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"I'm glad to hear it," Junior replied. Brown Hat hooked the rope back on the saddle.
Mr. Wick's voice rang out in the stillness. "Don't do it, Isabella. They're going to kill us all eventually. You have no idea what men like this are capable of."
She couldn't bring herself to think about what they were capable of. Bound and gagged, she had no chance of escape. Free, she might have an opportunity to run. Ignoring Mr. Wick's warning, she looked up into Junior's eyes. Again, that same sense of familiarity washed over her and she forgot to breathe. "May I retrieve my reticule?" she asked.
Junior nodded, then turned to Brown Hat. "You'll take care of everything we talked about?"
"Will do."
Isabella passed Mr. Wick and leaned into the stagecoach. A moment later, she straightened, her reticule held firmly against her chest.
Junior was waiting with his horse. "I don't have another horse so you'll have to ride with me."
She glared up at him. "You didn't plan this very well, did you?"
Ignoring her barb, he continued. "Astride."
"I've ridden astride before." But never with a man's body pressed close behind her, she could have added. At the thought, warmth spread through her.
"Do you need help mounting?"
"No."
"Miss Morrow's father will see that you hang for this," Mr. Wick shouted as Isabella set one foot onto the magnificent stallion's stirrup and swung her other leg over the saddle. Her skirt hitched up, revealing her stockinged ankle, but she had no time to adjust her position to cover herself before Junior swung up behind her.
Grabbing the reins with one hand, he snaked his other arm around her waist, drawing her tightly against his muscled body. Her skin burned beneath the imprint of his hand on the silk of her dress. "Hold on, Bella," he whispered as he spun the horse around and flicked the reins.
Chapter 2
For the first time in his life, Cade Morgan had broken the law. Not that he hadn't wanted to. He'd lived for years with a burning in his gut for revenge. He'd love nothing more than to put a bullet right between Dobson's eyes, but that would be too easy. He wanted Dobson to suffer for a long, long time.
Until a few days before, he hadn't found any way to make the man pay for what he'd done. Even now, he wasn't sure kidnapping Bella would be enough. But it was a start.
He glanced over at Bella. She was crouched beside the stream, the feathery concoction she'd been wearing on her head now a scraggly mess beside her on the ground. Her golden curls tumbled around her shoulders, the sun glinting off individual strands.
Hell, she'd grown into a beautiful woman. She'd always been pretty, but she'd filled out with curves in all the right places.
She cupped her hands and leaned forward, scooping up water and bringing it to her mouth. Water dripped off her chin, but she didn't seem to notice. Instead, she dipped one hand back into the water, then lifted her hair and ran her hand along her neck. A few droplets trailed down her skin and disappeared beneath her dress.
Heat sizzled through his veins. He recognized the sensation. Damn! There was a time and a place for everything, and this wasn't it.
"Let's go." They only had another hour or so of daylight, and he wanted to reach the cabin before dark. The trail was treacherous enough without trying to ride through the rocks and gulleys with nothing but the moon to light their way.
He wasn't too concerned about being followed. At least, not yet. By the time Wick and the driver got back to town, alerted the sheriff and formed a posse, it would be night. He doubted whether they'd head out before dawn, which gave him an extra few hours to figure out exactly what he was going to do with his hostage if he couldn't convince her not to marry Dobson.
His gut tightened at the thought of her and Dobson together. He wouldn't wish marriage to that bastard on his worst enemy. And Bella had never been his enemy.
If he hadn't happened to be in the saloon that night, he wouldn't have heard about Dobson's plans to marry Bella, that she was on the next stage from Colorado Springs ...
If he hadn't heard Arthur Banding, the banker, telling Dobson he'd lose his ranch if he didn't pay off the mortgage by Monday… And if he hadn't heard Dobson assuring the banker he'd have the money right after the wedding …
But he'd eavesdropped on the conversation between the two men, and almost unconsciously, a plan had begun to form. When he'd gone to his cousins and asked for their help, they'd been only too happy to oblige.
Bella got to her feet. Picking up her skirt to avoid dragging it in the mud, she marched across the clearing to where he was leaning against the trunk of a weeping willow while he waited for her. She stopped a few feet away. "Why did you kidnap me?" she asked. "If it's money you want, my father will pay any ransom you demand."
"I don't want your father's money."
"Then what … why …?"
