Forever, Victoria

by Dorothy Garlock

  Victoria smiled gratefully. Nellie’s eyes lit up mischievously and she picked up the tray.

  “Clay wants to see you for a minute, Mason.”

  “What about?”

  “How would I know? You boys don’t tell me anything. I’m only your sister,” Nellie said saucily.

  “Tell him I’ll be here for a while. If it’s so all-fired important he can come here.”

  “No!” Victoria and Nellie said the word at the same time, but Nellie went on to say, “I’ll swan to goodness, Mason Mahaffey. You’re just like Papa. Stubborn! Victoria isn’t up to putting up with you men. Get on out there and see what Clay wants.” She clucked like a busy hen after she closed the door behind him. “Land! Sometimes I don’t think men have no sense at all!”

  Victoria managed the chamber pot with Nellie’s help. When she finished Nellie quickly covered it and pushed it out of sight under the bed.

  “I guess I’m weaker than I thought,” Victoria confessed when she was settled in the bed, two high pillows behind her back. “Thank you, Nellie. If I seem ungrateful for your help it’s because I’ve not had anyone except Ruby for so long that I don’t know how to act.”

  “That’s all right. It’s the first time I’ve had a chance to do for someone I like in a long time. I’m enjoying it. Is there anything that I should be doing around the house?”

  “No. Just don’t let your brothers wear you out cooking and cleaning. They can eat at the bunkhouse. I’ll be up and around tomorrow.”

  “Things are going just fine, Victoria. Don’t worry about the house or any of your pretty things. I’ve shut the parlor door and no one will go in until you say they can.”

  Tears sprang to Victoria’s eyes and she turned her face away. She didn’t need kindness and understanding from the people who were going to take her home from her.

  “It’s going to be all yours anyway, Nellie. I guess I’ve lived here for so long that I’ve attached too much importance to material things. Out there, when I thought I was going to be killed, I didn’t give the parlor or my spinet a thought.”

  “Don’t fret, Victoria. Mason will figure out what is fair for all of us. I’m counting on him to do that.” Nellie picked up the empty bowl and went to the door. She turned and smiled and Victoria felt a spurt of affection for the small slender girl.

  Mason’s frame filled the doorway when Nellie opened the door.

  “Clay isn’t in the house and I’ll be damned if I’m going to chase him down,” he said irritably.

  “Oh? Well, maybe he went out to the bunkhouse.” She cast a quick conspiratorial glance back over her shoulder at Victoria and left the room.

  Mason stood for a moment and looked down at Victoria huddled under the quilt, and then his expression softened.

  “Your leg bothering you?”

  Victoria shook her head. The emotional tension of having him here in her bedroom had caused her to forget completely the wound in her leg.

  He sat down on the bed. Not on the side where he had sat before, but close to her. The lamplight shone on his dark hair and on the shadow of beard on his face. She could see the pulse in his throat and the plateau of his chest with the edging of fine black hair. She was suddenly conscious that only last night her breast had pressed closely to his chest and her face had nuzzled his brown neck.

  He was grinning at her, his eyes warm and so liquid that she felt a quaking, aching feeling in her nether regions. Her eyes went to the arm he held close to his side and to the bandages on the upper part of it. He must be in pain.

  “Did Ruby look at your arm again?” In spite of herself she was concerned for him, for the pain he must be suffering.

  “A couple of times. She’s got some stuff on it now that smells like it’s been dead for a month.”

  Victoria smiled. “I know how it smells. She put it on my leg. She swears by it.”

  “Then we’re fit only for each other’s company,” he said softly.

  When she turned her face away from him Mason thought that in profile she looked somehow younger than when she faced him head on. The straight short nose, the wide full lips, the high cheekbones, and the stubborn chin were charmingly girlish. But her smell was a woman’s—lavender soap and clean, sun-dried clothes. The combination was enticing. Everything about her was enticing.

  “Victoria, I’ve got to tell you what happened while we were gone.”

  The serious tone in his voice made her turn toward him.

  He told her how Kelso had come back to the ranch and had hidden in the house, waiting to see her. And how he had manhandled Nellie. Victoria shook her head in disbelief.

  “I can’t believe Kelso would do such a thing.”

  “He did,” Mason said grimly. “That isn’t the worst of it, Victoria. He waylaid Stonewall out on the trail and beat him almost to death. Pete and Clay were riding with Stonewall and stopped to chase some strays back toward the drovers. Stonewall came on toward the ranch. The boys rode hard to catch up and Kelso must have heard them coming. He took off, else he’d’ve killed Stonewall.”

  “How is he?”

  “He’s pretty well banged up. His nose is broken as well as some ribs. He lost a few teeth and both eyes are swelled shut. He’ll be laid up for a good long while.”

