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“Thought you could outrun me, eh?” He snickered and grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up on her hands and knees. Anna heard the sound of his belt being undone and reignited her efforts to escape. She didn’t make any leeway, but she did force him to stop what he was doing to seize her thrashing body. Becoming hysterical, she kicked and punched and clawed at her attacker.
“You little bitch,” he howled when the fingers on one of her hands made contact with his skin. The next thing she felt was a brutal blow to the side of her head. Her head reeled in
pain. Stars danced across her vision.
“Move aside,” the second man ordered and Anna heard the click of a rifle. “Let me blow a hole clear through her skull.”
“Put that down, you fool.” The man pinning her body spun around to smack the rifle out of the other man’s hand. “Christ, you’ll have the entire ranch out here.”
Anna felt that small semblance of hope that they believed her not alone. With the man momentarily distracted, she turned and tried once again to run. However, he was too fast for her and he snared her calves in a steely grip, bringing her down hard on the ground. She felt blood spurt from her mouth and a piercing pain shoot throughout her jaw. Her body went limp and Anna knew it was over when he tossed her onto her back. The man grabbed her legs and forced them apart. Then in one swift move had his pants down and her body pinned beneath his much larger one.
“Hold still, you little bitch,” he growled into her ear. “You might have escaped us once up on that mountain, but you ain’t goin’ now.”
His words drew a horrified wheeze from Anna and in that moment she remembered. She had been in the woods when the most earsplitting scream filled the mountain. Terrified, she ran to the clearing and saw three men on horseback terrorizing the village. At the time, they were three strangers, but now a familiar feeling nudged her conscious for one man in particular. They began shooting their rifles and swinging some form of weapon Anna couldn’t make out. The woman were screaming and running and the men on horseback laughed as they plowed their weapons into yet another helpless victim. Anna could remember standing there transfixed with fear. One of the men leaped from his horse and grabbed the nearest woman by the hair, raped her then slaughtered her without mercy. He looked up to stare at Anna with the most evil set of eyes she had ever seen.
The same set of heinous eyes that bore ominously above her now. A fresh flood of terror washed over Anna. Something pushed against her most private parts and a foreboding chill filled her insides. Lifting her chin, she looked over her shoulder at the empty house and felt a sense of doom. And a love she could never possess.
From somewhere down deep, Anna opened her mouth and let out the most chilling scream.
“Christ,” the man above her was obviously startled and angrily pushed himself off her.
“I thought she was a mute.” The second man declared, obviously just as surprised as the first man.
“Hell,” his evil glare pinned her as he reached for something Anna couldn’t see. In the next blinding moment she felt an earth shattering pain slice through her chest and realized she had just been stabbed.
* * *
Wade had just sat down with a book in the reading room when he heard the terrifying scream. A bolt of fear shot down his spine. Without doubt he knew it was Anna.
He raced from the room and toward the back exit with the good insight to snatch his rifle as he flew out the door. What he saw first puzzled him, then set off an explosive rage inside. One man stood with a rifle in his hand behind another man who held a blood stained knife poised over something pale in the tall grass. It was a horrifying second before he realized it was Anna.
A burning hot fury swept over him and like a madman, he went flying toward the two men. The one with the rifle looked up first, alarm lighting is eyes before he thought to raise his rifle. However, Wade was faster and with the barrel pointed directly at his forehead, blasted a hole straight threw to his brain. The second man looked up stunned and when he saw Wade, scrambled to get up on his feet. Wade reloaded his gun, pulled the trigger and shot the man. He fell back dead in a heap in the tall grass.
Wade tossed the rifle and hastened over to Anna’s side. She lay lifeless, a tiny stream of blood oozing out of her mouth while a larger flow covered her chest. He lifted her into his arms and felt a dark cloud drift not only across the scorching sun, but his heart as well. With his emotions squeezing his throat, he rushed her back to the house.
As he neared, he noticed a lone rider coming up the lane. He sighed with relief when he recognized Prescott.
“What’s happened?” With a look of dismay, he pulled up in front of Wade who was carrying the naked and bloody Anna.
“Ride back into town and fetch Dr. Patterson.” He directed, then added more reluctantly, “And the constable.”
Prescott gave a short nod, then turned his mount around and rode out of the ranch at top speed. Wade kicked open the door and moved swiftly across the house until he reached the grand staircase. Taking two steps at a time he hurried into his bedroom and gently laid her limp body on his bed. He then rushed off to fetch some towels and warm water, and returned shortly to begin the process of slowing the bleeding from the large gash in her chest.
As he applied a handful of cloths against the ghastly wound, he laid his fingers against her throat and checked for a pulse. There was a faint beat and Wade felt an overwhelming surge of relief. And hope. “Come on, Anna. Stay with me.”
The cloth soaked quickly from her blood and he moved only long enough to change them for a fresh set. He applied pressure and watched as yet another set turned dark red. An ominous sensation tickled the back of his neck, but he refused to acknowledge it. He had to concentrate on saving her life.
At last the blood slowed yet not eased, so Wade covered the deep wound with a thick layer of towels. With another damp cloth he mopped up the blood from her mouth. Then reaching down, he gathered the woolen blanket folded neatly across the foot of his bed and tucked it warmly around her naked form. At last all he could do was sit and wait.
Standing there looking at her pale face, he felt a pain so severe like none he’d ever experienced before. Without even realizing it, she had come to mean more to him than he ever thought possible. His mind traveled back to that first encounter. She had been covered in mud and fear filled her eyes. A fear she had never been able to shake.
He closed his eyes in anguish. He had wanted to protect her, but didn’t know how from an evil unknown. He had promised to keep her safe, but in the end he had failed. Like a blow to the chest, he felt the impact of those words and took a step away from the bed. Sickened by this very conclusion he dropped down in a nearby chair. What type of man was he if could not protect a woman?
He sat there silently watching her still frame and the slow rise and fall of her chest for nearly an hour before he heard Prescott return downstairs. Only then did Wade leave her side.
He greeted his brother and the doctor in the great room. “I took her up to my bed.”
“Her?” He turned and gave Prescott a puzzled look. “I thought you said it was Peter.”
