Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] (25 page)

How long she lay there, Lori couldn't say. Time had no meaning while she stroked the sheets that carried his scent and she breathed him in as if she were drowning, gasping for a sustaining wisp of air. And all the while she tried to hate Noble for putting her through hell and back, making her live his nightmarish memories.

For killing her softly with his tainted touch.

But is it really tainted, Lori?
Of course it is, she answered herself. He's robbed and done murder.
Then why aren't you taking your damn bath, washing away the last traces of his filthy hands on you?
Because... because—all right I don't
feel
dirty. But I should. I should feel like I've wallowed in mud instead of feeling loved inside and out.

But what about your heart that you gave to him, no holds barred, then took back in the most hateful way possible?

Lori thought long and hard about that. Battling her conscience, she rallied her weakening defenses. She couldn't be blamed for reacting the way she had. After all, Noble had kept the truth from her until she fell in love with him. And that just wasn't fair.

Not fair, but you've got it admit it, smart. Real smart. After all, you wouldn't have given him a chance if you'd known.

True.

And so now that you know, you don't love him anymore.

Didn't she wish.

But hey, he's a thief and a murderer, the same sort of low-life that killed Mick.

"No!" Lori sat upright, her shout filling up the empty room. So empty, so damn empty. Just her, alone with her conscience and a mother lode of hindsight.

The past, the present, the future she had thrown away came into pinpoint focus. Noble hadn't murdered Mick. Noble was not an indiscriminate killer. And as for the robberies, Noble would never take anything that wasn't rightfully his. Lori stared at the empty doorway.

"You screwed up," she whispered. "You really screwed up, lady. The best thing that ever happened in your life is gone because you threw him out. Noble was right—dammit, he was right. His heart
is
pure. He killed purely, he loves just as purely. And that's a helluva lot more than you can say for yourself."

On unsteady legs, she got out of bed and grabbed the wanted poster she'd flung at Noble's face from the floor. Nobody but Noble had any reason to show it to her. How many men would have had the courage, the character and sterling principles it had taken to do such a thing? Only one that she knew of, and now he was gone. All that was left of Noble was a heap of shattered glass, his discarded clothes, and the wanted poster she held.

Lori pressed her lips to the crude likeness of his face.

She ached to kiss him now, tell him that she loved him so much it hurt and that she wanted him back, forever and always.

Lori knew she'd beg him to come back, if that's what he wanted. But first she had to find him. Find him before he—

"Oh God." Suddenly she knew where Noble was going.

"And what about your fears. Noble? What are you afraid of?"

"The lack of your love. Just that. Nothing else."

That's what he'd said, the day before they had gone to his family's burned home, and then the mine. The mine, he was going to the mine! Noble wouldn't care that it was condemned, a death trap. He had no fear of it. He had confronted his only fear.

Lori threw on her clothes, praying he hadn't been able to hitch a ride, praying if he had that he'd still be trying to figure out a way to break in when she got there.

Praying, praying, she raced to the kitchen where she'd left her purse, and rummaged for her keys, then flew to the garage.

Her car was not there.

In its place was a legal pad with a note on it, penned in Noble's script.

To steal a man's horse is a crime worthy of hanging. Hang me if you will for stealing your automobile. I shan't feel the pain of the noose, for you've stolen my very soul. Black as it is, I can't call it an even exchange. You know where I keep my money. Consider it yours. After all, it's a paltry repayment for the many joys you've brought to this dark life of mine. Faithfully, I am yours—Noble.

Lori threw down the pad. It landed on a splotch of oil, all that remained of her car.

She had to get some wheels and she had to get them fast. She ran next door, and with grateful eyes she saw that the keys to Mrs. Leaven's sedan were in the ignition, thanks to the elderly lady's trust in her fellow man and her worsening senility.

Lori peeled out the driveway and, once she cleared town, put the pedal to the metal.

The sun was a big orange ball on the horizon when she came to a screeching halt in front of the mine. "Oh no, oh no, oh no," she moaned, leaping from the sedan.

Her own car was half in, half out of the mine. The "Warning Condemned" sign was on the crunched hood, the blockade a mess of splintered wood.

"Noble," she called urgently, her voice echoing down the shaft. Again and again she called him, but only her own voice answered back.

Heart beating fast and furious, she got into her wrecked car and gave thanks that the engine still worked, even though the lights didn't. The laboring sound of the transmission in reverse matched her lung's struggle for air.
God, please, don't let me pass out, I'm not even in there yet.

She then guided Mrs. Leaven's car to the mine's opening. The sedan's headlights poured into the yawning mouth of the cave.

Lori could feel her hands shaking as she wiped her sweating palms on her thighs and took a determined step forward to face down a fear so severe she was queasy.

She was claustrophobic.

* * *

What was that he heard? Something, he'd heard something that wasn't the creak of straining supports. No time to investigate, Noble continued hefting the rocks piled against a nook, placed exactly as he'd left them.

His gold was still there. He could smell it more surely than he smelled the stagnant air that was too dank, too thin from years of closure, making him dangerously light-headed. He had to hurry, take what gold he could carry, and get out.

