With all the willpower he could summon he said, “I’ll never forget you, Jade. I wish you only good things for the rest of your life.”
She felt him pulling away from her slowly, like the dressings on his wounds that she had so carefully cleansed. Only now he was healed. Strong. Free. And she was the wound. Raw. Bleeding. Numb.
And then he was gone.
Long afterward she could still hear the sound of his footsteps retreating. Leaving her alone with the silence. The horrible, unbearable silence.
“Has she eaten?” Lily met the servant in the hallway outside Jade’s room.
The maid shook her head and lifted a napkin to display the contents of the tray. “Not even a drop of tea.”
“Four days, and still she grieves.” Lily squared her shoulders and strode into Jade’s suite.
The parlor was empty. In the bedroom the air was heavy with incense. Jade was standing before a hastily arranged altar, head bowed, hands folded.
“Jade.”
At the sound of Lily’s voice, Jade’s head came up sharply.
“I must speak with you, my friend.”
When the young woman turned, Lily was surprised to note that, despite her obvious weight loss, she appeared calm and composed.
“And I must speak with you, Aunt Lily. I have been conversing with my honorable parents. They have advised me to get on with my life.”
“Excellent advice.” Lily peered at her. “Will you be able to do it?”
Jade took a deep breath, and actually gave a wan smile. “You told me that the heart is a delicate thing. You were wrong. I know now that a heart can be shattered beyond repair and still continue to beat.” She led the way to the parlor and sat down behind her desk. “Chang Lu sent word that he wishes to take possession of the Golden Dragon at once.” She spread out an assortment of documents and picked up a pen, dipping it in a pot of ink. “I will arrange to have my personal possessions shipped ahead. And I will charter several coaches to take us to our new business in Hanging Tree.”
Lily folded her hands in her lap. “I’m relieved that you have… sufficiently recovered to take charge of your life once more. Now I can only hope that you are strong enough to hear what I must tell you.”
Jade’s hand holding the pen paused in midair.
Lily looked away, avoiding her young friend’s eyes. “As you may have noticed, Senator Hammond has been a…very close friend of mine for several years.”
Jade waited in silence, her brow arched in question.
“The senator has asked me to remain here in San Francisco, so that we can continue our… relationship.”
Jade lowered her hand, the pen forgotten. “What would you do here in San Francisco? Remain in the employ of Chang Lu?”
“No. The senator wants to set me up in a lovely home on Nob Hill. I will have servants, and a driver for my carriage, and a life of ease.”
“But the senator is married,” Jade said softly.
Lily lifted her head to meet her friend’s troubled eyes. “I am well aware of that fact. He and I can never be more than… friends. But it is enough for me. He cares for me. And respects me. And that is more than a woman like me could ever hope for.”
A woman like me. The words tore at Jade’s already wounded heart.
The two gazed at each other. Jade’s eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing her oldest, dearest friend.
Lily’s eyes also filled as she asked, “Can you forgive me for deserting you?”
“Hush now.” Slowly Jade got to her feet and came around the desk. When she opened her arms, Lily fell into her embrace.
“I am truly sorry, Jade. I had so wanted to ease your burden, not add to it.”
Jade touched her friend’s cheek. “Burden? Never. You have been my friend, my teacher, my fierce protector. I desire only your happiness.” Almost shyly she asked, “You are certain that you are happy with this arrangement?”
“Very happy. I care very much for Senator Hammond.”
“I would ask you one favor.”
Lily brushed away her tears. “Anything.”
“If something should happen between the two of you—if you should ever find yourself friendless in this town, promise me that you will come to me in Hanging Tree. For my home is always open to you.”
“Oh, Jade.” The older woman burst into fresh tears. “You deserve so much more. Friends who will never desert you. A man to love you, and cherish you, and marry you. A chance to be part of a family. A real family.”
“You and the other women here at the Golden Dragon are all the family I need,” she whispered against her friend’s cheek.
She felt Lily stiffen, then push away. “There is more. And it is equally painful. But I can’t bear to burden you further.”
Jade waited, her eyes troubled. “Tell me.”
“The women who work here are afraid to leave. Texas is so vast, so… primitive. They have heard so many frightening stories about it.” She took a deep breath and said, “They have agreed to stay on and work for Chang Lu.”
She expected Jade to weep. Or at least to struggle beneath the weight of this added blow. Instead, Jade pinned her with an incredulous look. “How many of the women?”
“All of them.”
“How do you know?”
“They have been talking among themselves. They love you, Jade. But they are truly afraid of change.”
“I see.” Jade turned and walked to her desk. For long minutes she stared at the ledgers. Then she lifted her head and said, “Thank you, Lily. Leave me now. I have much work to do.”
“I could help….”
Jade shook her head. “I must do this alone.”
Alone. Alone. The word seemed to echo in her mind.
When she heard the door close, she continued to stare at the papers littering her desk. Then, taking a deep breath, she picked up the pen and dipped it once more into the pot of ink. There were documents to sign. Ledgers to tally. Personal items to be packed. And the final page to be written in the life she had always known here in San Francisco.
