Land of Enchantment (19 page)

'Don't be a hypocrite, Jim. Not at this late date. I know you're quite happy to see me go.'

'Why should I be?'

'Don't be obtuse,' Diana said scathingly. 'You made it plain from the beginning that you didn't think I belonged here. You should be rejoicing that you were proved right.'

'I'm sorry. I don't know what you are talking about.' He set the luggage in the back of the pick-up and turned to look at her.

'Oh, surely you recall our conversation in the barn shortly after I came here,' she mocked. 'That brilliant story about the yucca plant and the rose. You don't really think I'm so dense that I didn't realize that you were telling me I was the rose? And roses don't take kindly to transplanting, especially city
roses.'

'You misunderstood the point of what I was telling you,' Jim shook his head sadly. 'I was trying to explain that you had to choose which you were going to be, useful and self-sufficient like the yucca or decorative and pampered like the rose. Surely it's obvious from the way you've always pitched in without a complaint, even to helping with the horses, that you are a yucca flower.'

'I don't understand,' Diana whispered. She wanted to doubt his words, but the sincerity in his voice was too marked. 'Why were you so cold to me? You would barely even talk to me unless I forced you.'

'I…' He paused in search of the right words. 'I don't make friends easily. Partly, I admit, because I am a Navajo and few white people are really interested in being my friend, let alone a white woman. I couldn't know at the beginning whether you were feeling sorry for me or were just being patronizing. We Navajos have a lot of pride. It isn't a commodity restricted only to you.'

'Oh, Jim, I wish I'd known that before,' she murmured.

'Was I part of your argument with Lije?'

'Part,' she admitted. Her head was downcast so her silvery fair hair hid her face before she tossed her head and sent it cascading down her back. 'Lije believes I'm prejudiced against you because you're a Navajo. He couldn't understand that I thought you didn't like me or want me here—probably because he knew you better.'

'Then your leaving is my fault.'

'No.' She reached out and touched his arm. 'No, it isn't. We quarrelled because of Ty Spalding. Lije thought…' Diana couldn't bring herself to voice what he thought, but even unspoken, Jim knew. 'But I suppose he told you all about it.'

'He didn't speak of it to me. Although he did seem surprised when I told him you had fed the horses. I remember he muttered, "So that's what she was doing in the barn".'

'I'd tripped over some baling twine and Ty was helping me up when Lije walked in,' she murmured, a haunting look in her eyes as she glanced at the barn.

'And you didn't explain?'

'I was so hurt—' a sob crept into her voice, 'that he could believe I would do what he thought I was doing. I'm afraid I can be very stubborn,' she said with a half laugh. 'Later when he asked me to explain, I…I refused. That's when we really started quarrelling. And,' Diana looked out over the expansive horizon, shimmering in golden sunlight with a suggestion of spring green, 'and that's when I told him how much I hated it living here. It's really ironic, Jim, but for so long I've thought I didn't like it—being out here so alone and cut off from everybody—that I don't even know when I really did stop hating it and started to liking it. It wrapped me in its spell. Lije once told me that it was called the land of enchantment.'

Jim reached into the back end of the pick-up truck and took out the two suitcases he had just placed in there.

'What are you doing?' Diana asked as he started walking towards the house with them.

'I'm not taking you anywhere,' Jim said firmly. A smile took some of the harshness out of his voice. 'If Lije wants you to leave, then he's going to have to take you himself. And if I were you, I would tell him exactly what you told me…if you still love him, which I think you do.'

'I wouldn't know where to begin.'

'An apology is usually effective.' He set one of the suitcases down and held the door open for Diana. She stepped inside, expecting Jim to follow, but he only placed the bags inside and walked back out.

'Where are you going?' she called after him.

'I thought I would let Lije know there's someone here at the house who wants to speak to him,' Jim answered with a decided twinkle in his eyes.

'Thank you seems like such a little thing to say to you, Jim,' Diana said softly, the screen door shading her face so he couldn't see the diamond-bright glitter of tears intensifying the blue of her eyes.

'Don't thank me yet,' he laughed. 'You haven't talked to Lije.'

The rumbling roar of an accelerating motor attracted Jim and Diana. Both turned towards the sound to see the jeep bouncing over the uneven ground to the ranch yard. Only one person was in the vehicle and both of them knew it was Lije. Diana stood silently just inside the screen door unconsciously holding her breath.

'Don't let him see you,' Jim said in a sotto voice meant for her alone when the jeep stopped beside the pick-up truck with Lije hopping out almost before the motor stopped turning over. Diana stepped away from the door as she saw Lije's long strides eating the distance between the jeep and the house.

'Where's Diana?' he demanded harshly.

'Why?' Jim asked calmly.

'Because I want to see her. Now, dammit, where did you take her? To the bus station?' Lije made no attempt to conceal his impatience, and Diana wished she could see his face.

