The Temptress (Montgomery/Taggert 8)

There was a long silence in the room as Dysan stared at Tynan. “I think I have underestimated you. I thought you only went in for whores.”

“I do. I want nothing to do with girls like her. She’s been nothing but trouble so if you have some grudge with me, you can leave her out of it.”

Dysan ran his hand along Chris’s neck. “Shall I test your words? Shall I see how little you care about her?”

“Mathison won’t take kindly to his daughter being mistreated and I don’t think you’re big enough to buck a man like him.”

Dysan seemed to be considering this, but, after a moment, he walked toward the door, his gun aimed at Chris and looked out. Immediately, two men appeared. “Take them to the cellar and lock them in.”

Tynan stood back as he watched Chris being untied, and when she was released, she fell forward. One of the men caught her arm roughly and jerked her upright. Ty still stood where he was as she looked up at him as she was being pulled along.

Without any protest, he followed behind her, in front of a man bearing a rifle.

They were led downstairs into a deep basement. There was a door against one wall and one of the men took a key and opened it, throwing Chris into the dark, dank little room. Tynan entered of his own accord, standing by the door until the men closed and locked it behind them.

Instantly, he was across the room to Chris, groping for her in the darkness. “Chris, Chris,” he whispered repeatedly while running his hands over her body as if he were inspecting her. “Are you hurt?”

Chris clung to him as if she were drowning. “He’s a horrible man,” she gasped, then choked over her tears. “He told me about three women who’d been here. He told me about using a riding crop and—”

“Sssh,” Ty said, holding her, stroking her back. “It’s over now.”

Chris hiccupped. “The woman died. He killed her. He told me in florid detail what he did and how he made the other women watch. The woman bled to death.”

“Chris, stop crying. He won’t do anything to you now.”

“But how could one human do something like that to another? He told me about it and he wasn’t sorry. Why wasn’t he punished?”

“I don’t know, just so long as he didn’t hurt you.”

It took Chris several minutes more to control herself. “What does it matter to you?” she asked, pushing away from him and moving back against the wall. “I’m well enough to get back to my father if that’s what’s worrying you.” She sniffed.

Ty’s hands moved away from her and there was resignation in his voice. “I’ll see if I can find a light.”

She leaned against the wall and listened to him rummaging around the room. Her head ached, there were rope burns on her ankles and wrists and along with Dysan’s hideous stories, her ears were ringing with Tynan’s words that she was nothing to him.

She watched as he struck a match and lit a candle. It was a dreary little room, dirt walls on three sides, the heavy wooden door on the other. There was a crude wooden cabinet against one wall, the door hanging off its leather hinges, exposing a few jars of canned fruit and a couple of half-burned candles on the shelves. Except for a few plants trying to grow out of the walls, the room was bare—and cold.

“Let me look at you,” Tynan said, his voice cool, his face set.

Chris jerked away from his approaching hands. “Don’t touch me. I am perfectly all right,” she said. “You don’t need to concern yourself with me.”

Ty rocked back on his heels. “We’ll get along a lot better if we work together. As long as you fight me, we’ll never get anything done.”

“So you can get me back to my father and you can get your money? Maybe Dysan will let you go free now that you’ve told him who I am. Maybe you two can share the money from my father.”

“Of all the ungrateful—I ought to leave you here.”

“Go ahead. There’s the door.”

Tynan opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, then stood and walked to the door and began looking at it.

“You have on new clothes again,” Chris said after a while.

Tynan didn’t answer her but kept looking at the door.

Chris tried to stand up, using the wall for support. “I guess you got Pilar out safely.”

“If you’d stayed in your room, you’d be out now, too.”