Sweet Silken Bondage (33 page)

"What do you mean `nothing'?" he chided gently.
"There's something troubling you, I can see it in
your eyes and in your smile. Tell me about it.
Maybe I can help."

Molly had always thought that she was pretty
good at hiding her emotions, and she wondered
how Dev had become so attuned to her moods.
Certainly, no one else had noticed that she was
worried and unhappy.

"I don't know..." She thought of her mother,
growing weaker and weaker as the illness continued
to ravage her.

"What is it?" The iron bars that separated them
were the only things that prevented Dev from taking her in his arms. He ached to hold her and ease
her fears, and he cursed the law that caged him like
an animal.

"It's my mother..." Molly admitted softly.

"She's not any better?" She had told him the day
before that her mother was ill, but it had only been
a single remark made in passing.

"She's worse," she agonized. "I didn't want to
come to work and leave my little brother, Jimmy,
alone with her tonight, but I knew Mrs. Harvey
would fire me if I didn't show up."

"What about the doctor? Has he seen her? Can't
he help?"

"Mother said I shouldn't call him. We still owe
him money from when Jimmy was sick the last
time, and she refuses to take charity," Molly confessed miserably. "I keep hoping she'll get better, but
she's getting so weak. The fever hasn't let up at all,
and I'm starting to get scared..."

Tears sparkled in her emerald eyes as she feared
that her mother might not recover. Dev could no
longer resist reaching out to her. He took her hand
through the bars and drew her closer.

"She'll be all right, Molly," he encouraged. He
longed to comfort her and reassure her, but realized
there was precious little he could say or do that
would help. If Clay had been in town, he would
have been able to enlist his friend's aid for her, but
trapped as he was all alone here in Monterey, he
was helpless.

At Dev's gentle touch, Molly lifted her glistening
gaze to his. "I hope you're right. I don't know what
I'd do without her."

"It'll be fine. You'll see."

"I'd like to believe you..." Molly gave him a
tremulous, watery smile as their eyes locked in
silent understanding. Her heart lurched as she saw
the gentleness and tenderness mirrored in the
depths of his blue eyes.

Dev saw the hope warring with the despair in her
gaze and had a sudden idea. He was almost positive
that his own days were numbered, and since he was
unable to help her himself, he thought maybe his
money could do for her what he couldn't. He'd
certainly have no use for it where he was going, he
thought wryly, and if it could do some good here...
now...

"Sheriff!? Could you come here a second?" he
called out.

Macauley heard his call. Molly moved away from
Dev as the sheriff entered the room.

"What is it?" he asked, wondering what was
wrong and why the girl looked so sad.

"You've got the reward money for Denton, right?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Well, half of it's legally mine, and I want you to
give my share to Molly."

"What?"

"Look, you and I both know I won't be using it
any time soon, so just give her my half," Dev
directed. "Her mother's ill and needs a doctor. I
want to help pay for it."

"You're sure you want to do this?"

"Positive." He glanced over at Molly and saw her
look of wonder.

It took Macauley only a minute to get half the
money out of the locked drawer in his desk where
he'd been holding it for Cordell. He returned to the
cell area and handed it over to her in front of Dev.

"I...I can't take this from you..." Molly was
stunned, and she looked from the money in her
hand to the man behind the bars. Her heart swelled
with emotion at his generosity. She'd never known
anyone who was this kind or this wonderful.

"Of course you can. I just wish I could do more
for you" Dev told her in a tone that was gentle, yet
brooked no argument.

At what he'd just witnessed, Macaule's belief in
Dev's innocence grew even stronger. Giving the girl
the money was not the act of a murdering criminal.

"Dev...thank you." Her eyes were shining as
she gazed up at him.

There was no time for them to say more as they
heard someone come racing into the office, banging
the door open and then slamming it forcefully shut.

"Sheriff Macauley!" the man yelled.

"What is it?" Macauley heard the very real fear
in the man's voice and hurried out front to see what
was going on. "Is there trouble somewhere?"

"There's gonna be trouble, all right, and it's
gonna be right here!"

"What are you talking about?" the sheriff demanded, wanting the facts.

"I'm talking about vigilantes!"

"Vigilantes?" He went a little pale at the thought.

"Yep. They're over at the saloon gettin' all riled
up 'cause O'Keefe there ain't been hung yet.
They're plannin' on comin' here and doin' it themselves! You gotta do something and fast!"

"Son of a..." Macauley strode to the gun cabinet to get his rifles. He wished his deputy, Carter,
was there, but he'd sent him out of town on business for the next two days. It was going to be just
him against the mob. "Here." He held out a rifle
toward Wily, but the old man refused, backing
nervously away.

"No, sir. I ain't gonna try to stop 'em. I just did
my part. I warned you ahead of time. That's all I
want to do with it. What you do from here is your
business."

He ran quickly from the office and disappeared
into the night, leaving Macauley all alone to face
the raging mob.

Macauley hesitated only an instant, then quickly
pulled down the shades and locked the door. He
knew he would have little chance of stopping a
vigilante mob should they storm the office, yet he
knew he couldn't let them have O'Keefe. He had to
do something to protect him. His conviction about
his innocence urging him on, he grabbed up the
keys and ran back to the cells.

"Molly, I'm going to need your help," he said
solemnly, his expression grave as he started to unlock Dev's cell door.

"What's happening?" she asked. The sudden
change in his manner made her nervous. Something
had to be wrong.

"It looks like some of the hotheads down at the
saloon are thinking about taking the law into their
own hands."

