“No,” he said. “There’s a stream across the trail. I want to show you something.”
“But if someone sees you…I mean…”
“I know what you mean, Leah,” he said heavily. “Could I show you something now?”
“Of course.” They were sitting on their horses in the middle of the well-worn trail and just a little way away was the smoke from a camp fire.
Out of his pocket Revis pulled a black silk handkerchief, and while Leah watched he tied it about his face.
She didn’t like what she saw. She’d almost forgotten that he was a thief. “I think we’d better return.”
“Not yet, my lofty princess,” he said as he grabbed the reins of her horse.
The next minute they were thundering down the trail toward the camp fire smoke, Leah barely able to hang onto the saddle. Once she screamed “No,” but Revis paid no attention.
They burst like storm clouds into the clearing where two wagons sat. The settlers, each involved in some task about the campsite, looked up and froze.
Revis shot one man through the forehead.
Aghast, for a moment Leah couldn’t move. Then, in one motion, she was off her horse and onto the ground, running toward the dead man. A woman near her screamed.
Revis rode his horse near to where Leah hovered over the man. “Get their goods, Leah,” he said coolly.
“You animal!” she screamed and began to beat Revis with her fists.
Revis leveled his pistol and shot the woman beside Leah in the shoulder.
By now there were five settlers and two children standing by the wagons, looking in horror at the masked man and the people near him.
“If you don’t obey me you’ll have to choose who’ll die next,” Revis said as he pulled another pistol from his saddle.
The bleeding woman at Leah’s feet began to cry.
“You have about ten seconds to obey me, Leah,” Revis said.
“What…what do I do?” She knew that now only action counted and words were useless.
“Get that man’s hat and fill it with whatever they have.” He pointed with the pistol. “Any of you give my partner any trouble and I’ll put a bullet through your head.”
“I’m not—,” Leah began but stopped. When she stood before the settler, he looked at her with hate.
“The Lord will see you burn for this,” the man hissed at her as he handed her his hat.
“No, please, I—.”
“Listen to him, Leah,” Revis said. “All of you, I want to introduce Mrs. Leah Simmons Stanford of Virginia and soon to be of Sweetbriar, Kentucky.”
With shaking hands, Leah walked in front of the settlers as they put their watches and rings into the hat. One woman spit a great glob into Leah’s face. Leah only halfheartedly wiped it away.
“Come on, Leah, honey,” Revis said coaxingly. “We need to get back and these good people need to bury their dead.”
At her horse she hesitated.
“If you stayed here they’d tear you to bits and if you don’t go with me I’ll kill two more. I think I’d like doing that,” he said so that only she heard.
As if she were in a daze, Leah mounted her horse. Revis again took the reins and pulled her with him into the forest.
Just after crossing the Wilderness Trail, he stopped and pulled off his mask. “I told you I’d make you pay for using my brothers against me,” he said. “In a few days everyone for miles will know about the lovely Mrs. Stanford who is a thief as well as a murderess.”
“No,” Leah whispered.
“And now, my pretty Leah, you have a real reason to stay with me. You leave my protection and the secrecy of our cabin and you’ll be arrested and hanged by the neck until dead.” With that he began to laugh. “You’ll get used to it,” he laughed. “On the next raid you’ll know just what to do. And since you’ll already be well-known, we won’t have to cover that pretty face of yours
“Let’s go,” he said, laughing. “Blood always makes me hungry.”
He led her horse up the intricate, secret path to the cabin while Leah sat on the horse and knew her life was over.
Chapter 20
By the time Revis and Leah reached the cabin, Revis was cursing her because she looked as if she were living death. He didn’t want any more women like Verity, who’d never recovered from seeing Revis shoot her husband. He wanted a woman who wasn’t afraid.
At the cabin he dismounted, leaving her still on top of her horse. He stalked inside, threw some food into a sack, and returned to his horse. Still cursing his luck with women, he angrily pulled Leah from her horse and stood her on the ground. Immediately she collapsed in a heap, drawing her knees into her chest. She didn’t cry or make a sound; she just lay there.
