Hannah Howell (30 page)
Authors: Stolen Ecstasy
“My father looked you up. He started on it the day I came home with Leanne and we told him about you.”
“How could he find out about me?”
“Leanne and I were planning to find you once all this trouble was behind us. As you can imagine, she had a few questions. Pa used his various friends to track you down. When my father sets his mind on something, he usually gets it.”
“I’d say. I know I covered my tracks well. My son Kane is handling the business in Denver. He would’ve warned me fast if he’d known your father had sniffed out the truth. Your father and his friends were clever in their digging.”
“He can be. If I’d had the time, I’d have had him find this O’Malley fellow.”
“Grant, will you tell the boy?” Binnie snapped. “Don’t just leave him fretting.”
“You know about this O’Malley?” Hunter felt his hopes rise, for he was sure Leanne had sought out her friend.
“You could say that.” Grant ignored Binnie’s muttering from the far end of the table as he leaned back from his empty plate. “You could say me and O’Malley are as close as brothers. Maybe even closer.”
“You’ve been keeping an eye on Leanne through him?”
“I am him.”
Hunter stared at the man in disbelief. Sebastian laughed softly. Owen shook his head and helped himself to some more of the roast beef before it was cleared from the table. Hunter was only partly aware of all that as he studied Grant.
“You’re her friend O’Malley? The guy in the hills she trooped off to visit when she wasn’t at school?”
“One and the same. O’Malley was the ‘old family friend.’ These are the O’Malley boys,” he nodded at his sons. “Leanne’s only met my eldest, Kane, once.”
The woman who helped Binnie with the chores entered the room and Hunter fell silent again as Binnie and she cleared the table and set out dessert. It was going to take a while, he thought as he was served a large piece of apple pie, to figure out the why of it all. He hoped Grant would offer an explanation that eased the confusion he felt. It seemed a lot of unnecessary subterfuge to his way of thinking.
“Just what the hell was the purpose of that game?” he snapped as soon as Binnie’s helper left.
“Temper,” murmured Owen, pouring thick cream over his pie.
“Shut up and eat your pie. I’ve been sure from the start that she’d go to O’Malley and I’ve been worrying myself sick over how to find the damn man.” He glared at Grant. “And now I hear O’Malley’s you. What was the sense behind that charade?”
“I wanted to see my little girl. It was as simple as that. It was also another way to keep Leanne out of Charity’s less than loving care for a while. Being the O’Malleys was for the same reasons I hid where Leanne was.” He filled his cup with coffee and passed the pot on. “And it blew more smoke in my creditors’ eyes until I could get them off my back. Smoke in this Watkins’s eyes now, ain’t it? Charity won’t tell him about O’Malley if he goes looking there to find Leanne.”
“Seems to me you might be putting a lot of faith in a woman like Charity to keep quiet.”
“I put a lot of money in her pockets. Put a roof over her head too. I bought that boarding house before I lost everything. Charity had nothing I didn’t give her. What I can give I can take back. She knows it.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already, after what she did to Leanne.”
“I intend to, now that I’ve got the whole truth. Don’t worry, Charity won’t be sitting so pretty soon. Her new husband just might have to turn his hand to some work.”
“Charity got married?”
“Yeh, some fellow named Clovis.” Grant’s eyes narrowed as he saw the look on Hunter’s face at the mention of the man’s name.
“He was the one in the house that night, the one who attacked Leanne,” Hunter told him. “Leanne usually referred to him as ‘that lump of dog spit.’ Clovis not only tried to rape her, but it seems he had a lot of people in town believing she was—shall we say—free with her favors?”
“I’ll kill the son of a bitch.”
“You ain’t killing nobody,” Binnie said.
“Didn’t you hear what he did to Leanne?”
“Clear as day, I ain’t deaf. So beat the scum within an inch of his life, then toss him and that cow Charity into the street. Give him a good dose of misery. That’ll soothe your anger, but it won’t get you hanged.” She ignored Grant’s cross look as she offered more pie to anyone who wished it. “Now, Hunter, you feel very certain Leanne is at the cabin? That she went to the O’Malley place?”
