How Miss West Was Won (15 page)

“Not in those shoes,” Eli said. “We need to see about getting you a pair of boots. Perhaps we will go into town tomorrow.”

“Perhaps we should go today and forgo this little excursion,” Cordelia said.

Eli leaned toward her, and for a moment he thought about kissing her. But he was sure she hadn’t forgiven him enough for that. Instead, he glanced down at Stuart. “If we’re not back before it gets dark, come looking for us. And check on Mrs. Dunlap from time to time to make sure no one is bothering her.”

Stuart nodded, and Eli could tell his cousin was not happy. When Eli and Cordelia returned, he would have a talk with Stuart so he could find out whatever was bothering him. It couldn’t be more important than what Eli and Cordelia were dealing with right now.

* * *

By the time they had ridden an hour, Cordelia’s already sore bottom felt as if it might separate from the rest of her body. “Eli,” she called out, hoping he would hear her. “May we stop, please?”

He didn’t answer and she yelled out his name again. This time he pulled to a stop, and when Emily followed suit, Cordelia felt as if she might slip from the saddle. She grabbed the horn and moaned softly. “My bottom cannot take anymore of this,” she said. “I am already sore, for obvious reasons, and for which, I might add, I have not received an apology. We need to take a break.”

They were deep into the woods now, following a tiny path that cut through them. She could hear the water running to the right, the sound calming, but not quite calming enough.

Eli was on his feet before she knew it. He offered her his hand and she took it, dismounting gingerly. She fell to her knees as he worked with the horses. Moments later, he took her hand. “There is a little clearing up ahead. Be careful where you step in those shoes, and we’ll go up there and eat the food Mrs. Dunlap packed for us.” He smiled at her. “It’s not too far. I’ll take both the horses, you just be careful.”

He started off down the path and Cordelia fell into step behind him. The path was fairly smooth, with little rocks here and there. After about ten minutes they came to the clearing he had told her about. It was beside the creek, and Cordelia glanced down at the water.

It seemed calm in this area, and she wondered what it would feel like to take a dip in the cool waters. A glance behind her showed that Eli was spreading out a blanket; next to him was the satchel of food Mrs. Dunlap had prepared that morning.

“Would you like some water?” Eli asked her as he sat down on the blanket. He opened the satchel and took out a jar. “I’m sure it’s fairly cold.”

Cordelia dropped down on her knees. She thought about sitting down, but knew it would not help ease her soreness. After she took the jar and swallowed a good portion of it, she lay down on her side.

“I’m sorry you’re sore,” Eli said.

“But not sorry you spanked me?”

“No.”

Cordelia sighed. “You and I are very different people, Eli,” she said. “Do you mean to tell me your father spanked your mother, and thought it was a good thing to do?”

“I have no clue,” he said. “I know both my parents spanked me, and it kept me from doing bad things again.”

Cordelia did not answer him. Instead she sighed heavily. They were obviously not going to agree on this, and it would not matter in a few weeks anyway. “Have you seen anything that gives you a clue as to the intruder?”

“No.” He started to unpack the bag. There were slices of bread and some meats.

Cordelia took a slice of bread and started to eat. After one bite, she asked, “Is there any jam in that bag?”

“Yes, here it is.” He handed it, and a knife, to her.

She slathered the bread and took another bite. That was better. “We never did make a list of people we thought might be responsible for our problems,” she said.

“You’re right.” He reached into the bag and took out a piece of paper and a quill and ink. “Let’s do it now.”

Cordelia finished her bread before she took another drink of water. Then she picked up the writing utensils and labeled the page as Suspects. “Of course the name at the top of the list is Constance,” Cordelia said as she wrote the name down.

“That’s a given,” Eli agreed. “What we need to do is figure out who brought her here, and I hate to say who is at the top of my list.”

Cordelia lifted up slightly. “Who?”

For a moment, she thought Eli would not respond, but then he said, “Nathan.”

“Are you serious?” Cordelia hesitated, refusing to write the name down. “Why would you think your own lawyer would do something like this to you?”

Eli was silent for a moment, and Cordelia thought he might not give her a reason for his blurting out the name. After a few moments, though, he proved her wrong. “The papers I received looked very legal. Who else could have set them up?”

It sounded logical, but did not quite convince her. “Someone else could have hired a lawyer in Denver to make out the papers and hire Constance.”

Eli shook his head ever so slightly. “You’re right.”