With a sneer at her, Revis rode away.
Hours later, Abe found her there.
“Damn you, Leah, you’re supposed to feed us! It’s time to eat and ain’t nothin’ cooked. And what’re you doin’ layin’ in the sun? You’ll get burnt and then Revis won’t like you anymore.”
Leah didn’t move. Her eyes were open but she didn’t seem to see anything.
“Leah?” He knelt beside her. “You been hurt?” There was concern in his voice. “You gonna talk to me or you rather just lay around?”
Tentatively he touched her forehead. Her skin was hot, but she didn’t move at his touch. Frowning, he stood upright and gave a high-pitched whistle.
Quickly both Bud and Cal appeared from the forest.
“Look here at my sister,” Abe said indignantly. “Either of you know what’s wrong with her?”
Cal knelt by Leah, his big body shading her. Slowly he reached out a hand and touched her cheek. He looked up at his brother, seemed to get an answer to his silent question, and the next moment he lifted Leah into his arms.
“Hey!” Abe protested. “You can’t do that. You leave her here. I’ll take care of her.”
Cal started toward the forest with Leah.
“You hear me, you overgrown piece of dog crap?”
Bud planted himself in front of Abe.
“Here! Get out of the way,” Abe commanded. “You can’t take my sister off to who-knows-where. And that rich husband of hers ain’t gonna want her if she’s sick. She ain’t got nobody but me.”
For all Abe’s protesting, he stayed where he was when both brothers disappeared into the woods.
Wesley was outside the cabin, shirtless, walking around, flexing and unflexing his arms, trying to get strength back into his side. He halted when he heard the footsteps coming up the path. Usually Bud and Cal didn’t use the briar-covered path but came their own way through the underbrush.
Wesley slipped out of sight until he was sure his visitors were indeed the boys. When he saw Cal carrying Leah, he ran forward.
“Is she hurt?” he asked as he took her from the young men. “What happened to her? Did that Revis—? I thought you two were watching her.”
Leah lay limp in his arms, her eyes closed as if she were unconscious. He took her into the cabin and put her on the bed. He kept a bucket of water in the cabin and now he dipped a cloth in it, a cloth that had once been part of his bandages, and put the cool fabric on her forehead.
Leah groaned, turned to her side, drew her knees into her chest, and lay still.
“You two better start talking,” Wes said, his eyes narrowed. “And fast.”
Cal spoke first. “She told me she wanted privacy this morning and we gave it but after an hour we began to look for her.”
“We followed horse tracks down the mountain and at the bottom we heard shots,” Bud said.
“By the time we got there Revis had killed a man and shot a woman. He and Leah were riding fast back up the mountain. When we got to the cabin she was like that and Revis was gone.”
Wesley walked away from the cot. “I thought all this Revis did was rob people.”
“He kills people when he feels like it,” Bud said with a stiff jaw.
Wesley b
anged his fist against the wall. “What a fool I was! How could I have left her there? I should have taken her away immediately.”
“You would have bled to death,” Cal said flatly.
Wes was quiet for a moment as he turned to stare at Leah. “No doubt she witnessed the shootings and that’s what’s wrong with her.”
Suddenly he crossed the cabin in two strides, grabbed her shoulders hard, and lifted her to a sitting position. “Damn you, Leah!” he yelled in her face. “Why do you think you have to save the world? Why couldn’t you have told me the truth? Why did I have to be so stupid as to believe you? I thought you’d be all right and now look at you. Damn you! Damn you!”
Wesley began shaking her and kept it up until Cal put his hand on Wes’s shoulder. Abruptly, Wes stopped and saw there were tears in Leah’s eyes. He pulled her to him fiercely. “That’s it, sweetheart, cry all you want. You’re safe now.”
Bud and Cal silently left the cabin.
