He turned white, looked like he had come face-to-face with an apparition.
"Gawd Almighty!"
The exclamation startled Valeria into darting from the safety of the doorway.
"She's real," Neely exclaimed. "I ain't seeing things, Albie."
Albie appeared beyond speech. Neely started toward Valeria, his hand outstretched as though he had to touch her to believe what he saw.
"She's beautiful," Albie whispered reverently, "purtier than any angel."
"Shush!" Neely said. "Don't talk so loud. Somebody might hear you. I want her all to myself."
"Me, too," Albie said. "Don't forget me."
"What's your name?" Neely asked. Valeria backed far ther away. "We won't hurt you."
"We just want to have some fun."
"Shut up, you fool. You're scaring her."
"I ain't the one trying to grab hold of her."
Neely looked at his hand as though he hadn't been aware of what it was doing. He dropped it to his side. "You're mighty pretty," he said. "I ain't never seen a girl as pretty as you. Want me to buy you a beer?"
Valeria shook her head.
"Maybe she wants whiskey," Albie suggested.
Valeria shook her head more vigorously.
"You ought to know a pretty girl like her wouldn't want none of that rotgut," Neely said. "She'll want something fancy."
"Like what?" Albie asked.
Neely clearly wasn't able to think of a drink he considered fancy enough. "What would you like?" he asked Valeria. He rattled the coins in his pocket. "I'll buy you anything you want."
"I'd like some water," Valeria said.
"Water!"
Now that she could see how young they were, she didn't feel frightened.
"And something to eat," Valeria added. "I'm hungry."
She realized as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she didn't have money to pay for food. She wasn't naive enough to think these boys would pay for her dinner without expecting something in return. And Neely had been kind enough to explain exactly what that was.
"But I don't have to eat," she added quickly. "Just some water."
"You come with me, babe," Neely said, trying to act like an older and more experienced man. "We got plenty of water in our room."
"Why don't we go to a saloon?" Valeria said, pointing to the saloon she remembered as being part restaurant.
"You don't want to do that," Neely said. "It's full of men who'll grab at you. You come on with us. We'll be real nice to you."
"I'm not the kind of woman you think," Valeria said. "My guide is camped over that hill. He's taking me to a ranch in the Rim country."
Both boys looked taken aback, but Neely recovered quickly. "You don't need to haggle over price. We'll pay you real good."
"But I don't want to go with you," Valeria said backing away. "I really am going to the Rim country."
"Yeah, and you've got a handsome cowboy who'll come riding to the rescue. Look, you and I know there ain't no female within ten miles of this place what doesn't wear her price painted on her chest. Whatever it is, Albie and me will pay it."
Albie nodded enthusiastically as Neely reached out and took hold of Valeria's wrist.
Valeria backed away. She had a notion the men in the saloon might be very much like Neely said, but they wouldn't do anything to her in public. If Neely and his friend got her into their room, she was quite certain what would happen. She wrenched her arm from his grasp and darted off the boardwalk into the street.
"You go up the street and I'll go down," Neely told Albie. "We'll cut her off."
The young men were faster than Valeria. Though she ran first one way and then another, she couldn't get around them. She could either stay here until they caught her and dragged her into their room, or she could run into the saloon and depend upon the public nature of the place to be her protection.
With a single backward glance toward the hills and a silent plea to Luke to come quickly, she turned and headed toward the saloon.
"Don't go in there!" Neely called when he saw what she intended to do. "Please, lady, don't go in there." But Valeria had already stepped inside the door. "Now look what you've done," she heard Albie say. "I didn't mean to."
"We have to go after her."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Valeria hadn't gone two steps into the saloon before every eye in the place was on her. She'd spent her entire life on public display, but never like this. There was admiration in the gazes all around her. There was also hunger and lust that didn't hide behind polite smiles, well-rehearsed compliments, or hooded gazes. Here it was in the open, naked, raw, and unrestrained.
She was aware of a low sound that gradually filled the room, settling into corners and behind tables. It sounded unnervingly like the growl of a hungry animal when it sights food.
Keeping her gaze straight ahead, Valeria approached the bar, where a man was serving drinks. No one moved to give her room, so she went to an empty space at the end.
The bartender looked at her for several seconds before he moved in her direction, a look of disbelief on his face.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I'd like a glass of water."
The growl stopped. For an instant, the room was completely silent.
"Okay," the bartender said, disbelief turning to a sneer.
"You want a glass with some water in it."
Valeria took an instant dislike to him. "Thank you." "Now what do you want in it, and which one of these men are you going to con into paying for it?"
"You charge for water?" Valeria asked. "I charge for whiskey."
"I don't want any whiskey. I want water." "I don't serve water." "But that's all I want." "Give the lady her water."
Valeria turned to see a huge man get up from one of the tables and come toward her. She wondered why she thought there was something familiar about him, then realized he was a miner. He looked like the men she'd seen in Bonner.