  “Why wasn’t I told this morning?” Her eyes burned with resentment.

  “I told them not to tell you. I wanted you to get some sleep first.”

  “You had no right to keep this from me.”

  “I had every right, and you know it.” He looked steadily at her. “Sage nearly went gunning for Kelso, but Ruby persuaded him to stick close to the ranch.”

  “Poor Stonewall. He’ll be worried.” She sat up. “I’ve got to go see him and Ruby. You’ll have to leave so I can get dressed.”

  “I will not leave and you’re not getting out of this bed.” His good arm came up amazingly fast and pushed her back onto the pillows.

  “I know Stonewall. He’ll worry and fret about what we’ll do.”

  “He isn’t going to worry. He knows what we’ll do.”

  “I don’t mean you. I mean me and Ruby. He feels so responsible for us.”

  “I’ve assured him that I’ll take care of everything.”

  “I just bet you will!” She drew in her lower lip, her face brittle with outrage. “I know I can get a job from the woman who runs that eating place in town, but what can Ruby and Stonewall do? She’ll have to take care of him. He won’t be able to work and I can’t see the great Mason Mahaffey having deadwood on his ranch.”

  His hand snaked out and clamped her wrist. Anger flashed in his eyes, darkened his face, and hardened the lines of his mouth.

  “It’s a good thing for you, my girl, that we’re both messed up a bit, or I’d flip you over and lay a hard hand on your bare butt!”

  “Get your hand off me! You may have saved my life, but that doesn’t give you the right to manhandle me. You’re no better than Kelso!”

  “Hush up! I’m not manhandling you. I’m only trying to shake a little sense into that empty head of yours. Empty…but beautiful,” he said with gentle firmness. “And soon I will put my hands on you, Victoria. On every inch of you. And you’ll want me to. The only thing that will change that fact is death.”

  Her face burned scarlet. “You’ve got to be the most conceited man alive!”

  “Confident is the word, Victoria.” His dark brows had drawn a heavy line over his narrowed eyes.

  “You’re out of your mind. I’ve only known you a few days. What do you think I am? One of those loose women from the saloon?” His only answer was a laugh. “It isn’t funny!” she snapped.

  “You haven’t been out and around much, dear heart, or you’d realize how funny it is.”

  “Stop calling me that and get out of my room!”

  “Not yet. We have more to talk about.”

  “There’s nothing more you can say that I’d care to hear.” Her amber eyes blazed at him and reminded him of a
cornered wildcat.

  “Yes, there is. If we’re going to be partners until the court decides who is the rightful owner of this ranch, I’ll have to tell you at least some of what’s going on.”

  His blue eyes mocked her and she wanted to hit him. Self-respect made her resist and she clamped her lips down on the protest that bubbled up within her.

  “I’ve talked with Ruby and Stonewall. They want to stay here to be near you. They said you’re like a daughter to them.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that!” she snapped.

  He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Although Stonewall won’t be able to straddle a horse for a long while, he knows a lot about running this place and I can learn from him.”

  “So it wasn’t your generosity that prompted you to let them stay, but your own selfish interests.” She had to say it, and she glared at him, her eyes alive with angry tears.

  “It was both,” he admitted without the slightest hesitation. “And you’re staying here too, Victoria. Right here in this house where I can keep an eye on you and see that you behave yourself.”

  She knew he had added the last to goad her but it still worked.

  “What do you think I’ll do? Sneak back like Kelso did? Waylay you? Burn the place down?” She knew she was being childish and unreasonable, but she didn’t care. She wanted to stay here. But did she want to stay badly enough to have him take over her life, or use her in order to keep this homestead neutral ground for the lawless men who roamed the Outlaw Trail?

  “Now that that’s settled,” he went on maddeningly, “I’ll tell you what Stonewall and I think is the best thing to do now. We’ve put Sage in charge of the roundup. He’s a no-nonsense man and the men like him. Lud is a good man, but not a leader. I’ve told Stonewall and Ruby that they’ve a home here as long as I’ve got anything to say about the Double M.”

  “And what makes you so sure you’ll have anything to say about the Double M once this thing is settled?” She was not going to give up. She couldn’t.

  “I’m going to have something to say about this place from now on. You know it, Victoria. And I know it. Quit trying to fool yourself into thinking otherwise.” He paused for his words to take effect.

  His hand was still on her wrist. He moved it down and forced her clenched fist to open so he could press her palm to his.

  “We’ve got to talk about what happened yesterday.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Is he going to bring up the fact that I slept in his arms and I let him kiss me and I bawled like a baby when I thought he was going to leave me? If he does, I’ll die of shame! I should scream and tell him to leave.

