Rain had been falling all night in Sweetwater, filling the mossy bottoms of the rain barrels and making the main street a muddy morass. Few citizens were about this morning, but outside the sheriff's office, Roy Walker tacked a new wanted poster for Tamsin MacGreggor beside the sketch of Texas Jack Cannon's face.
Henry Steele, always at his desk by 7:00 a.m., stopped to see the notice. "Morning, Roy," he said as he balanced a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a stack of files in the other. "Not much of a likeness of her, is it?"
The sheriff shrugged, rolled two additional posters, and tucked them into his pocket. "Peddler over at the boardinghouse drew the picture. Guess it ain't too good. But I'm not likely to pencil a better one." He frowned and scratched at the back of his starched collar. "Not too many tall, red-haired women riding around on fancy, stolen horseflesh. I imagine anybody who sees her will remember her."
"I want her caught and hanged. The sooner the better." Henry scraped some of the muck off his good shoes. The wooden sidewalks the town had put in on this side of the street were a help, but they didn't extend to the livery stable where he'd left his horse a few minutes ago.
Walker nodded. "No more than the rest of us do. Your brother was a hard man, but I liked him. A lot of honest folks don't hanker to see a bushwhacker go free."
A hard man? It was all Henry could do not to tell Walker just how he felt about his brother. Sam had been the spitting image of their father, and he'd driven their mother to an early grave.
But prudence held his tongue. Walker wouldn't understand. Blood was blood, and people expected one brother to mourn the other, regardless of what might have passed between them in a lifetime.
"I put the two-hundred-dollar bounty on her head," Henry said, motioning to Tamsin's picture. "The county put up the other hundred. I imagine that when Morgan finds her, he'll find Jack Cannon, as well."
The judge stepped back, put his reading spectacles on, and studied the other wanted poster. "A thousand dollars for Cannon, dead or alive. You'd think that would bring the varmints out of their holes. His own mother would turn him in for that much gold."
Walker folded his arms. "Shame Morgan filled them two road agents that helped Cannon rob the bank in Wheaton full of lead."
"Sanchez and Johnson? I agree. We might have gotten something useful out of them."
The sheriff gave a snort of amusement. "Heard Morgan's got a way with a knife. Heard tell he can get a man to say everything he knows and then some."
Henry pursed his lips. "I've been told that that Morgan has some unorthodox methods of interrogation."
"Wouldn't be surprised none if that stage robbery outside of Pueblo two weeks ago was Cannon's work. The driver and one of the passengers were shot through the head."
"I agree. Company records show two men unaccounted for on that stage. They vanished without a trace." Henry removed his glasses and tucked them into his coat pocket.
"You think Cannon or some of his gang were on the stage?"
"He's done it before. Inside jobs are the easiest, and Cannon hates to leave witnesses. It's why he killed Morgan's wife, back before the war. She saw him hold up a mining office. Cannon didn't get her that day, but he went to Morgan's ranch and murdered her a week later."
"Bad business, killing a bounty hunter's wife," Walker said.
"So far, he's gotten away with it. I hope his luck doesn't last."
The sheriff tucked a fresh plug of tobacco inside his lower lip. "They say a rabbit's foot is lucky, but every dead rabbit I ever saw had four of them."
Henry took a sip of his coffee. It was stronger than usual, and he decided that the boardinghouse cook must have added gunpowder to the coffee grounds. "Cannon killed Morgan's wife back before the war. Texas Jack's kept one jump ahead of him ever since. They claim that the three Cannon brothers and Parson Bill Marsh lost their taste for playing soldier after Glorieta Pass. They deserted and hid out in Mexico. But the parson played loose with one too many married women, and a jealous husband put a bullet through his head."
"Saved us the trouble of stringing him up. The parson was a dangerous man. He killed a friend of mine during a bank robbery in Missouri." Walker leaned his hammer against the wall. "I was just fixin' to go and get me some breakfast, Judge. You had yours yet?"
