Lady Deception

by Bobbi Smith

  Sarah showed her out, and Elizabeth started for home. She was lost in thought as she walked along the darkened street. There still was no news about the gang... nothing.

  "Elizabeth?"

  The sound of her name being called softly jerked her back from her thoughts of the gang and Luke Majors. She looked up to find Jack crossing the street toward her.

  "Jack. I hadn't expected to see you."

  "What are you doing out so late alone?" He was worried about her safety.

  She quickly told him where she'd been. "Sarah said there still hasn't been any news about the gang."

  "I know. I'm sorry there isn't any more to tell you. Shall I walk you back home? I don't like the idea of you walking the streets alone after dark."

  Elizabeth looked up at the handsome Ranger, thinking of everything Jonathan had said and done to her that day, and knew that home was the last place she wanted to be. "Jack, I don't want to go home. I don't want to go back there."

  Jack saw the desperate loneliness in her eyes. "Elizabeth..." His voice was hoarse as he stared down at her.

  "Please don't make me go to him, not now. I'm so lonely, Jack."

  He took her arm and drew her with him into a dark area around the corner of the building. His gaze was an intense, burning flame as he gazed down at her. "Do you know what you're saying?"

  She lifted her gaze to his, and he saw her need in the depths of her soul. She was trembling beneath his touch.

  "Yes," she whispered breathlessly.

  Their gazes locked for what seemed an eternity until finally Jack spoke. "This won't be easy or simple."

  "Nothing about us is."

  "`Us,' "he repeated quietly. "Is there an `us,' Elizabeth?"

  "I don't know what I'd do without you. You've become so important in my life, Jack."

  Jack pulled her to his heart and kissed her then, a tender kiss of promise and need, showing her that she was important to him, too. When they broke apart, his breathing was ragged. "I don't want to put your reputation at risk. You mean too much to me."

  "Is there another way to your room? Some way I can come to you so no one will see me or know?"

  Jack frowned, trying to remember. "There's a back staircase by the kitchen."

  "I could come to you that way."

  They shared a look that spoke of desire and need, and without speaking again, they made their way through the streets to the back entrance to the hotel. It was deserted. Jack tried the door and found it unlocked. Only one low-burning lamp glowed inside, and they could see the narrow steps that led to the second floor.

  Neither spoke as Elizabeth crept inside and quickly disappeared up the stairs. Jack watched until he was sure she was safely away, then went around the building and entered from the front. He went straight up to his room and left the door unlocked. A moment later, Elizabeth was there, in his arms, kissing him hungrily.

  Much later, they lay together.

  "I have to go. If Jonathan wakes up, I have to be there."

  The mention of her husband's name jolted him, but the pleasure he'd just experienced in her arms helped him to ignore it.

  "I don't want you to leave," he told her, his hand tracing a sensuous path down her spine as she leaned over to kiss him.

  "I would stay with you if I could, but there's so much else to consider," she told him honestly.

  Jack was filled with regret as they both got up to dress. He went to her as she was about to leave. "When will I see you again?" This time he allowed himself to hope.

  "Are you going to be in town long?"

  He nodded. "I'll be here until this is resolved."

  "Then I will come to you as often as I can. It will have to be late at night... much later than this."

  "I'll be waiting."

  She lifted one hand to touch his cheek, and then she was gone, disappearing into the night. Jack sat alone in his room, savoring the memory of loving her. He could hardly wait to be with her again. Knowing her pain, he became even more determined to find the man responsible for hurting her so badly.

  "How do I look?" Cody asked Stalking Ghost as she turned to face him.

  He grunted.

  She took his response as an enthusiastic reply and turned back to the small mirror she was carrying with her. Squinting into the square, she tried to judge her own looks. This was one of her most ambitious disguises ever, and she had to be sure that she was perfect. Cody studied her reflection. Her naturally auburn hair was now coal black, and thanks to the wild-herb combinations Stalking Ghost knew, her fair skin was now as dark as any Mexican woman's. The dyes would last for quite a while, so she knew she was safe-for now.

