by Taylor Lee
Striking a conciliatory note, the young man pasted a pained smile on his face. “Mamn, I will arrange to have your dinner brought to your room. Gabe said he wants you to eat…”
“Don’t bother.” Ana’s voice was tight, barely controlled. She moved through the doorway and wound up to close the door in his face. Davy put his foot in the doorway stopping her. He handed her a note.
“Gabe also asked me to give you this.”
Ana snatched it from his hand and kicked his foot out of the way. With her head held high she marched into her chambers locking the door behind her.
She opened the note and stared at all three lines of it.
Sorry you are upset, Ana. These last two days have been a trial for you.
Get some rest. We will talk in the morning.
Ana was enraged. Davy was correct. Gabe really did intend to send her to her room. While he and the men were out looking for the scum who attacked her father, even taking her brother with them, she was supposed to go to bed like a good little girl.
She made her decision. The hallways were filled with his men. Even though Gabe had taken many of them with him the courtyard was sprinkled with them. She consoled herself. It wasn’t as though she had never snuck out of the house. She did it at least one a month. She tossed her dress and fancy shoes in a heap. Crawling naked into her closet she found her stable boys clothes. Pulling them on she twisted in a tight braid and tucked it under her cowboy hat and yanked on her worn boots. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that we looked like a fifteen year old boy, not a young woman set on solving the crime that had torn her family apart and caused irreparable havoc in her life and in her heart.
She stuffed pillows and a quilt under the coverlet creating a passable form of a sleeping body. Squaring her shoulders, she moved quickly shoving aside any second thoughts and opened the door to her balcony. The moon, a mere sliver of light in the dark cloudy sky was her helpmate. Taking a deep breath, she hooked her leg over the railing and found the chink in the brick that had been her toehold for years. Within seconds she’d slithered to the ground, a small dark figure hugging the wall. The most dangerous stretch was the distance between the house and the barn. The fifty yard expanse called for stealth and the brazen knowledge that no one could stop her. Ana had both.
~~
Chapter 27
Gabe stood outside Chao’s door relieved and frustrated. He was relieved to see his friend sleeping peacefully, an alert Chinese healer sitting in the chair beside his bed. But he desperately needed to talk with Chao. Chao was the only one who could fill in the blanks of a picture that was becoming clearer. He and his men had questioned no fewer than fifty potential witnesses today. They included everyone from the local sheriff to the feed store owner to the brothel madams in every hangout between here and san Francisco. Anyone who had even a passing familiarity with the six men they were targeting had been questioned. Three men popped to the top of the list. Sadly all six suspects were open in their hatred of Chinese and of Chao Li in particular. The three suspects topping the list were frequent visitors at Dominic’s Lucky Lady. The bankers they consulted confirmed the amount of money the three lost to Chao Li in the last year alone was staggering. While Gabe had always known that Chao was a shrewd business man, the depth of his cunning and insights surprised even Gabe.
Gunnar and Eagle humored him and kept Peter Harcourt on the short list. But even Gabe had to agree that Peter didn’t exhibit the incriminating behavior that the others did. No one remembered him speaking ill of the Chinese. Most telling there was no evidence of financial loss to Chao. Peter wasn’t on Chao’s list. All Gabe had was his anger at Peter’s smarmy attentions to Ana and his itchy neck.
Accepting the fact that he wasn’t going to speak with Chao tonight, Gabe headed down the quiet hallway to Ana’s room. Though it was after midnight and he was sure she was sleeping, Gabe hoped that she might be awake. He wanted to talk to her. Hell, he thought with a groan what he really wanted was to crawl in bed beside her and hold her, feel that luscious body hard up against his. His arousal flared at the image and he shook his head in disgust at his errant prick. Remembering her fury at what he had to admit was his high handed behavior, he knew it was unlikely Ana would open her door to him, much less her arms.
Davy and Emil jumped to their feet, greeting him in low tones.
“She’s sleeping?” Gab asked nodding to the closed door motioning them away from the doorway.
Davy shrugged. “I expect so. We haven’t heard anything in at least four or five hours, have we, Emil?”
