Phebe had watched Henry and the two men ride off, wanting to scream out in terror. It was as if the trees had swallowed up her husband and she’d never see him again. Tears leaked out and soaked into the filthy gag one of the men had fastened around her mouth.

With her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound together, she’d never felt so helpless in her life.

She had to do something to help Henry.

Squirming and wiggling, she twisted and turned, trying to loosen the ropes, but nothing seemed to work. She kept at it until her wrists and ankles began to bleed, but still couldn’t get free. The tears, borne of fear and frustration, came faster, until she was completely exhausted and had to lie still. The ropes weren’t going to give way, so her only hope was if someone came looking for the absent couple. Holding on to that thought, Phebe fought to even out her breathing as she listened to every sound coming from the forest.

For the next few hours, time stood still. It seemed as if an eternity had passed since Henry had been taken away from her at gunpoint. She shivered as the cool breeze from the lake blew over the point of land and on into the forest. Along with the gentle lap of water against the shore, the wind playing through the forest was the only sound Phebe had heard since the voices of Henry’s captors had faded out. Until now.

A rustling noise came from the direction of the trees. Phebe squinted into the darkness, trying to identify the source of the sound.

“Miz Phebe? Mister Henry? Are you out here?”

Micah! She closed her eyes in relief at the familiar voice. But lying on the ground in the dark the way she was, and behind the boulder to boot, it was very likely the boy wouldn’t realize she was there.

She tried to make enough noise through her gag so he would hear her. When that didn’t work, she wiggled around to point her feet at the rock. Then she banged her heels against its hard surface until Micah’s face appeared over the edge of the boulder.

“Miz Phebe? Are you sick or somethin’?” Micah’s head swiveled in both directions. “Where’s Mister Henry? Did he fall into the lake?”

Phebe made several frantic noises until the boy finally came around the rock and knelt beside her. He bent over and took a close look at her face in the dark. “This ain’t good.”

He quickly undid the gag, then reached down and pulled a wooden-handled knife out from his belt. After he’d made short work of her bonds, Micah slid his hands under her armpits and hauled her to her feet. She was thankful he kept a firm hold on her as he helped her to sit on the rock.

“They have Henry,” Phebe gasped out. “Help me back to the ranch. I have to go after him.”

The boy didn’t say a word to that, but simply drew her arm over his shoulders and slipped one of his own around her waist. “Let’s go, Miz Phebe. I’ll start callin’ out when we git closer. Ma will come right quick.”

When they were within a few hundred yards of the cleared field, Micah kept his word and started to yell at the top of his lungs. Phebe’s ears were ringing by the time Jake and Reb came breaking through the forest, with Martha right behind them.

The two men skidded to a stop and gaped at Phebe as Martha pushed them aside.

“Here now, let me git to her.” She peered into Phebe’s face. “Where’re you hurt?”

“She ain’t hurt, Ma,” Micah spoke up. “She was tied up, and she keeps sayin’ someone took Mister Henry away.”

“Two men,” Phebe choked out. “They’re taking him to Reno. I heard them say so.”

“What’s that you said?” Jake took a step forward but was pushed back by Martha.

“All right, all right. Let’s git her back to the fire, and a warm blanket around her, then we’ll git the whole story and decide what to do.”

Phebe didn’t bother to argue. She wanted to get to a horse as fast as she could. Hobbling forward, she made no protest when Reb came around to her side and picked her up in his arms.

“That’s better,” Martha approved. “Let’s go.”

It only took ten minutes to reach the fire. As Micah rounded up the children and took them to the barn, Martha handed Phebe a mug of water while the men pressed close, forming a circle around her.

“There now.” Martha sank down on her haunches in front of Phebe, with Jake standing behind her. “What happened out there? You said some men took Mister Henry?”

“To Reno,” Phebe confirmed, her voice growing stronger now that the cool water had slid down her aching throat. “They said someone Henry has insulted was waiting for him in Reno.” Phebe frowned. Henry had sounded so certain that the man waiting to avenge an insult was Mr. Janson. Could the man really be that angry over Henry not marrying his daughter?

“I need to go after them.” She looked at Reb. “I need someone to show me the way back to Reno. Can you ride a horse?”

Martha snorted. “Can you?”

