"Go to hell," Lacey sneered.
"I am gonna have a whole lotta fun teachin' you some proper manners."
Ned snickered. "Shall we flip a coin and see who goes first?"
"Hell, no," Henry drawled. He gave Lacey a lecherous leer. "The lady likes a threesome, remember?"
Lacey thought she might gag. But she knew better than to show them any fear—even though she was scared down to her toes. She kept trying to work her hands free of the rope, but all that was getting her were chewed-up wrists.
"I bet she's got skin like roses," Ned remarked.
"The kind that'll hold teeth marks," his brother added.
"I'm gonna bite my name across her belly."
"I've got other places in mind."
Lacey vowed she’d kill herself first.
They passed a road with a carved wooden sign that read Geneva two miles, and rode right on by. Big Red slipped on a patch of ice, lost his footing, and snorted disconcertingly. Lacey was staying in the saddle by sheer strength of will.
When they rode into Fairhaven it was still early in the morning, by then Lacey had been moved from Big Red to Ned's horse. She was sitting in front of the smelly bastard with a gun planted in her ribs as they rode down a side street and headed for what Henry called “the old coal mines.” It took only two hotels before they found the right one. Lorraine was hiding out in a seedy, two-story shack on the farthest side of town.
Lacey was dragged up the stairs, with no one in the lobby seeming to care, and shoved through a door with the number five written in black paint so worn you could barely read it.
"Honey, we're home!" Henry bellowed.
A small, fragile-looking young girl rose from a filthy cot against the far wall.
"Fetch us some grub, Lorraine," Ned commanded. He shoved Lacey farther into the dismal room. "We ain't had nothin’ to eat all mornin'."
Lacey blinked at the girl. This was the fearsome Lorraine Rawlins? She wasn't much bigger than Lacey, and didn't look a day over sixteen. The girl's reputation had obviously been greatly exaggerated.
"Glad to see you two could finally make it," the girl grumbled.
"And don't give us any lip neither," Henry warned. He took off his heavy coat and threw it on a worn brown sofa with the stuffing coming out along the edges. Then he turned to Lacey. She flinched at his leering grin.
Lorraine eyed Lacey. “Who's this?" She handed her brothers a plate of bread and stale-looking cheese. "I gotta feed her too?"
"Naw," Henry told her. "We got somethin' else in mind to give her."
Lorraine and Lacey’s eyes met. The girl was dirty, dressed in rags, and her black hair was cropped short and in tangles, but she had the most striking green eyes Lacey had ever seen.
"You must be the dreaded Lorraine," Lacey said. "The fearsome, merciless bank robber."
"My brothers are showin' me the ropes," she replied without much enthusiasm.
Suddenly a big beefy hand shot out and cuffed the girl on the side of the head. "Fetch us somethin' to drink, Rainey," Henry ordered.
"We got any of that whiskey left?" Ned asked.
"Not whiskey, you idiot. We can't afford to get drunk when we're on the run."
"You drank it all before the robbery," Lorraine Rawlins retorted with a spark in her green eyes.
Henry turned a vicious glare on the girl. "You implyin' somethin', little sister?"
"I think she's implyin' that we got drunk before the robbery," Ned remarked.
Henry shot out another hand, this time catching Lorraine on the jaw. The girl flinched but stayed on her feet.
Lacey had seen enough. She turned to Henry Rawlins and kicked him hard in the shin. The man cried out and slapped her so hard it knocked her to the floor.
Henry glared down at her. “I think—” He began to undo the buttons on the front of his pants. “—that it's time to begin your lessons."
"There's a ship leaving at noon," Lorraine blurted.
"What?" Ned asked her.
“I…I checked with the front desk this mornin'. And there's a ship leaving for Mexico at twelve o'clock noon today."
"Well, that's perfect!" Ned exclaimed.
Henry was still glowering at Lacey "Yeah. Perfect. Where's that money?" he demanded from his sister.
"Over here," she told him. She walked to the cot, lifted up the mattress, and pulled out two canvas bags. “Figured I should hide it."
