Jake took Luis’s hand and longed to squeeze it until he broke every bone. So, this was the very man who’d stolen Annie away. He was every bit the handsome, charming man Gretta had described. He could see how easy it might be for the man to lure a young girl into a fate worse than death. “I prefer blonds,” he told Luis.
“What about the little blond girl from Denver?” Sidney asked Luis.
Two birds right here in my hand. Jake struggled to keep from killing both of the bastards right then; he had to be sure he had Annie first.
“I sold her to Don Jesus Ricardo de Leon just yesterday,” Luis told Sidney. “How strange that Señor Harkner asks for just such a girl. I just got back from Don de Leon’s, which is why I’m late. The don is to pick the girl up here in the morning.”
Sidney frowned. “That’s too bad. Mr. Harkner had his heart set on breaking in a virgin. How much did Don de Leon pay?”
“Six thousand pesos.” Luis smiled at Jake as though to challenge him.
By this time tomorrow you’ll be dead, Jake thought. “I’ll double that offer,” he told Sidney.
Sidney grinned. “That is roughly three thousand American dollars.”
“That’s right,” Jake answered. “If she’s a virgin, she’s worth every cent.”
“Don de Leon will be furious,” Luis told Sidney, looking seriously concerned.
“He doesn’t need to know,” Jake told Sidney. “I’m paying twelve thousand pesos just to be her first. After that, you can still give her to Don de Leon. You’ll make out both ways and more than double de Leon’s money.”
“But the don wants a virgin,” Luis reminded Sidney with a frown.
“I’ll try not to tear anything, and I’ll clean her up,” Jake answered. “She’ll just go to the don wanting more of the pleasures I’ll teach her. You can order her to pretend de Leon is hurting her, because that’s probably what the man enjoys most. But he’ll soon discover she enjoys it, and I doubt he’ll know the difference. She’d just better still be a virgin like you claim, or I’ll want my money back, and I’ll damn well get it,” he warned.
Luis smiled and rubbed at his privates. “It was not easy, but I knew she would bring very good money, so I did not touch her. But I had a good feel of her, and I showed her what a man looks like, and made her touch me with her hand. And I told her what she will have to do once someone buys her.”
You fucking bastard, Jake thought. “What’s the girl’s name?”
“Annie,” Sidney told him. “Luis brought her from Denver with promises of marrying her.” Both men laughed wickedly.
“I inspected her good. She is a virgin,” Luis told Jake. “I knew she would be worth much money, which is why I saved her until I got what I thought would be enough. And now you come along offering even more! This is a very good day.”
Jake rose. “I’ll go get the money, but you’d better be telling the truth. You don’t want to see me angry, believe me.”
“Ah, señor,” Luis told Jake. “I know your reputation, but we are well guarded. And I must ask you, you were once a lawman. Surely you’re not foolish enough to have come here to try to steal this girl. Another man already tried that, and he is very likely dead now from many bullet wounds. Perhaps someone hired you to come here and find this girl?”
Jake sobered, longing to bury his fist in the man’s face. “Mister, I’ve never been a gun for hire. My job as a marshal was part of a prison sentence, and the minute I got that sentence set aside, I left that miserable job and headed for Colorado. I’m no fool.” He lit another cigarette. “Do you want my money or not? I can always go someplace else. And I know a very beautiful whore up in Denver who will accommodate me any day of the week. So if you don’t trust me, I can just leave.”
“No! No!” Sidney objected, rising. “Luis, why have you insulted this man? We can double our money.”
Luis frowned. “I just do not want to offend Don de Leon. He is very powerful. He might come after us if he is not pleased with this girl and realizes she is not a virgin.”
“And we have our men in place,” Sidney reminded Luis. “We will just promise to find him another virgin free of charge. And once he sets eyes on our beautiful Annie, he will not even care.”
Luis looked up at Jake. “Try not to leave marks on her.”
“Luis, I was raised in brothels. I know how to handle a woman, virgin or not.”
Luis nodded. “Then show us your money. We will take you to our finest room and bring her to you.”
And I can’t wait to destroy that pretty face of yours with a bullet, Jake thought. You’ll never smile again when I’m done with you!
“Just a last reminder that we are well guarded, Jake,” Sidney warned. He looked up to the tops of the hacienda walls, indicating the men stationed there. “Even the great Jake Harkner can’t get out of here if we don’t want him to.” The man’s disturbingly pale eyes narrowed in his last-minute hint of trouble waiting.
We’ll see about that. Jake headed out to his horse to get the money from his saddlebags. He’d never had such a hard time controlling his temper as he was having right now. What happened yesterday at his mother’s grave didn’t help his mood. Think about the girl and getting her out of here, he told himself. One wrong move, and you’ve blown it. All that matters is the girl…and killing Sidney Wayland and that cocky sonofabitch Luis Estava!
Forty-six
Jake paced…and smoked. He’d planned on buying Annie outright and taking her home, but he’d ended up having to buy her for just one night, which created a problem for tomorrow morning. Getting her out of the brothel would be more difficult than he’d planned. Thank God Don de Leon hadn’t come for her yet.
