The far door banged open, and Lee came off the cot as Montgomery stormed into the room, Bainbridge limping in his wake.
"It seems we at last know your brother's magnificent plan," Montgomery said, as he thrust a slip of paper through the bars.
Lee quickly read the words. "I've got Raven's whore. Deliver him to the hanging tree or she dies." He shook his head. "Jorge would never call her that."
"Shelby then?" Montgomery asked.
Lee plowed his hand through his hair, searching the recesses of his memory … his gut tightened into a painful knot. "One of the men he hired to capture me thought Angela was my whore and attacked her. Shelby might have had the man do this so he could convince you to deliver me where he wants me."
"Where is this hanging tree?" Bainbridge asked.
Lee darted a glance at Alejandro, who blanched. "It is on our land, near what remains of our house. It is a giant oak. The one from which they hanged our father and brother. The one from which Shelby wishes to hang me."
* * *
Chapter 22
« ^ »
Lee paced the cell impatiently, every nerve ending on edge, his anger roiling out of him, shimmering around him. He desperately wanted to plow his fist into something, and had considered hitting the brick wall, but once he figured a way out of here, he would need his hand to hold a gun.
Leaving Bainbridge and Cartwright behind, Montgomery had left to search for the sheriff. Lee could not imagine that finding him would serve any purpose.
"How did they manage to get Angela? Were you not watching her?" he asked Bainbridge.
"I can only assume that she was taking one of her infamous midnight strolls."
"You really must break her of the habit of going out at night alone."
"She is more stubborn than her mother, and I wouldn't change either one of them, even if I had the power to do so."
"But you see what happens when she goes out at night."
"Yes, she ages me by ten years, but to cage her in … she would wither away and die like a flower hidden from the sun. Then my heart would break. As much as it hurts to give my daughters freedom, it would hurt more to lose them completely." Bainbridge held Lee's gaze. "You need to make your peace with Kit."
"He has a son."
"He has two. And you have two fathers. You won't betray those who raised you if you accept back into your life those who first loved you," Angela's father said in a low voice.
"No, but I'll carry them all to the gallows with me."
The door opened and Montgomery strode in, followed by Spence, whose hair stuck up on the side where sleep creases marred his face. Angela's mother also came into the room. Bainbridge had told Lee that she'd found the note on the floor scant inches from the door when someone's knocking had awakened her.
"We couldn't locate the sheriff," Montgomery said. "Can you draw us a map to the ranch?"
Lee glared at him. "No."
Bainbridge took a step toward him. "They are threatening to kill her!"
"Which is the reason you must let me out of here."
"So Shelby can kill you?" Montgomery asked.
"Better me than her. I am destined to hang anyway. At least let some good come from my death."
Montgomery averted his gaze, and Lee watched him swallow hard as though he fought to accept that his son was lost to him once again.
"Can't you round up a posse of men?" Angela's mother asked.
Montgomery shook his head. "I've made inquiries, Jessye. Shelby did a thorough job of convincing people of this town that the Rodriguez family was rotten to the core and deserved what they got." He looked ashamed as he admitted, "There were times when I almost believed it myself. I don't think they'll help us."
"Not even to save a young woman?" she asked.
"They'll believe we're on a fool's errand. Harry, Shelby told you he'd hired bounty hunters. Any idea how many?"
"Eight," Lee said quickly. "Eight were following us."
Bainbridge glanced around. "Those aren't bad odds against us."
"He'll probably have some of his ranch hands there as well as the sheriff. It is me he wants. So you take me there, exchange me for Angela, and then you go. Before the unpleasantness starts."
Montgomery quirked a brow. "Unpleasantness? Good God, lad, he's going—"
"I know what he is going to do!" Lee barked. "Talking about it will not change it. All it will do is delay us and give you less time to get Angela away. I do not want her near enough to hear…" He shook head. "I do not want her anywhere near there."
