Captive Bride (23 page)

Rozalyn had seen her abductor barreling toward the door—to freedom—and she had extended her leg, upending the uncoordinated lout and leaving him in a tangled heap at her feet. Jeffrey groaned miserably when he peered up to see Rozalyn emerge from the shadows in the hail. Then his pained gaze swung back to the man who looked as if he would delight in tearing him limb from limb. Terror ricocheted through every nerve and muscle in Jeffrey's body as he was hoisted into the air and flung across the parlor.

 
The cracks of breaking furniture intermingled with Jeffrey's pained whimperings as he fell and then rolled across the floor, his momentum finally halted by the wall. Judging by the agonizing pains that plagued him, he swore Dominic intended to make good his promise to break every bone in his body. His eyes fluttered up to see a pair of polished black boots. Then his blurred gaze lifted to survey hard, muscled thighs and a massive chest. Fiery eyes of emerald green bore down on Jeffrey, and he swore, then and there, he was a dead man.

 
But suddenly, the murderous expression that carved deep lines in Dominic's face evaporated, and was replaced by a menacing smile. "Although I would derive pleasure from disposing of you, I think I will leave that task to DuBois. He is already breathing the fire of dragons and you will become his scapegoat."

 
Jeffrey gulped despite the lump constricting his throat. He had been spared for the moment, but his dread of DuBois was almost as painful as immediate death. He knew Aubrey would show him no mercy. He was doomed.

 
While Dominic was delivering that sentence, Rozalyn was employing a letter opener to cut her hands free. That accomplished, she yanked the gag from her mouth and then stormed toward Dominic. Her face flushed with fury, she confronted the man she was beginning to love to hate. She grabbed Dominic's arm and turned him to face her.

 
"Perhaps you have graciously granted this scoundrel temporary pardon, but I will not! I am the one he abducted," Rozalyn reminded him hotly. "Jeffrey planned to kill me after he received the ransom money. I demand he pay penance . . . now!"

 
Since Dominic made no move to avenge her kidnapping, Rozalyn's fuming gaze circled the room for an appropriate weapon to use in her reprisal. Her eyes landed on the sword that hung above the mantel. Perhaps after she sliced Jeffrey in two equal pieces and then cut Dominic's hard heart from his chest she could overcome her anger. Or perhaps merely scaring the wits out of both of them would appease her need for vengeance, she mused as she stormed over to retrieve the sword. When she wheeled around to threaten the money-hungry Corday, Dominic snatched the weapon from her grasp and held it just out of reach.

 
"Calm down, Roz," he barked sharply. "Has no one told you to forgive is divine?" Damn, but she was in a fit of temper!

 
"I am not looking to acquire sainthood," she muttered, reaching up on tiptoe to retrieve the sword.

"Corday isn't worth killing," Dominic argued.

 
"Nor is he worth sparing," she parried, though still without the sword.

 
While Dominic and Rozalyn were debating over Jeffrey's future ... or lack of it, Jeffrey attempted to escape, but Dominic caught his movement out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed Corday by the nape of his jacket, detaining him.

 
As Dominic hastily glanced around the room for a place to stash Jeffrey until he'd finished his debate with the vindictive witch who thirsted for blood—Jeffrey's as well as his own—he spied the coat rack upon the wall. Marching the struggling Jeffrey across the room, he hung Corday's tattered coat upon a sturdy hook, with Jeffrey in it; then he spun around to confront the flaming-eyed wildcat who hungered to make him a between-meal snack. Not that I blame her, Dominic said to himself. She is bitter and angry after overhearing Aubrey's accusations.

 
Damn, but she is beautiful, Dominic mused as his hawkish gaze flooded over her heaving breasts and flaming cheeks. And she was, even when she was angry— especially when she was angry. Rozalyn's eyes were snapping and her face was alive with splendid color. Now here is a force to be reckoned with, Dominic told himself. Jeffrey was no match for Dominic's overpowering strength, but Rozalyn was an entirely different matter. Hell hath no fury to match a spitfire's temper. Dominic sought to cool her anger at him, and quickly. Otherwise, there was no telling what this spirited woman might do. She had already threatened to take revenge on Jeffrey with his own sword.

