Scarlet Sunset, Silver Nights

by Leigh Greenwood

“It’s hard to believe little Dolly has children. It seems like only yesterday she was too scared of men to come out of her room unless we pushed her.”

  “Some women make the adjustment remarkably fast.” Amanda’s tone indicated that she would be such a one. “Oh, I almost forgot. Do you remember Mrs. Kellibeg?”

  “She was the one who drowned off the coast of Maine, wasn’t she? Poor Amy’s mother.”

  “So everyone thought. Well, Mr. Kellibeg had no sooner consoled himself with a persuadable widow than she showed up again.”

  “What! Where had she been?”

  “In Italy. With the boys’ tutor. He returned a month later.”

  “Poor woman.”

  “Not at all. She met this fabulously rich Neapolitan prince who was so captivated by her charm and beauty he asked her to live with him. Amy says their palace is bigger than the Vanderbilt mansion.”

  “How’s Amy taking it?”

  “She’s decided her health would greatly benefit by a prolonged stay in Naples. Of course she decided that after she met the young count who owns a whole island off the coast.”

  “If you girls don’t stop gossiping, you’ll miss the cool of the morning,” Frederick said bustling into the dining room. “Slade has your chariot ready, Amanda. I’m instructed to bring you outside at once.”

  “Do you think you can?” Amanda asked. “Slade can do it easily, but he’s so very strong.”

  “I can do anything Slade can,” Frederick insisted.

  He conveyed Amanda to the buggy without mishap but without Slade’s style. Fortunately for the harmony of the morning Amanda refrained from pointing that out.

  Pamela thought their ride would never end. Never had she been so anxious to get off her horse. Never had the valley looked so barren and uninviting. Never had she been forced to defend Arizona and the ranch so frequently. Never had she been so little in sympathy with Amanda and Frederick. After weeks of looking forward to their visit, she could hardly wait for them to be gone. Fortunately, they had a firm date to be in San Francisco or Amanda might never have been able to tear herself away from Slade.

  Pamela sometimes found it difficult to remember that Slade loved her and that he was only helping Amanda until she could walk. She found it just as difficult to believe Frederick and Amanda loved each other. They got along amicably enough, except when they were arguing over the things Amanda asked Slade to do, but they had no warmth, no passion in their relationship. Pamela could imagine they were still in school, still merely friends meeting at parties and weekend gatherings at their family homes.

  “The first thing I would do would be to get a gardener down here,” Amanda was saying as Slade picked her up and carried her toward the house. “There’s not a blade of decent grass in sight. And then there are all those unsightly bushes and rocks tumbled everywhere.”

  “This is the desert, for God’s sake,” Frederick exclaimed. “You’d have to irrigate the whole damned place.”

  “Why don’t you run along with Slade and let him show you his rifle, or whatever it was you were talking about earlier,” Amanda said impatiently. “Pamela and I have things to discuss.”

  “All right, as long as you don’t keep telling her how you’d change everything out of all recognition. I didn’t think I would, but I rather like the place as it is.”

  “Go talk guns,” Amanda said. “It’s about all you men are good for.”

  “And another thing,” Amanda said even before the men were out of earshot, “I’d damn that stream and make a nice lake. Plant it all around with trees, and in a few years you will have a nice cool place to entertain your guests outdoors in summertime. At least you’re not plagued with mosquitoes.”

  “Neither are we plagued with guests,” said Pamela. “You’re the first people to visit since mother died.”

  “Good God,” Amanda exclaimed. “I had no idea.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Pamela protested, horrified to see that Amanda actually pitied her for being forced to live so far away from civilization. “The other ranchers visit.”

  “How many are there?”

  “Five.”

  “How far away do they live?”

  “Five to ten miles.”

  “Do you mean to tell me there are only five families out here and that the nearest one lives five miles away?” Amanda turned so quickly she almost twisted her ankle again. Pamela helped her to a chair on the porch. “This is incredible. How do you ever get to parties?”

