The Wildest Heart (13 page)

“What do you think you're achieving by this show of force?” I whispered furiously. “You had better take me back before your friends.”

“Shucks, my friends ain't gonna think a thing is wrong! Always show a pretty gal around the house.”

“If you think to exercise
le droit de seigneur
with me, Todd Shannon…”

“Whatever that means, all I'm doin' is what I've wanted to do ever since I saw you walk in that door. An' you've been asking for it, too! Uncle, hell!”

He took me in his arms, ruthlessly holding me still in spite of my furious protests. “When are you gonna face up to facts, little gal? I want you. Have done even before I saw how you look all dolled up. You turned Mark down, didn't you? An' you've been needlin' me all evening. Better learn to pay up when your bluffs been called.”

He bent his head to mine and I saw his thin, cruel lips curve in a smile of triumph. “We're two of a kind, and you know it,” he said, before his lips claimed mine.

“You are a robber baron. A conscienceless pirate. And you're old enough to be my father.”

My voice sounded breathless. I felt as if he had choked the breath from my body.

I couldn't remember how long he had kissed me, out here in the moonlight, with the trickling sound of the small fountain in the background. When he finally raised his head, I think I might have fallen if his arms had not held me. I hated him.

“Damnation, woman, why don't you stop fightin' me? It was meant to be this way. Think your pa knew it too. You're going to marry me, you know that?”

“So that you'll have all the SD, and my money as well?”

I was fighting for my sanity, and I knew it.

“You know better than that, damn you! You kissed me back. Think I didn't know it? Why'd you think I lay low an' let you play around with Mark? He's not man enough for you, an' I knew you'd find that out for yourself. You're the kind of female that needs a strong hand on the reins. An' don't tire yourself strugglin,' because I ain't gonna let you go until I've had my say! You're the woman I've been waiting for. Why'd you think I haven't married again? A woman with guts, damn you, and yes, with a sharp tongue, too. A real woman, not a damn doormat who'd cry every time I yelled at her. I got a temper, an' you know that. But so have you. But you dressed up for me tonight, an' don't you think I don't know it!”

“Stop it, stop it! You're insane! I hate you, Todd Shannon!” I said the words out loud, but he only laughed.

“That's a good start! Closer to love than indifference! Gonna take you back now, an' you're going to act the cold, unapproachable lady, because that's the way you are. Cold on the surface, fire underneath. Mine. You hear that? Like it or not, you wear the SD brand now.”

He took me back to his guests after that, and I found myself forced into the position of hostess, as he kept me at his side. I can't remember the thoughts that swirled through my head during those hours that seemed to drag by. I was determined not to show him how he had affected me.

We might have been in a London drawing room. There was the same exchange of surface politeness, the same inanities, the same pointless bursts of laughter.

We went in to dinner, and I discovered that Mark and Flo had been placed at the other end of the massive table. I sat on Todd Shannon's right, the governor's wife on his left. I responded mechanically to the questions and comments that I was besieged with. Mark avoided my eyes. How much had he told Todd? How much had Todd told him? Flo Jeffords was unusually silent, although I imagined that from time to time she shot resentful glances in my direction.

But what on earth was I going to do? When the evening was over I would have to face Todd Shannon again. I could no longer rely on Mark for support. Suddenly I wondered wildly if the whole thing had been carefully planned between them—Mark's proposal, the sudden invitation to dinner. I felt trapped.

“Dancin' after dinner,” Todd announced unexpectedly. I caught his significant glance and looked away. He leaned closer to speak to me, his blue green eyes gleaming with deviltry.

“Same musicians gonna play at the big shindig at Silver City. Had it all arranged before I knew you'd be here.”

“Oh, really? And if I hadn't agreed to come I suppose you would have had me kidnapped?”

“I was thinkin' about it,” he said solemnly, and I turned away from him, fighting an impulse to slap his face.

Governor Wallace was telling me about the book he was writing, and I tried to pay attention, but I was overwhelmingly aware of Todd Shannon's presence at my side. I thought that dinner would never be over, and was hoping for some respite when the women retired, but unfortunately they did not have such civilized customs here.

“Time for dancing,” Todd said, and dragged me off with him to begin it.

