Silken Savage (45 page)

Holding Jeffrey at bay with her weapon, she glared at him. “Get out!” she growled. “Get out before I slit you from gullet to gizzard and feed you to Kit!”

As if on cue, the huge cat glided into the room and sidled up to her mistress, teeth bared in a snarl at Jeffrey.

Some semblance of sanity returned to him, and Jeffrey blinked and backed off, his arms outstretched to Tanya in supplication. “Tanya, honey, I’m sorry if I was rough with you, but you’ve got to listen to me. I can’t let you throw yourself away on that man. Think of all we mean to one another; all we’ve gone through to be together!”

At this point, Julie, who’d been under a strain of her own lately, ran to Jeffrey. Tugging at his arm, she cried, “Stop it, Jeffrey! Can’t you see she doesn’t want you? Why do you degrade yourself like this? Can’t you see what it is doing to you?”

Incensed, Jeffrey flung her away from him, his hand slamming into her cheekbone in the process. “Get away from me, you bitch!” he raged.

With a shriek, Julie landed in a heap at her mother’s feet, hurt and frightened.

Kit gave a snarl of warning, but Jeffrey took no notice as he sneered down at Julie. “You don’t look quite so proud now, do you? But then, you never had much pride to begin with. Do you think I didn’t notice how you’ve chased after me all this time?” He shook his head, his eyes gleaming oddly. “I’d have had to be blind not to see how you’ve thrown yourself at me!” His face twisted cruelly. “I could have had you anytime!” he announced brutally, “but how could I want you when it was Tanya I was after? Even used, she’s the better prize.”

“Jeffrey, that’s enough!” Tanya cut in sharply. “I’ll not have you abusing my sister, either physically or with cutting words!”

“But she’s been asking for it for months,” he said pointedly. “She pictures herself as my wife when she has none of the qualities necessary to be the wife of a cavalry officer. She’s spoiled and pampered and used to getting everything she wants. She hasn’t the stamina to withstand the rigors of life in the military — but you do.” His eyes blazed at Tanya. “You have the strength, and you don’t whine or faint or give up when the going gets rough. With you by my side, I could become a general!”

Tanya laughed cynically. “You’re perfect too, Jeffrey! Perfectly insane!” At his enraged look, she flashed her knife at him. “Now get out of here before my blade finds its way between your ribs into your rotten heart, if you have one!” Kit snarled again, adding emphasis to her words.

With one last, hate-filled glare, Jeffrey turned on his heel. “You’ll regret this, Tanya,” he warned. “All you high-and-mighty Martins are going to regret this! One day you’ll come crawling to me!”

Almost as an afterthought, he directed one last cutting remark to the weeping girl on the floor. “Cheer up, Julie. All may not be lost. If your sister actually does throw caution to the winds and marry this fool rancher, I may take you as my paramour. Lord knows, you’ve offered yourself to me often enough! You’d be an impossible wife, but perhaps you’d make a decent mistress.”

Elizabeth was appalled when she arrived home from shopping to see Julie’s cheek all red and swollen. Her reaction was mild compared to that of the men, for there was no way to hide the injury, “He should be hanged!” Edward ranted. “First he tries to rape Tanya, and now he hits Julie. The man is mad!”

“Hanging is too good for him,” George insisted.

“I wanted to kill him so badly,” Tanya avowed softly, her eyes seeking Adam’s. “You’ll never know how close I came to planting my knife in his black heart!”

“You’d have been jailed for murder if you had,” Adam pointed out.

Tanya nodded. “I know. That’s the only thing that stopped me!”

Elizabeth let out a snort of disgust. “This is a fine kettle of fish! The Almighty Lieutenant Young can march in here and manhandle us all he wants, and we can’t do a thing about it because he has an army behind him!”

“Can’t Sheriff Middleton arrest him?” Sarah suggested.

Adam frowned and shook his head. “Not over this,” he said. “Young would just claim it was an accident that Julie was hurt.”

“I should have shot him when we caught him trying to force himself on Tanya,” Edward fumed.

“And gotten ourselves killed for it,” George added. “His men wouldn’t have waited for explanations.”

“What are we to do?” Melissa asked. “Julie is scared to death to leave the house, and who’s to say when Jeffrey will take a notion to come around again for one of his delightful ‘social chats’!”

