This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

She had barely gone four feet when she was grabbed by the hair and jerked to a stop. An arm hooked around her neck, half-choking her, the toes of her boots barely scraping the ground. Her body acted as a shield for Buck, the barrel of the rifle lying diagonally across her front, the muzzle pointed up toward her head.

“Pull up, Chase!” Buck shouted the order. “That’s close enough!”

Chase slid his horse to a plunging stop, the other riders spreading out behind him. “Let her go, Buck. You don’t stand a chance against all of us.”

Her fingers dug into Buck’s arm, straining to ease the strangling pressure on her throat. There were too many. It was impossible for Buck to salvage any remnant of his plan now. She could feel his desperation hover on panic.

“Throw away that rifle!” Buck called. The blood bay shifted nervously under Chase as he tightened his one-handed grip on his rifle and debated his chances, but the risk was too great for Maggie. He flung it into the tall grass. “Tell Nate and the others to ditch theirs.”

“Do what he says,” Chase growled under his breath and swung out of the saddle on the right side, stepping to the ground and facing Buck every minute. Behind him, he heard the thud of the rifles being dropped to the ground. “It’s me you want, Buck, so let her go.”

“If I let her go, I’m finished. We both know that. She’s my ticket now.”

Chase walked steadily toward them, each long stride shortening the distance. The blue of his chambray shirt was showing patches of sweat. The corners of his mouth were turned inward. There was a stillness about him, a containment, a cold fury held in check.

“What do you want, Buck?” Chase demanded in an unemotional tone. “Me? Money? A free ticket out of here? Name your price for Maggie’s release.”

“Stop right there!” It was a nervous bark that halted Chase ten feet away. “I’m no fool, Chase. You wouldn’t live up to any bargain once I turn Maggie loose.”

“I give you my word that I’ll meet any of your terms.” Then his voice rumbled from some deep, dark place inside. “But so help me God, if you harm her, you’ll never be able to run far enough to get away from me. And I give you my word on that, too.”

The arm relaxed around her throat, her feet coming fully to the ground again. Buck was breathing hard, an animal trapped with nowhere to hide. Out of the corner of her eye, Maggie saw him lick his lips nervously, thinking—all the time, thinking.

“What if I said you could have Maggie, if you signed the Triple C over to me? Is she worth that much to you?” Buck wanted to know. “Would you give me the ranch for her?”

“Yes.” Chase stood completely motionless, his muscles coiled in readiness for an opening—any opening.

Buck unwrapped his arm from her neck and Maggie tried to take a step away from him, bring an end to her use as a shield. His hand closed around the underside of her arm, keeping her at his side.

“You’re going to stay right here with me,” he ordered. Then he added, in a menacing tone, “You make a move to leave and I’ll shoot him. So I wouldn’t do anything to upset me, because I’d just as soon kill him.”

She believed him. At this point, he had nothing to lose. He’d kill them all if he thought he could get away with it. She stood rigidly beside him, her heart going out to Chase, so close, yet so far.

“I’ll sign the ranch over to you the minute you turn Maggie loose, Buck,” Chase repeated.

“You want her that bad, huh?” Buck taunted. “You really think she’s worth that much, or are you just leading me on?”

“I give you my word.” The promise was drawn through his teeth.

“I don’t trust you, Chase.” He backed off the conditions he’d set, doubting that they would be carried through. There were too many snags, too many repercussions. Chase would never let him get away with what he’d attempted. But he couldn’t help wondering how far Chase would go, how far he could push him. “If you want Maggie, you’ll have to beg me. Get down on your knees, Chase.”

Maggie’s lips parted in a silent outcry at the demand. Buck wanted Chase to grovel at his feet, strip his pride, and humiliate him in front of his wife and son, and the Triple C veterans. She looked at Chase, her mind flashing back to a time when she had wanted to see him on his knees begging for mercy.

A violent rage swept across Chase’s face and vibrated through him. A searing rawness burned his insides, scraping at his throat. There was a loud roaring in his ears. Silhouetted against the sharply blue sky, he was the power on this chunk of earth, but he was utterly helpless.

“On your knees, Calder!” Buck spoke each word clearly and with taunting precision. “You want Maggie, then beg me!”

Anguish was in his brown eyes. He swayed and sank to one knee, his teeth bared against the effort. In that shocked instant, Maggie knew she couldn’t stand it if Chase laid down everything for her. This abandoning of power and strength would live always in their memory. No matter how much he loved her, Chase would hate himself for the rest of his life for surrendering his self-respect. It was an ugly sacrifice that would ultimately split them.

“Chase! No! Don’t!” She screamed the protest to stop him from going down on both knees before Buck.

Instinctively, she leaned forward. Buck roughly yanked her back, cursing her as he struck her across the mouth with the back of his hand. The blow sent her reeling backward to land heavily on the ground. There was a roaring sound like a charging range bull, followed by Buck’s startled shout. When Maggie looked back, Chase was lunging for Buck. The explosion of the rifle shot deafened her ears and she cried out when Chase jerked. But he kept coming, right over the top of the rifle, knocking it aside and swinging at Buck. As she struggled to rise, she saw Buck fall. Then Chase was there, pulling her to her feet, half-carrying her and half-shielding her while he pushed her to safety amidst a shower of bullets that kicked up plumes of dust. Dazed by the confusion of muffled shouts and gunfire, it was a second before she realized the men had recovered their rifles and were peppering the area with gunshots to cover their escape.

An empty wash, eroded out of the rough land by centuries of rain, offered them shelter. They entered it, half-sliding and half-falling into the shallow ravine, and paused to rest against the bulwark of its bank. At Chase’s muffled grunt of pain, Maggie turned her head to look at him. His features were contorted in a grimace as he wadded up the red kerchief from his pocket and pressed it to the spreading red stain on his right side.

“You’ve been shot!” She moved to investigate the seriousness of the wound.

“It’s okay,” he insisted tightly. “The bullet glanced off the ribs, probably broke a couple. He didn’t have time to aim, but it would have taken more than a bullet to stop me from getting to you.” He winced as he applied pressure to the wound to stem the flow of blood.