  All that was left to do was get a job at the cantina in Rio Nuevo. Cody had changed into a flaring skirt and white blouse with a scoop neckline to try to achieve her goal. The times she'd worked as Delilah had prepared her for what she might encounter. It would be tricky. The first thing and the hardest to do was to get hired and convince the cantina owner that she was no whore, but a legitimate entertainer. She would sing, serve drinks, and dance, but she would not do anything else. Then she had to get settled in and established before the El Diablo gang showed up. She hoped her ruse worked.

  As they neared the border town, they stopped. She was glad they had gotten rid of the wagon long miles back. She didn't want to take any chances of Luke recognizing her.

  "It's important that you stay out of sight."

  "You will be all right?" Stalking Ghost asked, worrying, though his expression betrayed no sign of it.

  "As all right as I ever am. I hope this works." She looked a little troubled at the thought of riding into the border town alone. She knew it was going to be rough, and she had to be prepared.

  "I will be near. You have your knife and your gun?"

  "Yes." The knife was strapped to her thigh, and her gun was in her saddlebag. "I hope the gang shows up soon. If we can work this right, just like we did bringing in Hank Andrews, we'll be in good shape. The big thing will be waiting for them to get here. Once they show up, I'll go to work on him right away."

  "Until then, be careful," he warned.

  She managed a smile. "Don't worry. The last thing I want is trouble before Majors shows up."

  Turning her horse toward the border town, she rode in slowly. Stalking Ghost kept watch for a while, then chose his own route into town.

  There were several cantinas in Rio Nuevo, so Cody chose the cleanest-looking one. She dismounted and tied up out in front, ignoring the stares of the few folks who were out and about. Girding herself, she walked brazenly into the saloon and up to the bar.

  Cody sized the place up quickly. It was as clean as border-town bars went. Customers were few, but it was a quiet time of day. The man behind the bar looked at her hungrily. She knew what he was thinking, and she wanted to put that thought out of his mind right away.

  "My name is Armita. I want to work for you," she said without preamble.

  The bartender leered appreciatively at the thought. She was a pretty little thing, and he wouldn't mind tasting some of that. "I'll try you out myself first to see if you're good enough for my customers."

  Cody's hand moved lightning fast and her knife appeared before his eyes. "I am a singer," she announced with dignity. "I will sing for you. I will serve drinks for you. I will wait on your customers for you."

  The bartender's eyes widened at the sight of her well-honed blade. He could tell by the way she held it that she knew how to use it. "Pity. You would do good business here."

  "I will do better business for you with my singing. The other I do for my own pleasure in my own time, not for money," she replied haughtily. "Now, shall I sing for you?"

  He frowned at her. "I don't need a singer."

  "No," she replied sarcastically. "You need customers." She gestured around the nearly empty cantina.

  He snorted in irritation. "And you think your singing will bring them in here?"

  "Do you have any entertainment?"


  "Only the few girls who pleasure them. Nothing more."

  "Then it's time to offer more. When you hire me, they will come to hear me sing, and they will spend their money with you."

  "Sing," he ordered, wanting to hear if her voice was as strong as her nerve and spirit.

  Cody moved away from him and went to stand on the far side of the room. She wanted to show him how her voice could carry. She began with a sweet time, and her voice rang out clearly across the nearly empty cantina.

  The few men who were there-who hadn't been paying much attention to her conversation with the bartender-quickly perked up. They turned to watch her, their expressions at first curious, then rapt. Her voice was beautiful. The song was a lilting melody, one good to prove her range, but not really suitable for a bar. The bartender liked her voice, but didn't like the song.

  "Is that all you know how to sing? That ain't gonna bring no customers in here. Sounds like a church hymn." He was scowling as he spoke to her.

  Cody tossed her hair over her shoulder and glared at him defiantly before she broke into a rowdy song whose lyrics would have turned the ears red on some of the old maids back in San Antonio. She'd learned the words for this one and quite a few more when she'd worked in the saloon in Arizona as Delilah. The minute she stopped the customers broke into thunderous applause. The barkeep finally managed a grudging smile.

