Innocence and the Outlaw

Wyoming Territory

April 1884

Leah trembled with anticipation as she paced beside the giant old oak and waited for her beau to arrive. They were going to run away tonight. They were going to get married and build a little cabin to live in as they started their lives together.

Leah sat down on a large gray boulder but her legs continued to bounce. Leah hated that she had to go against her mother and fathers wishes to marry Benjamin but they just wouldn’t budge. They insisted that she was too young, he was too old and her father said that Benjamin was not the kind of husband a woman needed out here in the west.

He was too soft, too cultured, too gentle-natured to keep his wife and children safe from the harsh roughness that was life in this lawless land. Leah snorted as she stood back up and resumed her pacing.

Benjamin was perfect. Yes he was older than her seventeen years at thirty-one. Yes he was softer than her father. He smiled, laughed and had an easy going nature that put her at ease. Would he be able to protect her against the wild bands of outlaws that her father liked to bring up? Of course he would. He was smart enough to figure out a way to keep her safe. He loved her and she loved him.

She was certain her father was just blowing hot air when he spoke like that anyway. They had been living in this land for most of Leah’s life and she had yet to see one single band of rough outlaws. The Indians hadn’t been a threat in these parts for at least ten years and Leah knew that she and Benjamin would be just fine.

She imagined his red hair, soft blue eyes and freckled cheeks. The small gap between his front teeth that gave him a boyish appearance. He wasn’t overly tall but he was six feet and he was broad and muscular enough that Leah didn’t feel overly huge next to him despite the German blood running in her veins that had given her broad shoulders and a heavier build.

She went to the edge of the small stream and kicked a rock into it, watching the ripples dance across the surface of the water in the moonlight. Where was Benjamin? They had been supposed to meet here shortly after sunset and she had been waiting for what felt like forever. Then again patience had never been her strong point so who knew how long it had really been. Minutes tended to feel like hours whenever she had to wait for something.

The sound of an approaching horse reached her ears and she nearly cried out with happiness. Finally he was coming! Leah hurried to smooth out her plain light green gingham dress and tame the stray hairs that had come out of her bonnet. The only thing Benjamin ever asked of her was to try to always look her best. He vowed to her that he would always take care of everything else. She loved that man.

A sillouhette became visible in the moonlight and Leah realized with annoyance and slight panic that it wasn’t her beloved but her annoying older brother Chance instead.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded as she pulled her coat tight around herself.

“I could ask you the same thing, you crazy idiot. Don’t you know it’s dangerous out here at night by yourself?”

“You and pa are always talking about how dangerous it is around here but you know what? I’ve never seen a real outlaw.”

“Screw the outlaws. There’s coyotes, snakes, mountain lions and all kinds of things that would see you as a nice tasty treat.”

“I’m not completely stupid.” Leah said with an impatient stomp of her foot. “I have a pistol in my pocket.” Chance shook his head and spit on the ground next to his large brown horses hooves.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked more calmly.

“That’s no concern of yours.” Leah snapped.

“I’m taking you home, Leah.”

“No you’re not. I won’t go. I refuse. Benjamin will be here soon and he’ll keep me safe.” Chance snorted with laughter.

“That man could keep you safe from a pissed off butterfly.” Leah felt her face redden with anger and she stepped forward and punched her brother hard in the leg.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” she exclaimed.

“So what are you gonna do, Leah?” Chance asked as he rubbed at the knotted muscle his sisters punch had caused. “You gonna run off and marry a man with no experience on how to keep you safe out here, that’s fourteen years your senior?”

“I love him!”

“You’re too young to even know what love is!” Chance argued.

“I am not!” she argued, stomping her foot again.

“Have you even thought about what this will do to mama? You know how pa is! If you run off with Benjamin he’ll never welcome you back!” Leah felt the first bits of doubt creeping in. Chance was right. She would never be welcomed back home if she did this.

She pushed the doubt away and squared her shoulders. She loved Benjamin and she was going to be his wife. That would never happen if she let her family have their say in the matter.

“It’s my life, Chance. I’ll have all I need with Benjamin.” Chance was about to say something else when an approaching horse reached their ears. He put a hand on his gun and waited for the newcomer to show themselves.

“Benjamin!” Leah shouted happily when she saw her love coming toward them on a dapple gray mare.

“What’s going on?” Benjamin asked as he eyed Chance who still hadn’t taken his hand off of the gun on his hip.

“I think you should answer that. You mean to take my sister off and marry her against our father’s will?”

“Leah’s old enough to make the decision for herself.” Benjamin replied as he slid off his horse and Leah ran to his arms.

“Yeah I guess she is. She’s old enough to make a mistake that’s gonna ruin her whole life. I’ve talked to her a million times, ma and pa have tried to talk to her too, but she just won’t listen to us.” Chance took his hand off his gun and grabbed the reins. “Enjoy your life, little sister, here’s hoping you live to see it.”

“Help me up, Benjamin.” Leah said and Benjamin nodded and helped her into the saddle of her horse before walking to his own and climbing on.

“He’s no good for you, Leah.” Chance tried again. “You’re too headstrong, too stubborn, too adventurous for a man like Benjamin.” Benjamin glared at Chance but Chance knew the man wasn’t actually brave enough to say anything.

“And the fact that you can insult the man I love is just one more reason why I have to leave.” Leah stated and then she followed Benjamin off into the night. Chance gazed off into the dark long after his little sister had left his sight.

The hooting of an owl and the trickling of the stream beside him were the only sounds out here on the plains. Chance knew that Leah was making a mistake but the little brat was too stubborn to listen. She hadn’t listened to anything her family had said in the last six months since meeting Benjamin. She had gone from a little tomboy to a woman hell-bent on marriage overnight and the other Gordon’s in the house had been helpless to do anything to stop the transformation.

He let out a long tired breath, shook his head and turned his horse’s head back toward home, knowing he’d have to share the bad news come morning.

---

“Your brother isn’t very happy about this.” Benjamin stated after a long time of silence as he and Leah rode side by side toward the tiny town of Billings. Leah shrugged one shoulder.

“They just don’t understand what we have.” she replied. “I want to be your wife.”

“And I want to be your husband.” Benjamin assured her, reaching for her gloved hand and taking it in his. “You are like the sunshine and me the flower. You are the wind and me the eagle. I’ve searched my whole life for someone like you.”

Leah smiled. Benjamin was a poet of sorts. He always had romantic things to say that made her heart swell in her chest.

“When can we get married?” she asked.

“As soon as we can get someone to marry us. It will probably take a day or two.”

“I can’t wait!” Leah exclaimed. “You are all I’ve ever wanted!” Benjamin smiled at her and gave her hand a squeeze.

Leah looked out over the moonlit plains, the lights of the town were now glowing and becoming visible in the distance, and she smiled. Her family did not know everything they thought they did.

Benjamin was the man for her. She was going to marry him. They would be happy and healthy. Life wasn’t as hard as they tried to make it sound and this land wasn’t dangerous. Everything was going to be just fine. Better than fine, it was going to be perfect!

No sooner had that thought crossed her a mind then a whistle pierced the night. Benjamin grabbed her reins and pulled her horse to a stop and Leah felt her heart start to pound as she heard the thundering of hooves and the snorting of horses.

Before she had time to realize they’d even been being followed she and Benjamin became completely surrounded by men with bandana covered faces and drawn revolvers.

Chapter Two

“Cowboy change your ways or with us you will ride, trying to catch the devils herd across this endless sky.”   Johnny Cash ‘Ghostriders in the Sky’

“What do you want?” Benjamin demanded of the men in a shaky voice. Leah was too frightened to talk. She kept trying to lean in closer to Benjamin as she caught flashes of the strangers eyes glowing in the moonlight. They seemed like demons. Like minions come to earth to do the devils bidding.

Her knuckles whitened as she clutched her reins tightly and prayed this wasn’t really happening. Leah didn’t want to admit that her parents and her brother had been right. She didn’t want to admit that this land was dangerous and Benjamin couldn’t keep her safe. But these men made that hard. They looked very dangerous indeed and she knew that she and Benjamin would be no match against so many.

“What do we want?” One of the men asked with a smile in his voice as he tilted his hat back. The only thing visible were the mans eyes and they were merely a shining glint in the moonlight. His bandana hid the rest of his face from view just as the other men‘s hid theirs as well. “What do you got?” he asked Benjamin.

“I have money. You can have it all.” Benjamin replied as he reached a shaking hand into his saddlebag and pulled out a sack of money. Leah nearly cried out when he tossed it in the air to the outlaw. There went their future. That was all the money they had. Now she would have to crawl back home to her mother and father and beg for their forgiveness.

“Thank you kindly.” the outlaw said as he caught the bag in the air and then tossed it to another man beside him. “Now what exactly are you fine folks doin’ wanderin’ ‘round these parts at night?”

“We’re on our way to Billings, sir.” Leah said as she sat up straighter and nodded toward the lights in the distance. “Now if you’ll be so kind as to move aside so we can get there.”

“Move aside?” the outlaw asked humorously. He laughed loudly and slapped his knee. “Boys did you hear all that polite talk? Why I ain’t never heard a filly talk so pretty and proper in all my life.”

“I would prefer if you did not refer to my fiancee as a filly.” Benjamin stated and Leah was proud of his bravery.

“And a sweet talking little man too. Why it’s almost too much to take.” the outlaw said. Leah noticed Benjamin swallow hard and saw the knot in his throat bobbing up and down. “What do you think, boys?” There were several grunts, nods and chuckles of agreement.

“She’s pretty, boss.” A thin, shortly built man said with a tone in his voice that caused shivers to pass over Leah’s spine, though she didn’t know why.

“I’ve given you gentleman all the money that we have. Can you let us pass now?” Benjamin asked and Leah could hear the fear and uncertainty in his voice. She could hear Chance’s smug voice in her head chiding her and telling her that Benjamin couldn’t keep her safe. That Benjamin wasn’t a brave man. But wouldn’t any man be just as terrified given the situation they were in?

“Can we let ‘em pass, boys?” the main outlaw who seemed to be the leader of them all asked as he looked around at the other men. Each man shook their head in unison except for one. He sat tall yet relaxed in the saddle and his face was completely hidden both by a black bandana and his hat, which was pulled down low.

Leah found her eyes drawn to this man and wondered why he didn’t seem to be joining in the other men’s excitement.

“I don’t think we’re gonna let you pass on your way. I think you have something else we want.” the ’boss’ said matter of factly as he looked Leah up and down. Leah felt her heart stop beating and the first true terror she had ever felt filled her senses. What would these men do to her? Would they hit her? Would they kill her?

“Just take our horses and let us be on our way. You have no need to be taking my fiancee.” Benjamin stated uncertainly.

“No we got enough horses. See we got a whole camp of men and we’re always looking for fresh whores to bring in. We got some men there that like the women with a bit of meat on them and the fact that she’s innocent will be a big plus.”

“I… I’m not innocent.” Leah lied and she heard an owl hoot in the distance and it sounded almost as if the bird was laughing at her weak attempt at deception.

“Yes you are. You’re as fresh as the first snowflakes of winter.” ‘boss’ argued. He reached out one gloved hand and ran his fingertip down her arm. Leah shivered and jumped away, nearly falling off of her mare.

“Keep your hands off her!” Benjamin shouted angrily as his hand went to the gun on his hip.

The next events happened so quickly that Leah barely had time to realize they were happening at all. Benjamin pulled his gun, the men all shouted, a single shot rang out and as the horses all stomped, jumped and fought against their riders, Benjamin tumbled from his saddle.

“Benjamin!” Leah screamed as her heart raced and her vision blurred. She felt a hand grab the reins of her horse and pull her. Faintly she noticed it was the tall, quiet outlaw that seemed somehow removed from the others. He pulled her away from the chaos as Benjamin’s cries of pain filled the air and the other outlaws jumped from their horses with loud laughter.

Leah squeezed her eyes shut tight but that did nothing to block out the sound as boots struck against flesh with dull thuds followed by yells of pain from her beloved.

“Stop it!” she cried out in a choked sob as she buried her face in her hands and shook with tears. This was the worst kind of nightmare. How and why was this happening? Benjamin had never hurt a soul in his entire life. They were supposed to be getting married and starting their lives together and now it looked as if his life was ending.

Leah felt a gloved hand touch the back of her neck but before she could scream in protest, the hand pressed just the right place and Leah’s whole world went black.

---

“Got what you want boys?” Boss asked loudly as the men finished going through Benjamin’s saddlebags and pockets. They had stripped off everything of value from his body as well as he lay bruised, bloody and moaning in the grass.

“No, I want that.” Petey grumbled as he pointed at the unconscious woman currently occupying the rump of Chase’s horse. She was out cold and tossed over the back. Her bonnet had fallen off and her long dark hair was tumbling loose of the bun she’d tied it in. Her legs were bouncing as Chase’s horse moved from side to side with anticipation. Boss knew that horse was nearly as unpredictable as its rider but Chase’s father had been a good friend and so Boss had taken the boy in out of respect when Leslie had died fifteen years ago.

Since then the boy had turned into a man and he was quiet, temperamental and more deadly with gun, hands or knife than any man Boss had ever seen.

“Well if you want that I guess you’ll have to take it from Chase. He seems to have claimed that prize as his own.” Boss replied.

“You’ll let me have a turn on her won’t ya, Chase?” Petey asked as he rubbed his hands together with excitement. Coal black eyes could be seen flashing in the moonlight and Chase said nothing as he turned his horse and started back toward their hidden camp.

“I think that was a no.” Yancy said with a laugh as he elbowed Petey.

“Boss!” Petey exclaimed. Boss shook his head and jumped on his horse. Some days he felt like a goddamn babysitter instead of the leader of a gang of cutthroat outlaws.

“Petey, you deal it on your own. If you want the woman then talk to Chase about it.”

“Chase don’t talk!” Tig exclaimed in his loud, overly animated way. “He shoots. Boom! Boom! Petey’s dead.”

“Mount up!” Boss yelled over the dull fleshy thud of Petey’s fist connecting with Tig’s jaw. “We need to get back to camp before day break.” The men all rode off, with the grunting of horses and the pounding of hooves, leaving their victim to bleed out in the dry dirt of the plains and choke on their dust.

Chapter Three

Leah woke with a start and sat straight up as her eyes flew open and she quickly took in her surroundings and tried to figure out where she was and how she had gotten here. She was in a dirty, dingy and fairly dark tent. The fabric had clearly once been a white or cream color but it had turned tan and brown from use and weather. The cot she was on was long and narrow and there was a dark green sack in the corner.

Leah thought back, trying desperately to remember how she had gotten here. Flashbacks of Benjamin’s body being stomped and kicked had her clamping her eyes closed and clutching at the thin wool blanket covering her. She was about to break down into tears when she became aware of the sound of people stirring outside the tent.

She heard men talking, burping, spitting. She heard iron pans clanking together and women giggling. Had those murdering outlaws brought her to a camp? And if they were all busy doing other things maybe she could escape. She quickly scrambled from the cot only to realize that her entire body ached.

She wondered what had made her so sore and wondered if maybe the men had kicked her while she’d been unconscious. She remembered again the way those boots had sounded when they had made contact with Benjamin’s flesh and she shoved her fists in her eyes to hold back her tears.

Her beloved Benjamin was dead. He was gone. Never again would she hear his gentle voice whispering her poetry. Never again would his soft blue eyes gaze into hers and promise her forever.

She had to get away. She had to get home so that she could make sure his body was given a proper burial. She couldn’t just let him rot out there on the plains. Leah took several deep breaths through her nose to calm herself and ease the nausea in her belly before crawling as silently as she could to the closed tent flap.

She pulled it back just a crack and looked out. It was early morning and the cool air was heavy with moisture and fog. She could see men gathering around a large campfire and there were women too… Women unlike any she had ever seen before. They were wearing skirts with no petticoats and their shirts draped off of them and showed their bare shoulders and collarbones.

She stuck her head out a little further to look around the edge of the tent. No one was looking toward her and she seemed to have a clear path into the small forest beside them. Maybe she could make it into the trees and away before anyone ever realized that she was gone!

“Off with her head! Ha! Ha! Hee!” Leah quickly looked back toward the men to see a scraggly haired, skinny, bowlegged man pointing at her and laughing.

“Shut the hell up, Tig. You’re a damn crazy ass.” another man shouted in the early morning air. Leah was so busy staring at the strange man named Tig as he bounced from foot to foot and scratched between his legs in a vulgar way that she did not even notice anyone nearing the tent until a dark shadow fell over her.

She looked up for what felt like miles until her eyes fell on a dark face, hidden in blackness beneath a dark black hat. Leah let out a squeak and crawled backward on her hands her hands and knees. Scurrying across the dirty packed ground and onto the cot where she pulled her knees into her chest.

She was trembling as the man bent low and pushed the flap aside. He dropped it closed behind him and then stood straight and stared down at her. Leah felt her breath catch in her chest at the sight of him. He was the scariest man she had ever seen. Not ugly. No he was actually quite handsome, but he had a coldness in his black eyes that frightened her beyond words.

He was well over six feet tall and he was lean and rangy. He was clearly a man who had been born and raised on horseback and slept under the stars. His skin was dark from the sun and his high cheekbones and dimpled chin were covered in a thick coat of stubble. His gaze was stern and his brow drawn as he looked down at her.

Leah sunk further back against the cloth wall of the tent as she watched his big hands and long fingers go to his black leather vest and pull out a box of matches and a rolled cigarette. He continued to stare at her the way a hawk would a mouse as he placed the cigarette between his firm lips and covered the end with his hand to light it. He swiped the match across the bottom of his boot to bring a flame and took a deep draw off his cigarette, blowing it out slowly through both his nose and mouth.

Leah watched the smoke cloud swirl around his hell and was reminded of the fires of hell probably burning inside this man.

When Leah was certain she would be frozen by the ice in the mans eyes he turned away from her and walked to the sack on the floor. He reached inside and pulled out a canteen which he held out to Leah.

She stared at it and wondered if she should risk taking it from him. She suddenly felt as if she were dying of thirst and her tongue seemed to be sticking to the roof of her mouth. She could taste grit and dust and wanted nothing more than to wash it all away. But what if it was poison?

The man saw that she wasn’t going to take the offered drink, opened the canteen, took a long drink himself and then stuck it back in the sack. He began going through the sack again, digging around for something else when Leah finally found her voice.

“W..who are y..you?” she stammered, unable to keep her jaw from trembling.

“Chase.” he grunted as he continued to search through the sack.

“Am..Am I your prisoner?” Chase didn’t answer right away. He continued to rummage through the sack and then stood straight with a tiny burlap sack in his hands. He tossed it to Leah and she let it bounce of her arm as she scooted further away from it.

Chase just shrugged and headed back toward the flap.

“Wait!” Leah exclaimed, holding out her hand. She saw his shoulders tense and then he turned so that his side was facing her and looked at her expectantly. Realizing he wanted her to say whatever it was she wanted to say Leah quickly stood up.

“I want to go home.” she said and Chase simply shrugged. Leah frowned. “Can I go home?” she asked and he shook his head no. Leah felt fear gripping her heart.

“You killed my Benjamin.” she accused and Chase shook his head again. Leah nearly cried out with her frustration, desperation and fear. She wanted this man to speak to her! Let her know exactly where she stood. But apparently he wasn’t about to do that!

“Are you going to kill me too?” she whispered quietly and Chase just shrugged. She searched his face but could see no emotion. Nothing to give away what he was thinking or feeling.

“Am I your prisoner?” she managed to choke out around the lump in her throat and this time Chase nodded. Leah collapsed back on the cot, curled up on her side with her knees pulled into her chest and began to sob.

“Better me than them.” Chase stated with indifference and he left the tent. Leah’s mind was racing and her eyes seemed to have an endless supply of tears. Benjamin was dead. She was a prisoner. Her parents and brother had been right all along and now Leah was probably going to die because she hadn’t listened to them.

---

Chase could hear the woman sobbing from where he sat on his log stump about ten feet from the tent. He stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed his ankles as he pulled his hat low, leaned back and took long, slow puffs off his cigarette.

He hadn’t been lying when he’d told that woman in there better him than the other men at the camp. Chase had never nor would he ever take a woman against her will and he didn’t stand by and watch anyone else do it either. Most of the men at camp knew how his mother had died and the certain aversions that had caused him to have.

Now, he would steal a blind mans cane, take a lollipop from a babies hand and take a herd of cattle for his own if the mood struck him but he didn’t take a woman’s body if she wasn’t willing. Hell, there were plenty of women that were more than willing to bed him.

She had called herself a prisoner and that’s exactly what she was. Chase could use the company and she needed the protection. He just wished the woman would stop with those damn tears. Chase’s father had been a half blood apache and his mother had been full blooded apache and most men liked to say that Chase had inherited their savage senses. That’s why loud noise had always bothered him. Being in camp was nearly more than he could stand most of the time and he spent a lot of time away and wandering on his own.

But his father had been loyal to Boss Henderson and Chase respected his fathers loyalty and therefore tried his best to carry on the tradition and friendship. Though Chase did not and would not ever see the man as his ‘boss’. No man was Chase Caldwell’s boss. Chase Caldwell was a man who could not be controlled. He would die first.

It seemed as if it took hours but finally the woman’s tears turned into silence and Chase assumed she must have finally cried herself to sleep. He shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to attack she and her man. It had been clear to him they didn’t have much and therefore it would be a waste of time but you couldn’t tell these ignorant men anything. They enjoyed proving how tough and deadly they were. There was nothing tough about ten against one man and kicking him as he lay on the ground bleeding out and his woman screamed for you to spare his life.

Chase had never once felt the need to prove himself and yet still everyone knew to give him space and stay out of his way. Chase knew the woman wasn’t happy but she would have to get used to it. This was her life now. She could cook for him, clean for him and keep him company. In return he would keep these men away from her and make sure she had food and water. It seemed like a fair arrangement to him.

Chapter Four&Five

Chapter Four

Leah was hungry. No, she was starving! It had been hours since the man had come in that morning and she hadn’t seen him since. She hadn’t moved from the cot either and she could tell that nature was about to insist that she get up and find a place to relieve herself. Standing up slowly, Leah attempted to be silent and allowed the blood to return to her neglected legs as she approached the tent flap. 

Pulling it back the tiniest amount, Leah looked outside. It appeared as if most of the men were gone and she knew those must have been the horses she’d heard riding out earlier. Not everyone was gone, however. There were still a few men sitting around the tents and fires. And those women were still there, sitting in the men’s laps with their skirts hiked up. Leah’s face flamed red when she heard the grunts and moans. 

Leah dropped the tent flap. She knew exactly what those men and women were doing. She had once heard her brother and his friends bragging about being with women and she had, from time to time, heard her mother and father whispering and moaning to each other through the thin wall that separated their bedrooms. But never had Leah actually witnessed those acts taking place. 

She had to get away from here! Was that what these men wanted her to do? To moan and throw her head back and shake her hair like that? If that’s what they wanted, if that’s what this Chase wanted, then Leah had news for them. She still had her gun in her pocket. She had forgotten about it that morning but the cold piece of metal was there and she reached in her dress and closed her hand around it. 

Leah heard bootsteps coming toward the tent and knew it was now or never. She moved to the side of the flap and waited with her gun held tight. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her shaking hands were slick with sweat. The flap was pushed aside and Leah felt her heart catch when she realized it was Chase. He stepped into the tent and rose to his full height as his gaze fell on the empty cot. 

“Stop right there and put your hands up,” Leah ordered, her voice holding a bravery that neither her heart nor her shaking legs felt. 

Chase did not even tense as he turned to face her. He seemed relaxed and unafraid as he reached up and moved his hat back so that she got her first clear look at his face. Without those shadows hiding his features, the sheer rugged handsomeness of him nearly took her breath… but Leah kept her gun aimed at his chest. 

It was then that she began to notice just how sculpted his cheekbones were, just how longa and straight his nose was, and exactly how dark and intense his eyes were… Leah realized something that had her taking several large steps back. 

“You’re an Indian!” She had thought that all the savages were on reservations but here stood one. Tall and dark and seeming more dangerous than a coiled rattler. 

Chase stared down at her causing Leah to feel small and helpless as he pinned her in place with nothing but his gaze. He raised one arched brow and crossed his arms over his chest. The black cotton shirt he was wearing tugged and pulled at his broad shoulders with his movements. Absently, Leah noticed that he didn’t wear the collared, buttoned shirts that were common among men. Instead, his shirt was loose and made of thin cotton beneath his vest–and his legs were encased in soft buckskin. 

Case reached up and pulled off his hat. Long, black hair, tied at the nap of his neck, fell from beneath his hat. The midnight black strands fell more than halfway down his back. 

“What do you want from me?” Leah demanded, her nerves getting the better of her as he stared her down in silence. Her hands were beginning to shake violently and the gun bounced with their movements. 

“Shoot me or put the gun down,” was all he said in response. His voice was slightly accented and it was deep and rich. 

“You will let me go. I want to go home.” 

She watched his nostrils flare and realized that she had made him angry. Chase tossed his hat over onto the floor beside the cot and shook his head. ’You are mine.“ 

“You killed my finace and kidnapped me! I belong to no one!” 

“I killed no one,” Chase countered. “And I saved you from a far worse fate.” 

Leah cocked the revolver and licked her shaking upper lip. Chase studied the woman and had to admit that she showed grit. Very few men had the nerve to hold a gun on Chase Caldwell and Chase certainly hadn’t thought he’d find a woman with the nerve to do so. He could tell by the look in her green eyes that she wanted to shoot him. She wanted to kill him and make her escape. She simply didn’t realize that if she killed him, she would be alone with a group of lawless men who cared nothing about the innocence or willingness of women. They would take her and they would rape her again and again and use her up until she had nothing left. They would break her spirt, break her body, and eventually leave her for dead. She was better off with him than without him. But if she chose to shoot and kill him, then Chase supposed she would find that out the hard way. 

Seconds ticked by and the tension was thick and heavy inside the tent. It was almost a palpable thing. It became something they could touch and feel as it pressed down on them. Just when Chase was certain she wouldn’t pull the trigger on that tiny gut buster in her shaking hand, she did. 

The sound echoed inside the tent and Chase grunted as a searing pain pierced his arm. He clamped his jaw tight and glanced down at the scratch she had placed their when her bullet had grazed him. With lightning fast reflexes that had never been matched, Chase reached out and snatched the gun from her trembling hands as she stared at him with shock. 

She quickly covered her mouth and her green eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed before racing from the tent. Leah couldn’t believe what she had just done! She had shot a man. True, the man was holding her prisoner, but the thought of causing harm to another person made her stomach hurt. She had to get away. She didn’t even pay attention to where she was heading as panic fueled her race through the camp. 

“Whoa there, pretty thing.” 

Leah skidded to a stop as a man stepped in front of her. She recognized his voice. He was the short, thin man that had been eyeing her the night before. “Did Chase get bored with you already? Of did you kill him with that shot I heard?” 

“Let me go,” Leah pleaded as she tried to edge her way around him. 

He stepped to the side and blocked her path. “You got pretty green eyes and I like all that dark hair. You look like you’d be nice and soft beneath a man.” He reached out and touched her cheek with  his dirty, long-nailed fingers. 

“Don’t touch me,” Leah hissed, swallowing bile. 

“Oh, I’m going to touch you,” he promised as his gaze drifted lower and she realized the top buttons of her dress had come undone. Leah quickly did up those buttons and the man’s beady blue eyes rose back to hers. There was a hunger in them as he leered at her that would have caused her to vomit had Leah had anything in her stomach. 

Leah took two quick steps backward and bumped into something hard and hot. She turned quickly and looked up to see those dark black eyes, flashing with anger as they glared hard at the short man. Without taking time to think about what she was doing, Leah quickly moved behind Chase and the familiarity n his presence that made her feel protected. 

“Chase, dammit, I’m the one that saw those folks! I’m the one that aid we should go after them. I’m the one that decided killing that bastard was a good idea because I wanted the woman! You had no right to just take her as your own. I want a damn ride on her!” 

“She is mine,” Chase stated calmly. Inside he was raging. He and Petey had never gotten along. Petey was the worst kind of man. Chase had once seen Petey sticking himself inside a woman whose life blood had already drained from her. Chase would die before he would allow Petey to touch this woman. 

“I guess we’ll just have to see about that!” Petey exclaimed, lowering his hand toward his gun. 

Chase felt Leah tense behind him and he wondered what she was thinking. Did she think he was a man like Petey? Was she hiding behind Chase because she knew he would keep her safe or simply to be out of Petey’s line of sight? Something inside Chase hoped she sought his protection because she knew he would protect her. And he would–with his life. 

“What’s going on?” Boss Henderson asked as he rode back into camp and jumped from his horse beside the two men. 

Petey instantly took his hand away from his gun and pointed at Chase. “Boss, he is hogging that damn woman! She done shot his ass once because she wants away from him but he won’t let no one else have a go at her! It’s not fair boss!” 

Boss glared. “Petey, I’m tired of hearing you whine like a damn babe that still needs his mama’s titty.” 

“I don’t whine,” Petey argued stubbornly as he stuck out his bottom lip. 

“Wah! Wah! Wah!” Tig helpfully added as he skipped by. 

Boss shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Petey, you know damn well that Chase is Apache. She is his spoils of war and you’ll just have to find something else to entertain yourself with,” Boss told the man. He turned to Chase. “Chase, you know how I feel about fighting among my men.” 

“Control them and there will not be fighting,” Chase stated coldly. He turned, took Leah by the arm, and led her back toward the tent. 

“Boss that man aint safe to have around!” Petey exclaimed. 

“I owe it to his pa to look out for him,” Boss replied with a shrug. “Besides, he ain’t never pushed it too far yet. If he does then he’ll be dealt with. You just leave his woman alone.” 

---

“Chase, I can’t go back in there yet,” Leah whispered as they neared the tent. He looked down at her with a raised brow. She turned red and felt every last shred of dignity fall away. “I have to… you know…”

Chase nodded his understanding. He led her to the back of the tent and several large bushes. “Outside?” Leah demanded. “In the open?”

Chase simply nodded, turned his back, and crossed his arms over his chest. “No one will bother you.” 

Leah lifted her skirts the best she could and crouched behind a bush. Never in her life had she thought she’d be forced to do something so humiliating. When she finished relieving herself and stood back up, she cleared her throat. Chase once again took her by the arm and led her back around the tent. 

Leah didn’t fight against Chase as he led her inside. She knew that to onlookers his touch would appear rough, but truly, he was holding her arm very gently in his strong hand. Leah felt his touch through the sleeve of dress and it caused head to spread up her arm and through her body. The feeling was something she had never felt before–it unnerved her and had her yanking herself away from him once they were inside. 

Chase didn’t say a word. He moved to the cot and grabbed the small burlap sack that he had thrown at her that morning. He held it out and this time Leah reached for it and took it from his hand. She opened it and saw jerked beef and hardtack biscuits inside. 

Once again she reddened with embarrassment. She had been hungry all day and angry that this man wasn’t feeding her and he had given her food that very morning. Chase still said nothing. He walked around her and pulled the canteen from the sack in the corner, handing it to her as well. 

“Tomorrow, you will cook for us,” he stated. “I hunt for food instead of using what these men use. You will prepare our meals.” 

“Why should I cook for you?” Leah demanded. Chase stared at her for several long moments. Long enough that Leah found herself looking away and picking a piece of jerky from the bag.

“You do not leave this tent unless I am with you. It is dangerous,” he warned as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and did not answer her previous question. 

“What do you want from me?” Leah asked, throwing her hands up with exasperation. “I won’t do with you what those other women were doing with those men–what that man wanted me to do with him. I’d kill myself first.” 

“I want nothing from you except warm meals and patches on my clothes,” he stated with indifference as he lounged against the support beam in the center of the tent. “And in return I will protect you from them and those like them.” 

“You could simply take me home,” Leah countered. She wasn’t sure why she believed he wouldn’t force her to lay with him. She certainly had no reason to trust the man–but she did. he could have taken advantage of her already and he hadn’t. He had just protected her and had seemed willing to fight for her safety moments ago. She had shot him and still he protected her. Leah wasn’t sure what to make of that but she determined that he wasn’t dangerous to her safety. 

Chase pulled his hat lower. “If you want to go home, then go. I will not stop you but I will not take you there and I will not protect you if you choose to leave me.” 

He didn’t want her to leave him and yet he knew he couldn’t tie her up in the corner and make her stay with him. Chase did not want her hatred. Instead, he wanted her to feel the pull toward him that he felt toward her. The pull he had felt since he’d first seen her so scared and unsure in the moonlight. She was beautiful with her wide green eyes, dark hair and full lips. Her skin was soft and her body full. She had a sheltered innocence about her and yet she had shown both strength and spirit when she had not only held a gun on him but pulled the trigger. 

Chase’s father had always spoken of a life mate. He’d said that each person had only half a soul and you had to find your other half out there somewhere or be incomplete forever. As far as Chase could tell, this woman was his life mate and everything he had ever wanted in a woman. Chase’s father had always claimed that Chase’s mother had been his life mate. He had stolen the woman from her tribe and she had tried to escape him several times before faling in love with the man and choosing to stay. While Chase did not know anything about love, he hoped that this woman would choose to stay with him as well. 

“You mean you’ll let me leave?” she asked, her green eyes lighting with hope. Chase nodded slowly. “Where is my horse and coat?” 

“If you leave here, you leave on foot. Other men have claimed your horse and I will not fight them for her. You will take a small sack of biscuits and a canteen of water. Nothing else.” Leah felt every bit of her hope die. She could not go out wandering in the night alone and  on foot… she had no idea where she was–and there were men like Petey just waiting on her out there. 

“I will leave you to decide what you want to do,” Chase added before leaving the tent. 

Leah went to the cot and sank down feeling utterly defeated. She had no idea what she was going to do. Was this going to be her life now? Cooking, cleaning, and obeying this Indian and never again seeing her home or her family? And what was that intense look in his dark eyes when he looked at her. What was the heat she felt whenever he touched her or she held his gaze for too long? All Leah knew wa that this man was dangerous. Perhaps not a danger to her physically but he was holding her prisoner and refusing to let her leave with any hope of surviving. 

Leah buried her head in her hands and wept. She wept for Benjamin but mostly she wept for herself and the life her stubborn foolishness had cost her. 

---

Chase gave the woman plenty of time to think things over and come to terms with her new life. He returned to the tent after nightfall with a bowl of stew that he had made from wild onions, greens and a rabbit he had killed that morning. 

Walking in, he saw her curled up in the shadows on the cot with her back to him. Chase could tell by the rhythm of her breaths that she was awake but she seemed to want him to believe she was asleep so he humored her. He sat the bowl on the wooden crate beside the cot and went about lighting a fire in the center of the tent. 

Chase saw her stir aupon the cot and knew that the scent of the stew must have reached her nose. “Eat,” he ordered. 

Sitting up slowly, she turned to face him. Her green eyes were red rimmed and puffy. It was clear that she had spent much of the day crying. Chase wished she wouldn’t do that. Tears were a waste of time and solved nothing. 

“You cooked for me?” she whispered hoarsely. 

Chase nodded as he sat down cross-legged on the ground and pulled his knife from the sheath on his leg. He laid it across his buckskin pants and pulled a sharpening stone from the sack beside him. As he went about sharpening his knife in the firelight, Chase was very much aware of the woman as she began to eat hungrily. He fought against the way his body responded to the sounds of her hungry moans. She was a temptation for him but he had trained himself well in not giving in to temptation adn this would be no different. Until the woman welcomed him into her bed, Chase would not lay with her. 

“What is your name?” he finally asked. 

She paused with her spoon halfway to her lips. She was silent for several long moments before letting out a sigh. “Leah.” 

“You will not regret your decision to stay, Leah.” 

Chapter Five

“You want me to skin that?” Leah asked as she covered her mouth and nose with her hand to block the scent of the bloody rabbit that Chase was currently dangling in front of her.

He thrust the rabbit toward her. "Yes."  

Leah shook her head and fought back a gag. "No."  

She and Chase had been together at this camp now for a week. She still cried herself to sleep most nights but the pain of her losses and the knowledge that she was stuck here were both beginning to ease. In truth Chase treated her very well. He let her have the cot each night, he made sure she had enough to eat and drink and he stood guard over her at all times ensuring that none of the other men would touch her or even look at her crosswise.  

But in that time Leah also hadn't left the tent for longer than ten minutes and she was beginning to get cranky. Riling the Indian was proving to be quite an entertaining pastime.  

"Yes," Chase repeated, giving the rabbit a little shake as he held it up by the ears.  

"I'll cook it just like always but I am 

not skinning it,“ she argued stubbornly. “If you don’t skin it then we’ll be eating stew with fur and all!” Chase grunted and stomped from the tent and Leah covered her mouth to try to stifle her laughter. He really wasn’t a bad man. He was quiet and didn’t speak much but he was patient to a fault and had yet to truly act angry with her.

Leah still didn't understand why he wouldn't let her leave. She had no real idea of why he was keeping her around as a houseguest, but, she already had a plan. She had been paying attention to the way Chase slept at night and she had familiarized herself with his breathing when he truly slept.  

Tonight was the night that Leah was going to run. She was going to wait until Chase was asleep, take his gun and set off into the night on whatever horse she could find. While it wasn't the most detailed of plans, it was all she had to hold onto.  

Leah got busy cutting up the vegetables that Chase had brought in with the rabbit. She had no idea where he found canned carrots and peppers but she assumed some homesteads cellar was a bit emptier this morning than it had been last night.  

When Leah finished with her task, she began sewing a tear in one of Chase's shirts, happy to have something to busy her hands. She had spent the first two days stubbornly refusing to do anything Chase demanded but then she had found herself growing bored and decided that doing chores would help cure that boredom and keep her from going stark raving mad.  

It didn't take long before she was done with the shirt as well and she sighed and looked toward the tent flap. Where was he? Sure Chase wasn't much for conversation but she had become accustomed to having him poke his head in and check on her now and then.  

She was just standing up to poke her head out to look for him when he stepped through the flap and she felt her breath catch in her chest the way it always did when she saw him. So tall. So handsome. So masculine. She felt that heat growing in her blood again as well as a tingling sensation that had her shifting awkwardly and tugging on the skirt of her dress. She hated herself for feeling those things toward this man... He was one of her captors--one of the men who had led to Benjamin's death--Leah couldn't let herself forget that.  	

This thought brought Benjamin to her mind and she realized with sudden shame and guilt that she had not thought much about Benjamin in days. What kind of woman was she? Leah bit her lip to fight back the emotion that rose in her throat. The answer to that question was that she was not a very good woman at all.  

Chase had seen Leah's face light up when he had entered the tent and his heart had grown lighter but the sudden sadness that suddenly darkened her features had his heart turning back to stone.  The last week had been a new experience for him. He liked knowing that someone would be waiting for him when he came back to his tent. He liked listening to her soft breathing as they both lay in the darkness.  

While they had not spoken much because she still seemed to be angry with him and he wasn't much of a talker, Chase realized that for the first time in his life since his father had died nearly fifteen years ago, he didn't feel lonely.  

"Here," he said as he held out the skinned and gutted rabbit, along with a knife for cutting.   

Leah sighed and took both from him. Truthfully she had skinned and gutted plenty of animals in her life  but she had wanted to be difficult with him earlier out of spite. She had always liked to be difficult and it was something that her parents and brother had always been scolding her for. Thoughts of them had yet more tears forming behind her eyes and she quickly blinked them away and got busy cutting up the meat on the wooden stump Chase had in the corner just for that task.  

"You are sad," Chase stated as he lit a cigarette.  

"You don't care," Leah snapped.

 Chase nodded and left the tent. "You look like someone pissed in your wigwam, Chief," Yancy announced as Chase walked to the main fire and sat down on a stump. Yancy seemed to think he was clever with all of his Indian comments. Chase simply found him annoying.  

"You do look awfully tense, big guy," one of the camp whores purred as she sashayed her way to Chase and sat down on his lap, straddling his waist with her long legs.  

Chase had always enjoyed this particular whore's attention. Louisa was a Mexican woman whose husband had been killed leaving her to provide for herself the only way she could find. She had dark skin, big brown eyes, curly dark hair and high tight breasts and Chase knew she favored him.  

Chase felt his body responding in a naturally male way as she pressed her painted lips against his neck and rubbed herself against the growing arousal in his pants. He moaned as she moved those professional lips to his ear.  

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more private?" she breathed.  

Chase wanted to. He wanted to in the worst way. It had been a while since he'd had a woman and having Leah around but unable to touch her was the worst kind of torture he had ever endured. He was about to say yes to Louisa when suddenly Chase heard his fathers voice in his head.  

‘Your life mate should not have to share you with any other, my son. She will be both air, water, food and blood to your body. She will sustain you and you will sustain her. Just as the wolf mates faithfully for life so will you, my child. That is how the great mother wished it to be.’

Chase quickly stood, keeping his hands on Louisa's arms to stop her from falling as he placed her on her feet. He stepped away from her and strode toward the woods without a word.  

"What was that about?" Louisa pouted as she watched him disappear.  

"He's got himself a woman now. He doesn't need you anymore." Yancy chuckled. "Now me on the other hand...."  

Louisa sighed and rolled her eyes before going to him. Chase was what she wanted. He was the only halfway decent man among all these men. Louisa would give him time to get over his new woman but if he didn't return to her arms soon Louisa would have to do something about her.  

---

Leah sat up slowly, staying as silent as she could. It had taken hours of agonizing tension and waiting, but finally Chase seemed to be sleeping.  Leah had noticed that he had acted strange all evening. He'd been even more quiet than normal and his dark eyes had been more intense each time she had caught them looking into hers.  

His eyes made something in her respond and so she had quickly turned her head only to find herself glancing back moments later. There seemed to be something pulling her toward Chase. It was as if some unseen force drew her toward him. 	

She was sure people would think her crazy. He had been holding her against her will after all! That's why she had to leave here. She had to go now and find her way back home to her family. Being cooped up here in this tent with Chase was causing her mind to turn to mush.  

Leah's hands were shaking and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she moved as quietly as she could toward Chase's sleeping form. He slept with his revolver and his knife beside him and she took the revolver. She tiptoed to the sack in the corner where he kept food and extra clothes for himself and picked it up, tossing it over her shoulder.  

