Only in My Arms

by Jo Goodman

  Mary raised her head slowly, trying to make out Ryder's features. She expected his silver eyes would glow in the dark. They didn't. "If this is how your uncle gives tours of his wine cellar," she said, "I don't think I approve."

  Ryder managed to draw a rattling breath and to chuckle at the same time. He had no difficulty finding her face. He patted her cheek lightly. "You've gained some weight."

  She snorted. "Anna Leigh's on top of me." Mary unceremoniously shifted her position and pushed the younger woman off her. "Better?" she asked as Anna Leigh's landing caused the beauty to emit an unladylike grunt.

  "Almost," Ryder said. "If you would just take your elbow out of my ribs."

  "Oh!" Mary pushed herself upright and off Ryder. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. It wasn't possible. The blackness around them was every bit as deep and penetrating as it had been in the Cavern of Lost Souls. That experience had prepared her for this. She didn't fight against what she couldn't change.

  Ryder sat up, drawing his legs toward his chest. He had some pain in his right knee, but nothing was broken. "You're all right?" he asked Mary.

  "A few bruises. I'll be fine."

  "Miss Hamilton?"

  There was a small groan in response.

  "Not doing as well," said Mary. She reached out in the direction of Anna Leigh's whimpers, found the other woman's shoulder, and gave it a firm shake. "Rise and shine, Miss Hamilton," she said sweetly. "The senator's decided you're no better than the rest of us."

  Anna Leigh found enough strength to push Mary's hand off her shoulder. "Get away from me."

  Mary was happy to oblige. She brushed her hands off smartly. "She's as good as she ever was," she said to Ryder.

  "Don't start a catfight," he warned her. "I can't see to separate the two of you." Before Mary could take issue with that, Ryder asked, "What about Rivers?"

  "I don't know where he is."

  "I don't think he ever made it to the bottom." He held Mary back when he felt her start to move. "I'll check on him," he said. Ryder got stiffly to his feet. "Don't let me step on you."

  Mary pulled in her arms and legs, giving Ryder a wide berth as he searched for the stairs. She heard him stub his foot on something. Anna Leigh's shrill expletive helped her identify what it was. "Get out of his way, Miss Hamilton," said Mary. "He's trying to help your friend."

  Anna Leigh pushed herself upright, curling her legs under her. "What's happened to Davis?" she demanded. "Is he—"

  Ryder didn't let her finish. "He's out cold. Not dead." He dragged Davis off the steps and laid him on the floor. "He's right here, if you want to tend to him," he told her.

  Anna Leigh wasn't of a mind to minister to her unconscious lover. Going to the origin of Ryder's voice, she crawled to the steps and stood. Before Ryder knew her intentions she was scrambling up the stairs to the door. She tried the handle first, and when it wouldn't turn she began pounding on the wooden panels. "Wilson!" she cried. "Let me out of here! Wilson!" She paused long enough to listen for a response. When none was forthcoming she began again. "You can hear me! I know you can! Let me out!"

  The pounding continued for several minutes. It was interspersed with strident demands to be released. As Anna Leigh's banging became weaker, her demands turned to tearful pleas. Eventually she just slid down the length of the door and cried quietly.

  Ryder wasn't moved, and he didn't expect that his uncle was either. "I don't think he cares much what happens to you," he said.

  Anna Leigh stayed where she was at the top of the steps. "Shut up."

  Mary got to her feet and brushed herself off. The brick floor of the wine cellar was too cool for sitting on. "Ryder?"

  "Here, Mary." He held out his hand. After a few misses, she managed to find him. They sat down together on one of the lower steps. "I suppose you want an explanation."

  "I suppose I do," she said tartly. "You seem to know a lot more about what's going on here than I do."

  He called up the stairs to Anna Leigh, "You'll be certain to correct any mistakes I make, won't you?"

  She sniffed. "Go to hell, half-breed."

  Ryder felt Mary stiffen. "Let it go," he said. "It's a compliment, not an insult." They both knew Anna Leigh hadn't meant it that way, but Ryder learned of Mary's acceptance from her small sigh.

  "Very well," she said softly. "But you can't protect her forever."

