No Other Man

by Shannon Drake

He shook his head. Strangest damned whore he had ever come across. She'd never make it.

  Yet even as he turned away from the door, she was haunting him. And to his amazement...

  Her image remained within his mind. His bloodstream. His being. And he wanted her again.

  Impatient with himself, realizing that he had the thud of a hangover beginning to pound in his head, he went over to the room's pitcher and basin, and started to wash and dress.

  Twenty-four

  Meggie made their homecoming warm.

  Meggie—and little else.

  Skylar wasn't sure just what had snapped within Hawk, but he kept his distance from her. Upon their return, he left her with Meggie and retired to his own room.

  He didn't visit hers.

  She woke listlessly the next morning, looking about at the beauty that surrounded her. Mayfair was very fine. She had returned to comfort and luxury.

  She still loved Mayfair, but everything had changed. Her surroundings didn't matter. She had discovered that comfort was more than crisp, clean sheets. Comfort lived in the soul. It was the warmth exuding from the body of...

  The man she had accidentally married.

  And then fallen in love with. Not because of the circumstances but despite them.

  She rose, determined to find him. She didn't know what answers she could give him about the attacks. She didn't have a long lost relative who had killed half the Crow Nation. She wasn't related to anyone responsible for massacres. She didn't even have a distant cousin who might have dishonored a Crow maiden.

  But she could make every attempt to tell him what she had been running from. He might not believe her. The bond between them was incredibly delicate and fragile. He might think her as insane as Dillman had told her he could convince people she had become. He might not understand. But they had both made mistakes. Half of them through miscommunication. She hadn't expected a living, healthy, vital husband when she had come west, but she had discovered that she wanted him. And she wanted her marriage to work. It was time to put some trust into the relationship that had grown between them.

  She rose, washed and dressed quickly, and wondered with a growing excitement if Sabrina might nearly be here. Sabrina would be able to corroborate a lot of what Skylar meant to tell Hawk. But she was actually just as glad that Sabrina hadn't arrived yet. This was something she wanted to do on her own.

  Skylar walked to Hawk's room. She tapped firmly. He didn't reply. She realized then that it was late in the morning, that he had probably been awake for hours.

  She started along the upstairs hall toward the stairway and then froze.

  She heard voices. Several voices. Meggie's voice.

  And one male voice in particular. One she knew all too well.

  Dillman. Here. Here, in her foyer, in his wheelchair, two young aides—or guards?—flanking him.

  Her breath caught as panic invaded her. She'd been an idiot. An absolute idiot, a fool. She should have found a way to create a false identity for Sabrina. She should have told Hawk the truth long ago. Dillman had always been smart. He'd found out about the telegrams. Easy enough for a senator. He'd followed Sabrina. And now ...

  Sabrina was coming here.

  She gasped, inhaling raggedly, realizing she had ceased to breathe altogether.

  "Senator Dillman, how do you do? Welcome to May- fair."

  It was Hawk. He was striding into the foyer from the downstairs library. His hair tied back, he was dressed in white shirt, dark, form-hugging breeches, and high boots, ready for a day of work at Mayfair.

  "Lord Douglas! I was acquainted with your good father, you know. Casually, I'm afraid to admit. He was a visionary. An extraordinary man. I am heartily sorry regarding his passing."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Lord Douglas, Thomas Henley and Bo Dykes. My assistants."

  "A pleasure, gentlemen. Won't you come in? Meggie will see to coffee and breakfast. I must admit, however, Senator, that I'm surprised to see you at this late date. I'm afraid the council with the Sioux leaders did not go as the government might have wished, and I'm afraid that I don't agree with the stance the government is taking with the Sioux."

  "Precisely the point, my dear sir!" Dillman said. "I'm here to learn what I can from you! I can't agree either with the tone being taken by the generals in the field—kill them all, let God sort them out, and the like! Any man with half a brain—and not fanatical abolitionists!—can take a look at the history between the white man and the Indian and see where we have been at fault."

  "That's quite an unusual view, Senator—and an unpopular one," Hawk replied. He frowned suddenly, pausing as they neared the door to the dining room. "Meggie," he said softly, "would you ask Lady Douglas to come down? I'll have Sandra bring the men coffee."