“Didn't think you'd be able to manage a fandango, so I told them to play a waltz first,” he said, locking me in his arms.

“You're going too far!” I said between gritted teeth. “If you think you can force me into something…”

“Ain't gonna force you into nothin'. You're going to be willing, stubborn as you act! Give you two months, less, if you keep on rilin' me.”

“I won't marry you, damn you!”

He laughed when he saw he had made me lose my temper. “We'll see! It's that, or be made a dishonest woman of. Won't look right.” He sighed with mock regret. “No, much as I'd be tempted, I guess it had better be marriage.”

“I will not! I'd rather…”

“You gonna run away back East? Give up?”

“No! You won't scare me away either, Todd Shannon!”

“What makes you think I'd let you go?”

It was impossible to reason with him. Even my sarcasm seemed to slip off his hide. I had never met a man so sure of himself, so sure of me.

In the end, I only escaped from his arms on the pretext that I had to freshen up.

“Flo will go with you to show you the way,” he said, lifting one eyebrow in an infuriatingly amused fashion.

We went upstairs. My nerves felt like taut wires. I was too much on edge myself to be tactful.

“But don't you miss New York? Boston?”

Flo stared at me with open dislike. “You mean Derek? Well, why should I? He's old. Like Pa, only Pa doesn't show it as much, and Pa goes after what he wants.”

We faced each other across the room, and she reminded me suddenly of those gossipy old women in India, who had also sneered at me. Only this time, I had the advantage. The mirror told me that.

I touched my hair, pushing the diamond stars into place, and smiled at Flo. “You're afraid that he might want me?”

“I know he does. And you do too! Well, I don't care. There's been other women Pa thought he wanted, but the last one he married was my mother!”

“And what makes you imagine that I would want to marry him?”

“If Pa wanted to marry you, he would! But it won't come to that. You're young, see? And you own half the SD. You're a titled English girl. That's all Pa can see for now. Would you enjoy being my stepmother?”

I couldn't help laughing. “Heavens, no! If I was to be so foolish, I'm sure you'd do your best to make my life as miserable as I could make yours. Except that I'm a trifle cleverer and more subtle than you are!”

She gasped, her hands clenching into fists, and I said soothingly, “Why don't you grow up? Although I think you hate me at this moment, if you start thinking a little more clearly you should realize that you have more to gain by pretending, at least, to be my friend!”

“Oh! I thought at first that you were stupid. But you're horrible! You're hard—”

“Oh, goodness! Must you dramatize things so? I'm merely being realistic. Whether you realize it or not, I'm trying to help you.” I looked her in the eye. “Your stepfather wants to marry me. Oh, yes, he's already suggested it. But I have no intention of doing so. I like my independence. If we cannot be friends, don't you think we might at least be allies, since we have a common cause?”

She stared at me, wide-eyed.

“I believe you're really serious! You mean you don't want to marry Pa?”

“Of course not,” I said crossly. “Why should I? I don't want to be married to anyone, to tell you the truth.”

“But you don't know my stepfather! If he wants something—”

“You've said that before,” I reminded her. “He may think he wants me, but he's going to find out I'm not a plaything he can pick up at will. My father stood up to him, and I will too, if I have to.”

Flo looked at me suspiciously. “Are you going to tell him what I said? Not that I care if you do, but…”

“
You're
the one who's afraid of him, not I!” I said reasonably. “Why can't we both be sensible about this? I'll admit your stepfather is a very dominating man, but I don't intend to go as far as marrying him. You don't want to see him with another wife either, do you? Perhaps there'll come a time when we need each other's help.”

“Maybe.” I could see she was half convinced, struggling between her dislike of me and her instinctive sense of self-preservation.

“Well?”

I shrugged at my reflection in the mirror. “Shall we go downstairs then?”

Downstairs, to my annoyance, Todd claimed me again for a dance.

“Shouldn't I dance with someone else?” I objected reasonably. “Your guests are going to think…”

“Let them think! They might as well get used to the idea.” His eyes, more green than blue in the light of the chandeliers, seemed predatory as they looked into mine. I felt him trying to hypnotize me with all the force of his will. “An' who did
you
want to dance with?” he growled.