She stopped at the tent flap and turned to look at him. He looked so calm, so peaceful, as he lay there in the dark. Leah's heart was tugging in two separate directions. Part wanted to run away and go home to her family and part wanted to stay here and stay with Chase. Determining that the second part of her heart was crazy, she squared her shoulders and slipped out into the silent night.  

Chase's eyes opened immediately and he watched the tent flap fall closed. Disappointment and sadness filled him. He had been certain that Leah had finally decided to stay with him but he had been wrong.  

He had no doubts that she was his life mate. He could feel it when their eyes met and he could see that she felt it too, she just wasn't sure what the feeling was or that she wanted to feel it.  

If she was that determined to leave him then Chase would let her. If they were destined to be together then surely somehow their paths would cross again. He rose from the ground and picked up his knife.

 He couldn't find it within himself to be angry that she had stolen from him. She was his life mate so anything that was his was hers as well. He heard an owl hooting in the night and knew he couldn't let Leah wander alone. There were too many dangers and he would never allow anything bad to happen to her.  

He slid his knife into the leather sheath on his leg and headed out into the night to track her. He would stay out of her sight and remain silent. Following her simply to ensure that she made it safely wherever she was going.

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Leah was lost. It was dark and she hadn't realized just how hard it would be to see with only a quarter of the moon lighting her way. The horse she had taken was not happy about being forced to make its way across the plains in the dark of night.  

The stallion kept snorting and tossing his head and after hours of feeling as if she was traveling in circles, Leah felt like doing the same. She was simply following the river and praying that at some point it would lead her to a town or a house so she could figure out where she was.  

She was happy thought that it seemed she had snuck away without anyone realizing it. At times she felt she was being watched but whenever she looked around her she couldn't see anything or anyone in the shadows.  

Nerves were getting the better of her, she decided. The last time she had been riding the plains on horseback she and Benjamin had been attacked. She supposed she was afraid it would happen again and this time there would be no Chase to protect her.... She shook her head. Chase was not her protector, he was her captor and she would be better off without him, no matter what that little voice in her head kept telling her.  

Leah had been raised in a home where right and wrong were set in stone. There was no gray area as far as her father was concerned. Her father would probably have a hard time accepting her back after what she'd done by running away with Benjamin and he certainly wouldn't accept her back if he knew she had a soft spot for an Indian who no doubt stole whatever his heart desired and murdered to get what he wanted.  

And she had no reason to feel anything soft or tender toward that man. He had kept her prisoner. He had allowed her fiance to be murdered..... Leah had to force them to come, but the tears filled her eyes for Benjamin. She was a horrible person. That was the one and only explanation for her quick recovery over his death. And it wasn't that she wasn't sad because she was and she did miss him but she didn't feel that overwhelming sadness she had just days before.  

Leah decided the best thing to do was to quit thinking. She was tired and when she was tired she tended to dwell on the bad and the negative. The horse she had stolen was becoming more restless and Leah tightened her hands on the reins as the horse snorted and sidestepped nervously.  

Leah nearly cried out with frustration as she fought to get the beast under control. Suddenly the night was pierced by a feline scream. The mountain lion leapt out of a patch of long grass and the horse snorted loudly, reared back and sent Leah crashing on her back to the ground before running away.  

Leah hit the ground so hard that the air rushed from her lungs and she couldn't seem to breath or move. Fear had her heart pounding in her ears when she heard that feline scream again. Suddenly she realized how foolish and stupid she had been. She hadn't been safe out here with Benjamin so what had made her think she would be safe alone? Her gun was in the sack, tied to the horse and currently bouncing away in the distance. As the growling grew closer and she saw the slinking shadow circling her she knew one thing for sure. She was going to die.  

---

Chase had been following Leah on foot for hours. She was wandering further into wilderness instead of closer to civilization. He wanted to call out to her but knew that she would run from him if she saw him behind her.

It was clear that Leah was struggling and it didn't help that she had unwittingly taken his horse. No one other than Chase himself could truly control that beast. He was wild, unpredictable and respected no one. Leah was having great difficulty simply staying upon Blaze's back.  

Chase heard the scream of the mountain lion and his blood ran cold. He knew instantly how Blaze would react. The stallion reared and sent Leah crashing to the ground. Chase heard the breath whoosh out of her in a loud gust and knew that it would be several moments before she could breathe easily again and regain her bearings.

By then the mountain lion would be on her.

Chase pulled his knife and ran as fast as his long legs could carry him. They propelled him quickly over the plains and the mountain lion was preparing to pounce when Chase jumped in between the best and Leah.  

"Chase!" Leah exclaimed with surprise as she pushed herself up on her elbows.  

Chase nodded in acknowledgement but didn’t take his eyes off the growling, angry beast. Chase held out his arms and yelled loudly hoping to scare the beast off but he could tell by the hungry gleam in the cat’s eyes that he would have no such luck. Without a gun this was going to be claws and teeth against knife and hands.

Leah watched in horror and shock as Chase and the mountain lion faced each other and then she screamed when the big cat lunged. Chase lunged at the exact same instant and the two met in mid-air. For a moment it looked as if they were simply hugging before they fell to the ground and began to roll and wrestle violently.  

Leah jumped to her feet and desperately watched the battle while knowing there was nothing she could do to help. Another man she cared about was going to die all because she had been too stubborn and headstrong to do what was best!  

Lord have mercy on her soul! Had she just admitted that she cared about Chase? Yes she had and she couldn't let him die....

Before Leah could come up with anyway to aid the man, the battle came to an end.

A certainly human roar filled the night and Leah watched the knife blade flash in the moonlight as Chase raised it in the air and brought it down into the giant cat's back.  

Silence fell.

Everything became still.

Leah waited with baited breath and trepidation for any sign movement.  

“Chase?” she whispered shakily and the body of the cat moved. Leah let out a yelp of fear, certain that the mountain lion had somehow won the battle and would now come for her. Only when Chase grunted did Leah realize the movement had simply been Chase moving the body off of him.

Leah was shaking as she watched Chase get to his feet. His shoulders were slumped and his breathing was heavy. His black eyes flashed in the night as they met hers. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice strained.

"Yes," she replied before biting her lip. Surely he would be angry with her.  

"You need to travel two days to the east to get back to your home," he informed her as he swayed appeared to struggle to stand. Chase let out a whistle and Leah heard a horse snort before the black stallion she'd been riding on trotted back into view.  

"Chase are you okay?" Leah whispered.   

"Go east," he repeated and then he fell to his side on the ground.  

"Chase!" she screamed. Leah ran to him and fell to her knees beside him. Leah rolled him onto his back and now that she was closer to him she could see the cuts and gouges covering his body. His shirt was wet with blood and covered in holes from the big cat's claws. His buckskin pants were worse. They were ripped, torn and soaked with blood. He wouldn't live if she didn't get him somewhere and tend to his wounds.  

She felt the stallion nudge her shoulder with his nose and grabbed his reins to hold him in place. Leah stood and seriously considered mounting the horse and riding east. That was what she 

should do. It was what any sane person would do! If she took Chase back to camp that would be like willingly walking into prison.

She should leave, go home to her family and forget about the horror of the last week. But then again, thanks to Chase, not every moment had been a horror. He 

had protected her from a much worse fate than she would have endured without him and Chase had just risked his life and gone against a mountain lion to save her. Could she leave him out here to die?

Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes as Leah stood with one foot in the stirrup and her hands on the reins, contemplating what she would do.

With a heavy sigh she moved away from the horse and walked to Chase. She ran her hand over his sweat covered brow and his eyes fluttered open. "You're going to have to help me get you on that horse, Chase. I can't get you back to camp by myself."  

---

"What the hell happened to him?" Boss asked as Leah led the horse back into camp shortly after dawn.  

She glanced at Chase who was laying on his stomach over the saddle, his arms and legs dangling. He had lost consciousness shortly after being put on the horse and Leah had led the horse on foot for hours.

"Mountain lion," she stated as she kept her eyes straight ahead and led the horse toward Chase's tent.  

"What were you all doing out in the night?" Boss demanded.

Leah ignored him. She could see Petey watching every step that she took and all she wanted was to get Chase in and tend to his wounds. “I need water,” she quipped her pace never slowing.

Boss signaled for two men to go fill buckets with water as he followed Leah. He hoisted Chase from the saddle and carried him into the tent, laying him down gently on the cot. He took his hat off and held it in his gloved hands.

"Do you know how to tend to wounds, miss?" he asked.

Leah stared up at the man with hatred burning red hot in her gut. She knew that this man held the blame for killing Benjamin. He had been the man to pull the trigger of that gun.

"Yes sir. I can tend to them just fine," she assured him. It wasn't a lie. Growing up her family hadn't had much money for doctors and she'd tended plenty of wounds on her brother and father that they'd acquired while out working in the fields or tending the cattle.  

Boss nodded and left the tent without another word. Leah laid the supplies from the horse next to Chase and quickly went about starting a fire with the matches she pulled from his vest which he'd left on the ground beside his bedroll the night before.  

By the time she had the fire roaring the men were bringing her the buckets of water. They sat them down and then quickly made their exit. Leah was grateful that she wasn't going to have an audience. The other men here made her blood run cold and her heart race with fear. They weren't Chase and she did not trust them.

Leah poured some of the water into a tin pot and sat it over the fire to get warm. She then went back to Chase and slipped off his boots. Her hands shook as she took his knife and began to cut away his pants. She was just finished up removing one leg when the tent flap opened and Petey entered.

"Well isn't this a lucky break?" he mused with a click of his tongue.  

Leah felt fear rise inside of her. She cast a glance at the sack holding the gun and Petey quickly stepped between her and her only hope of defending herself. “No. No. No,” he warned, placing his hand over his own gun. “Put that knife down too, little princess.” he added, nodding toward her hand.

Leah laid the knife on the cot beside Chase and stood up. “Whatever it is you’re wanting, sir, will simply have to wait.” she stated bravely,

though inside she was trembling. “I have to see to his wounds.”

"You won't see to nothing except my pecker, girlie. That damn savage will be just fine without any help from you. Now me on the other hand... I might just die from neglect if I don't get some attention real fast."  

"Rest in peace," Leah snapped with her chin high. She was getting sick and tired of being intimidated by these men. She was tired of being scared. If they were going to force her or kill her then they could attempt to do so but she wasn't going to cry, beg or whimper anymore.

"You've gotten mouthy," Petey grinned. "I like that." He spit onto the fire causing a puff of smoke and a sizzle. Leering and scanning her body with his beady eyes, Petey stepped forward and grabbed Leah by the arm. Instinct had her pulling out of his grasp and shoving him backward.  

Petey laughed loudly before slapping her roughly across the face.

Leah gasped at the pain and fell to her knees. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her head swam and her cheekbone throbbed. She had never in her life been struck in such a way.

Petey grabbed her by her hair with one hand and held her face up toward his crotch as he began to undo his gun belt with the other hand. The stench of him caused her to gag and Leah could see something hard pressing against his pants. She had seen enough about what happened between a man and a woman while in this camp to know what he was about to do to her.

Leah forgot all about being brave. A scream for help was building in her throat when Petey was suddenly pulled away from her.  

She blinked and covered her mouth with shock when she realized that Chase had risen from the cot and had Petey pinned against the side of the tent with his knife pressed against the other man’s throat.

"Chase, dammit, I thought you was half dead!" Petey exclaimed shakily.  

"Half alive is all I need to be to kill you," Chase replied, his voice little more than a cold growl.  

Leah got to her feet and watched the confrontation with just as much awe as she had the confrontation between Chase and the mountain lion. Chase looked every inch a warrior. He was deadly and lethal even while covered in blood and sweat. His copper skin was gleaming in the firelight and his black eyes were flashing with anger as he glared down at Petey.

Petey swallowed hard, his throat bobbing against the knife. “I didn’t mean no harm, Chase. I was just fooling around with her is all…..” Petey was cut off when Chase’s arm flexed and the knife nicked his skin causing a single droplet of blood to trickle down his throat.

"You come into my home, threaten my woman, touch my woman and then say you were fooling? I would be doing an honor to the great mother if I ended your life."  

"Chase, don't!" Leah gasped as she stepped forward and laid her hand on his shoulder. Petey's blue eyes filled with hope as he looked at her. "This man isn't worth killing. You are better than that."

Chase was still for several long moments. Leah could feel the tension in his powerful body and she could sense how badly he wanted to slide that knife through Petey’s flesh, though the image that knowledge had running through her mind caused her stomach to churn.

Chase slowly pulled the knife away. "If you look at her again I will feel your blood spill against my hands," he vowed.  

The look of hatred in Petey’s eyes caused Leah’s blood to run cold as he glared at her before all but running from the tent.

"You sure showed him," Leah muttered.

Chase turned to face her and Leah noticed the lack of color in his face and the thin line his lips were pulled into. “I would protect you with my dying breath, Leah. You are mine.”

Leah looked up in his eyes and felt something inside of her break. The wall she had built up to keep Chase from getting in had just come crumbling down and Leah wasn’t sure what to do or say. “Let’s get you back to bed. I have to get your wounds cleaned up.”

Chase looked in her eyes and felt his breath catch in his chest at the look he saw there. Tenderness. Leah was looking at him with tenderness. And she hadn’t argued with him when he had called her his. She had come back to camp with him instead of taking herself to freedom and she wanted to take care of him. All those things spoke well for their future.

Chase nodded and went to the cot, eager to please her. While he knew he could tend to his own wounds and had many times in the past he wasn't about to tell Leah not to care for him. All he wanted was for her to finally accept him and it appeared that might be happening.

Leah grabbed the bucket of water and carried it to the cot. She tore off a piece of her dirty petticoat and soaked it before beginning to clean the deep gouges on Chase's leg.  

Heat and sparks of awareness shoot through her like lightning bolts as her skin brushed against the hard muscles of his thigh. She spared a glance up into his dark eyes and then found herself unable to look away.

They gazed into each other's eyes for a long while and both knew that things had now changed. A bridge had just been crossed and a page had been turned. Chase had been saying it for a week but now Leah knew it was true.  

She was his.

---

"Your visitors are here, Benjamin," Doctor Gibbons announced as he poked his head into the tiny room that Benjamin had been living in every day since a rancher and his two sons had found him shot, beaten and bloody on the grassy ground of the plains.  

Benjamin nodded and adjusted the scratchy wool blanket over his legs. Legs that were now no more than useless stumps sitting below his waist.

"Let them in," he whispered. He attempted to sit up straighter and winced as his battered ribs protested.   

The doctor nodded, stepped aside and Paul, Sarah and Chance Gordon came rushing into the room. “Benjamin!” Sarah gasped as she rushed to the bed and threw her arms around his neck. “What happened to you?”

"Where is my daughter?" Paul added in a stony voice as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared at Benjamin. Chance was a mirror image of his father standing at the other side of the bed. Neither of the men had ever had any love for Benjamin and he knew that wasn't about to change now—not after he'd allowed Leah to be kidnapped.  

"They...They took her..." Benjamin replied, his voice breaking as he choked on the emotions welling up in his chest and gathering in his throat.  

Sarah covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head in denial while Paul strode forward with clenched fists. "Who took her?!"  

"I don't know. Men... Bad men." Benjamin glanced toward the window, wishing he could forget the fear he'd seen on Leah's beautiful face. "I tried to protect her, I swear I did, but the minute I pulled my gun they were on me. There were at least ten of them."  

"I told her that bastard couldn't keep her safe but she wouldn't listen!" Chance exclaimed angrily as he swung a clenched fist and sent it flying into the wooden wall.  

Benjamin began to cry. “I’m sorry.”

Paul stared hard at the floor before sighing sadly. "Sorry won't bring my daughter back."

"We'll bring her back," Chance countered.  

“How?” Paul demanded, his jaw tight and his eyes narrowed. “There is no law close by and even if we ride to Billings and wire the marshall, it’ll take him weeks to get here.”

“We have to find her! We’ll track her ourselves!” Chance insisted.

Paul shook his head while Sara collapsed in the arm chair and sobbed into her hands. “We could look for years and not find her, son. She is my daughter and I want nothing more than to have her back home but there has been rain on the plains in the last couple of days and we don’t know the first thing about tracking or going against outlaws. Benjamin doesn’t even know who took her or what way they went.” Paul’s resentful tone was not lost on Benjamin. “We’ll send for the Marshall, Chance, but it’s already been more than a week. Our Leah is dead or as good as dead by now.”

Sarah wailed loudly and her sobs echoed off the walls. Chance growled and quickly strode from the room while Paul gathered his wife up in his arms and helped her to the door. It seemed as if it were nothing more than a second thought when he turned to Benjamin. "As soon as you can get out of that bed you can come back to our home. Sarah will help you heal. I'd rather let you rot after leading my daughter out into the night the way you did but Leah thought for certain she loved you and she'd want us to help. Sarah insists."  

Benjamin would have told the man to take his charity and shove it up his backside, if he were the type of man who said such things. As it were, Benjamin knew that he would need help—the rest of his life he would be dependent upon others.  

“I won’t be getting out of this bed anytime soon,” Benjamin replied as he swiped at the tears streaking his cheeks. “They got me good with that bullet.”

Paul studied him for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll talk to the doc and have you moved to our home.”

Benjamin sunk against the pillows as he once again found himself alone. He tried to ignore the pain in his broken heart. His beautiful, innocent Leah was dead, or worse, and it was his fault. He had failed to protect her and had not kept her safe when she had needed him to. Now he was helpless in this bed and could not even attempt to ride to her rescue.  

Benjamin wished he was dead as well but he supposed he was receiving a well-earned punishment instead. He was now trapped for the rest of his life in a useless body; unable to move or be a real man ever again in his life. He would be forced to simply lay in a bed or sit in a chair and think about the angel that he had lost.  

Silently he wept and prayed for the Lord to simply finish him off.

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

“I want you to learn how to draw and shoot this gun quickly,” Chase asserted as he and Leah stood beside the river.

They were well out of sight of camp and Leah loved this time with him. He had been bringing her to this wide bend in the gentle river every day and Leah loved the chance to feel the sun against her and smell the fresh air.

 It had been one week since Chase had been attacked by the mountain lion and while he had never complained about being in pain, Leah could tell that today was the first day he could move about freely.

In the last week she had truly learned how to read Chase. She knew what each tiny line on his face meant and how to interpret the raises of his brow and each tiny nuance in his expression. Leah was still attempting to understand the feelings that Chase stirred within her.

She couldn't explain how she knew him so intimately when they had not kissed, had barely touched other than brushes of their hands while passing each other things and yet Leah already knew him more thoroughly than she had ever known anyone else.  

"I already know how to shoot," Leah argued. "I shot you, didn't I?"

Chase patiently took her gun from the holster on her hip. He had insisted that she wear the holster he had gotten for her, though she hadn’t asked where he had gotten it from. He checked the ammunition and slid it back inside. “Yes, I remember,” he assured her, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “I know that you know how to shoot but you need to learn how to do so quickly. I may not always be around to protect you.”

Leah glared at him but managed to keep from saying anything in her own defense. She had seen his brow raise just a little and his lip twitch and she knew he had been trying to get a reaction from her. Chase somehow seemed to know her just as well as she knew him.

"Show me how quickly you can draw," he urged as he took several steps back.  

Leah rolled her eyes and went for her gun but before she even had it grasped in her hand, Chase had his own gun drawn and aimed at her head. “Too slow,” he grumbled.

"Well sure I'm slower than an outlaw who has built his entire life around being the fastest draw and has Indian blood flowing in his veins!" Leah exclaimed defensively.  

Chase shook his head and put his gun away. “A quarter of my blood is white,” he countered with a smile that took Leah’s breath. Chase didn’t smile often. She had only seen him do so a handful of times in the two weeks he’d been in this camp and he never smiled around anyone other than her.

"I didn't know that," Leah admitted, forcing herself to look away from his face and the way his cheeks and the corners of his eyes crinkled and his dark eyes shone with his good humor.  

"Yes." Chase walked to the river's edge and sat down. "My father was a half blood, my mother full."  

Leah sat down beside him, enjoying the peaceful surroundings. "Did you ever live in a tribe?"

"No." Chase tossed a rock into the water and they watched the ripples dance over the once calm surface. "My father was born to a white man who had raped a helpless Indian maiden. Her tribe abandoned her and she was forced to seek refuge with her attacker. My father said one day the man went crazy with rage and the maiden. My father was eight years old at the time and hid as he heard his mother draw her last breaths. He was later found by a teenage boy who ran with other orphans and called himself Boss. Boss took my father in and a friendship was born."  

"That explains why you run with men so much different than yourself," Leah stated.

Chase frowned as he glanced over at her. “Different?”

"Beneath," she amended. "You are not like these men. You don't belong here."  

"Don't get confused, Leah. I have killed and I have stolen and I will do both again." Chase's tone was stern and let her know he didn't wish to argue the point further.  

"But I have been here for two weeks and I have yet to see you murder anyone."  

Chase's jaw tightened with annoyance. "I do not murder, I kill."  

"Is there a difference?"  

Chase shoved himself to his feet and his dark eyes flashed. "Of course there is."

The thought of Chase killing anyone was nearly more than Leah could comprehend. He seemed so patient, so kind, so thoughtful as he saw that her every need was met while at camp. But Leah was also no fool. Chase had a reputation among the men and they showed him a certain amount of respect and also fear—those things had to have been earned by him somehow which meant he must have proven himself worthy of them both.  

Leah stood as well and shoved her hands into the pockets of her skirt. “Perhaps you could explain it to me?” she inquired softly.

Chase stared at the river, his expression grim. "I steal what I need to in order to survive and I kill for that same reason. White men look at me and they see nothing but a savage. They spit at my feet and go for their guns if I so much as attempt to walk among them. They won't hire me to work. They don't want me near their cattle, their wives or their children. I am hated, despised and feared for reasons beyond my control. I had to become a certain way or I would have died long ago."  

The agitation in Chase’s voice grew with every word he spoke. Leah hated hearing it. She hated seeing him so distraught and upset and she hated hearing how difficult life had been for him.

Had she really only a short time ago believed that all Indians were little more than animals and deserved to be locked away on reservations? Her father had been the one to drill that lesson into her head but Leah was realizing that he’d been very wrong.

Thinking of her father caused sadness to fill her as she thought of never seeing him again. Quickly, Leah shook her head to clear those thoughts and focused on Chase. She stepped in front of him and laid a gentle hand against cheek.

Chase inhaled sharply as her soft hand caressed his skin. It wasn't in his nature to rant the way he had but he wanted Leah to understand him. He wanted her to want him for who he was and not what she hoped he would one day become.  

"I understand," Leah promised softly and she did. Indians were seen as savages. They were thought to be less than human and they were mistrusted by all. Chase had done all he knew to do in order to survive. He had been raised an outlaw and it was part of him. But you're wrong. Not all white skins are like you say. I am not afraid of you and I certainly don't hate you."  

Chase stared down at her and Leah felt his arms circle around her waist and pull her body close against him, his touch full of possession. Chase was strong, powerful and being close to him, wrapped in his embrace, was the first time Leah had truly felt small and fragile.

Chase knew there were a million words he could and probably should say in that moment. He should tell her that he loved her. That he wanted her and only her forever. He should let her know that she was the missing half of his soul and only with her could he ever be complete. Then again, he had always been a man of actions and not words.  

He brought one hand up to push her dark hair away from her face, letting the silky strands fall across his fingers and reveling in the way it made his heart pound when she leaned into his touch. His skin appeared much darker against her alabaster cheek and Chase simply took a moment to study the differences between her soft innocence and his rough edges.   

Leah was trembling as she stared up at Chase's rugged face, unable to look away from those intense black eyes gazing back at her. Never had she been held this close against a man. She had never been gazed at with such intense heat and passion. Chase was wild, untamed and all the things that her father had once said was wrong with the world but Leah couldn't turn away from him. Everything within her cried out for the man—was drawn to him in a way that she could never hope to put into words.  

Leah had never before kissed a man but she wanted to kiss Chase. He seemed to read her mind as he tilted her head back and lowered his face slowly toward hers. Leah’s eyes slipped closed as she felt his warm breath wash over her skin. She felt his lips, as soft as a butterflies wings, flutter against her eyelids and her cheeks. She whimpered impatiently, wanting nothing more than this sweet torture to end and felt him smile against her skin.

When his firm lips finally met hers, Leah felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her body. She felt the tingle and the heat from his touch down to the tips of her toes, lighting her afire.   

Leah moaned his name. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer as she rose up onto her toes. Chase deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue between her parted lips and plundering the sweetness of her waiting mouth.  

He became lost in her. Lost in the tiny moans that escaped her as she pressed herself against him. Lost in the softness of her fully body and the way it felt against his sharp angles. Leah was the complete opposite of him in so many ways and she was all he needed to feel complete. Never before had a kiss made him lose himself so completely. His free hand traveled up her soft waist and cupped her full breast.  

Leah knew she should be frightened by Chase's passion given her innocence but she was not. Instead, she was hot, tingling and aching. She wanted more of him. All of him. Leah had seen much of what happened between men and women while in this camp and she wanted Chase to be the man she lost her innocence to.  

Leah pressed her body against his arousal, feeling powerful somehow to know the effect she was having on the outlaw. When Chase's fingers moved over her breast causing the tip to harden into a tight peak she lost all control of herself and all sense of where they were. All there was in the world was Chase and this moment.  

It threw her off balance and off kilter when Chase suddenly pulled away from her and shoved her behind him, shielding her with his body.  

"Well what do we have here? Looks like this part of the river is a regular old hot spot today," Yancy drawled as he came into view leading Louisa behind him.  

"We are leaving," Chase replied coldly, all evidence of his earlier tenderness and heat gone from his voice and posture.	

"You don't have to rush off, chief. We could have us a regular old savage gathering," Yancy exclaimed as he adjusted himself in his pants. "Besides it looked like things between you and the squaw were getting pretty exciting."  

"You're charming," Leah muttered dryly. The last two weeks had done away with much of Leah's timidness and fear among these outlaws. She no longer kept her head down and remained silent. The true Leah, outspoken and opinionated, now made an appearance quite regularly.   

"I've been told that a time or two," Yancy agreed with a broken toothed grin. "Ain't that right darlin?" he added, glancing at Louisa.  

"I've always found your company more than appealing," she purred, tugging down the shoulders of her red blouse until her breasts were nearly visible.  

"You're pretty appealing yourself," Yancy grunted, his eyes fixed on her chest.  

Chase took Leah by the hand and quickly led her away as Yancy began fondling Louisa through her blouse. Leah noticed that Louisa’s eyes never left Chase except when they met Leah’s and burned with hatred.

Leah felt a burning in her gut that had nothing to do with the passion that had been coursing through her moments ago. It was rather like a raw and ugly sore and it caused her fists to clench. "You know her," she accused.  

"Who?" Chase asked, and Leah wondered if he was avoiding her gaze intentionally.   

"That woman. Louisa."  

Chase grabbed several empty tin cans and sat them on a stump beside their tent. “I am familiar with her,” was all he said in response.

Leah wondered just how familiar he was with that loose woman. Louisa had certainly looked at Leah as if Leah had taken something that belonged to her. That though merely caused that burning in her gut to intensify.

"I want you to shoot these cans," Chase stated as he came to stand beside her. If he could read her jealousy he gave no indication.  

Leah put her hands on her hips. "Why?"  

Chase said nothing as he looked down at her and raised his brow. Leah glared at him, knowing that was all the answer she was going to get. She pulled her revolver, aimed at one of those cans and pulled the trigger. She felt her ears begin to burn when she realized that she had missed.

"I think it's still kicking!" Tig chortled from where he sat by the big fire.  

Leah’s face flamed red but then her body turned to mush, hot mush, as Chase stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He put his big hands over hers on the gun and she felt his breath teasing her skin and warming her ear.

"Breath out slowly," he ordered, his voice once again warm and gentle as he whispered to her.

Leah thought about telling him that was something easier said than done as it seemed as if she couldn’t breathe at all with him so close.

“Don’t shake,” he added with a trace of irritation.

Leah wanted to point out that she hadn’t been shaking until he had begun to touch her but her voice seemed to have disappeared along with her ability to draw breath.

Leah did her best to do as he wanted and his rough hands caressed her own as they helped her aim the gun.

"It can help your aim at times to imagine a face on your target," he added. "Perhaps someone you don't have much fondness for."

Leah was certain she heard amusement in his voice. Taking his advice she pictured a certain Mexican whore on the first can in the line. Slowly she squeezed the trigger and the tin can was sent flying off of the stump.

"Hot damn she got it that time! HeeHee!!" Tig shouted.  

Chase buried his face in her neck and she could tell that he was smiling and yet trying to hide his smile from everyone else. "I can keep you safe from mountain lions and dangerous men... You can keep me safe from women named Louisa."

Leah bit her lip to keep from smiling as she dropped her gun back in its holster. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind attention from Louisa, “ she countered.

Chase couldn’t help but be amused by the jealousy he heard in her voice. He found it humorous that this woman, his life mate, his soul mate, was jealous of a woman who had meant nothing in comparison.

Chase was aware that eyes were on them and he did not want to seem tender in front of these men. That could prove to be a deadly mistake. "Go start some food," he ordered as he pulled away from her quickly and hardened his expression.

Leah looked at him with confusion, which turned to anger which then morphed into hurt and she quickly disappeared inside the tent. Chase knew he needed to speak with her but now was not the time. These men preyed off weakness and he could not let them see the weakness he had when it came to Leah. It would be best if they saw her as Chase’s possession and nothing more.

Chase knew he would have to get her away from here soon. This camp and this gang were not safe. He wanted to start a life with Leah. A safe life where they could grow old with one another watching their children grow, however, homesteads required money and money was something Chase didn't have much of. That would have to be his next goal.  

"Hey, Chase, come on over here for a while and sit with us," Boss called out and Chase nodded and did as the man wanted. It wouldn't do for him to turn the man down and go running to Leah.

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Leah was angry and hurt. She had thought that things between her and Chase were changing. As a matter of fact she had been certain they were. She had been sure that he saw her as more than a possession. She had thought that he was falling in love with her just as she had him but now she wondered if maybe she had been wrong.  

The kiss they had shared had rocked her to her core but then the instant they were back in camp he was ordering her around and pushing her away once again. She had no doubt that he had been able to hear her jealousy over Louisa and instead of reassuring her or letting her know where she stood with him, Chase had simply shrugged her off and told her to cook supper.  

She would show him supper! Leah smoothed out the skirt that Chase had given her a few days before, spooned some stew into a bowl and strode from the tent.  

She saw Chase sitting by the fire with Boss and several other men. The men were all laughing and talking as Chase simply sat there and stared into the flames. Leah paused, her resolve faltering but then her resolve became stronger than ever when Louisa came out of the woods and headed straight toward Chase.  

Leah would be damned before she would let that woman get to him first. She strode straight to Chase and then walked around him to stand in front of him. He looked up at her and she saw the surprise in his eyes.  

"Here's your supper," she hissed as she tossed the bowl at him. She heard his sharp intake of breath as the hot stew spilled on his legs. Chase and the surrounding men all jumped to their feet. 	

"You need to tighten the reins on that filly!" Boss exclaimed with a laugh.  

"The stew's good," Tig added as he grabbed a piece of carrot off of Chase's shoulder and popped it in his mouth.  

Leah looked up into Chase’s eyes and felt her knees start shaking at the anger she saw there. She was suddenly certain that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life. Damn her temper and her rashness! She had gotten too comfortable with Chase and forgotten that underneath it all he was a dangerous and deadly man.

She bent quickly, picked up the fallen bowl and spoon and fled back to the tent.  

"You gonna let that bitch get away with that?" Yancy demanded with a chuckle.  

"You ain't getting soft on that filly are you?" Boss added as he rocked back on his heels and looked more than a little amused.  

Chase noticed Petey off in the distance watching and he knew he had to put on a good show. “I will deal with her,” he ground out as he stormed toward the tent and grabbed a large stick off the ground on his way. He saw Louisa’s smug expression out of the corner of his eye just before he slipped inside.

Leah was sitting on the cot with her knees pulled into her chest and she was trembling with fear as she stared at him. Her green eyes widened when she saw the stick in his hands. "A...Are you going to hit me?" she whispered.

Chase felt a rock drop into the pit of his stomach. She was afraid of him…. Somehow he had failed his mate if she truly thought he was going to strike her. “You should not have done what you did,” he scolded gently. “They expect a certain reaction from me and I have to make them believe that is the reaction I had.”

Chase let out a long breath. "Yell." he said sternly. Leah's eyes studied him with confusion just before he swung the stick and it whipped through the air before landing with a sharp thwack across his own thigh.

Leah cried out in shock and Chase nodded just before smacking himself again.

Leah cried out his name once more and rushed to him. "Don't do it anymore!" she pleaded as hot tears filled her eyes. Chase kissed her hard and quick, pushed her back toward the cot and then left the tent.  

Leah watched the tent fall closed and collapsed down on the cot with her fingertips on her lips. What had just happened? What had she just caused? She was smart enough to know that everyone in camp would think that Chase has beaten her when in truth he had just beaten himself and he had done so to the leg that was still healing from the mountain lion attack, which, had also been her fault.  

She was confused, hurt, angry and now on top of those things she felt guilty. Leah had to keep her wits about her and force herself to understand she was nothing more than Chase's possession. Despite the kiss they had shared, despite the way her heart raced and her body melted when he looked at her, she was a 'spoil of war' as Boss had called her.  

Still Chase had risked his life to save hers and he had spared her a punishment that clearly these men thought she was due and no doubt he had done those things because he was a good man deep down and hadn’t wanted harm to come to her. Leah did not want him to get into trouble with these men and get hurt if they didn’t believe his falsehood so she would help him convince them that she had been taught her place.

She quickly spooned out another bowl of soup and walked from the tent. She kept her head down and limped a little to make it seem she had just been beaten but when she looked around she didn't see Chase anywhere.  

“He went to the river,” Boss informed her as he walked up behind her.

Leah tensed at his nearness but nodded and quickly walked away toward her and Chase’s favorite spot, hoping she would find him there.

She wasn’t disappointed. He was standing beside the river looking down into the gently flowing water. He stood tall, proud and strong. Leah was again struck by just how powerful and deadly he appeared.

"Chase..." she called out softly. 	

"You should be in the tent," he replied without turning to her. "Did someone bother you?"  

"No... I need to talk to you."  

Chase turned then and Leah saw the tension in his strong face. Her eyes went to his leg and she saw the blood seeping through his pants. “Chase! You’re hurt!” she exclaimed as she started toward him.

He held his hand up and she stopped in her tracks. “My leg is fine.” he assured her. “There are some things we need to get straight, Leah. It is difficult for me because I am not a man of words. I never had much use for them.”

"Chase, you don't have to...."  

"You thought I was going to hit you, didn't you? Earlier in the tent? You thought I was going to hit you with the stick."  

"Yes." Leah admitted looking down at her feet when she saw the flash of anger in Chase's dark eyes. "You confuse me, Chase... One minute I'm sure I know you and I know how to read you and then the next you turn into someone else and I'm left wondering..."  

Leah didn’t even realize that Chase had moved until he put his hands gently on her upper arms. “Look at me,” he ordered and while it was one of the hardest things she had ever done, Leah managed to raise her eyes and meet his gaze. She gasped when she saw the emotions shining out of their black depths.

"You never have to fear me, Leah. I would never harm you," he vowed. "You have to understand these men. They prey on weakness and there are those among them that would love to put me in my place. If they knew the truth about my weakness they would not hesitate to go after it."  

"What weakness?" Leah asked with disbelief. "A man like you has no weakness."  

Chase’s face softened as his hand moved to her cheek and his fingertips stroked her skin. “Yes I do.”

"Me?" Leah gasped. "Why would I be a weakness?"  

"My father always said that the great mother wanted each of us to find that one person made for us. Our life mate. I knew you were that for me the night I first saw you. That's why I protected you. That's why I took you before they could."  

"You didn't tell me this..." Leah replied as she tried to wrap her mind around what he was saying.  

"No, I didn't. As I said I'm not much for words. I am and always have been more a man of action." 	

"What are you saying, Chase? Are you saying that you... that you love me?"  

"I know nothing about love," Chase admitted. "My mother died when I was five. She was raped and beaten to death. My father was not a man who showed love after that. I was taught to hide emotions because they give away our weaknesses. All I know for sure is that this feeling inside of me consumes me. All I can think of is you and all I want in this world is to be your man and to make you happy. I want to make you proud and keep you safe. But, you have to understand that I can't let these men know that."  

"Because you're afraid they'll hurt me to get to you?" Leah asked softly, understanding finally dawning on her.  

Chase wiped his thumb across her cheek, swiping away the tear that fell from her long dark lashes. “Yes.”

Leah fell silent and Chase searched her face for clues to what she was feeling or thinking. “I have confessed my feelings to you, Leah,” he said hesitantly. “What do you feel for me?”

"I..." Leah stared at the black cotton covering his broad chest. Tears clogged her throat as she laid her free hand on his stomach and her fingertips danced across the hard muscles beneath them.  

"Speak to me." Chase urged feeling more desperate than he had ever felt in his life. He wondered if Leah realized she had the power to destroy him with a single word—or the lack of one.

"I'm a horrible person," she finally whispered.

Chase frowned. “Why would you say that?”

"Because I had a fiance only two weeks ago. A man that I was going to run away with and marry--that I would have married within days if those men hadn't killed him!"  

“You did not love him,” Chase stated, knowing it was the truth.

Leah sighed and pressed her forehead against his chest. “I thought I did. But what I felt for him was nothing compared to what I feel for you. That makes me a horrible person.”

"Because I'm an Indian?" Chase asked as he stiffened.  

"No!" Leah quickly assured him. "Because I was ready to make a vow to a man that I have all but forgotten after just two weeks with you."  

Chase shook his head. “He was not your life mate. You have nothing to be ashamed of and you are not horrible.” Chase kissed her brow. “I will take care of you, Leah. We will leave these men and I will build us a home.”

Leah didn’t want to talk about that. She didn’t want to talk about anything. All she wanted was to have him kiss her the way he had earlier. To feel his hands and his body caressing her.

He seemed to read her mind and his eyes darkened. “Not here. Not where someone will see. We will go back to camp. You will act defeated as you go immediately to the tent and I will join you once camp has quieted tonight.”

"That long?" Leah asked with a pout.  

"You are the damndest woman I've ever met." Chase replied, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Innocent and yet full of fire at the same time. You are a grown woman with the heart of a child at times. I will never grow tired of simply being around you."  

Leah smiled and knew that was the truest compliment she had ever received. The words didn't flow smoothly from his mouth the way Benjamin's poetry always had. Chase's voice was rough and accented and clearly unused to saying such things and yet those words meant more to her than any words she had ever heard before.  

"You better not keep me waiting too long," she warned.

Chase flashed her one of his rare smiles. “Outlaw savages honor.” Leah had never felt so much trust in another person.

---

Leah could scarcely breathe as she lay on the cot that night in the glow of the firelight and waited for Chase. To say that she was anxious would have been an understatement. Tonight she was going to give herself to a man. And not just any man but a man that she knew she loved. A man that had come into her life for all of the wrong reasons but had become such a fixture in her life in such a short time that she didn't know what she would do without him.  

Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes and minutes seemed to stretch into hours as she waited. She thought about how a woman could make herself more appealing to a man at night and wondered if maybe she should wait for him without her clothes on beneath the covers. Clothes would only get in the way after all.

She stood up on quivering legs and with shaking fingers undid the buttons on her blouse. She slid the cream fabric from her shoulders and tossed it onto the small stack of blankets in the corner. She slid off her brown skirt and then removed her petticoats and camisole. She let her hair down and felt the long waves fall down her back. The dancing flames from the fire felt warm on her bare skin and she stood in front of them with her eyes closed for several long moments.  

She didn't hear Chase enter the tent but she felt his presence. She felt the heat he carried with him and the intensity of his eyes on her. She blushed deep red and jumped for the cot, desperate to cover her nakedness but Chase was quicker than she was.  

He stepped in between her and her destination. Leah saw the firelight dancing wildly in his dark eyes.  

"Beautiful," he mumbled gruffly, his eyes traveling up and down the length of her body. He wasn't touching her in any way and still Leah felt as if he was reaching into her soul.  

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…” she admitted quietly.

Chase smiled down at her and then lowered his mouth to her neck. His lips danced along her neck, down to her collarbones and up to her ear. “My izdzan, “ he whispered. “You are more beautiful than the ya’ai and the tlegona’ai. Anything you do will be perfect.”

Leah had no idea was he had just said but the words had been so exotic and alluring slipping from his tongue that she found herself lost in their magic.

His lips moved lower to her collarbones and down her chest. They found her breasts and began to suckle, nip and tease and if not for his arm snaking around her waist to hold her up, she would have fallen to the ground. She had never known that a mans attention there would cause so much tension and aching elsewhere in her body.  

Chase growled as he pulled away from her and he chuckled as she whimpered and tried to pull him back.  

"I want to lay you down on something more comfortable than a cot." he stated gruffly. He moved to the corner of the tent and grabbed a folded fur blanket from under some stiff woolen ones. He laid the blanket in front of the fire and went back to Leah.  

Again he took her into his arms and this time he lowered his lips to hers. Tasting her, breathing her in and losing himself.  

He laid her body down gently on the soft fur and then stood over her. He gazed down at her and knew that all he would need was her and her soft body for the rest of his life. No food. No water. No air. Only this beautiful woman.  

Leah watched him as he slipped off his weapons and clothes. She had seen his bare torso many times during the last week while treating his wounds but she had never seen it from this angle, lying below him nude on furs beside a roaring fire while he stared down at her with passion.  

He slipped from his pants and her eyes were instantly drawn to his throbbing arousal. It was big and hard and Leah felt an instant of fear wondering how he was going to fit inside of her.  

Chase moved toward her with the grace of a warrior. He moved like a big cat himself. All lethal power and liquid muscle.  

"I will do my best not to hurt you." he vowed as he lowered himself over her and his hands danced across her skin to the slick moist juncture between her thighs.  

"Make love to me, Chase. Teach me." Leah purred beneath him as she arched her body against his hand and heard him growl.  

"Only you. Only you forever."  

---

Louisa felt jealousy like a hot coal burning in her gut as she watched the shadows dancing off the walls of Chase's tent. She listened to the moans, the soft whispers, the murmurs of love and knew that Leah was more to Chase than a prisoner.  

