"I suppose you're going to blame me for the fire, too." He flung his hat at the nearest chair and ignored it when it bounced to the floor. "My mother is in hysterics, your precious husband seems to have disappeared, and my father has been incommunicado for days. Those are probably good enough reasons for burning down one of the best garment factories in the country. I sent for your father, by the way."
"How thoughtful. I'd better eat and drink while I can. When he comes home, I won't dare touch food."
Peter stared at her. "Maybe my father was right and you are touched in the head."
Georgina smiled sweetly at him, but a coughing fit diminished the effect. Peter continued to watch her warily, but he held out the glass of juice. After she took the glass, he picked up the bottle of medicine on the bedside table.
"This didn't come from Dr. Ralph. Maybe you better have him come over. That cough doesn't sound good."
The sound Georgina made was vaguely like a laugh. "Good. Dr. Ralph and my father, my saviors. Get out of here, Peter. I'm going to get dressed and go hide before I end up in the Shady Rest Retiring Home with my mother."
Peter set the bottle down and contemplated her carefully. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb for my benefit." Georgina set her juice aside and pulled herself straighter in the bed. "Your father and Dr. Ralph are probably playing the same game with your mother. I'd inspect her medicines if I were you. Now leave, Peter, I need to dress."
"Your maid said you were supposed to rest. I practically had to beat her over the head to get in here. Now lie there and explain things a little more coherently or I'll be here all day."
Georgina scowled. "How plain do I need to be? Dr. Ralph gives my mother laudanum to keep her quiet. He gave it to me so my father could drag me out of here and hide me away in a convalescent home until your father could do something about Daniel. Any time a woman in this town tries to protest or complain, Dr. Ralph is there to solve the problem. I think maybe he's drunk too much of the stuff himself."
She pulled back the covers and started to get up, ignoring Peter's shocked expression. "Now will you leave?"
"After that, I don't even dare mention sending for the maid to fetch a doctor." Peter turned his back so she could reach for her robe, but he didn't leave. "I don't know how the fire happened, Georgina. You have to believe me. I've hired some men to investigate, but I doubt that they'll find anything. The fire brigade put out the worst of it before it could destroy the machinery. I'll supervise moving what can be saved into an empty warehouse. We'll find a new building and go back into production as soon as possible."
"We?" Her tone was heavily laced with irony. "We won't do anything, Peter. You'll get your backside out of here and out of my life and never present your face to me again if you know what's good for you. I'm tired of being nice. I'm going for your father's throat. You don't want to be around when I do."
Spasms of coughing prevented her from being as forceful as she could have wished. Peter swung around, but refrained from pushing her into the nearest chair.
Clenching his fists at his side, he waited for her to recover before speaking. "You'll have to beat me to him if anything you've said is true. I'm taking Dr. Phelps to see my mother this morning. If there's any truth to what you're saying, I'll give the evidence to Daniel. He needs to put it in the paper and warn all the women in town. We'll drive Ralph into the ocean if need be. Where is Daniel, anyway? I still have to persuade him to see Mother."
Georgina took the chair of her own accord and sipped at her juice while she gathered strength. "I'll give him the message, but he rather has his hands full right now. I suppose you're going to tell me you didn't know your father offered to give me the mortgage on this house if Daniel would conveniently disappear?"
Peter ran his hand through his hair in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of Daniel's. "I'm prepared to believe just about anything. Don't hit me with any more just yet, Georgie. Let me do one thing at a time. Tell me where to find Daniel."
"Not on your bottom dollar, Peter." This time, she managed her best vapid smile. "As far as I know, he's gone back to Texas. Be sure to tell your father that."
Swearing, Peter bent to pick up his hat. When he straightened, his handsome face was taut with anger and his eyes flashed emerald fires, but his words were carefully polite. "You promised to tell Daniel about Mother. I'm holding you to it, Georgie."
She held her smile. "I'll write him a letter. Bye-bye, Peter."
