Lai Hua clutched the red ribbon tighter as the dilapidated miner's shack came into view in the darkness. Not taking time for her usual caution, she ran directly toward it. Her eagerness did not allow her to see the shadow that hovered at the side of the building, waiting for her to walk past. She was about to run to the door when arms reached out, snatching her off her feet.
Gasping, Lai Hua fought the arms that held her captive. She struggled, twisting and turning, attempting to strike at her captor's shadowed face. She had all but broken free in her frenzy when a warmly familiar voice sounded in her ear, shocking her into stillness.
"Lai Hua, stop! It's me… Jake."
"Mr. Jake…" Lai Hua was suddenly motionless. "But why did you frighten me so? Why did you not wait inside the cabin?"
"I thought it would be better to wait outside."
Lai Hua strained to assess Jake's expression. "And now that I am here?"
"Now that you're here, we'll go inside, Lai Hua."
Lai Hua's heart thundered with happiness as Jake led her inside the shack they had shared many times before. A small gasp escaped her lips as he drew her roughly into his arms. She felt the pressure of his lips against hers, the hard strength of his body, the firm rise of his aroused passion, and she gloried in it. She allowed Jake to unfold the light blanket she had hidden under her short jacket and to lay it on the floor. Moments later she was lying beside him. She gasped for breath as he worked feverishly to free the buttons on her cotton garment. She met him eagerly, so very eagerly.
A short time later, silence reigned in the wake of shared passion. Her true love's body had been sated, and he still held her close. But there was no peace in his embrace. Jake's uneasiness transmitted itself to her so strongly that Lai Hua drew back to pose a soft question. "You are not happy, Mr. Jake. Did I not please you tonight?"
The pale eyes returning her questioning stare moved over her face, lingering on her cheek, the line of her chin, resting so warmly on her lips that she almost felt their touch. But Jake continued to frown.
"Oh, yes, you pleased me tonight, Lai Hua. Until this night, I didn't realize how much you please me."
Lai Hua shook her head in obvious confusion. "Mr. Jake, I do not understand."
His frown darkened.
"I've asked you not to call me Mr. Jake, Lai Hua. Now I'm
askin
' you again. My name is Jake… just Jake."
"Oh, but I could not…"
"Why? We've just finished making love. You're lying here naked in my arms, and you're
tellin
' me you can't call me by my given name?"
Lai Hua hesitated. Her eyes held his for silent seconds before she responded with a brief nod. ''Yes, that is so."
The pale- complexioned face so close to hers reddened and stiffened with anger. "That doesn't make any sense, Lai Hua." His anger still apparent, Jake was about to speak again when Lai Hua pressed gentle fingers over his lips in a plea for silence.
"Please, Mr. Jake. You must try to understand. My father and I… my people are foreigners in your land. We came here as poor immigrants, and as such we do menial work that many of your own people would not deign to do."
"That doesn't mean
anythin
', Lai Hua. That"
"Please…" Waiting until Jake was silent once more, Lai Hua continued softly. "Here, in this place where we live, you would be looked upon poorly if our association were known. Men would ridicule you, and women would turn away from you. You would suffer in their eyes because you find enjoyment in my body."
Jake's protest was spontaneous. "Lai Hua, it's not only your body I enjoy."
"Please, Mr. Jake. Allow me to continue." Waiting only until Jake was again silent, Lai Hua continued intently. "This harshness, this separation marked by the color of our skin is not confined to your people alone. My people are poor, but their pride is great. They would see in my love for you a betrayal of all that I am. My father would look upon me with anger, and he would feel great shame."
Unable to dispute the truth in Lai Hua's candid statement, Jake attempted a smile.
"But there's no one here to hear you when you say my name, Lai Hua. You're not my servant. If a separation exists between us outside this cabin, I want there to be none when you're in my arms."
A bittersweet pain touched her heart as Lai Hua looked into the face of the man she loved, but she could not relent in the face of a truth so deeply ingrained within her. Her response was a soft plea. "You must allow me this formality, Mr. Jake. It is a small concession I make to the world outside this place. It allows me to maintain my touch with the person I am, and to acknowledge your superior position in the world in which we live. My feelings for you are such that I would not demean you, even in our most private moments by treating you as less than you are." A low scoffing sound escaped the lips so close to hers. "Less than I am. I'm an ex-convict, Lai Hua, and no matter how much I rationalize the payroll robberies in my mind, I'm a thief."
Raising her hand, Lai Hua traced the fine freckles that dusted the clear skin of Jake's cheek. "You are the man I love."
Lai Hua's simple declaration was met with silence, and she continued with an instinctive insight. "But it is not my manner of addressing you that is the true source of your discomfort this night, Mr. Jake. Although our bodies have responded to the joy we experience in each other, I can sense your tension. Something is wrong."
"Yes,
somethin's
wrong."
Lai Hua's heart fluttered as Jake slid his fingers through the silky hair at her temples. How very much she loved his touch. It made her heart sing. But he was frowning. His light brows were drawn together in a straight line, and his lips were tight as he continued to speak.
"I didn't want to come here tonight, Lai Hua. I had made up my mind I wasn't
goin
' to see you again. But the truth was, I couldn't make myself stay away any longer."
The pain Jake's words caused Lai Hua was intense. She had known he did not intend to see her again.
Jake gave a low, self-contemptuous laugh. "After I left you the last time, I was afraid to trust you.
Somethin
' seemed wrong, like you were
hidin
'
somethin
' from me. You made me doubt you, and I kept
rememberin
' the last time I trusted a woman who said she loved me."
