me go, I won’t tell anyone.’’
Andrew Adams drank his nervousness away while he packed his things. At first he’d been so flustered he’d ignored all her requests, but now he was willing to talk to her. ‘‘They don’t arrest a man for taking his own wife. I only took what was mine. I didn’t do nothing wrong.’’
‘‘I’m not your wife.’’
He downed another swallow and moved toward her. ‘‘Maybe you think you’re not because the high-and-mighty Win McQuillen paid what you took from me. Or maybe because the lawyer in town said the proxy’s no good. But the way I figure it, you owe me. I wouldn’t have headed to Bryan and been shot if I hadn’t thought I was going after a wife. All I came back with was a bag of hurt and a woman who hadn’t even stayed for my funeral.’’
‘‘But I wasn’t the one you came for.’’ Kora pulled at her ropes.
‘‘No, but you was the one who signed the paper.’’ Andrew Adams took another drink. ‘‘So I figure that makes you my wife.’’
He moved across the room and squeezed her shoulder. ‘‘You ain’t much in size. I like my women a little fluffier, but I guess you’ll do. I had me a wife once several years ago. Ever’thing was good for me then. So I figured it was time for me to start over. A woman in the house gives a man something to come home to.’’
Kora could see his eyes darken in hope. ‘‘Win will kill you for taking me,’’ she whispered. ‘‘I’m his
‘‘McQuillen’s already dead.’’ Andrew looked sorry for her as he sat at the table across from her. ‘‘So you might as well live with the fact. Men don’t survive six snakebites. I was at the settlement, and the minute I heard it, I headed over and hid out in the dark. I’ve made enough deliveries to that place to find my way drunk or sober.’’
He took another drink. ‘‘I figured while everyone was waiting for him to pass on, I’d just wait for you to come out. Then I’d snatch you up and bring you home where you belong. After the funeral, we’ll move back into that big house. Since the law thinks you’re his bride, you’ll get everything. By the time he’s cold, you’ll be mine in the eyes of the Lord. I can promise you that.’’
Kora pulled at the ropes. ‘‘He’s not dead.’’
Andrew wasn’t listening. ‘‘We need a better place to hide until you come to your senses. I wouldn’t want anyone finding us until you wise up. You liked me enough once to marry me. I figure it’ll just be a matter of time until you do again.’’
‘‘Let me go!’’ Kora screamed, her patience at an end. The man was insane if he thought time would change anything. ‘‘I’m not, nor will I ever be, your wife!’’
Andrew gulped a long swallow of whiskey. He leaned across the table and slapped her hard.
Kora felt her ears ring and her eyes blur.
‘‘I didn’t want to do that,’’ he said almost in tears, ‘‘but you got to come to your senses and realize you still belong to me.’’
She could feel his whiskey breath only inches away as his hand doubled back and struck her again.
‘‘You got to see the facts, girl,’’ he mumbled as he grabbed his bottle and moved away from her. ‘‘I got to do whatever it takes to make you realize I’m your husband. I got to.’’
Kora was silent as her head rocked forward.
TWENTY-SIX
KORA KNEW IT HAD TO BE MIDAFTERNOON. THE DUGOUT was warm with streams of light shooting through tiny cracks in the roof. Dust danced playfully in the sunbeams, as if nothing was wrong with the world.
No one from Winter’s ranch had come for her. Could it be possible they didn’t know she was missing? Something was delaying them. The range war Win always talked about might have started, or Win may have grown worse. A hundred thoughts came to mind.
Cramps in her legs made her muscles twitch. Her wrists were raw from trying to free her hands. The rope around her waist kept her from breathing deeply, and the wooden back of the chair seemed to be cutting into her spine.
Andrew Adams had finally drunk himself into a deep sleep. He’d wandered over several times during the morning to slap her and then spent time telling her how much he hated doing it. After each cruelty came a sermon. Kora hated the sermons worse than the blows. He mumbled on and on about having parents who’d known right from wrong and that they had finally beat rules into him. Now he saw it as his duty to make her see the error of her ways.
The last time he’d tried to convince her of how important it was for her to listen to him, he’d been so drunk he’d missed when he’d tried to hit her. The action had infuriated him, sending him headlong into a drinking binge.
Since the first slap, Kora remained silent. She knew the only thing he wanted to hear, and he’d have to beat her to death before she’d claim to be his wife. The whiskey changed him into a different man. But whether he was a sober coward or a drunken bully made no difference in her conviction to be free of him.
She was exhausted from having no sleep the night before. Her body ached, but she didn’t dare close her eyes.
Andrew lay across a filthy bed. His bags were packed by the door. He was waiting until nightfall to take her away. His plan was to disappear until she’d grown accustomed to him, then return to claim Win’s land. If someone didn’t get here soon, it would be too late to find her.
An hour passed, then another. Kora tried to move so that she was comfortable. Just as she felt her eyes closing, the door slowly opened.
‘‘Winter,’’ she whispered, thinking her prayers had been answered. Somehow he’d recovered from the bites and found her.
But to her shock, Dan walked through the door. He moved in his slow way to the fireplace and sat down on the ground in the dark corner where his chair had once been. His thin body folded into the shadows, almost disappearing.
‘‘Dan,’’ she whispered, knowing he’d never hear her. ‘‘Dan, please help me.’’
But he didn’t move.
Kora whispered his name again, realizing somehow he’d climbed into the wagon last night to sleep and Andrew hadn’t seen him before dawn. Knowing he was here added responsibility, but no comfort.
Dan didn’t budge as she whispered his name again. She had to look closely even to be sure he was there.
‘‘Dan!’’ she begged. ‘‘Please hear me!’’
She was trying to cross twenty years of not listening. Somewhere along the line Dan had stopped hearing, and he couldn’t be pulled back now. The war had killed a part of him, and all her calling couldn’t bring him back.
‘‘Dan! Please! Hear me!’’ He was her only hope of getting free. If he could just help they could be gone before Andrew Adams woke up. ‘‘Dan, it’s Kora.’’
Andrew mumbled in his sleep and rolled over. ‘‘What?’’ he yelled.
Kora looked down, trying to act as if she were asleep in the chair. Her hair fell over her eyes, making a curtain she could barely see through.
Andrew rubbed his face and stumbled forward. ‘‘Did you call me, girl?’’
Kora fought back the fear. She had to do something fast to get both herself and Dan out of here. She could wait no longer for someone to save her.
‘‘I’ve decided you’re right, Andrew. I am your wife.’’ Kora bit back her lie.
He glared at her with bloodshot eyes.
Kora forced the words. ‘‘I’ve been remembering all those things you said in your letters. You’re right, I was your wife first and that’s the way it should be. If you’ll untie me, I’d like to cook supper. I’m really hungry.’’
Though he stood staring at her, he was still just drunk enough to believe her. ‘‘And you ain’t mad at me for smacking you? ’Cause you know I didn’t want to have to do that, but you wouldn’t listen.’’
‘‘I’m not mad,’’ Kora lied. ‘‘You did what you had to do.’’
