"I'm here!" I shouted back, the man turning and running along the bank. Even with one arm injured, he moved quickly.
I heard Tagg and Garrett before I saw them. Tagg sprinted in the man's wake, but he had disappeared into the trees up the bank. "Sarah, who was that man?" Garrett asked, kneeling down before me, his eyes raking over my body.
"He was looking for Devney."
"Devney?" He paused, realizing there must be more of a story than needed to be told on the bank of the creek and asked a more immediate question. "Are you hurt?"
Tagg jogged toward us, knelt down next to his brother, breathing heavily.
I shook my head, my heart still beating frantically. "No. He didn't hurt me."
Tagg held out a hand and helped me to my feet. "Can you walk?" he asked.
I nodded. "He...he scared me." The rush from the incident was quickly fading and I felt vulnerable and weak.
Tagg pulled me into his arms and held me tightly as I cried. A hand ran over my tangled hair and I knew it was Garrett. Together, they soothed me until I was all cried out. Then, and only then, did Tagg pick me up and carry me from the creek back to the house, up the stairs and into his room. There, he sat on the edge of the bed with me once again in his lap. Garrett followed behind and pulled up a chair to sit in front of us.
"You're safe now. No one's going to hurt you," Garrett murmured, perhaps as much for himself as for me. He ran a hand over his face.
"Who was he?" Tagg asked, tilting his head slightly.
"I don't remember his name, but he came to my father's ranch after he died. He must have heard of it because he wanted to marry Devney."
"As his widow she inherited the ranch," Garrett stated.
I nodded against Tagg's chest. His steady heartbeat was just as soothing as his arms holding me close.
"He was insistent and she shot at him. He fled, but it seems she hit his arm, and only enflamed his anger and interest in her."
"He thought you knew where she is?" Tagg asked.
"Yes, he was watching me. Us. He...he saw us fucking earlier."
Tagg's arms tightened about me briefly and Garrett's eyes narrowed in anger.
"He's been waiting to approach me about Devney, but I don't know where she is, really. The sheriff said she'd married a Bridger, but I don't know where they would be."
The men looked at each other briefly, both looking grim and ready to kill the man. "It's too late now, but tomorrow we'll head to town to tell Ian and warn the Bridgers. If Devney belongs to Sam now, then he'll keep her safe. Hell, any of the Bridgers will keep her safe."
"You don't have to worry about Devney," Tagg added.
"I was so scared," I repeated my earlier words.
Garrett's jaw clamped tight and I worried he might break a tooth. "He's a dangerous man."
"I wasn't scared of him. He needed me alive and whole to help find Devney."
Tagg stiffened beneath me. "That is not what I like to hear - my woman being used as bait."
"I was scared that you'd think I ran away. That I left you with another man."
"With our seed in your belly, down your thighs?" Garrett growled.
"When you found me, I wanted to escape, to continue with my plan," I added.
Both men paused.
Garrett's ice blue eyes pierced into me. His whole body coiled tight as if ready to strike. "And now?"