He pounded again.
She snatched it open, crossness on her face, but the sight of his fury put fear in her eyes. Alarmed, she stepped back into the curtains-drawn room and he followed, snarling. “Stay the hell away from my wife!”
“You can’t come in here!”
He slammed the door behind him. “Be glad I’m not the woman-beating type or you’d be on the floor scrambling after your teeth.”
“Hey!” shouted a male voice. “Don’t talk to her that way!”
Eli’s eyes seared the bed. Creighton Wilson was sitting up in the gloom, the wrinkled sheets held against his chest. The sight caused Eli to shake his head with disbelief. He viewed the triumph in Cecile’s eye and said bitterly, “You are one of a kind.”
“As you often told me,” she purred, smiling slyly.
“This is not a game,” he barked in a voice cold as winter.
Creighton was out of the bed, sheet wrapped around his waist. “Get out of here, Eli.”
“Does your father know he’s sharing?”
Creighton stepped forward to do battle, but Cecile placed a soft hand on his hairy chest. “No, darling. He isn’t worth it.”
The two men glared. Eli drawled, “Cray, you’d be better off taking arsenic.”
“Get out!” Cecile snapped. “You’re just jealous!”
“If you were lying in the road with your skirt above your head and your legs spread from here to Chicago, I’d walk right past you.” His voice dropped to a low sinister tone. “This is your last warning. Stay away from my wife!”
Creighton made another move and Eli warned him bitterly, “Right now, I could very happily beat someone to death, so if you want to be that lucky, come on.”
But he didn’t advance. Eli turned his menacing gaze on Cecile. Nothing further to say, he left them, slamming the door with such force it resonated like thunder.
G.W. was in the hallway, his face heavy with concern. A few of the other boarders viewed his angry exit with wary curiosity, but Eli ignored them all.
Downstairs, he stormed by Caroline Ross who was still wearing the stunned look she’d had on when he blew in earlier. His jaw tight with emotion, he gave her a terse nod then exited through the door and stepped back out into the chilly gray day.
Now, still fuming, he sat in his cousin’s office. He hoped Cecile had enough sense to take him at his word, because if she did anything else to cause Jewel pain there would be hell to pay. When G.W. proposed contacting the local Pinkertons to see if they had any information that might shed light on what she’d been doing for the past few years, Eli hadn’t really cared. Now he did. Very much so. He wanted to know chapter and verse on anything that could be found. Cecile was a snake and snakes only surfaced if they were threatened. Something had brought her back to the Grove and the time had come to turn over some rocks.
He forced himself to calm down, but the confrontation kept playing across his mind. And what in the world had Creighton Wilson been doing in her bed? The fact that she seemed to be enjoying the favors of both father and son spoke volumes about her claims to have turned over a new leaf. He wondered if James Wilson knew. He didn’t impress Eli as being the type of man who’d be party to something so sordid, but who knew, maybe the elder Wilson didn’t care. Were there others? Back when Eli had been her lover, he’d heard rumors of her entertaining other men. He remembered being disturbed by the prospect, but also, being young, he’d arrogantly convinced himself that he fucked her best; the rest were also-rans, so they didn’t matter.
He rubbed his palms over his face—what a stupid ass he’d been. And he was still paying for it. He thought of Jewel and the tight, emotionless face she’d shown him this morning. Even though the wall between was less than a day old, he missed her. Terribly.
Wishing he had the luxury to sit and mope away the rest of the day, he pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. He had to go. He had to take Nate’s place at the monthly tenants meeting being held at the church.
The Graysons rented land to fifteen families, and the meetings had been set up to air grievances, deal with problems, and celebrate successes. Usually the meetings were nothing more than a chance to catch up on news or play checkers, but today Eli was presented with a problem holding serious implications. It seemed there was a tax being charged at the mill that Eli knew nothing about. “How long has this being going on?”
One of the berry farmers, Pete Dane, answered. “Few days after Nate and the doc went west.”
“Really?” Eli replied, intrigued.
Another man, a farmer named Walt Bailey spoke up. “The charges are killing us, Eli. Do you think it can be rescinded at least long enough for us to get our crops in and harvested.”
Eli freely admitted to not knowing as much about the Grove’s business as he should, which was why Nate was the mayor, but he couldn’t fathom his cousin imposing such an exorbitant fee on folks already struggling to make ends meet. “I don’t know anything about this, but I’ll speak with Mother and have an answer to this as soon as I can. I’ll also be talking with Wilson.”
That seemed to suit everyone, so the meeting adjourned.
He found his mother at the Lending Library having coffee with Maddie. Both looked at him with such concern when he walked in that he stopped in midstride. “What?”
“Did you threaten to kill Cecile this morning?” Abigail asked.
His lips thinned. “I may have, why?”
“It’s all over town,” she replied with curiosity in her voice.
“What happened?” Maddie asked.
He came farther into the room. “Just warned her to stay away from Jewel. That’s all.” Taking up a position in front of one of the bookcases he could feel the anger rising again.
The women shared a glance.
“And this started how?” his mother asked.
