Wolfen Secrets (The Western Werewolf Legend #3) (11 page)

“Mr. Ty, Mr. Ty.” Ethan tugged on Ty’s
coattail. “I want to dance with Aunt Sony. Your men keep taking
her. It’s not fair.” His small pink mouth drew up in a pout.

Ty could hardly blame Ethan. Didn’t his
yearning strain at the tether as she swirled about the floor in
someone else’s arms?

“Peers we’re both out of luck, son.” Nodding,
he assured Ethan. “Give her a minute the music’s about over.”

Sonja caught sight of Ty across the crowded
dance floor. Sending him a smile, she disappeared in the throng of
dancers once more. “Come on Ethan, let’s go save your woman.” With
a smile and a hand on the boy’s back, Ty made his way over to her
side of the dance floor to wait for the music to end.

“Aunt Sony, Aunt Sony!” Ethan’s exuberate
greeting filled the space around them. “May I have this dance?” His
slender shoulders squared as he bowed low for her.

True tenderness spread over Sonja’s face as
she bent into a curtsy so deep, Ty was afraid she’d need help
getting up. The music began to play. Ty stood guard to ward off
another intrusion as Ethan led Sonja in a waltz.

Warmth tugged at his heart, followed by a
swell of admiration as the widow danced with the young child.
Funny, he found he wanted to thank her for her attention toward
Ethan – to kiss her and show her what her consideration and
kindness meant. There were so many sides to Sonja Brooks. He smiled
inwardly when he considered the woman.

***

The band played as the dancers continued to
keep the dance floor crowded. The evening was in full swing.
Everyone was having a marvelous time. Watching with pleasure, as Ty
swung one of the young girls around in a reel, Sonja melted.
Everything was going perfectly. Tonight she would tell Ty he was
going to be a father.

A young flaxen-haired woman approached her at
the punch bowl.

“My goodness, isn’t it a wonderful dance?”
The young woman produced a lace fan. With practiced skill, she
began fanning back and forth vigorously. “I don’t know when I’ve
had a better time.” As if it had only dawned on her, the woman
switched topics. “Why, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Claudine
Morgan. My daddy owns the Triple Bar M in Texas,” she announced as
she waved her gloved hand in the vague southerly direction. “We’re
here on business. I’m
good
friends of Ty’s. Why we
practically grew up together, you know.”

Sonja didn’t miss the reference to her
position in Ty’s world. Here was a confident, pampered, wealthy
woman claiming to know Ty quite well. She let the woman talk. It
gave her the opportunity to consider the woman’s appearance. With
hair the color of wheat surrounding a delicate, fine-boned face,
she appeared refined. Though petite of stature, small wasn’t a word
that could ever be used to describe her. Brazen was one that came
to mind, as Sonja took in the nude silk party dress Claudine wore.
Her smug demeanor obviously meant to erode the confidence of those
she encountered, goaded Sonja greatly. She’d seen her kind many
times in the parlors and ballrooms back east. She despised her
immediately.

“I didn’t catch your name, dear…” Claudine
let the statement hang in the air beginning to chill around them.
Looking over her pert nose at Sonja, she waved her fan idly. Her
chin came up a fraction. In another personal insult, she offered
Sonja only her fingertips in a handshake.

“My name is Sonja. I am… They…” Almost drawn
into the woman’s game of “I’m better than you,” Sonja paused in her
explanation.

True to form, it only took the woman a moment
to continue her little charade. “Ohhh, you must be the northern
widow they say Ty brought with him. Your husband died during the
war, didn’t he? You had nowhere else to go – poor dear. I think it
was exceptionally kind of Ty to take you in like that. I hope you
know what a terrible burden it is for us, dealing with northerners
at this point in time, you understand.”

The woman’s trite assessments of her loss,
even if he was a vampire, sparked embers in Sonja’s tawny eyes.

“Why our lives are always in danger, it
seems. We never know when one of those blood-thirsty Yankees is
going to come out of the woodwork to attack us. I do hope General
Lee and President Johnson do something about those damn barbarians.
We want to live in peace.”

Sonja listened silently. Her temper couldn’t
be sated now. This woman blatantly condemned her people right in
front of her. On top of that, how’d she know of their situation? It
infuriated her even more to realize a small voice in the back of
her mind needled her even now to consider how friendly Ty was with
this woman. Providence intervened shortly and brought along Mr.
Loflin himself.

