Captive Bride (22 page)

Chapter 11

 
Dominic eased one hip onto the edge of the desk and glared at Aubrey. He and DuBois had gone another round, Dominic offering compromising terms and the mulish furrier rejecting them. Aubrey had refused to enlighten Dominic about the reason for his hatred of him, yet he continued to curse the name of Baudelair. It was obvious that Aubrey thought himself betrayed by some member of Dominic's family, but by whom? Could it have been Dominic's grandfather, his father, or his aunt? She had moved to New Orleans long years ago. Dominic didn't have the slightest idea who could have been responsible for Aubrey's personal vendetta.

 
"You can hold me prisoner behind this desk from now until eternity, but I am not changing my mind," Aubrey growled.

 
"Then you leave me no choice," Dominic snapped back at Aubrey. His patience was running short, and he was prepared to take drastic measures. "I intend to assemble my own caravan for next summer's rendezvous. And I assure you, the trappers will flock to my trade store, not yours. They have had their fill of your exorbitant prices."

"You are not the first man to attempt to compete with me," Aubrey sneered. "Your caravan will never reach Green River, not if I have anything to do with it."

 
The impatient rap at the door interrupted their argument and Dominic scowled in disgust. He had no intention of freeing Aubrey until they had reached a workable solution.

 
"Open this door!" Lenore demanded. "While the two of you are battling over rights to Rozalyn, someone has kidnapped her!"

 
"What?" Dominic wheeled toward the door, whipping it open to see Lenore holding a hastily scribbled ransom note.

 
After reading the demand, Dominic thrust the note at Aubrey who pushed the desk away and wedged himself free.

 
"How could anyone sneak into the house and snatch Rozalyn from a crowded ballroom?" he questioned incredulously.

 
"She was not in the ballroom," Lenore corrected. "She was eavesdropping on your conversation. Suddenly, she shot through the door as if she were being pursued by Satan himself. Whatever the two of you said must have upset her terribly." Her narrowed gaze riveted over first one astonished face and then the other. "I can only assume that someone was waiting outside to abduct her." She heaved an exasperated sigh and then shook her head. "I knew something like this would happen. Rozalyn has been cavorting with those hooligans who swarm the street. Now they have finally turned on her. I told her to beware of the company she has been keeping but she refused to listen."

 
Dominic groaned at the thought of Rozalyn eavesdropping on their conversation. He had ordered her out of the room to spare her feelings and to guard against misconceptions. But the curious little imp had undoubtedly plastered her ear to the wall, not missing a single word.

 
"Well, do you plan to pay the sum these kidnappers demand?" Aubrey smirked sarcastically. "Isn't this an ironic twist of fate? If you decide to pay to have your fiancee returned, it will cost you the financial investment for your caravan. And if Rozalyn is safely returned, she will have nothing to do with you after learning that you were only using her. No doubt, she will despise you as much as I do."

 
Blazing green eyes clashed with mocking blue ones, and it was all Dominic could do to keep from clamping his fingers around Aubrey's neck and shaking him. The man didn't care that his daughter had been abducted. All he wanted was revenge on Dominic. "You were putting words in my mouth, DuBois," he gritted out. "I said nothing against Roz. You twisted the truth until I almost didn't recognize it myself."

 
"Roz, is it?" Aubrey pounced on the shortened version of his daughter's name, his tone crackling with mockery. "It will be
Mademoiselle
DuBois to you from this day forward ... if she allows you to speak to her at all."

 
"Since you have denounced the marriage, you pay the ransom," Dominic flung at the infuriating man, vindictiveness fanning into flame his already smoldering temper. "If you want Rozalyn back, then you pay the price. Perhaps it will convince her that you actually feel some small attachment for your own flesh and blood."

 
"I have no intention of sacrificing a penny," Aubrey retaliated spitefully. "Let her bereaved fiance pay the price."

 
Dominic's patience snapped. With the quickness of a pouncing panther he grasped Aubrey by the lapels of his jacket and snatched him off the floor. Their faces were only inches apart, their eyes flashing barely contained fury. But before the two men could rip each other to shreds, Lenore vaulted from her wheelchair to demand their attention.