Another few rocks and—

That sound again. Closer now, it sounded like his name bouncing against the rafters that needed little more than a sneeze to come tumbling down.

A beam creaked overhead, and grainy sprinkles dusted him as he heard a sob and another cry of his name.

Lori.
Damn it all to hell, she had no business being here. He had to get her out, quickly, before—

The loud groan of the rafter and a fine mist showering down on him alerted him that he had only minutes, if that long, to grab what gold he could. The first bag was in sight now, he could see it by the light of the lantern he'd brought to work by. Adrenaline pumping, he worked with the speed of a demon, not daring to call to Lori lest she follow him to this place that was about to come apart at the seams.

"Noble!" The sound of a nearby rumble was followed by her scream.

He grabbed the lantern. Oblivious to the bags piled at his feet, he tripped. The lantern flew upward as he instinctively braced his hands for the fall.

The metal hit the giving rafter and he rolled away just before it crashed down claiming the sacks of gold. He could either waste precious seconds pulling them out before the next support gave way—or leave them behind and race as fast as he could to where Lori continued to cry for help.

He left it, every last sack. Without a second's thought, he left the gold and all it represented.

Following the path of her sobs, which blended with the thunder of rock and wood chasing behind him, Noble forced his feet to race faster than his heart. He saw Lori crouched beneath a swaying lantern, debris raining down on her, the beam shifting, starting to fall.

With a lunge, he threw himself against her, knocked her from harm's way, and felt the whoosh of the rafter as it hit the ground, inches from his back. Grabbing her, he longed to berate her for coming after him, to hold her with a savage possession even more. No time, no time for that now. They'd share their future while buried alive if he didn't get them out of there.

"Noble," she panted, holding on to him as he forged ahead and dragged her alongside him. "Noble, thank God—"

"Thank Him once we're safe. Hurry, Lori, faster.
Faster
."

"But—but my ankle's sprained," she gasped, hobbling, slowing their mad flight. "I twisted it and I couldn't walk and I couldn't catch my breath and—"

"Save your breath." As he swept her up the deadly clamor behind him urged him to surpass his own endurance. Just when Noble was certain his lungs would collapse before his legs did, a thin waft of fresh air sustained him long enough to suck in the next. He knew the cave by heart, knew the entry was still several twists and turns away, knew the mine's destruction was outpacing his flagging speed.

All he had was a hope and a prayer that they'd see another dawn. Together. Whatever their fate, it would be together. In that one realization, Noble found the peace that had eluded him in the span of two lives.

It was with a strange sense of calm that he saw two beacons of light, promising escape and a future of shared dreams.

They escaped just seconds before the final rafter splintered and an explosion of dirt and rocks engulfed the sedan's hood.

Noble sagged to the ground with Lori in his arms, Lori, who was covering his dirty, sweat-streaked face with kisses.

"Now you can thank God," he panted, holding her tighter than tight and vowing never to let her go.

"I do, Noble," she said with a fierce passion. "I thank Him for you. I'm sorry, so sorry for—"

"Hush." He laid a finger to her lips. "All I need to hear is why you came after me."

"Because I love you. Love you, love you, Noble."

The moment he'd heard her call for him, he had known it was true. But still, he was compelled to put Lori's words to a sly test.

"But Lori, I am guilty of a present crime transcending those committed in my past."

Her soft laughter mingled with a sniffle. "They don't hang people for stealing cars. And I'm not pressing charges," she assured him.

"Oh, but the crime I speak of is far more severe. Fortunately, they don't hang people for this one either."

"So tell me, counselor, what is it that you're pleading guilty to?" she asked, holding his face in her hands.

"Why, love, my lady." He kissed her soundly. "Love in the first degree."

"You're guilty, all right," she murmured. "Just as guilty as me." Her gaze alight with this so-called guilt, Lori said solemnly, "So... how do you feel about sharing a life sentence together?"

"I'll gladly provide matching nooses. Two bands of gold."

Chapter 20

"Look at this, Noble," Lori said excitedly, tapping the medical journal's page. "It says here that 'the most amazing anomaly known to man, who for legal reasons shall remain anonymous, has proven without question that the emerging science of cryonics is not only viable, but an inevitable realization within mankind's grasp.'" She beamed at him, so proud that it was hard not to shout to the world that the anonymous, amazing anomaly was her husband.

"Yes, yes," he muttered. "Quite nice. But, please, love, stop reading aloud. The bar is tomorrow and I need to study. Besides, I care not a whit about what science thinks of me so long as they remember I shall trample them in court should my identity be made known and our privacy invaded."

"But, Noble," she persisted, "because of you, the government's funneling in tons of dollars for research. Think of all the people who'll have a second chance at life. Maybe even people like you and me. I mean, wouldn't it be great if we could get frozen together and come back in a hundred years, maybe hang out in that century until we got tired of it, then decide which one we wanted to check out next?"

"I am quite happy living out the rest of our years in this century, thank you." Noble snatched the medical journal and flung it away. "I'm also quite happy to spend them here in our new home. Not as grand as what I wished to give you and our children, but as my practice grows we'll build on. Hopefully, some of the land will still be available and we can purchase a good parcel of it."