Robin, clad in a cool, embroidered peasant blouse and a practical denim skirt, felt young and ordinary by comparison.
"Deborah." Alex said in a low, steady voice. "It certainly has been a while. I'll get a few of the fellows to unload your things. I'm sure you'll want to freshen up after your trip from town in this heat."
The ranch hands were already unloading the large trunk of the spectacular vehicle, methodically but in no apparent rush, their faces barely hiding their curiosity as they watched the new arrival.
Robin glanced to where Sara and Jacob and Gregory' had been standing as the car had come to a halt, but they had quietly disappeared without a word.
"Ah, Alexander," the soft voice purred. "You have no idea what a delight it is to see you again. You are looking as marvelous as ever, darling. What would really be appealing right at this moment is a tall, cool gin and tonic to prove to me that I've returned to civilization. Driving across that amazing barren desert can be a shock to one's system. How about it? Can you join me in a thirst quencher'.'"
Her eyes rolled appealingly and Robin felt distinctly uncomfortable to be standing within earshot. The ranch hands had taken their assorted loads into the house, all matching pieces of exquisite luggage, enough for a tour abroad. Deborah was obviously planning to stay for some time.
"And a gin and tonic you will have, if that is what will refresh you." Alex's voice was calm, but somehow Robin could sense that there were tensions woven deeply in his words. Anxiety? Excitement? Was he so very unhappy to have Deborah here? Or was he in fact so delighted to see her again? Robin could not tell.
"But I'm afraid to say that I will not be able to join you. Deborah. I've really got to get back to the office for a meeting with some of the hands, and then I have a long list of duties to attend to out on the range. Even with this hot weather to make us forget what a toll the cold takes on the fences and outbuildings, winter's not far behind. It keeps me busy keeping up with this place. I'll take a raincheck on the cool drink."'
"Such dedication! And why you bother is a mystery to me." She effectively batted her long lashes and gave him a smile that put girls in toothpaste ads to shame.
"I'm sure it is. By the way," he said, giving Robin an apologetic look, "this is Robin North. She is Herman and Lisa Robinson's cousin, and has been helping out here at the ranch."
His eyes were twinkling and Robin felt her cheeks were getting hot.
"Perhaps you two ladies could have a drink together as Deborah gets settled. I'll be in for supper, and I'll see you then."
He turned quickly and headed around to the side of the house, toward the office wing.
Deborah was not at all happy with the arrangement. Robin could see, as Alex moved from sight. Her eyes narrowed and she stared out into the horizon.
"Mending fences," Deborah sputtered, eyes narrowed. She reminded Robin strikingly of a cat. "We'll see how long that lasts."
"He really seems to be a busy man," Robin offered conversationally. "He works long hours each day, but I guess that's to be expected, keeping up a spread like this."
"He's a lunatic to attempt it. He could make twice as much money in a plush office in the city with his stockbrokers pyramiding his investments. It's ridiculous to work so hard when there is no need to."
She was still looking out at the vast skyline, almost speaking to herself.
"He has a great sense of pride in this ranch. He loves his work. He loves this land."
Robin could not keep the words to herself. She found Deborah's attitude exasperating.
The tall woman turned and looked at her suddenly, almost seeing her for the first time.
"Listen to the words,"' Deborah said. "And just what are your little plans in all of this? Is Herman planning to marry you off to his dear rich friend? Are you hovering around waiting for a piece of the pie, my dear? Because if you are, you can just change your tune. I'm not going to let that happen. Your vacation on this ranch is nearly over."
Rage filled Robin from the tip of her toes to the roots of her hair. "I'm not planning to be married off by Herman or by anyone else. I am on this ranch because I am employed as the housekeeper here, and I intend to stay employed in this position for as long as I am needed."
"Housekeeper!" The striking woman threw her head back and laughed. "And you spouted so majestically about 'pride in work' a few minutes ago. A little snip of a girl who must enslave herself as a housekeeper for a roof over her head. That's the most amusing anecdote I've heard all day. Little gold digger is more like it! Well, you're out of your class."
