A Heart So Wild (11 page)

He shook his head slowly, unperturbed. “I ain't wanted by the law, missy. I make sure I don't leave no witnesses to
my
crimes.”

Hanchett and Johnny Red laughed. Courtney had lost her advantage and sought to regain it.

“Well, I'm sure you're ruthless and despicable and so forth, so you have a lot in common with Chandos. He isn't nice at all. Why, do you know he tried to frighten me by telling me how many scalps he'd taken? I won't tell you the number.
I
didn't believe it, so why should you? He told me he'd ridden for several years with that vengeful Satanta, too. But I ask you, how could he have killed those seventeen wanted men for the bounties, as he claims? He isn't
that
old. How could he possibly have done so
much killing in so short a time? Impossible, I tell you—as I told him.”

“Shut up, woman,” Dare rasped, furious now.

“Why? Did you hear something?” Courtney said innocently. “It's probably Chandos. He should have been back long before now. But he won't come forward, you know. Why should he when he can just pick you off—”

“Johnny Red, stuff something in her goddamn mouth!” Dare snarled.

The shot was fired as the boy reached for her. It caught him in the left shoulder, propelling him away from her. The others leaped to their feet, including Courtney, who was suddenly terrified again.

Johnny Red was squirming on the ground, screaming that his bone was shattered. Courtney hardly heard him for the ringing in her ears, but she knew she had to warn Chandos.

“They mean to kill you, Chandos!”

She stopped as Dare's hand reached to slap her. His hand didn't touch her, however, because a bullet struck his elbow, paralyzing his arm. He dropped his gun. When Hanchett saw what happened to Dare, he turned his drawn gun on her. It was shot right out of his hand. Courtney's ears continued ringing as she stared around in utter amazement.

“Fools!” Romero shouted. “He protects the woman! Leave her alone!” Then he called out to Chandos, “
Señor
, no more shooting,
por favor
. You see, I put my gun away.”

This he did, then spread his arms wide. He was taking quite a chance that Chandos wouldn't shoot him, helpless as he was.

The ploy seemed to work, for Chandos didn't
fire again. All was utterly still outside the circle of fire. Close to the the fire, Johnny Red groaned and Hanchett made gasping sounds as he held his bleeding hand.

Courtney wasn't nearly so frightened anymore, though her limbs still trembled. Chandos had done it. He had gotten the upper hand.

Why didn't he just tell them all to get on their horses and leave? Why didn't he speak?

Romero came slowly around the fire to help Dare bandage his arm. “Be sensible,
amigo
,” Courtney heard Romero whisper. “He could have killed us all in a matter of seconds. Instead, he only wounded us. Ask your questions of him and then let us go. You no longer have the advantage.”

“I still have her,” Dare hissed, looking at Courtney.

She stared back at him. “I don't think so, mister. I could walk out of here now, and you wouldn't dare stop me. Wherever he is out there, he has all of you covered.”

How much pleasure she derived from watching the man's eyes burn with anger because it was true. But as if Dare couldn't accept the facts, he took a step toward her. Another shot rang out, this bullet smashing into Dare's thigh, the pain bringing him down with a scream.

Romero grabbed Dare's shoulders and held on to him. “No more! You will have us all riddled with holes if you do not desist!”

“Good advice.”

“Chandos!” Courtney cried delightedly, turning in the direction of his voice.

As she began to focus on the darkness outside
the clearing, she had the greatest urge to run and throw herself at him, but she didn't dare distract him. He stood on the edge of the clearing, his gun leveled at the outlaws, his hat shadowing his eyes so that no one could tell who he was watching. He looked hard and uncompromising. To Courtney, he looked wonderful.

“You are Chandos?” Romero stood up, keeping his arms extended away from his body. “You make much over nothing,
señor
. You were looking for my friend here. He accommodates you by coming to you. He only wanted to know why you hunted him.”

“That's a lie!” Courtney retorted, pointing a damning finger at Dare. “He meant to kill you after he had his answers. That one told me so.” She nodded at Romero. “He also told me what would happen after you were dead, they would—would—”

“You still having trouble with the word, lady?” Chandos said. How could he joke at a time like this, she wondered.

