Desperate Hearts (11 page)

Mitch raged inside at the sight of Sam Wiley’s grip on Elizabeth’s neck as he held a cocked six-gun to her head. Four other men with guns sat mounted on their horses, holding three more horses that were saddled and ready for a quick
escape.

“Shoot me, and this gun goes off, taking this little gal down with me!” Wiley shouted gruffly. He was a big man, and Elizabeth looked so small and helpless in his grip. Mitch could see the terror in her eyes, and it reminded him of another woman helpless in a man’s grip, her face pummeled until she was nearly unrecognizable. The memory of his mother’s beating when he was too small to help her would live with him
forever.

“Send my brother out, Brady, or I ride off with this little lady here!” Wiley yelled. “And you won’t like what we do to her! Send Jake Snyder out, too! And you come out yourself—unarmed!”

“What do you want us to do, Mitch?” Randy asked, standing at the other window and gripping his
rifle.

“Let them
out.”

“What?” Benny
asked.

“You heard me,” Mitch answered, still watching Sam Wiley. He wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in the man’s head, but Wiley was right. If he was hit, his cocked pistol would go off and Elizabeth would be dead.
Damn
her! This would be a lot easier if he didn’t care so
much.

“That sonofabitch!” Len Gray grumbled. “He won’t get away with this! I’d like to see him hang tomorrow right along with his
brother.”

“We’ll make sure they
both
hang,” Mitch answered. “Right now we’ll just let him
think
he’s getting away with
this.”

Benny unlocked Hugh Wiley’s cell and Wiley walked out, Jake Snyder following close behind. Wiley grimaced at the pain in his hand. “I
told
you my brother would come for me,” he sneered at Mitch. “And I’ll pay you back for smashing my fingers. I’ll smash every bone in your
body!”

The look Mitch gave him caused Wiley to back away. “Enjoy your five minutes of freedom,” Mitch told him, moving away from the window. He laid his rifle on a table and removed his six-gun from its holster. “Get your ass out that
door.”

“I want a
gun.”

“Let your brother give you one. You’ll not get one from
me.”

Wiley spit at Mitch. “You’re fixin’ to make a mess of this, ain’t
you?”

“I’m just doing what your brother asked so he’ll let the woman
go.”

Wiley smiled nervously. “You know damn well Sam won’t let her go right away. If he did that, your men would shoot him and me both soon as she’s free. He’ll take her with us for a ways, for
insurance.”

“I don’t doubt that. Now get
going.”

Hugh hesitated and Jake Snyder looked confused and afraid. “Go on, Hugh! This is our chance. Do you want to feel a rope around your neck tomorrow? I’d rather go down with a bullet than get my neck broke and my breath cut off. It’s a hell of a way to die, Hugh!”

Wiley kept his eyes on Mitch. “I’m just tryin’ to figure what this bastard vigilante has in
mind.”

“There’s no time for that. Just
go!”

“Shut up, Jake!”

“The hell with you!” Jake made for the door. “I’m comin’ out, Sam!” he yelled. He opened the door and walked
outside.

“Hurry it up!” Sam told him. “Go mount
up!”

With the door open, Mitch could see Jake walk around Elizabeth and climb up on a horse. “You’re next,” Mitch told Hugh. “Let’s get this over
with.”

Hugh stood there a moment, eyeing Mitch closely. “I don’t trust you, you sonofabitch. Somethin’ tells me you don’t give a damn what happens to that little lady out
there.”

“It’s up to you, Wiley. You can die today…or tomorrow. You know damn well that if I let you ride off right now, whether that woman is with you or not, I’ll find you. And you and your brother will
both
hang.”

Hugh Wiley looked around at the others. Randy just smiled. Benny Carson shrugged and Len Gray spit tobacco juice on Wiley’s
boots.

“A man ought not hide behind a woman’s skirts,” Len snarled. “You and your brother just keep diggin’ the hole deeper and
deeper.”

Hugh swallowed, glancing
outside.

“Get the hell out here, Hugh!” Sam shouted. “’Fore I choke this little lady to
death!”

Hugh took a deep breath and headed out. Mitch glanced at Len. “You know what to do.” He walked out unarmed, his hands in the air and his gaze fixed on Sam Wiley while Hugh ran over to climb up on one of the free horses. “My men are inside with guns leveled on you,” he told Sam. “They won’t shoot as long as you ride off without the
woman.”

