Captive Heart (25 page)

Chapter 41

Emma slammed the privy door shut, never so grateful in all her life to be in the damp, smelly building. Joshua was cold, wet, and crying. Christina had not allowed them to get their coats.

Cringing, Emma set Joshua on the floor and leaned over the seat, running her fingers over the splintery boards along the back of the outhouse.
Please let him not have fixed it. Please.
The center board swung forward, and a wide swath of light filled the space. Emma looked down at Joshua’s tearstained face.

“It’s all right,” she said, almost giddy. “We’re going to be all right.”

Lifting him carefully over the hole, she lowered him to the ground outside the back of the outhouse. He fit easily between the boards. Emma bit her lip, uncertain she would be so lucky.

Climbing up on the seat, she lowered one leg, planting her foot on the wet ground beside Joshua. He clung to her leg, screaming. For once, she felt grateful for the howling wind and rain. Even if Christina had opened the window, no one at the house would have been able to hear anything. Nor would they see anything, either, as the privy faced the kitchen.

With her weight on the leg already outside, Emma wedged her body through the opening. The top of her dress snagged on a nail as she went. Heedless of the tear, Emma ripped the fabric free, then dropped the torn cloth down the hole. Her shoulders cleared the board, then her head, and she was free.

Emma pressed the loose board back into place and left Joshua for a second to grab a good-sized rock. This she placed at the base of the board so it would not come loose as easily.

Scooping up Joshua, she ran toward the mountain, looking down so she wouldn’t fall. The forest floor of pine needles and decomposing leaves hid her steps.

Reaching the wall of granite, Emma ducked behind the stand of aspens Thayne had painstakingly transplanted last fall. Though the branches were still bare, the trees hid the two-foot-high entrance to the mine. Setting Joshua down once more, Emma knelt and began tossing rocks to the side. Within a few minutes, she had cleared an opening.

Placing Joshua in first, she quickly followed, then reached out to pull the rocks and debris back over the entrance. When she’d done that as best as she could, she picked up Joshua and scooted to the back of the cool cave. Once there, she set him down and removed her wool petticoat; all the while he held her leg and cried. She picked him up again, then sat on the ground, doing her best to remove his wet things as fast as possible in the dark. When she’d finished, she wrapped him in her discarded layers, bundling him tight and holding him close. She began to rock him, praying he would stop crying and fall asleep, praying they wouldn’t be found.

* * *

It was dark when Emma awoke. The sliver of light that had shone through the tunnel entrance was gone, and the cave storeroom was still and quiet. It was also cold—oh, so cold. Carefully, Emma shifted Joshua to a different position and felt his forehead. Cool. She reached into the bundle and touched his hands and feet and was relieved to find them warm. Hers felt like blocks of ice.

A new danger. We’ll freeze to death if we stay here much longer.
She closed her eyes, remembering the terror of the afternoon. Her choices weren’t good. If they returned to the house, they’d be killed, but she didn’t know how long they could last out here.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, Joshua whimpered in his sleep. She started her rocking again, soothing him with a whispered lullaby.

Go outside.

The thought came to her mind, much as the idea to escape through the outhouse had.
Just as the idea to come west led me here.
Following nothing more than instinct—God-given instinct, Thayne had taught her—Emma placed Joshua gently on the ground, then stood. Running her hands along the wall, she made her way to the entrance. She glanced back, her heart torn at the thought of leaving Joshua alone in the dark.

Thayne needs you.

But he is a grown man. Joshua is little more than an infant.

Go!

Unable to ignore the urgent thought, Emma pushed at the rocks until some fell away. A few more minutes and she had a hole big enough to crawl through. Holding her breath, she poked her head out and looked around as best she could in the dark. A light rain drizzled down. The sky was cloudy. No moon or stars were visible to light her path.

Perhaps that’s a blessing.
Uncertain what she was to do, Emma stumbled from the cellar and began walking blindly toward the house. She reached the privy and crouched behind it. Wrapping her arms around herself, she sank to the ground and waited. Thoughts and images wandered in and out of her mind.
Thayne. Joshua. Marcus. Pearl. Her father. Her mother.

Distant lightning flashed in the sky, and thunder rolled over the hills.
Oh no. Don’t let the storm start up again.
She stood, peeking around the outhouse, looking longingly at the lights of the kitchen—
her
kitchen. She’d learned to cook there. She’d read to Joshua there, proposed marriage there.

Oh, Thayne. Please, God, let everything be all right so I can marry him.
She thought back to that afternoon on the train and the prayer she’d uttered there.
And thank you, God, for letting him choose me.

Hoofbeats sounded in the distance. Emma crept to the other side of the privy and strained to see down the drive. She listened carefully and was certain it was
two
horses she heard.
Not Thayne, then?
She told herself it was good he wasn’t here. So long as he didn’t come home, he was safe.

A streak of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the path to the house. In a split second, Emma saw Thayne jumping from his horse. He reached up to the man slumped over on the second animal.
Marcus.

Another flash of lightning lit the sky. Emma counted the seconds. At three, angry thunder shook the skies.

