by Linda Ladd
Logan took a deep, cleansing breath, hoping the woman would be reasonable. He was not in the mood for an ugly scene. He turned, barely glancing at Michael, as his eyes went straight to the tiny woman at his father's side.
Too stunned to move, his eyes locked for an eternity with Starfire's beautiful violet ones. He could not speak, staring openmouthed at her beloved face, the lovely features that had haunted his every waking thought and invaded his dreams for months.
He gave a low groan and shut his eyes, afraid his mind was playing a cruel trick on him. It couldn't be Starfire. Half afraid he'd seen another woman, he looked again to find Starfire watching him warily. His heart began to pound, and Michael frowned, having expected surprised pleasure from his son, but nothing like the total astonishment suffusing Logan's handsome face. When Logan moved, it was so swiftly that it caught Elizabeth and Michael by surprise.
He suddenly loomed before them, his great height dwarfing Elizabeth's petite figure, and she gasped as one strong arm folded about her waist. Then she was pressed against steel muscles, as burning azure eyes devoured her shocked face. The intense blue eyes penetrated the dark and hidden corners of her mind, causing dormant memories to stir, and the burning blue circles of her dreams became reality. But further recollections fled abruptly as long brown fingers knotted in the luxurious mane of her hair, and his mouth came down upon hers with a hunger that sent her mind reeling.
“Starfire, Starfire,” he muttered thickly, crushing her against him, his heart constricted by a joy so great as to cause pain.
For several seconds, Michael watched helplessly, astonished by Logan's behavior. Then, as his senses returned, so did his voice.
“Logan! Are you mad? Put her down!” he bellowed in outrage, horrified at his son's insensitive treatment of his new bride.
Logan was completely oblivious to his father, and Elizabeth could not think at all as she hung limply against him, his kisses searing into her lips over and over. When he finally lowered her to her feet, she would have fallen but for Logan's firm grip upon her waist. It was only then that Michael's enraged words filtered through to them.
“How dare you treat her like that, Logan! She's a lady, not some strumpet brought here for your pleasure!”
Elizabeth's mind began to function again, and she raised trembling fingers to touch her kiss-swollen lips, staring up into Logan's handsome face.
Logan smiled down at her, a glad smile he could not stop, but to Elizabeth's wounded sensibilities, it seemed mocking, as if he'd meant to humiliate her. His expression changed abruptly as she pulled away, lifted her skirts, and flew toward the front porch. He started after her, but Michael caught his arm.
“Let her go, damn it! Can't you see what you've done? I warned you about treating her like that. She can't cope with it yet.”
“I can't let her get away again,” Logan said, his eyes on the door where Elizabeth had disappeared.
Michael frowned and released his grip. “Then you'd better start treating her with the respect she deserves as Thomas Pennington's granddaughter!”
Logan turned confused eyes to him. “She's not Thomas’ granddaughter.”
Michael gave him an incredulous look. “Have you lost your mind, Logan? Of course she is!”
Logan moved to the French doors and watched as Elizabeth ran toward the creek that fed the lake. Every fiber in his body urged him to follow her, but after the first shock of seeing her had receded, he realized she had not recognized him. He couldn't explain it, couldn't understand any of it.
“She's Thomas’ granddaughter? Elizabeth Richmond?” he asked slowly, remembering suddenly Elizabeth's amnesia. Michael stared at him a moment, then nodded his head.
“Yes, I just told you she was! What in heaven's name is the matter with you?”
Logan didn't answer. He was unable to wait any longer; they'd lost too much time already. He'd sort it out later, but right now, he had to find Starfire and hold her in his arms.
“I'm going after her,” he said, moving toward the door.
“I'm warning you, Logan...” Michael threatened, but Logan was already halfway to the point where Elizabeth had entered the trees.
