by Emilia Loft
“No, not yet,” Gregory looked chagrined. “I expected him to be with you.”
“Let’s check now, before it’s completely dark.” John insisted.
They followed the path leading away from John’s cabin, checking for signs of Ian. John felt his worry mount. Ian would have sought him out. He was sure of it.
“Ian!” John framed his mouth with his hands and shouted, hearing his own voice echo back to him with no answer. “Ian!”
Halfway down the trail, John spotted a thatch of grass that had been smashed flat. He signaled Gregory and pointed it out. They stepped off the path and into the woods, following the flattened grass. John noted a few trees had bark hanging from their trunks, as though someone pulled at it.
When he spotted it, John sucked in his breath. “Look,” he said, pointing at a branch of one of the trees.
Tied to the branch was a blue neck cloth, one that Ian had been wearing earlier that evening.
Gregory reached up and untied it.
“Is it his?” Gregory asked.
“It is,” John said. “I’m sure of it.”
“What does it mean?”
John scanned the ground around them, noting the signs of a struggle. “I think it means Ian’s been taken. He must have found a way to leave the neck cloth behind as a sign.”
“The Morans?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” John asked. “They know we’re on to them. Ian was probably headed to my cabin when he stumbled on them. They probably thought it was their lucky day.”
“What do we do?”
“Let’s head back to the ranch. Mikael will want to know about this.”
John bade Gregory to go ahead of him while he jogged back to his cabin to saddle Azure. For good measure, he grabbed his rifle and his Colt. Then he urged Azure into a gallop as he headed for the ranch.
* * *
John hadn’t seen Mikael look so pale as he did when John entered the library. Gregory stood nearby, a grim look on his face.
“Mayor,” John nodded, unable to keep a touch of frost from his voice.
“We’ve received… a message.” Mikael began, holding up a creased piece of paper.” One of the Moran children showed up at the ranch. The staff didn’t realize who he was, so he simply gave them the note and left.”
John hurried to Mikael’s side. “What does it say?”
“Gone to Crow territory. $5,000 or your brother won’t make it back. Send the sheriff with the money.”
Mikael held out his hand, palm open, to reveal one raven lock of hair, ends uneven from where it had been sliced from Ian’s head.
John felt his stomach drop and he stumbled back a step. “D-do you have that kind of money?”
“I do,” Mikael said, his tone reserved and his expression giving away nothing. “Will you help me, Sheriff?”
“Of course,” John said, quickly. “I’ll do anything I need to.”
Mikael’s whole body seemed to sag in relief. He ran a shaking hand over his face and said, his voice now full of emotion, “I feared you might hold a grudge against me.”
“This isn’t about you. It’s about Ian.”
“Yes, yes… you’re right.” Mikael glanced out of the window, distracted by movement. “Ah, this should be the money.”
One of Mikael’s men entered, carrying a leather bag John assumed was filled with banknotes.
Mikael took the bag and dismissed his man. He held the bag out to John.
“Will you go, immediately?” Mikael’s voice held a note of pleading.
John nodded, taking the bag. “The dark will help me stay hidden. I’ll ride through the night until I find them. I promise, Mikael. I’ll bring him back.”
“Take Gregory with you.”
John looked at Gregory and then back at Mikael, shaking his head. “I appreciate the offer, but another body will only slow me down. Besides, the note said to send me.”
Mikael acquiesced and John went outside. Night had fully descended, but the moon above shone bright and John trusted Azure’s footing to keep him steady. He secured the bag to his saddle and mounted his horse. He gave one last tip of his hat to Mikael and Gregory before urging Azure into a fast trot towards town and the outskirts beyond.
* * *
The night brought about a hush over everything as John rode, pushing Azure as fast he dared without exhausting her before his journey ended. As he crossed into Crow, he skirted known areas where the Crow set up camp, preferring to avoid any confrontation if he could. Though the natives here weren’t hostile, he wanted to reach Ian as soon as he could.
