Linda Castle (25 page)

“Is copper selling so well?” Marydyth asked with a twist of her lips.

“Copper? Do you think this has all been about copper?” He gestured wildly with the gun. “You have no more vision than J.C. did—or that silly uncle of yours.”

Blaine?

Then a flash of previous memory sizzled through Marydyth’s head. She remembered having coffee with Ted at his house. He had called Blaine by name on that morning. But Ted never knew Blaine—or so she thought—and she had never told anybody about him, either. No one but Flynn even knew his name.

“You were there the night J.C. was killed…” Her voice was shaking but she held a firm hand against Rachel’s shoulder, keeping her safely behind her.

“Of course,” Ted said with a note of pride. “I had gone there to try and persuade J.C. to sell me the mine, but we were interrupted by your bungling uncle. They had quite a little discussion. Blaine tried to blackmail J.C. by telling him about your past, but J.C. already knew.”

Marydyth gasped.

“Ah, so you didn’t know that J.C. had a private investigator check you out before he married you, eh?”

She shook her head in denial.

“Well, he did.” Ted laughed. “And poor, stupid Blaine.but he came out all right, I suppose. J.C. gave
him all your jewelry—stuffed it into his pockets like it was trash—and sent him on his way.” Ted laughed again but it was a flat sound. “All but the silver letter opener that dropped. I picked that up.”

Marydyth nearly swooned. The truth hit her like a rock. Blaine had not killed J.C.—Ted had.

“You—you murdered him,” she said.

“Don’t get so all-fired indignant. I was there. I heard what your uncle told J.C. He knew all the dirt about you, Marydyth, he knew you had killed your first husband and so do I. But I still want you.”

Marydyth heard a tiny sound behind her. From the corner of her eye, she saw a quiver of movement.

“I don’t want to force you, Marydyth. I’d like you to come with me willingly. We could go to San Francisco, London, wherever you want.”

“I wouldn’t go anywhere with you.” She spit the words at him.

“Are you sure? I mean, I could find Blaine—I could have him testify against you in the murder of your first husband. You don’t want to go back to Yuma, do you?”

“Go to hell, you son of a bitch,” she hissed.

“Then you leave me no choice, Marydyth. The accident that is going to kill your daughter will kill you too. Once you’re both dead, O’Bannion will sell. He doesn’t care about Hollenbeck Corners enough to stay.” He took a step. “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? I mean, after all, you have lived with what you did all these years—”

“But she didn’t kill her husband, Ted. Blaine did that. Then he lied about it” Flynn’s hard voice cut through Marydyth’s panic.

She looked at him, standing there as still and rigid as an avenging angel sent by the Lord, and she knew that
she loved him. Whether it was a smart thing or not, he had captured her heart.

“You!” Ted’s eyes bugged out. “Every time I turn around you’re in the way.”

Flynn heard a warning rattle and turned, seeing a diamondback coiled in a cranny.

Rachel screamed behind Marydyth. Ted Kelts trembled and fired his gun. A burst of flame seemed to come from the barrel and Marydyth crumpled in the dirt like a broken doll. Blood trickled from her temple.

“Marydyth! You son of a bitch, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.” Flynn took a step but Kelts’s gun barrel came up and was trained directly at Rachel.

“Don’t take another step, O’Bannion, or I will shoot the girl. And don’t think they can hear this shot outside, because they can’t. I’ve checked.”

Flynn narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this? There is no way out—but even if you manage it I’ll track you down and kill you. You know I will.”

“No, you won’t, because you’re going to be dead.”

“What can you hope to gain, Kelts?”

“Money, power, prestige.” He laughed. “I will admit that I had planned on having Marydyth, too, but I’ll find another woman. Her kind are a dime a dozen.”

White rage blazed through Flynn.

“O’Bannion, if you will sign this paper, I promise to kill the little girl quickly.” Ted Kelts pulled a paper from his coat pocket.

“What is that?” Flynn asked, stalling for time as his eyes flicked around, looking for a way to save them all.

“It is power of attorney. Victoria Hollenbeck won’t live much longer—one way or the other. Then Moses Pritikin will be taking orders from me.”
“Sorry, Kelts, I don’t seem to have a pen on me,”

Flynn said with a sneer.

