Lacy reached out and pressed his arm. “Josh, I think she’s in a great deal of trouble. And I think Jason is behind it. If he can’t have her the right way, he’ll have her any way he can get her, and he’ll make sure she suffers. He threatened her yesterday morning—said that one way or another she would belong to him. Can’t you imagine what went through his mind when you blurted out in front of the whole town last night that Rachael was in love with Brand Selby?”
Joshua rubbed his eyes. “It’s so hard to believe Jason would do anything to hurt her. He loves her.”
“He loves her beauty. And he wants her, Joshua. Wanting and truly loving can be two different things. He would have used her like a harlot—a thing to get his pleasure from, not the gentle, sweet woman that she is. Jason Brown would have destroyed her sweet nature.”
Joshua quickly drank down his coffee and rose. “I don’t know what to think about anybody any more. What the hell do I do now? I’ve got a sister and a brother to find. Which one do I go after first? God only knows where poor Luke is by now.”
“Josh, I don’t think Comanche raided your place. If they did, then it was renegades hired by Jason Brown himself.”
Joshua shook his head. “I just can’t believe that.”
“You think hard on it and you’ll know I’m right. Whatever you do, don’t go to Jason, Josh. Go get some other Rangers, if you have to—men who don’t work with Jason. Tell them what has happened. Get some help and then try to find Luke and Rachael. I think they were taken by the same men. Surely you don’t hate your sister so much that you don’t care if she’s with Comancheros! You know what they’re like, Joshua. Surely you don’t wish that kind of thing on poor Rachael. No woman as sweet as she is should suffer at the hands of those men!”
Joshua felt a lump rise in his throat. He wanted to go and bury Matthew. He wished he could go back and see the house still standing, Matthew, Luke, and Rachael waiting for him on the steps. But reality stabbed at his heart like a long, cruel blade. Luke! Such a young and trusting boy. And Rachael! Was she really in the hands of outlaws! Maybe she was lying hurt somewhere. Either way, he had caused it himself.
He rubbed his neck, wondering how he was even going to manage to put in a full day on a horse. “I’ll ride out and look for her. Selby’s place was northeast of here, wasn’t it?”
“I think so.”
“I’ll ride in that general direction and see what I can find. I guess then I’ll have no choice but to go to the next closest Ranger headquarters and find some men who will help me look for Luke and Rachael.”
Lacy closed her eyes. “Thank God,” she said quietly.
Josh looked at her. “What about Selby? If he loved her so much, won’t he come back here looking for her?”
“I have no doubt that he will.”
“The fool will get himself hanged.”
“I think he knows how to be seen only when he wants to be seen.”
“Well if he never shows up again, it will prove I was right after all. He just wanted her because she was a pretty white girl. My bet is he’ll keep right on going and never come back.”
Lacy rose from her chair. “He’ll be back, all right. If he shows up here, I’ll tell him what has happened, where you’ve gone. I expect Brand will do some searching of his own. Men like him know this land like the back of their hands. I just hope either he or you can catch Jason Brown red-handed. Has Jason already ridden out?”
“Yes. He and his men are going after Selby, and they’ll try to find Luke. I wanted to ride out with them, but they left way before sunup.”
“And I say if he gets to Luke and Rachael first, you’ll never see your brother and sister again, Joshua,” she warned.
Lacy saw by his eyes that Joshua was beginning to see the light. “You think about it and you’ll know I’m right. If you don’t find Rachael out there, she’s been picked up by someone Jason sent to spy on her. I feel it in my bones, Josh, but there is nobody I can turn to—nobody I dare hope might believe me except you. And right now you and I and Brand Selby are the only people who give a damn about poor Rachael. You’ve got to help her, Josh.”
He sighed deeply, rubbing his side. “You got a little food I can pack? And a supply bag?”
“I’ll get you whatever you need,” Lacy said, feeling somewhat relieved. At least someone was doing something. She stepped closer, grasping his wrists. “I’m sorry about what happened, Josh. I know how you’re hurting, emotionally and physically. There will be time for mourning later. Right now you’ve got to do what you know in your heart is right. You’ve got to try to find Rachael, and I just know when you find her you’ll find Luke, too.”
