Luke's Cut

They rode on in silence. One minute passed. Then two. Three minutes passed without a single sound except the creaking of the harnesses and the bouncing of the wagon. Apprehension stretched her nerves. It took another few minutes for her to realize the birds weren’t singing. A shiver shot down her spine. Something was definitely wrong. She just didn’t know what.

Luke cut her a glance. “If I holler, you snap those reins on the nag’s ass, but be sure to brace your feet. We don’t need you pitching out of there and breaking your neck when he takes off.”

A gruesome image of her body being tossed like a rag doll to the hard ground popped into her mind. She tightened her grip on her reins and braced her feet. No, they definitely didn’t need that. But the slur to Glory—that she couldn’t let pass. Glory and she had formed a friendship. Friendship demanded loyalty. Licking her lips, she tapped into her impetuous side. “Glory is not a nag.”

The near whisper barely got her a look. Clearly her voice of authority needed work. For now, she clung to stubborn determination. “He’s not.”

With a grunt, Luke reiterated, “Just be ready.”

That grunt could have gone either way. She chose to take it as agreement. Clutching the reins, she nodded. Ready she could handle. She hoped. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple. Another down her spine. More gathered between her breasts.

Apparently satisfied that she’d obey, Luke urged Chico into a trot, leaving Josie behind. She watched him go with a sinking stomach. In her wagon ahead, Tia had her husband. Back here there was just Josie and her growing fears. Wiping the sweat from her face with her sleeve, she looked around. The same countryside that had seemed so pretty yesterday, seemed ominously vast today. The wildflowers she’d viewed as serendipitous bits of whimsy now had a second potential use—as grave markers. At the front of the line, Luke and Zach conferred. She wished she were close enough to hear what they were saying.

Tia turned in her seat and waved. If Josie had her spectacles on she could have seen if she was smiling or frowning. Feeling even more in the dark, she waved back. First thing she was going to do when they stopped again would be to get her spectacles out of the wagon. Vanity be hanged.

As if reacting to some invisible cue, the formerly loosely strung line of men dropped into a tight formation surrounding the wagons. A handsome man dressed in brown, sporting ammunition belts across his chest and wearing a large sombrero rode up beside Josie on a proud-stepping buckskin. He had Zach’s eyes and was about her age. Maybe younger. It was hard to tell out here. Men seemed to mature earlier. He flashed her a grin full of Lopez confidence before settling his rifle across the saddle. Strapped to his thigh was a pistol. The wooden handle looked worn from use. She found that comforting.

He tipped his hat. “Senorita.”

If they were anywhere else, if she were anyone else, she’d call his attention flirtatious, but this was Texas Indian country and danger was all around.

She attempted a smile and a small wave. The tension hovered oppressively in the air. Her skin prickled. Even the horses were quiet.

A rabbit darted. She jumped. The wagons kept moving. The tension mounted. She chewed her lip. What did they see that she didn’t? Was it an actual threat or just a worry?

She wanted somebody to do something already, rather than passively plod along like prey waiting for the pounce. But they just kept going.

An hour later, a rider cantered up. Luke and Zach rode out to meet him. The group kept moving while the men conferred to the side. They were too far away to be heard over the creak of wood and metal. Why did they have to be so far away?

Glancing at the well-armed man to her right, the one whose flirtatious approach led her to believe he might be talkative, she asked, “What’s happening?”

He didn’t take his attention off Luke and Zach. “Nothing to worry about, senorita, I’m sure. Likely Lobo just spotted some Indians passing by.”

“Indians!”

Terror flashed along her nerves. A shiver chased cold comprehension as every story she’d ever read in those lurid novels about the West—and she’d read more than her share—raced through her mind. Capture. Scalping. Unmentionable acts.

The wagon lurched through a rut. Her gorge rose. Heat, motion and now anxiety combining to make disaster imminent.

“Senorita?”

Clutching her stomach, she waved the vaquero’s concern away. She wouldn’t be sick. She wouldn’t. “I’m fine.”

