by Tess LeSue
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
It unleashed him. He swept her into his arms as his mouth came crushing down on hers, and he carried her to the bed. He was frantic with wanting her; his hands were everywhere at once as his tongue explored her, and his knee parted her thighs.
The river coursing through her became a flood, and she was helpless, borne along by its power. The pressure of his knee against her drove her wild. She was moaning into his kisses and he could take no more.
The first touch of his heat was marvelous. But then, with an awful, shocking thrust came pain.
Alex went rigid and instantaneously her head cleared. What was she doing?
Through the mad red haze of desire Luke felt the resistance, and then felt her sudden stillness, but he was beyond thought. That one thrust was enough to send him spinning over the edge into ecstasy.
Alex clenched her teeth against the unbelievable pain. Tears stung her eyes. Dear God, what was she doing?
As Luke swam back to consciousness the realization assailed him. She was a virgin. How could that be? He raised himself up on his elbows and looked down at her. Her face was turned to the side. Her eyes were scrunched closed and there was the slick sparkle of tears on her cheeks. “Beatrice,” he sighed, and she winced.
Before he could say more they were aware of a commotion in the yard outside. An orange glare lit the window and they could hear raised voices and feet pounding down the corridor outside the door.
Luke rolled away from her and went to the window. He swore. “The stable. It’s on fire.”
Numbly, she watched as he struggled into his clothes. Then she heard a scream and her eyes flew wide. Adam. That was Adam screaming.
14
ALEX TUMBLED OUT onto the balcony and stopped dead as she was slammed by a wall of heat. She clutched the bed sheet closer. Gideon, she thought desperately. This was Gideon’s work. The stable was an inferno. The flames licked at the stars, flaring white-orange like giant pointed tongues, and the roof of the stable cracked alarmingly. She couldn’t see Adam anywhere.
“Damnation!” Dolly yelled, flying from the house, feathers streaming. “Somebody run, fetch the sheriff before it spreads to the house! Cora, Gracie, get to the water pump—the rest of you fetch all the buckets and pails you can lay your hands on!”
“Get dressed,” Luke said tightly from the bedroom doorway. He was pulling his boots on. “The house is liable to go up too.” As soon as his boots were on he was off down the stairs to help Dolly.
Alex struggled to breathe. The night air was acrid with rolling black smoke. She scoured the yard below, looking for Adam. Through a swirl of sparks, flying like fireflies, she spotted him. He was lying facedown by the water trough.
“Adam!” Alex’s voice cracked. She pelted down the stairs and across the yard, feeling the sparks burn as they touched her. The sheet she’d carelessly thrown around herself was in danger of catching fire. “Adam!” There was blood all down his face. So much blood.
Collapsing beside him, she pushed the hair off his face. He had a gash across his forehead and his left eye was swollen closed. But he was breathing.
It was her fault. She was responsible for him and she’d left him at the mercy of the Gradys while she . . . while she . . .
She’d known the Gradys were in the house. What had she been thinking?
Were they still here? Terrified, Alex clutched the sheet to her naked body and looked around the yard, which was hellish in the light from the fire. She had to get Adam out of here. But he was so big, how could she ever lift him? Madly she scooped water from the trough and flung it at her brother’s face. “Wake up, Adam.”
There was an almighty crack. Alex turned to see the stable collapsing, sending a volcanic burst of sparks and debris skyward. Timber from the roof of the stable landed on the cathouse, setting off a dozen more fires. Was Gideon watching his handiwork? Was he waiting in the shadows for her?
Adam moaned. Alex rubbed her wet hand through his hair and bent to kiss him. She felt like bursting into tears when she saw him open his eyes. “We need to go,” she urged him. Could he stand? “Please, Adam. We need to get out of here before the Gradys find us.”
“The Gradys,” he moaned.
