The Prospect: The Malloy Family, Book 10

by Beth Williamson

  “What is it?”

  “Shh.” He let go of her arm and pulled up the rifle. “Run.”

  Jo didn’t know where she was going, but she ran. Declan was behind her, urging her along.

  “Go for the trees up ahead. We’re going to climb and fast as you can.”

  Jo could hardly form words with her cotton-dry mouth. “What is it?”

  “Doesn’t matter because it’s chasing us.” He almost carried her the last ten feet, then threw her up on the first branch. “Climb!”

  She scrambled for purchase, her hands scraping on the rough bark. There hadn’t been trees to climb in Brooklyn except at the park. She had done her fair share as a small child, but that had been fifteen years ago. The dress and petticoat hindered her, and she wished for a moment for a pair of trousers to wear. Life would be simpler if she didn’t have female trappings. The pack on her back clanked and thumped against her spine, but she ignored it. A few bruises were nothing but an inconvenience compared to death and dismemberment.

  Her wayward thoughts blew to the wind at the first growl from below. She kept climbing, higher still until the cool breeze hit her sweat-soaked brow and she was able to take a breath. Her faux husband was nowhere in sight.

  “Declan?”

  “I’m here.” He was to the right and at least ten feet lower than she was. “How the hell did you get up there so fast, little one? Are ye part squirrel?” His tight chuff of a laugh told her he wasn’t feeling at all humorous.

  The snapping and growling from the ground told her she wasn’t either.

  “What is down there?” She peered through the gloom, but with the branches of the tree and the thick darkness, she could see nothing.

  “I think it’s a bear, but I’ve only seen pictures. Big son of a bitch too.” He didn’t apologize for cursing and she wasn’t about to ask him to. There were more important things to worry about.

  “Is this land full of creatures who want to eat you?” Jo knew the answer to the question but voiced it aloud anyway. She had read everything she could find on the West and it included information on the wildlife. There were mountain lions, bears, wolves, elk, bobcats, rattlesnakes and various other deadly insects to be had. It appeared they were welcoming the couple to the wilderness.

  “Why is it chasing us?” She tried to focus, search her memory for information on bears, but there were several kinds and they behaved differently. “Is it a grizzly bear?”

  He made a strangled sound. “I don’t have a fucking clue, Jo. I didn’t ask the thing to tell me his life story.”

  Stung, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “I was hoping to remember information about the bear’s behavior but I would need to identify its species first.”

  The only sounds in the night were the bear’s claws scrabbling at the bark and the snapping sound of its jaw. She was completely terrified the branch she sat on would break. It wasn’t that thick. Why had she climbed so high? No grizzly bear could reach this high, but black bears could climb. Their flight might have been for naught.

  “You know, if I were a man who wrote books, I would write a story of two city folks caught in the wild. Bad men, wolves, bears, possible starvation.” His soft voice surprised her. “Now all we need is a snake or two and possibly Indians.”

  She smiled into the darkness. “I had been thinking that things could not be worse, but I was mistaken.”

  “That’s where you went wrong. Put a jinx on us with that.” He sounded serious. “You don’t ever tempt fate by throwing circumstances in its face. It’ll bite you in the ass every time.”

  She didn’t believe in fate or jinxes, but something had definitely bitten them in the ass, crude as the expression was. They would likely have to spend what was left of the night in the tree and hope the bear could not climb high enough to reach them.

  “My apologies, Declan. I did not intend to bring the wrath of Wyoming on our heads.” She was not given to sarcasm, but the moment called for it. “Perhaps if I apologize to the bear?”

  He growled. “Not funny a’tall, Jo. I was serious and so is that goddamn bear. If he’s persistent, we could die in this tree.”

  “We have water and food.” She didn’t want to argue with him, but his perspective was skewed from reality.

  “No, darlin’, I have water and food. You have a coffee pot, your book and some odds and ends.” His voice grew strained. “I can’t climb that high or I’ll break the branches. So unless you come down farther…” He trailed off.

