Mail-Order Groom (22 page)

Panic-stricken, she squirmed away. But Roy Bedell was too fast for her. He caught her in his pitiless grasp, then spun her around so her back was to him. She had a wobbly view of the other heckling Bedell brothers, of a dissatisfied-looking Mariana, of the ugly boardinghouse room with its useless window.

With his arm tight across her throat, Roy laughed. “Go on, Mrs. Corwin. Start beggin' right now, 'cause you'll need a head start. I ain't feelin' much inclined toward mercy tonight.”

Choking, Savannah struggled. She kicked her foot but could not make contact. She wrenched her arms, smacking
her hands against Roy's body behind her, but her efforts were useless.

“Let me go!” she cried. “I'll give you whatever you want.”

Roy laughed harder. “Oh, you'll do that, all right—”

The door crashed open behind him, surprising everyone.

Taking advantage of the only opportunity she was likely to have, Savannah wrested away. She teetered, almost falling against the bed. She righted herself just in time.

Just in time to see Adam.

Hard-faced and toweringly tall, he pushed through the doorway. His gaze took in the assembled Bedell boys and Mariana, then arrowed in on Roy Bedell with unforgiving intensity.

“You never should have taken her, Bedell,” Adam said. “This time—hell, every time—you went too far. Step away from her.”

“Do it,” a man behind Adam urged. “Right now.”

Mose.
Shocked, Savannah recognized her friend. Belatedly she spied the gun in his hand…and in Adam's. They'd come!

They'd come to rescue her.
And now they would want to sacrifice themselves. For her
. She couldn't let them do it.

But before she could do anything to try to change things, Mariana spoke up. “Corwin!” Oddly she laughed. “For a world-famous detective, it sure took you long enough to get here.”

Adam shifted his gaze an inch sideways. “Evening, Mariana.”

They knew one another?
Dumbfounded, Savannah stared. Then she realized this whole gang knew one another. Even now, Linus gazed familiarly at Adam with a woeful, speculative expression.

“Kidnapping is a crime, Roy.” Adam kept his gun leveled at the confidence man. “So are extortion, stealing and murder. I've got all the proof I need to put you away for good. I'd suggest you come along with me peacefully. Your brothers, too.”

Strangely enough, Roy only laughed. “Now, why would I go and do somethin' like that, Detective?” He took an audacious, sauntering step forward, unbothered by the two firearms trained on him. With a sideways lunge, he grabbed Savannah. She kicked, but he held her fast, then went on crooning. “'Specially when I've got your
wife
here that I can use to make you let me go?”

 

Seeing Savannah in Roy Bedell's arms nearly blinded Adam with fury and fear. He'd taken too long to catch hold of her himself, he realized with a fresh surge of regret, and now Savannah was still at risk. Looking at her wide-eyed gaze and scared expression, he felt his heart beat with raw terror.

Forcibly he made himself shrug. “Do whatever you want with her. All I'm after is you, Bedell. If that means losing her…” Adam frowned in thought. “Well, that's the same as would have happened if I
hadn't
brought you in tonight, isn't it?”

Stricken, Savannah stared at Adam. Tears sprang to her eyes.

Beside him, Mose gave a growl of displeasure. Adam couldn't bear to look at him and see the disillusionment in his face.

“That's cold-blooded, Detective,” Mariana observed from the other side of the room. “Even for a crazy bastard like you.”

Gratefully Adam transferred his gaze to his partner. He'd been relieved to see that Mariana was safe—that she was
here
at all. Evidently, he realized, she'd gone undercover among the Bedells to try to bring them in. It was just like her to go above and beyond. Now she'd done the same to bolster his lies. “That
is
pretty cold-blooded,” Roy agreed. He kept his hands harshly on Savannah. “That's even worse than me. That's why I don't believe you, Corwin. You're too
good
to act that way.”

“Good?” Adam scoffed. “What I am is fed up—fed up with chasing you and not catching you. It's downright wearisome. But this time, everything's turned out just like I wanted.”

That lie was almost as outrageous as his first. But it had the desired effect. Standing a short distance from Mariana, Wyatt, Curtis and Edward exchanged glances, seeming a little more convinced. But they still kept their guns pointed at him.