Lai Hua's eyes grew moist as she read the torment on his face. "You still doubt me, do you not, Mr. Jake? Even as you tied the red ribbon to the bush, calling me to you again, you did not trust me. You would not enter this place to wait for me for fear of being overwhelmed by those I might have brought with me, is that not true?"
" Yes."
Lai Hua took a deep breath, realizing all she stood to lose in losing this man. "And now, Mr. Jake?"
"Now, Lai Hua? Now I realize it makes little difference how I think, because it's how I feel that rules my mind. I feel bad… real bad without you, Lai Hua, and when I'm with you I feel real good. I made a choice before I tied that ribbon. I decided that if I risked my life by
askin
' you to meet me here tonight, it would be worth it."
Tears choked Lai Hua's throat. Mr. Jake refused to speak the words she so wished to hear, but his heart was in his eyes. Her own heart bursting with her love for this man, Lai Hua slid her arms around his neck.
"I will teach you to trust me again, Mr. Jake. I will show you that I will never put another before you in my mind or in my heart."
Jake made no response except to pull Lai Hua again into his embrace. A soft sigh of joy escaped her lips as their flesh met, and Lai Hua gave herself to him, striving to erase with their joining the doubts that lay between them and the pain of the knowledge, silently confirmed within her mind, that this was all there would ever be.
Within the hour they parted, and Lai Hua drew herself from Jake's embrace with reluctance. His reluctance to part as strong as hers, Jake touched her arm, staying her as she attempted to move toward the door of the cabin. "Saturday, Lai Hua… I'll be here as soon as it's dark."
Lai Hua turned with a frown. "No, I cannot meet you."
Jake's instinctive stiffening was all too revealing.
"No, Mr. Jake. You must not think I do not wish to meet you. There is no place I would rather be than in your arms."
Jake was not appeased. "What is it, then?"
"A party. Mr. Dale and Miss Devina are giving a party. It is to be a very big affair, and many people will attend. Miss Devina has hired others to help serve, but she has put me in charge of directing those who are new to the house and unfamiliar with her plans."
"A party?" Jake gave a sudden incredulous laugh. "That's a real joke. Ross had the
feelin
' he was
gettin
' Dale worried, especially with this last robbery, but it looks like that damned fool Dale is
celebratin
'
losin
' another payroll!"
Lai Hua shook her head. "No, Mr. Dale was very angry about this most recent robbery, but he said he would not allow the thieves to think that they had intimidated him."
Jake's youthful face broke into a full smile. "Well, that's more like it." He reached out, his hand cupping Lai Hua's slender neck to draw her mouth up to his. "We'll let Mr. Dale have his party, then. He'd better enjoy it, 'cause if Ross has
anythin
' to say about things, it'll be the only enjoyment Dale will have for a while."
His expression suddenly serious, Jake brushed Lai Hua's mouth lightly with his. "All right, Lai Hua." Taking the red ribbon Lai Hua had returned to him from his pocket, he held it close to her cheek. "Be on the lookout for this. You'll be
seein
' it soon."
"And I will be waiting, Mr. Jake."
Turning, Lai Hua moved quickly through the doorway toward the trail. A sudden movement in the darkness caused her to miss her step, and she gasped. At her side in moments, Jake drew his gun. Taking the lantern from Lai Hua with his other hand, he held it high to scan the surrounding shadows.
Lai Hua stood beside him in silence. She was trembling. She was not certain what she had seen, but she had seen something. She was still trembling when Jake again turned in her direction.
"I don't see
anythin
', Lai Hua. I'm
thinkin
' it was some small animal out on a night prowl."
A chill moved down Lai Hua's spine, and she swallowed tightly. Unwilling to show her sudden, inexplicable fear, Lai Hua attempted a smile.
"Perhaps, Mr. Jake."
Lai Hua attempted to take the lantern from Jake's hand, but he refused to relinquish it as he slipped his arm around her shoulders.
"No,
darlin
'. I'll walk part of the way back with you." Lai Hua's protest was spontaneous. "No, you must not. It is too dangerous."
Jake's eyes flamed in the spill of light from the lantern. "I told you, Lai Hua. I've made up my mind that you're worth the risk… any risk."
Lai Hua's throat was too choked to allow response. She could do no more than lean lightly against Jake's side as he tightened his arm around her narrow shoulders and urged her onto the trail.
Only after Jake and Lai Hua had slipped out of sight on the trail did the shadow concealed in the darkness again chance a move. They did not see the tense frustration that marked the dark figure's posture as it paused in indecision. They did not hear the angry hiss that escaped its lips when it turned at last to slip into the darkness from whence it had come.
«» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «»
Charles had been writing for an hour, and his hand was getting cramped. Sitting back abruptly in his chair, he took a deep breath and stretched both arms over his head, clenching and unclenching his right hand in an effort to restore its mobility. Damn, that's what he got for putting off his paperwork for so long. But he had been too preoccupied of late to attend to details.
Charles checked the folders on his desk. He had updated eight of his patients' files, and he was caught up for now. At least that was one concern off his mind.
His preoccupation of the last week was dangerous. Realizing the need to stay close to the Dale household if he was to learn anything new about the payroll thieves, Charles had made certain to see Devina at least once a day. The combination of their new familiarity and his strange unrest had found him close, in far too many occasions, to an unwise word or action, which could have caused Devina to become suspicious of his true reason for cultivating her interest.
As far as he had been able to ascertain, however, Harvey Dale had not yet hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency, as he had threatened. Damn, that would be a disaster. He had to find a way to discourage that move, to make sure that Harvey…
An unexpected knock at the door interrupted Charles's train of thought, and he frowned. His eyes darted to the clock on his desk, and his frown darkened. It was too late for a casual caller. He hurried to the door. It could not be Charlie Rigger. It wasn't Lucille's time yet.