Lakota Renegade (7 page)

So did Harrington. “Can’t understand it,” the lawman muttered as he locked the cell door. “He ain’t never disappointed me before.”

But Creed was too immersed in his own misery to rise to the bait.

Twenty years.

He sat down on the edge of the cot, his head cradled in his hands, and stared at the stone floor.

Twenty years. He saw his future stretch ahead of him, his freedom gone, his days and nights to be spent imprisoned behind iron bars and high stone walls, and knew he’d rather be dead.

Chapter Nine

“Is it over?” Jassy stared at her sister through eyes swollen with tears.

“Yes. They gave him twenty years.”

“Twenty years,” Jassy repeated. She tugged against the rope that bound her wrists to the bed. “Let me go! I’ve got to go to him, to help him.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“Yes, I am. You’re not going to get away with this, Rose. I’ll tell the judge what I saw. I’ll tell the sheriff.” Jassy tugged on the rope again, oblivious to the pain as the rough hemp dug into her wrists. “I’ll tell the whole damn town!”

“Go ahead. No one will believe you.” The candlelight flashed on the knife in Rose’s hand as she cut the ropes from Jassy’s wrists. “Milt says you can start working in the saloon as soon as you turn seventeen.”

Jassy fought the despair that rose within her. She’d be seventeen next week. “I don’t want to.”

“I don’t see that you have much choice,” Rose replied coldly. “I’m not making enough to support both of us.”

“I’ll get a job somewhere else.”

Rose laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah? Where? Who’s gonna hire you?”

“I don’t know. Do we have to talk about this now?” Jassy stood up and smoothed the wrinkles from her dress.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rose asked suspiciously.

“To see Creed.”

“I don’t think so.”

Rose gave Jassy a push that sent her sprawling backward on the bed. Hurrying from the room, she locked the door.

“Rosie, let me out of here! Rosie!”

“You’re not running over to the jail to see that ’breed.”

“Rosie, you’ve got to let me go see the judge. It isn’t fair. Creed didn’t do anything. Please, Rosie. I’ll do anything you say.”

“Damn right you will. Now shut up. I need to get some sleep before I go to work.”

Jassy’s shoulders slumping dispiritedly as she heard the door across the hall slam shut. Since their mother’s death, Rose had moved into their mother’s bedroom, giving Jassy a room of her own for the first time in her life.

For a time, she sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the raw plank floor. She didn’t want to work in the saloon. Even if she could avoid working upstairs, she didn’t want to have to wear one of the skimpy costumes Rose wore; she didn’t want to have to serve drinks and smile at a bunch of men she didn’t know, didn’t want to know.

But where else could she work? Rose was right. No one in town would hire her for anything respectable. Everyone in town assumed she would follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Like mother, like daughter
, everyone said, assuming that because her mother and sister did what they did, Jassy would do the same. But she wanted so much more out of life. She wanted to be respectable. She wanted a home of her own, children, a husband. She wanted to be able to hold her head up when she went to church on Sunday. She wanted to be able to look people in the eye without shame.

She wanted Creed Maddigan.

Rising, she began to pace the small room. Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten all day. Going to the door, she rattled the knob. Even if she could get out of her room, there probably wasn’t anything in the house to eat. A tiny smile curved one corner of her mouth. She’d had plenty to eat in the last few weeks, thanks to Creed.

Creed. He’d given her so much. She stared at the oilcloth that covered the room’s small window, wondering what her mother had done with the money she made. She knew the rent on their ugly little house was high. Her mother had complained about it to the landlord often enough, but he’d just laughed and told Daisy if she didn’t like it, to get out, knowing that no one else would give them a place to live.

She knew what her sister did with her money. After paying her share of the rent, Rose spent the rest of her money on lavender toilet water and pots of rouge, black net stockings and scandalous undergarments that she ordered out of a mail order catalog. Apparently food had never been a high priority for either her mother or her sister, Jassy mused.

