Chase the Wind (56 page)

“Should we see if anyone is home?” Jamie asked after they had sat a minute, trying to take in the sad state of affairs. His horse
stomped and shook, trying to free itself of a fly buzzing around his
head.

“I don’t think so. Let’s just go on.”

“No, I want to find out about Momma’s quilt.”

“I doubt if it’s survived this.” Jenny swung her arm out to en
compass the mess.

“Come on, Jen, have a little faith.” He grinned at her as he swung off his horse. Jenny took his reins and decided to keep her distance
from whatever was living in the house.

Jamie tested the rotting boards of the porch before he stepped
up and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he went to
the window of what had been their sitting room and tried to peer
in through the grime.

“Come on, let’s go,” Jenny called. Jamie rolled his eyes at her
and went to the end of the porch and leaned out over the rail to
see if there were any signs of life at the back of the house. “Jamie,
please.” Jenny could feel the hair standing up on the back of her
neck.

“Don’t move.” The voice came from the loft in the barn, and
Jenny heard the sound of a rifle being cocked as she slowly raised
her hands. In the blink of an eye, Jamie had turned with his gun
drawn, and was leaning sideways against the post of the porch, the
thin column offering little protection to his wide frame.

“Drop that gun, or your girlfriend is history.”

Two sets of sapphire-blue eyes exchanged looks.
Don’t worry,
Jamie’s said, we’ll
talk our way out of this.
He flashed his grin towards
the loft and twirled his gun around so he was holding it by the
barrel, his arms held out in surrender.

“We didn’t mean to trespass. We used to live here and came to look around, that’s all.” His arms were held out in innocent sup
plication, proving that they didn’t mean any harm.

“Drop that gun.”

The next thing they knew, the yard was full of riders, close to a dozen in all, the horses milling around Jenny as a horrid stench filled the air. Jenny’s eyes widened as she recognized Logan and Joe in the group, and she ducked her head, hoping they wouldn’t
notice who she was.

A bulky man on a huge horse rode up to the porch where Jamie was standing, his arms still spread wide. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he
said. “You look just like the bastard.” He pulled his gun out of his
monogrammed holster. “Now drop that piece.” Jamie’s fingers released his gun as the man leveled his own pistol at his head. “Push that hat back, boy, so I can get a better look at you.” Jamie’s eyes narrowed, but the gun cocked so he pushed his hat back off his forehead. The man rode closer to get a better look, then turned his huge head towards the barn and returned it to Jamie with an evil grin on his face. “I know who you are. I heard your screams that night.”

Realization hit three people at the same time. Jenny and Jamie knew in a flash that this was the man who had murdered their parents. Logan realized that his longtime enemies were before him. He reached up and knocked Jenny’s hat back at the same time that Jamie dove off the porch, aiming for the huge man’s neck with his arms outstretched, determined to choke the very life from his body as he knocked him off his horse and wrapped his hands around his beefy neck.

Jenny hauled on the reins of her horse and pulled her gun. Her horse reared, pawing the air, just as arms from all directions reached out, clawing at her. She shot at the first face she saw, Joe’s, his eyes opening wide as the blood spread on his chest. He hit the ground dead, just as she was swept off her horse and pulled to her feet by Logan, who ran his hands over her breasts as he jerked her from the ground, her fists managing to land a few blows before he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Let me go, you son of a bitch,” she snarled. “I’ll kill you just like I killed your sneaky little friend,” Jenny hissed, desperate to get away from him. She kicked the air as he swung her around in time to see Jamie dragged off of their boss by six men, three on each arm, using all their strength to hold him back.

Randolph Mason raised his huge bulk out of the dust and slowly cleaned himself off. Unlike his companions, a ragtag bunch who seemed to have an aversion to bathing, he wore stylish clothing, cut from fine cloth and embellished with initials on everything. The fine cut of his clothes could not disguise what years of eating rich foods and drinking fine liquors had done to his body. Where once he had had the build of a strong bull, he was now soft in the paunch and around his jaw. His eyes were lost in the folds of his face, and his mouth was nothing but a narrow slash in his flesh.

One thing that had not changed through the years was his hatred of Ian Duncan. Though his rival was long dead, Mason was still
haunted by the knowledge that Ian Duncan had beaten him and
humiliated him by stealing Faith away the night before their wedding. Killing them had not been revenge enough, he had realized:
not even taking over the land that had been their dream was enough to dampen the hatred that still burned within him. And now, before him stood their children, the son the image of the
father, the daughter strong and glorious in her anger. He almost laughed in glee as he approached the snarling Jamie, who stood red-faced with rage, almost knocking the men who held him off
their feet as he tried to jerk his arms from their hold.

“So you are the son,” Mason said as he stood before him. “Randolph Mason, at your service,” he sneered. He grabbed Jamie’s jaw
and tilted it to get a better look at the scar that gleamed white
against the flush of his skin. “I guess I got you good that night and didn’t even know it.” Jamie jerked his jaw out of the fleshy fingers.
“How ‘bout that boys? I got me two Duncans with one shot, and this one squealed like a pig.” The group guffawed.

“You bastard,” Jenny screamed. “He was just a boy!”

Mason turned his attention to Jenny, who was struggling in Logan’s hold, wrestling her way off the ground, only to have her legs slammed down as she pushed against his arms. Mason reached out
and picked up the braid of golden hair that had fallen over her
shoulder as she fought against Logan. “And the daughter,” he
mused as he rubbed the silky strands between his fingers. “You look a bit like her, I suppose, around the mouth, but you’re taller,
bigger, I guess you get that from your father. It’s a pity, you know,
because I was supposed to be your father, not that Scottish stable boy.” Jenny landed a kick in the soft paunch of his belly.

