The Reluctant Bride (7 page)

“I don’t plan to lose my head over any man.”

“Very wise, my dear, but we women are weak when it comes to men. The bigger and better looking they are, the more foolishly we behave. I wouldn’t be truthful if I didn’t say that looking at Russ Tibbolt causes my heart to beat a little faster, but I’m not sure whether it’s from excitement or fear.”

“with a man like Russ, they can stand for the same thing.”

Then you understand.”

“I know people don’t want me to marry him, but I have yet to figure out why they think what I do is any of their business.”

“It must seem presumptuous of me to interfere in your life, but believe me when I say you’ll have nothing but misery if you marry Russ Tibbolt. Now I won’t bother you anymore. That pink dress really is tempting. I wish I had the coloring for it Or the figure. Enjoy it while you have it, dear. A woman’s body is a treacherous thing. Just when you think everything has come together at last, it starts to fall apart.”

Ethel smiled warmly, shook Tanzy’s hand, then turned and left Tanzy wondering who would be the next person to warn her against marrying Russ. A small shriek followed by a sputter of annoyance caused Tanzy to turn back. She saw Ethel using her purse to beat Tardy about the head and shoulders.

“I’ve told you a hundred times, you stupid boy, to look before you burst out from between buildings. You could have knocked me into the street.”

“Stop it, Aunt Ethel,” Tardy said, guarding his face and head with his forearms. “You’re going to hit me in the head if you’re not careful.”

“Maybe I can knock some sense into it,” Ethel said, making one last try before Tardy slithered to one side and escaped.

Tardy dashed through the street without looking either way and disappeared between a saloon and a lawyer’s office.

“Mark my words,” Ethel said in disgust, “that boy will get himself killed one of these days.”

“Are you all right?” Tanzy asked.

“I am if you don’t count a badly frayed temper.” She readjusted her hat. Tell me if my hair is coming down in my face.”

“You look fine. Shouldn’t a boy your nephew’s age be in school?”

“He would be if we could find a schoolteacher. All the men want to go off looking for gold and silver. The only women who’ve tried haven’t been able to handle the bigger boys.”

“Boys don’t think they should have to pay attention to women,” Tanzy said. “I had four brothers who thought Mother and I should be their slaves.”

“It must be a real comfort to know you’ve got so many men you can turn to.”

“It would be if they weren’t all dead.”

“My dear child, forgive me. I’m so sorry to bring up something which must be extremely painful.”

Tanzy knew she should explain, but she couldn’t. “If you’re sure you’re all right, I’d better be going. I want to buy that dress before someone beats me to it.”

Ethel laughed. “You’ll break Martha Greaves’s heart. She’s used that dress to draw people into the store all summer. Now she’ll have to order another one.”

“It’s like they’ve got orders to keep us holed up in these mountains,” Welt said to Russ.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Russ said. “They’ve got some scheme up their sleeves. I just wish I knew what it was.”

“They want to steal all your cows,” Tim said.

“I don’t think so,” Russ said. “They haven’t bothered us yet.”

“Maybe that’s because they can’t get through the pass,” Tim said.

They were perched on one of the rocky ridges that surrounded Russ’s valley. Thousands of years ago water had created a break in the rock wall, forming a natural pass, the only way in without coming over nearly impassable mountains.

“I think they’re trying to pin the rustling on me,” Russ said.

“Why should they care who gets blamed?” Welt asked.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Tim said. “If you’re arrested and the rustling keeps up, the sheriff will know it’s not you and have to let you go.”

Russ had his doubts about whether he’d get out of prison if Stocker ever got him there again, but that didn’t concern him right now. He wanted to know why the pass was watched by a man with a rifle.

“We can keep guessing for a week without figuring out anything,” Russ said. “Are you sure you and the boys can hold the ranch if I go into Boulder Gap?”

Russ wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Stocker had hired a professional gunman to get rid of him. What did surprise him was this attempt to keep him locked up in the valley. He could hold out up here for years if he had to.

“There’s too much here I don’t understand,” Russ said. “The rustlers are hitting everybody, including Stocker Pullet, but they’re acting like they’ve got some special grudge against me.”

“Like what?” Tim asked.

“I have no idea,” Russ said.

“They know more about these mountains than I like,” Welt said.

“Russ knows more,” Tim said. He showed an alarming tendency to think Russ could do anything. Just as he showed an equally alarming tendency to think he couldn’t die. Russ didn’t know how to convince the boy that being nineteen was no guarantee of immortality.

“Never count out dumb luck,” Russ said. “It’ll kill you every time.”

He had two reasons for needing to get out of his valley. Somebody had some plan he didn’t know anything about. The most obvious choice was Stocker Pullet, but his herds were being plundered as much as anybody else’s. He kept pointing the finger at Russ, but surely nobody believed Russ was stupid enough to rustle from his neighbors when everybody was just waiting to catch him.

The other reason was Tanzy. He’d told her that he might not come back right away, but women never understood things like that. You could tell a woman you had killers on your heels, that the sheriff was hammering at the door, and your neighbors were trying to run off your entire herd, but if you didn’t show up on time, she would be certain she had said something to upset you. Or you didn’t like her dress. Or her hair was wrong. Or you were with another woman. There was no such thing as external pressures that could force you to do something you didn’t want to. With a woman,
everything
was personal.

Too, he wanted to see Tanzy again. She was an attractive woman who grabbed him on a physical level as no other woman ever had; besides that, she fascinated him. He couldn’t decide why just yet, but he knew there was something about her that was important to him. His experience with women consisted of several unsatisfactory, superficial physical relationships, all of which had reinforced his belief that it was dangerous to become emotionally involved with any woman. He could walk away from all the others, but he had to come home to a wife.

