Part 40 (1/2)
”No.”
”Why?”
”A Randolph couldn't marry a ruined woman.”
”A Randolph can marry anybody he pleases.”
Balked at that excuse, Daisy tried another tactic. ”You wouldn't want to ruin me. You're too much of a gentleman.”
”Not if it would convince you to marry me.”
”It wouldn't. I'd feel you were marrying me because you had to.”
”Even if I'd intentionally ruined you?”
”Yes.”
”But that's totally illogical.”
”No, it's not. It makes perfectly good sense.”
”Then if I don't ruin you, you'll marry me.”
”You know I don't want to get married. I realize now I never did. I just thought I had to.”
”Suppose I let you boss me around, make all the decisions.”
Daisy had to laugh. The notion of Tyler being told what to do for as much as a single day was ludicrous. He didn't know how to take orders. He would immediately start figuring out how to give orders without appearing to give them, just like he had these past weeks.
”You'd last a week, maybe, then you'd head up into those hills as fast as Nightshade could carry you.” A flash of light caught Daisy's eye. ”You ought to try digging on that outcropping over there,” she said, pointing to a rounded hill about two hundred yards away. ”I just saw the light flas.h.i.+ng off some rocks. There ought to be plenty of--”
Insanity exploded all around her.
Chapter Twenty-six.
Tyler pushed her so low in the saddle she could hardly breathe. He jerked on Nightshade's reins causing the infuriated gelding to squeal and rear in protest. The whizzing sound of a bullet preceded the sound of a rifle shot by only a fraction of a second.
Nightshade screamed, Tyler dug his heels into the big gelding's flanks, and the horse started down the trail at a dead gallop. A second shot came uncomfortably close.
Tyler turned Nightshade off the trail, weaving an erratic path through mesquite, pine, and juniper making it impossible for the killer to get a clear shot at them. The attacker fired half a dozen more shots, but they could have been fired in hopes of getting lucky. Tyler used the trees and terrain for cover until they dropped behind a low ridge. Keeping low in the saddle, Tyler kept Nightshade in a gallop until they reached the camp. Daisy's sorrel followed them in.
Daisy slid from the saddle almost too weak to stand on her own. She was ready to drop to the ground when she saw the b.l.o.o.d.y crease across Nightshade's chest.
”He's been shot!” she said.
”It's just a crease,” Tyler told her after he had checked the wound despite Nightshade's objections. He looked up. ”If Nightshade hadn't reared, that bullet would have killed you.”
Daisy did sink to the ground then. ”Do you think that was a rustler, maybe a friend of the men we captured?”
”No. That's the man who killed your father. I guess he didn't go to Montana.”
The killer was after her again! She had been riding all over those hills without giving him a thought.
”I shouldn't have accepted Cochrane's word,” Tyler said. ”I should have realized there was a possibility he would come back. He could have killed you any time.”
”But how did you know he was there? All I saw was the sun reflecting off a rock.”
”I've been over every square foot of those hills, and there are no rocks that can reflect the sun like that. It had to be the reflection off his rifle barrel.”
So if she hadn't noticed the flash, if he hadn't made Nightshade rear, she would be dead.
Daisy was badly shaken, but she was also angry. ”I've got to find out who this man is and why he's so determined to kill me.”
”The answer must lie in Albuquerque. I'm taking you back. Hurry and pack. I want to reach town before dark.”
”I don't want to go back.”
”You were already planning to go.”
”I won't run away.”
”It's not running away to keep from getting yourself killed. We can't stay here, even if you sleep in the shed. He almost killed you once before while you slept. I won't chance it again.”
”I'd like to know what gives you the right to think you can order me around?” Daisy said.
”This isn't about rights,” Tyler said. ”It's about keeping you alive.”
”But I want to decide how to protect me.”
”Fine. Decide to go to Albuquerque.”
”That's not what--”
”And decide to stay at the hotel with Hen and Laurel. I don't trust Guy to look after you.”
Daisy was furious. He hadn't changed a bit. It was all a trick, a pretense. Let the first little thing happen, and he was just as bad as ever. She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn't going to run to Albuquerque like a scared rabbit when Rio came galloping into camp.
”What was the shooting about?” he asked.
”Someone shot at Miss Singleton,” Tyler told him. ”The killer is back.”
”You must go to Albuquerque,” Rio said to Daisy. ”You must not come here again until the man is dead.”
”That's what I told her, but she doesn't want to go.”
”You want to get killed?” the little man exclaimed. ”You want to break my heart, put Jesus out of a job?”