by Jane Corrie
Josie sighed. There was no doubt about it, she had certainly earned the extra pay, as far as the aggravation rate was concerned, certainly, for it
134 THE TEXAN RANCHER
was she who had had to bear the whiplash of his decision.
Whatever pressure had been brought to bear on Maryanne's behaviour would not, Josie was convinced, last long. Although she was attentive enough, there was a look in her eyes that suggested mischief-making, particularly when they rested on Josie. Altogether it was an extremely uneasy period, not unlike the lull before a storm, and far more wearying on Josie's nerves than an out-and-out row might have been.
Surprisingly, it was Jessica Hanway who inadvertently exposed the reason for Maryanne's impeccable conduct, and the ensuing events must have given her cause for regret, for the trouble that Josie had sensed brewing, and was now about to be released on her, had a boomerang effect on the unsuspecting Miss Hanway.
As it was Tuesday, it was the day for Maryanne's music lesson, for although the extra coaching had not been permitted, the earlier arrangement still stood, and Miss Hanway, not waiting for Maryanne to put in an appearance at the ranch-house. had walked to the school to collect her. It was not the first time she had done this, and Josie had felt that it was her way of showing Josie that her authority over the child was over for the day, and that she was now in command.
On this particular day, she arrived much earlier than the given time, and Josie, in appreciation for Maryanne's good behaviour, did not hesitate in waiving aside the time factor and told Maryanne she could go. Maryanne, however, insisted on finishing her lesson, and it proved her undoing.
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With a proprietorial expression on her face, Jessica Hanway seated herself next to Maryanne and watched her laboriously copy out the last few lines of the given lesson, remarking after noticing that she was using a ballpoint pen, 'Where's the pen I gave you, dear?'
Bending closer to her work, Maryanne muttered that she had lost it somewhere.
'Lost it?' repeated a shocked Miss Hanway. 'Where�here?' Her gaze swept over the boys and rested on Miguel, who like the rest of the class was completely engrossed in the same task as Mary
anne. She walked over to his desk, then glanced up at Josie. 'This boy is a thief,' she announced baldly. 'You've just heard what Maryanne said, and look at the pen he's using. Surely you must have known Maryanne had lost hers. It's hardly the sort of pen he would own, is it?' she demanded scathingly.
In point of tact, Josie had not heard what Maryanne had said, or indeed had had any indication of such an event, and she looked up in surprise from
the work she was doing, that of marking the children's morning exercises. Her look went from Jessica Hanway's accusing finger at Miguel, to the
pen he was holding. It looked an expensive pen, probably silver, and Josie had to admit that it was hardly likely that Miguel would own it. On the other hand, Miguel was not a thief, and he had not had the pen that morning, Josie was sure.
'Miguel, where did you get that pen?' Josie asked the trembling boy. Miguel dropped the pen as if it were red-hot, ^then looked directly at Maryanne, who seemed to
136 THE TEXAN RANCHER
be concentrating on anything but the boy, and as he saw this, his small jaw squared and he said, 'She gave it to me.'
'She', obviously being Maryanne, made an at- tempt at denial. 'He's lying,' waded in Jessica, coming to Maryanne's assistance. 'I only gave it to her yesterday. She wouldn't have given it to him.'
Josie sighed inwardly. Where Maryanne was concerned no such supposition was justified. The child had her own rules of conduct, and might even have given Miguel the pen to cause trouble. It was a sad but true fact that Josie preferred to believe Miguel's explanation, whatever it was, to Maryanne's denial.
As if he sensed this, Miguel's black eyes stared pleadingly at Josie. 'She did give it to me,' he said, then swallowed hard as if the next part of his explanation was the hard part, for he looked away from Josie's questioning eyes to the floor. 'She gave
it to me so that I wouldn't tell you I saw her with your bag at the break period. She took it when you went to get the drinks. The others were talking, and they didn't see,' he added lamely, and stared back
defiantly at Maryanne.
