Chapter Twenty Four

Previously:

While he had no way of knowing how Jarrod would have crossed paths with Phillip, Nick didn't care. All he cared about was that there were men ready to rescue Elizabeth and him, along with turning their captor over to the law. Any nervous feelings he had when it came to Jarrod being with the group, his seeing Elizabeth and his reaction were all pushed aside for the moment. First things first….which meant being sure he was prepared to pull Elizabeth out of the way when Phillip and the men with him dealt with Nick's and Elizabeth's captor.

Both Nick and Elizabeth could feel the tension in the air as Brian barked at them to move faster. They said nothing though-they were moving as fast as they could while still keeping an eye on their surroundings. The climb up the hill was not an easy one, and Nick could hear their captor cursing behind them. Apparently, Coco was having problems getting up the hill himself. 'What does the man expect?" Nick thought…even as he vowed to show him a bit of justice Barkley style if Coco suffered any lasting effects from this ordeal. Once they were on top of the hill, and passing through the trees, Nick took a hold of Elizabeth's arm with his one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist with his other one.

Brian, still oblivious to the fact they were being watched, thought Elizabeth was having problems again. "What's wrong?" He hissed. "We rested long enough-too long in fact!" The fact that they hadn't taken off and left him to freeze to death when he'd accidentally dozed off had astonished him—though he wasn't about to admit it.

"I…" Nick started to answer only to have Fred, Jarrod, Hank and Phillip appear. He wasted no time in yanking Elizabeth away from the path and into the trees. He wasn't surprised when Brian started cursing, nor when the man panicked and pulled his gun. There were a few rapid shots and then nothing. It wasn't until Jarrod called out for him did Nick start to rise to his feet only to freeze when he looked down at Elizabeth, who lay still upon the ground. His heart jumped when he realized one of the bullets had ricocheted and hit Elizabeth. He yelled out for his brother and the others even as he hurried to kneel down. As he turned her head sideways-it had blood running down the side of her face, he was relieved to see it had only grazed her.

"How is she?" Phillip and Jarrod, who had left Fred and Hank to deal with the corpse of Brian Stillman-both asked as Nick took Elizabeth in his arms and stood up.

"I hope fine. The bullet grazed the side of her head." He made his way through the trees and onto the path. Fred and Hank had thrown Mr. Stillman over the back of the lawman's horse. "How far is it to your cabin?" He hoped they were even closer than Elizabeth had thought.

"A couple miles," Phillip said as he took Elizabeth from Nick long enough for the hot tempered rancher to mount Coco-who had made his way back to the group once he'd seen his master was with them. Once he was in the saddle, he insisted on being the one to carry Elizabeth on his horse.

"Hank and I will take Mr. Stillman's body back down to the valley." Fred looked at Jarrod and Phillip. "Once we get there, don't be surprised if Heath insists on having Hank here bring him and her stepdaughter back up here."

Nick felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders as he let out a deep breath of relief; he'd been extremely concerned for the child ever since she'd successfully escaped. "Tabitha ran into you before she got to town. That's why you found us so soon! She'll," he said as he nodded towards the still unconscious Elizabeth, "be as relieved to hear that as I am."

"Let's get going." Phillip, who was biting at the bits to get his 'daughter' to his home, barked as softly as he knew how. No one argued with him. It took but seconds for the group to split up. Only after Fred and Hank disappeared did Jarrod turned his head to look at his brother and the woman whom he was transporting on his horse. As Elizabeth had warned Nick, once Jarrod actually saw her no one had to tell him which family she had been born into. He'd also seen the way Nick looked at her. A dozen emotions ran through him, along with a thousand concerns.

Nick, who could see Jarrod out of the corner of his eye, found himself holding Elizabeth just a tad bit close. No one had to tell him what Jarrod had seen. Only thing was, Nick knew that he was going to be a part of Elizabeth's and Tabitha's life from now on. Whether it was as their friend or because he'd court Elizabeth and marry her, he didn't know. Only some sort of relationship would exist. He might have started the conversation he knew he and Jarrod needed to have only Phillip was with them, and they needed to get Elizabeth to the Jackson home.

When they arrived at the Jackson's home it was almost dark. Phillip quickly dismounted his horse and took Elizabeth, who had somewhat come to during the journey only to slip into unconsciousness again, from Nick. By this time Mrs. Jackson had opened the door and let out a cry.

"I'll get her into a bed. You two take care of the horses; Nick knows where everything is at." Though he was not trying to, Phillip's request came out more like an order. However; understanding where the gentleman was coming from, neither Nick nor Jarrod were offended.

"We'll do that." Nick said as he took a hold of the reins to Phillip's horse, along with Coco's reins. He waited until Phillip, Elizabeth and Mrs. Jackson were in the house before he turned to head for the barn. Jarrod was right beside him.

Just as they reached the barn, Jarrod brought Nick out of any thoughts he'd been having. "Phillip told me what happened. I am glad she saved you. I'd hate to be taking your body home." That much was truth, and needed to be said.

Nick could hear what he called 'Jarrod's Pappy voice' loud and clear. It told him his older brother meant to have a talk with him, and Nick knew where that talk would be heading. Silently, Nick groaned. Right or wrong, he also knew he needed to know how Elizabeth was first. "Not now, Jarrod. We need to put up these horses, and then I need to check on Elizabeth. After that, we can talk; we need to talk."

Jarrod would have pushed to talk right then only he could see how stressed Nick was. After a minute of awkward silence Jarrod finally nodded and led Jingo to an empty stall. The whole time he was thinking 'A Hyatt? She had to be a Hyatt?'