“The hell we don’t,” Dominic growled. “Silver, I believe I’m going to scalp you. Get the hell back to the hotel and-” He broke off. He shook his head to clear it of the brandy fumes that were misting his thinking. “Elspeth? What’s the devil’s wrong with Elspeth?”

Silver nodded as she quickly gathered Dominic’s clothing from the floor and tossed them to him. “You have to stop the hanging. Elspeth is very worried about the man.”

“What hanging?” Dominic began to dress automatically.

“I told you about the hanging.” Rina stood up and reached for the yellow satin robe edged with sealskin that was draped over the bedpost. “The horse thief.” She slipped the robe on and turned to face Silver, gazing at her icily. “I don’t like to be interrupted, Indian.”

Silver glared back. “I robbed you of nothing you cannot replace. Find another man to pleasure you. I have need of Dominic.” She bent, picked up one of Dominic’s boots, and threw it to the carpet at his feet. She turned away. “Find his other boot while I get his gunbelt.”

Rina hesitated and then a grudging smile touched her lips. She turned away and began looking for the missing boot.

“For God’s sake, what has Elspeth to do with a horse thief?” Dominic jammed his foot into the boot while he finished buttoning his shirt.

“She says she knows the Russian and the hanging is a mistake.”

“Russian?” He knew of only one Russian in Hell’s Bluff. Andre Marzonoff. He knew very little about the man other than that he was a godawful poker player, but he vaguely recalled hearing he had arrived in Hell’s Bluff on the same stage as Elspeth. “Andre Marzonoff is the horse thief?”

Silver nodded as she handed him his gunbelt. “And I think if you do not stop the hanging, Elspeth will try to do it herself.”

“Christ.” He buckled his gunbelt on with swift hands. Knowing Elspeth, he had no doubt she would try to stop it. “Why the devil did you leave her alone?”

“If you had not been here, I would not have had to leave her alone,” Silver said with sudden ferocity. “Why did you not return when you knew there was to be a hanging? Even if Elspeth did not know the man, it would not have been good for her to see this happen.”

“I forgot the hanging tree could be seen from the hotel. I guess I didn’t think-”

“You thought of nothing but liquor and fornicating,” Silver said coldly.

She was right, Dominic thought wearily. If he hadn’t been desperately seeking to erase the tormenting need for Elspeth from his mind and body, he would have been aware of how the hanging would affect her.

“Your boot.” Rina offered him the second boot she had found behind the chair. She cast a half-mocking glance at Silver. “Anything else, Indian?”

Silver nodded curtly. “He will need a horse. We will not get there in time on foot.”

Rina moved swiftly and gracefully toward the door. “I’ll have Li Tong saddle my mare.” The door closed behind her.

Dominic pulled on his other boot. “How much time do we have?”

“It depends on how eager they are to hang him.” Silver’s lips tightened. “But Elspeth will not wait long.”

Dominic felt a cold finger of panic touch his spine and he went quickly to the door. “Let’s go!” He ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out on the porch. Li Tong had just finished drawing the cinches of the saddle on the mare tied to the hitching rail in the street. Dominic hit the saddle with one spring and pulled Silver up behind him.

Rina stood by the hitching rail, a derisive smile on her lips. “Take care of my mare, Indian. If you don’t bring her back, I’ll take the price out of your hide.” Her gaze ran over Silver in sudden speculation. “Which might not be a bad idea. I don’t have any Indian women at my house. Interested?”

“No, she’s not,” Dominic said shortly. His heels prodded the mare into a run.

Silver’s arms tightened around his waist, her cheek pressed against his shoulder blade. The mare was fast, her gait smooth and even, but would she be fast enough? she wondered. No more than fifteen minutes had gone by since she had left Elspeth and perhaps… A sudden roar of voices disturbed the stillness, and Silver’s hopes plummeted.

A piercing scream shattered the darkness ahead.

Dominic’s body tensed, his spine became rigid. “Elspeth,” he whispered. How many times had he heard her scream just that way in the night when she was attacked by those terrifying nightmares? Now it wasn’t dreams but reality that was threatening her and he might be too late to drive it away.

He turned the corner and saw the hanging tree directly in front of him at the end of the street. He heard a second shout go up and felt a cold sickness knot his belly. He didn’t have to look at the man dangling at the end of the rope to know it was over. Too late.

The mob was melting away quietly, not looking at one another, almost subdued now. It was always like that at any lynching Dominic had ever witnessed. First the exhilaration, then the quiet, casual dispersal as if denying the act had even happened.