Louisa continued to watch them, ignoring Tig's mouth as it closed around her breast. These men didn't care if she enjoyed herself. Only Chase had ever been sure to see to her  pleasure as well as his own. She had thought she was special to him. She had thought that she meant something.  

Louisa sneered before letting out the required moan when Tig pushed himself inside of her. She would make sure that Leah paid for taking what was hers. Somehow, someway that fat whore would pay for stealing Chase.

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"I'm not sitting around here anymore! I'm gonna go find my damn sister!" Chance exclaimed as he slammed his fist down on the dinner table and jumped to his feet.  

"Your sister is dead, boy." Paul countered coldly. Sarah gasped and threw her napkin on the table.  

"Stop saying that!" she sobbed.  

"Well it's the damn truth." Paul stated matter of factly.  "She's dead or as good as with those outlaws having had her this long. It's her own fault too. If she hadn't run off none of this would have happened!"  

"Pa, don't blame Leah. If we hadn't been such hard asses and had let her marry who she wanted to then this wouldn't have happened at all!" Chance stated solemnly as he handed his sobbing mother the bandana from his pocket.  "Now I'm gonna go find her and if, God forbid, she is dead then I intend to kill every single man who had anything to do with her being taken."

"They'll kill you too, boy." Paul warned. "They'll kill you just like they've killed your sister and then what will your mother have?" Sarah's sobs grew louder and Chance shook his head.  

"They ain't gonna kill me, pa. They won't have the chance because I'm gonna kill them first."  Chance stormed from the dining room and into the living room where Benjamin was sitting in his wheelchair.  

"Chance?" he said and Chance stopped and looked down at the man.  

"What?"  

"Make sure you kick those men a few times while they're down for me."  

"I will." Chance promised.  

"And when you find Leah, tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry."  

"I'm sure my sister will be happy as hell to come back to you." Chance replied before heading up the stairs toward his room.  

Benjamin sighed and leaned against his chair. Leah wouldn't want him once she knew about his legs. She was young, vibrant, full of life. That was one of the things he had always loved the most about her. He couldn't be a husband to her. He couldn't give her children or walk with her in the sunset.  

He prayed those men hadn't killed her but even if she was alive and Chance managed to bring her back, those outlaws had succeeded in taking her away from him.

Chance came back down the stairs several minutes later with a revolver on his hip and a rifle on his back. Sarah came out of the kitchen and handed her son a burlap sack that smelled of homemade biscuits.  

"You be careful, son, and you come back to your father and I." she ordered. Chance tipped his hat.  

"Yes'm." A tear rolled down Sarah's cheek but she stuck her chin up and squared her shoulders.  

"Your daddy isn't mad at you, Chance.  He feels the guilt clear down to his bones that your sister got taken and he feels the sadness even deeper than that. It's just that your daddy has always been a negative thinker and he's sure that it's....it's too late." Chance hugged his mother tight.  

"I'm gonna find her mama. Dead or alive, I'm gonna find her and bring her back home where she belongs."  

---

The weeks flew by and before Leah knew it she had been living among the outlaw camp for a month. None of the men bothered her anymore, even if she wandered around camp while Chase was hunting. Their fear of the Indian was greater than any desire they may have for her.  

More than once Chase had made several of the men swallow their own teeth after they had made lewd comments toward her or stared at her for too long. He always made sure to simply make it seem as if he was marking his territory and showed her no tenderness among the men but she knew the truth and couldn't help but feel flattered by his protectiveness and jealousy.  

Petey still made her nervous. Nearly every time she saw him he was watching her. Staring at her with lust and hatred in his blue eyes. Though he was careful to hide himself whenever Chase was near her.  That was why she chose to keep to the tent nearly every moment when Chase was not around.  

But today was a special day. Chase had grabbed her by the arm unexpectedly, thrown her on his horse and rode off over the plains with her without saying a word.  

They had stopped miles from camp, beside a sparkling pool of water and large oaks. Wildflowers of every color bloomed in the spring sunshine. Filling the green grasses with flashes of yellow, white, orange and pink.   

"This is beautiful!" Leah gasped as Chase dismounted and then put his hands on her waist and pulled her down, keeping her body pressed against his own.  

"It is my favorite place. This is where I want us to have our home."  

"So close to the camp?!" Leah exclaimed as she turned in his arms and pressed her back into his chest. Chase's arms wrapped around her and he rested his chin on her dark hair.  

"The camp will be moving within the next two or three weeks. They will be moving on to a new place and I want a home here with you."  

"I would love that, Chase."  

"A log cabin just there on that tiny hill. A few heads of cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens. Enough to keep our family fed. We'll plant crops out there and we can breed and sell cattle for money."  

"You've really thought about this." Leah stated with surprise and Chase smiled against her hair.  

"Only since I've met you. I never wanted roots. I never wanted to settle down. You have made me want to live a different kind of life."  

"Why don't we start now?" Leah asked as she turned in his arms again and looked up at him. He sighed.  

"I have no money to start our life with. There is a job coming in a few days. I'll be leaving with Boss and most of the men for three days and coming back a rich man."  

"A job? What kind of job?" Leah asked suspiciously.  

"You don't really want to know that."  

"Are you going to... to kill someone?"  

"Only if they try to kill me first." Chase replied without apology. "I can promise you that this money is coming from a place that it will not be missed. I do not steal money from hardworking people who need their money."  

Leah was silent and Chase could read the worry and trepidation on her face.  

"I have to do what I must, Leah. I have searched for jobs doing other things and never made it past the front gate because of my dark skin, long hair and Apache face." Still Leah said nothing.  

"You are ashamed of me. Are you thinking you made a mistake by accepting me?"  

"No!" Leah quickly reassured him. She had learned over the last month that while he was a man of incredible strength, patience and power he was also insecure about his Indian heritage and constantly worried that she would push him away because of it. "I will never be ashamed of you or regret my decision to stay with you. You are a product of circumstance and despite the hardships you've encountered you are a good man. If there is one thing I've learned in the last month it is that life isn't black and white the way my father tried to make it seem."  

"No, life is gray." Chase agreed.

"I hate that people hate you simply because of your blood."  

"But not you. You see my 

kidji didjula. “

"Yes I see your heart." Leah agreed and Chase's eyes lit up proudly. He had been teaching her several Apache words over the last few weeks and she was learning well. "Why don't you use that language more often?" Leah asked as she led him down to the water and sat on the bank. Chase sat beside her cross-legged and propped his forearms on his knees.  

"Because my father forbid it. He hated almost everything Apache because of what they did to his mother.'  

"But your mother was apache." Leah pointed out and Chase nodded as he picked a long blade of grass and began to tie it in knots.  

"Yes that's why I said almost everything." he replied with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. "My mother taught me several words before she was killed. I don't speak the language fluently and I know almost nothing about the culture or way of life."  

"I don't know anything about Indians other than what my father has told us."  

"It's amazing you trust me at all." Chase admitted. Leah smiled and kissed his cheek.  

"My father was wrong. I'm realizing he's wrong about a lot of things but he's right about some as well. He was right about Benjamin. He was right about the kind of husband I needed."  

"Husband?" Chase asked with a raise of his brow and Leah opened her mouth to speak but clamped it back shut. Her hand instantly went to her hair and she began playing with the ends and staring at the water. 	

"It's a pretty day." she said a bit too loudly. Chase's laughter had her looking at him in shock. She had never heard him laugh before. The sound was deep and full and it washed over her like sunshine after a rainstorm. But what was he laughing about?  

"Outlaw. Savage. Injun. Husband. I wear many hats, might as well add one more."  

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Leah asked with disbelief and Chase pushed her onto her back in the grass and braced himself over her.  

"You know how I feel about you, Leah. That piece of paper means nothing to me. I do not need it to know that I am committed to you and only you for life but if it is important to you then it will be done. Anything you want will always be done."  

"You'll do anything I want?" Leah asked, chewing on her bottom lip. Chase frowned and pulled away from her.  

"I don't like it when you chew on your lip. It means you are thinking of something. Thinking of doing something. Most likely turning my words around and using them against me."  

"Does not." Leah argued stubbornly as she sat up and made a point of stopping her chewing. Chase glanced at her and raised his brow, waiting for her to speak. She sighed.  

"It's nothing really, I just want to.. I want to visit my family. I want to let them know that I'm okay." Chase pushed himself off the ground with a growl and began pacing the bank with agitation.  

"No." he stated coldly. Leah stood up at well and clenched her fists angrily at her sides.  

"No? I thought we were past treating me like I'm a prisoner?"  

"Why?" Chase demanded. "Why do you care about those people? They do not care about you!"  

"Yes they do! Why on earth would you say something like that?!"  

"The night I met you, you were running away from them and they were letting you."  

"I was running away because I was being foolish! And it led to Benjamin being killed!" she replied, her voice breaking a little. She had gotten stronger in the last month, however, and the tears didn't fall so easily now. She raised her chin and squared her shoulders. "My family loves me and they deserve to know I'm okay."  

"You can write them."  

"What are you afraid of?" Leah demanded.  

"Nothing. I fear nothing." Chase shot back coldly as his pacing feet picked up speed.  

"Chase, you told me once that I wouldn't regret choosing to stay with you. I chose you and I think that that earned me the truth." Chase sighed and stopped walking. He looked out over the water and she saw the tension in his jaw. His face seemed to be carved from stone.  

"I don't want to lose you." he replied quietly. "I fear losing you." Leah went to him and grabbed his hand. She laid it on her chest and looked into his black eyes.  

"Feel that?" she asked. She saw the corner of his mouth twitch as his hand squeezed a little.  

"Yes." Leah rolled her eyes and swatted his arm.  

"The heartbeat, Chase. I was talking about the heartbeat."  

"I feel that too." he replied, his tone deepening.   

"Yes well it's yours and you're not going to lose it."  

"They won't approve of me."  

"I want to see them to let them know I'm alive, not get their approval. What makes you think they wouldn't approve?" Leah asked, though she had a feeling he was right.  

"I am an outlaw. I steal and I kill when necessary. I'm an Indian. I am not the type of man that any mother and father would want for their daughter."  

"Maybe they'll look past all of that and see how much I love you and how much you love me. Surely every parent wants that for their child." Chase shook his head.  

"You want to believe the best but life isn't like that, Leah."
"Their opinion won't change mine. You are my choice. You have asked me to trust you and now I'm asking you to trust me." Chase was quiet for a long time as he stared down into her eyes. The breeze blew her skirt, whipping it around his lean legs and it sent long tendrils of her dark hair around his face. Leah reached to the back of his head and ran her fingers through his long, black hair, pulled back low on his head.  

"Okay. I will trust you. When I return from this job we will go and see your family before we start on our home." Leah smiled brightly and threw her arms around his neck.  

"Thank you, Chase!" she exclaimed with a laugh and Chase scooped her off her feet and spun her around. He loved seeing her happy though her happiness didn't rid him of the knot of uneasiness in his gut. Something very bad was going to happen. He didn't know what and he didn't know when but he did know that there wasn't going to be anything he could do to stop it.

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"Tig? You want Tig to keep an eye on me?" Leah asked with disbelief.  

"Yes." Chase replied as he continued putting ammunition into a small sack.  

"But he's crazy."  she whispered as she peaked out the tent flap and watched Tig dancing around the fire and singing off key. It seemed from the clumsy movements of his feet that he had already been sampling those big ceramic jugs he liked to carry with him. She felt Chase as he  moved behind her and he followed her gaze.  

"He is a bit less than normal." Chase admitted and Leah gave him a droll look that had him smiling. "But he is loyal and will keep a good eye on you."  

"But if you tell him to watch me then won't he know I'm special to you?" Leah pointed out. Chase sighed and walked back to the bag he had been packing.  

"He already knows. Tig might seem as if he's not all there but the man misses nothing. I'm afraid I haven't been as good at hiding my affections for you as I had hoped." Leah sighed as she moved away from the flap.  

"Why do you have to be gone for three days?" she asked with a pout.  

"Because Boss doesn't ever do jobs close to where he has his camp." Chase replied simply. "Now I have to go, everyone is mounting up." he added, as the sound of men hooting and hollering reached their ears along with the snorting of horses. "You stay in this tent every second that you can while I'm gone. Keep your gun on your hip and your knife in your boot."

"Yes sir," Leah replied with a mock salute. Chase raised his brow and then shook his head. "I love you." Leah added, her voice becoming more subdued and somber.  

"Take care of yourself." Chase said sternly, and Leah saw his throat bob up and down. His face was as hard as stone but he was hating this moment. It made her heart lighter to know he didn't want to leave her. He turned quickly and left the tent.

Leah pulled the flap back and watched him mount his big black stallion in one fluid motion. Without sparing a single glance at her, Chase rode off with the other men. Leah watched him go until she could no longer see him in the distance and then ducked back inside. She was relieved that Petey had gone with Boss as well. She wasn't worried about the other men here at camp.  

Leah settled down on the cot with her old dress in her hands. It had been ripped and torn and she was going to sew it up so she could alternate her skirt and blouse with it. She couldn't wait until she could go home and get plenty of changes of clothes and a rose scented bath.  

She thought about her mother, father and brother. Her mother would be terrified by Chase at first and horrified at the thought of her daughter being with such a man but her mother had a warm heart and caring spirit and given enough time she would accept Chase.

Chance would be a harder sell but her brother loved her and would respect her choices.  

Her father on the other hand.... Leah sighed and looked up at the tent ceiling. Her father wouldn't be so easy. He hated Indians. He hated anyone who broke the law or lived outside of the black and white life he believed so strongly in. Her only hope was that her mother would be able to convince her father to see her point of view and give Chase the opportunity to prove that he was worthy of their approval.  

She had only been sitting there thinking and sewing for five or ten minutes and already it felt as if it had been hours. She realized right then that this was going to be a very long three days.  

---

"Alright boys there's our target and it's right on time. That rich bastard and his rich bitch are returning from a very long vacation and got all kinds of pretty little things worth money in that wagon to make us all very rich men." Boss said with a smile as the men lay on their stomachs on the edge of a ridge and looked down at the tiny dirt road and the large gold gilded wagon driving down it.  

"Yancy, Red, Tee. I want the three of you to go down and bring that wagon to a stop. The rest of us will come down then and we'll get our payday so we can go on home."

"Sounds good boss." Yancy replied. The men slid on their bellies away from the ridge before rising to their feet. Chase watched Yancy, Red and Tee pull their bandana's up over their faces and slip away. He knew he could blend easier in the shadows though all the men were professionals at what they did and each of them could sneak silently without any sound to give away their position.  

Chase heard a man shout a warning from the wagon and the wheels ceased their creaking as the wagon came to a stop.  

"Well good morning." Yancy exclaimed brightly. Boss signaled with his finger and the rest of the men pulled up their bandanas and slipped down the hill.  

"Who are you and what do you want?" A clean faced older gentleman in a fancy suit demanded as he poked his head out the fabric covered window.  

"My names Boss and these here are my men." Boss replied as he propped his big rifle in his arms. "And we want your money, jewelry, food." Boss stopped and scratched at his arm. "Pretty much everything." 	

"I'm afraid you men are out of luck then because we don't have anything." the man replied, his top lip becoming slick with sweat that shone in the sunlight.  

"Now, why would want to lie to us, pardner?" Boss drawled. The man disappeared back inside the wagon and the wagons driver cleared his throat from the seat.  

"They got a whole trunk full of money and jewelry back there. Just get it and go on, I have to get this wagon back to the station by two or I'll lose a big chunk of pay." he stated, keeping his forearms on the long shot gun in his lap.  

"Well aren't you a helpful little fella?" Boss asked with amusement. Chase rolled his eyes but remained motionless toward the back of the wagon. Boss insisted on doing all the talking during robberies and the man sure knew how to talk. Chase could have already had the money and been on his way back by now but Boss wanted to make conversation.

"Folks, why don't you step on out of that wagon now?" Boss asked and silence followed his statement. Seconds ticked by and there was no sign of movement.  

"Red, go open that door and encourage our friends to come on out." Boss ordered. Red nodded, pulled his revolver and stepped up to the door. He turned to his side and jerked the door open only to have the sound of a shot fill the air and be sent sprawling in the dirt, bleeding freely from his chest.  

Everyone ran for cover, including Chase who took his behind a nearby boulder. The driver snapped the reins to get the two horse team moving and Chase fired off a quick shot, sending a bullet through the rigging and causing the horses to trip up and stumble. He fired one more rendering the rigging completely useless and the wagon stuck.  

The driver jumped from the wagon as shots filled the air both from the inside of the wagon and the outside. Chase was nearly hit when a bullet ricocheted off the boulder he was taking cover behind. He fired a blind shot and looked around the rock to see the driver of the wagon taking aim at him once again. 	
Chase fired first and took the man down. Boss and the other men had filled the wagon with bullet holes and there were no longer any shots coming from the inside.  

"Hold your fire!" Boss shouted. The men did as they were ordered and as Chase reloaded the shots he'd fired, Boss stood and made his way slowly toward the wagon.  

"They're dead!" he shouted and the men came out from the various places they had taken shelter. Chase approached the wagon just as Boss drug the dead woman's body from the wagon.  

"She's a pretty one." Tee said as he rubbed his hands together. "And she's still warm." he added as he touched her cheek. "Do we got a little time, Boss?" He asked eagerly. Chase felt his stomach turn but said nothing. To fight for the rights of a dead woman would do nothing other than get him killed as well. This woman, rest her soul, was not worth dying for. Chase hadn't killed either of these people, their deaths were not on his conscience. All he wanted was the money to make his new start. The money to have his new life with Leah.  

"You're a damn crazy ass but yeah we got time. Just drag her back behind them bushes so we ain't all gotta see." Boss replied as he stepped back into the wagon. Chase watched Tee drag the woman away and felt disgust fill him. Leah was right after all and he had never realized it until she had begun to point it out.  

Chase was not like these men. They were quick to shoot, quick to kill, and they did unthinkable things to innocent, helpless victims. Chase had had no choice but to shoot the driver but the woman and man? They could have been disarmed easily enough by sending a man through the ceiling while other drew fire to the sides. Or they could have smoked them out by setting a fire below the carriage and forcing the people to leave the safety of its protection. Once outside this many men could have easily overpowered and disarmed one rich fat man and an old lady.  

Chase didn't think he was above these men but he knew he was different and he knew he no longer belonged among them.  

"Woohoo! That man wasn't lying boys! We got us a small fortune in here!" Boss exclaimed. Several men rushed forward, all vying for a glance.  

"Let's get the goods off the road and into the woods so as I can divvy them up equally among you men." Boss stated. Chase pushed his way past the men who were more than happy to clear a path for him and grabbed the large chest in his arms. Without a word to anyone he set off toward the woods with Boss chuckling and grabbing what was left.  

"I do believe that man's in a hurry." he stated.  

---

Chase thought for certain that he would die from being forced to wait too long. Hours he had been waiting for Boss to finish splitting the treasure they'd found. So far Chase's pile had enough on it that he and Leah could build a home, buy all the animals and seeds they'd need, get everything they required to live on and still have plenty left over for years to come.  

He was about to take what was there and leave the rest when Boss wiped his hands on his pant legs and stood up.  

"Got it boys." he stated. One by one he called each mans name and each man filled his burlap sack with the money and goods that were his. Chase filled his own and tied it closed with a leather throng he had brought with him.  

"Petey." Boss called out. Chase's head whipped up when Petey didn't respond. "Petey." Boss repeated impatiently. Chase looked around but saw the man no where.  

"Petey left, boss." Yancy said matter of factly. "He's been gone since before we attacked those folks. Didn't you notice?"  

"Well obviously I didn't or else I wouldn't have been picking out his portion would I?" Boss asked with irritation. Chase felt that knot in his stomach grow tighter and tighter. That bad thing he'd known was coming had just happened. Petey had gone back to camp, he was sure of it, and Petey had at least a four hour head start. Four hours was a long time and Leah was at the camp with only Tig for protection. 	

Chase didn't even realize he was running as he made his way to Blaze and hopped on the stallions black. With a yip and a yell he urged the stallion into his fastest gallop and hoped like hell he could cover some of the distance Petey had put between them!  

---

A birdlike whistle drew Louisa's attention away from the robin she was watching peck at the dirt. Camp was fairly empty with nearly no men to entertain and time had been crawling.  

She looked toward where the sound had come from and saw Petey's face peaking at her from behind a bush. Smiling with satisfaction that the man had finally arrived, she stood, smoothed out her skirt and walked into the forest toward the river.  

It didn't take long for Petey to join her beside the tranquil water and he was practically bouncing with nervousness and excitement.  

"How far ahead of Chase are you?" Louisa asked and Petey shrugged as he tapped his dirty fingers on the thighs of his stained brown trousers.   

"That depends on how long it took him to notice I was gone. I rode all night without stopping but that stallion of his is quicker than my mare could ever hope to be."  

"You'll have to make it a quick one then. I know you're more than capable of those." Louisa replied dryly and Petey's eyes flashed with temper and indignation.  

"I never heard you complain!" he spat irritably.  

"I was getting paid good money." Louisa replied with a shrug. "Now we've wasted enough time talking. It's time to set our plan in motion."  

"What's the plan exactly?" Petey asked with a huff, clearly still upset by her brushed off insult.   

"Don't worry about that." Louisa replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You just grab her when she least expects it, do what you wish with her and make sure she's dead by the time you're done."  

"I still don't see how you're going to get her out here alone. I thought Tig was keeping an eye on her."  

"I'll deal with Tig," Louisa assured him. She pulled her shirt down, exposing most of her shoulders and chest and sashayed away from him with her tiny hips swinging deliciously from side to side.  

Petey hid behind a tree and undid his gun belt and pants. He needed to make sure he was good and ready for that little whore bitch of Chase's when the woman showed up.  

---

Leah paced around the tent, rearranging and tidying up the already perfectly arranged and tidy interior. She could not seem to convince her legs to hold still.  

Chase was due back today and she had missed him terribly. Leah decided to try to busy her hands by working on the braided leather band she was working on for her hair. Chase had one that he kept his hair pulled back with at the nape of his neck and Leah liked the way it looked.  

As she wove the strands of leather together she thought about what it would feel like to be reunited with Chase. She thought about the love they would make tonight and felt herself tremble. She was still smiling like a fool when the tent flap was pushed aside and Tig entered.

"You're grinning like a cat caught in the cream, you are." he said with a knowing glint in his eyes. "You ain't thinking about a certain injun are ya?"  

"I might be." Leah admitted with a smile. "Are they back yet?"  

"If they were I certainly wouldn't be in here. No sirree! That Chase would scalp me for sure! Course I'd be sure to share my lice with him before he killed me." Leah shook her head as Tig scratched at his dirty blond hair.  

"Are you hungry Tig? There's plenty of stew left from last night, I can warm it up...." Leah was cut off when Louisa entered the tent. Louisa had been unbelievably kind and friendly to Leah over the last few days. Leah was pleasantly surprised and hoped this was a sign that Louisa was over her jealousy. Leah was no longer jealous or worried about the woman and her past with Chase. It didn't matter what women had had his past because she was going to be the only one who had his future.  

"Tig, why don't you leave the woman alone and let us ladies talk a while?" Louisa asked, batting her big brown eyes and flashing him a smile. Tig blushed beneath his beard and tipped his head.  

"Yes'm." he said before quickly sleeping from the tent.  

"I believe he's smitten with you." Leah said as she sat her braided leather down and stretched out her fingers.  

"He's smitten with what I can do for him, girl, not with me." Louisa countered as she looked around the inside of the tent. "It's been a while since I've been in here." she added quietly. In truth she had never been in Chase's tent. He hadn't wanted to soil his personal space with her presence. Louisa hid her contempt from Leah and instead offered her a smile which Leah returned.  

"The men should be returning sometime today." Louisa stated and Leah nodded.  

"Yes. I'm glad. It seems as if they've been gone a very long time."  

"Chase will be eager to spend some time with you." Louisa said offhandedly. "You should go down to the river and freshen up before he comes."  

"I would love that!" Leah admitted. "But Tig follows me everywhere." she added with annoyance. Louisa grinned and tapped her long fingernail against her chin.  

"You let me worry about Tig." she winked and then she slipped from the tent. Leah frowned and poked her head out. Sure enough Louisa was wiggling and laughing huskily at something Tig said and with only a small glance back at Leah's tent, Tig walked off with her. Leah shook her head.  

Why did men only ever think with that one single part of their anatomy. She had learned that all the whores at camp had to do was give a little shake, wiggle or sashay and the men were all but tripping over each other to get to them. All of the men except Chase.  

Leah saw his stern, handsome face in her mind and felt her heart beat a little faster. Deciding to take Louisa's advice and clean up before Chase arrived, Leah quickly left the tent. She went to she and Chase's favorite spot on the river, out of sight and hearing distance of camp.

She felt a chill run down her spine and glanced around her but saw nothing and no one that would have caused the feeling. Deciding it was just nerves Leah shrugged the feeling off and unhooked her gun belt from her waist. She tossed it on the bank and then slid from her boots, skirt and blouse. Wearing only her chemise she stepped into the river and went to the deepest pool, letting the cool water rise up to just above her waist.  

The water was cold since the nights were still quite chilly but it felt good to know she was washing away the dirt of the last few days. Thoughts of Chase's strong body, his rough hands moving over her soft skin, his black eyes gazing deep into hers and seeing her soul had her body heating up nicely and she no longer noticed the coldness of the water.  

She sunk beneath the water and then rose quickly, tossing her hair back and sending droplets flying through the air. She ran her hands over her hair and then down her body. She was about to sink into the water again when a breaking stick had her covering herself and turning quickly.  

"Well. Well. Well. What do we have here?" Petey asked with a lust filled grin as he stepped out of the woods and into view. Leah felt panic fill her. She glanced toward the bank, and her gun, but Petey stepped in the way, blocking her view. Leah realized with shock that he wore no pants and was naked from the waist down, though his shirt was long enough to hide the grossest part of his anatomy from her gaze.  

"I've been waiting a long time for this, little one. That goddamn savage ain't here to protect you this time."  

"W...What do you want?" Leah demanded, cursing her quivering bottom lip that was a dead giveaway to her fear.  

"I think that's pretty damn obvious." Petey replied with a sneer and Leah's eyes flew down to his hand which was busy caressing his large arousal. Leah felt bile rise in the back of her throat and she fought desperately to swallow it back down.  

"You like what you see, princess?" he asked with a slow drawl as he started toward her.  

"Chase will kill you." Leah hissed as she walked backward over the slick rocks beneath the water.  

"Not before I get what I want from you and then choke that pretty little neck with my bare hands." Leah lost all pretenses of bravery then. She let out a desperate cry for help and turned to run. The slippery rocks hindered her escape and before she'd made it to the opposite bank Petey had her arm in his hand.  

She fought against him but he yanked her hard and she fell on her butt in the shallow water. The impact caused her teeth to clamp together and she bit her tongue roughly, tasting blood.  

"You sure look pretty in that little thing you're wearing... I like your tits. All big and full." Leah gagged and then looked down at herself, realizing that her thin chemise had been rendered see-through by the water.  

"Please don't do this..." Leah gasped and Petey laughed roughly. He grabbed her by the hair and drug her, kicking and screaming, toward the bank.  

"Let me go!" Leah screamed as Petey grabbed her wrists in one hand and pinned them to the ground. He pushed her legs apart with his knee and braced himself over her.  

"I like it when they fight me." he growled. Leah clamped her eyes shut as her sobs filled the air. Petey's breath was warm, moist and it smelled of the tobacco he loved to chew. His lips were dry and papery as they touched her cheek. Leah felt his throbbing arousal pressing against her most tender flesh and she fought more desperately but just as uselessly.  

---

Chase felt every ounce of his blood rush to his head and burn red hot when he heard Leah's cries for help and pleas for someone to stop. He didn't need to see what was happening to know that Petey was touching his woman. Petey's dirty hands were touching the one and only thing in Chase's life that was pure, true and all his.  

Chase jumped from his horse and ran as fast as his long legs could carry him through the woods. He came upon the sight of his woman being pinned to the ground beneath Petey's body and an animalistic roar escaped his lips.  

Petey didn't even have time to turn before Chase was on him. Chase grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him off of Leah. Petey's body flew through the air, landing in the water with a splash and a cry of pain.  

Chase pulled his knife from the sheath on his leg and stalked toward Petey the way a mountain lion stalks a baby deer just before he strikes. 	

"Chase... I..." Petey stuttered. Chase's lips pulled back in a snarl and he lunged at the man. He picked him up from the water by the hair and stared down into his frightened blue eyes.  

"I told you I would feel your blood on my hands." he growled and then he slid his knife slowly across Petey's trembling throat. Warm blood instantly coated his hand  and soaked into his shirt sleeve. Chase watched the life fade from Petey's eyes and then tossed the mans body aside.  

"Chase..." Leah's frightened voice took Chase out of the predatory state of mind that he'd been lost in and he quickly put his knife away and turned to her. She was laying half in the water and half out. Her pale skin was already bruising from Petey's rough treatment and her green eyes were wide with fear as tears streaked her face. Her thin white gown was see-through and streaked with mud.  

Without a word, Chase slipped off his vest and shirt. He took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet on trembling legs. Chase slipped his shirt around her shoulders and then pulled her body into his.  

Leah was trembling as she buried her face in his chest and sobs shook her body. Her fingernails dug into his bare back as she clung to him and Chase realized that he could no longer tell if it was her trembling or his own shivering that was wracking their bodies.  

"He almost... He almost..." Leah gasped against his chest. Chase felt relief fill him at the word almost. He held her tighter and kissed her hair.  

"I'm here now, Leah. It's okay now." he assured her, just as much as he was assuring himself. He held her for a long while in that river until her tears finally began to subside. He sensed the motion behind him just before the gun cocked.  

Chase pulled Leah tighter against him and waited for the shot that would take his life, though he knew not who it was being fired by.  

"Get your nasty, savage hands off of my sister." A man's voice ground out from behind him. Leah stiffened in Chase's arms and then peeked around him.  

"Chance.......?"  

---

"Leah, it's okay now. I'm gonna get you out of here. I won't let that damn savage touch you anymore." Chance vowed coldly. Leah saw her brothers features tense and the tendons in his hands flex.  

"No!" she exclaimed as she jerked from Chase's arms and jumped in between Chance's gun and her man. She kept Chase's shirt wrapped tightly around herself in an effort to hide her ruined chemise from her brother.  Chance instantly lifted the gun, taking the sights off his little sister.  

"Foolish woman!" Chase growled as he turned and stepped in front of Leah.  

"What was I supposed to do? Let him kill you?!" Leah demanded, feeling her bottom lip trembling. There had been entirely too much stress in the last twenty minutes of her life and she could feel herself completely breaking down.  

"Yes You are never to come between me and a loaded gun. Is that clear?" Chase ground out, never taking his eyes off of Chance. Chance seemed a formidable man. He looked to be around twenty-six years of age, the same as Chase. He was tall, broad, muscled and clearly used to dealing with danger as his face showed no fear, only confusion.  

"Leah, come away from that animal. It's time to go home." Chance stated.  

"No." Leah replied with a sniff. "His name is Chase and I won't leave him."  

"What are you saying?! This, 

man , kidnapped you!“

"No he didn't!" Leah argued but as usual her brother wouldn't really listen. As usual with the men in her family he thought he could just shut her up by talking over her.  

"Do you know what this place is? This is an outlaw camp! There are bad men here, Leah, no good ones. Look at you! Did this 

savage try to force you?!“ Chance demanded as he once again trained his gun on Chase’s chest. Leah jumped in front of Chase again and heard him grumble but she didn’t care.

"You're wrong, Chance! You and father are always wrong about everything! No Chase did not force me to do anything! He saved me!" Leah exclaimed as she pointed at Petey's dead body bobbing with the current in the water. Chance followed her gaze and his eyes narrowed as he looked back at Leah.  

"Leah, I'm only gonna tell you one more time to step away from that animal and come on home with me." he said coldly. "If you won't listen I'll just have to force you to do as I want."  

"You will try." Chase growled.  

"I'll come home when I'm ready to." Leah added, her stubborn streak shining through as she stuck up her chin. "And I'll bring Chase with me."  

"You mean you've been here by choice?!" Chance demanded incredulously.  

"Nearly the entire time, yes." Leah replied, squaring her shoulders.  

"You spoiled little bitch!" Chance exclaimed with a mixture of outrage and shock. "Do you have any idea what this has done to mother and father? What it's done to me? We thought you were dead and you've been shacked up at some outlaw camp and rutting with all the men here?!" Leah felt the pain from her brothers insult deep inside her heart. She was rendered completely speechless and barely noticed when Chase stepped in front of her, though she did notice that he was vibrating with rage.  

"You will not call my woman a bitch unless you want to lose your tongue. And she has not 

rutted with anyone. She is mine and I have protected her.“

"Not good enough apparently." Chance countered, sparing a glance at Petey's dead body. "And I'd rather she rut with that man than with a man that's barely more than an animal. The only good savage is a dead savage." Leah knew it was her brothers voice but those were their fathers words, drilled into her brothers head for his entire life.  

Leah heard Chance's gun cock again and her heart stopped beating in her chest. Why wasn't Chase defending himself? Why didn't he pull his own gun? Why was her brother doing this to her? Leah couldn't let Chance kill Chase She loved her brother but he was being cruel and Chase was her soul. She couldn't let him be killed.  

"Chance stop it! I love him!" she cried out as she jumped around Chase. Chance's finger squeezed the trigger just as Leah jumped and with Chase's roar or panic echoing in her ears, Leah felt the bullet slam into her side. The pain was too much for Leah and her world quickly went black.

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"What did I do?" Chance gasped as his gun fell with a splash into the river. Chase didn't' spare him a glance or a word as he dropped to his knees, caught Leah in his arms and cradled her against his body.   

"You have shot a completely innocent woman. Your sister." Chase replied, deciding that perhaps Chance needed the obvious stated for him. 	"Oh my God." Chance mumbled before gagging and covering his mouth with his hand.  

"She will be fine, it's not serious." Chase assured him quietly. The bullet was far to the side, barely more than a large gouge in her skin. Nothing serious had been damaged. Chase pulled off the red bandana around his neck and held it tight against the wound to help stop the blood loss.  

He glanced at Chance and saw the man fall to his knees in the water.  

"I shot my sister...." he stated numbly and Chase nodded.  

"Yes you did. But you wouldn't have if she wasn't so stubborn. You would have shot me."  

"Are you going to kill me now?" Chance asked and Chase shook his head though inside he was contemplating doing just that.   

"You did not mean to hurt her. But if she dies then I will do to you what I did to that man." Chance glanced at the dead body in the water. The current had his head pulled back and Chance could see the slit that the Indian had made in his throat. It was deep enough to cut through windpipe and all.  

"God forgive me." Chance gasped as he covered his face with his hands. He looked back at Chase with tear filled eyes. "Please help me get her home."  

"That home is not her home anymore. Her home is with me. But I will help you get her to your home." Chase replied and then he looked up and laid his hand on his gun.  

"What is it?" Chance demanded and his question was answered when armed men appeared on all sides of them with their guns drawn.  

Chase's eyes instantly went to Boss.  

"What the hell happened here?" Boss demanded and his eyes fell on Petey. "What happened to Petey?"  

"What I told him would happen if he ever laid his hands on what was mine again." Chase replied coldly. Boss raised a brow and looked down at Leah in Chase's arms. He could see the worry on Chase's face though he knew the Indian was trying to hide it.

"Who shot her?" Boss asked.  

"I did." Chance replied brokenly.  

"And who the hell are you?" Boss demanded.  

"Her brother." Chance admitted. Boss nodded, stepped forward and then brought the butt of his revolver down hard on the back of Chance's head. The man fell unconscious into the water.  

Chase made a move to pull his gun but Boss shook his head.  

"Don't even think about it. She'll be dead before you even get one good squeeze of that trigger." Boss warned and Chase relaxed his arm. "You've pushed me too far this time, Chase. You brought this woman here, caused discord among my men, murdered one of my men and led to this man coming here with his law dogs." Chase's eyes widened.

"That's right." Boss said with a snort. "He brought the law with him but they're dead. You could have done a lot of damage to my entire operation. After what I did to your mother I knew I owed you and your father but you've just pushed it too far."  

Chase felt his blood run cold in his veins. Slowly he raised his head and met Boss's eyes.  

"What are you talking about?" Boss smiled and spit in the water beside Chase.  

"Why I raped and killed her of course. Most fun I've ever had." he replied. Chase let out an angry yell but before he could get to his gun, something hard struck the back of his head and the world went black.

---

Louisa stared in shock as Boss and the men carried four bodies into camp. She saw Chase hanging limp over Boss’s shoulder. What had happened? What had went wrong? Chase wasn’t supposed to be hurt and who was the other man?

Petey was clearly dead, which was no surprise to Louisa. She had known that would happen and had truly been hoping for it. Petey was a horrible man who deserved what he got. Abusing women such as herself who had no choice but to be what they were. Treating her like scum and beating her around whenever he felt the urge. But why was Chase hurt?  

Chase was not supposed to be hurt... Louisa had been in Tig's tent and had missed the men coming back to camp. She saw now that there were more dead bodies that Petey was being tossed recklessly on top of. Louisa saw the glinting of a metal star and realized with shock that those other dead men were law.  

Who had brought law to this camp? Was it the blond man? Too many unanswered questions and no way to get the answers she sought without jeopardizing her own well-being and admitting she'd played a part in Leah's rape and Petey's death. With any luck that fat bitch was dead and not just unconscious.  

"What's going on?" Tig asked Yancy as the man approached his tent.  

"Boss has lost his damn mind. Apparently that guy is Leah's brother." he said pointing at the blond man. "And Chase caught Petey trying to force Leah to lay with him so he killed Petey, this guy shows up with lawmen, we killed the lawmen, and then Boss turns on Chase and it all turns into one big cluster fuck if you ask me."  

"What was Leah doing out of her tent?" Tig demanded, casting an suspicious glance at Louisa. She waved her hand and shrugged.  

"I have no idea. Some women just don't know how to do what's best for them."  

"Do you think Boss will actually try to kill Chase?" Tig asked. "I always kinda liked that quiet, little bastard."  

"The chief was always good to me. He saved my life once believe it or not." Yancy admitted.  

"We gonna save 

his ass this time?“ Tig asked with a grin.

"We'll just have to see how it goes." Yancy replied with shrug.  

"HeeHee!" Tig exclaimed, smacking himself on the thigh. "This could get fun."    

---

The pain is what brought Leah out of her unconsciousness. Her side was burning and hot. The warm spring sunshine was beating down on her and she could only squint because of the brightness hitting her eyes.  

She realized that she was sitting on the ground and her hands and feet where tied together in front of her. She felt eyes watching her and turned her head to the side to see Chase watching her intently. He was tied up as well, though they had tied him to a wooden post with his arms behind him and his ankles tied together in front of him.  

She could see the question in his eyes and managed a small smile of reassurance to let him know she was okay. She was hurting from her brothers bullet but she could tell that she wasn't dieing from it. She may die of something else sometime very soon based on the fact that she was tied up like a criminal but she wasn't going to die from Chance's bullet.  

Chance?! Leah turned to her left and saw her brother tied up as well, though he was staring down at the ground and a single tear had streaked his dirt covered face. Leah looked around and saw that no one else in camp seemed to be paying much attention to them at the moment. They were tied near the trees and away from the tents and main fire. Most of the men seemed to be busy digging a deep hole and Leah supposed it was for the four dead bodies lying in a pile a couple hundred feet away.. .Of course there may be three more bodies soon that they planned on adding.  

Surprisingly Leah didn't feel much fear. She supposed she'd been through too much in the last few hours.. Perhaps even the last few weeks to be frightened quite as easily as she had once been.  

"Chance..." she whispered and her brother's head lifted quickly and his eyes widened when they fell on her.  

"Leah..." he gasped with obvious relief. "I'm sorry...."  

"Not right now." Leah scolded. "Right now we have to figure out a way to get our of here. You can suck up to me later." Leah turned back to Chase.  

"Are you okay?" she asked him and he simply nodded. "Do you have a plan?" she added. In true Chase fashion he didn't say a word or sugar coat the truth. He simply shook his head and then stared off into the distance, clearly becoming lost in thought and no longer wanting to discuss their situation.  

Leah sighed and attempted to roll her shoulders. She saw Boss cast a glance in their direction and she could feel the rage boiling off of Chase in waves as he glared back at the man. What had happened to cause them to be taken prisoner? Why had Boss tied them up? Was it because of Petey?  

"Chase." she whispered. He turned to look at her and she saw the anger still flashing in his eyes. "What happened?"  

"Boss is not who I thought he was. Your brother brought law here. I killed Petey. Boss knows I love you. All those things together mean we may die today."  

"You sure don't sugar coat nothing, do you?" Chance demanded and Chase shook his head.  

"There is no point in lying to her. She is strong, smart and brave enough to accept the truth."  

"Chase doesn't see me as a weak, helpless woman the way you and father always treated me."  Leah informed her brother and Chance shifted so he was facing her.  

"Leah, if you hadn't stayed here, if you had come home when you should have then none of this would be happening." he stated matter of factly.  

"And if you had just listened to me instead of trying to show how tough you were then you, me and Chase might have been able to get away before being all trussed up like cattle."  

"You want to fight about this now?" Chance demanded.  

"You started it."  

"This makes me glad to be an only child." Chase muttered.  

"Can we focus on what we're going to do?" Leah asked with exasperation.

"There is nothing we can do. They took our weapons and tied us all up good and tight. Unless the Indian has some friends here I believe we're screwed." Chance grumbled.  

The three of them fell silent. Leah didn't want to die. There was so much she was still supposed to do with her life. She and Chase were supposed to be leaving the camp, building their home and starting their lives together. They were NOT supposed to be facing death. She would never see her mother and father again. She would never be able to show her brother that he was wrong about Chase... She would never give Chase a son or a daughter. She would probably never again feel Chase's touch.... The hopelessness of the situation came to her all at once and she felt tears fill her eyes.  

Chase saw her green eyes fill with tears as she pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face against them. The shirt he had given her to wear made every inch of her legs visible and the bruises Petey had placed on them stuck out in sharp contrast against her pale skin.  

