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The silver light of dawn was moving across the night sky outside his window when Harvey Dale's gray head snapped up at the sound of a sharp rap on his library door. The door opened to reveal a slight Oriental flanked by Sam Sharpe and Wally Smith.
His bearded face clearly reflecting his contempt, Sam motioned to the silent Asian in front of him. "This the
fella
you been
waitin
' for, Mr. Dale?"
Harvey met the man's gaze, then addressed him sharply.
"Are you the man China Mary told me to expect? Can you take me to my daughter?"
The Oriental bowed slightly in response. "Yes, Mr. Dale."
The chair on which he had been sitting lurched backward as Harvey Dale stood with a snap.
"How long will it take to get there?"
"A few hours, Mr. Dale."
"All right, then, let's get going."
Making certain to keep the Oriental in front of him, Harvey walked through the house and onto the porch to face the mounted men who waited outside. His eyes scanned the group, touching on Sheriff Bond and his four deputies, the two men of dubious reputation whom Sam Sharpe had hired at his request, and, at the rear, sitting on his horse silent and stone-faced, Charles Carter. Waiting until the Oriental had mounted his horse, Harvey addressed the men assembled.
"This Chinaman knows where my daughter is being held. He'll lead us there, and until we get there, he's the most important man in this group. I expect each and every one of you to protect him with your life. You'll be handsomely rewarded. You have my word on that."
Pausing to scan the group once more, Harvey walked toward the silent Charles Carter, aware that Sam Sharpe and Wally Smith were following at his heels. Halting to look up into Carter's sober face, Harvey fought to control the hatred shaking him. He addressed Carter in a low hiss.
"There is only one reason you're here with us this morning, Carter. That reason is my daughter, and my fear for her health. If Dr. Hastings had been available this morning, you wouldn't have gotten within fifty miles of this party. I won't risk my daughter's well-being because of my personal antipathy for you, but I warn you in front of these witnesses that if you try anything or attempt to help your brother in any way, I will have no more regard for your life than for that of a reptile crawling over the desert sand. Is that understood, Dr. Carter?"
Charles Carter gave a short nod. "I only wish I had always understood you is clearly as I do now, Harvey."
Turning to Sam Sharpe in a quick movement, Harvey instructed tightly, "If he makes a wrong move, kill him."
Sam Sharpe's thick lips curled into a smile. "My pleasure, Mr. Dale."
Turning on his heel, Harvey approached his horse and mounted. His heart pounding, his head strangely light, he raised his hand. An odd elation coursing through his mind, he ordered tightly, "Let's go!"
Within moments the group was moving down Fremont Street toward the distant rolling hills. The thunder of
hoofbeats
faded into soundlessness as the dust raised by their rapid departure settled in the early morning mist.
Morning
slitted
through the shaded window, and Lai Hua stared toward the first brilliant rays of sunshine. She turned to the man who lay sleeping at her side, her eyes caressing his well-loved face. The night had been long, filled with tenderness, but she was aware that her ties to this man far exceeded the physical love they had shared. It was that love, and her fear for this man's life, which had brought her to him. It was that love which had caused her to compromise her honor, and it was that love which would force her again to leave him.
Slowly, with heartfelt reluctance, Lai Hua disengaged herself from Jake's arms. Her sorrow a deep ache within her, she slipped silently to the edge of the bed and started to rise, only to feel his hand slip around her wrist. His pale eyes rose to hers with loving warmth.
"Where are you
goin
',
darlin
'? I'm
thinkin
' there's no better way to begin the day than with a little
lovin
'." Jake's smile was almost apologetic. "You're
lookin
' at a greedy man, Lai Hua. It's
goin
' to be a long time before I'm ready to let you go."
Lai Hua's eyes remained intent on Jake's face. Her heart aching, she gently disengaged his hand. "I must leave, Mr. Jake. I have accomplished the purpose of my visit."
Jake's face went still. His pale eyes grew confused. He gave his head a short, disbelieving shake. "Lai Hua, you didn't really come here to say good-bye. Now that you realize what we mean to each other, you can't leave again. You know I didn't betray you, not intentionally."
Lai Hua stood beside the bed and reached for her clothes. With quick movements she stepped into her cotton pants and pulled on her jacket. Securing the fastenings, she turned back to Jake's astounded face. "I wish to speak these words fully clothed, Mr. Jake, for I will leave immediately after they are spoken. I know when I am done you will not resist my departure."
"Lai Hua, what are you
talkin
' about?"
"I am telling you that I spoke no deceit when I said my reason for coming to you last night was to bid you good-bye. I did not, however, speak my primary reason for the visit. You see, Mr. Jake, I was aware of the time you had spent in Tombstone and of the ransom note you delivered to Mr. Dale. I knew you would soon return to Mr. Morrison and the place where he is holding Miss Dale. I feared it would be this morning. True to my fear, you spoke that intention when I arrived at your door last night. I knew then the course I must take."
"Lai Hua, what are you
talkin
' about?" Jake made an attempt to take Lai Hua's arm, but she eluded his touch.
"Even as we now speak, Mr. Dale is taking his men to the place where Mr. Morrison is holding Miss Dale."
Jake leaped from the bed to stand before her, his hands biting into her arms, his voice harsh. "Explain yourself,
dammit
! And do it now!"
Wincing at the pain of his grip, Lai Hua raised her eyes to Jake's heated expression. "My position at the Dale household has allowed me to learn that an informant of my people has located Miss Dale. He is leading Mr. Dale, the sheriff, and a group of his men to the hideout. They started out this morning at dawn. I came here last night in fear for your life, should you discover this intended foray against your friend. It was too late for you to help your friend in any way, but I knew you would attempt to save him, and I could not allow the wanton disregard for your life that would ensue. I did not wish to see you die, Mr. Jake."