Montgomery gave a brisk nod. "Very well, then. I suppose we have no choice. We'll give Shelby what he wants."
* * *
With her ankles bound together and her hands tied behind her back with rough hemp that bit into her wrists, Angela sat huddled in a corner. Her fingers had grown numb. She could feel the heat of a lantern and considered trying to roll toward it, but her captor was nearby. Not the man who had taken her, but another, the man he worked for. Vernon Shelby.
He'd introduced himself with menacing glee, and when she'd spit at him, he'd hit her. Her cheek still smarted and she felt certain she would have a bruise, possibly a blackened eye.
They were using her to lure Lee, and she couldn't think of any way to stop them. She could only hope that her parents would realize that she'd never forgive herself if she was the one responsible for this man harming him. Why couldn't she ever find a way to save him?
She heard the strike of a match and the slow drawing in of breath. The sweet scent of a cigar filled the air.
"They should be arriving any minute now," Shelby said.
"You can't possibly think the Rangers will simply hand Raven over to you."
"Oh, they'll serve him to me on a silver platter. If they don't, I'll hang you in his place."
Escape seemed impossible. Insects that chirped merrily at night were fading into silence. Dawn, she was certain, was hovering. Her jaw tingled and she swallowed. She had to give the appearance of being strong, even though she felt ill. Why couldn't she enjoy her midnight strolls in peace? If she survived this predicament, if Lee survived, she'd never take another walk.
"Do you know why he killed your son?"
"I don't care why he killed him. I only care that he did, and now he's going to pay for his actions."
"You killed his father and brother—"
"They stole my cattle! A man has to protect what's his."
She heard determination in his voice, and something even more frightening. He believed his own lies. Arguing with him would be fruitless, striving to absolve Lee would do no good.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she heard a commotion beyond the walls. No, no, please don't let Lee have come, her mind screamed. Please.
A heavy lumbering tread echoed around her.
"Let me go, you great ape," a woman ordered. Then came rapid steps and a thump, as though someone had been shoved aside and fallen. Rapid breathing.
"Found her sneaking around outside," the man said.
"I was not sneaking around," the woman insisted.
"Christine, what in the hell are you doing here?" Shelby asked. "Visiting that damn grave again?"
Christine Shelby.
"What are you doing here?" Christine asked. "And what are you doing with this woman?"
"Taking care of some unfinished business. Ezra, tie her up. Then get your boys situated. I don't want any mistakes this time."
"Tie me up? Are you insane?" Christine shrieked.
Angela listened to the woman's struggles and knew they would be in vain. Christine fell against her.
"Father, you can't do this!"
"Keep quiet or I'll gag you. Ezra, let's go."
Christine banged her head against the wall. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."
A familiar rose fragrance wafted toward Angela. She turned her head toward the woman. "Your perfume."
"We're prisoners in the burned out shell of a house and you have an interest in m
y perfume?"
"I've smelled it before."
"Not likely. My father has it specially made in France," she mumbled distractedly, her clothing rasping as she apparently twisted. "Damn it! He knotted them too tightly."
"You know Lee Raven."
She ceased her efforts. "I beg your pardon?"
Angela's heart thundered. "Lee left for a while and when he came back he was wearing your perfume on his clothes."
"Oh, my God. Are you the woman he kidnapped, the one who convinced him that revenge wasn't the answer?"
"I don't know that I convinced him of anything."
"Why does my father have you?"
"You don't know?" Angela asked.
"I don't know anything. I've been away. Lee had told me that it was time to let go of the past and lead our own lives. I just wanted to come back one last time—to say a final good-bye to Ramon. What is going on here?"
Angela sighed. "It's a long story." She explained as quickly as she could all that had happened since she'd betrayed Lee. "Now your father wants to exchange me for Lee."
