“Well, well, boys, nice to see you again,” she said with a side grin.
James took a step forward. “What are you doing here?”
She headed for the door and unlocked it. “Come on in, boys, and we’ll talk inside.”
James glanced at Trevor and followed her in, along with one man who tailed him. Her other companion entered a few seconds later. They took out their guns the moment they stepped inside and pointed them at Trevor and James. James went for his hidden gun, but Sally spoke before he could slip it out.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My men are good shots, and if by some miracle you have a quicker draw, then my man who has Belle has instructions to kill her if we don’t come back in time.”
James lowered his hand slowly and stared at her with rage brewing in his veins at the thought of anyone hurting Belle.
“No one better hurt her, or I’ll kill you.”
Sally laughed. “Boy, you’ve fallen for her.” She looked at Trevor next. “So have you.” Then with a wicked, wide smile, she added, “Lucky girl.”
It suddenly hit him then like a ton of bricks, and his heart lurched into his stomach with dread and surprise. He pointed his finger at her. “You…you’re Isabelle LaRue.”
Her brow lifted, and she did a little curtsy for him like an opera singer did when she finished her performance and responded to the crowd’s applause. “The one and only.”
“How can that be?” Trevor frowned.
“LaRue is supposed to have long black hair and have a beautiful voice,” James added.
Isabelle laughed harder still. “Oh, I see the rumors I started got all the way down to Texas. Good. I started them to defuse the attention off of me.” Then she lifted her finger up and wagged it to and fro in front of them, acting like a school teacher reprimanding her students for their intolerable behavior.
“Tsk, tsk. You boys should know better than anyone else that rumors are made-up stories bored folks create to entertain themselves. More often than not, there’s as much truth in them as I can lift with my little pinky.” She finished her closing sentence by raising her tiny pinky into the air and twitching it.
The part of the rumor that she had raven hair and a beautiful voice may have been completely off, but that she was sly, ruthless, and could fool any man was right on the spot. And as he stood their motionless, pondering this over, it dawned on him she mentioned Texas. Did she figure out who they were?
If she had figured out they and Belle were lovers, then odds weighed heavily that she put two and two together and surmised they were Texas Rangers, too. But he certainly didn’t want to play into her trap any further and replied in coolness and fake ignorance. “Texas?”
She walked over to the bar and served herself a drink. She answered without lifting her gaze. “Don’t play coy with me. I know you’re Texas Rangers.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Trevor rebutted.
Anger possessed her face, and James envisioned steam coming out of her ears for how volatile she became.
“Now don’t insult my intelligence, boys. There’s nothing more I hate than a man who thinks he’s smarter than me. The moment I served you boys here at Eden’s Paradise the other night, I knew you were lawmen. Then when you told me you were workin’ on the train, well, I put two and two together and figured out the Texas Rangers were called in again.”
Holding her glass up, she took a loud gulp, then pointed a finger at them. “They didn’t outsmart me two years ago, and you haven’t outsmarted me this time, either.”
James knew denying it would serve no purpose. She mentioned her man would kill Belle if they didn’t arrive on time. Time was ticking as they stood here chatting.
Taking a deep breath, he asked, “So what is it you want from us?”
She walked over to them, placing her hand under his chin. She squeezed his cheeks and leaned in until she was just a mere inch away from his mouth and puckered her lips as she stared at his.
“You two are such handsome devils. You know, you have the most desirable lips. I’d love to…” She paused.
Revulsion rose in him as her heated breath floated over his face. He tried not to show any reaction, especially not his disgust, even though his stomach churned with vile acid and the taste in his mouth nauseated him.
Suddenly, she laughed and let go of his face and paced in a circle while waving her hands in the air. “I want you to get us into the train today, and I want you to open that safe and give us all the gold and money in it.”
“What makes you think we can bring you in, let alone break open the safe for you?” James rubbed his sore cheeks.
She sat at a table nearby, threw the glass to the other side of the room, and then slapped her hands on the table hard. Her face turned red with rage. Her movement was so unexpected her posse even jumped.
“You’re tryin’ my patience, boy. Do you think I haven’t had you followed since I found out you’re Texas Rangers?
“I know you got the job as the train’s expressmen and know the combination of the safety box on the train. I also know the bank is deliverin’ the bonds and gold this afternoon and you two are supposed to place it in the safe when it arrives. It’s the biggest amount they’ve ever transported by train.”
She sighed, getting up. “And obviously, I found out about your adventures with Belle, too. I like that girl. She has spunk. She reminds me of me a few years ago.” She walked up to Trevor this time and stared him down.
“It’s just too bad for her she got involved with you two because she got herself stuck in the middle of danger, and now you’re gonna do what I ask or she dies.”
She headed to the door as her henchmen pointed their guns for them to follow.
“You’re gonna get us on that train, and you’re gonna give us the bonds and gold.” She motioned to her men to put away their guns right before she stepped outside.
“My boys are puttin’ their guns away now so no one outside becomes the wiser we’re holdin’ you as hostages, but don’t try anythin’ stupid or they will shoot and kill one of you in a second without so much as twitchin’ or hesitatin’.”
