The Temptress Read online

  Chris hit the floor, her hand going to the corner of her bleeding mouth.

  Dysan advanced on her, and Chris scooted backward on the floor.

  It was just as Dysan reached her and had his hand raised to strike her again that Tynan sprang from his chair and grabbed Dysan about the neck, a small knife held to the evil man’s throat. “I think it’s time that you pick on someone your own size,” Tynan said.

  With that, Ty spun the man around and slammed a right fist into his face.

  Dysan went down on the nearest chair and hit the floor next to Chris. Tynan didn’t give him time to regain his breath before he was on him again. “You coward!” Tynan said under his breath as he grabbed Dysan and began to beat him.

  Chris got up and tried to stop Tynan from killing the man, but Tynan was so angry that she couldn’t make him hear her. She kept watching the door, fearing that any minute, one of the guards would come in and take them back to the cellar. They had to get out now while they had the chance.

  She jumped on Tynan’s back, hoping that her weight would have some effect on him.

  Tynan shrugged her off and, again, Chris went skidding across the floor. It was a long moment before Tynan realized what he’d done. He dropped Dysan, allowing the man to slide down the wall to the floor in a bloody heap while he went after Chris.

  “That was a fool thing to do,” he said, lifting her up from the floor.

  Chris shook her head to clear it. “We have to get out of here while we can. What took you so long to get loose?”

  “Have you ever sawed through half-inch ropes with a pen knife? And you didn’t look like you were in any misery. Maybe you want to stay here with Dysan rather than escaping with me? Maybe you two can still merge empires once you get rid of the cowboy.”

  “Could you go into a jealous rage later? I’d like to get out of here and we still have to get past the guards and the dogs outside.”

  After helping her to stand, Tynan went to Dysan and hauled him up. “You’re going with us and if the dogs get too near, I’ll throw you to them. Chris, hand me that piece of rope.”

  As Tynan tied Dysan, Chris looked out the window. “What do you think our chances are? There are guards everywhere.”

  “I’m hoping that Pilar and Prescott got away.”

  “They didn’t. They’re in the cellar now,” Dysan said before Tynan put a dirty handkerchief from his back pocket across Dysan’s mouth.

  “Then we have to get them out,” Chris said, heading toward the door which led to the stairs into the cellar.

  Tynan shoved Dysan against the wall and grabbed Chris’s arm. “What makes you believe him? If they’re locked up, then after I get you out safely, I’ll come back for them—alone. You understand me?”

  “Because you’ll go back to jail if I’m not safe? Pilar and Asher don’t matter to you, do they?”

  Tynan closed his eyes a moment, then turned back to Dysan and began to search him, removing a small derringer from inside his coat pocket. “All right, let’s go. Chris, I’m taking him out the window first, then I want you to follow us when it’s safe.” He paused a moment, looking at her. “And I want you to swear to me that you won’t do anything stupid like try to get back into the house to find the others. You understand?”

  Chris nodded, but she was thinking about Pilar and Asher hidden away in the cellar. Wouldn’t it be better if the two of them tried to get them out, instead of Tynan coming back alone later?

  “Chris!” Tynan hissed at her as he stood outside the window. Dysan was giving him trouble so Tynan cuffed him once on the side of the head.

  There was a low brick wall in the back of the house, a place for flowers and kitchen herbs. Ty crouched down behind the wall, forcing Dysan down in front of him. He kept turning to look at Chris, as if he expected her to disappear and he wanted to be able to go after her as quickly as possible.

  They were at the end of the wall when Ty stopped and put his head up. The forest was several yards away and Chris could hear men talking nearby on the other side of the wall and the dogs in the distance. It would probably be only minutes before the guards found them.

  Tynan leaned back against the wall and checked Dysan’s derringer to make sure it was loaded. “Chris, I want you to stay behind us. I’m going to use Dysan as a shield and get us to the forest. You think you can do that? I don’t want any more trouble than I already have. No going back for the others.”

  It was obvious that he hadn’t believed her when she’d said that she would obey him.

  Tynan looked toward the forest for a moment then back at Dysan. “And you give me any trouble and I’ll blow your head off.”

  “All right, let’s go,” he said, grabbing Dysan and pulling him upright.

  They left the safety of the wall and stepped into the open ground—but they stopped there because no one was even interested in them. They could see about a dozen guards, one with four dogs on a leash, but not one eye was turned in their direction. The guards were frozen where they stood, staring at something around the corner of the house.

  Chris could hear bells in the distance.

  “Get back!” Tynan said to Chris, shoving Dysan back toward the wall.

  “What is it?” Chris asked.

  “I think it’s a peddler’s wagon,” Ty said. “Pilar used to work on one. If it is them, then we’ll do better to leave with them. The dogs will smell our trail in the forest in no time.”

  “But how do we get out? We can’t just walk to the wagon. And what do we do with him?”

  “We leave him here, then we make our way toward the front of the house. We’ll figure out a way to make Prescott see us.”

  Chris watched as Tynan tied one of Dysan’s ankles to a spike in the top of the brick wall, allowing the rope to fall only enough so that Dysan wasn’t dangling, but he was very uncomfortable. “Something tells me that I ought to kill you now,” Ty said under his breath. “I think you’re going to be nothing but trouble and there’ll come a time when I’ll regret having missed my chance.” He looked up at Chris. “You ready?”

  “Ty, are you sure it’s Asher and Pilar? Maybe it’s really a peddler’s wagon and they’re actually locked in the cellar.”

  Ty didn’t answer but grabbed her arm and pushed her back toward the house. Looking inside the window he made sure no one was about then climbed inside and helped Chris after him.

  She followed him as he led her through the house, keeping her back to the walls as he instructed her, while he checked each room they passed for signs of a guard. Once, he slipped inside a room and Chris heard a dull thud, as if a body were hitting the floor, then he returned to the hall and motioned for her to follow him.

  Chris didn’t question how he came to know the plan of the house so well, but just trusted him. He stopped in a bedroom at the far end of the house.

  “It’s Pilar, all right,” he said after looking out the window. “She’s on top of the wagon dancing, and Prescott is driving. I don’t know how much longer we have before they get tired of watching her. On second thought, considering what Pilar’s wearing, we may have the rest of the week.”

  He turned back to Chris. “How fast can you run?”

  “I…I don’t know. If someone’s chasing me, I guess I can run rather quickly.”

  “I’m going to create a diversion and I want you to climb out the window and run to the wagon and get in the back. Think you can do that?”

  “But what about you? I can’t go off and leave you.”

  “After the way you were kissing Dysan, what do you care about me?”

  “Dysan?” she asked, bewildered. “I was trying to get a knife from the box. I had to divert him. Tynan, are you jealous?”

  “Definitely not. Now, are you going to get out there or are you going to waste time and maybe get us all killed?”

  She nodded at him, but she didn’t like it. She hoped he wasn’t going to do something that would get him caught again. She didn’t think Dysan would be so ea