The Tracker (3 page)

In that split second, Ellie decided to run.

She started down the back staircase, no longer questioning the fact that she and the baby had to leave the Silver Slipper and Butte for good. They’d have to disappear if they wanted to live.

Nerves nearly made her trip when she reached the last step. She caught herself on the railing with one hand, clutching the baby with the other. Quickly, she laid the baby in a large, shallow basket she used for shopping and bolted out the back door.

The night air was warm. A sliver of moon dangled in the black evening sky. Clouds drifted from the west. The scent of rain was heavy.

Ellie thought of the horses Miss Adeline kept at the livery. She could take one and be gone before anyone thought to look for her outside of the brothel.

She started to run. She’d taken just five steps when she ran into a wall of hard muscle. She’d have fallen backward if strong arms hadn’t captured her
forearms and steadied her. It felt as if cold steel banded her arms. Naked fear nearly stopped her heart.

“Who fired those shots inside?” The cold, menacing voice had her lifting her gaze.

Dark eyes stared down at her from under a low-crowned black hat. The man’s rawboned face was all hard planes and angles. Several days’ growth of beard covered his square jaw. His nose looked as if it had been broken before.

She pulled back, a small choking sound in her throat. She couldn’t find it in her to speak.

The stranger tightened his long fingers on her arms. He gave her a small shake to snap her out of her fear.
“Who got shot?”

“Frank Palmer shot his brother Monty,” Ellie blurted, hoping he didn’t hear the terror in her voice.

“Dead?”

“Yes.”

“Anybody else come in with Frank?”

“Anyone else?” Her confused mind wouldn’t work.

“Other
outlaws
.”

“No.”

He hesitated, as if considering what she’d said.

“Would you let loose of me? I don’t know anything else.”

The sound of her voice seemed to bring him back from his thoughts. “Why are you running?”

With the darkness around them, it seemed they were the only two people in the world. They stood inches apart and she could feel his hot breath on her skin. The baby in the basket was wedged between them.

“I’m not,” she lied.

His face hardened in the dim moonlight. He leaned closer to her so that his nose was only inches from hers. “I can smell the fear on you. You’re running from something, girl.”

She glanced toward the back door of the Silver Slipper, wishing she could run inside and lock the door. But she couldn’t go back. “Miss Adeline asked me to run an errand.”

“Did she?”

She tried to pull her arms from his grip. She might as well have been trying to break iron. “I really must hurry. She’s not a woman to be disobeyed.”

“But you are defying her, aren’t you?” His voice was as hard as granite.

She stopped her squirming, amazed he could peer into her brain and read her thoughts. Tonight she was breaking most all of Adeline’s rules. There’d be hell to pay if she got caught.

Rose squawked.

The stranger dropped his gaze to the basket. He flicked the blanket aside with his finger. Rose, still sleeping, yawned.

Without warning, he stepped back. “You better run fast, girl. All hell’s about to break lose.”

Ellie didn’t need to be told twice.

Spring Rock Coach Station
August 1883

“A
ND IF ANYONE
looks at you cross-eyed, shoot ’em!” Annie Bennett said. Annie had hired Ellie almost two months ago as a cook at the Spring Rock stop, a place she’d run for almost twenty years. The two had become close friends in a short time and had learned to rely on each other.

Ellie nodded. “I will.”

Annie checked the cinch on her mare’s saddle. She had tied back her blond hair and donned a floppy hat, pants and a range coat. She reminded Ellie of a wiry cowhand, not a petite, slender woman who under all that gear looked much younger than her forty-five years. “I should be gone about three weeks.” Annie made an annual trek to the mountains to visit her mother and father, to make sure they were well before the snows came. “I worry that they’re getting too old to manage the place.”

“If what you told me about them is true, I suspect they will be fine.”

During the last couple of months, Ellie had enjoyed the stories of Annie’s childhood. Annie’s mother, Charity, had been married to a missionary when she’d moved to Thunder Canyon. Indians had attacked their caravan and everyone in the mission party had been killed except Charity, who was pregnant with Annie. Black Sun, an Arapaho warrior, had saved Charity and delivered Annie. Charity and Black Sun had fallen in love. Black Sun had adopted Annie and loved her as much as his sons.

Annie pulled leather gloves from her pocket and tugged them on. “You’ve got enough provisions for two months. But if something should happen and you need more, ride into town. I’ve an account at Douglas’s mercantile.”

“Rose and I will be fine,” Ellie said, careful to keep any hint of worry out of her voice.

Ellie had never spent a night at the coach stop alone. The idea didn’t sit well with her, but she’d never tell Annie that. She didn’t like the woman worrying over her when she had such a trip to make.

“Annie, we need to get on the road now,” said Mike McKinney, striding out of the barn.

Mike was a tall, burly man with a full beard and broad shoulders. In his mid-thirties, he was a driver
for the Starlight Express. He’d done so well, his boss, Holden McGowan, had given him the northern routes. This last year, he had visited the Spring Rock station often. In the last two months, he’d been by almost weekly.

“I know,” Annie said gruffly.

“If we don’t leave now, we won’t make the foothills by dark,” he said.