“Mark,” I said quickly, seizing on the first name that came into my mind. “I think I should dance with Mark. He brought me here, did he not? And I don't like the way you try to bully me. I won't be dominated, you know. You're not going to manipulate me, as you do other people.” I made my voice deliberately cold. “You build too many presumptions on a few stolen kisses, Todd Shannon!”

“You're a stubborn spitfire!”

“I won't be crowded and—and stifled!” I retorted. We glared at each other in silence for a few beats of the music, and then he shrugged his massive shoulders.

“I'll give you your head for a while longer, if that's what you need. Go dance with Mark, then. Want me to send him to you? Mark may imagine he's in love with you, but he ain't about to go up against
me!
”

The contemptuous way he could dismiss Mark, the way he spoke as if he was already sure of me, flicked me on the raw. I had come here with some idea of dazzling him, of putting him at a disadvantage, but he had contrived, in some fashion, to turn the tables on me, as he had done before. And in spite of all my protests, he persisted in treating me as if I was a pet kitten showing my claws, but already half tamed in spite of it.

“When your eyes get all narrow like that I can guess you're thinking up new ways to fight me!”

“How very discerning you are sometimes!” I snapped, and pulled away from him as the music stopped.

“When are you going to lay down an' start purring for me, little hellcat?” he asked softly as he led me back to where some of the ladies were sitting fanning themselves.

“For you? Never!” I whispered back emphatically.

He only raised a mocking eyebrow at me, and after bowing in an exaggeratedly polite fashion, he walked away whistling. He looked far too pleased with himself.

Mark asked me to dance after a while, but we were stiff with each other. I could not help wondering if his uncle had sent him to me, and I could not quite forgive him for letting Todd Shannon take over, without even a protest.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Rowena?”

I could not resist being sarcastic.

“Oh, but of course I am! How could I not? I dearly love surprises of this nature. To be asked to a quiet private dinner party and find myself presented to all the notables in the territory. It reminds me of my coming-out ball in London!”

Mark had the grace to flush, the dull red creeping up under his tan.

“I swear I knew nothing about it! He had me running fool's errands all day, until I had barely time to change. And
then
he announced that dinner was to be a formal affair. But believe me, I didn't know.”

“You mean that your uncle didn't confide to you that he planned to have me brought here merely to put me on exhibition? I've no doubt he hoped that I would arrive looking a fright, so that I would be made to seem like a frumpish idiot among all his fine friends!
That
would have suited his purposes, I'm sure! Perhaps he wished I'd be embarrassed enough to turn tail and flee back East!”

“I'll admit that he has a rather crude sense of humor, but I don't think he wishes you to leave, Rowena. He's taken a liking to you.”

“He has a strange way of showing it, then!” My eyes looked coldly into Mark's. “Or perhaps it's only this sense of humor you are so anxious to defend that persuaded him to propose marriage to me. Would you like having me for your aunt, Mark Shannon?”

I saw his lips tighten as a strange, shuttered look dropped over his face, making it appear harder and older. “I think you know that's the last thing on earth I would like,” he said quietly. “But my Uncle Todd is a very forceful man, as you must already have discovered. People usually end up doing exactly as he wants them to do. I was hoping that you would turn out to be different, Rowena. But the choice, of course, is yours to make.”

Why would I have to make a choice? I liked Mark. I had come to look on him as a brother I never had. And he had accepted my rejection of his half proposal like the gentleman he was. His uncle, on the other hand, was a different breed of man. A robber baron—determined, grasping. Used to reaching out and taking what he wanted. But he would not find me as easy as that!

Perhaps because it filled me with anger to find out that everyone, even Mark, believed I would give in to Todd Shannon in the end, on this occasion, I was driven by an almost desperate need to prove my independence. I said suddenly, “Mark, I would like to go home now. Will you take me?”

He looked startled, and, I thought, rather apprehensive.

“But, Rowena, it's past two in the morning! I thought my uncle had already mentioned it to you. All his guests are to spend the night. Believe me, it's the custom in this part of the world. I'm sure Marta and Jules will take it for granted that you…”

“If you're afraid, Mark, then I'll find someone else to take me,” I said. “Your uncle thinks he can do anything he wants with people. But he shan't find me a pawn to be moved around and manipulated as he pleases!”