The smile faded as he scowled and walked out. It was impossible to tell whose side Peter was on. She wanted to confide in him. She had always trusted him. But then, she had always trusted her father, too. She wasn't certain she could even trust Daniel anymore. After all, he had walked out on her just as she had thought they were making progress. But he had come back. She would rely on that.
Despite her threats, Georgina didn't bother dressing. She had no work to go to and no one she wanted to see badly enough to strain her aching chest. She brushed her hair and pinned it up and let the maids wait on her. As nervous and uncertain as she, they seemed to be glad of the opportunity to do something useful.
By the time Janice knocked on the door, Georgina was ready for sensible company. She set aside her book and gestured for her visitor to enter.
Janice slipped through the partially open door and closed it behind her. She gave Georgina a critical look. "You look better than yesterday for some reason. How do you feel?"
"Like a consumptive. I can't stop coughing. Tell me what's happening."
Janice took the chair. "Peter Mulloney is down at the factory, ordering the machines carried into the warehouse you and Daniel were using. He's had all the boards ripped off the warehouse and new glass is being installed. I don't know what happened to the condemnation notice."
"He probably ordered his father to have it removed." Georgina shrugged in dismissal. "Mulloney owns all the sewing equipment anyway. My father said it was mortgaged to the hilt. I just hate going down in defeat like this." Seeing Janice's expression, she hurried to add, "Peter said he would have the factory operating again as soon as possible. I'll make certain he hires you and Audrey. I think he almost listened to me today. He thinks I have something he wants."
Janice waited for explanation, but none was forthcoming. She frowned, then embarked on the rest of her news. "Egan has disappeared. He was around yesterday trying to collect the rent, but no one has seen him since he and Emory had supper together last evening. They were both saying some rather unpleasant things about you and Daniel when they left."
Georgina felt her stomach lurch in apprehension, but she managed to maintain a look of calm. "Maybe Daniel ran him out of town on a rail," she said lightly.
It was Janice's turn to look apprehensive. "I've heard Daniel hasn't been seen in days. He's all right then?"
"Daniel is better than all right," Georgina said with certainty and a touch of bitterness. "Daniel is in his element right about now. He has more pots of trouble brewing than any one man can handle, and he's probably sitting on a roof somewhere, watching them boil and laughing. Don't ever fall in love, Janice. Men are pure hell."
Janice's normally noncommittal expression evaporated with a sound almost like a laugh. She hastily recovered, but her eyes were still smiling. "I'll remember that," she said solemnly. "At least I'll know better than to get near men with six-guns and funny-looking hats."
"Good." Georgina nodded her head vigorously. "Find yourself a nice clerk down at Mulloney's, one with a white collar and clean hands, one who's so grateful to have you that he'll satisfy your every wish."
This time, Janice did laugh out loud, her lips cracking open just enough to reveal her small white teeth. As if to keep anyone from seeing her laughing, she rose and walked to the door, turning only to say, "Tomorrow's the Fourth. Make certain you get a grandstand seat for the parade."
"Oh, I'll be sure to do that," Georgina muttered as the door closed. And she had some excellent ideas on how to accomp
lish that and several other things on her mind.
Chapter 37
"Your father will take care of everything, don't you worry at all." Dolly Hanover patted her daughter's hand against the bedcovers. "That charming young Peter sent us the nicest telegram. I'm certain he'll see to everything. I never did understand why you wouldn't marry him."
Georgina waited patiently for her mother to leave. It was good to know that her father hadn't left her mother behind in the convalescent home, and she was always happy to see her; she just had other things on her mind right now. Being married to a man like Daniel had that effect.
"Peter never listened to me, Mother," Georgina answered with remarkable restraint. "And Daniel needs me." Sometimes, she amended to herself.
"Well, I'm sure that's important." Despite her words, there was a puzzled frown on Dolly's forehead as she turned to leave. "Now you get lots of sleep and don't worry about anything. We're here now."