 
"It seems neither of you are concerned about Rozalyn's welfare. She could be lying dead in the dust, broken and abused, yet all the two of you think about is whatever it is that is gnawing at you. I don't know what this squabbling is all about, but I want it stopped this minute!" Her voice was becoming higher and wilder by the second. "I will be only too happy to pay the ransom. I seem to be the only one who truly cares what happens to that poor child." Her fuming gaze raked disgustedly over both men. "The two of you should be banding together to see that Rozalyn is safely returned. After she is, you can go for each other's throats. As a matter of fact, neither of you deserve her affection!"

 
Dominic shoved Aubrey away as if physical contact with the man repulsed him. Damn! He had been so furious with this heartless furrier that he could think of nothing else.

 
If Rozalyn loathes me; I deserve her wrath, he assured himself.

 
He dragged in the trailing reins of his temper and thoughtfully considered Rozalyn's predicament, and as he turned his thoughts to the abduction, he frowned pensively. Dominic could not agree with Lenore's speculation that ruffians were holding Rozalyn for ransom. Harvey Duncan and his unruly associates would never permit Rozalyn to fall prey to such a crime. No, it had to be someone else, someone in dire straits who thought to lay the blame on the obvious culprits. Jeffrey Corday! The name vibrated through Dominic's swirling thoughts. It had to be that skinny-legged milksop. None of Rozalyn's friends would lay a hand on her, not for all the gold coins in Aubrey's safe.

 
As Dominic spun on his heels and stalked toward the door, Aubrey walked toward his adversary to hurl another taunting jibe. "Have you decided to turn your back on Rozalyn and return to the mountains now that your conniving scheme has failed? If something happens to my daughter I will hold you personally responsible. I promise, you will never sell another fur pelt in St. Lo
ui
s or at any market west of the Mississippi. And I further vow that no merchant will dare to sell you goods for your caravan, Baudelair. You are finished!" His derisive glare flooded over Dominic's powerful form, and then Aubrey scoffed at the man who dared make demands on him. "The legendary half-breed of the Rockies will become the laughingstock of hunters and trappers. No man challenges me and wins, especially not a Baudelair!"

 
Dominic grasped the doorknob until his knuckles turned white. Silently, he turned to glower at the red-faced man he was growing to despise more with each passing moment. "You are a disgusting excuse for a man, DuBois. Your only concern is for yourself and your precious fur empire. I pity Rozalyn. A life with you cannot be any life at all. You have been so poisoned by this grudge you bear against my family and your obsessive craving for power that you don't even give a damn about your own flesh and blood. If Rozalyn remains loyal to you it is only because she feels an obligation to her natural father, not because she respects you for the kind of man you are." Smoldering green eyes drilled into Aubrey's fuming face. "Maybe neither of us deserve her affection, but it was yours for the taking. Yet you turned your back on your own daughter just to feed this mysterious hatred that has left you a shell of a man."

 
"Get out of my sight, you loathsome vermin!" Aubrey howled, his voice rising until he was dangerously close to apoplexy. "If you have not packed your belongings and left St. Lo
ui
s before the night ends, I will hunt you down and dispose of you myself."

 
Dominic stared at Aubrey, watching the man's composure crumble. The dam that contained his suppressed emotions seemed about to burst, and Aubrey's entire body shook. His eyes held a demented expression resulting from some unexplained torment. It seemed the furrier could not bear to contain his soul-shattering pain for another moment.

 
"I once trusted the Baudelairs, and I was cruelly betrayed," Aubrey choked out, his voice crackling with hatred. "I hope their souls burn in hell, and yours along with them. If you think the price of trapping supplies is high now, wait until next summer, Baudelair. And don't you ever go near my daughter again. If she doesn't despise you by now, as I do, she will. I promise you that. Our feud with the Baudelairs has only begun!"

