managed to find a hatful of nuts and took them back to Allie.
Wes pushed the thin branches away and stepped into nature’s tiny room beneath the tree. Handing Allie the canteen, he fished in his bag for the last apple and jerky. He gave the apple to Jason, broke the jerky in thirds, and sat down cross-legged to begin cracking nuts.
‘‘Not much supper tonight, folks. I thought we’d be eating with your grandmother. But we’ve enough.’’
Jason was so tired Wes had to force him to stay awake long enough to eat the apple. ‘‘What is it they say? It’s not the food, it’s the company that counts.’’
He laughed to himself as Allie stretched and laid her head on his knee. ‘‘I must be a great conversationalist. I’m putting everyone to sleep.’’
‘‘Ghosts are in the house,’’ Allie whispered. ‘‘We shouldn’t bother them.’’ She closed her eyes. ‘‘Or the ghost at Goliad where you go to search for gold.’’
‘‘I’m not afraid of ghosts.’’ Wes patted her shoulder, enjoying the fact she’d finally lost her fear of him. All day, she’d been close and not once had she pulled away. Once, he’d laced his fingers through hers. He’d thought such an action would feel foolish, but, surprisingly, it felt good. He liked the feel of her holding to him as they rode.
Before he finished half the nuts, Jason and Allie were both dreaming. Wes sat in the darkness. There was no need to light a fire; any wind was blocked by the barn wall. Jason would be warm curled in his blanket, and Wes would eventually slide down beside Allie to keep her from being cold.
Wes had too much on his mind to sleep. He needed time to think. He’d planned to look for the treasure alone. One lone man would cause no talk riding into the abandoned mission. He figured he could study the map and be in and out in a day or two at the most. But now there were Allie and Jason. A man could live off the land, eat when he had to, ride hard, and sleep only when exhausted. But a woman and boy were something else entirely.
Wes took a long drink of the water in the canteen, wishing it were whiskey. He didn’t regret what he’d done this morning. Allie couldn’t have stayed with Victoria. It didn’t matter that everyone in the world could see they were kin, Victoria would believe her sister. For some reason, Katherine didn’t want Allie to be alive. Maybe she was just protecting her sister from what she thought were fortune hunters. Who knows how many others over the years had claimed to be Victoria’s grandchild?
The chipped china came to mind. Wes wondered how much of a fortune could be left. Perhaps Victoria was growing poor in her old age, or maybe Katherine saw no need to spend money on what her sister could no longer see.
Wes brushed his hand lightly over Allie’s hair. She could go with him; he’d take his chances with her tailing along. Anything was better than the thought of her being yelled at by Katherine.
Wes leaned back against his saddle. For a little while he’d forget about the map and head back to his place outside Denton. He could round up enough strays to feed them through the winter, and his dugout might not be a headquarters, but it was plenty big for three people. Maybe he could catch and break a few wild horses for the Army for extra money. By the end of winter, he could hire on for a cattle drive and make enough to start a herd next fall.
Rubbing his forehead, Wes pushed away the dream. Who was he kidding? Allie wasn’t interested in staying with him. The only reason she was with him was that being near him was safer at the moment. The minute she got the chance, she’d take off to parts unknown. He could feel it. And he’d never been a man who just got by. He’d made a name for himself in the war by always gambling big with life. He couldn’t settle down and scratch out a living. The treasure was a hand he had to play. The last card he’d been dealt. If it cost him his life, he’d go out with a dream and not some plan to scrape by. Allie wasn’t his, and neither was Jason.
Wes slept little. Thoughts kept stampeding through his mind. He wanted to make it big. He needed to prove he could to everyone. Not for the money or power, but for the satisfaction. His younger brothers had found their niches in life. Adam was a doctor; Daniel, a preacher. Wes had to prove he could be more than a soldier.
Toward dawn, when the earth was so still nothing moved, Wes decided Allie was somehow a part of his destiny. She might not stay with him, she might never care for him, but she was a part of him, woven so deeply into the fabric of his life that she’d never be far from his thoughts even if she left. He cared for her.
He watched first light crawling across the horizon, hesitating in the early fog. At first, the riders coming from town seemed like part of the passing shadows, but as they neared, he heard the horses’ hooves and picked out the four horsemen slicing the distance between town and the willow.
Wes shifted slightly, pulling his rifle from where it had been propped against his saddle. His movement awoke Allie. She sat up, sensing danger.
He raised his weapon to his shoulder and waited. There was a good chance the men would pass. Even if they stopped, the light wasn’t good enough to see beneath the willow. Wes didn’t bother to motion for Allie to remain silent. He knew she would.
The men rode directly toward the house as though on a mission. They looked hard and too heavily armed to be farmers. When they reached the porch, one jumped from his saddle and kicked the front door open, his gun drawn.
‘‘It’s dark!’’ he yelled. ‘‘But no one’s in there. Squirrels ran in every direction.’’
A wiry man twisted in his saddle. ‘‘We’ll keep going. They couldn’t be far. A fellow said he saw the three pass through town just before dark last night. If we were after one man, he might have covered more ground, but the woman and the boy will slow him down. He can’t be far ahead of us.’’
Wes fought the urge to fire. These men were looking for him and, from the hurry they were in, they hadn’t come to help. The wiry man reminded Wes of a tree that had been twisted early on and hadn’t grown straight. He patted his handgun as if it were a pet at his side.
The man off his mount walked to the edge of the porch. ‘‘There’s a farm about three miles down that takes in travelers. They may have stayed there for the night.’’
The leader grunted. ‘‘Or a hundred other places along the streams and rivers. But don’t worry, we’ll find them if we have to comb every mile of this land.’’
Wes’s fingers tightened slightly on the trigger. These men were after him, there was no doubt. But why? For the map? For Allie? Or, who knows, Angela Montago was so mad at him, she might have hired them to see that he never bothered her again. Wes could even think of a few men from the war who hated him enough to track him.
As the men rode away, Wes frowned. That was his problem-he’d made too many enemies and not enough friends. When a man has several reasons to choose from why a band of no-goods might be chasing him, maybe it’s time to mend his ways.
Wes was a good enough judge of people to know that the four riders were not trained trackers. They would have seen signs, even in the poor light, that would have pointed directly to the willow. And there was something not quite professional about them. They were not hired guns.
Allie watched Wes closely. He’d been prepared to kill the men if they’d come too near, but she wasn’t sure why.
He’d saved her again, that was all that mattered. She owed him now. And honor demanded she pay him back. All she had were the pelts in the cave. Somehow, she’d get to them and give him half her wealth. It was the only fair thing to do.
But they’d ridden over country she’d never seen. Not even all the moving around she’d done when she’d been passed from tribe to tribe helped her now. Allie wasn’t sure where to start to head for home. If she were alone, she might not be able to find her way back to Fort Worth. From there, she knew the direction. But here, this land was different. She wasn’t sure.
‘‘Good morning.’’ He pushed her hair back from her face.
How easily she’d gotten used to his nearness. ‘‘Good morning,’’ she answered, feeling the words on her tongue so early in the morning. ‘‘Who were those men?’’
‘‘I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they were looking for us and that they were probably men we don’t want to meet.’’
Jason slowly turned toward them. His wide eyes told Allie he hadn’t been asleep for a while and had seen the riders.
‘‘I know who that was.’’ Jason raised slowly. ‘‘That was the meanest man I ever met. I saw him kill a dog with his hands once just because he made a bet that he could.’’
‘‘Who?’’ Wes asked.
