A tiny laugh escaped her.
It surprised both of them.
Then Eleanor’s face hardened again.
“Adrian wasn’t simply my father’s business partner. Father’s will required that I either marry before my twenty-seventh birthday or allow the trustees to administer the controlling shares of the company for another ten years.”
Caleb frowned.
“And Blackwood wanted the shares.”
“He wanted everything.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Six days from now.”
Caleb leaned back.
That explained urgency.
“What made you run now?”
Eleanor looked toward the fire.
“Three weeks ago, I found something.”
She hesitated.
“A ledger.”
“What kind?”
“The kind men kill over.”
Caleb’s fingers went still on the rifle stock.
Eleanor continued.
“My father kept private records. Payments. Land acquisitions. Names of judges. Sheriffs. Railway officials. Men who had been bribed.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Men who had disappeared.”
Caleb said nothing.
“There were entries connected to Adrian. Hundreds.”
The storm moaned against the cabin.
“And you took it?”
“No.”
Caleb’s brow rose.
“I copied certain pages.”
“Where?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Somewhere Adrian’s men didn’t find them.”
Before Caleb could ask more, Jasper brayed from the lean-to outside.
Once.
Sharp.
Warning.
Caleb stood instantly.
Eleanor flinched.
“What is it?”
“Stay here.”
He moved to the window and wiped frost from one corner.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Wind.
Snow.
Then he saw it.
A light between the trees.
Gone.
Another.
Lower down.
Lanterns.
Caleb counted.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Then more shadows.
Horses.
Someone had followed her into the Ironwoods.
Caleb turned from the window.
“How many men did Blackwood send after you?”
Eleanor had gone pale.
“I saw six when I escaped.”
“There are eight outside.”
Her lips trembled.
“Caleb—”
“Put your boots on.”
“They’re soaked.”
“There’s another pair beside the bed.”
She stared.
“They’re yours.”
“So are most things in this cabin.”
He crossed the room, took a cartridge belt from the wall, and buckled it around his waist.
Eleanor watched him load the rifle.
“You said they would kill me.”
“I said they’ll kill you too.”
“Same problem from where I’m standing.”
She rose unsteadily.
Caleb opened a floor chest and pulled out a heavy wool coat.
“Wear this.”
“Where are we going?”
“Out.”
“In that storm?”
“Men expect frightened people to stay beside a fire.”
He pulled on gloves.
“I find it useful not to give people what they expect.”
A fist suddenly pounded against the door.
Eleanor froze.
A man shouted from outside.
“Whitfield!”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed.
They knew his name.
“Federal business!”
Caleb looked at Eleanor.
She shook her head frantically.
“They aren’t federal.”
Another shout.
“We know the woman is inside!”
Caleb extinguished the lamp.
Only the fire remained.
The voice outside hardened.
“Hand over Eleanor Ashford, Whitfield. This doesn’t concern you.”
Caleb stood in darkness.
Then called through the door.
“You climbed four thousand feet through a blizzard.”
Silence outside.
“That makes it my concern.”
A gunshot exploded.
The front window shattered.
Eleanor cried out and dropped.
Caleb fired once through the wall.
A scream answered outside.
Then chaos.
Bullets punched through logs.
