Deborah Camp

by To Seduce andDefend

  “That’s Luna …” Zach whispered. And she was heading out of town – out toward the Hastings property where Melvin Parks was staying. “Hell, she’s going to warn him about the arrest!”

  Zach grabbed his hat and gun belt off the tree and bolted from the office.

  Chapter 17

  Jennie slowed the horse and buggy as the house- now empty of any inhabitants – came into view. It’s just the right size for us, she thought. Giving the reins a tug, she stopped the horse and wished she’d brought along Oliver now that so that she’d have someone to talk to and to dream with, but it was his last day of school and he wanted to be with his new friends. Soon, she and Oliver would move here and plant for a late harvest of vegetables that would see them through the winter.

  “I’ll buy a milk cow,” she said, and Chief flicked his ears backward. “Steady, boy,” she said and he settled. She would have to purchase a wagon and horse, too because she wouldn’t be able to borrow them from good-hearted Mrs. Philpot anymore. So much to purchase! She would have to take in more handwork to supplement her wages at the dry goods store.

  The place seemed to be more her own now that she knew Oliver would inherit it and Melvin Parks was in jail. The house was empty, waiting for her to make it a home. She let her imagination loose and pictured rose bushes around the porch, a porch swing, a couple of rocking chairs, hens clucking in the side yard, a rooster crowing on a fence post. She could hang out laundry on the lines in back and plant an herb and flower garden by the back door. It would be a slice of Eden.

  “Just as we had planned,” she murmured, remembering how she and Charles had discussed the life they would carve out for themselves in Indian Territory. She had been excited thinking of them as pioneers, and although Charles had never been as thrilled with the idea as she had been, he had agreed it was their best shot at an independent life. Or, perhaps, it had never been his dream.

  “Only mine,” she said. “He just went along because that’s what Charles did – he followed.”

  Sighing, she thought how different it felt with Zach. He was not a follower. In fact, their relationship wouldn’t have hit a wall if he were a little more like Charles and would at least meet her halfway to find a compromise. If not for Oliver, she would have agreed to live with him, sans marriage. That, in itself, went completely against her grain, but she would learn to accept it if it had meant staying together.

  But it was not to be. Oliver deserved a father and not simply a “partner.”

  Chief stamped, stirring up dirt and then shook all over, making the bridle and reins tinkle.

  “Yes, I know. You don’t like standing still unless there is hay, grass, or oats in front of you.” She flicked the reins and let Chief move on slowly. She wanted to have a good, long look at the house now that she didn’t have to worry about Melvin Parks spying her.

  The outbuildings all looked to be in good shape. She supposed it hadn’t been that long since they were built. Some of the wood wasn’t even weathered yet. A windmill stood tall in the distance beside a pond, its water sparkling in the sunlight. Cattle dotted the area and an occasional “mooooo” drifted across the grassland. She felt almost giddy, bursting with pride. Charles could not have chosen a better spread, she thought.

  Perhaps the neighbor would still want his cattle to graze on the land and she would be able to collect money that way. Eventually, she could afford to buy her own herd. Her own herd. Their land. Oh, she liked the sound of that.

  As the buggy drew even with the road that led to the house, Jennie pulled the horse to a stop again. She could have a closer inspection now. Smiling, she turned the horse and buggy onto the road and stopped it again beside the house. Setting the brake and tying off the reins, she alighted from the buggy and pulled off her leather driving gloves. She reached up and laid them on the buggy seat, then smoothed her hair back off her face and looked around.

  The corral was empty and the barn door was closed. She wondered what had happened to Parks’ beautiful pinto after Parks had been hauled off to jail. It was probably in one of the stables in town, she reasoned, and would be sold once Parks was tried and convicted. She actually looked forward to taking the stand and telling what she knew about Stella’s run-ins with him.

