Tracker’s Sin (18 page)

Tracker shrugged. “He runs when I need him to.”

His brother jerked his thumb in Ari’s direction. “And her, is she going to run like the wind?”

“You take what life gives you, Shadow. You know that. For however long it gives you.”

“You think life’s giving you her?”

“For now.” Buster bumped him with his head. Tracker scratched the gelding behind his ears. “She needs me.”

“And you need her.”

Yes.
“If anything happens to me, Shadow, you stand in my stead with her.”

“You married her?”

“In our father’s way.”

“That means you’re packing up and leaving soon, too?”

Their father’s abandonment had hit Shadow harder than Tracker. Probably because Shadow had clung longer to the belief that they ever

had a chance of pleasing the miserable son of a bitch.

“Not if I have a say.”

“Shit. You might not have a say.”

“She doesn’t know her past, she doesn’t know her future. She lives tossed between the chaos of the episodes and the present. Until she

can face what happened, I’ve promised to hold her safe.”

“When she does remember, there’s no guarantee she’l stomach your touch.”

“Tel me something I don’t know.”

“Do you have a plan for that?”

“I’m working on it.”

Shadow’s expression didn’t hold out much hope for his nonexistent plan. “I hope it’s a good one.”

Zach interrupted. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

“Shoot.”

“Yesterday I spotted a band of
Comancheros
riding hard this way.”

“Probably Antonio and his crew.”

“You know this man?”

“I’ve heard of him.”

“Last night, I overheard them talking.” Zach said that as if it were nothing.

“Jesus. You crept close enough to a Comanchero camp to hear them talk?”

“We needed to know their plans.”

Zach had an utter disregard for safety. In many ways he reminded Tracker of Sam. Same devil-take-the-hindmost air. Same wil ingness to

risk it al .

“And?”

“The one that hunts her. He is making a special trip.”

Shadow straightened. “Wel , that’s good news.”

“He’s actual y coming out here?” Tracker asked.

“It was said that if the
Comancheros
can bring Ari, Desi or the baby to San Antonio before the eighteenth, there is an extra thirty thousand

in it for them.”

So the bastard would be within reach. San Antonio was a ten-hour ride from Hel ’s Eight. Hel ’s Eight had friends in San Antonio.

“Dol ars?”

“Sí. Dolares.”

Word of a bounty that high would have every lowlife saddle bum in the state looking for Desi and Ari.

“Anything else?” Damn, he hoped there wasn’t anything else.

“Yes.”

Tracker braced himself.

“I sent a signal to Hel ’s Eight to ride to the east corner.”

He should have known Zach would know about Hel ’s Eight sentries strategical y positioned around their land, and the smoke-signal

system they used to communicate across their territory. Being high-spirited Isabel a’s bodyguard was enough of a chal enge that Zacharias was

committed to finding new ways of securing Montoya lands from outside threats.

“I also left a note at drop-off four as to where they should be waiting for us.”

Hel ’s Eight also had locations around their land where they could leave information for each other.

“You know about the blind canyon?”

“He’s the one who showed it to me,” Shadow interjected.

“It was how we escaped the
Comancheros
last time.”

Tracker had wondered how he and his men had cheated certain death.

“You are a very clever man, Zach.”

He smiled a smile that didn’t lighten his expression. “
Sí,
this is true.”

“So, where are the
Comancheros
now?”

“Stil north of here.”

“How did that happen?”

Zach smiled and shrugged. “They were delayed at Jake’s Point.”

“How long do we have?”

“We’l be cutting it close. Anger makes a man ride harder.”

“So does greed,” Tracker added drily.

“True.”

“Sneaking is going to be tough. One cry from Miguel…”

Zach knelt and sketched the area. “I have a plan. When we get to Borracho, here, I wil take the horses and ride around. They wil see the

tracks. They wil fol ow.”

“And while you’re doing that?”

“You wil climb the canyon wal .”

“If they catch you, Zach, it won’t be pretty.”

He shrugged. “Then I won’t be caught.”

“There is a difficulty with the plan,” Shadow interrupted.

“What?”

