Page 70 of Falling for the Cowgirl
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Ivy stumbled ahead of Hance, nearly bumping her head against the ceiling of the passageway.
How had she been so wrong about him and missed the signs that he was such a brute? This was all her fault. If only she hadn’t run off to go treasure hunting, especially with a man she barely knew. In fact, she’d been downright immature about stringing Hance along to make Jericho jealous, that’s what. And it was past time she grew up and started acting like an adult.
Behind them, Otis held a lantern he’d retrieved from the supplies the other men had brought along. The light guided them through the hazy tunnel. With her hands tied together in front of her, she had a difficult time crawling but forced herself to keep going, especially with Hance using the tip of his knife to urge her along.
When they finally made it to the back cave and were standing, Hance once again pressed the knife to her neck. The skinthere stung and was sticky with blood already. As the blade bit into her flesh, she pinched her eyes closed and prayed.
If ever in her life she’d needed divine help, now was the time, now as she worked to free them from the mess she’d gotten them into.
“Hurry up and show us where it’s buried, Bliss.” Hance motioned impatiently.
Jericho dropped to his knees in front of the embers of their fire. He swept the ashes aside and ran his fingers along a groove, his hands still bound and making the effort more difficult.
As soon as he opened the hiding place and these men got their hands on the treasure, they’d have no need for Jericho and her. Hance wouldn’t think twice about murdering them, throwing their bodies into the charred woods, and then setting them on fire to make it seem like they’d gotten trapped and burned to death.
That was why she had to act now. “Jericho Bliss, you’ve got about as much spine as a snail.”
He paused and shot her a dark look.
“That’s right, figured you’d try to stand up for us, for me. But you’re just too weak, ain’t you?” She worked her expression into one of disgust. She didn’t mean a word of what she was saying, but if she could cause a commotion, then she might be able to distract the men enough that she could break loose. And once she was well away from any threat, then Jericho could fight, even if only with the knife in his boot that they hadn’t confiscated yet.
Jericho kept digging, not taking the bait. “It would be easier to lift the stone with a knife.”
The knife against her neck wavered, then Hance shovedher toward Otis. “Hold on to her and don’t let her go for anything.”
Otis fumbled but clamped his fingers around her arm, then pressed his gun into her side. From what she could tell, all four of their captors were armed. But Otis wasn’t as strong as Hance. Could she wrestle the gun from him and shoot Hance while he was busy with the gold?
She had to continue making everyone think she was mad at Jericho and cause an upheaval. “You were aimin’ to get the gold and hightail it away from me as fast as you could go.”
“Stop talking, Ivy.” Jericho ground the words out.
“Oh, so now you’re back to acting like my brother?”
He focused on digging his fingers into the crevice while Hance slid his knife down inside and began to try to heft the stone upward.
“I thought we’d moved past that.” She lobbed the accusation with as much derision as she could muster.
“We have.”
Hance released a choice cuss word. “You know what I did to my wife when she sassed off to me? I made sure she knew I was in charge.”
“I ain’t sassing.”
Jericho slanted her a dark glare. “This isn’t the time or place to discuss this.”
She was making Jericho madder than a cornered skunk, but if she could save their lives, it didn’t matter. “After all the kissing, I reckoned you were done bossing me around like I’m nothin’ more than a child. But I guess I was wrong.” She’d raised her voice with each word until she was practically shouting.
At the mention of kissing, she could feel Otis’s gripslacken. The other two men shifted to look at her, something changing in their eyes, something hungry and dangerous.
Maybe she shouldn’t have spoken so freely about the kissing, but it was too late now. She was causing a ruckus and had to keep going. Even Hance was getting distracted by the arguing. “All along you were just hankerin’ to get me in your bed before riding away, weren’t you?”
“Blast it all, Ivy!” Jericho sat back on his heels, scowling.
It was the perfect moment to strike. With Hance’s knife wedged in the stone, Jericho had a fighting chance. She just had to get Otis’s gun first. With a firm nod at Jericho, she squared her shoulders.
“No!” he shouted.