"You gonna buy some whiskey, Soderman?" the bartender asked. "I don't run this place to serve up water."
"Sure, I'll have a whiskey," Soderman said. "Make it a bottle. I might be able to talk the little lady into changing her mind."
"Thank you, but water is all I want. I have to get back to my camp."
Soderman's smile made Valeria uneasy. One missing and one broken tooth made him look dangerous.
"No use playing games, girl. We know there's nothing in those hills but snakes and scorpions."
"My guide is out there," Valeria said.
"I just can't figure where you come from," Soderman said, ignoring her words. "There's no way this lousy town could hide a beauty like you."
"She came with me." Neely strolled into the saloon with a show of bravado. A less courageous Albie followed.
Soderman took one look at Neely and broke out laughing. "No woman with her looks would settle for a kid like you. I bet she ran away 'cause she wanted a man."
Neely walked up and grabbed Valeria's hand. "I'm man enough. Me and Albie is more than enough for any female."
Valeria didn't trust Neely, but he was obviously trying to protect her. She'd go with him and worry about his intentions later.
But she didn't get a chance. Soderman backhanded Neely and sent the boy stumbling halfway across the room into Albie, both of them going down in a heap.
"Nobody gets between me and a woman I got my eye on."
Valeria had been frightened nearly out of her mind, but Soderman's hitting Neely replaced fear with fury. She pushed past him to where Neely lay on the floor, blood dripping from his mouth. "Are you all right? Do you need a doctor?"
"He don't need no doctor for a little blood," Soderman said. "He needs one for being stupid."
Valeria strode past Soderman without even looking at him. "I want my water," she said to the barman.
"I don't see-"
"Now!" The authority of twenty-five generations of imperious kings resonated in that
single word. She picked up the glass handed to her and turned to face the men in the room. "Does anyone have a handkerchief?"
The man closest to Neely offered his.
"Thank you." She knelt down, soaked the handkerchief in water, and began to clean the blood from Neely's mouth.
"Don't waste time on me," Neely muttered. "Get out of here while you can. Albie will help you."
Valeria shook her head just as Soderman grabbed her by the shoulder and jerked her to her feet. "Stop wasting your time on that kid."
"Get your hands off me," Valeria said, icy disdain dripping from each word. Soderman stared at her, apparently uncertain how to react to her regal disdain. "I said, remove your hand." Maybe it was all her ancestors standing behind her, but Soderman released her.
Valeria jerked her arm away and turned back to Neely. "Can you get up if Albie helps you?"
"Yeah."
"You'd better take him straight to his room," she said to Albie. "If you'll tell me where I can find the doctor, I'll-"
"You're not leaving!" Soderman roared.
He had recovered from his momentary hesitation. "He needs a doctor."
"He can have all the doctors he wants, but you're coming with me."
Valeria drew back from him. It infuriated her that he would assume that just because he wanted her, she had to go with him.
"I don't know you," Valeria said. "But even if I did, I wouldn't go with you for the purpose that you-" she didn't know how to put her meaning into words.
"You came into this saloon."
"I was told America was a free country. I assumed that referred to women as well as men."
"I don't give a damn about freedom. I-"
"I come from a country where I had no freedom at all. It's very important to me."
"You were free to go to any town in the territory," Soderman said, "but you came here. The only women who come here are whores. And a whore is exactly what I want, especially when she's as pretty as you."
"I'm not a-" She couldn't make herself say the word. "I'm not what you think."
"I'm tired of all this talking," Soderman thundered. "You're coming with me."
He grabbed for Valeria, but she darted around a nearby table. She started toward the door, but Soderman blocked her path.
"These men won't let you abduct me," she said. "Ain't nobody in this room going to stop me." Valeria had to run around another table to keep out of his reach. Soderman was huge and powerful, but he was slow. "Are you going to let him do this?" Valeria said to the men who'd been watching in awed silence.
"Ain't nobody going to do nothing."
Neely struggled to his feet. "I got you into this mess, ma'am. I guess it's up to me to get you out."
That got Valeria madder than ever. "Are you men going to sit there and let this boy do what you won't?"
"He ain't doing nothing," Soderman said. With that his fist shot out, catching Neely square in the face. Neely dropped like a rock and lay on the floor, unmoving.
"I've waited as long as I'm going to," Soderman said. He waded through the room pushing men, chairs, and tables aside with the strength of a bull. He cornered Valeria. She fought with all her strength, but she could do nothing.
She prayed Luke would miraculously appear, but she'd given up hope. He'd warned her what could happen, but she'd felt so safe with him she hadn't taken him seriously. She hadn't thought of anything except pushing him past the breaking point.
"When I'm done with her, anyone else who wants can have her," Soderman announced.
He started toward the door. He stopped when a horse came through the doors into the saloon.
