Mattie sighed. She’d lost track of how many arguments with her siblings she’d had since leaving the Jensens’ last night. “I won’t be alone, Ren. Reed will be here, and Paddy is only a short distance away.”
“Mattie, Reed is a stranger!”
Just thinking about Reed gave her visions of blue clouds and warm light. It was strange, but she wanted to be alone with him. “He’s no stranger,” she said. “I’ll be safe.” And she believed that. Somehow, they were connected. And she couldn’t fight her visions.
Renny grunted. “People are going to talk. It’s not proper for you to be here, alone with him.”
“I’m a widow!” Mattie laughed.
Renny scoffed. “You and Collin didn’t share the marriage bed.”
Mattie felt a twinge of pain. She’d loved Collin, had looked forward to becoming his wife. “I’m still a widow. And people will talk no matter what.”
“What about Gil?” Renny put her hands on Mattie’s shoulders, gently moving her out of the way.
Mattie didn’t say anything. She was remembering the picnic: the tenseness of Gil’s shoulders pressed close to her, the strain in his voice as he’d greeted Josiah and Francine. Before she could say anything, Kealan and Daire ran up, followed by Matthew and Caitie.
The next few minutes were torture for all of them, as the children were hoisted up onto horseback and all the goodbyes were said. Everyone was ready, but Renny still stood in front of Mattie. She clasped her sister in a tight hug.
“We’ll hurry back, Mattie.”
“Renny…” Mattie frowned and rubbed her temple. What could she say? How could she explain what she’d sensed more than seen in her nighttime visions? She felt uneasy, frightened, scared. And not just for herself but for the others. But this was what had to happen. Pulling back, she tipped her chin up bravely.
But…there was something in the air. She couldn’t see or touch or define it, but it was there. Unfortunately, she didn’t know whom to warn. Herself? Most likely, for all the attacks seemed directed at her. But what if she were reading the signs wrong? What if it was one of the others in danger? She opened her mouth to tell Renny of her unease…then changed her mind.
Renny would insist Mattie go with them if Mattie let on that danger was closing in. Mattie needed the reassurance that her three young siblings were away from any danger. Especially if it was directed at her.
“Mattie, what is it?”
Ever since losing their parents, Renny had taken on the responsibility of taking care of their family—including her—whether she wanted it or not. And thank the spirits for her sister’s tenacious spirit and determination. It had kept their family together. Once more, Renny was doing what had to be done. So must Mattie. She shook her head. “Nothing. Just be careful.”
A long silence fell between the two women. They were sisters who shared not blood, but a friendship that went much deeper. Mattie turned away. “Be careful.”
A hand gently grasped her elbow and turned her. Mattie felt Renny’s searching gaze, though she could not see it. Her sister said, “Mattie, I hate leaving you. Come with us. I promise that you will return with Matt and me.” She paused. “I promise not to leave you behind. Please don’t stay here alone.”
Mattie lifted a hand to her sister’s face. To her shock, she felt tears trickling down Renny’s cheeks. Her own eyes watered and spilled. “I have to stay. You’ll go faster without me.” And the threat would also stay behind with her.
Her fingers slid down to rest against Renny’s lips as the woman’s mouth opened in protest. “Don’t ask me to endanger the children,” she said. Inside, she felt torn. The last thing she wanted was for Renny, who seldom gave in to tears, to worry. Her sister carried enough weight on her shoulders.
“That’s as good as saying that you do think someone is trying to kill you.” Renny’s voice was fierce.
“No. I think someone is trying to scare me. And they are succeeding. Now go.” She dropped her hands to her side and hurried back to the porch.
Facing her family, steeling herself against Kealan’s nearly silent sobs and Caitie’s hiccupping sorrow, Mattie prayed for their safety. Unable to handle any more tearful goodbyes, she turned and made her way back into the house. Alone, she sank into a chair at the table and dropped her head onto her folded arms, letting her own tears of helplessness wash down onto the scarred wooden table.
Without warning, a black wave rose from deep inside her and clawed at her mind. She gasped, feeling physically ill. Hate beat at her. Fury lunged at her, held her prisoner. In a flash, like a tornado dropping down from the sky, it worsened. Swaying, dizzy in its malevolent grasp, Mattie gripped the table and fought the nightmarish hold. Everything around her was black. Not just dark and colorless, but heavy, thick, oppressive. She felt terrified.
The storm in her mind thinned, rose from the ground to reveal the image of riders on horseback. It was her family—riding away from their home, unaware of the danger at their backs.
Each breath came fast, furious and painful. As the psychic storm rose back to the clouds from whence it had come, relief set in. The vision, Mattie thought with relief, was over.
But like Iktomi, the spider spirit of her people’s lore, playing one of his cruel jokes, the whirling black funnel cloud came back out of nowhere and with a suddenness that stopped her heart, produced a vision of her brothers and sisters scattered dead across the ground like dry, crumbling leaves in the fall.
“No!” Mattie jumped up, sending her chair crashing across the floor. She shouted, screamed against the vision, cursed her sightless eyes. But when the storm of hatred in her vision again grew faint, she willed it back, clung to it, tried to force it to reveal more.
