Page 2 of The Bastard Heir (The Gilded West #2)

“In a way, he has made her see reason,” Prudie said. “She’s not saying you can’t go. Merely that you need to have a husband. And I suspect your mother wanted to send you a letter so you’d have a little time to come to terms with it before seeing her later this week.”

Caroline leaned back against the plush seat and folded her arms over her chest. “It feels a lot like extortion. What husband is going to be happy to marry me and then lose me to medical school come autumn? He’ll be far more likely to forbid me to go.

For that matter, I don’t even know of anyone I’d want to marry.

I can’t even fathom the ‘young man’ she has in mind.

So you see, this is all an attempt to keep me from going. ”

Aunt Prudie clicked her tongue and ran her hand over Caroline’s shoulder.

“We’ll figure out something. Remember, your father is very much on your side in this.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the trip as we’d planned.

It’s your first time out West and you’re missing how beautiful it is.

Just look at those mountains. Have you ever seen anything so green in your life? ”

Caroline glanced back toward the window.

The sun was just starting to set, painting the mountains in the distance with a burnished glow, setting off the deep green of the shadows.

“I’m sorry I’m being so gloomy.” Aunt Prudie was right.

There was no reason to allow her troubles at home to interfere with their adventure.

“Don’t be sorry, child. No one wants a marriage forced on them.” The haunted look in her eye made Caroline think that Prudie knew better than most. Her aunt’s marriage hadn’t been the happiest. “I make you this promise right now. You’ll go to medical school come September. I’ll see to it myself.”

Caroline smiled and gave the woman a hug. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you for putting up with me.”

“Yes, you’re a terrible burden,” Aunt Prudie teased. “Now, go to the dining car and fetch me another scone before they put them away for the night. Fetch your father back, too. He’s probably fallen asleep over the newspaper again.”

Laughing, Caroline rose and paused at the door of their private compartment to look back at her aunt.

When her mother hadn’t understood her ambitions, her father’s sister had.

People said that she favored the woman more than her own mother.

They both possessed the same blond hair and blue eyes that ran in her father’s side of the family.

Aunt Prudie was like her second mother. This trip out West for a family wedding was supposed to be their last holiday together before Caroline went to school and then—hopefully—began taking on more patients in her father’s practice or possibly even the hospital.

She’d be foolish to allow a letter to ruin it.

She unlatched the door and made sure it clicked shut behind her before making her way down the dimly lit hallway to the next car.

Her low heels barely made a sound on the dark red carpet.

The dining car was four cars ahead, but she didn’t mind the walk after being cooped up in that compartment all afternoon.

The sway of the train was making her tired, and she stifled a yawn as she jiggled the handle of the stubborn door that led to the next car.

The door flew open unexpectedly, pushing her backward into the paneled wall and knocking her off balance.

A bearded man with a crazed look in his eye nearly ran her over in his haste to come inside.

She tried to jump back out of his way, but he grabbed her.

Before she realized his intention, he’d covered her mouth with his large hand and was pulling her awkwardly with him on his way down the hallway.

She clawed at his arm and kicked her feet out, trying to find some purchase on the floor or wall, but he was abnormally strong, or at least, that’s how it felt.

She’d never actually been manhandled before.

The man kept looking back over his shoulder, and finally she looked that way, too. Two men had just made their way through the door.

“Hell,” the bigger one said when he saw her.

“Let her go, Bennett,” the calmer one spoke. “This is between us.” His hat was pulled too low for her to see his face, but he spoke with an accent, the vowels elongated a bit.

The man—Bennett, apparently—didn’t slow down at all.

He tightened his hand when she tried to scream and pulled her flush against his chest. Something cold jammed against her neck, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell if it was a knife or a gun.

She held her breath, so she wouldn’t move and find out.

Her entire body had gone cold, like she’d stepped outside in December without her coat, and she realized it was best not to scream so she wouldn’t draw Aunt Prudie from her compartment.

She glanced to the door of her aunt’s compartment, willing the woman to stay inside

Please don’t let Aunt Prudie open the door. The plea repeated itself in her mind as he kept walking backward, pulling her along with him. The two men kept walking toward them very slowly. For all she knew they were bad men, too, but right now they were the only potential saviors she had.

Before she realized what had happened, Bennett twisted her around so that she was pressed flush against the door leading to the caboose.

“Open the damn door.” He spoke the words rough, yet low, against her hair, and she heard the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked.

She glanced over to see the glint of metal in the lamplight as he trained the gun on the men.

“Do it!” he said in an even rougher voice.

Caroline was too terrified to do anything other than what he ordered and struggled to keep a hold on the handle.

Between her sweating palms, the swaying of the train and the slightly rusted metal, she had a difficult time getting the handle to turn.

When she finally did, she pushed the door open only to feel the cool, outside air rushing past her.

There was no railing, nothing to keep her inside, and dizziness overcame her as the ground rushed past. Bennett grabbed her tight, and he switched their positions so that she was once again between him and the two men chasing him.

“Stay away from me, Reyes, or I’ll shoot her. Just try me if you don’t believe me.”

The calm man in front held up his hands as a sign of peace.

The big man behind him didn’t budge, he just stared at them with his dark eyes and twitching jaw.

Now that a bit of the late afternoon sunlight was filtering into the hallway through the open door, she could see the lower half of Reyes’ face.

He had a strong, clean-shaven jaw, and his skin was dark, more olive than tan.

“You won’t shoot her,” Reyes said, his deep voice still calm in the face of the madman. “There’s no need for her death.”

“Her life’s in your hands.” Bennett tightened his grip on her and started moving them backward onto the platform.

She had no idea what he intended but she didn’t intend to die today, and she didn’t intend to make any of this easy for him.

She refused to stay still and suffer whatever he planned, so she twisted and tried to loosen his hold, her hands grasping at the wood-paneled wall so that he couldn’t pull her out the door with him.

“We only want your father. Tell us where he is and you’re free to go.”

Bennett’s laughter vibrated through her chest, they were so close. “Tell that to your friend with the scar. I bet he’d like to get back at me for that.”

The big man didn’t respond except to clench his jaw even tighter and square his shoulders.

The light moved over his face and she noticed the scar.

It looked as if something had sliced clean through his skin, narrowly missing his eye, and the wound hadn’t been stitched shut properly.

The scar was too broad and jagged to have healed neatly.

Before Reyes could respond, the brakes on the train screeched as it began the long process of slowing down.

They were due to make one more stop, though she couldn’t remember the name of the town, before pulling into Helena in the morning.

Bennett planted his feet, jerking them back against the change in momentum that pulled them forward and causing them to sway dangerously toward the open door.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement.

Both men moved forward, but Bennett saw it, too.

She had no time to react before he was pushing her toward them.

Reyes reached out and caught her before she could stumble to the ground.

One arm held her tight against his chest, while the other braced against the wall, his legs planted wide to take the brunt of the impact.

She grabbed onto his broad shoulders as if her life depended on it and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting gunfire to erupt.

But it didn’t. Her savior’s arm held her tight against his chest, and the pounding of his heart was the only sound that registered.

The big one pushed her even further against Reyes as he rushed past them to try to catch Bennett.

Though she didn’t know where the man had disappeared to.

The door was open but she couldn’t see him.

Her skin prickled hot and then cold as blood whooshed in her ears.

She could’ve been killed. That wild-eyed man could’ve put a bullet through her body just as easily as he’d tossed her away.

Or, just as horrifying, he could have flung her out the open door of the train, leaving her crumpled and broken on the ground or pulled beneath the wheels.

The awareness of how easily things could have gone differently left her shaking, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.