Robin tried hard to keep from losing her temper.
"There is no need to accuse or to question each other's motives, Deborah. I doubt that our paths will cross much during the course of the day. Now shall we get you that drink you were requesting?"
Deborah said coolly, "I'm sure our paths will go separate ways, my dear. After all, you are, as you say, employed as the housekeeper here. I do not mingle much with the household help. In fact, I'm sure you have many duties to attend to. Although it's been a while since I've been here last, you needn't worry your little self taking care of me. I can find and fix my own drink, as Ridley Ranch has practically been like a second home to me. And suddenly, the solitude of my own room sounds magnificently appealing."
With that, she brushed past Robin and entered the house, leaving her with her teeth clenched tightly.
Calm down. Robin warned herself. Just calm down. But as she followed the new guest into the house, she had a terrible sense of foreboding. The woman was like a case of TNT with the fuse lit. And sooner or later, it would all blow up in someone's face.
Robin threw her pent-up emotional energy into her job in the next few hours, organizing, planning, book balancing, inspecting the progress of the household girls in their cheery efforts to clean the large home, keeping herself busy and almost frantically active.
And in time, her duties fastidiously completed, she changed quickly into her riding clothes and headed for the stable. A good gallop in the fresh air would help her spirits immensely.
She prayed that she would not come into contact with Deborah as she slipped from the house. Instead, she nearly collided with Jacob, in jeans and western shirt, cowboy hat set far back on his head. He was tanned and handsome—starting to become a man at seventeen, she noticed suddenly. His eyes were bright and alive today, and the transition from the sober melancholy that had haunted him for so long was remarkable. What was the reason for the sudden change?
"Hi, Robin," he said cheerfully. "Are you going for a ride?"
At her nod, he went on.
"Maybe I'll be out later. That is, if Deborah cares to see the ranch."
The glow in his cheeks brightened.
"Deborah?" Robin said.
"She's such a great-looking lady, don't you think? We just had a talk about, well, about life. She makes a guy feel, well, so grown up. Anyway, have a nice ride, I'll see you later."
He was off in a trot toward the parked jeep in the drive, and Robin headed for the horses in the nearby corral. Deborah. Weaving her web already. And a right powerful web it would be. Robin had a feeling. To have changed the haunted, angry look in Jacob Ridley's young eyes in a short conversation was a remarkable feat. What was happening around here?
When she arrived at the corral, she found that Devil was not in sight and assumed that he was still in his stall. She opened the door of the stable, its cool darkness blinding her momentarily after the hot brightness of the sun. She stood quietly for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the new level of light.
Robin had had no intention of eavesdropping. The voices floated unexpectedly to her ears as she paused in the doorway. Two people, Sara and Mac, were deep in conversation in the backroom of the stable, unaware of Robin's appearance.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Sara Ridley. I never saw a finer figure of a woman than that there Deborah in her fancy new car. Nope, they don't make too many of them, if you ask me."
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Sara's voice was strained. "There's nothing fine about her, Mac. I can't believe that you'd be impressed with her. I can't really explain it, but I just don't like her."
"Sounds a little bit like sour grapes to me. Can't stand the idea of a better looker than you running around the ranch? The green-eyed monster, they call it. Well, no matter what you say, any man would fall for a woman like that. I wouldn't mind the chance. Even with the age difference, she'd be worth it. She makes you look like a kid."
He was being deliberately cruel, and Robin could imagine the flush in Sara's young face, the tears in her eyes. She had set quite a store by the young ranch hand.
"I remember the last time she was here, years ago. She doesn't look a day older, and she still has that come-on look in her eyes." He snorted with an ugly laugh. "Kinda reminds me of your mother. Duke always goes for women like that, just like me."
Sara was crying now. Robin could hear her uneven breathing. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to leave and remove herself from the conversation that she knew she should not be hearing, yet she wanted to stay nearby for Sara, whom she knew would be extremely upset. The voices went on before she had a chance to make up her mind.