Still, he should be considered, so Cordelia wrote his name down. “Where do we go from here?” She pointed to the new name on the list. She could tell thinking about this was hard, because these were friends of his, people that he had known for a long time. “Eli, if this is too hard for you, we can do it another time.”

“It won’t be any easier,” Eli said. “I’ll name them off quickly. I think Reese might have something to do with it, and I also wonder about Jacob.”

Before she could voice her dissent, Cordelia wrote down both names. “I have trouble thinking Reese is involved, since his store was burglarized the other evening. Why would he call attention to himself that way?”

She watched as Eli took a piece of bread and slathered it with jam. He ate it in three bites, and then prepared another one. After he’d taken one bit of it, he said, “It could be a way of covering his tracks. Maybe he thinks someone wouldn’t suspect him if he suffered problems.”

The idea had merit, but Cordelia was still uncertain if Reese would try to cause trouble for Eli. “What about Jacob?” Cordelia picked up an apple that Eli had unpacked from the bag. “Jacob is a lawman, and that means he would do nothing wrong.”

Eli laughed. “He’s also human.”

They were both silent for a few moments. “Do you think you were meant to marry Constance, and then she would in some way see that you were killed, and she would take control of the Four Fours?”

“Obviously,” he said. “My only question is what she, and whoever she is working with, hope to gain from it.”

Cordelia put down the items she had been holding. She stood and stretched. Near the trees, the horses grazed on grass. Cordelia looked over to the creek. She walked to it slowly and knelt down. She lowered her hand so she could run her fingers through the icy water. “Where does this stream begin?” she asked.

“Up in the mountains,” Eli answered. “When the melting starts in the spring, you’ll see how heavily it flows. It is a beautiful sight.”

His words made Cordelia’s throat tighten just as little. As angry as she was with Eli about last night, she still would like to see the rolling creek during the spring.

“I won’t be here then, will I?” She turned to him. “By then we will have solved your problem, and I will be in New York. The only problem after that will be how you will explain my absence to the people you care about, like Mrs. Dunlap.”

“Maybe you’ll still be here.” He stood and walked to where she still knelt next to the running stream.

“No,” she said. “We will have solved it by then, and I will have completed my employment here.”

For a moment she thought he would protest. Instead he just grinned at her. He offered her his hand and she took it and stood.

“I guess we’ll just have to see how things go, won’t we?” Eli said. Seconds later he lowered his face to hers and claimed her mouth in a fiery kiss that made her toes curl.

The kiss was soft, yet demanding, and for a moment, Cordelia submitted to his touch, letting herself relax into him as his tongue gently pushed into her mouth. The feeling was intoxicating, and for a moment she gave into the incredible feel of him. She leaned into the kiss, grabbing his shirt in her fists, partly to pull him closer, but mostly to let his strong body keep her from losing her footing.

His hands were on her cheeks now, holding her in place as he continued to claim her. “Cordelia,” Eli whispered against her lips after the kiss had broken. “I want you to stay with me.”

“Umm,” she managed to say before she kissed him. But as the kiss took hold of her senses, his words wormed their way into her brain, and made her pull away. She couldn’t go very far back, because he had hold of her.

Eli leaned in for another kiss, but Cordelia turned her face from his. “Let me go,” she whispered.

“Why?” He kissed her cheek now, his lips moving over her skin in a gentle caress, making their way down to her neck.

“You have to ask?” Cordelia stiffened under his touch, and he released her. She took a step back. “Since you have not found anything, I suggest we pack up the lunch and go back to the Four Fours.”

“Not before I get an answer to why,” Eli said. “I’m asking you to stay at the ranch with me after this situation is resolved. In my own way I am asking you to marry me, truly marry me.”

Her heart caught in her throat, and for a moment she thought she would cry. But then she took a few calming breaths and said, “No.” She turned away from him, walking toward the creek.

“Why?” Eli said from behind her. “The two of us are good together, Cordelia. We have enjoyed our time with games and books… and in bed.”

The tears were swimming in her eyes now. She blinked them away but did not turn back toward him. “I will not stay with you, Eli, when you think you have the right to spank me because you deem it necessary.” Thinking about the last spanking he had given her strengthened her resolve. “If you can promise me that you will not take me over your knee again, I will consider your proposition.”

She turned now to watch his reaction to her words. To her surprise, he smiled. “Even in bed? I do believe your climax was extremely – satisfying – when I spanked you while we were making love.”

