"Only that I know Jason Savage by sight—and whoever this fellow is, he sure as hell ain't Jason Savage."
"What?" Savanna demanded incredulously. "But he has to be!" she protested wildly. "He was at Terre du Coeur and he admitted that he was Jason Savage. Micajah kidnapped him and was going to torture him—if he isn't Jason Savage, why wouldn't he say so?"
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"
Savanna turned accusing eyes upon Adam. "Well?" she demanded.
Adam shrugged his broad shoulders, having decided that silence might be his best defense.
Indecision clouded Savanna's features, and shaking Bodene's shoulder again, she asked uneasily, "Bodene, are you certain he's not Jason Savage?"
Bodene tossed the flaming branch back into the fire. "Yep. I'm sure. Jason Savage is a well-known figure around New Orleans. I've had him pointed out to me several times—he's even come to my place and done a little gambling. Had the devil's own luck that night, too, I might add."
Her confusion evident, Savanna said in a dazed tone, "But if he isn't Jason Savage, then who is he? And why would he put his life in danger by pretending to be Jason Savage?"
Bodene looked thoughtful, his gaze never leaving Adam's carefully blank face. Rubbing his chin, Bodene finally said slowly, "I expect that he knew Micajah would slit his throat once the truth came out, and as for the other... maybe he was trying to throw Micajah off the scent of the real Jason Savage."
"Is that true?" Savanna asked Adam, her eyes locked painfully on his.
Adam remained silent, his thoughts racing. If this fellow Bodene knew Jason, Adam was grimly aware that he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of maintaining even a semblance of doubt about his identity. Consideringly, his gaze went over Bodene. He could see no overt resemblance between Bodene and Savanna, and yet there was something about the man that made Adam suspicious that he was the prisoner of Savanna's relative... a relative who didn't take kindly to Savanna's kidnapping... a relative who might take a very dim view of Adam's actions with Savanna—particularly those that had taken place by that forest pond. Studying the hard jaw and unwavering gaze of the powerful young man in front of him, Adam concluded that he had stood a better chance of survival with Micajah than he did with this giant of a man.
Bodene's eyes had never left Adam's face as the moments spun by, and Bodene finally asked silkily, "Going to answer the lady's question?"
"He'd better!" Savanna said fiercely. "Is what Bodene said the truth? Tell me, damn you!"
Adam sighed. Well, he'd run this rig for as long as he could, and there was nothing more to be gained by keeping his mouth shut. Curtly he admitted, "It's true. I'm not Jason Savage."
Savanna stared at him, stunned. The knowledge that Micajah had not kidnapped Jason Savage, that it had not been Jason Savage who had made love to her and had so tormented her thoughts and dreams, devastated her. She was appalled, relieved, frightened and angry all at the same time. Who was this man, this stranger who had turned her life upside down? She almost feared the answer. At least believing him to be Jason Savage had meant that she'd known what she was up against, but to have that knowledge torn from her left her feeling vulnerable and angry.
Her jaw set, her aquamarine eyes hard, she demanded, "Is your name even Adam?"
"Oh, yes," Adam answered. "My name really is Adam. Adam St. Clair, to be exact. Jason is married to my half sister, Catherine, and I was staying at their house while they were in New Orleans when Micajah so, ah, eloquently convinced me to join your little band."
Bodene smiled with satisfaction. "Thought that was who you were! Saw you once, but I wasn't sure that it was really you under that beard. Now then, want to tell me, since you obviously got free of Micajah, why you were heading west with Savanna?"
Adam tiredly rested his head back against the tree, his eyes closed. Resignedly, he muttered, "I didn't want to lead Micajah back to New Orleans and Jason. It was the only way I could think of to keep Jason safe."
Bodene nodded, understanding perfectly Adam's motive. "But why take my cousin with you? Why not leave her with Micajah?"
Adam moved restlessly. Even if he were willing to explain his reasons, he wouldn't have been able to—hell, he didn't even know why he had taken her with him. His eyes opened and he asked suddenly, "Would you have left her with Micajah?"
