Outlaws Of Phantom Canyon (Savage Series) (3 page)

Chapter 2

As Gabriel and Julianna rode on in silence, a loud crack of thunder pulled them out of their own far away thoughts,
as they looked up to the dark gray sky above the mountains ahead of them. A little chuckle escaped Julianna's mouth, causing Gabriel to look at her with his eyebrow raised in question.

Juliann
a replied to his raised eyebrow, "I knew from the sunrise this morning that it was going to rain today, and I was worried I would ruin my beautiful dress if we had to get out of the stagecoach, and help push it through the soggy mud."

"And why is that funny?" Gabriel asked in curiosity.

With a smirk on her face she said, "You've kidnapped me. Pushing the stagecoach in the mud now is the least of my concern, Mr. . . .?"

"My name is Gabriel,
" he said with a big smile, as he couldn't help envisioning the thought of her pushing a stagecoach in the mud. He also thought about how well she handled her new situation, and not even once complained. Maybe she had some sand to her after all.

"Jules, with that nasty storm heading our way, we need to catch up to the rest of the gang before dark. I'm sure you are probably sore from the long hours in the saddle, that you are not use to, but do you think you can stick it out and keep up with me?" Gabriel asked in earnest.

"Yes Gabe, I think I can," Julianna replied wondering how they had got on a personal first name basis so quickly? She didn't know this man well enough to be talking to him in such a way. All her friends called her Julie, but Gabriel had called her Jules, and she liked how it sounded coming from his lips.

The bright sun had fallen behind the snow capped mountains ahead, and the warm temperature was dropping fast as it normally does in a dry desert climate at nightfall. They had almost caught up to the outlaw gang when it started lightly raining on them from the dark clouds above. Julianna had taken her warm cloak off earlier that morning in the stagecoach when the sun had shined brightly on her, and now she did not have it to put on to keep warm.

Gabriel saw Julianna shiver in the cold rain, and reached behind himself to untie his duster from the back of his saddle, giving it to Julianna to put on. "What about you?" Julianna asked concerned.

"
I'm used to this changing weather. I'll be alright till we stop," Gabriel said as he pulled his brown shirt collar and black bandana up around his neck, buttoning his collar. He handed Julianna the leather reins to her gray gelding. "Let's make a run for it and catch up to the gang. They will be pulling off the trail soon to make camp, and we don't want to pass them up."

As they raced ahead on their horses, Julianna was thinking about how a nice hot bath and warm soft bed would feel right now, but no luck in that tonight or anytime soon for that matter. She had resigned herself to her fate, and was determined to make the best of it.

Tonight she knew she would be sleeping on the rock hard ground in the cold freezing rain. She wondered if Gabriel planned on sleeping with her for warmth . . .  That thought scared her, but it also excited her! She couldn't help think about how good his strong arm felt around her slim waist earlier today, when she was sitting in his lap. Her body pressed hard against his, and his hot moist breath on her ear and neck had drove her wild like nothing she'd ever felt before.

Gabriel and Julianna caught up to the rest of the outlaw gang as the gang was turning off the trail
, heading deep into a grove of trees for some bit of shelter from the pouring rain.

The outlaw gang leader, Clayton, clim
bed off his black horse and said, "Boys, we're only staying long enough to rest our tired horses and to eat. A posse won't be too far behind us, so we are going to take advantage of the pouring rain to wash out our horse's tracks. That way they won't know which way we have gone."

Moans came from the rest of the outlaw gang who were tired, soaking wet, and hungry. Tate Buford, an outlaw that had been with th
e gang for six years, spoke out, "We probably wouldn't be running from a posse right now, if Gabriel hadn't taken that damn girl hostage! Victor badly needs to rest from his shoulder wound."

"I'll be alright. I'll make it if someone will help me clean and wrap my sh
oulder. Then I'll be good to go," Victor said despairingly, then took a long swig from the whiskey bottle he had in his saddlebags, to lessen the pain in his shoulder.

