Silken Savage

by Catherine Hart

  “Justin,” she sighed, “it’s a terrible shame when a girl has to ask the man she loves to marry her! Are you going to accept or not?”

  For one long minute Justin stared at her in shock, trying to decide if he’d heard her correctly. “Yes!” he blurted, before he was conscious of even opening his mouth.

  Melissa laughed, delighted at both his open-mouthed reaction and his answer. “Good! Then it’s'settled!”

  At last Justin recovered his senses. With a small but exuberant whoop of joy, he leaped from the swing, pulling her up with him. His eyes shining, he twirled her around, then pulled her into his embrace. “Oh, Missy! Missy!” He hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.

  Then he put her slightly away from him, frowning down at her in concern. “You’re sure? You won’t change your mind?” His eyes searched her face.

  Putting her palms to his face and pulling him down to her, she assured him, “I’m positive.” Bringing her lips just below his, she whispered, “Aren’t you supposed to kiss me now, or am I supposed to kiss you since I did the proposing?”

  It really didn’t matter, for once their lips touched, it was difficult to determine just who kissed whom.

  Not wanting to infringe on Tanya’s wedding, Melissa was reluctant to announce their news, but Justin had no such reservations. With a directness that was inherent in him, he took charge. After announcing their intentions to his parents and the Martins, the assorted relations sat down to a family planning session. Adhering to Melissa’s wishes, the arrangements were kept simple. They were to be wed a week after Tanya and Adam, and Judge Kerr would again perform the ceremony. Tanya and Adam would stand up with them. A few flowers, a bridal bouquet, and a new gown were sufficient for Melissa’s needs, with an intimate family dinner to honor the occasion afterward.

  Jeffrey made a few additional attempts to see Tanya, and finally retreated, though not with good grace. The Martins simply did not answer the door when Jeffrey came to call. He left notes for Tanya, which she promptly destroyed. Whenever he caught sight of her about town, she was always in Adam’s company. Finally he gave up — or so they thought at first.

  Then, with the wedding only a couple of weeks away, strange things began to occur. The first was dramatic, and nearly fatal. After supper one evening, Tanya and Adam went for a stroll. They were walking along one of their favorite paths in the woods behind the house, chatting amiably and stopping every so often to exchange a kiss or two. The lovers were totally wrapped up in one another, unaware of much around them.

  On impulse, Adam reached down to pluck a wild-flower for Tanya’s hair. At that exact moment, a bullet whizzed over his head, slamming into a tree a few feet away. With lightning reflexes, Adam jerked Tanya down with him, rolling quickly behind a tree.

  Drawing his own gun, Adam waited. When he heard nothing, and no more bullets came their way, he edged out to take a look. No one was about. Judging where the shot was fired from, they found fresh footprints in the soft earth, but the unknown assailant had fled.

  “Jeffrey,” Tanya claimed with certainty.

  “Or one of his faithful henchmen,” Adam concurred readily, “but we have no proof.”

  “He’s changing tactics.” Tanya ground her teeth together in agitation. “Now he’s playing the cowardly sneak! That’s just his style!”

  “It certainly appears he wants to see you widowed before you’re wed. We’ll have to be alert. I should have heard him, but I had my mind on other things.”

  “So did I,” Tanya admitted. “I thought he had given up. I should have known better.”

  When they related the experience to the others, Melissa added a new bit of information to be considered. “You know, it may not mean a thing, but lately I’ve heard a lot of gossip concerning Suellen and Jeffrey.”

  “What about them?” Tanya asked.

  “Nothing special, just that they have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

  “They deserve one another,” Tanya pronounced with a grimace. “They are two of a kind.”

  Melissa persisted. “Yes, but I hear that they are closer than two peas in a pod. Don’t you think that is odd?”

  Adam shook his head. “What is odd about it? They have a lot in common. Both have the disposition of a snake. Each would love to see me eliminated; Jeffrey because he covets Tanya, and Suellen because she so despises Tanya that anything that causes her grief makes Suellen glad.”

  Glancing at her parents, Tanya said cryptically, “So far Suellen has not seen Adam close up, and she knows nothing about him, which is all to the good. I’ll be ever so grateful when her parents come for her.”

