Chapter Thirteen

Leah felt as if the nerves in her stomach was going to eat a hole straight through her skin as she began to recognize the land they were riding over. Thankfully Chance seemed to have taken Chase's words to heart and he hadn't said another word the last two days other than to ask her how she was now and then.

It seemed, however, that he had found his tongue again once the house came into view in the distance and he rode his horse in front of Leah and Chase's. He pulled up to a stop and gave Chase a pointed look.

"I think you should stay here while Leah and I ride in."

"Chance, honestly, this is getting ridiculous. I expected father to act the way you are but I thought you would be a little more understanding."

"Leah, there's things you don't know. Something I should have told you as soon as we made it out of that camp but I just couldn't figure out how..."

"Well then say it now. What's had you acting like such an ass the last couple of days?" Leah asked with annoyance as she ran her fingers through her mares mane.

"It's about...." Chance's words were cut off when a rifle shot echoed in the air. Three sets of eyes flew toward the house and Chance raised his arm.

"Don't shoot us, father!" he exclaimed. Chase watched the man jump on a horse and ride toward them. As he neared, Chase saw that Leah indeed looked much like her father. The same dark hair, cleft chin and green eyes, though her fathers were sharp whereas Leah's were wide and warm.

"Chance?" Paul Gordon stated as he rode closer.

"Yeah, and I got Leah with me." Paul's green eyes widened slightly when he saw his daughter.

"Leah..... You're alive?"

"Of course I am." she replied with a reassuring smile. Paul nodded and then looked at Chase.

"Who are you?"

"Chase Caldwell." he replied, holding out his hand. Paul simply looked at his offered hand and then crossed his arms over his saddle horn.

"Awful white name don't you think?"

"Daddy, don't." Leah snapped. "Chase is a good man. He kept me safe all these weeks." Paul's eyes narrowed as he looked from his daughter to the Indian.

"Where exactly have you been? I was sure you were dead or as good as after being with those men."

"I was with Chase." Leah replied. Before anymore could be said, Sarah Gordon came running from the house.

"Leah!" she exclaimed, as she lifted her skirts and ran as quickly as she could across the dusty ground. Chase jumped from Blaze and helped Leah from her mare, knowing that her side still hurt her quite bad.

Quickly Paul was putting his body between Chase and Leah and leading her away toward her mother. Chase watched and felt fear settling into his gut. He didn't like fear. He had never truly felt it before Leah. He had never had any reason to fear anything. He was faster than most men, tougher than most men and could deal with almost any threat. The thought of death had never bothered him or made him frightened.

But the thought of losing Leah? That made him tremble like a tiny child during the worst of spring storms. He knew that she loved him but what if her family convinced her to give him up? What if they refused to accept him? Could he ask her to leave them once again just for him?

The answer to that question was no. Chase would not force Leah to do anything. If she came with him it would be because she chose to. He would never ask her to make such a sacrifice for him.

"I told you and Leah both that you couldn't be together. You'd be better off leaving now and saving yourself the heartache." Chance informed Chase and Chase's black eyes narrowed as he stared at the man.

"Why do you hate me so? Is it because of my skin? My father was half white and his white sire raped his mother. So what part of me is really the savage?"

"It's not that I hate you. I was raised to see you people as dangerous and I'm smart enough to see that you are dangerous. You have no home, no job, no real way to support my sister other than murdering and stealing to get what you need. You would take her away from us and turn her into something that we don't want her to be. Or you would get her killed or murdered by one of the many enemies you no doubt have. And it's not just that...."

'What else is there?" Chase asked dryly.

"She's not free to be with you. She's already promised to someone else who is in the house and waiting for her."

***

"We were so worried about you!" Sarah exclaimed as she hugged her daughter. "Your father was certain you were dead but I never lost hope that you'd come back to us alive." Sarah's hug grew tighter and Leah gasped in pain.

"You're hurt!" Paul stated, his tone accusing. "How did you get hurt?!"

"She was shot." Chase stated as he and Chance walked to them, leading their horses by the reins.

