“Are you all right?” Indigo tried to check the toplander’s shoulder. “Is anything broken, Topper?”
Several other men gathered around.
“I’m fine,” Topper assured everyone. “Thanks to you,” he told Indigo. “Most people would have said every man for himself. You saved my life, missy.”
“Nonsense. We have Jake to thank for that.” Indigo glanced around at Jake. “Praise God that you saw it coming!”
Jake tried to reply but couldn’t.
She turned to look at the buried skip and went a little pale. “If we hadn’t moved when we did—”
Shorty came limping over. “I been workin’ this here mountain for fifteen year, and I ain’t never seen a pebble so much as move on that slope.”
Miners came crawling from the tunnel, coughing and waving away dust. Indigo cupped her hands around her mouth. “Are you all okay down there?”
One of the emerging men gave her a thumbs-up.
With a grimy finger, Shorty scooped a wad of chew from inside his lip and spat. He shot Jake a meaningful glance. “I say them rocks had a little help movin’. You wanna go with me and take a look-see?”
Jake, still not completely recovered from his fright, grasped Indigo’s arm with a shaky hand and drew her into a walk. After such a close call, he was reluctant to leave her alone. “Yes, let’s go check.”
Thirty minutes later, Jake had seen all he needed to see. The slide had been caused by the displacement of a gigantic boulder. From all indications, it had been firmly seated, and it seemed unlikely to Jake that it had suddenly moved on its own.
“This was no accident.” Rage made him clip the words.
Shorty scratched his head. “Don’t appear like it. Could’ve been, though. We had a long spell of heavy rain a few days back. The dirt might’ve softened up around it.”
Jake shot him a glare. “Do you really believe that?”
Shorty drew his bushy eyebrows together. “Nope, I reckon I don’t. I jist hate to think somebody did it deliberate.”
Indigo sank onto a nearby rock and gazed at the path of the rock slide. “You think someone did it on purpose?”
“Maybe so. Tryin’ to block off the mine entrance would be my guess,” Shorty ventured.
Jake didn’t want to put his fear into words, but he had to. “Or to kill someone.” He looked at Indigo. He’d never forget seeing that slope of rock rolling toward her like a giant wave. “Namely you.”
Her eyes widened. “Me?” She threw a glance down the hill. “You can’t even see the mine entrance or who’s down there from here. It couldn’t have been meant for me.”
Jake gestured toward a group of trees to their left. “Someone could have been watching from over there.”
She regarded him with ill-concealed exasperation. “I could have left, just that quick. Isn’t that supposing a bit much? Topper was down there, too. Other people were coming and going. A rock slide can’t be aimed at one person.”
“Do you think a murderer would care who else he hurt, as long as he got the person he wanted?”
“Surely, you’re not serious.”
“I’m very serious.”
Agitated, Jake swiped at his mouth. He didn’t want to overreact, and her arguments made sense. But, dammit, how could he take that chance? At the best of times, working in or around a mine was dangerous. It was a perfect place to commit murder and make it look like an accident.
Jake recalled two other incidents that had nearly killed Indigo, the cave-in that had injured Hunter and the rifle shot that had taken Lobo’s life. And now a rock slide. He kept imagining her, crushed under hundreds of pounds of stone.
With a feeling of unreality, he said, “You were reseating a skip, Indigo. If someone was over there in the trees, watching and waiting for the right moment, he would have known you’d be there for a while.” He kicked a rock and watched it bounce and go airborne. “He would have had plenty of time to come over here and dislodge the boulder. It’s only a few seconds’ walk.”
She braced her hands on her knees and pushed to her feet. “The rock could have come loose on its own.”
Jake clenched his teeth. After a long moment, he said, “Maybe. But then again, maybe not. I’m not a gambling man.”
“What do you mean?”
Jake didn’t want to answer. He knew damned well how it was going to look, and that she was going to detest him for it. “I think you’d better go home.”
She hugged her waist.
