Wild West Wife

Lindsay reached for the door, then paused. He turned his watery gaze on her and nodded. “You know,” he said at last, “that would be a true act of kindness and I would thank you for it.”

* * *

Jesse cursed loudly. His horse flicked its ears as if trying to understand what he was saying.

“Dammit all to hell,” he muttered again. “Where is she?”

Bad enough that she’d caught him not paying attention. He’d known she was angry, frustrated and sore; he should have realized that she would try to escape. He couldn’t even comfort himself with the fact that she’d broken her word. When he thought about it, she never promised anything that morning. He’d just taken her silence as assent.

He’d been married long enough to know that wasn’t true. Women were stubborn creatures. Haley was tougher than most and one determined lady. He should have seen this coming and been prepared. Instead he’d been caught like a doe trapped in a mud bank.

He swore again, even though it didn’t accomplish anything. She’d come this way and judging from the stripped branches and stirred earth, she’d been traveling quickly. He glanced around at the trees and the close branches, wondering why she’d gone from a trot to a full-out gallop. She and her horse had been making good time. She was even heading toward Whitehorn...sort of.

Jesse glanced up toward the sky. The sun would set within the hour. She would be safe on her horse, but eventually she’d have to stop and once she was on foot, she was in danger.

A faint rustling caught his attention. He reined in his mount and listened. Then he grinned. She was right up ahead, making enough noise to alert a deaf man. He had to give her credit for making it this far. She was one scrappy woman.

His horse moved forward. Jesse headed for the sound but before he could break through the trees, Haley’s horse nosed its way out first.

Jesse stared at the riderless horse. Something cold and tight squeezed in his chest. Haley hadn’t made it this far. Somewhere, somehow, she’d been thrown. He wanted to think she’d dismounted to get a drink of water, but his gut told him otherwise. She would have kept on going for as long as she could. All she wanted was to get to town and find Stoner. Nothing would have stopped her from that.

He tried to convince himself she’d been rescued by the men undoubtedly following them, but he knew better. Even if they had a carriage for her to ride in, they would have taken her horse with them. So she’d been thrown and was out there now wandering around alone. Unless she’d been injured.

The pressure in his chest increased. He told himself his concern was because he needed Haley healthy so he could use her to bargain with Stoner. He didn’t really care about her. Except he knew he did care, at least a little. Despite everything, he didn’t want her injured...or worse.

He got down from his horse and began to study the ground. The trail he’d been following was still clear and fresh. She’d been on her horse when the animal had come this way earlier. He could tell by the depth of the hoofprint in the soft ground. The gelding had been carrying a rider. So all he had to do was continue to follow the trail. Eventually he would find Haley.

At least that was what he told himself as he swung back in the saddle and headed west. Every few minutes he glanced up at the darkening sky. Tonight the temperature would again drop below freezing. Without a fire, Haley would die. If the wolves and bears didn’t get her first. If she didn’t fall and break something, or if she hadn’t already.

He urged his horse on faster, studying the ground with an intensity that made his head throb. It was, he told himself, because he needed his prisoner alive and well, and for no other reason at all.

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_f0888f03-c1c7-5632-a00e-e55b60545ed5)

Haley clung to the side of a tree. The world had finally stopped spinning. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been unconscious, or if she really had blacked out at all. She couldn’t think straight. If the pain of being on a horse was difficult, the pain of falling twice in two days was many times worse. Knowing she had only herself to blame for her present circumstances didn’t make them any easier to bear.

She drew in a deep breath. The action didn’t hurt as much as it had just a few minutes ago. She leaned heavily against the rough, scratchy bark because it was too much effort to stand on her own. She’d been walking for what felt like hours. Stumbling really, calling for her horse, for Jesse, for Lucas. At this point she would be happy to see savage Indians. It was cold and getting dark. Soon the sun would set completely. Then what was she going to do? She didn’t have any food, or the means to start a fire. How was she going to survive?

The questions made her head ache more. Weariness settled on her like a damp cloak, sucking out the last of her reserves. She sank to her knees and fought against the urge to cry. She would not give in to tears, she told herself. She was strong and tough and she would make it through this.