"She's my cousin," Bodene answered calmly, "I'd be honor-bound to take her with me." He cast Savanna a half teasing, half exasperated look. "Aggravating little wretch that she is." He glanced back at Adam. "But that doesn't explain your reasons."
Adam smiled without mirth. "Let's just say that I, too, found her equally aggravating and decided that she deserved to be taught a much-needed lesson."
Bodene nodded, apparently understanding and agreeing with Adam's explanation.
Feeling much like a fractious child whom they were discussing, Savanna roughly punched Bodene's shoulder and muttered, "It doesn't matter why he did it—the point is that he's a lying bastard who doesn't deserve the least bit of kindness from us."
"Oh, that so?" Bodene replied. "Knowing you feel this way makes me wonder why you wanted to bring him with us. If I remember correctly, I was all for leaving him back there near the Spanish outpost, but you wouldn't have it. Said you were afraid something might happen to him."
Adam flashed her a quizzical look and Savanna's cheeks flamed. "It doesn't matter!" she said through clenched teeth. "Just don't get any ideas that he's some poor, abused, innocent bystander. He's not!"
"Maybe so," Bodene said as he rose to his great height. "But it seems to me that you have quite a few questions to answer yourself, brat. Now sit down and eat your beans, and when we're through eating, you can tell me exactly what's been going on since you disappeared."
Resentfully, Savanna did as Bodene had commanded, but she wasn't happy about the change in circumstance. She wasn't certain how it had come about, but somehow it seemed that she was being held responsible for what had happened. Some of her resentment had faded by the time her stomach was full and she was sipping her second tin mug of coffee. Despite knowing his true identity and, Savanna suspected, having a sneaking bit of sympathy for him, Bodene had not released Adam from his bonds. He'd only loosened them enough for Adam to eat and drink and then had carefully retied them. The fire was lower now, and watching as Bodene cleaned up—he'd waved away her offers to help—Savanna knew that any minute her big cousin was going to demand a thorough and detailed explanation of how she'd come to be in the situation in which he had found her.
Moodily she stared at the rich darkness of her coffee. The bare facts of her abduction, first by Micajah and then by Adam, were simple enough to relate; less easy to explain was how or why she had allowed herself to be caught up in Micajah's scheme to go after the Aztec gold. As for Adam St. Clair... She shot him a dark look from beneath her lashes. There were some things that were none of Bodene's business. And how she felt about Adam and what had transpired between them fell squarely in that category.
Consequently, when Bodene pressed her a few minutes later for an explanation, she gave him a pared-down version, telling him just the bare bones of what had happened to her. All the while she spoke to her cousin, she was uncomfortably aware that Adam was listening to every word. She wondered uneasily what he would make of all the things that she left out of her narrative, such as the animosity that existed between them and the torrid mating that had taken place near that tear-shaped pond deep in the forest.
When she had finished, there was a long silence, and after poking at the dying fire, Bodene glanced from her to Adam. "Seems to me," he said slowly, "that Mr. St. Clair here is more sinned against than sinner."
Savanna's face tightened. "How can you say that! He kidnapped me and treated me wickedly."
"But only after you and Micajah had kidnapped him first and no doubt treated him equally wickedly," Bodene pointed out. "Seems to me you are as much to blame for what happened as he is."
Adam's apprec
iative grin did nothing to cool her temper, and, eyes flashing, she snapped, "I might have guessed you'd take his side. Next, I suppose you're going to congratulate him and turn him loose."
"No, I'm not going to turn him loose... yet," Bodene answered calmly. He glanced over to Adam. "I don't know where you were heading with Savanna, and until I'm certain that you won't try to get the drop on me and take off with her again, I'm afraid you'll have to suffer being tied. But you have my word that I'll not treat you unkindly, and as soon as you prove to me that you are no danger to us, I'll set you free. In the meantime, we're all heading back to New Orleans!"
Adam nodded. "Seems fair enough. I hate to inject an unpleasant note into these proceedings, but what about Micajah?"
Bodene shrugged. "From the tracks I found at the campsite where you made your escape, I'd say that Micajah and Jeremy headed to Nacogdoches. Where they are now is anybody's guess!"
"How did you find us?" Adam asked. "I thought I'd covered our tracks fairly well."
