But Leah was different. She hadn’t taken Abe’s word that they were stupid and she’d been kind to them.
“Leah takes on everyone’s problems,” Wesley muttered. “Will you help her escape?”
Bud and Cal looked at each other. “She will not go without you. Abe says that if she leaves he will tell Revis where you are.”
“Revis would kill you,” Cal said flatly. “He does not like other men touching his women.”
“Neither do I!” Wesley snapped before beginning to question the men about all of Revis’s operation. Wes knew that thieves had been robbing the westward travelers for years, before Revis came west. All Bud and Cal knew was that Revis reported to someone called the Dancer and they knew nothing about him.
“I’d like to find out who this Dancer is,” Wesley said thoughtfully.
The men rose. “We have to return now. Revis will be back. You just get well and we will watch out for your pretty lady.”
“She is a lady, isn’t she?” Wes said as they left.
Now he sat alone, thinking over what he’d just heard. He was impressed, very impressed, that Leah was risking so much to protect him. Thinking back over their marriage, he hadn’t done much to make her love him. For just a moment he thought of Kimberly and wondered how she’d have reacted in the same situation. He was certain Kim would never risk her pretty neck or her cherished virginity to help anyone.
“I’ll make it up to you, Leah,” he whispered into the darkness. Right now he must leave Leah’s protection to the boys, but when he was well and didn’t think he might bleed to death at the least movement, he was going to protect her himself. And further, he was going to see if he could do a little more for her than just be a burden.
Chapter 18
Leah didn’t sleep much that night. She kept having terrible dreams about all that could happen to Wesley alone in that cabin. Who knew what these woods held? That bear they’d seen could tear down the door and get him. Or even worse, Revis could find him and put a bullet through his heart.
When she woke, her head hurt and her eyes were swollen.
“You better stop lookin’ like that,” Abe said as she started breakfast. “Revis likes pretty women.”
“I don’t care what your Revis likes. I’ll do what I please.”
Abe leaned closer to her. “It better please you to please him or it just might please me to tell him the whereabouts of your rich lover.”
With shaking hands, Leah returned to the skillet full of frying bacon.
It wasn’t until after breakfast, when she’d cleared everything away and was starting the noon meal, that she saw Revis. He was leaning against the side of the cabin, trimming his nails with a long, thin-bladed knife.
Leah jumped, then put her chin up and walked past him.
He caught her hair and wrapped it about his wrist, pulling her toward him. “So, the lady’s too good to speak to the thief.”
“Leave me alone! I don’t want your attentions and I have work to do. Bud and Cal—.”
He jerked her head back. “You’ll regret turning them against me,” he said, putting his lips near hers.
Leah saw him smile then felt a tug at her head. The next moment he pushed her away and held up a long strand of her hair in triumph. Leah’s hand flew to the back of her head, feeling the ragged edge where he’d cut it. As she ran into the house, Revis’s laugh followed her.
All day Leah worked herself nearly to the breaking point, cooking, cleaning, ignoring Abe’s jibes, protecting Verity, who cried when any man came too near her.
And everywhere she looked, Revis seemed to be there watching her. He’d suddenly appear out of the forest or from behind the woodpile or he’d be standing silently in a corner of the cabin. He never got close enough to touch her, since after he’d cut away her hair either Bud or Cal was always close to her. Twice Leah caught Revis looking at the boys as if in speculation.
At sundown Revis disappeared and not long afterward Leah told Bud she was going to visit her husband. The big man nodded once and Leah wasn’t really sure if he understood her or not. If she ever got time, she was going to find out if the young men were as stupid as Abe said they were.
“You better be back here afore Revis comes back,” Abe warned, but Leah ignored him.
The lying was what was destroying her, Leah decided as she trudged up the mountainside. She seemed to be telling everyon
e a different story. Wesley was lying alone in a cabin, no doubt cursing his luck at being stuck with a Simmons. He’d decided to stay married to Leah because she was more “fun,” but where was the pleasure now?
When Leah opened the cabin door, Wesley knew he’d never seen a more forlorn-looking person. She looked so miserable he almost wanted to laugh. Ever since he’d known her no matter what was dished out to her, she fought back. He never felt guilty about telling her what he thought because if she disagreed, she did so loudly.