The Moon and the Stars
Page 1
ROMANTIC TIMES PRAISES
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
CONSTANCE O’BANYON!
HEART OF TEXAS
“O’Banyon excels at bringing the grit and harsh beauty of the West and its brave pioneers to life. . . . Heart of Texas gets at the heart of the West and its readers.”
HALF MOON RANCH: MOON RACER
“Kudos to Constance O’Banyon!”
RIDE THE WIND
“Ms. O’Banyon’s story is well written with well-developed characters.”
TYKOTA’S WOMAN
“Constance O’Banyon delivers a gripping and emotionally charged tale of love, honor and betrayal.”
TEXAS PROUD
“Texas Proud is another good read from Ms. O’Banyon. With its excellent characters and strong plot, readers will find enough action and surprises to fill an evening.”
LA FLAMME
“Constance O’Banyon tells a tale replete with action-adventure and glorious romance.”
SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE
“Mesmerizing, engrossing, passionate yet tender and richly romantic.”
DESERT SONG
“Constance O’Banyon is dynamic. Wonderful characters. [She is] one of the best writers of romantic adventure.”
A WANTED WOMAN
“Wade Renault doesn’t shoot people,” Mr. Liggett said. “He takes them to whoever hires him.”
The others fell silent.
Caroline shivered, and this time her whole body shook. What if he had come for her? Her first instinct was to run and hide, but instead she gripped her handkerchief tightly in her hands, twisting it into a knot.
In that moment, the stranger shoved his hat back, and his gaze collided with hers. She looked into eyes that were more intense than any she had ever seen—and saw death reflected in that harsh gaze.
In that moment she knew in her heart that he had come for her!
The bounty hunter nodded the merest bit in her direction while a cruel smile curved his lips. This was no clumsy intruder like the one who had broken into the house in Savannah trying to find her. This man would know exactly what to do: And if he had come for her, she would never be able to escape those watchful eyes.
Other books by Constance O’Banyon:
HEART OF TEXAS
MOON RACER
THE AGREEMENT (SECRET FIRES)
RIDE THE WIND
SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE (Anthology)
TYKOTA’S WOMAN
FIVE GOLD RINGS (Anthology)
SAN ANTONIO ROSE
TEXAS PROUD
CELEBRATIONS (Anthology)
THE MOON
AND THE STARS
CONSTANCE O’BANYON
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Epilogue
For Jim,
for the years, for the love, for the children you gave me.
And for the men and women who fight for us—
God bless you.
DORCHESTER PUBLISHING
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2005 by Constance O’Banyon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Trade ISBN: 978-1-4285-1732-5
E-book ISBN: 978-1-4285-1724-0
First Dorchester Publishing, Co., Inc. edition: August 2005
The “DP” logo is the property of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Visit us online at www.dorchesterpub.com.
THE MOON
AND THE STARS
Prologue
Charleston, South Carolina—1868
Autumn leaves scattered across the lawn, driven by a strong wind from the restless sea. Dark storm clouds gathered in the east, and a chill shook Caroline Duncan as she tried without success to loosen the tiny hooks at the back of her wedding gown.
This should have been the happiest day of her life, but it wasn’t. Her father had refused to attend the ceremony because he did not approve of her marrying Michael Duncan. There had been a time when their families had been on friendly terms, but that was before Michael’s father had remarried after his first wife’s death.
Michael had been in Caroline’s life for as long as she could remember. They had grown up together, and before long, childhood games of tag and hide-and-seek had given way to picnics and neighborhood dances. Most people had assumed that the two of them would one day wed, and Caroline could not imagine being married to anyone but Michael. As a young girl, she had always shared her deepest secrets with him, and he had come to her when he was troubled about something.
Michael’s life had started to go wrong three years ago when his father brought his new wife, Lilly, and his stepson, Brace, into the house.
To make matters worse, Mr. Duncan had died last December, leaving his entire fortune to Michael. But Michael’s legal rights did not keep his stepbrother, Brace, from taking control of the household and becoming master of the vast estate. Michael was unequal to the task of taking his inheritance from Brace’s firm grip. Brace had dismissed all the servants who had been there for years, and brought in his own people. Michael had told Caroline that the servants spied on him and reported to Brace.
