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make a sound.
    Her tongue was so dry, it felt like a strip of rawhide between her teeth. She tried to swallow, but when she did, a wheezing sound escaped her. She stopped.
    “Who’s there?” a man shouted from behind the rock.
    She held the gun in front of her. The accent was American, but the traders had regaled them all with stories about the thieves in this country. Had someone been following them to steal what they refused to sell at Fort Hall? Was he biding his time, waiting to attack the company?
    It might be one of the men from their company, but she had to be certain. “Who are you?”
    Another voice called out from behind the rock, this one sterner. “Tell us your name.”
    She swallowed and lowered her gun slowly at the sound of her father’s voice.
    “It’s Samantha,” she whispered.
    Papa’s tall form emerged above the rock, his voice trembling. “Good heavens, Samantha. I almost shot you.”
    She didn’t tell him that she almost shot him as well.
    A second man stood from behind the rocks—Captain Loewe. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but she could see the fury in them.
    “What are you doing out here?” he demanded, glaring first at her and then down at Boaz.
    “Well, I was—”
    The captain didn’t let her finish.
    “About to get yourself killed, that’s what you’re doing.” The captain looked at her father. “Why isn’t she in her tent?”
    Her father was facing her instead of the captain. “I believe she was trying to help.”
    “We don’t need your help,” the captain said before he crouched back down behind the rock, dismissing her.
    “I can shoot a gun.” She turned to her father. “Tell him how well I can shoot.”
    “You need to stay back with the wagon,” Papa insisted. He didn’t say “ like I already told you, ” but she knew that was what he was thinking.
    “Please, Papa!”
    “If there was something out there, you’ve scared it away,” the captain said, as if she’d done something wrong.
    She didn’t understand how scaring away a threatening animal or person would be bad, but she didn’t dare disagree with the man. His anger could cause serious repercussions for their whole family.
    “Go take care of Micah,” Papa said.
    She shifted on her feet, her gun resting at her side. “He’s asleep and as safe as any of us.”
    Probably safer, since he was inside the security of their wagon circle.
    “Go back, Samantha.”
    She clutched her gun with both hands, frustrated at being treated like a child, but she supposed she could guard their wagon while her father and the other men searched for intruders. Even if she wasn’t needed to watch over Micah, she didn’t really have a choice.
    Turning slowly, she heard the footsteps of another man rustling through the sage. When she looked to her side, she saw Jack’s profile in the dim light, and her heart fluttered. His eyes were focused on the circle of wagons; his brown hair rested over his collar.
    Jack took her elbow, pointing her back toward the circle of wagons. “I’ll make sure she gets back safely.”
    Frustration welled within her at his words, the flutter in her heart stilling. She could make it the twenty yards back to the wagon without assistance. “I don’t need an escort, Jack.”
    “Samantha!” She could almost see Papa behind the rocks, shaking his head.
    “I’m leaving,” she huffed before she let Jack guide her and Boaz away from the men.
    “I can shoot this gun as well as any of you,” she muttered as they crossed through the grass.
    “No one is saying that you can’t, but we’re doing our best to protect the women and children in this party, Samantha, and, well—” He stumbled over his words. “Whether you like it or not, you’re one of our women. Your tramping out like this, on your own, makes it really difficult for us to do our job.”
    She wiggled her elbow free from Jack’s grasp, and he didn’t reach for her again. On nights like this, she wished she’d been