“What are you going to do?” Anna rushed up, her eyes wide as saucers.
Cora glared at her. Her body trembled. How did she allow yet another man to mislead her? “Going after that horse thief.”
“You’ll never catch up to him.”
Cora sucked in a deep breath. Her heart pounded as anger boiled the blood in her veins. Weren’t there any decent men left in this world? Her eyes darted to the back of the wagon, where Josie’s head was barely visible from inside. Her sister had scrambled for the wagon the moment that stranger had walked into camp. Caroline, always supportive, had gone with her sister. Josie had reason to be afraid of men, and as long as there was a breath in her, Cora would not let anyone harm her youngest sister again.
Why had she been so stupid and not listened to her inner voice when Nathaniel Wilder – if that was even his name – had swaggered into camp? She should have put a bullet in him right then and there, if for no other reason than to wipe that silly grin off his face.
His very handsome face.
Cora shook her head. Ted had been handsome, too, and had managed to convince her that the only way she was going to get to Oregon was to marry him. He’d turned out to be a liar and a cheat. Because of him, they were now stranded out in the wilderness, lost and with a broken wagon. When he’d told her two weeks ago at Fort Laramie that he was leaving, she’d sworn she would never trust or depend on another man again. Enough was enough.
First, her father had walked out on her mother. Remaining faithful to her had suddenly become too difficult for him, after almost twenty years of marriage. Mama had busted her back trying to keep their farm going, and bore four children for that ungrateful man, without ever complaining. Even after Papa left, Mama had kept the family together, and now it was up to Cora to keep her siblings safe.
She smiled when her little brother struggled to lift the heavy saddle onto the mule’s back.
“Let me help.” She propped her rifle against the wagon.
“Wish I was bigger,” Patrick said, hanging his head. “Then I could go after that man for you.”
Cora patted the top of his head. “Soon, you will be.”
“I didn’t think he’d steal our horse. He looked honest.” The boy stared up at her with an apologetic frown.
Cora tightened the cinch around the mule’s belly. She shot another smile at her brother to reassure him. “It’s not your fault. Looks can be deceiving,” she said. “We have to be careful with people we don’t know anything about.”
Patrick nodded. “Are you really going after him?”
“Of course.” Cora reached for her rifle. “You mind Anna while I’m gone.”
She’d barely spoken her friend’s name, when Anna came up beside her and placed her hand on Cora’s arm.
“How do you plan on finding him? Gray is much faster than a mule.”
Cora’s eyes widened. “I can’t stay here and let someone steal our horse. What’ll it be next? The mules? Our wagon?” She glanced at the canvas covering the rig. Pulling the mule a short distance away to be out of earshot of Josie and Caroline, she leaned toward her friend and whispered. “Or worse. We have to protect ourselves, no matter what, or we might as well just head back to Ohio.”
Anna nodded. She wrung her hands in front of her. “I’m just not sure if I’m cut out for this, Cora. Going to Oregon seemed like a fine idea months ago, but that was when we had a man to look after us, and we were with the other wagons. Perhaps getting married wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
Cora reached for her friend’s hand and smiled. “If you want to get married, that’s your choice. I only advise you to make sure you don’t marry a man for the wrong reasons. Look where it got me with Ted.”
“Not every man out there can be bad,” Anna argued. “Just because your pa left, and now Ted, doesn’t mean you should hate all men.”
Cora pressed her lips together. Anna had apparently forgotten what had happened to Josie. Rather than remind her friend, she gathered the reins to the mule and lifted her foot into the stirrup. She was wasting time. That scoundrel was getting too much of a head start. Once she was seated in the saddle, she glanced down at Anna.
“I don’t hate men,” she said firmly. “I just have little cause to trust any of them.”
Cora blinked several times and swallowed past her reservation about giving chase. It was her responsibility to keep everyone safe, no matter what. Nodding to Anna, she kicked the balking mule into a gallop away from camp. She guided the beast in the direction in which her beloved horse, Gray, had disappeared. She’d already lost her other saddle horse to Ted. She couldn’t lose Gray, too.
