Wanton Desire

by Ruth D. Kerce

  Both women stood and looked toward the stairs. “We best use the cellar doors to get out of here,” Willie said.

  They hurried back to the front and tried to push open the doors to the outside. “They won’t budge.” Emma stepped back, cradling her arm. “They must have gone around and locked them from the outside. We’ll have to go up to the kitchen and sneak out through the whorehouse.”

  Willie led the way up the steps. She listened at the door.

  “Hear anything?”

  “Nothing.” She turned the knob but the door caught. “Darn it. It’s locked too. Now what?”

  Emma sighed. Resignation filled her. She knew what they had to do. “Now we arm ourselves with whatever we can find and try to take them by surprise when they come back for us.” She turned and headed down the stairs, determination in her step. She wasn’t about to let them win.

  Willie followed closely behind. When they reached the bottom, she eyed the scalpel. “I don’t want to kill no one.”

  Emma looked down at the instrument in her hand. “Me either. It’s against everything I believe in. But if it comes down to them or us…” She would do whatever was necessary to survive.

  * * * * *

  Montana paced the kitchen floor in front of the cellar door. He glanced up at the ceiling. Slim and Cora were at it again. He’d never seen a man fuck so much or be so loud doing it. He’d tried to talk to Slim but the man wasn’t listening to reason.

  Slim had told him that they’d gone too far now and there was no turning back. Montana didn’t believe that. Well, not all of it. They had gone too far. Slim was right about that part of it. But it still could be made right. “Maybe,” he murmured.

  “Ah, the hell with it.” If he was going to be killed, he’d rather it be while he was trying to do something right than while he was doing wrong. He unlocked the door and headed down the stairs, hoping Joe wouldn’t shoot him dead in the end for his part in all this.

  After he descended a few steps, he stopped. Something in the air felt different. He listened carefully but he didn’t hear anything. He crouched on the step and peered down the rest of the way. Still nothing.

  His nerves must be shot. He stood back up and continued down the stairs. Something suddenly grabbed one of his ankles and he went tumbling down the remaining steps. “Argh!” He did a somersault and fell flat on his back at the bottom of the staircase.

  Emma plopped down on his chest and held some sort of funny-looking knife at his throat. “Don’t move. Willie, get his gun.”

  When Willie leaned down, he quickly grabbed hold of Emma and flipped her right into the girl, knocking them both over. He didn’t want to hurt them but he needed to regain control. He scrambled to his feet and drew his pistol. When he saw blood, his eyes widened. “What happened? Who’s bleeding?”

  “Miss Emma?” Willie crawled over to the woman, who was holding her hand.

  “I’m all right. I just cut my palm with the scalpel.”

  “Damn it, Montana!” Willie practically cried. “Look what you did.”

  “Me? You two could have killed me.” As it was he had a hell of a headache and his ankle hurt. He was lucky not to have broken anything. He backed up and grabbed the doctor’s bag off the table. He rifled through it, making certain no other weapons were inside, then he tossed it onto the ground. “Fix her up.” He hadn’t bothered to search the bag earlier because he hadn’t thought either of them could get to it. “What kind of squirrelly idea was that? How’d you get to that knife anyhow?”

  Willie put some salve from the bag on Emma’s hand, then wrapped it with a bandage. She glared up at him. “You didn’t think we was just going to sit idle and let you kill us, did you?”

  She looked at him as if he was addlebrained. And maybe he was. He re-holstered his gun. “If you would have stayed put, you’d have found out that I came down here to help you.”

  “Help us?” Emma’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “We’re getting out of here while Slim and Cora are upstairs. Three horses are tied up in the woods in the back of the whorehouse. We’ll ride on out to that fancy ranch house you were staying out. Since Joe still isn’t in town, as far as I can tell, I figure that’s the safest place for you two.”

