Colyer shrugged. “Whatever,” he said. “Didn’t mean anything by it, kid—just thought you might wanna save the seat for your mother, is all.”
“She’s my new mommy!” Katie proceeded to tell him. “An’ you know what?... We’re going to my new home now. An’ my uncle, you seeeee, he scared away my dog, but don’ worry, he’s gonna get him back,” she assured him brightly.
Chapter Twenty-Six
No sooner had Elizabeth stepped off the train when Colyer lifted Katie out of her hands. “Here,” he offered graciously, “let me help. She looks awfully heavy for you.”
“No—really!” Elizabeth protested, her hands flying out to bring Katie back.
Colyer gave her a look that sent another shiver of apprehension coursing through her. “I insist,” he told her firmly, and then he bent to whisper into her ear so Katie couldn’t overhear. “Walk or I slit the kid’s throat.”
Elizabeth came to an abrupt halt, too stunned to believe that she’d heard him correctly. Her chin fell and she started to ask him to repeat himself, but the look in his eyes as she turned kept her from it. She shook her head.
“Walk,” he instructed, shoving his jacket aside to reveal the leather sheath where his knife was buried.
Icy fear gripped Elizabeth at the sight of it. The color drained completely from her face. Her heart racing with terror, she considered screaming for help, but Colyer gave her a look that chilled her to the bone, paralyzing her momentarily, and she wondered how she ever could have thought him handsome. The look transformed him completely.
“Walk,” Colyer snarled, when Elizabeth only stared. “And just in case you’re thinking to scream, just remember that we have your husband trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey ready to be spitted.” He snickered maliciously, letting her know that he knew, without a shadow of doubt, that Cutter was nothing more to her than her lover. He shoved her forward abruptly, and she stumbled over her feet. But she turned and managed to do as she was told, her mind racing frantically.
“At least let me carry Katie,” she said quickly, her voice wavering slightly.
Colyer chortled, nudging her forward again. “Think I’m stupid?” he asked viciously. “Get a wiggle on it, dove... before my fingers get itchy.”
Elizabeth needed no further urging. She walked blindly through the crowd, aware of the fact that Colyer was directly behind her, ready to thrust her forward when she didn’t move quickly enough. Aware, too, that he held Katie’s fate at his will. And Cutter’s?
What could he want with him? With Katie? She couldn’t fathom. Biting into her lower lip to stifle her cry of panic, she shook her head in denial, for there was no reason she could determine.
The buildings Elizabeth passed became a blur, the people faceless. Her heart hammered with fear. Unexpectedly Colyer thrust a hand on her shoulder, shoving her abruptly into an alley, where two men waited, one mounted, the other not. Both she recognized at once. But there was no sign of Cutter, and she knew at once that Colyer had lied. The knot tightened in her stomach as she looked frantically about for some means of escape.
There was none—not while Colyer still held Katie.
“She’s frightened—please! Let me hold her now!” Elizabeth said anxiously, and tried to take Katie from his arms. “We’ll do as you say,” she swore. “Just let me hold her!”
Colyer dodged her, boosting Katie up into the arms of the youth Elizabeth remembered only as O’Neill.
The look on O’Neill’s face mirrored the horror in her heart.
“Y’ didn’t say you was bringing the kid,” O’Neill objected, his Irish brogue coming out with his agitation. “I won’t be havin’ nothin’ ta do with killin’ a babe!”
Katie began to whimper in his arms. Elizabeth tried to take her from O’Neill, but Colyer snatched her by the waist and dragged her away, lifting her up onto his own bay. He mounted behind her.
Magnus nosed his horse closer to O’Neill’s, and the hostile set of his shoulders made Elizabeth’s breath snag. “You got a problem with this, Blue-boy?” he asked, borrowing the epithet Cutter had used for him. “If so... you can just take off right now.” He made a motion with his head for O’Neill to leave, but his hand went to his revolver in a clear warning. “Just turn that yellow tail of yours around and ride.”
O’Neill’s gaze shifted from Magnus to Colyer to the child in his arms, and then back, narrowing shrewdly on Magnus. “I’m no’ stupid, man. I turn this horse about and you shoot me in the back. Is that how it works?”
“Well, now,” Magnus said, baring his teeth in some semblance of a smile, his tone taunting. “Why don’t you try and see?”
O’Neill shook his head slowly. “No’ bloody likely!” And then, as though suddenly realizing his tenuous position, he told them. “I’m with ya now—don’t ya doubt it. I just don’t ken ta killin’ the girl, is all. It’s no’ right! Besides, you said it would just be the woman—you said she didn’t matter because she was a breed-lovin’ whore!” He gave Elizabeth a quick, assessing glance, and then his eyes reverted quickly to Magnus, but Elizabeth noted the fact that he was unconsciously petting Katie’s back, soothing her. In spite of his comforting, Katie’s eyes were wide with fright, and Elizabeth’s heart cried out for her.
Magnus noticed, as well, and gave O’Neill a narrow-eyed scowl. “Yeah?” He flicked a look to Colyer, then back to O’Neill. “Well, don’t shit yourself over it, kid. Let’s just get the hell out of here before McKenzie finds us. This ain’t the place for what we got in mind.” He turned to wink at Elizabeth, and then motioned for O’Neill to move ahead of him, before he fell back to ride momentarily beside Colyer.
“Thought you said the boy would go along with anything,” Colyer hissed at Magnus. “Thought you said he had stars in his eyes. All we need is for him to go causing trouble for us now!”
Magnus gave Colyer a cold-eyed glance that shifted to include Elizabeth. “We’ll take care of it,” he said simply, and then he moved to take the lead.
Elizabeth stiffened with the import of those words, but Colyer only snickered at her response, nuzzling his nose into the back of her hair. It sent another chill down her spine. “You’ll never get away with this,” she hissed, shrugging away in disgust.
Colyer lunged forward abruptly, pressing himself against her, flattening Elizabeth against the horse’s mane as he dug his heels into the mare. The saddle horn dug painfully into her stomach, but Elizabeth resisted the urge to cry out in pain, sensing that it was what Colyer wanted.