“Give it up, Bedell.” Adam gestured for Roy to release Savannah and come with him. “I'm not letting you sneak away this time. The sheriff's got my proof, and I've got
you,
so—”

“So that don't matter one whit,” Roy interrupted. He aimed his wild-eyed glance at his brothers. “Me and my boys, I'd say we got you outnumbered, Detective. So why don't
you
give up?”

Facing Bedell, Adam tensed. Roy was right. Even with Mose and Mariana on his side, he didn't have much except authority and bravery to bolster his stance. He scowled to amplify both.

“Oh, no, you don't!” Linus suddenly yelled. He gave a maniacal laugh, then brandished a loaded firearm. He pointed it at Roy. “You ain't got nobody outnumbered, Roy. Not anymore! Not now that I got back my gun in all that melee. See there?”

He waved the gun. Everyone stepped back. As they did, Linus cast a shy, almost proud-looking glance at Savannah. To Adam's baffled amazement, he seemed to expect approval from her.

To his further surprise, she gave it. “Thank you, Linus.”

But Roy only rolled his eyes. “You numskull, Linus! You can't even count.
You
plus him, plus him—” he pushed his chin toward a looming Mose “—only makes three. And there's still five of us, ain't there? 'Sides, you won't shoot your own brother.”

Seeming uncertain, Linus wavered with his weapon.

“I reckon that's right,” Mariana said. From the folds of her skirts, she raised a derringer. “But
I'd
shoot you, Roy.”

Momentarily loosening his grip on Savannah, Roy stared at her. “Mariana? What are you talkin' about, sweetcakes?”

The expression of incredulity on his face was so complete that Adam would have laughed…had their situation not been so calamitous. As it was, he could only count silently. The numbers were evened out now, but a standoff was of no help to him. Not if it didn't result in Savannah being released safe and sound.

“I'd shoot you just for bein' such an inconsiderate pig,” Mariana went on in an even tone. “You was goin' to take up with another woman whilst you were still with
me,
Roy. That's low.”

This time it was Adam's turn to look askance at her. “Mariana? Tell me you didn't really get addle headed over
him
.”

“Me? 'Course not.” Mariana shrugged. “I like my men full growed and capable of kindness. You ain't neither, Roy.”
She nodded at Savannah. “Now let her go. You're comin' with us.”

“With
you?
Hell, I ain't doin' nothin'!” Roy yelled, his gaze growing more infuriated. He jerked Savannah forcibly sideways, demonstrating his hold on her. “You're gonna do what
I
say, Corwin. And that means watchin' your little wife here die.”

Savannah whimpered. Adam felt his gut twist. He wanted to reassure her, to help her feel less afraid…but he feared that if he looked into her eyes, he would break down completely. Roy would know how much she meant to him. All would be lost.

“You kill her, I kill you,” Adam told Roy in a rough tone, not thinking about how much it hurt to say the words. “Either way, I don't care. She's already served her purpose to me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Roy asked skeptically. “What was that?”

“Bringing you within range to be caught,” Adam said. “She's done that, pretty providentially, too. Besides, I felt sorry for her. She wanted to get married pretty bad, and I was around.”

Savannah gave another sob. Her wounded gaze felt palpable.

“She was
expectin'
me,” Roy pointed out. “The better man.”

Adam shook his head. “You'll never be the better man.”

“You're both awful!” Savannah shouted. She squirmed in Roy's grasp, her skirts a blur of motion. She stomped on Roy's foot, making the floor tremble. He yelped. Somehow she got free.

The Bedell brothers lunged forward in alarm. But suddenly, Roy stiffened. He held up his hands in surrender—
because, as Adam saw to his disbelief, Savannah held a gun to his head.

Roy chuckled, signaling his brothers. “Hold tight there, boys. Let's not do anything too hasty. This here little lady—”

“Is leaving,” Savannah interrupted in no uncertain terms. “And you're going to let me.” Defiantly, she jerked her chin toward the rest of the gang. “Tell them to let me go, Roy.”

“Yeah, Roy!” Linus crowed. “Tell 'em to let her go!”

