Sample

Wyoming Territory, Spring 1876

Dewdrops glistened like sharply cut jewels as the first welcoming rays of sunlight fell in thin slices across the forest floor. Meadowlarks fluttering through the dark canopy overhead trilled a joyful reveille. In the streambed, water flowed like liquid velvet over polished stones.

Jade Mackenzie crouched at the stream's edge. A wide rock behind her afforded ample privacy while she washed, her fingertips numbing as they dangled in the clear water. She filled her lungs with fresh pine-scented air and shivered at the promise of sunshine.

Tipping back her head, she gazed at a bird preening on a wet branch above her. The creature startled into flight, and the resulting icy shower robbed Jade of breath and the ability to scream. She dropped to her bottom, hugging her woolen shirt to her body. Spitting water and a breathless string of unladylike oaths, she scrambled to her feet, sluicing the wetness from brown-corded trousers that had been soothingly warm only moments ago. She picked up her Arlen and Thurber pepperbox laying on the ground just a few feet away.

A shot rent the crisp morning air. Jade jumped like a jerked puppet. She stared in shocked bewilderment at the unfired gun in her hand. Then the sound of a man's voice, unfamiliar and raised in anger, sent her diving for cover behind the rock.

"And keep yer hand away from that gun!"

Jade released the little pistol and put both hands behind her head. Blood pounded in her ears. She lay still as a corpse, face down, her nose pressed into the damp, spongy earth.

"Now give me yer money."

Before she could instruct her vocal chords to perform, she heard Ethan respond, "I don't have much." Fresh panic followed a whimper of relief when Jade realized she was in no imminent danger, but her companion had to be right in the midst of it.

She peeked over the crest of the rock. Two armed men wearing ragged clothing and dark, unkempt beards stood near the campfire. Jade's sharp intake of breath went unheard as Ethan pulled out a wad of crumpled bills and tossed the money on the ground.

"That all ya got?" one of the outlaws demanded.

"That's it."

"This ain't hardly worth the effort," the shorter of the two grumbled, collecting the meager bounty and stuffing it into his pocket. "But the stuff on that mule oughta fetch a pretty penny in the Hills, and we could sell the horse."

Jade's worried gaze found Dot. Her Appaloosa mare munched contentedly on a clump of grass at the edge of the clearing. Their pack mule Wiley stood nearby. They'd had to put down Ethan's horse a few days earlier when the animal broke its leg.

It dawned on Jade that the two men believed Ethan was traveling alone. Neither of them seemed to notice the second bedroll near the fire, tied up neatly and looking inconspicuous. No one even glanced her way as Jade slowly began to creep around the perimeter of the campsite to gain a position behind the two outlaws, the pepperbox clutched tightly in her right fist.

A rain shower in the night had softened the pine needles and twigs beneath Jade's booted feet. No telltale snap heralded her approach. It was almost too easy, like the games she'd played with Ethan and his brothers when they were all children. She could only hope that all the years of practice would serve her well now as she crept forward on quaking legs.

Ethan's brown eyes widened in alarm as he caught sight of Jade narrowing the distance between her and the two armed men. He gave a slight shake of his head, warning her to stop. She nodded in acknowledgment but continued her advance. They'd never make it to the Black Hills to claim their portion of the riches waiting there if these two crooks got away with the last of their money, not to mention Jade's faithful horse.

"What'll we do with him?" the shorter man asked his partner, gesturing at Ethan with his revolver.

"Don't matter to me. Shoot him if ya want."

Jade's anger flared, eclipsing her fear. She raised the pepperbox at the ugly little man, and her bullet found its mark in his gun hand. He howled in pain and dropped his firearm. Before the taller of the two could whirl on Jade, she had the nose of her pistol shoved hard against his spine.

"Drop it, mister," she growled. He released his gun and Ethan hurried forward to retrieve both weapons.

"All right, Mackenzie," Ethan said. "I've got him."

Ethan's use of her last name reminded Jade of her disguise. He'd insisted she dress like a boy. Quickly, she stepped back and shoved her hair into the worn leather hat hanging by a strap around her neck, pulling the brim down low over her forehead.

The taller man turned to her. Pale gray eyes glared from a face as rough as pine lumber with the splinters still on. Jade chilled as his menacing gaze lingered on her breasts. Dry, the baggy shirt would have better concealed her gender.

"That scrawny kid shot me with a woman's gun," the man's injured companion bellowed.

Jade's chin lifted a dignified inch as she tucked the Arlen and Thurber into the waistband of her pants.

"Hell, the kid is a woman," the bigger man snarled. "She looks like a wet dog."

"And you stink like a twenty-hole privy."

