A Lady of the West Read online

  Emma shivered and went still, her brown eyes enormous in her pale, dusty face. She stared up at the hard face of the man lying on top of her, shocked at what she could feel happening to his body. She had never felt a man’s weight before, and now that their battle had abruptly changed to a sexual one, she was frightened into stillness.

  Though she knew there were others standing just a few feet away, in a strange way she felt they were utterly alone. She smelled his sweat, and his quick, hard breathing feathered her face. She knew hers must be doing the same thing to him, in a subtle exchange of their very breath.

  She noticed his eyes were hazel, his eyelashes and brows black. He moved again in a slight shift of position that brought him even more snugly against her.

  From a great distance she heard Celia sobbing. Emma rolled her head to the side, and the sight of the girl locked in another man’s arms shattered the strange sensuality that had enthralled her. Hectic color rushed to her face.

  “Please,” she said in a stifled tone. “Let me up.”

  Ben propped up on an elbow, still keeping her arms pinned to the dirt with his other hand. “Am I going to have to wrestle you down again?” he panted.

  “No.”

  He got to his feet and dragged her up until she was standing. Emma held out her arms, and with a small understanding smile Luis released Celia, who flew into her cousin’s comforting embrace. The girl was terrified and sobbing in harsh, choking sounds.

  Ben picked up his hat from the ground and slapped it against his pants, sending clouds of dust flying. He felt breathless, and though his erection had subsided there was still an uncomfortable tightness in his loins.

  Emma stroked Celia’s tangled hair and looked over her head at the men surrounding them. “What are you going to do with us?” she asked, instinctively looking at the man who had held her down as the leader.

  “Take you back to the ranch,” he said.

  Emma ducked her head, hiding her alarm as she continued to soothe Celia. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse, but pride held her erect, unable to show weakness to an enemy.

  Ben looked up at the sun, estimating the time. “We’ll have to rest the horses for a while before we head back. We won’t make it to the ranch tonight, but we should meet up with Jake on his way back with Mrs. McLain.”

  Emma’s head jerked up. “Jake?” she asked, her heart beginning to pound. Had Jake Roper come to their aid after all? But she was afraid to hope, because Jake was such a common name. Until then Emma had been determined not to say anything about Victoria in the hope that she had gotten away.

  “Jacob Sarratt,” Ben said. “My brother. I’m Ben Sarratt.”

  She stared at him, white-faced, because Victoria had been right after all.

  “The—the Major?”

  Ben walked over to snare Sophie’s reins and gave Emma a dismissive look over his shoulder. “Dead,” he said.

  It was late in the afternoon when they saw two riders approaching. Ben grunted in satisfaction, glad that Jake had recovered the missing widow without any trouble. His plan to get legal possession of the ranch by marrying her would have been worthless if he hadn’t been able to find her. Ben watched them ride up, more than a little curious about this woman Jake was willing to marry.

  Emma finally recognized Victoria and stumbled forward with a cry, but she froze in her tracks when she also recognized the man riding beside her cousin. She shot a disbelieving look at Ben, then another at Jake. Jake Roper was Jake Sarratt? Understanding dawned. My God, he’d been playing them all for fools from the beginning!

  When they reined in at the camp Victoria didn’t wait for anyone to help her down. Unhooking her leg from the pommel, she jumped and stumbled, but recovered herself before Jake could reach out to catch her.

  “Emma? Celia?”

  Hearing the hoarse anxiety, Emma hurried forward. “We’re both all right. Celia’s stiff and sore, but we haven’t been hurt. Are—are you—”

  “Tired,” Victoria said, her shoulders slumping. She allowed herself the weakness only for a moment. Lifting her chin, she said, “I suppose you know?”

  “About the Major? Yes.”

  “And about the Sarratts?” Victoria’s face was expressionless.

  “Yes.”

  There was nothing else to say. They were all safe, at least for the moment. What lay ahead, they couldn’t even guess.

  Victoria sat quietly with Emma beside her. One of the men—the one they called Wylie—began preparing the evening meal. Victoria stirred enough to offer their provisions.

  Jake was ominously silent, and Ben watched Victoria closely. She didn’t know that he was admiring her quiet, dignified manner and the look of pride on her dusty face. He was even admiring the fact that she was obviously the cause of Jake’s black mood, because no woman before had ever been able to get past Jake’s wall of reserve.

  They ate at sunset and turned in shortly afterward. Victoria was too tired even to argue when Jake dumped his bedroll beside her blanket, though she did wonder what the men thought. She decided that she was too tired to care and, curling up on her side, was asleep before Jake got his boots off.

  When they reached the hacienda the next day, Victoria still didn’t know what Jake intended to do with them. If he’d been planning to kill them, surely he would have done it and left their bodies out in the rocks. Instead he’d brought them back, to Carmita, who came running from the hacienda with glad cries and outstretched arms.

  There were signs of the recent battle everywhere, from the multitude of new faces to the chips in the adobe walls. Several windows had been broken and holes peppered the black wood of the front door. Still, there were some things that were unchanged. Carmita was still motherly in her concern, and Angelina Garcia still lounged around.

  The women trooped tiredly upstairs, with Carmita fussing around them while Lola and Juana began heating the massive quantities of water needed for them all to have a bath. Celia could barely climb the stairs, she was so sore; they decided she should have the first bath for the relief the hot water would give her muscles. Carmita also addressed the problem with a liberal application of liniment, despite Celia’s blushing reluctance to bare her legs and backside.

  The house was teeming with activity, and if there was one thing Victoria knew how to do it was run a household. She seized on the work to keep herself from screaming out her fears and uncertainties, because she still didn’t know what was going to happen and was afraid to ask. The Major’s room had been cleaned out as if he’d never been; even the furniture had vanished.

  It was disorienting to open the connecting door between their bedrooms and look at the emptiness of bare walls and floor. Her husband was unmourned, and every trace of him had also gone. It seemed as if no one wanted to say anything about it. She wondered if McLain had been shot down in that very room. She backed into her own room and quietly closed the door.

  When it came time for her own bath, she locked both doors and lolled in the hot water for a long time, soaking out the grit that felt embedded in her skin. She washed her hair, sighing with relief at the sense of being clean again, and leisurely brushed it dry. Eventually, however, she ran out of excuses to linger and was forced to dress and go downstairs for dinner.

  The meal was a strange affair. Celia ate in her room, and the four people who sat down at the table were all silent for their own reasons. Emma, usually as self-assured as a Mother Superior, was pale and looked only at Victoria the few times she raised her eyes from her plate. Jake wasn’t scowling, but his expression was dark nonetheless. He and Ben made no effort at conversation, but ate steadily. Victoria’s own stomach was knotted in a mass of nerves and she only tasted a few bites.

  Immediately afterward, the two men went into the library and shut the door.

  Once they were gone, Emma came to life. “I’m going to my room,” she said with heartfelt relief. “I’ll have to read a couple of hours before I get sleepy, but at least I’l