Frozen Vengeance (11 page)

“What are you waiting for, Dane. Go tell the grownups. Colt is back!” the biggest child—probably the eldest—ordered to one of the other children.

Dane turned and ran for the nearest house yelling at the top of his voice. “Come everyone, Colt is back!”

Chapter Ten

They didn’t even manage to make it down the hill before villagers swarmed them. Colt smiled and took the back slaps and ignored the questions about where he had been.

He grabbed onto one of Geli’s hands and kept her at his side, making sure the crowd didn’t separate them and give her a chance to escape.

She hasn’t tried to escape yet,
his inner voice told him.

It’s only a matter of time, especially after she sees what I have planned for her.

Jessup grabbed Colt in a bear hug. “We have been so worried. I speak for everyone when I say we are glad to have you back, Colt.”

Colt hugged his old friend back with one arm, not letting go of Geli’s hand. “Thanks, Jess, glad to be back.”

Jess slapped his back. If he wasn’t as tough as he was, Colt would probably have had bruises on his back. The thought caused a smile to curl on his lips. It was good to be home.

The village children were playing around the reuniting adults and the squeals of delight made Colt’s ears ring.

Jessup stepped away from Colt, wincing at a particular shrill screech from a child. “Jake, keep it down to a bearable decibel, would you?”

The little boy nodded, then attacked his friends again, squealing even louder.

Jessup shook his head and sent a grin in Colt’s direction. “Kids.” As if the one word explained everything. “We need to have a council meeting. I’m sure everyone wants to know where you went and what happened, and who you have with you.”

Colt wasn’t listening. He was scanning the crowd for one person in particular.

“Where is Jericho?”

“He is out searching for you,” Jessup answered. “He has been every day since your dog team came home without you.” He looked off into the distance. “He’ll be back well after sundown.”

“I hate to interrupt your conversation,” though Sarah didn’t look like she gave a damn about interrupting the chat the men were having. “It’s cold out here, and this poor child…” She pointed at Angelica. “Is shivering, plus my old bones want my hearth and some warmth.”

“Of course, old Mother.” Jessup bowed his head and started leading the way back to the village.

They reached Sarah’s house, while most of the people went back to their own homes. There was always work to do in a village like this and people were conscious of getting it done before the sun sunk below the horizon.

The house was small, no more than a few rooms, but Sarah refused to move into a bigger place. She maintained that
small
was what she liked, no matter how many people nagged her.

It was in good repair with everything neat and tidy. Colt knew that Sarah took pride in keeping it that way. She had a host of children and grandchildren who helped her.

“Bring some more wood in, Jessup,” Sarah ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jessup went to the large woodpile on the stoop and collected some logs into his arms.

“Come in, Colt. Help Jessup with the wood and bring him in, too. We need to talk.”

“I will be here in a few minutes, Sarah. I need to take Geli to my house first.”

Sarah’s glower told Colt better than words that she did not like that plan, but he pretended he hadn’t seen her expression.

He tugged on Geli’s arm and forced her to start moving. He didn’t miss her look over her shoulder at Sarah as if pleading for help. It infuriated him, so he tugged her hand harder to get her moving faster, but she tripped over her robe and landed on her knees in the snow.

“Colt.” Sarah’s voice held a wealth of warning. “If you abuse this woman I will make sure you regret it.”

He was already helping Geli up, but he looked at Sarah. “With all due respect, Sarah, she is my prisoner and what I do with her has nothing to do with you. Are we clear?”

Sarah’s expression formed into the stubborn look he knew so well, but she didn’t answer him. He knew she’d fight him on Geli’s treatment, and he was ready for the battle.

With his prisoner back on her feet, he tugged at her again and led the way to his cabin, which was on the outer edges of the village, away from the other houses. Colt liked his privacy. In such a small community, it was hard to come by.

“You don’t have to drag me around,” Angelica said in a grumpy tone. “I can walk without you latching on to my wrist like a vice.”

