CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

J ENNY TENSED AS THE MEN'S HEAVY FOOTFALLS CAME TOWARD HER, echoing down the tunnel. Lying on the cold dirt floor, she pressed herself against the rough rock wall and closed her eyes.

The lantern light ran over her. "She's still drugged up," one of them said, the voice of the tall, mud-faced man who had abducted her. She had only caught a glimpse, but she remembered his thick, black eyebrows and the scar that ran from the base of his nose to his upper lip. It made him even homelier than he was already.

"Get out of the way, Clyde. Let me have a look at her." The second man nudged her body with the toe of his heavy leather boot. His voice was deep, with the hint of a drawl. Jenny kept her eyes firmly closed. Clyde moved close enough to examine her.

"She's faking it, Bart," he said. "I tied her hands behind her, not in front."

Bart Harwell. Cain's old partner. The man who had shot Will and probably Cain when he was out at the ranch.

Her eyes flew open as he gripped her arm and jerked her roughly to her feet. "Well, ain't you the clever one."

In the lantern light, he had thinning, dark brown hair and dark eyes a little too close together. He was shorter than Clyde, but well over six feet, bulkier, heavily muscled through the chest and shoulders. Like Cain, he had worked the mines. Her stomach knotted to think how strong he must be.

"He'll come for you," Bart said. "You know that, right? And when he does, I'll be waiting."

"Cain's no fool. You tried to kill him once already. He won't just walk into your trap."

She could see the hard grin spread over his face. "Maybe he'll take his time, give me a chance to enjoy his woman. How would you like that, darlin'? Have a little fun before he gets here?"

A shudder ran through her. "You touch me and Cain will kill you."

"He shot me out at the ranch, but his bullet only grazed me. I plan to see he's dead before he gets another chance."

Too bad Cain's bullet hadn't done more damage. "You hate him that much?"

"He cheated me! He's rich as Croesus, and I got nothing!"

"He bought out your half of the partnership at a more than fair price and kept working the claims until one of them paid off. You didn't stick, and he did."

"I was drinking too much at the time, doing a little dope. Cain took advantage."

"If you had kept working as hard as he did, you would be rich, too. Instead you were a worthless drunk who wasn't willing to do your share!"

Bart slapped her so hard her ears rang, and she crashed back down onto the tunnel floor, out of the circle of lantern light. She landed hard on a rough-edged flat rock and bit back a groan. Grabbing the rock, thinking it might serve as a weapon, she shoved it into the waistband of her jeans and pulled out her flannel shirttail to cover it before she staggered back to her feet.

"Stay away from me, Bart." The corner of her mouth was bleeding, blood trickling down to her chin.

"How about me, sugar?" Clyde grinned, making his features look distorted in the lantern light. "I could make you feel real good."

"Shut up, Clyde. She's mine. I might give you a taste when I'm done."

Clyde chuckled softly. "I'm a patient man."

"Go take a look outside. Check real good, make sure nobody's out there."

"You think Barrett could figure out where we are that quick?"

"Like Jenny here said, Cain's no fool. He'll figure it out sooner or later." He cupped the front of his jeans and squeezed. "Right now, I'm hoping it's later."

As Clyde moved off toward the tunnel entrance, taking his lantern with him, the interior grew darker.

"I'll be right back," Clyde called down the tunnel.

"Take your time," Bart answered.

"You stole Cain's stallion," she said, just to keep him talking.

"So I got a little pleasure out of seeing him squirm. He deserved it." He shoved her, tripped her as she stumbled backward, knocking her feet out from under her. Jenny landed hard in the shadows, the breath rushing out of her lungs.

She steadied herself and pulled the rock out of her jeans. In the darkness, her hands shook as she raised her makeshift weapon over her head and waited. Please . . . just give me one good shot.

"You can make this easy on both of us," Bart said. "You're Cain's bitch, so I mean to have you." He set the lamp on the floor and moved closer. "Why don't you take off them jeans and this'll go a whole lot smoother."

