The clerk grabbed her hand, his reaction only tightening the choke hold of his tie. He lifted a fist, then glanced to the side. Ellie prepared her own fist, but followed his gaze. Two men stood in front of the desk, suit jackets back and hands on the six shooters at their sides. The looks on their faces told the clerk exactly what would happen if he broke the code of the West and laid a hand on a woman.
Dropping his arm, the clerk motioned to the huge check-in ledger on the desk. Ellie unwrapped her hand from his tie, patted it back into place, and turned serenely toward the ledger.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” she said.
One of them chuckled. “You was doin’ fine all by your lonesome, little missy. We just decided to offer you some insurance.”
Ellie smiled at them, then studied the ledger. There were two entries under Morgan in the ledger, one of them under today’s date and one a few days earlier. Today’s—a Mariana Morgan—was probably just someone with the same last name as Shane, although she had been given Room Two. Across from Shane’s name, Ellie saw he was in Room One.
“These are first floor rooms, I assume?” she asked the clerk.
“Yes, Miss. They’re our nicer suites, for our most prominent guests.”
Hmmmmm. Funny that two prominent Morgans would be in residence in a western hotel, Ellie mused. The clerk interrupted her thoughts.
“I just came on duty, so I’m not sure if Mr. Morgan is in his room,” he told Ellie. “Uh—if he would perhaps not answer your knock, I’ll be glad to take a message down here for him. Uh—if you please, Miss.”
Ellie shot him a contemplating look. He probably thought she was going to beat the door down if she didn’t get a response. Well, let him worry. She smiled placidly at him and swept out from behind the desk. Giving the two men another nice smile, she headed for the carpeted stairwell.
On the second floor she found Room Two across from Room One, as expected. She rapped loudly on the door to Room One, in no mood to be kept waiting if Shane really was inside. When no one answered, she rapped harder.
“Shane. Shane, it’s Ellie. Open this danged door.”
Someone opened the door on the room across the hall instead. Ellie turned to see a short-statured woman around her own size but years older standing there. Her expensive dress indicated why she was in one of the rooms for the hotel’s prominent guests, and the diamonds around her neck and in her ears confirmed her status.
For a long moment, the woman gaped at Ellie as though astonished, hand at her neck, palm outspread over her diamond necklace. Her look triggered a stab of humiliation in Ellie, which the doorman and desk clerk couldn’t accomplish. But then, those two were false prudes. They didn’t wear aristocracy as a second nature, as this woman did.
She probably thought Ellie truly was a low woman, chasing after Shane in broad daylight. Ellie blushed, but couldn’t think of one word to defend herself with this woman like she had with the doorman and clerk.
With a visible effort, the woman gathered herself, then smiled exquisitely at Ellie, surprising Ellie but calming her humiliation.
“Shane’s gone out to see about renting a buggy, my dear,” the woman said. “Would you like to come in and wait for him? I’ve just received a tea cart in and was going to have a cup while I waited.”
“I—” The urge to curtsey filled Ellie, but she managed to control it. “I wouldn’t want to be any bother, Ma’am.”
The woman held out a coaxing hand. “You won’t be any bother at all. Please come in.”
Ellie moved toward her as though in a fog. Something about this woman tugged at her, filled her with yearning. When Ellie got to the room door, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for this woman to pull her into her arms and give her a warm, strong embrace. Then the woman pushed her back and cupped soft, uncallused hands on her cheeks.
“I heard you say your name, and Shane has told me about you. I’m very glad to meet you, Ellie Parker. I’m Mariana Morgan, Shane’s mother. Please call me Mariana rather than Mrs. Morgan, if you will.”
Her name, too, niggled something through Ellie she couldn’t quite identify. And when the woman stepped back, the loss of contact wrenched her. However, it comforted her again when Mariana Morgan slipped an arm around Ellie’s waist and led her toward the tea cart, shutting the door behind them.
