“And then you’ll come right back here and let me put the cuffs back on?”
“Certainly.”
Even in the dark she could see the brilliance of his white teeth as he smiled at her. “Sometimes I may seem like I was born yesterday, but if I have learned nothing else, it’s that you, my dear little songbird, are not to be trusted. You can go behind those bushes over there. I promise I won’t look.”
Maddie’s lips tightened. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Suit yourself, but it’ll be a long night. Now, which blanket do you want?”
She snatched the nearest blanket from him. To think that just a while ago she had been feeling sympathy for him. She started to stomp away, but she took only a few steps before she came up short. Being chained to him was rather like being chained to a tree. If he didn’t move, then she couldn’t.
“Oh, pardon me,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I forgot for a moment that I now have even less freedom than I’ve had since I met you. Now I can’t walk where I want or sleep where I want.”
“You may not need any privacy, but I do.”
“I’ll wait for you by the horse,” she said a bit too eagerly.
He chuckled. “I don’t think so. I think that your delicate sensibilities will have to bear up under the shock.”
She turned her back to him. She would have crossed her hands over her chest, but he had to use both his hands, and when he did he pulled hers forward. She noticed that he had pinned her right hand and his left, leaving his more skilled hand free.
“That’s better,” he said.
“I don’t want to hear about it.”
“You planning to be angry at me all night?”
“All night? Captain Montgomery, for your information, I plan to be angry with you for the rest of my life. Don’t you have any concept of the fact that I am a free human being and that I have rights and wishes of my own? That I have as much right to freedom as you do?”
“You don’t have the right to get yourself killed and, as far as I can tell, that’s just where you’re heading.”
“I am in no danger.”
“I see. Then who is in danger?”
“You!” She clamped her free hand over her mouth.
“That is interesting. Very interesting. So, I guess all this sneaking about of yours has been to protect me. You’re so fond of me that you’re risking your life to protect me.”
“No, I didn’t say that. I just meant that…” She had no explanation for him.
“Come on, let’s get some sleep. You’re so tired that you’re getting your lies mixed up.”
She stood to one side, trying to not allow him to jerk her forward every time he moved, but not succeeding, while he spread two blankets on the ground.
“Sorry, but that’s about as far as I can get them apart. We’ll have to sleep with our arms outstretched as it is.”
“This is really ridiculous. Will you release me if I swear to not run away? I will sleep very near you, so near that you’ll hear me if I so much as turn over, but please take this off my wrist. It’s heavy and it hurts.”
He turned toward her, and for a moment she thought he might give in, but then he sighed. “I’d like to, but I can’t. Which side do you want?”
She jerked the chain, raising his arm in the process, and went to the blanket on the left, then lay down, her arm straight up, pointing toward him.
“I think…” he began. “I mean…”
She didn’t look at him but stared up at the stars.
He lay down on the blanket that was three feet from hers, and she saw the problem at once. When he was on his back, as she was, his arm was drawn across his chest, as was hers, and since their blankets were so far apart, they had to stretch. All in all, the position was rather painful. But she vowed that she’d endure any pain before she said another word to him.
“You don’t think that we could, ah…change places, do you? If you were over here and I was over there, this might work out better.”
“I am as comfortable as any prisoner can be, Captain.”
“I see. Not going to move even if you’re in pain all night, is that it?”
She didn’t answer him, but stared up at the stars, her whole body rigid with anger. The next thing she knew, he was on top of her, his big body fully covering hers. Out of instinct she began to kick and thrash about.
“Could you be still a moment?” he said in exasperation. “I’m merely trying to get on the other side of you. Since you refuse to move and since you constantly complain that I manhandle you, this is the only way.”
He rolled off her and lay on the other side for a moment. “Oh, sorry,” he said as he reached across her to get his blanket. As he did so his arm rested on her breast, and for a moment he looked down at her. Maddie held her breath, thinking that he was going to kiss her. But he just whispered, “Sorry again,” and moved so that he was no longer touching her.
She cursed herself in a couple of languages and tried to fold her arms over her chest, but that brought Captain Montgomery’s hand over so that it lay on her breast. She flung his arm off her as though it were something vile.
“I wish you’d make up your mind whether I’m a rapist or whether I’m not interested in women. Good night, ma’am.”
His words made Maddie open her mouth to ask him what he meant by that, but she closed it. She wasn’t going to ask him anything. She drew the too-thin blanket over her and closed her eyes. Did she think she could sleep? She was worried about Laurel, she was chained to an idiot of a man, she was cold, hungry, her corset was cutting her in half, and her bladder was full.
When she heard the deep-sleep breathing of Captain Montgomery, she turned and hissed at him. How could he sleep? The most awful things could happen and men never lost their appetites or their ability to sleep. Put food in front of a man and he ate it. Lay a man horizontal and he went to sleep—or he began fumbling with the buttons on a woman’s dress.
She turned and looked at him, flat on his back, sound asleep. Around him was a regular arsenal of weapons, all at the ready. She wondered if she could possibly sneak his pistol away from him. Maybe she could threaten him with it, make him release her. She inched her hand forward.
“Why don’t you relax and go to sleep and stop playing Indian?”
