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WOULD SAM’S SWEET WORDS be the last she ever heard? Celine huddled in his protective embrace in the blackest night. Coughing, she brushed the dust and dirt from her face, then shook her head. “Sam? Are you all right?” she asked, fearful he wouldn’t respond. His body moved ever so slightly. His shoulders twitched as if he were trying to eke out more room. “Sam?”
A low groan emitted from him, a cough, then his breathless reply: “Yeah.”
“We’re still alive,” she said, difficult to believe as it was.
“Barely.” He gave a cough. “If you consider we’re buried alive under tons of rock.” “There must be some air, or we wouldn’t be talking. Are you hurt?”
“Something’s poking my back. Can’t feel my legs. Ribs hurtin’ like hell. You?”
“Other than being smothered, I’m all right, but...” Tentatively, she reached upward with her foot and discovered a large flat slab had fallen diagonally across them and created an area free of debris, forming an air pocket of sorts. They lay facing each other, but with Sam off to the side a bit.
“Posse’s up on top of the ridge. They’ll be along.”
She nodded, deciding to save her air for more important things like breathing. He cleared his throat. “I meant what I said...before.”
“I love you too, Sam. Never stopped.” How wonderful it was to finally share her feelings. Now that it was too late.
“Why’n the hell did you run off? Better tell me now. May be the last chance you have.”
“Oh, Sam... I’ve always regretted what I did and the way I did it.”
“Sorry don’t mean shit. I want the truth—all of it. I don’t care how bad it is. Was there another man?”
“No. At least, not the way you mean.” She struggled to find the words, the words that would make him understand her headlong rush to run away. “I was being blackmailed. It took most of your savings to pay him off. I kept the rest for a new start.”
“What’d he have on you? What had you done?”
“Nothing, not really. I just didn’t want people—anyone—you—to know I grew up in a New Orleans brothel.”
“So you were a whore? That’s what you were hiding from me?”
“No! I wasn't a whore. But I knew that was what everyone would think, you included. My mother was the madam. She kept me at school and away from the business most of the time, but I was home during the summer. That's when I saw one of the girls have her baby. That's how I knew what to do with Star.”
“I wondered about that.”
“Sam, I couldn't have people think your wife was a common whore. That's what Thibodaux, who was one of my mother's best customers, was going to tell folks unless I became his mistress. It would've ruined you as a lawman.”
“Like you running off didn't. I had to leave the Rangers. I was lucky to get this job as a deputy marshal.”
“Oh honey, I'm sorry. I missed you so much, but I had to run. Even though I knew you'd hunt me down.”
“I quit looking after they said you died. That fire—did you set it?”
“No! How could you ask such a thing? To my discredit, though, I took advantage of it. I knew if you thought I was dead, you'd quit looking. Anyway, I've set aside almost enough money to pay you back.”
“It wasn't the damn money-well, maybe it was a little. You can't imagine how your disappearance hit me. At first, I thought someone had taken you—some outlaw I'd put behind bars. Then I discovered you'd emptied my bank account. I would've strangled you on the spot if I could've gotten ahold of you right then.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! But, honey, you took so much more. Dreams for a family-the future I thought we’d have—suddenly it was all gone.”
“I'm so sorry,” she said, her throat catching. “I shared those same dreams.”
***
ONCE THE POSSE MADE it down to the valley floor, Cord sent two men to chase after O'Reilly. “Rest of you, we've got to dig 'em out.” With determination, he gazed at the cave opening filled with rock.
“Don't even know if they're alive,” said one posse member, Grigsby, a rancher, apparently ready to turn his horse and head home.
“We've gotta try,” Cord pleaded. “Miss Nelson saved my wife's life when there was no one else to deliver our son. And Sam Dunaway is a US deputy marshal. As a fellow lawman, I can't give up on him. I hope you won't either.”
“Ain't no way they coulda lived through that cave-in. My ranch needs tendin' to.” Gathering the reins, Grigsby swung his horse around.
“No! You've been deputized as a member of this posse, and you're not leaving until I say so. I say we form a chain and start diggin'.”
The reluctant rancher muttered low, and Cord couldn't quite hear the words. No need. He could pretty much figure out the man's feelings. As long as he obeyed orders, the man could grumble all he wanted.
“Could take days,” Luis said. “We'll need reinforcements if they're not close to the opening.”
“We'll see how it goes. Unless they found an air pocket, they'll run out of air soon.”
“If they survived the initial explosion.”
“Yeah.” Cord dismounted, then swept his hat off and mopped his forehead with his neckerchief. “Time's a-wasting.”
***
“HELL OF A SITUATION.” Sam could only move his shoulders a couple of inches either way. His legs were held fast by a heavy boulder. Yet Celine's soft breasts pressed against his chest, causing his cock to ache for release. Hell of a time to get a hard-on.
Celine let out a snort. “Leave it to you to get aroused when we're within minutes of death.”
“Glad you find it amusing.”
“I'm not amused. I'm scared half to death we're going to die, but having your Johnson poking my belly surely gives me some fond memories.”
“Nice to know, but we probably shouldn't try to talk so damned much.”
