Her Dearest Enemy (16 page)

“Then give him his damned brother!” Brandon
rasped. “As long as we get Jenny back unharmed, I’ll
throw in enough money for the two of them to live
like kings in Mexico. And to sweeten the pot, maybe
you can promise them a fair head start before you
bring out the posse.” He glanced imploringly at Matt.

“Agreed,” the sheriff said. “Harvey and Marlin
will dig their own graves in time, with or without our
help. But we have to get Jenny back now, at any cost.”

A full moon rose in the eastern sky as they wound
their way up the hillside. Harriet walked behind Brandon,
filling her eyes with the sight of his rumpled hair
and broad shoulders. He moved with easy strides, the
white bandage like a beacon in the darkness.

She fought the urge to reach out and catch his
waist in a brief, comforting hug. Brandon would not
welcome her comfort. His thoughts would be far
away from her, as if their wild and tender loving had
taken place in a different world.

If they lost Jenny, they would lose each other, as
well, Harriet realized. There would be too much hurt
between them, too many painful memories for them
to go on. Brandon would withdraw so deeply into himself
that she would never be able to reach him again.

Less than a mile from where they’d picked it up,
the trail ended at the broad base of a rock slide. While
Will held the lantern, Matt crouched to examine the
rocks. After a long, tense moment he straightened
and shook his head. “No use trying to trail him from
here. He could’ve gone anywhere.”

“Dr. Tate told me the Keetch brothers and their
parents prospected these hills,” Harriet said. “We
could search for days, even weeks, without finding
the place where Harvey’s taking Jenny.”

“We could…” Matt gazed pensively up at the
slide. “But we won’t have to. Harvey’s smarter than
I gave him credit for. He wants to be found. And he
knows there’s only one way we’re going to find him.”

“We’ll take Marlin along with us. He’s the only one
who’ll know where to find his brother.” Brandon voiced
the thought that had sprung into all of their minds. He
glanced around the circle of faces and took charge.

“Let’s go. Matt, while you’re getting the little bugger
out of jail, I’ll withdraw five thousand cash from
the bank. That should be enough. Will, I’ll take your
horse for now. You can saddle two more horses from
my stable and meet us in town.”

He glanced back over his shoulder, as if noticing
Harriet for the first time. “Harriet, can you round up
enough food and water for four men, maybe some blankets
and medical supplies, and send them with Will?”

“Certainly. But I’ll be going with you.”

The three men stared at her. “It’ll be a rough ride,
and likely dangerous, Harriet,” Matt said. “There’s
no reason for a lady to come along.”

“Oh?” She glared up at them. “And what if Jenny
goes into labor? Which one of you is going to deliver
her baby? Answer me that or saddle me a horse!”

An hour later they rode out of town. The moon
shone like a silver coin in a cloudless sky, casting long
streamers of shadow behind them as they cleared Main
Street and swung their mounts toward the foothills.

Matt Langtry led the way with the handcuffed Marlin
Keetch riding close beside him. Marlin sat hunched
in the saddle, looking as peevish as a trapped wolverine.
His eyes shifted again and again toward the heavy
Colt .45 that hung at the sheriff’s hip, as if he were
wondering how to get his hands on the weapon. But
no one expected any real trouble from Marlin. He had
been told, in good faith, that if he led the small party
to Harvey’s mountain hideout, he would be exchanged
for Brandon’s daughter. With the promise of freedom
so close, he’d be a fool to try anything reckless.

Will, Harriet and Brandon rode behind them,
stringing out single file as the trail narrowed. They
said little. Between the tension-charged air and Marlin’s
surly presence, no one felt much like talking.

Riding behind her brother, Harriet was acutely
conscious of Brandon’s gaze on her back. But he
wasn’t really seeing her, she knew. His thoughts
would be fixed on his daughter’s safety and on his own
guilt. If the worst happened, he would suffer the torments
of hell. It would haunt him all his days that he
had let Jenny go without making peace between them.

Jenny’s loss would affect them all. Will would be
prostrate with a young husband’s grief, and even
Matt would blame himself for not having found Harvey
in time to prevent the kidnapping.