Jake's mouth cursed into a sneer. "So you came here,
knowin
' I would forget
everythin
' when you offered yourself to me,
knowin
' I wouldn't be able to resist
lovin
' you. Hell, you sure had me pegged. I played right into your hands, didn't I?
Believin
'
everythin
' you said,
everythin
' you did,
thinkin
' you had missed me as much as I'd missed you. Christ, and all the time you were
laughin
' at me.''
"I did not laugh, Mr. Jake. I but loved"
"Love! That's a joke, isn't it, Lai Hua? You turn your love off and on to suit your purpose. That's a real useful love you got there. I wish I could manage the same thing."
"Mr. Jake"
"Tell me the truth, Lai Hua."
Jake's hands were cutting into the soft flesh of her arms, but Lai Hua made no sound of distress.
"Tell me. Did your 'honor' make you choose Harvey Dale over me this time, too? Did you salve your conscience by
makin
' me betray my friend, just like you figure I made you betray yours? Is that what you did, Lai Hua?"
"No, Mr. Jake. I had no such intention! I"
Jake thrust Lai Hua away in a quick movement that sent her stumbling toward the door, but there was no regret in his pale eyes. Instead, they burned as they stared into her face, and Lai Hua was stung by the fury in his whispered words.
"Get out of here, Lai Hua. I never want to see you again. You've had your revenge, and you've managed it very well. Congratulate yourself on your
cunnin
', because you are that, Lai Hua.
Cunnin
' and
connivin
' and
everythin
' I never thought you to be. And now that I know what you really are, I don't want any part of you. Hell, I never thought I'd see the day I'd say it and mean it, but get out, Lai Hua. Get out and don't ever come back. "
Jake's anger cut hotly into Lai Hua's heart. She paused, hoping to speak a few words to assuage his pain, but his rage was too complete.
"
Dammit
, get out!"
Turning swiftly, Lai Hua ran from the room and down the hallway. Tears clouding her vision, she made her way to the rear entrance, out through the heavy door, and onto the staircase leading to the alley. She was leaving the way she had come, never to again return.
Silence. Devina could not bear the silence.
She cast a furtive glance toward Ross, who stood near the doorway of the cabin. She did not know the man she saw there. The tenderness, the concern, the warmth she had experienced in his arms, the side, of Ross she had begun to believe was the dominant part of his character, had disappeared as quickly as it had come. The old Ross Morrison had returned, the hard man filled with hatred and a need for revenge, the man whose cold black eyes menaced her every move. She missed the loving Ross. That man had worked his way into her heart and she loved him in a way she had not thought she dared to love. She wanted him back.
Devina approached him cautiously. She was within a few feet of him when he turned and saw her. The anger in his eyes caused a low regretful sound to escape her lips. "Ross, I don't want it to be this way."
Angry, his lips twisting into a bitter smile, Ross closed the distance between them.
"You don't want it to be what way, Devina? You don't want to spend the day avoiding my eyes. You don't want to feel this separation between us,?" Ross pulled her close against him and cupped her chin roughly with his hand, forcing her face up to his. "Is that what you want? Well, now I'll show you what I want."
Ross's mouth closed over hers. His hand slipped around to the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair, twisting it with a sweet possession as he consumed her with his kiss.
Breathless under his assault, her mind reeling, Devina protested the mastery over her senses with which Ross attempted to subdue her, even as her lips separated under his. Tearing his lips from hers with a low, gasping breath, Ross trailed his mouth along her cheek, her throat. His hands caressed the womanly swells beneath her coarse shirt until she gasped at the conflicting feelings assailing her.
"No, Ross, please."
"Please what, Devina? Please make love to me? Please let me go? Tell me how I can please you!"
"Ross…"
His laugh was short, harsh. "You don't have to answer. It doesn't really make any difference, just as it doesn't make any difference whose face you see when you look at me. Soon you'll only see me, and when that time comes, you won't want to talk anymore. You'll only want to feel, just as I'm making you feel now, as only I can make you feel. You'll forget that there ever was another man with my face. You'll forget any other man ever existed, and you'll only want me. Then I'll"
"Ross Morrison, this is Sheriff Bond. Your cabin is surrounded."
Ross's strong arms, holding her close, went suddenly stiff. Devina felt the shock of realization move through his body, even as it moved through her own, as her startled gasp echoed in the silence of the cabin.
"I know you're in there, Morrison," the voice shouted from outside the cabin. "And I know you have Devina Dale with you. I want you to send her out first, so we can see she's all right. Then I want you to come out behind her with your hands up."
Ross abruptly closed the door, plunging the cabin into semi-darkness. Devina felt a tremor of fear move down her spine as he reached for his gun, his eyes glowing with a heated fervor.
"It looks like I was wrong, Devina. You just might get to see your father again, and you may get the man you want, after all."
"Morrison," the sheriff shouted, "there's no way you're going to get away. I've got ten men with me. Do yourself a favor and send Miss Dale out. You don't want her to get hurt."
Ross moved to the window to peer out from between the boards. "Eleven horses. It looks like the sheriff isn't bluffing." He turned back toward Devina with a hard smile.
"What do you think, Devina? Should I send you out to the sheriff?"
Fear coursed through Devina in sharp, quaking tremors. If her father was out there and if he had Sam Sharpe and Wally Smith with him, there would be no guarantee that they'd hold their fire if Ross chose to surrender. The memory of Sharpe's cold, lifeless eyes increased her shuddering. She sent Ross a pleading glance. "Let me talk to them, Ross. Let me tell them I'm all right."