Savage Land Read online

  A hand grabbed hold of her arm; another caught her under the opposite shoulder and she was on top! A faint laugh escaped between her gasps for breath as Coley took a muddy hand to wipe the hair out of her face. ‘Danny-made it. He's already here,’ her thoughts cried.

  'Oh, Danny!’ she sobbed aloud, just as a silver-gold tongue of lightning licked a nearby hill. The words froze in her throat. Standing before her was a tall, dark form with a cape billowing sinisterly about him, a hat pulled low on his face, but not so low that Coley couldn't see the short stubble of a dark beard and the haunting hollows of his eyes during that brief flash. Behind him loomed a shiny black horse, his head tossing and his hooves pawing viciously at the ground.

  Recovering her wits, Coley managed to stammer, ‘My br-brother went ... our car...'

  'I saw it,’ was the abrupt reply. His voice was deep and sharp.

  Coley watched in petrified silence as the stranger swung into the saddle. Was he going to leave her? Nudging the prancing horse over beside her, he lowered a shiny-coated arm to her. Frightened, she started to step back.

  'Come on!’ Impatience growled through his words. ‘We can't stay in the rain all night.'

  He didn't really expect her to get on that horse, she thought. She'd never been on a horse in her life! But common sense had moved her hand into his and she was effortlessly swung up in front of him.

  'W-where are we going?’ stuttered Coley as he tucked the front of his rain slicker, that she had thought a cape, around her to afford her as much protection as was possible from the downpour.

  'There's an old lineshack on the other side of the hill,’ he replied, an arm holding her slight, boyish figure closely to him. He nudged his horse into a walk and despite the strength of his arm, Coley felt her perch, so high off the ground, rather precarious especially with the rolling motion of the horse's shoulders.

  The warmth of the stranger's body slowly seeped into her, though she shivered helplessly in her wet dress. His broad shoulders dwarfed her with their immensity and her rain-soaked brown hair felt the occasional brush of hair from his unshaven chin. Coley's heart pounded wildly at the closeness of the forbidding stranger, compounded by the violent storm that turned the most innocent objects into sinister shapes. The splintering crashes of lightning, the death drums of the thunder and the rhythmic slush-slushing of the horse's hooves were the only sounds to accompany the rainfall.

  'What—what are you doing out here?’ Coley finally asked, almost suffocated by the quietness of her rescuer.

  'Looking for dumb animals.’ His reply was sarcastic and sharp.

  A spark of indignation flamed briefly in Coley before she asserted, ‘My brother went to get help. He'll be back soon with someone to help him pull the car out and get it started.'

  'Not in this weather he won't,’ his voice growled just above her ear. ‘Besides, I saw your car floating away just before I saw you. The water's too high now for any kind of travelling, so wherever your brother went, he's stranded for the night the same as we are.'

  Through the gruffness and censure of his voice, Coley recognized an educated tone and considered her companion in a new light. She started to speak again, but stopped when the looming outline of a building appeared before them. Halting his mount in front of the gloomy shack, the man lowered Coley to the ground before he dismounted to nestle her under the crook of his arm, his slicker an umbrella over her head. He half carried her beneath the overhang where he stopped and put a shoulder to the swollen door. Grudgingly it opened, yawning its blackness in their face. Hesitantly, Coley followed the impatient beckoning of his hand into the void. Her bright, wondering eyes peered uselessly around as she clutched her arms tightly about her while the stranger walked directly to his left where the scrape of a match gave birth to a light. It flickered dimly for a moment inside the chimney of a lantern before spreading its cheerful rays to all but the darkest corners of the room. Coley watched numbly as the lantern was carried over to rest near the centre of the room. Without wasting motion, the stranger knelt before the fireplace and after the first crackle of flame devouring paper, began adding wood from a nearby box. As soon as it was sufficiently started not to require his attention, he turned to a makeshift bed near the fire, pulled off a blanket and tossed it to the girl shivering before him.

  'Get those wet things off and wrap yourself in this,’ he ordered before walking to the door.