  Jo’s stomach tightened again, as impossible as that was. When they had divided up the goods, she hadn’t considered what she carried. An empty coffee pot would not be a comfort when she perished from thirst.

  “Oh my.”

  “Yep, oh my. Hell, shit or dammit would work too.” He sighed hard and long. “Some fake husband I am.”

  “I do not believe either of us will be called appropriate or normal.” She certainly didn’t want to be compared to her mother. Jo would come up wanting. “That does not mean we cannot be happy.”

  He was silent and she couldn’t help but wonder if he regretted their earlier actions. Until that moment, they could have gone their separate ways. Now there was no turning back. He was tied to her and she to him.

  “I don’t know if I know how to be happy, little one. I ain’t had much practice.”

  Her heart pinched at the aching loneliness in his voice. She had felt alone in her life, but never like that. She’d always had her family, her sisters, to rely on. Now she had none of those. Instead she had a new family, a man who would be her husband, who needed her as much as she needed him. Literally and figuratively.

  They had nothing but each other against the world. It was a sobering thought.

  “I have. I can teach you.” She hoped with every fiber of her being he would allow her to.

  The bear growled long and loud, sounding very much like a dragon of old. Snarling, smacking sounds filled with the frustration of not being able to reach its intended target. She didn’t want to die in that tree, but she would not climb down even an inch until it was gone. The beast sounded enormous, deadly and utterly horrifying.

  Jo wisely kept quiet although she was certain the bear had a better sense of smell than hearing. Both its senses were likely fine-tuned. Human scent undoubtedly filled the air, tantalizing its bear nostrils. She also knew sweat exacerbated the situation but could not stop herself from perspiring. Fear coated her from top to bottom and everywhere in between.

  The growling continued, reaching a fever pitch. She’d never heard such a primal sound before. It sent shivers up and down her spine with each screech. She clung to the trunk of the tree, the aroma of pine and something foul drifting on the breeze. It had to be the bear, the scent of death and decay.

  She wished Declan were closer. At that moment, she had never felt so alone. Darkness surrounded her, the thick trees blocking the starlight. She couldn’t see the bear or Declan—nothing but thick blackness.

  A shuffling sound at the branch below made her heart jump in her throat and she was in danger of soiling her drawers. The bear was far below her, wasn’t it?

  “Jo?” Declan’s soft voice made her cry out.

  She swiftly climbed down toward him until she found him, warm and comforting. His arms closed around her and she found herself weeping. Tears were not common in Jo’s life, but she could not stop them. When she needed him most, he was there.

  “Are ye crying, little one?” He rubbed her back with his big hand. Warmth flooded her at his touch.

  “I fear I am.” She snuffled, a most unladylike sound, and buried her face in his shoulder. “I have never been more glad to see another human being. Well, not see, in actuality. It is darker than pitch.” A hysterical laugh burst from her throat.

  “Shh, it’s all right. I’m here now. I couldn’t let you die of thirst, now could I?”

  She cried harder, great hiccupping sobs she could not seem to stop. Perhaps it was a combination of exhaus
tion, anxiety and terror that turned her into foolish girl. Jo hadn’t felt as feminine as she did at that moment. Declan was so big, strong and blessedly warm. He also felt safe, as though nothing could hurt her while he was there.

  Oh yes, she was a foolish girl.

  Touching him, breathing in his heat and scent, helped the fear subside. The bear continued to roar, scratching at the base of the tree in what she would call a frenzy. It seemed to be reacting to her emotional outburst with fury. She had read about wildlife and their behaviors, knew how to read their tracks and scat, even how they mated. Yet nothing had prepared her for the reality of facing one of them.

  She felt small and not very smart, a feeling she had very little experience with. Jo had always been the smartest sister, the reader, the one who knew the answers. Now she was a scared human being with scrambled thoughts and a thumping heart.

  “Tell me about bears.” Declan’s voice cut through her confused haze.

