Perhaps surprise would keep their flight secret. No one would expect him to boldly walk into an armed camp for her, especially as he was supposed to be in jail. Deborah felt a wave of admiration for Zack, despite her shivering fear of discovery. He moved as silently as the wind, seeming to drift above the ground while she stumbled along like a blind mare.
He vaulted over the porch rail and landed lightly on the other side, then reached up to lift her over. It was dark on this side of the house, and the bunkhouses stretched beyond them in a wide arc, and beyond those, the corrals just off the barn. Zack knew the ranch well, having lived there for several months, and he used that knowledge to his advantage now.
Moonlight brightened the grounds and drew long, distorted shadows. A dog barked in the distance, and she could hear the muted murmur of men in the bunkhouses. A light burned inside, and a figure was silhouetted against the window.
Deborah was breathing heavily now, her lungs aching from the unaccustomed strain as she tried to keep up with Zack. She felt as if a faulty bellows was pumping air into her body. Her side throbbed, and a pain stitched her ribs.
“You all right?” Zack murmured against her ear when they paused in the shadow of an outbuilding. She nodded, and he swore softly. “Damn. You’re shaking so bad I can hear your teeth chattering.”
“I can make it,” she managed to say, and he kissed her.
“It’s not much farther,” he said when he lifted his head to peer at her in the light. “My horse is just beyond that second ridge. It’s the closest I could get without being seen by the men near the house.” Deborah didn’t ask what had happened to the guards assigned to the perimeters. She didn’t want to know.
“Deborah—it’s clear between here and that ridge, and the moon is full.
We’re going to have to go as fast as we can, do you understand?” She swallowed a surge of fear. “Yes.” A Comanche moon. The night sun gives good light for our warriors to see, he’d said, his voice mocking.
If only it was dark tonight.
He tucked her hand into his broad palm and held it for a moment, his smile encouraging. “I’ll help you,” he said softly, and her fear faded. He eased away from the security of the shadows, and they began running.
They were halfway across when the alarm was given. She never knew if they had been seen, or someone had discovered one of the dead guards. But a man shouted, a gun was fired, and all hell broke loose.
Panic set in, but Deborah refused to give in to it as she tried to keep up with Zack. When she fell, he stopped and pulled her to her feet, urging her forward again. The stitch in her side grew worse, and she was gasping for breath with each terrified step. Shouts sounded behind them, and then the thunder of hooves against the ground.
Deborah’s legs felt too heavy to move, but she forced them on, one foot in front of the other, desperation coming from somewhere to give her the strength to keep going. Zack caught her when she stumbled over a clump of brush, his arms strong and capable, and she knew, suddenly, that she was only slowing him down. She sagged to the ground.
“Go on,” she managed to say in between pants for air. “He’ll kill you if he catches you. Leave me.” Zack picked her up. “If I leave you again, I’d rather he kill me,” he said in her ear.
She caught at his arms, harsh breath hurting her throat. “Please—I could not bear it if he hurt you. Go. I am only slowing you down.”
“No!” he said fiercely, and lifted her into his arms and began running with her. She felt his chest heaving with effort, his feet hitting the ground as he ran in long, smooth strides, and pressed her face against his shoulder.
“Banning!” a voice shouted from close behind them, and Deborah stifled a scream as Dexter Diamond pounded toward them on his horse.
They could not outrun horses.
Apparently, Zack realized it, too, because he halted and put her down, shoving her away from him as he turned to face Diamond. Four men flanked the rancher, and they were all mounted astride unsaddled horses.
Zack waited, feet apart and legs braced, and Deborah saw with anguish that he would not ask for mercy. She sank to the ground and closed her eyes, burying her face in her palms.
When Diamond slid from his horse and walked toward them, Deborah took a deep breath and stood up. If Zack could meet his fate head-on, so could she.
Chapter 28
“Step aside, Deborah,” Diamond said coldly, eyeing Zack with pure hatred.
Her chin lifted defiantly. “No. If you kill him, you’re going to have to kill me, too.”
“Don’t tempt me,” came the growling reply.
