Ride The Wind (Vincente 3) (31 page)

Reese sat across from Saber at the breakfast table, watching her carefully. They had been living
together for three weeks now, and in that time
she had been the perfect wife in every way. She
rose early every morning and cheerfully made
his breakfast and a lunch to take with him when
he couldn't get home. The house always smelled
of lemon oil and wax, and she had made it a
home. When they went to bed at night and he
took her in his arms, she fulfilled him as no other
woman could. But he still couldn't beat down
the uncertainty that lingered at the fringes of his
mind.

Saber had never said that she loved him. Hell, for that matter he'd never told her how he felt,
either. Somehow he just couldn't seem to say the
words that would reveal so much of himself.

"I got a letter from your brother yesterday," he
said, taking a drink of coffee.

"I know, he mentioned your letter in mine."

"Then you know that he wants to sell me cattle
below the market price?"

"No. I didn't know that. But he's done that
with our neighbors before. He still comes out
ahead, Reese, because he doesn't have the trouble and expense of driving them to the railhead,
losing a fourth of the herd, and running their
weight off on the drive."

"I don't want handouts from him, Saber."

"Reese, it isn't a handout. We aire family. This
is what families do. We help each other. If Noble
needed you, wouldn't you be there for him?"

"Of course, but this is different. I have survived on my own since I was young. I can still
do it."

"You aren't alone, Reese. You have me."

He scooted his chair back and glared at her.
"I don't know what it means to have a family,
Saber. I don't know how to be what you want
me to be!"

She felt the start of tears and was determined
not to cry. She hurt so much for him; he didn't
know how to show his love, and he didn't know how to trust and accept the hands of love and
friendship that were being held out to him.

She just had to show him the way.

"Noble reminded me in his letter that I should
talk to you about my inheritance. He sent the
deeds and documents, and I thought perhaps
you might want to go over them. I have no head
for figures, Reese."

His expression was grim. "What holdings and
what deeds are you talking about?"

"I am sole owner of all the property in Georgia, but we should probably sell it, since we will
never live there. Noble says that someone has
made a generous offer for it. I also own several
thousand head of cattle, Reese. Noble has
looked after them for me. But I am sure he
would like it if you took them off his hands."

Reese's voice was cold and without feeling. "Is
there anything else you need to tell me about
your holdings?"

She could hear the anger in his voice and
didn't understand the reason for it. "I...Noble
says that I have five hundred thousand dollars
in a bank in New Orleans."

Reese shot to his feet, anger and indignation
burning inside him. "I don't want your cattle,
Saber, and I damned sure don't want your
money! You can do what you will with your
property in Georgia it doesn't concern me."

"But I"

"This conversation is over." He walked out of
the room, grabbed his hat, and headed for the
door. He had to clear his mind. He'd known that
Saber had money, but he hadn't imagined it
would be so much, and he hadn't expected that
he'd be asked to handle it for her.

Saber tried to stay busy all day. She was still
puzzled by Reese's reaction to her money. He
must have known she had vast holdings; everyone else did.

She was making the bed when a heavy knock
came at the door. Removing her apron, she went
to answer it, thinking it might be Zeb. She
stepped back when she saw Matthew standing
there.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment.
Then he removed his hat and tucked his gloves
into his belt. "May I come in, Saber?"

"Reese isn't here."

"It's you I came to see."

She stepped back so he could enter. "I thought
we had said everything we had to say at Fort
Griffin."

He towered over her, his face set in a stone
mask. "Why did you do it, Saber?"

"I assume you are asking why I married
Reese."

"Yes. You belonged to me. We just had a misunderstanding. I was going to let you stew for a
little while, and then I thought we would settle
everything between us."

"I'm sorry for what happened between us,
Matthew, but you didn't really love me, and you
know it."

He advanced farther into the room. "How can
you know how I feel about you?"

She wanted him to leave before Reese came
home, so she didn't offer him a chair. "If you had
cared about me, you would not have behaved as
you did that night."

"I'm sorry for that, and I always will be. I went
to your room the next morning, but you had already left. My mother urged me to ride to Casa
del Sol and bring you back, but I thought I'd just
give you a few weeks to think over our situation."

"Matthew, it didn't take me a few weeks to
think about it. I realized when I saw you that we
didn't love each other."

He reached out and grabbed her, dragging her
resisting body against his. "For years I have
thought of nothing but you. I wanted you for my
wife. I wanted to spend my life with you. I don't
care if you are married to Reese; you still belong
to me!"

She struggled, trying to push him away, but he held her fast. "Matthew, let me go. You're
hurting me!"

"I'll never let you go," he said in a growl, holding her head between both hands and covering
her mouth with his.

She struggled and pushed at him, but he
forced her mouth open and crammed his tongue
inside. He lifted her, fitting her most intimate
part to his swollen loins. He trembled and held
her there by sheer force. No matter how much
she struggled, he would not let her go.

Finally she tore her mouth away from his and
started pounding him on the chest. "Reese will
kill you for this, Matthew!"

"You're mine! You have been since that first
day I saw you in Georgia." He held her close to
him as he spoke. "I was wrong; I know that now.
But you shouldn't have married Reese."

"I love Reese. What I felt for you was affection
and gratitude for helping me and my aunt when
we needed it. I was too young to know my mind
at that time, Matthew."

"You can't love Reese-you still love me!"

"Reese is my husband. Take your hands off
me!"

Both of them heard the door open, and Saber
twisted toward Reese and saw the murderous
look in those cold, gray eyes. "Let her go, Matthew."

Matthew's arms only tightened around Saber.
"You had no right to marry her. You knew she
belonged to me."

Saber pushed against him. "I don't belong to
you. Let me go!"