Claudine squealed, flinging her arms around
Ty in a totally over done exhibition of surprise and delight.

Ty weathered the woman’s assault with a
gentleman’s grace as she leaned into him. He leaned back to put a
space between them. The bold woman stepped into his retreated
space. Her arms were around him and her mouth was on his in one
brazen move.

“Darling, it’s been so long since I’ve seen
you. Why I was getting to know your little friend here.” Pretending
to pout she lowered her eyelashes, batting them flirtatiously
before continuing. “Is she why you haven’t been to visit me at the
Bar M lately?” She asked the question with feigned innocence as she
ran a gloved finger down his vest buttons. “Oh, that’s right,
you’ve been away during this dreaded war, haven’t you now?” Looking
back at Sonja, she added, “You know dear he is always bringing home
stray animals and orphaned Indians, he can’t seem to help himself.”
With a shrug of her bare shoulder, she turned her attention back to
Ty. “Oh, we have so much to catch up on. Hurry, I want you to see
Daddy before he goes off to his meeting.” Tugging at his arm, she
started across the room with Ty in tow. The backward wave she sent
Sonja spoke louder than words.

A small number of people had already begun to
stare and whisper. Briann found a position to Sonja’s left and
stood stoic as the two eyed each other like cats in an ally fight.
The mutual animosity fairly charged the air between the two women.
Sonja flicked a gaze at Ty then. The gold sparks in her eyes cut
him in two. Sonja noted he walked rigidly in the direction the
woman pulled him.

Every eye was on her. Sonja swiftly became
the outsider once more. “You’ll excuse me please,” Sonja addressed
Briann as she gathered her skirts.

***

Watching her go, Ty struggled to disengage
himself from the contrite shrew. Briann faced him in grim silence
after Sonja wheeled on her heel, hastening for the back door of the
barn.

“What in hell are you doing here, Claudine?”
Ty finally turned his temper on the cause of his demise.

The scheming socialite paused a moment. “Why,
darling, aren’t you glad to see me? Daddy is here on business for
the state of Texas. I came along for a diversion.” She smiled
seductively as she nestled her breast against his chest. “I didn’t
realize how much of a diversion there was.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here and
starting trouble like this.” He ground out the words through
gritted teeth. “A lot of damn nerve.” He swore under his breath.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were working for the
Yankees.”

“Why, darling, I don’t know what you mean.”
She attempted more of her patented feigned innocence. The fan
waving began in earnest.

Her acting wasn’t lost on him as he grabbed
her arm. Claudine’s being there was too much of a coincidence.
Unlatching himself from her claws, he wheeled to find Sonja. There
was no sign of her.

“Stop, you’re hurting me. Ty, I said let go
of me!” Claudine whimpered in alarm as he steered her to the huge,
double door opening of the barn entrance and away from the curious
glances.

Not realizing she should stop, she continued
to goad him. “It’s a shame your little widow couldn’t stay.” She
smoothed her skirts, immediately fluffing her hair when Ty released
his grip. “General Lee would be thrilled to interrogate the widow
of the renegade outlaw, Robert Brooks I would think. Don’t you
think it’s about time somebody put the north in their place?” Her
voice dripped with contempt.

He gripped her arm again, this time squeezing
with each word. “Where did you learn of Robert Brooks?” His eyes
narrowed on her face. “Who are you working for?”

Claudine gasped as his fingers sank into her
flesh. “Ty, let go, you’re hurting me!”

His temper grew with each second ticking by.
Easing the pressure on the vixen’s arm, he tried again. “My
apologies. Where did you come by such information?”

“The flyers are posted along the walls of all
the stores in town, right along with Jessie James and the Younger
gang.” She pulled at the sleeve of her gown, giving the material a
smoothing. A slight frown appeared as she worked to eliminate the
damage Ty’s grip had done to her neatly pressed ensemble. “Why, I
believe there’s even a poster with a likeness of you, my sweet.”
She patted his cheek and offered him a smile, a smile which never
reached her eyes.