'You promised 1' hissed Maryanne, too intent on
unleashing her fury on Miguel to realise what she
had said.
Perplexed, Josie stared from him to Maryanne,
but before she could ascertain the truth of this,
Jessica again flew to her prodigy's assistance. 'As if
Maryanne would do such a thing! The boy's just
thought that up to cover the fact that he took the
pen,' she said coldly.
Josie continued looking at Maryanne. 'What did
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you want with my bag, Maryanne?' she asked quietly.
'Hell!' exploded Jessica. 'It's obvious whose side you're on! Don't bother to answer, Maryanne,' she commanded haughtily.
'Answer the question, Maryanne,' Kade ordered, and all eyes went to him as he stood just inside the schoolroom door.
'Ah, Kade!' sighed the triumphant Jessica. 'Now we shall get to the bottom of things. Don't worry, Maryanne, your uncle will soon settle this.'
Of this Maryanne had no doubt, and her thin shoulders drooped despondently on the thought. and she took refuge in tears.
'Well, I'm waiting,' drawled Kade, showing her that tears were of no avail, and that he meant to have an answer.
Maryanne shook her head blindly, and the volume of tears increased at an alarming rate. Josie felt that things had gone far enough, and glanced at Kade, who seemed unperturbed by the emotion his niece was displaying. 'Perhaps she was curious to know what was in the handbag,' she suggested mildly. 'Little girls are curious, you know, and I hardly think it warrants the child getting so upset. I think it would be better if we left it at that,' she added firmly.
Jessica, deciding it was about time she added her sentiments, nodded her head at this, adding a cynical, 'If Maryanne has done such a thing, which frankly I don't believe.'
Neither of these points of view had any effect on
Kade, whose eyes were still on the sobbing Mary
anne. 'Would you please check the contents of
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vour bag. Miss West?' he requested of Josie. 'It's obvious that my niece is unable to refute the charge. It may, as you say, have only been curiosity, but under the circumstances I would like you to ascertain that nothing is missing.'
Josie had no choice but to do as he had bid. She knew he was right, and if her deduction had been correct, and the child had been curious, then no harm would have been done, and would only warrant a lecture in the very near future for the miserable Maryanne.
Opening the bag, she quickly checked the contents. All seemed to be there, and she was about to report this tact when her searching fingers encountered a cold object that slithered from her touch and buried itself deeper within the bag.
Her eyes opened wide in horror as she dropped the bag on to the desk where it fell with a dull thud, and she took an involuntary step backwards, terrified that the thing the bag contained would escape. She was not in the habit of fainting, but she came very close to it at that moment. Kade, taking two swift strides, was beside her, and placing a chair behind her, made her sit down.
Chalk-white, Josie closed her eyes in an effort to blot out the sight and feel of that thing. She had a horror of snakes, poisonous or otherwise. She felt Kade's strong fingers bite into her shoulder blades as he forced her head between her knees and barked out for someone to get her a glass of water.
Josie wanted to say she didn't want any water. If she had tried to swallow it would have choked her, for her throat had constricted with shock and for a second or two she was unable to speak.
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A few seconds later sh
e felt able to sit back and accept the glass Kade held out to her, and watched with a kind of fascinated horror while he picked up her bag and sought to identify the cause of her terror. 'Don't put your hand in,' she said sharply as she saw him about to do this, but he took no notice and a few seconds later he found what he was looking for and began to remove it from the bag.
Unable to watch, Josie turned away, feeling sick and although she heard him ask her to look at what was in his hand, she shivered uncontrollably, and shook her head mutely. When the request was repeated, this time more firmly, she still could not comply. 'J-just g-get rid of it,' she got out weakly.
She heard Kade give a loud sigh, then he said mildly, 'It's not a snake. Miss West, it's a sand lizard and perfectly harmless, I can assure you.'