  "All right, Armita. That innocent look of yours is just that-a look. You know what you're doing. You're hired."

  "Gracias" Cody was excited. She was closing in on her goal. She'd gotten the job.

  "There's no need to thank me. You're just what this cantina needs to spice it up. When can you start?"

  She didn't hesitate. "Tonight. Do you have a room for me?"

  "Take any of the ones upstairs that the other girls aren't using." He told her what her pay would be, and then added with a suggestive smile, "You know you could make more...."

  Cody lifted her head high. Her eyes were flashing as she turned to him. "I will sing for you."

  The bartender shrugged. "Up to you. Go ahead and take a room. The boys usually wander in a little after sundown, although tonight will be quiet. It's not the weekend yet."

  She flashed him a triumphant smile as she headed toward the stairs. "I will just have to liven this place up a little bit then, won't I?"

  "El Diablo came through for us again," Hadley was saying with pleasure as he sat drinking at a table in the Cantina del Sol in Rio Nuevo.

  For a while there he'd been worried, for there had been no word from El Diablo. But then the message had come detailing all they'd needed to know about the arms shipment. And now they'd pulled off the job and were here relaxing in the border town. The robbery had been bloody. All the guards had been killed and they'd lost two of their own, but the profit they were going to make from the sale of the guns made it worthwhile. The boss was going to be pleased with them.. .very pleased, especially after Del Fuego.

  "We got the guns. We're going to make the trade in the morning, and then all we have to do is lay low," Sully put in with a smile. He was feeling quite satisfied with himself, for he had personally killed at least three of the soldiers who'd been riding with the shipment.

  "El Diablo has never been wrong," Jones said. "I don't know how the boss does it."

  "When news of this gets out, do you realize how feared we're going to be?" Sully remarked.

  Luke was standing at the bar, barely able to control his fury as he listened to them. He took another deep drink of his whiskey, trying to drown out the memory of the soldiers who had been slaughtered during the robbery. He'd been helpless to stop the carnage, and it left him feeling impotent and filled with rage over his inability to stop what had happened.

  Silently, he cursed his situation. How had he ended up with men like these? They were totally amoral and gave no thought at all to right or wrong. They were men who thought killing just a means to an end, an expedient way to get what they wanted.

  True, he'd killed men in his life, but those were times when he'd been fighting for survival. He was not a murderer, no matter what people might say, and it was an abomination to his spirit to be forced to deal with these men. He wanted only to find El Diablo, see him arrested, and get the hell out of there.

  "So, when do we meet with El Diablo to tell him the good news?" Luke asked, downing the rest of his liquor as he turned to where they were sitting at the table. He was tired of waiting. He wanted this over with, the sooner, the better. He wanted to get back to the ranch, to start his life over.

  Hadley shrugged off his question. "Not for a while. We have to stay quiet and out of sight. I'm sure the army and the Rangers are going to be looking real hard for us. When the time is right, we'll go back. Until then, enjoy." He gestured expansively around the cantina. Liquor was flowing, and the girls who worked there were eagerly luring the outlaws upstairs to show them a good time for the right price.

  Luke's jaw tensed in anger at being put off again. He realized he should have expected as much, but it didn't make it any easier to put up with. This hunt for the mysterious El Diablo was growing more complicated every day. The man's contacts and the inside information he was able to get his hands on amazed Luke. The outlaw leader had sent a nondescript messenger with the details of not only how many guns were in the shipment, but how many guards would be riding along as well. He had to have an in at the fort or in town to be privy to such guarded information.

  The situation was troubling Luke. It was beginning to appear that Jack might be closer to El Diablo back in town than he was here. Still, Luke knew there had to be a connection somewhere, and he was going to find it and follow it to the end. At the rate things were going, it looked as if it might take months for him to identify the elusive boss, and the prospect galled him. Damn, but he wanted out of there.