  A cool breeze floated across the grassland, bringing with it the scent of dirt, hay, and cattle. She closed her eyes for a few moments, enjoying the sunlight bathing her face and the breeze combing through her hair. Yes, she would love living here, she thought. In fact, she might be more cut out for the country life, even though she had been born and raised in the city. She had spent much of her childhood in the garden and had craved outings outside the city. Sometimes her family would go on picnics in the country and they were her favorite memories.

  She hitched up her skirts to clear her ankles and went around to the front of the house and up the three steps to the wrap-around porch. It was solid, but sucker vines were growing around a few of the railings. She bent over and pulled them off the rails. A coat of white paint would make the porch more inviting. Now it looked as if the place had been abandoned or that the owner didn’t waste a care on appearances. Straightening, she glanced at the front door and saw that it was ajar. It stood open a few inches.

  Why hadn’t the deputies closed it when they had taken Parks away? Just like men not to leave things tidy. She opened the screen door and reached for the doorknob. She wrapped her fingers around it, but then temptation tapped her on the shoulder. She could take a quick look inside before closing it, she thought. She’d like to know for sure if there were one or two bedrooms. Was there a cookstove? How big was the fireplace? Were all the window panes intact?

  She just had to know!

  Pushing the door open further, she took one step inside and then another. The room was dark, full of shadows because blankets were hung over the window, blocking out the sunlight. She looked down, seeing a frayed, dirty rug under her shoes. Peering into the gloom, she could see a couple of chairs sitting by a good-sized fireplace and a mattress lying on the floor. Were there no bedrooms at all?

  Jennie walked further into the room until she could see a kitchen to her left at the back of the house and two closed doors to her right. Those had to be bedrooms, she thought, starting in that direction.

  A loud bang sounded behind her and what meager light had been spilling in from the door was extinguished. Spinning around, she confronted a shadowy man standing in front of the closed door. His dark eyes glinted like sunlight off of knife blades and his lips parted in a toothy grin.

  “Looky who finally came inside for a visit,” he drawled, his hands flexing at his sides as if he were anxious to put them on her. “I’ve been watching you watching me.”

  Oh, my God. She stared at him, growing cold all over. Melvin Parks.

  “You look surprised to see me. Why are you surprised? I live here. You know that. You’ve been driving by and looking at me for weeks now. You think I didn’t see you out there on the road, staring at this place, waiting for me to come outside?”

  She swallowed the ball of fear that clogged her throat. “I wasn’t looking at you. This is my land.”

  “Is that right? Your land. Last time I heard it belonged to Luna Lee.”

  “Not any more. It belongs to my son.”

  “That little boy you tote with you?” His grin grew, making her think of a jack-o-lantern. “You didn’t bring him today. That’s good.” He lifted one hand and crooked his finger at her. “Come over here. Come on now. You better mind me if you know what’s good for you.”

  “You killed Stella,” she said, backing away from him. “I know you did.”

  “You don’t know nothin’.” His eyes were like burning coals stuck in his face. “Stella was a whore with a big mouth and anybody coulda kilt her.”

  “She was frightened of you. You hit her.”

  He made a grab for her, but she danced out of his reach. “Come here, you. I got something for you. Something long and thick.”

&
nbsp; She shivered with revulsion and edge farther away, trying to get him as far away from the door as she could so that she could escape. “Stay away from me.”

  “You’re trespassin’. I got a right to deal with you now ‘cause you got no business here.”

  “I told you. The land is not Luna’s. She took it unlawfully.” She took mincing steps in a semi-circle, allowing him to follow as she inched closer and closer to the door. “You should talk to her. She’ll tell you.”

  “I’ll talk to her later. Right now, I got you in my sights. And I like what I see.” He ran his tongue over his lips, then lunged for her.

  She screamed and ran for the door, but was yanked back. Her skirt tore at the waist as Parks gathered a fistful of it and hauled her backward. She kicked at him and then laid her fingernails into his cheek. He yelped like a kicked dog, but loosened his grip enough for her to yank her skirt out of his grasp.

