Philip Huntington sat in a wine–colored, leather arm chair on his private rail car watching the scenery go by. Even the opulence he traveled in wasn't enough to make him forget the depressing countryside they were quickly passing through. Why in the hell someone would want to have a house out here in the middle of this God forsaken place, he would never understand. Most of the landscape was flat, with nothing but grass as far as the eye can see, but some areas did have mountains in the distance. He noticed that within the last couple of hours the mountains had gotten a lot closer. If he didn't need, no want this business venture so badly, he would never leave the east coast.

He'd seen nothing but uneducated, uncouth heathens since he left New Orleans. His lip curled at the memory of the last town the train had stopped in. If you could call it a town. God, it was horrible. There was only one disgusting saloon and there was no way that he would have touched any of the women there. Lord, there's no telling what kind of diseases they carried. Just the thought made his skin crawl.

A knock on the door to his car drew his attention away from the window. Before he could say anything, the porter opened the door to enter letting in the noise of the metal wheels against the track with it. The steady clickity clack was beginning to drive him crazy. Closing the door behind him, the porter stood there for a moment, then cleared his throat.

"Sir?" The man said. Philip simply lifted his brows, not bothering to answer him. Apparently the porter took that for an opening to speak, and did so. Nervously clearing his throat again, he began. "Mr. Huntington, we have encountered a small problem and need to make a small detour." The porter waited, but the other man simply stared through him.

"We will be stopping in Red Valley for at least one night, possibly two. It um, it's nothing like the last town we stopped at. They have a nice little diner with good food." Afraid to say anymore, the porter beat a hasty retreat. He'd heard of the infamous temper this man possessed, and he wanted none of it. Something about him just made his skin crawl.

Dammit! There was no telling how long this short stop would delay him. Small delays like this tend to have a snowball effect. Miguel Gonzales was not someone that waited around. He didn't need this deal, but damn, he wanted it. It just wasn't every day that an offer like this presented itself. After all, he only needed to find buyers for the merchandise that Miguel had shipped to him. And what wealthy gentleman wouldn't want his very own virgin to break in and use as he saw fit. Then, when he was done, sell her to a brothel and buy another one. Yes, he could almost see the money rolling in.

Hopefully this town would be big enough to have a telegraph and he could send a telegram to Miguel letting him know of the delay. Maybe he would be able to find a woman that wouldn't be missed. Lately, since that bitch, Hope had left, he hadn't been able to attain his own release unless he either killed the girl he was with or choked her unconscious. Of course, killing them always gave him the most powerful and fulfilling release. This trip had come at a good time, actually. The sheriff in Savannah had begun to start to ask too many questions about the strangled women that had been turning up for months. Fortunately, most of them had no real family to miss them. And no one could connect them directly to him. Well, he had only been seen with one woman in public. After that, he made sure that his most trusted servant arranged for the girls to be brought to him.

He always ended up killing them but most of them he kept for at least a week. Some of the special ones he kept for more. Smiling, he thought about the last one. It was a shame that he couldn't bring her with him. Philip thought for a moment, she had been his favorite, so far. He was really looking forward to trying out one of Gonzales' girls.

Jumping to his feet, he began to pace with frustration. After a moment, he walked over and poured himself a glass of his finest French brandy. Tossing it back, he refilled the crystal snifter and went to sit back in his chair. He began to plan every detail of what he would do to Hope when he finally found her. Not for one moment did he ever doubt that he would find her.

Two and a half hours later the train rolled to a steaming stop at the station in Red Valley. There really wasn't a need to get off the train. He had his own private car. It had a plush and comfortable bed, although not as large as the one in his room back home, it would still sleep two people easily. A black walnut desk sat in the front of the car, then a sitting area with two comfortable wine–colored, leather arm chairs and an end table that could be used for dining. A small coal stove was directly across from the chairs. Lastly, the sleeping area was at the back of the car.

It was small but had all of the necessities. He had a bar with his liquor set up just to the right of the door. The walls and ceiling were paneled in cherry and polished to a glossy shine. Cream and wine colored striped silk drapes adorned the windows and were pulled back and held in place with heavy gold braided rope and a thick Aubusson carpet covered most of the oak floor.

Philip's stomach growled just as the passengers began to disembark. He was in the mood for something different and it was just after lunch. It wouldn't hurt to stretch his legs a little. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. The porter had been right. This town was better, but just barely. He walked around briefly then made his way to the diner.

He was almost finished with his meal when the door opened. A man and pregnant woman walked in and sat down across the room. Something about the woman looked familiar. Carefully he studied her for a few minutes but all he could see was her profile. He was beginning to become frustrated when she finally turned her head and looked right at him. The woman smiled politely then went back to her conversation.

She looked just like Hope. They could be twins! It was uncanny. Briefly, he'd even thought it had been her but quickly dismissed the notion after she looked at him with no recognition. Besides, this woman was married and pregnant. Just the thought of a woman being pregnant turned his stomach. He knew it was a necessity, but God, it was so disgusting.

