It was during the third night that he saw the new campfire. The two men watching LaReina always built a fire, the Indian never did, and ’Ring had so concentrated on them that he had almost missed the fourth man on the ridge behind him. Far away, high on the same ridge as ’Ring,
was a small fire and somehow ’Ring knew this man was also interested in the woman.
Now ’Ring put down his glass. “The woman has more people following her than the Pied Piper.”
Toby scratched his arm. “You think they want to hear her sing?”
’Ring snorted. “Not likely. Something is going on or else the woman wouldn’t have worked so hard to get rid of me.”
Toby looked up at the trees overhead and grinned. It had been a sore, bruised, cold, angry man who’d returned to camp three nights before, and no amount of questions would make ’Ring tell him what had happened. Since then ’Ring and Toby had followed the woman, and had watched her and the countryside around her, but always from a distance.
Now they were resting, or at least Toby was, as ’Ring, on his belly in the grass, watched the woman from across a deep ravine.
“How could they let her go off into the woods alone?” ’Ring muttered. “I thought those thugs of hers were supposed to protect her.” He rolled to his back. “An old man and another one blind in one eye.”
“Not to mention that little blonde,” Toby said. “Pretty little thing she is. Not as pretty as the lady, but—”
’Ring, looking again through the glass, stiffened. “Those two men are making their move.” He lifted the glass to look at a spot higher on the ridge facing him. “And so is the Indian.” In one movement he came to his feet. “I’m going after her.”
“And how are you gonna get across that canyon?” Toby asked. “Jump? Fly?”
“I’m going to the top and across the ridge.”
Toby looked up. Sheer rock wall was above them. “Nobody can climb that,” he said, but ’Ring was already pulling off his boots and putting on his moccasins. He removed the confining army jacket, his saber, and his revolver, until he wore nothing but trousers, shirt, and belt. He fastened his canteen to the back of his belt. “You can’t go without a gun,” Toby protested. “You don’t know nothin’ about them people.”
’Ring didn’t answer, but he slipped a knife inside his boot, then stood up and looked down at Toby, his weathered old face wrinkled into a grimace of worry. “I’ll be all right,” ’Ring said. “Don’t be such an old woman. It’s something I have to do. I don’t know why those fools allowed her to go off on her own, but they did and now those men who were following her are closing in. I have to—”
“Like you had to carry me out that time?” Toby snapped.
’Ring grinned. “Just like that. Now, sit down and stop your worrying. I’ll get the woman and take her back to the coach and give those…guards of hers a piece of my mind. I’ll meet you at the coach later today, and from now on we’ll travel with her.” He rolled his shirt-sleeves to above his forearms. “I’m beginning to see why General Yovington wanted someone with her. She needs protection.” He stopped. “And I mean to find out what she’s up to, what she’s so eager to conceal.” He turned away toward the rocks, then turned back, and for a second clasped Toby’s shoulder. No one would have guessed that the old man who seemed so quarrelsome was often like a second mother to ’Ring. “Go on or I’ll put you up for a promotion and when we get back to the post you’ll have a whole troop of men under your care.”
“Hell,” Toby snorted. “I’ll desert. You go on. I got more to do than concern myself with your attempts to get yourself killed.”
Maddie stopped moving and listened. She could hear the man she was to meet thrashing through the underbrush. Slowly, as silently as creaking leather would permit, she dismounted and began to lead her horse up the hillside. As the noise grew louder, her heart began to pound. In spite of her anger and outrage at the kidnapping scheme of which this man was a part, she must not offend him. She must be as gracious and polite as possible. She must—
She took in her breath sharply as Captain Montgomery dropped from a tree, no more than a foot in front of her. She put her hand to her heart. “You frightened me!” she complained, then recovered herself. “What in the world are you doing here?” Her mind was beginning to race. She had to get rid of him.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “You told me you had people to protect you, yet here you are alone.”
“I want to be alone.” She took a deep breath and tried to think. “Captain Montgomery, you must go away. I have something I must do and I must do it alone. It has to do with, ah…being a female.” Perhaps he’d be put off by the mystery of that statement.
He leaned against a tree and folded his arms across his chest. “Now, what could that possibly be?” He looked her up and down. “Couldn’t be childbirth. I don’t imagine your monthlies necessitate your leaving camp, nor—”
“You are a despicable man, and I won’t listen to any more of your vulgarities. I’ve told you before that I don’t need or want your protection.” Holding her horse’s reins, she started out around him, but he blocked her path, and when she went another way, he blocked that too. “All right, what do you want?”
“Information. Who’re the men you’re meeting?”
She couldn’t tell him the truth and jeopardize Laurel. Think, Maddie, think, she told herself. “One of them is my lover,” she said at last, and hoped she looked sincere.
“So why didn’t he visit you at your camp?”
She turned away from him while she thought. “Because…because…” She looked back at him. “Because he’s an outlaw. Oh, Captain, I know he’s done wrong. I mean, he’s not a murderer, but he has robbed a few banks so he can’t show himself and I do want to see him.” She took a step closer to him. Usually, men who’d heard her sing didn’t need any more from her in the way of flirtation, but this was one of those stupid men who had preconceived ideas about opera. She smiled up at him. He was a soldier, a man who’d been living at a fort with lots of other men, so she probably wouldn’t have to do much to flatter him.
“Surely, Captain, even you must understand about love. I love the man even if he has done some things wrong.” She stepped even closer. His arms were down at his sides, his shirt half unbuttoned, and there was a tear just at the top of his ribs on his left side. She ran her fingertip across the skin showing through the tear. “You wouldn’t begrudge me a few minutes alone with the man I love, would you?”
He didn’t answer, so she looked up at him. He was looking down at her with such a patronizing, knowing smirk that she stepped away.
“Tell me, do you lie out of habit or just to get your own way? And do most people believe your lies?”