Devils on Horseback: Gideon, Book 5 (16 page)

“A-Adam has hair like me. Kind of brownish red but more wavy than curly. He isn’t as big as you, but he’s tall.”

“Your cousin, was his name Tobias? Tell me what he looks like.”

“They’re dead, Gideon. Why are you asking me this?” Chloe realized her cheeks were wet. Was it raining?

“Just tell me.” He squeezed her hands, but she hardly felt it. Cold had seeped into her bones.

“Tobias was taller than Adam, but he was skinny with black hair and dark eyes. He had pox as a boy, and his cheeks were scarred from it.” Her voice was flat and tight. She had just enough breath to get the words out.

“Shit.” Gideon stared at her, his expression grim.

Chloe’s fear mixed with anger, whirling around inside her like a twister. “What is it? Dammit, Gid, tell me. Now.”

“I think I found Granny and the girls. But…” He stopped, and she wanted to shake him.

“What? What is it?” This time she could barely hear herself over the roaring in her ears.

He leaned in close and pressed his forehead to hers. His breath caressed her cheek. “I think your brother and cousin were the ones who took them.”

The next few minutes were blurry as Chloe tried to absorb what he said. His words repeated over and over in her head, but she could not make sense of them. Why would Adam and Tobias take Granny and the girls? They were family, they were
kin
, and nothing in the world was more important than kin. He had to be wrong, very wrong. It didn’t make any sense.

Memories washed through her so fast, she had to close her eyes to see them. Adam teaching her to fish. Playing in the field with both him and Tobias. Chasing after them through mud puddles. Adam kissing her goodbye when he left for war, wearing the jacket Granny had made for him.

Too much. It was too much.

She bit her lip hard until she tasted blood, but she couldn’t make a sound. If she screamed as loud as she was inside, whoever was over at the campfire would hear her. It wasn’t her brother and cousin though. It just couldn’t be.

“Chloe, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he crooned softly in her ear as he stroked her back.

Somehow she’d ended up on his lap, and she couldn’t think of a better place to be. He gave her the comfort she needed, craved, when her heart was breaking and the world around her rained down pain.

“Not them.”

“I think it is, honey. It doesn’t matter, though, because whoever they are, we found them.” He pulled her chin up until she finally looked at him. “We found them.”

“We found them?” she parroted.

“Hard to believe, but yes, we did. Through every possible mistake, problem and bad luck, we found them.” He pushed her chin up until she looked at him. “Those girls’ ribbons and your sheer stubbornness got us here.”

She stared into his beautiful blue eyes and realized two things at once. If they had found her family, their journey together was likely over. And against her head’s better judgment, she didn’t want it to be over.

“Didn’t you say you loved me?” she blurted, trying to fight the pain at the thought of not being with Gideon any longer.

“Yes, I do. We can talk about that later. Now I need to get back and take care of those men. There are three of them, so I need to be careful, really careful.” He set her back on the log and cupped her cheek. “Sit here until I come back. If you hear gunfire, you damn well better not try to help me.”

She kept her mouth shut, but she wanted to tell him not to order her around. It didn’t matter if Gideon had guns; three-to-one odds were not good. He could be easily killed if the other men had guns too. There was no way she’d sit by and let that happen.

“You’re still bossy.”

He took the rifle from his saddle, kissed her one last time, then disappeared back into the night, as silent as the darkness around him. She had wanted to tell him she loved him too but couldn’t manage to make the words come out of her mouth. It would be too much like giving up who she was, and Chloe wasn’t ready for that.

She watched until she couldn’t see him any longer, then she waited five very long minutes before she decided to follow him. Oh, she knew he’d be madder than a wet hen that she didn’t stay put, but could he blame her? The man had to know her well enough by now to remember she didn’t listen to orders, especially from a man, even Gideon.

Chloe’s gait was much less graceful than Gideon’s, and she couldn’t run at all. She turned to eye the horses and decided if she unsaddled the mare, she could make an almost silent approach. If there were no buckles to jangle, she could keep to the soft pine needles, and no one would hear her.

She knew how to shoot a gun, and she had one within reach. No way she’d led Gideon go off by himself to fight her battle. Not when she had a breath in her body. And if he yelled at her, she just might shoot him.