Coming to the top of a rise, she slowed the ornery animal underneath her and scanned into the distance. Nothing but trees and mountains, as far as the eye could see. Looking to the east, the valley expanded into a wide meadow, while the forest grew dense toward the west. There was no sign of her horse.
Cora pressed her lips together and kicked the mule into a run, guiding him toward the forest. Even if he'd chosen to cut through the vast meadow, Nathaniel Wilder's head start wasn't so great that he could have disappeared. He must have thought it best to ride through the trees.
Forced to slow the mule once she reached the trees, Cora studied the ground as she rode and smiled in relief. Fresh hoof prints clearly led through this forest. Her forehead scrunched in puzzlement as she glanced in the direction from which she’d just come. The prints should have been visible sooner, but it was as if Gray had simply materialized in this very spot. She shrugged. The ground must have simply been harder before, making it more difficult to see the prints.
That thief had thought wrong if he figured she wasn’t going to pursue him. For the better part of an hour, she followed the hoof prints through the forest. Sometimes the tracks would lead out in the open, then back into the trees, until she lost them again completely.
“Damn,” she swore under her breath. She’d already backtracked to see where she could have missed the tracks, but just as they had suddenly appeared earlier, it was as if Gray had once again disappeared into thin air.
Cora shifted in the saddle. She glanced around. Everything looked the same here. What if she got lost? She inhaled a deep breath to stay calm, and nudged the mule forward. She couldn’t think about that now.
The wind rushed through the trees, making some of the taller trunks groan. The refreshing sound of a creek gurgled nearby. Cora swiped a hand across her forehead. She dismounted and led the mule toward the sound of the water, then stopped abruptly at the sight before her.
Nathaniel Wilder stood in the creek, splashing water onto his face. Her heart sped up in surprise as she fumbled to pull her rifle from the saddle scabbard. Luck must be on her side for once. She sucked in a quick breath for courage, then stepped out into the open.
“If you really thought you’d get away with stealing my horse, you’re sadly mistaken.” Cora pointed the rifle at him. She’d never raised a gun to anyone before, and this was the second time in one day she’d threatened this man with her rifle. Could she really shoot him if need be?
He slowly raised himself to his full height, water dripping between his fingers. The wind whipped his long, dark hair into his face. His eyes traveled over her, unhurried and appraising. Cora blinked. Her skin tingled at his outright perusal and her heart pounded in her chest.
“Remove your belt and toss it over to me.” Cora motioned with her rifle for emphasis.
“My belt?” Nathaniel’s lips widened in a grin. “Lady, we hardly know each other.”
Cora glared at him for his lewd insinuations. She’d had to put up with plenty of similar remarks from unkempt men at Fort Laramie. This man’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Don’t get any ideas. I will shoot you if you make one wrong move.”
His eyes narrowed. Cora swallowed. She squared her shoulders in an effort the keep the rifle as steady as possible. This man in front of her was no different than any of the others. Slow and calculating,
he continued to stare at her. He snickered.
“I have no doubt you will. The question is, are you a better shot when your target isn’t moving?”
“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Cora challenged, raising her voice to sound convincing.
He chuckled as his hands moved slowly to the belt around his waist. For a second, he moved his eyes away from her and seemed to be looking for something behind her, further along the creek.
“Without my belt and weapons, you’re going to leave me all defenseless.”
Cora narrowed her eyes at the smugness in his tone. He didn’t sound concerned at all. If anything, his grin widened.
“I’ll leave it hanging in a tree somewhere up ahead. You can collect it once I’m gone.”
She raised her rifle a little higher when he just stood there. He shook his head and his eyes shimmered with amusement. With dramatic, deliberate slowness, he unstrapped his belt. He held it up and splashed through the water toward her.
“Just toss it over here,” she warned. “Don’t come any closer.”
“No need to take another shot,” he said, returning his gaze to her. He sighed dramatically. “You’ve got the upper hand.”
