Spellbound Trilogy: The Wind Casts No Shadow, Heart of the Jaguar, Shadows in the Mirror

by Jeanne Rose

  "Then why did she purposely drive me away?" Sam asked, for the first time realizing that's exactly what Louisa had done. "She bragged about other men!"

  Chaco cursed under his breath and said, "She's afraid."

  "Bull. She's the bravest woman I've ever known."

  "With her life, yes, but not with what's inside her. Not with her love. Did you say anything about a future together?"

  Sam thought a moment, remembered admitting he didn't know where he wanted to live or what he wanted to do. He hadn't meant without her, but he hadn't exactly put it to her that way. "No, but –"

  "Or did you tell her how you wanted to be a part of her life?"

  "Not in so many words –"

  Chaco cut him off again. "A woman needs to hear those things. Did you even tell her you love her?"

  "Of course I did." He had, hadn't he? Or had that been six years ago, after which he'd gone off and left her? "I'm not really sure I used those exact words. I was thinking them, though."

  "You are a fool, Sam Strong."

  Sam couldn't argue. "So what the hell do I do now?"

  "Depends on what you want."

  "I want Louisa, man," he said without thinking. "I love her. Always have. . ."

  And then he remembered what he hadn't told her. All the life drained out of him and he slumped back against the chair. Silence stretched between them and when Sam finally looked up at Chaco, he was startled by the empathy he saw in the other man's eyes.

  "You're not the only man with a secret hell," Chaco told him. "Life isn't always pretty and it sure isn't always fair, but it has a way of balancing things out in the end if you let it."

  Sam swallowed hard. Chaco undoubtedly had been referring to his own background as a gunslinger. And, if he didn't know better, Sam would swear that Chaco had just read his mind, that he knew...

  "If you really want Louisa, then give her a chance to understand."

  "If she'll even speak to me."

  "Oh, she will." For the first time since he'd entered the saloon, Chaco lightened up and actually smiled. "You might not like everything you hear, though."

  "I'll chance it." He had to. Without Louisa, he had no life. "Are you going back to the ranch soon?"

  "Soon as I leave here."

  "Then would you give Louisa a message? Ask her to meet me at the canyon in say...three hours."

  "Around six."

  Sam nodded. That would give him time enough to sober up and make himself presentable before riding out to meet her. It would give him some time to work up his courage, as well, for he had to make certain no more secrets lay between them.

  "You do right by Louisa," Chaco warned as he stood and adjusted the brim of his black wide-brimmed hat. "Or you'll answer to me."

  "If I don't do right by her, you go ahead and shoot me dead," Sam said fervently. "Because without Louisa, my life won't be worth living."

  Watching Chaco leave, Sam knew that if he messed up this time, he would never have another chance.

  SHE WOULD GIVE Sam one more chance and that would be that, Louisa thought, hoping he wouldn't disappoint her yet again. Not that she had much faith. He was a stickler when his duty was involved, but somehow he didn't seem to know how to handle relationships. She'd agreed to the meeting only to please Chaco and Frances, both of whom had threatened to drag her to the canyon if she refused to go on her own.

  She couldn't believe her friends were worrying over her love life when their own children were sick. Actually Phillip was on the road to recovery thanks to Magdalena's herbs, but now little Amelia was running a terrible fever and seemed to be much worse than her brother had been.

  Louisa put her own worry over the children away for the moment. Having arrived at the canyon a bit early, she decided to work some more with El Tigre, even though she figured she wouldn't be alone for long. She had the feeling someone was following her, yet she hadn't been able to spot anyone when she'd tried. Undoubtedly her nerves were getting to her and she "sensed" Sam's imminent arrival.

  The feeling wouldn't go away.

  Louisa took one last look around for any sign of a rider. Not a cloud of dust in sight. Removing the split rails, she whistled, the piercing sound bouncing off the canyon's walls. The stallion was already on his way toward her even as she set foot inside.

  As usual, he took her mind off more serious matters and lightened her heart. Acting ferocious, he came straight toward her, then feinted at the last minute.

  "You don't scare me, you rascal. Haven't you figured it out yet?" she asked.