Despite the irritation in her voice, Annie’s blue eyes softened when she looked at Mike. He and Annie both said they were friends, but Ellie had quickly recognized that they were in love.

Mike had arrived at the stop yesterday on his regular run. When Annie told him she was heading north to see her family, he’d insisted on riding with her. Annie had agreed without an argument. Ellie suspected Mike was going to ask Black Sun for Annie’s hand in marriage.

“I’m ready to go,” Annie said.

Mike cocked an eyebrow. “Is that the fourth or fifth time she’s said that?”

Ellie laughed. “Sixth.”

He laughed. “Ellie, the horses are set and you shouldn’t have to fuss with them until sunset.”

“I know what to do,” Ellie said. Annie had showed her how to care for the six horses her first week here.

“Take care of that baby,” Annie said, hugging Ellie.

“And keep the shotgun close,” Mike said, preparing to climb up into his saddle.

Ellie had been at her wits’ end when she and Rose had arrived at Annie’s stop two months ago. Ellie hadn’t eaten in two days and she’d spent all her savings on canned milk she’d purchased from a wagon train.

Annie hadn’t asked any questions when Ellie had claimed to be a widow. Nor had she said a word when Ellie had pulled out the bottle at the dinner table. The next morning, there’d been a pitcher of freshly boiled milk and Rose’s bottle had been cleaned. Annie had offered Ellie a job that day. Ellie had accepted.

“It’s late in the season, so you won’t see too many customers,” Annie said. “Maybe a few miners. There’ll still be fools who haven’t gotten word the mines are almost played out.”

Annie had told all this to Ellie four or five times.

“Go!” Ellie said, shooing them away. “At the rate you two are moving, it’ll be snowing before you leave.”

The three laughed. Annie and Mike mounted their horses and reined them around toward the stage road that threaded toward the distant mountains. Ellie watched Mike and Annie ride off until they vanished into the horizon.

She turned back toward the cabin. Except for the gentle whisper of the wind in the trees, there was nothing but silence.

Ellie folded her arms over her chest. The silence could be louder than the drunks in the brothel and at times just as unnerving. A deep loneliness settled inside her. Except for the two weeks when she’d traveled from Butte to the coach stop, she’d never really been alone before. And the truth was, it didn’t sit well.

But Rose was thriving in the fresh country air, and they were far away from Butte and Frank Palmer. A little quiet was a small price to pay.

Ellie headed toward Annie’s two-story stone building. A wooden front porch roped along three sides of the first floor. Black shutters flanked the glass-paned windows. The place was simple, practical to a fault, but there was an inviting air about it.

Ellie climbed the three front steps and moved inside the coach stop. The first floor was divided into three rooms. A great room on the east side dominated most of the space. This room was the heart of the stop, housing the large dining area and the kitchen. The dining area was simply furnished with an oversize eating table surrounded by eight rope-bottomed chairs. Twin rockers sat in front of a tall stone hearth. The kitchen had a large black stove, worktable and ample wood counter.

Across from the great room were two other rooms. The one in the back of the house was a large storage room. The second, located near the front door, had also been a storage room once. Though Annie had offered Ellie a room upstairs, she’d always preferred to sleep as far from customers as possible. Annie had allowed Ellie to clean the storeroom out and turn it into a bedroom for her and Rose.

The upstairs housed Annie’s room, along with three guest rooms for overnight visitors.

The smell of rabbit stew and fresh bread filled the cabin as Ellie went inside and peeked into her room, where a quilt-lined cradle sat by her bed. Baby Rose slept on her back in the cradle, her little lips pursed into a frown. Ellie smiled, her heart warming as she stared at the child.

Annie had produced the cradle from the attic when Ellie had first arrived. Later, Mike had told Ellie that Annie had lost her first husband, the original coach stop owner, and a daughter more than twenty years ago. She’d lived here alone since then.

Emotion tightened Ellie’s throat. She didn’t know what she’d do if she lost Rose. She touched the baby’s cheek. In her heart, the child was hers completely now. “I’ll never leave you, baby girl, never.”

Being this close to Rose soothed any worries Ellie
had about spending the next few weeks alone. They had made it this far.

“There’s no sense worrying,” she whispered, hugging her arms around her chest.

She and Rose were far from Butte and Frank Palmer.

No one was going to find her out here.

They were safe.

I
T WAS PAST NOON
when Nick Baron reached the hill overlooking the Spring Rock station. His gaze skimmed the two-story stone building, corral, barn, pigpen and henhouse.

He spotted the redheaded woman taking in laundry and knew he’d found the right place. The wind rustled her calico skirts around her ankles and flapped the edges of a sheet she wrestled into a fold.

For a moment he just sat and stared at her. He’d spent weeks tracking her and now he’d found her. For such a little bit of a woman, she’d been hard to find.

He watched as Ellie subdued the sheet and put it in the basket.

Nick had been a fool to let her go that night in Butte. But he’d been so sure that he had Frank, Monty and Jade Palmer and he’d seen no reason to entangle a young woman and a baby in his fight.