  He gave her hand a small squeeze. At their feet he heard Davis Rivers stir once. The lieutenant grew still again. He wasn't going to wake anytime soon. "You don't understand either, do you, Anna Leigh?" Ryder said politely. "I believe you and Rivers here thought the senator was going to give you some of the credit for my capture. The lieutenant might even have received another promotion out of it. No one else can say he captured Ryder McKay twice."

  Although Anna Leigh was silent, Ryder suspected he had her full attention. "Did he tell you why he changed his mind before he pushed you down the steps?" There was no answer. "No? Well, I suppose there wasn't time."

  Anna Leigh waited, but Ryder didn't say anything else. She ticked out thirty more seconds in her mind before she finally surrendered in frustration. "Bastard! What do you think you know?"

  The silence had been so complete that Mary actually jumped at Anna Leigh's outburst. She had no difficulty understanding it. She was on tenterhooks herself.

  Ryder didn't raise his voice but spoke in a matter-of-fact, conversational tone. "The senator knows about your affair with the lieutenant, Miss Hamilton."

  It was on the tip of Anna Leigh's sharp tongue to call him a liar when she realized there was no explanation for how he knew about the affair. Calling him a liar would only confirm his statement. Perhaps he was only guessing. "What are you talking about?" she asked with deliberate coolness. "What affair?"

  Mary had no patience for the woman's prevarication. She turned her head in Anna Leigh's direction. "Don't try to be too clever," she said dryly. "It only undermines you. Ryder and I saw you with the lieutenant at your home. There was no mistaking that you're lovers."

  Anna Leigh raised her hand to her mouth, but not in time to stifle her gasp.

  "The question in my mind is," Ryder said casually, "whether you were lovers before you were involved in the Colter Canyon raid or if it came later in the celebration of the success of your scheme." When Anna Leigh didn't answer, Ryder went on. "I suspect it was later. Perhaps since you returned to Washington. It would have been difficult for you to act on any attraction you felt for each other at Fort Union. Too many observers, including my uncle. The news about you and Rivers came as a surprise to him. He never suspected that you'd taken another lover."

  Mary blinked widely. "Another lover!" Her voice blossomed with surprise. "You mean your uncle and Anna Leigh."

  Ryder's affirmative response was drowned out as Anna Leigh began pounding on the door again. "Wilson! Let me out of here! They're wrong about Davis and me. They lied to you! Wilson!" The door rattled with the force of her blows, but it didn't budge. No answer came from the other side. "I'm telling you, Wilson! Ryder and the bitch lied. I'm not having an affair with Davis. I'm not!"

  Mary waited for Anna Leigh's pounding to subside before she said, "The senator might find your protests more compelling if you didn't use the lieutenant's Christian name."

  Anna Leigh practically hurled herself down the stairs. Her move was so unexpected that Ryder had to push Mary aside in order to take Anna Leigh's flailing blows himself. He grappled with the Hamilton woman for several seconds before he managed to get her arms crossed in front of her and to force her wrists back. She quieted once she realized Ryder was securing her with her own arms. The more she struggled, the tighter his hold got.

  As soon as she was calm and Ryder was certain Mary was out of Anna Leigh's immediate reach, he set Anna Leigh down hard on one of the bottom steps. "Stay there," he said. "Until I tell you to move. I won't be so gentle the next time you try to attack Mary."

  Anna Leigh tossed her head
disdainfully. It was an ineffective gesture in the dark cellar.

  "Do you understand, Miss Hamilton?" he asked.

  "Yes," she said tightly.

  "Mary?" Ryder said.

  "Hmm?"

  "Behave yourself."

  "All right," she said pleasantly.

  Ryder stepped over the lieutenant's body again to move away from the stairs. He found Mary, took her hand, and led her out of Anna Leigh's reach once more. His shoulder bumped one of the wooden wine racks. "Here," he said. "Sit right here. You can lean against the rack."

  Mary thought better of protesting that the floor was cold. She bunched her train and bustle under her and sat down. Her fingers idly traced the shapes of the smooth bricks by following their edges as Ryder spoke to Anna Leigh again. Mary's nails began to chip away at loose bits of mortar.

  "It doesn't appear my uncle is going to let you out," he said. "I think Mary's right. He doesn't believe your story."