He frowned at her, drawing his rifle from its scabbard. “You have nothing to worry about. Senor Luke would not allow you to be captured.” He settled the rifle across his saddle. “And neither would I.”

What could he do? He was just one man. So was Luke. And that rifle didn’t look big enough to take on the hordes of Comanche that could even now be charging toward them. Unbidden, one passage from her favorite author’s latest novel leaped to the forefront of her mind: “The Comanche came out of nowhere like a mist rising from the ground, enveloping everything in their path.”

There was a whole lot of ground out there.

No. For him to say it was just some Indians did nothing to reassure her, even if he’d clearly been trying to. She took a breath to steady her nerves. Hot air filled her lungs. Cold sweat beaded her brow as the persistent nausea surged along with fear. She whispered soothing nothings to Glory as if the steady old horse was the one in danger of an attack of the vapors.

The man frowned at her.

“You do not need to be afraid of the Indians, senorita. You are well guarded.”

She took another steadying breath, fighting dizziness. If they could just stop for a minute, her stomach might settle. Her request was met with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry, but we cannot stop.”

Of course not.

“But you are safe, senorita.” He gestured to his chest. “With me, Stefano.” He broadened the gesture to include everyone. “And if I should fall, there are the men of Rancho Montoya and Hell’s Eight.” He tipped his hat. “You are very safe.”

Was she? They had fifteen riders, plus Luke, Ed, Tia and herself. Hardly an army. And she didn’t even have a gun. Good heavens. Why didn’t she have a gun? The wagon hit a rut. The horizon tilted. Or was it the wagon? Her stomach lodged in her throat. She recognized the cold clammy feeling for what it was. Holding her hand over her mouth, she imagined Indians pouring over the little hill, swarming them, intent on driving them off their land. It was too easy to imagine their wild cries. Blast Dane Savage and his gift for description! She could see them as if they were real, dangerous men on horseback, armed with guns and bows, feral smiles on their painted faces... Intent on revenge.

Oh dear God.

“Senorita?”

The voice echoed around the periphery of her consciousness. The wagon bucked and swayed over a series of bumps. Her vision clouded. Nausea rose as hard as fear. In an obscure part of her consciousness, she realized she was about to faint. She reached out. Found nothing.

The last thing she heard was the shout of her name.

It sounded amazingly exasperated for a Comanche war cry.

CHAPTER FOUR (#u7d382b75-9ccf-5a08-84c5-31957cf56db4)

“SENORITA!”

Stefano’s cry jerked Luke around in the saddle. Chico, bored with standing still, pranced right along with the shift in weight, which worked out just fine as what Luke saw chilled his blood. Glory was still plodding along, every step bordering on hipshot, but the wagon seat that should’ve been sporting the bane of his existence was empty. What the hell had she done now?

“Goddammit, Josie!”

Zach shook his head. “That woman is not made for this country.”

Lobo nodded. “Then it is just as well the Comanche are intent on moving and not war.”

Luke grunted and sent Chico trotting back to Josie’s wagon.

Behind him he heard Zach order Lobo to keep an eye on the tribe.

Kicking Chico into a canter, he raced back down the line. Tia and Ed turned as he passed, and saw what he saw. Ed’s curse and Tia’s gasp trailed in his wake. By the time he got to Josie’s wagon, Stefano was off his horse and climbing into the front seat. Luke pulled back on the reins. Sitting back on his haunches, Chico slid to a stop just short of Stefano’s buckskin. Momentum propelling him forward, Luke jumped off. His boots hit the dirt in time with Stefano’s next curse.

“Back off, Stefano.”

Stefano turned and stepped back, hands raised. “Whatever you say, Luke. You’re the man with the gun.”

Luke looked down. Shit, he was. Damn. Luke took his hand off his revolver. The wagon creaked and sagged as he stepped up. Josie didn’t move from where she lay crumpled on the floorboards, her torso twisted to the left, one arm stretched out to the right. Toward him. “What happened?” he asked Stefano.

“She collapsed.”