Page 25 of A Forgotten Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #5)

N ick’s limbs trembled as Isaac helped him to his feet.

“You shot?” Isaac asked.

Nick couldn’t force his scorched throat to respond, so he shook his head. He let Isaac drag him to the cover of the barn as two riders raced through the yard on horseback.

The heat of the inferno radiated around him, but the farther Isaac helped him move away, the cooler the air lapping at his skin.

In the distance, a man on horseback chased another man, but another coughing fit blurred his sight.

Where was Elsie? Where was the family?

He dug his heels into the ground. “What about Elsie? The kids?”

Those few words made him double over, coughing. His shoulder pulled. Isaac hauled him up, kept them both moving.

“Drew and Ed went to the house to check on everyone. Marshal heard about the dustup in town and rode out to check on us—met us at the edge of Quade’s property.”

“Marshal O’Grady is here?”

“Just got back. And none too soon.”

Some of the tension in Nick’s neck eased. But until he saw Elsie for himself, felt her in his arms, he wouldn’t relax.

Isaac steered him toward the barn, but Nick’s eyes remained on the house. “The house?—”

“Nobody made it to the house. Clare was firing shots to keep them back when we rode up.” Pride in Isaac’s voice. “Half of them had you covered at the bunkhouse.”

Isaac leaned Nick against the barn wall, and Nick couldn’t stop from sinking to the cool ground.

Nick could still hear the ruckus of men fighting over the blaze of flames. The pounding of hoofbeats as the bad guys were rounded up.

The soot lining Nick’s lungs burned. His chest convulsed with a cough he tried to contain, but it burst out. And it wouldn’t stop.

“I’ll get you some water as soon as I can,” Isaac said, kneeling over him, his brow knit tight.

Nick sipped in air as the cough subsided. Pain coursed down every nerve in his arm.

Isaac examined him, looking for bullet wounds. “You’ve got a bad habit of getting shot at, little brother. We saw the smoke as we were heading to check out an old dugout west of Eagle Creek. You did good.”

Nick’s breath hitched. It had worked. Nick had kept the family safe.

But his smoke signal had come at a high cost of McGraw property. The bunkhouse was a total loss.

Isaac examined the old wound on Nick’s head.

Shouts echoed in the night, the words disappearing into the roar of the diminishing flames.

Not far from the house, Nick could make out a group of men being surround by his brothers and other townsmen Nick couldn’t recognize in the dim light.

One smaller form—Marshal O’Grady?—gave instructions to someone with a rope.

The man roughly tied the criminal’s hands behind his back as other lawmen followed suit.

Horses scattered across the field, but the threat appeared to be under control.

Over by the bunkhouse, shadows of people formed a bucket brigade, dousing the angry flames before the sparks reached any other building. He thought he recognized David in the distance, and the kid next to David might be Eli.

Nick searched for Elsie but couldn’t see her in the flickering light. He hoisted himself up, but his head rushed, and he caught himself against the barn wall.

Isaac sidled next to him and supported him with an arm around his torso. “Let’s get you inside.”

Nick nodded. If that was where Elsie was, then he wanted to be there too.

Together, Isaac and Nick made their way to the house, passing the group of men whose tin stars glinted in the firelight as they surrounded the scowling bandits.

Isaac slowed, taking a closer look at the men in the center. Nick wanted to count them, but his head hurt too much.

Isaac’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “Quade’s not here.”

Nick heard what Isaac wasn’t saying. If Quade wasn’t among those captured, he was still out there.

Nick’s gaze snagged on the silhouette of a man pouring another bucket onto the flames lapping up the bunkhouse.

Drew.

He wanted to go over, apologize, tell Drew he hadn’t known how else to call for help. But his feet stuck to the ground.

The destruction of the bunkhouse felt like another example of how he was still the weak link.

A lump formed in his throat.

He should at least go help with the brigade.

He started that way, but a hand clamped onto his shoulder, stopping him.

Ed. “It’s almost out. They can handle it.”

Nick’s chest squeezed as he took in the simmering posts and planks, now black. “I wish I’d had another choice.”

Ed didn’t say anything for a minute, watching the form of Rebekah step down from the porch and come toward him. “Nick, I’d rather have my wife than that old bunkhouse. You saved them all.”

A sting nipped at the back of Nick’s eyes.

Ed clapped Nick on the back, then crossed the remaining distance to meet Rebekah with a long kiss. Then they turned and watched the bunkhouse, now a heap of ash and debris, smolder.

