Captive Heart (Cartwright Gals: A Romancing the Ponderosa Spinoff Book 2)

Chapter 7

Watching Candy sway with his horse in front of me, I fight the tears trying to well up in my eyes. I know Shane's going to kill Candy as soon as he has a chance and he'll probably make me watch, too. Candy knew what he was walking into when he agreed on the spot to become Shane's captive and he did it all for me. He blurs in front of me as a single tear splashes down onto my tied hands around the pommel of the saddle.

Exhaustion begins to take over and I feel myself sag forward but I keep my back from leaning into Shane. I don't want to touch the man, let alone lean on him. My head still pounds and I feel dizzy from thirst. All I want is a big drink of water and a soft bed to take a nap in but I know I won't be getting those things for a while. I only hope that when we stop to rest the horses or when we get back to the camp, that Shane'll let me have some water. I haven't had a drop since before I escaped, which was nearly twelve hours ago and not only has it just been a long time, I ran nearly the whole night.

The wind pushes against my face as we gallop back to where we camped the night before and it makes what's left of my braid come undone. Another type of sadness fills my heart as my now shoulder length hair whips around my face. It took me nearly ten years to grow my hair that long and now it's all gone. Well, not really gone since Pa and Joe have it but I can't put it back on. These men have taken three things from me that can't be replaced, my beloved locket, my hair, and soon the man that I love more than anything. It's not fair, all my life I've felt almost nothing but pain until we moved to Virginia City and now these men are dishing out more pain by the dipper full. All the grief running through me mixed with the exhaustion and thirst causes me to lose my cool and breakdown into sobs.

Through my tears I see Candy's head quickly turn to look behind him when he hears my hiccupping sobs. Knowing there's nothing he can do to help me, he just gives me a look mixed with longing, comfort, and determination, but it only makes me sob harder. Just letting myself cry until there's no more tears, I slowly lean forward in a light doze.

I jerk awake when I feel the horse underneath me suddenly come to a complete stop. Shane jumps down from behind me and yanks me to the ground before I'm even sure of what's going on. Walking me over to the same rock I leaned against last night before I escaped, he pushes me to the ground and makes me sit with my back against it. As he ties my ankles together, Carlito shoves Candy down next to me and does the same to him. Seeing that neither of us can get up and walk away, they stand and go over to their horses, where they begin to take off their saddles to rub them down.

Candy shifts himself until his shoulder is nearly touching mine. Using his arm, he bumps me a little to make me look up at him from where I was staring blankly at my boots, my mind a groggy mess. I look up at him and find his clear, blue eyes staring at me with the same look they had in them earlier when I broke down and cried. Quickly glancing over at the outlaws to make sure they aren't paying attention to us, he whispers, "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." My dry mouth makes it hard to talk but I continue anyways, "I escaped last night, ran the whole way until you and Shane caught up with me. Candy, I'm thirsty and all I want to do is take a nap."

"I'll get you some water and then you can lay your head on my shoulder and sleep for a bit." Turning back towards Shane, he yells, "Hey, Wesley, bring over a canteen, the gal needs a drink."

Shane shoots him a look but thankfully he brings me a canteen, which he throws into my lap. Despite the fact that my hands are tied in front of me, I can still open and lift it to my mouth. In an unladylike way, I guzzle down a few mouthfuls before I hear Candy say, "That's enough for now, you don't want to make yourself sick."

"Alright." I sigh, still thirsty. Reaching down, Shane yanks the canteen back out of my hands before I even get a chance to put the cap back on. He closes it and tosses it aside as he jerks Candy forward, untying his hands, shoving them behind him and retying them at his back. Finished, he shoves Candy back up and looks at me, I guess trying to decide whether or not he should do the same to me. Thankfully he doesn't, he must be able to tell that I'm too exhausted to try and escape again. After spitting on the ground in front of Candy's boots, he stomps off in the direction of Ryder and Carlito, who are arguing about something over by the fire they're trying to start.

"Scoot closer to me and lay your head on my shoulder." Candy whispers once he's out of earshot. "You need to sleep for a little bit, you're dead on your feet."

"If I lean on your shoulder, I'll only hurt you with the way your arms are behind your back." I look at him and feel myself begin to get to that stage of exhaustion where it feels like I'm floating and everything seems like a dream. "I'll lean against the rock behind me."

"No," he interjects, "turn and lay your head in my lap. You'll be more comfortable that way."

"Are you sure?" He nods so I do what he says, gently plopping my head onto his outstretched legs. Almost as soon as I lay down, my legs curled up into me and my head pillowed on his thighs, I fight to keep my eyes open as I see Shane walking angrily towards us. But I feel myself drift towards dreamland before he even makes it halfway to us. With a final sigh, I let my eyes completely close and give in to dreamland's hard tugs.