Just a Kiss Away (10 page)

She dipped the rag into the water, wrung it out with a couple of dainty twists, and casually washed her face and neck.

He towered over her, glaring down, unable to believe she could be that stupid.

She rubbed the damp rag over her eyes, then opened them, wiping under her hair and around the back of her neck. The whole time she purred like a creamery kitten.

“I’m washing,” she answered with an innocent look, acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do with the only water they had. She bent her head down, letting her bourbon-blond hair fall over her face while she ran the cloth over her neck. Through a curtain of hair she added, “I was feeling right sticky.”

He jerked the rag from her hands.

She whipped her head up, her hair falling down her back, and gasped, “What did you do that for?”

“Because, Miss Lollipop LaRue, you’re bathing with our drinking water.” He glared down at her.

“Surely not.” She frowned at the bucket.

He swore.

Now she leaned over the bucket, letting the murky water spill through her hands. She looked up at him, her face filled with disbelief. “But this water is . . . brown.”

“Brown or not, that’s all there is to drink.”

She sat there, shuddering. Her expression said she’d sooner die than drink that water.

He stumbled back to his corner and heard her knocking on the door. The guards didn’t open it. She banged louder. “Hey, y’all? Y’all! We need some more water!”

Still nothing. She glanced at him, then at the bucket. Her shoulders drooped. She sighed, stood there for a forlorn minute, and then slowly hobbled back over to the far corner. She slid to the floor, her head bent and her shoulders wilting like the conquered. She fidgeted with the rag, folding it this way and that. Every so often she’d sigh, not the lung-windy, dramatic expulsion of air she’d blasted out earlier. These were sighs of defeat. One thing neither of them could afford to do was give up.

“Hey there, Miss Lah-Roo.”

Her head shot up.

“Sing for me will you? I sleep better to the sound of a good cat fight.”

Her blue eyes iced with anger. Good, he thought. She still had some fight in her. His respect for her went up a notch, which didn’t really mean much, since it was so low to begin with.

Her nose went up, and she rammed her shoulders back like a Prussian soldier. “I wouldn’t sing at your funeral.”

God, what it took for him not to laugh. He’d have to give her credit for one thing: she wasn’t boring. In fact her presence broke the monotony. It was like dangling a string before a cat; he could play with her, and that kept his mind sharp.

She still glared at him. He could see her striving to make him shrivel. Her look dared him to respond. So he didn’t. He feigned nonchalance with a shrug of his shoulders and concentrated on listening to the sounds around the hut, as he’d been doing since the first hour of his capture. High above this single corner was a window. Through it he could get a good idea of what was happening in the encampment—when the guards changed, the number of men, and the sounds of wagons. The angle of daylight, the depth of shadows, and the smell of meals all gave him clues to the time of day and the camp’s routine.

He’d lean his head back against the wall, close his eye and concentrate, picturing the camp as the sounds came through the window. It was the only way he could determine the best time of day to make his escape.

“Oh, my Gawd!
Get it off me! Get it off!” Eulalie sat up, grabbing at her hair and shaking her head like a lathered horse.

She could feel the giant beetle’s legs scurrying over her scalp.

“Hold still, dammit!” Sam bent over her and jerked her head close to his chest with two hard handfuls of hair.

“Ouch! Oh, get it, pleeeeease!” Her nose smashed against his shirt pocket, which felt like it was iron-backed. One of his fists tightened, pulling her hair tighter and burning her scalp. Smarting tears filled her eyes. “Oooooh!” She sucked in a panicked breath. She could still feel the bug moving as his fingers picked through her tangled hair.

He swore a couple of times. Then she felt him grab the bug and rip it and part of her hair out.

“Aaaaaaaak!” Her hands shot over her throbbing head.

“Oh, shut up! It’s out now.” Disgust filled his voice, and he heaved the squirming, hair-tangled bug across the room. It hit the floor with a loud crackle.

She just sat there shivering while chills raced up her arms. She still felt as if bugs were crawling all over her. “Noah should have squished those things.”

He sat back on his heels and gave her a one-eyed stare. “They’re harmless.”

“I don’t care. I hate bugs. The only things I hate more than bugs are spiders.”

He continued to watch her, only now he had an odd smile on his face. It was not reassuring.

“Are there spiders here, too?” She looked back and forth across the hut, waiting for the army of spiders to come running toward her. Suddenly she could feel all kinds of creepy things around her. Her heart wedged in her throat.

“If there are, we’ll all know it. I’m sure they heard you in Belleview.”

“Belvedere,” she corrected.

“That’s right,” he said, his tone amused. “Belvedere, that bastion of the Lah-Roos. Don’t they have bugs there? Oh, I forgot. Don’t answer that,” he said, holding up his rough hands. “They wouldn’t allow any, since the bugs didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence.”