"You did a damn good job, almost too damn good," Bodene said acidly. "There were far too many days when I was certain I'd lost your trail entirely. From the time your tracks split from Micajah's, I'd never been positive that I made the right choice. Faced with the split in the trail and not knowing who was who, I just flipped a coin—couldn't see anything else to do. The toss came out that I ignore the tracks leading in the direction of Nacogdoches and follow the one that disappeared into the forest. Damn lucky toss!" Bodene smiled. "Lost you several times, and most of the time I feared I was chasing the wrong people—gave me several nasty days while I wondered if I should have followed that other trail. Even when I caught sight of you a couple of days ago, I still wasn't certain I'd tracked the right quarry. Wasn't until late yesterday, when one of Savanna's braids fell out from under her hat and I glimpsed that red hair, that I knew I'd had the devil's own luck."
There wasn't much conversation after that, and it was only when they were preparing to retire for the night that Bodene brought up something that had been troubling him. Looking at Adam, he asked, "How likely is it that those Spaniards will come after us?"
Adam shrugged. "No telling. Before I left I turned loose all their animals in the hopes that by the time they gathered them up in the morning and discovered that four of them were missing, our trail would be too cold and too obliterated by the wanderings of their own horses for them to give chase. I think we're fairly safe."
Bodene grunted and, after throwing a blanket over Adam, settled down with his own blanket, resting his head on his saddle. He had chosen to sleep at the edge of the camp, near Adam, while Savanna had bedded down close to the coals of the dimming fire. In a matter of seconds, all was quiet as sleep claimed them.
Precisely what woke Savanna, she never knew. She was only aware that she had awakened from a deep sleep, with her heart pounding wildly and all her senses screaming that something dangerous had found them. She lay frozen on the ground, straining to hear the first hint of what had woken her so violently, but all seemed to be quiet. The sky was just beginning to bloom with brilliant streaks of gold and rose, and she knew that dawn was seconds away. She tried to tell herself that she had awakened naturally, but that didn't explain the frantic beat of her heart or the strong sensation that something was wrong. Hardly daring to breathe, she inched her fingers nearer the long black rifle that lay on the ground beside her, and she felt a thrill of exhilaration when her hand closed comfortingly around it.
A sound, a soft groan, wafted across the campsite from Bodene's direction, and not giving herself time to think, in one easy movement she swung up and around, the rifle primed and ready in her hands. To say which of the five people caught in the tense tableau that dawn was the most surprised was impossible to determine. Certainly Savanna was surprised to see a huge Indian with thick black braids cutting through Adam's bonds, while an emerald-eyed, powerfully built man twisted Bodene's arm behind his back; that they were equally surprised to be confronted by a flame-haired, rifle-toting Amazon was apparent; everyone froze, no one moving a muscle.
The emerald-eyed man recovered first, and holding a knife blade to Bodene's throat, he said,"Drop it, lady! Drop it or he dies."
Savanna hesitated less than a second and then pointed the rifle at Adam's breast as he stood tby the tall Indian. "I think not," she said coldly. "If you kill him, then Adam dies."
An unwilling smile of admiration curved Adam's mouth. "She's serious. I think we have a stalemate—you'd better let her cousin, Bodene, go, because there is nothing that Savanna would like better than to put a bullet through me."
The green-eyed man frowned, but his hold on Bodene lessened. Dryly he asked, "Ah, has your fabled charm deserted you? I warned you that one day it would." Glancing over at Savanna, Bodene's captor ran an assessing look up and down her, those jewel-toned eyes missing nothing. "Well, madame," he said at last, "it seems that we must trust each other, you and I. If I turn your cousin loose, do I have your word that you will not fire on us?"
Savanna shook her head. "Release Bodene first."
Adam and the green-eyed man exchanged glances, Adam's dark head nodding affirmatively. The other man shrugged and, after releasing Bodene, stepped back. The Indian had remained silent, his arms folded across his naked chest, his black, knowing eyes missing nothing, but Savanna watched him uneasily as Bodene walked over to her, rubbing his arm.