“You know it makes good sense. You can’t watch your back here, and I can’t watch it for you. There are too many people coming and going, too much noise, and too many dangerous situations. Until we get to the bottom of all this, I think you should stick close to the house.”
“If someone wants to kill me, he can do it there.”
“Not as easily. You’d have a better chance to see trouble coming, for one. With so many people within yelling distance of the house, only a fool’d try something in broad daylight.”
Her voice rose to a shrill pitch, and she gestured toward the disturbed ground where the boulder had sat. “This is a steep slope. Boulders do come loose on their own, you know. You can’t be certain the slide was started by someone.”
“No. But my gut feeling—”
“You’re just using this as an excuse!” she cried.
Shorty coughed. “I think this is where I say it’s time for me to go back to work.”
Jake watched him walk away. As soon as Shorty was beyond earshot, he turned back to Indigo. “Honey, listen to me.”
She tightened her arms at her waist and averted her face. Jake sighed.
“Indigo, please don’t act like this. Do you think I’d send you home without damned good reason?”
“Yes,” she replied in a hollow voice. “I do. You didn’t want me to come. You couldn’t think of a good reason to send me home, so you didn’t. But now a reason has dropped in your lap.”
“That isn’t true.”
She fastened an accusing gaze on him, her mouth set.
Jake curled his fingers around the back of his neck. “I admit it, okay? I don’t like you doing a man’s job. I’d rather you didn’t, but that has nothing to do with this.”
In a toneless voice, she said, “I think it has everything to do with it.”
Jake knew she probably had every reason to believe that. When it came to his feelings, he was fairly transparent, and the truth was, he didn’t like the idea of her working in a mine. Regardless, though, there were other issues involved here, and he’d be a fool to ignore them. “Marshal Hilton advised me to take every precaution. That’s exactly what I intend to do. As much as you might hate me for it, my decision’s made. Until this is settled and we’re certain Brandon Marshall isn’t behind it all, you’re sticking close to the house.”
Her eyes widened. “H-how close?”
“No wandering off alone until I give the go-ahead.”
“You mean I can’t—” Her gaze shifted to the woods around them. “You mean I can’t go walking? Or hunting?”
“No.”
Jake watched the light dim in her eyes. For several seconds, she stood there with her lips parted, her throat working soundlessly. He fully expected her to start in on him. He was surprised when all she said was, “Is that your final word?”
Agitated, Jake shoved his hands into his pockets to stop himself from touching her. Dammit, he didn’t want this right now, not on top of everything else. “I always reserve the right to change my mind, Indigo. But in this instance, I have to say yes, it’s my final word.”
She bowed her head. He squeezed his eyes closed and swallowed.
“Indigo, it isn’t the way you’re thinking,” he told her in a ragged voice. “I swear to God it isn’t. I just want to protect you. The moment I think it’s safe, I’ll lift the restrictions.”
She nodded and turned away. Jake stood there and watched her. Suddenly, Mary Beth’s voice rang in his head. I wish you’d
marry Emily. Maybe then you’d make her life miserable instead of mine. Only he hadn’t married Emily. Instead, he had married a half-wild girl who had never been ruled by anyone.
Falling in behind her, Jake said, “I’ll knock off early today and walk you home, all right? We’ll talk things over.”
She looked up as he came abreast of her. With an oddly blank expression in her eyes, she asked, “Is there a chance you’ll change your mind?”
Jake wanted to say yes. But the truth was, he seriously doubted it. As upset as she obviously was and as much as she might detest him for it, his first concern had to be her safety. “It’s not likely,” he replied. “But maybe if we talk about it, you’ll start to feel better about my decision.”
Later that evening after Jake left to go visit her father, Indigo went out to the well to haul in water. As she drew up the bucket, she looked longingly toward the woods. The birds sang here in Aunt Amy’s yard, but not as serenely as they did deep in the forest. The wind whispered here, too, but it didn’t speak to her in quite the same way. She had to face the possibility that she might never again wander for hours in her beloved mountains.
A prisoner. That was what she had become. And it might be a life sentence.
