Why had he left without a word? Was he punishing her silly conduct? Was he trying to show disinterest? He was such an enigma. Why had he switched from fire to ice? That first night, he had definitely acted interested! Or had it merely been a mischievous game? If only she hadn’t mentioned love and marriage. Evidently he felt intimidated by both!
A scrawny man approached her. She inwardly grimaced at his drawn face and cadaverous frame. His beard was scraggly, tinged with white. His wiry hair was dirty and shaggy. His age was indeterminable. The harsh life he led was emblazoned on his deathly face and skeletal frame. She hoped he wasn’t going to beg for food; Moore had forbidden handouts. Since the supplies were his, she could not give them away. Her heart filled with sympathy for him.
“Miss ’ammond?” he hinted, squinting against the bright light.
She nodded. “Lan’is Jurrell wants ta see ye. He said fur ye ta meet ’im o’er in Cardone’s cabin. Says it’s impo’ant.”
Elation and suspense flooded her. He was back! But why did he want to see her alone? News of her father? To apologize for his chilly rudeness? Probably about her father, she instantly decided. Had he discovered some information this quickly? Tension and eagerness rushed through her.
“Thank you,” she tossed over her shoulder as she hurried across the cluttered area between the tent and cabin. She knocked timidly. It opened and she almost ran inside. “Did you learn…” She whirled around as the door was slammed and locked.
She paled and her eyes widened as she stared at the cruel lines etched on the face of none other than Marc Slavin. She inhaled sharply and shivered. He was leaning against the only exit, blocking any escape. “I hear your sweetheart’s gone. What a crying shame. Who’s gonna look after sweet Kathy?” he maliciously taunted her.
“What are you doing here?” she nervously demanded. “The Victoria sailed yesterday. Don’t tell me you missed your ship while harassing me,” she sneered contemptuously.
“Old Shurling kicked me off. Seems I have to wait for the next one, thanks to you. Wonder how I’ll occupy my time for three weeks and use up all this abundant energy,” he conjectured in an ominous tone.
“If you’re blaming me for your misfortunes, the shoe’s on the wrong foot, Marc. You brought this trouble on yourself,” she rebuked him. He was stranded here with her!
“We have plenty of privacy; so let’s discuss it without any intrusions from the mountain man,” he stated banefully.
“We have nothing to say to each other! I’m leaving,” she announced, but didn’t move.
He snorted coldly, an evil and glacial sound. “I think not, love. This cabin has very thick walls and the owner’s gone for another few weeks. There’s plenty of noise outside, if anyone dared to interfere. And, this is the only exit,” he said, tapping the door behind him.
Kathy’s mind was working fast. Harriet and Lewis were of no help here. The wretched souls along the beach couldn’t care less about her precarious position. She was trapped once more by this evil villain who refused to leave her in peace. Even Landis’s warning had obviously had no effect on him, and he would be gone for weeks!
Landis! “That old man told me Landis wanted to see me,” she blurted out, stalling for time to think and to plan.
“I knew you would come running to your lover’s side! I paid him several good coins to deliver that message,” he smugly announced.
“You’re despicable! Say what you must so I can leave. I have chores to do,” she snapped irritably to hide her fear.
“It isn’t talking I want. Your chores will just have to wait.”
“Someone will come looking for me,” she warned.
“Not until supper time. By then, you can leave any time you wish.” He savored her terror and helplessness.
Kathy summoned her lagging courage and bluffed, “Landis warned you to stay clear of me, Marc. He isn’t a man to cross.”
Marc threw back his head and filled the stuffy air with freezing laughter. “It won’t work, Kathy. At the parting of a few more coins, I’ve learned a great deal about your Landis. You two just met. He isn’t due for thirty days or more. By then, our disagreement will be nicely settled and I’ll be gone. Just imagine a month or longer without his strong arm of protection…This here’s a dangerous place for such a beautiful woman all alone. Seems to me you need a better guardian. Landis is awfully careless. For the same fringe benefits you give him for his services, I’ll eagerly accept his position.”
