Each Time We Love (56 page)

Within minutes she had gathered up what she needed from her
room and was on her way out of the house. Smiling charmingly at Toby,
she walked down the broad steps and headed sedately to the barn, an
innocuous basket under her arm. Once she was inside the building, her
movements became frenetic as she saddled a horse and changed into the
masculine clothing which she had concealed in the basket. Mindful of
the patrolling men, she eased the horse out the back of the barn and
stealthily led the animal into the encroaching wilderness. Nearly
bursting with impatience, she mounted the horse the moment she felt
safe, and together they plunged into the concealing undergrowth.

It was miles before she really believed that she had managed
to escape without an alarm being sounded. If she was lucky she would
have a good two- to three-hour head start over Bodene, and if she was
very lucky, he wouldn't kill her when he caught up with her!

She put Bodene's eventual wrath out of her mind, and for the
first time since she had walked into Adam's study today and realized
that Micajah had captured him, she gave the anguished fear that filled
her very soul free rein. Oh, God! she prayed fervently as her horse
careened through the wilderness, please don't let Adam be dead!
Please!
It doesn't matter what happens to me.
Let me save him!

The thought of Adam dead by Micajah's hand was nearly
unbearable, and Savanna was filled with bitter, acid regret for every
misunderstanding, every harsh word they had ever exchanged. If only she
could have a second chance! She'd do it differently.

Pride be damned! If she got him away from Micajah alive, she'd
tell him
immediately
that she loved him!

Savanna tried not to think of their parting yesterday, tried
not to think that her last memory of him would be that savage,
primitive mating. A tear trickled down her cheek. Would she ever know
his touch again? Sweet or feral? Her heart twisted with anguish. He
had
to be alive! Knowing that if she was to rescue her husband she couldn't
let terror rule her, after that one brief moment she shoved aside her
fears and began concentrating on ways to outwit Micajah. There was only
one way into Gatorhead and there would be no element of surprise for
her to use. She never doubted that Jeremy was in on this with Micajah,
and she was certain that Jeremy would be positioned somewhere along the
trail, ready with the cry of some wild bird or animal to warn Micajah
of her approach to Gatorhead. Once she was past him, Jeremy would then
close the trap behind her…

But what if she found Jeremy first? A decidedly ruthless
expression crossed her lovely face. If she managed to disable Jeremy,
and if part of Jeremy's purpose was also to alert Micajah of her
presence, she would gain a small amount of surprise. Which left only
Micajah… She bit back a sob. And, pray God, Adam alive!

Heedless of the twisted vines and low-hanging tree limbs that
clawed and slapped at her as her horse galloped pell-mell through the
tangled wilderness, Savanna tore her thoughts away from any notion of
Adam
not
being alive and focused once more on how
she was going to rescue him. It wasn't likely, she admitted bleakly,
that Micajah was just going to let her ride up to him—he'd know she
would try to kill him. He'd also know that she would not surrender
tamely to him unless she saw Adam… alive.

A tremulous smile suddenly curved her mouth. Adam
was
alive! Micajah would keep him so, she realized jubilantly, until he was
certain she had fallen into his trap. She almost laughed out loud.
Adam
was alive!

But her joy faded when she acknowledged the nearly
insurmountable task before her. She had to get Micajah off guard and
kill him before he could kill Adam.

No real plan occurred to her as her mount continued its
frenetic pace along the barely discernible trail, but just believing
that Adam was still alive gave her a feeling of intense confidence.
She'd find a way!

Dusk was beginning to fall as she approached the area near
Gatorhead. Halting her horse, she stared speculatively about her. There
was no sign of any human passing, no sound to guide her, merely the
silent, almost suffocating press of the swampy forest. She sat there
for several long minutes, trying to remember all she could of the way
in to Gatorhead, trying to remember where the lookouts had been
stationed when she had come with Bodene. It was an eerie place where
she had stopped, the waiting silence and a green, seemingly
impenetrable wall of trees and foliage greeting her, the rapidly
increasing shadows giving the area an ominous air.

She took a deep, steadying breath. She had to go on afoot. She
had to find Jeremy. Her face set, she dismounted and tied her horse to
a small sapling.

Thoughtfully she examined the only weapon that in her haste
she'd been able to bring with her: the stiletto Bodene had given her
when she was ten years old. The dagger was small, the blade slender and
tapering, but she knew of old the damage it could cause, and without
further thought, she gripped it expertly. Pausing a moment longer to
undo some rawhide straps from her saddle to take with her, she melted
into the wilderness.

As silent as a stalking tigress, Savanna glided back and forth
across the faint animal trail that would end at Gatorhead, every sense
alert for danger. She moved with extraordinary stealth, but Jeremy was
so well hidden in a thicket of young willows and wild vines that she
almost stumbled across him.

Heart slamming into her ribs, she froze, the murky mauve
shadows of impending nightfall making her task even harder. But as she
half crouched behind a big water oak, her eyes straining to pierce the
shadows, she realized that the hump some three feet before her had a
distinctly human shape. Jeremy!

She swallowed. The palms of her hands were suddenly damp and
sweaty. Though she had been prepared to, she had never killed a man
before, and she wasn't certain she could do it now. She swallowed
again, the taste of bile rising in her throat. Jeremy had to be
silenced; she could not let him cry out and warn Micajah! She glanced
around, searching for anything that could be used for a club, anything
that would knock him out and allow her to gag and tie him up, but in
the gloom she could find nothing. Jeremy would have to die, yet she
quailed at the thought.