Somehow she managed to get him to his feet, although she bore most of his weight. They took a few staggering steps. The town fire bell was ringing and people were flocking to the fire, some to help, some to gawk. Alex led Adam behind the burning cathouse, into the darkness. Once they got away from the cathouse the streets were near deserted. Everyone was at the fire. Thank the Lord, Alex thought, groaning under Adam’s weight. She made a less than convincing boy dressed only in a sheet.
They snuck in the back door of Ralph Taylor’s hotel. He and his boy were on the porch, watching the flames leap above the rooftops. “Whole town might go up if they don’t put it out soon,” Taylor was saying as Alex and Adam disappeared up the stairs.
Alex’s knees gave out as they reached their room and both of them went tumbling onto the brass bed, which rocked and screeched under their combined weight. Alex regained her breath and then settled Adam. She yanked his overalls off, so she’d have something to wear, and covered him with the blankets. He was clammy and his eyes were glassy. “Hold on,” she huffed. “Let me just get dressed and I’ll fetch the doctor.” She clambered into his shirt and overalls. There was no hat. Hers was still at Dolly’s and Adam’s was lost to the fire. She glanced in the mirror. She was covered with soot. The Gradys wouldn’t know her if they saw her. She hoped. Her boots were back at the cathouse, so she had no choice but to go back out barefoot.
“Alex?” Adam’s voice was weak and he sounded tearful.
“Don’t fret,” she soothed, bending to kiss him again. “I’ll get you a drink of water before I go for the doctor.”
“It was Gideon, Alex.”
“I figured as much,” she said.
“He hurt me.” His hand went up to his swollen eye and she winced. He could have been killed because of her. Never again, she swore. Adam and Victoria came first.
She had no idea where Victoria was, she suddenly thought in shock. Dear God, Gideon could have her.
“He took Blackie, Alex!” Adam called after her as she bolted for the door. Damn the horse, she thought. She had to find her sister.
She locked the door as she left, to keep him safe. It’s a bit late for that, ain’t it? She could hear Gideon’s voice in her head, mocking her. She tried to ignore it.
She pelted through the empty streets to the town square. The colored lanterns still swung in the breeze, the tables were still laden with food, but there were hardly any people left. “Have you seen my sister?” Alex asked the fiddler, who was packing away his fiddle. “She’s got brown hair, and she’s in a yellow dress.”
“Everyone’s gone to the fire, lad,” he said. Alex was gone before he finished snapping his case closed.
* * *
• • •
“I AIN’T LEAVING my house to burn!” Dolly railed at Luke. She had her sleeves rolled up and was trying to send the girls into the house with pails of water.
“It won’t do any good,” he snapped, snatching a pail from Seline’s grasp and pushing her toward the street. She didn’t need much encouragement. By the time she’d reached the gate the others were following, darting terrified glances back over their shoulders at the inferno.
Luke caught Dolly’s glare and held it. “Be sensible,” he coaxed.
She swallowed hard and looked up at her house. It was all she owned in the world. Luke followed her gaze in time to see an upper-story window blow out, sending glass spraying into the yard below. With a stab of horror, he remembered Beatrice. He hadn’t seen her since he’d left the bedroom. His gut twisted. Oh hell, she was still inside.
He was up the stairs and into the house before Dolly knew what was happening
. Luckily the fire hadn’t spread to the back of the house yet. But he could hear the roof burning and knew that he didn’t have much time. The house was already filling with poisonous smoke.
“Beatrice!” He burst into the room, only to find it empty. Her clothes were still strewn on the floor. Damn. She definitely hadn’t been out in the yard. She must be here somewhere. He looked in the cupboard and under the bed. Maybe she was scared and hiding. But there were only clothes in the cupboard, and all that was under the bed was a thin film of dust. As he got to his feet he noticed the telltale bloodstains on the bed and blanched. A wilted cloth rose lay in the tangle of sheets . . . she’d been wearing it in her hair, he remembered numbly.
The ceiling above him groaned alarmingly and he snatched up the cloth rose and left the room. He tore along the corridor, calling her name as he threw open every door. No sign of her. Downstairs there was no sign either. Although he did find Mary, cowering in the kitchen. “Come on,” he ordered hoarsely, grabbing her arm. “Out, before the whole place goes up! Have you seen Dolly’s cousin? Have you see Beatrice?”
