"Mr. Belton, what are you doing so far from town?" She spoke first, hoping her voice didn"t betray her trepidation. "I thought you would have gone back to Topeka by now."
"I had intended to, but I wanted to talk with you about buying your farm."
I don"t have any plans to sell."
"This is an awfully big place for one woman to run alone." He waved his hand in a half circle, including more land than Fern owned. "Besides, I heard you"re getting married and moving to Boston."
"I"m not sure about that, either."
He didn"t look like a murderer, or a rapist. He looked like a sober, middle-cla.s.s, hard-working businessman. No one would ever believe he had tried to rape her. And with Troy dead, there was no one to support her accusation. They wouldn"t believe he had murdered Troy, either. She had absolutely no proof. Neither did Madison.
But she knew he"d done it. She could feel it.
"If you"re not doing anything right now, I"d appreciate your showing me anything you might consider selling."
Fern started to tell him to come back another day, but what if, in trying to talk her into selling, he followed her home? Rose and her babies lay helpless in the farmhouse. Fern had to get him as far away as possible. The longer she kept him busy, the closer to the time George and Madison would come looking for Rose. And they would come. They would know Rose wouldn"t chance such a trip unless there was grave danger.
"What kind of land did you have in mind?" she asked.
"Homesteads for farmers. Ranchers won"t pay for grazing land. They use government gra.s.s, then move farther west when things get crowded. But homesteaders will pay well for anything, even marginal farmland. How about the old Connor place?"
Fern didn"t want to go to the Connor place. It had too many unpleasant memories and was too far away. However, it was about as far away from Rose as Fern could get and still be on her own land.
She tried to decide if Belton was acting unusualnervous, tense, watchful, furtiveanything that might help her guess how much he knew. But he seemed perfectly normal. She wouldn"t have acted any differently if she"d been in his shoes.
She always carried a rifle in her scabbard, but even though Belton wasn"t wearing a gun, she couldn"t relax. Like Madison, he wore city clothes. She couldn"t tell what he might have in his pockets.
Belton kept up a steady conversation as they rode, asking about the soil, water, gra.s.s, the kinds of crops that grew best, all the kinds of questions a land agent would ask. By the time they drew up before the Connor home place, Fern had begun to wonder if Sam Belton even remembered he had tried to rape her eight years ago.
"The house seems to be in pretty good condition," he said. "Looks like a family could move in right now."
"The roof leaks. See for yourself."
Sam smiled uneasily. "This isn"t going to make you think very well of my courage, but I don"t like going into dark places. One never knows what may be lurking in the corner."
"There"s nothing in that soddy," Fern said, trying not to show her scorn. "I"ve been inside a dozen times. Even at night."
"I"m sure you"re right, but would you mind sticking your head inside just to make sure?"
Fern almost snorted in contempt. He may have been a danger to a young girl eight years ago, but she had nothing to fear from him now. He was a coward. Madison hadn"t been in Abilene twenty-four hours when he walked into that soddy without a second thought.
But even as she gathered her muscles and shifted her weight preparing to dismount, some instinct warned Fern to stay where she was. Maybe Belton was acting too much like a coward. She couldn"t be sure, but as long as she remained in the saddle, she had the advantage of her rifle and a speedy getaway.
"I don"t need to look," she said. "There"s never anything inside."
"Nevertheless, I think I"ll carry a weapon," Belton said, dismounting with riding crop in hand. "A small protection but better than nothing."
Fern remained alert. "Don"t take too long. It"s getting late, and it"s a long ride back to town."
Fern could hardly believe her eyes when Belton paused to roll up his pant legs so they wouldn"t get dirty. Why had she ever been afraid of him?
"I didn"t know you still had buffalo," Belton said as he stood up.
"We don"t. I haven"t seen any in years."
"You"ve got some now," Belton said, pointing, "a whole herd of them."
Turning her gaze, Fern spied three buffalo lumbering up an incline. "They probably wandered off from the herds in western Kansas," she said. "They"
She never finished her sentence. While she was turned toward the buffalo, Belton gave her pony a vicious jab in the belly with the but of his riding crop. Squealing in pain, the pony bucked, rising high in the air and twisting his body like a whiplash. Fern, caught unaware and turned in the saddle, was thrown off.