Having sent her trunks ahead, Jade packed her remaining belongings in a tapestry bag and handed it to a servant.
Alone in her room, she walked to the window for a final glimpse of the city of her birth. San Francisco was so lovely it took her breath away. She loved the view of the docks, with the ships from all over the world. She loved the crowded streets, the ebb and flow of humanity, the mansions of Nob Hill, the hovels of the newly arrived immigrants.
She turned away and cast a last look at the luxurious suite of rooms. Then she made her way down the stairs, pausing to study the gleaming chandeliers, the ornate rugs, the familiar pictures on the walls.
Home, her heart whispered. And yet, not home. She felt torn between the opulence of the place she was leaving and the simplicity that awaited her at the end of her journey.
If her mother and father had still been alive, there would have been no choice. This place suited her as nothing else ever would. But without them it was just a beautiful, empty shell.
Besides, though it still seemed strange to admit it, her heart now lay in the dusty little town of Hanging Tree, Texas. Not because of Nevada, or Reverend Wade Weston, or whatever he chose to call himself now, she told herself sternly. But because of three strangers who had become her family. Perhaps, she realized, they were the only true friends she would ever have. She shared something unshakable with Diamond, Pearl and Ruby. The blood of her honorable father ran through each of them. They were a family now. Her only true family.
With dry eyes she embraced Lily and the other women, offering each of them a word of thanks, or a wish for future happiness.
Then she was helped aboard the stage. Without a backward glance she set off on her journey home.
Home, her heart whispered. She was not leaving it. She was returning to it.
Chapter Seventeen
Jade stifled a yawn. This last leg of the journey would be the longest. And t
he loneliest. The rest of the passengers had departed at the Spanish mission at Standing Rock. She was the only one bound for Hanging Tree. In two days she would be home.
She stared out the window at the passing landscape. The barren stretch of desert, punctuated by towering buttes and mounds of rocks that defied gravity, oddly stirred her senses.
Who would have believed she could learn to love this wilderness? But each mile that brought her closer to the Jewel ranch brought a lightness to her heart.
She settled back and closed her eyes. Minutes later the sound of thundering hoofbeats had her sitting up straight. Peering out the window, she caught sight of four horsemen riding at breakneck speed toward the stage. From the other window she could see more horsemen coming toward them. Six in all, firing rifles and shouting for the driver to halt.
For a few terrifying minutes the driver actually tried to outrun the band of outlaws. The stage swayed from side to side, tossing Jade around like a rag doll. But when a gunshot tore through the driver’s shoulder he struggled to rein in the team. At last they came to a shuddering stop.
Jade, who had been thrown to the floor of the stage, pulled herself to a sitting position and peered nervously from the window. The gunmen, wearing bandannas over their faces, had surrounded the stage and were ordering the driver down.
Someone yanked open the door. Jade shrank back as a man shouted, “Well, look what I found.” He grasped her by the arm and dragged her from the coach.
The leader, who was still astride his horse, couldn’t hide his surprise. Or his jubilation. At the sight of her his hand went to his shoulder, which still bore the pain of her knife. “Well, well. So we meet again.”
Before she could reach a hand to the knife at her waist he called, “Tie her. And see that she’s searched. She’s not going to get a second chance to attack me.”
“With pleasure.” One of the men viciously twisted her arms behind her back and bound her wrists, while another yanked the knife from her sash and tossed it to the leader. That done, he ran his hands up her skirts and across her breasts, all the while sneering each time she flinched.
“Is this your only passenger?” the leader asked the driver as he tucked Jade’s knife into his waistband.
“Yes.” The old man clutched his wound, trying vainly to stem the flow of blood. “But you should be warned. This is Miss Jade Jewel, owner of one of the biggest ranches in Texas. Her wranglers won’t take kindly to her being mistreated.”
“Is that so?” The leader studied her a minute, then calmly stretched out his arm and pointed it at the driver. The movement engaged a small pistol hidden in his sleeve.
At the explosion of sound, Jade let out a scream and was forced to watch in horror as the driver dropped to his knees. Blood spilled from his chest, forming a mottled pool in the sand. He moaned and writhed, driven half-mad with the pain, but no one went to his aid.
“Damned little bullets,” one of the men said. “How long do you think it’ll take him to die, Ned?”
“Don’t know. But we don’t have time to wait.” The leader stretched out his arm a second time and fired.
The driver gasped, then went limp as the pool of blood around him made ever-widening circles.
Jade went rigid with shock. Before she could recover her senses, the leader shouted, “Unhitch those horses. And bring the woman with us. She’s going to pay for what she did to me. And when I’m finished with her, the rest of you can have what’s left of her.”
With her hands still tied she was lifted into a saddle, and her horse’s reins passed to one of the men. Without a backward glance at the man they had shot, the band of outlaws took off at a gallop.
Jade felt a wave of hysteria rising up, threatening to choke her. She was in the clutches of crazed gunmen. And they would leave no witnesses alive to testify to their madness.
Nevada reined in his mount at the top of a ridge. He stared in surprise at the abandoned stage, then spotted a body in the grass. With a muttered oath he nudged his horse into a run.