“Now,” Mariana said, indicating for Ellie to sit on the small settee behind the tea cart and settling beside her, “tell me all about yourself, Ellie Parker.”
Ellie stared at her in trepidation. What had Shane told his mother about her? What should she say? She had come to town to lambast Shane for his deception of Rockford and Darlene, his duplicity, which might ruin Darlene’s betrothal. But she couldn’t say anything like that to his mother.
“I—” Silence seemed the best, but after a moment, Mariana wouldn’t have it.
“Please, Ellie. I have a million questions myself, so if you’d rather, I can ask those.” She poured them each a cup of tea into delicate, thin china cups. Without asking Ellie, she added a dollop of cream to one of them and handed it to her.
“How did you know I preferred cream in my tea?” Ellie asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She appeared somewhat flustered. “I just assumed since your mo—that is, most women I know take cream in their tea, although I prefer strictly sugar.” She selected a lump of sugar with the silver server, dropped it in her tea and avoided Ellie’s gaze.
“I do prefer cream,” Ellie admitted. “It just surprised me. Your knowing.” Picking up her cup, she took a sip, as Mariana settled back against the settee as though prepared for a long conversation.
“So,” Mariana said. “Tell me about the ranch where you live. Shane says it would be a very good investment here in Texas.”
Elvina would be glad to hear about Shane’s continued interest in the ranch, Ellie mused, sipping her tea again to gain time to hold that thought at bay. Instead, she described the Leaning G and its history. She had time for another cup of tea and two of the clotted scones, along with time to tell about the house before the door to the suite opened.
“I’ve got a buggy, Mother,” Shane said, “but I’d really rather you’d wait until tomorrow to—” He caught sight of Ellie, and a huge grin broke out on his face. “Ellie! Well, that settles that then.”
Her insides went cold when she saw his false delight. Evidently he intended to maintain his lies even in front of his mother. She glanced from Shane to Mariana in time to catch what she interpreted as a warning look on Mariana’s face, another strange action on this woman’s part that Ellie couldn’t interpret. Shane probably didn’t see it, however, since he kept his eyes on her as he walked across the room. Pulling up a side chair, he sat down near enough to her for her to feel his presence.
“Have you and Mother had a nice chat? If you’d told me you wanted to come into town anyway, I would have come back out and got you, you know.”
“Your messenger didn’t wait for a reply,” Ellie informed him curtly, although he didn’t appear to notice her tone. “And I only decided after he left anyway.”
“Well, we have reservations for dinner here in the hotel, so don’t fill up on scones. I imagine Fatima can make some just as delicious, if you want more after you get back to the ranch.”
“I won’t be staying for dinner,” Ellie said, and Mariana gasped beside her.
“Oh, but please do, Ellie,” Mariana said. “I’ve only just met you, and I truly do want to get to know you better. In fact, why don’t you let us send another messenger out to the ranch and tell them you’re staying in here overnight. This suite has two bedrooms, and you can stay with me.”
Ellie stared back and forth between Mariana and Shane, her puzzlement in their actions turning into irritation. Ever since she met Mariana in the hallway, it seemed like she tried to envelope her totally. Not that it wasn’t somewhat pleasant at first for someone to want your company that badly, but it grew annoying the longer it went on. Ellie was used to
making her own decisions.
“I couldn’t do that,” she said. “There are chores and things at the ranch I need to do in the evening. I can’t just leave them without giving orders for one of the men to take care of them.”
“Wouldn’t Shorty be able to handle that?” Shane put in.
Ellie shot him an angry look. “No.” She couldn’t have her conversation with him, either, in Mariana’s presence, so she might as well head back to the ranch and wait for another time.
“But Ellie—”
Mariana broke off when Ellie swung back to face her, and it wasn’t until Ellie saw the look of apprehension on the other woman’s face that she realized her own expression still mirrored her anger at Shane. She worked a smile onto her lips.
“I’m sorry, Mariana, I really am. But I do have responsibilities at the ranch, and Shorty won’t realize I’m gone unless he goes out and sees my share of the chores undone. He was still on the range with the rest of the men when I left.”
