The Heart's Pursuit (22 page)
Silver sensed Jared watching her. Her heart begged her to open her eyes and meet his gaze. Her head demanded she
pretend to be asleep. The Good Book said the heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So she listened to her head. This time.
She rolled over, turning her back to the fire—and to Jared. Removing the temptation to look at him. For nearly a month, she’d traveled with him. He could be hard. He could be distant. But he could also be kind and gentle. She caught glimpses of the good in him every day. Had she really fallen in love with Jared Newman? How could she love him? He’d never kissed her, never encouraged her affection in any way. And yet . . .
Tears slipped from beneath her eyelids and dropped onto the rolled blanket beneath her head.
They would find Matt Carlton. She was certain they would. They would collect a reward—she was certain of that too—and she would be able to rescue her father from financial ruin. But then Jared would ride away, leaving her behind. And she could not bear thinking of that fast-approaching day.
I
t was around noon, three days after leaving Elko, as their small party rode along a narrow trail on a hillside, the sun overhead as scorching as ever.
All of a sudden, Cinder reared up, her shrill whinny jarring the silence that had accompanied them for miles. Unprepared, Silver tumbled into the draw below, slamming hard at the bottom. Agony exploded in her head and the wind was driven from her chest. Shards of pain shot up her leg.
From a distance, she heard Jared say, “Don’t move.” But then he touched her, and she realized he was beside her. How had he reached her so quickly?
She opened her eyes and tried to sit up.
“I said don’t move.” He gently pushed her back.
She grimaced. “I’m all right.”
“Sure you are.” He began to explore her limbs with his hands.
When he reached her right ankle, she gasped in pain.
He frowned. “Better take your boot off and have a look.”
When he lifted her foot off the ground, a wave of dizziness sent her spiraling toward a black pit. She fought to remain conscious and dug her fingers into the dirt as he removed her boot.
“Wiggle your toes,” Jared said, still elevating her leg.
She managed to do so.
“It’s not broken. A bad sprain, I imagine. But you’re not going to get that boot back on. Look how swollen it is already.” He lowered her leg to the ground. “Dean, you’d better bring the horses down. We’ll camp here for the night.”
The boy nodded—she hadn’t noticed that he was down in this ravine as well—and took off at a run.
“We ought to make Winnemucca by tomorrow night. We can have a doctor look at your ankle there.”
“We can’t afford a doctor. I’ll be all right.” She remembered Jared saying something similar after he’d been knifed and almost smiled, despite the pain.
Jared grunted. “We’ll see how you feel about that in the morning. For now, we’d better try to make you comfortable.”
“What made her spook? It happened so fast, I didn’t see anything.”
“A rattler.”
“Where’s Cinder now?” Silver twisted and tried to look up the steep incline. Her head throbbed in response to the sudden movement.
“Not sure. She ran off a ways.” He looked up the hillside. “I’d better help Dean. Will you be all right until we get back with the horses?”
“Yes.”
“I’d try to make you more comfortable, but—” He lifted empty hands.
“I’m fine where I am. Just go before Cinder runs off too far.”
Jared rose above her. “We won’t be long.”
As soon as he was out of sight, Silver released the groan she’d been holding in. The pain was worse than she’d let on.
Tears burned the back of her eyes. Why did this have to happen on top of everything else? She had less than sixty days left to find Matt Carlton and get the reward and save her parents. There was no time to be laid up with another injury, hers this time. Their supplies had dwindled to almost nothing. They had little money left for any purpose, let alone to pay for the services of a doctor.
It all suddenly seemed hopeless.
Jared knew Silver hurt more than she let on during the final leg of their journey to Winnemucca, but she didn’t
complain. Not even once. Though they could ill afford it, Jared used some of their precious remaining coins to pay for a hotel room. If they had to stay long, they would soon be completely broke and hungry.
After paying for the hotel room, Jared returned to the street and helped Silver from her horse, never letting her feet touch the ground. He carried her into the lobby and up the stairs. The three-week-old knife wound twinged a bit from the effort, but he ignored it.