Reese grabbed Matthew's arm and, with sheer
force, pried Saber away from him. He shoved
her behind him and faced his friend. "You had
no right to come here like this, Matthew. I'm going to ask you to leave now."

"I thought you were my friend," Matthew said
bitingly. "I trusted you to rescue Saber from the
Millers, when all along I should have been worrying about you seducing her."

"Leave now, Matthew. And I don't ever want
to see you here again," Reese said in a quiet
voice. Saber would not have known he was angry if she hadn't been watching his eyes.

"You owe me an explanation before I leave
here, and so does Saber."

"I might owe you something, but my wife
doesn't," Reese said.

"What did you do to make her turn from me
to you?"

Reese guided Saber to the bedroom door.
"You need to leave while I explain some things
to Matthew."

"No, I won't," she stated stubbornly. "This
concerns me, and I'm not leaving!"

Matthew stared at Saber. "You would settle
for living in this hovel when I was willing to lay
all Philadelphia at your feet? Reese isn't anything like you and me. He has rough ways, and
he-'I

"That's enough!" she declared. "Reese is my
husband, and this is our home." She was trembling, she was so angry. "You asked some impossible things of me, Matthew. I could never
have married you after that night." She paused.
She'd never told Reese about the things Matthew had said to her in the hotel room after the
dance.

Matthew turned to Reese. "I was drunk. I said
and did some things I'm not proud of. Apparently she still holds it against me."

Reese's gaze went to Saber. "What kind of
things?"

Matthew could not believe that Saber hadn't
told Reese about what had happened. "Reese,
you know a man will do and say things when
he's drunk that he'd never say sober."

"What kind of things?" Reese demanded a second time. "Matthew, you'd better tell me now."

Matthew shrugged. "I kissed her."

Reese turned back to Saber. "That's all?"

"No," she said. "That's not all. I wasn't ever
going to tell Reese, Matthew, but since you've
brought it up, tell him the truth, or I shall."

Bitterness crept into Matthew's blue eyes. "I
would never have done anything to her, Reese.
I may have made some threats and touched her
in an ungentlemanly way, but I'd never have
gone through with it. I'm not like that. I would
never have raped you, Saber."

Reese reached out and pulled Saber to him.
"Get out, Matthew. This ends our friendship.
Don't ever come here again."

Matthew's face went red. "I really came here
to help you. But when I saw Saber, I lost my
head and my temper."

"Say what you came to say and then go,"
Reese told him.

Matthew met Reese's icy stare. "Graham Felton has spread it all over Fort Worth, so you'll
hear about it soon enough anyway. I just wanted
to be the one to tell you first, since it concerns
me."

Reese's voice was still cool. "I'm listening."

"We wrongly suspected that Felton had Saber
kidnapped for her brother's money."

Reese's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?
You'd better explain yourself."

Matthew lowered his gaze because he could
no longer look into Reese's cold eyes, and he was
too ashamed to look at Saber. "Felton had her
kidnapped to get back at me."

Reese's fists balled at his sides. "What for?
There has to be a reason."

"I had seen Felton's sister, Gwen, several
times." His gaze went to Saber. "It meant nothing to me. She just made too much out of it."

"Go on," Reese urged, feeling Saber stiffen beside him. She must be feeling sick inside at Matthew's confession.

"It seems Gwen Felton expected me to marry
her, which, of course, I had no intention of doing. She knew I was going to marry Saber."

"So this is why Felton had Saber kidnapped,"
Reese said with doubt in his tone. "It doesn't
sound like a good reason to me. He went to a lot
of trouble just to punish a man who wouldn't
marry his sister."

"There's more to it," Matthew admitted,
studying the floor. "It seems the girl... killed
herself. She left a note that said she didn't want
to live after I rejected her. It wasn't my fault that
she had this crazy infatuation with me."

Saber closed her eyes and leaned heavily
against Reese. "Mr. Felton wanted to punish you
for his sister's death. How very tragic."

"The whole family is crazed, if you ask me,"
Matthew stated. "Since Felton's spread this story
around, my reputation has suffered. I'll not be
seeking public office after this."

"Then it's all over, and Felton will leave Saber alone, since she's married to me," Reese said angrily. Matthew was not the man he'd thought he
was. He had fooled a lot of people, including
Graham Felton's pitiable sister. "You've told me
what was on your mind now you can leave."

"It's still not over, Reese. Felton's saying that
he's coming after Saber because he knows I still
love her."

Saber ran from the room, feeling sick. She
closed the bedroom door and fell across the bed.
Oh, that poor woman, she thought. It was such
a pity that the man she had died for didn't seem
to be as concerned about her death as he was
about his own reputation. She felt pity for the
poor unfortunate girl who had loved so unwisely. After this day she'd never be sorry for
Matthew again.

She didn't hear Matthew leave, or Reese ride
away.

Reese rode toward the high country. He
needed to think. He remembered how strangely
Saber had acted that night in the livery stable.
Now he knew why. Matthew had tried to rape
her. His lip curled in anger. He should have
killed Matthew.

He rode up a mesa and stared out over his
land. "Why didn't you tell me, Saber?"

He knew the answer. The woman he'd married had been brought up with honor. She hadn't told him about Matthew because she
didn't want to cause trouble between him and
his friend.

That was some woman he'd married. He wondered if he'd be worthy of her.

His gaze went to the south. If Felton came,
he'd come from that direction. He had to do
more to protect Saber. She must never be left
alone.

He nudged his mount forward, suddenly
needing to see Saber. So far she had done everything right, and he'd done everything wrong. He
just didn't know how to be a husband. He knew
he loved her so damned much it hurt.

He suddenly needed her soft arms around
him. He needed to hold her and know she was
safe. One thing was sure: Felton was a very dangerous and unpredictable man. If he said he'd
be coming after Saber, then that was exactly
what he'd do. But when and where? That was
the question.