“That’s unfair, not to mention rude. I—”

The sudden rasp of the lock stopped their bickering. They both turned toward the opening door. Light from a kerosene lantern flooded the room, momentarily blinding her. Then the colonel stood in the doorway. One guard held the lantern and the door while two others held a knife and a long rifle poised for use.

Lollie glanced at Sam. He was eyeing the rifle.

The heat of Luna’s weaselly stare drew her attention. He raked his gaze over her.

She held her breath.

“They’ve agreed to the ransom. The exchange will take place in two days. We’ll go by boat to Colorido Bay.”

She stopped in mid-sigh. He’d said they were going by boat. Her stomach lurched at the thought, remembering the voyage over here and how she’d spent the entire time in bed or on the floor of the marine water closet, sicker than she’d ever been in her entire life. Other than the steward who’d brought fresh water, towels, and oranges, the only person Lollie had seen on the whole voyage was Mamie Philpott, the Methodist, who’d stood outside the water closet singing evangelical hymns. “Rock of Ages” had been the worst. The woman had sung it every time the ship lurched.

But seasickness would be worth it to get out of here, worth it to finally see her daddy. He
was
gonna save her. She smiled and looked up. Colonel Luna had that look again, and her smile faded. He walked toward her, never breaking his stare. She could feel Sam tense. Luna stood in front of her and reached out, running his finger down her cheek and under her chin. He tilted her face up. She wanted to close her eyes, but forced them open. The tension in the hut almost crackled.

“Too bad.” Luna said, finally breaking eye contact. He turned on a bootheel, eyeing Sam, who suddenly looked as laggard as an old hound dog. “Care to change sides, amigo? Both Aguinaldo and your Bonifacio want the same thing—independence.”

Sam smiled at him, and she knew instantly that she never wanted to be the recipient of that smile. It was predatory; it was calculating; it was lethal.

“It’s not the goal I question, Luna. Aguinaldo or Bonifacio, it makes no difference to me.” His words just hung there.

Luna’s expression changed, and some of his threatening air disappeared. “Ah, a wise choice. A man like myself—”

“Hardly a wise choice.” Sam cut him off, suddenly looking like a spider with a fly. “It’s not Aguinaldo’s goal I question. It’s his choice of officers I find . . . lacking.”

Luna’s face flamed purple. His eyes narrowed. “Take him,” he ordered, then walked outside.

“No!” Lollie screamed, grabbing onto one of the guards. He shook her off. She fell back, her bound feet making her lose her balance. She scrambled upright. “Please. He’s an American citizen!”

The guards ignored her and yanked Sam through the door. Before it shut she caught one last glimpse of Sam’s face. It was perfectly blank.

After a few long seconds, her fingers brushed the curtain of black hair out of his face, grazing his jaw in the process.

“Sweet Jesus.” A moan escaped his split lips, and she patted them gently with a damp rag.

“You poor man.”

It sounded as if she was crying. That was all he needed, a hysterical Lollie LaRue.

He swallowed, a monumental effort, then licked his lips. “I told you before. I don’t need your pity. Keep it.”

He heard her suck in a breath, and her hands jerked back as if singed. He waited for her to scurry back to her corner to lick her own wounds. He didn’t feel her move. She muttered something, and he listened closely, unable to make out the words. Then he felt that rag again, wiping his face even after he’d tried to spurn her help.

He was so tired, everything ached, so he stopped fighting the lure of pain-free oblivion offered by sleep. The rag patted the gash in his forehead, and he winced. Then her muted mumbling pierced his fog of pain. He couldn’t smile, but he wanted to. Sleep was coming, heavier and heavier, and yet his last conscious thought was of her words. They weren’t words of defeat or panic or sorrow. They were fighting words. Sweet little lady Lollie LaRue had just called him a damn Yankee.

“Will you stop
that goddamn mumbling!”

Lollie looked up at Sam, who scowled at her from his bruised and swollen face. She smiled sweetly then began to hum “Dixie.”

He took a deep breath and immediately winced. Her humming tapered off. He was hurting, and he looked a mess, but she wouldn’t be foolish enough to try to do something for him when he was awake and moving. And she wasn’t about to let him know she felt sorry for him. He’d just throw her help back in her face, like he’d tried to do last night. She had more gumption than to let a battered man lie there bleeding. It wasn’t Christian.

The entire night he’d slept in the middle of the hut, never moving. She’d wondered if he’d died. After that she’d spent the longest time watching his back to see if he was still breathing. Every so often she could detect the ever so slight rise and fall of his back. She’d torn off a huge hunk of her petticoat and tried to put it under his head. He’d been asleep and awakened throwing a sharp two-handed right cross that missed her face by only a scant inch. She’d kept her distance after that.