Arizona Gold

by Maggie James

The noise outside was louder, and he wondered about so much laughter, but figured everyone was in a jovial mood, which was good. The trek south would be hard, because he intended to penetrate deep into Mexico, so let them enjoy themselves while they could.

  “My son.”

  He looked up sharply at the sound of his mother’s voice, at the same instant she tore back the opening to rush into the tent.

  “You must come at once.”

  He cursed inwardly and tossed the papers aside with an exasperated sigh. “What is it?”

  “It is Coyotay—”

  “I know, I know. He’s back from hunting, but I don’t care. I have work to do, and—”

  “But—”

  “But no one understands that I don’t want to be disturbed.”

  Pale Sky lost patience and began to wave her arms frantically. “You must listen, my son, and you must come at once. Coyotay has brought a white captive.”

  Ryder bolted up, tossing the cheroot to the ground and stomping on it. “The last thing we need is a captive. The soldiers will be swarming all over these mountains again. Has he lost his mind?”

  “Worse,” she said coldly. “He has brought a woman.”

  Ryder stared at her in disbelief.

  Pale Sky hesitated as though gathering her wits to concede that it could really be true, then solemnly informed him, “Coyotay’s captive is the woman we knew as the boy slave, Billy Mingo.”

  Ryder was out of the tent in a flash, his mother right behind him.

  He could not see Kitty for the crowd gathered around her. A few of the warriors were still on horseback, watching in amusement.

  Ryder wasted no time pushing his way through, and everyone got out of his way as soon as they saw him and heard his angry curses.

  Kitty lay on her back where Coyotay had dropped her, and she was staring about in terror.

  He reached to take her hand and pull her to her feet. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Oh, thank God, it’s you,” she cried, recognizing him.

  The Indians had become silent and stood watching, listening, though most could not understand what was being said.

  Despite her predicament and the fact that her throat still ached from how Coyotay had almost crushed it with his bare hands before someone had mercifully torn him away from her, Kitty managed a nervous smile. “I told you I could find the camp.”

  Ryder fought to keep from laughing. “Looks like you’ve found yourself a captive again instead.”

  She began to run her hands up and down her arms as she glanced about at the hostile eyes surrounding her. “Actually, I ran into some of your pals before I got to the camp.”

  “It was inevitable that you would. Did you really think you could just ride right in?”

  “I was waving a white flag,” she said, annoyed that it had been ignored.

  “That doesn’t always work. But you still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

  “I came—”

  Coyotay suddenly interrupted. “She came because she remembered the way to us, which means she cannot be allowed to leave. This time she must die.”

  He had spoken her language, so his threat was quite clear to Kitty, who instantly beseeched Ryder, “Tell him he and the others have nothing to fear from me.”

  “I will later. Right now you and I need to talk in private.”

  He took her arm and began to steer her away from the crowd, but just then Kitty recognized Pale Sky and cried, “Pale Sky, I’m happy to see you. I’ve thought of you so often, and…” She fell silent as Pale Sky turned her back and walked away.

  Ryder began pulling her along again.

  Kitty turned her head to stare after Pale Sky. “Why is she angry with me?”

  “She knows everyone blames her for letting you go in the first place, and now they’ll be upset all over again because you were able to find your way back.”

  “But I never meant—”

  “Well, what do you mean?” They had reached his tent, and he pushed her inside. Grasping her shoulders, he spun her around. “I’m asking you again—what the hell are you doing here? Don’t you know you could have been killed?”

  “I had to see you…had to tell you that you can’t go into Tombstone as Ryder McCloud anymore.”

  Fury was a spider, creeping over his face. “So you did run to the law and tell them how I’d been passing for white.”

  “No. You have to let me explain. It was Opal. Someone broke into my room that last day you and I were out riding, and she thought it was you—Whitebear. She was terrified and started talking, telling everyone how you and I had figured out it was Dan McCloud’s half-breed son who broke in on her in the first place. She even talked to some soldiers who remembered a scout by the name of McCloud, and—”

  “Damn it to hell.” He released her to curl his hands into fists and slam them together. “You told me the two of you had agreed not to talk about your suspicions.”

  “We did. But like I said, she thought you were the one who tore up my room, because you still want the map, and she says if I don’t give it to you, you’ll kill both of us. She just got so upset she started talking to anyone who would listen.”

  “So who did search your room?”

  “I don’t know. A random robber, I suppose.”

  Ryder steepled his fingers as he stood with legs wide apart, considering everything.

  Kitty chided herself for feeling a rush as her eyes flicked over his bare chest and well-formed buttocks in the tight breechclout. Memories assaulted her, of how he had held her and kissed her, and she shook them away, forcing herself back to the issue at hand. “I wanted to find you to let you know it isn’t safe for you back there, and, also”—she sucked in her breath and held it as she offered a quick prayer that she was not making a mistake—“to tell you I’ve changed my mind. I want us to work together, and I’ll share fifty-fifty whatever we find.”

  A slow grin spread across his face. “That’s real generous of you.”

  She did not like the insolence in his voice. “But we need to get a few things settled first. I have a few conditions I want you to agree to.”

