Souls Aflame (50 page)

When she did not—could not—answer, he reached out and clasped the front of her robe, pulled her inches from the bed, and whispered harshly, “I asked you a question, dammit, and you’re going to learn to obey me. Do you understand?”

Her whisper was barely audible, hissed between angrily clenched teeth. “Yes, I quite understand you, you bastard!”

The play of a smile was on his lips as he released Julie, moved to an erect position, and stared down at her with half-closed lids. “I think,” he murmured, starting to unbutton his shirt, “that it’s time you learned a lesson, my pretty lady. I’m going to teach you the only thing a woman is really good for, and you’ll most likely beg for more and more. I like to hear my women plead for it…”

“You’re out of your filthy mind!” She was on her feet and screaming, running for the door to beat upon it with both fists, not caring who heard.

He was right behind her, tearing at her robe, yelling at her to be quiet. “I’ll make it rough for you…you’ll make me hurt you—”

The door opened so quickly that it struck Julie across her face, and she fell backwards onto the floor. Through a haze of pain, she saw Luther rushing in, gun drawn. “What the hell is going on—” and then he saw Julie and reached down to lift her into his arms. “Are you hurt?” he demanded, then whipped about to face Gordon furiously. “What did you do to her?”

“Stay out of this!” Gordon snarled.

“The hell I will!”

“You seem to forget I’m your commanding officer—”

“And you seem to forget I don’t give a shit. I said I’d go along with using her as a spy, but dammit, that didn’t include you treating her like she was your woman and using her like you would a whore.”

Gordon was livid with rage. “Luther, I’m not going to put up with this.”

“Then you’d better find somebody else to play your goddamn guitar, because I’m not having any part of it.” His anger was equally fired.

Gordon took a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he tried to get hold of himself. “Very well,” he said tightly. “You win. For now. But sooner or later, I’ll get what I want.”

“Not while I’m around, you won’t.” Luther was struggling to keep from smashing his fist into Gordon’s face. Fox might be his commanding officer, but Luther’d never liked the damn bastard.

“That,” Gordon smiled, “can be taken care of, Luther. I can have you transferred elsewhere.”

“You won’t, because you need me.”

“In that case, our day will come, and we’ll settle our differences then.” He buttoned his shirt, then walked out and slammed the door behind him.

Luther turned to Julie with a gentle expression on his face. “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked softly.

She nodded shakily, still frightened. “Thank you, Luther. If you hadn’t come when you did…” She shuddered to think of what would have happened.

“I was close by, figuring he’d try something.” He reached inside his coat and brought out a bottle. “Here. Drink this. You look like you could use it. It’ll make you relax.”

She tipped it to her lips, drank, then coughed as the liquid burned in her throat. Luther walked over and sat down next to the fireplace. “Maybe you can get some sleep if you drink enough of that. I’ll sit here with you, if it’ll make you feel better. And don’t worry. I’m not going to touch you.”

Julie went to her bed and sat down uneasily. She found him handsome, in a rugged, coarse sort of way. His hair was a cross between red and blond, and his eyes were deep blue. But there were lines in his face that made him appear older than she guessed him to be. It was obvious he’d led a rough-and-tumble kind of life, and she found it strange that he could be so gentle with her.

“I’m a soldier too, Julie,” he spoke quietly. “Maybe not like the others, because I’m considered part of the secret service, like Fox. But he is my commanding officer, and I take orders from him. I was pretending to be a Reb, and that’s how I got assigned to Libby, like Fox wanted.”

“Yet you stood up to him just now,” she murmured, awed.

He grinned, and suddenly he didn’t look so rough anymore. “Yeah—well, I do that now and then, and he really hates my guts for it. I figure sooner or later along the line we’re going to have one hell of a fight. I’ll be ready for it. He’s a sharp one, though.”

“He’s vile and vicious, and he still holds my brother prisoner,” she cried, blinking back tears.

