“See, I told you that suit looked good on you,” Zoe commented as she met him.
“I know better than to distrust your judgment in clothing,” he answered. “You look lovely.”
Zoe blushed. It was the first time he’d seen her so moved and it only made him want to make her blush more.
“Thank you,” she answered. “Have you been waiting long?” she asked, as she took another step closer. She peered through the open doorway to the festivities inside. He watched her.
“Not long,” he replied. His eyes refused to move from her neck. It was slender, delicate, like the ruby-colored earrings dangling from her ears.
“Did the Mayor get here yet?” she asked, as she turned back to him. Her hazel eyes were bright in the light coming through the door, but her smile was brighter. Her lips were like ripe cherries.
“Not yet. I expect he’s looking to make a big entrance,” Quinn answered.
“More than likely. He hasn’t been able to sit still since so many important people from around the neighboring counties said they were coming.”
“He’s excited. It isn’t everyday people have a reason to see him, far less some of the names you’ve been telling me about.” He folded his arms over his chest. “And I bet they’re only coming because of you.”
Zoe blushed again and Quinn felt a flash of excitement that he’d been able to elicit the reaction twice. “Maybe,” she answered coyly. “I do know a great many people.”
“It wasn’t wrong what I was told,” he commented.
“About what?”
“About you know everyone there was to know around here,” Quinn answered with a smirk. “It seems not only around here but elsewhere. I wonder how many people you actually do know.”
“Too many to count,” she answered.
“It doesn’t matter. It isn’t who you know, but who knows you,” he replied. Quinn was enjoying the moment to study her face, the soft, delicate contours of her cheeks, her small ears, and the curls that framed her face.
“There aren’t many who know me, at least not really,” she answered softly. “But there are one or two.”
Quinn got the feeling she was meaning him, but he didn’t ask. Instead, he hooked a hand out to her. “Shall we go in?”
Zoe’s smile brightened as she slid her arm into his. “Let’s.”
The interior of the boarding house was transformed. Instead of the usual short corridor leading inside, the area was now a coat check, where the guests could rest their coats and shawls. Quinn had not troubled himself with a coat. It was a cool night, he didn’t think he would need protection from the cold, and he wasn’t about to make himself uncomfortable with the unnecessary layers.
Zoe’s hands moved to her neck to untie the bow. “Let me,” Quinn offered. She looked up at him in surprise, but that soon melted into a smile.
“Why, Mr. Mortensen, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that you were a gentleman,” she teased.
“Sometimes I like to pretend,” he answered with a wink, as he pulled the bow loose. Zoe giggled and turned around so he could remove the cloak from her shoulders more easily.
Quinn took the satin garment and handed it to the girl behind the counter. He recognized her from his previous visit to the boarding house. Her name was Aileen and she was a twenty-one-year-old from Arkansas. “How’re you doing tonight?”
“Very well, Mr. Mortensen,” Aileen answered, as she took the coat and handed him a ticket. “You have a good night. Hi, Miss Zoe!” the girl called past him. Quinn turned to the woman in question.
“Hi, Aileen. Everything going well?” she asked.
“No complaints here,” the young woman replied, but Quinn’s attention was distracted. The crimson dress Zoe wore was exquisite and flattered every contour of her body to perfection. That alone would have gotten his attention, but it was the brooch on her dress that had his eye.
He stepped closer to inspect it. It couldn’t be what he thought it was. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him. They weren’t. The silver peacock and sapphires gleamed at him from where they were pinned to Zoe’s dress. His eyes left her as his hand began to search in his pocket. He had put in there somewhere, he knew he did, the pouch with the gift from his mother. He never went anywhere without it. It was a good luck charm of sorts, something his mother said would protect him and lead him back to her one day. It was a family heirloom.
“Is something wrong?” Zoe asked, when she noticed his search. Quinn didn’t answer, he was too eager to find the item he was looking for. He had to compare them. He had to know whether they were the same or not.
Quinn turned nearly every pocket in his suit inside out before he found the small black pouch in his breast pocket. He pulled the strings loose and turned the pouch upside down, dropping its contents into the palm of his hand. His heart sank at the sight of it. They were the same. Identical peacocks.
What did this mean? Where did Zoe get the brooch? Who had given it to her?
The questions tumbled through Quinn’s mind. He stepped closer to her to inspect the brooch again and reconfirm what he knew was true. However, his action was stopped by a large frame stepping behind Zoe and the glint of the muzzle of a gun against her back.
Zoe gasped in surprise. Aileen shrieked, but the mountain of a man quickly silenced her. “No need to be drawin’ attention to us here,” he said in a low tone. “We wouldn’t want no accidents.”
“Victor,” Quinn growled as his hands balled into fists at his sides. The edges of the brooch pressed deep into his palms as he regretted the fact that he’d left his gun at the hotel.