  Scrambling away, her hand landed on a piece of wood near the fireplace. She grabbed it and whirled around, raising it above her head as a weapon. His eyes glinted in the gloom and his teeth glowed yellow against his swarthy skin. She could see his chest rising and falling under his open shirt. Blood glistened on his cheek where she’d scratched him. He swiped at it and smeared it across his skin. It looked like war paint. Jennie knew she was in for the battle of her life.

  With a menacing growl, he ran at her. She brought the firewood down onto his shoulders and back, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and flung her sideways. She lost her balance and the firewood as she fell onto the mattress. He was on top of her before she could draw a breath.

  “Get … off!” She kicked and drove her fists into any part of him she could, his jaw, his head, his shoulder. Then he pinned her arms to her sides and she could only stare at him as he loomed above her, laughing at her, a globule of spit rolling off his lower lip to splatter in her face.

  She winced and tried to twist away. Her legs became tangled in her skirt, tightening around her like rope. Parks lowered his face toward her and she clamped her lips together and grunted as she managed to wrench one arm out of his grasp. She slapped him. He reared back, smiled, and backhanded her. The world dimmed and a roar of red pain filled her head and poured a film over her eyes for a few seconds. She felt his mouth on hers and his hands kneaded her breasts. His salty tasting tongue invaded, nearly choking her. She bit down as hard as she could. His scream echoed in her throbbing head, but his mouth came off hers and she could fill her lungs with air again.

  “Whore!” He clamped his hands around her neck, cutting off her air again.

  She writhed and bucked as he tried to choke the life out of her. Panic blew through her like a dynamite blast, giving her one more burst of strength. She rammed a knee up and into his groin. But that only inflamed him and his fingers bit harder into her neck until there was no more air. Black spots bloomed over her vision. Oliver’s face floated behind her eyes and then it disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

  In the next instant, the world exploded around her like a gunshot blast. The vise around her neck fell away and she rolled to her side, heaving and crawling, her instincts taking over as she looked for an escape route. She couldn’t hear much of anything except for a roaring like that of a locomotive bearing down on her. There was a loud pop inside her head and other sounds penetrated.

  “What the hell are you doing, you two-timing bastard!”

  “She busted in here, Luna! I was rasslin’ with her ‘cause she was trespassin’.”

  “You’re a damned liar and I’m tired of it.”

  Another explosion rocked the air, fire shot forth, and Parks fell back against the wall next to Jennie. He screamed and grabbed at his ear. Blood gushed down the side of his head.

  “You shot off my ear!”

  “I just knocked a piece of it off,” Luna said. “If I’d wanted to take off the whole ugly thing, I could’ve. Shut your crying and act like a man instead of a simpering boy.”

  Jennie managed to sit up and scoot across the floor away from Parks. She turned her burning eyes toward the woman who stood in the open doorway, legs braced apart, a gun leveled at her.

  “You are one sorry piece of womanhood,” Luna said, glaring with open hatred at Jennie. “No wonder Charles forgot you existed once he got hold of me. He’d never been with a real woman before me. He went plumb crazy with desire when I gave him a taste of me.”

  Jennie tried to swallow, but her throat was raw and swollen. She wasn’t even sure she could speak.

  “Got nothing to say?” Luna jeered. “You’ve had plenty to say behind my back, but the cat’s got your tongue now that I’m staring you in the face, huh?”

  “Hey, honey … my ear is paining something awful.” Parks lurched to his feet, one bloody hand still clamped to the side of his head. “I don’t know why you shot me. It’s her you shoulda plugged.”

  “I shot you because you were lying on top of her and your pants are unbuttoned.” She glared at his crotch. “I came here to tell you to get on your horse and vamoose. The law is headed here to arrest you – and me, probably. We gotta make tracks, and I mean now.”

  “What happened to your judge husband? He won’t let anyone arrest us.”

  “He’s been arrested already. I don’t have time to explain. We gotta go.” She aimed her gun at Jennie again. “You think you’ve got the best of me, but you’re wrong. I’ll be damned if I let you live on this land. I earned his land, honey. I romanced your gutless husband. I made him crazy with desire for me, even though he never could get any rise outta me. He was about as exciting as riding a turtle. Then he moped around and lit out one day, saying he was going to town, and he never came back, the yellow-bellied snake. So this land is more mine than yours.”