Emil nodded in agreement. A sneaky smile crept over his usually stern face. “Given how angry she was, I gotta tell you, Gabe, I expected to hear the sound of breaking glass or splintering wood. Wouldn’t have been surprised to see some broken furniture and a smashed lamp or two.” He grinned appreciatively. “That is one spitfire of a woman, Gabe.”
Davy chortled in agreement. “Yeah, you may have bit off more than you can chew with that one, Gabe. That little girl was madder than a wet hen. I never seen a woman that small puff up like an adder. Phew, I wasn’t sure Emil and I was going to make it out alive when I told her you wanted her to stay in her room. I’m glad she didn’t have a lethal weapon on her although the daggers she was throwing could‘ve taken us down if we wasn’t expecting them.”
Gabe smiled at their apt descriptions knowing only too well the temperamental behavior they described. Hell, he’d barely known her for two weeks, but had been astonished at the range of emotions that spewed forth from one imposing young woman who at first glance was a sheltered, shy recluse.
“I’m glad the two of you were able to contain a woman half your size, fellows,” Gabe said with an ironic grin. He added not suppressing a worried frown.
“She ate, right?”
“Hell, no,” Davy exclaimed with a barely contained laugh. “I think that was the final straw, Gabe. After I told her you wanted her in her room and that you wanted her to eat her dinner, she would a slammed the door in my face if I hadn’t wedged my foot in it.”
Emil sniggered. “Admit it Davy, a second later she took you by surprise and did slam the door in both our faces.”
Gabe couldn’t hide his concern. “That means she hasn’t had anything to eat today. That’s not good, fellows. She’s been under a lot of strain. She can’t weigh a hundred pounds as it is. You did give her my note, right?”
Davy huffed. “Yeah I did. But, I‘d be surprised if she did more than burn it, Gabe. I’m telling you that is one angry woman. And, something else. She looked determined. Like nobody including the likes of Emil and me were going to stop her doing exactly what she wanted to.”
Gabe gave an appreciative snort. “Yeah. That’s a look I know well.”
Trying to sort out whether his need to see her was to make sure she was all right, or just wanting to hold her, Gabe knew he wouldn’t rest until he checked on her. Shaking off his caution, he rapped on her door and called her name. Not surprisingly there was no answer. Even though he knew Davy and Emil were teasing him, it bothered him that they hadn’t heard anything from her for hours. That wasn’t like Ana. He knew her well enough now to know that after an hour or so she would have marshaled her forces and taken them on again. If nothing else to go check on her father. He turned to his men who seemed surprised at his concern.
“She’s been in there what four or five hours? And never came out to go see her father?”
When they both shook their heads, Gabe muttered. “That does it. That’s not like Ana. She’s been at Chao’s bedside for two days now. Even if you told her to stay in her room, she would insist on seeing him before she went to sleep. I don’t like this. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
He rapped loudly on the door and called out. “Ana, it me, Gabe. I want to see you, Princess. Open the door, please.” Remembering that hours before, she refused to admit him, his anger flared. Even if she had been sleeping she couldn’t fail to hear him. Fatigue and concern dro
ve him forward. “Ana, I’m serious. Open the damn door. Now”
An eerie silence was his answer.
He stepped back and then threw the weight of his body against the heavy oak panel. It gave way like a straw in the wind.
Stepping inside the dark room he moved toward the silent figure on the bed that didn’t move when he called her name. His gut clenched. Whispering her name, terrified at what he might see, he yanked the covers off the bed. Seeing the pillows and blankets cunningly arranged in a human like form, he struggled to breathe. The blood rushing through his ears forced him to take a breath. In the following instant, that lasted a lifetime, his rational brain told him that no marauder would leave a pretend woman on the bed. The breeze from the open balcony door confirmed the unthinkable truth. Somehow, for some unfathomable reason, Ana was gone. Left under her own power. Filled with an almost incapacitating fear, Gabe rushed from the room his men charging behind him.
Dashing past the library where Gunner and Eagle and a couple of his men were enjoying their whisky and cigars, Gunnar and Eagle leapt to their feet at his one word. “Ana.”
