Midnight Lover (39 page)

He drew in a deep breath and she saw blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. "Jade...watch her...hates you..."

"Don't speak, Thomas. Save your strength."

He motioned for her to lean closer and she did. The smells of fear and death were on him. "No point, Caro...Jade..."

"What, Thomas? What are you trying to say?"

But there were no more words. There would never be more words. Thomas Wentworth Addison III was dead and it was Caroline's foolhardiness, her greed that had killed him.

"Oh, Thomas," she cried, gently closing his eyes and pressing a kiss to his pale cheek, "you should have stayed in Boston where you belonged." He should be safe in his office at the bank, surrounded by the work he'd loved—not growing cold on the floor of an abandoned mine.

"Mighty touchin', gal."

Caroline's head shot up and suddenly her surroundings came into sharp focus: bars of gold and silver piled ten feet high glittered in the lamplight and there, right in front of her, stood Jade with a Smith & Wesson aimed directly at Caroline's heart.

#

The yellow-haired bitch was kneeling next to Addison, her hand resting on the dead man's shoulder. She looked up at Jade with those big blue eyes of hers swimming in tears and in that moment Jade knew she had never felt more the outcast in her entire life.

This was Jesse's wife. He cared for Jade but he had married this yellow-haired gal and that was one fact nothing was going to change. Then why don't you just pull the trigger ? Get it over with and cut your losses.

Jade was wasting too much time with this gal but every time she looked down at the dead face of the boy from Boston she remembered the soft touch of his hands and the sweet taste of his mouth and she wished there'd been some other way.

"Didn't want to do it," Jade said as the girl cried pretty, crystal tears. "I was just runnin' out of time and I had to leave a warning..."

"You killed him," Jesse's wife lashed out. "He never did anything to harm anyone in his life and you killed him in cold blood."

"If you hadn't pushed your way into my life, I wouldn't have had to, missy. I only wanted to leave a warnin'..."

"You bitch!" The girl sprang to her feet. "You cowardly, rotten bitch!"

"You talk real brave for a dead woman, Mrs. Jesse Reardon." A cascade of loose rock showered down over her head and shoulders and for a moment she was fourteen years old again in San Francisco with those miners who didn't care if she lived or died. You're kind's easy to come by, little lady...gotta see if you're built same as other gals...don't rip her too bad, Will...gotta keep her tight for me... Her grip on the gun tightened. That would never have happened to this pretty little yellow-haired gal. Men married her kind, just like Jesse had.

#

Jesse slowed Diablo down at the eastern entrance. The mare Caroline had sworn she would never ride—and yet had grown to love—was tethered to a creosote bush. Jade's gilt-and-enamel coach with the four matched palominos waited near the Joshua Tree.

How could he have been so goddamn stupid, so all-fired blind? The clues had been staring him right in his face from the first and he'd just refused to see them. Same as he'd denied his love for Caroline, he had managed to ignore Jade's rage. If she harmed Caroline in any way, there'd be no place in hell dark enough to hide Jade from the business end of his gun. Voices echoed in the darkness and he prayed he'd get to them before it was too late for them all.

Chapter 23

The derringer pressed against the small of Caroline's back, mocking her. Tucked into her waistband, it was her only chance to save herself and yet she knew the slightest movement on her part would cause Jade to pull the trigger.

The mine groaned ominously and several large rocks crashed to the ground just outside the lighted cavern. A wild laugh threatened to break through her control. Did it matter that Jade had a gun? Any moment the mine was bound to crash in upon them all.

Jade's eyes darted wildly as another roar echoed through the mine. "I believe that's one of the supports near the entrance," Caroline said, willing herself to stay calm. "There's no choice, Jade. We have to get out of here."

Jade motioned toward the silver and gold stacked behind her, glittering from the light of the kerosene lamps. "You gotta die, Mrs. Jesse Reardon. I can't let you see all of that and flounce back into town, shootin' your mouth off, now can I?"

The ground beneath them shook violently and Caroline winced as a small rock caught her in the forehead. "You'll be buried with your treasure if you don't get out now. You're running out of time." Slowly she inched her hand toward the derringer at the small of her back. Again the mine rumbled and Jade's eyes flickered closed for a second. That was all the time Caroline needed.

Her hands shook so badly she needed both of them to aim the derringer. Jade seemed barely to notice the gun for her eyes went wide with terror as another deafening volley of thunder rocked the walls of the mine.

"Don't shoot, darlin'."

She spun around to see Jesse at the opening to the secret room.

"The mine can't take it," he said, his voice urgent, low.

Both she and Jade stared at him and Caroline wondered if the other woman's thought paralleled her own. Who was he, this man she called a husband? Was he her midnight lover or an enemy set to destroy her? His gun was still in its holster.

He moved slowly into the circle of light. "Listen to me," he said, advancing toward Jade. "The entrance is caved in. We got to go out the back. Put your gun down and take my hand."

Caroline's breath caught as another tremor struck and more of the mine behind her caved in. She went to put her own gun back in her waistband but something in Jade's expression stopped her.

"Drop the gun, Jade," Jesse urged as rocks showered them from overhead. "It's now or never, gal."

"You don't got the right to tell me what to do, Jesse. Not anymore."

"Trust me, gal. I ain't never done anything to hurt you."

Jade looked at Caroline then at Jesse. Suddenly a sharp cry rang out from the depths of the woman's soul and she aimed the gun at Jesse.

"It's the only way, Jesse," said Jade, her voice a whisper. "It's the only way I'll ever have you now."

In that instant Caroline understood beyond doubt that Jade meant to pull that trigger and she forgot everything—her fears, her anger, her guilt over Thomas—before the power of her love for Jesse. She aimed her pistol, cocked the trigger and fired. The sound of Jade's scream would follow her the rest of her life.