  "He'll change his mind," Anne Leigh said. "You'll see."

  Mary gave her credit for the confidence she forced into her tone. Only the slight quaver at the end betrayed the woman's fear that it was misplaced.

  "Tell me about Colter Canyon," Ryder said. "It will pass the time."

  "Oh?" she said archly. "You mean there's something you don't know."

  "There are a few things," Ryder admitted easily.

  Anna Leigh felt blood trickle from her lip again. She dabbed at it with her handkerchief, cursing Mary silently. "Why should I?" she said sullenly. "What do I gain?"

  "Your freedom."

  She hadn't expected that. "You mean you can get out of here?"

  "Yes."

  "Then do it," she demanded. "What are you waiting for?"

  Ryder didn't answer immediately. He felt Mary lean her head against his thigh. He stroked her hair lightly. She had trusted him so completely, had been so certain of his ability to protect her that she had been fearless in facing the senator's gun. If she weren't so curious for the truth about Colter Canyon, Ryder believed she was nearly comfortable enough to fall asleep against his leg.

  It was different with Anna Leigh. Even in the darkness, Ryder could sense her agitation. "Waiting is not always a means to an end," he said quietly. "It has its own rewards."

  Anna Leigh snorted. "What does that mean?" she asked sharply. "Some Apache nonsense, no doubt."

  Mary felt Ryder's shrug and smiled to herself. Anna Leigh would never understand about the waiting. "You'd do well to answer him, Miss Hamilton," she said. "Ryder's rarely in a hurry. We'll grow very old here. Just as Senator Stillwell intends."

  Ryder doubted that was all his uncle intended, but he didn't point it out. "Colter Canyon," he said. "In exchange for your freedom."

  Anna Leigh carefully stretched her right leg. She could just touch Davis Rivers's body with her toe. She nudged him several times but got no response. There would be no help from that quarter. He hadn't even armed himself, so there was no weapon she could steal. More disgusted than distressed, Anna Leigh drew back her leg. Her skirt rustled softly. "What is it you want to know?"

  "How my uncle planned it," said Ryder.

  Anna Leigh's short laughter was without humor. "Wilson said you suspected it was my father's scheme. What changed your mind?"

  "My uncle did."

  "Wilson? How?"

  "When he said he could arrange for you and the lieutenant to come here. He could offer no explanation. Only the certainty that it could be done. Mary said from the beginning that it didn't make sense. She was right... and wrong. Mary's only mistake was her refusal to change her premises. It didn't make sense if my uncle was innocent, but if he was involved..." His voice trailed off and he let Anna Leigh and Mary draw their own conclusions.

  Mary raised her head, disappointed that she hadn't guessed it for herself. "Then it was Senator Stillwell who arranged for your assignment—on his own, not with Warren Hamilton's encouragement."

  "That's right," Ryder said. "He lied about that and a few other things."

  "Your uncle's very good at lying," Anna Leigh interjected bitterly. "I'm not so easily fooled as your dear Mary." The last three words were iced heavily with scorn. "You were right. He deceived Davis and me this evening. We did expect to be part of your capture, not our own." She leaned back against the step behind her. "Your uncle and I were lovers for almost a year before Colter Canyon was ever mentioned. I knew Wilson had power and influence in Western policies and the Indian campaigns, but I had no idea he could implement something as stunning as the Colter Canyon raid." There was the subtle rise of excitement in her voice as she went on. "Watching him maneuver people like pawns... he was brilliant. I've never seen anything like it." She suddenly seemed to recognize that enthusiasm and admiration were not called for. Now she spoke with more deliberation, carefully modulating her voice. "He didn't confide his plans right away. He wasn't so certain of me in the beginning of our relationship. That took some time on my part... a bit of maneuvering equal to his. I never knew the full scope of what he intended. Never guessed that he meant for so many soldiers to die."

  Mary felt Ryder's hand on her shoulder, cautioning her against interrupting. She doubted Ryder believed Anna Leigh was so innocent. She certainly didn't. But he wanted to hear all from her.

  "My father could never have engineered such a plan," she said. "I don't think it would have been a completely moral judgment on his part. He just wouldn't have had the stomach for it." She paused. "Or the brains, for that matter."

