Tender Is the Storm (18 page)

Wanting to leave and actually gathering the courage to go were two very different things, Sharisse found out. As the morning progressed she dressed to ride and packed all she could manage to stuff into her portmanteau, which would hook onto a saddle. But as she waited, praying for Lucas to leave the ranch so she could go without having to face him, she had time to think about what she was doing.

What she hadn’t considered before then was that not only might Lucas try to stop her, he also had the legal right to stop her. Even if she managed to get to town and Samuel Newcomb gave her shelter, Lucas could bring her back. No one could do anything about it, least of all herself, because he was her legal husband.

So where did that leave her? She couldn’t stay here, not with Lucas’s true character revealed. Oh, if only he had told her how long he wanted her to stay, then she might not feel so desperate. But for all she knew he might want her around for
years. And the way Lucas affected her, she knew it would be only a matter of time before she forgave him everything. If they became lovers again, she couldn’t annul the marriage. She simply had to go and go now.

Lucas did finally leave, taking one of the new mares out for a ride. Sharisse hurried to the barn to have Mack saddle her a horse. She hid her portmanteau and Charley’s empty basket outside the stable. No point in testing Mack’s loyalty. Then she went in search of Charley. She found him in the back of the barn, sitting on the ground staring at a dark corner. When she called him, he wouldn’t respond, wouldn’t even turn around to look at her. Then she saw that the gold eyes glowing out from under a plank in the corner belonged to another cat.

Sharisse was amazed. Lucas had to have brought the cat to the ranch. What a sweet thing to do. But she couldn’t let that change her mind. She had to remember everything else he had done.

Charley obviously didn’t want to leave his new friend, but Sharisse wouldn’t consider leaving him. She locked him in his basket and hurried away. Fortunately Mack didn’t follow to see her secure her belongings to the saddle. There was only one thing more she had to do, say good-bye to Willow and her baby.

It was a tearful affair. Willow didn’t try to stop her. She asked no questions, seeming to fathom Sharisse’s feelings.

Sharisse made it to town without incident. She left the horse at Pete’s Livery where Lucas could
find it some day, then headed for the hotel. Wilber, sitting out front of the mail dispatch, called out to her that she had a letter.

That was surprising enough, but what was inside the envelope caused her to cry out with joy. Money! More than enough to get her home! She couldn’t believe such luck, coming just when she needed it most. She wouldn’t have to impose on anyone now, or risk asking Sam Newcomb’s help. She could leave Newcomb before Lucas even discovered her gone.

Sharisse went straight to the stage depot, not even taking time to read Stephanie’s letter. Her only concern was whether there was a stagecoach due. There was, and her luck was holding, for the stage was late and expected any time.

Waiting was nerve-racking. Even when the large, clumsy stage finally rolled into town, Sharisse had to wait an hour while the horses were changed and the driver was fed.

She waited inside the stage. It was an oven, the leather curtains closing out most of the air, but she was hidden.

She was beginning to relax when the door opened and Slade stepped into the stage and sat down beside her. She was absolutely stupefied.

“How—?”

“Saw you come into town,” he told her. “Been watching you ever since.”

“But what are
you
doing in Newcomb?”

“I go wherever the mood takes me.” His eyes pierced her. “Where are you going, beautiful?”

She clamped her mouth shut, determined that she didn’t have to tell him anything.

“No answer?” he prodded.

“It’s none of your business,” she said stonily.

“Oh, I don’t know.” He relaxed back into the seat and said in a too casual manner, “I saw Luke in Tucson a few days ago. I guess I didn’t believe him when he said he’d tied the knot. I came back this way to find out the truth. Sure enough, I heard from several people that a preacher made a respectable woman of you.” He sighed. “I never did like respectable women.”

“Isn’t it the other way around, that they don’t like you?” she said sharply.

He smiled. “Think so? But we were talking about your new status, Mrs. Holt, and whether or not what you do is my business. Seems to me, as long as you’re married to my brother, it is.”

“Nonsense,” Sharisse snapped. “You never cared about your brother’s feelings before. Why should you suddenly want to protect his interests?”

“Who said anything about his interests? That name you carry now is mine, too, beautiful. You think I want it said that a Holt couldn’t hold on to his woman?”