"You mean...?"

"A lynch mob," he stated flatly, "and according to
my informant, they're on the way here now."

"No!" she gasped, looking over at Dev, her eyes
wide with fright. She'd heard about these kind of
things and the violence that resulted. She couldn't
bear to think of him facing such a fate.

Dev had been holding onto the bars as he listened, and his grip tightened so much at the sher iff s news that his knuckles showed white. He'd
expected the end to come one of these days, but he
hadn't thought it would be tonight.

"Listen, Molly, I want you to sneak out the back
and take O'Keefe with you. Hide him out somewhere safe until I come for him."

"Macauley, I don't want her involved in this," Dev
protested. "It's too damned dangerous. She might -"

"Shut up, O'Keefe. You're in my charge, and
your safety is my concern," the sheriff cut him off
sharply, then turned back to the girl. "Molly, if you
don't take him, I can't guarantee he'll be alive in
the morning."

"It's that serious?" she asked.

"It's that serious. Will you do it? Can I trust
you?" Macauley studied her face, trying to read her
expression.

Molly glanced at Dev where he stood caged like a
wild animal. She knew he would stand no chance of
survival should the mob get past the sheriff. She
wondered if she could trust him, and she needed no
more than a fraction of a second to make up her
mind. Dev needed her help. Could she do less than
her best for him after he'd done so much for her?

"Yes, I'll do it. What exactly do you want me to
do?"

"Go out through the alley with him and keep him
hidden until everything settles down. Can you handle that?"

"I can do it," she declared determinedly.

The sheriff turned his piercing gaze on his prisoner as he finished unlocking the door. "What about
you, O'Keefe? Can I trust you or will you run first
time you get the chance?"

"I'm not going to run," Dev answered, looking
him straight in the eye.

Macauley gave a terse nod and waited no longer
in throwing the door wide, freeing him. In the distance, they could hear the discontented rumble of
the oncoming mob of drunks, and suddenly there
was a loud pounding on the front door.

"Get out of here, quick, before they come around
back!"

Molly looked up at Dev, seeing him for the first
time without the barrier of the bars between them.
He happened to meet her gaze, and they stared at
each other for a moment in silent understanding
before she held out her hand to him. He enfolded
her soft, small hand in his big hard, calloused one.

The sheriff went ahead of them and opened the
back door. "Molly, girl, you be careful!"

"You, too, Sheriff!" she whispered as she drew
Dev out of the jail and into the dark alleyway. She
was still clutching the money he'd given her in her
free hand.

"Thanks, Macauley," Dev told him.

Macauley watched them slip away into the protective shadows of the night, then closed and barred
the door. Extinguishing all the lights inside, he
prepared to face the angry crowd of drunks bent on
their own brand of justice.

The passageway was pitch black as Molly and
Dev ran, hand in hand, from the jail. She was
familiar with the area and made certain that they
headed in the opposite direction of the oncoming
mob. Dev kept close behind her. The sound of the
crowd faded a bit as they neared a cross street, but
neither of them were ready to relax just yet. Molly
slowed her pace and moved forward cautiously to
peek down the street.

"Oh, no!" she gasped.

"What is it?" Dev stiffened, fearing a confrontation when he had no weapon with which to defend
themselves.

"There's someone coming," Molly said in a hushed
agonized tone.

"Damn!" he whispered, thinking they were about
to be caught and wanting her to get away safely.
"Molly, you go on. Get out of here. I can find a
way out by myself."

She smiled at the realization that he would worry
about her before himself. It made it clear to her
that she had made the right decision. Her judgment
reaffirmed, it was still up to her to save him now.

Molly did some fast thinking, and she surprised
Dev completely when she grabbed him with a
strength she didn't know she was capable of and
threw her arms around his neck. Before he could
say a word, she kissed him passionately. In that
moment a couple walked by the alleyway's opening.
Molly had seen the women of the night plying their
trade this way on numerous occasions and hoped
that the passersby would believe her act.

The man and woman were not part of the vigilantes, but merely a lady and gentleman out for an
evening stroll. They caught sight of the two of
them, saw the money clutched in her hand and
gasped in dismay as they hurried on about their
own business.

The kiss had been meant to be a deterrent to
their being discovered. Molly figured no one would
ever suspect that Devlin O'Keefe was the man out
back kissing a girl. She thought it would be the
perfect ruse just in case the oncomers had been part
of the vigilante group.

Molly had never kissed a man this way before,
and she certainly didn't expect it to mean anything.
It was a total shock to her then, when the touch of
Dev's mouth on hers sent her senses soaring. The
danger of the moment, coupled with the pure, unadulterated hunger of his kiss stole her breath and
left her weak and pliant in his arms.

Dev was caught completely by surprise by Molly's
shrewd move, and he meant to tell her that it was a brilliant ploy on her part. He would have too,
Accept that he was stunned by the ferocity of the
embrace. It was supposed to be fake. It was supposed to fool those around them into thinking that
they were making illicit love in a back alley. But
there was nothing scurrilous about the emotions that
were surging through him.

This was what he'd been dreaming about during
the past days. Yet, even in his tender imaginings,
he had never come close to the glorious reality of
having Molly in his arms. Her kiss was the most
wonderful thing he'd ever experienced. Dev knew
without a shadow of a doubt as their lips met again
and again in tender exploration, that she was the
one woman in the world for him. He knew this at
the same time he knew he could not take advantage
of her gentle honesty. He had nothing to offer her,
no future to promise her. He had nothing.. .not
even his freedom.