Chapter Two

      Riding on a horse with Owen, leaving her boardinghouse, made Laura feel more like a coward than she ever had. She’d finally learned to stand up to James, and here she was, running from him. Worse, she hadn’t even felt like she’d had a choice but to go with Owen. How had she become so helpless again?

      “You could have at least let me say goodbye to my friends,” she said, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice. “And what about my boardinghouse?”

      Owen had only given her enough time to pack a bag. Even then, he’d stood above her, telling her what she could and couldn’t bring. While the rational part of her reminded herself that he was a lawman who knew what he was doing, the woman who had made so many strides in becoming independent resented his interference.

      Funny how just hours ago, she’d been entertaining the foolish thought that he might have had some personal interest in her. Maybe she wasn’t a good judge of character, but she at least knew the signs of a bully. She’d been married to the worst of them, so for Owen to be so forceful with her, perhaps it was just as well that he’d never given her any indication that their relationship was anything more than professional. She wouldn’t risk getting her heart involved with a man who showed such obvious signs of needing to have power and be in control. At least that was one area where Laura could remain strong.

      “I told you, Will has arranged for some of the ladies at church to help out with the boardinghouse.”

      “How would he have had time to do that already? James only escaped this morning.”

      “We agreed when he sent me to get you, that he would talk to his wife, Mary, and she would rally the ladies. I have no reason to doubt his word.”

      Owen made a sound with his mouth that Laura had never heard before. But his horse seemed to understand what it meant because it sped up.

      Laura clung tighter to Owen’s back, hating the impropriety of riding double with a man, but knowing it was the only option. Though it seemed inconceivable that a woman of her age couldn’t ride a horse, she’d never had a reason to ride until now. She’d always had carriages, and her parents had thought riding too dangerous a pursuit for young ladies.

      And at this speed, Laura could see why.

      “Do we have to go so fast?”

      This time, the noise Owen made before speaking was one Laura knew all too well. Let him be irritated. Hadn’t he been irritating her?

      “As a matter of fact, we do. I’m deliberately taking a convoluted route to our destination so that if anyone has been following us, or tries tracking us, they’ll be lost for sure. However, we have a lot of ground to cover if we are going to make it there by dark.”

      It had been the most he had said to her in a while. She should have been grateful for the information, and in the past, it would have been enough. But now that Laura had taken control of her own life, it seemed foolish to blindly trust this man, even though she’d done so before.

      “When are you going to tell me where we’re going? You said at the house you couldn’t tell me because you didn’t want anyone who might be eavesdropping to overhear. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Surely you can tell me now.”

      Owen made another annoyed noise. This seemed to be how their conversations had gone since he showed up on her doorstep. Him needing to be in control, and her no longer living a life where she was pushed around all the time.

      “What happened to the woman who used to trust me?”

      “She grew up. Learned to take charge of her own life. And now she resents the fact that you’ve swooped in, taken over and coerced her from her home and are making her go somewhere without revealing the destination.”

      Owen let out a long sigh. “I wouldn’t have had to coerce, as you say, if you’d just listened to reason.”

      His condescending tone rattled something in her. She didn’t deserve to be spoken to like that. “Funny, James used to say the same thing.”

      The reminder killed any remnants of those schoolgirl dreams she might have once had of Owen. He wasn’t the man she thought he was, and now that she knew she didn’t need a man, she wasn’t interested in one like him. How had she been so blind?

      He pulled back on the reins and asked the horse to stop. Owen got off the horse, then helped Laura to the ground, giving her a glare.

      “Fine. Have it your way.” Owen pointed in the direction from which they’d come. “Town’s that way. I promised I’d protect you and that I would never let James hurt you again. But it seems to me that you are determined to let that man kill you. And now you want to compare me to him? Fine. I can act like James. He’d have no problem letting a woman fend for herself in the middle of nowhere. You want to be free so bad? Have at it.”

      He turned on his heel and walked over to his saddlebags, where he untied the canteen, then took a long drink out of it. When he finished, he walked to the front of the horse, poured a bit of water into his hands, and stuck it under the horse’s mouth so he could drink.

      Owen appeared to be completely oblivious to Laura. She looked in the direction he’d indicated, remembering how long it had taken them to get this far. On foot, there was no way she’d get back to town by nightfall. Even if James wasn’t potentially out there, the danger she faced as a woman alone made such a choice impossible.

      “I just don’t know why you can’t tell me where we’re going.”

      “And I don’t know why you have to argue with me about every little thing when I’m trying to save your life.”

      His tone hurt. Even more so, the thought that he would abandon her in the middle of nowhere. Was this the man she’d once had a slight tendre for? “Would you really let me leave?”

      Owen held the canteen out to her. “If you have to ask that question, then I guess you don’t know me as well as you think you do. I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it.”

      She stared at him for a moment before taking the canteen. Owen kicked at the dirt, making another irritated noise. “Sorry, threatening to leave you wasn’t the brightest idea. I let my frustration get the best of me. I just thought that after all the time we spent together, you’d know what kind of man I am. I need you to trust me enough to go when I tell you to go and not spend so much time arguing with me about it.”

      Knowing it was a burst of temper didn’t make Laura feel any better, even if he had apologized for it. He was so different from the kind man who’d cared for her in her time of need. How could she have not seen this side of him before?

      Letting out a long sigh, Owen took off his hat and mopped his sweaty brow. “No, I wouldn’t leave you here. I’m just extremely frustrated, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

      “You could try talking to me and explaining what’s going on.”

      “I never had to before. We had to get out of there fast.” Owen looked back in the direction of town. “I just hope we got out fast enough.”

      More things he hadn’t explained. “We’ve been riding for at least an hour now. Plenty of time to tell me what’s going on.”

      “Possibly,” Owen said. “But I’ve been busy thinking about what we’re going to do. Figuring out the best route to get you to our destination so that any trackers who try to come after us won’t be able to find us.”

      He went over to his saddlebags and pulled out some cloths. Laura watched as he tied the cloths around the horse’s hooves one by one.

      “What are you doing?”

      “Now that we’ve gone a ways out of town and taken a