Candace McCarthy (27 page)

She recognized, too, that the only other person who might know enough to see Captain Richard Milton hang for his deeds was Private Holton. Milton had chosen his assistant well, Amelia thought, for there was no denying Holton’s loyalty and extreme devotion to the captain.

Holton was the only one who knew exactly what Captain Milton was up to. Except her. Amelia shivered. Which made her situation extremely dangerous should the officer ever realize how much she knew and understood about his operations.

“Shall we go, Miss Dempsey?”

She saw the captain’s extended elbow, looked up into the light-colored eyes that studied her strangely and chilled her to the bone.

She accepted his arm. “Thank you, Captain.” She forced a smile. He knows, she thought. He allowed her to overhear last night’s conversation for a reason, and that was to make her see how extremely vulnerable she was.

What does he want from me?

He led her to his horse and placed his hands possessively
at her waist, allowing them to remain there for several seconds, before he lifted her up onto the animal. He held her attention as he released her slowly, easing his hands free, but not his gaze. Then, he smiled, and Amelia’s breath fisted into a ball of fear that became lodged in her throat.

Dear God, he wants me.
She closed her eyes and fought the panic, as she felt the shift of the horse as the captain climbed onto the saddle behind her.

He leaned forward until his breath whispered in her ear, his chest was pressed firmly at her back, and his hands brushed the sides of her breasts as he controlled the reins and horse.

God help me,
she thought. Daniel and the others were safe, she told herself, that was all that mattered. Then, to banish the thought of Richard Milton touching her, violating her, Amelia closed her eyes and remembered those times when she and Daniel had come together with sweet longing and passionate kisses.

Daniel and Black Hawk found the army, then together with the band of Ojibwa and Ottawa warriors, followed it for a time until dark.

It nearly killed him thinking of Amelia with Richard Milton, but Daniel knew it would be foolish to attack the army in the daylight. Milton and his men had the advantage of horses and guns, while Daniel and his Indian friends had only two trade rifles with limited ammunition, bows and arrows, war clubs, and knives. They would be at a disadvantage if spotted from a distance, but at close range, their weapons and skill would prove deadly.

Daniel sat, watching from high on a rock outcropping, studying Milton’s army as it passed below. They had sent their only horse back to the others with an Ottawa warrior, preferring to continue on foot, once they realized that Milton’s army no longer traveled in a hurry.

He noted with a frown a horse-drawn cart driven by a soldier and guarded by two others on horseback. The back of the cart appeared to be packed with wooden crates, and Daniel wondered what was in them. Then, he hazarded to take a guess. Could it be guns?

He saw Amelia seated on Milton’s horse. His first feeling was one of joy that the woman he loved was alive and apparently unharmed. His emotions turned quickly as he saw his brother-in-law lift a hand and run it slowly
down the back of Amelia’s unbound hair. Even from this distance, Daniel could sense Amelia’s resistance.

Rage stirred within Daniel that Milton would dare to lay a finger on her. His hand fisted on the rock face until he scraped his skin on the rough surface.

His gaze shot to his friend. Black Hawk nodded as they shared a silent message, before Daniel looked away, back toward Amelia.

He loved her, Daniel thought, and somehow, some way, he’d convince her to forgive him. He wanted her for always, to live with her, eat with her, and sleep with her by his side.

I want to take you to wife, my love. Just hold on until I can come for you.

Night seemed forever in the coming, but then finally it came, and Daniel and the Indians mentally prepared themselves for attack as they watched the soldiers set up camp for the night. Daniel had told Black Hawk his suspicions about the guns earlier, and they used the knowledge to caution the other Indians.

Apparently, there were other items in some of those boxes as well, Daniel thought, as he and Black Hawk watched, in the firelight, as Milton ordered one of his men to pry open one crate. The soldiers cheered as their captain reached into the box and pulled out a glass bottle.

Wine? Whiskey? Daniel wondered. All he knew for certain was that it was some kind of spirits that they drank and passed around to share.

“A toast!” he heard Richard Milton exclaim. “To the finest men in the United States Army. I’m proud of each and every one of you.”

Several more bottles were uprooted from the strawcushioned crate. There was much laughter and swigging from the bottles. Richard Milton wore a grin as he chuckled
with the others in a celebration of the day’s successful acquisition.

“But, Captain,” one man was bold enough to ask. “What of the others?”

Milton’s grin wavered for only a moment. “I’m sure they’ve recaptured the prisoners and are on their way right now to our next meeting stop.”

