Deborah Camp (33 page)

“Sorry, sugar, that is the truth.” He stood and turned his back to Adele while he jerked up his trousers and buttoned them. “I own this saloon and Lewis is my business partner. I met him in Deadwood after I struck it lucky. He was the only honest man in town, and I needed someone who was level-headed to show me what to do with my money and how to make more of it.” He faced her again, arching a brow and waiting for her reaction.

Adele propped her hands at her waist, trying to figure out what mischief he was cooking up. “You’re telling me that you struck gold in Deadwood? One in a hundred men find gold. Everyone knows that.”

“You’re looking at one, sugar. I struck it lucky and I doubled my money at the gaming tables. I was called the Midas Man, the man with the golden touch.
I made so much I became a target for every thief and snake-oil salesman in the territory. That’s when I hooked up with Lewis. He has a nose for investments.”

Dropping the telegram back onto the bureau, Adele gave him a scolding look. He was in a rare mood, but she was tired of his fun and games. “I have more important things to do than listen to your tall tales, Reno Gold. In another hour the restaurant will open for breakfast and the 8:20 Liberty Bell will be rolling into the depot. I must be on my way or—” She chopped off the rest when Reno’s hand closed around her upper arm. “What is it?”

“Listen to me, damn it all!” He shook her a little, sending home his point. “I’ve been wanting to tell you the truth for awhile now, but you always said something snooty and I’d clam up. You have to believe me, Dellie. I’m not penniless. I own a printing business and a chain of newspapers with Lewis. I’m rich, darlin’. Filthy rich.”

The seriousness etched on his face killed the vestiges of humor lingering in her. A coldness invaded her heart, and she wrenched away from him as the import of his news careened through her brain like a runaway railcar. She retreated to a safe distance from him, afraid that if she was too close she’d slap him.

“Why did you keep this from me?” She shook her head, trying to fling her thoughts into order. “When did all this happen? F&G—that is Fields and Gold?”

“Yes.” Reno released a sigh and spread out his arms in appeal. “Lewis lives in Kansas City now. He married a few months ago, just before I answered your advertisement for a husband.”

“Is that why you answered it? You wanted to marry because your friend had done so?”

“No, that had nothing to do with it.” He ran a hand down his bare chest. His suspenders hung loosely at his sides. His bare feet slapped the floor as he went to the window and pushed back the curtains to let in more light.

Adele looked at the sun-dappled bed and its tangle of sheets. She had thought she knew the man she’d slept with last night, but when she brought her gaze around to him again, she felt as if she was looking at a stranger.

“You lied to me.” The words hung like a guillotine blade between them.

“I didn’t want to.”

“You’re saying that I forced you to lie to me?” She laughed harshly.

“I wanted to tell you the truth.” He pushed a hand through his hair and groaned. “I should have, I admit it. When I saw the advertisement, I decided it would be fun to offer myself as a husband. I never thought you’d take it seriously, but you did.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

One corner of his mouth twitched, but not with humor. Adele sensed irony there. “That’s part of the problem,” he admitted. “I never for a minute thought you’d believe me to be so indigent that I’d need to marry to pull myself up a rung.”

“What was I to think? You answered the advertisement, so I assumed you looked upon it as an opportunity.”

“Exactly. You assumed. It never crossed your narrow mind that I might be having fun with you.”

“No.” She gave him a cool look. “And my mind is no more narrow than yours. So you never wanted to marry me? You were making fun of me in answering my advertisement?”

“No, that’s not right either. I wanted to see you. I thought you’d write back and invite me to visit. But you sent me a train ticket and a list of your expectations. Remember? You expected me at a certain time and on a certain day. I was to understand that you were not offering me money or property. You were only agreeing to a marriage.” He frowned. “I would have sent you a telegram telling you what you could do with your expectations if it hadn’t been for that last line of your letter.”

She folded her arms and glared at him. “And what was that?”

“You wrote that you remembered our days together fondly and that you were anxious to see me again.” The frown slipped away. “I wanted to see you, Dellie. So I stowed my pride and boarded the train.”

“No doubt your pride took up one of the freight cars.”

