Lilac Temptress (20 page)

“
What do you mean, too
late?” William asked, his expression growing grim.

“
It’s too late!” Sierra
said loudly enough that her words could not be mistaken. Her eyes
hardened while she continued, “You should have made this offer two
years ago when I begged you for us to travel!” she blurted
out.

William shook his head and laughed
somewhat stupefied. “Now baby girl, don’t be so vengeful toward me.
I’m giving you exactly what you have always wanted.”

“
I’m leaving with Mr.
McCalister as soon as I walk out of this bar, and Kyle is coming
with me. We are heading for New Orleans to start a new life.”
Sierra’s voice was rigid and stinging. She watched the blood drain
from William’s face—for a moment he had a terrible blank
look.

William gazed at her in pure
disbelief. “Like hell you’re leaving!” he shouted.

“
Just try to stop
me!”

William crossed the space between
them, lifted his hand and struck her. Sierra faltered, as much from
shock as from the sting of his blow. She caught her balance and
touched her hand to her throbbing cheek. Sierra knew that William
didn’t hit her as hard as he could have, but she was determined
that William was not going to break her down into a sobbing fit,
like he used to when she didn’t get her way as a little
girl.

In all her years William had never
raised his hand to her. He had never raised his hand to any woman
that she had known of.

“
As long as I can remember
you have controlled my life and Kyle’s life, too.” Sierra’s voice
remained steadfast and at a respectable level. “We will not allow
it anymore, Wil. We’ve got to live for ourselves. So don’t make our
parting anymore difficult than it has to be.”

Sierra barely met his eyes. “Kyle is
taking Shadowcaster.” She swallowed hard and turned away. She
quickly wiped at the tears starting to form in her eyes and hurried
out of the room, determined not to breakdown before him.

“
Just where do you think
you’re going?” William called after her, following her into the
bar.

Sierra picked up her pace and made her
way outside with William close behind. But he stopped at the
entrance of the bar commanding his men to stay seated. He watched
Sierra make her way out into the road. They were all there:
Adrienne, Kyle and Drake standing with his partners and the buyers
with their confederates. William didn’t want to start a blood bath
in the streets, with those most important to him, caught in the
crossfire. He would deal with them. Sierra and Kyle hadn’t seen the
last of him.

Sierra walked swiftly toward Drake who
was standing near packed horses. She was careful not to look Drake
directly in the face in case her cheek was red. She didn’t want him
to retaliate.

She glanced back over her shoulder
briefly toward the bar where William stood watching her, leaning
against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. She let out a
breath that she didn’t know she was holding, when she realized
William nor his henchmen, pursued her and Kyle. She nervously
focused ahead and saw Adrienne sharing a parting hug with
Kyle.

Drake, relieved to see Sierra heading
in their direction, noticed her evasion of eye contact. He wanted
to go to her immediately and give her a good once over, but he knew
that if she purposely avoided him, it was for a good reason, and he
didn’t have the time to make assumptions and draw conclusions about
what might have happened between her and William. She seemed well
and that was all that mattered. More importantly was getting her
out of town—now that his business had concluded, and he bet she was
just as eager to get going as he was. He causally strolled over to
his horse and checked the saddle, giving Sierra and Kyle time to
say their goodbyes.

“
Come over here, honey, and
give me a hug. You know that I you love ya.” Adrienne took Sierra
into her arms and then whispered in her ear. “I see what Wil did to
ya, but that mark is fading fast. Don’t let him look at you for a
bit.” Adrienne glanced toward Drake. “That man’s got it bad for you
and we don’t want to start something wicked up over this. Now, you
write me if you need anything and I’ll come running.
Godspeed.”

Sierra nodded and pulled out of
Adrienne’s arms with tears gushing from her eyes. She was happy
that Adrienne came to see her and Kyle off—Adrienne normally hated
saying goodbyes. “We can’t make them wait long,” Sierra remarked
softly as she turned toward Kyle indicating that they should
prepare to take their leave. Adrienne nodded and moved toward
Drake.

“
If you do anything to hurt
her—” Sierra heard Adrienne say to Drake, tuning the rest of the
words out.

Kyle watched Sierra stroll toward him.
As she drew nearer, his temper started flaring. “He hit you didn’t
he?” he asked when she reached him. “Are you okay?” Kyle kept his
angry voice low.

“
You didn’t think he would
let us leave without some kind of punishment—I am fine. He didn’t
hit me hard. Just help me shield myself from Drake for a hour or
so.” Sierra was glad no one else seemed to notice that she had been
smacked; the ache was not completely gone. “Let’s just get out of
here.” Sierra cast her eyes downward.

Kyle glanced in William’s direction.
He saw William nod a farewell. So, he took off his hat, held it to
his chest, and nodded back at him. He didn’t want to further
provoke William’s wrath.

“
Everyone ready?” Girard
called out, anxious to get the hell out of Jadesville. Drake had
already mounted his horse. Kyle jumped on Shadowcaster first before
helping Sierra up, who now sat behind him.

Sierra would never ride
alone, so Kyle had asked Drake to carry their bags prior to
leaving. She was glad they had packed lightly and that she only
carried everything she owned of value: her favorite doll, left to
her by her mother, special fragrances for bathing,
Gulliver’s Travels
and a
few items of clothing. They could purchase anything else they
needed in New Orleans.

* * *

William approached Adrienne. He stood
next to her, staring in the direction of the departing troop. “You
knew they were leaving before today, didn’t you? You kept this from
me,” he spat with venom and outrage in his eyes. “I will go after
them.”

“
You shouldn’t do that,
Wil. You have to let them go.” Adrienne reached into her pocket,
pulled out a small tattered leather bound book, and offered it to
him. “It belonged to Marie Anne.”

