Lord, help me.He grabbed his courage by the throat and charged in. “I was thinking…”
Jedidiah didn’t show an obvious sign of listening, but he didn’t move away, though he held a full bowl.
Sampson pressed on. “I’m not sure exactly what you have planned here, but I have a bit of information you might be interested in.”
Jedidiah grunted. A sound that could mean a lot of things, but he would assume it meant for him to keep talking.
“My family’s ranch is a little less than a day’s ride from here, to the southeast. We’ve got a sapphire mine, but it’s pretty much played out.” He’d never actually talked to Mick or Jedidiah about the mine or the wagonload of sapphires they stole from his family, so it was probably best to pretend he knew nothing about it for this conversation. That way, Jedidiah couldn’t pick up on bitterness in his tone.
The man glanced sideways at Sampson. “What’s your point, boy?”
Sampson's heart pounded, but he kept his expression neutral. "There's another vein of sapphires, richer than the first, on some land just past our property line. I stumbled across it a few months back, but I haven't told anyone about it."
Jedidiah's eyes gleamed with interest, but suspicion lingered in his gaze. "And you're telling me this now because…?"
Sampson shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "I figure if you're planning something big, you might want to know about a better source to go after.”
A slow, unsettling smile spread across Jedidiah's weathered face. He raised his free hand and clapped it on Sampson's shoulder, his grip uncomfortably tight.
"That's good to know, boy. Real good. I'll keep it in mind." His tone was genial, but there was a hard edge beneath the words that made Sampson's skin prickle with unease.
Jedidiah leaned in closer, his odor rank. "But we're after something much better than sapphires. And you've just made it clear where your loyalties lie."
Ice flooded Sampson's veins. He tried to step back, but Jedidiah's grip on his shoulder tightened, holding him in place.
"I can't have that kind of weakness in our midst." HIs voice came low and cold. The sound Sampson had heard too many times.
He should have known to brace for the blow.
A force slammed into the back of his knees, shoving him forward. Into the fire.
His thigh hit the tripod holding the stewpot. The entire contraption plunged into the flame, partially protecting him from the blaze. But heat scalded his hand when it pressed against the hot metal.
He struggled to roll sideways, out of the fire. A boot struck his head, sending an explosion of pain and light through his skull.
Someone grabbed his arm, jerking him up. He tried to find footing, but a fist plunged into his belly.
He couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t pull up straight. Couldn’t think or see. Another blow struck his face.
Jedidiah’s hard voice hummed from a distance. “I can't abide a traitor. Teach him a lesson. Then get rid of him."
The hits rained harder. He curled in as much as they’d let him.
God, help me. Help my family. And protect Grace.
CHAPTER9
Sampson gasped as a bolt of white-hot agony seared his middle, jerking him from sleep. He reached to grip his belly, but pain shot through his shoulder. What in the Rocky Mountains had happened to him?
Panic gripped his chest as he struggled to piece together fragmented memories. He worked to push his eyelids open. One wouldn’t budge, but the other lifted to a hazy blur of dim light and flickering shadows. The light intensified the pounding in his head, and he let the eye close again.
Something soft rubbed against his hands. His cheeks too. But an icy chill nipped at his nose and brow. The air held the scent of a nearby fire.
Where was he? What had happened?
A voice cut through the fog clouding his mind. “Sampson? You are waking?” A familiar voice. Deep. With a lilt. It brought the feeling of happy adventures. Safe times.
Two Stones.