The door finally opened, and someone shoved a young girl inside. She stumbled from being pushed. The door was slammed shut behind her. She stood there in a negligee so thin Jake could see right through it.
She was incredibly beautiful, more so than he’d expected. Now he understood why Sidney Wayland considered her worth a lot of money. Her long, blond hair was brushed out and hung in thick waves nearly to her waist. She was tall for her age, her legs slender, her breasts almost too full for a fifteen-year-old.
She folded her arms over those breasts and stood there, staring at Jake, her beautiful blue eyes as big as saucers. The look she gave him reminded him of how Randy had looked at him the first time she’d met him—and shot him—in that supply store back in Kansas. The story was a family joke now, because she’d later found him dying and had taken the bullet out, saving his life. If she had been smart, she would have left that bullet inside of me, Jake liked to tell others.
“Get away from the door,” he told Annie.
She hung her head as she walked closer on unsteady bare feet. She shivered so badly Jake thought she might pass out. He walked to his gear and took out one of his shirts. “Look up here,” he told her.
She raised tear-filled eyes. My God, she looks just like a young Gretta. “Put this on,” he told her, handing her the shirt.
Her eyes remained wide and her lips quivered. She swallowed before answering. “Why?”
“Because I don’t think you want me seeing right through that thing they put on you.”
She looked down again. “Isn’t that what you want?”
“No.” Jake draped the shirt over her shoulder and walked to the door, noticing there was no lock. Most whorehouses didn’t have locks on the bedrooms. That was so a pimp or a guard outside could burst in if it sounded like a woman was being beaten, although he knew some places that actually accepted extra money from men who preferred to beat a woman first.
He yanked the door open, revealing a local man wearing a gun. “Get the hell away from here!” he ordered.
“Señor, it is my job to—”
In the blink of an eye, Jake’s gun was under his chin. “I paid three thousand dollars for that
girl in there, and I’ll have some privacy,” he ordered. “I don’t want anybody standing out here listening or trying to peek under the door or barging in on us. Got that?”
The man swallowed. “Sí, señor.”
The man left, and Jake slammed the door shut again. He shoved a rug under the bottom of it so no one could try looking inside, then propped the back of a chair against the doorknob so no one could barge in. When he turned, the girl had his shirt on. It was so big on her it came to her knees. Jake suddenly remembered little Sadie Mae. “I don’t wanna be bare,” she’d said when he’d taken her nightie off and given her his shirt. This girl had had the same devastated look on her face.
“You Annie?” he asked. He knew he had the right girl, but he wanted to hear it from her own lips.
She nodded. A tear slipped down her cheek. “You…paid three thousand dollars for me?”
“I sure did.”
“Luis said…you were going to…rape me. He said I have to do whatever you say, but…I don’t know about…those things.” She backed away when he stepped closer. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” She burst into tears. Jake grabbed her up and whisked her into an adjoining washroom, hanging on to her as she leaned over the bathtub and threw up. He grasped her hair and held it behind her neck.
“Annie, I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m here to help you.” He hung on tightly as she threw up again, after which she couldn’t stop the tears.
“Don’t…tell Luis. He’ll do something bad to me if he…thinks I disappointed you.”
Jake turned on the water and cupped some in his hand, rinsing her face with it. “Rinse your mouth under the faucet, Annie. I have some peppermint candy that will make it taste better.”
She jerked in a sob and rinsed her mouth. Jake hung on to her the whole time, then picked her up when she was through and carried her to the bed, laying her on it. She instantly curled into a ball and cried again. Jake took a handkerchief from his gear, along with the clothing Gretta had given him. All he could think of was what Gretta’s uncle had done to her. He dearly wished he could have killed the man. He grabbed a stick of peppermint and brought it to the bed, laying the clothes on a nearby chair.
He crouched beside the bed and handed her the handkerchief. “You have to stop crying, Annie. Use this. And when you stop crying, suck on this peppermint.” He laid the candy on the stand beside the bed, thinking about the peppermint he’d left with Randy. God, he missed her. He kept his voice low as he tried to explain. “I promise I’m not going to touch you, Annie. I bought you just to get a night alone with you so I can explain what’s happening. I’m taking you home, understand?”
She took the handkerchief. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” she wept. She blew her nose and wiped at her eyes.
Jake remained crouched in front of her. “Look at me, Annie.”
She remained curled up when she met his gaze. “I have a wife, Annie, a son and a daughter, a pack of grandchildren, and an adopted son. I own a big ranch up near Denver. Your—” He hesitated. She still thought Loretta was her mother. “Your mother hired me to come and find you. I’m taking you out of here in the morning. I have a friend along who will get you over the border while I hold off anyone who tries to stop us. His name is Cole. You can trust him.”
She wiped at her eyes again. “I don’t believe you.”
Jake nodded toward the chair. “I brought those clothes for you. They’ll probably be too big, but it’s better than a man’s shirt, and there is even some lady’s underclothes there. Don’t get dressed till morning, mind. If for some reason anyone knocks and wants to come in here, it has to look like we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, which means you can’t be dressed.”
She watched his eyes. Jake was in a killing mood, but he smiled for her. “Everything is going to be okay, Annie,” he told her.
