The Bounty Hunter and the Heiress (19 page)

He howled in outrage, cursed her foully and covered his nose with his hand.

Eva darted sideways when he tried to backhand her. The glancing blow tossed her off balance momentarily but she uprighted herself. When he grabbed her forearm, she wheeled around to kick him squarely in the crotch.

James gasped in pained fury as he hit his knees. He stopped chasing her all right. She had granted herself a head start. But he resorted to firing wildly with the six-shooter. Frantic, Eva ducked then glanced around to determine where her horse had gotten off to. Even when a flash of lightning illuminated the rain-drenched trail, she didn't see her horse.

Curse it, Raven was right, she realized. He claimed a horse wasn't completely trained until it came when you whistled. If the horse could answer her call she could leave James far behind—and run right over the heartless bastard on her way by.

Her spiteful thoughts scattered when another shot rang out. Eva flattened herself on the ground—a moment too late. The bullet grazed her shoulder, the same one she had injured when she leaped off her horse. Despite the burning pain, Eva surged to her feet and raced downhill as fast as her legs would carry her.

“I'll shoot to kill!” James raged over the sound of pelting rain. “Don't think I won't!”

Eva didn't slow her swift pace. Although James wasn't a particularly good marksman, she wasn't taking any chances. But she did make the careless mistake of glancing over her shoulder to see where he was while she was running at full speed.

She didn't see the oversize rock on the trail until she stumbled over it. She tried to hurl herself backward to prevent pitching over the crumbling edge of the road. Despite her vow to keep silent so she wouldn't give away her location to James, a wild shriek flew from her lips when she tumbled down the steep slope.

Desperate, she tried to retreat but her forward momentum left her pinwheeling over boulders and underbrush. Hands still tied, she rolled over the sharp rocks and tried to protect her head from a brain-scrambling blow.

Lightning flashed again and thundered rolled. Eva slammed into an unyielding boulder then moaned when blinding pain exploded in her skull. Her last thought before she blacked out was that James wouldn't be able to find her in the darkness, not without risking a painful fall himself.

 

Raven felt his heart slam into his ribs—and stick there—when he heard gunshots in the distance. When Eva's wild shriek echoed in the darkness, his heart stopped beating altogether.

Frantic, he nudged his horse and trotted up the sloppy trail, wishing he could call out to Eva but refusing to alert James to his whereabouts. If James commenced shooting wildly at him, he might hit Eva—if he hadn't already.

When lightning flickered overhead, Raven spotted his stepbrother hobbling up the trail on foot. Eva was nowhere in sight. Conflicting emotion rippled through Raven. He longed to chase down James to avenge Eva, who had risked life and limb to avenge her sister. Not to mention that Raven wanted to skin the son of a bitch alive for taking Eva hostage.

Yet, Raven didn't dare leave the area until he knew what had happened to Eva. She could be anywhere in the wild tumble of boulders, trees and underbrush. She could find herself at the mercy of vicious predators and she might be seriously injured already.

Raven didn't know what had happened to her and the uncertainty was killing him, bit by excruciating bit. All he knew was that she had to be somewhere between where he sat on his horse and where James had disappeared around the bend of the trail. Where the blood-red bay had gotten off to was anybody's guess…

The image of the horse Eva called Hodge popped instantly to mind and he wondered if James had forced Eva and her mount off the road and left them tumbling down the jagged slopes. James had disposed of a few miners and their horses in the same heartless manner already. The thought of Eva lying in a broken heap beside her horse tormented him beyond measure.

“Eva!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

He waited anxiously but there was nothing but the sound of whipping wind and rain. Feeling helpless and frustrated, Raven dismounted to lead his horse to the nearest tree for shelter. Unless Eva called out to him there was little to do but wait until daylight.

Then he suddenly remembered the bottle of whiskey he had tucked in his saddlebag. Hurriedly he grabbed the bottle and dug out one of his shirts. Groping in the darkness, he found a tree branch that would serve as a makeshift torch. He wrapped his shirt around the top of the branch then doused it with whiskey. Careful to keep the match dry, he lit the improvised torch and watched it flare to life.

Fortunately, the storm let up gradually as it swept southeast. Pounding rain became intermittent sprinkles. Raven scanned the terrain. One side of the trail sloped upward and Raven noticed the tree that had been struck by lightning. He was greatly relieved when he saw the bay gelding, its reins dangling, munching on weeds. The other side of the trail tumbled into a labyrinth of deep crevices, boulders and scrub bushes.

Instinct sent him striding across the path to sidestep down the rocks, hoping he could locate Eva before his torch burned itself out. He called her name repeatedly but received nothing for his efforts.

“Raven? Is that you?” Blackowl shouted in Cheyenne.

His shoulders slump in relief. Two sets of eyes were better than one. “Down here!”

“Where is that sidewinder James Archer?” Blackowl asked as he appeared above Raven on the edge of the path. “Dead, I hope.”

“No such luck. He ran off,” Raven muttered.

“Why'd you let him get away?” Blackowl asked, baffled.

“Because Eva is out here somewhere and I can't find her,” he breathed as Blackowl veered around the obstacles to join him. “I saw the flash of gunshots in the darkness then I heard her scream, but I couldn't see what happened.” He handed the torch to his cousin. “Light the way while I search.”

“Paleface!” Blackowl shouted. “Where are you?”

With meticulous precision, Raven and Blackowl reconnoitered the area. After thirty frustrating minutes, they heard a faint moan below them on the hillside. Raven scrambled toward the sound, calling Eva's name every step of the way. He stopped short when the torchlight glowed down on the deep crevice that had practically swallowed her up.

“Eva? Can you tell how badly you're hurt?”

