Whispers (23 page)

My words hit some of them like cold water but before I could feel relief, the burly man pushed through and said, “You couldn’t be mine. She’s got a face like an ass.”

Laughter burst out all around him and then animated talking. I tried to force my point again, but no one was listening to me now. The burly man moved in and took my hand. “I’ll be as gentle as you let me be, darlin’,” he said to the delight of those behind him. Another man leaned in and told him to loosen me up good.

I didn’t wait for what came next. I began to fight. I hit and scratched and kicked and pulled and screamed. Honey rushed from the tent at the sound of my voice and turned on Aiken.

“
You can’t do this,” she told him, eyes wide.

“
I told them no. I told them twice she was a lady.”

I twisted and bucked in the burly man’s arms. It looked like I might get help from the crowd, but those who moved forward were held back by those who wished to be next. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Had these men lived like animals for so long, they’d ceased to be part of humanity as I knew it?

He’d nearly made it to the tent with me screaming and struggling for all I was worth. He didn’t wear a gun, but my hand brushed a knife at his waist. I tried to reach it, I tried to pull it free, but he trapped my arms, smiling grimly as he hauled me closer. Honey was there, trying to pry me free, begging the man to take her instead, telling them all they could have her if they’d just leave me alone. But no one was listening. My struggles had become a point of fascination. I could see it. None of them were able to look away. I screamed, though I knew it would do no good. It was all happening too fast. It seemed hours since he’d grabbed my hand, but only a few seconds had passed. If I could just slow him down ... It was then that a horse charged into camp.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the rider, a man nearly as big as his mount. Though his face was in shadow and his clothes covered in dirt, I recognized Sawyer McCready immediately and I cried out his name. A part of me acknowledged that I was praying for rescue from a man who was possibly as disreputable as Aiken, but I only knew that I was glad to see him. He pulled his gun and fired into the air.

The sound echoed loudly and a sudden, stunned silence fell over the small crowd.

“
Captain,” Aiken exclaimed, pushing out of the throng to stand beside Sawyer’s horse. “I am powerful glad to see you.”

Sawyer ignored him and spoke to the man who held me captive. “Let her go,” he said.

The burly man stared Sawyer down. Having fought to capture me, he wasn’t going to set me free on command. “She’s mine,” he said.

“
I’m not yours,” I said.

“
Let her go,” Sawyer repeated. His tone was low, his words hard.

The man hesitated and Sawyer leveled his gun. For a moment, no one moved and then slowly, his hands loosened. I jerked free of him and Honey gathered me up, pulling me out of reach before he could change his mind. But I could not just crawl away. My rage was too much. I turned on him, slapped his face, not once but twice, staring at him like the trash he was. I saw something flash in his eyes. Something that spoke of a man who might once have lived inside him, a man who would have been shamed by what he’d done. And then it was gone. He slapped me back. The blow knocked me sideways and I staggered. Only Honey kept me from falling. White spots mixed with red and danced behind my eyes. Sawyer’s gun was cocked before they cleared.

“
Fool,” Honey muttered as she dragged me away. I didn’t know if she meant me or the burly man.

Aiken moved in closer to Sawyer and spoke in low tones. Sawyer listened, watching the crowd with his gun still in hand. After a moment he nodded. Aiken faced the men, his crooked smile flashing.

“
Drinks on me, boys. Let’s get back to having a good time.”

And just like that, it was over. I couldn’t believe it. The men moved away and Honey sat me down on the crates. I was shaking and I was terrified.

“
Honey, there’s still business to do,” Aiken said, his voice steady and commanding. “Don’t want the boys restless.”

“
You’ll be okay, now,” she said to me, though I didn’t think she believed it any more than I did. She moved away and a moment later she led the burly man into the tent. I clenched my eyes against the sight.

Someone touched my shoulder and I jumped, opening them again. Sawyer squatted down in front of me. His fingers were gentle as he tipped my chin and stared at my face. My cheek throbbed and my eye was swelling.

