Savage Land

by Janet Dailey

  Depressed and hurt, Coley climbed out of the pool and began briskly rubbing her long legs and arms. She was too sensitive. How many times had Jase told her that? Well, he was too insensitive!

  'Hi, golden girl,’ said Tony, walking up behind Coley and plucking the swim cap from her head. ‘What are you doing out here all by yourself? Don't you know two's company?'

  'Aunt Willy and Uncle Ben are resting; Danny's out tinkering with his car, and Jase is gone. I was too hot to sit around sticking to chairs,’ Coley remarked lightly. ‘Where were you?'

  'Would you believe I was looking for you?’ Tony asked, taking the towel from Coley and drying off her back. At her mocking glance, he continued, ‘It's true, I figured you'd probably be down riding your little merry-go-round.'

  He handed Coley the towel back, his hand touching the golden tan of her shoulders.

  'It was too hot for riding,’ she replied lightly, ignoring his jibe. What did you want to see me for?'

  'Danny needs some part for his car and I volunteered to go into town after it. I wondered if you wanted to ride along.'

  'I'd like to,’ Coley smiled, then flushed under the penetrating inspection of his black eyes. ‘Give me a minute to change.'

  'Not too long, princess,’ Tony called after the rapidly departing Coley. When she was out of earshot, he added quietly, ‘I'd like you all to myself.'

  Coley changed quickly into a culotte shift, spent a few minutes touching up her make-up, and another few minutes arranging the soft curls of her now sun-streaked hair into flattering waves around her angular face. Skipping down the stairs to meet Tony, she reflected over the increasing attentiveness that Tony had been giving her. Ever since the day he had discovered her in Jason's arms in the pool, he had been watching her with a certain gleam in his eyes that had made her increasingly aware of him as more than just Ben's nephew.

  'The golden pumpkin awaits you in the drive, Cinderella,’ Tony teased, taking her arm possessively as she walked out the door on to the porch.

  She smiled at him coyly as he opened the door of the gold and brown Cadillac and helped her inside. She was suddenly bursting with confidence again over her new looks, enjoying the compliments Tony's eyes kept sending.

  The trip into town hardly seemed to take any time at all, what with the lively conversation that Tony kept up as he teased Coley into bursts of laughter with his outrageous remarks. She was so involved with her first active participation in flirting that she was only half conscious of the reckless speeds they were attaining. All too soon Tony pulled up in front of the store and hopped out, promising to be back in a jiffy. Coley leaned back against the plush cushions of the seat and gazed dreamily out of the window. She had just begun to wonder idly where Jase was and what he was doing when Tony opened the car door and tossed a package in the back seat before sliding in behind the wheel.

  'Told you I wouldn't be long,’ he said, mining the key in the ignition and manoeuvring the car into the street. ‘Let's go to the drive-in and get a mug of cold, cold root beer, huh?'

  'Sounds great,’ Coley agreed.

  'What were you thinking about a minute ago?’ Tony asked, after they had parked in one of the stalls and he had given their order to one of the waitresses.

  'When?'

  'When I got in the car. You were all dreamy-eyed. Am I expecting too much to think that you just might have been thinking of me?’ He gazed at her intently, though his lips were curved in a brilliant smile.

  'Conceited,’ Coley teased. ‘Actually I was wondering about Jase.'

  'Jase?’ His narrow forehead creased into a scowl as he spat out the words in disbelief. ‘What were you thinking about him for?'

  Surprised by his nearly bitter tone, Coley stuttered in reply, ‘I ... I knew he went to ... to San Antoine and I w-was just wondering where he was. Danny and I used to live there, that's all.'

  'I'd forgotten,’ Tony replied, as near an apology as he was capable of. He glanced at his watch. ‘I imagine he's lying beside some pool with some sharp, bikinied beauty.'

  'Does he have a girl-friend?’ Coley asked, her spirits sinking with the picture that Tony had conjured in her mind.

  'I imagine he has several,’ Tony answered slyly, ‘but not the kind you'd bring home to mother. Surely you didn't think he was some kind of a monk, did you, Coley?'

  'No, of course not,’ she replied, but with just enough uncertainty in her voice to make Tony chuckle maliciously.