“Oh, she has a voice. You didn’t use it much when everyone else was around, but you are pretty good at the
pleading looks
thing.” He looked back over his shoulder at her and scowled.

Angelica didn’t say anything.

They reached his cabin and he led her up the stairs. Someone had been keeping the place neat while he was gone. There was no snow on the stairs and none on the stoop either.

He reached the door and pulled back the latch, then stepped inside.

Colt waited for Geli to come in before he shut and latched the door.

He watched as she looked around and tried to see the place the way she would be seeing it.

It was open plan—one room except for the two bedrooms in the back. The furniture was all dark, well-oiled wood. The wooden bench, pulled near the fireplace, had a quilt thrown over it, and it looked comfortable.

The whole place would seem bleak and masculine except for the softer feminine touches that his mother had left.

The cabin had belonged to his parents, and Colt had chosen to come and live in it when they died. That way, he always had them around him even though they were gone.

The real warmth in the house came from the potbelly heater that doubled as a stove. It was cold, so he left Angelica standing in the middle of the room and went to light a fire. The kitchen was part of the room on the left, with worn wooden counters that were scrubbed and polished to a sheen.

Geli had her arms wrapped around her and he could see the tremor of cold as it passed through her body.

“The place will warm up soon.”

“I-I-I, um…” she stammered. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Colt straightened from his work at the potbellied stove with a grin.

“Follow me.” He turned and opened the front door again, leading her outside and around the house and stopped in front of the outhouse. Angelica noticed that it was a rickety looking little shack with the obligatory moon-shaped cutout in the door.

“You are trying to tease me?”

“No.” He was almost laughing now. Her expression was one of utter astonishment and disgust.

“That…” She pointed a finger at the outhouse. “Is your bathroom?”

“Yep.” The grin was still tugging at his mouth.

She breathed in and her shoulders hitched with a sigh. “Okay, then. Can I have some privacy please?”

He lost his grin. “No.”

“You are not running away, Geli. Go do what you need to do. I will be right here.”

“Damn it, Colt, at least walk a little bit away.”

He considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” He pointed at the back wall of the house.

She waited for him to go lean against the cabin before she looked over at the outhouse with an expression of disgust.

He heard her mutter, “Might as well get this over with.” The she pulled open the door and went in, pulling it closed behind her.

“I have to get back to Sarah’s house so I might as well show you your accommodations,” he told her once they were back in the house.

“I’ve seen them. There isn’t that much here.”

“Oh, no, Geli. You won’t be taking over my cabin.”

She didn’t say anything else, but he could see the question in her expression. He strode across the room to the second bedroom and opened the door. The inside of the room was bare of any furnishings. Colt had been meaning to turn it into an office, but just never gotten around to it.

He left the door open so she could see into the room, then went into his bedroom.

Colt dug in the closet for the extra blankets and debated with himself about the bearskin. The little angel on his left shoulder won because he picked up the bearskin and carried it out to the second room with the rest of the blankets and bedding.

As he walked out of the room, he looked over at Geli who was trying to hide her expression, but he could see she wasn’t happy at all.

He walked the couple of steps it took to get into the spare room and dumped the bedding on the floor. “I’m sure you can figure out how to make a bed.”

“A bed? You call a heap of bedding on the floor a
bed
?”

He snarled at her, and stepped forward to tower over her. “I didn’t have much more in your cell.”

“At least you had a bed,” she hissed, tilting her head back to glare at him.

“Yeah, but here, you won’t be drugged every breath you take or chained to a bed, so I’d say that’s a fair trade off.” His tone was low and menacing, his whole body vibrating with the urge to…

To
what
exactly, Colt? Because if you put on your big boy pants, you’ll admit you want to kiss her right now, and you want it like you’ve never wanted anything before.

Colt made a sound of frustration and turned away from Geli. “Make your bed. I will build a fire for you in the room’s fireplace.”