“As sure as I can be. She didn’t know her father or where he was. Charity had already shown that she wouldn’t help if help was needed. That left O’Malley. She tried to go to him once, but I sort of stopped her.”
“Sort of?” snapped Grant.
“Well, she ran into a group of drunken Indians. I’d set out after her and met her running back.”
“I think there’s a lot you ain’t told me, boy.”
“Without a doubt, Mr. Summers.”
“Yeah, well, there’s something else you can tell me now. Just why’d she run from you this time?”
Hunter sighed. He had skimmed over that part of his tale. The way his mother had acted was something he would have preferred to keep private. Even with Grant asking him outright, he found it hard to say the words. He glanced at Owen, but found only the same reluctance and discomfort there.
Sebastian murmured, “Allow me, boys.” When neither of the Walshes protested, he tersely related the story. “For all those reasons she gave, sir,” he finished up, “I believe she acted mostly because she had chosen a bride for Hunter herself.”
It took Grant a moment to overcome a sense of outrage and insult. There was the bitter pinch of old memories too. His Delia’s family had acted much the same toward him, but they had failed. The Walshes’ mother had, to all intents and purposes, failed as well. He could only hope her action did not put his daughter into Watkins’s hands.
“So you think to marry my girl, do you?”
Relieved to have his mother’s part in Leanne’s departure so smoothly put behind them, Hunter drawled, “Yeh, reckon I do.”
“Don’t suppose you thought to ask permission of her old man, did you?”
“Can’t say that I did, seeing as neither of us knew where you were.”
“I’m glad you decided it on your own. That means I don’t have to persuade you.”
“Persuade me?”
Seeing the way his brother’s eyes narrowed, Owen stood up. “I think, if you don’t mind”—he grabbed Hunter by the arm and tugged, relieved when after a brief hesitation, Hunter stood—“it’s time we sought our beds. It was a very good meal, ma’am.” He smiled at Binnie.
Sebastian and Hunter added their compliments and goodnights. As soon as the door shut behind the three, Grant laughed softly. Shaking her head, Binnie began to collect the dishes.
“Now, what’d you have to goad him for?”
“Testing his mettle.”
“That why you threatened you’d make him marry our girl if he hadn’t decided it already?”
“I would have.”
“why?”
“Binnie, they were riding around unchaperoned for months. I look at that fine young stallion of a man, and I know damn well he didn’t just hold Leanne’s hand now and again.” “And don’t you think our girl knows right from wrong? Don’t you think she’s got morals?”
“I know she does. That’s why I was having a doubt or two. Then they told me why she left him this time. She couldn’t stay around when she thought he’d picked another. Shows she’s got feelings for the boy. Then I knew. She and him have been lovers. First chance I get, I’m seeing them wed. Now, do you need some help?”
“No. Millie’s waiting in the kitchen. She’s all the help I need.”
“Fine then. C’mon, boys, I think we’ll follow our guests and get to bed. I want us up before dawn and setting out at the first ray of light. You get to bed soon too, Binnie. I know you’ll be up to see us off no matter what I say.”
As he checked his saddle, Hunter glanced down the road that led to the Summers ranch. His eyes narrowed, then widened. It looked to him as if someone was approaching. Since the sun was barely cresting the horizon, he found it hard to believe.
“I think someone’s coming, Mr. Summers.”
“Coming? Now?” Grant turned from saying good-bye to Binnie and squinted down the road. “Damn. It’s Lucas from the telegraph office.”
Hunter tensed. The man had to have started out in the middle of the night. A wire delivered at that time could only be bad news. It took a lot of effort not to snatch the message from Grant’s hand, to wait as the two men talked and Lucas went into the house for coffee and a nap. Binnie, he vaguely noted, made no move to leave and attend the man, merely muttered instructions and waved the man into the house. As Grant moved back towards the veranda, Hunter joined the others in gathering around him.