He knew even before he touched a hand to the man’s throat that he was dead. But from the freshness of the blood, he surmised it had been a recent kill.
He turned away and examined the horses’ tracks that surrounded the stage. One bore a distinctive half-moon indentation. Nevada’s eyes narrowed in recognition. Ned Garland. No one knew better than he that Garland had absolutely no conscience. In fact, he’d probably thoroughly enjoyed killing the helpless stage driver.
As soon as he returned to Hanging Tree, he’d have to report this to the marshal.
Nevada had started to pull himself into the saddle when he spotted a tapestry valise, half-hidden under the passenger seat. The bumpy ride had apparently tossed it around. He pulled it from its hiding place and opened it. His heart nearly stopped.
It contained a few simple articles. Fragrant soap. A brush and comb. A shawl. And at the very bottom a gown of green silk, with a mandarin collar and frog fasteners.
With a heart-wrenching moan he lifted the gown to his face and breathed in the fragrance of exotic spices and flowers.
Jade. God in heaven, Jade was at the mercy of Ned Garland.
Nevada clutched the valise to his heart like a talisman as he began to follow the trail of the horsemen.
They had been in the saddle for hours. Though the gunmen seemed to know where they were headed, Jade had lost all sense of direction. They followed a twisting route over roaring rivers, across dry gulches, along narrow, rocky ridges. Their band stopped several times, pausing beside streams to drink and fill their canteens, but they never once offered water to their captive.
As the sun sank lower in the west, Jade’s spirits sank with it. For she knew that as soon as darkness covered the land they would have to stop for the night. And then, for her, the real terror would begin.
The sod hut was built into the side of a hill. For a person unaware it was there, it would have been impossible to see. It was the perfect hideout for a band of outlaws. Without any moonlight to guide them, the gunmen moved unerringly toward it.
They left their horses in a nearby wood, where they wouldn’t be spotted by passing riders.
“Bring the woman,” the leader called as he dismounted and strode toward the hut.
One of the men dragged Jade from her horse and hauled her roughly along.
“I’m hungry,” someone said. “Think the woman can cook?”
“I didn’t bring her here to cook,” the leader growled. “If you want to eat, fix it yourself. As for me, I’m going to finish this whiskey. Then me and the woman are going to have some fun.”
Jade’s hands had long ago gone numb. Now, as she was shoved toward a corner of the filthy hut, she stumbled and fell. No one helped her. Instead, they laughed as she struggled to sit.
She huddled with her back against the wall. She was cold and hungry and weary beyond belief. And a feeling of terror threatened to paralyze her. But she knew that unless she stayed alert and awake, she would be lost.
If there was even a single chance of escaping this hell, she was determined to risk it.
The outlaws were sprawled on the floor in a semicircle around the fireplace. They had been passing the jug back and forth for over an hour. With each tick of the clock their crude remarks and coarse laughter grew.
The leader drunkenly swiveled his head and fixed Jade with a look of pure hatred.
“Come here, woman.”
When she didn’t move, he shuffled to his feet and crossed the room to stand over her. He lowered his voice. “When I give you an order, I expect it to be followed. Now get up.”
With a look of defiance she remained on the floor.
Muttering a string of oaths, he reached down and hauled her to her feet. “Looks like I’m going to have to teach you some manners,” he said with an air of triumph.
He turned to one of his men. “Hand me that torch.”
The man retrieved a long stick. One end had been wrapped with cloth and tar. He
plunged it into the flames. When it caught fire he handed it to the leader, who brought it so close to Jade’s face she flinched. “You saw what I did to that stage driver. His was an easy death next to the one I have planned for you, unless you do as you’re told. Understand?”
She swallowed but refused to acknowledge him.
His hand fisted in her hair and he pulled her head back until tears sprang to her eyes. His other hand held the flaming torch inches from her face. But still she refused to give voice to her fear.
“Looks like she needs a few more lessons, Ned,” one of the men called.
The others threw back their heads and roared.
“And I’m just the one to give ‘em to her. First lesson,” he began, bringing the flame perilously close to her hair.
Just then the door to the hut was kicked in and a volley of gunfire had the men diving for cover. A couple of the men looked as if they’d seen a ghost. Several others went for their guns, but more gunfire had them dropping their weapons and scrambling to take cover.
It was a scene of complete confusion, with guns roaring like thunder and bodies writhing and twisting in pain. Despite the fact that a lone gunman was facing half a dozen opponents, he never backed down or took cover. He merely fired until there was no one left to return his fire.
As suddenly as it had started, it ended. A deadly silence settled over the tiny hut as Ned dragged Jade from behind an overturned bench where they had taken cover.
Jade heard Nevada’s voice. “Better let her go, Ned, or I’ll have to blow you away, too. And you know I’m just the one who can.”
Though she had seen him face down gunmen before, she had never heard such raw fury in his tone, or seen such rage contorting his face into a mask. It was a face, a voice she didn’t recognize.
The leader stared around at the carnage, then faced the man in the doorway. There was a look of astonishment in his eyes. “Danny. What the hell…?”
“I told you to keep looking over your shoulder, Ned, because one day I’d come back.”