Lacy (22 page)

"If you don't like the music, Mrs. Marlone,
I can fix that," Wardell said. He signaled to the waiter, handed him a
bill, whispered something to him, and nodded toward the band. The waiter
grinned, nodded, and went to speak to the bandleader. Seconds later, the wild
music faded, to be replaced by a slow, sweet melody that Katy recognized
instantly.

"Better?"Wardell teased, standing.

Katy blushed, because the band was playing
"A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," a song that became popular the year
after the war ended.

"You
are
pretty," he said
when she was loosely held in his arms, moving briskly in a fox-trot to the
sweet tune. "Doesn't your husband tell you?"

Katy made a gesture with one shoulder. "Not
really."

"What a pity." His eyes went over her
hair in its loose bun at the nape of her neck, down the length of her dress
that reached just below her knees and was held up by diamante straps. The
sparkle of the rhinestones did something exquisite to her milky smooth skin,
and he wondered how she'd look naked in a diamond necklace. The thought aroused
him and he laughed, deep in his throat.

She looked up, confused by the laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" "I don't know you well enough to tell
you," he said. "But that will change."

Katy cleared her throat. The scent of him was
very masculine, spicy, and clean. Danny didn't bathe often and always seemed to
smell of sweat. Katy actually found him repulsive. She would probably have
found him really repulsive if he wanted sex.

But Blake Wardell smelled nice, as Turk always
had, and his cologne was familiar. Probably it was the same that Turk used, and
that might explain her mixed feelings about this big, dark man. He seemed to
find her attractive, and in turn, he actually attracted her. That was
disturbing. Suppose she was one of those women she read about who enjoyed a
variety of men? She felt horrified. She hadn't been raised to be a loose woman,
but she was intensely drawn to Blake Wardell. She was, too, almost certainly
pregnant...

"What's wrong?" he asked, his big hand
closing gently around her cold fingers.

She looked up; her face was as open as a book.

He smiled very gently. "It's all
right," he said softly. "I feel it, too."

"I'm.. .married," she stammered.
"That doesn't matter."

"But...!"

He bent, his mouth whispering against hers so
briefly that she could hardly believe it had happened. "I said it doesn't
matter. Come here." He drew her close, and she shivered at the feel of his
body so intimately against her own. Turk, she thought, her eyes closing as she
remembered the day she'd left Spanish Flats. Oh,Turk! she moaned silently,
actually feeling as if she'd betrayed him— when it was Danny she should have
felt guilty about betraying.

Danny watched Katy dance with Wardell with no
feeling of jealousy or anger. He smiled. Good. Good. Wardell wanted her. Plans
were forming in his mind like clouds. Katy might become the wedge he used to
get in on Wardell's action. At least, he thought, she'd finally do him some
good. God knew, it was like taking a statue to bed. She hated sex. He supposed
most women of her sort were like that. He preferred experienced women who knew
what to do. His eyes cut around to a cute little blonde who was giving him the
eye from the next table. He glanced at Katy and Wardell and thought, Why not?
He gestured toward the blond, left a tip on the table, had a waiter tell Katy
he'd had to leave, and walked out with the blonde on his arm.

IT
WAS THE BEGINNING
of
a new chapter in Katy's life. From that night on, Blake Wardell seemed always
to be around when she and Danny went out on the town. She welcomed his company,
because Danny didn't mistreat her then. But Blake was potent, and his presence
was having a violent effect on her emotions.

It all came to a head when Danny ran her out of
their bedroom with his verbal abuse during one of his tantrums. Mama Marlone
wasn't home to witness it, having gone to visit a relative that night. Danny
caught up with her and hit her. She fell down the stairs, and Danny actually
left her lying there and went out.

It was Blake Wardell who found her,
half-conscious, bleeding, moaning in pain. She knew almost certainly that she'd
lost the baby. He called an ambulance and went with her to the hospital,
holding her hand while she cried her heart out.

When she came to, he was sitting by the bed,
holding her hand again.

"You had a miscarriage." he said
quietly. "I'm sorry."

Tears ran down her cheeks. "I know,"
she sobbed.

"You poor kid! Where's Danny? I'll call
him," he offered.

"No! He.. .made me fall," she said
tersely. "He hit me."

Her eyes closed, and Blake groaned. "He
didn't know about the kid? You hadn't told him?"

She let the tears flow. "It wasn't
his," she whispered. "It was Turk's baby."

His face hardened. "Turk who?"

"Turk Sheridan. He was my brother's
foreman—
is
my brother's foreman,
back home,' she said, faltering. "I loved him, but he was still mourning
his late wife and he didn't want me."

"Still carrying a torch for him?" he
asked quietly.

"I told you he didn't want me." She
cried all the harder.

With a long sigh, he gathered her up close and
held her, his dark face against her hair. "Don't cry, Katy," he said
softly. "I'll take care of you. I want you. I'll always want you."

Her arms clung to him. He was warm and strong
and protective. He was everything Danny wasn't. Except that he wasn't Turk.

"Danny's always throwing us together,"
she said when the tears began to slow. She wiped at them carelessly. "You
watch him, Blake," she added, lifting her red-rimmed eyes. "He's a
bad man."

"I know that." He touched her mouth.
"I can take care of myself. You, too, if you'll leave him."