Luther gestured helplessly. “That’s the way it is, honey. This is war. I hate it as much as you do, but—” He paused to take a breath, then murmured, “Look, you’re upset, and you’ve got a right to be. Why don’t you just drink some more of that stuff and maybe you’ll go to sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

She shook her head but took another swallow. She didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to talk. “He said he’d have Myles killed if I don’t do as he says.”

“He probably will. It won’t be so bad if you do what he wants. I’ll be around to try and make things easy.”

Julie continued to sip from the bottle, and soon her voice was slurring, eyelids growing heavy. As the bottle slipped from her fingers, Luther reached to take it away before it fell to the floor. “I’m not going to touch you, Julie,” he said with tenderness as he laid her down and pulled a blanket up to tuck beneath her chin. “I’m going to sit here next to you and make sure nobody bothers you—this night, at least.”

She groped for his hand gratefully, and he squeezed her tiny fingers as she looked up at him once more to smile and whisper, “Thank you, Luther…thank you for being my friend.”

He sat there for a long time, staring down at her. Dammit, he’d never let himself go soft for any woman before. He’d had his share, but he couldn’t remember ever feeling quite this way. Hell, he felt sorry for her. He wanted to yank those covers off and strip her naked, and Lord, he knew it would be good. But something was stopping him. Pity. Dammit, he’d never felt pity for anybody or anything, so why in hell was he starting now, in the middle of a goddamn war? Maybe it was because she wasn’t like the others. They didn’t have to be coaxed into doing their job for Fox. Some of them even went ahead and slept with the men they lured to their beds, even after they drugged them and got what information they needed out of them. They seemed to enjoy it.

But this one, he knew, would never submit willingly. She might be tiny and delicate, and maybe physically she couldn’t fight back, but she’d never give in. She’d fight with every ounce of strength she had in her.

She stirred, moaned, whispered a name he could not make out. He leaned forward, wanting to hear, but there was a sharp rap on the door and then the sound of Veston’s belligerent voice. Luther didn’t answer. He kept staring at Julie, feeling the pounding of his heart and cursing himself for the emotions that were starting to smolder within, despite his determination that he wouldn’t let himself feel anything for her.

“You gonna open this door or you want me to bust it down?”

Luther’s head jerked up. Slowly he got to his feet and walked to the door. As soon as his hand fastened on the knob and the click of the lock could be heard, Veston was pushing his way into the room. He looked at Julie, then grinned nastily. “Already finished, huh? Well, it’s my turn now.”

Luther quickly positioned himself between Veston and Julie’s bed. Grimly he pronounced, “You aren’t going to touch her.”

“Are you kidding me?” Veston’s eyebrows were raised in surprise above eyes glimmering with desire. “We always break in the good-lookin’ ones. What’d you do to her, anyway? How come she’s asleep?” He threw back his head and laughed tauntingly. “Puttin’ your women to sleep these days, eh, Luther?”

“I said you are not going to touch her.”

“Hey—” he drawled, stiffening. “You
aren’t
kidding, are you? What the hell’s going on?”

“I gave her some whiskey to make her relax so she’d fall asleep.”

Veston twisted his mouth thoughtfully, then took a step forward. “I’m going to have me some—”

Luther reached quickly for the knife he always carried. The blade glimmered and sparkled in the glow from the fire in the grate, but its radiance was dim compared to the heat glowering in his eyes as he warned, “I’m not letting you near her, so get the hell out of here!”

Veston looked from the knife to Luther’s eyes. “Fox is gonna hear about this.”

“That’s fine. I’ve already had a run-in with him about her.”

“He’ll kill you.”

“No he won’t. He needs me.” Luther sounded quite confident. “You see, I’m going to keep a watch over her. I’m going to try to keep as much misery from touching her as I can. That’s the least I can do. She isn’t like the others, and that’s why you and Fox can’t have her.”

Veston stared at him, stunned for a moment, and then he laughed. “Well, I’ll be danged. Am I hearing, right? You, of all people—one of the biggest, hell-raisin’ fuckers I ever messed around with—standing here tellin’ me you’re going to watch over that fine piece of woman flesh like she was your very own…”

Luther could have told him that he did indeed wish she were his own. But he knew he’d said enough. The point had been made. There would be a reckoning with Fox later, and he’d face that when the time came. “I think,” he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “that you’d better just get the hell on out of here.”

