Wicked Wyoming Nights (52 page)

“Don’t be insulting,” Eliza said, attempting to brazen it out and searching frantically for some explanation that might allay his suspicions. “Uncle Ira told me you were planning to steal Cord’s herd tonight, and I came to tell him the sheriff was on his way here with a posse.”

“We’ve already found that out. But how do I know you weren’t the one who organized it?”

“That was Susan Haughton.”

“And I suppose you want me to think you had nothing to do with it?”

“I do wish all this killing would stop.” That didn’t sound very convincing.

“So you came to warn your uncle?” Croley inquired in a falsely sweet voice.

“I didn’t want him to get hurt.”

“Liar!” Croley shouted, and struck her hard, knocking her down. “I suppose that’s why he had to lock you up?”

“I warned him last time his life was in danger,” she said, staying on the ground safely out of his reach.

“Let’s see whose life you’re more interested in,” Croley growled, pulling her to her feet and dragging her down to the trail through the pass. He fired into the air twice, but the sound was covered by sporadic gunfire from both ends of the canyon. “Son of a bitch!” he swore savagely, and headed down the canyon. When he came within sight of the men who were trying to hold the bottom of the canyon against Cord’s steady advance, he pushed Eliza in front of him, and using her as a shield, he moved past his men and into the space between the opposing lines of fire.

“Stedman,” he shouted, “I’ve got your woman. Show yourself.”

“He’ll kill you,” Eliza yelled. Croley clamped his hand over her mouth, but Eliza sank her teeth into his bony fingers; with a howl of pain, he struck her a glancing blow with the butt of his gun. Everything went hazy and she slumped against Croley for support, but Eliza fought to keep from passing out.

“Show yourself, Stedman, or I’ll shoot her right here.”

“You’re bluffing, Croley.” Cord’s voice was uncannily near. “You harm her and you’ll have a hundred bullet holes in your hide before it hits the ground.”

“You wouldn’t dare take that chance” Croley shouted back furiously.

“For me, it’s a chance. For you, it’s a dead certainty.”

Croley ground his teeth in impotent fury. She
was
his only chance, and he wasn’t about to waste it on empty revenge. “I want your men to clear this canyon by sunrise,” Croley shouted. “I’ll let the girl go when my men are safely out.”

“Let her go now. There’s nothing against you except rustling. Touch her, and you’ll hang,
if
you make it to your trial.”

Croley’s blood ran cold in spite of his iron nerve. Over and over Cord had proved he
never
made empty promises. “You have till morning,” Croley shouted back. “Clear your men out of the canyon, or the girl dies.”

“Let her go unharmed, or you won’t see the dawn.”

“Those are empty words, Stedman. As long as I have Eliza, you can’t do a damned thing.” But Croley hurried back through his lines more rapidly than his men thought a confident man would have done.

Eliza’s mind was consumed by fear and confusion as they traveled back up the canyon more quickly than they came. Didn’t Cord love her enough to try to save her? She knew Croley wasn’t going to let her go just because Cord told him to, and her interference had not only jeopardized her life and the success of the ambush, but would force Cord to risk his life in an attempt to save her, if he did attempt to save her. He didn’t sound like he was too upset she was a pawn in Croley’s grasp. She would have been begging and pleading if their positions had been reversed; she had already risked her life for him once. Surely he would do as much for her.

But she
didn’t
know what he could do. Croley’s men had plenty of cover, while Cord and the others would have to come down the open trail. Well, it was her own fault she was in this mess, so she had no one to blame but herself. It was beginning to look like she had no one else to depend on, so she’d better think of something quick.

“How did you let her get past you?” Cord thundered at a cowhand whose neck he threatened to break with one wrench of his powerful hands.

“You told me not to worry about the plain until the trap was down at both ends,” the unfortunate boy managed to gasp. “You said there wouldn’t be anybody trying to get up the rim until they knew there was no other way out.”

Cord didn’t slacken his grip.