  “We don’t have any parties to go to.”

  “You poor child. You must come back before you forget what it’s like to live in civilization.”

  “There are lots of people around. There’s my cousin and all the cowhands. And of course Dave and his wife.”

  “But they work for you,” Amanda replied.

  Like working for someone else was a malady for which there was no cure Pamela thought to herself.

  There is a great deal to do,” Pamela said. “I’m rarely even aware of the lack of social activities.”

  Yet just a few weeks ago you were pining for Baltimore and the meanest entertainment. Why can’t you admit things have changed because of Slade? Until now you have felt exactly the way Amanda does about Arizona and the ranch.

  “That’s not what your letters said,” Amanda reminded her. “It seems to me at least once in every one of them you said you were hoping to be able to return to Baltimore soon.”

  “It did seem strange when I first came home and was very lonely,” Pamela admitted, “but it grows on you.”

  “Not on me,” Amanda said with a shudder. “The West is fine to visit. We have seen some spectacular scenery, but it’s full of the oddest people. Your Mr. Morgan is about the first acceptable one I’ve met.”

  “Slade?” Pamela said in surprise before she could think better of it. “He’s a drifter and a gunslinger.”

  “That doesn’t seem to matter to you.”

  Pamela wasn’t fool enough to try to deny the obvious, but she wished she could have managed not to blush. That made her look like she felt guilty. She did, but she didn’t want Amanda to know that.

  “I can see why he’s turned your head,” Amanda said. “I saw that the minute I set eyes on him. I don’t know about this gun business, but he’s the kind of man that sets a woman’s teeth to chattering. He’s big, strong, incredibly handsome, and looks like he can handle any situation. He’s perfect for a flirtation, but you don’t want to make the mistake of marrying him.”

  “But if he’s so wonderful, why not?”

  “Good Lord, Pamela, I thought you had some sense. Compare him with Frederick and tell me you can’t see an important difference.”

  Pamela did, but she didn’t want to tell Amanda what she saw. The difference might surprise Amanda.

  “Frederick has money and position. Some day he’ll have power as well. He can move in any level of society in this country, financial and political. And I’ll go with him wherever he goes.” As though on cue, they both looked to where the two men stood talking. “I admit Slade’s dreadfully handsome. Oh, my yes. Even more so than Frederick, which I never thought possible, but his looks won’t last any more than Frederick’s will. In a few years his stomach will start to protrude, his shoulders will start to stoop, and he’ll start to drive a wagon instead of ride his horse. Then what will you have?”

  Pamela was tempted to tell Amanda she would exchange all the money and privilege in the world for a few years in Slade’s arms.

  “No matter what happens to Frederick, I’ll still be Mrs. Frederick Marchbanks Olmstead, III with the money and connections to go anywhere I like and do anything I like. With your cowboy, you’d be tied to this ranch, raising a whole flock of kids.”

  The notion of bearing Slade’s children hadn’t occurred to Pamela. Oddly enough, she realized she had never seriously thought about having children at all. She didn’t know why. It just hadn’t come up. Did that mean she didn’t want children, that she wouldn
’t be a good mother? Pamela jerked her mind away from such thoughts. She didn’t even know if she loved Slade that way, and he hadn’t asked her to marry him. Under the circumstances, thinking about children was a bit premature.

  Chapter 17

  “Do you love Frederick?”

  “Of course I do,” Amanda responded, surprised by Pamela’s question. “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, I’ve never been in love myself. You don’t have to look at me in that cat-and-mouse way. I’m not in love with Slade, though I admit I am terribly fascinated by him.”

  “Fascinated? So that’s what you call it,” Amanda said with an indulgent laugh. “I would have called it…”

  “Never mind,” Pamela interrupted quickly. “I just thought if you loved someone, you wouldn’t be interested in even looking at another man.”

  “You mean you’re jealous of my interest in Slade?”

  “Stop trying to turn my words against me,” Pamela said irritably. “You’re not even listening to what I’m saying.”