Feeling oddly numb, she leaned her back against the well and stared at nothing. In the back of her mind, she wondered if perhaps she wasn’t suffering from delayed shock because of all that had happened. But the question took too much thought for her to muddle through and decide on an answer. It didn’t really matter. The numbness felt rather nice after all the turmoil.
Three days. How could one’s life change so drastically in so short a time? She studied a clump of grass near the toe of her moccasin. Seventy-two hours ago, the grass had been just as it was now, several green blades, all sprouting from a matted root system. The sun was setting, right on schedule, as it had for centuries. The moon would rise when darkness fell. Nothing in the world had changed, and yet nothing was the same.
She tried to assemble all the changes into a meaningful whole, so she could grasp exactly where she stood and where she was headed. But she felt dizzy, the way Chase used to make her feel years ago when he grabbed her wrists and spun with her in a circle until she couldn’t stand up. She had that feeling now, as if the ground and sky were whirling, and she couldn’t find anyplace solid to plant her feet.
All the things she had always counted on had been snatched away, Lobo, the support of her parents, the home where she’d grown up, the mine, and her mountains. Even her name was different. Not Indigo Wolf anymore, but Indigo Rand. She felt like a cup that had been drained and left empty.
Denver Tompkins’s taunts whispered in her mind, and she closed her eyes on a rush of shame. She tried to imagine the coming night, but her head refused to form the pictures. She only knew that making love with a man who regarded her as a possession to be used and lent out was bound to be horrible. She could only wonder why Jake had given her a reprieve last night. Was Topper right? Had Denver been lying? Or was Jake merely toying with her?
A cougar’s cry lifted in the air. Indigo raised her head and listened. Toothless. Tears threatened to fill her eyes. Straightening her shoulders, she blinked them away, grabbed the bucket, and ran toward the house, sloshing water.
Chapter 13
JAKE WENT DIRECTLY TO THE WOLFS’ TO speak to Hunter. Father O’Grady was out hearing confessions. Loretta greeted Jake with the same coolness she had that morning. Feeling uncomfortable, Jake didn’t waste time on pleasantries before he went to the bedroom. After saying hello to Hunter and asking if he felt up to talking, Jake closed the door so Loretta couldn’t overhear.
Taking care not to give a biased account of what had occurred, he told Hunter about the rock slide, how close a call it had been, and why he had restricted Indigo’s activities.
As he finished laying the groundwork for the questions he meant to ask, Jake spread his hands and resorted to stark honesty. “I just left Indigo at the house. She’s awfully upset.” As briefly as he could and without bringing his past into it, Jake explained how he felt about women doing heavy work. “She thinks I’m using the rock slide as an excuse to keep her at home.”
Hunter seemed to consider that. “If it were not for this danger, would you object to her mining or hunting in the woods?”
Jake shoved his hands into the hip pockets of his jeans. “I’d rather she had more conventional interests, but that isn’t why I restricted her to the house. Marshal Hilton thinks Brandon Marshall is a card short of dealing with a full deck. He doesn’t trust the man and told me to take every precaution. Since the shot that killed Lobo and the rock slide, how can I be sure she’ll be safe at the mine or in the woods?”
“So this decision . . . it only stands until you are certain Brandon won’t harm her?”
Jake nodded. “A temporary measure.”
Hunter studied Jake for a long moment. “Why do you bring this to me?”
Jake laughed. “I want your opinion. Am I being unfair?”
Hunter smiled. “That is not for me to say. You are Indigo’s husband.”
“I want to be a good husband.”
“With that wish to guide you, how can you fail?”
Jake wanted a direct answer, not talk that went in circles. “Do you think she might be in danger?”
Hunter nodded. “I believe it’s possible. I also believe you have a good heart. Listen to the song it sings, eh? It is there that you will find the answers you seek.”
Jake heaved a discouraged sigh. “I was really hoping you’d give me some advice, Hunter. She’s your daughter.”
“And I have given her to you.”
Jake tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “You tell me to listen to songs? I’m not even sure there’s one inside me. And if there is, it’s bound to be different than the one in you and Indigo. I don’t understand her half the time. How in hell can I make sound decisions about her happiness?”
