Leah held her breath for a moment, afraid Revis would stay with her, but he left with the others. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started cooking breakfast. No doubt the boys would be even hungrier after a morning’s exercise.
It was while she was reaching for a slab of bacon that hands caught her about the waist.
“They’re gone now,” Revis said into her ear.
She twisted away from him. ?
??Don’t touch me or—”
“Or what?” he half purred, advancing on her. “You can’t get away from me.”
Leah kept backing. “Why do you even want me?” she asked. “You’re a good-looking man and you could have your choice of women. There must be women prettier than I am who are quite willing to have you.” She backed into a wall.
He grabbed her arm. “Ladies like you always think they’re too good for somebody like me. You think you’re better than highwaymen.”
“Ladies!” she exclaimed. “Abe is my brother. Do you think any lady could be related to that piece of filth?” Keep him talking, she thought. Maybe the boys will get back before he touches me.
“I’m not convinced he’s your brother.” Revis drew her to him. “What makes you stay here? Each night you leave here and go up the mountain. But you come back.”
He smiled at her gasp.
“Did you know the boys follow you? And when I try to follow, one of those stupid brothers of mine stops me. What do the three of you do on top of that mountain?”
“You’re disgusting. Now release me before they return.”
“We have hours. I sunk that wagon in two feet of mud. They’ll never get it out. And while they’re wallowing, I’m going to have myself a lady.”
“No.” She twisted in his grasp.
“What’s up the mountain, little sister? Shall we go have a look? Would you like to go with me and see what we can find?”
“No! I mean, why not? There’s nothing up there except a little privacy. I need to get away from the stench of you and this hideous place.”
“So why don’t you leave? Why do you stay and cook and take care of that nothing that used to be a woman?”
Leah couldn’t think of a quick answer to his question.
“Come on, lady, tell me.”
“I promised to help my brother. He did something for me once and I owe him,” she said in one breath.
“Abe never did anything for anybody. What are you hiding?”
Before Leah could answer, Bud appeared in the doorway, the lower half of his body covered in mud. Silently he walked across the room and put his hand on Revis’s shoulder.
With a flash of hatred, Revis whirled on the young man. “You got it out already?” he snapped.
Bud nodded once.
Leah clutched at the wall behind her as Revis shot her a malevolent look before leaving the cabin. “Thank you,” she whispered to Bud.
For the rest of the day Revis seemed always to be near her and that night she was afraid he would be able to follow her and find Wesley. She didn’t dare make the trek up the mountain and risk discovery.
“Will you take this to him?” she whispered to Bud, holding out a food-laden basket, her eyes pleading.
He nodded briefly but said nothing. Leah wasn’t sure how much she could trust the boys, but now she had to depend on them. “Don’t let Wesley see you,” she said. “He doesn’t know that I’m…where I am.”
Later Leah lay alone on the coarse blankets on the cabin floor and remembered the night before in Wesley’s arms. Her husband wanted her because she wasn’t a lady and Revis wanted her because he thought she was a lady.