 
"Rozalyn, I'm sorry," Dominic blurted out. "I had intended to explain the situation tonight, to make you understand. But we were interrupted and then . . ."

 
Rozalyn's head jerked up and her hard-won composure threatened to desert her. She didn't want to hear flimsy excuses. She had listened to scores of them from men like Jeffrey Corday. "There is no need to explain why you wanted to deceive me," she cut in. "Do you think it truly matters?" She was stung by the spiteful urge to deny her feelings for Dominic, to strike out and hurt him as she had been hurt. "I was using you, just as you were using me . . . from the beginning." Rozalyn tooka deep breath, determined to continue without her voice cracking. "A pity, isn't it? We may never know which one of us was the bigger fool." She laughed bitterly, forcing herself to meet Dominic's probing gaze. "Perhaps it was I for being ensnared in
Grand’mere
's clever trap. Or maybe you for thinking you could maneuver my father, even when you played both ends against the middle. It seems we were both using each other. We became each other's pawns, didn't we, Dominic? But it was only a game played to suit our separate purposes. We both emerged as losers. I, for one, am thankful the charade has come to an end. I had grown tired of pretending there was some deep affection between us."

 
Her words pierced Dominic's male pride like barbed arrows finding an intended mark. Why the hell was he apologizing when Rozalyn had openly admitted she felt nothing for him? "It does seem we were wasting our time on this worthless charade." He snorted derisively, and his mouth twisted into a mocking smile. Then his penetrating green eyes swarmed over her shapely figure, assuring her that he knew full well what lay beneath the frills and petticoats. "You certainly went to great lengths to convince me that you cared. And, of course, I was willing to accommodate you. I have never been one to deny myself pleasure, no matter what its source."

 
His insult struck Rozalyn like a slap across the cheek, and she retaliated instinctively. "You cannot know how difficult it was to submit. In actuality, I itched to tell you how much I despised you," she hurled at him, then caught her tears a split second before they spilled from her eyes. "You are a loathsome beast who took unfair advantage, and I am most grateful I will never have to see you again. The mere sight of you nauseates me!"

 
He winced in response to her spiteful words even as he cursed himself for confessing to love this hard-hearted vixen. She had been toying with him, charming him with her wiles, tempting him with her body. Damn her. He should have left her to Jeffrey!

 
"I find it inconceivable that any man would honestly admit to loving you. Jeffrey would have deserved a medal if he had found a way to marry you, even if he did so for your money. Life with you would be hell," Dominic flung at her. "You are temperamental and spoiled."

 
The nerve of this arrogant swine! How dare he speak to me in that condescending tone. He is no prize either, she thought huffily. "Do you think I would have married a man like you? If so, you are deluding yourself. I want nothing to do with you, and the sooner you disappear from my sight, the better. You are nothing but a womanizer, a philanderer. Your lusts couldn't be satisfied in a hundred boudoirs, much less one!" Rozalyn shouted at him. "I want to forget I ever knew you. As far as I am concerned last night didn't happen."

 
"I know," Hawk snorted derisively. "Unfortunately, I was there when it didn't."

 
His caustic rejoinder made her fume. "I hope my father manages to destroy you. Whatever grudge he has against the Baudelairs is now mine as well. If I never hear the name again it will be all too soon."

 
Dominic's temper had been strained once too often during the course of the evening. Finally forgetting logic, he decided Rozalyn was every bit as stubborn and spiteful as her father and he would not attempt to reason with her in her present mood.

 
Grumbling irritably, he stalked over to snatch up a piece of parchment, and quill in hand, he scratched out his own ransom note. After scribbling his name at the bottom of it, he marched back to Jeffrey, who was still dangling helplessly from the coat rack on the wall. Dominic pinned the letter on the lapel of Jeffrey's shredded jacket, and then he roughly scooped Rozalyn into his arms.

