Copper Fire

by Fayrene Preston

  “Well? Patrick's all right, isn’t he?”

  “Brianne – ”

  Unaware of her actions, her hand closed urgently around his forearm. “He’s not dead!”

  She released the grip on his arm quickly, but Sloan had still had time to register the panic in her eyes and the stricken look on her face. “I don’t know,” he said quietly, “but there’s no sign of him.”

  Brianne’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, dear God, he must have been kidnapped!”

  “Kidnapped?” His voice reflected surprise. “Why would anyone do that? I can see why someone might jump him and steal his money, but why would they take him? That doesn’t make sense.”

  Reaching for control, Brianne straightened. To the watching Sloan, she appeared like royalty in the way she seemed to pull an invisible mantle of composure and dignity around her.

  “Thank you for going to the saloon for me,” she said. Then without another word she turned on her booted heel and headed for the sheriff’s office.

  Sloan started to go after her, to help her, to ask her why she hadn’t answered his question, but then he stopped, reminding himself that he was in Chango for a specific reason that had nothing to do with a redheaded, green-eyed enchantress. He dropped into the chair he had previously occupied, tilted it back on two legs, and began to watch the activity on Main Street.

  Brianne burst into the sheriff’s office and advanced on the man sleeping behind the desk, his feet holding down some papers on its top. “I’m Brianne Delaney and something has happened to my brother! Are you the sheriff?”

  Sleepily, the man pushed back the brim of the hat that had been covering his eyes and looked at her. “Nope, I’m the deputy, Norman Bowls.”

  “Where’s the sheriff?” she asked impatiently.

  “He ain’t here. He’s over Donley way, roundin’ up a bunch of rustlers. Left me in charge.”

  “Then do something! I think my brother has been kidnapped.”

  “Kidnapped, you say?” With laggardly movements the deputy brought his legs off the desk and sat up. “Well now, ain’t that interestin’. We ain’t had a kidnappin’ in I can’t remember when. Killin’s, yes. Lots of killin’s. But no kidnappin’s. Are you sure?”

  Brianne felt like yanking the stupid man up by his shirtfront and yelling at him. Instead, she tossed the rag onto the desk. “This ether-soaked rag was found under the bed where my brother spent the night.”

  “And where was that?”

  “At Lucky's Saloon.”

  “The saloon, huh?” Norman scratched his beard-covered chin. “I wonder which girl he had. Could have been Janice. Might have been Claire. On the other hand – ”

  “I don't care if he spent the night with the whole lot of them!” Brianne said icily. “He's gone, and I want him found! What are you going to do about this?”

  “Nothin’.”

  “What?”

  Norman leaned back in the chair. “My brother-in-law, Hubert, he’s the sheriff, you know, well, he made me promise I wouldn’t get into no trouble whilst he was gone. That means I’ve got to stay right here.” He pointed at his chair, then added morosely, “Hubert says I always get into trouble when he’s gone.”

  “But you’ve got to find my brother! He could be badly hurt!”

  “He could be dead,” Deputy Norman Bowls pointed out with somber logic.

  “He’s not dead!”

  Noting the way Brianne’s firm jaw was set, Norman suddenly became suspicious. “What’d you say your name was again?”

  “Brianne Delaney.”

  “You wouldn’t happen to come from over Arizona way, now, would you?”

  “Yes, I would.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Uh-oh? What do you mean uh-oh?”

  “I ain’t gettin’ involved with no Delaneys. They ain't exactly got a reputation for bein’ an even-tempered bunch. What if that kid turns up dead? My hide wouldn’t be worth a skunk's.”

  She leaned across the desk until she was eye level with the deputy. “You fool,” she said softly, “don’t you know my family can level this town in a matter of minutes? And that’s exactly what they’ll do if my brother does turn up dead and you haven’t done anything.”

  “Maybe,” he mumbled, “but at least I’ll still have my skin.”