  “Wh-what?”

  “I ain’t never seen one and I sure as hell never read about them. I told you I can’t read. While we wait for the damn bear to give up and move on, I thought you could tell me what you know.” He moved one shoulder in what she assumed was a shrug. “You might know something to help us get away.”

  Declan, a self-proclaimed bad man, saved her once again. His request for information took hold of her panic by the tail and yanked it to a stop. He was everything she could ever want in a mate. Knowledge was power.

  She snuggled into the crook of his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting her mind focus. “The first thing to remember is most bears are not carnivores.”

  Declan listened to her speak, marveling that her tiny head held so much information. She was amazing. She talked, her soft voice teaching him all she knew about bears, which was a hell of a lot more than he expected.

  When she stopped to take a drink, he realized the bear had gone silent. The only sounds were the night creatures singing, clicking and scampering in the trees around them. The scent of pine surrounded them, no longer polluted by the foul stench of the bear. It worried him because he didn’t know where the bear was. It could have settled down ten feet away to wait. In the inky blackness around them, the damn thing could be on the next branch and he wouldn’t know it.

  Their flight from the fort had turned into a nightmare. Potentially chased by Drummond, definitely chased by wolves and a bear, it seemed Declan and Jo were not meant to escape unscathed. As if to prove his point, rain began to fall again. It wasn’t the painful hail they’d lived through before, but it rained steadily.

  He wasn’t about to tempt fate by complaining about it. They might be struck by lightning and fall out of the damn tree.

  “It appears to be raining again.” Jo sounded tired.

  “Aye. Are you cold?” He liked having her tucked up against him. Made him feel as if he was doing something right by keeping her warm.

  “No. Sitting within your arms is similar to being surrounded by a stove. You are not only handsome but a human blanket.”

  He started, surprised by the compliment. “You think I’m handsome?”

  She was quiet for a few beats and he wondered if he should have kept his big mouth shut. Declan knew he was dog-ugly, with a crooked nose and too many scars to be considered good-looking.

  “You are by far the most handsome and largest man I have seen in my life. Particularly since you scraped the fur from your cheeks and chin.” Her voice wavered ever so slightly. His face heated at her words and damned if he didn’t think he was blushing. Blushing! Ridiculous. Unbelievable. True.

  “I want to kiss you,” he blurted out. His finesse at wooing the woman he shouldn’t have was reaching legendary proportions.

  “I would very much enjoy that.” She turned her face up toward his, her warm breath grazing his chin.

  He couldn’t resist, not even if he tried. Declan cupped her cheek, the skin soft and cool. He started by kissing one eyebrow, then the other, making his way down her cheek to her jaw. The sweet spot beneath her jaw, making her quiver.

  With a swipe of his tongue, he tasted her skin, sweet and fresh. He nibbled his way to her lips and she sighed against him. With a smile, he captured her mouth and thoroughly kissed her. He tickled the seam of her lips with his tongue until she opened her mouth, then he swept in.

  She made a strangled sound and her actions told him she hadn’t much experience in kissing men this way. He wanted to beat his chest and howl. She had learned so much since he’d first kissed her. He was teaching her—the walking library of facts and information knew nothing about kissing.

  She soon had the gist of what to do and her tentative movements emboldened her. He pushed his straining cock against her soft belly and took that little bit of vicarious pleasure. What he wanted to do was tear off her clothes and bury himself in her core. What he did do was break the kiss and come up for air while he still could.

  She pushed up her spectacles on her nose. “That was, er, quite lovely.” Her voice shook and her lips were berry red, swollen and moist.

  Declan called on every ounce of self-control not to plunder that sweet mouth again. It would be difficult to travel with her and not repeat that kiss or push it even farther.

  Damned if he did and double damned if he didn’t.

  Dappled sunlight shone through the thick branches, teasing Jo’s eyes open. She could hardly believe she had fallen asleep in a tree, even for a few hours. Declan made a lovely bed, but no doubt he wasn’t as comfortable as she had been. She didn’t want to move, surrounded by his warmth and his scent.