Seething now with temper, he shot back, “If
you know what’s good for you you’ll consider what you’re doing
before you go sharing information with the Yankees or the Rebs.” He
hadn’t missed her thinly-veiled suggestion she’d love to turn him
in if he didn’t treat her as she wanted. His gut was churning with
the danger Sonja would be in if he were behind bars or worse –
dead! “You’re messing with something that could hurt you, Claudine
- something that could hurt us all. Stop it”

She kept pushing, “I’ve heard tell, dispatch
from Lee’s Army will be in St. Louis by week’s end. Oh Ty, you know
the only good Yankee is a dead Yankee. That’s what daddy always
says,” she finished as she took a step back to fret with arranging
her shawl.

Ty’s black scowl bore into her. “Go home
Claudine, go back home with your precious daddy. Leave me…” he
paused a moment, “Leave my wife alone.” The command in his voice
said it all. If she was spying for the Yankees, he’d make damn sure
the vampires knew that he was aware they were being watched.

Her eyes shot shards of glass and loathing at
him then. “You ungrateful bastard!” she railed as she caught his
meaning. “I thought you enjoyed our little visits under the oaks at
the Bar M. Don’t tell me the little slip of a weak-brained
northerner is giving you what you need. What she wouldn’t let you
mount her unless you married her?”

Ty’s look of disdain had her receding breath
coming in gasps.

“It’s true isn’t it? You are sleeping with
her, aren’t you?” She challenged him to deny it.

“She’s a lady. I wouldn’t sleep with a lady
without the benefit of marriage.” His lie weighted heavy with each
word he spoke.

Her open-mouthed gasp was all he got in
response. “You bastard!” Reaching out to slap his face, he caught
her hand in his steely grip. Stirring her in the direction of the
buggies, Ty shoved her.

“That’s enough Claudine, now go home. Don’t
come looking for me again. Do you understand me?” Giving her arm
one last squeeze, he released her quickly. “One more bit of advice.
I’d watch who I share other people’s business with, especially
likenesses on wanted posters.”

The crack of her hand against his face had
his head snapping sideways. With fire flashing in her eyes, she
stared hard at Ty. “Oh I understand. I understand all right. You’d
better understand this. You’ve just sealed yours’ as well as your
little bitch’s fate.” Backing away from him, she wagged a finger
for emphasis. “Mark my words, darling, you’ll be sorry for this –
you’ll be sorry, you and your little widow whore.”

Holding the buggy crop high, she looked as
though she contemplated using it on him. Instead, she slapped the
whip against the horse’s flank, sending it prancing sideways as the
buggy lurched into the lane. A trail of dust followed her
leaving.

***

She had to get away! She slipped out the back
of the barn to the old workbench. Needing the distance, she
struggled with the wolf inside. Her temper was almost out of
control. She couldn’t allow the wolf to come out now! The
humiliation of coming face to face with Ty’s lover was more than
she could bear. Texas loomed even larger than before in front of
her eyes.

Briann found Sonja sitting in the dim light
of the lanterns a few minutes later. The stricken look she gave
Briann, made her want to shake Ty Loflin until his eyes rattled.
When she made contact with Sonja’s arm, Briann sensed her sister’s
entire dilemma.

“Sonja, why are you sitting out here when I
know there are at least a dozen or so cowboys in there dying to
dance with you?” Briann could see from her sister’s bowed head. The
stubborn set of her jaw meant she was about to cry.

Briann gathered her in her arms as the first
tears started to fall. “Now, now, come on, Sonja. You can’t pay
attention to people like Claudine or any of the other
narrow-minded, pea-brained folks we’ll meet in Texas.”

Saying nothing, she sniffed into her sister’s
sleeve as she clucked at the fabric of her shawl. Reaching into her
skirt pocket, she produced a handkerchief. “Here, now dry your eyes
and we’ll go back in.”

Sonja nodded shakily, trying to do as Briann
instructed. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed as she wiped her nose. “I know
I shouldn’t let her get to me but oh God!” She shook her head as
she remembered. “The woman was flaunting her relationship with Ty
in front of me. She threw herself at him. If I had to stand there
one more minute to witness any more of the woman’s charade, I would
have cheerfully clawed her eyes out.”

“Sonja, she means nothing to Ty.” Briann
hugged her shoulder in support.

Sonja shook her head. “No, Briann. I think I
made a mistake accepting Ty’s offer to travel to Texas with him. I
actually thought I could fit in somehow in Ty’s life. I should have
known better than to believe Ty and I could ever have anything
together. I trusted what he told me, or maybe I wanted to believe,”
Sonja said bleakly, knuckling back a tear.