Give My Heart to Kaitlyn (2nd in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Pete felt better than he had ever felt before in his life as he rode out of town. Why wouldn't he? Kaitlyn loved him and she was going to give him a chance to prove himself worthy of her. Damn, but that was a miracle in itself! For so long Pete had been walking around angry, bitter and full of hate but Kaitlyn had taken all of that away.

He felt lighter, freer and he couldn't wait to build a life with her. Now all that was left to do was find a job and convince the woman to marry him.

Pete was contemplating how best to do that when he heard a scream. He glanced to his left to see a flash of movement in a small group of trees about two hundred yards away.

"What's going on?" Pete called out with alarm.

There was another feminine scream followed by a male roar of rage and a gunshot. After that gunshot the woman's scream grew animalistic and Pete knew he had to do something.

He pulled his gun and urged Buck into his fastest gallop toward the chaos. The woman's screams grew painfully loud as Pete neared her and the sight he was met with made his blood run cold.

An elderly man was lying shot dead upon the white snow, his blood soaking around him and staining the pristine landscape. A woman in a torn blue dress was clinging to his body and there was a bloody welt on the back of her head, smearing her graying hair with red.

Pete saw a man riding away in the distance. The hooves of his brown horse were thundering and kicking up a cloud of snow and mud. Pete didn't have time chase after the man because at that moment, the woman picked up the dead man's revolver and pressed it to her temple.

Pete acted on pure instinct and leapt from Buck, tacking the woman and grabbing the gun. The movement caused both his healing wounds to scream in protest but Pete ignored them.

"Let me go!" she screamed as she kicked and fought against him. Her pale blue eyes were wide and scared as she stared at the scarred side of his face.

"Ma'am, calm down," Pete grunted when she brought her knee up into his side. Slowly she began to still. Pete stood and pulled off his duster coat. "What happened here?" he asked as he helped the woman to her feet and wrapped his coat around her shoulders.

The woman was shaking, her lightly wrinkled face was pale and her blue eyes just kept staring at the dead man in the snow. "He killed my husband.. he tried to.. tried to..."

She couldn't seem to get the words out and she wrapped her arms tight around herself and just began to mumble as she rocked back and forth. The poor woman was in shock and Pete needed to get her away from the body and out of the weather.

Pete helped her onto Buck and climbed on himself. "I can't leave him," she whispered, glancing down at her husband. "He'll be so upset when he wakes up and I'm not here."

Pete could barely swallow around the lump in his throat. "I'll just take you to the doc's and then I'll come back for him so he's not alone."

The woman only nodded and then fell silent.

"Ma'am, what is your name?" Pete asked, wanting to end the silence that stretched on and on as they rode back toward town.

"Carol... I should have covered my husband up before I left him. He's going to be so cold."

Pete was cold. The woman had his coat. He didn't mention it.

"Ma'am, can you tell me what happened?"