  Snorting, he circled her, then came to a complete stop within reaching distance. Louisa made over El Tigre for a minute before producing the hackamore from where she'd tucked it under her belt. She bridled him quickly and was in the midst of saddling the stallion when she finally heard another horse's hooves clip-clopping the sandy earth outside the canyon. She stiffened. Her heartbeat speeded up and her breath came in short spurts, making her angry. More than ever, she wanted to be in control.

  And so when she heard soft footfalls some distance behind her, Louisa ignored them. Not wanting to make a fool of herself, she needed a minute to get her emotions in hand, and to that end fussed over the stallion, who threw up his head, rolled his eyes, and whinnied nervously as though he'd never met Sam before, no less been ridden by him.

  "Calm down," she said soothingly, running a comforting hand up the horse's neck. Sam could just wait until she was good and ready to talk to him.

  "He seems pretty wild."

  Louisa flew around at the lightly accented voice that did not belong to Sam Strong. Her eyes widened at the self-assured smile she encountered.

  "Tezco Baca!" Today the lean and fiercely good-looking man was wearing a cow-puncher's outfit – shirt, vest and chaps over his pants – all covered with red-brown dust as though he'd been riding long and hard. "What are you doing here?"

  "I followed you from the ranch."

  So she hadn't been imagining things. "Why?" she asked. "And I thought you'd left the area."

  "I came back...for you."

  "What?" She laughed. "You're gonna get a job on one of the local ranches so you can court me?"

  He laughed and shook his head. "My band is riding for central Mexico and I'm taking you with."

  A small part of Louisa was flattered – she wasn't blind to the man's spectacular looks – but a bigger part was wary. He seemed serious, as though he'd made up his mind and she had nothing to say about it.

  Taking a step closer to El Tigre in case she needed a fast getaway, she said, "I don't think so."

  "Then think again," he said, his soft words in contrast with the striking hard planes of his face. "You dazzle me, Louisa Janks. Not only your beauty, but your inner fires." He moved closer, making the stallion dance nervously. "When I saw you ride in the charreada, I recognized a kindred spirit. I knew you were the woman for me. And when you asked me to dance, I was certain you knew it, also."

  Stroking the stallion's neck to keep him calmer than she herself was feeling, Louisa forced herself to relax a bit. She'd been warned her flirting was going to get her into trouble someday. Well, trouble had arrived. But she was used to dealing with infatuated ranch hands. Though handling this man might be a bit more difficult – he was in truth a real man rather than the boys who normally courted her – surely she could manage it.

  "I'm flattered, I really am. But I love New Mexico –"

  "You can learn to love Old Mexico, as well," he said, deftly cutting off her argument. "The differences are not so great as you may think. And after I finish a particular job I must do – one that will give us great wealth," he added, as if the lure of money would have the power to persuade her, "perhaps you can convince me to return here."

  His sheer stubbornness and his determined expression made her edgy. "That won't be necessary since I'm not leaving."

  "I would prefer you come of your own free will."

  Thinking on the alternatives made Louisa's mouth go dry. "
I'm spoken for," she stated wondering if she truly was...and wondering where in the hell Sam had gotten himself to. It must be past six now.

  Tezco went on as if she hadn't interrupted. "But you will come with me if I have to tie you up to do so."

  That's all she needed to hear. Louisa made her move, placing a foot in a stirrup. Tezco moved as well. And El Tigre shied, thwarting her. She ducked Tezco, put the horse between them.

  "He'll make a fine addition to our stock," Tezco said, reaching for the stallion's bridle.

  Instinctively protective of the wild horse, Louisa lashed out at his rump, giving him a good swat as she yelled, "Hi-yah!"

  The stallion shot straight for the unimpeded opening to the canyon, and Louisa was directly on his hooves. But Tezco was faster. A running tackle had them both on the ground, rolling, Louisa eating dust.

  "I see I shall have to keep more than an eye on you until you give me your trust," Tezco murmured, his lips too close to her ear for comfort.

