Chapter 10

Rock Creek, Nebraska

June 1872

Kid observed silently as Buck hitched up the pair of horses outside the jailhouse. He hadn't asked him, and he didn't need to. He saw the way Buck looked at Lara at the dance, and every time since then. With the correspondence in his hand from California, Kid struggled with how to tell Buck she was a fraud. He didn't want to cause his friend that pain, but he needed to know who he was falling in love with.

"Buck! Hold on, Buck!" Kid hurried across the street to where Buck was hitching up the horses.

"Morning, Kid." Buck tossed him a brief grin and went back to his task.

"I need to talk to you about Lara."

"Kid, I know—"

"No, you don't. Listen, I heard back from the Marshal in San Juan Capistrano. Laralie Alba passed away over ten years ago."

"I'm certain he's mistaken." Buck attempted to ignore the information his friend was sharing with him. He didn't want to acknowledge it, but now that he had heard it, the fingers of doubt gripped him tightly.

"That's not all." Kid's voice was hushed as he pulled Buck into the alleyway between the hotel and the saloon. "She was murdered."

"Murdered?"

"The Marshal has witnesses claiming Vasquez killed her."

"And Lara?"

"Who knows, but she's not who she claims to be."

"You don't know that."

"At the very least, she's protecting a murderer who killed an innocent woman. At worst, she was involved." Kid's voice rose, his accusation hanging heavy in the air.

"No, that's not possible." Buck pushed him back.

"How do you know that?" Kid stopped him from leaving. "You barely know her!"

"She's not a murderer." Buck pushed him aside and walked back to his horse, where Lara was patiently waiting.

With doubt fresh in his mind, he scrutinized her carefully. As she turned to face him, her expression lit up with a brilliant smile. Even from a distance, he could see her eyes glisten like polished obsidian, sparkling in the morning sunlight. Her soft honey-colored hair cascaded gently around her shoulders. And that scent – it lingered in his thoughts, haunting him in the quiet moments of the night. Despite the uncertainty surrounding her, he couldn't fathom her being involved in something as sinister as murder.

"Buck." Lara walked over to him quickly. "I thought you might have forgotten our plans."

"Of course not." He reassured her as he took her hand in his.

"Miss Alba," Kid tipped his hat in acknowledgment.

"Marshal," she replied with a nod.

"Are you coming out to the house tonight?" Kid turned to Buck.

"Not tonight," Buck replied.

"I'll see you later. Remember what I said." Kid nodded, his expression serious.

"What's wrong, are you alright?" Lara frowned as she watched the Marshal walk away, sensing the tension of something troubling in the air.

"Everything fine," Buck smiled quickly.

"Well, I have a fine picnic packed, are you ready?" Lara patted the basket in her arms.

Buck took the basket from her and secured it to the back of his saddle. When he turned to offer his assistance with mounting, he found Lara already settled in the saddle. Despite his efforts to push Kid's unsettling words from his mind, they lingered, a persistent nagging at the edges of his thoughts.

As they rode together, he stole glances at her, struck by her loveliness. Her flushed cheeks and windswept hair added to her beauty, making it difficult for Buck to ignore the stirring of his emotions. Gripping the reins tighter, he focused on the lush green valley ahead, trying to drive out all the doubt that had seeded in his mind.

Lara observed Buck as he stopped and tied his horse to a nearby tree, his usually calm demeanor was even more subdued. It had been six days since the dance, and they had spent nearly every day together since then. Lara sighed softly as she dismounted and tied her horse beside Buck's.

"What's on your mind, Buck?" Lara inquired, her gaze meeting his as she settled onto the blanket, noticing the furrowed brow that had marked his expression since she first saw him.

Buck turned away from her; a troubled expression etched across his features as he handed her the basket. "I'm just thinking," he offered, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

"You don't need to lie to me." Her gaze bore into him, her eyes probing for the truth. "I can tell something is bothering you."

"I don't lie," Buck replied, his tone defensive, perhaps too defensive.

Lara's demeanor shifted, her guard rising in response to his abruptness. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"Are you in trouble, Lara? Is that why you're here?" Buck voice questioned her calmly, but his frustration evident in his furrowed brow.

"No, I told you, I'm looking for someone," Lara affirmed, her tone firm but her annoyance in his disbelief was evident.

"You had me convinced," Buck said, as he leaned against the sturdy tree trunk, his gaze piercing and cold.

"Convinced of what?" Lara's voice carried a note of confusion. She sat demurely on the blanket, looking up at him as he stood as far away as he could, leaning against the tree. It seemed as though he were trying to escape her very presence.

