Wild Roses (16 page)

“I was between him and the horses. Like George said, he could've just shot me. It couldn't have been easy to creep up on me like that.”

“I cannot believe the way you all defend him. He's taking Ella to Harold. I don't care if he does it gently or politely or any other way. He shouldn't be doing it at all.” She muttered a curse and strode out of the stable.

George looked at the four youths who were watching the rapidly disappearing Louise as if she was a stick of dynamite that was about to go off in their hands. He started to laugh, the looks of surprise on the faces of the others only adding to his amusement. Louise Carson was more woman than most men knew how to handle. George sobered as he realized that he might never be given the chance to try.

 

 

“I can't believe you hit that boy,” Ella said the moment Harrigan slowed their pace enough for her to talk.

“That ‘boy' is as tall as I am and probably as strong,” Harrigan said, inwardly relieved to hear little more than a hint of shock and annoyance in her voice.

“That still didn't give you the right to knock him down. He's only trying to help me.”

“Careful, you're edging close to that forbidden topic.”

“Tough. We are just a few days from a big, fat piece of that forbidden topic. I'm real tired of the game of let's pretend we're just strolling through the countryside.”

“I was rather enjoying that game,” he muttered, realizing he was not going to be able to completely avoid an argument.

“Of course you were. It was very nice and pleasant for you. You got to do just what you wanted without the annoyance of constantly having to explain yourself.” He just shrugged when she cast him a look of irritation.

“Discussing the matter is much akin to banging our heads against a brick wall. What's the point?”

“Probably none.” She sighed. “It's just I that look at those mountains and the whole game seems a little silly now. We're riding right in Harold's shadow now. I did try. Believe me, I was enjoying the game too. I just can't do it any longer.”

“So you intend to try and talk me out of taking you to the man? Do you really think I've changed my mind?”

“No. I begin to wonder if you will change it even if Harold grabs me and drags a knife across my throat right in front of you. You'd probably tell yourself that he just slipped while trying to cut my hair.”

“Ella!” The image she painted chilled him even as he was distressed by her lack of faith in him. “I've told you that I will look into the whole matter.”

“You sound like a damned lawyer.”

He slowed his pace so that he was riding right next to her and eyed her warily. “You don't like lawyers?”

Something about the way he asked the question told Ella not to say the derogatory words that immediately sprang to mind. “Don't have much against them really. It was just an expression of sorts. Everyone knows that lawyers are clever with words. It's what they're trained to be. That's why people rush to hire one when they're in trouble. Why? Have a close friend who's a lawyer?”

“You might say so. I went to Harvard and trained to be a lawyer.”

Ella gaped at him. “A lawyer
and
a Harvard man? What the hell are you doing taking work as a bounty hunter?”

“I am
not
a bounty hunter,” he snapped.

“You are paid money to find people and bring them in. Sounds like a bounty hunter to me.”

“You're in a particularly contrary mood at the moment, aren't you? Are you looking for an argument?”

Ella studied him for a moment then gave him a slightly contrite smile. “I think I might be.”

“Why?”

“Because I almost got away and, as always, you ruined the opportunity.”

Harrigan sighed and shook his head. He could understand how she felt. This time rescue had been very close. He was still surprised that he had eluded Louise. It was probably foolish, but he began to wonder if fate had a hand in it all, if it was pushing them toward some destiny of its own choosing.

“You have a very strange look on your face,” Ella said, breaking into his thoughts.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your tirade.” He grinned at the almost petulant look that briefly crossed her face.

“You have a true skill at taking all the joy out of a good temper.”

Harrigan laughed, then quickly grew serious again. “I know that everything that stands between us, what you want and what I must do, are totally incompatible, and I guess that's why I try so hard to keep you off of the subject. I don't mind a good argument, rather fond of them actually, but there is so much between us, I'm not sure we can have one and still be speaking when it's over. Nothing will be resolved.”

“Are you afraid I might be able to change your mind?”

“Maybe. The closer we get to Philadelphia and Harold, the less I like this. I don't want to do this, but I have to. It's that need that will make it hard for you to change my mind. If I let you talk me out of this, I let down my whole family. The money I'm being paid is already earmarked for things, much-needed things. It also puts us all closer to making a new start. Perhaps building a business as good as the last one, and one that can't be stolen away.”

“And you're not going to fully recover from what Eleanor did until your family has a good business again, are you?”

“Probably not. That shipping business was everything to us, a future for me, my brothers, cousins, the whole lot. It meant a comfortable life for my parents as they aged. It means nothing to the Templetons except for one more possession, and a little less competition. I think that angers me more than the fact that I was completely duped and tricked. It wasn't needed. They could have lived in grand splendor without it. In fact, I have kept an eye on it, and there is no sign of improvement in it, no changes at all. Maybe if they had thought we were not bringing it to its full potential and were doing good things with it now, I could somehow understand. Instead, it just sits there putting money in their pockets.”

