Newton (Prairie Grooms Book 9) (18 page)

Cozette stopped. “They are near,” she whispered.

Duncan placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Cozette, I want you to stay back with the horses.”

“But Duncan, I can help.”

“Don’t argue, please.” He patted the holster of the gun belt she was wearing, which contained Cyrus Van Cleet’s pearl-handled Smith & Wesson Model 1. “You know what to do with this if there’s trouble. But for my own sanity, I feel the need to keep you safe.”

She sighed and bowed her head. “Yes, Duncan.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “Thank you for understanding.”

She nodded, but her face registered disappointment.

“Duncan,” Harrison said. “Look.”

Duncan noticed the light in the distance. “Perfect.”

“Thank Heaven for chilly nights,” Newton said as he too spied the campfire a few hundred yards away. “They must be close to the tree line.”

“That would be my guess,” Sheriff Hughes said in a low voice as he arrived. “They might take off into the woods if we startle them. And Seth has the horses – about a hundred yards away.”

“The important thing is to rescue my wife,” Newton said. “Worry about the rest later.”

“I don’t want any of them to get away, son,” said the sheriff. “It’s my job to make sure they don’t.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you,” Duncan said. “Now let’s go.” The men drew their guns and headed toward the light, while Cozette went back to relieve Seth and send him forward.

A
rya sprinted
across the prairie as fast as she could. A graceful and quiet runner, she knew the outlaws would have a hard time finding her in the dark.

She followed the tree line south for a time, then cut west back toward town. The outlaws that first took her would most likely head straight for the tree line and into the woods to look, or head straight back to town. After all, where else would a frightened, silly girl go? She was frightened, all right, but by no means silly. If they caught her again, she’d do whatever was necessary to free herself. Her people would have it no other way.

Newton would have it no other way.

She stayed her course, knowing she’d eventually reach the main road that led into Clear Creek from the south. Then she’d simply follow it into town and find Newton as fast as she could – provided he wasn’t already out looking for her. He likely was. She didn’t think he’d be too upset, not once he found out what had happened to her.

Don’t think about that now
, she told herself.
First, get back to town …

She slowed to a jog, keeping a steady pace, and readjusted her breathing. She excelled at long-distance running – she was in her element right now, except for the dark. But this wasn’t the first time she’d run at night. Part of her wished the clouds would part and let the moonlight shine down to light her way; part wanted it dark so her captors couldn’t catch sight of her and give chase.

Her stomach grumbled. She was ravenous, and the sooner she got back to town the sooner she could eat something – and be dealt with by her husband. Better that than be back with those outlaws, though. She was lucky they’d used such bad ropes to tie her up, or she’d never have escaped.

Idiots. Stupider than buffalo. She smiled at the thought and sped back up to a sprint.

After another few minutes, she slowed to a walk, turning around occasionally to see if there were any signs of pursuit. She could see tiny pinpricks of light far across the prairie – that must be where they were searching. Hopefully soon she wouldn’t spot the lights at all. Maybe by then, the only lights she’d see would be the ones from Clear Creek – and what a welcome sight that would be!

Arya took a few deep breaths and started off again at top speed.

She hadn’t gone far when she started hearing shots. There had been only one before, shortly after she’d escaped. But now there were several. She fell into a crouch, scanned her surroundings, but didn’t see any lights other than the ones she’d spied earlier. Everything went deathly still before she heard the faintest shout carry across the prairie. What could be going on? She wasn’t anywhere near, so what was the yelling about?

“Newton!” she whispered. “No!”

She slowly stood and peered at the tiny pricks of light in the distance. What if he’d come to rescue her and fallen into the hands of the outlaws? She hadn’t thought of that until now!

One more shot rang out. More shouting. Then silence again.

Arya’s heart thundered like war drums. They had him. She knew they did. She didn’t know how, but she knew. She took a deep breath, then headed back to rescue him.

C
ozette paced beside the horses
. When she heard the shots, it was all she could do to stay put. She saw tiny lights scattered across the prairie, which had to belong to the men who took Arya. But what were they doing wandering around the prairie?

It could only be one thing. “She escaped,” Cozette whispered, and smiled at the thought. But if Arya had escaped, why the gunshots? Were they shooting at her husband and the others? If so, then why weren’t the men firing back? “This is not good. Not good at all.”

A sound caught her attention and she froze. She tightened her grip on the gun in her hand and put a trace of pressure on the trigger. Her instincts weren’t pushing her to raise the gun or flee, as she’d expected, but she knew she was no longer alone. “Who is there?” she said in a low voice.