  "Of course, Lord Douglas."

  Skylar watched Meggie coming up the stairs. The woman immediately appeared concerned. "Lady Douglas! You're ill! Poor dear, my God, you're as white,as a sheet. I'll— I'll get Lord Douglas right away!"

  Before Skylar could say a word, Meggie was heading back down the stairs. Skylar watched her, glad that she hadn't had a chance to deny the possibility that she might be ill.

  She backed away from the staircase. She didn't want anyone coming back into the foyer and looking up by chance. She looked back. The door to Hawk's library stood open. She fled behind it. Oh, God, she'd wanted to tell him the truth.

  Now it might be too late.

  The truth was sitting downstairs in her dining room.

  After he had eaten breakfast in the quiet respectability of Mrs. Smith-Soames's dining room, Sloan decided to pay a visit to Loralee. He walked across to the Ten-Penny Saloon. There was a group of men—very drunk men—seated around one of the gaming tables. Sloan ignored them at first, going up to the bar. He asked Joe for coffee and inquired if Loralee was up and about yet. Joe said he'd see about Loralee.

  Sloan sipped his coffee. As he did so, he became aware of the men at the gaming table. One was Ralph Marks, a miner who couldn't seem to strike things quite right. He'd tried gambling, he'd tried scouting. He was a man of about forty, once probably handsome enough, and built like a young ox. But years of drink were catching up with him. He was more rotund than powerful, with a permanent gin blossom reddening his cheeks. The man at his side, sometimes his partner, sometimes not, was a half-breed Cherokee named Horse McGee. Horse wasn't given to drink, but he was prone to devious behavior. He was suspected of having been involved in a few stagecoach robberies to the south of Gold Town. Two of the other men were Crows; both had worked for the army on and off, trailing Sioux warriors. Sioux and Crow were enemies; Sloan couldn't think badly of a man for remaining an enemy when the tradition of violence between the two tribes was an old one. Rounding out the group was Abel Mc- Cord—retired U.S. army. It was said that he wanted to be in politics in the territory and that he wasn't fool enough to kiss political rump out here, but he made sure he kissed it back in Washington, D.C.

  Curious group, Sloan thought.

  More curious because they were so damned drunk. And talking a bit loudly, as if they weren't even aware he was in the room.

  "I still don't rightly get where this gold is coming from," Horse grumbled.

  "I tell you," Abel said excitedly, "there is gold, lots of it, being paid by a guy from back east."

  "Abel, you know what's going on here," Running Jack, one of the Crows, said.

  "I know the money is big, and that it is coming from back east, and that when I can prove I've got the one white woman, dead or alive, all I've got to do is leave word here at the Ten-Penny for a Mr. Smith."

  Running Jack groaned.

  "Between us, surely, we can get the damned girl!" Abel exclaimed.

  Running Jack shook his head. "I know of a dozen men who died going after her. You're forgetting. This woman is married to Hawk Douglas."

  Abel didn't seem to hear him. "Both women are worth five hundred dollars. All in gold. He don't care what you do
to either of them, and he'd just as soon get the blond one dead."

  It was enough. Sloan set down his coffee and moved behind Abel in a wink. He had a patch of Abel's hair in one hand while he held his knife to Abel's throat with the other. "Five hundred dollars isn't any good to a dead man. And that's about what you are."

  "Who the hell—why, Sloan! Sloan, it's you—think about it, five hundred dollars for a pair of women—"

  "Abel, shut up, you damned fool!" Horse said, glancing at Abel with disgust and at Sloan with a certain edge of fear. "You're talking to a man who grew up Oglala with Hawk."

  Sloan drew the knife more tightly against Abel's throat.

  "I don't know nothing more than what you've heard, Sloan—"

  "How do you know what I've heard?"

  "Why, why—do something, you bloody cowards! There's one bloody half-breed behind me, and you're just sitting there like a pack of laying hens!"

  "Abel," Sloan said pleasantly, "these boys aren't going to move. Horse there knows I could knife you both before anyone had time to spit. Now maybe I couldn't kill all five, but who wants to chance being one of those I will take down with me?"

