Then when they’d had the mud wrestle—he smiled at the memory—he’d found out about her fear of the lonely forest. And so of course that was where he arranged to take her.
And just as he’d predicted, basing his guess on the odd workings of women’s minds, Leah had turned stubborn when he’d told her she could stay with him. Give women what they wanted and damned if they didn’t decide they wanted something else!
Now here they were, all alone, and Leah acted as if she couldn’t stand him. If he lived a hundred years he’d never understand women.
But she’d come around. If need be they’d spend months alone in this forest; he planned to court her, woo her, win her. Maybe he could even get her pregnant again. Now that wasn’t a bad idea at all. If she were swelled up with his child, surely she’d give him less trouble. They’d get back to Sweetbriar and his farm and there’d already be a child on the way.
Oh Leah, he thought, looking across the dying fire toward her, no woman could ever resist a Stanford man when he set his mind to winning her.
With that decision made, he turned on his side and went to sleep.
Chapter 15
Leah woke with a sense of dread. The forest was still and by the look of the moon it wasn’t very late—but something was deeply wrong. Quickly she turned her head to look at Wesley. His eyes were open and there was warning in them. She obeyed his silent command and lay still while she watched him inch his rifle a little closer to his body.
“No need for that, mister,” came a voice from behind Leah that made her go rigid. She’d never thought to hear that voice again; she had prayed never to hear it again.
“We’re just travelers like you and the lady,” the voice continued.
Leah lay still as out of the darkness came a tall, skinny body. In the moonlight she could see a bearded face.
Slowly, making every move count, Wesley sat up, the rifle never out of his hands. “Who’s with you?” Wes asked in such a sleepy voice that Leah looked sharply at him, then noticed the alert look in his eyes.
“Jus’ me and one of the boys. Mind if I have some of your coffee?”
The thin man didn’t wait for an answer but knelt by the lukewarm pot. He didn’t bother looking in Leah’s direction.
He wouldn’t, Leah thought with anger. Her brother Abe had never had much use for women unless there was ransom money involved. Years ago, after Abe had kidnapped Nicole Armstrong, he’d disappeared off the face of the earth, and none of the Simmonses had heard from him again. Now he was a great deal thinner, years older, but Leah had no doubt he was her brother, probably up to no good, and Wesley was right in staying near his weapon. But perhaps if Leah let her brother know who she was he’d leave them alone.
“I’ll get you a cup,” she said loudly, eyes on Abe’s narrow back in its worn black coat. She wasn’t sure, but she believed he tightened at the sound of her voice.
Moving quickly, she threw a handful of branches on the dying fire and urged it into a light-giving blaze. With slow deliberation, she poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him across the flames.
He looked at her for only an instant and Leah wasn’t sure he recognized her. After all, when Abe left she’d been only fourteen, and since then she’d grown into a woman and her manners and speech had changed greatly. But Abe’s face hadn’t changed much. It was still narrow, with close-set black eyes and a big nose that looked like some bird ready to attack from its perch on top of a dirty, scraggly beard.
“I’d like to see your friend,” Wes said.
Abe turned to Wes, again ignoring Leah. “He’s just a boy, no harm in him, but if you want to see him…Bud, come on out here.”
Leah was pouring another cup of coffee and nearly dropped it at the sight of the man stepping from the shadows. Or perhaps he was the shadows because he was by far the biggest man she’d ever seen. Both Wesley and Travis were big, powerfully built men, but this young man nearly dwarfed them. He was at least six feet eight inches, maybe taller, well over two hundred pounds. He wore baggy, coarse linen trousers tucked into tall black boots molded over giant calves. His upper body was bare except for a sheepskin slung over one shoulder, and his arms could only be described as massive. They more resembled sculptured tree trunks than arms. The man, truthfully not more than a boy, had a handsome, unsmiling face set on a neck that looked to be about the size of Leah’s waist.
“Jus’ one of the boys,” Abe repeated, a chuckle in his voice.
