Savage Thunder (16 page)

“H
is sister, Maura, is quite charming,” Vanessa was saying as she put away the green thread and took up the red for the sampler she was working on. “I think you’ll like her. She’s about your age, I would say, and just dying to see those
Harper’s Bazaar
fashion journals we collected while in New York. Did I mention that’s where they’re from originally? They even know Charles, or at least they’ve heard of the Abingtons.”

“Are you sure Robbie is all right?”

Vanessa didn’t raise her head, but her eyes shot up, and her brows met suspiciously over the middle of them. That question had already been asked and answered—twice.

“Actually, the chit’s rather brassy, not at all as polished as her brother.”

“That’s nice.”

The countess dropped the sampler in her lap with an exasperated sigh. “Have you heard a single word I’ve said? Jocelyn? You-hoo, Joc-cel-lyn?” she singsonged.

Jocelyn turned slightly from the window where she had been standing for the last hour. “Did you say something, Vana?”

With forced calm, the countess replied, “I’ve been telling you about the Drydens.”

“Who?”

“Jocelyn Fleming! You are supposed to be radiant today, not absent-minded. Whatever is the matter with you?”

Jocelyn glanced back out the window, ignoring the censure but not the question. Indeed, what
was
wrong with her? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about last night or wondering where Colt was today? Again he couldn’t be found. He had been waiting for Robbie’s replacement early this morning, or so she had been told, so obviously he had kept watch over her for the rest of the night himself. But in her room or out in the hall?

She had awakened to find the room empty, two long black hairs on the pillow next to hers the only sign that Colt had been there. Well, actually there was one other indication. The smears of dried blood on her upper thighs. But when had he left her? And why had he gone without saying anything?

Vanessa had arrived bright and early and full of worry, after seeing the two apprehended thieves dragged off to the local authorities. She had demanded every detail about Jocelyn’s little adventure out the window, as well as what had happened afterward. She had also been vastly relieved to know their planned seduction had come about after all.

“So there’s no need to go on to this Wyoming place, is there, or to retain Mr. Thunder’s services any longer?”

When Jocelyn had heard that, she had felt strangely bereft and insisted Colt’s services were most definitely still in need, if for no other reason than to keep
her safe. She pointed out how many times he had already come to her rescue. She pointed out his ability in keeping Longnose from discovering their new direction. And if that wasn’t enough, she had announced that Wyoming was where she had decided to locate her stud farm.

Wisely, Vanessa hadn’t said any more, though Jocelyn had felt her disapproval at the time and still did. She even understood it, knowing Vanessa was worried that she might form an attachment for Colt that was utterly unsuitable.

“First lovers are inevitably special,” Vanessa had told her months ago when they had originally decided she needed one. “But the thing to remember is that they
are
only the first, that you mustn’t mistake a simple, healthy attraction for love.”

Remembering those words now, Jocelyn tried to examine what she was feeling, but all she could come up with was confusion, anxiety over her next encounter with Colt, and most of all, a lingering amazement that lovemaking was much, much more deeply satisfying than she had imagined it would be.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she revealed some of those feelings to her friend. “I’m sorry, Vana. It’s just that it was…it was…”

“I know,” Vanessa cut in with a snort. “It was so blissful you haven’t the proper words to describe it.”

“Well, it was,” Jocelyn said defensively.

“Then we owe our surly guide our everlasting gratitude, don’t we?” Vanessa returned in her most acerbic tone. “Especially when it could have been quite the opposite with someone of his unpredictable tem
perament, and still could be if you are foolish enough to court his attentions again.” Then her voice softened, exposing her very real concern. “What you experienced, my dear, can be had with any man. But it would be preferable, as well as safer, as
well
as less worrisome to me, if you experienced it with a lover you can trust not to erupt into violence at any given moment. I suggest you find another man to prove that, and quickly, before you make this one into something he isn’t.”

Jocelyn usually heeded Vanessa’s advice, but in this case it wasn’t necessary. She had needed a lover for only one purpose, and that purpose was accomplished. She didn’t need to take another man to her bed, nor even Colt again. Vanessa was getting worked up over nothing. But it wouldn’t do to say so. She wouldn’t believe it.

