He spoke sharply and his companions all ceased their activities to stare at her. When he started toward her, Brianna knew the moment had arrived.
Praying for success, she tightened her grip on the camera and whipped it out from under the crinoline as she jumped to her feet.
“Smile guys,” Brianna said, pushing the shutter release. The bright flash of light stopped the Indians in their tracks, and Brianna sprinted over to the mantle. She could hear the whine of the strobe recharging as she grabbed her knife.
When she whirled around, the Indians had recovered from their surprise and started toward her. Brianna took aim and sent her knife whistling through the air just the way Seth had taught her. One of the men cried out and went down.
Brianna didn’t even have time to wonder if she’d killed him or not. The other three had barely slowed. She raised the camera again and flashed the strobe. They covered their eyes and fell back. Looking around, she saw the knife she used to cut bread still lying next to the pots and pans at the end of the fireplace.
Within seconds it was in her hand, then singing through the air toward another human target. The knife was lighter than the one she was used to and her aim was less accurate.
Instead of hitting the man mid-chest, it buried itself in his shoulder. It didn’t matter. With a howl of agony, he went to his knees.
Brianna raised the camera and flashed again. A meat fork found its mark this time but lacked the force to knock the man down. She searched desperately for another sharp weapon but there was nothing else to throw except pots and pans. Brianna set her jaw. So be it. If her attempt was going to prove futile at least she’d know she gave it her best shot. Besides, a barrage of cooking utensils was bound to cause a bruise or two.
When she lifted the camera a fourth time, the two who were left on their feet ducked. At first Brianna thought they had figured out how to keep the bright light from blinding them, but soon realized they were afraid of it. She waited until they peeked over the edge of the table before flashing the strobe.
This time three of them scrambled for the door dragging their fallen comrade with them. Brianna flashed them one more time and crashed two pans together for good measure. The minute they hit the outside air, they were on their feet running, carrying Brianna’s first victim between them. Brianna ran across the room and slammed the door behind them. She jerked the latchstring in through the hole and dropped the bar into place. Then she rushed to Lucas’s bunk to close and bar the shutters.
What if they went for reinforcements? The bar on the door wouldn’t hold them very long. The bread knife and the meat fork were her only weapons. The Indians had taken her knife with them, apparently unwilling to take time to pull it out of their friend.
Brianna glanced around frantically. The table. If she shoved it up against the door nothing would budge it. Moving the table proved to be far more difficult than she had anticipated. Made of solid oak, it was incredibly heavy and very cumbersome.
“Where’s my adrenaline when I need it?” she muttered as she tried to shove it across the floor. By the time she had it maneuvered into place, she was out of breath and sweating.
Brianna sank to the floor and leaned her back against the table. With a sigh, she closed her eyes. God help her if the Indians came back, but for the moment at least, she was safe. Thank heavens the strobe was handy and charged. Without it...Brianna shuddered.
The Indians probably figured they’d encountered a white witch or something. Laughter bubbled from deep inside and erupted in a wild fit of giggles. Then suddenly her hysteria changed to sobs. With a flood of tears running down her cheeks, she lowered her face to her bent knees and cried.
“The days are sure getting shorter fast,” Ian observed as he squinted at the sun. “It’ll be dark in a couple of hours. We’re lucky we were able to get the horses into that box canyon or we’d never have made it back today.”
“I can’t believe that stallion was smart enough to know what we were up to,” Billy marveled.
“He’d been in the canyon before and knew there was no way out,” Lucas corrected, “and he was smart enough to stay clear of it. That’s all.”
“Still, pretty amazing for a horse.”
Ian shook his head. “Not for a stallion. Only the intelligent ones are able to hang onto their herd. We were lucky we only lost four mares to him.”
“He’ll be back,” Lucas said with certainty. “Too bad I didn’t get him this morning. It would have solved a lot of problems.”
“Brianna didn’t realize what was at stake.”
“Only a fool would knock a man’s aim off when he’s shooting.”
Ian frowned. “She apologized, Lucas. What more do you want?”
“He wants her gone,” Billy said belligerently. “This is just another excuse to be mad at her.”
“There’s more to it than you know, Billy—”
“I know she deserves to be treated better than she is!” Billy wheeled his horse away angrily. “I think I’ll go ride the flank.”
“Young hot head!” Lucas sighed. “I know she doesn’t do these things on purpose. It’s just a matter of not knowing any better. Brianna told me herself she doesn’t belong out here and she’s right. Billy would see it too if he weren’t half in love with her.”
Ian smiled ruefully. “I think we all are. Your wife is a very special lady, Lucas. You’re a lucky man.”
There it was. The opening Lucas had been waiting for. All he had to do was explain the situation to Ian and step out of the picture. Yet, for some reason, the words stuck in his throat.
Images of Brianna kept tumbling through his thoughts just as they had for the last month. It was far too easy to remember the way she’d felt in his arms and her honeyed kisses. Even more devastating to his peace of mind was the memory of her in his lab. Not only had she understood the difficult concept he was experimenting with, she was genuinely interested. As they worked side-by-side, Lucas suddenly realized he’d found a woman who could share his dreams.
