“Thank you, ma’am,” they chorused. “Thank you. We’ll make you a rich woman.”
&n
bsp; She was relieved when they left and she at last had some privacy. Captain Montgomery was waiting for her outside the little shack. I am little more than a prisoner, she thought. For some reason, all my freedom has been taken away from me.
In the tent, Captain Montgomery held up the box of figs. “Want some?”
“No, thank you. I really don’t like them. But you have as many as you want.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” She watched as he picked up two of them and ate them quickly. “They’re really good. You should have a few.”
“No, I’d rather not.” She smiled as he ate another fig, but then frowned as he ate a fourth one. She didn’t have any idea how much opium Edith had put in each fig, and she didn’t know how much a person could take without sleeping forever.
When he put the fifth fig to his lips, she leaped at him. “No!” She knocked the box to the floor and grabbed the fig from his hand.
He looked at her in surprise, then understanding. “What have you done, Maddie?”
“Nothing I didn’t have to do. Please try to understand.”
“Understand that you don’t trust me? That you think that I’m so incompetent that I can’t help you in whatever it is that you have to do?”
“Yes. I would ask for your help if I could, but I can’t. You must understand.”
“I don’t understand at all.” He put his hand to his forehead and swayed on his feet.
Maddie went to the side of him, put his arm around her shoulders, and led him to the cot, where he half fell onto it, pulling Maddie halfway down with him. She pushed at him, trying to get away, but he held her. She relaxed after a moment, knowing that soon he wouldn’t have the strength to hold her.
“Where are you going? Who are you meeting? What’s so important that you have to risk your life for it?” He had a hold on her neck, not allowing her to move from her position of half on, half off his body.
“I can’t tell you. Believe me, I would if I could. I would like to have someone’s help.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then forced them open again. “Is it the same man as before?”
“What? Oh,” she said, remembering the first time he’d followed her. “I can’t say. I have to go. I have a long way to go before tonight.”
She tried to move away from him, but he was still awake enough to keep a firm hold on her shoulders. “Where?”
“I’m not going to tell you because as soon as you can you’ll follow me. Damn you!” she said. “Why did you have to come into my life and confuse me? I was fine before I met you. I was free. I had no one who thought he was my keeper, and now…”
She gave a violent jerk and pulled away from him. He tried to follow her but sleep was too heavy on him and he fell back against the cot. She went to the trunk and got the map out, then stuck it down the front of her blouse.
She went back to him, bent over him, and touched his hair. With effort he opened his eyes.
“I’m afraid you’ll be hurt,” he whispered. “You’ll get lost.”
“No, I won’t, and I’ll stay on the outskirts of the town. I won’t let anyone see me. I’ll be back before tomorrow night. Wait for me. And…” She smiled at him. “Don’t be too angry with me.”
“I’ll come after you.”
She could barely hear him now as sleep was overtaking him. She leaned closer to his lips. “Wait for me,” she repeated. “I’ll take care.”
He didn’t answer her as he lay there, and she thought he was probably fully asleep now. As she looked at him she felt a great deal of regret. She was frightened of these men who held Laurel and she was frightened of some of these men who lived in the mountains, these miners who were far from home and the rules of civilization. She smoothed his thick, dark hair back from his forehead. She would feel a great deal safer with him along. And if he’d started in with all his talk and teasing, she’d probably have been able to forget her fears for Laurel for a little while.
“I’m sorry, ’Ring,” she whispered to the sleeping man. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to.”
She started to pull away from him, but then, on impulse, she touched her lips to his. She had thought he was in a deep sleep, but instantly his strength returned to him. His right arm came up around her back, burying itself in her hair, and his left arm tightened about her waist. He slanted her head so that her mouth was firmly against his and then he kissed her.
Maddie had kissed a few men before, but kisses had never much interested her. This one did. She felt as though she were drowning, that his lips against hers were taking her soul from out of her body. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, as though that were possible, and then, of their own accord, her feet came off the floor and she stretched out on the cot beside him. But there wasn’t room for both of them, so she moved to extend her body fully on top of his.