So why wasn’t he running in the opposite direction from Tanzy? Maybe the attraction wasn’t emotional, but it wasn’t something practical, something he could articulate, like listing the qualities that made a good cowhand. Outside of the feeling that she had something he needed, there was the feeling she had something he wanted. Still more dangerous territory. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t stir out of his valley until he knew exactly what he was feeling and why.

Three days had passed and Russ still hadn’t come back. Even though he’d told her he might not be able to be back the next day, Tanzy was worried. They had given each other a week to decide if they wanted to marry. Nearly half of that time was gone, and they’d met only once. She didn’t believe Russ was the kind of man to rush into something without carefully considering it from all angles. Neither did she believe he was the kind to run away.

The last three days had made her aware of a deep schism in public opinion about Russ. The powerful and socially prominent all agreed he was the worst thing next to the devil himself. Then there were the little people, the ones like Archie and Tardy, who either liked Russ, sympathized with him, or thought people ought to forget the past and move on. According to Archie, most of the folks in Boulder Gap had something in their past they didn’t want to reach the light of day.

It was nearly time to go down for dinner. She was wearing her pink dress tonight. It hadn’t fitted quite as well as Tanzy hoped, and it had taken a couple of days before she was able to complete the alternations. After spending hours studying the women she saw on the streets, especially the wives of the officers from Fort Lookout, Tanzy had taken a couple of hours to arrange her hair in the style of a young lieutenant’s wife, an adorable, petite blonde who was obviously from the East and probably at a loss to understand why her husband should want a military career in the wild and savage Colorado Territory. Tanzy was pleased with the results of her efforts, but she wondered if anybody would appreciate it.

Except Stocker Pullet.

After stalking off in anger that first morning, he’d made a complete turnaround. He’d come to the hotel each night for dinner, always alone, and made a point of stopping to talk to her. He seemed to think Russ’s absence indicated Tanzy had taken his advice. She didn’t like him, so she saw no reason to set him straight. He took for granted that no one could fail to enjoy his company. It had taken Tanzy’s best efforts to refuse his invitations to join his table.

Tanzy looked at herself critically in the minor. Not one to suffer from false modesty, she knew she’d never looked better in her life. Not that she wanted to snare Russ by her looks. Still, a woman liked to look her best. It made her feel good.

“You’re looking mighty pretty,” Archie said when she appeared in the lobby. “Will Russ be here tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Tanzy said. She’d taken to confiding in Archie. “I haven’t heard from him since he left that first night.”

“There’s a lot of trouble out on the range,” Archie said. “Rustlers have hit nearly every ranch within a hundred miles.”

“I was certain he would have sent me a message.”

“If he could have sent a message, he’d have come himself.”

That didn’t make Tanzy feel any better. Neither did seeing Stocker enter the lobby. She had no choice but to respond to his enthusiastic greeting.

“You’re looking stunning tonight,” Stocker said. “Are you going in to dinner?”

“I’m waiting for Russ.”

“You’ve said that for the last three nights.”

“He told me he might not be able to come back right away.”

“Let’s face it, Russ is not coming.”

“He said he’d return when he could.”

Stocker’s smile was so patronizing, she wanted to slap it off his face. “I think it’s wonderful you should be so innocent and trusting, but you must learn to be more discerning about whom you trust. I warned you that Russ Tibbolt was a criminal, a man you couldn’t rely on. I know others have told you the same.”

How could she explain that even though she was new to Boulder Gap, she couldn’t accept public opinion without seeing some proof herself? She’d been the victim of assumptions in St. Louis. Despite her rising doubts about the wisdom of marrying Russ, she wasn’t going to do the same thing to him.

“I’ve given myself a week to make up my mind about Mr. Tibbolt. He has the same amount of time to make up his mind about me. In the meantime, he has a ranch to run. I’m told that rustlers are running rampant over the whole territory. I expect he’s busy protecting his herd.”

“Russ Tibbolt is doing the rustling. I’m surprised he even sent for you. Rustlers aren’t the kind to settle down. When things get too hot, they leave the country.”

“If that’s the case, maybe you’ve made a mistake in assuming Russ is behind the rustling.”

“The only mistake was not realizing he was a thief five years ago. How else did he get the cows to fill those valleys of his?”

Tanzy knew nothing about Russ’s past, so she said nothing. Stocker, feeling he’d won the argument, broke into a broad smile.

“Since both of us are alone for the evening, why don’t you join me for dinner? Russ isn’t coming.”

“Maybe not, but until his week is up, I feel obligated to wait for him.”

“And what will you do then?”

She didn’t know. She’d been thinking about that more and more as she sat in her hotel room or wandered through the town. If Russ never showed up again, she’d have to somehow find a way to support herself that didn’t require her to work in a dance hall, gambling place, or saloon. “I still have three days to make my plans.”

“Well, until you do, you can have dinner with me,” Stocker said, taking her elbow in his grasp and attempting to lead her toward the dining room. Tanzy held her ground.

“What if Russ came in after we sat down? Or worse, when we were halfway through our dinner?”

“He’d be out of luck.”

“I think it’s better I wait.” She looked around for support, but no one else was in the lobby.

“I insist you join me. It’s not proper for a young woman to eat alone. It’s probably not even safe.”

Tanzy was determined not to sit down at the table with him, but she didn’t know how to avoid a physical tussle. Stocker had a firm grip on her elbow and showed no signs of letting go.

“You never can tell what kind of ruffian will come down out of those mountains. No woman can protect herself against—”

“Russ can,” Tanzy said, wrenching her elbow from Stocker’s grasp. “And since he’s just come in, you are freed of any obligation to feel responsible for my safety.”