Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Rory Schroder watched the ranch from high on a hill. He was far enough away he wouldn’t be noticed by the working men. He waited for his chance. Waited for Ben to leave. Whether he was headed for Golden or Timbuktu, Rory didn’t care as long as he left alone.
Finally his vigilance paid off. On the third day of his vigil, Ben left with the buckboard…and his cowboys. Rory knew the time for round up had arrived. Ben wouldn’t be back until late tonight, but Rory would be patient. He’d just have to wait a little longer for Ben to get his note.
Rory rode into the ranch yard and directly to the barn.
There he left the note on the wall behind the lantern.
Ben was sure to find it when he got home and needed the lantern.
Rory got a second horse and saddled it. Leading that horse, he rode to the kitchen door.
He tied both horses to the hitching rail before he knocked.
An improbably voluptuous blonde woman answered.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rory pulled his gun. “You can come with me. Put on your coat and no screaming. I’d really hate to hurt you.”
Her eyes widened and she put up her hands and backed away from him. When she spoke her voice was softer. “You don’t need to do this. Why take me? Ben will give you what you want. Please, please don’t force me to come with you.”
“Ben’s had plenty of time to get me what I want. Now he’ll just have to suffer like I have.”
She moved her hands to cover her stomach. “How have you suffered? Who are you?”
“I’m Rory Schroder and I should have had a share of everything Ben has. See we had the same pa. But my ma was just a little bit on the side. Miz Doris was the legitimate wife, so Ben was the rightful heir and inherited everything. What’s your name? I don’t want to call you Ben’s wife all the time.”
“I’m Emily.” She wondered when she’d get the chance to use her gun on him
“Well, Emily, button that coat. No one is coming to help you. And if you’re thinkin’ Miz Doris will help, she won’t. Melissa told me this is Doris’s idea.”
“Melissa and Doris put you up to this? Why am I not surprised? Since I don’t have any choice, I’ll come with you. I’ve no desire to be shot.”
He waved his gun and jutted his chin toward the door.
“Good idea.”
Outside Rory held the reins of the second horse as he helped her into the saddle.
“I don’t know how to ride, Mr. Schroder.”
“That don’t matter. I’ll be leading the horse. All you got to do is hang on. If move with the horse, you’re less likely to fall off.”
They rode out of the yard. Emily was doing her best to hang on to the horse. She had both hands gripping the saddle horn.
She turned and looked over her shoulder at the house. No one was coming. No one knew what had happened. Then she saw her.
From the upstairs window, probably in her bedroom, Doris watched them leave.
Emily was sure if she could see that far, she’d glimpse a smile on Doris’s face.
She turned back and concentrated on moving with the horse, getting the animal’s rhythm, trying hard to remember everything Ben taught her.
Winds were rising as they rode and she was glad to have her sheepskin coat. She was sick to her stomach to know that Doris really hated her so much that she’d have her kidnapped and presumably murdered. She didn’t believe that ‘Rory’ was just going to let her go.
By the time they reached the destination, she was riding the horse pretty well.
“You’re a quick learner or you was lying to me about not knowing how to ride.”
“I wasn’t lying,” she lied. “I’ve never ridden a horse like that before. Your advice to move with the animal was good.”
She dismounted in front of a small cabin. Cows roamed the meadow around the structure.
“What will you do with me now?”
“We’ll wait for Ben.”
He opened the door and pushed her inside.
“I only take from Ben. He’s the one who should have shared the ranch with me. I’m his brother, damn it.”
“There is no need to use such language, Mr. Schroder.”
“What’s the matter lady? You too good to be hearing such words?”
“No. But cussing is not necessary when there are perfectly good words to use instead.”
Rory tied both horses to the hitching rail in front of the shabby little abode.
Emily pulled the gun from her skirt pocket and pointed it at Rory.
“That’s enough Mr. Schroder. Put up your hands.”
Rory looked up at her and grinned.
“You ain’t gonna shoot me. You’re a city girl. Probably never shot anything but cans in your life.”
He continued going about tying the horses.
“I said put up your hands.”
“Or you’ll do what?”
“Shoot you.”
“Then shoot. Go ahead. Shoot me.”
She couldn’t. She couldn’t shoot a man in cold blood.
Rory took her gun from her.
“I admire your gumption but killing a man, even just shooting a man is hard. You don’t have that hardness, Mrs. Logan. Now get down.”
She dismounted.
“You say you’re Ben’s brother, but I don’t see anything about you that even resembles him.”
