You think Im trash now, dont you?
Her directness rendered him speechless.
I didnt sleep with Tavio, she whispered, frantic for him to believe her.
I dont care!
Okay. I dont know why I bothered to defend myselfto you, of all people.
She hated him for being able to compel her just by sitting across from her. I hate you, she whispered in a low, seething tone. Then she instantly regretted saying anything.
Good. He flashed her a ruthless white grin. I wish to hell youd figured that out before you seduced me and got yourself pregnant! Because nowfor better or worsewere stuck with each other!
You can leave, for all I care! I dont ever want anything from you again, she said.
You want out of here, dont you?
He took her silence to mean yes.
Youre not calling the shots anymore, darlin. I am. Listen, because Im only going to say this once. You have to do exactly what I say. Exactly. Your life and mine depend on it.
Also by ANN MAJOR
THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN SPURS
THE HOT LADIES MURDER CLUB
MARRY A MAN WHO WILL DANCE
WILD ENOUGH FOR WILLA
INSEPARABLE
The Girl with the Golden Gun
Ann Major
www.mirabooks.co.uk
Nobody has time to write!
So many people support me in big and little ways so that I can get a few words down on paper.
Professionally, I want to thank Tara Gavin, Karen Solem, Nancy Berland and all the talented people they work with. I want to thank everybody at MIRA. I want to thank fans, especially those who have taken the time to send me encouraging letters.
Personally, I thank Ted and my mother, who go without things they need too often, so that I can get the work done. My children and grandchildren are wonderful, too. I must also thank all my friends, who understand when I forget to return their phone calls.
I dedicate this book in loving memory to Sondra Stanford.
Smart Cowboy Saying:
When you lose, dont lose the lesson.
From Cowboy Quotes, Sayings and Wisdom
www.Cowboyway.com
Contents
Prologue
Book One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Book Two
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Book Three
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Epilogue
Prologue
Black Oaks Ranch
South Texas
When Im through with you, youll have nothing and be nothin, boy! Mia will finally see what a lowlife you are!
Rain slashed the windshield so hard Shanghai Knight could barely see to drive. He speeded up anyway, slamming his foot down on the gas pedal with such a vengeance his truck weaved recklessly through the slippery mud.
He couldnt get away from the Golden Spurs Ranch fast enough. Damn. He was such an idiot!
As if to knock some sense into himself, he hit his brow with the bottom edge of his fist. Hed give anything if Caesar Kembles taunts would stop repeating themselves inside his head like a broken record.
When he rubbed his right cheek and jaw, he only aggravated the painful bruise that Caesar had caused when he punched him, so Shanghai clamped both hands back on the steering wheel. It galled him to remember what quick work Caesar had made of him in front of Mia.
A few punches in the ribs and a few more below the belt, and all the fight had been knocked clean out of him long before Caesars men had picked him up and shoved him down the ranch house steps into the mud.
Every time he thought about Caesar standing over him in his dining room with his fists raised and that nasty grin on his face, Shanghai wanted to wheel around and go back. Looking prettier than a picture, Mia had knelt beside Shanghai stroking his face. How hed hated her, of all people, for being a witness to his humiliation.
The wealthy Kembles despised the lowly Knights, and the Knights held an ancient grudge against the Kembles for stealing their ranch. Shanghai and Mia never should have become involved with each other.
They wouldnt have if Caesar hadnt damn near backed over her at Old Man Pimbleys gas station when shed been two. Shanghai had been twelve at the time and sneaking a smoke out back. At the risk of his own neck, not that hed ever been one to mind that much, hed thrown his smoke down and run screaming toward the truck. Not that Caesar had noticed. When hed kept on backing, Shanghai had dived behind the truck and thrown her to safety. One of the big back tires had broken his leg.
When his cigarette butt had started a grass fire out back, Caesar and Old Man Pimbley had cussed him out for his trouble although Caesar had relented and paid to get his leg set. But the local gossips had made Shanghai into something of a hero, which had truly galled Caesar.
As Mia grew up shed heard the story, and like the gossips, seen him as a hero, too. Thus, shed developed a bad habit of following him around, her whiskey-colored eyes sparkling with adoration. Hed liked somebody admiring him, especially since it had rankled Caesar so much, until hed started chasing girls his own age. Then her habit had gotten annoying since she was always watching him at the damnedest times.
Once when hed been dating two girls at the same time, shed called them both and told each one about the other. Mia knew how to make trouble, all right.
What did she think of him now?
Hell, why should he care?
Not many people admired the Knights much anymore. The Kembles were everything in Spur Countymainly cause theyd stolen from the Knights. Shanghai had grown up poor while Mia had been a princess from birth. If he worked for the rest of his life hed never be able to earn a fraction of her wealth.
Everything about tonight was pure, raw hell. The weather was wild and wet, the road bad and Shanghai was breathing hard and driving way too fast. Hed made a fool out of himself, and tomorrow after Mia and Caesar got through bragging to all their friends, everybody in three counties would know.
If he had a fault, it was pride. He didnt like feeling like he was nothing. He realized now that it was too late, that maybe he shouldnt have gone alone to Caesar Kemble for a showdown on Kembles vast Golden Spurs spread.