They ate up the distance between the house and the barn in a matter of seconds. A glance at the empty stall where Ana’s roan always stood, confirmed the awful truth. Racing from the silent barn and now with seven or eight of his men pounding behind, Gabe broke through the door to Clem’s log house nestled next to the barn. Yanking the sleeping man from his bed, he shoved him against the wall.
His words were threatening growl.
“Where is she?”
In an instant, Clem went from a soundly sleeping man to one shaking with terror.
He whispered, “Ana?” Then coming full awake, his eyes widened with horror. “They took Ana? She’s gone?”
Even in Gabe’s fury, he saw Clem was as shocked as he was. Tossing him onto a chair, he spit out. “Tell me, tell me everything you know. When did you see her last? “
Clem was shaking, his words barely coherent. Stammering, he visibly tried to gather his wits. “Jesus, McKenna. I haven’t seen her all day. She…She’s been in the house. Didn’t so much as come see Spirit… her roan.” He gave a disconsolate sob and buried his head in his hands, whispering over and over, “No, no, please God, no.”
Gabe turned to Gunnar who was at the door before he finished speaking. “Drag every goddamn hand on this ranch out of bed and have them here now!”
“Fuck!” Gunnar almost bowled over the tiny man quivering in the doorway.
“Wait, please, sir, wait. I…I saw her.” Quitin’s soft words shattered the room.
The men parted as Quitin stumbled forward, stopping in front of Gabe. He looked up at him his eyes impeaching him to understand. “ She…the young miss, she…”
Gabe cut him off. “Where is she?’
Quitin strangled on his words then whispered, “She threatened…she said she would fire me, send me away…
Clem rose out of his chair his face black with rage. He grabbed the little man and threw him against the wall his hands around his throat. “Goddamn you, you worthless piece of human shit. Tell us where she is or so help me… “
Gabe held up his hand. Gunnar nodded and pulled the enraged man off. “Easy, Clem. He’s the only resource we have.”
Eagle nodded in agreement and picked up the cowering man bodily and plunked him in a chair in front of Gabe.
Gabe’s voice was threatening, more so because it was barely audible. “Tell me, Quitin. Tell me everything.”
Between sobs, Quitin managed to speak. “She…Miss Ana…she said she had to go to help her father. When I told her she couldn’t, she say I must. Said she would send me back to China if I told anyone. Me and my wife. Jing…Jing ... My Jing she take care of Miss Ana since she was a tiny baby.” His frail body shook with sobs. “It..it would kill Jing if she…”
Gabe clapped a firm hand on his shoulder. “Where is she, Quitin? Where did she go?”
Quitin gazed up at him his face contorted with fear and grief. “Where she always goes, late at night. To…Mr. Shorty’s…”
“Shorty’s? “ Gabe’s sputtered, staring at the terrified man in disbelief. Then his anger boiled over blotting out his fear.
He roared, “Jesus God! Shorty’s? What the hell? Why?”
Quitin lifted his tear streaked face and whispered, “To…play poker.”
~~
Chapter 28
Shorty unwound his enormous frame from his stool behind the bar, his huge face lighting up with surprised delight.
“Well, fuck me. If this isn’t my lucky night or what? Hell, Angel, wish I’d known you were coming. Sure hope you’re comin to play. We got regulars here, but they’re about as good as we got around here. Christ with you and the Queen bee…
Gabe raised his hand cutting him off. “Where is she?’
Shorty frowned as if seeing Gabe’s expression and those of the men behind him for the first time.
“Uh, …Where we always hold our private games. What’s up, Angel? Damn, man, you know you are welcome. Hell, Angel. They’re bout the best competition you’re gonna see in these parts, hell in any parts. But Goddamn, Angel, I wish I’d known you were coming. I would a set up an audience…
Gabe leaned over the bar his face next to Shorty’s, his words individual bullets from a gun at close range. “Where. Is. She?’