  He hauled Louisa to her feet. Then she kicked at him and struck him over and over, though her furious struggle was for naught. Like the ancient warrior she had imagined him to be at the fandango, Tezco was incredibly strong and fit. It didn't seem to cross his mind that she might get away from him. Not that she stopped trying, not even when he dragged her to Defiant where he produced leather thongs.

  "Damn it! You can't do this! You're gonna have a couple of gunslingers on your tail!" If nothing else.

  "Gunslingers? Well, they will not catch me. I have been pursued by the best of Diaz's army, yet got away."

  Which didn't lift Louisa's spirits a bit. She aimed another vicious kick at Tezco before he tied her hands behind her and lifted her to the gelding's back.

  "It would be better not to tire yourself out," he told her, deftly avoiding yet another blow, this from her booted toe. "We have a long journey ahead of us."

  Not if she could help it. Using her legs, Louisa signaled Defiant to move off, away from the bastard. The gelding responded immediately, but so did Tezco. He grabbed Defiant's reins and soothed him in Spanish, then mounted his own horse. The look he gave her was not exactly amicable. He tacked a notice of some kind to the post.

  Before she could ask about it, he warned her, "And it will also be better if you do not try anything so foolish again. I will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe."

  Thinking that sounded like a threat, Louisa furiously decided she would do whatever was necessary to get away at the smallest opening. She could only hope the stallion would run true to form and go after his mares. Someone on the ranch was sure to sight him running free. His being all tacked up would alert them to her being in trouble of some sort.

  Then Chaco and Adolpho would be sure to come after her.

  Looking ahead, she saw several other riders in the distance. Waiting for them? Her heart sank. Tezco had said something about a band of men. How many? She counted four, but there could be others. If Chaco and Adolpho rode out after her, they were already outnumbered. If one of the men she cared about was killed because of her...

  No, because of Sam! she amended.

  Where the hell was he? This was his fault, she decided. He'd asked her to meet him and then didn't even show up on time. As they drew closer to the waiting horseman, she cursed the day she'd met him.

  If it weren't for Sam Strong she wouldn't be in this predicament.

  SAM FOUND HIMSELF in an honest-to-God predicament when he spotted the black stallion running hell-bent-for-leather away from the canyon. It had taken him longer than he'd figured on to get sober and cleaned up. He was nearly a half-hour late and Louisa was probably doing a slow burn waiting for him. On the other hand, if she knew he spotted her runaway horse and let him go, she would be even madder than a hornet.

  And when he realized the horse was fully tacked...

  Heart in his throat, praying Louisa hadn't done something so foolish that she'd finally gotten herself thrown and hurt bad, he went after the horse, crossing directly in its path in an attempt to cut him off. The roan was no match for El Tigre in sheer speed, but Sam was counting on the stallion knowing him and feeling some irresistible urge to obey.

  The black slowed but ducked his head and tried to go around Sam who uttered a soothing, "Whoa, boy."

  And although the roan wasn't the fastest horse running flat out, he'd make a good cow-puncher's mount. He could twist and turn with the best of them. Sam was able to play with the stallion, thwarting his attempts to continue in his preferred direction, finally getting close enough to the wild beast to reach out and grab the trailing reins.

  Furious, El Tigre spun on him, shrieked and started to rear. A good hard tug on the reins changed his mind. The stallion settled, snorting, sucking in air through his nose the second Sam let up the pressure. Though he sure as hell didn't look happy, he seemed resigned.

  "That's better," Sam said, pulling alongside the stallion and maneuvering the roan next to him. Before El Tigre knew what he was about, Sam heaved himself onto his back. The stallion danced and Sam sat deep in the saddle, murmuring, "Steady, boy, steady." He even patted the lathered neck in an effort to calm him. Riding Louisa's horse would be the fastest way to her, and Sam's gut told him he needed to be as fast as he possibly could.

  He kept his eyes on the horizon, hoping against hope to see Louisa coming toward him on Defiant in chase of the stallion. No such luck.

  El Tigre had come directly from the canyon without veering off anywhere if his tracks could be trusted. Sam followed them to the canyon's mouth where he was in for another start.