“If they’re at Jake’s Point, we can’t wait to avoid the heat of the day. We’l have to climb as soon as we get there.”

It would be brutal for a man to make a climb that steep with the summer sun beating down. For a woman and child, it would be almost

impossible.

“From what I saw, I am not sure Ari wil make it,” Zach said cautiously.

“She’l make it,” Tracker countered. If he had to carry her himself.

“Even if he has to carry her,” Shadow added.

Tracker stood. His twin stood right along with him. “What is your problem?” Tracker demanded.

“You care too much about her.”

“What business is that of yours?”

“I’m the one who wil have to watch you hurt.”

“I’ve hurt before.”

Shadow shook his head. “Not like this. You’ve never given your heart.”

Zach stood in turn and rubbed out the map with his boot. “The heart goes where the heart goes, Shadow. It is a man’s lot to fol ow.”

“Who the hel told you that?”

“Mi padre.”

“And he was an authority?”

“He taught me everything I know.”

Tracker wasn’t surprised when Shadow didn’t scoff. Zach was loyal to the core. A down-and-dirty fighter who always came out on top. He

commanded loyalty the way others commanded smiles. He was a good man. Sam’s best. And he was risking his life again for Hel ’s Eight.

“Then I guess I won’t be arguing.” Shadow rol ed a cigarette and placed it, unlit, in his mouth. They couldn’t risk the scent to smoke

carrying in the night breeze.

“When you get back to Hel ’s Eight, you can light that.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“I want a hot meal.” Tracker sighed. “I’m getting damn tired of trail food.”

Shadow grabbed a pouch out of a saddlebag. “We’ve got jerky and cornbread.”

Tracker glanced over at Ari. Miguel was done feeding, but was stil fussing.

“Could her milk be drying up?”

“Jesus, she’s not a cow, Shadow.”

“Not surprising, the way we’ve been dragging her al over creation.”

“If he is hungry, it wil be a problem keeping him quiet tomorrow,” Zach said, al joking gone.

“Yeah.” Could a body even gag a baby?

“You wil have to give him something to eat to take his mind off his stomach.”

Tracker set aside a biscuit.

Shadow nodded. “That wil do. I’l bring it to her.”

He took the food over to Ari. She stiffened slightly as he sat down, but didn’t tel him to go to hel . And when he broke off a smidgen of

biscuit and put it on Miguel’s tongue, Tracker saw her relax.

Zach clapped him on his shoulder. “They wil work it out, my friend.”

“She’l probably be gone before there’s a resolution.”

“Maybe, but remember, not al things that start bad end that way.”

“You keep believing that.” But he wasn’t taking a chance on Shadow’s and Ari’s truce fal ing apart tonight. Tracker went to sit beside Ari.

Shadow stood. “Zach and I wil take watch.”

He was giving them privacy. Tracker nodded. “Thank you.”

By the time Shadow reached Zach, the biscuit softened on Miguel’s tongue, and the boy stopped trying to spit it out, his eyes bugged.

Tracker laughed. “He’s Hel ’s Eight for sure.”

She looked at him, surprised. “What makes you think that?”

“Because there isn’t a man on Hel ’s Eight who isn’t in love with biscuits.”

The boy’s arms waved as he finished the biscuit. Tracker broke a piece off his and put it on Miguel’s tongue.

“He’s a good boy.”

“Yeah. He is.” A boy who might have been his son, had life been different.

Ari watched Miguel chew. Was she making sure he didn’t choke or avoiding Tracker’s gaze? “I’m thinking of changing his name.”

In that case, likely the latter. “Why would you do that?”

“Josefina named him after who I thought was his father. Antonio Miguel. Knowing what I know now, I don’t want him to carry that taint.”

“It’s how he’s raised that’s going to matter.”

“I know.” She looked up. “But what if I don’t do it right?”

“I imagine every parent has that worry.”

“But I don’t have any memories to draw from.”

That had to be terrifying. “You’re doing fine.”

She was scared and wanting reassurance. The longing to be held was in her eyes. Tracker would give her anything she wanted, but the

first move had to come from her. He’d burned al the bridges he could spare.

“Tracker.” She rested Miguel on the blanket. He lay quietly, blinking sleepily.