  “My money paid for it,” Jennie choked out. “You’re a thief.”

  Luna’s eyes turned stone cold. Her finger curled on the trigger. “And you’re dead.”

  Jennie dove to the right just as the gun belched fire and smoke again, but the bullet slammed into the floorboards because someone burst through the door and grabbed Luna’s wrist, ruining her aim. Jennie blinked to clear her vision and to be sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. They weren’t. Zachary. She sobbed at the sight of him.

  “Get off me!” Luna shoved at Zach, but he twisted her wrist, making her fingers convulse, and he wrenched the gun from her grasp. He shoved her none too gently, sending her stumbling across the floor and falling to her knees.

  Parks started forward, but stopped when Zachary aimed the gun at him.

  “Move another inch and I’ll kill you where you stand,” Zach said, and his tone was as cold as a tombstone.

  Parks seemed to consider his options before he raised his hands. “Hey, I don’t want no trouble.”

  Before Jennie could even comprehend what was happening, Luna shot to her feet and rammed into Zach’s side, knocking him off balance. Parks pounced and grabbed the gun out of the holster strapped to Zach’s thigh. The two men wrestled, each one trying to get the upper hand. Luna grabbed at Zach’s shoulder and hair. Fury pumped through Jennie and propelled her up and across the room. She filled her fists with the dark red curls piled on top of Luna’s head and gave a yank.

  Luna twisted and kicked Jennie in the shin, but Jennie held on and pulled hard. Luna struggled, but Jennie had found superior strength in her fury and managed to ram Luna’s head into the wall with a loud smack. Luna yelled with pain. Jennie slammed her elbow into the side of Luna’s face, heard a crack, and then a scream. The more Luna screamed, the more strength Jennie found. When she finally let her go, Luna slumped to the floor, her hands covering her head and face from more of Jennie’s onslaught.

  A gun reported and Jennie spun around, fear gripping her. Parks staggered backward, clutching at his belly where crimson bubbled out of a wound. A curl of smoke escaped from the barrel of Zach’s revolver as the weapon Parks held clattered to the floorboards.

  “You should have left well enough alone, P
arks,” Zach said, advancing toward him even as Parks stumbled back onto the porch and then fell down the steps. He lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the sky as blood pooled from his wound.

  Keeping an eye on Parks, Zach reached out a hand to Jennie. “Come here, darlin’.”

  She went to him and he curved an arm around her shoulders as he angled around to check on Luna. She sat in a heap, sobbing into her hands.

  Zach’s lips brushed Jennie’s forehead. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so.” She wasn’t. Her ears rang, her eyes burned, and she trembled all over.

  He kissed her forehead. “Listen to me. I need for you to go get in the buggy and hightail it to town. Tell the sheriff …” His voice trailed off as he looked toward the sound of drumming horse hooves. “Well, it’s about damn time.’ He released her and stepped further out on the porch to confront the three deputies riding up into the front yard.

  “Warner, what … is this Parks?” Deputy Lane swung out of the saddle and stared at Melvin Parks.

  “Yes, what’s left of him. If you had been out here yesterday and arrested him like you should have, none of this would have happened. Luna Bishop is inside. She tried to kill Jennie and probably would have killed me next.”

  “We came here yesterday to arrest Parks, but he wasn’t here. We thought he might have lit out.” Deputy Lane turned to one of the other deputies. “Go back to town and fetch a doctor. Anybody else wounded?”

  “Not by bullets.” Zach handed the deputy the Colt he held. “That belongs to Luna, I think. I used it to shoot Parks. He grabbed my gun out of my holster.” He looked around and saw his six shooter lying on the floor just inside the house. Stepping over the threshold, he retrieved it, and moved quickly away from the door. Luna came running out of the house, hellbent for leather, her eyes wild, her hair in mad disarray from being yanked by Jennie, and blood trailing down one side of her face.