Ethan snickered at Jade's retort, then pointed at the man she'd disarmed. "Get the money. It's in his front pocket."

"I know. I saw the whole thing." She stalked over to the wounded man and scowled down at him. "Will you cooperate, or do I have to shoot some other part of you?" She patted the pepperbox.

He hastily pulled the money out of his pocket with his good hand. "Where'd ya come from, anyway?" he whined.

Jade cocked her head toward her hiding place. "I was performing my morning ablutions on the other side of that rock."

His dark bushy eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Yer what?"

"Ablutions," Jade replied. He continued to look about as dense as a box of bent nails, and although she wanted to tell him she had merely been washing, she refrained.

"Jade," Ethan called from the opposite side of the campfire, "we've gotta get these two tied up so we can leave. We'll be halfway to Cheyenne before they even think about comin' after us."

She nearly sputtered Cheyenne? but managed to stop herself in time. Ethan wanted the men to think they were headed south instead of north. She couldn't imagine the two were stupid enough to believe the tale—Wiley was clearly adorned in the latest mining paraphernalia—but she went along with the ruse, holding her gun on the angry, cursing men while Ethan secured each of them to a separate tree. When he’d finished, they put out the fire and saddled Dot.

"We could take one of their horses," Jade suggested.

"We're not horse thieves," Ethan stated flatly. "We've got their guns. We'll take nothing else."

She gave a grunt of disagreement but mounted Dot. Ethan settled behind her and took the reins. Although Jade certainly liked having him near her like this, she sympathized with her mare having to bear the extra weight. Leaning back against Ethan's chest, Jade sighed. She turned her head to bestow a cocky little smile on the man she planned to marry some day. A lock of light brown hair fell over his forehead as he glanced down at her.

"Well?" she prompted.

"Well what?"

"Now aren't you thankful I came along on this trip?"

"Aw, he wasn't really gonna shoot me."

Jade snorted. "You're too stubborn to admit I'm a big help."

"You know I don't cotton to takin' a girl into the gold fields. Somethin' bad will happen and it'll be all my fault."

"I just proved I can take care of myself," she countered.

Instead of prolonging the dispute, he put an end to it by nudging Dot in the flanks. The horse plodded ahead and Jade nestled into Ethan's arms, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.

Another day's ride would bring them to the home of Landon Burdett. The Burdetts had traveled west from Ohio with the Gardner and Mackenzie families eight years earlier. Jade had mixed feelings about seeing Landon, his wife Libby, and their son. Facing them after all these years would only serve to resurrect the painful memories Jade had struggled so hard to bury.

Now, as her mind raced recklessly back in time, she deliberately focused her thoughts on the good that had come from that fateful journey. Ethan Gardner. Jade had been smitten with him from the first moment she saw him, when she was only ten to his thirteen. Tall, lanky, and storybook-handsome, the boy had befriended her as quickly as his ma and pa had befriended Will Mackenzie, Jade's father.

The neighborly and boisterous Gardner clan helped make the long trip endurable. There were no girls Jade's age on the wagon train, so Will allowed his daughter to engage in the rough-and-tumble play the Gardner boys enjoyed on a daily basis. They explored the surrounding countryside, collected firewood, fished, hunted, played tag...

And exercised Landon Burdett's horses.

Jade sat up straight in the saddle and began singing an off-key rendition of "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Music often helped clear her mind of troublesome thoughts.

"Aw, Jade," Ethan groaned. "What's botherin' you?"

She ended her warbling alto. "I don't want to see Burdett."

Out of range of their would-be robbers, Ethan had gotten Dot back on a northerly path. With each step, Jade came closer to facing the people she held responsible for her father's death.

"Pa would skin us alive if we didn't pay Landon and Libby a visit," Ethan reasoned. "And we've gotta see little Will."

Will Burdett. Her father's namesake, born on the trail a few hours after Will Mackenzie himself was buried. There was no stopping the memories now. They rushed in, taking control of Jade. Defeated, she slumped against Ethan.

She was ten years old again and riding Morning Glory, one of Landon's prized mares. Weeks earlier, Ethan had convinced the prospective horse breeder to let Jade exercise the animal. She took the man's agreement and the responsibility it bore seriously. She'd worked for, and won, Landon's trust.

Trotting by the Burdett's wagon, Jade waved as the young couple prepared to ford a river. Pretty, auburn-haired Libby looked pale and frightened beside her tanned, dark-headed husband. She cradled her child-swollen belly with one hand while clutching the wagon seat with the other. Landon set his jaw firmly and drove his oxen into the water. On the riverbank behind the Burdetts, Will Mackenzie awaited his turn at the crossing.