“Benefits? I didn’t hire Landis as my bodyguard,” Kathy naively argued. “We’re to be married,” she boldly declared.
“Come now, Kathy; how else does a female pay the man who guards her life and property? You denied me on the ship; this time you won’t. There’s no Shurling or Jurrell here now, just you and me.”
His lecherous intentions now were clear and she shouted at him, “You filthy-minded beast! I won’t listen to such vulgar talk! When Landis comes back, hell cut out your vile tongue and your black heart!”
“Even if he objects to sharing the lovely spoils of Kathryn Hammond with me, I’ll be in Seattle before he returns and discovers your little run of bad luck,” he scoffed, nonplused by her threat. He knew she was terrified. “But I doubt he’ll get a soiled bride.”
Her trembling hand delivered a stinging slap. Slavin grabbed her offending weapon and crushed it as she winced in pain. He rubbed his smarting face with his other hand. “You’ll regret that,” he vowed coldly.
Capturing her other flailing hand which was boxing his right ear, he pinned them behind her, forcing her quivering body against his hard one. He began to back her into the next room. Kathy stumbled and his grip tightened. Despite his prior claims everyone would ignore her screams, she yelled as loudly as she could.
Slavin hooked his leg around hers and tripped her. She toppled to the bed, sending the air rushing from her lungs, silencing her screams.
Landing atop her, Marc forcefully drove his knee between her thighs. Kathy couldn’t move or battle him with any success. Winded, she could not call out. He grinned, anticipating her total capitulation.
He pinned her hands above her head, then leisurely unbuttoned her dress down the front. Rolling her imprisoned and writhing body from side to side, he eventually had her dress lying on the floor beside them. Still struggling, she fused a deep scarlet in shame. No man had ever viewed her body. He fumbled until he had her white petticoats lying with her dress. She opened her mouth to scream again.
He chuckled satanically. “If your screams are successful, Kathy, look how those miners will find you. Halfnaked, your rescue will be forgotten. I don’t relish sharing you with numerous lusty men.”
Petrified by his statement, Kathy suppressed her outcry until she could clear her wits. “That’s the same threat you used on the ship. What makes you so sure they won’t help me?”
He laughed and exclaimed, “You think men who haven’t had a woman in months or years will rush in and rescue you without some charge? The moment they lay eyes on you they will be fighting over who is going to rape you first! Those men are like wild savages out there. If it comes to a choice between sex and manners, which do you think they’ll choose?”
She paled in uncertainty and panic. “Landis will kill you, Marc,” was the only reply she could think of to frighten him.
His head came down and he nibbled at her earlobe, his erratic respiration sending chills through her. He ground his hardened manhood into her tender groin. “Be nice or you could be hurt badly.”
“Never!” she yelled, gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes.
“If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to have you at least once.”
“I would rather die first!” she sneered in disgust.
“If you cause me any more trouble, that can be arranged…afterwards, of course. People do have fatal accidents around here.”
“I hate you! I’ll fight you all the way,” she vowed earnestly.
“If you submit, I’ll be just
as gentle as old Landis is,” he scoffed.
“You’re nothing like him! You can’t even walk in his shadow!”
“Zat a fact?” he taunted.
“Hell kill you for this! No man touches his woman.”
“In a few minutes, you won’t be able to say that.”
“Damn you, Marc Slavin! Get off of me this instant! He’ll be back very soon, and he’ll make you pay dearly for this.”
“Landis, my ass! I’m not afraid of that conceited rake.”
“If I were you, I would be. He’s the bravest and most powerful man alive. Are you forgetting how he made you squirm like a scared rabbit the other night?” she reminded him.
“I’ll have my revenge. After I’m finished with you, no man will want you. A few slices here and there and you’ll be a hideous sight. Even Landis won’t be able to look at you.”
“You’re a mighty tough man when your enemy is a defenseless female. If Landis was here right now, you would be cowering…”
“Shut up, you slut! Don’t mention his name to me again, or I’ll cut out your tongue before I take you!”