  “Before you have your say, I want to know what made you change your mind.”

  “Finding out I really have no choice,” she said with candor. “I figure I have nothing to lose.”

  “All right. Let’s hear your conditions.”

  “I have two. First, you have to let me copy your father’s half of the map so you can’t run off with it and mine, too.”

  “Fair enough. What’s your second condition?”

  Kitty glanced away, unable to look at him as she said, “It has to be business. All business,” she emphasized.

  He bit back a smile, knowing what she meant but not about to let her off so easily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She looked at him then, forcing herself to meet his mocking gaze. “I’m talking about what happened in the cave. It was a mistake. It cannot happen again.”

  He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “I didn’t force you then, so I doubt I’d try to force you next time, either.”

  Kitty stiffened, furious with herself over how, despite his arrogance, she was moved by the nearness of him.

  “There will not,” she said tightly, harshly, “be a next time.”

  “As you wish…,” he whispered, still smiling. “As you wish.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m so sorry I couldn’t let you know the truth,” Kitty said to Pale Sky with all sincerity.

  They were seated in Pale Sky’s wickiup. It had taken much persuasion on Ryder’s part to arrange the meeting, but he had finally succeeded.

  “Please believe me,” Kitty went on, fighting the impulse to reach out and take Pale Sky’s hands in hers but knowing she would not allow it. “I felt I’d be safer pretending to be a boy on the way out here, and after I was taken captive I knew it was more important than ever that I keep up the ruse.”<
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  Pale Sky continued to sit in rigid silence.

  “I know you probably wouldn’t have let me go if I had told you my secret, and you’ve been embarrassed over having helped me, but you probably saved my life.”

  Pale Sky coldly said, “No. I would not have let you go. And, yes, I know I saved your life. Had Coyotay known it was a woman who had wounded him nothing could have stopped him from killing you. Not even my son.”

  “I know that, and I’m truly grateful and couldn’t leave here without telling you so.”

  Pale Sky continued to regard her with cool suspicion. “My son tells me the two of you have made an agreement to look for my husband’s gold.”

  “Your husband’s and my uncle’s,” Kitty gently amended.

  Pale Sky softened. “Then I am grateful to you, for if he finds it, my people will not go hungry in our new home. But I think it is wise for the two of you to leave right away. Do not stay here. It is not safe.”

  Kitty was baffled. “But Ryder—I mean Whitebear, as you call him—said he would tell the others of our agreement so they would understand and not hurt me. He wanted us to wait till morning to leave, so I could eat and rest.

  “He said I could sleep outside your wickiup again,” she added with a little smile.

  “You would still be in danger. It is best you go. I will make food for you to eat on the way.” She got up and began moving about her stove.

  “But Whitebear said—”

  Pale Sky looked at her with mischief in her eyes. “My son cannot control some things…like the jealousy of one who loves him.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Do you not remember the nights you spent outside his tent? Do you not remember how the girl, Adeeta, slipped inside to lie with him?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “She is jealous of you.”

  Kitty argued, “But she has no reason to be.”

  “Perhaps she does not think so.”

  “Well, she is wrong.” Kitty knew she had been nothing more than a passing moment of pleasure to Ryder. And she was trying hard to convince herself that all she felt for him was sentimentality, because he was the first man she had ever been with.

  “Perhaps.”

  Kitty stared at Pale Sky. Was it her imagination or was she being flippant? Surely she did not think there was anything between her and Ryder, but Kitty was not about to ask. “I suppose it’s best we do go ahead and leave then. I don’t need more trouble.”

  “And you might have it if you stay the night. I saw the look on Adeeta’s face when you were walking with my son a short while ago, and her eyes had the look of a snake about to strike. She would do you harm if given the chance. So go. And hurry with your quest, for we must be leaving this camp before many moons pass.”

  Kitty stood and started to leave, then hesitated before saying, “I want you to know that I’ve done what you asked me to. Whenever I have a chance, I spread your message.”

  Pale Sky nodded, but sadly. “And it does no good, does it, my child? It never does. They do not listen.”

  “But I’ll keep on trying. You have to know that.” Kitty yielded to impulse and rushed to throw her arms around her. “I’ll never forget you or your people, Pale Sky.”

  “Go, my child.” She pulled away, embarrassed by the display of affection. “And help my son find that which belongs to both of you.”

  Ryder placed his saddle on the ground and unrolled a blanket. After leaving the camp late in the day, they had ridden till well into dark, for he knew the way. Then he had said they should bed down for the night and get an early morning start in order to arrive in Tombstone by mid-afternoon.

  Kitty had spoken only when necessary as they rode. He had made little attempt at conversation himself. She was right. It was best that everything be strictly business between them. They had enjoyed each other once. That was enough. Anything else could complicate their work…as well as the future. And she played no part in his future, despite the memory of how good it had felt to make love to her.

  She was just a woman, he told himself over and over. One of many he’d had, and one of many he would enjoy in the years ahead, for he had no plans to marry any time soon.

