Chapter Thirteen
As Brick hurried back up the mountainside, Angus returned to his spot. Jinx could tell he hadn’t wanted to leave her. The night felt colder not being in his arms. She tried to concentrate on what had to be done, rather than the wrangler.
With luck, this would work. Even if T.D. stampeded the cattle into their camp, the only thing that would be destroyed was Max’s beloved chuckwagon. A chuckwagon could be replaced. Max, in the meantime, would be safe away from camp, Ella had assured her.
She knew they were as ready as possible and still she couldn’t help being scared. With a man like T. D. Sharp... Had he followed her up here just to torment her? To keep her from getting her herd to summer range? Or was his motive even more treacherous? She remembered the look in his eyes the other night at the ranch and knew at that moment, he’d wished her dead.
Jinx swallowed the lump in her throat, telling herself the man didn’t scare her even as she knew it wasn’t true. There was something about him, a feeling that he’d stepped over some invisible barrier and now he felt he had nothing to lose. If he ever got her alone again...
She shivered and pushed the thought away. His attack on them tonight would get him sent to jail. At least temporarily. With luck, she could get a loan against the ranch until she had it sold. Dangling that kind of money in front of T.D., she thought she could get him to sign the divorce papers. She wanted this over.
Right now the thought of losing the ranch didn’t seem so overpowering. Standing here in the dark, trying to gauge what T.D. would do next, she had a whole different set of priorities. She wanted to live. Angus had made her realize there were more important things than a piece of land or a herd of cattle. There could be a life after T.D., after losing her mother and father, after even losing the ranch.
Not that she was ready for that life. Not that Angus might even be in it. But he’d made her see that her mistake in marrying T.D. wasn’t the end of the world. It was only the end of this life. She could put this all behind her without knowing what the future held for her—just that she had one.
If she lived past tonight.
Waiting in the dark, the night getting colder, she regretted her own stubbornness. She should have sold her cattle, taken a loss and put the ranch up for sale. She’d put not just her life in jeopardy. Now Angus, Brick and Ella along with Max were in danger because she was so damned determined to get the herd to summer range.
As much as she hated to admit it, she’d done it not just out of stubbornness. She’d wanted to show T.D. that he wasn’t going to run her life, let alone ruin it. Her stubborn pride could get them all killed. She couldn’t bear the thought. Angus, Brick and Ella had answered her ad because Dana and Jinx’s mother had been close. They should never have had to come all this way. None of them should be on this mountainside right now knowing there was a madman out there in the pines set on vengeance.
Another horse whinnied from deep in the pines above her on the mountain. She heard a branch snap under a horse’s hoof. They were moving more slowly than she’d expected. Did they expect a trap?
She pulled the weapon at her hip, hoping she wouldn’t have to use it. The plan had been to cause enough confusion to drive them back—if not subdue any who fell into their traps. By cutting down their numbers, it would make T.D. think twice. At least that was the hope. She knew he was basically a coward. He needed his two close friends to bolster his courage—that and alcohol.
Unfortunately, he had them and two more men who would follow his orders if he offered them the right incentives.
The sound of the riders grew closer. She could hear the creak of saddle leather, the brush of tree boughs and whisper of high grass against the horses’ legs as their riders kept coming.
Jinx found herself holding her breath. She knew how quickly everything could go south. Behind her, the cattle lowed softly. If she was right, the approaching riders would begin firing their weapons and yelling as they tried to stampede the herd back toward the camp.
And if she was wrong?
ANGUS FELT THE hair rise on the back of his neck as he realized the riders had spread out and at least one would soon be almost on top of him. Even in the pitch blackness of the spring night, he waited for the shapes to materialize out of the dark.
The trick, he knew, was to stay calm until it was time to attack. The booby traps were spring-loaded. All a horse had to do was trip the rope hidden in the tall green grass and all hell would break loose. Jinx could handle this, he told himself. At the same time he was reminded that all of this was about her.
T.D. had ridden all the way up here with his friends to cause her trouble. He wanted to torment her. To make her pay for not taking him back. To hurt her.
And that was what scared Angus the most. If T.D. got his hands on her, how far would the man go?
He couldn’t see her through the trees, but he knew she was still there. He hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, still didn’t.
A swishing sound off to his left on the mountainside was followed by a cry of pain. He
