A Heart's Blessing - Linda Ford Page 0,50

the trees.

“I don’ tole you to make sure they weren’t gonna get loose. Now lookit.” Emmet cursed as both men scrambled to their feet in pursuit.

Ryder signaled the children to be quiet as he pulled his knife from his pocket, cut the rawhide tying them to a tree, and scooped up Sally.

Delcie grabbed Kent’s hand and they pounded after Ryder.

They reached the horse. The poor animal would have to carry all four of them. But it was their only hope of escape.

Ryder put the children on the horse then swung into the saddle and pulled Delcie up behind him. “Everyone hang on.” He kicked the horse into a lumbering gait, and they bounced across the grassy field. They reached a grove of trees and skirted it. Hopefully, that put them out of sight of the men who would soon be pursuing them.

Delcie didn’t dare look back for fear of seeing them.

They reached another grove of trees, but rather than try and ride through, Ryder again rode around it. He glanced back. “I hope we’re out of sight.”

“They’re gonna follow us.” Kent’s voice was high and thin with fear.

Sally sobbed quietly. “I’se scared.”

“We’re here with you now,” Ryder said. “We’ll take care of you.”

“One of them has a gun.” Kent sounded so afraid that it made Delcie angry. Children should not be subject to such fears.

“They won’t know where you’ve gone,” Ryder said in an attempt to calm the children.

Delcie wondered if it worked any better for them than it did for her. She was not calmed. But now that she had the children, she wouldn’t give them up to anyone, gun or no gun.

They rode on. Ryder kept to the lower areas. She figured it was so the kidnappers couldn’t see them. He rode west.

“Do you know where you’re going?” she whispered in his ear.

He leaned back to answer. “We’ll be hard to see against the glare of the lowering sun.”

She hadn’t thought of that. Good thing he had.

They skirted another grove of trees.

The horse had begun to labor.

“We’ll have to stop and let the poor animal rest,” Ryder said. He pulled to a halt by some trees. Delcie caught his arm and slipped to the ground. He followed.

“Don’t stop. Bad men will get us.” Sally cried, almost hysterical.

Kent was white around his mouth and his eyes were far too wide.

Delcie wanted to reassure them they were safe but how could she? They were lost and by now likely being pursued.

Ryder pressed a hand to each child’s back. “We’re not stopping, but the horse can’t carry all of us. You two ride and we’ll walk. Now if my reckoning is right, there must be a road near here. You two are up higher, you keep a sharp lookout and let us know when you see it.”

He walked on one side of the horse, Delcie on the other. It seemed the best way to protect the children though she longed to be next to Ryder and his strength.

Kent peered ahead, looking for a road. Delcie was too weary to do more than wonder if it was simply Ryder’s way of distracting the children. She had no idea where they were or if they headed toward town or away from it.

Then she realized they were going more south than west—at least if her sense of direction was correct.

They plodded onward as the light faded from the land.

Ryder came around the horse to join her. “We’ll have to stop soon,” he whispered.

Kent managed to hang on to the saddle horn as Sally slept in his arms. “The road,” Kent said. “I see the road.” Indeed, a few more steps and they were on a hard-packed dusty road.

Ryder turned left and followed it. “We might be able to keep going longer now that we have a trail to follow.” They had gone only a short distance when he stopped them. “Quiet. I hear something ahead.”

Could the kidnappers have caught them? It was entirely too possible.

She looked around. There were trees to the right. She grabbed Sally. “Kent, get down. We are going to hide.”

She took the children’s hands and hightailed it to the shelter of the trees. She hunkered down and pulled them close. “Be very quiet.”

Sally pressed her hands to her mouth.

Lord God, make seeing eyes blind.

Ryder wanted nothing so much as to go with Delcie and the children but he reasoned he could ride up to the men and act like he had left them to fend for themselves though it about