Page 18 of A Steadfast Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #2)

W here’s Kaitlyn? Is she safe?

Drew glanced around the overfull jail. Two hours in the stone room with iron bars had caused a chill to settle into his soul. Judging by the smell, Quade’s men had spent a few hours in the saloon this morning. At least the lockup had two cells, so he and his brothers didn’t have to share with the Diamond Q cowhands. Too bad he could still see them through the bars that separated the cells.

Conchas snickered. “McGraw ain’t much of a man iffen he had to beat a woman to get her to marry him.”

Drew glared at Conchas, but the cowhand just smirked.

Nick rested a red-knuckled hand on Drew’s arm. “Ignore him.”

Drew rose to pace the area at the front of his cell. Had Barclay heard his shouted request? Had he understood the threat Michael posed? Or was Kaitlyn even now in her brother’s hands?

Six steps. Turn. Six steps. Turn.

Nick stood in his path. “She’s okay, Drew. Come, sit down.”

Ed scooted to the end of the cot so there’d be room for all three of them. Nick moved that way, limping from a kick he’d received in the brawl. Blood oozed from a cut on Ed’s forehead.

Some job Drew had done protecting his brothers. His mother would be ashamed of him.

He sat in the space his brothers made for him. His ribs ached, as did his lower back. That punch in his kidney had packed a wallop.

“Course he couldn’t protect his pretty little wife either. Worthless, he is.”

“Shut up, Riley. Riling him up will only keep us here longer, and I want a drink.”

Drew rose from the cot and moved to the front of his cell.

Six steps. Turn.

Barclay had Kaitlyn. Of course he did. And Kaitlyn had the kids. She wouldn’t leave them.

Six steps. Turn.

Nick leaned toward Ed. “Odd that Quade’s men left the saloon just as Michael appeared.”

Ed nodded. “Never known those boys to leave a watering hole early.”

Drew grimaced. He’d been thinking the same thing but had hoped he was just being paranoid. Not likely, if his brothers thought so too.

Six steps. Turn.

Ed rested his head against the stone wall behind him. “Hope that deputy gets here soon.”

Drew grunted his agreement. It had been long enough already. Would the deputy bring Kaitlyn with him? His heart was torn. He longed to see her, but he didn’t want her to see him here.

Six steps. Turn.

The door opened, and Deputy Wallace entered, his smooth face looking like it didn’t need a razor more than once a week. If that. How had Quade arranged for Danna and Jack to be called out of town? Drew shook his head. He’d probably never know.

Quade followed Wallace through the door, a smirk matching the gleam of satisfaction in his eyes as he glanced around.

Drew squared his shoulders and straightened to his full height. What was Quade doing here? And why hadn’t Wallace brought Kaitlyn?

“Where’s my wife?”

“On the train to St. Louis.” Quade’s smirk grew more intense.

Couldn’t Wallace hear the man’s perverse glee?

Drew inhaled and released the breath slowly.

Nick stepped beside him. “My brother wouldn’t trust a word you said, Quade.”

True, he shouldn’t. And yet that glee had a source.

Quade adopted a more serious expression and stepped into the deputy’s line of sight. “You tell him, Wallace.”

“She caught the train.”

Drew’s knees weakened. He grabbed the bars in front of him. The deputy backed up a step, and his hand dropped to his gun. “Don’t go getting riled up. It was her choice.”

“Was someone with her? A blond man?”

“Yes.”

Rough areas of the bar bit into his palms. “You’ve got to let me out of here. Her brother’s a no-good rotten scoundrel?—”

Wallace dropped his hand to his pistol. “Calm down, McGraw. I questioned both of them. Thoroughly. She made it quite clear she was going of her own volition.”

Drew’s blood ran cold. She’d gone willingly? He shook his head. He’d seen the terror on her face when Michael cornered her.

“Sounds like your city peacock didn’t take to country ways.” Conchas chuckled. “Guess you weren’t man enough to win or keep her, either one.”

“Shut up,” Ed muttered.

Nick shook his head. “She wouldn’t have agreed, not unless he’d threatened her. Was he holding a gun on her?”

The deputy glared at Nick. “You think I didn’t think of that?”

“I think you’re holding us in here while the real crook gets away.” A muscle ticked in Nick’s jaw. “She’d never go with him. Never.”

The deputy’s glare intensified. “I questioned them separately. She sent a message to McGraw. Wanted me to tell you that the marriage was a mistake and she wished she’d never done it.”

Drew sagged against the bars, his knees refusing to hold him. The words hit him like Crazy Cow’s hooves, knocked the breath out of him. If the kid had questioned them separately, Michael couldn’t have threatened her into leaving.

Mistake .

The word bounced around inside his head, stinging like nettles every place it landed.

“I need to see about getting my boys out of here.” Quade’s voice rubbed salt into every nettle sting. “They were only trying to help that young lady, after all.”

Ed joined Nick and Drew at the wall of bars. Too close. He couldn’t breathe. Drew stepped back and sat on the cot, needing the small separation from his hovering brothers.

“When is Danna getting back?”

Ed’s question sounded as if it came from a thousand miles away. Drew shook his head, trying to drown out that word. Mistake. It echoed in his mind. He’d trusted another city woman and brought his brothers to this jail cell.