Caroline had not liked Brace from the first moment she met him. The man was somewhere in his thirties, not tall, certainly not as tall as Michael. Brace had dark hair, with just a touch of gray in his sideburns. He had a beard that he kept neatly trimmed. His eyes were his most disturbing feature—they were dark, almost black, and there was never any warmth in them. She might have considered him handsome with his fine features if she had not known about his character flaws. He was vain and liked to dress well, so he freely spent Michael’s money on his wardrobe.
It had not taken her long to see that Brace was jealous of everything that belonged to Michael, and that included her. That was when she first started to fear for her friend.
Caroline had come upstairs to cha
nge out of her wedding gown and into something more suitable for traveling. She stood before the mirror, focusing on the tiny seed pearls at the neck of her mother’s white wedding dress. As a child she had fantasized about one day wearing this gown and walking down the aisle on her father’s arm with all their friends gathered for the occasion. She had never dreamed that she and Michael would have to wed secretly.
The door opened and Lilly, Michael’s stepmother, poked her head into the bedroom. “You should hurry, Caroline. My son will be back from town any time. He’s been drinking, and you know how he is when he’s drunk.”
Lilly Duncan was a tiny, birdlike woman with long, dark hair that she chose to wear unbound in a style better suited to a much younger woman. The stark blackness of her hair was a startling contrast to her pale complexion and dark eyes. Caroline pitied Lilly, who was a sad creature, living in the shadows of life. She had been twice widowed, and she was terrified of her own son, Brace.
Dread settled around Caroline when she heard thunder in the east, warning of a gathering thunderstorm. She cringed just thinking about what Brace’s reaction would be when he learned that she and Michael were married.
Her new husband had thought that if they went on an extended honeymoon, Brace might accept their marriage by the time they returned.
But Caroline knew better. Brace would never acknowledge their marriage. She thought of the many times he had brushed against her or breathed down her neck while cleverly making his action appear accidental, not the lewd and calculated move it actually was.
She despised him, and he knew it. But it didn’t matter to him how she felt; he was determined to have her. And when Brace wanted something, he would stop at nothing to acquire it. He was the only truly evil man she had ever known.
She thought back to the first time he had come upon her when she was out riding alone. Caroline had hardly known him at the time. He had roughly pulled her from her horse and pressed his hot lips on hers before she could even object. She had struggled to get away from him, feeling sick inside, and so terrified she could hardly think. She had finally gotten her arm free and had struck him a stunning blow across the face with her riding crop.
She shuddered, remembering how he had run his blunt fingers over the cut and had disgustingly rubbed his own blood across her cheek. She could still hear him swearing and saying that they were now bound by his blood, and he would someday have her, with or without marriage. His threat still rang in her ears. He had told her that if she married anyone else, she would be a widow shortly after she became a bride.
From that day on, Caroline had carefully avoided being alone with him. Only last week he had appeared at a gala held by one of her friends. Brace didn’t usually attend any local events because he was not considered acceptable by most of their neighbors. That night he had gone directly to her and grabbed her arm, taking her into the middle of the other dancers. She had smelled the whisky on his breath when he whispered in her ear that if she allowed Michael to touch her, or if she was thinking of marrying his stepbrother, he would see them both dead.
Brace never made empty threats.
The cruel way he treated Michael had worsened since Michael’s father had died. Brace never missed an opportunity to torment his stepbrother. Caroline had helplessly watched Michael slip further into gloom. He was gentle and kind, and no match for Brace’s ruthlessness. Michael liked to read poetry and good books. She missed the golden days of childhood when they would spend hours reading to each other.
Three nights ago, Michael had come to her at her father’s house and, with tears in his eyes, begged her to marry him. He was sure that together, the two of them could stand up against Brace.
Michael had chosen a day when Brace would be busy in town. They had spoken their vows early in the morning, and planned to depart as soon as possible, yet she was still afraid for Michael. She was also afraid for herself.
“You must leave right away,” Lilly told her. “You know how bitter and cruel Brace is when he’s been drinking.” The woman’s eyes took on a faraway look as if she had been jerked into the past. “When he was twelve, he threw my lapdog against the wall and killed it just because he was jealous of the little thing.” Her eyes swam with tears. “He will do much worse to you and Michael if he finds you here when he returns.”
The sudden sound of a shot echoed through the house, making both women jump. For a moment they looked at each other, fearing their worst nightmare had just come true.
“Was that a shot or a clap of lightning?” Lilly asked, pressing a trembling hand over her heart.