It took another five minutes before she got the saddle off and pulled herself up onto the mare’s back. It had been a few years since she rode bareback, but as soon as she was upright, it came back to her in a flash. She threaded her fingers through the horse’s mane and leaned down low to whisper, “C’mon, girl, we’re going to see what my man is doing.”

She saw the glow of the campfire in the distance and knew it wouldn’t take long to get there.

Gideon followed his path back to the men who had taken what didn’t belong to them. The veil of battle slipped over him and a calmness with it. Getting ready to fight was as familiar as breathing to him. Even years later, it was as comfortable as an old coat. Instead of struggling against it, he welcomed it.

The inky night surrounded him, giving him the cover he needed as he approached. The crackle of the fire was the only sound, and he wondered if the men were still there or if they were sleeping.

His breath came slow and steady, right along with his heartbeat. He crawled up behind the same tree and peered around. The two men, Tobias and Adam, were still sitting at the fire, but appeared to be dozing. Granny’s eyes were also closed, which could either be good or bad. If she couldn’t see him, she wouldn’t give his presence away.

Every sound echoed in his ears as he crept closer. The rifle was warm in his hand, a comfortable presence. His grip tightened as he stood and stepped into the firelight, the rifle raised and braced against his shoulder. Only two of the men were visible, but he had to flush out the third.

“On your feet.” His voice was loud in the silence.

Tobias jumped up as if someone had pinched him, his long arms flopping in panic. Adam, on the other hand, didn’t do anything but push his hat back and stare hard at Gideon.

“I said on your feet.”

“I don’t take orders from nobody no more.” Adam’s eyes, similar to Chloe’s, glittered like hard stones. He didn’t appear to be as surprised as his cousin was, and that worried Gideon.

“Then I put a new hole to match that big one in the middle of your face.” Gideon stepped sideways, careful to avoid rocks and sticks until he was positioned to shoot either of the men. “Now throw the guns behind you.”

“I ain’t throwing my gun,” Tobias whined.

“It’s
my
gun, and you are going to throw it, or it will be the last thing you hold in your hands.” Gideon kept his voice even and hard. The sight of this bastard holding the gun he’d had for ten years made his blood boil. He couldn’t even look at Granny, at how she’d been treated, or he would have shot the two men where they stood. There was still danger from the unseen man and the two pistols right in front of them.

If he shot them, Chloe would never forgive him.

“I know who you are.” Adam sneered at him. “I saw you with Chloe like a randy buck sniffing a willing cunt.”

Gideon’s jaw nearly cracked from the pressure of grinding his teeth together. “You’re the son of a bitch who kidnapped his own family.”

The barb hit the mark, judging by the narrowing of the other man’s eyes.

“This here is my property. I’m the oldest, and that bitch sister of mine stole it. I took it back and gave her what she deserved.” Adam took a step closer, and Gideon dug his heels in, waiting for whatever the other man was going to do.

“Yeah, what she deserved.” Tobias spoke up, emboldened by his cousin’s cool demeanor. “Fucking nothing.”

Gideon had no idea how these two were so twisted, so different from Chloe, who would sacrifice her life for family. The war had turned many men into different people, and obviously had done much worse to these Ruskin boys. Their souls had been blackened enough to blot out anything of their life prior to the conflict. It saddened him, but he had to push that thought aside and focus on what they were doing. Tobias took a step to the right, widening the gap between them.

“I’m giving you to the count of ten to drop the guns.” A bead of sweat snaked down Gideon’s back. He never took his gaze off the men threatening him. His heart thumped hard when he spotted movement under the wagon.

Chloe.

She never listened! She’d obviously made her way over to the camp and was trying to free her grandmother. Luckily for her, the men’s backs were to the wagon, but that didn’t account for the third man, an unknown and unseen enemy somewhere either in the wagon or nearby.

He wanted to shout at her to get back, but he dare not give her position away or let his attention wander for a second from the men with guns directly in front of him.

“Ten. Nine. Eight.”

Granny disappeared from view under the wagon, and he was glad Chloe did not have to witness the gunfight with her kin. She still might never forgive him.