But none of that was important now. She pressed her ear to the door. The house was quiet. Hopefully, Rose was asleep.

She wiped her face and brushed her hair, leaving it loose about her shoulders because she thought Creed liked it that way.

Looking at herself in the cracked mirror over the bureau, she wished she had a new dress to wear for him, but her mother had never bought her that green dress. She’d never get it now.

Taking a hair pin from her dresser drawer, she went to work on the lock.

A half hour later she was tiptoeing out of the house.

Jassy almost ran to the jail, so eager was she to see Creed again.

The sheriff gave her a knowing look as he unlocked the cellblock door. He thought she was Creed’s lover. The thought made Jassy’s cheek burn with shame that he would think of her in that way, and humiliation because she wished it was true.

Moments later, she was standing before Creed’s cell and everything else faded from her mind.

He stared at her for a long moment, his dark eyes filled with quiet rage, his hands fisted at his sides.

“It wasn’t my fault,” she said quickly, wishing he wouldn’t look at her as if she’d betrayed him. “I wanted to come.”

He didn’t say anything, only continued to stare at her as if he hated her.

“Rose forged my name to that paper. She tried to make me do it. She even threatened to sell me to one of her customers if I refused, but I still wouldn’t do it, so she signed my name. You’ve got to believe me, Creed. It’s the truth.”

“Why didn’t you come to the trial?”

“I couldn’t. Rose kept me tied up in my room until it was over.”

“She tied you up so you couldn’t testify?” he asked, his tone incredulous.

Jassy nodded, embarrassed to admit her sister would do such a despicable thing.

“She tell you why?”

“She said it was because Indians killed her father.”

Creed moved closer to the bars. “That’s the only reason she gave you?”

“No. She said something about doing it for Coulter, about Coulter not wanting to tarnish his son’s name. I’m sorry, Creed.”

Jassy slipped her arms through the bars, wanting to touch him, but he was just out of reach.

Creed swore under his breath. He knew damn well why Rose wanted him out of the way, and it had nothing to do with his being a half-breed, or with Ray Coulter, either. But he couldn’t tell Jassy the truth. Not now. She would have to live with Rose long after he was gone.

“I would have been there, Creed. You’ve got to believe me.”

“I believe you,” he said, and felt his anger toward Jassy wash out of him as he closed the distance between.

Reaching through the bars, he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her as close as possible. Lord, she was sweet.

His touch redeemed her, banishing her fears, the awful sense of emptiness caused by his anger.

“I’ll go see the judge, Creed. I’ll tell him everything.”

“It’s too late, Jassy. He left town after the trial.”

“Then I’ll tell the sheriff.”

Creed nodded, though he doubted it would do any good. Still, if Jassy could plant a seed of doubt in Harrington’s mind, the sheriff might keep him in jail until the circuit judge rode through again. Maybe they’d re-try him. And maybe hell would freeze over.

He knew, deep in his gut, that Harrington would just laugh in Jassy’s face, especially after Rose’s damning testimony. No matter what Jassy said, Harrington would think it was just a last desperate effort to keep her lover out of prison. But it was worth a chance. Hell, it was the only chance he had.

“Creed?”

He gazed into her eyes and felt his heart quicken at what he saw there.

Slowly, he bent his head and kissed her, damning the bars that separated them. He wanted to bury himself within her, surround himself with her goodness, her sweetness. Maybe, if Jassy had come into his life sooner, he wouldn’t be in such a mess now. And maybe he belonged in prison for wanting her the way he did, he mused with a wry grin. Heaven help him, he knew it had to be a crime for a man of his age and experience to desire a girl as young and innocent as Jassy. At least if they locked him up, she’d be safe, from him anyway.

He kissed her harder, his lips bruising hers, as he thought of other men touching her.

