by Rye Hart
Marianna couldn't believe it. Had Larsen really offered his ranch in exchange for her life?
"So you are trying to take Larsen's ranch?"
"My ranch," Marcus corrected. "I was all set to buy the place, when I was cheated by a con and lost my bid on the place. I was choked when a city slicker like Larsen Dover waltzes in and buys up the place for himself and his pretty little family."
"But you work for him! He trusted you!" she gasped.
"His biggest mistake was underestimating me," Marcus advanced forward. "Now get up, we are leaving." He grabbed Marianna's arm roughly and tugged her to her feet.
Marianna complied, but all the while her mind raced with the shocking revelation. She knew that there had always been something off about Marcus, but she hadn't realized it was so extreme. He had hated Larsen and was seeking to destroy him in order to take his ranch.
"Did you burn the barn down too?" she accused vehemently as he dragged her along the short tunnel to the other side.
"I would have been rid of Larsen had you not arrived and drawn his attention away on that night. Had he died, the ranch would have most likely been sold and I would have been able to buy it," he said angrily.
Marianna scoffed. "I thought you lost your income to a con?"
"I earned it all back over the years by skimming it off of the ranch's earnings. It wasn't thieving as I was the intended rightful owner." He shot Marianna a sinister look. "Let's just say it pays to be the manager," he laughed.
He continued to drag Marianna toward the narrow path that led back down to the ground. Marianna saw that there was a horse tied at the bottom waiting. The descent was a lot quicker than her original climb, even with her tied hands, as Marcus forced her to walk briskly. More than once, she feared that she would trip and fall off the side of the cliff, but luck was on her side.
That is, if she could call any of this luck. Life hadn't favored her much as of late. She hoped that Larsen would return and see that she was no longer there, but she couldn't guarantee it. He would have no idea that Marcus was the one behind the attempts on his life. And if Marcus had been against him this whole time, it was possible that some of Larsen's other employees were scheming against him as well. That thought lingered in her mind and sent a sickening feeling to the pit of her stomach. Larsen's sons were still on the ranch and could potentially be in danger. At least Marcus was away from them, but who knows what else he had planned? She hoped that Larsen wouldn't come looking for her, as it appeared that Marcus wanted to use her to trap him.
At the bottom of the cliff, Marcus attached a longer rope to Marianna's bound wrists and tied it to the horse. With a sickening feeling, she realized he was going to make her walk behind him to wherever they were going.
He climbed up on the horse and spurred the animal forward. "March," he commanded to Marianna as the pull of the rope lurched her forward.
Marianna took one last look up at the face of the cliff. She wasn't sure if she hoped to see Larsen, as she was afraid that if he knew where she was, he would risk his life again.
"Stay safe," she murmured into the wind.
Chapter Twelve
It was a painful walk. The sun beat down on Marianna and she was overwhelmed by the intensity of the Texas heat. She hadn't worn proper shoes for the amount of walking she had done in last twenty-four hours and her feet ached in their leather confines.
However, their journey wasn't long, as Marcus led her to a campsite populated by a small group of men that looked a lot like the group that had originally detained Larsen and her.
Marcus stopped the horse and dismounted, but left Marianna still tied. She swayed with exhaustion and her throat felt parched with dehydration.
"Look what I found boys," Marcus bragged as he approached the small campsite.
The men turned and looked at Marianna, eyeing her with malicious curiosity.
"Where is Larsen?" asked one of the men lazily.
Marcus swaggered closer toward the group. "He won't be bothering us anytime soon," he drawled.
"Finally did him through then?" another man joked as he took a swig from a tin flask.
Marcus sputtered. "Not yet," he said with a vengeful air. "But now that I know he is willing to give up the ranch for the girl, we finally have the leverage we need to see him ruined."
The first man nodded amusingly. "Well, how will he know that you have the girl?" he pointed out. The men appeared to be questioning the logic of Marcus's plan, poking holes where more thorough planning was required. "We failed the first time, because you didn't calculate that we would be taking the girl with us. And now you are changing the plan and saying we are going to use her as bait?"
"Don't think of it as a failed attempt," Marcus tried to smooth over the tension that had begun to accumulate in the small group. "Think of it as a new opportunity to destroy Larsen Dover!"
A third man chuckled at Marcus’s grand statement. "I never quite understood why you hated Larsen, he seems like a decent enough fellow."
All the men in the camp turned their eyes on Marcus, waiting to hear his response.
Marianna could sense that Marcus’s hold on his group was failing. It finally occurred to them that Marcus was driven by more than just financial gain, which was the only thing that motivated these men. Making it personal blinded him to his faults. And as the personal reward diminished, so did the investment of the men he was working with. Marianna hoped that if the men turned against him, she might be able to get out of this whole thing.
"Because he stole my ranch and I will do anything to get it back," he sputtered. His eyes blazed red and his face turned a frightening shade of purple.
The first man rubbed his jaw in thought. "I don't know," he said finally. "I'm not sure I want to have anything to do with your plan. It’s already gotten more complicated than it needed to be."
The other men nodded their agreement.
Marcus appeared to be toeing the edge of violence. "So you are just going to give up then?" he said in an eerily calm voice.