  Mary's own stomach became a trifle queasy as she listened to Anna Leigh speak with such disrespect and disregard.

  "Wilson Stillwell called in all debts to put his plan together. Most of the men he had assigned to Fort Union felt they owed him some favor. Of course that was only a small reason they joined him. There was the gold, after all." She drew her legs up, hugging them as the cool dampness of the cellar sent a shiver through her. "My father and I were there as part of Wilson's plan," she said. "Not that Papa was aware. As far as he knew his reasons for being there were perfectly legitimate. I understood that Wilson was setting up another scapegoat in the event that you did not take to the role so obligingly."

  Ryder's deep chuckle was mirthless. "I was everything you could have hoped for."

  Protected by the unrelieved blackness, Anna Leigh smiled, remembering. "Yes," she said. "Yes, you were. I really was intrigued by you, you know. I'd heard so much about you. Some from the women at the fort, much more from your uncle. He thinks of you as a half-breed. He really does. All those years among the Apache. It's as if you're one of them in his mind." Anna Leigh's head tilted to one side. She brushed away the tangled hair that clung to her neck. "It's hard to say how different things might have been if you hadn't pushed aside my attentions. You might have been killed during the raid. Who knows, I could have saved your life."

  "But then, if my uncle's plan had unraveled, if it had been discovered the Chiricahua were not behind the raid, your father stood to take the blame. I think you saw a way to make certain I stayed alive and was fingered with the responsibility."

  Anna Leigh was silent for a moment. "My father had been critical of Washington's policies on the Indians of late. He was recognized among his peers to be more sympathetic. Wilson and my father... they were known to argue publicly—and privately. I think Wilson saw Papa as a patsy for his scheme long before he recognized you were a better choice." She tossed her disheveled hair defiantly. "And what if I did help Wilson to see it? Better you than my father."

  "You could have turned everyone in," Ryder said with quiet conviction. "But then, there was the gold."

  Anna Leigh sighed. "I suspect you know me too well," she said. "Betraying your uncle wasn't something I could do."

  Mary couldn't help herself. "You seemed to have changed your mind."

  Anna Leigh's voice was sharp. "He's the one who deceived me," she snapped.

  "I was referring to your affair with Lieutenant Rivers," Mary said. "That's the
betrayal that made him push you down these stairs. Senator Stillwell wasn't very interested in what we had uncovered about Colter Canyon until we mentioned your tryst with the lieutenant. That engaged his attention. He saw us as a way to get back at you."

  Anna Leigh shrugged. "If he thinks about it he'll know it didn't mean anything. Why would I care for Davis when Wilson can give me so much more? I have no intention of being a lieutenant's wife."

  "Even with all the gold you have?" asked Ryder. "That certainly would smooth out life's little bumps."

  "All the gold?" Anna Leigh said scornfully. "What do you suppose was my portion when it was all said and done? Not much, I can tell you. Wilson had the ore shipped and processed into bullion. That's not something that can be readily used as legal tender. It will be a while before anyone can spend it."

  "But in the meantime you can dream about what it will buy."

  "Your uncle took the lion's share, and the rest was split between all the men."

  "That's only fair," Ryder said, his voice suddenly taut. "They had to kill their brothers for it."

  Anna felt the vibration of Ryder's tightly strung anger as if it were a wave in the cool, moist air. She found herself recoiling to avoid a slap that never came. "They knew what they had to do for it," she rejoined. "They accepted the assignment. Most of them welcomed it. You know for yourself that none of them flinched when the time came. No one was left alive who could say what had happened in Colter Canyon except for the men who had done the deed." She raised her chin. The brilliant sparkle of her blue eyes was lost in the darkness. "And none of them are talking."

  "You certainly are," Mary said. She rested her head against the wooden wine rack and closed her eyes. So it was true, she thought. Anna Leigh had confirmed the horrible truth of Colter Canyon. One bluecoat against another. Not for flag or freedom, but for gold. Her nails continued to trace the mortar maze between the bricks in the cellar floor. Struggling for control she opened her eyes again. "But then I suppose you still believe the senator will come to his senses and take your side." Anna Leigh didn't have to respond. Mary knew it was the truth. She touched Ryder's thigh. "We have all the answers," she said. "What do we do now?"