Lover's Gold (36 page)

“What do you think of the ranch so far?” He propped the shovel against the barn, pulled a red plaid kerchief from the pocket of his breeches, and mopped his perspiring brow.

She tried not to notice the way the muscles of his arms and shoulders rippled as he moved. His skin had darkened even more from his week of working in the sun, and the bronze color of his face made his blue eyes seem even lighter.

“It’s lovely, Ren. I’ve been wanting to take a better look all week, but this is the first day the doctor would let me go out. I was headed toward that beautiful horse in the corral. I’ve never seen an animal like him.”

“That’s Sultan,” he told her as they walked toward the horse. The animal snorted and blew when they approached, and pranced majestically. “He’s a full-blooded Arabian stallion.”

“He’s exquisite. Such a fine head and almost dainty feet.”

“Don’t let that fool you. The Arabian is actually one of the hardiest of breeds. His endurance over tough terrain is remarkable, and his stamina’s unmatched. I had him brought here by ship. I’ve got a mare due to arrive next month. I want to start breeding. Sultan will be the sire of a long line of Arabians.”

“He’s beautiful, Ren.”

He watched her as if he wanted to say something, then glanced away. When he turned back, he smiled warmly, but she could sense his control. It matched her own perfectly.

“I’ll give you the Cook’s tour,” he said, “if you can wait long enough for me to clean up a little.”

She wanted to tell him he needn’t bother, that she loved every sweat-covered inch of him, but instead she just nodded, and he headed toward the bunkhouse.

For a while she leaned against the corral, watching Sultan; then she wandered toward the huge vegetable garden that ran along one side of the barn. The com was high, and several varieties of squash hung beneath dark, fuzzy leaves on thick vines running along the ground. Hearing the crunch of booted feet against the hard-packed earth, she turned to see Ren walking toward her. He had washed his face, and his black hair, now damp, curled just above his collar.

“You always did look beautiful in lavender,” he said softly as he reached her side. His expression spoke of the past, and she glanced away.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her along after him, then stopped short. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I feel fine. Really I do.” She started to add “Good enough to leave the ranch,” but she didn’t want to spoil the mood. “Besides, the doctor said I was supposed to get some exercise.”

He grinned again, and his straight white teeth flashed in his tanned face. “Then exercise is what you’ll get.” For a moment his gaze looked hungry; then his control returned. “We’ll walk up under the oaks. From there you can see clear across the valley.”

It was obvious he loved the ranch, and it pleased her to discover this new side of him. She only wished she could be with him to share his plans and dreams.

By the time they neared the stand of oaks, Ren could see Elaina was tiring. He paused for a moment to let her catch her breath. “I shouldn’t have let you come this far.”

“I’m fine. Besides, I want to see the view. It’s just a little farther.” Her ruby lips turned pouty, just the way he liked them. “Please.” The impish note in her voice made him smile.

“All right. I said we were going up to the oaks, and so we shall.” Effortlessly he scooped her into his arms. She hooked an arm around his neck to balance herself, her face so close he could feel her warm breath on his cheek. She smelled clean and fresh, and he wanted to hold her forever. He felt a familiar tightening in his loins, the urge to take her, to bury himself within her and forget everything but the two of them.

On a patch of soft, dry grass, he set her down, then seated himself beside her. She didn’t speak for a while, and he wondered if the contact had affected her as much as it had him.

“It was worth the walk,” she said finally. “You should be proud of all you’ve accomplished.”

“I am.” He rested his hands on a large granite boulder, determined not to touch her again. If he did, he knew his careful control would shatter. He should have stayed out of sight, just kept an eye on the house as he’d planned. Now he was testing them both. Still, he couldn’t say he was sorry. Just having her beside him seemed to fill some basic need.

She was eyeing him curiously. “You never told me how you got that scar.”

Self-consciously, he rubbed the deep gouge along his neck. “Dan Morgan got this scar. In a knife fight down on the Brazos.”

“Over a woman?” she asked with a slightly feline smile.

He faced her with a roguish smile of his own. “Pretty little Mexican
señorita
,” he teased. “Johnny Langton and I both had a claim on her. Johnny took his a little more seriously.”

“So you fought for her?”