Julie had been hysterical nearly all afternoon. Now she sat quietly next to her mother, saying little. A tremor shook her every so often, but the weariness that often follows shock had set in.

Adam gave her a sympathetic look. “I have a suggestion, if Julie agrees.”

Julie looked up questioningly.

“My mother is coming into town this weekend. Julie can go back to the ranch with her. She will look after you, Julie,” he promised, “and Roberto will be there to protect you. Would that suit you?”

Julie nodded solemnly. “Yes,” she croaked, “but what about Tanya?”

“I’ll look after Tanya. We’ll be busy preparing for our wedding, and I’ll practically be camped on the doorstep, I imagine. When she’s not with me, she’ll be with your father or uncle, and when they are at work, Justin or I will be here.”

When Tanya and Adam had a moment alone together, Tanya confessed, “You can’t imagine the tortures I’ve fantasized about putting Jeffrey through since this afternoon.”

Adam’s black eyes burned into hers. “Yes, I can. I have been having the same thoughts,” he admitted gravely, “but you are forgetting one of the most important lessons you learned as a Cheyenne — patience. When the apple is ripe, it falls from the tree. When the time is right, we will deal with the young lieutenant. The circumstances must be in our favor. We do not want the law breathing down our necks. We will wait, and the time will come.”

Julie left as planned with Rachel after the weekend. If nothing else, it would let her have more time with Roberto, and for this Tanya was grateful. Now that Julie saw Jeffrey in the proper perspective, perhaps she’d see what a truly magnificent man Roberto was.

The rest of the family went on with plans for Tanya’s wedding. The guest list was decided upon, and the invitations written and sent out. Rachel had undertaken the task of seeing that Julie’s dress was finished in time, while Elizabeth and Sarah worked on their own and Melissa’s.

Tanya’s wedding gown as well as the goodly number of additional dresses that made up her trousseau was being sewn by a local seamstress. There were numerous trips for fittings, in addition to visits to the milliner and cobbler for matching hats, accessories, and shoes. Swatches of material were constantly being exchanged, discussed, and mislaid until Tanya thought she would lose her mind.

“It will soon be over,” Adam soothed.

“Thank goodness!” Tanya retorted, rubbing her throbbing temples. “If Mother changes her mind over one more color or fabric, I swear I’ll get married in a gunny sack out of spite!”

In the midst of all this, Melissa came up with a few surprises of her own. One evening shortly after Julie’s departure, she and Justin found themselves alone on the porch.

“There is more to this wedding business than I’d thought,” Justin commented conversationally.

Melissa nodded. “I don’t think if I got married I’d want all this fuss and planning. I’m a very private person.” She watched Justin’s reaction as he digested this. His face became very thoughtful.

Finally he ventured, “How would you have it, Missy?”

Melissa hid a smile. Justin was being so cautious, avoiding pressing her about their own relationship these days. “After all I’ve been through, I’d want a quiet ceremony with just family and a few close friends, I think; something a lot less formal. Does that appeal to you?”

Justin eyed her carefully, his face hopeful, yet cautious. “Are you talking about us, Missy? You and I?”

She looked up at him demurely from beneath lowered lashes, but her answer was far from shy.

“Justin,” she sighed, “it’s a terrible shame when a girl has to ask the man she loves to marry her! Are you going to accept or not?”

For one long minute Justin stared at her in shock, trying to decide if he’d heard her correctly. “Yes!” he blurted, before he was conscious of even opening his mouth.

Melissa laughed, delighted at both his open-mouthed reaction and his answer. “Good! Then it’s'settled!”

At last Justin recovered his senses. With a small but exuberant whoop of joy, he leaped from the swing, pulling her up with him. His eyes shining, he twirled her around, then pulled her into his embrace. “Oh, Missy! Missy!” He hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.

Then he put her slightly away from him, frowning down at her in concern. “You’re sure? You won’t change your mind?” His eyes searched her face.

Putting her palms to his face and pulling him down to her, she assured him, “I’m positive.” Bringing her lips just below his, she whispered, “Aren’t you supposed to kiss me now, or am I supposed to kiss
you
since I did the proposing?”

It really didn’t matter, for once their lips touched, it was difficult to determine just who kissed whom.

