Harnessed Passions (27 page)

“
Where’s Julia?” he asked,
ignoring the curious looks the four occupants offered
him.

“
I thought she was with
you, dear,” Louise answered.

“
She was, but we had an
argument…about the bathtub and she left.”

“
I’m sorry Daniel, but I
haven’t seen her. I don’t think she came downstairs.”

“
Yes she did, I hear her.
I’m going to the stables to check on things. Will you tell her I’m
looking for her when you see her, please?” Louise nodded as Daniel
turned and left the room, closing the front door behind
him.

She waved the others away, handing the menu
back to Mrs. Lester and frowned as they left her alone in the
parlor. There was something not right between her daughter and her
new son-in-law, but she couldn’t even begin to understand what.
Certainly it wasn’t sexual, she thought. She may not have explained
everything to Julia that she should have, but her husband would
surely have made her understand the benefits of marriage. With a
husband like Daniel Browning, it was not likely sex could be
instigator to the argument between the young lovers. But if it
wasn’t, then what was?

His blood still boiled for her as he left
the house and headed down to the stables, seeing the dark figure of
his bride riding off into the night. Perhaps now wasn't such a good
time to approach her, Daniel thought. It was probably best if they
both put some distance between each other, and right now Daniel
felt too emotionally jumbled inside to reason with her. One word -
one wrong word - and she'd find herself flat on her back in the
middle of pile of horseshit or over his knee where she would find
pleasure among the pain.

With a heavy sigh he stopped his path to the
stables. He was just as eager to avoid the stable hands, as he was
to avoid his wife. He had spent the better part of fourteen hours
there, working like a madman in hopes of burning the green-eyed
beauty from his mind, and he wasn’t prepared to start all over
again. His muscles still throbbed as he thought about picking up
another pitchfork.

Reluctantly, Daniel turned around and headed
back to the house. He was amazed to discover how easily that little
vixen could wrap him around her finger. He was whipped and he was
allowing her to control the reigns, telling him just how much he
was allowed to taste of her in a single day. Less than an hour ago,
he had vowed never to touch her again until she was ready for him
and here he was, chasing after her like some lovesick mutt.

Daniel grunted as he walked around the side
of the house to the back door. All it took was for their tempers to
meet and he found himself a rutting horny fool, lusting after her
as though he hadn't had a woman in years. Granted it had been
months since he last felt the pleasure of a woman's touch, not
since before he'd first met Julia, had he lain between a woman's
legs.

It didn't matter how logical he tried to be,
or how much he promised not to rush her, he forgot all of that when
she was in his arms. He cursed himself under his breath, and then
cursed Julia even louder. What the hell was she doing playing with
his emotions like this and why in God’s name was he allowing her to
do it? Didn't she know how desperately he needed her? Didn't she
know how much pleasure she'd find in his bed? Perhaps not, he
thought, she wasn't that educated in the field of men to know she
was torturing him beyond reason or rational thought; she had no
idea how many long nights he paced the floor waiting for her to
join him. And wait he would, he told himself with a sigh, reaching
for the handle to the back door, wait until she needed him, wait
until she no longer had control, wait until her conscious took a
back seat to her desires.

Walking through the hallway that led from
the kitchen to the front of the house, Daniel heard the soft voice
of Louise coming from the library. He turned the corner and smiled
at the older woman, the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar in her
hand, her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose and a
glass of cherry at her side. Thompson cleared away the remains of
her late dessert from the small table to her right a she looked up
and smiled.

Daniel realized for the first time how
vulnerable she appeared and how utterly alone she really was. He
couldn't even begin to understand what it would be like to lose the
one and only person you ever truly cared for; to sleep alone and
sit alone, never again to have that one special person to talk
with, never wanting to go through all the torture and struggle of
falling in love with another person, only to risk losing to the
destiny of fate once more.

"What's the matter dear?" the older woman
asked, bringing Daniel out of his private world. He smiled, taking
up occupancy on the sofa.

