She got to her feet, then an idea hit her. As she stood, she stepped on her hat and ground her feet on it as hard as she could.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get some feeling in my legs,” she growled at him.
“Don’t take so long. I’m hungry and I want to eat and then get on with more important things. I don’t want to wait forever to sample what you’ve been giving Larson.”
She bit her lip to keep from retorting and started to step away. “Now look what you made me do,” she gasped. “I stepped on my hat and ruined it.”
He leaned over and picked up the smashed hat. “This silly looking thing isn’t much more than a rag.”
“It’s the only hat I have with me.”
“Well, you don’t expect me to watch a pretty woman like you wear a thing like this, do you?” He tossed the battered hat toward the fire. “It’ll help the fire get going.”
She walked to the fire and smiled to herself as soon as her back was turned to him. It had worked. He didn’t notice that most of the hat’s brim had been torn away. She picked up the pan he’d sat beside the fire. “If you expect me to cook bacon, you’re going to have to give me a knife to slice it.”
“You must think I’m a fool. I don’t care how much you’re beginning to like me, I don’t trust you with a knife. I’ll slice the bacon.” He pulled a wicked looking knife from his boot and hacked at the slab of bacon.
When he had the pan full, he handed it to her. “If you burn this, you go hungry.”
She glared at him and snatched the pan from his hand. A piece of bacon fell on the ground.
Luther sneered at her and picked it up. He dropped it back into the pan. “That was your piece, by the way.”
“You animal!” She slammed the pan down on the fire.
He grabbed her hair and jerked her backward. His bloodshot eyes bored into hers. “I’ll show you what kind of animal.” His mouth came down roughly on hers and he rammed his tongue into her mouth.
Fiona tasted tobacco, blood, and a foul taste. She wanted to throw up. She tried to jerk away, but he was too strong. No, she thought. This can’t be happening. I hate this man and I can’t let this awful man rape and brutalize me.
Abruptly, he let her go. “Now, my beautiful Fiona, that’s a sample of what we’re going to share after we eat and you get out of your wet clothes. I’m sure looking forward to it and from the feel of your sweet body, I bet you’ll like it, too.”
She whirled toward the fire without speaking, but he grabbed her again.
“I said I’m looking forward to our after supper play and I asked if you weren’t looking forward to it, too.”
She glared at him with all the hate she could bring into her eyes. “I would never look forward to a beast like you forcing himself on me.”
He threw back his head and laughed out loud. “So, you’re going to fight me? Well, that’s fine. Sometimes it’s better when a woman puts up a fight. Makes a man more determined to show her who the boss is.”
“You’re evil.”
He reached around her and grabbed her breast. He squeezed hard.
It hurt and Fiona let out a little scream.
“Make all the noise you want, ain’t nobody within ten miles of here.” He squeezed harder.
She managed to pull away, but she wouldn’t let him see the tears in her eyes.
Without saying anything else to her, Luther opened the saddle bag again and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “We’ll share what I leave of this later,” he said and dropped to the bed roll he spread on the ground. “You’ll be a lot more friendly with a few drinks in you.”
“I don’t drink.”
“Not until tonight, you didn’t. I have a feeling a lot of things are going to change between you and me after tonight, Miss Fiona Webb.” He took a swig of whiskey. “You make me happy tonight and I might decide to marry you when we get to the next town.”
“You have a wife, Luther Markin!”
“Not really. I’ve lived with old Jessie for some years, but we never married. Why, her oldest girl ain’t even mine.”
“Do the people in Kentucky know that?”
“Who the hell cares what the people in Kentucky know? There’s a lot of things I’ve hid from them.”
“Like where all your money comes from.”
He drank from the bottle and laughed again.
Fiona wondered if he might get drunk enough to pass out. She’d heard when men drank too much they weren’t able to stay awake. She would try to hold her temper and see if she could keep him talking.
“Why did you kidnap me?”
“I’ve been trying to get my hands on you ever since you left Kentucky. You know that.” He turned up the bottle. “Why were you so determined to get away from me?”
“I was trying to protect Joey.”
“Fiona, don’t you realize what a gold mind you have in that kid?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you know they’s men who’ll pay a good price for a pretty blond kid like him. I’d planned to work him a mite then see what I can get for him, but now I’ve changed my mind. As soon as I can trust you, we’ll go back for him and then head for California. They say San Francisco is the place where pretty little boys bring the best price. Them foreigners like ’em young and blond.” He grinned. “I bet they’d pay a pretty price for you, too, but I intend to keep you for myself. For a while anyway.”
Fiona was horrified. “You...you...”
“Don’t say it, woman. You’ll get used to the idea. When you see the money we get for that scrawny kid.”
“I’d never...”
“Oh yes, you will.”
“No!” she screamed. “I’ll never let you sell Joey.”
He laughed, turned up the bottle, and drank several swallows. “Is the bacon about done?”
Through her fear and revulsion, Fiona still realized Luther’s words were beginning to be a little slurred. “It’s done,” she muttered and looked at the pan. She wondered if it would be possible to throw the bacon and the hot pan in Luther’s face and get away. Deciding it’d be better to let him get drunk and pass out, she put the bacon on a tin plate and handed him the beans she’d set on the rocks around the fire to heat.
