Spinning to face the younger man, he was red faced and filled with rage. “Don’t be givin’ up hope, lad.”
“I’m not,” Dunmore murmured. “I know she’ll return.” He held a hand to his chest. “I know it, Seamus.” His gaze glowed with despair, mixed with terror. “But how will she be? What will he have done to her?” He let out a shaky breath. “My beautiful sweet Maggie at the mercy of such a man. I failed her.”
“You failed her?” Seamus asked, taking a step toward Dunmore to study him better, as though he were a foreign object. “How could you ever believe that? For the past three years, you’ve wandered all over this territory, listening for rumors and searching out information about Jacques. You’ve done everything in your power to keep her safe.”
“Ah, but in the end, it’s because of me that he was successful kidnapping her. Because I was bored and needed another book.” Dunmore hit his hand against his injured leg. “Because I was injured and unable to be the man she needed.”
Seamus swore and strode away, kicking at a rock and then hitting the side of a shed with his open palm, before striding back to Dunmore. “Nay, lad, you brought Maggie back from the shadowlands, where she was willin’ to commune with ghosts and spirits, if it meant she could have a few more moments with you.” He gripped Dunmore’s shoulder. “We have to accept we failed her and hope she can forgive us.”
“Why do you need forgiving?” Dunmore asked, taking comfort from Seamus’s grief and rage. It soothed Dunmore to know that another was nearly as out of his mind with worry as he was, although he knew all the O’Rourkes suffered as he did.
“I am not a trapper. I can’t ride out into the prairie with any hope of finding her, and I don’t know of anyone else besides Cormac who could help. I’ve sent word with everyone leavin’ town, with promise of a reward for any news of her whereabouts, but I’ve heard nothing.” He shook his head with impotent rage. “Mary says I must learn to find peace that I can’t put everything to rights.”
Dunmore made a sound of consolation, as though he understood Seamus’s plight, even if Mary might not. “That’s a damn hard thing for a man to admit.”
Seamus nodded. “Aye.” He let out a deep breath. “I need you to forgive me too, Dunmore.”
Dunmore cocked his head and stared at the older man who he admired. “Why? What more have you done?”
Seamus let out a mirthless chuckle. “Nothin’ more than the mischief I wrought this spring, separatin’ you and Maggie. I never should have extracted that promise from you. Forgive me.”
Shrugging, Dunmore stared out at their surroundings. “I forgave you the moment I woke up, with Maggie staring at me with devotion and hope. I knew then that you’d explained your part in the disaster.” He rubbed at his leg. “I would have been away just as long. I would have gone to that small mining town. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done to try to keep her safe.”
The older man stilled. “You wouldn’t have returned earlier?”
Shaking his head, Dunmore said, “No. I was always plannin’ on returnin’, after I went to that town. And I intended to tell Maggie the truth upon my arrival. I wouldn’t allow anything to keep us apart. And I refused to allow her to believe I was fickle in my love for her.”
Seamus slapped him on his shoulder. “Thank you, Dunmore. For your constancy.”
Smiling, Dunmore shook his head. “I’ve no need of your thanks. I never thought to find a woman like Maggie, and I’m not fool enough to ever let her go.”
Chapter 9
Maggie crawled to the road, uncertain if she would have the energy to stand to wave at a passing horse or stage. She ran a hand over her tattered slip and brushed at her ratty hair. At this point, she didn’t care what she looked like. She was desperate for food and to return to her family. To feel her mum’s warm embrace. To hear her da call her “Maggie, darlin’.” To see Dunmore and the special gleam in his gaze that was solely for her.
She stumbled forward, falling to her knees. Dunmore. He was her goal. No matter how much it hurt, she would do whatever to return to him. She let herself imagine being in his arms again. Imagine that he still wanted her, no matter what had happened to her. She tried to push herself up, but she had such little energy after not eating for days.
Every sound behind her made her jump and filled her with terror that Jacques was tracking her, but she knew she must attempt to find a way back to Fort Benton that didn’t call for her to walk there. She feared she wouldn’t survive that.
She pushed again, finally gaining her feet, as she heard a rumble. Hoping it was a stage, she tried to call out but instead waved her arms around. As the stagecoach rounded the corner, she toppled to the side to avoid being run over. Crying in misery, as the stage continued barreling down the road, she curled in a ball, as she had missed her chance to find a ride to Fort Benton. Would she die here, alone, under the hot Montana sun, clinging to her dreams of home and Dunmore?
When gentle hands gripped her shoulders, she shrieked and attempted to sit up.
“Glory be and praise all the saints,” Bailey sputtered, as he crossed himself. “I thought you was a ghost, and you near scared my horses to death. They’ll need extra oats to overcome their fright.”
“Mr. Bailey,” Maggie gasped. “Please help me. Please.”
He heaved her up, wrapping an arm around her, wincing when she groaned as he touched her. “Of course, Miss Maggie. I heard all about you bein’ kidnapped right out from