Marc leaned over and sucked repulsively on her earlobe as he yanked at her chemise. Disgust and nausea swept over Kathy. As she thrashed her head to avoid his mouth, her terror-filled eyes touched on the stormy face of Landis Jurrell. His forefinger on his sensual, taut lips signalled her to silence. Tears of relief and joy greeted him. He smiled tenderly. Kathy was no longer afraid as she lost herself in the fathomless depths of Landis’s molten eyes. The tautness within her body faded, giving Marc the wrong impression.
Marc leaned back and said, “See, I knew you could relax with a little effort. Yield to me, Kathy, and I won’t hurt you.”
She glared him in the eye and stated rashly, “The only man I’ll ever yield to is Landis. You’ll soon regret this day, Marc.”
“I’ll die before I allow that stinking gold miner to stop me!”
“That sounds fine to me, Sailor Boy,” Landis snarled from behind Slavin, making his intrepid presence known to Marc.
Marc instantly rolled off the bed to lunge at him. Seeing the wide, flat blade of the hunting knife in Landis’s grip stopped him. “Seems to me you like to live dangerously or stupidly. I was sure I made myself clear; Kat is mine. Mine, Sailor Boy! Every time my back’s turned, you try to harm her. Now what should I do about it this time?” His burning gaze seared away any courage Marc had.
“I was told you were gone. She was teasing me and taunting me. I was only gonna scare her,” Marc declared in visible fear. “She thought you’d deserted her and she wanted a new protector. She came over here playing up to me. What was I supposed to do? I’m only a man!”
“Landis, I didn’t. I was told you wanted to see me, but Marc was here waiting for…”
Landis injected, “Hush, love. Let me handle this fool. I know you had nothing to do with this.” He turned to Slavin. “What would Kat possibly want with you when she has me? Fact is, you chose the wrong place to carry out your revenge; this is my cabin and that’s my bed you’re attacking my woman on. That’s three errors: my cabin, my bedroll, and my woman,” he glacially emphasized, increasing Marc’s terror.
“But I didn’t harm her!” Marc shouted in panic.
“But you did. You frightened her; you abused her and you insulted her. If I hadn’t come home, you would have ravished her, and we all know it. You’ve pressed the wrong man once too often. It’s past time I teach you some manners. I said I’d kill you if you touched her again.” Landis’s body was taut with rage and surges of inexplicable possessiveness stormed him.
Being a coward, Marc pleaded—but he couldn’t deceive this vital man. Landis laughed in his whining face. He seized Marc’s collar and yanked him to his feet. With a few lightning movements, he had landed three blows into Marc’s gut and four across his jaw. Blood eased from a cut near Marc’s mouth. Marc could hardly breathe following the rain of heavy blows.
He sank to his knees. “I won’t come…near her…again. I…swear it,” he stammered in pain.
“You liar! The moment I leave again, you’ll be after her! You can’t be trusted.” Several more blows followed those words.
Marc rolled on the floor, gripping his abdomen and groaning.
Landis challenged, “Get up and fight me like a man, if you are one! You prey on helpless females and grovel before a man. Get up! I ain’t through with you yet!”
“I can’t. I’m hurt bad. My ribs are broken; my jaw feels busted. No more, please…”
Landis drew back his fist, but Kathy surged forward and caught his powerful bicep. “Enough, Landis. He’s really hurt. I don’t think he’ll bother me again. Please don’t beat him anymore,” she pleaded, frightened by this vivid show of violence which she had never witnessed before. Landis’s eyes burned with a ruthlessness which alarmed her. He could actually kill Marc if he continued this potent attack. She couldn’t be responsible for a man’s death, not even Marc’s.
“Don’t you understand, Kat? He was going to brutalize you! If I hadn’t returned, he would have. This isn’t the first time he’s tried this! There’s only one way to prevent him from ever raping any defenseless woman!” he gravely threatened. The unleashed fury which flowed from him stunned her. Why had Marc’s attack infuriated him this much? She wasn’t actually his woman or his responsibility.