“You were saying something about the Bradens?” Jocelyn said pleasantly, but pointedly.

“The Drydens,” Vanessa corrected, taking the hint to drop the subject for now. “I told you I met them this morning in the lobby. A very interesting pair of siblings. You could say they are impoverished gentry of the American variety. I swear the run of bad luck they’ve had since their parents died makes us fortunate we’ve only got an assassin on our trail.”

“That’s not funny, Vana.”

“No, I suppose not, but I did feel sorry for them.”

“They told you their life story while standing about in the lobby?”

“We were sitting, actually, and it was a very shortened version, I’m sure. A few bad investments and
the family funds were gone, that sort of thing. They decided to take what little was left and come west to start anew. I believe Miles mentioned something about buying a ranch.”

“Miles? Mr. Dryden, I assume you mean? He’s
Miles
after only one meeting, yet you continue to call Colt
Mr
. Thunder?”

“Don’t change the subject, dear,” Vanessa replied, undaunted. “As I was saying, their luck turned from bad to worse when they reached New Mexico. The stagecoach they were traveling in was robbed by some highwaymen—outlaws, I believe they call them here—and one passenger was killed. Then that very same day, in the same coach, mind you, they were set upon by Indians. They would have both been scalped—”

“Scalped?”

“Something unpleasant Indians do to you, I gather, but the cavalry came along—they had been chasing that particular group of raiders—and saved them. At any rate, they’ve understandably had a change of heart about settling in this part of the country, but they’ve frankly been too apprehensive about riding the coaches again and so in effect have stranded themselves here. Naturally, I felt compelled to offer them our escort.”

“Do you think that’s wise? I mean, what do you really know about these people except what they’ve told you? The brother could be—”

“I’ll have you know I have
not
become dotty in my old age yet,” Vanessa interrupted indignantly. “Sir Parker has checked their story and confirmed it. They have been living in this very hotel for the past
three months. And Miles Dryden has a sister, my dear, a
sister
. If our Mr. Longnose has one, he wouldn’t be carting her about with him, now, would he?”

“I didn’t mean to imply that
he
might be Longnose, only that he could have been hired…oh, never mind.” Then, with sudden suspicion: “He wouldn’t happen to be handsome, would he?”

“Now don’t look at me like that. So he is rather striking in appearance. That doesn’t mean I hoped he would take your mind off your half-breed if I invited them along.”

“No, of course not,” Jocelyn replied with annoyance, for Vanessa’s motive was obviously just that.

She was no better at dissembling than Jocelyn was, at least not with Jocelyn. It was time to tell her how unnecessary these machinations were and hope she would believe it.

“I do not intend to allow a repetition of last night, Vana.”

“Does
he
know that?”

“
He
was practically raped—”

“What?”

Jocelyn waved a hand dismissively. “The principle was the same. He had to be forced, didn’t he? Seduced? Made to lose control so his baser instincts would take over and he would be powerless to resist? You seem to forget he didn’t want anything to do with me, that I did the pursuing, not him. So he isn’t likely to want a repetition of last night either, Vana. In fact, I’d be terribly surprised if he isn’t furious today, and
determined never to put himself in such a position again.”

“Attitudes change once the die is cast, my dear. Once the sin is committed, a person tends to overindulge before he’s ready to repent.”

“I doubt that would apply in Colt’s case. Besides, I’ve already said that I have no intention of letting it happen again. My problem has been solved. I have no further need of a lover.”

So says a woman who has been thoroughly satisfied only hours past, Vanessa thought. But she didn’t point out that Jocelyn’s “need” would eventually be of a different nature, that once tasting the pleasures of the flesh, the body tended to demand more of the same.

She said instead, “If that one wants you again, my dear, I don’t think you’ll have much choice in the matter.”

That prediction caused a tiny thrill in the pit of Jocelyn’s stomach, but she staunchly ignored it. “Then I’ll just have to make sure I’m never alone with him again. So you can stop worrying—”

“Madame!” Babette interrupted just then, so excited she entered the room without knocking first. “Alonzo, he insists I should tell you Monsieur Thunder is about to have the western duel in the street. He says you would want to know this.”

