by Amy Sandas
“This here is Ranger,” Jane explained as she released the gray horse from where his reins had been looped over the porch railing. “He’s strong and sure-footed and knows his way through these mountains almost as well as Gabe.”
Eve eyed the height of the horse’s back with trepidation. Though he had been fitted with a solid western saddle that had stirrups, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get herself up there.
And then Gabriel was at her side. “I’ll help.”
Eve stiffened for just a second as she thought of his large hands on her body. But it wasn’t fear that coursed through her in a warm wave. She took a breath to steady the swirling inside her and reached for the saddle. His hands came around her waist, and he lifted her clear off the ground. “Swing a leg over,” he said.
As soon as she was seated astride in the saddle, he released her and turned toward his own horse. Jane handed her the reins as the horse adjusted his stance to accept her added weight. It was only then that she noticed the thick rope tying her horse to Gabriel’s.
She wasn’t surprised. Now that she had a mount, she would have a better chance at making it away on her own.
If she assured him that she had decided to take her chances in speaking with the leader of the outlaw gang, would he untie her? Did it even matter? She was a captive either way.
After some swift goodbyes, Gabriel turned his horse away from the ranch house, and Eve’s horse followed obediently behind. In front of them, the Rockies rose fierce and impenetrable. Eve had never seen or felt anything as imposing and intimidating as the mountainous landscape. And she was about to ride right into it.
Twelve
Locating a missing woman was not the kind of job he typically took on. Not even back in the days when he’d been more active in the hunting of various prey.
The fact that the woman he was chasing down was a fancy-stepping lady of Boston society should have made him more than reluctant to take the job.
But here he was.
It seemed he could be motivated by something other than revenge and bloodlust after all.
Considering the task was a bit outside his usual experience, he’d been forced to reach out to an associate for assistance. He hated it, preferring to work alone—or at least, that had always been his way in the past. But he figured it couldn’t hurt to call in a long-owed favor, especially since he was feeling an intense amount of pressure to locate the missing woman as quickly as possible.
As it was, his former professional acquaintance was able to narrow the search significantly. He’d determined that the woman had definitely left Boston, alone and apparently in a covert manner. There was an infinite number of places for a person to hide out in the more populated areas of the eastern United States, but it appeared the greatest likelihood was that she’d headed west.
This news was both good and bad.
The western territories would not be an easy place for a tenderfoot lady from the big city to hide.
But there was a helluva lot of ground to cover.
Thirteen
The day was far more arduous than Eve could have imagined. She hadn’t realized how much effort and discomfort she’d been spared by riding tandem with Gabriel the first couple days. Since she was unaccustomed to the western saddle or riding astride, soreness set in after only a few hours. Her general discomfort was compounded by the difficult terrain, which required a great deal of physical effort to maintain a proper seat while maneuvering along the occasionally treacherous trail. By the end of the day, her bottom was nearly numb, while the muscles of her back and limbs screamed in exhaustion.
At least there was plenty to see to keep her mind occupied. She never would have expected the mountains to be so beautiful. Alexandra had often waxed poetic about the years when she’d grown up in Montana, but Eve had always wondered if her cousin’s descriptions were exaggerated by her nostalgia. But the farther they went into the rugged rise of the Rockies, the more awed she became by their surroundings. She felt tiny in the midst of the sheer scale of what surrounded her. Towering peaks that appeared just up ahead remained far distant throughout the day, never seeming to get any closer. That sense of smallness was strangely comforting, but also rather disconcerting as it forced her to see herself in a way she’d never had the opportunity to do before.
There was no doubt about it. The world was far larger and bolder than she’d ever realized while ensconced within Boston’s elite society. Could she truly survive on her own—without family or friends for support?
When she’d left, her only goal had been to get as far away from Matthew as possible. The train she was on would have taken her to Sacramento, California. And from there, with the money she had saved, Eve had thought she might continue on to San Francisco or one of the other cities growing rapidly along the western coast. It didn’t matter where she settled exactly, as long as it was somewhere she could start anew as someone else and get lost in a crowd of strangers.
But now…
With her money lost, California seemed so far away. Her plan was completely derailed. She had no other choice than to see where her current path led.
Or rather…where Gabriel led.
That was another thing that had managed to keep her preoccupied throughout the day.
He rode ahead of her most of the time, picking his way along the trail, obviously making an effort to find the safest route through a landscape that often went straight up the rocky face of the mountain or came ridiculously close to the edge of a cliff.
As she was starting to expect of him, he never showed the slightest bit of impatience or frustration, though she had to be slowing him down. His steady forward focus only wavered when he sent swift, assessing glances in her direction.
Even when riding silently several horse lengths ahead of her, the man could not be ignored. His presence filled her vision…and far too often, her thoughts. She spent more time than she would have liked to admit wondering about her very odd and consistent reactions to him.