“That’s ‘cause I take after our papa and Ben takes after Miz Doris.”
She stared at the man, trying to find something about him that was the same as Ben’s.
She couldn’t find a common characteristic.
Rory’s eyes were brown, Ben’s were blue.
Rory’s hair was dirty but she thought it was blond, Ben’s was sable brown.
Rory was six inches shorter than Ben, just barely taller than Emily.
“Please. I’ll talk to Ben for you. Just let me go.”`
He smiled.
“You’re a funny one, lady. But I don’t believe you. Now get inside.”
Emily stared. He had the same dimple in his cheek that Ben did. Their smiles were so similar, if Rory had kept decent care of his teeth, they could have been one and the same.
He gave her a shove in the direction of the hovel.
“Sit down on the cot, Mrs. Logan. I don’t need to be watching you.”
He came over, with a length of rope and tied her hands together behind her back, then tied her ankles, too.
Ben arrived back home and parked the buckboard by the kitchen while he unloaded the uneaten food.
His mother was at the counter, kneading dough.
“Where is Emily? She should be learning from you.”
“I haven’t seen her. Maybe she took off—for good.”
“Mother. Emily is not leaving. You had better get used to that fact if you want to stay living here.”
His mother said nothing. Just smiled.
If he thought her mood anything but normal, he didn’t let on. He finished unloading the wagon and then pulled it down to the barn. Stopping beside the building, he unhitched the horses and took them inside. He put them in their stalls and then got the lantern.
When he lifted the lantern, he saw a piece of paper pinned to the wall with a nail.
Ben,
I’ve got your little wife. Come to my place and bring two thousand dollars. I know you keep that much in the safe on the ranch, so no need to go to the bank. I’m not asking for the world, just a part of what should be mine, then I’ll disappear.
Rory
Ben narrowed his eyes and crumpled the note, wishing it was Rory’s head. How long had she been gone? His mother had to know Emily was missing—she was much too happy not to know.
He saddled a horse and rode at full gallop out of the yard and then took the first right turn toward the mountains. Nathan Ravenclaw’s place was on the way. He’d stop and see if Nathan would join him. He needed someone to keep him from killing Rory.
The cabin was made of logs held together with some sort of mud. A small window to the right side of the door, covered with a scrap of curtain was the only light in the room.
Against the right wall stood a cot. In the middle of the back wall was a large fireplace with a hook for pots and in front of the fireplace sat a small table and two ladder back chairs. The ‘kitchen’ was against the left wall and consisted of three long shelves.
“Lovely home you have here.”
He was lighting the fireplace and had his back to her.
“It’s a place to get out of the rain. You don’t have to like it.
You won’t be here long enough to care, assuming my big brother wants you back.
I’m supposed to kill you, but I don’t ken to killing no woman, so I’m just gonna wait for Ben to come get you and give me my money.
Then I’ll be gone and that woman can kill you herself for all I care. ”
“You mean Melissa or Doris?”
“Miz Doris? Nah, she don’t like you either but she’s not the one I bargained with. Sounds like you best watch your back little lady, cause that makes two that don’t care for your presence. Melissa Mills seems to want Ben after all and after I get my money from Ben, she can have him.”
“I knew Doris didn’t like me, but I didn’t know Melissa hated me, too. I’m glad you don’t want to kill me.”
“I’m not a killer, but I didn’t tell Melissa that.”
“How will Ben know about the money and where to bring it?”
“Ben knows where I live. He sort of lets me take the cows I want. I think he feels sorry for me, but that’s all right. He can feel as sorry as he wants, as long as he brings the money. I left a note for him in the barn.”
“What makes you think Ben wants me enough to pay ransom?”
“Oh I figure he does. He don’t want to have to go through all the trouble to get another bride. ‘Sides you’re kinda pretty. You’re the kind of girl a man can get himself lost in. As a matter of fact, if I was a different kind of man, I might get lost in you myself.”
He came closer. Close enough she could smell the stale tobacco odor in his clothes. Fear closed its ranks around her. Memories of Mr. Slidell, when he’d groped her came back, but she would not let fear rule her.
Rory sniffed and then closed his eyes and sniffed her again.
She kept her voice level and mild.
“But you’re not that kind of man.”
He seemed to ignore her words.
“You sure do smell good. Just like the flowers outside my mama’s house.”
“It’s my perfume. It’s lilac.”
He stood back away from her.