“To have the
what?
”

Vanessa made a tsking sound. “I believe she is referring to what that milliner in Tombstone called a showdown, my dear. Remember we witnessed…Jocelyn, don’t you dare!” But the duchess had already run out of the room.

S
tanding at the long bar, Colt finished off the whiskey in his glass and slowly poured another from the bottle he’d yanked away from the barkeep earlier. This being the third saloon he’d entered since he left the hotel that morning, by rights he should be drunk already. But he wasn’t. His gut was too full of anger to let the whisky do its stuff.

Looking for a fight also tended to keep a man sober, and he couldn’t deny he’d been looking. When the first two saloons had turned up nothing worse than dirty looks, he’d tried this one—and hit the jackpot. Only it wasn’t the jackpot he wanted. He’d needed a punching bag for his anger, not an invite to let some lead fly. It was just his luck that the only one to object to his presence with any degree of vocal belligerence was a young man who considered himself a fast draw. Whether he was or not, Colt had little doubt he could take him. It was the quiet ones you needed to worry about, not the show-offs.

It’d be over with already if the barkeep hadn’t insisted, with a shotgun to make his point, that they take themselves outside to settle their differences. Colt claimed he’d finish his drink first. Riley, as his friends called him, was magnanimous once his challenge was accepted, and went outside to wait.

The kid was a so-called professional. Still wet behind the ears, but already a gun for hire. He worked for a local mine owner who’d been having some trouble with claim-jumpers. In the six months since he’d come to town, he’d already killed two men, pistol-whipped a few more, and forced all others to give him a wide berth. Story was, the mine owner didn’t know how to get rid of him now that he was no longer needed.

Colt surmised that much from the bits and pieces of hushed conversation going on behind him. He also heard a number of disparaging remarks about himself, but nothing he hadn’t heard before. He’d been called every foul, dirty name there was, so he had to be in a damned ornery mood to take exception to insults that were second nature to the white man when an Indian was around.

It was what he’d been looking for today, those insults. His mood was certainly ornery enough. But folks this far south didn’t know what to make of him. They took him for a half-breed, but they’d never seen one so tall, or mean-looking, or with a Colt Peacemaker riding his hip. Things like that tended to make a man think twice before opening his mouth—unless he was a young kid with delusions of omnipotence who’d let a few lucky draws go to his head.

Colt had kept his antagonist waiting about ten minutes now, which was why the customers remaining in the saloon were gradually becoming less wary of him. Riley’s shouted “What’re ya waitin’ on, breed? Or has that red skin o’ yourn turned yeller?” had drawn a few snickers from the room, but outright guffaws
from the kid’s two sidekicks, a couple of cowboys who had been egging him on from the beginning, and both had followed him outside.

Colt’s eyes met those of the barkeep’s. The man was slowly wiping a glass with a dirty rag. There was contempt in his red-rimmed eyes, mixed with a good deal of sneering pleasure, making his sentiments only too clear. He figured the taunt was true, that Colt would likely be begging for the direction of the back door as soon as he got up the nerve. He figured a half-breed wouldn’t have the guts to face a man down, that it wouldn’t be his style. Back-stabbing and ambushing were all a breed was good for.

So let him think it. What the hell did Colt care what a barkeep thought, or any of them for that matter? They were all waiting to see him gunned down, hoping to see it. The loudmouthed Riley might be feared and despised in this town, but today he would be applauded if he managed to take down a presumptuous breed.

Colt drained his glass again, then, to match actions to feelings, tossed it to the barkeep. Unprepared, the man dropped the one he’d been cleaning to catch it. Satisfied to hear the glass break and the man snarl, Colt shoved away from the bar and headed toward the entrance. Chairs toppled over in the customers’ haste to follow him, but feet came to a skidding halt when he paused just beyond the swinging doors to locate his quarry.

Shade had enticed Riley across the street, where he was lounging against a hitching rail with his two friends. The covered boardwalks on both sides of the
street were already filling with eager spectators drawn by Riley’s earlier taunt.

The young man had to be nudged to notice Colt’s arrival, and he grinned before straightening, making some comment that brought chuckles from his friends. He then walked toward the center of the wide street, slow confidence in his stride.

