Timeless Passion: 10 Historical Romances To Savor (133 page)

Hawke was pulling up his pants when the sharp click of a gun being cocked echoed in the cave. Kara was on the other side of the rock outcropping where she had left her clothes. She ducked down frantically looking for her gun, hoping whoever was out there hadn’t seen her. She was dismayed to hear a familiar, menacing voice come out of the darkness.

“You just come out from there real slow like, Miss Kara.”

A shiver of fear raced through her. She hoped never to hear that leering voice again. Standing slowly, clutching the towel tightly around her, and using her clothes to shield her from his reptilian stare, Kara stood up and looked into a face that haunted her dreams.

“Well, now. I seemed to have found me a couple o’ lovebirds.” Black stepped into the light, his eyes shifting back and forth, examining the couple in front of him. “Yep, looks like my luck might be changin’. Imagine my surprise finding this place.” A wicked grin split his face when he saw Kara wrapped only in a towel. “And you, all ready for me.” His gaze raked over her. He wiped a dirty hand across his mouth like someone who had just bitten into a juicy piece of meat.

Kara felt the fear rise like bile in her throat. She tried to move closer to Hawke, inching her way over to him, but Black leveled the gun barrel at Hawke’s chest.

“Stop right there. It’d be a pure pleasure for me to put a slug in that big bastard after what he did to me, but I’m not ready to kill him … yet.”

The clenching of his fists and the twitching of the muscles in his jaw were the only outward signs of the fury Hawke was controlling.

“I should have wrung your neck in the barn.” His growl echoed on the cavern walls. “Don’t think you’ll live this time, Black.”

“Mighty brave words mister,” Black chortled as he jiggled the gun. “You seem to be forgittin’ who’s holding the gun. Might be I should just shoot you now. That way I don’t have to worry about you while I break the little bitch and ride her hard.” He looked over at Kara licking his lips. “But then you’d miss all the fun havin’ to watch.”

Black motioned to her with his other hand. “You come over here to me. I promised you a ride you’d never forget.” His eyes narrowed his tongue darted out, like a snake tasting the wind. “Right nice of you to have yourself all naked for me, honey. Now get over here, or I’ll shoot the Englishman — but not in the heart.” The barrel of the gun dipped towards Hawke’s midsection. “Nope, I’ll gut shoot him and he’ll die nice and slow and painful like, but he’ll still able to watch me take what he thinks is his.”

Still clutching her clothes in front of her, Kara began moving slowly towards Black. She desperately hoped he could not see her fumbling under her clothes to get her hand around the grip of her gun.

As she drew even with Hawke, he put out his arm to stop her moving further forward. Looking at him, she could see the tightly coiled fury in his body. She didn’t know how to let him know she had her gun without alerting Black. She couldn’t get him to look at her. His attention was fully focused on Black.

• • •

“What is mine,” Hawke’s voice was low and lethal as he glared at the smaller man. “Is
mine
. I do not share my possessions. I promise you this Black.” He stepped forward, hoping to intimidate the smaller man with his size. He saw the gun swing up jerkily towards his chest again. Good. He had a better chance the shot would go wild and miss him. “I
will
kill you before you can lay a hand on her.”

With a roar he charged. Kara screamed his name as Black stumbled backwards. The roar of gunfire exploded in the cavern.

Hawke felt a dull thud and then a burning pain in his shoulder as he tackled Black, driving him into the ground with his body. Ignoring the pain, he reared back preparing to pummel the other man.

Black was not struggling underneath him. Peering intently at the man beneath him, he saw a blooming patch of blood on his shirt. Black was dead. Shot.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Kara, her eyes enormous and unfocused, all the color drained from her face. The gun, smoking, was still in its holster and covered by her clothes. She had fired through her clothes and killed Black.

Hawke stood slowly and made his way to her. The gun, holster, and her clothes slipped from her numbed fingers. Her eyes closed and tears slid silently down her cheeks.

Wrapping his arms around her, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Hawke kissed her gently on the top of the head.

“Kara, love, it’s all right. It’s over.” Putting his hand under her chin he tilted her head back. Eyes crystalline with tears looked into his. Deep wracking sobs shook her body as the shock began to wear off.