  No Defiant. No Louisa. If she'd gone after the stallion, why hadn't they crossed paths?

  Sam dismounted and tied up the horses, then took a good look at the ground. His stomach clenched at the signs of a struggle – someone with larger, deeper footprints dragging someone smaller and helpless against the greater strength.

  A large man had forced Louisa to mount Defiant, then had ridden hard, the direction opposite the ranch.

  Then he noticed the wind-tattered paper stuck to the post. Stalking the several yards to get to it, Sam felt his stomach knot. He quickly read the missive.

  Do not come after Montgomery if you value Louisa's life

  Louisa had been kidnapped.

  Furious with himself that he'd asked her to meet him out here where she had been vulnerable to attack – furious that he'd been too late to prevent it – Sam mounted El Tigre, figuring the stallion could outrun anything with four legs. But he hadn't gotten far before two sets of hoofprints became a half-dozen. The man who'd taken Louisa hadn't been alone.

  Sam stopped and stared off into the distance, horrified. Louisa the prisoner of a handful of men who were taking her to Beaufort Montgomery, a madman who sacrificed his victims by cutting out their hearts! The implications were too morbid to contemplate.

  He had to save Louisa, that was clear.

  Also clear was the knowledge that he couldn't do it alone. He could take on one man, maybe two or three with surprise on his side. But half a dozen? And if tracking became difficult, he'd lose them for sure.

  Hating to abandon the woman he loved even for a while, Sam turned El Tigre back toward the canyon where he would pick up the roan before going on to the ranch for reinforcements.

  Somehow, they would get Louisa back from the bastards who'd stolen her before they reached Montgomery, and if she would let him, Sam would spend the rest of his life making this up to her.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "I'LL GET LOUISA BACK if it's the last thing I ever do," Sam told Chaco the next morning as the crew they'd managed to gather overnight got ready to leave the de Arguello spread. Guilt sluiced through him. "If I hadn't been late, this wouldn't have happened."

  The ex-gunslinger shook his head. "There's no use placing blame, or we're all in trouble – my wife and I told her to go meet you. And Louisa was out at that corral every day as it was. Somebody with bad intentions could've happened along any time."

  Bu
t Sam refused to grant himself an excuse.

  Or the kidnappers. He was going to make the bastards pay.

  He brooded and Chaco remained silent as they packed the last boxes of ammunition. The older man looked dead tired and Sam knew the fatigue was two-fold. Not only had Chaco spent the night gathering supplies and rounding up pack animals and men, he'd also had to deal with his little daughter's life-and-death illness. The three year old was running a fever so high that a doctor was on his way from Santa Fe. A Pueblo woman skilled with medicinal herbs was attending to the girl now, while Frances Jones hovered at her child's bedside, totally distraught.

  "I'd be coming along myself, if it wasn't for Amelia," Chaco said.

  "I know."

  And Luz was in labor or the tough little Mexican Adolpho would be saddling up as well.

  "But Javier and Ben are good men. They can ride and shoot with the best of 'em."

  As well as fight over Louisa. Though happy to enlist anyone he could find, Sam had been doubtful when Chaco had told him the two youths wanted to head out on the rescue mission.

  "They'll behave," Chaco assured him. "Or else you can send them home or shoot them where they stand. I told them I gave you my permission for either."

  Sam had already informed his small posse that they'd have to take orders from an Army captain or else they could stay behind. Both Javier and Ben had soberly agreed. Eager to start, they already sat their horses as Sam finished tying a diamond hitch on one of the pack mules he was borrowing from Chaco. Both Irish and his roan had made the long journey from Arizona to New Mexico, and Sam wasn't sure they were up to another so soon. Though he had a few reservations about El Tigre's temperament, he'd decided the mustang would be a tough, sure-footed mount.

  He would need a tough mount if they were forced to track Louisa's kidnappers into the mountains, a likely possibility, considering the hoofprints he'd seen -- some shod, some not. The scum were most likely outlaws seeking refuge in the wilds or Mexicans who'd crossed over the border looking for trouble. Sam was certain they weren't Apaches. He'd seen enough of their tracks over the years to tell the difference.