Cowboy 12 Pack Page 24

  Sadie didn’t want to think how close they’d all come to such a fate. She swallowed hard. “Why go to all this trouble to get my ranch? Your father already has more cattle and grazing land than anyone else in the territory.”

  Charles turned and walked away, then spun around and descended on her again. “I don’t give a damn about your cows or your grazing land. I’m only interested in this.

  He put his finger on the center of the map spread out on the coffee table. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now she leaned forward to see where he was pointing. A sick feeling slowly formed in the pit of her stomach.

  “I know that spot,” she said. “That’s where my father was trampled.”

  Charles shared a laugh with the two men. The sound made her want to kill them, tied hands be damned.

  “Your father didn’t get trampled,” Charles said. “At least not accidentally.”

  The churning in her stomach got worse. “Wh-what do you mean?”

  A grin spread across his face. “I mean that I killed him.”

  An image of her father lying on the ground broken and bloody flashed into her head. Pain came rushing back with it, hitting her like a tidal wave and leaving nothing but fury in its wake.

  Sadie launched herself at Charles, going for his throat with her bound hands. She might have gotten a piece of him if the man behind her hadn’t caught her by the shoulders and shoved her back down.

  Tears welled in her eyes. “Why, damn you? Why would you kill my father if you didn’t care about our cattle or our land?”

  “For this.”

  He tossed something on the table. It caught the light from a nearby lantern, winking at her. Sadie gasped. It was a gold nugget.

  “I found it when I was out at your place getting the lay of the land for my father,” Charles said conversationally. “At first, I thought that was why your family didn’t want to sell, but your father didn’t know anything about it. My men and I were searching along the riverbank for the source of the vein when he stumbled across us.”

  “So you murdered him.”

  Charles shrugged. “It was his own fault. If he’d been a little more polite, I would have just gotten on my horse and left. But no. Your old man had the nerve to think he could throw me off his land. Shoved me toward my horse and told me to get on before he shot me for trespassing.”

  “You were trespassing.”

  “Maybe. That still didn’t give him the right to talk to me like that. I would have shot him right then, but I knew there was no way I could cover up a gunshot wound. So instead, I got on my horse like he asked. Then I rode him down and made it look like his own cattle had done it. Since then I’ve been trying everything I could think of to get you off that land. I was even going to go so far as to marry you. But you’re too stubborn for you own good.” Charles smiled. “All that has changed now. I have you, which means I finally have the upper hand.”

  “You won’t have it for long.” Sadie lifted her chin. “Jake and the ranch hands will know who kidnapped me, and they’ll come to get me back. Then you’ll wish you’d never dragged your sorry butt to the Wyoming Territory.”

  Charles laughed. “I’m counting on it.”

  That sickening feeling was back. Or maybe it’d never left. “What do you mean?”

  “Why the hell do you think I had my men grab you out from under their noses in the light of day? I knew Wagner and the rest of those idiots who work for you would jump on their horses and ride straight here without even stopping to think they might be walking into a trap.”

  Fear shot through her. Charles was right. Jake wouldn’t stop to think about how much danger he was in. He’d ride in here with guns blazing.

  “I have a two-dozen men waiting for him right now,” Charles continued. “If they don’t hear from me real soon, they’re going to light up the first group of riders they see coming from your ranch. Unless you sign some papers.”

  “What papers?” she asked, though she suspected she already knew the answer.

  Charles reached inside his coat pocket and came out with several sheets of folded vellum. “This is a quick deed document to your ranch. I get your land, and you’re free to go.”

  “What about Jake and everyone else who works for me?”

  “Them, too.”

  Sadie swallowed hard. After everything she’d done to save her ranch, she was going to lose it anyway. But she couldn’t let Jake and the ranch hands who were on their way to rescue her get killed over a piece of property.

  “I’d like to read it first,” she said.

  Charles held out the papers. “Go ahead. Don’t take too long, though. My men are waiting to hear from me, remember?”

