This Fierce Splendor (19 page)

Elspeth whirled away from the window and ran to the armoire across from the bed. She jerked a gown from within its depths and shrugged out of her robe. She didn’t bother to take off her nightgown, but pulled the black gown over it. She fastened the front of the bodice with fingers that trembled with haste.

There was no time to put on her shoes and button them. She would just have to go barefoot. Who would notice her feet anyway? she thought wildly. They were going to hang a man down there in the streets and she was worrying about shoes.

She ran to the window, swung her legs over the sill to the second floor balcony. She cast a quick glance below and the blood froze in her veins. The mob had reached the tree!

She ran down the steps and then was tearing along the dirt street. She stumbled and fell to her knees and then was up again, running.

Thank God, the crowd seemed in no hurry to accomplish its purpose. A rope was thrown over the lowest branch of the oak tree in a fashion that was almost leisurely. There was more laughter and several ribald remarks tossed back and forth. Then a noose was slipped over Andre’s head and tightened around his neck.

She had reached the outer edges of the crowd and she started to push her way through the throng. Her breath was coming in gasps and she felt dizzy and sick. “Stop! You’ve got to stop.” They couldn’t hear her. Her voice was so weak it was scarcely audible. “Don’t do this!” she cried as loudly as she could.

She was suddenly closer, almost to the forefront of the crowd. Then the mob shifted and she was suddenly thrust against the rough bole of the oak tree. A blinding pain flashed in her head and for an instant her dizziness became blackness. Then the darkness cleared and she could see the reason the crowd had shifted. They were watching a tall, bearded man with a small hatchet who was hacking at the branches of a bush a few yards away from the oak tree. Elspeth looked desperately around the circle of spectators, seeking help.

There were faces she recognized, she realized with despair, but there would be no help. Will Judkins, Charlie Bonwit, the blacksmith at the livery stable, the golden-haired woman she had seen that night at the Nugget. They were all staring at Andre with the same expression. Anticipation. They all
wanted
this to happen.

“What in God’s name are you doing here?”

Ben Travis!

She turned to him eagerly. “Ben, tell them to stop it. Tell them it’s a mistake.”

“It’s not a mistake. The man is guilty as hell,” Ben said bluntly. “Now, you get out of here and go back to Dominic.”

“Dominic’s at Rina’s,” she said dully.

For an instant there was a flicker of pity in Ben’s roughhewn face. “So soon?” He glanced away almost as if he were embarrassed. “Well, he’s a man who likes variety. Someone should have warned you about that before you ran off with him.” His hand closed on her arm. “Go back to the hotel anyway. Sometimes the boys get kind of excited when they see something like this. There’s no telling what kind of trouble you could get into here.”

The bearded man had finished cutting the switch from the bush and was sauntering toward Andre.

“No!” Elspeth screamed. “Don’t do this to him.” She stepped forward, trying to get to the man holding the switch.

“Are you loco?” Ben grabbed her by the arms, holding her helpless. “You interfere now and they’ll tear you apart.”

She struggled desperately, her breath coming in harsh sobs. “Let me go. I have to—” She broke off as her gaze suddenly met Andre’s.

He was only a few yards away and looking directly at her. His face was chalk-pale and his eyes still held that look of helplessness and confusion. But now there was stark terror in them also. Then, as she watched, two tears rolled down his plump cheeks.

“Don’t let Nicholas know I was frightened,” he called softly to her. “Don’t tell anyone I wept. Don’t tell …” His last words were drowned in the sudden cry that went up from the crowd as the switch whistled through the air and came down on the horse’s hindquarters. It leaped forward!

Elspeth’s scream ripped through the night.

Silver ran up the front steps, threw open the door, and dashed into the parlor, where five women in various states of undress lounged on the tufted sofa and the several chairs that furnished the room. “Dominic,” she said breathlessly. “Where is he?”

“Busy.” The red-haired woman who answered had one shapely leg thrown over the arm of the plumply cushioned turkish chair on which she was sitting. She smiled lazily at Silver. “Very busy. Even for Dominic. You can leave a message, but I don’t think he’s going to want to be disturbed.”

A small bonehandled knife appeared in Silver’s hand. “Where?” she repeated.

The smile disappeared from the red-haired woman’s lips. “Rina.” Her gaze was fixed warily on the glittering blade of the knife. “Upstairs. Second door to the left.”

