Twisting to his left to ensure Lina’s safety, he spotted Big Buck lying on the ground, gripping his leg. Above him sat Lina on the horse, a pistol pointed right at Merritt and the Burton brothers.
Chapter Seventeen
LINA’S GRIP ON THErevolver was steady despite the fear that raced through her veins. She’d just shot a man- in the leg—again. And now Merritt and the other two men all raised their guns at her.
A blast sounded from the right, making Lina startle in the saddle. She caught a glimpse of the redheaded man going down as she jerked her attention toward Hawk. He’d scooped up one of his pistols and fired a second time from the large rock outcropping. The other Burton brother grabbed his upper arm, grimacing in pain.
“Put the guns down!” Merritt yelled. Neither Hawk nor Lina complied. Merritt turned again, back toward Lina and held his pistol steady at her.
Not a second too late, Lina slid from Red, tapping him from behind to get him to run to safety. He did, and she hit the ground just in time to hear Merritt’s bullet fly over her head.
More gunfire sounded as Big Buck groaned from nearby, but Lina didn’t dare lift her head. She stayed put, praying harder than she ever had in her life. For Hawk to survive. For Merritt and his men to give up and surrender. For all of this to be over.
She didn’t even want the money anymore. She’d find some other way to help Matthew. That money was tainted, stolen from companies to which her father had no right, and all of this was happening because of that. No good could come of it. It had caused too much pain, too much deceit, too much death. She wished she’d realized that before she’d come up here and put Hawk’s life in danger.
She prayed that money was buried and gone forever.
Lina stayed where she was, praying and hoping, her arms over her head, until a hand laid itself on her back. She startled, sitting up and half-expecting to see Big Buck or Merritt there, gloating about having killed Hawk.
Instead, it was Hawk himself, dirty and disheveled but very much alive. Lina took one look at his face and threw her arms around his neck, tears escaping her eyes and soaking into his hair and collar.
“It’s all right,” he said in a soothing voice she didn’t deserve. He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s over now.”
Lina drew in a shuddering breath and lifted her head. She couldn’t form a word, so instead, she looked around them. Garland was there, checking the wound on Big Buck’s leg, and behind him, Hawk’s other men were gathering up Merritt and the Burton brothers.
Hawk was right—it was over.
Except it wasn’t, not for Lina or Hawk.
“You came for me.” It was the only thing she could think to say.
“Of course I did.” He looked her up and down before taking her hands in his. “Are you hurt?”
So long as she didn’t consider the guilt that ate up her heart, she was fine. Lina nodded. “Hawk, I . . .” She looked down at their hands. “I am so sorry. For everything.”
“You don’t have to talk about it now,” he said, his expression guarded.
