Woman of Grace (34 page)

Psalm 130:1

Hannah woke to feel herself being rocked to and fro. She squinted at the bright light shining in her eyes. Disoriented and nauseated, she struggled to make sense of her surroundings. Slowly, the sky came into focus above her, bright blue and full of fluffy white, wind-swept clouds.

The creak of wood … the jingle of traces … the scent of horseflesh assailed her. A wagon … she was in a wagon going somewhere.

She struggled to sit up, and found her hands and feet tied. She tried to cry out, and found her mouth gagged with a filthy, foul-smelling rag. Finally, the memory of the previous night returned.

With a sickening rush, Hannah recalled Brody’s attack on her. The awful sense of helpless panic against his greater size and strength gripped her once more. And now he had her. Had her, and was taking her to heaven knows where.

Anger filled her. Hannah cried out and fought violently to free herself, but to no avail. Finally she fell back, panting against the wagon’s hard floor, tears of frustration in her eyes.

“Ah, I see you’ve finally woken up.”

Twisting around, Hannah caught sight of Brody on the front seat, glancing back at her. As her furious gaze met his, he grinned and gave a low laugh.

“Don’t care much, do you, for being trussed up like a lamb to the slaughter? But that goes with living with those high and mighty MacKays. Reckon they went and put some fool ideas into your head, ideas that you had miraculously become some fine lady, rather than the trash you really are.” Brody turned back to stare at the road ahead. “No matter. I helped teach you your place before. I can sure do it again.”

A stiff breeze blew past, nearly relieving him of the big, tan plantation-style hat he liked to wear. With a curse, Brody grabbed for it in the nick of time. He slammed the hat down hard on his head, then jerked its rawhide ties a little tighter beneath his chin.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I aim to do, too,” he said, picking up the thread of their one-sided conversation. “After all the grief you’ve caused me, what with Sadie and then MacKay, I’d say you owe me plenty. And I just happen to know a madam up in Breckenridge who’s been after me to go into business with her. When I bring her a sweet little filly like you, I’m betting she’ll be more than willing to cut me in for half interest in her brothel.”

Hannah had heard more than she cared to know. There was no sense continuing to stare at his back or, for that matter, listen any further. She jerked around until she was once more gazing out at the trail behind them. Like tumbleweeds racing to the four winds across the prairies, her thoughts scattered.

She had always known Brody wasn’t a man to show anyone any mercy. From the first day Sadie had hired him on at her place, he had been trouble. When he wasn’t trying to cheat Sadie’s girls out of their earnings, he was the first one, in the pretense of playing the bodyguard, to walk in on them at any time, and claim favors even he should’ve paid for. Few ever complained to Sadie, though. Brody was mean as a snake. He’d always find some way to get back at them.

Remembering the horrible bruises he had repeatedly left on her—bruises that took weeks to heal—Hannah shivered in revulsion. She had seen the results of Brody’s beatings on some of the other girls, too. And the last time she had finally been dragged back, after she had run away …

Thank goodness Brody had never hit her in the belly, or he might have unwittingly killed the child growing there. And thank goodness Doc Childress was such a talented physician. Not only had he set her nose so well only a tiny bump now marred its perfect line, but he had also seen to the three broken fingers on her left hand and two toes of her right foot. But there had been little he could do for her swollen scalp, tender from Hannah being dragged endlessly about the room by her hair, or for the welts across her back.

In time, everything had healed. Few could ever imagine the horrible extent of her injuries that night. Yet the worst wounds of all had been inflicted on her soul. The sheer terror, the pain, the complete and utter degradation were hard, even now, to recall.

Even worse to consider was the fact she was, once again, totally under Brody’s power. Anger welled anew. This time, though, Hannah directed it at Devlin. It was all his fault she was in this predicament. If he hadn’t ridden off to Grand View, Brody Gerard would’ve never had the opportunity to abduct her.

Hannah inhaled a shuddering breath. What a stupid fool she had been. She had fallen in love with a man who had run away like some frenzied steer in the midst of a stampede, just because a woman loved him.

No more, though, Hannah vowed with a fierce resolve. If she managed to get free of Brody Gerard, she wasn’t about to go back and take Devlin’s abuse ever again. She might have harbored foolish dreams for a time, but not now. Repeatedly, Devlin had shown his true colors. He didn’t have the guts it took to risk his heart. Or, leastwise, Hannah amended sadly, not for her.

She would return to Culdee Creek, get Jackson and the now sizable nest egg saved from her sewing business, then move to Colorado Springs. Several times already, Mrs. Waters had offered her a room upstairs from her millinery shop, and more orders than Hannah could ever hope to fill. No one knew her in the Springs. She would have her respectability and security at last. And she would be free of her hopeless, dead-end relationship with Devlin MacKay.

Yes, they were all wonderful dreams, Hannah thought, if she could only escape. That was a mighty tall order, though. A mighty tall order indeed, she added, the panic rising, yet again, to clamp about her heart with a viselike grip. Yet, this time, the stakes were even higher, the consequences far more terrifying to contemplate.

