Only in My Arms Page 28

  Mary's eyes narrowed fractionally. "She wasn't?"

  "No," he said shortly. "She was telling the truth about that. Whatever contaminated her water laid me out. It probably would have killed her if she had ever done more than sip it."

  "Oh, I doubt she would have done that," Mary said frankly.

  "How would she have known it was bad if she hadn't tasted it?"

  Mary sat back in her chair. "Because she poisoned it, of course."

  Chapter 12

  Ryder considered Mary's conclusion. "You think Anna Leigh deliberately poisoned her own drinking water?" he asked. "Why would she do that? What did she have to gain?"

  Mary's eyes widened. "Besides revenge?"

  He nodded.

  "Goodness," she said softly. "I am coming to admire Miss Anna Leigh Hamilton more at every turn. If I'm right, then she's really quite good at what she does." She leaned forward in her chair and explained patiently, "She poisoned her water to achieve exactly the end that happened."

  "To create an opportunity to accuse me of rape?" he asked.

  Mary shook her head. "That's been your mistake all along," she told him. "You've made Anna Leigh's motives too personal. What happens if you consider she had a larger purpose?" Mary did not have to wait long for Ryder to make all the same connections she had. The intensity of his thoughts was there in his eyes. "That's right," she said, satisfied. "She was the diversion. No one could have expected you to be pulled away from your duty by Anna Leigh alone. Certainly not Anna Leigh, not after her experience with you the night before. That's why she used some sort of drug in her water."

  "She couldn't have known I would drink it."

  Mary recognized Ryder's pride was making him resistant to hearing her explanation. "I'm sorry, Ryder, but I think she could. Anna Leigh was armed with the fact that you already had determined she was spoiled and manipulative. She used those very qualities to make you think she was lying about the water. And it worked."

  Ryder stared at the far wall of the chamber, his half smile rueful. He considered how much Anna Leigh had learned about him the night before the Colter Canyon raid. He had shown her that he did not suffer fools gladly, that he was not above humiliating someone to prove his point, and that he had little patience for feminine wiles. Anna Leigh Hamilton hadn't lost any sleep over how to dupe him. He had built the trap for her.

  Ryder's light chuckle was humorless. "I showed her."

  Mary smiled gently. "It's probably little consolation, but I imagine you're not the first man she's taken in so completely."

  "It's no consolation."

  "Then how about this? I could be wrong."

  He looked at her. "You've set about convincing me of one thing, and now you want to change your tune?"

  "There's no proof," she said. "That's all I'm saying. It's always been your word against hers."

  "There was a little more to it than that," he said. "Anna Leigh presented herself to the search party with a torn blouse and a few scrapes and bruises. The evidence, such as it was, was on her side. It seemed to offer an explanation for my absence during the raid."

  "Can you remember any of it?"

  "Nothing much after I drank the water. I was sick almost immediately and lost consciousness soon after. When I came around it was all over. Anna Leigh had started walking back the way we came. Lieutenant Rivers and Private Carr found her. They hauled me out of the shelter and threw me over a saddle. I was in chains long before I understood the charges."

  "So the trial centered around the supposition that you had been derelict in your duty, rather than that you'd been prevented from doing your duty. Is that the way it was presented?"

  "That's right. Anna Leigh told her story once and it was all anyone had to hear."

  "You must have had your advocates."

  He nodded. "Character witnesses mostly. No one who could really refute Anna Leigh's story. The prosecution found a couple of scouts who had seen me with her the night before." He paused remembering how he had taken Anna Leigh to a more secluded part of the compound, how he had forced her back against the wall of the soldiers' quarters as if she were a whore, and how she had left angrily when she'd realized he didn't want her. He knew how it had looked to the witnesses. They hadn't had to lie. "Their testimony was very damaging," he said quietly.

  "Rosario?"

  "He was one of them, but he spoke the truth about what he saw. There was no need for him to embellish the details to make a case against me."

  "Then we'll have to find proof that undoes the case."

  "That would be the gold itself."

  "Perhaps." She rested her chin in the cup of her palm, thinking. "If we assume Anna Leigh's role in your conviction was larger than a means of petty revenge, then we have a lead we didn't have before. Finding the gold doesn't necessarily take us to the people who organized and carried out the raid, but following Anna Leigh might take us to the gold."

  "Anna Leigh Hamilton is long gone from the Arizona Territory," Ryder said. "She left with her father after she gave her testimony."

  "Then the gold might have left with her."

  Ryder looked doubtful.

  Mary's tone strove to be more convincing. "We've been pouring over the maps as if they held the answer. They may have at one time, but now—so many months after the raid—the gold could have been moved."

  "Mary," he said patiently as if she hadn't understood what he was saying the first time. "Anna Leigh is in Washington with her father."

  "So? We should go to Washington."

  It sounded very simple when she said it like that. Ryder felt it was incumbent upon him to point out the obstacles in their path. "This cavern is safe," he said.

  "We can't stay here forever. You said that yourself."

  "I was thinking we'd move somewhere in these hills, not to Chesapeake Bay."

