Carol Finch

by The Ranger's Woman

  Penny raised her brows in surprise. “This Callahan character? The Ranger looking for the bandits’ stronghold? He’s the one?”

  Piper fidgeted beneath her sister’s probing stare. “Yes, we sort of made a bargain.”

  Penny’s gaze narrowed warily. “Sort of? What does that mean exactly?”

  Piper inhaled a deep breath then said, “He agreed to marry me for protection against Papa’s inevitable attempt to drag me home.”

  Penny’s astounded gaze dropped to the plain silver band on Piper’s finger. “You married the Ranger you had only just met?” she croaked.

  Given Penny’s shocked reaction Piper could only imagine Roarke’s response. No doubt, he would erupt like a volcano.

  “It is a marriage of convenience that provides me with a legal document,” she explained. “Plus, spending days on end together in the wilderness is more intense than your courtship with Matt. I observed the best and worst of Quinn’s moods. I was also impressed by his skills and learned a great deal about survival from him. How long did it take you to gain that kind of insight about Matt?”

  Penny chortled at the challenging question. “Okay, Pi, you’ve made your point. We did face a period of adjustment after our wedding. But really, a convenient marriage? I thought that was exactly what Papa had planned for you with that dandy named Foster.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, at least you didn’t fall in love with Callahan. That would have been a disastrous complication.”

  When Piper stared straight ahead, refusing to meet her gaze, Penny frowned suspiciously. “Please tell me that you don’t have romantic feelings—”

  Piper never had the chance to reply. A volley of bullets erupted from out of nowhere and she sprawled over her horse as Quinn had taught her to do. Penny had the good sense to do the same. The soldiers encircled them as gunfire rained down from three different directions. Piper muttered in dismay when she saw the band of desperadoes, a few of whom she recognized from the stage holdup, pour down from the tumble of rocky hills.

  When one of the soldiers grabbed his shoulder then toppled from his horse, Piper dismounted to grab the pistol he thrust at her.

  “Head to the fort as fast as you can!” he said with a pained grimace. “We’ll try to provide cover.”

  To Piper’s way of thinking there was no holding off these banditos. The hapless patrol was woefully outnumbered and surrounded. Clutching the reins to her jittery mount, she pulled herself back into the saddle then fired the weapon wildly.

  She wasn’t sure who was more surprised when the discharging bullet caught one of her attackers in the thigh. But it gave Piper time to dig in her heels and thunder down the road, with Penny matching the swift pace she set.

  Piper cursed in frustration when ten scraggly outlaws appeared to block her escape route. Ten loaded pistols were aimed at her chest and she had only one firearm aimed at the vicious-looking group of banditos who held her and her sister at gunpoint. She growled under her breath when she recognized the greasy-haired scoundrel who had tried to attack her at the hotel the previous afternoon.

  “So we meet again, bitch,” Roy Morrell snarled hatefully. “Wanna guess how our next encounter turns out?”

  Despite the lopsided odds, Piper kept her weapon trained on her nemesis. She glanced at the outlaw beside him—the one she had nicknamed Silver Spurs during the stage robbery. The family resemblance between these two men was striking. Brothers, she guessed. Same greasy hair and beady black eyes. Same beaked nose and nonexistent chin.

  “I’ve heard about you,” Silver Spurs said. “Roy had nothing good to say, of course.”

  “We’ve met before,” Piper surprised him by saying. “Obviously you have forgotten the old widow from the stage holdup.”

  Silver Spurs’s bushy brows shot up. “Should’ve known. Same smart mouth.” He glanced at his brother. “I’ll be next in line after you take your turn with her, Roy.”

  Piper refused to react to the intimidating threat. Neither did she drop the pistol when ordered to do so. She knew she couldn’t shoot her way out of here, but innate defiance wouldn’t allow her to meekly submit.

  “Sam, take her pistol. If she so much as blinks I’ll blow her out of the saddle.”

  Piper waited until Sam was directly in front of her before she gouged her heels into her mount’s flanks. The two horses collided. Her forward momentum caused Sam’s horse to rear up. Then Piper headed directly for Roy.