The front door opened. Christina stepped outside. “Hello, darling.”

Thayne turned toward the voice, his hand instinctively going to the holster at his hip.

From her vantage point behind the outhouse, Emma saw what Thayne could not—Alexander crouched and waiting, his gun drawn as he hid off to the side of the porch.

No!
Emma dropped to the ground, her frozen fingers searching for the rock she’d placed behind the loose board earlier. Her hand brushed against something rough, and she grabbed it, holding it close as she began making her way toward the house and Alexander.

Thayne glanced back at Marcus, then pulled out his gun and took a step toward the porch. “What are you doing here? Where are Josh and Emma?”

“Oh, put that away,” Christina said, a trill of false laughter accompanying her order. “Do you really think, after the last time, that I’d challenge you again? You’re the faster draw.” Her voice turned cold. “I almost died learning that lesson.”

Keeping his pistol trained on her, Thayne took another step. Emma swung her gaze over to Alexander and saw him take aim. She cringed as lightning flashed in the sky, closer this time. She waited only a second, then ran forward when the thunder echoed around the canyon. She lifted her arms above her head and brought the rock crashing down on Alexander’s head. As she struck, his gun went off.

“Thayne!” Emma’s eyes strained through the dark as she ran past Alexander in the direction of the horses. Lightning struck again, hitting the tall pine near the front of the house. A terrible sound split the air as Emma felt fire burn up her arm. She pitched forward to the ground, her face landing in cool mud.

Christina screamed, and men were yelling. Alexander staggered to his feet and took off toward the woods. Marcus ran past, following. Christina fled the porch. Another shot fired, perilously close to where Emma lay.

“Emma.” Thayne knelt beside her, rolling her gently to her back. “Are you hurt?”

She gasped, shocked at the pain the simple movement had caused. “Thayne.” Relief flooded her. “There’s a man with—”

“Marcus got him.”

“Christina?” Emma asked.

“She’s gone. Don’t worry about her. Where’s Joshua?” There was urgency in his voice.

“Safe. The mine. Cold.” She meant to tell him Joshua was cold, but it was her teeth that had begun to chatter.

Thayne picked her up and began running toward the mountain, shouting to Marcus as he went. Over his shoulder, Emma saw the east side of the house engulfed in flames. “Your house.”

“You’re sure Joshua’s not in there?” Thayne demanded.

“I left him in the mine.” It was all she had the energy to say. The cold was worse now, and it was making her sleepy. Everything but her arm felt numb. Her arm felt like fire. She thought of the lightning. “Was I hit?”

“Yes. But I don’t think it’s too bad. Looks like a clean shot.” Thayne’s words were as brief as her own. His breathing was labored as he ran, carrying her in his arms.

“I was shot?”
How extraordinary.
She turned her head, trying to see the wound.

“Hold still, Emma.” They’d reached the entrance to the hidden mine. She could hear Joshua crying.

“Thank you,” Thayne breathed a prayer of relief. He stood Emma on the ground beside him. “Lean against the mountain.” He started digging through the rocks and pushing aside the branches near the entrance.

Emma touched the arm that burned. Her finger found the hole in her sleeve, then felt the blood oozing from the wound. With a gasp of dismay, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped over, falling through the opening Thayne had just cleared.

Chapter 42

“Thayne?” Emma reached up, touching his face.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I understand why you nearly swore that day on the trail when I asked how your shoulder was. This really does hurt like—”

“Ahem.” Marcus cleared his throat loudly, then chuckled. He glanced at Joshua, asleep again after a fitful night. “Got your little one here, and he sure does like to imitate whatever you say, Miss Emma. And I say—” Marcus cast a doleful glance in Thayne’s direction. “You been hanging out with this fellow too long without the company of other ladies.”

“I know your arm hurts, and I’m sorry.” Thayne’s voice was tense as he worked over her. Daylight was beginning to stream through the mine entrance, and he could finally see well enough to attend to her wound. He needed to get Emma and Marcus some real medical attention and Joshua warm clothing and food, but even those necessities paled compared to his concern over where Christina might be.
Waiting outside to ambush us? Returning with reinforcements?

“Thayne?”

“Yes?”

“I forgive you for being married before. For loving someone before you loved me.”

He made a peculiar noise in the back of his throat.
I didn’t—not really. Not like I love you.

“Thayne?”

“What Emma?”

“I forgive you for not telling me sooner. For kissing me when you were still a married man. For trying to take me from the train, for making me walk across the prairie without food or water, for letting me think I was going to have to live with Indians, for—”

“Emma?”

“What?”

“Be quiet.”

Marcus laughed louder. “You two gonna have a fine life together. I can tell already.”

“She was a better patient when she was unconscious,” Thayne grumbled, but his eyes were tender as he looked down at Emma, teeth still chattering, pain etched in her features as she tried bravely to endure his doctoring. He hated that he was going to have to leave her here, but he’d already given Christina too much of a head start to delay any longer.

“Rest now,” he urged, placing a gentle kiss on Emma’s forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Where are you going?” Alarm filled her voice, and instead of doing as Thayne had suggested, she struggled to sit up.