But she would turn her thoughts away from tragedy,
Harriet resolved. She would think of the love and
sweetness that Jenny had brought into all their lives
and she would look ahead to the joy they would feel
when she was safe.

They would find her in time. They had to.

The moon rose to the peak of the sky as they wound
their way into the foothills. Groves of aspen mottled
the foothills, their trunks bone-white against the darkness.
Higher up, velvety forests of pine and spruce
rose to the timberline, ending below jagged granite
peaks whose hollows still cradled pockets of snow.

The lower slopes of these mountains were honeycombed
with old mines, where an earlier generation
had dug for phantom fortunes in gold and silver. A
man who knew this country, as Harvey Keetch did,
could hide in this network of pits and tunnels as long
as his supplies held out or even longer if he knew how
to live off the land. Only Marlin Keetch would know
where to find his brother—and Jenny. Brutish and
unpredictable, Marlin held Jenny’s life in the palm
of his grubby hand.

Harriet’s horse lurched as the trail zigzagged up the
side of a wash. Glancing down, she tugged at her skirt
to cover one exposed knee. There’d been no time to
change into riding clothes. She’d been too busy
rounding up food, water and the other things they
would need for the long ride. She had also spent
twenty minutes with Dr. Tate while he’d instructed her
on what to do if Jenny’s labor started. There’d been
no question of the old man’s going with them. The
trail would be too rough for a buggy or wagon, and
his rheumatism would not allow him to mount a horse.

He had given Harriet a kit that contained some
sheeting, towels, a baby blanket, a stethoscope, a
knife, scissors, a ball of string, a flask of whiskey and
some evil-looking forceps that Harriet could only
hope she wouldn’t need to use. Her grandmother had
been a midwife and, as a young girl, Harriet had gone
along with the old woman to deliver a few babies. But
the births had been easy ones and she’d had little
more to do than fetch and carry. This time could be
very different. She could only pray that, if called
upon, her hands and mind would be equal to the task.

“How soon will we get there?” Will’s strained
voice broke the silence. “We’ve been riding for
hours. It’s got to be past midnight.”

“Marlin told me we’d be there before first light,”
Matt answered. “That’s as much as I know.”

“And what if Jenny isn’t there?” Will demanded.
“What’ll we do then?”

Matt sighed. “We’ll cross that bridge when we
come to it. For now, this is our best shot. And Marlin
won’t steer us wrong, because he knows that if he
does, he’ll be spending the next fifteen years at hard
labor with a ball and chain clamped onto his leg.
Isn’t that right, Marlin?” He gave his prisoner a none-too-
gentle nudge.

“I gotta take a piss!” Marlin whined. “’Tain’t fair,
makin’ me ride all night without even stoppin’ to do
my business.”

“May I remind you, Marlin, that there’s a lady—
a
real
lady—riding behind you?” Matt’s voice was
blade thin. “Watch your mouth. And you can do anything
you blamed well please when we have Jenny
Calhoun Smith back safe and sound. But for now,
you’ll stay on your horse.”

“’Tain’t fair!” Marlin’s whine had become a blubbering
wail. “First Ma dies, then that bastard banker
takes our ranch, then Harvey makes me help with the
holdup and I’m the one that gits caught! And now
you’re bein’ mean to me!’ Tain’t fair!”

“Stop griping, Marlin,” Matt snapped. “Life isn’t
fair. I learned that early on. At least you had good parents
who loved you and tried to raise you decently.
And at least you’ve got a brother who seems to care
about you—though I’d argue with his way of showing
it. That’s more family than I’ve got.”

Marlin slumped in the saddle, muttering under
his breath, but Will’s interest had been piqued. “I
thought your family was in Texas, Matt,” he said. “I
never knew you had no family at all.”

The sheriff stiffened slightly, then shrugged his
shoulders, as if realizing that Will needed the brief
distraction from his worries. “My mother died when
I was seven,” he said. “I never knew my father—they
weren’t married—but she said he was a good man
and she’d loved him. She promised to tell me the
whole story when I was older, but she never got the
chance to keep that promise. She was killed by a
stray bullet in a drunken gunfight and I spent the
next eleven years in an orphanage.”

