Oklahoma Bride. Carol Finch

week!” He broke into a run and sprinted into the stables. “Assume command of this post while I’m gone, Micah!”

      Karissa brushed her fingertips over the bruise on her cheek that still throbbed hours after her harrowing encounter with Harlan Billings. He had tried to force himself on her after he had escorted her back to Rafe’s quarters for the evening. Karissa shook off the repulsive thought of how close she had come to being violated. She had made the mistake of dismissively turning her back on Harlan—a mistake she would never make with any man again.

      Considering the fact that she had left Rafe’s room in shambles—as a show of defiance that first night—she really didn’t expect him to believe that lecherous toad had assaulted her. She, after all, was an escaped prisoner and Harlan was a soldier under Rafe’s command.

      She clutched the torn neckline of her borrowed dress and waited until the wagon in which she’d hidden had reached a thicket of trees. The driver, who was oblivious to the fact that a stowaway was tucked beneath the tarp in the wagon bed, went merrily on his way. Karissa wormed from concealment and hopped off the wagon. Casting a quick glance to make sure the driver hadn’t noticed her, she dashed into the underbrush.

      She knew she didn’t have much time before Rafe discovered she was missing. She had heard the driver of the supply wagon call out a greeting when he encountered the returning army patrol. By now, Rafe would have seen the destruction in his room and assumed she had spitefully laid the place to ruin and made her escape.

      Karissa predicted that Rafe would tear off to the site where he had originally apprehended her. Therefore, she would be asking for more trouble than she had already encountered if she made a beeline for her property.

      “Well, what have we here?” came a voice from the shadows of the trees.

      Karissa refused to let herself freeze up in fear. She had endured one near brush with disaster today and that was more than enough. She had to lose herself in the underbrush and wait until she could use the gathering darkness to her advantage. She didn’t have time to retrieve the bag of men’s clothing and supplies she had buried on her claim site. But she felt exposed and vulnerable while wearing a dress, and whoever had sneaked up on her had realized she was a woman.

      When she heard two more male voices behind her, panicked desperation spurted through her veins. Karissa grabbed the front of her skirt to keep from tripping and dashed southeast, veering away from the cover of the trees toward more familiar territory. She knew the property she wanted to claim like the back of her hand. If she could elude the men until darkness became her protector she was sure she could find a place to hide for the night.

      Terror and outrage threatened to overwhelm her when she heard one of the men breathing down her neck. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek when he clamped hold of her shoulder and jerked her backward. As she stumbled off balance she raised an elbow to bash in her attacker’s nose. He yelped in pain and covered his face, giving Karissa time to wrest free. Unfortunately, the other two men overtook her and she found herself shoved facedown in the grass.

      She screeched, she kicked and she clawed, but three to one odds overpowered her. Karissa screamed bloody murder when two of the men rolled her onto her back and pinned her shoulders to the ground.

      A bearded face loomed above her. “You nearly broke my nose, bitch,” the man growled as he yanked up her skirts. “And now you’re going to pay for it, thrice over.”

      When the man dropped to his knees, Karissa thrust out her leg and caught him squarely in the groin. He howled like a coyote then lambasted her with curses. But Karissa kept kicking at him and straining against the two men who held her shoulders to the ground. She felt her strength waning and knew it was only a matter of time before these lusty scoundrels did their worst. But Karissa refused to surrender, refused to make it easy on her assailants. She had fought her way through life and it was second nature to battle even the most difficult odds.

      “Let her go!” Rafe’s booming voice rumbled in the distance and Karissa slumped in relief.

      The men sprang away from her and wheeled toward the mounted soldier, who loomed in the twilight like an avenging angel. When one of the men made a grab for his pistol Rafe’s rifle barked viciously. Karissa glanced sideways to see one of her assailants wilt to the ground, clutching his arm.

      “I said back off!” Rafe thundered as he took the second man’s measure on the sight of his rifle.

      While dismounting, Rafe kept his weapon trained on the two men left standing. He had ridden hell-for-leather, itching to strangle Karissa for spitefully destroying his quarters and escaping from the fort. But his anger was nothing compared to the outrage that overwhelmed him when he’d heard Karissa’s shriek in the distance and had ridden over the hill to see these three men trying to rape her. He considered himself a fair and just man, but committing cold-blooded murder was starting to appeal to him greatly.

      “Sit down in the grass, back to back,” he ordered gruffly. Reaching into his saddlebag, he retrieved three lengths of rope. “Karissa, bind them together.”

      She rolled unsteadily to all fours then staggered to her feet. When she swayed slightly, he realized she was suffering from the aftereffects of the attack. Nevertheless, she gathered her composure and tied the two uninjured men together while Rafe inspected the third ruffian’s bullet wound.

      When he heard the rending of cloth, he glanced up to see that Karissa had torn the hem off her tattered gown to provide a bandage. “I should let him bleed to death after what he tried to do to me,” she said bitterly, “but I’m not quite as heartless as he is.”

      Rafe noticed her hand was still shaking as she offered the improvised bandage. He knew how it felt to ride an adrenaline high, knew she was barely holding herself together. Sooner or later traumatic shock from the unnerving incident was going to catch up with her. Aggravated though he was with her, he was still going to be there to catch her when she fell apart.

      “I’m bleeding to death!” the injured man railed as he stared at his bloodstained jacket.

      “You’ll live,” Rafe diagnosed as he hurriedly bandaged his captive’s wound. “Considering what you tried to do, you’re lucky I didn’t aim for your heart.”

      Swiftly he bound the man’s hands then hoisted him to his feet. With Karissa’s assistance, he marched the men toward the nearest tree and tethered them. “I’ll send a patrol out to retrieve you,” he told the men. “Until then, you can sit here and rot.”

      To his surprise, Karissa sidled up beside him, clutched his hand and murmured, “Thank you.”

      “This wouldn’t have happened if you had stayed put,” he said, and scowled.

      She jerked up her head so quickly that the last of her disheveled coiffure came tumbling down her shoulders, catching in the last rays of sunset like dancing flames. When Rafe noticed the discoloration on her cheek and the gaping neckline of her dress, his fist clenched around his rifle. Vicious fury took a bite out of him as he glared at the three men.

      “They didn’t leave the marks,” she told him shakily.

      His narrowed gaze swung back to her. “Then who did?”

      “You don’t want to know and probably couldn’t care less,” she muttered.

      Rafe clutched her arm to shepherd her toward his horse. “When someone assaults a woman who is under my protection, I care,” he assured her gruffly. “Even if said woman probably deserved what she got for her reckless daring.”

      To Rafe’s disbelief she didn’t snap back at him. She just sort of crumpled beside him and he reflexively reached out to steady her on her feet. He heard her muffled sob and felt her trembling hands clutch at his arm. In the blink of an eye his frustration evaporated and he gathered her compassionately to him.

      “Damn it,” she mumbled against his chest. “The very last thing I meant to do was let you see me cry.”

      “It’s all right,” he whispered as he impulsively brushed his