When The Heart Beckons (36 page)

“I reckon,” Brett said, as Lowry’s hands
balled into fists at his sides, “that everyone here will have real
reason to celebrate when Roy Steele is finished conducting his
business with you. And, you two men,” Brett called harshly to the
hired hands Cade had spotted on the fringes, “if you’re smart
you’ll stay out of this. If not, you can die just like your pard
Hank Ellis.”

The kid has guts—McCallum guts
,
Cade thought admiringly, and then he forced himself to think of
nothing but the man staring at him with such utter hatred and
desperation in his eyes.

“I’m sure we can settle this peaceable,”
Cade said mockingly, his stance deceptively nonchalant. “Just
apologize to Conchita and Adelaide, and the rest of my friends, and
we’ll let bygones be bygones.”

“I’m not apologizing for anything! You
people are the ones who’ve barged in here and disrupted a festive
gathering of neighbors. I’ve asked you to leave, and if you don’t,
I’ll have no choice but to throw you off.”

“Go ahead.”

Sweat glistened on Lowry’s ruddy brow. “You
think I can’t? You think I’m scared of your name, your reputation,
Steele? Well, think again.” His hard laughter echoed around the
terrace. People stepped even farther away from him. And at the same
moment a closer rumble of thunder boomed across the sky. “I’m not
afraid of any man and that includes you. So I’m calling you out,
Steele, here and now. And when you’re dead, me and my boys will run
the rest of your friends off my land and clear out of this valley
for good.”

Cade had gone still as stone, but now a
faint mocking smile curled the corners of his lips. He didn’t have
to say anything; that contemptuous smile said it all. It goaded
Lowry more than words, for everyone who saw that look of utter
confidence and scorn gasped and held their breath.

“Damn you!” Lowry shouted and suddenly his
gun was in his hand.

The black and golden night exploded with
gunfire, screams, and blood.

B
rilliant amber
lightning sliced the sky as Red Cobb at last halted his horse on a
sharp ledge that jutted over a narrow canyon gorge. The thunder
seemed to boom from the very rocks as he untied the rope that bound
Annabel to the pommel and dragged her to the ground.

“We won’t mind the storm one little bit,
honey. You and me will be snug and dry as a couple of barn mice.
Look.”

And as he dragged her forward toward the
rocks, she saw what she hadn’t seen at first—a cave, hidden amidst
huge tumbling boulders, almost invisible if you didn’t know what to
look for.

Cobb pushed her ahead of him and led his
horse through the opening. “Keep going,” he growled. “It’s plenty
big. We can even make a fire.”

I can hardly wait
, Annabel thought
as she stumbled ahead of him in the pitch darkness. A match scraped
against tinder and then pale light illuminated rough rock walls.
There was just room enough for Cobb to stand without brushing his
head against the roof.

He tethered the horse to a boulder near the
mouth of the cave, swung his saddle pack over his shoulder, and
pushed Annabel forward, deeper into the shadowy recesses. She heard
rain begin to pound outside. Fear clawed at her.

She couldn’t hope to escape during a
thunderstorm.

Then I’ll just have to stall
him—somehow
, she thought, fighting to keep panic from
overtaking her.
You’re smarter than he is. And more desperate.
That makes you more dangerous
.

But she wished with all her might that she
was safe with Cade somewhere, anywhere. In his cabin, she thought
on a breath of longing. That cozy little cabin in that magnificent
gemlike valley. But then Red Cobb shoved her and she fell into the
wall, and the lovely image was shattered.

“Sit down and don’t cause me any trouble,”
he warned, as he dropped a match onto a small heap of twigs piled
on the cave floor. Golden light caught, spiraling up and outward.
“If you try to get away, things’ll go worse for you.”

Annabel realized something as she stared at
the orange-gold flames. He had been here before and used this cave,
and had planned to come back, planned to bring her here. That was
why the convenient pile of twigs was left here, all ready for their
return.

She swallowed with great difficulty. The
horrid gag was still in her mouth. Reaching up, she yanked it from
her lips, and let it fall around her neck, even though her wrists
were still bound together. As she glared at him defiantly, Cobb
regarded her in amusement.