She finally decided to acknowledge to herself how acutely aware of him she was…in a physical sense, but also in a way that went much deeper.
It wasn’t just the way her gaze kept sweeping over the broad span of his shoulders, the straight fall of his black hair, or his thick muscled legs as they hugged his horse without need of a saddle. It was more than her admiration for how alert and attuned he was to every shift in the wind or the subtlest movement in the trees as they passed. He once brought their horses to a quiet halt, moments before a deer and her fawn crossed their path in the distance, as though he knew they were coming.
What affected her most was something that ran beneath all that.
It was his steady calm and quiet regard. It was the strength and assurance in his dark gaze. Though it made no sense, it was the way he made her feel safe and protected just by being near.
It unsettled her.
As the day continued toward evening and the scenery became more starkly beautiful and intimidating, the air became crisper and cooler. By the time the sun started to descend behind the rocky walls around them, she was huddled in her coat, tired and sore from the saddle and the effort it had taken to stay seated all day through the occasionally treacherous terrain while her thoughts careened wildly from the man riding in front of her to the past she had left behind and the freedom she desperately yearned for.
She barely noticed when Gabriel took them off the rugged trail they had been following to lead them up the side of an incline into a dense grouping of pine trees. Sharp branches brushed against her legs and arms, but her horse dutifully continued on behind the mustang. After a while, the path opened to a little clearing where they came to a slow stop.
Eve could hear the bubbling flow of water over a shallow rock bed, but she couldn’t see the source.
“We’ll camp here,” Gabe said as he swung easily from his mustang’s back.
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Eve felt his flickering glance before he turned away from her to attend his horse. Carefully sliding her feet out of the stirrups, she felt a twinge of pain in her knees from having maintained the unfamiliar position all day. There would be no easy way to dismount. All she could do was try not to embarrass herself by revealing her weakness.
Leaning forward over the saddle horn, which she clutched in both hands, she swung her leg over the horse and tried to lower herself to the ground. She hadn’t expected her arms and shoulders to be as weary as they were, and instead of a graceful descent, she dropped, landing hard in her borrowed boots. The jolt sent more pain through her knees, while her bruised bottom throbbed in protest and the skin across her back tightened painfully.
Forcing slow breaths through her nose, she rested her forehead against the smooth leather of the saddle. Her hands still tightly gripped the saddle horn. It was the only thing keeping her upright.
“What is it?” His voice came from directly behind her. It was a testament to her distress that she hadn’t sensed his approach. But now that she knew he was there, her body reacted with a burst of heat and awareness.
She squeezed her eyes closed, refusing to acknowledge him. She simply needed a few moments to reclaim her balance and poise.
He issued a low mutter of words she didn’t understand—though they sounded like something that was part growl, part apology—as he swept her off her feet to lift her high against his chest. Embarrassment at revealing her weakness burned beneath her skin. But the pain receded from her limbs, leaving only the discomfort of his arm pressed to her back.
She glanced at his face.
His broad features were set in a harsh expression with his heavy brows low over his gaze. He pressed his full lips together firmly in obvious irritation as he strode swiftly and powerfully away from the horses to set her down on a patch of grass.
Eve tensed in anticipation of a reprimand…or worse. Despite her pain and exhaustion, she sat stiff and proud, awaiting the consequences of his anger.
He crouched in front of her. His strength was evident in the muscles of his forearms as they braced atop his thighs and in his large hands, only inches from her. Her attention fell to those hands. His long, blunt-tipped fingers were deft and efficient in dressing a rabbit or starting a fire. His grip was strong enough to lift her easily off the ground with one hand.
He could do a great deal of damage if he curled his fist in anger.
A low sound rumbled in his throat, and it was all she could do not to flinch. His brows lowered over his gaze, and the muscles in his jaw bunched. “You have no need to fear me, Eve.”
She met his gaze with more courage than she felt. “You’re angry.”
“I am,” he admitted. “I failed to detect your discomfort. I should have allowed more rest today.” Something flickered across his face, something unreadable. “You thought I was angry with you?”
Eve returned his questioning stare. What could she say? Experience had taught her to be wary of a man’s displeasure, that frustration often led to fury, and to always anticipate retaliation.
She remained silent as his gaze slid past the barriers she’d long ago erected in a desperate attempt at self-preservation. He seemed to see right down into the heart of her fear, to know it was as much about doubting herself as about distrusting others.
He sighed, long and deep. The sound slid past her defenses, curling through her insides. “I would never hurt you. Not in anger or for any other reason,” he said darkly.
Eve sat in stunned silence as he stood and strode back to their mounts.
She had initially thought Gabriel’s stoic manner was reflective of a lack of emotion. Every moment in his company proved that that assumption was ridiculously far from the truth. His thoughts and feelings were certainly deeply concealed, but they were there—rich and complex. What she’d seen in him just now had been entirely unexpected.
