Ashes in the Wind (73 page)

“You have it all planned, I see.” Alaina’s manner was well controlled, though the trembling palpitation of her heart forced droplets of cold sweat from her pores. What they planned for Cole frightened her beyond anything else. “But tell me, Tamara, why didn’t you stay here in the first place? It could have been yours without question, and there would be no need for killing.”

Tamara yanked at the white cuffs of her gown, tearing them off and crushing them beneath her feet, as if she detested the reminder of her servile position. “Frederick Latimer only wanted me as a mother for his child. But I wanted something more! Fame and fortune! Wealth! He had that, of course, but he cared little for the parties and the grandeur of being
rich!” She lifted her chin imperiously. “A man came, handsome, charming. A gambler! I fell in love with him. Oh, you should have seen us, my dear Alaina. We made that old river come alive, from Pig’s Eye to the Delta and back again. But there was a child. Oh, not his! Master Latimer’s! I had the babe in my belly when I left! Only, I made Harry believe it was his, and I never told the child otherwise. Harry and I worked the steamers, you know. I would signal him when anyone held a winning hand or one that was just a hair less than his. Not that he needed my help, of course. He could make any card you name jump out of the deck. But
he liked to play it safe.”

She leaned against the gate and stared reflectively down at the toe of her slim, black shoe for a moment. “Then, some of his customers wanted a woman—and I became another kind of shill. I—pacified the heavy losers and—” she tossed her head defiantly “—most of them went away happy and satisfied. But Harry had a temper. He didn’t like being called a cheat. He was a good shot, but one night he challenged the wrong man, a Creole buck in New Orleans. They pulled Harry out of the river with a bullet hole square in his forehead.” She placed a finger on her own to indicate the spot. “He left me with a year-old baby, but I could handle a pack of cards, too, and if the customers didn’t mind playing at the gaming tables with a woman, I usually won a worthy trick or two. When that action was slow, I found another way to stay alive. Then I made a big score and settled down with my boy in a well-secluded little Cajun town. That little scrapper
remembered the high
life, and I taught him at an early age all I knew. After he got old enough, we took to sharing our ideas, and let me tell you, we had some to brag about.”

Tamara shrugged. “Well, I got word that Frederick had passed on, and I came up here to see what I could do for myself. I was planning and hoping that Cole wouldn’t make it back from the war. It would have saved me so much trouble. You see, Frederick never did divorce me. Legally I could have claimed myself as his bereaved widow and, no doubt, turned some judge’s heart. I’m still quite a looker, and no one can guess my age. But now, with the girl, all I have to do is convince some official that I am partial to babies and have Glynis’s best interests at heart. It will be so much easier claiming her inheritance than trying to reestablish my claim to the Latimer fortune. But—I have talked long enough, and my son will be coming soon. I must leave you for the time being, Alaina. Just don’t stray too far, will you?”

Laughing at her own humor, Tamara left her unwilling guest and went off in the same direction that Gunn had taken, leaving Alaina greatly disturbed by the workings of the woman’s mind.

Alaina bent her regard to her husband and could not hold back the tears which came at the thought that soon she might be holding his lifeless form in her arms. She choked back a sob and blindly caressed his lean features, forcing back that mental vision. Tenderly she placed wet compresses on his brow until eventually he stirred from his oblivion. He groaned, and his eyelids fluttered open to see her softly smiling face close above his.

“Welcome back, my darling,” she murmured.

“Alaina!” He tried to sit up and had to brace himself on an arm until his world stopped reeling. Gingerly he tested his jaw, then peered intently into the gloom where the stolen cargo was stacked. “It would appear we’ve been sitting on top of a thieves’ nest the whole time.”

“I believe I came to that same conclusion not too long ago,” Alaina observed ruefully. “And there’s much more to it than what meets the eye. They’re murderers Cole, the lot of them.”

“We’ve got to get out of here.” He staggered to his feet and tested the solid gate, then turned to her with a lopsided grin of apology. “But I can’t see quite how at the moment.”

On the cot, Glynis began to squirm and whimper, and Alaina rose quickly and went to sit beside her, lifting the babe in her arms and cuddling her close while she could. She held out a hand in an appeal for Cole to join her and gratefully leaned into his embrace when he complied.

