Angel Gone Bad (5 page)

R
une escorted Angel toward the Verdigris Gang, a hand on the back of her waist, knowing he was being viewed as the luckiest man in the Red River Saloon. She looked sexy as hell in that getup, a dangerous black widow who could lure men into her web and feast on their pleasure. Most guys would find her almost impossible to resist, whether they wanted to subdue her or succumb to her. If he hadn't known her better, he'd be ready to fall at her feet himself.

When they reached the poker table, three men leaped to their feet and politely jerked off their cowboy hats.

“May I present Angel the Ace,” Rune said formally.

“Gentlemen, it's my pleasure,” Angel responded in a husky voice that suggested cigarettes and whiskey in a bed of rumpled sheets.

“This is Baines Callahan.” Rune gestured to the leader.

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Angel.” Baines grinned, revealing a row of strong white teeth centered in a thick black beard. He was heavily muscled and radiated a kind of brutal sensuality.

“Hackett here is his younger brother.”

Hackett nodded, giving Angel the once-over from his hooded gray eyes. Where his brother was short and wide, he was tall and wiry with thick black hair and a handlebar mustache.

“And this is their cousin Jumpin' Judd Haynes.”

“You're pretty as a picture,” Jumpin' Judd said, then blushed to the roots of his fiery red hair. He was so full of pep that he impatiently tapped fingertips against the tabletop.

“Thank you.” Angel gave each of the gang a slow perusal. “You boys ready to play some poker?”

“You're our huckleberry.” Baines pulled out a chair with exaggerated courtesy. “Please sit here.”

“Thank you.”

As Angel sat down, Baines pushed in her chair and threw Rune a challenging stare, obviously ready to lay claim to her. “I can see why you rented that horse and buggy. Lady like this ought to have the best.”

Rune refused to be baited by the challenge or the barb. He sat down next to Angel, ready to help and protect her if she needed it. He'd already taken enough ribbing about the dang horse and buggy. Maybe this would finish it. “Where's Lucky?”

“Wandered off, 'bout like he always does when he's needed,” Baines grumbled.

“Most likely he went to see a man about a horse.” Hackett snickered at the old excuse to be someplace else when there was work to be done.

“Who's Lucky?” Angel asked.

“Met up with him in the Bend.” Baines checked the room, and then glanced back. “Supposed to be good with a gun and better with a knife.”

“Could've used him in college,” Hackett said. “That stare of his could stop a stampeding buffalo in its tracks.”

“Good man to have on your side,” Angel said.

“If he was ever in place.” Jumpin' Judd fiddled with his cards.

“Yep, a guy like him is good to have at your back in college or out of it.” Rune bumped Angel's knee under the table so she would note college being substituted for prison and not question it.

“We don't need him to play cards, do we?” Angel asked, smiling around at the group.

“We're not waitin' for that sidewinder to find his way back here.” Baines picked up a deck of cards, cut them in half, and started to shuffle. He stopped. “Angel, you got any druthers?”

“I'm just along for the ride. I'll take what I'm dealt.”

“Five card stud it is,” Baines said.

“Full chisel tonight.” Hackett rubbed his hands together.

Baines shuffled, and then passed around cards with cool efficiency.

Rune peeked at what he'd been dealt and resisted rolling his eyes. Not good by any kind of reckoning. He'd try to bluff, but first he'd back up Angel if she needed it.

Wasn't long before he realized she was close to being a better pupil than he was a teacher. And she had a way with the cards, touching them, sliding her fingers across their backs, holding them close to her bosom. It was as if she was communicating with them, or they were talking to her. Felt a little like something out of Indian Territory.

For the first time, he wondered if she came out of one of the nations. She had sorrel hair, a dark red, and pale green eyes. But her skin glowed warm, not icy pale like his where the sun didn't touch it. She had those high cheekbones that made her heart-shaped face strong rather than pretty. When it came right down to it, he knew more about the pedigree of his horse than he did about Angel. Maybe he'd remedy that one day, but out West folks didn't ask what they weren't told. Could get you shot or worse.

What he did know was that she was one hell of a woman. She'd set him on fire once and he'd kept right on blazing like a pine knot. Only way to get relief was to get full payback. He'd do it, too.

“Rune!” Baines yelled. “You go to sleep, or what?”

He shook his head to clear out thoughts of Angel. He couldn't let her cloud his mind or he'd be in big trouble. “Woolgathering.”

“Well, don't do it on my watch,” Baines grumbled, shuffling the cards.

Angel slanted a glance at Rune, her lips twitching in suppressed laughter as if she knew he'd been thinking about her.