Compassion. It was not something she was familiar with.
She had been cared for, protected, and guided by her family and a household of servants. She knew she was loved by Alexandra and Courtney, the two people in her life who knew her best.
But compassion was something else. It was kindness for the simple sake of it. Receiving the consideration from such an unexpected source left her unsure how to respond.
She tensed when Gabriel reappeared before her. She wasn’t sure if he’d moved that silently or if she had been that distracted by her thoughts. But one moment he was just there, and her breath caught on a stifled gasp.
Lowering himself in front of her, he offered something wrapped in brown paper. “Maddy packed some food.” His gaze dropped to the ground for a moment before he lifted it again to her face. “There’s also some salve. If you need—”
“No,” she blurted out quickly. She would not be able to manage applying the healing salve herself, and just the thought of baring her back to his gaze again—let alone his touch—sent waves of fire and ice through her. “There’s no need,” she asserted.
He studied her for a long moment, his eyes slightly narrowed. Then he gave a short nod.
Eve shifted her attention to the small paper-wrapped parcel, which revealed some cold chicken and a biscuit. Though she was ravenously hungry, she somehow resisted the urge to grab it with both hands and devour it immediately. She hadn’t quite forgotten the manners that had been drilled into her.
While she imagined sinking her teeth into the plump chicken breast, Gabriel remained crouched before her, balancing effortlessly on the balls of his feet, his knees spread wide.
She lifted her eyes to his in question.
“Do we need a rope tonight?” he asked.
Eve was surprised by the question. If she said no, would he really take her word for it? Now that she had a horse of her own and supplies in her bags, she was much more prepared to strike out on her own than she had been before.
But she still believed talking to the leader of the outlaw gang was her best option. Her only option, really. And that meant remaining in the company of this man, despite the odd way he made her feel.
“I will go with you to the valley.” She met his stare, trying to show more courage and conviction than she might have felt. “But I will not be ransomed,” she said.
Nothing changed in his expression, and he didn’t try to argue the point. Instead, he seemed to study her. His presence was calm, steady, and immovable. “Who hurt you?”
He asked the question in a low and private tone, as if he wished to keep the conversation just between them. As though he would not even share it with the wind or the trees or the horses that stood several paces away.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied, her voice as quiet as his.
As she said the words, they felt like a lie.
She wanted it to be true. She wanted the past she left behind to be unimportant. She had put her life, her person, her trust in a man who had betrayed and dishonored her. The wounds he’d inflicted upon her body would heal. They might leave scars, but the wounds on her soul bothered her more. No matter how far away she got from Matthew or how long she continued to run, she doubted she’d ever be able to heal the damage he’d done to her soul.
“Will this person come for you?”
The idea of Matthew finding her made her stomach twist with a specific kind of fear. A fear he had instilled in her minute by minute, day by day from the moment she became his. He had convinced her of his right to treat her as he saw fit. He had convinced her that she existed only as an extension of himself. He believed her to be his property, purchased and formed to suit his needs—and his needs alone.
There had been a time, not long ago, when she had believed a wife’s place was at her husband’s side. She’d believed that once such a commitment to honor and obey was made, nothing could tear it asunder.
Until she realized the man she’d m
arried had never honored the words he’d spoken that day in the church in front of hundreds of their family and friends. He’d broken every vow he’d uttered.
To save herself, she too had to forsake her marriage vows, and she felt not the slightest bit of remorse about it.
Would he come after her?
Yes. Most definitely.
She had done all she could to ensure he would not have a trail to follow, but Matthew was clever and well connected and utterly ruthless.
Though she provided no answer to Gabriel’s low-spoken question, he did not bother to repeat it. Instead, he made a short sound in his throat and rose to his feet. He seemed to have gleaned an answer despite her lack of response.
And he was not pleased by it.
Fourteen
A frigid chill swept up Eve’s spine. She curled deeper into the tight ball of warmth beneath the woolen blanket. She was lying on her side, facing the low-burning campfire with her knees drawn up close to her chest and her hands tucked between her legs.
But still, the chill of night pervaded her bones.
It felt as if she had slept for only a short while before she’d been awakened by cold pressing in around her. She couldn’t fight it off to fall back to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. Cold had invaded her body, making her muscles tense and tremble with an involuntary effort to produce some warmth. She shifted closer to the fire, and though she could feel its heat against her face and knees, the warmth did not go further and she continued to shiver.
As her teeth began to chatter, there was a soft sound of subtle movement across the fire. She stilled instantly.
In the hours she’d lain awake in the darkness, fighting off the cold, the man who made up the large shadowed form beyond the low flames had barely moved. All she had heard from him had been the slow, even rhythm of his breath.
But now he rose to his feet in a solid, graceful movement.
Eve closed her eyes, not wanting him to know she was awake. He made no noise, and she did not realize he had approached her until she felt a disturbance of the cold air against her back.
