There was a second shot, then nothing.
She looked at Tynan, saw that the muscles in his jaw were working, then he kicked his horse forward and tore past the hundred gun-bearing men who had been hired by Dysan. He galloped into the trees to where Samuel and Beynard had disappeared.
Chris watched his cloud of dust for a moment, then she too kicked her horse and went after Ty. Behind her, she could hear her father shouting at her, then at his men, but she didn’t stop, just kept following Tynan into the trees.
She reached the clea
ring just as Ty was dismounting.
Samuel and Beynard were lying on the ground, both of them bloody. She jumped off her horse while it was still running, skidding to a halt just as Tynan was lifting Samuel.
The older man smiled up at Tynan. “It’s just a scratch. I can get up.”
Tynan turned to look at Chris. “What the hell are you doing here? Get back to your father.”
“I came to see if you were all right,” she answered angrily. “I thought you might need help.”
“Not from a half pint girl, I don’t. Now, get back to—”
Sam struggled to sit up, using Tynan’s help. He was smiling broadly. “As much as I like hearing the love play between the two of you, I think I’m bleeding to death.”
Chris smiled at Tynan with an I-told-you-so look, while he opened and closed his mouth twice, with nothing coming out.
Just then Del Mathison came riding into the clearing amid rocks and dust and a flurry of anger—all of it directed at his daughter.
“What happened here?” Tynan said in a half yell that was obviously meant to stop Del’s tirade.
Sam struggled to sit up while Chris ran to get bandages from her saddle bags. “We drew and I won. I thought he was dead but I went to him. He was my brother’s child, I knew him since he was a boy. There were times when I thought there was some hope for him, but his mother never allowed him to forget who she thought he was. No matter who he hurt, she was there behind him, telling him he had every right to do whatever he wanted. She hated me.”
“And made him hate you,” Chris said, handing Tynan the bandages. Ty cut the man’s shirt away. The wound was in the fleshy part of his upper arm, not bad, but painful. Chris moved so that Sam could rest against her while Ty bandaged him.
“Yes, he hated me. Said he wanted to show me he could make as much as me.” He paused. “It’s over now.”
“How’d you get shot?” Ty asked.
“I went to him after I’d shot him. He had a derringer up his sleeve. He used his last breath to shoot me with it.”
Chris leaned forward and kissed the man’s forehead. “It’s over now and we can all go home.”
Samuel took Chris’s hand and, while holding it, he looked up at Del. “This is what I wanted,” he said quietly.
Chris started to ask what he meant, but Del interrupted her with orders of what to do to get the place cleared up.
They buried Beynard where he fell, putting up a crude cross to mark the place. The men who’d come with him disappeared into the trees quietly, and, after Samuel had had a few minutes alone at the grave, they began to ride south.
Chris knew she should have been relieved that now they were more or less free, that now it was safe to return home, but the closer they got, the worse she felt. As soon as they reached her father’s house, Tynan would leave her life forever.
Asher came forward and began to talk to her about the scenery and recounted all their experiences since they’d first met. He talked abnormally loudly when he recalled the way he’d first seen her—stark naked, and Chris thought that, for some reason, he wanted her father to hear the story. And he’d only ridden toward the front after all the danger was over. It was difficult for her to give her attention to what he was saying.
On the second day, Tynan called a halt to the group, telling Del that they were near Pilar’s home and he wanted to return her.
“I’ll leave you now that you have your daughter back safely,” Ty said, his side turned toward Chris.
“We’ll wait for you, or we’ll all go to see that the lady is returned safely, and then you can go back with us,” Del said.
“No, sir, my job was to get your daughter back and I’ve done that. I think I’d like to go now.”
Del took a while to answer him.