Ride The Wind (Vincente 3) (33 page)

She needed fresh air, and she was tired of listening to the hammering of the builders. Reese
had said he'd be riding to the west pasture that
morning, and she made up a basket of food and
decided to ride out and surprise him.

She thought Zeb might be in the barn, because he was never far away from her. He
wouldn't mind riding out with her. There had
been no word of Graham Felton, so she'd begun
to relax. Word had reached them that Matthew
had been transferred to serve under the command of Capt. George Armstrong Custer in the
7th Calvary, so there would be no point in Felton
pursuing her any longer. Probably Mr. Felton
had left Texas, because every lawman in the
state was looking for him. She knew that Noble
had put a large bounty on Felton's head, and most likely every bounty hunter in the country
was after him, too.

But Reese was still worried about her safety,
and she tried not to take any unnecessary
chances.

Zeb was nowhere in sight when she reached
the barn, so she saddled her horse and mounted.
When she rode away from the ranch house, she
still hadn't seen Zeb.

She rode to the top of the hill and glanced
about her, overcome as she always was by the
beauty of this land. Reese had a fine ranch here,
and now with the army contract he would soon
have nothing to worry about.

She nudged her horse toward the herd of cattle Reese and Noble were breeding for experimental reasons. The cattle scattered as she
passed through, and she smiled when she saw
several cows heavy with calf. Apparently the experiment was working. Put a bull with cattle,
and you were going to get calves, she thought.

She reached down and touched her abdomen.
She hadn't told Reese yet, but she was sure she
was going to have a baby. Warmth flowed
through her as she thought of his baby growing
inside her. She hoped it would be a boy with
fierce silver eyes and dark hair like his father's.

Lately Reese had been more relaxed, and she
no longer felt such tension in him. She also no ticed that he laughed more these days. Would he
be happy about the baby? She was almost sure
he would be.

She'd tell him tonight. As she rode along, she
planned just what she would say to him. Laughter bubbled out of her, and she spurred her
horse to a faster pace, anxious to see her husband.

Graham Felton had been watching the Starrett
ranch for weeks, just looking for the chance to
catch Saber Vincente alone. He never thought of
her by her married name, because in his mind
she still belonged to the bastard who was responsible for the death of his sister.

He'd grown a beard and let his hair grow long,
and no one seemed to recognize him, not even
in Dallas or Fort Worth, where he was known.
Of course, he took care not to draw attention to
himself when he was around people.

He had set up camp in a secluded, rocky canyon where grass wouldn't grow; Reese Starrett
didn't run cattle there, and it was unlikely that
any of his hands would ride that way.

He climbed up a hill from which he could see
the entire valley, just as he did every day. He
spotted a dust cloud, and as he watched it for a
few moments he could see it was a lone rider.
He lifted his field glasses and trained them on the rider. His mouth curved into a smile.

It was Saber Vincente, and she was alone!

Saber loped at an easy pace, thinking she should
have seen Reese by now. When she heard a rider
behind her, she reined in her horse and waited
for him to approach. It wasn't Reese the man
wasn't tall enough. When he rode closer, a
prickle of fear spiraled down her neck. He wasn't
one of Reese's men, or Noble's, either. He was a
stranger to her.

Instinct warned her to get out of there. She
jabbed her horse with the heel of her boot, and
the blooded animal shot forward at an all-out
run. But when she glanced back, the man
seemed to be gaining on her.

"God," she prayed, "help me it must be Graham Felton!"

Reese was on his way home ahead of his men
when he saw something on the ground just
ahead. Puzzled, he dismounted and discovered
that it was a basket with its contents scattered
about as if it had been dropped. He recognized
the basket as the one Saber always used when
she brought him lunch.

His heart stopped beating, and he glanced
about, taking in everything around him. Something had happened to her! He bent down and looked closely at the hoofprints. She had been
riding fast. He walked a little farther and found
the prints of a second horse; it had also been
running fast.