But the precious seconds he’d hesitated with Ellie
had been all it had taken for Frank to slip away. He’d questioned Adeline about Jade and Monty and learned that Ellie, a Silver Slipper sporting girl, had disappeared with Jade’s baby. Adeline had grumbled that Ellie was a greedy, ungrateful girl who’d likely learned of the gold from Jade and had run away so she could get it for herself.

Nick had set out after Frank but heavy rains had washed away the outlaw’s tracks and Nick had lost his trail. He’d searched for Frank for more than a month before he’d given up and directed his sights on Ellie.

Ellie picked up her laundry basket and headed inside the house.

If Frank were smart, he’d head north to Canada or south to Mexico, but Nick suspected he’d do neither. He’d not leave Montana without his gold, even though every lawman and bounty hunter in the region was looking for him. Soon, he’d figure out Ellie had been the last to see Jade and he’d come after her.

Nick didn’t like the idea of using Ellie to get Frank, but there seemed no way around it now. She was his only link to the outlaw now. And until Frank was captured, her life was in danger.

He kicked his heels into the sides of his horse and rode across the flat land.

He leaned forward in his saddle. “Ellie Watson!”

The redhead appeared at the door. She gripped a
shotgun in her small hands. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, her skin moon-pale and her hair a bit wild, as if the topknot couldn’t quite hold it. “What can I do for you, mister?”

Ellie was just as he remembered. She wasn’t a great beauty, but her froth of red curls and moss-green eyes gave her a freshness uncommon to sporting girls. Something about her made him think of afternoons spent naked in a feather bed.

“I’ve been looking for you for several weeks,” he said.

She stiffened. “I don’t see why.”

He climbed down off his horse, but he didn’t approach her. A skittish woman with a loaded gun was nothing to be trifled with. He pulled off his hat so she could see his face clearly. “We met at the Silver Slipper two months ago.”

She lifted her chin a fraction. The color drained from her cheeks. “I don’t know you.”

“Yes, you do.”

He could almost hear her mind working. She was wondering if she could make it to that barn behind him and reach one of the horses. She rightly figured she couldn’t. “What do you want?”

“I want Frank Palmer.”

A panicked look settled in her eyes. “I don’t know any Frank Palmer.”

“I spoke with Adeline.” He dropped the horse’s reins and took one step toward her. “Adeline said that you were the last person to see Jade alive. She also said Frank knows that, too.”

“There were a lot of people in and out of her room toward the end.” Her voice was tight and tense.

She was a bad liar. “I’ve come to find out what Jade told you about the stolen gold.”

Her brow knotted. She seemed genuinely confused by his comment. “Jade never said a word to me about gold.”

She was afraid, but he was willing to be patient. If they stood here long enough, he knew she’d slip up or he could rush her and snatch the gun from her hands. “I know you delivered her baby. It’s understandable that two women who shared what you two did would have a bond.”

“I don’t know—” A cry drifted out of the cabin. Ellie glanced over her shoulder and then met his gaze again.

“I see you kept the child,” he said. Admiration washed over him. It couldn’t have been easy to travel the rough country between here and Butte with a baby.

She was silent and he thought she’d not answer him until she finally said, “Jade gave me the baby to raise, but she never said anything about gold.”

He sighed. “That’s not the kind of secret Jade would take to her grave.”

“She didn’t plan on dying so quick.”

“Ellie, you better think real hard about that gold. Unless I take it off your hands, Frank will. And I can guarantee that he won’t be as polite as me. Be grateful that I found you before Frank did.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know Frank?”

“He and I have business.”

Her gaze flicked over him. He knew he looked rough. “I want no part of whatever
business
you and Frank are about. I want to be left in peace.”

“Like it or not, you are part of it. So is that baby.”

“She’s
my
baby.”

“Jade birthed her.”

Her face tightened. “Leave me alone.”

He took several steps toward her. His spurs jingled with each step. “I won’t hurt you or the baby, Ellie. But I need that gold. Give it to me before Frank comes looking for it.”

She took a step back. With trembling hands she raised the double-barreled shotgun. “Don’t come a step closer, mister.”

If he sprang forward, he would have a good chance of getting the gun. “I’m not leaving here without the gold, Ellie.”

She lifted her gun a fraction higher. “One more step and I’ll shoot.”

He hesitated. “You don’t have it in you.”

“Try me.”

Her tone, more than her words, had his eyes narrowing. “That gun’s old,” he said.

“And very well oiled.”

“You’ve got grit, girl. But I’ve been riding hard for weeks now and I’m in no mood for games.”

She swallowed.

“If you shoot me, there’ll be no one here to protect you from Frank.”

Her eyes narrowed. “For all I know,
you
are working with Frank. And I’m not here alone. I’ve got friends.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Where are they?”

“Close.”

He laughed, but the sound held no joy. His gaze still on her, he held up his hands as if in surrender. “I don’t want trouble.”

Ellie’s gaze dropped to the six-shooter at his side. She gripped the barrel so tight her knuckles turned white. “I don’t want to kill you. Just leave me be and let me return to my life.”

“Can’t do that.” He took another step and then another.

She squeezed the trigger.

Nick reacted quickly, diving to his left. He’d hoped he’d be quick enough to get out of the way of the gun, but he wasn’t.