  Penny was right behind her, plowing into the other horses, causing them to bolt skittishly away.

  Piper and Penny might have had a sporting chance, too, if one of the nearby riders hadn’t lunged sideways to club her in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. Behind her, she heard Penny’s outraged shriek, but there was nothing Piper could do to help her sister. The blow to her head caused her to wilt forward in the saddle. Piper battled valiantly to remain conscious while Penny’s railing voice sentenced every last desperado to the farthest reaches of hell.

  Piper tried to upright herself when Sam jerked the pistol from her fingertips. But her body slumped again and she blacked out, serenaded by her sister’s colorful curses.

  Her last thought was that Roarke would suffer apoplexy if he could hear Penny swearing like a soldier.

  After lunch, Quinn was beginning to feel human again. He had met with the reinforcements from Van Horn twice, then returned to the jail with Commander Butler on his heels.

  He had heard firsthand from one of the Mexicans that there was indeed a plot to lure the Rangers into a deathtrap—to retaliate against the death of the ringleaders’ younger brother. Roy Morrell was the rascal Quinn had tangled with in Piper’s hotel room. According to the information Quinn gleaned, Roy and his brother, Sam, had blamed the Rangers for Charley’s cold-blooded murder.

  “Never heard such a twisted version of that showdown at Wolf Creek,” Butler said as he came to stand on the boardwalk beside Quinn. “Hell, I was there last year. Same as you were. Horse and cattle thieves, every last one of them. We had the branded animals as evidence. If memory serves that gang of outlaws fired on us first. That young outlaw fell off his stolen horse with his pistol still smoking in his hand.”

  “My recollection exactly. One of the bandits winged Tom Pendleton and he has the scar to prove it. Of course, you can’t expect a gang of liars, murderers and thieves to get their story straight. Haven’t met one of them yet who didn’t crow about a case of mistaken identity and swear on a stack of Bibles that he was completely innocent.”

  Butler snickered. “That is a fact, Cal. I—”

  His voice trailed off when he noticed two men from the army patrol riding into town. He jerked upright, then darted toward them.

  An uneasy sensation skittered down Quinn’s spine as he followed in the commander’s wake. “What’s wrong?”

  “These men escorted Piper and her sister to the fort. Damn it, where is the rest of the group!”

  Quinn forgot to breathe as he surged past Butler to reach the soldiers who had been tied to their saddles. His heart plummeted to his belly when he noticed the padded black gown Piper had worn while charading as Widow Agatha. The garment was draped over one of the horses.

  Fury blazed through Quinn’s veins and curses exploded from his lips. He had sworn all manner of vengeance after these bandits killed Taylor Briggs. Quinn promised even more wrath now because what he had felt for his friend didn’t compare to the intensity of emotions that riddled him now.

  Knowing how daring and defiant Piper could be, Quinn cringed at the prospect of her response to being captured.

  He didn’t even have to ask to know that Piper and Penelope had been adducted as bait for the trap. The grim expression on the soldiers’ faces told the tale.

  “Cap’n Duncan will have our heads,” the injured corporal muttered. “His wife is with child and the cap’n didn’t want her to make this trip in the first place. But she’s a determined lady and wouldn’t be refused her request.”

  I
f Quinn hadn’t been so worried, he might have smiled at the comment. He had the unmistakable feeling that Penelope was as headstrong as Piper.

  “I swore that daredevil sister of Miz Duncan’s was gonna get herself killed when the bandits surrounded her,” the dark-haired sergeant spoke up. “She charged directly toward the ones named Sam and Roy. She might have pulled off the unexpected attack if one of those hombres hadn’t knocked her over the head with his rifle.”

  Quinn winced. He was almost relieved that he hadn’t witnessed Piper’s reckless daring. Damn it, she had taken a few lessons in survival and now she thought she was invincible.

  “Where are the women now?” Butler demanded.

  “The bandits said they’d be waiting at Phantom Springs with their hostages,” the corporal replied.

  Quinn’s jaw clenched and he went perfectly still.