Shorty reared back in surprise. “Damn, Angel. I’m sorry. I...I…they’re upstairs. Round the corner to the…
He was still directing them when Gabe, Gunnar and Eagle reached the top of the stairs. Shorty turned to the other men waiting at the bottom. “What the fuck?”
No one answered.
~~~
At the sound of the door opening, Ana glanced up from her cards and nearly dropped them. Her heart jumped in her chest and she fought to breathe. In the short time she had known Gabe, she had seen a dozen expressions on his handsome face. Ranging from arrogance to open lust. But she had never seen pure, unadulterated rage. Rage that was all the more frightening accompanied by the slight smile twisting his lips. The smile contradicted the stone cold fury burning in his eyes. She glanced at Gunnar and then Eagle hoping for some respite, but their expressions were shuttered, a chilling backdrop to that of their partner’s.
Gabe glanced around the room then allowed his gaze to rest on her startled face. If he wasn’t so angry he might have laughed at the incongruous sight. Ana sat at the table surrounded by seven rough looking men. An open bottle of whisky was between her and the man to her left, a half filled glass at her elbow. In one hand she held her cards, in the other, an ornate cigarette holder with a lit cigarette now trembled in her shaking hands. She was dressed the way she had been when he first saw her crouched in the stable. But now her face wasn’t dirty and her boyish shirt was open at the neck displaying a teasing glimpse of pale soft flesh. Her silken hair had sprung loose from its casual braid and was hanging in a shiny curtain down her back. In front of her was a stack of chips easily four times as large as the next largest pile.
The room erupted in a roar of voices. All the men at the table shouted out some kind of a greeting.
“Damn, if it isn’t Angel,” a man with hair as red as his ruddy cheeks hollered out.
“Hell, I never thought I’d see the day,” his companion responded. He added with a disbelieving chuckle. “Angel and the Queen bee in one room, at our table? You gotta fuckin’ be kidding.”
Tom Peters, a man Angel had met at a night long game at Dominic’s put down his cigar and grinned at Gabe. “I dunno, Angel. You might just have met your competition. Our little Queen Bee here is the best kept secret in the county.” He turned to the rest of the men at the table and crowed, “I’m tellin you, this is gonna be a night of poker like you‘ve never seen.”
Without seeming to take a single step Gabe was behind her. In a single sweep of his arms he lifted her from her chair and stood her between Gunnar and Eagle. Her gasp was heard around the table.
In a pleasant vo
ice, he spoke to the men all staring at him and then at Ana.
“Sorry, gentlemen. I won’t be able to join you tonight although I am sure it would be a profitable evening. And I regret that Miss Li will be unable to stay.
Ignoring their surprised expressions, Gabe proceeded to divide up Ana’s huge stack of chips and began parceling them out to the startled men around the table.
“What…what are you doing, Gabe?” Ana’s voice was a mere squeak.
Without looking back at her, Gabe put the last two piles in front of the men next to him and replied in a silky voice. “Really, Ana. I thought you knew poker etiquette. A man doesn’t leave a competitive game without warning and expect to take his winnings.”
He turned to her and grasped her arm, his hand an iron vice on her tender flesh.
“Gunnar, will you please bring Ana’s cigarette holder.
“Any other little props, Ana, that we should be aware of? Special cards? A money bag? An extra bottle of whisky?” he asked giving her a scathing glance.
Ana felt the heat flood her cheeks as her anger rose. How dare he humiliate her like this? In front of these men? It had taken her two years to earn their respect and now Gabe, arrogant bully that he was yanked it away. Her anger stiffened her spine. She tried to twist away.
“Let go of me, Gabe.”
“Be quiet, Ana.”
His tightening grip on her arm and the cold rage in his eyes buried her retort in her throat. A wave of fear crashed over her. If he didn’t have such a tight grip on her, she would have fallen, her shaking legs no longer capable of holding her upright.
He partially dragged and carried her across the room. At the doorway he turned to the shocked men at the table.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Enjoy the rest of your game.”
He scooped Ana up in his arms and carried her down the stairs nodding to a startled Shorty who shook his head in wonder “Well, I’ll be damned. Now I think I have seen everything.”.