"Why don't you fuck the hell off."

Bart laughed. "I think Cain hit real gold when he found you, sweet thing."

He knelt on the floor beside her and leaned over her. Jenny tensed. Gripping the rock in both hands in the darkness, she waited until he moved a little closer. When Bart reached for the zipper on her jeans, she crashed the heavy weight down on his skull with all her strength. Bone cracked. She heard Bart's grunt of pain; then he collapsed on top of her.

Oh my God oh my God oh my God. Blood was soaking into her clothes, blood on the rock she quickly tossed away. She didn't have time to find out if she had killed him. Clyde could be back any second.

Shoving Bart's heavy body off her, she surged to her feet, grabbed his lantern from the tunnel floor, and raced for the entrance. She had almost reached the opening when Clyde stepped into the tunnel, blocking her way.

"Where you going, sugar?" He stared past the light cast by her lantern into the darkness behind her, must have caught a glimpse of Bart sprawled on the floor.

"Well, ain't that sweet? You got rid of ol' Bart and left your pretty little self all to me."

She ducked, tried to dart around him. Clyde just laughed. He was twice her size, and the gleam in his eyes said he was determined.

She needed to distract him. "So . . . are you going to take up where Bart left off? Are you going to kill Cain?"

Clyde shook his head. "Nope. I don't need to kill him. I got somethin' belongs to him, somethin' he wants real bad, and I figure he'll be willing to pay big money to get her back."

"You're right. Cain will pay you. Just let me call him, explain what's going on."

Clyde laughed, the grating echo booming into the darkness. The moon was rising, and she could see the scar on his face.

"We'll get around to it," he said. "In the meantime, if I give you back to him a little the worse for wear, it ain't gonna matter."

Fury engulfed her. Jenny put her head down and charged like a wild thing, knocking Clyde backward out through the tunnel entrance. He stumbled and landed on his back a few feet below the opening.

Jenny burst past him, running as fast as she could. Clyde was up and running right behind her. He caught her ankle as she leaped over a rock and jerked her down, then landed hard on top of her.

"You are one helluva lot of trouble, sugar."

"Get off me!" With her arms pinned between them, Jenny could barely move.

"Randy as I'm feelin', this shouldn't take long." She heard the swish of the knife Clyde pulled out of his boot.

He pressed the blade against the side of her neck. "I don't want to hurt you, sugar, but I will. Now why don't you just relax. I'll take what I need, then we'll call Barrett, see how much he's willing to pay for used goods."

A whimper escaped.

She felt one of Clyde's hands slide between them as he tried to unzip her jeans. Jenny started struggling and Clyde pressed the knife a little deeper.

"Take it easy. I won't waste no time."

She wanted to fight him, but she didn't want to die.

Tears blurred her vision the instant before a slight movement in the darkness caught her eye. The blue metal barrel of a gun appeared as Cain stepped out of the scrub brush near the entrance to the tunnel, the semiautomatic gripped in his hand.

"If it's money you want, let her go, and we'll do business."

Clyde rolled off her, at the same time jerking her to her feet. The knife pressed even more solidly against her throat. "So I guess the Lone Ranger got here just in time."

"Where's Bart?" Cain asked, the gun never wavering.

"Your little gal here took care of him. Bashed him in the skull with a rock. Got to admire her grit."

"I admire a lot of things about Jenny. The one thing I won't allow is anyone hurting her."

In the darkness, Jenny caught the quick flash of Clyde's smile. A trickle of blood slid down from the thin slice in her neck.

"How much is she worth to you, Barrett? You bring me a bag full of money, and I'll let her go."

"I'm not leaving her with you. Not for an hour. Not for a minute. Not for another second."

Jenny shoved Clyde, knocking him off balance, and Cain fired, the bullet slamming into the other man's shoulder, the knife flying into the air, landing with a clatter against a rock somewhere in the shadows.