"Damon will come," Christine said with resignation. "I mean Lee—"
"I know who he is. I just haven't been able to think of him as … 'Damon.'" She shifted around, her back aching, her neck stiff. "Can you turn so we can put our backs together? Maybe I can untie you. I've been struggling for so long that I've only managed to tightened the knots on my rope, but maybe yours won't be so hard to untie. My hands are a little numb, but I'm used to doing things by touch."
They shifted, scooted, and bumped against each other until Angela could touch Christine's hands.
"Can you tell anything?" Christine asked impatiently.
"There's three knots."
Christine released a sigh of frustration. "It'll take forever to get me untied."
"Then I'd better get started," Angela said. With so little mobility, she found the task difficult. And her fingers often refused to cooperate.
"Do you love him?" Christine asked softly. "Do you love Damon?"
Did she love Damon? She loved the boy he'd been. She loved Lee Raven. Could she honestly say that she loved Damon Rodriguez? Yes. But did she love Damon Montgomery? Did she even know him? Because if all went as she hoped, if all her efforts bore fruit, he would again become Damon Montgomery, heir presumptive to Ravenleigh. He would step back into the role he had been born to, travel a path that would take him away from her.
"Yes," she whispered. "I love him." Enough to let him go.
She tugged on the knots. "I can't get a good hold." She twisted for more leverage. Her foot hit something and she heard a pop. "What was that?"
"Oh, my God," Christine wailed. "The lantern!"
* * *
Stretched out on his stomach a good distance away, Lee studied the charred remains of the house that had sheltered him, where a family had nurtured and loved him. His chest tightened. If he was going to die, it was good that it would be here, where most of his pleasant memories resided. Even the nightmares couldn't erase them.
He and the others had left their horses and crawled here on their bellies, every man armed. Montgomery had released his brothers so they could accompany them. Bainbridge, Spence, Cartwright, and the other Ranger were here as well.
"There aren't many places that provide cover," Spence whispered.
"Probably a few men are in the barn, one or two are in what remains of the house, and some might be hiding behind a tree. The rest are probably on their bellies like us," Lee said. The house had not been completely destroyed because a heavy rain had begun to fall, as though nature mourned and wept over the brutality of man.
"If we wait until dawn to go in, our chances of survivin' are gonna be less than a hen's at a meetin' of coyotes," Cartwright said.
"You're quite right, Sean, we can't wait. We'll have to make our move now," Montgomery said.
"No one is making a move. You are taking me in, then you are taking Angela out."
"You don't honestly expect me to hand you over to that man?"
"You have no choice," Lee said, grateful his voice sounded flat, convincing. "Look around you. There is nowhere to hide. We have no idea how many men there are. We could try to sneak around, pick them off one by one—but it only takes one of us making a mistake, creating a noise, being spotted … Shelby will carry out his threat and kill Angela. It is not worth the risk. One death or many deaths. That is the way of it. You accept one death."
The respect that filled Montgomery's eyes was so strong that even the shadows of the night could not hide it. It unsettled Lee to know his words had touched this man.
"I must say, Juan Rodriguez did a splendid job of raising you," Montgomery said, holding his gaze.
"You provided him with a good foundation on which to build." It was the closest he could come to admitting what Kit Montgomery had given him, as much as he dared to reveal. If he gave in to the emotion with which his heart was thundering, he didn't know how he'd find the courage to let go of what he'd just obtained in order to face what awaited him. "Let's get the horses."
He turned away before his face exposed his emotions. A man did not need the memory of his son mourning for all that might have been—and all that never had been.
A woman screamed. Lee swung back around and fell flat to the ground. Another cry echoed from the house, its pitch different from the first. Two women? Shelby had two women inside the house?
He saw flames sprouting up behind a window. "There's a fire!" he yelled, before jumping to his feet and drawing his guns from his holster.
A terrorized shriek ripped through the air as a bullet whizzed past his head. Firing with a gun in each hand, he dove to the ground, rolled while bullets ricocheted around him spitting dirt into his face, lunged to his feet, and, with legs churning, raced like a madman to the house.
