The Outlaw's Secret. Stacy Henrie
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* *
“The camp is next to those hills,” Silas said, pointing. The sun had already begun dipping toward the horizon.
Tate noted the spot absently. It was hard to focus on much of anything except the guilt that had been dogging him since he’d left Miss Vanderfair behind.
For the hundredth time he reassured himself that she’d likely be fine. She had his canteen and her pick of a horse. But he couldn’t drive away the image in his mind of her standing there, waving at them to come back, her hazel eyes wide with shock.
Running his bandanna over his dusty face, he followed the other two men toward the base of one of the hills. Eventually he spotted Fletcher and Jude up ahead. They appeared to be starting a fire.
Tate stopped his horse and climbed out of the saddle. He needed a good night’s sleep. A chance to put the train robbery—his first and only—and Essie Vanderfair safely in the past, where they belonged, so he could focus all of his energy on what lay ahead.
He handed his horse’s reins to Silas, the horse master, and headed off to look for more wood for the fire. Clem wouldn’t start cooking until the flames were blazing, and Tate’s belly was already rumbling for food.
A hard hand wrenched his shoulder before he’d gone far, jerking him backward. Tate fought the instinct to drive a fist into the offender’s stomach. He could easily handle himself in a fistfight, but he had to maintain the easygoing demeanor associated with his brother.
“Where’s the girl?” Spittle flew from Fletcher’s mouth as he snarled the words. “Silas and Clem said they didn’t know.”
Tate shook off the outlaw’s hold as he wiped the back of his hand across his jaw. Should he pretend he didn’t understand what Fletcher meant? Or would it be better to come clean with the truth?
Opting for honesty, at least where it concerned Miss Vanderfair, he took a wide stance with his feet and casually folded his arms. “I left her back when we changed horses.”
“You what?” Fletcher narrowed his gaze. “You left her behind without talkin’ to me?”
“She was trouble, Fletch, and you know it.” Tate maintained a level look. “We don’t need some overly curious female poking her nose in our business.”
The robber leader reached out and fisted Tate’s collar, his dark eyes menacing. “You don’t tell me how to run my operation, cowboy. I’m still the leader here.” His foul breath cured Tate of wanting any supper, at least for the moment. “That girl means a hefty ransom, and it’s easy money. We simply post a telegram and the money arrives in no time.” He shoved Tate back. “Now, go get her.”
Anger simmered hot inside Tate as he glared back at Fletcher. All of these outlaws were the same—greedy and remorseless when it came to ruining the lives of innocent people. Just like your brother, a voice chided inside his head. He tightened his jaw, willing his emotions to stay concealed, controlled.
“And if I don’t?”
Fletcher’s mouth curled up in a sneer. “Try me, Tex.” He lifted his hands in a mock gesture of innocence. “But now your life is tied with hers.” He walked away, adding over his shoulder, “I think you’re smart enough to figure out what that means.”
Clenching and unclenching his fingers, Tate forced a deep breath between his gritted teeth. He wanted to slam his fist into something, though it wouldn’t change the situation. For better or worse, his fate—and his entire operation—now lay in the hands of Miss Essie Vanderfair. If he didn’t return with her, he’d be expelled from the gang at the very least and his case would go up in smoke. At the very worst, he’d wind up dead.
Which meant he’d better go back and retrieve her.
He marched to the horses and saddled his mount again. The other men glanced between him and Fletcher in obvious confusion. “Better hope she’s alive and well,” the outlaw leader called out, shooting him a condescending grin as Tate swung up onto his horse.
The anger in his gut iced into anxiety as his mind filled once more with horrible visions of Miss Vanderfair injured, or worse. He shoved aside the nagging thoughts. She was fine, most likely.
Still, he couldn’t help praying as he urged his horse back the direction he’d just come. Please, Lord. Let me find her and let her be all right. For both our sakes.
* * *
Essie eyed the darkening sky ahead and swallowed hard. In a short while she wouldn’t be able to see much of anything, let alone the robbers’ tracks, if the clouds dropped their rain. Sliding to the ground, she pressed her lips over a cry at the throbbing ache in her legs. Too many years had passed since she’d ridden bareback.
“Want some water, boy?” she said to the gelding. If she focused on something else, she could ignore the pain.
She set down her valise and cupped her hand to capture as much of the water from her canteen as she could. The liquid disappeared into the horse’s mouth at once. The poor animal was thirsty, even though she’d kept him moving at a slow gait. She allowed him another mouthful and then she drank from the canteen herself.
When she’d finished, she sloshed the water against the sides of the container. There wasn’t much left, judging by the sound. And she had nothing in the way of food for herself, either. But at least there was food for the horse.
“Why don’t you sample the grass over here?” She led the gelding to a patch of yellowing grass among the dirt and sagebrush. “I’ll see if I can’t spot their trail again.”
Looping the reins around a large sagebrush, Essie returned to the place where she’d dismounted. She walked slowly, searching the ground for tracks. A few yards away she found the imprints from the trio’s horses.
A feeling of optimism bloomed inside her. Her tracking skills, though a bit novice, had proved to be more than adequate. She’d be back with the train-robbing gang in no time at—
The crack of thunder from above made her jump and caused the gelding to skitter to one side. She hurried to soothe the horse as fat drops of rain began to strike her head and shoulders. If the downpour washed away the tracks...
Essie swatted away the troubling thought. Surely she’d stumble onto the men’s campsite before too long.
After tying up the canteen in the reins to free both her hands, she clutched the handle of her valise between her teeth once again and attempted to climb onto the gelding. But without the aid of a rock, she had to try three times before successfully hauling herself onto the horse’s back. By then the rain had picked up, pounding the prairie as though it were as angry as she’d been earlier.
Essie could hardly see more than a few feet in any direction. Wiping strands of hair from her face, she untied the canteen and turned her mount toward the spot where she’d last seen the tracks. She kept her valise and the water container crushed to her chest with one hand while she grasped the reins with the other.
Cold droplets slid down her dress collar and pulled her hair from its pins until it lay soaked against her back. There was nothing to do, though, but keep going. The horse plodded on, its head down. She wished she could lower hers, too, but she needed to make certain they were traveling in the right direction, drenched or not.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the rain ceased its thunderous fury and dwindled to a light sprinkle. After another few minutes it stopped altogether.
“Look at that, boy—we made it through.” Essie ventured a smile and shifted her grip on the reins to pat the gelding’s neck.
But her relief ended abruptly when she leaned to the side to study the ground. Any tracks made by the three horses were no longer visible. A pinprick of alarm punctured her hope further as she realized the light was beginning to fade around them.
She moved the horse in one direction then back in another. It was no use. The outlaws’ trail had disappeared