“I know she’s been with you,” T.D. said, anger marring his handsome face. “Just the thought of you and her...” Jinx let out a cry as T.D. tightened his hold on her.
Angus started to take a step forward, but T.D. quickly said, “Don’t do it. I’ll kill her. You know I will. If I can’t have her, then no one can, especially you.”
He could tell that Jinx was having trouble breathing. “You don’t want to go to prison.”
T.D. laughed. “I’ve been headed there my whole life. The only thing good I ever had was Jinx. And now that’s gone.” He pressed the pistol barrel harder to her temple, making her wince. “This is all your fault, Jinx. You only have yourself to blame.”
The air filled with a sound of a gunshot report.
Chapter Fifteen
Angus started at the sound. He had no idea where the shot had come from—just that it had happened fast. Suddenly Jinx was on the ground and T.D. was standing over her splattered with blood. Angus was instantly moving, grabbing up his gun from the ground as he rushed toward T.D.
Another shot filled the air, biting the bark of a tree next to T.D. as the man turned and ran into the pines. Angus launched himself down the hill to cover Jinx from the gunfire. He still wasn’t sure where the shots were coming from or who was firing them. He shielded Jinx, terrified that she was already badly injured by the first gunshot.
“Jinx!” he cried as he hurriedly removed the gag from her mouth. “Jinx?” As the gunfire stopped, he heard someone take off on horseback. Pulling his pocketknife, he cut her wrists free and turned her onto her back to lower her to the soft ground.
Her eyes were open. But like T.D.’s, her face was splattered with blood to the extent that he couldn’t tell where she’d been hit.
“Angus,” she said, her lips curving into a smile before her eyes closed.
“Jinx, don’t leave me. Jinx?” He moved closer. In the growing light of day, he could see where a bullet had grazed her temple. He checked her pulse. It was strong. She didn’t seem to have any other injuries, he realized with relief. He could hear a helicopter approaching. Closer, he heard someone moving through the tall grass and trees toward him.
He spun around, pistol ready, and then relaxed. “Max, Jinx has been hit.”
Max stumbled up to them and dropped to his knees next to her. Jinx opened her eyes. “Max.” The older man took her hand as her gaze shifted to Angus. “T.D.?”
“He got away,” he said.
“No,” both Max and Jinx said almost in unison.
“A helicopter will be here in just a minute,” Max said. “I’ll stay with Jinx. Don’t let T.D. get away.”
Angus saw the worry in the older man’s eyes. Unless T.D. was stopped, Jinx would never be safe. He felt torn. He didn’t want to leave her, but he damned sure didn’t want T.D. to get away.
“Go,” Max urged him. “She’ll be all right. I’ll stay with her and make sure of that.”
Swearing, Angus took off down the mountain, following the blood trail T.D. was leaving as the sun topped the mountain and fingered its way through the pines. T.D. hadn’t come at them as they’d both anticipated. Instead, he’d sent his flunkies in while he circled around to come up the back way. He’d never planned to stampede the herd. The man had only been after Jinx, letting the others be the diversion he needed.
The bad feeling Angus had had since they’d taken this job had now settled in his bones. He had to find T.D., if it was the last thing he did. As he looked into the dark shadows of the pines, he knew it could very well be just that.
T.D. RAN, slumped over from the pain. He still couldn’t believe that Jinx had stabbed him. But that was the least of his worries. He was bleeding from a gunshot wound to his upper chest and because of that, he was leaving a trail. Worse, he knew someone was behind him coming after him—just as he knew who it would be. Jinx’s wrangler.
The thought turned his stomach. Earlier, he’d had a nice drunk going. He’d felt cocky and self-assured. He’d outsmarted his so-smart wife. He’d had her in his clutches.
Now he was running scared. He could just hear his father telling him how he’d really screwed up his life good this time. He was looking at jail. Maybe even prison. Why hadn’t he let it go? Why hadn’t he let Jinx go? But he knew the answer. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
But following her up on this mountain? It had been as stupid as Travis had said. He blamed his pride. Everyone in the county knew that Jinx had kicked him out. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t stand looking like a beaten dog with his tail between his legs. He couldn’t just let her get away with that.
Now as he stumbled through the pines feeling sick to his stomach and scared, he didn’t want to be that man anymore. He wanted desperately to be different, but he had no idea how to make that happen. He felt as if he’d been forced into his bad behavior his whole life. First, by his father’s taunts. Later, by the knowledge that he wasn’t any good. He wasn’t good enough, especially for Jinx. It was why he drank. The more he drank, the worse things got, but he hadn’t been able to stop. He’d never been able to stop himself on any of it. For the life of him, he couldn’t just let things alone.
Like now. He kept running instead of doing