  He reached down to grab Emma’s arm. “Come on. Get up. Let’s head up the stairs while the gettin’ is good. I’ll check to make sure that it’s clear. Then we’ll go. Hopefully taking all the horses will slow Slim and Cora down if they find us gone sooner than later.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Emma asked as he helped her to her feet.

  Though Emma had spoken, he couldn’t tear his gaze from Willie. There was that damn starry-eyed look on her face again. “I’m just trying to keep myself alive. And you too. Let’s go.”

  Emma leaned down and grabbed the medical bag. They all headed up the stairs.

  Montana moved in front of them as they reached the door. “Don’t do anything until I get back. If you mess up, all of us will be pushing daisies in the cemetery.” He eased out the door.

  Emma felt nervous but hopeful. Maybe they had a chance. If Montana was being sincere. After he was gone, she looked at Willie. “Do you think he’s telling the truth? Can we trust him?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t rightly know anymore. I want to believe him. But maybe we should just slip out while he’s gone.”

  Emma nodded. “Good idea.” She had more faith in herself and Willie than some stranger who could turn on them at any second. “We can hightail it to Joe’s office, and if he’s not around like Montana said, then we can go over to the saloon. Some folks might still be up and about over there. It’s not the safest place but I don’t know where else to go in town or who would help us. The clinic would be too easy for them to break in to and an obvious place for them to look for us.”

  “I know where Joe keeps the key to his office. Maybe we can use it and lock ourselves in. Certainly they wouldn’t break into the sheriff’s office. Besides, there are bound to be weapons in there. We might be able to get to them. Joe will be back at some point. Probably soon.”

  Emma liked that plan better. “Good thinking.” Just as she reached for the knob, the door opened and Montana stuck his head in.

  “It’s clear. Let’s go.”

  She and Willie both hesitated. They’d lost their opportunity to slip out without him. Emma prayed Montana truly was on their side for it seemed they were stuck doing this his way after all.

  As he ushered them out, she kept looking around. Her nerves were making her jumpier than a scared cricket. She expected Slim and Cora to appear at any second and laugh at their gullibility and their attempt to get away. But apparently Montana actually was helping them escape. She would feel safer at the ranch than in town. And once they got on the horses, it would be easier to make a run for it if Montana turned on them.

  They all rushed out the kitchen door and Montana led them into the woods. Three horses were tied to trees, just as he’d said. Emma breathed a sigh of relief. She rushed over to the closest one and tried to pull herself up but couldn’t mount. She was out of practice and her nerves weren’t helping, not to mention the pain in her arm and hand. She couldn’t get a good grip and the horse wouldn’t stop fidgeting.

  “Get rid of that bag,” Montana told her.

  “Never.”

  “Dang it, woman.” He grabbed the bag and tied it to the saddle. Then he helped her onto the skittish horse while Willie mounted another one on her own. After he mounted the last horse, they all started out of town, moving quietly out of the woods and past the whorehouse. “Take it slow until we’re clear so we don’t draw attention in case they’re close to one of the open windows. A couple of the windows upstairs were broken out in the back and not boarded up on the outside.”

  Once they got away from the whorehouse and out into the open, they picked up the pace. “We should be all right now,” he told them. “I figure it will be at least twenty minutes or so before they discover u
s missing. If they look at the clinic and the sheriff’s office and don’t find us, they’ll know where we’re headed, especially if they see the horses are gone. It will take them extra time to find more horses to come after us. We should be safely at the ranch before they can make up the lost time.”

  “You think they’ll actually come looking? Wouldn’t they just hightail it outta town to parts unknown?” Willie questioned.

  “Maybe,” Montana answered. “But I wouldn’t count on it,” he added in a low voice.

  Emma heard his words and agreed. Cora was just crazy enough not to let this drop. And Slim seemed to follow her lead as if a man starved for a woman’s attention and approval. She didn’t understand any of it and maybe that was for the best. At least Montana had decided to do what was right.

  * * * * *

  Slim followed Cora down the steps into the cellar. “When this is over, all I want to do is drink whiskey and fuck you from dawn to dusk and back to dawn again,” he told her.

