by Mary Burton
She held her apron corner to Annie’s temple. “I thought you were in jail in Butte.”
He looked surprised. “Nope. I guess they got the wrong fellow.”
“I don’t have the map, Frank.”
Frank grinned. “You never was one to beat around the bush. I always liked that about you.”
Ellie swallowed. “Nick Baron—the bounty hunter—has it. He’s gone to Butte to dig the gold up and see who is in the jail. He’ll be back any hour now.”
Frank laughed as he dismounted. “The gold is in Butte? Damn, it would be like Jade to hide it right under my nose.” His spurs jangled as he approached the front porch. “Well, I see no reason to rush off, seeing as that bounty hunter is fetching my gold.”
Ellie struggled to keep her voice even. “But he doesn’t know you are here.” She remembered their argument. “He might not come back.”
“Oh, I think he’ll be coming back. He’ll figure out that fellow in the jailhouse ain’t me and he’ll come running back to you.” Frank clapped his hands together. “In the meantime, I could use a good meal.” He sniffed the air. “Is that stew I smell?”
Annie struggled to sit up. “You won’t eat in my house, you—”
Ellie laid her hand on Annie’s mouth, silencing her. If Miss Adeline had taught her anything, it was how to handle difficult men. “It sure is,” she said, smiling. If Nick were coming back, she’d have to buy them as much time as she could. “Come on in and take a load off.”
The happiness and relief on Frank’s face were almost palpable. “And how is that baby girl of mine?” he said. “I bet she is growing like a weed.”
Ellie choked back her fear. “She sure is.” She helped Annie to her feet. She prayed she could stall Frank long enough to figure out how she was going to get herself out of this mess.
TWO HOURS LATER Frank sat at the kitchen table, his hand on his round, taut belly. “I swear, Ellie, you are still the best cook in the state. I’ll bet you’d give the girls back in Missouri a run for their money.”
Ellie stood by the stove, her hands clenched. Annie sat in a chair that Frank had tied her to. Her head bandaged, she was fully awake. She strained at the ropes at her wrist but had not succeeded in loosening them. Ellie had warned her to keep silent. Annie had, but her blue eyes burned with a warrior’s anger.
This last couple of hours had been the longest of Ellie’s life. Frank had wanted to see the baby, but Ellie had convinced him to let the girl sleep. He’d been hungry enough to agree.
But now that he’d eaten three bowls of stew and had his fill of wedding cake, he was ready to visit.
“Missouri?” Ellie said. She picked up his dirty plate and scraped the leftovers into a slop bucket.
He scratched his beard. “I must have told you about Missouri. Lord knows we spent enough time together at the Silver Slipper.”
He’d sat in the kitchen for hours staring at her, but he’d never spoken to her. “Tell me again. You know how I like to hear about it.”
He grinned. “There’s a farm near St. Louis that I’ve had my eye on since I was a boy. I figured we’d buy it and make it our home—you, me and the baby. What you say her name was?”
“Rose.”
He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t like that name. I’ve always been partial to Carol Sue. What do you think?”
Annie sucked in a sharp breath but she said nothing.
Ellie swallowed fear and anger. “It’s a fine name.”
“Well, from now on the baby’s gonna be called Carol Sue. Carol Sue Palmer. I like the sound of that.”
Ellie remembered the bruises on Jade’s arms and knew Monty could be cruel. She suspected Frank wasn’t much different. “Sounds good,” she told Frank.
Nick, please come soon!
Frank picked his teeth with his pinky nail. “I met a friend of yours on the road.”
Ellie froze. “You did?”
“The reverend. He told me you married the bounty hunter.”
She didn’t want to make Frank angry. But she’d not deny her marriage, either. “Yes.”
“I wasn’t happy about it. Lost my temper with the minister, as a matter of fact.”
Ellie glanced at Annie. The woman’s eyes reflected the worry and sorrow in her own heart. “But as I rode alone for a while, I cooled off. I figured this marriage problem of yours could be easily fixed. Once that bounty hunter shows up with the gold, I’ll kill him.”
It took everything in Ellie not to scream in panic.
He grinned. “Then we can live happily ever after.”
Rose woke up and started to cry.
NICK SPOTTED Annie’s stone house just before three o’clock in the afternoon. He was a good quarter of a mile away when he dismounted behind a stand of trees.