“Think you’re pretty brave, don’t you? Well,
it won’t do you any good up here. No one’s going to be impressed,
least of all me. Now sit down before I knock you down.”

Suddenly he towered over her, and Annabel
knew he would carry out his threat. She sat on the cold floor of
the cave, shivering in her thin gown, and avoided looking at him as
he built up the fire, then riffled through his pack and began to
chew on a piece of jerky. “Want some?”

She shook her head. “But I would appreciate
it if you’d untie me. The rope is cutting into my wrists.”

“Ain’t that too bad.” He removed a whiskey
flask from his pack and took a deep, satisfying swig. “Want some of
this, honey? It’ll help settle your nerves.”

The only thing that will help settle my
nerves is seeing you dead—preferably at the bottom of that canyon
out there
, she thought, but she kept her face schooled into an
expression of calmness, and merely shook her head.

“I’m fine ... except for this rope.”

He studied her as he tilted the bottle to
his mouth again. Then he shrugged. “Hell, why not? A teensy thing
like you can’t do too much damage, can you?”

He pulled a knife from his boot and sliced
the rope.

“Thank you,” Annabel murmured, her eyes
downcast. She was thinking hard and fast, trying to figure out a
way she could get her hands on his gun. Distractedly, she rubbed at
her numb, bleeding wrists as Cobb sat back down, stuffed the rest
of the jerky in his mouth, and followed it with another deep swill
of whiskey.

That’s it. Keep drinking
, she
thought.
Drink it all up
. An idea was taking form in her
brain. If he passed out, she could steal his gun and his horse and
get away. Or at the very least, she could hit him over the head
with a rock or something while he was passed out, then tie him up
with whatever rope was still stored with his gear. And
then
take the horse and get away.

Lots of possibilities, she thought. And all
of them dangerous. But one of them would have to work.

“You know I’m going to have to kill you,” he
said matter-of-factly, setting the bottle down and studying her
from beneath the brim of his hat. “When I’m finished with you, that
is. Can’t have a nosey little private investigator roaming around,
causing trouble. Besides, honey, you deserve it. You never should
have gotten involved in men’s business, and you sure never should
have tried to pull a fast one over on Red Cobb.”

Dread squeezed the air from her lungs.
Don’t let him distract you or scare you, That’s what he wants.
He wants you too weak and frightened to do anything—too terrified
to fight back.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to say with far
more steadiness than she felt. “I was only trying to do my job.
I’ve heard how good you are with a gun, and I wanted to protect my
client.”

“That was your first mistake, honey. There’s
nothing that can protect Brett McCallum from me.”

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you so bent on killing him?”
Annabel knew the answer to this, but she had to keep him talking.
She waited as he took another long swallow of the whiskey and wiped
his mouth on his sleeve. Outside, she could hear the wind
shrieking, the rain drumming against the ancient rock. And thunder
roared as steadily as cannon fire during a fierce and relentless
battle. But at that moment she would rather have braved the storm
naked than faced the terrifyingly unemotional brutality of Red
Cobb.

“Why do you think?” he sneered.

“Money. I think someone hired you.” She saw
the drunken glint in his blue eyes as he nodded.

“Course. Why else? Fact is, I’m being well
paid to rid the world—and my client—of Master Brett McCallum.”

“And is your client a man by the name of
Lucas Johnson?” she asked softly.

Cobb stared at her. “How’d you know ...”
Suddenly a smirk crossed his face. “It might be one of his
names.”

“So he uses more than one name? Is Frank
Boxer another one?”

“Lady, you ask way too many questions. I
think I need to shut you up.”

He shambled to his feet and came toward her.
Annabel scrambled up, determined at least to meet him on her
feet.

“I don’t mean anything by it,” she said
quickly, backing up until she could go no farther. The rough wall
of the cave pressed against her spine. “But I am curious. You’ve
been so relentless, and so clever. Obviously this man who hired
you—whatever his name is—knew that he was hiring the best when he
picked Red Cobb.”

“Damn right I’m the best.” He stopped right
before her and grabbed her arms so suddenly that she gasped. Cobb
chuckled. “Some people think Steele is faster than me. How about
you?”

