Weathered Too Young (47 page)

“I love you,” he growled as he rode.



Lark stared at Lizzy
,
brushed the tears from her own cheeks
,
and tried to think.
Slater would return for them
;
she knew he would.
But he’d be returning to an ambush.
How could she warn him?
How could she get Lizzy out of Samson Kane’s vile grasp?

She thought of Slater—of his kiss and powerful embrace.
She thought of her mother—of her loving heart and sad end.
So many things bounced about in Lark’s mind that she could hardly hold a single thought for more than a moment.
And then—then it came to her.
As she thought of her mother—of her mother’s photograph hidden in the trunk at the foot of her bed—she thought of something her mother had once told her.

All outlaws have tender egos
, her mother had said.
They’d been talking of her father.
It was a time long after her father was gone, and her mother had been explaining that one of the reasons he was captured was because someone had called him yellow—called him a coward for not having the guts to kill another lawman.
It’s their weakness
, she could hear her mother’s voice whispering in her mind.
It’s their Achilles
’
heel.
Every outlaw meets his end because of his own arrogance and pride.

“I see you for what you really are now, Mr. Kane,” Lark said.
She was astonished in hearing the words coming from her own mouth.
Yet she couldn’t allow Lizzy to linger in the monster’s grasp
;
she couldn’t allow Slater to return to an outlaw’s well-laid trap.

“And what’s that?” Samson Kane chuckled.

“A coward
.”

Samson Kane’s smile broadened.
“You plannin’ on gettin’ my dander up so I’ll be distracted when yer lover comes ridin’ in?”

Lark shook her head.
“No.
I’m just telling you the truth of what I see.
What kind of outlaw hides behind children?
I know my f
ather never did.
He never put m
e between him
self
and danger.
He put me in danger maybe…but never between him
self
and danger the way you’re doing.”

“Yer father?” Samson Kane asked.

“Ye
s,” Lark said.
“Eddie Dean Wak
ley…he was my father.
Perhaps you knew him
. H
e died in
Yuma
prison.”

Samson Kane smiled
and
began to chuckle.

“Yer Eddie Dean’s girl?” he asked.
Lark’s stomach churned with nausea
,
for Samson Kane’s obvious delight in finding out her father was Eddie Dean Wakley seemed proof enough that the two outlaws had known each other.
Samson Kane chuckled.
“Why
,
I know
’
d Eddie Dean
.
I killed him for beatin’ me at a game of cards.
He weren’t cheatin’ or nothin’…but it made me mighty angry.
So I killed him.
It weren’t no easy task neither
. Eddie Dean Wakley was one tough ol’ hombre
.”

Lark tried not to allow her emotions to show in her expression.
I
t bothered her to know her father
, even for the bad outlaw he had been,
had died over such a small thing as a game of cards.
Furthermore, she loathed Samson Kane all the more for being the one who had killed him.
Still, she remained, for all outward appearances, unmoved.

“
Well, whether you killed him or not
,
he was a better man than you…a better outlaw too,” Lark said.
“My father would never have hidden behind a little girl.”

Samson Kane chuckled, but his eyes narrowed.

“You cause a lot of trouble for ol’ M
arshal Evans,” he said.
“Least
ways, that’s what Chet Leigh said.”

“Chet Leigh is
a
coward
too
,
” Lark told him.
“It’s no wonder the two of you partnered up
—
two cowards…hiding behind children
.”

Lizzy cried out as Samson Kane flung her aside to take hold of Lark by the throat.

The stench of his breath nearly caused Lark to lose the contents of her stomach.
She rather wished she would—rather liked the idea of vomiting on Samson Kane.

“Now…don’t you go provokin’ me too far there, woman,” Samson Kane growled into her face.
“It’ll hurt Slater Evans to see you layin’ on this floor with your throat slit…as much as it wi
ll to see me cut yer gullet while
he’s watchin’
me do it.
So even though I want to see his face when I kill you…I won’t wait to do it if you keep peckin’ at me like you’re doin’
.

“Now,” Samson Kane said, maneuvering Lark’s body until she sat with her back against his chest
,
his hand at her throat and his knife held at her bosom.
“Let’s you and me get comfortable.
It won’t take long for Marshal Evans to ride on back after he’s saved that fool boy’s skin.”

“He’s in the house, boss,” Eldon whispered as Slater bent over him.
“I-I think he near clean cut my arm off here.”

Slater looked at the massive knife wound at Eldon’s shoulder.
In truth, he wondered if the cowboy would survive the wound.
Still, there was hope—more hope than there had been for Grady.
Grady’s throat had been cut ear
-
to
-
ear
.

“I’m sorry, Eldon,” Slater whispered.
“All this is comin’ down because of me.”

“All this is comin’ down because there’s outlaws like Samson Kane, boss,” Eldon said.
“Men like you…they’r
e the only reason we ain’t over
run with
’
em.”

Slater nodded, trying
to believe what Eldon was saying.

