Kidnapped By An Outlaw (Emerald Falls Book 1) Read online

  Kidnapped by an Outlaw

  Ivy McAdams

  Kidnapped by an Outlaw — Emerald Falls Book 1

  by Ivy McAdams

  Copyright © 2019 Ivy McAdams

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locals is entirely coincidental.

  https://ivymcadams.com

  Emerald Falls Series

  Kidnapped by an Outlaw

  Seduced by a Wrangler

  Captivated by a Gunslinger

  Emerald Falls Novella

  Rescued by a Desperado (prequel)

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Note to Reader

  Next in Series

  Seduced by a Wrangler Sample

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Ivy McAdams

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  A wave of tan-backed pronghorn swarmed over the green hillside beside the moving train. Sadie Tanner gazed out the glass window at the bobbing black horns and the spry deer-like bodies as they bounded and sprang in unison like a flock of birds on the ground. The excitement of the endless prairie before them, ultimate freedom, had to be the best feeling.

  Sadie propped her chin in her hand with a sigh, wishing she could trade the hours-long ride in a stuffy train car to run in the grass with them. Wind in her hair and sunshine on her face.

  “I should have picked up that coat I saw in the window,” a gruff voice mumbled as it approached. “A fella back there said he heard the winter was gone be a cold one.”

  An older man with long legs clad in black trousers and a blue button-up shirt sat in the seat next to her. His dark hair streaked with lines of gray was swept back over his crown, held back by a few licks of pomade. She’d never in her life seen Papa so fancied up.

  “The coat you have now is fine,” she said, shifting away from the window to address him. “We’ll need that extra money for our rations. Especially now.”

  Jed Tanner was a careful planner. They’d been living on the outskirts of the small town of Emerald Falls for over a decade, surviving off the land and only going into town for extra supplies. He’d been trapping, tanning, and living the merchant life for as long as she could remember. He knew how to be frivolous with their money.

  Until he was faced with the bitter truth that the little money they had might not save them.

  “The elk could still come in,” she murmured as she rested a hand on his arm.

  He rubbed his fingers over the shadow of hair on his chin as he nodded. “They could. I’ve never known them not to come, but things ain’t lookin’ good.”

  She gnawed at her inner cheek as she forced a reassuring smile.

  “They’ll get here.”

  He nodded slowly as he leaned back in his seat and fished a dark felt hat out of his pocket to drape over his face. He didn’t like train rides, but more than that, she knew he didn’t want to talk about it.

  He’d shocked her the night before by announcing his plan to scout St. Aspen for a job. Never in her life had he held a job in town. The elk herd that usually flooded the valley in the shadow of the Absaroka Mountains that time of year was an entire month late, leaving Papa in a fret that their biggest money-maker for the autumn season wouldn’t show.

  They wouldn’t survive the winter without the money and food the herd brought.

  So that morning she’d dressed in one of her mother’s soft yellow lace dresses and accompanied Papa beyond their small town to the bigger city of St. Aspen so he could beg for work.

  It hadn’t gone well.

  Sadie stared out the window once more, wishing she hadn’t offered to come on the trip at all. It was exhausting, and she felt dirty from traveling. She’d have to wash up that night, as she had a noon tea the next day to look forward to.

  Robert Murphy, whose father was one of the most well-known cattle ranchers in all of Wyoming, would accompany her. The thought tugged a smile to her lips.

  Some days she felt Papa didn’t have his head on quite straight, making them live out in the woods instead of Emerald Falls proper, but he’d made a fine match when he’d picked Robert Murphy for her. The man was handsome, well-groomed, and quite the gentleman. She’d been courting him for nearly a month, and she couldn’t wait to become a rancher’s wife and return to life in Emerald Falls, to be reunited with the other women she’d went to school with as a child.

  She pressed a finger to the cool glass as a pair of coyotes darted in and out of the underbrush in the wake of the pronghorn herd. Soon she’d be free and happy, just like the animals on the hills.

  “I’m going to get some air, maybe a bite,” Papa said suddenly as he sat up. “You need anything?”

  “I’m fine, Papa. Thank you.”

  His small frame moved down the aisle between the rows of seats and disappeared out the door at the front of the car. A burst of chilly air swept in and ruffled the hem of Sadie’s dress. She crossed her ankles with a shiver.

  With Papa gone, the soft hum of voices rolled up and down the car. Most of the passengers were men in suits. A few wives dotted the seats toward the back, and they leaned in to talk and titter to one another. Across the aisle and a few seats back, two young ladies, a couple years her junior by the looks of them, paged through a catalog and whispered.

  Sadie'd just turned to glance out the window again when a door slammed. The scream from the back of the car made Sadie jump. She twisted in her seat as another woman at the rear of the unit shrieked and leapt up.