“Coffee?” Leah managed to ask, her neck craning to look up at the big man.
“Bud likes to keep his hands free,” Abe said, not allowing the boy to answer. “You folks just passin’ through?”
“Hunting,” Wes answered, still not moving from where he’d slept and not turning his back on the giant near him.
Abe creakily lifted his spindly little body, tossing the dregs of coffee on the ground. “We got to be goin’ now. Thank you kindly, missus.” He handed the empty cup to Leah and it was then she was sure he recognized her. His close little eyes bored into hers and swept down her dress, which was far better than anything he’d ever seen her wear before. “Come on, Bud,” Abe said and started into the darkness, the silent giant moving noiselessly behind him.
Leah’s head spun with thoughts, the first of which was that she was sure Abe was up to no good. Of course he’d never done anything honest in his life as far as Leah knew, so she wasn’t surprised by this thought.
“What do you think they wanted?” Wes asked, watching her.
Leah jumped guiltily at the sound of his voice. She couldn’t very well tell someone of Wes’s class that the nasty creature was her brother and had probably meant to knock them over the head and rob them. Maybe he’d refrained because he had some family feeling. More likely he’d not harmed them because they were awake. Abe was a backstabber.
“I guess they were just traveling, like us,” she said, then stretched exaggeratedly. “I certainly am tired. I’ll be asleep again in minutes.”
With great show, Leah rearranged her pallet, smiled merrily at Wes, yawned, and looked for all the world as if she went right to sleep.
Never in her life had she been more awake. Somewhere near them in the forest was her sly, devious, cowardly, thieving, treacherous older brother—and she knew he’d want payment from her for not causing them misery.
Every pore of her body seemed to be listening. She held her breath as Wesley, seeming to believe her words, settled down to sleep.
An hour went by and Leah’s body began to ache. When was Abe going to make his move? She planned how she’d roll toward Wes and grab the rifle.
Another hour passed. She began to wonder if she really could shoot her own brother.
A noise from Wesley startled her, but it was only a soft snore followed by his turning over.
When Abe’s signal came, a high-pitched whistle, Leah was past ready. Slowly, making no noise, she pushed herself out of the blankets and left the campsite. She didn’t allow herself to consider the forest at night or remember that great, enormous man who trailed her brother, but she made her way over fallen logs, past frightening shadows toward the whistle that would repeat itself when she lost her way.
She traveled at least a mile before Abe oozed himself from behind a willow tree.
Leah jumped back, her hand to her throat.
“Scare you, baby sister?”
“Only as any other criminal would.”
Abe looked almost hurt. “I thought maybe you’d be glad to see me. I sure was glad to see you.”
“Where’s that creature of yours?”
Abe merely nodded upward to a space above her head.
Leah glanced to the side to see the shadow of a huge arm. Again she gasped as she turned to see the young man not ten inches from her. She moved away from the towering mass of him while he remained impassive.
Abe took her upper arm. “Don’t mind Bud,” he said, pulling her away. “He ain’t too, you know.” He tapped his head with his finge
r.
“I don’t guess he has to be,” Leah snapped as she jerked out of Abe’s grasp. “When did you last have a bath?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Ain’t you the fancy one! Last time I seen you you was dirtier ’n I ever been. I guess that was before you took up with the likes of the Stanfords.”
Leah drew herself up rigidly. “I happen to be Mrs. Wesley Stanford.”
“You!” Abe gasped, stepping away from her. “You, a Simmons, married to a Stanford?” He began to smile. “Hear that, Bud? My very own little sister thinks someone like a Stanford married her.”
Bud gave no indication he heard Abe.
“I never knowed you was such a liar.” Abe began to laugh. “All the Simmons women are whores but they’re usually honest whores. Even Ma—Hey!”
He didn’t finish his sentence because Leah administered a ringing slap to his laughing face.
“You little—,” he began. “You want me to set Bud on you? He can tear bits like you apart with one hand. Bud!”