She felt a strong wave of sympathy for him. A lot of people were fooled in love. Heartache was an acceptable risk in the game. Total destruction of a family's life was not. Even after Harrigan got over his stung pride and hurt feelings, the damage of his relationship with Eleanor Templeton continued.

“I think they did not like the competition,” she said quietly. “It was the grandfathers of both the Templetons and the Carsons who built the fortunes. The last two generations, the sons and the grandsons, have done little except live off the labors of their forefathers. They're very good at deception and all of that, but I don't think they have what their grandfathers did. They don't have the wit and skill to build a business of their own or strengthen the ones they have. They don't compete because they don't know how.”

“So they steal.”

“Yes, they steal or, in a few cases, they completely destroy what they fear is threatening them.”

“Are we back to you and Harold again?”

“I don't believe Harold sees me as a threat, or even competition. He sees me as a way to add to his fortunes without even breaking a sweat. In truth, except for his precious Margaret, I do not believe Harold could ever see any woman as a threat or a competitor. He simply does not see us as strong enough, smart enough, or even worth his time.”

“He obviously hasn't had much to do with you or Louise,” he drawled, and was pleased to see her smile. “Still, he and Templeton used women to get the businesses they've stolen over the years.”

“Yes, their daughters. Both men think of those women more as sons. They've raised them to walk in their footsteps. Even so, it's still a matter of Eleanor and Margaret getting orders from Papa and doing exactly as they are told. They're not given the run of the businesses after they help steal them, are they?”

“No. Well, none of that matters, except that it might help me put a stop to it all before any other families are ruined.” He looked ahead at the slowly rising rock-strewn trail. “If you are still of a mind to have a roaring good argument, I think it had better wait for a little while. The trail ahead gets tricky and it'd be best if we keep all of our attention on it.”

“I think I can save it for a while.”

She smiled at him when he chuckled, then held herself more firmly in the saddle. As soon as they were too far away from town and her aunt for her to run right back to the woman, she would remind Harrigan to unshackle her. The trail through the mountains was only going to get worse, and she wanted to have control of her horse. If he asked for a promise that she would not try to run away while they rode the treacherous roads, she would give him one. She did not want to go to Philadelphia and end up in Harold's grasp, but she did not want to miss the confrontation because she had plummeted down a ravine in the mountains.

A small pebble slipped out from beneath Ella's boot, and she stumbled. As she righted herself, she silently and heartily cursed Harrigan. There had to be a better trail through the mountains, perhaps one well worn by thousands of pioneers. When they had first started up the trail late yesterday evening, she had thought it might be a poor choice. Now she was sure of it. She began to suspect that Harrigan was purposely taking the worst route he could find to discourage any pursuit. It also meant that they had little chance of meeting up with anyone, even the people who called the mountains their home.

What Harrigan seemed to be oblivious to was the danger they were courting. She doubted he knew the trail they were on any better than she did. It was madness to walk along a rocky path over a ravine that neither of them had ever explored. Ella could not believe she was worth that much money or that Harrigan was that desperate to win. She cautiously leaned to the right, so that she could see around him, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a wider path several yards up ahead of them.

Just as she prepared to demand an explanation, she saw Harrigan make a strange sliding step sideways. Ella cried out in alarm as his foot slipped over the edge. That unbalanced him enough to make him fall. There was not enough room on the narrow path for him to land safely. Harrigan scrambled to catch himself, but the ground was far too unstable, and there was not enough of it. She moved to try and grab him, but it was too late. Ella screamed his name as he disappeared over the edge of the ravine.

For a moment, Ella knelt on the rocky path, shaking and struggling to catch her breath. She did not want to look down, terrified of seeing Harrigan's body broken on the rocks at the floor of the ravine. Then, taking several deep, slow breaths to try to calm herself, she finally peered over the edge, and felt her heart skip painfully. Harrigan was not a sprawled mass of broken bones at the bottom. He was half sitting, half lying on an outcrop of rock that was barely wide enough to hold his large body.

Ella considered leaving him there only for the space of a heartbeat. He was alive, and looked to be no more than bruised and battered. She would be free. Unfortunately, she didn't have the heart to do it. He had no supplies and no protection. Although she could lower such things down to him, the real problem was that she could not count on someone coming by who could help him. If she walked away from him, he could well rot on that ledge.

“I don't think anything is broken,” he called up to her, a little unsettled by the way she was staring at him without saying a word.

“This was not one of your better choices,” she called back.

“Ah, so you can speak. I was a little afraid that you had gone into a state of shock or something equally unhelpful.”