  'Where are you going?’ Coley gasped, detaining his arm with her hand.

  The searching probes of light sifted through the shadows on his face revealing the previously hidden features. Her eyes widened as she saw the jagged scar across his left cheek. Startled, her gaze flew to his eyes to find that the dark shadows of the storm had hidden two piercing blue diamonds now gleaming down on her with their coldness. In a trance she noted his nostrils swell in anger before the grim mouth opened to reply to her question. She swiftly withdrew her hand from his arm, knowing her expression must mirror her surprise and horror.

  'I'm going to take care of the horse,’ he snapped.

  'I'm sorry,’ Coley murmured, ashamed of her unspeakable cruelty when she let him see her shock at his disfigurement, but the door had already slammed shut.

  Glumly Coley turned back towards the fire, idly twiddling with the blanket. That was a rotten way to pay him back for helping, even if it was unintentional. If what he said was true and Danny hadn't been able to get back, she would have spent a very miserable night out in that storm. Now there was the warmth of a fire and a roof overhead, such as it was. With a shudder Coley glanced ground the dismal room.

  She slipped off her wet sandals and placed them by the hearth to dry. The zipper of her flowered dress refused to budge and only after she had contorted her long arms into several ungainly positions was she able to unzip it and fight herself out of the clinging wet garment. Carefully she placed it on the back of a chair near the fire. Now that the car was gone it was all the clothing she had. The remnants of her shredded hose she peeled off rather sadly, using the more substantial portions to wipe the mud from her slender legs before tossing the ruined nylons into the fire. Shivering with the cold, Coley gathered the blanket around her and moved closer to the fire's heat. Little rivulets of water trickled from the curling strands of her hair on to her angular face where she impatiently brushed them away.

  A crash of lightning accompanied the opening of the door as the tall stranger stomped in. He removed his hat with an impatient movement of his hand before shaking free of the slicker. Timidly, Coley watched him hang them on a hook inside the door. His hair was black and straight, the sides and back were long and plastered against his neck by the rain. In a stifling silence he walked to the hearth, unbuttoned the top of his shirt before pulling it over his head. The naked expanse hypnotized Coley as she stared at the bronze back tapering from wide shoulders to a narrow waist. When he turned his chest with its cloud of dark hair towards her, she gulped and clutched the blanket a little tighter. But his eyes flicked over her to the chair where her forlorn flowered dress lay. Immediately two circles of blue fire leaped back to her.

  'I told you to take your clothes off, and I meant all of them!’

  Coley managed a stiff, negative shake of her head while her body attempted to shrink inside the blanket. Her eyes widened in fear as he took a step towards her. Her gaze was riveted to the scar on his face, its white jagged line resembling a lightning bolt across several days’ growth of dark stubble. He stopped. His mouth was drawn into a grim line and his teeth clenched tightly, flexing the muscles in his lower jaw.

  'I've seen female undergarments before, if that's what's worrying you,’ he murmured, his voice soft and almost gentle, but the diamond-like quality in his eyes revealed the hidden hardness of his tone. His upper lip curled slightly as he added, ‘And if it's the other thing that's worrying you, I prefer my women more amply endowed. I leave children alone.'

  He didn't seem to expect a reply from Coley as he walked to the far side of the ro
om, taking the lantern with him. She watched him hang it on a hook near a makeshift cupboard.

  'I'll see if I can find us something to eat while you finish undressing,’ he said, and turned his head to look at her. ‘You are hungry?'

  Coley nodded hesitantly up and down, never taking her eyes off the stranger. He continued to stare at her across the room before remarking very quietly, ‘I won't watch.'

  With that he turned back to the cupboards and began opening doors. Coley studied his back for a moment before standing. She glanced around her for a moment seeking some place to change, out of sight if possible. Finally she manoeuvred the chair her dress was on over to the bed. There she used the blanket to make a screen behind which she could undress. The sounds of water being pumped from a hydrant assured her that her companion was occupied and that she was in comparative privacy. With as little wasted motion as possible she pulled the slip over her head, letting it drop to the floor while she worked at the hooks on her bra. Finished, she searched for an inconspicuous place to dry them before putting them on the open chair with a sigh. Shivering now from her nakedness and the cold, she hurriedly wrapped the blanket around her.