Before she could say anything, he went on. “You’re here alone. That tells me Luke doesn’t know you’re leaving. And here I thought he was all you wanted. You did tell me that, didn’t you?” he asked with pure mockery.

“Leave me alone, Slade.”

She turned away, but he grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Answer me.”

“Yes!” Then, “Yes, he was all I wanted. But that doesn’t matter anymore, because he doesn’t want a wife. I can’t stay here, knowing that.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know what he wants,” Slade remarked cryptically. “Did you fall in love with him?”

“Certainly not,” she replied, too quickly. “And you needn’t concern yourself, Slade. Lucas is quite willing to let me go. He expects me to get an annulment of our marriage. I won’t disappoint him. It will be done as soon as possible.”

He stared at her thoughtfully, then said, “Well, before you quit being a bride, there’s an old custom I want to take advantage of.”

She threw up her hands to stop him. “Slade, no!”

His mouth closed over hers in a hard, searching kiss. Ripples of excitement flowed through her. Oh, no, not again, she despaired. But she pressed closer to his hard body even as she tried to move away.

She was breathless and dazed when he released her.

And then he was gone, as abruptly as he had come.

Billy drew up short when he entered the barn and found Lucas readying his horse with more gear than he could possibly need for a long trip. “Willow tells me your wife took off. You going after her?”

Lucas didn’t bother to glance up. “Nope.”

“Then what’s all this? You just got back from being gone a week. Where’d you go anyway?”

“Around.”

“Oh,” Billy said sardonically.

Lucas chuckled. “Since when did you get so curious about me?”

“Since you took off the same day you got married,” Billy replied. “I got to thinking maybe being married didn’t sit too well with you.”

“It didn’t.”

“Shoot, Luke, I thought you liked her.”

Lucas shrugged noncommittally. “That’s got nothing to do with it. I’m not like you, Billy. I just didn’t want a wife, that’s all.”

“Then why’d you let me talk you into sending
for one?” Billy’s voice rose with agitation.

“You’re making me feel guilty as all hell, Luke. Willow said I’d end up regretting butting into your life.”

“Forget it. I went along with it since it seemed like a good idea. It wasn’t your fault. I never planned on actually marrying the girl.”

“Did she know that?”

“She does now.”

Billy whistled softly. “So that’s why she took off.” Lucas nodded. “That leaves you married, but without a wife to show for it. You willing to go on like that?”

Lucas considered explaining the nonlegality of his marriage, but decided against it. “I won’t have to, Billy. Sharisse will take care of ending the marriage just as soon as she gets back to New York.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Billy frowned. “You planning on paying your respects at the Tucson graveyard again?” he ventured. “Is that why you’re packing so much stuff?”

“I did that a few days ago.” Lucas finally looked at him squarely. “I’m quitting this place.”

“You ain’t!”

Lucas couldn’t help laughing. Billy, with round, incredulous eyes, didn’t look like Billy at all.

“Why are you so surprised?” Lucas asked. “You knew I’d move on soon.”

“Yeah, but not yet. It ain’t over. How can you go before it’s finished?”

Lucas shrugged. “The last phase is in the works. I’m not needed here for anything else.”

“I can’t believe it. After all the time you’ve put in to make your plan work?”

“That’s just it, Billy. I’ve been here too long.”

“It’s because she’s gone, isn’t it?”

“Maybe,” Lucas hedged. “What’s the difference? You can handle the end of it. All those thank-you letters that came in from the different charities we dumped Sam’s money into are in my room. All you have to do is see that he gets the lot of them as soon as Buskett sends word that Sam’s ranch is sold and the last of Sam’s money given to a worthy cause. He’s not a stupid man. He will realize immediately that he’s been taken for everything he owns. And I bought the bank myself so I could cancel all those mortgages. I’ll send an agent in to take care of that.”

“Another expense you figure is worth it?”

“I want the folks here to be free to move on to more prosperous towns if they’ve a mind to, yes.”

“You know they’ll go. This town will be dead within a year. But shoot, Luke, I thought you wanted to deliver the blow to Newcomb yourself,” Billy grumbled. “What kind of revenge is that, taking off without even seeing the expression when he reads those letters? I just don’t understand.”