“No, although I was briefly contemplating just leaving you there, turning the horses around, and riding back to that last town.”

Harrigan wondered how long she had considered that idea, heartily relieved that she had decided against it. It had occurred to him too. He had already begun planning his arguments to make her help him. He knew that if she left him where he was he would be as good as dead. What had terrified him about the possibility was the sure knowledge that his death would have been a long, slow one of starvation, thirst, and deprivation.

“I'm very glad you had a change of heart,” he said.

“I just might have left you there if this path showed any signs of being used by humans. It is clear, however, that no one with any wits at all comes this way.”

“Alright, I concede that it was a damned poor choice of road. Now, can we get to the business of getting me the hell off this ledge before it decides it can't carry my weight any longer?”

Ella smiled, pleased to have his agreement about his bad taste in trails. She moved to take the rope off his horse, then frowned. He was too big a man for her to pull up.

“Do you think your horse can tug you up without plummeting down the ravine?” she asked.

“Yes, especially if I don't make him do all the work. Just tie the rope securely to the saddle.”

The way he stressed the word securely made her a little nervous. She had no real knowledge of knots, of which was the strongest and which had the least chance of coming undone. Harrigan was a big man and would put a lot of strain on it. Trying to recall what little she had learned at Louise's ranch, she tied the rope to the saddle, then moved to the edge to look down at him again.

“Any suggestions on how I should make the horse help you?” she asked.

“Just lead him forward slowly.”

She nodded and went back to his horse. Taking the animal by the reins, she began to tug him along inch by inch. She could hear Harrigan's boots scraping the rock wall as he climbed even while the horse pulled him, but she didn't dare leave the animal to check on Harrigan. One wrong move and she suspected Harrigan would definitely land at the bottom of the ravine. It was not until she saw the top of his head edge up over the rocks that she began to relax.

The moment Harrigan was back on the narrow path, he leaned against the high far wall and closed his eyes. He did not think he had ever been so scared. Pure good fortune had saved him and he swore he would find a way to thank God for that. He heard the soft rustle of skirts and opened his eyes to see Ella crouched at his side.

“Well, that harrowing experience has probably added ten years to my life,” he said, briefly taking her small hand in his and gently squeezing it.

“You owe me your life,” she said quietly, smiling faintly when he grimaced.

“And I bet I can guess what reward you will ask for that.”

“Set me free. Tell Harold you failed. Hell, tell him I died. That would make my life a lot easier.”

“Would it?” He slowly got to his feet, delighted at how close the end of the narrow part of the trail was, because he no longer had the stomach for tiptoeing along the edge of a deep ravine.

“Yes. Then he would cease hunting me or having me hunted down.”

“He would also have your money.”

“True, but I think I would prefer to be poor and alive then briefly rich and quickly dead.”

“Well, much as I would like to repay your kindness, I can't,” he said as he grabbed the reins of his mount and started to move again.

Ella moved to grab the reins of her horse as quickly as she dared. The man was impossible, she decided as she followed him. Anyone else would do as she asked if she had just saved their life, but not Harrigan. He still went blindly on doing what Harold wanted him to, and ignoring what she wanted.

“I don't know how you can sleep at night,” she grumbled as, the moment they reached the wide part of the trail, they mounted their horses.

Harrigan was not sure either, although bringing Ella almost all the way across the country with Louise Carson on his trail was an exhausting business. At the end of the day, Harrigan doubted anything could keep him awake, certainly not a guilty conscience. Now, however, he was not sure even the bone weariness he felt at the end of the day was going to help much.

It was hard to convince himself that he was still doing the right thing. There were still a lot of doubts in his mind about Ella's talk of Harold's murderous plans, but whether he believed her or not did not really matter. She had just saved his life and all she asked in return was that he did not take her to Harold, a man she hated and feared. It seemed a small return for giving him his life, but he was going to refuse her, and he was disgusted with himself.

To his relief, she said nothing more. He did not want to discuss the matter for fear he would weaken. He was also too full of self-loathing to have a reasonable discussion about anything. Harrigan knew it would never happen, but he found himself hoping that she was so furious with him that she would not say another word all the way to Philadelphia.

 

 

It was still early in the day when Harrigan decided to make camp for the night. The near tragedy on the cliff path had exhausted both of them. Ella looked as if she was about to fall asleep in the saddle. He was also feeling every one of his bruises and scrapes.

And, deep inside, there was still the bitter taste of fear, that gut-wrenching terror he had felt as he had fallen. He needed to rest so that he could banish it, hopefully before Ella saw any hint of it. Harrigan knew that a fear of falling to one's death was not something to be ashamed of, but he ruefully admitted that he did not want Ella to know, that he was worried she would see it as a weakness. He had always been confident, sure of his own strength. This uncertainty was uncomfortable and hard to bear.