“Cole, they intend to murder you!” she whispered urgently through Glynis’s mewling cry. “They plan to take over Latimer House—”

He laid his fingers gently against her lips to shush her. “We should have some help arriving in the form of Saul and Olie,” he breathed, nuzzling his nose into her sweet smelling hair. “So don’t fret yourself, my love. We’ll come out of this alive and hearty.”

Alaina still fretted. “But, Cole, I’m sure they sent some men up to watch the stairs.”

“Then we’ll wait and see what happens. Saul can usually take care of himself, and with Olie to help,
perhaps the thieves have a surprise coming.” He hugged her shoulders reassuringly. “I don’t plan to be dispensed with quite as easily as they would like.”

He lifted his arm from around her and took his dissatisfied daughter on his lap, then complained, “She’s wet.”

“Is that all you have to worry about?” Alaina laughed in tearful question. She brushed away the wetness at her eyes and swallowed, choking back any further display of her fear. Somehow Cole’s calming presence and his assurances made it all seem so less dire. She lifted her skirt and tore another square from her petticoat as she had done before and folded it upon her lap to receive her infant daughter. When the diapering service was completed, Alaina handed the babe back to her father, though Glynis was only mildly appeased and continued to fuss. As Cole tried to pacify her with a gentle jostling, Alaina rested her chin upon his shoulder and imparted another bit of information in a low tone. “I think we’re going to meet another friend before the day is out. That was Gunn who dragged you in here.”

“Gunn!” Cole rubbed his jaw and rolled his head to ease the ache in the back of his neck. “Of course! How could I forget Jacques’s bully?”

“I met him exactly the same way when they kidnapped me in New Orleans,” Alaina commented musingly.

Cole tilted his head and fondly considered the delicate line of her jaw before he came to any conclusions. “Gunn must have a touch befitting a surgeon. I’ve never noticed any evidence of abuse and see none now.”

“I think Jacques said something like that,” Alaina replied with a smile.

“I’m sorry.” Cole touched her lips with a kiss. “I seem to be quoting everyone today.”

“That last didn’t feel like a quote to me,” Alaina murmured softly, staring up at him with eyes brimming with love. “It felt quite like an original.”

Glynis’s cries soon turned into a full-fledged squalling and only subsided in hopeful expectation when Alaina accepted her return. The babe eagerly rooted at her breast, then whined in disappointment until Alaina, with a timid glance about the dimly lit cavern, opened her dress. When presented, the familiar nipple was latched onto with a lusty eagerness, and Glynis immediately quieted and, in relaxing contentment, kneaded the soft, white breast.

Cole watched with his usual fascination for bare bosoms, little daunted by their plight of the moment. He placed an arm about his wife again, cushioning the stone at her back as they leaned against it together.

“It’s odd that I never discovered this cave was here before now,” he mused aloud. “But then, I’ve always hated the red room and only rarely entered it, even when Roberta occupied it.”

“Cole, it was Roberta who murdered the gardener, and it was his child she carried. Mrs. Garth witnessed it all.”

Cole accepted her statement with mild surprise. “She must have been sorely pressed indeed.”

“He caught her with the stolen money and wanted to share it.”

“Then I can believe the fact. She was very possessive when it came to wealth.”

“We mustn’t tell Aunt Leala—or Uncle Angus,” Alaina pleaded softly.

“No, I fear the shock would be too much for them.”

“There’s something else you should know—about Mrs. Garth.”

“A very interesting woman,” Cole observed ruefully as the one mentioned flitted quickly from one shadowed end of the cave to the other, slipping past the large wooden door after the usual clanking of chains. “And a very busy one.”

Placing a hand on the muscular leanness of his thigh, Alaina drew his attention back to her. “It’s something that has to do with you, Cole.”

Suddenly mocking laughter echoed from the dense gloom from which Tamara had rushed, bringing their startled attentions to the small, neatly dressed man who stood there with short legs braced wide apart. It was Jacques!

Alaina quickly covered Glynis’s head and her bare breast with a corner of the baby’s blanket as the Frenchman strode forward to their cell. He was arrogant in his demeanor, confident with Cole behind bars. Her husband stiffened beside her, and with a glance, she saw the muscles in his cheek had tensed and now flexed with his ire.