  He pressed his mouth to her ear. “Quiet. Don’t move.”

  The sounds of forest gave way to the murmur of voices. Men’s voices. She tensed, her heart tripping into a fast-paced thump. She and Declan were hidden in the tree and it was unlikely whoever was down there could see them. If they made noise, however, someone could hear them. Jo breathed out slowly, not daring to move even an inch.

  The very real dangers in their journey seemed to never end. One right after the other, over and over. She never knew what was going to be around the next corner or down at the bottom of the tree. It was nerve-racking and, at the same time, life altering. Jo hadn’t experienced even one hundredth of the adventure she had found on the trip to Oregon, and even more so since they’d left the fort.

  A horse whinnied, followed by another. The murmurs grew louder and she closed her eyes, straining to hear what they said. She and Declan’s lives were at risk every moment they spent out in the wilderness. The sooner they found shelter with her sister Frankie and her husband John, the better.

  Although she couldn’t see them, the sounds of the horses drew closer. She clenched Declan’s hand hard enough to make her fingers hurt. He didn’t appear to mind, allowing her to almost wrench his phalanges right from his body.

  The men came close to their tree, but not right below it. Each second that passed was excruciating, as though a giant clock ticked in her ear. Tick tock. Tick tock. She breathed in and out, her pulse thundering through her ears. Although it was a cool morning, sweat pooled everywhere a lady should not perspire.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the men rode away. Slowly enough to be mistaken for turtles. Particularly lethargic turtles.

  Another ten minutes passed before she dared to move. Declan loosened his grip and she sucked in a deep breath, then another. She shook from the stress of hiding, running, fighting for their lives against four-legged and two-legged creatures. Jo was nearly past the point of endurance.

  Then Declan spoke. “You did well, little one.”

  “I thought perhaps I might explode.” She was surprised how shaky her voice was. “Do you know who it was?”

  His jaw tightened. “Aye. It was Drummond and Parker. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it doesn’t matter. They were headed toward Malloy and your sister.”

  The idea of being in danger had become a familiar feeling for Jo. However, to think her sister and n
ew husband were in trouble because of her made an unfamiliar sensation rocket through her body.

  Anger.

  “We cannot let them be hurt.”

  He raised both brows. “I don’t want them hurt either.”

  “Then we must stop those men before they get there.” A protective fury filled her words. “We did not ask to be victims of their avarice, but we escaped. I will not allow Frankie and John to suffer for our actions. Those men need to be brought to justice.”

  “We don’t have a horse. How are we going to stop them? Or even catch them?” Declan wasn’t mean—he was practical.

  “I have no idea.” Jo needed to call on the knowledge she’d been accumulating all her life. This time she had to find a way to protect her family from the danger she’d unleashed.

  “First thing we need to do is get out of this tree and eat. They’re not moving very fast, probably searching for us, so that gives us some time. They also don’t know we’re now behind them, so that gives us an advantage.” Declan lowered Jo to the branch below, and she somehow managed not to fall off.

  “All true, but it does not help us devise a way to beat them to my sister’s dwelling.” She watched as he deftly climbed down two branches then reached up for her. For a big man, he was incredibly nimble.

  They made their way down the tree one branch at a time. She breathed a sigh of relief when her feet touched the ground. Declan jumped the last ten feet, the pine needles making his footsteps silent. He smiled at her, and a zing of awareness marched through her body. She savored the memory of kissing him in the darkness, the heat of his mouth, his tongue, his lips.

  Jo wanted to do it again. Right now.

  “We need to get moving. We might run into someone we can buy a horse from.” Declan shifted his pack on his back and turned away from her.

  Insulted by his rejection, she stared after him. In all fairness, he had no idea he rejected her. For heaven’s sakes, she hadn’t even said anything about kissing, nor did he. Yet he should have read her gaze or her stance. Something. But he hadn’t.