This Fierce Splendor

6

A bairn.

Dominic rose slowly from the mat and reached for his white shirt lying on the table. There was no question in his mind that Scottish witch was driving him to madness. She had accepted her fate with surprising meekness, almost as if she felt she was deserving of punishment. Yet at the thought of possible harm to their child, she had reacted like a wild woman. Their child? Christ, he was already mad. He had hardly touched the woman and already he was imagining his seed filling her womb, their child forming.

He finished fastening his shirt and unbuttoned his trousers to tuck in the tails. What kind of bastard did she think he was? He had never fathered a child to his knowledge, but he would never abandon a woman who was carrying his baby. He would see that Elspeth was well taken care of and the bairn free from- Dear God, he was doing it again!

He strode through the doorway, his gaze searching the narrow trail in the direction from which they had come. The moon was almost full and the winding path hanging over the gorge clearly illuminated. No Elspeth.

Well, she couldn’t have gone far. She had been wearing only the cloak and no shoes on her feet. The trail was full of sharp rocks that would cut her feet to ribbons before she had gone a quarter of a mile. Perhaps he should just wait here for her to return to him in defeat.

He dismissed the thought immediately. He knew very well how determined Elspeth could be. She had amply demonstrated her strength of will to the entire town of Hell’s Bluff in the last week, and would probably crawl all the way back to town on her hands and knees before she returned to ask him for help. Well, by God, no matter how stubborn she was, he would have her back. The thought of Elspeth on her knees before him, his fingers tangled in her long fair hair, was very pleasurable at this moment, when his body was aching so intensely it was difficult to move.

He turned on his heel and strode around the cabin to where he had picketed the horses. On horseback he would be able to overtake Elspeth in a few minutes. There was no place to hide even if she left the trail. The rocky sides of the gorge were dangerously steep and bare of vegetation except for a tall saguaro cactus here and there. She would be forced to stay on the trail and should be easy to spot.

A pale gleam of slender limbs beneath the voluminous blackness of a cloak. A broken doll thrown into the rockstrewn darkness below him.

“Jesus… no!”

He wasn’t even aware he had muttered the words as he ran toward the steep, sloping verge of the gorge. He half-ran, half-slipped down the fifty-odd feet to the shallow, trickling stream at the bottom of the gorge.

Elspeth was ominously still, her head half in the water and half on the uneven stones that banked the stream. She didn’t stir as he carefully turned her over. In the moonlight her skin shimmered as whitely as the tombstones in the family graveyard at Killara. He shuddered as the thought came to him. She couldn’t be dead. Only a few moments before she had been alive and trembling in his arms. Dammit, he wouldn’t let her die.

He thrust aside the cloak and pressed his ear to her naked breast. He couldn’t tell if it was her heart or his own that was throbbing so erratically. His hands ran quickly over her limbs. Nothing seemed to be broken, yet how the hell did he know? She needed a doctor, but it was too far to take her back to Hell’s Bluff until he knew she could stand the trip. He didn’t even know if he should move her, but he couldn’t leave her lying here in this damn creek.

“Snakes…” Her voice was almost inaudible, but it caused relief to cascade over him with a force that made him light-headed. She was alive.

He gently brushed the hair back from her temple and came away with blood on his fingertips. Her scalp was bleeding steadily, the blood darkening the fairness of her hair. He made an effort to mask the sickness he felt, but it wasn’t necessary. Her eyes were still closed, her long lashes lying like sooty smudges on her pale cheeks.

An anxious frown formed a wrinkle between her brows. “Snakes,” she whispered. “Don’t let them-”

He closed his eyes. Snakes. He had deliberately held them up to her as a threat and now, when she was lying here helpless and unable to defend herself, the memory was coming back to torment her. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them near you,” he said thickly. He opened eyes that glittered in the moonlight. “I won’t let anything hurt you. Trust me.”

She didn’t seem to hear him. “S-snake.” Her voice rose with panic and terror. “Sna-” She broke off as her body went limp against him.

The door of the cabin was thrown open with an explosiveness that sent it crashing against the cabin wall!

Patrick stood in the doorway. “Dom, you’re a goddamn son of a bitch. Why the hell did you think you could-” He broke off as his gaze fell on Elspeth’s slight body lying motionless on the mat on the floor. “My God, what did you do to her?”