Silver turned and took the steps to the second floor two at a time. She threw open the door to Rina’s room and stood in the doorway, her breasts lifting and falling with the force of her breathing, gazing impatiently at the naked man sitting on the bed and the
equally naked woman kneeling before him on the floor.

“You have no time for this. Get your clothes on and come with me. Elspeth needs you.” Silver marched forward, grabbed a handful of Rina’s gleaming brown hair, and pulled her face from between Dominic’s thighs. “Hurry, Dominic, we have no time.”

“The hell we don’t,” Dominic growled. “Silver, I believe I’m going to scalp you. Get the hell back to the hotel and—” He broke off. He shook his head to clear it of the brandy fumes that were misting his thinking. “Elspeth? What’s the devil’s wrong with Elspeth?”

Silver nodded as she quickly gathered Dominic’s clothing from the floor and tossed them to him. “You have to stop the hanging. Elspeth is very worried about the man.”

“What hanging?” Dominic began to dress automatically.

“I told you about the hanging.” Rina stood up and reached for the yellow satin robe edged with sealskin that was draped over the bedpost. “The horse thief.” She slipped the robe on and turned to face Silver, gazing at her icily. “I don’t like to be interrupted, Indian.”

Silver glared back. “I robbed you of nothing you cannot replace. Find another man to pleasure you. I have need of Dominic.” She bent, picked up one of Dominic’s boots, and threw it to the carpet at his feet. She turned away. “Find his other boot while I get his gunbelt.”

Rina hesitated and then a grudging smile touched her lips. She turned away and began looking for the missing boot.

“For God’s sake, what has Elspeth to do with a horse thief?” Dominic jammed his foot into the boot while he finished buttoning his shirt.

“She says she knows the Russian and the hanging is a mistake.”

“Russian?” He knew of only one Russian in Hell’s Bluff. Andre Marzonoff. He knew very little about the man other than that he was a godawful poker player,
but he vaguely recalled hearing he had arrived in Hell’s Bluff on the same stage as Elspeth. “Andre Marzonoff is the horse thief?”

Silver nodded as she handed him his gunbelt. “And I think if you do not stop the hanging, Elspeth will try to do it herself.”

“Christ.” He buckled his gunbelt on with swift hands. Knowing Elspeth, he had no doubt she would try to stop it. “Why the devil did you leave her alone?”

“If you had not been here, I would not have had to leave her alone,” Silver said with sudden ferocity. “Why did you not return when you knew there was to be a hanging? Even if Elspeth did not know the man, it would not have been good for her to see this happen.”

“I forgot the hanging tree could be seen from the hotel. I guess I didn’t think—”

“You thought of nothing but liquor and fornicating,” Silver said coldly.

She was right, Dominic thought wearily. If he hadn’t been desperately seeking to erase the tormenting need for Elspeth from his mind and body, he would have been aware of how the hanging would affect her.

“Your boot.” Rina offered him the second boot she had found behind the chair. She cast a half-mocking glance at Silver. “Anything else, Indian?”

Silver nodded curtly. “He will need a horse. We will not get there in time on foot.”

Rina moved swiftly and gracefully toward the door. “I’ll have Li Tong saddle my mare.” The door closed behind her.

Dominic pulled on his other boot. “How much time do we have?”

“It depends on how eager they are to hang him.” Silver’s lips tightened. “But Elspeth will not wait long.”

Dominic felt a cold finger of panic touch his spine and he went quickly to the door. “Let’s go!” He ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out on the porch. Li Tong had just finished drawing the cinches of the
saddle on the mare tied to the hitching rail in the street. Dominic hit the saddle with one spring and pulled Silver up behind him.

Rina stood by the hitching rail, a derisive smile on her lips. “Take care of my mare, Indian. If you don’t bring her back, I’ll take the price out of your hide.” Her gaze ran over Silver in sudden speculation. “Which might not be a bad idea. I don’t have any Indian women at my house. Interested?”

“No, she’s not,” Dominic said shortly. His heels prodded the mare into a run.

Silver’s arms tightened around his waist, her cheek pressed against his shoulder blade. The mare was fast, her gait smooth and even, but would she be fast enough? she wondered. No more than fifteen minutes had gone by since she had left Elspeth and perhaps … A sudden roar of voices disturbed the stillness, and Silver’s hopes plummeted.

