Be My Texas Valentine (17 page)

“Would you like some refreshment now or after we’ve concluded our business?” she asked.

“I prefer to wait.” Theodore leaned back and crossed his legs. “What is this about?”

She dropped beside him with a confused look on her face. “I could ask you the same thing. Your note only mentioned urgent things to discuss.”

“I fear someone has played a joke at our expense, Miss Wiggins.”

“Celeste, please. It does seem we’ve been duped.”

Over the course of the next fifteen or twenty minutes they discussed which party was at the bottom of it and arrived at the same consensus.

Rue Ann.

“We simply must take her to task,” Celeste said heatedly.

“I agree, Miss Wig ... Celeste. Rue Ann has developed this obsession with Cutter.” Theodore wasn’t all that upset, though. Celeste was much more enticing than Rue Ann. “What do you suppose is her reason behind getting us together?”

Celeste pursed her mouth adoringly. “It’s plain she wanted us out of the way so she could spend time with Logan. She could be at his home now.”

“What do you propose we do about it?”

She scooted closer to him on the settee and ran a fingernail up his arm. “She needs to get a taste of her own medicine. Let’s show her two can play this game.”

Theodore’s breath came in big gulps when she nibbled on his ear. Providence had smiled down on him. “Yes. Oh yes.”

Seizing the open invitation, he cupped her breast. Celeste’s bosom reminded him of mounds of soft bread dough. He stretched her out on the settee and lay on top of her.

“Mr. Greely, it appears you might have to spend the night.”

“Yes. Oh yes.”

Darkness had fallen. Logan lit the oil lamps scattered around the parlor. He still couldn’t believe his good fortune. Rue Ann was in his house, and she wanted a future with him.

Furthermore, it appeared she’d not be able to leave until tomorrow. The rain showed definite signs of sticking around.

Devlin would be fit to be tied. Logan’s smile stretched. He prayed the man would come looking for his daughter. He had a thing or two to discuss with Senator Spencer. And he had a sneaking suspicion that Rue Ann had some things to say as well. It was time. Devlin had wielded too much control over his daughter.

Logan sank into his chair in front of the fireplace and listened to her humming a tune as she rumbled around in his tiny kitchen preparing supper. He’d offered to help but she’d insisted she wanted to do it.

He seemed to breathe a whole lot easier since they’d gotten all the misunderstandings and lies that had stood between them out of the way. He was glad that Rue Ann hadn’t given birth to his child—yet. That was something he wanted to be there for. He wanted to hear the baby’s cry for the first time. And he wanted to hold Rue Ann in his arms and tell her how very much he loved her every day for the rest of their lives.

The back of his throat burned with the need to take care of her.

Ever since she’d walked out of the rain into his house, his body had no trouble remembering the silky feel of her skin that was hidden underneath her clothing. Heat rose and made his trousers tighter.

An idea hit him. He rose from the chair and quietly stole into the kitchen. Walking up behind her, he put his arms around her and nuzzled the nape of her neck.

“May I have this dance, Miss Spencer?”

She turned to face him. “There’s no music.”

“I distinctly heard some a minute ago.” He slowly kissed each eyelid and the tip of her pert nose before he reached her mouth. “Besides, we have the raindrops on the roof and I have a song in my heart that’s playing the most beautiful music you ever heard this side of heaven.”

“In that case, we can’t let all that go to waste.”

Rue Ann slipped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. They waltzed around and around the small house until the ham in the skillet started to burn.

It was the best meal he’d ever tasted. His eyes never left her as he satisfied his hunger.

When they’d finished, he set their dishes aside and knelt in front of her. His heart hammered loudly in his ears. He took her hands in his.

“Rue Ann Spencer, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” The words came out hoarse and raw.

Tears glistened in her eyes. “I know I told you I didn’t want to move fast, that I had to break off my engagement with Theodore before I could plan a future with you. But I don’t want to wait. I know what I want and I want you. Yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll be your wife and have your babies.”

He pulled her into his lap, nestling her against his chest. If he could’ve somehow opened up the skin, bone, and muscle, he’d have tucked her inside him, where it was safe and nothing could hurt her.

His breath was ragged. “Darlin’, I’ll make sure you won’t regret the decision.”

The kiss was long and deep. He loved her more than he ever thought he’d love another person. She consumed him. And that was the way he wanted it.

Pounding on the door awoke Theodore. He jerked upright, not exactly sure where he was. Celeste was curled up beside him. Early morning light streamed in the window.

“Who on earth?” Celeste murmured, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

The pounding continued. Whoever stood on the other side of the door was god-awful insistent.

Theodore jumped up and, dancing around, thrust his legs into his pants. “I don’t know but it’s time I got out of here before someone sees me.”

Celeste quickly pulled on a dressing gown while he finished donning his clothes. Panic swept through him as she went downstairs. He threw back the curtains on the window, desperate to escape this situation. But the window wouldn’t budge. It seemed someone had nailed it shut.

He looked around for a hiding place and had just slipped behind Celeste’s dressing screen a second before the bedroom door opened.

“Honestly! For the umpteenth time I told you Mr. Greely is not here. Why you would even think that, I have no idea.” Celeste’s voice was raised in anger.

“I have my sources and they don’t lie.” The booming voice belonged to Devlin Spencer. “I know he spent the night.”

Theodore’s heart pounded. If Devlin found him, the promising life he’d built would be over. The career he wanted more than anything would go up in smoke.

“That’s preposterous, sir.”

“Then tell me, dear lady, whose feet are behind that screen?”

“You can’t barge into my house and insult me this way.”

Shaking like a sapling in a heavy gale, Theodore gathered his courage and went to meet his fate. “You wanted to see me, sir? I just dropped by to help Miss Wiggins with some legal advice. How you can think I spent the night here is beyond me. I love your daughter and I’m going to marry her.”

