The men turned and started toward the ranch.
"Come back here," Rudolf shouted, but they kept going. "You can't come in here and order my men off my ranch," he said, turning his regal fury on Luke.
"This isn't your ranch," Luke told him. "It belongs to Valeria. She's already told you she's not going to marry you. I'm giving you until noon tomorrow to be gone."
"I'll have you court marshaled! I'll have you shot!" Rudolf raged.
Luke laughed. Valeria was embarrassed to think she'd ever considered marrying such a fool.
"This isn't one of your toy kingdoms," Luke said. "Now show some courtesy to Valeria, or I'll run you off with your men."
"You can't possibly mean to trust yourself to this man," Rudolf said to Valeria.
"Since you couldn't be bothered to send anyone to meet me, I had no other choice. If it hadn't been for him, I'd be dead now."
"But he's not a gentleman," Rudolf said. "He's not one of us."
"It's you who aren't the gentleman, Rudolf. You were going to force me to marry you against my will." "But you signed a contract."
"Everything changed when I realized that contract could get me killed."
"But you'll be safe once you marry me."
"Even if I won't let you use my money to raise an army?"
"It will be my money when we marry," Rudolf said, the old arrogance coming through.
"I don't want you to recover your throne, Rudolf. You're a tyrant. You think people exist only to obey your wishes. When they're unwilling, you force them. I don't like that, and I won't have any part in it."
"What's come over you?"
"America's come over me."
"Why? It's nothing but a country of deserts and peasants!"
"I'm finding deserts aren't as bad as I thought, and I actually like the peasants."
"Now I know you're suffering from brain fever. Come back to the house. I won't mention marriage again until you've had time to recover your senses."
"You have to be out of here by noon tomorrow," Luke said.
Rudolf puffed up, preparing to act like he was still an absolute monarch. Then he noticed Luke hadn't put his gun away. He exhaled slowly.
"I'll leave the ranch, but I won't leave the area until I'm certain Valeria is in her right mind."
"You can live in a pine tree for all I care," Luke said, "as long as you're off the ranch tomorrow."
"What are you going to do?"
"That depends on Valeria."
Rudolf turned to Valeria.
"I told you I'm thinking about breeding horses."
"But you can't live here by yourself."
"That won't be your concern," Luke said.
"Of course it's my concern," Rudolf shouted. "I can't allow my wife to live in the woods by herself. It makes her sound like a witch in some fairy tale."
"Aren't his ears attached to his brain?" Luke asked.
Valeria couldn't help smiling. "Rudolf doesn't like to be told no. He thinks if he keeps talking, I'll change my mind. Now I'm very tired. Wandering through the desert can be fun, but I want to get out of these clothes and take a hot bath. You do have hot water at the ranch, don't you?" she asked Rudolf.
"Of course. Certain amenities are absolutely necessary if one is to support life."
Rudolf had no idea how little was actually necessary to support life, but she wasn't in the mood to tell him. She'd deal with that once she'd had her bath.
"I was hoping you'd still be here," Luke said when he saw Zeke.
"You didn't think I'd leave without knowing what happened to you, did you?" Zeke asked.
"I wasn't sure old Rudolf would let you stay."
"He tried to get rid of us, but there's nine of us. That's more than his boys were willing to tackle." "How many does he have?"
"An even dozen that jabber away in something foreign. Nasty looking devils. I don't trust them not to be talking about cutting our throats with those swords they like to carry around. I was hoping you'd get here before they got tired of our faces."
"I came as fast as 1 could."
"The hell you say. I was beginning to think you'd decided to take your princess and ride off into the sunset. What the hell took you so long? I could have made love to that woman every night and still have gotten here before now."
Luke didn't know which part of his face gave him away, but comprehension suddenly changed Zeke's welcoming smile to a fierce scowl. "Dammit to hell! You did make love to her."
"Where's Hawk?"
"Don't try to change the subject."
"What I did is none of your business."
"It is when it keeps me sitting here with those foreign devils growling at me like a set of guard dogs. I thought your precious reputation was more important than any woman." Zeke's gaze narrowed. "You've fallen in love with her, haven't you?"
"What do you know about love? Or me or Hawk for that matter."
"Enough to know it's got you at last. You going to marry her?"
Luke could see no reason to pretend any longer. "You're not a fool, Zeke. What could I offer a woman like Valeria?"
"It depends on what she wants."
"Well, she sure as hell doesn't want a gunfighter with no home, no future, and no family."
"The no family part is your doing," Hawk said. He came out of a building Luke figured was the bunkhouse. He looked like he'd been taking a nap.
"Is she in love with you?" Zeke asked.
Luke felt hemmed in. "She doesn't know any more about love than the rest of us. Why else would she agree to marry a man like Rudolf?"
"That one's a back-stabber," Hawk said.
"He's an arrogant bastard who thinks he has the Godgiven right to step on anyone born below his station. He refuses to believe Valeria won't marry him."