John might have missed Sebastian Moran, if not for the flash of white teeth in the moonlight as he stepped out from a copse of trees. They’d hidden themselves against a steep mountain bordered by trees. Sebastian’s grin didn’t reach his flinty eyes as he appraised John.
“Sheriff,” Sebastian said, sucking at his teeth. “Mighty nice of you to get here so soon.”
John’s hand rested on the Colt at his hip. “Where’s Ian?”
“The Lofte boy? Oh, he’s back there, with my brother. Don’t you worry about him. You brought our money?”
“I did, but you won’t see any of it until I know Ian is safe.”
Sebastian blew out a puff of air. “That leaves us at a mighty impasse, don’t it?”
Moving slowly, John slid off of Azure, standing and facing Sebastian. He was taller than John by at least six inches, but John stared him down regardless. He pushed his coat aside to show off the gun at his waist.
“Oh, that’s a pretty piece you’ve got there.” Sebastian winked. “I’ve got one of those, myself.”
“No more games, Moran. No Ian, no money.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes, but after a few moments, he lifted two fingers and beckoned behind him. The sounds of a scuffle reached John’s ears and then Sebastian’s brother emerged from the trees, hauling a struggling Ian with him. Ian’s face had a long scratch on one cheek and a bruise bloomed on his chin. A ragged clump of hair stuck out from his scalp where they’d sliced a curl for the ransom note. His clothes were torn and dirty, but his eyes shone with defiance. When he spotted John, his mouth fell open slightly.
“J-John,” he whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“Hush up,” Sebastian’s brother poked sharply at Ian’s side.
“It’s going to be okay, Ian.” John said calmly. “Mikael sent me to bring you back.”
“Take him back into the trees, Jim.” Sebastian hissed. “Until we get the money.”
“Oh, no.” John held up a hand to stop Jim from dragging Ian away. “He stays in my sight until we finish this.”
John stared Sebastian down once more until Sebastian was the first to flinch away. He glanced back at Jim and gave a small shrug. “Keep him here, then.”
Turning back, he grinned again. “Now, Sheriff Jameson… the money?”
John turned, keeping his eyes on Jim and Sebastian. Without looking, he unfastened the bag he’d tied to Azure’s saddle. From his left, he heard the scuttle of gravel - the only warning of a third person. John whipped around, drawing his Colt and clipping Mary on the temple as she appeared from her hiding place. She had a gun drawn and a wicked smile on her face, until John knocked her back with his blow.
Chaos erupted, Sebastian and Jim both drawing guns on John. A cacophony of voices shouted over each other as John ordered them all to drop their weapons. John searched for - and found - Ian, nearly forgotten. He edged against the mountain, trying to get closer to John.
John held his hand up to silence the yelling. Mary struggled to her feet, glaring darkly at John and spitting on the dirt near his boots. “You gonna let him do that to me, Seb?”
“Shut up,” Sebastian snapped. “We had a plan. What the hell were you doing?”
“I was getting the money faster than you two oafs were,” Mary hissed. “And we could have had a horse at the same time.”
“Quiet, all of you!” John roared,
his gun still trained on Sebastian and Jim. “You’ll take my horse over my dead body. Now, are we going to finish this peacefully?”
Sebastian glared and kept his gun raised. “All I want is my fair share. Mikael owes me this.” “Last I heard, you stole from Mikael Lofte. He owes you nothing.” John growled.
From the corner of his eye, John saw Mary leap to action. She tried to knock John off his feet, but he deflected her. Her next movement was to grab for Sebastian’s gun, squeezing the trigger. The bullet went wide, ricocheting off a rock. Jim took this cue to start firing and John fired back in defense. For a moment, the air filled with gunsmoke and ricocheting bullets. When the fight was over, both Sebastian and Jim lay on the ground, dead. Mary let out a keening wail when she realized what had happened. She threw her body at Sebastian’s, scrabbling at his clothes and crying wordlessly. John’s hands shook as he holstered his gun. He patted himself down, making sure no bullets had clipped him in the fight. Next, he glanced to Azure and saw Ian had led the horse away during the gunfight. They both stood near some scrub brush, Ian’s eyes wide and Azure tossing her head and snorting.