“
You’re going to have a shiner,” he said. But his voice was not steady and I sensed that the sight of my battered face upset him more than he would show.

“
Thank you,” I said. “Thank you.”

He nodded once and stood. I looked up the long length of him and though just yesterday I’d tried to plunge my knife into him, right then I wanted nothing more than to be in his arms. As contrary as I was to think it, I wanted him to shelter me from this barbaric world that had somehow become mine. I watched the swirling colors in his eyes as he listened to my thoughts. It seemed he might reach for me, answer my silent request, but Aiken chose that moment to approach.

“
Captain,” Aiken said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Lucky for us you showed up. A mob’s an ugly thing. There was no backing them down.”

He stared at me when he said it, and I recognized the threat in his eyes. I looked to Sawyer who was nodding. He believed Aiken.

“
You pushed them to it,” I said fiercely, locking eyes with Sawyer. “He encouraged them, told them they’d have to fight me.”

“
Fight both of us,” Aiken said, laughing loudly. The sound filled the camp and I remembered that I thought him pleasant when I first met him.

“
She’s understandably rattled by what happened, Sawyer. She’s confused. I never would have done such—”

At that moment, six men on horseback rode in at a gallop, stopping Aiken in midsentence. They pushed through the small crowd of miners without care of who might be in their way. One man jumped just in time to avoid being trampled.

“
Is this a party?” one of the riders asked. “Thought I heard a gun, but it looks like a party. I don’t recall getting my invite, though.”

I recognized the voice and turned my head to gaze at him full on.

“
I said, is this a party?” Lonnie Smith repeated. He had his gun in his hand.

Chapter Twenty

IN complete silence, Reilly drove Zach, Gracie, Analise, Brendan, and a hell of a lot of tension back from the Buckboard. It could have been the ominous storm that silenced them. It was sure doing a number on Reilly. The water had risen past the gutters and now entire streets were flooded. It was more like a hurricane than a storm in the desert. He’d never seen anything like it in all his life.

But that wasn’t all that kept them quiet.

Gracie sat in the front seat beside him. The feel of her almost close enough to touch, the scent of her hair, her skin . . . she’d bypassed his brain and embedded herself in his senses. He’d never had a woman get under his skin so quickly and completely. Granted, he’d known Gracie for a long time, but what he was feeling had nothing to do with old acquaintances and everything to do with the scalloped lace he could almost see outlined beneath her T-shirt. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine the contrast between the white lace and her skin, the way the light would play off her body, the shadows, the curves ... He gave a mental groan. Without even trying, she’d turned him into a teenager with a perpetual hard-on.

He forced himself to concentrate on the roads. Driving through the rivers in the streets was like plowing through Jell-O. It gave, but not willingly. He saw Eddie’s deputies and volunteers out sandbagging the few business doorways in a vain effort to keep out the water. He obviously hadn’t wasted much time dropping off Corrine at the municipal building before racing over here to help with the work.

That was Eddie, always there to help a neighbor, no matter what. It was no wonder he’d grown up to be a cop.

As they drew near, he flagged them down. Reilly pulled to a stop and hit the button for the passenger window as Eddie came up to it. He wore a bright yellow poncho but rain still streamed down his face as he leaned his forearms on the door and looked in at them all.

“
Good to see you. Saves me a trip out to your place, Gracie.”

“
Why were you coming?” she asked.

Eddie wiped at his face and said, “If this doesn’t quit we’re going to be flooded by midnight. I should have started warning people in town earlier, but I was worried about the folks farther out on lower ground. Now it’s too late for you all to get out—valley’s flooded all the way to the highway. Good thing most people in town have a second story, but some don’t.”

In a town with a population of less than four hundred, only about fifty lived within the city limits. Most had properties farther out. Farms, ranches. They lived in a place like Diablo Springs because they didn’t want to be too close to their neighbors, but they did like to know who was living next door. Most had family properties that stretched back generations. Like the Diablo.