“Well, they would have!” she snapped.

“Oh, I've no doubt of that, love,” Chandos replied. “And while you're still so full of indignation, why don't you gather up their guns for me?”

It took her a moment to move, she was so surprised at what he had called her. But as she leaned over to pick up the first gun, she realized he wanted the men to believe she was his woman.

Careful not to step in front of any of the men, and thereby block Chandos's view, she scooped up Dare's and Hanchett's guns from the
ground. Johnny Red's was still in his holster. Romero handed her his, and then she snatched her own gun from his belt, giving him a triumphant look as she did so.

“Do not be vengeful,
bella
,” he told her softly. “You will remember that I helped you?”

“Certainly,” she replied. “As I will remember the reason you gave for helping me. Shall I tell Chandos all of it and let him judge whether you helped me or not?”

She moved away without giving him a chance to answer. She disliked him in particular, for he had played on her fear, frightening her terribly, then giving her hope, then dashing that hope. They were all despicable, but he was crueler than the others.

She moved along the outer edges of the clearing until she was beside Chandos, dropping the guns behind him. She kept her own gun. “I know you'd probably rather not be overwhelmed by my gratitude right now,” she said softly, pressing close to his back. She gave him a quick hug. “But I have to tell you how glad I am you came back when you did.”

“You're all wet,” he muttered.

“I was taking a bath when they showed up.”

“In your clothes?”

“In my underclothes, of course.”

“Of course.” He chuckled.

And then he amazed Courtney—and amazed the others as well—by saying to them quietly, “Take off…while you still can.”

He was letting them go!

I
T wasn't a full moon, but it was bright enough to cast a silvery glow on the wide tributary that fed into the Arkansas River. It was bright enough that Courtney could see clearly the men who were forced to cross the water.

She stood on the bank next to Chandos and watched the horses floundering. The swift-moving current parted Hanchett from his horse. With his injured hand, she had doubted he would make it across. But he did, surprisingly, as did his horse, and she and Chandos stood there watching Hanchett and the other two men as they headed north, back toward Kansas. They watched until the men were out of sight.

Then, as if everything were perfectly normal, as if Dare Trask weren't strung up to a tree within sight of the fire, Chandos proceeded to skin the two squirrels he had caught. He had apparently caught them with his bare hands, for they bore no wounds and he hadn't fired a single shot while he was hunting. He put them over the fire to roast, then opened another can of beans and brewed more coffee. Courtney sat there staring at Dare Trask, feeling sick.

Chandos had announced that Trask wasn't leaving with the others. He had called Trask by his whole name, indicating that he knew him, or knew of him. Then he forced Romero to bind Trask's hands and feet together, incredibly, with Trask's own shirt and pants. He sent Courtney after the rope on his saddle, and she nearly got lost trying to find Surefoot where Chandos had left him.

She brought both the pinto and the rope to Chandos, and stood there as Chandos directed Romero to tie the rope to Trask's bound wrists, warning that if it wasn't tight enough, Trask would probably break both legs in the fall. What he meant became obvious when Chandos dragged Trask to the nearest tree, using only one hand, for his other hand was holding his gun. He hoisted Trask several feet into the air, securing the rope around the tree trunk.

“Are you going to kill him?” Romero asked.

“No,” Chandos replied. “But he's going to suffer a little bit for what he did here.”

“He did nothing to you,
señor
.”

“True. It's what he would have done to the lady that I object to. No one touches her but me, you understand.”

Romero looked at Courtney, wondering whether she had lied to him about her relationship with Chandos. Then he looked back at Chandos.

“I think this has to do not only with the woman, but with why you were looking for my
amigo, sí
?”

Chandos didn't answer. He brought forward the men's horses, removing the rifles sheathed on two of the horses before he handed the
beasts over to their riders. He tossed their rifles and handguns into the river a bit later.

Well, they were gone now, and Dare Trask was still dangled from the tree, a handkerchief stuck in his mouth now because he had started shouting for his men to come back for him and Chandos had gotten tired of listening to it. Stretched as he was, Courtney knew he must be in terrible pain. His wounds continued bleeding, even the one that had been hastily bandaged.

