Chapter 11

She tried to scream, but the hand sealed away any chance for sound to escape. She fought to free herself, trying to move her lips enough to bite down on the flesh covering her face. She had to alert—

"Do not fight, little sister."

The voice almost didn't register in her panic. Its tone and cadence were too familiar. Rote, like something she heard every day.

"Faith."

He spoke her name just as her mind was beginning to comprehend, her racing heart slowing enough to realize. But she couldn't piece together exactly what... She eased her fighting and craned to see the face of the one who held her.

White Horse?

She couldn't say his name with that foul-tasting paw over her mouth, but she could see just enough of his profile to know for certain.

The man she and all her sisters considered like a brother ... was attacking her? Surely not.

He eased around in front of her, loosening his hold around her body. He didn't remove his hand from her mouth right away, but as soon as she could jerk her head back, she did so.

Then she scowled at him.

He motioned for her to be quiet.

She kept her voice to a whisper, but she didn't try to hide her ire. "What are you doing?" A new thought struck. Had Rosemary come too? She wouldn't have sent White Horse by himself to find Faith; she would have wanted to be part of the search.

Faith glanced around for her eldest sister. No sign of her, but Grant and Skeet had spotted Two Bit running free. They were already starting to call for her.

She spun back to White Horse. "Why are you here? You don't need to hide. I'll tell them you're my friend."

He shook his head. "Another looks to hurt them. They will not believe. I need talk to you. Tell them you need tree alone."

She shot him a look. "I'm not going back to the ranch, if that's what you've come to talk about. I'm looking for your mother." That should turn his thinking.

Grant had spotted her and was riding her way. She had to distract them. Or maybe she really should introduce White Horse as her friend. Would they believe he wasn't the one who'd been following them? The person who attacked Grant last night?

She spun and strode toward Grant. No reason to chance such a debacle. The last thing she wanted was to put White Horse in danger. Besides, he might not be willing to keep up her disguise as a man. She certainly didn't need that to ruin her search. She'd not had a chance to tell him about the ruse anyway.

She summoned a smile for Grant. "I didn't mean to worry you. I needed a moment to myself and tied Two Bit to a tree, but I guess he pulled loose." She glanced to the narrow stream where Skeet sat on his horse, holding her gelding's reins as both animals drank. "I'm glad you caught him."

She moved her focus back to Grant. "I'll just be another minute, then I'll be ready to keep riding." She waited for him to turn his horse and ride back to the others.

He didn't, so she stood there. Waiting. He must know what she meant.

Still, he eyed her. As though he suspected something more. His frown seemed stronger than he'd show from a lingering headache.

She shot a look at the rest of the group. "They're going to be ready to ride and looking for me. I need a minute."

His mouth pressed in a thin line, but he finally turned and nudged his mount back the way he'd come. Without saying a word.

The knot in her middle coiled tighter. But she didn't have the time to worry about Grant and whether he suspected something amiss. Or whether he was disappointed in her lying to him just now. Even as the thought squeezed in her chest, she pushed it away and moved back behind the tree that hid White Horse.

She scowled at him again. "Why are you here?" She didn't bother asking how he'd found her. White Horse had ways of knowing things that seemed impossible to know. Which was why it seemed so strange he hadn't located his mother yet.

That thought she pushed away as well. She could only hope he hadn't been trailing her all the way since the rendezvous.

A new suspicion slipped in. One she had to know the answer to. She braced her hands on her hips. "Did Rosie send you to follow me when I first left the ranch? Even when I was with Elise and Goes Ahead?"

A tiny grin touched his eyes, but he shook his head. "I trade two spotted horses at rendezvous. See you look like boy warrior. Follow."

Heat flamed up her neck, though she tried to stop it. To cover, she shook her head. "I'm not going back with you. This group is going to trap in an area that has a whole bunch of waterfalls. I think I'll find Steps Right there."

He stared at her. She met his gaze, letting her glare fall away, but also making sure he saw the depth of her determination.

