A Bride for Deke

after her when she hadn’t returned from her ride, but she wasn’t sure how quickly he’d come. Yes, she was his wife, but she didn’t have his heart. Would he understand that she’d been taken, or would he think she’d ridden off to get away from him and their marriage? Her heart ached. She wished he loved her the way she was starting to love him. Love had always eluded her. Maybe it would happen. Someday.

Chapter Fourteen
Deke heard a horse galloping toward him, and he looked over his shoulder to see Nate, riding his horse and waving his hat as if he were trying to outrun a blazing fire. Deke reined his horse around and galloped to meet his brother. It was the first time he’d seen Nate run a horse with his bad leg since he’d returned to Wyoming. Deke’s gut told him something was amiss, and his gut was seldom wrong.
He pulled up alongside Nate and said, “What’s your hurry, little brother?”
Nate replied, “It’s Amalie. She hasn’t returned from her afternoon ride. She’s always back before it’s time to prepare supper, and she’s well over an hour late. She likes to stop at the little creek, and I rode down to see if she was all right, but she was nowhere to be found. It looks as if there might have been a struggle, but you read sign better than I do, so I came to find you.”
A dark shadow crossed Deke’s face that Nate had never seen before, and the tone of Deke’s voice concerned Nate.
Deke said, “I want you to go back to the house and wait for her in case she comes back. I’m going to ride to the creek and see if I can pick up her trail. It’s nearing sunset, and if I’m not back by dark, don’t worry. I’m going to keep looking until I find her one way or the other.” He spurred his horse and took off in the direction of the creek without waiting for an answer.
Nate rode off toward home, knowing if anyone could find Amalie, it was Deke.
When Deke arrived at the creek, he could tell right away there had been some kind of struggle. He saw Amalie’s small footprints and some much larger boot prints. He also saw where the man wearing the large boots had walked back to the trees, most likely leading Amalie’s horse.
Deke followed the dry horse tracks to the tree line, grateful the storm had drifted south. He noticed that whoever had led Amalie away had not done a very good job at hiding their path. Deke followed the broken branches and crushed leaves until he came to where another horse had been tethered. He then followed the two sets of horse tracks as he headed north, away from the ranch.
When he was young, Deke had ridden every square inch of his ranch and the surrounding areas. If they continued to travel in a northerly direction, Deke had a hunch they might be heading for an old abandoned cabin just past the edge of his property.
He doubted whoever had taken Amalie would expect anyone to follow them immediately, but that was his first mistake. Deke would follow wherever the trail led until he had his wife back again. No one takes anything from Deke Sperling without paying the price.
Deke had been correct in his first assumption, that the trail was leading to the old cabin. There wasn’t anything else in that direction. The sun had already set, and Deke knew he’d have to go the rest of the way on foot to avoid possibly injuring his horse. He slipped off his boots and pulled on a pair of moccasins to muffle his steps. Deke slid his rifle from its scabbard and took off in the direction of the cabin.
His mind raced with the possible culprits he’d encountered over the past five years. While he considered that one of them might have abducted Amalie to get to him, and he also considered that it might be someone from Amalie’s past. Regardless, he would make sure she was safe from her past once he’d brought her home again.
~  *  ~
As Deke made his way to the cabin, Silas allowed Amalie to rest on an old cot, but he kept her hands tied. “If you try to sneak out of the cabin, I’ll hear ya. Don’t try it or I’ll hog-tie ya and leave ya that way on the cold floor. Understand?” Silas ordered.
Amalie nodded and laid down on the cot. It smelled musty, and the wool blanket had holes in it, but it was better than being hog-tied and tossed in a corner.
~  *  ~
Deke spotted the cabin through the trees. Fortunately, the moonlight allowed him to see the two horses—one of them Honey—tied in front of the cabin. He gave a sigh of relief that he’d found Amalie. He didn’t recognize the second horse, but that didn’t matter. One horse meant one man, and that man would meet Deke sooner than he expected.
From Deke’s vantage point in the tree line, he couldn’t tell if there was a lamp lit in the cabin. What should have been a window on the side of the cabin facing him had been boarded up. He crept slowly to the back of the cabin, hoping to find a window. There was one small, cracked, smudged window at the back of the cabin that might offer him a chance to see inside.
A small amount of moonlight drifted in the front window, helping Deke see shadows and shapes through it. Deke could make out a large form, lying on the floor near the front door. It was too big to be Amalie, so he assumed it was her captor.
He did his best to see inside the cabin and saw someone lying on a