"Why bother, Lara? Why pretend with me?" Buck's words were sharp and angry.

"Pretending what?" Lara's voice rose slightly. Anger slowly creeping into her tone. "I don't understand what you're asking me."

"Stop lying!" Buck's voice echoed with desperation.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Lara insisted, her irritation mounting by the second.

"You told me your name is Lara Alba?" Buck's demand was firm, his eyes searching hers for any sign of deception.

"It is, Laralie Alba," she replied, shaking her head in confusion, unsure of where this was going.

"What's your full name?" Buck pressed, his tone insistent.

"What's this about, Buck?" Lara's jaw tightened, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Is this about Joaquin? You think I'm lying about him? I'm not! I don't know where he is."

"I know," Buck said softer.

"I don't know where he is. It's for my protection and his." Lara's voice grew louder, her frustration barely contained.

"I saw you at the tree that day," Buck confessed, his tone softer.

"You followed me?" Her jaw dropped.

"I didn't intend," He turned from her accusatory gaze.

"I left him a message," Lara shook her head in disbelief.

"Why? He's a murderer, a thief," Buck pressed, his voice thick with condemnation.

"Thief, yes," Lara nodded, a somber acknowledgment in her tone. "He steals blood money. Money that men were killed for! You think you know everything, don't you? Well, you don't." With a sense of defiance, Lara rose to her feet and furiously made her way to her horse.

"I know he murdered Laralie Alba. Now who are you?!" Buck's voice rose with a mixture of desperation and anger. "Did you help him? Did you watch him kill her or did you help?"

He heard the click before he felt the pistol pressed against his abdomen. Buck's eyes widened as he looked down, seeing the Colt pistol steady in Lara's hand. He had been preoccupied with feelings that his usual cautious self completely missed her cues. Meeting her gaze, he saw the fire of rage burning within her, and for the first time, he wondered if she truly was capable of murder.

"How dare you!" Lara struggled to control her temper, her voice trembling with emotion. "Joaquin didn't kill her."

"Lara, I'm not going to hurt you," Buck backed off slowly, his hands raised in surrender. "I promise, you can put the gun away."

"Take yours off," she motioned to the gun at his hip. "And the knife."

Buck complied, slowly handing her his gun and setting the knife on the ground, his movements deliberate and cautious.

"You think you have it all figured out, don't you?" Lara's frown deepened, her eyes searching his. "You and your Marshal friend."

"Lara," Buck urged, his voice softer now, filled with a desperate need for answers.

"What do you want from me?" Her voice was pleading.

"The truth," Buck replied simply.

"Would you even believe me?" Lara's voice was soft, and without hesitation, she gently lowered the gun.

With a single nod, Buck silently pledged his allegiance. Lara hesitated, the memories of that tragic day flooding back with painful clarity.

"It was an accident," she began, her voice filled with pain and sadness.

She closed her eyes, recalling that day vividly. She had vowed never to speak of it again, but something in his demeanor told her she could confide in him. As she began to recount the events, her voice hitched slightly, uncertain if she was making the right decision.

"I was five when my brother was born. I remember the screaming that night, and the crying," she recounted, her voice trembling as she was transported back to that night, she coward in her room in fear.

"I could hear my father yelling, my mother crying and begging him to stop."

Buck pulled her into his arms and stroked her back comfortingly. Her body wracked with sobs as she continued.

"What I hadn't comprehended until years later, that night my mother gave birth to a son that wasn't my father's," Lara confided, her voice quivering as she nestled into Buck's chest, clinging to him tightly. "Rightly so, he was furious, and I assume in his rage, he sacrificed part of his reality. He made a bargain with my mother that she was never to see the man again, and they would never speak of it."

"That must have been hard as a child to understand."

"Like I said, I didn't realize at the time what was happening. It was later, when I was older, I would hear the word bastard when referring to my brother. My father had told everyone my mother had been compromised by the other man, that she was forced to have his child."

"What did your mother do?"

"Nothing," she sighed. "I think she was afraid of him. She killed herself a few years later. Some say it was because of my brother."

"Some say?" He questioned the odd inclusion.

"I don't know, I was too young, but many thought my father killed her."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know." She said honestly. "My father, he's a cruel man, but he loved my mother. But my aunt she never believed her sister ended her own life. She told me, before my mother died, they took my brother to his father because my mother was afraid my brother was in danger. My aunt kept secret what happened to my brother after my mother's death. It was a couple years after my father found out of her deceit."

Buck waited with bated breath, his entire being hanging on her next word. He hadn't anticipated anything like this, and he was utterly dumbfounded by everything she had endured as a child. Now he recognized the pain in her eyes, it mirrored his own.