Marydyth moaned and Rachel started to cry.

“Sign it or I’ll shoot the little girl.”

Flynn squatted down, never dropping the barrel of his gun from the position it held, pointed straight at Kelts’s heart, and snatched the paper. He held it up so he could see it in line with Kelts.

“No need to read it, just sign.”

“Un-Unca Flynn!” Rachel sobbed, and the sound of it knifed right through Flynn’s heart “I’m scared.”

“It’ll be okay, honey. You be my brave girl for just a little bit.” He managed a smile. “Can you do that?”

“Yes, you be a real good girl, Rachel,” Kelts mimicked. Then he laughed. “Too bad your mama didn’t listen. She wouldn’t have got hurt.”

A stone dropped somewhere in the darkness, and Kelts jumped. “You and Marydyth should’ve taken my offer to buy the Lavender Lady.”

“You dirty bastard.” Marydyth whispered as she managed to pull herself up into a sitting position. Blood ran down the side of her face and stained the front of her dress.

“I’m going to kill you slow, Kelts,” Flynn growled.

“I don’t think you’re going to kill anybody. Now sign the paper. Sign it or I’m going to put a slug in the kid’s head.”

Rachel’s eyes grew round and tears ran down her cheeks, but she was brave. It nearly crushed Flynn’s heart to see how she held her chin high and looked at him with trusting eyes.

“Go to hell, you bastard,” he said. “If you hurt her, you’ll get a bullet in your own head.”

“Sign it.” There was a note of hysteria in his voice.

“No.” Flynn held his position, never moving.

“Is that why you killed J.C.?” Marydyth asked in a ragged whisper.

Ted Kelts’s gaze slipped to her and he blinked. Then his mouth jerked. “I didn’t intend to. I picked up the letter opener and was looking at it. J.C. was going to throw me out—toss me out on the doorstep like some penny-ante shyster.”

“So you drove the letter opener into his chest,” Flynn supplied.

“Yes. I thought I’d be able to deal with Marydyth—I mean, being a widow and all she would be lonely. But then she was indicted for murder and wouldn’t even defend herself. Later, I hoped that Victoria would deal, but she had those strokes and named you her beneficiary.” Ted’s eyes were glazed and wild.

“Just for money?” Marydyth choked on her question.

“You all are so stupid. Flynn, you are the stupidest of all. Don’t you know one of the richest silver veins in Arizona is right here, and all I have to do is pull it out of the ground and the government will buy it? Buy it all.” Ted laughed, and it was the sound of a madman. “And you, Flynn, you thought you were so smart, acting like you were going to reopen the mine, but I knew it was a trap. If you had really retimbered it, then you would’ve found what I found. You would’ve seen the vein of silver.”

Kelts glanced at the ceiling and the walls, mesmerized by the fortune he had felt was right at his fingertips.

Flynn lunged forward at the same instant Ted fired. The bullet went wild, ricocheting off the rock walls, ringing and echoing through the mine. They grappled in the dirt until Kelts squirmed free. Flynn stood up, hatred
burning in his gut. Afraid to fire, Flynn swung but missed, as his boot slid on the rocks.

“You bastard, you’ll be sorry you did that.” Kelts leveled his gun at Flynn, but suddenly there was a keening sound from behind him. Marydyth was up and moving quickly toward Kelts as if she were possessed. Flynn grabbed her and rolled, slamming them into Rachel and ending up against the rough wall of the mine.

Kelts fired again. The smell of cordite hung in the air. Then there was a rumble from deep beneath them. Flynn glanced up. A shelf of stone more than ten feet wide was crumbling behind the timbers. Gravel and pea-sized rocks rained down. The air was thick with dust.

“Quick, Marydyth, Rachel, come with me!” Flynn slammed his gun into his holster and started running, pulling them along, one on each side. When he reached the fork in the tunnel he pushed them against the rock wall.

“Stay behind me,” he said, choking. Rocks were falling all around them. Stones rained down on Flynn’s hat and struck his shoulders with burning force. Rachel was coughing and choking on the dirt in the air.

And then they reached the mouth of the mine.

