Heart of Thunder (8 page)

She wouldn’t let it happen again. She could wait until Adrien kissed her and made her feel that same excitement. Naturally, Adrien’s kiss would be even more wonderful, because she loved him. She
did
love him. She did. So why did she have to keep reminding herself?

Angry, Samantha left her hotel room. She wasn’t going to wait for Hank, even though it would give Adrien a chance to see them together. When she got to the lobby, however, Hank was there waiting.

“
Buenos días
, Sammy.” Hank smiled.

Samantha couldn’t meet his eyes. He said her name so softly, as though it were an endearment. How could things have got so far out of hand so quickly? It was obvious that he was falling for her. It was too much, too soon. Would she have to abandon her plan? She certainly didn’t want to hurt this charming man.

“Hank…about last night,” she began.

“I have thought of nothing else,” he answered quickly, and she knew that she had to discourage him before his feelings grew.

“Hank, you…you really shouldn’t have kissed me.”

“But you enjoyed it.”

“Yes, only—”

“It was too soon,” he finished for her, before she could
explain about Adrien. “You must forgive me, Sammy. I am not a patient man. For you, however, I will try to be patient.”

She started to protest, to tell him that he had jumped to the wrong conclusion, but he took her arm and led her out of the hotel. She would have to tell him that they could only be friends, that she loved Adrien. How could she find the words? Perhaps it would be better if she showed him. Yes, that was it!

They arrived at the stage office just as the others were getting ready to board. Adrien eyed them coldly. Ah, it had worked so well. He was jealous. But now she couldn’t continue the game. She couldn’t hurt Hank.

Samantha left Hank’s side without a word and joined Adrien and Jeannette. She would have to appear cold and indifferent to Hank. It was the only way. Yet she felt so damned terrible about it.

All that day, Samantha sat in the corner opposite Hank, rather than directly across from him, as she had been doing. And she didn’t speak to him or look his way even once. Adrien seemed in a better mood and even talked to her occasionally. He talked mostly with Hank, however.

That night they stopped at a stage rest, and Samantha continued to ignore Hank. At dinner, she sat as close to Adrien as she could and forced him to talk to her. She did not leave his side until it was time for bed.

She didn’t sleep that night. She was miserable. She had caught Hank watching her with a curious, almost pleading look. She cursed herself a hundred times for using Hank, as she lay awake all night. He didn’t deserve that. She was so sorry. But the damage had been done.

The next morning she was so tired that she could hardly walk to the coach. She slept all day, jolted awake every so often, only to fall right back to sleep. That night, when they stopped at another town, she was wide awake. She would not go to a hotel. She would stay
close to Adrien. Hank waited to see if she would leave with him, and when she didn’t, he caught her arm and pulled her away from the others, forcing her to talk to him.

“Why do you ignore me, Sammy?”

“Ignore you? Whatever do you mean?”

His eyes narrowed. “You stay close to your friend Adrien as if you were frightened of me.”

“Adrien is
more
than just a friend,” she said pointedly, then walked away, tears stinging her eyes. She couldn’t have been more blunt. Now he would have to understand.

A dark frown furrowed Hank’s brow as he watched her walk away. He wanted to grab her and shake her. What was she doing? Why did she suddenly ignore him and give her full attention to Adrien?

And then the answer came to him, and he almost laughed aloud. The little fool! She was trying to make him jealous! Didn’t she know how unnecessary that was? He was already completely taken with her. She did not need to make him jealous.

But he would let her play her game, he decided. For her he would have patience. For her he would do anything.

The realization startled Hank. It was true. How could he have become enamored of this woman so soon? She had made him forget about Pat, forget about reaching Mexico. Everything flew from his mind except Samantha.

It confused him. The closest he had ever come to loving a woman was Angela. And that was not so long ago, not so long that he couldn’t remember all too clearly the bitterness of losing her to another man. But all of that seemed unimportant now. Samantha was making him forget even that.

He didn’t love her yet. He didn’t think it was love, not this soon. But he could love her. He could very well
give his heart to her completely, if she would give hers to him in return.