The gun clattered to the dirt floor and she watched, horrified, as Jade fell, blood rushing from her chest, her dark eyes imploring Caroline in the light from the kerosene lamps dancing wildly overhead. The mine shuddered and swayed around them and Caroline covered her face with her arms against another barrage of rocks.

"It's going, darlin'." Jesse yelled, grabbing her arm. "Move before we're buried alive."

Caroline was paralyzed to the spot. "We can't leave," she said, her heart twisting at the sight of dear Thomas's lifeless body.

Jesse looked down at her friend and she saw the compassion in his eyes. "He'll never know, darlin'. Save yourself!"

Jade's moan was barely audible over the sound of destruction inside the mine.

Caroline cried out as Jesse grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the exit. The mine grew suddenly still, an eerie silence that chilled Caroline to the bone, in a way that not even the thunder she hated ever had.

He stopped in his tracks. "Run toward the light."

Panic rose inside her breast. "Jesse! You can't—"

"She's still alive. I owe her that much."

The mine rumbled again and Caroline knew they were on borrowed time.

"Jesse, please! Don't go back. She meant to kill you...she might—"

"I owe her, darlin'. She loved me in her way." He pulled Caroline roughly into his arms and kissed her, his lips hard and demanding. "Go! Save yourself!" He grabbed her up by the waist and flung her toward the light.

A deep rumble issued from the mine again. Caroline grunted as she hit the ground a few feet from the entrance, her head striking a fallen rock.

"Jesse!" Was that scream real or was it trapped inside her aching head? Beneath her hands the earth seemed to open up and welcome her. "Jesse, no!"

But it was too late. The mine was already reclaiming its own.

#

Abby and Sam had set out the call and it seemed to Caroline that the entire town showed up at the mine. Big Red and Luke and Three Toe; the McGuigan sisters and the Wilder girls—everyone who knew Caroline or Jesse put aside their differences and showed up to lend a hand. They'd rescued her from the slide near the entrance to the mine and she vaguely remembered wincing as Abby washed the cut on her forehead but the pain from her bruises were nothing compared to the fierce pain inside her soul. Led by the bartender from the King of Hearts, the men lost no time in trying to dig out survivors and Abby—God bless her—stood by Caroline's side, murmuring prayers that could never come true.

Caroline watched silently as the men worked, shock blessedly numbing the grief that waited, claws bared, to rake at her heart.

From the very beginning on that hot Fourth of July night, Caroline knew their marriage must end but never once did she expect it to end in tragedy. The beautiful Jade was gone and a part of Caroline understood the pain that must have torn at the woman's heart each time she looked at Jesse and knew he would never belong to her.

To think that she'd never again see Thomas Addison's dear face. Why hadn't he stayed in Boston, safe and secure behind his books and papers, living the life he'd been meant for? And Jesse—dear God! So strong, so virile—how could she go on without him? For all his talk of needing no one, of caring for nothing at all, he'd pushed Caroline toward safety then plunged back into the mine to give Jade that same chance, no matter how slim the odds. His courage had cost him his life and a black anger took Caroline's soul and claimed it for its own, same as the mine had claimed her husband.

The sun rose high in the sky and still she stood there with Abby by her side and waited for the inevitable news. Come to me, darlin'...you got yourself a sharp tongue, Car-o-line...ain't never seen a woman stubborn as you.... Never again. Never again would she hear his words, feel his breath against her cheek, his touch against her skin.

I won't cry, she swore silently. No matter how fiercely her heart ached within her breast, her sorrow would remain as private as her love for him. She gripped Abby's hand, readying herself for the worst, when a cry echoed from deep inside the mine.

"He's alive!" Sam Markham ran up to Caroline and Abby, his broad face streaked with sweat and dirt but radiantly triumphant. "He made it to a ladderway and the cribbing saved him."

Caroline's voice was trapped behind an enormous wave of pure emotion.

"Is he hurt?" Abby asked.

"Unconscious," Sam said, already heading back toward the mine, "but he's breathin', Abby! He's still breathin'!"

Caroline, who had never believed in miracles, lowered her head and wept at last.

#

For the next twenty-four hours it was touch-and-go, but Caroline knew it would take more than a cave-in to destroy Jesse Reardon. On the third day after the mine collapse, doctors declared him out of the woods and Caroline knew what her next step must be.

She and Jesse had a marriage in name only, a marriage whose raison d'etre was to protect their interests in the mine.

Well, the mine no longer existed and, for all practical purposes, neither did their marriage and it was high time she understood that fact.

"You can't go, miss," Abby protested as Caroline packed the last of her belongings into her Saratoga trunk. "What will we do without you?"

"You and Sam will do just fine," Caroline said, glancing at the tiny diamond sparkling on Abby's ring finger. "I cannot think of better caretakers for the Crazy Arrow."

"But Mr. Jesse..." Abby began. "What will he—"

Caroline shook her head as tears stung behind her eyelids. "It's for the best, Abby. It's the only way."

Too much had happened between them. She'd seen the look in his eyes when he thought her guilty of leading Thomas on a merry chase. Jesse's pain had been all too real—and his lack of trust, all too understandable. Women were faithless; he'd learned that at his mother's knee while other little boys were having their bumps and bruises kissed away. They had said terrible, hurtful things to each other that last afternoon and there could be no turning back.

Besides, Caroline couldn't bear to live so close to Jesse and not be able to touch him, not be able to turn to him in the night, to feel his heart beating against her breasts. She would rather have two thousand miles separating them than to know beyond doubt that he simply did not love her.