Kaitlin's Silver Lining (27 page)

“Enough.” Bryce had
reached the end of his patience. The woman’s need for independence had
significantly curtailed the investigation, bringing more danger to her door.
“No more sneakin’ around the truth. From now on, you’ll relate any and all
adverse activity.”

“You’re not my
keeper, Bryce Stanton.”

“You’re right.” He
leaned across the table and shoved his face close to hers. “I’m not your
keeper, but all that’s about to change. If ever anyone needed watchin’ over,
it’s you. You’re too stubborn to admit when you need assistance. Even I know to
ask for help when the cows are agitated. And your cows are more than agitated.
They’re dangerously close to stampedin’.”

“Hold up, Stanton,”
Sarge said. “Katy is her own woman. She’s capable of looking out for herself.”

“Like she did when
she almost got herself killed?” Bryce sat down and stared at that chipped cup
again. He was crazy to want to marry this obstinate woman, but God help him, he
loved her. He didn’t want to see her hurt or worse, dead. Why couldn’t she
trust him with her troubles?

He shifted his gaze
to Sarge then Katy. Sarge looked disgruntled while Katy fumed. Her lovely,
kissable mouth puckered into a tight ball of indignation. Bryce might have
laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious.

Sarge cleared his
throat. “I reckon’ you’re right, son.” He rustled the papers. “These articles
along with the notes and the attempt on her life suggest an accomplice. Katy’s
not out of danger.” He glanced over the headlines again and peered at Bryce.
“Any of this true?”

“Unfortunately, every
word.”

Sarge didn’t even
glance at Katy. He was once again the hard man she claimed to have grown up
with. His solemn nod supported Bryce’s decision. “I’ll have Bangles send one of
the men into Idaho Springs for a preacher. We can host a wedding here.”

“Wait. Now hold on
just a minute.” Katy held up a hand. “What are you suggesting?”

Sarge’s chair scraped
the floor and he stood. “A scandal like this can only be fixed with a marriage.
What did you think I was suggesting?”

Bryce shook his head.
“While I agree, this has to be Katy’s decision. I won’t force her into a
weddin’ she doesn’t want.”

“Did you compromise
my daughter?”

Bryce shifted in his
chair, stalling to find the right words. He might not have compromised her at
the hotel as suggested by the article, but he’d sure enjoyed her company this
morning.

“I see no reason that
should be an issue,” Katy said.

Sarge squeezed his
eyes shut. His skin had turned a mottled purple. Emotions raged across his
features in vivid display. The rumors obviously tore at his insides. “I won’t
have you become like Bethany. I won’t have you disgrace this home with your
flirtations, girl.” He snapped his eyes open and glared at Bryce. “Did you
compromise her?”

Bryce swallowed hard.
“Yes, sir.”

Katy sagged in her
chair and looked at the floor. Bryce wanted to comfort her, to offer
reassurances, but his own emotions suffered from the exchange. Clearly, this
had been upsetting for Sarge, and knowing Bethany’s background, Sarge’s
disappointment was justified.

Bryce reached over
and laid his hand over Katy’s. “This needs to be your decision, but let me
paraphrase the facts. You and I spent three nights together en route to the
Silver Saddle. For all accounts, that makes you a fallen woman. Ruined. Totally
and completely. As a fallen woman, others will no longer want to follow your
lead. You’ve just lost your stronghold among the other suffragists.”

He could see the dust
whirling, the snort of fury. Her temper was about to explode. He braced himself
for the worst. Her chest rose with a deep breath of indignation. Slowly,
deliberately, she exhaled.

“This...this is why
you...this morning...” she hissed her incomplete thoughts and turned on Sarge.
“And you! I thought you’d changed. I was wrong. You’re just the same.
Tyrannical and overbearing. You can’t force me into something I don’t want. You
couldn’t then, and you can’t now, so don’t even try. And as for you!” She
pointed at Bryce. “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last stallion in the
herd. I do not need you to rescue me from scandal. I’ve had enough rescuing
lately to last a lifetime.”

Charley entered then,
a furry ball snuggled in her arms. “What’s all the yelling about?”

“Arrogant men,” Katy
stormed.

“Your Aunt Katy is
fightin’ the bit,” Bryce growled between clenched teeth.

“That’s right,
cowboy. A frog will have to grow hair before I let you put your saddle on me,”
she replied.

He frowned at her
attempt to mimic his own colorful speech patterns.

Charley giggled.
“Frogs can’t grow hair, and you wouldn’t look very good in a saddle anyway.”

“Charley, that cat
belongs out in the barn, not inside,” Sarge announced.

“He won’t hurt
nothing. Bryce, tell him I can keep the cat with me a little longer.”

Bryce hardened his
heart, backing Sarge with his rough command. “Take the cat outside, Charley,
and no backtalk.”

“I’ll walk you back
out, Charley. I find myself suddenly in need of fresh air,” Katy replied.

Her words didn’t fool
Bryce. She was running from a confrontation. Not that he blamed her. He wanted
Katy for his wife, but not like this. He wanted her to want marriage as much as
he did.