“I’m goin’ in through the window Johnny come out of,” he whispered to Tom.
“You get
’
round under the kitchen window and wait for me.”

“He’s got a gun or a knife to somebody’s head, Slater
. Y
ou know he does,” Tom whispered.

“I know,” Slater said.
“But in the end…he wants to kill me.
He don’t wanna hurt one of them and risk gettin’ my temper riled.”

“I hope you’re right,” Tom said.

“Me too,” Slater whispered.
He knew Samson Kane—at least he thought he did.
Samson Kane might think about hurting Lark, Katherine
,
or the children in order to provoke Slater
,
but he’d think better of it, knowing anger would only make Slater stronger instead of rendering him debilitated.

Quietly, Slater climbed in through the window of Johnny and Charlie’s room.
He could hear voices—Samson Kane’s and Lark’s.
Though he wanted nothing more than to bolt into the kitchen, shoot Samson Kane
,
and take Lark in his arms
,
he knew he had to be careful—to listen.

“I could stab this boy and put him clean out of his misery,” Samson Kane said, taking his knife from Lark’s bosom and holding it over Ralston’s body.
“He’s gonna die anyway…one way or the other.
I might as well
stick this
blade
through
his heart and make it quick.”

“No!” Katherine cried, hugging her children.
“You let him be!”

But Samson Kane chuckled,
pressing the tip of the knife to Ralston’s shirt over his heart.

As Samson Kane’s grip lessened at her throat, Lark didn’t pause but snatched the opportunity to quickly leap from his grasp.

“Get back here, woman!” Samson Kane shouted, rising to his feet.

Lark didn’t pause
,
however
,
and raced to the opposite side of the kitchen. Samson Kane made to follow her, but Katherine reached from under the table and took hold of his ankle, tripping him.

“I’ll deal with you later,” the outlaw growled, pointing to Katherine with
the long blade of his knife.

Katherine’s intervention allowed Lark time to reach into one of the kitc
hen drawers, however—the drawer
housing the kitchen knives.
She picked up the
largest knife in the drawer and
turned to see Samson Kane striding toward her.
The outlaw was furious
,
lumbering toward her and wielding his deadly blade.
Inhaling a deep breath, Lark took hold of the blade of the knife she held, hurling it at the outlaw.
Samson Kane hollered as the knife hit him square in the
chest.
It hadn’t killed him, but it surprised him
,
and he stumbled backward.

“Why, you little…” Samson Kane mumbled as he reeled toward Lark
.

“Slater!” Lark cried as she saw Slater burst into the room, his rifle leveled at the outlaw.

Samson Kane whirled around, simultaneously throwing his own knife.
Though Slater had had his rifle leveled at the outlaw, he raised his arm to shield his body from the knife.
Samson Kane’s blade buried itself into Slater’s forearm as Samson Kane drew his pistol.
But before he could trigger his gun, however, Slater pulled the knife from his forearm, throwing it at the outlaw as Tom burst through the front door.

The blade of Samson Kane’s deadly
Arkansas
t
oothpick buried itself in
to
its owner’s chest next to the kitchen knife Lark had thrown—buried
itself
in Samson Kane’s heart.

Samson Kane gasped—
stumbled backward.
As he l
os
t
his
grip on
the
pistol, it clattered to the floor.

“Marshal Evans,” Samson Kane breathed, pulling the knife from his chest
,
“I ain’t goin’ back to
Yuma
prison.”

As Samson Kane lunged, Slater drew his pistol, shooting the charging outlaw between the eyes as Tom leveled his rifle at his back.

As Samson Kane fell dead to the floor,
Slater
spun his pistol back into the holster at his thigh.

“You got that right,
outlaw
,” he said.
“You sure enough got that right.”

Lark stood frozen
,
unable to move.
Lizzy and Charlie scrambled from beneath the table and into Tom’s arms.
Katherine too left the safety of the table, gasping and sobbing as Eldon Pickering stumbled into the room then.

Lark
remained
stunned by what had transpired—stunned by t
he amount of blood on Eldon, Ral
s
t
on
,
and Slater.

Slater was there then—there and holding her in his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered against her ear.
“I love you, Lark.”

Lark burst into tears of residual terror, of relief
,
of unmeasured joy.

“I love you,” she cried as he took her face in his hands.

He kissed her—kissed her hard and passionately.
The warm moisture of h
is mouth served to revive her—to breathe hope and wonderment into her once more.

“It’s all right, babies,” Lark heard Tom saying.
“It’s all right.”

“Where’s Johnny?” Katherine asked.

Unwillingly, Lark allowed Slater to break the seal of their lips.

His eyes never left hers, however, as he said, “He’s fine, Kate. Though I suppose one of us oughta go back and give him a ride home.”

A thundering that had begun in the distance now moved closer.
Eldon looked out the kitchen window.

“Riders,” he said. “About five of
’
em.”

Lark’s heart leapt with returning fear for a moment until Eldon added, “They got badges
,
and Johnny’s ridin’ with one of
’
em.”