Forty-five

Sidney Wayland himself greeted Jake and Cole in the outer courtyard of the lovely hacienda. The appearance of the place was deceitful, looking more like the home of a wealthy don. They followed Sidney to the courtyard gardens, where they sat in the shade of beautiful, flowered greenery, including red and yellow roses. The air was filled with their aroma. Smelling the roses made Jake’s heart ache for Randy. If not for what this place really was, Randy would love the amazing garden.

“Go and get the girls,” Sidney ordered a maid. “We have a very special guest. This is the famous gunman from America, Jake Harkner.” He turned to Jake. “Even here in Mexico we know of you,” he told Jake with a wide grin. “And we greet all our special guests with wine and dancing. It gets them excited for one of our lovely women, and I am sure the handsome Jake Harkner, who was raised by whores, appreciates beautiful women.”

“Sidney, I’ve been with the same woman for a lot of years, but she’s in Colorado and I’m down here, and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. I’m ready for something different…and younger.”

Sidney laughed heartily and signaled a small band to come out of an alcove and entertain his guests. The four men played a rapid-beat Mexican tune using maracas, a guiro, guitar, and violin. In the next moment, four beautiful young women emerged from a side door into the courtyard, smiling and swirling to the music. They swayed and turned in beautiful, brightly colored skirts and low-cut tops. They grabbed the ruffled hems of their skirts and lifted them in circular, shifting motions, just enough to give the men a peek at the fact that they wore nothing underneath.

One woman in particular moved in rhythmic thrusts toward Jake to indicate she could most certainly please him in bed. Her flat belly rolled in tempting lunges, her hip bones showing above the very low waistline of her skirt, just above the hairs of her privates. Her blouse threatened to burst open from her generous bosom as she shook her breasts temptingly close and cast sexy, suggestive smiles through full lips. Her dark eyes promised a very satisfying night if Jake chose her.

None of it affected Jake. His leftover rage from yesterday kept away all thoughts besides his purpose. He gave the woman a once-over look that told her he desired her, but the only desire he had was for Sidney Wayland’s death.

The four women finished the dance with a quick lift of their skirts as they turned and bent over to reveal four naked and very firm young bottoms. Jake couldn’t help wondering if more than one of them had been an innocent virgin not so long ago. How many were here of their own free will, and who had been forced into this by Wayland, a small-built man with a slightly upturned nose. His lips were so thin it was almost as though he had no lips at all, and his pale-blue eyes were oddly lifeless—a man with no feelings, Jake guessed, other than for sex and money. Jake could read him like a book. What Wayland was doing made him feel important…a small man aching to be famous and feared in his own way.

Jake lit a cigarette as Sidney handed him a glass of wine. “Tell me, Jake Harkner,” the man asked. “Why do you bring this man with you? Might you have ulterior motives for being here, which is why you need an extra gun along?”

Jake sipped some wine, scowling. “I don’t bring ‘extra guns’ along if I have gunplay in mind. I don’t need them.”

Sidney chuckled. “I have offended you?”

“Yes, you have. I came down here to buy horses, which is why I brought one of my ranch hands to help me herd them back home. Someone up in Brownsville suggested I look up the Heavenly House of Women while I’m down here, so I thought I’d take them up on their suggestion.” Jake drew deeply on his cigarette and drank more wine. He could hear Lloyd scolding him for drinking, which was dangerous for him in his state of mind. He had no choice. Too much alcohol could turn him into the monster his father had been, but he had to convince Sidney Wayland he was for real. “The man I spoke with told me you specialize in young white girls from America…virgins. Hell, it’s been a long, long time since I screwed a virgin, and I figure if you have one here, she’s probably already a little wild.”

He scanned the four beauties parading in front of him. “You are all beautiful,” he told them. “Gracias.” He turned back to Sidney. “These girls are some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen, and my friend Cole here can have his pick. He just wants to poke something. Me—if I’m going to come to a place like this, I’m going to take a look at the top of the line, so to speak. And at my age, a virgin would be damn exciting, and I have plenty of money with me.”

Cole signaled one of the four women to come and sit on his lap. “This is all I need right here,” he told Sidney. “How much?”

“Two hundred dollars American.”

“Two hundred!” Cole squinted in thought. “That’s a lot of pesos.”

“And she is worth it,” Sidney told him. “She will do things you have never even thought of doing, my friend. We offer only the best to wealthy American men. That is why we are so successful.” He waved his hand. “Look at this hacienda! It’s big and beautiful and clean. How do you think I got all of this? And I have my pick of all these women whenever I need one. I never sleep alone, my friend, and usually with a different woman every night. I love it here in Mexico. A few U.S. dollars go a long way here.” He smiled at Cole, who looked at Jake questioningly when Jake sipped on another glass of wine.

Jake knew what Cole was thinking—the same thing Lloyd would be. Cole could drink any other man right to the ground, but he knew Jake Harkner and alcohol didn’t mix well, and Jake was in a bad enough mood as it was. Jake raised his glass to Cole and grinned. “I know you’re itching to have at it, my friend, so you go ahead and take that pretty young thing to her room. I’ll pay the man, but it’s coming out of your pay when we get home.”

“As long as you’re willin’,” Cole answered. The Mexican whore screamed as Cole picked her up in his arms and made off with her. He glanced back at Jake. “What time do you want to leave out in the morning for them horses?”

“Early. Sunrise.”

“You’d best lay off the wine then, Jake,” Cole told him with a warning look. He set the girl on her feet and headed down a long hallway, past the courtyard, with his arm around her.

