He smiled at her. “I hope you’ll back me up as well as you did Silas the other day.”
“Do you have another pistol?”
He produced one and then opened the door to go out.
“Do you know how to load these rifles, Adela?” Rena asked.
“Yes.”
“Then keep them loaded for me.” Rena peeped out the door and watched as two riders came toward the house.
“Hello,” Jake called. “What you fellows want?”
“Just looking for a place to sleep,” the man said. “Looks like you’ve got a nice spread here. Mind if we camp in your front yard?”
“There’re plenty of good camping areas along the river. I don’t want to see my yard full of tents.”
The man on the horse gave Jake an evil grin. “Thought maybe your wife would treat us to a home cooked meal. We’re awfully tired of beans and bacon.”
“Don’t think my wife wants to cook for nine men this time of night.”
“Oh, she might not mind. Why don’t you have her come out here and I’ll ask her?”
“I think it’s best if you and your men move along.” It dawned on Jake that this could be the gang that had been going about New Mexico territory robbing small ranchers and raping the women. He’d heard about them the last time he was in town and hoped they’d never work their way to Arizona. If they had, how the hell was he going to protect Adela and Rena from nine of them? He sure hoped Rena was the crack shot she claimed to be. Maybe she could take out a few of them to even the odds. He knew Adela would be no help, but maybe Silas or the hands would hear the gun play and come to help. And if Finn wasn’t asleep and could get to the house, he’d at least keep the men busy even if he didn’t hit them.
“I don’t think you want us to move on. I’ve been watching this place. I know the men have moved out with the cattle and you have a couple of women here. Some of my men really would like to meet those women. I’m kind of partial to yellow hair. I think I want to have a talk with that one.”
Jake put his hand on his gun. “I said move along.”
The man laughed out loud. “Now, mister. Why do you want to die for this? You might get a shot off at me, but there’s nine of us. Do you think your pistol will hold all of us off?” He started for his gun.
Jake whipped his gun from the holster and leveled it toward the man’s head. “I might not get all of your men, but I’ll sure as hell put a bullet through your skull.”
The men on the perimeter of the yard were slowly walking their horses toward the house.
“Now why do you want to die? Ain’t no woman alive worth dying for.” He held up his hands to show he had no gun. “I’ll gladly pay you for the use of them for the night. I’ve got money right here.” He pulled a saddlebag from his horse. “I know you ranchers have it rough. What’s one night with your woman for a lot of money?” He tossed the saddlebag at Jake’s feet.
Jake kicked it off the porch and it fell behind one of the small shrubs that Adela had planted. “I said, get off my land.” He backed slowly toward the door.
“Well, guys. Looks like we’re going to have to take him.”
The men advancing toward the house all drew their guns.
Jake dropped down as low as he could and still stayed on his feet. He shot the man who had done the talking in the arm as bullets swarmed around him. He got through the door and slammed it shut with his foot.
“Well, Rena,” he said as he took a position at the window on the left. “It looks like it’s up to us to keep those bastards away from you and Adela.”
Rena moved to the other window. “No man’s going to put his hands on me if I don’t want them there!”
Jake couldn’t help grinning. With all that was about to take place the only thought that stuck in his mind was that one day he wanted to get his hands on Rena. And he wanted her to want them there.
A bullet came through the open window and crashed into the wall on the other side of the room. Jake peeped out. “Let them get closer. We want to…”
“Don’t tell me how to shoot.” She aimed her rifle and fired. A man tumbled from the saddle.
Jake laughed. “I’ve given you the last instruction I intend to. Maybe you should be instructing me.” He fired and another man grabbed his shoulder.
“Maybe I should. That one can shoot with the other hand.”
The gang pulled back to the edge of the yard and seemed to be having a meeting. Rena and Jake watched in silence.
Adela said, “When this is over, will you teach me to shoot, Rena?”
“You bet.”
“Maybe you better ask Silas,” Jake said.
“I’m not asking Silas. If Rena can learn to shoot a gun, I can, too.”
There was a noise at the back door.
“I’ll check it out.” Jake moved away without telling Rena to keep an eye out. He knew she would.
“Finn, thank God it’s you.” Jake pulled the man inside and bolted the door behind him.
“What’s the shooting all about?”
“I think the gang who has been raiding ranches in New Mexico showed up.”
“Give me a gun. I’ll see if I can help you.”
“They’re coming back, Jake,” Rena called.
He ran to the parlor and took his position by the window. “Looks like they’re going to circle the house.”
“I’ll cover the back.” Rena scooted to the kitchen window.
Two riders came close to the house. One aimed his gun at the window, but Rena dropped him before he had a chance to fire. The second one moved his horse farther away, aimed toward her and fired. She ducked and the bullet crashed into the shelf where the dishes were stored. Several clattered to the floor. Rena fired but the man was already around to the front of the house.
Jake and Finn were firing in the parlor.
Nobody else came around the house so Rena moved back to the window on the front.
“Get him?” Jake asked.
“Of course.”
Jake smiled and Finn looked at her in wonder. “I can’t shoot like her, but I’ll watch out back,” he said.
