Lady Vixen (22 page)

Saber
grinned, his eyes dwelling appreciatively on the fiery glints in the dark hair.
Then as he looked back at Allen, his grin faded and he remarked, "Cease
your worry for her. As you can see, I meant what I said earlier —I have Nick's
future well in hand!"

Silently,
for there was nothing he could say, Allen watched dismally as Saber locked the
cell, and with him pushing Nicole in front of him, they vanished from his
sight. Dejectedly he slumped against the wall. Poor Nick! He should never have
listened to her in the first place. The instant he had discovered her sex he
should have sent her packing. And now it was too late. She was as much a
prisoner as he and he was powerless to help her. Gad, what a plucky thing she
was though; he remembered with sudden affection her determination to free him.
Belatedly he realized that it would have been wiser if he had sent her to his
supervisors with the news of his capture. At least she would be free, and his
confederates would instantly set in motion plans to secure his release. Twice
Saber had managed to outfox them, and he wondered wearily if it would always be
so.

He
knew he had made no mistakes. He had been so careful, and he doubted that
Nicole had given away much. But then she knew really nothing to confess. Allen
was struck by a new thought and his eyes brightened— there was no proof of his
activities, of that he was certain. Yet against Saber's high-handedness, he was
defenseless. Saber had not even accused him of any crime! But the man was a law
unto himself and few, if any, questioned his actions. Even Lafitte was known to
overlook certain of Saber's transgressions. And so Allen's unhappy thoughts
went—concern for Nicole, regret that he had not acted sooner, speculation about
Saber.

Nicole,
with Saber her jailer, once more was not precisely in the most pleasant frame
of mind herself. Her wrist was paining her fretfully, and she wondered if this
time she had truly broken it. About Allen she could do nothing, at the moment.
She spared him a second's regret and then turned all her energies into
maintaining as self-reliant a front as she could in the circumstances. It gave
her a great boost of satisfaction to appear blase and insouciant as she entered
Lafitte's home beside Saber. Not for the world would she have betrayed the
uneasy flutter in her throat or the knot of trepidation in her stomach. Her
back was ramrod straight; her head was held high; and her eyes were gleaming
with challenge. She wasn't beaten, but had merely suffered a slight
reversal—that was all!

Having
been only a cabin boy, Nicole had never been inside Lafitte's mansion, so it
was with a great deal of lively curiosity that she noted her surroundings.
After having glanced with penetrating thoroughness at the profusion of
impressive gilt-edged mirrors that lined the walls, the innumerable intricately
inlaid tables, and the hanging crystal chandeliers, she decided that Lafitte
had tastes bordering on the vulgar, and her lip curled with disdain.

Observing
her reaction, Saber smiled slightly and said, "It is a bit overpowering,
isn't it? Jean feels that it is what is expected of him. But it is also a
not-so-subtle way of reassuring his prospective buyers that he is perfectly
capable of supplying their demands. Proof of that is all around you."

Having
come to the conclusion that it would be best if she treated Saber as something
highly distasteful that had to be endured, Nicole schooled her features into an
expression of utmost boredom and shrugged her shoulders to imply that such
things were beneath her and that only good manners, of which Saber would know
nothing, kept her in his company. Saber's amused laughter did little to soothe
her already rasped emotions, and she turned her back on him.

It
would do no good to hurl abuse at him, and it was foolish to think that another
physical attack would be successful. She was too much of a gambler not to know
when luck was against her. She sighed, thinking that luck had truly deserted
her lately. She knew that her feelings were still too raw from this latest catastrophe
for her to think calmly and clearly. And with Saber one needed to be very calm
and collected! Her only defense at the moment was indifference. Where temper
had failed her, perhaps icy aloofness would prevail. Unwisely she glanced over
her shoulder and caught him in an outright grin. Her eyes snapping with
displeasure, she asked nastily, "Something amuses you?"

