The Independent Bride (43 page)

It seemed to Abby that flashes of light came from all directions. The sound of rifles exploding into the night slammed into her ears like a physical force, bounced about in her head as if they’d taken on solid weight. She felt as though madness were all around her.

“Keep an eye out for our flanks,” he warned Larson and Hobie.

“I’m worried about my back,” Hobie said.

“Orman is covering us.”

“I thought he was watching the herd,” Abby said.

Abby still found it difficult to believe she was in a life-and-death struggle, but the sound of bullets smashing into the sand, rocks, and tree trunks was rapidly convincing her. She wasn’t willing to accept defeat at the hands of some thieving men who were cowardly enough to attack a woman at night. That made them even more despicable than Albert. She aimed her rifle at a gun flash and squeezed the trigger.

The sound of a man screaming in agony made Abby’s blood run cold. She looked around to make sure Bryce was still safe, that neither Larson nor Hobie had been bit. Her body sagged with relief when she saw all were safe.

“Who got that one?” Larson asked.

“The colonel,” Hobie said. “Now pay attention. We can’t depend on him to save all our hides.”

Abby realized that applied to her as well. These men were in danger because of her. It didn’t matter that she’d paid them. She had to do her part to make sure they came out of this alive. She aimed, fired, and was rewarded by a loud yelp.

“Congratulations,” Bryce said. “I think you grazed one.

A bullet smashed into the trunk of the cottonwood she was hiding behind and sprayed her hair and clothes with pieces of bark and wood fibers.

“Get down!” Bryce shouted.

She raised her head long enough to fire at another flash, then dropped back into the bottom of the stream-bed.

“Stay here and keep them busy,” Bryce said. “I’m going to try to get behind them.”

“You can’t go out mere by yourself,” Abby said.

“No one knows we’re here,” Bryce said. “In a protracted gun battle, they’ve got the advantage. They could keep us pinned down until we exhaust our ammunition.”

Abby realized she’d subconsciously expected help. She couldn’t imagine being anywhere so isolated that a gunfight could take place without anyone else hearing it. She started to argue with Bryce, but he was already running down the dry streambed. Moments later he disappeared into the dark.

Abby didn’t know what force impelled her to action, but she leapt to her feet and followed him.

She couldn’t catch Bryce. He moved too swiftly through the brush. It was all she could do to keep him in view. From time to time she lost sight of him—her skirts were a real problem—but she refused to be stopped. It wasn’t long before Bryce had gone far enough around the attackers’ flank to circle back. Realizing she was behind them now and unlikely to be seen or heard because of the gunfire, she moved more swiftly to get closer to Bryce.

Up ahead Bryce slowed, then stood up. He appeared to be trying to locate the positions of the people below. If the rustlers found themselves caught in a crossfire, they’d be sure to run. With two guns in front and two guns behind, even the larger force of rustlers would feel they were too exposed to carry on the fight.

Bryce raised his rifle, appearing to be waiting to make sure of his target. She raised her rifle, too, ready to give supporting fire.

That was when she saw a man rise up out of the brush behind Bryce, his rifle pointed at Bryce’s back.

Chapter Twenty-six

That man was Luther Hinson.

Abby couldn’t believe how calm she felt. She didn’t have to stifle the impulse to scream, to shout a warning at Bryce, to panic or faint. She calmly swung her rifle around, took quick aim, and fired.

She couldn’t tell if she’d seriously injured Hinson, but he dropped his rifle. Bryce whirled to see who’d saved. his life. He couldn’t see her face in the dark, but it was impossible to mistake her silhouette. Abby didn’t know what he might have said to her, for at that moment a bullet smashed into the rocky ground close to her feet.

“Get down!” Bryce shouted. “They know we’re behind them now.”

It seemed the number of attackers had doubled. Bullets crashed into the ground all around her. Abby found a small depression and flung herself into it, but Bryce was firing at the men below. Not willing to be useless, she crawled several feet, then fired.

“Keep up a steady fire,” Bryce said. “They’re trying to escape.”

Less than a minute later the firing stopped.

“They’re gone,” Bryce said. He quickly covered the distance between them, swept Abby up into his arms, and kissed her soundly. Abby knew she shouldn’t allow him to continue thinking he could give up his career for her, but she couldn’t resist these few moment in his embrace. After being afraid he might be hurt, she needed reassurance that her folly hadn’t brought him any harm.

“Are you all right?” Bryce asked.

“Except for a skinned knee and shattered nerves, I’m fine,” Abby said in a shaky voice. “What’s in a little gunfight to upset a girl?”

Bryce chuckled. “Nothing if that
girl
is Abby Pierce. Let’s check on Hinson.”

But Hinson had vanished. A shattered rifle left on the ground showed what Abby had hit.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Abby asked.

“I don’t know. Right now all I care about is that you’re safe.”

“We need to make sure the others aren’t hurt.”

All three men were unharmed.

“Let’s have some breakfast and get these cows on the move,” Bryce said. “The sooner we reach the reservation, the sooner I can have my woman to myself.”

They finished breakfast and were on the move at dawn. Thirty minutes later they saw Lieutenant Collier and a detachment of soldiers coming toward them. Bryce and Abby rode forward to meet them.

“I caught these men running away about an hour ago,” Collier said, grinning at Bryce. “You wouldn’t happen to know what set them off, would you?”

