The girl rapped three times on the door to McKenna’s room and Kelso heard the key turn in the lock. The door swung open and Kelso followed the girl into the room.
“What the hell!” he bellowed and pulled up short just inside the door. “What the hell’s goin’ on here?” he demanded. “What are you doin’ that to Miss Victoria for?”
“Just calm down, my good man,” Robert said smoothly. “I’m going to save her from that scoundrel Mahaffey in spite of herself. We need your help. I want you to help us take my sister and this young lady down to the buckboard waiting in the back courtyard and drive them to a place where they will be safe while I work out the difficulty with Mahaffey. When it’s over you will take her home to the Double M.”
Kelso moved toward Victoria and at the same time felt his gun being lifted from its holster. He spun around, his fist raised. The girl stood with her back to the door, the muzzle of the gun pointed at him.
“You didn’t need to do that, Juney,” Robert said patiently. “Kelso is going to help us. He’ll be in charge of the ranch when we get this mess straightened out.”
“No, he won’t. It was a mistake to trust him. I knew it the minute he clapped eyes on her.” She jerked her head toward Victoria. “Men like him stand back and look at women like her like she was a god or somethin’. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you.”
With the gun still pointed toward Kelso, Juney moved around to stand in front of Victoria. She brought a knife from her pocket, touched a spring, and a long, slender blade sprang forward. A tight little smile curved her mouth when she saw the terror in Victoria’s eyes. In a lightning-fast move she sent the tip of the blade across the top of Victoria’s breast, laying open the top of her dress. A thin red streak of blood appeared instantly on the white flesh. The girl watched Kelso and saw the rage that bubbled up in the drover’s face.
Victoria writhed on the chair. The horrible ordeal was taking its toll and she was on the verge of hysterics. Her eyes pleaded with Kelso while the girl tormented her with the blade of the knife. The tip stung her cheek and fear gave way to anger. She lashed out with her bound feet with all her strength and struck the girl on the shin. She heard her cry out in pain before she and the chair toppled to the floor.
Afterward she was never sure which came first, Kelso’s roar of rage as he charged the girl or the boom of the six-shooter. Victoria’s head hit the floor and for an instant the world was a crimson haze. When her eyes focused again they were on Kelso. The rage in him was a black and destroying thing. Juney had time for only one shot before the hamlike hands reached her, grabbed, pulled her in. A snarl escaped Kelso’s throat, a grinding, feral sound. His huge arms encircled Juney and the air exploded from her lungs. He lifted her and threw her from him as if she were a rag doll. The girl smashed into a table, her head struck the edge and she lay in a heap on the floor.
Victoria tried frantically to roll the chair over so she could see. Kelso was swaying on his feet. He took a step backward trying to keep his balance. Victoria heard Robert cry out and scramble for the gun that had flown from Juney’s hand. Kelso staggered back to hold on to the brass frame of the bed, his eyes on Victoria.
“I tried…ma’am…”
The impact from the bullet Robert fired sent him spinning.
Kelso! Victoria screamed inside as the big man went to his knees. The door flew open, Robert screamed an obscenity and began shooting at the crouched figure who had a gun in each hand. The roar of the guns filled her head so completely she wavered back and forth between darkness and the reeling world. When the thick mist cleared someone had untied the gag from her mouth and she was cutting the cruel rope from her wrists. She lay on the floor taking in great gulps of air until her hands were free. Pete righted the chair and lifted her into it.
“Mason,” she gasped. “They sent someone to kill him.”
“Mason’s all right,” Pete said quickly.
Sage sat on the edge of the bed holding a sobbing Nellie in his arms. Victoria tried to stand. She had to get out of this place. Her frightened eyes saw Kelso’s bulky figure lying at the end of the bed. She pushed past Pete and went to kneel down beside him. He was bleeding from a gaping hole in the side of his neck and from another in his chest. He was fighting for every breath.
“He’s alive! Somebody help him! Go for a doctor!”
Clay was beside her. “Ain’t he the one that grabbed Nellie and beat up Stonewall? Let the bastard die.”
“Shut up!” Victoria shouted. “Shut up and get away from him. If it wasn’t for him Nellie and I would be dead.”
Pete lifted Victoria to her feet. “You couldn’t kill him with an ax, Victoria. Don’t worry. We’ll get the doctor. Come on out of here and get a grip on yourself.”
He led her down the hall and into their room where Sage sat on the bed with a stunned Nellie on his lap. Her arms were locked about his neck as if she would never let him go. A sheepish Clay followed them into the room and leaned against the closed door.
“This might not be the time to say it, ma’am, but I got to just the same. I’m sorry I said them things back at the ranch. There weren’t no truth in them. Mason thinks a heap of you with or without the ranch. I guess I was just mad ’cause the family was scatterin’ out again.”
Victoria didn’t speak. Coming on the heels of what she and Nellie had been through, Clay’s apology seemed insignificant.
