Two Cowboys To Protect Her by Lacey Davis
Chapter 1
It was late. Much too late for Rena to be out after dark, but the evening crowd at the restaurant where she worked lingered, and well, time got away from her. But everything was prepared for tomorrow morning's breakfast. Hopefully, the cook would be happy.
Now, nearly midnight, she walked on the edge of town to avoid going past the saloon. Saturday nights were the worst for the rowdy cowboys who came to celebrate. And Rena didn't want or need any trouble. Life was hard enough for a single woman without a family and a boring social life She didn't need to grab the attention of some drunken cowboy who just knew he could make her world complete once he took her to bed.
Rena wanted love, a family, children of her own and a man who adored her. Since her parents were dead and she didn't have a brother or sister nor aunts and uncles who lived nearby, she was alone.
Clouds covered the moon and leaves rustled sounding more like the rattling of snakes. A shiver traveled from the base of her spine to her head. No woman in her right mind would be out at this time of night.
What was she doing, taking such a risk?
A dog barked in the distance, and she glanced around in the darkness. Her home was only a couple blocks away, and she hurried to reach the door to her safe haven. Never again would she make the mistake of being out so late.
No matter what Jeremy the cook said about making certain everything was cleaned up before the next morning. Rena would not put herself at risk again unless she had a gun strapped to her waist or a man by her side.
If she had a man to take care of her, love her and give her the children she desired, she wouldn't be forced to work as a waitress any longer. She wanted love with a strong man who gazed at her like she was beautiful and made her heart flutter with desire. Someone who would marry her and show her what happened in the marriage bed. And eventually have children who would look up to him and call him Papa with pride.
A muffled cry of pain came from somewhere close and her heart almost leaped out of her chest. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and listened. There it was again.
Moving to the side of a building, she hid in tall bushes, praying no rattlesnakes slithered in the darkness. Slowly she moved forward until she came to the sight of a man strung up in a tree by his wrists, an older man whose large stomach hung over his belt.
A blood-curdling scream almost escaped her as she slapped her hands over her mouth. Her knees felt weak as fear overwhelmed her. The urge to run was swift, but she stood frozen in place staring at the half naked man who bleed from cuts on his flesh. His face was badly bruised and battered.
"Last chance," a large hulk of a man said. "Where is the map?"
"I've told you over and over again, I don't know," the man cried. "Don't you think I would give it to you, so you'd leave me alone?"
"You're lying. Who has it?" Another man with long dark hair stepped out of the shadows. She couldn’t see his face.
The clouds cleared from over the moon and the men's faces came into view. One had what looked like a birthmark on his face or a scar, she couldn't tell. The second man had a mustache and beard. They both wore well-worn shirts with leather chaps covering their thick thighs.
The bearded man took a knife and sliced a piece of flesh off the hanging man's side. He screamed and Rena wondered why no one heard his anguished filled cries. The houses were down the road, but still they were close enough residents should have heard him. She didn't know the victim's name, but he had come into the restaurant a couple times.
"I want the map. I'm not leaving without it. "
"Leon has it," he cried in anguish. "Now, please, let me down."
The two men looked at each other and laughed. "Leon? Leon Roberts?”
"Yes," he said. "My papa got in a bind and sold it to the man. There is no treasure. My father searched for it for years. It's gone."
The man with the dark spot on his face held his knife up under the man's chin. "You're wrong. My great-grandfather stole the silver from Jean Lafitte and hid it along the Guadalupe River. Your great-grandfather is the thief who took the map showing the location of the treasure. I'm going to find Leon, kill him, and take the map."
The man hanging by his wrists seemed defeated. Blood dripped from the cuts he’d suffered. The men had tortured him to get their answers.
"I should scalp you like the Indians do," the man hissed. "Your family is the reason mine is not rich."
The man opened his glazed eyes like he was seeing earth for the last time. He stared at him with repulsion, then he spit on him. “Fuck you."
A cry of rage came from the outlaw, and he stabbed the man, driving the knife deep.
A squeal escaped from Rena and the two men twirled around and glared at the bushes where she hid. Her heart plummeted to her feet.
What the hell had she just done? But the murder was brutal, and even now, terror seized her. She had just witnessed the death of a stranger.
"Who's there?"
They started walking toward her, and she lifted her skirts and ran like her life depended on it, because it did.
No longer caring about snakes, she ran knowing if they caught her, she was dead.
