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Meg felt the shake on her shoulder, but she had no interest in waking up. She’d worked so hard to fit in as a proper society lady back East, when Cass helped her escape a vengeful gang leader. She supposed she should be grateful that when the mutiny in the wagon train started, she hadn’t been killed, but who knew what exactly she was waking up to? Her restrictive gown was hardly suitable for fighting, and she hadn’t even been in a decent spar for five years. She’d done what she could to keep in fighting shape, just in case, but she was bound to be rusty. She didn’t even have a knife on her.
“Meg, dearie, it’s time to wake up,” a voice purred in a delightful accent. “The nightmare is over, it’s time to be yourself again. Wake up.”
A soft groan escaped as Meg found herself being pushed up. She didn’t even have to fake the headache, or the aches and pains in her body. She’d likely been hit in the head, based on the localization of the pain, but a long ride in a wagon and likely none-too-gentle handling by her abductors took their toll too. Her eyes opened, and she found herself staring at one of the other women from the wagon train. Roberta? Rowena? Rebecca? She couldn’t remember the name for sure, but it didn’t matter. It was probably fake anyway, if her current unbound state was anything to go by. She’d even managed to change out of the gown she’d been wearing into one far more suitable for their situation. Meg envied her.
Ruthanna noticed Meg looking and smiled in pity. “I didn’t want to change you while you were asleep, but I do have a change of clothes for you, too. Here.” She opened a trunk in the back of the wagon and pulled out black trousers and a purple shirt. “Time to be yourself again.”
Meg took the trousers and looked in the trunk. There was a full outfit there, down to boots and underclothes. She looked to Renata. “Don’t suppose you’d turn your back?”
“Nope. I quite plan to enjoy the show.” She winked and settled back, leaving Meg rolling her eyes as she stripped, keeping her back to Rosella. The outfit was nice, quite to her taste, and hey, free clothes. She wasn’t going to turn it down.
Then she picked up the black duster and saw the gun and knife underneath. After a beat, she turned to look at Ramona. “Did you mean to leave those in there?”
“Of course I did, dearie. What good are you if you’re not armed?” She got to her feet, coming over to stand right beside Meg, and picked up the belt with the gun. As she put it around Meg’s hips, she looked her in the eye with a smile. The smile faltered when she realized Meg’s confusion was genuine. “Did I hit you too hard? You don’t know who I am.”
“You hit me?” Meg pulled the gun from the holster and checked to see if it was loaded. It was. This wasn’t some kind of trick. “Nope. I remember you from the wagon train, but if you’re expecting me to understand what the hell is going on here, I got nothing.”
“And I even used my own name, too,” Rhonda moaned. “I can’t believe you don’t remember me, Meg. Surely you haven’t forgotten my boy Fergus?”
Meg thought for a moment, idly testing the edge of the knife with her thumb. Nice and sharp. “Nope. Can’t remember any Ferguses.”
“Oh, what was that ridiculous nickname he used…” Roxanna fretted, and then lit up. “Crowley! You do remember Crowley?”
“Okay, yeah, that one I remember. He’s the son of…” Meg’s mouth snapped closed as she remembered what Ralphina had called Crowley. Her boy. Calling him a son of a bitch would probably not be a good idea. “You’re Crowley’s mother, and you think it’s a good idea to hand me weapons after what he did to me?”
“You’re not going to hurt Fergus, he’s dead, and you’ve no reason to hurt me. After he died, I went looking for you to bring you home. You seemed happy enough in your new life with Cass, though goodness knows how you endured the boredom of that stultifying society, so I let you be.” Rochella took a step closer. “Then Cass abandoned you for that Kelly whore and her baby, and I thought it high time you came home. When you decided to head west with a wagon train, you even created a wonderful opportunity.”
“The attack on the wagon train was all about kidnapping me? Seriously?” Meg shook her head. “Why do you care so much? Right after I left, I could see, but I’ve been gone five years. Why bother trying to get me back?”
Rayana reached out, putting her hands on either side of Meg’s face. “I wanted to go get you back as soon as I realized why you’d left, but Fergus was still in charge, not me. You may not remember me, but I could never forget you. Such passion and fire and conviction. How Cass could abandon you…”
“Because I told him to,” Meg said. “Kelly needed him a lot more than I did. As hard as I tried, I never quite fit in. I’d been wanting to go west for a while now, but Cass wouldn’t leave his brothers and they had people they couldn’t leave. When he found out about Kelly, I saw my chance and told him to step up and be the man she needed him to be, and I’d bury my broken heart out west.” Meg looked down at the knife still in her hands and put it back in its sheath. “Hadn’t planned to go looking for an outlaw gang to join, but then, I didn’t know Crowley was dead. You want me? I’m all yours.”
“For the gang, or…” Rodrica’s eyes traveled down Meg’s body.
Well, Rolanda was certainly making it obvious that she wanted her in other ways too. She had armed Meg. She didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Meg would most likely kill Crowley if he were still alive and she got the opportunity. Trading sex for power and security had never been a problem for Meg before. “Why not? Although…” Meg flinched. This was going to be awkward. “I’m really sorry, but you did hit me in the head, so… remind me what your name is? I’ve been trying, but I can’t…”
“Rowena.”
“Rowena, right.” Meg reached out and put her arms around Rowena’s waist. “Sounds good to me, you want me like this. After all, you did cause a huge commotion just to get me back home.”