Mail Order Mayhem (Mail Order Romance Book 2 - Benjamin and Annie) by Kate Whitsby

she could distinguish Carl’s voice issuing orders to the rest of the gang. The line of men, like a tiny trail of ants pouring out of their nest, ran for the barn. As she hurried on, she heard the alarmed whinnying of horses emerging from the barn, followed by the pounding of their hooves as they sped down the trail after her. Annie pressed on, panting in terror, hardly aware of where she was going. She stumbled over rocks and fallen twigs, her legs numb from the exertion of her climb. At the top of the rise, she tripped over a solid object blocking her path. At first, she mistook it for a fallen log, but when she got up and dusted herself off, she saw the shape of a man who appeared to be sleeping against a rock. On she hurried, not giving herself any time to think about what he was doing there, in the middle of the trail. Further along her path, the trees overshadowed the trail, blocking out the moonlight, and as she entered this cover, she collided bodily with Benjamin coming the opposite direction.
    “Annie!” he breathed in astonishment. “You’re here! I was just coming down to meet you! Quick! They’ll be here in a second! Follow me, quickly!”
    Annie suppressed her own cry of surprise. She scarcely registered the reality of Benjamin, alive and well, in front of her. Benjamin led her further into the trees, away from the trail, and before another moment elapsed, heavy darkness enveloped them where the trees completely obliterated all moonlight. At first, she followed the sounds of his rustling footsteps through the undergrowth, but in a few minutes, she lost the sound of them. She stood still and listened, but only the approaching rumble of her pursuers on horseback gave her any inkling of direction. She could neither see nor hear any sign of Benjamin at all, and she despaired of finding him again in the darkness. She dared not call out to him, in the fear of alerting the men to her position. She could not remain standing still any longer. She could only stagger forward, low-hanging branches scratching at her hair and face and tangled brambles ripping her skirts. She helplessly raised her hands in front of her face to protect herself, keeping her eyes shut tight. She could see nothing anyway. She crashed through the trees and bushes, making a frightful racket. She marveled they didn’t find her by the noise alone, and she wondered why Benjamin didn’t notice her absence and come back to find her.
    She struggled onward in blind panic until she burst out of the darkness into the moonlight again and recognized the worn trail upon which she had come from the farm. She had worked herself around in a complete circle. She just collected enough of her self-possession to face the southern direction again, when the thunder of horse hoof beats overtook her again, and the streaking shapes of charging animal bodies flowed around her. Had she kept silent, they might have ridden past without even realizing her presence. Instead, her arms flew up automatically to protect her head and she screamed out instinctively in shock. Belatedly, the horsemen reined to a stop just beyond her and, turning back, Curtis’s voice broke the night. “It’s that infernal woman. She’s run off, just like I warned Pop she would. I knew he wouldn’t watch her closely enough. We’ll take her back with us.”
    She could only stand there, bewildered, as he trotted over to her. He grabbed a fistful of her clothes from between her shoulder blades, hauled her up and deposited her across the pommel of his saddle. Without a word to the other men, he galloped off back up the trail toward the farmhouse.

Chapter Four
    After he realized Annie had failed to follow him in the darkness of the trees, Benjamin retraced his steps toward the trail, where he had listened in sinking dread to the bandits finding and recapturing her. Against all his inclinations, he withdrew further into the woods and returned to the glen where his horse remained hidden, and he