Lily burst out laughing in overwhelming happiness. “I know! I feel the same way.”
“Think about it,” he insisted. “Think hard. I don’t want you doing anything you don’t want to do.”
“I don’t have to think about it,” she exclaimed. “I can see what I’m getting. I can see you, and I can see the people who would surround me if I came to live here. I can see it all, and I want it! I want it more than anything. I don’t care about the danger and the hardship. I spent years with everything I could want. I only had to snap my fingers, and servants tended to my every whim. I don’t want to live like that anymore. It’s a hollow life without purpose or meaning. I’ve been itching for a challenge ever since my husband died. I want to roll up my sleeves and put my shoulder to the wheel.”
Noah’s eyes widened, and his lips quivered. “It’s amazing. I can hear the future speaking when you talk. I can see it all when I look at you.”
Lily stared back into the eternal depths of his eyes. She couldn’t speak above a whisper. “I see it, too.”
He drifted closer. His skin radiated warmth and energy into her, and her lips craved to kiss him. She ached for his arms around her and the delicious comfort of falling into his arms. She never doubted he wanted to kiss her back.
His arm slipped around behind her back, and he pulled her against his chest. His powerful frame tensed under his suit. His mouth floated within inches of her lips when the low drumming of horse hooves echoed across the countryside outside.
Noah stiffened. He didn’t let go of her, but a silent communication of deep knowing passed between them. They still hadn’t shared their first kiss, but it hovered there between them, just waiting to reach its completion. Neither of them could take it back now.
At the same moment, they leaped apart and rushed for the door. They met Cici coming out of the other bedroom. She wore a checked plaid shirt, a battered cowboy hat, canvas pants, and double pistol holsters on her hips.
All three pounded down the stairs to the kitchen. Jed and Betsy, Sam, and Kelvin stood around the table. Kelvin broke his shotgun in half and pushed two shells into the breach. “They’ll try to surround the forge. They’ll try to flank us.”
“We can’t separate,” Jed fired back. “We can’t allow them to part us, or we’re finished.”
“Stay together, no matter what,” Noah added. “We can form a circle so we cover every angle. They won’t be expecting all seven of us out there fighting. We might just be able to surprise them enough to gain an advantage.”
Betsy seized a rifle and slammed down the action. “They’ll expect the three of us women to stay inside. They’ll expect you four men to defend the forge to stop them from getting inside. They will have laid out a strategy to get inside the house as soon as possible. They won’t expect Lily to be outside fighting with the rest of us.”
Sam chuckled low. “That will surprise them.”
“Don’t try to stop ‘em getting into the house,” Noah told him. “Let ‘em get inside any way they want to. That will occupy a lot of ‘em from the beginning and leave the others to be cut down by us.”
Lily cocked her head. “Aren’t you going to change your clothes, Betsy? Are you really going out there in your dress?”
Betsy propped the rifle across her shoulder and grabbed a pistol off the table. “You and Cici can dress up like men if you want to. I can fight just as well in a dress, and I won’t change just because Merrill Fox decided to play cat and mouse again.”
“If you think about it,” Sam remarked, “it’s a good plan, you two dressing as men. It will take those bastards even longer to cotton on to where Lily is. They’ll think you two are men defending the place. Once they get inside and find the place deserted, they’ll have to think real hard to figure out where we’ve hidden you.”
A thunderclap exploded outside. Jed plunged for the door. “No more talk! Everybody out! Show no mercy and don’t give an inch until we drive ‘em off.”
Everyone flooded outside. Lily rushed between bodies, through the forge, into the open. She lost all sense of who was who. Her attention shrank to a pinprick as the gunmen thundered across the land between the forge and town. Their horses galloped in a headlong charge against the forge.
Lily rocketed outside with a pistol in each hand. She fired plenty of guns on her late husband’s rifle range in New York, but she never engaged in an all-out gun battle against men trying to kill or capture her.
