Yours Again (River City Series) (22 page)

Lawson
seemed not to notice as he squirmed in his chair for a few minutes and finally
bolted for the door. No one moved a muscle. The heavy slam of the outhouse door
propelled the remaining occupants of the house into action.

Ben
leapt to his feet and ran to the window to watch for Lawson’s return.

“What
was that stuff?” Samantha asked.

Lillian
grinned. “A little potion I used to use when my boys needed cleaning out.” She
laughed, “He’ll be holed up in that outhouse for an hour or better.”

“I’ll
saddle the horses.”

“Oh
no, you’ve already done so much to help. I can ride his horse,” Samantha
started, “and if you’ll point me in right direction . . .”

Ben
chuckled. “This is the most excitement we’ve had around here in years. We’re
not about to send you off alone, little lady.” He winked at her. “’Sides, I
kinda want to see how this comes out.”

Lillian
laughed at Ben and nodded. “He just loves a good adventure.” She lowered her
voice to a whisper, “And so do I!”

The
three slipped out the door and around to the barn, keeping a close eye on the
outhouse door. They quickly saddled the horses and set off, trying to keep the
animals quiet as they passed close to the house.

The
outhouse door swung open and Lawson stumbled out, yelling, “I’ll find you,
Samantha. You can’t get away. You’ll pay for this.” He stopped suddenly, turned,
and ran back to the outhouse.

“We
better get while the gettin’s good ladies.” Ben swung his horse around and set
a steady gallop toward River City.

Chapter 22

The
wind stirred dust across the set of tracks Taos had followed for the last four
hours, mostly on foot leading his horse. The darkness had given way to dawn,
but the going had been painstakingly slow.

“At
least he left a trail big enough for my mother-in-law to find.” Sheriff Blake
and Sonny had continued on with Taos, though the darkness had seriously
hampered their efforts. All three reeked of smoke from the fire. Taos’s nose
still burned with the acrid odor of burnt horseflesh. He wiped a sleeve across
his nose, but it didn’t help.

Taos
followed the trail as best he could. As time dragged on, foreboding set into his
heart. They could be miles ahead by now, and if they lost this trail there
would be almost no hope.

“We’ll
get along a bit faster with a few hours’ sleep. Need our strength, you know,”
Blake said.

The
sheriff had hinted at setting up camp several times, but Taos just couldn’t
stop. It wasn’t about being tired. He was certainly that. He needed to be
doing, not thinking. As long as he was doing something—anything—to find
Samantha, he wasn’t thinking about her. Missing her, needing her, loving her. He
couldn’t let his mind settle on the mights and maybes. The edge of insanity
drew closer with every step. If he stopped, it just might catch up.

“Can’t
rightly figure where he’s headed.” Sonny rode up beside Taos. “He know anybody
out this direction?”

“Not
that I know of,” Taos hadn’t been able to figure out his direction either. He
knew Lawson didn’t have provisions for any length of time on his horse and he
was headed out into an area still considered Indian Territory by most locals.
It was sparsely populated with no towns or anywhere to refresh their mounts. The
terrain was steep and heavily forested. Maybe Lawson had stashed supplies and
fresh horses nearby. He stared at the single tracks they were following.

“Seems
he would’ve switched horses by now.” Blake seemed to read his mind. “It’s
almost like he didn’t have much of a plan beyond snatching her.”

That
did nothing to ease Taos’s mind. If that line of thinking were true, then Lawson
was way more than borderline crazy. At least sanity made a man partially
predicable on the trail. Crazy was different.

The
men fell into silence as they made their way along the trail. The sheriff
seemed to resign himself to continuing on, which they did.

When
the sun peeked over the mountains, the men stopped at a creek to water the
horses. Taos stood next to his horse and leaned both arms on the saddle,
watching the sun rise. It had the hallmarks of being a beautiful day, the kind
of day when most people would be getting up and going about their normal
business.

 
It’s
not natural
, he thought,
for life to go on normal for other
people today, yet fall apart for me.

“You
figuring on which way they went from here?” Blake hung gnarled fingers in his
front belt loops and stared in the same direction as Taos.

“Nah,
I was just wondering how to make the sun stop rising.” 

Blake
nodded in silent sympathy and wandered off, leaving Taos to his thoughts.

Taos
breathed deeply of the cool air. His heart ached for the slightest scent of
honeysuckle, but there was nothing. He breathed again, closed his eyes, and
laid a hand on his chest as the ache expanded.

Sonny
kneeled down next to him and washed soot off both his arms in the creek. He
cleared his throat, “You know I’m real sorry about before.” He looked up at
Taos.

“Before
what?”

“About
Samantha and all.” He stood next to Taos. “Didn’t know y’all was married.”

Taos’s
face hinted at a smile. “Neither did I.”

Sonny
shrugged. “Still, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just wanted you to know.”

“Don’t
think nothin’ of it, Sonny.” Taos paused. “You gonna stay in River City?”

“Might
as well. Be just as hard to start somewhere else as it is to start here again.”

“How
many head are left?”

“Maybe
thirty, maybe twenty five.” He shook his head. “Less than half and I’ll have to
sell them.”

“You
won’t get any kind of price for ’em now with so many selling out.”

Sonny
stared at the ground. “Got no way to feed ’em. The fire took near every bit of
forage I had left.”

Taos
thought a moment. “You could bring them over to our place, mix in with our
heard. Just ’til things are better anyway.”

“Can’t
take no charity.” He looked away ashamed.

“It
wouldn’t be. You could trade a few head for the grass and water. Course we’d
expect you to help with our stock and with the other work on the ranch. What do
you say?”