Ned stepped eagerly around Lacey and snatched the bags from his sister's hands. "We're rich," he said. "Rich!"
Henry buttoned his pants. “Take out enough for four ship fares."
"Four?" Ned asked.
Henry leveled his green eyes on Lacey. "Four. Miss Guarder would just hate to be left behind." He gave her a kick in the hip that jarred her teeth. "Wouldn't ya?”
"Desperately," she answered tightly.
"Tie her up in that chair over there," he ordered Ned.
Ned grabbed hold of the rope binding Lacey’s hands together and hauled her to her feet. She clamped her lips tight to keep from crying out in pain as the hemp dug into her already raw wrists. She was dropped into a wooden chair and tied tightly to the back with another long lank of rough rope.
Henry and his brother headed for the door. “We'll be back," he said to his sister. "You keep an eye on her, ya hear?”
"Yeah," Ned added, grinning. "She's gonna be our entertainment on our long trip south."
As soon as the door closed Lacey let out a sigh of relief. She had to think of a way out of this mess before they got back. And the first place she was going to look for help was from the young woman sitting quietly on the cot across the room. It was apparent that there was no love lost between this girl and her brothers.
"I don't suppose you'd—"
"Don't even start, lady," the girl shot back.
Lacey blinked in surprise at the girl's rancor.
"I'm not as stupid as they think. Or as you think. So don't bother tryin' to talk your way out of those ropes."
"I was only going to say—"
"I know what you were gonna say," the girl interrupted again. She stood from the cot. “You were gonna say, gee, Rainey, they treat you so shabby, why not stick it to 'em by lettin' me go free. That about cover it?"
The girl was quicker than Lacey had given her credit for— probably than anyone had given her credit for—so she decided not to waste time trying to lie to her. “Can't blame a girl for trying."
"Nope,” she remarked. “Sure can't."
Hell, with her brothers gone, Lorraine Rawlins was a veritable spitfire. "This a pretty common thing, then? They kidnap women and you play watchdog for them?"
That question appeared to make the girl a little uncomfortable. She started to pace. “They've never done anything like this before."
"I hear they've never robbed a bank before, either. Getting a little full of themselves, aren’t they? Bank robbery. Rape. Then what, murder? And them dragging you right along with them the whole way."
"Henry says a good livin' could be made robbin' banks."
Lacey shrugged. “He's right. But trust me, it’s not worth it. You’ll always be looking over your shoulder, never trusting anybody, being trusted even less. You'll have no home, no friends, no family—"
"They're my family."
"I wouldn't go around bragging about that to too many people, Lorraine. Your brother’s aren’t exactly well liked, if you know what I mean."
“Don’t need to be liked. Just feared.”
"Even by their sister?”
The girl paused and shot her an angry, haunted look. "I do what I'm told and I get along just fine."
Although she'd been young at the time, Lacey remembered that feeling well. Thinking that everything mean and brutal that she got she deserved, and everything kind that was withheld from her she didn't. "You're not just fine, Lorraine. Those two men treat you no better than a dog. You intend to live your whole life this way?"
"I got no choice."
/> "Your life is full of choices!" Lacey shot back.
Lorraine flinched and took a step away from her.
"I'm sorry.” Lacey sighed. "This is a sore subject for me. I've been in your shoes, Lorraine. I've done things I'm ashamed of, all the while telling myself I had no choice. The truth is, I was just too afraid to do what I knew was right."
"You're just sayin' all this so I'll let you go."
"Yes, I do want you to let me go. But I'm saying this so you'll stop and think about what you're doing with your life before it's too late, before you get so deep into this mess with your brothers that you have no way out. Leave them while you have the chance."
The girl snorted. "And go where?"
“There has to be some government agency, some juvenile shelter—"
“An orphanage? Where they'd work me to death, feed me bread and water, and stuff me into a room full of lunatics? Or were you meaning that I should live on the streets. Find my meals in garbage cans. Sell myself to keep clothes on my back and shoes on my feet?"
"Those can't be your only choices."