  “You know the place, Cal?” Butler asked grimly.

  “Exceptionally well,” he muttered.

  It was the place where he and his father had built their ranch house and watched it burn to the ground the day the Kiowas swooped down on them. It was the place where his life had changed forever and his hated enemies had become his adopted people. He had avoided that lush oasis in the valley for years. He had refused to face the long but never forgotten memories that had turned a terrified child of twelve into a bitter, mistrusting cynic.

  “Perfect death trap, I presume,” Butler grumbled. “Hell and damnation. Those bastards found a way to outsmart us. They hold the upper hand now and they know it.”

  Quinn tried to think past the upheaval boiling inside him. If Piper died on the very site that had once been his family’s ranch he would swear his life had been doubly cursed.

  “Cal?” Butler prompted.

  Quinn shook himself loose from the paralyzing emotions that haunted him. Think, damn it, he ordered himself. It took a moment to get his mind back on track.

  He glanced up at the two soldiers. “How long will it take to ride to the fort and retrieve every spare mount you have?”

  The sergeant frowned, bemused. “You want army horses?” When Quinn nodded grimly, he said, “Almost two hours down and two back. We’ll be lucky if we can have the herd here by dusk.”

  Quinn smiled faintly. “Perfect. Meet me at the mouth of Phantom Springs Canyon as soon as you can.”

  When Quinn cut the soldiers loose, they wheeled around and thundered off. He swore the next four hours were going to be the longest of his life. Every worst-case scenario of Piper’s captivity kept buzzing in his head. He had seen too many unfortunate victims during his service with the Rangers. The prospect of adding Piper’s name to the list of the departed made his blood run cold.

  “Swear to God,” Quinn muttered resolutely, “if those cutthroats leave even one mark on Piper I won’t rest until all of them are standing at the door to the jail. Or at the gate to the cemetery. Whichever. I promised Taylor Briggs vengeance and the same goes double for Piper and her sister.”

  “Would you mind filling me in on what you have in mind?” Butler requested. “What are you going to do with a herd of army horses?”

  “Old Comanche trick, and I need two Comanches to help me pull this off,” Quinn said before he wheeled around and stalked away.

  “I know from experience that Comanches have more than one trick,” Butler called after him. “Be more specific.”

  Quinn didn’t respond. His concern for Piper was eating him alive. The possibility that he might lose her forever was driving him half-crazy. He had every intention of giving her up for her own good, but he couldn’t imagine a world without Piper in it somewhere.

  Piper regained consciousness to find her hands secured to the pommel of the saddle and her feet lashed to the stirrups. Serenaded by the buzzing in her ears and the agonizing throb in the back of her skull she opened her eyes without changing position on the horse. She glanced discreetly at her sister, being careful not to alert the bandits to the fact that she was awake.

  Penny’s wrists and ankles were also tied to the saddle. The procession was moving along a narrow trail that led into a steep-walled canyon.

  Her mutinous gaze landed on Roy’s back and she cursed the bandit for allowing his revenge against her to spill over to Penny. She wasn’t sure she was going to escape from this nightmare alive, but she would be damned if Penny had to suffer also.

  Resting her cheek against the horse’s neck, she surveyed the rugged terrain. Considering the armed bandits that bookended her, she didn’t think she could thunder off and expect to get very far before being apprehended again. She asked herself what Quinn would do in this situation, but she didn’t have a clue. Plus, analytical thought was difficult when her senses were groggy from the splitting headache and nausea.

  “The whole lot of you must be suicidal,” Penny declared brazenly. “Whatever beef you have with the Rangers will only be half of your worries when my husband learns I have been taken captive.”

  Piper bit back a grin while she pretended to still be unconscious. Penny was in her usual form and she kowtowed to no one. She, of course, had learned the tactic after years of watching Roarke operate, just as Piper had.

  “Shut your mouth,” Roy snarled at Penny.

  “This stunt of yours will bring the wrath of the army down on your heads,” Penny prophesied, ignoring Roy’s terse demand. “You won’t be able to run far enough or fast enough to find refuge. My husband will do whatever it takes to hunt you down. On that you can depend.”

