Emerald Ecstasy (49 page)

“Suppose I don't want to sit,” she said and turned to face her captor.

“Then don't,” he replied in that menacing, gravelly way of his, “but you better do what I say. I take no disobedience from any of my people, especially not from the
puta
of Raoul de Lovis.”

Color suffused Lianne's face, and she sputtered before she could get out a sound. “You know I'm his wife!”

She could feel him surveying her from under his sombrero. “I know that very well,” he said, and she swore she heard jealousy in his voice.

“You can't keep me here, El Lince.” She knew that meant the lynx and wondered why the man had such a name. Perhaps he wished to keep his identity secret.

“Do you intend to escape?”

“
Sí.
Every prisoner has a duty to escape.”

“Well,” he said and passed a hand over his beard, “I should hate to see a bullet enter your lovely body, or worse, one of my men may decide to take liberties with you before your death. You see, Dona Lianne, you don't realize that my people wish to be free of your husband's control. Many of their loved ones died from brutal beatings in the mines. Some of these people were Indians, some Mexican. But all have one thing in common—they hate your husband, and that hatred includes you and his daughter.”

“Where is my stepdaughter?” Lianne asked.

“She is hidden somewhere else in the cave. I don't wish you to be with her. Together, you both might try and escape. Alone you won't, because the one left behind will suffer.”

“My husband will find us, and when he does, he'll devise such tortures for all of you that whatever happened to those men in the mine will seem like nothing.”

“I'm sure he will, Dona Lianne. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way.”

His footsteps died away as he left the chamber, and she heard his muffled comments to someone nearby. She scampered to the doorway and, peering out, she saw two dangerous-looking men on either side of the door with rifles.

“Señora?” one of them said and pointed the gun at her.

Lianne withdrew into the confines of the chamber and sat upon the pallet. She pulled the blanket around her, and when the urge came to cry, she didn't. She had to be strong.

Lianne drifted to sleep and later woke with a start when fingers touched her shoulder. Before her stood Felix with a cup of warm tea in his hand.

“I thought you would like this, señora,” he said and placed it beside her on the floor.

“I'd like to wring your neck!” Lianne snapped at him, her eyes raking over him.

“Forgive me, but I understand how you feel.”

“Do you?” she asked and rose from the pallet. She shook out the creases of her gown and pulled the torn bodice together before wrapping her shawl securely around her.

“
Sí
. Your husband carted me off to the mines like a cow to market. He beat me unmercifully before he sent me, then when I arrived there, I was beaten again. To make me strong, Raphael said. But I knew I was beaten because Raoul de Lovis wished it. I understand very well your rage, Dona Lianne. You must believe I wouldn't have agreed to this except for…”

“Yes?”

Felix shuffled his feet. “Never mind. Just know that you and Carmen won't be harmed. El Lince would never allow that.”

“You seem to be quite taken with El Lince. Who is he? What does he really want with us? Money? Tell him he can have all he wants. I'll see he's paid handsomely for our safe return to Pachuca.”

“I don't think it's money he wants, Dona Lianne. El Lince has a debt to repay Raoul de Lovis.”

Lianne sighed her exasperation. “It appears that everyone detests my husband, but I refuse to be made a pawn in El Lince's game. I shall escape from here, Felix, and when I do I'll make certain that you, El Lince, and all of his cohorts suffer for this. When Raoul finds your merry group, he'll send every last one of you straight to hell.”

“He is the devil and can do it,” came El Lince's gravelly voice from the entranceway.

Lianne spun around. Her hair looked as fiery as she felt as she stood in the candle glow. El Lince motioned to Felix to leave, but when they were alone she walked up to the man and spat in his face.

“I admit Raoul de Lovis is a devil, but you're one also, señor. And I'm not afraid of you. After living with one for so long, I have no fear of either of you.”

Lianne didn't know what the man's reaction would be, and she braced herself for the onslaught she felt sure would follow. However, El Lince only took the bandana wrapped around his neck and wiped the spot on his cheek. This was when she saw the jagged scar on his throat. She realized that the man had been injured and not that long ago.

Though the sombrero obscured his eyes, she felt them upon her face. Calmly he retied the scarf around his neck.

“Am I so repulsive to you, chica?” His tone was husky and she realized he was defensive about the injury. Compassion welled within her, and she wasn't certain why. Evidently the cut had injured the vocal cords, and that was why he sounded like a wounded mountain cat. Like a lynx!

Lianne didn't wish her captor to see he had touched a soft spot in her. After all, she quickly told herself, he was a kidnapper.

“I find everything about you repulsive.”

He laughed. “Then I won't bother you with my company, but I hope you will accept a gift.”

“What sort of gift?” Lianne eyed him suspiciously when he went to the opening and came back inside with a white peasant blouse, a pair of breeches and sandals, plus a blue and orange poncho.

“Your dress is torn, and you'll need these for later.”

“Later? What do you mean for later?”

“You ask too many questions. Just change, Dona Lianne.”

“Whose clothes are these?”

“If you must know, the blouse and sandals are Theresa's. The pants and poncho are mine.”

Lianne glared. “I suppose Theresa gave me these things out of the goodness of her heart. Or did you leave the wench nothing to wear?”

“Dona Lianne,” he said and grinned. “You seem quite interested in my relationship with Theresa. Jealous, in fact. I'm a gentleman and refuse to talk about her. However, I will say that Theresa looks wonderful without clothes.”

“I'd like to slit your throat!” Lianne screamed, then stopped short when she realized what she had said.

