The Bad Ass Brigade (41 page)

“Christ, no. Goddamn us to hell if we is lyin’, Angel. We wus just havin’ a little fun.”

Gabe’s chuckle was dry, menacing. “I imagine your transport to hell has been at the ready for some time, Jake. But I gotta say, you two men have a strange way of joshin’ a young girl.”

Jake got a little of his courage back and muttered. “She ain’t a girl, Angel. And you ain’t the only one that’s noticed.”

Gabe moved up closer to the two men, a gun in each hand pointing at the space between their eyes.

His voice was cold, a hard layer of anger undergirding it.

“Once you stop bawling like suckling pigs, you’re gonna notice that your ‘injuries’ aren’t nearly as bad as you are making out. Sure, Marty, you’re gonna walk funny for the rest of your life. And Jake, you better learn to hoist that booze with your left hand cuz your right one isn’t gonna do you much good.

“Now, both of you. Throw down every last weapon you have you have hidden on those cowardly bodies of yours. A warning. If I find one you missed, I will strip you naked and tie you to that tree. Then I’ll show you how I engage in target practice in earnest.”

Minutes later, both men were on their horses, their hands tied behind their heads. Gabe engineered a series of clever knots around their necks, connected to the rope binding their wrists. If they moved too fast or in the wrong direction, the ropes would tighten. There was a good chance the men would choke to death. After a few suggestions as to how they might make it out of the canyons alive, Gabe added another ‘request.’

“And while Chao Li may pay your salary, you sure as hell aren’t here on his behalf. I want you to go to the cowardly men that sent you ignorant assholes to do their dirty work. Give them this message from me: Angel’s Avengers are on to them. It’s only a matter of time, fellows. A matter of time.”

Chapter 13

It had been ten minutes at the most, but it felt like a lifetime before Gabe walked over to Ana. Rigid lines creased his brow. His eyes were cold, dangerous. His lips were pressed together in a hard white line. Without speaking, he scooped her up in his arms and held her tight against his chest. She struggled against him, then gave in to the surge of relief that shot through her body. To her surprise, she started shaking as though she were in a strong wind. Every muscle in her body cried out at the fierce tremors buffeting her.

For several long moments, he said nothing, just held her tight, murmuring soft crooning sounds, words that meant nothing and everything.

Finally, he spoke. His voice was calm, controlled, different from the hard anger blazing in his eyes.

“You’re in shock, Princess. Let me hold you for a minute, and then we’ll take a look at your ankle.”

She tried to push him away. She was frightened by how tightly he held her, but part of her wished she could stay like this forever.

“You heard me, Princess. Stop fighting me. That’s one fucking nightmare that you went through. You’re gonna feel shaky for a while. The more you let go, give into it, the quicker it will pass.”

She allowed herself to give in to her need to hold him, burrow against his chest, feel the strong muscles corded beneath. When she could breathe again and stopped shaking, she pushed herself up and said in as firm as voice as she could manage, “I’m okay, now. You can put me down.”

He nodded and set her on the ground up against the tree. To her surprise, he took a knife out of his boot.

She frowned, “What… what are you doing? “

“I’m going to look at your ankle, see how bad it is.”

She shook her head. “No, don’t. I’m fine. Let’s go back to the ranch.” His closeness and her desire to reach out and touch him, crawl back into his arms, was unnerving her. She needed to get away from him.

He seemed to sense her conflicting emotions. He caught her chin and tipped her face up next to his. She saw the determination in his eyes and knew it was futile to resist. She saw another emotion that she didn’t understand, but whatever it was, it was raw, unfiltered. She closed her eyes at the intensity.

“Listen up, Princess. I’m gonna tell you what we are going to do. And you know what? You aren’t going to argue. Think you can do that? Do what I tell you to do for the next five minutes?”

She felt the heat creep up her cheeks. She was embarrassed. He had saved her life and she hadn’t even thanked him.

“I… I’m sorry, Gabe. I… um, thank you. I’m glad you… you came when you did.”

He raised an eyebrow and something akin to rage flashed in his eyes. He gave a heavy sigh, as though forcing himself to breathe.

