Gold Dust Widow: The Story of an Outlaw's Revenge

Chapter 21: Clara

Thomas had Lady and I galloping across the plains and through the red canyons. We slowed as we reached the fir forest, Thomas allowed me to slip off Lady, but he tied my hands to his belt, and guided all of us through the pine undergrowth.

The sky continued to darken above us, threatening a great thunderstorm. As I watched my step, my thoughts slipped constantly back to Jasper. The last time I was caught in a storm, I'd been a prisoner as well, but with Jasper... It was different. He was different.

There was a bittersweetness to my current conundrum. I had tried to escape him more than once, and barely succeeded, until he found me again. And now, I'd only slipped away to go hunting, for people who I didn't even know, and had definitely escaped him. Helping them, that's what he'd wanted to do. That's why he was a lawman. And he'd wanted me to help as well.

My guard had been down with Thomas, that was for certain. I had felt safe with Jasper near me, making decisions with me, promising to help me. I'd gone soft; my thoughts had shifted from revenge, to a future. A life filled with Jasper, one that I'd never imagined having again. Or even desiring again.

And yet, despite myself, a prisoner again with a strange man, I couldn't help but yearn for that life even more.

Was I tired of the outlaw life? Had I ridden through this desert enough? Had I been a prisoner, beaten, had a gun held to my head enough?

Would Jasper even want me? To roll in the hay, I knew he did. But as a wife?

I shook my head, trying to knock the thoughts out of my head. That life had once been taken from me, so brutally, so violently. I couldn't face that type of pain again. I couldn't live like that again, I was constantly afraid; I had to protect my heart.

I dropped my head to look at the locket that I wore around my neck, the metal warm against my clammy skin. I would give anything to hold Jamie again. Anything. He deserved a mother who could protect him. At least, in the next life, he could rest peacefully with George.

Hardening my resolve, I glanced towards Thomas, who was stumbling through the undergrowth, his hurt leg seriously slowly us down. But he kept his pistol on me, and despite my instincts to fight him, I knew he was just that much bigger and stronger than me. And ultimately, he'd win.

So I resorted to another tactic. I talked in circles, asking him questions, reminding him of the impending weather, complaining about my empty stomach and then just talking him through all of my grandmother's bread recipes. And then I talked about soap. Which was the subject that had most men wincing.

In all my years, on the ranch or in the desert, I'd realised that nothing annoyed a man more than a woman talking. And I had no desire to go easy on him.

We were shifting through the thick canopy of fir trees when the first booming thunder echoes above our heads.

"Lavender is my particular favourite," I was informing him. "Because the colour is just lovely, and the scent is quite strong. It is however, difficult to get lavender out here. Back home, there was more lavender. Now, lavender is also easy to just toss into soap. However, if you want the colour of your soap to be purple, it takes a little more work."

Lady snorted unhappily next to me. She was a beautiful creature, fierce, fearless and strong. But she didn't like to get wet.

I cooed gently to her, glancing through the pine needles at the dark purple sky, illuminated with bright streaks of lightening. The air was heavy with water.

Thomas was also glaring at the sky.

"Why don't you just leave me here?" I suggested.

"You are coming with me," he growled, finally answering me after hours of my talking at him.