  “I’m sorry,” Amanda apologized. “Start again, and I promise not to interrupt.”

  “I feel like such a fool asking somebody else to tell me how I feel,” Pamela said, quickly forgetting her irritation at Amanda in her desire to get at the thing which had been bothering her ever since she first saw Slade Morgan. “I thought I knew all the answers …”

  “And Slade appeared on the scene and knocked everything cock-a-hoop?”

  “I never let myself fall in love with Frederick,” Pamela proceeded without acknowledging Amanda’s remark. “I knew he would never marry me, so it wasn’t too difficult to keep my feelings under control. I did like two other men quite a lot, but I never felt like this. Not even with Frederick.”

  “What is it like?” Amanda asked. This time there was nothing cynical or mocking in her voice or expression.

  “I hardly know how to describe it. Half the time I don’t even know what’s going on.”

  “It sounds rather uncomfortable.”

  “It’s awful,” Pamela confided, relieved to at last be able to share her doubts. “Not only am I suddenly entirely brainless and doing the most absurd things, I don’t have any strength of character. You know I’ve got pretty definite ideas about things.”

  Amanda laughed heartily. “Don’t I. We used to call you our conscience at school. We could always depend upon you to behave sensibly and advise us to do the same, just like our mothers. Oh, don’t look so dismayed,” Amanda said when Pamela looked crestfallen. “We loved you for it. You were so intense.”

  “Well every word I ever said must be coming back to haunt me. I’ve turned into the most spineless creature you can imagine. Slade has got me questioning just about every idea I have, all my plans for the future, everything I ever thought about the kind of man I would marry, even my feelings about Arizona.”

  “You’re not thinking of staying here!” Amanda exclaimed, shocked out of her attitude of sympathetic complacency. “You would dry-rot in less than a year.”

  “It’s been three years, and I’m still sufficiently pliant to have two men fighting over me.”

  “Do I detect a note of pride in that boast?”

  “Probably. I’ve been guilty of just about every other form of vanity since he’s been here.”

  “You haven’t given yourself to him, have you?” Amanda demanded, sitting bolt upright in her seat.

  “Of course not,” Pamela replied indignantly. “I said I was confused. I didn’t say I had abandoned my wits altogether.” Pamela stopped, conscience-stricken. She couldn’t tell Amanda about those terrifying moments before they arrived. She couldn’t share that with anyone, but she felt compelled to defend Slade’s honor. “He wouldn’t do that, even though I feel certain he would like to.”

  “Don’t let him fool you with any gentlemanly-code-of-honor nonsense,” Amanda said stringently. “That’s all any man thinks about.”

  “Possibly, but Slade wouldn’t take advantage of me like that.”

  Amanda started to make a sharp reply, but the rapt look in her friend’s face stopped her.

  “He’s the most amazing man. He came in here looking like a worthless saddle bum, but he gave me a thumbnail evaluation of Jane Austen’s books. He says he has an aversion to women, especially beautiful women, but every time I turn around he’s doing something else for me. Can you imagine anyone with that face not having to fight women off? Yet he believes ladies don’t like his type.”

  “I have to admit it was his looks that first attracted my attention,” Amanda said with a gurgling laugh.

  A slow smile of happiness began to spread over Pamela’s face. “You ought to see him when he’s hurt. That man would rather die than admit to feeling any pain. He insists he doesn’t need anyone to take care of him, but I think he likes it when I do.”

  “Of course he likes it,” Amanda said. “And if you give him half a chance, you’ll have him on your hands for the rest of your life.”

  “He was leaving for California when you arrived. If somebody hadn’t started shooting at you, he would have been gone before you arrived.”

  Amanda looked like she wasn’t sure she believed that, but she let it pass with only an “if you say so” smile.

  “He wouldn’t let me pay him for working the roundup. He even paid for a horse nobody else can ride. The men took to him immediately, and there’s not a rancher in the area who doesn’t listen when he talks.”