“Go back to the house,” Zack told her. He kept his eyes on Diamond warily, his posture stiff and tense. “You cannot help either of us now.”
“No! Zack, I won’t leave you again.”
“Listen to your lover,” Diamond said. “Or stay here and watch him die.
I don’t give a damn, but whatever you do, get out of my way.” Frantic, Deborah put herself in Dexter’s path as he took another step toward Zack. She saw the armed men behind him, and knew that any one of them was capable of shooting.
Zack shoved her aside. His tone was contemptuous. “He’s made it plain he doesn’t mind shooting you. Go into the house as you were told.” Shaking her head, Deborah said, “No. I won’t hide anymore. He’s going to have to shoot both of us.” Diamond swore softly. “Gawddammit, woman, get out of the way!” Deborah sought Zack’s eyes, and saw the determination in him, the pride that would not allow him to bargain with Dexter Diamond or risk her life. “If you shoot me, Dexter,” she said, keeping her gaze on Zack’s taut face, “what will you tell the sheriff? He might let you get by with shooting Zack, but how about me? How will he feel about your shooting a pregnant woman?”
She saw the quick look of disbelief Zack gave her, and the dawning doubt. His mouth tightened, and she prayed that he would understand.
Some of the men with Diamond swore, and one of them took a step back and away. Deborah continued desperately, turning toward Dexter as she said, “I’ve wronged you, and I’m sorry, truly I am, but I did not betray you.
Never that. I made you no promises because I didn’t want to break them, and you must know that. You only married me to get the rights to Velazquez lands, and if you like, I’ll sign them over to you. But please, Dexter, no more killing. There’s been enough.”
Diamond’s jaw tightened. “You made a fool of me, you and that half-breed bastard. You pretended you didn’t know him, when you’d just spent months in a damned Comanche camp with him under his robes. Hell, I knew you weren’t no innocent young thing anymore, but I was willin’ to overlook that. A woman can’t help some things, but you acted as if you were too damn good for me after you’d been layin’ under that ’breed.”
“It wasn’t that,” Deborah said faintly. She could feel Zack’s murderous glare on her. “I love him. I loved him before I ever knew you, Dexter. Don’t do this, please.”
He shook his head, moonlight mixing in the pale strands and making it gleam. “Too late, sugar. Banning’s shot up too many of my men and put himself in my way once too often. Now step out of the way, or I’ll have you dragged out of the way.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head desperately. She heard Zack mutter something in Comanche to her, and she half-turned to look at him.
“Miaru. Unu nu kamakunu?” Tears blurred her eyes.
“Haa. Deborah kamakuru Tosa Nakaai.” Clear blue eyes softened, and a faint smile curved his mouth at her admission of love. “Miaru,” he repeated softly.
Her throat ached, and she knew he did not want her to see him die.
“Please—I can’t,” she started to say, when a hand descended on her shoulder and spun her around.
“Gawwdammed bitch, jabberin’ in that Comanche tongue like you was raised to it!” Dexter’s face was furious, and before she could avoid it, he’d drawn back his other hand and slammed it across her face.
Lights exploded in fr
ont of her eyes and the ground came up to meet her. Rocks dug into her skin, and she tried to move, but Dexter had her by the front of her blouse and was shaking her like a rag doll. Everything was a blur, the ground and men and the full moon sliding past at an alarming rate of speed, and she tried to speak but couldn’t.
Then there was an explosion of sound and she fell back, suddenly released to sprawl on the ground. Dazed and shaking with fear and pain, Deborah rolled to her stomach to protect her child, arms folded over her body. She could hear men yelling. A sharp, acrid smell stung her nose, and she recognized it as gunpowder.
Looking up through the tangled veil of her loose hair, Deborah caught a painful breath, her eyes widening.
Zack stood in the bent-knee posture of a gunfighter, his pistol leveled and a curl of smoke drifting up from the barrel. He looked as cold and deadly as she had ever seen him, and the faint, cruel smile that she’d seen once before curved his mouth.
“Which one of you boys wants to give it a try?” he was asking coolly.