More than anything in the world he wanted to find a way to save her. Damn Petey! Damn Chance! Damn Boss! And damn himself for not getting Leah out of this world when he'd had the chance. Chase had finally found dreams and the hopes of a life unlike the hard one he'd been living and now they were being destroyed before they'd even had a chance to fully develop.  

He wanted to offer words of comfort to Leah. Promise her that everything was going to be okay and they would all make it out of this with their lives. But those words would be nothing more than pretty lies and Chase could never lie to Leah. He loved her far too much to give her false hope.  

---

Louisa put her bag over her shoulder and slipped silently out the back of the tent that all the women in camp stayed in. She had to get out of here. Now that she knew that Leah was alive it would only be a matter of time before her part in what had happened was brought to light and Louisa knew that if Chase got off that post he was tied to, he would end her life without a second thought.  

And if not him then that other man. Leah's brother. Brother! Leah was not supposed to have two knights in shining armor to rush to her rescue. Louisa sighed. She'd had a nice life with this camp but that was over now and she'd have to find another group of men to stay with. Or perhaps she could get a job in a brothel somewhere, though she was getting past the age of most new hires she still had a girlish figure and that would work in her favor.  

She grabbed the reins of a horse, only to feel a hand close around her arm.  

"Where you think you're going, girl? Looks to me like you're running off with your tail 'tween your legs is what it looks like to me."  Louisa felt a hot ball of dread settle into her stomach at the sound of Tig's voice.  

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just think it's time for me to be moving on." Louisa replied, yanking her arm from his grasp.  

"I think it's time for you to quit being such a bitch. HeeHee, yep that's what I think." Tig countered.  

"How dare you?!" Louisa demanded. "You certainly weren't calling me a bitch this morning."  

"I was thinking with my pecker this morning, I ain't thinking with it no more. Nope, I got my eyes fixed right on what you really are. You kept me busy and sent Leah to that river, you did. I'm thinking you sent Petey there too, I am."  

"Tig, you've lost your mind." Louisa replied with a wave of her hand.  

"Haha! Can't lose what I never had darlin! You on the other hand is gonna lose your life if you don't do what I ask."  

"And what exactly are you asking for?" Louisa asked suspiciously. She knew she had no choice but to do as he said. She had heard a lot of talk about the people Tig had killed. He wouldn't hesitate to add one more to that list. He would kill her in order to prove himself to Chase in hopes of keeping the Indian from killing him if he got loose, for allowing Leah to get out of his sight.

"You're going to do what you do best, Louisa. You're going to go comfort poor Chase and slip this little knife into his hands. He'll do the rest." Tig held up the tiny three inch blade and Louisa shook her head.  

"If I get caught Boss will kill me." she stated.  

"And if you refuse I'll kill ya, heehee! No more rides on the Spanish love train!" Louisa knew she had no choice. Either refuse and let Tig kill her or help and have Chase kill her once Leah told him of her treachery. Louisa knew that death by Chase's hand would be swifter and less painful.  

She took the knife from Tig's hand and gave him a look that she hoped portrayed her full annoyance and irritation with him. He just gave her a broken toothed grin and walked away with his hands folded behind his back while whistling an upbeat tune.  

Louisa walked back into her tent, laid her bag down, slid the knife into her skirt pocket and fluffed out her hair. She might as well enjoy this final time that she’d feel Chase touching her with anything other than the urge to spill her blood in his eyes.

She slipped from her tent and saw that most of the men were still busy and preoccupied with burying the dead bodies. She knew that once the bodies were buried, Boss would deal with Chase, Leah and Leah's brother and then he'd be moving the camp.  

Louisa breathed deep to combat the nausea she was feeling in her gut. If Chase already knew about her part in what had happened to Leah then he was liable to use the knife she handed him to slit her throat.  

Chase looked up and caught sight of her and from the look in his black eyes Louisa knew that he didn't know. He looked irritated, yes, but certainly not murderous.  

"Hey there, big guy, you look like you've had better days." she purred as she came to a stop in front of him and crouched down, letting her shirt ride low and pushing her cleavage up with her arms.  

"Leave." Chase growled as he turned his head and looked away from her. Louisa could feel Leah's eyes burning into her. Louisa licked her lips and sat down on Chase's lap, wrapping her legs around his waist. She felt him stiffen and his face became as hard as stone.  

"Leave." he repeated.  

"Come on now, Chase, you used to like it when I did this." Louisa reminded him, pressing her full lips against his neck. She realized that Leah was moving toward them, scooting across the ground, and she seemed ready to kill. Louisa slipped her hand inside her pocket and pulled out the knife.  

She put her arms around Chase and slid the knife into his hand.  

"I'm not sure what Tig has planned but he wanted you to have this." she whispered in his ear and then with a sigh she pushed herself off of him and sashayed away, casting a single glance at Leah and another longer one at her brother. 	

He was a handsome man with thick blond hair, broad shoulders and a boyish face. Though right now he looked sad, defeated and broken down with guilt. Louisa went straight back to her tent and grabbed her bag. She had done her part and now she was going to make her escape while she still had all of her blood.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Chase watched Louisa go and chose to ignore the fact that her helping him went against everything he knew about her. Louisa was selfish and self-serving. It wasn’t in her nature to do anything risky just to help someone else. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

He had a knife now. He could cut his hands free and once he'd done that he knew he could get Leah away from Boss. Chase Caldwell was not a man who wasted a second chance. This time he would be successful.  

"What did she want?" Leah asked once she was close enough to him. Chase tilted his head back.  

"To give me this." he said and Leah's eyes widened when she saw the knife in his hand.  

"What are you going to do?"  

"Cut myself free and then wait."  

"For what?"  

"Tig is planning something. I don't know what, but something, and I'm going to be ready for it. You are not going to die today, Leah. I can promise you that."  

"What can I do?" Leah asked, eager to help. Chase just shook his head.  

"Nothing until I tell you. Just go back over there and wait." he replied and Leah nodded before scooting away from him. Chase kept his face blank but inside he was smiling as he began to cut away at the ropes binding his hands.   

---

Boss and the group of men who had been helping him finished tossing the last of the bodies into the hole they had dug and then Boss wiped his hands on his pants and turned to look at Chase, Leah and Chance in turn.  

"Let's not throw the dirt over those bodies just yet. We're gonna have a couple more." he said with a grin.  

"Killing her would be an awful big waste, Boss. I'd like to have her for myself." Yancy spoke up. "I'd keep track of her better than the chief did and I'd share her if ya asked me to real polite like."  

"Sure, Yancy. Sure you can have her." Boss stated with a shrug. "I can't think of a better thing for that savage to see before I kill him than his woman in another mans arms."

Leah's heart began to thunder in her ears as Yancy walked to her. He kept his back to Boss and the other men and offered her a smile as he crouched down and brought himself to her level. She spit in his face and tried to move away from him.  

"Now, don't be like that." he scolded as he pulled his bandana from his pocket and wiped his face clean. He winked. "Wouldn't you rather be out of those ropes than in 'em? And it'll certainly makes things easier on the chief when he makes his move if'n he ain't gotta worry about cutting you free."  

Leah raised her brow and looked at him with surprise which made Yancy chuckle.  

"Don't seem so shocked, princess. I might be a low down, no good son of a bitch but Chase has saved my hide a time or two and I pay back a debt. Now you gonna let me untie you?"  

"Yes."  

"But don't act too happy about it and give me away." he warned.  

"I'm not stupid." Leah countered.  

"Never thought you were." Yancy untied the ropes binding her and then yanked her to her feet. Leah cried out in pain when it felt as if her side was being ripped apart. She could see an apology in Yancy's gray eyes but his face was hard.  

"Quit your damn bitchin. I ain't like that damn injun and I won't tolerate a single bit of lip offa you."  

"Don't take her to the tent just yet." Boss spoke up as Yancy headed for his tent. Yancy stopped and turned to look at the other man questioningly. "We want her to get to see what happens to her lover don't we? And her brother? We'll show her what will happen to any man she tries to wrap around her finger to help her escape."  

"Let them go!" Leah exclaimed. "They've done nothing!"  

"Shut her up." Boss stated and Yancy smacked Leah across the face. The blow hurt but not as bad as it would have if he hadn't cupped his hand. Leah still made an effort to look as if the hit had addled her. She dropped to her knees and cowered in front of Yancy.  

"Keep your mouth shut, dammit!" Yancy growled and Leah could tell he meant it. She glanced at Chase and saw the muscles in his bare chest and arms flexing and jumping and she knew he was fighting a barely contained rage and the urge to jump to his feet and end Yancy's life. She wanted to wink at him, offer him some sign that she was okay and Yancy was helping but she knew she couldn't. Not with Boss watching.  

"Keep your nasty hands off of my sister!" Chance yelled out. "If you want to hit someone come hit me!" Boss grinned and then closed the distance quickly and Leah screamed when he kicked her brother hard in the face. Chance went down hard in the dirt and as he pushed himself back up with his shoulder, Leah saw him spit blood.  

She spared a glance up at Yancy and silently begged he and Tig to do whatever it was they were going to do. If she had to watch her brother be killed it would destroy her! She had already watched one man she cared about be shot and beaten to death. She couldn't watch it happen again!

"Tough man." Chase stated mockingly from where he sat calmly leaned again the post. Boss smiled at him.  

"I liked you Chase. I had a lot of hopes for you. I thought maybe as you got older you would become more open to accepting authority."  

"You have no authority over me." Chase replied. The sunlight caught his raven black hair and shimmered as he stuck out his bronze chest proudly. Leah was again swept off her feet by how handsome and proud he was. She only hoped he knew what he was doing.  

"I'm going to be the man that kills you, Chase. I'd say that gives me authority enough." Boss replied as he walked closer to Chase. Leah wanted to protest when Yancy grabbed her and quickly moved her body behind his own and she probably would have if she hadn't seen the gun, her gun, tucked into the waistband of his pants. He turned his head just a bit and nodded at her.  

"No white man can kill me." Chase stated and Boss laughed loudly.  

"I killed your mama boy. Raped her good and proper and then put a bullet right between her eyes. Your pa didn't know of course, he just saw me as his good friend who offered him a place among my men when he was at his lowest after the love of his life was brutally murdered. 	

"I hate that our relationship had to come to this but Petey was like a son to me and I warned you again and again that I didn't put up with murder between my men."  

Chase could have pointed out that Petey would have murdered Leah had Chase not intervened but it was clear that Boss didn't care about that. Knowing this mans deceit all these years, his false friendship, was enough to make Chase's blood boil.   

Chase just had to get him close enough and he would make sure that the blade of the knife in his hands would end the bastards life for good. He would do it for his mother, his father and for Leah and the innocence the man had stolen from her when he'd killed Benjamin. Chase sneered at Boss and spit toward the mans boots.  

"You are nothing. You are nothing to fear."  

"Is that right?" Boss asked, his voice lowering as his temper snapped. He stepped close to Chase and crouched down to look him in the eyes.

"Do you know the real reason I hate you?" he whispered. "You are more than I ever was. People fear and respect you without a word from you. You demand attention without asking for it. My men look at you when they should look at me. This will teach them. I will rape your bitch just the same as I did your mother and I'll have her screaming my name before I'm done." Chase let out a roar of rage and several things happened at once.  

Feminine screams filled the air as the tent the whores shared burst into flames and quickly became engulfed, thundering hooves tore through the camp, causing men to scatter as every horse that had been corralled stampeded over tents and chairs followed by Tig who was hooting and hollering from  atop of his own horse and the third and final thing that happened was Chase revealed his own deceit and swung his hand forward, sinking his knife deeply into Boss's throat.  

"As I said, you are nothing to fear." Chase growled as Boss's eyes widened. Chase jerked the knife sideways and Boss's blood spilled from his severed throat.  

Chase quickly cut the ropes from his ankles and searched the chaotic camp for Leah. Whores and men were running all directions, fighting desperately to calm the horses and put out the fire that was quickly spreading to the other tents.

Gunshots rang out and Chase realized that a couple of Boss's right hand men had realized what Chase had done and were now shooting at him. He quickly crawled across the ground, using the running men and horses as cover and cut the binds holding Chance.  

"Where is your sister?" he demanded and Chance pointed toward the woods.  

"That man ran off with her that way." he replied. Chase hissed in pain when a bullet grazed his arm. He saw a gun lying next to Boss's body and quickly backtracked and picked up the revolver. He saw the men who were shooting at him and without hesitation he fired two shots, ending their assault. The other men were far too busy dealing with the chaos that Chase assumed Tig had caused. Though he had no idea how Tig had managed to start both the fire and the stampede. 	

"Find a gun and come on." Chase instructed Chance and then he hurried off into the forest, slipping away unnoticed.  

---

"Let me go!" Leah exclaimed as Yancy led her further and further into the forest.  

"Nope, I gotta get you away from all of that." he replied yanking her along. Leah thought about using the gun in her free hand to shoot him with but figured that wouldn't be the proper thing to do to a man who was trying to help you.

"I have to go back for Chase and my brother!" she exclaimed, wincing when her side bumped up against the rough bark of a tree.  

"Chase can take care of himself and your brother'll be fine if he sticks close to him." Yancy promised. "Tig said he'd have some horses and supplies stashed away and we gotta get to them."  

Leah knew Yancy was right and yet a part of her was still scared to death that either her brother or Chase wouldn't make it out of camp. She needed to see their faces to know they were okay. And Boss's confession? Chase must be devastated.

"Come on, woman, stop walking so slow!" Yancy scolded.  

"I'm sorry that my gunshot wound is holding you up." she snapped and Yancy slowed down immediately.  

"I forgot." he replied sheepishly. He wrapped his arm around her gently and then froze when a bronze skinned arm was suddenly wrapped around his neck and a bloodstained knife was pressed against his bobbing throat.  

 "Unhand her now."  

"Chase!" Leah exclaimed, relief flooding over her.  

"Don't kill me chief. I was working with Tig to keep you and the squaw safe."  

"He really was! Don't kill him!" Leah added. The knife was pulled away and Chase shoved Yancy out of his way and took Leah into his arms. She noticed that he held her tightly yet was careful not to put any pressure on her wound.  

"Where is Chance?" she asked softly after both of them had breathed the other in and reassured themselves they were okay.  

"I'm here." Chance replied, looking sheepish as he stood off to the side. Leah released her hold on Chase and went to her brother. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.  

"Thank God you're okay." she said as she kissed the welted cheek that Boss's boot had fallen against.  

"Chase, I need you to hit me real good and hard, make it look believable. I don't need nobody accusing me of helping cause all of that." Yancy stated and Chase raised a brow before swinging his fist and catching Yancy hard in the jaw. The man stumbled backward several steps and then smiled with his split lip.  

"That should do it." he said. "The horses are somewhere up through there. Tig tied 'em up. Good luck, Chase. You found you a good woman there. You should make an honest one out of her."  

"He's going to." Leah assured Yancy as she moved back into Chase's arms. Chase kissed her hair, no longer worried about hiding his affection. Leah noticed Chance nearly speak but then he frowned and turned his head away. She assumed he was still upset because Chase was an Indian but she was happy that he had made the choice to keep his opinion to himself.  

"Well gotta go folks." Yancy said with a tip of his head.

"Tell Tig I said thank you." Leah called out as he walked away and he threw his hand up in acknowledgement.  

"Louisa had a hand in it too." he replied. "Seems she wanted to make sure Chase wouldn't kill her for sending you to that river and she set the fire to the tent to help create more of a distraction."  

"Louisa sent you to Petey?" Chase asked as temper flashed in his black eyes. Leah put her hand on his tense jaw and smiled.  

"It doesn't matter anymore. Let's just get out of here." Chase nodded and began to lead her and Chance away through the woods. Instantly he noticed Leah wincing as she moved and he wasted no time in lifting her into his arms, cradling her against his chest.  

"You're going to hurt yourself! I'm too heavy!" Leah exclaimed and Chase simply shook his head and continued to carry her.  

Chance heard his sister sigh with contentment as she wrapped her arms around Chase's neck. Chance knew he should tell her about Benjamin. Tell her that she couldn't be engaged to Chase because her first fiance was still very much alive and very much in love with her.  

He should tell her that Benjamin would need her and mother and father were finally ready to accept her marriage to the man. They would NEVER accept Chase. Not in a million years and surely Leah knew that. These were all things that Chance knew he should tell Leah but his sister had been through a lot and she looked so damn.... Happy. She looked happy in Chase's arms.  

Chance had never seen her eyes look that way at Benjamin. She had been a child when she had run away with him and now only a few short weeks later, Leah was a woman and she was Chase's woman. Chance knew that the danger was over but the worst was yet to come. He should warn his sister and Chase but he wasn't going to. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Chase breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the horses in the distance. He had been worried that he wouldn't find them before nightfall and he wanted to put more distance between Leah and camp before that time.  

Though in truth Chase wasn't very worried about being pursued. He had killed Boss's only two men who had been unfailingly loyal. The other men in camp had liked Boss well enough but they wouldn't feel any need to seek vengeance on the mans behalf. Though they would probably shoot Chase if they saw him because of the fire and stampede.  

"Is that your horse?" Chance asked as he stared wide-eyed at Blaze who was tossing his head and snorting at their approach.  

"Yes." Chase replied simply. He gently put Leah down on her feet and then went to the sacks tied to a pack horse. He began looking through them and smiled when he realized that either Tig or Yancy had managed to get Chase's money from the robbery the day before and place it here.  

He pushed it aside and continued to search, growling when he had finished looking through all the bags and realized there were no dresses or underclothes for Leah. He settled for pulling out a clean tunic type shirt meant for him and a pair of lace up buckskin pants.  

"Turn around." he ordered Chance and it was clear the man did not appreciate being ordered around.  

"I don't exactly think it's proper for you to see her without clothes on when you ain't her husband." he countered. Chase rose to his full height of six and a half feet, a good two inches taller than Chance, and looked down his long nose at the other man.

"I am her husband in every way that matters. All that is lacking is a piece of paper signed by a fat man in robe."  

"That piece of paper is pretty damn important and I think our father is gonna expect to see it if he hears you've seen his daughter without her clothes." Chance informed him. Chase opened his mouth to speak again, though he would rather simply shoot Chance and be done with this argument, he knew he could not kill Leah's brother.  That would potentially cause some tension between he and Leah. 	

"Can the two of you please stop arguing?" Leah demanded, her voice weak and tired. "Chance, as badly as I hate to admit it, I am going to need help getting dressed and I would much rather Chase be the one that helps me rather than my brother."  

"Father is not going to like this." Chance stated matter of factly and Leah shrugged.  

"Father has not liked much of anything I've done since I reached the age of six."  

"Leah..."  

"Don't you think you've doubted me enough? You doubted me and I ran away to be kidnapped by dangerous outlaws. Thankfully Chase was there to save me. You doubted me again and I ended up shot by your gun. Now you are doubting and questioning what? Whether or not I love Chase? Whether or not he loves me? What father will think? I love you, Chance, but you really need to just leave me alone." Chance let out a long breath and then turned and walked a short distance away.  

"You were harsh with him." Chase scolded gently as he slowly helped Leah from her soiled, blood covered clothes. Leah winced with both pain and guilt.  

"I have to be, Chase. If I'm not harsh with him and with father then they walk all over me and control my every move. That's just the type of men they are. They aren't bad men but they believe themselves to be the unquestionable bosses of the women in their lives."  

"Are you sure you want to go home and subject yourself to both of their judgment and harshness at the same time? Chance could go without you and let your family know you are okay." Chase said as he knelt to examine the deep gash on her side. He rose to his feet and grabbed a canteen of water and Leah gritted her teeth against the pain as he poured the water over the wound to clean it.  

"I need to see them all at least once more." Leah admitted once the pain had subsided. "Trust me, I'm not delusional. I know that my being with you will likely be too much for my father to accept. He'll have a hard enough time getting past me running away that night, let alone me staying gone when I could have come home sooner. Knowing that I have chosen a man who goes so far against everything he believes will be too much for him. But I want to hug my mother and say a proper goodbye to them."  

"I will support you in whatever you want to do, Leah." Chase assured her as he kissed her brow and then pulled the clean shirt over her head. "You know that I would stand beside you during the roughest of storms and not leave your side. If this is what you want to do, I will be there."  

"I love you, Chase." Leah whispered and he placed a large calloused hand on her cheek. He gave the most tender smile she had ever seen on his face and then began to help her into her pants.  

"Can you help me on that mare?" she asked, wondering if her side would ever cease throbbing.  

"You will ride with me." Chase stated and Leah could tell from his tone that arguing would be futile. And besides she didn't want to argue. His arms were her favorite place to be.  

Chance snorted as he walked back over and got onto one of the saddles horses.  

"So you just listen to him, no questions asked and you fight me and father on every single thing we ever ask of you?" he demanded. Leah nodded as Chase pulled her up into his lap on the big black stallion.  

"Yes." she replied.  

"Can I ask what's so special about the damn savage?" Leah felt Chase tense and laid her head gently against his still bare chest and steadily beating heart.  

"You have a lot of nerve, Chance. You are just like father." she replied sadly. Chance frowned.  

"There's obviously more you want to say. You might as well spit it out." he grumbled as they started making their way through the forest.  

"You have continuously insulted Chase. You have called him an animal, a savage and tried to shoot him. In turn he has put up with your insults, not insulted you a single time and even cut you free and saved your life. You tell me who the uncivilized one is."  Chase didn't give Chance time to respond before he urged his horse faster and forced him to have to pay attention to the forest floor in order to keep up.  

---

"I'm drawing a line." Chance stated firmly that night as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She is 

not sleeping in your bedroll with you.“

"She  is." Chase replied as he simply continued adding plenty of prairie grass to their bed in order to offer Leah more cushion for her side. 	

"No she is not. She is a proper lady and won't be acting as your whore." These words had barely had time to leave Chance's lips before Chase was holding a knife against his mouth.  

"You speak that word and your sisters name in the same sentence again and we will be feasting on your tongue for our dinner." he snarled.  

"Chase, calm down." Leah scolded as she walked over. "And Chance, make yourself useful and find some wood we can use for a fire. It's going to get cold tonight." Chance glared at Chase for several long moments and then slowly Chase removed his knife and Chance wandered off into the darkening evening, mumbling with every step he took.  

"Honestly, Chase! Cut out and eat his tongue? I'm trying to make them see that you're not a savage but with outrageous threats like that...." Leah shook her head. Chase raised his brow and his lip twitched slightly.  

"Outrageous?"  

"You wouldn't honestly cut out his tongue and feed it to him!" she exclaimed and Chase shrugged.  

"Don't get confused, Leah. If that man does not cease with the insults he may well lose that tongue he loves to wag so much."  

"And you'll heat it over the fire and eat it with a biscuit?" she asked, fighting back the smile that was wanting to form on her lips.  

"They taste better cold." Chase countered, the twitch in his lip becoming more pronounced. Leah laughed loudly and waved her hand.  

"That's disgusting!" she exclaimed and Chase laughed as he went to her and wrapped her tight in his arms.

"You are beautiful when you laugh."  

"As opposed to when I don't?" she asked mischievously and Chase's face sobered.  

"I no longer have to hide my affection for you." he stated as he kissed her brow. "In a very short time you have become my whole world. You are all of my hope, every bit of my happiness. Never for one moment should you doubt your beauty in my eyes." Leah felt a tear fill her eye and she smiled up at his handsome, sharp angled face. She put her fingers in his thick black hair and pulled his face closer to hers.  

"You're getting better at sweet talk." Chase smiled, his mouth so close to her own that she could feel the tingle from the near contact.  

"It is not sweet talk. Simply the truth." he countered.  

"I love you." Leah whispered against his lips. Instead of responding with words, Chase's lips captured her own in a possessive demand that had her clinging to him for support.  

She knew no way to describe this kiss other than to say it felt as if she were being devoured. His long arms wrapped around her, his big hands splayed across her back holding her up. His lips and tongue took possession of her mouth and left her helpless to do anything other than give in to his passions. Not that she would have wanted to fight him off.  

The heat from his touch was nearly unbearable and Leah forgot all about the chill in the air. Suddenly Chase was breaking the kiss and she could tell by the darkness in his black eyes that he was close to losing the careful control he always kept of himself. It raised her passion that much higher to see how desperately he wanted her.  

"As her brother I should probably shoot you." Chances' voice spoke out, destroying the passionate mood that had been surrounding the two lovers.  

"As my brother you should just walk away." Leah countered.  

"I don't think so. You need to be resting, not... doing whatever it is the two of you were thinking of doing." Leah looked around Chase's arm to see Chance red-faced and tossing an armful of wood onto the ground.  

"Tongue is rather delicious." Chase whispered in her ear before pulling away and leading her to the bed he had made. He helped her get comfortable and then went about getting a fire ready.  

"We need to talk." Chance said a while later as he sat down beside Leah. Leah glanced at Chase who was sitting at the edge of the firelight smoking a cigarette and staring off into the night.  

"Then talk." she replied with a sigh.  

"What are you doing with this man?"  

"I'm in love with him." Leah replied with annoyance. How many times would she have to explain this to her dense brother?

"Do you fall in and out of love that easily?"  

"Why would you ask me that?" Leah demanded, feeling defensive and upset that her love for Chase was being questioned. She glanced at Chase but he was still staring off into the night and it as impossible to tell whether he could hear them or not. Though knowing him as she did, Leah knew that Chase was listening.  

"Just weeks ago you were desperately in love with Benjamin. So much in love with him in fact that you ran away in the night to marry the man! Now suddenly you've forgotten all about him and you have given yourself to another man? Are you truly that kind of woman?"  

"How dare you?!" Leah hissed. She was so infuriated by her brothers accusation that she didn't notice the way Chase stiffened and then breathed deeply several times as if to calm himself.  

"How dare I what? Did you ever really love Benjamin at all or were you just using the poor man to get away from father?"  

"Of course I loved him!" Leah exclaimed. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and I thought he was the love of my life but those bastards killed him! And then I met Chase... I didn't mean to fall in love with him and I fought it hard for a while but the truth is, Chance, that he is my soul mate. Everything happened for a reason, as horrible as it all was, it was meant to happen because it brought me to Chase.  I was never in love with Benjamin the way I am in love with Chase. If that makes me a bad person..."  

"It kinda does." Chance informed her.  

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I knew it would be hard for my family to accept that I am in love with Chase."  

"Leah you can't be with Chase."  

"Why?"  

"Because he's no damn good for you!" Chance exclaimed, he wanted to tell her that Benjamin was alive and he probably would have had his sister not twisted to glare at him angrily before letting out a whimper, grabbing her side and hissing with pain.  

Instantly Chase was there, having moved so quickly and stealthily that Chance hadn't even known he'd been approaching.  

"You will speak to her no more until we get back to your home! She needs to rest and heal not be insulted and treated like a common whore by you." Chase growled and Chance saw that Leah offered no argument and must agree with her current man.  

Chance blew out a defeated breath, stood and moved to the other side of the fire. If his sister didn't want to listen to him then she didn't have to but there was no way their father would allow her to marry Chase. Not when Benjamin was alive and crippled for life back at home, waiting for the time when the love of his life would come back to him.

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Leah felt as if the nerves in her stomach was going to eat a hole straight through her skin as she began to recognize the land they were riding over. Thankfully Chance seemed to have taken Chase's words to heart and he hadn't said another word the last two days other than to ask her how she was now and then.  

It seemed, however, that he had found his tongue again once the house came into view in the distance and he rode his horse in front of Leah and Chase's. He pulled up to a stop and gave Chase a pointed look.  

"I think you should stay here while Leah and I ride in."  

"Chance, honestly, this is getting ridiculous. I expected father to act the way you are but I thought you would be a little more understanding."  

"Leah, there's things you don't know. Something I should have told you  as soon as we made it out of that camp but I just couldn't figure out how..."  

"Well then say it now. What's had you acting like such an ass the last couple of days?" Leah asked with annoyance as she ran her fingers through her mares mane.  

"It's about...." Chance's words were cut off when a rifle shot echoed in the air. Three sets of eyes flew toward the house and Chance raised his arm.   

"Don't shoot us, father!" he exclaimed. Chase watched the man jump on a horse and ride toward them. As he neared, Chase saw that Leah indeed looked much like her father. The same dark hair, cleft chin and green eyes, though her fathers were sharp whereas Leah's were wide and warm.  

"Chance?" Paul Gordon stated as he rode closer.  

"Yeah, and I got Leah with me." Paul's green eyes widened slightly when he saw his daughter.  

"Leah..... You're alive?"  

"Of course I am." she replied with a reassuring smile. Paul nodded and then looked at Chase.  

"Who are you?"  

"Chase Caldwell." he replied, holding out his hand. Paul simply looked at his offered hand and then crossed his arms over his saddle horn.  

"Awful white name don't you think?"  

"Daddy, don't." Leah snapped. "Chase is a good man. He kept me safe all these weeks." Paul's eyes narrowed as he looked from his daughter to the Indian.  

"Where exactly have you been? I was sure you were dead or as good as after being with those men."  

"I was with Chase." Leah replied. Before anymore could be said, Sarah Gordon came running from the house.  

"Leah!" she exclaimed, as she lifted her skirts and ran as quickly as she could across the dusty ground. Chase jumped from Blaze and helped Leah from her mare, knowing that her side still hurt her quite bad.  

Quickly Paul was putting his body between Chase and Leah and leading her away toward her mother. Chase watched and felt fear settling into his gut. He didn't like fear. He had never truly felt it before Leah. He had never had any reason to fear anything. He was faster than most men, tougher than most men and could deal with almost any threat. The thought of death had never bothered him or made him frightened.  

But the thought of losing Leah? That made him tremble like a tiny child during the worst of spring storms. He knew that she loved him but what if her family convinced her to give him up? What if they refused to accept him? Could he ask her to leave them once again just for him?  

The answer to that question was no. Chase would not force Leah to do anything. If she came with him it would be because she chose to. He would never ask her to make such a sacrifice for him.  

"I told you and Leah both that you couldn't be together. You'd be better off leaving now and saving yourself the heartache." Chance informed Chase and Chase's black eyes narrowed as he stared at the man.  

"Why do you hate me so? Is it because of my skin? My father was half white and his white sire raped his mother. So what part of me is really the savage?"  

"It's not that I hate you. I was raised to see you people as dangerous and I'm smart enough to see that you are dangerous. You have no home, no job, no real way to support my sister other than murdering and stealing to get what you need. You would take her away from us and turn her into something that we don't want her to be. Or you would get her killed or murdered by one of the many enemies you no doubt have. And it's not just that...."  

'What else is there?" Chase asked dryly.  

"She's not free to be with you. She's already promised to someone else who is in the house and waiting for her."  

---

"We were so worried about you!" Sarah exclaimed as she hugged her daughter. "Your father was certain you were dead but I never lost hope that you'd come back to us alive." Sarah's hug grew tighter and Leah gasped in pain.  

"You're hurt!" Paul stated, his tone accusing. "How did you get hurt?!"

"She was shot." Chase stated as he and Chance walked to them, leading their horses by the reins.  

"Shot?!" Sarah gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Where?" Leah pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal the cotton bandage Chase had made from his only other extra shirt. He was still shirtless and had been since leaving the camp, not that Leah was going to complain about that. Though perhaps a shirt would have helped him to look more civilized in her parent's eyes.  

"How did this happen?" Paul demanded, glaring at Chase. "You say my daughter was in your care, how did she get shot?" Chance cleared his throat but Chase spoke before he could.  

"We were captured. In our attempt to escape Leah was grazed by a bullet. Painful, yes. Deadly, no." Leah saw her mother's eyes go up and down Chase's body before she blushed deeply and looked down at her feet.  

"Your arm looks injured as well." Sarah said pointing at the graze on Chase's own arm.  

"No worse than wounds I've had before." he replied and Leah saw her father taking in the scars on Chase's copper skin. Most of those scars had come from the claws and teeth of the mountain lion he had battled to save her life but a few were bullet wounds from before Leah had known him.  

"Chance, ride to town and get the doc so he can come tend to Leah's wound." Paul said matter of factly.  

"That's not necessary, father. Chase has been taking care of it. Look at it for yourself, there is no swelling or infection."  

"I would prefer someone with medicinal knowledge looks at the wound." Paul said, refusing to even cast a glance at Chase. Leah felt her temper flare. Chase was being patient and calm, respectful even, and her father was being a giant horses ass. It was no less than what she had expected from him but still it angered her.  

"My wound is fine. It hurts but it's fine."  

"Of course it is, dear." Sarah said with a placating tone. "You must be exhausted after being held prisoner for so long. How did Chase manage to save you?"  

"And why." Paul added coldly.  

"Oh but she wasn't a prisoner." Chance informed their parents. "She was there by choice. With him." Chance added, tilting his head toward Chase.  

"You mean to tell me you chose to leave us and then chose to stay with those that attacked you and Benjamin?" Paul demanded as his green eyes sparked with temper and he took a step away from Leah.  

"No, of course not! It wasn't like that. Chase didn't have anything to do with what happened to Benjamin. He was just there and he kept me safe and I... I fell in love with him."  Leah had known her father would erupt but it was worse than even she had expected.  

He threw his arms in the air and began ranting so quickly and loudly that Leah could not understand a word he said. Her mother shook her head and moved away from Leah, making the sign of the cross on her chest, which surprised Leah since she hadn't been aware that her mother was catholic.  

Leah fought the urge to put her hands over her ears to block out her father's unintelligible ranting. She had gotten used to being around Chase, a man who rarely spoke and certainly never yelled, that to suddenly be back around her father and brother who both liked to rant and rave when they were angry was nerve wracking.  

"You've laid with a savage haven't you! You've played whore for him?!" Paul demanded as he stepped forward with his hand raised and Leah knew he was fully prepared to smack her. She braced herself for the impact and squeezed her eyes shut tight, however when the sound of her fathers hand striking flesh reached her ears she felt no pain.  

Slowly she opened her eyes one at a time and then gasped when she realized that Chase had stepped between she and her father and her father's hand had struck his tense, rock hard cheek instead.  

Leah instantly looked at her father who seemed just as shocked as she was. He took a step back and lowered his hand as his green eyes blinked several times.  

"Oh no." Sarah whimpered as she wrung her hands in her skirt. Chance appeared to be fighting back shocked laughter as their normally tough as nails father found himself on the receiving end of intimidation.  

"You will not strike her." Chase warned, his voice low and as cold as ice.  

"You...You will not tell me what to do. You will leave here now! You have ruined my daughter!" Paul ordered, recovering quickly from his moment of fear.  

"Insult her again and I will end your life whether you are her father or not." Chase hissed.  

"You're a savage!" Sarah exclaimed.  

"I have done nothing but love and protect your daughter. Your husband has beaten her and put her down, forced her to run away. Which of us is the true savage?"  

"Mamma, daddy, enough of this." Leah said coming between her parents and Chase. "I love Chase and he is a good man and I am going to marry him."  

"You can't do that." Sarah said quickly.

"Why can't I? Other than because of the fact that you don't like him, even though you don't know him." Leah asked with a roll of her eyes.  

"Because you have been promised to someone else, Leah. Someone that loves you and has been waiting for you to come home."  

"Who are you talking about?" Leah demanded as Chase stiffened behind her.  

"Me." Benjamin replied as he slowly rolled himself out the door and onto the porch. "It's good to see you again, Leah."  

---

"Benjamin." Leah gasped. Her head began to spin and her knees gave out beneath her. Suddenly she felt Chase's strong arms close around her waist and it seemed as if they grounded her and gave her the courage to look at Benjamin, her fiance, the man she thought had died so long ago...

"It's me, Leah." he said softly. Leah shook her head.  

"I saw them... they killed you.."

"No, they didn't." he replied with a sad laugh. "I almost wish they would have but they weren't that nice."  

"What.. What do you mean?" Leah asked, only half hearing what he was saying. Her mind was racing wondering just how he had lived... Why he had lived.   

"Whoever shot that bullet got me good. I'm stuck in this chair," Benjamin sighed and ran his hands over the wooden arms. "For the rest of my life."  

Chase considered making that a very short time. He could already see what this man was going to do. He was going to play on Leah's sympathies to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was Leah. He was going to use her caretaking spirit against her and, with the help of her family, cause her to feel guilty for ever thinking of another man when he needed her so badly.  

Chase felt that fear and dread building inside of him. He had thought the bad thing that had been going to happen was what had happened with Petey but now he was thinking he'd been wrong. He was thinking he'd been very wrong.  

"Boss." Leah stated distractedly.  

"What?" Benjamin asked.  

"The man who shot you... his name was Boss. He's dead now." Benjamin smiled at her.  

"Are you okay?"  he asked.  

"No." Leah admitted. "I think I need to sit down for a while." Chase was about to lift her into his arms and take her onto the porch to sit but Paul and Chance pushed him out of the way and each of them grabbed one of her arms.  

Chase waited for her to protest but he could tell by the dazed look on her face that she wasn't even fully aware of what had happened.  

"You don't come in our home." Paul warned Chase and then he and Sarah led her up the steps and into the house.  

"Who are you?" Benjamin asked Chase and Chase crossed his arms over his broad chest and raised his brow.  

"Chase Caldwell."  

"And you were with those men that did this to me and took Leah?"  

"I was with them, yes." Benjamin glared at Chase for several long moments, not bothering to attempt to mask the hate and anger in his eyes. Finally, very slowly, he backed up and disappeared through the open door of the large white house Leah shared with her family.  

"I think he wants you dead." Chance said matter of factly.  

"One of many." Chase replied with a half shrug.  

"You leaving now?" Chance asked and Chase couldn't keep himself from snorting.  

"Not until my woman tells me to."  

"She's going to tell you to." Chance assured him. "With mama, daddy and Benjamin working on her she'll tell you to leave."  

"We will see." Chase replied, doing his best to sound unconcerned when inside his heart felt as if it was going to explode from its fast beat and his stomach was tied in knots.  

"Why did you lie for me?" Chance asked suddenly. "Why did you tell them that Leah got shot escaping?"  

"I saw no reason to have them angry with you as well. There is enough hate in the air for me without adding to it."  

"I don't hate you, Chase. I think you really love and care about my sister and I know that's why you're going to do the right thing." Chase's eyes narrowed.  

"And what would that be?"  

"You love Leah. But you aren't what's best for her."

"You think Benjamin is?"

"Not really." Chance replied with a sigh as he kicked at the ground. "But out of the two of you he is the safer choice. What I said before is still true. You have nothing to offer my sister. And your way of life is dangerous, not even you can deny that. She'll end up broken or dead if she stays with you. You'll ruin her completely, though you may have already done that by bedding her." Chase's eyes flashed and Chance shrugged. "You know it's the truth."  

"So what would you have me do?" Chase demanded.  

"What's best for Leah. She's going to be torn. She's not going to know what to do. She's going to feel a loyalty and a pity toward Benjamin and in the end that's going to make her choose him. The best thing you can do is make it easier on her and make the decision for her."

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

“Mother, leave us alone for a while.” Leah finally barked out at her mother who had been hovering over Leah and Benjamin in the sitting room since they’d entered ten minutes ago. Her father had stormed off to the kitchen, not wanting to be in the same room as his ‘ruined’ daughter.

Sarah gave a hopeful look to Benjamin and then quickly excused herself to join her husband in the kitchen.  

"I can't believe you're alive." Leah quietly admitted as she stared at her hands, crossed in her lap.  

"I could say the same to you." Benjamin replied, frowning as he looked at her clothes. She was dressed in clothes fit for a savage not the lady he knew her to be. "Your mother and father were kind enough to let me stay with them since obviously I can no longer live alone. I'm not sure what to do with my life now that I am useless."  

"You're not useless." Leah countered passionately. "You are a good man."  Benjamin smiled at her and reached out a hand, placing it on her knee. Leah stared at that hand and wondered at the lack of passion she felt from his touch. Had she truly thought herself desperately in love with him such a short time ago?

 "I truly thought those men had killed you, Leah, and I thought it was all my fault for allowing you to run away that night."  

"Benjamin." Leah sighed and looked up into his loving blue eyes. She felt a nagging guilt deep in her heart as she looked at him. He loved her. It was clear in his eyes. Benjamin had always loved her. He was gentle, soft, poetic and kind. All the things she had thought she wanted in a man and yet he was so different from what she had found in Chase. "What happened that night was not your fault. You know that I am not the kind of woman that a man can allow or not allow to do things. If I set my mind to something then I do it and I would have run away that night with or without you."  

"I should have kept you safe, Leah. I should have been quicker with that gun or..."  

"Benjamin, you aren't that kind of man and that's what I always loved the most about you. There was nothing you could have done to save us that night. Trust me, those men knew what they were doing and they knew they were going to kill you before we ever saw them."

"I love you, Leah." he whispered and Leah swallowed hard and dropped her gaze back down to her hands.  

"Benjamin..."  

"You don't love me anymore? Is it because I'm in this chair or is it because you love that monster outside that helped put me here?"  

"I understand your anger but Chase is not a monster and he did nothing to cause you to be in that chair." Leah replied, though she felt awkward defending Chase to Benjamin.  

"He did nothing to keep it from happening either. He was happy to see me dead because it got him you."  

"No...."  

"Leah, you are a smart woman! You are stubborn, loyal to a fault and headstrong but being ignorant has never been one of your faults." Leah felt a moment of annoyance at Benjamin. Was he saying that her stubborness, loyalty and headstrong nature were faults? Chase had certainly never made her feel as if her personality was flawed. "He did 

not try to save me; the man you were supposed to marry. Instead he took you for himself and somehow he has endeared himself to you.“ Benjamin continued.

"Benjamin, it's not like that." Leah argued and Benjamin shook his head sadly.  

"Isn't it? You are the love of my life, Leah. Thoughts of one day seeing your sunshine smile again are all that kept me going when the doctor told me my legs would never work again. And I know you love me as well. You have just been brainwashed by this man and those that were with him. You believed loving him was your only choice because I was dead and he was all that could keep you safe against those that would do you harm."  

Leah stared at Benjamin with shock as she took a moment to digest his words. What he was saying made an odd sort of sense but she refused to entertain the notion for a single second.  What she and Chase had was true and it was real. Yes it had been born of less than ideal circumstances but that didn't lessen the sincerity of what she felt... did it?

"Benjamin, please, don't do this to me...."  