The gunmen started firing as soon as the forge came in sight. Bullets crashed against the furnace and ricocheted off the metal implements in Jed’s work area. Lily didn’t notice them. She never stopped running until the first horses streaked around her on both sides.
Sure enough, the gunmen paid no attention to her or anyone else. They cantered straight for the forge. They made perfect targets, and Lily unloaded both her guns at as many of them as she could hit.
Icy cold furious determination coursed through her veins. She wanted to kill. She wanted to taste blood and feel the squish of dead bodies dying under her hands. She never knew she could lust after death this way, but she didn’t stop to question it.
She planted her legs wide in the yard and took deadly aim at every man who came near her. Blood and brain spattered in all directions when her guns exploded in her hands. She took her time and made sure every shot counted. She killed right and left and showed no mercy.
Her gun went off, and the man running past her whipped over backward. Half his head sprayed out behind him in a red cloud. His jaw shattered and left his teeth exposed. He spun around the other way before he pitched on his half-obliterated face.
Lily whirled the other way. More and more gunmen raced into sight. They all charged through the defenders on their way to the forge. Lily caught sight of her friends standing around her. They, too, aimed and fired to cut down the attackers. More than one gunman stopped when they saw Betsy. They grabbed her by the shoulders, but when they realized she wasn’t Lily, they left her alone and ran on their way.
Half the attackers rushed into the house. The other half formed up in ranks outside to mow down the defenders. They fired on the group of friends, and the first shots ripped through the little party.
The first overpowering excitement of battle evaporated when shotgun blasts erupted not far away. The party cringed into a knot, and Lily bumped into Kelvin. He leveled his shotgun at the gunmen still sitting astride their horses a few paces away.
Jed came up behind Lily. All the defenders crowded into a circle back to back with their weapons pointed outward. Lily tried to fire her pistols again, but the guns only clicked on empty chambers.
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Lily didn’t take the time to reload. She crammed her pistols into their holsters and unslung the rifle off her back. She swung it up to her shoulder and cocked the action.
The horsemen advanced in a steady walk to surround the party, but Lily never stopped firing. She swiveled one way and then the other. Horsemen toppled from their saddles, but at that moment, a bullet whizzed past her ear. It snatched at her hair and left a scorching burn along her neck.
The pain snapped her out of her murderous frenzy. She heard for the first time the constant pounding of gunfire all around her, and her blood ran cold. So many gunmen surrounded the party on all sides, they could never get out of this.
At the same moment, Jed seized her by the sleeve. “Fall back! Fall back to the forge. Get under cover!”
Just then, a fresh band of horsemen cantered around the house from the other side. They barreled up to their comrades, and voices shouted over the din. “She’s gone! She’s not in the house.”
Lily cringed. They searched the house and found her gone. Now twice as many gunmen would concentrate on destroying the defenders. They couldn’t stand against this.
She staggered a step back when a renewed cacophony of shots exploded in her ear. She took another step and missed her footing. She almost fell. Five horsemen plunged into the assault and they all aimed the
ir guns at her. She stumbled and went down on one knee.
She raised her rifle, even as she knew it would do no good. No one could survive against these numbers. Her whole glorious future with Noah flashed before her eyes when, out of nowhere, Sam Dolan leaped into her line of sight.
The guns erupted in a cloud of blue smoke, and the bullets intended to slaughter Lily peppered him all over. He whipped one way and then the other. He shivered there for a terrible instant. Lily stared up at him in horror. “Sam!” she shrieked. “Sam, no!”
Just then, a powerful hand closed around her shirt collar and yanked her away. She kicked and thrashed against the pressure. “Sam! Sam! Let me go!”
“I said fall back!” Jed thundered in her ear. “Do you want to get killed out there?”
He hauled her backward kicking and screaming. He dumped her in the forge behind a huge plowshare, but not before she saw the horrible scene play out on the field. Sam teetered with his back to her. Gunmen circled him on all sides with their guns poised to fire again, but he presented no further threat to them.