His
splendid white teeth gleaming against the blackness of his beard, Saber replied
provocatively, "Yes, you do! I swear I can't remember when, outside of bed
naturally, a wench has given me as much enjoyment as you have."

Nicole's
strangled gasp of rage was lost on Saber as

Lafitte,
an expression of pleasure on his face, entered the room and said, "Ah, you
have returned,
mon ami.
You departed so suddenly after the message
arrived that someone was skulking around the calaboose that I wondered if you
would return this evening."

Catching
sight of Nicole's tall, slender form, he halted just inside the room, his black
eyes taking in her set face and rigid stance with open speculation. For a
moment she was subjected to a thorough and unnerving appraisal, and then
Lafitte looked at Saber murmuring, "But yes! One sees how it was done. She
is
tall for a woman, and in those bulky clothes, her shape would have
been hidden. How old did you say she was?"

Blandly
ignoring Nicole's wrathful face, Saber replied, "Eighteen and a few
months, I believe. And of course, the hair being scraped back was also in
itself a bit of a disguise. Freed it's an entirely different story. See what I mean?"

For
one so large, Saber moved with a quicksilver grace, and before Nicole could
guess his purpose, he had taken one long stride to her side and with rough,
deft motions he loosened her hair.

Freed
from the confining queue, her hair tumbled in soft waves of mahogany fire
around her shoulders, and Lafitte's black eyes narrowed with appreciation.

"Very
pretty," he said softly. "Would you be interested in selling her? I
would give you a good price."

Nicole's
eyes widened and her shocked gaze swung to Saber. Unaware of the imploring look
in her dark eyes, she stared at him, willing him to say no.

He
gave her a sardonic glance. Turning to Lafitte he said smoothly, "Perhaps,
later. I've not yet grown used to her. Ask me again in a week or two."

Ordinarily
Nicole would have reacted to those indifferent words, but she didn't like the
calculating glint of Lafitte's eyes and decided instantly that she would like
even less to share with him the intimacies Saber had forced upon her. She would
delight in carving out Saber's liver and feeding it to the sharks, and yet at
the same time she was reluctant to let Lafitte see that all was not well
between them. Nicole felt rather than saw the curiosity in Saber's look, as she
remained mute in the face of his taunt.

After
waiting for a minute, he shrugged his shoulders and remarked infuriatingly,
"You see, Jean, the
almost-
perfect woman—she knows when to keep her
mouth shut!"

Nicole's
eyes, burning with outraged dark fire, flew to Saber's face but wisely, for
once, she said nothing. Saber grinned at her and dared her to prove him wrong.

Watching
the pair of them, the black-bearded giant and the slender defiant girl, Lafitte
smiled to himself. Saber, he felt certain, was about to discover that all women
were not alike—that there existed a few who could resist his blandishments. Not
that Saber appeared to be exerting himself to charm the chit, but he seemed to
take pleasure in baiting her, something Lafitte had never seen before. It was
all very interesting, especially in light of their earlier conversation. Could
it be, he speculated, that at last Saber had been snared by the oldest trap of
all? That this slender boyish female had slipped under his guard? If it were
so, it was obvious that neither of the two principals were aware of it.

Next
to making money, Lafitte loved romance best, and the thought of his
cold-hearted friend caught in the throes of unrequited love made him smile.
With a twinkle in his eyes Lafitte asked, "Do you intend to retire early,
mon
ami?
I had thought we might play a hand or two of piquet. Of
course"—smiling widely—"I will understand if you no longer find that
plan agreeable."

Saber
shot him a lazy look and shook his head. "That sounds fine. Just as soon
as I get Nick settled, I'll join you in the library."

"How
remiss of me! But yes, we must see to her comfort. I shall make arrangements at
once."

Saber
waved aside Lafitte's offer to ring for a servant and marched Nicole out of the
room and up the wide, sweeping staircase. Pushing her down a large carpeted
hall, he escorted her to the suite of rooms Lafitte had set aside for his use.