"Do what? Leah I would never hurt you. If you think what you feel for that man is true then by all means I will release you from the promise your parents made to me and send you off with him with my best regards. But I want you to think carefully before you make that decision. I don't want to see you make a mistake and only realize it to be a mistake once it's too late.

"Chase is an Indian which means you'll never be accepted in any society situation. He has no skills other than to be an outlaw because if he did then he would have been using them instead of stealing hard earned money from people who need it. He may paint a pretty picture of what your lives will be like but you will be in constant danger.  

"I don't have much more to offer than he does which is why I would never tell you that you had to marry me. If you don't want to marry me than you don't have to but you can't marry that man... Not after what he did to me. What he did to us. You say he didn't have anything to do with it but he did. He could have spoken up. He could have tried to stop them. He offered no resistance. No argument."  

"He has saved my life more than once." Leah countered, though her voice was low and her heart heavy with doubt. Was Benjamin right? She just didn't know... Benjamin had never lied to her and she knew that even now his heart was in the right place. He wasn't trying to force her to marry him he was simply wanting her to think hard about marrying Chase.  

Still she wished he hadn't put these doubts in her heart.  

"I've said all I can say." Benjamin gave in with a sigh. "You'll do what you think is right and I'll support you..... You look very good considering what you've probably gone through."  

"It wasn't that bad. I thought you were dead and cried a lot for a while but I guess a person pushes pain aside in order to survive. In truth Chase made my life at the camp easy..."  

"Have you and he.... Have you...?" Benjamin shifted his arms and rolled his shoulder as he cleared his throat and flushed with embarrassment.  

"Yes." Leah replied, picking at her pants and wondering why she suddenly felt shame for what she had done.  

"That's why your father called you ruined?"  

"Yes."  

"You're not ruined, Leah. You were an angel back then and you are still an angel now. Nothing could ever ruin you in my eyes." Leah let out a choked sob and buried her head in her hands. She was lost. She was confused. She had no idea what to do.  

"Leah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...."  

"Just stop, please." Leah gasped and she stood and ran from the room, up the stairs and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.  

She cried a long time. So long in fact that the light coming through her bedroom window began to fade. She knew what she had to do... But doing it was going to be harder than anything else she had ever faced in her life.  

---

“Where is Chase?” Leah asked her brother as she stepped out onto the porch at sunset. Chance looked up from the stick he was carving on and nodded toward the side of the house.

"He's up on the lookout hill. He's been up there with that horse of his since you went inside."  

"Okay." Leah whispered as she stuck out her trembling chin and clenched her fists tight against the tears that wanted to fall. She would think that she had none left but obviously she did. Her mother had come to her room during the time she'd been crying in her bed and let her know how sweet Benjamin was. How much he truly loved Leah.  

Her father had made an appearance as well and let her know that she should be flattered that Benjamin was still willing to marry her despite the fact that she had allowed an Indian to bed her. Leah had wanted to get angry and shout at her father but her voice had been taken from her by her intense sobs.  

"Leah..." Chance started but she shook her head and held up her hand.  

"Please don't." she pleaded. "I've heard more lectures and advice today than I can handle. I can't stand to listen to one more word."  

"Fair enough." Chance said with a nod as he went back to carving on the stick. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and I love you." Leah felt her resolve fail her and tears filled her eyes. Chance stood and hugged her tight, letting her cry against her chest.  

"Are you getting ready to do what I think you are?" he asked softly and she nodded against his shirt. He kissed her hair as she pulled away from him and then Leah wrapped her arms tight around herself and stepped off the porch. It was a long walk up to lookout hill and it would be made longer by the dread she felt in every step.

---

Chase stood on a hill and looked out over the rolling plains. He heard an owl hooting in the distance as darkness began to fall and the sun sank beyond the horizon. Knowing what was coming yet waiting for it to happen tested every ounce of self control that Chase had to its limits.  

Chase was going to leave. Better for Leah to be with Benjamin, a man who her family was ready to approve of, the first man she had given her heart to, and a man who the world would accept her being with than with him. Chance was an annoying, loud-mouthed jackass  but he was also right. Chase had nothing to offer Leah other than his love and in a world like the one he lived in, a world where danger was everywhere and you risked death everyday, his love may prove to not be enough.

Leah was his life mate. She was the single best thing that had ever happened in his life and yet he knew he could not keep her. He loved her too much to make her make this choice. He loved her too much to take her into the unknown and risk her life. For the first time in his entire life, Chase was going to give up. He was going to let go and walk away.  

He heard soft footsteps behind him and didn't have to turn to know it was Leah approaching him. He had memorized every sound she made. He knew her footsteps, her breathing, her sighs, her scents..... He squeezed his eyes closed against the burning wetness threatening to spill from them and swallowed hard.  

"I'm leaving." he said gruffly as she came to stand beside him. Leah looked up at his tense face and saw the redness in his eyes, the tightness in his jaw.  

"Are you going to let me speak?" she asked, though her voice was rough from all the tears she had cried.  Chase just stood there with his arms folded, waiting for her to say what she wanted to say. 	

"This is the hardest thing I've ever done, Chase... I.. I love you so much." her voice broke and her tears were more than Chase could bear. He cleared his throat and sniffed loudly before walking around her and grabbing Blaze's reins.  

"I'm leaving." he repeated, unable to come up with anything else to say that would help the situation.  

"Please tell me what you're thinking." Leah begged. She wanted him to beg her to come with him. If he would just beg then she knew she could find the strength to ignore her parents, ignore Benjamin, ignore her conscience and go with him. But she knew deep down that Chase Caldwell was not a man that begged for anything.  

"I am thinking that you are choosing another man over me." Chase ground out, though still he didn't look at her. Leah shook her head and put her hands on the bare skin of his back. She heard him hiss as if her touch pained him and he stiffened.  

"It's not like that, Chase. I.. I chose him before I ever knew you! How can I abandon him now? He was out on those plains because I asked him to be and he ended up worse than dead because of it! He needs me." she began to sob. "He needs me." she choked out again.   

“

I need you!

“ Chase wanted to shout but he didn’t. He knew this was for the best and he would not use guilt to get Leah to come with him. She had made her choice, the choice he had known she would make, and now he was making his.

"Yes he does." Was all Chase said in response before he hoisted himself into Blaze's saddle. Neither of them moved. Neither of them said a word. An owl hooted in the distance, as if mocking them and letting them know the hour grew late.  

"You're hurting... I hate myself for hurting you, Chase. I never wanted to hurt you." Leah finally whispered, hugging herself tighter and swiping her oversized shirtsleeve across her tearstained and swollen face.

Chase knew what he had to do. He would not let Leah hate herself for this. He just had to give her a reason to want him gone. Hating himself for what he knew he was about to, Chase looked down into her wide green eyes.  

"You are what your brother said you are. You meant nothing to me. Or at least no more than any common whore would. I am leaving now and truthfully I am glad that this has happened. One less thing I have to worry about now."  He saw the pain in her eyes but then she shook her head and took a step toward him.  

"You don't mean that... I know what you're doing. You're trying to make me angry at you so that I want you to leave." 	

"You know me, Leah. I do not say things that I don't mean."  

"You've told me you love me plenty of times. Were those things you didn't mean or is this new revelation what you really don't mean? You are contradicting yourself." Leah pointed out and Chase hardened his face and looked down his nose at her.  

"Go back to your fiance', Leah. He is the only one who will want you now." With that Chase kicked Blaze hard in the sides and the stallion took off into the night. Leah fell to her knees as she watched him go and sobbed silently into her hands.  

It had looked so easy for him to leave her! And had he meant what he said? Leah refused to believe that he had meant those words. Those were simply words of anger. Words to help mask the hurt he'd been feeling and take the blame off of Leah and place it onto himself.  

Even when she was breaking his heart, and her own, Chase had been thinking of only her and trying desperately to be the savage everyone claimed him to be to make her choice easier to live with.  

"I love you, Chase Caldwell. I'm so sorry." she whispered to the night. She had no choice but to accept the responsibilities that had been laid on her shoulders the instant she'd seen Benjamin in that wheelchair. She had a fondness for the man, she loved him, though she was not in love with him. And it was her fault he was the way he was. If she hadn't insisted on running away to wed he would not have been shot.  

Boss might be dead and he may have failed in killing Chase or raping Leah but he had still managed to destroy them. He had done it over a month ago and hadn't even realized it to be so.  

"Leah? Leah you've been up here for over an hour. It's dark and you need to be coming back down to the house now." Chance whispered quietly behind her. Leah nodded and he helped her to her feet. He pulled off his duster coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.  

“I know I’ve been an ass the last few days but it’s only because I knew what was going to happen and I was hoping to make you see the truth before it all came crashing down and broke your heart.”

"You should have told me about Benjamin." she accused, though her voice lacked any real venom. Inside she felt numb and therefore incapable of real anger.  

"I know I should have. But I saw how much you loved Chase and I guess I was hoping to come between the two of you before you found out about Benjamin being alive."  

"It doesn't matter now." Leah admitted with a sigh. "Life is what it is."  

They walked the rest of the way to the house in silence and Paul, Sarah and Benjamin were all in the sitting room when they entered the house.  

"So, girl, what are you doing?" Paul asked roughly and Leah felt Chance's arm give her a supportive squeeze. That was so like the men in her family. Always completely supportive just so long as you were doing exactly what they wanted.  

"I'm staying." she replied, looking down at the worn out shoes on her feet instead of at her family.  

"Leah, that is wonderful!" Sarah exclaimed. "I know you're sad about Chase but honestly it would have never worked out with him. He simply wasn't meant for you, darling." Leah chose not to respond, knowing that anything she said would make the situation worse and not better.  

"I'm going to bed." she finally said with a sigh. Sarah and Paul quickly left the room and when they signaled for Chance, he left as well. Leah felt Benjamin's eyes on her and looked up to see him staring at her with concern.  

"This isn't really what you want." he stated matter of factly and she shrugged.  

"What I want doesn't matter to anyone and what I want isn't important. I made a promise to you and agreed to be your wife. It would be terrible of me to turn my back on you now."  

"Because of this chair?" Benjamin asked quietly.  

"Because you need me. Chase doesn't, he'll be fine."  

"So you still want to marry me?" Benjamin asked with hope in his voice. Leah forced a small smile onto her face.  

"Of course I do. I should never have stayed away like I did." she replied, though she refused to apologize for her relationship with Chase. She did not regret a second they had spent together and never would.  

"I love you, Leah." Benjamin assured her and Leah just let out a tired sigh and headed for the stairs.  

"I'll see you in the morning." she replied.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"You never smile anymore." Benjamin stated as he and Leah sat on the back porch one afternoon. Two weeks it had been since Chase had ridden away. Two weeks since Leah had felt much of anything other than a dull numbness.  

"Don't I?" she asked as she sat her sewing in her lap. "I hadn't realized...."   

"You really love that man don't you?" Leah stared at Benjamin's soft face with surprise. This was the first time he had mentioned Chase since Chase had left. Leah felt that lump of emotion enter her throat and her eyes instantly went misty as she thought of her Indian.  

She quickly looked away from Benjamin and breathed deep to stem off the tears.  

"I love you too, Benjamin." she replied. "You must be thirsty, I'll go get you some lemonade." She stood quickly and was startled when he grabbed her arm tightly in his hand to stop her exit from the porch.  

"You are not going to walk away from me right now." he stated with more authority in his voice than he had ever used before with her.  

"What do you want from, Benjamin? I gave him up didn't I? I learned just last week that I'm not...." her voice broke. "I'm not carrying his child. What more do I need to do for you?"  

Benjamin sighed and released his hold on her arm.  

"You can get me that lemonade." he replied gently as he laid his arm back over his lap. Leah lifted her skirts and quickly walked over the threshold and into the house.  

Benjamin stared off over the hills and plains. What had he done? What he had always loved the most about Leah was that she was the complete opposite of him. He was calm, grounded, unexcitable, and most would say boring. Leah was wild, temperamental, headstrong and fierce. She loved with passion and always had a spark in her eyes and the most beautiful smile in the world.... Or at least that had been Leah. That had been Leah before the accident... Before Chase had left.  

Now this new Leah rarely spoke. He had yet to see her smile or to see that spark in her eyes. She didn't argue, she didn't voice her opinions. She simply did whatever was asked of her and kept her eye glued to the floor. She was a shell of the Leah he loved. A ghost of her former self and Benjamin's heart broke every single time he looked at her.  

But how could he let her go? How could he tell her to leave him and find that other man? Benjamin loved her so much. She made him feel young and she made him feel alive.....Benjamin shook his head because that wasn't entirely true. At least not anymore. Nowadays he felt like a burden. As if he was simply a responsibility that lay heavy on Leah's delicate shoulders and that was not what he wanted to be.  

The only question now was what exactly he was going to do about it.  

Benjamin saw Chance walking between the barns and whistled to get the mans attention. He motioned for Chance to come to him and Chance jogged across the yard to the porch steps. He pulled off his hat and swiped his shirt sleeve across his sweat slicked forehead.  

"What's going on?" he asked.  

"I wanted to talk to you about something.. But it's something that your family is not going to be very open about hearing." Benjamin replied as he rubbed his hands across the wooden arm rests of his wheelchair.  

"Something tells me this has to do with Leah." Chance replied as he sat down sideways on the steps and laid his hat across his knees.  

"Yes it does." Benjamin replied. "I don't know if her staying here was such a good thing."  

"So you've noticed it too." Chance stated as he sighed and looked at the barn.  

"Yes." Benjamin admitted sadly. "It's as if her light...."  

"Has gone out." Chance finished. "I didn't expect her to act this way. I knew she loved him but I thought she'd cry for a while, maybe get mad and throw tantrums with all of us and then slowly start to adjust but it's like she's just turned herself off."

"Exactly. I can't live with myself knowing that I have done that to her. Can you?"  

"We did not do it. That Indian is the one who left."  

"Can you truly blame him?" Benjamin asked incredulously. "As much as I have been raised to see his kind as savages, he is the only one who was truly thinking of Leah's heart and well being that day. I was thinking of my own wants and desires. You were thinking of what your parents wanted just the same as your parents were. No one stopped to look at what Leah wanted.

"From what little I've gathered Chase is a good man if you ignore the fact that he is an outlaw. He kept Leah safe. He protected her and by his actions that day I know that he truly loved her. He did not fight and protest, instead he left, protecting her from her parents anger and her own inner turmoil."  

"He saved my life too." Chance admitted. "And he covered for me. Leah wasn't shot while trying to escape." 	

"She wasn't?" Benjamin asked with a raised brow. "I sense a story, please tell."  

"Apparently a man attempted to rape Leah. Chase got there just in time and killed the man. When I came upon the scene all I saw was a savage holding my bruised and mud covered sister. I pulled my gun of course and demanded he get away from her. And then much to my shock and horror she defended him! She admitted that she was with him because she wanted to be! I saw red and I tried to shoot him, Leah being who Leah is, jumped in front of the bullet."  

"You shot Leah?" Benjamin demanded with shock. Chance spit into the dust and lowered his head with shame.  

"Yes."  Approaching footsteps had them ending their conversation and Leah walked back out onto the porch with a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses.  

"You don't have to stop talking on my account." she stated as she sat the glasses on the small table and filled them. She handed one to Benjamin and the other to her brother. "I guess I should have brought three." she added with a sigh as she sat down.  When both Benjamin and Chance remained silent she looked at them questioningly.  

"What's going on?"  

"You aren't happy."  Chance stated simply. Leah shifted in the seat and forced a smile to her face.  

"Of course I am."  

"You never have been a good liar." Chance countered as he took a sip of lemonade.  

"I'm happy enough. I made my choices and I won't waste time regretting them and wishing for what could have been."  

"You mean what should have been." Benjamin spoke up. "You shouldn't have stayed here. You should have left with the man you truly love."  

Leah stared at both of them with complete shock and then suddenly somewhere inside of her she felt a smoking ember suddenly spark back to life. Her temper surged and the fire of it flashed in her green eyes. The first real emotion that either Chance or Benjamin had seen in them in two long weeks.  

"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed loudly as she stood up and clenched her fists. "Don't go with him, Leah. He's dangerous, Leah. You don't really love him, Leah. You have to stay here, Leah. That's what's right, Leah!!!!! Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that the general consensus of the men on this porch just two weeks ago?!"  

"Yes it was." Chance replied, smiling at the sudden spark of life in his sister.  

"And now that Chase is gone and I have no idea how to find him you change your minds?!"  

"Yes." Benjamin said. He took Leah's clenched fist between his hands and looked up at her calmly. "I love you and yes back then I didn't think you really loved Chase but I was wrong. The second you stepped back into the house after seeing him off I recognized that the spark of life in you had gone out."  

"Spark of life.... Are you a complete idiot?!" Leah demanded yanking her hand away. "You and my family forced me to push the love of my life away, my soul mate, because you think he's no good and I owe you my loyalty because of your condition," Leah nodded toward his wheelchair. "and all you can say is that you noticed my spark for life had gone out??? My heart was ripped out that day! I died inside that day and none of you said a word! You let me go for two weeks and you never said a word!"  

"Would it do any good to say we're sorry?" Chance asked and Leah shook her head.  

"No." she snapped as she crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. "Now what am I supposed to do?"  

"Find your man." Benjamin replied.  

"I'll go with you. Chase would probably come back and kill us all if I didn't and something happened to you."  

"But mother already has the wedding all planned. She sent out the invitations the day after Chase left!" Leah reminded them and Benjamin smiled up at her.  

"And since when has going against your parents ever bothered you?" Leah felt the first real smile in weeks come to her lips but then she frowned.  

"But what about you? I made a promise to you...."  

"And I do love you, Leah. I love you enough to see how miserable you are and want you to be happy. I'll be just fine, I promise."  

“Thank you, Benjamin.” Leah said as a tear escaped her eye. She bent and kissed his cheek and he nodded.

"Just don't' forget about me, okay? Send me a letter now and then to let me know how you are."  

"Of course." Leah promised. She looked at Chance.  

"I have no idea where he is."  

"Shouldn't be too hard to find an Indian with a broken heart. We'll just have to follow the trail of trashed saloons and shot up towns."  

"He's not like that." Leah snapped and Chance's smile grew broader.  

"It's good to see that you're getting back to being yourself."  

"When are we going to leave?"  

"I say we go tonight once mama and daddy are in bed." Chance replied with a shrug.  

"They'll never forgive you for helping me." she warned her brother and he snorted as he stood up and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.  

"I figure it's about time I give 'em something to be mad at me about. I can't let you get all the attention."  

---

"Where is my son and daughter?!" Paul bellowed as he stood before Benjamin in the dining room the next morning. As Benjamin had expected Paul had reacted by blowing up with rage as soon as Chance and Leah had not come to breakfast and he had realized they were gone.  

"I don't know." Benjamin replied truthfully. "They left in the night according to that note." he added, nodding toward the note that had been crumpled by Paul's angry hands and tossed carelessly into the dusty corner.  

"I know what the damn letter said!" Paul exclaimed as he raked his hand roughly through his dark hair. "What I don't know is why they left and where they went!"  

"And you think I do?" Benjamin asked calmly.  

"Yes I do! You are much too calm and not nearly sad or worried enough that your fiancee has run off a week before your wedding!" Paul bellowed and Sarah sniffed in the corner. Ben shrugged.  

"I would think that it should be obvious where she went." he replied. Paul began pacing the kitchen and shoving the chairs as he passed them.  

"What are you talking about?!" he snapped.  

"The Indian." Sarah whispered.  

"That's right." Benjamin stated with a grin as he relaxed back against his chair.  

"Why in the world would she run off to be with that man when she's supposed to marry you in a week and why the hell are you so damn okay with it?" Paul practically snarled as he slammed his fist on the counter.  

"Because she's in love with Chase and Benjamin is in love with her." Sarah spoke up with the tiniest hint of a smile playing across her lips.  

"Don't tell me you are okay with this?!" Paul demanded of his wife and she shrugged one dainty shoulder.  

"It's Leah's life. Do I think that being with Chase will cause her pain? Yes I do. But I also think that it's her choice to make, darling. I've seen how numb she's acted since coming back to us and I hate it."  

"Come on now, Sarah! She was just throwing a temper tantrum like she always does when she doesn't get her way." Paul replied with a scoff.  

"No she wasn't. That was the problem. If she had been kicking and screaming I wouldn't have worried about her but she was just so... Resigned." Sarah said with a sad shrug. "I hated seeing my spirited baby girl like that and know that we did it to her! Could you live with yourself forever knowing you did that to her? Knowing that you caused that change?"  

Paul paused for a moment as her question sunk in and then he shook his head roughly and headed for the door. He slammed his hat onto his head and looked back at Benjamin and Sarah.  

"I have animals to feed." he grumbled. "But mark my words, that Indian coming into our daughters life is going to cause nothing but pain for this family."  

---

"So where exactly do you think we should head to, little sister?" Chance asked Leah around noon as the sun beat down on them. Leah tied her bonnet tighter, thankful for the ruffles that helped provide her face with shade.  

"I don't know." she replied as she bit her lip. "I'm trying to think like him but that's something that's very hard to do."  

"I know if I was heart broke I'd head for the nearest town, saloon and brothel." Chance replied as he pulled his canteen from his saddlebags. He took a drink and nearly spit it back out as he fought back laughter at the look of horror on Leah's face.  

"Not Chase." she replied, shaking her head passionately. "He wouldn't have done something like that."  

"I wouldn't be so sure." Chance warned. He didn't want his sister to be entirely heartbroken if they found Chase in the arms of the nearest warm woman. It was only a natural reaction for a man when his heart had been stomped on.  

"Chase wouldn't do that." Leah repeated and she hoped she was right. While she knew she couldn't be angry with him if he had sought comfort in another woman's arms, she just couldn't see Chase doing that. They had had many talks about his beliefs in life mates and the commitment that was made to one.  

Chase's father had found his life mate in Chase's mother and even after her death he had not ever allowed another woman into his heart or his bed.  

"Okay then, if we're not looking at brothels then what about saloons?"  

"Chase doesn't drink." Leah replied. "He says his body doesn't take alcohol well. It turns him violent."  

"A heart broke man might want to get a little violent."  

"No, not Chase."  

"You seem to have a lot of faith in him. You put him on a pedestal, Leah, and he's bound to let you down eventually." Chance warned and Leah just smiled.  

"Not Chase." she replied with such certainty that Chance found himself believing her. He sighed and looked over the horizon. 	

"Okay then. No brothels and no saloons. What town should we head to?" he asked. Leah thought for a moment and then just shook her head  again. 	

"No towns either. Chase isn't the town type." she replied. Chance grumbled and stopped his horse.  

"Then where in the hell are we going?" he demanded and Leah sighed.  

"I don't know." she replied, feeling more than a little hopeless. How did one go about finding a rootless Indian outlaw when one had no idea where said Indian would go?  Then suddenly memories of the time she and Chase has spent together at camp came rushing back to her. She thought of their little valley with the sparkling pool of water and the tree.  

"If you get me to where the camp used to be then I can get us to where I'm thinking he might be at." she said matter of factly and Chance nodded.  

"Alrighty. Here's hoping you're right."

Leah followed behind her brother and prayed that she was right. She could be wrong. There was no guarantee that he'd go to 'their' place. But if he wasn't there then Leah would be completely hopeless and have no idea where to find him. She crossed her fingers and felt a thrill of nervous excitement and anticipation in her stomach at the thought of seeing her soul mate again.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chase sat by the waters edge and stared into the clear depths. He heard birds in the distance and bees were buzzing around him as they went about their daily jobs of gathering pollen to take back to their hives.  

The sun warmed the bronze skin of his back as he sat there motionless just as he had everyday since leaving Leah. Nothing mattered now. Food and water were unimportant. As was moving. He just sat here and stared at the water and thought of her. Thought of the pain he had heard in her voice when she had told him the choice she had to make. It had killed her to make the choice but Chase had understood. He still understood.  

A part of her loved Benjamin and while Chase knew it wasn't the kind of love that he and Leah shared, it was still love. Chase knew of Leah's loyalties and her caretaking spirit. He had known she would not be able to see Benjamin in that wheelchair, have the entire thing blamed on her and laid on her shoulders and be able to leave. He had known that she would stay.  

Chase had died inside. Chase had never in his life needed anyone or anything. He was not the type to become attached. That had all changed when he had met Leah. She was the other half of his soul and without her life lost its meaning.   

So he had come here to where he would feel closest to her and he was slowly dying. Already he had lost some weight and he could feel a weakness in his body that he had never felt before. He cared not. Death would be an almost welcome occurrence. It would mean he would not have to live another day without her.  

That was why he remained still and did not draw a weapon when he heard a rider approaching from behind. A horse snorted and he heard the riders boots hit the ground as he jumped from the saddle. Chase did not turn to see who was coming behind him. He simply stared into the water and waited.  

The sunlight was blocked behind him and he waited for either death or spoken words.  

"Chief, I have to say that you look like shit warmed over and served for breakfast. Who the hell took a piss in your wigwam?"  Chase didn't respond to Yancy's question other than to grunt and then continue to stare into the water.  

"What happened to the squaw?" Yancy asked as he glanced around.  

"She went back to her family." Chase replied, wincing at the pain in his parched throat and the scratchy quality to his voice.   

"Shit." Yancy stated with shock as he sat down next to Chase in the grass. "I didn't figure she'd leave you."  

"She did not want to. Her family was against her being with a savage and as it turns out you did not shoot or beat her fiance quit well enough to kill him, only well enough to paralyze him and cause Leah to feel as if she were responsible to take care of him for the rest of his life."  

"Guess we should have shot him twice." Chase nodded and tossed a stone into the water, watching the ripples that disturbed the once calm and tranquil surface.  

The two men sat in silence for several long moments and Yancy pulled out his flask. He held it out to Chase who shook his head.  

"I forgot, you injuns can't handle white mans fire water can ya, chief?" Chase rolled his eyes, grunted and pushed himself to his feet.  

Instantly he fell back onto the ground, unable to support himself as his head swam.  

"Damn, chief! How long's it been since you had something to eat or drink?" Yancy demanded angrily. Chase shrugged and once again pushed himself up, though this time he moved more slowly and gave his weakened legs time to adjust to once again supporting his weight.  

Yancy rose and angrily stomped to his horse. He pulled a canteen and a sack from his saddlebags and shoved them into Chase's chest.  

"Eat. Drink. It's water." he added. "You need to take care of yourself, chief, she's just a woman. She ain't worth all this."  

Chase had never heard more untrue words in his life. Leah was worth it. Without Leah his life would never be worth living. He needed her and nothing or no one other than her could ever help make things right.  

"Well as intrigin' as this talk has been and as good as company as you are I'm gonna be on my way now. Hopefully I'll see ya again one day and hopefully you'll start taking care of yourself."   

Still Chase said nothing and Yancy sighed as he climbed back on his horse and shook his head.  

Chase watched him ride away and then tossed the canteen and sack to the side before sinking back down in the grass and turning his gaze back to the water.  

---

“So where exactly are we going?” Chance asked as he and Leah made their way across the plains. The sunlight made Leah squint as she glanced over at him.

"I'm hoping he went to our spot. The spot that he had picked out to build our home and raise our family."

"Kinda sentimental ain't it?" Chance asked with a snort and Leah glared at him.  

"Chase isn't like most men. He certainly isn't like father. Chase truly believes in someone meant to be and life long partners. And he isn't afraid to show it either." Chance yawned behind his hand.  

"Sounds kinda strange to me but if he makes you happy then I'm all for it. How much longer till we get there cuz my ass is hurtin' in this saddle."  

"Should be soon." Leah replied as she turned her gaze back ahead of them. She perked up when she heard a horse snort and then Blaze came running down a hill in front of them. His black coat shone in the sunlight and his mane and tail streamed behind him.  

"Holy shit!" Chance said as he went for his gun. The stallion was barreling toward them, tossing his head and snorting as he reared back and slammed his hooves down.  

"Don't shoot him!" Leah exclaimed as she jumped off her horse and walked toward the stallion.  

"Leah, don't make me kill that damn horse! Chase would kill me if I killed it or if I let it kill you so either way I'd be screwed!"  

"Blaze won't hurt me." Leah replied with certainty, though inside she wasn't so sure. She walked toward the horse with her hand out and the beast came to a sudden stop and stared at her. Leah realized that he wasn't wearing his saddle or bridle. He looked more wild than tame and he was all muscle and scary to behold. Leah took a deep breath as she approached the horse and he stomped his feet and tossed his head.  

She could hear Chance behind her mumbling under his breath as she reached out and laid her hand on Blazes cheek.  

"Good boy." she cooed lowly and Blaze quieted instantly. He allowed Leah to touch him for several moments and then turned and went back up over the hill in front of them.  

Leah got back on her horse and started quickly that way.  

"Why the hell did you pet that thing? You do realize that with one kick he'd probably kill you, right?"  

"I know." Leah replied. "We're getting close to Chase if Blaze is here." Chance saw the nervousness on her face so he fell behind her and didn't say anything further.  

Leah was scared. What if Chase didn't want her? What if he saw her and she didn't see happiness in his eyes? Or what if something had happened to him and that's why Blaze was out wandering alone?

Before Leah knew what she was doing she had her mare galloping across the dusty ground.  

She rode to the top of the hill and saw him. He was sitting cross legged on the ground with his back to her and he seemed to be simply staring into the water. His skin was darker than she remembered and she wondered just how long he'd been sitting there with his bare torso under the sun. His long black hair was hanging limp and barely moving with the breeze that was blowing.  

She urged her mare faster, her heart thundering in her chest to know that soon she would soon be looking into Chase's deep black eyes. She would be feeling his big, rough hands on her face in her hair... His warm lips would press against her own...  

Leah trembled in the saddle and then had a much darker thought. Maybe she was about to be told to go to hell. Maybe he would want her to leave and be angry that she had found him at all. She slowed her horse as those doubts began to swirl in her heart and cause her stomach to clench.  

Suddenly Chase turned his head and his black eyes locked with hers over his shoulder. She slid from her horse as she watched him push himself to his feet and turn to face her.  

Leah's legs moved on their own as she closed the distance between them and stopped a foot from where Chase stood. She stared up into his eyes searching them for some sign to tell her what he was thinking. What he was feeling.  

With confusion she realized that his eyes looked unfocused and confused and he was swaying on his feet. What was wrong with him? He still had a warriors body but it was clear that he was thinner and his scars stuck out more sharply against his skin. His face was covered in a light dusting stubble thought it was impossible to tell how long it had been since he shaved since his Indian blood kept him from growing much facial hair.   

"Chase, are you okay?" she whispered. His eyes widened as he reached up a trembling hand and touched her cheek. Leah closed her eyes and leaned into the welcome warmth of his touch.  

"You 

are real.“ he said with awe and Leah frowned as she looked back into his eyes.

"Of course I'm real." Leah replied. "I never should have let you leave without me, Chase. Please tell me that you'll forgive me. I love you so much." Chase's brow furrowed as he studied her face.  

"Forgive you? There is nothing to forgive. I would have expected no less from my mate than for her to sacrifice her own happiness in order to care for someone else."  

"Chase, what have you done? You look so weak."  

"I have not...." Chase stopped suddenly and quickly pulled her into him. He stepped in front of her, blocking her body with his own and pulled his knife. Leah could feel him vibrating with what she assumed was rage and he was practically snarling as he watched Chance approach.  

"You will turn and leave now." he growled. "She has come back to me and I will die before she is taken from me again."  

"Easy, Chase, I ain't taking her anywhere." Chance assured him.  

"He came with me. He wanted to make sure I made it to you safely." Leah added as she tried to come back around Chase, though weak as he appeared to be he was still able to hold her firmly in place with one hand while holding out his knife warningly in the other.  

"She stays with me." Chase warned and Chance nodded as he got off his horse.  

"She better. I didn't get kicked out of the family inheritance just so she could come on back with me."  

"Inheritance?" Chase asked.  

"He's joking." Leah replied with a roll of her eyes.  

"So you're not going to take her away?" Chase asked and Chance sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.  

"You stuck on stupid today or something?" Leah was about to scold her brother but didn't have time before Chase began to sway in front of her and then went down fast.  

Chance managed to grab him just before he hit the ground and Leah covered her mouth with her hands when she realized Chase was unconscious.  

"What's wrong with him?" Chance demanded, grunting under the weight of the taller man.  

"Help me lay him down in the shade over here." Leah said as she grabbed the saddle blanket from her horse and stretched it out beneath the oak.  

"I don't think he's eaten in a while." Chance admitted as Leah ran her hand over Chase's brow.  

"Why wouldn't he eat?" Leah demanded.  

"I ain't never been heart broke but I'm guessin' it has something to do with that."  

"I did this to him." Leah gasped sadly. Chance stood up and walked to Leah's horse. He took her canteen from her saddlebags and filled it up with water from the stream flowing into the pool of water beside them.  

"Here." he said and Leah took it quickly and put it to Chase's mouth. The droplets of water rolled off his lips and down his chin and Leah reached her fingers up and pushed Chase's lips apart. She again poured very slowly and this time Chase responded.  

He drank greedily though he did not wake up and Chance quickly reached out and tilted the canteen away from his mouth. Leah glared up at him and he shook his head.  

"If he drinks too much too quick it'll hurt his stomach and he'll throw it all right back up." he informed her and Leah closed the canteen and looked around.  

"Just leave the sacks of food and go on back home. Mama and daddy are probably worried sick."  

"I'm not leaving you out here alone!" Chance argued.  

"I'm not alone." Leah replied as she ran her fingers gently over Chase's chin, wiping away the water that had spilled there.  

"He's unconscious. He can't protect you." Chance argued. Leah reached in her pocket and pulled out her gun. She laid it across her lap and then looked up at her brother with her brow raised as if in a dare.  

"I'll shoot any threat before it gets close enough to do any damage."  

"You never were a good aim." Chance countered and Leah's eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at her brother.  

"Chase taught me well. I guarantee I can hit anything that might come around. Keep pushing and I'll show you just how good I've gotten." Chance laughed loudly and then bent low to kiss her cheek.  

"Take care of yourself, little sister. Drop us a letter when you get the chance too."  

"I will." Leah assured him with a smile. "Tell daddy not to hate me forever and tell Benjamin I said thank you." Chance nodded, untied the saddlebags from her mare, laid them beside her and then hopped in his own saddle and rode away.  

Leah looked down at Chase and sighed as she lay down and curled up against his body. She had the strongest sensation of homecoming as she listened to the steady rhythm of his heart beating beneath her ear.  

"I'm so sorry, Chase. I'm here now and I'll never leave you again. I promise." she whispered and then she laid her gun on his stomach and closed her eyes.  

---

Chase both hated and loved dreams at the same time as he breathed in the unique scent that was Leah's. This dream was nicer and meaner than most. It seemed as if he could feel her soft body pressed against him. Her silky hair tickled his skin and blew around his face in the breeze.  

He ran his hands along her delicate back and along the swell of her hip, relishing in the trembles he felt course through her body at his touch. Her soft moans reached his ears as he turned his head and let his lips brush against her brow.  

"Are you awake?" Leah's voice was soft, barely more than a whisper and he felt her breath wash against his heated skin. Chase had never had a dream as good as this one. Never one so real and lifelike.  

"Chase, wake up!" Leah's voice was sterner and then he felt her hand smack sharply against his chest. Suddenly he remembered something that had him frowning. He remembered her riding toward him. He had thought she was a trick of his brain due to too much time without proper food and water but then she had come closer and he had realized she was real!  And she had vowed to stay with him!

Chase's eyes flew open and he saw her there. It was not a dream. His Leah was back and she was lying beside him with her head propped in her hand as she looked down at him.  

"You're really here. You're not a dream." he stated as he blinked several times to reassure himself she would not disappear. Leah rolled her beautiful green eyes and raised her brow at him.  

"Of course I'm not a dream and I am very disappointed and angry at you." she added with a sharp edge to her voice. The word disappointed was like a knife through his heart because Chase never wanted to disappoint her. He was happy to make her angry if it meant keeping her safe but disappointed was unacceptable. He pushed himself up, using the tree as a backrest and frowned at her, waiting for her to continue.  

"How long has it been since you've eaten a meal?" she demanded quietly.

"I ate just yesterday." Chase replied, though truthfully it hadn't been a meal. It had been half of a stale biscuit and a sliver of dried beef.  

"Chase, don't lie to me. You were so weak when I arrived that you fell to the ground and Chance had to carry you over to the shade."  

"Food and water seemed to lose it's meaning. I wasn't trying to hurt myself I simply had no urge to do what I needed to." he replied with a shrug.  

"How dare you do that to me!" Leah snapped angrily. Chase was too busy simply enjoying the fact that she was still snuggled up against him to worry about her tone of voice. She could yell and scream and call him any name she wished and he would simply continue to hold her and thank the heavens that she had come back to him.  

"What have I done to you?" he asked  as he pressed his nose against her neck and breathed her in. He felt her tremble and she moaned before replying.  

"Stop doing that, I can't think when you do that."  

"That may be a good thing if what you are thinking of is being angry with me." His lips moved to her collarbone, just at the edge of the neckline of her dress and Leah put her hands in his hair and pulled him away from her.  

"You had no right to not take care of yourself. Did you ever stop to think what it would do to me if you died?"  

"I did not die." Chase replied with a shrug as he caught her wrists in his hand and moved her hands away so he could continue the assault on her neck with his lips.  

"You could have." Leah scolded, moving away from him and making him growl.  

"I was not too sick. I was well enough to protect you."  

"You mean when you almost killed my brother?" Leah asked, doing her best to hide her amusement. Chase felt his lips twitch as he too fought to keep from smiling.  

"Yes, then." Leah kissed his cheek, sending flames raging through his blood and then she moved away leaving him feeling suddenly cold. He tried to pull her back to him but she shook her head.  

"I can tell by the look in your eyes the direction that your mind has taken and the answer is no. You need food and you need to drink and build your strength back up."  

"I have strength enough for what I want to do." Chase promised and he saw her green eyes darken as her cheeks flushed.  

"There will be time for that later." she countered as she stuck her chin out and squared her shoulders. Chase recognized that as the sign that she was not going to give in and he sighed.  

"What's for dinner?" he asked. Leah gave him a guilty smile and held up a sack that he suspected was full of hardtack and jerky.  

"I fell asleep." she admitted. "I hope you're hungry." Chase laughed heartily and pulled her into his arms.  

"I'm starving actually." he admitted and he quickly captured her lips under his own.

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

The wildflowers were fragrant in the air and the sun was warm on her face as Leah lay on her back beside the water and looked up at the clouds. She closed her eyes and then smiled when the sun was suddenly blocked from shining on her skin.  

"You should not let the sun shine on you for too long. You will soon be as dark as me." Chase warned and Leah opened her eyes to look up at him. He stood tall and proud over her. What little weight he had lost he had regained in the week that she had spent here with him. His body was lean and toned and just the sight of that bronze skin pulled taut over those warrior muscles had Leah's body heating instantly.  

"We could really be the chief and his squaw then couldn't we?" she asked and Chase smiled before moving and sitting down cross legged beside her. Leah sat up and scooted closer to him as he wrapped his arm around her.  

"Chase, we haven't really talked about what happened with my family and Benja...."  

"It doesn't matter." Chase stated, cutting her off mid-sentence.  

"It does matter." she countered and he shook his head and removed his arm from her. His face was hard and his eyes angry as he stared down into the water.   

"You are here now and that is what matters. You are mine now. I should not have allowed you to leave me then and I will not allow it again."  

"Allow me?" Leah asked her temper flaring. "Are we back to me being your possession?"  

"Yes." Chase replied simply. He reached for his saddlebags and drug them closer before beginning to rummage through them.  

"Is that right?"  

"Yes." Chase stated again, frowning as if he was worried about her ability to hear and then he fished out his rolled cigarettes and matches.  

"Chase Caldwell, I love you but sometimes you are an ass."  

"Most of the time." Chase agreed as he struck his match against his boot and the flame flared to life.  Leah rolled her eyes at his apparent smugness.  

"So I belong to you and you control my every move?" Leah demanded with annoyance and Chase nodded. Leah was certain she saw his eyes sparkle with mischief but then she could have been imagining things because he seemed pretty serious.  

"And what do I get in return for my servitude?"  

"My undying devotion and protection." Leah was certain that this time she could see him fighting a smile.  

"So you also belong to me and will do anything that I say?"  

"I'd rather not answer that." Chase replied before taking a slow draw off his cigarette.  

"And why is that?" Leah asked as she picked a white fluffy dandelion and blew the white buds into the air.  

"You may take advantage." Chase replied and Leah laughed loudly.  

"You are so full of it." she gasped as she tossed the dandelion stem aside. Chase blew smoke from both his nose and mouth and smiled.  

"Full of what exactly?"  

"The material that comes from the south end of a north bound stallion."  

"And that ladylike sensibility is what I love the most about you."

Chase replied with a wink. Leah moved back into his arms and he kissed her temple.

"There is one thing I would like from you." she stated quietly and Chase smiled against her skin.  

"What is that?"  

"Marry me." Chase was quiet for several long moments and Leah felt her heart hanging on the edge of a steep drop off. Was he going to say no?  

"Didn't you....?" Chase stopped speaking and suddenly looked awkward which was so strange a thing to see him be that Leah found herself laughing with amusement.  

"Didn't I what?" she asked as his brow edged upward at the sound of her laughter.  

"Marry him." Chase replied as he looked away from her and took another draw off his cigarette. Leah sighed and kissed his jaw.  

"See this is why we needed to talk. No, I did not marry him and he and Chance are the ones that finally convinced me to come after you."  

"He gave you up?" Chase asked and Leah could tell that he was surprised.  

"He never really had me and I guess he knew that. I might as well have died the day you left and Benjamin and my brother love me. They saw that I wasn't happy and they knew that being with you was the only thing that would make me happy."  

"I do not like thinking of you being unhappy." Chase informed her as he pulled her closer to him. He noticed that she began to chew on her lip and he couldn't help but sigh. 
"You obviously want something. Why don't you ask instead of taking out your curiosity on your innocent bottom lip?" Leah scowled at him and stopped chewing.  

"Are you going to marry me?" she asked.

"You don't have to ask me that. I have already given you my word that I will."  