  The bone-chilling look in Brianne’s green eyes had the deputy hunching his shoulders and sliding his hat back over his eyes. In the next second the windows rattled and papers flew as she slammed out of the office.

  Sloan’s hand caught Brianne around the upper arm to stop her as she was about to rush past him into the hotel. “What did you find out?”

  “That, for a while at least, there is no law here. The sheriff is out of town, and he left his moronic brother-in-law in charge.”

  Sloan stood up, still holding Brianne’s upper arm. “So what are you going to do? Your brother mentioned his family last night. In Arizona, I believe. You’d better telegraph them.”

  Brianne rejected his idea with a shake of her head and spoke emphatically. “I’ll find him.”

  “You?” His hand tightened on her arm. “You can’t go out looking for your brother by yourself.”

  Brianne was genuinely puzzled. “Why? And now that I think about it, why are you still holding my arm?”

  Sloan dropped his hand.

  Walking toward Sloan, Janice cursed her luck at finding him talking to that redheaded woman. She had caught a brief glimpse of the same woman yesterday afternoon with Patrick. He had called her Brianne, and Patrick had been giving her his undivided attention, just as Sloan was now.

  Janice paused. Sloan’s back was to her, so he hadn’t seen her yet. Maybe she’d come around to see him later.

  Brianne glanced over Sloan’s shoulder, and something in her expression made him turn around to look. “Janice?”

  “I – I’m sorry, Mr. Lassiter. I’ve got a message for you, but I’ll come back later when you’re not so busy.”

  “That would be better,” he said.

  “Wait,” Brianne called. “Is the message about Patrick Delaney?”

  Janice twisted her hands together, glancing at Brianne. Normally, the women of the town didn’t acknowledge Janice or the other girls who worked at Lucky’s Saloon, and they would turn away when she walked by. But Brianne was looking at her with an eager, expectant expression that encouraged her.

  Janice nodded.

  “What’s the message?” Sloan asked.

  She dug into the pocket of her skirt and brought out a folded piece of paper. “Here. Katy asked me to bring it. She was too scared to give it to you.”

  Sloan unfolded the paper, and as he read the contents, his expression turned grim. “Brianne, I believe this is for you.”

  With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Brianne took the crumpled sheet of paper and read.

  We want fiften hundreed muny for ur brothr.

  Well contac u.

  Brianne felt herself begin to shake, and strong hands came out to ease her into a chair.

  “Oh, my God, she’s going to faint!” Janice cried.

  “No … no, I'll be fine.” She gestured with the sheet of paper she held clutched in her hand. “Seeing positive proof of what I’d feared … is … ”

  Sloan was kneeling in front of her, his hand clasping her wrist, his fingers on her pulse. “You will send that telegram now.”

  “Not yet.” She took several deep breaths and willed the weakness she was feeling to be temporary. Knowing she was going to have to act, she attempted to gather herself together, venturing a small laugh. “I’d love to know how they came up with their estimate of Patrick’s worth.”

  She glanced into Sloan’s eyes and for a moment was held. Far back in their golden depths there seemed to be a light of concern. Warmth seeped back into her body. She laughed again and was pleased to hear that she sounded stronger. “Patrick’s going to be furious when he realizes they’ve asked such a relatively small amount.” She looked up
at Janice. “Where did you get this note?”

  “From Katy. She’s a girl I work with over at Lucky’s. She was afraid of Mr. Lassiter, so she sent me. Katy was with Mr. Delaney last night.…” Janice’s voice trailed off as she realized what she had just said. “Are you Mr. Delaney’s wife?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’m his sister, and I want you to tell me everything you know.”

  Behind her, Sloan almost smiled at Brianne’s mat- ter-of-fact acceptance of her brother’s spending the night with a saloon girl. The more he learned of Brianne Delaney, the more he liked, the more he admired, and, dammit-all-to-hell, the more he wanted her.

  Janice nervously scanned the boardwalk around them, checking to see if there was anyone who might object to her being there, talking with a lady. As nice as Brianne seemed, Janice wished it were just her and Sloan talking together. She could still remember how he had sucked at her breast the night before with such wonderful skill. She had actually felt something, and that was unusual.

