River Lady

by Jude Deveraux

  Abe stood still, glaring at her. “You tell me when you’re ready to listen.”

  “Never, I—,” A groan from Wesley made her turn back to him.

  “Leah,” he whispered, his eyes barely open. “Get out of here. Save yourself.” With that, his head fell to one side.

  “No!” she cried. “He isn’t—?” She looked up at Bud who shook his head once.

  “You got a choice, missy,” Abe said. “You help me and I’ll let you take care of your rich boy, but you keep refusin’ me and callin’ me names and I’ll let him rot right here. And you better make up your mind fast ’cause he looks like he’s about to bleed to death.”

  Leah didn’t take more than a few seconds to make up her mind. “I’ll help you,” she whispered, her hand on Wesley’s cool forehead. “What do I have to do?”

  Chapter 16

  Leah looked down at Wesley’s sleeping form. His wound was clean now and she realized it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought, although he’d lost a lot of blood. He lay on a fairly clean bed in an old cabin that was hidden on the side of a mountain.

  Slowly she moved from her seat on the side of the bed and took the pan of dirty water outside to empty it. Standing outside the door, silhouetted in the early dawn light like mountain guardians, were the young men, Bud and Cal. She’d been too upset about Wesley to know exactly when the brother had made his appearance, but now there were two of them, both massive, both silent, almost indistinguishable from each other. The brothers had carried the unconscious Wesley to the cabin, and without speaking a word they’d helped her wash and bandage him.

  “He’s sleeping,” she said tiredly to the silent men, one on either side of the door. “In time I think he’ll be all right.”

  “Told you he would be,” Abe said loudly, making her jump as he slipped around the side of the cabin.

  “Do you always have to sneak up on people?” She seethed at him, her eyes blazing.

  “You’ve got to be the unfriendliest sister a man ever had. You gonna listen to me or we gonna fight over that rich man of yours?”

  Everything in her hated having to cooperate with him. She’d do what he wanted in order to save Wes, but as soon as he was well, she’d get away from Abe. “What is it you want from me?” she asked belligerently.

  Abe grunted but otherwise ignored her tone. “You don’t have to do much to help out a member of your very own family. All I need you for is to do a little brain work. And maybe a little cookin’,” he said under his breath.

  Her head came up sharply. “So that’s it, is it? You don’t need me to help plan your robberies, all you want is someone to fetch and tote for you.”

  “Now Leah,” he began, then stopped and gave her his rotten-toothed grin. “Sure, that’s all we want. You come along and cook for us, do a little cleanin’ and them other things women do. Ain’t nothin’ wrong in that, is there? There ain’t nearly as many of us as all them kids Pa had.”

  Leah felt almost relieved. She’d hated the idea of having to plan robberies and although the running of the camp would be hard work, she’d rather do that than something directly bad.

  Abe was watching her. “That makes you feel better, don’t it?” he said as if talking to a kitten. “You just have to do a little cleanin’, a little cookin’, although these here boys eat a powerful lot.”

  “And what do I get in return?”

  “You get to look after your rich husband.” He looked down at his shoe. “Although maybe you better not tell Revis about him. Maybe it oughta be our secret,” he said, ignoring the presence of the two young giants.

  Leah glanced from Bud to Cal, but their faces were impassive. She wondered how intelligent the men were and wondered too if they realized how degrading Abe’s treatment of them was. “Who is this Revis?”

  “My partner!” Abe blurted with pride. “Him and me are in this together. We run the whole show.”

  “What happens when Wesley recovers?”

  Abe grinned at her. “I’ll tell Revis you run away, couldn’t stand all the work. It’s happened lots of times before. We sorta wear women out.”

  “You shot my husband to get a replacement cook?” She spat at him. “If cooks are so easy to come by and you have to rehire them so often, why did you have to shoot someone?”

  Abe looked puzzled for a moment then smiled happily. “I wanted my sister near me. I ain’t seen you in a long time.”

  Leah grabbed a long piece of wood from the woodpile and started toward him.