Later that evening, Philip found himself at the only saloon in town. He'd been playing poker for several hours when a new player sat down at the table. Through the smoky blue haze, Philip could see that he was a rough looking fellow, and he was obviously drunk. Easy pickings, Philip thought to himself.

"Deal me in, Pete." The man said with a slight slur.

"You sure you should be playing Jed?" One of the men at the table asked.

"I said deal me the fuck in." He said as he slammed his beer mug on the table causing some of the bitter brew to slosh over the rim and run down the side. He quickly picked the mug up and licked the glass where the beer had been. Philip curled his lips in disgust. It hadn't been too bad in here, until now.

"Well, ante up then, dammit. I'll be more than happy to take your money." Another man at the table said. It was obvious he was thinking the same as Philip. Easy pickings.

They played a few hands allowing the drunkard to win, building up his confidence. Philip flagged down one of the bar maids and had another drink brought over for him and the other man. It wasn't long and conversation and began to flow freely. The man to his right began to talk to the drunkard.

"I saw your old boss and his new wife today in town."

"You didn't see much, did ya? Well, now I take that back. Even big and pregnant that Hope is still a looker. I wouldn't mind having a turn at her." Jed said in a slightly loud voice that was just a little more slurred then when he'd come in.

"You'd better not let Levi Matthews hear you say that. He will kill you, and you know it. He loves that little southern belle." Another man said.

At the sound of Hope's name, Philip's ears perked up, but he did not react. That wasn't a very common name but when the other man said that she was southern, well that just made his heart beat a little faster. "She must be a beautiful woman to insight such talk here at a poker game. What does this beauty look like?" He asked innocently.

"She's a looker alright. Black hair with purple eyes! I ain't never seen eyes like hers." One of the other men chimed in. "But Levi, he's really protective of her. She had an accident and was thrown from her horse. Hell, she like to have lost those babies and she did lose her memory. She don't remember nothing, except her name and where she came from." The player next to him elbowed him in the ribs. Mikey, was a good worker, but a might slow at times. This was one of those times.

"Oh, she had an accident? That's terrible. I'm so glad everyone is all right. That would have been horrible, if something had happened to her." Dammit to hell! He'd found the wily bitch! That was her he saw in the diner and that explained why she hadn't recognized him. His thoughts were interrupted by the drunkard again.

"Yeah, she had an accident." He repeated and sniggered to himself.

"It weren't no accident, and you know it Jed! When Levi finds out who put them tacks under her saddle, he's going to kill 'em. You mark my words." This comment earned him another jab to the ribs, this one was harder. "Umfff. What in the hell did you do that for? Damn that hurt."

"Your ass is going to hurt when I get done kicking it. Come on, we got to get back to the Triple L." The two men got up to leave. "You need to learn to keep your damn mouth shut." Philip heard the other man say as he smacked the younger one on the back of the head.

Philip wasn't stupid; this Jed fool had been the one to cause Hope to have her accident. He wouldn't have cared if she lost the brats she was carrying; in fact, it would make it easier for him. But he did need her alive, and this idiot had almost killed her. He had to continue on to meet Miguel Gonzales but he knew where she was now, and she wasn't going anywhere. He'd be back in a couple of months and hopefully she'll have the babies while he was gone. If not well, he would just have to take care of it.

But in the meantime, there was no way he was going to leave this stupid bastard here when he was obviously trying to kill her to get even with this Levi person. Jed got up and went to the bar, purchased a bottle of whiskey and stumbled out the door. Philip got up and followed him at a discrete distance. Philip followed him a few minutes staying back, although he didn't have to. The man was so drunk; he probably couldn't hear a herd of wild horses behind him.

Jed, stumbled around town, then decided he would go back to his hotel room for the night. He didn't have the money for a whore, so it looked like he was going to have the company of his bottle tonight. He walked through the alley to use the back stairs. He hadn't paid for his room today, and couldn't go through the front door of the hotel.

As soon as his booted foot hit the bottom step, he heard his name and turned to see who was calling him. He turned; saw a quick flash of silver, then felt a sharp pain in his throat. The bottle fell from his fingers as both hands reached up to clasp his throat. Warm sticky blood flowed freely from the wound at this neck. Each beat of his heart sent more of the crimson liquid through his fingers and down his arms, then to the ground.

His mouth worked but no sound escaped as he fell to his knees. Black spots began to cloud his vision as the light of the full moon faded. His eyes widened as the fancy dressed man from the poker game leaned towards him. "That is for daring to take what's mine, you sorry bastard!" Philip hissed then wiped the blade of his sword on the other man's shirt. Sheathing his sword back into his cane, he walked off whistling.

The thrill of the kill had him painfully aroused. Philip decided to go back to his rail car and have his man find him a woman. He was going to celebrate. Once back at his car, he changed clothes, then found his man. He threw his soiled clothes at him. "Get rid of those. Then I want you to find me a woman. One with dark hair, preferably with no family. She won't be coming back, well, at least not alive."

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