Northern Star

Chapter 9

The April wind whistled between the abandoned buildings in a night song of sorrow. Perry's throat constricted, imprisoning a sob.

"You've been a fool," she told herself. "A fool for believing you meant more to him than a dream means after dawn." Why had she allowed herself to believe there was a future? Hadn't her dreams been swept away from her often enough to teach her that fate was as heartless as a stone?

The evening shadows hid her heartbreak as she passed an intersection crowded with celebrating soldiers and vendors plying their trades. Perry saw the people only as obstacles to be maneuvered around, for in her mind she was alone. Always and forever alone! She built on Hunter's words until she'd believed they'd have a future someday. She'd been a naive child to heap her hopes atop a wounded man's dreams. The love he felt*toward her was only the passion he manufactured in a daydream, nothing more. Tonight the last threads of innocence snapped inside Perry and she vowed that rational thought would forever replace childish fantasy. She'd live without passion, both in her dreams and in her life.

The thunder of horses' hooves rumbled behind her. Perry lifted her skirt an inch and hurried toward Molly's place. The steady fall of hooves seemed to pound into her heart the same words, over and over. Hunter loves another. He loves another.

From deep within her came a pride that had always carried her through. She'd lived before she met Hunter and she would survive now. Yet his lies had stung her deeply. He'd whispered to her of loneliness and longing when he'd planned to marry another. He'd held her as though she were as vital to him as his own blood, and she'd believed she belonged to him. But he had held another close as well.

Perry rushed on, paying little attention as a carriage drew nearer. She turned down the side street half a block from Molly's gate. The buildings were large and close to the street, making the road seem like a tunnel through brick. The thundering horses grew louder. The clicking sounds echoed off the buildings like rapid gunfire. She glanced back, suddenly fearing being trampled.

The creak of the carriage door screamed in the darkness. Perry jumped back, pushing herself against the brick as a man bounded out of the speeding coach. He was dressed in black and carried a dark cape.

Perry screamed as he advanced. For a moment her feet seemed unable to move. She pushed harder against the wall, as if a hidden door would suddenly swallow her. The shadowy figure moved toward her with swift, intentional steps. Her sorrow was forgotten as fear climbed her spine. She glanced around the narrow street for help or an escape. Before she could move two steps, the huge cape came around her like the curtain of death and smothered out all light.

"No!" Perry shouted as thin, strong arms grabbed her and lifted her cocooned body into the carriage. She kicked with all her strength, but the thick folds of the cape muffled any damage. Her knife was only a few inches from her grasp, but the arms around her prevented her from reaching it. Wool-thick air robbed her of the breath to scream.

The carriage lunged forward as she was dropped hard on the floor between the seats. With the arms around her removed, Perry fought hard to free herself of the cape. She shoved the material off her face and twisted away from the shadowy figure on the seat as her fingers clawed through her pocket for the knife.

After a moment, which ticked by like an eternity, her hand encircled the ivory handle, pulling it from hiding as she faced her attacker. In the pale light she froze, her sudden bravado evaporating. A gun's long silver barrel pointed directly at her head. The faint smell of gunpowder warned her of the weapon's frequent use. Her eyes narrowed slightly in anticipation of the flash that would signal the end of her life.

A cold, steely voice came from the blackness of the carriage. "Don't make a move, Perry McLain, or you won't live to know why you've been abducted."

Icy terror slid across the back of her neck. The voice could belong to no other. She didn't need to see his face. Captain Wade Williams pointed the weapon. She could feel his evil impregnate the carriage air, as thick as a skunk's scent in a damp cellar.

"What do you want?"

"What do you think a Union officer would want with a Southern traitor like yourself? You burned half the crops in South Carolina. That's a hanging offense."

Perry fought to keep her body from trembling. "The war's over!" She stated the fact, somehow knowing it would make little difference to this man.

"So it is. And a shame, too, since I trailed you all the way here. But, you see, I always win. No one ever gets the better of me in the end. Not even Hunter." Wade lifted his boots to the seat across from him and folded his legs casually at the ankle.

Perry's eyes widened in horror as he lit a thin cheroot with deceptive placidity. The flash of light danced off his scarred eyebrow as he turned cold, iron-hard eyes toward her. His voice was low, and when he spoke, she felt as if a rope was being slowly tightened around her throat. "A former slave of yours traded her freedom for the information about you when I convinced her you were in great danger traveling alone. The moment I learned you were dressed as a boy, I knew that you'd tricked me. I had to come personally and see that you and my cousin pay for your treachery."

"Hunter had nothing to do with my escape."

The carriage picked up speed, but Wade's gun never moved. "How nice of you to say such a thing, but you needn't protect him. He'll be dishonorably discharged for this if I have anything to say, and I'll be named commanding officer over the very land where your and Hunter's grandparents live. He'll be discharged in the North and, should he turn to the South, I'll be waiting for him there."

"But the war is over! You can't just take me back."

Wade's laugh sent a shiver of fear down her spine. His voice was a deep rumble as he leaned forward, blowing smoke in her face with each word. "Oh, I'm not going to take you back to Carolina, my dear. You're going to be shot escaping later tonight. Much later."

She huddled into the corner, praying that somehow the shadows would protect her. The door handle was within her reach, but she knew Wade would easily stop her. The knife in her right hand was useless against his gun, but if he turned his aim away from her head for only a moment, she could lash out. Perry forced her eyes to remain open as he leaned closer. Her gaze fixed on his weapon, waiting for what might be her one chance.