"Luke!" Valeria screamed, so relieved to see him she didn't remember that a princess of the royal blood never raises her voice.
A shot rang out, and Soderman lurched to one side. He lost his hold on Valeria, and she ran to Luke. Luke had shot Soderman in the leg. He looked around the room. The fire in his eyes could have set the place ablaze.
"I ought to put a bullet in every one of you for letting that piece of carrion put his hands on her." He pointed his gun at the man closest to the door. "Lift her into the saddle." His gaze turned ferocious. "And you'd better remember she's a lady."
Only then did Valeria realize Luke had brought a second horse. Her mount had stuck its head inside the saloon.
"You've got to help Neely," Valeria said, pointing to the boy still lying unconscious. "He and Albie tried to protect me."
Luke's mount had driven Albie up against the bar. The boy looked ready to join his friend on the floor. "Look out!" someone shouted.
Almost instantly two shots filled the saloon with a deafening roar. A huge knife slipped from Soderman's hand as his body sank to the floor. There was a small hole in his forehead just above the bridge of his nose. The sound of agonizing moans caused Valeria to turn to the bar. The bartender had staggered back against the bar, his hand a bloody mess. A shotgun lay across the bar where he'd dropped it.
"Anybody else who wants to try me is welcome," Luke said, "but be warned, I'll shoot to kill. You two get this boy to a doctor," Luke said pointing to two men at random. They got to their feet, lifted Neely by his feet and arms, and carried him out.
"You his friend?" Luke asked Albie. The petrified boy nodded.
"You want to get out of this cesspool?" He nodded again.
"As soon as he's able to travel, get yourselves down to Bonner. I'll be going through there in about a week. You going to lift her into the saddle, or do I have to put a bullet in you too?" Luke said to the man he'd told to help Valeria.
The man jumped to his feet and gingerly lifted her to the sidesaddle. He was a big man, plenty strong, but he held her so lightly she almost slipped out of his grasp.
"If I ever have to come back to this town, I'll burn it to the ground," Luke said. He turned his horse, took Valeria's mount by the bridle, and rode out of the saloon.
No air had ever smelled so sweet, no cloak of night been so welcome. Valeria took her first full breath in what felt like hours. She hadn't realized until she had to hold onto the reins that her muscles had been so tense they hurt. But though some of the tension began to flow from her body as they rode down the street and out of town, another kind of tension started to build. Guilt. As furious as Luke had been at Soderman, he was going to be more furious at her. She'd risked his life as well as her own because of a silly game.
Why hadn't she just told Luke she liked him?
Because she hadn't thought of it until now. Such a thing was unimaginable in Belgravia, but it was too late. The last thing Luke would want to hear was that she'd risked their lives because she wanted to know if he could stop hating her long enough to fall in love with her.
That sounded silly even to her. Some women might go straight from disgust to love-she had-but she was sure men didn't. If they hated a woman, they hated her forever.
Luke didn't hate her, but she didn't know if his liking was just the kind of lust Neely had outlined to his friend. Valeria blushed as she recalled some of the things Neely had said.
She wondered if Luke wanted to do the same things. The women at court said men reserved anything of that sort for their mistresses. Valeria didn't know exactly what she wanted her husband to do, but she was certain she didn't want him to do anything with a mistress.
But she was no longer the naive and unquestioning Princess Valeria of Belgravia. She was plain Valeria Badenberg, free to fall in love, free to demand fidelity from the man of her choice. And her choice was Luke Attmore.
At the moment, however, he was so angry he wouldn't even speak to her.
"Thank you for offering to give Neely and Albie jobs," she said, finally unable to stand the silence any longer. "It was brave of them to try to defend me against Soderman."
Luke didn't speak, but she could see his shoulders draw together and rise slightly from tension. She would never tell him Neely had wanted to do pretty much what Soderman intended to do. He'd more than made up for it by trying
to defend her.
"I hope he wasn't hurt badly. Soderman was very strong."
It surprised her that she didn't feel regret or guilt over Soderman's death. She felt nothing but relief that a man who would rape her, then offer her to every man in that saloon was no longer alive to prey on women. She supposed she was more like her ancestors than she'd thought. She didn't mourn the death of her enemies any more than her ancestors had mourned the deaths of theirs.
"I never did learn if there was a doctor in that town. It's not very large."
The only sound that came back to her was the squeak of Luke's saddle as his mount ascended the ridge leading to their camp. Okay, so she'd done a stupid thing, but she'd never been in love before. She didn't know how a woman was supposed to show a man she loved him. She wasn't even certain it was love. Maybe she was just holding onto the strongest, most dependable man she knew in this crazy country. Maybe she was projecting onto Luke the characteristics of the heros in her mind, men who led armies, conquered countries, men who were afraid of no one and nothing.
No, Luke was a natural leader, a man unafraid of anyone and anything. That was part of the reason she had
Cowboys 08 - Luke Page 27