Hugh grinned. “Come on, Mitch. I ain’t that stupid. She’s goin’ with us. It’s the only way there won’t be no
shootin’.”

Mitch shook his head, refusing to look at Elizabeth because it tore at his heart to see her fear. “You take her, we start shooting,” he told Sam. “She’s better off dead than going with the likes of you. I mean it, Sam. I’ll let her die
first.”

Elizabeth let out a
whimper.

“The only reason I’m letting Hugh go is so you leave the woman behind,” he told Sam. “That’s it. You can shoot me dead now if you want, but half the town will witness it—you shooting down an unarmed man and kidnapping an innocent young woman. You didn’t think this through very well, did you, Sam?”

Sam glanced at the jail to see a rifle leveled out of each front
window.

“Let her go, Hugh,” Mitch repeated. “If you want any hope of getting out of here alive, let her
go.”

“Damn it, Sam, you shouldn’t have done it this way!” Hugh yelled at his brother. “It was damn stupid! You never did think with your head on
straight!”

“I got you out of there, didn’t I?” Sam growled, eyeing Mitch
steadily.

“Sure, but you’d better let that woman go if you want to make it to the end of the
street!”

Sam’s breathing quickened. “I got your word you’ll let us ride off?” he asked
Mitch.

Mitch nodded. “My word as sheriff of
Alder.”

A crowd had gathered, a mixture of businessmen, miners, and saloon girls, all waiting with bated breath. The air hung completely silent for a moment. Sam Wiley finally let go of Elizabeth and gave her a shove so hard, she fell
forward.

Mitch immediately dove to the ground to cover Elizabeth as bullets started flying. Women in the crowd screamed and everyone ran for cover. Sam and Hugh Wiley both went down, and three of the other four men ducked for cover. Jake Snyder tried to ride off while shooting back at Randy, Benny, and Len, who came running out of the jail with flames shooting from their gun barrels as they unleashed a round of bullets. Randy ducked and rolled toward
Mitch.

“Here!” He tossed a six-gun to Mitch. Mitch stayed on top of Elizabeth as he took a last shot at Jake Snyder. The man yelled out and fell from his
horse.

By then the crowd had corralled the other three men, who raised their arms and gave themselves up. Snyder lay dead in the street from Mitch’s
bullet.

Len, Benny, and Randy all proceeded to round up the living, including Sam and Hugh, who’d been wounded but not killed. Sam was screaming with the pain of a bullet in his gut. He was dragged to the jail while someone went to get Doc
Wilson.

“Wounded or not, these two will hang tomorrow,” Len
shouted.

Mitch eased off of Elizabeth. She sat up and just stared at him wide-eyed, her face red from being half choked, tears leaving clean lines where they trickled through the dust on her face. Her ears rang from all the gunfire. Mitch scooped her into his arms as he rose and carried her down the middle of the street toward Ma Kelly’s. People stared and mumbled to each other about the new woman in town and how Mitch Brady had risked his life to save her…yet
again.

Elizabeth laid her head on Mitch’s shoulder and sobbed. Mitch held her
closer.

“Mitch, I’m so sorry!” Ma Kelly apologized as she opened the front door and let Mitch carry Elizabeth inside. “They held me back and grabbed Elizabeth soon as you left. Is she all
right?”

“She will be. She’s just shaken up.” Mitch carried Elizabeth down the hallway and up the back stairs to her room. Ma followed behind, opening the door to Elizabeth’s room so Mitch could lay her on her
bed.

“I’ll get a rag and some cool water,” Ma told
Mitch.

Mitch stopped her. “What about you, Ma? You
okay?”

“Oh, it takes a lot to bring down this old buzzard,” she answered. “I’m all right.” She patted Mitch’s arm. “You tend to that little gal
there.”

Ma left, and Elizabeth rolled away from Mitch, lying on her side. “I hate this town! Why did I come
here?”

Mitch leaned over and gently smoothed back her hair where it had fallen from its pins. “That’s what I’d like to know, Elizabeth. Why
did
you come
here?”

“I can’t tell you. And right now I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed. “Just go
away.”

