The Temptress (24 page)

Chris pushed away from Tynan. “Release me, you oaf!”

She turned to look at him, anger in her eyes. “What right do you think you have to tell me what to do? Just who do you think you are?”

Tynan looked completely confused, seemed to want to say something but, instead, turned on his heel and went up the hill toward the spring.

Chris stood there for a moment, glaring after him, before she went to Pilar.

“I thought there was going to be a fight there for a moment,” Pilar said as Chris handed her a full canteen.

“I'd like to take a club to his head,” Chris said. “He doesn't want me but then he hits anyone else who
does
want me.”

Pilar leaned back against the hay as Chris began unbandaging her shoulder. “Oh, he wants you all right. He wants you badly.”

“And I know exactly how he wants me.” Pilar smiled. “I've never seen him like this. Even that time with that rancher's daughter, he wasn't like this. We all hoped then that he was going to settle down, but it didn't work out.”

“Was that when he ended up in prison?”

“Red tell you about it?”

“Most of it. Pilar, how do you know Tynan? Why were you living with him at Owen Hamilton's?”

“He saved my husband's life.”

Chris stopped cleaning Pilar's wound. “Your husband?”

“I used to work with Red when I was younger. Tynan was there, the prettiest, sweetest little boy you ever met, and we all adored him. After the old man took him away when he was six, I hardly ever saw him again. And when I did see him, I'd see that he'd grown harder. He'd seen a lot in his short life and it'd made him cynical. But by then I'd married a rancher and we had a couple of kids of our own and I wanted to forget where I'd known Ty.”

“Children?” Chris whispered.

Pilar smiled. “Two little boys. They're nine and seven now.” She paused a moment. “One day I was in town and I saw Tynan on the street. He grinned at me and started toward me, and all I could think of was that he was going to let the ‘good' townspeople know where I came from and they were going to see that I wasn't the respectable rancher's wife they thought I was. I hate to say it, but I ducked into a store and acted as if I didn't know him. Ty was the perfect gentleman and two days later when I ran into him again, he acted as if he'd never seen me before in his life.”

“So how did he save your husband's life?”

“I don't like what I did then. I wouldn't speak to Ty on the street but a week later, when my husband was being threatened by a big rancher trying to drive us off our little place, I didn't hesitate to ask Ty for help—and Tynan didn't hesitate to come to my aid.”

“But later, when he asked you to help him get into Hamilton's house, you agreed.”

“I didn't even ask what he wanted. I just kissed my family good-bye and went with him. Jimmy didn't ask what he wanted either, because he knew he could trust Ty.”

Chris's hands paused in rebandaging Pilar's shoulder. “Why
did
he want you to come and pretend to be his wife?”

Pilar smiled. “He wouldn't say, wouldn't answer me when I asked him. But one day, he muttered something about a curvy little blonde who was trying to tempt him out of his soul.”

“Hmph!” Chris said. “Some tempting I've done! I made the fatal error of liking him, just plain liking him. I liked the way he took on responsibility when he was leading us through the rain forest. And he helped me when I needed him.”

“And then he also happens to be the most beautiful man alive,” Pilar added.

“That had nothing to do with it. He was so quiet. With most men who are silent, I usually find that they just plain don't have anything to say, but I thought that maybe Tynan did have something to say, but he was repressing it. I'm not sure what it was, but I was certainly drawn to him.”

“Was?” Pilar asked. “You aren't any longer?”

Chris rocked back on her heels. “He isn't any different from other men. He only wants one thing. I thought he felt the same way about me that I did about him, but he told me he wanted nothing to do with me, that I was wrong about him. He told me to leave him alone—except of course I was free to…”

“To go to bed with him?”

Chris nodded, her head down. “I'm not any different from a hundred other women to him.”

“I've never seen him act like he did a few minutes ago with another woman. I've never seen even the slightest sign of jealousy before. Are you sure you aren't different?”

Chris stood, taking the bowl of dirty water with her. “I'm quite sure. He's made it clear what he wants from me and he just doesn't want anyone else to have what he's being denied. Tynan doesn't love me any more than he loves…than he loves that old dog. Now, I want you to rest and I'm going to cook something, if I can find anything around here that's edible.”

“Anything will be all right,” Pilar said thoughtfully. “Ty will help you. He is quite capable of handling anything.”

“He can't handle love,” Chris said softly. “He can't find love at the end of a gun or by using his fists, so he runs away from it. Go to sleep now.”

Chris spent an hour trying to make a stew with the few ingredients from around the cabin and from the saddle bags. There hadn't been much time to pack when they'd been escaping Dysan and now they were feeling the lack of provisions. She looked at the cabin and decided to see if there was anything inside it. So far, the smell of the place had kept her from getting too close to it.

Holding her breath, she went to the door and looked inside. This looked as if it were the old man's treaure trove. He seemed to have kept everything he'd ever owned. No matter how worn out it was, how deteriorated, how many bugs infested it, the old man had kept it.

Chris glanced over her shoulder toward where Pilar was resting and she felt a renewal of courage. What was a little unpleasant smell or a few crawly things compared to a human's comfort?