“What does it look like?” Dominic’s fingers adjusted the white linen bandage around Elspeth’s head, and then pulled the tan blanket closer about her throat. He didn’t bother to turn around from where he was kneeling by the mat. “I’ve damned near killed her.” He rose to his feet and stood looking down at Elspeth. “She may still die. I’ve done everything I can but it’s been two days and she’s not much better.”

“You did this?” Patrick moved slowly across the room to stand beside him and look down at Elspeth. He inhaled sharply as he saw the livid bruises marking Elspeth’s pale cheeks and throat and the bloodstained bandage on her head. She looked like a small, helpless child who had been mercilessly beaten. Sudden rage flared in his brown eyes as he turned to look at Dominic. “I hope to hell you’re proud of yourself. You had to be crazy to do this.”

“Yes.” Dominic wearily rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I was crazy. It’s hard to remember. Let’s go outside. I’ve just managed to get her back to sleep, and I don’t want to disturb her. She has… dreams.”

“How considerate of you.” Patrick’s voice was caustic as he whirled and strode across the room. “You brutalize her, almost killing her, and then you worry about disturbing her.” He didn’t stop walking until he was several yards away from the cabin. It felt good to take action, any action, and the morning sunlight was strong and clean after the sick horror he had experienced in the cabin. Poor little owl. God, he had never been able to bear cruelty to the helpless and he would have sworn Dominic would never have… He whirled to face his uncle, his eyes blazing. “Was it fun? She’s so damn little.” He drew a harsh breath. “Why? For God’s sake, why, Dom? I know she must have made you mad as hell. They told me in town what she did to you after I left for Killara, but did she deserve this?”

“No.” Dominic was staring unseeingly into the gorge below them. “She didn’t deserve it. I was angry and I wanted her. It seems like everything I’ve wanted in the last ten years has been snatched away from me. I guess I got used to grabbing and holding on tight when I saw something I wanted.” His lips twisted. “Hell, maybe the anger was just an excuse. Maybe I was just grabbing again.”

Patrick’s gaze followed Dominic’s to the gorge below. “Did you rape her?”

“No, but not because I didn’t try. If I’d caught up with her before she fell, I would probably have-”

“She fell?” Patrick felt a rush of profound relief and his gaze flew back to Dominic’s face.

Dominic nodded toward the gorge. “She fell down there and hit her head on the rocks. It happened on the night I brought her here. She was running away from me.” His gaze lifted to meet Patrick’s. “So yes, I did do it. It’s my fault she was hurt, and it will be my fault if she dies.”

For the first time since he had stormed into the cabin, Patrick noticed the puffy black pouches forming half moons beneath Dominic’s eyes and the stubble darkening his jaws. He was bare to the waist, and Patrick had a fleeting memory of the fine linen bandage binding Elspeth’s head wound. “She’s that bad?”

Dominic nodded. “She sleeps most of the time, and when she’s awake she’s out of her head. I’ve been waiting for you to show up.” He smiled mirthlessly. “I knew you wouldn’t believe that note I left in her room at the hotel and would be riding on out. I need you to bring Doc Bellings here from Hell’s Bluff.”

Patrick shook his head. “Doc Bellings is on one of his binges and drunk as a skunk. I ran into him at the Nugget last night when I first rode in. He won’t be any good to you until he sobers up.” He made a face. “Hell, I wouldn’t want that old sawbones to doctor me if he was as sober as a judge.”

“You just have to get him here,” Dominic said grimly. “I’ll see that he sobers up.”

Patrick didn’t doubt Bellings would descend from his alcoholic euphoria with an icy plunge if Dominic was looking as deadly when the doctor appeared as he did at this moment, but he still hesitated. “I could go get Silver. Her village is closer than Hell’s Bluff and she’s sure used to tending battle wounds.”

Dominic flinched. The term battle wound was certainly apt in terms of Elspeth’s injury. “Will she come?”

“I think so. Who knows what Silver will do? She’s wild as a coyote.” He shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”

“Then go get her. She can’t do any worse than I’ve been doing.”

A shrill scream shattered the stillness.

Patrick jumped. “Jesus, what was that?”

“Elspeth. She’s dreaming again.” Dominic turned and started back toward the cabin, his shoulders bowed as if he carried a great burden. “For God’s sake, get Silver here soon.”

Patrick nodded absently, his gaze on the cabin. “My God, she sounded scared to death. What in bejesus could she be dreaming?”