Brianna had shattered that vision moments later when she freely admitted she’d lied to him from the beginning. Her vague explanation had only muddied the waters and convinced him it would be foolhardy to trust her.
Oddly enough, her duplicity didn’t hurt nearly as bad as her assurances that Anna would suit him better. It was as though Brianna thought he didn’t like her. Lucas’s mouth twisted into a grimace. Truth was, if he liked her any better he’d go up in smoke.
“Lucas, come take a look at this.”
The alarm in Billy’s voice brought Lucas out of his musings with a jerk. He glanced at the herd. Ian could handle them alone with no difficulty. It took less than a minute to reach Billy where he squatted near a granite boulder.
“What is it?” Lucas asked, swinging out of the saddle.
Billy pointed to the ground. “Blood.”
“Good lord.”
“From the tracks, I’d say there were four horses.” Billy gave Lucas a worried look. “They were unshod.”
“Indians.”
“It might just be a hunting party.”
“True, but they’re a little too close to the station for comfort.” Lucas followed the trail of blood around the boulder. “I’d say one of them was hurt pretty bad.” He eyed a dark stain on a large flat rock protected by the boulder. “They must have carried him back here to doctor him. I wonder what they thought they needed to hide from.”
“Jesus, Lucas, look at this!”
Lucas’s heart lurched when he saw what Billy had picked up from the ground nearby. Blood covered the familiar knife from the point to the end of the handle. “It’s Brianna’s!”
He was around the boulder and back on his horse in the blink of an eye. “Tell Ian what’s going on, then get to the station as fast as you can,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Better have him bring the herd on in. We’ll need them if we have to go after her.”
Don’t think about whose blood it is or what they must have done
to her. How could I have let her goad me into taking my rifle when I knew she was defenseless without it? Please, God let her be all right. Recriminating thoughts kept running through his mind as he raced toward Split Rock station. The mile-long trip seemed to take forever, but at last he was there.
The sight of an unfamiliar horse in the corral brought him up short. It had blood all over its face. What in the hell?
Lucas kept his horse between himself and the cabin as he dismounted and pulled his rifle out of the scabbard. Ducking low, he ran across the open space and slammed his back up against the outside wall of the station. The silence was unnerving.
With a feeling of dread, he crept along the side of the building until he got to the door. Clutching his rifle tightly, he took a deep breath and kicked the door with the heel of his boot. Nothing happened. He tried again, this time putting the full weight of his body behind the kick. One of the boards cracked and the hinges squeaked in protest, but the door didn’t budge.
As he stood there contemplating his next move, he heard something on the other side of the door. It sounded suspiciously like a whimper. For the first time, hope flared.
“Brianna, are you in there?”
“L-Lucas?”
The sound of her voice brought an overwhelming wave of relief. She’s alive! “Yes, it’s me. Open the door.”
There was a scraping noise like something heavy being dragged across the floor. The minutes passed, and Lucas’s nervousness grew. Was she too badly injured to get the door open? At last, he heard the sound of the bar being lifted and the door swung open. The next instant, she was in his arms sobbing against his neck.
Brianna’s words came tumbling out, her terror still obvious in the slightly hysterical tone of her voice. Lucas’s suspicions and distrust of the last few weeks suddenly didn’t matter as much as his overwhelming need to make her feel safe again.
He set his rifle aside, swept her up in his arms and carried her inside. The world disappeared as he sat down on his bunk and hugged her tightly, rocking back and forth murmuring small words of comfort against her head.
Billy arrived moments later. Though the two men tried, it was impossible to piece the story together from her disjointed account. But by the time Ian drove the herd into the corral, Brianna was calming down and becoming coherent. She told them everything except for the all-important role of the camera strobe. Neither she nor Lucas were inclined to move, and she remained there, sitting on his lap within the circle of his arms as the four of them discussed the Indian’s odd behavior.
“You were probably the first white woman they’d ever seen close up,” Ian told her. “And they were curious.”
Brianna nodded in sudden understanding. “That’s why they looked at my legs. They must have thought white women were shaped like a bell from the waist down. At least they decided I wasn’t worth messing with.”
The three men exchanged a glance. Better not to upset her again by telling her the truth. Lucas tightened his arms around her as he thought of what the Indians probably would have done if Brianna hadn’t scared them away. It was all he could do not to yell at her for being so damned naïve.
As she sat there in the shelter of Lucas’s embrace Brianna slowly regained her composure. After most of a day spent terrified that the Indians were coming back, it was reassuring to listen to the men analyze the situation and decide they’d probably seen the last of them.
Of course, without knowing about the camera, which was again safely hidden away in her trunk, they couldn’t figure out the Indians’ reasons for leaving. “It’s odd they didn’t press their advantage,” Ian said. “Surely they could see you’d run out of weapons and realized you’d done about all the damage you could.”
Lucas looked pensive for a moment. “It’s possible they heard something and thought we were coming back. They probably didn’t want to tangle with our guns.”