  'There's some hot tea here whenever you're ready,’ the man offered.

  Coley shuffled across the room, aware that two spots of red were staining her cheeks.

  'I'll have some, thank you,’ she stated, coming to a halt a few feet from the stove.

  He looked down over his shoulder at her bare feet before raising his gaze to her button nose and hazel eyes. His eyes were like a mirror, showing noting of their owner's emotions, but reflecting the looker's attempt to hide her embarrassment.

  'I'm nineteen,’ Coley declared, sensing a need to defend her status of womanhood.

  'Really?’ he nodded turning to pour the strong, black tea into a metal cup. ‘The food will be ready shortly.’

  'Can I help with anything?’ Coley asked, stung by his off-hand manner at her previous statement. When an eyebrow raised over a blue eye, she added, ‘I can cook.’

  'With that blanket as a handicap, you'd be more of a hindrance than a help.’ The sharp tone dismissed her offer.

  Slightly hurt by the unqualified rejection even though the reason was accurate, Coley shuffled over to the table and sat in one of the chairs where she sipped her tea in silence. A few minutes later a brown hand placed a plate heaped with beans, fried Spam and whole tomatoes before her. Coley issued a polite thank you without looking at her companion before picking up her fork to eat.

  'It's not exactly gourmet food, but it's hot,’ was the reply as the man sat down in the chair to her left.

  It was a struggle eating with one hand holding the blanket around her while the other attempted to get the food to her mouth without the blanket slipping. It was a slow process that her rescuer seemed ignorant of, his attention never leaving his plate. Finally, covering a white shoulder for the fifteenth time, Coley probed the plate away, her hunger abated and her discomfort growing.

  He glanced up at the scrape of the plate. ‘More tea?'

  Coley shook her head negatively. She watched silently as he cleaned his plate and rose to pour some tea for himself.

  'Is there a ranch house near here that my brother could have reached?’ Coley asked, watching the muscles of his bare arm as he stirred sugar in his cup.

  'The Simpson place is about three miles from the crossing. I'm sure he made it to there.’ His glance at her was inquisitive with a slight hint of arrogance about it. ‘Just where were you going?'

  'To stay with our aunt,’ Coley answered, adding in a smaller voice, as she lowered her gaze to a crack in the wooden table, ‘Danny said she doesn't live very far from here—on a ranch.'

  'What's the name of the ranch or your aunt? I might know her.’ He sat his metal cup on the table and mined his compelling eyes to her.

  Nervous under the demanding gaze, Coley stammered, ‘Her-her n-name is Wilhelmina Gr-Granger and she lives at the Slash S.’ Tension filled the air as the stranger's eyes narrowed at her words. ‘Is that far from here?'

  'She is expecting you?’ he asked as if he knew the reply would be negative.

  'She invited us,’ Coley skirted his question as best she could without lying. ‘Do you know her?'

  'Yes.’ He pushed his chair from the table and stood up. ‘You must be getting cold. Go over by the fire and I'll wash up.'

  'Does she live nearby?’ Coley persisted, not wanting the conversation to end now that she had found someone who knew her aunt.

  'Yes. You're on the Slash S ranch now.'

  'You work for her.’ A degree of relief was in her voice.

  'No, her brother-in-law, Ben, owns the ranch. You might say I work for him.’ His words emerged slowly and concisely through tightly compressed lips. His calculating gaze seemed to be daring her to ask any more.

  Coley sat quietly huddling in her chair while she solemnly watched him as he gathered the dishes. She started to shiver again, but whether it was from the cold or the oppressive atmosphere that had suddenly engulfed her, she couldn't tell. Silently she rose from her chair and shuffled morosely to the fireplace on the other side of the room. She stared into the flickering flames trying to shake the feeling that she and Danny had jumped from one unpleasant situation into another. Had it been the reticence of the stranger or the bitterness and suppressed anger in his voice that had made her feel this way? Or was it her imagination running away with her because of the thunderstorm outside and the vicious scar on his cheek? If only Danny were here!