“She was already out of the buggy when I got there. I was just in time to see her go over the edge.” He didn’t dare tell his infuriated employer the girl seemed to have gone willingly.

“I ought to skin you alive,” Cord swore, releasing him at last. “Find J.D. and tell him I want him at once.” The boy staggered to his feet and disappeared. Cord had hardly taken more than a few turns before a boy, barely older than the first, came hurrying up to him.

“Do you know the crack in the river wall, the one right above the falls?” The boy nodded. “Do you think you could get down it and cross upriver from where the canyon wall has eroded?”

“Sure,” the boy answered with easy confidence.

“Then crawl on your hands and knees until you’re opposite where Croley’s hiding?”

“The river’s nearly up to its banks. That would mean I’d barely have my head out of water.”

“Maybe not that much.”

“And it’s icy cold.”

“If you can’t do it, I’ll send someone else.”

“I can do it,” the boy promised, caught between wanting to and not wanting to. “I just ain’t looking forward to it.”

“Can you talk two more into going with you?”

“Chrissakes! You don’t like asking easy things of a man, do you?”

“Men don’t expect to be asked easy things.”

The boy swallowed hard. “Give me a hour.”

“I’ll give you thirty minutes. Maybe less.”

The young man looked dumfounded, but said nothing.

“I’m going down the opposite side to bring Miss Smallwood out. I’ll have to go a little slowly because I don’t want to start a rock slide, but when I give you the signal or you hear any unexpected activity, be ready to stand up and fire point-blank.”

“But we’ll be naked in their fire. There’s not even a pebble out there to cover our asses.”

“Then make sure you don’t miss. The others will be closing in from both ends. Once I have Miss Smallwood safe, the bastards will be covered on all four sides.”

“Okay, thirty minutes, but I want a double bonus for this.”

“But I
don’t
know what he plans to do. I haven’t even seen him.” Eliza’s face was bruised, and blood trickled from her mouth. Croley had been interrogating her for several minutes and was enraged at her refusal to divulge Cord’s plans.

When he had returned from his confrontation with Cord, Croley had thrown Eliza behind a rock, ordered Les to watch her, and stomped off to see about positioning his men. At first Eliza had thought she might be safe, that he would be so busy defending himself he would forget about her altogether, but it wasn’t long before she discovered how wrong she was. Croley was determined to break her no matter what it took.

“Leave her alone, Croley,” Ira said. “Can’t you see she doesn’t know anything?” Ira had been shocked out of his habitual inability to think of anything except his hatred for Cord by Croley’s cold-blooded murder of one of his own men. The brutal beating of his niece, along with the utter collapse of their plans, had thoroughly shaken his confidence, and the little world he had built for himself had begun to break apart. Dazed, he tried to get between Croley and Eliza, but Croley shoved him out of the way.

“You stupid jackass,” Croley growled contemptuously. “You’re so dazzled by your clothes and money you can’t see what a pitiful little pissant you are.”

Ira couldn’t have been more staggered if Croley’s words had been a fist.

“I’ve put up with your strutting about like a bantam rooster, making a goddamned fool of yourself, because of your hatred for Stedman. Nobody believed a word you said, but it kept the pressure on him. I don’t need you anymore, so don’t push me.”

It wrung Eliza’s heart to see her uncle’s pride wither and die under Croley’s cruel words, but to her surprise, Ira didn’t cower before his tormentor.

“Let my niece go, and neither of us will ever bother you again,” said Ira.

Croley threw back his head and laughed, but it was a cruel, mocking laughter. “Look at the little peacock trying to crow at last. You waited too long, old man. I’m going to get the information I want if I have to beat your niece’s beautiful face to a pulp.”

Instinctively, Eliza’s hand flew to her cheeks.

“But I won’t do it just yet,” Croley said, pulling her closer to him. “I’ll save that for later. I’d rather try a different kind of persuasion.” His free hand snaked out and roughly covered Eliza’s bosom. “I’d like to sample what you’re so determined to save for Stedman. Doesn’t seem to me like he values it very highly.” He squeezed her breast painfully. “I just might value it a lot,” he said trying to kiss her.