He formed his own scowl. "Your sisters will not wish this."

She rolled her eyes. "Rosie, you mean. She still thinks I'm with the missionaries. I'll be back before she has a chance to worry."

Sadness touched his gaze, and maybe a bit of his own worry. His expressions were hard to read sometimes. "She concerns from her love."

She couldn't help a little smile at his wording. "I know. But I think she's forgotten about another love, that for our father. He pleaded with us to find your mother. To make certain she received the necklace back." She pressed a fist over her heart. "I have to do this for him. I can't let it rest the way my sisters have been able to."

Again, his brow lowered in what looked like a scowl. That stemmed from worry too.

She stepped forward and rested a hand on his arm. "I'll be safe. Most of the men think I'm a boy. There's one, Grant, who knows who I am, and he's helping make sure I stay safe. Tell Rosie I'll be back around the same time I would have been before."

He looked down at her hand covering his loose cotton tunic. Then his gaze lifted to her eyes, and his own showed he was on the cusp of a decision. Had already made it but was calculating whether he should still change his mind.

At last he spoke, his gaze still hard on hers. "I go with you. Just we two. Leave these others. I know the water falling you speak of. We go to them, look for my mother. Then go to your sisters."

She caught her breath. That wasn't quite what she intended, but ... would it be better? Traveling with White Horse would certainly be safer and more pleasant than being servant to these men. Except for Grant...

She couldn't let him figure into her decision, though. Maybe they'd meet again later.

Taking in a breath for courage, she nodded. "All right. I'll go with you." She hesitated. How would it be best to leave the group? Should she tell them about White Horse? Or just that she was heading out on her own?

"I'll go too."

The voice broke through her thoughts, and she spun to find its source.

Grant stood behind her, his expression a determined mask as he stepped forward. His gaze flicked between her and White Horse, and her insides clenched tighter.

She motioned toward her old friend. "This is White Horse, the one I told you about who's a partner with my sisters and me on the ranch. His mother is the one I'm looking for."

Grant gave a single nod as his gaze met White Horse's. "Hello."

White Horse only made a sound, and she dared a glance his way. He didn't show much of his thoughts in his expression, but she could make out distrust.

She tried to redirect his attention. "This is Grant Allen. He's been a good friend, helping me and making sure I'm not in danger."

White Horse's mouth only pinched tighter. He would need to see Grant's kindness before he was convinced. Better to address Grant's comments now.

She turned to him. "You're looking for your brother, though. Shouldn't you stay with this group so they can take you to him?"

Again, Grant flicked his focus to White Horse before honing on her. His voice softened a little when he spoke. "I've questioned them enough that I think I can find Will with the directions they've given. I actually think he could be near the cluster of waterfalls on my map. At least, along that same river." The lines at the corners of his eyes tightened. "I'd much rather travel with you than them. For one, we'll be moving faster. I'll reach Will sooner. And maybe I can help find Steps Right."

His words drew a longing inside her. This way she wouldn't have to say good-bye. Not yet, anyway.

She glanced back at White Horse. He still didn't look happy about a stranger tagging along. Would he refuse to allow it? Even if she pleaded? Surely she wouldn't have to resort to that. Surely these two men could simply get along.

She squared her shoulders and nodded to White Horse. "Grant is right. I trust him, and if we're both going to the same area, it makes sense we travel together." She put all the pleading she could in her gaze, willing White Horse to understand.

At first, he barely looked at her. But when he did glance her way, he must have seen her silent begging. He blinked once, something he rarely did in conversation. It was almost as though he was trying to shake off the effects of her efforts to persuade.

She pressed harder, adding words. "He'll be a benefit to us. I'd like to have him along."

White Horse met her gaze once more, and his begrudging showed clearly in his slow nod. Then he turned his focus on Grant, his eyes as imposing as a stormy sky. "You ride with us." Unspoken was a warning she didn't want to unpack.

Relief eased through her, and she exhaled a shaky breath. "Good." Turning, she leaned around the tree to see the rest of the group. "Do you think Parson will be angry at our leaving?"