  'Coley, sometimes you're so darned naive that I just can't believe it.’ At the quick rising of colour in her cheeks, he reached over and held her hand. ‘My sweet little Cinderella, not everyone is as inexperienced and pure as you are.’ His voice grew husky as he continued, ‘You just don't know how beautiful and tempting you are.'

  The intensity etched on his slender face frightened her and she was glad when the waitress arrived with their drinks and Tony was forced to let go of her hands. As she accepted the frosty mug from him, she turned ever so slightly in her seat until she was resting againt the door and had placed, more distance between them.

  'Did I embarrass you, princess?’ Tony mocked, his arm nonchalantly over the back of the seat.

  'Of course not,’ Coley replied indignantly, now that she had recovered some of her composure. ‘I don't see why you all seem to want to wrap me up in a package marked “Fragile". I am almost twenty.’ Quickly the picture flashed in her mind of the night when she had asserted her womanhood to Jase and met his indifferent glance.

  'Surely you can't accuse me of doing that?’ Tony mocked.

  'Yes, I can. You're just like all the rest,’ she replied, enjoying the surge of righteous anger. ‘You treat me like a child who has all the decisions made for her.'

  'Now how do we do that?’ Tony tilted his head and studied her with interest.

  'Just look at all this secrecy with Jase,’ Coley told him, leaning forward as she strived to make Tony understand. ‘Everyone knows what happened—about his scar and his brother, I mean. Everybody, but me. Every time I ask someone they just pat me on the head and tell me to run along like a good little girl.'

  Tony laughed lightly at her indignant words, but his eyes had narrowed into two glittering black dots. ‘What could it possibly accomplish for someone to tell you that? It's water under the bridge, so to speak.'

  'Then how come Danny knows?’ she flared.

  'Maybe you're right, princess.’ His expression grew serious as he studied her before he turned to stare out the front of the car. ‘You're one of the family now. You should know what happened.'

  'Will you tell me, Tony?’ Coley asked breathlessly.

  He didn't answer her for a minute, just stared at her sombrely.

  'I don't really know where to begin.’ He frowned slightly and swirled the root beer in his mug. ‘Rick, his brother, was two years older than Jase. He was some kind of guy.’ Tony smiled briefly. ‘I think you would have liked him, Coley. He was kinda crazy, always ready to do anything, try anything. Just the opposite of Jase. But Rick was Uncle Ben's favourite. It didn't matter what Rick wanted to do or where he wanted to go, it was okay with Ben. Anyway, one night Rick came home late. He'd been to a party and he'd been drinking pretty heavily.’ Tony paused and glanced over at Coley. He seemed to hesitate. ‘Nobody knows for sure what happened from here on. We do know Rick went into the pen with Satan, that big Brahma bull we've got out there. Rick was forever teasing him, jumping in and out of the pen like a rodeo clown. He wasn't so lucky that night. The booze had affected his reflexes and the bull got him. Jase said he heard the commotion and came out. He eventually got Rick out of the pen, but not before Satan had gored Rick and slashed Jason's cheek with his horns.

  'Uncle Ben wasn't paralysed then. I saw him sitting on the ground holding Rick in his arms, tears streaming down his face. I'll never forget the sight of him crying like a baby. I don't know where Jase was, calling an ambulance, I guess. Rick was still conscious.’ Tony's voice became strained. Coley huddled in the
sunshine beating through the window, shivering in spite of the warmth. ‘He was delirious. He kept screaming for Jase, crying, “He's going to get me ... Don't just stand there, help me!” I guess he kept that up all the way to the hospital, with the old man breaking up beside him and Jase just sitting stone-faced through the whole thing. Rick died on the operating table.

  'There was an inquest after his death,’ Tony went on. ‘During his testimony, Jase said that he couldn't have got Rick out of the pen any quicker than he did. That was when Ben went to pieces, shouting that Jase was a liar and a murderer, that he'd let his brother die because he knew Rick would inherit the ranch. He swore that Jase had deliberately stayed outside the pen and watched his brother being gored to death. Jase never said a word, he just let the old man rage on until he told Jase that he would carry the mark of Cain for the rest of his life. Then he walked out and the old man collapsed with a stroke. He's been in a wheelchair ever since.'