He had to find some physical activity to distract him because, damn him if his inner voice wasn’t right, he wanted to kiss the phoenix.

He wanted to grab her and yank her into his arms. He wanted to feel all that body heat of hers melded against his body. He wanted to lower his head and claim her lips, to see what they tasted like, or if they were as soft as they looked. He wanted that and more. The problem was that what he wanted, didn’t gel with his plans for her.

He picked up the logs from next to the potbelly stove and walked into the room. Geli followed him in and watched him work.

“I told you to make a bed on the floor, Geli.”

“My name,” she said through gritted teeth, “is Angelica.”

She obviously was not done pushing his buttons, but Colt did his best to keep his cool. A log crumbled under his grip, but he didn’t get up and pin her to a wall.

“Make your bed, Geli.” He got the fire lit, then walked out the room, pulling the door closed behind him, and locking it. Then, he leaned his back against the wood and let his head fall back against the door.

Why was it so difficult to get revenge on her? Why did he feel like a jerk for making her sleep on the floor?

He pushed himself away from the door. It didn’t matter. He was going to take his vengeance in one way or another, because what she’d done to him deserved nothing less.

Colt slammed the front door as he left, and it made him feel a bit better, something he could take his frustration out on at least.

* * * *

Angelica wanted to kick something. “Ha!” She spun to glare at the room as if it was at fault for all her troubles. She spotted the heap of bedding and attacked, kicking it all over the room.

Once she realized how stupid she was being, she sunk down to the floor and started to cry. Scalding liquid coursed down her cheeks and she slashed the back of her hand over her face to dry it.

He was such a jerk, such a mean spirited ass, but just when she thought he was beyond redemption, he would do something sweet and kind and she’d be thrown off kilter again.

She didn’t know what to do about her situation. She couldn’t leave. She’d die in the cold.

She couldn’t stay either, though. Colt had plans for vengeance and she had an idea she wasn’t going to like
his
idea of retaliation

Duh, who would like vengeance aimed at them?

“Shut up,” she hiccupped at her inner voice.

“I haven’t said anything, Miss Angelica.”

Angelica bolted to her feet, looking around the room to see who had spoken. Then, she saw him. He stood in front of the fire. She could see flames consuming the wood through his form.

“Michael, what are you doing here? Don’t you haunt the house in the ghost town?”

He smiled at her, and she had a feeling he was going to be handing her a lie.

“I do, but I can go where I want, and I wanted to follow you, Miss Angelica.”

The
Miss Angelica
thing was going to get annoying in a hurry.

“Call me Geli—I mean—Angelica.”

“Very well, Angelica.”

He had a smooth southern sounding accent that she hadn’t noticed before and she had to admit, she liked the cadence of it.

“Why follow me?”

He shrugged and turned toward the flame. It was eerie because it made the flames she could see through him brighter. She suppressed a shiver of fear.

“Are you the ghost of one of the people that died in the mine collapse?” Angelica thought he had to be, but she wanted confirmation.

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

But something in his body language was off. He was hiding something.

“Why are you really here, Michael?”

“Why do you let him treat you in such a manner, Geli?”

She suspected he’d used Colt’s shortening of her name on purpose.

“That is none of your business.” She turned her back on him and started picking up bedding. She needed something to do with her hands so she didn’t get too introspective with the question he asked.

“In my day, a gentleman would never treat a lady like that,” Michael said from his place at the fire.

Angelica didn’t respond.

“Especially not a lady as fine and lovely, and dare I say, as beautiful as you are, Angelica.”

She nearly snorted at the absurdity of the situation. Firstly, she’d never considered herself beautiful. She didn’t have the dark, doe eyed beauty that Athera had, or the golden blazing beauty that Kel had, or even the sweet sunny beauty that Dani had. Angelica was plain. He dark hair was too dull, in her opinion, to be lovely. Her blue eyes—well, blue—nothing special there, she wasn’t the beautiful one.