The memories of that day lingered always in the recesses of her mind, haunting her. As she spoke the words, a heavy sob wracked her body, the pain still raw despite the passage of time. They had all been bound by a solemn vow of secrecy, a pact forged in the aftermath of tragedy to protect themselves from the darkness that threatened to decimate them.

"She was caught in the crossfire," Lara explained, her voice catching with emotion. She gripped the cuff of her blouse, using it to wipe her eyes as tears welled up. "They were arguing, my father and my aunt. He was yelling, demanding to know where my brother was. I recall her screaming back at him, and then they were struggling over the gun. Joaquin and Raphael tried to pull them apart. All I remember is sound of the gun shot."

Buck immersed her tale, his expression softening with empathy as he grasped the brutality of her confession. The revelation that Joaquin stood accused of a crime he did not commit.

"It wasn't Joaquin or Raphael though, I swear it," she insisted, her voice trembling. "My father is very powerful," she continued, her voice trembling with raw vulnerability.

"But why keep it hidden?" His voice was gentle. "You are a witness to an accident,"

"It's not that simple. My father may have killed my brother's family in retaliation. It was blamed on squabbling tribes." Lara shook her head. "Buck, he's powerful, influential. He has eyes and ears everywhere. If we try to expose him, it won't just be Joaquin and Maria in danger—it'll be everyone I care about."

"Did your father threaten you?"

"Not verbally, no." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain but, if he murdered my mother, if he killed my brother's entire family,"

"Shhh." He held her even tighter, his jaw clenched with determination. "I'll help you, whatever you ask,"

"I can't ask that of you." She shuddered instantly, realizing the depths she had gone to and how this incident had wasted more than years of her life. It had also affected everyone she came into contact with.

"You're not asking." He replied, smiling softly as he gently took her hand in his.

"Why?" She searched his eyes, seeking assurance in her decision to trust him.

"You know why," his voice lowered to a whisper.

"Buck?" Her voice quivered, her eyes instantly filling with tears.

"Promise me, right now. Swear to me that you will never lie to me," Buck implored, his grip firm on her hands as he gazed deeply into her eyes.

"There are things I can't tell you," Lara hesitated, her voice infused with uncertainty.

"I know, but between us," he said, drawing her face closer to his, feeling her breath on his face. "Just swear that you won't lie to me ever. Promise me that," he insisted.

"I promise," she whispered softly.

Closing her eyes, she leaned into him, seeking comfort in the warmth and security of his embrace. Nestling her troubled head in the crook of his shoulder and chest, she felt the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat against her temple. As tears flowed from her eyes, she sensed the weight of her past lifting slightly, as if his presence alone could offer some measure of relief from the burdens she carried.

"I will do everything I can to help you," Buck vowed, drawing her closer to him.

"Do you mean that?" She mumbled softly.

"Within reason," he said firmly, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. He used the caveat for her benefit, knowing full well he would do anything for her.

Lara took a deep breath, her lips trembling slightly as she tasted the salt from her tears.

"Would you keep the Marshal and Deputies busy tomorrow?"

Her voice wavered with the weight of her request, knowing she was asking him to actively betray his friends and also putting him at risk with the law himself.

"Are you meeting Joaquin?"

"Yes," Lara replied softly.

She held her breath, her gaze locked on Buck's, waiting impatiently for his response, knowing that his answer could change everything.

"Will you be coming back?"

She knew she was playing a dangerous game. In that brief pause, her mind raced with conflicting thoughts and emotions. She knew she couldn't afford to lose herself in these emotions, not now. There were too many risks, too many lives hanging in the balance.

Taking a deep breath, Lara steadied herself.

"Would it affect your answer?"

"I will keep them in town," Buck assured, his hand cupping her cheek as he drew her slowly closer to him.

"Thank you,"

"Will you be coming back?" he whispered looking at her seriously.

Lara's gaze softened, her eyes shimmering with unspoken longing as she reached out to touch his cheek. "Yes," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

She smiled as she brushed a long strand of his dark hair back, her gaze locking deeply with his soft brown eyes. In that fleeting moment, she refused to dwell on the uncertainties of tomorrow, finding solace that she would brave any trial to return to this man. Buck closed his eyes, drawing a deep breath as their lips met.

His lips traced a path down her jawline, lingering on the delicate skin beneath her ear. His hands, trailed down her back, encircling her waist. Tracing a finger down her lightly freckled nose, he found peace, his touch lingering on her full lips.

"Lara, I don't want to lose you." He breathed gently.

"You won't." She kissed his finger then gently pulled his face towards her for another heated kiss.