He grinned rakishly. “Two of them.”

“So you came here and have lied ever since. Why did you marry me? If you have so much money, why go through with the wedding?”

“I had every intention of telling you that I’d come to renew old acquaintance and I didn’t expect you to marry me, but on the train ride I started worrying that you’d be embarrassed or angry that I’d answered your summons for a husband. I started drinking …”

“Yes, you certainly did.” She glanced at the bed
and couldn’t stand seeing the aftermath of their lovemaking. With swift, sure movements she stripped the linens from it.

“When I came to, you were lording it over me, treating me like a vagabond instead of an old friend and—well, it singed my tail feathers.”

“I knew you’d manage to make your lies my fault.”

“No, I take some of the blame.”

She arched a cynical brow. “How noble of you.” She tossed the linens at him, hitting him squarely in the face. “You make me so mad I could spit!”

Reno’s temper spiked, and he flung aside the sheets and kicked at them in aggravation. “It’s exactly that kind of attitude that makes me want to teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget.”

He rounded on her, his face suffused with color, the cords of his neck standing out. He reminded her of a charging bull. Grabbing her by the upper arms, he pulled her to him and kissed her solidly, his lips as hard as her determination not to respond to him. Grinding his lips against hers, he continued his punishing kiss. Adele endured it, sensing that it was hurting him far more than her. Finally he pushed her away from him and cursed under his breath.

Adele folded her arms and stared calmly at him, her own irritation and fury simmering deep. She refused to shout and cry in front of him. His lying had cost her enough already.

“What was that supposed to prove?” she asked.

“Nothing!” He made a sweeping gesture, dismissing the kiss and what it was supposed to accomplish. “When you look at me like that, when you spout your rules and look down your nose at me, I can’t take it,
Dellie! You sound like your snooty friends in Lawrence. All I ever wanted was for you to listen to your good as gold heart.”

“How was marrying me and lying to me supposed to accomplish that?” She tapped one foot impatiently, biding her time, her throat thickening, her own anger bubbling just beneath the surface. How could he justify lying to her, letting her make a fool of herself over him?

“I don’t know. Things got out of hand.” He sat on the bare mattress and the bed frame squeaked under his weight. “I figured we would marry and I’d show you that you could love me without changing me. Every day I came close to confessing, and every day you’d say something that would get my dander up and I’d choke on the truth.” He sighed. “I’m glad the truth is out.”

He had the audacity to smile at her! Adele shook with anger. She wished she could shoot fire from her eyes and burn him to a crisp.

“So you married me to make a fool of me, to humiliate me by keeping the truth from me and then springing it on me one day so that you could rub my nose in it and have a good laugh.” As she spoke, the words fueled her anger and pain at being betrayed by him. Tears stung her eyes and she whirled away from him, not wanting him to see that she was nearly undone.

“Now, Dellie, don’t be like that. After all, you’re being a hypocrite.”

She swiped at her eyes and cut him with a sharp glare. “What are you talking about? I’m not the one who just admitted to marrying someone just to—”

“Dellie, all you’ve done is try to teach everyone how to live their lives,” he interrupted. “Every soul you come in contact with you try to mold into the person
you
think they should be.”

“That’s another lie,” she said, giving him a shove that barely tested him.

“Oh? Who was it who made me do chores before I got a kiss?”

“You agreed to that. No one forced it on you.”

“True, but leave it to you to think up such a trade.”

“I was only trying to move you in the right direction.”

“Yes, the direction you chose for me. When I told you I was managing this saloon—”

“Another lie!”

“—you didn’t approve, and it wasn’t a complete lie since I
am
managing it.”

She started to tell him that her main objection to the saloon was the high price Taylor Terrapin would put on his head because of it, but he continued to fling accusations at her like stones.

“You won’t let Sally marry who she wants without a fight from you.”

“I tore up her contract.”

“But only after lecturing her and ruining your friendship.” He held up one hand to ward off her comment. “I admit, your friendship with her wasn’t worth much, but you seemed to value it.”

“I will not stand here and be lectured by you.” She reached for her gloves. His hands settled on her shoulders.

“Dellie, don’t leave mad.”

“Let go of me.”

