Read The Darkest Heart Online

Authors: Brenda Joyce

The Darkest Heart

Savage Warrior,
White Captive

She heard him enter and purposefully ignored him, her eyes on her hands as she rubbed her feet. She felt his eyes on her and looked up to see him staring down at her. Suddenly the g
ohwah
seemed too small for the two of them, and the long night was here.

“Let me do that,” Jack said, kneeling and taking her foot in his hands before she could object.

“I don’t think …”

His hands were large, warm, and gentle. “Stop thinking, Candice. There’s no point. What is, is.”

He was right. She was here and she had no choice. This man had traded for her, and she belonged to him. She was at his mercy.

“Feel better?” he asked, his voice husky.

She had heard that tone before, and she looked up abruptly. His hand had stilled on her ankle. Her body began a slow throbbing of fear mingled with anticipation. He slid his hand up her calf, its grip tightening possessively.

“You have the most beautiful legs I’ve ever seen,” he murmured.

Her heart was beating erratically. “I … I …”

His hand moved up her thigh, slowly moving higher and higher. Oh, dear God, she thought, what is he going to do?

Other books by Brenda Joyce

LOVERS AND LIARS
THE CONQUEROR
DARK FIRES

Table Of Contents

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Part One - Scandal

           Chapter One

           Chapter Two

           Chapter Three

           Chapter Four

           Chapter Five

           Chapter Six

           Chapter Seven

           Chapter Eight

           Chapter Nine

           Chapter Ten

           Chapter Eleven

           Chapter Twelve

           Chapter Thirteen

           Chapter Fourteen

           Chapter Fifteen

           Chapter Sixteen

           Chapter Seventeen

           Chapter Eighteen

           Chapter Nineteen

           Chapter Twenty

           Chapter Twenty-One

Part Two - Abduction

           Chapter Twenty-Two

           Chapter Twenty-Three

           Chapter Twenty-Four

           Chapter Twenty-Five

           Chapter Twenty-Six

           Chapter Twenty-Seven

           Chapter Twenty-Eight

           Chapter Twenty-Nine

           Chapter Thirty

           Chapter Thirty-One

           Chapter Thirty-Two

           Chapter Thirty-Three

           Chapter Thirty-Four

           Chapter Thirty-Five

           Chapter Thirty-Six

Part Three - Lies

           Chapter Thirty-Seven

           Chapter Thirty-Eight

           Chapter Thirty-Nine

           Chapter Forty

           Chapter Forty-One

           Chapter Forty-Two

           Chapter Forty-Three

           Chapter Forty-Four

           Chapter Forty-Five

           Chapter Forty-Six

           Chapter Forty-Seven

           Chapter Forty-Eight

           Chapter Forty-Nine

           Chapter Fifty

           Chapter Fifty-One

           Chapter Fifty-Two

           Chapter Fifty-Three

           Chapter Fifty-Four

Part Four - War and Betrayal

           Chapter Fifty-Five

           Chapter Fifty-Six

           Chapter Fifty-Seven

           Chapter Fifty-Eight

           Chapter Fifty-Nine

           Chapter Sixty

           Chapter Sixty-One

           Chapter Sixty-Two

           Chapter Sixty-Three

           Chapter Sixty-Four

           Chapter Sixty-Five

           Chapter Sixty-Six

           Chapter Sixty-Seven

           Chapter Sixty-Eight

           Chapter Sixty-Nine

           Chapter Seventy

           Chapter Seventy-One

           Chapter Seventy-Two

           Chapter Seventy-Three

           Chapter Seventy-Four

           Chapter Seventy-Five

           Chapter Seventy-Six

           Chapter Seventy-Seven

           Chapter Seventy-Eight

           Chapter Seventy-Nine

           Chapter Eighty

           Chapter Eighty-One

           Chapter Eighty-Two

           Chapter Eighty-Three

           Chapter Eighty-Four

           Chapter Eighty-Five

           Chapter Eighty-Six

Part Five - Love and Resolution

           Chapter Eighty-Seven

           Chapter Eighty-Eight

           Chapter Eighty-Nine

           Chapter Ninety

           Chapter Ninety-One

           Chapter Ninety-Two

           Chapter Ninety-Three

Author’s Note

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE
The New Mexico Territory of the United States—1860

She knew she was dying.