“I think we will stop here for the night,” he announced a moment later, turning off the rocky path they followed into a small, well-shaded glade.

“It's a little early in the day, isn't it?” Ella asked, then cursed silently, praying he would not now feel compelled to go on, for she was bone weary and eager to rest.

“You began to look as if you would fall asleep in the saddle again.”

“I guess I am a bit tired.”

As they stopped and dismounted, Ella inwardly shook her head over her own foolish pride. She was tired. What was the harm in admitting it? And yet, there was a part of her that rebelled against revealing that weariness, a lurking fear that Harrigan would see it as a weakness. Ella ruefully admitted that she was indeed a great deal like her aunt, for Louise always fought hard to be, or at least appear to be, equal to any man.

After tending to her horse, she sat down before the fire Harrigan was making and struggled not to sigh aloud her exhaustion. As soon as he had begun their meal, he rose, and she roused herself enough to frown up at him. The way she had been staring blankly into the fire had probably revealed how weary she felt, but she was starting not to care if he saw it.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Just into the wood a ways to see if I can find us any meat to have with our beans and biscuits,” he replied.

“That would be nice.”

“Can I trust you to stay right here?”

She hesitated only a moment before nodding. Not only was she too tired to run, but she knew her poor mare was in sore need of a rest as well. The minute he disappeared into the trees, she allowed her body to slump, crossing her arms on her knees and resting her head on her forearms.

A soft noise yanked away the clouds of sleep sweeping over her mind. She sat up straighter, wondered how long she had dozed as she rubbed her itching eyes, and tried to listen for a repeat of the sound that had ended her little nap. When she heard her mare snort nervously, she tensed and looked around. It was hard to see beyond the fire, to discern anything in the grey twilight and the shadows cast by the trees all around her.

The sound of a twig snapping brought her to her knees. She opened her mouth to call for Harrigan, but instinct told her it was not him, and she pressed her lips together. Two men stepped out of the shadows and she leapt to her feet, her heart pounding. Even in the dim light, the grinning pair looked threatening. Their gap-toothed smiles were predatory, not friendly.

“Well now, my pretty, what are you doing out here all alone?” asked the taller of the two men.

“And why should you think I am alone?” she asked.

Ella silently cursed when the men flanked her. Because of her weariness, she had missed a perfect opportunity to avoid them. The shadows of the surrounding trees would have provided her with plenty of hiding places, but she had been too slow to see the threat and lost the chance to run deep into the forest. Neither did she have any weapon to fight them with. Ella fought a choking fear as she debated the wisdom of screaming for Harrigan. He might be close enough to hear her, but if he came running blindly back to camp, that could cause even more trouble. The men would either drag her off into the night or shoot Harrigan.

“Oh, you're alone, alrighty,” said the man as he inched closer to her. “Only a fool would leave such a tender bit as you all alone in the night.”

“Or a man who felt a need to water the trees.”

“There are two horses here, Johnnie,” said the shorter, stouter man.

“Could just be her supply horse,” replied Johnnie, looking Ella over in a way that made her skin crawl.

“And it could belong to her man.”

“We can hold our own agin one man, Pete.”

“Maybe we should just take her and run.”

“I ain't of a mind to wait till I find a different place. I be thinking I need a taste of this right now.”

Pete scratched his shaggy black beard, still holding his rifle on Ella, as he peered into the shadows all around them. “You do that now and you'll be leaving your backside bared for anyone who wants to take a shot at it.”

Johnnie spit, the black tobacco juice only partly clearing his mouth, most of it trickling down the thin greying beard on his chin. “I be counting on you to watch my backside, Pete.”

“I'm to just stand here and watch you have at it, eh?”

“You can have a piece when I'm done and I'll watch your ass.”

All the while they talked they paced around her, closing in on her warily, watching both her and the woods at their backs. Ella was both amazed and infuriated at how well they did it, one of them always looking at her while the other checked their backs. The indication that they were not as stupid as they looked was almost as chilling as their words.

“If you touch me, you will die,” Ella said, amazed at how hard and cold her voice sounded, for inside she was shaking with fear.

“And just who be going to kill us, my pretty? You?” Johnnie laughed.

“Yes. Maybe not now, but some day.”

Her soft threat only held them back for a moment. Johnnie suddenly laughed again and lunged for her, leaving Pete to stand guard. Ella tried to dodge him, but he caught hold of her skirts, yanking her toward him. She kicked at him, but gained only curses for the pain she inflicted, not her freedom. A soft cry of fear escaped her as he flung her down onto the hard ground. Even though a voice in her head reminded her that she could be putting Harrigan in danger, she screamed his name as Johnnie pinned her to the ground and began to tear at her clothes.