She supposed he deserved this, and more, but she had no stomach to watch. She knew she would have felt differently if he had succeeded in raping her, or if Chandos were dead. But, nevertheless, she couldn't enjoy Trask's suffering.

Did Chandos? She couldn't tell. His expression was, as always, inscrutable. He prepared their food and ate his supper with an air of indifference. Still, he watched Trask the whole time.

When she tried to talk to Chandos, he told her to keep quiet, that he needed to listen in case the others decided to come back. She did as she was told.

Then he told her to get everything packed up and to saddle her horses. They were leaving, and she was delighted. But when she was ready, and had led the horses forward, including his and Trask's, Chandos seemed to have changed his mind. The fire wasn't out. In fact, he was banking it to last. Nor had he moved Trask.

Chandos turned and looked at her with such
a serious expression that her stomach leaped in apprehension.

“You're not thinking of—of—you are!” She didn't know how she fathomed what he was thinking, but she did. “You want me to leave without you, don't you?”

Taking her hand, he pulled her to the far edge of the clearing. “Don't upset yourself unnecessarily, lady. I want you to ride out ahead of me is all. Walk the horses slowly south. I'll catch up with you in a few minutes.”

He was back to calling her lady. And he was dead serious. She couldn't believe it.

“You're going to kill him, aren't you?” she demanded.

“No.”

“Then you're going to torture him!”

“Woman,” he said, “where's that calm that had you talking circles around four desperadoes?”

“You're sending me out where there are Indians and you expect me to be calm? Your shots were probably heard. There's probably a dozen . . a hundred savages swarming around out there right now.”

“Do you really think I'd let you walk into danger?”

He said it so softly she was brought up short.

“I'm sorry,” she said, shamefaced. “It's just that I'm such a coward.”

“You're braver than you think, lady. Now go on, and I'll catch up in a few minutes. I've got some things to say to Trask that you shouldn't hear.”

B
ROWN hair, brown eyes, those could belong to anyone, but the missing two fingers identified the man as Dare Trask. Chandos stood in front of his enemy, trying to control himself, trying to keep the memories at bay so they wouldn't interfere. Dare Trask had raped his mother. He hadn't killed her, but he had defiled her. He was the last man living who had done so.

Dare Trask was also one of three men who had raped Leaping Wolf's wife. And it was Trask's knife that had plunged into the young woman's belly when he was finished with her—not a clean thrust, but one intended to make her suffer more before she died.

For that alone Trask deserved to die, and for the rest he deserved to die slowly. And he would, today or tomorrow, possibly even the day after. But Chandos wouldn't be there to see it. Nor did he want to see it. After four years, the desire for vengeance had pretty much gone out of him—except where Wade Smith was concerned. Wade Smith would die by Chandos's hand. But with Trask, well, it had become a matter of finishing what he had sworn to do. Beyond that, Chandos didn't care.

Trask wouldn't know why he was going to die unless Chandos explained. And Chandos wanted Trask to understand everything, to realize that his brutal outrages had caught up with him.

Chandos pulled the gag out of Trask's mouth, then stepped back several feet and looked up at him. Trask spit at Chandos to show his contempt. There was no fear in the man's eyes.

“Breed,” Dare rasped. “I know you ain't gonna kill me. I heard you tell your woman that.”

“You sure that's what you heard?”

Some of the belligerence went out of Trask. “What the hell do you want? I didn't touch the goddamn woman. You got no call to—”

“This has nothing to do with the woman, Trask.”

“So Romero was right? Then what'd you use her as an excuse for?”

“Your friends don't need to know what's between you and me. They'll merely think I'm a jealous man, that's all. They'll wonder why they never see you again, but they'll never know what really happened here.”

“Like hell! They'll be back, and soon! They ain't gonna just leave me here.”

Chandos shook his head slowly. “I'll make you the last wager of your life, Trask. I'll bet your friends have already seen signs of Indians in the area, and at this very moment they're riding like hell for the border.”

