To Wed in Texas by Jodi Thomas Page A

under the blanket managed to get uncovered.
    She tried to ignore the noise from the back of the wagon. Finally, she slowed and dared a glance.
    Standing in the center of the wagon bed, balancing as best he could was a full-grown, mostly-naked Indian. He fought wildly against the ropes binding him.
    Karlee let out a cry and slowed more. She knew what he was. She’d heard of Plains Indians and how they were wild cold-blooded killers. This must be one. His hair was long and black, his eyes fiery coals, his body, all that she could see, which was most of him, was the warm brown of the earth.
    “I’m going to be killed,” she mumbled even though the man’s hands were tied behind his back and his mouth gagged. “We’ll be murdered right here on the road and no one will find us because of the fire and we’ll be buzzard meat. I’ve read the dime novels, I know,” shesaid to herself. “The wild savages have to kill a few people and the women and children are always the first to go.”
    She glanced again. He’d taken a step toward her and the twins. One arm was almost free of the ropes.
    “Sit down!” she yelled the order as if she expected to be obeyed.
    He looked like he could beat them all to death even with his hands tied.
    “I got a gun!” She tried to make her words a growl.
    He didn’t show any sign of understanding, or caring. His eyes blazed through her with such hatred the stare might kill her. His chest heaved up and down like a bull preparing to charge.
    Her grip of the reins tightened. She stared back at him and tried not to look frightened out of her skin.
    The twins began to cry.
    He had no right to scare the children. Anger mixed with the fear in her blood. “Stop frightening the children!” she screamed at him.
    The twins cried louder.
    Wolf had told her to be gentle with the monster he’d so carelessly thrown into her wagon. She’d not have the girls frightened out of a year’s growth by any man, monster or not.
    “I said sit down!” She slapped at the horses. Maybe she could make it to the Buchanans before he killed her. She’d never win in a fight, but she could drive.
    A sudden jolt shook the wagon, but Karlee didn’t slow down. She slapped the horses again and glanced back to see how near death hovered.
    The man was gone!
    Karlee pulled the leather so hard she felt it cut into her palms. “He must have jumped out,” she said aloud. “I’ll tell Wolf that’s what happened and we’ll be done with the wild man.”
    She looked at the girls, who were both shaking their heads as though they’d come loose during the ride.
    “He didn’t jump out?” Karlee shook her head at the same rate.
    “He bounced up,” one said with a sniffle.
    “And over,” the other finished.
    Karlee turned the team and headed back. After a few yards, she stopped and tied the reins. “Stay still, girls,” she ordered as she climbed down from the bench. “I’d better go the rest of the way back alone.”
    Clinching her fingers around the derringer in her pocket, she ventured forward. If he wasn’t already dead, she might just shoot him for being such a bother.
    She hadn’t gone twenty feet behind the wagon when she saw the prisoner lying in the center of the road. The moon shone off his bare skin. He lay flat with his arms and legs outstretched, his ropes circling his body loosely.
    “I’ve killed him! Wolf said be gentle, so I killed him.” She ran to the man and lifted his mud-covered head. “First, I almost kill Wolf. Now, I murder his bloodthirsty savage.”
    “No one in their right mind jumps out of a traveling wagon on their head,” she reprimanded, as if he’d had a choice. “I didn’t kill you. You killed yourself. I told you to sit down.”
    She leaned down into his face and felt his slow breathing against her cheek. He was still alive!
    Karlee gripped his arm and dragged him back to the wagon. He didn’t seem to weigh all that much. He must be her height, but he was thinner than a lean