His voice so startled her that she jumped. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Obviously. What’s wrong?” He spoke again before she could list her anger. “Besides not liking being here with me.”
“I don’t like being chained, that’s what.”
“All right, you’ve said that. Just go to sleep and it will be morning soon and I’ll unlock the thing. This isn’t exactly comfortable to me either. You may not have noticed, but there are only three blankets. I think I’m on some cactus.”
“Good. It serves you right. I hope you don’t expect me to pick out the thorns.”
“You want me to tell you a story so you can sleep? Or sing you a song?”
“With your voice? I’d rather hear a chorus of frogs.”
“You could sing to me,” he said softly. “I’d like that.”
“A song for the key,” she said quickly.
He was quiet for so long that she turned to look at him. “That’s a hard one. To give myself immense pleasure, I might be risking your life. You might be like the sirens and sing me to my death. Or your death if you left without me. Oh, Maddie, this is a dilemma.”
A great deal of her anger melted and her muscles began to be a little less tight. “Do you really like my singing? You no longer think I’m just a ‘traveling singer’?”
“I’m worried I’m going to hell for that remark and even more worried that I may deserve the punishment. Maddie, you could bring dead men back to life with that voice of yours.”
She turned over on her side toward him. “Really? You don’t hate opera anymore?”
“Well, maybe I do.” He turned a bit toward her. “Opera in general
, I mean. But then, it’s your voice that I’ve come to love. I don’t care what you sing. You could sing the Lancaster Treaty papers for all I care and I’d love to hear it.”
“I have sung some popular songs and I’ve been told that I’m rather good.”
“Good!” He gave a derisive snort. “You’re so good I worry that God may soon take you off this earth because He wants you to lead His heavenly choir.”
“Really? I mean, Captain, how could you say such things? There are other singers alive today. There’s Adelina Patti singing”—her voice dropped an octave—“this week in New York.”
“I told you, didn’t I, that I’d heard her sing.”
“I vaguely remember something of the sort being mentioned.”
“I can tell you that the sound of her voice certainly never made my very bones ache with wanting her.”
Maddie smiled in the darkness at him, then she lost her smile. “Wanting her? What does that mean? That my voice makes you…want me?”
“Well, sure, you know that I like to be around you. I keep hoping I’ll slay that dragon for you and you’ll sing just for me.”
“Oh.”
“You sound disappointed. Did you think I meant something else?”
“No…no, of course not. There wasn’t anything else that you could have meant, was there? So I couldn’t possibly think that you meant anything else, could I have? There just wasn’t anything else to think, so of course I understood what you meant.” She shut up.
“Good, I’m glad for once that you understand me. As much as I’d like to trade you the key for a song, I can’t. All the pleasure on earth isn’t worth risking your safety.” He yawned. “As much as I’d like to continue talking to you, I think we’d better sleep. Good night, my angel.”
Maddie started to protest his calling her that, but she didn’t. She was still angry at him, but his words about her singing had gone a long way toward relaxing her. She closed her eyes and in minutes she was asleep.
’Ring turned on his side without moving the chain that lay on the ground between them and looked at her. He couldn’t help smiling. She really was impossible. Impossible, yes, but the most magnificent woman he’d ever encountered. Wanted her, he thought. No human in history had ever wanted a person as much as he wanted her. But she wasn’t ready yet. As yet she was only beginning to see him as a person. Him, not just any man, but him. And that’s what he wanted more than anything else on earth, more than he’d ever wanted anything: he wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her. He wanted her in every possible way that a man could want a woman—but he wanted her to want him in the same way.
He smiled at her in the darkness. I just have to make you more aware of me, that’s all, he thought. I have to make you see me as a man. I want some of that passion that you give to your music. He stretched his free hand across the space between them and touched her fingertips. She curled her fingers around his like a baby would. Smiling, he went to sleep.
“Maddie,” ’Ring said softly, “wake up.”
Slowly, she came awake and she smiled to see him so near her. “Good morn—” she said, but he broke off her words by putting his lips on hers. She experienced a moment’s astonishment before closing her eyes. Then his lips began to move against hers, but he wasn’t kissing her, he was talking to her.
“Someone’s coming. Please obey me. Please don’t do anything foolish. Follow my lead.”
She nodded against his lips. She wanted to continue kissing him, but she could see that his attention was now on the sounds coming from the woods around them. It was very early morning, the light gray and cold.
Quickly, in one motion, he pulled her into his arms and tucked her underneath him. She knew that he was doing this mostly for protection, for at the same time that he’d pulled her to him he had also moved his pistol under her. He had the other hand on his knife, but she didn’t mind. She slipped her free arm around his neck and opened her mouth under his as he kissed her again.
“I can’t concentrate when you do that,” he said, and she could feel his heart beating against hers. “I’m going to try to unlock these. Maddie, swear that if I tell you to run that you will.”
She began to think about what he was saying then. The person he heard (her heart was beating much too loudly for her to hear anything) couldn’t be Hears Good because if he wanted to sneak up on someone, he’d do it, he wouldn’t make enough noise that he’d be heard.