“It seems I missed you at Bone Yard Canyon,” The Boar joked. His grin made Quinn’s stomach knot.
“Not quite,” he answered. “You got me in the gut, but I made it.”
“Hit any vital organs?” the man continued to question as he used Zoe as cover. Quinn’s gaze shifted to her. He could see the fear in her eyes as she swallowed nervously.
“Leave her out of this, Victor. Your issue is with me,” Quinn said sternly.
“I don’t think so. I think Zoe should remain right here for my protection,” the man answered. Quinn’s heart faltered. Victor called her Zoe. He knew her. His eyes went to her face, but all he could see was fear. Quinn’s hand closed tighter around the brooch. He felt something punch through his skin and the dull pain of it.
“What d’you want, Victor?”
“I want you to let it go, and leave me alone,” the man answered.
“I can’t do that,” Quinn replied. “You have to pay for your crimes.”
Victor began to back toward the door. Quinn followed, maintaining the space between himself and Zoe.
“Victor,” she said softly. “Please, let me go.”
Zoe’s plea was like fire in his ears. She had lied to him. She knew Victor all along and kept it from him. Quinn tried to dampen his rising anger and deal with the situation at hand. Zoe had some explaining to do, on a great many things, but first Quinn needed to get her away from Victor.
“I can’t do that,” Victor answered. “If I did, then Mortensen ‘ere would shoot me, and I can’t have that.”
“I won’t shoot you, Victor,” Quinn replied. “I don’t have a gun.”
A malicious grin spread across Victor’s face. “I didn’t think so, or else you’d try to pull it on me by now.”
“Stop this, Victor, please,” Zoe continued to beg. “Before this goes too far.”
“It’s too late for that now,” The Boar replied. “This thing between him and me has to end, one way or another.”
Quinn’s jaw clenched. “I agree, but leave the woman out of it. Why don’t you and I go somewhere and settle this?”
“Quinn…” Zoe started, but he stopped her. He knew what he was saying. He was unarmed with The Boar, his chances were low but not impossible given the right surroundings.
Victor took Zoe out into the street. “I think we end it here,” Victor growled as the gun move
d from her back over her shoulder. Victor fired immediately, one shot right at Quinn. He dove to the side but felt the burning in his thigh as he landed on the ground and Zoe screamed.
Quinn scrambled for cover as Victor fired twice more and then there were only Zoe’s screaming protests. Quinn peeked out from behind the post to see Victor holding her against him on his horse as the pair raced from town.
“Zoe!” he said to himself as he grimaced in pain.
“What’s happened?” a male voice called from behind him. Aileen was distraught and crying, but she managed to tell him that Quinn had been shot.
“Take him to my office,” the man instructed two of the other men who had come to investigate the fracas.
“Who in the world are you?” Quinn answered as he tried to pull himself up and failed.
“I’m Doctor Martin, and you need medical attention,” the slender man replied sharply.
Quinn allowed the other men to lift and carry him to the doctor’s office, while the Mayor, who arrived on the scene as he was being taken away, tried to calm the distressed gathering. Quinn wished him luck, he was going to need it. The man didn’t have the social skills that Zoe had, but right now, Quinn wasn’t sure all the social graces in the world could help her.
Quinn’s emotions teetered between anger, frustration, and concern as the doctor ripped away the fabric from the leg of the pants to inspect his injury. The bullet had entered his upper thigh but hadn’t come out.
“I’m going to need to remove that. You’re going to need surgery,” the man told him as he removed his jacket and undid his tie. “And I was hoping for a quiet evening,” he commented to himself.
“You and me both, Doc,” Quinn replied as he braced himself for what was to come. Two gunshots in a matter of weeks. He was on a roll.
The doctor set to work and Quinn set to hollering as the man dug into the hole in his leg to retrieve the bullet. Quinn did his best to distract himself from the pain with the bottle of whiskey the Doc offered and the thought that kept rattling in his mind. Who was Zoe? Could she be related to him? A sister perhaps? Where would The Boar take her and what would he do with her?
Victor had never harmed a woman before, but there was always a first time for anything. Zoe was in trouble, regardless of what truth there yet might be found, and Quinn had to help her.
Chapter Twelve
Victor removed the old railroad lock from the door and shoved her through it. Victor liked keeping people out of his affairs, but this seemed unnecessary. It was clearly something he’d stolen, but Zoe had no chance to consider it further as she stumbled through the door of the cabin. She barely kept her footing. She turned to Victor sharply. “Was that necessary?”
She was terrified, but every fiber in her being told her not to show it. Victor was a wild animal right now, the slightest weakness and he would pounce. She had to remain as calm as possible and as smart as possible. She needed to look for a way out.
