Lacy (43 page)

Cole had to smother a grin at the irony.
"Turk thinks Katy's missing you," he said. "And that's why she
tried to take her life."

Wardell's dark eyes glowed with hunger for a
moment before he shrugged his broad shoulders and looked down at his coffee.
"No,"he said, shaking his head. "I'd give anything to believe
it. But I know how Katy feels about me. It's that blond mule she wants. She'd
walk through hell to get to him. How can he not know it?"

"He hasn't been himself since she left.
He's even worse since she came home. When we took her to the hospital, I had to
knock him down to make him let go of her. He hasn't said two words since the
doctor released her, but he's terrified to let her out of his sight. She won't
even talk to him."

Wardell stared at him quietly. "He loves
her that much, does he?" He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back to
relight the cigar he'd laid in the ashtray. He studied it for a moment before
he spoke. "Katy would have died for him." He looked directly into
Cole's eyes. "Love like that doesn't wear out. So what did he say to her
that made her think he didn't want her?"

"Nobody knows. Katy won't talk and neither
will he. I gather that it had something to do with you. My wife thinks that
Lacy's convinced herself that she's too soiled to appeal to him anymore."

"And is that the way
he
thinks?"Wardell
asked curtly.

"He's not a hypocrite," Cole said
simply. "He's been around."

He drank his coffee in silence. "Was Katy
what you wanted to see me about,"he asked, "or did you have something
else in mind?"

Cole smiled to himself. "You're
shrewd."

"That's why I'm rich." His eyes
narrowed. "If you're offering me a partnership, I'll bite "he added,
anticipating Cole's next question and grinning at the younger man's shock.
"I told you I'd gone legit. I own an interest in a grocery wholesale house
in Chicago. Part interest in a ranch fits right into my plans. Not that I want
to be a working partner," he said firmly. "I'd rather eat a horse
than have to ride one."

The younger man chuckled at the thought of this
dignified city man on one of his broncs. "Point taken."

"Then let's talk business. Tell me what
you're offering."

The discussion took the better part of an hour.
At the end of it, Wardell had a working knowledge of the cattle industry and a
good idea of what partnership would entail.

"Katy can't ever know," he told Cole
quietly.

"Katy never will," he was assured.

What neither of them knew was that Katy had
overheard Cole talking to Wardell on the telephone the night before. She'd
caught Turk with his back turned and caged a ride into town with one of the
neighbors. And although it took her a little while to locate the two men, she
did it.

She pulled her fur-collared coat closer around
her thin body, opened the door of the cafe, and walked in. It was very sparsely
occupied at this time of day, and Wardell would have stood out anywhere. Katy
had taken all she could of Turk's judgmental contempt. She might not love
Wardell, but he loved her. She could go away with him—and she wouldn't have to
suffer Turk's distaste for her anymore.

"Blake," she said softly, pausing by
the table.

He looked up. His eyes widened.
"Katy!"he whispered roughly. He got to his feet, and Katy ran into
his arms, to be swallowed up like the most priceless treasure.

She held on for all she was worth, feeling safe
now, warm and safe. She closed her eyes, trembling.

Wardell looked like a man clinging by his
fingernails to heaven while fires beckoned underneath. He glanced over her
shoulder at Cole with helpless anguish.

"Katy, what are you doing here?" Cole
asked gently.

"I heard you talking," she said
happily into Wardell's coat. "I had to come. Blake, take me back to Chicago. I don't want to stay here."

Wardell's eyes closed on a wave of agony. How
could he refuse her? But if he let her go with him, he'd always know that he
was only second best, that she was eating her heart out for the man she really
loved.

"You can't run away, sweetheart," he
whispered into her ear. "Don't you know that?"

"He doesn't want me," she said
desperately. She lifted her face. "Tell him, Cole! Turk doesn't want me!
He thinks I'm too low to even touch. He looks at me as if I disgust him!"

Cole searched for the right words. "Katy,
you've got it all wrong," he said. "Turk doesn't think you're low. He
cares about you."

"No, he doesn't," she said tearfully.
"He asked me why I didn't
go
back
to Blake, to Chicago. Don't you see he wanted me to leave?"

"Shouldn't you let him tell you that?"
Cole asked gently.

"It's too late," she whispered
miserably. She dabbed at tears and looked up at Wardell, who was fighting his
better judgment tooth and nail. "Can't I go with you?" she asked.

His jaw tautened. He couldn't refuse her. But if
he didn't, her life was going to go from bad to worse. She wasn't rational
enough to make such an important decision. His eyes went to Cole's finding the
same impotence there.

A loud voice calling Katy's name caught their
attention. A tall cowboy was striding up and down the street, his batwing chaps
swinging with his terse strides, his hat pulled low and dangerous over his pale
eyes, his blond hair peeking out from under the brim. He paused and looked
toward the cafe, through the window. He threw down his cigarette and stormed in
at once, his face as hard as Cole's.

"So that's why you came to town," he
said shortly. He stopped a few feet away and looked at Wardell with pure
hatred. "If you want her, you'll have to beat me to death to get
her,"he challenged, his light eyes glittering with anger. "If she
goes, I've got no reason left to live anyway."