"Yes, before I left home," he lied. He'd barely eaten since Sam's shooting. His stomach felt as though he'd swallowed a keg of ten-penny nails and they were working their way out, one by one. "You go on. I need to finish up some paperwork for Sarah. My brother handled all the financial matters for the ranch, and I'm afraid my sister-in-law's at a loss."
"She gonna keep the place or sell out?"
Henry frowned. "We haven't discussed that. I think she's still in shock at Sam's death. We all are."
"Never figured him to go like that, shot in the back by a-" He broke off as a horse and buggy stopped in the street. "There's Mrs. Steele now."
A woman peered out of the front of the carriage. "Henry?"
Walker touched the brim of his hat. "Morning, ma'am."
"Good morning, Sheriff." Sarah's head and face were hidden in a cloud of black mourning veil. "Henry… I'm going out to the cemetery, and I wondered if you-"
"Want to go with you?" Henry finished. "Certainly." He handed Walker his cup. "Take this back to the saloon for me, will you?"
Henry descended the slippery steps to the street. Sarah slid over on the buggy seat as he climbed in and took the reins. "What are you doing out on such a nasty morning?"
She rubbed small, black-gloved hands together nervously. "The rain," she said. "I thought about Sam's grave, all bare. I wanted to take some wildflowers to lay on it."
Her voice sounded as though she'd been crying. Henry's throat constricted. His brother was a son of a bitch with a rotten temper, but he'd never wanted to be rid of him that way.
"It was a bad end," he murmured. "Murdered in his own stable by a ruthless woman."
Sarah brought a lace handkerchief to her face. "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about it… the way he looked, lying in his casket, so white and still." She broke down and began to weep.
"Don't cry, Sarah. I can't stand it when you cry."
The buggy rolled past the last house and onto the rutted lane that led to the church and burying ground. "Sam was a difficult man to live with, but I never wanted him dead."
"Neither of us did," Henry agreed.
It was damned hard to keep his conscience from nagging him. He and Sarah had loved each other for more years than he could remember. Everyone had assumed they would marry until a stupid argument over another girl had broken them up. Hell, he couldn't even remember the other woman's name now. Sam had stepped in and started squiring Sarah to dances and church dinners, and before either of them realized it, it was too late to patch up their falling out.
Sarah had married Sam, and he'd tried to make the best of it. He'd thought he could love Sarah from a distance, and he had until things between her and his brother deteriorated.
"I'm a terrible sinner," Sarah whispered. "I made a mockery of my marriage vows and-"
"Not alone you didn't." He slipped an arm around her. Sobbing, she leaned against him. He let the lines fall, and the horse stopped. "No more tears," he begged her. "Sam's dead. He's dead, and we're alive."
"I wanted you to take me away," she answered in anguish. "But now he'd dead and he'll always be between us."
"It won't be like that, I promise." His heart ached to see her like this, clad in black widow's weeds from head to toe. Sarah liked fine clothing, bright colors. He'd give them to her again.
"Never." She wept softly. "You don't understand. There's something I have to ask you…"
"Ask me? Ask me what?"
"Did it happen the way you said, Henry? Did that MacGreggor woman shoot Sam?"
He stiffened. "Why would you ask me that, Sarah? Haven't we been over this a dozen times?"
"It's just…" She pushed the veil away to look into his face. "He knew about us."
"Hell, yes, he knew. What's wrong with you, Sarah? What did you think that argument was about, the last time I saw him alive? When he threw me off the Lazy S." He lifted her chin and met her questioning gaze. "Do you think I killed him? My own brother?"
More tears spilled from her swollen eyes. "No… I don't… I wanted to hear you say it, say you had nothing to do with… with what happened."
"Don't even think such a thing. Sam caught Tamsin MacGreggor stealing his horses, and she shot him. I'm as innocent of his death as you are. And I'm as anxious to see justice done."
"I prayed to be rid of him… but not that way. Never that way," Sarah said.
"My brother's death won't go unpunished. I'll see the MacGreggor woman hang if it's the last thing I do. The Bible says, 'An eye for an eye.' I would have shot her that night if I could, but I'll settle to see her dangle from a rope in front of the courthouse."