  Sloan shifted his weight impatiently. “Janice!”

  “Oh, well, these men gave the note to Katy after … after she and Mr. Delaney … well, never mind.” She sent a pleading glance toward Sloan, but he merely nodded for her to continue. “Anyway, Mr. Delaney was asleep, and … I don’t know, I guess these men went up and got Mr. Delaney and took him out the back way.”

  Anxious, Brianne touched Janice’s arm. “Did they hurt him?”

  “I – I don’t know.” She again looked at Sloan. She wanted to make sure he understood that she had had nothing to do with the kidnapping. “The first I knew of any of this was when you came into the saloon this mornin’. And Katy didn't tell me about the men and the note till after you had left.” As an afterthought, she added, “They gave Katy some money.”

  A tug on her arm brought her attention back to Brianne. “Can you remember what these men looked like?”

  Janice licked her lips, recalling how she had retreated into a corner of the saloon last night and waited, hoping Sloan would come back. Maybe tonight he would come to her. She cast a longing glance at him. “No, my mind was sort’ve on other things. I wasn’t payin’ much attention to what was goin' on around me.”

  “Thank you, Janice,” Sloan said with a dry intonation to his voice. “Tell Katy I’ll be over to talk with her later. She’d better be there.”

  After Janice had left, Brianne turned toward the door of the hotel.

  Sloan stopped her by again grasping her upper arm. “Wait a minute! Where are you going now?”

  Brianne looked down at his hand around her arm, the back of his hand lightly brushing her breast. “You’re making a habit of this, aren’t you?”

  “There are more pleasant habits a man can form with a woman like you. Would you care for me to show you?”

  In spite of her fear for Patrick, his words caused the blood to pick up speed and race through her veins like a hot wind. But if he had expected her to blush, she thought, he was going to be disappointed. “No, I wouldn’t. And to answer your question, I’m going upstairs to get my rifle.”

  With a quick movement she broke out of his grasp and was in the hotel and up the stairs. Sloan let her go because they were attracting more interest from passersby than was proper for either of them. For appearance’ sake, Sloan waited a few minutes, then followed her. The door to her room was slightly ajar, so he stepped in without knocking and closed it quickly behind him.

  “You know, Brianne, up to now I’ve thought that you’ve handled this whole thing rather well, but if you’re thinking of trying to find your brother by yourself, then I’ve got to question your good sense.”

  Startled, Brianne glanced up. “You shouldn’t be in my room.”

  He pushed away from the door. “Did you hear me?”

  She set down the rifle she’d retrieved from her pack and swiveled away to check the amount of ammunition she had in her saddlebag. “Of course I heard you. The problem is, you’re just not saying anything I want to listen to.”

  “Then what would I have to say to make you listen?” He grasped her arms and slowly turned her around to face him. “Would telling you about the Indians that come up out of nowhere to attack the unsuspecting do it?”

  “There’s nothing you can tell me about Indians that I don’t know,” she said solemnly, remembering her parents, Rory and Helene, who had been killed in an Indian raid when she and Patrick had been infants. Rapidly, those painful thoughts were replaced by memories of Silver Dove, her spirited and loving cousin.

  His hand came up to stroke her neck. “Then what about the men you’ll meet on the trail, the men who wear guns and have no scruples?”

  She looked up into his cold golden eyes that showed so little emotion. “That description fits you.”

  His fingers stilled on her neck. “You're right,” he said softly. “You’re absolutely right.”

  With deliberation, he crushed his mouth down on hers. The feelings he was experiencing were startling the hell out of him. He’d been dead inside for so long. Right now, though, he had no intention of taking time to figure out what was happening. Coolly, he moved his mouth over hers, and sensations came flooding back from Brianne to him that were anything but cool. This one woman shouldn’t be troubling him like this, inflaming him. Dammit, he thought, pulling her closer, she shouldn’t be getting under his skin like a rash he wanted to scratch but couldn’t.

