Savage Impulses
Page 7
Marigold plucked at the sleeve of her calico dress. She loved it, both for the cheerful berry pattern and what it represented, but she knew that in this disreputable setting, it made her look out of place.
“Thank you, that means a great deal to me,” she said softly.
“We've all been talking about how you got away from Black,” Maisey whispered, excited. “Is that your new man?”
Glancing over her shoulder, Marigold could see the hard lines of Jake's back, and the ruthlessly erect way he held himself. There was something so unforgiving about him, and she wondered a little wildly what she could have done.
“I hope so,” she said fervently, and the little blond surprised her with a tight hug.
“It'll work itself out,” Maisey said earnestly. “It always does if you keep on believing it will.”
The kind words gave her some kind of courage, but it disappeared as Jake lead her to a room in the hotel. There was a large bed in the center of it, which was certainly promising, but though she sat down in it, Jake refused to stray very far from the locked door.
Instead, he took out his wallet and started to count dollar bills from it. She started to get a sinking feeling, and that was before he spoke.
“There,” he said bitingly, setting the bills on the short stand by the bed.
“That should be enough to cover the nights you spent with me and to see you off to wherever you are going. Not that you give a good goddamn what I have to say, but I pray to God that it will be far away from me.”
“What are you talking about?” Marigold cried. “I'm not a whore, Jake, I've told you over and over again!”
“What else do you call a woman who stays with a man for several nights, who does what we did together, and then runs off as soon as that man doesn't meet her standards anymore?”
“What?”
“You were leaving me, Marigold, don't even try to pretend you weren't. Either you decided that you didn't care to be a rancher's woman, or you just decided that I was being slow with the cash.”
She was so stung by his words that she almost didn't react when he turned to leave. All it took was his hand on the door to make her realize that he was serious.
She realized that he really could throw away everything that they had together, and a sudden wave of temper washed over her, taking away her sorrow, her confusion and her hurt and leaving nothing but a cleansing rage.
In three quick steps, she had crossed the room to where he was standing, and when he turned around to see what she wanted, she shoved him so hard that his back hit the door.
“You blind fool,” she hissed. “How could you think I would ever leave you? How could you even dream that I wanted to run?”
“I come to town, and I find a horse that I bought where I never put her,” he said stonily. “You'd saddled up a horse that didn't belong to you, and you never even bothered to tell me where you were going.”
A part of her grieved to think that she had hurt him so, even inadvertently, but the rest of her was intent on speaking its piece before the chance to do so passed forever.
“I was coming to town to post a telegram,” Marigold spat. “You know, those things that people use to tell each other what's going on? I was sending a message.”
“And who was that to? A possible protector back east? A prospector with more gold than teeth?”
His acid reply made her want to tear out her hair.
“No!” she shouted. “It was to my sister!”
“Your sister?”
He finally had the grace to look a little uncertain, but now she had built up a full head of steam and had every intention of charging.
“Yes! My sister Elspeth, who lives in Bristol and who has not had word of me since I set foot on the ship. My sister, who cared for me like a mother, and who never even wanted me to leave Bristol, let alone leave the country! She expected to hear from me as soon as I landed, but, of course, that didn't happen, and I can only imagine the worry and the pain I have put her through.”
Jake was beginning to look like he understood.
Marigold shoved the message that she had written to the telegraph operator into his hand.
“See there,” she said bitterly. “That's all the proof I have. If you need more, I suppose that it would be better off that we never saw each other again, because Jake, my heart cannot take any more of this...”
There was a long moment as he read the missive.
Marigold was certain she had lost him entirely. She was so sick at heart that she was past the point of tears. All she could think about was never getting to feel Jake's arms around her again, never feeling his lips against hers or hearing his voice whisper her name.
She didn't hear him move as he crossed the floor, and she cried out when he spun her around and wrapped his arms around her.
“Forgive me, Marigold, I have been a fool.”
They were the words that she needed to hear, the ones that guaranteed that he would stay by her side, but she had honestly been expecting something so different that her knees buckled underneath her.
He caught her and crushed her to his chest, murmuring her name over and over again like a prayer.
She knew she had won, but the rush of fear had left, leaving nothing else.
“I don't want to leave you,” she whispered, a tremulous note in her voice.
“I never want you to,” he assured her.
“I can't... I can't stand it when you call me names and tell me that I must...that I must be a whore.” Her voice cracked, and her attempt to keep it steady only made it wobble more.
“I never will again,” Jake swore. “God as my witness, I will never call you a whore again.”
“I... I love you, and I can't take it when you're cruel to me, I simply can't...”
He made a deep sound in his chest like a wounded animal, and he sat down on the bed, holding her in his lap and rocking her like a child.
“Oh, darling, darling,” he whispered. “I'm so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you like this. I love you, I love you, and I would rather give up my right arm before I would hurt you again.”
The relief was so intense that Marigold burst out crying. The tears ran down her face and soaked Jake's shirt.
He only continued to hold her, stroking her hair and crooning sweet love words into her hair.
“You are my beautiful woman, my darling, my hellcat. You are everything that I want, both in bed and out, and I cannot let you leave now, not when I know now what we mean to one another...”
Slowly, her tears dried, and he kissed her wet face solemnly.
“Did you mean that?” she demanded.
“All of it,” Jake assured her. “I'll say any of it again if you want.”
“And you'll never speak to me in such a way again? And you'll never hurt me so?”
He nodded solemnly.
She bit her lip.
“And you do love me?”
That last was uttered with such shyness and fear that it made Jake close his arms around her tight. “Oh yes,” he murmured, holding her against him. “Ever since I first met you. Before. I was born to love you Marigold Morgan, and I will never, ever stop.”
With those words ringing in her ears, Marigold finally relaxed, and when Jake leaned down for a kiss, she returned it with the spirit that he had grown to love.
“I love you,” she said softly. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
As she curled in his arms, she saw their entire lives spool ahead of them, two hearts that beat as one, and she knew she had come home.
The End
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