“You seem to be forgettin' somethin',” Roy told her in an eerily calm tone. “My boys are willin' to kill
or
die for me. I don't believe you can say the same thing about your people.”

“You're wrong,” Savannah told him. “Tonight anything is possible. People are capable of things I'd never have expected.” Her gaze flickered to Adam. Hastily he glanced away. “And you're doubly wrong, because these aren't
my
‘people.'” Her voice broke, then went hoarse as she continued. “Except one.”

With his heart in his throat, Adam finally raised his gaze to hers. The situation here was still dangerous. The stakes were still much too dire. But he felt beyond proud of Savannah at that moment. Even Mariana watched her with grudging admiration.

He
was her “people,” Adam knew. He'd never valued the sense of belonging and salvation that Savannah gave him more than he did at that moment. But she didn't even look at him.

“Come on, Mose,” she said firmly. “Let's go.”

“Right behind you, girl,” the big man said.

They both edged toward the door, keeping their guns high. Adam stared at them in patent disbelief. His mind whirled.

As she neared the door, Adam spoke. “Savannah, wait!”

She paused. Looked at him. Raised her wobbly chin proudly.

“You can't—” Mindlessly Adam gestured at the outlaws he and Mariana still held at gunpoint. “Without you and Mose—”

“You won't be able to nab the Bedells?” Upon finishing his statement for him, Savannah lifted her eyebrows. Her pretty face looked pale. Her voice shook with suppressed emotion, but her gun hand was steady. “Sure you will, Mr. Corwin.”

Mr. Corwin.
Her use of that formal address chilled him.

“After all, it's what you want most in the world, isn't it?” Savannah went on. “To catch the Bedell gang? At least that's what you said a little while ago.”

“No!” Adam choked out. He glanced at a smirking Roy, then risked his biggest gamble yet. “I came here to save
you
—”

“Well, you did a mighty poor job of it, didn't you?” Savannah asked. “It looks to me as though I saved myself.”

Linus nodded vigorously. “It looks that way to me, too.”

Adam ignored him. Savannah's words cut him deeply, striking at the core of everything he believed himself to be: a man who saved, a man who cared, a man who
protected
.

“You're wrong, Savannah. All I wanted was to protect you—”

“Corwin, hush!” Mariana cut him off. “For the love of God, just quit talking, afore you make it all worse.”

Savannah eyed him sadly. She edged closer to the door. “I never should have looked to a man again—not for any
thing. I swore not to. I guess forgetting that was my first mistake.”

Protectively Mose hovered near her, scowling. The Bedell brothers only watched the tableau with hushed attention. Even Roy, still pinned under Savannah's filched pistol, didn't move.

Inexplicably Adam remembered his and Savannah's wedding night, when Savannah had mischievously pulled that key from his ear. That explained how she'd snatched Roy's gun from him. But it didn't explain why she was leaving Adam now. More than anything, he wanted to go back to that time, when Savannah had been proud to be married to him…and he had loved her fully.

Hello! We're Mr. and Mrs. Corwin!
he recalled her saying. Wistfully he wished she'd say it again. Joyfully, too. But those days were gone, and Adam knew he could never recapture them. This time, he'd lost her for good.

“My second mistake,” Savannah said, “was loving you at all.”

Wounded almost beyond bearing, Adam stiffened. He knew what had happened. Savannah had gotten the wrong idea from the things he'd told Roy. Why shouldn't she have? he realized with a brutal sense of honesty. He'd gotten very good at lying to her.

He'd told her he was the man she'd been waiting for. That had been a lie. But he hadn't lied about loving her. Never that.

“Aww, buck up, Corwin,” Roy Bedell piped up. “You won't be missin' much. Just an actress and a dancer and a criminal.”

In the doorway, Savannah stiffened. Her gaze whipped to Bedell, then to Adam. He saw truthfulness reflected there…truthfulness and regret. In that moment, Adam
recalled why the newspaper article in the sheriff's office had struck him so.

“Your woman's nothin' but a ‘Ruthless Reed,'” Roy went on. “You must've heard of 'em. They was all over the city papers a while back.” He laughed. “It's kinda funny, an upright type like yourself windin' up with a thievin' whore like her.”