  "That's when you were still thinking you could find the gold." She leaned over the wing chair and pulled out the maps that were stored beneath it. She passed them to Ryder to emphasize her point. "You've been over every inch of them. Joe Panama might have known about prospecting for gold and silver, but he didn't draw these to find hidden treasure. That bottom map describes this cavern, doesn't it?"

  Ryder was not surprised that Mary had worked it out for herself. "You're very good," he said quietly. She could have left him at any time while he was sick; still, she had elected to stay behind and care for him. "So you know where we are."

  She nodded. "Colter Canyon."

  "Close enough."

  "Do you think the gold was brought here?"

  "Not to this cavern, but somewhere close by. I've been over most of the area since we've been here. There's nothing to follow any longer. If the gold's here, then no one's come to claim it. If it's not, then it was removed in the months after the raid."

  "While you were on trial. Another diversion." She leaned forward and said earnestly, "There must be someone who can help us."

  He didn't take issue with her repeated assumption that his problem was hers as well. He would save that argument for later. "I don't know," he said heavily.

  "Florence Gardner?"

  He shook his head. "I won't ask her."

  Mary recognized his firmness on that front. "Very well," she said. "What about Wilson Stillwell?" She raised her hand, holding off his objections. "Hear me out, Ryder. You may not have any great feeling for the man, but he is your uncle and he is a senator. He came from Washington to be present at your trial. That says something about his commitment to family."

  "He didn't want me to embarrass him," Ryder said. "That's why he made the trip."

  Mary ignored that. "I don't know the history between you two, but he is in a position to help you. It's a terrible toll your pride is exacting if you refuse to ask him for anything."

  The frostlike chill was back in Ryder's pale eyes. He said nothing.

  "If we can get to Washington, will you ask him for help?"

  It was the way she phrased the question th
at lowered Ryder's guard. "Yes," he said. "If we can get to Washington."

  "Then it's settled," she said, satisfied. "Good." She stood, stretching her arms and yawning widely.

  Watching her, Ryder rolled up the maps and tapped them lightly on the arm of the rocker. As far as he was concerned nothing was settled. "You'd better explain what you mean."

  She covered her mouth to suppress another yawn. What was it he didn't understand? "As soon as you're well enough to travel we'll start for Washington. I can't say it plainer than that."

  "You're going to have to," he said. "How is it that you propose we get there? Walk?"

  Mary waved a hand dismissively. "Of course not. We'll take the train." When she saw that he was still looking at her oddly, she realized he still didn't know how it could be accomplished. He was probably thinking it would require money. "Northeast Rail goes all over this country," she told him. "And my father owns Northeast Rail."

  Ryder dropped the rolled maps on the floor and came to his feet. "Absolutely not."

  Mary flinched at his tone. When she recovered from her surprise, she asked calmly, "Why not?"

  "No."

  It was not an answer. "Surely it's my decision."

  "You're my wife."

  She blinked at that. "It's still my decision. They're my family."

  "They're my family."

  That announcement took some of the wind from Mary's sails. She suddenly realized she wasn't looking at the problem from Ryder's perspective. He had already told her that in the Chiricahua culture it was the role of the son-in-law to provide. What she was suggesting was flying in the face of that tradition. "I wasn't thinking," she said finally. "I didn't realize what it would mean to you. This changes things."

  "Good," he said. "Now it's settled."

  She nodded. "I'm divorcing you."

  Ryder's head snapped back as if he'd been struck. "You will not."

  Mary was already moving toward the trunk. She threw back the lid and began gathering his clothes. "Didn't you say all I had to do was leave them outside our home?" She rooted through his possessions with the single-mindedness of a puppy uncovering a bone. "Should I put them in the passage or drop them at the mouth of the cave on my way out?" Shrugging off the hand that Ryder placed on her shoulder, she continued to go through his belongings. "I want there to be no mistake about my intentions."

  "Mary, you can't divorce me for no reason," he said.

  She stopped long enough to cast him a sideways glance. "Since you don't think saving your life is a good reason, let me give you another one. You're provoking." She bent to her task again. "Don't you dare smile behind my back. I'm not doing this for your amusement."

  Ryder scooped up the clothes she had gathered and pitched them back in the trunk. "I can keep it up longer than you," he said.

  Mary's mouth flattened as she stared at the work he had undone. "All right," she said. "I won't divorce you." She stood and began unbuttoning her shirt.

  His expression didn't change, but Ryder did sigh. "What are you doing now?"

  Raising defiant eyes, Mary continued to release the buttons.

  "When you wanted to keep me around before, you kept me naked. I'm merely anticipating your orders."

  "Now who's being provoking?" he asked. "And you're doing it deliberately."

  Mary shrugged. Her shirt slipped off her right shoulder. She let it be and removed the belt holding up her trousers. Thrusting it at Ryder, she said, "In case you want to tie me."

  What he wanted to do was gag her. Unconsciously he wrapped the ends of the cloth belt around each of his fists and pulled tight.

  "Or strangle me," she said, eyeing the garrote.

  Ryder looked down at his hands and saw what he had made. Unraveling the ends, he tossed it away impatiently.

