Sweet Silken Bondage (14 page)

"I'm not sure any more," Clay answered. He was glad
that he'd been around to save the people on the stage,
but it annoyed him to have wasted so much precious
time on what had turned out to be nothing but a wild
goose chase.

"Any more?" Reina prodded as she knelt down beside
him again and poured some water on one of the rags.
She began to gently scrub the gore from his arm as she
waited for his answer.

"I started looking for her in Monterey, and all indica tions were that she was on this stage. Obviously, I was
wrong." His error in judgment troubled him. He'd
thought it would be relatively easy to find the girl. He'd
thought it would be over quickly. Now, he was discovering that it wasn't going to be as simple as he'd first
imagined. Reina Alvarez was obviously much smarter
than either he or her father had given her credit for.

"There were only the five of us on the stage." Reina
kept her face averted from his as she continued to
cleanse the injury. The attraction she'd felt for him had
changed to unholy terror now, for she was afraid he
might suddenly recognize her. She prayed desperately
that her disguise would hold up under this close scrutiny.

Clay grunted in frustrated acknowledgement. "No
one else got on or off?"

"No.

His expression was grim as he reflected on what he
had to do next. He had to head for Louisiana and hope
against hope that Alvarez's daughter had gone to her
friends there as her father had suggested she might. It
tore at Clay to think that Dev was going to be stuck in
jail for an even longer period of time, but he knew there
was nothing else he could do. He had to head back East
as soon as he could.

"What will you do next?" Reina asked in a tone that
sounded only like she was making small talk to distract
him from his pain.

"I've been hired to do a job, and I'll do it. I'll keep
searching until I find her." Clay vowed, not revealing
anything more as he took another drink.

His words chilled her, and she was suddenly more
nervous than she had been before. "You sound like a
very determined man."

"I am."

"I'll pray for you, sir," Reina told him seriously. l'll pray
that you never, ever, get any closer to fndingReina Alvarez than
you are right now!

"Thank you, Sister. I need all the help I can get."

"Maybe you're having so much difficulty, Mr. Cordell, because the young woman doesn't want to be
found. Maybe she had a good reason for leaving as she
did," she subtly defended herself.

"Not this one," Clay answered firmly, without the
slightest measure of sympathy or hesitation in his voice.
"She's a willful, pampered spoiled brat. She's nothing
but a troublemaker."

Reina stiffened imperceptibly at the insult. She wondered how he would feel if he was being forced into a
marriage with a woman he couldn't stand. "Really," she
replied coolly. "I thought you hadn't met her."

"I haven't, but I know her type of woman. They aren't
interested in anyone but themselves," he said.

At his arrogant pronouncement, it took all of Reina's
will power not to scrub extra hard on his arm. "Well, I
hope everything works out."

"So do I," he agreed. "How's my arm look?"

"It's a relatively clean wound. The bullet passed on
through. I'll have you fixed up here in a minute, and you
can be on your way," she encouraged, eager to be rid of
him.

He nodded and took another quick drink before
handing her the flask. "Go ahead and pour some of this
on it."

Reina did as she was told, dousing the open wound
liberally with the sterilizing whiskey, and she was almost
ashamed of how pleased she felt when Clay's jaw tensed
against the searing pain. "Sorry..." she murmured,
biting down on her lip to keep from smiling. It served him
right, she thought meanly.

"Thanks, Sister," he said through gritted teeth. "It had
to be done. Just tie it up tight now, and I'll be fine."

Reina could hardly wait until he was gone, and she
made quick work of bandaging his arm. When Ruth
and Fred climbed out of the stage, she was glad for the
distraction.

"We're ready to roll now," Fred announced.

"We're done here, too," Reina said as she finished
tying the cloth around his arm.

"Since it's so late, Cordell, why don't you ride with us
to the waystation?" Fred invited Clay along. "The least
we can do for you is get you a hot meal and a bed for the
night."

To Reina's horrified dismay, Clay accepted the offer.

"Sounds good. Thanks," he replied, painfully pulling
his shirt back on.

Reina was anxious to stay as far away from him as
possible, so she hurriedly got into the stage to devote
herself to nursing Poke. Ruth and Melissa joined her
there, while Fred retrieved the gold. The two men then
loaded the outlaws' bodies onto their horses and tied the
mounts to the back of the stage. Clay hitched his horse
there, too, and then climbed up to ride on top with Fred.

The last five miles to the waystation seemed endless
to Reina. Poke did not regain consciousness, and so she
had nothing to distract her from her fears. She hoped
the stop would be large enough to give them their own
room so she could avoid further contact with Cordell.
She knew better than to count on it, though, for the
other stations they'd stayed at on the previous nights had
been nothing more than one-room cabins that the stationmaster had partitioned off with a blanket to give the
women some privacy.

If that turned out to be the case again, Reina wondered how she was going to avoid the bounty hunter
without being obvious, until they parted company the
following morning. She was still worrying about it when
just after sundown they drew to a stop before the small
station.

It was over an hour later that they all sat around the
big rough-hewn table in the waystation. Fred, with
Clay's help, had taken care of all that needed to be done,
and they were relaxing there now, discussing the holdup
and waiting for Hanley, the middle-aged, balding,
rather portly station master to finish preparing the
dinner. Poke had regained consciousness shortly after
their arrival, and he seemed to be doing well. Hanley
had given him his own bed there in the single-room
cabin, and the old cowboy was sitting up now, propped
against the wall eagerly listening to all the details of the
day's happenings.

"So you held 'em off, did ya, Sister?" Poke questioned
with something akin to delight and pride in her achievement.