"Shot?!" Sarah gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Where?" Leah pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal the cotton bandage Chase had made from his only other extra shirt. He was still shirtless and had been since leaving the camp, not that Leah was going to complain about that. Though perhaps a shirt would have helped him to look more civilized in her parent's eyes.

"How did this happen?" Paul demanded, glaring at Chase. "You say my daughter was in your care, how did she get shot?" Chance cleared his throat but Chase spoke before he could.

"We were captured. In our attempt to escape Leah was grazed by a bullet. Painful, yes. Deadly, no." Leah saw her mother's eyes go up and down Chase's body before she blushed deeply and looked down at her feet.

"Your arm looks injured as well." Sarah said pointing at the graze on Chase's own arm.

"No worse than wounds I've had before." he replied and Leah saw her father taking in the scars on Chase's copper skin. Most of those scars had come from the claws and teeth of the mountain lion he had battled to save her life but a few were bullet wounds from before Leah had known him.

"Chance, ride to town and get the doc so he can come tend to Leah's wound." Paul said matter of factly.

"That's not necessary, father. Chase has been taking care of it. Look at it for yourself, there is no swelling or infection."

"I would prefer someone with medicinal knowledge looks at the wound." Paul said, refusing to even cast a glance at Chase. Leah felt her temper flare. Chase was being patient and calm, respectful even, and her father was being a giant horses ass. It was no less than what she had expected from him but still it angered her.

"My wound is fine. It hurts but it's fine."

"Of course it is, dear." Sarah said with a placating tone. "You must be exhausted after being held prisoner for so long. How did Chase manage to save you?"

"And why." Paul added coldly.

"Oh but she wasn't a prisoner." Chance informed their parents. "She was there by choice. With him." Chance added, tilting his head toward Chase.

"You mean to tell me you chose to leave us and then chose to stay with those that attacked you and Benjamin?" Paul demanded as his green eyes sparked with temper and he took a step away from Leah.

"No, of course not! It wasn't like that. Chase didn't have anything to do with what happened to Benjamin. He was just there and he kept me safe and I... I fell in love with him." Leah had known her father would erupt but it was worse than even she had expected.

He threw his arms in the air and began ranting so quickly and loudly that Leah could not understand a word he said. Her mother shook her head and moved away from Leah, making the sign of the cross on her chest, which surprised Leah since she hadn't been aware that her mother was catholic.

Leah fought the urge to put her hands over her ears to block out her father's unintelligible ranting. She had gotten used to being around Chase, a man who rarely spoke and certainly never yelled, that to suddenly be back around her father and brother who both liked to rant and rave when they were angry was nerve wracking.

"You've laid with a savage haven't you! You've played whore for him?!" Paul demanded as he stepped forward with his hand raised and Leah knew he was fully prepared to smack her. She braced herself for the impact and squeezed her eyes shut tight, however when the sound of her fathers hand striking flesh reached her ears she felt no pain.

Slowly she opened her eyes one at a time and then gasped when she realized that Chase had stepped between she and her father and her father's hand had struck his tense, rock hard cheek instead.

Leah instantly looked at her father who seemed just as shocked as she was. He took a step back and lowered his hand as his green eyes blinked several times.

"Oh no." Sarah whimpered as she wrung her hands in her skirt. Chance appeared to be fighting back shocked laughter as their normally tough as nails father found himself on the receiving end of intimidation.

"You will not strike her." Chase warned, his voice low and as cold as ice.

"You...You will not tell me what to do. You will leave here now! You have ruined my daughter!" Paul ordered, recovering quickly from his moment of fear.

"Insult her again and I will end your life whether you are her father or not." Chase hissed.

"You're a savage!" Sarah exclaimed.

"I have done nothing but love and protect your daughter. Your husband has beaten her and put her down, forced her to run away. Which of us is the true savage?"

"Mamma, daddy, enough of this." Leah said coming between her parents and Chase. "I love Chase and he is a good man and I am going to marry him."

"You can't do that." Sarah said quickly.