"Not exactly," the second man added. "We were all talking and we were thinking it would be best to put the plan on hold. At least until we can come up with something better than using some girl as blackmail to get the ranch."
"I was thinking of upping the stakes," Marcus said with a frightening gleam in his eyes. "I was going to make sure that Larsen knew that if he didn't sign over the ranch without question, that he would be responsible for the girl's life."
Marianna felt like she had been hit in the gut. Her life? It was clear that Marcus was so obsessed with taking the ranch away from Larsen, that he would injure anyone if they stood in the way, including her.
"I am going to send bits and pieces of her until he either hands the deed over, or there is nothing left," he said coolly.
Marianna went white. Marcus was talking about her life as if she was a sack of flour. Fear gripped her, but she did her best to remain calm. She hoped that the other men would be able to talk reason into Marcus before it was too late.
The first man interrupted the silence that had descended after Marcus's had revealed his gruesome plan. "I'm not a cold-blooded killer. I will kill an opponent in a fair fight, but not like this," he stood up. "I don't want anything to do with this anymore."
The other men rose up with the first man, voicing their agreement as they turned away and toward their horses.
"Sorry Marcus, the risk is too great for me," one of the men said as he swung up into his saddle.
"You are on your own Marcus, I ain’t killing a woman" the third man shrugged lightly.
Marcus exploded. "Alright! I will collect the reward and you will all be sorry. Cowards the lot of you!" he bellowed as they all turned their horses away and began to gallop off.
As the men rode away, they carried with them Marianna's last hope of being rescued. They knew what kind of monster Marcus was and yet they left her with him anyways. Her only hope of making it out alive was by persuading Marcus to let he
r go. She doubted that she would be able to reason with the deranged man.
At the moment, Marcus was focused on throwing expletives at the retreating backs of his ex-followers. But her terror quickly returned when Marcus turned his attention back on her, his eyes blazed with unchecked fury and vengeance.
"You," he spat viciously before advancing toward Marianna. He grabbed her roughly by her arm and shook her. "This is all because of you," he screamed at her.
Marianna tried to defend herself, but Marcus quickly over powered her. She was exhausted from the long walk and rough night, but she gave her resistance the last bit of strength she had. She pushed back at him with her tied hands and brought her foot around to kick him away.
However, her actions only seemed to incite him further. Marcus quickly jerked her to the ground.
Marianna refused to give up though. She kept flailing and kicking wildly until the last of her energy was spent, and then she kicked even harder. She refused to allow him to win.
When Marcus tried to hold her down with his body, she kneed him expertly in the groin. He groaned and loosened his hold on her just long enough for Marianna to use her bound fists to whack him in the nose.
"You little-"
Marianna broke off his words by jamming her elbow into his chest. She used the momentum to roll out of his grasp. She made an attempt to stand, but Marcus grabbed her skirt and pulled her back. She brought her leg behind her to kick him in the arm, dislodging his grasp in the process.
She moved to get away, but the rope that held her hands together was still attached to the horse. She turned back around and saw Marcus struggling to catch his breath. She knew this was her last chance. She ran to the side of the horse, hooked her bound wrists on the saddle and with strength she had not realized she still had, swung her body up onto the mare's back.
She moved her legs to kick the horse into gallop, but was stopped by a sudden sharp pain in her thigh. She cried out as she turned her gaze to her left and saw a knife sticking out of her leg where Marcus had thrown it. Blood quickly began to seep through her torn skirt.
Marcus rose from where he had been kneeling on the ground. "Thought you could get away?" he sneered. "No one gets away from Marcus Maine!"
The sound of a gun exploded in her ears and cut Marcus's words short. The man staggered for a moment, before clutching his right shoulder in distress; the fabric around his hand darkened with the telltale crimson stain. He had been shot. He staggered for another moment, before he collapsed from the shock.
Marianna too, slumped forward on the horses back. Her leg throbbed from where she had been stabbed, and her head felt dizzy from the loss of blood. Yet, through the haze that descended over her, she could hear a familiar voice.
"Marianna?" Larsen called out.
"Larsen?" she gasped as the vision of him, accompanied by a group of heavily armed riders, came into view.
Larsen was off his horse and at Marianna's side in an instant. A wave of relief washed over her has she allowed his strong arms to help her off the horse.
Larsen laid her down on the ground and bent to examine where she had been stabbed. He quickly tore a strip from his own shirt and made a makeshift tourniquet to stop the blood flow. "This is going to hurt," he warned her as he grasped the edges of the knife.
Marianna braced herself, but despite the warning, she still felt unprepared for the painful sensation of having a knife pulled out of her leg. Likewise, she definitely wasn't prepared for the shock when he pulled out a flask and doused the fresh wound with splashes of liquor. She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from crying out in pain.
In an instant, it was over. Larsen quickly used another strip of his shirt to bandage up the wound. "We need to get you home so I can attend to the wound properly. I don't want it to fester," he explained.
Marianna simply nodded, her eyes stinging with fresh tears of relief. She tried her best to hold back them back, but a single droplet managed to slide past her barriers and down her cheek.