Confusion surfaced on William’s face.
“A journal?”

“
She wanted you to have it.
I should have given it to you years ago,” Adrienne huffed, placing
the worn book into his hand. “But I guess you already know why I
couldn’t.” Adrienne frowned at him before turning and marching
away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was already
thumbing through the pages.

Chapter 8

Every so often Sierra caught Drake
glancing back to check on her and Kyle. It had already been a long
ride on horseback to New Iberia. She didn’t realize the journey
would be so tedious traveling their route through the forests,
avoiding wetlands covered with vegetation, and trying to keep to
the shade of the trees for some relief from the blazing sun. So far
the group had stopped twice to rest and care for the horses, and
now they were back on the road again, in the last stretch, before
finally reaching their destination. Sierra sat silently, relaxing
against Kyle’s back as they rode.

“
Thank you,” Kyle spoke
unexpectedly.

“
For what?” Sierra asked
with her arms wrapped around his waste, holding onto him
tightly.

“
For demanding that I keep
Shadowcaster, I would have badly missed him.”

“
I know—and in truth, I
didn’t think I could stand watching you mope around for months over
losing this beast,” she teased.

“
How thoughtful of you,”
Kyle chuckled with a bit of sarcasm in his voice before speaking
again. “You know, Sierra, I’m glad we’re doing this together,” he
said.

“
Me too,” she spoke into
his back.

“
I wonder what it will be
like once we are there,” Kyle uttered apprehensively.

“
We will know soon enough.”
Sierra spied ahead at Drake who rode side by side with his partner
Daniel.

Daniel was quite interesting indeed,
Sierra thought to herself. He dressed well and exhibited a quiet
self-confidence and easy grace atop his horse. Ladies undoubtedly
swooned when he smiled showing his dazzling white teeth. Most fine
gentlemen wore their hair short, but Daniel’s hazelnut hair curled
along the base of his neck, hinting at a youthful exuberance while
his eyes, a striking emerald green, reflected maturity hardly
possible for a man just reaching his prime. Both of Drake’s friends
were handsome by any standard, but neither could hold her interest
for any significant length of time. That privilege solely belonged
to Drake.

While she could gaze upon
Daniel and Girard with a cool detachment, gazing upon Drake’s face
was like looking into the sun—she could barely endure the sight of
him. She eyed his well-defined muscles and his taut derriere while
he steered his horse through the rough terrain.
I need a cold drink of water.

“
You really care about him
don’t you?” Kyle asked, tilting his head to the side to catch a
brief look at his sister, interrupting her sinful
thoughts.

“
I um... I am grateful for
his help,” Sierra said, hoping that her thoughts of Drake weren’t
obvious.

“
Grateful indeed. But
I hope you don’t mind me asking, have you been
intimate
with him? The way you are
watching him now… You never told me what he was doing in your
bedroom that morning.”

“
No, what we have
shared is not what you think. Nothing like
that
has happened between us. I just
didn’t want to be left alone. Pete and Quinn tried to make trouble
for me on the way home one night, and Drake protected
me.”

“
What kind of trouble?”
Kyle asked immediately concerned. He knew the two men could be
troublemakers but he never imagined they would assault his
sister.

“
Let’s just say the kind
that made Pete and Quinn leave town the next day. They were drunk
and half out of their minds,” Sierra said, “and if I tell you any
more than that, you will be vexed all the way to New Orleans, so
don’t say another word about it.”

“
I am already vexed, and
you should have told me sooner, I’m your brother,” Kyle puffed.
“You weren’t hurt were you? Should I be thanking Drake?
“

“
I was not seriously hurt.
I only suffered a minor bruise to my arm. I didn’t tell you because
I didn’t want you to go after them and yes, you should thank
Drake.”

“
Then maybe you should be
riding with your champion,” Kyle proposed.

“
Trying to pawn me off,
Kyle, so you can have Shadowcaster all to yourself?” Sierra
playfully snickered back at him. “I see no need to ride with
him.”

“
Sure. Whatever you say,
right, Shadowcaster?” Kyle chuckled.

* * *

Girard glanced at Sierra and Kyle.
“The woman is easy on the eyes,” Girard spoke to Drake while Daniel
maneuvered just close enough to Girard to engage in conversation
with them.

“
Indeed, but she is a
challenging woman,” Drake countered.

Girard sighed, and looked
back to glimpse Sierra.
God she is
beautiful
, he thought. Even he might have
been foolish enough to carry her to his home. “Drake, take no
offense, but I still have my doubts about the woman, even though
we’ve made it out of town unscathed.”

“
My
personal affairs
are none
of your concern,” Drake stated protectively.

Daniel acquiesced to Drake’s point,
but interjected anyway. “Drake, what exactly are your plans with
respect to Lady—” he goaded glancing back at the lovely lady and
her younger brother. “What’s the story?”

“
Lady Maudet, however, it
is a long tale my friend—one I do not wish to tell and even if I
did, it would be inappropriate, because she rides not far behind,”
Drake replied wearily.

“
Has she not traveled
before? She looks at everything as if it were a strange mystery,”
Daniel marveled.

Girard silently listened.

“
She and her brother have
never left the Township of Jadesville,” Drake said dismissively. He
did not care for Daniel’s prying. It was enough that he had to
explain so much to Girard already. The possibility of having them
both chisel away at him, was a bigger burden than he wished to
bear, especially on the long journey—there was no place for him to
escape, unless he succumbed to madness, disappearing into the
thickness of the swamp.

Daniel continued to wonder about what
was going on between Drake and their new traveling companions, but
he did not want to quarrel with Drake. When it came to Drake’s
relationships with women, Drake could be mulish, forever the
philanderer. He always summoned chaos.