This time, she had finally tasted of a life she had long and deeply yearned for. A life made rich with her sweet little Jackson, her friendship with Abby, Conor, and Noah Starr. A life that had restored her hope and sense of self-esteem. A life that had led her to God and the discovery of herself as a woman of value and grace.

All were precious beyond words. And this time, the loss of them would surely be impossible to endure.

At Wilkerson Pass high in the Rockies, Devlin drew up on his horse beside Sheriff Jake Whitmore, and scowled at the heavy, gray clouds building in the distance. Like angry giants, they hung over the next range of peaks awaiting them across the wide expanse of level valley, threatening and potentially lethal to all who dared approach.

“I don’t like the looks of those clouds,” Jake muttered, as the three other deputized men finally reined in alongside them. “The temperature has dropped fast in the past four hours. Even if it
is
just the beginning of September, I think we’re in for an early snowstorm.”

“Maybe so.” Devlin leaned back in his saddle and lifted his feet from the stirrups to stretch his legs. “We still have a few more hours of daylight left, though. I think it’s worth the risk to ride on.”

Jake glanced around at the other men. “I think, maybe, it might be better to camp up here in the trees, and wait out the storm. Down there on the park’s open plain, we’ll be completely exposed for the next thirty or forty miles.”

Simon Nealy sidled his horse up to them. “We’ve been on the trail now for three days, MacKay. Bob’s sicker than a dog, and Ned’s not feeling any too chipper either. I’m with the sheriff. Best we make camp for the night, and head out again tomorrow.”

Devlin shot the burly blacksmith a sour look. He had feared this was coming, especially when Bob Farley and Ned Teachout turned sick. “Fine. We can all meet up in Breckenridge then.” He slid his feet back in the stirrups and reined his horse around. “Me, though, I’m heading out.”

Gritting his teeth, Devlin fought back his own frustration and burgeoning despair. Gerard had her. That they pretty much knew after learning the man had disappeared the same night as Hannah. In the bargain, after Sadie Fleming discovered that Brody had stolen her extra cash and all her jewelry, as well as her brand new buckboard, she was most forthcoming with the news that her bodyguard had formerly worked for a madam in Breckenridge.

What the rest of them—save maybe Jake—didn’t know was that Gerard had a long-standing grudge against Hannah. But then, the rest of them hadn’t had a private, heart-to-heart with Sadie either. The older woman had expressed grave concern for Hannah’s safety.

No, it was impossible to consider leaving Hannah to Brody Gerard’s mercy any longer than was absolutely necessary. She was the mother of his son. He loved her and wanted her for his wife if she’d still have him. If it took three days or three months, Devlin was determined to find her. In the meanwhile, he didn’t plan to let some snowstorm that might not amount to much slow him down.

“Devlin,” Jake said gently, “I think you should stay the night with us.”

He closed his eyes and stubbornly shook his head. “No. I’m going on. I’ve got a feeling I’m getting close to them. Don’t ask me how I know, but I feel it, deep down inside me.”

The sheriff eyed him dubiously, then shrugged. “Well, suit yourself.” He neck-reined his horse into a half circle, facing back the way they had just come. Then Jake hesitated and glanced over his shoulder. “If you do get lucky and find Gerard before we meet back up, watch yourself. He’s a desperate man. He won’t go down easily.”

Devlin nodded in grim agreement. “No, I don’t suppose he will. But I’ve had plenty of experience with desperate men. I know how they think. Gerard won’t put anything past me.”

Jake touched a finger to the brim of his hat in farewell. Devlin returned the salute. Then he signaled his horse out into a slow lope. The clouds lowering over the mountains were blackening with each passing second. He needed to make as much time as he could, while he could.

Besides, Devlin reminded himself as he left the other men behind and headed down from the pass, there was no telling how Hannah was faring. Jake was right. Brody Gerard was a desperate man. If Hannah didn’t see things his way, Gerard could get mean.

Desperate men were like that. He should know. He had lived nearly his whole life in quiet desperation.

“No! I don’t care
what
you say or do. I won’t work as a prostitute ever again!”

“And
I
told
you!
” His handsome face twisted in fury, Brody Gerard threw down his half-empty whiskey bottle and advanced on her. “Don’t you ever tell me what you will or won’t do!”

Terrified, Hannah fought frantically to free herself from the rope bonds holding her, hands tied above her head, to one wheel of the buckboard. She was exhausted, weak from hunger, her body bruised and battered from days of bouncing around in the back of the buckboard. Until tonight, though, just one day from the booming mining town of Breckenridge if the threatening storm didn’t further slow their journey, she hadn’t dared defy her captor.

But tonight was the last night before he took her into town and brought her to the bordello. Tonight, after four days of hoping and praying for rescue, or for some opportunity to escape, Hannah had finally faced the fact there was little chance of either. What she had secretly feared for the past two years had, despite all her efforts to the contrary, come to pass. She would soon be forced back into a life of prostitution.