Marc’s face lost all color at Landis’s hint. “No! Please! I won’t touch her again. I promise. The law won’t let you get away with this. You can’t just butcher a man.”
“He’s right, Landis. You can’t; he could die,” Kathy shrieked in panic. The thought of seeing Landis jailed or executed for protecting her from this brute was unbearable. Vividly, wilderness law was made and ruled by the strongest man or force; Landis was such a force.
“There isn’t any law in Skagway! It’s make your own! There isn’t a man in this settlement who would stop me from punishing this scum!”
“What about the Mounties? What will they do to you?” she cried, recalling the crewman’s mention of them.
Landis focused his full attention on her. “What did you say?” he demanded in a fierce tone. His eyes darkened and narrowed with a strange glow. He watched her closely. “Why would the Mounties be interested in me or what happens over here?”
“You appear to be the authority in this camp. Men here respect you and fear you; they obey you. You’re the only one who’s helped me. But if you kill Marc or injure him so badly that he dies, the law might arrest you and take you away from me. I would die if anything happened to you because of me,” she voiced her fears.
Still, he observed her warily. “Listen to me, Kat; I can’t permit him to strip you like this and assault you every time I leave camp! He can’t be trusted to keep his word. He’s proven that to both of us. I say fix him so he can’t ever desire you or harm you again.”
As Landis’s concentration was on her, Slavin was inching towards the cabin door. Near it, he dashed for it and fled outside. Landis started after him, but Kathy prevented it. “Please don’t leave me alone,” she cried in fear, and began to sob.
Landis glanced outside. Marc was frantically heading for the nearest treeline to hide. Landis looked at the dishevelled and nearly naked Kathy who was in tears and shaking violently. He slammed the door and locked it. He came back to where she had sank to the bed, weeping.
He sat and pulled her into his arms. “Sh-h-h, love; it’s all right now. He’s gone, and I’m here. Don’t be afraid anymore.”
She innocently flung her arms around his neck and clung to him for comfort. “Don’t leave me again, Landis. I’m so afraid when you’re not here. Where did you go? Why didn’t you say anything about leaving? I didn’t even know when or if you’d come back,” she shamelessly blurted out, clad only in lacy cambric drawers and matching chemise.
He was brushing kisses on her hair, forehead, and cheeks. “I had some business to see about,” he muttered huskily, telling her nothing. “I was’worried
about you when Slavin didn’t get on his ship.”
“Where? What kind? You didn’t even say goodbye,” she anxiously exclaimed, wanting to know what had taken him from her side for nearly two days, sounding as if she had some rightful hold on him.
He tensed at her questions, then cautiously murmured, “Forget it, love. I’m here now.” Twinges of suspicion and wariness chewed at him. Why had she mentioned the law? The Mounties? Strange…
“Will you be leaving soon?” she asked, praying he would say no.
“I’m not sure yet,” he lied convincingly.
“Where can I reach you?” she innocently pressed.
“I move around a lot,” he parried.
“But I might need you! Where can I find you?” she insisted.
To prevent any further questions, his mouth came down on hers. He kissed her deeply and hungrily. In her agitated state, Kathy clung to him and artlessly responded with intense yearnings, totally unprepared to deal with this fiery reality. Her head spun wildly at his nearness and manly smell. He invaded her senses and entrapped them in a world of heady desire, the reason for his hasty return forgotten.
He continued his quest of her tasty mouth and they inevitably sank into the softness of the bed, clinging feverishly. Kathy’s hands wandered over his sinewy back, relishing the feel of his hard muscles. He was so warm and inviting. His kisses carried her mind away on waves of stormy passion. Eventually, the only thing she wanted and needed was for his magical and gentle assault to go on forever.
It had been a long time since Landis had taken a woman. His body flamed and ached. His seeking hands began to explore her virginal territory, mentally mapping it. His mouth willfully invaded hers with great skill and intensity. His flames were quickly spread to her smoldering body, igniting dangerous wildfires which she could not control or extinguish, searing away any defense against this compelling trespasser.
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