 
"Put me down this instant!" she shouted. "I am going nowhere with you."

 
But her struggle for freedom was futile. Dominic held her in a viselike grip until he had retrieved the rope and gag. Once he had replaced them, he tossed Rozalyn over his shoulder and strode toward the front door.

 
A muddled frown creased Mosley's brow as he watched Dominic approach him with long, swift strides. Mosley had expected Master Baudelair to emerge the victor, but he had not anticipated that the young lady would still be bound and gagged.

 
"Ride back to the Rabelais mansion and inform Aubrey that it was Jeffrey Corday who abducted his precious daughter," Dominic hastily ordered, setting his furious bundle in the saddle.

 
Mosley nodded agreeably and then vaulted onto his horse. "I will return home as soon as I deliver the message."

 
"Be quick about it." Dominic stepped into the stirrup and settled himself behind Rozalyn. "There is much to be done and time is short."

 
As Dominic gouged his heels into his steed's flanks and thundered off into the darkness, Rozalyn cursed the hard, lean body molded to hers. His closeness stirred memories she was desperately trying to put from her mind in order to survive this painful, one-sided love.

 
Blast it. Why hadn't Dominic released her and allowed her to go her own way? There was nothing left between them. They could never go back now that she knew he had only used her. Rozalyn wanted to erase the past week from her life and never think of it again. Her first taste of love had been hellish. She had sacrificed her heart for a few splendrous moments she would spend the rest of her life regretting. She had played with fire, and she had been badly burned. The scars of unrequited love would remain, but they would be hidden. No one would know how foolish she had been, but hereforth no man would touch her fragile emotions.

 
Aubrey DuBois silently seethed as he marched up the steps to Corday's home. He could not believe that fool would dare hold Rozalyn for ransom. When he got his hands on him, Jeffrey would rue the day he was born.

 
A puzzled frown knitted Aubrey's brow when he entered the parlor and saw Corday hanging in midair. His angry gaze darted around the room, as he wondered what had become of his daughter. Mosley had burst into the house to inform him that Jeffrey was the one who had abducted Rozalyn, and Aubrey expected to find her in the man's clutches. When he glanced back at the unusual wall hanging, he spied the note attached to Jeffrey's shirt.

 
His eyes blazed as he read the letter Dominic had left for him.

Since you have stubbornly refused to comply with my demands to lower prices and have threatened my caravan, I have resorted to my only weapon of defense. I have taken Rozalyn hostage. As ransom, I demand reasonable prices at rendezvous. When we meet again at Green River, your daughter will be returned, provided you charge fair prices for the trappers' supplies. If not, you will never see Rozalyn again. This seems a small price to pay for compromise. I am sure you will oblige, knowing how you would detest the possibility of having a Baudelair as your son-in-law. If you refuse, I will, of course, name our first-born after you.

Until rendezvous, Hawk
  

A bellow of pure rage erupted from Aubrey's lips. Crushing the letter he hurled it across the room. "That conniving bastard! I swear I'll see him hang for this! She cannot bear him a child! She cannot!"

 
Aubrey was so furious at the disastrous chain of events that he forgot about Jeffrey Corday and, his mind spinning with various schemes for revenge, he stormed from the house. Jeffrey made not a sound to call attention to himself. He would rather hang on his own coat rack than face Aubrey DuBois when the fur trader was in a fit of temper. If and when Jeffrey was rescued, he vowed to fetch his fastest steed and ride from St. Lo
ui
s without ever looking back; for once Aubrey came to his senses, he would return.

 
Flouncing down on the carriage seat, Aubrey let loose with another enraged snarl. He knew he had little chance of catching the legendary mountain man. Hawk would be almost impossible to track when he was in his own element. But there was a man who possessed Hawk's resourcefulness. Aubrey had employed his services on several occasions. Ranes was harsh and ruthless—and he could be bought for a price.