She took the shovel that Tynan had leaned against the outside wall of the cabin and began to carve a way into the interior.

Two hours later, she had made a huge pile outside by the edge of the cliff. She wasn't going to push anything over until she'd had a chance to inspect it in the daylight, but, mostly, there seemed to be improperly cured hides and hardened pieces of food that were covered with ants.

In the back corner of the single room, she found a little wooden crate, the kind used to ship fragile items across the sea. Lifting it, she carried it outside into the sunlight.

It had a big lock on it, but, like everything else in the cabin, the lock was rusting away, so, after a few minutes of work, she managed to open it. There were a few dollars inside, with mold growing on the bills, a big rock that looked as if it were solid gold, and in the bottom was a photograph of a young, pretty woman. Chris held it to the light, wiped the mold off a corner, and studied the woman. She looked happy and pleased about something and ready to take on the world. With a smile, Chris put the photo in her pocket and began to close the box.

“Anything interesting?” came Ty's voice from behind her.

“You should be sleeping,” she said. “You were awake all night.”

“I got enough. What are you doing? I never saw a woman who liked to snoop more than you do.”

“I wasn't snooping, I was cleaning.”

With an infuriatingly knowing little smile, he sat down beside her. “Cleaning inside locked boxes?” he asked, nodding toward the big, rusty lock on the ground beside her. “Find anything interesting?”

“Only about two pounds of gold,” she said smugly, holding out the big rock to him. “This is why your miner doesn't want to leave this place.”

Ty took the rock, leaned back on one elbow and looked at it. “Fool's gold,” he said. “The old man doesn't know gold when he sees it. Up on the side of the hill, there's a place where he's been digging for years. He was digging it when I was a kid.”

Chris took the rock from Tynan. “If there's no gold, why does he stay here? Why does he live like this?”

“He believes there is gold and facts have nothing to do with this man's beliefs. As for why he lives like this, he's just afraid to let anything go. If he can't sell it today, he'll keep it until it's worth something.”

“Like babies. They're not worth much as newborns, but strong little boys can work.” Tynan didn't reply to her, just gazed at a bird overhead, seeming to be content to lie still for the moment. “How has he lived up here? He must have had money for food from somewhere. Has he always stolen things and sold them?”

Tynan took a while to answer. “He used to steal but now I send him money when I can.”

“You? But why? After what he did to you and the way you hate him, I'd have thought you'd do nothing for him.”

“That old man is the closest thing to a father I've ever had. Besides, I didn't want him selling any more children.”

“I wonder how someone like him got to be the way he is. I wonder what awful things happened to him. I bet he was in love once. Maybe he lost her and never recovered.”

Ty was looking at her as if she'd lost her mind. “What makes you think that old man ever loved anybody?”

“I found a picture of the woman he loved.”

“Let me see it,” Ty said softly and Chris gave him the photograph. He looked at it a long while before handing it back to her. “He said he threw it over the side and I believed him.”

“You've seen this?”

“It was my most treasured possession for most of my life.”

She hesitated. “Who is this woman?”

“I've been told she's my mother.”

“Your mother? But, Ty, don't you realize that if you have this maybe you can find out who she is? Find out who you are?”

“I know who I am,” he said with a set jaw.

Chris looked at the picture for a while. “What's her name?”

“I have no idea.”

“But didn't you ask?”

He looked at her. “Who was I going to ask? The old man told me she said one word before she died and that was, ‘Tynan.' ”

“Did you show the photo to the women in…to Red and the others?”

“Sure, they saw it, but no one knew who she was. They thought it was all real romantic and they kept buying frames for the picture, then the old man'd come and take the frame and sell it. It was a great source of income to him for years.”

Chris turned the picture over. “It says something on the back, but I can't make it out.”

“Sa. It has the letters Sa on the back and the rest is faded. I used to imagine that my mother's name was Sarah.”

“You've spent a lot of time looking at this, haven't you?”

Tynan didn't answer her, but lay on his back and looked at the sky. “I missed seeing the sky while I was in prison. What you can see is covered by iron bars. And I didn't like the noise either.”

Chris wanted to hear more about the photo. “How did the old man get this picture? If she had this, she must have had other things too.”

“He sold everything else, even her clothes and her underwear. I imagine he threw her naked body off the side there. Or else it's still around here.”

“Tynan! How can you be so crass? The woman was your mother, and she died giving birth to you.”

He sat up. “She died from three bullet wounds in her back.”

“But who wanted to kill her? Why?”

“Is there anything to eat around here? Maybe I could scout up some game.”

“Are you going to answer me? Do you have any idea why someone would shoot a woman who was carrying a child?”

He looked down at her. “Why do men cheat at cards? Why do men get drunk and try to kill each other? I don't know. She wandered in here with three big holes in her back, lay down, gave birth to me, said ‘Tynan,' then died. That's the sum of all I know. The miner watched her give birth, planned to leave both her and the kid, but then he thought he could sell what clothes she hadn't bled on and the screaming brat, so he stripped her and carried me down the mountain. That's it, Chris, that's all there is to tell. He sold everything except the picture. Nobody wanted a photo of a woman they didn't know, so I took it one summer when he had me up here working. Now, can I eat?”

