Roderick's Purpose - Ellie St. Clair Page 0,6
had been loyal, like family. In time, however, some had been captured, others killed, and some left for other places or prospects. Doc had replaced them with younger men, but men who were fueled by greed and not by loyalty. She pushed the final incident from her mind, the one that had finally torn the gang in two, causing her and her father to leave, alone. He had protected her and now she alone was responsible for him. She would not — could not — let him down.
“Give up, already, lass!” came the shout from behind her. “It will only be the worse for you should you not cooperate.”
“Never!” she shouted, trying desperately to turn her horse, looking behind her as the man came closer. She turned to the front and shouted with surprise as a fallen tree loomed in front of her. She squeezed her horse tightly as she tried to hold on, but as her majestic mount cleared the branch and landed on the other side, Gwen lost her grip and went flying over the horse’s head, tucking and rolling instinctively so as not to be trampled, although she gasped as she struggled to breathe, while her ankle cried out with enough pain to worry her.
Her first instinct was to jump up and run, but as she tried to stand, her ankle gave out and she came back down hard on the ground as she realized how winded the fall had left her.
The man was at her side in moments, and she gave a final sigh of defeat as she closed her eyes.
Roderick’s heart had nearly stopped as he saw the woman fly over the horse and into the brush. He dismounted before his horse — Donahue, he had named him — even came to a stop, and ran for her side. Please let her be all right, he prayed, though why he was so concerned, he wasn’t sure. At the very least, he could take her horse and would be able to recover whatever it was she had stolen. He saw her try to stand and then crumple to the ground, and he reached her in seconds.
She gave a groan as he gently rolled her from her side onto her back, and when she finally opened her eyes revealing the look of defeat, he knew she would be fine.
“Have ye had your fun?” he ground out, angrier at the panic she had made him feel rather than the fact she had tried to escape. It had been his own fault for giving her even an inch of opportunity. There were enough strong-willed females in his life that he should have known better than to think she wouldn’t be as capable at escape just because she was a woman.
She grunted in response, and he eased a hand under her back. “What hurts you, lass?” He asked. “Do ye think you can sit?”
She nodded and sat up nearly on her own, but when he tried to help her stand, she stumbled into him.
“It’s my ankle,” she said, and by the strain in her voice, he could tell she was trying to mask the pain. He reached down, feeling it. It was swollen and likely strained, but when he moved it around and felt the bone, he didn’t think anything was broken. She attempted to put some weight on it, but when she did, she lifted her foot suddenly, wincing. He didn’t see any other option and bent to lift her.
“What do you think you are doing?” she asked, hopping on one foot away from him.
“Come now,” he said. “You cannot walk, so how do you think you’re going to get away from here? Don’t be daft, now, I’ll just take you to the horse.”
She shook her head vigorously, but despite her desperate wriggling away from him, she had lost most of her fight, and within moments, she was reluctantly in his arms. He clicked his tongue at her horse, which began to follow him, and he tried not to smile at the look of consternation that came over the woman when her horse so willingly listened to him. He had always had a way with horses. All in his family did, with the exception of his sister, Peggy. The only person he had ever seen with even more affinity with them was Finlay’s bride, Kyla, though it seemed this woman had ample experience herself.
As he neared his horse, she began to balk in his arms, realizing what he had