Jake turned to Sidney. “I’m holding out for a virgin, which is why I can’t drink any more wine. The Harkner blood doesn’t mix well with alcohol—makes us mean. Besides, I want to remember and feel and enjoy every minute tonight, and sometimes alcohol can make a man—you know—not quite up to par. Plus, I have a long ride ahead of me in the morning.” He took a last drag on his cigarette then put it out in a stone ashtray on a table beside the big wicker chair. “From the stories I hear, you always have one or two virgins that you save for special sales.”

Just then, a very handsome Mexican man joined them. He wore a sleek, blue-silk suit, his smile bright, his black hair slicked back. “Señor Jimenez told me we have new customers of a higher class,” he told Sidney. He flashed a bright smile at Jake. “I am Señor Wayland’s right-hand man,” he said, putting out his hand.

“Luis, this is the famous Jake Harkner, the gunman from America,” Sidney told him. “He is in Mexico to buy horses, and he heard about this place. He is, uh, interested in a virgin.”

Jake took Luis’s hand and longed to squeeze it until he broke every bone. So, this was the very man who’d stolen Annie away. He was every bit the handsome, charming man Gretta had described. He could see how easy it might be for the man to lure a young girl into a fate worse than death. “I prefer blonds,” he told Luis.

“What about the little blond girl from Denver?” Sidney asked Luis.

Two birds right here in my hand. Jake struggled to keep from killing both of the bastards right then; he had to be sure he had Annie first.

“I sold her to Don Jesus Ricardo de Leon just yesterday,” Luis told Sidney. “How strange that Señor Harkner asks for just such a girl. I just got back from Don de Leon’s, which is why I’m late. The don is to pick the girl up here in the morning.”

Sidney frowned. “That’s too bad. Mr. Harkner had his heart set on breaking in a virgin. How much did Don de Leon pay?”

“Six thousand pesos.” Luis smiled at Jake as though to challenge him.

By this time tomorrow you’ll be dead, Jake thought. “I’ll double that offer,” he told Sidney.

Sidney grinned. “That is roughly three thousand American dollars.”

“That’s right,” Jake answered. “If she’s a virgin, she’s worth every cent.”

“Don de Leon will be furious,” Luis told Sidney, looking seriously concerned.

“He doesn’t need to know,” Jake told Sidney. “I’m paying twelve thousand pesos just to be her first. After that, you can still give her to Don de Leon. You’ll make out both ways and more than double de Leon’s money.”

“But the don wants a virgin,” Luis reminded Sidney with a frown.

“I’ll try not to tear anything, and I’ll clean her up,” Jake answered. “She’ll just go to the don wanting more of the pleasures I’ll teach her. You can order her to pretend de Leon is hurting her, because that’s probably what the man enjoys most. But he’ll soon discover she enjoys it, and I doubt he’ll know the difference. She’d just better still be a virgin like you claim, or I’ll want my money back, and I’ll damn well get it,” he warned.

Luis smiled and rubbed at his privates. “It was not easy, but I knew she would bring very good money, so I did not touch her. But I had a good feel of her, and I showed her what a man looks like, and made her touch me with her hand. And I told her what she will have to do once someone buys her.”

You fucking bastard, Jake thought. “What’s the girl’s name?”

“Annie,” Sidney told him. “Luis brought her from Denver with promises of marrying her.” Both men laughed wickedly.

“I inspected her good. She is a virgin,” Luis told Jake. “I knew she would be worth much money, which is why I saved her until I got what I thought would be enough. And now you come along offering even more! This is a very good day.”

Jake rose. “I’ll go get the money, but you’d better be telling the truth. You don’t want to see me angry, believe me.”

“Ah, señor,” Luis told Jake. “I know your reputation, but we are well guarded. And I must ask you, you were once a lawman. Surely you’re not foolish enough to have come here to try to steal this girl. Another man already tried that, and he is very likely dead now from many bullet wounds. Perhaps someone hired you to come here and find this girl?”

Jake sobered, longing to bury his fist in the man’s face. “Mister, I’ve never been a gun for hire. My job as a marshal was part of a prison sentence, and the minute I got that sentence set aside, I left that miserable job and headed for Colorado. I’m no fool.” He lit another cigarette. “Do you want my money or not? I can always go someplace else. And I know a very beautiful whore up in Denver who will accommodate me any day of the week. So if you don’t trust me, I can just leave.”

“No! No!” Sidney objected, rising. “Luis, why have you insulted this man? We can double our money.”

Luis frowned. “I just do not want to offend Don de Leon. He is very powerful. He might come after us if he is not pleased with this girl and realizes she is not a virgin.”

“And we have our men in place,” Sidney reminded Luis. “We will just promise to find him another virgin free of charge. And once he sets eyes on our beautiful Annie, he will not even care.”

Luis looked up at Jake. “Try not to leave marks on her.”

“Luis, I was raised in brothels. I know how to handle a woman, virgin or not.”

Luis nodded. “Then show us your money. We will take you to our finest room and bring her to you.”

And I can’t wait to destroy that pretty face of yours with a bullet, Jake thought. You’ll never smile again when I’m done with you!

“Just a last reminder that we are well guarded, Jake,” Sidney warned. He looked up to the tops of the hacienda walls, indicating the men stationed there. “Even the great Jake Harkner can’t get out of here if we don’t want him to.” The man’s disturbingly pale eyes narrowed in his last-minute hint of trouble waiting.

We’ll see about that. Jake headed out to his horse to get the money from his saddlebags. He’d never had such a hard time controlling his temper as he was having right now. What happened yesterday at his mother’s grave didn’t help his mood. Think about the girl and getting her out of here, he told himself. One wrong move, and you’ve blown it. All that matters is the girl…and killing Sidney Wayland and that cocky sonofabitch Luis Estava!