Sweet Savage Heart (38 page)

From what she could see and hear as she observed the two men, Clarissa realized that Clifford was eager to
please her father. Sims was smiling and joking easily, and cooperating fully with her father’s desires. Evidently the manner of repayment was most agreeable to him. Perhaps the man had created a larger debt to Harrison than that of which she was aware, or he soon planned to increase that debt. Considering their positions and how much time and attention her father had given this girl lately, she concluded that his actions could be leading in only one direction: marriage.

Clarissa fumed as she recalled how her father had warned her to be on her best behavior each time the Simses had visited them. He was always complimenting the girl’s looks and praising her wit, pretending she was the most fascinating creature alive. She wanted to laugh in her father’s face for his ridiculous behavior and plans: a fifty-six-year-old man of his importance marrying a timid eighteen-year-old child! Whatever was the man thinking? she wondered angrily. After all these years of being a widower who came and went as he desired, why marry now and why this little thing? But of course, she decided peevishly, no wife would halt him from doing as he pleased.

Clarissa was aware of other facts that she doubted her father knew: Mary Beth was in love with Cody Slade, who worked for Nathan Crandall on the Rocking
C
Ranch, and the girl did not like Harrison in the slightest and felt ill at ease around him. Naturally Mary Beth was too much a lady and dutiful daughter to expose such feelings to either man, but Clarissa had seen how Mary Beth had glanced at Harrison when she had thought no one was watching. The girl’s expression had been one of repulsion and fear. Clarissa wondered if Mary Beth was aware of what was going on before her eyes and behind her back. She also wondered if Clifford Sims would force his daughter to marry Harrison Caldwell even if she could not stand him, for evidently she could not. Yet she
realized only too well that women naturally had little to say about their fates.

Clarissa lowered her head to smile spitefully as she envisioned this genteel girl refusing Harrison Caldwell’s affection and proposal, as Marissa Crandall had done long ago. She could not help but imagine her father’s rage and embarrassment if he were to learn how she had spied on him and Marissa years ago. The old buzzard had always underestimated her cunning and daring, and her hatred! she reflected angrily.

When she had been a child and he locked her in her room during Marissa’s secret visits to his ranch, she would climb out her window, edge along the narrow balcony to his, and peek inside. Sometimes she had watched and listened for hours as the two had played in her father’s bed. She had been mesmerized by their actions and the intense emotions that had flowed between them. By observing them, she had received vicarious pleasure and happiness and had savored her father’s love. Little did her father suspect that he and Marissa had been the ones who had taught her all about sex and had inspired her greedy appetite. She could still remember how eager she had been to come of age and to find the courage to begin her own life of splendid enjoyment. Since her father had refused to give her love and attention, she had found plenty of men willing and eager to do so. Unfortunately, however, only Travis Kincade and Nathan Crandall had been man enough to stand against her father, and neither had become enchanted with her. But other men had loved her and desired her and had filled the void in her life, however briefly. As a child she had learned that her father did not love her or want her. She had done everything, anything, to capture his attention. His only reaction had been anger whenever she embarrassed him publicly. Yet he had not minded asking, or ordering, her to whore for him as
Raymond had forced Marissa to do. What kind of father was that? she asked herself with a sneer. Her father was to blame for her behavior, for her misery, for her hatred! One day, she vowed, he would be sorry.

As the two men smoked their cigars and sipped their port and Mary Beth excused herself, Clarissa reflected on her father’s past love life. She had to admit he was a handsome man and a superb catch, but she doubted he would be able to ensnare Clifford’s daughter. No doubt Mary Beth would do what Marissa had done: reject her father and run off with another man; in Mary Beth’s case it would probably be Cody Slade. Of course, Marissa’s predicament had been vastly different from this girl’s.

Clarissa knew why the blue-eyed enchantress had married Raymond Michaels: to get far away from this area so that her vile secret could be safeguarded. Poor Marissa had never imagined that a cheap saloon harlot would devastate her life with a favor and a betrayal of that favor. Nor had Marissa imagined she could not bewitch the handsome and charming gambler who had pretended to be madly in love with her in order to wed her for her money and status. Harrison had been away for months when Marissa had discovered she was pregnant; otherwise Marissa doubtlessly would have married him. If she had, the flaming-haired bitch would have fared far better than she had under Raymond’s insidious hands.