"When?" Leah persisted and Chase curled her silken hair around his finger. He loved that she was wearing it loose during their time together but knew he'd insist she pulled it all up before they left. He didn't want any other man than him to see it falling across her shoulders and glistening in the sunlight.  

"It will take two days to reach town." he replied and Leah instantly jumped to her feet and began gathering up their belongings. "Are you in a hurry?" he asked with amusement. Leah nodded as she tossed a shirt at him and he caught it one-handed.  

"Yes. This has been a long time coming and I don't want something else bad happening before I can become your wife." Chase pushed himself off the ground in one fluid motion and he took her into his arms.  

"Nothing is going to happen, Leah. I give you my word that nothing will ever come between us again."  

---

"Well good morning, beautiful." Louisa's head pounded as the one room cabin door flew open and bright sunlight poured in. She squeezed her eyes shut tight against the assault and cursed the ropes binding her wrists as they cut into her fragile skin.  

"

Vete al Diablo! “ Louisa spat as she spit and then glared up at the man who had just entered the cabin. His face was hidden in shadow as the sunlight streamed around him and lit up the dust motes floating through the air. His laughter filled the air as he stepped toward her, his bright silver spurs ringing in the quiet air and glinting in the sun.

"Temper, temper. Though many men say I must have been made in hell so I guess it wouldn't be too bad to go there and visit sometime." Tobias Henderson replied smoothly as he came to a stop in front of Louisa with a wide legged stance and a smug expression.  

Lousia's eyes were swollen and her vision grainy from the many beatings she had received since being captured and tied up but even she could see that Tobias Henderson was a man to be reckoned with.  

Tall, dark and sharp featured; he looked a lot like Chase and Louisa knew he must have Indian in him as well. There was one very big difference between the two men. Chase's eyes, while dark and sometimes cold, were much different than this mans. Tobias had eyes that were like black holes. Even when he laughed they appeared lifeless and dull.  

He had a craziness about him. A cold almost inhuman quality that scared her badly.

"Are you thirsty, dear heart?" Tobias asked her as he crouched down on his long legs in front of her and looked at her battered face. She fought the urge to spit in his face, knowing that would only serve to get her beaten and shook her head.  

"No." Tobias clicked his tongue.  

"Of course you are." he countered. He pulled a flask from his pocket and pressed it to her lips. Louisa refused to drink and he growled angrily, grabbed her swollen cheeks roughly in his hand and squeezed until she cried out in pain. He took that opportunity to shove the flask into her mouth and pour the liquid down her throat.  

Louisa felt skin that was dried and cracked from days with nothing to drink burning as the fiery liquid worked it way down. Big tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks as pain filled her senses.  

"Good girl." Tobias murmured with satisfaction as he patted her cheek and she tried her hardest to scoot away from him, though the table leg she was tied to made that impossible.  

"

Eres un monstruo! “ she gasped and Tobias chuckled.

"So I keep hearing. If you think insulting me in Spanish will save you the punishment for your disrespect then you are wrong. I speak the language fluently." Louisa just glared at him.  

"Now there's no reason why we can't be friends, Louisa. Why you were warming my bed quite nicely until you found out who I was and what I wanted."  

"You are crazy and what you want will never happen. You will die." Tobias laughed loudly and then his hand fell sharply across Lousia's cheek. She gasped at the fresh waves of pain and began to sob quietly.  

"I will have vengeance for my father. That savage will die."  

"Do you not have the same blood in you?" Louisa asked quietly and Tobias smiled.  

"Unlike Chase I hate my less than civilized bloodlines. I killed my own mother because I couldn't stand the reminder of what I was."  

"Boss Henderson was ten times the man you'll ever be and Chase killed him. What makes you think you'll be any different?"  

"Because unlike my father I know how to kill an animal and do it right." Tobias sneered. "Now tell me exactly what I need to know about that mans weaknesses."  

"He has none." Louisa spat and Tobias smacked her again.  

"Everyone has them! I hear tell there was a woman. What was her name?"

"Why don't you asked Yancy and Tig since they've been hanging around too?! They know Chase really good!" Louisa shouted and Tobias shook his head.  

"Because I'd rather ask you." he replied. "Now tell me." he growled as he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head to the side causing her to cry out in pain.  

"Leah!" Louisa screamed. "Her name is Leah Gordon!" Tobias smiled and released his hold on Louisa's hair. He kissed her cheek with a tenderness that made Louisa's stomach turn and then he put a gentle hand on her neck.  

"Good girl. Now tell me everything you know about her and where she came from."

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"Chase, if I didn't know better then I would swear you were nervous." Leah said as she glanced over at Chase riding beside her. Town was in sight and he had been quiet all day. Quieter than usual anyway. He looked over at her and raised his brow.  

"I am never nervous." Leah rolled her eyes.  

"I know, that's why I said if I didn't know better. There is something wrong with you though."  

"I want you to be prepared. Not everyone is as accepting of my skin as you are and those that are not will not be accepting of you either."  

"They can think and say what they want, Chase. I won't leave you."  

"I know you won't. I think I already said once that I wouldn't allow it."  

"Now you're just trying to get me angry." Leah stated with a smile. "And it won't work. Today is going to be the best day of my life so far and I won't let you get me worked up."  

Chase nodded and offered her a small smile but his worries were not eased. He hated towns. He hated being around so many people. He hated the stares, the looks, the whispers. He just hoped they'd find a judge or a preacher that would wed them despite his heritage.  

---

Leah instantly noticed the looks she and Chase received as they walked hand in hand down the road. They had put their horses up at the livery and were now making their way down the fairly crowded streets of Billings. The town was fairly well off and a frequent resting place for those heading to California.  

Women in fancy dresses with parasols and giant hats moved to the other side of the street to avoid walking too close to Chase. Men put their hands on their guns or shielded their children and wives with their bodies as he passed by them. Leah glanced up at Chase but he was just walking proudly with his shoulders thrown back and his chest out.  

He looked proud and handsome and yet she could see what those people saw. There was a wildness about him. His dark skin, sharp black eyes and long, dark as night hair. His buckskin pants and thin cotton shirt were much different than what most were wearing and he had a confident air about him. Everything about him screamed 'man' and 'wild'. Untamable.  

Untamable to all but her of course. Leah smiled to herself and moved closer to him and he released her hand and slid his arm around her shoulders in response.  

Chase looked down at her and wondered if she realized that she looked more savage than white as they walked the streets of this town. The sunlight had darkened her skin and while her long dark hair was pulled back, the pride with which she held her shoulders and stuck up her chin gave her a look so different from the 'civilized' women walking past them.  

"Being with me has almost turned you into an apache." he whispered, stooping down to breath the words into her ear. Leah smiled proudly.  

"I will take that as a compliment since you are the best man that I know."  

"You think too highly of me. I am good to you but no one else will be treated that nicely."  

"Since you seem to be in such a good mood why don't you take me to the dress shop and let me pick out something pretty to wear?" Leah asked.  

"You do not need fancy clothes." Chase replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.  

"No but I would like them." she replied.  

"You want to waste money on something you do not need?" Chase demanded with annoyance and Leah glared up at him.  

"How many times am I going to get married, Chase? I would like to do it in something other than a dirt covered work dress and worn out boots!"  

"You are beautiful in your dirt covered work dress and boots and I love you just as you are. I see no reason to waste time finding clothes." Leah smiled and leaned against him.  

"No woman will ever say that looking for clothes is a waste of time. So come on chief and let your squaw get a dress." Chase rolled his eyes and sighed with defeat.  

"Yancy had a bad effect on you."  

"I don't' know, I think I would make a very good squaw."  

---

"Can I help you both?" A man in a sharply tailored black suit asked as Leah and Chase stepped into a small church nearly two hours later. Leah had finally found a white lace and cotton dress that hugged her ample curves and made her feel very much like a bride. She had washed her hair and stuck little white beads through it before pulling it all back in a fancy chignon on the back of her head.  

Chase thought she looked pretty but what he really wanted was to see her in his buckskin pants and thin cotton shirt again with her hair let loose and shining in the sun. He wanted to see a dirt streak on her cheek and the sunlight glinting in her green eyes. All of this dressing up and being in town was not for him. Chase couldn't stomach the noises, the smells the looks and the closeness. It was like a shirt that fit too tight around your neck and slowly cut off your air until your lungs burned in protest.  

"We would like to get married." Leah replied to the preachers question. "Here's the license." She held out the piece of paper that only needed a preacher and a witness's signature to be legal.  The preacher looked at both of them in turn and then he folded his hands in front of him and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I cannot help you." Chase was going to turn and walk away but Leah crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground, giving him no choice but to stand beside her.  

"Why not? You are a preacher aren't you? It is your duty to join together under Gods witness those that want to be joined together isn't it?"  

"Perhaps you should try the justice of the peace. He may be able to help you." Chase had wanted to try the justice of the peace but the folks in town had informed him that the man was currently out of town and would be for some time. There weren't many laws around these parts but Chase wanted this marriage thing done right so that Leah's parents couldn't one day say she wasn't married to him and again try to pair her with someone else.  

"Sir, I don't understand the problem." Leah said matter of factly. "Could you explain it to me?"  

"My dear," the preacher said with just a bit of nervousness as he glanced quickly at Chase. "I perform wedding ceremonies everyday. This is the only town for miles and miles so many folks choose to get married while they are here... Unfortunately I cannot marry the two of you."  

"Why not?" Leah snapped as she glared at the older man. Chase knew that she knew why he was refusing and yet she clearly wasn't going to back down. He wanted to grab her arm and leave with her. Let her know that over one hundred years of prejudice against Indians was not going to be fixed just because she refused to back down to a preacher... But then again she looked so damn adorable and a little scary with that fire in her eyes that Chase wanted to see just what the outcome of her stand would be.  

"This man is different than you and I." the preacher offered uncomfortably.  

"He's a man isn't he?" Leah demanded. "He has skin and blood and I guarantee if I jabbed him real hard between the legs that he would cry just the same as you so I still fail to see what the problem is."  

The preacher was clearly taken aback by her comments but Chase was amused.  

"I cannot marry two folks of different races. It is wrong and sinful and will not be done in my church." The preacher finally stated firmly after he had recovered himself.  

"Correct me if I'm wrong, sir, but for something to be sinful doesn't it have to be written in the bible that it is against God's wishes?"  

"Yes of course." the preacher replied. Chase just stood there calmly with his arms crossed while Leah walked over and plopped herself down in one of the pews. She crossed her hands in her lap and smiled sweetly.  

"What are you doing?" Chase asked with a raise of his brow and Leah's smile grew broader. 	

"I am going to sit right here until the preacher can find the part in that Bible he knows so well that says God does not support different races getting married. Since I know that he will not find it I will expect him to marry us just as soon as he's done looking."  

Chase had never read the white mans bible and so he had no way of knowing whether the preacher would find the answer he sought or not but Leah looked so certain of herself that Chase nodded and sat beside her.   

The preacher sniffed and looked quite irritated as he grabbed a bible and began rifling through the pages and mumbling under his breath.  

"I'll find it!" he assured them.  

Nearly an hour later the preacher sat the bible down and ran his hand through his graying hair.  

"I couldn't find it." he stated with defeat.  

"Because it is not there." Leah replied as she stood up and Chase copied her movement. "Now if you would be so kind as to get us married so that we could go and enjoy a meal then I would be most appreciative."  

"I've never met a bigger brat..." the preacher stated and while Chase stiffened at the insult, Leah laughed.  

"I've heard that quite a few times." she admitted.  

"I'd say you have." the preacher agreed with a nod. He looked back and forth between Chase and Leah and then finally threw his hands up. "Fine! Fine, if it will get you out of my church then I'll do whatever it is you want me to do."  

"Thank you." Leah said with that sweet smile on her lips once again. "I knew you would see things my way."  

The preacher called up two stable hands to be the witnesses and true to his word he performed the ceremony for Chase and Leah. He came to the portion of the ceremony when they would exchange rings and Leah gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.  

"We forgot rings!" she explained.  

"They aren't necessary, we can continue." the preacher stated quickly, he was eager to have this sinful joining over with so he could get back to the card game he had left downstairs.  

"Wait." Chase stated sternly and instantly the preacher's mouth clamped shut. Leah smiled. Chase was the type of man that everyone listened to. It was impossible to stand your ground when up against him because he had a way of making even the toughest man shake in his boots.   

"I do not have a ring for you but I have something." Chase reached in his pocket and fished something out. Leah frowned with curiosity as she looked at his closed hand and then moved her gaze up to his face.  

"What is it?" she asked.  

"Something that my father gave to my mother on the day he took her as his life mate and something that I have wanted to give you for a long time but wanted to wait until we were safe and out of danger."  

Leah was practically bouncing with impatience and anticipation and Chase bit back a laugh. She was still so childlike in so many ways that he found endearing.  

He unfolded his hand and her eyes immediately widened as she looked at the necklace laying across his palm. His father had carved the bone wolf trinket for his mother and she had worn it on this leather string until the day she had been murdered.

"This was my mothers and my father made it for her." Chase said as he held the necklace up. Leah's eyes filled with tears as she reached out and ran her finger over the off white wolf.  

"It's beautiful." She frowned. "Are you sure your mother and father would want me to have it?"  

"Yes." Chase replied simply. "You are mine and my father told me to one day give this to my mate. I have found her and I want her to wear this necklace."  

"I would be proud to wear it." Leah vowed and she turned as Chase slipped the necklace around her neck and tied it securely in place."  

"Well if that's that then I say we finish this up." the preacher stated, though his voice was warmer then it had been before and he seemed to have a genuine smile on his face.   

Leah turned back around and smiled up at Chase who was gazing down at her with so much love and pride that it took her breath away. And when the preacher finally pronounced them man and wife Leah nearly cried out with joy before Chase took her in his arms and kissed her with a passion that had the preacher and stable hands clearing their throats and adjusting their collars.  

As she and Chase left the church Leah knew that she had found her forever and she knew that nothing and no one would ever come between them again.

"Holy shit, Chief is that you?!" Leah and Chase turned on their way to the hotel to see Yancy running toward them.  

"Yes it is me." Chase replied.  

"Hot damn am I glad to see the squaw with you again. I've been scared to death worrying about you and trying to find the damn chief and couldn't find hide nor hair of either of ya...."  

"Is there a point to this rambling or do you just like to listen to yourself?" Leah asked with an impatient tap of her foot. "Chase and I just got married and we're kind of on our way to the hotel...."  

Yancy looked uncomfortable as he shifted his feet. Just then Tig came up to them as well.  

"Boom. Boom. Things are about to get real bad." Tig said with a shake of his head. Chase felt a nagging feeling come back into his stomach. He didn't want things to get real bad when they were finally getting real good.  

"What in the world are you talking about?" Leah asked feeling her own uneasiness rise. Tig and Yancy both seemed to be very worried about something and even Chase had stiffened, picking up on their moods. Leah didn't want anything else to go wrong! She and Chase were finally moving forward in a good way and she didn't want to be pulled back into that dangerous life.  

"Chief, maybe we should go talk in private." Yancy warned as he rubbed the back of his neck and spared a glance at Leah.  

"I say you say whatever it is that's on your mind. Leah is my wife and I have nothing to hide from her." Yancy sighed and looked at Tig who nodded.  

"Boss had a son, Chase, and that son is out for blood. He beat poor Louisa half to death before she finally broke and told him what he wanted to know...."  

"Then he killed her!" Tig exclaimed.  

"What did he want to know?" Chase growled as his arm instantly went around Leah and pulled her closer to him.  

"Your weakness." Yancy replied with a sigh.  

"And did she tell him?" Chase asked, his voice cold and even.  

"Yep she sure did. Sang like a canary that one!" Tig replied with an overly animated nod.  

"I don't understand." Leah said with frustration as Chase cursed under his breath. "What is your weakness?" Leah felt a shiver run down her spine when all three men looked at her.  

"Okay but I'm with you, Chase, so that means I'm as safe as I could ever possibly be."  

"Yes." Chase replied, his jaw tightening. Yancy spit into the dust and put his thumbs through his belt loops.  

"But your family ain't, little squaw, and that's where Tobias was heading." Leah felt her head begin to spin and her heart fell into her stomach. Her family? Her mother, father, Chance and Benjamin; they were all in danger!  

She looked up at Chase and saw the muscles in his jaw flexing and popping.  

"We might be able to get there in time." Yancy offered and Chase nodded.  

"Let's go."  

"Aren't you gonna leave her here where it's safe?" Tig asked, nodding toward Leah.  

"No. She would not stay and the safest place for her to be is with me." Leah didn't even hear their conversation as she thought about her family and prayed they would get to them in time.

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Are you upset about Louisa?" Leah asked as they made their way through the dark toward the ranch. She was scared to death about her family but trying to make conversation to keep her mind off of what they may find when they got to her parents home.  

Chase looked over at her and she saw him raise in brow in the setting sunlight.  

"I mean, I know that the two of you shared something once and this Tobias man killed her... Yancy said he tortured her for days."  

"Louisa deserved her fate. And she and I did not share anything at any time. She was a whore and I paid her for her services. It is no different than going to the butcher and ordering half a cow."  

"Did you honestly just say that?" Leah demanded with disbelief and Chase simply shrugged, indicating he was done with the current conversation. Leah wanted to argue with him but decided there was no point and she was just being moody and snappy because she was trying to hide her worry.  

Quickly she let herself fall back a little and glanced over at Yancy who hadn't spoken since leaving Billings.  

"Thank you for finding us and telling us about Tobias." she said. Yancy looked at her and smiled, though his eyes looked sad.  

"No problem. We gotta look out for each other." he replied. Tig trotted by then on his way to join Chase and he clicked his tongue.  

"Liar. Liar." he stated and then he looked at Leah and Yancy and waggled his eyebrows. "HeeHee!"  

"Shut up, Tig! You ain't nothing but an old crazy ass." Yancy grumbled and Tig quickly moved away from them.  

"What was that about?" Leah asked curiously and Yancy just shrugged and looked straight ahead.  

"That man ain't right in the head." he replied simply. Leah shrugged and had to agree with him. Though it was nice really. To know that she and Chase had friends that were willing to ride with them and help them. She had never imagined that she would end up friends with two of the men who had helped to hurt Benjamin but she had. She supposed that made her a bad person but she was tired of worrying about what the rest of the world would think of her. As long as Chase loved her then no one elses opinion mattered in the least.  

She just prayed that her family was okay. She wasn't at all sure what she would do if something terrible had happened to them.  

---

Night had fallen before they neared the homestead and Chase pulled up quickly when he smelled the smoke.  

"Chase, is that smoke?" Leah asked with fear and Chase nodded.  

"You stay with Yancy here. Tig, you ride ahead with me." he stated.  

"I won't be left here!" Leah argued and Chase pinned her to her saddle with a look that let her know he would not argue this point.  

"You will stay here." he ordered. Chase had a feeling the sight he was going to find at her families home was one that he did NOT want Leah seeing. He looked at Yancy. "She stays here."  

"Got it, chief." Yancy replied as he rode up beside Leah and grabbed her mare's reins right out of her hand. She glared at him but said nothing. Her stomach was turning and she was fairly certain that if the anticipation and nervousness was not eased soon she would vomit.  

"I will come back when I know it is safe." Chase assured Leah and then he motioned for Tig and the two men rode away into the night.  

The moon cast just enough light for the men to see where they were going. Chase frowned as they rode closer and he realized that the smoke he had smelled was from a small fire a short distance from the barn.  

"Stop right there!" Chase recognized Chance's voice and he heard the cocking of two rifles. One to his right where Chance's voice had come from and one from an upstairs window of the house.  

"Ride into the light where we can see you." Chase recognized Paul Gordon's voice and knew he was the one in the upstairs window of the house. Chase nodded over at Tig and the two men rode over into the glow of the lanterns beside the porch.  

"Chase?" Chance's voice questioned and Chase heard one of the guns uncock. He knew that Paul still had his gun trained on him but he refused to show any sign of unease as he slid from his saddle.  

"I am glad to find you all well."  He said looking only at Chance as the man walked over and joined he and Tig in the lantern light.  

"We're not exactly well. Some men were here earlier."  

"What kind of men?" Chase asked, his spine stiffening.  

"Friends of yours." Paul stated from the window and Chase didn't even spare him a glance.  

"I have no friends that could have come. Who was here?" he asked Chance.  

"He looked kinda like you. I think he was a injun too. He said his name was...."  

"Tobias." Tig cut in. "Bad man. He makes you look like a little puppy dog, Chase. HeeHee! He does!"  

"They uh... They said they were your friends and they were looking for you. They seemed interested in knowing where Leah was too." Chase growled under his breath.  

"They will never lay a hand on your sister.  You said you were not all well, what happened?"  

"The man, Tobias, he got real mad and crazy actin' when he realized that you and Leah neither one was here and they opened fire." Chance rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes filled with pain. "They killed Benjamin, he made an easy target I guess... And they shot mama."  

"Is she still living?" Chase demanded, knowing the pain it would cause his wife if she lost both Benjamin and her mother.  

"Yeah you stupid red skinned bastard, she's alive. More alive than you're gonna be in a moment."  

"Pa, stop it!" Chance exclaimed. "Chase didn't have anything to do with what happened to mama." Chance glanced at Chase as if hoping he was speaking the truth about the man.  

"I do not even know the man who did this. But I knew his father. I killed his father because his father was going to kill Leah." Chase assured Chance and then he turned his eyes up to the window that Paul was aiming at him out of.  

"Either shoot me or put the gun away. I do not respond well to having a gun drawn on me."  

"Be glad Chase asked. He usually just boom booms and then you're dead!" Paul could be heard grumbling but then the gun was pulled away from the window and he disappeared from view.  

"I am sorry this has happened." Chase said with regret and Chance shrugged.

"Who was his pa?"  

"Boss."  

"The one that said he was going to rape Leah and have her screaming his name?" Chance demanded and Chase felt his jaw pop as it tightened. He simply nodded in response and Chance shrugged.  

"That man would have died by my hand if you hadn't kill him so I guess it would have been only a matter of time before his son showed up here."  

"Where is my daughter?" Paul demanded as he stepped out of the house with his rifle propped in his arms.  

"Safe, a short distance from the house. I smelled the smoke and did not want to bring her for fear of what we would see."  

"You lie. You kept her away from here so that she would not choose to stay here where she belongs." Paul argued. Chase simply rolled his eyes and turned his side to the man, choosing not to argue. Chance however was not as nice.  

"Mama told me that your brother was killed by Indians and that's why you're such a hateful ass when it comes to Chase but it weren't Chase that killed him and you need to just let go of whatever you got against him. He loves my damn sister and she loves him and if you want to have any relationship with her or your grandchildren then you're gonna have to accept Chase too."  

"I apologize for what happened to your brother." Chase offered with a tip of his head. Paul looked uncomfortable and took his time sticking a wad of tobacco inside his lip.  

"Something has to be done about these men." he finally stated and Chance let out a defeated sigh and looked at Chase.  

"I agree. Where is your wife?"  

"Billings. She's resting at the docs. Chance and I came out here just to make sure those bastards wouldn't come back and burn our place down." Paul grumbled. 	

"We will take Leah back to Billings and let her stay with her mother and we will come back here and wait for those men to come back." Chase said as he turned to jump back into Blaze's saddle.  

"Who is that?" Chance asked quietly as he pointed over at Tig who was currently riding his horse in small circles and whistling.  

"His name is Tig. He helped us escape from the camp." Chase replied and Chance frowned.  

"I've seen him before...."  

"At the camp." Chase stated with annoyance. He had too much to do to be having this discussion.  

"No." Chance said with a shake of his head. "No he was here that night they shot mama and Benjamin. He was with that Tobias man! I know he was because he tried to shoot me." Chase felt unease trickle down his spine and settle deep in his gut. Quickly he settled himself into the saddle and looked over at Tig.  

"Get your horses." he said to Paul and Chance. "It would be best if we all rode together."  

Chase watched Tig as Chance and Paul left to saddle their horses. Chase wanted to believe that Tig had only been riding with Tobias to keep an eye on what the man was doing but somehow Chase doubted that. But it didn't make sense for Tig to be working for Tobias... Not when he was helping Chase and Leah. He had come with Yancy to warn them after all.  

Unless Yancy was working for Tobias as well and Chase had just handed Leah to him! He saw Chance and Paul coming out of the barn and without saying a word Chase let out a yip and smacked Blaze's rump, causing the stallion to rear back on his back legs and then take off at a neck breaking pace.  

---

"What's taking so long?" Leah mumbled as she wrung her hands and paced back and forth in the darkness. She glanced at Yancy who was standing beside a tree smoking a cigar. He didn't seem to be listening to her and looked distracted.  

Leah paced faster and fought the urge to run over the hill in front of them and across the open field to her families home. Were they okay? They must not be if it was taking Chase and Tig this long! Leah felt her stomach turn and clamped her hand over her mouth.  

Her family had to be okay! They just had to be! Maybe they were just talking and that's what was taking Chase so long. Yes that had to be it.  

"How long has it been?" she demanded with annoyance and Yancy pushed himself off the tree and sighed.  

"Bout ten minutes is all. I'd say they're just now getting to the house." Leah heard the irritation in his tone and forced herself to stop pacing though her hands continued to rub together.  

"I hope everything is okay." she whispered, more to herself than to Yancy. Suddenly she sensed a movement behind her and smelled the strong stench of cigar smoke. 	

"Not much chance of that I'm afraid." Yancy's voice drawled and Leah wasn't able to let out a scream before he was pulling a rough cloth bag over her face and turning her world black.  

She fought but his hands tightened around her neck and her head begin to swim. Her lungs burned and she had trouble focusing. She tried with all her might to hold onto consciousness but it was no use and her last thought was of Chase and what her death would do to him.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Chase topped over the hill and scanned the darkness for Leah and Yancy but they were not where he had left them. Chase felt his heart fall into his feet and desperation tear at his soul.  

His mood only darkened further when the raindrops began to pour from the heavens as if someone had burst a dam in a raging river. Because of the dark and the rain he would be lucky if he could track Yancy to get his wife back.  

Chance rode over the hill as well with Paul beside him and they looked at Chase. The tall Indian was sitting as still as stone in the saddle of that big black horse as the rain quickly soaked his clothing and hair, plastering both to him. His hat had fallen off in his mad dash from the house and Chance tried to hand it to him but Chase acted as if he didn't notice anyone else was there.  

His face was pale in the moonlight and his eyes flashed with a strange mix of sadness and anger.  

"Where the hell is my daughter?!" Paul demanded.  

"Where is Tig?" Chase growled, his voice barely more than a whisper. Suddenly Chance realized that the strange man was no longer with them. He looked over the plains and saw his shadow moving under the moonlight.  

"There." he stated, pointing at the bobbing figure in the distance. Paul pulled his rifle from the saddle holster and Chase growled and jerked it from his hands.  

"I want him alive." he hissed as he tossed the gun aside and then without another word he set off after Tig.  

Chase knew that Tig's brown mare was no match for Blaze in speed or endurance. As Tig's retreating back got closer and closer Chase thought about the giant mistake he had made. What was wrong with him? To be taking such risks and trusting others? All his life he had trusted no one and it had served him well. Putting his trust in Yancy and Tig had clearly been a mistake and one that might just cost Chase everything that he cared about.  

If he lost Leah..... He shook his head and hardened his heart against the thought. Now was not the time to think, now was the time to act and get her back. Chase pulled his own rifle from his saddle holster and held it by the barrel. He came up alongside Tig and released his hold on Blaze's reins.  

Tig glanced over at him with panic and his scared eyes widened just before Chase brought the butt of the rifle across his head and sent the skinny man flying from his saddle and down onto the muddy ground.  

Chase grabbed Blazes reins and drew back on them bringing the stallion to a quick stop before jumping off and making his way slowly toward Tig. He barely noticed Paul and Chance riding up as he stood over the other man.  

"My heads a poundin!" Tig complained loudly as he twisted back and forth on the ground and covered his bloody and mud covered blond hair with his hands.  

"Where has Yancy taken Leah?" Chase growled, staring down at the loathsome man at his feet. His hair fell over his face and he could feel the rain gathering on his face and dripping from his nose and chin.

"You hit me so hard I can't remember, nope I can't!" Tig said with a high pitched laugh as he propped himself up on his elbows and looked up at Chase. Chase felt rage coiling in his stomach. It was like a living creature, hot and twisting inside of him. Never had he been this angry. Never had he felt this out of control and helpless.  

His rage took over and he swung out and caught Tig hard in the jaw sending the man sprawling on his back. Tig looked up at him from the ground and smiled through his bloody teeth. That smile sent Chase even further over the edge. He crouched over Tigs body and yanked the man up by his shirt so he could look him in the eye.  

"Where is my wife?" he ground out.  

"With Yancy." Tig replied with a tilt of his head. "Or I guess you want to know where they're going." Chase shook him violently and Tig cried out in pain.  

"Where?!" he yelled.  

"Tobias's camp!" Tig exclaimed as he blinked both rain and blood from his eyes. "We didn't want to double cross you, Chase, but Tobias pays real good and he'd already killed Louisa so we figured we was next...."  

"Where?" Chase growled, uninterested in hearing these backstabbing bastards reasons.  

"Northeast. The camp is northeast of here. Down in a gully, beside a river..."  

"How far?"  

"A day or so." Tig replied. "I'll go with you, Chase. I'll help ya, I will." Tig promised with a hearty nod. Chase shook his head and pulled his knife.  

"I don't think you will. I'm only sorry I can't kill you twice." Chase slid his knife across Tig's throat and the man's eyes widened before he smiled one last time and slid lifeless to the ground. His blood poured from him and mixed with the puddles of water already forming from the downpour.  

"Shit." Chance mumbled and Chase stood straight. He wiped his knife on his pants and slid it back in it's sheath.  

"You just murdered that man... he was defenseless." Paul stated accusingly, rain pouring from the brim of his hat. Chase rose to his full height and stared the man down.  

"I trusted him and he turned on me. He caused Leah to be taken not once but twice and while I had begun to consider him a friend he clearly had other loyalties. He deserved what he got and if I could spill his blood again I would." Chase grabbed Blaze's saddle horn and swung himself onto the beasts back.  

"Are we going after Leah?" Chance asked and Chase nodded.  

"I'm coming too." Paul stated and Chance shook his head uncertainly.  

"Maybe you should stay with mama." he warned as he glanced at Chase and Paul snorted.  

"I aint' scared of that savage and that's my daughter they have!"  

"You may come but know this." Chase said as he brought Blaze close to Paul's horse and the stallion nipped at his geldings side. "I am boss here and my one goal is to get Leah. If you question me and I feel as if you are in the way I will remove you from my way. Are we understood?" Paul's green eyes flashed with temper.  

"Are you threatening me?!"  

"No." Chase stated as his black eyes glowed with cold anger in the moonlight. "I am simply telling you how it will be."  

"Pa, don't argue. We just need to get Leah." Chance cut in and Paul huffed but fell silent and nodded.  

"We might as well go to the house and wait until morning." Chance said with a sigh. "We can't track in both darkness and rain." As badly as Chase wanted to argue he knew it was pointless. He would do nothing but get turned around and possibly lose all hopes of finding Leah if he tried to head out in this weather.  

"What if they kill her tonight?" Paul demanded.  

"They will not. They need her alive to use as bait for me." Chase replied, feeling the pain of that deep down in his heart. It was his fault that Leah was now facing a fate worse than death. He had no doubts as to what Tobias would do to her. And Chase would make sure that once he got his hands on the man that Tobias was begging for death before his torture was over.

"I have one more thing to say." Paul stated as they started back toward the house. Chase looked at the older man and raised his brow. "All of this is your fault, Chase, and if my daughter dies then I will kill you." Silence reigned for several long seconds as the rain continue to pour down on them.  

"Paul, if 

my wife dies because of mistakes I made…“ Chase stopped speaking and his jaw tightened. “Then I will let you.”

---

The first thing Leah was aware of was pain. A lot of pain. Her neck was throbbing and her throat felt as if she had swallowed fire. Her body was aching and her wrists were burning terribly. She assumed the ropes binding them together behind her back were too tight and breaking through the skin and the liquid she could feel dripping down her hands supported that theory.  

Her head was hurting and she cracked one eyelid to look at her surroundings. She was sitting in a dark corner of a dirty one room cabin. There was bright sunlight pouring through an uncovered window illuminating the dust motes floating in the air.  

She could hear sounds that made her believe she was back in some sort of camp. Men laughing and talking. Pots and pans clanking together and horses snorting. She heard Yancy's laughter and felt hatred burn in her gut.  

She hoped that that man would die and she had no doubts that if Chase had his say in things, he would. Thoughts of Chase had Leah wondering where he was. She knew that he would tear through this place like a twister and she only prayed that he would be able to do so without getting himself hurt.  

And what of her family?! She still had no idea if they were okay.. Or had Chase walked right into a trap when he'd topped over that hill? Had Tig been in on it? Chase could be hurt or dead while she was tied up here waiting for him. Leah felt her panic rising and she fought against the bind on her wrists only to cry in pain and relax her arms when the ropes dug deeper into her skin.  

She felt tears gathering behind her eyes but quickly blinked them back when she heard boots walking up steps outside the cabin door. Metal spurs clinked as the footsteps stopped outside the cabin and Leah waited with fear and anticipation to see who was going to be walking through that scarred wooden door.  

The door was slowly pushed open and the sudden light flooding the room had her squeezing her eyes closed and wincing.  

"Nice to see you finally awake, sweetheart." A friendly, calming voice stated as the boots moved closer and the door was closed with a soft click. Leah opened her eyes and stared at the man with shock.  

He was handsome and he was clearly an Indian. He was shorter than Chase and more heavily muscled to the point of being stocky. His face was sharply angled just the same as Chases but his hair was cut shorter to his head in a more 'white man' hairstyle.   

He had a thin white scar on his cheek and his lips were thin. But it was his eyes that truly set him apart from her husband. His eyes were cold and nearly lifeless. They were like holes in his face that led into nothing and Leah felt her fear grow.  

"My name is Tobias, Leah. I would say that you are awfully thirsty aren't you?" Leah blinked several times as she stared at him. That voice was soothing, comforting and kind but those eyes..... Those eyes were scary and she realized in that moment that his voice was a cover and this man was soulless and evil.  

"Not much of a talker I see." he said as he uncorked a canteen and held it out to her. "That's okay, sweetheart, I've been told before that I talk enough for several people."  Leah jerked her head back when he pressed the canteen to her lips and he chuckled.  

"Might as well get ya a drink. We have some talking to do." Leah wanted to be stubborn but she needed a drink and she needed to keep her strength up so she could aid in her own escape when Chase arrived... If Chase arrived.

She parted her lips and Tobias laid the canteen against them. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look into his and took several long, deep drinks. Tobias pulled the canteen away and Leah's eyes widened when he ran his finger along her lip to dry the droplets of water lingering there.  

Leah reacted on instinct alone and bit him. Hard.  

Tobias cursed and jerked his hand away, shaking it roughly. Leah could tell by the way he glared at her that he wanted to hit her but strangely enough he pulled away from her and stood up.  

Leah wondered why he had refrained from hitting her. According to Tig and Yancy he had just beaten a woman to death so hitting her should have been easy.  

"You have spirit. I like that in a woman. You're a bit bigger boned than I like my women but then again a few weeks in those ropes should fix that problem."  

"I won't be here for weeks you bastard. As soon as my husband gets here you're going to die."  

"Name calling really isn't necessary. My parents may not have been married but you know my father. Or knew him I should say....."  

"Yes I knew him. As I recall my husband slit his throat." Leah saw anger now flashing in Tobias's eyes. She supposed she should pull back and stop needling him but she was angry and tired of being a victim. If Tobias was going to kill her then so be it but he was going to hear every damn thing she had to say until then.  

"You would be wise to hold your tongue." Tobias warned.  

"First I don't talk enough and now I should hold my tongue. You seem to be contradicting yourself." Leah gasped and bit her tongue to keep from crying out when Tobias's hand landed sharply across her cheek.  

"I am not your husband and I do not find you amusing. I would hate to stain that pretty white dress with blood so do as I say and hold your tongue."  

Leah's moment of spunkiness was gone. She hurt. Her head hurt. Her neck hurt. Her throat hurt. Her heart hurt.... Everything in her body hurt and she just wanted it to end. Sassing Tobias would only serve to cause her more pain.  

"That's better. Now let's talk." Tobias grabbed a small wooden chair from across the room and scooted it across the floor to her. He sat down and propped his head in his hands.  

"Why are you doing this? Is it just for vengeance for your father? I can promise you that he was beaten fair and square."  

"Chase will die for killing my father the way he did but first he's gonna suffer. You see I never even got a chance to know my pa before he took him away. Did Chase tell you about his family? His mother?" Leah nodded and Tobias smiled, though the smile did nothing to take away the deadness of his eyes.  

"Yes well my mother came from the same tribe. My father was jealous of Chase's father and stole my mother away just the same. My father quickly realized what an animal he had saddled himself with and left her. When I was born my mother abandoned me so she could go back to her tribe."  

"So what, you're jealous of Chase because his mother and father loved him?"  Leah demanded, trying to understand what was going on and why.  

Tobias's smile grew broader, his white teeth flashing in the shadows and those eyes boring into her soul and causing her to shift restlessly where she sat on the dirty wooden floor.  

"Jealous? Perhaps a little. He had my father when I didn't. And when I finally found my father I also find that Chase has killed him. I never even got to know the man because that savage who chooses to live like a savage took him away from me both in life and in death!" Leah snorted with disbelief.  

"Your father killed his mother!"  she exclaimed. Tobias gave an uninterested shrug and stood up, rocking back on his heels.  

"What does that have to do with anything?" Leah just stared at him blankly and he laughed. "I hunted my animal whore of a mother down and killed her myself so I am not the person to offer sympathy over the death of a mother. Though I do apologize for the death of yours."  

Leah's heart stammered to a stop. Her eyes misted over and bile rose in the back of her throat. Her mother was dead? Her breathing became deeper as she fought back tears. Waves of desperation and sorrow washed over her and she pushed herself against the wall, turning her head away from Tobias's cold gaze.  

"Go away." she whispered. Tobias's silver spurs clinked as he went to the door.  

"Get some rest, sweetheart. I'll be back shortly and expect you to be more welcoming."  

The door opened and this time Leah didn't wince at the sudden onslaught of light. The door closed with a click and Leah collapsed against the wall with broken sobs. Her mother was dead. Chase might be dead.... Suddenly it all became too much and Leah turned to the side and vomited violently on the wooden floor.  

The door was thrown open again and boots quickly crossed the room toward her. She threw back the hair that had fallen loose from her chignon and looked up to see Yancy walking toward her. He gave her a sympathetic look and pulled his bandana from his pocket.  

As he neared her, Leah gathered up all the remaining strength she had and swung her foot out, catching Yancy in the jaw and sending him stumbling back.  

"Shit, squaw!" Yancy exclaimed as he rubbed his bearded cheek and eyed her warily. "I was just gonna clean your damn face."  

"Go to hell you backstabbing bastard." Leah spat. Yancy shook his head and started toward her again, keeping one hand out to guard himself from her feet.  

"I know you're mad at me but look at it from my point of view. Louisa had ratted out me and Tig and Tobias gave us a choice. Help him and earn some good pay and keep breathing or swear our allegiance to the chief and wind up dead with no money. It was kind of a no brainer from where we were standing."  

Leah felt her hopes fade. Tig had been in on it too which meant Chase....

"Tig turned on Chase too?" she asked quietly. Yancy began to wipe at her face with his stiff black bandana and Leah glared at him but allowed the movements. She was too frightened to hear about Chase's fait to worry about what Yancy was doing to her.  

"Don't worry about the chief, I'm sure he's just fine and on his way to get you. Tig is probably dead. He was supposed to kill Chase but Tig is no idiot. He knows, or knew, that he wouldn't stand any chance against the chief. You can't sneak up on that man or shoot him in the back and Tig knew there wasn't no way he'd be able to take him face to face. Tig told me he was going to make a run for it and if I know the chief that means Tig is dead. Ain't no way he'd let Tig go and I'm sure he got the answers he wanted before he killed him."  

Leah felt hopes rise within her again and she looked at Yancy as he stood and pulled off his hat, wiping his sleeve across his sweaty brow before flopping the stained black leather back on his messy hair.  

"He'll kill you too you know." she informed the man and he gave her a broken toothed grin.  

"Yep, I know. That's why I have every intention of taking my money I made from delivering you and getting the hell outta Dodge, or Wyoming I guess I should say. I just wanted to stop in and let you know that I'm sure he's coming and if he's not...." Yancy looked at her regretfully and shook his head. "If he's not then you're gonna be in a bit of a spot, squaw. Best bet is to give Tobias what he wants and maybe, just maybe, he'll let you live and be his woman."  

"I'd rather die." Yancy shrugged.  

"You'd be surprised at the things you'll do to keep yourself alive." he stated. "It won't be so bad. Tobias ain't too hard on the eyes, at least that's what the women around camp say, and you seem to like them injuns don't ya?"  

"Just as soon as Chase is done dealing with Tobias, he'll find you, Yancy, and you'll reap what you've sown." Yancy seemed unconcerned as he shrugged and headed for the door.  

"Probably." he replied. He winked at her and opened the door, letting the sunlight once again pour into the cabin. "Keep your head down when the bullet's start to flying."

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

"She's down there?" Chance asked nervously as he looked down at the camp full of men. Chase simply nodded and scanned the camp.  

Tig had redeemed himself a little in the end by telling him where to find Leah but he had not redeemed himself enough to live. Chase did not allow anyone to double cross him and live to talk about it. Chase was not the type of man who wanted to have to watch his back every day of his life.  

The camp was crowded and while Chase could not see Leah he knew she was here. He could sense her presence. He could feel in his soul that she was close.   

There were two small wooden buildings, five tents and several wagons for supplies. Men and several women made their way around the camp. The men looked mostly like new hires, fresh to the rough world of outlaws. They lacked the rough edges and the ruggedness that men used to this kind of life had. Chase looked over at Chance and Paul and shook his head. The men in this camp looked like the men beside him.  

Chase focused back down on the camp. Where would Leah be? He doubted they would put her in a tent. She would be too easy for him to get to in a tent. His gaze moved back to the two buildings standing side by side.  