His gaze anxiously raked the crowd. “I don’t see her. God, she has to be here. I heard her, dammit.”

“There.” Silver pointed. “By the tree.”

Dominic caught a glimpse of tawny hair against the rough brown bark of the oak and urged the mare forward, picking his way through the crowd.

Elspeth was standing by the tree, staring blindly up at the grotesque obscenity that was now Andre Marzonoff. Ben Travis was beside her, speaking low but vehemently into her ear. She didn’t answer him. She didn’t ignore him. It was as if she didn’t realize he was there.

Dominic’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her face. She was marble-pale in the moonlight, her thin body swaying slightly. He stopped the mare before them. He didn’t know what to say. What the hell could he say to her? “Elspeth, I’m sorry. Lord, I’m so so sorry.”

She wasn’t listening. “He was terribly ashamed of being frightened,” she whispered. “Even at the end. He so wanted to be like Nicholas, like you, Dominic. He even tried to dress like you. You gambled, he gambled. You stole a woman, he stole a horse.” The tears were running slowly down her cheeks. “I’m sure he didn’t understand the difference. He wanted only to be like you. Why couldn’t they see that?”

Dominic felt as if he were being ripped to pieces. He swung off the mare, tossed the reins to Silver, and took a step closer to Elspeth. He wanted to touch her, comfort her, but all he could do was stand and stare at her. “I don’t know,” he said hoarsely. “I guess we sometimes do things in too much of a hurry.”

“They wouldn’t listen to him. He could have paid for the horse ten times over.”

“That wasn’t the point,” Ben Travis said gruffly. “He stole it.” He turned to Dominic. “Get her out of here. I can’t talk her into leaving.”

Elspeth’s gaze was still on the hanging man. “He won’t take Andre down. He’s going to leave him there all night.”

“You know the rule, Dom. The body is to be left swinging for a full twenty-four hours.”

“Cut him down, Ben.”

Ben shook his head. “Not me. We made a rule and we’ve got to stick to it. That’s the only way law can work.”

“Law,” Elspeth repeated wonderingly. “What law?”

“Our law. Hell, it’s not perfect, but it’s all we’ve got,” Ben said. “And it’s better than no law at all. I’ve seen lawless towns, and so have you, Dom.”

“Cut him down.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not going to-”

A shot shattered his words. The rope shredded and Andre’s body dropped to the ground. Dominic slid his Colt back into his holster. “Now you don’t have to cut him down. Just go get the undertaker and get him buried.” He paused. “Tonight. Tell Jake I’ll pay for it and that I don’t want any window displays or I’ll see that he joins Marzonoff.”

“The boys ain’t gonna like this.” Ben looked at Dominic and hastily added, “All right, all right, you don’t have to be so damn touchy.”

“What do you mean ‘window displays’?” Elspeth asked, staring at Andre’s body sprawled on the ground.

“Jake sometimes sets the coffin upright in the funeral parlor window after a hanging,” Ben said absently. “And then he-”

“Shut up.” Dominic’s voice cut across his words like the switch that had whistled through the air to sting the rump of the horse bearing Andre. “My God, Ben, will you get the hell out of here?”

The older man looked a little startled. “I didn’t mean nothing.” He cast an apologetic glance back at Elspeth as he turned and started down the street. “Sorry. I guess it does sound kind of bad.”

“Barbaric,” Elspeth whispered. “Monstrous. I can’t understand this. When I first came here I thought everyone was so kind, and yet tonight… Everything is changed… different.”

“Take her back to the hotel,” Silver said fiercely. “She can hardly stand up. I will stay with the Russian until Jake comes.”

“Elspeth,” Dominic said softly. “Silver is right. Come with me. You can’t do anything more here.”

“More? I couldn’t do anything. I was helpless. Do you know how that made me feel? I wasn’t strong enough to make them listen. A man died because I wasn’t strong enough to prevent it.” Elspeth’s voice was shaking with intensity. “No one has a right to be that weak. Not when it means a man’s life. You could have stopped them, Dominic. Silver could have stopped them.”

“You can’t blame yourself. You’ve been very ill,” Dominic said quietly. “You did all you could.”

“I should have been stronger.” She closed her eyes. “I will be stronger. I couldn’t stand for anything like this to ever happen again because I wasn’t capable.” She swayed, her lashes flicked open and her eyes held rising panic. “Dominic, I think…” She took a wavering step toward him and pitched forward into his arms.