“Hold her!” he shouted after he had caught his breath. Logan brought his hands up under her arms and firmly placed his palms on either side of her face, wedging her so she could not turn her
head. She stood with clenched jaw, seething as Mason stood before her, his dark eyes roaming over her body. “We called your mother
the Ice Princess.” He reached out his hand and cupped her breast,
Logan firmly placing his booted heel on top of her foot to keep her from kicking again. She could feel Logan’s hot breath against her
neck as he laughed. Lower, pressing into the small of her back,
was his erection. Jenny fought the urge to vomit as Mason squeezed
her breast. “I believe you’ve got more spirit than your mother. Like
a wild thoroughbred, isn’t she, fellows?” The gang in the yard
agreed wholeheartedly, some of them even licking their lips. “Have
you ever been broken?” he said into her ear.

Jamie’s rage reached a new level as he watched Mason running his hands over his sister’s body. He managed to break an arm free, throwing his guards to the ground as he turned towards the others holding him. One of them had the presence of mind to strike him in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, and Jamie fell to
one knee. The mob was upon him again, driving him to the
ground, where they kicked him repeatedly in the head, back and
side.

“Stop it!” Jenny screamed, choking on a sob as Jamie tried to
protect himself from the barrage of blows. Mason held up a hand and the men stopped instantly, leaving Jamie curled on his side as he tried to draw a breath. At Mason’s signal, Jamie was hauled to
his feet, this time needing the support of three men. Mason grabbed
the hair that had fallen over Jamie’s face and pulled his head up.
To his surprise, the boy’s blue eyes were flashing with rage.

“I burned you, didn’t I, boy, in that barn right over there?” Ja
mie’s eyes darkened; his hands ached to close once again around
Mason’s stout neck. “Dick, go fix me a torch,” Mason commanded,
and one of the men took off to follow his orders. Jamie and Jenny locked eyes as the group waited in nervous anticipation for what was going to happen next, the day’s excitement a high spot in their
dreary, worthless lives. Mason stood patiently waiting, slapping his
gloves against his thigh as he looked between the two Duncan offspring, wondering what he had done to earn such a glorious
reward.

The one called Dick returned, carrying a flaming torch before him like a trophy as he breathlessly skidded to a halt before his
employer, handing him the torch as if it were a great treasure.

“Have you ever seen anyone burn?” Mason asked as he held the
torch up for all to see. Jenny felt her stomach turn and the earth
drop beneath her as she saw the color drain from Jamie’s face. The torch danced before him, Mason jabbing it in the air like a sword, the flame hypnotizing the group as they yearned for what was sure to happen next. Logan giggled in Jenny’s ear, and she jerked her
head back hard, hitting it against his jaw and shutting him up for
the moment.

Surely
he’s not that evil,
Jenny prayed as Mason played with the
torch, bringing it closer and closer to Jamie. Then in her mind she
saw her father lying in a pool of blood. She was standing almost
in the exact spot, and she knew that this man was capable of anything. “Wait! Stop!” she screamed, her voice rising above the ner
vous laughter of the watching men. Mason turned to her, one
eyebrow raised, enjoying the moment and the power it offered him.
“Take me and let him go!” Jenny yelled.

“Jenny,
no!”
Jamie cried.

“Oh, I plan to take you, have no doubt in your mind about that.”

“You plan to take me, yes—” the wheels began to turn in Jenny’s
mind as she remembered everything her father had told her about
Randolph Mason. “But how would you like to have me, willing, in your bed? Wouldn’t that be sweet revenge? To have me, Ian Dun
can’s daughter, as your whore?” Jenny gave what she hoped was
an encouraging smile as Jamie began to curse. “Let him go and I’ll be everything you wanted my mother to be and more. As you said,
I’m no Ice Princess. I’m my father’s daughter.” Jenny prayed she was hitting the right note as she went on, her voice growing silky
and seductive.

Mason threw his head back and laughed. The sound of it sent a
chill down Jenny’s spine as it awoke the demons of her past. She kept her eyes focused on Jamie, who was desperately fighting the
men who held him. “Duncan’s daughter my whore? Oh, that is too
sweet.” He laughed some more, finally letting his mirth die into a
few grunts as he contemplated the situation. Logan, behind her, was shaking his head. He had a stake in this, too. He wanted to
see Jamie burn, wanted his turn at taking revenge on Jenny for killing Joe, but he saw the peculiar light that was burning in Mason’s beady eyes and knew that Jenny was winning the day.

Mason walked up to her and grabbed her breast again, pinching it painfully in his fingers, Jenny’s face remained frozen in a half
smile the whole time. She knew that if she flinched, Jamie was done for. Mason brought his hand up, under her neck, and she
raised her head to give him better access. He hooked his hand in the front of her shirt and jerked it down, ripping the buttons off. The sides of her shirt gaped open so the tops of her breasts were revealed by the camisole underneath. He ran his hands over the curves, testing the softness of her skin as he kept his eyes on her
face, waiting for the sign that would consign her brother to a painful death. She didn’t bat an eye. “You’re his daughter, all right.” He
sighed as if a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders. “Let
him go!”

Jamie fell snarling to the ground as the three released their hold on him. He quickly jumped to his feet. “Jenny, I won’t let you do
this.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Jenny said. She made her eyes soft as she looked at Mason. “Let me talk to Jamie, please.” Mason jerked his head at Logan, who begrudgingly let her go. Jenny ran to Jamie,
who was trembling with rage or fear, she could not tell which.
“Jamie, please, they will kill you.”