“With a simple question that shouldn’t have been asked. By Cecile.” In no mood to be further interrogated, not even by loved ones, he changed the subject. “Mother, what do you know about this new tax at the mill?”
The abrupt switching of topics made her pause and scrutinize him for a moment before replying, “What new tax?”
“The one Wilson is collecting at the mill.”
She looked confused, so he told her what the farmers had told him.
Abigail’s confusion deepened. “Nate hasn’t implemented a new tax. What is Wilson up to?”
“Embezzlement sounds like. What do you want done?”
She shrugged, “If this can be proven, I say let him go. I admit to not liking him, never have, but he’s been running that mill for fifteen years. I hate to think he’s been stealing all that time.”
“No, the farmers said the taxing started right after Nate and Viveca left for California.”
“Well then, we have our answer. Give him his last wages and send him on his way. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
She studied him for a moment more. “Eli, can you tell me—”
“I don’t wish to talk about it now, Mother. Jewel and I are at odds, and that’s all I can handle at the moment. I’ll take care of Wilson and see you both later.”
He left, and as the door closed, a grim Gail and Maddie sadly shook their heads.
The skies opened up and a hard cold rain began to fall, which only soured Eli’s already bad mood. Glad to have someone to take his lingering wrath out on, he contemplated the sacking of Wilson while he walked to his wagon parked in front of the mayor’s office. Seeing G.W. waiting for him under an umbrella made him say coolly, “G.W. How are you?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Eli reached into the bed of the wagon, found his slicker and dragged it on. “At the moment, that is the question of the day, so not to be rude, sir, but you’ll have to get in line.”
G.W. smiled. “That bad a day?”
Eli climbed aboard the wagon. “You just don’t know.”
“Well, go on home to that beau
tiful wife of yours. Just looking at her should make things brighter.”
“That’s the problem. Thanks to Cecile she may not wish to be my wife for much longer.”
Standing in the rain, Hicks froze, stricken. “My sincere apology for bringing her back into your lives. And to further my apology, I’ll get the Pinkertons started on that issue we discussed earlier. I won’t have snakes slithering around this Garden of Eden, especially now that I’m about to become a landowner and resident.”
Eli smiled for what seemed like the first time that day and, for that instant, didn’t feel the cold rain. “You’re top drawer, G.W.”
“I appreciate the compliment. Good luck with your wife.”
Eli picked up the reins. “Thanks.” Nodding his departure, he drove away. He was going to need it.
It took almost two hours for Eli to receive a reply to the telegraph message he sent to Nate out in California. In response to Eli’s question as to whether Nate had imposed the new tax, Nate’s answer came back with one word. No!
Armed with the truth, Eli proceeded to the mill. He found his quarry out back, covering some recently cut wood with oilskins to protect it against the now steady rain.
“What do you want?” Wilson snarled as Eli climbed down.
“Need to talk to you. Let’s go into the office.”
“Say whatever you come to say,” he tossed out from beneath his sodden hat. “Unlike you, I have work to do.”
Eli paused. The day was not getting any better. “You’ve been cheating the tenants. You have thirty minutes to clear out your gear.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You’re finished. The tenants told me about the tax you’ve been charging.”
“A charge your cousin instituted before he left for San Francisco, if you knew anything at all about the business.”
“I wired him. He didn’t authorize it. Be glad I’m not hauling you off to jail.”
“You? Hauling me?” he spat bitterly. “To hell with you. I’m not going anywhere, least not on your say-so. You’re just mad because of me and Cecile.”
Eli turned away and started toward the office. He called back over the rain. “Thirty minutes.”
“I ain’t going! I’m not turning this mill over to a man who used to be so drunk his own mother wouldn’t even claim him! If Nathaniel wants to sack me, fine, but I’m waiting until he gets back.”
Eli stopped and turned. The rain pouring down was as cold as his rage.
Wilson chuckled and taunted in ugly tones. “How mad is it making you knowing I’m the one bedding your mistress? Maybe I’ll hop on that little Crowley whore next—make her scream my name the way Cecile does!”
The blow to Wilson’s stomach packed enough rage to double him over, and the lightning-fast uppercut that followed stood him straight up again, but Wilson was a tough old rooster. He spit out a few teeth and grinned. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
And the fight commenced. They fought in the rain like two Titans grappling in the mud, ignoring the rain pouring down as fists connected and blood began to flow.
In the end, youth won out over age—that, and the fact that Eli was the Grove’s undisputed boxing champion two years running.
Breathing harshly and standing over the moaning Wilson now lying in the mud, Eli reached down and snatched the ring of keys from the man’s belt. He wiped at the blood filling his mouth and staggered into the office.
After securing the place, he came back outside and found Wilson and the wagon he always drove gone. Tired and beat up, he set out for home. He wanted his wife.
Jewel dragged back to the Grove that evening, cold, wet and covered with grime. It was bad enough that it had rained all day, thus making working outside on the roses next to impossible, but the roads were filled with wheel-swallowing mud and she’d had to stop twice to push and pull the horse and wagon free.
