After the Ashes(54)

Braddock glanced over his shoulder, silently checking her progress. She stared through him, unable to muster up enough energy for a reassuring smile or a nod of her head. His frown deepened before he sat forward in his saddle again. She was tired of pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t. Things hadn’t been fine for a long time.

Under the shelter of trees, her mount dutifully halted beside Braddock’s horse. She tried to swing her leg up and over her saddle horn, but her leg wouldn’t cooperate. She checked to see if her foot was stuck.

Christopher gripped her waist and pulled her effortlessly into his arms. “This gelding’s a little big for you.”

She sank against him, not trusting her own feet to hold her. “I need to switch with Archie. We’ll just have to tell his mare I bite back.”

A muffled thud drew their attention. Corey had tried to help Archie dismount, but the pair had landed in a tangled pile instead.

“Can somebody help me?” Corey grunted.

Braddock steadied Lorelei, then rolled Archie off her brother. Unable to face Corey just yet, Lorelei forced her feet to move and hunted for a place to set up camp.

What had she accomplished by trying to protect her brother from Braddock? He had every right to handcuff Corey. What would have become of them if they had met those men from Coyote Pass without Christopher?

For the first time, she truly wished she had stayed back in Kentucky. This was no life for her.

That was what she would do. She would leave here and let Braddock do what he wanted with Corey. She’d ask to borrow the money for the fare. Then maybe she could erase the images of red rock, dust, and blood from her mind forever.

When she heard her name called from far away, she realized she had wandered deep into the shelter of trees. Not wanting to be found, she ducked under the bent shadow of a twisted juniper. Each time Corey shouted her name, he sounded more desperate. She slid down the tree, too tired to stand.

Then Christopher’s voice rang through the night like a sudden thunderclap. Lorelei waited, listening to the sound of their footsteps veering away from her. She feared he wouldn’t call her name again.

“Over here,” she yelled. Suddenly she wanted to be found. Wanted to have Christopher hold her so she could again pretend that everything was all right.

They discovered her quickly, and walked directly to her.

“Lori, are you all right?” Corey rushed forward. He stopped a foot or so from her. He couldn’t have seen her expression in the shadows, but she knew her anger was a weighty thing.

Christopher had no such hesitation. He knelt beside her, touching her face. “Are you hurt?”

She wanted to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his neck, but now that he was so close, she was afraid—afraid of everything that had come between them and all that would. No matter how much she wanted to be free of Corey, he was still her brother. She doubted she would ever have the strength to turn completely away from him.

She cupped the hand Christopher held against her face. “I want to go home.”

“You can go home if you want. I’ll buy your ticket. But we have to clear your name first. You understand, don’t you, sweetheart?”

A sob caught in her throat, stealing her breath. “I want to go home tomorrow. I can’t stand this place anymore.”

He smoothed back her tangled hair. Never had he been so gentle, not even when they made love. “I’ll take you myself once the gold is returned. You might be arrested if I send you off alone.”

“What about me, Lori?”

The comfort that flooded her at Christopher’s touch was jerked away by the sound of her brother’s rude question. “What about you? You lied to me, Corey.”

Corey stared into the shadowed recesses of the night. “You wouldn’t have understood.”

She tried to stand, but Christopher held her down with a firm grip on her shoulder. “You need some food in you.”

“I understand you put our lives at risk.” All her anger pounded into a single vein at her temple. Yelling at Corey seemed the only way to relieve the pressure.

“You don’t know how it’s been for me. You always had it so easy. You were always everyone’s favorite.”

She pushed Christopher’s restraining hand away. He supported her waist and elbow when she insisted on struggling to her feet. She took a step toward Corey, not sure if her shaking came from the long day’s ride or his audacity.

“Ma and I did everything for you. Everything! I gave you all I had so you could come out here and make something of yourself.”

Corey glared at her as if he were the one who had been wronged. “But whatever I did was never good enough.”