“Lass, you’re safe. I’ll never let any harm come to you.” He stroked her damp hair from her face and kissed the tears from her eyes.

“Oh, God, I thought he had killed you,” Kara cried. “I couldn’t get my finger on the trigger, and then you lunged at him.” Disbelief clouded her eyes. “How could you have jumped at a man holding a gun on you? I died ten times over.”

Reaching up she tenderly touched his face. “I couldn’t have stood it if you had died. Not when we’ve just found each other.”

“I meant what I said to that little bastard.” Hawke stroked her hair and held her close to him. “You are mine. And no one touches what is mine.”

A burning pain began shooting through his shoulder, as the adrenaline coursing through his body wore off. He began to feel lightheaded. If he didn’t sit down soon, he was going to fall over.

“Hawke?”

He could hear the concern in her voice but try as he might, he couldn’t seem to form the words to assure her he was all right.
If I can just sit down for a moment
, he thought,
I’d be fine.
A wave of blackness swept over him and he slipped to the ground at Kara’s feet.

“
Hawke
!”

• • •

Kara dropped to her knees next to the limp figure. She saw the ragged bloody hole in his shoulder. “Oh, Lord, Hawke,” she cried. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hit?” Gently she probed the wound to see if the bullet was still lodged inside. She couldn’t feel the slug.

She struggled to turn him over on his side. She managed to get his head and shoulders over far enough to see his back. A cry of dismay tore from her throat seeing the gaping hole in his back, and the blood soaked sand beneath his body.

Refusing to let tears overwhelm her, she told herself she couldn’t — wouldn’t — let him die. Working quickly, she ran to the water’s edge, soaked her towel, returned to his side and began bathing the wound. Using the towel for wadding, she tore up his shirt for binding. Dressing quickly, she sat on the ground with his head nestled in her lap, patting his cheeks trying to revive him.

“Hawke … ” She stroked his cheek seeing the fluttering of his eyelids. “Hawke, wake up. Please, my love, don’t leave me.” Her hair spread over his chest as she pleaded with him to wake.

• • •

Hawke swam through the darkness, fighting to open his eyes. Fiery pain lanced through his shoulder. He moaned as another bolt of pain shot through him. Visions of attacking Black, the gunshots, and the need to protect Kara, brought him fully awake. He felt her hair gently gliding over his bare skin. The tickling sensation helped to ease the pain running through his body. Looking up he could see Kara’s beautiful tear streaked face. She was crying, hot tears landed on his neck and chest, as she softly whispered his name and stroked his hair.

“Sweetheart.” His throat felt raw. “Don’t cry.”

With a small cry she leaned over, raining kisses all over his face.

“I thought I’d lost you. You jumped at Black before I could get a shot off, then he shot you … .” Words tumbled from her. “I just fired hoping I would hit him.”

Her eyes sparkled with tears. She gazed lovingly into his eyes. “When you came over to me, I thought Black’s shot had gone wide.” Hugging his head to her breast, tears began rolling down her cheeks again. “Then I saw the blood running down your chest and … and … .”

“Sshh, lass, I’m fine.” He reached up with his uninjured arm and cupped her face with his hand. “Really, look at me.” He gently turned her face so he could look into her eyes more fully. The fear he saw reflected there tore at his heart. “It will take more than a bullet to keep me away from you.” He smiled gently at her. “After all the trouble I went through to get you to finally admit you love me, do you think I’d let something as insignificant as a bullet get in my way? We Scots are much too stubborn a lot to let that happen.”

Her joyous smile was all he needed. Wincing at the pain radiating down his arm, he sat up.

“Are you sure you should sit yet?” Kara asked. “You don’t realize how much blood you lost.”

Resting her hand on his back, she knelt on her knees next to him. “Don’t rush. I don’t think I’d be able to pick you up if you blacked out again. You weigh as much as a calf.”

Glad to see her humor returning, Hawke chuckled weakly. “Help me stand. We need to let your father and the others know Black won’t be bothering anyone again.”

Fighting the pain and weakness stealing over him, he stood slowly. Kara positioned herself at his side with his arm across her shoulders, and hers around his waist in case he lost his balance.