Chris sat on the ground and looked at the picture. “She's a very pretty woman.”

“Was. She
was
pretty. She's been dead for a long time. Chris, why are you so all-fired interested in my mother?”

“I'm interested in—” She stopped abruptly. She'd almost said that she was interested in him. “I'm a reporter,” she said, rising. “I'm curious, that's all. I'm curious about everything.”

“Well, I'm curious about what's cooking in that pot.” He moved closer to her. “Maybe you could go hunting with me.”

“I can't leave Pilar.”

“She can go with us. It'll do her good to walk around some.”

“I don't think so. I need to clean up around here and…”

Ty moved even closer to her, then put his hand to the side of her face. “Chris, please go with me. I promise I'll behave. I won't do anything you don't want me to.”

She took a step away from him. He could use that voice of his to make a person's resolve melt. “I shouldn't. I should…”

“Should what?” he asked, following her as she backed away.

“Chris!” Pilar called. “I'd love to get some exercise. Could you go with Ty for my sake?”

“I…I guess so,” she began, looking into Tynan's smiling eyes. “But don't you try anything,” she warned. “I'm not going to give into you.”

His eyelids lowered. “Sweetheart, I haven't even
asked
you yet.”

After Tynan had eaten most of the stew Chris had cooked, he took his rifle, helped Pilar to stand and started up the little trail behind the cabin. Chris complained twice about his walking on his injured leg, but he just grinned at her.

“Remember the time you and the Chanry boys robbed that bank down in Texas and—” Pilar began.

“Robbed the bank?” Chris gasped. “Robbed a bank!”

Ty winked at Pilar. “She thinks I'm as clean as a new snow, that I'm innocent on all counts.”

“I've seen you shoot people. I took him to a picnic and he got into a fight with a man and the man got shot. On a church picnic, mind you.”

“Rory Sayers,” Ty said to Pilar as if that were answer enough.

“I never met anyone who was asking for it more,” Pilar said. “Ty, didn't you have a garden up here when you were a boy?”

Chris trailed along behind the two of them and felt as if she'd just entered a party and she was the only one who didn't know everyone. Pilar and Ty talked easily about things that were meaningless to her. They exchanged names of people and places, fantastic happenings such as repeated brushes with the law, shootouts, the names of outlaws she'd only read about.

At the top of the hill, Tynan moved some underbrush about until they saw a little clearing. “It was here,” he said, “and I planted carrots and potatoes and strawberries. The strawberries didn't make it and the rabbits kept eating the tops of the carrots as soon as they grew above the ground. Look at this,” he said, holding up a rusty can that had been flattened. “One of my first targets. I used to practice up here for hours.”

“Not much else to do,” Pilar said. “Is the old man's gold mine near here?”

“Not far, just along that trail.”

Pilar turned and started walking but Chris held back. Tynan went to her, and, before she could stop him, he put his arms around her. “Feeling a little lost?”

She pushed at him but he still held her. “Of course not.”

“We could tell Pilar to go away and you and I could go into the bushes. I know a place that was made for making love. It's quiet, secluded, near a little stream and flowers grow there all summer long. Would you like to make love on a bed of flowers?”

“No I wouldn't,” she said, but there wasn't much conviction in her voice. “I don't want to be any man's woman of no morals.”

“Morals? What do morals have to do with making love? Chris, honey, I could make you feel so good. We could make each other feel good.”

She twisted away from him. “Leave me alone, Tynan. I'm not going to be one of your women and you'd better get used to the idea. I'm going to go home to my father and I just might stay there and marry some rancher and have a dozen or so children.”

“Who do you have in mind?” he asked angrily. “Prescott?”

“I'm sure Asher would make a fine husband and he has asked me and I just might say yes. What does it matter to you, anyway? You don't want to be saddled with a wife and kids. You've made your choice and I've made mine, so what do you have to complain about?”

She could see the anger in his eyes.

“You call yourself a woman of morals, but what's the difference between selling yourself for a few bucks and selling yourself for a piece of paper and a gold ring?”

She glared up at him. “At least
I
get to choose what the price will be—not you.” She swept past him and continued up the trail after Pilar.

She found Pilar standing outside a dark hole that seemed to be the mine entrance, holding a rock like the one Chris had found in the chest in the cabin.

“It's full of this stuff. I guess he thinks it's gold and everybody is just too stupid to know that it is.” Pilar looked up at Chris. “Uh-oh, it looks like you two have been at it again.”

“No, we haven't. He is the most stubborn man. He can't seem to get it through his thick skull that when I say no, I mean no. Hasn't
any
woman ever said no to him before?”

“I doubt it,” Pilar said seriously. “But then I've never seen him pursue a woman before you either. He usually just sits down and that face of his does the rest. At worst, he has to open his mouth and speak and if there's one woman who hasn't yet thawed, she will when she hears that voice of his.”