  “Well,” Elizabeth piped up, “the parson’s wife told Emily Kerr that they expect Suellen’s parents any time now, within a few weeks at the most.”

  “Yes,” Sarah added, “and from what I hear, Ruth will be glad to be rid of her. Now that the novelty has worn off, even she is sick of Suellen’s harping.”

  At the weekend, Rachel, Julie, and Roberto came to town. With them they brought a disturbing bit of news. Someone had attempted to set fire to the barn and stables a few nights earlier.

  “Luckily, Joséwas tending a sick colt when he heard someone skulking about,” Roberto explained. “He grabbed the shotgun by the door and got off a shot at whoever it was. The shot alerted the rest of us, and we all went running.”

  “The culprits fled before much damage was done. Jose found a lit torch near the corner of the stable and stamped it out, and the roof of the barn was on fire in one place, but it was quickly extinguished.”

  “Did you see who it was?” Adam asked.

  “No,” Rachel told him. “It was too dark. All we know is there were about half a dozen men.” Her brow furrowed as she recalled something else. “It is funny, but Pedro said he thought the man he saw was wearing an outfit similar to a cavalry uniform.”

  * * *

  The sheriff received an unexpected invitation to dinner. Afterward, over brandy in the library, the men explained briefly what had been going on. A short history of the situation between Tanya and Jeffrey brought the problem into focus. Added to that, the near-rape, Jeffrey’s crazed obsession with Tanya, and the more recent problem with Julie gave weight to their tale. Last, they told him about the attempt on Adam’s life and the fire at the ranch.

  “I don’t doubt anything you’ve said, but without proof, there is little I can do,” Tom Middleton explained regretfully. “He’s wily, that one. So far he’s stayed just inside of the law.”

  “We know that, Tom,” Adam assured him. “We just wanted you to be aware of what is going on. The man is demented. There is no telling what he is capable of trying, or what he’s liable to do next.”

  Tom shook his head in dismay and understanding, “I’ll keep an eye peeled, and I’d advise you to do the same.”

  “Roberto has posted guards at the ranch until I say otherwise.”

  Drawing deeply on his cigar, Middleton expelled a cloud of smoke. “That lieutenant has been nothing but trouble since he set foot in Pueblo,” he growled. “Got big ideas, he does. Thinks that uniform makes him some kind of big cheese.” The sheriff laughed tersely.

  “Somebody ought to tell him a cheese has holes! That gold bar on his shoulder isn’t going to protect him from flying bullets or flaming arrows. I can’t condone outright murder, and I shouldn’t even be saying this, but the fella that gets rid of Lieutenant Young for good will be doing the town a great favor.”

  Everything was peaceful until two days before the wedding. All the arrangements had been made. The bridal gown was ready, and the dresses for the bridesmaids and mothers. The flowers had not died off; everyone was healthy, if nervous; and what food could be prepared ahead of time was done.

  The girls were upstairs trying on their gowns yet one more time. Adam and Justin were going over some papers in the library. George and Edward had escaped to work, and Elizabeth was puttering about in the kitchen. Jeremy had gone off to play and Sa
rah, Kit, and the boys were in the backyard while Sarah tended to the laundry drying on the lines.

  Suddenly Sarah’s screams pierced the air, easily carried to the ears of those in the house through the open windows.

  Papers flew everywhere as Adam and Justin bolted from the study, nearly bowling Elizabeth over in a rush for the back door. Melissa jumped, Julie shrieked, and Tanya ripped the entire side seam out of her gown as she jerked it on over her head. Three sets of feet raced down the stairs.

  Dashing out the door, Tanya stumbled to a halt near her mother. She watched in confusion as Adam and Justin ran from the yard. “What is going on?”

  “Where are Adam and Justin going?” Melissa questioned.

  Sarah, little Mark clutched in her arms, leaned against Tanya for support. Hunter was safely ensconced in the folds of Elizabeth’s voluminous skirts. “I think someone tried to kidnap the boys,” Sarah sobbed. “I just left them for a second to bring in a basket of dry clothes. When I stepped back to the door, Kit was raising all sorts of Cain!” She stopped a second to catch her breath. “When I ran out to see what was wrong, I saw someone hiding in the trees at the edge of the yard. That’s when I screamed. The man started to run, and then I saw another man running with him.”