  “You hurt me, Leah, and you’ll never find your way out of this forest,” he half warned, half pleaded, covering his face with his arms.

  She lowered the wood inches away from his head. “You dirty rotten blackmailer,” she hissed before turning back toward the cabin and Wesley.

  “You boys ain’t no use at all,” Abe said from behind her. “Wait till I tell Revis how you let somebody threaten me, nearly killed me she did. Revis’ll have a few words to say to you two”

  Leah took her time repacking her few belongings before leaving with her brother. She wished Wesley would wake up so she could tell him some story about where she was going, although she hadn’t had a chance to come up with anything good yet. But he slept hard, his breathing deep and slow. There was a furrow of pain across his brow.

  She sat beside him and touched his cheek. At this moment she couldn’t seem to remember why she’d been so angry with him for the last few months. All she could remember was being a young girl and falling in love with him. Maybe it was Abe’s presence that was reminding her of the nasty farm she’d grown up on. Thoughts of Wesley had kept her sane.

  “You get through moonin’ over him, you better come on. Revis’ll want breakfast. He don’t like the boys out of his sight for very long.”

  Quietly Leah leaned forward and kissed Wesley’s sleep-softened lips. “I’ll return as soon as I can,” she promised him, then left the cabin.

  Abe gave a squint toward the rising sun and said, “Let’s get goin’.” He was obviously beginning to get nervous.

  The trail down the mountain was a maze through brambles and rocks. While they were fighting their way down, Leah tried to think. It would be to her advantage to find out all she could about this gang she was reluctantly joining.

  “Where are Bud and Cal?” she asked, pushing a briar away from her face.

  “They don’t like walkin’ with other people. They’re too dumb to know people ought to stick together. Even Revis can’t make ’em understand.”

  “Is this Revis ever able to control them?”

  Abe stopped and turned to face her. “If you’re thinkin’ of gettin’ the boys on your side against me, you can stop it right now.”

  Leah tried not to let him see that this was just what she’d been planning.

  “Revis and the boys is brothers,” Abe said smugly before turning around. “Some families stick together,” he added.

  “You mean there’s another one of these ‘boys’? There are three of these giants?”

  “Naw, Revis is just regular size and not stupid or nothin’ like the boys. They ain’t real, blood-related, but Revis’s ma got Bud and Cal from somewheres when they was babies. They was raised right alongside of Revis and that means somethin’ to ’em.”

  Leah made a face behind his back, sick of his hints that she was disloyal.

  They walked in silence for a while.

  “Do Bud and Cal talk?”

  Abe snorted. “Only when you pester ’em. I figure they got such little brains they don’t have much to say.”

  “You think the more people have to say the bigger brains they have?”

  “Sometimes you’re too clever, Leah. I ain’t so good with words, but Revis is. You try your words on him. And you be careful you don’t start attackin’ him with logs ’cause the boys protect Revis. I’d sure hate to see my own sister hurt.”

  “I’m sure you would,” she said sarcastically.

  “Ain’t me got no family feelin’s,
it’s you.”

  Leah didn’t bother to make a reply.

  In another few minutes they came into view of a little clearing with a ramshackle cabin, a woodpile, and a stream nearby. Leah stopped and looked down on the scene as an emaciated woman emerged from the back of the cabin and began loading her thin arms with logs.

  “Who’s that?” she asked.

  “Verity,” Abe answered. “She’s our last, er, a…cook. She didn’t hold up very long at all. It’s them boys, always eatin’ and eatin’,” he added, his eyes slipping to the side.

  Leah didn’t question his story but kept her eyes on the woman as they went down the hillside. The woman didn’t even look up. In fact, she looked too tired to care who walked into the clearing.

  “Fix up some grub,” Abe commanded the woman, his voice deepening.

  The woman Verity didn’t move any faster as she trudged into the cabin.

  Bud and Cal appeared in the clearing as if they’d never left.

  After only a moment’s hesitation, Leah followed Verity into the cabin, went straight to the woman, and took the wood from her. “You sit down,” she ordered gently. “I’ll cook.”