Josie clenched her hands tightly round the glass she was holding in an effort to stop them trembling, and a little of the water spilled over into her
lap, but she was not aware of this. Sand lizard or
not, to Josie it was a snake. Lizards had legs, and this
thing hadn't, and although she was sure Kade
knew what he was talking about, to her way of
thinking- it was a snake that was called a sand
lizard, she just didn't want to know the ins -and
outs of whether it was harmless or not, she just
wanted it out of her proximity.
Still refusing to look at the creature in Kade's
hand, she heard him order Pedro to take the lizard
out, in a resigned voice that told Josie that he'd
like to shake her tor her obstinate refusal to listen
to what he had hoped had been a calming state
ment.
140 THE TEXAN RANCHER
Only when she heard the schoolroom door close behind Pedro did she turn back to meet Kade's watching eyes, and she flushed as she acknowledged his softly drawled, 'You've a lot to learn. Miss
West.' Although the words were meant for her ears alone, Maryanne must have caught the drift of them, for she gave a high-pitched giggle, partially, Josie suspected, in relief at her let-off, for only she could have placed the creature in her bag. Kade swung round and looked at the gleeful Maryanne. 'I don't know why you should find the situation tunny, my girl. Let's hope you feel the same way about things after we've had a little talk. Go straight to your room, and stay there until I send for you,' he commanded. Maryanne's amusement left her, and she started to cry again, louder this time than before. 'And stop that snivelling,' Kade ordered. 'It didn't work before, and it's not going to work now.' 'Don't be too cross with her, Kade,' interceded Jessica. 'It wasn't such a bad thing she did. The creature was harmless,' she flung Josie a disdainful look. 'Anyone else would have known it was, and it certainly wasn't worth the fuss Miss West made of it. Why, I remember my mother telling me once that she played the same trick on her teacher when she was young.' Kade's narrowed eyes rested on her. 'You wouldn't by any chance have mentioned this to Maryanne, would you?' he asked casually. Jessica shruggea offhandedly, 'I might have done �to be honest, I'm not sure,' she said quickly, but Josie was sure, and so apparently was Kade, for as
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she placed a comforting arm around the still sob
bing Maryanne and said soothingly, 'Come on, dear, I'll go back with you,' he barked out authoritatively, 'She knows the way. Miss Hanway, and I should be obliged if you would wait outside for a few minutes. I want to have a word with you.'
Jessica blanched at the cold directive, and Josie knew a spurt of surprise that he had called her 'Miss Hanway', as she had presumed that they were on Christian name terms. 'Very well,' she answered, attempting to give. him a coy smile that Sidn't quite come off and appeared rather as a grimace.
Maryanne was now denied her champion, and, astute enough to realise this, turned furiously on Josie. 'It's all your fault!' she shouted at her. 'I'm glad the lizard frightened you. It was your fault I couldn't have extra music lessons,' she sobbed hysterically. 'Miss Hanway said how you were jealous of her, and Uncle Kade always listened to you, and not to her, even though she told him about you taking your grandfather's money.'
'Maryanne I' the name was thundered out by a furious Kade. 'One more word, and that talk will turn to a beating�as it is, I can't even promise a talk. You'll apologise to Miss West, do you hear?'
Maryanne heard, but she had no intention of complying with the order, and rushed out of the door on her way back to the ranch-house.
For a few seconds there was a pregnant silence in the schoolroom, and a white-faced Josie gazed bleakly at the boys who had been unfortunate enough to witness the disturbing, if not distressing events of that afternoon. She saw with a touch of
142 THE TEXAN RANCHER
sadness how they had shrunk into their seats, as if
willing themselves elsewhere, and it occurred to
her that Maryanne's last spiteful outburst had not
come as a surprise to them�so they too had
known, she thought wearily.
Following her look, Kade interpreted her
thoughts, and gave the boys their marching orders,
that they were only too ready to receive, and with
an agility that had to be seen to be believed, they
made their departure.
