Aces Wild

by Taylor Lee

  Gabe didn’t bother to answer when she asked if she could ride to the canyons. He shook his head with a dark frown then went back to the solarium to meet with his men. He and Gunnar and Eagle huddled together for most of the morning. Other men came and went. They received Gabe’s brisk orders and then quickly left. Mid-morning, Gabe told Ana and Kai he wanted to speak with Chao privately. When they both objected, Gabe was insistent.

  “I need to know precisely what he remembers. I also need to ask him about the beating-- in detail.”

  Ana protested. “No Gabe. You can’t. You mustn’t. He is still weak. He needs more time. He…”

  Gabe held up his hand. The glimmer of a smile crossed his face, the first she had seen all morning. “Waterfall rules, Princess.”

  Ana felt her face heat and would have argued but saw the determination in his eyes. She bit her lip hard to keep from responding, fighting the tears stinging her eyelids.

  Gabe’s expression softened. He lifted her chin and held her gaze. “Yes, Princess, it is soon and it will be painful for him to recount. But your father may have information that we need now. We have to follow every possible clue. We know they were wearing masks, but what kind of boots were they wearing? Did they talk to one another? Did they refer to the guy who hired them in some way? Did he recognize anything about them?”

  When she tried to pull away, he stopped talking. He put his arms around her and held her against him. His strong fingers massaged the tight muscles on her neck and shoulders. Without intending to, she relaxed against him. For one glorious moment she allowed herself to forget her pain, her frustration, and her anger. She buried her face against his chest and drank in the familiar smells she loved. She remembered falling asleep in his arms and waking up with him holding her. She wished with all her heart that she could forget what was happening and revel in his closeness.

  As though he could read her mind, Gabe leaned down and nuzzled her ear. He whispered, “Later Princess. Later”

  She swallowed hard. Then drew herself up to face him.

  “If you must talk to him, go ahead. But I insist that I am in the room. I also need to know what happened.”

  Gabe stepped back and shook his head.

  His voice was firm. “Sorry, Princess. That’s not an option. I need your father to tell me everything. He won’t do that if you are there. He will try to protect you.”

  Though she knew he was probably correct, and that she was being unreasonable, Ana felt a flash of anger. She was glad that Gabe was here. They would be paralyzed without him and his men. But it was her father and her brother that were being threatened. She had never taken orders well and she wasn’t about to start.

  She tipped up her chin and glared at him.

  “I know you mean well, Gabe, but this is my house and my father. I insist…”

  Once again, Gabe put his finger against her lips. But there was no teasing reference to their “rules.’ She saw a flare of anger as fierce as her own. She shivered and stepped back.

  His voice was hard, cold. “No, Ana, I don’t mean well. I mean bad—very bad. Ana, when I catch the fucker who did this to your father and is threatening you and Kai, I will rip him in shreds with my bare hands. And I don’t give a fuck if this is your house or the President of the United States. You need to listen up. I don’t have time to argue with you or to sweet talk you into listening to common sense. I need you to do what I tell you to when I tell you. Do you understand?”

  Ana stared at him in surprise, disbelieving. Seeing his stern implacable glare an overwhelming surge of anger swamped her. She was furious. She started to reply then turned on her heel and strode across the room. She pushed by the startled men posted at the door and slammed the door behind her. Storming down the hall, ignoring the rapid footsteps of the men following her, she darted in her room and closed and locked the door.

  She leaned against the door gasping for breath. She was stunned. How dare he treat her like this? Like a child. Ordering her to do what he said. Why didn’t he understand? Chao is her father, her father who almost died! Damnit, she wasn’t some weeping emotional woman who couldn’t handle bad news. She could handle anything Chao might say. For God’s sake, she sat by Chao’s bed for nearly twenty four hours. She’d traced every bruise, every scratch very bandage with her fingers. Memorizing them. Hating them and the men who put them there. Did Gabe think he was the only one who was angry, who cared? That he was the only one who wanted to tear the perpetrators apart? It was clear Gabe was accustomed to giving orders. She was amazed at how all his men, big, tough men, never questioned him. They immediately did as he ordered. Well, Gabe McKenna was about to learn that not everyone was at his beck and call.