“Not exactly. Johnny decided to pay a surprise visit to the lady’s room. Unfortunately, she had company.”

“You.”

“I was younger then. I had more stamina. Like the Arabian. He still needs a whole herd of mares to keep him happy.” He glanced at the curve of her breast, watching the perfect mounds rise and fall with her breathing. “All I need now is one fiery little filly.”

She laughed, picked up a stone, and tossed it at him playfully. It was the first time he’d heard her laugh in weeks. Maybe it was the resignation they were both feeling that allowed them these last moments of happiness together. Neither had spoken of the future, or of the wedding just two days away. Each seemed to be savoring these final hours, wanting nothing to spoil the treasured memory.

“Tell me about Dan Morgan,” she said.

Ren glanced across the valley. Elaina watched his hard, lean profile, though much of his face was hidden by the straw hat he still wore. She admired the curve of his mouth, his high cheekbones and proud chin.

“Dan Morgan was never meant to live as long as he did,” he told her. “I always intended to be Ren Daniels. I just wanted Morgan to make Ren’s life a little easier.”

“And did he?”

“For a while. Then the whole masquerade became a nightmare. Gunfighters started calling Morgan out for no reason, wanting to make a name for themselves by killing Black Dan.”

“So you quit.”

“After I saved enough money, I let Morgan disappear. That was a few years after I met Jacob. He hired me to help him with some dishonest dockworkers. By the time the job was finished, we’d become friends. He kept me on for a while, but I told him sooner or later Dan Morgan was through. I wanted to take the money I’d earned and make an honest living. Tommy was getting older, and I wanted him to have a decent life.”

She watched him closely. He seemed desperate to make her understand why he owed Jacob so much.

“Jacob understood,” Ren said. “He told me he’d been in the same situation. When he first came to this country people treated him badly, called him a foreigner. He worked and scrimped for every dime. He started as a dockworker and ended up owning the company—as well as several others. Only after he became a wealthy man was he given the respect he deserved.

“For some reason, Jacob decided to help me. He introduced me to people who mattered, treated me like a son. With Jacob’s connections, success came easy. He even put up his own money to back several of my ventures.”

“So you believe Jacob is responsible for your success.”

“To a large extent, yes. I can never truly repay his kindness. I can only do the one favor he asks.”

“Marry his daughter.”

“Yes.”

She wondered if she’d imagined the catch in his voice. “I think we’d better be getting back,” she said. “I’m feeling a little tired.”

“Of course.” He helped her up, and she noticed a tremor in his hand.

When they neared the porch, he stopped. “You know how much I wish things could be different.”

“I know,” she whispered.

He let go of her hand. “Tommy and I will be leaving first thing in the morning. He’ll be back here on Sunday.”
After the wedding
, she thought. You’ll be gone on your honeymoon, lying with your wife in some soft feather bed.

“He’ll help you get wherever you’ve decided to go. It looks as though we’ve lost the men who were after you. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them anymore.”

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as brittle to him as it did to her.

He swept off his hat, raked his hand through his thick dark hair, then turned the hat nervously in his hand. His pale gaze rested on the brim. When he looked up, his eyes betrayed raw emotion. “Done for you? What have I ever done for you except bring you misery?”

His words made her knees feel weak. She could see the battle he waged with himself, the tension in every line of his face.

“You’d have been better off if you’d never dug me out of that coal mine.”

It was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms. He looked so beaten, so vulnerable. How could it seem he was the one who needed comforting? He who suffered more than she? She held her fingers to his lips. “Don’t ever say that—not ever.”

“I never thought I’d care for a woman the way I do you. I never thought I’d ever love.” His voice sounded broken, ragged. “I didn’t understand what two people could mean to each other. You mean everything to me, Elaina.” His pale eyes searched her face. He caught her hand and kissed her palm. Staring at her as if waging some inner war, he groaned softly and pulled her into his arms. For a moment he held her against him, his arms surrounding her, clutching her against him; then he cupped her face and kissed her, sharing her pain, her heartbreak. Fighting back tears, she clung to him, helpless, while he buried his face in her hair.

Then they moved apart.

“Be happy, Lainey.”

She nodded, knowing she’d had more happiness in their short time together than most people have in a lifetime. Maybe it had been selfish of her to hope for more. Feeling the weight of her loneliness, she straightened her shoulders, turned, and slowly climbed the stairs.