  Sadie skimmed the document looking for some loophole, but there wasn’t one. It simply said she was willingly turning over her ranch to Charles for recompense undefined.

  She looked up at him. “You can’t believe this will hold up in a court of law?”

  “In a territorial court of law, with a judge who probably doesn’t think a woman should be running a ranch anyway?” He snorted. “Please. This is over, and you know it. Just sign the document. And do it before your men get here if you want to avoid any bloodshed.”

  Charles took the pen from the inkwell on the table and he held it out. Her bound hands shook so much that the ink spattered all over her fingers. She set the papers down on the table, trying to hold them as best she could with one hand while signing with the other. She was still trying to manage when she heard gunfire outside.

  Sadie’s heart jumped into her throat. She looked at Charles pleadingly. “Tell them to stop firing. Please!”

  “Sign the papers and I promise you I’ll do my best to stop them.”

  She didn’t know if it was the way he said the words or the mocking smile on his lips, but she knew right then that Charles wasn’t going to honor his word. As soon as he had her signature, he wouldn’t lift a finger to stop this.

  “Sign the damn papers, Sadie.”

  Sadie gritted her teeth and scrawled something that could have passed for her signature. It was difficult to make the words legible with her hands tied.

  She tossed the pen down and glared up at him. “There. Now do as you promised, and call off your men.”

  He waved the papers in the air until the ink was dry, then folded them and put him in his jacket pocket. “You really didn’t think I was going to let any of your men live so they could get revenge on me for stealing your land, did you?”

  She knew it. “You bastard!”

  Sadie jumped to her feet, but the man behind grabbed her and forced her back down again. This time, he held her there. Dammit!

  Outside, the shooting had picked up. It sounded like it was getting closer, too. She tried to jerk away from the man holding her.

  “Let me go, you—”

  “What in tarnation’s going on out there?”

  Sadie turned to see Harlan Boone standing in the doorway, a frown on his face.

  “There’re people shooting and none of the hands will do anything I say. God only knows if your brother is…” His voice trailed off when he saw Sadie. “Charles, what the hell is the meaning of this?”

  The younger Boone’s smile was smug. “The hands don’t answer to you anymore, Father. They work for me. And now that I have Sadie’s ranch, I don’t have to pretend to give a damn about a thing you say.”

  Boone’s reeled back as if his son had hit him. He looked at Sadie. “You gave him your ranch?”

  “I didn’t have much of a choice. Your son found gold on my land and—”

  “My land now,” Charles corrected.

  Sadie glowered at him. “And he’s decided he’ll kill anyone who gets between him and his gold. Including my father and the men who work for me.”

  She had to raise her voice to be heard over the gunfire outside. Part of her was relieved the shooting was still going on. That meant Jake and the others were alive. But the other part was scared to death.

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nbsp; Boone glanced at the map on the table, then turned his attention back to his son, his eyes appraising. “How much gold is there?”

  “A lot,” Charles said. “Hundreds of pounds, maybe.”

  “Hundreds…?” The older man laughed. “I’ll be rich!”

  Charles smirked. “I’ll be rich. You’ll be dead.”

  Before Sadie realized what he meant by that, Charles pulled his pistol and shot his father in the heart. She stared wide eyed as Harlan Boone slumped to the floor. She’d been trying to make a point when she said Charles would kill anyone who stood between him and his gold. She hadn’t expected him to kill his own father.

  Charles gazed down at her father’s body, his face expressionless. “That wasn’t exactly how I planned my old man’s demise, but I won’t complain. With all the shooting going on, it won’t be too hard to come up with a suitable explanation of how he was shot.” He looked at Sadie. “Or should I say, with all the shooting that was going on. I guess that means the brave, but foolhardy attempt to rescue you has officially failed.”

