Emerald Ecstasy (53 page)

He cracked the whip on the bedpost as if to give credence to his words. “I love you, Lianne. God only knows why, but I do. You've put me through more hell than any woman I've ever had, but I'll gladly accept what fate offers me to keep you.”

“Oh, Raoul,” she said bitingly, “you've never loved anyone but yourself. You want me because I never wanted you. I know how you treat the women you love, the ones you desire. I heard all about Inez, the shoemaker's daughter. Didn't you know she was Felix's sister? Perhaps Felix will return and take his vengeance out upon you. And then Elena. Poor Elena, the mother of your daughter. I believe you poisoned her. Think how Carmen will feel if she learns you killed her mother, wonder what she might do to you. And then me, Raoul. Remember what you've taken from me, the pain you've caused me. You may love me, but I'm the one you should fear.”

He shook his head. “No,
querida
. When Daniel is dead, you'll love me, desire me.”

“I only desire to see you burn in hell.”

His hand tightened on the whip, but he smiled coldly. “Daniel will be dead before the day is over, Lianne.” He turned and went to the door. “Josephine, come here!”

Within seconds, Josephine arrived. “Prepare Dona Lianne for the execution of her lover. “Raoul left the room.

Josephine looked stricken to find Lianne tied to the bed. “What has he done?” she cried.

“Raoul's insane,” Lianne said calmly. “I must get away from here. I have to help Daniel.”

“That won't do any good. Already the men prepare the amalgamation court for the execution.”

“What do they plan to do with him?” Raoul hadn't discussed the details with her.

Josephine shivered. “A horrible death, Dona Lianne. Monsieur Flanders is to be laid upon the ore mixture, his hands and legs tied to stakes. Then the mules are to … to…” Her voice faltered.

Lianne had seen the teams of mules drive back and forth over the mixture to smooth it out many times. “Only Raoul could think of something so horrible. I must escape. Please help me.”

The woman shook her head. “I can't. There's nothing to be done but dress as Don Raoul requested.”

“You're a spineless woman,” Lianne snapped.

“I know, but I watched my husband die at the hands of a man very much like your husband, and I don't wish to suffer like that.”

Josephine took a bright pink dress from the wardrobe. “Don Raoul requested you dress festively.”

Lianne considered knocking Josephine down when Josephine untied her bonds, but she resisted because she heard Raoul outside the bedroom. Instead she dressed and allowed the woman to fix her hair, then Raoul entered the room again, a smile on his face.

“You're beautiful,
querida
.” He gave her his arm. “Our afternoon enjoyment is waiting on the amalgamation court.” They breezed from the room as if they were to attend an opera in Mexico City, but Lianne wondered how she'd find a way to help Daniel. However, when she saw Daniel tied like an animal in the muddy paste on the court, she knew she'd be unable to help him at all. Raoul's men surrounded him with drawn rifles, and the team of mules Raoul intended to use to trample Daniel to death waited.

“If you sob or scream one word to him, his suffering will be greater. Understand?” Raoul said.

Lianne nodded, too overcome to say anything. The man she loved lay like a statue, his bronzed body covered in ragged breeches and baking in the afternoon sun. Was this how it was to end for them?

Raoul pulled her alongside him, and they stopped on the side of the patio. Raphael, the mine overseer, came forward. A worried frown creased his forehead.

“Don Raoul, are you sure about this? The men feel like murderers.”

“No one disobeys Raoul de Lovis! Get on with it!”

“Sí, sí.”
Raphael shook his head and walked towards the man who controlled the team.

Lianne kept her gaze on Daniel, and he watched her from his ocean gray eyes. She saw love in their depths, a love which would defeat Raoul, even in death, and words weren't necessary to convey that love.

“It won't be long now,” Raoul said.

She didn't look at Raoul, only at Daniel. Suddenly she felt a slight tremor. Was she trembling so badly she imagined her feet moved? But Raoul was absorbed by the spectacle of Daniel as he waited to die.

Raoul nodded to Raphael to move the team, but the man who controlled the mules shook his head.

“What's wrong?” Raoul called.

“Alberto refuses to take part in this, Don Raoul!” Raphael called back.

Raoul ordered Alberto to come forward, and when the man stood in front of him with a defiant expression on his face, Raoul took his knife from his belt and stabbed the man in the heart.

Lianne screamed and would have fainted, but Raoul held her up with his other arm. “Take this insolent dog away!”

Some men gathered and silently removed the dead man, but their faces were filled with hatred. Lianne wondered why none of them could see Raoul was insane. Was she the only one?

“Raphael, you take charge of the mules!” Raoul ordered.

It was evident Raphael didn't wish to do this, but he also didn't want to die. So, he took the harnesses in his hand and urged the mules forward. At first, the animals balked. “What is the matter with them?” Raoul screamed.

Raphael said he didn't know, but after a few seconds, the mules crept closer to Daniel.

“Ah,
querida
, take a last look at your lover's body. Now it is intact, but in another few hours there will be very little of him left.”

“Beware of me, Raoul,” Lianne said, her voice breaking, “because I shall kill you.”

“An empty threat, Lianne,” he said, appearing unconcerned.

As Raphael continued on his course, Lianne cringed. She sensed Daniel's fear, and the tears streamed freely down her face. She loved him so much, and he suffered this fate because he loved her. When the mules were inches away from Daniel's legs, she turned her head away and heaved a sob.

Raoul took her chin and roughly pulled her face toward the scene before her. “Watch him suffer, Lianne! Watch and remember!”

Lianne felt weak, sick, as if she were dying inside.