He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know. I hope you’re right. But I hope you’re wrong about Jason Brown. It’s hard to believe it could be true. And if I do find out Selby was behind any of it, I’ll kill the bastard!”
“You’ll see, Josh, you’ll see. I’ll pack some things for you.”
He walked to the table to finish his coffee. “Do me another favor, Lacy?”
“Whatever you need, son.”
“See if you can convince some of the men in town to go out to my place and bury Matthew. I might be gone for days, and he’s probably already…” He swallowed and blinked back tears. “I didn’t have the strength to do anything but pull him into the toolshed so he’d be protected from scavenging animals and birds. He’s got to be buried soon. I can’t let him lay and rot in the toolshed.”
Her own eyes stung with tears again. “Oh, Josh, how terrible it must have been for you. Of course. I’ll see if I can get someone to go out there. I’ll tell them you’ve gone looking for Luke yourself.” She walked up to him and squeezed his arm. “God be with you, Josh. You’re doing the right thing. God will help you find Luke and Rachael, I just know it. You just be sure to get some help first. Don’t go after them alone, Josh.”
“It might take too much time to get help.”
“You’ve got no choice, son. You can’t do it alone.”
His eyes teared more. “Seems pretty hopeless any way you look at it. I’ve lost everything, Lacy, everything—even Luke and Rachael, I expect.” He swallowed, a tear slipping down his cheek. “I’ll go out and water my horse,” he told her, quickly leaving.
Lacy watched after him, amazed at how things could so drastically change in just a couple of days. Lives had been torn apart, and it was not going to be easy putting them back together. She was just glad Joe and Emma Rivers were not alive to know what had happened. She carried her cup to the wash pan, looking out a window and wondering what had happened to Brand Selby. He would be back, that was sure. And if Josh couldn’t find Rachael, Brand Selby would!
Joshua dismounted, muttering with pain when he did so. He felt lightheaded and knew he had better rest if he expected to keep up his search. Loss of blood still left him terribly weak. He took his canteen from his gear and swallowed some water, then replaced the canteen and led his horse to a hitching post, which was about all that was left of what appeared to have been a small cabin and some outbuildings. Everything had been burned and still smoldered. There was no doubt this had happened only hours before, which told Joshua this must be Brand Selby’s place. Dead horses lay strewn everywhere, and as he searched around he found the burned carcass of a horse lying among the ashes of what was probably a barn or horse shed. The animal had died in the fire.
Joshua shook his head at the smell and the ruin. It reminded him of what had happened to his own place, and he felt nauseated at the memory of poor Matthew. As he looked around, the reality of the damage that prejudice and hatred could bring began to sink in further. He knew with a somewhat guilty conscience what his father would think of his being involved in this kind of reprisal against a man who had not even had a chance to speak in his own defense.
A light breeze stirred sand and ashes, sending a puff of debris into a little whirlwind over the remains of the cabin. Crows flew overhead, squawking and circling, and Joshua looked ar
ound at a lonely land, realizing that no matter how any of this turned out, he would have to leave Texas. He had nothing left here now, and he might even be completely alone. To think he could find Rachael and Luke alive was probably hoping for too much.
He searched through the ruins of the cabin and barn, terrified he would find the charred remains of a woman’s body. But he found nothing. He had searched the land all the way here, hoping maybe he would find Rachael just lying hurt somewhere, but again he had found nothing.
He walked to a rise at the north end of the sight of the ruins and gazed out at the long, rising plateau far off in the distance. It was then he thought he spotted a lone rider coming his way. He watched for several seconds while the man kept coming. From this distance Joshua could see only that it was a big man, and the way the sun shone on the horse it appeared to be gray and white spotted. Selby? Lacy said he would come back, but Joshua could not believe it. The man’s neck was a sure bet for a noose.