  “Just shut up!” Sam snarled. “Don’t know why you should concern that blond head of yours with events you won’t be around to watch unfold.”

  “That hardly matters,” Penny said boldly. “The point is that you and your brother will hang from the tallest tree in Texas or face a firing squad. I vote for both.”

  “You have a mouth as big as your sister’s,” Roy muttered. “Why don’t you give it a rest before we decide to rest it for you.” He gestured his greasy head toward Piper. “Far as I’m concerned, you can both ride slumped over the saddle. It’s a hell of a lot quieter and more pleasant for the rest of us.”

  Piper felt herself tense in anticipation as the procession dropped in single file to pass through a bottleneck ravine. This was her chance to escape. There was only one rider ahead of Penny, who was directly in front of Piper. Using the element of surprise, Piper might be able to jam the narrow passage long enough for her sister to plow against Roy and perhaps unseat him on her way by.

  Plus, there were enough scrub bushes and junipers lining the path to provide protection while Penny scrambled uphill to take cover behind the gigantic slabs of rock and oversize boulders.

  Waiting until her horse was halfway through the shadowy tunnel of stone, Piper bolted upright to claw at the reins and force her mount backward. The horse behind her slammed against a jutting rock. Whirling wildly the horse rammed into the one behind it. Hooves clattered on the path. Horses panicked when they found themselves jammed up in confined spaces. Bandits cursed as they collided with the jagged rocks in the tunnel and hurriedly tried to regain control of their frantic mounts before being unseated and trampled.

  Nudging her horse forward Piper rammed into Penny’s mount, sending it lunging into Roy’s horse. Yelping in surprise, Roy half turned in the saddle. Piper was pleased to note that Penny uplifted her elbow and caught the stubble-face cretin in the jaw on her way by. His head snapped back against the stone wall, then he dropped to the ground and lay there motionless.

  “Shoot the horses out from under them!” Sam roared.

  Piper gouged her horse, sending it into a gallop. She held her position to protect Penny’s back until the path widened so they could ride abreast.

  “We have to split up,” Piper called out. “I’ll lead the bandits west while you take cover on the hillside. But whatever you do, don’t risk injury.”

  Amid whistling bullets that scattered the pebbles beneath the horses’ hooves and zinged off the perpendicular wall of r
ock, Piper veered off the trail and headed straight into the lush valley.

  Penny scrabbled uphill and disappeared from sight, thank goodness.

  Whatever else happened Piper intended to provide a time-consuming distraction for her sister. For the first time in more than a week Piper was grateful to be an annoying inconvenience and the cause of a delay. She knew the Rangers were out there somewhere and she refused to become the bait that endangered their lives.

  Penny was right when she said these desperadoes were inviting a full-fledged war with the army, Piper thought as she raced headlong through the panoramic canyon. There would be revenge for kidnapping Penny, she assured herself. Matt wouldn’t rest until he had Penny back and made certain those responsible paid in full.

  Piper might become the sacrifice made to ensure justice was served, but these bandits would not escape unscathed. Quinn and Matt would see to it.

  Quinn didn’t love her, but he would avenge her. She thundered toward the stream that glowed like mercury in the sunlight. All that mattered now was leading the bandits on a wild-goose chase so Penny would survive and have the chance to raise her child.

  She glanced over her shoulder as she wrested her hands free from the leather strap. The bandits were closing in on her. There was no way out of this box canyon. The outlaws would overtake her and her luck was about to run out.

  Piper wished that she had found the courage to tell Quinn that she had fallen in love with him when she’d had the chance. Now it was probably too late.

  Chapter Fifteen

  When the overloaded coach finally reached Catoosa Gulch Roarke stepped down to work the kinks from his neck and shoulders. He elbowed his way through the congregation of men who were asking directions to the nearest saloon. He frowned disconcertedly at the backward community that offered none of the luxuries he was accustomed to. The only appealing feature was the town square where a small spring gurgled into a rock-rimmed pool then trickled southward.