Moving past her, Bodene kicked the smoldering coals into the fire and then put his hand on the barrel of Savanna's rifle and said, "It's all right, Savanna. Put the rifle away. I know this man and I suspect that he has been doing exactly the same thing that I have and for the same reason—to find and free a kidnapped relative."
Savanna's eyes widened, comprehension dawning, comprehension deepening when Adam smiled, albeit cynically, and, approaching with the green-eyed man and the Indian on either side of him, said mockingly, "Yes, indeed, you have been quite determined to meet him—allow me to introduce you to Jason Savage and his blood brother, Blood Drinker."
Chapter 12
Wouldn't you just know, Savanna thought bitterly as she stared into the emerald depths of Jason Savage's eyes, that Micajah would snatch the wrong man.
Her jaw firmed. She could not undo the past, she could only go forward from this moment. Her head held at a haughty angle, she said coolly to Jason, "I won't say that I'm pleased to meet you... or that I have enjoyed my encounter with your brother-in-law." Glancing at Adam, she added icily, "I suppose that I must apologize for mistaking you for Jason Savage. However, I'm sure you will admit that you did everything you could to make us believe that you were Jason Savage. You have no one to blame but yourself for the continuation of our error. Her bitterness seeping through, with angry, accusing eyes she stared at Adam's dark features as she said, "I think you and I are even."
Adam's face was expressionless as he stared back at her, but he acknowledged her statement with an almost imperceptible nod of his head.
The exchange was watched with interest by the other three, and it was only when it became apparent that no more fascinating revelations were forthcoming that Jason stepped forward and, with a quizzical gleam in his green eyes, asked gently, "Since you have the advantage over me, perhaps you would like to introduce yourself?"
Savanna smiled tightly. "It will be my pleasure, but I doubt the name Savanna O'Rourke means anything to you. I do think the name Bias Davalos is well known to you—he was my father."
Jason's face froze, the expression in his eyes hard to define. "I see," he said slowly, his gaze roaming over her set features as he searched in vain for any resemblance to his most hated and deadly enemy. "I'm afraid you don't have the look of your father."
Savanna's lip lifted in a sneer. "Your brother-in-law said the same thing, but it still doesn't change the fact. Bias Davalos was my father."
Jason and Blood Drinker exchanged a look. "Bias never made mention of a wife or a child," Jason finally said.
A bitter smile crossed
Savanna's expressive face. "That's because he didn't have a wife—he never married my mother."
Bodene broke into the tense atmosphere, saying calmly, "I believe that this story is going to take a while, and I don't know about anyone else, but I'd sure like to put something into my belly and have some coffee—it's been one hell of a morning."
Adam smiled and Jason nodded absently, his eyes never leaving Savanna's face. Blood Drinker appeared indifferent to anything but the tall young woman with the flame-colored hair, and as Bodene and Adam began to busy themselves about a fire, Blood Drinker said abruptly, "Your father was a bad man—I killed him and would do so again. He was evil and did evil things to my blood brother, Jason, but I see no sign of his wicked nature or his many weaknesses in your face. There is little of him to be seen in you, and despite the evidence, I see none of the consuming greed which led to his death by my hand."
Savanna's features had whitened with every word Blood Drinker spoke. Blind, stubborn loyalty to Davalos had hot words surging to her lips, but caution made her hold her tongue. Her fists clenched at her side, she muttered, "No matter what you say—there is no excuse for such a cruel act."
Blood Drinker stared at her for a long, unnerving moment. "My act was no crueler than what he inflicted upon my blood brother and his wife," he said calmly. His black eyes boring into hers, he added, "Davalos deserved to die! And in the manner that I killed him."
No matter what sort of confused emotions Savanna might have held for her father, coupled with everything else that had happened to her over the past weeks, she needed someone to strike out at, and Blood Drinker's words were simply too much. With blazing aquamarine eyes, she charged toward him like an angry tornado, her intention to claw his eyes out obvious.
Adam, who had been watching the scene intently from the sidelines, intercepted Savanna's heedless charge, and catching her in his arms, he shook her slightly, saying bluntly, "Calm down! Before you go flying off in Davalos's defense, perhaps you ought to hear our side of the story."
Each Time We Love Page 18