Just This Once (38 page)

“You’re too stupid to outsmart Ethan,” she
said, hoping to goad him into revealing his plan so she could
figure out a way to stop it.

But she didn’t count on Snake’s whipcord
temper. With a grunt, he lifted his hand and backhanded her
hard.

“I ain’t puttin’ up with none of that smart
talk of yours, you hear, girl?” Satisfaction glinted in his eyes as
he watched her slam back against the pillows, the imprint of his
hand showing first white and then red on her cheek.

“I masterminded my share of holdups back
home, and since I got to London, you’ll be proud to know I’ve done
just fine. Matter of fact, me and the boys have made out real good.
Got us some new pards. Some new ideas. These here ‘nobs,’ as our
new pards call ’em, they’ve got real money, and most of ’em walk
around at night weighted down with more jewels than sense. It’s
easy as pie to lighten their load, if you know what I mean,
honey.”

Through the pain in her jaw, and her aching
head, Josie tried to think clearly. “Ethan won’t be... robbed so
easily,” she muttered. But she feared for him even as she spoke the
words. The image of his being set upon to or from his club, or
coming from some party, by Snake, Noah, Spooner, and Deck filled
her with panic.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll
stay away from him, all of you!” she cried. “If you don’t believe
me, ask Pirate Pete, the most feared criminal in all of
London.”

Snake just laughed. “Reckon I’ll do just
that,” he grinned. As if on cue, Spooner loped to a door that
adjoined the next room and yanked it open.

Josie’s eyes narrowed as the other members
of the gang each exchanged grins. Then she forgot all about them
when the stout man with all too familiar slitted black eyes
sauntered through that door, followed closely by a giant. From the
second man’s size and girth and those unforgettable blank wooden
eyes, she had no doubt it was Tiny. And his companion was Pirate
Pete.

“We meets agin, me lady,” Tiny grunted, and
gave her a low, clumsily executed bow. “Lady Stonecliff, me and
Pete ’ave been itchin’ to see you agin, we ’ave.”

Her blood froze as Tiny closed in. But Snake
held up a hand.

“You boys don’t get ahold of her till I’m
through.”

“Through with what? What’s going on?” Josie
cried.

She couldn’t believe that Snake had joined
forces with Pirate Pete. This was worse than any nightmare. Only
last night, she and Ethan had made love upon silken sheets in her
beautiful bedroom, and only this afternoon she’d had tea with her
grandfather and sister in Belgravia, and now... now she was
imprisoned in some mean, damp hovel in the rookery, a captive of
these animals.

“Tell me what you’re planning!” She turned
her gaze toward Snake. If her hands hadn’t been clenched into
fists, she’d have been tempted to rake him with her nails. When he
didn’t answer her, she peered frantically at Spooner, then at Deck
and Noah. Only in Spooner’s face did she see the faintest hint of
sympathy.

“Tell me!” she pleaded with him, but he
remained silent, and it was Pirate Pete who sidled forward to
speak.

“None o’ this would ’ave ’appened if yer
Lord Stonecliff ’adn’t killed Lucian and spoiled everything that
night. Then he ’ad to top it off by offering that reward.”

The lamp cast an eerie glow over Tiny’s
sallow flesh as he regarded Josie with satisfaction. “He’s gettin’
what’s comin’ to him, and so ar’ you, me lady. Ye never should ’ave
taken up against us. We ’ave our reputations to think of.”

Feeling ill, Josie stared into both of their
faces and then glanced at Snake. A sly, half-crooked smile curled
his lips. He was happy as a coyote in a henhouse now that she was
in this fix.

Damn him—damn all of them. She wasn’t about
to sit here meekly while they plotted against Ethan. There had to
be a way out of this place, and if there was, she’d find it.

Snake hooked his thumbs in his pockets.
“Boys, time to leave me and my little wife alone for a spell. We
got some personal matters to talk over. Noah, you’d best get
yourself ready to ride.”

“Sure will, Snake.” He winked at Josie and
stroked the ends of his reddish brown mustache.