* * *
Belle began to shake with the urge to urinate. She hadn’t gone since last night, and her extra full bladder pained her. As she fidgeted to keep from peeing, a genius thought came to her.
She glanced at Mat and John and whispered, “Whatever I do, just go along with it. I have a plan.”
John shook his head. “I know that look, Belle. I don’t want you trying anything dangerous.”
“If you haven’t already noticed, we’re up to our eyeballs in danger. Just let me do this and keep quiet.” She huffed.
He squeezed his lips together and murmured, “Oh, all right.”
She stretched her head forward and started shouting, “Jes—” then corrected herself by saying, “Tom, I need to go to the bathroom.”
She heard footsteps and then the door opened. He peeked in waving his gun behind his head. “What did you say?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
He smiled as he limped to her. “Oh, so the pretty lady needs somethin’.” He looked her up and down and licked his lips. “And what will you do for me if I let you go?”
Anger bubbled in her veins, and if she could, she’d punch him in the nose for his vulgarity. But instead, she swallowed her fear.
“Did you forget what Sally warned you not to do?”
He sneered but said nothing while he walked behind her chair to untie her wrists. As the rope loosened, it stung. The circulation had started to return. He then came to the front and bent down, still holding his gun, to untie her ankles. In doing so, his free hand slipped under her dress, up her ankle, and headed to her knee.
“I’ve been dyin’ to get my hands on you ever since I saw you come in the first night at the saloon.” He smiled while he gazed into her eyes. “It’s payback time for all the times you teased me and pushed me away.”
From her periph
eral vision, she could see John getting riled up, but thank God he didn’t say anything. Instead, she quickly brought her hand to stop his vulgar advance.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
He laughed. “Why not? Sally ain’t around to stop me. And what she don’t see, she don’t know.”
With her focus trained, she slipped one foot between his legs as he continued to stare at her with determination, like a hungry wolf. Then arching her body so she could bring the full force of her strength to her leg, she kicked him in the crotch.
He fell backward whimpering in pain, his gun sliding a few feet away. She sprang to her feet, kicking the gun farther away. Then coming to his side, she kicked him in the face, knocking him out before he could recuperate from her first kick and attack her.
She quickly ran to Mat and began untying him.
He stared at her as she had untied one hand. “I can do the rest. Go tie him up before he comes to.”
“You’re right.” She nodded.
After a couple of minutes, Mat had freed John and they took over tying Tom while she hurried to the other room to see where they were. But all she saw were empty cots, linen, chairs, and other furniture. It appeared to be a storage place. She did notice another door and when she opened it, it led outside. From the trees and walking path, she realized they were in the inn’s basement.
She closed the door and searched the room. An open whiskey bottle resting on an upturned chair caught her fancy, and she grabbed it, returning to the other room.
She gazed down at their unconscious prisoner. “Is he completely tied?”
“Yes.” John nodded and glanced up at her. “What are you going to do with that?”
She crouched. “We’re going to find out where Sally went. I have a funny feeling it involves Trevor and James.” She poured some of the whiskey on Tom’s face, and he bolted his head up, coming awake the instant the liquid hit his face.
He gagged. “Augh!” Glancing up, he asked, “What did you do that for?”
Belle forcefully probed, “I need answers, and I need them now. Where did Sally go?”
“I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’.” He laughed, looking to the other side.
John bent down and grabbed hold of Tom’s finger and twisted it. Tom writhed in pain. “Oww!”
Frowning, she warned him, “I won’t say it again. He’ll break your finger and your whole hand the next time if you don’t tell me where she went.”
He tried to move his body away from John, glaring first at him, then at Belle. “All right! All right! She went to the train station with two others from our gang.”
“Train station?” Mat asked.
“Why?” Belle continued.
“She found out the bank was deliverin’ a large amount of bonds and gold to the train, and she plans on stealin’ it.” He sneered. “And she’s taking along your boys to help her steal it.”
Her heart jumped to her throat. “Why Trevor and James?”
He chuckled. He obviously noticed her reaction. “Sally is really Isabelle LaRue, and she found out your boys are Texas Rangers who know the combination to the train’s safe.”
“Sally is Isabelle LaRue? Trevor and James are Texas Rangers?” she said out loud to herself, trying to assimilate his statement. Shock made her slump to the chair beside her, and she stared at him in a daze.
Tom absorbed her reaction and apparently reveled in it from the sly smile he gave her.
“Ha, you didn’t know that about your boys, did you? Guess you didn’t know they was usin’ you only for their pleasure, too, huh?” He paused and added the final stabbing touch. “How does it feel, Belle, to be a two-man whore?”
John leaned down and punched him, the blow so hard Tom passed out.
She stood up, bewildered.
John held her hand while Mat dragged the unconscious prisoner to the other side of the room where he would remain hidden if anyone decided to come down to check the room out.
“You all right, Belle?”
She looked up at John. “Huh?”
