Beyond Betrayal

by Christine Michels

  Casey nodded. "Yessir.” At a gesture from Telford, he pulled out a chair at the table for Delilah.

  A very tense game of poker ensued. Delilah watched Paul Telford like a hawk. She'd already decided that, if Telford cheated, she'd cheat too. Samson had been right. She, too, had her price, and she was going to gamble on not getting caught. She had to, because she could not afford to lose this game. If you had to cheat a cheat to play a fair game, was it cheating? She didn't know. All she knew was that she'd do what she had to do to save the life of the man who meant everything to her.

  Not knowing whether or not the deck of cards Telford produced had been previously stacked, Delilah had insisted on dealing the first hand. She had won, but not by much. Now, it was Telford's deal.

  "I'll take two cards," she said softly, discarding two that did not work well. Then, sliding the two new cards into her hand, she glanced at it before returning her gaze to the rancher. She had a good hand. A very good hand. Her luck was back.

  Telford, having completed the deal, now held his right hand on the table, rigidly flat, with his fingers tightly together. He'd palmed a card! Delilah was almost certain of it. She doubted that he'd use it this hand because he wouldn't be able to make the switch. But she'd have to watch him on the next hand.

  On the next deal, she dealt a couple of cards from the bottom of the deck. Nothing remarkable. Just enough help to keep the playing field level. And so, the game progressed. Hand for hand, it looked as though the win could go either way. And the tension grew.

  Telford began to look suspicious, and more than a little angry. Finally, he barked, "The bitch is cheating."

  "I been watchin' her, boss, an' I ain't seen nothin'," one of his men countered.

  "You couldn't see a goddamn wart on the end of your nose," Telford growled.

  Delilah leveled a stare at him. "I assure you, sir, that in all the time I have gambled, I have never once resorted to cheating.” Until tonight, she added silently, praying the Lord would forgive her dishonesty. "I am simply a very lucky person."

  Telford growled something beneath his breath. Moments later, when the game ended and he'd lost, he stared at Delilah with murder in his eyes. "There's no way you could have won tonight if you hadn't cheated," he said.

  "How can you possibly say that?" she asked.

  For a moment she thought he would come right out and admit that he'd been manipulating the cards to win, but instead his face suffused with rage and he looked at his men. "Take them outside and kill them," he demanded.

  The hands hesitated. Then one asked, "Both of them, sir?"

  "That's what I said, isn't it?"

  "But, boss, she won," Casey pointed out. "The deal was that you'd let them go."

  "She cheated!" Telford shouted.

  He shrugged. "Reckon we can't kill a woman for defendin' herself.” The insinuation was clear: Casey was admitting that his boss had cheated.

  The erosion of his authority on top of his loss of the poker game seemed to make Telford almost insane with the force of his rage. Pushing and shouting and swearing vilely at everyone in his path, he sent ornaments crashing to the floor as he ordered everyone out of his house.

  Grabbing Delilah, Samson herded her ahead of him as he looked at Casey. "Are we free to go?" he asked, forced to raise his voice to be heard over Telford's tirade.

  Outside on the front porch, Casey nodded. "I don't like you, Towers, but I don't kill men for fightin' fair. I thought it was you who done the back-shootin'.” His gaze flicked to Delilah. "And I don't kill women.” It was about as close to an apology as they'd ever get from a man like Casey.

  "I'll have to come back," he said to Casey. "You know that I have to finish it with him one way or the other."

  Casey nodded. "I know."

  With a nod, Samson began to lead Delilah toward the spot where they'd left Goliath—and Poopsy still imprisoned in the saddlebag. Suddenly Telford exploded from the house. Before anyone knew what he was about, he grabbed one of Casey's pistols. "You're not going to get away with this Towers," he shouted. "I've had enough of your interference in my life. You took everything from me. My wife. My son. It isn't fair.” He continued shouting insanely and began to wave the pistol around dangerously as he trailed after Samson and Delilah with an almost drunken gait.

  "What's he talking about?" Delilah asked. "Do you know his wife?"

  Samson shook his head and then shoved Delilah to the ground as Telford fired wildly. Damn! He needed a gun. How could he defend Delilah and their unborn child against a madman with a gun when he was unarmed? Samson looked toward Casey. Although the man looked uncomfortable with the way things were going, he didn't appear ready to pull his gun on the man who'd hired him.

  Another shot whined past Samson's ear. He thought he heard Delilah murmur something, but he wasn't certain.