“Snakes.” Dominic didn’t turn around. “She always dreams of snakes.” He disappeared into the cabin.

Elspeth wasn’t asleep, she was huddled against the wall by the mat, her eyes shining wildly in her white face and her gaze fixed in terror on the rough pine floor. She screamed again, the harshness flaying Dominic’s raw emotions like the lash of a bullwhip.

“No snakes,” he said firmly, hurrying across, the room. “Do you hear me, Elspeth? There are no snakes.” He knelt beside her and pulled her into his arms, rocking her gently. God, she was no more substantial than a dandelion puff. She had lost weight in the past two days. He had managed to get a little water down her but not a bite of food. “You’re safe here.”

“No, I saw it.” She was fighting him, pounding his chest with her fists. “I saw it. It came sliding out of that hole.” She pointed a shaky finger at one of the unfilled knotholes on the pine planking of the floor. “A cobra. Puffing up and weaving back and forth. So ugly. I promise I’ll drink my milk next time. I know I was a bad girl, but don’t leave me. Just make it go away, Daddy.” The tears were running down her cheeks. “Make it go away.”

“No cobra.” He framed her face with his palms and looked straight into her eyes. “There are no cobras here. That was another time, another place. There’s nothing here that will hurt you.” He had certainly chosen well when he had threatened her with snakes, he thought bitterly. She had obviously been terrified by one as a child, for her ramblings had been full of cobras and ayahs and a father he was beginning to dislike even more than he had previously. The pompous little bastard had clearly been as cold and unfeeling as the cobra Elspeth feared so greatly. His palm gently stroked her thin cheek. “And I’ll not leave you alone.”

“You will. You will.” Her breath was catching in her throat as sobs shook her slight body. “You always do and it comes back. It comes back.”

“Shh, not this time.” He had to swallow to ease the tightness of his throat. “I’ll stay this time and chase it away.” He eased her down on the mat and lay beside her, cradling her in his arms. “You see, nothing can hurt you. Now close your eyes and go to sleep. Don’t be afraid.”

Her lids slowly closed and she relaxed bonelessly against him. “I try not to be afraid. I know you don’t like me to be a coward.” Her voice was a mere breath of sound. “I try to be what you want me to be… I do try to please you.”

“I know you do.” In the last two days he had formed a very clear picture of the child, Elspeth, who had striven so desperately to gain the approval of a father who would tolerate neither weakness nor mistakes. “You do please me. Always.”

“Do I?” The question was drowsily slurred and infinitely wistful. “I didn’t think I…”

Elspeth was asleep, her breath a light warm whisper against the flesh of his shoulder. His grip tightened about her. God, she felt breakable in his arms, as if the slightest pressure of his hands would cause her delicate bones to shatter. Why hadn’t he realized how vulnerable she was during those days when his fury and irritation had blinded him to everything but lust and pride? Patrick had known. A little owl who thought she was an eagle, he had called her. A very fragile, uncertain little owl who had forced herself to confront him on every occasion with more courage than a fiercer eagle might have possessed.

His hand moved over her hair with exquisite gentleness and a possessiveness that felt supremely natural to him, as if he were stroking the feathers of the bird to which Patrick had compared her. He didn’t know exactly when he had realized he was regarding her with a gentleness and he had never known for any woman. One moment she was Elspeth, and the next she was his Elspeth, his hurt, broken child, and God help him, his responsibility.

He closed his eyes. Lord, he was tired. He hadn’t slept since the night before he had brought Elspeth to the cabin. He was tempted to nap until Elspeth roused again, but if she regained her senses and recognized him, she might be more afraid of him than the damn cobra of her dreams. He slowly opened his eyes and carefully released her. He sat up and adjusted his suede coat she was using for a pillow before tucking the tan blanket around her bare shoulders. She moved restlessly and he froze into stillness until her breathing deepened once again.

He gazed dully around the small room. He had to do something or he would fall asleep, but he had promised Elspeth he wouldn’t leave her. His glance fell on the knothole through which Elspeth claimed her dream snake had slithered into the room. Damn Jim, why hadn’t he filled those holes? It wouldn’t have taken that long. Why was he asking himself a question to which he knew the answer? he wondered. Gold fever. No time must be wasted on mundane tasks when wealth beckoned from the hills like a shimmering siren.