Without warning the sound of gunfire splintered the air. Everyone turned toward the mountains, the direction the shots came from. Lianne held her breath to see a group of men on horseback, riding fast, and shouting, “Surrender de Lovis! Surrender!”

She recognized the group as the bandits who followed El Lince, and leading them was Felix!

Raoul shouted to his men, “Fire upon them!”

But Lianne knew this was her chance. She screamed to the men, “Fight with them against Raoul de Lovis. Free your family, your friends, from the mine!”

A cheer went up in the courtyard, and the men rushed forward to open the gates for Felix and his group. But before Lianne grasped the implications of this, Raoul pulled her behind a shed. He picked her up and ran fast toward the ravine alongside the mine.

“Let me go!” she railed at him.

“Never! You're mine, Lianne!”

Raoul ran faster than she ever thought it possible for a man to run. They rounded the viaduct, then went up the hillside to an area filled with trees and foliage.

She cried from pain, from fear, from hate, when he finally stopped before a large tree. To her astonishment Raoul pulled on a branch and the tree opened. They stepped into a dark crevice, and he set her down and dragged her along the dimly lit passageways.

“Where are we?” she asked and thought he had wrenched her arm from its socket he pulled so hard.

“In the mine, but no one will find us here,
querida
. This is a passage beneath the mine itself. I thought a revolt could happen one day, so I prepared well.”

She understood what he meant when they stepped into a small room, complete with bed, wash basin, a change of clothes for him and her.

“We can't stay here forever. What about food?” she asked.

“I'll take care of that. There is a tunnel which leads to the kitchen. I can sneak in and out at night. We'll stay here until the rabble have departed.”

“Raoul, you're insane!”

“Insane over you.” He tenderly touched her cheek. “Daniel may live, Lianne, but he'll never have you. When all is clear, I'll take you away from here. We'll return to Spain, or perhaps go to Brazil. But you're my wife and the mother of my child. I don't intend to give you up.”

A sudden earth tremor caused her to stumble and fall beside the bed. Raoul held his ground and helped her up.

“A slight earth tremor. Nothing to worry about.”

“Raoul, we must get out of here!”

“We stay!”

From the corner of her eye, Lianne spotted a large candlestick. When another tremor rumbled beneath them, she purposely fell toward the stick and picked it up. Its heaviness weighed her down, but Raoul had fallen also, and lifting it she hit the side of his head.

Blood spewed from his temple, and he groaned. Without looking where she headed, Lianne ran out of the small room and down the torchlit corridors. She didn't know where she ran, and no idea where the corridors led. She felt herself running upward and realized she must be entering the heart of the mine.

No one was working, not a soul was in sight. She noticed the heavy bags the Indians carried on their shoulders lay abandoned on the ground, as if they had been dropped in haste. But where was the passageway which led to the stairs and fresh air. She knew she had to get out of there if what she thought might happen came to pass. She didn't want to die in an earthquake, and she prayed harder than she had ever prayed in her life. She had to find her way out and get to the hacienda and her child. The house had been built to withstand earthquakes, but she knew that if one struck while she was in the mine, she'd perish.

She ran to what she thought was an opening, but before he neared it, an arm reached out and grabbed her.

“No!” she screamed.

“Lianne, it's Daniel!”

She quieted and looked into the face of the man she loved. Sobbing overcame her and she clung to him. “Take me from here, please!”

“Where's Raoul?” he asked.

“Forget about him. I only want to get Désirée and leave.”

“Not until I even the score with de Lovis.”

“
Sí
, Daniel,” came Raoul's voice from behind him. “But the score will be settled in my favor.”

Raoul staggered forward in the torchlight. Blood dripped from his temple, and his glittering dark eye impaled them. Lianne jumped back and pulled at Daniel but he didn't budge.

“No matter how you die, Raoul, you deserve worse. But even if you kill me, you'll never escape from here. Felix knows about your secret tunnel, and the men will soon swarm into it and drag you away.”

Raoul's diabolical laugh echoed over them. “No one touches Raoul de Lovis. He is invincible!”

Raoul grabbed for the knife in his boot and would have thrown it at Daniel, but Daniel was faster and warded it off with the butt of the rifle he carried.

Aiming the gun at Raoul, he fired. Raoul laughed again. “I told you de Lovis is invincible.”

He advanced then, and Lianne thought he hadn't been hurt, but blood covered his white shirt like a red blanket. Still he moved forward, a terrified look in his eye.

“Lianne. Lianne. I'm dying,” he said and collapsed by her feet.

“Leave him,” Daniel growled when she bent down.

She gazed into Raoul's face. He smiled at her, and though she could see death on his countenance, the smile was warm and rich. A part of her wondered about the man he could have become if he had only allowed real love to touch him and not manipulated the people he wished to possess.

He clutched her hand. “
Querida
, my Lianne, you do care about me. I know you do.” His breathing grew ragged. “Take care of my son, raise him to be a decent man … unlike his father.”

“How do you know I'll have a son?” she asked.

He smiled weakly. “Raoul de Lovis gets whatever he wants.” A spasm of bloody coughing seized him. She cradled his head in her lap, not caring that he stained her pink gown with his blood.

He sighed. “Tell … tell Carmen … I love her.”

This request brought tears to Lianne's eyes. If only he had told Carmen this before.

Lianne felt the earth tremble. “Go,” Raoul said. “Take your Daniel and leave before the mine caves in.”

Lianne shook her head. “We'll take you with us.”

“No. Go. You were right,
querida
. I should have been wary of you. I die from love.”

“Raoul…”

“Go.” His voice was a whisper. “Take her, Daniel.”