Somberly she reminded herself that Adam's life depended upon
her. She had to do it! She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and
before she could think twice about it, was upon Jeremy. Her knife
flashed once, and with a soft groan, he slumped to the ground.

In horrified fascination, she stared at his still body, nausea
roiling in her stomach. Gagging, she stumbled away, intent on getting
her horse. A few minutes later she rode past the willow thicket, her
eyes averted.

Not allowing herself to think about Jeremy, she halted her
horse some ten yards farther along the trail, her entire focus on a way
to outwit Micajah and free her husband. Micajah was not likely to let
her ride right up to him, and she remembered enough about Gatorhead to
realize that there was no way for her to sneak up on him as she had
done with Jeremy.

She couldn't surprise Micajah. Nor could she trick him. The
instant she appeared, not having heard any warning from Jeremy, he'd
know that she had eliminated his partner and that she was not going to
let him win without a fight. She bit her lip. So how was she going to
get close enough to him to kill him?

Savanna sat there as the night deepened and the moon rose
bright and full in the black sky, her thoughts racing around like a rat
in a trap, trying to anticipate just what Micajah would do. He would,
she deduced, make her dismount and get away from her horse. He'd also
want to make certain that she carried no weapons before he let her get
near him. But how would he do that? Make her strip at gunpoint?

She grimaced. It was possible. So, if she was standing there
naked as the day she was born, where was she going to hide a weapon?

Unwittingly she toyed with her hair, which was fastened in a
thick braid across her shoulder. A second or two passed before she
became aware of the silky strands beneath her fingers, and when she
did, she sucked in her breath in excitement.

A feral grin slanted across her lips. Swiftly she undid the
fiery braid and spread her hair out across her shoulder. Taking the
stiletto, she wiped it clean of Jeremy's blood and carefully fastened
it beneath the tumbling, wavy mass with six strands of hair. It was
going to hurt when she jerked the knife free, but that pain would be
negligible, and if it would save Adam, she'd allow herself to be
scalped!

Certain the stiletto was well hidden, yet accessible in an
instant, she slowly urged her horse toward the rendezvous with Micajah.
In a moment she would know if she had read the situation right, and she
offered up a deeply passionate prayer that she would find the man she
loved alive.

A few minutes later, the glow of firelight alerted her to the
fact that she had finally arrived at Gatorhead. Her heart in her
stomach, she checked the dagger once more and then calmly guided her
horse forward.

She'd traveled only a short distance when Micajah said, "You
can stop right there."

Savanna did so, sitting regally in the saddle, her gaze
deceptively cool as she glanced around. The fire was burning
cheerfully, but it was the sight of Adam, Adam
alive,
standing on a three-foot-high block of wood, that sent a flood of joy
rushing through her.
He was alive!

He was more than a hundred feet in front of her, the base of
the block of wood actually resting in a couple of inches of the swampy
water near the shore, but hungrily her eyes ran over him, noting with a
pang the dark, haggard look on his beloved face, the wild disarray of
his thick black hair. He was also, she realized with a painful thump of
her heart, in immediate danger of becoming alligator bait, the
significance of the placement of the block of wood and the several
pairs of fire-red eyes in the water just behind it dawning on her. Even
without Jeremy to warn him, Micajah must have sensed her approach and
set the horrifying scene before her.

Adam, looking so worn and dear, was bound hand and foot,
totally defenseless as he stood there on that narrow block of wood,
staring back at her through the flickering light of the fire. A rope
had been tied around the block, near the base, the remainder of the
rope snaking along the ground until it disappeared into the shadows
beyond the fire. Micajah was not in sight, but Savanna had no doubt
that he was holding the end of the rope, and that if she made one false
move, the rope would be jerked and Adam would go tumbling into the
water and the gaping maw of one of the alligators whose eyes gleamed in
the darkness.

Hiding the fear that clutched at her, she tried to pierce the
darkness where she knew Micajah waited. Frantically she debated several
courses of action, but none of her inward turbulence was apparent as
she said coolly, "Get him off there, Micajah! I'm not coming any closer
unless I know you're not going to feed him to the gators."

Aided by the light of the full moon, Adam watched her closely,
memorizing her lovely face, his heart aching in his chest. He had hoped
and prayed that she would not come, but he couldn't deny that if he was
to die, he was inordinately grateful for one last sight of her. She
looked magnificent as she sat there on her horse, ramrod-straight, her
chin held proudly and the firelight turning her hair into a blazing
mass of fiery waves. His own fate was sealed, and while he didn't fear
dying, the ugly knowledge that she would end up in Micajah's hands made
him strain mightily once more against his bonds, heedless of the fact
that the block rocked perilously with every desperate move he made.
Savanna had to be saved! He had to make her leave him before it was too
late!

Never ceasing his struggles, his sapphire-blue eyes glittering
fiercely in the firelight, Adam said grimly, "You've wasted your time,
sweetheart. He means to kill me, no matter what you do! Get the hell
out of here!"

The rope suddenly snaked taut, the stump tottering dangerously
as Adam fought wildly to keep his balance.

"No!" Savanna screamed. "
NO
!"