“Thanks, Finn.”
“How many are left?” Rena asked.
“Three still in good shape. The others are either dead or hurt too bad to fight.”
“Here they come and they look mad.” Rena glanced at Jake. “Where do you want me to hit him?”
“Right between the eyes.”
Rena waited until the man was close to the house. He was firing his gun in all directions. “Sorry, buddy,” she mumbled and pulled the trigger. The man’s head flew back and he went off the horse backward.
Jake fired and a second man grabbed his arm and dropped his gun.
The other man reined up, threw down his gun and held up his hands.
Jake yelled through the window, “Get off your horse slowly and keep your hands over your head.”
“Some of the wounded might come after us, when we go out,” Rena said. “Tell him we want to see all nine men in the front yard.”
It wasn’t long until seven were there. One was unhurt. Four of them were wounded. Two were dead. “Where are the other two?” Jake called.
“Must be around back,” the man who surrendered said.
“Watch them, Rena. I’ll check.”
In a minute Jake came around the house. “They’re dead.”
Rena stood and walked onto the porch. Finn and Adela followed.
“Would you please check those wounded men, Finn?” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jake was tying the only healthy man’s hands and checking him for hidden guns.
Finn was moving around the four wounded men. “I think this one will make it,” he said and moved to the next.
Out of the corner of her eye Rena saw a movement. The man Finn had said would make it was lifting a gun and pointing it at Finn’s back. She didn’t hesitate. She raised the pistol and shot him in the throat. His gun rolled out of hi
s hand.
Finn whirled around. He stared at her. “You saved my life.”
Silas and Gil rode up fast and dismounted. “We heard gunshots,” Gil said.
“What happened?” Silas asked.
“Oh, Silas!” Adela ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “It was awful. Those men…”
He awkwardly put his arm around her. “It’s okay, Adela. I see none of ours is hurt.”
“I’m sure these are the men who’ve been raiding ranches and stealing women in New Mexico. They wanted Adela and Rena.” Jake walked up to his brother.
“You killed this many of them?”
“Actually, I only killed one and wounded three more. Rena killed four of them. The last one she nailed was this one.” He pointed to the man on the ground close to Silas. “He was about to shoot Finn in the back. She stopped him.”
“Damn,” Gil said. “I’m going to watch my step around her.”
“I think we all should,” Jake said with a smile. “Now what are we going to do with this vermin?”
Silas moved to the three wounded men. One was breathing heavy and looked as if he wouldn’t last long. The other two could be patched up. “Get some rags and let’s see if we can get these two in shape enough to hang. We’ll throw the others in the buckboard and take them to Yellow Creek. Let the folks there worry about burying them.”
“Since we’ve got to get supplies, Finn and I can take them tomorrow.” He looked at Adela. “Do you want to come along?”
She nodded. “What about Rena.”
“I think Rena should stay here. The less the townspeople know about her, the better.” Jake looked at her.
“Wait a minute…” Rena started.
“We won’t have room for you anyway,” Silas said. “Finn and Adela will drive the buckboard. I’ll ride with this healthy prisoner and the rest will have to ride in the wagon.”
“You mean we have to ride with the dead men?” one of the wounded asked.
“What difference does it make? You’ll be joining them shortly. Ain’t no judge in the country going to let the likes of you live,” Gil answered.
The one well man asked, “Did that yellow-haired woman really kill four of the men?”
“She sure did,” Jake said. “You best not look at her crooked if you don’t want to be the fifth.” He wanted to laugh when he saw the fright in the man’s eyes. He turned his head instead.
Chapter 7
It was eight o’clock the next morning when Gil and Silas got the prisoners out of the barn and loaded them in the buckboard. Adela was excited when she headed out the front door. “Now, don’t worry about a thing, Rena. There’s stew for the men’s lunch. You can heat up whatever’s left for supper. Silas said we’d eat in town. Now is there anything besides tea that you want?”
“No, only the tea, please, Adela.”
Rena watched as the buckboard pulled out and Gil mounted his horse to join Curly and Jake with the cows. Finn was driving and the outlaws were all securely tied in back with the dead men. Silas was on his horse beside Finn and the outlaws’ horses were tied behind the wagon.
Rena turned back into the house once the buckboard drove out of sight. In one way she wished she was going with them, but in another she was glad she wasn’t. It was her first time being alone since she’d landed in this hellacious time period. She went into her room—she now thought of Jake’s room as hers. The only time he came to the room was to get clean clothes and he was always came when she wasn’t there. She made her bed and went back to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.
When she finished drinking it, she decided to go into Adela’s garden and see what vegetables needed picking. There was an abundance of squash and some cucumbers. An hour later the vegetables were washed and ready to cook for supper, dinner was on the stove ready to warm, the house was clean and there was nothing else to do.
She was going to have to let herself think about what had occurred yesterday. It had happened so fast and so furiously that she didn’t let her mind dwell on it at the time. But she had to face it. She had killed four men. Rena didn’t like killing. It had always been the one thing about police work that she hated. Of course, on the job, she’d only had to do it one time. It took her a while to accept it then. Now she’d done it again. But in this time and in this place, killing didn’t seem to have the same consequences.
