Love on the Range (Brothers in Arms #3)(48)

This man who lived near where Wyatt had been shot. Controlling a shudder, Molly tore away from watching him.

“Molly, do you have things to gather?” Wyatt asked, never looking away from Mr. Hawkins.

Molly was almost completely packed, having had plans to slip away tonight. “I won’t be but a minute.”

She rushed out of the room, partly hurrying to get her things. Partly running away from the deadly glare in Mr. Hawkins’s eyes. She grabbed her satchel, stuffed the few things in it that were still left out, and met her family in the kitchen. Her family. Kevin, yes. Win, after only a second of hesitation she thought, Yes, Win is my sister.

Wyatt?

Her heart warmed as she thought of how he’d cut off what might have been humiliating words from Mr. Hawkins.

And that’s when she realized something that made her eyes spark with pleasure.

Kevin was ahead of her ushering Win out the back door. Wyatt was behind her, but close enough he noticed the spark.

“What can you possibly find to like in this mess?”

Then they were outside. Wyatt had four horses tied at a hitching post only steps from the door. They were mounted up and moving before Molly got a chance to answer.

“Molly thinks something’s funny?” Kevin scowled at her, then looked at Win’s swollen, red cheek.

“Not funny.” She held the reins in her left hand and ran her fingers gently over the swollen spot on her arm. “Not one thing funny about that man.”

And still, she smiled. “It just made me happy to realize I’m never going to have to call that man Mr. Hawkins again.”

The four of them lined up. Win rode between Kevin and Molly with Wyatt on Molly’s right. Win looked at Molly and gave a firm nod of her chin. “And I’m never going to call him Pa, either.”

She reached out her hand, and Molly clasped it as they rode along.

“How far were we from this place when Wyatt was shot?” Trust Kevin to think of something to worry about.

“Not that far.” Wyatt rubbed his shoulder and started looking behind him. “Let’s pick up the pace.”





Twenty




The conductor called Bear Claw Pass, and Cheyenne gave Rachel, who was groggily sitting up, a worried look. “How are you feeling?”

Rachel blinked at her owlishly and didn’t answer.

“The doctor told me before I left that she needs quiet. A blow to the head like that can make the brain swell up inside her skull. She could feel poorly for a week.”

“A week?” Cheyenne gave her head a violent shake.

“I told Doc Reynolds when she came around that sounded too long. He said we have to keep an eye on her, make sure she eats and drinks if she’s too addled to do it for herself. Mostly, she needs rest.”

“Hogback at the diner has a wagon that doesn’t get much use. I’ll go ask if we can borrow it. Better yet, maybe he could drive us out to the RHR and then he could take his wagon back.”

The train slowed. Cheyenne was on her feet the second it stopped, heading for the door, Falcon right behind her with his armload of injured woman.

They descended and tried to arrange with Hogback, who had just closed the diner after the noon meal, to drive them home with Rachel tucked in blankets in the back. He refused, apparently fond of his idle time, but let Cheyenne borrow it, on the condition she bring it back tomorrow.

“I don’t need to lie down. I can sit on a horse,” Rachel said.

Cheyenne ignored the unsteady woman and got her into the back. The fact that Rachel didn’t fight over it told Cheyenne how bad the poor agent was feeling.

Cheyenne drove the wagon hitched to Hogback’s swaybacked mare. A horse by all appearances as fond of idle time as her master. Falcon rode his horse so he could keep an eye on Rachel and lead the other critters stretched out behind the wagon.

They made slow time because Cheyenne was taking great care.

She was also half expecting gunfire to ring out. She had to wonder if this was all somehow connected. They’d decided the attacks on Kevin and Falcon were related to rustling and a devious plan to kill off the heirs in the midst of the confusion over Clovis’s will. But there were too many dry-gulchings. Too many cowards involved in this mess. It seemed like they’d wandered into a gang of outlaws who’d all learned the lowest of skills from each other.

Could Hawkins have known about the thieving? Could he somehow have been involved in it? Could those rustled cattle, a mix of his own Herefords and the Angus from the RHR, have been sent to that canyon with Hawkins’s knowledge?

It was too much to get in order right now. She had to get Rachel home, set Kevin up to guard her, then ride to find Wyatt and Molly and get them out of the Hawkins Ranch before something terrible happened.

Because whatever lies Wyatt had told to get the job, it was almost certain Hawkins knew there was suspicion cast on him. The attempt on Rachel’s life by Hawkins’s old friend Randall Kingston proved that.

They were a good stretch of the way home when they heard thundering hoofbeats approaching.

“That’s the direction of the Hawkins Ranch. Be alert.”

Falcon flashed her a huge smile, which was a simple reminder that her husband was always alert. Then he produced his gun with lightning speed and turned to watch who was coming up beside them.