“It was never revenge, Billy. It was justice. And that’s been served. And I can imagine how he will look,” Lucas said grimly. “I don’t have to be there to see it. I’ve wiped him out. Next to go will be his wife and his small army that made him
feel like a king. All he’ll have left is a suite in a hotel that never earned any money and never will, and soon there’ll be a ghost town to surround it.”

“What about this place?”

“Sell it if you can find someone fool enough to buy it. Or keep it, if you like. It doesn’t make any difference to me what you do with it. And you’re welcome to it.”

“I’ll probably head back to the reservation. Willow likes it better there.”

“I figured that.”

“And you?”

“Henri Andrevie wrote that he’ll be in New Orleans for a while before he sails for France and the gambling halls there. I think I’ll join him.”

“Isn’t he the rascal who taught you so much?”

“The same. He never did understand why I wanted to give up the gentleman’s life to become a horse rancher. Maybe I’ll tell him the reason now and give him a good laugh.”

“Maybe you better not. He might just figure out how you used him before.”

“I guess you’re right,” Lucas conceded

He was ready to leave. He looked at Billy one last time. How well they understood each other. He was going to miss this friend.

“Think you’ll ever get back this way?” Billy’s expression was sad.

“You never know. But there’s one more thing you can do for me, Billy. That passel of letters you’re to deliver to Sam? Seal them all in a big envelope and write on it ‘Compliments of Jake
Holt, Boothill, Tucson.’ If that bastard’s got any conscience, he’ll remember.”

“The perfect touch.” Billy nodded solemnly.

Lucas wondered about it as he rode away from the ranch and Newcomb. The trouble was, Samuel Newcomb might not remember Jake Holt. After all, Jake was only one of Sam’s victims. But he would wonder, and he would try to connect the name with Slade and Lucas. And if he wondered about all of it long enough, he just might remember Jake Holt.

“Is this your first trip to a big city, child?” the elegantly clad woman beside Sharisse asked condescendingly.

“New York is my home,” Sharisse replied automatically.

“Oh.”

The lady looked away, her interest gone at being denied the chance to dazzle a country girl with tales of city life. Sharisse shrugged and stared out the window again.

She did indeed look like she had just come from the country, with her portmanteau at her feet, Charley’s basket on her lap, and her poor traveling suit ready for the ragpile. But on this trip, her appearance had not been one of her concerns.

In less than an hour she would be home. What awaited her? The letter in her reticule just didn’t make sense. Sharisse had read it so often since leaving Newcomb that she knew it by heart, but she still couldn’t decide what it meant.

She took Stephanie’s rumpled letter out and tried, one last time, for some insight.

Sharisse tucked the letter away. It was no good. She still couldn’t decide if Stephanie was telling her the truth this time, or if her father had found out that Stephanie knew where she was and had forced her to write this letter just so Sharisse would come home. Was she going to face Marcus Hammond at his very worst, or had he really been so worried about her that he would welcome her home without wrath?

She hated to think of Stephanie betraying her
in this letter. But far worse was to accept that first letter as lies. To deceive a stranger with lies, as she had done, was one thing. But to deliberately deceive one’s own sister! Why, that first letter was indirectly responsible for her marriage! If it hadn’t come when it did, she might have had her wits about her that day. It was just inconceivable that sweet little Stephanie could be so unscrupulous, even for the sake of love.

Sharisse wished that were all that was troubling her on this journey, but it wasn’t. Ironically, going home was no different from when she had headed west, for the same three people occupied all her thoughts. But this time the third person was no longer an unknown entity.

Sharisse found herself missing Lucas. She wouldn’t have believed it possible, yet she hadn’t been a day away from Newcomb before it became apparent that what she was feeling was pure melancholy.

He had always managed to affect her in some way, whether or not she’d wanted him to. He could amuse her, exasperate her, even frighten her, and of course thrill her with pleasure. No matter what, when she was with him, she’d always felt something.

So now, missing him, she had no control over her emotions. Angry because of her sister, worried because of her father, she was constantly up and down with the feelings Lucas evoked. The strain was getting the best of her, and her nerves were raw.