Wardell watched Katy's face color. She looked at
Turk with shocked green eyes, not sure that she'd heard him right.

"You—you don't want me," she
stammered. "You think I'm low. You can hardly even bear to look at me;
you're forever throwing that night up to me. You asked me why I didn't go back
to Chicago. All right, I'm going." Her voice broke and she rested her head
on Wardell's broad chest, clinging to his coat. "Now, leave me
alone!"

"I don't think you're low," Turk said
hesitantly, scowling. "Where in hell did you get an idea like that?"

"From you." She felt Wardell's big arm
contract around her comfortingly. She glanced across his chest at Turk. "I
disgust you."

Turk grimaced. His eyelids actually flinched as
he held his hands out in a helpless gesture. "Katy, that's not true. I
swear to God it's not!"

She closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see
the pain in his eyes. "You don't want me," she said dully.

"Want you?" His big fists clenched at
his side. He glared at her, his tall form almost trembling with rage. "You
stubborn, blind little fool! How can you be so dim?"

"You said to go away!"

"I thought you loved him! "he raged,
barely aware of the attention he was drawing to them. "I even asked if
you did, and you wouldn't answer me!" He glared at Wardell and then back
at her. "Can't you recognize blind jealousy? I thought you wanted him
instead of me!"

She cringed back against Wardell, staring at
Turk. "He doesn't yell at me!"

"He should "Wardell said thoughtfully.
He looked down at her with pure tenderness, a little sad as he realized how
completely she belonged to the furious blond man facing them. "You don't
look, do you, honey?" he asked gently. "Look at him." He turned
her chin. "Go on, look."

She did. And suddenly she realized why Turk was
so furious, why he was practically vibrating with rage. He was jealous.
Murderously jealous. He could barely contain it. Could a man feel like that out
of desire, or pity, or even guilt?

"She's dim, all right." Wardell
nodded. "You're a textbook case, birdman. You should never have let her go
in the first place."

"Don't you think I know that?"Turk
asked the older man, his eyes fiercely possessive as they glanced off him and
back to Katy's pale face. "Come home, Katy," he said.

She didn't move or speak. Her eyes were wide,
wounded, as she stared at him.

"I think you should," Wardell told
her, his face serious. "Chicago is a raw, young place—full of bad men like
me. You're a little orchid who needs a hothouse, not an icebox. You'd wither
all over again if I took you back there."

She nibbled on her lower lip, her expression
eloquent. She looked at Cole for help.

"It's your decision, Katy," he told
her. "I can't make it for you."

Wardell tugged on a lock of her hair under her
pert cap. His eyes softened as he looked at her. "This time, kid, you'd
better follow your heart."

She sighed. "I want to love you," she
whispered, so that only he could hear.

His jaw tautened. "We don't love according
to plan, though, do we?"

She smiled tearfully. "No."

He looked over her head. "She'll be along
in a minute." Turk hesitated, but Cole maneuvered him away from them,
persuading him not to make matters worse.

Wardell waited until they were out of earshot.
He traced Katy's nose with a big finger. "He loves you. He can't quite
bring himself to say it, but it shows."

She drew in a soft breath. "I'm so
confused."

"All the more reason for you not to make a
sudden decision on something this important. I'll be around, pretty girl,"
he assured her. "I'm as close as the post office or the telephone. I'll
always be somewhere nearby... That's a promise."

Her green eyes searched his dark ones and she
flushed, remembering the night they'd been lovers. He looked so torn. She had
to do something for him, make that horrible emptiness leave his eyes. The truth
might just do it. She owed him that.

"That night," she whispered, "I
told myself I was pretending you were Turk. But I wasn't." Her cheeks
flooded with color as she heard his sharply indrawn breath. "That night,
it—it was only you. I wasn't thinking of anyone else."

He made a rough sound and turned his head. He
felt the sting of moisture in his eyes as the poignant bittersweetness of the
admission stabbed at his heart.

"Thank you for that," he said jerkily.

She paused to get herself in control again. She
stared at his chest. "I'll never forget you, even when I'm old."

"But it's the blond ace you can't live
without," he added for her. She nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He tilted her face up to
his quiet eyes and he looked at her, imprinting her on his memory. "I
won't be taking anything away from him if I cherish the time we had. He'll have
his own memories."

"Yes."

His hand touched her face very gently. Then, smiling,
"You'd better go. Your brother is losing his grip on him." "I'll
miss you, Blake."

"I'll want to see a photograph of the kids
when they come along," he said. He glared over her head at a scowling
Turk. "I hope they take after you, poor little kids."

"Aren't you finished yet?"Turk asked
curtly.

Wardell stuck both his hands in his coat pockets
and pursed his lips as he studied Katy. "Go home."

She searched his eyes. "Good-bye."

"So long."

She hesitated, but Turk had had enough. He moved
forward, catching her possessively by the hand.

"Don't expect a Christmas card," he
told Wardell. "You're breaking my heart."

Turk pulled her out of the cafe, his hard face
unyielding, leaving Cole behind with Wardell.

"Will you stop dragging me?" Katy
gasped, protesting his firm hold.

"Stop lagging back," he countered. He
didn't look at her. "What was that hushed conversation all about?"

"We were talking about the good times we
had!" she raged, lashing out.