“Liar,” Trask blustered. “We didn't see no—you seen signs?”

“I didn't have to. I know they're near. We usually travel together. But this time, because
of the woman, they're keeping a distance. Indians frighten her, you see.”

“She travels with you,” Trask pointed out.

Chandos nodded without offering any explanation.

“I know what you're trying to do, breed,” his adversary said. “Dare Trask don't frighten that easy. We're too close to the border for there to be Indians hereabouts anyhow.”

Chandos shrugged. “It's not something I have to prove to you, Trask. When they find you, you'll know it. I'm leaving you for them as a gift, you might say.”

“A gift?” Trask shouted, showing the fear he was beginning to feel. “If you want to kill me, do it—or aren't you man enough?”

But Chandos wouldn't be goaded, and he was tired of talking to the vermin. “It's not that I don't want to kill you, Trask,” he said softly, stepping closer. “Look at me. Look at my eyes. You've seen these eyes before, Trask, though they weren't mine. Or have you raped so many women that you can't remember the woman I'm referring to?” When Trask gasped, Chandos added coldly, “So you
do
remember.”

“That was four goddamn years ago!”

“Did you think, because so much time had passed, you had escaped Comanche vengeance? Don't you know what happened to the others who were with you that day?”

Trask did know. He paled. He had believed it was over, that the savages who had searched out the others had taken their fill of vengeance. Not so.

Trask fought wildly at his bonds, but they were tight. Chandos could smell his fear now,
and the eyes that beseeched him were filled with knowledge of his death.

Satisfied, Chandos turned away and mounted his horse. He caught the reins of Trask's roan and called to Trask, “You know my reason for wanting you dead, Trask. But remember also the young Comanche woman who suffered first your rape and then a cruel, slow death.”

“She was nothing but a goddamn Indian!”

Chandos's pangs of conscience were silenced by that. “She was a beautiful, gentle woman, a mother whose baby also died that day, and a wife whose husband still mourns her. She had never hurt a soul in her whole life. She was all that was good and kind. And you killed her. So I am giving you to her husband. He wants you, and I don't.”

Chandos rode away, his mind closed to Trask's screaming for Chandos to come back and kill him. Chandos heard, instead, the screams of women and children, raped, tortured, slaughtered. They were nearby, just as the warriors were, though he couldn't see them. But he could feel them watching, and he knew they understood.

After a little while, Chandos caught sight of Courtney in the distance, and the spectres faded away. She banished the past. She was balm for his soul, this sweet innocent woman in the midst of a cruel world.

She had stopped in the middle of a flat plain, and she and her mare were cloaked in a mantle of silver moonlight. He quickened his pace.

As he approached, she burst into tears. Chandos smiled. It wasn't like her to hold her feelings in, but she had done so tonight, admirably.
She'd been calm and courageous when she needed to be. Now that she was safe, she cried.

He swept her off her horse and onto his, holding her tightly in front of him. She snuggled against him, continuing to cry, and he held her, glad she was crying the fear out of her. When she was done, he gently tilted her face to his and kissed her.

It didn't take Courtney long to realize that this kiss was entirely intentional. A giddy rush rose up so quickly inside her that she became frightened of it and pushed herself away from Chandos.

She stared up at him breathlessly. His composure sparked her temper.

“You can't say you meant to shut me up this time.”

“Are you going to ask me why I kissed you?” he said with a sigh.

“I was—”

“Don't, little cat, because if I tell you, we're going to end up bedding down right here, and come morning you won't be the innocent you are now.”

Courtney gasped. “I—I didn't think you found me—attractive.”

He grunted. There were no words of assurance that he did, no declaration, just a grunt. What the devil did he mean?

“I think you'd better set me back on my horse, Chandos,” she said hesitantly.

“Is that the ‘proper' thing to do at this point?”

Every fiber of her being wanted to stay right where she was, but his sarcasm got to her. “Yes,” she said primly, “It is.”

She landed in her saddle with a jolt, and barely had time to gather her reins before her horse started following Chandos's horse.

She was in a veritable daze for the whole ride. Chandos wanted her!