around. The rest of you, keep your eyes open.'
Hell! Malachi thought. If they went snooping around too far, they would find the bay. He cursed whatever creature had been sneaking around the camp. If it was a weasel, he hoped some poor bastard ate the creature.
He sank against his rock. They weren't going to look for him there, not right beneath their noses. He was going to have to sit tight and wait. If they would just settle down for the night, even with the guards on duty, he would be able to reach Kristin. Once the camp was quiet, he would be able to circle around and come at her from the stream. He would have to kill the guards by the horses; he wouldn't have any choice.
Malachi frowned suddenly, feeling the earth beneath his hands. He lay against the ground and listened to the tremors of the earth.
Someone else was out riding that night. Not too far distant, a group of horsemen was coming toward them.
A Union patrol?
He thought they were still in Missouri, but they might have crossed over the border. They had really headed south as much as they had headed west. Not that it mattered much. Union patrols were everywhere.
But it could also be a Southern outfit, heading home.
Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe it did.
He tensed, waiting.
Then a shrill and furious scream caught his attention. He swung around, looking into the center of the Red Legs camp.
'Son of a bitch!' he swore beneath his breath, staring. 'If they leave behind just a piece of her, I'm going to skin her alive!'
Shannon had just been thrown into the center of the camp. Hartman and Wills had brought her, and with laughter and gusto cast her with force into the den of rogues.
Wills was limping, swearing away.
'She shot off my toe!' he howled.
'Thank God she can't aim,' Roger said, chortling.
'I did aim, you stupid ass,' Shannon said with venom. 'If I'd have wished it, I'd have shot out your heart.'
Wills went silent; even Roger went silent. There was a chill around them all, as if they knew her words to be the truth.
'Get down there, witch!' Wills swore savagely. He shoved her down, hard.
She landed on her knees. She had changed clothing, and wore tight black trousers, a gingham tailored shirt and a pair of sturdy brown boots. She'd worn a hat, a broad-brimmed hat, but now it lay several feet from her in the dust. Her hair had been pinned, but the pins were strewn around her, and her hair was falling, like a golden sunrise, in delicate rays down her back.
Malachi bit hard into his lip as she raised her chin to face Bear, all her heat and fury and passion alive in her eyes. She shouldn't have changed. The perfection of her form was even more apparent in the tight breeches and man's shirt, and he was not the only one to notice. The Red Legs were all rising, one by one, creating a circle around her.
'My, my, my,' Roger Holstein drawled. He moved his tongue over his lips. 'What have we here?' He stepped out of the circle, coming toward her. Shannon struggled quickly to her feet. Malachi tensed, watching the sizzle in her eyes.
'Don't be stupid, Shannon!' he muttered to himself. 'Be quiet, be good, let them tie you up and I can get you out… don't be stupid!'
But she was going to be stupid. Roger reached for her, and Shannon moved like lightning, sinking her teeth into his hand. He screamed with pain, then caught her with his backhand, sending her spiraling into the dirt. 'Bitch!' he roared.
The men laughed like hyenas. 'Least she didn't shoot you, Roge!' Wills said.
Roger came forward again, sucking at his sore hand.
'Get away from her,' Bear ordered, coming into the center of the ring.
'Oh, no, you don't,' Roger said with hostility. 'That one is for Fitz. Fine. This one is mine.'
'I'll die first, I swear it!' Shannon hissed from the ground. She seemed to sense that her only hope was Bear. Holding her cheek, she rose and raced behind him. 'I'll kill you—'
'Yeah, watch it, man, the little lady will bite you to death!' someone jeered.
'Get out of my way, Bear!' Roger howled. 'She's mine!'
'No!'
'You've got Slater's wife—'
'This is his sister-in-law, you idiot.'
Roger paused to look from one woman to the other. It was impossible to miss the resemblance. 'So they're sisters. So what of it?'
Kristin called out then. 'You touch her, and I'll kill myself, you bastard! Then you'll have nothing, nothing at all—'
'Kristin!'
Shannon burst through the throng of men, racing for her sister. Bear caught her just before she could get to Kristin's side. He swept her up by the waist, laughing. 'Little darlin'!' he exclaimed. 'If you go to anybody, sweet pea, you go to old papa bear!'
He reached up with one of his great hands and clutched the front of her shirt, tearing. Shannon screamed and savagely swung a kick his way.
She did know how to aim.
With a tremendous groan, Bear dropped her and doubled over. Shannon pulled his gun from his holster and swung around, facing the men, who were all on their feet.
'Don't take a chance,' she warned them, backing carefully toward Kristin. 'I know what I'm doing with this thing.'
'You can't kill us all,' Roger told her, but he didn't take another step her way.
'I can castrate at least six of you,' Shannon promised, and at least six of the men took a step backward.
'Now, all that I want is my sister,' Shannon began. She kept talking, but Malachi no longer heard her words because there was movement behind her. One of the guards watching the horses had drawn his knife and was sneaking up behind her.
'Damn!' Malachi mouthed. He couldn't shoot at the man; Shannon was in the way. If she would move…just a hair.
She didn't. The guard came up behind her and slipped the knife around her quickly, right at her throat, against her jugular.
'Castrate us!' Roger chortled as she dropped the gun.
'Why, honey, we're all going to make you glad that you didn't—'
The man with the knife moved. Just enough.
Damn her, damn her, damn her, Malachi thought. They were probably all dead now. But he couldn't wait any longer.
He rose and he fired. He got the guard right between the eyes. The man fell.
Shannon reached down for the gun she had dropped. Confusion reigned as men rushed toward her, as men looked around, anxious to discover who had fired the shot.
Malachi kept shooting. He didn't have any choice. He tried to aim and focus and to keep a good eye on Shannon, too. Men fell, and men screamed, and dust flew. But there were too many of them, just too many of them.
Shannon had been holding her own. But in the midst of the melee, Bear stumbled to his feet. He staggered toward Shannon from the rear while another man approached her from the front. She aimed forward…
And Bear took a firm swipe against her arm, sending the gun flying. She turned to fight, and he punched her hard in the mouth. Her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground.
