by Carol Finch
Dominic shoved Aubrey away as if physical contact with the man repulsed him. Damn! He had been so furious with this heartless furrier that he could think of nothing else.
If Rozalyn loathes me; I deserve her wrath, he assured himself.
He dragged in the trailing reins of his temper and thoughtfully considered Rozalyn's predicament, and as he turned his thoughts to the abduction, he frowned pensively. Dominic could not agree with Lenore's speculation that ruffians were holding Rozalyn for ransom. Harvey Duncan and his unruly associates would never permit Rozalyn to fall prey to such a crime. No, it had to be someone else, someone in dire straits who thought to lay the blame on the obvious culprits. Jeffrey Corday! The name vibrated through Dominic's swirling thoughts. It had to be that skinny-legged milksop. None of Rozalyn's friends would lay a hand on her, not for all the gold coins in Aubrey's safe.
As Dominic spun on his heels and stalked toward the door, Aubrey walked toward his adversary to hurl another taunting jibe. "Have you decided to turn your back on Rozalyn and return to the mountains now that your conniving scheme has failed? If something happens to my daughter I will hold you personally responsible. I promise, you will never sell another fur pelt in St. Louis or at any market west of the Mississippi. And I further vow that no merchant will dare to sell you goods for your caravan, Baudelair. You are finished!" His derisive glare flooded over Dominic's powerful form, and then Aubrey scoffed at the man who dared make demands on him. "The legendary half-breed of the Rockies will become the laughingstock of hunters and trappers. No man challenges me and wins, especially not a Baudelair!"
Dominic grasped the doorknob until his knuckles turned white. Silently, he turned to glower at the red-faced man he was growing to despise more with each passing moment. "You are a disgusting excuse for a man, DuBois. Your only concern is for yourself and your precious fur empire. I pity Rozalyn. A life with you cannot be any life at all. You have been so poisoned by this grudge you bear against my family and your obsessive craving for power that you don't even give a damn about your own flesh and blood. If Rozalyn remains loyal to you it is only because she feels an obligation to her natural father, not because she respects you for the kind of man you are." Smoldering green eyes drilled into Aubrey's fuming face. "Maybe neither of us deserve her affection, but it was yours for the taking. Yet you turned your back on your own daughter just to feed this mysterious hatred that has left you a shell of a man."
"Get out of my sight, you loathsome vermin!" Aubrey howled, his voice rising until he was dangerously close to apoplexy. "If you have not packed your belongings and left St. Louis before the night ends, I will hunt you down and dispose of you myself."
Dominic stared at Aubrey, watching the man's composure crumble. The dam that contained his suppressed emotions seemed about to burst, and Aubrey's entire body shook. His eyes held a demented expression resulting from some unexplained torment. It seemed the furrier could not bear to contain his soul-shattering pain for another moment.
"I once trusted the Baudelairs, and I was cruelly betrayed," Aubrey choked out, his voice crackling with hatred. "I hope their souls burn in hell, and yours along with them. If you think the price of trapping supplies is high now, wait until next summer, Baudelair. And don't you ever go near my daughter again. If she doesn't despise you by now, as I do, she will. I promise you that. Our feud with the Baudelairs has only begun!"
The man is a maniac, Dominic decided as he yanked open the door and stormed out. He could not fathom what Aubrey was ranting about and he did not intend to waste his sympathy on him. Dominic's foremost concern was Rozalyn. It was apparent that Aubrey was so bitter and furious he could not manage a sane thought. By the time DuBois calmed down, Rozalyn could be dead.
That realization hit Dominic like a hard slap in the face. If Jeffrey had kidnapped Rozalyn, he wouldn't dare let her live for Aubrey would crucify Corday when Rozalyn blurted out her abductor's name. Even Jeffrey, imbecile that he was, would have considered that possibility.
