Against Her Will

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Tanner's fist drove into flesh and bone over and over, reducing it to nothing but mush beneath his shredded knuckles.

Hands gripped his shoulders and yanked him backward and Tanner swung at the new attacker, toppling the man to the ground in his blind rage to simply kill anything and everything that stood between him and Temperance.

Apparently the five men lying bloody and beaten in this back alley had thought it quite the joke to claim to know where Yancy was and then laugh and attack him once they had him back here alone--the joke had been on them.

"Shit..." one of them whistled through his broken front teeth. "I think you killed Joe! And you damn near killed me!"

"You attacked me, you worthless bastards. Now where the hell is Yancy?!" Tanner bellowed. He was angry beyond that normal quiet calm he normally managed to maintain. He had wasted precious time with these jackasses and during that time it was very likely that Yancy was.....

Tanner shook his head. He refused to entertain the thought that his wife was being put through that hell all over again. Dear God if she was then it would break her for good this time... she wouldn't live through being forced again--and Tanner would hang that son of a bitch using his innards as a noose.

Tanner growled when no one answered him and he grabbed a man with a broken nose by the collar of his blood stained shirt and hoisted him off the ground, "Where is my wife?"

"Tanner?"

Tanner dropped the man to the ground and whirled around to ensure that his eyes would see what his ears were hearing.

Temperance.

Her hair was a tangled mess around her pale face. There was a welt on her cheek and her lips were colorless and trembling. Her cream blouse and light blue skirt were covered in dirt and blood. But she was alive, she was whole and her green eyes filled with relief when she saw him.

Tanner ran to her and wrapped in a tight embrace. She clung to him but whimpered in pain. "Not so tightly..." she whispered. "He kicked my ribs and I think they're bruised.."

Tanner's boiling blood damn near evaporated right there in his veins. "Where is he?" he ground out against her hair as he realized Sophia was there too looking just as bedraggled as Temperance.

"We fought him off and tied him up," Temperance replied.

"Temperance did the fighting and I did the tying," Sophia whispered.

"He's in the basement of this warehouse," Temperance added, pointing the gun in her hand toward the building they were standing beside.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Tanner asked as he pulled away enough to look into her eyes.

Temperance frowned, her eyes filled with tears but she sniffed and raised her head high. "I'll be just fine, Tanner. I fought him back. I didn't let him take me and I wouldn't let them sell Sophia.. I wouldn't let them do to her what they did to me...."

"You did real good, Temp," Tanner assured her, placing a gentle hand on her welted cheek. "Real damn good."

"We have to go to the law, Tanner...." Temperance began.

Sophia shook her head. "Miss Temperance, you heard what he said. He has connections and the law won't hold him."

Tanner had suspected as much. Men like Yancy didn't get to keep doing what they were doing as long as they did without having friends in high places--or at least men in high places that they could blackmail into being on their side.

"Tanner, are you okay?" Temperance glanced around the alley at the men in varied stages of consciousness.

"Just fine, sweetheart. Don't you worry about me none. These boys here just thought they could take advantage of a man looking for his wife. I taught them different."

"Tanner, I want to go back to the hotel. I want to see Jackson.."

Tanner nodded. He didn't want to have her out of his sight but knew he had no choice. He couldn't leave this warehouse without taking care of Yancy and he couldn't do that in front of Temperance. Tanner wasn't exactly sure what had happened in that basement but he could tell that Temperance had a very precarious hold on her emotions just now and he didn't want to send her over the edge.

Releasing his hold on her, Tanner went to the man who was missing his teeth, (one of which had been embedded in Tanner's knuckle). "Stand up," he ordered.

The man quickly shoved himself off the barrel he'd been sprawled across. "What do you want?"

"You're going to escort these ladies to the Duchess Hotel and you're going to get them there in one piece and in the exact same shape they are right now."

The man glanced at Temperance and Sophia and then sneered at Tanner. "And if I decide to have a little fun?"

Tanner chuckled quietly and then drove his fist hard into the man's gut. He doubled over with a oomph and Tanner pulled his knife and had it against the front of his trousers just as the man stood straight. Every ounce of color drained from the man's face as he trembled.

"You'll do as I say or else."

"Or else what? Y..you'll kill me?" the man asked shakily.

Tanner clicked his tongue, "No. But I'll make you a damned eunuch and you can carry your nutsack around in a nice leather pouch 'round your neck. Is that really what you want?"

The man shook his head quickly and Tanner grinned, "Good, now get them to that hotel"

"Tanner...." Temperance voice was frightened and Tanner went to her.

"He won't do anything, Temp."

"But I want you to take me..."

Tanner shook his head, "I have something I have to take care of. I'll uh..." Tanner hated lying but knew that right now it had to be done. "I'll go find some law and have Yancy seen to and then I'll be along."

"Tanner...." Temperance still seemed doubtful.

Tanner glanced at Sophia and she took Temperance's arm. "Come on now. Let's go get cleaned off and wash those memories off our skin," Sophia urged.

Temperance let herself be led away but she kept her head turned her gaze on Tanner until she rounded the corner and was out of sight.

Tanner glanced around at the men surrounding him. Two were dead, one was going to be unconscious a good long while and the other was holding a bandana to his nose and whimpering in pain as he twitched on the ground.

Tanner clenched his bloody fists and headed into the warehouse. He had a reckoning to bring about.