The
man’s face registered a range of emotions from surprise to gratefulness. “I’d
be right grateful to you.” He extended a hand in Taos’s direction.

Taos
shook it and smiled. “You may not say that after a few days. We work long and
hard.”

“Good.
Me too.”

The
sound of horses’ hooves in the distance froze the men in place as each listened
to discern a direction. The men mounted and headed full bore toward the sound. Just
ahead, three riders rounded a curve in the creek and sped toward them. Taos’s attention
immediately settled on waves of long golden hair flying in the wind.

Samantha
spotted him about the same time and the two rode directly toward each other. They
reined their mounts to a halt, she leaped into his arms, and he dragged her over
onto his horse.

The
old couple reined behind her and nodded to the sheriff.

“I
take it they’re acquainted.” Ben winked at Lillian.

“Yes
sir, I say that’s a fair assumption.” Sheriff Blake grinned from ear to ear as
the young couple kissed, oblivious to their presence.

Taos
hugged Samantha close as their lips melded together. He’d already resigned
himself to the fact that they might not find her—or not alive anyway. He’d been
so scared he’d never see her again and now here she was. He had to be sure she
knew he’d never let her go again.

After
a few minutes, then a few more minutes, then some throat clearing, followed by
more throat clearing, the group headed back toward town. The sheriff questioned
the older couple as well as Samantha.

Ben’s
description was the most colorful. “That Lawson fella is a little on the odd
side, if you ask me. I mean, if I was gonna grab a woman and run off with her,
I wouldn’t stop and offer to pay for a room at somebody’s house.”

“Is
that how he got you to let him in?” The sheriff’s investigator hat sat firmly
in place.

“Oh,
yes,” Lillian added. “He said his lady was sick and they needed to rest.” She
thought for a moment. “I am curious about something though.”

“What’s
that?” Blake listened intently as the horses made their way around a small
group of bushes.

Lillian
glanced slyly at her husband. “If you were going to run off with a woman, how
exactly would you do it?”

Ben
burst out laughing. “Well, there’s two possibilities.” He winked at his wife.

The
sheriff shook his head in frustration.

“If
I grabbed her like that guy did, I’d sure keep goin’ and not stop for nothin’
or nobody.”

“What
makes you think she might want you after that?” A smile played on Lillian’s
lips.

“Hmm.”
Ben rubbed his chin. “That would be a problem.” He paused as Taos and Samantha
snickered. “Then I’d have to go to the backup plan.”

“Which
is?” Taos asked.

“Well,
I’d just make her marry me and wear her down over time.”

“And
you think that might work better?” Lillian laughed.

“Well,
Mother, it sure worked the first time.” He reached over to her horse and
squeezed her hand.

Blake
shook his head. “I swear I’m gonna puke!”

The
conversation returned to Lawson.

“I
don’t think you’ve heard the last of him.” Blake’s concern was evident.

“If
we get married, then he won’t have anything to claim,” Samantha interjected.

“There’s
been a development in that area.” Blake nodded at Taos. “Well, tell her already
son!”

“Tell
me what?”

“Um,
it seems we’re already married.”

“No,
we’re not!”

“Apparently,
we are.”

“I
think I would have remembered if I had said ‘I do’ to anyone.”

“You
mean the way I said ‘I do’ before you left me at the altar?”

Samantha
smiled at him. “I don’t think you can have an altar in a whorehouse.”

“We’ve
been married for three years,” Taos said.

Her
faced reflected her disbelief.

He
nodded. “Really. By proxy. Apparently Mattie and Jake arranged it to ensure the
water rights would be safe just in case a drought ever made it a necessity. That’s
where that inheritance came from. They planned to have it annulled, but didn’t
get the paperwork taken care of.” Taos watched her face as she digested the
entirety of what he had said. His heart skipped a beat as her mouth spread into
a slow smile then came to a near dead stop as she frowned. This could be bad. She
glared up at him.

“We
have been married this whole time?”

He
nodded slowly as pinpricks ran across his neck and behind his ears.

“You
mean, I got on a train and traveled across the country, was tied up and dragged
to your house”—their three silent companions stared at Taos, who shrugged. Samantha
continued—“put up with your mouth, actually went to a whorehouse for advice”—more
stares—“not to mention you throwing my clothes out the window for God and
everybody to see.”

Taos
hoped she would at least take a breath soon.

She
pointed a finger at his chest. “Just to be kidnapped and tied up and dragged
off by an evil man and then forced to watch him eat potatoes, ham, biscuit,
potatoes, ham, biscuit . . .”

Taos
shook her shoulders slightly. “You’re babbling.”

The
other two men nodded in agreement.

“I
can’t help it!” she yelled. “I went through all this for nothing!”

“Well,
I wouldn’t say
nothing
.” He paused, but she remained silent.

She
didn’t look overly thrilled at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I
didn’t know!”

She
gazed at him with suspicion.

“Really!
Miles told me after Lawson dragged you out of the wedding. We were getting
married anyway, so what difference does it make now?”

“I
don’t know.” She looked tired. “I just need to sort this all out.”

“You’ll
feel better after you’ve had some sleep.”

She
nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. He held onto her with one hand and
guided his horse with the other. His mind ran a big circle around the events of
the last twenty-four hours.

They
were married. That was a good thing, right? He got the security of knowing she
was safe and so were the ranches. Samantha got his protection as well as a
family and home out of the deal. Things were tied up in a neat little package.

Still,
a strange sense of foreboding hovered over him, refusing to be stifled.

He
looked down at the top of her head. What could she possibly have to sort out?