Fourteen
Elizabeth ran along the bank of the creek, ignoring the vines and branches tearing at her unbound hair like bony, grasping fingers. All she wanted was a place to be alone, a place where Logan Cord could never find her. Angry tears coursed down her cheeks, and her lips felt bruised from brutal, relentless kisses. She stumbled toward a shallow sandbar that lay across from a small wooded island, then raised her skirts and hurried across the partially submerged stones. In her haste, her heel slipped from a moss-slickened rock, painfully twisting her ankle. She lost her balance, and the current tugged at her sodden skirts, but she managed to regain her footing and limp to the sandbar, where she sank to the ground.
Her wet petticoats clung to her legs, but she pushed them away and took off her slipper. Her ankle had already begun to swell, and she fingered it tenderly, wincing at the sharp stab of pain. Something about the pain and the sound of the water made her touch the small scar hidden beneath the hair on her temple, intuitively sure that she had injured her head near a river. But she wasn't in the mood to think about the past. She was too angry to think about anything.
She gritted her teeth and looked out over the stream, her fists clenched tightly with fury. Brent had been right all along. Logan Cord did not want her for his wife, and he meant to make her life miserable with his cruel kisses and harsh treatment. He'd grabbed her up without any regard for her feelings. And who was the woman named Starfire he'd mentioned when he had kissed her? Probably his mistress! She hated him! She could never be happy with such a man. She hugged her knees against her breast, her eyes flaming from indignant fury such as she'd never known before. She would have the marriage annulled, she vowed. She would go to Brent in Denver and persuade him to take her home to St. Louis. And Logan Cord could not stop her!
Logan tracked her easily. She'd rushed in headlong flight through the trees with none of the Cheyenne stealth Starfire could use so adeptly. He followed her trail along the creek, trying to decide just what the devil was going on. Huddleston had told him at the first meeting that Starfire had wealthy grandparents in St. Louis. That much fit, but it was a hell of a coincidence, one he wasn't sure he could accept. And even more strange, Michael obviously had no idea of Starfire's past with the Indians.
He knelt where the small footprints ended and scanned the bank for her. He didn't see her until he let his eyes move out over the water. Her silvery hair caught the sun with a brilliance that stopped Logan's heart, and emotion swelled tightly within his chest. He had to get to her, had to have her safely in his arms again.
He waded into the water, his eyes never leaving the small figure huddled upon the island. He was almost to her when she raised her head, and when she scrambled away from him in alarm, he stopped.
“Don't be afraid,” he called out, still standing knee-deep in the rippling icy water. “I won't hurt you.”
She looked like a small, cornered animal, watching a predator advance, and Logan ran his eyes caressingly over her face, the desire to touch her again nearly staggering him. He tightened his jaw, gathering every ounce of his willpower. She tensed but did not move as he lounged down several feet away from her.
Elizabeth watched him warily as he stared at her with his piercing blue eyes. He was big and arrogantly handsome, his skin bronzed to a deep teak. His blond hair was longer than was stylish and rather shaggy, she decided. But his eyes were what unsettled her, and she looked away, her wrath rising again.
“I'm sorry if I frightened you. I was just so glad to see you.
She did not look up, her fine brows drawing together in an angry frown. He'd raged over their marriage, insisting upon an annulment, refused even to meet her for months on end, and now he professed to be happy to see her. She looked up at him, eyes cold.
“Glad to see me? Pray tell why? I would
think you'd be happy never to set eyes upon me,” she snapped.
Logan's eyes had been moving admiringly over her face and hair, trying to detect any change in the months they'd been apart, but at her angry words, he looked up in surprise.
“But now I have seen you, and it makes all the difference,” he said, smiling.
Elizabeth tossed her head, sending the silvery tresses swirling over her shoulder. “Perhaps to you it does,” she retorted. “But I still intend to have an annulment.”
Logan frowned darkly at the contempt in her violet eyes.
“An annulment is totally out of the question, of course,” he said, with an arrogant finality that sent Elizabeth livid with fury. Her eyes hardened.
“And my feelings don't matter in the least?”