Which was just what Georgina was worried about. Would Daniel come here if he knew her parents were back in residence? If he didn't, she would have to go out and hunt him down, and she didn't have the slightest idea where to begin if Peter had taken over the newspaper office.
She listened to the leaves brushing against her bedroom window and tried to imagine that it was Daniel coming for her. She had obediently sat here all day waiting for him to put in an appearance, and he hadn't even sent word. If he didn't show up soon, she was going to hang him. Shooting wasn't good enough.
She fingered the lace on the light silk robe she had donned after her bath. This was another item meant for her trousseau, and it had gone unworn until now. She had donned it for Daniel's benefit. She really must be mad. Why was she trying to please a man who had walked out on her?
All her life she had been cosseted by the men, told not to worry, everything would be taken care of. Maybe that attitude worked for women like her mother, but it wasn't working for her anymore. She was beginning to realize that men needed taking care of as much as women, and the thought wasn't in the least dismaying. She wanted to take care of Daniel—if the damned man would just let her.
Georgina listened to the sounds of the house settling down for the night and swore softly to herself. A normal marriage was too much to expect, she supposed, especially after the way hers started out. And if her parents' marriage was anything to judge by, she really didn't want a normal marriage. She just wanted Daniel.
She turned off the lamp and slid down between the sheets and patted the empty pillow beside her. She didn't think she was asking for much to want to have her husband in bed beside her every night. She'd come to crave the closeness of Daniel's body next to hers. She wanted to be able to reach out and touch his shoulder, slide her foot next to his, whisper sleepy questions in his ear when she woke. And she wanted to be there when that fire lit in his eyes and he leaned over her and took her in his hands and joined their bodies until they were one. She wanted that with every fiber of her being.
Georgina closed her eyes tightly against the torture of her thoughts. The wind must be picking up. The branches outside were rubbing frantically against the glass.
The branches outside. Her eyes flew wide open again. She had lived here most of her life and the wind never blew that hard from that direction.
She was out of bed and at the window in seconds. Flinging open the sash, she glared at the shadow straddling the slender maple branch, his grin growing from sheepish to delighted as she raged at him.
"Daniel Ewan Mulloney, you are the most incorrigible, least intelligent, exasperating excuse for a man I have ever met in all my life! Why in heaven's name can't you come through a door like any normal human being? It would serve you right if you fell from there and broke your silly neck. Get yourself in here now before I'm picking pieces of you up off the ground."
Daniel slid his leg over the sill, caught the window frame, and pulled through until he was standing so close that their toes touched. Georgina couldn't suppress a gasp as he slid his hands beneath her robe and cupped her breasts through the thin silk of her gown.
"Did I hear a hint of concern in that tirade? Or would you prefer it if I broke my silly neck and let you alone?"
"Idiot!" Georgina tried to pull away, but his touch was too compelling. Instead, her breasts seemed to surge forward to fill his hands, and the place between her thighs began to tingle. "I don't know why I married a man so prone to risking his foolish neck."
"Because your boyfriend held a gun on me?" he answered helpfully, nuzzling her neck.
"If that's all it was, I should have let him blow your head off and saved everyone a lot of grief." She kept her voice cool, but her body was growing warmer by the minute. Georgina slid her fingers into the unruly tangle of Daniel's hair and bent willingly to his embrace.
"Then tell me it was because you loved me, because you can't live without me." His lips continued their sensuous journey as he urged her backward toward the bed.
"You left me!" Georgina's fingers grabbed his hair tighter, jerking it from his scalp as she was maneuvered against the bed. "Why would I tell you any such thing after what you did?"
Daniel let her pull his head up until he was gazing into the wild blue of her eyes. "Because I love you? Because I only wanted to do what was best for you?"
Georgina's grip loosened beneath the intensity of his gaze. "And I thought you were so smart," she whispered scornfully. "Only an utter idiot would think I would be better off without you."
