Compromised Hearts by Hannah Howell Page B

far more visible and seemed to be more a part of everyday life than in Boston, a continually growing city that was not without its violent places and people. She could only hope that, if they got out of this confrontation alive, her brother’s home and the town he lived in would not prove to be as wild and dangerous.
    The shooting seemed to go on for hours, but Emily felt sure her mind exaggerated the length of the battle. Her eyes hurt from staring so fixedly at Cloud. She felt a pang of guilt over her neglect of James, who was in equal danger, but knew that, if the battle started up again, she would do the same. Although she would grieve if anything happened to James, the thought of any harm coming to Cloud made fear grip her by the throat. When it came down to the line, he was far more important to her.
    “Is it Injuns, Mama?”
    She forced a smile to her lips and kissed Thornton’s forehead. “No, my sweet boy, not really. It is just a lot of bad men.”
    “Uncle Cloud and Uncle James’ll make ‘em go away.” He patted her hand. “Don’t you be afraid.”
    “How could I be afraid with three brave men to protect me?” Her smile came more naturally when the little boy’s thin chest puffed out with pride. “We will just sit here and be quiet and soon it will be over.” She hugged him when he nodded, then turned herattention back to Cloud wishing she was near enough to hear what he and James so intently discussed.
    “One round finished. Think that’ll be the end of it?” James began to recount his supply of ammunition.
    After studying the group of renegades for a moment, Cloud shook his head and cursed softly. “Nope. They’re either real stupid or real stubborn. ‘Course, when you don’t care squat for anybody, it’s easy to throw lives away through sheer pigheadedness.”
    “Even though they don’t know if we’ve got anything worth dying for or not?”
    Forcing himself not to glance at Emily, Cloud sighed. “We don’t know that. One of them could’ve spotted us. Could’ve seen that we had some fine horseflesh, a cart full of goods—and one woman.” He nodded when James cursed. “Emily’d bring a fine purse from any number of sources.”
    “And if they saw her when she didn’t have her bonnet on… .” James shook his head.
    “Some don in Mexico’d pay a king’s ransom for a woman with hair like that.”
    “And there’s plenty of unscrupulous bastards between here and the border that’d buy her quick too. Here, look, one of ‘em is approaching slow with a flag of truce.” He watched the man edging towards them, a dirty white handkerchief tied to a stick.
    “We know who’s in there,” the man called.
    “That’s odd. I don’t recollect you,” Cloud replied, “but then, I try to avoid scum.”
    Emily gasped softly over that inflammatory remark. The man clearly wished to negotiate. It seemed unwise to slap him in the face before he had even uttered his terms. She said nothing, however. Her ignorance of the area and the people in it had been well displayed more times than she cared to recall. She would be silent and assume that Cloud knew what he was doing. He had so far, bringing them safely through an area littered with dangers.
    “That ain’t real smart, mister. We know there’s only two men, one brat, and a woman in there.”
    After cursing viciously under his breath, Cloud muttered, “They did see us. How the hell did I miss them?”
    “You ain’t got a chance.”
    “We haven’t been doing so bad. Looks to me like you’ve got four, five men dead or wounded and we’re still here.”
    “You won’t be much longer. We can keep you pinned down in there for days if we have to. Look, send out the woman and we’ll let you two and the brat leave safely.”
    “He really thinks I’m that stupid?”
    “Cloud?” Emily called softly.
    “Nope.”
    “I have not said anything yet.” “You don’t have to, Em. I know what you’re going to say. The answer’s no.”