The senator’s icy blue gaze pierced him. Theodore wanted to duck behind something. “Our deal is off. There’ll be no marriage. I didn’t care who you bedded as long as you did it discreetly. But you’ve flaunted this in Rue Ann’s face. It might surprise you to know that half the town has gathered on Miss Wiggins’s lawn. Even if you could escape my scorn, you can’t dodge theirs.”

“Then I’m not going to be in politics, take a place in the Senate, like you promised?” Theodore hated the whine that colored his question but he couldn’t help it.

“I don’t know how much plainer I can be. The deal is off. I groomed you for nothing.”

The words struck Theodore in the heart. Everything he’d worked for, everything he’d wanted, had vanished, gone as quickly as a bird taking flight. Unsteady on his feet, he drew in a shaky breath. “I didn’t want to marry your daughter anyway. You’ll have a hard time getting someone to take her off your hands.”

“Be that as it may, I want you to clean out your desk before noon. I’m through wasting time on you. You’ve done nothing but embarrass me.”

Walking in a daze, Theodore made it to the front door. True to Devlin’s words, half the town waited to witness his disgrace.

“What’re you gonna do now, Greely?” the mercantile owner asked.

“How does it feel to account for your sins, Mr. Greely?”

He shot Charlotte Barlow, the speaker of the question, and her meddlesome sister a hard stare. He’d have no choice but to leave town. No one would enlist his services. He was a laughingstock. He’d worked so hard to overcome that cold, smelly dugout and days without food.

Devlin Spencer had followed him out the door. “There’s a train leaving town at one o’clock. I suggest you be on it.”

Rue Ann awoke to thin glimmers of golden light, turning Logan’s bedroom into a beautiful haven in which she’d taken refuge.

Logan lay beside her, his legs entwined in hers. She lifted her head from his shoulder and marveled at the power of the man she loved.

Every time she thought of what her father had done, she seethed with anger. The lies, the manipulation by her father, had come close to destroying everything precious and good.

She tenderly cupped Logan’s jaw. “I almost lost you.”

He nipped playfully at her fingers. “But you didn’t.”

“I have to confront my father, you know.”

“I know.” He lowered his head. The kiss sent spirals of ecstasy through her. And when his hands moved to caress her bosom and down to her belly, she shivered with pleasure.

“I’m not sure I have strength to look him in the eye and condemn him for what he’s done. He’s a master at intimidation.” Tears lurked behind her eyes. “Sometimes he frightens me.”

Logan outlined her lips with the pad of his thumb. “Darlin’, you don’t have to face him alone. I’ll stand beside you. Lean on me whenever you need to.”

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, Logan Cutter.”

He took her face between his hands and gently kissed her.

“I thank God that He brought you into my life. Here’s a promise I’m making to you. I’ll not only be your strength today but every day for the rest of our lives. I will fight your fight. I’ll dry your tears, my love. And if you think I’ll throw you to the wolves you have another thing coming. We belong together for the rest of eternity.”

Chapter 10

Breaking off her engagement with Theodore occupied all of Rue Ann’s thoughts on the ride into town. This would be the first order of business before she and Logan confronted her father.

Seated beside her in the buggy, Logan drove. He’d tied his horse onto the back so they’d have transportation after she left the buggy at Bent Tree. Doubtless her father would insist on that. She cast him a sideways glance, admiring the firm set of his chin and the broad shoulders that would hold her up when she didn’t have strength.

She loved this man.

Devlin Spencer had a lot to answer for. She and Logan could never get back the time they’d lost.

Pulling to a stop in front of the Ambassador Hotel, Logan took her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

Rue Ann shook her head. “This is something I need to do alone.”

“If you’re sure.” He stepped from the buggy and went around to help her down.

When his hands lingered on her waist, she very nearly changed her mind. The heat of his nearness banished the chill of the rain-cooled breeze.

“I’ll wait for you,” he murmured in her ear.

She had almost made it to the hotel door when the Barlow sisters called from across the street. They seemed in a hurry to talk to her. Logan joined her on the sidewalk, his hand resting on the small of her back.

The sisters were quite out of breath by the time they reached them. First one sister then the other related the sordid events that’d taken place between Theodore and Celeste.

“He’s at the train depot now about to leave town,” Miss Emily finished.

“Good riddance, I say,” spouted Miss Charlotte.

Remembering what Logan had told her concerning the Barlow sisters’ cunning, Rue Ann smiled. “I don’t suppose you ladies had anything to do with Theodore getting caught.”

Miss Charlotte blushed. “Well, we might’ve had a little something. But that’s just between you, me, and the fence post.”

“You and that weasel really weren’t suited, dear,” Miss Emily chimed in. “I take it everything worked out with you and Mr. Cutter?”

Rue Ann met Logan’s gray eyes and her heart beat wildly. “It did indeed. The wedding will be on Valentine’s Day only with a different groom. To delay it would waste a perfectly good dress.”

And there was no reason left to talk to Theodore. They really had nothing to say to each other. She felt lighter than air as Logan helped her back into the buggy.

The care he took of her made her feel very cherished.

Devlin seemed to have been expecting them when Rue Ann and Logan reached Bent Tree. Her mother was waiting also. From all appearances, Devlin and Jenny had been arguing.

Rue Ann clutched Logan’s hand tightly as she entered the luxurious sitting room. She wished she weren’t so nervous but she was all the same. Her father always had this effect on her.

When she wanted to sprint for the door, she met Logan’s clear gaze and saw him mouth the words “I’m right here.” That calmed her. No matter what transpired, no matter what anger Devlin heaped on her head, no matter what he threatened, she’d still have Logan’s love.