He had a feeling that Leah was in one of those. Only one door and one window on each and harder to get someone in and out of undetected. Though Chase had no plans on going undetected.. He would not kill everyone but anyone that tried to stand between he and Leah was going to wind up bloody, broken and, well, dead.  

"Where the hell is she? How are we supposed to figure out where they're keeping her?!" Chance demanded in a low whisper.  

"I say we go get some law and come back here with them." Paul added and Chase shook his head.  

"Ask your son how that worked out before." he growled and then he shut out the other two men and focused on figuring out where his wife was.	

Both buildings were being guarded by armed men so Chase searched for other clues and was rewarded when a man with a bowl in his hands went to the nearest of the buildings and walked in. He fought back amusement when the man came back out several seconds later looking much wetter and cursing as he covered a bloodied nose with his hand.  

"Leah is in that building." Chase informed the other two men. Then Chase slid on his belly away from the edge of the ridge and headed back toward where they had tied their horses to nearby shrubs.  

"Where are you going?" Paul demanded as he joined him. "Aren't we going in there?"  

"We will wait until dark." Chase replied as he swung himself into Blaze's saddle.   

"Wait until dark?!" Paul exclaimed and Chase sent him a sharp look to remind him to be quiet. They were fairly far from camp but noise could carry over these hills and plains.  Paul clenched his jaw and continued more quietly. "Anything could happen to her before dark! Those men could be doing anything to her!"  

"You think I don't know that?" Chase ground out and Blaze felt his rage and began to toss his head and stomp. "That is my wife they have. My soul. But it would do no one any good if we just charge in there in broad daylight with our guns drawn."  

"I'm going down there and getting my daughter." Paul stated angrily and he turned and began to walk away. Chase was off of Blaze and had his knife against Paul's throat before Paul or Chance had time to react.  

"I warned you last night that I am the boss. I warned you what would happen if you interfered or got in the way of me getting Leah safely."  

"You wouldn't kill me." Paul said with a snort and then he stiffened and his eyes became as wide as saucers when Chase's knife tightened against his skin.  

"I would."  

"She would hate you forever." Paul reminded him shakily. Chase shrugged one shoulder.  

"She would be alive." he replied. The tension in the air was thick enough to be sliced through and finally Chance stepped forward.  

"Come on now, this isn't helping anyone. Pa, as much as I hate it Chase is right. Those men down there have the advantage right now. That's their turf. The only thing we have on our side is the element of surprise and that goes out the window if we just barge down there in broad daylight." Chance and his father stared hard at one another for a moment and then Paul nodded slightly. Chase pulled his knife away and slid it into its sheath.  

"Let's get away from camp." he ordered as he jumped onto Blaze's back and rode away, not waiting for a response or offering an apology.  

"He's a murdering bastard." Paul complained angrily as he and Chance mounted their horses. Chance nodded even as he shrugged.  

"He's also the only hope Leah has."  

---

"That man that you killed," Chance said after the three men had been waiting for hours on a nightfall that was beginning to near. "He was your friend?"  

Chase felt the sting of betrayal down deep and tasted the sourness of it in his mouth. He pulled his knife and began wiping the blade back and forth across the muddied and blood covered thigh of his buckskin pants.  

"Obviously not." he replied without looking at Chance or Paul. This was not something he wanted to talk about but clearly Chance and Paul had different plans.  

"How do you know he wasn't just doing what he had to do to save his own life? Maybe this Tobias told him to do it or die." Chance offered.  

"You might have killed a man who didn't deserve to die." Paul added pointedly.  

"I have watched Tig rape a mother while her children watched, I'm sure those children would say he deserved to die." Chase shrugged. "Still he was someone I thought I could trust. Even if what you say is true and Tobias threatened he and Yancy they did not have to do what they did. They did what they did for money and nothing else."  

"How can you be sure about that? If I feared for my life...." Chase reached the end of his patience with their nonsense and cut his hand sharply through the air to cut Paul off.  

"If it was only fear they were acting on then as my 

friends they should have told me as soon as they found Leah and I in Billings. They never should have lied and led me into that trap. Together we could have taken Tobias down. I can tell you with no doubts what their plan was.

"Tobias told them they to do as he said or die and he told them that only when their task was done would they get paid. Yancy took Leah to him and now I promise you that Yancy is gone from camp with his saddlebags full of money. Tig was going to shoot me in the back, realized he was no match for me and took off with the plan of meeting up with Yancy and splitting his money with him. Obviously Tig's plan did not go as he saw in his mind and just as soon as I free Leah and know that she's safe I will make sure Yancy knows he made the wrong choice as well."  

Chance and Paul were quiet for a long time and Chase felt relief that their incessant speaking had finally stopped. Leah was not like her family. Leah understood the peace and awareness that could come from simply sitting in silence.

With her Chase could lay in silence staring up at the sky and they still knew each others thoughts without ever having to speak a word. His heart caught in his chest and he cleared the lump from his throat.  

He loved her. If those men had harmed her... If they had touched what was his then he would make sure all guilty suffered long and painful deaths.  

"We will be leaving soon." Chase stated, glancing at the sun as it sank below the horizon.  

"Before we go I need to ask you something." Paul said and suddenly he sounded less angry and bitter and more worried. Chase raised a brow and looked his way waiting for the man to continue.  

Paul sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.  

"Well I guess what I want to know is how you'll feel if those men have... forced her."  

"Pa!" Chance exclaimed angrily.  

"It's a legitimate question." Paul huffed defensively. Chance threw the stick he'd been carving on down roughly and pushed himself to his feet before storming away with his head shaking. Though Chase noticed the man stayed close enough to hear his answer.  

"Well, injun, tell me the truth now. If they've forced my daughter are you still gonna stand by her?" Chase put his knife away and pulled out a rolled cigarette. He took his time in lighting his match and bringing it to his cigarette. He needed that time to fight back his anger that the images Paul's question brought to mind.  

Did the man think so little of him?  

"If someone has forced my wife and laid their hands on what is mine then I will kill each of them very very slowly. I know it angers you that your daughter loves me but honestly I do not care. She is mine. I am hers. I let her go once because I thought that was what was best for her, I can promise you right now that that will never happen again."  

Paul was quiet for a moment and the two men looked at each other. For the first time Chase saw something that looked like acceptance in Pauls eyes. The older man nodded.  

"Good to hear. Now I'm hoping you have a plan." Chase nodded as he blew out a puff of smoke and motioned for Chance to rejoin them.  

"What's the plan?" Chance asked and Chase shrugged.  

"Kill them."  

"That's it?" Paul demanded as he and Chance shared a look of disbelief. Chase's lip twitched as he suppressed a grin.  

"Don't die while doing it."  

---

"I see you're in better spirits." Tobias smiled as he came into the cabin and tipped his hat at Leah. Leah glared at him but said nothing. The sunlight coming through the window had gotten weaker and weaker and she knew that it had to be getting close to sundown. Her hopes that Chase would come and save her were beginning to fade. Maybe Tig had gotten lucky after all.  

"I need to use the bathroom." she whispered, her voice was nearly gone from thirst and her head was dizzy from hunger since she had kicked the man who had brought her some soup earlier, bloodying his nose and covering him in the foul smelling meal all at the same time.  

"Go ahead." Tobias replied with a sweep of his arm. "I don't think it would hurt the cleanliness of the place any." Leah shook her head as her cheeks reddened.  

"Don't make me do that." she pleaded. "You have killed my family, probably killed my husband, you have taken every single thing I love away from me... At least allow me to keep a shred of my dignity."  

Tobias studied her for several long moments and then finally nodded.  

"I'll send someone to take you." he stated. Leah watched him slip from the cabin and she rose up on her knees and then pushed herself up onto her feet. She swayed slightly and her legs tingled and burned as the blood rushed back down into them.  

She shuffled as quietly as she could to the open window and looked outside. They were camped just beside a peaceful river and the sunset had turned the waters orange. Very soon it would be dark and Leah was afraid of what would happen to her then. She had no reason to be think that Tobias wouldn't take advantage of her during the day but some instinctive fear left over from days of old caused her to fear the nighttime more.  

"Have there been any signs of anyone?" Leah heard Tobias ask someone.  

"None so far, sir. If he's coming then I'd say he'll attack come morning." A unfamiliar voice replied.  

"Or tonight." Tobias countered thoughtfully.  

"Only a crazy man would attack an unfamiliar, well manned camp during the night. He'd have a hard enough time finding his way around during the day. Hell there ain't even gonna be much of a moon tonight."  

"From what I've heard about Chase, he just might be a little crazy." Tobias replied. Leah felt hope rise in her. Tobias believed that Chase was alive so maybe that meant he was!  

"I thought that one man, the really crazy one, was supposed to be finishing off this Chase fella for you. What makes you so sure Chase is even coming?"  

"Tig hasn't been back for his money which makes me think that he either chickened out and didn't do the job I ordered or he wasn't quick enough to take out Chase." Tobias replied.  

"Even so, why would the man risk death coming here?" Leah couldn't hear Tobias's response but she did hear the other mans laughter. "That woman in there? Why in the hell would a man risk his own hide for something like that?" Leah felt her temper spark and indignation filled her. What the devil was so wrong with her that a man wouldn't want to risk his life?  

"He'll come, Burt. Just trust me. He'll come." Tobias's spurred boots faded into the distance and Leah bounced from foot to foot. Had he forgotten that she needed to use the bathroom?! She was making her way to the door when suddenly it was opened and a petite blonde walked in.  

"Well come on then, if'n you're comin." The blond stated gruffly as she motioned for Leah to come with her. Leah stared at her for a moment. She wore a pair of trousers and a button up shirt that were both worn and dirty. She had dirt streaks on her neck and face and her blond hair was a mess of tangles. She had a gun on her hip along with a knife and a whip. This camp certainly had different standards for its whores than the last outlaw camp she had been at.  

The woman spit on the dusty floorboards and motioned roughly.  

"You comin or you just wanna do your business right there?" she demanded. Leah shook her head, snapping out of her daze and walked toward the woman.  

She looked around the camp as they stepped out of the cabin and Leah hoped that whenever Chase came he would make it back out alive. Five huge tents stood around the camp and there was another building like the one she'd been kept in across the way from her.  

Whistles and lewd comments filled the air and Leah turned bright red and lowered her head, doing her best to ignore them as the blond led her to an outcropping of bushes.  

"Right here." she said, motioning toward a opening in the bushes.  

"Can you untie me? I can't balance myself and hold my dress up without my hands." Leah stated, turning her back to the woman and wiggling her fingers.  

"Fine but I'll shoot ya if'n you try something sneaky." the blond warned, patting her gun. Leah nodded and then winced in pain and let out a hiss when the woman untied her ropes and the air hit her swollen, broken flesh.  

"Damn, that looks like it hurts." the blond stated before going back to chewing on her dirt crusted fingernails. Leah bit back a sharp response and studied her wrists, realizing with feminine vanity and horror that they were probably going to scar.  

"Hurry up now, we ain't got all day." the blond snapped. Leah headed into the bushes and was thankful when the blond twit at least turned to give her some privacy.  

It took some effort since her legs were feeling weak but Leah managed to do her business and step back out of the bushes.  

"Let me see those wrists." the blond ordered and Leah held out her hands. The blond clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and then slid a sack from her shoulder.  She pulled out a jar of cream and some white strips of fabric.  

Leah pulled away from her when she tried to rub some of the thick cream from the sack on her wounds.  

"You like pain or something?" The blond asked impatiently. "This'll help with the pain and help ya heal or you can be a stubborn twit 'bout it and refuse my help 'n get yourself a real nice infection." Leah felt her spine stiffen and glared at the woman, but held her hands back out.  

She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out in pain as the woman spread the cream thick on her wrists before wrapping the white cloth bandages around them and pinning them in place with small metal pins she pulled from her pocket.  

"You seem different from the women at the last camp I was at." Leah said softly as she waited for the blond to tie her hands back up.  

"Probably be best to leave them untied for a while and stretch you legs while the boss man is busy." the blond said with a wave of her hand. "What kinda women you talkin' 'bout?"  

"The... well you know... the working ones." Leah replied awkwardly and the blond spit out a fingernail and shook her head.  

"I ain't no damn whore if'n that's what you're thinking." she stated passionately. "Why I ain't  never even been with a man!" Leah rubbed the back of her neck and gave an apologetic smile.  

"Sorry,  I just assumed...."  

"Yeah, you and everyone else who sees me in these camps." the blond said with a sigh. "My name's Jane and I am as tough an outlaw as you're gonna find. I can hold my own right up here with these men and they know it too."  

“Really?” Leah asked doubtfully and Jane grinned.

"A'course." she replied. "Tobias was in the saloon looking for men to put together and after he saw me lay the law down to a couple o'drunks he hired me on right away."  

"So you like Tobias?" Leah asked with a frown and Jane shook her head.  

"Nope, can't stand the bastard." she shrugged. "But the pay is good and there's food and a place to sleep." she replied. "Well I guess I best be getting you back to the cabin. The boss'll be wantin' to speak to ya."  

"That's not what he wants to do and you know it." Leah replied with a shiver as she rubbed her suddenly cold arms and her stomach turned. Jane looked sympathetic as she kicked at the dirt with her toe.  

"Not really my business." she stated and Leah snorted.  

"You all are just alike. You don't care about anything other than your own business and money. You don't care what happens to innocent people!" Leah accused angrily. Jane met her gaze, her blue eyes flashing with pride.  

"That's how we stay alive. We weren't born into a nice cozy family with pa's who work to keep food on the table and mama's who rock us to sleep every night!" she countered. "Why if'n we went around worryin' about helping the helpless and minding everyone else's business we'd be dead within a month."  

"Jane, my husband is coming for me. I don't know when but he's coming. He's gonna kill every single person that goes against him, I can promise you that. Wouldn't you rather keep yourself safe and help him?"  

"How 'bout I just keep myself safe and stay out of his way?" Jane countered motioning for Leah to turn so she could once again tie her hands. Leah sighed but did as she was told.  

"You know what Tobias is going to do to me and you know it isn't right. I'm a married woman and he's going to force me to lay with him. Do you not have any honor or sympathy toward another women being abused by a man." Jane was silent for a long moment and then she grabbed Leah's shoulder and turned her around without tying her hands.  

"Whatd'ya want me to do? Get myself killed just to save your precious vanity?"  

"It's not vanity and you know it! Would you want some man tying you up and shoving himself inside of you just to prove that he can?" Leah saw something spark in Jane's eyes and knew that she had struck a nerve. Hope sprung to life in her heart as Jane scratched at her dirty blond hair.  

"I'll do what I can." Jane finally relented. "For starters I'll tie your hands up front." Leah held her arms out and Jane tied her hands together though Leah realized instantly that the ropes were lose enough that she could slide her hands back out.  

"Thank you." Leah said sincerely as she smiled at Jane. Jane shrugged and smiled back revealing a gap in between her front teeth that gave her an innocence that had Leah wondering just how old she was.  

"Take this." Jane added, slipping a small pocket knife from her pants pocket and sliding it into Leah's dress pocket. "Gut that bastard but do it right cuz he'll kill ya if'n you don't."  

"Thank you, Jane."  

"Don't thank me 'til you make it out alive. I hope your man does show up, Leah, but I've learned not to expect too much outta the other half o' our species. They tend to disappoint you when you do." Leah just smiled and shook her head, feeling better and more hopeful than she had all day.  

"Not Chase."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

"They got guards set up." Chance whispered as he, Paul and Chase lay on their stomachs on the same ridge they'd viewed the camp from before. Chase nodded as he scanned the lookouts. There seemed to be three of them. One on a ridge to the left and two on a ridge to the right. The two on the right were standing less than fifty feet apart.  

"You are both too green to be of much help in the middle of all the fighting." Chase stated and both Paul and Chance glared at him and puffed up with pride.  

"I am twice your age, you damn injun and I ain't green at all."  Paul assured him.  

"Yeah me neither." Chance added with indignation.  

"Your pride is both useless and unneeded. What I need is stealth and silence and neither of you are any good at that."  

"Am too." Paul argued. He shifted his weight and winced when a twig snapped beneath him.  

"Quiet as a shadow there, pa." Chance said with a roll of his eyes. Chase was thinking about pistol whipping them both and doing this on his own. But then again it might cause some tension between he and Leah when her father and brother showed up with bumps on their heads and addled brains. Chase looked at Paul.  

"You say you're good with a rifle." he said and Paul patted his Sharps rifle proudly.  

"Damn good." he replied.  

"Good. Then you can stay up here and provide me cover fire. But do not shoot unless I'm found out. Then shoot anyone that makes a move toward Leah."  

"What about if they make a move toward you?" Paul asked and Chase shrugged.  

"I can take care of myself." he assured the man. "Chance, you are good with a revolver?"  

"Pretty good." Chance replied. "Of course the only things I've ever really shot with it are glass bottles and tree stumps." Chase sighed and rubbed his face roughly.  

"That's fine. Just pretend these men are big, ugly tree stumps." he replied. "You'll come down there with me but you'll find something to take cover behind and stay there. Just like what I told your pa, don't shoot unless I'm found out."  

"Got it, chief." Chase bristled.  

"Don't call me chief." he growled and Chance shrugged.  

"Okay, boss." Chase bristled more.  

"Don't call me that either."  

"What should I call you?" Chance asked and Chase rolled his eyes.  

"Chase oughta do it." he replied. "Now let's get going. It's nearly hard dark and I would like to be  done with this and get a little sleep before daybreak."  

---

Leah waited in the darkness of the cabin for Tobias. She had no doubts that he would be coming and her heart was racing and her mind whirring as she thought about what she would have to do to him. Leah had never killed anyone and the thought of spilling someone's blood and taking their life made her nauseous and yet she would do what she had to do to save herself.  

She clutched her necklace from Chase firmly in her hand and listened to the sounds around her. Camp was fairly silent. She could hear the guard posted outside her cabin pacing back and forth across the porch, his boots scraping on the splintery wood as he drug them.  

She assumed most of the men had long since gone to sleep since they no longer believed Chase was coming. She had heard Tobias talking not long ago and even he seemed to now believe that Tig had either done his job correctly or the other Indian simply wasn't going to risk his life just for Leah.  

Leah didn't believe that. If Chase was alive then he was coming and deep down inside Leah believed that Chase was alive. He had to be. The clinking of spurs signaled Tobias's approach and Leah stayed in the corner with her hands in front of her still within the ropes. She wished Chase would come! She wasn't sure how she could possibly manage to kill Tobias and get away from all these other men by herself.  

The door opened and Tobias entered the cabin with a lantern lighting the darkness.  

"Well hello, sweetheart." he cooed, sounding almost loving. Leah knew he was trying to get her off her guard but it wasn't going to work. She had seen the evilness in his eyes and knew that his kind words were nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing.  

"I was just about to go to sleep." Leah whispered as she scooted further into the dark corner. Tobias shook his head and sat his lantern on the rickety table in the center of the room.  

"No you're not." he replied with a grin. "You and I are fixing to get to know each other just a little better."  

"I don't want to know anything about you." Leah countered and Tobias feigned hurt as he covered his heart.  

"Sure you do. I'm told you like us injuns pretty good."  

"My 

injun will kill you slower if you touch me.“

"Your injun won't get close enough to kill me. Your injun will be all alone and I have a camp full of men loyal to me."  

"No you don't. You have a camp full of men you pulled out of saloons so you could look tough and have quick protection. Chase has been taking care of men like you since he learned to hold a knife. He'll make short work of you." Tobias grinned coldly.  

"You sure are a mouthy one. Ignorant cockiness is what I call that. You are a pampered little brat and you truly have no idea about all the ways I can and will teach you your place." Leah swallowed hard, fighting back her fear and met his gaze full force. 	

"You will try but you will fail." she hissed and Tobias laughed loudly.  

"This is going to be fun." he vowed. He stepped toward Leah and she scooted herself further into the corner.

"Don't touch me." she exclaimed and he chuckled coldly. He moved like a predator as he crossed the floor toward her and slid off his gun belt. Leah turned her head as he slipped out of his boots, pants and shirt and stood there wearing nothing but a red bandana around his neck and his hat on his head.  

"Look at me, sweetheart." he purred out in the lantern lit darkness. Leah didn't want to but knew that she had to. She had to watch him to see what he was doing in order to know when to let loose her hands and pull the knife Jane had given her.  

Tobias was impressive though he didn't arouse her. Instead he nearly paralyzed her with fear. His body was shorter and thicker than Chases. Less lithe and deadly and more solid and heavily muscled. He had a dusting of hair across his tanned chest and scars on his stomach. Her gaze drifted lower and Leah swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat at the sight of his throbbing arousal.  

Panic filled her. It was pure and animalistic and she lost all pretenses of bravery or toughness when he grabbed a chunk of her hair in his fist and tossed her backward. Instantly her hands came loose and she threw them up in an effort to keep him from lowering his body over hers.

"I'm glad your hands got free. I love it when they fight me." he growled as he grabbed her wrists roughly in one hand, causing her to cry out with pain as his fingers dug into the sores the rope had caused.  

"Please don't do this." Leah begged.  

"I'm doing it." Tobias countered and then his mouth crushed down against hers hard.  

Leah fought against him but he was much too strong. He pinned both of her legs with one of his and then used his other knee to spread her thighs apart. Leah couldn't catch her breath as his mouth ground against hers. She felt his hand come up and grab the neckline of her dress. Leah's sobs choked her and she cried out against Tobias's mouth as the sound of shredding fabric reached her ears.  

She could taste the last chew of tobacco he'd had as he shoved his tongue roughly into her mouth and toward her throat. Leah bit down hard and Tobias cried out with pain as he pulled away just enough to slap her across her face.  

Leah used that opportunity to draw a deep breath and scream as loudly as she could.  

"Chase!!!" she cried out.  

"He's not coming, sweetheart." Tobias promised mockingly as he grinned and she could see blood on his teeth. She felt a moment of triumph in knowing that she had drawn first blood. Then as his hand shoved up her skirts, Leah felt all her hope fading. Tobias stilled and chuckled when he felt the knife in her pocket. He pulled it and opened the blade letting it glint in the glowing lantern light. In that moment Leah was certain she was going to die.  

---

Chase crouched in waiting less than ten feet behind one of the guards to the right of where he’d left Paul on the ridge. He kept his eyes glued to the single guard that had been to the left.

The plan was for Chance to silently take down that guard first and then Chase would quickly silence the remaining two before any alarm could be raised. Chase saw the grasses move just slightly right behind the oblivious guard. Chase's trained eyes caught the movement but anyone else wouldn't have noticed.  

Suddenly a hand clamped over the guards mouth from behind and took him down. Chase saw the guard just in front of him take notice and he quickly leapt forward and slid his knife across the mans throat and then just before the third guard could yell out, Chase threw his knife in an arc and it sailed the fifty feet between he and the other guard and sunk up to the hilt in his chest.  

Chase let out a hoot, the sound undistinguishable from that of a barn owl which was the signal that he and Chance had agreed upon to let the other man know the threat was gone. Chase crouched and ran to the third guard. He pulled his knife from his chest with the thick wet sound of releasing suction and wiped it on his pants before sticking it back on his leg.  

He took the dead mans revolver and stuck it in the waistband of his pants and then took the mans knife as well. It wasn't as well balanced or as sharp as his own but it would do in a rough spot. Chance closed the distance between them and was soon behind Chase.  

"You breath more loudly than a rutting buffalo and you walk as loudly as an entire herd." Chase complained and Chance snorted.  

"Snuck up on that guard didn't I?" he countered and Chase shrugged one shoulder.  

"He was asleep while standing. I could hear him snoring from over here."  

"Yeah. Yeah. Let's get down there." Chance grumbled.  

Chase fought back a grin and then began leading the way down the boulder covered hillside, using what little light the moon offered to keep himself from breaking his leg, or worse, his neck.  

Chase stopped behind a large boulder just outside the glow of firelight from the center fire in the camp. He tilted his head at Chance.  

"You'll stay here." he whispered. Chance nodded.  

"You get in there and save my sister." Chase's jaw hardened and then he slid around the rock, leaving Chance behind him. Camp was quiet. Tobias must not be too worried about him and that would be Tobias's downfall.  

Chance could see a man standing guard outside of the building he knew that Leah was in. Calling on every 'savage' instinct he had, Chase moved as silently as the wind through the dark shadows. Suddenly the calm night was shattered by the sound of Leah screaming his name in terror.  

Suddenly Chase forgot all about sneaking. He was pissed now and that rage was enough to convince him that he wanted all of these men to die. He jumped to his full height and his long legs carried him quickly across the distance still separating him from his wife.  

The guard saw him but before he had time to realize what was happening Chase threw his stolen knife through the air and as it lodged in the guards throat the man was silenced forever. As Chase ran onto the porch he heard what he assumed to be Tobias's mocking voice.  

"Was this little knife supposed to kill me sweetheart?" Chase growled and threw the door open. The rage he was feeling reached a boiling point and he went nearly blind with it when he saw the naked man turn to look over his shoulder at him from where he lay atop his wife. Leah's eyes were wide, her face bruised, her dress ripped. Chase felt himself vibrating with anger.  

"No," Chase replied to the question the man had posed to Leah. "This one is." he pulled his own knife and lunged.  

Tobias rolled to the side, dodging Chase. Chase growled and positioned his body between Leah and Tobias. Chase realized that Tobias was unarmed other than the small pocketknife with the three inch blade he held in his hand.  

"I'll bet you were thinking this would be harder weren't you?" Tobias asked with a lopsided grin and Chase tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly Tobias lunged at Chase but Chase was much too fast. He turned to the side and swung his knife catching the other man across the side.  

Blood splattered across the wooden floor and Tobias realized he'd made a mistake. He had underestimated Chase. How had the man gotten past four guards, three up high and one right outside this building to make it in here to he and Leah? How had the man done all of that without a single gunshot or a single person seeing or hearing him?  

Forgetting all about killing Chase himself, Tobias turned and ran from the cabin, still naked and unarmed.

 Chase turned to Leah. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with fear and shining with tears. She had one hand held against her chest to hold up her tattered dress and Chase saw the bandages around her dainty wrists.  

Without a word he went to her and dropped to his knees. He wrapped his arms tight around her and she sobbed into his chest but then quickly pulled away.  

"You have to go after him!" she exclaimed. "If you don't then he'll just keep coming for you...." Before she could finish a cry rang out.  

"We ain't alone boys!" Tobias's voice rang out in the night. Leah heard shouts and yells and then the gunshots began. Nearby revolvers and the report of a rifle firing from off in the distance followed by the sounds of men grunting as bullets met with flesh.  

"Chase, what are we going to do?" Leah gasped as Chase pulled her to her feet and looked down at her, reassurance shining in his black eyes.  

"We're going to get out of here and go home to our valley." he promised.  

"I love you." Leah whispered and Chase kissed her quickly with a mix of passion and what Leah feared was desperation.  

A goodbye kiss.  

Leah didn't want this to be goodbye and she refused to let it be. She and Chase had been through too many hardships to have it end this way. They deserved happily ever after. Leah bent down and grabbed Tobias's shirt from the floor even as bullets thudded against the thick wooden walls of the building she was in. Luckily this building had been made to hold up against gunfire and be fairly safe.  

She was pulling on the shirt when a mans head and gun popped up into the window and before Leah had time to scream Chase pulled his gun and fired a single shot, sending blood splattering and causing the man to slide back down the outside wall. It was clear that he would no longer be a threat to anyone.  

Leah swallowed down the bile that wanted to rise. This was the way of life she had chosen when she had chosen Chase and she just had to get used to it.  

She buttoned up Tobias's shirt to hide her tattered bodice and then grabbed his loaded revolver from the ground. She checked to ensure it was loaded and then looked up at Chase who was watching her with his brow raised.  

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chance heard his sister cry out from his spot behind the rock and it took every ounce of self control he had to keep himself from running into the camp with his gun blazing.  

He saw that Chase didn't have quite the control he had. The Indian burst from the shadows, materializing from nothing and moving faster than a panther through the darkness, ending the cabin guards life before he even had a chance to realize his life was in danger.  

Chance had lost sight of Chase once the Indian had entered the cabin and that had left Chance sitting behind the rock feeling as if he was doing nothing but twiddling his thumbs.  

He sat and twiddled said thumbs until suddenly a naked man, bleeding profusely from his side came charging out of the cabin. Chance nearly dropped his gun in his shock as he recognized Tobias and realized that the man had been in that cabin with his sister.  

Tobias quickly found cover behind a wagon and it wasn't until his voice yelled out in the night,  

"We ain't alone boys!" that Chance realized he should have shot Tobias as he'd run across the camp. The only defense Chance had of his lapse in judgment was that he'd been plumb shocked. It wasn't every single day that a man saw a buck naked Indian, covered in blood and running in the firelight.  

But as men began running out of tents and firing shots toward the cabin, Chance quickly recovered. He heard his father's Sharps rifle firing as well and each shot his father fired seemed to find its mark. Chance knew his father was good with that rifle. Paul had sniped off many a coyote from a distance while protecting his cattle and other livestock.  

Chance quickly began firing shots of his own, determined to keep the men from storming the cabin where his sister and Chase were taking cover.  

---

"How many of these men are there?" Leah demanded as she and Chase took turns firing out the window.  

"A lot." Chase replied. He had moved a big heavy shelf in front of the door to keep anyone from coming in that way and now it was just a waiting game, though he and Leah were quickly running out of bullets.  

"Chase look at that." Leah exclaimed with excitement. Chase shook his head and raised his brow at her. She was the damndest woman he had ever met. Innocent and childlike one moment, an argumentative brat another moment, and then excited over a gunfight in the next.  

Chase followed her gaze out the window and saw what had her excited. A large group of men had clearly decided they had no interest in dying for their new boss and they were currently on horseback and galloping across the river and away from the flying bullets as quickly as they could.  

"Tobias is foolish. He thought he could pull some inexperienced men from saloons, offer them money and instantly have their loyalty." Chase said with irritation.  

"Where is Tobias? I haven't seen him since he ran out." Leah said as she and Chase moved away from the window to reload their guns from the dwindling supply of ammunition Chase had in a sack tied to his waist.  

"I cut him deeply. He is busy bleeding to death."  

"You don't look happy about that." Chase's jaw tightened as his eyes hardened but he did not respond. He was not happy about the thought of Tobias dying while he was stuck in this cabin. He wanted to be looking in Tobias's eyes as the man's life slipped out of him. He wanted to have his knife deep in the mans throat as his heart beat out it's last few pumps of blood and life.  

"We must leave this cabin," Chase stated as he took stock of their remaining ammunition and realized just how close to empty they were.  

"We do?" Leah asked with a nervous tremble in her voice, though she kept her shoulders squared and determined. Chase nodded.  

"We will soon run out of bullets and be sitting ducks. We need to leave here  and I need to get you to safety."  

"Get me to safety and then what will you do?" Leah asked, pretending it was perfectly normal to have a conversation while gunshots and screams of pain filled the air.  

"Come back and make sure Tobias is finished off. I won't be looking over my shoulder forever or worrying about your safety."  

"He still has a few men out there that seem to be loyal. Can we get past them all?" Leah asked as she bit her lip.  

"Maybe." Chase replied. "Your father and brother are hidden and providing cover fire."  

"They're alive?" Leah asked with relief and Chase nodded.  

"So is your mother though she is at a doctors." He didn't tell her about Benjamin. Now was not the time.  

"How many men do you think are left?" Leah questioned and Chase spared a glance out the window.  

"Six at the most. Maybe not that many." Leah thought about Jane and wondered if she'd already been killed or if she had hightailed it with those other men.  

"Let's go then." she replied. "I'm ready to be done with all this outlaw stuff. It was fun for a few minutes but my ears are starting to ring from all the gunshots."  

Chase's lips twitched with a suppressed smile and he kissed her brow tenderly.  

"Stop doing that!" Leah exclaimed and he frowned.  

"What?"  

"Kissing me goodbye. This isn't goodbye." she replied defiantly. Chase nodded and then took her by the hand as he swallowed hard. He led her to the door and pushed the shelf out of the way.  

"You stay behind me and if something happens to me...."  

"Nothing is going to happen." Leah interrupted him quickly and Chase studied her face as if trying to memorize every curve and line. His jaw tightened and he nodded before throwing open the door.  

---

The gunfire seemed as if it had been going on forever though it had probably only been five or ten minutes. Chance fired off a shot at a fat man  who was attempting to take cover behind a water trough and the man yelled in pain and dropped to the ground, holding his now useless shooting arm.  

Chance saw a large group, most of the men from the camp actually, ride away quickly. Clearly they had decided their loyalty to Tobias did not extend to being picked off like fish in a barrel by his father up on that ridge.  

Suddenly Chase heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to see the butt of a rifle coming toward his head and a smile on the face of the giant man wielding it.  

He didn't have time to get out of the way and prepared himself for the pain only to hear a whistling sound and jerk back when a whip sliced through the air and wrapped itself around the big mans arms. He screamed in pain and dropped the rifle.  

"Now get the hell on outta here. What do ya wanna die for? Tobias? I don't think so." Chance's jaw dropped when he saw the petite, loud talking blond at the other end of that whip.  

"Jane, why the hell you involving yourself in this?" The giant demanded as a bullet ricocheted off the rock they were behind and all three of them ducked. Chance fired a blind shot behind him, since he had no way of knowing where the bullet had been fired from and looked back at the woman.  

"Well I weren't goin' to till I saw you sneakin' up on this poor man like some kinda yellow bellied coward."  

"I ain't no damn coward, I'm just doin' my job."  

"What the hell for?" Jane demanded. "I happened to see Tobias, who is hidin' in one of the closed wagons by the way, and he is bleeding out faster than a damn hog at killin' time. He ain't living more'n another couple a minutes and then you're outta a job and outta money. Might as well cut and run now."  

"I guess you got a point, Jane. No hard feeling about trying to knock you out?" the giant asked Chance and Chance found himself unable to do anything but nod slowly. The giant red head picked up his rifle and then slipped away out of sight.  

"Name's Jane." The blond said as she held out her hand. Chance shook it slowly and then the red head cursed loudly when another bullet ricocheted off the rock. "Looks like there's still about five guys that want your friends dead. Don't really surprise me none seein' as how they've been friends with Tobias since before he wrangled up the rest of us."

Chance still just stared at her. He'd never heard a woman that talked quite like her. She had a heavy southern accent and cursed worse than most men he knew. Her blond hair was a mess of dirt and tangles and her skin was streaked with mud. Her clothes were men's clothes but they fit her tiny, petite body perfectly. Not only that but the whip she had placed back on her side and the gun on her hip accented her tiny curves. She was beautiful.  

Another gunshot had Chance snapping out of his daydreams. Now was certainly not the time for such thoughts and then the door to the cabin burst open and he saw his sister and Chase run out.  

Bullets were instantly sent in their direction and Chase shielded Leah's body with his own as he ducked behind a post on the porch. Chance was happier than hell to see that his sister appeared to be both alive and well.   

For now.  

"Tobias, come face me yourself, coward." Chase called out and Chance wondered if the man knew how unintelligent it seemed to call the man who's hired hands were dead set on killing you names.  

"Stop!" Tobias's pain filled voice called out and suddenly the air quieted and the gunshots ceased. Chance watched Chase as the Indian kept his body providing cover for Leah and then Tobias limped out from behind a wagon where he'd been hiding.  

He had slipped into a pair of pants and found a gun but it was clear the man was dying. Blood covered his side and poured down his leg. His skin was pale in the firelight and even from the distance Chance could see the sweat slicking the other man.  

"Call off your dogs." Chase warned. "This is over. I killed you ten minutes ago in that cabin."  

"It's true, you did. I underestimated you. I knew Tig would not kill you. I knew you would come for the whore. I just never imagined you would have friends in hidden places," Tobias's gaze quickly passed over the rock that Chance was now standing beside and the ridge where Paul lay.  

"And I never imagined you would be able to sneak past four guards without making a single sound." Tobias added. It was clear that his legs were weakening as the man swayed on his feet. "But you are going to die before I do, 

savage . I am going to make sure of that.“

Several things happened at once following that statement. One of the men that had come out of hiding took aim at Chance and fired. Chance felt a searing pain in his lower leg and heard Jane let out a yell of anger and fire a shot of her own, killing the shooter.  

Leah screamed in shock when a man came around the cabin and grabbed her by her hair, yanking her backward away from Chase. Chase let out a growl and pulled both revolvers he was carrying. He aimed one directly at the man who had a knife to his wife's throat and aimed the other at Tobias.  

Jane untied a red bandana from around her neck and wrapped it tightly around Chance's lower leg and then the two of them stepped out into the open with their guns drawn and ready, aiming at two of the remaining four men still loyal to Tobias.  

"Release my wife." Chase growled. Leah stood with her spine ramrod straight and not one ounce of fear showed on her face. Chase was proud of that. She knew he would protect her and having her absolute trust meant more to him than anything else ever had.  

He would not let her down.  

"I think I'll just keep her." the dirty man holding her said. He sniffed her ear and Chase watched Leah's hand tighten on the handle of her gun and Chase watched the mans wrist twitch as he tightened the blade against her throat.  

"I don't share." Chase replied. He didn't take his eyes off of Leah, knowing that if he did it would only take a single flick of this mans wrist and his wife would be dead.  

"What we have here is a stalemate." Tobias said with a chuckle. Chase knew the man was right. Every person here had a gun drawn and aimed at someone, or in Chase's case, two guns drawn.  

"Call them off, Tobias. This is over. You are a dead man." Chase ordered. Tobias's sweat slicked brow raised as he nodded.  

"Yes I am. You cut me plumb to the core, but I ain't going down alone. You took my father from me. That bastard raised you yet couldn't be bothered with his own son and then when I finally found him he was already dead because 

you killed him!“ Chase didn’t bother responding. Words spoken to mad men were words that fell on deaf ears.

Chase sensed movement from Tobias's direction and then he saw the man holding Leah flex his wrist. Chase saw blood on Leah's throat and he opened fire, not caring that Tobias was going to shoot him in the back, just so long as Leah did not die. Chance, Paul, Leah and the woman with Chance could handle the rest of these men. Chase would gladly sacrifice himself to save his mates life.  

The man holding Leah didn't know what had hit him as Chase's bullet slammed into his forehead and he flew backward. Leah slumped to the ground but came up quickly with her gun. Chase turned just as he heard gunshots firing from all directions. Chance and the woman with him were taking care of Tobias's remaining men.  

Chase turned and found himself staring down Tobias's revolver, less than a foot from his face.  

"Goodbye, 

savage .“ Tobias said with a grin and Chase stood tall and proud and refused to let his fear show. Leah screamed and Chance called out but none of them fired. They were at the wrong angle and would not be able to get a shot at Tobias without shooting a bullet through Chase’s back.

Chase was going to die. The only comfort he took was knowing that he had accomplished the most important thing in life first. He had loved a woman with every fiber of his being both heart, body and soul and he had been loved just as strongly in return.  

Tobias sneered and his finger tightened on the trigger.  

The sound of a gunshot filled the air and Leah screamed out Chase's name as time seemed to stand still.  

And then as the report of the rifle echoed off into the distance it was not Chase that fell dead to the ground, but Tobias.  

Leah ran to Chase and he gathered her up in his arms and held her as tightly as he could. She couldn't breath but she didn't care. She found herself sobbing in his arms and Chase simply held her and buried his face in her hair, whispering soothingly.

He spared a glance to the ridge where he had left Paul and though he could not see the man, he threw up a hand and waved anyway. He had known that Paul would be the only one who could have a clear shot at Tobias and Chase had not figured that the man would save his life.  

Chase had actually assumed Paul would want him dead and therefore not take that shot on Tobias. It seemed Chase was going to have to tell him thank-you and that thought caused his stomach to burn a little.  

"Is it over?" Leah whispered as she pulled away and looked up into his eyes.  

He studied the emerald green depths of her eyes and nodded as his gaze fell to the small cut on the side of her neck.  

"Yes it's over."  

"Hot damn then let's get the heck outta here 'fore anybody else shows up and get this man here some stitches in that leg 'fore he loses every bit o' blood that good looking body has." Jane spoke up and Chance's pale face reddened with embarrassment.  

Chase nodded and offered Chance his arm for support.  

"Let us go. There's still a while before dawn and the smallest chance we might all get some rest."

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chase did not sleep once they were settled into a camp a few hours later. Jane had stitched Chance's leg and Chase suspected that if Jane stuck around long enough she would find herself married to Chance. The man certainly seemed interested, much to Paul's grumbling disbelief. 	

Now the camp was quiet as the moon finally peaked out of the clouds and shone on Leah's sleeping form. He reached out and brushed his fingers over her peaceful brow, smoothing the silky strands of hair that had fallen over it.  

She was so beautiful that it made his chest ache. He had come so close to losing her. So close to never having the chance to simply stare at her again and it wasn't something he ever wanted to happen again.  

He was settling down with her. He was going to make good on his promise and build her that home and buy those cattle. He was going to build as safe a life as possible with her and hopefully some day soon her body would begin to swell with his child.  

There were still things they needed to discuss. The death of Benjamin being the one he dreaded the most. But for now Leah was safe and happy and sleeping peacefully beside him. Everything else could wait until morning.  

Chase let out a long breath when he heard Paul rise from his bedroll and walk toward him. Chase nodded in greeting and Paul knelt down next to Chase who was sitting cross legged beside the fire.  Both men simply sat there and stared into the glow of the firelight.  

After several long moments Paul patted Chase on the back and then went back to his own bed. Chase watched the older man and knew he had just been accepted. Pride swelled his chest and he turned his gaze back to Leah only to discover that she was lying there awake and watching him.  

"Sleep. You need your rest." Chase scolded as he pulled the blanket up around her bruised body. He knew her body below her shirt and dress was bruised. Her neck was black though Chase had yet to learn who it was that had strangled his wife and bruised the flesh of her throat. She had a small cut on the side of her throat from the knife and her cheek was welted. Chase felt that rage rising back up in him and he fought to swallow it back down. 	

Anger would serve no purpose and those responsible were dead.  

"I want you to lay with me." Leah replied softly and Chase smiled down at her and stretched out on the ground beside her, pulling her body into his and wrapping his long frame around her shorter one.  

"Better?" he asked. She didn't respond, instead she sighed with contentment and snuggled closer to him.  

"So was that it?" she asked after several moments of simply holding one another in silence. Chase frowned and kissed her hair before laying his chin on the top of her head.  