  No one moved.

  Sloan pressed the knife against Abel's throat so tightly that a thin thread of blood appeared against his flesh. "Now, Abel. Either you or Mark knows who the 'he' behind all this is. Start talking."

  "You can't kill him! You're a major in the damned amiy."

  "I am. And I'm a damned half-breed Sioux as well. And you just ask either of your two Crow comrades there. No one knows how to torture and kill quite like a Sioux. Abel, you better damned well tell me what you know."

  When Hawk came up the stairs, Skylar was nowhere in sight. Puzzled, he remained on the landing, listening. Was this some new trick? Was she aware that a senator was in the house, that they had guests? Was she determined to show him that she could be every bit as distant as he could when she chose?

  Damn her, she didn't understand. She just didn't understand how she had tied him up in knots. How it seemed that danger awaited her at every corner, and he couldn't begin to fight it because he couldn't begin to recognize it. He hadn't wanted her in his life, hadn't trusted her an inch.

  And now he quite simply couldn't imagine life without her. He hadn't the least idea when he had begun falling in love with her. Nor had he ever imagined that his feelings

  would grow so deep, so passionate, so nearly desperate. He'd never thought that he could look into silver eyes ...

  And forget to be wary.

  Now he didn't dare go near her. Not until she came to him. Believe, she had said.

  She had to do some of the believing.

  He heard a sound from his bedroom library. He strode there quickly, pushing open the door to see her standing by the globe. She was definitely pale.

  "Are you ill?"

  "No—I've got to talk with you."

  "Skylar, we have company downstairs. A senator from back east. If you're hoping to get even with me in some way—''

  "No, no, he's not a senator from back east—"

  "Skylar, I assure you that he is. He's served several terms."

  "He is a senator. But he's more; you can't trust him. He's—it's him!" she said breathlessly.

  "Skylar, I—"

  She rushed at him suddenly, coming up on her toes, taking his face between her hands. "He's come for me. Not for me. Oh, God, I'm not making any sense. I'm of legal age; he can't do anything to me. But he wants to hurt me." She gasped suddenly. "I should have known. He wants me dead. He's always wanted me dead. He needs her, but if I were to perish in the West—"

  "Skylar, Skylar!" Hawk exclaimed, catching her hands and holding them tightly. "Skylar, he who? What are you talking about?"

  "Dillman."

  "Dillman!" Hawk exclaimed incredulously.

  "He's the one. I'm sure of it. I don't know how, but I know that he sent the Crows—"

  "Skylar! The man is a crippled United States senator from Maryland! I'd heard he'd suffered some kind of an accident, and he's still in a wheelchair. He's probably in a

  wheelchair permanently. He can't command renegade Crows. He can't hurt you."

  She wrenched her hands free from his. "You're wrong! He can hurt me. He's been hurting me. The truth! You always wanted the truth. Well, I've given you the truth now, but I was right. I knew that you wouldn't believe me."

  "Believe what, Skylar? Why would a senator want to hurt you? I don't understand—"

  "He killed my father!"

  "Skylar, slow down!" he exclaimed. He'd never seen her like this. Never. Even when he had burst into the stagecoach and dragged her to the cabin. She seemed more frightened now than she had been of the Crow. "Skylar, you've got to—"

  "Sabrina!" she gasped suddenly. "Oh, my God, if he's got her—he can't have her. No, he came here because he hasn't quite gotten his hands on her yet. He knows that she'll come to me; he knows somehow that I'm here—"

  "Skylar, he's come because of the Black Hills."

  "No!" She wrenched free of him, pushing past him. "I've got to go; I've got to find out if she's reached Gold Town, if Henry has heard from her—"

  "Skylar—"

  "You can't begin to understand what he can do!" she exclaimed, pausing just briefly to stare back at him. She shook her head. "He is the worst kind of monster because most men never see his evil!"

  "Skylar, wait; keep talking to me; I have to understand what is going on, what has happened." She didn't seem to hear him. In a blur of soft color, she was gone. "Skylar, damn you, stop! Listen to me—"

  She wasn't stopping.

  He tore after her.

