Arizona Embrace (23 page)

He smiled ruefully. Victoria wasn’t at all like little Maria. Victoria would probably freeze before she let him keep her warm. He thought of the feel of her warm, soft skin under his hands. She wouldn’t have let him do that either if she hadn’t been so stiff she couldn’t move. He wondered if she enjoyed it or if she simply endured it because she had no choice.

He wouldn’t ask her. There was no point in inviting her to tell him how little she thought of him. She seemed only too anxious to do that without prompting.

Chapter Twelve

The warmth of the sun on her skin woke Victoria. She opened her eyes only to be forced to shield them from the glare. She rolled on her elbow and looked for Trinity. She saw the horses saddled and waiting, coffee and breakfast warming over the fire. Trinity sat on a boulder nearby, watching.

“What time is it?” she asked. Very tentatively, she stretched. When she found her muscles didn’t ball into painful knots but instead ached rather pleasantly, she indulged in a luxurious stretch.

“About seven-thirty.”

“I thought you wanted to leave before dawn.”

“I decided you needed some extra sleep.”

“That was kind of you” Victoria said, surprised.

“Not really. If yesterday is any example, I’d have to ride with my arm around you, which you won’t like, or tie you in the saddle, which I can’t do without irritating the skin on your wrists.”

Victoria was disappointed by Trinity’s rationale. She wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say, but he could have started with basic humanity. She found his coldly analytical attention to her comfort irritating. “Aren’t you afraid the delay will give my uncle time to catch up?”

“We got a good head start. Besides, I intend to drive you extra hard today. You’ve got about five minutes to get dressed. We have to be gone in fifteen.”

Victoria cursed silently. Every time she thought he just might be human, he proved her wrong. She didn’t know why she continued to keep hoping he wasn’t as bad as he seemed.

She threw back the blanket and started to get up. Her legs collapsed under her.

Trinity had his arms around her before she could fall.

“I guess I’m not in as good a shape as I drought,” she said. She tried to push him away, but she didn’t try very hard. She liked his arms around her. They felt just as good as she remembered. Besides, she really couldn’t stand by herself.

“I thought you were in remarkable shape when I had to chase you all over that mountain.”

“I don’t spend all my time arranging flowers,” she said, trying a few unsteady steps on her own. “I ride every day, and I’ve climbed a lot of mountains doing my survey.”

“You’d better sit down. Let me get you some breakfast.”

That’s very thoughtful of you, but I have to wash up and get dressed.”

“Not today. I’ve wasted too much time already. You have just enough time to eat.” He handed her a plate and a cup of coffee. She set both down without tasting either.

“I can’t go a whole day without at least washing my face, brushing my teeth, and changing clothes. I should have a bath. I feel positively filthy.”

“You’ll feel a lot worse before we reach Texas,” Trinity said. “Now eat your breakfast or toss it away. I can’t wait any longer.”

So
much for thoughtfulness,
Victoria said to herself as she quickly swallowed coffee, which had grown bitter from sitting over the fire so long. The beans were better, not that she liked beans for breakfast, but any food was welcome on a cold morning when she had been riding for two days.

While she ate, Trinity broke open the fire and kicked dirt over the hot coals. He poured the last of the coffee on the coals to make sure they were out. When Victoria finished eating, he rinsed her plate with water from his canteen and then stowed everything in his gear.

“Can you mount by yourself, or do you want some help?”

Victoria got to her feet unassisted, but she knew she’d never mount her horse alone.

“It would be nice if you would lend me a hand,” she said. She wouldn’t ask for his help. She just couldn’t.

“Watch your legs. They’re not going to work like you expect.”

Trinity lifted her effortlessly into the saddle. Victoria had never realized how nice it was to feel as light as a feather. It wasn’t so bad to be treated like a precious possession once in a while.

“Where are we?” she asked. “This is beautiful country.”

“Leaving the Tonto Basin. That’s the Salt River below. The Mazatzal Mountains are behind us. We’re headed toward the Apache Mountains.”

“Do you have a pair of binoculars? I’d like to get a better look.”

“You just can’t forget the surveyor in you, can you?”

“I didn’t get much chance to look about when I came to Arizona. It’s such beautiful country. I’d hate to miss it a second time, especially since you’re determined I won’t be back”

She hadn’t meant to say that. She’d managed to put it as far out of her mind as she could, but she had the satisfaction of seeing him look uncomfortable.

Below the river twisted along the basin floor, a silver ribbon reflecting the morning sunlight off its surface. Sand, loose gravel, and scattered trees marked its flood plain. Tree-covered ridges ran to the river’s edge from all directions, their spiny ridges cut into irregular shapes by the rain and snow of a million seasons.

In the distance, mountain peaks shrouded in mist loomed huge and green against a backdrop of blue, cloudless sky. A waterfall appeared as a small white slash set deep in a green canvas. A single patch of bright yellow poppies provided the only touch of contrasting color.

Victoria swung the glasses to the north, and her body stiffened. Riders. Where these men following them? She knew nothing of the trails. Was it her uncle? She glanced over at Trinity to see if he’d noticed her sudden interest, but he was loading the packhorse. She couldn’t tell anything about the riders because they stayed in the shadows of the trees. Then one rider rode out on a low ridge, and using his own glasses, surveyed the valley.

Buc. She would know his Appaloosa anywhere.

Without a second thought, Victoria kicked her horse into a gallop and raced in the direction of the riders. The curses which echoed off the mountain behind her only spurred her to ride faster. She didn’t know where the trail she followed led, but it seemed to be taking her down to the basin floor, closer to Buc and her uncle. She dug her heels into her grey’s side and slapped its flank with her open palm. She had to escape.