, With a look that plainly said, 'Wait', Kade went
outside to have his promised talk with the by now
extremely apprehensive Jessica Hanway, tor she
must have heard Maryanne's last broadside in her
defence, and it would not have done her cause much
good.
With legs that felt like jelly, Josie sank down on
to the chair again. She had no choice but to do
exactly as Kade had silently ordered her to do. She
badly needed a breathing space and was devoutly
grateful she would not be within hearing range of
whatever it was that Kade had to say to Jessica
Hanway. Josie had a nasty feeling that she was the next one on the list, and couldn't honestly blame Kade if he did go for her. If she hadn't been so weakminded and had managed to control her revulsion at the sight of that creature, none of this would have happened and the incident would have been passed off as a childish prank on Maryanne's part without the subsequent embarrassment. She was staring down at her hands when he came back into the schoolroom, and she glanced up at him briefly, then down at her hands again,
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unable to hold his glance. 'Don't be too hard on
Maryanne,' she said in a low voice. 'Miss Hanway was right when she said I oughtn't to have made such a fuss.' She took a deep breath. 'Under the circumstances, I think it would be better if you found someone else to take over the job.' She did look up then, and met his narrowed gaze. 'I would prefer you do so,' she added quietly.
'Chickening out?' he drawled sarcastically, then his voice hardened. 'And if I refuse to release you from the bargain?' he asked harshly.
Josie stiffened. He meant to collect that debt. didn't he? Even after what had happened; oh, he was hard all right, it was obvious he didn't fancy looking for a replacement during the vacation. 'There's lots of teachers that take jobs during the vacation,' she said firmly, refusing to lose her temper. 'You'd only have to advertise.'
'I like the one I've got,' he countermanded maddeningly.
Josie clenched her teeth; there were several ways one could take that statement, she thought, if one was looking for compliments, that was, but she wasn't, and she was pretty certain why he was in- sisting on keeping her. She lived at Carella, and he wanted Carella�it was "simple really.
When he saw that she had no intention of answering his dubious compliment, he suddenly barked at her, 'Why are you throwing in the towel? Because of Maryanne�or what she said before she took off in a paddy?'
Josie stood up quickly. This was getting a little too personal for
her liking. 'Let's say I'm chickening out,' she snapped, adding as brightly as she was
144 THE TEXAN RANCHER
able to, 'You've seen what a coward I am, so I'-m
sure you'll understand.' She turned swiftly back
towards her desk and picked up her bag, only just
managing to repress a shiver as she touched it.
Kade might not be through, but she was; she had
taken about all she could take.
She did not hear him move towards her, only felt the strength of his fingers bite into her arms as he swung her round to face him. His eyes went slowly and deliberately over her features, and Josie was too surprised to attempt to move out of his hold, not that she could have done so if she had tried. 'The hell of it is, I don't understand,' he bit out furiously, 'but make no mistake, I intend to find out!' He bent his head swiftly and kissed her hard on the mouth.
'That,' he said grimly when he at last released her, 'is something on account. Do you remember asking me once if I always got what I wanted?' he asked the partially shocked Josie. 'And my reply? Well, where you're concerned there's a hell of a lot of things I want, but first things first. You stay on here�you gave me your word and I'm keeping you to it. If you're not here tomorrow I shall pay your grandfather a visit. I wonder it he knows the real reason why you accepted the job?' he said softly but meaningly.
Josie drew in a shuddering breath. It was blackmail! And although she had half expected something of this nature to happen, she found she couldn't really believe it was happening. Did one acre of land mean so much to him? If so, it might be as well to advise her grandfather to sell up and be done with it. She swallowed. 'How much are you
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offering for Carella?' she asked wearily.
He drew in a quick breath, and Josie knew he was furious. He gripped her arm again, and she winced at the touch. 'If I thought,' he grated, 'that you were about to make a bargain with me��' He was silent for a second, then when he spoke again his voice was softer yet somehow more determined than before. 'Forget Carella,' he advised her. That side of it has already been taken care of.'