They stumbled out into the startled crowd, but Flynn didn’t stop. He kept tugging them forward away from the cavern. Women’s screams and men’s shouts mingled with the sound.

And then a great cloud of dirt, debris and dust spewed from the mine as it belched its last, and collapsed before their eyes.

F
lynn bathed Marydyth’s head with his wet bandanna.

“Is Mama going to be all right, Unca Flynn?” Rachel asked as she rubbed her silken hands on Marydyth’s face.

“I hope so, sugar.”

The church women had made a pallet in the back of one of the wagons and had given their tight-lipped consent when Flynn insisted on tending Marydyth.

He wasn’t about to let her out of his sight—not now.

Something had happened to him while he was in the mine, facing the possibility of losing her. He had realized that life without Rachel and Marydyth wouldn’t be worth living. It wouldn’t be worth getting out of bed in the morning or drawing another breath if these two precious souls were not in his life.

“Flynn?” Marydyth reached up and rubbed her fingers across his cheekbones. “Are you—are you crying?”

“Me?” His husky voice caught and broke. “Now, do I look like the kind of man who would cry?” Flynn said gruffly. “I just got some sand in my eyes.” He coughed and rubbed roughly at his eyes.

“Oh.” Marydyth smiled weakly, content to let him tell
the lie in order to save his pride in front of Rachel. In that moment she knew she would love him all of her life.

Flynn gently picked up Marydyth’s hand. He kissed the back of her knuckles, ignoring the taste of dirt and grit upon her skin.

“It’s a pretty sorry way to end up—Ted Kelts, I mean.”

“I don’t know,” Flynn said. “I think it may be more than the dirty bastard deserved.”

“I was so scared.”

He laid his hand over hers. “It’s over now. And I want you to know I’m going to get Moses and Victoria to change some things.”

“What kind of things?” she asked.

“I am going to demand that the terms of Rachel’s guardianship be changed. Victoria shouldn’t have any objection once everyone understands the circumstances and truth about J.C.’s death.”

“No. I don’t want you to change a thing,” Marydyth said.

“But, Marydyth, it isn’t fair to you. The way things are I would always be around, and you would always feel
beholden.
That is not how I want it—not how I want you.”

She touched the side of his lean jaw. “I was sort of hoping that you liked being around.”

“I do,” he said softly.

“I was kind of hoping that you had.some feelings for me.” She drew her hand back and waited, holding her breath, hoping against hope.

“I have strong feelings for you, Marydyth. I have the very strongest kind of feelings for you—but I am going to get those papers changed.”

“Oh,” Marydyth said as disappointment rolled over her.

“I’m going to get them changed because when I ask you to marry me I want to know you are doing it because you love me and not because you feel you have to in order to be around Rachel.”

“Marry?” she repeated dumbly. “Marry you?”

“Are we going to marry you, Unca Flynn?” Rachel climbed over Marydyth’s legs and clung to Flynn’s neck while she peered into his face.

“If you two angels will have me. But Lord knows I am a rough old cob. It won’t be easy living with me.”

“We both know exactly what it is like to live with you,” Marydyth whispered.

Flynn swallowed, and a little color rose to his face. “Yep, I guess you do.”

“There have been times.” Marydyth stuck her knuckles in her mouth.

Flynn drew himself up and nodded. “I understand. It was just my heart talking—I should’ve known better.”

“Oh, Flynn, of course we will marry you,” Marydyth said.

“Honest? No reservations?”

“I might have just one,” she said with a shy smile.

“You tell me what it is and I promise I’ll take care of it.”

“Could—could you say that you love me? Just once I’d like to hear it.”

He grinned and shoved his battered, dusty hat back on his head with his thumb. “Honey, if it will make you happy I’ll stand in the middle of Hollenbeck Corners and shout it for all the world to hear, ’cause I love you, Marydyth Hollenbeck, I surely do love you.”

“I love you too.”
“Me too, Unca Flynn, me too.” Rachel chimed in.

Then Flynn wrapped his arms around the two females who were more precious to him than life.

* * * * *

eISBN 978-14592-5088-8

HEART OF THE LAWMAN

Copyright © 1999 by Linda L. Crockett

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work In whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter Invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

Printed In U.S.A.