Ethan beckoned to Jade from the opposite shore. The riverbed dipped in the center, soaking the hem of her gingham dress. Glory easily gained solid ground, and Jade grinned at Ethan as she emerged from the river. The sun was a hammer in the late-day sky, and the wet clothing felt deliciously cool against her skin.

A shout alerted them to danger, and they spun to watch the Burdett wagon list precariously to one side in midstream. Landon tossed the reins to Libby before jumping into the water. He waded to the lead oxen and coaxed them forward. The animals strained and pulled. Libby shrieked as the wagon began to tip. Jade's father abandoned the Mackenzie rig to dash into the river.

It all happened so fast. One moment Will was standing chest-deep in the current, reaching for Libby. Then he disappeared beneath the capsizing wagon. Jade screamed and rode Glory back into the water, ignoring Ethan's shout to stay put.

Landon made it to Libby in time, carrying her to shore and into Maeve Gardner's capable hands. Jade barely saw them. She was off her mount and frantically searching the muddy water near the wagon for some sign of her father even as the current slammed her back against Glory. The water came to her throat, but it didn't muffle the terrified screams that ripped from her depths.

It seemed as if everyone moved toward her in slow motion. Didn't they know her father was under the wagon? Weren't they going to rescue him the same way that Landon Burdett had saved his wife?

"Papa! Papa!" Jade cried over and over again. She couldn't lose her father—he was all she had left. A pair of powerful hands lifted her out of the water, and she struggled like a wild animal caught in a trap. "Noooo!" she screamed. "My papa!"

Landon set her on Glory's saddle. Suddenly the river was swimming with men. They righted the Burdett's rig and groped in the murky water. Someone discovered Will's limp form. Jade watched with mind-numbing horror as the men dragged him onto dry ground. Then Ethan was at her side, and Jade realized that the man who was working so valiantly over Will Mackenzie's body was Landon Burdett. She approached and slid off Glory.

"Papa's still alive," she told Ethan. "I know he's still alive." The crowd of sodden onlookers parted to let her through.

"Breathe, Will. Damn you, Mackenzie, breathe!" Landon straddled Will's body while he pressed methodically on the older man's chest. At someone’s suggestion, Landon began to pump Will’s arms up and down. Jade’s father remained silent and still.

"God, no…" Landon whispered.

Several men grabbed Will’s body and rolled him, belly down, over a flour barrel. Someone else thumped his back. Jade heard a woman moan and begin to cry.

A hand slipped around Jade's, and she looked up into Ethan's solemn face. "I'm sorry, Jade," he told her.

Her bewildered gaze returned to her father’s lifeless form, now stretched out on the riverbank. She watched as Landon exhaled with a shudder and ran a hand through his matted black hair. His blue eyes shimmered with remorse as they met Jade's.

"There's nothing more we can do, little one. He's gone."

Jade's flesh chilled. Her teeth chattered.

"G-Gone?"

"Your father's dead." Landon's words were spoken gently, but his cruel message left no room for doubt.

Jade yanked her hand from Ethan's grasp and dropped to her knees at her father's side. "Papa?" she entreated, touching the cold skin of his cheek. Gray-green eyes that had regarded her affectionately at breakfast that morning now stared at the cloudless blue sky without blinking. Jade's beloved papa was gone forever, just as her mother before him. She was all alone.

Landon knelt and pulled Jade into his arms, enveloping her completely. She fought him for a moment, but he kept holding her and whispering soothing words while he rocked her slowly back and forth. One large hand tenderly stroked her tangled mass of curls. She choked back a sob and dug her face into his chest.

"It's all right to cry," Landon murmured, his breath warm and comforting in Jade's hair, his embrace possessive as others crowded around them.

"Go ahead, little one...cry..."

***

Dawn blushed the early-morning sky as Landon Burdett stepped onto his front porch. Running a hand through his hair, he let out a long and heavy breath. Nightmares had tortured Will most of the night, and it had been past two o'clock before the little boy had finally settled into a restless sleep.

The screen door squeaked behind him. Heavy footfalls announced his housekeeper's approach. "You should have let me sit with him a spell," Beatrice Atkins admonished.

"It wasn't so bad."

"No?" She moved where she could get a better look at him. "Your face is nearly as gray as my hair." She clucked her tongue in the endearing way that always reminded him of his mother and his boyhood. "On days like this you look older than a man of twenty-nine."

"I'll be thirty in July," he reminded her, sending Will's surrogate grandmother a poor excuse for a smile.

"You could lie down for awhile," she suggested.

Landon shook his head. "I'll be back in an hour." Stepping down onto rain-dampened earth, he headed for the corral, feeling Bea's worried gaze on him as he saddled Shadow. The glossy black gelding sensed his mood and pranced around the yard, breaking into a gallop as soon as they passed the fence bordering the ranch house. The Wyoming wind blew against Landon's face and riffled through his hair, clearing the haze from his head just like the swim in Spring Creek would soon revitalize his tired body.