"You marry her," Hawk said. "That convince him."
"I'm not marrying anybody!" Luke snapped.
"You love her," Zeke said. "Why not?"
"Because I do love her," Luke replied.
Zeke rolled his eyes. "You were stubborn before. Love has made you stupid."
"You love her. She love you. What's the problem?" Hawk asked.
"We come from two different worlds. We have nothing in common. We'd hate each other in a few months. I don't want to talk about it anymore," Luke said when Zeke started to argue. "We've got something more important to do."
"What?"
"Come up with a battle plan. I figure Rudolf will try to kill me tonight. He may try to kill you and the drivers, too."
Valeria had expected to enjoy her return to a semicivilized life. Rudolf had done everything he could to make the ranch support his former way of life. The house itself was made of wood, but some of the walls had been painted to resemble marble. The main room was about thirty feet wide and sixty feet long, its ceiling supported by huge pine beams that had been carved and painted with classical scenes. Carpets covered the wood floor. Louis XVI furnishings formed an elegant contrast to the forest setting. Valeria thought he would have been better advised to decorate the ranch in the style of a hunting lodge. It would have been more comfortable and more appropriate. The French furnishings looked miserably out of place. Even the dining room, paneled and painted in white and gold, made her uncomfortable.
Dinner was like a court affair, consisting of seven courses, each served with its own wine. Rudolf hadn't wanted Luke to join them at the table, but Valeria had insisted. Now she wished she'd eaten in the kitchen with Zeke and Hawk. The three of them sat around the huge table, a servant standing behind each chair, avoiding the issues that hung in the air around them.
Luke didn't appear to be uncomfortable, but then, he hadn't bothered to dress up. Rudolf had worn his best dress uniform. Valeria had put one of her prettiest gowns. Luke had washed his face, changed his shirt, and come to the table in dusty boots.
Rudolf was furious.
Rudolf watched Luke like a hawk during dinner. She didn't know whether he expected Luke to use the wrong fork, ask f
or beer instead of wine, or steal the silver. Luke had surprised them both by appearing perfectly at ease. He'd stunned her by saying he liked the red wine served with the beef well enough, but that he preferred a burgundy. Rudolf turned the conversation to life in Belgravia.
Valeria wasn't interested in talking about Belgravia. She was even less interested in talking of Rudolf's pitiful lost kingdom, Ergonia, a place so small it made Belgravia seem large. She wanted to know about the ranch.
For the most part, Luke ate in silence.
By the time the dessert plates had been removed and liqueurs set on the table, Valeria was ready to throttle Rudolf.
"You must be relieved to finally get a decent meal," Rudolf said, justifiably proud of the dinner.
"Everything was wonderful," Valeria said, "but I feel heavy, almost drugged. I can't believe I used to eat like this all the time."
"It has to be better than anything cooked over a campfire. How did you survive? You know nothing about cooking."
"Luke cooked after we left the wagons."
"An all-around nursemaid," Rudolf sneered. "And he can shoot."
Luke poured out a small amount of a dark amber liquid into a liqueur glass. He swirled it around before taking a sip.
"I hope it meets the approval of your discriminating
palate," Rudolf snapped.
"It's very good," Luke said.
"It ought to be. It's Napoleon Brandy."
"I know," Luke said. "It's written on the bottle."
Valeria smothered a smile. "I think I'll go to bed." "It's early," Rudolf said.
"I was in the saddle before dawn. Luke doesn't believe in lounging in bed."
"I don't see how you managed to sleep at all."
"After being in the saddle all day, even rocks don't keep you awake."
"You can sleep as long as you want tomorrow."
"She needs to be up early," Luke said after swallowing the last of his brandy. "We plan to ride over the ranch." He looked directly at Rudolf. "That way you'll be gone when we get back."
Valeria was surprised to see Rudolf contain his anger. It was very much unlike him. "You'll find plenty of room in the bunkhouse."
"I'm sleeping in the room next to Valeria," Luke said. "You haven't been invited to sleep in the house." "I invited myself."
The two men stared at each other across the table. Rudolf was the first to look away. "The room hasn't been prepared."
"I can use my bedroll."
"I will give orders for the room to be prepared immediately," Rudolf said. "I will not allow anyone to say he had to sleep in a bedroll while a guest in my house."
Valeria started to point out that it was her house, then stopped. It must be hard for Rudolf to give up his plans to return to Ergonia. There was no point in making it more difficult. The two men rose when she stood.
"I'll go up with you," Luke said.
"Your room won't be ready for nearly an hour," Rudolf said.
"I have to check out Valeria's room." "There's no need. She-"
"She's still unmarried. Her uncle still inherits her estate if she dies."
"You didn't have to remind him of that," Valeria said after they left the room.
"Seemed like I did."
"Why are you coming to my room?" "To make sure you'll be safe."
