No, he would keep to his decision made on the ride out of town.
Cautiously he crept toward the barn, keeping a watch for any prowling ranch hands. He knew all of them, and he was sure that, if necessary, he could talk any of them, including Shorty, into being a participant in his secretive visit to Ellie. Still it would be better to keep this private between Ellie and him, since she would murder him if she found out he had let someone else know he visited her in her room at night.
Something exploded in the brush beside him, and Shane instinctively flung himself to the ground. As soon as he saw the jackrabbit’s wild, veering flight into some brush a few yards away, he chuckled and rose. Brushing the dust from his clothing, he shook his head. Shorty hadn’t mentioned jackrabbits being dangerous.
One of the horses in the corral nickered and lifted its head in alarm, but Shane recalled the soothing, clicking noises Shorty made when he chose a mount for the day each morning. He clicked his tongue in imitation of the sound, and the horse bobbed its head and trotted over to the fence. Shane moved over and patted it for a second, then headed for the shadows on the side of the barn.
No one was on the rear veranda; shouldn’t have been anyway, at this late hour of nearly midnight. A light shone somewhere deep inside the downstairs, reminding him to be as quiet as he could. He dashed across the yard, just in case someone was wandering about there. At the back of the house, he halted far enough out to see over the rear veranda roof to the bedroom windows above, all of them dark.
Shane studied the trellises on the end of the veranda. No way would they hold his weight. He supposed he could try to sneak into the house and up the stairwell, but those old wooden floors squeaked loud enough to announce any intruder. And after the way Ellie acted in the hotel, he had his doubts as to whether or not she would agree to come down and talk to him if he woke her by scattering gravel on her bedroom window. The bottom portion of the window was open anyway, and he would probably end up flinging gravel into the room and hitting something. Maybe shattering a wall sconce or lamp.
He supposed he could change his mind once again—just go to the front door and walk in. Whoever was in the study would wake Ellie for him. Or he could go on up to the room that had been assigned to him, detouring to Ellie’s room on the way. Unless Ellie had informed the household that he would be staying in town with his mother. That would mean more explanation than he wanted to take time to give this evening. There were more important things to straighten out.
“What are you doing down there?”
Ellie’s voice! Shane stared up at the window. She was obviously on her knees on the window seat, head thrust through the lower part of the window.
“I need to see you,” he hissed back.
“What?”
“I need to see you!”
“Hush! Someone will hear you.”
“They will if you don’t come down here and talk to me,” he threatened. “I’ll wake up the entire house if you don’t explain why you acted like you did this afternoon at the hotel.”
“Forget it. Go back to town. I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“We’ll see about that!”
Shane leapt for the veranda roof, managing to get a firm grasp on the edge of it with both hands.
“What are you doing?” Ellie whispered harshly.
Ignoring her, he swung one leg upward, his heel thudding a connection on the slate shingles. Heaving, he threw his body onto the veranda roof with one thrust. It made a much louder crash than his heel.
“Get out of here,” Ellie hissed. “I told you I didn’t want to talk to you.”
Lifting his head, he shot her a glance then pushed himself to his hands and knees. “We’re going to talk, Ellie.”
“We are not.”
She slammed the window closed and turned the latch to lock it before Shane could lunge over and push it open once more. He stared at her through the window, almost expecting her to stick her tongue out at him, given the so-there look she had on her face.
He held her glare for a long moment as he studied the situation, then sighed in resignation and sat down on the roof. Keeping a sidelong gaze for Ellie’s reaction, he removed his boot. He tossed it in the air once and caught it, noticing her face change to a wary alertness. Then he turned to the window and held the boot heel outward.
“You better move back,” he said loudly enough for her to hear through the window. “I don’t want you to get cut by flying glass.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she said deliberately, lips moving so he could clearly understand her words even though he couldn’t hear them.
He pulled his arm back. Ellie stared defiantly at him, moving her face right up to the window pane. She was right; he didn’t dare try to break the window now. The flying glass would imbed in her lovely face.
Jamming the boot back onto his foot, he pushed his hands through his hair. “What on earth are you mad about? Damn it, Ellie, I can’t think of anything I’ve done to set you off like this!”
“Go away!” She turned from the window and disappeared from his sight.
Rising to his feet, Shane considered the situation further. Suddenly it dawned on him that the windows on either side of Ellie’s were both open to catch the night air. Darlene’s room was on the right of Ellie’s, while the one on the left was Elvina’s. It was probably Elvina in the study at this hour, so her room would be empty. He could enter that way without discovery.
If Elvina wasn’t on her way upstairs already, in which case she would probably catch him either in the room or in the hallway. It was a chance he would have to take.
He started towards Elvina’s window, but the window on Ellie’s room flew up with a rush.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He turned to her, but didn’t move in that direction. “There are open windows on either side of yours.”
Even this far away, he could hear her grit her teeth. She glared at him in such a deadly manner, he was surprised the force didn’t knock him off the roof. Then she whirled around and disappeared, leaving her window open.