“Mrs. Cooke?”

Cozette spun around. “Arya?”

“Yes, it is me. What are you doing out here?”

“We came to rescue you!”

Arya stood in front of her now. “I do not need rescuing. I escaped.”

Cozette tried not to groan. “This is not good. The men have gone to rescue you, but here you are.”

“Oh no. What … what are they shooting at?”

“Each other, what else?” Cozette turned toward the flecks of light. They were forming a cluster, the men gathering in one spot.

Arya followed her gaze. “They have Newton.”

“And Duncan.”

“We must rescue them,” Arya stated.

“Yes. We must.” Cozette looked at her. “There are only the two of us.”

“I will need a weapon,” Arya stated matter-of-factly.

“I understand you can shoot a gun.”

“Yes.”

“Here then, take this one.” She handed the Smith & Wesson to her. “I will explain how to use it on the way. It is different from what you may have used before.”

“No need to explain – I have used one like this. But what will you use?”

“I have my bow and arrows.” Cozette turned slightly to show the quiver on her back.

Arya gasped – out of delight or surprise, Cozette wasn’t sure. “Then let us hurry before they bring harm to our men.”

“That,” Cozette said firmly, “would be most unwise.”

“
U
nbelievable
! Just bloody unbelievable!” Harrison lamented as his hands were lashed behind his back.

“Shut up,” Johnny said with a cackle. He went to stand in front of his prisoners. Duncan, Harrison and Logan stared venomously back. “Just wait ‘til ya see what we’re gonna do to ya!”

“This sounds all too familiar,” Duncan said flatly.

“I cain’t believe it!” Johnny chortled. “This makes
twice
I’ve had ya brothers trussed up on the ground like this!”

“Where’s your dress?” Duncan asked tersely.

“Dress? What ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Ah yes, how could I forget?” Harrison said. “Was he wearing a dress?”

“He might as well have been,” Duncan said. “Considering he sounded like a whiny little girl.”

Johnny stared at them both a moment before he slowly nodded. “Yeah, I ‘member, Jeb had me screamin’ like a girl so’s we could get the drop on ya. Or was it one of yer women that was screaming like a girl and I just whimpered? I ferget.”

Logan faintly recalled the story of the outlaw Jeb and how his gang had captured the Cooke brothers. One of their members had fooled them into thinking he was one of the women they’d taken and unfortunately, Harrison, Colin and Duncan had fallen for it. Now here they sat, bound hand and foot, staring up at the same man. “You’re right,” Logan said. “This is unbelievable.”

“Glad you could join us for the second round, Logan,” Duncan quipped. “Too bad Colin isn’t here.”

“That’s right,” Johnny drawled. “There were three of ya Cookes the last time. And all them pretty women of yers.”

“Where is she?” Newton hissed. Three men dragged his bound body to where the others sat and threw him on the ground just behind them. He struggled to a sitting position. “I said, where is she?”

Johnny backed up a few steps. “Woo-ee, this one’s madder’n a polecat. Better make sure them ropes are nice and tight, boys. We don’t want him gettin’ away.”

“You had better hope I don’t,” Newton said threateningly “Now where is she?”

“That’s a problem we were hoping you could remedy,” another man drawled as he approached, a lantern in his hand. He handed it to Johnny. “Which one of you is the Duke?”

“I am,” Duncan said.

“Duncan …,” Harrison warned.

“They’d find out eventually,” he told him quietly, then faced the newcomer. “What is it you want?”

“Your wife, of course, but she seems to have slipped away.” His eyes slowly drifted to Newton. “Which makes me wonder why this one is so upset.”

Newton quickly glanced at Duncan, who was looking at him over his shoulder. Both quickly came to the same conclusion. “That’s because she’s his sister,” Duncan said.

The man rubbed his chin in thought. “I find it interesting that the woman’s brother would be so adamant about finding her, yet her husband is so calm.”

Duncan shrugged. “I’m a Duke. What do you expect?”

The man looked Duncan over with a cool eye. “You English are a strange lot.”

“How much?” Duncan asked.

“How much what?”

“Ransom. That’s why you took her in the first place, isn’t it?” Duncan looked around at the men now gathering around them. “Looks to me like you lost her.”

“Unfortunately. But we do intend to find her again – with a little help from you, of course.”

“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?” Duncan said. “There’s no need to involve the duchess anymore. How much?”

“I don’t want your money, you fool. I want the woman.”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed the slits. “What the devil for?”

“Precisely. It’s the devil that hired us to get her.”