The gray of his eyes almost became silver in the moonlight, and Daniel's mouth softened into a smile of delight. "Does that mean you'll take this lame hero for husband, to have and to hold, until death do us part?"
"I will." And standing on tiptoe, Georgina raised her lips to his.
With a shudder of relief, Daniel clasped her in his arms, pulling her body into his, and filling her mouth with his kisses. Georgina clung to him with all her strength, trying not to imagine what it would have been like if she'd never held him like this again. She couldn't bear even the thought of it, and she held him tighter, desperately, pleading with her mouth and body to never let her go.
Daniel lifted her to the bed, throwing the sheets aside and kneeling over her, worshiping her with his mouth and hands. Growing frantic under the trail of his kisses, Georgina tore at his shirt, pulling it from his trousers and running her hands beneath the cotton to the hard, warm male body beneath. Not until then was she certain she wasn't dreaming.
She wouldn't let him go long enough for him to remove his clothes. She helped him with his buttons, then deliberately stroked the hard male part of him she released from the confining cloth. With wicked delight Georgina felt Daniel's shudder of desire, and she slid her fingers deeper, testing the strength of his resistance.
"Georgina." His voice was strained as he held himself propped over her. "You'd better be certain you understand what this means."
Georgina positioned her legs on either side of him and wriggled so close she could feel his heat through the thin film of silk. "Probably warehouses and cockroaches and midnight rescues," she assured him as she ran her fingers provocatively up and down his arms. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And babies, and baths together, and maybe some day a little house with roses in the front yard and horses in the back."
"How did you know?" Daniel pulled the hampering silk to her waist and touched her there, where she was warm and wet and waiting.
She arched into his hand with a moan, felt his fingers open inside her, and barely got the words between her teeth. "I read a Pecos Martin book," she murmured, and then gasped as his hand moved and something much stronger came inside her.
As Daniel surged deeper, his mouth covered her breasts, and a flame of desire raced through her from head to toe. With a cry of surrender Georgina flung her arms around him, letting him have complete possession of her body, letting him take control, until she no longer knew where her body ended and his began, knowing only that they were one in this. When he took her to that p
lace they were coming to know so well, she whispered his name just as he forced her over the precipice, and she closed her eyes and clung to his shoulders as they tumbled together into weightlessness.
"I love you," she whispered as Daniel's heavy body sank onto hers, pushing her into the mattress.
Long brown fingers closed around her breast and teased at the nipple. Georgina felt him stiffen at her words, but she wasn't taking them back. She ran her hands over the powerful muscles of his back. "I love you, Daniel, and I'll kill you if you ever leave me again."
He chuckled against her ear at that threat. "Make me believe that, and you'll be sorry. When I go, I'll take you with me, and you might end up living in a Texas desert with cactus for company."
Georgina wriggled her hips and with satisfaction, felt him growing hard again. "I'll dress them up in shirts and ties and skirts and bonnets and take turns shooting at them and serving them tea."
Daniel placed his hands on either side of her head and propped himself over her. "You don't know anything about that kind of life, Georgina. I'd be a cad to do that to you."
Worried, Georgina wriggled against him again, hoping to distract him from the unpleasant note of this conversation. When he merely turned over and pulled her with him, she squirmed. 'Then I'm not the wife you want," she said in disappointment.
Daniel stroked her hair and wrapped his arm around her back until his fingers reached her breast on the other side. "You're all the wife I want. Why do you think I came back? I couldn't bear the thought of a future without you. We'll just have to think of some way to work this out so you can have your family and home and I can keep from killing my father."
"And he can keep from killing you." Not entirely reassured, Georgina rose up on her elbow to glare down at him. "Why don't we visit Natchez and your family and think of something safe to do?"
Daniel sighed. "That would probably be best. I just don't like leaving a job undone. If neither of us is here, things just might slip back to the way they've always been. But I can't risk you in another fire like the one last night."
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