Swearing foully, Clyde staggered backward, and Nick Faraday moved out of the shadows. Cain grabbed Clyde by the front of his shirt and punched him hard enough to send him sprawling, dragged him up and punched him again. Punched him in the stomach, doubling him over, then punched him in the face again. Clyde grunted as he hit the ground and didn't get up.

Jenny raced across the clearing toward Cain, whose long strides carried him toward her. He pulled her into his arms and pressed her tight against him.

"I'm here now. No one's going to hurt you again."

She was trembling, burrowing into him, trying to absorb his warmth and strength.

"I'm all right . . . now that you're here." She buried her face against his shoulder, and his hand stroked over her thick brown curls.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this. None of it had anything to do with you, and yet you were the one who paid."

She looked up at him, her eyes wet and glistening. "I don't care about any of that. I needed you, and you came. I knew you would. I just had to hold out long enough for you to get here."

She felt the shudder that moved though his tall, hard body. "I love you, baby. This whole thing showed me just how much."

Cain loved her. It took a moment to absorb the words. Her arms slid up around his neck. "Cain . . ." She blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I love you, too."

Cain lowered his head and kissed her, brief and hard. A finger gently wiped away the tear. "I wasn't sure. I hoped you felt the same way." He kissed her lightly one last time. "We need to talk, but this isn't the place. Where's Bart?"

Jenny swallowed. "I think I . . . I think I killed him."

"Where is he?"

"In the tunnel."

Cain grabbed Clyde's lantern. "Stay with Nick. I'll be right back." He strode toward the tunnel entrance and disappeared inside.

Nick walked toward her. Clyde still lay on the ground, unconscious. She could see Nick had zip-tied the man's hands behind his back.

"You're bleeding," Nick said, turning her face with his hand to survey the injury. He frowned. "It doesn't look too bad, but Cain's not going to like it."

"I think I might have killed Bart."

Nick's jaw hardened. "Self-defense, sweetheart. There won't be any charges."

She swallowed. "I suppose I should feel something, but I don't. I'm just glad it's over. I really appreciate your helping Cain find me."

Nick smiled. "He didn't need me. If he'd had to, he would have turned over every rock in Yavapai County to find you."

Her eyes burned. "Bart knew Cain would figure it out. He planned to kill him."

"Thanks to you, that isn't going to happen."

She heard Cain's voice then as he walked back out of the tunnel. "The bastard's still breathing. He was just getting to his feet when I found him." His knuckles were scraped and spotted with blood. "They'll need a stretcher to get the sonofabitch out of there now."

"He still got his balls?" Nick asked.

"I was tempted to even the score for Sun King. But I wasn't sure Jenny would approve. Odds are he'll live, but he's not going to feel very good when he wakes up."

"I'll call the sheriff," Nick said. "And an ambulance. With any luck, Bart will die on the way to the hospital."

"Or in a prison cell," Cain said darkly. He turned to Jenny and opened his arms. Jenny went into them and just hung on.

He frowned at the blood on the corner of her mouth, took out his handkerchief and gently wiped the trickle away.

"I should have finished the job you started," he said.

"Let's let the sheriff handle it," Nick said. "You don't need more trouble."

Cain looked down at her, saw the abrasions on her hands and the side of her face. "I wish I'd killed him."

Jenny said nothing.

Cain ran a hand over his jaw. "We should probably wait for the ambulance. Get you checked out when it arrives."

"It's mostly just scrapes and bruises. I want to go home, Cain."

He kissed the top of her head, hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"All right, we'll go home. Your place or mine? As long as you're with me, it doesn't matter."

Jenny slid her arm around his waist and looked up at him. "Your place. I don't want to face any more problems tonight."

"You're right. Tomorrow's another day. Tonight we just take care of each other."

Jenny leaned up and kissed his mouth. Cain loved her. He wasn't a man who spoke rash words. If he said it, he meant it. And God knew, she loved him. She had never met anyone like him. She was sure she never would again.

Tomorrow they would talk things over, try to straighten out the rest of the problems they were facing.

Try to end the danger lurking at the Copper Star.