“Perfect, headlong into ambush. If they keep going that that should put them right into Cattie and father’s line of fire,” Lijuan said as the sound of gunfire echoed from up the canyon to put an exclamation point on her prediction.
“That should thin them out pretty good,” Dale said, excited at what they had accomplished too. “If any are still left, Mr. Bell should be…” He wasn’t through guessing that out when sounds of distant shots came from the far end of the canyon.
“That ought to take care of the cougar problem once and for all,” Dale said proudly as he slipped his rifle back into the scabbard the was attached to his saddle. Across from him Lijuan was doing the same, and as she did for a slender moment in time she felt a tinge of remorse. The animals were deadly, that was not in question, but they were doing what animals did and she understood that. If only they had stuck to wild game this outcome would not have been necessary Lijuan also appreciated their ferocity, for she herself could be quite like that whenever the need happened to arise.
Her musing took wing as Dale turned to her with a smile, which she didn’t hesitate to return as he approached her where she stood on the rim of the canyon where they had tied their mounts to a small Greasewood tree. Once hers was untied she set about freeing his as well. No sooner had she completed the task Lijuan felt the sensation of a warm hand on her shoulders. Slowly she turned around to face him, the horse’s tether falling from her hand to the ground with a soft plop.
Without saying a word, he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. A moment later their tongues were mingling and Lijuan began to wonder if he intended to take her right there on the spot. It had been a long time since she had made love in the outdoors, but she was more than open to the possibility. Others however had plans for them that didn’t include an interlude under the endless Arizona sky.
Lijuan’s eyes suddenly flew open, her senses on alert which was becoming more and more second nature as the Daughters of Half Breed Haven seemed to forever being drawn into dangerous and deadly situations either by design or by chance.
“Let go!” she shouted to her stunned lover and he released her and as her short legs hit the ground she was already spinning around to look down at the sloping side of the canyon to see rocks tumbling away, the sound of which had alerted her. The rocks that had been dislodged by the mad charge of a fully alive cougar and not just any cougar…its missing ear gave it away as the mate!
Chapter Six
What Lijuan could only imagine as a scream of rage exploded from the cougar as it began bounding up the sloping side of the canyon as fast as its muscular legs would carry it. She didn’t turn to look behind her at the terrified whinnying of the horse or at Dale who was shouting a curse word as the untethered horses bolted away into the scrublands taking their rifles with them.
Instead she was drawing her Colt .45 and aiming but not firing it as she was joined by Dale who began firing wildly. She was about to cry out to him to stop, that he would never hit it at this range but instead she continued leveling her gun and waited until she thought she would have a chance.
The cougar though had ideas of its own as its survival instincts lead it to pick up a zig zagging course up the rise, frequently vanishing behind the boulders that littered the slope for a moment or two before remerging. Lijuan took two shots both of which missed. A third shot grazed the maddened animal, but it didn’t slow. Beside her she heard the click, click, click of Dale’s empty cylinder.
As Dale raced to shove more bullets into the chamber from his belt, she steadied herself again, aiming for a kill shot to its head but the wily creature dodged and let loose another as her bullet tore off the cat’s one good ear. Lijuan pulled the trigger only to have her fifth shot pass through the empty space the charging cougar had been before dodging, the lead impacting with a boulder.
“Shit!” she heard burst from Dale’s lips as his now fully loaded gun jammed when he took his first shot. The foreman gripped her shoulder and pulled her back from the edge of the canyon shouting that they had to make a run for a nearby cluster of rocks in hopes of scaling them to find some measure of safety.
The pair started to run as the cat crested the rim of the canyon and Lijuan looked back. There would never be a moment she didn’t believe that animals weren’t capable of vengeance. They had slain its mate, killed its pack and now taken its ear. Flight was hopeless as she knew because with the animal’s determination to see them dead it would easily leap up onto the boulders that they were dashing towards. Lijuan knew they only had once chance and that was the last bullet in her chamber. There was simply no time to attempt to load anymore. The snarling creature was so close now that she could see the hatred in its greenish-yellow eyes.
