Silver Bound (20 page)

The pod pulled away from the station. With Kalon aboard, they wouldn’t fire on them, but they might use the tow. The pod was damn small—and damn, didn’t it feel small, tight and airless. It was nearly impossible to get a lock on. To stay on the safe side, he flicked on the scramblers.

Drifting in, he’d cut everything but bare minimum support, so he hadn’t used the low-powered thrusters. Now he did, kicking them on to get them to the mounty vessel before the tug figured out how to get a lock.

Darkness surrounded them, and the deceptive quiet twinkled with faraway stars. Keeping his attention out the viewer and off the people strapped into the pod with him, he held his breath for what seemed like hours.

Then the pod shuddered. They were caught.

Jewel squeezed her son’s hand as the pod jerked. Thrown against their safety-belts, he whimpered but kept it together.

He was such a brave boy.

Her leg burned, but for Jared’s sake, she didn’t cry either. If he could do it, so could she, but the pain had radiated up her leg, and her breathing was labored.

“We’re being towed now.” Guy’s first words in ages were calm but her pulse thundered in her ears.

“They have us?” She squeezed Jared’s hand again. No matter what happened to her, he’d be all right.

“Not,
they.
Brice. Looks like he was playing possum.” Guy turned in his seat and grinned at her. The relief in his face calmed her racing heartbeat. Then he frowned. “Stay in your seats until he’s got us docked.” During this speech, he disobeyed his own orders as he unbuckled and rose from the pilot seat.

Guy knelt before her, his face pale, and lifted the bottom of her wrap. This time she let him, now that they were safe.

He blanched and ran a gentle hand down the back of her leg, away from the burn. “Bastards. What were they thinking to shoot into a sealed pod? Looks like much of the power bled away in the ricochet before it hit you, though. It’s not deep. It’ll heal, but you might be tender for a few weeks after the doc tends you.”

“Momma?” Jared started to cry louder than before.

“Jared, stop that at once.” Kalon didn’t modulate his frustration as he usually did around his heir. “You heard the sheriff. She’ll be fine. She saved you from that hurt by covering you.”

“Stop it.” Heat flooded her face. She glared at Kalon, not wanting him to put that guilt onto Jared’s small shoulders. Didn’t he understand?

He couldn’t. He never would. He’d been raised by a harsh hand and he’d do the same, if he could, with Jared.

Guy remained quiet, stroking the back of her leg. They all fell into silence as they waited for the pod to come to a stop.

The vessel shuddered again. The lights blinked on and then off. Then an incongruous knock sounded on the hatch. Guy opened the portal and a wash of cool air flooded in.

Everything happened in a blur. Brice and another mounty escorted a quiet Kalon away.

Guy put her arm around his shoulder, his arm about her waist, and instructed Jared, “Let’s go, little man. Help your momma by holding her hand real tight.”

Her vision blacked when she took her first step. She swayed against Guy.

He whispered in her ear, “I can carry you.

“Not in front of Jared. I’ll walk.” Vision clearing to a fog, she cleared her throat and hobbled along. The burn through her leg stole her breath, and she didn’t speak again until he’d gotten her to the medical bay and put her on a cot.

“Jared, stay with the sheriff.” Then she relaxed on the bed and let the darkness take her from the searing pain.

***

She woke to the sight of a clean, shaved and combed Guy sitting on the side of her bed with Jared in his lap.

“And then Max took off after that squirrel, barking it up a tree until all the walnuts started plopping on his head. He was shaking the tree so much with his ruckus that the nuts just fell right down. We had nuts every day for weeks.”

Jared giggled, and Guy tousled his hair. “Your momma’s awake.”

Jared zipped his head around, bounded to the floor and came to her side. “Hi, Momma. You missed the landing. I’ve never been on a planet before. It’s so big. Are we staying here? I like the rain. It’s neat.”

Guy murmured to someone outside the door of the small hospital room.

“You like the rain, huh?” Jewel pulled herself up on the pillows. “What else?”

“One of the mounties let me brush his horse. It’s big and brown.”

Guy put a hand on Jared’s shoulder. “That same mounty is back to let you brush his horse again. Jewel, this is Neill.”

She nodded at the mounty in his red tunic. His blond hair and pleasantly smiling brown eyes made her trust him immediately. He softly rumbled, “We’ll be just outside, Miss Jewel.”

When Jared and Neill had left, Guy sat next to her and stroked her hand, still glittery with traces of silver in the soft light of the room.

“Brice had a solid case against Kalon and already had a sealed judgment to send him off to a maximum security penal colony.”

She couldn’t find any sympathy inside herself for that.

“But in return for a promise as well as signing an order, he got a lighter sentence if he stays away from you and Jared. He’s to have permanent planet-grounding here on Taphgan. His funds and property have been confiscated. He’s to serve civil time and then community service for the rest of his life. He’s been fitted with an anklet. I think he has the resources hidden away to hire a programmer to have that anklet removed, so I still don’t think you’re safe.”

Guy finally looked at her. His eyes took her in, as if he’d starved for her. A small point of heat started in her middle and spread through her limbs.

“If he promised—” her voice was nothing but a rasp, “—he’ll probably stick to it. He was usually good for his word.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Let’s go home, Guy. We’re done with Kalon. He’s done with us. I just know it.”

“He’ll come after Jared.” Guy shook his head.

“What did Brice say?” Somehow, deep inside, she didn’t worry for Jared. Everything seemed at peace.

“He said no one’s ever cracked these units. There’s no one who’s come close, and if there were, since Kalon’s funds are frozen, he won’t have funds to hire an expert of that caliber. Brice thinks Kalon will spend his life here.”

“Then let’s go home.” She smiled at him. Sure. More than sure.

Guy turned from her and spoke to the floor. “Where to?”

“Trident Ranch, of course.”

“We can’t.” He shook his head and his body tensed in his chair.

“Guy. The people of Rangetown won’t care about this.” She waved her glittery hand before she touched her lips. “Most of them won’t even know what it is. They’ll wonder what that daft Jewel had colored herself like that for.”

Guy jerked his head toward her, his eyes unfocused before light seemed to dawn on his face. He grinned at her. “You’re right. Even if they know, they’ve always loved you there. They would never turn their back on you.”

“They love you, too.”

“I don’t think so.” He shook his head, the brightness of his smile dimming.

“I know so. How do you think you got to be sheriff? Have the job for so long?”

“Whatever you say, Miss Jewel. If you want to go to Trident Ranch, I’ll take you there, and we’ll make it work.” He grinned at her again and started to bend toward her before he stopped, unsure looking.

“Don’t treat me like I’ll break. Hold me.” She reached for him, and he swooped her up into a tight embrace.

Kisses rained down on her head.

“And you’ll marry me before the first spring calves,” she whispered against his lips before she thrust her tongue inside to seek his taste.

When he came up for air, a blush spreading over his cheeks, he stared into her, his look of love one that set her body trembling and her middle aching.

“Whatever you say, Miss Jewel.”

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