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Chapter 18
With Adam Smith dead upstairs, only Ed Stark posed a threat to come after them once they escaped. He was determined to eliminate that threat. It was bad enough he was heading home to face an onslaught by Indians, he didn’t need to deal with an angry, devious, whore trader as well. It wasn’t until Aiden saw a bullet pierce Ed Stark’s heart before he would agree to use the tunnel to escape the fire. The house was in flames by then.
The tunnel was narrower and much longer than he expected. Aiden was forced to crouch in order to move through it. The deeper they went, the more stagnant the air, until it felt as if he was going to suffocate. Never a lover of tight spaces, he feared panicking from claustrophobia before they reached the end.
When he was finally able to stand tall and breathe clear, fresh air again, he realized they’d come out on the edge of town, near the livery stable. The tunnel had to b
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Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 19
The train was crowded. Aiden managed to arrange for a private car after they reached Houston. Until then, he did his best to make sure that Pauline was as comfortable as possible in the overpacked public car.They reached Houston late in the afternoon and eagerly de-boarded. They had a two-hour layover, so Aiden suggested they find a restaurant that wasn’t too far from the station and have a decent meal. No one objected.They didn’t have to go too far before they came across a small steak house that offered indoor and outdoor seating. They opted for the outdoor seating so that they could enjoy the fresh air just a little longer. Once they boarded the train, the windows would need to be shut in order to prevent the smoke from the engine from entering.Dinner consisted of prime rib, corn-on-the-cob, roasted pumpkin, and bread pudding. Pauline was so starved for decent food that she ate in a manner that her mother would hav
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 20
They reached Brownsville with no mishaps. Aiden was reluctant to put Pauline through any more travel by horseback, or even buggy, until she’d been seen by a reputable doctor. His need to get to the ranch as fast as possible posed a problem. He approached Eliza and Angus with the dilemma. It was agreed that he would rent Eliza and Pauline rooms in Brownsville’s finest hotel and have a doctor sent for. He and Angus would continue on to the ranch and return for them once the renegade threat was dealt with.Although Pauline would have preferred to continue on with Aiden, she wasn’t keen on getting caught up in any more gunfire. Plus she really was suffering from the pain in her hip. Even though she didn’t like the idea of being left without a male protector, she agreed it was the best course of action.Aiden waited to hear what the doctor had to say before he and Angus rode on to his ranch. Pauline was correct with her self-diagnosis.&nb
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 21
Maggie paced the porch while she waited for her ranch hands to return with news of the damage done to the south pasture. She hoped Aiden and Angus returned soon. She was grateful when she received the wire telling her that they found the girl and would be coming straight away. She would have felt awful pulling Aiden off the search otherwise, but it couldn’t be helped. Renegade Mexicans had paired up with a few rogue Cherokee and they were raising hell with the cattle and property. They even set fire to the west pastures near the river. Rumor had it that they intended to do the same with the south pastures. If this kept up, there’d be no grazing for whatever livestock they managed to save from being stolen or killed.The sight of two men on horseback coming up the long path from the Bar J&K entrance caught her attention. Was it Aiden and Angus or her men? She placed the edge of her hand against her forehead
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 22
Maggie climbed off her horse and handed the reins to Micky before giving the livery man instructions for the horse’s care and assuring him that she’d be less than an hour. She hated Brownsville with all of its business and bustling of people going nowhere fast. She hadn’t been there in years for that reason. Whenever something was needed from the shops that carried a variety of worldly goods the ports offered access to, she’d send a ranch hand. Sometimes Aiden or Angus would fetch it themselves.Now, Aiden was missing and Angus was too injured to come. It was left up to her to inform the women about the happenings with their men. From the descriptions Angus gave her of Pauline and Eliza’s temperaments, she anticipated it being a lot easier to tell Eliza about Angus being badly injured than it would be to tell Pauline that Aiden disappeared ten days ago and there was still no sign of him. She almost wished it was Aiden inju
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 23
The trip from Brownsville to the Bar J&K was about a ninety-minute ride. When Micky informed Pauline that they’d reached the start of the ranch, Pauline relaxed and breathed easy. They were almost there. She was so wrapped up in reveling over the fact that they’d made it to the ranch safely that she didn’t notice how alert Micky and Maggie suddenly became. What Micky failed to mention was that they’d reached the area where, if the gang was going to ambush them, this was probably the place they’d do it.“How long before we reach the house?” Pauline asked wistfully as she pulled her horse abreast with Maggie’s. “This horse has an unusually rough gait. My hip and leg are beginning to ache.”“I noticed that rough gate, but the livery didn’t have anything else tame enough for you,” Micky offered from behind them.“You are mistaken about my riding ability,&r
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 24
Pauline was grateful that the stallion knew his way back to the ranch house. It was dark before they reached the drive leading up to the house and its surrounding buildings and there was no moon or stars out to illuminate their way.“Who goes there?” shouted someone from a long outbuilding that Pauline guessed was where the ranch hands slept.“I am Pauline O’Malley,” she called out. “I have Maggie with me. She’s hurt.”Lanterns filled the night and footsteps could be heard running from all directions as Pauline continued to allow the stallion to make his way up the drive.She heard Angus bellowing orders to his men long before she saw him approach the stallion. “Dear lord, gal. You ride the wildest beast on the property!”“He does have some spunk,” she said as she relinquished Maggie’s limp body to the ranch hands who rushed up to carry her off and then
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 25
Pauline awoke the following morning with a sense of urgency gnawing at her. Her mood didn’t improve when she climbed out of bed and was hit with a sudden case of nausea. She barely made it into the water closet before she was assaulted by projectile vomiting. She’d enjoyed the soup from the night before and thought her queasiness after she’d eaten it was due to how fast she’d eaten and the unfamiliar spices Amy used to season it. Perhaps it was best to find out what those spices were, since they clearly didn’t agree with her.She sighed at the concept of wearing her travel soiled riding habit after performing her morning constitution and freshening up for the day. Sadly, there was too great a difference in her body size and Aiden’s for her to improvise with his clothing and she doubted Amy had anything she could fit into either. She looked for a clothing kit in hopes of brushing away most of the dust and perhaps fresh unde
Love at Wolf Creek Chapter 26
Pauline sat in the overstuffed wing-back chair next to the unlit fireplace in the main room of the large ranch house as the ranch hands who were going out each day searching for Aiden stood before her with hats in hand. They reminded her of nervous school children as they shifted from one foot to the other while fidgeting with their hats. She wondered if she really looked that foreboding or if it was simply a matter of them not being used to standing in the presence of an eastern lady. She hoped it was the latter.After much grilling, she learned that Aiden’s horse returned without him the same day of the ambush. When Angus was able to speak and told them that he saw Aiden heading for Indian Ridge, they went out each day and searched for him, but with no luck. When she told them she intended to go and search herself, they worriedly warned her of the perils of the Indians who lived in that area. They claimed they were lucky not to have run i
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