  She struggled against him, but he thrust his tongue into her mouth, and her responding moan told him that she could be subdued.

  If her brother hadn’t disappeared, she would have ridden out of this town and out of his life this morning, and he wouldn’t have cared. Or so he told himself. He pressed his body into hers, wanting to feel her breasts, stomach, and thighs against him.

  Brianne felt the fire begin to seep through the motions of his calculated seduction, and she stopped resisting. How could he do this to her? she asked herself with despair. How could he make her forget everything but the heated need that had started in her stomach and was spreading downward? It seemed so easy for him. Too easy. And that made her angry because she couldn’t let him make her forget about Patrick and what she had to do.

  “No,” she whispered, and pushed against him. “No!” she said, this time stronger, and broke free.

  Sloan looked down at her. Her eyes were soft, her lips full and red. If ever he saw a woman moved by passion, it was Brianne. Yet she had pulled out of his embrace.

  She wrapped her arms around her body and turned her back to Sloan, giving herself time to steady her breathing. He confused her. There had been his intervention with Mrs. Potter on behalf of George. And down on the boardwalk, when he had knelt before her chair, she had had the brief notion that he actually might be concerned about her. But she knew that had to be impossible. He was obviously too hard-bitten a man to know concern for another person.

  So knowing that, how could she explain away those times when he touched her, or held her, or kissed her, or all three, those times when he had an uncommon power to make her feel a wanting, a needing?

  The answer was simple. What he felt for her was lust, plain and simple. She came from a lusty family, yet while knowing that blatant sexual longing existed, she had never personally experienced it. This was all so new.

  With her back still to Sloan, she shook her head as if to clear it. He was a disturbing man, but she had no time for the upheaval he wrought so effortlessly.

  She swiveled back around so that she faced him. “You know what I don’t understand, Mr. Lassiter? I don’t understand what all this means to you. Why should you care one way or the other whether I go out alone to try to find mv brother?”

  “I suppose because I’ve never been able to abide stupidity,” he said calmly. “In case its escaped your notice, you're in a strange town, surrounded by strangers.”

  “One of whom is you.”

  “Honey,” he drawled in that mocking way he had that caressed the nerves up and down her spine even
as it infuriated her, “strangers don’t kiss the way we just kissed.”

  Ignore him, she ordered herself, and started to bend down to pick up her bedroll, but his next words stopped her.

  “You’re looking for three men.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I noticed them last night. Once they heard the name Delaney, they started paying an awful lot of attention to your brother. One was tall, the other two were about medium height and stocky. Of course, I won’t know for sure until I talk with Katy.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Because I thought you were too smart to go tearing out of here by yourself to look for your brother. But since it seems I was wrong about that, you should at least know what you’re going to be up against.”

  “I'll question her.”

  “You’re letting your concern for you brother override your common sense, Brianne. It looks like you’re going to be in Chango for a while. Make things easy on yourself. Don’t turn these people against you. At the least I should talk to Katy for you.”

  “At the least?”

  “Listen, redhead, you may think that there’s no law here, but outside this town you’ll find out what true lawlessness means.”At his side, his hands clenched into fists as he felt irritation rising inside him. He had never known a woman who wouldn’t pay attention to him, and he had never known a woman he more wanted to take again into his arms. “The West is no place for a woman alone.”

  “There you go again, telling me about the West. I find that very interesting, especially since I'm the one who was born in the West, and you're the one who’s from the city. Besides, right now I’m the only chance my brother has.” She tilted her head to one side, regarding him with a clear-eyed green stare. “Hasn’t there ever been anyone in your life you have loved so much you would do anything to make sure he was safe?”

  David. Sloan felt as if Brianne had reached inside him and touched an open wound. The fact that she had done it unknowingly didn’t make the hurt any less. The anguish brought him by the memory of his brother’s death was private, and it was an anguish he talked about with no one.