Page 15 of Follow the Lonesome Trail
The bedroom was…pretty. Constance could admit that, despite her continued dismay at the lack of explanation she’d received regarding her kidnapping.
She dabbed her face and neck with the water Tate had brought— who still appeared to be sulking about the whole thing.
How very rude. If anyone should be sulking about anything it should beher. She’d never heard the like. Being kidnapped was one thing, finding out that your kidnappers weren’t even certain they wanted you was entirely another.
When she finished, she walked back towards the front of the cabin, until she came to what looked like a kitchen off the side of the house.
Gideon stood there slicing up a loaf of bread. She coughed discreetly so he would know she was there. He glanced over at her with a resigned expression on his face.
“You know you could have got away from those two nincompoops any time you wanted,” he said, sighing and setting a plate with the slices of bread next to a crock of butter on the little table near the center of the room.
“I did consider it, but I wasn’t paying attention during the train ride, so I really haven’t the faintest idea where I am. It seemed a little foolish to run off and not know where you oughtto go.” She sat down at the table and began to eat. Gideon placed a cup of water next to her plate and sat down across from her.
“Well on behalf of the whole lot of us, I want to apologize,” Gideon began, then paused, looking as if he wanted to say something else.
“Apology accepted,” Constance replied, with a laugh, “provided that you get me back to where I’m supposed to be just as soon as possible.”
“I…am very much afraid I can’t do that, ma’am,” Gideon said, staring at his hands clasped on the tabletop.
Constance blinked. “Well, whyever not?”
“A couple different reasons I’d rather not go into just now.” He met her gaze. “You’re your father’s only child, is that right?”
“I don’t believe I’m going to answer any questions until you answer one or two of mine.” She didn’t like this one bit. The two younger men she’d pegged as a bit ridiculous, but this one appeared to have some common sense. And common sense was oftentimes harder to reason with than ridiculousness.
Gideon sighed heavily then stood. “Why don’t you just finish up while I go talk to the boys, then we’ll figure out what’s to be done with you.”
“Done with me?” she spluttered, but he ignored her as he limped from the room.
She felt her face flush. Why, she had half a mind to go saddle a horse and be gone before he got back! The nerve! Be done with her! She shoved her chair back. Up until now, she thought she’d done a reasonable job at being a good kidnapping victim. Considering the strange attitude of her kidnappers, especially. Besides, one didn’t find an adventure of this sort these days without being in peril of life and limb (and she really hadn’t considered herself to be threatened in any measure much past the beginning). To be perfectly frank, she’d not minded the excitement.
But this was the outside of enough! All three of them needed spanking, by her way of thinking.
She hurried outside and looked around. There, the barn door was still open. She’d bet anything they were inside. As she got closer to the door, she could hear them talking, the words a bit muffled.
“They’ll hang you both!” Gideon was nearly shouting.
“We only wanted to help…” Tate began.
“How is this supposed to help! We don’t even have right on our side anymore.”
“Yes, we do! It’s our land! That big shot can’t just go and take something of ours like that…”
“What, like you took something of his? Do you even hear yourself?”
“We’re sorry, Gid, we didn’t mean to make it worse. We only thought that if we had his kid…and besides we didn’t know she was a girl…”
“You actually mean to tell me you put thought into this? Then there can’t even be half a brain between the two of you, cause this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen anybody do.”
“Well, your way wasn’t working!” Marsh cut in.
“My way was the right way. Even if we lost everything, we still wouldn’t be kidnappers! And train robbers,” Gideon groaned as if the extent of what his brothers had done had hit him all over again. “What’s it gonna matter if we get to hold onto everything if you two are rotting in jail somewhere!”
“They won’t catch us, we made sure we kept our faces covered,” Tate said.
“Oh really, well you’ve got a whole walking, talking, breathing eyewitness sitting in the house just now.”
Silence from inside.