  She paced round and round her room from the bedroom to the sun room and back again. A dizzying repetitive circle that didn’t calm her. The more she thought about Gabe’s peremptory order, the angrier she got. After many long minutes there was a knock at her door.

  “Ana, open the door.”

  When she didn’t respond, Gabe tried the door but it was locked.

  He repeated, “Ana, please open the door. I know you are upset. I need to talk to you.” He waited for a moment. “Ana, I’m going to have to leave for a while. We need to follow up on information we received. I want to talk to you before I go.”

  Gabe ran his fingers thorough his hair in frustration. After another long moment, he said firmly, “Ana. The door. Open it. Now.”

  At her continued silence Gabe’s anger sparked. Goddamnit. An irrational woman with a tyrannical temper was not what he needed now. He shook his head as much in disgust as anger. Damnit, he thought with a grim smile, at some point he was going to enforce his waterfall rules. It was clear how this little spitfire had controlled her father and brother and probably everyone else at this ranch. He could see it now. A temper tantrum, a stormy silence brought them to heel every time. Penelope was right. Ana was incorrigible. He never thought he’d agree with Penelope but some discipline would have gone a long way. He thought with a snort, it wasn’t too late. His fingertips itched to get his hands on her. Heaving a deep frustrated sigh, he murmured. Later, Princess. You best be prepared.

  He turned to Emil and Davy and motioned them to follow him.

  At a distance from her door, he stopped and confronted his men.

  “Look, fellows, several of us need to leave. Not sure when we’ll be back. Probably late.” Nodding to Ana’s door, he said, “She’s angry but also scared and upset. We need to give her a little room. But keep a close eye on her. She can go to her father’s room but that’s it. I will arrange to have her dinner brought to her room. I don’t want her leaving this floor. Understand?”

  The men nodded in agreement.

  Gabe handed Emil a note. An ironic grin stole across his face. “I had a feeling she might not wish to speak to me. When she deigns to reenter her realm, give her this. And be careful, she may look delicate, but she has claws a grizzly would be proud of.”

