by the Council of Elders.”
“I didn’t mean to pry, but what just happened”-he turned on his side to face her, trying every way he could not to groan with the effort-“and what we just did was… trust me when I say it was indescribable. I just wanted to be sure… it was rude of me not to ask before… I…”
She interrupted him. Shaniah could not help but be charmed by his manners. “You broke none of our rules, Major Hollister, and you are right, it was quite indescribable.” As she turned to face him, she pushed him onto his back.
Try as he might, Hollister could not help but let a small groan escape from his lips. Then everything started again, and despite it all, he found himself quite capable of feeling “indescribable” again.
This time, when it was over, Shaniah stood and dressed.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Me what?” she said.
“On the ridge in Wyoming. When Malachi attacked me and my men. I was unconscious for a while. But I saw a face. A woman. Beautiful, with long blond hair. It was you.”
As she was pulling on her boots, the train whistle sounded.
“It would appear our timing is impeccable,” she said. Hollister studied her and knew she wasn’t going to answer him. He had just had one of the greatest days of his life. Why press it?
“It would,” he said. He made his way to his knees and tried to stand using the trunk of the aspen tree for support, hoping like hell she wouldn’t notice that it took him almost five minutes to get his pants on.
“Are you all right, Major?” she asked.
“Right as rain,” he said. He somehow managed to get his arms into his shirt and he stepped into his boots. He wanted to throw his gun belt over his shoulder but he knew if he rode up to the train like that, Monkey Pete and Chee would take all of three seconds to know what had happened. Finally, he was ready. Shaniah was dressed and sitting atop Demeter, looking everywhere but at him, trying to be polite so he wouldn’t feel self-conscious. He wanted to tell her it was already too late for that.
Before he mounted up, he walked over to her and took her hand. He kissed it gently, and then with his arms holding her, pulled her slowly out of her saddle until she stood in front of him. He kissed her, a soft gentle kiss.
“Whatever you need. Whatever you’re looking for. This thing you must do. I’m going to help you see it through. All the way. Do you understand me?” He looked at her, his dark eyes fierce and proud, seeing nothing but her at that moment.
It wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be. She was an Archaic, not a creature of emotion; but she felt a tear form in her eye.
She nodded and he kissed her again.
“All the way,” he said.
Chapter Fifty-five
Slater stood in the parlor, warming himself in front of the fireplace. June in the Rockies could still get cold at night. He had poured himself a large glass of brandy from the senator’s decanter. The one Declan usually kept for himself, filled with the good liquor, thinking no one ever noticed he poured his guests the cheap stuff. He never fooled Slater. And he wasn’t here yet, so fuck him. He’d drink the best.
Declan finally entered the room. He looked like shit. He had lost weight and his eyes were drawn and weary- looking, like a couple of prunes stuck to his face. When he’d heard Slater’s report of what had happened in Absolution, he’d nearly had a nervous breakdown.
“What are we going to do, Slater? What are we going to do?” he’d muttered over and over. “Word gets out. You can’t keep this under wraps forever. People start hearing this kind of talk, no one will move into the territory. It’s bad enough when the Utes and the Sioux and the rest of the red niggers are on the warpath. This will be worse. Far worse. I’ll lose everything,” he moaned.
“Word won’t get out. Pinkerton will dynamite the mine and seal those things in and burn Absolution to the ground. They’ll make up some story, that it was smallpox or something. After a while it will just be a scary story people tell little children at night to scare them. You need to stop worrying.”
Slater had assured the senator they were going to be fine. They were going to let Hollister find the leader of these things. The one who’d done all the killing at Torson City, and then they’d take care of everyone. Hollister especially. With no one to back up any of the wild claims, it could all be put off as an Indian uprising that Delcan had been essential in putting down. Hell, he would be a hero in the state again.
“Hollister, the breed and that woman are headed for someplace called Clady, Wyoming,” Slater said.
“How do you know?”
“Bribed one of the Pinkertons,” Slater said. “They ain’t so upright and virtuous once they see a few greenbacks. Told Nolan they loaded up a bunch of ammo and ordnance and left about an hour ago.”
Declan nodded. “This is good, this is good. You get the men, take my private train, whatever you need, and follow them.”
“I got the men ready, and the train standing by. Don’t worry, Senator, we’ll clean up the mess.”
Declan poured himself three fingers of brandy from his own decanter. He took a large swig and the liquor seemed to calm him. Slater hadn’t moved. He stood by the fire staring at the senator.
“What is it?” Declan asked, his voice shaking.
“It’s nothing, just… we’re going to need to make a small change in our arrangements,” Slater said.
“What? What in tarnation are you talking about?” Declan asked.
“I’m talking about money and land. I’ve ‘handled’ plenty of things for you over the years. We both know what’s been done. But this here is a whole different brand of cattle. And a lot more dangerous to boot.”
The senator was getting his feet under him now. He knew where this was headed and he didn’t like it. “Get to the point,” he mumbled.
“After this is over. When I kill Hollister and clean up this mess, things are going to change a little bit. I’m going to want some land, not just money. The two-thousand-acre piece down by the Sweetheart River ought to cover it… well, here,” he pulled a document from his coat pocket. “I had an attorney in town draw it all up nice and legal so you could sign it before I leave.”
Declan snatched the paper from Slater’s hand, his eyes scanning it quickly.
“Why… you… what the hell… you can’t possibly think I’m going to sign this, you sonuvabitch,” Declan said.
“I expect I can, and I expect you will. I don’t think you got the time right now to find anyone who does what needs to be done. What I’m willing to do, and let’s face it”-he paused to refill his glass, this time pouring from the decanter with the good brandy and making sure Declan saw it-“Hollister and the breed ain’t going to be easy to kill, number one, and number two, I been keeping your secrets all these years and you know I’ll keep this one. Don’t see as how you got much choice, Senator,” he said.
Declan glared at Slater. He was trapped. Slater knew everything. Every rule he’d bent, every law he’d broken, everyone he’d had killed and every farmer he’d burned out. He’d known this day was coming. Slater wasn’t a church deacon. He was a killer and he was smart. This was the price of doing business. He gulped down the rest of his brandy, and walking to his desk, dipped a fountain pen in the inkwell, signed the paper, and handed it back to Slater.
“Thank you, sir. Now I’ll be on my way,” he said.
He left Declan standing alone in the parlor, wondering what the hell had happened to his life.
Chapter Fifty-six
Hollister was reasonably sure that Chee and Pete knew he and Shaniah had slept together as soon as they arrived back at the train. The behavior between a man and a woman changes when it happens, no matter how