As Dominic quickened his step to fetch his groom and a mount, his mind buzzed with attempts to form a plan to free Rozalyn and to see that Aubrey received his just reward. He was not about to admit defeat to the powerful furrier, nor would he buckle beneath the man's vindictive threat. It was time Aubrey DuBois learned there was one man on God's earth who did not accept him as master. DuBois will not emerge the victor, Dominic promised himself. Aubrey's festering hatred had infected his life and had poisoned his dealings with his daughter and with the trappers. The man bore a grudge against the world and everyone in it. Dominic would have given his right arm to know why, but DuBois wouldn't explain so he decided there was only one way to deal with him—to make him comply with Dominic's demands. And that was exactly what Dominic was going to do—force Aubrey to comply. He would threaten him with that which Aubrey could never tolerate. DuBois would become a reasonable man because Dominic would allow him no other choice!
Calculating green eyes surveyed the dilapidated home that stood on the outskirts of St. Louis. Then Dominic frowned thoughtfully and swung from the saddle, handing the reins to Mosley.
"Do you want me to accompany you, sir?" Mosley inquired as he tapped the ashes from his pipe and prepared to dismount.
"This is a private fight," Dominic murmured absently as he peeled off his jacket and flung it over the pommel of the saddle.
Dominic silently stalked into the shadows and then circled around to the back of the two-story house. His gaze swung to the dim light that filtered through the drapes in the window above him before he scampered up the trunk of a tree, heading toward that beckoning glow. After he had inched his way along one overhanging branch, he reached out to grasp the narrow window ledge. His long body stretched across the distance between the branch and the towering ledge; then he found a foothold on the stones that jutted out from the structure.
A thankful sigh escaped his lips as he peered between the drapes to see Rozalyn bound, gagged, and tied to a chair. Since Jeffrey was nowhere in sight, Dominic pried open the window and eased himself into the room.
Rozalyn's head jerked up when she heard a faint sound, but her eyes burned hot blue flames when Dominic unfolded himself from the ledge and slid in the window. She had considered the possibility of being rescued, but if she could have selected her champion, it most certainly would not have been Dominic. The mere sight of him infuriated her, and the pain of betrayal slashed across her wounded heart like a double-edged sword.
Dominic approached Rozalyn cautiously, like a man wading into an alligator-infested swamp. Well aware that this hot-tempered spitfire would spout furiously if she was given the opportunity, Dominic left the gag in place and merely freed her from her chair. He was not about to untie Rozalyn and risk being clawed into bloody shreds.
As he propelled Rozalyn down the hall, she glowered over her shoulder at him and then jerked her arm from his grasp, assuring him that his touch was unwelcome. After they had made their way down the stairs, Dominic heard a faint rustling in the parlor. Pursuing the sound to its source, he craned his neck to peer into that room and saw Jeffrey polishing off the remainder of a drink. Corday then scooped up his jacket, intending to return for the ransom money.
The gloating smile playing on Jeffrey's thin lips evaporated when he glanced and saw Dominic's ominous form blocking the doorway. Sickening dread knotted in Jeffrey's belly and he frantically fumbled for the pistol he had stashed in his pocket. But in a heartbeat's time Dominic had pounced on him. As the pistol sailed out of his reach, Jeffrey watched it with dismay, and a frightened squawk burst from his lips when Dominic lunged at him again. Displaying his true colors, Jeffrey made a beeline for the door, but he yelped in surprise when an unforeseen obstacle entangled his storklike legs.
Rozalyn had seen her abductor barreling toward the door—to freedom—and she had extended her leg, upending the uncoordinated lout and leaving him in a tangled heap at her feet. Jeffrey groaned miserably when he peered up to see Rozalyn emerge from
the shadows in the hail. Then his pained gaze swung back to the man who looked as if he would delight in tearing him limb from limb. Terror ricocheted through every nerve and muscle in Jeffrey's body as he was hoisted into the air and flung across the parlor.
The cracks of breaking furniture intermingled with Jeffrey's pained whimperings as he fell and then rolled across the floor, his momentum finally halted by the wall. Judging by the agonizing pains that plagued him, he swore Dominic intended to make good his promise to break every bone in his body. His eyes fluttered up to see a pair of polished black boots. Then his blurred gaze lifted to survey hard, muscled thighs and a massive chest. Fiery eyes of emerald green bore down on Jeffrey, and he swore, then and there, he was a dead man.
But suddenly, the murderous expression that carved deep lines in Dominic's face evaporated, and was replaced by a menacing smile. "Although I would derive pleasure from disposing of you, I think I will leave that task to DuBois. He is already breathing the fire of dragons and you will become his scapegoat."
