Chasing Rainbows (41 page)

Jake nodded. Her plan was a bit heavy-handed, but it might just work. If she truly was interested in getting the hotel off the ground, at least, it was a step in the right direction. “Not bad,” he acknowledged.

A determined gaze filled her eyes. “
Poco a poco, la hormiga comio el elefante
..”

Little by little
, Jake translated with an inner smile,
the ant ate the elephant.
“Do you want me to come tonight?” he asked.

A look of stark relief showed on her face. “Would you, Jake? It’d mean a lot to the girls. And bring anybody you can think of — anybody at all. I reckon the fuller the house, the better it’ll look.”

He nodded and stood. “You’re taking a risk, darlin’. Might be that nobody shows up at all. Or maybe you’ll just be entertaining the fella who’s been leaving those notes.”

Annie brought up her chin and stated the obvious. “Maybe, maybe not. Fact is, I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

Annie contentedly surveyed the front parlor, filled with a sense of stark incredulity — and glorious relief — that her party was going so well. In truth, she’d had more doubts about the wisdom of throwing the party than a goose had feathers, but she had gone ahead with it anyway.

Miraculously it hadn’t turned out to be a complete disaster. The parlor had been swept spotlessly clean, the pillows plumped, fresh flowers filled the vases, and a banquet table full of sandwiches, cookies, and pies had been set out for the guests to enjoy. Low lamplight filled the room, giving it a gentle, welcoming glow. In the kitchen, two fiddlers played a series of catchy tunes; the tables and chairs had been pushed back against the walls to make room for anyone who cared to dance.

Of course, the evening hadn’t started out so smoothly. Jake and Johnny Dill had closed the saloon and arrived promptly at seven. For a while, it had appeared as though they would be the only guests to attend. They had sat stiffly in the parlor with the women — all of whom were dressed in their best, high-necked, most respectable gowns — and tried with an almost ridiculous earnestness to carry on a polite conversation and not notice that they were being snubbed by the townsfolk.

At seven thirty-five, to the relief of everyone involved, their first real guests arrived. The rancher from whom Annie purchased occasional sides of beef stood in the doorway, his wife by his side. They both had the sulky, resentful air of children who were being unjustly punished. Annie graciously invited them in and took their coats, then made the introductions. No sooner had she done that than the banker who handled the hotel’s account arrived, followed by the couple who owned the general mercantile.

As more guests drifted in, the stilted air gradually gave way to a sense of genuine merriment. Jake and Johnny Dill took turns whirling the girls around the dance floor; soon it was crowded with couples from town. The food on the buffet table was quickly devoured and replaced by more home-baked treats. Conversation began to flow smoothly. Annie opened the upstairs and invited her guests to explore the hotel at will, eager to show off the extent of the repairs and renovations she had made.

Although many of the townsfolk came as a direct result of her financial blackmail, a good many of the attendees simply stopped by out of curiosity Or, more likely, for the same reason they went to see a hanging — for the sheer thrill of watching an ungodly disaster descend upon somebody else. Much to their surprise and Annie’s delight, however, they stayed because they were actually having a good time.

As Annie stood talking with Jake and Peyton VanEste, Jennie Mae approached them, carrying a tray of lemonade and cookies. “You gonna put this in your article, Mr. VanEste?” she asked.

VanEste smiled politely as he surveyed the crowd. “I very well may.”

“You ought to,” Jennie Mae persisted. “Maybe now some of the townsfolk will come down off their high horses and start giving us the time of day. ’Specially the menfolk. Hell, it ain’t like they never met us before, if you get my drift. Most of them were here before Miss Foster changed the place over. They sure enough found their way then, and most of them were dead drunk at the time, with nothing but the moon and the stars and what was ’twixt their legs to guide their way. And I’m not just talking about the lower elements in town. I’m talking about the judge, the sheriff and his deputies, and that little drugstore man with the big—”

“Thank you, Jennie Mae, that’ll be all,” Annie interrupted shrilly.

“Horse,” Jennie Mae finished, looking at Annie with an expression of baffled innocence. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled sweetly, then picked up her tray and sauntered away.

