The Enchanted Land Read online

  “She won’t. We’ll just tell her she better not.”

  “I’m with ya. Who goes first?”

  “Let’s flip for it.”

  Morgan heard a low chuckle and then, “Damn!”

  “You hold her and I’ll stick her.” The voices were very near.

  Morgan turned over quickly to look into the two leering faces. She managed a gasp, before a hand closed over her mouth and then another held her two hands. She began to kick as she felt other hands on her ankles, then sliding up her legs to her thighs.

  “Skinny little thing, ain’t she?” Both men chuckled greedily.

  Then, just as her skirts were tossed over her head, her legs were released and she felt something heavy fall across her right leg, below the knees.

  “You didn’t have no call to hurt Ben,” whined one of the men. “We was just gonna have a little fun. We wasn’t hurtin’ nobody.”

  “Let her go.”

  Morgan was humiliated to her soul. Why was she lying here, pinned to the ground, her body exposed to men she hated?

  When Joe released her, she immediately pulled her skirts from her face and covered her legs.

  Joe grabbed Ben and dragged him away from her. As Ben began to recover his senses, Cat Man jerked both of them in front of him by the fire. Although Cat Man was very slim, he had a great deal of power in his spare frame.

  “Now listen to me, you two, and listen good. This woman is a present to Boss, and Boss doesn’t want leavings. I want her untouched and I want her treated with respect. If I leave her here for you to guard, that’s what I expect you to do. Is that clear to you two thickheads?”

  “Yes, Cat Man.” Their voices were contrite. “We didn’t know she was a present. You didn’t tell us.”

  Cat Man’s lithe body relaxed, and he smiled that strange, malignant smile of his. “Well, boys, now that you know, don’t forget it. Now get me somethin’ to eat.”

  “Yes, Cat Man, yes.” They stumbled against one another in their attempts to obey.

  Cat Man walked to Morgan. “They won’t bother you now.”

  Morgan was beside herself with rage. “What gives you the right to give me as a ‘present’ to anyone? I’m not something you can own.” She kept her teeth clenched, trying to control her anger.

  Cat Man looked at her in puzzlement for a few seconds and then laughed his peculiar laugh. It flashed through her mind that he worked at it, that he tried to look and sound like a cat.

  He said quietly, “You are a woman—something to be owned, something to be bought and used. You’ll make a pretty little ornament for Boss.” He turned and left her before she could reply. “Give her some beans, Joe.”

  Joe brought her a plate of pinto beans, but she could hardly eat, because anger had made a lump in her throat. She climbed back under the covers to resume her sleep.

  The next thing she felt was a hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake. She smiled as she thought of Seth and snuggled under the covers again. It wasn’t even morning yet, sc why was Seth trying to wake her? A hand on the side of her breast made her eyes fly open, and she looked into Ben’s grinning, vacant face. His eyes were glittering. She shivered and jerked away from him.

  As she sat up, she realized that the shoulder of her dress was torn at the seam, and as she looked at it she remembered the previous night’s happenings. Joe and Ben watched her as she rolled up her blankets, as Seth had taught her, and strapped them to her horse.

  I must keep my sanity through this, she thought. I must remember Trahern House and Kentucky and… Seth. Yes, Seth. She clung to her image of him.

  They rode hard all day, stopping only once to water and rest the horses. Morgan splashed her face and hands. The water was so cool and good after the long, hot days. She was less sore than she had been the day before, but the insides of her thighs were raw from the saddle.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Ah, Cat Man, why do we have to keep runnin’? There ain’t nobody followin’ us.”

  “Yeah, I’m gettin’ tired. What you say me or Ben go back a ways and see if we see anybody, and then if we do, we’ll kill ’em?”

  Morgan gasped and put the back of her hand to her mouth.

  “Looks like the woman thinks somebody is following us.” They all turned to stare at her standing by the water. “Who do you think is following us? Couldn’t be that old man, and the young one didn’t seem to care if we took you or not. Ben, here, near killed the one on watch, or did you finish the job, Ben?”

  “I don’t know, didn’t look to find out.” Ben smiled at Cat Man.

  “Well, then the only one left is this husband of yours. He was away, but I don’t think there were other men with him—too small a train. If someone had taken my woman, I don’t think I’d go miles in the opposite direction trying to get help. No, I guess I’d ride out for her myself. Is that what you’d do boys?”

  Ben and Joe grinned idiot smiles at him.

  “So, little lady, I figure there’s only one man following us, and I reckon the three of us can take him on. You agree, boys? Tonight we’ll stop early, and one of you can ride back a ways and see if you can find this husband of hers.”

  When she again mounted her horse, Morgan had something to worry about besides her own problems. She prayed that they wouldn’t be able to find Seth. She never even questioned her certainty that Seth was following.

  In the late afternoon they rode over a ridge to see a little adobe house nestled against the back of a hill. It was the first adobe house Morgan had ever seen, and she wondered at the flat roof. In Kentucky, the rain and snow would eat through the roof in a few years. Yet this house had the look of having been there for a long time.

  As they stopped to look down at the house, a woman came out the side door, gathered an armload of wood from a pile, and carried it back inside the house.

  “Cat Man! Maybe we can have a little fun with that one, huh?”

  Cat Man smiled at Joe. “Let’s go see if maybe they’ll give us something to eat.”

  Ben grinned. “Yeah … and then the woman.”

  As they started their horses down the steep hill, Cat Man turned toward Morgan and gave her a malevolent look that she knew was a warning.

  “Good afternoon, ma’am.” Cat Man’s voice seemed kind as he called out to the other woman, and Morgan looked at her with wonder when she showed no fear of the four strangers.

  The woman was usually more cautious of strangers, but since they had a woman with them, she relaxed.

  “Afternoon.” She smiled at them timidly.

  “Who is it, Meg?” A man came to the door. He also showed fear for a few seconds, until he saw Morgan. Then he smiled. “We don’t get many visitors up here, so we have to be pretty cautious.” Morgan saw the rifle in his hand. She glanced at Ben, who had moved his hand to his sidearm.

  “Won’t you come in and set a spell? Meg can rustle up some grub, and you can tell us any news. We don’t get out of here very often.”

  “Well, that’s right neighborly of you. We sure appreciate that.” Cat Man’s voice sounded sincere. He got off his horse, and then helped Morgan from hers. Again he flashed her a warning look.

  After the four of them had washed at a small stream, they sat down at a large table covered with the strangest food Morgan had ever seen. She wondered how anyone could have prepared so much food so fast, until she realized that each dish had the same basis—a red sauce and pinto beans.

  In spite of her situation, she enjoyed the food. Her favorite was a roll made of a kind of corn bread, but very flat and thin, wrapped around a mound of mashed pinto beans. It was covered with onions and the thick, hot, chili sauce, and then sprinkled with white cheese.

  “This is very good,” she murmured.

  Cat Man laughed. “My wife,” he watched her intently lest she contradict him, “is new to this country and our food.”

  Don’t trust him! she wanted to scream to these people, these generous people who offered him hospitalit