They moved over to where Black’s body lay. He felt her shudder at the sight of the dead man’s eyes open and staring. She turned her head into his chest. Hawke leaned over stiffly, and closed the lids down over dull unseeing eyes. Pulling Kara more tightly into his embrace, offering comfort, he replayed the scene over and over in his mind.

He was astounded at how Kara had kept her wits about her. He had forgotten about her gun and was thankful not only did she not panic, she stayed focused on getting to it. Silently, he thanked her father for teaching her how to use one. He knew no other woman able to do what she had done.

After a moment, he turned her away, looking for the horses.

“The gunshots must have spooked them.” Kara looked at Hawke. “We are going to have to either wait here until the horses get back home and someone notices them, or we can start walking until they meet us.”

Despite all her courage, he knew staying in the cave with the dead man would unnerve her. He felt the strength leaving him and knew they couldn’t wait. “Let’s start. We should still have enough daylight left for them to find us.”

They emerged into the late afternoon sunshine. Hawke squinted at the brightness. The warmth felt good on his bare skin.

“Are you sure you’re strong enough to walk? We could just wait here.”

“No, it will be better if we start moving.” He smiled brightly at her, not wanting her to suspect how weak he really was. “We can plan our wedding while we walk. That should keep your mind occupied.”

“This isn’t funny, Hawke!”

“Look over there!” Their horses, including Black’s, had stopped in the canyon, instead of running all the way back to the ranch.

At her whistle, Kara’s horse lifted his head and began ambling over to her, his lead rope dragging through the scrub beside him. The big gray and the other horse followed along.

“Will you be able to get up on your horse?” She looked at his still too-pale face. “Maybe you should just ride Black’s horse.” She nodded over to the small bay. “It might be easier.”

“I’d probably break its back.” He tried to sound more energetic than he felt. “I’ll just use that rock over there to mount.”

Leading his horse to a low boulder, he leaned his arm heavily on the saddle so Kara would not see how weak he was. It took all his concentration to get his foot in the stirrup and drag himself onto his horse. He never thought he would be grateful for the large western saddle, the lower stirrups, and the horn. Grasping the horn in a white-knuckle grip, fighting for balance, he turned to join Kara just in time to see her vault onto the back of her horse. Drawing closer, he could see worry for him reflected in her face.

“Look that bad, do I?” he quipped, glad to see a ghost of a smile flit across her lips. “I promise no matter what, I will not humiliate myself by falling off my horse. Now,” he said, nodding towards the ranch, “shall we head home?”

Leaving Black’s horse to follow behind, the two turned and began riding at a very sedate walk.

• • •

Kara kept a worried eye on Hawke as they rode. She was amazed he could sound so casual about their situation. Her emotions were spinning out of control. So much had happened. She’d gone from being gloriously happy, to mindless with fear, to feeling her life had ended, back to happy, in what seemed like seconds. She wasn’t sure what she should think, or feel; she was numb. And she was afraid — afraid for him.

Sidling her horse up to him, their legs touching, she peered intently at the makeshift bandage. She saw blood beginning to stain the white cloth. It had soaked through the toweling. No matter how strong he thought he was, she knew if he lost much more blood, it could kill him.

The need to ride fast to get him help, warred with going cautiously in case he did faint. Moving forward to see his face, she looked up at him. His mouth was set in a line of grim determination. She could see a greenish tint flushing his skin and knew strength of will was the only thing keeping him mounted.

His head began bobbing against his chest and he had a death grip on the saddle horn. It felt like a lifetime before they saw the outbuildings.

“We’re almost there.” Kara reached over to touch his thigh. “Just a little further and we’ll be all right.”

Seeing Hawke begin to slide off of his horse, she cried out. He landed in a lifeless heap in the warm desert sand. Kara threw herself off her horse and rushed to kneel beside him. Leaning down, she could see the shallow, rapid rise and fall of his chest. His face was gray and no matter how she shook him, he didn’t respond. Frantically she pulled her gun fired into the air, until all she heard was the click of an empty chamber. Pulling his body into her arms, tears coursed down her cheeks and she began screaming for help watching desperately as riders approached.

Chapter 30

It felt like a bull was sitting on his shoulder.