Victoria cursed the fact that she didn’t have a gun or a rifle with her. She needed something to draw Buc’s attention. Trinity would be at her heels any minute now. It was vital they see her before he caught her.

It seemed no time at all had passed when Victoria heard a horse on the trail behind her. She looked around, certain Trinity would close in on her any moment, but he was still some distance behind. In the clear, still air of the mountains, sound carried a long way. If she screamed loud enough, maybe they would heard her.

Victoria let out a scream which sounded like a cross between a scream of terror and a long, high-pitched wail. It hung in the air like a sword. She took a deep breath and screamed again. Trinity was practically on top of her. She opened her mouth to scream once more. Trinity’s arm snaked out and encircled her waist, lifting her out of the saddle. She hung suspended five feet above the ground on a galloping horse, and the only thing which kept her from crashing to the ground was the strength in Trinity’s arm.

“You seem determined to get as many people killed as possible,” Trinity growled, as he slowed his horse. “If you really cared for your uncle, you’d have let him go on by.”

“That’s just what you want, isn’t it?” Victoria managed to gasp. He was squeezing the breath out of her body, but she couldn’t wish for him to loosen his hold. “Another easy capture so you can get on to the next one.”

“No capture is easy” Trinity said as he brought his horse to a stop and turned him around on the narrow trail. The sound of gunfire drew his attention to the riders below. “But yours is turning out to be the hardest of all.”

Then to her surprise, instead of settling her in front of him, or even throwing her across the saddle, he galloped back to camp. She dangled above the ground which passed beneath her with terrifying speed.

Her horse, frightened by the gunshots in front of him, turned around before he reached the basin floor and headed back up the trail.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Victoria cried after her leg struck a tree branch so hard it went numb.

“Surprisingly enough, I’m trying to keep you alive, though there are times I ask myself why.”

She struggled just to go on breathing. His arm felt like the crushing coils of a boa constrictor. She would never have guessed Trinity had such strength. She doubted Buc could hold her suspended for more than a minute.

“You’re crushing the life out of me.”

“Then you won’t have to worry about getting hanged.”

“You’re inhuman. You don’t have a single Christian emotion in your body.”

“I’m a little busy right now, but as soon as I brush through this gun battle without killing any more people man necessary, I’ll see if I can’t come up with at least one.”

“What do you mean ‘without killing any more people than necessary.’ You wouldn’t dare shoot my uncle.”

“You get him to promise not to shoot at me, and I’ll promise not to shoot at him.”

“But he has to. You won’t let me go otherwise.”

“I won’t let you go either way. The faster he figures that out, the fewer people will get hurt.”

They had reached their camp. The packhorse stood where he had left it. Trinity dropped Victoria in a heap and leapt from the saddle. Before she had time to pull herself together, he turned her over, tied her hands and feet with a strip of soft leather, and leaned her up against a rock. He took both horses around a bend, out of range of gunfire, then climbed to a lookout point.

What he saw caused him to curse violently.

“They’re headed this way.”

“Good.”

“You won’t think so for long.”

“I’ll be free before long. There must be a dozen men out there.”

“Your uncle must have left his herd unguarded. He obviously values you more than his ranch.”

Trinity took a few minutes to study the terrain around their camp.

“I’d better get you behind some rocks” he said. “One of those hotheaded young fools might start shooting at me without realizing he can hit you just as easily.”

Victoria hadn’t stopped to realize she could be a target. Her enthusiasm for the coming fight waned.

“What do you think Uncle Grant will do?”

“It will depend on whether your uncle or Buc directs the fight”

“Uncle Grant.”

“Then we may brush through after all.”

“I don’t want to ‘brush through.’ I want to go back to Mountain Valley.”

“No matter how many men your uncle hires, no matter how many times they come after me, you’re going back to Texas. Get used to it.”

“What makes you think you can outshoot and outsmart all those men?”

“I’ve got the one thing nobody else has.
You
. If need be, I’ll use you for a shield.”

“I never thought you would sink so low.”

“Self-defense isn’t a matter of etiquette. It comes down to doing what you have to. They won’t shoot you no matter what they might want to do to me.”

“Where’s my uncle? What are they doing?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I don’t trust you not to shoot him on sight.”

“Do you really think I’d do that?”

She didn’t. Only anger caused her to make such an accusation. But she wouldn’t take it back. “Anyone who would use a female as a shield would do anything.”

“I wouldn’t use you if I thought you would get hurt. Even bounty hunters have some standards.”

“How am I supposed to guess that?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I thought you’d see me pretty much as I see myself.”

“And how’s that?”

“An ordinary man doing his job as best he can.”

There’s nothing ordinary about you,
Victoria thought.
And nothing ordinary has happened to me since the day you rode into Mountain Valley Ranch
. Her horse trotted into camp and immediately sought the familiar company of Trinity’s gelding and the packhorse.

“Even your horse doesn’t feel safe around Buc,” Trinity observed, grinning.

Victoria failed to see the humor in his remark.

“Trinity!”

The call came from below. It was Grant Davidge.

“I’ve come for Victoria. I know you’re up there. I’ve got a dozen men down here. You can’t get away. We’ll surround you and pick you off.”

“You’re welcome to try” Trinity called back. “Just remind those hotheads to be careful. Any shot can ricochet and hit your niece.

“If you let her go, the boys and I will go back to the ranch and forget we ever heard of you.”