Promises Kept (35 page)

“Gage Hardy lied to you.” She didn’t expect him to believe her, not that it mattered to her. “Did you kill that boy and shoot Colt? That boy was an innocent. Was taking a young life worth it to you? Was shooting Bartholomew worth any land?”

“Your concern is touching. Almost like a real lady,” he mocked.

If only she had her reticule with the pistol in it, she would surely shoot him for his evil deeds.

He poured himself another drink. “I didn’t shoot them, Hoyt did. He assured me McBride was dead, but, alas, I see that he isn’t. Don’t hold out hope he will come to your rescue. I have plans for him if he doesn’t die from Hoyt’s bullet. His land will soon be mine.”

She wondered if the men who worked for him knew he was crazy, or were they all just hired killers and it didn’t matter as long as he paid them well?

“Colt has a family. I doubt you can just take his land without their knowledge.”

“You underestimate me, my dear. I already have the papers drawn, and witnesses who swore to his signature deeding the land to me. It’s just a matter of time, and Hoyt will dispatch him like he should have done the first time.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Rance walked to the porch with rifle in hand as Colt and T. J. reined in at the Barlow farm. “Colt, we’ve looked everywhere for those boys.”

“Lane told us. How’s Bartholomew?”

Hearing Colt’s deep voice, Mrs. Wellington walked outside. “And just what do you think you are doing out of bed?”

He smiled at her concern. “How’s Bartholomew?”

“He’s in a bad way. The doctor is with him now. It wouldn’t hurt for you to come inside and have the doctor take a look at you. You look ready to fall out of your saddle.”

He thought he probably looked better than she did, but he wasn’t about to say that to a woman. “Don’t worry about me,” he assured her.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

Intuitively, he knew the boys’ disappearance was linked to him getting shot. Someone thought he wouldn’t pose a threat if he was dead. And the only person who would take advantage of his death to get what he wanted was Wallace. Of course, Wallace didn’t shoot him, he just pulled the strings. Then his thoughts went to Gage Hardy. The man was obsessed with Victoria. He couldn’t ignore the possibility that he took the boys to lure her to him, knowing she would not go with him willingly otherwise.

He didn’t answer Mrs. Wellington’s question, but asked one of his own. “Mrs. Wellington, did anything unusual happen this week? Did you see anyone hanging around the farm?”

She thought a minute before answering. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Mr. Wallace came by to see Victoria, but I told him that she was at your place looking after you.”

“Did he already know I had been shot?” Colt asked.

“I do believe he did, but I had the feeling . . .” She hesitated.

“What?”

“I must say, I had the feeling that he was surprised that you were alive. It wasn’t what he said exactly, it was the look on his face when I told him Victoria was tending you. At the time, I thought he acted odd, but the man is quite strange, so I dismissed the thought.”

“After Maddie’s visit I’m sure anyone who went into the saloon knew you had been shot. You think he assumed you were dead?” T. J. asked.

“Maybe.” To Colt’s way of thinking, if Wallace or Hardy had anything to do with this, then he would find both men at the same place. “Let’s ride to Wallace’s.”

T. J. leaned over in his saddle, closer to Colt’s ear. “Don’t you think we should wait on the men, boss? You don’t look like you can make that ride, and you know there will be trouble.”

“I’ll make it.” He glanced at Rance. “Stay with Mrs. Wellington, and tell the men to ride on over to Wallace’s.” Before he reined his horse around, he glanced back at Mrs. Wellington. “That old man is tougher than nails. He’ll make it.”

“I’m counting on it, just like I’m counting on you to find Victoria and those boys,” she responded.

Wallace’s housekeeper left the bedroom, giving Victoria her first chance to speak to the boys alone. “Boys, we need to talk,” she whispered.

“I want to go home,” Cade said.

“I don’t like him,” Cody said, referring to Wallace. “Where’s Colt?”

Victoria hated to alarm them even more, but this might be her only chance to tell them what they needed to do. “Mr. Wallace is not himself. He is holding us here because he wants our land.” She pulled them to her. “If you see a chance to leave without being seen, I want you to run as fast as you can and go to Colt’s ranch. Do you think you can find your way?”

“Yes, but Colt will come and get us,” Cody said, and Cade nodded his agreement. “He told us he wants us to be his boys.”

Victoria wasn’t surprised by their faith in Colt. “When did he tell you that?”

“The last time we saw him,” Cody replied.

Cade added, “He said he wants that more than anything ’cause we are good boys, and he was just waiting on you to decide to marry him. Are you?”

They seemed more concerned about her marrying Colt than being held hostage at Wallace’s. “We will talk about that later. Colt is hurt and he can’t ride his horse right now. We have to depend on ourselves to get out of here. Besides, no one knows where we are.”

“Colt will know,” Cade assured her.

“God will tell Colt,” Cody confidently added.

“Now pay attention.” Her serious tone made them stop talking. “Do you think you could find your way to Colt’s in the dark?”

“Without you?” Cody asked.

“Yes, I want you to go, even if I can’t go with you. Even if it is dark outside,” she replied. “Do you understand?”

Both boys nodded.

The housekeeper came back into the room. “Señor wants you.”

The housekeeper seemed at odds with what she was being directed to do, but Victoria dared not trust her since she was obviously too afraid of Wallace to help them.

Hoyt Nelson passed her on the staircase, and she watched him walk into the room with the boys. She started to turn around and go back to the room when Wallace yelled to her.

“Come down here.”

“Why is he going into that room?”

“We have visitors riding in. As long as you know he is with the boys, I will have no trouble from you.” He walked up the few steps separating them, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her behind him into his office. Tossing a paper in front of her, he thrust a pen at her. “Sign.”

“What am I signing?”

“You’re selling your land to me.”

“Are you going to let us go if I sign this?”