A muscle jerked in Colt’s jaw as he ground his teeth in disgust. He wondered if the good townsfolk would call for a lynching if he happened to kill their resident asshole. Probably. Fair fight or not, white folks didn’t like seeing a half-breed defeat one of their own.

At the moment, he didn’t particularly care, but he had no intention of killing the kid when this wasn’t the kind of fight he’d been courting. Someone else could have that distinction. Of course, if the show-off died accidentally by getting in the way of one of his bullets…

Colt tipped his hat back until it dropped behind to hang from the neck strap. He’d once had one pushed forward into his eyes by the wind, at just the wrong moment. He’d be dead now if the other guy hadn’t been such a lousy shot.

“Now what’re ya waitin’ on?” Riley called impatiently from his position in the middle of the street.

“You that anxious to die?”

Riley thought that was funny. So did his friends. So did a number of spectators.

“That ain’t no bow an’ arrow you’re packin’, breed, or ain’t ya noticed?”

This time the kid bent over double, he laughed so
hard at his own sally. There was backslapping and eye-wiping going on on both sides of the street as just about everyone present joined in his humor—except the Spaniard.

Colt noticed Alonzo as he moved out into the street, then the Scot standing with him. So some of her people were present. It made no difference. They were merely spectators like the rest. And yet his eyes suddenly scanned the covered boardwalks—and found her, that bright beacon of red hair hard to miss as she ran toward Alonzo.

Shit! Now he was pissed, well and truly pissed! He wondered who he had to thank for her presence, and when she stopped by the Spaniard, he knew. The look he gave the swarthy man promised retribution, but Alonzo, reading that look correctly, merely shrugged.

Looking at the duchess was out of the question. Colt gave his attention back to Riley, his indifference gone, his anger on the edge of exploding. If she tried to interfere…

Jocelyn was about to do just that. She took in the situation at a glance, understood that the two men standing out there in the street were at any moment going to start shooting at each other, and she couldn’t allow it to happen. She knew firsthand how skillful Colt was with his revolver, but what if his young opponent was as equally skilled? She couldn’t take the chance.

But as she lifted her skirt to step down into the street, Alonzo caught her arm and whispered near her ear, “If you distract him now, he is dead. The moment his eyes turn to you, and they will, the young
Riley will take advantage and draw his weapon. Had you come sooner you might have stopped it, but now is too late.”

“But…” She bit her lip in indecision, staring at Colt. How could she watch and do nothing, when he might be wounded or worse?

But it really was too late to interfere. Even as she looked toward Colt’s opponent to assess his readiness, the young man was reaching for his gun.

It all happened so fast, it was no wonder the spectators were collectively drawing in gasps of awe. Colt’s gun was already in his hand and aimed at his opponent. The young man, his hand only just gripping his own weapon, still holstered, stared incredulously and didn’t move so much as another inch. He looked rather sick. He obviously wasn’t sure what to do now, whether to concede the fight or to take his chances and still draw. It was the silence of Colt’s gun that made him so undecided.

Colt wasn’t waiting for him to make up his mind. With slow, purposeful strides he closed the distance between them until the nozzle of his Peacemaker came to rest against Riley’s trembling belly. Riley had broken out in a sweat by then, afraid to look down for fear he would see the trigger being squeezed, afraid to look anywhere but into those hard blue eyes that had never wavered from his.

Colt smelled his fear, saw it, but he wasn’t feeling very merciful at the moment. “We tried it your way, you loudmouthed son of a bitch,” he hissed low, so only Riley would hear him. “Now you’ll accommodate me.”

With that Colt removed the gun from Riley’s belly, arched it to the left, and brought it across Riley’s face in a backhanded swing. The kid went stumbling to the side, and when he touched his hand to his cheek, it came away bloody. He didn’t understand. He still didn’t, even when Colt holstered his gun and stood there waiting, fingers flexing.

Riley’s friends didn’t understand either, but they weren’t so doubtful about what to do. One reached for his gun. Simultaneously, Alonzo reached for his knife, and Robbie took a step forward. Neither man’s assistance was necessary, however, or noted by Colt. He had been keeping Riley’s friends in his sights, and out came his gun again, this time to fire.