  The three men shared a rueful chuckle then Gabe left to join the others.

  ~~~

  Ana pressed her hands against her ears to block out the sound of his voice. She threw herself down on her bed. After a few moments she fell into an exhausted sleep, blocking out the mix of anger and fear crowding her.

  When she woke, it was dark. She was surprised to see that several hours had passed. She jumped up and went to her bathroom. Shuddering at her puffy eyes, she washed her face and did the best she could to wipe away any signs of tears.

  Seeing the two large men by her door, she tossed her head and walked by them without speaking. Damn, why didn’t he just put her in prison? Two other men she remembered as Pete and Carter were standing outside her father’s room. She nodded and swept past them into her father’s room closing the door behind her. A single lamp lit the chambers. Through the dim light she saw Quitin standing at a distance from her father’s bed. She motioned to him.

  In the solarium she turned to the diminutive Chinese man
and spoke softly.

  “Where is everyone?”

  Quitin kept his eyes on the floor.

  “The big men left several hours ago. They had a message. I am watching your father until Madam Ling returns.”

  “Where is Kai?”

  “Your brother went with Mr. Gabe and the others.”

  In some perverse way, the fact that Kai went with Gabe and the others reignited her anger. Of course, she thought with a sneer. Kai was a man, not a disobedient emotional female.

  Turning back to Quitin, she said, “You may leave now. I will stay with my father until Madam Ling arrives.”

  When he hesitated, Ana knew Gabe had likely given him orders as well.

  Her voice was curt.

  “Please do as I say, Quitin. Go. Now.”

  Quitin started then bowed low and shuffled out of the room.

  Ana stood by her father’s bed relieved to see that he was sleeping soundly. The healers must have given him more medicine. He was breathing softly. The lines on his face carved by the pain, were less pronounced. She gave him a gentle kiss then sunk down in the big chair beside the bed. She forced herself to clear her mind, rid herself of the anger that was crushing her, making it hard to breathe. Instead she focused on her father’s face, thanking every god she’d ever prayed to that he had not died.

  She didn’t know how long she sat in the chair a thousand thoughts swirling through her brain, when she remembered it was Monday night. With a satisfied grunt, she thought about her secret, the one she’d kept even from Kai. When she first learned that Gabe was the Ace Angel, and before she remembered the womanizing part of his legend, she’d been awed. Since she was sixteen years old she’d been infatuated with poker. She loved the challenge of it. She was certain that she had a gift. A way of seeing the cards as mathematical formulas that fascinated her. When Gabe had laughed at her assertion, she’d been tempted to tell him about her Monday night secret soirées. But given his arrogance she’d refused to embarrass herself further. Let him think she was a sheltered know nothing. Some day she would play him and show him he wasn’t the only ace.

  Somehow she had kept her secret. For two years now, every first Monday of the month she snuck out and joined a private game at Shorty’s. The first several times she disguised herself in her stable boys garb but after several weeks she revealed herself to the shocked table. Seeing the heiress to the largest fortune in the valley at their table, the veteran poker players saw the advantage of keeping her secret. They knew that any bet she made could be backed up in gold if necessary. They never had to press the point. Eighty percent of the time Ana was the night’s big winner. For two years the players had been the same, guarding her privacy, charmed by the lovely young woman who regularly stripped them of their dignity and their money. They loved her in spite of it.

  As Ana rested in her chair reveling as she always did in this other outrageous side of her, the side that even her father and brother didn’t know, she wished she dared slip away tonight. Scoffing at how unlikely that was given that she was guarded like a princess in a medieval tower, she had to be content with the memory of the illicit pleasure she felt every time she snuck away. And that was when it hit her. The elusive thought that she had been chasing all day long. The memory that cold be important to finding her father’s attacker. She leapt out of the chair, her heart pounding with excitement. She remembered now. It was a passing reference, lost in the horror of what followed. At the waterfall, Marty referred to the poker game. That he’d heard Eli and Slade say she was quite the little poker player. Why hadn’t she thought about that before? Eli and Slade, two of the regulars in the game, had left her father’s and went to work for Peter Harcourt. And been replaced at their ranch with Marty and Jake? Remembering Peter’s fury on the balcony, her head buzzed. God, was there a connection? What did it mean? Anything? And if it didn’t why had the hidden memory been haunting her all day. She stopped rooted to the spot as the realization flooded her. The only people who could tell her the truth were Eli and Slade. And she knew exactly where they were tonight. At the poker game.

  ~~

  Chapter 26

