AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her mother laughed harshly. “So your man can pick us off with his rifle?”
“He could have shot you at any time. You profiled him and knew if you opened that barn door he would hold his fire. He has honor. Something you’ll never understand.” She would enrage her mother to distract her. “He’s far too honorable to shoot an unarmed woman. Even a woman as inhumane and depraved as you.”
Her mother stormed into the barn and up to Jacey. “Yes,” she bit out, inches away. This was the monster who had struck so much terror into her heart and so many others. She looked too thin, like a plastic Barbie doll with overexaggerated features. Her familiar blue eyes snapped at Jacey. “I know exactly how ‘honorable’ your cowboy is. Too bad he must die.”
She grabbed Jacey’s arm and yanked her toward the door. “Kill him,” she snapped at the guards waiting in the entrance.
Before they could file in and take their first shots, Jacey did something she hadn’t done in years.
She fought.
Karate chopping at her mother’s grip on her arm, she broke free and slugged her mother in the face. The monster flung back, screaming in outrage. Jacey kneed her in the abdomen. The witch was knocked to her knees.
Jacey paused, reveling in the triumph of standing up for herself, for Cade. Even if he never knew she loved him, she’d done it for him.
“What are you waiting for?” her mother snarled at her men. “Restrain her and kill him.”
A man rushed at Jacey, but Cade shot him before he could even get close. He hit the ground. Jacey scuttled back to the barn wall. Her limbs trembled, her legs barely supporting her.
Her mother hurried behind the wall of her men. “Kill him. Kill him, and then we will take her!”
Cade shot another man.
Her mother’s men filtered into the barn, returning fire at Cade and pinning him down.
“Jacey. Annie!” Cade hollered over the maelstrom of bullets and wood flying everywhere.
Jacey raced away from the firing squad, fumbling to unlatch Annie’s stall. Cade would be ripped apart from all those bullets.
“No!” she screamed out. “No!”
The latch opened and she rushed in. The horse was pawing nervously in the back of the pen. Jacey stumbled in and wrapped her arms around Annie’s neck, clinging to her horse. Cade’s horse. It was a comfort, as if Cade was somehow by her side, but she couldn’t let her guard down. She prayed desperately and felt tears wetting Annie’s coat.
Please don’t let them kill Cade. Please.
So many shots rang out, over and over again. Finally, there was silence. Eerie quiet. Dust and wood mites floated in the air. The scent of lead and gun powder overwhelmed the horses, straw, and hay scents.
“It’s okay, girl. It will be okay,” Jacey murmured against Annie’s neck.
She didn’t know if anything would be okay. What if Cade had been killed? The silence prevailed and she couldn’t take it any longer.
Creeping out of the stall, she secured the gate and tiptoed back toward the main part of the barn to peek in. Five black clad bodies were sprawled out, two holding the door open.
“Cade!” Clint hollered from outside, stepping over the bodies. “Jacey. You’re okay? Where’s Cade?”
Relief washed over her. Clint and his brothers and men had come. They were saved. But why wasn’t Cade answering?
“Cade!” she cried out, running for the ladder.
He edged out over the loft. “You’re okay?” he asked.
“You’re okay,” she screamed out.
He eased down the ladder, his larger gun strapped over his back, his pistol in his holster. He was a tough cowboy who’d defended her with his life.
“Cade. Are you hurt?” She wanted to hug him tight, but everything was now awkward between them. She’d told him she chose to leave, that she didn’t need or want him. He’d believed her, or he would never have let her go.
She stayed in place, shifting her weight and biting her cheek. Cade was alive, but he’d come close to death and it was all her fault for selfishly clinging to him and choosing to stay with him in the first place.
