need to finish this and go help him.” Jonas looked up. “Maybe we need to go help him first.”

“What about Glynna Greer?” Dare spoke quietly.

He was crazy to go rescue that woman. But Big John—Luke thought of all the times Big John had stood with them, shoulder to shoulder. He’d even personally fought off a man who’d stabbed Dare one time, then pulled the knife out of his back and staunched the bleeding.

“We have to get her out first,” Luke said. “I send the note tomorrow, telling her we move the next day. Then we wait for Greer to come to town, killing mad, thinking to drag her back home. That’s our chance to grab him without putting Mrs. Greer and her children in the crossfire.”

Luke looked at Ruthy. “You stand guard on that overlook. Probably some of Greer’s men will abandon their posts and come to town with him. Dodger says he can control the rest of the varmints at the ranch. I’m trusting you to go in there and get Mrs. Greer and her children out and bring them overland home.”

Even as he said it, he felt sick with fear for Ruthy. He looked at Dare, then Vince. “It’s not right. Ruthy shouldn’t be doing this alone.”

“Are you willing to go with her and leave catching Greer to us?” Dare asked.

“I oughta.” Then his eyes swung to Jonas. “How about you? You go with Ruthy and leave the three of us to handle Greer.”

“No,” Ruthy said. “All of you need to be here.”

“Greer will be riding to town, probably with a few of his men. The fight is here.” Jonas looked at Ruthy. “Are you sure you don’t want backup? I’ll ride with you if you want.”

Luke plunked down in the seat beside Ruthy, almost slopping his coffee over the brim of his cup. “If Greer doesn’t bring his men with him, or Dodger can’t control the ones that stay behind, then you can’t get in. You’ll have to wait for us to handle Greer, get him locked away, and come to help you. Mrs. Greer should be safe until we get there. What do you think?”

Ruthy’s eyes brimmed with determination. “I promise to use good judgment. If it’s not a situation I can handle, I’ll leave Glynna until I have help. If I think I can get in, bring her out, and get her hidden, then I’ll do it.”

Luke believed she would. “There’s just one more thing.” He knew his tone was deadly earnest by the way everyone turned to him.

Vince said, “What?”

“I want Ruthy to marry me. Now. Tonight. Before all this happens.”

“Luke,” she began, “what—?”

“If I die,” Luke said, cutting her off, “I want you to have my name. I want to rewrite my will. I want you to have a home.”

“So then I have to pick up the war you’ve started? If you die, it stands to reason Flint will live.”

“No he won’t,” Dare said with utter assurance.

Luke started again. “If I die—”

“Stop saying that!”

“If I die,” Luke repeated, “I want us to be married. My will right now leaves everything to my sister, but she doesn’t need this ranch. You do. You need a home, Ruthy. Why not take mine? You know you’re going to marry me sooner or later.”

“I do not.”

Luke’s dark eyes held her gaze. “I’m telling you we’re doing it sooner. Tonight. Jonas will perform the ceremony. Vince and Dare can be witnesses. Vince can update my will.”

Ruthy shook her head. “Luke, please . . .”

She was going to say no. Luke’s stomach swooped. He thought he was asking her for practical reasons. He wouldn’t mind having a wife and here was a handy woman, pretty and right close by. He liked kissing her and she was a good cook. Why not get married?

But watching her shake her head told him there was a lot more to this than being practical.

He looked at his friends, who all were watching him with intense interest and a fair amount of pity. “Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?”

Vince grinned and slipped out the door with a single step. Dare paced out of the room on Vince’s heels.

Jonas stood and gave them both a solemn look. “Marriage is a serious business. It takes two people who are committed to make it something God will bless. Don’t do this on a whim, Luke.”

Luke met Jonas’s eyes. “This is no whim.”

Jonas seemed to search around inside Luke’s head for too long. He must’ve seen something he liked because he
gave his chin one jerk down and up. “All right. Good luck.” He left the room.

Luke sat beside Ruthy, who had furrows on her smooth brow, a frown on her face. But she hadn’t started hollering, and he took that as a good sign.