Mitch pulled a chair close to the side of the bed. “I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t blame you for hating this town, but there really are some good people here, Elizabeth. All that’s happened—it’s not the usual here—not this bad, I mean. I’m sorry you were introduced to Alder this
way.”

“I came here to be left alone, and all I’ve been is the center of everyone’s attention.” She managed to sit up straighter, wiping at her eyes with shaking fingers. “I’m sorry. I’m acting like a
child.”

“My God, Elizabeth, you have a right to cry. I’m so goddamn sorry about all of this. I should have seen it coming.” He put his head in his
hands.

Elizabeth moved to the edge of the bed, reaching into her pocket to find a handkerchief. “What about you? What about that
wound?”

Mitch looked down at himself, realizing the site of his wound stung like crazy. He saw a spot of blood. “I guess diving to the ground with you opened things up
again.”

“Oh, Mitch, go see Doc Wilson, please!”

He sighed and leaned back in the chair, running a hand through his hair. “I will soon. I hope you know I didn’t mean it when I said I’d let you die. I would have let Sam Wiley blow a hole right through my belly to get you away from him, if that’s what it
took.”

Elizabeth sniffed and wiped at more tears. “I was hoping you were just
bluffing.”

Mitch wanted to smile at the smeared dirt and tears on her cheeks. Even when she was a mess, she was beautiful. “I feel like an ass. I should have realized Sam might pull something like this. I should have sent a man over here to keep an eye on you and Ma till the hanging was
over.”

Elizabeth looked him over. “Your arm is
bleeding.”

Mitch looked at his right forearm. “Just a scrape from tackling you to the ground. I hope I didn’t hurt you. I’m not exactly a lightweight. You’re lucky I didn’t break
something.”

“My shoulder hurts, but that’s all. It all happened so fast. When you pushed me down and covered me, I thought for sure you’d been shot and
killed.”

Mitch smiled sadly. “Does that mean you would have
cared?”

“Of course I would have cared. You risked your life for
me.”

“Well it wasn’t just me, you know. I had to rely on my men knowing what to do when I tackled you to the
ground.”

“You must really trust
them.”

“In what we do, you
have
to have men you can trust. The fact remains, none of it would have happened if I’d done my job right. I guess this wound and all the other things that happened distracted me.
You
distract me. Since you came to town, Elizabeth Wainright, I haven’t been
myself.”

Elizabeth looked at her lap. “Then you need to stop following me around and worrying about me. I’m no one to you, Mitch. Three days ago, you didn’t even know I existed. I chose to come here, and it’s up to me to decide what to do now. It’s not your
worry.”

“It
is
my worry. And it’s not true that you’re no one to me. There is something special about you
that…”

He trailed off when Ma Kelly returned with a wet cloth and two cups of coffee on a small
tray.

“You two had better get some hot coffee in you.” She set the tray on a table beside the bed and used the cloth to gently wipe Elizabeth’s face. Elizabeth took the cloth from
her.

“I can do it, Ma. I’ll be all
right.”

“You sure? You’ve been through an awful lot in the last three days, little
lady.”

“Believe me, I’ve been through
worse.”

Mitch came alert at the remark. He watched her carefully as he drank some of the coffee while Elizabeth wiped dirt from her face as best she could without a
mirror.

“I really am not one to cry so easily,” she told Mitch. “It’s just that when you picked me up…” She reddened. “It just felt good to lean on someone.” She set the cloth aside. “It doesn’t mean I intend to lean on you or anyone else under normal conditions. And it doesn’t mean I’m a helpless
waif.”

Mitch leaned closer. “I don’t think of you that way one little bit. Whatever brought you here, Elizabeth, it took courage. I admire that. I just wish you would tell me what it is you’re running from—how I can help
you.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t. I still don’t know you well enough to completely trust you.” She raised her chin defiantly. “One thing you
can
do is teach me how to use that gun. I would have gladly shot Sam Wiley with it earlier if it had been loaded and
ready.”