“Even if we were of a mind to, there’s no need to go see Charity anymore,” a pale Grant reported. “This is from your father. Tuckman wired him. Seems Tuckman’s been setting in Clayville hoping to catch Watkins when the man tried to get to Charity, as we felt sure he would.”
“And he did.” Hunter felt an icy fear for Leanne curl around his insides.
“God damn it all to hell, yes he did. Charity and Clovis are dead. First night they got back. He must’ve been waiting for them.”
“Do you think she told him how to get to the cabin?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t doubt it. As well as she could anyway, never having been to the place. Your Pa says she didn’t die easy. He feels sure they did her a lot of hurt until she talked. Checking the place as was his habit, Tuckman caught the bastards slipping out. He took a bullet in the arm and one in the leg. Not bad, I reckon, but he’s not going anywhere for a while.”
“So he won’t be helping us,” Hunter said.
“Nope. But your Pa says to send him the directions. Seems Martin said something about a cabin just before the shooting started. Your pa’ll try to send some men if I tell him where to send them. Binnie, you can tell Lucas and pay the fellow real well. He’s done us a fine thing staying by that machine day and night like he has since we heard Leanne was missing.” She nodded.
“How long will it take us to get there?” Hunter already sensed it would be far longer than he liked.
“If we ride hard and fast, we can do it in little under a day. It’s just up in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains, halfway between me and Charity. I know places where we can change horses so we have fresh ones as needed. It’s not fast enough, but it’s all there is.”
“Faster than I’d hoped for.”
“At least she’s not alone.”
“You sure about that? Figuring her safe and settled, Jed and Charlie may have moved on.”
“Nope. Tuckman told your pa they’re with her. Got hold of a wire from them to Charity. Tuckman answered instead. Told them about Watkins and Martin. They said they were going back to her.”
“Thank God. She’s not only not alone, she’s been warned.” He started for his horse. “Let’s get going.”
“How good are those two boys?” Grant asked as he hurried to mount.
“Now that they’re warned,” Sebastian answered, “good enough. They’ll set up some defenses, keep a close watch. Neither is very fast on the draw, but they’re damn good shots. If anything comes within a mile of that place, Charlie will see it.”
“Maybe they’ll just run,” Owen suggested.
Thinking of how far along in her pregnancy Leanne would be, Sebastian knew that would not be an option. Glancing at Hunter, he also knew he would not say anything about it. The man was already sick with worry.
“I doubt it. They’d choose a defensive position over being caught on the run every time.”
Seeing that everyone was mounted, Hunter spurred his horse into a gallop. He could hear the others follow suit. Fear for Leanne was a cold, heavy stone in his belly. He knew he could never get to her before Watkins and Martin did. All he could do was try to get to her before Watkins and Martin won the fight he was certain Charlie and Jed would put up.
Grant proved as good as his word. They rode hard, never slackening their pace. He obviously knew every farmer and rancher along the route. There was no difficulty in switching their exhausted mounts for fresh ones when the need arose. Hunter admired the efficiency but resented every delay no matter how necessary.
“This is the last stop,” Grant announced as their tired horses were led away and fresh ones brought out one more time.
Using the brief respite to roll a cigarette, Sebastian muttered, “Wish I could change this exhausted body for a fresh one.”
“How much longer do we ride?” Hunter asked Grant.
“Two hours as I reckon it.”
“So we’ll be there before dark.”
“Next best thing to getting there before them,” Sebastian said, then lit his cigarette.
Hunter nodded, but that assurance did not do much to ease his fear. He alternately ached to reach the cabin and feared what he might find there. All he could think of was what Watkins had done to his mother, a woman for whom he had had no real feeling of vengeance. How much worse would it be for Leanne if the man got his hands on her? Cruelly, his mind proved all too willing to provide some possible answers to that.
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