“I’ve got to get a wagon, get some help. Marcus can’t walk, and you’re not likely to make it far, either, Brownie.”
I’ve got to
find Christina, got to put a stop to this once and for all.
We won’t be safe until I do.

“You’re going after her, aren’t you? Don’t Thayne. It doesn’t matter. I’ll pretend to be your cousin again.” She put a hand on his arm. “I’ll go—”

Thayne stared at her a long moment, then took her hand and pressed his lips to it, his eyes still locked on Emma’s.

“Ain’t never seen no cousins look at each other like that,” Marcus said after several long seconds.

“Exactly.” Thayne pulled back, pleased that the yearning on Emma’s face matched the way he felt. “That’s the way a man looks at the woman he loves—his wife. And I intend to make you mine as soon as possible.” He got to his feet, bending low beneath the sloped ceiling. “I’ll send help back. Someone will be here by tonight. Take care of each other until then.”

* * *

Marcus shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable on the hard dirt floor. “How you doing over there, Miss Emma?”

“Better now that Joshua is calm.” She glanced down at the little boy nestled in the crook of her good arm. For the moment, he was content, sucking happily on a stick of candy. “Bless you for having that peppermint in your pocket, Marcus.”

“A little treat from the missus,” Marcus said. “She picked that up special for him last time we were in town. Glad I remembered, and glad it wasn’t crushed. I’m just sorry I don’t have something for you.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Emma said, hoping the strain wasn’t too evident in her voice. Truthfully, she couldn’t remember feeling worse in her life—even after her ordeal of crossing the prairie with Thayne—but she didn’t want Marcus to know that. “Besides, you gave me something already. Thayne told me you saved my life last night.”

Marcus shrugged, but Emma caught the corner of his lip turning up. “Thayne gave my life back a time or two; I wasn’t about to let him lose the woman who’ll mend his.”

“Well, I thank you,” Emma said. “When I saw you bent over that horse, I admit, I feared the worst.”

“That’s what Thayne wanted anyone who saw us to believe. It woulda been the truth too, if we hadn’t crossed paths early yesterday morning.”

“What do you mean?” Emma peered into the dim light, trying to read Marcus’s expression.

“I was on my way down to your place—met up with Thayne halfway.”

“But wasn’t that
out
of his way?”

“Yep.” Marcus nodded. “But he decided last minute to change his route. ‘Had a feeling,’ he said. ”

“Thayne and his instincts,” Emma murmured.

“And a good thing too,” Marcus said. “He found trouble afore it could find me.”

“What trouble?” she asked, worrying her lip as she awaited his answer, which was slow in coming.

“Couple of Miss Christina’s thugs. Planning to fill me full of lead and leave me on the road to Rapid City as a message for Thayne.”

Emma suppressed a shiver.

“No worries,” Marcus said. “Thayne took care of them.”

“He
killed
them?”

“Now don’t be concerning yourself over his soul,” Marcus assured her. “It was a bit of a nasty fight, and one
was
unconscious when we left, but he’ll be all right. And I reckon someone’ll find them in a day or two. They won’t be tied up there forever.”

“Up where?” Emma asked, leaning her head against the cool wall, trying to ignore the throbbing in her arm.

“The shortcut between here and Thayne’s old mine near Deadwood. Not too many know about that road. Mostly, Thayne and Christina used it when—” The rest of the sentence died in Marcus’s throat. He looked over at Emma. “Don’t guess you want to hear about those times.”

“I suppose not,” Emma replied. Something about what he’d just said was bothering her—something other than thinking of the time period when Thayne was married to Christina—though she couldn’t put her finger on it. “So the two of them met on that road, before you met Christina’s men?”

“That was the way of it.”

“Do you think that’s where Christina fled last night? Back that way, I mean?” Emma asked.

“It’s right possible,” Marcus said. “For a lady—though it’d be a stretch to call her that—she knows these Hills well. Better’n half the men in these parts, I’d reckon. I’ve no doubt she could navigate that path in the dark, bewitched as she is,” he added under his breath.

“But that means she and those men could be waiting for Thayne. And that’s where he’s gone, hasn’t he?” she asked.

“Now don’t go borrowing trouble. Thayne will have thought of that. He’ll travel the main road to town.”

“No, he won’t.” Emma shifted Joshua away from her side. “He said he’d have help for us by tonight, but he never said
he
would be back tonight.” She looked into Marcus’s eyes, daring him to deny the dread that had settled over them both in the last minute.

“I know what you’re thinking, and Thayne’d skin me alive if I left you two.” Marcus held out his leg, a strip of Thayne’s shirt bound tightly around his bloodied ankle, sprained—or worse—in last night’s unsuccessful chase through the dark and the storm. “Even if I could walk, I’d dare not leave you two here alone.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Emma said. She rose to her knees, then, holding on to the wall, she stood.

“What’re you thinking? What’re you
doing
?” Marcus held his arm out as if to block her from passing.

“I’m doing what Thayne taught me to do,” she said, stepping over him on her way to the cave entrance. “Acting on my God-given instinct.”