“But we could send a messenger, my dear,” Mariana said cautiously.
“No.” Ellie carefully placed the china cup back on the tea cart and stood. “I do need to go.”
“Maybe we could come out with you and visit,” Mariana said, an almost desperate plea in her voice, which puzzled Ellie further and didn’t calm her vexation one bit.
Ellie shook her head. “Elvina, my stepmother, would have my hide if I brought unannounced visitors out. Especially someone of your...well, your social standing. I will tell her of your arrival, however, and I’m sure she’ll want to entertain you. Maybe for dinner tomorrow evening.”
“Will you at least come in for lunch tomorrow and let me know?”
“I—” She glanced at Shane, studying the worried look on his face. “I don’t think I can get away. But I’ll have someone come in and deliver Elvina’s dinner invitation.”
Mariana sighed. “I guess that will have to do.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Shane said, following Ellie toward the door.
She whirled on him. “No! No, you won’t. I don’t want you to accompany me.”
He stared at her with a frown, which narrowed into an uneasy perplexity. Ellie didn’t give a diddly darn—a damn—right then. What she had to say to him couldn’t be said in a public place—either in his mother’s presence or on the streets of Fort Worth.
“Ellie,” he said in a low voice he didn’t mean to reach his mother’s ears, “let’s step over into my room and talk.”
“No,” she repeated for what seemed like the dozenth time. Though he waited for a further explanation, she couldn’t come up with one right now. He deserved every bit of the worry and frustration showing on his handsome face, and she still carried enough anger at him to be satisfied with his befuddlement at her actions.
She hadn’t realized it would be so hard to actually face him, though. To see him and know his delight in her presence was feigned, his words to her covering up lies and deceit. It had taken every bit of effort she could dredge from deep inside her not to let her newly-recognized temper fly at him—tell him she knew about his duplicity with Rockford. Tell him how it had broken Darlene’s heart.
“No,” she said one last time, then nodded over at Mariana and went out the door, closing it firmly behind her.
“What on earth have you done to that child?” Mariana asked Shane.
He turned and held out his hands in an innocent gesture. “I don’t know, Mother. She wasn’t like this this morning. In
fact—” Well, he couldn’t tell his mother about that. “—she was very agreeable this morning.”
“This is more than just your breaking your engagement with her for the evening,” Mariana mused. “What else have you done today that could have upset her life?”
“Upset her life? Mother, you’re here to possibly tell Ellie that she’s not who she’s thought she was for the entire twenty years of her life. That she’s an heiress with a fortune waiting for her that’s probably as large as our own, given the investments I’ve made with it over the years. And you think anything I could do could upset her life more than that?”
Mariana was unperturbed. “Evidently it has. That is not the girl you described to me earlier today.”
“She’s not a girl,” Shane said instinctively, feeling his cheeks heat at Mariana’s sharp scrutiny. “I mean, well, she’s the exact age she should be if she’s Cynthia Spencer.”
“Make no mistake about that, Shane. That young woman is Cynthia Spencer. I’d stake my life on it. I brought some pictures of Rose and me together, and I’ve got more pictures back home, even some baby pictures of Cynthia before she was taken. Ellie has William Spencer’s mouth, but everything else on her is Rose at that age.”
“I’d still like to have some sort of actual proof.”
“There isn’t any. Rose’s sister destroyed everything after Rose and William died. Or were killed, if what I believe is true.”
“Were killed? What do you mean, Mother?”
Marian motioned for Shane to sit and settled herself once again on the settee. She poured two cups of tea and handed one to Shane before she leaned back.
“I believe that Rose and William’s deaths weren’t an accident, no matter what the coroner ruled, Shane. I think someone drugged that horse and made it bolt and wreck the carriage. Or perhaps hid in the brush and shot something at the horse. You were too young to be aware of it, but that animal was skittish. William took pride in the fact that he could handle the gray, and I’ll admit, it made a beautiful sight pulling their carriage. But anyone close to the family knew what that horse was like.”