“The rest of you boys,” Snake continued
easily, “go on outside and have a round of drinks on me.”

Pirate Pete didn’t budge. Those black eyes
remained locked on Josie. “P’rhaps ye need a bit o’ ’elp explaining
things to ’er? I ’ave me a way with the ladies.”

The glare Snake fixed him with left no doubt
of his resentment. “I reckon I can handle my own wife,” he
snarled.

“That nob, Lord Stonecliff, thought she was
’is
wife.” Pete’s harsh gaze skimmed over Josie as if she
were a morsel of pie he had in mind to swallow whole. “Seems to me
she’s a slippery one.”

“Not slippery enough to get away from me
again.” Snake moved a hand to the gun holstered low on his hip.
“Now leave us be before I throw you out myself.”

“As if ye could.” But Pirate Pete relented
with a chuckle when Snake took a step toward him. “I’m a’ goin’, I
am. Don’t get yet drawers in a tangle, lad.” He winked at Josie and
followed the others to the door.

Snake frowned at her as the others shuffled
out, closing the door behind them. The thud of their boots trodding
downstairs died away before Snake broke the silence.

“You never should’ve left me, Josie girl.”
Beneath the quiet of his tone, she heard the deep, raging currents
of his anger. It was there, too, in the pinprick of lust flickering
in the center of his eyes.

“Now you and Savage are going to pay. No one
runs off with my woman, makes a damned fool of me, and gets away
with it, you hear? He’s going to pay first with his money—and then
with his life. And you... Hell, honey, I haven’t decided yet
exactly
what
the hell I’m going to do with
you
. If I
oughta keep you awhiles just for fun or turn you over to Pete and
Tiny as soon as this here job is done. Reckon it depends on how you
behave.” Josie could only gasp in frozen fear as he reached out to
cup her chin in his hand. But at his touch, she flinched, and
instantly his smile widened and the strange light glowed brighter
in his eyes.

“Easy, now, honey, don’t be scared. I’m your
lovin’ husband, remember? And we’ve been apart for a hell of a long
time. Too long, Josie girl. Way too long.”

“You’re making a big mistake.”

It took all of Josie’s willpower to keep the
quaver from her voice, to hold his gaze with a modicum of calm.
Only by digging her nails into her palms did she keep from
shrieking in panic and hold the shreds of hysteria at bay.

“Think so, honey? Well, you’re wrong.”
Snake’s eyes narrowed as he sat down on the bed beside her. “I know
exactly what I’m doing.”

“You’ve gone too far. Taking me from my
house. Ethan will have the police scouring for me day and night.
You’re going to be caught, and locked up in prison—a British
prison. I hear they’re not too pleasant.”

“The hell you say. Me and Pete have run
circles around these London police. Them with their fancy
inspectors, their constables and sergeants. We’ve outsmarted ’em
all. They’re tearing the rookery and half the English countryside
upside down looking for Pete and Tiny—and can they find them?
Nope.” He grinned at her and leaned closer. She could smell the gin
on his breath.

“We’ve got ourselves a real good hiding
place here in Beetle Bob’s. No policeman’s going to risk coming in
here unless he knows for sure what he’s after is in here—and none
of ’em do. And no one’s going to rat on any of us—in spite of that
reward Savage offered—because they know they’d be dead before they
could spend a penny of it. So, the boys and me and Pete and Tiny
have been leading those constables on a wild chase. I’ve done some
of the robberies, masked, and all done up like Pirate Pete—with
Spooner passing himself off as Tiny. Yep, that’s it,” he chuckled
as Josie gave a gasp.

“Now you see. Pete and me, we look somethin’
alike when we’re wearing masks and dressed in the right clothes,
and Spooner ain’t as big as Tiny, but most folks we’ve held up are
too scared to be exact in their recollectin’. We’ve got those
policemen running around in circles, between pulling jobs in London
and out in the country, and we’ve gotten ourselves a dandy pile of
loot.”

A crack of laughter burst from his lips. The
rain outside the window began to pelt down even faster.