She wanted to. But she was afraid of what Danny
might do. She shivered and touched her bruised face. "I can't."

"Listen," he said angrily. "I
won't let him hurt you. Danny's a small-time operator. I'm not. I've got
leverage and I can use it. Give me the right and I'll send him back to Italy in a syrup can!"

If she hadn't cared about him, she might have
agreed. But Danny was devious—and his behavior grew wilder every day. She was
afraid of what he might do, not only to Wardell but to her family back in Texas. He had contacts everywhere.

"No," she said after a minute.
"No. I don't want you hurt."

His face changed. Half his age seemed to drop
away and he looked at her with wonder. "You.. .don't want
me
hurt?"he
echoed blankly.

His expression touched her. She smiled wanly and
lifted her hand to his broad face. "You look shocked."

"I am. Nobody ever gave a damn about me
before," he said shortly. "My mother walked the streets for a living.
I don't even know who my father was. I grew up rough and hard and in trouble
with the law. I've never had anything that I didn't have to take."

She felt a stark compassion for him. He wasn't
altogether bad. She'd seen him go out of his way to help people down on their
luck, and he was here now when she had nobody else to look after her.

Impulsively she drew his face down to hers and
put her soft mouth over his hard one.

He stiffened, and she started to draw away, but
his big hand slid behind her head and his mouth opened on hers.

He was at least as experienced as Turk, if not
more, she thought dizzily. She liked the way he teased her mouth with his lips
and teeth before he penetrated it deeply with his tongue and made her gasp with
the sudden heat of desire.

He heard the soft sound and lifted his head.
Dark, knowing eyes narrowed as they met hers. "You feel guilty. Don't. You
can't help it any more than I can."

She swallowed, her eyes troubled.

"I know," he said quietly. "You
love your foreman. It's his memory you think you're being disloyal to—not your
husband's— isn't it?"

She nodded helplessly.

He smoothed back her damp, disheveled hair.
"Well, for what it's worth, I feel a little guilty myself. You're married.
I haven't got many scruples, but cutting a shine with a married woman is
something I've never done before."

His dry tone lifted her mood. "I won't tell
if you won't tell," she whispered, with a rare glimpse of her old spirit.

He caught his breath at the difference in her,
at the sparkle of her green eyes, the radiance in her face. He had a fleeting
look at what she'd have been like in love, and he cursed her brother's stupid
foreman for throwing her love away. He realized suddenly that he'd have given
anything for it.

"I wish it had been me instead of
Danny," he said shortly. "Or, especially, me instead of the man back
home." He drew back reluctantly. "But I guess you'd have been worse
off with me. I'm a gambler. I make my living on the weakness of other men.
Besides that," he added, turning his face away, "I'm sterile. I had
mumps late in life. I can't ever make a woman pregnant."

Tears stung her eyes at the way he said it, as
if it devastated him. She touched his hand and curled hers into it. "I'm
sorry."

He looked down at her. "If Danny hits you
again, I'll kill him," he said matter-of-factly.

She flushed. "Blake..."

"You won't talk me out of it. How would you
like to go to the theater when they let you out of here? We'll find something
to cheer you up."

She smiled up at him gratefully. "I'd like
that."

His eyes narrowed. Finally he smiled back. His
gaze went down her body and back up. "I'm sorry about the kid."

"So am I," she replied. "But it's
for the best, I guess. He wouldn't have wanted it..." She broke down
helplessly.

He bent and kissed the fresh tears away.
"Stop that," he whispered at her lips. He nibbled them tenderly and
then caught the soft lower one in his teeth. "Go to bed with me, Katy."

She caught her breath. Her eyes widened.

"Don't panic. I don't mean now." He
kissed her again. "I've never had it with a woman I've cared
about,"he said, with blurred hunger, "a woman I could respect. I
think I love you, baby."

She stared at him. "Do you, really?"

He nodded. He moved close to her mouth again and
brushed it tenderly with his. "I'm big," he said. "A lot bigger
than Danny."

She blushed at the blatant statement. It was
something even Danny had never talked about, much less Turk.

He smiled at her color. "Best you know it
before you decide. I've had prostitutes run from me."

Her heart stopped in her chest. She searched his
eyes. "But you wouldn't hurt me," she said then, certain of it.
"I don't like it with Danny. I never did."

His eyes narrowed. "And the foreman?"

She averted her face. "I—I loved him,"
she stammered.

He sighed. "Well, I can't be somebody else
in bed. But I'll be good to you, Katy." He drew her head to his lips.
"It might not be too bad with a man who loves you more than his own
life."

Her eyes closed. He wasn't Turk. But he was
certainly the next best thing. "Blake..."

"You weren't raised to commit adultery, I
know. But think about it. I want you so desperately," he said huskily.
"God, Katy. I want you more than I want to live!"

She clung to him. He wasn't half as bad as he
seemed to think he was. There was good in him. If it hadn't been for Danny's
violence, she might have gone to Blake. But it was a risk she couldn't take.
She was well and truly trapped. The only thing she didn't understand was why
Danny kept pushing her at Wardell.

Chapter Ten

Ben
went to see Faye early
the next morning. Fortunately her father had gone to town, and she was alone at
the house.