Well, he didn’t want Elspeth to wake and see those gaping holes in the pine boards again; it might trigger another nightmare memory. He stood up and wearily arched his back to rid it of stiffness. He would look around and see what he could use to plug the knotholes that riddled the floor of the cabin.

Silver eyes were gazing at her with passionate intensity.

Elspeth fought her way through the thick, dark blanket pressing down upon her. Silver eyes. There was something very familiar about them, something she should remember. Dominic Delaney? No, there was no hint of blue in the eyes looking at her so calmly. These eyes were a true pale gray, framed by thick black lashes and shadowed by slender winged brows. The brows were familiar, she realized hazily. Those slightly winged, dark brows were similar to those of both Dominic and Patrick Delaney.

“Who…” Elspeth found she had barely the strength to form the word.

“Silver Dove.” It was a woman’s voice, low and melodious. “You were injured. Do you remember?”

Elspeth’s brow wrinkled in a frown as she strained to pierce the dark blanket that persisted in closing over her mind. “I was… running. The rocks were slippery and I lost my footing and rolled down.” She stopped as she recalled pain, blinding pain, then darkness. “I think I hit my head.”

“Good.” Silver Dove’s melodious voice expressed satisfaction. “Dominic will be pleased that you won’t remain a crazy woman as he first feared.”

“My God, Silver, what a thing to say.” Patrick Delaney suddenly appeared in Elspeth’s range of vision and was also looking down at her. “Here she’s just come to her senses and you have her worrying about losing them again.”

“What can you expect of an ignorant little squaw? I speak what is true, not like a white man.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, will you stop that? Who are you trying to fool? Rising Star has made sure you’re not ignorant, and we both know you say whatever you damn well please,” Patrick said dryly. “And your tongue can not only tattle the truth but run on with a story as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. Stop fooling, Silver. Elspeth’s not well enough to be a good audience for you.”

“I nursed her until she regained her senses, that is enough. She can’t expect me to be what I am not.” The melodious voice turned suddenly fierce. “If you wanted gentleness, you should have sent for Rising Star. You’ll have none of it from me.”

The passion in Silver Dove’s voice was so intense it cut through the hazy blanket surrounding Elspeth’s senses like a tailor’s sharp scissors. Her gaze focused on the woman kneeling beside her. Only Silver Dove wasn’t a woman, Elspeth realized with surprise. She was hardly more than a child, fifteen or sixteen at most, but a very odd-looking child. Her dark straight hair fell to the middle of her back from a beaded turquoise band encircling her head. Her face was thin, her skin dusky, her fine features dominated by those flashing gray eyes. Her slight body was strangely garbed in a full red calico skirt and a cream-colored tunic fashioned from the tanned skins of animals. Soft beaded leather moccasins shod her slender feet and calves, ending just below her knee. Was she a savage? Her clothing resembled that of the Indians who had been pointed out to Elspeth when she first arrived in the West. She tried to remember what Patrick and Silver Dove had said since she had opened her eyes, but she could recapture only disjointed phrases.

“You were closer than Rising Star,” Patrick said bluntly. “Do you think Dom and I wouldn’t have rather had someone who didn’t threaten to cut our hearts out when we happened to get in your way?”

“You brought me here. You know me. You shouldn’t have expected anything else.”

Elspeth’s head ached. “Are you…” She trailed off. It was hardly polite to ask someone who had evidently been nursing her for some time if she was a savage.

Silver Dove glared down at her. “Apache. Squaw. Injun. Are you afraid, white woman? I carry a little knife always and I have used it three times.”

Patrick sighed and placed his hand on the Indian girl’s shoulder. “This is my cousin Silver, and she’s not as fierce as she pretends.”

“I am not your cousin. Not until the old man says the words.” Silver Dove jumped to her feet. “And he will never say them. The Delaneys think one Indian in the family is more than enough.” She restlessly moved her head and her straight dark hair shimmered in the lamplight. “I’m bored with caring for Dominic’s woman. I’m not a slave the Delaneys can summon when they wish and send away as they will. You can take care of her yourself until Dominic returns. I’m going back where I belong.” She turned and moved toward the door, her carriage as light and graceful as a young forest animal.

Elspeth couldn’t let her go without at least trying to express her appreciation to this fierce child. “Silver.”

The Indian girl whirled at the door to look at her.

“Thank you,” Elspeth whispered. “I didn’t mean to be a bother to anyone.”