“Brings back memories, good memories and makes me sorry that I had to tie you up. I don’t want to hurt you, Miz Logan, I just want what’s due me.”
He shoved her down onto the cot.
“Rory! Get your sorry ass out here.”
Seconds later, the door crashed in.
The panic on Rory’s face was a joy to see. He glanced down at her and then back at Ben.
“I didn’t do nothin’ Ben. I just tied her up. I didn’t do nothin’.”
Ben looked at Emily and back at Rory. He charged, his shoulder hit Rory’s stomach and pushed him into the wall.
Rory brought both his fists down on Ben’s head, dislodging him.
Nathan Ravenclaw stepped inside and untied her hands and ankles, then stood between her and the fighting men.
From around Nathan’s back, she watched her husband beating Rory silly. “Stop. Ben. Stop.”
She looked over at Nathan.
“Do something, Nathan. Stop them.”
“Can’t do it, Emily. This has been brewing for a long time. They need to get it out.”
She stared at the fighting men with her fist in her mouth.
Ben stepped back, looked over at her again and put his full weight behind his fist as it landed on Rory’s jaw. The blow sent the kidnapper to the floor.
Then Ben was standing over her.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
She took the hanky from her sleeve and dabbed at her wrists where the rope had cut into her sensitive skin.
Ben sat next to her on the cot.
Nathan picked up Rory by the front of his shirt.
“I’ll take him outside. Follow when you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Nathan.”
Ben turned back to her.
“Emily, did he—”
She shook her head. “No. No. He didn’t do anything except tie me up. That’s all.”
She put her hand on her husband’s leg.
“Ben. Nothing else happened.”
“I won’t hold anything against you. You can tell me the truth.”
She cocked her head and stared at her husband.
“I am telling you the truth. You saw everything. I was tied up. That’s all.”
Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“’Cause I know none of this is your fault.”
“You’re right. It’s Melissa’s.”
“Melissa?”
Emily shook off his arm and stood.
“She’s the one who arranged all of this. And your mother was in on the kidnapping. Did she tell you I’d been taken?”
His eyes widened and then he frowned.
“No.”
She gasped as she recalled when she was taken. “She saw, Ben. I saw her. She watched from her bedroom window and did nothing to stop the abduction.”
Emily saw a tick in Ben’s jaw.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Mother wouldn’t have you kidnapped.”
“No? Why don’t you ask your half-brother?”
“Now Emily, I’m sure you’re mistaken.”
Her gut churned at her husband’s accusation and she broke away from Ben’s embrace.
“I’m not mistaken. When will you believe me? Your mother is trying to get rid of me and it sounds like she’s teamed up with Melissa. Why would Melissa think that you would take her back if I was gone? Is there something I should know?”
“No. Nothing. You’re just upset because of what happened.”
“I keep telling you nothing happened. I got kidnapped by your brother who was hired by Melissa to kill me. Thank goodness he’s not that kind of man.”
Frustrated Emily went outside. She got on the first saddled horse she saw and was about to ride off when Ben grasped the reins behind the horse’s mouth preventing her from leaving. Then he climbed up behind her.
Nathan came forward and looked up at them in the saddle.
“I’ll take Rory into the sheriff’s office. Sounds to me like you two have some talking to do.”
“Thanks Nathan,” said Ben. “We definitely have things to discuss.”
Ben took the reins.
“Stand in the stirrups.”
Ben grabbed hold of the saddle horn and swung himself onto the horse and slipped onto the saddle seat.
“Sit.”
Emily sat on his lap keeping her back ramrod straight trying not to let her back touch him.
He eased her against him and held her gently.
Angry, silent tears rolled down her cheeks and onto his hands as they lay holding the reins, in her lap.
He kissed her hair.
“Emily. I’m so sorry. Crying isn’t good for you in your condition.”
“You’re worried about me crying, when I’ve just been kidnapped by your brother at the behest of your insane mother and you’re worried about my crying?”
She continued to cry all the way home.
When they got home he carried her to the bedroom. He laid her on the bed and then lay down beside her. She remained stiff and tried to keep away from him. He didn’t pressure her, just lay beside her with his arm out waiting for her to come to him if she wanted to.
Finally, she needed to be held by someone who at least cared for her. He may not love her, but right now his arms around her are what she wanted. She needed to feel safe and she did when she was in his arms.
Neither one said anything.
They simply held each other.
Too many questions to be asked and she feared what the answers would be.
Maybe Ben did, too.