Brianna bit back a bubble of hysterical laughter. More like they didn’t want to tangle with the white witch and her bloodthirsty camera.
CHAPTER 27
(Present day)
Tom stopped in the doorway and surveyed the family room with a sense of unreality. It looked like a mad scientist’s lab in an old horror movie. Since their trip to the mine two days ago, Scott had worked almost continuously, wiring, splicing, cutting, and taping. “Is that the microwave from the kitchen?” Tom asked.
Scott’s voice came from behind the dismantled machine. “Uh huh. I needed a second microwave antenna.”
“Don’t you think your father might be a little unhappy about you taking it apart?”
“Not as much as my mom will be. She made me promise I wouldn’t mess with her appliances after I turned her food processor into a centrifuge. With any kind of luck, we’ll be done here today, and I can put it back together before she gets home. Did you find the wire cutters?”
“They were in the shop right where you said they’d be.” Tom glanced around. “Where’s Anna?”
“In the kitchen fixing lunch. I tried to tell her sandwiches would be enough.”
“I take it she had other ideas?”
“She said to leave the woman’s work to the woman.”
“Anything you want me to do?”
“Just the ranch records.”
“All done and saved onto the external hard drive like you told me to.”
“Good. Then I can clear everything off the hard drive and network the two computers together. We should be ready to try the transfer this afternoon.”
A knot formed in Tom’s throat. Suddenly everything was happening too fast. “Do you think it will work?”
“I don’t know. The system is a lot more refined this time, but I’m not sure the microwave antennas will be powerful enough.”
“Why, what did you use before?”
“The TV satellite dish, and I think that’s where the big ugly cloud came from. I’m hoping the smaller antennae will create less of a disturbance.”
Tom glanced outside. The silver-gray dish looked just like all the others that had replaced TV antennas across rural America. He had a sudden image of a killer ray emanating from the center. “If size has anything to do with it they should. I’ll be in the kitchen if you want me.”
The sight that met his eyes when he entered the kitchen brought Tom to a halt. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb to watch. Anna stood on her tiptoes balancing on a step stool as she stretched to reach the cupboard over her head. The soft clinging material of Brianna’s sarong outlined Anna’s figure in the most appealing way.
Tom smiled as he remembered how delighted Anna had been when she’d found it in the back of the closet. Unfamiliar with synthetics, all she saw was the floor-length skirt and high collar. With a judiciously applied needle she’d sewn up the thigh high slits in the sides and pronounced it decent enough to wear. If she could see herself, she’d probably revise her opinion quick enough. Personally, he thought it looked fantastic.
“Need some help?” he asked, straightening and moving into the room.
“What? Oh...” As Anna turned toward him, the tight sheath of the skirt caught around her legs and she teetered precariously on the edge of the stool.
In two strides, Tom was across the kitchen. He reached the stool just as Anna toppled forward into his arms. The momentum of her fall threw him off balance, and they staggered against the counter. Tom tightened his hold and somehow managed to keep them both upright.
“Are you all right?” he asked, setting her feet on the floor and bracing one hand behind her on the edge of the sink.
“I...I think so.” Actually, standing so close to him, she was finding it a little difficult to breathe. The air had suddenly become too thin.
He reached up to brush a wayward strand of hair back from her face. “I shouldn’t have distracted you like that.”
“It was the dress,” she whispered. “The skirt’s too tight.”
“That dress is a distraction all right, but not because
it’s too tight. It’s perfect and so are you.”
His voice was a soft, sexy rumble that seemed to vibrate through her entire body. Anna placed her hands on his chest to push him away, but the muscles in her arms had no strength. His warmth beneath her fingers seemed to sap her resistance.
“Anna?”
The husky whisper was filled with longing. Powerless to resist the appeal in his voice, Anna raised her head and caught her breath in surprise. No one had ever looked at her that way before. He was going to kiss her, she could see it in his expression, and her heart pounded in anticipation. Closing her eyes, she leaned against him with a soft sigh of surrender.
His mouth was gently persuasive, and her lips parted beneath his with warm welcome. The tender invasion of his tongue was a bit shocking at first, but she soon decided she liked it very much. Tom pulled her closer, and Anna’s insides melted. A moan rose unbidden to her lips.
He ended it then, and she sagged against him, unable to stand on her wobbly legs.
“Oh, Anna,” he said stroking the back of her head with his hand. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Please don’t apologize,” she whispered against his chest. “It wasn’t your fault.
“Of course it was, and I’ve been wanting to do that since I met you.” He smiled and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Unfortunately, it was just as fantastic as I thought it would be.”
“Oh, Tom you’re such a wonderful liar.”
“It’s the honest truth,” he said in surprise. “You’re a beautiful, desirable woman, and I find you completely irresistible. I never thought I’d say that, never expected to meet someone like you.”
“I feel the same about you,” Anna whispered. “I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself.”
He hugged her tighter. “You don’t know how good that makes me feel. It does complicate matters a bit, though.”
“No, Tom, it doesn’t change a thing; it can’t. Brianna’s depending on us.”
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