"Surely you don't think my uncle would try to kill me here?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Rudolf. I think he means to get rid of both of us, claim your uncle did it, and claim your estate as your husband."
"But I didn't marry him."
"If we're both dead, there won't be anybody to challenge anything he chooses to say."
Valeria started to protest that Rudolf wouldn't do such a thing. She stopped when she realized she would have said the same thing about her uncle only a short time ago. "What do you want me to do?"
It started with shots somewhere behind the house. Luke figured Rudolf's henchmen were attacking Zeke and the drivers. They were in for a rude surprise. The sound of the shots from outside the house had barely reached Luke's ears when he heard a short burst of gunfire from the bedroom down the hall. He hadn't heard the sound of splintering wood.
Whoever had entered that room had done so with a key.
Leaning against the wall next to the door in Valeria's room, Luke heard the key being inserted in the lock, the tumblers falling as it was turned. A man entered the room on silent feet, approached the bed, and fired into the shape outlined by the covers. He let the gun fall to his side.
"Nobody goes back on a promise to me," Rudolf said.
"Some men never know when it's time to stop reaching for the moon and settle for what they have," Luke said, his voice soft and menacing.
He saw Rudolf's body freeze, his hand tighten on the gun.
"You didn't think I was fool enough to let Valeria sleep in that bed, did you?" Luke asked. "I knew you were going to try to kill me and the boys. I really hoped you wouldn't try to hurt Valeria."
"You were supposed to be down the hall," Rudolf said. "Hawk offered to take my place. He's the Indian you wouldn't talk to. Hawk doesn't like soldiers." "Maybe your friend is dead."
"Hawk never misses. Neither does Zeke. He and the drivers were waiting for the rest of your men. I don't think there'll be too many of them left."
"Where is Valeria?"
"I'm over here, Rudolf."
Luke saw him jump, then slowly turn his head in the direction of Valeria's voice.
"I could hardly believe it when Luke told me what he thought you would do. Why would you want to kill me, Rudolf? I would have given you the money."
"You couldn't give it to me," Rudolf said. Suppressed fury made his speech hard to understand. "Your uncle would have had it all. He doesn't want me to go back to Ergonia."
"Why couldn't you stay here? You have enough money for a ranch, for-"
"I'd rather die than live in this uncivilized wilderness. The whole country is full of peasants, criminals, and people like your Hawk and Zeke. I wanted to go back to Ergonia, to take my proper place as the ruler of my country
"It's not a proper place," Valeria said, "any more than my uncle's was a proper place. Our ancestors invaded our countries and conquered the people. For hundreds of years we ruled them -for our advantage, not theirs. They're in control of their own destiny now. We can't turn back the clock."
"I could! I could if I just had the money. I would have if you hadn't listened to that damned gunfighter."
"If it hadn't been Luke, it would have been someone else. I never wanted to go back, Rudolf. I told you that when I agreed to marry you."
"I would have gone back as a king!" Rudolf shouted. "Do you understand what that means? I would have been received with honor anywhere I went."
"It's an empty honor to rule over people who don't want you," Valeria said. "Much better to stay here and start a whole new life. You could be a rancher, a banker, anything you want, Rudolf. You could be an important man."
"Five minutes of being a king is worth a lifetime of being anything else. I would have had it if it hadn't been for you." Rudolf whirled as he spoke, brought his gun up. The deafening roar of a gunshot echoed through the room. The gun fell from Rudolf's hand. "I would have been a king," he said.
Then his lifeless body sank to the floor.
Luke started at his reflection in the mirror of his hotel room, something he did so seldom he felt he was looking at a stranger, one dressed like a tenderfoot. He thought of what Zeke would say and smiled. He had no business being in New York, certainly not dressed like this. He belonged on the back of a horse, at the bar in a saloon,
camped in the desert. Facing a man with a gun. He hadn't wanted to come. He wouldn't have if Valeria hadn't needed him, but she was settled with her friends now. They would take care of her.
It was time for him to leave, but his feet wouldn't move. He might as well have been turned into a statue.
"You know you have to go," he said
to the man in the mirror.
"No, I don't," the man said back to him. "She loves me."
"Nobody can love a man like you," Luke said, "at least not enough to make a difference."
"You'll never know until you try. Even black-hearted villains want love. Don't you deserve at least that much?"
Did he deserve love, or had his turning his back on everyone who loved him disqualified him forever? No, he'd never done anything worthy of love.
"Don't you want to be loved?" the man in the mirror asked.
All resistance to admitting the truth, to accepting his weakness, collapsed. Not even the fear of failure could keep him from admitting he wanted Valeria's love more than he wanted life. The last sixteen years had been an empty parade of jobs, women, people entering and leaving his life like so many cars on a passing train. A few passed his way more than once, but they usually kept going. When they didn't, he did.
Cowboys 08 - Luke Page 31