"Without a family, I got nothin'."
And that's when Lacey got an idea than seemed to come from Heaven itself. "I know where you can find one.”
"Huh?"
"A family. I know where you can find a family that would give you all the love and support you could possibly need. All you have to do is trust me enough to untie me from this chair."
Chapter 20
Matthew and his men rode at breakneck speed. The Rawlins brothers had at least an hour's head start on them and there wasn’t a moment to waste. By the time he reached the Fairhaven city limits, he’d gone from being panicked to being angry as hell. He was going to kill Ned and Henry Rawlins.
He and his deputies scoured the city; every hotel, every saloon, every bordello—anywhere three pieces of Rawlins trash might hide. They had no luck, and as each precious minute ticked away, Matthew became more and more agitated. By now they could have met up with Lorraine and ridden off in any direction with Lacey.
He reined in his horse in front of the Broadway Grocer and took a deep, steadying breath. He and his men were never going to get anywhere as long as they were racing blindly down the streets like a pack of raving bloodhounds. "We need to split up," he said to his deputies.
"You mean inta fours?" Gene asked.
"No, inta sixes," Larry retorted. He swatted Gene with his hat. "Shut up and listen to the man."
"We each take one of the main streets," Matthew instructed. "If you see anything, fire your gun in the air and the rest of us will come runnin’.”
"Did ya get that, Bill?" Larry asked. "He said inta the air. Not inta the horse of the man beside ya."
"Aw, hell, Larry, I apologized for that weeks ago."
Matthew shook his head as his three deputies rode off in separate directions. It was going to take an act of God for any of them to find a thing.
He turned left at the next street and rode a straight line down Broadway. He kept his pace unhurried and his manner uncaring, but secretly assessed every person he passed. His gut told him they were still here, somewhere in town. But they had to be on the move or he and his men would have found them in one of the countless places they'd already ransacked.
He came to the end of the street and craned his neck to check down the long alleyway. It led to an empty dead end. He swore under his breath and stopped his horse to collect his thoughts.
"She's gotta be all right," he whispered to himself. "God, help me find her."
Why hadn't he just done as she’d said and brought her to Fairhaven days ago? They would have found the money and now she'd be safe at the Martins'. No. She'd be gone, disappeared out of his life as quickly as she'd arrived. Lacey had made it clear that she was only staying long enough to find the money.
A sudden shout echoed toward him, the unmistakable cry of a man in pain. And nobody could inflict injury on a man with more precision than Lacey Guarder.
Matthew dug his heels into his horse's flanks and went charging up the street. He came to an alley on his left, and the sight that greeted him made him see red. Lacey and a young girl were cornered by the Rawlins brothers.
He leapt down from his horse and strode toward them. "You bastard sons-a-bitches," he muttered to himself.
Lacey seemed to be holding her own, which didn’t surprise him. Ned Rawlins was hanging back, looking wary, and Henry Rawlins was grabbing his groin, looking nauseated.
Matthew didn't bother to unholster his gun as he approached. No, he had a much more satisfying idea in mind.
Lacey spotted him. "Matthew!" she cried.
She looked surprised and, Matthew hoped, happy to see him. She seemed unhurt—thank God—but that welcomed fact wouldn’t save the Rawlins brothers.
Henry was the bigger of the two men, so Matthew headed straight for him. Ned tried to step into his path, but Matthew took care of the smaller man with a single punch to the stomach. Drawing on every ounce of emotion he’d felt since waking to find Lacey gone, he swung out and connected his fist with Henry's bearded jaw. Henry Rawlins fought back wildly, swinging blindly at Matthew with both fists, but Matthew was too quick and too enraged for Henry to lay a hand on him.
Once the outlaw was lying on the ground, bloody and groaning, Matthew began to run out of murderous steam. "If you touched her," he said, breathing hard, "I swear to God I'll finish the job."
"Matthew, look out!"
Matthew turned, this time reaching for his gun, and something hit him hard on the back of the head. Pain shot through his skull and dropped him to his knees.