Shutting
the door firmly behind him, he surveyed Nicole's angry face with displeasure,
and it occurred to her suddenly that in spite of his baiting tone and his easy
manner, he was in a rage, an icy rage that was all the more frightening for its
lack of fire. But Nicole was not easily frightened and glaring at him she
snapped, "Don't let me detain you. I'm sure Lafitte is eager for your
company." Disdainfully she turned her back on him, only to feel his hand
hard on her shoulder as he spun her around to face him. No longer was his face
bland and amused— his jaw was taut, his mouth thinned into a hard line, and his
eyes as cold as frozen gold. His words, when they came, were like knives.
"Lafitte can wait! You and I have something to settle between us first.
You were, if I remember correctly, to remain at the plantation. I think I
should remind you that I don't give orders merely to hear the sound of my voice.
Just because you've become my mistress does not alter the fact that when I tell
you to do something, I expect it to be done. Do you understand me?" He
shook her slightly as he said the last.

"I
understand, you—you shark's belly!" she retorted angrily. Stabbing a
finger at him, she snapped, "You're the one who doesn't understand! I'm
not a piece of booty you've captured and I will
not
be your mistress-—or
anything else!" Furiously she attempted to shrug off his hold, but his
hands tightened until she thought her bones would snap.

Holding
her temper in check with more patience than she knew she possessed, she
demanded coldly, "Release me! You've already cracked my wrist, do you
intend to break my shoulder as well?"

His
hands loosened a fraction but he did not release her entirely. "Don't
tempt me, little vixen! In the mood I'm in right now I could easily break every
bone in your body, and what's more I'd enjoy doing it!"

"If
you feel that way, why keep me prisoner?" she shot back hotly.

An
ugly smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he jerked her next to his
lean body. Crushed to him, Nicole could feel him rigid with desire and thought
that he meant to take her again, this instant. Protesting, she arched herself
away, but his hands slid down to cup her buttocks, pulling her to his hips.
Thrusting himself against her, making her unavoidably conscious that he was
hard with wanting, he snarled softly,
"That
is why I keep
you."

Shaken,
more so than she could remember, she couldn't help crying, "Have you no mercy?
No feeling for another person? Have you forgotten whatever morals you
possess?" It was foolish, she knew, but the words were torn from her and
she waited, her eyes dark, and bright with unshed tears.

He
regarded her for a moment between slitted lids, and then he said icily, "I
have
no morals! I want you, Nicole, and
nothing
on this green
earth will stop me from taking you as often as I please. Do not waste my time
with pleas of mercy or tears. Pleas annoy me and tears bore me. If you will
remember this conversation in the future, it will save you a great deal of
anguish and heartburning. Be comforted by the knowledge that when I tire of
you, I shall do well by you."

Dully
she asked, "And if you never tire of me?"

Suddenly
real amusement leaped to his eyes. Laughing, he taunted, "You flatter
yourself, Nick. There's not a woman alive who would satisfy me for long, and
remember, Nick... you are not in my preferred style!"

The
room was like a tomb after Saber's departure.

For
several seconds Nicole just stood and stared like one in a nightmare at the
shut door. He couldn't have uttered those ugly words, she thought numbly. Then
a shudder shook her body. Yes,
he
could. He could say them and, worse,
mean
them. Dispiritedly she walked over to a satin-hung bed and threw herself
facedown on it. For a long, long time, she just lay there, not wanting to
think, yet unable to escape her thoughts.

If
only there were some way to turn back the time, she thought wistfully. But then
she shrugged. Saber had known she was female, and even if she had never tried
to steal those code books with Allen, Allen would have been captured and she
suspected that last night still would have found her in Saber's bed . . .
willing or not. Saber had cleverly seized upon her rash bargain for his own
use, and she had been fool enough to think him willing to strike a trade. But
he had gulled her so easily that her stomach churned with embarrassment every
time she thought of it. For a few fleeting seconds her mind dwelt lovingly on the
picture of Saber reduced to crawling adoration, while she scornfully trod on
his innermost emotions.