  Desperately Samson sought some protection. The nearest hand was only about ten feet away. Not far, but it might as well have been a mile. "Hey!" he shouted, attracting the man's attention. "Throw me your gun.” But in the next instant one of Telford's wild shots caught his own man in the shoulder, and the man spun hitting the ground even further from Samson.

  But there was no more time to hesitate. Looking down at Delilah's beautiful face as though, in that split second, he could commit it forever to memory Samson said, "I've got to get a gun. Stay here. Don't move.” And then he was snaking his way long the ground, as quickly as possible, toward Telford's fallen man. He'd just reached him, had pulled the gun from his holster, when there was a deafening blast and then. . . silence. Dead silence.

  Afraid to look up, afraid of what he might see, Samson slowly looked toward Delilah. She was alive! She was looking over her shoulder in Telford's direction. Samson's gaze followed hers and his eyes widened for Paul Telford lay on the ground unmoving. Quickly, Samson's gaze roved over those present, seeking the shooter. But although some of the men present had drawn their guns, all were looking toward the house with varying expressions of surprise on their faces. Samson rose to his feet to see what, or whom, they were looking at. A slight blonde woman standing on the front porch slowly lowered a rifle.

  "Mr. Casey—" she called in a soft, cultured tone at odds with the results of the violence around them.

  "Yes, ma'am?"

  "You and the men now work for me. If you or any of them have a problem with that, I expect them to be off of my property within the hour. Is that understood?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  She nodded and then stepped down off of the front porch to make her way across the yard, not to her husband's side, but the spot where Samson now stood with his arm around Delilah. As she came closer, Samson felt a tightening in his gut, a sense of recognition that left him reeling.

  "Melissa—?" he asked in disbelief.

  She stopped before him. "Yes Samson, it's me," she said quietly. She stared at him for the longest time and then said, "If I had it to do over again, I would have left with you when you wanted me to. I want you to know that."

  Samson nodded. He didn't know what to say. Melissa was still beautiful in a pale fragile way, but he found that his heart no longer felt the connection to her that it had only a few years ago.

  "You know," she said, turning away from him briefly, "it's ironic that everything I've wanted to escape for so many years now belongs to me. I think I'll keep it simply for the sake of revenge.” She shrugged. "I have nowhere to go anyway, really. And the knowledge that a woman is running his ranch will keep Paul turning over in his grave for all eternity.” She smiled and looked back at Samson. "Fitting, don't you think?"

  Samson stared at her. "I think you have to find a way to let yourself be happy, Melissa. It's your turn.” He gently tugged Delilah forward. "May I introduce you to Delilah Sinclair?" he said.

  The two women greeted each other, sizing each other up as women are wont to do, and then Melissa said simply, "Make him happy Miss Sinclair."

  * * *

  An hour later, Samson and Del
ilah had almost reached Cedar Crossing. They'd been riding in thoughtful silence, each concerned with how to go about healing the problems that still ailed their fledgling relationship, when Samson suddenly spoke. "You cheated Telford, didn't you Delilah?"

  She considered him. Considered trying to deny it, but knew that she couldn't lie to him. "Yes," she said. "I did. You were right. Everyone has a price, a point at which they will bend their principles to achieve an end.” Unspoken between them lay the knowledge that his life had been her price.

  "Well, I reckon I'll have to allow that gamblin' might not be all bad. But once we're married I don't want you goin' into saloons without me. Is that clear?"

  Delilah reined her horse in and sat staring at Samson's back as he kept going. Finally he seemed to notice that she was no longer beside him, and he pulled Goliath to a halt. "Is something wrong?" he called to her.

  "Did you just ask me to marry you?"

  Samson tilted his head as though considering. Finally he said, "I guess I did at that. But like I said, you'll have to curb those gamblin' tendencies of yours."

  "But I haven't accepted your proposal yet," Delilah pointed out, not at all certain that she liked a man dictating to her after so many years of freedom.

  He smiled a slow, sexy smile that heated her blood. "You will."

  "How will we live? Do you think you can get your old job back in Red Rock?"

  Samson shook his head. "Actually, I inherited some land in the foothills of the Colorado mountains a few years back from one of my uncles. I thought maybe it'd be worth takin' a look at it. It might be good ranch land. What do you say?"

  Slowly, Delilah smiled. "I say yes."

  Samson pondered her. "I gotta be clear on somethin' darlin'. Is that yes to Colorado, or to marryin' me?"

  "Both."

  He smiled and as some of the tension flowed out of his muscles, Delilah realized he hadn't been as sure of her answer as he'd pretended. "Good," he said. "That's what I thought.” He kicked Goliath into motion again.