Four men shuffled in the dirt and exchanged glances. “I can get two of you before I go down. Who’s willing to take a chance?” Deborah’s gaze shifted, and she gasped as she saw Dexter Diamond sprawled on the ground and groaning. Blood spurted from a wound high in his shoulder, and he was panting for breath.
“Gawdammit, one of you shoot him!” he got out between pants. “Kill that half-breed bastard . . .”
“Let ’em go, Mr. Diamond,” one of the men spoke up, and Deborah saw Lonny King step forward. “Nobody wants to take him on. We all know him, and we didn’t sign on to take that kind of risk. Not for a man who hits pregnant women.”
No one else spoke for a moment, and Diamond rolled over to peer up at King blearily. “You’re the only one I hear talkin’,” he snarled, his eyes moving to the other three men behind Lonny. He gave a grunt of pain at his movements, then laughed harshly when none of the men spoke. “Guess that’s an answer then.”
“Reckon so,” King said softly. He stepped over to Deborah and helped her to her feet, keeping a wary eye on Zack and his lethal pistol. Moonlight shimmered over them as he looked down at her. “You all right, ma’ am?”
“Yes.” She drew in a shaky breath, wondering what would happen if she were to go to Zack. He hadn’t moved or spoken since shooting Diamond.
Menace vibrated in his stance and his eyes, and the other men stood still as if afraid to move and provoke him. She supposed that the drawn gun was enough of a deterrent to any man familiar with Zack’s accuracy.
Deborah had taken a step toward Zack when she heard a soft scream and paused, looking behind her. Judith ran toward them, her long golden hair streaming behind her as she skimmed over the ground.
Half-sobbing, she flung herself to the ground beside Dexter. “Oh sweetheart, Dexter love—you’re hurt! Oh God, I couldn’t stand it if you died . . .”
“Hush, sugar,” Diamond muttered, giving her a clumsy pat that made his face contort with pain. “I ain’t dyin’ yet.” He shot his hired guns a furious glare. “No thanks to any of them.” Judith cradled his head in her lap, smoothing back his blond hair and weeping softly. She rocked back and forth, murmuring soft words to him, oblivious of everything else. Deborah saw Dexter grimace at the pain as he tried to offer her comfort, and let her breath out in a soft rush of air.
She moved to stand just behind Zack, feeling his tension as he kept a guarded watch on the men around Diamond. “I think we can go now,” she said softly, and he hooked an arm around her waist to pull her closer. His pistol was still aimed and ready.
“Go on, Banning,” Lonny King said. “Get her out of here before it’s too late.”
For a suspended moment of time, Deborah wondered if Zack had heard him, then he nodded. Keeping his pistol up, he took several steps backward, taking her with him.
Deborah looked back at Judith and called softly, “Do you want to come?”
Her cousin looked up, there were tears on her cheeks but a faint smile curved her mouth. Blue eyes glistened as she shook her head. “No. I want to stay here with Dexter.”
Deborah had expected no other answer. “Be happy,” she whispered, and then there was no time to say more because Zack was pulling her with him, his long strides taking them to the next ridge and his horse.
He threw her atop, then vaulted up behind her and reached around her for the reins. His pistol nudged her side as he wheeled the horse around and kicked it into a run. The sound of hoofbeats on hard-packed ground echoed in her ears, and she leaned back against Zack’s muscled chest and closed her eyes. The rhythmic motion of the horse and the strain of the past weeks left her drained, and she was barely aware of her surroundings. All that mattered was Zack, and that she was with him.
“Notsa?ka,” Zack whispered as he pulled Deborah from his horse and shook her gently awake. “No one can find us here. You need to rest for a while.”
Her eyes opened slowly, and a faint smile curved her mouth as she leaned back against his sturdy strength. “What does that mean?”
“What?”
“Notsa?ka.”
He grinned, tracing a finger over her cheek and down to her mouth. His voice was husky. “Sweetheart.” Her eyes opened wide. “Am I?”
“My sweetheart? Yes. My only heart.” His arms closed around her tightly, and he dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly, so that it stirred the deep fiery tendrils of her hair.