The world fell away, all of it, every sound right down to the animal’s war cries and Dale’s shouts to keep running. With a trembling hand, she raised the gun in the air. If she were Cassie she knew she could make this shot, probably with her eyes closed but she was not Cassandra, but she had to try. Lijuan steadied the gun in her hand and aimed at the cougar’s head as she saw its muscles coil for the spring it was about to make, intent on bringing her down and mauling her to death with its razor-sharp claws and teeth that might as well be daggers.
The beast seemed to leap at the same moment her six shooter discharged. Her mouth fell agape in the soundless world she was living in as the bullet blasted its way directly between the cougar’s eyes, blowing through the back of its head. She stumbled back as the body rocketed towards her, it’s massive paw still swinging from the final command before its brains had been ripped to shreds.
Like a switch being thrown all the sound and fury of the world returned as Lijuan felt herself being launched sideways through the air as Dale’s cries filled her ears. When she hit, she hit the ground hard rolling over several times before coming to a stop on her back.
Lijuan closed her eyes unsure if she had the courage to open them, she knew she would find that she had been fatally disemboweled like the steers that had been killed. Why wasn’t there any pain she wondered. Was it possible to be hurt so badly that one could be beyond pain? Or would it come in a mind searing burst. Slowly she opened them expecting to see the worst.
Her eyes grew wide in astonishment at the sight of her body wholly intact, her life’s blood not staining the desert lands with a brilliant red. Slowly her eyes traveled over to an object that he been torn away from her when she had been sent into her mad tumble. It was the oversized canteen from the assayer’s shop. The fancy cloth covering that raised the prices even more for it was badly slashed, but the metal had saved her life. By the time Dale had dropped to his knees next to her frantically inquiring if she was all right, Lijuan was laughing at her salvation. Her merriment was short lived as seconds later two hands suddenly seized Dale’s shoulders and yanked him to his feet. Two arms as thick as tree limbs quickly encircled him, pinning his arms behind him.
Lijuan’s look of pure astonishment deepened as behind Dale’s assailant Lettie Bell rode into view astride Ginger. Without saying a word, she swung herself off the saddle and approached, the look on her face one-part smugness and the other part crazy in Lijuan’s opinion.
“What the hell are you doing Mick! And you Lettie you’re supposed to be home in bed recovering!” Dale shouted, his face a mask of surprise.
Lijuan however wasn’t surprised. At this point, she doubted anything the woman did would surprise her. Lijuan thought Lettie to be just that crazy. Still shaken from her tumble across the rocky ground, Lijuan failed to recover in time to mount a defense. Lettie, with a rope in hand, leaped at Lijuan, binding her arms to her side even more than Dale’s were in the big man’s grasp because Lettie had used a lasso to bind her. The bitch was strong Lijuan thought, really strong!
“Mick’s horse barely went through the breaking stage, so I think we will tie you to it, you little thief!” Lettie grinned proudly. “Being dragged behind a bronco will set you right,” she said as she began to
shove Lijuan toward the big white horse that had been standing off to the side, tied to a mesquite.
“No matter what was said to your father this morning, I’m not sorry for what happened to you,” Lijuan spat. Everything was happening so fast, but she still had enough strength in her to rebuke the woman. “You brought all of this on yourself because you couldn’t handle Dale falling for me over some no account, tomboy nobody wants to look at twice.” She shouted towards the crazy woman fiercely. This new attack had pushed even the most microscopic feelings of guilt or repentance she might have had over Lettie’s burn out of her mind. Lettie was going way too far regardless of anything else. All this over a man?
“Mick here would disagree,” Lettie replied her, “but that is neither here nor there. You gave me this scar on my face and I have to wear it for the rest of my life. Now I’ll be tying you to this bronco!” her arrogant laugh blistering Lijuan’s ears.
“Don’t you dare, bitch! Let go of me, Caldwell, if you want to live,” Dale threatened Mick, his expression hard.