Duncan gaped at him a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing you’d understand.” He crouched down and got in Duncan’s face. “Now this is what’s going to happen. We’re going to hang on to you fellows for a while until that duchess of yours shows up. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere. I figure she’ll sneak her way back here – and when she does, we’ll grab her and be on our way.”

“Not bloody likely,” Newton hissed.

“You and your sister must be very close,” the man said. “I had no idea she even had a brother. Hmmm …” He stood. “Maybe we better take you along as well. Two-for-one. That ought to be worth something to my employer.”

“Again – what are you talking about?” Harrison asked this time.

The man went to stand before them again. “As you’ll most likely all be dead in the morning, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to tell you a little. Several years ago my employer hired some men to steal a woman. They took a few extras,” he added and glanced at Johnny, who started to chuckle. “Unfortunately, those men weren’t the brightest, and things didn’t go as planned. The woman slipped through their fingers and escaped.

“Well, after that she was too well protected and my employer had other business to attend to. She was important, but not that important, so he left it. Now he wants to finish the job and he hired me to do that. You know, Your Grace, England is a very fascinating country, but I think I’ll stay right here in America from now on.”

Duncan shook himself. “Are you telling me that you’ve been watching my wife?!”

“Now and then. How else did I find out you were coming to America? You left before we had a chance to get her.”

Duncan shook his head. “I don’t believe this! How long has this been going on?”

“Any longer and we’d have already had the job done.”

“Who are you?” Duncan hissed. “Whom do you work for?”

The man smiled. “Me? I’m nobody. A mere businessman down on his luck who saw an opportunity to make some money.”

“And the man you’re working for?” Harrison prompted.

He looked between Duncan, Harrison and Newton. “An Englishman, like yourselves. And that’s more than you need know about him.”

Duncan seethed. “You don’t have to tell me. I can bloody well guess.”

“Really?” their captor asked, amused. “And whom might that be?”

“Thackary Holmes,” Duncan said through clenched teeth.

“Ah, that’s not a possibility, brother,” Harrison said.

“What?! Not a possibility? Of course it is! You yourself wrote and told me that no one found him!”

“We were … saving this as a surprise,” Harrison said hesitantly. “But I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you.”

“Oh boy,” Logan said and rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I say you shouldn’t have kept it from him?”

“Kept what from me?” Duncan snapped.

“You mean you’ve not told him?” Newton asked in shock.

“We were going to do it at the party,” Harrison explained. “We thought it would be a much better place for them both. A safer place, I should say.”

“Oh, good grief,” Logan said and shook his head in resignation. “This is gonna be bad no matter how long you stall.”

“Logan, what are they talking about?” Duncan demanded.

“Don’t answer that, Logan,” Harrison said. “I’ll do it.”

“Do it fast,” Logan retorted.

Their captor stood, hands on hips and shook his head. “You see, this is what I’m talking about. The English never come out and just say what’s on their minds. Instead you go around in circles with every conversation.” He mimed twirling a lasso, then turned to Johnny. “If any of them tries to escape, shoot him. Except that one,” he said, pointing at Newton. “He’s my bonus payment.” He turned on his boot heel and left.

“Tell me what?” Duncan said, ignoring his departure.

Harrison sighed. “Thackary Holmes, that despicable stain on the underdrawers of humanity, is no more.”

“He’s dead?” Duncan asked.

“No,” Newton said from behind him. “He’s my father.”

“I knew that,” said Duncan. “But if Thackary’s not behind this business, then who is?”

“I wasn’t finished,” Harrison said.

“If the man’s dead, then you bloody well are,” Duncan shot back.

“Cutty is my father,” Newton said.

Duncan turned again. “What are talking about back there?”

“He’s telling you that Cutty is his father,” Harrison stated.

“One more trip around and I’m telling him myself,” Logan grumbled.

“Tell me what?!” Duncan asked exasperated.

“Thackary Holmes and Cutty are one in the same, Your Grace,” Newton said calmly. “And I must inform you now that he is very much a changed man – humble, repentant, even heroic. If you try to harm him in retribution for anything he has done to you in the past, that you’ll have to deal with me.”

Duncan slowly turned to look at him. “You’re serious?”

“Quite, Your Grace.”

“Well, now that that’s out in the open,” Harrison stated, “let’s move on to bigger and better things, shall we?”

Logan looked at him and chuckled despite himself.

“Do shut up, will you, Kincaid?” Duncan said. “This business has my head spinning.”

“You should’ve seen what it did to us,” Harrison commented.