Joshua turned and limped back to his horse, too sore to actually run. He took his rifle from its boot and cocked it, deciding to face Brand Selby down then and there. He would know the truth, one way or another. Seeing the man riding back led him to think maybe Lacy had been right about Selby after all. The man was risking his very life returning like this.
He moved to lie down behind some of the smoking debris and waited. After what seemed like hours he realized Selby might just have seen him standing on the ridge and had decided not to come in. He winced with pain as he got up again, walking cautiously toward the ridge. He climbed it, then hesitated when a large figure loomed from the other side of it. Brand Selby stood there holding a rifle on him.
“Looking for somebody, Josh?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“You’re awful damn quiet, Selby,” Joshua said, facing the man squarely. “I never even heard your horse.”
“I’m part Indian, remember?” Brand smiled, but it was a vicious smile, not a friendly one. “Drop your rifle, Josh. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to. I’m aiming to get some explanations for last night. Were you with the men who came out here and burned my place?”
Joshua tossed his rifle aside. “No. And I didn’t come here to kill you, Brand. I just came this way from Lacy’s to see if I could find Rachael, that’s all.”
Brand frowned, feeling as though someone was letting the blood out of him. “What do you mean? What’s happened to Rachael?”
Joshua felt his heart quicken. “You don’t know then? She’s not with you?”
“The last I saw of Rachael, I left her off in Austin Wednesday night, after we got back from your place. What the hell is going on? Why did men come for me last night?”
Joshua swallowed. Today, with so much hatred in his green eyes, Brand Selby looked much more Indian than white.
“It’s partly my fault what happened here,” he answered honestly. “My place was raided by Comanche. They burned everything, stole my stock and made off with Luke. And they…they killed Matthew…chopped him up like firewood.” His voice choked and he swallowed again before continuing. “I figured you had something to do with it because of the things I said to you, because I got in the way of you marrying Rachael. I rode to Austin for help.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I went to where they were having the dance and accused you of setting the raid.”
Brand just stared at him, gripping his rifle angrily. “Rachael was there? You told everyone about me and Rachael—in front of the whole town?”
Joshua swallowed again. “I did. I think maybe now I was wrong, but I’m still not completely convinced I was.”
Brand closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then stepped a little closer, speaking through gritted teeth. “Do you know what you’ve done!”
“I’m sorry about your place, Brand—”
“It’s not this place!” Brand shouted. “It’s Rachael! Jason Brown knows about me and Rachael! Damn it, Josh, don’t you understand the kind of man he is? Is she gone? Is Rachael missing?”
Joshua nodded slowly. “Lacy says she rode out last night to warn you. Her horse came back a couple of hours later with all her supplies still on it.”
Brand groaned, throwing his rifle aside and stepping closer. “I ought to kill you with my bare hands!” Brand growled, grabbing Joshua’s shirt.
Joshua cried out with pain and broke into a sweat. “It…wouldn’t be hard,” he answered. “I’m not in much shape to fight you.”
Brand let go of him. He had been so upset at the sight of his ruined buildings and dead stock that he had not truly taken a good look at Joshua. Now he noticed the bruises and scrapes on the young man’s face. Joshua bent over slightly and grasped his side when Brand let go of him. “You are wounded?” Brand asked.
“The raid,” Josh answered.
Brand reminded himself what Joshua had been through, realizing that the young man had faced him squarely with the truth. And in spite of his wounds he had come looking for Rachael.
“Come and sit down,” he told the young man, taking his arm. Josh followed Brand to a tall pine tree, where he eased himself down onto a soft bed of pine needles. “Where are you hurt?” Brand asked him.
Joshua smiled nervously. “Everywhere. You name it. I took an arrow in my rib—cracked it. It knocked me from my horse and my foot caught in a stirrup—dragged me quite a ways. I’ve got scrapes and bruises every place you can name. When my foot came loose I was thrown into a washout by the toolshed. I guess the raiders figured me for dead. They never came back and checked. I saw them killing poor Matt, but I couldn’t get up and do anything about it. Then they burned everything—stole my stock and rode off with Luke.”