'No,' Jim sounded remarkably unruffled, she thought, considering the leashed violence in Lije's voice.

'Then where?' he nearly shouted.

'I didn't take her anywhere,' Jim said calmly.

It was as if the whole world had come to a halt, so profound was the silence. Slowly Diana stepped in front of the screen door to look at her husband, whose head had been thrown back in surprise while his whole attention became focused on the door.

'I'm right here, Lije,' she said quietly.

Their gazes met and locked through the mesh of the screen. Jim glanced back at Diana briefly before silently stepping past Lije and walking away. Again Diana experienced that strange communication with the grey eyes that she had felt when they first met. Without conscious volition, her hand reached down and opened the screen door for Lije to enter.

'Did you want to see me?' she asked.

'Yes,' he said, but he made no move towards the opened door.

'I hope you didn't come to say good-bye, Lije, because I'm not leaving,' Diana began. He still had that terrible mask of remoteness on his face. There was no indication whether he was pleased or angry by her statement, so she rushed on. 'At least, I'm not going until I've had a chance to tell you that I didn't mean any of those things I said yesterday. And…and I…I still love you. I'll always love you, Lije.' Something flickered across the strong bronzed lines of his face that looked like pain. 'I don't hate the ranch. At first I admit everything was strange and I was lonely, but it's not true anymore. I guess I said that to hurt you and I'm sorry. As for what happened in the barn with Ty, I want to explain about—'

'No!' The word exploded in the air as he covered the distance between them in one lithe move. His hands gripped her shoulders as he simultaneously stepped further into the house and pulled her tightly against his chest. 'Don't say any more, Diana,' he murmured, his voice muffled in the silken softness of her hair. 'I can't bear for you to humble yourself any more when I'm the one who should be on his knees begging you to forgive me. I know exactly what happened in the barn yesterday.'

'How?' Diana twisted her head to look at him in a mixture of disbelief and happiness.

'I
just had a long talk with Spalding at the drilling site. I was too angry yesterday to do more than order him to stay away from you.' He smiled down at her with that smile that could always take her breath away. She would have spoken, but he covered her mouth with his hand. 'I know all about your tripping over the twine. Nothing I can say justifies my failure to trust you. The only way I can explain why I acted the way I did was that I was jealous. I was outside when I heard you laugh. Darling, do you have any idea how long it has been since I heard you laugh? Not since the first day I brought you here. When I walked in the barn and saw you with Ty and realized that he had made you laugh when I failed, I was crazy with jealousy and anger. Can you ever forgive me?'

'Oh, Lije!' She kissed the tips of his fingers that had begun caressing her face. 'If you can forgive me for the way I hurt you—
'

'I deserved it,' he murmured, gathering her closer in his arms. 'But that's why I came looking for you—so you would know that I knew the truth. If I could I was going to persuade you to come back.'

'And I was half afraid you were going to be angry because I was still here,' she laughed shortly.

'I love you, Diana.' He looked deep in her eyes. 'I could never let you go, even if I knew I was making your life miserable. That's how selfish I am.'

'If you don't hurry up and kiss me, you're going to make my life very miserable,' she teased.

'You little witch!' Lije laughed. Then he proceeded to kiss her thoroughly, making up for those empty days and empty nights when he had been gone, sweeping her off into a vortex of ever-rising passion until neither one was satisfied with the physical restrictions of their embrace. 'We have a lot of lost time to make up for, Diana,' he whispered against the hollow of her neck.

'Yes,' she agreed fervently, her mouth bruised by the fierceness of his kisses even as she yearned for it to be reclaimed by his.

'Shall we do something about it now?' He lifted his head from hers to gaze down into her eyes, their lids heavy with the ardency of his lovemaking.

'Yes,' she breathed, then, 'No, I mean…'

'What do you mean?' he laughed softly, amused by her shaky voice.

'There's something else I want to do first,' she murmured.

'What's that?' A frown creased his forehead.

Diana took his hand and led him outside. There she walked over and grabbed the thick rope that hung from the metal bell.

'Where did that come from?'
Lije asked as Diana began pulling the clapper so that the bell rang loudly in the quiet countryside.

'Jim hung it for me while you were gone,' she said with a beaming smile. Down at one of the small sheds, she saw Jim Two Pony step into the open, his hand waving in recognition of the bell. She waved back before walking over to her husband and putting her arms around his waist. 'You do know that Jim refused to take me away from here, don't you?'

'I received that impression,' Lije smiled.

'I thought it was only fair to let him know that all is well between us. After all, Jim is our best friend.' She gazed earnestly up at her husband. 'And I do mean that, Lije.'

'I'm glad,' he said softly, his eyes glinting with pride and love. Then he was sweeping her off her feet and cradling her in his arms. 'Shall we go home, Mrs. Masters?'

'I think it's about time, Mr. Masters,' she smiled. Her
arms encircled his neck as he once again carded her over the threshold.