  She was swift, graceful, and as fast as a cougar. She was down the stairs by the time he reached the top of the landing. She moved silently, looking into the dining room be- fore she quickly let herself out the front door. She was just seconds ahead of his descent to the ground floor.

  "Lord Douglas!"

  He paused.

  Senator Dillman had rolled himself back into the foyer. He was a man possessing a certain dignified charm. He had a rueful smile that made him seem trustworthy, one with the common man. Level eyes, a square jaw. A voice that quietly filled space and seemed to command it.

  "Senator Dillman, you'll have to excuse me—"

  "You've married my girl, eh, sir?"

  "I beg your pardon?"

  Dillman sighed deeply, looking down. "She didn't tell you anything about herself? She ran away, you know." He looked around, assuring himself no one else was within hearing distance. "She's my stepdaughter. She pushed me down the stairs and ran away."

  "What?" Hawk snapped out, all courtesy forgotten in his astonishment.

  Dillman inhaled. "Your father was a fine man, a very fine man. I'm sure you're one and the same. I'm so sorry to tell you this, but the girl has been filled with delusions since she was a child. Her father was killed during the war; I was with him. I didn't die. She blamed me. I tried. All those years since, God knows I tried! But I married her mother, you see. She couldn't forgive me for living when her own true father was dead."

  "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

  "Skylar, Lord Douglas. Your wife." He shook his head sorrowfully. "Sir, I am ever so sorry. She's gone completely mad. Her mother's death sent her over the brink, I believe. I wanted to get doctors for her. The best money could buy. I tried to keep my patience with her, but we quarreled, and she has tremendous strength, tremendous strength! She sent me flying down the stairs, but she is my stepdaughter, my dear departed Jill's beloved flesh and blood. I couldn't call the police. But I knew that I had to find her. Help her."

  Hawk crossed his arras over his chest, staring at the man. He had felt the lull of the man's voice, his persuasion. It was easy to understand why he was such a successful politician. He was so convincing.

  "She's afraid of you," he said bluntly. "Why?"

  "Why? God alone knows, Lord Douglas! Have you been listening, sir? T
he girl is delusional, poor, poor creature!"

  The worst kind of monster, Skylar had told him.

  "I'm perplexed. Why did you follow her here?"

  "I have business here, my good man. But yes, I did need to find her. She is my stepdaughter. I care for her welfare. And for yours. Before Almighty God, sir, I do swear to you that the girl put me in this chair!"

  She had told him she needed to talk to him. Now he needed to talk to her. He couldn't forget the look on her lace, and he still couldn't understand her terror and despair. I )illman was in a wheelchair. What kind of a threat could he be?

  "My wife has shown no signs of delusion. Or of violence," he added, even if it was a bit of lie. She'd only been violent when she'd been under attack.

  Could Dillman possibly have been responsible for those attacks? How had he maneuvered renegades to his will?

  "Then I'm glad for you, Lord Douglas. Yet still anxious to see my stepdaughter. You wouldn't deny me the right to see her? Why, Lord Douglas, you are, in fact, my stepson- in-law!"

  "Indeed," Hawk murmured.

  "I imagine that her sister is on her way here, attempting to be with her. Poor Sabrina! She is well aware of how dearly her sister needs help. We even believe she might be at risk of taking her own life. Still, I can't let Sabrina cast away her life! No, the child is still under my guardianship, and I intend to do the very best I can for her, in memory i>l my dear, dear wife!"

  Damn, Dillman was good. So convincing that he was as hypnotic as a rattler. He could almost be believed except that . . .

  David Douglas had been no fool. Hawk realized with sudden clarity that his father had stumbled upon Skylar when she had been in a desperate situation. David had certainly been captivated by Skylar. She must have shown a tremendous strength under adversity.

  He killed my father, she had said. Dillman told it a different way. The war—Skylar would have been young at the time. But still...

  He didn't know what had happened. He didn't know the truth of the matter. But he was determined to discover it.

  "Excuse me. Please do make yourself comfortable with your companions in my absence."

  He exited the house quickly, looking anxiously about the yard. He hurried toward the stables. He nearly collided with Willow, who had been hurrying toward the house.