The bullet struck metal. The cowboy dropped his revolver to the ground with a cry, his fingers numb. The other one spread his arms wide and backed away, unwilling to take Colt on by himself.

Again Colt put his gun away and locked eyes with Riley, who hadn’t dared to move even with Colt’s attention momentarily directed elsewhere. “Come on, kid, I ain’t got all day.”

“Come—come on what?”

“You wanted a piece of me. Come and take it.”

Riley took a step back instead, his eyes flaring with alarm. “You mean fight you? But you’re bigger’n me!”

“My size didn’t stop you from shoving insults down my throat, did it?”

“So I made a mistake, mister. Whyn’t we forget it, huh?”

Colt slowly shook his head. “I’d rather beat the shit out of you.”

Riley took another step back, his eyes like saucers now. “Would—would you shoot me in the back?”

Colt scowled at that fool question. “No.”

“Glad to hear it,” Riley gulped out and took off down the street.

For a moment Colt simply stared at his fleeing back with a mixture of surprise and exasperation. He’d had men back down from gunfights before when he’d gotten the draw on them, but they’d never turned tail and run when he’d offered them another out so save face, especially with so many witnesses present. Witnesses usually made all the difference in the way a man reacted, turning cowards into brave men, even if those brave men knew they’d end up being dead men.

He could have dropped a few bullets into the dust around those running feet, but since he doubted that would bring Riley back to face him, he didn’t bother. He turned away in disgust instead, oblivious to the murmurings of many spectators who were experiencing a full gamut of reactions, from shocked amazement to bitter disappointment to jeering contempt for Riley’s cowardice. But mostly they were wondering aloud who Colt was.

It was going to be a source of frustration for the storytellers of the town that they were doomed to never learn his name, for who in their right mind would dare to ask him outright after what they had just witnessed, and there was no one else willing to supply the answer. Jocelyn certainly wasn’t, though she heard the question several times on her way back
to the hotel. Nor would her people volunteer his name, accustomed as they were to keeping a low profile.

But overhearing a scorn-filled “He’s a savage. What else is there to know?” in answer to the same question, brought Jocelyn up short.

Already upset from the scare she had just experienced, as well as frustrated that Colt had disappeared into the crowd before she could speak to him, she turned to the well-dressed young man whose remark managed to rub her on the raw.

“How dare you, sir!” she lit into him without preamble, to the surprise of both the man and his companion, as well as of Robbie and Alonzo, who were close behind her. “They went out into the street to kill each other. That neither is dead is the mark of a civilized man, not a savage.”

Feeling a good deal better for having vented a small portion of her anger on the hapless stranger, even though it was Colt she really wanted to upbraid for his careless risk-taking, she marched on without the least notion of the agitation she left behind.

“Nice going, Miles, or hasn’t it dawned on you yet that by that accent of hers, it’s a safe bet to say you’ve just offended Lady Fleming herself?”

The sarcasm, delivered so scathingly, put Miles Dryden on the defensive. “Well, how was I to know? The way the countess spoke of her, I was expecting a raving beauty.” And then he groaned. “A redhead, and a skinny one at that! I’ll never be able to go through with it.”

Maura, clinging possessively to his arm, was mol
lified at hearing that. Personally, she thought the duchess was stunning, but for a moment she had forgotten that Miles wouldn’t think so. She knew from experience that his preference in women ran to well-shaped blondes such as herself. The older countess was likely to give her more cause for worry than the younger duchess.

“You’ll do just fine, sugar, ’cause it looks like this is the one we’ve been dreaming about. A real English duchess, traveling just for pleasure, and in such style. She’s got to be rich as sin.”

“So you said the last time,” Miles grumbled.

Maura didn’t care for that reminder. “The widow Ames never lied about all her children being dead. She just failed to mention there were seventeen grandchildren patiently waiting to pick her estate apart. So they bought you off with a worthless silver mine that got us stranded in this godforsaken place. At least they never questioned the old lady’s death.”

“But she was old. This one’s young.”

“We won’t use poison this time to make you a widower again. An accident will do just as well.”

“And I suppose I’ll have to see to it?”

She was getting tired of his negative attitude. “I took care of your last two wives, sugar. I’d say it’s your turn. Of course, if you’d rather find me a husband instead…”