She had to keep him talking. As long as he
was bragging about himself and his plans, he was too preoccupied to
get any other ideas of how to spend this time with her.

“How did you meet up with Pirate Pete?”

“Hell, honey, that was plain luck. We came
here looking for you—and for that varmint Savage. Found out he was
called Lord Stonecliff over here. We landed in the rookery, got
ourselves settled in a lodging house, met some folks, sort of got
the lay of the land. And then we stumbled across Pete and Tiny
under the eaves in the alley one night. Heard ’em making all kinds
of plans. Plans to stick a knife in the ribs of some ‘nob’ they
said—Lord Stonecliff. On account of he killed their pard, Lucian,
and offered a reward for them. Hell and damnation, honey, they were
mighty burned up about that.”

A knife in Ethan’s ribs. Dear God. Josie
fought panic. She had to get out of here and warn him.

But Snake had risen from the side of the bed
and was swaggering about the hideous little room. He was never more
than three paces from either the window or the door. “Well, soon as
I heard that name I knew Lady Luck was smiling down on me. Because
I’d heard all about how you’d up and married Savage—and then
cleared out of Abilene.”

Dry-mouthed, Josie met his glare. “Where did
you hear that?”

“Don’t matter none.” He moved toward her
again. “What matters, honey, is that you and me are back together.
And I’m going to make that Savage feller real sorry he ran off with
my wife.”

Suddenly he hauled Josie up on her knees,
dragged her against his chest, and clamped his mouth on hers. She
fought, flailing her arms, twisting her body, but Snake held her
fast and dragged out the greedy, sucking kiss until nausea swept
through her.

“And you
are
still my wife, Josie
girl. You’d best not forget it agin.”

He ran a hand across her breasts, then
pushed her away, slinging her down onto the bed with a laugh.

Josie frantically scrubbed the gin-flavored
wetness from her lips. She rolled sideways and tried to dart off
the bed, but Snake was faster and stronger, and he hauled her
back.

“Don’t you want to hear the plan, honey? Me
and Pete came up with a real good one. Want to know what we’re
going to do?”

“No!” She tried to extricate herself from
his grip, realized her struggles were only fueling his
satisfaction, and abruptly went still. “Yes!” she spat, eyeing him
from beneath the wild tangle of her hair. “I’m sure you’re going to
tell me whether I want you to or not!”

Snake, pleased by the paleness of her face,
the fear staring from her eyes, continued with growing zest for his
topic.

“First, I’m going to write Savage a nice
little note. Tell him how you’re going to die by noon tomorrow if
he don’t do what he’s told. That if he wants ever to see you alive
again and looking as pretty as the last time he laid eyes on you,
he’d best show up with a wheelbarrow full of money, and no
tricks.”

“You bastard!”

“Noah’s going to deliver it tonight. And”—he
smiled, tightening his grip on her until she winced—“we’re going to
send along that gold wedding ring of yours since he’ll recognize it
and know we’ve really got you.”

“What if he doesn’t care?” she asked in a
ragged tone. “What if he ignores your note?”

“Josie, honey, what man wouldn’t care about
getting you back? I did, didn’t I? And besides, Pete told me all
about how Savage fought to protect you that night he was
robbed.”

His face twisted, the outwardly handsome
features becoming an ugly mask of hate. “He thinks you belong to
him. So he’ll come. But when he brings the money, he’s going to get
a little surprise. Not you, honey. You’re staying with me—until I
say Tiny can have you—or what’s left of you,” he added with a
low-pitched chuckle. “No, Savage will drop off the money—and then
he’ll get himself a lesson he won’t ever forget. Actually, he won’t
have a chance to. He’ll be dead.”

“No!”

Snake leaned down toward her, his eyes
glowing as he brought his slick wet mouth within an inch of hers.
“Yep, honey, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it.”

He watched the pain and the terror and the
agony imprint themselves upon her face, and his smile deepened as
he reached up to stroke her cheek.

“We’re all of us going to get ourselves a
piece of him,” he promised. “A damn fine bloody piece.”