Lily swallowed down the lump in her throat. Her mind screamed in agony, Sam, no! but she couldn’t help him now. He slumped onto his knee and collapsed in a heap. The man who saved her from Merrill’s clutches fell on his face and didn’t move again.
Not far away from him, Kelvin, Betsy, and Cici cowered in a different circle. Lily didn’t notice the moment they got separated from their friends, and now the gunmen cut them off from retreat.
The three of them fired in all directions, but they couldn’t get away. Jed saw them first and bolted into the open. He fired his pistols at every horseman he could see, and he charged toward the little group.
He got halfway there when Kelvin took a hit in the leg. He crumpled onto one knee, but he kept up his fire. Jed ran up to them and bellowed at Betsy. “Get behind me! Come on, Cici!”
She whipped around with one hand extended. “Kelvin!”
Kelvin shouted over his shoulder. “Get back, darlin’. Get to the forge.”
Just then, another barrage slammed into him. A bullet tore through his hip, and he buckled over at the middle. Another bullet ripped through his shoulder and exploded out the other side. Blood and gore stained his shirt, and he grunted in agony. He collapsed onto one hand. He couldn’t raise his guns.
“Kelvin!” Cici shrieked.
She tried to hurry to his side, but Jed hooked his arm around her waist and wrangled her back. “Come on! No time!”
She shrieked to raise the dead. “Kelvin! No!”
Jed gritted his teeth and said no more. He hauled her into the forge. Betsy backed up with her rifle still popping off from her shoulder. The gunmen advanced and left Kelvin stricken and alone on the field.
Bullets pinged off the metal all around Lily’s head, but at least the little band had some protection from the danger now. Lily crouched behind the plowshare to catch her breath. She took the opportunity to reload her pistols and her rifle. Betsy crawled into the kitchen and came back with her arms loaded with guns.
Lily slotted the cylinder into one of her guns. “I’m going to get Sam. We can’t leave him there.”
“He’s dead,” Jed panted. “Leave him alone. It’s the rest of us we have to worry about now.”
“We’re not leaving Kelvin out there,” Cici shot back. “I’m going out there. I don’t care what you say.”
Jed slammed his hand onto her chest and forced her back down. “You stay put. The doctor and I will go get Kelvin. You three women stay here. I’m not running the risk of any of you getting hit.”
“You’re not going anywhere without covering fire,” Betsy told him. “I’ll cover you from here.”
Jed hesitated. “All right. Just be careful, all right? You ready, Doc?”
Noah ran his sleeve across his forehead to wipe away the sweat and grime. “I’m ready. It looks like our plan worked. We cut down a lot of ‘em. A few more dozen and they’ll have to withdraw.”
Jed snorted. “We should be so lucky. Ready, darlin’?”
Betsy nodded. “Ready.”
Jed and the doctor crawled through the dirt to the place closest to Kelvin. He crouched in the same place. His head hung onto his chest, and he didn’t even try to stand up or fire his guns.
All at once, Betsy launched herself into a standing position and popped off both her pistols at once. At the same instant, Jed and Doctor Kearney jumped into the open. They fired every which way and made an insane drive to Kelvin’s side.
Lily glanced over her shoulder. Most of the gunmen concentrated on Jed and the doctor. No one paid Sam’s body any attention. “I’m going out there,” she muttered. “I’m gonna get him back.”
“What for?” Cici asked. “He’s dead.”
“We don’t know that,” Lily muttered. “He saved my life. If there’s any chance he could still be alive, I have to try.”
She turned to go, but Cici held her back. “You’re not going out there alone. I’m coming with you.”
Lily nodded. “All right. Come on.”
They snuck sideways around the furnace. Sweat sprang out all over Lily’s face from the heat, but she didn’t care. She locked her gaze on Sam’s motionless form. She couldn’t leave him out there to die.
Cici panted for breath in her ear. “How do you want to do this?”
Lily considered the situation. “We’re not strong enough to carry him, and he can’t walk. Just grab him by the wrist, and we’ll drag him in.”