  A moment later, Delilah thought of something. She didn't want to begin their new lives with secrets between them.

  "Samson—”

  "Um-hmm?"

  "There's something I have to tell you."

  His steel-hued eyes locked on her face. "What's that?"

  "Well, I. . . that is -” She stopped and drew a deep breath, and then plunged. "I'm pregnant."

  His left eyebrow arched. "You don't say?"

  Delilah frowned. That wasn't exactly the reaction she'd expected. He didn't seem surprised at all. "You knew!" she exclaimed.

  He nodded. "I was pretty sure."

  They rode in silence for a bit longer and then Delilah had to ask the question that plagued her, for some men didn't take readily to fatherhood. "Are you. . . happy?"

  Samson pulled Goliath up short, looking at her with eyes that suddenly glistened with intense emotion. "Oh, darlin'," he said, "don't you ever doubt it.” And then he sidled Goliath close enough to her mount for him to kiss her.

  Oh, yes!

  And in those seconds the last clinging shackles of the past fell away from both of them leaving them free to face their future. . . together.

  ~~~* * *~~~

  THE END

  ~~~* * *~~~

  BOOKS BY

  CHRISTINE MICHELS

  Ascent to the Stars

  Danger’s Kiss

  In Fugitive Arms

  In Destiny’s Arms

  Beneath A Crimson Moon

  Beyond Betrayal

  A Season of Miracles

  Undercover with the Enemy

  AND CO-AUTHORED AS

  SHARICE KENDYL

  To Share A Sunset

  ~~~~

  ACCLAIM FOR

  CHRISTINE MICHELS’ NOVELS

  UNDERCOVER WITH THE ENEMY

  (Contemporary Romance)

  “I was caught with the very first line … A well-paced tale of secrets, deception, and family ties …”

  — The Romance Journal

  A SEASON OF MIRACLES

  (Contemporary Romance)

  (Heart of Romance “Reader’s Choice” Award Finalist)

  “Super story. Great plot, riveting emotion, danger, and suspense that compels you to turn the pages … A gotta-read!”

  — Rendezvous

  BEYOND BETRAYAL

  (Western Historical Romance)

  (Colorado Romance Writers “Award of Excellence” Finalist)

  (Heart of Romance “Reader’s Choice” Award Finalist)

  “An exciting journey to the Old West … Ms. Michels spins a tale of love and betrayal with sophistication and style … Beyond Betrayal is a treasure for romance fans and everyone else who appreciates the Old West.”

  — Rendezvous

  BENEATH A CRIMSON MOON

  (Futuristic Romance)

  “An intelligent plot with a twist; strong, well-developed characters and a romance that is out of sight!”

  — The Literary Times

  IN DESTINY’S ARMS

  (Futuristic Romance)

  “Fans of futuristic romance will love Ms. Michels’ newest creation! Her talent for creating fascinating new worlds is boundless!”

  — The Literary Times

  IN FUGITIVE ARMS

  (Futuristic Romance)

  (Heart of Romance Award Finalist)

  Fantastic! If you’ve never read a futuristic romance, In Fugitive Arms will be a pleasant, addictive surprise!”

  — The Literary Times

  DANGER’S KISS

  (Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

  (Heart of Romance Award Winner)

  Danger’s Kiss is “a gripping and intense tale of a small town tormented by dark deeds and murderous secrets. A great read!”

  — Romantic Times

  ASCENT TO THE STARS

  (Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

  “Christine Michels skillfully blends a totally realistic alien society with a beautifully believable romance that mixes into a superb novel.”

  — Affaire de Coeur

  ~~~~

  ~~~~

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Christine Michels lives in Canada near Medicine Hat, Alberta.

  ~~~~

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first foray into the realm of historical romance. I must admit that I had a wonderful time penning the story of this strong but gentle man and his impulsive heroine. And nothing pleased me more than ensuring that, this time, the story of Samson and Delilah had a happy ending.

  I always appreciate hearing from my readers. If you would like to contact me, please look me up on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or write to me at one of the addresses below.

  Best Wishes and Happy Reading!

  Christine Michels

  mailto:christinemichels@fastmail.net

  Follow Christine on Twitter:

  @CMichelsAuthor

  ~~~

  Or on Facebook:

  facebook.com/Michels.Christine

  Christine Michels

  c/o Northern Fire Publishing

  P.O. Box 153

  Redcliff, AB.

  Canada T0J 2P0

  mailto:contact@nfirepublish.com

  or visit Christine at her webpage at: http://www3.telus.net/Michels/

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