"Yes, but it was thanks to your quick thinking and
Mr. Cordell's timely arrival that we're all fine tonight,"
she demurred.

"Did ya have to use the gun?" he asked avidly.

"Yes," Reina admitted reluctantly. "I'm afraid I was
forced to shoot, but it wasn't my marksmanship that
saved us. It was Mr. Cordell's."

The old cowboy eyed Clay respectfully. "Then I thank
you for saving our lives, Cordell. Those were some
mean hombres."

"That they were," Clay agreed, glancing over at Reina. "But Sister Mary Regina deserves more credit
than she's willing to take. She's the one who drew the last
outlaw out in the open. If she hadn't, I would never have
gotten off a clean shot at him."

"She's one special lady," Poke told him knowingly as he
regarded her. There was no mistaking the fondness he
had for her in his expression.

"She certainly is," Clay agreed, letting the full potency
of his silver-eyed gaze rest upon her. Ever since that
afternoon when her innocent touch had stirred him so
deeply, he'd been battling with himself. Clay had never
been so powerfully attracted to any woman before, and
the fact that she was unattainable made it even more
difficult for him. Watching her now, he thought of how
lovely she looked even after the long arduous day they'd
just passed. He thought of the spunk and spirit she'd
shown facing down the bandits as she'd defended herself
and the others, and he knew she was one extraordinary
woman.

Reina felt the heat of Cordell's gaze upon her, and
though she managed to keep her expression serene, in
truth, her nerves were frayed. She'd thought things were
difficult maintaining her disguise before Cordell had
showed up, but now, here she was, stuck overnight in
this isolated cabin with the very man her father had
hired to find her!

Reina wanted to run and hide from the bounty
hunter's disturbing presence, but there was nowhere to
run and certainly nowhere to hide. The small cabin
offered no privacy whatsoever. She was trapped for the
duration, and her only hope was to brazen it out and
pray that in the morning he would ride out of her life
forever.

"Here ya go," Hanley announced, distracting Reina
from her desperate thoughts, as he set a big kettle of
steaming stew in the middle of the table. "Help yourselves."

"Thank you," they responded.

Ruth did the honors, taking up the ladle and dishing
out generous portions to everyone. When they had all
been served and were about to dig in, Melissa suddenly
turned her big-eyed, innocent childish gaze to Reina.

"Sister Mary Regina?" she said her name sweetly.

"Yes, Melissa?" Reina asked.

"Aren't you gonna say Grace tonight?"

Reina almost groaned out loud. She had been so
caught up in her worries about Cordell that she'd completely forgotten the prayer over the meal. Melissa had
put her on the spot their first night out on the trip, and
she'd been stuck saying it every night since.

"Of course, Melissa. I'm sorry," Reina said with a
tranquility she was little feeling. "With all the upset, I'd
almost forgotten." Ducking her head to hide her embarrassment, she quickly began to pray. "We thank you our
heavenly Father for all the blessings you've bestowed
upon us this day. We thank you for Poke's health, and we
pray that he will continue to improve." Reina knew she
had to say something about Cordell, but it irked her
tremendously to do it. "We thank you, also, for the
intercession of Mr. Cordell, whose unselfish bravery
today saved us from certain harm. We pray that you will
guide him safely on his way." Awayfrom me, please God! she
added fervently to herself. "Shelter us all from evil and
bless this meal we are about to share. We ask this in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen."

"Amen," echoed around the table.

"Let's eat, folks!" Hanley encouraged, and they did.

Everyone ate hungrily, but Reina. Cordell was sitting
far too close for her to act normally. His presence had
been disturbing to her before she'd known who he was,
and now that she knew the truth about him, she found
him even more so. Reina concentrated on her food,
pretending to eat just so she could avoid being drawn
into further conversation. The less she said at this point,
the better.

"Sister Mary Regina?" Ruth finally spoke up, think ing the nun was too quiet and that something might be
bothering her.

"Yes?"

"You're awfully quiet tonight. Are you feeling all
right? Is something wrong?"

"No, not really. I guess I'm just a little tired after the
trauma of the holdup and all..."

"I'm sure both you ladies must be, and Melissa, too,"
Fred acknowledged, thinking that the women had held
up very well, considering the circumstances.

"Very," Reina agreed with an honestly weary smile.

"As soon as we get done eating and I get things cleared
away, I'll set up the cabin so you can go on to bed,"
Hanley offered.

"Thank you, sir. I'm sure a good night's rest is all I
need," she responded and then thought, that, and to wake
up in the morning and find the sun shining, the birds singing and
Clay Cordell already long gone!

Reina glanced up to find Cordell's fathomless eyes
upon her again. It suddenly seemed as if the cabin was
closing in on her, and she knew she had to escape him, if
even for only a little while. Despite her nervousness, she
managed a small smile. "I think, if you'll excuse me, I'll
just go on outside for a breath of fresh air."

"Sure, ma'am," Hanley assured her. "You'll be safe as
long as you don't wander too far off."

"I won't," Reina promised, overjoyed just to be able to
get away by herself so she could calm down and get
herself back under control.

"If you like," Hanley offered as she started for the
door, "I can heat up some water and you ladies can wash
up tonight."

"Thank you, sir. I know Melissa and I would appreciate it," Ruth answered.

Reina glanced down at her habit then and realized
just how dirty she'd gotten that day. Between the miserable heat, tending Poke's bloody shoulder wound, cowering in the dirt and dressing Cordell's arm, her white habit was filthy. Although at the time, she'd hesitated to
take two outfits from the convent, now she was glad that
she had. "I guess I'd better take advantage of your kind
offer, too, Mr. Hartley. Would it be possible to wash a
few things out, too?"