Free Microsoft Word - Jenny dreamed by kps Page A

upbringing were forgotten as the drug worked on her mind and allowed the abandoned response of her senses to prevail. Lil, herself, had never needed anything but the close proximity of a randy male to excite her, though at times the recall of certain memorable encounters would be enough to send her searching through the saloon for Pauly. After all these years, it was the one man
    who had scorned her and turned, instead, to Mariah who now occupied her thoughts. She had never forgiven Jared for that rejection nor ceased to blame the girl who was her illegitimate daughter as well as her hated rival. There had been no thought for her when those two had left the ranch, headed through the mountains to California. Though she had used the large inheritance from her mother to indulge herself in clothes and foreign travel, marrying Pauly in Rome the following year, Lit had never let loose of the bitter memories. If anything, her hatred of Mariah had grown with each passing year. Then, as a crowning injustice, she had heard that Jared had inherited wealth and an English title so that the black-haired witch she'd never claimed as a daughter was now a countess. When Lil heard the news, she choked with fury.
    Fate had dealt the final hand to Lil, though. Only by a lucky chance had she seen Jennifer Bryant during her stopover at the Gordon Hotel, recognizing her immediately by the uncanny resemblance she bore to Mariah. Lil had managed to arrange the girl's kidnapping before she boarded the stage to Helena the next day, and, fortunately, everything had turned out as she'd planned.
    She had plans for that girl that would make her long-awaited revenge against Mariah all the more sweet.
    In the morning, when the drug had worn off, Lil planned a little visit to Jennifer. She would be frantic without the drug, her nerves aching for its tranquillizing effects, especially when Lil described how willingly she had taken the outlaw for her lover, how he had paid for the use of her body. Lil smiled contentedly as she imagined the girl's despairing reaction, and she would have her in that state even before she revealed what she planned for Jennifer's future. It would be hard to wait until the morning, but then, she had waited over twenty years. What were a few hours more?
    The last door in the hall, to the right of Lil's office, led to a storeroom where Lil kept her liquor supplies for the bar. She was an efficient businesswoman, and the room was always filled with an inventory of various types of liquor and wine, the wooden crates of bourbon, rye, whisky, and brandy piled several crates high in neat categorized rows.
    The room lay in total darkness now that night had come, serving an additional purpose as a hiding place for the two people who had been tied and shoved in a nook by the window. Dev Cantrell and Jennifer Bryant's dark, diminuitive maid shared the small space formed by two parallel rows of crates, though their closeness was illusory. Dev only knew a few, meaningless phrases in Spanish, and the girl had been gagged to keep her silent.
    Isa's eyes were puffed and swollen from weeping. She had been here when the American banditos had dragged her companion in and firmly tied his hands behind his back. Many hours had passed before he groaned and showed signs of life, and though he had spoken to her, she understood nothing. When the strong light of morning beamed through the single window, he could see what had happened to her.
    She had been dragged into a room by one of the men who captured them and forced to endure his vile, odoriferous body while he raped her. No doubt, she thought with despair, her poor mistress had been dealt the same fate by the man who had captured her.
    During the day Isa's swollen cheek had ached, and she was sure it had discolored where her brutal attacker had slapped her. Her good traveling dress was torn, ripped down the front by that animal, and every muscle in her body ached miserably. No one had come after they