"Maybe. I'll do the talking."

She looked at Grant, but he'd already started toward the others. So she turned back to White Horse. "Stay here. We'll come back to you."

She needn't have bothered. White Horse would move around as he saw fit. But it felt good to say something, as if she had some modicum of control over this situation.

She didn't. But pretending so helped the jumble of her nerves.

Was she making a mistake setting off with these two men? Men she cared about, though in different ways.

Men who'd already started off at odds with each other.

"Well, I must say it's a relief to finally be a female again."

Though his head still throbbed from being conked last night, Grant eyed Faith, who rode ahead of him, beside the brave. She'd always been a female, but he certainly didn't need her to flaunt that fact. He'd had enough trouble keeping his thoughts reined in when she was plastering mud on her face and dressed in men's garb. If she allowed her womanly features more visibility, well...

Beside her, White Horse sent her a look but didn't say anything. The man was a quiet sort, but he spoke English well enough that his quiet seemed more from preference than difficulty with the language.

Faith had spoken of him as a partner with their ranch, that he'd become such a good friend she and her sisters thought of him like a brother. Grant hadn't expected that to be as true as it now appeared to be.

She rolled her eyes at the man when she was flustered, used a pleading gaze that no man—brother or otherwise—could deny, and seemed so comfortable in his presence that she'd looked relieved to set off with him alone into the mountain wilderness. To a place where only he knew the route. He could intend any sort of harm and she would be an easy victim.

Grant hadn't been able to let her go alone with the stranger. Even if White Horse really was as good a man as Faith thought him, he likely didn't think of her as a sister. What man could spend so much time around Faith Collins and not appreciate her spirit and determination? Where Faith was concerned, a single admiring thought quickly slid into an attraction that consumed far too much of his time.

Even if he could have no future with her—which he couldn't, he had to keep reminding himself of that—he could at least help protect her virtue on this journey.

Appearances and reputations might mean next to nothing in this wild mountain country but being violated—or worse—would be devastating for her. He couldn't let that happen.

He wouldn't.

Parson hadn't been pleased to lose his two camp keepers, but Grant did his best not to burn a bridge with the man, thanking him for allowing them to travel along this far. He'd left the pack mule with Parson, since both the animal and most of the supplies it carried belonged to the group.

As their trail climbed higher up the slope, the rocky ground turned more jagged. The sky was beginning to darken too, turning a steel gray that cast a pall over the air around them.

White Horse saw it too, for his gaze kept lifting upward. Finally, he spoke. "The rains come before dark. We make camp." He shifted his mount off the trail, down the slope at an angle toward a cluster of tall pines growing on the mountainside. Hopefully they could also find water in the area.

As they dismounted, the wind picked up, rattling through the trees and tugging at his coat. They worked quickly to unfasten the packs they'd need, then White Horse took the animals. "I take to grass."

There seemed such a small amount on this rocky slope, he'd have to move them frequently. But White Horse would find the heartiest section, no doubt.

Grant turned to Faith, who already knelt beside the food pack. "I'll gather firewood. Then we can set up a cover before the rain starts."

When he returned with enough branches to see them through a meal, Faith had already lit a small flame using the dry tinder they carried with them. She sent him a smile as he laid the logs near her.

A crack of thunder covered her words, and the lingering distant rumble made his pulse pick up. He needed to tie up an oilcloth posthaste.

White Horse returned as he was unfolding the cover, and the two of them worked in silence, tying the ends to trees. The man seemed competent and easy in his movements. He didn't send any glares toward Grant, just focused on working together to set up camp.

By the time they had things settled, the first drops of rain began to fall, and soon the sky opened up in a steady downpour. Faith had put together a simple meal of dried meat and johnnycakes, and they huddled close to the fire as they ate.

Even though they had the oilcloth above and the pine branches over that, the ground beneath them quickly became mud from water running down the slope.

They would all be soaked before this night was through.