Annie noticed his guns. “Who are you?”
“My name is Jake. Your mother knows I’m good with these guns. I used to be a U.S. Marshal, so she figured I could get you out of here.”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “Another man already tried. They shot him a whole bunch of times.”
Jake smoothed her hair back from her face. She jumped at first when he touched her, then curled up even tighter. “It’s okay, Annie. I’m not lying to you. As far as that other man, he wasn’t experienced enough in these things. I know people like the ones who run this place. I’ll get you out of here. That’s a promise. You just have to do everything I tell you, without hesitation, understand? That’s very important. Once we get out, you don’t look back. You stay with Cole, and you ride hard for that border, understand?”
She reached for the peppermint and put it in her mouth, a gesture that reminded Jake of Sadie Mae and Tricia begging him for candy. And then there was Randy. Their reason for sharing peppermint sticks was something very different. He turned away and rose. Would they ever have the chance to eat another peppermint stick until their lips met?
He lit another cigarette, then moved the clothes to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it. He leaned his elbows on his knees and studied the flowered carpet on the floor. “I need to know if you’re… Your mother will want to know if you’re still a virgin, Annie. Do you know what I mean?”
She didn’t answer right away.
Jake sighed, feeling like an ass. He drew on the cigarette before speaking again. “Your mother will need to know, Annie, so she knows how to help you when you get home. Nothing that has happened is your fault, understand? There’s no shame in any of it.”
Annie pulled a blanket over her face. “I don’t know.”
Jake frowned. “How can you not know?”
“I’m not sure,” she wept. “Luis made men hold me down, and he…touched me.” She started sobbing again.
Jake stood up and paced again, so full of rage he was sorely tempted to charge out of the room and start shooting people. He ran a hand through his hair. “Is that all he did?”
“He made me touch him.”
Keeping the black rage away was giving Jake a headache. “Then you’re still a virgin, Annie, unless there is anything else you aren’t telling me.”
“No. That’s all.” She shook under the blanket. “I think I’m gonna be sick again.”
Jake set his cigarette in an ashtray and hurried to her side. He pulled away the blanket and picked her up in his arms to carry her to the bathtub once more, where she threw up. He helped her wash her face, his headache now more of a searing pain from a need to hit someone, shoot someone, scream out his rage. When Annie was through being sick, he kept hold of her and half collapsed to the floor, leaning against the wall and pulling Annie into his arms. He held her tight as she continued sobbing.
“Baby girl, you’ll be all right,” he again assured her.
“He said he loved me! He said he was rich and would marry me and I would live in a beautiful hacienda!”
“I know what he said. And I know your father died and you were all mixed up. You haven’t done one thing wrong, Annie. I want you to believe that, because it’s true.” He stroked her hair. “Do you want to hear a funny story about one of my little granddaughters?”
“Please don’t hurt me.”
Jake sighed. “Am I hurting you now?”
“No.”
“And I won’t. I’m just holding you to help you feel safe.”
She sniffed and wiped her tears with the sleeve of his shirt that she wore. “You can tell me the story.”
Jake told her about the ranch where he lived, and about Sadie Mae and the chickens. He needed to think about happier things or go crazy. “I came out of that damn chicken coop with hen scratches on my face and feathers in my hair. And I told my wife I was never going in there after eggs again.”
Annie actually laughed softly. “That’s really funny. Did you keep Sadie Mae’s s
ecret?”
“I sure did. But she didn’t. She told everybody about how I used a lot of bad words when I was inside that chicken coop.”
Annie smiled. “If we really get out of here, can my mother and I come and see where you live?”
God, she was so innocent. She was reacting like the child she was. “Of course you can. My wife and children and all the grandchildren would love that.”
Annie moved her arms around his neck. “Please don’t be lying. I don’t know who to trust.”
“I have something to prove you can trust me. Let’s go back into the other room. I have a couple of biscuits in my gear. Maybe you’ll feel better if you eat something.”
Annie wiped at tears again, then got up. Jake reached up for her. “I’m getting old, Annie. You have to help me up.”
She smiled and reached out her hands. He grabbed them and grimaced with the pain in his hip as he rose. “It’s hell getting old, Annie.” He put an arm around her and led her back to the bed, then went to his gear and pulled out two biscuits and Evie’s Bible. He brought them to Annie, setting the biscuits on the table beside the bed. “My daughter gave this to me and said to give it to you. She thought it might help you feel better, and show you that you can trust me.” He handed her the Bible.
“She did?” Annie’s beautiful blue eyes widened as she took the Bible and opened it. She sucked in her breath. “She even put my name in it!”
“See? How can I be lying when I already knew who you were when I left Colorado? And if I have a daughter who thinks of things like this, would I be such a bad man?” Jake sat down in the chair again, smiling inwardly at his own words. Little did Annie know just how “bad” he could be.
“I guess not.” She met his gaze. “But you have kind of a mean look on your face.”
Jake rubbed at his eyes. “That’s because right now I very much want to kill Luis and Sidney. I’m very angry at what they did to you, and I intend to make sure they’re dead before I leave here.”
The Last Outlaw Page 33