:A/N: I know it's short but I hope you enjoy! Also the pick at the top is the closest I could find to what I imagine Penny to look like. 

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ace pulled Penny into his arms. "I don't like the thought of leaving you out here alone."

"I'll be just fine, Ace," Penny assured him, brushing her lips against his jaw. "I have my dress and everything I need to work on it out here and I want to finish it today away from any distractions at the ranch. If I don't..." she added, when he attempted to speak. "... I'll be getting married in the nude tomorrow."

The devilish grin he flashed caused those dimples of his to make her knees weak. "Works for me."

"And all the guests your mother has invited?" Penny tapped her jaw. "I'm sure the men from the adjoining ranches your father invited will be happy to attend as well."

Ace growled. The gold flecks in his eyes seemed to glow as he lowered his face to her neck and nipped. "Finish your dress then, Princess. I'm the only one allowed to see what's underneath."

Penny trembled, feeling every inch an attractive, desired woman. She loved Ace even more for giving her that. "Go," she urged, nudging him away. "Luke and Patricia want to be in their house soon."

"Yeah, yeah...." Ace sighed, those eyes scanning her. "I'd rather stay here in the bed with you all day."

Penny felt the heat as it rose to her face. "And after tomorrow we'll spend a few days doing just that," she promised.

"We could get an early start," Ace offered.

Penny simply shook her head. With an unhappy groan, Ace pulled away and grabbed his hat off the hook by the door. "I'll be at the ranch for supper," Penny promised.

A quick shake of his head followed her statement. "I don't want you traveling the path alone. I'll come get you and we'll ride to the ranch together."

Penny thought that seemed like a waste of time but she chose to keep it to herself. While it seemed the rustlers had moved on and were no longer a threat, Penny knew that Ace wasn't going to change his mind.

After spending several more minutes simply saying goodbye at the door, Penny found herself alone in the cabin. Eventually they were going to have to get some chickens out here and a smokehouse for meat. Penny had learned enough about cooking to see that they wouldn't starve to death—and they wouldn't get fat either.

Setting down to work on her wedding dress, Penny thought about tomorrow. Tomorrow she would be Ace Anderson's wife. The excitement and the nerves swirling in her gut were overwhelming. Never, not in her wildest of dreams, would Penny have seen herself marrying a man like Ace.

He still drank now and then on the ranch, though he never got blind drunk. He led poker championships with the other ranch hands and tended to distract everyone from their work quite often. If he got a chance to show of, he was showing off. If he got a chance to make someone laugh, he was being a clown.

Penny loved that man.

A couple hours passed and Penny decided she needed to stretch out her legs. Rising from her seat on the sofa, Penny went to the door and stepped out on the porch. As she breathed in the fresh air, the hound that Ace had gotten to keep at the cabin suddenly perked up on the porch, jumped to his feet and began barking.

"What's wrong, boy?" Penny asked, tensing slightly.

The sound of a horse reached her ears and Penny's confusion deepened when she realized Gavin Hendershot was approaching on horseback. "Hello Penny."

"What in the world are you doing here, Gavin?" Penny demanded, fully aware of the fact that she was alone and there was no one to hear her yell for help. Ace had left her his rifle but she was no sharpshooter with the weapon and it was in the bedroom—far from where she currently stood on the porch.

"Nice to see you too, Penny," Gavin greeted. He seemed pale, a little shaky, and not at all eager to get off that horse. "I see you're all alone. Where's Ace?"

Penny chose not to answer. "What do you want?"

"I tried to get you to help me, Penny, and you just wouldn't. I'm sorry it had to come to this."

The hound was growling low, Penny's hair stood up on the back of her neck, and then she saw the men. They seemed to materialize out of nowhere all around the cabin.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"Hello, ma'am," A large, tall, dark-skinned man approached her with a rope in his hands. If ever a man could simply embodied evil, Penny knew it would be him. "Give me your hands."

"No...." Penny took a step back as the hound's growls deepened. The man rolled his eyes, glanced over at the hound and kicked. Penny heard bone cracking as his boot made contact with the dog's head and the dog simply dropped without another sound.

Penny knew then that she was in serious trouble. "Give me your hands, ma'am," he ordered once again.

Penny thought about running... But what good would that do? There was at least ten men here and she couldn't possibly outrun and elude them all. They were all armed, making a run for the gun in the house seem foolish.

Dammit, she should have listened to Ace. She never should have stayed out here alone. "What do you people want with me?" Penny asked, taking a single step back.

The large dark man chuckled. "We want you and anything else of value here. You aren't quite as attractive as I'd hoped but the freckles are nice and you have spirit—both those things will help your price."

"My price?" Penny nearly vomited.

"Yes, dear. You are how Gavin here is paying off his debt. Isn't she Gavin?"

Gavin nodded, appearing as small and pathetic as a man had ever appeared. "I'm sorry, Penny."

"Yes." Penny agreed. "You are." These men must be the rustlers who had been causing so much trouble for her family. And now it would seemed the were going to cause a bit more.

"Now, give me your hands."

Penny knew fighting would only end with her injured. Injured she would be weak. She needed to keep her wits about her. Holding out her hands, Penny allowed them to be tied with a rope. Another man was handing the other end of the rope. A leering man with small gray eyes, pursed lips and a nose that had a deep scar across the bridge of it.

She watched in horror as the men began to ransack the cabin, taking anything they thought could be valuable—including the lace dress. "Please, not that..." Penny pleaded.

The big man glanced at her, still clutching the dress in his large gnarled hand. His brown eyes narrowed as he studied her over his full nose. "You beg for a dress but not for yourself?"

Penny tossed her loose hair over her shoulder. "Would it do me any good to beg for myself?"

He chuckled. "No. I suppose not. And it won't do any good to beg for the dress either."

Penny felt her heart break as it was shoved into a sack. She glared over at Gavin. "You'll pay for this, Gavin Hendershot. My family won't just let me disappear without a fight."

Gavin merely sank lower into the saddle and said nothing.

One of the men attempted to go near the small barn, obviously hoping to take Quincy. "I woudln' tdo that..." Penny warned.

The man merely sneered at her before reaching for the horses halter. Quincy's ears went back, he stomped his foot, swung his head and then snapped, biting down hard on the man's hand.

The man hopped up and down several times, holding the abused appendage. He pulled his gun, clearly intent on killing Quincy but was stopped by the large dark man. "Don't you dare fire a shot. Just leave the horse. A horse we can't handle is a horse we can't sell."

Penny breathed a sigh of relief. At least poor Quincy was safe.

"Alright, men. Let's move out."

Penny found herself pulled along behind as they went back into the woods. It didn't take long before they approached a small clearing with a number of hitched horses. As the men loaded their new stolen belongings onto the horses, big dark man approached Gavin.

"Your debt is paid, you're free to go."

"Ace will kill you, Gavin. Go enjoy your debt free life for what little time you have," Penny snapped. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to plead for her life—none of those things would help her situation.

Penny was loaded up onto the back of the dark man's horse and the group began to move, taking Penny further and further from home and from hope.