“I got the feeling he’d come to ask me something.”
Clark laughed. “I swore I heard the trap door about to fall, but you played it smart.”
“Maybe we’re just guessing what he wanted. Maybe he just came to thank me for helping with the birthing.”
“Maybe,” Clark answered. “My guess is he didn’t know about McCord or he wouldn’t have even been hinting.”
She stopped walking and looked at the kid. “What about McCord?”
“He’s your man. All the enlisted men know it. I’m surprised the officers don’t.”
Anna had to ask. “How do they know it?” She couldn’t imagine McCord talking about their time together.
“McCord told us before he left. He said every one of us better keep an eye on his Anna or there’d be hell to pay when he got back.”
Anna started walking again, pulling the private along beside her. “I’m not his Anna and he’s not my man.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Clark said as he fell into step beside her. “He also said not to argue with you no matter what crazy thing you said.”
“Oh, he did,” Anna said, more to herself than the kid. She wanted to get home and think about what Clark had told her, then decide whether to kill McCord when he came back. A few kisses and touches did not define ownership, even if those kisses still filled her dreams at night and the memory of his touch still warmed her each time she thought of it.
When they stepped back into the infirmary, she noticed Clark’s rifle was missing beside the door, a moment before she saw two men standing in the shadows. Clark’s muscles beneath her hand tightened, and she prayed the kid wouldn’t go for his Colt. Maybe they should have locked the door before leaving, but they’d both felt safe inside the circle of the military.
“Evening,” one stranger said as he stepped forward, a rifle pointed at Clark’s chest. “We’ve come to ask you, lady, if you’d like to take a ride with us.” He smiled, showing rotting teeth in a face weeks past needing washing. “There’s a gambler who says he has a little game to finish with you. He says you ran out on him before all the cards were on the table.”
The stranger laughed as if pleased with his politeness, then glared at Clark. “I guess you’re coming too. If we kill you it’ll draw attention, and I’d like to ride out of here the same way I rode in. Unnoticed. A soldier riding along with us will make us look all the more legal.”
Anna panicked. “No. Tie him up and I’ll go with you without a sound.” She guessed they’d kill Clark when they were far enough away from the camp that no one would hear the shot.
“No,” Clark answered calmly, his eyes staring at the man without any fear showing. “I go with her. I’m her guard. If I’m not outside someone will come check on her, but if we’re both missing they’ll think we’re somewhere in camp.”
Anna closed her eyes, wishing he wouldn’t be so logical. He was signing his own death warrant.
The second stranger, a bookend of the first outlaw, moved out from the shadows. He had the same wide-rimmed hat that his partner wore, but his clothes were buckskin, not wool. If possible, he looked even meaner than the first, with a touch of insanity flickering in his whiskey-colored eyes. Both were men who would not be welcome in anyone’s home. Something about them seemed more animal than human.
Clark raised his hands as the men took the Colt at his side and tied his hands.
“That’s the way, boy,” the first outlaw whispered. “Come with us nice and easy and we’ll make the end quick for you.”
The mad twin tied her, spitting out a giggle when his hand kept slipping to brush against her. He was having so much fun, he didn’t notice when she twisted her wrist wide as he pulled the knot.
“Where are you taking us?” Anna demanded.
“Luther and me ain’t got no orders to kill you, if that’s what you’re asking. We’re just planning on delivering you.”
Anna decided the smart one was dumb as a cow patty and his partner, Luther, smelled worse than one. When she opened her mouth to ask more, Luther wrapped a dirty bandana across it.
“Make a sound,” the leader added, “and we kill your bodyguard. We weren’t told to bring him along anyway, so if one of our knives happens to slip between his ribs we know it won’t matter one way or the other to the boss.”
Anna had no doubt he meant what he said. Luther pulled a long knife and began poking them with it.
While the leader waited and watched for full dark, Luther pressed the point of the knife against her throat and giggled when he drew a drop of blood.
Anna stood perfectly still, refusing to move or cry out. She knew she couldn’t get away if he wanted to kill her, but she wouldn’t play his game.
Each cut drew one bubble of blood. Two, three, four pricks. Luther watched each drop slide down her throat and melt into the lace of her collar.
“It’s dark enough,” the leader whispered as he shoved Clark and her out of the infirmary and around to the back where they’d left horses tied. A small wagon train of settlers had been picking up supplies before dark and the outlaws had no problem blending in among the other visitors.
Anna forced her mind to notice every detail as she dug her heel hard into the ground before they lifted her onto the horse. The outlaws had brought two extra horses. She knew they hadn’t planned on Clark, so the other mount would have been for McCord.
She smiled. It had been three days since McCord left. If they expected to pick him up here, then they hadn’t caught, or killed him. He was alive and she had no doubt he’d be coming after her.
All she had to do was stay alive until he reached her.
Chapter 8
Ranger McCord delivered the letter to the Quaker in charge of the territory. He stood, forgotten, as the man read suggestions from the governor of Texas. McCord could tell by the way he folded the letter away that the Indian agent didn’t plan to put any new policies into action. The Indian Wars, which had been raging for thirty years in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico, would continue. He’d ridden all this way and risked his life for nothing.
Thorn and his men wanted the trouble to continue, so they could play off both sides. Now they had won, not by interfering, but by the indifference of one man.
The Quaker looked up as if just remembering Wynn was in the room. “Thank you for delivering this,” he said in a tired voice. “I have no reply.”
Wynn backed out of the office and walked to his horse. He’d planned to find a meal and a bed for the night, but all he wanted to do was get back to Anna. She’d never left his thoughts. The possibility of asking her to marry him crossed his mind more often than he wanted to admit. He had a good-sized spread from a land grant his father bought fifty years ago. They could settle down in south Texas where things were calm and be hundreds of miles away from the fort line where trouble blew in with every new wind. Behind the line of forts a man could raise his family and worry about crops but here life was never easy.