  A pregnant silence followed the conclusion of Tony's words that not even the outside noises of the drive-in seemed to penetrate. Finally Tony looked over at the white face beside him.

  'Now you know. Aren't you glad?’ His voice was bitter as he pushed impatiently on the hem for the attendant to pick up the tray.

  Coley didn't reply. She didn't speak the rest of the way home. She just sat and stared out the window at the blur of the scenery. When they finally reached the ranch house, she crawled out of the car and hurtled straight for her room where she lay on the bed staring numbly at the bright flowers on the wall.

  The lone horse and rider stood silently within the corral both gazing over the rails at the distant, shimmering hills. The horse whinnied forlornly. Coley sighed in agreement while rubbing her horse's neck affectionately.

  'I know. I wish we could go riding out there, but you know what Jase said, Misty,’ she concluded with a wistful but resigned expression on her face.

  She had been in a rather melancholy mood since Tony had told her the story of Rick's death three days ago. Jase was back from his trip to San Antoine, but Coley had been reluctant to be alone with him. Not that Tony's story had outright damned Jase. She still instinctively trusted him, but she recognized that there existed a slightly ruthless side to his nature.

  'Hey, little princess, want to take that rocking horse of yours for a ride?'

  Coley turned around in the saddle to see Tony astride a prancing chestnut horse at the corral gate. She reined her horse around and trotted it over to him.

  'I'm not supposed to go out of the corral. Besides, aren't you supposed to be working?’ she asked. For some reason, despite her earlier expressed desire for a ride in the country, she didn't really want to go with Tony.

  'Another one of Jase's edicts?’ he mocked with a sarcastic curl of his upper lip. ‘Or don't you think you'd be safe with me?'

  'Why would I think a thing like that?’ Coley protested, her conscience feeling a twinge of guilt. ‘Jase just didn't want me going out by myself. And if you're going to be working, I don't want to be in the way.'

  'You won't be,’ Tony remarked as he reached down and unlatched the gate. With difficulty, he manoeuvred his high-spirited mount into a position to swing the gate open. ‘Jase wants me to check the well up on the north range. It's another one of his fool's errands, so you might as well keep me company,’ Tony grimaced, reining his horse over to Coley's side.

  'Why do you say that?'

  'With all the rain we've had, there's more than enough water for the horses up there,’ he grumbled, ‘but he's sending me anyway.'

  Coley wasn't in the mood to take part in any discussion about Jase, so she nudged her horse into a canter. Tony's jumping chestnut was soon alongside. She flinched as she watched him saw at the reins, his horse's mouth opened wide.

  'Misty and I were just wishing we could go out riding,’ she remarked, trying to turn her attention away from the flecks of blood that dotted the saliva foaming around the horse's mouth.

  'Then I'm glad Jase dreamed up this little chore for me. I'm getting my wish to be with you and you're getting yours to go riding.’ He smiled broadly while his eyes roamed over her face in open admiration.

  Coley's cheeks flushed at his words. Tony seemed pleased by her reaction and turned his attention to the roiling landscape with a satisfied smile curling the corners of his mouth. Coley glanced around with interest. It was her first venture on to the ranch proper since her dismal trek the night of the storm. The tranquil beauty of the hills and distant mountains seemed far removed from the sinister and ominous shapes the lightning had revealed. They rode several miles with only subdued exclamations from Coley at the sight of giant yucca plants, their stalks rounded with clusters of blossoms. Occasionally Tony would catch her attention to point out the white rumps of antelopes bounding away at their approach. When he finally slowed his horse to a walk, it was a wide-eyed and breathless rider that reined in beside him, her eyes dancing with pleasure and delight.

  'Oh, that was so much fun!’ Coley exclaimed. ‘You are so lucky to be able to ride all over.'

  'I'm enjoying it today, but most days it's a bore,’ he replied, reining his horse into a ravine. ‘What do you see right now?'

  The sides of the ravine sloped away to reveal a canyon meadow with a thin ribbon of sparkling water slicing it in two. On the rich dark grasses grazed a herd of horses. At the entrance to the canyon, the two riders halted. A frolicsome colt kicked his heels and dashed in whickering panic to the safety of his mother's side at their appearance.

