Midnight Flame (47 page)

“I wanted to speak to you about Lavinia earlier, Tony.” Her eyes bored directly into his. “This vendetta against her must stop. She had nothing to do with your uncle’s sudden death.”

“Do you know that for a fact?”

Laurel hesitated. “No, but…”

He put his canteen away. “For all you know she may have caused his heart to fail. Look at her with Jim. She’s all arms and hands, practically falling all over him. The guy doesn’t have a chance with a spider like that one. Before long she’ll have pulled him into her web, and he’ll be just another victim.”

“Jim knows what he’s getting into with her. He and Lavinia loved one another years ago. Jim told me that Seth framed him for theft, and Arthur ran him off the ranch. It was after this that Lavinia came to stay on my father’s plantation. They deeply loved one another and still do. Don’t try anything to turn Jim away from her, because I don’t think you can. He knows Lavinia isn’t perfect, and I don’t think he expects her to be.”

Tony considered Laurel for a long moment, almost as if he were thinking things through. Pulling off his hat, he ran a hand through his thick, black hair. “You might be right, but I sense that you want to say something else to me. You were in a hell of a mood this morning when you rode up. What’s on your mind?”

Storm clouds gathered and hung over the range, and the wind grew brisker. Laurel felt buffeted by the stiff breeze, and her own emotions warred within her. She ached to touch Tony, to tell him she loved him, but she remembered his anger toward Lavinia and his love for Simone. No longer could she allow Tony to dominate her life. The moment of freedom was at hand.

She took a deep breath and spoke in a rush. “I want to buy the Little L and run it myself. I’m not returning to Louisiana with you. And don’t try bullying me with threats against Lavinia, because they won’t work. I’ll simply tell her the truth about who you are, and if you attempt to harm her, I’ll retaliate. I want my freedom, Tony. I don’t want to be your wife.”

Tony’s mouth fell open. Laurel had never seen him look more surprised or stunned by the bluntness of her words. At that moment she wanted to return to Petit Coteau with him, but this senseless vengeance, the thought of taking second place in his heart forever, gave her the courage to eye him steadily and not waver in her resolve.

“Auguste St. Julian was my uncle,” Tony reminded her, keeping eye contact with her. A shadow fell across them that neither of them noticed. “I want to know how he died. I want Lavinia to pay for his murder.”

“I assure you, Tony, I didn’t kill your uncle,” came Lavinia’s shaky voice from behind them. “Why didn’t you just ask me what happened? I’d have told you the truth.”

Tony rose to his feet, and Laurel quickly followed suit. “I doubt you’d know the truth if it hit you in the face.” Tony stared down Lavinia, but Laurel noticed that though Lavinia shook, she squared her shoulders and her sapphire gaze flashed fire.

“You might not believe this, but I cared for Auguste. I’m not proud of trapping him into an affair. He was a lonely man, a man who’d gone too long without a woman’s love. His wife was cold to him and had long since stopped sleeping with him. Yes, I wasn’t truthful with him. I wanted his money, position. I needed to save my father’s ranch, as I needed someone to love me. And Auguste did love me and knew I wasn’t wildly in love with him, but he didn’t mind. We gave comfort to one another, and he loved me enough to risk the scandal. I’d have made him a good wife. I owed him that much.

“But I didn’t kill him, as you think. If I’d known who you were long ago, I’d have told you that. Auguste died in his sleep. I don’t really know what happened to him. He’d been strong and healthy only an hour before. I didn’t harm him, Tony, and I won’t get on my knees and beg your forgiveness. I’ve already suffered more than any punishment you could mete out to me.”

A lump of pride stuck in Laurel’s throat at seeing Lavinia stand up for herself. Somehow she doubted that Lavinia would have been able to do this before now. Evidently the strength of Jim’s love had sparked courage in Lavinia. The cowering woman who had begged Laurel to accompany her to Texas and agree to a disguise to save her life was gone. In her stead was a fearless, strong woman.

Lavinia stood with shoulders thrust defiantly back. Tony was quiet and regarded her with a quirked eyebrow, seemingly not certain she was telling the truth but impressed with her nevertheless.

An uneasy silence fell across them broken only by the sudden crack of gunfire. Tony pushed Laurel to the ground and instantly covered Lavinia with his body as a bullet whizzed past their heads. Before Tony could draw his gun, Jim had pulled his rifle from his saddlebag and fired at the fleeing form of the gunman. The man dropped to the ground and lay lifeless beside a large rock.

Tony waited until he was certain no other gunmen watched from the hillside or waited behind equally large hiding places before he helped Lavinia and Laurel to their feet. He made certain they were both all right before he and Jim went to examine the dead man.

“Who is he?” Laurel asked when they returned to the women.

“He’s a Mexican named Pedro, one of a group of hired guns who worked for a man named Ortega in San Antonio,” Jim explained and gathered a trembling Lavinia in his arms. “Evidently he had orders to stop anyone on the rustlers’ trail.”

“Seth owed money to a man named Ortega.” Laurel remembered the listings in the account ledgers. “Seth is involved in all of this,” she said. Tony nodded.

“Jim and I believe he has been rustling cattle from the Little L for Ortega as a means of paying off his debts. Seth needs cash, and that’s where the problem comes in. If Ortega is taking the cattle, then what is Seth going to do for money? He left the Little L in a hurry.”

“No. Seth must have stolen the money I had in the drawer in the study. But it wasn’t that much. He should have waited for the sale of the ranch to go through.”

“Wouldn’t be enough.” Tony strode to his horse and untied the animal from a tree. “He owes Ortega money, but he’ll need a lot more to get out of Texas and make a life for himself. I’d bet he has another plan altogether and is just waiting to set it into motion. You and Lavinia are to ride back to the house before the storm breaks. We’ll post men there for your safety.”

