Train From Marietta (32 page)

“He might be waiting for my father to arrive.”

“He’d come all the way from New York?”

“He might come by airplane. He’s made several trips to Chicago that way.”

“What a time we live in.” Tate grabbed hold of her hand, caressing it with his fingers. “But when your father arrives, you’ll go.”

“When I was trapped in that cabin, I would have been overjoyed to know my father was coming to get me. But now …,” she started, but couldn’t finish.

“But now?” Tate prodded.

She reached down and smoothed the hair back from his forehead. She could see what he wanted her to say written on his face. “I don’t want to go yet,” she finished.

“Then don’t go,” he said.

“Are you asking me to stay?”

“Yes and no. Hell, I’m so damn mixed up I don’t know what I should say. I want you to be here with me, yet I know that if you do stay, it’ll just bring more heartache for both of us.”

“How do you know that?”

“You couldn’t be happy here, Kate.”

“I’d be happy wherever you are.”

“You can say that now, but how would you feel after a blazing hot summer here on the ranch? How about a lonely winter? Could you really give up the life you’ve known for this?” The strength of his words told Kate he was convinced that what he was saying was the truth.

“Then you don’t even want to give us a chance?”

“All that I’m trying to do is what’s best for us, but especially what’s best for Emily. She might be a stubborn little thing, but I can see that she’d learn to love you. If you were to leave, she’d be heartbroken. She’s been abandoned once already … I don’t want to make it twice.”

Katherine looked down at him, her eyes bright with tears. His words had hurt her, and she lashed out. “Maybe we’re not right for each other, then. Love is more than physical attraction. Love is trust, confidence, and respect. Evidently you feel none of those things for me.”

“That’s not what I meant…” Tate’s words faltered. Kate was about to ask him what he had meant when Yelena ran into the room.

“Señor! A car is coming. It coming fast!” she said breathlessly.

“Take Kate and Emily with you to the cellar,” Tate ordered.

“What’s going on?” Kate asked. The sudden explosion of movement confused her. Yelena dashed from the room toward the kitchen to retrieve Emily while Tate tried to rise up in the bed.

“Someone’s coming that we don’t know.” Once his back was up against the headboard, Tate said, “Get me the rifle, then go with Yelena.”

“Do you think it’s Eddy and Squirrelly?”

“Maybe. I described the car to Jorge and Yelena. She must think it’s the car, or she wouldn’t have alerted me. Now, go on to the cellar!”

Kate ignored his command and instead peered out the bedroom window trying to get a look at the car, but didn’t see it. Snatching the rifle from the corner, Kate checked the load. She laid the gun down on the bed beside Tate. “Where’s your handgun?”

“The top shelf in the wardrobe.”

Kate opened the doors, pulled out the gun and box of shells. After checking to see if the weapon was loaded, she took extra ammunition and put it in her pocket.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Tate said disbelievingly Once again choosing to ignore him, Kate went back to the window, but still saw no sign of the car.

“Damn it, Kate! I mean it!” Tate continued his tirade. He’d swung one of his legs to the floor and was struggling to rise. Sweat beaded his brow from the effort. “I don’t want you here! If it’s who we think it is, they’re gunning for you! Go to the damn cellar!”

“Hush up, Tate!” Kate scolded. “If you think I’m going to go away and leave you here to face them alone, you’re crazy! Besides, Eddy won’t hurt me.”

“Then you’re a fool,” Tate spat. “Your testimony could put both him and that other guy in the chair. They’ll do whatever it takes in order to get rid of you.”

Suddenly Kate heard the car and then doors slamming. This was followed by the sound of chickens squawking. They were in turn joined by Old Bob’s barking. With the revolver in her hand, Kate started for the back door. She turned and kissed Tate softly on the lips, then hurried toward the kitchen. Through the window she saw the familiar black car that had been there the day she was taken from the train. The two men were even more familiar; Squirrelly and Eddy stood in front of the car looking at the ranch house.

Fear coursed through Kate. How had they managed to find her? Steeling herself, she moved far enough away from the window so that she’d still be able to see them coming without being an easy target herself.

As the two men walked up to the back porch, movement to their left startled them. From his spot beneath the house, Old Bob charged. The dog’s teeth were bared as he ran toward Squirrelly.

“Get back, you son of a bitch!” Squirrelly snarled. He yanked his gun from the belt of his pants and fired. The sound of the shot rang out like a thunderclap. Old Bob yelped loudly before he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Eddy demanded.