  Sadie jerked her head up, listening. She hadn’t even noticed the shooting had stopped. She tried to tell herself Jake had won and was even now about to kick in the door. But she knew that wasn’t true. Jake had been walking into a trap against superior numbers. He hadn’t stood a chance.

  Tears burned her eyes and she dashed them away awkwardly with the back of her hand. She wouldn’t give that bastard Charles the satisfaction of crying in front of him.

  “No need to cry, Sadie. You’ll be joining them soon enough.”

  He aimed his pistol at her. “You really should have accepted my marriage proposal when you had the chance.”

  “Go to hell!” she spat.

  Considering he was holding a gun on her, she probably should have chosen her words more carefully, but he was going to kill her anyway. Besides, she didn’t care what happened to her now. Jake was already dead. She lifted her chin and looked Charles square in the eye as he cocked the gun.

  Sadie still wasn’t quite sure what happened. One minute she was staring into the barrel of a gun and the next, the French doors crashed open and a man came hurtling in. He slid along the floor before coming to a stop at Charles’s feet, a bullet hole in his chest. She barely caught a glimpse of his face as gunfire erupted around her. It was the man who’d dragged her over his horse back at her ranch.

  That had to mean Jake was still alive.

  Sadie dropped to the floor as Charles and his two thugs turned to shoot into the night. She couldn’t see anything from her position, but she heard enough to know that whoever was doing the shooting outside—please, God, let it be Jake—had taken out at least two of the men in the room. The thud of their bodies hitting the floor was unmistakable.

  She was about to risk taking a peek to see if Charles was one of them when someone grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet. The man shifted, wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her in front of him like a shield. She half turned her head to see who it was and caught a glimpse of Charles’s dirty blond hair. He was bleeding freely from a wound on his forehead where a bullet had grazed him. He pressed his pistol to the side of her head.

  “Don’t come in here!” he shouted. “I’ll shoot her, I swear I will!”

  “I don’t think even you’re dumb enough to do that, Boone. She’s the only thing keeping you alive right now.”

  Jake’s voice was calm and self-assured out in the darkness. Sadie sagged against Charles, relief coursing through her. As long as Jake was alive, she had a chance.

  The hand holding the pistol to her head shook a little. “Come out into the light and face me like a man, you coward.”

  There was a soft chuckle from outside. “That’s rich coming from the man hiding behind a woman.”

  Charles muttered something under his breath. “Hank! Zeke!”

  “None of your men are going to come to your aid, Charles,” Jake called. “They’re a little busy right now.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Bleeding.”

  Charles swore. He tightened his grip around Sadie and pushed her forward. “I’m coming out. Nobody better try to stop me or you’ll be sorry.”

  As he shoved her through the broken doors, Sadie saw Jake clearly outlined in the darkness. His pistol was pointed at Charles’s head. He wouldn’t take the shot and risk hitting her, though. But Charles didn’t know that. Something told her he wouldn’t take his gun away from her long enough to fire at Jake. She hoped.

  “Get out of my way, Wagner. Unless you want to see her dead.” Charles’s hand trembled again. “I already have her land, but I’ll gladly take her life as well.”

  Sadie saw Jake’s jaw flex. His gaze settled on her, his eyes intent. “Did Charles hurt you?”

  She tried to shake her head, but that was impossible with a gun pressed to it. “No.”

  Jake glanced at her bound wrists. “You’re tied up again, I see. Do you remember the position you were in the last time you were tied up like that? You should assume that same position—now.”

  Charles stiffened. “What are you talking about? Try anything and I’ll—”

  But Sadie knew exactly what position Jake wanted her in. Heart pounding, she took a deep breath and jerked forward, bending at the waist. Charles tried to grab her, but he didn’t have time to get another grip before Jake fired his pistol.

  Charles’s arm slipped from her waist as he fell, and Sadie looked between her legs to see him lying there with a hole drilled neatly through his forehead. It was over. Finally.