Once Leah’s tears started, she couldn’t seem to stop them. She clung to Wesley with all her strength and cried against his bare shoulder. When her body started convulsing, he made her drink water.
“Now tell me about it,” he said patiently.
“No,” she whispered. “No.”
“Leah.” He took her chin in his hand and tipped her swollen, red face upwards. “I never believed that cock-and-bull story of yours about the sick kids and I’ve always known about Revis and your brother Abe. Right now I want you to tell me everything that’s happened.”
“I have to stay here forever,” she said, hiccupping. “They’ll hang me.”
“You’re making no sense whatever. You saw Revis kill someone today, didn’t you?”
She pulled away from him. “I helped! I held a man’s hat and collected goods. I stole!”
She waited to see the shock on his face, but there was none.
“What did this Revis do to force you to steal? What did he threaten you with?”
Again Leah’s eyes filled with tears. She had thought Wesley would believe she stole because it was her nature to do so. “He said he’d kill more people if I hesitated.”
“Bastard,” Wes said under his breath. “Anything else?”
She didn’t want to tell him the rest. Never again could she live amid decent people. “Revis wore a mask,” she whispered, “but I…I didn’t.”
“Oh,” Wes said, glad it wasn’t worse. “I’m sure they saw you were forced into it and that actually you were saving their lives.”
“No!” she screamed and jumped off the bed. “You don’t understand. Revis told the people I was his partner. He told them my name, that I was Mrs. Leah Simmons Stanford of Virginia, soon to live in Sweetbriar, Kentucky. He made me a criminal. He made me a thief. I can never leave here! If I do they’ll hang me.”
“Leah,” he said in sympathy as he walked toward her and tried to pull her into his arms.
“Get away from me! Don’t ever touch me again! You’re the clean Mr. Stanford. Nothing like this would ever happen to you. They’d take one look at the Stanford name and know you’re innocent but me, a Simmons, I’d—.”
He grabbed her shoulders. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. According to our marriage papers you’re a Stanford too. Look, Leah,” he said, calming himself. “All this isn’t as bad as you think. There are courts of law and we’ll hire the best lawyers. Bud and Cal can testify about how Abe forced you into Revis’s camp and I’ll bet someone today heard Revis order you to participate. There are ways to get out of this, even if you are accused. So stop saying you have to stay here.”
Leah was sure she’d never wanted to believe anything as much as she wanted to believe this. “Do you think so?” she whispered. “Is there a chance?”
“More than a chance. Now let me see a smile because I’m sending you out of here right now.”
“Here? You mean back to Revis’s cabin?”
Wes’s jaw hardened. “You’re not going back to that place ever again. I’m going to send you down the mountain with Bud and Cal. They’ll take you to Sweetbriar. I have friends there and if need be they’ll hide you until I can get there and straighten everything out.”
“But where will you be?”
“I have a little unfinished business yet. I owe somebody something. Now come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. “Bud and Cal’ll take care of you and Revis won’t be able to harm you again.”
She pulled out of his grasp and squinted up at him in the sunlight. “Why aren’t you going to Sweetbriar with me?”
“I told you, I have work to do.”
Leah thought for a moment and then sat down on the ground, her arms folded.
“Just what is that supposed to mean?” He glared down at her.
“I’m not leaving here. You’re up to something and I don’t like it.”
Anger surged through Wesley’s entire body as he grabbed her shoulders and lifted her off the ground. “You think I am up to something?” He seethed into her face. “I have lain here helpless for days while you got yourself into one mess after another and you tell me you don’t trust me? Leah, for two cents I’d turn you over my knee. When are you going to realize that you can’t run the world singlehandedly? I could have gotten us out of this days ago if you’d only asked for my help. But no, Mrs. Stanford has to do everything her own way. I’ve tried, Leah, I’ve tried really hard to be nice to you. You wanted to handle all this on your own so I let you. It was my own stupidity that kept me from realizing how much real danger you were in.”
