Read Online Belle Gone Bad by Sabine Starr - Free Book Online Page B

dust.
    He watched her go, enjoying the fine view. She was as delectable as one of Mama Lou’s famous muffins.
    They were coming up on the Red River. Indian Territory lay on the north side. Maybe the river would be low enough to easily cross. If not, they’d have to ride along the high bank to locate a good crossing point. It all depended on Belle finding tracks and where they led.
    She’d stopped ahead, so he urged Kirby to catch up. When he rode up beside her, she slipped out of her saddle and knelt on the ground.
    â€œFind our pacer?” He watched as she gently touched several hoofprints and then glanced up at him with a smile on her face.
    â€œI believe so.” She stood and walked around the area, checking several more hoofprints. “Two horses. One is a pacer.”
    â€œDiana and her kidnapper?”
    She nodded. “I’d say the rider on the pacer holds the reins of the second horse.”
    â€œMakes sense.”
    â€œIf he’s in a hurry, that’s a slow way to travel.”
    â€œMaybe he thought he had enough of a head start.”
    She shrugged as she walked toward the river.
    â€œDid they cross over here?” he called.
    She nodded, as if confirming something to herself, and then came back. “Looks like it.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œDoesn’t it strike you as odd that the kidnapper made no attempt to cover his tracks, or take a more indirect route?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI see a couple of possibilities. One, he’s completely sure of his getaway. Two, he wants us to follow him.”
    â€œWhy would he want us to follow? And how would he know it’d be us?”
    â€œRemember what I said about a partner in the Bend?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhat if somebody knew Diana was working with you? What if somebody knew I was on my way to Delaware Bend?”
    â€œWhat if it didn’t matter who went after Diana?”
    â€œI think it does.”
    He looked back toward the Bend, expecting to see the dust of a rider gaining on them. He saw nothing.
    â€œMight be a trap,” Belle said.
    â€œWe don’t know anything for sure.”
    â€œI don’t like the feel of this, from Diana to the pacer. It’s too obvious. Outlaws don’t stay one step ahead of the law by being dumb.”
    â€œLet’s say you’re right. What do you think is going on?”
    â€œI wish I knew.”
    â€œYou aren’t trying to get me to turn back, are you?”
    Belle shook her head and gestured at the Red River. “Let’s assume somebody is watching us, or at least knows our whereabouts.”
    â€œBut it won’t stop us.”
    â€œNo, it won’t. We follow the trail laid out for us, but we stay alert. Somewhere down the line we’ll turn the tables.”
    â€œDo you suppose this is how the bushwhacker got Tex and Hackett?”
    â€œLaid a trap and sprang it?”
    â€œYes.”
    She cocked her head to one side as she looked at him. “I do believe we’ll make a tracker out of you yet.”

Chapter 12
    B ell picked up the pacer’s tracks on the north side of the Red River. It was too easy. She glanced around at Indian Territory, then back across the river at Texas. She didn’t feel any danger. She depended on her senses to give her warning, but they were quiet now. She rubbed the skin over her heart, feeling a little itchy with expectation.
    â€œYou’ve got that look again,” Mercy said. “Trouble?”
    â€œNo. And that’s the problem.”
    â€œCan’t we make this simple?”
    â€œI’d like nothing better. For now, let’s just follow the tracks and see where they lead us.”
    As they rode side by side, she checked her surroundings. Fluffy white clouds rode high in the blue sky. Tall prairie grass rustled in a warm breeze. Summer declined as fall pressed closer. With shorter days, birdsong came less often.