Mitch grinned. “The day after tomorrow. Let things calm down from the hanging.” He drank some coffee. “And I intend to send a man over here to sit in Ma’s parlor and keep an eye on things until then. With Sam and Hugh both wounded, it’s not likely anything will happen now, but we can’t be any too careful. Hugh Wiley’s wife, Trudy, is more man than woman, and she can be as vengeful as her husband’s brothers. She’s a tough rancher’s wife, who can use a gun and stand up to any man with it. I’ll have to watch out for her the same as any of Wiley’s brothers or ranch hands. I’m just embarrassed that this happened at all. I should have realized they might use you to get what they
want.”

Their gazes held. “Because they think you’re sweet on me, I suppose. It’s a little embarrassing to be talked about that way when no one even really knows me yet. And for heaven’s sake, how can they think such things when we still barely know each
other?”

Mitch noticed a small cut on her lip. He dearly wanted to beat the hell out of Sam Wiley. He leaned back in the chair. “Folks around here are just hungry for gossip and news,” he answered. “A pretty young girl with a mysterious past and no escort comes to town…not just in an ordinary way, but the victim of a stagecoach robbery, riding into town with a vigilante, the extra horses carrying two dead bodies… All this has made you the center of attention, and because you’re young and beautiful and unattached, you’re a woman wanted by practically every man in town, most of them still trying to figure out if you’re a lady or…something less than a
lady.”

Elizabeth pushed back a strand of hair. “And what do
you
think I
am?”

“You already know what I
think.”

“Well, you might think I’m a proper lady, but I’m still trying to decide if you’re a proper gentleman,” she answered. “Other than Ma Kelly, I’ve reasoned that your only female friends are
not
ladies, and I’ve seen how rough and unfeeling you can
be.”

Mitch shrugged. “It’s pretty hard to find female friends out here who
are
ladies. A man doesn’t have a whole lot of choice. And as far as being rough and unfeeling, I grew up
having
to be that way.” Damn if this young woman didn’t have a way of making him open up about
himself.

“How did you end up out here?” she
asked.

Mitch shifted in his chair. “I drifted south, fought in the war for a while, then headed west just to see what it was like. I ended up defending a few people, wound up in a gunfight, and got named the local lawman without even saying I wanted to do it. I rode with vigilantes for a while in an attempt to end a range war and cattle rustling, and now here I am, just doing my job.” He looked her over. “I was really worried you’d get hurt bad out there, and it would have been my fault. It won’t happen again, I
promise.”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to promise me anything. I’m not your responsibility, Mitch. You shouldn’t let it get so personal, if it means endangering
yourself.”

Mitch rose and walked to the door. “I don’t have any choice. Feelings have a way of shoving themselves unwanted into a person.” He studied her lovely green eyes and saw the frightened girl behind them. “I’m real sorry about what happened
today.”

She looked away. “Thank you.” She folded her arms, appearing nervous and embarrassed. “Please go see Doc Wilson. I have to admit that I’m not sure what I would have done if you were killed today. I guess I would have moved on to another
town.”

“Does that mean you’re definitely staying? You said you hated it
here.”

She faced him. “You have to teach me how to use that gun, don’t you? I guess that’s reason enough to stay for now. Besides, I really do think I could make my way here by teaching and writing. What those men did isn’t the fault of the rest of the town. I at least have a friend in Ma Kelly…and you, I
guess.”

They stood there frozen in the moment, both wanting to say things it was too soon to
say.

“I…it’s just difficult for me to trust anyone, Mitch, let alone someone I’ve known such a short time. After my father died, my mother turned to someone she thought she could trust, someone she’d known for years, and it ended in
tragedy.”

Mitch frowned. “Elizabeth, whatever happened to your mother shouldn’t mean you have to live the rest of your life all alone, never trusting anyone and never asking for
help.”

She held his gaze. “Isn’t that what
you’ve
done most of your
life?”

Mitch put his hat back on, smiling softly. “You’ve got me there.” He nodded to her. “Get some rest. Someone will be here tonight and tomorrow to keep watch until the hanging is over.” He hesitated. “You sure you’re
okay?”

“I’m sure. I guess it’s kind of like with you…I’ve been through some things that toughened me
up.”

He ached to hold her. “I wish you’d share those things with me, Elizabeth.”

She turned away. “You’d better go. It doesn’t look good, you being alone with me here in my room. Heaven knows we’re both providing food enough for gossip. We don’t need to add fuel to the
fire.”

“Sure.” Mitch forced himself to turn and go out the door. It was the hardest thing he’d done in
years.