The Cowboy's Convenient Proposal. Linda Ford

about and faced them, the ax lifted like a sword. “Anyone touch either of us and I’ll leave you in pieces.”

      The men kept back a safe distance.

      She turned back to her sister. “Belle, come here. I’ll look after you. Just like I always do.”

      Whimpering, Belle slipped from the bed.

      “What’s going on here?”

      Red slowly turned to face the Mountie with Thorton on one side and Ward on the other.

      “She’s trashed my house.” Mike pointed. “Arrest her, I say.”

      “Red, what are you doing? Give me the ax.” The Mountie gingerly reached for her weapon.

      Red didn’t budge. Didn’t offer to release it. Nor would she until Belle was safe and sound. “Have a look for yourself.” She stepped aside and indicated the Mountie should look in the hole.

      He watched her carefully as he edged forward. She kept her back to the shack as she watched the circle of men for any threat, but she knew the moment the Mountie saw Belle because of his indrawn breath. “Come on, child. You’re safe now.”

      Red kept her eyes on Thorton. She saw his intention to escape and sprang forward, waving the ax.

      Ward also saw his intention and grabbed an arm and twisted it behind Thorton’s back.

      The Mountie lifted Belle through the opening. She glanced about at all the men and pressed her back to the shack.

      Red dropped the ax and held her arms out. Belle hesitated a moment, then raced to her sister.

      “Thorton Winch,” the Mountie said, “I’m arresting you for kidnapping and a number of other charges. Take a good look at the sky. You won’t get many more chances.”

      As he was led away, Thorton turned to Red. “Don’t think this is the end. I’ll get away and I’ll find you.”

      The Mountie jerked his arms. “You aren’t going anywhere.

      “Mike Morton, you are under arrest, too. Ward, would you bring him along?”

      Thorton gave Ward a look fit to cure leather. “I’ll find you, too, and make you regret your part in this.”

      The Mountie pushed him along.

      The men shrank away, muttering they didn’t know about a child. She expected most of them told the truth.

      In a few minutes Red and Belle were alone.

      “What are we going to do?” Belle whispered.

      “We’ll be fine.”

      “Who’s going to take care of us?”

      “We’ll take care of ourselves.” She spoke so reassuringly she almost believed her words. But she had no money. No clothing except the dress on her back and grateful she was for the brown one Linette had given her. But they had their freedom.

      “Let’s go.” She took Belle’s hand and headed out of town, a different direction than the one that had brought her back a few hours ago.

      “Where we going?”

      “To a new life.” One, she vowed, where she would never again depend on a man. Or trust one.

      They marched bravely onward until Belle dropped to the edge of the trail.

      “We’re lost. And I’m hungry.” Silent tears trailed down her pale cheeks.

      Red hated those tears and that silent cry, even though she felt like sitting at Belle’s side and joining her in a good wail. Her leg hurt even though she’d looked at it closely when Linette changed the dressing last night and knew it was a minor injury. Her head pounded like a thousand horses kicking to be released. “We’ll be okay.”

      Belle shook her head. Not that Red blamed her for not believing. She had no plan. No options. “Come on. We can’t sit at the side of the road feeling sorry for ourselves.”

      Belle didn’t move.

      Red dried her sister’s tears on the skirt of the brown cotton dress. “Something will work out. It always does, doesn’t it?” Even though she said the words, she could think of too many times when things had gone wrong to be convincing.

      “Can I call you Grace now?”

      Red looked past Belle to the low bushes beside the trail. “I’ll never be Grace again. Continue calling me Red.” She yanked on a lock of hair. Why had she been cursed with hair that drew unwanted attention?

      Belle sprang to her feet. Her eyes widened as she stared down the road. “Someone’s coming.” She bolted for the bushes.

      “Belle, wait.” But Belle didn’t slow until she was well out of sight.

      Red shared her sense of panic. Had Thorton escaped? She squinted at the approaching rider. He led a second horse. That fact alone sent shivers up and down Red’s spine. Slowly she backed away, aiming for the opposite side of the trail as Belle. That way if Red was caught, Belle might hope to escape.

      To what? Starvation in the wilds?

      She spun about. Her head did not like the sudden movement and dizziness made her stumble and fall to her knees.

      “Red. Hold up. It’s me.”

      She recognized the voice. Ward. Interfering again.

      But her annoyance was laced liberally with relief. Surely he’d give her a ride.

      To where? She had no place to go.

      * * *

      Ward was too far away to do anything but kick his horse to a gallop, and watch helplessly as Red fell to the ground. The woman seemed to have a knack for getting into trouble. But right now he didn’t have time to analyze that observation. He had to take care of Red and her little sister. Where had Belle disappeared to?

      He jumped from his horse and trotted over to Red who now sat on the ground, her legs drawn up, her face buried in her knees. He squatted at her side. “Are you okay?”

      “I’m fine. Just turned too fast and fell.” She eyed him with squinting disfavor. “Could happen to anyone.”

      He chuckled. “Yup. Happens to me all the time.”

      She snorted. “Sure it does.”

      “Well it does every time I have a blow to my head that leaves a lump the size of a turkey egg.”

      She stared away.

      He looked in the same direction. Saw nothing of interest. Some scraggly bushes along the trail, poplars with their lacy leaves dancing in the breeze, and further off, dark green spruce and pine. In the distance, the blue-gray Rockies. “Where you going?” Seemed to be nothing much out there for her to aim for.

      “To freedom.”

      “Yeah, sure. But where will you hang your hat?”

      “No hat to hang.”

      He guessed she had little of anything to hang. She’d left without pausing to collect her belongings. All she took with her was her little sister. Who—if he had to guess—hid from the sight of a man. No doubt men represented danger in her young mind. Maybe in Red’s not-so-young mind as well. “Even without a hat, you need a place. You can’t survive out in the open. Do you have any family?”

      She didn’t shift her gaze. “Just Belle.”

      “Uh-huh. Friends? Anyone who would give you a home?”

      The look she gave him dripped disbelief. “Do you think if we did, we would have fallen into the clutches of a man like Thorton?”

      “Guess it was a stupid question.”

      “It sure was.”

      He sank to