“He ain’t really gonna shoot us, is he?” Tobias jigged in place as he looked at the rifle in Gideon’s hand.

Gideon shot the ground beside Tobias, making the younger man yelp and jump a foot in the air.

“Yes, I really will shoot you. Seven. Six. Five.”

The bead of sweat was joined by half a dozen more. His hand tightened on the pistol grip. He knew he could shoot one of them before they could get a shot off at him. The rifle in Adam’s hand was the slower weapon, so he would shoot Tobias first.

“Four. Three.”

“Adam, I don’t want to die.”

“You’re a coward and no cousin of mine.” Spittle flew from Adam’s mouth as he bashed his cousin in the cheek with the rifle. Blood sprayed from the thin man’s mouth, and he stumbled backward.

It was the opportunity Gideon needed. He launched himself at Adam with a split-second thought to Chloe that he loved her.

Chloe almost carried Granny out from under the wagon, which was difficult on any day, but with a sore knee, it was incredibly hard. Gideon was facing down her gun-toting brother and cousin, who were nearly unrecognizable now from the young men she’d known.

Grief threatened to overwhelm her, but she kept it locked away inside, refusing to allow it to escape. She still had to find the girls, and Gideon might need her.

Chloe set Granny down on a patch of grass in the shadow of the wagon. “Stay here, and I’ll be back with the girls.”

“Chloe, honey, I’m sorry.” Granny never cried, but darned if tears were not sliding down her cheeks. “I thought they was here to help, and instead they did harm.”

Chloe hugged Granny and whispered, “Love you, Granny.”

She couldn’t sit and talk, couldn’t waste one moment while the man she loved was in danger. Chloe crept back as quietly and as quickly as she could, not stopping to wonder how she could help. She picked up the rifle as she crawled under the wagon in time to see the men fighting, and Chloe’s heart stopped. They were a jumble of arms and legs. Grunts and the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the dark night. She watched, helpless to do anything without running the risk of shooting Gideon.

A shadow appeared from the front of the wagon, and Chloe pointed the rifle at it. Whoever it was moved closer. The firelight reflected off a knife in his hand. Fury roared through her at the bastard who stalked the man she loved, the hero who was about to give his life for her family. Ignoring everything, including her pain, she rose to her feet, the rifle ready to fire.

Time slowed to a crawl as she got a bead on the shadowed stranger. A log crackled loudly, spraying sparks into the night air, giving her the light she needed to see the bastard.

The gun boomed in her hand, deafening in the darkness, silencing the night creatures. The big man crumpled to the ground, his knife falling into the dirt. The three men tussling stopped only momentarily before someone reached out and picked up the knife.

She couldn’t get the rifle loaded fast enough to stop that blade from plunging into Gideon’s shoulder. Chloe heard screaming and realized it was her own voice echoing into the night. She ran toward the men, ready to fight to the death to save Gideon.

The knife slid into his flesh before he could stop it. The pain radiated out like pure fire, intense and excruciating, but he had to ignore it. It wasn’t the first time he’d been stabbed, and he had to shut the pain away or he would be dead. Chloe’s brother was stronger than he looked, perhaps madness had lent him an extra dose of strength. Gideon couldn’t even think about Chloe and the damn rifle blast. When she let loose a battle cry, he felt a surge of pride for her.

“Jesus, Chloe, what are you doing?” Tobias sounded shocked, and Gideon fought the insane urge to laugh. The man obviously had no idea what Chloe was capable of.

It was her family and her fight. Gideon wanted to shoot both men for hurting her, then leave them for the scavengers to feed on.

“Now both of you stop.” Chloe stood there with both pistols in her grasp. Somehow she’d gotten hold of them. Her hands and her voice were like steel, hard and steady.

Adam stared up at her, his eyes cold. “What are you doing, you little slut?”

She snorted. “Names can’t hurt me, Adam, but these bullets sure can hurt you.”

To Gideon’s amazement, she cocked both weapons. A shiver raced down his spine at the deadly fury in her expression.

“You ain’t gonna shoot me, sissy.” Adam rose to his feet, followed by Tobias, leaving Gideon to bleed alone on the ground.

This tiny scrap of a woman, who had more courage than most men, stood down her brother and cousin without flinching.