  Then you should marry this paragon as soon as you can get him to the altar,” Amanda said getting to her feet. “Surely you’re rich enough for both of you.”

  “He’s wanted for murder in Texas. He killed three men.”

  Amanda sat back down with a plop. “Merciful God, and I’ve had him carrying me around for days. You even let him sleep in the room next to mine.”

  “He’d never hurt you.”

  “How do you know? He might kill us for Frederick’s money. He could kidnap me for ransom.”

  Pamela couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s lack of understanding of the West. “He wouldn’t take Frederick’s money if it were lying on the ground in front of him. And as for kidnapping, he’d defend us with his last drop of blood.”

  “Pamela, are you trying to tell me that this man has killed three people in Texas for some reason we don’t know …”

  “The marshall said he thought money was involved.”

  “… but he would give his life to defend us, even return Frederick’s money if he found it?”

  Pamela nodded.

  “Either you’re crazy or I am,” Amanda stated flatly. “I never heard anything more preposterous in my life. He sounds as quixotic as Robin Hood.”

  “More so,” Pamela said, pleased with the imagery. “There are times when I’m afraid of him, or at least of what he’ll do. He actually faced down the ranchers and their crews, all at the same time, with nobody but me anywhere near him. I was sure he’d get himself killed.”

  “What did those other people do?”

  Pamela shrugged. “Nothing. Not after he shot the center out of six coins and then showed them that our crew had them surrounded the whole time.”

  “Well, if you decide to stay out here, he sounds exactly like the kind of husband you’d need. But what would he be worth without his horse and guns and desert?”

  “If you could just hear him talking about moonlight, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

  “The man’s clearly turned your head,” Amanda said rather in the manner of a maiden aunt about to give a lecture to an erring niece. “But you can’t let this fascination, as you call it, make you forget what you really want out of life.”

  “What’s that?”

  If Amanda had been more perceptive, she might have answered more carefully.

  “What any sensible woman wants, a husband who can give her a comfortable life and a respectable position in this world. It’s true we’re called upon to provide them with children and put up with their attentio
ns, but that doesn’t last long.”

  “Do you think it’s possible for a wife to enjoy her husband’s attentions?”

  “I don’t know. Some of the women I know secretly profess to, but they’re rather stupid, flighty creatures. I would hate to be thought similar to them in any way.”

  “But you and Frederick?”

  For the first time, Amanda looked a little uncomfortable. “Frederick and I don’t want a family yet.”

  “But what do you do at night?” Pamela was embarrassed to ask, but she had to know. “I mean, how do you lie in bed next to each other and do nothing?” She remembered the feeling that had overwhelmed her when Slade’s burning skin touched her body, and she knew she couldn’t sleep next to him night after night and not collapse into his arms. Even now, the memory of what she felt when he touched her intimately caused her to blush. Fortunately, Amanda thought she blushed because of the question she just asked.

  “Frederick and I occupy separate bedrooms.”

  “I understand about now—it’s because of your ankle—but what about when you’re home?”

  “We always shall.”

  “You don’t want to be near him, in a physical way, I mean?” Pamela wanted to tell Amanda how she felt when Slade kissed her, about the ecstasy she experienced when he did more than that, but she feared her friend would categorize her as one of the stupid, flighty females who liked the same sort of vulgar pleasures men enjoy.

  “No,” Amanda said after a momentary pause. “I have thought about it—I think every woman does sooner or later—but I know what I want out of life. And from my experience, a woman who succumbs to the temptations of the flesh rarely achieves her ambitions. She certainly runs the risk of losing the respect and admiration of other women, as well as possibly her husband.”

  “But isn’t it possible to love a man, physically I mean, and still be respectable?”

  “I don’t think so. I never knew anybody who did. It has such a coarsening effect on one’s sensibilities. When it happens to be a man like Slade Morgan, I should imagine it would be an impossible task, even for the most remarkable female.”