Logan's frown remained in place, as he realized he wasn't handling the conversation well, but it was hard to remember she didn't know him anymore. They would have to begin again, he resolved. But just then he was more than distracted by the way her angry breathing was moving the wet bodice. He reached out and lifted a soft, silvery lock where it lay upon her shoulder, and Elizabeth jerked it away and tried to stand.
She groaned as her injured foot took her weight, and Logan was up, his hands supporting her waist. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she gasped, allowing him to assist her down. “I twisted my ankle.”
“Here, let me see,” Logan said, and she watched, aghast, as he swept her petticoats well past her knees. He tugged loose the ribbons of her garter before she could move, and she gasped as he began to roll down her white silk stocking.
“Stop that at once!” she cried, but Logan barely heard her as he feasted starved eyes on her sleek white thigh.
“You have no right...” she sputtered, but her protest died in her throat as his palm slid slowly up her bare leg to the back of her knee, while he looked up at her, dark azure fires burning deep inside his eyes. She could not move, and a long moment passed before Logan spoke huskily.
“It's not too bad, but you shouldn't walk on it.”
His hand continued to caress her leg gently, and Elizabeth stared at him, while muscles twitched furiously in Logan's cheek as he worked to keep from kissing the moist lips so close to him. But she did not know him, he reminded himself, and her face was still flushed from anger. He'd worry about that later. Right now he was only glad to have her back with him.
He smiled, deciding her twisted ankle was a very good excuse to get her in his arms. “I'd better carry you back.”
“No, that's not necessary. I...”
Logan took her into his arms, shutting his eyes as the warm softness of her body put an inhuman strain on his self-control. He waded into the creek with her, and Elizabeth froze, as a memory came back to her with powerful strides, so vivid as to reel her senses. She felt herself being held tightly in the cradle of steel arms, the smell of buckskin and trees and the roaring of water all coming together with such reality that her breath caught.
Logan was unaware of what was going through her mind, absorbed only by the feel of her body against his as he carried her toward the house.
The unnerving sensation gradually left Elizabeth, and she rode rigidly in his arms, piqued by his disregard for her wishes. Brent Holloway's dark green eyes came into her mind, and Elizabeth's chin hardened. Why couldn't it be Brent holding her? She frowned determinedly. It would be Brent soon. She'd never submit to the rude giant who already acted as if he owned her.
Michael and Lily stood together upon the veranda watching as Logan carried Elizabeth across the front lawn. Michael was still upset with Logan, but Lily's dark eyes searched Elizabeth's stormy face.
“Logan, I warned you...” Michael began, but Logan cut him off.
“Elizabeth twisted her ankle crossing the creek, and I'm merely carrying her upstairs.”
Lily hurried to open the door, and Elizabeth remained stiff in his arms as Logan strode purposefully across the great room. Amanda hovered at the top of the staircase, but one look at Logan, climbing the steps with Elizabeth in his arms, sent her scurrying down the back stairs to the kitchen, and caused Logan to frown at her strange behavior.
“I assume you're using my bedroom,” he said, and Elizabeth's voice came back coldly.
“No, I am not. I'm in Cassie's old room.”
Logan paused before his own room, giving it a longing look before he turned toward the one across the hall.
“I'll have your things moved then, before tonight.”
“You'll do nothing of the kind,” Elizabeth retorted, infuriated at his presumption, as he entered her bedroom and crossed the rose-hued carpet to lower her gently onto the lace-draped bed.
Elizabeth stiffened as he sat down beside her and subjected her to an intense scrutiny that eventually brought a warm crimson stain beneath her skin.
“Is it too much for a husband to ask his wife to share his bedroom?” he asked quietly, his eyes on her mouth.
“It is if an annulment is forthcoming!”
Logan looked at her, his blue eyes delving into hers until they seemed to probe into her very soul.
“We are married,” he said evenly. “And we're going to stay that way.”
He arose quickly as Michael entered the room behind them. “Lily's preparing a poultice for your foot, dear. She should be up with it in a moment,” he said, glancing nervously from Logan to Elizabeth. Michael didn't understand what was going on, but he was determined to protect Elizabeth from any more of his son's embarrassing behavior.