“But why kill them, Mother?”
“Greed, of course. Rose’s sister, Lily, was an evil woman. She was as wicked as Rose was generous. They were actually twins, but no one would know ever mistake one for the other. Lily’s evilness gave her a stark, deadly beauty whereas Rose was soft and gentle.”
“I still don’t understand what benefit their deaths would have for Lily.”
Tears glinted in Mariana’s eyes, and Shane leaned forward to comfort her, but she shook her head.
“Let me finish,” she said.
She took a steadying sip of tea. “It was as though Fate somehow had this in mind. An evil Fate, that wouldn’t be denied. Soon after Rose and William married, both sets of parents died. To be honest, I believe their deaths were natural, as they were all elderly and in poor health. William was an only child and inherited everything. Rose and Lily’s parents had their lineage, but they’d fallen on hard times, and there was nothing left of the family fortune. Rose didn’t need it, but Lily became dependent on William’s generosity.”
“So Lily got rid of Cynthia and killed her sister and brother-in-law,” Shane concluded to save his mother the agony of repeating the tale. “Lily inherited everything.”
“Not for long.” Mariana shook her head. “She died of yellow fever within a month of Rose and William’s deaths. We both shared the same attorney, and I went to him, demanding that he search the estate papers and find out anything he could to help me search for Cynthia, since I truly believed Lily was behind the child’s disappearance. He told me there was nothing there; that Lily had evidently destroyed a lot of papers. You see, he’d had his own suspicions, but she must have known about them and took pains to protect herself. That made me, also, sure Lily had either killed Cynthia or sent her away where no one could find her.”
“I can’t believe she was so evil.”
“Believe it, Shane. And it’s taken me years to unravel all this evil and deceit. I’m not going back to New York without telling Ellie who she really is. Without making sure she receives her proper due as my best friend’s daughter.”
Chapter 21
Shane halted Blackjack at the end of the wide arc he rode to approach the Leaning G from behind the barn and listened to the night noises. A month ago, he wouldn’t have known a coyote from a cow, but tonight he could identify different sounds, thanks to Shorty’s patie
nce. The rasping yet pleasant noise was katydids calling to their mates. Far off in the distance, a pair of coyotes howled, and closer in, a fox yipped.
The smells were different, too. Sagebrush and clear night air, at variance with the odors of New York, which the women counteracted with perfume on their bodies and scented handkerchiefs. Dust lingered in the air, stirred up from Blackjack’s hooves, but here it fit the atmosphere rather than annoyed.
When had he changed his mind and decided maybe a few things about Texas weren’t that unpleasant? Maybe when he realized this state sheltered the woman he hadn’t even known he was searching for, and not because his mother insisted on it.
The woman he had found—Ellie—could be the heiress his mother thought, or she could indeed be Ellie Parker, adopted daughter of George Parker and some completely different person from the orphan train. No matter what his mother said, Shane wasn’t positive yet of Ellie’s identity. Either way, it wouldn’t bother him, however.
The Ellie he wanted was the other half of him, his soulmate. Heiress or poor orphan girl—he didn’t care one whit either way.
And he wasn’t about to wait until morning to see why she held him at such arm’s length today in the hotel, when she had been the other half of his heart and body last night. Even this morning. Last night she insisted he talk to her instead of being Mr. Stone on a Log. He was here to do that.
He told himself her actions today were because of his mother’s presence. That perhaps Ellie sensed the disquietude Mariana tried to hide until she could find the right time to talk to Ellie openly. He was at last certain Ellie wasn’t repulsed at the scars on his back, not after the way she had acted last night.
Dismounting, he tied Blackjack to a bush and removed something from his saddlebags, placing it in his shirt pocket. He supposed he could ride up to the front of the house and announce himself, even this late at night. But if Ellie refused to see him, he wouldn’t dare barge on in.
Southern Charms Page 20