An ornery smile touched Jake’s lips, but he remained mercifully silent. Two spots of bright-red color touched VanEste’s cheeks as he toyed with his mustache. After a moment, the reporter cleared his throat and said, “Speaking of my article, I’m reminded that you still owe me an interview, Miss Foster.”

“I know, and I haven’t forgotten you. I simply haven’t had a chance to sit down for more than two minutes,” Annie explained. “But I promise we’ll talk within the next few days.”

“I intend to hold you to that promise,” VanEste replied. He puffed out his chest importantly, continuing in the staged voice of an overpaid thespian, “Outlaw Annie, broken away from the Mundy Gang, now the owner of a fine hotel and on the path of righteousness and redemption That’s the kind of story my readers clamor for.” He sent Annie his overblown, dramatic wink. “I warned you I’d make a legend out of you yet, Miss Foster.”

She forced a polite smile. “So you did.”

“And now I’m afraid I must bid you both good night. I should retire and jot down a few notes while my thoughts are still fresh.” With that, he turned and made his way upstairs.

It wasn’t long before the rest of her guests followed suit. Annie bid them good-bye, thanking them all for attending. Although she knew better than to believe that she had totally turned the townsfolk around, at least they left looking pleasantly surprised. They had spent an evening with the dreaded Outlaw Annie and five recently reformed soiled doves, and it hadn’t been nearly as bad as they had expected. Granted, she and the women still had a long way to go when it came to earning the townsfolks’ trust and respect. But in time, Annie thought, feeling a renewed surge of hope and optimism, they might just win them over.

They gave the parlor a cursory cleaning, gathering all the dirty dishes and carrying them into the kitchen. That was as much as Annie would allow the women to do. It was well past midnight, it had been a long day, and they all looked exhausted. Distinctly pleased and satisfied, but exhausted nonetheless. Ignoring their protests that they wanted to help, she sent them all upstairs to their rooms. Johnny Dill retired shortly thereafter to the saloon, leaving just her and Jake.

He studied her from across the lamp-lit parlor as a stillness settled over the hotel. “Congratulations, Annie. Your party was a success.”

She sent him a wistful smile. “It was, wasn’t it? Who would have bet?”

A lingering silence hung between them, then Jake reached for his hat. “I guess I ought to go see if Johnny needs any help in the saloon. He probably threw open the doors to any late-night stragglers.”

The words were nothing but an excuse for him to leave, and Annie knew it as well as he did. She took a deep breath, fighting back an impulse to ask him to stay. No sense muddying the waters between them more than they already were. “Thank you for your help tonight. It meant a lot that you and Johnny were here.”

He gave a quick nod, then ducked out the door.

Annie bit back a sigh as she watched him leave. Pushing away any ridiculous thoughts of what might have been, she busied herself with straightening up the parlor. She rearranged pillows, blew out candles, collected a few discarded bits of food before Cat got to them, then turned down the lamps. She moved into the kitchen, intending to pile the dirty dishes into the sink and let them soak overnight.

But she never made it to the sink.

Annie had taken only two steps through the swinging door that led from the restaurant into the kitchen when she felt a rough hand grab her arm from behind. A second hand came around to clamp firmly over her mouth. Her body was jerked against a hard male form. She felt the man’s gun brush her leg and his hot breath against her ear, but she couldn’t see his face. He held her with her back pinned against his chest, one arm so tightly strapped across her ribs that she could barely breathe.

His voice came out in a low, gravelly pant that filled her ear. “Miss me, Annie, girl?”

Annie’s blood ran cold. Although she still couldn’t see his face, she would know that voice anywhere. Glancing down, she managed to catch a glimpse of the man’s boot. The man’s snakeskin boot.

“I told you I’d come back for you someday, didn’t I?” Snakeskin Garvey rasped in her ear.

She forced herself to stay calm. All she had to do was to free her mouth. One loud scream and the women in the hotel would come running.

As though reading her thoughts, Snakeskin lifted a saw-toothed hunting knife from his belt and pressed it against her throat. “You make so much as one little squeal, girl, and I swear I’ll slit you open. You understand me?”

She nodded against his hand. The man was crazy and ruthless enough to do just that. Not only would he kill her, he’d most likely kill any of the women who came down to help her. Annie had to find some way, any other way, to get away from him.