 
The man is a maniac, Dominic decided as he yanked open the door and stormed out. He could not fathom what Aubrey was ranting about and he did not intend to waste his sympathy on him. Dominic's foremost concern was Rozalyn. It was apparent that Aubrey was so bitter and furious he could not manage a sane thought. By the time DuBois calmed down, Rozalyn could be dead.

 
That realization hit Dominic like a hard slap in the face. If Jeffrey had kidnapped Rozalyn, he wouldn't dare let her live for Aubrey would crucify Corday when Rozalyn blurted out her abductor's name. Even Jeffrey, imbecile that he was, would have considered that possibility.

 
As Dominic quickened his step to fetch his groom and a mount, his mind buzzed with attempts to form a plan to free Rozalyn and to see that Aubrey received his just reward. He was not about to admit defeat to the powerful furrier, nor would he buckle beneath the man's vindictive threat. It was time Aubrey DuBois learned there was one man on God's earth who did not accept him as master. DuBois will not emerge the victor, Dominic promised himself. Aubrey's festering hatred had infected his life and had poisoned his dealings with his daughter and with the trappers. The man bore a grudge against the world and everyone in it. Dominic would have given his right arm to know why, but DuBois wouldn't explain so he decided there was only one way to deal with him—to make him comply with Dominic's demands. And that was exactly what Dominic was going to do—force Aubrey to comply. He would threaten him with that which Aubrey could never tolerate. DuBois would become a reasonable man because Dominic would allow him no other choice!

 
Calculating green eyes surveyed the dilapidated home that stood on the outskirts of St. Lo
ui
s. Then Dominic frowned thoughtfully and swung from the saddle, handing the reins to Mosley.

 
"Do you want me to accompany you, sir?" Mosley inquired as he tapped the ashes from his pipe and prepared to dismount.

 
"This is a private fight," Dominic murmured absently as he peeled off his jacket and flung it over the pommel of the saddle.

 
Dominic silently stalked into the shadows and then circled around to the back of the two-story house. His gaze swung to the dim light that filtered through the drapes in the window above him before he scampered up the trunk of a tree, heading toward that beckoning glow. After he had inched his way along one overhanging branch, he reached out to grasp the narrow window ledge. His long body stretched across the distance between the branch and the towering ledge; then he found a foothold on the stones that jutted out from the structure.

 
A thankful sigh escaped his lips as he peered between the drapes to see Rozalyn bound, gagged, and tied to a chair. Since Jeffrey was nowhere in sight, Dominic pried open the window and eased himself into the room.

 
Rozalyn's head jerked up when she heard a faint sound, but her eyes burned hot blue flames when Dominic unfolded himself from the ledge and slid in the window. She had considered the possibility of being rescued, but if she could have selected her champion, it most certainly would not have been Dominic. The mere sight of him infuriated her, and the pain of betrayal slashed across her wounded heart like a double-edged sword.

 
Dominic approached Rozalyn cautiously, like a man wading into an alligator-infested swamp. Well aware that this hot-tempered spitfire would spout furiously if she was given the opportunity, Dominic left the gag in place and merely freed her from her chair. He was not about to untie Rozalyn and risk being clawed into bloody shreds.

 
As he propelled Rozalyn down the hall, she glowered over her shoulder at him and then jerked her arm from his grasp, assuring him that his touch was unwelcome. After they had made their way down the stairs, Dominic heard a faint rustling in the parlor. Pursuing the sound to its source, he craned his neck to peer into that room and saw Jeffrey polishing off the remainder of a drink. Corday then scooped up his jacket, intending to return for the ransom money.

 
The gloating smile playing on Jeffrey's thin lips evaporated when he glanced and saw Dominic's ominous form blocking the doorway. Sickening dread knotted in Jeffrey's belly and he frantically fumbled for the pistol he had stashed in his pocket. But in a heartbeat's time Dominic had pounced on him. As the pistol sailed out of his reach, Jeffrey watched it with dismay, and a frightened squawk burst from his lips when Dominic lunged at him again. Displaying his true colors, Jeffrey made a beeline for the door, but he yelped in surprise when an unforeseen obstacle entangled his storklike legs.