“Okay?” John asked, gruffly.
Ian nodded and John relaxed. He turned back to Mary, still sobbing on her husband’s chest.
“This didn’t have to happen this way.” John said, quietly.
“You… you murderer!” Mary spat at him, her eyes hot with fury. “You killed him! You killed them both!”
“I defended myself.” John said, steadily. “Will you come back with me, peacefully?”
“You might as well kill me, too.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I ain’t coming with you any other way.”
“What about your children?” John asked. “Where are they? Who will care for them?”
Mary’s thin shoulder raised slightly as she stood. John noted one hand stayed hidden behind her back and he tensed.
“I sent them to stay with an aunt. They’ll be fine.”
“So what’s your plan then, Mrs. Moran? Seems like you have nowhere to go.”
Mary rubbed her nose against her sleeve and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “This place has done nothing but suck me dry. I’m fixing to start over, and I won’t let some plucky Sheriff stop me.”
She withdrew her hand, leveling Sebastian’s pistol at John once again. When John twitched towards her gun, she hissed wordlessly, stopping him.
“I’m walking out of here, Sheriff. And I’ll take that $5,000, if you please.”
John stiffened his spine, prepared to fight, but behind him, he heard Ian.
“Give it to her, John. Please. Don’t risk your life over this. My brother has more where that came from.”
“See? He’s the one with the brains. Hand it over.” Mary held out her free hand, never lowering the gun.
Giving in, John bent and picked up the bag, which had fallen on the ground during the fight. He held it out to Mary and she grabbed it from him in one lightning-quick move.
“Glad you have some sense in you, Sheriff.” Mary backed away slowly, the gun still trained on John. “I’ll ask you to not bother following me. I know ways of hiding myself and you’ll never find me.”
John’s eyes stayed focused on the pistol pointed at him until Mary melted into the trees and was gone, as if she’d never been there. John sagged, his heart pounding painfully in his chest. Behind him, he heard Ian rush to his side.
“Are you okay, John? You didn’t get hit?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” John laughed, grasping at Ian’s arms. “What about you? Did they hurt you? Are you all right?”
“Nothing more than a few scratches and bruises that will heal only too soon.” Ian gathered John into a tight embrace. “I was so frightened when the guns went off. I thought I’d lost you.”
John hugged Ian back, taking comfort in his solid form, living and breathing and thoroughly safe. “It’s all right now, we’re both all right.”
Pulling back, he holstered his Colt and clicked his tongue at Azure, who cantered cautiously towards them.
“I want you to ride back to the ranch. Tell Mikael what happened. Azure knows the way and it’s almost dawn. You’ll be safe.”
“You’re coming with me?” Ian furrowed his brow in confusion.
“I’ve got to track Mary. Bring her in.”
“Like hell you do!” Ian said, alarm in his voice. “Leave her to the wilderness, John!”
“That would be abandoning my post,” John insisted.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Then you aren’t going.” Ian’s chin set stubbornly and he reached out to take John’s hand. “Together. Or nothing.”
John glanced helplessly to the trees. Jim and Sebastian’s body lay motionless on the ground. Finally, John turned back, nodding. “All right. Back to the ranch. Together.”
“No, not back to the ranch.”
“What?”
Ian brushed away frustrated tears. “Take me back to your cabin, John. Let us have a few hours together, before you go tell Mikael what happened.”
“Ian,” John murmured. “We can’t. Someone needs to collect these bodies and my reports….”
“They can wait,” Ian pulled John to him, pressing his cheek against John’s, his lips brushing against John’s ears. “Please, tell me they can wait.”
Feeling desperation matching Ian’s build in his chest, John nodded. “Okay, it can wait. Let’s just go back. We can head to Mikael’s when the sun’s up.”
He helped Ian mount Azure and then followed, settling behind him. They set a steady pace, though one not as frenzied as John’s original journey. While they rode, they spoke softly to each other.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen that way,” Ian whispered. “My engagement, I mean. The way Mikael told you. I’m so sorry, John.”