“
I’m going to be sending folks where it’s safe if I find them. You people at the Diablo need to stay put where you are. Don’t try to get out of town. It’s too late for that. I don’t want to be called out to rescue you later. Or look for your bodies either. Is that clear?”

Crystal clear.

“
Yes, Eddie.”

He looked at Reilly. “The Diablo should be fine, up like it is. We’ll load you up with some sandbags just in case. No more rides into town until it’s over though.”

Reilly nodded grimly, put the SUV in park, and started to get out.

“
Hold up a minute,” Eddie said, stopping him. Eddie went to the cruiser parked nearby, got something out of the trunk, and came around to the driver’s side. Reilly rolled down the window and Eddie handed him a folded rain poncho like the one he wore. He pulled it on and together he and Eddie loaded up the back of the SUV with sandbags. Zach, he noticed, didn’t offer to help. No surprise there.

When Reilly got back inside, Zach was leaning over the backseat, talking to Gracie.

“
I’ve never been in a flood before,” he said.

Reilly heard,
“I want to bang your brains out during the storm.”
He slammed the door and eased the over-weighted SUV back onto the road.

“
Me neither,” Analise said from the back seat.

Zach moved his hand so he was touching Gracie’s hair. “My dad was in a flood when he was a kid. He used to talk about all the stuff they’d find in their yard after the water dried up. You know, things that floated down from other people’s houses—weird stuff like plates and couch cushions, even found a wallet that turned out to belong to someone who drowned.”

Reilly saw Gracie’s mouth tighten. Drowning in a flood was not exactly a topic he would have chosen.

Analise didn’t seem to mind though. She asked him a question Reilly didn’t hear and just like that, Zach came down with a sudden case of diarrhea of the mouth. He spoke with animation, waving his hands, occasionally managing to touch Gracie in the process. Reilly was willing to bet it wasn’t by accident. Zach segued into his own personal anxiety over the storm, throwing in that he couldn’t swim.

“
You’re a California boy,” Reilly said. “How can you not swim?”

Zach gave a shrug. “Just can’t.”

He went on to explain in greater detail, but navigating the curving road made it too difficult for Reilly to listen and drive. Reilly finally tuned him out. It wasn’t until he saw Gracie’s hand reach up and touch Zach’s face and then Zach capture her fingers and hold them that Reilly’s attention snapped back to them.

“
Do I feel hot?” Zach asked. “I’ve got the chills.”

The Jeep went through a lake-sized puddle that jerked at his wheels and forced Reilly to concentrate on the road.

Beside him, Gracie was telling Zach, “You should go to bed when we get back. You’re probably coming down with something.”

Zach still had her hand. Reilly wanted to reach over and slug him. His knuckles were white from the effort not to as he made the turn onto Main. Gracie let out a sigh of relief when the Diablo came into sight.

“
The water’s not up to the steps yet,” she said. “Thank God.”

Reilly echoed that.

“
Can I have my hand back?” she asked Zach with a smile, gently tugging her fingers away.

Reilly watched out of the corner of his eye as Zach reluctantly released her. He and Loverboy were going to have to talk.

Reilly parked and stepped out into the pouring rain. He still wore the poncho, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t getting wet. That wasn’t why he was irritable and edgy though. He wasn’t used to being responsible for anyone but himself... or Matt. He wasn’t used to caring about anyone else either. So how’d he get saddled with this three-ring circus climbing out of his Jeep? And why was he feeling like he’d fight a pack of lions to keep them safe? At least some of them. Zach he could use as a distraction while he got the rest to shelter. The thought cheered him a little.

Reilly opened Gracie’s door and held out a hand to help her down. He smiled at her. She hesitated for a second and something in her eyes made him think she was reading the chaotic emotions flashing through him. She smiled back.