Next to Nick, Isaac also watched, his arms crossed over his chest. Drew paced the length of the disintegrated wall, a bucket in his hand, looking for hot spots.

Memories stirred of Nick bunking in there with his brothers. Together. Before wives. Before grown-up responsibilities. Memories that weighed heavy.

How many conversations rang within those walls? The roughhousing his mom would never allow inside their home. The bunkhouse represented their family legacy. Their past.

It would never be like that again.

With a sigh, he turned back toward the house. Next to him, Isaac helped him keep his balance.

As they neared the porch, Clare ran outside and threw herself at Isaac. “I thought something had happened to you.” Her voice shook.

Nick held on to the railing for support. Where was Elsie?

She appeared in the open doorway, a gust flaring her skirt. She stared at him with a haunted look in her eyes. Until her face crumpled.

He used the railing to haul himself up the porch steps. She met him at the top.

When he opened his arm, she tucked herself into his chest.

He pressed his face into her hair. He couldn’t even care that he was getting her all sooty. She was all right.

She sucked in a trembling breath and eased out of his arms.

“Are you hurt? Did I hurt your shoulder? Your head? I just?—”

Her eyes shone with unshed tears, studying him.

She went still, and he reached up to smooth her hair behind her ears. “Nothing hurts right now. Not while you’re looking at me like that.”

Pink flushed her cheeks. She was looking at him with such vulnerability. Everything had changed over the past few days.

“Come inside. You’re cold, and you’ll catch your death.”

“You’re so bossy.”

Yet neither one of them moved. If the night had taught him anything, it was that tomorrow was never guaranteed.

“I need to talk to you?—”

“There’s something I need to say?—”

He cut off when she spoke at the same time. She ducked her head shyly and he chuckled.

He squeezed her hand. “You go first.”

A long moment passed as she seemed to gather herself. She looked up into his face. “Can we start over?”

Elsie watched emotions flicker across Nick’s face, afraid to move or even breathe. There was chaos all around.

She was aware of Isaac and Clare at the foot of the stairs, deputies loading up the bandits on horses nearby. A few men still stood around the debris, throwing buckets on hotspots. Yet it felt like she and Nick were in their own little world.

Nick was opening his mouth to respond when another voice intruded.

“Miss Atchison, what are you doing here?”

Elsie knew that voice. She became instantly aware of Nick’s hands at her waist, how close they stood. She stepped away and twisted to face the ruddy-faced man she hadn’t heard approach. What was a member of the school board doing way out here?

Her throat swelled until she could hardly force out words. “Mr. Jamison. What are you doing here?”

He stared at her suspiciously. “I volunteered as deputy. You didn’t answer my question.”

The man’s eyes snagged on Elsie’s hands, where Nick’s hand had closed around hers. Disapproval flashed in his eyes.

Nick stepped close to her side. “Ed and I brought her here for protection after she witnessed an attempted murder. The marshal was gone from town.”

The suspicion hadn’t faded. “Did you tell any of the board members your whereabouts? It is our duty to help protect your reputation.” His gaze zeroed in on their clasped hands. “Or perhaps your intention isn’t to teach next year.”

It was clear from his words he meant something else entirely.

“School’s on break,” Nick said tightly. “Elsie can go where she likes.”

The man’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “Certainly, but as you know, it is important that our teacher’s reputation is above reproach. Rumors could spread with her so far from town.”

Nick lifted his chin in a challenge. “Are you implying something, Mr. Jamison?”

Elsie felt a tremor go through Nick, lines of exhaustion around his eyes and mouth. He hadn’t slept all night. He needed rest, but he wasn’t backing down.

“You two go inside.” Marshal Danna O’Grady shooed them as she climbed the porch steps.

Relief splashed over Elsie, but it was short-lived as Nick ushered her inside, Danna following.

Elsie’s cheeks felt hot compared to the cold outside. Nick still shivered.

On shaky legs, Elsie hurried to the quilt rack in the corner of the room. “I’ll get a quilt.”

She passed Ed and Rebekah talking to Drew in low tones. Kaitlyn bustled in the kitchen, Tillie not leaving her side as the scent of coffee wafted through the kitchen door.

Elsie was thankful for a moment to gather her strength with her back turned to the bustling room.

Jamison being here was a disaster. She had hugged Nick—not in a platonic way. Jamison’s words about not teaching next year had been a clear allusion to her marrying Nick—and losing her position because of it.

Merritt had given up the job, had known Calvin wouldn’t want a married teacher. But Elsie wanted to teach. That’s why she’d put off Arnold’s suit.

Arnold!