Even as she flew through the air, Fern realized what Belton had done. Landing on her hands and knees, she rolled over in the gra.s.s. She scrambled to her feet, but Belton was on her before she could stand up. Fern had never been in a fight, but she"d seen several. Being used to doing a man"s work, she felt certain she could overpower him. But the moment Fern felt her arm tense against his, she knew Belton was as strong as an ox. And her weeks out of the saddle had caused her muscles to weaken. In a contest of strength, she would lose.
Feinting to the side, Fern attempted to break away from Belton. Not being on her feet, she was too slow. Belton grabbed her leg and threw her off balance. Fern rolled to one side, scrambling frantically to get her feet under her, but Belton jumped on her back, and both of them went down on the ground.
Then Fern got angry.
This man had already ruined eight years of her life. Now he wanted to kill her and deprive her of the rest. She wouldn"t let him.
Calling on all her strength, Fern gathered her hands and knees under her. Then pushing with all her might, she rolled over, catching Belton between herself and the ground. He gave a satisfying grunt as her weight smashed the air out of his lungs, but his grip remained unbroken.
Using her elbow, Fern jabbed him in the stomach as hard as she could. Before he could recover, she used her weight to knock the air out of him once more. That broke his hold, and Fern scrambled to her feet.
"Only a coward attacks a woman," Fern said, and drove her fist into his jaw.
Belton collapsed on the ground.
"Now get off my land."
Fern walked over to her horse and gathered up the reins. Obviously still hurting from Belton"s jab, the animal didn"t want her to mount him. He danced in a circle around her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Belton come to his knees. She turned in time to see him throw the rock but too late to get out of its way.
They came out of the night like the four hors.e.m.e.n of the Apocalypse, sparks flying from the hooves of their powerful steeds, their faces set in grim resolve, their eyes cold with rage. They did not carry the sword and shield of conquest, but death rode on their shoulders with vengeance as a companion.
It had been ten years since Madison had ridden with his brothers. Time and fate had conspired to separate them by rivers of life whose turbulence they could not tame, but on this night their differences were forgotten. They rode with one mind, a common goal, a single fierce and deadly determination to defend the women they had chosen as their own.
It was the same single-mindedness that had defied the rustlers and bandits of Texas, the same will to survive that had enabled them to endure a childhood that would have left weaker men crippled and useless.
And now it was focused on Sam Belton.
"Do you think he might be holding them inside the house?" Hen asked as they thundered up to the farmhouse.
"Fern would never let him get inside," Madison said.
George vaulted from his horse ahead of his brothers. He exploded through the door with such force he broke one of the hinges. Madison followed hard on his heels.
"For goodness sakes, George, don"t you know how to enter a room?" Rose asked. A baby"s soft cry filled the air. It was immediately joined by a second. "Now you"ve waked your daughters."
"D-daughters?" George stammered. He crossed the room in three strides and, apparently beyond speech, looked down at his family.
Not seeing Fern, Madison began to check the other rooms.
"By d.a.m.n, you swore you"d have a girl," Hen said. He had come through a back window. "But I never expected you"d go and have two of them. What are we going to do with that many females around?"
"You"d better get used to it," Rose said. "Who"s to say Fern won"t present Madison with twin girls within the year?"
"Where"s Fern?" Madison asked, puzzled at Fern"s absence.
"She went to send one of the men for the doctor," Rose said, recalled from her preoccupation with her daughters. "She should have been back by now." The beatific smile disappeared and worry creased her brow. She turned to look at Madison. "She knows who killed Troy.""
"It was Sam Belton, wasn"t it?" Madison asked.
"How did you know?" Rose asked in surprise. "Never mind, you can tell me later. I came to warn her Belton meant to come see her about selling the farm. But my labor started, and I had the babies. Afterwards she went to send for the doctor. I"m worried she may have run into Belton on the trail."
Madison felt as though the earth moved. The hate and contempt he had carried in his heart for Fern"s a.s.sailant coalesced into a terrible need to kill, a need to kill Sam Belton.