Before ’Ring could get the handcuffs unlocked, she felt his big body go rigid with tension and his hand clamp down on the gun under her back. He rolled away from her as far as the chain would allow and sat up, but he wasn’t fast enough. Standing over them was a man lounging against a tree, holding a pistol aimed vaguely at ’Ring’s head.
“What do we have here?” the man asked. “A couple of lovebirds, all chained together. What’s the matter, mister, can’t keep your girl so you have to chain her to you?” He motioned to ’Ring to toss his gun aside, and ’Ring did so.
Maddie looked at ’Ring, saw the way he glared at the man, but he said nothing.
“What do you want?” Maddie asked. The man didn’t look like a robber or any kind of villain she’d ever met. He looked like a gambler or cardsharp. Maybe he’d come to the Jefferson Territory to cheat the miners out of their gold.
“Ah, so the lady can talk but the man can’t.” He looked back at ’Ring. “You got anything to say, mister?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Seeing what I can find out. You have any money on you?”
When ’Ring didn’t answer, Maddie drew in her breath. She hoped he wasn’t going to try to play the hero with this man pointing a gun at them. “Yes, in my saddlebag, I have a bag of gold dust,” she said quickly.
“Don’t give it to him,” ’Ring said.
Maddie began to be afraid. Sometimes a simple robbery could turn into murder if the victims refused to be victims. “You can have everything,” she said. “Take it all.”
“Now, there’s a sensible lady.” The man took a step toward her. “Do you come with that package? Can I have you too?”
Instinctively, Maddie moved closer to ’Ring, but ’Ring kept his eyes on the man and paid no attention to her.
“The lady seems to like you.” The man grinned and Maddie almost smiled back at him. He was certainly a handsome man, and when he smiled like that, something happened to the hairs on the back of her neck. ’Ring noticed her reaction to the man and, out of the corner of her eye, he gave her a quelling look.
The man gave a bit of a laugh. “Jealous, mister? I would be, too, if I were you. That there is one fine figure of a lady. One real fine figure.” He tipped his black hat back with the barrel of his pistol, showing black curls on his forehead. “Now, what am I going to do with the two of you?”
“We’ll give you the gold and you can go away,” Maddie suggested. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong with ’Ring. Usually he had a great deal to say about everything, but now he just sat there saying nothing. A quick glance to his back and she saw that he was trying to unfasten the handcuffs. Oh, no, she thought, he’s going to free himself and jump on the man. She wasn’t sure what to do, but risking his life for a bit of gold wasn’t worth the risk.
The man saved her from doing anything. “You’d better give me the key,” the man said softly, smiling at ’Ring. “I think I’d rather have a guy your size chained than unchained.”
Maddie let out her breath as ’Ring handed the man the key to the handcuffs, and when ’Ring looked as though he was about to spring and attack the armed man, Maddie rolled against him.
The man jumped away from the two of them. “It looks like the little lady don’t want you to try anything funny. That suits me.” The man straightened to his full height. He wasn’t as tall as ’Ring, Maddie noted, but he was quite tall just the same.
“Now, let’s get down to business. I’m going to take everything you two have.”
“Like hell you a
re,” ’Ring said.
“Please don’t fight,” Maddie said.
“Hear that? The little lady don’t want us to fight. That’s fine with me. I’d hate to have to whip your ass, mister.”
Maddie knew that she was going to have to do something to keep the men from fighting. “Take everything,” she said. “We don’t need anything. Take it all.”
“Includin’ the big black?”
“Satan?” Maddie said. “Of course. Take him, but, I warn you that he is the devil’s own to try to ride. He’ll not let many people ride him.”
“Satan? Good name for such a fine animal.”
The man walked toward the horse, and as he presented his side to them, Maddie sensed ’Ring’s muscles coil for the spring. She leaped on his back. “Please don’t. He has a gun. You could be hurt.”
“I could take him,” ’Ring whispered.
“Not with me chained to you. ’Ring, please don’t try. They’re only possessions. They mean nothing. We’ll walk down the mountain and buy more horses. I’ll give you the money if you don’t have any.”
He turned his head to look at her. “You’re afraid I’ll get hurt? It would get me out of your hair.”
She put her head on his shoulder. “Please don’t play the hero.”
He kissed her forehead. “All right.”
The man turned back to them. “You two finish your little confab?”
“Take whatever you want,” Maddie said. “Just give us back the keys to the cuffs and leave us alone.”
The man smiled at her, and again she was charmed by his smile. She could feel ’Ring turning to glare at her, but she didn’t mind. The man smiled again and began putting the saddles on the horses. She held tightly on to ’Ring while the man took the weapons that were around them.
“I’ll have those blankets too,” the man said.
Again Maddie had to hold on to ’Ring when he started after the man. She handed the blankets to him.
She didn’t say anything as the man mounted ’Ring’s horse. “The key,” she said.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the key, and looked down at it a moment. “I’d sure like to know why you two are chained together. Seems that one of you don’t want the other to get away.” He fixed ’Ring with an insolent look. “I sure don’t have to chain my women to me.” He looked at the key, then grinned at it and put it back into his pocket. “Think I’ll let you two stay together.”