She had despised Marissa for intruding on her life and for gaining a hold on her father’s life and affection, a hold she had never possessed. When she had been a teenager and Marissa had returned home for visits, she had faked a friendship with the ill-fated vixen in order to find a way to destroy her. She had thought she had discovered how when she had learned of the hostility between Raymond and Nathan, for Raymond had always stayed in town while Marissa and her child had visited Nathan. She had found a clever way to meet Raymond and had sought her
revenge by plotting to steal Marissa’s husband, though she had remained ignorant of the couple’s shocking relationship until she and the devilish gambler had begun a torrid affair. One night she overheard the sordid truth during a violent argument between Marissa and Raymond, and later confronted her lover; afterward they had shared secrets about Marissa. She had plotted with the handsome rake to get rid of Marissa and Harrison so they could marry and take possession of both ranches, using Marissa’s past, present, and bastard child as their weapons. Clarissa tingled as she recalled the secret times she had made passionate love to Marissa’s husband. She had hated Marissa even more for obtaining—no matter the reasons—one of the few men who had truly made her body and blood boil, for Raymond’s matchless sexual prowess, abundant charms, and superb looks had been his greatest assets. If the Indians had not killed her dreams…

It was too late to fret over that annoying defeat. Thinking back on the whole situation, she was glad she had not become partners with Raymond Michaels, for at times he had been cruel and untrustworthy, very much like her father. Raymond had married Marissa before learning the truth about her, then had blackmailed her and made her whore to support him, just as her own father demanded she whore for him so that he might attain his diabolic ends. Marissa had married Raymond to escape her wanton trap, and Raymond had claimed to have married her for her wealth and position. Clarissa admitted she had been enamored for a time by the virile, handsome charmer, for he had had a winning way with women and had been intoxicating in bed, and perhaps his devious character had unconsciously reminded her of her father, whose love and attention she had craved yet had been denied. With her years of experience with men and life, she had learned how to handle and judge men
and situations, at least most of them.

With Raymond, Marissa, and a saloon whore dead, she was the only one who knew the truth about her father’s ex-mistress, though there appeared no way she could use or profit from that shocking information. She had never told her father, for she believed she might one day be able to twist that staggering truth and use it to her advantage. In time she would find a way to destroy her despicable, selfish father, as Marissa had been destroyed. Poor Marissa, she mused cruelly. She never knew the truth about her child’s father, a truth that could have freed her from her nightmarish life with Raymond…

Clarissa thought about Marissa’s last visit to the ranch shortly before her death. She had known Harrison had been up to something that day, so she had sneaked back to the ranch at night. She had witnessed the depth of his cruelty and the height of his infatuation for Marissa. What she had not known then about them or Marissa, she had learned that night as they had quarreled and battled. After Marissa’s departure, she had watched her father gloat over his behavior and power and had overheard him talking to himself about his plan to murder Raymond so he could take possession of the flaming-haired witch, now that she had been properly punished for her past rejection. Determined to keep them apart, she had warned Raymond, a warning that had impelled him to flee to his death. At first she had been sad and sorry and had blamed her father; later she had calmly accepted the situation and had begun searching for another path to her victory. Looking back, she realized it would have been a careless mistake to have become partners with an untrustworthy beast like Raymond, especially since her father was steadily increasing holdings that would soon be hers alone.

After the Simses had departed, Clarissa looked at her grinning father and boldly questioned, “Papa, what do
you want with a silly child like Mary Beth? I’ve seen the way you’ve been eyeing her. What are you planning?”

“Why, Clarissa Caldwell, you sound jealous,” Harrison teased playfully. He realized he would have to tell her something or she might be prompted to interfere. “I’ve got plans for Miss Mary Beth Sims. When I take over the rest of this area, I’m going to need a proper wife to entertain my friends and clients and take care of me. Surely my daughter isn’t going to be around much longer, not if she doesn’t want to be called a spinster. You’ve got to start thinking about marriage and children. Since I’ll be in need of a wife, she suits my purposes perfectly.”

