This Fierce Splendor

swallowed. “Are you trying to seduce me now?”

“You bet I am.”

“Why?”

“It’s the way of a man with a woman.”

She tilted her head and her eyes lit with the curiosity he now recognized as one of her more salient qualities. “Any woman?”

“No, not-” He broke off as he realized suddenly the denial sprang from a knowledge he had refused to admit even to himself. Now he comprehended the full extent of the sway she held over his emotions. He wanted no one but Elspeth. The realization sent a ripple of shock through him, quickly followed by defensive anger. He couldn’t have Elspeth. And, when she was gone, would he be able to want another woman? The witch was damn near emasculating him. This madness had to stop. His hand dropped from her ear and he said with deliberate coolness, “All cats are gray in the dark.”

She flinched as waves of shock and hurt swept over her. Then she lifted her chin proudly. “Thank you for explaining that to me. I think you’re right about staying here in Hell’s Bluff. I don’t believe I’m a person who would like being mistaken for someone else, even in the dark.” The flush tinging her cheeks had become scarlet. “And I certainly have no wish to be alone with you.”

He felt unreasonably irritated. “You’ve forgotten about Kantalan,” he drawled. “You were willing enough to do anything for me, with me, if I would take you to your precious Kantalan. Perhaps I was too hasty in refusing you; perhaps we could come to an… arrangement. Have you changed your mind?”

She was gazing at him with a look of utter confusion. “You have no intention of taking me to Kantalan. I think you’re trying to hurt me, to shame me. Why are you doing this?”

He was trying to hurt her. He was using her childhood dream to hit back at her for the rage and frustration he was experiencing at the discovery that had rocked him to his bootheels.

“Because I’m that kind of a man,” he said wearily as he turned toward the door. “I strike out and I’m not always careful about who gets in the way. Maybe you should try to remember that. It shouldn’t be hard to do since I seem to give you plenty of opportunity to refresh your memory.”

He strode quickly from the room and shut the door.

He stopped in the hall and closed his eyes. No, dammit, he wouldn’t have it! It wasn’t fair that he had developed this crazy obsession. Only now did he realize how odd it was he hadn’t gone to Rina’s in the last two weeks to soothe the fever Elspeth had ignited. He clenched his fists. He would not be dependent on Elspeth MacGregor. He would not need her as well as lust after her. She would soon be gone and he had his own life to live. He must cut these sensual ties before they became too strong to sever.

He opened his eyes and strode swiftly down the hall and started down the stairs.

Silver met him on the landing. She took one look at his face and the smile faded from her lips. “She is content?”

“How do I know?” he asked roughly, not looking at her. “I can’t spend my whole life wondering if Elspeth MacGregor is happy or not. She said she would stay here. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Silver slowly nodded. “I thought that was what we both wanted.”

He didn’t know what he wanted anymore, except to possess that cat-eyed temptress in the room he had just left. But he was damn well going to find out if something or someone could keep him from falling deeper under her spell.

He passed Silver on the landing as he continued down the stairs. He could feel her gaze on the middle of his spine.

“Where are you going?” she asked softly.

He didn’t look back. “Rina’s.”

9

“You did not eat your dinner.” Silver looked at the untouched chicken on the flowered china plate and then frowned at Elspeth. “How do you expect to get stronger if you do not eat?”

“I wasn’t hungry. I ate all the rabbit stew you gave me for lunch.” Elspeth smiled with an effort. “It was very filling. I guess the heat has taken my appetite away. I’ll eat breakfast tomorrow morning, I promise.”

“It is hot.” Silver glanced uneasily at the darkness beyond the open window. “I was hoping it would grow cooler once the sun went down.

“The room will cool down later. There’s always a good breeze from the mountains.”

“Yes.” Silver was frowning, her gaze still on the window. “It will grow cooler later, but you will still have to have the window open for a few hours.” She suddenly turned away, picked up the checked napkin from beside the plate on the tray, and tore it swiftly into two strips.

Elspeth blinked. “What are you doing?”

Silver divided one of the halves of the napkin into two more narrow strips. Then she turned to Elspeth and held out the cloth. “Wad these up and put them into your ears.”

“But why?”

“There are things happening tonight you should not know about.” Silver turned away from Elspeth’s gaze. “Things you would not want to know about. Put the cloth in your ears and try to sleep, and, no matter what you hear, do not go to the window.”

Elspeth sat up straight in bed. “How can you say something like that and expect me not to be curious? You know very well I’m going to have to know what’s going on.”

A tiny smile tugged at Silver’s lips. “Yes, I know you are very curious about everything going on around you. I was hoping not to have to satisfy your curiosity this time.” Her smile faded. “I heard talk when I went out this afternoon. They will be using the hanging tree tonight.”

“The hanging tree?”

Silver nodded at the window. “The big oak tree you can see from here, the one that stands a little apart from the others at the edge of town. It is where men are taken and hung. You will not want to look at this. It is not a good thing to see.”

Elspeth’s eyes widened in horror. “An execution? The law is going to hang someone tonight?”

“There is no law in Hell’s Bluff.”

“Then who-”

“Vigilantes. Men of the town who take it upon themselves to punish the guilty. It is how things are done when there is no law.”

Silver’s voice was perfectly matter-of-fact and her very calmness sent a shiver through Elspeth. She remembered that first afternoon when she had looked out the window and thought how stately and dignified the old oak tree was, how comfortingly permanent in a town that appeared raw in its youth. And all the time it was a hanging tree, a death tree. Horror cloaked in deceptive beauty. “When?”

“Soon. The man was caught this morning and the trial was to be held at the Nugget at sundown.”

“Trial?” Elspeth felt a rush of hope. “Then perhaps he’ll be found innocent. Maybe there won’t be any hanging.”

Silver shrugged. “He was captured riding the stolen horse. He even bragged about stealing it. He is a very stupid man. There is no doubt they will hang him.”

Elspeth held up her hand. “Wait. There’s something I don’t understand. They’re going to hang a man for stealing a horse?”

Silver looked at her in surprise. “Of course, it is a very serious crime. Horse thieves are always hung.”

“I thought he had killed someone.” Elspeth felt sick. She had run across this kind of ruthless code in eastern countries she had visited as a child, but she had never expected to encounter it here. “To take a man’s life for stealing an animal is barbaric.”

“To rob a man of his horse can be the same as killing him, Elspeth. Besides, it’s considered wise to make an