“I swear with everything that’s in me, if you don’t take your hands off that woman right now, I’ll see you all in a grave quicker than you can take your last breath.” His words were measured, belying everything that churned inside him.
The big man grunted and nodded to where Jackson stood nearby, his rifle raised.
The ringleader glanced at Jackson, and then back to Hawk. He narrowed his eyes as he studied the badge on Hawk’s chest. “All right, Sheriff. Whatever you say.” He shoved Lina away from him and toward Hawk, adding, “But we ain’t done yet, girlie.”
Hawk pushed Lina behind him and stood planted where he was. The men finally loped away, into the street and toward the busier part of town.
Jackson’s eyes flicked from Lina to Hawk. “You all right?”
Hawk nodded, even thoughall rightwas the furthest from how he truly felt. “Thanks for the back up.”
“I’ll finish this end of town, if you want to . . .” Jackson didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. Somehow Hawk had come to Mad Dog Gulch to subdue chaos and wound up finding his wife in the midst of it all.
After Jackson had continued on down the road, Hawk finally turned to Lina. Questions fought for answers, and the one that finally made it to his lips was simply, “Why?”
Lina pressed her lips together as she fumbled with her hair. Finally giving up, she pulled the pins away and made quick work of it with a braid that hung down her back. “I . . . Well, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I wanted to see you work.” She tapped the side of her skirts. “I brought my revolver, but they acted so quickly, I couldn’t reach for it.”
He stared at her a moment. It was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. And if she thought he believed her . . .
White hot irritation rose up his throat. “Fine. We’ll discuss this at home. I presume you have Red?”
She nodded, her teeth biting into her lip. Hawk held out a hand, gesturing for her to lead the way.
It turned out she’d tied up the horse just east of town. He helped her mount without a word, and silently, he walked beside her and the horse back to town, where he quickly explained the situation to a befuddled Garland and retrieved his own horse.
Silence reigned their entire ride back to Perseverance, Hawk’s annoyance growing every minute Lina refused to speak.
Back at the house, he assisted her in dismounting—although it was quite clear by now she was capable of doing such a thing without help—and gathered both horses’ reins to take them back to the livery.
“Can I trust you’ll be here when I return?” he asked.
“Where else would I go?” Lina attempted a smile, but dropped it immediately when Hawk’s expression didn’t change.
“That’s a good question.” And after seeing her inside, he led the horses to the livery, paid the night stableboy an extra coin for his trouble, and returned home.
Lina was nowhere to be found on the ground floor. At the base of the stairs, Hawk gripped the banister and looked up into the shadows before climbing to the second floor.
“Lina,” he said through the closed door.
Footsteps sounded from inside the room, and then the door slowly opened to reveal Lina, still fully dressed as if she were waiting on him to make an appearance. He stood silent a moment, hoping she’d simply tell him the truth with prompting.
She gave him a tight smile but said nothing at all.
“I don’t understand,” he said, finally breaking the silence. “I don’t know what would possess you to go through all that trouble, to ride all the way to Mad Dog Gulch, in the dark, when youknewthere was trouble about. You’ll have to fill me in, because, Lina, I simply can’t come up with an answer.”
She blinked those blue eyes at him, never shirking from his gaze. “I already told you.”
He stared at her a moment. That couldn’t be the truth. Not with the way she clenched her hands at her sides, or the way something approaching guilt flickered in her eyes. “Lina,” he said again, letting the tone of his voice indicate he didn’t believe her.
She dropped her eyes and swallowed, and for a moment, he thought she might be on the verge of confiding in him.
“You can tell me,” he said, more softly this time. “Are you in trouble? You’re my wife. I can help you.”
Her gaze drifted back up and she clasped her hands in front of her. Hawk waited, but all she did was shake her head. He ran a hand through his head and let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine.” And then he turned and stomped down the stairs.
Unable to lie down, Hawk paced the parlor, running the events of the evening through his head. But the only conclusion he came to was that Lina certainly was in some sort of trouble—and it was something she was too ashamed of to share with him.
But what in the world could it be?