“And what do we have here?” Jacques jeeringly questioned, halting before the gate. “Doctor and Mrs. Latimer, is it not? How nice to have you both visiting here in my humble abode. And of course, I must not forget sweet Glynis who suckles at your breast, my lovely Alaina. Oh, to be there,
ma chérie.
I would enjoy that greatly.”

Cole’s eyes were like cold, blue steel as they met the man’s amused smile. “Apparently you didn’t take my warning seriously when I gave it in the hotel.”

“What was it you said now?” Jacques feigned a look of deep concentration. “Something about making sure that I would be judged by the highest authority?” He chuckled at Cole’s casual nod. “We shall see who judges whom,
monsieur docteur.
”

He leaned a shoulder against the bars of the gate as he made a show of tugging off the glove from his right hand. He withdrew a scarred and withered extremity and held it up for their benefit.

“A gift from your wife, monsieur. As was this.” He swept his hat off and brushed his hair aside to display the largely pierced left ear.

“You remember the last time we met in New Orleans, don’t you, Alaina? I believe you said you would kill yourself before letting me touch you. Well, this time I have something better with which to make you mind your manners. If you choose not to behave, your husband could die a very slow and agonizing death.”

Alaina trembled at his threat and sagged against Cole’s arm, pressing close to his side.

“Is that the best you can do with a woman?” Cole sneered. “Frighten her into giving herself? Is that how you make all your conquests?”

His jibe shattered Jacques’s composure for a moment, then the man continued on as if he had not heard. “Of course, we plan to do away with the good doctor anyway. But if you cooperate, Alaina, it could go much better for him.”

“So much for pardons,” Cole scoffed. “You’re still a bastard through and through.”

“Would you like to see my credentials again,
monsieur docteu
r? Here!” He pulled the packet from his jacket and tossed it through the bars. “Peruse them at your leisure. “Oh! And here’s another set.” He hauled out another packet. “Slightly different, but equally acceptable to the average lawman. And here’s a pardon from Mexico, and one from France! You see? Countries vie to give me pardons.” His laughter filled the cave, and when his humor ceased, he smirked in self-satisfaction. “Actually, I found a man who had a talent for a pen and a hatred for the world.” He shrugged carelessly. “Alas, I gave him a chance to hate the next world, too.” He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “You see how confident I am? I will build an empire here, so powerful that no one will dare touch me. All be it, on the bones of the Latimers and their fortune, but I must take into account that both of you have taken much from me. Alaina, my hand
and ear. And
monsieur docteur
, the woman I desired for myself. For that, Monsieur Latimer, I am tempted to see you gelded.”

As he met Cole’s tolerant stare, Jacques ceased his prattle, finding no evidence that he worried the other man. He paced to and fro for a moment, rubbing his chin in deep thought.

“You also seem confident, Monsieur Latimer.” He considered Cole with a furrowed brow. “I wonder—could you be hoping for rescue? Could you be basing your hope on the arrival of—” he stepped back and swept his hand to one side, “this one?”

His uproarious laughter drowned out Alaina’s dismayed gasp, trembling the air throughout the cavern, as four men carried a bound and gagged Saul to
the opening of the cell where they dumped him. A full half dozen ruffians with various bruises and cuts moved to stand around him, clubs ready in their hands. Saul himself was not without damage. Blood trickled from a swollen gash on the side of his head, and an eye was nearly closed. As one man held the gate open, two others rolled the trussed man into the cell. Cole had risen and was waiting to examine the black’s injuries. When the gate clanged shut again, Jacques indolently observed the doctor’s ministerings.

“A waste, monsieur. He will be dead in the morning. My men will see to that.”

“You could be dead in the morning too, Monsieur DuBonné,” Cole responded, freeing Saul of his bonds. He swabbed the laceration on the black’s head as Saul tugged the gag loose.

“Still confident, monsieur?” Jacques smirked.

Cole stopped dabbing at the cut and braced an arm on his knee as he squatted on his haunches beside the black. He glanced up with a wry smile. “When a mere girl can set upon you and do as much damage as you have displayed, despite your army of toughs, should I fear overly much?”

The barb struck its mark with accuracy, and the small man stiffened. Irately he gestured his men away, and as their footsteps were retreating, those of another approached. A rustle of taffeta announced Tamara’s returning presence.