Mick, whatever Lettie had turned him into, ignored him as he struggled while Lettie pushed Lijuan closer to the snorting horse. She tied the lasso to the horse’s saddle, with Lijuan trying fervently and failing to escape. Lettie walked over to her horse after she was done and took a bullwhip from her saddle bag. Lijuan, wide-eyed, realized she was about to be dragged behind a bronco and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it! For her part Lettie was letting loose with an insane witch’s cackle.
Suddenly a new sound filled Lijuan’s ears and that was of a galloping horse. She looked around wildly and gave a shout of relief as her sister came charging up on her horse, her wavy hair whipping in the wind behind her. Cattie had her signature bullwhip in hand and Lijuan smiled, knowing how good her sister was with it.
“I double dog dare you to lash that whip because if you try, I will smoke you so fast you won’t even know what hit you!” Catalina shouted at Lettie as she got near with her horse. Gone was Cattie’s effervescent good cheer replaced by a rock-hard grimace and a voice as cold as ice.
“Go fuck yourself, you Mexican slut!” Lettie raged back.
She raised her whip to snap at the bronco, but Catalina beat her too it. Her whip snaked out as she urged her horse into them. Her whip knocked Lettie’s out of her hand and as she rode past Mick Caldwell, she hit him in the head with the butt of her pistol. He staggered as she thundered past and Dale got loose. In an instant, being the smart man that he was, he turned and leapt on top of Mick to begin pummeling the big cowman.
“Nice save, little sister!” Lijuan praised Catalina with a grin that ran from ear to ear.
“Are you kidding me? I still owe you for saving me from Ruth McClatchy getting the drop on me in Eureka Springs!” Catalina responded as the sound of more horses approaching caused them to turn. Lijuan saw her father followed by Carson and his men. Then Lijuan heard a closer horse and whipping around, she could see that Lettie had gotten back up on her mount and was riding off into the hill country.
“I told you to wait for me, Peppercorn!” Her father shouted to Catalina as his eyes widened at the sight of the dead cougar.
Catalina wasn’t listening. “Stop her! She’s gone plum crazy!” she shouted, pointing at the disappearing Lettie. Carson’s men took off after her immediately, but Lijuan had a feeling they wouldn’t find her. Catalina jumped off her horse at the same time and went over to her sister and made short work of untying the lasso that bound her.
“What the hell went on here?” Carson demanded.
“That crazy ass step daughter of yours is what’s goin’ on! She was tryin’ to hurt Lijuan! Damn Loco Lettie Bell is what she is!” Catalina hollered, pounding the nearby mesquite tree with her fist.
Mick, groaning with pain, struggled to his feet under the watchful eye of Dale. He glanced around with a sigh at first, before trying to explain that they weren’t really going to hurt anyone.
“She wasn’t really going to do it,” he tried with his chin dipping down, his voice weakened. “She just wanted to put a scare into her is all she was doing,” Mick said. Dale snarled and rushed towards him, slugging him in the gut.
“Shut up! You think we’re stupid?” he asked. “Lettie’s lost her mind, and you’re fired by the way. You are off this ranch by the end of the day, you hear me!” Dale shouted at the big man who was fidgeting during the tongue-lashing. Carson had been watching the interplay and then turned to Lijuan.
“Miss Wilde, I think you best fill me in,” he requested while cupping an elbow with one hand and tapping his lips with two of his fingers.
With a sigh, Lijuan began to explain everything that had just happened.
***
The day had not turned out exactly as Mick Caldwell had envisioned it would. Lettie’s promise for protecting had rung hollow. Now the distant horizon was filled with the rays of the descending sun, and he was leaving, sacked of a job he had cherished and loved. After the sun set behind the ranch, he emerged from the bunkhouse with his travel bag over his shoulder, intent on leaving for good as he had little choice and fewer options. He tensed as he heard someone calling his name from the shadows along the side of the building, but he paid no mind to it, knowing fully well that nothing about it could change the position he had found himself. He glanced around when the voice persisted though, walking towards a corner of the house where it came from.
