She came into his arms, pressing her wet face against his. Her lips twisted against his, burning, devouring. Her arms slid around him, her hands stroking his neck. He could feel her pulling at him as he held her and her legs gave way.
He knew they were going to have each other and could not help themselves.
He pressed his hand on her breast, loving its softness, feeling her risen nipple push against his palm through silk and calico.
Footsteps crackled in the shrubbery at the bottom of the hill.
He froze, all his senses straining.
The hot blood in his veins turned in an instant to icy water.
"Auguste, for G.o.d"s sake," she whispered.
"Someone"s coming," he said. He felt her shiver against him.
He heard many men. They were trying to move quietly, filtering up the hill through the woods. But few pale eyes could walk unheard among shrubs and trees and piles of fallen leaves, especially at night.
Along with fear, he felt a sudden anger at himself that made him want to pound his fist on his head. He"d heard the voices before, farther off, in the village. He should have listened. He"d have known who and what they were.
His ears told him the approaching men had formed a semicircle, slowly closing as they climbed toward Elysee"s cottage. His heart fluttered in his rib cage, skipping beats, then pounding hard.
Nancy seized his hand.
"G.o.d protect us, Auguste!" she whispered. "I hear them too. Your uncle must have found out that you"re here. You"ve got to get away."
"Into the house. Hurry."
In the front room of Elysee"s cottage Frank and Nicole were sitting by the embers of the fire. The others had gone to sleep. Nancy flew into Nicole"s arms.
"We"ve got to get word to the Regulators," said Frank when Auguste told him about the men coming up the hill. He shook Woodrow, who had been napping on the chaise longue.
"Go by way of the ravine on the other side of this hill," Frank told the boy. "Tell Judge Cooper Raoul and his men are coming to kill Auguste."
He turned worried eyes on Auguste. "Perhaps you"d better go with Woodrow. You"d be safe at Cooper"s."
"No," said Auguste. "If I run for it and they catch me, they"ll surely kill me. I"m going to do what I came to do. When Raoul gets here, I will challenge him." His heart pounded so hard that his voice shook.
"Oh, no, Auguste!" Nancy cried.
Woodrow stood hesitating by the door, listening.
"They"re almost here."
"Go!" Frank snapped at him. Woodrow ran out.
"Go carefully, Woodrow," Nancy called after him.
"Challenging Raoul is just--just madness," said Frank. He went to the mantel and reached for Elysee"s pistol.
"Frank, you can"t!" Nicole cried.
"What choice do we have?" he said. He took one of the powder horns down and sat to load and prime the pistol.
Auguste said, "Frank, there are too many of them. If you try to fight them you"ll only fire that pistol once, and then you"ll be dead."
Frank said, "In a few minutes Cooper and the Regulators will be here.
All we have to do is hold Raoul and his men off a bit."
"Please," Auguste said. "Let me go out and meet Raoul alone."
Elysee said, "Absolutely not." He stood in his long nightshirt in the doorway of his bedroom. He gestured to Guichard, who had followed him out.
"Load my rifle, Guichard."
"Grandpapa, no!" Auguste cried. He wanted to throw his arms around the old man and protect him.
Elysee shrugged. "Perhaps as Frank says, we can face them down without shooting. You stay out of sight, Auguste. They cannot know for certain that you are here."
"I will not let this happen," Auguste said. "I"ll leave now. I"ll follow Woodrow." He strode to the door.
_They could be out there._
_If they are, then I can face Raoul as I first planned._
He yanked the door open and saw Raoul grinning at him, his face yellow in the candlelight from the cottage.
And beyond Raoul, filling the clearing, a crowd of men with rifles.
Raoul couldn"t see the mongrel"s face. The light spilling out of Elysee"s house left Auguste in shadow. But he did see the split right ear, partly hidden by Auguste"s long black hair. He hefted the cap-and-ball pistol held loosely in his right hand. This time there would be no missing.
_Now. Point the pistol and pull the trigger. He isn"t even armed._
But behind Auguste, Raoul saw Frank Hopkins with a pistol and Papa with a rifle. If he shot Auguste, he"d have no time to reload. They"d have the drop on him. And even if they didn"t shoot back, they"d be witnesses against him.
Looking past Frank he saw Nicole and Nancy Hale glaring at him, wide-eyed. At the sight of Nancy his jaw muscles clenched and his hand tightened on the pistol grip.
_How could she turn away from me and take up again with that redskin b.a.s.t.a.r.d?_
"Come on out, mongrel," he said to Auguste. "Maybe a jury found you not guilty, but we know you"re guilty as h.e.l.l. You sent that Sauk war party here." He raised his voice. "And you, Papa, Frank--you"re fools to defend him. His Indians were trying to kill you too."
Auguste said, "Raoul, you were the cause of the Sauk coming to Victor.
You are a liar and a fool and a coward. And a thief and a murderer."
Auguste stepped forward and slapped Raoul"s face.
The blow came too suddenly for Raoul to react. It wasn"t even hard enough to hurt much. It was purely a gesture of contempt.
Then Raoul"s rage came. It flared up like a forest fire. He brought up the pistol. Auguste"s unprotected chest was less than a foot away.