"I don't, don't want to hear you talk that way about my mother. I don't want to hear any more about Deborah." The girl was making a valiant attempt to regain her composure and Robin felt uncommonly proud of her.
"I don't particularly care what you want to hear. I couldn't care less, as a matter of fact. All it takes is a good look at a woman like that to make a guy realize how he's been wasting his time with a spoiled schoolgirl So let's just call it quits, okay?"
"No question about that," said Sara, the spunk returning to her voice. "I wouldn't spend another five minutes with you if my life depended on it. All I can say is I sure did a bad job of judging your character. You deserve the Deborahs of this world, if, that is, they'd ever want the likes of you!"
There was a pregnant silence after her angry words, then the sound of heavy footsteps as Mac flung himself out of the tackroom and made his way toward the door. He ran directly into Robin and seemed to barely notice her as he barreled by. She turned and watched him go, his back straight and angry as he walked about ten paces before slowly turning to look back in her direction.
He gave Robin an angry look that she found hard to interpret.
But hadn't he the right to be upset with an eavesdropper? Robin asked herself, ashamed that she had stood and listened to the exchange so unabashedly.
But then she remembered his harsh words to Sara, a young, emotional girl still in her teens whose only error had been an infatuation with such a cad, and she shrugged off his glance.
She stepped quickly toward the tackroom to find Sara.
Robin found her leaning against the rough wooden wall of the tackroom, one arm clutching a well-used bridle hanging from its sturdy peg. Her eyes were large and filled with tears, but her chin was set and firm.
"Sara, are you all right?"
"Robin," she said. "I didn't see you there. I was just standing here..."
"It's okay, Sara. I must confess I heard a bit of your conversation when I came in to find Devil. It's all right to be a bit hurt and disappointed, if you ask me. You don't have to pretend."
The young girl sank down into a fresh pile of hay, her ankle still encased in its heavy cast, and looked up at Robin.
"It doesn't feel good to discover that I've been making a fool out of myself. I... I don't quite know what to do."
"Just be yourself, Sara. Time will help. I know you cared for Mac."
"I sure did. Or at least I thought I did. But somehow I wasn't seeing him clearly. I must have been pretending that he was all the things I wanted him to be, and that he felt about me the way I wanted him to feel."
Such wisdom from a seventeen-year-old! Could she, Robin, with her extra years of experience see herself as clearly as Sara at this moment?
"I was going for a ride. Sure wish you could come along," Robin said.
"Only a little longer until my foot is free of this thing." Sara tapped her cast. "Then you won't be able to hold me back. Meanwhile, I could do with a nice long bath and a nap. Well, thanks, Robin, for talking. And have a great ride. Will you be back for dinner?"
Robin thought for a minute of Deborah's catlike eyes, her searing tongue, the calflike look on Jacob's face, her dismay at Deborah's familiar and overly friendly attitude toward Alex. She had completed her duties for the day. Cook was efficiently in charge of the dinner. There was no reason that she couldn't skip the meal.
"I'm going to take my time riding, Sara. Would you give my regrets to everyone for me. I think I'll skip the formal dinner and just make a sandwich later. I could use a little free time to think."
Sara smiled, and even with her sad eyes, Robin noticed the natural beauty of the young girl. Sara may have had her ego bruised by the thoughtless Mac, but she would have her share of admirers!
"Sure, Robin. I don't blame you a bit. Just remember to be in by dark. When that sun starts to sink in the evening, it goes down like a dive bomber, and Dad doesn't like anyone out on the range in the dark. You never know what might happen..." Her voice dropped off.
"Thanks for the warning, Sara. I'll be careful. And remember, I'll be on Devil. A person couldn't ask for better transportation than that."
The young girl's eyes lit up at the thought of her proud stallion.
"Give him a good workout, Robin, and tell him he'd better be in great shape when it's time for me to return to the saddle!"
Sara took off for the house and Robin saddled the tall black horse with his dancing eyes and led him out of the stable.