  Mary could see she was engaging him in a battle he didn't want to fight. Careless of the consequences, she shimmied out of the trousers. Tossing back her head, she let her shirt slip off both shoulders. "Well, Ryder? This is what you want, isn't it?"

  It was as if lightning seared his eyes. He didn't look anywhere but at Mary's face, and when he acted it was without telegraphing his intentions. In a single sweeping motion he lifted her off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder.

  She was robbed of breath for a moment. She pummeled his backside. He walloped hers once. Shock held her still.

  The blessed silence almost caused Ryder to change his mind, but he was already at the pool. She tried to hold on to him as his intent became clear, clutching at his shoulders and arms, but he peeled her off, tipped her into the well, and jumped back to avoid the splash of icy water. He was already walking away by the time Mary surfaced.

  She shook off thick droplets and knuckled others from her eyes. When she could see clearly she glared at him. "Bastard!"

  Ryder sat down in the wing chair and stretched out his legs in front of him. One dark eyebrow was raised. "You just stay there until you cool off."

  Mary was damned if she was going to do that. She hauled herself out. The icy water had raised bumps on her skin and her teeth had begun to chatter. Belatedly realizing Ryder had another motive for dropping her in the water, Mary gave him a sour look as she reached for a blanket to cover herself. "Satisfied?" she asked, drawing it around her.

  Ryder had no difficulty recognizing the trap in that question. He pointed to the bed. "Sit down," he said. "Over there."

  Mary recognized that he was insisting on some distance between them. "Are you concerned about my safety or yours?"

  "Sit down, Mary. Now."

  She sat. The silence between them built until it was almost tangible. Mary refused to show what a struggle it was to meet Ryder's predatory stare.

  "Tell me about your plan," he said finally.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You can't keep me here, Ryder. Not easily, anyway. I'm leaving you, and I'm going back to my family. It's not an idle threat. I've studied those maps every bit as much as you have, and I already know how to get out of this cavern. The journey back to Fort Union is more straightforward than I could have believed. You must have taken the most roundabout route imaginable to make your escape from the stockade."

  Ryder acknowledged the truth of it with a slight nod of his head.

  Mary tucked the corner of her blanket more firmly between her breasts. "You'd better be prepared to make me your prisoner again because I'm done being your wife." Her voice was clear and firm, leaving no doubt that she meant what she said. The blanket that Ryder had maneuvered her into taking was beginning to look more like armor.

  "I wasn't thinking so much about your plan to leave me," he said, "as I was about your plan that we should leave together."

  "Oh."

  Ryder crossed his ankles and folded his arms across his chest. "Oh," he said softly. "I'm prepared to listen."

  Mary twisted some water out of her hair and untangled the crown with her fingers. "Rennie and Jarret are still working at Holland Mines. It makes sense to go there rather than try to make contact at Fort Union. With their help, we can get to the station at Tucson. That's where the private cars will be. There's the one that my mother and I used to come out west and I'm sure my father brought another for his journey. Rennie and Jarret have yet another for their own use. We only need to ask for one to take us to Washington. Rennie's in charge of all of Northeast's operations in this area. She can arrange it easily."

  "If she will."

  "She will," Mary said with serene confidence.

  "Then we wouldn't have to ask your father's permission."

  "No, we wouldn't. Does that make it more palatable?"

  Ryder had to admit that it did. "It might work."

  "You'd still have to ask for your uncle's help. We'd need a place to stay and assistance in finding Anna Leigh. Senator Stillwell could be invaluable to us."

  "We still have to get to Holland Mines," he reminded her. He would think about his uncle later. Mary was so certain of her family's help it di
dn't occur to her there might not be aid from the other quarter. "There are troops all over this territory looking for us. That hasn't changed. It was a risk taking you to the Chiricahua encampment, but this is a greater one. We'll be crossing more open ground, and all of it will be on foot." He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. "Besides, this may be for nothing, Mary. Have you considered that? Anna Leigh Hamilton may not be the key."

  Mary had thought of it. "I don't have any other ideas," she said simply. "It's better to go off in the wrong direction, than to have no direction at all."

  * * *

  They left two days later but mistimed their departure and had to cool their heels in the mouth of the cavern until nightfall. Mary wore trousers and a blue chambray shirt. A bandana was tied around her forehead. Her upturned moccasins were laced to her knees. Ryder wore the uniform he had escaped in. They traveled light. No blankets. No change of clothing. He carried a Henry rifle in one hand and had a Colt at his hip. The saddlebags, filled with extra ammunition, maps, medicine, bandages, and a polished turquoise stone, were slung over his shoulder. Mary carried the canteen, its straps slung diagonally across her chest, and the pocket of her right moccasin concealed a knife.

  They covered the ground at Ryder's half speed. Mary's stamina was a marvel to him but no match for his. Even with his recent injury still plaguing him at odd moments, he had to slow his pace to let her keep up.

  She never complained, and she didn't waste her breath asking questions. Her trust in him was absolute. He felt this as a boon and a burden. They walked all night, resting only to drink. It was only when the sun was clearly overhead that Ryder indicated they would stop.

  Mary looked around for shade and saw it in the narrow natural hollow of one of the red rocks. She immediately began to go in that direction.