  “Adam and Justin are trying to catch them,” Elizabeth finished for her.

  “Oh, God!” Tanya gasped in stunned disbelief. “Who?” Her gaze swiveled to her mother’s.

  Sarah nodded and gulped. “Blue uniforms,” she confirmed.

  Justin and Adam were soon back emptyhanded. “They got away.”

  “Damn him!” Tanya ranted, close to tears. “Damn him to hell! I can understand why he’d try to shoot you, Adam. I can even see how burning your ranch ties in. In his twisted mind, if your livelihood were wiped out and your fortune reduced, he probably thinks I wouldn’t marry you. But this is too much! To abduct my sons! What would that gain him? What good would it do him?”

  Adam gathered her trembling form into his arms. “Blackmail, my love,” he explained. “I suppose he would have used them as bait to get you to marry him instead.”

  Tanya sighed exhaustedly. “When will it all end?” she asked. “When will he finally stop?”

  “Perhaps once we’re married, Tanya. Two more days, darling. Hold on a bit longer. We’ll make it.”

  “And two weeks from now you’ll be gone from here,” Melissa comforted. Tanya and Adam had told everyone that as soon as Justin and Melissa were married, they would be leaving. Adam wished to show Tanya and the boys what Europe was like. Only Rachel and Melissa knew that Tanya and Adam were actually going back to the Cheyenne.

  “I can’t say I’ll be sorry,” Tanya claimed. At Sarah’s hurt look, she said, “I’m sorry, Mother, but Jeffrey has made my life a nightmare. I pray each night that he’ll get transferred to Africa or die of a fever, or accidentally poison himself!”

  “Maybe he’ll go out on patrol and get himself scalped,” Adam suggested quietly, sharing a secret smile with Tanya. “We can always hope.”

  Chapter 24

  THE FIRST day of July dawned bright and sunny. The sky was a brilliant cloudless blue, the perfect backdrop for the mountains that stood out in relief against it. Just a hint of a breeze kept the sun from being too hot, and the humidity was blessedly low. Had she ordered the day specially, Tanya could not have had a more perfect wedding day.

  The ceremony was scheduled for eleven o’clock, in the Judge’s gardens since the day was so fine. Afterward, there would be a luncheon and celebration, leaving the newlyweds plenty of time for their trip to the ranch, where they would spend a couple of days by themselves. They would return to town for the Fourth of July festivities, and stay for Melissa and Justin’s wedding a few days later. The time would be spent making final preparations for their journey.

  This morning, the Martin household was in chaos, hut Tanya was strangely calm. This, she reasoned to herself, was probably because she had considered herself married to Adam for nearly three years now. She had no reason for the usual pre-nuptial jitters, wondering if she was about to make a mistake.

  Sarah was flitting about like a demented butterfly. She sent poor Jeremy on so many errands to the Kerrs’ to check on last-minute details, that Tanya swore he would have a permanent path worn through the neighbors’ yards.

  At last they were all ready a good half-hour ahead of time. Tanya thought Hunter looked so handsome in his little miniature suit, a small replica of his father. He stood proudly next to his grandmother, his black hair gleaming and in place for once. Elizabeth was taking charge of Mark, who at eight months was too active to be content for long in any one place. Dressed in his first set of kneepants, he would view the ceremony from Elizabeth’s lap. Tears of pride stung Tanya’s eyes as she looked at the two fine sons Adam had given her.

  Tanya checked her reflection in the mirror one last time. Her ivory gown with its long, lacy sleeves and embroidered lace bodice was perfection. The copper wristbands, which Tanya refused to dispense with even for this one day, barely showed through the tight cuffs at her wrists. Her tawny hair had been drawn up and back on both sides, and secured with ivory clasps borrowed from her Aunt Elizabeth. The back of her hair fell in gleaming waves past her shoulders, partially hidden by the bridal veil.

