Lonesome Bride Read online

  Hammond waved his hand at her irritably. “See if there's anything to eat in there. I'm famished."

  The instant she set foot in the door, Caite was searching frantically for something to write on, and with. She found nothing. Hammond called for her, and she jumped.

  "Just a moment,” she called back. She hastily grabbed up a few crumbling biscuits from the table. They were not fresh, but she hoped they would satisfy Hammond.

  She still had found no way to leave a note. Panic welled within her, but she forced it away. Think of the baby, she reminded herself.

  Praying Hammond would not decide to come in after her, Caite scurried to the fireplace and grabbed a chunk of charred wood. Sweeping the table free of crumbs, she scratched words upon the table's surface with the blackened stick. Words she hoped Jed would understand.

  Help Lonesome Caite, she wrote swiftly, knowing the letters were scrawling and nearly illegible. She had no time for neatness. Her makeshift pen snapped in her fingers as she finished the last word. She gathered up the biscuits for Hammond and left the cabin. It would have to be enough.

  "It's about time,” Hammond remarked, taking the food she offered and tossing it aside contemptuously. He seized her hand, blackened from her efforts, and glared at it suspiciously. “What's this?"

  "I thought perhaps the top shelf had some supplies on it, but I was too short to reach up there,” Caite lied swiftly. “I took a stick from the fire to sweep along the shelf."

  "And you found nothing, of course,” Hammond said. “How typical."

  He took Caite roughly by the arm and helped her back onto the patient Daisy. He did not tie her hands, but Caite had no hope to use her freedom to escape. She could not risk the life of her unborn child by throwing herself from the horse, and neither could she expect to run very far if she did. Her only hope was for Jed to find her note.

  * * * *

  Jed dunked his head under the pond's chill waters, then came up blowing and snorting. Zeus stared at him comically from the shore, as if bemused by the sight of his master acting like a frisky colt. Jed splashed some water at the big stallion who backed away and tossed his head, then stepped squarely on the clean clothes Jed had left on the shore.

  Jed shouted, but Zeus merely stepped calmly again on the clothes, further grinding them into the mud. Letting out a string of garbled curses, Jed came out of the water and held up his smeared shirt and trousers. They were now worse than the ones he'd had on earlier.

  "Guess it's back to the cabin, after all,” Jed said, glaring at Zeus. “You're lucky I don't cut your grain in half for this little trick."

  Zeus, implacable, merely whinnied. If Jed hadn't known better, he might have thought the big stallion was laughing at him.

  * * * *

  "It is a two-day trip to Lonesome,” Caite called suddenly. “There's no sense in running the horses ragged."

  "It's a two-day trip for horses pulling a heavy wagon,” Hammond corrected her. “We can be there by tomorrow afternoon if I push these horses hard enough."

  "We won't be stopping at all?” Caite asked, trying and failing to keep the despair from her voice.

  Hammond seemed to find her question amusing, for he smiled and reached around to pat Daisy's head. “Only for the necessaries, Caitleen, my sweet. We can eat, drink, and even sleep while we ride. Though Lord knows, I'd much prefer a nice hotel and saloon."

  "But the horses..."

  "I know horses,” Hammond snapped. “Sweet heaven, girl! I'm not running them into the ground! We're practically crawling at this pace!"

  Caite quieted, unwilling to risk further anger from her captor. While she felt sorry for the poor beasts on which they rode, if the horses were unable to go on, it would only be to her benefit. Sadly, however, it appeared Hammond did know what he was doing, for their mounts showed no signs of tiring at the steady pace Hammond had set.

  Tomorrow afternoon, they would be in Lonesome. First the preacher, then the train. Caite prayed for Jed to find her before then, because she knew once Hammond got her aboard the train, she would have no hope left.

  * * * *

  Jed pulled on his dirty clothes and swung up on Zeus’ back. He'd ride back to the cabin, change his clothes swiftly, and still manage to be on his way. It wouldn't take very long, true, but he was so eager to get back to Caite he was nearly busting.

  It took several short minutes for him to ride back to his humble abode. He slid from Zeus’ back and tethered the animal, then hurried into the cabin's dim interior. So focused was he on finding a fresh shirt and trousers, he at first did not notice something was different.

  Jed stopped with his shirt half over his head, and sniffed the air. He could have sworn he caught the faint scent of lilacs. Smiling, he pulled the shirt on. He was just so caught up in getting back to Caite, he was imagining he smelled her, that's all. He pulled on a new pair of trousers, too. They weren't his finest duds, but they'd have to do.

  Turning, Jed headed toward the door when something on the floor caught his eye. He went to the fireplace and knelt by it, pressing his fingertips to the smudge of ash on the floor. It was shaped just like a footprint. A small, dainty footprint—probably a woman's.

  Frowning, Jed stood and saw the biscuits he had left on the table had disappeared. In their place was something he could not quite make out in the dim light. Confused, Jed traced the lines, bringing his finger up covered with dirt. Someone had written on this table with the end of a charred stick.

  Suddenly, the scent of lilacs and the woman's footprint connected in Jed's mind. Caite had been here. He could not know how, but she must have come and gone while he was at the pond.

  Roughly, Jed pulled the table into the yard, carelessly scraping it through the doorway. He had to see what she had written. As the words showed up clearly in the sunlight, he frowned. Help lonesome Caite? he thought. Had she missed him so much she had ridden out here to find him? If so, then why had she not stayed, instead of writing this note to tease him?

  As he puzzled over the cryptic message, Jed's eye caught sight of something else he had not noticed in his earlier haste. The ground around the cabin was marked with several sets of footprints, as well as the marks of horses’ hooves. Two sets, in addition to those Zeus had made. There were human prints, too—one small and one large. The woman's prints, he was certain, would match the one he had found in the fireplace ashes. But the others? What man had come here with Caite, then gone away again?

  Moving away from the cabin, Jed followed the hoofmarks some ways down the trail. Whoever it had been, had gone off toward Lonesome. At once, the words burned brightly in his mind.

  Not help lonesome Caite. Help, Lonesome, and Caite had signed her name to the plea. Someone had taken Caite to Lonesome against her will.

  "Hammond,” Jed growled, remembering what Caite had told him about her reasons for coming to Montana.

  It was the man she had been running from. It had to be. Hammond had come for Caite, and found her. Now he must be taking her back to Pennsylvania to force her to be his bride.

  "He'll take her over my dead body,” Jed vowed, cold fury filling him.

  He could not be sure how much of a head start the villain had, but Jed knew it could not be much. He would get on Zeus and ride toward Lonesome to save his bride.

  And woe to the man who had taken her.

  CHAPTER 20

  They had been riding all through the night, stopping only once to let a numb-legged Caite stumble into the bushes to answer nature's call. True to his word, Hammond had kept riding while eating a meager supper of dry beef jerky washed down with stale water from his canteen. The dandy's perseverance amazed Caite; she had imagined him to be far less durable than he had proved.

  Hammond, too, was impressed with his prisoner's fortitude. Caite had ridden, uncomplaining, the entire night. Hammond had mentioned he found her stolid acceptance invigorating, for it showed him just what sort of wife she would be.

  "I simply cannot abide whini