Jenny (3 page)

"Let me talk to her, Cole," Paul ground out.

He brushed past the younger man and went after
his fleeing daughter.

Cole remained where he was in the middle of the
aisle.

Jenny ran straight for the hotel where they were staying in town. Rushing past gawking strangers, she entered the lobby and hurried up the staircase to seek
the safe haven of her room. She locked the door behind her with a trembling hand, then sat down on the
edge of the bed. Her peace lasted only a moment,
though, as the force of her father's knock on the door
jarred her senses.

"Jenny! What's wrong? Open this door! Let me in!
You've got a whole church full of people waiting for
you! We have to get back over there!"

Getting nervously to her feet, Jenny stared at the
closed portal, stalling the inevitable confrontation.

"Jenny? Are you ill, child? Please-let me in." His tone sounded more worried than angry now.

With a confidence that was shaky at best, she told
herself that if she was brave enough to walk out of
the wedding, she was brave enough to face her father's anger. Jenny went to open the door. She stood
before him, a woman who knew her own mind.

"Darling-" Paul charged inside, the look on his
face one of concern and fear. "What happened? Are
you all right? Are you sick? What is it?"

"I'm fine, Papa." She was amazed that her voice
sounded so calm when there was nothing calm about
the way she was feeling.

"You're fine?" he repeated, confused. "If you're
fine, then we have to go back. Cole's waiting for
you"

He said it so matter-of-factly that Jenny almost
smiled a bitter smile. He had no idea of what was
behind her actions none whatsoever.

"No, Papa." She remained firm in her conviction.
"I'm not going back to the church. It's like I told
Cole, I can't marry him. Not today. Not now-"

"What?" Paul roared at her in disbelief. He was a
man used to having his orders obeyed without question. "Now, you listen to me, young lady." He stepped
farther into the room, his stance aggressive. "You
can't just walk out on your own wedding!"

She lifted her gaze to his, refusing to back down.
"I just did, Papa. I don't want to-"

"It doesn't matter what you want!" He was all but
shouting. "Everything is-"

"Paul! Listen to yourself!" his sister Evelyn admonished as she came hurrying into the hotel room
behind him and shut the door. Evelyn had slipped out
the side door of the church when Jenny had fled and
she'd come after them. She knew her brother could
be dictatorial, and she'd realized her niece was going
to need all the moral support she could get. "Of
course it matters what Jenny wants."

Had Paul been less angry, he might have been
proud of the strength of will his daughter was showing in standing up to him. Certainly, he was the type
of man who always went after what he wanted in life,
and right now his daughter was doing the same thing.
But Paul was too furious to recognize the familial
resemblance. He glanced between the two women,
confused and outraged over what was happening.

"What's going on?" He turned his gaze back to his
daughter and waited. "I want an explanation now."

"I can't go through with the wedding, Papa. I tried.
I really did, and I do care about Cole, but-"

"How could you care about him and leave him at
the altar like this?" he roared.

"Don't you see? That's why I had to do it! It
wouldn't be fair to marry him, feeling the way I feel.
I'm not ready to be some man's wife. There's so
much more I want to do to experience. I want to go
to school back East. I want to-"

"So that's what's behind all this," he snarled. "I
should have torn the damned letter up. I never should
have let you see it!"

"Paul! Shame on you," Evelyn scolded; then she
looked at her niece. "Are you absolutely certain about
this, Jenny?" Her tone was gentle, understanding.

Jenny nodded, glancing thankfully toward her aunt.

Evelyn quietly took charge, addressing her brother.
"You need to go back to church and let Cole and
Reverend Ford know that there will be no wedding
taking place today."

Paul stiffened, his cold-eyed gaze narrowing as he
studied his defiant daughter. "You're sure about this?"

"Yes." Jenny stood her ground, still a bit frightened
by the magnitude of what she'd done, and yet certain
that she'd made the right decision.

Without another word, Paul quit the room.

Cole stared at Paul in disbelief as they stood in the
small room at the back of the church. "I have to talk
to Jenny myself."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Paul cautioned.

"I love her. I just can't let her walk away from me
like this," Cole declared.

Cole didn't bother to wait for a response from the
man who was to be his father-in-law. He didn't care
what he or anyone else thought. He wanted Jenny,
and he was going after her.

Leaving the room, Cole was determined to convince Jenny of his devotion. The wedding guests had
gone, but Cole was certain the minister would still
marry them if he could get Jenny to come back to the
church with him.

Cole strode purposefully through the streets, ignoring the curious stares he was getting. He could just
imagine the talk around town right now, but he didn't
care. All that mattered was Jenny. He had to go to
her and find out what was wrong. If it was something
he'd done that had upset her, he'd do everything in
his power to make things right. He loved her and
wanted her happiness. When he reached the hotel, he
made his way upstairs. He was a determined man going after the prize he sought.

"Jenny?" he called after knocking on the door. The
answering silence puzzled him, and he wondered if
she was even in the room. "Jenny, it's me, Cole."

"Go away," she answered softly.

"I love you, Jenny, and I want to talk to you. Whatever is bothering you, we can work out."

"No"

"How do you know until we've had a chance to
talk? Trust me, Jenny. Talk to me."

Inside the room, Jenny steeled herself for what was
to come. Her Aunt Evelyn had left her alone so she
could have a few minutes of privacy, and now Jenny
regretted that she'd gone. She could have used someone there to be a buffer between her and Cole. Knowing there was no escaping this confrontation, she
unconsciously squared her shoulders and opened the
door.