“And you never tried to find your father’s family?”
Will asked.

Matt shook his head. “I wouldn’t know where to
start looking. And even if I did find them, why should
they want anything to do with me? Some things are
better left alone.”

“But didn’t your mother leave you any clues at
all?” Will persisted.

Matt sighed. “Only one. Langtry was my mother’s
last name. But my middle name isn’t the sort
she’d have plucked out of thin air, so I’ve always
thought it might have been my father’s.”

“What is it?” Will asked.

“It’s Tolliver.” Matt nudged his horse forward to
keep a closer eye on his prisoner. “Matthew Tolliver
Langtry.” His chuckle carried a raw edge. “Now,
that’s a mouthful, even in Texas!”

* * *

As the conversation faded into silence, Brandon
shifted his weight in the saddle and unholstered the
heavy revolver at his hip. Taking care to point the
muzzle at the sky, he cocked and uncocked the hammer
and checked the cylinder to make sure it was
fully loaded. He had never shot a man and he hoped
he wouldn’t have to do it tonight. But if need be, to
save Jenny or to protect Harriet, he would blast his
way through the gates of hell.

He’d been too distracted to pay close attention to
the exchange between Will and Matt, but the young
sheriff’s remark that he had no family had struck a
deep blow into Brandon’s heart. Family was always
something he’d taken for granted until last fall when
Jenny had eloped and left him alone, marooned in the
ocean of his own pride. For the past six months he,
too, had been without a family. It was the loneliest
feeling in the world.

Now, like a vision in his mind’s eye, Brandon saw
everything that might have been his….

He saw himself, a few years older and infinitely
wiser than now, seated at the head of a long table,
spread for a holiday banquet. Around that table were
the people he loved—his beautiful Harriet and the
children she had given him. And Jenny was there,
too—not only Jenny but her husband Will and their
own babies, everyone talking, laughing, singing in a
cacophony of pure happiness.

Brandon could not hold the vision. It faded as
swiftly as it had come, giving him only a glimpse of
his lost future. Why had he turned them away? Why
had it taken this calamity to show him what he had
done to all their lives?

Pulling his thoughts back to the present, Brandon
eased the pistol back into its holster. The night was
chilly, the sky dotted with the diamond pinpoints of
a million stars. Harriet rode ahead of him, her figure
slender and erect in the darkness. The argument that
had followed their passionate lovemaking came back
to haunt him now.

He ached to gather her in his arms, to bury his face
in her sweet hair and tell her what a fool he’d been.
She was his salvation, the love of his life, everything
he had ever wanted in a woman. Why hadn’t he told
her that? Why hadn’t he opened his heart to her and
laid it bare?

His proposal of marriage had been so flippant
that, in retrospect, it had sounded almost like a joke.
At the time, he’d been dizzy with love and bubbling
over with hubris. He had glossed over the words
she’d needed to hear and hadn’t even given her the
chance to refuse. It was a wonder she hadn’t stalked
out of the room and gone straight back to Enoch
Farley.

Would he ever have the chance to make things
right? Or would the outcome of this night be so shattering
that there could be no hope of going forward?

Nothing could be resolved until Jenny was safe.
And she
would
be safe, he assured himself desperately.
He would see to it himself or he would die trying.

B
randon was beginning to drift when something
shocked his senses to full alert. It was not a sound or
a touch, but a scent, faint but unmistakable on the cool
night breeze. He inhaled deeply to make sure. Yes, it
had to be fresh coffee, brewing over an open fire.

Matt had halted his horse below the crest of a low,
rocky ridge. “Smells damned good, doesn’t it?” he
commented as Brandon moved his mount past Harriet
and Will and came up alongside him. “You’d
almost think our friend Harvey was expecting company.”

“How can you be sure it’s Harvey?” Brandon
asked in a hushed voice.

