Innocence and the Outlaw

Chapter Four&Five

"Shoot me or put the gun down," was all he said in response. His voice was slightly accented and it was deep and rich. 

"You will let me go. I want to go home." 

She watched his nostrils flare and realized that she had made him angry. Chase tossed his hat over onto the floor beside the cot and shook his head. 'You are mine." 

"You killed my finace and kidnapped me! I belong to no one!" 

"I killed no one," Chase countered. "And I saved you from a far worse fate." 

Leah cocked the revolver and licked her shaking upper lip. Chase studied the woman and had to admit that she showed grit. Very few men had the nerve to hold a gun on Chase Caldwell and Chase certainly hadn't thought he'd find a woman with the nerve to do so. He could tell by the look in her green eyes that she wanted to shoot him. She wanted to kill him and make her escape. She simply didn't realize that if she killed him, she would be alone with a group of lawless men who cared nothing about the innocence or willingness of women. They would take her and they would rape her again and again and use her up until she had nothing left. They would break her spirt, break her body, and eventually leave her for dead. She was better off with him than without him. But if she chose to shoot and kill him, then Chase supposed she would find that out the hard way. 

Seconds ticked by and the tension was thick and heavy inside the tent. It was almost a palpable thing. It became something they could touch and feel as it pressed down on them. Just when Chase was certain she wouldn't pull the trigger on that tiny gut buster in her shaking hand, she did. 

The sound echoed inside the tent and Chase grunted as a searing pain pierced his arm. He clamped his jaw tight and glanced down at the scratch she had placed their when her bullet had grazed him. With lightning fast reflexes that had never been matched, Chase reached out and snatched the gun from her trembling hands as she stared at him with shock. 

She quickly covered her mouth and her green eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed before racing from the tent. Leah couldn't believe what she had just done! She had shot a man. True, the man was holding her prisoner, but the thought of causing harm to another person made her stomach hurt. She had to get away. She didn't even pay attention to where she was heading as panic fueled her race through the camp. 

"Whoa there, pretty thing." 

Leah skidded to a stop as a man stepped in front of her. She recognized his voice. He was the short, thin man that had been eyeing her the night before. "Did Chase get bored with you already? Of did you kill him with that shot I heard?" 

"Let me go," Leah pleaded as she tried to edge her way around him. 

He stepped to the side and blocked her path. "You got pretty green eyes and I like all that dark hair. You look like you'd be nice and soft beneath a man." He reached out and touched her cheek with  his dirty, long-nailed fingers. 

"Don't touch me," Leah hissed, swallowing bile. 

"Oh, I'm going to touch you," he promised as his gaze drifted lower and she realized the top buttons of her dress had come undone. Leah quickly did up those buttons and the man's beady blue eyes rose back to hers. There was a hunger in them as he leered at her that would have caused her to vomit had Leah had anything in her stomach. 

Leah took two quick steps backward and bumped into something hard and hot. She turned quickly and looked up to see those dark black eyes, flashing with anger as they glared hard at the short man. Without taking time to think about what she was doing, Leah quickly moved behind Chase and the familiarity n his presence that made her feel protected.