Larsen noticed it and his expression softened. When he first arrived, he looked like a man seeking wild vengeance. But as soon as he saw the single silver tear slide down Marianna's dirty face, his features changed. He reached up and brushed away the wet trail down the side of her cheek. "I'm very sorry," he said with obvious pain in his voice.
"It is not your fault," Marianna whispered to him.
"I wish that were true," he said sorrowfully. His hand lingered on her cheek, while his eyes searched hers. "I will never let anything happen to you again," he promised.
Marianna reached up and placed her hand over his where it rested on her cheek. "I know," she said softly.
The Sheriff was the first to interrupt their moment. "Well Larsen, we have Mr. Maine in our custody. We should head back into town now." He glanced down at Marianna and her bandaged thigh. "This little lady will need to see a doctor," he added.
Larsen looked away and nodded toward the Sheriff. He reached down and lifted Marianna up in his arms. "Let's get you back home," he said softly.
Chapter Thirteen
Marianna was growing wary of being confined to bed. However, this time, she felt like she could finally rest with the knowledge that justice had prevailed.
Marcus Maine had been arrested and was due for a fair trial next time the Judge came to town. Marianna felt safe with the knowledge that Marcus was no longer free to terrorize the Dover Ranch.
While she was on bed rest recovering from the wound in her thigh, Marshal and Elijah and been especially attentive. Everyday they came to sit by her bed and make attempts to read to her from a small book of fables. She thought it was adorable how they would simply look at the illustrations and make up the story from there. The Tortoise and the Hare was her favorite, as every time they told the story, it had a new winner at the end depending on the boys' moods.
However, the one person who seemed to keep his distance, was the one that she longed to see the most.
Besides checking in on her to make sure she had everything she needed, Larsen seemed extra attentive when it came to the work on his ranch. Had Marianna not been bed ridden, she would have trudged outside and demanded to know why he was avoiding her. Instead, she was in bed recovering from the last time she had run after him and requested alone time.
But on the tenth day of her recovery, she was granted her wish to finally have a conversation with Larsen.
He had knocked lightly on her door early one morning. It had been Marianna's turn to read the boys a story, so as she recounted the more accurate version of an Aesop fable, Larsen had asked if he could come in.
At first, Larsen had simply settled into a chair at the foot of the bed. "May I listen as well?" he asked.
"Of course Daddy," the boys replied. They quickly bounded off the bed where they had been perched and moved toward their father. They both piled onto his lap and turned back to Marianna expectantly. "You may continue," Marshal said politely.
Larsen chuckled as Marianna continued with the story.
As she read, she smiled at the picture of Larsen and his two little sons. The boys adored their father, and Marianna couldn't help the heartache that set in at the sight of such affection. Larsen was both a good man and a good father. He had wanted her to come here because he didn't want his sons to go without a mother. He had wanted someone who would care for them as their own mother would. Marianna hoped that she lived up to Larsen's expectation and that he was happy that she had been the one to agree to come out west.
But Larsen had yet to bring up their potential marriage. This trial had been as much a test for her to see if she liked it, as it was for him and his family to see if she was a good fit. But after the incident with Marcus, Larsen hadn't brought up whether or not to proceed with the marriage. Larsen felt guilty at the course of events, and he didn’t think he had the right to expect Marianna’s hand in marriage. She knew in her heart that, despite all that had happened since her arrival, she had made the right choice in coming
to Texas. But she wasn't sure if Larsen thought the same anymore.
Marianna closed the book as she finished the last sentence of the story. "So, what did you think?" she asked Marshal and Elijah.
"It was good," said Marshal.
"Read us another one," exclaimed little Elijah.
Larsen chucked. "Now boys, I need you to go help James feed the hens."
"Oh no," groaned the boys in unison.
Larsen sent them a pointed look, but his eyes danced with amusement.
Both Marshal and Elijah got the hint.
"Come along Elijah," said the ever-bossy Marshal. He took his little brother's hand and guided him out of the room.
Once they left, Larsen got up and shut the door to afford both him and Marianna privacy. He sat back down in his seat and cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I think we need to talk about your situation here," he began.
Marianna smiled up at him. "I know, it has passed the month trial period and a decision needs to be made." She already knew what her answer was, but she was curious to hear what Larsen said.
Larsen ran his hands through his dark hair absently. "I am thinking that it might be best to send the boys away for school," he began.
Marianna froze. "For how long?" she asked nervously.
"The Cavanaughs have agreed to take Marshal and Elijah in so that they can attend a proper school. I didn't want to send them to boarding school, but hopefully as long as they are around family it won't be so bad. And that way, they can come back here during the summers."
Marianna looked up at him pleadingly. "I'm not going to try and dissuade you from your decision, but it will be so hard for the boys to be away from you."
"I know," Larsen admitted. "But it would be worse if something bad happened to them here. I want them to be safe."
Marianna nodded. She understood where he was coming from, but she didn't quite agree. She felt that being near their father, instead of the stuffy high society world the Cavanaughs lived in, would make them happier. But she wasn't their parent, so she had no say. "I can see you've made up your mind," she said softly.