Cole stood before her, his manly presence seeming
to fill the entire doorway. Jenny stepped aside to admit him, and he entered the room without saying a word. She closed the door and turned around to face
him.

She expected incriminations and anger.

He surprised her.

"I love you, Jenny," Cole told her quietly. "I don't
know what's troubling you, but I know that together,
if we try, we can work it out."

"Cole, I'm sorry about what happened, but-"

"If the big wedding wasn't what you wanted, I
don't care. I never wanted a big wedding. That never
mattered to me. I was doing it for you. If you want
to, we can sneak off and elope right now. You're
what's important to me. I want you, Jenny."

"No, Cole, you don't understand," she interrupted.

"Understand what?" He frowned, his tone becoming cautious and guarded.

"That I don't want this - I don't want any of
this-"

The blunt harshness of her words was like a slap
in the face to Cole.

He loved her.

They were to be married.

This was their wedding day.

"You don't want me?"

"No," she blurted out, really wanting only to stop
him from saying anything more. She was confused by
all her conflicting feelings and wanted to try to explain everything to him. "I mean, I'm not ready to-"

"I know what you mean, Jenny," Cole said, cutting
her off harshly.

His gaze turned cold as he glared down at her. His
jaw tightened as he struggled for control over his
emotions. He didn't trust himself to say another word.
He turned and stalked from the room, shutting the
door silently behind him.

Jenny was trembling as she stared at the closed
door. Cole was gone, and his silent closing of the door
had been more powerful than if he'd slammed it.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She had never wanted
to hurt Cole

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the
door.

"Jenny? Are you all right?" Aunt Evelyn asked
softly. "I just saw Cole leaving and he looked very
angry."

She all but threw herself into the older woman's
arms. "I'm sorry, Aunt Evelyn! I didn't mean to make
such a mess of things!"

"There, there, honey, it'll be all right." Evelyn held
her trembling, crying niece for a long moment, gently
trying to reassure her. "For all that this has been so
difficult for you, Jenny, I must tell you that I'm very
proud of you."

Jenny drew back to look at her, her eyes wide in
surprise. "You are?"

"Very much so," Evelyn said. "There aren't many
women around who would have been courageous
enough to do what you just did."

"I don't feel very courageous."

"But think about it. You realized in time that you weren't ready to get married. You saved both yourself
and Cole a lot of heartache by being brave enough to
admit it."

"I don't think he saw it that way. He was furious
when he left."

"He didn't try to harm you, did he?" Evelyn asked.
She would not stand idly by and let anyone hurt her
niece.

"Oh, no, Cole would never do anything like that.
I'm so sorry I hurt him, Aunt Evelyn. I never meant
to-"

"I know that, sweetheart, but now that you've
talked to Cole, the worst is over. What will you do
next?"

Jenny lifted her hope-filled gaze to her aunt's. "I'm
going to go back East to school."

Evelyn nodded. "Then we shall leave town on the
next train heading east. There's no reason why you
should stay here and suffer the gossip that's bound to
come. You pack. I'll find your father and tell him
what our plans are."

Cole was drunk. There was no denying it, and,
frankly, he didn't care. After leaving Jenny, he'd
headed straight to the High Time Saloon, and he'd
been sitting there drinking at the back table ever
since.

"Hey, big guy, you ready for some fun now?"
Suzie asked as she sashayed up to his table.

She had been watching Cole all night, waiting for the right moment to approach him. She'd heard the
talk at the bar about what had happened with Jenny
and knew he could use some soothing-and she was
more than willing to do it. Cole Randall was one hell
of a man-sexy, rich, and handsome as all get out.
She thought Jenny Sullivan was a stupid fool to have
passed up the chance to marry a man like Cole. She
would have married him in a minute not that a girl
like her would ever have a chance to marry a man
like him.

"No." Cole's answer was sharp as he looked up
from where he'd been seriously contemplating the
whiskey in his glass. There was only one woman he
wanted, and she wasn't Suzie.

"Well, you just yell if you change your mind,"
Suzie said seductively as she moved sinuously away.
She was certain she could have shown Cole a good
time. She could have helped him forget, if only for a
little while, but she couldn't force him to come upstairs with her. "I'll be waiting."

Cole gave a disgusted grunt and took another
healthy swallow of the potent liquor. This was supposed to have been his wedding night! He'd been
waiting for tonight, excited by the prospect of finally
getting to make love to Jenny. It felt as if he had
loved her forever, and yet he'd held his passion for
her in check. He'd controlled his desire, allowing
himself only a few chaste, stolen kisses, when all he'd
really wanted to do was make mad, passionate love
to her. He'd been eagerly anticipating this night the night he would finally make her his. Now the only
consolation he had was in this whiskey bottle. All he
wanted to do was drink himself to oblivion.

Damn her!

Cole didn't understand how Jenny could have done
this to him-to them. He had thought they'd loved
each other-cared about each other. Certainly, he
loved her. He'd wanted to spend the rest of his life
taking care of her, having children together, building
a Randall empire on the western slope of the Rockies,
but she'd walked away from him with only an "I'm
sorry."

He snarled a vile oath and lifted the glass to his
lips.

"You've had about enough there, don't you think,
cowboy?" Fernada said as she came to sit down at
his table. She all but ran the High Time and was beloved by those who knew her. She was a gentle, caring spirit who took care of her girls and her
customers.

Cole slid his gaze toward Fernada, but even as
drunk as he was, the fury he felt was still etched in
his expression. "I don't know if there's enough liquor
in this place to satisfy me tonight, Fernada."