  Two men dressed in black stood at the end of the aisle. One pressed a hand on the hysterical woman’s shoulder and shoved her back into her seat.

  The men were the same height and wore identical black handkerchiefs over their faces. The eyes over the masks were hard and bore into each of the car’s occupants. When one pair found her, Sadie’s breath stopped.

  The man pulled a revolver from the gun belt slung around his hips and pointed it to the nearest man, the husband of the woman he’d pushed. The gentleman had gotten to his feet with a stern look etched into his brow as if he meant to reprimand the stranger, but once the gun barrel was pointed at his forehead, the fellow took his seat again.

  “Nobody move,” the man in black spoke. “I’m here for your valuables. Hand them over and no one has to get hurt.”

  Sadie clutched her hands against her chest and lowered into her seat.

  Train robbers!

  A woman screamed again, and a man with a wide white mustache just a few seats back from Sadie growled obscenities.

  The dark eyes of the armed man shot toward them and narrowed.

  “Ta
ke a seat,” the thief roared.

  When the passenger didn’t budge, the man in black took two long strides toward him and swung the revolver into his face. The handlebars on man’s face quivered as the gun struck him, and he sank into his seat.

  “Now,” the bandit barked. “Hand over your goods, and we won’t have to search you.”

  He turned fierce eyes on the mustached man, and the passenger yanked a pocket watch from his vest. He handed it over without another word.

  "Thank you, kind sir," the man in black growled with an amused twinkle in his eye. "You next." He pointed to the next seat and moved on.

  The second thief was making his way up her side of the aisle, holding an open saddle bag out for passengers to drop items in. He brandished no gun but grunted a deep growl when anyone hesitated.

  “Drop it in,” he huffed at a cowboy she recognized from Emerald Falls.

  “Who do you think you are, just swiping our things like this?” The passenger said, shoving his hands into his pockets defiantly. “The sheriff will be on your tail in no time.”

  The man in black wasn’t as tall as the cowboy, but he outweighed him. He had wide shoulders and a solid build. Like he could take that cowboy out without a weapon at all.

  “I’m not afraid of no sheriff,” the thief hissed.

  “You should be.” The cowboy glowered, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets.

  The outlaw lowered the saddlebag, caught the passenger around the throat with his other hand, and pressed him against the car wall. A woman next to them shrieked and shied away. The cowboy fell back with wide eyes, hands leaping from his pockets to the vice on his neck.

  “You think a sheriff is gon’ save you right now, boy?” the man in black growled.

  Despite the jut of his chin, the cowboy’s nostrils flared, and he blinked wide eyes. The fingers on his throat flexed, and he shook his head with a bleat of apology.

  “No, no, sir. Ain’t no one out to help me here.”

  “Didn’t think so.”

  “Clay!” the thief with the gun grunted from the center of the aisle. He’d gone through half the car already. “Quit making friends and let’s get out of here.”

  His partner narrowed his eyes and released the cowboy. Then he shoved the edge of the saddlebag into the man’s chest.

  “Don’t make me come get it.”

  The passenger fumbled into his pocket and produced a money clip. Clay nodded his approval as he took the cash and tossed it into his satchel. Then he moved on.

  The thieves advanced to the front, seat by seat.

  Sadie's chest felt tight. She didn't have anything of value on her. Would they believe that? She wore a simple dress, leather boots, and a few barrettes in her hair. It'd only been a day trip, so the small bag she brought only held a catalog she'd picked up and a book.

  The armed man struck a short man across the temple with his revolver, and Sadie jumped. A commotion followed, drowned out by the thief’s roar.

  “Now, I said!”

  Sadie glanced toward the front door of the car where Papa had disappeared. She was only two seats away from it. She might be able to make it out of the car before the thieves caught her. Papa would protect her.

  She silently swung her boots down to the maroon carpeted floor. The idiots were so greedy that they might not even notice her leave.

  As a woman in the back began to cry, Sadie got to her feet and braced a hand on Papa’s seat. Neither man looked in her direction. She eased a boot into the center aisle.

  One of the robbers grunted, and she froze. But they weren’t looking in her direction.

  The armed man nudged his companion and nodded toward the rear of the car.

  “Someone’s heading this way. Let’s get a move on.”

  A storage car followed them, and Sadie could see it bumping along in the back windows. A train worker was walking through the car. He stopped to check a box here and there, in no rush. Yet.

  “Move up a car,” Clay’s deep voice rumbled.

  The two men took a few long strides down the center aisle. Sadie ducked back into her seat.

  “Cough it up,” the armed man grumbled as he stopped. His voice wasn’t as deep, but it was raspy. Like he was fighting a whisper.