  A movement behind her roused Coley out of her contemplation. She turned to see her companion remove the mattress from the bed. She studied his rough-hewn features, wondering again at the apprehension that was growing inside of her at the prospect of meeting her aunt.

  'It will be warmer for you sleeping in front of the fire tonight,’ the man said, placing the flimsy mattress behind her.

  'Where will you sleep?’ Coley asked, submissively lowering herself to her makeshift bed to sit cross-legged on it.

  'In a chair,’ he replied, poking the fire and adding another log to it. ‘I've slept in more uncomfortable places.'

  'Do you know my aunt very well?’ Coley blurted out, the tension building inside her at her unknown destination and its occupants. ‘We've never met her before and I was wondering what she was like.'

  'Sometimes it's wise to find out for yourself. Other people's opinions are not always right,’ he answered cryptically.

  'But—’ Coley began.

  'I suppose I should at least know the name of the girl I'm spending the night with,’ he commented, but without a teasing smile on his face.

  Coley blushed furiously.

  'Colleen McGuire, but Danny calls me Coley,’ she replied. Gathering courage, she continued, ‘I'm sorry about the way I looked when I saw your scar. You see,’ she hurried as his taciturn expression stiffened, ‘I was already frightened by the thunder and lightning when you found me. And you seemed so angry that I was a little scared of you, too. I guess seeing the scar just took me by surprise.’ His face had become a mask, with blank blue eyes. ‘It really doesn't look that bad, sort of like a dueller's scar, a badge of courage,’ Coley suggested, trying desperately to undo the damage she was doing by bringing the subject up. But the cynical smile that appeared confirmed her failure. Hanging her head, she stared down at her hands. ‘I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything.'

  'It's all right, Coley.’ He hesitated over her name. ‘Your comparison is quite different from the Biblical one that I usually hear.'

  'The mark of Cain,’ Coley whispered hoarsely, wishing she could take back the words the minute she had uttered them.

  He stared at her quietly before rising from his chair to extinguish the lantern. In the semi-darkness the flames from the fireplace danced eerily on his face, accenting his brooding look.

  'You mean your brother...’ Coley began, the chill of his words creeping up her back.

  'We'd batter ge
t some sleep. We've done too much talking already.’ His voice was bland and unrevealing.

  Confused and uneasy, Coley stretched out on the mattress, cradling her head on one arm as she stared into the fire. Raising her head, she looked up at the man in the chair, his head resting against the back and his eyes closed. Sensing her gaze, he opened his eyes and looked down at her.

  'What's the matter?’ he asked, not changing his position.

  'I don't know your name,’ Coley answered, an apprehensive but subdued expression on her face.

  'Jason.’ He added with the barest ghost of a smile, ‘My friends call me, Jase. Good night, Coley.'

  'Good night, Jase.'

  Chapter Two

  THE horse lifted his feet high as he picked his way down the slope. Coley swayed with the gentle rocking motion, her slender body in unison with the man in the saddle. The horse's coat, that had glistened so blackly in last night's rain, now gleamed blood-red in the morning sunlight. On the road below them was a car with two figures watching their approach. Coley recognized one as her brother and presumed that the other was the rancher whose help Danny had sought.

  Although Coley was relieved at the sight of her brother, she couldn't summon much gladness. The apprehension she had felt last night had not eased with the morning light. Her scarred companion Jason had been even less communicative this morning than he had last night, nodding only a hello when he had entered the cabin to find her dressed and drinking the tea he had left for her. He had informed her that the horse was saddled and he was ready to take her to her brother. And that had been the sum total of the conversation for the last fifteen minutes.

  There had been so many questions Coley, had wanted to ask him, about her aunt, the ranch and everything. But the tight lips and calloused features very clearly dosed the door on any conversation. Very soon now she would be finding all the answers herself, but the chill shuddering through her told her she wasn't going to like them.