"Is what it?"  

"You and my father's touching moment. That was it? He sits next to you, you nod at one another, he pats your back and then he walks away?"  

"Were we supposed to kiss?" Chase asked with a raise of his brow and Leah mumbled under her breath and bit his nipple lightly. Chase laughed out loud and squeezed her tighter.  

"I will return the favor later." he promised and Leah felt herself tremble against him.  

"All the mean words and blind hatred and it's over just like that? Without either one of you even saying a word?" she asked, pushing her desire aside.  

"Words truly mean nothing. Action are what matter. Your father saved my life when he did not have to. That told me all I needed to know." Leah fell silent again but Chase could tell by the way she was shifting in his arms that there was more on her mind and he simply lay there quietly and waited for her to speak.  

"I was so scared, Chase." she finally whispered, her voice muffled against his chest. "Yancy and I were standing there waiting on you and then suddenly he threw a sack over my head and choked me until I just couldn't stay awake." Chase's jaw tightened until it popped. So Yancy had put those bruises on her neck?  

Chase would ensure that Yancy had a few bruises of his own before he died.  

"I woke up tied in that room and everything hurt.... Tobias he came and spoke to me once during the day and when he left Yancy came and told me that he was sure you'd come but that if you didn't I should just mind Tobias and be his woman since I like 

injuns .“

"He will die for what he did to you." Chase growled and Leah pulled away just enough so she could look up at him.  

"Hasn't there been enough killing? Enough death?" she asked. "I thought I had lost you. I thought you were dead. But yet a piece of me just kept hoping, wishing and praying that somehow you were alive and that you would come for me...." 	

"And I did. So forget about all that happened and just focus on our future." Leah began chewing on her lip once again and Chase sighed.

"What?"  

"What is our future going to be, Chase? Is is going to be gunfights, kidnapping and constant fear?"  

Chase could tell by the look in her eyes that she regretted asking that question as soon as the words were out of her mouth. He ran his knuckles down her cheek and kissed her brow tenderly.  

"No. You never have to live in fear. Our future is a cabin beside a crystal clear pool of water. It's barns and cattle. Chickens and pigs. It's our children running around. Tucking them in at night and then falling into our bed and loving until we fall asleep only to wake up every morning in each others arms."  

A tear slipped down Leah's cheek and he captured it with his lips before frowning.  

"Why are you crying?" She smiled and laid her hand on his neck, letting her fingers slip into his hair.  

"That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."  

"I meant every word." Chase promised.  

"I know you did. You would never lie to me or say anything just to make me feel better."  

"Only the truth, always." he vowed. "Now let's get some sleep. We'll have a long day of traveling tomorrow to reach Billings and your mother." Leah nodded and snuggled up deeper into his arms, knowing that wrapped in Chase's love was the safest place she would ever be.  

---

"Paul." Chase called as the five of them rode toward Billing's the next day. Paul turned to look at Chase and Chase signaled for him to fall behind everyone with him. Leah was about to fall behind as well but Chase indicated with his hand for her to continue and she bit her lip and did as she was told.  

She wasn't sure why Chase wanted to speak to her father alone but she was no longer worried about them killing each other. They had been remarkably civil to one another all day.   

Leah caught up with her brother and Jane and smiled at the discussion they were having.  

"Why the devil would it be proper for a man to wear this gitty-up and not me?" Jane demanded looking down at herself.  

"Because..well.. You're a woman."  

"How'd ya figure that one out?" Jane asked dryly. "Was it the breasts or the lack o' facial hair?" Chances' mouth stuttered several times as his eyes went up and down her body and Leah burst out laughing.  

"Mom's gonna pitch a fit and a half." she managed to gasp. Chance frowned.  

"What are you talking about?" Leah forced herself to stop laughing and worked desperately at keeping her face straight.  

"Nothing." she lied. "Jane, I want to thank you both for helping me with the ropes and the knife but also for saving my brothers life and helping us get away."  

Jane shrugged and scratched at her arm.   

"It weren't nothing." she replied. "It weren't right what Tobias was doin' and he needed to be stopped. Besides I couldn't let him kill your brother. He's the most decent lookin' thing I've run across in a long time." Jane gave Chance a grin and Leah saw her brother blush again.  

It looked like Chance might have just found his life mate too. And Leah had no doubts that their mother would NOT be happy that her only son had found a woman like Jane.  

"So, Jane, what are you planning on doing once we reach Billings?" Leah asked, giving her brother time to compose himself.  

"I'm hitting the saloon first thing. Gotta have some drinks after a busy day a killin'." Jane shrugged. "Then I dunno. Guess it just depends on what Billing's has to offer." At this last comment she waggled her brows at Chance and he turned an even deeper shade of red.  

Leah could no longer hold back her laughter and was soon leaning over her horses neck and clutching her aching stomach.  

---

A faint smile passed over Chase's lips as he watched his wife laughing in the sunlight. So beautiful, she was. He knew he could watch her forever and never grow tired of the view.  

"Are you gonna tell me what I'm riding back here with you for or is this just a bonding experience of some kind?" Paul asked dryly as he pulled a pouch of tobacco from his shirt pocket and began to dig out a pinch between his fingers.  

"Leah brought it to my attention that I should thank you for killing Tobias." Chase admitted. Paul nodded as he stuck the pouch back in his shirt.  

"I saw the way you were willing to sacrifice your own safety, your own life, for my daughters. That's not the kind of thing a father misses." They were silent a moment and then Paul spit out a stream of tobacco before looking back at Chase.  

"Is that all?"  

"No." Chase sighed. "I have not yet told Leah about Benjamin."  

"You think she's gonna be real upset?" Paul asked and Chase nodded.  

"Yes. She loved him. I want to tell her while we are alone and I would like to let her see the grave." Paul raised a brow.  

"You willing to do that? Let your wife mourn a man she was gonna marry?" Chase fought back an irritated response and breathed several times to calm himself. He needed to do what he could to make he and Paul's relationship civil. If for no other reason than to make Leah's life easier.  

"Of course. Benjamin is no threat to me, especially now."  

"Well we buried him up under that oak tree at lookout hill right across from the main house." Chase nodded.  

"I will take Leah there and we will meet you all in Billings."  

"Sounds good. Welcome to the family, Chase. I don't believe I ever told you that." Chase nodded in acknowledgment and then quickened Blazes' gait to catch up with Leah.  

"How is your leg?" he asked Chance and the other man waved his hand.  

"It's fine." he replied.  

"It hurts o'course. He got shot!" Jane exclaimed. "What kind of question is that?"  

"A dumb one, I suppose." Chase replied. "Leah you and I need to break away now and go to your parents house before we go into Billings."  

"Good idea." Leah replied. "I'm sure mother would like to have her sewing and a clean dress." Chase nodded, tipped his head to Chance, Paul and Jane and then he and Leah rode away from them.  

	"Pa, could I have some privacy with Jane for a minute?" Chance asked after Leah and Chase had ridden away. Paul spit out some tobacco and sighed with defeat.  

"I reckon. I throw my hands up in defeat and surrender when it comes to you youngins but I can't speak for what your mama is going to say."  

"What're y'all talkin' 'bout?" Jane asked with a frown. Chance threw his father a pointed glare and Paul sighed and sped up to give the two of them some privacy.  

"Y'all men are actin' crazier than a mad cat at matin' time. What's goin' on?" Chance shook his head as he chuckled.  

"You say the craziest things." he said matter of factly and Jane flashed him a smile. Chance felt his heart start pounding and took several deep breaths to calm it down and collect his thoughts. What the hell was wrong with him? While he'd never been a rogue, he'd certainly had some experience with the fairer sex and never before had he felt so helpless and out of control in his attraction.  

He had no idea what it was about Jane. She was loud. She cursed worse than anyone he'd ever met when she got on a roll. She was wearing clothes that would have his mother breathing fire out her nose and her hair was a mess of tangles.  

But beneath the dirt on her face he could see a dusting of freckles brushed across her nose and cheeks. She had big blue eyes and the gap between her teeth when she smiled gave her an innocence that Chance found captivating. Add to that her bravery, quick wit and the way she made him laugh and just how nice her petite little body looked in those trousers and stained up shirt and Chance was caught. Hook. Line. And Sinker.  

"I ain't really as tough as I let on. It's dangerous in the life I live to let a man see ya as anything other than tough as nails and meaner than a rattle snake." Jane admitted. 	

"So what are you really doing once we reach Billings?" Chance asked and Jane sighed wistfully, sounding very much like a woman.  

"Getting a hot bath." This statement stirred up all kinds of images in Chance's mind and he quickly cleared his throat and looked away from her. "Then I'd like to get some dinner, I'm awful hungry. Only trouble is it ain't no fun to eat alone."  

Chance smiled and tipped his hat.  

"Are you inviting me to dinner ma'am?" Jane laughed loudly.  

"I ain't never been called a ma'am before!" she exclaimed as she smacked her knee. "And yeah, I'm inviting you to dinner."  

"I'd be more than happy to eat dinner with you, Jane." They shared a smile and Chance knew he'd have to talk to Chase soon. How long had it taken the injun to realize that Leah as the one for him? Because from where Chance sat, Jane was looking more and more like a woman he could see himself tied down with.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Chase, you seem quieter than normal.” Leah stated as her families house came into view. “What’s wrong?” Chase sighed and pointed up toward lookout hill.

"I need to show you something." he replied.  

"You're scaring me." Leah said slowly and he stopped Blaze and dismounted, signaling for Leah to do the same. He hitched their horses to the post and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the hill.  

"Tobias and his men came here and you already know they hurt your mother." he said quietly and Leah nodded.  

"Yes, you told me that. Chase, what is going on?!" she exclaimed.  

"Benjamin was here when they attacked and he did not get away in time. He's buried up here on the hill." Leah stopped walking suddenly and stared up at Chase. With pleading green eyes she silently begged him to admit that he was lying or telling a terrible joke but his black eyes just gazed back down at her, full of regret and pain that she knew was for her and not over the loss of Benjamin.  

"Chase, it can't be true...." she gasped as she shook her head and covered her mouth. "Why would someone kill a helpless man?"  

"For the same reason that they would kidnap and torture a helpless woman. They are cowards." Chase replied. Leah sniffled and then she began to cry and Chase wrapped her tight in his arms.  

As she cried he guided her up on the hill and the freshly made grave was easy to find. Chase stood still and silent as Leah pulled from his arms and dropped to her knees beside the small wooden cross with Benjamin's name etched across it.  

Chase could hear her whispering to the grave, speaking final words to her first love and Chase took several steps away and turned his back to give her the proper privacy.   

It was a long time that Chase waited patiently and finally he heard her moving behind him and then her hands were on his back.  

"Thank you for bringing me here." she whispered. He turned and watched her swipe her arm across her face, clearing the tears. 
"I knew you would want to mourn without so many eyes watching you." Chase replied with a half shrug as he took her by the elbow and pulled her into him. "These are the last sad tears you will cry for a long time." he vowed with certainty.  

"You can't promise that." Leah countered and Chase nodded.  

"I can and I do." Leah lost herself in his arms as he laid his chin on her head and simply held her.  

"Benjamin is probably much happier now. He hated being the way he was in that chair."  

"And now he can see you always and share in your happiness." Chase added. 	

"I'm ready to go." she whispered as she pulled away and stood proudly in front of him. Chase raised his brow and nodded.  

"You're sure?" he asked. "I'll wait for as long as you need." Leah smiled at him. Leave it to Chase to be so understanding and caring toward her. He always put her before himself. Always. It was one of the things she loved most about him.  

"I know you would but I'm sure. I want to go to the house and get a change of clothes before we go to town." Chase nodded and slipped his arm around her shoulders before leading her down the hill.  

---

“Leah! Leah, help me!” Jane exclaimed as Leah and Chase dismounted beside the doctors office. She was running from the direction of the hotel and looked scared to death. Leah had no idea what could possibly scare the tough talking woman so bad and she walked toward her with concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently. Jane pulled her gun and began cocking and uncocking it quickly. Leah saw Chase stiffen and go for his own gun but when she laid her hand gently on his arm he calmed down and gave her an apologetic tilt of the head.  

"Why I'm nervouser than a long tailed cat in a room chalk full of rockin' chairs." Jane exclaimed. Leah hid a smile behind her hand.  

"Okay. And what has you nervouser than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs?" she asked as Chase rolled his shoulders. She could tell he was already tired of town but doing his best to just stand there patiently.  

"

That woman! “ Jane hissed and then she holstered her gun and smiled apologetically as she wiped her hands on her thighs. “Sorry, I mean your mama.”

"What happened?" Leah asked. Jane threw her hands in the air.  

"I made the mistake a walkin' in there with Chance and she let me know right quick that I sure ain't wanted 'round."  

"My mother said that?" Leah asked with a frown. Sarah was normally not the type to say things like that. She might turn up her nose or wring her hands but she was hardly ever vocal.  

"Naw, not to my face, but she didn't have to." Jane mumbled as she kicked the ground with her scuffed up boot. "Now I ain't never wanted no man but truth of it is, I kinda like your brother and believe it or not that crazy man seems to like me too." Jane's blue eyes took on a faraway look before she shook her head and snapped back to the present. "Anywho, she sure don't want me around. And just as soon as I walked out of the doctors I heard her telling Chance so."  

"I'll go talk to her." Leah promised as she began to turn around. She knew what it was like to have Sarah and Paul Gordon to go up against and she was going to make sure she had Chance and Jane's back even if Chance hadn't had hers until recently.  

"No. No. No." Jane called out quickly as she grabbed Leah's arm. Leah was faintly aware of Chase shifting his feet and knew that her Indian was getting restless. She also knew why. There were more than a few dirty looks coming their way and people crossing the street to avoid him.  

"I don't wanna fight with the woman." Jane added matter of factly.  

"Then what do you want?" Leah asked, feeling her own patience waning.

'I need your help." Jane admitted. "I wanna impress her."  

"Impress her?"  

"Yeah." Jane said with an enthusiastic nod. "I wanna get all gussied up and look more like a proper lady is 'spose to look. Maybe then she'll like me."  

"Why do you need my help?" Jane flushed red, beneath the streaks of dirt on her face and began twirling some of her dirty, knotted hair around her finger.  

"Cuz I ain't never gotten gussied up a single time in my life. I don't even know how to do it!" Leah sighed and glanced at Chase.  

"I could use a bath too, I suppose." she said. "Chase, will you be okay by yourself for a while?" He raised his brow and looked down at her as if her question made him wonder about her sanity. She smiled. "Of course you will be, you're Chase Caldwell after all."  

"So you'll help me?" Jane asked happily.  

"Of course." Leah replied as she took her bag full of clothes from Chase and put her arm around Jane's shoulders. "First things first, we have to get you a dress."  

Chase shook his head as he watched them walk away. It was going to take more than a dress to turn Jane into a 'proper' lady. And why the devil would a woman want to be a proper lady anyhow? As far as Chase was concerned there wasn't a more attractive sight in the world than Leah in a pair of buckskin pants and a thin cotton shirt. 
Chase's attention turned toward the doctors when Chance came storming out, his dirty boots stomping across the dusty boardwalk and kicking the dirt as he stepped out onto the road. Chance looked up and his mumbling ceased when he saw Chase watching him.  

"I'm damn sorry I ever said a damn thing about you not being good enough for Leah. I swear to God and everything in the heavens that I don't know what kept Leah from punching those people, and me,  right in the mouth!"

"Are you going to take their advice?" Chase asked as he searched his pockets for a cigarette.  

"Hell no!" Chance exclaimed passionately. "I don't care if they like her or not, it ain't them that'll be putting up with her, it'll be me." Chase simply nodded and then his hand closed around what he was searching for. He placed the cigarette between his lips and struck his match. As he was lighting the rolled tobacco and paper he realized Chance was staring at him and seemed to want to ask him a question.  

Chase sighed and walked over to the porch post in front of the doctors. He leaned his back against it, pulled his hat low over his eyes and stuck his thumbs through the belt loops of his buckskin pants.  

"What?" he asked, while looking down at the dirt in front of his boots. Chance crossed his arms over his chest and cleared his throat awkwardly.  

"Well.. Uh.. How long... Uh.. When did you know that Leah was the one for you? I mean is there a certain amount of time it should take or should it happen quick or...." Chase used the tip of his finger to push his hat up and raised his brow at Chance.  

"You think Jane is the one?"

"I don't know." Chance replied as he uncrossed and crossed his arms several times. "That depends on your answer."  

"I knew right away." Chase replied simply as he pulled his hat back down and resumed his relaxed posture. "My father always said that if it is your life mate that your heart will tell you instantly. It is the rest of our bodies and minds that sometimes fight against it."  

"Okay then." Chance said as he put his shoulders back and raised his chin. "Did you see where Jane went? And where's Leah?"  

"The dressmakers and then the hotel after that. Apparently Jane wants to be 'gussied up' and impress your mother." Chance let out a long breath and ran his hand over his face.  

"Oh dear."  

"Oh dear is right." Chase replied before blowing out a rolling ball of smoke from his nose and mouth. As it swirled around his head he flicked some ashes and sighed. "I hate towns."  

---

“Ouch!” Jane exclaimed, swatting at Leah’s arm for the tenth time as Leah tried desperately to brush through her dirty and tangled hair. Leah fought the urge to swat her with the brush and instead let out a slow breath.

"How long has it been exactly since you've brushed your hair?" she asked calmly as the brush became entangled in yet another knot. Jane winced and shrugged as she looked at Leah's bruised face in the mirror.  

"I dunno. My mama used to brush it now and again but she died when I was eight." Leah's eyes widened as she stared dumbfounded at Jane's reflection.  

"How old are you now?"  

"Nineteen!" Jane exclaimed with pain as Leah tore through the knot. 	

"Eleven years?!" Leah demanded. "It's been eleven years?!"  

"I guess so." Jane replied as she swatted at Leah's hand yet again. Leah pulled away from her and laid the brush on the vanity. "What are you doing?" Jane asked, turning to look up at her.  

"I say we just cut it all off and say to hell with it." she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her brow as she looked down at Jane. Jane's eyes widened with horror.

"Ya can't do that!" she exclaimed. "I'll never impress that woman if'n ya cut me bald!" Leah shrugged, feigning indifference.  

"If you swat me one more time then that's exactly what's going to happen." she warned. Jane glared at her and then threw herself back against the chair with a harumph.  

"Fine." she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "You sure are mean." Leah just smiled as she went back to brushing out Jane's hair, this time without the constant swatting.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

“How long does it take for a woman to get gussied up?” Chance complained with a grumble as he sat next to Paul on the bench outside the doctors. Chase was still leaned against the porch banister and hadn’t moved in the near two hours they’d been waiting. Chance wondered if maybe the man was sleeping while standing up and he was contemplating picking up a rock and tossing it at him when Chase suddenly raised his head and lifted his hat.

"They're coming now." he stated and Chance snorted

"How do you know that when you were looking at the ground?" Chance demanded and Chase just shrugged and pushed himself off the post. Chance was mumbling under his breath as he turned and looked at the hotel and found all his thoughts ceasing instantly.  

That couldn't' be Jane.... Could it? Chance had found Jane beautiful before, dirt, stained clothes, tangled hair and all, but cleaned up.... Damn, she was breathtaking. Her blond hair was pulled half up and it was shining and golden as it hung down her back in the sunlight.  

The simple light blue dress with cap sleeves, tight bodice and low as could be and still be considered proper neckline, showed off her petite, slender figure. Her face was clean and glowing, the splattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks plain to see now.  

She saw him looking at her and he saw a blush rise in her cheeks as she smiled, revealing the gap between her teeth. Chance felt his heart pick up a faster rhythm. He was pretty sure it was going to gallop right out of his chest if  he didn't get a hold on it.  

Chance wasn't even aware of Chase's movements as he grabbed hold of Leah's waist and pulled her to him. His eyes were only for Jane.  

"You look... beautiful." he managed to stammer quite clumsily. Jane tilted her head and tugged up the bodice of her dress.  

"I feel like my breasts are gonna fall right out of all these doohickey's I'm wearin'." she replied and Chance nearly choked on his tongue.  

"I did what I could." Leah stated in an aside to Chase. "I can clean up the outside but there's not much I can do about what comes out of that mouth." Chase's lips twitched and he kissed her hair.  

"You look real pretty." Chance said again, unable to get his brain to think of anything more intelligent to say. Jane reached out and shoved his arm playfully.  

"What, was I ugly as sin before?" she teased. Chance shook his head quickly and came out of his daze. He crossed the remaining distance to her and offered her his arm.  

Jane stared at his arm and felt a moment of panic. What the hell was she supposed to do with that thing. She heard Leah clear her throat and she looked over at the other woman.  

Leah looked up at Chase expectantly and he raised his brow. She cleared her throat again, more pointedly at him and he sighed and held out his arm, which Leah wrapped hers through to show Jane. Jane nodded, let out a loud sigh of relief and put her arm through Chance's.  

"I hope this impresses your mama. I kept my boots," Jane said as she lifted up the bottom of the dress to reveal her boots and her shapely legs up to her knees. Chance felt his mouth go dry and he was sure he looked less than intelligent as he nodded with his mouth wide open.  

"Jane, you really shouldn't flash your legs in public." Leah said as she fought back an amused smile. Jane quickly dropped her dress and kicked the dirt with her foot.  

"Aw hell I ain't no good at this womanly stuff!" she exclaimed with discouragement. Chance sent a pointed look at Leah and Chase and Leah nodded before leading Chase up into the doctors.  

Chance looked back down at Jane and smiled warmly. She was much shorter than him. He was just six foot but she was probably not much over five. He gently placed his finger on the underside of her chin and tilted her head up to face him. Her blue eyes widened and her pupils dilated and Chance had to fight the urge to kiss her heart shaped mouth right then and there.  

"To answer your question, no you were not ugly as sin before. I just wasn't quite expecting to see you in a dress." Jane once again tugged up her bodice and Chance was helpless to do anything but watch.  

"Yeah well I just wanted to impress your mama. I even left my whip and gun at the hotel." Jane replied awkwardly. Chance shook his head.  

"Don't worry about my mama. I don't need her approval to be with the woman I want to be with,  I'm a grown man." Chance countered and Jane smiled.  

"You sure are a grown man." she replied and then she tilted her head and her blue eyes widened. "Wait a cotton pickin' minute! Are you saying you want to be with me?" she demanded. Chance smoothed his thumb over her pointed chin and nodded.  

"Yes I am. And I kind of miss the whip."  Jane's cheeks flushed bright red and then she let out a loud bark of laughter.  

"Well hot damn, I guess I didn't need this here fancy dress and perfume after all." Chance smiled as the light scent of violets reached his nose. 	

"Do you want to go change?" he asked, though he was kind of hoping she wouldn't. While he thought she was beautiful in both outfits, he liked the sight of the pale skin of her chest that this dress awarded him.  

"Hell no. I didn't spend all that time getting shimmied into this contraption just to take it off now. Do ya know how much blood was shed while that damn sister of your'n brushed out this mess o' hair?"

"It looks real pretty." Chance said as he reached a hand back and ran his fingers through the silky tendrils.   

"It does don't it?" she asked with a grin. "I think I'll have to buy me a brush." Chance laughed and then before he could stop them his lips were brushing lightly over hers.

As he pulled away he heard her sharp intake of breath as she stared up at him, her blue eyes wide with innocence. Chance had never had a kiss shake him the way this one had. Hell he was shook all the way down to his boots.  

"That settles it. I'm buyin' me a brush for sure now." Jane vowed, though her voice was breathless. Chance swallowed hard and hten began to laugh.  

"I'll buy you one." he promised. Jane sighed and glanced up at the docs.  

"Time to see if all this gussying up was worth the pain." she stated.  

"You don't have to. We could just go get dinner." Chance offered. He'd already decided that he didn't care one way or the other what his parents thought of Jane. She might not be the 'proper' lady that men were supposed to go for but she was exactly what he wanted.  

"Nope." Jane countered, shaking her head passionately. "By golly, I went through all that nonsense and I'm gonna show it off. I want that woman to like me." Chance sighed and nodded, though he kept his thoughts to himself.  

The odds of Sarah Gordon, proper woman to the core, would ever truly like Jane and accept her were slim to none. But if Jane wanted to get dressed up in these pretty dresses and do herself up a million times to try then Chance wasn't about to argue.  

---

"Leah!" Sarah exclaimed as Leah and Chase stepped into the room she was being cared for in. Leah noticed that her mother looked a little paler than normal and she had dark circles around her tired eyes but other than that she looked okay.  

"Mama, I'm so glad you're okay." Leah replied as she walked up to the bed and hugged her mama gently. Sarah nodded as she sat up a little straighter in the bed.  

"They shot my leg and the doctor says I may limp a little but other than that there won't be any permanent damage." Sarah's eyes went to Chase as Leah sat on the edge of the bed and she frowned.  

"You're still with him? Even after this?" Chase fought the urge to shoot the woman and do a better job. Luckily Paul came to his defense before his itchy gun hand got close to his holster.  

"Sarah, Chase is a good man. I was unfair to judge him like I did. He really loves Leah and he nearly died just to keep her safe." Sarah's eyes widened.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes searching Chase's black ones. "You would make a sacrifice like that for our Leah?"  

"Yes, ma'am." Chase replied, nearly choking on the polite word. "Though dying to keep 

my Leah safe is not something I would consider a sacrifice.“

"Mama, Chase and I got married." Leah said softly and hurt filled Sarah's features.  

"Without me?" she asked and Leah sighed.  

"Would you really have supported us?"  

"I... Well.. I ..." Sarah stuttered and then she let out a long breath and shook her head. "I guess not. But now that you're back I demand that you have a proper ceremony. One where you respect your family and include us...."  

"No." Chase  interrupted. "We are already married. A big ceremony would mean nothing." Sarah glared at him.  

"I want to see my daughter get married."  

"Too late." Chase replied. "If you had had her true best interests at heart from the beginning then she may have wanted you there. As it stood she ran away in the night yet again. I will not stand by and watch my wife made to feel guilty for going after own happiness."  

The room was silent for a long moment and then Paul cleared his throat.  

"Besides, I don't' think injuns wear tuxes."  

Leah bit back laughter at her fathers statement and the image that brought to mind. Wild, untamable Chase all dressed up in a tux would look utterly ridiculous.  

"Can I least come stay with you when you get ready to have my first grandchild?" Sarah asked. Leah's eyes met Chases and she could tell he didn't like the idea but he raised his brow and left the choice up to her.  

"I will probably need your help." Leah admitted and Sarah smiled with happiness.  

"Are you in a better mood now, mother?" Chance asked stepping into the room with Jane on his arm.  

"My family is all back together and..." Sarah's happy voice fell silent as she looked at Jane and frowned. "WHo is this? I thought you were head over heels for that hoodlum that was in here the first time? I much prefer this one though, I must say."  

"I reckon I would be that hoodlum, ma'am." Jane said as she stepped forward and tugged up her dress. Leah moaned, Chase's lips twitched, Paul shook his head and Chance smiled proudly.  

"Well I...." Sarah seemed to be at a loss for words. "You look different."  

"I was hopin' that maybe you would see that I'm a proper lady and then ya might jus' take it easy on Chance about wantin' to be with me. I know I ain't what most mama's would want for their sons but, well, the fact of it is ma'am that I ain't never had a mama to show me how I'm 'spose to act. Maybe you could help me."

Leah saw instantly that Jane's words had touched a nerve with her mother. Sarah's eyes got misty and she sniffed.  

"I'm sorry I was so mean before. Perhaps I'm not the proper lady I thought I was and I need to relax and let my children make their own choices. I would be glad to teach you how to be a lady."  

"It would be easier to teach a pig to fly." Chase muttered quietly as Leah joined him and Leah laughed behind her hand.  

The family stayed gathered together, laughing and talking for a long while and then Leah noticed Chase's shifting feet and grumbling and knew he had had his fill of social interaction and people. She bid her family goodbye, kissed her mother and father and brother, told them all she would come visit them soon and then led Chase outside.  

"I still have that room at the hotel." she offered and Chase's eyes darkened but then he shook his head.  

"No, I'm not much for hotels."  

"Well then lets get out of town, injun, and find us a place to camp because your squaw is wanting a little attention."  

"I could get used to the hotel for a night." Chase replied, his brow raising as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body into him. Leah didn't care about the eyes watching them with disapproval. She didn't care about the murmurs she heard or the judgments. All she cared about were the sensations and feelings this man stirred in her when his voice became that low timbre and his eyes gazed into hers.  

"No. I want to lay with you under the stars." Leah replied and Chase growled before kissing her head.  

"Let's get going then." he replied, glancing at the sunset. "Those stars will be out very soon."

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Leah and Chase were carefree. For the first time since they met neither of them were worried about anything. They were not worried about death or escaping dangerous circumstances. They were not worried about angry families or hatred from loved ones.

The only thing they had to occupy their thoughts were dreams of the future and the pleasure of the here and the now. They laughed and talked. They rode in comfortable silences. They loved each other well into the night every night and neither could remember a single time when they had ever been happier.  

“We will soon be there.” Chase said as he looked off into the distance. Leah sighed.

"Good. As fun as this is my backside is beginning to get a little sore." she replied.  

"You can ride right here." Chase stated with a raise of his brow as he patted his lap. Leah felt a little tremor pass down her spine but she laughed and waved her hand.  

"I'm sure Blaze would appreciate it if I just stayed on my own horse."  

"I will tell him to close his eyes." Chase replied and Leah laughed loudly.  

"That's not what I meant." she countered and Chase simply frowned but said nothing.  

"Are you pouting?" she asked with amusement.  

"I never pout."  

"You're pouting right now." she exclaimed, shaking with suppressed laughter.   

"You're being ridiculous." he stated though she was sure she saw his lip twitch and his eyes sparkle before he pulled his hat down lower.  

"It will take a while before I can get our cabin built. Lumber is scarce here and I had to order most of it while in town. They said it will be two months before it arrives." Chase stated, guiding the subject away from his pouting.  

"That's okay." Leah replied with a shrug. "I enjoy sleeping under the stars with you and on nights when it rains we have a tent."  

Chase smiled over at her and wondered just what he had done to deserve to be blessed with such a woman. A woman so perfectly suited for him. As they were climbing the last hill before their future home a sudden wave of unease washed down his spine. Quickly he pulled his gun and Leah frowned as she looked at him, her green eyes suddenly alarmed.  

"What is it?" she whispered. Chase frowned and just shook his head. He wasn't sure what it was but it was something. Using his sharpened senses he scanned their surrounds and as they reached the top of the hill he saw him.  

Yancy.  

The man was sitting beside the pool of water, leaning against the same oak tree that Leah and Chase and laid under during their time here together.  

"Is that Yancy?" Leah gasped, squinting in the sunlight and trying to make out the man who was still a good hundred yards away. Chase merely nodded in response as his jaw tightened.  

"Stay here." he growled.  

"But..." Leah started and he sent her a look that had her pulling up on her horses reins and doing as she was told.  

Chase rode away from her and down the hill, keeping his revolver in his hand. That familiar rage once again began bubbling up and his hands flexed as he imagined wrapping his hands around Yancy's neck and blocking off the flow of oxygen to his lungs just the same as Yancy had Leah.  

Chase thought of Leah's neck which was now turning a green color as the bruises aged and it took every ounce of self control he had not to shoot Yancy right then and end the mans life.  

But that wouldn't be good enough. Chase wanted to feel Yancy's blood and make sure the man knew exactly why he was dying. Chase wanted to be looking in his eyes as his life left him.  

Yancy looked up and caught sight of Chase nearing him. Chase heard the man let out a sigh and get to his feet. Yancy's eyes went behind him and he threw his hand up at Leah.  

"Good to see the squaw made it." Chase felt his spine stiffened as he bristled.  

"Do not look at her. Do not wave at her. Do not even think about her. She is too good to even be on your mind."  

"I agree, Chief." Yancy replied as he shoved his hands into his pants.  

"What are you doing here? Why would you come here knowing this is where I would head? Do you want to die?" Chase demanded, his voice low and cold. Yancy shook his head and clicked his tongue.  

"Nope sure don't. But I knew that if you lived through all that with Tobias that you'd come for me eventually. I reckon I just didn't want to be lookin' over my shoulder for the rest of my life."  

Chase was silent as he slipped from Blaze's back and holstered his gun. He stalked toward the other man looking very much like a predator stalking his pray.  

"Do you know what Tobias nearly did to her?" Chase ground out, his hand closing around the handle of his knife. Yancy spared a glance at the deadly knife Chase was so fond of using and swallowed hard but his voice didn't waver when he replied.  

"Yes I know."  

"Why did you betray me?" Chase asked and then he shook his head. "No, why did you use Leah to do it? What did that woman ever do to you? Why would you want to hurt her?" Yancy shrugged.  

"It wasn't personal. She was just a means to an end."

"What end?"  

"Money."  

"That is it?"  

"What else is there?"  

"Loyalty. I trusted you." Chase replied and Yancy smiled, though there was no humor in the act.  

"Your mistake, not mine." he said sadly. "Now let's settle this like men. This is gonna happen sooner or later, I'd just as soon get it done now." Chase knew that Yancy wanted to have a duel with their revolvers and while Chase was more fond of killing with his knife he also knew that to be a man of honor, which is what he wanted to be for Leah, he would have to give Yancy a fighting chance.  

Chase nodded and took several big steps back putting twenty paces of distance between he and Yancy. Both men assumed a wide legged stance and settled their hands just above their revolvers.  

Chase watched Yancy for any sign of movement. He knew he could draw faster than Yancy and he knew his aim was better. This was only going to end one way and that was with Yancy dead and Chase's vengeful side sated.  

Before either man could draw, Leah came charging down the hill on her gray mare and brought the beast between them.  

"Stop this!" she exclaimed. Chase growled and grabbed her by the arm, jerking her from the horse and yanking her body behind him.  

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed, kicking out so the mare would move and no longer be blocking his view of Yancy. Chase wouldn't put it past the man to shoot him when he was unable to defend himself.  

Leah yanked herself out of his hold and came around him again. She glared at Yancy and then turned to look up at Chase.  

"Hasn't there been enough killing? Haven't enough people died and enough blood been spilt?" she demanded.  

"He deserves his death." Chase ground out, keeping his eyes on Yancy instead of his angry wife. Leah snorted.  

"Yes I know. I know he does. It was me he choked remember? Me he mocked and told to just be a good girl and give Tobias what he wanted. I know how badly Yancy deserves to die but I also know that I don't want you to be that man anymore."  

"I am who I am." Chase growled.  

"I know and I love you but surely this can be settled without killing." Leah looked over her shoulder at Yancy and the man shrugged.  

"If he says he won't come after me then I'll leave the territories and never show my face again." Leah turned back to Chase and he looked into her green eyes that were pleading with him.  

"See? We can let this go. We can move on and there doesn't have to be bloodshed. I don't want bloodshed to mar our paradise." he added.  

Chase took a deep breath as instinct and emotions warred within him. Every instinct he had was telling him to shoot Yancy where he stood so he would no longer have to worry about the man and yet here was his wife asking him, pleading with him, to just let the past go and let Yancy leave.  

Could he do that?  

Would he do that for her?  

Yes.  

Chase nodded as he ran one knuckle over the welt on Leah's cheek. He looked at Yancy and could see the relief on the other man's face.  

"Leave the territories. If I ever see you again I will kill you. And nothing will stop me." he added pointedly for Leah's benefit.  

"I can do that, chief." Yancy promised. He tipped his head to Leah as he walked past her and she simply glared at him in return. She hadn't done what she'd done for him. She had done it for Chase. To help end the cycle. To keep their place pure and free from the violence and the death that had made up the first few months of their time together.  

"Thank you, Chase." Leah whispered as Yancy walked away. Chase didn't like standing with his back to Yancy and yet he didn't want to turn and watch the man walk away because he wasn't sure he could resist the urge to put a bullet in his back.  

Leah wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on her toes and hugged him tight. Chase hugged her in return, allowing her touch to wash away the anger and rage he currently burning inside of him.  

Chase became lost in that touch. So lost he almost missed the sudden movement behind him.  

Almost.  

He knew Yancy was drawing his gun. Yancy was going to shoot him in the back, with no regard to the fact that Leah was close to him and could also be struck if the bullet went through. Chase was pulling his gun and preparing to turn, hoping that he would be able to take a shot in time when suddenly a gunshot rang out in the peaceful evening air.  

The birds resting in the oak let out a racket and quickly flew away and everything stilled. Chase waited for pain but none came as he froze in place.  

He heard a grunt behind him and someone fall to the ground. It  

It took a moment for Chase to realize what had just happened. He pulled away from his wife and looked down at her to see that she was pale and shaking as she continued to hold her .38 colt revolver in her hand.  

Chase gently took the gun from her and then turned to see that Yancy was lying dead, facedown in the grass with an exit wound through his back.  

"I just killed a man." Leah gasped.  

"You've killed before." Chase replied quietly, remembering the way she had fired that revolver in the cabin. Leah nodded as her eyes widened.  

"Yes but this was different. I was looking right in his eyes. He was going to kill you. He was going to shoot you in the back and it would have been my fault because I told you not to kill him....."  

"It would not have been your fault. I made the choice to let him live."  

"I'm too stupid for this kind of life, Chase. I make mistakes and trust the wrong people." Leah cried as tears filled her eyes. Chase shook his head and then moved his body to shield her eyes from seeing Yancy any longer.  

"And what of me? I trust Yancy and Tig as well and I have been in this life for my entire life."  

"From now on I don't trust anyone." Leah stated matter of factly as she swiped at her tears with shaking hands. Chase raised his brow.  

"No one?" he asked and she looked up into his eyes. She laid her hand on his cheek.  

"Only you." Chase captured her hand in his own and kissed her fingertips before smiling.  

"We are all we need."

Epilogue

Epilogue

June 1934

“Grandma! Grandma!” Two twin girls with swinging pig tails cried out as they ran onto the porch and threw their arms around either side of Leah’s neck.

Leah smiled proudly and then Chase was grabbing them and pulling them onto his knee.  

"Did you not see, Grandpa?" he asked with a raise of his gray brow. The girls giggled and kissed his wrinkled and weathered cheeks.  

"Of course we did, grandpa."  

"Yep." Caroline, the more outspoken of the two five year olds replied. "But you usually give us candy so we were saving the best for laugh." Chase glanced over at Leah but she just smiled and shook her head. He kissed his great grandchildren's hair, handed them some peppermint candies from his pocket and then watched them run back off the porch and begin chasing the dog through the yard.  

"Stay away from that pond!" Sarah, their mother, yelled out. Chase waved his hand at her.  

"You worry too much. They have Caldwell blood in their veins so there is nothing to worry about." Sarah, named after her great grandmother smiled as she walked up onto the porch.  

"How do you both feel today?"  

"Alive." Chase replied. 		

"Is that it?" Sarah asked with a grown.  

"At our age what more can we ask for?" Chase countered and Sarah's husband Grant laughed as he too came onto the porch with a crock pot in his hands.  

"Let's get in there and get this food ready. We got a big crowd here this year." he stated.  

Chase and Leah continued to rock side by side in their matching wooden rockers that Chase himself had built nearly fifty years before. Their family, all three generations, plus Chance and Jane's children, grandchildren and great children gathered here once a year to reconnect.  

The family had certainly grown. It had become bigger than Chase had ever imagined it could. With more than one hundred people in total here today.  

Chase and Leah had had five children themselves. Two sets of twin girls and a single boy who had been the start of the gray hairs on Chase's head. From those five kids there had been a total of thirty grandchildren and from those thirty grandchildren there had already been ten great grandchildren.  

Times had certainly changed as well with everyone arriving in shiny automobiles and calling each other on telephones. Chase wasn't sure that everything that was happening was good but it didn't effect he and Leah much.  

They lived their simple life in their paradise. They had a phone but only so they could keep in touch with their loved ones. They did not have an automobile and still rode on horseback or in a cart when they needed to make the two hour trip to the nearest town.  

Chase still managed to grow and hunt for nearly all the food they needed and Leah's hands were still nimble enough to sew most of their clothes.  

He looked over at his wife and felt his lips curve in a smile. Chase had been right all those years ago when he had thought he could simply look at Leah forever and never get tired of the view. She was still just as beautiful as she had been before and he loved her more now than ever.  

Her face was soft and wrinkled. The laugh lines around her eyes and mouth were the deepest. Her dark hair had become snow white and her body had softened but still she was the most breathtaking sight he'd ever seen. He knew that he had changed as well.  

While he still had the same lean body, it had grown a little softer. His long hair was gray instead of black and the lines on his face attested to the rough way of life he had lived for so long.  

But life had been good with Leah. They had already shared fifty good years and Chase looked forward to more, though he knew that every single day was a blessing in itself.  

He was thinking about all the ways he'd been blessed when a voice broke through his sentimental thoughts.  

"Well tarnation, you two!" Jane exclaimed as she held Chance's arm and helped him up onto the porch. "I do believe the four of us bred like a couple a wild rabbits!" She added as she looked at all the children and adults scattered throughout the yard.  

"Wild rabbits?" Chase asked with a frown as he looked at Leah.  

"I tried." Leah shrugged. "My mother tried... It was easy to make the outside look like a lady but the mouth...."  

"The mouth is all Jane." Chance confirmed with a nod as he sat down in the porch swing to ease his shaking legs. "We're old, Chase." Chance stated quiety and Chase shrugged.  

"Not ready for the pasture yet." he countered.  

"Grandpa!" One of his oldest great grandchildren, ten year old Travis exclaimed as he ran toward him. "Did you hear about that thing they invented?" Chase shook his head. It seemed they were inventing new things every single day. People just were impossible satisfy nowadays.  

'What new thing?" Leah asked.  

"It's called a radio! You should get one grandpa! They play all kinds of shows like comedies and dramas on it! You can actually hear people talking!"  

"That's nice." Chase said. He didn't want to show his grandson how uninterested he was yet at the same time he simply could not get caught up in the bouncing boys excitement.  

"Nice?" Travis asked with a frown. "It's awesome. Everyone needs to get one!"  

Chase just shook his head and took Leah's hand in his. He looked out over their sprawling land, still untouched by civilization and at their family covering it. He looked back at his great grandson and smiled.  

"I have everything I need right here."