"Nothing much," he lied, trying to put as
much normalcy into the evening as possible. "I just thought I'd
come down for a nightcap before turning in."

"I would have thought married life would
have taken the precedence over liquor?" Louise chuckled softly.
Daniel cleared his throat, unwilling to let the woman know just how
wrong she was.

"Nothing can take the place of a good
brandy," he told her, standing and walking to the liquor
cabinet.

"Not even my daughter?" Suspicion and
motherly curiosity echoing through the woman’s words as she watched
Daniel pour his drink; distracted by the rumor she heard that
evening about the two lovers occupying separate rooms on their
wedding night. He thought for a few moments in silence, before
answering, hoping to find the right words to relieve his
mother-in-law’s mind.

"Julia could make a drunk forget everything
but her beauty," he said softly, his thoughts distracted as images
of his bride floated before his eyes. A strange twinge seemed to
grip his insides as he thought about how warm and soft she felt
against him.

"Then why aren't you upstairs with her,
instead of down here?"

"Mainly because she's not upstairs,” he
answered, softly clearing his throat again. “She wanted some fresh
air and went for a ride."

"At night? Alone?" Louise's surprise and
concern echoed in her tone. "What were you thinking, allowing her
to go out alone in the middle of the night?"

"It's hardly the middle of the night,
Louise," Daniel corrected, trying to hide the sudden eruption of
fear that seemed to leap into his throat. "Besides, you try and
reason with your daughter when she has her mind set on something.
It's not exactly a quilting bee you know."

“
That's true," the woman
conceded. "She's just like her father." The two fell into silence
as they each became consumed with their own thoughts. Daniel began
to frown again; thoughts of his new bride riding the open fields
alone seemed to consume him; why had he allowed her to just run out
of the house? He should have followed her and tried to reason with
her before the wedge between them grew wider. Sooner or later,
things had to come to a compromise, but just exactly when was the
real question.

Minutes ticked by as minutes gave away to an
hour, and then two. Daniel found himself alone in the library,
waiting for Julia. Louise had grown tired over an hour ago and
retired to her room, leaving him to pace the floor in solitude. His
concern began to grow into anger and then back to concern.
Something must have happened; she wasn’t a careless woman, and she
knew better than to stay out this late at night, regardless of how
angry she was.

Taking his jacket from the hall closet by
the front door, Daniel hurried down to the stables. If she was down
there trying to avoid him by not coming back up to the house,
making him worry about her for hours, he’d turn her over his knee
and give her a whooping like she'd never known. That would teach
her never to cross him again!

The stables were nearly dark with only a
single lantern left flickering on a hook next to the office door.
Daniel strained to look around and saw the shadow of a man in one
of the back stalls. He walked slowly through the rows of horses and
saw Rally Overton brushing the swollen belly of Misty.

"Mr. Brownin'," the older man said with a
frown, turning to see his employer standing just outside the stall.
"I wasn't 'spectin' ya t’night. Ever'thin' alright?"

Rally quickly shuffled his feet in the hay
that lay on the floor, as though he was trying to hide the
disgraceful sight of his dirty, mud caked boots and the condition
of his wet pant legs. The stable hands knew Daniel hated to see
them looking like gutter-snipes, but right now he didn't take
notice of the old man's appearance.

"Not really. I was looking for my wife, have
you seen her?"

"Can't say's I have, but then I's just got
back myself. I was out huntin' down Misty here. She got out a while
back 'n with her colt just days off, I's didn't want her runnin'
off and gettin' herself lost or fallin' 'n breakin' a leg."

"Where does Julia usually ride when she goes
out?" Daniel didn't really care much at the moment about the mare
or her expected delivery; he was more interested in Julia and where
she was and why she hadn't returned.

“
Ya mean she ain’t home?
Why would she do a plumb fool thing like ridin’ out this time a
night?”

“
Never mind that, Overton,
have you seen her?”