Through a blurry haze, he saw Henry Rawlins recover and climb to his feet. The man pulled his gun.
“Hey, Godzilla!” he heard Lacey shout.
Henry paused and turned on her.
No! Matthew thought. Panicked, he tried to get to his feet but the world tipped sideways.
Lacey lunged at the man, pointing a small black can at Henry’s face. She sprayed something into his eyes, and the big man screamed in agony and doubled over.
Ned took hold of his brother, and the two men ran off down the alley.
Matthew tried to stand. Lacey rushed to his side. "Matthew?! Oh my God, are you all right?!”
Matthew struggled to stand, but the gentle pressure of Lacey's hand on his shoulder was all it took to keep him on the ground. He tried to shake the cobwebs from his head. “Are you…are you okay?”
“Yes, but we need to get you to a doctor.”
There was a girl standing next to Lacey—how had he not noticed her before? “There's a doctor just up the street," the girl said.
Their voices sounded like echoes in a hollow tube.
Lacy tucked her arm under his back. “Help me get him to his feet.”
She and her friend helped him to stand. Matthew's head throbbed and his knees wobbled as they walked him to the mouth of the alley. He stared at Lacey’s profile, trying hard to focus.
“I came to save you," he said. He sounded drunk even to his own ears.
She smiled at him and it made his heart leap. “Thank you.”
He turned and smiled at the scruffy-looking girl supporting him on his left side. "She said thank you."
"Here's the doctor's place," the girl said.
Matthew squinted up at a clean, white-painted building front. Then he had to close his eyes and rest from the effort.
"Just a few more steps," he heard Lacey say. She sounded like she was a long ways away.
He turned and looked at her again, his gaze wobbling as his attention drifted down to her lips. "Can I have a kiss?"
She frowned at him, but then broke into an easy smile. "He knocked the sense right out of you, didn't he?"
"Hell no," he slurred. “I’m…I’m just…fine….”
And that's the last thing Matthew remembered before crumbling to the ground at her feet.
Five stitches. That's what it had taken to sew the one-inch gash in Matthew Brady's
head. Ned Rawlins had hit him with a brick, proving once and for all that Matthew's skull wasn't as hard as a rock.
He was now sleeping off a dose of morphine in one of the hotel rooms his three faithful deputies had rented for the night. Lacey had stripped him of his bloodstained shirt, leaving him bare from the waist up. That had been her first mistake. Her second was in thinking she could spend the night caring for him and not feel the overpowering urge to touch him.
She was sitting beside the bed, smoothing the hair back from his forehead. It was almost eight o'clock; the sun had long since set. Gene, Bill, and Larry had been out all day searching for Ned and Henry Rawlins, but they felt pretty sure the brothers had sailed on that ship for Mexico and were long gone.
A soft knock came at the door and she was surprised by her sudden burst of panic. Her kidnapping had obviously affected her more than she’d realized.
Just to be on the safe side, she picked up Matthew's heavy Colt .45 from the nightstand. "Who's there?" she called out.
"It's Rainey."
Sighing in relief, she set the gun down, walked across the room and unlocked the door.
Lorraine Rawlins came into the room. “He still out?"
"Like a blown fuse."
The girl gave her an odd look.
Lacey sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "Did you get something to eat?"
"Yeah, I got somethin' from the restaurant downstairs.” She held out a small box. "Figured you could use somethin’ to eat yourself.”
“Thanks.” Lacey set the food on the dresser. Maybe she’d be hungry later, but right now she was too worried about the man on the bed.
Rainey peered at Matthew. “He sure is a looker.”
"Isn't he, though,” Lacey muttered.
“Do you think he'd mind if I ordered up a bath and charged it to the room?” The girl looked down at herself. “It’s been a while.”
Lacey didn’t bother to hide her distaste at the girl’s dirty clothes and matted black hair. "I say take the chance," she advised.
A groan came from the bed, and Matthew Brady slowly cracked open his eyes. "Who's got the hammer?" he asked hoarsely.
DESTINY'S EMBRACE Page 21