  A flicker of surprise was Verity’s only reaction before she went to a corner of the cabin and crouched on the floor.

  “Not there!” Leah said, shocked. “Sit at the table.”

  Verity turned frightened eyes toward Leah and shook her head.

  “Are you afraid of Abe?”

  Verity shook her head.

  “Bud or Cal?”

  Again she shook her head.

  “Revis,” Leah whispered and saw the woman try to make herself smaller at the mention of the name. “I guess that answers that,” Leah said, beginning to look into bags of supplies. “That would be the type of man Abe got himself into partners with,” she murmured.

  If there was one place Leah felt comfortable, it was in front of a cooking fire. All her life until she’d married Wes, she’d been involved with food—growing it, storing it, and cooking it. Now as she began to work, it was in the back of her mind that maybe a good meal would help get Bud and Cal on her side. She’d probably need any help she could get if this Revis was as brutal as Verity had indicated.

  The supplies in the cabin were abundant, and after Leah found a woman’s dress inside one of the sacks, she realized they were stolen. She refused to let her spirits fall. Bud and Cal had helped her with Wesley and she was going to repay them with a good meal, a very good meal.

  “Can’t you hurry up?” Abe demanded. “Revis might come back at any time.”

  “If you’d stay out of my way I could get done faster.” She handed Verity a hard-boiled egg.

  “She don’t deserve nothin’ to eat. In this group if you don’t work you don’t eat.”

  “Someone has worked her nearly to death. Now get out of here or I’ll tell Bud and Cal you’re interfering with my cooking.”

  To her surprise and delight, Abe’s face lost some color and he immediately left the cabin. “Well, well, it looks like Abe is a little afraid of the boys.” She looked toward Verity for confirmation, but the woman was greedily stuffing the egg into her mouth.

  From start to finish it took an hour and a half to prepare a meal, the size of which astonished even Leah. “Bud, Cal,” she called out the back door.

  “You weren’t gonna call me, were ya?” Abe whined as he pushed past her into the cabin.

  The little interior consisted of a fireplace, a big table, five chairs, and some blankets in the corners. Scattered everywhere were bags of heaven-knew-what, Leah thought.

  When Leah stepped back into the cabin she saw that Bud and Cal were already seated at the table, already beginning to eat. Leah sat across from them, Abe at the head. When she tried to get Verity to join them the woman cringed deeper into her corner.

  “Don’t bother her,” Abe snapped. “She’s scared of Revis. Don’t know why, though,” he added quickly. “Revis is a real nice man, ain’t he, boys?”

  Neither Bud nor Cal bothered to acknowledge Abe’s question, but ate the food Leah had prepared. Their manners were good, much better than Abe’s as he shoveled food into his mouth.

  As Leah ate, she worried about Wesley. Would he rest? Would he try to get up and find her? Was he hungry? How was she going to find her way back to him?

  “Eat up!” Abe commanded. “Revis don’t like skinny women.”

  A little alarm went off in Leah’s head. “Of what concern is my weight to your partner in crime?”

  “Oh nothin’,” Abe said hurriedly. “Just that Revis is a real gentleman and he likes pretty women.”

  She leaned forward. “No gentleman robs people for a living.”

  “Well said,” came a voice from behind Leah.

  Leah whirled about as Abe jumped up, knocking his chair over. “Mr. Revis,” Abe said with a gasp, awe, respect, and some fear in his voice.

  Leah wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but the man standing in the doorway wasn’t it. He was tall, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped, with black, curling hair. His dark, dark brown eyes were riveting. Set in a handsome, square-jawed face, his eyes bored into hers as his lips curved into a sardonic smile.

  Chills started to form on Leah’s spine.

  “This is her, Mr. Revis,” Abe said. “This is my sister. Ain’t she pretty? And she’s real strong too. You ain’t gonna wear her out in no month or two.”

  Leah couldn’t look away from the man. There was something frightening about him, yet fascinating. She wet her lips.

  Slowly, like a cat, the man approached her. He wore a black silk shirt, black wool trousers, and black leather boots. Gracefully he extended his hand to her.