Lily arrived moments later and immediately set about mixing her dressing, and when Logan gave no sign of leaving, Michael cleared his throat.
“Elizabeth would probably like to get out of that wet dress and bathe before supper, Logan.”
Logan was reluctant to let her out of his sight, especially if she was going to bathe, but he finally lifted Elizabeth's fingers to his lips, disregarding her frigid stare.
“Until tonight,” he said with a smile. “When we can get to know each other better.”
Elizabeth gritted her teeth as he left with Michael, and Lily smiled encouragingly at her.
“It appears that Logan is most pleased with you.”
“He is the only one pleased,” Elizabeth said bitterly, surprising Lily.
“Michael told me what happened. I'm surprised Logan did such a thing when he first met you. It is not like him,” she admitted.
“I think it is very like him. Rude and arrogant. He even expects me to share his bed this very night.”
Lily looked at Elizabeth's smoldering eyes, thinking it had not taken her long to lose any fear of her husband.
“You are his wife,” she reminded quietly.
“Only in name, and that will not be for long.”
Lily remained silent. She'd known but a few men in her many years among the whites, but even she had seen the desire for his young wife in Logan's blue eyes. He would not let her go easily. It did not bode well for the young couple, especially with Elizabeth's determination to end the marriage. She applied the thick poultice to Elizabeth's foot, hoping her friend would not be unhappy.
“This will help the swelling and take away the pain,” she told Elizabeth. “Now let me help you undress, so you can rest before supper.”
It was nearly dusk. Michael sat at one end of the great room, watching his son pace. Logan's hands were clasped tightly behind his back. He stopped before the stairs for the hundredth time.
Michael shook his head at Logan's impatience. “For heaven's sake, Logan, stop that infernal pacing and sit down. She'll be down in a minute. You're acting as if she's giving birth up there.”
Logan stopped in midpace.
“How long did you say you've known Elizabeth?”
Michael cradled his pipe in his palm, smiling at his son's sudden avid interest in Elizabeth's past life. After all the angry accusations about the arranged marriage to Elizabeth, Logan now seemed obsessed with his bride.
“I met her
right after Thomas presented me with the betrothal agreement.”
Logan considered his answer, then moved back to the hearth.
“You've been good friends with Thomas for years, Father. Haven't you ever wondered why you haven't met her before, at a ball or a soirée?”
“No. As I understand it, her parents were killed when she was a child, and she was raised by an aunt in Boston.”
Michael put a lit taper to his pipe, puffing it into flame.
“None of that is true,” Logan said in a low voice, and Michael held the wick poised in midair as he raised astounded eyes. Logan watched him intently, and Michael decided he'd heard him wrong.
“What did you say?”
“I said that none of that is true. Elizabeth was raised by the Cheyenne Indians some miles north of here, until I stole her away from them last year.”
Michael's jaw dropped as if unhinged, and silence prevailed until he found his tongue.
“Logan, that is undoubtedly the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Have you completely lost your senses?”
Logan smiled humorlessly. “I've wondered the same thing in the last few months.”
He paced back to the center of the room for another look up the staircase. He was growing increasingly uneasy. Starfire had been out of his sight too long, making him want to doubt that the whole unbelievable situation had really happened.
Michael put down his pipe, his brows drawn together in concern. “Son, I'm truly beginning to worry about you. You've been acting strangely for months now, and this nonsense about Elizabeth...”
“It's not nonsense. Her name is Starfire, and we were lovers. She was taken from me last autumn in Denver by three men, and I've nearly gone mad these past months trying to find her. Why do you think I was so dead set against the marriage?”
“But it just can't be. Thomas—”
Logan interrupted him, running both hands through his hair. “Perhaps she is Thomas’ granddaughter, I don't know. I was hired by a solicitor named Alfred Huddleston to get her back for her white family, and he wouldn't tell me their name.”