"Oh, God, no," he cried, leaping onto his
horse. With the expert eyes of a tracker he followed the trail, kicking his horse into a run. The
tracks were fresh. He had to find Saber before
Felton caught her!

He felt as if someone had reached inside him
and ripped his heart out. That crazed fool was
bent on killing Saber, and Reese had to find her
fast.

Felton drew even with Saber and called out for
her to stop. When she didn't obey him, he leaped
off his mount, dragging her off her horse to the
ground. He quickly got to his feet and pulled her
up beside him.

"Didn't you hear me tell you to stop?" he yelled
at her.

Saber was trying to catch her breath. At the
moment all she could think about was whether
the fall had harmed her unborn child. She drew
in several painful breaths before she was able to
stand straight.

"What do you want with me?" she asked angrily.

"Don't you know who I am?" he asked, staring at her for a long moment. "Surely you can
guess."

She looked him over carefully, finally able to
put a face to the man who had caused her so
much pain. His pockmarked face and pale blue
eyes made him look like a wild man, but the
most frightening thing about him was the
crazed look in his eyes. "You're Graham Felton,
and I have no reason to think well of you."

"Now that I see you, Miss Vincente, I know
why that fancy major was so hot to have you."

"I am Mrs. Starrett," she corrected him, hoping she could make him see reason.

"Not to me, you're not. To me you're the reason my sister's dead."

Reese dismounted and grabbed his rifle. Silently
he made his way up the cliff, taking care to stay
out of sight. He could hear Saber talking to
someone, and he flattened his back against the
cliff, his heart drumming with fear for her.

"Mr. Felton, I don't know why you are doing
this to me. I don't even know you."

"Well, I know all about you."

"Then you know I'm not married to Matthew
Halloway. If you have something against him,
take it up with him."

"I'm not a fool, though many people think I am. Do you know the kind of man Major Halloway is?"

"I know he caused the death of your sister."

Reese could hear the fear in Saber's voice.
Every instinct in his body cried out for him to
rush to her aid, but he knew he had to be cautious or Felton might hurt her. He slowly edged
closer until he could see them. Felton had Saber's arm twisted behind her, and his other arm
was about her waist. He couldn't get a clear shot
at Felton because Saber was between them.
Somehow he had to distract the man.

Pain shot through her arm, and when she
tried to move, Felton only pulled it tighter. "Mr.
Felton, the reason I didn't marry Matthew was
because I discovered that he wasn't the man I
thought I knew."

"He's a devil! My sister was just sixteen, blue
eyed and pretty. She always watched Major Halloway when he swaggered into town. He always
teased her and asked her if she could like an
older man."

"She was only sixteen?"

"Yeah. I didn't see what was happening before
my eyes. She'd disappear from the house for
hours at a time, but I was used to her riding off
alone, so I didn't pay it much mind."

Saber saw tears in the man's eyes, and she felt pity for what he must have suffered. "I'm so
sorry."

He yanked on her arm, and she cried out in
pain. "You're not half as sorry as you're going to
be."

"I told you I had nothing to do with your sister's death."

"Maybe not. But killing you will tie a knot in
Halloway's gut. He'll know what it feels like to
lose someone he loves."

Saber realized that Felton's grief for his sister
had driven him to the brink of insanity. There
would be no reasoning with him. She only
prayed that someone would miss her and come
looking for her. But no one would look for her
here.

"My sister killed two people that day," Felton
continued. "She killed herself and the babe Halloway put in her belly."

Saber gasped in horror. "Please let me help
you. I know what you must be suffering. Let's
sit down and talk about it."

"You don't know how I feel." He wiped a huge
hand across his eyes, blotting his tears. "You
didn't have to cut her down from the barn rafter
where she'd hanged herself. You didn't have to
see her beautiful face distorted and red from the
rope cutting into her neck. You didn't see where she'd clawed her neck, trying to undo the rope
at the last moment."

Saber was sobbing now. "I had no idea. Mr.
Felton, I am so very sorry. It must have been
hideous for you. I wish there were something I
could say to make the pain go away, but there
just isn't."