Now as night rolled in and she drove up to her brothers’ house, all she wanted was a long hot shower and bed. She refused to use Eli’s poor excuse for a washroom, and, besides, with things the way they were between them, she wouldn’t know what to say to him anyway, so she was hoping to put off seeing him for as long as she could.
At the door, she removed her mud-caked boots and entered the foyer wearing her thick woolen socks. Not seeing any of her brothers and not really caring, she headed upstairs to her room. She opened the door and stopped abruptly as a middle-aged brown-skinned woman inside spun around with alarm. Jewel asked, “Who are you?”
“Ellie Chance.”
“What are you doing in my room?”
“Your room?” Then her face relaxed and she smiled. “Oh, you must be Jewel.”
“Correct, but we still haven’t established who you are.”
It was obvious the woman didn’t care for the tone, but it was one more thing the weary and out-of-sorts Jewel didn’t care about.
“I’m the new housekeeper.”
“Ah.” Jewel saw now that the room’s walls and furniture had been changed. All of her personal effects were no longer about. “My apologies. I just came to wash up.”
“I see,” she said, critically eyeing Jewel’s dirty denims, shirt, and canvas coat.
“They didn’t waste any time moving me out, did they?”
Ellie opened her mouth in defense but Jewel waved it away with a smile. “It’s okay. Where’d they move my things?”
“This way.”
Her boxed-up possessions were in one of the spare bedrooms. After thanking the housekeeper, she took the long hot shower she’d craved. Once she donned clean, dry clothing she felt better than she had all day.
She entered the den where her brothers were gathered and saw Eli seated on the sofa next to Noah. She stopped, uncertain. He stood slowly in the now silent room. “Came looking for you after it got dark.”
Noticing the bruises and contusions on his face, she stared. “What happened to your face?”
“Fight. James Wilson.”
As she moved to get a better look, her first thought was to wonder if Cecile had somehow been involved but she pushed it away. “I hope he looks worse.”
He grinned around his cut lip. “He does.”
She reached up and gingerly turned his battered face this way and that. She scanned his swelling eye. “That’s gonna be some shiner tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Their gazes held and a rush of feelings that had nothing to do with the strain between them filled her insides. “Let’s get you home and see if we can’t salvage the face beneath all this swelling.”
“You sure?”
Noting that her brothers were watching with interest, she nodded, saying, “Positive.”
After the Graysons departed, the Crowley brothers looked at each other and Paul said, “I say the first child will be a boy.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Noah challenged. And the good natured-wagering began.
“What was the fight about?” Jewel asked, concerned. They were home now and she was placing moist warm cloths on the angry red whelps on his face. Lying propped up on the sofa, Eli basked in how wonderful it felt being taken care of after enduring such a hellacious day.
“He’s been stealing from the tenants. Mother and I decided to sack him.”
“I take it he refused to go quietly.”
“Bull’s-eye. Give the pretty lady a prize.”
She smiled softly. She didn’t like seeing him injured. “How long has he been stealing?”
“Started soon as Nate and Viveca left.”
She was gently moving the cloth from bruise to bruise. “So he was using Nate’s absence to line his pockets.”
“Apparently.”
“I’m glad you put a stop to it.”
“So are the tenants.”
She was seated on the edge of the sofa, ministering to him. As the cloth cooled, she stood to take it back into the kitchen and place it into the warm water heating on the stove, but he gently took her hand to prevent her
from leaving just yet. For a few heartbeats they viewed each other silently, then he said to her softly. “I’m sorry my past reached out and hurt you, more sorry than you could ever know.”
Standing there, she looked away for a long few moments and felt the pangs return.
“I have no defense, sweetheart. Yes, I made love to her, you already knew that but it doesn’t diminish what we shared in any way.”
“She made me feel common, foolish, used.” The resentment and anger closed around her heart like a fist.
“I apologize for that as well. You are none of those things. Yes, I’ve made love to many women under the moon, but not a one ever had my heart. You do.”
Emotion stung her eyes.
“None of them have ever heard me say this either: I love you, and I will forever.”
Stunned, she stared through unshed tears. His declaration echoed again and again.
“Speechless?” he asked.
She wiped away the moisture. “I am. I never thought…” she was too overcome to find the words.
“I’ve also never made love to a woman in the middle of a kitchen floor.”
She smiled.
He tugged at her hand and coaxed her back down beside him. He scooted over as far as he could and when she leaned into his chest, he wrapped her up and pulled her close. The sensation of holding her was so exquisite it was almost painful.
Jewel was moved as well and acknowledged how much moments like this had come to mean. “I’ve a confession to make.”
“And it is?”
“I’ve loved you since I was fourteen and you waltzed with me at my birthday party.”
He pulled back and stared down with surprise. “Truly?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you say so?”
“And make that head of yours swell even larger? I think not.”
She cuddled down again. He kissed her hair. “So, no divorce.”
“Not unless I catch you making love to Cecile in the middle of my kitchen floor.”
The threat was like music to his ears. “You won’t have to worry. Rumor has it I threatened her life.”
“Did you?”
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