“Damn barking dog,” Squirrelly muttered.

“Idiot! That shot could bring the hired help back to the house!”

“Then we’d better get our asses in there and get it over with.”

Seconds later the two men entered the kitchen without as much as a knock. Both of them stopped in their tracks at the sight of Kate looking back at them down the barrel of the handgun.

Chapter 29

“W
ELL! IF IT AIN T THE SPLIT TAIL!”

Squirrelly’s loose-lipped grin showed the gap between his two front teeth. He hadn’t shaved and looked even more despicable than when she last saw him. His shirt was stained, his hair, face, and hands dirty. He swung the pistol around wildly, not even bothering to level it on her. He looked like a wild man, ready to pounce and kill. “I owe you one, girlie,” he snarled.

“And I owe you one, you low-down, slimy toad. It takes a real man to shoot a dog.” Hatred burned in her. The gun barrel shook slightly as she aimed at his chest.

“Sister, you ain’t had a real man yet, but ya will! I was about to show you one when you hit me. I owe you one for that and another for takin’ off. Shit, Hayden was as mad as a goat with his pecker caught in the fence!”

Kate ignored the reference to Hayden and instead looked at Eddy. He seemed a bit the worse for wear. Their eyes met.

“I’ve already talked to my father, Eddy,” Kate said. “I told him everything. He’ll take care of your uncle, and the Texas Rangers will take care of the two of you.”

“That’s if I let you live, bitch!” Squirrelly shouted.

“Calm down, Squirrelly,” Eddy said.

“To hell with that!” Even with her gun pointed at him, Squirrelly began to move around the kitchen. He craned his neck to look down the hallway behind Kate. “Where you hidin’ that son of a bitch you left with? You ain’t smart enough to get all the way out here by yourself. Someone helped ya! Is he hiding behind your skirt?”

“He’s gone,” Kate answered calmly.

“Gone?” Squirrelly laughed incredulously. “This is his ranch, ain’t it? The depot agent told us that he’d been to the doc and that you’d been with him.” Squirrelly kept looking around. “Who else is here?”

“Nobody.”

“Ain’t there no cowboys? All ranches have cowboys.”

“Not this one.” Kate tried to look at Eddy again, but the moment that their eyes met, he looked away. “Are you here for the same reason that this pile of filth is, Eddy? Are you going to get rid of me so I can’t testify against you?”

Still looking away, Eddy answered, “You know I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head.”

“He wants to kill me, Eddy!” Kate shouted.

Slowly Eddy’s eyes rose from the floor. But instead of settling on Kate, they bore a hole in Squirrelly. “He won’t. I promised he wouldn’t hurt you. I came to make sure of it.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Jacobs? That’s what we’re here for.” Squirrelly moved toward the far side of the kitchen. He was only a couple of feet from where Kate stood. Cocking his ear toward the open door, he asked, “Who’s in there? I heard something.”

“The dog you killed had puppies. Are you going to shoot them too?”

What happened next only took an instant. Kate’s eyes darted from Squirrelly to Eddy, but in that split second, Squirrelly covered the distance between them to stand behind her. She could feel the barrel of his gun in her back.

“Drop the gun, slut!” he ordered.

To emphasize his words, he gave her a hard poke in the back. She thought about trying to turn around quickly or to point the gun at Eddy, but she knew that either would be useless. He’d simply kill her. Defeated, Kate let the gun slip out of her hand, and it clattered on the kitchen floor.

“Gonna have me some fun with ya before ya die,” Squirrelly whooped.

Kate spun around to spit in his face, but what she saw over Squirrelly’s shoulder nearly caused her heart to stop. Tate was leaning against the doorjamb, his feet unsteady beneath him. The rifle was in his hand.

“Get away from her,” Tate growled.

Squirrelly turned quickly at the sound of Tate’s voice. “Thought you said no one was here,” he barked at Kate. “Who the hell’s that? Santa Claus?”

“If you don’t get away from her, I swear I’ll blow your head off!” Tate lifted the rifle and attempted to hold it steady. The barrel made lazy circles in the air. Roughly Squirrelly jerked Kate in front of him.

“Go ahead and shoot, cowboy! It’ll save me the trouble.”

Kate watched in horror as Tate tried to steady the rifle. Sweat covered his face. Simply trying to stand was taking what little strength he had left after having made the trip down the hallway. It would only be a matter of moments before Squirrelly tired of playing with him and shot him. But before she could act, she caught a sudden movement to her side as Eddy rushed toward Tate.