“Marlin told me his family’s old silver mine is
down in the hollow, below this ridge. Judging from
the signs, I’d say he’s led us to the right place, and
somebody’s home.”

“Now what?” Will had moved up beside them.
“How can we make sure he’s got Jenny?”

“Should be easy enough,” Matt said, easing out of
the saddle and swinging to the ground. “I’ll just
sneak down there and talk to him. With luck, we can
make the trade and be on our way in no time at all.”

With luck
. A cold chill passed through Brandon’s
body as he thought of all the things that could go
wrong. Jenny could be hurt or dead, or Harvey could
refuse to give her up. Or it was possible they
wouldn’t find her here at all. Anything could happen
down there in the darkness.

Harriet had dismounted a short distance away.
She stood beside her horse, massaging the soreness
from her back. Her eyes, brimming with fear and
love, met his in the moonlight. Brandon ached to go
to her, to take her in his arms and assure her that everything
was going to be all right. But he could not
make such a promise, least of all to himself.

“I’ll need someone to watch my back,” Matt said.
“Brandon, you come along and cover me. Will, you stay
here and keep an eye on our friend Marlin. If he tries
anything, shoot him someplace where it’ll hurt a lot.”

“I gotta take a piss,” Marlin whined. “You said I
could.”

“Shut up, Marlin,” Matt snapped. “You can piss
a whole damned river when we’re done with this
business.”

Will had drawn his borrowed pistol and moved up
next to the prisoner. It was clear that the young man
hadn’t done a lot of shooting. He handled the gun
awkwardly, holding it up to look as he cocked the
hammer. But Will would be all right, Brandon told
himself. Marlin would be a fool to try anything when
he was about to be set free.

“Ready?” Matt glanced at Brandon, who had dismounted
and drawn his pistol.

“Lead the way.” Brandon thumbed back the hammer
and followed the sheriff through a narrow opening between
the rocks. They wound their way downward until
they emerged on an open, brushy slope. For the rest of
the way, darkness would be their only protection.

A hundred yards below, on a fan of tailings above
a dry streambed, a small campfire flickered. Its light
illuminated the timbered opening of an old mine tunnel.
Near its entrance a stout figure huddled, poking
at the fire with a stick and tending a pot of coffee.
Brandon’s pulse broke into a gallop as he recognized
Harvey Keetch. But where was Jenny?

Brandon peered into the deep shadows, his heart
twisting into a knot of anguish. His daughter was nowhere
to be seen.

By now they were within shouting distance. Matt
dropped to a crouch behind a clump of sage and
Brandon followed his example.

“Harvey, this is Sheriff Langtry,” Matt shouted.
“We’ve come for Jenny. Is she with you?”

Harvey edged back into the shelter of the mine.
Moonlight glinted on the pistol in his hand. “Maybe.
Maybe not. That depends on what you got for me!”

“We’ve got your brother up on the ridge. Bring the
girl out here where we can see she’s safe and we’ll
talk about a trade. Otherwise, Marlin goes back to jail
and we’ll be coming after you!”

Brandon knew that Matt expected him to keep
quiet. But if Jenny could hear him, he wanted her to
know he had come for her and that he would do anything
to get her back.

“Harvey!” he shouted. “This is Brandon Calhoun.
All I want is to get my daughter back safely. I’ve got
five thousand dollars for you if you’ll bring Jenny
out now!”

The long silence that followed was broken only by
the distant cry of a coyote. Brandon’s nerves had
begun to snap by the time Harvey answered.

“Hell, Banker, if you had that much money, why
didn’t you just help us with the mortgage? That
woulda saved you and me this whole stinkin’ mess!
And you, Sheriff, how do I know this ain’t just a trick.
You could have a whole damned posse up in them
rocks, waitin’ to shoot me down as soon as I give up
that little gal.”

So he had Jenny after all. Brandon felt himself go
light-headed with relief. “Jenny’s all we’ve come for,
Harvey. Just bring her out here and turn her loose.
Then you and your brother can take the money and
head for Mexico.”

