Page 25 of At Love’s Command

With both horses cantering, the distance between them shrank quickly. As they drew near each other, the rider in the black hat straightened in the saddle, then waved an arm above his head as if signaling him. Matt leaned forward over his mount’s neck and strained to make out distinguishing features. Was one of Dalton’s ranch hands chasing him down for some reason? Had they left something undone with the rustling job?

The color of the mount was wrong, though. He didn’t recall any palominos in Dalton’s corral. Of course, he likely hadn’t seen all the horses in the rancher’s remuda.

The rider waved again. The skin on Matt’s nape tingled. Who was this? And what did he want?

As the distance between them closed, something about the horse struck Matt as familiar. The palomino. When he’d boarded Phineas and Cooper at the livery in Purgatory Springs, there’d been a palomino there. American quarter horse. Good lines. Strong chest. But the rider?

“Captain Hanger!”

He barely made out his name over the sound of pounding hooves, but it was the frequency of the voice that brought him up in his saddle. High pitched. Like a boy or a—

“Matthew!”

Female. And one who made his heart skitter sideways by calling him by his given name.

Josephine.

Twice now he’d mistaken her for a man. An unbelievable happenstance, given how much he was drawn to her as a woman.

The weight of the situation suddenly hit him. She wouldn’t have chased him down just to wheedle a proper good-bye out of him. Something was wrong. Something serious.

As they came together and reined in their mounts, Matt urged Phineas alongside the palomino.

“What is it, Josie? What’s wrong?”

The desperation in her face made his gut churn. “My brother. Please. I don’t know who else to turn to.”

Her lack of ten-dollar words or even complete sentences told him more than anything else how frightened she was.

He leaned forward in his saddle. “Tell me.”

CHAPTER

TEN

Josephine turned away from Captain Hanger’s intense hazel eyes, needing a moment to collect herself. She’d been so driven to reach him. Now that she finally had, it was all she could do not to disintegrate into a weepy mess of gratitude. But she wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t be the type of woman who used tears to sway a man into solving her problems for her. She needed his help, but she fully intended to be a partner in this rescue mission, and if she fell apart now, he’d never deem her strong enough to ride alongside them.

Inhaling a deep breath, she ordered her trembling insides to still. His nearness proved an apt distraction from her distress, but it did little to focus her mind on her well-thought-out speech. She’d rehearsed for miles what she would say to him, but she needed her wits intact to competently plead her case.

Sliding her right foot out of the stirrup, she shifted her weight to her left side. Matthew took the hint and urged his mount back a step, thereby allowing her to dismount without hindrance. After a moment, she and the captain walked side by side up the road, their horses trailing behind them.

“I received a letter from home this morning. My brother, Charlie, is being held hostage. A ransom demand was sent to my father, but he refuses to pay.”

Matthew twisted to face her. “Seems harsh.”

Her shoulders drooped. How to explain the complicated nature of her father and brother’s relationship?

“Charlie’s a bit of a rascal. Always getting into one scrape or another.” She pressed her lips closed over the well-worn excuse. Sugarcoating the truth wouldn’t serve any purpose. “He’d rather live off my father’s money than apply himself to establishing his own career. He wants nothing to do with running Gringolet, much to my father’s consternation, and prefers gambling and racing. A few months back, Charlie ‘borrowed’ several Gringolet horses on a dare, and he and his drunk friends raced them cross-country. One of the animals came up lame. It was the last straw. Father was so furious, he cut Charlie off financially and kicked him out of the house. According to Darla, our housekeeper, Father has refused even to speak Charlie’s name since that day.

“It sounds harsh,” she said, drawing to a halt in the middle of the road, “but I believe Father still loves Charlie. He’s trying to save him from a path of destructive behavior. Hoping he’ll sever ties with the bad company he’s been keeping and recognize the importance of integrity and the value of hard work.” Josephine shook her head, tears welling despite her determination to stay strong. She blinked them back. “I never thought he would go so far as refusing to pay a ransom, though.”

The captain made no comment, and his face was impossible to read.

“According to Darla, Charlie was seen in the company of these outlaws before the ransom demand was issued, so Father doubts the veracity of their threats. He doesn’t think they will actually hurt him. He believes they’re just trying to leverage the family for money Charlie can no longer provide. Most likely to cover gambling debts.”

Worried that Matthew would take the same stance as her father, Josephine grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. “Even if this trouble is of Charlie’s own making, I can’t leave him in the hands of violent men with nothing more substantial than a . . . a theory that they won’t harm him. He’s my baby brother. If there’s even a chance that his life is in danger, or that he might suffer bodily injury, I have to help him.”

Captain Hanger turned to gaze at something off in the distance, making him even more difficult to read. “You plannin’ to pay the ransom?”