been responsible for her disgrace as well as the attempt to kill Dominic. How could loving smiles and murder exist hand in hand? “What reason could he possibly have for doing something like that?”
“I have no idea. Some men are… twisted. Did Da get him?”
Elspeth shook her head. “By the time your father and the vaqueros reached the foothills, Torres had vanished. But your father isn’t giving up. He’s leaving right away for Shamrock to fetch Patrick and your brothers. He says they’ll track him down if it takes a lifetime.”
A string of curses worthy of Ben Travis issued from Dominic’s lips as he struggled to a sitting position.
“No!” Elspeth leaned forward, her hands outstretched to prevent him from moving. “What are you doing? Your wound-”
“Hurts like the devil,” he finished between clenched teeth as he thrust the coverlet back. She caught a glimpse of naked thighs as he swung his feet to the floor. “Which is a damn good reason for you not to argue with me. I’m in no mood to take interference kindly. Go get my clothes.”
“Get them yourself.” She stood up and glared down at him. “I’ll not be a party to this daftness. You were shot less than three hours ago, and now you’re behaving as if nothing has happened. I thought you were dead, the blood-” Her hands clenched at her sides. “He was aiming at your heart, you stupid man. If you hadn’t knelt at just that moment, you would have been killed and yet you…” She trailed off in a helpless sputter of fury. “You’re
“I’ve suspected that for some time,” Dominic said wearily. “But not daft enough to bring any more murderers down on my family, nor to stay at Killara and lure Ramon Torres back to try again.”
“He won’t come back. He would be as daft as you are to come back.”
“He was loco enough to take a shot at me within fifty yards of the homestead.” His gaze met hers unflinchingly. “A foot to the left and that shot could have blown your brains out. I’m not taking a risk like that again. I’m leaving Killara tonight for Hell’s Bluff.”
She stared angrily at him. “And what if he follows you?”
“I’ll be ready for him.”
She wanted to scream at him, shake him, dig her fingers into that dark hair and pull hard. If she had to love a man, why couldn’t it have been one with less stubbornness and more sense? She was so frightened for him she was trembling and ill with it, and he sat there with his lips set and his jaw squared and she knew she could not sway him.
“Very well.” She whirled and stormed over to the bureau and pulled open the drawer. She grabbed an indiscriminate armload of garments, carried them back to him, and hurled them on the bed. “There are your clothes. Don’t expect me to help you dress. Your mother said that a wound like that was nothing to a Delaney. I have other tasks to keep me busy if we’re to ride out of here tonight. I have no time for tending obstinate, bad- tempered-”
“We?” Dominic frowned. “
She planted her hands on her hips. “Oh, no, if you’re determined to leave your sickbed, then we might just as well continue with our plans. Why should I let you go back to Hell’s Bluff when you promised to take me to Kantalan?”
“Because the circumstances are different now, dammit. I’m being hunted.”
“What’s different about that? According to what Patrick and Silver have told me, you’ve been hunted by these killers for-” She stopped: and tried to steady her voice. “I’ll not let you break your promise to me. I’m going with you to Kantalan, Dominic. Or do you want me to go alone?”
“You can’t go alone. Torres knows you’re my wife. He’d follow you, use you to get at me.” Dominic’s stomach turned over as he had a sudden memory of young Sam Bergstrom’s eyes, open and staring, the round bullet hole in his temple. “He’ll
Elspeth smiled sweetly. “Then you’d better go with me, hadn’t you, Dominic?” She turned and strode toward the door. “I’ll tell your mother we’re leaving. She’s not going to be pleased. For some reason, she has a great fondness for you. At the moment I cannot imagine why.”
“Elspeth!” His tone was somewhere between a growl and a shout.
“You don’t need to raise your voice just because you’re not going to get your own way in this.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I told you I had to go to Kantalan.”
“And you can think of nothing else,” he said between his teeth. “Nothing else is important to you.”
“I’m glad you finally realize that.” She slammed the door and immediately wilted against its smooth panels, her throat tight with tears. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to hold on to her anger until she had gotten out of the room. She had been so frightened that he would ride out alone.
Boldness had been her only weapon against that terrible fear. She could not offer him a love he did not want and would not value. There had probably been many beautiful women who had loved and wanted Dominic Delaney. If he had not stayed with any of them, a plain woman like herself could not expect to hold him by her side. And, if she could not hold him, then she must go with him and find a way of protecting him. To Hell’s Bluff or to Kantalan it did not matter, except that in the male-dominated world of the boomtown there would be many places she would not be permitted to accompany him.
A sad smile touched her lips as she remembered Dominic’s last words to her regarding her obsession for Kantalan. It was just as well he didn’t realize that the dream of a lifetime was now dimming in comparison with the passionate obsession embodied in one man.
She straightened slowly and then set off down the corridor, her footsteps firm and decisive as she went in search of Malvina.
Ramon Torres carefully fastened the long, bushy branch to his saddlebags and remounted his horse. As he rode, the branch would drag behind him and erase all signs of his passing, a trick he had learned from his comanchero father. He had learned very little else from that mongrel son of a bitch, he thought bitterly, except to dodge blows when the bastard had imbibed too much tequila. He should not be so uncharitable, he chided himself. After all, it had been the bounty on his father’s head that had started him off on this most pleasant of occupations.
He could feel the excitement tighten his chest as he kicked Chiquita into a gallop. He didn’t like this end of the game overmuch, but it would not last long, and then he would once more be the hunter again. Once he had lost Shamus and the men who rode with him, he would double back and begin to trail Dominic and his little bride.
If he knew his prey, Dominic would not let a minor wound stop him for long. Torres felt a glow of almost paternal pride touch him with gentle fingers. He should be angry that fortune had again robbed him of his kill, but that was not the case. Now Dominic knew that he was hunted, so every one of the last moments of his life would take on the brilliance of a facet of a fine jewel. When Dominic finally realized the end had come, it would be with a dazzling explosion of sorrow and panic.
It was a thought that soothed Ramon’s impatience and frustration and caused him to smile in pure joy.
17
Elspeth cast a quick glance at Malvina saying farewell to Dominic a few yards away by the fence of the corral; she reached into the pocket of her riding skirt. “I’ve written a note to Silver.” Elspeth thrust the folded paper into Rising Star’s hand. “Please give it to her when she returns this evening. I wanted to explain and thank her for everything she’s done for me.”
Rising Star nodded. “I’m glad you thought of her.” She smiled sadly. “It is important that Silver feels she has value to those she cares about. There are too many of us who love her and yet are afraid to show that love.”
Elspeth’s eyes widened. “But you can’t be speaking of yourself. Silver told me how you saw that she was educated and insisted she stay here at Killara for a portion of each year.”
“It wasn’t enough.” Rising Star reached up to pat the nose of the gray mare, her gaze avoiding Elspeth’s. “I was afraid I’d lose what I had gained here. I’m not as brave and bold as Silver. I was afraid to take more than the tiniest step toward her. I will try to do better in the future. Perhaps when my child is born…” She trailed off and