  Shivering, she straightened up, intending to run straight to Jake, but he was already there pulling her into his arms. She closed her eyes as he pressed his lips to her hair, wishing she could wrap her arms around him, too.

  “I was so damn terrified I’d be too late,” he murmured.

  “Me, too,” she whispered. “But I was more terrified Charles’s men were going to kill you.”

  His arms tightened around her. “They might have had a chance if it wasn’t for Nathan.”

  She pulled back to look up at him. “Nathan?”

  “He learned what his brother was up to and intercepted us, then showed us another way onto the ranch.”

  That was lucky. “I’ll have to remember to thank him when I see him.”

  Jake stepped to the side, his mouth edging up. “You can thank him right now.”

  Sadie looked around him to see not only Nathan and some of Harlan Boone’s men standing there, but Ned and at least a dozen of her ranch hands as well. She would have hugged all of them if her hands weren’t still bound. She was about to ask Jake to untie her when she remembered something. Nathan needed to know what Charles had done to their father.

  Nathan’s eyes clouded with pain. “I was afraid of that. Charles never got along with Father at the best of times.” He gave Jake a nod. “If you’ll pardon me?”

  Sadie’s heart went out to the youngest Boone as he disappeared inside. His men moved to pick up his brother’s body, but she stopped them.

  “Just a moment, please.”

  She bent down and pulled the papers she’d signed from Charles’s inside breast pocket. Then she nodded to the men, who picked up the body and disappeared into the small house.

  She turned back to Jake. “Is everyone back at the ranch okay?”

  “For the most part. Ned took a bullet to the arm, Clancy got one in the leg and Hugh’s going to have a hell of a headache from a head wound, but they’ll all live.”

  That was a relief. She frowned at the bandage on Ned’s arm. “You should have stayed at the ranch with the other injured.”

  “And miss out on the big rescue? This is nothin’.” He eyed her thoughtfully. “What was that before Jake said about you being tied up?”

  Thank God it was too dark for Ned to see her blush. “Oh, that. Nothing. It’s just a private joke between Jake and me.”

  “Ah.” Ned nodded, but it was obvious from the way he was loo
king at them that he suspected there was more to it than she let on. “The men and I are going to head back to the ranch.”

  “Sadie and I will be along shortly.” Jake waited until Ned and the men had disappeared into the night before turning to her. “What did Charles mean about already having your land?”

  She sighed and held out papers to Jake. “He told me if I signed over my ranch to him he would call off his men.”

  Jake’s brow furrowed as he took them. “You really would have given up your ranch to save me?”

  “Of course I would.” She lifted her hands—which were still bound, she realized—to touch his face. “Jake, I love you. I would do anything to save you.”

  She had wanted to wait to tell him until she knew he felt the same, but now she realized how foolish that was. They’d both come close to getting killed today. If that had happened, she would have forever regretted not telling him.

  Jake seemed more taken aback by her declaration of love than he had at discovering she’d signed over her ranch to Charles.

  “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” she said quickly. “We just met and…”

  He put a finger to her lips, silencing her. “I do feel the same.”

  She blinked. “You do?”

  He nodded “I love you, Sadie Buchanan. And if you’ll have me, I would very much like to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Her heart did a backflip in her chest.

  “Now I know I was supposed to do some wooing and courting, but I don’t need any time to figure out what a blind man could see. You’re perfect for me and there will never be anyone else like you.” He held up his hand. “You don’t have to say yes right now. I can do all that wooing and courting first if you want.”

  She laughed. “I don’t need to wait. Yes! Yes! A million times, yes!

  Going up on tiptoe, she kissed him until they were both breathless. Even then, she didn’t want to stop. But she was getting a little lightheaded.

  “By the way, now that we’re both safe and sound, do you think you can untie me?” she asked, holding up her hands.

  He took her bound wrists in his, tilting his head to the side as if considering. His mouth quirked. “I don’t think so. I like you better with your hands tied like this.”