"Her death won't change anything. It won't bring Sam back, and it won't change what we… what I did."
"I love you, Sarah. I've always loved you. We'll wait a decent time, and then we'll be married. Just as we should have been a long time ago."
"I was miserable with him, and now that he's dead, I'll always be unhappy."
"Don't say that. You're all upset, and rightly so. You were a good wife to him, Sarah."
"A good wife?" She made a small sound of despair. "When I slept with his brother like a common harlot?"
"Never say that again," he admonished. "What happened is in the past. The future belongs to us. We'll get through this, see justice done, and then we'll be wed."
"You don't understand."
"I do. And I have to live with the fact that I betrayed him with-"
"But I'm with child."
"What?" Stunned, he stiffened. "You're what?"
"I'm going to have a baby."
His chest felt as though it were squeezed in a vise. All these years he'd secretly envied his brother, and he'd been glad that his marriage was barren. But now that Sam was gone, was it possible that he'd have to live with Sam's son?
"Say something?" she begged. "Tell me you're glad."
"Sam's child? You're having-"
"No, you great ninny! Not Sam's. We haven't been together in years… not like that. It's yours, Henry, your child."
"But… but…" Dumbly, he began to grin. "Mine? Ours?" Joy bubbled up inside him. "My son?"
"Or daughter."
"You're not pleased?" She didn't sound pleased. Sarah had always said she wanted children, but…
"Of course I'm pleased, Henry. Why wouldn't I be? It's just that now… now, we can't marry. Not for months, maybe years. People will talk. They might guess that-"
"Hell with what people say," he said. "What difference does it make what gossips blab about? What could be more natural than I'd marry my brother's widow and care for-"
"His child, Henry. Unless we want our child branded a bastard, it must always be Sam's child."
Suddenly, a thought struck him and he sobered. "Did he know? Did my brother-"
"He knew," Sarah said brokenly.
"A son." Henry leaned close and kissed her lightly on the mouth. "Nothing could make me happier," he said. "And I'll make you happy. I swear it. I'll protect you and care for you, Sarah. And I'll make you forget all this unhappiness."
"Will you, Henry? Can you?" She touched his cheek with a gloved hand.
"I swear to you, we'll make a new life. Here or somewhere else, the three of us."
"Yes," she agreed. "I want to go away, back to St. Louis, back to civilization. I want to forget what happened here."
Around the bend, toward them, came the minister's chaise. Quickly, Henry released Sarah and picked up the reins. "We'd best take those flowers of yours to the grave."
"Yes," she answered. "We should show proper respect. Flowers make a grave less… less…"
"Good morning, Reverend," Henry called to the minister.
"A blessed day to you, Judge, and to you Mrs. Steele," the cleric replied.
"Reverend," Sarah said.
Smiling, Henry clicked to the mare and drove on through the pouring rain.
The first light of morning found Tamsin and the war party riding up mountainsides and plunging into ravines that she wouldn't have believed a goat could traverse. Low-hanging branches scraped at her skin and hair and tore her clothing. Thirst plagued her, and it was impossible to forget Buffalo Horn's threats of burning.
If she let her mind dwell on torture, she would lose all reason. She kept remembering the Indian she'd shot at the campfire and the stench of burning hair when he fell. Since she was a child, Tamsin had heard horror stories of Indian captives burned at the stake. She didn't want to die, but if there was no hope of survival, she would rather be shot in an escape attempt than to meet such a horrible fate.
Tamsin feared as much for her horses as she did for her own safety. Fancy and Dancer were thoroughbreds, unused to such rugged country. One misstep and either of them could snap a leg.
One of the Cheyenne braves rode Fancy, but none could stay on Dancer's back long enough to make it worth his while. They'd dropped rawhide ropes over his head and wrestled him to the ground, but the big bay had fought them hoof and tooth. And after an hour's struggle, the braves had given up and simply fastened a lead line to a loop around his neck.
As the hours passed and her thirst grew worse, she tried to fill her head with other thoughts. She tried to imagine what her new farm in California would look like. She built imaginary barns and paddocks and filled them with sleek mares and beautiful foals.