  The gown was new; the hair clasps borrowed. Hidden in her bodice was an old lace handkerchief of her great-grandmother’s, and beneath her skirts she wore a blue garter on her thigh. Sarah had insisted on making Tanya put a brand new penny in her shoe to complete the old adage for luck. It went without saying that Adam had been forbidden to glimpse his bride before the wedding.

  Hearing the opening chords that were her cue, Tanya picked up her bridal bouquet of delicate yellow and white rosebuds and went to stand beside her father at the bottom of the stairs. They watched Julie make her way down the petal-strewn garden aisle on Roberto’s arm. Next, Melissa and Justin traversed the path they would again walk the following week. Then, her hand firmly upon her father’s supporting arm, Tanya made her way serenely and regally toward Adam, who waited with glowing dark eyes before Judge Kerr.

  Many thoughts raced through Tanya’s mind as her father led her down the aisle. There stood Adam, once again waiting to claim his bride. He was superbly handsome in his suit and brocade vest, yet Tanya could not help but compare this Adam with the tall, bronze warrior in elaborately fringed and decorated buckskin who had claimed her as his bride in a Cheyenne ceremony. In all honesty, Tanya privately preferred him as Panther and considered the tribal rites more beautiful.

  This time, Edward gave her to her husband. Short years before, Chief Black Kettle had performed this honor. Before, the tribal shaman had administered the vows that Judge Kerr would recite today. Tears blurred her vision momentarily as Tanya thought of those wonderful people so brutally killed in the massacre, and she sent a silent prayer skyward in their memory.

  Tanya came out of her reverie as her father placed her hand in Adam’s. Together they faced the judge as he began the traditional ceremony.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the presence of these witnesses to unite this man and this woman in the bonds of Holy Matrimony …”

  Part of her mind listened to the solemn words, while with another she was acutely conscious of Adam’s presence beside her. The clasp of his hand about hers was calm and sure, warm and comforting. The scent of his spicy cologne blended with the sweeter fragrance of the flowers and her own perfume. His silent strength and pride bolstered her own.

  As her ears attuned themselves to the ritual words of the service, she heard the judge saying, “If there be any man here who can show just cause why these two should not be joined in wedlock, let him now speak, or forevermore hold his peace.”

  In spite of the fact that Jeffrey had not been invited and she was sure he had not come, Tanya felt a brief spasm of fear flash through her. Adam’s hand tightened about hers as her fear communicated itself to him, and t
he moment passed with no objections forthcoming.

  Now Judge Kerr was saying to Adam, “Adam Savage, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together from this day forth; to love, to comfort, to honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, keeping thee only unto her for as long as ye both shall live?”

  Adam’s rich, deep voice avowed clearly, “I do.”

  Turning to Tanya, the judge repeated, “Do you, Tanya Martin, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together from this day forth; to love, to comfort, to honor and obey him, in sickness and in health, keeping thee only unto him as long as ye both shall live?”

  “I do,” she intoned softly.

  Then Adam was facing her and saying, “I, Adam, take thee, Tanya, to be my wedded wife,” and Tanya was vowing, “I, Tanya, take thee, Adam, to be my wedded husband.” Together they repeated solemnly, “To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish till death do us part; in accordance to God’s Holy Ordinance; and therefore do I pledge thee my troth.”

  Adam’s hand released hers as Justin handed him the ring. As if in a trance, remembering this same exact moment in a previous ceremony, Tanya watched as Adam slipped the gold band on her ring finger. His fingers slipped upward to clasp themselves about the hidden copper bands on her wrists, and she knew he was remembering also and renewing his pledge as he said, “In token and pledge of our deep and abiding love, with this ring I thee wed.”

  The judge’s voice droned on as Tanya and Adam shared this private moment of poignant remembrance. They were brought back to reality as the judge announced, “… Inow pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

  His eyes aglow, Adam bent his head to claim her lips. The ceremony concluded, the guests gathered about to congratulate them, to kiss the bride, and to offer best wishes for a happy future.

  To save time, gifts had been sent on to the ranch, to be opened and acknowledged later. Also, slightly irregularly, Tanya had elected to toss her bouquet and garter prior to the luncheon, so that she and Adam could slip away unannounced at their earliest convenience.