“Go ahead and get you some to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Better eat. You’re going to need your strength. I plan to give you a workout as soon as I finish eating.” He reached for her with a leer in his eyes.
She pulled away, thinking that if she ate, she might distract him. “Maybe I’ll eat a little.”
He didn’t answer and she put a few beans on her plate.
* * * *
“God Bless you, Fiona,” Clint said as he stopped to pick up another piece of the straw hat.
Though some pieces were wet and soggy from the rain and a few were almost buried in mud, there were still enough to mark the trail. Now that the storm had passed and the moon and stars had come out, they were easier to see. Clint still moved cautiously, but as quickly as he dared. He didn’t want to spook Markin and make him do anything to harm Fiona.
He forced his mind away from the fact that Markin could now be hurting Fiona. Again he thought of the burly man he’d met in the hotel dinning room back in Independence and of the smirk on his face when he’d encountered the farmer at their wagon. He wished he’d shot the bastard at the time. The man had frightened several people in the days they waited to pull out and he definitely had startled Rose when he tried to climb into the wagon. Nobody would have blamed him at all if he’d put a bullet in the scoundrel.
The trail abruptly turned. Clint frowned and reined his horse in.
“What’s wrong?” Herman asked.
“It looks like Markin is headed to that ridge a mile or so away.”
“What can be there?” Bruce asked.
“I’m not sure, but often these places are full of washes and caves. Try t
o be as quiet as you can. If he’s taken her into this area we want to surprise him.”
Herman and Bruce both nodded.
Clint didn’t say anything else as he turned his horse in the direction of the dropped pieces of straw. He only hoped the man was close enough to catch him before he could do anything to Fiona.
Then his heart lurched. But what if Markin had decided he was far enough away from the train? What if he decided he could throw Fiona on the ground and have his way with her? What if it was too late to stop him?
No! It couldn’t happen. He had to stop thinking this way.
As he climbed the incline with his friends following, Clint kneed his horse into a faster walk. He knew it was vital he catch up with the pair soon or it would be too late.
Chapter 28
“Why ain’t you drawing, Joey? I done got some good pictures of Chimney Rock,” Benny said.
“I wanted to check and see if Hope is all right.” Joey was standing beside Sarah as she fed a bottle to the baby.
“She’s fine, Joey. She’s eating good and she’s about to go to sleep.” Sarah smiled at him.
“Aunt Fiona puts her on her shoulder and pats her back. So did Aunt Rose.”
“I’m going to do that, too. I want her to drink a little more first.”
“Why do you call your ma Aunt Fiona? I thought she was your ma.” Benny looked puzzled.
Joey looked scared. As if he’d said something wrong. “She is my ma.”
“Then why don’t you call her ma?”
“’Cause I like to call her Aunt Fiona sometimes.” Joey moved back to the corner of the wagon where Benny sat with paper and pencil. “Let me have a paper to draw on.”
Benny handed him the paper and said, “If she’s your ma, I don’t see why—”
“Benny,” Sarah interrupted him. “Joey can call his ma anything he wants to. Now quit asking so many questions.”
“But, Ma...”
“You heard me.” Sarah put Hope on her shoulder and it wasn’t long until she let out a big burp.
Benny and Joey both giggled. “She can make a lot of noise for such a little kid,” Benny said.
“You should hear her sometimes when she’s mad or hungry. She can really yell.” Joey laughed again.
Sarah put the baby in the crate her father had taken from the Larson wagon and covered her with the soft blanket. Straightening up, she turned and said, “You boys play quietly now. You don’t want to wake Hope up. She might start letting out those yells you’re talking about, Joey.”
“She can do it, too.”
“I’m going to get a cup of coffee, but I’ll be right outside the wagon if you need anything.”
“We’re not babies, Ma.” Benny gave her an indignant look.
She smiled and climbed out over the tailgate.
Her father was sitting near the opening. “Have you heard anything?”
He shook his head. “I probably should have gone with them.”
“You know Clint wanted you to stay here to guard the children. Looks like you’re doing a good job.”
“I intend to sit here all night if I have to. Nobody’s going to get near this wagon.”
Mattie walked up and handed Herman a cup of coffee. She looked at Sarah. “The baby asleep?”
“Yes and the boys are busy drawing pictures.”
“Good. Maybe it’ll keep Joey’s mind off things.”
“He’s still concerned. He was watching closely to make sure I took care of Hope the way Rose and Fiona did.” She chuckled.
Mattie smiled. “The perfect big brother, wouldn’t you say?”
“Mama, Joey’s not her brother.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
Mattie cocked an eye at her. “Let’s go over to the fire and join Hannah. You look like you could use some coffee.” She turned back to her husband. “Yell, if you want anything, Rufus.”
“I’ll do that.”
* * * *
Sarah stared at her mama after Mattie finished telling her some of the things she’d learned when she was helping Rose give birth to Hope.
“Mama’s telling the truth, Sarah,” Hannah said. “I heard most of it, too.”