They reached the door to the room, and without him asking her to, Silver reached out, turned the knob, and pushed the door open. The room was small but clean, the bed covered with a patchwork quilt, the window hidden behind bleached muslin curtains. There was an oval rag rug in shades of blue on the floor. A cherrywood dresser with a mirror stood against one wall, a washstand with pitcher and bowl against another.
As Jared set Silver on the bed, he said, “I only had enough to pay for one room. Dean and I can sleep on the floor.”
She nodded without comment.
“I’m going to check around town, see about a doctor.”
Silver touched his wrist before he could step away from the bed. “Wait, Jared.”
She reached beneath the neck of her bodice and withdrew the locket. In the weeks they’d been together, he’d seen her touch or hold it numerous times as they sat near
the campfires. As if she drew comfort from it. No one had to tell him it was precious to her.
“Take this and sell it. Don’t let anybody cheat you. It’s valuable. That’s a real diamond. The necklace belonged to my great-grandmother, who left it to my mother when she died, and my mother left it to me. But don’t use the money you get for a doctor. We need other things more. My ankle is sprained. That’s all. I’ll be able to ride hard and fast again in a couple of days.”
He took the proffered necklace, feeling like a failure as he did so. He’d let her ride along with him. He should be able to take better care of her.
“All right,” he agreed. “We’ll see how you feel in the morning.” He turned toward the boy. “Dean, come with me. We’ll bring in our supplies, and then I’ll take the horses to the livery.”
Half an hour later, Jared stepped out of the livery stables and glanced down the dusty main street. He removed his hat, wiping his sleeve across his forehead, then replaced it with a firm tug. As he’d done in every town since Laramie, he would start with a few questions at the train station.
Winnemucca had begun as a trading post, but it had grown into a fair-sized town with the coming of the railroad. It had the typical false-fronted stores and saloons, most of
them unpainted, all of them faded by the hot desert sun and cold winter winds. The main street was wide to facilitate turning wagons. Jared had passed through a hundred towns like it in the past six years.
The clerk behind the counter at the rail station looked up from beneath his green visor. “Can I help you, sir?”
Jared described Carlton with a few words.
“Not much to go on. Can’t say as I’ve seen him, but doesn’t mean he didn’t come through here. Hey, your name wouldn’t be Newman, would it?”
Jared tensed. “Yes. Why?”
“Got me a telegram here for you.” He handed Jared an envelope.
“Thanks.” He turned away as he ripped the seal and pulled out the telegram. It was from Doug Gordon.
He went back and read the contents.
Three murders . . . Suspect in jail in Silver City, Idaho . . . Could be the man you’re looking for . . .
Carlton in jail in Idaho? Could it be him?
Jared turned toward the clerk again. “Does the stage to Idaho come through here?”
“Sure does. San Francisco to Boise City and vicey versey.”
“Where can I find the schedule?”
“You’re in luck if you’re headed north. Next one through’d be ’round six o’clock tonight. Passengers board across the street.”
“Thanks.”
He went outside, pausing on the boardwalk. His gaze moved to the hotel while he shoved his hand into his pocket, fingering the few remaining coins and the locket Silver had given to him. The stage—with a change of horses every ten to fifteen miles—would be a good four days faster than if he traveled by horseback, but he didn’t have enough money on him at the moment to pay the fare. He would have to get it somehow. He
had
to get there and back fast. If it was Matt Carlton sitting in that jail, Jared’s search would be over. He could start his life over again. Somewhere. Somehow. Maybe with someone by his side.
Maybe with Silver by his side.
Silver. If he told her face-to-face about the telegram, she would want to go too. She would insist on it. No, better to force her to wait for him to come back. Call him a coward, but he would rather send her a note, along with enough money to keep her and Dean until he returned from Silver City. He ought to be able to get enough for the packhorse to take care of those expenses. The locket he would hold on to. Despite her generosity in offering it, he wasn’t going to sell it. Not yet, anyway.