“You must find the way.”
Jake met his gaze. “That’s why I came here.”
Hunter smiled again. “So I can show you? And after you have gone a great distance, what then? When you are deep into the trees and the way I pointed out is no longer clear, how will you direct your footsteps?” He shook his head. “You must find your own way from the start—a way good for you and for Indigo. Once you know how you should walk, you will never become lost.”
Jake bit back a curse and jerked his hands from his pockets. “In other words, I’m on my own.”
“No. My daughter walks with you. Choose your way carefully, yes? The trail ahead of you will be steep at times. At others, it may be rocky and narrow. You must be certain you go along a path that leaves room for her to journey beside you.”
Jake sighed and sank onto the rocker. Dropping his head into his hands, he leaned forward and planted his elbows on his knees. “Right now, the path is pretty damned rocky. I’m ready to strangle her.” He laughed softly and looked up. “She won’t speak to me. That gets to me quicker than anything.”
Hunter smiled slightly. “Ah, yes, the quietness. They are good at it. It is the way of things. We have strength of arm, they have strength of will.”
“How do you handle it when Loretta won’t speak to you?”
Hunter shifted his shoulders and winced. “I make the great fight for a while, and then I surrender.”
A chuckle erupted from Jake before he could stifle it. When he saw Hunter’s answering grin, he relaxed. “Sorry, but it struck me funny. If you sneezed at her, you’d lay her flat.”
“Ah, but when she cries, it lays me flat.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I find ways to dry her tears, yes? And soon I find that I have surrendered.”
“Would you surrender if you were afraid for her safety?”
“No. To keep her safe, I can be a very mean man.”
“That’s my position. I can’t surrender on this.”
Hunter inclined his head in silent agreement. “Perhaps y
ou can surrender on small things. To be a husband is not easy, especially the first day.” His knowing blue eyes grew solemn. “There are many ways a woman can come to harm, yes? You cannot keep her safe from them all.”
“For instance?” Jake asked in puzzlement.
Hunter waved his unbandaged hand. “Indigo will not starve if she does not eat for a few days. Perhaps you could let her belly tell her when to put food in her mouth. When her throat wants to push the food up, and her husband says she must swallow it down, a strange thing occurs. My woman calls it gagging.”
Jake stopped the rocker. His mind slid backward to that morning when he had asked Indigo to eat a flapjack. He arched an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
“You might let her feed her cougar. It would make me a happy man. He’s been screaming off and on all day and waking me up. And my woman is pouting.”
A muscle along Jake’s jaw began to tick. “I see. That wouldn’t be why Loretta treated me so coolly this morning?”
Hunter’s lips twitched. “Indigo is her little girl. It didn’t make her happy to watch her gag down a flapjack. And we have always allowed her to feed her animals. Suddenly, her new husband says no about the cougar.”
“I see.”
Hunter looked none too certain of that. “Do you? If Toothless isn’t fed, he will try to rob the trap lines soon. If he does that, he may get a foot caught, and the trapper will kill him. Since he trusts only Indigo, we cannot feed him. We can only watch and worry.”
“And be angry,” Jake added.
Hunter smiled. “My Loretta is a good woman, and she will say nothing. But her eyes will give you frostbite. Surrender on the little things, yes? Too many changes too soon can cause big trouble.”
Jake shoved stiffly from the chair. “Thank you, Hunter. This visit has been enlightening.”
Hunter nodded. “You will make talk with my daughter, yes, so maybe she will make talk with you?”
“Oh, yes. We’re going to make talk, all right.”
It was growing dark when Jake left the Wolfs’. He strode down the boardwalk, his boots hitting the planks with sharp reports, his jaw set. Anger. It surged through him in hot, pulsing waves. She had lied to her parents this morning, out-and-out lied. The question was, why? Jake tried to imagine her sitting meekly at the table, gagging on bite after bite of flapjack, pretending that her brute of a husband had commanded her to do it. The picture made him all the more furious.