Felton paused, turning her face up to his. "Are
you crying 'cause you're scared, or 'cause you're
sorry about my sister?"

She drew in a breath of air, wishing her body
would stop quaking. "Both, I think," she admitted honestly.

He loosened his hold on her arm. "You look
something like my baby sister. Her hair was
about the color of yours, and you both have blue
eyes." His eyes hardened. "That's probably why
that bastard picked my sister to practice his fornication on. She reminded him of you."

"I'm as appalled by what Major Halloway did
as you are. That's why I could not marry him."

Felton grabbed his head. "No, you're just trying to confuse me. You've got to die. I can't let
him get away with this." He unholstered his gun
and held it to Saber's head. "I'll give you time to
make your peace with God. That's more than my
sister got. They buried her in unconsecrated
ground away from the Christians because they
said she was unclean and unworthy."

Saber raised her head, feeling the gun barrel
cold against her temple. "If you think this will
make your sister rest easier and make you grieve
less about her death, then go ahead and pull the
trigger, Mr. Felton."

Reese waited to hear no more. He stepped forward, his eyes on the man who held Saber's life
in his hands.

"Put the gun down, Mr. Felton. My wife is as
innocent as your sister. She was duped by Major
Halloway just as your sister was."

Felton's eyes held a desperate light, and Reese
recognized a man on the edge of madness. Suddenly Felton shoved Saber away from him and
aimed the gun at Reese. "You can die for Halloway. I hear you're his friend. Though I never
knew friends took women away from each
other."

"I'm your man," Reese told him. "Let my wife
go and shoot me instead. She had nothing to do
with any of this."

Felton frowned and again grabbed the side of
his head with one hand, keeping the gun pointed
at Reese with the other. "You're confusing me! I
came to kill the woman."

"Saber, make him a promise," Reese said,
thinking quickly. "Promise him that if you live,
you will see that his sister is buried in consecrated ground."

She shook her head. She thought of telling Mr.
Felton about her own baby, but she decided
against it. Reese would only grieve twice as
much if he knew she had died carrying his unborn child. "Reese, I can't let him kill you."

"Promise him, Saber! Tell him you'll see to his
sister's burial in the churchyard," Reese said
forcefully.

"No!" she cried, reaching for Reese. "Mr. Felton, don't listen to him! He's only doing this so
you'll let me live." She turned her sad gaze on
Reese. "Don't you know I wouldn't want to live
in this world if you weren't in it? I love you - I
have from the first."

In that moment their gazes locked, and their
eyes said the many things that had gone unspoken between them from the first. Love radiated
from Reese's silver eyes, and Saber's tear-bright
gaze was gentle with love.

Saber was the first to see Felton cock the hammer on his gun. All she could think about was
that he was going to shoot Reese, and she
couldn't allow that to happen. She whirled
around, her feet almost tangling in her gown,
and dove at Reese. "No, not him," she cried. "Not
my husband!"

Reese caught her in his arms and tried to
shove her away, but the gun fired, and her body
jerked as the bullet tore through her back.

As he cradled her to him, a tear rolled down
her cheek. "I... couldn't let him hurt you,
Reese." She licked her lips. "Don't grieve for...
me."

Rage and unbearable grief tore at Reese's insides. He felt the hot, sticky blood beneath his
hands, and Saber's head slumped over on his
shoulder.

Felton seemed to be shocked into stillness by
the sight of Saber's blood. But the urge to kill
coiled inside Reese like a venomous snake. Gently he laid Saber down and touched her cheek.
Her eyes were closed. She had sacrificed her life
for his. Like her, he didn't want to live in a world
without her.

"You murdering bastard," Reese cried, diving
at Felton. The gun flew out of his hand, and the
two men struggled on the ground. Reese, being
the stronger, pinned Felton's hands above his
head. "This is the day you die!" he said in a
growl.

Grasping the now docile man about the waist,
he rolled them both to the edge of the cliff,
where there was a two-hundred-foot drop.
When Reese's intentions became clear to Felton,
he began struggling and clawing to get away
from the edge.