The leather belt, which held his knife and hatchet, landed with a thud by the mule’s hooves.
“Now bring Gray out of the creek, ten paces from me, and then get back in the water.” Cora cleared her throat. Hopefully, he hadn’t detected the slight hitch in her voice. She adjusted her grip on the rifle to steady her hands.
Without argument, he did as she ordered. When he stepped back into the knee-deep water, Cora bent quickly to pick up Nathaniel’s belt, which she tossed into a nearby bush, then rushed to her horse. She grabbed Gray’s reins and backed up.
“Don’t move,” she warned. She raised her foot to mount the mule. She would have preferred to ride Gray, but with her skirt, she’d never get onto his bare back.
“I wasn’t stealing your horse.”
Cora seated herself in the saddle, looping the reins of Gray’s bridle around the saddle horn while trying to keep her rifle pointed at Nathaniel. She glared at the man’s blatant lie.
“Truly?” Her eyebrows shot up. “You were just borrowing him? Taking him for a quick ride and were going to bring him back, I assume.”
“I was going to bring him back.”
Cora smirked. She couldn’t afford to trust a complete stranger, least of all someone like this man. She’d seen plenty of woodsmen, or mountain men, back at Fort Laramie, and that’s exactly how Nathaniel Wilder was dressed. Buckskin britches hugged his legs, while moccasins were laced up well past his ankles. His fringed leather hunting jacket hung from his upper body, no longer bunched around his waist without the belt. His dark hair hung past his shoulders, and water droplets glistened off the dark stubble on his face.
Although he was dressed like a backwoodsman, he spoke with more refinement than the trappers at the fort; men who preferred the Indians to white society and the solitude of the mountains. Most of them were barely civilized. No, Nathaniel Wilder sounded fairly well educated, belying his outward appearance.
Cora blinked and mentally shook her head. She scoffed silently. She’d learned her lesson with men. It was going to take more than a handsome face or an intelligent word to earn her trust. It was up to her to take care of her sisters and brother, and this man had already proven to be a thief. She pointed the rifle toward his chest the best she could while tugging on the mule’s reins to maneuver the animal away from the creek bank.
“Don’t even think of following me. If I catch so much as a glimpse of you near our camp again, I will shoot you. That’s a promise.”
Nathaniel took a step toward her, then stopped, apparently thinking better of it. He continued to stare at her, as if he was trying to make up his mind about something.
“Cora, there’s a party of Crow nearby. I was trying to outrun them when I stumbled across your camp.”
“That’s of no concern to me.” Cora stopped the mule, looking at the man in the water. A tingling sensation passed down her spine at the familiar way in which he spoke her name. She blinked, and brushed away the feeling.
Apprehension passed through her at his mention of Indians. Thoughts of Indians or bandits had entered her mind on more than one occasion. Talk at Fort Laramie had been that the Indians were mostly friendly, but there had been rumors of a few incidents with some of the wagon trains. The cavalry had assured them that they were safe. She raised her chin.
The man ran a hand through his hair. “Well it sure as hell should be of concern to you,” he scoffed. “My tracks lead directly to your camp. I took your horse to come back here so I could pick up their trail and lead them away from your wagon. It was faster than backtracking on foot.”
Cora studied the man. His stare, even from a distance of twenty paces, bore straight into her. Her jaw muscles tightened. She knew nothing about him. Why then, was there a twinge of doubt in her mind? She couldn’t afford to trust him. No doubt he was a well-practiced, smooth-talking liar, as well as a thief.
“You could have told us of your intentions, and not simply stolen my horse,” she challenged.
He laughed. “Lady, if I was trying to steal your horse, why would I walk into your camp in plain sight? Believe me, if I truly wanted to steal him, you’d have never even seen me, and I’d have been long gone before you even found your horse missing.”
“Don’t be so sure about that. Honest people make their intentions known.”
“Dammit, woman, there wasn’t time.” There was a definite note of anger in his tone. “Hell, we’re wasting time right now.”
Cora raised her chin. “You’re right. We’re wasting time. I’m warning you again. Don’t follow me.”