  She stopped abruptly and he plowed into her back, causing her to stumble down the last two steps. She waved her arms, fighting to keep her balance. “Ah! Help me.”

  He rushed forward and grabbed her before she fell flat on her face. “Sorry. Why’d you stop like that?”

  “Damn it, Slim. Be more careful.” She pulled away from him and shot him a disgruntled look. Then she planted her hands on her hips. “I felt it as soon as we started down here. There’s just something creepy about an empty cellar.”

  “Empty? They’re gone?” He stepped around her and searched the cellar. “Fuck.”

  “You think Montana’s upstairs somewhere lazing around?” she asked, looking up toward the kitchen.

  “Nah. If the women are gone, that means Montana’s gone too. If they’d given him the slip, he’d have let us know.”

  “Maybe he’s taking a piss and don’t know yet.”

  Slim shook his head. “You know he’s gone with them as well as I do, Cora. That boy didn’t have it in him to do this. I should have listened to my gut and been more careful.”

  She huffed out a heavy breath. “I guess you’re right. We need to find them.”

  “Find them? We need to get out of town. You know they’ll be going to Joe.” Once Joe found out what they’d done, he’d be dogging their heels all across the territory. Maybe if they headed south, way south…

  “Then we have to get to them first. Joe isn’t in town, which means they’ll head out to the ranch.”

  “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “It’s the safest place. I’d bet both my tits that’s where they’re going. We can still get them if we hurry. They can’t have gotten too far. After Montana tried to talk you out of this upstairs, he must have come back down here and set them loose. It wasn’t that long ago.”

  Hmm. Maybe Cora was right. The ranch was still a good distance from town. If that was where they were headed, and if he and Cora rode hard, they might just be able to catch up with them. “They’ll have taken the horses.”

  “We can get some more at the livery. There’s a corral in the back. Usually there are a few horses out there—the old ones that the blacksmith can’t sell. We can sneak in easy and take what we want.”

  “Nags? Hell, we ain’t gonna get far with them. How are we supposed to catch up to Montana and the women?”

  “They’ll have to do. We’ll just run ‘em until they drop.”

  Slim didn’t much like the sound of that. Cora had no feelings for anything—man or beast. But there weren’t a lot of options right now. And what if he got caught? He’d be mad as hell if he got shot stealing a couple of horses. “This better work.”

  “It will. Come on.” Cora tugged him up the steps. “You go grab the horses. I’m going to take a quick look at the clinic and the sheriff’s office just to make certain they’re not holed up in either place. I’ll meet you in the woods in a few minutes.”

  “So much for betting your tits.”

  “Shut up. I’m just making sure. Now do as I say.”

  Slim nodded but he wasn’t happy. If he were smart, he’d get a horse and ride until he was long gone from here. But then, he’d never been accused of being smart.

  * * * * *

  Emma kept looking over at Montana, trying to figure him out. They’d slowed their horses in the dark to make certain none of them stumbled on the rocky path. She noticed that he constantly looked behind them and she could see the turbulent emotions in his eyes. Or maybe she just imagined those emotions, given his nervous state. It was too dark to actually make out true details.

  They all had been silent since they’d passed the last building on the edge of town but the tension remained high among them. “How much farther?” he finally asked.

  “Another couple of miles at most,” she answered. “We’re close.”

  “Are you going to ride in with us?” Willie asked him.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking it might be better if I just take off after seeing you there.”

  Again silence settled around them until Emma asked, “How do you and Willie know each other?” She looked from him to Willie and back again. She couldn’t imagine what their connection was and her curiosity had been piqued. She didn’t think they were related or one of them would have said something about it by now.

  For the first time since she’d known Montana, he smiled. Willie smiled too. “Let’s just say that I did a good deed for her,” he said.

  “The first of many maybe,” Willie offered in a low voice.

  The smile faded from his face and his jaw clenched.