A piercing scream shattered the darkness ahead.

Dominic’s body tensed, his spine became rigid. “Elspeth,” he whispered. How many times had he heard her scream just that way in the night when she was attacked by those terrifying nightmares? Now it wasn’t dreams but reality that was threatening her and he might be too late to drive it away.

He turned the corner and saw the hanging tree directly in front of him at the end of the street. He heard a second shout go up and felt a cold sickness knot his belly. He didn’t have to look at the man dangling at the end of the rope to know it was over. Too late.

The mob was melting away quietly, not looking at one another, almost subdued now. It was always like that at any lynching Dominic had ever witnessed. First the exhilaration, then the quiet, casual dispersal as if denying the act had even happened.

His gaze anxiously raked the crowd. “I don’t see her. God, she has to be here. I heard her, dammit.”

“There.” Silver pointed. “By the tree.”

Dominic caught a glimpse of tawny hair against the
rough brown bark of the oak and urged the mare forward, picking his way through the crowd.

Elspeth was standing by the tree, staring blindly up at the grotesque obscenity that was now Andre Marzonoff. Ben Travis was beside her, speaking low but vehemently into her ear. She didn’t answer him. She didn’t ignore him. It was as if she didn’t realize he was there.

Dominic’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her face. She was marble-pale in the moonlight, her thin body swaying slightly. He stopped the mare before them. He didn’t know what to say. What the hell
could
he say to her? “Elspeth, I’m sorry. Lord, I’m so so sorry.”

She wasn’t listening. “He was terribly ashamed of being frightened,” she whispered. “Even at the end. He so wanted to be like Nicholas, like you, Dominic. He even tried to dress like you. You gambled, he gambled. You stole a woman, he stole a horse.” The tears were running slowly down her cheeks. “I’m sure he didn’t understand the difference. He wanted only to be like you. Why couldn’t they see that?”

Dominic felt as if he were being ripped to pieces. He swung off the mare, tossed the reins to Silver, and took a step closer to Elspeth. He wanted to touch her, comfort her, but all he could do was stand and stare at her. “I don’t know,” he said hoarsely. “I guess we sometimes do things in too much of a hurry.”

“They wouldn’t listen to him. He could have paid for the horse ten times over.”

“That wasn’t the point,” Ben Travis said gruffly. “He stole it.” He turned to Dominic. “Get her out of here. I can’t talk her into leaving.”

Elspeth’s gaze was still on the hanging man. “He won’t take Andre down. He’s going to leave him there all night.”

“You know the rule, Dom. The body is to be left swinging for a full twenty-four hours.”

“Cut him down, Ben.”

Ben shook his head. “Not me. We made a rule and we’ve got to stick to it. That’s the only way law can work.”

“Law,” Elspeth repeated wonderingly. “What law?”

“Our law. Hell, it’s not perfect, but it’s all we’ve got,” Ben said. “And it’s better than no law at all. I’ve seen lawless towns, and so have you, Dom.”

“Cut him down.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not going to—”

A shot shattered his words. The rope shredded and Andre’s body dropped to the ground. Dominic slid his Colt back into his holster. “Now you don’t have to cut him down. Just go get the undertaker and get him buried.” He paused. “Tonight. Tell Jake I’ll pay for it and that I don’t want any window displays or I’ll see that he joins Marzonoff.”

“The boys ain’t gonna like this.” Ben looked at Dominic and hastily added, “All right, all right, you don’t have to be so damn touchy.”

“What do you mean ‘window displays’?” Elspeth asked, staring at Andre’s body sprawled on the ground.

“Jake sometimes sets the coffin upright in the funeral parlor window after a hanging,” Ben said absently. “And then he—”

“Shut up.”
Dominic’s voice cut across his words like the switch that had whistled through the air to sting the rump of the horse bearing Andre. “My God, Ben, will you get the hell out of here?”

The older man looked a little startled. “I didn’t mean nothing.” He cast an apologetic glance back at Elspeth as he turned and started down the street. “Sorry. I guess it does sound kind of bad.”

“Barbaric,” Elspeth whispered. “Monstrous. I can’t understand this. When I first came here I thought everyone was so kind, and yet tonight … Everything is changed … different.”

“Take her back to the hotel,” Silver said fiercely. “She can hardly stand up. I will stay with the Russian until Jake comes.”