The Temptress (Montgomery/Taggert 8)

“With a—” Chris said but cut herself off. “Someone will come to find us.”

Dysan put down his fork and leaned back in his chair. “I have sent out over a hundred men to patrol the area between here and Hamilton’s. They are to shoot to kill anyone who even asks a question about one of you ladies or about me. I assure you that no one will come for you.”

“Then it’s ransom you want?” Chris asked without thinking.

“And how can I ransom you?” he asked as if the answer greatly interested him. “Who will pay for either of you?”

“No one will pay money,” Pilar said quietly, “but someone might be willing to pay with his life. We will be found.”

Dysan took a while to study Pilar, looking her up and down in a hot, insulting way. “Perhaps you’re right, but we shall see, won’t we? Now, I’m afraid that this is all the time I can spare you. You will be taken back to your room and you will wait there.”

“Wait for what?” Chris said.

“For when I decide what’s to be done with you,” Dysan said, then stood and left the room. Chris quickly wrapped some slices of beef in a napkin, and slipped the small package into her pocket. Seconds later, the two men who’d first kidnapped the women came into the room and escorted them back through the entryway and up the stairs to their room.

“So what did we find out except that if we make him angry we don’t get to finish our meal?” Pilar asked when they were alone in the room. “Do you really

think he sent a hundred men to guard the trail behind us or do you think he was bragging?”

Chris was looking out the window, considering how far it was to the ground. “I think that man is capable of any evil. Why are we here?” she half cried. “He doesn’t know who my father is so we’re not being held for ransom. I thought maybe, with these dresses, he’d decided he wanted one of us—physically, I mean—but that doesn’t seem to interest him. So what does he want?”

“Do you know something that he doesn’t, something that he might want to know?”

“Sure,” Chris said. “He thinks I know where the lost Inca treasure is. If he wanted to know something, why didn’t he ask us?”

“But all he asked us was if we thought Tynan was coming after us,” Pilar said thoughtfully. “Do you think he’s after Ty?”

Chris’s mouth set in a line. “It seems that the only people who take a great interest in Tynan are those on the side of law and order. I don’t think Dysan wants to arrest Tynan for whatever crime he’s committed this week.”

Pilar looked at Chris for a while. “You certainly are angry at him, aren’t you? What’s he done to you?”

“Made a fool of me, that’s all.” She sat down on the bed. “I don’t think Dysan wants Tynan. If he did, he could have had him in a much easier way than in this elaborate scheme. He could have taken him on a picnic and Tynan would have gladly shot it out with him. No, there’s something else. I think Dysan does know who my father is and we’re being held for ransom. Then the hundred guns makes sense because Dysan wouldn’t want anyone to interfere with his holding of us.”

“Us?” Pilar said. “You’ve never explained why I’m here.”

“Who knows? Pilar, do you think that if we tied those sheets together, they’d reach down to the ground?”

“Are you out of your mind?” Pilar said, moving to look out the window. “Can’t you see those men with rifles out there? Do you think they’ll just wave at you as you climb down?”

“Not if I do it at night.”

“Chris,” Pilar said with great patience in her voice. “Let’s just wait here until your father pays the ransom and then we’ll be free.”

Chris looked at the dark woman for a long moment. “Free us so we can identify Dysan as a kidnapper? So we can go to a federal marshal and tell who held us captive? No, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Dysan may get the ransom, but he can’t risk freeing us to tell anyone who took us.” She paused a moment, her eyes locked with Pilar’s. “I think he’ll kill us as soon as he receives the money from my father. He has to keep us alive until then in case my father demands proof that I’m alive.”

Pilar went back to sit on the bed. “So how long do you think we have?”

“My father will move heaven and earth to get however much money Dysan demands and…” She paused a moment since tears were coming to her eyes. Maybe she’d never see her father again, maybe she’d never see anything again except the inside of this room. “He’ll get the money here as fast as horse and rider can travel. If Dysan sent a ransom note south while we were being taken north, I figure we have about two days before the money’s here.”

“Two days?” Pilar gasped then her head came up. “So that means that Tynan could be here tonight.”

“We can’t risk it,” Chris said, putting her hand on Pilar’s. “Do you want to go with me or wait here and hope I make it back with help?”

“I want us both to remain here,” Pilar said, then sighed. “All right, I’ll stay here. Maybe I can hide the fact that you’re gone for a while.”

“If Dysan finds out that I’m gone, tell him that you’re Christiana Mathison, then he’ll want to keep you safe until my father gets the money to him. Now, will you help me get these sheets torn and tied?”

“If I must,” Pilar said and found, to her consternation, that her hands were shaking. “I’ll help if I must.”