“Stop yer jabberin’,” he retorted. “I just needed yah to get inside. Stop whining,” he answered, as he closed and locked the door behind him.
Zoe was fuming. She’d never been treated in such a manner in her life and she wasn’t enjoying it. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked him flatly. “How could you come and take me from the ball like that? How could you let Quinn know that we’re acquainted?”
“Quinn, is it?” Victor asked, as he set his gun on the table in the small room, and then proceeded to kick off his boots as he watched her. “I thought as much.”
“You thought what?” Zoe retorted.
“That you were sweet on each other,” Victor answered, to Zoe’s shock and amazement.
“Why would you say something like that?” she questioned defensively but didn’t deny it.
“I’ve been watchin’ yah,” he said. “For a while now. It’s been real interestin’,” he said coldly. “I was wonderin’ how long it took yah to sell me out.”
“I never told him. You did with that stunt,” she answered, as her heart sank to her toes. Quinn knew she’d been lying to him. How was he going to react now? He would hate her for sure.
“Liar,” Victor snarled. “How did he know how to track me out by the mines? You’ve been givin’ him information on me for a long time.”
“Some man who came into the bar told him! You ask Wiley for yourself and see if I’m lying,” she huffed. “I didn’t break my word. I didn’t betray you. I hoped you’d get out of town and stay away, but obviously, you didn’t.”
“Why should I believe you?” he snapped, as he got to his feet and stepped toward her. Zoe didn’t move. She stood her ground and stared back at him.
“Because I don’t break my word once it’s given. I told you I would do anything you asked, for helping me, and I did. I could never repay such a debt, and I did what you asked me to in order to see the matter between us ended. Why would I do anything to jeopardize that? I’m going to owe you for the rest of my life.”
Zoe held herself tighter as she tried to act tough. Inside, she was terrified. What if she went too far with him? What if he didn’t see the friend she once was and now only saw his enemy?
They stared at each other for a long time, but for each second that passed, Zoe became less afraid. Then Victor turned and sat back down. She breathed a sigh of relief as he settled back into the chair with his head leveled toward her.
Victor cracked his knuckles as he stared at her. “You honestly didn’t say nothin’?”
“Why would I? I didn’t want to get mixed up in your mess, Victor. I just wanted to keep my promise and get you out of my life,” she retorted.
Victor sighed and hung his head. “I thought yah did.”
“In all the years you’ve known me, you ever seen me break my word?” she asked calmly.
He shook his head. “No. But I thought that maybe this time it was different when I saw you chumming up with that bounty hunter.” He sighed. “You were the last person I trusted.”
Zoe didn’t want to feel sorry for him, but she did. Looking at him as he hung his head, she could see the boy in him. She unfolded her arms and walked towards him. “Victor,” she said gently as she placed her hand on his shoulder. “What’re you doing?”
“What I have to,” he said seriously.
She could see that he meant it. He and Quinn were stubborn alike and neither of them was going to relent. Zoe knelt before him and met his eyes. “Victor, you can’t keep this up forever. Someone’s going to get killed.”
“Won’t be me,” he retorted. Her heart became cold.
“And what if it is?” she replied. “You’ve shot Quinn how many times and he still keeps coming. Does that sound like a man who will die easily?”
“You think I will?”
“I think the both of you will fill yourselves with holes long before either of you do get that far,” she answered. Zoe could see he was in a bad place. His clothes reeked and the cabin was a mess. Victor was many things, but slovenly wasn’t one of them. “How long you’ve been out here?”
“Off and on for a few weeks. The Gorge gives you a good place to hide,” he answered.
“Gorge?” she questioned. Zoe had no idea where they had headed to in the dark, by the time light came she was too bewildered to know where she was.
“The Picture Gorge,” Victor replied.
“You took me where?” she asked in disbelief.
“It’s the best place to hide,” he answered. “Mortensen came this way and never came across this place.” He smirked.
“This place could hide you now, but eventually someone’s going to find you,” she continued. “You have to give yourself up.”
“No!” Victor yelled as he came up from his seat so fast that it knocked her to the floor.
She sat there stunned as she watched Victor pace the room. She shook her head. “Victor, you have to. This won’t end if you won’t. Don’t you realize that this will never end? You’ll never have a second of peace as
long as Quinn is chasing you.”
“Then I’ll just have to stop him,” Victor answered sharply. “ ‘Cause I ain’t goin’ back. I ain’t never goin’ back.”
“Why can’t you just let this be over?” she said sadly. “For everybody. You’ve been runnin’ a long time, Victor. Why don’t you stop?”
“Because I can’t,” he answered. “I don’t know how to stop fightin’.”
Zoe forced herself up from the floor and walked towards him. “What about peace? Don’t you ever want that? A chance to stop fighting and just be?”
A Western Tale of Love and Fate: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 10