“Yeah?”

“Could you hold me for just a minute?”

He opened his arms. She moved in. Things were right as soon as her cheek rested against his chest. “What’s up?”

“I saw Zach talking to you earlier. None of you looked happy.”

“And that’s got you worried?”

“Yes.”

“We were discussing tomorrow’s plan.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Eat and rest.”

“Translated, that means it’s going to be strenuous.”

“Yes. We’l be climbing.”

“I’m sorry I got you into this.”

“You didn’t get me into anything.” He rubbed his hand up her back. “But you led me a merry chase.”

“And now you’ve found me.”

“Yup.” He wanted to kiss the top of her head, the curve of her ear, the ful ness of her mouth. He wanted to kiss her until the worry left her

expression and passion fil ed it. He wanted to kiss her until she was too weak and too satisfied to ever consider walking away.

There was a long pause while Ari rested against him. Probably to everyone else she appeared to be resting, but he could feel the tension

building inside her. He waited for her to get to the point.

“Is she real y waiting for me?”

He knew who she was talking about. “Desi sets a place for you at the table every day.”

“That could just be for show.”

Tracker figured Desi would forgive him for this particular revelation. “Every night, Caine says she cries that your chair goes empty.”

Ari had no comment on that. “What is she like?”

“She’s like you. Ful of spit and fire. She makes Caine laugh, when we’d al thought he’d forgotten how.”

Ari played with the fringe on his shirt. “Is Caine good to her?”

“You wouldn’t think Caine would be a romantic man, but he spoils that woman, and he’d fil et anyone that brought a tear to her eyes.”

“He loves her.”

“With everything in him, and that’s a lot.” The little Tracker could see of her expression looked skeptical. “You’ve got to understand, Ari,

that none of the Hel ’s Eight have had an easy life. If it hadn’t been for Tia, we would have lost any sense of conscience before we hit twenty.”

“Tia?”

“The real head of Hel ’s Eight. The one who keeps us human. Since the massacre, we’ve been living more for revenge. That eats at a

man. Makes him hard inside. When a man finds something that takes that loneliness away, he holds on to it. No matter what.”

“That’s not love.”

“It’s Hel ’s Eight love. Absolute, with no looking back.”

“And Caine, Sam and Tucker have found that something?”

“Yes.”

“What about you? Do you love that way?”

“I’ve never had the pleasure of being in love before. But I can tel you this, I’m as al -or-nothing as the rest of Hel ’s Eight.”

“You can’t love me.”

Out of that whole speech, she’d picked up on the one thing he hadn’t meant to reveal. “I’l keep that in mind.”

“It doesn’t make sense. We hardly know each other.”

“I know.”

“I’m not even a whole person.”

That was going too far. “A person is more than their memories, but with or without yours, you stil have your sense of humor, your courage,

your temper—”

“I don’t have a temper.”

“The hel you don’t.”

She amended the claim. “I try not to have a temper.”

“That I’l al ow.”

She sat back and put her hands on her hips. “Who are you to tel me what I can and cannot do?”

“Who are you to tel me the same?”

“I didn’t tel you to do anything.”

“You told me I couldn’t love you.”

She shifted in his grip. “Wel , you can’t.”

“As I said, I’l keep it in mind.”

“You’re not very obedient.”

“Probably because, in bed, I give the orders.”

That drew a smal gasp, but she didn’t move away. He could work with that.

“I’m thinking about sitting you across my lap and taking advantage of this rock as a back rest. How does that sound?”

“Perfect!”

He chuckled. “Your back hurting that bad?”

“You have no idea.”

“Come here then, sweets, and let me make it al better.”

He held out his arms. She went back into his embrace and he pul ed her onto his lap as though she belonged there.

The trust she showed with that simple gesture humbled him. She was a smart woman, a sweet woman and a trusting one. A woman who

led with her heart. A woman who made a man’s home a haven. A woman who needed a man’s protection to flourish.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking if your daddy was here he’d be feeding my bal s to the dogs.”

“You think?”

“Yup.”

“My daddy was a forgiving man, but he would have had something to say about my sitting on your lap in public.”