She closed her eyes and prepared herself for a terrible fall that never came. Directly at the edge of the slope, the stallion slowed from a full gallop to a standstill. Jolted but unharmed, Theodosia opened her eyes and saw her driverless wagon. Beside it stood three armed men staring up at her. She’d seen the men earlier, once at the river and again when they’d raced their mounts across the meadow.
But where on earth was Roman? “I don’t suppose the three of you invidious beings know where my escort is, do you?” She slid off the stallion and placed her hands on her hips.
Red Bandana frowned. “What’d she call us?”
“Never mind,” Brown Bandana replied. “She’s ridin’ that long-haired feller’s horse.”
“They must o’ traded off,” Black Bandana added. “That means…”
Realizing the woman’s male companion had tricked them, all three men spun around at once.
They met the blaze of blue eyes and the gleam of black Colts.
Roman pulled both triggers.
He hit one man in the shoulder and another in the leg, the impact of the bullets knocking them off their feet. His next bullet slammed into the third outlaw’s upper arm, but the man still managed to quickly climb the embankment toward Theodosia.
Theodosia was already on her way down the slope.
The outlaw grabbed her, and pressing his gun to her temple, he dragged her down the slope. He grinned when his two cohorts retrieved their own weapons and staggered to their feet. “Ya didn’t really think ya could outshoot us, did ya, Longhair?”
Roman gave a slow, easy smile, but inwardly he cursed Theodosia with every profanity he knew. “You don’t really think I’m going to let you hurt the girl, do you, Red Bandana?” he countered.
“Hurtme?”Theodosia asked, still locked within the confines of her captor’s beefy arms. “Mr. Montana, allow me to render intelligible this situation. I have never seen these men before today. They cannot possibly bear any sort of hostility toward me and therefore mustn’t possess any desire to cause me physical harm. It occurs to me now that these men were followingyou,soyouare the one who—”
“But—but we thought we was follerin’you,”Black Bandana said, frowning. “It’s what Longhair wanted us to think. He—lady, he was tryin’ to keep ya safe by leadin’ us away from ya. Don’t take no genius to figger that out. You must be a mite slow-minded. Don’t make no never mind, though. We ain’t after yer smarts. We want yer gold. Oh, and we’ll be takin’ Longhair’s horse too. A horse who can run like that’s gotta be worth some money.”
Theodosia lifted one tawny eyebrow. “Indeed. Well, you may not have my gold, nor may you have Mr. Montana’s stallion. Mr. Montana, do something.”
“Yeah, Mr. Montana,” Brown Bandana said, and laughed. “Do somethin’.”
What the hell was he supposed to do? Roman fumed. One move on his part might very well end Theodosia’s life, and his own as well.
Possible solutions flashed through his mind, but a sudden movement in the wagon interrupted his concentration.
John the Baptist stuck his head between the bars of his cage, craning his neck to see what was happening.
Roman dismissed the bird and pondered the situation again. For lack of a better idea, he finally decided to resort to one of the oldest tricks known to man. “You might as well give up your guns,” he suggested. “My partner is right behind you and won’t think twice about shooting you in the backs.”
The Bandana Brothers laughed. “Ya think we’re stupid, Montana?” Red Bandana asked. “Ya ain’t got no partner.”
John the Baptist, still craning his neck out of the cage, squawked shrilly. “One more word out of you, and I’ll shoot your blasted head off!” he shouted.
The outlaws went rigid, then dropped their revolvers and lifted their hands high above their heads.
Theodosia brushed off her skirts and turned to glare at her parrot. “John the Baptist, where on earth did you hear such a crude expression? You—”
“For God’s sake, get in the wagon, Miss Worth!” Before she could announce that his so-called partner was a parrot, Roman raced out from behind the scrub brush and kicked the thieves’ guns well away. He then stripped them of their other weapons. “Get going!”
Theodosia looked up at him. “Mr. Montana, these men should be taken into custody and given a fair trial. We must take them to Templeton.”
“Yeah, Montana,” Black Bandana agreed. “We got a right to a fair trial. ’Sides that, we’re wounded!”
Roman smiled a smile that hardened his eyes. Slowly, he pulled back the hammers of his Colts. “None of your injuries are serious, and you damned well know it. And as for a fair trial…all right. If you get across the field and back around the cedar thicket in less than five minutes, you’re innocent and I’ll let you go. Take longer than that, you’re guilty, and you die.”
John the Baptist cracked a sunflower seed. “For God’s sake,listen!Dammit, do as I say!” Calmly, he ate the seed. “Mr. Montana, do somethin’.”
Hands still raised high, the outlaws started for their horses.
