Page 95 of The Heart’s Charge

“Now you done it, Cap.” Jonah’s voice floated through the slowly widening hole. “Good luck getting that cat back in the bag.”

“Calm down, Wallace. She’s fine. Brave little thing,” the captain said as he screwed the lid back on the canteen and frowned down at Mark’s manacles. “Brooks? Get one of the men to search that Dorsey fellow up top for a key to these manacles.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mark didn’t care about the chains. “Tell me what happened to Kate.”

Hanger shrugged. “Don’t know all the details. All I know is she figured out who was behind the snatching and went to confront them sometime in the middle of the night. It’s ’cause of her that Jonah and Miss Southerland knew where to send the search party to start lookin’ for the mine. Finding Gabe Dorsey at the depot with your horse just helped us pinpoint the passages. The townsfolk had already spotted the caved-in entrance and started digging out the debris by the time we dragged his sorry hide up here.”

Mark’s head fell back to the ground. Ortega had had Kate? Lord have mercy. “She could have been killed.” The words escaped in a broken whisper. The very idea so terrified him, he could barely breathe.

Hanger grabbed his shoulder. “But she wasn’t. The Good Lord took care of both of you last night. Now, what do you say we quit frettin’ over what might have been and start workin’ on gettin’ you outta here?”

And back to Kate. So he could wring her neck. Or more likely kiss her senseless. Yeah, kissing was definitely the better option. Though Mark was probably the one who’d end up senseless. He was halfway there already.

After an hour of shifting, shoveling, and chiseling, Mark finally escaped the mountain’s hold. His legs hurt like the dickens, but they worked, so with the captain propping him up on one side and Jonah on the other, Mark hobbled through the man-made tunnel to the base of the vertical shaft that led to freedom. As Captain Hanger worked on the rigging to haul him up, Mark turned to Jonah and wrapped his friend in a hug. He thumped his back twice, then stepped back.

“Glad you’re alive, Brooks.”

Jonah grinned. “Me too.”

Mark chuckled, then grew serious. He clasped Jonah’s shoulder. “There aren’t words enough to thank you for what you did for Kate. I’ll be wanting the full story later, but know that I’m in your debt for life.”

Jonah dipped his chin. “Abner and Rawley did most of the heavy lifting. I just showed up for the last hurrah.”

Mark knew what that meant, as well as the cost such an act would demand from his friend. All the Horsemen understood the price of war. “Well, I, for one, am glad you were there.”

The captain extended him a rope tied into a harness of sorts. “Ready, Wallace?”

To get out of this pit? To see his beautiful Kate? To finally start their life together? “More than ready, sir.”

He took the rope in his hands, and with Matt and Jonah keeping him from toppling over, he fit his legs through the holes and sat across the knotted middle. The captain called up to the surface, and the rope started hauling him upward. When he reached the top, a pair of men swung him to the side and extricated him from the harness. Donaldson from the livery wrapped an arm around Mark’s waist and started walking him away from the mine while the others stayed to haul up the other men.

Applause suddenly broke out. Kids cheered. Wart and his sister ran toward him hand in hand. Abner. Rawley. Even Floyd looked relieved to see him. But it was Kate’s voice shouting his name that riveted him in place.

“Mark!” She leapt up from where she’d been helping one of the boys, grabbed a handful of skirt, and ran straight for him.

He untangled himself from a chuckling Donaldson and limped forward on his own power, all his energy focused on Kate. Tears streaming down her cheeks, windblown hair frizzing around her face, clothes dust-laden, and quiet sobs hiccupping through her—she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

When she reached him, he didn’t waste any energy on words. His mouth had much more important work to do. He wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to cup her face and lift her lips to his. His mouth slanted over hers with desperation, with thanksgiving, and with pure joy over the two of them being alive. Her arms pressed into his back, holding him tight. She lifted up on her toes to meet him, her enthusiasm in returning his kiss kicking his pulse into a full gallop.

Whoops and whistles penetrated Mark’s consciousness and, regretfully, he pulled back. Not far, though. He might be able to find the strength to stop kissing her while on public display, but he didn’t have the strength to let go of her. Not yet. So he held her close, her face nestled against his chest, their breathing ragged yet perfectly synchronized.

He dipped his chin and laid a kiss on her hair. “I love you, Kate.”

She tipped her face back to meet his gaze, her glistening blue eyes shining in the afternoon sun. “I love you too. And I’m never letting you go again. Never.”

He grinned. “That makes two of us.”

Later that evening, Jonah slipped out of the crowded parlor of Harmony House and into the cool breeze. Hearing tales of today’s exploits over and over was wearing his patience thin, though he knew the fault lay with him, not the dozen kids crammed into the parlor. He just needed a few minutes of quiet. He was tired. And sore. And to be honest, a little worried about how things had gone with the sheriff in Llano. Preach still hadn’t made it back yet with his report.

Dr. Jo and Miss Katherine were upstairs fussing over Wallace, concerned he might have a fracture in his left leg. The leg continued to pain him hours after his rescue, but Dr. Jo was sure nothing was out of alignment. She wanted to splint it anyway and had ordered Wallace not to put weight on it for a couple of weeks. Poor bugger. No riding or even much walking. Jonah would go stir-crazy if it were him, but he doubted Wallace would mind having an excuse to hang around the house with Katherine for the next several days.

Jonah rested his arms on the porch railing and released a heavy breath. A movement in the shadows on the ground below him caught his attention. Rawley. The kid sat on the dirt with his back propped against one of the porch piers. He’d snuck out of the house a few minutes before Jonah. Truth be told, his leaving was what had given Jonah the idea to make his own escape. Jonah had been wanting to talk with the kid anyway. Preferably before Rawley’s itchy feet drove him to leave town. With the snatcher situation dealt with, the boy had no reason to stick around.

Yet.

“You on the hunt for fresh air too?” Rawley asked, tipping his head back to meet Jonah’s gaze.