Cautiously, Shane moved closer to the window. He had sense enough to check inside to see where she was before he went through. The mood she was in, he wouldn’t be shocked to find her waiting beside the windowseat with something in her hands to break over his head.
She stood on the other side of the bed, the room too dark for him to see the expression on her face now. Keeping his gaze on her, he swung a leg through the window. It was a tight fit to get the rest of him inside without losing sight of Ellie, but he managed with only one hurtful scrape on his right shoulder. Gaining his feet, he stayed where he was in case prudence dictated a speedy escape.
His mother was absolutely correct. The Ellie he saw today was a far different woman than the Ellie whom he had made sweet love to the previous night.
He glanced at the rumpled bed, realizing he had had a faint hope of being in it later on tonight with Ellie, after they straightened out whatever foolish idea she had in her mind. A closer look at Ellie as she moved a few steps closer to him made him realize needing the safety of the window wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, and ending up in the bed was. Her platinum hair swirled around her with her angry movements, her blue eyes shooting something other than reflected starlight his way.
“You are a liar, Shane Morgan,” she spat. “I wonder how many other things you’ve lied to me about?”
Thoughts rushed through Shane’s mind, and he realized she had made the one comment he had no defense for. It also had the power to dive him even deeper into her bad graces, since he wasn’t exactly sure which lie she referred to. Left him with no alternative defense, in case he defended his wrong untruth.
Could she have possibly listened outside the room earlier today and heard what he and his mother discussed? Or was she referring to something else?
Honesty—at least as much as he was able to give her without totally shattering his image in her eyes—se
emed the best policy. Evasive honesty.
“I tried to talk to you last night. I told you there were things I needed to tell you.”
“You rat!” she said. “So now you’re saying that I gave myself to you without reservation, more interested in making love to you than getting to know you better!”
“No! Ellie, of course not. You’re twisting my words. Listen—”
“Now I’m twisting your words, a liar myself, huh? And I’m not a listener. I don’t want to listen to you, do I?”
“Damn it, I didn’t mean that—”
“What were you going to tell me about? The fact that you were only leading Rockford on about his business? Or the fact that you didn’t give a darn that what you’d done would ruin my sister’s hopes for the future?”
At least now he knew what she was angry about. The measure of relief didn’t help much, though. He still had to make it right.
“If that’s all that’s bothering you, I’ll take care of it.”
“All? You call what you’ve done just some little problem you can wave your hand and take care of? You aren’t concerned about what your stupid, heedless actions have done? How giving false hope then admitting you misled someone has caused so much pain and misery? Get out of here. I never want to see you again.”
“I’m not going,” he said sternly. “Not until you tell me what you mean. I’ll help Rockford, if that’s all it takes. What else is bothering you?”
“Oh,” she said musingly. “So there is more than one lie between us. You want me to enlighten you as to whether this is the only one I’ve found out about.”
“No. I mean, yes, but— Damn it, Ellie, there’s logical explanations for everything I’ve done since I got here.”
“Even making love to me?”
He studied her closely, unable to lie about the most wonderful thing that had happened to him in his life. Knowing his next words were the most important he would ever utter.
“Never,” he whispered. “Making love to you wasn’t logical. It was completely illogical and unexpected. And the sweetest, most wonderful thing to ever hit my life.”
It didn’t work; he could tell by her tight face.
“It was a lie, too, Shane. Given the fact there was a mountain of deceit between us, all our lovemaking was a sham. I wish I’d never met you.”
Shane’s shoulders crumpled, and he shook his head. “I don’t know what else to say to you. But will you please at least talk to my mother again before you shut us out of your life?”
“Us? What does your mother have to do with this?”
“Ellie?” A firm knock sounded on the door, and Elvina called again, “Ellie? Are you talking to someone in there?”
Ellie stiffened, whirling to face the door, then casting Shane an apprehensive look. She remained silent for a few seconds, until Elvina repeated her request and shook the doorknob. Lucky for them both, Ellie had stuck a chair beneath the doorknob. Probably to keep him out, but it worked for Elvina.
“Ummmm—” Ellie said as though waking from sleep. “Is that you, Elvina?”
“Yes,” Elvina replied. “I heard you talking in there.”
“I was having a dream, Elvina. It’s all right. I’m fine. You can go on to bed.”
“All right.”
Her footsteps indicated she left, and Ellie glared at Shane once more.
“Please get out of here. It will only cause me a lot more grief if you’re caught in my bedroom.”
Her grief wouldn’t even begin to touch his own once she talked to his mother tomorrow, Shane realized, having concluded that she still didn’t know about his initial reason for coming to Texas. And it wouldn’t be grief she felt. Given the inflexibility of her ire this evening over his deception of Rockford and her unwillingness to even discuss whether he could make it up to her sister’s fiancé, Ellie would have an impenetrable wall of anger at him by tomorrow evening. Tonight it was his deception with Rockford she was angry about. Tomorrow it would be the confirmation of his deception of her—a deception she would be even less willing to overlook.
Giving her one last, longing look, as though to fix her in his mind, although he knew he wouldn’t desert his mother and leave for New York just yet, he turned back to the window. He didn’t bother to watch her this time as he crawled through. If she wanted to conk him with something, it couldn’t hurt his head nearly as bad as his heart ached.