They weren’t, Daniel stopped. The small army had been apprehended by a large band of Ottawa and Ojibwa warriors only a few hours after they’d left camp.

“And where’s the meeting place, sir?” the same soldier queried.

The captain apparently didn’t like the men asking so many questions. He scowled, then his expression brightened. “Where the women are, Mr. Barker!”

The men all laughed and the matter was dropped as they continued to drink and eat from supplies they had garnered from somewhere. No doubt from in another one of those wooden boxes, Daniel thought, unamused.

The Indian band and Daniel bided their time, as they’d had once before, until the soldiers became drunker and drunker, even the captain. Daniel, noting Milton’s behavior, thought the taking of this army would be easier, giving their drunken state and their reduced number, but he feared that his inebriated brother-in-law was now more of a danger to Amelia than ever before.

Daniel glanced at Black Hawk, smiled grimly when he saw what he wanted to see. Then, shrieking wildly at the top of his lungs, he rushed forward with the Indians, his hand raised with a deadly Ojibwa war club, the sharp point aimed to kill.

Amelia heard the wild cries and froze as fierce-looking painted figures came out of the darkness with weapons raised. Her first thought as she saw the first soldier fall
was that she was going to die at the hands of real savages. They were all going to die. Then she saw Daniel, and her heart gladdened as she screamed his name.

She cried out as someone grabbed her around the throat from behind.

“I told you he’d come back,” Milton said, sounding almost gleeful. “Don’t move,” he hissed. He tightened his arm, strangling her airway. Amelia’s world blackened as she struggled for breath. “He’s coming,” he said
“Ah,
he’s already here.” He smiled.

“Hello, Trahern. I knew you’d not be able to resist coming back.” Milton released Amelia’s throat so she could breathe and gaze blearily at the man she loved standing before her.

Daniel’s face was painted black, but his blond hair fell in its familiar short waves about his head … and his eyes were still the brightest shade of blue she’d ever seen.

The blue orbs were cold, deadly, without an ounce of emotion, but a great deal of intent. “Let her go, Richard, or you’ll never make it out of this alive.”

Richard laughed and squeezed his arm. Amelia gasped and futilely, without strength, put her hands to the arm that was slowly choking the life out of her.

Around them came the sound of fighting as Indians battled soldiers. In an eerie scene out of somebody’s nightmare, the two men stood eyeing each other with venom in the midst of the fighting, while the woman in the mad one’s arms fought to stay alive.

“Don’t!” Daniel cried as he watched Amelia’s eyes widen and glaze over. “Don’t hurt her.”

The army officer laughed, a sick sound that echoed in Daniel’s ears and chilled his blood.

“What do you want?” His heart tripping, Daniel stared at Amelia. “You’re killing her, you bastard!” he roared.
“Haven’t you killed enough innocent people?”
He’s drunk
…
and he’s killing her!

“Richard, please,” Daniel pleaded. He thought quickly and grabbed for the only subject that he’d ever seen have any great effect on his brother-in-law. “For Pamela.”

Looking shocked, Richard released his arm. Amelia slumped back against the officer, until he shook her hard, and she came to, sobbing and gasping for breath.

“You’re not Pamela!” Milton said. His eyes sparkled with tears. “Pamela is dead.” He shoved Amelia until she stumbled and fell. “Our baby is dead.”

Daniel cursed and made a move to go to her, then lunged for Milton instead, grabbing his hand just as the man reached for his gun.

The two men struggled, but Daniel, the stronger and the only sober one of the two, easily subdued his brotherin-law.

Daniel had dropped his club, when he’d had no choice earlier because of the risk of endangering Amelia further. But he still had his knife, which he drew from his legging string with one hand. He had Richard with the other arm in a choke hold similar to the one the man had had Amelia in.

I can choke the living breath out of him and feel the
life ease out of him, or I can stick him quickly and cleanly,
Daniel thought.
Which way do you want to die, bastard!

“No, Daniel!” Amelia rasped as she lurched to her feet. “Don’t kill him!”

Daniel blinked and came out of the haze of blind rage. “Amelia—” Her beautiful face swam before his gaze. She looked upset. Distressed, he thought. No, horrified.

“He deserves to die.”

“Yes. Perhaps,” she said hoarsely. “But not by your
hand.” He could see that she struggled for every word.

“Not by your hand!”

He stared at her, wavering. The desire to kill remained strong within him. Milton’s men had attacked his home, kidnapped his sister. The captain himself had raped Jane. He’d taken Pamela, and because of Milton and Pamela, Daniel had doubted and hated his best friend.