He leaned back against the trunk of the tree, holding his ribs. “When I got to Austin, I found out there had been some other raids. Jason Brown had already been blaming you for them, said you only came to Austin to scout for your Comanche friends. I reckon I sealed the lid on your guilt when I came in accusing you of having my place raided.” He met Brand’s eyes. “But I guess if you were really guilty, you would have kept on riding. You wouldn’t have come back.”
Brand went back and picked up his rifle, taking a look around. Joshua watched, thinking that Brand looked like some kind of cunning wild animal, listening and watching for its enemies. He seemed to actually be smelling the wind. When he seemed satisfied that no one else was about he came back to Joshua’s side, carrying his rifle. He stood near Joshua, looking down at him.
“I came back for Rachael. Now you tell me she is gone. Jason Brown found out about us. I don’t doubt he had one of his men watch for Rachael, knowing she might try to warn me men were coming for me. My guess is Comancheros have Rachael—Comancheros who work with Jason Brown.”
Joshua closed his eyes. “I can’t believe that, Brand.”
“Believe it.” Brand gripped his rifle, looking around again, raging inside. Rachael! God only knew what Jason would do to her! “We have to go after her.”
Joshua frowned. “Just the two of us?”
Brand kept watching the horizon. “I could do it alone,” he sneered.
Joshua watched him, the look on Brand Selby’s face giving him a chill in spite of the already hot day. “Where do we look?” he asked Brand.
“I spent years as a scout. I know every gully, every canyon, every tree from here to Indian Territory.” He moved angry green eyes to Joshua. “If Jason has Comancheros raiding locally, there is only one really good hiding place for them around here, and that’s Hell’s Canyon. Where is Jason now?”
“He rode out this morning…him and his men…to look you up and kill you.”
Brand closed his eyes, his head aching at the thought of what might have happened to Rachael. “My bet is he’ll head for the Comancheros first—where someone is probably holding Rachael for him.” He turned away. “My God,” he muttered.
“Is it really all true—the things you and Rachael told me about Jason?”
Brand breathed deeply
to stay in control. “They are true,” he answered, agony in his voice.
Joshua sat up straighter. “I’m a good shot, Brand. I’ll help all I can.”
Their eyes held and Brand nodded. “I have two young Comanche boys who helped me around the ranch. Some of my horses were saved last night because Standing Horse and Gray Bear were camped far out in the hills with them, grazing them on better grass. They will help us find Rachael and Luke.”
“What about your horses?”
Brand looked around at his ruined buildings and the dead stock. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I can always ride out and round them up at a later time. The important thing now is to find where the Comancheros are camped and get Rachael and Luke out of there.”
“How can you be so sure it’s Comancheros?”
“Because the raids were too convenient. And Jason Brown was too quick to blame me.” His eyes blazed as he knelt down beside Joshua. “This is my chance to prove Jason is mixed up with them. Hell’s Canyon is less than a day’s ride from here.”
“But the men who attacked my place—they looked and sounded like Indians. They shot arrows and—” He stopped, reaching into his pocket. He handed over an arrowhead, a stub of broken shaft attached to it. “Here. I kept the arrowhead the doc took out of me.”
Brand took the arrowhead from him and studied it, then grinned in a sneer. “This is no Comanche arrow!” He met Joshua’s eyes. “If you had been hit with a Comanche arrow, you would not be sitting here now. Comanche arrows have barbs in them that make it very hard to get them out. They dip them in horse dung to make them dirty so that even if you survive being hit, a man usually dies from infection. And look at the shaft. It is wood. We make our arrows from bone, so that it is almost impossible to break the shaft or even chop it off.” He tossed the arrowhead aside. “It was white men who did this, Joshua, not Comanche. I spoke with the Comanche who ride these parts myself, and they would not break their promise to me not to bother the Double ‘R.’ Even old Rotten Mouth, one that I do not get along with, would not break a promise. If you would have realized what was really happening, you would have come to me, not to Jason. He is behind this. I would bet my life on it.”
The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition) Page 69