“Jesse,” she called out, knowing in her heart that he was her only hope. “Jesse, where are you? I’m over here. Jesse?”

Had he given up? Was he even bothering to look for her? Maybe he’d decided she was too much trouble and that he would find another way to get what he wanted. Maybe—

“Stop it!” she said aloud. “You’re trying to scare yourself. Just stop it! Of course he’s looking for me. He needs me to bargain with Lucas. And if nothing else, Jesse isn’t the kind of man who would leave me out here alone.”

An odd opinion to have about her kidnapper, but she believed it and that belief comforted her.

She shifted on her knees, trying to find a less painful position. The ground was chilly and the cold seeped in through her skirt and petticoats. A shiver rippled through her. It was going to get worse, she knew. There were many poor in Chicago and she’d seen what happened to them when they slept outside in the winter. The lucky ones only lost fingers and toes. Those not so lucky died.

Something rustled in the brush to her left. She looked toward the sound. “Jesse?”

There was a soft yipping in reply. An animal!

“Oh, God.” She leapt to her feet and stood with her back to the tree. “Get out of here,” she screamed. “Shoo, run away. Leave me alone!”

The creature rustled again. Haley glanced around and saw a good-sized rock a few feet away. She picked it up and heaved it into the bushes. The animal yipped again, then the rustling stopped.

“It’s gone,” she told herself, as she wrapped her arms around her chest. “It’s gone and I’m fine.”

She was fine. She was going to be fine. What was the alternative?

Slowly, even as it got darker and colder, some of the fear left her. Perhaps it was because she would rather be afraid out here than afraid in the city. To die in the wilderness wasn’t as terrifying as being attacked in the street, or burned alive in a dark, windowless room.

So she huddled by her tree and occasionally called out Jesse’s name. The pain in her head subsided to a manageable throbbing. He would come for her, she told herself again and again. He wouldn’t leave her out here.

But as time passed, she grew less certain. And the realization that she was going to die out here, all alone, made the tears come. She crouched with her back up against the tree, brushing the drops away as they fell. The cold crept up her skirt and made her shiver. Her teeth chattered. She tried to think about being warm, about a blazing fire, but that only made her discomfort worse.

She shouldn’t have run away. She should have stayed put and found another way to—

A gunshot cut through the night. Haley jumped and pressed her hand over her mouth to hold in a scream, not knowing what the sound meant. Had the men who must surely be looking for them found Jesse? Was he dead? Maybe it was Indians, or outlaws or someone frightening and she would be better off staying quietly here by the tree. Maybe she should—

Another sound drifted to her on the chilly breeze of the night. The faint whisper of her name. And then she knew. Jesse had fired his gun to let her know where he was. He was looking for her and couldn’t find her, so he wanted her to find him.

She took off in the direction of the shot and his voice. She screamed for him. “Jesse! Jesse, I’m over here.”

He called back an answer. She raced through the trees and the brush, ignoring the branches that caught at her clothes and scratched her face and hands.

She stumbled over a tree root, fell to her knees, then righted herself and kept running. Her chest ached from lack of air, her legs were heavy, but she pushed on.

“Haley? Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she called back and broke through a few waist-high bushes. Jesse stood in a clearing, the two horses behind him. In the darkness, she couldn’t make out his features, but she recognized the size and strength of him.

“Jesse.”

He turned toward her. “Dammit, Haley, what were you thinking? You could have been killed.”

She recognized his anger as concern and once again she fought the tears. “I’m fine,” she murmured, barely able to form the words.

He strode over to her, put the rifle on the ground and grabbed her forearms. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

Before she could answer, he pulled her roughly against him.

She went willingly because she had no thought to protest. He was warm and she felt so very cold. Strong arms came around her and despite his strength, his embrace quickly gentled. She leaned against him, absorbing his heat. He rubbed her back.

“Running off was damn stupid,” he said. “You could have died.”

“I know.” She buried her face in his shoulder. “But I had to try.”