“So the man Rose’s daddy shot was really Hope’s father?”
“I’m afraid so, Rachel.”
“But why keep it a secret now, Mama? He and Rose are both dead.” Rachel was still confused.
“We’re going to keep it a secret because that’s the way Clint wants it to be. Rose told me he promised to give her baby his name and he’d help her raise it as his own. For Hope’s sake he doesn’t ever want her to know that he’s not her natural father.”
“But now that Rose is gone, do you think he’ll do it? Wouldn’t it be easier to send the baby to Rose’s mama and he wouldn’t have the responsibility of it?”
“I think maybe that’s what Rose thought might happen so she asked Fiona to take her baby if anything happened to her. Maybe she had a premonition.”
“And Fiona promised she’d raise the child if anything did happen to Rose,” Hannah added.
“I think Rose hoped if she didn’t make it Clint and Fiona would get married.” Mattie shook her head. She had a worried look on her face. “I thought they might, then this happened.”
“They’re going to find Fiona, Mama,” Hannah said.
Mattie nodded. “I hope they do before it’s not too late.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sarah turned her head and stared at her mama.
“According to what I’ve heard, Luther Markin is a wicked man. I don’t suppose he’s going to let Fiona keep her virtue intact very long.”
“Mama!”
“Don’t look so shocked, Hannah. His type would have no qualms about raping her as soon as he gets her away from here. Men like him don’t care what a woman is or what they need or want. All he wants to do is take his pleasure out on them, then he...”
“He what, Mama?” Sarah asked quietly.
“He’ll probably kill her.”
Hannah and Sarah both gasped.
“I’m praying it don’t come to that.” Mattie stood. “We better bed down. Zeke said we was heading out in the morning. Your Papa is going to hitch up the Larson wagon and one of you can drive it. As for tonight, he’s going to sleep in our wagon with the boys and the three of us are going to sleep in theirs.”
“What if Clint finds Fiona and brings her back?” Hannah poured out the remains of her coffee.
“Then we’ll move and let her have the wagon back. I’ll be one happy woman to see that sweet young lady come back here where she belongs.”
* * * *
The moon was almost full and Mac was having no trouble following the trail Fiona left. According to Zeke, he was only an hour or so behind Clint and the Fritzes. He figured he was probably gaining on them since he was tracking alone and moving at a pretty good clip. In case Markin heard them approach him, Mac knew he wanted to get close, but not catch up. It would be better if he could keep the advantage of surprise on his side.
Mac pondered what could be happening to Fiona Webb. He knew Luther Markin was a vicious and unscrupulous man. There was a hole in his side to prove that. A hole that was made from the bullet fired at his back. Mac had faced a lot of ruthless men in his day, but none of them had been coward enough to shoot him in the back. This was a man who would take no pity on a woman. It didn’t matter if she was innocent. In fact sometimes the innocence made them treat a woman rougher and more vicious.
He didn’t understand what made men like Luther Markin operate. A man who could take his pleasure at the expense of a woman’s pain was a man Mac couldn’t fathom. Sure he’d had his share of women. Some had been whores. Some had been plain women and at least one was a sweet innocent young woman. A woman who, on their wedding night, had given herself to him with love and trust in her eyes. And a year later had given him a beautiful little daughter, but sacrificed her own life in bringi
ng their child into the world.
A child who had grown into a beautiful young woman. A woman who was now married to a rancher down in Texas. A woman who had given him two beautiful grandchildren. Grandchildren he hadn’t seen in a couple of years.
But this situation had changed everything. As soon as this train was safely in Oregon, Mac was heading to Texas to spend some time with that daughter and those grandchildren. He might even take his son-in-law up on the offer to become his partner on the small ranch he owned. At forty-seven, it was about time he settled down. Then he wouldn’t have to contend with the losses and hurts of the people who joined these trains to find their dreams in distant places. Places which were not a lot different from those they left behind.
Mac twisted in the saddle as the trail suddenly turned to the right. He pulled on the reins and turned his horse toward the ridge. As he started to climb, he paused. “I bet he has her in one of those caves I saw when I scouted this area the other day.”
After a few minutes consideration, Mac turned slightly to the east. He knew the best way to approach this problem was to come in at an angle nobody would suspect.
Chapter 29
Luther sat his plate down near the fire with a thud. “That’s all I can eat. You finished?”
`“No...I...”
He grabbed her plate and tossed it near his. “Looks like you’re done to me.” He grasped her arm and pulled her up. “Now let’s see what you look like without all them clothes on.”
“No!”
“Ah, you don’t want to show old Luther your pretty little body, do you?”
“No!”
He laughed and grabbed the whiskey bottle he’d left on the ground. He pressed it to her lips. “Have a snort. It’ll make you feel better about what’s going to happen to you.”
Fiona jerked as hard as she could and slapped at the bottle. It slipped from Luther’s hand and fell to the rocky cave floor and broke.
“Damn it, woman!” He slapped her across the face. “You’ve wasted a half bottle of my whiskey.”
Fiona fell backward and landed on the ground near the fire. Quickly she scrambled to her feet and started for the cave entrance.
Fiona's Journey Page 21