For a moment she didn’t say anything. Then she asked, “Where are we?” Zack’s head lifted, and he shrugged. “The Hueco Mountains.”
“Where are we going?”
“Presidio County.”
Turning in his embrace, she looked up at him with puzzled eyes.
“What’s there?”
“My mother.”
“Your mother.” There was a short pause, then she said, “You were going to tell me about her.”
“Yes. I will. First, let’s build a fire and eat something, then I’ll tell you.” Deborah sat on a flat rock and held her hands out to the blaze Zack started with swift efficiency. In just a short time, he’d fashioned a shelter from brush and rock, and spread blankets and a serape on the ground for them. “You came prepared,” she commented, and he looked up at her, firelight making his bronzed features glow. A faint smile touched the corners of his mouth.
“Yes.”
“Are you ever unprepared for the unexpected?” White teeth flashed as he grinned at her. “I wasn’t prepared for you.”
“Complaining already?’
The shadows in his eyes altered subtly, taking on a different light, and Deborah caught her breath. He looked at her with the same intensity he had the first time he’d seen her, and she felt the familiar clutch of her heart.
A pulse began throbbing between her thighs, warm and strong and insistent, and she vibrated with the same longing she could sense in him.
“No,” he said softly, “I’m not complaining.” He rose to his feet in a lithe motion and crossed to her, reaching down to pull her up against him. Deborah felt the thud of his heart beneath the palm she put on his chest, and his muscles flexed as he folded her into his embrace.
“I want you to know something,” he said in a husky, strained voice that made her tense. He sounded reluctant, as if it was an effort for him to speak.
“What is it, Zack?”
“I didn’t kill Dexter because I did not want to kill your child’s father. It would be too much of a burden. No,” he said when she opened her mouth to speak, “let me finish. Your child will never know hatred from me. I will keep it as my own, and love it. The father doesn’t matter. I will be the father.” Hot tears sprang to her eyes, and emotion choked her so that she couldn’t speak for a moment. He thought the child was Dexter’s, yet he was willing to love it anyway. His own painful betrayal still hurt him after all these years. She buried her face in the warmth of his shoulder and held back a sob.
When his arms closed around her more tightly and he leaned bac
k to tilt her chin up for his kiss, Deborah wondered if he could see the love shining in her eyes.
“Zack—oh, my love—the child is yours. Ours. When early spring comes, you will have a child of our love to hold in your arms. We’ll be a family.”
For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. His face was impassive, emotionless. Only his eyes showed any emotion, and the shadows were slowly replaced with growing peace.
There were no words to express what he felt, and he sank slowly to his knees on the blankets he’d spread, taking Deborah with him. He held her hard against him, breathing in deep, regulated rhythm.
“You are sure of this?” he finally asked, and there was no censure in his voice. Deborah nodded. “Dexter never touched me. He wanted to at first, but then—he didn’t.”
Zack’s mouth smothered anything else she might have said, and he pushed her gently back into the blankets with the weight of his body. She tingled everywhere he touched her, thrills of flame racing along her nerve-endings and starting blazes. This time, there were no shadows between them, no reservations.
Moonlight shimmered around them. Zack slowly undressed her, pausing to put a warm palm on the mound of her belly and gaze at her with love and wonder and raw emotion flickering over his features. He knelt with his bent legs between hers, his hands exploring the soft contours of her body.
“I love you,” he said hoarsely, and Deborah reached up to pull his shirt off his shoulders.
“I love you, Zack,” she murmured. “Hawk—my beautiful, arrogant lover. Did you know that the hawk came to me when I was alone and lost and hurting, and 1 knew it had to be you. It brought me back when I thought I’d never want to live again.” He pulled her skirt free of her hips, sliding his warm palms down her thighs to her knees, lifting her legs to pull them around his waist. He was still wearing his pants, and she could feel the rough texture of the denim material against her tender skin. His lashes lifted, and she saw the smoky gleam of his eyes as he gazed at her with love and a male hunger that made her breath come a little faster.
Comanche Moon Page 35