“Sure,” Veston snorted, moving toward the door. “Ain’t no woman worth fightin’ for, but you sure beat everything I ever seen.”

When Veston had gone, Luther put his knife away and sat back down. Julie slept deeply for awhile, and then she would twist from side to side, crying out as though reliving some horrible nightmare. He would reach out and stroke her face or smooth her silky black hair back from her forehead as he spoke to her in gentle, soothing tones. He would tell her she was safe, that he was there and would watch over her. After awhile, she would drift into peaceful slumber once again.

He was still sitting there when dawn tried to break through the thick snow clouds and light struggled to creep into the room. He had not once dozed, wanting to be alert should Julie cry out in terror again. Fox had not returned, and Luther was relieved. Another confrontation might awaken her, and he knew she needed to sleep as long as possible. The road ahead was not going to be easy for her.

“You’re still here…”

He glanced up to see that she was awake and staring at him intently.

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure you slept all right,” he told her. “Veston came, but I ran him off. You had a restless night. I wanted to help if I could.”

“Why?” She sat up, unaware that her robe had fallen open, exposing her magnificently sculptured breasts. He saw and sucked in his breath. Julie looked down and gasped and yanked the garment closed. Her eyes grew suspicious, wary. “Why did you stay? What do you want of me?”

He shrugged. “I know you don’t trust me. It’s something I can’t explain. There’s just something about you that makes me feel you need protecting. I don’t know how much I can do for you, but I aim to hang around and do my damndest.” He gave her a lopsided grin which he hoped put her at ease.

She lifted her chin a little. Despite his apparent attempt at friendship, and the way he had saved her from Gordon Fox the night before, he was still one of “them.” Her voice was cold. “I can take care of myself.”

“No, hell, you can’t.” He spoke gruffly for the first time. “Fox is going to send you around entertaining Reb troops, you know, and it’s going to be dangerous. You need somebody around to look out for you. I aim to be that somebody.”

“If you truly want to help me, you’ll help me find my brother so we can escape all this madness. You won’t let Gordon go on with his mad scheme.”

“Oh, I can’t help you there,” he said. Gently, he hastened to explain. “I told you, Julie, I’m a soldier. I’ve got a job to do. I’m going to travel with you and play the guitar while you sing. I aim to be your bodyguard, and God knows, you’re going to need one. But don’t ask me to help you escape. I’m in this war because I believe in the northern cause, and I’ll kill a Reb as quick as I’ll mash the life out of a toad. But as much as it’s within my power, I’ll keep you from getting hurt. And that’s all I can offer you,” he finished with a sigh.

There were a few moments of silence, and then Luther spoke the words that seemed to be smoldering within him. “I’m probably making a fool of myself, but I’m going to say it, Julie. You shake me up. I wanted you something fierce last night, and I’d move quicker’n a scalded dog if you asked me to climb under them covers with you right now. But I’ll never touch you ’less you want me to. I promise. Just let me be your friend, ’cause you’re going to need one.”

Shivering not only from the chill of the room, Julie wrapped the covers tightly about her; then trailing them behind her, she went to stand in front of the fireplace.

“I’ll go get some more wood,” Luther said quickly, noticing how she was shaking. “I’ll bring you something to eat too. I’ll get the hotel cook to whip you up some hoe cakes and bacon. You need something that’ll stick to your ribs. The major’s going to take you shopping today, get you fitted for some fine clothes, and you’ll be out running around in all that snow.”

“Promise me one thing, Luther,” she interrupted, whipping about to face him, no longer trembling, for her bones had stiffened with the determination and fortitude that she knew instinctively she must gather if she were to survive. “Promise me that you will do everything in your power to see that my brother lives. I can pledge nothing in return, but you say you want to be my friend. I want to believe you, and if you mean what you say, then make this one promise to me.”