“Eddy! Don’t!” she shouted.

But Eddy yanked the rifle from Tate’s grasp. The cowboy offered no resistance. All that he could do was glare at the man as he struggled to maintain his balance. “Goddamn it!” His legs buckled beneath him, and he slumped to the floor. From where she stood, Kate could see a fresh red stain on Tate’s bandage.

A crazy, unnatural laugh came from Squirrelly. For once, he was the one in charge. He had the upper hand and he knew it. What was more, he liked it. “You don’t look so tough now, Santa!” he chortled.

Yanking Kate by the arm, his fingers digging deeply into her flesh, he started across the room toward Tate. When he was near the prone man, he flung Kate toward Eddy. She crashed into the other man hard, but stayed standing. “Hold on to the bitch while I take care of the cowboy,” he snarled. With that, he swung his leg and kicked Tate in the side.

A scream of pain poured out of Tate’s mouth and echoed around the room. Instinctively he rolled over on his side to protect the wound. His face instantly drained of color. Blood appeared and spread rapidly in the binding that was wrapped around his waist. Through clenched teeth, Tate threatened, “I’m going to kill you!”

“Leave him alone!” Kate screamed. Watching Squirrelly attack Tate was horrifying! But there was nothing that she could do, no way to protect the man that she loved. She turned frantically to Eddy, her eyes wet and pleading. “Make him stop!”

Eddy was nearly as disgusted by what he was seeing as Kate.
Mother of Christ! The man is a lunatic!

Squirrelly was still laughing hysterically, his breath coming in fits. From the look in his pinched, dark face, he was enjoying himself immensely. His eyes had an unnatural glitter, and his mouth was slick with saliva. He readied himself to deliver another kick but stopped when Eddy prodded him in the back with the rifle he’d taken from Tate.

“Stop it, you stupid fool!” Eddy warned. “If you kill him, the Texas Rangers will never give up until they’ve tracked us down.”

“Who the hell’s gonna tell ’em?! Her?” Squirrelly jerked his head toward Kate while simultaneously stomping on Tate’s hand. Another yell came from Tate. Squirrelly just giggled and lifted his revolver. “That bitch ain’t gonna be around to tell anyone nothin’! We’re gonna do what we came here to do!”

Ignoring the gun in Squirrelly’s hand, Kate broke free of Eddy’s grip and ran to kneel over Tate. His head leaned against the doorjamb, and blood ran down his sleeve to the hand that Squirrelly had stomped. Pain covered his face, and his eyelids fluttered in their struggle to stay open. She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Hold on, sweetheart. Jorge will come.” Tate turned his head, and his lips brushed her cheek. “I love you,” he whispered.

“And I love you.” It tore her apart to see him in such a state. She was afraid he would lose consciousness. No matter what happened to her, she was determined to protect him. She stood and turned on the two men. “Kill me. It’s what you came to do!”

Quick as a snake, Squirrelly reached out and grabbed a fistful of Kate’s hair. With a yank, he jerked her toward him until their faces were only inches apart. “Gladly, sweetheart.”

“Let her go,” Eddy said calmly.

Squirrelly’s eyes latched onto Eddy’s angry face. With a grunt, he tossed Kate to the floor next to Tate and turned to face him. “What the hell’s the matter with you, Jacobs? You ain’t goin’ soft on me, are ya? I told you that I planned on screwin’ this bitch’s eyeballs out before I killed her, and I aim to do it!”

“I don’t think so. I told you before that I wouldn’t let you hurt her, Squirrelly,” Eddy sneered. “Or should I call you ‘Bartholomew’?”

Squirrelly’s eyes went wide as he shouted, “Don’t call me that!”

“What’s wrong?” Eddy said sarcastically. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“ ‘Squirrelly’ suits him better,” Kate said.

“Shut your mouths!” Squirrelly yelled. “Shut your fuckin’ mouths!” Spittle formed on his lips as he whipped the gun back and forth. He was becoming more agitated. Kate was sure that he would kill them all, Eddy included. Kate glanced at Eddy. He was watching Squirrelly.

Squirrelly grabbed her by the elbow and yanked her back to her feet. “Which way to the bedroom?” he asked. After another laugh, he shoved her toward the kitchen table. Her ribs bounced off the edge, and she crumpled to the floor, trying to regain her breath. “To hell with it! I’ll just screw her here. This way, her hero can watch a real man at work!” With that, Squirrelly started to fumble with his belt.