But he was certain of one thing already. He was aching with wanting her. There was no confusion there. He had only to look at her to feel his blood race. But she was a lady, so he had to move slowly. And it seemed, too, that she wanted to play her feminine games.

Thinking about those games, Hank shook his head over the absurdity of it. Didn’t Samantha realize what kind of man Adrien Allston was? He could not be jealous over Adrien. He was an
hombres puta
. Hank could not understand such a man. Already Adrien had made two advances to Hank, the second of which Hank had ended by pulling his gun, making his disgust understood.

Samantha was as safe with Adrien as she could be with any man, but obviously she didn’t think Hank knew that. He would let her get away with it this one time, wait until she tired of this charade, and then he would speak seriously to her. After that, there would be no more nonsense. He would not allow it. Once he asked her to marry him
—Dios!
Yes, he realized that he was thinking of doing just that.

Chapter 9

T
HE settlement called Elizabethtown had been established in 1868, two years after gold was found in creeks and gulches around Baldy Mountain. Thousands of miners had come to the area in the last few years, and more were still coming. Buildings rose continuously. They were mostly ramshackle wooden huts, but more than a hundred were already standing—stores, saloons, dance halls, hotels, even a drugstore.

The coach had made good time and rolled into town in the late afternoon of February 18th. Adrien was infected by the raw, bustling activity of the place and could not wait until the next day to rent a horse and head out for the Moreno Valley. He left Jeannette alone with all their luggage and the supplies.

Poor Jeannette was dazed. She couldn’t understand Adrien’s wild enthusiasm, nor was she used to depending on herself, for Adrien usually took care of everything.

Samantha quickly took charge, and Jeannette gratefully let her. Samantha found a cheap hotel and arranged for the Allstons’ things to be carted over there. She intended to stay there, as well. She didn’t like it, but she wouldn’t consider leaving Jeannette alone while Adrien was away.

Before they left the stage office, Hank Chavez approached them. Samantha grew tense, but he surprised her.

“
Señoritas
.” He tipped his hat to them both, then said gallantly, “Your company has turned what would
have been a most tedious journey into a pleasurable one.”

Samantha nodded. “You are kind to say so.”

“Perhaps we will see each other again before I leave,” Hank continued, his eyes on Samantha.

“Perhaps,” she replied evasively.

He smiled. “If not, I bid you
adiós
now, Samantha. Señorita Allston.”

He tipped his hat again and was suddenly gone. Samantha stared after him. She was relieved, yet she felt something else as well, something she couldn’t define. He did understand, she told herself. By calling her Samantha, he was saying he understood. And he was completely gracious about it, as she had hoped he would be. In fact, she thought, he had given up a bit too easily.

“He certainly was a nice gentleman—considering,” Jeannette remarked.

“Yes, he was.”

“And he was certainly taken with you,
chérie
.”

“Not…not really,” Samantha replied uneasily.

“Ah, you did not like him then?” Jeannette continued. “I do not blame you. He was not a very appealing man.”

“What do you mean?” Samantha asked sharply. “He was very handsome.”

Jeannette was shocked. “
Mon Dieu!
You are being too kind,
chérie
. The man was much too dark. Too…how can I explain? Rugged looking, too dangerous. He would make a terrible lover.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He would be too aggressive, too demanding. The rugged ones are always demanding.”

Samantha’s eyes snapped green fire. “Do you speak from experience?” she asked cuttingly, angered.

“
Oui, chérie
,” Jeannette replied evenly, then walked away, leaving Samantha staring after her in surprise.

It was late that evening when Adrien returned and
found Jeannette and Samantha at the hotel. He was excited, full of prospects for the next day. He had received a great deal of advice from miners who already had claims staked, advice about where he was likely to find gold. He found no gold the next day, but his enthusiasm was not dampened. On the third day he found a few nuggets of gold near a dry creek bed and immediately staked a claim. He returned to town only to file the claim and to fetch supplies, then headed back toward the valley.