  Emma felt for the young man and the obvious conflict raging inside him. “It’s never too late for redemption, Montana. Come with us. All the way.”

  He grunted. “I ain’t gonna make neither of you any promises.” He spurred his horse ahead of them but still stayed close.

  Somehow the distance to the ranch seemed farther than ever. Emma’s nerves gripped her harder with each mile. She feared they might be snatched away right when safety was near. Once she saw the gate, she’d relax because she knew that Wade’s men would be on guard duty.

  She looked down at her hand. Though Willie had done a good job of wrapping it, the cut was throbbing. So was her shoulder and the cut on her thumb. Her butt wasn’t feeling much better. She didn’t ride that much anymore and her body was letting her know it.

  Montana suddenly stopped his horse. He held up his hand and they stopped behind him. When he turned his horse back toward them and peered into the darkness, she and Willie both looked around.

  She didn’t see anything moving about. “Why’d you stop?” The area was dead quiet except for the sound of insects in the field.

  Montana drew his pistol. “Keep going to the ranch,” he told them. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  “What’s wrong?” Willie asked, her eyes widening.

  “Seems I miscalculated.” He moved his horse forward and slapped her horse’s rump. “Go!”

  Willie’s horse jumped forward and Emma took off after her, holding on for dear life. She looked over her shoulder for Montana but he wasn’t following as he’d said. He’d stayed behind on the road and she soon lost sight of him.

  Suddenly she heard shots ring out and panic gripped her. She didn’t know who was shooting and she wasn’t about to look back again to find out.

  She and Willie raced toward the Sinclair spread. Once they rounded the bend, they’d be close enough for any patrols to hear them coming. More shots rang out. Closer this time. Her heart thudded against her ribs.

  As they got closer, she heard shouts. Wade’s men! If Montana followed now, he’d probably be shot.

  She and Willie rounded the bend. Along the road, men appeared with rifles. “Don’t shoot!” she yelled.

  Recognizing them, some of the men lowered their weapons and were shouting and waving them in. Several others rushed forward, pointing their guns toward the gunfire.

  “Come on!” a man yelled. “You
’re covered!”

  She glanced behind her and still didn’t see Montana. “If you see a lone man, don’t shoot!” They passed through the gate at breakneck speed. A relief so great overcame her that she burst into tears and almost slipped off the horse.

  Once they reined in their mounts, several men helped them down. When her feet touched the ground, her knees buckled. She heard someone yell for Joe. He was here! One of the men lifted her into his arms.

  “Careful,” Willie told him. “Her hand and shoulder are hurt.”

  Their voices soothed Emma, for she knew nobody could harm them now. Not here at the ranch with so many men. In the next instance, Joe was at her side, taking her from the man who held her. He yelled for Myrah. His gaze held a mixture of fear and relief.

  “When I heard the commotion, I feared the worst.”

  “I’m all right,” she told him.

  He looked at Willie. “Me too,” the girl said.

  The men lead their horses away as Joe carried her to the ranch house. Willie walked beside them, clutching the medical bag to her chest.

  Myrah met them at the door with an anxious look on her face. “Thank the Lord. Bring her into the parlor. Come along, Willie. We’ll get you both cleaned up.”

  Emma didn’t care about getting cleaned up. She just wanted to sleep.

  Joe laid her on the sofa. “I got a ransom note. They demanded ten thousand dollars to get you both back safely. We’ve been trying to crack the safe.”

  “Good golly.” Willie sounded shocked at the amount.

  “Who did this and how many were there? Where are the bastards? I’ll kill them.”

  “It was Slim,” Willie told him in a breathless rush as she set the medical bag on a side table. “And Cora.”

  Joe fell silent for a moment. He cursed under his breath. “I figured that maybe Cora was involved, though I couldn’t really get my head around it. But Slim? How did he get mixed up in all this?” He stalked across to Wade’s study and Willie followed.

  “Cora’s the one giving the orders,” Willie told him. “Or so it seemed to me.”