“He told me… before.” John admitted. “I think he knows. About us. Or suspects. He obviously wants to protect you.”
“I don’t need his protection,” Ian said, vehemently. “I make up my own mind.”
“It’s dangerous for us, though.” John pointed out. “I think the townspeople know… about me. I think there are rumors. No one wants to look me in the eye or speak to me. I may be drummed out of town, Ian. You’re better off leading a normal life. Or at least pretending.”
“I will not live a lie!” Ian raised his voice. “And I won’t let them drive you away, John. Not when I’ve just found you.”
They stayed quiet for a moment before Ian spoke again, his voice steadier. “Molly is… she’s my best friend, John. And she knows the type of man I am. The marriage was never going to be anything but in name only. She… she’ll like you. I know she will.”
John absorbed this information in silence while Ian continued talking, his words falling as fast as a galloping horse.
“Mikael has no business telling you anything about me. He thinks he knows me, but he doesn’t know my heart. My heart is yours, John Jameson. Tonight, I thought I might die, never knowing the touch of your hands on my skin. My heart is yours, and I want to give my body to you, as well.”
John pressed his face against Ian’s back and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He’d not dared to hope for this eventuality and now, here it was, being offered to him willingly. Eagerly, in fact.
“Ian,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“But don’t you see? I want this. I want to go back to your cabin and I want to lay with you, as men and women do.”
“I might… I’m afraid I might hurt you.”
“I know you won’t.” John could hear the smile in Ian’s voice. “I know you are gentle and kind. And I know that, just as my heart is yours, your heart is mine.”
John felt joy wash over him as he heard the sincerity in Ian’s words. “My heart, my body, my soul… it’s all yours, Ian. I think I would have given it to you after our fi
rst meeting. I saw you and it was as if your soul spoke to mine. As though we were old friends, meeting again.”
“I felt the same.” Ian whispered.
They’d drawn up to the edge of the Crow lands. Instead of aiming for the ranch, John pointed Azure towards his cabin and urged her forward.
“We can show each other love,” John began. “Without lying with each other as men and women do. I think… for this first time, I think that would be better.”
Ian seemed to relax against him as he nodded. “Perhaps you’re right.”
* * *
They arrived at the cabin shortly after that. The sky lightened as dawn approached. John guided Azure to her stall and rubbed her down after he took off the saddle and stowed his rifle. He dumped a can of feed in her trough and as he stepped out of her stall, Ian came up behind him and wrapped his slim arms around John, burying his face in John’s shoulder and mouthing kisses along his neck.
John grinned and turned around, taking Ian’s face in his hands and pressing a kiss to his lips. His hands went to Ian’s shirt, fumbling at the buttons as he stripped it away. Ian, too, tugged at John’s shirt, even as he swallowed John’s kisses hungrily. John stood back, looking at Ian standing in front f him, shirtless.
Ian’s pale skin practically glowed. Wiry muscles corded his arms as he self-consciously shielded his chest. He glanced away, a blush suffusing his cheeks.
“No, don’t,” John said, softly, pulling at his arms. “Don’t cover yourself like that. You’re stunning, you know that? You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
Ian looked at him through his lashes and his blush deepened. John traced a finger down Ian’s arm, frowning at a bruise forming on his bicep.
“Did they hurt you?” He asked, repeating his question from earlier.
Ian shook his head. “Not badly. Just bruises.”
“I’m glad I killed them,” John spat. “If they’d done anything to you….”
He trailed off when Ian pressed closer, kissing him again. Ian trailed kisses along his jaw, sucking at John’s neck as his hands roamed over John’s chest. John’s cock ached, hard, straining against his trousers. His fingers went to his waistband as he fumbled at the fastenings. Ian’s hands covered his, nimble fingers deftly unbuttoning the trousers and pushing them over his hips, freeing John’s erection. Ian’s eyes grew wide as he took in John’s nude body. John chuckled softly.