  Adeeta had come to him as he was saddling his horse and making ready to leave. She was angry that he was leaving with a woman. He had told her she had no reason to be, nor was it her right, that he had never promised her anything. She had stalked away mad. He did not care. When the time came for him to marry, it would be to one of his own kind, but he would do the choosing, regardless of custom.

  “There’s no need for a fire,” he said as he settled down with the tortillas and dried deer meat his mother had packed for them. “It’s a warm night, and we have food. I don’t think the coyotes will bother us, either.”

  He held the bag out to her and was surprised when she helped herself. “I didn’t think you liked Indian food.”

  “I like your mother’s tortillas.”

  “She is a good cook,” he acknowledged, pleased, then said, “I want you to know I’m glad you had that talk with her. She feels better knowing you didn’t just use her to escape. Your changing your mind and agreeing to work with me won her over.”

  Kitty made her own bed as far away from Ryder as she could get without leaving the surrounding shelter of rocks.

  Ryder could barely make her out in the darkness. She was determined to be as impersonal as possible, but there was something he had to settle and then she could ignore him all she wanted.

  “Where is your half of the map, Kitty?”

  He sensed her immediate tension as she responded, “In a safe place.”

  “I’ll need it as soon as we get to Tombstone.”

  She was bending over and scooping small stones out of the way so she would not roll on them in the night, but at once straightened and turned to crisply remind him, “That was one of my conditions, remember? I get to copy your half before you see mine.”

  “Sorry, but it can’t be that way.”

  “What are you talking about?” She walked over to him to stand with hands on her hips. “You agreed.”

  “I’ve decided otherwise.”

  “That isn’t fair.”

  “Maybe not, but that’s how it is, Kitty. I have to be sure you’ve got what I need before I go to the trouble of trying to locate my father’s part.”

  She gasped. “You said you have it.”

  “I told you- I have a good idea.”

  “An idea? That’s all? I went to all the trouble to find you, even risking my life, for God’s sake, because I could have been killed by Coyotay and his bunch, and all you have is a good idea where it is? Thanks a lot, Ryder.” She nodded her head vigorously and threw up her hands. “Thanks a whole hell of a lot. I’ve just wasted my time, that’s all.”

  “Maybe not. Give me your half, and we’ll see.”

  “I will not.”

  “Then I might as well go back to camp in the morning. You can head on back to Tombstone…or wherever you decide to go.”

  He rolled over on his side.

  Kitty squinted to see the clear outline of his buttocks and thought about giving him a good, swift kick.

  “You lied to me,” she said, walking back to throw herself on her blanket in a despondent heap. “You lied all along. You don’t know where your father’s map is, and you want mine because you think you can find the strike with just it, because you know this country.”

  He said nothing and let her rage on, and, in a while he fell asleep despite her continued mumbling.

  He awoke the next morning to find her standing over him again, red eyed and looking like she’d not slept a wink.

  “I’ll do it,” she said, tight lipped and angry. “I’ll just copy it before I show it to you and hope I can use it to find you if you run out on me.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to do that.” He yawned and thought how nice it would be if she were to take off every stitch of clothes she was wearing and st
retch out beside him. They would make warm, sweet love, then splash around in the little watering hole beyond the rocks and then do it all over again. He wanted to wear himself out with her…take her to climax so many times she lost count, and—

  “Ryder McCloud, I’ve reached the point where I don’t believe a damn thing you say, and I wouldn’t trust you any further than I could throw you, you arrogant—”

  He caught her ankle and tripped her to the ground, then fell on top of her to taunt, grinning, “This is where I want to throw you, little one—right beneath me.”

  With a furious cry, she slapped her palms against his chest and gave him a mighty push that he could have resisted but did not, as he allowed her to shove him to the side.

  “You don’t intend to keep any of our bargain, do you?” she cried, leaping to her feet and dusting her bottom. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’d better head on back to your camp, and we’ll call the whole thing off.”

  “Relax. I was teasing.” He got up and reached for his blanket and began to roll it.

  “About all of it?” she prodded hopefully. “About wanting my map, too, before looking for your father’s part?”

  “No,” he said solemnly. “I have to see it, Kitty, to make sure it’s what I need before I do something I really don’t want to do.”

  Her curiosity was piqued. “Why all the mystery? Why can’t you tell me what you mean?”

  “If you knew, you’d understand. You’ll have to trust me.”

  “That,” she said sharply, tartly, “I will never do.”

  Instead of riding straight into town, Ryder led the way to the hideaway he had used when switching between identities. “I’ll wait here,” he said. “It might not be safe for me to ride in after Opal has spread the word about Dan McCloud’s having a half-breed son. That’s what I get, I suppose, for using his name. I should have taken another, but I never thought it would be necessary.”

  Kitty could not help voicing her compassion. “It must have been terrible for you having torn loyalties between two races.”

  “Not really,” he said matter-of-factly. “I feel kinship with both, but I always knew my whole heart belonged to the Apache.

  “But enough of that,” he said to cut off the subject. “Go get your map and copy it or whatever you want to do with it and then meet me here. If you can make it before dark, fine, otherwise do it first thing in the morning. But don’t let anyone see you head this way. If you think you’re being followed, don’t come. I’ll find you somehow.”