He felt her head nod into his shoulder. He shifted, trying to give her more breathing space. “We have a slight chance,” he said. “We're pretty close to the mouth of the cave.”
In response, her lower body rubbed against his cock. “Stop it,” he said. “This ain't the time nor place.”
“I can't help it. I need some room. I'm going to smother.”
“At this point, I’d smack some sense into you if l could move. As it is, we need to make some noise so they'll know we're alive.”
He tried to reach for his gun, but his hand was pinned. Damn. “Can you get the gun from my holster?”
“You're going to fire it? You think that's wise?”
“Hell, no. I'm gonna use it to bang on this dad-blamed stone coffin-just to let ’em know we're still breathing.”
“You really think they can hear us through all this rock?”
“Countin' on it.”
“But what if they can't?”
“Then we'll die here—with you right where you belong...in my arms.”
Sam eased the gun from Celine's hand. “Careful. Don’t shoot me.” He took the revolver by the butt and managed to open the cylinder and dump the bullets into his other palm. “Hold on to these.” He closed the Colt, gripped it by the barrel and struck the large boulder pinning them inside.
Over and over he repeated the blows. He winced, as the sounds were deafening. Hell, deafness was better than suffocating any old day.
***
CORD AND THE REMAINING posse formed a line to dig out the mouth of the cave. At first the loose debris was cleared away quickly. After about an hour's work, they ran into the large boulders sealing the cave shut.
“We're not prepared for this kind of job,” Cord said, shaking his head in disgust. He instructed the reluctant rancher to return to town. “We need every able-bodied man and boy. Tell ’em to bring picks, shovels—anything we can dig with.”
The rancher shook his head. “Don't know as this is anythin' but a wild-goose chase. Those folks are dead. It's too bad. Miss Nelson just made my wife a new dress, but that's life.”
“Just do as you're told. If you don't want to come back...suit yourself. But I'm not giving up on these two. Now go on and git!”
Fists clenched at his sides, the rancher swelled up as if he wanted to fight but then thought better of it. He mounted his horse and headed up the trail to the ridge.
“Hold on.” At the head of the line, Luis held up a hand for quiet. “I think I hear something.” He leaned against the rock. “Feel it too. There's a vibration that wasn't there before. They're alive.”
Cord let out a chuckle. “Damned if you don't have the eyes and ears of a redskin. If we didn't have the same ma and pa, I’d swear you're part Comanche.” Cord shook his head, then yelled after the departing rancher, “Hear that, Grigsby? They're alive!”
***
CELINE TRIED TO TAKE a deep breath, but breathing was becoming more and more difficult. Even though she could hear faint sounds of the posse's rescue efforts, she doubted rescue would come in time. “Sam...”
“Save your breath.”
“I have to say this. I love you. I've always loved you.”
“Hell, Celine. You're giving up. I'm not.” He banged the gun butt against the wall of their stifling cave.
“At least we're not alone.”
“Now you're just plain maudlin.”
Maudlin she might be, but she had to try. “Sam...” She dragged in another breath. “Will you forgive me for what I did? I need to hear you say it...just once.”
“I'll say it when we're freed. Not until.”
“But...” She needed to know he'd forgiven her, but he wasn't going to give her that little bit of comfort, was he? “How long do you think it's been?”
“Dunno.”
She moved about as best she could. If only she could get comfortable and sleep. Then when she woke, they'd either be rescued or dead, in which case, she wouldn't wake up at all. At that gloomy thought, a tremor shuddered its way through her body.
“Gonna be all right. You'll see.”
Somehow Sam's words lacked the same ring of conviction they'd had a little while ago. He struck his gun against the stone slab over their heads. Even the vigor of his blow seemed diminished. Truly, they were going to die in this hell-hole of a limestone prison.
Damn O'Reilly and his dynamite! Just when she had a glimmer of hope that she'd have another chance at a life with Sam. Whether he truly forgave her or not, she was still his wife.
In the utter blackness of the cave, Sam touched her cheek gently. “Wish I could see your face,” he said a little breathlessly.
“Glad you can't. I probably look a sight all covered in dust.” She gave a little cough. If she had to die now, and it was looking very likely at the moment, then at least she was with her husband.
She settled once more in the only moderately comfortable position, her head resting on his shoulder. “Am I too heavy?” she asked.
“Arm's gone way past numb. You're fine.”
“Sorry.” Because she could hear a vein of amusement in his tone, a smile tugged at her mouth as she drifted, remembering better times.
That day they'd met, years ago, he’d been so handsome, riding up with his guns blazing.
The stagecoach she'd taken to come west had just been robbed by some of the Tyler gang, as it turned out. Rescue came in the form of one tall Texas Ranger. After Sam chased away one of the road agents and captured the second, he escorted the stage safely to the nearest town. She'd been attracted to his rugged good looks immediately, and he to hers. After a whirlwind courtship, they'd married. That first year of marriage, she relished the everyday normality of their life together. Cooking Sam's meals. Planning a family. And making love had been a revelation. Her married life was completely different from the life she'd known in the bordello where she'd grown up, but his duties with the Rangers had taken him away so often. And sometimes for so long.
His absence had left her vulnerable to Thibodaux's threats.