He gave her a hard stare before turning back to the game. He picked up his cards, looked through them, and resisted a groan. All his luck was running downhill to her. He ought to be glad, but it made him mad.

Still, she was being smart, letting the others win often enough to stay happy while she steadily won everybody's money. They liked playing with her, too, the suckers.

About the time Rune was ready to throw in his hand, he noticed Lucky watching them from nearby. It looked like he'd been standing there a while with nobody the wiser. Rune didn't know how Lucky did it. Like tonight, he'd just disappear and reappear as if through a rabbit hole. Guy ought to be called Loki, or a similar Indian Trickster name like Coyote or Rabbit. A few words here or there and Lucky would set a brawl in motion or he'd distract everybody long enough that he'd get something impossible done. Rune had taken to watching him, wondering what Lucky was doing with the V Gang. He was smarter than the others, quicker, and a loner. Maybe he was part Indian, too.

One thing for sure, Lucky was a looker, almost as pretty as a girl. He had wavy brown hair and dark amber eyes. He was a couple inches shy of six feet and lithe with wiry muscle. Ladies fell all over themselves to please him, and he appeared to take it for granted.

“You must be an angel come to earth,” Lucky said as he stepped forward and knelt by Angel's chair.

The Verdigris Gang gaped at him in astonishment.

Lucky held out his hand to Angel, a silver chain wrapped around his wrist. He slowly unwound the chain, leaving one end around his wrist as he held out the other end to her. “Miss Angel, Princess of Light, I am henceforth your most loyal servant. Please accept my chain of service.”

“You must be Lucky,” Angel said, giggling.

Rune saw red. He'd never heard Angel giggle before, and he hated the sound. Damn Loki to Hel and back. He belonged in the Underworld with the half-dead and half-live Queen Hel. Not here, not now, stirring up trouble.

A
ngel gazed into Lucky's eyes, a feeling akin to diving into sweet, dark caramel. Absolutely irresistible. She reached for the chain, but felt her hand knocked down to the table and held there by Rune's strong fingers. She glanced up at him in surprise.

Rune loomed closer, his blue eyes staring daggers of ice at Lucky. “I don't know what the hell your game is, but Angel is here with me.”

“I'm spellbound by her charm,” Lucky said, a slight twitch to his lips revealing a single dimple in his left cheek.

“Hogwash!”

Angel realized the situation was quickly getting out of hand. Rune looked twice the size of Lucky, but she'd already heard about the smaller man's reputation. She didn't want either of them hurt.

“Gentlemen,” she said, “I'm not a side of beef to be fought over.”

“That's right,” Baines agreed. “You two sit down. We're playing cards, not throwing down.”

“Miss Angel has a right to accept my chain of service should she so desire.” Lucky cast a challenging glance at her.

Angel had to admit he was extraordinarily handsome and spoke delightfully like someone in a historical novel. She was charmed despite her desire for Rune and his rugged good looks. Maybe a man like Lucky could help her overcome her unrelenting passion for the Northman.

“What's Lucky yammering about?” Hackett asked, his brow wrinkling in puzzlement.

“He's about to make trouble.” Baines threw down his cards in disgust. “I'm not having it. Lucky, you get along with the Verdigris Gang or you get out. Rune brought Angel in to help us with that railroad deal. You didn't. Back off or get gone.”

Lucky shrugged, giving Angel an aggrieved look. “Fair damsel, I am overruled by our illustrious leader.” He glanced up at Rune and his eyes turned hard and dark. “But my offer stands . . . for all time.” He rewrapped the chain around his wrist and stood up in a single, graceful move.

“Thank you . . . I think,” Angel said, still confused about Lucky's meaning or motivation.

Lucky leaned down to whisper in her ear. “With your touch and sight, we could go far. I value your gift.”

She jerked back from him as if stung. How did he know? No one knew, or could know. Horrified, she couldn't get away from him fast enough. She stood up, knocking her chair over backwards. The loud clatter brought heads up across the saloon. She put a hand to her face as if she had a headache, feigning any excuse to get out of there.

“I'm not feeling well.” She felt hot and cold at the same time.

As Lucky righted her chair, he pinned her with a knowing look. “If I can be of any help, please let me know.”

“She doesn't need your help. I'm taking her home.” Rune put a hand around Angel's waist.

She felt trapped, suffocated by so much maleness directed at her. Yet she couldn't allow them to overwhelm her or make her appear weak. She glanced around the table at the V Gang. “I've enjoyed meeting you. Thanks for the poker game.” She quickly scooped her winnings into her reticule, coins clicking against her derringer. She snapped shut her bag.