Clay continued stubbornly. “I was off the track with you, too, Sage. Reckon I can learn a heap from you. I shoulda hung back, like you said, and sized up the situation before I jumped in with both feet.”
Sage held out his hand and Clay hurried to take it.
“It takes a man to admit he’s wrong. I’m going to marry your sister, Clay. We’re going to start us a little place. You’ll always be welcome.” Sage spoke quietly but his dark eyes glowed. “Don’t worry about Nellie. I’m going to spend my life keeping her safe and making her happy.”
Pete moved up beside his brother and offered his hand. “That’s all we ask.”
* * *
Victoria sat beside Mason’s bed and watched the flicker of lamplight play over his still features. Her own eyes were glazed with fatigue, but she sat upright in the straight-backed chair and her mind ran rampant over the events of the last few hours.
Her brother Robert was dead. Sage had killed him as he burst through the door. The girl was dead, too. Kelso had broken her neck when he slammed her against the table.
Down the hall in another room Kelso lay sleeping. “I can’t be sure he’ll live,” the doctor hold her, “but he’s big and strong and there is a good chance.” During a brief moment when he had been lucid Victoria had thanked him for saving her life. He’d said he was sorry for what he had done to Nellie and to Stonewall. He was going to head west when he was able. He wanted to see the ocean before he died.
Mason stirred and Victoria looked at his beloved face wondering how she ever could have believed him to be anything but an honorable man.
“I’m going to spend the rest of my days pouring a lifetime of love into you, darling,” she crooned to him.
She rubbed her hands together to make them warm and then slipped them beneath the covers. The flesh of his bare chest was smooth and she remembered the feel of it against her breast. He was hers now, and she let her hand linger, stroking the taut midsection below his ribs with her fingers. She leaned closed and placed small feathery kisses on his mouth, his cheeks, his eyes.
“Victoria…” His voice was the merest of whispers.
She drew back. His eyes were open and looking into hers.
“You finally woke up,” she said shakily, her heart suddenly pounding. “Do you want a drink of water?”
“No. I want you to keep on doin’ what you were doin’.”
“Kissing you? I thought you were asleep.”
“I thought I was dreaming. How come you’re here?”
“It’s a long story, darling. It was my brother who sent the hire
d killer for us. He wanted the ranch back so he could sell it again. We don’t have to worry about him anymore. When you’re stronger I’ll tell you everything.”
His hand came up and she clasped it in both of hers.
“I was so afraid.” His voice trembled a little with emotion. “I kept thinking, I’ll never see Victoria again. I’ll never hold her in my arms and tell her that I love her more than life.”
“I thought that too, darling. I love you, M.T. Mahaffey.” Tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes.
“I love you, Victoria McKenna Mahaffey.”
“Not yet.” An emotional whisper was all she could manage.
“You will be my wife before we leave town.”
Victoria had never seen such a tender expression on his face. The blue eyes, so full of love, looked adoringly into hers.
“You do know how to give orders, Mr. Mahaffey.”
“You bet.” He smiled tiredly. “You’re so beautiful, my golden girl. I wish I could run off with you and keep you to myself for a long, long time.”
She blinked her tear-blurred eyes. “Maybe someday we can do that, but right now we have the family to care for. Nellie is in love with Sage and they’ll be making a home of their own somewhere in the valley. We have Dora and Doonie to look after. And we’ll have to help the twins get a start.”
“Don’t forget Ruby and Stonewall. Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Get into bed with me.”
“Mason! I can’t! What would the doctor say if he came in?”
“To hell with him. I’ll send him for the preacher.” He lifted the sheet. “C’mon. I want to feel you beside me.”
Victoria slipped out of her clothes and stretched out beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. “I’ll teach the girls to play the spinet,” she whispered.
“I’ll teach the boys to be cowmen.” His hand fondled her cheek, his lips caressed her forehead. “Go to sleep, golden girl. We’ll be going home soon.”
Dear Reader Friend,
I thank you for buying my book and hope my story has given you a few hours of entertainment, allowing you to forget the problems of everyday living while becoming involved in the lives of the pioneers who settled our country.
The reception my stories of the West have received from you, the final critic, have been most gratifying. If you would like to be notified when my next book will be released write to me:
Dorothy Garlock
Warner Books, Inc.
1271 Avenue of the Americas
Time and Life Bldg.
New York, N.Y. 10020
I will answer each letter as quickly as possible and add your name to my mailing list.
At the present time I am working on YESTERYEAR, the story of a woman who waits and waits and waits for her man to come home after the Civil War.
Dorothy Garlock
Clear Lake, Iowa.
eBook Info
Title:Forever, Victoria
Creator:Dorothy Garlock
Publisher:Time Warner Company
Date:2001-09-09
Subject:Fiction
Rights: Copyright © 1983, 1993 by Dorothy Garlock.
Identifier:0-7595-6265-2
Language:English
Forever, Victoria Page 30