Jeffrey gulped despite the lump constricting his throat. He had been spared for the moment, but his dread of DuBois was almost as painful as immediate death. He knew Aubrey would show him no mercy. He was doomed.
While Dominic was delivering that sentence, Rozalyn was employing a letter opener to cut her hands free. That accomplished, she yanked the gag from her mouth and then stormed toward Dominic. Her face flushed with fury, she confronted the man she was beginning to love to hate. She grabbed Dominic's arm and turned him to face her.
"Perhaps you have graciously granted this scoundrel temporary pardon, but I will not! I am the one he abducted," Rozalyn reminded him hotly. "Jeffrey planned to kill me after he received the ransom money. I demand he pay penance . . . now!"
Since Dominic made no move to avenge her kidnapping, Rozalyn's fuming gaze circled the room for an appropriate weapon to use in her reprisal. Her eyes landed on the sword that hung above the mantel. Perhaps after she sliced Jeffrey in two equal pieces and then cut Dominic's hard heart from his chest she could overcome her anger. Or perhaps merely scaring the wits out of both of them would appease her need for vengeance, she mused as she stormed over to retrieve the sword. When she wheeled around to threaten the money-hungry Corday, Dominic snatched the weapon from her grasp and held it just out of reach.
"Calm down, Roz," he barked sharply. "Has no one told you to forgive is divine?" Damn, but she was in a fit of temper!
"I am not looking to acquire sainthood," she muttered, reaching up on tiptoe to retrieve the sword.
"Corday isn't worth killing," Dominic argued.
"Nor is he worth sparing," she parried, though still without the sword.
While Dominic and Rozalyn were debating over Jeffrey's future ... or lack of it, Jeffrey attempted to escape, but Dominic caught his movement out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed Corday by the nape of his jacket, detaining him.
As Dominic hastily glanced around the room for a place to stash Jeffrey until he'd finished his debate with the vindictive witch who thirsted for blood—Jeffrey's as well as his own—he spied the coat rack upon the wall. Marching the struggling Jeffrey across the room, he hung Corday's tattered coat upon a sturdy hook, with Jeffrey in it; then he spun around to confront the flaming-eyed wildcat who hungered to make him a between-meal snack. Not that I blame her, Dominic said to himself. She is bitter and angry after overhearing Aubrey's accusations.
Damn, but she is beautiful, Dominic mused as his hawkish gaze flooded over her heaving breasts and flaming cheeks. And she was, even when she was angry— especially when she was angry. Rozalyn's eyes were snapping and her face was alive with splendid color. Now here is a force to be reckoned with, Dominic told himself. Jeffrey was no match for Dominic's overpowering strength, but Rozalyn was an entirely different matter. Hell hath no fury to match a spitfire's temper. Dominic sought to cool her anger at him, and quickly. Otherwise, there was no telling what this spirited woman might do. She had already threatened to take revenge on Jeffrey with his own sword.
"Rozalyn, I'm sorry," Dominic blurted out. "I had intended to explain the situation tonight, to make you understand. But we were interrupted and then . . ."
Rozalyn's head jerked up and her hard-won composure threatened to desert her. She didn't want to hear flimsy excuses. She had listened to scores of them from men like Jeffrey Corday. "There is no need to explain why you wanted to deceive me," she cut in. "Do you think it truly matters?" She was stung by the spiteful urge to deny her feelings for Dominic, to strike out and hurt him as she had been hurt. "I was using you, just as you were using me . . . from the beginning." Rozalyn tooka deep breath, determined to continue without her voice cracking. "A pity, isn't it? We may never know which one of us was the bigger fool." She laughed bitterly, forcing herself to meet Dominic's probing gaze. "Perhaps it was I for being ensnared in Grand’mere's clever trap. Or maybe you for thinking you could maneuver my father, even when you played both ends against the middle. It seems we were both using each other. We became each other's pawns, didn't we, Dominic? But it was only a game played to suit our separate purposes. We both emerged as losers. I, for one, am thankful the charade has come to an end. I had grown tired of pretending there was some deep affection between us."
