The Temptress (Montgomery/Taggert 8)

Tynan led them north, riding so hard that the drying mud began to flake off and fly about them. Toward afternoon, he pulled into the trees, onto a path that Asher didn’t see until they were on it, and led them up a hill. It began to rain and both men pulled their hats low over their faces.

It was almost dark when Tynan stopped and dismounted. “There’s a cave of sorts over there. We’ll spend the night in it,” he shouted over the rain.

A few minutes later, they had a tiny fire going, beans and coffee boiling and their clothes were almost dry on their bodies.

“You think we’ll be able to find her?” Ash asked, poking at the fire with a stick.

“I plan to,” Tynan said. He was leaning back against his saddle, his hat over his face.

“If Dysan just wants money then he surely won’t hurt Chris, will he?”

“Or Pilar.”

“Oh yes,” Ash said. “I remember seeing her in the kitchen. She cleans, doesn’t she?”

Tynan pushed his hat back and after one look at the back of Asher’s head, took the beans from the fire and began dividing them onto plates.

Ash took the plates and a cup of coffee from Ty. “I guess you have a plan in mind, don’t you? I mean, you do have a way to rescue Chris. Her father will be furious if you let anything happen to her.”

“And you’ll lose her money,” Tynan said.

“Chris is a very attractive young lady, perhaps a bit headstrong at times, but attractive nonetheless. And I really don’t see what’s wrong in my taking over the management of her father’s estates. He doesn’t have a son and Chris obviously isn’t interested in finding someone to take over.” He gave Tynan a sharp look. “You aren’t thinking of marrying her yourself, are you? Mathison’s money would be quite a—”

“We’ll get along a lot better if you keep your opinions to yourself. Now, put out that fire and get some sleep. We ride in the morning.”

It wasn’t morning—far from it—when Tynan woke Asher by putting his hand over his mouth. There was warning in Ty’s eyes as he motioned for Asher to follow him out of the shallow cave. They carried their saddles and packs and led the horses, as quietly as possible, down the hill. It was still drizzling rain.

“What time is it?” Asher asked, yawning.

“Our last day on earth if we don’t get out of here. There was someone outside the cave.”

“I didn’t hear anyone.”

“All right, then you stay but I’m leaving.”

Asher took one look about the dark forest, then mounted his horse and followed Tynan.

They rode all day and into the following night, with Asher half asleep in the saddle. When at last Tynan did stop, Asher didn’t even recognize the stable for what it was.

“Unsaddle your horse,” Ty ordered. “Or do you plan to stand there all night?”

Slowly, Asher obeyed him, shoveling hay and oats into the stall with the horse, then blindly following Ty out into the night and up the stairs at the back of a house. He didn’t even ask any questions when Ty levered himself onto the roof, then, crouching low, ran across the roof and jumped onto the next roof. Asher was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see how far it was to the ground. After they’d crossed three roofs, Tynan withdrew a key, opened a trapdoor and went down what was obviously an attic stairs. Once inside the building, he silently walked down a long corridor and opened the third door on the left.

A young woman turned over in the bed and looked up sleepily. “Alice, this is Asher and he needs a place to sleep.”

The woman pulled the covers back then turned over on her side and went back to sleep. Tynan pushed Asher into the room and shut the door behind him. Two doors down, Ty opened another door.

Red was just getting out of bed, pulling a robe around her. “I thought I heard someone.”

“Why is it so quiet?” Ty asked, pouring himself a whiskey.

“Four men rode in and shot the place up. I closed it down after that. Ty, they were lookin’ for you.”

He downed the whiskey in one gulp. “They’ve been on my trail for two days. You have anything to eat?”

Red opened a cabinet and withdrew bread and cheese. “I thought you’d come here, but you can’t stay.” She sat down on the sofa. “Oh, Ty, what have you done now? I thought you’d go straight for a while.”

“They’re not after me, except to keep me from finding Chris,” he said, mouth full.