The Gambler (30 page)

God damn it! He didn't love her! He lusted for her! He was just goddamn randy. Raven paced again. He was just randy and he could prove it! He could go and take her up on her offer. He'd make her sorry she'd ever tempted him, sorry... for everything.

To his own inebriated mind, Raven's passage through the woods sounded quiet, even stealthy. When he reached camp, however, she was already on her feet, staring wide-eyed in the direction of his approach.

His chest was heaving as he breathed, and his shirt was open, but that didn't mean he wasn't thinking clearly. Hewould give her what she wanted, would take her to the pinnacle of pleasure and drive her from his mind. To hell with tenderness! To hell with her fear! She'd said yes and yes it would be!

"Raven?" Her voice was very soft.

Something tripped in his chest. To hell with love! he reminded himself sternly.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm..." He took two staggering steps to the left, realizing suddenly that his stance was not quite what it might be. "I'm drunk as a st-stunk. But I'm still ready."

Her eyes widened, he noticed, and he was certain she was impressed with his ability to perform.

"Ready for what?" she whispered.

He grinned. So she had decided to be coy after all. "Ready for..."

The tree limb was as wide as his upper arm and hit Raven dead square across his chest. He was slapped backward like a bug on a stick, and he hit the ground gasping for breath and explanations. "What the—"

"I'm gonna kill you now, boy!" roared a voice.

"No! Jude! No!"

Good God! Jude again, Raven thought foggily. But there was no more time for thinking, for now the end of the tree limb was planted against his chest and the business end of a .45 pointed at his left eyeball.

"Are you breeding?"

"What?" Raven croaked, but realized now that his question had synchronized with Charm's.

"I said, are you breedin', gal?"

"No!" she gasped. "Of course not."

"Good!" Jude said through his teeth. "Then I can kill 'im!" He cocked the .45.

"No, Jude! Don't!"

"Don't! Don't!" the old man yelled. "I been goin' crazy tryin't' find y'. This bastard took the only good thing in my life when he took you, gal! He deserves t' die, and by God he will!" he said, raising the gun.

"No!" Charm grasped his arm in desperate appeal. "I think I love—"

"I'll kill him, by God," Jude growled again.

"I think I... I'm... in the family way!" she gasped wildly.

The old man went deadly still. "What's that you say, gal?" His tone was tense, his gaze steady on Raven, who remained unmoving.

"I said..." She swallowed then nodded with jerky resolution. "I am. I'm carrying his child. You can't kill him!"

"Did he force you, gal?" Jude's voice was guttural and strained.

Charm stared at Raven. He was flat on his back, his shirt open and his broad chest marred by the wound she herself had inflicted. "No." She shook her head, feeling short of breath and strangely numb.

Jude's gnarled hands tightened on the branch as he pressed harder against Raven's chest. "Did he hurt you?"

"Listen. Jude, I—"

"Did he hurt you?" Jude demanded, his voice rising with his wrath.

"No. No," she breathed. "He never did."

The branch was slowly removed from Raven's chest, though the .45 didn't waver. "Tie him up, Clancy then get him on a horse."

Until this moment, Charm hadn't noticed the other man's presence.

He cleared his throat now. "What are you plannin'?"

“Tie his hands," insisted Jude, keeping his .45 aimed at Raven's head. "Or get the hell outta my way."

*

"You got a preacher in this here town?" Jude asked, his voice harsh, but not raspy, as if his mind and body had become clear of the liquor that had poisoned him for so long.

They'd been riding for hours. Raven's head felt as if it were a strong man's overused anvil.

"A preacher?" asked the skinny man who descended the steps of the general store. "Yeah, Father McMurt. He's a preacher. Sort of." Skinny scowled, not bothering to hide his curiosity. "What you want him for?"

"Bring 'im here," Jude ordered, and Skinny scurried off down the hard-packed street, his curiosity making him hurry.

"You're plannin' to marry them up," deduced Clancy with sudden exuberance.

Raven lifted his head. The clanging got louder, threatening to drown reality.

"You are," said Clancy happily. "Ain't you?"

There was a momentary pause; then, "Goddamn right I am."

"Hell," said Clancy joyously, removing his hat to wipe his brow. "Wouldn't it be kinder to shoot him? Not that I got nothin' against yer gal."

