He forced his eyes open, though every muscle in his body screamed to stay exactly where he was—Rose warm against his chest, her breathing steady and even in sleep.
But those hoofbeats meant rescue—hopefully. Meant getting Rose somewhere safe, reaching help for his leg that had swollen to twice its normal size during the night. Would Doc Morrison still be at the ranch helping Mandie with the birth?
Probably. It was hard to believe all of that had started less than a day ago. His life had changed in these last twenty-four hours.
For the better. Definitely for the better.
Voices sounded outside. Thomas’s raised shout cutting through the pre-dawn stillness, then Robert’s lower reply. Hopefully his brothers would realize the two shots together meant they were safe.
His brothers had found them.
He shifted carefully, trying not to wake Rose, but she stirred anyway. Her eyes fluttered open, confusion clouding them for a heartbeat before awareness settled.
“It’s all right.” He kept his voice low, though the effort scraped against his raw throat. “My brothers are here.”
She pushed herself upright, and the blanket fell away from her shoulders. The bruises on her throat looked darker in the gray morning light filtering through the gaps in the cabin’s walls. A new round of anger twisted beneath his ribs at the sight.
Vincent still slumped against the post where they’d tied him, his head lolled forward. The chloroform had worn off hours ago—James had heard the change in his breathing around midnight—but the ropes held.
Boot steps crunched through snow outside, approaching the cabin door.
“James!” Thomas’s voice cut through the morning quiet. “You in there?”
“We’re here. Rose is safe.”
The door burst open, and Thomas filled the doorway, concern masking his face. It shifted to relief the moment his eyes landed on them.
Robert stepped behind him, his expression harder to read but no less relieved.
Thomas’s gaze swept the cabin—taking in Vincent tied to the post, the broken splint on James’s leg, the bruises marking Rose’s face and throat. His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his skin.
“We heard the shots last night and came back, but didn’t see where the wagon turned off until dawn.” Robert moved past Thomas, his eyes logging every detail of the room.
James tried to push himself up, but his leg refused to cooperate. The swelling had made the limb feel like it belonged to someone else entirely—hot and tight and pulsing with every heartbeat. “Vincent drugged Rose to make her sleep. Tried to take her back to Virginia City.”
Thomas’s expression turned cold in a way James had rarely seen from his youngest brother. He crossed to where Vincent slumped against the post and nudged him with his boot—not gently. “Still out?”
“No.” He had to clear his raw throat to make the words come out loud enough. “He woke hours ago. Just hasn’t moved much.”
As if on cue, Vincent’s head lifted. His gray eyes—clearer now than they’d been last night—swept the cabin before settling on James with a look that slid down his spine.
No fear there. No remorse. Just cold calculation, like he was already planning his next move.
“Gentlemen.” Vincent’s voice came out smooth despite the circumstances, that cultured eastern accent perfectly intact. “I believe there’s been a misunderstanding.”
James’s fingers curled against the rough wool blanket. That voice—smooth as silk, reasonable as a judge—was the same one that had charmed Rose’s mother years ago. The same one that had twisted contracts and threats into chains.
Thomas’s hand went to the knife at his belt. “The only misunderstanding here is you thinking you’d get away with this.”
Vincent’s mouth curved into something that might have been a smile on a different face. On his, it looked like a blade. “I have a contract. Legally binding. Miss Prescott is obligated to fulfill the terms of her employment, and I was merely?—”
“Save it for the law.” Robert’s voice cut through Vincent’s words like a sharp ax through rotten wood. “You’re going to answer for what you did to Miss Prescott, to her mother, and to our own mother.”
Vincent didn’t respond, just glared at the two men standing over him. Robert’s focus shifted from Vincent to James, his gaze sweeping over the blanket, though he probably couldn’t see anything. “Can you ride in the wagon back to town? We need to get you to the doc, but he’s probably still at the ranch with Mandie.”
“Mandie?” Rose straightened beside him.
James shifted his hand to find hers beneath the blanket. “The baby started coming yesterday morning. That’s why it took us so long to realize you’d left. I had to ride out to fetch my brothers from the high pasture.”