"I"m going after her," Madison said.
"We"re going with you."
"Not you, George. You stay with Rose. Someone has to stay," Madison said, when George looked uncertain. "Besides, three of us ought to be enough for one man."
"Come meet your daughters, George," Rose said, losing interest in her in-laws. "We"ve been waiting for you all afternoon."
George drew closer and knelt down beside the bed.
"This is Aurelia," Rose said, indicating the baby in her right arm. "She"s the older. She"s named after your mother. And this is Juliette," Rose said, turning to the other twin. "She"s named after your sister."
The brothers tiptoed outside.
Then Madison told them about the time Sam Belton tried to rape Fern.
"But that doesn"t explain why he killed Sproull and tried to pin it on me," Hen said.
"Troy had to be blackmailing him," Madison explained.
"So?" Hen prompted.
"So Belton had to get rid of him, but he needed a scapegoat. When you and Troy got into that fight, he had one."
"And I spent three weeks in that miserable jail. Come on," Hen said, spurring his mount into an easy gallop. "I"ve got a debt to repay."
"She left here more than an hour ago," Reed told them. "Pike left pretty soon after that. I expect the doctor will be at the house about now."
"Where did she go when she left here?" Madison asked.
"Back to the house," Reed told the brothers. "She said she couldn"t leave Mrs. Randolph and the babies for long."
"Something"s happened," Madison said. "We"ll have to separate and look for her."
"I can search along the trail to town," Jeff offered. "At least I won"t get lost."
"I can search to the south," Hen said. "I had plenty of opportunity to study the country the night Belton killed Troy Sproull."
"I"m going toward the Connor place," Madison said. I know it sounds crazy, but I"ve got the strangest feeling that if something went wrong, that"s where she"d go. If you don"t find her, meet me back at the house in two hours and we"ll decide what to do next."
But Madison hoped they wouldn"t have to do that. If something was wrong, every minute was crucial. Two hours might be too late.
Even only half conscious, Fern was aware of a terrible pain in the side of her head. She tried to raise her hand to investigate the cause of the pain, but she couldn"t move her arm. She couldn"t move anything.
Fern opened her eyes to find herself tied to the bed. Sam Belton stood at the window. He had wiped one pane clear so he could see any horseman who approached the soddy. Fern"s groan of pain attracted his attention.
"You didn"t stay out very long," he said.
"Why did you attack me?" she asked. "What are you going to do?"
"You know who I am."
"You"re Sam Belton," Fern said, trying desperately to think. "I saw you at the McCoys" party."
"That wasn"t the first time we met."
"I saw you get off the train the night Madison Randolph arrived," she said.
"There was another time, eight years ago. I knew the moment you saw me at the party."
So it was useless to try to pretend she still didn"t know he had tried to rape her. Even if she hadn"t remembered, he wouldn"t be able to let her go now. "I didn"t," Fern said.
"Maybe not, but you"ve remembered since then. I saw it in your eyes tonight."
So she hadn"t been able to control her features. If only he hadn"t surprised her.
"Why did you kill Troy? Was he blackmailing you?"
"The b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Belton exploded. "My father died a couple of years ago and left me a lot of land. I should have stayed in Chicago and sold everything, but I thought I"d be safe in Topeka. I never planned to come near Abilene. Then a few months ago I stumbled into Troy. He was drunk, but he recognized me. By that time I"d made a place for myself, built a reputation as a solid citizen. But he didn"t want to expose me. He just wanted a bottomless source of money for as long as he lived. The job selling farmland was just a cover so he could blackmail me. He never did a lick of work."
"So you killed him. Why did you blame it on Hen?"
"If I could set the town against the Texans, it would kill the cattle market. Without Texas fever, my land would double and triple in value."
"That"s what I thought," Fern said.
"You"re as intelligent as you are beautiful. I can understand why Madison Randolph wants to make you his mistress."
"p.i.s.s and vinegar!" Fern exclaimed. "He wants to marry me."
"Maybe he does," Belton said, looking at Fern more closely, "but it"s too late now. He should have taken you to Boston before that party."
"What are you going to do?"