  'We have one of the best studs in the state. His ancestry, on both sides, traces directly back to Old Sorrel, one of the founding sires of the Quarter Horse breed. Those are Sun God's colts and fillies out they'd with one of our herd stallions. You can bet they'd fetch a high price in any auction,’ Tony told her, his eyes never leaving the herd before them.

  Coley studied the foals as they peeped around their mothers’ sides while the bolder ones skirmished playfully with each other. Each one seemed a replica of the other, from their red-gold coats to their flaxen mane and tails down to the white stockings on their feet and the blaze on their faces.

  'They all look alike.'

  'That's what makes Sun God such a valuable stallion. He breeds true, just like Old Sorrel did,’ Tony explained, ‘Old Sorrel was born and raised down on the famous King Ranch near Alice, Texas.'

  'You're very lucky to know so much about all this.’ Coley glanced at him briefly before turning back to the herd. ‘How long have you lived here?'

  'I came here seven years ago, after my father died. I was sixteen then,’ said Tony, lightly touching a spur to his horse's flank as they moved out together at a walk. ‘My mother was Ben's baby sister. If you can picture a female version of Ben, that was my mother.’ His smile as he glanced over at Coley was scornful. ‘She was already an old maid when she ran away with my father. Poor Dad, he worked here on the ranch for Ben. He figured by marrying Ben's sister he'd have it made. Of course, he didn't know Ben too well. He threw them both off the ranch. I came along a few years later. From the time I can remember, Mom was a regular shrew, constantly reminding Dad of all the things she'd had, and it was all his fault that we lived in such squalor. I was twelve when she flew into her final rage and her heart burst under the constant strain. And Dad, who only wanted an easy life, spent fifteen years of hell with her. But he never stopped trying. He got involved smuggling drugs across the border and was fatally wounded in a gun battle with Treasury agents. Even on his deathbed, his last words were that this ranch was my heritage and for me to claim my share. Since I was a minor, the court declared Ben my guardian and I came here. Not a happy story, is it?’ Tony smiled grimly at Coley, his dark eyes studying her face intently. At the short, negative shake of her bead, he added, ‘But from what Danny's told me, yours isn't pretty either. We're a lot alike, Coley.'

  A lump in her throat prevented her from replying. Poor, proud Tony, she thought; he always seemed so carefree, teasing her and cons
tantly attempting to charm her into gaining more self-confidence and his life had been harder than her own. How mean of her to think badly of him when he teased her. He was trying to help her fit in, to be a part of the family. She blinked hastily at the tears forming in her eyes. It wouldn't do for Tony to see her pity.

  She didn't notice the calculating gleam in his eye as he studied her face.

  'Look at this view, Coley,’ he directed, sweeping a hand around him.

  She looked around her in surprise. During their slow ride around the herd, they had climbed the crest of the canyon. Spread out below them were the coppery forms of the horses peacefully grazing on the canyon floor. Shimmering in the distance were the tiny toy buildings of the ranchyard. Behind them were the craggy hills and mountains. Dark splotches of cattle dotted the pastures between the ranch house and the canyon.

  'As far as the eye can see is Slash S rangeland,’ Tony said calmly but forcefully. ‘All told, over sixty square miles, valued, with livestock and all, in the millions. And now it looks like one day it will all be mine.’ He turned once again to Coley. ‘You know, Ben's grown very fond of you these few short weeks you've been here. He told Willy your gentle ways hid a lot of determination and pride.’ Coley's eyes were captured by the forcefulness of his gaze. ‘I feel I have to warn you Jase realizes that Ben likes you. He's not above using you as a tool to get it. He constantly tries to make me look bad, gives me menial tasks, like today, then implies to Ben that I can't be trusted. He wants this ranch, Coley, any way he can get it.'

  On that ominous note Tony stopped, turning a grim face towards the hills. Jase's words came echoing back to Coley. ‘Tony would destroy everything you worked for in a week.'

  Very hesitantly Coley spoke. ‘But if what you told me the other day is true, about Rick's death, isn't the ranch rightly his?'