“What the bastard said about you and the Rangers, it isn’t true, right?” he asked with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Brewing humiliation heated her cheeks. She diverted her gaze to the door. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is we got to get to the train station before she kills them and takes off with the gold and bonds.”
She pointed her finger to Mat. “You, go get Sam and meet us at the train station.”
“Got you,” Mat responded, hustling to the door to leave.
She followed his cued exit and John tailed her, slipping the gun in his pants.
“What are we going to do when we get there? We got only one gun?”
She shrugged. “We’ll see when we get there.” Instead of heading to the front of the inn, she headed to the wooded area behind the inn.
“What are you doing?” John shouted.
She shooed him away with her hand. And without looking at him, she said, “I got to go. Go see if you can get us some horses on the road, and I’ll meet you up front.”
Her heart drummed in pain. She could barely breathe. It was true she needed to relieve herself, but she also needed a minute alone.
Tears had threatened to break free minutes ago. Tom’s harsh, accusing words cut deep to her core of strength, leaving her vulnerable and hurt. She wouldn’t be any good to anyone unless she got a rein on her emotions.
Chapter 11
They arrived at the train station in record time. John stopped a man on horseback on the road in front of the inn. He explained who he was and that it was an emergency. The kind man agreed to lend him his horse and so when Belle joined him, refocused and ready, they galloped off to the train station.
And now that they were here, Belle hadn’t the faintest idea what to do next.
John stared at her. “So what do we do now? Do we wait for Sam and Mat to get here?”
She shook her head. “No, it might be too late then.” She dismounted and walked to the back of the train. “We don’t even know if they’re still here. They could have left with the gold and bonds already.” And her heart sank to her stomach with the thought.
All these months, she thought Sally was her friend. But she’d been wrong. Dead wrong. She turned out to be a ruthless, dangerous criminal.
Belle had also been wrong about Trevor and James. Although she still was angry with them and deeply hurt, she couldn’t deny her feelings. She had fallen in love with them. And now, when the possibility that Isabelle LaRue had escaped with the gold and bonds and perhaps hurt them, or worse, killed them came to mind, it made her heart tear into two.
Wiping her moist eyes so John wouldn’t see, she said, “The safe is in the express car. So we sneak up and see who’s there.”
As they inched their way to the car, she prayed to God the two men she had fallen in love with were still alive.
* * *
They waited in the deafening silence in the express car. Trevor and James sat beside the safe waiting for the bank to deliver the gold and bonds on board.
No passengers boarded the train yet. They’d only be boarding in a couple of hours, right before it left the station. For security reasons, only the train personnel were there and of course the expressmen who would protect the safe and all the valuables in it.
Because of this, James and Trevor easily snuck Wild LaRue and her henchmen into the express car where the safe was housed without anyone noticing. Now they remained hidden behind a storage section in the car so they wouldn’t be seen by the bank guards when they arrived. But LaRue and her henchmen still had their eyes on them and would shoot to kill if they tried anything smart.
Trevor hovered on the brink of madness. His mind travelled miles away, worrying about Belle. Was she all right? What would they do to her? Ruthless LaRue was notorious for killing any and all witnesses in her path of heists, especially lawmen who stood in her way.
Since he and James were Texas Rangers who coul
d identify her, he knew she would be killing them once she got the goods, but he prayed they would let Belle go. After all, Belle was an innocent bystander who got caught in the middle of this.
LaRue and her gang could escape to another town, maybe this time even high-tail it to Mexico. Belle wouldn’t be a threat to her or her gang. They could let Belle go free without fearing she’d have the lawmen after her.
And just as he stared out the car window worrying about her, he saw the top of a pretty head peek in.
Belle!
What the hell was she doing here? She saw him, and he signaled her with his eyes that LaRue was on the other side of the car hiding. She nodded and then disappeared from his vision.
His heart jumped to his throat, and his palms perspired. What would she do? God, he hoped the smart thing, which was let the other workers on the train know they were being kept captive and have one of them get the sheriff and his deputies.
He glanced at James, but he didn’t seem to have noticed her. He was dying to signal to him, but he didn’t dare. LaRue had the eyes of a hawk and she was focused on him and James now. So he just stood there waiting for the right opportunity.
And when the knock came at the door about forty minutes later, his heart dropped from his throat to his stomach and his legs went weak.
James walked to open it when LaRue whispered, “No heroics, boys, or Belle gets it.”
James nodded and just as he opened the door, he said in shock, “Belle?”
Trevor panicked.
Why the hell did she do such a stupid thing?
LaRue jumped out from behind the storage trunk and rushed to the door. She signaled with the gun.
“Damn it, get in here, or I’ll kill ’em,” she whispered.
Belle stepped in holding her hands up in front of her. “Don’t hurt them, please.”
As soon as the door shut, LaRue frowned, cursing, “What the hell are you doing here?” She took a quick glance outside. “Was this stupid idea Tom’s?”
Belle shook her head. “No. He’s tied up and unconscious back at the inn.”
The Good, the Bad, and the Naughty Page 12