“I ... don’t know ...”

“You wish he was here right now, don’t you?
Think he could save you, eh?” Cobb shook her hard. Annabel tried in
vain to wrench her arms free, but couldn’t. Cobb shook her harder
until she was breathless and dizzy.

“Don’t you?” he lashed out, his voice thick
with cruelty.

“Yes!”

He stopped the shaking, but held on to her,
his fingers biting into her flesh every bit as painfully as the
rope had earlier. “Well, he couldn’t help you if he was here. I’m
faster than him and a better shot than him and I’m going to prove
it. Soon as I’m finished with you and I’ve thrown your body down
into the bottom of that canyon out there, I’m going back—to kill
McCallum and then Steele—or maybe the other way around,” he
shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. But there’s something you should
know. I’m going to tell Steele exactly what I did to you right
before I kill him.” His smile widened, stretching taut across his
handsome, square-jawed face. “I want him to know.”

“You ... bastard.” Trembling rage overcame
her. “You’ll never kill him. He’s quicker than you, and surer.
You’re the one who’s going to die, you stupid arrogant fool.”

The half-drunken gloating faded from Cobb’s
face. His eyes took on a terrifying icy glitter that turned them
the light blue of a distant star. “You’re going to be real sorry
for that, honey, just like for everything else,” he said, his
breath coming heavy in his throat. “You got a hankering for Steele,
don’t you? I saw the two of you up there in that bedroom window.
And I saw you ride out of Silver Junction together the morning
after you lied to me about McCallum’s whereabouts. But that’s not
enough for you, you two-bit whore. You’ve got a hankering for
McCallum, too. I saw you kissing him out there near Lowry’s
corrals. You’re a randy little thing, aren’t you? Well, I deserve
my turn. That’s why I’ve been waiting, following you, and waiting.
Because I wanted to get my hands on you first, and then go after
Steele and McCallum. So’s I can tell them both what I did to their
cheap little light-skirt detective. So I can kill them both knowing
that I’ve bested them in every way. It’ll sure be sweet.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“And you’re a dead woman.”

Laughing, he reached for her, and squashed
his lips against hers. Annabel fought against him, frantic to get
away, but he was too strong, and the stench of liquor and days-old
sweat nearly overpowered her as much as his heavy body when he
crushed her against the wall.

Her nails raked his face. He swore, lifted
his head, and slapped her. “So you like it rough, do you, you
little bitch?”

“Get away!”

“Honey, we’re only getting started.”

He yanked her close again and this time
plunged his mouth against her throat, sucking, while at the same
time his hand groped at her breast. He grabbed it and squeezed so
hard Annabel shrieked in pain and terror.

Then out of pure instinct she rammed her
knee up into his groin. Cobb screamed. For just a moment he
loosened his hold on her, and it was enough. She darted around him
and past the campfire. In her haste she kicked a stray log lying
near the edge of the fire, sending it skittering out of the circle
of flames. One end was burning brightly and suddenly she had an
idea. She grabbed the other end of the log, and as Cobb, still bent
over, started toward her, she threw it straight at him.

He couldn’t dodge in time. The fiery log hit
him full in the shoulder and a spark flew up and caught in his
hair. Suddenly he was on fire, screeching and yelling, and Annabel
ran toward the mouth of the cave. There was no time to untether the
horse, no time to do anything but plunge out into the ferocious
rage of the storm, into a roaring night of black sky and gold
lightning, of wind and wet, and she fled headlong through the
rain-slashed madness.

She kept close to the cave wall, brushing
against the rocks as she ran, terrified of that chasm just beyond,
of losing her bearings and hurtling over the rim of the canyon to a
gruesome death far below. Rain whipped her hair and streamed down
her cheeks and sodden gown, and the wind whistled through her ears
until she thought she’d go mad, but she kept going, half-running,
half-stumbling on a path that led she knew not where. But it was
leading her away from Red Cobb and that was all that mattered right
now. She peered anxiously behind her, straining to see through the
sheets of rain, fearful he would grab her suddenly from behind.