Jeannette and Samantha went with him that day so that they would be able to find him in the future, for he would live out there in the valley. Jeannette was worried. It was the middle of February, hardly a good time to be sleeping in a tent in the open air. But Adrien was determined.

Jeannette was also determined—to visit him each day. Samantha went along every time. It was her only chance to see Adrien.

Except for those rides out to Adrien’s claim, Samantha was bored. There was nothing to do in Elizabethtown. She found herself spending a good deal of time in the general store, buying things she didn’t even need. But it was an interesting place, typical of stores in the Southwest, and smelled of plug tobacco, leather, freshground coffee, and even pickled fish. There were few luxuries. Basic items and food needed for a rugged life crowded every available space. Even the rafters were hung with hams, slabs of bacon, and cooking pots. The floors were covered with barrels and kegs brimming with sugar, flour, even vinegar. This was where Samantha went, nearly every day, to pass the time.

She had not seen Hank Chavez and wondered if he had left Elizabethtown. There was a month still left before she could expect her escort to arrive. What could she do with all that time?

She began to think wistfully of home. She had not seen her father for nearly three years. The time had
lengthened because she had stayed an extra six months to visit Jeannette, mostly just to be near Adrien. But he had paid no more attention to her then than he did now.
Why
didn’t Adrien find her attractive? Other men did.

Samantha began to think he might be like Jeannette, his taste peculiar, as hers was. Imagine Jeannette not thinking Hank Chavez handsome! Was Adrien repelled by dark skin? Perhaps she was too dark, too robust, too healthy. She had had a dark, healthy tan when she had gone East and had kept it for almost six months. Though she was pale enough now, perhaps he couldn’t forget how dark she had once been. Was this healthy appearance repugnant to him? Or maybe he just didn’t like dark-haired women. His mother and sister were so blonde, so petite. Was she perhaps too tall?

Damn! What
did
he find wrong with her? If he didn’t so dislike boldness in women, she would simply have asked him. Time was running out. Now she would only be able to see him a few hours each day. She needed help. She ought to have confided in Jeannette long before. Jeannette did not know that Samantha loved Adrien. Perhaps it was time they talked.

They did, that night over dinner in a small restaurant featuring home-cooked meals. It had been almost empty when they arrived, but had filled up quickly, mostly with rough men who came in from the gambling hall next door. They suffered noise and unwelcome attention while they ate.

“Does Adrien have a sweetheart somewhere? Someone I don’t know about?” Samantha began.

Jeannette was surprised. “Of course not,
chérie
,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

Samantha was embarrassed, but she couldn’t stop. “I was just wondering why he doesn’t seem to like me.”

“Certainly he likes you, Samantha. You are his friend, just as you are mine.”

“I don’t mean as a friend, Jeannette. Am I so ugly? Why can’t he like me as more than a friend?”

Jeannette frowned. She couldn’t meet Samantha’s too-revealing eyes. “Why would you want him to?”

“Why?” Samantha leaned close to whisper. “Can’t you tell I love him? But of course you wouldn’t know.
He
doesn’t know. What am I going to do, Jeannette?”

“Ah,
chérie
, I am sorry. I had no idea you felt this way about my brother.”

“But what am I to do? I will be leaving in a little less than a month.”

“Perhaps you should forget him and go home to your papa,” Jeannette said gently.

“Forget him? Impossible!”

“It might be for the best, Samantha. You see, Adrien has set a goal for himself.” Jeannette tried to explain. “He has sworn to have nothing to do with women until he has reached his goal.”

“Which is?”

“To be rich and respected. Before, his goal was to establish a law practice. Now I suppose it will be this silver mine he has bought. Until he is rich, he will not even think of women.”

“He is being too hard with himself,” Samantha remarked. “What if he were to marry a rich woman?”

“He would not, unless he were equally rich. It is a matter of pride with him.”

Samantha became annoyed. She wanted encouragement and she wasn’t getting any.

“You are suggesting I give up?”

“
Oui
. It would be best for you.”

“Then you don’t know me at all, Jeannette,” she replied stiffly. “I never give up.”