Wallace turned to Ed. “I don’t know.” The deputy’s tone was sharp. He faced Quade. “I have witnesses that say McGraw threw the first punch, that he and his brothers instigated the brawl.”

Drew’s eyes slid closed. Of course they had. Because Michael had been threatening Kaitlyn, and they would always protect their own.

Or one they thought of as their own.

Images flashed through his mind. He hadn’t had a clear view of her. Had she really been struggling?

Wallace’s voice tugged him back to the present. “But your men outnumbered them. They chose to continue throwing punches when restraining the McGraws would have been sufficient.”

Quade nodded. “I understand. If you have to keep them all here until Danna gets back, I can live with that.”

“Boss!” Conchas moved forward in his own cell. “You didn’t say nuttin’—”

“Shut it, Riley. You made your bed.” Quade tossed a gloating look toward the McGraws, then faced Wallace. “There’s no urgent work on my spread. No major deadline. Be a shame if there was over at the McGraw place.”

Ed shook the cell bars. “You low-down skunk.”

Quade slipped out the front door.

The nettle stings in Drew’s chest became raw burns. Ed was going to lose his homestead. They wouldn’t be out of this cell in time to meet the deadline.

And Quade had been a part of it all.

Nick sat beside him and laid a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “Isaac is still there. He can finish it. There’s not much left.”

Drew shook his head. “You think Isaac will leave us here while he works on the cabin? When we don’t come home, he’ll come looking for us.”

Nick shook his hand back and forth. Drew nodded. He thought it was about a fifty-fifty chance as well.

Conchas moved toward the bars separating the two cells and grinned. “Be a right shame for a half-built house to catch fire,” he muttered.

Ed launched himself toward the cowhand, who snickered as he stepped back out of reach.

“Get back from those bars, McGraw,” the deputy roared.

Nick turned to Drew, his face pale. “If Kaitlyn’s gone, where are the kids?”

* * *

How did I end up here?

Kaitlyn shifted in her seat next to Michael. This train was taking her to prison. No one was going to save her, not even herself. Not at the price of the children.

The young boy in the seat across the aisle from them was restless after a couple of hours on the train. He stepped into the aisle and bumped into Michael. Her brother shoved him back a step.

The boy ran to his mother, who held him close while she glared at Michael.

Kaitlyn had held Tillie like that. The night Kaitlyn had packed her trunk, Tillie had cried, not wanting Kaitlyn to leave. Would she remember Kaitlyn telling her that no matter what, it wasn’t her fault? She hoped so.

Her brother knew no limits, and neither did Quade. Michael had thanked the rancher for locating his wayward sister. The men had shaken hands before Quade had sneered at her. His words still echoed in her ears and bounced around her chest.

You’d best do what your brother says , he’d said. Be a shame for something to happen to the McGraw kids.

How had she been so mistaken in her first impression of the man? She hadn’t wanted to believe Drew and his brothers were right, but she’d been wrong. So very wrong.

The pain of Michael’s grip was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. She’d lied to the deputy at the train station. What’s more, she’d been cruel. Used the one word guaranteed to push Drew away.

Mistake. The word his ex-wife had used.

But how could she have done otherwise? Michael wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a child if it meant getting what he wanted. Quade probably wouldn’t either. So she’d done the only thing she could think of to guarantee Drew wouldn’t follow her. He had to stay and protect the children.

And she had to protect him.

Lord, who’s going to protect me?

Kaitlyn shifted on the hard train bench. Michael intentionally took up more room so he could box her in. She ignored him to look out the window at the countryside streaming by. Smoke made the image waver. Or was that tears?

The steady rocking of the train car felt comforting while seated, but she knew from her trip west that it trapped her nearly as much as her brother’s large body. If she should stand to escape, her balance would be precarious at best.

Of course, Michael’s would be as well. She glanced around the car. There were only a few other passengers. Could she get to them before Michael drew his gun? Most of the men this far west were armed. Would any of them help her?

A man sat three rows behind her. She tried to catch his eye, but his expression hardened and he looked away.

Everyone looked away.

Kaitlyn turned back to the window. Open land rushed by, mocking her prison.

She blinked rapidly. She dared not show weakness.

“Tickets?”

She suppressed a start at the voice so close to her shoulder. Maybe Michael hadn’t felt the slight movement. He had to know she was on edge, but no need to give him more of an upper hand.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out two slips of paper, making sure she could see the gun tucked into his pants.

As if she needed reminding.

The conductor left. Michael leaned close. “Good girl,” he murmured, his breath humid against her cheek.

She swallowed hard and tried to move closer to the wall, but there was no space, no way to get away from him. Even the few inches she gained, he erased by moving closer.

Kaitlyn leaned against the window next to her. She was right back where she’d started. When would she learn? Nothing stopped her brother. Not distance, not laws, not even marriage vows. She’d gambled, and she’d lost.

Except this time she’d lost more than herself. She’d lost her family.

She let herself drift into memories of the ranch. Of David after riding Phantom. Jo refusing to do penmanship. Tillie asking if Kaitlyn’s shoes were made of glass.

And Drew. Always Drew.

“Thought she could get the best of me.”

She didn’t allow Michael’s mutters to pull her from her dreams. At least she’d known happiness for a little while. She could guarantee she never would again. Her brother would see to that.