At first the realization had been horrifying. Now she no longer cared. She wanted only relief—relief from the blazing sun as it burned her back and legs through her shirt and pants, relief from the choking dryness of her mouth, from the scorched sand as it burned her palms and belly and cheek.

She knew she was dying. She had seen cattle that had died from heat and dehydration. Their tongues had been grotesquely protruding from their rigid corpses, black and stiff and swollen. Her own tongue felt just as thick. She could no longer swallow, there was no saliva left, and she could taste sand and grit. If only she had water.

The day seemed to get hotter. Impossibly, unbearably hotter. She moaned from the pain—a choked, whimpering sound. She wondered, through the torpid haze, how much longer it would take. She wondered what her brothers and her father would do when they found out.

And she wanted to cry for them, for their grief.

Please forgive me, she moaned silently. I never wanted to hurt you.

She loved them. They were her family. Three big strapping brothers, Luke and Mark and Little John, all close to six feet tall with the blond, blue-eyed Carter good looks. And her father. He would be in a frenzy. He had been in a frenzy since the night she had run away—that she knew without a doubt. Oh, God. To think she had been betrayed like this.

At least they would never find out the truth.

She thought she was becoming delirious. She could see Virgil as if he were really there, with her. But his face wasn’t handsome—it was ugly in rage. And she could feel the painful blow as he hit her, hear herself cry out, feel his hands, grabbing her.…

All her life she had been gloriously spoiled. Her father had raised her and her three brothers alone. They had come
to the Territory ten years earlier, before it was even a part of the United States. Her father had abruptly packed them all up, she and her three brothers, when she was eight years old—and they had moved from their Tennessee farm to Tucson to start over as ranchers. That was exactly one month to the day that their mother had abandoned them all, running off with another man.

And I’m just like her, she thought miserably.

She hadn’t meant to do it, hadn’t meant to hurt her family. She was used to the adulation she got from the men in her life, whether it was her father and brothers or the townspeople, the cowboys and drifters. She wasn’t exactly vain, but it was hard not to know that she was extraordinarily beautiful—especially when everyone kept telling her so. She had seen a miniature of her mother once, who had also been known for her beauty, and Candice knew that she looked a lot like her. Oddly, that pleased her. They both had brilliantly blond hair, long, thick, and wavy, enough to stop a man in his tracks without him seeing any more. Add to that a perfectly heart-shaped face and full, rose-colored lips, a straight, delicate nose and large, almond-shaped eyes … Candice had had fifteen marriage proposals last year alone, when she’d been seventeen.

And she had accepted Virgil Kincaid’s.

No one had approved.

He was lean and dark and so very handsome. Candice had been letting men steal kisses from her for years—nothing more than a few chaste pecks, unless her suitor was really favored, and then she would allow him to brush her lips with his. She was used to the courting, the cow-eyed looks, and the awkward, endless declarations of undying love. But Virgil Kincaid took her by surprise. He was from Georgia, a planter’s second son, he said, and his courtship took her breath away. His words were honey soft and thickly Southern, he was well read, he could quote the finest poetry … and his looks weren’t cow-eyed but bright and hot. He was no awkward, bumbling teenage cowboy, stumbling over his words and his eagerness, but a handsome, well-bred Southern gentleman, one who knew how to treat a lady.

Her father, approached by Virgil, absolutely forbade the marriage.

The next night they eloped.

They rode hard day and night to make it to Fort Yuma before anyone had time to follow them. It was a wonderful adventure, exciting and romantic.…

Until Fort Yuma, where Virgil refused to marry her.

“I don’t understand,” she cried, her eyes dark with the betrayal.

He grinned. His hands closed over her shoulders, pulling her close. Still dazed, Candice didn’t try to draw away. “Candice, I’m not a marrying man.”

She stared, bewildered from the magnitude of everything—what she’d done, what they’d done, what he was doing now. “But—I don’t understand.” She knew she was more than marriageable—she was the most sought-after belle from Arizona City to El Paso.

He raised her chin. “You were made for loving, Candice. And marriage just isn’t my game.” His grip tightened. “God—I want you. I’ve never wanted any woman as much as I want you.”

It was sinking in. She tore away. “You lied! You promised—you told me you loved me!
You
said we would get married as soon as we found a preacher. I ran away with you!”

He laughed. “I’m afraid, dear, that you’re going to have to learn to play the game according to new rules. Mine.”

She backed away. “What are you going to do?”

“Surely, Candice, even you aren’t that naive?”

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