“Uh, yeah, sweetheart. We’ll have that conversation later. The conversation about why you were here by yourself and what would have happened if I hadn’t come when I did.”

She bristled and sat up straighter.

“I… I’m sure I could have handled them, Gabe. If I hadn’t tripped on that tree root, I would have made it to my horse just fine. And… and you heard them. They said they were just joshing me, trying to frighten me.”

Gabe’s expression hardened. When he spoke, his voice was cool.

“I’m gonna make a suggestion, Princess. Make a little deal with you. You stop talking for the next five minutes and I won’t turn you over my knee and paddle your bare ass.”

She gasped and started to answer but he pressed his finger against her lips and shook his head. She closed her eyes and settled back against the tree. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She couldn’t seem to stop arguing with him, when all she really wanted was for him to hold her — for a very long time.

When she opened her eyes, he was staring at her.

“Are we agreed?”

She nodded.

“Good. Glad we have that settled. Now, for the third time, I want to look at our ankle.”

She started to resist, “I… I’m sure it is….”

Her words trailed off at the warning look he threw her.

He lifted her foot, and probed and prodded her ankle from various angles through her boot. She winced. It was painful, but not like it felt when she fell.

“That’s good, sweetheart. I think you’re in luck. It’s not broken, but sometimes a sprain can be as bad as a break. I’m gonna take your boot off now. Let me know if I hurt you.”

He tugged gently at her boot, easing it inch by inch off her foot, then removed her stocking. When her foot was free, he began poking and probing again, looking up at her, testing to see where it hurt. A slight purplish bruise tinged the swollen skin around her ankle and he was especially careful when he touched the discolored places. When he seemed satisfied, he stood. To her surprise, he reached down and scooped her up in his arms and headed to the waterfall.

She started, twisting around in his arms to see his face. “Now what are you doing?”

He gave her an ironic grin. “As opposed to what Jake and Marty were suggesting, which you apparently thought was ‘joshing,’ we are not going to strip and swim naked in the pool.” His grin widened when she gasped. “But we are going to soak your ankle in that cold water and see if we can keep it from swelling anymore.”

He climbed up on a rocky ledge and positioned her close to the edge of the water. He took off her other boot and stocking and rolled her pant legs above her knees. When he eased her feet into the still pond, the cold water covered her legs almost to her knees. She jerked back against the startling cold, but once she got used to it, she had to agree, it made her ankle feel better.

Gabe crouched down beside her and settled in next to her.

She looked up at him, then looked away when she saw he was staring at her.

She tried to cover her confusion. His strong body, the muscles in his thighs straining against his trousers as he crouched beside her, frightened her. He was so big, so powerful. She felt small, vulnerable. From long habit, she raised her chin and narrowed her eyes.

“Now, if it isn’t too much to ask, may I talk?”

He threw back his head and laughed. “I’m impressed, Princess. I think you went a whole two minutes without arguing with me. Yeah, you can talk. That is exactly what we are going to do now. Just so you know, we have a hell of a lot of things to talk about.”