He reached out and
grabbed Katy’s hand as she turned to leave. “Nope. We’re not through talkin’
about hairy frogs.”

Sarge winked at
Charley. “I’ll walk you outside, Charley. I’ll even entertain you with stories
about the ranch.”

Charley’s shoulders
drooped. “I think hairy frogs would be more interesting, but I get it. Uncle
Bryce wants to fight with Aunt Katy, and he doesn’t wanna do it in front of
me.”

Sarge frowned. “Your
mother had attitude when she was your age. Best not take that tone while you’re
here, girl, or you and me will be fightin’, and I fight to win.”

“Sarge,” Katy replied
in a warning tone. “Don’t make the same mistakes with Charley that you made
with Bethany.”

“Don’t worry. I
won’t. Come on, Charley. Let’s get that kitten back to its momma.” They all
watched as a reluctant Charley vacated the room. Bryce had expected Sarge to
follow Charley. Instead, he turned his steely gaze upon Bryce. Bryce wasn’t a
callous youth squirming in front of an irate father. Even so, he found himself
in an uncomfortable situation. Sarge was not going to make this easy for either
one of them.

Katy rounded on her
father as soon as Charley was out of earshot. “Before you start, Sarge, I might
remind you that I am no longer a young girl of eighteen. I’m well past the age
most women get married. I can weather this scandal better now than I could have
a few years ago.”

“Well, I can’t.”
Bleak sadness crept into his eyes. “Your mother and Bethany gave the neighbors
enough gossip to last me a lifetime. I won’t have my friends whispering about
you. I’ve held my head high these past years. I’m old, Kaitlin. My heart isn’t
as strong as it once was.” With those parting words, he followed Charley
outside.

Katy turned slowly to
stare at Bryce, and her steady regard seared him with recriminations. He stood
taller, determined to ride the path he’d mapped out.

“Did you know this
morning when you took me into your arms that you planned to pull this stunt? Or
was this a spur of the moment thing?”

“I wanted it to be
different,” he began, reaching for her hand. She allowed him this small show of
affection. “I tried to propose last night, but I was tired and cranky, and you
weren’t in the right frame of mind for it.”

“Correction. You
tried to get me to propose, Bryce.”

“Yeah. I thought I’d
stand a better chance if I let you do the askin.’ It would’ve worked too, if
I’d been a little more cunnin’.”

“So instead of trying
again, you use this underhanded method to force my hand?”

“Look,
Kaitlin...Katy,” Bryce said. “This isn’t the way I wanted it to happen. You
might not believe me, but I
want
to marry you, for you. Not because of
some scandal the newspaper cooked up.”

She stared at the
floor. Slowly she lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

She blinked. Clearly
she’d expected him to prance around the answer. Her features softened.
“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am. I do. I
can’t imagine why. You’re an ornery cuss most of the time, but...”

She swatted him. “You
make me ornery.”

He laughed. “I
suppose I do at that.”

“I’ll marry you,
Bryce Stanton.” She smiled. “On my terms.”

“On your terms,” he
whispered, glad she finally saw reason.

“I won’t pretend to
like the way this came about, but I don’t want this to hurt Sarge.”

“You’ve had a change
of heart where your father’s concerned.”

“Yes. I’m still
bitter about some things, but I’m learning to live with the past. I don’t want
the past to control me any longer.”

“Marriage won’t stop
the talk.” He took her hands into his. “It’ll just take the sting out of the
gossip, make it less juicy for the good citizens of Denver.”

“They’ll get over it.
As to my terms, I want to get married in Denver, in my church with all of my
friends and acquaintances there to bless our union.”

“I can agree to
that.”

“I want to rewrite
the vows.”

He seemed puzzled at
first until he remembered the part about the woman obeying the man. He nodded.

“And Bryce?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t ever cheat on
me. I won’t stand for it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Bryce
smiled broadly. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. We’ve barely
mined the full extent of our passion. I’m looking forward to a long and
productive trail ride, and I can think of no better trail boss I’d want givin’
the orders.”

“Those are not
exactly the words a woman wants to hear when she’s accepting a proposal,” she
said ruefully.

“No, ma’am. Reckon
I’m not much on sweet talk. I tend to use cowboy jargon when I’m nervous.”

“I make you nervous?”

“Like a duck in the
desert.”

“I would have never
guessed it by the way you’re always ordering me around, picking fights when it
suits you,” she replied.

“Well. You make me
mad just as often as you make me nervous. All that aside, I think we’ll be good
for each other. I foresee a solid partnership.”

She tilted her head
and laid a hand on his chest. “Where do you envision us living?”

Bryce scratched his
head. He hated to admit he hadn’t given that much thought. “I’m a cowboy, Katy.
I can’t live in town. We can go back to Texas. I’ve already got a start on my
own outfit, or we can try to make a livin’ off your parcel of land. With my
know-how and a little bit of capital, we can make it work.”

“My land. I want to
try again, try to make something of it.”

He laid his hand over
hers and squeezed. “We’ll make a trip to the Double S after the wedding and
pick out some prime stock. I imagine your father will also help us.”