Not wanting to infringe on Tanya’s wedding, Melissa was reluctant to announce their news, but Justin had no such reservations. With a directness that was inherent in him, he took charge. After announcing their intentions to his parents and the Martins, the assorted relations sat down to a family planning session. Adhering to Melissa’s wishes, the arrangements were kept simple. They were to be wed a week after Tanya and Adam, and Judge Kerr would again perform the ceremony. Tanya and Adam would stand up with them. A few flowers, a bridal bouquet, and a new gown were sufficient for Melissa’s needs, with an intimate family dinner to honor the occasion afterward.

Jeffrey made a few additional attempts to see Tanya, and finally retreated, though not with good grace. The Martins simply did not answer the door when Jeffrey came to call. He left notes for Tanya, which she promptly destroyed. Whenever he caught sight of her about town, she was always in Adam’s company. Finally he gave up — or so they thought at first.

Then, with the wedding only a couple of weeks away, strange things began to occur. The first was dramatic, and nearly fatal. After supper one evening, Tanya and Adam went for a stroll. They were walking along one of their favorite paths in the woods behind the house, chatting amiably and stopping every so often to exchange a kiss or two. The lovers were totally wrapped up in one another, unaware of much around them.

On impulse, Adam reached down to pluck a wild-flower for Tanya’s hair. At that exact moment, a bullet whizzed over his head, slamming into a tree a few feet away. With lightning reflexes, Adam jerked Tanya down with him, rolling quickly behind a tree.

Drawing his own gun, Adam waited. When he heard nothing, and no more bullets came their way, he edged out to take a look. No one was about. Judging where the shot was fired from, they found fresh footprints in the soft earth, but the unknown assailant had fled.

“Jeffrey,” Tanya claimed with certainty.

“Or one of his faithful henchmen,” Adam concurred readily, “but we have no proof.”

“He’s changing tactics.” Tanya ground her teeth together in agitation. “Now he’s playing the cowardly sneak! That’s just his style!”

“It certainly appears he wants to see you widowed before you’re wed. We’ll have to be alert. I should have heard him, but I had my mind on other things.”

“So did I,” Tanya admitted. “I thought he had given up. I should have known better.”

When they related the experience to the others, Melissa added a new bit of information to be considered. “You know, it may not mean a thing, but lately I’ve heard a lot of gossip concerning Suellen and Jeffrey.”

“What about them?” Tanya asked.

“Nothing special, just that they have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

“They deserve one another,” Tanya pronounced with a grimace. “They are two of a kind.”

Melissa persisted. “Yes, but I hear that they are closer than two peas in a pod. Don’t you think that is odd?”

Adam shook his head. “What is odd about it? They have a lot in common. Both have the disposition of a snake. Each would love to see me eliminated; Jeffrey because he covets Tanya, and Suellen because she so despises Tanya that anything that causes her grief makes Suellen glad.”

Glancing at her parents, Tanya said cryptically, “So far Suellen has not seen Adam close up, and she knows nothing about him, which is all to the good. I’ll be ever so grateful when her parents come for her.”

“Well,” Elizabeth piped up, “the parson’s wife told Emily Kerr that they expect Suellen’s parents any time now, within a few weeks at the most.”

“Yes,” Sarah added, “and from what I hear, Ruth will be glad to be rid of her. Now that the novelty has worn off, even she is sick of Suellen’s harping.”

At the weekend, Rachel, Julie, and Roberto came to town. With them they brought a disturbing bit of news. Someone had attempted to set fire to the barn and stables a few nights earlier.

“Luckily, Joséwas tending a sick colt when he heard someone skulking about,” Roberto explained. “He grabbed the shotgun by the door and got off a shot at whoever it was. The shot alerted the rest of us, and we all went running.”

“The culprits fled before much damage was done. Jose found a lit torch near the corner of the stable and stamped it out, and the roof of the barn was on fire in one place, but it was quickly extinguished.”

“Did you see who it was?” Adam asked.

“No,” Rachel told him. “It was too dark. All we know is there were about half a dozen men.” Her brow furrowed as she recalled something else. “It is funny, but Pedro said he thought the man he saw was wearing an outfit similar to a cavalry uniform.”

The sheriff received an unexpected invitation to dinner. Afterward, over brandy in the library, the men explained briefly what had been going on. A short history of the situation between Tanya and Jeffrey brought the problem into focus. Added to that, the near-rape, Jeffrey’s crazed obsession with Tanya, and the more recent problem with Julie gave weight to their tale. Last, they told him about the attempt on Adam’s life and the fire at the ranch.