She wasn’t sure she liked that answer, but when he drilled her with that intense stare, she knew she had no choice. They were going to talk about things she didn’t want to think about, much less discuss.

~~~

Gabe watched her for a moment, seeing the conflicting emotions warring across her face. Reaching for his cigarette case, he took his time choosing a cigarette, then lit it and took several deep drags. The fragrant smoke settled over them. For the first time since he left the ranch looking for her, he allowed himself to relax.

He leaned back, resting on his forearms. He wanted to reach over and massage the tight muscles that were straining against her neck, the ones on her shoulders he was sure were knotted, tense. But he resisted. He wanted her to make the first move. He needed to know if she trusted him, if she would turn to him.

After a long silence, she stopped swinging her legs and glanced at him over her shoulder. Her eyes were dark, troubled. Her lips trembled and she bit down to still them.

She turned back to the water and asked in a soft voice, “You know, don’t you? You know about the notes.”

He knew that he owed her the truth, no matter how painful.

“Yeah, Princess. I do.”

“My father told you?”

“Yes, he did. He’s worried about you, Ana. About you and Kai.”

She snorted. “He should be worried about himself. He’s the one they’re after.”

He nodded. Damn, she was smart. A man who underestimated this small beautiful woman did so at his peril. He needed to know how much she knew. If there were other notes, clues, ones she hadn’t shared with her father.

He probed carefully. “Is that what they said in the other notes you got?”

“Yes, they were all about him. They were ugly. Disgusting. They said terrible things about him. About my mother.”

“Do you have the notes?”

She nodded.

“I need to see them.”

She shook her head violently.

“No! Never. They are horrible. I’m going to destroy them.”

He rested his hand on her shoulder, his grip firm. “Don’t do that, Ana. I need to see them if I am going to help you.”

She tried to pull away. She reached up to push his hand off of her, but he kept his hand in place.

Her voice was firm, but her strain cracked through.

“I… I don’t want your help. I don’t need it. Kai … somehow, Kai and I will figure this out.”

“I understand how you feel, Princess. But this is way beyond Kai, you, or your father.”

When she scooted away, putting more distance between them, he sat up and moved next to her. He reached over and circled his hand around her neck. She jumped at his touch. Slowly, then more firmly as her resistance lessened, he began to massage, rub the tight muscles in her back and shoulders.

He waited for several moments until he felt her tension lessening somewhat.

“This is what I do, Princess. I protect people that need protecting. This is the kind of work I’ve done for your father in the past, what I do for other men who are threatened in some way. And it’s not just me, Ana. I work with a team of men. And, hell, every one of them, especially my partners, are as badass as I am.

“Can you protect my father?”

“Yeah, honey, I can. And I also can protect Kai and you.”

She was quiet for a moment, then she turned on him with a frown.

“They… Jake and Marty… they called you Angel.”

He covered his surprise at her unexpected question.

“Yeah, they did.”

“Are you that Angel?”

“Who is
that
angel, Princess?”

“The poker player. The one they call the Ace? The Ace Angel?”

~~~

Avoiding Gabe’s puzzled frown, Ana thought to herself, who hadn’t heard of Angel. Anyone who had so much as picked up a deck of cards had heard of the Ace Angel. He was a legend, admired and feared. Now that she had met him she understood the other part of the legendary skills. The part about his reputation with women from Wyoming to Texas and every state in between. It was as infamous as his poker playing.

She tried not to think about it. It hurt too much.

Chapter 14

Gabe grinned at her. “I gotta ask, Princess. How does a sheltered little girl like you who hides out in canyons hear about ‘that’ Angel?”

She tossed her head and glared at him.

“I don’t hide out in canyons! And I am not sheltered!”

He put up his hands and tried not to laugh.

“Whoa, Princess. Settle down. It’s a natural question. I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

She scooted as far as away from him as she could get without falling in the pool. She tossed her head with a dismissive jerk. “It’s not as though that is such a great thing, something to be proud of.”

“I see. And you would know about that, how?”

Her voice was crisp, cool. “I play poker. It is quite a simple game, you know.”

Gabe struggled to keep from laughing. He was glad to see the color rising in her cheeks. And, damn, if the reemerging signs of her sauciness wasn’t having an effect on his libido. He had been so furious, so enraged by what had happened with Jake and Marty that his incipient erection felt good, damn good.

“Hmm. Who taught you to play? Kai?”

“No. I taught
him
. My father taught me when I was ten years old.”

She sniffed dismissively. “Poker is really no more than a computation of mathematical equations.”

Gabe’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t say? Hmm, Princess, we’ll have to play sometime. I’ll bet a guy could get turned on just watching all those computations rattling around in that pretty little head of yours.”

“You don’t have to be disparaging. I am quite good. I’m confident I can beat you.”

“Now, Princess, if I really am “that’ Angel, you might want to think twice before throwing down a challenge like that.”

She scowled. “What? I should be afraid of you. Afraid of challenging the mighty Angel? That’s ridiculous. I can assure you, I will take your money any time, quite easily.”