Eliza nearly panicked when Croley first touched her, and she twisted away, avoiding his lips, but his hand squeezed her breast so brutally she was unable to check a grunt of pain.

“Just a small exchange” he purred. “Not much to ask in exchange for your life.”

“Take your hands off my niece” Ira said, trying once more to force his way in between Croley and Eliza, his own convoluted moral code so outraged by this conduct he finally saw Croley for the cold-blooded killer he was. This time Croley released Eliza long enough to send Ira sprawling from a savage right to the jaw. Eliza tried to run, but Croley was on her almost immediately, pulling at her clothes, trying to get his hands in her bodice. Eliza fought with all her strength, but she was no match for him.

Take your hands off her, or I’ll shoot,” Ira shouted, a small pistol held shakily in his hands. Croley halted only briefly. Before either of them could move, he whirled Eliza between him and her uncle. Then as Ira danced around trying to keep Eliza out of the line of fire, Croley calmly pulled his gun and shot him; Ira fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. With a terrified scream, Eliza broke free and raced to him.

He lay on his side, blood oozing from a wound in his chest. A sudden burst of gunfire, intense and much nearer, deflected Croley’s attention, and he ran off in its direction.

“I’m sorry, Eliza,” Ira said with difficulty. “I never realized what kind of man he was*

“Don’t think about that now. Can you stand up? We’ve got to get up the slope while he’s occupied. It’s our only chance.” She searched for and found the pistol with its single unspent bullet and tucked it in her pocket. It was the only weapon they had.

“I don’t know if I can move”

“You’ve got to. Here, lean on me.” Ira put his arm about Eliza’s neck, and got to his knees. “Now bring one foot up,” Eliza coaxed.

“I can’t.”

“You must. Croley will kill us.” With a superhuman effort Ira got to his feet, and straining every muscle, Eliza helped him reach the cover of the first of the large boulders. If they could just get far enough up the cliff before Croley came back, they might escape. The first steep climb taxed Ira’s strength, but Eliza wouldn’t let him give up.

“I can’t make it. Try to get out yourself. After what I’ve done, I don’t deserve to escape. How could I have been so blind?”

“Hush. Save your strength.”

“I let the money go to my head,” he said, beginning to climb again. “I told myself it was my success. I refused to admit it was all due to you.”

“Keep climbing. We’ve got to get higher,” Eliza urged, lifting the thin man by her own strength when his failed.

“I’ve got to rest for just a minute,” he panted. “I shouldn’t have hated Cord,” he said when he finally got his breath. “But I had to have somebody to blame for all my failures. I couldn’t accept them myself.”

“We can’t stop. We’re still not high enough.” Eliza forced the nearly exhausted man to keep going. The path was much steeper now, and she barely had the strength to keep her uncle on his feet.

“He was the kind of man I wanted to be and never was,” Ira continued. “But he wanted the only thing I had left, and I couldn’t let him have you.”

“You never really wanted me,” Eliza said between gasps. “You never loved me.” They were both almost too exhausted to move, but getting away from Croley was their only chance.

“I never forgave you for still being alive when Sarah and Grant died. At times I think I was’ so angry I almost hated you, but I never did.”

“But I can be hurt too,” Eliza said, her aroused anger giving her the strength to continue to climb. “I can be lonely and I can cry, but I can also love and laugh.”

“I was too bitter to see that, or even want to. It took Cord to see it in you, and I hated him all the more for it.” He stopped, gasping for breath as he slid to the ground.

“We can’t stop now. We’re almost out of reach.”

“You go on without me. I can’t go any farther.”

“Yes, you can,” Eliza said fiercely, tears streaming down her face. “I waited ten years to have you offer me just one scrap of affection, and now that I have it I’m not going to let Croley Blaine take it away. We’re going to get out of here if I have to carry you on my back.”