Cordelia blushed at the memory of the erotic experience. She had never thought to do something like they had done together. She had opened herself to him, and it had been incredibly sensual and stimulating. The climax had been more than satisfying. It had been incredible.

But was the chance of another such incident enough to entice her to stay? If she went back to New York, there was every chance she could find another lover, but she did not think he would be as – she stopped her thoughts before they could be completed. After William had died, she had told herself she would never open up to another man again, but yet she had done so with Eli. In truth, she had opened herself more to Eli than she ever had to William, letting Eli take her maidenhead and come into her bed to fill her several times after that.

She had feelings for him that she did not quite understand, but that did not mean she would allow herself to be abused when he decided she needed punishment. “If you can promise me you will not spank me anymore, I will stay. I will be a true mail-order bride for you.” Her whole body felt as if she were in a fire as she waited for his response. When it came, she felt as if she might topple over from grief.

“I can’t promise you that, Cordelia,” he said. “I will spank you, both for discipline, and in our bed.”

“Then I will not stay,” she said.

There were a short pause before Eli said, “You’ll change your mind. When it is time to leave, you will find out you love your life here, and that you and I are good together.”

Cordelia ran her hands over her hips. It felt strange to do so, since she was not wearing her usual costume of skirt and petticoats. The trousers felt alien to her, and truthfully, they matched the way she felt after Eli’s proposal. “My bottom hurts from last night. I am going to take a walk before we ride back to the Four Fours. That will give you time to gather up the remnants from our lunch.”

She didn’t give him time to answer. Instead, she hurried down to the creek, watching her footing as she walked so that she would not fall. Behind her she heard Eli say, “We will discuss this later,” and she had no doubt that he would bring up the subject again.

But she would find some way around it, of that she was certain. The beauty of the land distracted her as she walked along the creek. It was wider in some spots, and she wondered what was on the other side. There was little cleared land across the creek, and the other side contained more trees. She looked up and could tell by the way some trees towered over the others that the land was steeper over there.

She wanted to explore that side, but there was no bridge to cross. She wondered if the property beyond the creek belonged to the Four Fours or if it was someone else’s land. It was something she would ask Eli when they were riding back to the house. It would keep the discussion away from his afternoon proposal.

Cordelia continued on, carefully making her way along. She had walked for a while when she came across something that made her frown. It was a rope, tied to a tree on the far side of the creek and extended over the water.

She had seen rope bridges before, but this was not one of them. In this spot the water was not as wide, and it looked as someone could use the rope to pull themselves to the other side of the creek. What would it be doing all the way out here?

The better question, Cordelia thought, was did this rope have anything to do with the person who had broken into the house the other evening, or the person who had assaulted Mrs. Dunlap?

Something told her it did. The urge to investigate further was strong, but it was also a bad idea that Cordelia quickly quashed. She needed to show this to Eli. He could tell her if it was something new, or if it had been there for a while and had been used by people to make their way across the water.

As quietly as possible, Cordelia turned and started to backtrack. The forest was quiet, but she still felt as if someone was watching her. She quickened her step. As she walked, she realized she had not known she had gone so far.

Nerves took over as the path wore on; they finally eased a little when she heard Eli call her name. “This way,” she answered. He did not respond and she called out, “Eli, I am here. Where are you?”

“Over here,” he responded. Cordelia hurried in the direction of his voice, the fear she had felt earlier fading as she came into the clearing where they had eaten.

“What is wrong?” he asked her as she flung herself against him. Feeling his arms around her made her feel safe, but it also made her feel silly that she had allowed something as small as seeing a length of rope make her panic.

She took several deep breaths and then told him what she had found. “I feel foolish now, because I am sure it is something that has been there for a while, and has nothing to do with the person who has been coming into the house.”

One glance at Eli’s face told her she was wrong about her assumption though. “It is something new?”

“Yes.” Eli walked to the edge of the creek and peered down the way she had just returned. With his back to her she could not see his expression, but she could tell by the way his body had tensed that he was not happy with this new development. “Did you see anyone?” he asked her.

“No,” she said, “but… I felt as if someone was watching me.”

A dark look crossed over Eli’s face. He took her by the arm and led her toward the horses. The place where they had picnicked was clean. “Let’s go,” Eli said as he grabbed her horse’s reins.

“I thought you would want to see the place—” but she did not get a chance to finish the sentence. Eli lifted her up into the saddle.

“We’ll come back when we have help,” Eli said as he mounted his own horse. “We’ll need to hurry. I hope you’re up to it.”