“Look at it this way, we’ve both learned important things about each other—”

“You never meant to stay married to me,” she charged, that one point sticking into her heart like a thorn. “You only meant to prove something.”

“So did you! Hell, you used me to prove to the town that ordering a spouse is wrong. It backfired because you and I have gotten close, closer than you ever imagined.”

She shook free of him, tears spilling onto her cheeks. “Yes, this marriage certainly has backfired. But don’t worry, Reno. I’ve learned my lesson. I have seen the error of my ways.” She fastened her gaze on him, extending him a cool look of disdain. “I know now that I should have sent you packing the minute you stepped off the train and saved myself this heartache.”

“Dellie, don’t—”

She knew it was futile to stay another moment, because she had no voice left, only sobs. Dodging his attempt to detain her, she opened the door and ran out of the room and down the stairs, hoping and praying he would not follow.

Reno lunged for her and tripped on the pile of bedclothes. Stubbing his toe, he cursed under his breath as pain shot up his foot to his ankle. He slammed the door behind her and ground his teeth together in impotent rage.

“Damn it all!” he bellowed, turning away to face the bed where he’d found heaven, only to lose it. “You are a sorry bastard, Gold.”

*     *     *

Hurrying down the stairs, through the empty saloon, and out onto the boardwalk, Adele blinked away her tears. She sagged against a hitching post and dabbed at her wet face with a handkerchief. To steady herself she breathed deeply and staved off a fresh batch of tears.

She would not waste another tear on him, she thought, even as more blurred her vision. God’s nightgown! If she wasn’t the worst bawl-baby ever! Glancing around, she struggled to compose herself, not wanting anyone to witness her misery.

That’s when she saw Terrapin stride from his saloon. He didn’t look her way, but seemed focused on something down the street. Focused like a cat with a mouse in its sights. A grim smile rode his mouth. It sent a shiver of apprehension down Adele’s spine and dried up her tears. Sunlight struck metal in his hand. Adele’s heart shuddered when she saw that he held a gun.

Oh, no. Now what?

She shoved herself away from the hitching post and stepped into the street to see for herself what or who had earned Terrapin’s wrath.

Her apprehension turned into stark terror when she recognized the woman walking toward her, blithely unaware of the danger stalking her.

“Mrs. McDonald!” Adele shouted. The woman waved, then froze and looked around, belatedly alert.

“I warned you, Doris,” Terrapin yelled to her. “I told you I wouldn’t tolerate your unfaithfulness, your ungratefulness. You asked for this. Just remember that when you get to hell.”

The few people on the street scattered like buckshot
as Terrapin raised his gun. Mrs. McDonald whirled and started to run. Terrapin’s gun kicked. Adele screamed, the sound reverberating in her head. Mrs. McDonald stumbled forward into the street, pushed by the impact of the bullet, then her body folded like an accordion.

Without a thought for her own safety, Adele ran to the injured woman and dropped to her knees, pulling Mrs. McDonald into her lap. Cradling her close, she tried vainly to protect her from the man who strode toward them, that chilling smile still on his face.

“Is she dead?” Terrapin asked.

Adele could feel a struggling pulse in Mrs. McDonald’s neck, but she would sooner have died than tell him.

Looking around, fear shaking her insides, Adele searched for someone to help her. Nobody was on the street. “Someone get the doctor!” she screamed at the faces pressed against the windows of the barber shop and the General Store.

“Let go of her and I’ll spare you,” Terrapin said almost pleasantly.

“Stay away,” she warned him, extending a hand to ward him off and wishing she had a gun in it. She could have blown Terrapin away without an ounce of remorse. “You stay away from us.”

Terrapin made a
tsk
sound with his tongue. “You can’t boss me like you do that husband of yours. No woman will ever be my boss. And no woman will ever betray me and live to brag about it. Just ask Dead-eye Doris there. Or maybe we should just call her Dead Doris now.”

Mrs. McDonald moaned and moved fitfully. Beads
of perspiration broke out over Adele’s forehead and dampened her palms. She held Mrs. McDonald more tightly, curving her body around the woman to shield her as Terrapin took careful aim again.