The older woman shook her head at Phebe, who’d completely deflated. She’d never been on a horse’s back in her life.

Jake let out a loud grunt as he scratched the top of his head. “Looks like Adam was right.”

“Adam? What does Henry’s brother have to do with this?” Phebe demanded.

Jake crooked his finger at one of the men standing behind Phebe before returning his gaze to her. “Adam thought Janson needed money badly enough that he might grab Henry for ransom.”

Reb turned his head and spit out into the darkness. “Guess he got desperate enough to try it. This way, he gits his money and his revenge.”

“Seems like,” Jake agreed. He nodded at the man who’d broken away and trotted around the circle to stand beside him. “This here is Charlie. Adam sent him along because Ethan Mayes couldn’t come.”

Ethan Mayes? The tracker? Phebe stared at the man with light-brown eyes and hair that reached past his collar.

Charlie bobbed his head in return. “How long a head start have they got?”

“We’d only been at the point for a half hour or so,” Phebe replied.

Martha rose and faced the tracker. “They went out there an hour before supper. So I’m thinkin’ about five hours. We thought they was out there spoonin’, so we didn’t go lookin’ until now.”

Charlie nodded. “I can’t do much in the dark. But they’ll be avoiding the main roads and traveling through the woods, so they’ve likely stopped for the night as well. I’ll start out at first light.” The smile Charlie turned on Phebe looked grim and determined. “I’ll find him.”

“Git down off that horse, Frommer.”

Henry lifted one leg over the saddle horn and carefully slid to the ground. With his hands bound together, he had to work at keeping his balance, but he managed to stay on his feet. It was dark, and he was worried about Phebe. She’d been tied up and left next to the rock they’d both been sitting on when the two men had ambushed them. But it was better than watching her be thrown into the lake.

He fervently hoped that Jake or Martha had come looking for them when they hadn’t shown up for supper, and Phebe hadn’t been lying alone in the woods for the last five hours. The thought of her being so helpless had him edging close to a full panic.

Anything could have happened to her. Some hungry animal could have come along, or just as bad, a stray hunter or miner might have stumbled across her. Henry broke out into a cold sweat. He needed to get back to his wife.

As the taller man prodded him forward with the barrel of his gun, Henry forced himself to take deep breaths. Think, man, think. What would Adam do?

At least his hands had been tied in front of him and not behind his back. It might have been a necessity for Henry to be able to hang on to the saddle horn and keep his seat on the horse, but it was also a small bit of luck.

“I’m goin’ to make a fire and start a pot of beans.” The second captor glared at Henry. “Sit ’im down and tie up his feet, then come help me out. We’ll take care of the horses while the food is heatin’ up.”

As he stumbled forward, two things stuck in Henry’s mind. The men had been overly careful to not use each other’s names, and that meant they were worried about Henry being able to identify them. Which also led Henry to believe that they had no intention of killing him. So that was a good thing, even if he might be facing Priscilla Janson’s enraged father in the next day or so. But that was only a possibility. They had to get their captive to Reno first.

Henry took a slow look around the small clearing as he moved forward, urged on by the gun digging into his spine. The glade was ringed with boulders, and the remains of several trees stuck out of the ground here and there. Henry almost smiled when he spotted the growth on one of them. It seemed he’d managed to have a bit more luck.

“Sit down.” The command was followed by a hard shove. Henry stumbled against one of the large rocks and pushed away from it to fall to the ground next to a rotting log. He quickly scooted up and back until he was leaning against the decaying wood.

“Stick them legs out straight.”

As Henry did as he was told, he watched in astonishment as the man wrapped a piece of rope around his ankles and tied the loose ends into a knot. The man didn’t give Henry a second glance as he stood and walked over to the small fire his partner was trying to coax along.

As the two men busied themselves with making their supper, Henry slowly drew his legs up to his chest. He laid his head on top of his knees, making it look as if he were resting, while his bound hands began picking at the knot in the rope tying his ankles together. Since his captor hadn’t been particularly careful in securing his prisoner, it didn’t take Henry long to free his legs.

Keeping his eyes on the men, he slowly twisted to the side, reaching over and feeling along the ridges of the fallen log until he found what he was looking for. Once he’d carefully ripped a piece off and held it in his hands, Henry straightened up and slowly smiled.