Cici nodded fast. Her lips quivered, but she didn’t answer. Her staring eyes darted all over the place, and the hands holding her guns shook. Lily couldn’t look at her or she would lose her nerve, too. She drew in a shaky breath and yelled, “Now!”
She and Cici dove out of the forge. They both opened fire at the same moment. Most of the gunmen faced Jed and the doctor, so the two women hit half a dozen in the back before they realized what was going on.
They raced to Sam’s body. Cici holstered one gun and seized Sam by the arm, but at that moment, they lost the element of surprise. Half the horsemen attacking Jed and the doctor spun around to fire on the two women.
Lily saw her chance slipping away. She whipped around and braced her legs in front of Sam and Cici. She pounded her guns at her enemies and blew another eight off their horses before she quit.
A bullet whistled over her head. Another ripped through the fabric of her shirt. It grazed her skin, and blistering pain seared through her guts. A bunch of horsemen spurred their mounts to charge her. Seconds ticked by.
Adrenaline tightened her guts into knots. She came here to save Sam, not to get herself and Cici killed. She holstered one pistol. She grabbed Sam’s other wrist in one hand.
She didn’t bother to aim. She raised her gun in the other hand and blasted every round in the direction of the horsemen while she and Cici hauled Sam toward the forge. Cici copied her, and between the two of them, they dragged his dead weight behind the furnace.
The gunmen unloaded everything they had at the pair. A bullet stuck Cici’s boot. She leaped into the air with a shriek and danced from one foot the other. Lily gave a mighty lunge and dragged Sam the rest of the way to safety behind the plowshare.
She met Noah and Jed coming the other way with Kelvin. He collapsed on top of Sam’s body, but no one could rest on their victory before the enemy attacked in force. Pinging impacts whizzed all around Lily’s head. Betsy crouched next to her, and they ducked for cover between firing shots here and there whenever they could.
A few feet away, she saw Jed shouting into the doctor’s ear. Noah nodded, but Lily couldn’t hear what they were saying. Jed and Noah came creeping behind a workbench past the three women. Lily bellowed at Noah, “What’s going on?” but he didn’t answer. He couldn’t make himself heard over the noise.
Lily and Betsy exchanged glances, but Jed and Noah already passed by going somewhere. The next minute, another explosion distracted the women. They bent all their attention to ho
lding back the men assaulting them.
Lily killed a horseman here and there, but the party of defenders couldn’t withstand the sheer number of bullets flying into their hiding place. How long would this go on before the enemy overran the forge and moved them all down?
Lily’s resolve wavered. Maybe she should give herself up to save the others. Nothing else made sense. She lowered her pistol. Bullets and shotgun blasts still popped on all sides, but the insane infectious need to kill no longer drove her forward.
Her heart shrank to a cold lump in her chest when, out of nowhere, a fresh burst of gunfire sounded from somewhere to one side. She peeked out, and her jaw dropped at the sight.
Jed and Noah Kearney stood at the far corner of the house. They both rose tall and terrible, and they ripped the enemy apart with their fire from the side. They both pounded the gunmen to smithereens with their pistols. They blew dozens of men out of their saddles, and when they dropped their guns, they snatched up their rifles and kept firing.
Lily’s heart cracked inside her. She and her friends weren’t finished yet—not by a mile. She lunged to her feet. She no longer cared about staying safe behind her shelter. She lunged upright and marched roaring on her enemies.
She emptied her guns at them and picked up another. She heard Betsy and Cici firing from far away. The gunmen jerked in their saddles. They wheeled one way and then the other, caught between both flanks of the enraged defenders.
The men advanced in slow steady steps. Lily saw her chance, and she started forward, still blasting anything that dared to move. Clouds of gun smoke obscured the scene, but she kept firing until her guns clicked empty in her hands.
All at once, she became aware of someone touching her. Cici’s sweat-streaked face hovered in front of her eyes. “It’s okay. You can stop. They’re gone.”
The Doctor's Bride (Brides 0f Brimstone Book 3) Page 6