He tapped the paper on his desk impatiently. “So you can tell everyone that I forced you to sign this document? I think not, my dear.”

“Then why would I agree?” The man was mad, his reasoning was not sound. He had truly gone insane.

“If you don’t, Hoyt will kill the boys,” he stated flatly.

His face and words were devoid of any feeling, and deep down she knew he would carry out his threat. She took the pen and signed her name.

“One of the men said McBride is riding in. I thought his wound made it impossible to ride. If it is him, we will go to the door together and you will tell him we are getting married. You better sound convincing or you can say good-bye to those brats.”

As long as the boys were being held by that gunslinger, she would have to do what he wanted. She had to think of a way to get the boys away from him.

Wallace instructed his men to stay out of sight until the two riders were at the house. He looked out the window, and as the riders neared the house he could tell one of them was indeed McBride. He turned back to Victoria. “Stay here until I call for you.”

Colt and T. J. noticed there were no men moving about as they rode in. It was certainly unusual for a working ranch to look deserted at this time of day. They knew they were riding into a trap.

“I imagine there are some guns trained on us from that stable,” Colt said, and T. J. nodded his agreement.

Wallace walked out on the porch before they could dismount. “What do you want, McBride?” he snapped.

“Send out Victoria and the boys,” Colt answered calmly.

“What do you want with my fiancée?”

It surprised Colt that Wallace didn’t bother to deny he had Victoria and the boys. Something about Wallace had changed. He had a wild-eyed look about him, akin to a panicked horse. He figured the man had finally snapped. He fought the urge to shoot him where he stood. “The only way you can get a woman is to take her by force?”

Colt knew he hit the right button to make Wallace angry. His face twisted with rage.

Wallace didn’t dare pull his pistol on Colt, no matter what the rancher said to goad him. He’d heard how fast he was, and he hadn’t come this far to be killed. “I didn’t take anyone by force.”

“Either she comes out here, or I go in there. With you breathing or not, makes no difference to me.”

Wallace shouted for Victoria. When she appeared in the doorway, he told her, “Please tell Mr. McBride our good news, and that you are not here by force.”

The boys were right. Colt did come for them. She knew he must be in pain even though he was sitting strong and tall in his saddle. It shamed her to think she’d even considered Wallace above him. Her emotions were at war; she was so glad to see him, yet so afraid for his life. It hurt her to say what Wallace wanted her to say, but as long as Wallace’s men were prepared to shoot Colt and T. J., and Nelson was with the boys, she had no choice. Part of her prayed he wouldn’t believe her, but she wanted him safe, so she tried to be convincing. “Yes, we are to marry,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Colt noticed her visibly shaking hand as she clutched the top of her dress. She said the words Wallace had obviously instructed her to say, but she couldn’t hide the fear in her eyes. “When did you decide this?” he asked, not believing one word she said. It didn’t really matter what she said, he was just stalling for time, trying to figure out his best course of action.

She stared into his eyes, willing him to ride away and not look back. “Well . . . recently.” She hesitated to take a deep breath. No matter how much she didn’t want him to ride away, she needed to make him believe her. His life depended on how well she lied. “The boys and I discussed it and we came to this decision.”

Colt arched a dark brow at her. “I find that mighty strange since they said they want me to be their pa. Why don’t you go get the boys so we can sort this out?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Wallace told him. “Victoria has told you the way of it. Now get off my ranch.”

At the same time Wallace turned to push Victoria back inside, T. J. whispered, “Look up.”

Colt casually removed his Stetson and wiped his brow with his shirtsleeve, his gaze casually moving to the window above. He caught a glimpse of Hoyt Nelson standing to the side of the second story window.

“I still want to see the boys,” Colt said to Wallace.

He ignored Colt’s demand. “As a wedding present to her husband, Victoria signed her land over to me. You can’t win, McBride. It’s over. I told you before, I always get what I want.”

“You’re not going to get Victoria,” Colt retorted, his voice deadly calm.

“I’ve already got her and the land. I’m afraid you have interrupted us in our private time together.”

Colt had heard enough. He started to dismount at the same time Wallace raised his hand, and total mayhem erupted. Wallace’s men poured from the stable and started firing on Colt and T. J. In unison, Colt and T. J. jumped off their horses and hit the ground with guns drawn. They rolled away from the horses’ hooves, yelling
“Ya!Ya!”
The animals ran from the line of fire. Colt hit the ground hard, and thought he might pass out from the pain. He felt blood oozing down his back, and knew he had opened his stitches again. Rolling up on his feet, he crouched low, and along with T. J., returned fire as they ran to the side of the house for cover.

Bullets splintered the wood near their heads, pelting them with sharp slivers. “How many?” T. J. yelled above the gunshots.

“Could be twenty, maybe more. Looks like he hired every man he could find.”

T. J. laughed. “Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better.” He saw Colt was returning fire with both guns, ignoring the pain, and quickly picked off two men. “Guess you can use your right arm just fine,” he said, astonished at Colt’s accuracy in his condition.

“Yeah, but I need to reload.” Colt stopped firing and hurriedly inserted cartridges in the cylinders.

“We can’t hold them off for long. What’s the plan?” T. J. asked.

“Keep them occupied for a while. I figure the men will be here soon.”

T. J. chuckled. “Is that your best plan?”

“All I can think of at the moment.”

“I have to reload. I only have enough for another round.” T. J. reloaded and started firing again. “Wish I’d grabbed my rifle.”

Colt looked around for Razor, but he didn’t see him. He handed T. J. one of his pistols and a handful of cartridges, then ran to the back of the house. He spotted Razor some distance away, and when he gave a loud whistle, the horse quickly trotted over to him. After pulling his rifle from the boot, he smacked Razor on the hindquarters to send him away again.