"I hear you're in need of a clergy?" All gazes turned to the two men who had approached on foot and now stood not far away.

"That's right," said Jude.

Beside the skinny man stood a rumpled-looking fellow with a squashed hat and an unsteady stance. "I am such a man."

Jude straightened slightly, tightening his hands on his own reins as well as on the reins of Raven's mount. "You're drunk."

"'Tis the sad truth," the Scotsman agreed without a trace of regret.

Jude scowled. "Can you perform a wedding?"

The preacher lifted his chin. "Can you purchase a bottle?"

Raven tried to quiet his cerebral clattering. "I won't be forced into marriage, old man," he warned.

Jude turned his head. "It's your choice, boy. You can marry her. Or you can marry her with a leg wound. Truth is, I prefer the latter."

"I didn't sleep with her."

"You callin' my gal a liar?" Jude's hand was on his gun again.

Raven winced at the pain in his head, wondering if his cranium was about to explode. "Maybe she's mistaken," he suggested, but quietly now, lest his eyeballs desert the rest of his body.

"Goddamn you!" Jude's gun was all the way out. "The child won't be raised without no pa. You hear me? Not after the hell I been through fer the past twenty-six years."

Raven scowled, vaguely aware that Jude was making no sense. A small, silent crowd had gathered about them.

The priest cleared his throat. "Are we ready then, or would you be plannin' to untie the groom?"

"We're ready," growled Jude, gun held level.

McMurt patted a pocket, then another, but finally lifted his face to scowl. "Might there be someone with a Bible?"

"I'm gonna shoot them both," Jude warned. "Where's yer mama's Bible, gal?"

Charm's face was pale. "It's... Raven's got it."

Clancy fished it from Raven's vest pocket to hand it to the priest who cleared his throat and lifted his gaze to the prospective groom. "Do you have a ring, young man?"

"What do you think this is, a goddamn garden party?" snapped Jude. "Get on with the—"

"There's his mother's ring," said Clancy, his tone becoming merrier by the moment.

Raven swung his head about—a bit too quickly, for it seemed to continue pivoting far past its normal range. "Back off, Bodine," he managed to order.

"Come now, Joseph," said the other, pushing his mount closer and reaching for the chain about Raven's neck. "If you're gonna get yourself wed you might as well do it right. Besides, she's damn pretty. If I was gonna get hitched... which I ain't..."—his grin widened as he lifted the ring from the other's chest—"I'd want it to be to someone just like her."

"Remind me to kill you when I can see straight," Raven requested.

"Certainly, Joseph," Clancy said and loosened the ring from its simple chain to hold it in his palm. "We're ready."

"Would you care to dismount?" asked McMurt.

"No, he wouldn't," growled Jude. "Just get on with it."

In the end the cold hard muzzle of Jude's gun was held to Raven's temple, prompting the appropriate vows. When it came Charm's turn to speak, however, the ceremony came to an abrupt and breathtaking halt.

"Say the words, gal," urged Jude. Her lips moved, but no sound came forth. "What is it? You scared of him?" he asked quietly.

Her answer took a moment to come, but when it did it was surprisingly clear and honest. "No, I'm not scared."

"Then say the words, Charm, cuz I won't have my grandbaby raised without no pa."

The silence was as heavy as sin.

"He won't mistreat y', gal," added Jude quietly. "I'll see t' that."

"But—"

"It's too late for second thoughts now. He'll marry y' or he'll die."

"I do," she said faintly.

Clancy slipped Raven's ring onto her finger, Jude led them toward a building that boasted baths, and Charm's head spun.

"You stink like cheap liquor," Jude said. Although Raven was tempted to ask whether that was an insult or compliment coming from that front, he kept silent and dismounted with a lurch. "Charm, you go ahead to the boardinghouse.

We'll meet you there in an hour's time for supper, if I can scrub the stench from this bast... from your husband here."

There seemed little for Raven to do but follow Jude's orders. The bathhouse was quiet, the water warm and soothing, giving Raven time to plan. Of course he would have the marriage annulled once Jude and his ever present .45 disappeared. The bastard couldn't stay with them forever. Eventually he'd have to break down and get a drink. Except that he appeared healthier now somehow, and sober, and God knew a sober man was apt to cause more trouble than a drunk one. Raven shaved and lathered and soaked until finally Jude appeared from outside the door where he had been standing guard, lest the bridegroom decided to slip town.