He raised the knife as if to plunge.

“No, Daniel!” Amelia screamed.

“No, my friend.” Black Hawk stepped into the line of Daniel’s vision, approached, and reached for the knife. “Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend is right, my friend. You are not like this Ojibwa man. Richard Milton is a cruel man. He is an evil man, but he is still your sister’s husband, and while he deserves to die, you should not be the one to kill him.”

The Indian took the knife and raised it high. He stared into Milton’s fear-stricken eyes. “Let me kill him for you.” Milton’s eyes bulged as he gazed at the sharp blade.

“No, Black Hawk!” Amelia cried. “Let his own people deal with him. I know what he’s been doing. With my testimony to the government, he’ll hang.”

The Ojibwa met her gaze, before he turned back to his friend. “You will consider this?” he asked Daniel.

Daniel nodded, then released Milton’s throat to grab hold of the man’s arms and force them behind his back. He realized that the fighting was done. Whoever hadn’t been killed by the Indians was now a prisoner. Cameron Walters was among the prisoners, held by an Ojibwa who didn’t know about the young soldier’s earlier vital assistance.

“Thunder Oak, Mr. Walters is a friend.” Daniel’s gaze met the soldier’s frightened one. “Isn’t that right, Cameron?”

A flicker of hope entered the young man’s face as he nodded.

Daniel allowed the barest of smiles to surface. “Then, 1 trust I can place Captain Milton in your capable hands. You will see that he is presented to the proper authorities?”

“Yes, sir,” Cameron said.

Amelia, seeing Milton’s look of hatred toward Cameron, went up to the soldier and took hold of his arm. “And I’ll tell them what I know about the captain’s criminal acts … and about how Cameron”—she gazed smilingly into his eyes—”protected us as best he could and did everything he could to help all of us escape.”

The young man’s expression cleared of doubt. “I’d be much obliged, Miss Amelia,” he said. He grinned.

“No,” she returned quietly with a squeeze of his arm. “We are much obliged.”

Milton was bound by the wrists and loosely by the ankles, then handed over into Cameron’s care. Furious, the officer struggled against his ropes.

“You’re a fool, Trahern,” the captain cried. “A fool, you hear me! She was never yours. She was mine—long before you even met her. Her father was one of my commanding officers. We were to have been married, but I had orders and was sent away. I was coming back to her. We would have married …” To everyone’s surprise, the man released a sob.

He glared at Daniel. “Then, you came along, and you had to have her. She thought I was gone—dead!” Richard Milton’s voice rose and his eyes filled with tears. “So she listened to you … married you, but she never loved you.”

Milton’s gaze went to other members of the group. “She loved me. When I found that she had moved with
her father to another fort, I followed her there. But she was married.” He grinned then, the grin of an emotionally wounded and insane man. “So I married Jane—your sister. It seemed a fitting thing to do. You got my woman, so I took your sister …”

Daniel moved as if to hit him, but Amelia grabbed his arm. He looked down at the small, feminine hand and settled back into place, his anger bumping around inside of him crazily.

Richard seemed oblivious to everything but his loss. “But then I learned that Pamela still loved me … so we started to meet secretly. I even moved Jane away from the settlement. Away from you. It would be easier for Pamela and me to meet then. With Jane gone and me on active duty, it was a simple thing for me to leave Jane home and spend time with Pamela.”

Amelia watched and listened with horror as Daniel’s past and the source of his pain was revealed.

“Things were wonderful between Pamela and me,” Milton said, “but I couldn’t stop being angry that she was your wife. Then, she told me she was with child—my child. She seemed so happy. I was exhilarated when I learned that she had plans to leave you, Daniel. Leave you and come to me.”

Everyone within the camp was quiet as Milton continued to talk. “James Beck, your friend.” He paused to chuckle as if he found what he had to say next amusing. “It was so easy for Pamela to convince Beck to help her get away.”

His face darkened as he relived some inner pain. “But damn it, he killed her instead … her and our baby. They must have fought for the carriage reins when he learned she was coming to me … and not leaving with him.”

Richard Milton broke down then, and Amelia studied
the crying, pitiful excuse of a man and felt no sympathy for him. He had hurt Daniel, the man she loved, and he had hurt others as well. The only feeling she’d have concerning him would be satisfaction once she’d learned that justice was finally served.

Amelia glanced at the man she loved and ached for him. There was anger and heartache between them, she thought, but she would always love him.

He looked at her as if he barely noted her existence, and her pain was swift and went deep.
Good-bye, Daniel. I will always love you.