He remembered the night on the porch when Rose had callously offered to sell him Jassy’s virginity, if the price was right, remarking that it would be his only chance to bed her while she was still untouched, because pretty soon she would be available to anyone who could buy her time. The thought twisted through his gut like a hot brand.

“Jassy.” He dragged his mouth from hers and cupped her face in his hands. “Listen to me. Go to my room in the hotel. I’ve got better than four thousand dollars in my saddlebags. I want you to have it.”

Jassy blinked up at him. Four thousand dollars! That was all the money in the world.

“Won’t they have rented your room to someone else by now?”

Creed shook his head. “I did George Walker a favor a while back with the understanding that he’d have a room for me as long as I wanted it.”

Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a key and pressed it into Jassy’s hand, folding her fingers over it one by one.

“You take that money and get the hell out of this town before it’s too late. Go someplace where no one knows you, start a new life for yourself.”

“No, I won’t leave you.”

“You won’t be leaving me. If the sheriff won’t listen to your story, I’ll be on my way to Canon City at the end of week. You take that money and get out of here before your sister has you hustling drinks at the Lazy Ace. Promise me, Jassy. I don’t want to think of you ending up like Rose.”

“He’ll believe me, Creed. He has to.”

“I hope so, honey. But if he doesn’t, you do like I said.”

Jassy nodded, unable to speak past the lump rising in her throat. Tears burned her eyes and she clung to him, feeling that everything would be all right so long as she didn’t let him go.

She closed her eyes as she felt his hand moving in her hair, his fingers gently caressing her nape. He bent to press a kiss to the top of her head, and the warmth of his lips went clear to her toes. She loved him. She didn’t care that he was a bounty hunter, a hired gun. It didn’t matter that he was older than she was, or that she knew almost nothing about him. She loved him.

She drew back a little, wanting to tell him so, but before she had a chance, the door to the cellblock swung open.

“Time’s up,” Harrington called.

“I’ll tell him right now,” Jassy promised. She slid the key into her skirt pocket; then standing on tiptoe, she kissed him, hoping he could hear the words in her heart.

Creed watched her walk down the narrow aisle, and then Harrington closed the door between the cellblock and the sheriff’s office, leaving him alone in the gloomy cellblock.

“It was self-defense,” Jassy said. She placed her hands on the desk top and leaned toward Harrington, who sat in the chair behind the desk, his expression skeptical. “It was! I saw the whole thing. Harry called Creed out, and Creed shot him.”

“That’s not what your statement said.”

“I never signed any statement. My sister forged my name.”

Harrington sighed wearily. “Go home, girl.”

“It’s the truth! Get my sister in here and make her tell you what really happened.”

“I’ll tell you what I think happened. I think you’ve been whoring for that gunfighter and you just now realized you’re about to lose your meal ticket.”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it? I’m not blind. I’ve seen how he looks at you.” Harrington snickered. “And how you look at him. Well, you’ll have to find yourself a new sugar man come Friday.”

Jassy bit back the angry words that rose in her throat.

“Please, Sheriff Harrington, you must believe me. It was self-defense. I’ll swear to it here. I’ll swear to it in court.”

“You had a chance to do that this morning.”

“I…I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t? Something more important come up?”

“Rose wouldn’t let me.”

“Wouldn’t let you?” Harrington looked skeptical. “What’s she’d do, tie you up?”

Jassy nodded, sickened by the memory of how Rose had wrestled her to the bed, then straddled her to hold her down while she tied her hands to the bedpost. It had been frightening, humiliating.

Harrington looked temporarily taken aback, and then he snorted. Tied her up, indeed! No doubt the little chit would say anything if she thought it would get Maddigan out of jail.

He rustled the papers stacked on the corner of his desk. “You’re wasting my time, Jassy. Go on home. I’ve got work to do.”

Tears of frustration filled Jassy’s eyes. Creed had been right. Harrington didn’t believe her. “Can I see him again before I go?”

“Twenty minutes a day. You know the rules.”

“Please.”