Chapter 26

S
AINT
J
UDE’S
C
HURCH
resounded with the hubbub of muffled voices, the swish of petticoats, and the footfalls of society’s finest ladies and gentlemen thronging to fill its massive nave.

The huge organ piped softly as guests were escorted to their pews by young men in elegant black swallowtail coats and the stained-glass windows let in a kaleidoscope of colored light.

Tommy Daniels took a last glance around the church and closed the wide oak door to the suite of rooms to the right of the altar. Along with Ren and six close friends who would act as groomsmen, Tommy spent these last crucial minutes readying himself for the wedding ceremony.

Propping his foot on a bench to wipe the dust from his shiny black shoes, he watched his brother covertly. Ren seemed to have aged ten years in the past two weeks. Every line in his face was taut, there were new creases across his brow, and his eyes looked vacant. He moved around the room, checking his suit, helping the others finish dressing, and acting as though he were going to the opera instead of making a commitment that would alter the course of his life.

Ren was calm all right—too calm. His carefully controlled demeanor made Tommy feel slightly sick. Where was the happiness this day was supposed to bring? Where was the joy Tommy knew he would be feeling on his own wedding day three months from now? There was no joy in Ren because he felt no joy.

Ren should be marrying Elaina. It was obvious he was in love with her. And she was in love with him. She’d told Tommy and Carrie she wasn’t feeling well enough to make the trip into the city for the wedding, and they had allowed her to keep up her pretense, but both of them had known the truth just from watching the way Elaina would look at a photograph of Ren or touch something of his. That was the way Tommy felt about Carrie. He could scarcely keep his mind off her. That was the way Ren should be feeling about Melissa. But he didn’t.

Tommy hadn’t spoken to Ren about the marriage, at least not lately. He knew his brother too well. Once Ren made up his mind, there was no changing it. He felt he owed Jacob—and maybe he did—and he’d go through with the wedding no matter what the consequences to himself or to the woman he loved.

Tommy walked over to where his brother stood straightening his black bow tie. “Are you all right?”

“Why? Don’t I look all right?”

“You look
too
all right. That’s what worries me.”

Ren smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes. “I’m fine, little brother. But thanks for your concern.” Ren adjusted the cuffs of his crisp white shirt, then picked at a speck of lint on his tailcoat. He could hear the strains of the organ, even through the thick walls of the room. Pulling his watch from the pocket of his vest, he checked the time. “Won’t be long now,” he said.

“No. I suppose not,” Tommy agreed.

“Did you remember the ring?”

Tommy pulled the velvet box from his pocket and flipped open the lid. A huge diamond cluster, appropriate to the status of the woman Ren was marrying, sparkled from its berth of navy satin.

Ren laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Looks like we’re all set.” He eyed the glittering jewels on the tiny platinum ring. If Elaina were joining him at the altar, he’d have chosen a plain gold band. He would shower her with diamonds—he’d love nothing more than to buy her everything she dreamed of—but the ring would be his way of pledging his love. It would be simple—and meaningful. He knew no matter what he gave her she would love it. She didn’t care about pretensions. She never had. Even now that she was a woman of means, she seemed to prefer a simple existence. It was one of the things he loved about her.

Love
. He had never expected to fall in love. Told himself love was for fools. Marriages were arrangements between families for the benefits each would receive. But he’d fallen in love with Elaina, though he’d fought it from the start. Now he was paying and paying dearly.

He wondered what she was doing. How she was feeling. Was she crying softly as she had that day in Central City? Or being stoic, forcing herself to remain dry-eyed when her heart was breaking just as his was now? He wished he could see her, hold her one last time, but he knew he would never see her again. Couldn’t chance seeing her, couldn’t chance hurting her again. He would remember her smile and would imagine her laughing as she had that day beneath the oaks. He’d remember the sun lighting her hair with ruby hues that matched her lips. He would remember her golden gaze and the way her mouth always looked just a little pouty, as if she wanted his kiss and would settle for nothing less. He would remember everything. And make those memories last him a lifetime. Elaina McAllister was part of his past. Just as he had let Dan Morgan disappear, he would let her disappear. If only he could make her disappear from his heart.