Katy withdrew her
hand and sank onto the chair, her facial expression pensive. “Married? I’m really
thinking about letting you force me into this.”

“It won’t be so bad,”
he said, kneeling at her feet. “I’ll do my best by you. I can’t promise
anything more.”

“Without the scandal,
would you still have wanted to marry me?”

“With all my heart.”

“Sarge will be
happy,” she said simply.

Yes, but would she be
happy? Bryce sighed. If he never did anything else right in his entire life, he
wanted to make Kaitlin happy. She deserved a silver lining to her chaotic life.

Thirty
Four

“Ladies. Ladies!
Attention, please,” Kaitlin called out over the chitchat rattling the walls of her
small sitting room.

When the noise died
down, Kaitlin addressed the group. “It breaks my heart that not more of you
came tonight, but I understand. In fact, the reason I called this meeting was
to address your concerns about the gossip you’ve read.”

Abigail Pritchard
broke into her conversation. “Kaitlin, those of us here support you fully. We
know there was no truth to the rumors. The others will come around, I’m sure.”

Kaitlin smiled at the
support her friends were willing to give her. “I appreciate all of you being
here. It means a lot to me, but I must confess. Every word in those articles
was true.”

The sudden outburst
of murmuring made it difficult for Kaitlin to gain their attention again. With
Maggie’s help, she silenced the twelve ladies present.

Maggie stood beside
her and motioned with her arms. “Settle down, ladies. Let her finish.”

“Thank you, Maggie,”
Kaitlin said. “Taken out of context those words are very damaging. They paint a
totally different picture from the reality. Yes, Mr. Stanton was a guest in our
home. He slept on the hardwood floor. Yes, my ex-fiancé tried to kill me, and
Mr. Stanton shot him while trying to defend me. Yes, he slept in the same room
with me in Idaho Springs. We were both concerned James Latham might not have
acted on his own. It was all very innocent and nothing untoward happened.” She
paused, looked down for a moment then back up. “Not that I didn’t want things to
happen between us, but unfortunately, nothing did.”

At that, the ladies
giggled demurely, each sympathizing with Kaitlin for her honesty.

“He is a handsome
man,” Margaret Knowles replied, to which many nodded their heads in agreement.

“Yes, he is. In fact,
he proposed, and we’re getting married soon. We’ve scheduled the wedding a week
from Tuesday, and I’d love for all of you to be there.”

The congratulations
that followed overwhelmed her.

“Married?” Several
women reacted in unison then giggled.

Over the din of
excited suffragists, she met Maggie’s sympathetic eye. Only Maggie knew the
true turmoil behind her capitulation.

She was a fighter,
vocal about the things she found wrong with the world. Why hadn’t she said no
more firmly? In the back of her mind, she knew the answer. Somewhere between
being drenched in molasses and being shot at, Kaitlin Kanatzer had fallen in
love. Not your sweet, walks-in-the-moonlight kind of love, but a deep,
soul-searing kind of love. That Bryce had confessed his love made it all that
much sweeter and yet, she still feared binding herself to a man.

She entertained no
illusions where Bryce was concerned. He’d come to Denver for the singular
purpose of providing Charley with female guidance. He had wanted her to take
Charley off his hands. When she hadn’t complied readily with his plans, he’d
set out to find himself a wife. He didn’t seem too particular in the women he’d
tried to court. His proposal, such as it was, came as no surprise except...
He’d chosen her. He’d fallen in love with a woman who feared commitment.

Shy Anna Marie came
up to Kaitlin, her facial expression serious. “But Kaitlin, won’t your new
husband object to your activities?”

The room became
quiet. All eyes fell upon her.

She sighed. “He
doesn’t object, but regardless, I will no longer be able to lead you.”

Stunned silence met
her statement. After a moment, the women erupted.

“No!”

“We need you.”

“How will we manage
without you?”

“You can’t just
stop.”

Kaitlin’s hands waved
up and down, a signal for the women to give her the floor again. When their
protests died down, Kaitlin replied, “I am not the movement. You are the
movement. Our voice is a combined effort. Abigail, didn’t you lead a protest
march just last week?”

“Yes. Against Kracht
and his saloon again.”

“I wasn’t there, and
you were able to proceed without me. As much as I’ve enjoyed working with all
of you, I find that my priorities have changed a little. But...I won’t abandon
you. My strength is in writing speeches. I was never as good at delivering them
as Abigail, but I can still write for you. I can draft articles for our
newsletter, and I can arrange speeches for Abigail to deliver.” She spread her
arms wide. “See, I’m not totally quitting the cause.”

“But what about the
big election? We’ll need you there for that.”

The Governor’s
election was in two weeks, slated for early October. With everything that had
happened to her in the past two weeks, she’d forgotten about the big day. The
suffragists had been preparing speeches and handing out pamphlets. Of course,
she wanted to be there for the election. She and Bryce would just have to wait
before moving to the ranch. She worried her bottom lip, wondering what Bryce
would say about her involvement at the election. She squared her shoulders
against such thoughts. It didn’t matter what he thought. She was committed to
this event, and that was that.

“I wouldn’t miss that
day for anything. I’ll be there.”