Victor was exhausted and in a lot of pain from his bullet wound. But he knew they must keep going, and he didn't want to be responsible for holding the gang back. He had been with the Phantom gang for ten years now, and it was the only family he had. The bullet had went all the way through his narrow shoulder, so he didn't need to worry about digging a bullet out before gangrene set in. It could use stitches, but right now he just needed to keep it clean and wrapped to keep the infection out.

Silently, Gabriel was hoping Victor's bullet wound would not get badly infected and kill him. Gabriel wanted that pleasure for himself. He had waited ten years, and didn't want anything to take away from the torture he intended to inflict on Victor, when the time was right.

"Alex, yo
u help Victor with his shoulder," Clayton ordered.

Alexandra Baxter lost her husband in the war, leaving her penniless.
She had eventually became a prospering Madam in a high dollar whore house in Denver, until she shot a prominent businessman for beating up one of her best girls. She'd been on the run ever since. As a young girl with no brothers, Alex was taught to shoot and hunt by her father, and she was a marksman with a rifle. A year ago the Phantom outlaw gang was looking to add another member, when the name 'Alex' was suggested to them by William Joseph Brown, known as B.J., who owned the Wolf's Den Saloon in the red light district of Colorado City.

They liked the fact that this 'Alex' was a sharp shooter and was on the run from the law, looking for a gang to ride with. Clayton trusted B.J., so he was not concerned with meeting Alex ahead of time
, before B.J. brought Alex to the Phantom gang's hideout. When Clayton and the rest of the gang saw that Alex was a female, and that Alex was short for Alexandra; B.J. thought the gang was going to murder him right then, until he convinced them of the
advantages
of having her in their gang.

While the outlaw gang rested their tired horses for a couple hours, Gabriel tried to make Julianna as comfortable as possible under a wide cedar tr
ee, where it was the driest. He untied her delicate wrists. She was cooperating, so at this point he saw no reason to tie them again.

He brought Julianna some jerked meat and a bottle of whiskey. She hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and was starving. Julianna devoured the jerked meat right away not caring how it tasted or how tough it was. When Gabriel offered her the bottle of whiskey, she refused.

"You need to drink some whiskey," Gabriel told her. "It's going to be a very long, freezing cold, wet ride tonight. I had to help you off your horse, so I know how bad you are already hurting. It will help you to keep warm and ease the pain while you ride tonight."

Julianna didn't want Gabriel to think she was weak, but her body was extremely sore all over, and she hurt in places she didn't even know she had. She had never tasted whiskey as it was the Devil's drink. But right now she figured if God didn't want her to drink it, then he shouldn't have let her get kidnapped. Julianna took the bottle of whiskey from Gabriel and tipped it up, as she had seen the outlaws do, and took a big swallow before Gabriel could stop her. She gasped and coughed, then her eyes started watering as she looked at Gabriel, who started laughing at her. He couldn't help himself, and the more he laughed, the madder she got!

Before she could throw the whiskey bottle at him, Gabriel took it away from her and said, "It's time to go." Gabriel helped her up and helped her into her saddle, before climbing onto his own horse. He felt sorry for her. She was exhausted and hurting, and now was being forced to continue the rest of the night in the freezing cold rain.

The stormy weather had not let up, as lightning struck all around them. The rain was pouring down as they rode in single file; with Victor, Julianna, and Gabriel bringing up the rear. While they had been stopped, Gabriel found Sam's duster tied under a blanket on the gray gelding Julianna was riding, and put it on his soaking wet body to try and keep warm throughout the night.

Levi Pratt was in the front of the pack leading the outlaw gang. He had only been with the gang for a year. The Phantom gang had lost three members a year ago in a bank robbery gone bad. Levi was picked for the job because he was an excellent tracker. Not only could he track an ant over a rock, but he knew how to avoid a posse, hide their trail, and leave false trails.

Riding at night was dangerous to begin with. Often you cannot see holes and drop offs that could cause the horse to fall, breaking a leg and possibly hurting or killing the ri
der. Riding in the pouring rain at night, was close to suicide.