Suddenly up ahead Shanghai saw the dark, familiar outline of the small, hunting cabin where hed spent many a night when his daddy was drunk or just plain too mean to live with. Shanghai stomped on the brakes, causing the big old truck to skid on its bald tires. It hurtled through the mud and rain at a frightening speed and slammed into the bottom step that led up to the porch.
Wood splintered. Cursing silently, he cut the engine. He didnt know what to do.
If he went home, his daddy might be drunk. If his old man saw his face, hed figure out what had happened. Whether Shanghai confessed or not, his daddy would most likely start a fight. Caesar was going to do what he was going do.
He grabbed the steering wheel and laid his dark brow on it, remembering how filled with pride hed been when hed boldly slapped those documents that proved his ancestors had as much right as Caesars to the Golden Spurs Ranch onto Caesar Kembles massive dining-room table in front of Caesar and his foreman, Kinky. Hed eyed the men cockily, feeling full of himself. Rubbing his brow, Kinky had frowned.
Caesar hadnt even bothered to read a single page. Hed said simply, This dont mean nothin! Hell, youre nothin, kid. Then hed punched him in the jaw and knocked him out cold.
A girls screams had startled him back to consciousness. Hed been sprawled flat on his back under the table when hed felt little bits of shredded papers raining down on him and the tenderness of soft cool fingers brushing his face.
Hed said, Ouch!
Then shed been yanked away by her father.
Mia! Ill tan you, too, if you dont get back upstairs with Lizzy where you belong! Caesar had yelled at her.
Youd better not kill him! shed whispered fiercely, crossing her arms over her chest.
I dont need your help, little girl. Ill be just fine! Shanghai had muttered, feeling shamed by her tenderness but most of all by the fact that shed seen his sorry ass sprawled on her floor.
Fine? Thats why youre lying there flat on your backside all busted up?
Her words had hit a nerve. He prided himself on being tough.
Hed stared at her through slitted lashes, pretending to ignore her cause Mia hated being ignored more than she hated anything. Even so, he saw the redheaded teenager place her hands on her hips as she hovered over him like a guardian angel. Tonight shed worn skintight jeans, a T-shirt and red boots. When shed sprinted back up the stairs, hed noticed that she filled out her jeans and T-shirt with a womans shape now.
She was too young to look so grown-up. Mia had exasperated and charmed him for years by chasing him anytime she got the chance. He would have felt easier with the bean-pole shape, freckle-faced kid that she used to be.
Mia had made a habit of disappearing from the Golden Spurs Ranch for long stretches and wandering about the county on horseback. Anytime shed gotten hurt, shed come crying to Shanghai. Anytime shed made a good grade or had won a prize at school, shed had to tell him first even if it meant riding over to Black Oaks.
Once when her daddy had told her he was going to shoot a torn-up mongrel sheepdog shed found bleeding to death on the highway, shed carted the pup to Shanghai in her red wagon.
Hed told her her daddy was right for once, and it would be a kindness to shoot him. But when shed left the mutt and her wagon, the beast had given him a baleful stare. Shanghai had taken the dog to the vet and nursed it back to health. He still remembered how her eyes had shone, when shed come back for her wagon a month later and had seen the black-and-white mutt napping on his front porch.
Dont you dare tell anybody I saved him, hed warned her. Theyd think I was plum crazy.
Cross my heart. Shed hesitated. What do you call him?
Dog.
Shed knelt and petted the animal. Can I name him?
Whats wrong with Dog?
IId call him Spot.
Thats as bad as Dog.
Not quite, is it, Spot?
Spot had wagged his tail fit to be tied, and it was Spot from then on.
Shanghai put the memories of her childhood aside. She was a Kemble and all grown-up now.
No sooner had her door slammed upstairs tonight than Caesar had resumed tearing up the documents. Then hed started pounding the table. Shanghai had found himself staring up at the underside of the table where the name, Mia, was scrawled dozens of times in bright red crayon alongside Lizzys name, and hed imagined Mia a cute kid with red pigtails under the table up to mischief with her sister.
Then Caesar had distracted him by raking the last of the ruined documents hed brought onto the floor beside Shanghai and shouting they were garbage just like he was.
Get out, you lowdown, lying thief. You arent a damn bit better than your daddy. And we all know what he isa lousy, no-good drunk. But at least he knows that he lives under my protection, which is more than I can say for you. You think youre somethin! Well, youre nothin! When I tell him what you tried to do tonight in my house, in front of my little girlyoull be lucky if he ever lets you set foot in his place again. He owes me. And so do you. So does this whole damn community. You Knights dont have any friends around here unless I allow it. Dont you ever forget it. Without meyoure nothin, boy. Nothin!
Suddenly Caesars red face had changed. Youve given me an idea, boy. A helluvan idea. A real winner. I know how Ill get rid of all you Knights, once and for all. Hed gone to a small cabinet, opened a drawer and pulled out a couple of fresh decks of cards. Ill hunt up that daddy of yours, and well have us a friendly, little game of poker. Thats what well do. Well have a few drinks. Then Ill tell him what you did here tonight.