She yanked on the reins and kicked the mule up the embankment and back into the woods.
“Don’t be a fool, woman,” Nathaniel called after her. “You’ll never get through these mountains alive without help. You’re lost, and you have a broken wagon.”
Cora gritted her teeth and urged the mule forward. Gray trotted dutifully next to her. Slowly, she picked her way through the dense woods, heading back in the direction from which she’d come. Nathaniel Wilder’s words haunted her. What if he had been telling the truth? What if there were Indians in the area? Keeping up with the wagon train had been her main concern since leaving Fort Laramie, but they’d fallen further and further behind as the days passed. And dammit, that man was right. She and her family were lost. How could she have let this happen?
“We’re going to be all right, aren’t we, Gray?” she spoke out loud to soothe the unease that crept through her. Something rustled in the underbrush and Cora whipped her head around, glancing over her shoulder. She sucked in a deep breath. She was being silly. That backwoodsman had filled her head with doubt and had tried to scare her.
Cora guided the mule through the dense foliage. The forest undergrowth and the countless downed logs made travel slower than molasses. Everything seemed to close in all around her. It became impossible to ride with Gray walking along beside the mule.
Cora cursed under her breath when the trees and foliage became dense enough that the mule and Gray had difficulty getting through. The clearing couldn’t be far, but she had to get through the vegetation first. Somehow, she’d gotten turned around and lost the trail.
A slow trickle of unease spread from her insides outward. Her palms began to sweat and breathing became difficult all of a sudden. Cora swallowed.
“It’s gonna be all right,” she whispered. “You’ll find your way back to camp.”
She shifted in the saddle and glanced over her shoulder again, then untied Gray’s reins from the saddle. If she held the reins, it would give her more line and Gray could fall-in behind the mule.
No sooner had she nudged her mount forward, when Gray shied next to her. Before she had a chance to react, something - or rather, someone - slammed into her from behind, clamping a steely h
and over her mouth. The unease she’d felt a moment ago erupted fully into fear. The mule sidestepped and brayed. She kicked at the animal’s sides, but before the stubborn beast could respond, she was pulled from the saddle and landed in the brush.
Cora struggled, swinging her elbows back and forth in an effort to connect with her attacker’s ribs. The hand clamped firmly over her mouth made it impossible to scream. Whoever had jumped behind her onto the mule’s back was too strong, and his tight hold forced all air from her lungs.
CHAPTER FOUR
C ora struggled for air as a heavy body pinned her facedown in the dirt and foliage. The rich odor of moist earth and decaying vegetation filled her nose. A twig scraped her cheek. She kicked with her legs to try and push the weight off of her, but the more she fought, the heavier the man became. He’d suffocate her at any moment.
“Stop your fidgeting and don’t make a sound, Cora,” a familiar voice breathed in her ear.
She stiffened. A flood of relief replaced the panic that had engulfed her, thinking she’d get her throat slit by a wild Indian. She forced her head to the side, fighting the tight restraint of the steely arm wrapped around her from behind. The hand covering her mouth hadn’t eased up. Her eyes rolled as far to the side as possible to confirm the identity of her assailant.
Nathaniel Wilder. Her heart pounded with dread at what he planned to do to her, while a hefty dose of annoyance seeped through her limbs. That lowly snake and criminal had followed her. She should have put a bullet in him when she’d had a chance by the creek.
“Relax, Cora, and I’ll ease up,” he murmured, his breath warm against her cheek. “I can’t let go until you give me your word that you won’t fight back, and that you’ll be quiet.”
Her muscles tensed. His hand on her mouth tightened instantly, as if he’d known that she would bite into his palm, even before it had entered her mind.
“We’re both gonna be dead if you don’t let go of your damn foolish pride and do as I ask, woman,” he hissed in her ear. The weight of him on top of her crushed her further into the ground, making breathing impossible. If he suffocated her, he’d get his wish and she would stop fighting.
Cora's Pride (Wilderness Brides Book 1) Page 3