He rode to a spot several miles from home where the creek widened into a pool surrounded by cottonwood trees and banked by huge boulders. The men who worked for Landon never disturbed him there without good reason. Though Will didn't accompany him on such rides, the boy had mentioned a secret place where he liked to play. Landon believed they were one and the same.

He dismounted and quickly stripped naked, hesitating only an instant before plunging into the creek. He dove beneath the surface and came back up with a shout, shaking water out of his hair. After a dozen turns around the small pool, Landon stretched out on a rock to worship the sun's warmth.

He wished he could clear his mind of all thought, but instead recalled the words of a telegram he'd received the day before. The missive, from his old friend Lloyd Gardner in Texas, stated that Ethan and Jade had left home without his blessing and were probably headed through Wyoming Territory on their way to the gold fields in the Dakotas. Lloyd wanted Landon to convince the pair to cancel their foolish plans, and if that failed, he asked Landon to keep Jade from traveling any farther. Lloyd feared for the girl's safety. Reports of Indian attacks along the road from Fort Laramie to Deadwood were frequent, and there would be myriad dangers for a young woman in a mining camp.

Landon wholeheartedly agreed. The region was under constant dispute between greedy white men and the Indians who held the rich land sacred. There were times Landon felt vulnerable on his isolated ranch. He kept his arsenal well stocked and his men well armed.

His thoughts returned to Jade and the long overland journey they'd once shared. The day's first true smile pricked at the corners of Landon's mouth when he pictured Jade Mackenzie as she'd been all those years ago, pride glittering in her striking emerald eyes, her blonde curls bouncing around an angelic face. In the time since they'd parted company, he'd often wondered what she would look like as an eighteen-year-old woman. If Jade and Ethan were indeed headed for gold country, Landon might soon find out what differences eight years could make. He knew Ethan Gardner would feel duty-bound to stop and say hello to an old family friend.

But would Jade want to see him again?

Every time the memory of the wagon train paid him a visit, Landon felt accountable for Will Mackenzie's death. It was the Burdett wagon that had been in trouble at the river crossing, and Landon's pregnant wife who had been in danger. He would never fully understand what happened in those awful moments, only that Will had drowned trying to help.

Landon's first thought during the catastrophe had been for Libby and their unborn baby. Once his wife was safely on shore, he'd returned for Will only to find Jade in water nearly over her head, screaming for her father. She'd been half out of her mind with panic. She'd fought him with a might he would never have believed she possessed if it hadn't been directed at him. Somehow, he’d managed to get her on Glory's back and out of harm's way. Then Will's body was rushed to shore. Landon's efforts at reviving the man came too late, and Jade was left without a family.

He'd never forget the heart-wrenching expression on the little girl's face when he told her Will was dead. Those luminous green eyes had searched Landon's for evidence that his words were a lie. When he took her in his arms, her pain became his own.

They’d buried Will after the remaining wagons had been driven safely across the water, Landon taking charge of the Mackenzie rig. Camp was set up on the west side of the river.

Before the sun completed its descent in the summer sky, Libby went into labor. Landon could still hear his wife's anguished cries as the throes of childbirth consumed her. It was too early; the baby would be born much too small. Landon had prayed that his child would survive, and he vowed to be a good and loving father.

William Mackenzie Burdett was born shortly before midnight. Landon caught a quick glimpse of his beautiful son before Maeve Gardner wrapped him in a blanket. The baby gave a lusty cry.

"He's a strong, healthy boy," Maeve had assured the Burdetts. Smiling down on the newborn she'd added, "He's heavier than any of my babies, and Ethan weighed nearly nine pounds."

Landon had been too stunned to disagree. He had married Libby only six months before. Suddenly it had all fallen into place: their whirlwind courtship, Libby's insistence that they marry right away, the speed with which she showed her pregnancy.

He'd been taken for a fool.

They reached Independence, Missouri a week later. The Gardners stocked up on supplies to begin the next leg of their journey to Texas. Landon made arrangements for his family to join a party heading northwest on the Oregon Trail.

Saying goodbye turned out to be much harder than Landon expected. A certain little girl had touched his heart, and he could hardly bear to see her go. If the Gardners hadn't been so quick to offer Jade a home with them, Landon would have spoken up on her behalf. He had given the Burdett name to another man's son; he could raise another's daughter as well.

When he tried to talk to Jade that last day, when he needed to hold her one more time, she refused to even look at him. Landon didn't honestly know what had hurt most—Will Mackenzie's death, Libby's duplicity, or one small girl's silent disregard.