“’Tain’t gonna be that easy, Banker,” Harvey
shouted back. “Your daughter’s in a bad way. I got
her in the mine, layin’ on some blankets, moanin’ and
groanin’ like the devil hisself had hold of her. I ain’t
no doc, but from the looks of things, I’d say she’s
fixin’ to have that young’un right here!”

From their place behind the ridge, Harriet and
Will had heard everything. Harvey’s last words left
both of them thunderstruck.

“I’m going down there!” Harriet seized the bundled
medical kit from behind her saddle where she’d
tied it. Will, still mounted, watched her with desperately
frightened eyes. Her brother was such a man
most of the time, it was easy to forget that he was
only eighteen years old. Her heart went out to him.

“It’ll be all right, Will,” she tried to reassure him.
“Dr. Tate showed me how to help Jenny. I have everything
I need right here, and I know what to do.”

“If it’s that simple why were we planning to take
her to Denver?” He flung the words back at her. “I’m
not a little boy you can pat on the head, sis. Jenny’s
my wife, she’s in danger, and my place is with her!”

“I know.” Harriet gazed up at him, heartsick. “But
somebody needs to watch things here, and right now
there’s no one available but you. The best thing you
can do for Jenny is to stay calm and help keep things
under control.”

“But what if she dies? What if I never get to see
her or talk to her or hold her again?”

Harriet steeled herself against the distress in his
young eyes. “You mustn’t even think that way, Will. I’ll
do everything I can.” Impulsively she reached up and
squeezed his hand. “We’re wasting time. I have to go.”

Harriet would never understand what happened
next. Marlin had been quiet and docile, slumped in
the saddle listening to the exchange between Brandon,
the sheriff and Harvey. Maybe he’d been worried
about the way the conversation was going. Or
maybe he just lacked the common sense to stay put
until he could be exchanged for Jenny. Whatever the
reason, he suddenly took matters into his own hands.

While Will and Harriet were distracted by their argument,
Marlin seized the saddle horn with his manacled
hands and drove his hobnailed boots hard into
the horse’s flanks.

The startled animal screamed and reared, almost
striking Harriet and slamming Will’s mount to one
side as it leaped over the ridge, skidded down the
rocks and plunged on a slanting path down the steep,
gravelly slope toward the mine.

Marlin clung desperately to the saddle. “Here I
am, Harvey!” he bawled. “I’m comin’ to get you
outta here!”

“Stop, you crazy fool!” Will fumbled with the pistol
until he’d regained his grip on the weapon.
“
Stop!
” He leaned over the rocks and fired three
warning shots, aimed well above Marlin’s head. The
bullets whined as they ricocheted down the brushy
hollow, their echoes sounding like a whole volley of
gunfire in the darkness.

“Damn liars!” Harvey screamed. As the nightmare
scene unfolded, Harvey began firing back up the slope
at the imagined enemy. Matt and Brandon were flattened
against the ground when Marlin’s horse charged
past them. They saw Marlin reel and pitch sideways,
over the horse’s shoulder. The handcuffs caught on
the saddle horn, and Marlin was dragged fifty yards
down the canyon before the horse staggered to a halt.

“Hold your fire, blast it!” Matt shouted. Dodging
and ducking like an infantryman, he raced down the
wash to where the horse stood, its sides heaving.
Matt’s oaths and curses purpled the air around him.

“Congratulations, Harvey!” he shouted in a fury.
“You’ve just killed your damn-fool brother!”

The primal cry that tore from the mouth of the
mine did not even sound human.

Will had gone white with shock. Harriet tore her
eyes away from his stricken face. With Marlin as insurance,
she had felt relatively safe going down to the
mine. Now she would be walking into the lair of a
wounded animal.

But that made no difference. No power on earth
could keep her from Jenny’s side.

Clutching the medical kit, she clambered down
through the rocks and emerged on the open hillside.

“Harvey!” she shouted. “Don’t shoot! It’s Harriet
Smith! I’m unarmed, and I’m coming down to help
Jenny!”