He dropped her to her own feet. “Damn you again and again! I don’t know any man in the world who’d stand for what I’ve stood from you. You insult me, tell me I’m fickle then act as if I’m some helpless idiot you have to protect. You know what your problem is, Leah?”
She looked up at his furious, handsome face with wide eyes. “No. What’s my problem?”
“You’ve always had control, that’s what. From what I gather, you commanded that whole family of yours like you were some general, and on the trip here you took on everybody else’s work and actually ran the whole trip.”
Leah just stood there, blinking.
“My patience is all used up now and I’ve had enough of lying back and letting you have your way. Starting today you’re going to be my wife and you’re going to honor that part in the wedding vows that says obey. You understand me?”
“Maybe,” she said, but at his look she changed her mind. “I understand you thoroughly.”
“Good! Your first order is that you are leaving these woods right now. I’m staying here because I plan to find out more about who this Revis’s boss is. And when I get ready I’ll return to you and our farm but not before then. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “Revis doesn’t do all the robberies on his own?”
“Somebody else organizes them. Revis is nothing but a two-bit thief, not smart enough to run the business. But he knows the identity of his boss and I want that information. Are you ready to go?”
“I’d like to know who’d do this awful thing, too.”
“Good,” he said impatiently. “I’ll tell you when I get home.” He gave a whistle. “Bud and Cal will take you home.”
“Won’t Revis miss them?”
“I have some plans.” He glared at her. “None of which I plan to tell you. All I want for the next few months is to know you’re safe. I don’t need or want your interference in any of this. I’ll clean out this band of thieves once and for all.”
“All by yourself?” she asked aghast.
“You were planning to take care of Revis and me all by yourself. Did you think that Revis was going to shake your hand good-bye when you decided to leave?” His voice softened. “Here’re the boys. Now give me a kiss good-bye.”
“I don’t like this,” she murmured as he pulled her into his arms. “Won’t you need some help?”
“Shut up, Leah.”
She didn’t say another
word as his mouth closed on hers.
“I wish we had more time,” he said against her lips.
Leah gave herself over to his kiss, losing all thoughts of Revis and his boss.
When Wesley pulled away from her she stared up at him because she knew she loved him. Actually, she’d never really stopped. He’d done some awful things to her and maybe she should hate him, but she didn’t.
“And what’s that look for?” He smiled down at her. “If I weren’t so concerned about getting you out of here I’d take you back into the cabin.”
She leaned into him, causing him to frown in puzzlement.
He smoothed a strand of hair back from her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever noticed how pretty you are. Even after days of sleeplessness you’re the prettiest girl I ever saw. Leah.” He paused. “Thank you for what you did, for putting yourself in Revis’s clutches in order to save me. It was…kind of you.”
Pulling away from him, she thought she might just start crying again. “I’ll see you in Sweetbriar?” she whispered.
Grinning, he kissed her lustily again. “I’m not about to tarry when I have you waiting for me. Now scoot.” He turned her about and smacked her firmly on the seat.
An hour later, Leah was halfway down the mountainside with Bud in front of her, Cal behind—and already Leah was making plans.
Once out of Wesley’s arms, she’d been able to think more clearly. If she went ahead to Sweetbriar as he’d told her to do, she just might face legal charges. Her only hope was to get someone to hide her and who was she going to ask? Kimberly? Justin?
And thinking of Kimberly, would Wesley return to pining for her if Leah wasn’t around to remind him that she was alive? At night when he was alone, would he remember Kim’s pretty blonde face rather than Leah’s tearstained one? He just now had noticed that Leah was pretty, but would he remember it?
Tramping down the mountain, Leah kept thinking. Maybe if she had more time with Wes he might grow to love her. Didn’t he already say he liked her? And wouldn’t he need help with Revis? How was he going to find out all the information he wanted? And too, Wesley said he had a debt to pay, but didn’t Leah owe Revis something for making her a part of his murders?