Abby saw several men she didn’t know, but her gaze settled on two she did. Luther Hinson sat astride his horse glaring at her, his left hand wrapped in a bandage covered with blood.

“Seems someone shot him through the hand,” Collier said.

“Abby did when he tried to shoot me in the back.”

Ray Baucom’s arm was in a sling. “Who got this one?” Collier asked.

“Abby again,” Bryce said. “I heard a yell after one of her shots.”

“Ma’am, I sure am glad I’m on your side,” Collier said, considerably impressed by her marksmanship.

“It was pure luck,” Abby said.

“I considered turning them over to the local sheriff,” Collier said, “but attacking the commander of a United States fort makes this a military matter. Seems the commander wasn’t wearing his uniform, so the scallywags wouldn’t know they were putting their necks in the army’s noose.”

Collier was grinning. If Abby hadn’t been so in love with Bryce, she’d have given him a hug and a kiss on the spot.

“In that case I suggest you lock them up until the commander can put his uniform back on and decide what to do with them,” Bryce said.

“You got nothing on me,” Hinson said.

“Nothing but rustling, attempted murder, arson, and cheating the Indians of nearly everything the government has given them.”

“You can’t prove anything.”

“I can swear you were going to shoot Bryce in the back,” Abby said.

“Being caught with rustlers pretty much makes you one of them,” Bryce said. “Then there’s the matter of the fire at the trading post. My daughter saw you throw a match through the window. That fire could have killed both Abby and her sister.”

“No court is going to believe a kid,” Hinson said.

“How about Abner Pierce’s death? We have a witness who says it wasn’t an accident, that the two of you killed him.”

“You can’t have a witness,” Hinson said, “because we didn’t do it.”

“He saw you stop the wagon,” Bryce said. “While Baucom talked to Abner, you came up behind him, hit him over the head so hard you killed him, then tried to make it look like an accident. You didn’t contact me because you knew I’d realize Abner would never lose control of a wagon. You’ll both hang.”

“Hinson didn’t mean to kill him,” Baucom said. “We were just going to make him hand over the contract.”

“Shut up, you fool,” Hinson said.

“Hinson said it was better that he was dead, that he’d never have given up the contract.”

Hinson tried to attack Baucom, but the soldiers wrestled him to the ground.

“I’m not going to be hanged for something you did,” Baucom yelled at Hinson.

“Lock them up,” Bryce said.

“Where did you find a witness?” Abby asked.

“I didn’t. I was bluffing.”

“But how did you know what happened?”

“I guessed Hinson was the brains behind the scheme to steal the beef and murder your father. Baucom was just greedy. He pretended not to want the beef contract to deflect suspicion from himself, but I suspected he’d draw the line at murder.” He turned to Lieutenant Collier. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

“Where are you going to be?”

Bryce winked at Abby. “Working under cover.”

Bryce had insisted Abby and Moriah have supper with him their first night back at the fort. He said she was too tired to worry about cooking and Moriah deserved a break after having the store all to herself for so long. Much to Abby’s surprise, Moriah made no objection. Abby felt bad that Zeb had worked so hard to make sure everything was just right because she had been too nervous to eat more than a few bites. She’d spent the evening wondering what Bryce was going to say.

She knew the time had come when Zeb put brandy and coffee on the table and left. Pamela had been bouncing in her seat all evening as if she had a secret it was nearly impossible to keep to herself. Bryce had kept up a steady flow of conversation, smiling, even joking, but there was an underlying solemnity to his tone that made Abby uneasy. Despite the show he was putting on, he was on edge.

“I expect this is going to be the most important evening of my life,” Bryce said after Pamela had very carefully poured coffee for Abby and Moriah. “I’m not at all sure tilings are going the way I want” He picked up an envelope and passed it to Abby. “There’s a telegram inside. It was waiting for me when I got back today.”

“Why are you giving it to me?’ Abby asked.

“Because it’s about you.”

Abby knew without asking that it was from the police in St. Louis. Who else would go to the expense of sending a telegraph message about her? And the only reason she could imagine for sending such a message was that they’d finally found some evidence they could use against her. Her heart felt like lead in her chest. Why had she ever thought she loved Albert? Why hadn’t she turned him in the moment she found out what he’d done instead of giving him two weeks to return the money?

“Go ahead and open it,” Bryce said. “You must know what it says.”

“Have you read it?” she asked.

“Yes. It was addressed to me.”

“You might as well tell me what it says.”

“You don’t want to read it for yourself?”

“I expect I’ll have plenty of time for that.”

“If you’re sure.”

Abby nodded.

“It’s from the chief of police. It says Albert Guy has admitted he lied when he implicated you. He says you had no part in the embezzlement, and that once you found out what he’d done, you gave him two weeks to return the money before you reported him. In a nutshell, you are completely cleared of all suspicion. The chief promised to send a newspaper clipping of the story.”

“I knew it all the time,” Pamela crowed. “I knew you’d never do anything wrong.”

Abby looked up at Bryce, hardly able to believe her ears.

“I knew it, too,” he said. “Some people simply can’t do anything wrong. They don’t know how.”

Abby knew she was smiling even though her eyes were filling with tears of relief and happiness. “You said I did the wrong things all the time.”