Against Her Will

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tanner stepped back into the early morning sunlight and his eyes instantly went to the plantation house.

He had been prepared to hunt down the bastards responsible for Temperance's suffering but standing there on the porch and watching him with surprised expressions were the remaining two guards and him....

Trevor.

The man who Tanner should have dealt with the moment he'd ridden onto the plantation after the war and had seen the condition of the workers. The man who had controlled him as children, sent him off to die and had him declared dead instead of attempting to find him.

The man who had taken something beautiful and light and had beaten it, violated it and sent it to the brink of death with absolutely no remorse.

Trevor would die today.

Not for what he had done to the slaves. Not for what he had done to Tanner. He would die for Temperance. He would die for what he had taken from her.

"You looked surprised to see me," Tanner stated as he stopped thirty feet from the porch.

"Of course not.." Trevor countered with a shake of his head. "I am surprised to see you bleeding. What happened, Tanner? Were you injured in the fire?"

"I'm sure you are surprised to see me bleeding and breathing. This is the second time I've come back from the dead on you, isn't it?" Tanner tossed down the rifle. "I think you should know that Temperance isn't dead either. She's stronger than you give her credit for."

Trevor dropped his false façade then. His blue eyes flashed with anger and his lips pulled back in a sneer. "Even if she survives and by some miracle you don't die today, that whore will never be the same again. You'll never get to enjoy her body any more than you already have."

Tanner shook his head. "Not all men are as off in the head as you, little brother. And if you think what you've done today could ever make me walk away from that woman then you're wrong."

"Is that right?" Trevor clicked his tongue. "I'm tired of this. I have allowed you to live only because we share a mother but this is getting ridiculous." Trevor snapped his fingers. "Kill the bastard," he ordered the two men beside him.

The men appeared hesitant so Tanner beat them to it. He wasn't the least bit hesitant to end their lives. He pulled his revolver and when they realized he was going to shoot them they attempted to pull theirs as well.

Two gunshots blasted in the morning air and the men fell dead.

"That was quite anticlimactic," Trevor muttered.

"What's going on here?!" A man bellowed from behind them. "I am U.S. Marshall Gunthrey and I'm here with three of my deputies. You will drop your weapon and you will drop to your knees and keep your hands up!"

Tanner shook his head but didn't look back. "I can't do that, Marshall."

"You will do it!" the Marshall ordered again.

Tanner kept his gaze on his brother. He holstered his weapon. "Pull your gun, Trevor. You've been wanting me dead for years. Here's your chance. Kill me."

Trevor just shook his head. "It's over, Tanner. You're going down for murder and I'll get a slap on the wrist for abuse. You've lost at your own game."

Tanner felt his blood boil when Trevor turned his back on him and headed toward the door. "Trevor! Damn you! You nearly killed that woman! Are you a coward who can only fight with someone weaker than he is? Face me like a damned man!"

Trevor continued walking away.

Tanner snapped in that moment. As Trevor's laughter danced through the air and reached Tanner's ears, he lost all sense of right and wrong. All sense of fighting fair. He didn't care if this man had come from the same blood line that he did. Trevor was going to die whether it was face to face or shot in the back.

Tanner's gun slid from the holster like silk and he cocked that hammer and pulled that trigger in one fluid motion.

Trevor's body stiffened as the bullet tore through is back. He turned slowly, blood already dripping from between his lips. The bullet had come through his heart and ripped back out his chest. Tanner was glad his shot had been true. Trevor had deserved more suffering but at least now Temperance would be safe from him.

"Drop that damn gun!" U.S. Marshall Gunthrey bellowed.

Tanner did. He had no more reason to hold onto it. He dropped to his knees, put his hands on his head and watched as the deputies ran forward and checked the three men lying in bloody pools upon the porch.

"Tanner Montgomery, you're under arrest for the murder of three men. Damn you. Why didn't you wait for me?" U.S. Marshall Gunthrey demanded with regret as he put cuffs on Tanner's wrists and helped pull him to his feet.

Tanner shook his head and met the Marshall's eyes. He didn't feel anything inside other than relief that he had ended Temperance's nightmare. "You just didn't get here in time, Marshall. I tried to wait."

"Yeah well, I'll do what I can to keep you from going swinging at the gallows, Tanner, but I can't make any promises. You shot your own damn brother in the back right in front of me. No matter what kind of man he is, that's not something you can do!"

"I ain't afraid to die, Marshall. And trust me when I say that bastard deserved much worse than he got."