  She struggled with the implausible idea. Did she dare? In a split second her excitement crashed. How could she? There had to be twenty guards surrounding the villa. There was no way she could sneak out. Could she convince one of them to let her go? Go with her? Maybe. She had to think. There must be a way.

  “Miss Ana? Are you all right?”

  Ana whirled to see Madam Ling standing in the doorway frowning at her. Oh God, was she talking out loud again? Had she said something? She was rattled, shaken. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself.

  “No, I am fine, Madam Ling. I’m glad you are here. My father seems to be resting comfortably.”

  “Yes, Miss Ana. I expect him to sleep through the night. Mr. Gabe arranged for his men to take shifts watching him. He wanted you to be able to sleep in your own bed tonight.”

  Ana couldn’t quash her irritation. Damnit, did he have to run everything including where she slept?

  “He did, did he?”

  Even as she spoke, she recognized the arrangement could give her cover.

  She saw that Madam Ling misunderstood her irritated response when she and quickly added, “One of the healers will be in the room at all times. You don’t have to worry, Miss Ana. If we need you, we will come and get you immediately.”

  Ana nodded. “Thank you, madam. I appreciate everything you are doing. Please come and get me if he wakes. No matter what time it is.”

  “I will, dear. But we gave Master Chao medication that will help him sleep until morning. That is what he needs now.”

  Assuming composure she didn’t feel Ana went to her father’s bedside and kissed his cheek. She whispered to him that she loved him and then squeezed his hand asking his forgiveness in advance for what she planned to do.

  “Good night, Madam Ling.”

  They exchanged formal bows and Ana hurried from the room. She needed to get to her chambers. She needed to be alone. She had to think. Turning the corner she almost ran into her aunt. Penelope jumped back with a shrill cry as if she had seen a ghost. Ana frowned. “I’m..I apologize, Aunty. I didn’t see you coming.”

  To her surprise, Penelope grasped her arm and gasped, “Is he all right? “

  Ana was startled by her aunt’s appearance. She looked disheveled, unkempt. Without her rouges and lip paints and fancy clothes she looked like the old woman she would soon become. Wisps of grey hair stuck out from all sides of her usually tightly contained chignon. Her eyes were wide, glassy. She seemed shaky. If Ana didn’t know better she would think that her aunt had been drinking.

  Ana tried to release her arm.

  “My father is sleeping, Auntie. I expect that he will sleep through the night.’

  Her aunt visibly trembled. “But..but is he all right?”

  “Do you mean, will he live?”

  The frazzled woman snapped, “Yes, you foolish girl. Of course that is what I mean!”

  Ana was startled, frankly puzzled by her aunt’s response. Penelope made no secret of her distain for Chao. Her concern was unexpected.

  Penelope’s face flushed and a closer breath confirmed that her unsteadiness was likely caused by too much port.

  She clutched Ana’s arm and peered in her face as if she was looking for an answer Ana was hiding. “It’s his fault. You know that don’t you? You can’t deny it. He caused this.”

  Ana forcibly removed her aunt’s hand from her arm.

  “I don’t understand what you are saying, auntie. Are you blaming my father because someone tried to kill him?”

  “Penelope shrieked. “ No, no. Not Chao. That dreadful McKenna man! It is his fault! It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Look at everything that has happened since he came here. He is to blame.”

  Ana forced herself to be calm, not react to her aunt’s outrageous suggestions. She was troubled by the fear she saw in Penelope’s eyes. Sh
e looked as though she was bordering on hysteria. Blessedly she heard Penelope’s personal maid call out.

  Brigit was a large buxom Irish woman. She was the only maid who had lasted more than a month serving Penelope personally

  “Ah there you are, dearie. I was wonderin where you be getting off too. Come along now.” The red haired freckled woman wrapped a strong arm around the frail woman and led her down the hall. She gave Ana a knowing wink over her aunt’s shoulder. “I be thinkin our nice little lady here has had too much excitement these last few days.”

  Shaken by her aunt’s appearance and her need to be alone, Ana scurried away. Turning the corner she almost ran into the big pink-cheeked man they called Davy. Behind her another large man appeared. They effectively pinned her between them.

  “Excuse me, Miss Ana,” Davy said. “May I ask where you are going?”

  Ana raised her chin and glared at him. “You may ask me anything you wish. It is unlikely I will answer.”

  Davy smiled a sweet smile but his eyes were hard. “You need to go to your chambers.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Um, yes, Mamn. Gabe was concerned.” Davy’s face pinked even more but his voice was firm. “We have fewer men here tonight. Gabe wants you to stay in your room.”

  Ana couldn’t believe what she heard. This truly was the final straw.

  “He told you that I am to stay in my room? He said that?” Her voice was shaking. Ana was so angry she could barely speak. She drew herself up and although she only came to his armpit, he stepped back.

  “Excuse me! Do you know who I am?”

  Davy flushed but took a step closer and spoke politely. “Yes, Mamn, I do. You are the woman Gabe wants in her room tonight.”

  Ana moved toward the door, refusing to show him her rage.