Something bit into his side as he neared the house. The flames were dancing wildly, climbing higher.
Clutching his guns, he tucked his arms in close and leapt through the window at the side of the house. Glass shattered around him as he landed on the floor. "Angela!"
"Lee!"
Ducking low, Lee began to make his way through the front room, his eyes burning from the thick and heavy smoke created by the twisting, writhing fire meticulously devouring what remained in its path. "Angela!"
"Lee! This way!"
"Stay where you are! Just keep calling to me!"
He worked his way through the house, dodging falling debris. Her voice faded in and out as she coughed and gagged.
He staggered into what had been his parent's bedroom and found her and Christine on their side, inching forward. Tears streamed along their blackened faces as they gasped for air. Tossing the guns aside, he drew his knife from its scabbard and sliced through Christine's bonds. "Get out!"
Nodding, she scrambled to her feet and dashed through the doorway. Lee turned to Angela. He sawed the knife through the thick rope at her feet. He rolled her onto her stomach and cut through the ropes securing her wrists. Fire licked at her skirt. "Lie still!" he ordered as he stood and began to stomp on the flames.
When the last died, he reached for her. An explosion ripped past his ear. He spun around.
Shelby stood in the doorway, gun drawn, eyes dancing as wildly as the flames. "Drop the knife or I'll kill her!"
Doing as ordered, Lee began to slowly move away from Angela. "Let her go, Shelby. She has nothing to do with this."
He ducked as debris fell. Shelby fired. Angela screamed. Lee jerked his gaze to her. She sat up, breathing heavily. He could see no blood.
The heat was growing unbearable, the wall of flames closing in. He turned his attention back to Shelby. "Let her go. She is nothing to you."
Shelby's smile grew. "But she's everything to you, isn't she, Rodriguez? Beg me. Drop to your knees and beg me like my son must have begged for mercy."
The bile rose in Lee's throat, his chest tightened. He'd never in his life begged for anything or anyone. He went dow
n on his knees and lifted his gaze to Shelby. "I'm begging you, let her go." His voice grated like fine wood rubbed over sandpaper. "She is blind. Let me get her out of here, and I give you my word that I'll put the noose around my neck myself."
A gunshot tore through the air. As though incredibly surprised, Shelby looked down at the bright red splotch blossoming on his shirt. Then he crumpled to the ground.
Lee turned to Angela. Her hand shaking uncontrollably, she still held the gun. "Is he dead?" she rasped.
He pried the gun from her fingers and lifted her into his arms. With the flames nipping at him, Angela clinging to him, he rushed forward, burst outside, staggered forward, and dropped to his knees on the ground.
"Angela!" her father cried.
As gently as he could, Lee laid her on the ground. "Angela," he rasped.
"I'm all right." Tears welled in her eyes, and she pressed her trembling hand to her mouth. "I had to kill him."
"I know." He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead as her father struggled to the ground and took her in his arms.
Before anyone could stop him, he rushed back into the burning house.
* * *
Chapter 23
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"That was the damnedest, stupidest thing I've ever seen!" Montgomery yelled. "What in the bloody hell did you think you were doing?"
Leaning against the hanging tree, Lee watched the sun bathe the earth in a brilliant hue of orange and gold. Apparently, Shelby's assassins, the best bounty hunters money could buy, had easily been subdued by Montgomery's group. A few of Shelby's hired guns were wounded, but no one had died, not even Shelby. Lee shook his head.
"I did not think there was enough blood for it to be a fatal wound. I know what it is to kill a man, to wonder every day if I could have done something differently. If I had left him, Angela would never have believed that she was not the one responsible for his death. Guilt is a terrible thing. It eats a man up from the inside out until nothing is left, until he becomes hollow and is only a shell of what he might have been. It would have destroyed her."
THE OUTLAW AND THE LADY Page 24