"Get out. I'm thinkin' you're clean as you're ever gonna get."

"Where did you find her, Jude?" Raven asked, looking up into the man's brown eyes.

"What's that?" Jude asked, tilting his head slightly to hear better.

"Where did you find Chantilly Grady?"

There was a slight pause as the man stared at him; then, "I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about."

"I'm talking about Charm. She's not your daughter."

"Damn you." The .45 was out again and surprisingly steady. "She's my own, so don't think I won't protect her like she ain't."

Raven lifted his brows slightly, allowing no other expression. "I just want a few questions answered."

The old man took two quick strides to stand tense and still beside the tub. "When I see the house you build her, when I see the home you make for her. When I see you makin' my Charm happy, then you got a right to ask me questions," he growled. "Now get out, cuz I'd sure hate for my granddaughter t'be an only child."

There were several possible meanings to that statement, Raven thought. None of them was good. He got out.

"Put on them clothes," Jude said, pointing to a pile of garments brought in earlier.

So, the old man had given him a wedding gift, Raven mused wryly as he shook out the clothing. They fit surprisingly well. Raven couldn't help wondering if, perhaps, Charm had helped estimate the size.

The walk to the boardinghouse was short, and yet it was almost dark by the time they passed the door. They were shown immediately to the dining table. Charm was there. Her gaze rose nervously when they entered. Raven drew in his perceptions quickly, wondering at her agitation and realizing it had been quite some time since he'd seen her look so edgy. But then, Clancy, damn his hide, sat quite close to her left side, and Clancy, with his easy, phony charm, made Raven nervous too. Bodine smiled. Raven clenched his teeth, and Jude nodded him to a seat.

Charm was wearing a new gown. Though that fact was, in truth, irrelevant, Raven noticed anyway. It was ivory, with two ruffles of lace starting at her shoulders to form a vee that ended at her tiny waist. Somehow it irritated him that he hadn't bought it himself.

The meal was ordered and eaten with barely a word spoken except by Clancy who could speak about nothing at great lengths.

Charm sat unmoving. Raven's hair was still damp, she noticed. It was drying now and curled away from his white starched collar like blue-black feathers.

"So..." Clancy leaned back in his chair and grinned. "What now?"

"Have you got any money, boy?" Jude asked brusquely.

"Why do you ask?" Raven's expression was as blank as it had been during that first poker game. But now Charm could read some of the signs of his smoldering emotions. He was thinking and planning as he waited with hard-won impatience. But thinking and planning what?

"Her and the baby will need a home."

Charm held her breath. She must have been crazy to declare herself pregnant, but the options had seemed so poor at the time. She sat very still, feeling the tension swell around her and aching with a sharp need for security. She slipped her butter knife into her pocket.

"I see." Raven leaned back slightly, stretching his long legs under the table and keeping his gaze on Jude. "And you expect me to buy her a house?"

Jude was immediately aggressive. "Damn right I do."

"I see
you
never afforded her such a luxury?"

"It wasn't me got her breedin'," Jude growled.

"Maybe it wasn't me either," Raven countered.

"Goddamn you!" roared Jude, lurching to his feet. "Watch what you say about my gal, or I'll—"

"Please," Charm said, trying to pull Jude back down. "Haven't we caused enough scandal?"

For a moment she thought Jude would attack, but he gritted his teeth, and fought for control. "Hard work will do you good, boy."

Raven's face was still impassive, though she had finally acquired the ability to read the tension in it. "What's that?" he asked coolly.

"I still got me a little land in Kentucky. You'd make a pisspoor farmer. But at least my granddaughter will have a home."

"Granddaughter?" Raven leaned back in his chair, holding Jude's gaze. "Maybe it's a boy."

"It ain't no boy," growled Jude, leaning across the table. "It'll be a girl, like her mother, I tell you."

"Are you psychic then, as well as your other fine qualities?" asked Raven. "Such as alcoholic and child abductor?"

"Quit it, both of you!" Charm ordered. "This is insane."

The men remained silent for a moment, looking slightly chagrined.