  The man he’d stopped at handed over a few bills.

  Clay stopped once more for a pearl necklace before stepping up alongside Sadie. His face was half covered by his mask, and the low brim of his black hat did well to hide the rest of it, but his eyes caught hers before he spoke a word.

  A soft blue popped from the darkness. Like the depths of the lake in wintertime. Vivid and sharp. A hidden cavern you might get lost in if you swam too far.

  She stared as her fingers trembled on the back of the chair.

  “Valuables?” he murmured. His voice was so low she thought for a moment she’d only imagined he’d said it.

  Her head shook just a fraction. “I have none,” she whispered.

  Eyes still locked on her, he nodded. Then he was gone.

  The men rushed to the front of the car and disappeared through the door into the cool air.

  A man shouted in the back of the car after the thieves were gone. Women called out and whimpered, hugging onto one another. Sadie collapsed into her seat, pressing a hand to her chest as she gulped down a breath of relief. She’d made it out of the encounter without an issue.

  Except she’d never seen eyes so captivating. So raw and fierce. Eyes that had probably seen people die and live to the fullest all in one day. There was nothing mundane and wanting in those eyes. They were alive.

  And the way they’d held hers so tightly. The memory stole her breath away.

  Sadie leaned out into the aisle once again, hoping to catch one more glance at Clay’s solid blue stare.

  What she found instead made her gasp and rush for the door.

  Chapter 2

  The weapon-brandishing thief shoved his free hand into the collar of Papa’s shirt and lifted him off the ground. Sadie’s throat clenched at the sight of the silver revolver pressed up alongside her father’s cheek.

  She clung to the inside of the car door, watching as the robbers crowded Papa. The blood in her veins turned to ice, and her fingers trembled.

  Give them whatever they want!

  They couldn’t take him from her. He was all she had in the world.

  She shoved the door open, and the cool evening air whipped her in the face. Green fields and trees rushed by in a blur, and she drew in close to the car wall with a gasp. There would be no way to help Papa if she fell between the blasted train carts.

  Sadie reached out for the handrail and crept toward the edge of the ramp. The buzz in the bar and step rattled up through her body. She could easily lose her footing and fall to her death. Her dress could get hung on a loose screw and jerk her off course.

  But Papa needed her.

  She could hear the muffled voices of the men shouting. The armed man shook Papa again.

  Resolve hardened within her. She pushed forward another step and leaned from one car to the next. She clung to the railing on the second car, hauling herself over to its ledge with a hiss of nerves. Then she rushed to the car door and shoved her way inside.

  “Tom, let him down,” Clay said as he pushed his accomplice in the shoulder. “He can’t answer you if you don’t―”

  All three men turned to her as she sprinted in.

  Those dark blue eyes were locked on hers instantly, and she felt a moment of weakness come over her. She’d nearly forgotten why she came busting in. She had been looking for those eyes, after all.

  But then she’d spotted Papa.

  She frowned at the men and pointed a finger.

  “You let him go.”

  Papa’s eyes were wide, and he stuttered. “Sadie, no. Get out.”

  Tom turned a sharp frown on her and spun Papa out of the way. “So who is Miss Sadie?”

  His dark eyes were fierce, and she stumbled back a step.
/>   “No one!” Papa burst, wrestling against Clay’s arm pressed across his chest.

  Tom pushed them farther back, unfazed by the outburst. His eyes narrowed, and he nodded his chin in Sadie’s direction.

  “What’s your family name, girl?”

  She hesitated, observing each man in turn. Clay had fallen silent, but his eyes were vigilant. Her father’s were wide and twitched as he shook his head a fraction. But Tom’s were on fire, scorching the edges of her confidence. His revolver was much too close to Papa’s head. Dread knotted in her stomach like a stone.

  “Sadie Tanner.”

  Papa closed his eyes, and an evil grin spread over Tom’s face. He shook her father again. “I thought you said you were alone, old man? Seems to me you got a pretty little lady here with you.”

  Sadie bit her lip and backed up another step until the door handle dug into her back. She’d walked right into a trap.

  “We got all we need then,” Tom said. “Get her. Let’s get out of here.”

  He pressed the gun barrel into Papa’s temple and shoved him down the aisle toward the front of the car. Sadie rushed to follow, but Clay grabbed her around the waist.

  His arms were hard and strong, lifting her right off her feet and onto his hip. She shrieked and flailed against his body.

  “Put me down!”

  “Let her go,” Papa pleaded as they were herded to the front of the car.

  “Hush your mouth,” Tom spat.

  The car was much less populated than the one they’d been sitting in. The few passengers aboard drew back in horror as the group passed them. Sadie pushed against Clay and kicked her legs out at the seats they passed, hoping to catch one well enough to pull herself back.