Who wanted to hurt them? Who hated them? She had to know.
Show me. Show me.
“Mattie!” Strong arms caught and shook her.
“No! It’s going! Got to get it back. Let me go!” She shouted. She almost had the answer. Fighting Reed, she searched her mind. But the vision fled.
Grabbing Reed by the shirtfront, she sobbed. “Stop them,” she cried. “Stop them. Go after them. Bring them back. Danger. They are in danger.” Her voice broke as horror overcame her.
“What have I done? I should have told Renny. Danger. Should have told her more.” Then Mattie’s knees gave out. This was her fault. She’d told Renny and Matt to take the youngsters away.
Too late, she realized that sticking together they were stronger.
“Damn!” Reed had gone to the house right after Renny and Matthew left. He’d hoped to talk to Mattie, for he knew nothing about the needs of a blind woman and wanted to find out what was expected of him. At the door he’d seen and heard her tears of grief, and like a coward, he’d wanted to flee. Tears from a woman could bring any man, no matter how tough, to his knees. Bad enough that he was already in above his head.
His straight-and-narrow path of vengeance and justice had taken so many twists, he felt dizzy and disoriented. Not once during the last year had he strayed from his set course. Now, in the space of a day—
No, in the space of a single heartbeat everything had changed. Emotion had replaced cold calculations, and the tears and suffering of one woman promised to be his undoing.
Holding the struggling woman. Reed scanned the kitchen but saw nothing amiss.
“Renny! You have to stop them. Get them back. We have to stay together!” Mattie’s voice came in short gasps. Her knees gave out. Reed swept her into his arms.
Relief shimmered through him as he sat and cradled the woman. Nothing had happened. She’d just panicked. “It’s all right, Mrs. O’Leary. Nothing will happen to you while I’m here.” And it wouldn’t, he vowed, staring down into her wild, unseeing gaze.
She struggled to her feet and held out her arms to keep him from pulling her back do
wn. “You don’t understand. Danger. They are in danger. We have to stick together! We have to go after them. Stop them.” She turned, found the table with her fingers and followed it.
Reed shook his head, then realized she couldn’t see his response. “No. The young ones will be safer away from here.” He jumped up as she stumbled over her tumbled chair. But before he could help her up, she’d regained her feet and was out the door.
Swearing, Reed crashed through the door behind her, amazed to find Mattie already down the steps and running down the path to the barn.
“Dammit, woman,” he muttered, taking off after her. Catching up, Reed wasn’t sure whether he should reach out and grab her or try to talk sense.
He decided to do both. “Hold on, Mrs. O’Leary.”
He reached out and grabbed her arm. To his surprise, she whirled on him, a spitting, fighting she-cat.
“Go get them. Bring them back!” Her voice was fierce, commanding.
Reed ran a hand through his hair, his gaze searching her. But there wasn’t anyone or anything to help him deal with this distraught woman. Damn Tyler for doing this to him!
“I can’t. There’s no way in hell I am leaving you alone.”
Mattie spun around, stopped, her head lifted as though to the sun. Relieved that she seemed to have calmed, Reed folded his arms and waited.
And watched, which wasn’t hard to do. Mattie—Mrs. O’Leary—was incredibly beautiful. Her full skirt billowed in the wind and long, silky strands of hair whipped around her face. Standing close to her as Reed did, those soft strands brushed against his cheeks, luring him closer.
Lifting a hand, he let her hair brush against his fingers, drawing him to her. He closed his eyes, needing that incredible feeling of being connected to her. The sky above them darkened, the wind shoving and pushing, but all Reed could see was the woman he’d promised to protect. She lifted her hands, palms faced outward, and turned in a slow circle. Head back, eyes closed, hair flowing freely around her, she became one with the elements.
Born and raised in a city, Reed was fascinated by the transformation. He’d never seen anything so beautiful or compelling. Mattie looked every bit the savage his kind were accused of being. Her lips moved silently. His heart sped up. Caught up in the sight of her, he could do nothing but watch.
When she at last stopped, her eyes flew open. She seemed to be looking right at him. “You have much to learn,” she whispered.
Then she broke the spell by putting two fingers in her mouth. Her shrill whistle tore through the air.
Startled, Reed glanced around. Massaging the back of his neck, he groaned. Surely she didn’t think to call her family back with a whistle? Did she not realize that, at the pace they’d rode out of here, they were long gone?
The thundering of horse’s hooves had him whirling around. A huge black horse came charging toward him. He dove aside, rolling off the path onto a damp patch of grass.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, jumping to his feet when he saw her jump onto the back of the animal.
She stared down at him, almost as if she could see, her hands tangled in the horse’s long, black mane.
“If you won’t help me, I’ll find someone who will,” she shouted.
Reed lifted a brow and crossed his arms across his chest. “And how are you going to do that? You are blind,” he retorted. He hated to be cruel, but if she thought she could forget the fact, she’d soon learn otherwise.
Relaxing, feeling a little more in control, Reed couldn’t help but add, “Don’t tell me. You can find your way around by using your visions.”