She could almost see Ash Morgan leaning on a split-rail fence and-Ash? How had he slipped into her innermost thoughts?
It was better not to remember how safe she'd felt with his arms around her… and better not to hope that he would come for her.
But he will, she thought. He'll follow me to where I stopped for the night, and then… Sweet God in heaven, why would Ash want to risk his life for her after what she'd done to him? Not once, but twice.
She glanced around cautiously. Last night she'd counted four uninjured Cheyenne. In daylight, she'd seen that she'd missed three more, making a total of seven. The wounded man was barely conscious, his shirt stained with blood. She supposed he was the one she'd wrestled with and shot, apparently in the side. But he was too weak to lift a weapon, so that made the odds against Ash seven to one. Not even Ash could fight off so many Indians. Could he?
When the sun was high overhead, the Cheyenne stopped to rest beside a cascade of tumbling water. Men slid down from their mounts to bury their faces in the foamy stream, and the horses eagerly drank deeply.
"Please, I'm thirsty," she called to Buffalo Horn. "Loose my hands for just a minute so that I-"
In the bright sunshine, the paint on his face had smeared and faded, but his eyes were just as hard. Ignoring her plea, he turned to a companion and said something in Cheyenne that made the other men laugh. He seized her by the shoulder and dragged her from the horse.
Tamsin fell on one knee, then screamed as he shoved her back on the ground. "No!" Her head struck a rock, and for an instant the pain nearly overshadowed the realization that Buffalo Horn was tearing at her skirts.
Hysterically, she kicked at him and struck out with her bound hands. "No! No!"
Jeering, the others closed in around her as his weight pressed her down. Buffalo Horn's hand clamped over her mouth. She twisted and sunk her teeth into his flesh, biting down until she tasted the salt of his blood.
Suddenly, Fancy shrieked a high-pitched whinny of fear, and the animals went wild. Shiloh plunged past, nearly crushing Tamsin and her assailant under his hooves. A man shouted.
Buffalo Horn raised up on his knees as an enraged roar slashed through the pandemonium of kicking, rearing horses. Before Tamsin could draw another breath, the mountain lion leaped from an overhanging tree branch onto a brave's back.
It seemed to Tamsin that time stood still. For an instant, Buffalo Horn, the other Cheyenne warriors, and the terrified horses were imprinted on her mind. Tamsin was certain she could smell and taste the sour scent of the big cat, the animal's sweat, and the odor of wet leaves trampled underfoot. Even the colors seemed clear and distinct, the tawny yellow of the cougar, the white of the young brave's eyes, and the intense blue of the cloudless sky.
Then the scene began to unravel as the cat's claws and teeth rained blood on the scattering warriors. The dying man's screams mingled with those of the fleeing horses and the puma's snarls.
A rifle cracked, and Tamsin caught a final glimpse of ivory-yellow teeth and gushing red before the cat vanished into the underbrush. More guns went off, and the Cheyenne's cries had turned to war whoops as they raced after the cougar.
Heaving dry sobs of terror, Tamsin got to her feet and backed away from the dead warrior. Stumbling, shaking with fear, she edged closer to the nearest horse, an Indian mustang.
He snorted, laid back his ears, and trotted away, still trailing a single rein. Tamsin strained at her wrist bindings. If her hands hadn't been tied, she would have run after the horse, flung herself onto his back, and attempted an escape.
A brave's grip on her arm dashed her hope. He spun her around to face him and glared into her face. "Demon Claw," Buffalo Horn muttered. "Spirit cougar. You bring bad medicine. We go from this place quickly."
Maybe he's right, Tamsin thought as he put her on the trembling pinto. There was something eerie about the mountain lion. Maybe it hadn't come for the Cheyenne. Maybe the big cat had come for her, seeking revenge for Ash's killing the smaller cougar.
And for the space of a heartbeat she wondered if she wouldn't have been better off if the beast had killed her. Even that death would be better than the rape and torture Buffalo Horn had planned for her.