  The sound of the piano player striking a brash, single chord to get the attention of the crowd drew his gaze to the small stage at the front of the cantina.

  "We are proud to present to our customers, the lovely Armita!" he called out.

  All eyes were riveted on the stage as a young woman stepped out before them. She was gorgeous, and the cowboys hooted and hollered their approval of her tight-fitting red dress with its multitude of petticoats.

  Luke turned back around to face the bar. He had no desire to be entertained tonight. He just wanted peace and quiet-and plenty of whiskey.

  Cody smiled at the customers as the piano player began to play a raucous melody designed to get the cowboys in a drinking mood. This was the beginning of her third week working there, and already word about her had spread. Each night the number of customers had grown. She was pleased, but she didn't really care. Her only reason for being there was to find and trap Luke.

  She launched into a chorus of the song that had become her trademark, a raucous ditty that she'd learned in Arizona territory. Flashing her skirts, affording the men glimpses of her high-heeled boots and shapely calves, she moved about the stage, mesmerizing them with the excitement she exuded. When the song ended, cheers erupted from the drunken cowboys. She began another, even more bawdy Mexican song that drew more shouts of laughter from the crowd.

  Glancing around the room, Cody almost fal tered in her lyrics when she spotted Hadley, Sully, and some of the others gathered at a table in the back of the room. Trying not to be too obvious, she tried to see if Luke was with them, but there was no sign of him at the table.

  She thought it odd that he wasn't with them. And it was then that a new worry assaulted her. She'd known they were going off to rob someone else, and she suddenly worried that something might have happened to Luke. He might have been shot or wounded-or caught.

  Her worries lasted only a moment, for when she looked toward the bar she saw him standing with his back to her. Excitement shot through her. She told herself she wasn't really glad to see him. She was just excited because he was worth a lot of money to her. Nothing more.

  Thrilled that everythin
g had fallen into place for her, Cody began to plot what she was going to do next. All she had to do was get him upstairs to her room. She knew the bartender would be surprised that she was bedding someone. In the time that she'd been here, she'd served drinks, played cards, laughed and drunk with the customers, but she'd never allowed any of them into her bed. Tonight was going to be different. Cody would do whatever it took to get Luke Majors to her room, and if it meant pretending to seduce him, she'd do it. Luke Majors was hers! She was taking him in. She would not fail this time.

  Luke ignored the woman onstage and all the hollering from the men around him. He was in no mood. Draining his whiskey glass, he headed for the door. Surely one of the other saloons in town would be quieter than this. It was then that Armita's loud song ended, and she began to sing a sad ballad.

  It surprised Luke that Armita's voice sounded so much like Sister Mary's when she'd sung to the children. He stopped when he would have gone. The pure, sweet tones touched something deep within him, and he had to turn back to look at her.

  The raven-haired beauty was one of the loveliest women he'd ever seen. Earlier he'd wondered why the barkeep had kept bragging about the nightly entertainment, and now he understood. He found himself mesmerized by the raven-haired singer.

  Luke moved back inside, his gaze fixed on the stage. This Armita, who was the darling of those gathered here, was no ordinary bar girl. Her dress was provocative without being revealing. Bright red, it was form-fitting, emphasizing her soft curves without giving too much away. The skirt of the dress was full, and her petticoats were ruffled and colorful. There seemed a certain innocence about her, too, that Luke didn't quite understand, but it held him spellbound.

  "She's damned good, ain't she?" Hal, the barkeep, said to him as he moved back to the bar.

  "Very," he answered, not looking away from the stage. He was sorely disappointed when the song ended and she disappeared from sight.

  "Don't worry. She'll be back. She sings again in about an hour, and sometimes she even comes out and flirts with the crowd."

  Just as he finished speaking, Cody emerged from the back and began to make the rounds of the tables, greeting the cowboys who'd come to hear her sing. They were all respectful to her, unlike the way they treated the other girls. They thought nothing of pawing them as they walked by, but they held Armita in a bit of awe.