Her chin came up a notch. “Do not mock that which you do not understand.”
Feeling like a heel for being so mean, Reed stepped toward her horse. “Look, you’re not going anywhere. You know it, I know it, so let’s just go back into the house so you can fill me in on what needs to be done around here.”
A wave of desperation crossed her features, darkening her earth-brown eyes to nearly black. Her lips trembled then firmed as she closed her eyes and appeared to be gathering strength from an inner well. When she opened her eyes and unerringly seemed to latch on to his own gaze, he felt the impact of that determination and strength. Blind she might be, helpless in this situation even, but the woman towering over him was not a weak woman.
Great, just what he needed on top of his other worries—a stubborn ward!
But a very appealing and desirable one. Used to seeing proper city women, Reed found himself irresistibly drawn to this woman of the earth and spirits. Silence stretched between them. Reed felt a bit uncomfortable with her eyes fixed so intently on him.
“Your eyes are blue. A brilliant blue—that of a sapphire surrounded by diamond.” Mattie smiled grimly at him, as though she could see his stunned expression.
Reed gawked up at her. Anne had always loved his eyes. She’d called them her jewels. She’d never wanted the sapphires he could have bought her, said she already had two of the best.
He folded his arms across his chest. “Nice try. Anyone could have told you the color of my eyes. That doesn’t mean you can see—”
“No one told me the color of your eyes, Reed. Scoff at my words. At my beliefs. But you’ll learn. My visions are truth. Not everything that is can be seen with the human eye.” She paused, her eyes going blank for an instant. Then she asked, “Would you like me to tell you what I see?”
“What I’d like is for you to get down and stop this nonsense.” Reed reached out, but her horse shied away. Afraid Mattie might fall, he stopped.
The woman closed her eyes. “I see a brooch. It’s old. Two plumes. Feathery blues and greens.” She lifted her hands to form a cup. “Surrounding a posy of flowers—violets. Pinks. In the center…no, top…a tiny bird with a long, narrow beak and a green stone for his eye.”
She opened her eyes. “That is why you are here. To find it. And the peace you seek.”
Stunned, Reed stared at her. “How—”
“You will believe.”
Then she whirled her horse and shouted, “Go! To Paddy’s place.”
Chapter Eight
Reed ran for the barn where he’d left his horse. Damn the stubborn, hell-bent woman! Was she trying to kill herself? Reed threw open the stall door, jumped on his gelding’s back and swung the horse around and out of the stall. He didn’t bother with a saddle—there was no time, if he was going to keep Mrs. Matilda O’Leary from breaking her beautiful neck!
He eyed a coil of rope on the ground, thought about scooping it up. The way his luck was running with what should have been an easy assignment—keeping one blind woman safe—he might need it to tie her up and bring her back.
Riding around the back of the house, Reed followed the narrow, worn path that he’d spotted earlier that day. He now realized it led to Mattie’s in-laws, and to the home of her future husband.
He scowled. Maybe he should just leave her there and let them deal with her. They would keep her safe. That would give him free rein to find Malcolm and Granger. Reed had no doubt the man who’d been the leader of the gang would arrive in the area any day. He’d made it impossible for the gang leader to resist coming.
But right now he had this woman to deal with. This beautiful, wild, tempting woman.
Churning the earth as he urged his horse to go faster, Reed also determined to get some answers. How had she known about the brooch that belonged to Anne? It had been torn from the collar of her dress by Malcolm Clemmings, right before he’d shot her in cold blood.
* * *
Mattie heard Reed closing in on her. She didn’t slow, just let Raven have her head as she galloped down the worn path toward Paddy’s homestead. Tears stung her eyes. She hadn’t expected Reed to understand; how could he? But all the same, it hurt that he didn’t even try.
“Hold up,” Reed called out, riding up alongside her.
Mattie veered her animal slightly so Reed couldn’t grab the horse’s mane.
“Dammit, woman! You’re going to break your neck!”
Tired of his assuming that because she was blind she was helpless, Mattie whirled her horse around. The sound of his furious curses as he had to pull up short to avoid crashing into her made her smile grimly. She heard the snort of his horse, felt the shadow of the animal as it reared. She didn’t move. When all movement stilled but for the harsh exhalations coming from Reed, she lifted a brow.
“Seems you’re more at risk for that than I am, and you have your eyesight. Sometimes it doesn’t do to rely on only one sense.” Turning, she nudged her horse on, and continued on her course, though at a slower pace.
“You’re a load of trouble,” Reed grunted as he once again caught up with her. “How do you expect me to keep you safe if you go riding off on your own?”
“I can take care of myself,” she shot back. The fact that it wasn’t really true only made her angrier. She hated not being totally independent. But as long as she had her legs, her arms, her sense of smell and her sharpened intuition, she would do as much for herself and those she loved as was possible.
And that meant bringing her family back and keeping them together and safe. Mattie closed her eyes to keep from crying. Once more her life was undergoing rapid change. So much had happened in just a day that it left her feeling sick. Her family was in danger, she herself was engaged to a man in love with another woman, and now she feared that she could lose her own heart to this stranger with incredible eyes and an empty heart.
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