Her words pierced Dominic's male pride like barbed arrows finding an intended mark. Why the hell was he apologizing when Rozalyn had openly admitted she felt nothing for him? "It does seem we were wasting our time on this worthless charade." He snorted derisively, and his mouth twisted into a mocking smile. Then his penetrating green eyes swarmed over her shapely figure, assuring her that he knew full well what lay beneath the frills and petticoats. "You certainly went to great lengths to convince me that you cared. And, of course, I was willing to accommodate you. I have never been one to deny myself pleasure, no matter what its source."
His insult struck Rozalyn like a slap across the cheek, and she retaliated instinctively. "You cannot know how difficult it was to submit. In actuality, I itched to tell you how much I despised you," she hurled at him, then caught her tears a split second before they spilled from her eyes. "You are a loathsome beast who took unfair advantage, and I am most grateful I will never have to see you again. The mere sight of you nauseates me!"
He winced in response to her spiteful words even as he cursed himself for confessing to love this hard-hearted vixen. She had been toying with him, charming him with her wiles, tempting him with her body. Damn her. He should have left her to Jeffrey!
"I find it inconceivable that any man would honestly admit to loving you. Jeffrey would have deserved a medal if he had found a way to marry you, even if he did so for your money. Life with you would be hell," Dominic flung at her. "You are temperamental and spoiled."
The nerve of this arrogant swine! How dare he speak to me in that condescending tone. He is no prize either, she thought huffily. "Do you think I would have married a man like you? If so, you are deluding yourself. I want nothing to do with you, and the sooner you disappear from my sight, the better. You are nothing but a womanizer, a philanderer. Your lusts couldn't be satisfied in a hundred boudoirs, much less one!" Rozalyn shouted at him. "I want to forget I ever knew you. As far as I am concerned last night didn't happen."
"I know," Hawk snorted derisively. "Unfortunately, I was there when it didn't."
His caustic rejoinder made her fume. "I hope my father manages to destroy you. Whatever grudge he has against the Baudelairs is now mine as well. If I never hear the name again it will be all too soon."
Dominic's temper had been strained once too often during the course of the evening. Finally forgetting logic, he decided Rozalyn was every bit as stubborn and spiteful as her father and he would not attempt to reason with her in her present mood.
Grumbling irritably, he stalked over to snatch up a piece of parchment, and quill in hand, he scratched out his own ransom note. After scribbling his name at the bottom of it, he marched back to Jeffrey, who was still dangling he
lplessly from the coat rack on the wall. Dominic pinned the letter on the lapel of Jeffrey's shredded jacket, and then he roughly scooped Rozalyn into his arms.
"Put me down this instant!" she shouted. "I am going nowhere with you."
But her struggle for freedom was futile. Dominic held her in a viselike grip until he had retrieved the rope and gag. Once he had replaced them, he tossed Rozalyn over his shoulder and strode toward the front door.
A muddled frown creased Mosley's brow as he watched Dominic approach him with long, swift strides. Mosley had expected Master Baudelair to emerge the victor, but he had not anticipated that the young lady would still be bound and gagged.
"Ride back to the Rabelais mansion and inform Aubrey that it was Jeffrey Corday who abducted his precious daughter," Dominic hastily ordered, setting his furious bundle in the saddle.
Mosley nodded agreeably and then vaulted onto his horse. "I will return home as soon as I deliver the message."
"Be quick about it." Dominic stepped into the stirrup and settled himself behind Rozalyn. "There is much to be done and time is short."
As Dominic gouged his heels into his steed's flanks and thundered off into the darkness, Rozalyn cursed the hard, lean body molded to hers. His closeness stirred memories she was desperately trying to put from her mind in order to survive this painful, one-sided love.
Blast it. Why hadn't Dominic released her and allowed her to go her own way? There was nothing left between them. They could never go back now that she knew he had only used her. Rozalyn wanted to erase the past week from her life and never think of it again. Her first taste of love had been hellish. She had sacrificed her heart for a few splendrous moments she would spend the rest of her life regretting. She had played with fire, and she had been badly burned. The scars of unrequited love would remain, but they would be hidden. No one would know how foolish she had been, but hereforth no man would touch her fragile emotions.