Mary shook her head, her eyes huge with fear.
Luke swore. He hoped to God she was outside with the rest of them, but when he emerged, coughing, she was still nowhere to be seen. He deposited Mary with the cluster of frightened whores and headed for Dolly, who was railing at the sheriff.
“I’m losing my livelihood and you’re just standing there!” she bellowed at him, her singed feather trembling in sympathy.
“I can’t find Beatrice,” Luke said tightly, interrupting her.
Angrily, she shook him off. “Bugger Beatrice! Look at my place.”
“She’s your kin!”
“Beatrice is fine,” she snapped. “I saw her leaving the yard before. If you want to go chasing after her, be my guest. Personally, I’d have thought you’d be a little more concerned about your damn horse.” She turned back to the sheriff. “Why the hell aren’t you saddling up and going after the bastards? You heard my boy, they lit it on purpose!”
“My horse?” Luke echoed. “Isis will turn up,” he said. She wouldn’t have run too far. Then an awful thought occurred to him. “Your boy did let the animals out, didn’t he? When he first saw the fire?”
“They took your horse.”
“Who took my horse?”
“Those Gradys,” Dolly snarled. “They beat up that poor simple lad and took your horse and the stallion. And then they set fire to my place.” She yanked her stable boy forward. “Ain’t that right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The boy nodded frantically. “They was all laying into the feeb and asking him about his sister. I told ’em the sister was at the dance and they lit out, but not before they knocked him out cold.”
Luke’s stomach sank all the way to his knees. “Where is he now?”
“The feeb?”
“Don’t call him that,” Luke snapped.
“He was facedown in the yard by the water trough.”
“Well, he ain’t there now,” Dolly said. And then she began lambasting the sheriff all over again.
Luke swore as he regarded the burning house and collapsed stable. Beatrice would have to wait. He had to find out if the Alexanders were safe first.
* * *
• • •
“LET ME GO!” Victoria squealed, trying to free herself from the cruel grip that threatened to snap her wrist.
“You keep squirming like that and I’ll tar the hide right off of you, just see if’n I don’t.”
Victoria gasped, outraged.
Alex ignored her, dragging her along the dusty street. She’d found her sister out front of Mrs. Tilly’s Tearooms, watching the fire and flirting prettily with a small knot of admirers. Her rage was born of relief, but Victoria wasn’t to know that. “Standing there unchaperoned with those men,” she muttered under her breath.
Victoria snorted. “Look who’s talking. You took Adam to a whorehouse.”
“To the stables!” Alex disagreed, glad it was too dark for Victoria to see her blush.
“And what about the night I found you in the bathhouse with Luke!”
Alex blanched. Her sister was right. She was a filthy hypocrite. And Victoria didn’t even know the worst of it. She dropped her grip of her sister. “Come on,” she said glumly, “we need to find a doctor.”
“I was just talking to a doctor,” Victoria said haughtily. “Dr. Flint. He was the tall one with the mustache. The one who said I looked like a daisy.” She giggled. Then she frowned. “Why do we need a doctor?”
Alex told her. And next thing she knew she was the one being marched down the street, her wrist threatening to snap in her sister’s iron grip.
15
“BE SENSIBLE!” DOLLY implored him, as they watched Luke slide the last bullet into the barrel of his six-shooter.
Luke ignored her. Victoria, still in her pretty yellow calico, burst into fresh tears. The sound was getting on Alex’s nerves.
They were in Taylor’s small dining room. The doctor had been and gone and Adam was sleeping upstairs. The whores had taken over the downstairs bunkhouse, and could still be heard chattering behind the closed door. Victoria had only just recovered from the shock of Adam’s injury when they all tramped in, half-naked and sooty. Alex wasn’t sure her sister would ever recover from the sight of so many whores. Every time Victoria looked at Dolly she hiccupped and started crying again. When Luke announced he was leaving she fell apart completely.