Jake was right. If the men had managed to get to her and Adela, their fates would have been worse than death. Yet, was killing them the right thing to do? Was that the only way to handle the situation?
Without knowing why, Rena sat on the side of her bed and sobbed.
* * * *
Jake knew the men could handle the cows. He’d found sixteen more that had been cut from his herd. He drove them back to join with the others and decided he would check on Rena. It had almost frightened him yesterday when he saw how lightly she took killing those men. Yes, they were outlaws. Yes, they would have done terrible things if they’d managed to get to the women. Still, it was unsettling to see a woman take killing as calmly as Rena did. He just couldn’t figure this woman out and he admitted to himself that he probably never would.
He rode up to the barn, took care of his horse and walked to the house. He went in the backdoor and was surprised to find the kitchen empty. So was the parlor. He frowned and started to call to her, then he heard a muffled sound coming from the room where she slept. He eased down the hall. She’d left the door to the room open. He looked inside and was surprised to see her sitting on the bed crying.
He didn’t want to scare her so he eased back down the hall and called, “Rena. Are you here?”
She didn’t answer. He knew she heard him so he went back and looked into the room again. “Rena,” he said.
She glanced up at him with red swollen eyes. She obviously had been crying for some time. “Rena, are you okay?”
She shook her head and covered her face with her hands.
He didn’t know what to do. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Want to talk about it?”
She shook her head again.
On impulse he sat down beside her. “Rena…”
She turned and put her head on his chest and sobbed. “Oh, Jake.”
He automatically put his arms around her and was ashamed of himself when there was a quick tightening in his groin. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on something else. “What’s wrong, Rena?” he finally managed to ask.
“I can’t believe I killed four men, Jake. I must…” Her voice trailed off.
“Rena, you had no choice. We do what we have to do to survive.” He pulled her a little tighter to him. The front of his shirt got wet from her tears, but he didn’t care. It was wonderful to have her in his arms even if it was only to comfort her. To him it was much more. She smelled good. She felt good, fitting against him perfectly.
“Maybe there could have been another way. Maybe…”
“Shh. Don’t think about it. It’s over and everyone is safe. You not only saved Adela and yourself, but you saved Finn’s life, too.”
“But I feel like a murderer.”
He reached down and cupped her chin with his hand and pulled her face up to look into her eyes. With his other hand he wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Don’t say that, Rena. I don’t know what it’s like in your time, but in mine we have to live by what the day brings. Life in the territory is hard. The weak and the frail don’t survive. Only those willing to work hard and fight hard make it. If situations call for guns, we use them. If it calls for something else, we try that.”
“But I don’t like killing.”
“Neither do I. No rational person wants to take the life of another, but there are times when it comes to that. Unfortunately it happens more often than we want it to.”
“I hope it doesn’t happen again for a long time.” She kind of smiled at him.
Jake smiled back. How could he have ever thought this woman didn’t mind killing? She was only go
od at hiding her feelings. Lord, everything about her was a puzzle, but he was so attracted to her. Again his body was stirred and he felt the tightness of his pants. He hoped she wouldn’t notice. He put his arms around her again and pulled her to him without letting his gaze leave her face. “I hope it doesn’t happen either,” he whispered. “But we do what we have to do, Rena. You did the only thing you could.”
When she only looked at him, he couldn’t resist the temptation. He lowered his head and kissed her lips gently. They were the softest thing he’d ever had his mouth against. As if in slow motion he opened his mouth and nibbled her lower lip. He felt her respond, and her lips parted slightly. He knew he should pull back, but it was so nice to hold her. To taste her. It was something he’d thought about many times. He parted her lips with his tongue and ran it across her teeth. Her mouth opened, inviting him in.
Dimly, he heard something. “Jake! Curly’s been shot.” The voice came through the back door.
They sprang apart and he jumped up. “I need to go see…”
“I’ll come with you.”
They raced to the back porch. “Where is he, Gil?”
“I put him in the bunkhouse; I don’t think he’ll die, but he’s bleeding bad.”
“Rena, would you get a sheet to tear into bandages and heat some water? I’ll see what I can do.” Jake went out into the back yard.
* * * *
It was the first time Rena had been in the bunk house. It wasn’t a pretty building, but it was functional. There was a pot-belly stove in the center of the room with a coffee pot sitting on it and a table with several chairs nearby. On each side wall were three double bunks. Shelves on the end walls had a collection of personal items, clothing and boxes which she assumed belonged to the men. She couldn’t help being surprised at how orderly things were. For some reason, she expected it to be a pig sty.
Curly was on a lower bunk. Gil set the hot water on the floor. She took a stool beside Jake and began tearing the sheet into strips. “How is he?”
“It’ll take time for him to recover, but he will.”
Jake poured hot water in a pan and washed his hands. He then took a rag and washed the bloody mess from Curly’s shoulder. “They snuck up on me, Boss,” Curly said. “I should’ve paid more attention.”
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