Brandon watched her, his throat tightening as she
moved down the slope toward him. She walked
proudly, her head high, her shoulders squared,
showing none of the terror she must be feeling inside.
Her hair had come loose from its pins to flutter
around her face like a dark halo. His angel. His
brave, beautiful, fierce lioness. He would give up his
life for her. But he could not help her now—or even
stop her. Her capable hands carried his hopes and
his heart.

“Hold it right there, Schoolmarm!” Harvey called
as she came abreast of the sage clump where Brandon
had taken shelter. “If you want to come down here and
play midwife, that’s fine by me. But it’ll cost you.”

Harriet halted in momentary surprise.

“The banker said he had five thousand dollars
cash on him,” Harvey said. “If his money’s as good
as his mouth, I want it now. Bring it down to me and
I’ll let you go back to the little gal. Otherwise, she
can damn well have that baby by herself—if she
doesn’t die tryin’.”

Brandon rose to his feet, knowing the hate-crazed
man could shoot him anytime he chose. He would never
have judged Harvey to be a murderer, but now that he’d
killed his own brother, Harvey had nothing to lose. In
his grief-crazed condition, he was capable of anything.

“You can have the money, Harvey,” Brandon said,
“but only if you take it and ride out of here now. The
sheriff’s given his word that you’ll have time to get
away. Haven’t you, Sheriff?”

“On a stack of Bibles!” Matt’s voice rang out from
the shadows of the wash. “All we want is Jenny, safe
and sound. You, Harvey, can go to Mexico, or to hell
for all we care.”

“No good,” Harvey snapped. “There’s nothin’ says
you won’t be after me the minute I clear out.”

“Then take me with you!” Brandon heard Harriet
gasp as he spoke. “With me as a hostage, nobody
would come near you.”

“Good idea.” There was a manic edge to Harvey’s
voice. “But you’re a big man, Banker. Even without
a gun, you could be too much for me to handle. I’d
rather take me a woman. She’d be easier to manage
and a helluva lot more amusin’,’ specially at night.”

“Stop this!” Harriet was growing frantic. “Settle
things any way you like, but let me get to Jenny before
it’s too late! After the baby comes and I know
she’s all right, I’ll go anywhere!” She swung toward
Brandon, thrusting out her hand. “Give me the
money! We’re running out of time!”

Brandon reached into his jacket and retrieved the
hefty wad of bills wrapped in a muslin bag. As her
hand closed around it, he caught her wrist and spun
her hard against him. His mouth captured hers in a
forceful, desperate kiss.

“
Mmff
—what—” Startled, Harriet struggled against
him, twisting and pushing. Then she felt the cold weight
of his pistol sliding into her pocket and she understood
what he was doing. Still clutching her medical kit, she
flung her free arm around his neck and returned the kiss
so passionately that Brandon staggered backward to
catch his balance. What had begun as a ruse suddenly
became a poignant farewell that contained all the love
and yearning there was no time to put into words.

She tore herself away from him then, her eyes
welling with tears, as if she were seeing him for the
last time.

“Tell Jenny I love her,” he said, not daring to say
more.

“Yes. Yes, I will.” She turned away and rushed
down the hill.

“And I love you,” he said softly, gazing after her.
“My sweet, brave Harriet, I will love you all my life.”

As Harriet reached the mine’s entrance, Harvey
stepped out of the shadows with the old army pistol
in his hand. He was dirty and unshaven, and his eyes,
lit by the campfire’s red glow, reflected a glint of desperation
that edged on madness.

“Come on in, Schoolmarm,” he said, leering at
her. “If I’d knowed I’d be entertainin’ two purty gals,
I would have cleaned up a bit. First off, I want the
money.”

Harriet placed the muslin bag into his open hand.
Whatever happened, she resolved, she could not let
this man know how terrified she was. Her fear would
feed his sense of power, pushing him over the brink
of cruelty.

He reached out to fondle her. She pushed his hand
away. “That’s not part of the bargain,” she said in a
cold voice. “Where’s Jenny?”

Grinning, he glanced back over his shoulder, into
the pitch-black depths of the tunnel. Without waiting
for more of an answer, Harriet pushed past him.