  Leah accepted and for a moment she thought she was back in the Stanford drawing room. She rose to stand before him as if he were bidding her to dance with him.

  “She is indeed lovely,” Revis said in his deep voice.

  “I knew you’d like her, Mr. Revis. I just knew it. She’s real willin’ too. And she’s got fire in her. She’ll make you real happy.”

  Leah stood there holding Revis’s hand while standing in the midst of the squalid cabin. Behind her were the quiet sounds of Bud and Cal continuing to eat. Slowly she began to hear her brother’s words.

  For a moment she looked from Abe to Revis and quickly it all became clear to her. Revis was no one’s partner, least of all Abe Simmons’s partner. And Leah wasn’t there to cook, but she was there as some sort of human gift to this good-looking, charming villain.

  She snatched her hand away. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” she began. “I came here to cook.”

  “Ain’t she a caution!” Abe gave a nervous laugh. “My little sister knows lots about men, just loves men, and I can see she likes you a lot, Mr. Revis. Go on, Leah, give him a kiss.”

  Leah whirled on her brother, a snarl on her lips. “You said you wanted a cook but you expected me to whore for you, didn’t you? Well listen, you piece of slime, I don’t whore for anybody, especially not for criminals like this one.”

  Abe turned white. “Mr. Revis,” he began, “she don’t mean that. You know how all the ladies like you. She just thinks you’ll like her better if she’s a little hard to get.”

  “You—!” Leah gasped and lunged at her brother.

  Revis’s strong arm lashed out and caught Leah by the waist, pulling her to him. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here,” he said softly. “I like my women to have a little spirit.” His free hand began to run up and down her arm. “I’ll enjoy taming the tigress.”

  “Enjoy this then!” she exclaimed as she kicked him in the shins.

  Whatever happened as a result of her action, she knew it’d be worth it for the look on Revis’s face. Why did handsome men always assume women were going to fall for them? “No dirty thief is going to touch me,” she said with bravado, but the next moment she was backing away from Revis.

  “Get her, Mr. Revis. She’s an ungrateful sister and she
deserves whatever you give her,” Abe shouted.

  Revis’s eyes were cold, hard, frightening as he advanced on Leah.

  She backed around the side of the table, putting a chair between them. “Leave me alone,” she warned. “I don’t want you touching me.”

  “You’re much too pretty for me to care what you want.” Revis tossed the chair across the room.

  Leah kept backing, her hands going across the shoulders of Bud and Cal who kept on eating. “Help me,” she pleaded, but the young men ignored her.

  “The boys obey only me,” Revis said, advancing. “Now why don’t we stop these games and you come to me? I rule this little empire and everyone here gives me what I want. Or they wish they had,” he added.

  Verity began whimpering in the corner.

  “Is that what you did to Verity? Force her?”

  Revis gave a secret little smile. “When my women disobey me, I punish them.”

  In spite of herself, Leah shivered. If she ever got out of this she’d take a whip to her brother. Her eyes flickered toward Abe and in those few seconds, Revis was upon her.

  He caught her arm and wrenched it behind her back, forcing her close to him. “You have fire in you, my pretty,” he whispered, “a fire that I plan to share.”

  “Stop it!” she cried, and there was more pleading in her voice than she intended.

  Revis’s lips went to her neck. “You’ll learn to enjoy what I offer,” he said silkily.

  Leah could hardly think. It wasn’t that she was responding to his hot mouth on her neck, but somehow she knew that if he got what he wanted from her, her life, and probably Wesley’s, would be over. The only way she could save herself was to stop him.

  She wasn’t any match for his strength, but Bud and Cal were. If only she could get them involved.

  “I don’t like this public lovemaking,” Revis whispered. “Come outside where we can be totally alone. I’ll show you the man inside this thief you’re so frightened of.”

  “I’m not—,” she began.

  Revis’s hand tightened on her throat, the thumb pressing into a pulse spot. “Perhaps you should be frightened. I like a woman’s resistance.”