  Instead she said in a bored voice, “What now?”

  His gaze was so quiet and so penetrating that it seemed to reach down inside her. She felt something twist in her body and bit down on her lower lip. She tried to pull her hand away and his grip tightened.

  “Let go of me.” she said tensely.

  “No.” He looked down at their two clasped hands and took a deep breath. A very long, silent minute crept by before he spoke again. “Jim Lyster tells me one of the men they buried today, the tracker, had papers on him saying he was Bob Cash of Denver. Jim said he’d heard the name. Seems Cash was a lawman at one time. He got mixed up with the law himself, lost his job, and was on the hire. The other man had a good bit of money in his pocket but no identification. Do you have any idea why they would have been sent out to kill either of us?”

  “I don’t think they were sent out. I think they saw me go into the bank and followed with the intention of robbing us.”

  She spoke mechanically, her mind on an altogether different subject. I hardly know this man. Yet here I am, lying in bed in my nightgown talking to him. He’s a stranger, but it seems as though I’ve known his features, his form, the way he moves and the sound of his voice forever. She lay stiffly and stared straight ahead.

  “Victoria?” Mason brought his face close to hers, searching for an explanation for her abrupt withdrawal.

  “I was thinking about Stonewall.” Her voice wavered on the lie, but to her mind it sounded convincing enough.

  “You’re tired. You’ll feel much better after a good night’s sleep.” He looked at her with such incredible tenderness that her heart leapt. Releasing her hand, he reached behind her head and removed one of the big square pillows. “Scoot down and I’ll cover you up.” He spoke as if to a child.

  Strangely she had lost her self-consciousness and obeyed. When he lifted the cover and tucked her arm inside their eyes met and she wanted to reach up and touch his face with her hands. He can be so gentle sometimes, she thought. Like now and last night when my leg hurt so bad and I was so cold. I’ll store this up to remember, because he may never be this way again. The sound of his voice in the cold, dark night, murmuring reassuringly, came back to throb in her mind. Go to sleep, golden girl, you’ll be warm soon.

  “This bed is much softer than pine boughs,” he said in a low whisper. Before she could form a reply he leaned over and blew out the lamp.

  Victoria lay tense, her eyes wide, trying to see his features in the suddenly darkened room. She felt his weight shift and his hand reach across her to support himself when he leaned forward.

  “You all right now?” he whispered.

  She felt protected, as she had last night when they lay together in the pine boughs. “I’m fine,” she whispered back.

  He lowered his head and brushed warm lips across her forehead. She closed her eyes and felt her lashes scrape his face before feathery kisses touched her lids. He trailed his lips to her ear and she turned her head allowing him access.

  “We both know there is something deep and real and wonderful happening to us. I knew it that first night I sat with you here in the dark. There’s nothing we can do about it, dear heart, so don’t fight it.” He breathed the words in her ear, and she felt the moist tip of his tongue caress her earlobe.

  The seconds ticked by. She didn’t know what to do. Her arms were imprisoned beneath the quilt and he was lying on her breast. A current of pleasure mixed with fear flashed over her as his lips moved across her cheek, searched for her mouth in the darkness, found it, and melted her lips to his. The stubble on his chin abraded her skin, but it was a pleasant sensation. After the first deep pressure of his mouth he lifted it and leisurely, tenderly, adoringly made love to her mouth with warm lips and exploring tongue. He nibbled, licked, caressed until she felt herself slipping into some uncharted oblivion.

  Victoria’s breath came in gasps, and small explosions of sensation erupted throughout her. Her blood, suffused with fire, flooded riotously through her body. Suddenly it wasn’t tenderness she wanted, but hard, deep, surging pressure. She trembled and twisted her head beneath his trying to get him to increase the pressure and fulfill her with his kiss. But he was adamant.

  Almost whimpering with desire, she struggled to release her arms so she could wrap them about his neck and bring him closer to her.

  “Be still, sweetheart,” he muttered thickly. “Be still, or I’ll not be able to stop. I want to crawl in there with you, hold you, feel every inch of your golden body. Lie still, dear heart.” He buried his face in the curve of her neck. Victoria could feel him take deep, gulping breaths. Their hearts beat together in a thunderous pounding. A long, delicious moment passed without a single thought of anything. When his breathing quieted he raised his head and rained gentle kisses along her jaw.

  “I’m sorry, golden girl. I didn’t mean for it to go this far. Now do you see why you can’t leave me?” he whispered desperately. Then he groaned against her ear, “Or why I can’t leave you?” With one last gentle kiss on her mouth, he stood. His hand tucked the quilt under her chin, lingered for a final second against her cheek.