Caroline lifted the skirt of her gown and ran down the hallway, her heart pounding in fear. She flew downstairs and into the sitting room where Michael was supposed to be waiting for her. With an anguished cry, she went down on her knees and gathered Michael in her arms. He was trying to say something, but no sound came from his lips. The red spot on the front of his white shirt was circling wider.
“Run,” he finally said weakly. “Get out of here!”
She gathered him close. “No. I will not leave you!”
He reached up to touch her cheek, and then his eyes seemed to freeze and his hand fell limply to the floor. Her tears fell on his face, and she knew he was dead. She saw the gun lying on the floor, and she wanted to pick it up and use it on Brace.
Lilly appeared beside her, going down on her knees, reaching out to close Michael’s eyes, then rocking back and forth.
“What shall we do? Get the doctor?” Caroline asked.
“No one can help Michael now.”
“Where is Brace?”
“I found him passed out drunk in the study. But he’ll come out of it before long, and he’ll come looking for you. You have to get away! Run for your life!”
Caroline bent and placed a kiss on Michael’s still-warm mouth, her heart breaking. “I will go to my father, and he will see that Brace is arrested for this deed.” Tears were trailing down her cheeks, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. “I want to see him hanged for what he’s done.”
Lilly grabbed her hand. “You don’t understand—he will kill you and your father both. You must leave town now and go to a place where he can never find you.”
Caroline stood up, took a lap robe from a chair and gently covered her new husband with it. Sadness tore at her like ground glass. Brace had said she would be a widow if she became a bride, and he had been right.
Lilly ran to the desk and rifled through a drawer until she found what she wanted. She pressed money in Caroline’s hand. “Go now! Take the buggy Brace left out front. I’ll meet you at the church cemetery tonight with clothing and more money. You mustn’t stay here any longer.”
Caroline looked down at her wedding gown, which was covered with Michael’s blood. For the moment, terror pushed grief aside, and the need for survival took control of her mind.
She fled out the front door and climbed into the buggy, fearing that at any moment Brace would come after her. Putting the whip to the horses, she allowed them to run full out. Deep sobs tore at her throat. “Michael, oh, Michael, what has he done to you?”
It was almost dark when she reached the church where she had been married just that morning. She was grateful that the storm had passed over Charleston with only a light sprinkle. She was also glad that the churchyard was deserted.
She walked down a well-worn path, trying to hold her mind together and keep it from shattering into a million pieces. Many of the graves she passed were of soldiers who had been killed in the war—most of them young men she had known personally.
She came to her mother’s grave and fell on her knees. “I wish you were here to tell me what to do, Mama.”
Later, she would not remember how long she had sat there beside her mother’s grave, in the wedding gown splattered with Michael’s blood. She could not imagine living in a world without him.
She prayed for his soul and for Brace’s death.
As long as Brace was alive, she could neve
r go home.
The one satisfaction she had on this tragic day was the knowledge that Brace would never find the gold bars and the bonds that Michael had hidden in a place his stepbrother would not think to look.
Hearing movement behind her, she jumped to her feet, ready to flee, but it was Lilly who stepped out of the shadows.
“Change quickly, and I’ll drive you to the train depot.” She handed Caroline a leather bag. “I’ve put some money in the bottom and some things I thought you’d need.”
Caroline tore off her bloodstained gown and slipped into a blue print creation while Lilly hooked the back for her.
“It wouldn’t be wise for you to contact your father for a while—it would only endanger his life. You know how Brace is.”
“I want him to pay for what he’s done to Michael.”
“And so do I. But now is not the time.”
“What will you do?” Caroline asked, feeling fear for the woman who had put her life in danger by helping her escape.
“Don’t worry about me. As far as my son is concerned, I am already dead. He doesn’t even consider me at all. You’re the one I am worried about.”
It was almost midnight when they arrived at the depot. Lilly guided the buggy around to the side of the building where deliveries were made. “No one will see us here. You can slip in through the side door.”
Caroline was reluctant to get out of the buggy, but she had no choice. “I will write to you.”
“No. Do not. That would not be wise. Don’t attempt to communicate with anyone here—not even your father. Brace will have someone watching us all. Do not ever underestimate him—he is very clever.”
“I understand.”
“Change trains several times so it will throw Brace off your trail. And never forget that he will be looking for you.”
Caroline suppressed a sob as Lilly hugged her. “I always liked you, Caroline. I wish that you and Michael could have had a life together. Michael is the son I should have had.”
Caroline pressed her cheek to Lilly’s. “Take care of yourself. And be careful. Brace might turn on you when he finds out you helped me.”