“I'm sorry about that, but someone already beat you to it.” El Lince turned and went through the opening. Lianne didn't even bother to look outside. She knew the guards were still there.

Carmen beat her fists against Felix's chest, knocking the cup from his hand.

“Filthy
lepero!
How could you do this to us? I thought you were our friend. Didn't Lianne save you from the mine, didn't you like me a little?”

He grabbed at her fists and held them tight. He did like her, he liked her a great deal, and that was the problem. If he could only harden his heart toward Carmen, then he'd be able to seek revenge on Raoul de Lovis with a clear conscience. But he knew El Lince didn't wish harm to her or to Lianne. He wondered briefly if he should have become involved at all. The last time he helped someone he wound up beaten and sent into the mine. If Raoul found him, he knew that his next punishment would be much worse than the mine.

But he couldn't tell Carmen he cared about her. She'd never believe him.

“No harm shall come to you. I promise.”

“The promise of a
lepero
is nothing.” Carmen pulled away. “Leave me alone. I don't wish to see your face!”

“I brought you some clothes,” he said, ignoring her. “They're for the journey.”

“What journey?”

“Further away from here. We ride north tomorrow.”

“I don't understand,” Carmen said. “If we are to leave here, then how will my father find us? What of the ransom?”

Felix shook his head. “There is no ransom.”

“But I thought…”

“I've said too much already. Just remember that you won't be harmed.” Then he was gone.

None of it made any sense to Lianne. El Lince hadn't bothered to inform her where they were going, but she knew it was northward. But why? If he wanted Raoul to pay a ransom, why was he purposely riding away from the safety of his hideout?

She didn't question him, because she felt certain he wouldn't tell her. She did feel better seeing that Carmen was all right and sharing a horse with Felix. The girl had a look of distaste on her face, and Lianne wondered if it was because she disliked the pants she was forced to wear, or if she wished to hide her feelings for Felix. Either way, Lianne didn't blame her. She felt the same dislike for the man who sat behind her, his tanned and scarred hands on the reins.

The image of Daniel's hands flashed through her mind. His hands had looked very much like this man's, only they weren't scarred or rough to the touch. And she knew El Lince had rough hands. She remembered how they felt when he caressed her breast in front of Raoul. But her eyes misted thinking of Daniel, and without realizing it, she sighed his name.

“What did you say?” the gruff voice asked, and she felt him stiffen behind her.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“That's where you are wrong, Dona Lianne. While you're in my care, your every breath, every thought, every smile concerns me.”

“Then return me and my stepdaughter to my husband.”

“Ah, you wound me with your haste to leave us. Haven't I been a good host to you, seen to your needs?”

She leaned back and would almost have seen his eyes staring at her, except he lowered the brim of the sombrero.

“Don't you ever take that thing off?” she asked, instead of the stinging retort she had intended.

“
Sí
. When I make love.”

“I should have guessed!”

“Since you're so eager to see me without my sombrero, perhaps I will oblige you one night. Hmmm?”

This time Lianne stiffened and turned her attention to the mountainous incline ahead.

“I'd rather die than have someone like you touch me,” she said.

“But you allow your husband, a murderer, to make love to you. Why not me?”

His arms tightened, and she felt squeezed between them, almost as if he were purposely trying to torment her for sleeping with her own husband.

“How do you know Raoul is a murderer?” she asked and caught a breath.

“Because,” he breathed into her ear, “he ordered Theresa's husband killed.”

“I didn't know that.” Now she knew why Theresa disliked her.

“Sí, and many others have gone into the mine, never to return. Your husband has quite a force of men on his hacienda. But his men won't help him now. We ride high into the mountains to lure him away from familiar territory.”

Now she understood the reason for the journey. Raoul's men would tire, but Lianne knew Raoul wouldn't. He would find her and Carmen if he died in the process. Lianne wondered if it would make a difference to El Lince to tell him she carried a child. Perhaps he'd forget his revenge and return her to the hacienda unharmed. But she changed her mind. If he realized she carried the child of Raoul de Lovis, he might make things more unpleasant for her.

She said nothing else, and when she thought she'd go insane if they didn't stop to rest, El Lince called a halt to his party of twenty riders.

“We'll make camp here for the night,” he told her.

They made camp at a picturesque spot on the side of a mountain which overlooked a deep ravine, lush with vegetation and interlaced with the deep purple hue of orchids. For a moment Lianne forgot she was a prisoner as she stood under the magnificent evening sky which touched the valley. However, Theresa quickly brought her back to reality.

“Here,” she said and tossed Lianne a well-worn blanket.

“Gracias.”
Lianne inclined her head in the girl's direction.

“El Lince told me to see you are comfortable until he returns from scouting the area, so I have. Now find a spot for yourself to sleep, but remember,
puta
, I will keep an eye on you, as will every person here.”

Lianne considered her for a moment before speaking. “I find it strange that you call me such a name when you're the only woman in their midst. Carmen and I are prisoners, but you belong. I doubt if you sleep alone, Theresa, and I wonder how many of these men you've pleasured during the long nights.”

Theresa's dark eyes boiled. “I sleep with no man but El Lince. I'm his woman! Don't forget that,
puta
.”

“I'm not a whore, Theresa. I'm lawfully married to Raoul de Lovis. I see no ring on your finger.”

Lianne began to move aside, but Theresa stopped her with a strong grip on Lianne's wrist. “El Lince is mine. I nursed him back to health. If not for me, he'd be dead, and he knows it. He owes me a great deal. In time I expect to become his wife, though Domingo has eyes for me also.”