Twice a Texas Bride by Linda Broday

Author:Linda Broday
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2015-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

The brothers scattered like a wad of buckshot. Rand’s Colt was in his hand before he ever remembered drawing it.

Where had the blast come from?

Beads of sweat rose on his forehead as he peered from the tree he’d dived behind. Nothing.

Damn, he wished daylight would come.

Though dense timber surrounded them, they were more or less sitting ducks. Fleming had eyes on them. They had to figure out from which direction the gunfire had come and fast.

In an effort to keep pace with the racing dog, they’d become separated from Cooper’s ranch hands. It was just the three of them now. Three to save the little boy who meant so much to Rand.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Cooper and Brett crawl into some thick brush. Maybe they’d seen the flash of powder or the haze of smoke in the aftermath.

What had happened to Biscuit? Had Fleming killed the dog?

Instead of joining his brothers, Rand waited, scanning for signs that might tell him where Fleming held Toby. Minutes ticked by.

Then he saw what he waited for.

Slight movement twenty yards ahead made his heart slam against his ribs. He heard the faint whimper of a child.

If he tried to race across the small clearing, Fleming would cut him down before he got halfway. No, he had to be smart.

Slowly, Rand backed away from his hiding place. One sound, one slipup, and he would alert his enemy. Using tactics he’d learned from Brett, he painstakingly made an arc through the woods and came up from behind.

In the thin slice of moonlight, he saw the figure of a man hunched down with one hand over Toby’s mouth.

He’d found the murdering piece of scum. But he couldn’t get a clean shot without hitting Toby.

A calm stillness swept over Rand as he stood. He gripped the Colt tighter and ordered, “Drop it, Fleming.”

Rising, the outlaw swung and fired. The bullet slammed into a nearby tree.

Rand cursed the fact he couldn’t return fire. “Let the boy go and fight like a man.”

“He belongs to me. I’m his father, his kin. You ain’t nothin’ but a two-bit cowboy, trying to act like some big shot. I’ll kill you where you stand.”

As Cooper and Brett stepped from the brush to flank Fleming, the outlaw suddenly hoisted Toby tightly to his chest and moved deeper into the shadows.

“Pitch your weapons into the trees and back away, or the boy dies,” Fleming snarled. “Quick now, or I’ll put a bullet into his head.”

Tossing his pistol would leave Rand defenseless, but he wasn’t about to gamble with Toby’s life.

“Indian, that means you too.”

“I don’t carry a gun,” Brett said.

“Never heard of a man who doesn’t have a weapon of some sort. You strike me as a knife carrier.”

Without a word, Brett removed his knife from his moccasin, laid it on the ground, then kicked it away.

“A real father doesn’t want any harm to come to his son,” Cooper said, throwing his Colt out of reach. “You don’t seem to much care about his welfare.

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