Chapter 22
“Ellie, you’re acting extremely childish!”
Recognizing the fairy woman’s voice, Ellie searched the room, but she didn’t see Fatima anywhere.
“Where are you?” she demanded. “You told me you didn’t spy on me! But better yet, don’t show yourself. Get out of here and leave me alone!”
“You’re going to spend the rest of your life alone if you don’t try to work things out with Shane.” Fatima remained invisible, but her voice rang clearly in the room.
“Someone’s going to hear you and come to investigate,” Ellie said. “Elvina’s already stopped by here once. If she finds me talking to thin air, she’ll haul me off to the insane asylum!”
“Pooh,” Fatima said. “Haven’t you figured out by now that I can block out anyone hearing me, as well as anyone seeing the real me?”
“I wish I could block you out,” Ellie gritted. “Go away. Leave me alone.”
“You’re being very childish,” Fatima repeated.
“Then let me!” Ellie demanded, slamming her hands on her hips, and unable to keep the tears at bay. “Go away and let me be childish! Leave me alone. I’m sick and tired of people thinking they know how I should feel. How I should act when they deceive me! You’re deceiving me as much as everyone else.”
“How do you explain that remark?”
“You claim to be magic, but you didn’t tell me about the lies Shane was fostering while he was here. You could have let me know he wasn’t what he appeared. Wasn’t telling the truth about why he was here. Was only using Rockford instead of being honest about not having any plans for Rockford’s business expansion.”
“Even if I knew these things, it’s not my place to interfere that way in your decisions, Ellie.” Fatima’s voice was quieter and hesitant now. “I can only lend assistance. Your decisions have to be your own.”
“My decisions have been based on deception,” Ellie whispered. “I fell in love for the first time in my life, and it had to be with a liar. I deserve better love than that.”
“Maybe Shane does, too,” Fatima cautioned.
“I know what he deserves, and it’s not my love!” Racing across the room, she scrambled into bed and pulled the pillow over her head. Even through that, she thought she heard Fatima sigh, but a second later, she sensed the room was empty.
Still she kept the pillow over her head. It wouldn’t do for Elvina or Darlene to hear her wracking sobs. Darlene might come to see what was wrong, but she doubted Elvina would, like she had with her blood daughter. And one more confirmation of her stepmother’s lack of caring for her adopted daughter was more than Ellie could take on top of everything else today.
Fatima appeared back in her bedroom in the lower portion of the house, where Withers waited for her, stretched out on the bed with Pandora curled beside him. He laid down the book he had been reading and held out his arms.
“I gather it didn’t go well, my dear.”
“No, it didn’t.” She crawled onto the bed and snuggled close to him. She had never imagined for a moment that having a mortal man hold her could feel this blissful. If it weren’t for her aching heart over Ellie, she would have gloried in his caresses.
“I hope you’re not giving up, darling,” Withers said. “Master Shane might not know it, but Miss Ellie—or Miss Cynthia, whoever she is—is the best thing that could happen to him.”
Fatima pushed herself up and looked at Withers in confoundment. “What do you mean, Miss Cynthia? What do you know about this situation?”
“Why, of course, Master Shane’s he
re to try to find out if Miss Ellie could be the missing New York heiress. The one who’s the daughter of his mother’s best friend, Rose Spencer. Missus Spencer is departed, as is her husband and the rest of that branch of the family. Master Shane told me all about everything on our trip down here.”
“And you didn’t tell me you were aware of all this?” Fatima asked angrily. “You knew very well I was trying to make a match between Ellie and Shane, and you didn’t think I needed someone to discuss all the problems I was having with when things started to go wrong?”
Withers winced and shrugged, a wary look settling on his haughty face. “It didn’t dawn on me that you didn’t know that I knew.”
Fatima moved off the bed. “I’m a fairy godmother, not a gypsy fortune teller,” she said in a near yell, sending Pandora scrambling off the other side of the bed. “Why don’t you and Ellie realize that? Don’t you mortals have any idea what magic’s all about?”
“My dear—” Withers began.
“My dear, my schmear!” she shouted. “You mortal men are so dense at times. No wonder Ellie is having such problems with Shane. He’s a man.”
A hurt look replaced the wariness on Withers face, and he got off the bed and took a step toward her. Fatima weaved out of her reach and pointed a finger at the door.
“Go on back to your own room,” she demanded. “I don’t want you here tonight.”
“We should talk—”
“No! I’m not in the mood to talk. Go!”
He went. After a supercilious sniff that told Fatima his hurt had changed to irritation, he left the room. She flounced back over to the bed and flung herself belly down.
Now what was she going to do? The dictates of her set boundaries didn’t allow her to tell Ellie about her possible heirship. Besides that, on top of the other—she didn’t really want to call it lies without finding out what Shane was up to, so she would call it other “misleading information.” Shane needed to be the one to advise Ellie of all that instead of Fatima, since Fatima doing it brooked on the verge of interference in the relationship.
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