He’d made it to the coach stop in record time—four hours. He’d ridden his horse hard, as if Satan himself nipped at his heels. The mare was coated in a white lather and was breathing hard. She needed a rubdown but he didn’t have the time. He pulled the saddle off his horse and turned her loose.
He moved to the edge of the trees and studied the house and surrounding buildings. A new horse was in the corral. Gray with white spots, the horse ate hay greedily from the bin as if it hadn’t eaten in weeks. There was no sign of Ellie, Annie or Frank.
He wished like hell it was nighttime. He could use the darkness to his advantage. But sunset wouldn’t come for hours and he feared what Frank would do to the women in that time.
Removing his rifle from his saddle, he checked his ammunition and started toward the cabin.
As he moved closer, he heard Rose’s cry. Every muscle in his body tensed and it took everything in him not to rush the cabin.
“Enough’s enough,” Frank shouted from inside the cabin. “Shut that baby up!”
Nick sneaked up to the side window and pressed his body against the side of the house.
“I’m doing the best I can,” Ellie shouted. The fear in her voice sliced through his heart.
Nick peeked in the window. Ellie held Rose close while Frank stood over her, his hand on his gun. Annie sat tied to a chair, straining to break her ropes. Blood soaked a bandage on her head.
“Babies ain’t supposed to make such a ruckus,” Frank said.
“She’s not feeling well. She’s cutting teeth!” Ellie cried.
“It’s that tainted blood from her whore mother,” Frank said. “Jade never knew when to shut up, either.”
Ellie hugged the baby closer.
Frank looked ready to snap. “If she don’t stop, I’m liable to put a bullet in her.”
“No!” Ellie shouted. “You can’t do that!”
Frank’s eyes narrowed. “Now don’t you be telling me what I need to do. You’re my wife and I am the head of our household.”
Fear tightened Ellie’s face. “Please, Frank, this is no way to treat your little girl.”
For a moment his face softened, but Rose’s cries triggered fresh anger. “If she can’t be quiet, I’ll be teaching her a lesson.”
“She’s a baby!”
“Born to that bitch-whore Jade. We might have to go it without her, Ellie.”
“Please, Frank, I love her.”
“Your duty is to me. Now make that brat shut up or I’m killing it.”
Nick hurried to the front door. He glanced in. He could see Frank and Ellie’s shadows on the wall but he didn’t have a clear shot.
“Let me give the baby to Annie,” Ellie suggested. “We’ll go outside where it’s cool. You just need a moment’s peace and then you will be fine.”
Frank hesitated and then nodded.
“I’ll need to untie Annie so she can care for the baby.”
“No. Just lay the baby down on the floor in front of her. That brat can scream herself hoarse as long as I don’t have to listen to her.”
Nick pulled his gun and retreated to the side of the house once again.
Ellie and Frank moved outside. Frank slammed the
cabin door closed. The distant drone of Rose’s cries could still be heard.
Nick cocked his rifle, ready to fire, but Ellie stood between him and Frank.
Frank grabbed Ellie by the arm and pulled her against him. “Tell me you love me,” he said.
Ellie’s face was only inches from Frank’s. Her auburn braid snaked down her back, teasing the top of her narrow waist. “I can’t.”
He twisted her arm. “Why not!”
She cried out in pain. “I love Nick.”
Nick’s heart twisted.
“He’s the past,” Frank said. “I am the future. Tell me you love me!”
“I can’t!”
Frank’s face turned red with rage. He slapped Ellie. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground.
Nick didn’t hesitate. He fired. His bullet struck Frank in the chest, knocking him backward off the porch and into the dirt. He was dead.
Ellie screamed and scrambled away from Frank.
Nick went to her and cradled her in his arms. “Ellie, are you all right?”
She clung to him. “Nick! Thank God! I’m so sorry!”
“For what, darlin’?” The sadness in her voice shattered his heart.
She lifted her tear-streaked face up to his. “I was so hateful to you before you left. I love you.”
“Ellie, I know that.” He wiped a tear from her cheek with a gloved finger. “I’m the one who should be begging forgiveness. I love you so much and I never told you.”
Tears streamed down her face as the baby’s cries rushed out of the cabin.
He smiled. “Let’s go inside and get our daughter before she shatters Annie’s eardrums.”
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Mary Burton for her contribution to the MONTANA MAVERICKS series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8761-1
THE TRACKER
Copyright © 2005 by Harlequin Books S.A.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