Clarissa argued, “Even when I marry, Papa, I can stay here to take care of you and the ranch. Who deserves to become the mistress of your new spread more than I do? I’ve worked just as hard as you to obtain it. Why not find a nice widow closer to your own age? I tell you, Papa, you’re wasting your time and energy on her.”

Harrison frowned. “Don’t go telling me how to handle matters, girl. If you had done your part, Kincade would be on my side, you two would be married, and the Crandall ranch would be ours. They’ve been gone nearly two months. You didn’t even know he was leaving, and you can’t find out where they are. I’ll make sure you get what’s coming to you, so don’t you worry none. As for my taking a wife, it isn’t any of your concern or business. Surely you don’t begrudge your dear father a little happiness and excitement with another woman. Pretty widow or not, I don’t want any man’s leavings. In case you don’t have eyes, girl, I’m still a virile man, and sometimes I get itches stronger than yours. I want Mary Beth Sims to scratch them because she’s pretty and young and innocent, and I can train her as I please. Your mother has been dead since ‘44, and I raised you all alone. Don’t you think I get lonesome, and tired of using
those cheap women in town?”

Clarissa wanted to shriek at him:
Like you trained that young and innocent Marissa?
but she restrained herself. “You misunderstand me, Papa,” she guilefully protested. “Mary Beth has a sweetheart: Cody Slade, who works for Nathan Crandall. Even if you and her father try to convince her to marry you, I doubt she will. She loves Cody and plans to marry him. You don’t want to be embarrassed by having her reject your proposal. Besides, she’s such a fragile, timid creature. You need a woman with backbone, one who can stand at your side and help you run your holdings, a woman who knows how to take care of a home and a husband. Don’t reach for the impossible,” she entreated softly and slyly.

Harrison was vexed by his daughter’s words and her attitude. “I don’t care about Mary Beth’s girlish feelings for Slade. She’ll do as her father commands. You think Clifford would allow her to marry Slade when I’ve asked for her? Never. Once she get settled in here, she’ll do exactly as I say. It won’t take long for her to realize how lucky she is to have married a wealthy and powerful rancher instead of a cowpuncher who can’t earn in his lifetime what I spend in a year. She’s got manners and breeding, and she’s educated and charming. She’s perfect for my needs, Clarissa, all of them. Besides, no wife of mine is going to refuse me anything or disobey me.”

“Does she know that you and her father are discussing marriage?”

“Not yet. I’m giving her a taste of what I have to offer. Once I get my hands on Nate’s ranch, then I’ll reveal my plans for her.”

“Are you sure her father will go along with you after she cries and begs to marry Cody? He loves his daughter. Surely he wouldn’t force her to marry you.”

“That’s what you think, girl. Sims owes me plenty, and soon I’ll have his neck in a financial noose. She’ll do as I
say, one way or another. You see, girl, her father’s done a few things that the law will frown on if I choose to expose them. As his lawyer, I know all about him and his dealings. She’ll agree, to keep her father from being hanged. That’s something you should learn, Clarissa. Always have an alternate plan, and always know the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies and rivals. That’s the only way you can succeed with your plans or defeat a foe. Just make sure you’ve got the guts and wits to stand firm once you make a decision to go after something or someone.”

Clarissa decided she needed to learn what that “financial noose” was so that she could secretly tie it. Too, she would find some clever way to warn Mary Beth or Cody about her father’s devious plan. If those two could elope before her father staked his claim on Mary Beth, it would halt his scheme. She did not want another woman in her house, especially one who could give her father a child and give her an unwanted rival for his inheritance. No matter what she had to do, she would prevent him from marrying before she could take all he owned, including his miserable life. If only Travis would return soon, she reflected, and she could find some way to win his heart and help. Women had ways of entrapping resisting men, and she vowed to use any or all of them if necessary.