“No,” she mumbled dazedly. “I hurt all over and I'm not sure which pain is serious.” There was a slight pause then she said, “What are you doing here?”

He sent her a withering glance. Did she really think he would abandon her to his stepbrother? “I don't negotiate with kidnappers. I don't follow their commands, either. Besides, I was worried about you.”

“Oh, well that's nice to know.”

Eva smiled, despite the pounding ache in her head and the throb of pain in places she wasn't aware she had. Raven had come after her, bless him. She had figured she was as good as dead after her hapless fall down the mountain at night.

When she took inventory of her scrapes and aches, she realized her hands were bloody from checking the gunshot wound on her shoulder and her arm was stinging something fierce. It hurt to breathe and she figured that couldn't be good. Overall, she felt battered, bruised and exhausted. Nonetheless, she was so relieved to see Raven that she wanted to fling her arms around his neck and hug him for rescuing her from certain death.

As he came toward her, it dawned on her that he wasn't alone. She saw Blackowl holding a torch over his head. When he saw her wave at him, he scurried downhill.

Raven sank down on his haunches to reach out to her, but Eva winced when she tried to grab his offered hand. She heard him swear foully when the torchlight spotlighted her, revealing the bloodstains that trickled across her throat.

“The son of a bitch shot you!” Raven growled in outrage.

“That's because I broke his nose and kicked him in the crotch, as Blackowl instructed,” she panted. “When I made a run for it in the darkness he fired blindly. I don't think the wound is deep. It just burns like hell blazing and so does my arm.”

“I don't care if all you sustained was a scratch,” Raven muttered bitterly. “James will pay dearly, count on it.”

When Blackowl joined him on the ridge to offer a helping hand, Raven crawled into the crevice. Eva whimpered slightly when he hooked his arm around her waist to drag her up beside him.

“You scared me half to death,” he murmured against the side of her neck.

“What? Over a piddling little fall down the mountain? That's child's play compared to what you and Blackowl endure on a regular basis.”

She saw him crack a faint smile, saw those hypnotic green-gold eyes glow in the torch light. “You can drop that tough-as-nails act, sweetheart. I know you're hurting. It's okay. I won't think any less of you if you want to bawl your head off…”

His voice trailed off as he brushed his hand over her hip. “Blackowl, hold the light directly over my head.”

“What's wrong?” Blackowl asked worriedly as he leaned out as far as he could to illuminate the V-shaped crevice Eva had fallen into. Then he barked a laugh. “Like father like daughter, I see.”

Bemused, Eva watched Raven rub his fingers together then she saw the golden flakes sparkling in the light. “Gold?” she chirped, incredulous.

“Yep,” Raven replied. “The rich just keep getting richer. The rain exposed the vein of ore and it stuck to your doehide clothing.”

“I suppose you've heard the tale about how my father's stubborn mule suddenly set his feet and caused him to tumble downhill. He unknowingly unearthed a bonanza while he was trying to scrabble uphill,” she said as he lifted her carefully.

“I hadn't heard the tale,” Blackowl said, and snorted. “Typical paleface. Wandering around Cheyenne haunts and taking what doesn't belong to him.”

Eva gasped in pain when Raven handed her off to Blackowl. Her ribs throbbed painfully and she struggled to breathe. She tried valiantly not to cry, but tears slid down her muddy cheeks nonetheless.

“Did you find my horse?” she panted raggedly. “James didn't kill him, too, did he?”

“Not to worry, the bay gelding is grazing on the west side of the trail,” Raven reported.

“And James? Did you apprehend him?” she asked eagerly.

“No, I came looking for you first and he ran off on foot.”

Eva should have been pleased to learn she was his first concern. And she was, but having that slippery bastard race off with no more than a broken nose and a wet set of clothes offended her strong sense of fair play. She had yet to accomplish her mission. Now she would have to contend with injuries that would slow her down.

“He can't be too far ahead of us,” she mumbled as she held her throbbing rib cage. “We can still—”

“No.”
Raven's tone of voice brooked no argument. “First things first. We will treat your wounds and make camp here for the night.”

She expelled a sigh that indicated her displeasure.

Raven curled his hand beneath her skinned chin and uplifted her gaze to his. “James won't go free, I promise you, Evangeline. He will answer to me for abusing you.”

“No, he will answer to me for humiliating my sister.”

“You two can argue later,” Blackowl said dismissively. “First we tend your injuries and mark your claim.”

“Ouch!” Eva hissed in agony when Raven lifted her into his arms again then strode to the opposite side of the road. “You don't happen to have some of that Indian tea with you, do you?”

“Something better,” Blackowl answered for Raven as he hurried over to dig into his saddlebags.

He returned a moment later to place strange-tasting seedpods between her lips. “Chew vigorously,” he instructed.

Eva did as he asked then sipped from the canteen Raven held up to her. The foul-tasting pods prompted her to take another large gulp of water.

“I need to look at your shoulder,” Raven said before he turned to Blackowl, who had spread a pallet beneath the shelter of a tree. “Give me a few moments to see how many injuries we need to treat, will you?”

He nodded agreeably. “I'll mark the claim site.”

When he left, using a small torch he'd made for himself, Raven eased the shirt from Eva's shoulder. “You're damn lucky James is a lousy shot.” He dabbed poultice on the wound. “Where else do you hurt?”

“My arm,” she replied. “And my ribs, though I doubt there is much you can do about that.”

“The peyote will help you relax.” He bent down to press his lips to hers. “I'm glad you're still alive.”

Eva smiled drowsily, amazed at how much she enjoyed the taste of him and relieved that the Indian remedy took effect immediately. “Even if I'm a pain in the ass?”

“Even if,” he whispered back to her before he kissed her gently.

And that's the last thing she remembered before the world turned pitch-black and swallowed her up in silence.