Cordelia was not sure she was up to it, but there was no way she was going to complain and slow them down. She would keep up with Eli both going to the house, and coming back with reinforcements.

* * *

“Stuart!” Eli yelled for his cousin several times as he rode toward the barn at breakneck speed. He had stopped several times on the way back to check on Cordelia, but once they were in the clearing she had yelled at him to go ahead, that she would be fine. He had taken her word and hurried toward the house.

It was getting close to dark, and going out again tonight would probably not be a good idea. But they could get a group together and be ready to go at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

That might not be a good idea, though, since Cordelia was sure someone had seen her. Whatever was going on up there needed to be investigated tonight, even if it meant doing it in the dark.

“Stuart!” Eli yelled again. This time his cousin appeared in the barn door. He had a brush in one hand, as if he’d been taking care of his horse.

“Saddle up,” Eli commanded. “Then go and find some men, four or five of them that you trust. Something’s going on in the foothills near the creek.”

“Really?” Stuart seemed unimpressed. “Well, if you had come to see me more quickly, we could have discussed some information I had and maybe found out about this sooner.”

“What are you talking about?” Eli demanded. “Don’t talk nonsense to me, we’re burning daylight.”

Just as the words left his mouth, Cordelia rode up. She looked disheveled and was breathing heavily, as if she were the one who had been running and not the horse.

“Listen to me, Eli,” Stuart said, his voice tight with anger. “I’ve been trying to talk to you since the party. Melody told me her husband quit his job, but he’s been doing work at night on a new mine that someone discovered. They’re doing it on the sly.”

“Mine?” Eli said, as the words worked through his brain.

“Gold mine,” Stuart said. “A gold mine on the Four Fours.”

“Oh my,” Cordelia said. “But—”

“The way I see it,” Stuart said, “is they discovered the mine, I don’t know how. They set up a scheme where Constance would come in and marry Eli and after he was dead, which wouldn’t be long after they were married, she and whoever she is working with would have control of the land.”

“And control of the mine,” Eli said. He felt as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “Who could it be?”

Stuart kicked at the dirt. “I have my suspicions. I think, personally, Constance is working with Reese.”

Eli dismounted and then went to help Cordelia down. Doing that gave him time to think. He had known Reese forever. He might have suggested his name when they were making the list earlier, but Eli hadn't really thought it possible. Would his friend do something like this for money?

“Tell me why you think it’s Reese,” he finally said.

Stuart clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Well, to me it was the break in at the store.”

Eli remained stoic. “Explain.”

“Look at it this way,” Stuart said. “Reese has figured out that you know Constance is a fake. He knows that, if the mine is found, there will be items from his store there, items used in getting the gold out. Now, he can tell people he sold it to the miners, but the amount of equipment needed would be quite a bit. He would have asked people why they were buying it, what they were using it for. You know Reese, he’s always asking questions about stuff. But if it was stolen… well, then you’re clueless.”

Eli wanted to yell that there was no way Reese was involved in this.

“Then, there’s Constance,” Stuart continued. “Where did Reese go last year to buy things for the store?”

That question put a nail in Reese’s coffin, as far as Eli was concerned. “He went to London.”

“And he was very proud of what he brought back, the museums he went to and the plays he saw,” Stuart said. “I just figured that part out today, it just sort of hit me.”

“You need to send for Jacob,” Cordelia said. Eli had almost forgotten she was there, since she had been so quiet.

Stuart shook his head. “That’s a bad idea. Reese would be watching, and if we called the marshal out here, then Reese would know we were onto something. Eli’s right. We need to take a few men up there and see what’s what.”

Eli was still having trouble thinking Reese was the person behind everything, but then again, there was no one else he could see in that position.

“It makes sense,” Cordelia said. “He could have gone into the house for several reasons, either looking for deeds to prove ownership of the land, or looking for correspondence between the two of us before our purported marriage.”

Eli thought about it for a few minutes. “If it’s the latter, then it is more than likely that it is Reese that we’re looking at as a suspect. Nathan has all of my legal papers locked in a safe in his office. And he knows that you and I aren’t legally married.”

It was as if the world were spinning faster and faster. First the idea of there being gold on his land, and then the idea of his friend trying to steal it out from under his nose? It just didn’t make any sense to him.

He stared at the ground for a while, wondering how this could have happened without his knowing about it. How could there be gold up there, and how could Reese have kept it from him?