"No sir, I ain’t," the old man said,
scratching the stubble on his chin. "But when she were a youngin',
she would ride out ta the swimmin' 'ole, but she ain't been there
since the little Farnsworth gal was found dead."

"Who?"

"Heather Farnsworth; she were Miss Julia’s
best friend. She died out there at the pond. Miss Julia's blamed
'erself fer 'er death since then, po' lil’ thin'. Weren't none a
'er fault, but ya can't 'vince her of it. That’s why she done left
Kin-tuckee, such grief she’s had in her all this time."

"The swimming hole; you mean that pond north
of here?"

"Yes sir, that's the one. If'n ya want I'll
go out with ya ‘n check it out?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I'll find
her." Daniel saddled Roustabout and walked him out of the stables
just in time to see Dourn ride up. He looked tired and wet. Daniel
narrowed his eyes when he saw his appearance.

"Where have you been, Dourn?" he asked.

"I's just' been lookin' the place over.
Figer I's best be knowin' where I's goin' if'n I get lost 'n
all."

"Ya needs ta be gettin' ta bed now boy,"
Overton said sternly, stepping up behind Daniel, his eyes holding a
secret warning only the two understood. "Ya coulda gotten hurt or
hurt that there little filly yer ridin'. Night ain't no place to be
out if'n ya don' know where yer goin'."

Before Daniel could comment on the old man's
accuracy, the sound of a horse came galloping up. She was back.
Daniel's anger mounted as he thought of Julia returning so late. He
was going to let her know exactly what he thought about her staying
out so late and come tomorrow she wouldn’t be sitting very
comfortably. Rally Overton was right; night was no time to be
riding, whether you knew the lay of the land or not.

Daniel turned and frowned as the chestnut
colored horse came into view, but when he saw she had no rider, his
anger gave way to panic. He took hold of the horse's reins stopping
her, and inspected the saddle and bit. Everything was still in
place, except for her rider.

"Miss Julia, would never 'ave left 'er
horse, Mr. Brownin'," Rally announced in a panicked tone.
"Somethin' musta happened ta 'er." That declaration didn't exactly
help Daniel's worries or fears any. He jumped on the back of
Roustabout and looked down at the older man.

"Get a couple of the hands and start
searching," he ordered. "Dourn you come with me, we'll check out
that swimming hole. Rally, you and the others spread out. We'll
meet back here in two hours." The two men headed out toward the
swimming hole where Overton had mentioned, pushing their horses to
top speed. The worry Daniel had been feeling in the pit of his
stomach was quickly approaching a level of shear panic. Julia may
have been a spoiled brat, but she was not careless, that much he
was certain of.

They approached the swimming hole with a
rush of anxiety. Daniel climbed down from his horse and called out
to her, but found only the flutter of an owl answering in reply. It
was possible she had been thrown from her horse, but then where was
she? She wasn’t on the road back to the house and there was no
visible sign of her anywhere. Dourn rode swiftly around to the east
side of the pond where he dismounted his horse and headed into the
brush hearing Daniel call out Julia's name. He stopped among the
thick underbrush listening close for a reply, but hearing nothing
more than the usual sounds of the night.

As the two men came nearer each other, they
confirmed there was nobody in sight with a shake of their heads.
There was nothing; no animals, no birds, no Julia. An eerie silence
encased the pond with only a few crickets to break the dread of
quiet. The clearing was deserted, as was the brush, but then Daniel
noticed the wet footprints leading out from the water and the
smooth path left from something being dragged.

"Look there," Dourn said, pointing to a dark
piece of cloth near the bank. Daniel walked toward the object and
stooped down, picking it up with his fingers. His breath caught in
his throat and Dourn audibly gasped with fear. It wasn't a cloth at
all; it was the breeches to Julia's riding habit and underneath was
Julia, wet and cold and seemingly lifeless.

"Oh dear God," Daniel whispered, praying
aloud as he hurried around to her head where she lay on the bank of
the pond, wet and dirty and covered with blood. He knelt down next
to her and placed a gentle finger on the side of her neck.