Bud didn’t move and neither did Leah as she stared straight up at him, hoping he wouldn’t see her trembling. Bud looked at her for a moment, then lifted his eyes to look into the forest’s darkness.
“Well,” Abe said, “maybe Bud’s not in the mood tonight.”
Leah released her pent-up breath. “Maybe he has a mother too and believes people should be slapped for saying bad things about their mothers.”
“Hell, Bud and Cal ain’t got mothers. Somebody carved ’em out of a mountain. Look, Leah, forget the pea brains. I got some business to talk to you about.”
“Who is Cal?”
“I told you to forget ’em! Now listen, I didn’t mean none of them things about you bein’ a whore. I mean, even if you are it don’t matter to me because all I want is your…your brain,” he said brightly. “You allus was the smartest one in the family. Ma used to say it was too bad you was born a Simmons. You followin’ me?”
“Only too well. I’m beginning to realize you want something from me.”
“See?” He grinned. One of his incisors was rotting away. “I knew you was smart. And look at you too. Pretty as a lady and you talk all refined.”
“You don’t need to waste your flattery. What do you want from me?”
“I want you to join us.”
“Us? Join you?” she asked in dread.
“You don’t have to act like you’re better ’n me. I got somethin’ good goin’ for me. I’m gonna be somebody.”
Leah stood still and waited for him to continue. It wouldn’t do to antagonize him further, especially not with the hulking man hovering over them.
“I want you to join Revis and me and the boys. We got a little deal goin’ whereas we help ourselves to the people travelin’ over the Wilderness Trail. I reckon you been travelin’ with ’em and you know their ways better ’n us and since you’re so smart you can plan things for us.”
“Plan?” Leah whispered, beginning to understand. She’d heard, of course, of a gang of robbers preying on the westward travelers, but they’d never molested the Stanford party. “You are one of the robbers? Thievery is how you’re planning to make something of yourself?”
“I ain’t always plannin’ to steal,” Abe said righteously. “I’m puttin’ the money away to buy me a little store—or I will put it away as soon as I pay off a few debts.”
“Gambling, no doubt,” she said. “And you think I would even consider becoming a part of your hideous den of thieves?”
“Don’t you go callin’ me names, you little whore. Ma and Pa know you’re hidin’ out with a Stanford?”
“For your information, both Ma and Pa are dead, and I told you before that I am married to Wesley Stanford.”
“Oh, yeah, and Bud here flies. Hey! How come if you’re married to Stanford you two was sleepin’ apart?”
Leah looked at her shoe. “It’s a long story,” she mumbled.
“Only one way a Stanford’d marry a Simmons. He got you pregnant, didn’t he? And only them Stanfords would think they’d have to marry a slut—” He broke off. “Look Leah, married or not, the man don’t want you. Anybody with any sense—even Bud here—would be able to see that. Why’s he keepin’ you in a woods, hidin’ away with you?”
Abe’s words were too close to how Leah actually felt. “I have to go. It’ll be daylight soon,” she whispered. “Wesley will miss me.”
“He ain’t gonna miss you. He’ll be glad to get rid of a Simmons whether she’s his wife or not. Come on with me now, Leah. Join us. We’ll make you rich.”
“Rich!” She spat. “Rich from stealing other people’s goods? Those people on that trail have worked all their lives for what they have and you think I’m going to help you take it away from them? You make me ill! Worse than ill! I wonder if scum like you has a right to live!”
“Why you—,” he said, before lunging at her.
But one silent step forward from Bud made Abe stop.
Leah blinked her eyes in astonishment and, with her heart pounding from anger and fear, she dared greatly and put her hand on Bud’s bare forearm. “Bud,” she said through a closed throat, “will you lead me back to my husband? I don’t know the way.”
Without a sound Bud slipped away into the trees.
“Don’t try to bother me again or Wesley’ll make you sorry,” Leah said to Abe before following the shadow of Bud.