She held the reins in as they first took off, getting used to her seat high above the ground, giving the horse a chance to stretch his well-developed muscles before breaking into a faster pace.
She moved past a bunkhouse at a trot, noticing its main door standing widely open, aware of the two similar-looking men standing in its frame.
She picked up words from their seemingly angry conversation, though most of their comments were drowned out by the distance and by Devil's hoofs on the hard ground.
"You can't talk to me like that." This was from Mac, Robin thought, but she couldn't be sure. Duke's reply escaped her, and also Mac's next remark. Then Duke scowled and threw off his hat angrily, hurtling it to the ground. "You're some kind of a darned fool,"' he yelled. Robin just had time to catch the few words, and to observe the ferocious look on Duke's dark and handsome face as her horse moved by.
Then she was galloping away.
Chapter 13
The scenery flew by. Devil's long legs hit the sun-soaked ground beneath them, his long galloping strides covering great expanses of prairie. The sun was lower on the western horizon. The afternoon was well underway, but still promised several hours of welcome light. Robin rode to the south, away from the ranch, away from the direction of town, across the huge prairie that stretched out before her.
Her long blond hair was hanging freely, blowing out behind her as she rode on and on. After a while, her pace slowed, and a feeling of thoughtfulness came over Robin. Here, miles away from the problems that hovered like a spider's web over the ranch, it seemed easier to sort out her feelings, her ideas, her doubts.
It was hard to believe that such a short time ago, encased in a kind of personal vacuum that included only her saddening thoughts at the passing of her dear father, she had arrived to begin this new phase of her life. She had had no prior knowledge of these people that she had come to care about.
To love? She pushed the thoughts away. She had been no real part of their lives, nor they of hers. And yet, after her weeks of involvement, even with the fears and dangers and problems that she could not begin to understand, it was hard for her to remember the days before she had stepped off the bus in Hamilton to take her place here.
Her past seemed like a shadowy mist of distant memories. And her future? She had no idea. Sometimes it w
as almost as if a large closed door stood before her, a door behind which she would find the next phase of her life. The very thought of opening that door was enough to set her heart to thumping. Robin pushed the thought from her mind.
She focused on the present.
Her stomach began to knot. It was a horrible thought that someone could be planning to destroy you. But it had to be true. She had dived right in with her opinions about the murder and the need to clear up the anxieties on the ranch. Wasn't that the obvious motive? Someone had been benefitting from the lack of information that had come to light for five long years. Someone resented her arrival and involvement.
Alex? Somehow, even beyond the feelings that she had for him personally, she had trouble accepting him in the role of murderer. He hadn't fought the accident verdict, to be sure, but Robin instinctively felt that that was because he was worried about the information an investigation would bring to light.
Who would it incriminate? Butterflies again began to dance in her stomach. Mrs. Manchester had stated that she felt that Laura had been involved with someone in the time prior to her death. A lovers' quarrel? With someone from the ranch? From town? A friend? Even Herman? The thought seemed ludicrous. Still, he had been present at the time, and stranger things had happened in life, she supposed.
The twins had been fairly young at the time, but they were wild and headstrong children, practically born in the saddle. Could one of them have followed her onto the prairie that day, in anger and frustration with the family problems at the ranch? And would Alex go to any length, even to allow idle gossip to almost ruin all he had, just to protect them from the exposure? The thought was an unbelievable one, and she brushed it aside. Besides, Sara had been adamant about the so-called accident, telling Robin about the helmet, her doubts. It just couldn't have been the twins.
But who had wanted Laura out of the way? Deborah had been at the ranch, and now she openly admitted that she had plans for Alex Ridley. Had removing his wife been a part of the original plan? Here was an hypothesis that Robin could find easier to accept, she knew, but that held no more merit than the ones before it. Deborah had been Laura's long-time friend. And Deborah hadn't been at the ranch for Robin's first few "accidents" and couldn't even have known of her presence at the ranch, let alone have plotted the recent treacheries.
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