He needed to do this right. He didn’t know much about women, but he’d heard they were notional critters and there was probably a right way to propose. Luke reckoned he hadn’t found it so far.

Taking her hand, he tried his very best to be . . . he struggled for the word . . . uh . . .
romantic
, that was it.

He hadn’t practiced this and it was a mistake on his part. Now he had to think and talk at the same time. And Ruthy already looked impatient.

“It’d be stupid not to marry me right now in case I get shot.” He smiled. There, that had to be enough romanticness for any woman.

Her eyes narrowed. Which was about as far from
Yes, I’ll marry you
as an expression could get.

“What’s the matter?” He tried to figure out where he’d gone wrong.

“You just called me stupid and talked about getting shot. Is that supposed to convince me of anything?”

“I said you’d only be stupid if you
didn’t
marry me. It isn’t like I insulted you or nuthin’.” Judging by the way her frown had just converted to a snarl, he thought maybe in her twisted womanly mind—he’d heard talk of how contrary a woman could be—he’d said something wrong.

Or more likely she’d taken it wrong. Drawing in a slow breath to give himself time to think, a spark of an idea came to him. “You like kissing me, right?”

The snarl eased . . . some. Just in case she’d forgotten,
he pulled her right out of her chair and landed her on his lap. Then he kissed her to remind her of how nice it was. Then he kinda forgot about reminding and just kissed her like a house afire. The door to the kitchen opened and he just happened to have his eyes open for a second, because mostly he had them closed.

Dare looked at them, smiled, and ducked back out. The man seemed to think things were going well. Luke had to agree.

Ruthy stopped kissing him, and Luke rushed in before she could start yapping about something that made no sense, like how a woman could kiss a man and sit in his lap and then not marry him.

“You have the most beautiful hair, Ruthy.” Luke ran a hand deep into it.

He slid his hand around to support the back of her head, just as his other arm was busy holding her around her waist, keeping her pinned to him.

“I want you to be mine. I want you to be my wife. I can’t think how I’m ever going to find a more perfect woman. Marry me, Ruthy. Tonight.”

“Luke—”

He cut her off, not liking her tone. A few more minutes spent kissing her and he pulled away again. He could keep doing this just as long as she kept ignoring the obvious. When he looked at her, she still had her eyes closed. They flickered open. Their bright blue seemed to beckon him. Her sunburn had all peeled off and her skin was fair and coated with freckles.

“I’ve never seen anything so pretty in my life. Please say yes. You know we’re going to get married eventually, don’t you?”

“Well, probably, but . . .”

“Then why wait?” He took another kiss and when it ended he saw that she’d been swayed.

“I’ll marry you, Luke. I can’t have a man around I want to kiss as much as I want to kiss you and not be married to him.” She shined a bright smile at him. Maybe the brightest smile he’d ever gotten from her. “You’re right. It
would
be stupid not to marry you.”

“And no woman as hardworking and trail savvy and smart as you could ever be stupid. Let’s get Jonas in here and get us hitched.”

He boosted Ruthy to her feet, stood, and went to the kitchen door. When he pulled it open, all three of his friends were stepping away from the door, too slow to cover up that they’d been listening in on the whole thing.

Luke rolled his eyes. “You half-wits can come in now.”

They all smiled and trooped in, not bothering to deny their eavesdropping.

“Jonas, Ruthy and I are getting married.” He went back to her side, took her arm, and hooked it around his elbow, all formal-like. “We’d like you to perform the ceremony.”

Smiling, Jonas said, “It would be my pleasure.”

Vince and Dare stood beside Jonas as if all three of them were doing the vows. His best friends in the world here with him, witnessing his marriage to the prettiest woman he’d ever seen. It suited him right down to the ground.

He looked forward to getting this marriage over with so he could go shoot Greer without having to worry about what would become of his sweet Ruthy. Then go find Big John and hopefully save him from whatever trouble he was in.

He wasn’t sure, because women were a mystery, but he didn’t think he should tell her that right now.

“Dearly beloved . . .” Jonas began talking and distracted Luke from trying to make sense of his new wife.