“You're coming back tomorrow night to give us a shot at winning our money back, ain't you?” Jumpin' Judd asked, fingertips drumming staccato beats on the tabletop.

“We've got business to talk at you, too,” Baines added.

“Till tomorrow.” Angel smiled, pulled away from Rune's hand, and headed straight for the front doors.

As she stepped outside, breathing a sigh of relief, Rune caught up with her. She quickly started down the boardwalk, heels clicking a fast rhythm on the weathered wood.

“What the hell was that about?” He fell into step beside her.

“Stuffy in there. Headache.” She quickened her pace, dodged a drunken cowboy, and kept going.

“Lucky set you off, didn't he?”

“Why don't you go back to your friends?”

“They're not my friends. They're partners.”

She almost collided with a saloon's open door, pushed it hard out of the way, and left it swinging behind her as she continued down the boardwalk.

“Slow down. We need to talk.”

“Something the matter with the way I played poker?” She speeded up, wanting desperately to get away from all the noise, light, patrons, and most of all, Rune.

He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. “You wouldn't have accepted Lucky's chain and claim, would you?”

She jerked back. “I don't owe you any answers.”

“Lucky's trouble.”

“And you're not?”

“Another kind of trouble. He's different.”

“So am I!” She bit her lower lip to keep from blurting out the truth. “Right now, all I want is some peace and quiet.” She turned her back on him and wrapped her arms around her waist to contain her own feelings of vulnerability.

“You're special,” Rune said, voice low and urgent. “Any fool can see it. That's why I've got to protect you from other guys.”

“But not yourself?” She threw the words at him like rocks, and then stepped off the boardwalk onto the street. A rider racing by and bellowing at the top of his lungs clipped her with his boot and knocked her backward.

Rune caught her, picked her up, and headed across the street, dodging horses, buggies, and drunken revelers.

On the other side, he stopped and looked down at her. “Are you hurt?” he asked, gently cradling her in his arms. “I think there's a doctor in town.”

“I'm okay. Just a little shook up.” She felt dazed, as much from shock as from Rune's touch. To be held by him, to hear the concern in his voice, and yet to know it was only because he needed her for his games with the V Gang felt like a curse to her soul. She wanted to cry in anguish, but couldn't give in to the weakness. “Please, put me down.”

He carried her over to the entrance of an alley out of the way of passersby. Ever so slowly he let her body slide down the length of him, as if rubbing two sticks together to create friction and fire.

Angel burned for him, feeling the hard strength of his muscles, smelling the leather and sage scent of his clothes, hearing his quick breath. But none of it could ever be for her, not after she'd burned that bridge down to the water line.

“You're safe now,” he said, voice husky with repressed emotion. “Manny's is two doors down.”

“Thank you.” Now was the time to step back, put distance between them, and reclaim her independence. But still she lingered near him, caught in their web of intrigue.

Rune tilted up her chin with his fingertips. “You did good at the table. I'm proud of you.”

She looked up at him with the street lamp casting a golden glow on his thick hair while the rest of him remained tantalizingly in shadow. She felt the old longing well up in her heart crossed by the equally old pain of rejection. She felt even more like crying. He wasn't her love and could never be. And yet, how she wished she could write a romantic ending to their blighted saga.

“You didn't hear the whispers as you left. I named you wrong. You're not Angel the Ace. They're calling you the Black Widow. Your reputation will spread far and wide. By morning, you'll have more takers than you can shake a stick at.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Hell, no.” He cradled her face in both his large hands. “Here's what I want.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

She shivered with a need born out of desperation. She returned his kiss, heat for heat. She felt as if her whole world was spiraling down to this one moment, this one man. When he slipped past her lips to delve into her mouth, she moaned, half in ecstasy and half in sorrow.

As if a dam had burst, all the old emotions came flooding back, only stronger than ever. She felt dampness on her cheeks. Embarrassingly enough, she realized she was crying even as he kissed her.

Rune raised his head. “What's this?” He gently stroked away the dampness on her face with his fingertips, and then kissed away the last of her tears. “I must be losing my touch if I'm causing women to cry when I kiss them.”

Angel couldn't help but smile, feeling his tenderness like a dagger to her heart. She could handle his hate, his hurtful actions, but this Rune could so easily dissolve all her defenses that she should fear him most of all.

“You're tired,” he said, nodding as if agreeing with himself. “I'm taking you to Manny's. Get some sleep in your loft. I'll sleep with my horse below. In the morning it'll all look better.”

When he twined their fingers together, she glanced up at his face. He smiled, then moved forward, tugging her with him. As they walked down the boardwalk like lovers, she felt as if her heart would break.