"Why can't I? Other than because of the fact that you don't like him, even though you don't know him." Leah asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Because you have been promised to someone else, Leah. Someone that loves you and has been waiting for you to come home."

"Who are you talking about?" Leah demanded as Chase stiffened behind her.

"Me." Benjamin replied as he slowly rolled himself out the door and onto the porch. "It's good to see you again, Leah."

***

"Benjamin." Leah gasped. Her head began to spin and her knees gave out beneath her. Suddenly she felt Chase's strong arms close around her waist and it seemed as if they grounded her and gave her the courage to look at Benjamin, her fiance, the man she thought had died so long ago...

"It's me, Leah." he said softly. Leah shook her head.

"I saw them... they killed you.."

"No, they didn't." he replied with a sad laugh. "I almost wish they would have but they weren't that nice."

"What.. What do you mean?" Leah asked, only half hearing what he was saying. Her mind was racing wondering just how he had lived... Why he had lived.

"Whoever shot that bullet got me good. I'm stuck in this chair," Benjamin sighed and ran his hands over the wooden arms. "For the rest of my life."

Chase considered making that a very short time. He could already see what this man was going to do. He was going to play on Leah's sympathies to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was Leah. He was going to use her caretaking spirit against her and, with the help of her family, cause her to feel guilty for ever thinking of another man when he needed her so badly.

Chase felt that fear and dread building inside of him. He had thought the bad thing that had been going to happen was what had happened with Petey but now he was thinking he'd been wrong. He was thinking he'd been very wrong.

"Boss." Leah stated distractedly.

"What?" Benjamin asked.

"The man who shot you... his name was Boss. He's dead now." Benjamin smiled at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No." Leah admitted. "I think I need to sit down for a while." Chase was about to lift her into his arms and take her onto the porch to sit but Paul and Chance pushed him out of the way and each of them grabbed one of her arms.

Chase waited for her to protest but he could tell by the dazed look on her face that she wasn't even fully aware of what had happened.

"You don't come in our home." Paul warned Chase and then he and Sarah led her up the steps and into the house.

"Who are you?" Benjamin asked Chase and Chase crossed his arms over his broad chest and raised his brow.

"Chase Caldwell."

"And you were with those men that did this to me and took Leah?"

"I was with them, yes." Benjamin glared at Chase for several long moments, not bothering to attempt to mask the hate and anger in his eyes. Finally, very slowly, he backed up and disappeared through the open door of the large white house Leah shared with her family.

"I think he wants you dead." Chance said matter of factly.

"One of many." Chase replied with a half shrug.

"You leaving now?" Chance asked and Chase couldn't keep himself from snorting.

"Not until my woman tells me to."

"She's going to tell you to." Chance assured him. "With mama, daddy and Benjamin working on her she'll tell you to leave."

"We will see." Chase replied, doing his best to sound unconcerned when inside his heart felt as if it was going to explode from its fast beat and his stomach was tied in knots.

"Why did you lie for me?" Chance asked suddenly. "Why did you tell them that Leah got shot escaping?"

"I saw no reason to have them angry with you as well. There is enough hate in the air for me without adding to it."

"I don't hate you, Chase. I think you really love and care about my sister and I know that's why you're going to do the right thing." Chase's eyes narrowed.

"And what would that be?"

"You love Leah. But you aren't what's best for her."

"You think Benjamin is?"

"Not really." Chance replied with a sigh as he kicked at the ground. "But out of the two of you he is the safer choice. What I said before is still true. You have nothing to offer my sister. And your way of life is dangerous, not even you can deny that. She'll end up broken or dead if she stays with you. You'll ruin her completely, though you may have already done that by bedding her." Chase's eyes flashed and Chance shrugged. "You know it's the truth."

"So what would you have me do?" Chase demanded.

"What's best for Leah. She's going to be torn. She's not going to know what to do. She's going to feel a loyalty and a pity toward Benjamin and in the end that's going to make her choose him. The best thing you can do is make it easier on her and make the decision for her."