“Why don’t you let the sheriff handle it?” Alex said quietly, unable to look away from the cold iron of his weapon. He gave the barrel a flick and it spun, and then he snapped it closed with an ominous click. He didn’t say a word. Alex found his silence terrifying.
“You’ll get yourself killed,” Dolly said waspishly. “And for what? A damn animal.”
“You ask these people if it’s just a damn animal,” Luke replied coldly, gesturing at Alex and Victoria. They were a sorry-looking pair: Victoria was red-eyed and wilted and Alex was black with soot. “The kid spent their fortune on that animal.”
Dolly threw up her hands. “It’s only money! It ain’t worth dying over.”
“You were willing to risk yourself for the house.”
Dolly clenched her jaw, but didn’t answer. Alex thought she suddenly looked older; the lines bracketing her mouth seemed deeper, more pronounced. But when Luke picked up his saddlebags all thoughts of Dolly’s age fled. “You promised to take us to Oregon,” Alex said, a little wildly. “We paid you!”
“Sebastian will captain you until I catch up.” Luke pulled his dusty hat over his black hair. He looked deep into Alex’s eyes. “I will catch up, runt.”
Alex swallowed hard. She wanted to throw herself at him, to hold him back with every last ounce of strength she had. Luke might be a big man, but no one man was a match for all four Gradys. “Take care of your family,” he told her as he took his leave.
“But you don’t even have a horse! You can’t go.”
“I’ll buy one off Jackson.” Alex jerked when he laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re all set to go, runt. Ralph said that he’ll sell you his mules. Just load up the wagon and meet Sebastian in the square.” He lowered his head and dropped his voice, so that only she could hear him. “Go to Cavil’s in the morning and buy yourself a gun. Sebastian will teach you how to use it.”
Alex swallowed hard. She wished she could turn her head and press her lips to the dark hand resting on her shoulder.
He saw the tears filling Alex’s eyes and squeezed the small shoulder. Poor kid. He had to shoulder a grown man’s burden at an awfully young age.
Luke didn’t say anything to Victoria. He simply offered her his clean bandanna so she could mop her tears. If anything, Luke’s gesture only seemed to make her cry harder. Impulsively, she threw herself at him and sobbed into his shirt.
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Alex scowled as she watched Luke’s big hand rub Victoria’s yellow back. She couldn’t help noticing his ease with weeping women. He smoothly disentangled himself and suddenly Alex was the one being drowned in Victoria’s tears. Victoria’s arms closed around her neck, almost strangling her.
She watched over her sister’s head as Luke said good-bye to Dolly. Even though he lowered his voice, Alex heard every word he said. “Tell Beatrice I’ll be back,” he told Dolly, “and . . . tell her I didn’t know . . . I didn’t realize . . . She’ll know what I mean.”
Dolly caught Alex’s eye and Alex blushed. The whore didn’t waste a minute cornering her after he’d left. “I need water for my girls to bathe,” Dolly announced in her most imperious voice. “You, boy, I’ll pay you to lug buckets for us.”
Alex followed Dolly outside, wishing she could join Adam in the big bed instead. She was exhausted by the events of the day.
“I’d give you Luke’s message, but I know you were eavesdropping.”
Alex gave her a sour look.
“No need to glare at me. I’m not one to judge.” The whore sank down onto a bench in the washroom with a sigh. She sat considering something for a moment and then, as though she had made a decision, she reached into her cleavage and pulled out a small square of folded brown paper. “I planned to give you this anyway.” She held it out.
Alex took it warily. “What is it?”
“Drink it like tea. Steep it in boiling water for a few minutes and then drain the lot.”
Alex frowned.
“You have enough responsibility without adding another mouth to feed.”
The penny dropped and Alex gasped. It had never occurred to her . . . she flushed, feeling incredibly stupid. She’d grown up around animals, she wasn’t ignorant of the way these things worked. How could she not have even thought of it?
“The girls and I use it. It works most of the time,” Dolly told her.