He shouldn’t have followed the voice. It was Lettie gesturing to him to join her in the dark shadows. He had heeded her once already this day—that was this morning and nothing good had come out of their temporary pleasure together.
“I don’t want no more business with you, understand?” he told her instantly through his clenched jaw. “You said you would protect me, and here I am. Out of a job, and I am not even going to get my back pay,” he told her, his voice rising in volume as he spoke.
“Shut up and listen! Here, take this. I still need your help.” She thrust a bag into his hands, paying no mind to his speech. He looked in the bag though and then nodded at the gold coins he spied within.
“Well, where did you get this?” He asked the angry woman.
“Look around you! This is a prosperous working ranch, and it’s only me and my stepfather profiting from it. Now take this money and do what I say!” She told him furiously.
“What now, Lettie?” He asked, feeling the allure of the gold.
“I need to know if Dale is up in his loft room right now,” she said.
“Yeah he is. I just came from demanding he pay me for the last week’s work, but he refused because I threw in with you,” he said in disgust. “It looked like he had his best duds laid out on his bed. Probably going to take Miss Wilde courting to make up for everything you did today. Anyway, he is there now,” he finished.
“Perfect! Now I need to get this to Lijuan Wilde,” she said shoving an envelope into his hand.
“Are you out of your cotton-picking mind? I’m supposed to walk into the ranch house and hand her a letter after I was party to what happened in the canyon! Hell, I’ll probably get shot on sight by that Mexican harpy of a sister!” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, worried about her latest scheme. She however didn’t look worried a bit on her part.
“I ain’t blind. You have been tapping that Irish servant girl Carson hired a few months back,” Lettie surprisingly scowled. “I see you hanging around the back door. She always slips out to meet you. I wonder how she’d take knowing you were burying the big dick of yours inside of me a few hours ago?” she said with a sneer. Mick reddened and took the letter, having no choice than to do her bidding the second time in one day. At least this time he would find some profit in it.
“You still cost me a job, and I lose the girl at the same time,” he complained.
“Stay close,” she whispered nonchalantly. “By morning, I got a feeling we are going to need a new foreman. And I will be doing the hiring this time,” she told him triumphantly.
<
br /> “Whatcha mean?” he asked.
“Just stay close is all. Now vamoose with the letter, and make sure your little red head doesn’t tell Lijuan you are the one who gave it to her,” she ordered.
He went on his way to do her bidding that evening, his mind filled with dark thoughts mixed with a checklist of things he would buy with the gold coins now in his possession.
***
It was the third time that she would be trying out the hot bath of the ranch house, and the feeling was always exhilarating. Lijuan had one of the ranch maids pull up some buckets of hot water from the kitchen so they could fill the tub with enough of it and some lemon soap. Filled with lemony smell and soap bubbles, the tub became heaven for her. Slowly, she lowered herself into the water, enjoying the relaxing quiet and bubbles against her skin. She slipped her large breasts beneath the water until she was up to her neck. It was a well-deserved soak, she thought as closed her eyes and let her mind become filled with the silence that surrounded her.
At least, out of all the trouble she faced ever since she came to the ranch with her family, this was something she could get whenever she wanted it. Letting herself sink in happily and contentedly, she cursed under her breath as a sudden knock resounded at the bathroom door, also startling her.
“Yes?” She finally called out with a sigh.
“Begging your pardon, ma’am. I have a letter for ya,” said a timid voice. She recognized the voice immediately. It belonged to one of the maids—a little redheaded maid with an Irish lilt.
“Come in,” Lijuan called back, watching with a smile as the woman came in, averted her eyes and handed Lijuan, who rose slightly, the letter before shuffling quickly back out of the room, the door clasping shut behind her. Lijuan could only shake her head at the woman’s embarrassment. Why another woman would get that way at seeing something they themselves possessed, she had no idea. They were just breasts after all. Putting that aside, Lijuan opened the letter immediately, wondering what it was about.
Dark Rivals: Lijuan Wilde Tale 0f Suspense (Half Breed Haven Book 3) Page 8