Wade's thin fingers slowly unbuttoned her jacket at the collar. His touch was as repulsive as an insect crawling at her throat. "You're so tiny," he whispered. "I must be careful not to kill you too soon." He ripped open her jacket with a sudden, impassioned jerk, spilling golden buttons on the carriage floor. "I do hope you've a woman's body and not a child's, for I like my Southern whores petite but ripe."

Perry remained still, waiting for her chance. "I'm not your whore."

A thin hand encircled her throat. "You will be," he whispered as his fingers tightened. "When I'm finished with you, traitor, you'll beg for the bullet that awaits you." He slid the barrel of his gun along her temple as his other hand moved along the silk of her blouse, testing the development of her curves.

Forcing herself to remain frozen, Perry clenched the knife at her side and waited. She fought to keep from crying out as he moved the barrel of his weapon slowly down the side of her face and along her throat. He pulled her blouse aside until the cold steel rested between her breasts. Then, as before, his thin fingers slowly began unbuttoning her blouse as he hissed, "You are so still, little one. Could it be you've bedded men many times before-or are you like all Rebs, great talkers but poor fighters?''

Perry didn't answer, even though bile rose in her throat, along with every profanity she'd ever heard.

Wade's hand slithered between her blouse and camisole. "A coward, I think." He straightened and threw the gun behind him. "I won't need that until later."

Perry doubled her knees up in the darkness. As he leaned toward her, she kicked with all her might, knocking him several inches away. The growl that followed sounded more like a rabid dog than a human. As she raised her knife, his hands twisted around her legs with such power that she felt he might snap her bones at any moment. He jerked her forward, sending her knife flying against the seat. His knees slammed into her chest with the force of a cannonball, shoving the air from her lungs and knocking her head back against the carriage floor.

All energy passed from her body as sparks exploded in her brain. The sudden jerk of the carriage barely registered in her mind.

"Captain!" came a shout from outside. "Captain, there's trouble in the streets!"

Perry felt she was drifting in muddy water as Wade raised off her body. "I'll finish with you in a moment." He lifted her arm and jerked it above her, tying her left wrist to the door window. "That should keep you inside if this doesn't." With his final word he slammed his fist into her side, laughing at the sound of her ribs cracking.

A long moment of pain later, Perry realized she was alone in the carriage. Her insides blazed each time she moved her chest to breathe. She wanted to close her eyes and dream of Hunter. She wanted to rest and forget all the pain she now suffered-and all that was to come. But she couldn't. She'd never give up as long as she was still breathing.

Groping in the blackness, she found her knife. With a tight grip on the ivory handle she raised the blade. Using the last bit of strength in her, she slashed at the rope that bound her hand. As the blade passed through the air above her head, missing the rope in her blind swipe, Perry felt the pain of Wade's blow once more in her side. Biting back the fire, she tried again and again.

Suddenly the blade met its mark. The thin rope snapped, freeing her arm. Perry twisted the remaining rope from her wrist as if it were a live snake curling around her flesh. She crawled to the door and opened the latch. As she fell out of the carriage she made no attempt to brace herself. Her only thought was to be free.

Powerful arms broke her fall, pulling her up against a massive chest. She pushed away for a moment before a low, educated voice whispered, "Hold on, Miss Perry, and I'll get you out of here."

Perry held as tightly as a baby possum to its mother. She was aware of Abram mounting a horse and riding. Vaguely she saw a drunken mob fighting in the street, then she closed her eyes and trusted in Abram.

Her mind floated above her pain. She was drifting in a balloon with Hunter at her side. They were safe and happy. His face was a warm, golden tan and his jacket fit snugly over his broad shoulders. His gray eyes looked down with love that could only have been meant for her.

Molly's voice brought Perry back to earth. "My Lord, honey, what happened?"

Abram lowered her to Molly's arms. "I have to make sure I wasn't followed. Can you see to her?"

Molly pulled Perry into the house and began mothering her like a hen with only one chick. "I knew I should have stayed and walked you home. There's all amount of drunken meanness out there this time of night."

Perry allowed herself to be undressed. Molly carefully wrapped her ribs, swearing continuously against whoever might have done such a thing.

An hour later, when they heard a horse, both women reached for a gun from the box of dueling pistols. Perry crossed the floor and looked outside, then turned to Molly. "It's all right. It's only Abram. I'll talk with him."

Molly stood guard as Perry stepped into the dark garden.

"Thank you," she whispered, hugging her side to still the throbbing pain of her injuries.

"Are you all right?"

"I feel as though I've been kicked by a mule, but Molly says I'll heal in a few weeks. How did you find me?"

"I followed Captain Williams out of the hospital, but I couldn't catch the carriage until that bunch of drunken soldiers blocked the street." Abram patted his horse. "I've let you down. I promised to get you to safety, and I almost got you killed."

"It wasn't your fault, but I must get away as soon as of Wade, but she couldn't bear to stay, knowing Hunter was with another woman.

"Can you travel?"

"Yes," she answered, realizing that if she didn't, Wade might find her.

"I'll arrange passage for you on a ship leaving at dawn. After you've left, I'll wire a message to your grandfather that should reach him long before you do. If they can't get to him, Hunter's grandparents will come for you and drive you out to his place."

"I'll be ready before dawn."

Leather creaked as Abram mounted his horse. "I'll send a carriage for you."

She watched his outline disappear into the blackness beyond the garden. He believed her safe tonight, or Abram never would have left; but Perry wondered if her knife and the two guns would be enough in the future.