He cautiously removed his hand from her mouth, pressing his knife even harder against her throat. Annie felt a slight sting, then a trickle of blood ran down her neck.

“That’s it,” Snakeskin said from behind her. “You want to feel any more of my blade, you just make a noise. Any noise at all and I’ll kill you, so help me God.”

She shook her head, silently indicating her obedience. As she did, her eyes scanned the kitchen, looking for a weapon. Her gaze halted abruptly on a crumpled note that sat on the kitchen table.
Yer next, outlaw womin
. Next to the note lay a box of sulfur matches and a tin full of kerosene. Apparently she had walked in on him just before he had set their kitchen on fire.

Silent rage filled Annie as she realized that it had been Snakeskin all along who had been sabotaging the hotel and leaving the threatening notes. She should have recognized the cowardly acts as his long before now.

Following the line of her gaze, Snakeskin gave a low, hollow laugh. “You been getting my notes?” he asked. “I told you I’d be back for you one day, and here I am. Now I reckon it’s your turn to pay.”

His hand moved up from her ribs, roughly grabbing and squeezing her breasts. Annie instinctively jerked away, but he caught her and jerked her up against him once again, running the cool tip of the knife just beneath her ear.

“What’s the matter, Annie, girl? I thought you liked ol’ Snakeskin.” With the blade pressed firmly against her skin, he grabbed the hem of her skirt, slowly inching it up. “Now we’re gonna finish what we started. We can do this the hard way, girl, or we can do it easy. You cross me, and you’ll find out the difference.”

He reached between her legs and pushed apart her thighs. A surge of hot bile filled Annie’s throat. Behind her, Snakeskin fumbled with the buttons on his britches. Annie’s gaze desperately swept the kitchen for a weapon.

The kerosene can
. She had to try, she thought, slowly lifting her hand. If she could just reach it and hit him hard enough over the head…

The sound of the front door opening startled them both. They listened in silence to the sound of a man’s boot steps as they echoed across the polished hotel floor.

“Annie? Are you in there?” the man called as he approached the kitchen.

Snakeskin’s knife dug into her skin. “Get rid of him.
Now
.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Johnny! Don’t come in here, Johnny.”

The boot steps abruptly stopped. “Is everything all right?”

“Of course. But I… I spilled lemonade everywhere. The floor’s a mess.”

“All right.” There was a moment’s hesitation, then he said, “Good night, Miss Foster.” The sound of his boots retreating toward the parlor filled the air, then they heard the sound of the front door softly closing.

“Very good.” Snakeskin’s breath filled her ear. “You’re gettin’ smarter by the minute, Annie, girl. Maybe this time I’ll let you—”

He never got a chance to finish. Jake hurled himself through the kitchen door and slammed into Snakeskin’s back, sending him crashing roughly to the floor. Annie tumbled to the ground as well, knocked free from Snakeskin’s grasp. Before Snakeskin could move, Jake flipped him over and pummeled him with his fists, attacking the man in a blind rage.

Annie watched in paralyzed horror until she found her voice. “Jake, stop! That’s enough!” she shouted. “Stop!”

Her cries finally registered. Jake froze, his gaze moving from Annie to the limp body of the man beneath him. Understanding slowly dawned on his features. Snakeskin had never once struck back. He couldn’t. The man stared with vacant, glassy-eyed surprise at the ceiling. His mouth hung open in a silent cry of outraged shock and pain. He was already dead. The knife he’d been holding to Annie’s throat had pierced his chest when he had been knocked to the floor.

Jake slid off him and moved to Annie, his gaze moving frantically over her body. His mouth tightened to a grim line as he took in the trickle of blood that ran down her throat. He pulled her to him and gently wiped the blood away with his finger. Then his eyes locked on hers. “You all right, Annie?”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “I wasn’t sure you’d catch my hint that I was in trouble.”

“I reckon you know the difference between my voice and Johnny’s. Either you were in trouble, or you were in here getting drunk all by yourself.” A small smile touched his lips. “Either way, I figured I’d better join in.”

Annie forced a small, shaky smile in return. “What made you come back to the hotel?”

“I saw a strange horse tethered behind the barn and figured it might be trouble.”