“I’m not going back to the ranch. I’m going with you,” Laurel insisted. “Arthur gave me the responsibility of running the Little L. I’m in charge here until the sale is final.”

Tony’s stormy eyes swept across her face like the black clouds in the sky. “You’re going home, and that’s the last I want to hear on the subject.”

“I’m going with you!”

“It’s too dangerous for a woman.”

“Damn it! Forget I’m a woman. In your eyes I’m only good for one thing.”

Tony smiled seductively, his dark eyes glowing with feral light. “You said that. I didn’t.”

“You’re an impossible man, Tony Duvalier. But this is one time I won’t let you manipulate me or have your way. You can’t stop me from going with you. I intend to buy the Little L from you, and my interests are tied up until the rustlers are caught. If you don’t let me ride with you, I’ll simply follow you on my own. Either way, I’m coming with you.”

Before Tony could say another word, Laurel strode to her horse and climbed onto the saddle. She turned in Tony’s direction and waited until he mounted. Tony breathed a heavy sigh of resignation and told Jim to take Lavinia back to the house before the storm started, that he and Laurel would no doubt return before nightfall if the rustlers’ trail proved cold. Then they rode toward the open countryside.

Unable to outride the approaching storm, Tony and Laurel took shelter in a ramshackle hut soon after leaving Jim and Lavinia. The large raindrops pelted the tin roof and streamed steadily through the overhead cracks to wetly splotch the hut’s mud floor. Laurel sat huddled in a corner, and Tony crouched near where the front door had leaned.

The late afternoon appeared night-like. Jagged lightning strokes crisscrossed the blue-black sky. Thunder barreled in the heavens to echo across the sodden range.

“We should have returned to the ranch,” Tony commented.

“Then Seth and his cohorts would have gotten away.”

“Maybe for now. Seth’s time is numbered in days, because I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done.”

A hard edge crept into Tony’s voice, and it chilled her. Not even in his vengeance against Lavinia had he sounded so cruel and calculating.

“What has Seth done to upset you, Tony? I know he’s probably involved with the cattle rustling and stolen cash from the Little L, but I think there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“That’s right” was all he said, and Laurel noticed he gritted his teeth.

She wasn’t going to ask him anything else. Evidently he didn’t want to tell her the reason he hated Seth. She felt suddenly chilled and clasped her arms around her to ward off the cold dampness that surrounded her.

“Let me unroll the blanket for you,” Tony offered, immediately attuned to her need. He withdrew a bedroll containing a rough, woolen-blanket from his saddlebag and also a small sack of biscuits, now hard and stale, from that morning’s breakfast.

Laurel hadn’t eaten lunch, and a ghost of a smile hovered on her lips as she gratefully took a biscuit from Tony. She devoured it as she watched Tony smooth out the bedroll in a dry area of the room.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you smiled at me, Laurel. Could it be that you’re softening up a bit?”

“Maybe,” she replied noncommittally and wiped the crumbs from her mouth with slender fingers.

“And just why is that?”

“You know very well why.”

Tony finished the bedroll and sat upon it. Dark hair spilled across his forehead, emphasizing the ebony eyes, fringed by even darker lashes. His pale blue shirt was opened and revealed the curly mat of black hair on his chest, which disappeared beneath the silver buckle of his belt. Laurel caught her breath at the wakening response of her own body. She wanted to look away from him, but she felt powerless to tear her gaze from his.

“Tell me,” he said in a silky voice.

“Because…” She found herself barely able to speak and heard her heart hammering in her ears. She was only able to continue by taking a deep breath. “You saved Lavinia’s life today. She might have been killed if you hadn’t thrown yourself across her. I know you dislike her, and maybe your reasons are valid, but Lavinia is my sister. If she’d died, I think part of myself would have died with her. Thank you for saving her, Tony. God knows, you didn’t have to risk your life for her.”

Tony watched her intently. “Perhaps I was wrong about Lavinia. Believe me, I think she can be a conniver when the situation warrants it, and I still think she only wanted my uncle for his money and would have taken advantage of him if they’d married. But I don’t think she killed him. Auguste died of causes other than Lavinia. She wasn’t responsible.”

“I’m glad you realize that now.

“I realize something else, too.”

“What?”

“I love you, and I won’t let you stay in Texas without me.”

“But Simone—”

“Forget Simone, forget all of it. Hell, Laurel, if I’d loved Simone, do you think I’d have come all the way to Texas just to humor a dying man I never knew? I came for you. I don’t know what you believe about Simone any longer, but I never loved her and wasn’t her child’s father.”

Tony had told Laurel this after she lost their baby and had continued to tell her, but she hadn’t believed him. Why, suddenly, did she know he was telling her the truth? But the letter from Jean gave the impression that Tony grieved over the woman’s sudden death. Was there something more to the whole incident with Simone, to her sudden tragedy, that Tony hadn’t yet told her?

Tony opened his arms to her. “Come to me, Laurel. Trust me. I love you and that love can’t hurt you. If you love me, and I think you do, you’ll come to me now. This time you must decide.”

Her body shivered from cold and growing passion. Tony’s arms held warmth and desire. She realized that his revenge against Lavinia was over, and Simone was dead. No matter what had happened with the woman, Tony loved her. She knew that now. More importantly, her own life, her future, was tied to him as it had been from the moment they met. They were two parts of the same whole, and without the other, each was adrift in the world. Only in Tony’s arms did she possess a sense of belonging, of coming home. Since her parents’ deaths, she had been alone, but in Tony’s embrace, she was never lonely.