Gabriel didn't like risking Julianna's life riding like this in the dark pouring rain, but he had no choice. If he stopped just for her, then the outlaw gang would think he had gone soft on Julianna, and consider him a threat to the gang. They would have no qualms with killing him, and her. These were ruthless men he rode with, and he could not let his guard down for even just one moment. Again Gabriel silently cursed himself for having gotten Julianna involved.

*     *     *

As the sun started to rise, the rain ceased, and the stormy gray clouds disappeared. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful warm sunny day, but Julianna didn't see
any of it. She was more asleep than awake in her wet saddle. Gabriel felt so sorry for her, but he also felt proud of her. Julianna had hung in there like a real trooper. Not once has she yet to complain. Gabriel chuckled to himself as he remembered how she took that big swig of whiskey. He saw the tears in her eyes as she coughed, and knew it had to of hurt her throat, but she did not say a word. She most definitely had grit!

When he first saw her all prim and proper climbing out of that Barlow, Sanderson, and Company stagecoach with her
self-righteous
attitude, and later demanding he let her go once they were on the trail. He figured he would be ready to kill her by now. Instead, he was wanting to get to know more about her, and that terrified him.

When they had come to a small stream, instead of crossing it, Levi led them up through the stream about a quarter mile, and then back out under a heavy stand of trees. "We'll camp here," he said. Then he climbed down from his exhausted horse, stretching his stiff legs. The rest of the outlaw gang followed sui
t. Once they had their tired horses stripped of their saddles, saddlebags, blankets, and bridles; they took them to the nearby lush green meadow and hobbled them, to graze and rest.

They were all too tired to care about eating right now, as they spread their blankets on the ground under the trees to go to sleep. They were now far enough ahead of the posse, that they could afford to stop and sleep. The horses also needed the rest, and to graze to be able to continue on.

After climbing down from his big b
ay horse, Gabriel told Julianna, "Stay, don't try to get down. I'll be right back." He then took the blankets from the back of their saddles and went to make-up a bed for her, putting one blanket down for her to lay on and the other to cover her up with. Coming back he gently lifted Julianna from her saddle and carried her to the blankets. "Sleep," was all he said to her as she closed her heavy eyes, and was gone to another world as Gabriel left to strip the horses of their gear, and took them out to the lush green meadow to graze.

When Gabriel returned from hobbling their horses, there was no other blanket he could use for himself, so he climbed under the blanket with Julianna. She was so tired that she did not even stir at the movement. To give her as much privacy as possible, he laid on his side facing away from her. As much as he tried not to, he fell
asleep thinking about her . . .

*     *     *

Julianna drowsily woke up to find herself warmly snuggled up to Gabriel, using his broad chest as a pillow. She could not remember him laying down beside her, and instantly was worried if he had done anything to her while she was sound asleep? She was stiff and sore all over from the long ride on horseback, but she was sure she would
know
if he had done something to her. Wouldn't she? She shook that idea from her groggy head. Gabriel might be an outlaw, but he wasn't heartless like the rest of the outlaw gang...  Julianna couldn't believe she was defending the man who had kidnapped her.

Gabriel had been wide awake for a while now, but did not want to disturb Julianna's restful sleep. He knew she needed all the rest she could get right now, so he had laid there and watched her sleep. He sensed that she had woke up, and could tell from the look in her eyes, that for a second, she was scared. He assumed it took her a moment to realize where she was. It never dawned on him that she was worried about what he might have done to her in her sleep
. As she took a relaxing breath Gabriel said, "Good afternoon Jules. I hope you slept well!"

All of Julianna's senses came back to her, and she realized she shouldn't be snuggled up to this outlaw. What was she thinking? Julianna quickly sat up away from him, embarrassed. Gabriel sensed her embarrassment
, but didn't know what to say to make her feel better. "I'm going to go get our horses ready. Why don't you go over to the fire and get some fried bacon, potatoes, and onions to eat," Gabriel suggested as he got up and headed to the lush green meadow, leaving Julianna sitting there all alone.