“I’d love to, but you know what Father said. It’s too dangerous.”
“Maybe just around the farm? If you ask Father, I’m sure he’d let us.”
Beth thought. “All right, I’ll ask.” She held up a hand at Lily’s squeal of joy, trying not to smile at her sister’s youthful exuberance. “I’ll ask, but it’s up to Father. We’ll be good and accept his decision, all right, sister dear?”
Lily sighed in agreement and then grinned, as she changed the subject back to their original conversation. “Tell me the truth. Wouldn’t you like to live like Miss Darcy? You’ve seen her house. I’ll bet it’s grand, and she has servants everywhere.” Lily bounced on the wagon seat. “Wouldn’t you just love to live in a place like Pemberley?”
Beth nearly choked as she blushed.
Lily continued. “If I ever get the chance to live like that, I would—oh!”
Beth was surprised at Lily’s outburst, and turned to see what had caused it. Standing outside the Rosings Bank was Kid Denny and a member of his gang—new, shiny badges of authority from Judge Phillips hanging on their shirts. That was disconcerting enough; what made it worse was that Denny was staring at them, an unreadable expression on his face.
No—he wasn’t staring at them. His eyes were locked on Lily. Beth shivered and moved slightly closer to her youngest sister, trying to shield her from his gaze.
“Beth?” asked Lily in a low, frightened voice, one that had lost all good humor. “Can we go home now?”
Beth turned to see that Lily was just as affected by Denny as she. Beth nodded. “Don’t be afraid. We’ll be home soon.”
“I’m not afraid,” Lily protested. “I… I just want to go riding with you, that’s all.”
Beth was not fooled by Lily’s statement, but chose not to challenge her. “Of course, love. Hang on.” Determined to protect her beloved sister, Beth’s lips drew into a firm line as she prodded the horses to move faster.
As the days of September passed, the only sign that fall was approaching was that the days were growing shorter. It was still hot, and the dry season was upon them. That meant dove hunting in Texas, and Pemberley was always a dependable roosting area.
Early on this particular day, a hunting party of Will Darcy, Richard Fitzwilliam, and Charles Bingley worked a field near a wooded area about three miles from the main house. All three carried double-barreled shotguns, but had neither beaters nor dogs. Will did not own any hunting dogs, and he would not use his employees to scare up game. Still the sport had been productive and each man had bagged his share.
“You’re a fair shot, for a doctor,” Fitz observed as the three took their ease, sharing a flask with their lunches.
“Not as good as you,” Charles said. “Did you miss any? I would swear you didn’t.”
“If you think that was good, you should see Fitz with a rifle,” Will grinned. “I’ll bet if we made him use a Winchester instead of a shotgun, he’d still bag as many birds.”
“Naw, you don’t want to do that,” Fitz drawled. “Wouldn’t leave much o’ the bird left to eat, an’ then Miz Reynolds would have my hide.”
“You scared of Will’s cook?”
“Nope. Scared she’d quit him, and then the other hands will get sore and come after me!”
Will laughed. “You’re right about that. Mrs. Reynolds has a lot of friends in the bunkhouse.”
The men continued talking until Fitz suddenly stood up. “Hear that?”
“What?” Darcy started, before he did hear, faintly.
“Sounds like Peter,” Fitz judged.
Will nodded, got to his feet while pulling his Colt, and fired three rounds in the air. Alerted by the sound, the Pemberley rider found them in short order. Darcy was surprised at Peter’s companion—a very distraught Beth.
“Mr. Darcy,” Peter called as they came to a halt. “Miss Bennet here needs to talk to Doc Bingley.”
“Good God, what’s the matter?” Darcy exclaimed as he half-ran to Turner. Beth’s face was dirty, as dust clung to the tears she had undoubtedly shed earlier. He took the paint’s reins and held up a hand to help Beth dismount. Charles was right on Darcy’s heels.
Beth allowed Will to help her down before saying, “Charles, you have to come home, please—”
Bingley turned white. “Jane? Susan? My God, has anything happened?”
“No, no!” Beth cried in a mixture of grief and frustration. “They’re fine! It’s Lily! She’s gone—missing! We think she’s run away!”
Will had not released Beth’s hand and his grip tightened. “Are you sure?”
“Yes—no—we don’t know! She’s just gone! She went to bed last night, but she wasn’t there this morning! We’ve been looking all over for her!”
“Come sit down, Beth. Do you need anything? Some water? We’ve got water. Or maybe something stronger?”
“No, nothing please. Just let me catch my breath.”
“You know anything?” Fitz asked Peter.
“No. Miss Bennet come ridin’ up to Pemberley, wantin’ to talk to the doc. She said there was a family emergency. Miss Gaby told me to find y’all, an’ Miss Bennet insisted on comin’ along. Don’t know about any missing girl.”
Will sat down next to Beth and took her hands in his. “What’s been done to find Lily?”
Beth stared into Will’s caring eyes. “Father and I rode to town to get Charles. Jane said he was here, so I went on to get him. Father’s gone to Sheriff Lucas.”
“Has there been any sign of her?”
“No. No note. Just that one of our horses is missing. It was Lily’s horse.”
“Has Lily said anything about meeting somebody? Was she sweet on some fellow?”
“No. There’s been no one.”
“All right. Do you need anything right now?”
She shook her head. “No. I have to get back to Charles’s place—Father will be waiting for me there.”
“Then, I won’t detain you.” Will stood up and began barking orders. “All right. Fitz, I want you to ride back to Pemberley and begin assembling a search team. Saddle up anyone we can spare. Make sure they’re armed. We don’t know what’s happened to Lily, if she’s been kidnapped or not.”
“Will, she took her own horse,” Fitz pointed out.
“I heard that, and maybe she did ride out to meet somebody, and maybe she changed her mind. It’s happened before,” Will shot back. “We’re not taking any chances, all right?”
Fitz got the allusion to Gaby and nodded.
“Peter, ride out and tell the wranglers to keep an eye out for a girl on a… what kind of horse was that, Beth?”
“Buster is brown, with a white flash on the chest.”
“Got that description? Good. Fitz, when you get your team assembled, meet me at the Bingleys.”
Beth stared at him. “You’re coming with us?”
“Yep. Fitz, you better take my birds with you to the house. Everyone clear on what to do? Good. Let’s ride.”
Directly upon reaching the Bingleys’, Darcy set up a command post. He commandeered the Bingley dining room table, spreading a map of the county upon it. When Fitz arrived with a dozen men from Pemberley, Darcy assembled them into two-man teams and assigned them various locations to search. Beth was impressed by his quick command of the situation, and she was pleased with the easy respect his men held for their employer.
She was not the only witness—besides the Bingleys, Mr. Bennet was in attendance, having come to his son- in-law’s house after talking to both the sheriff and Judge Phillips. Bennet wanted to join in the search, but Darcy talked him out of it, pointing out that he could most help the effort by reflecting on his daughter and trying to divine where she might have gone.
Fitz and the Pemberley riders spread out all over the north bank of the Long Branch. Denny and his men,