Something flickered in Silver’s face and then was gone. She opened her lips to speak, then closed them again and turned and strode out of the cabin.

Patrick dropped to his knees beside the mat on which Elspeth lay. “Waking up to Silver has to be something of a surprise, but she’s actually been very good to you. She’s nursed you day and night for the last week, and she may have saved your life. Dom couldn’t get you to eat anything and he was afraid you’d grow too weak to survive.” He grinned. “Silver managed. She pinched your nostrils shut and when you opened your mouth to breathe, she popped in a spoonful of broth and stroked your throat until you swallowed it. Dom was sure she was going to cause you to choke and started yelling at her. She told him he had a choice of finding a gentler way of pouring the broth down you or to get out of the cabin and let her do her job. He let her have her way.”

Dominic. There was something she should remember about Dominic and the night she had fallen down the slope into the gorge, but her memory kept shying away from both the man and the events of that night. She would have to think about it soon, but she was too weary to make the effort now. She was so terribly weak it seemed impossible she would ever fully recover her strength. “Am I going to be… entirely well?”

Patrick nodded. “Silver says it will probably take a few weeks, but you should be right as rain. You’ve been out of your head a bit, and we’ve been more worried about that than anything else.”

She smiled faintly. “You thought I was daft?”

He smiled. “Dom was afraid of everything under the sun. Chills, inflammation of the lungs, madness. I could almost sympathize with Silver when she threw him out of the cabin.” He frowned with sudden indignation. “But I was being quite reasonable, and there certainly was no reason for her to boot me out.”

She was trying desperately to think. He had said it would be a few weeks before she was well, but that would be too long. She had only a little money and she must set out for Kantalan before it was gone entirely. “I cannot wait.” There was a thread of anxiety in her voice. “I have to go to Kantalan.”

Patrick’s fingers gently smoothed away the frown lines creasing her forehead. “Stop worrying, it will only set you back. Just think about getting well. Dom will be back from Hell’s Bluff in the morning and you can talk to him then.” He tucked a strand of pale brown hair behind her ear. “He rode into town to get supplies and to see if he can fetch some medicine from Doc Bellings. He’ll be very happy you’re back with us.”

“Will he?” She wished Patrick wouldn’t keep talking about his uncle. She was having difficulty enough blanking him out of her consciousness. She kept seeing those translucent eyes that were both soft and hard; she kept hearing his deep, gentle voice soothing… No, there was something wrong. Dominic was not a man who was either gentle or soothing, certainly not in regard to her. “Should you be away from Killara this long? Won’t your grandfather worry?”

“He’s probably sent one of my uncles into town to ferret me out of Rina’s. Someone will have told him I left to hunt for Dom.”

Dominic again. She closed her eyes, shutting out both the name and the image it recalled. “I think I’ll sleep now. I’m very tired.”

“You do that.” She heard a rustle as Patrick rose to his feet. “I’ll be here when you wake up, and, if you need anything, just call and I’ll fetch it.”

“Go Patrick, can’t you see you’ve worn her out.” It was Silver Dove’s voice.

Elspeth’s eyes opened to see the Indian girl standing in the doorway.

An amused smile touched Patrick’s lips. “You came back. Now, I wonder why you decided to do that, Silver?”

Silver gave him a disdainful look. “I’ve spent valuable time healing this woman. Why should I let your white man’s blindness destroy what I’ve created? You would have her dead or crazed within a week.”

“You’re probably right.” Patrick’s expression was solemn. “So I guess you’d better stay around and protect her from Dom and me. Right, Cousin?”

Silver started to frown, then a faint reluctant smile touched her lips. “That is my intention… Cousin.” She glided forward and dropped to her knees beside Elspeth. “Leave us, I will care for her until she is able to defend herself.”

Defend herself. What a curious phrase, Elspeth thought. Is that how Silver looked upon life, as a battle in which one must always be on guard? How terrible for a mere child to have learned so harsh a lesson. She smiled gently. “I’m glad you came back.”

“It had nothing to do with you,” Silver said. “I told you why I turned around and rode back.” She avoided Elspeth’s gaze. “Close your eyes and go to sleep. Do you wish to undo all my work?”

“No.” Elspeth obediently closed her eyes. “I wouldn’t want to do that. It’s very important I recover quickly.”

Elspeth felt Silver’s hand on her hair, smoothing it with a tenderness that amazed her. “Then sleep, I will do the rest.”