She slipped into her sleeping pad seemingly only minutes before Wesley woke. She did her best to conceal her nervousness from him, but every sound made her jump. Wesley mentioned her dislike for the forest and told her she had nothing to be afraid of.
“Men are the real danger,” he said, eyeing her. “Take those two last night.”
“What about them?” she asked nervously, then calmed herself. “They weren’t dangerous, were they?”
“Maybe you should answer that.”
“Me? Why me? How could I know anything about them?”
He was silent for a moment. “I just thought women were supposed to know these things, that’s all. Women sometimes say they sense when people are good or bad.”
Leah cursed herself for jumping at him. He didn’t know the man from last night was her brother. He didn’t know she’d sneaked away to talk with him. But she was acting so guilty he was going to guess something was wrong.
“Only rich women have time to guess people’s motives. A Simmons like me has to take people as they are,” she snapped at him.
Wesley seemed about to speak but changed his mind. “True to form,” he muttered. “All right Simmons-Stanford, stay close to me.” With that he began to plow through the trees quickly, leaving Leah standing.
“Damn, damn, damn!” she cursed as she followed him.
For most of the day he stayed very far ahead of her. Only now and again did she glimpse his buckskins. Mostly she kept her head down and trudged along behind him, trying her best not to think of her brother Abe. Would he do something in revenge because she’d refused his request?
By twilight she was beginning to convince herself that Abe did have some family feeling and he wasn’t going to retaliate. Still she kept a lookout behind every tree. She half expected to be kidnapped. That would be Abe’s style.
A shot rang out, echoing off the trees and hills, reverberating all around her.
“Wesley!” she cried and knew with every fiber of her body that it was Abe who’d fired that shot. “Wesley!” she screamed and began to run.
Wesley’s big body lay on the forest floor, silent, still, half sitting against the pack on his back. A great, gaping hole was in his chest.
“Wesley,” Leah said with a gasp, dropping to her knees before him. “Wesley.”
He didn’t answer her but lay there completely still.
“He’s still breathin’,” came a voice over her head. “I didn’t aim to kill him.”
“You!” Leah hissed and launched at her brother.
Abe put his hands up to protect himself. “I told y
ou I needed you and since you ain’t got no family feelin’s I had to do somethin’.”
Leah stopped hitting her brother when she realized the stupidity of his words and turned back to Wesley. Bud was kneeling beside Wes, his big fingers probing at the wound.
“He is alive, isn’t he?” she asked again going to her knees.
Bud nodded once as he removed a knife from his side.
“No!” Leah screamed, grabbing the big forearm with both her hands. “Please don’t kill him. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Bud gave her a quick, hard look before using the knife to cut away the torn part of Wesley’s shirt.
“Them boys won’t kill nothin’,” Abe said in disgust, rubbing his arms where Leah had struck him. “Let Bud take care of Stanford and you come with me.”
“I won’t leave him,” Leah said stubbornly. “I’ll get you for this, Abe Simmons. If my husband dies I’ll—”
“He ain’t gonna die. I’m a good shot and it took me all day to come up with this plan. I figured you’d do most anythin’ to keep from losin’ all that Stanford money so I thought if maybe I laid him low you’d be willin’ to do somethin’ for me while he was healin’.”
“You stupid—,” she began. “How could you shoot someone just to get help with your criminal ways? Wesley, can you hear me?”
Leah was vaguely aware of the big man, Bud, as he began to feel Wesley’s ribs. Leah was glad for the help as her eyes were full of tears of rage and frustration.
“Here,” Abe said, grabbing Leah’s arm and pulling her upright. “Let the boys see to him. They’re good at doctorin’. You and me got some talkin’ to do.”
“I wouldn’t talk to you if—.”
“You want me to finish him off? It seems to me you ain’t in a position to do much bargainin’. You already showed me you ain’t got no real family feelin’s so I don’t know why I should care about you.”
“You’ve never cared about anybody but yourself.”