by Carol Arens
“No more lies, Cleve.” She pointed the weapon at him, anyway.
He sprung forward, then plucked the useless metal from her fingers. He tossed it on the bed, then pinned her between the window and his chest, his fingers firm on her shoulders.
“Listen to me.” His hateful words hit her in the face. “I didn’t marry for love, you knew that. You didn’t marry for it, either. But something happened between us and you damn well know it. I love you, Leanna. I will love you forever.”
“Never say that to me again.” She pushed against him but it was like shoving a boulder. “Next time I’ll load that pistol.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that Arden was my sister. You can’t imagine all the times I tried. But once I got to know you, I couldn’t take your boy away. What could I do but marry you? I couldn’t leave him…I couldn’t take him.”
She beat his chest with both fists. “Get out of my house!”
This time he had the decency to stand aside.
She ran to the bedroom door and flung it open. The wall behind it shook.
Her life shook, coming down around her with the knowledge that the man she had trusted more, even, than a brother was not who he had seemed.
Cleve Holden was a liar, a cad…and the father of the child growing innocently in her womb.
“Leanna!” Cleve stood below the bedroom window, bellowing. He cursed because the infernal wind snatched the sound away as soon as he opened his mouth.
All at once the shutters opened and she peered down at him through a rectangle of light. Midnight-black curls whipped about her face. Her breathing, angry and fast, made her bosom rise against her lacy gown. The very last thing his wife brought to mind was a cold goddess.
No matter how she cursed him, or rejected him, he would win this woman back.
She tossed something out of the window. His coat tumbled through the night to land at his feet.
He deserved every bit of what she gave him, but that didn’t make it any easier to shiver out here in the dark.
An avalanche came out of the window. Shoes, shirts and undergarments fell on his head, then joined the coat on the ground.
“There’s something you need to know!” he called the next time she popped her head out of the window.
“I’ve heard all I want to from you.”
Now wouldn’t be the time to tell her that he was going after Van Slyck. That he would see justice done for his sister’s death.
Whatever knowledge Van Slyck had regarding Leanna’s parents’ deaths would be lost once he did what needed doing. She would hate him more than she did now once that had happened.
If there were another way he would take it, but sometimes in his dreams he saw Arden’s tears. He heard her crying. He had no choice but to settle the score for his sister.
Since his wife didn’t shut the window, but continued to glare down at him, he said, “I love you, Leanna.”
“I told you before, no more lies.” She clutched something in her fist but he couldn’t see what it was. “You’re going to need this.”
She leaned out of the window and opened his money pouch. Bills tumbled out to be snatched away by the wind. Come morning, folks in town would find an unusual treat.
“And—” she cupped her mouth to make sure the words reached him “—you’re fired!”
“You can’t fire me from being your husband.” A flying twig struck him on the head.
“I can when I divorce you.” She began to slide the window closed. “Get out of my yard, get out of my life.”
“I won’t agree to that. You are my wife and Cabe is my boy. I’ll get out of your yard, for now, but I promised to watch out for him and you, and hell if I won’t do it.”
“He’s my boy, not yours! I managed fine before you came along. I’ll do it, and quite nicely, again.”
“Only a few minutes ago you said you’d love me no matter what.”
“I said I’d love you. That doesn’t mean I ever want to see you again.”
“Well, by damn, you’re going to!” he shouted.
She slammed the window closed and an instant later the bedroom lamp went out.
He gathered up his clothes, a one-dollar bill and his determination to reclaim his family. He walked toward the hotel listening to the loose shutters over Leanna’s bedroom window banging in the wind.
Chapter Fourteen
Leanna came out of Arthur Slocum’s office and shut the door behind her. She leaned against it and took a jittery breath.
Sadly, her anger at Cleve didn’t dull the pain of his betrayal. She had hoped that speaking to the lawyer about a divorce would be the first step toward having her old life back.
The problem was, her old, scandal-ridden life was not what she wanted.
It would be coming back to her in spades, though.
If the good folks of Cahill Crossing thought she was wicked for bearing a child out of wedlock, they’d figure she was far beyond redemption when word spread that she was filing for divorce while pregnant.
No, she didn’t want her old life; she wanted the bright future she had seen with Cleve.
She dashed a tear from her eye and hurried down the steps. Just this minute she couldn’t think about the ranch and the happy family that would never be hers.
Right now she needed to pick up her mail. Maybe there would be word of Chance. Perhaps he was coming home; she prayed he was coming home. She could tell her brother her heartache and he would understand.
Leanna entered the general store, wiping her eyes and striving to appear bright and friendly.
Her smile was wasted since the only one inside was Henry, who stood with his back to her holding an envelope to the light streaming through the window.
She cleared her throat. Henry tucked the envelope behind his back and turned around to greet her.
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Holden? I’ve got a shipment of bright new ribbons fresh off the train.”
“Just my mail, Henry.” It was a rare day that she didn’t feel like purchasing a new ribbon. The clerk was bound to take note of it.
“Just finished the sorting. Nothing for you today.” Henry pulled out the tray of ribbons, anyway. She pretended to be interested. “Some kind of weather we’re having. That big blow last night! Some folks are saying we’re in for something strange, weather-wise, that is.”
“It is the time of year for change.” Weather was a change she welcomed, but being forced to part with Cleve? That was a change that made it hard to find her next breath.
Anger, she was discovering, didn’t heal a broken heart; it only glazed the wound over for short periods of time.
“Good day, Henry,” she muttered, turning and walking toward the front door. She left it standing ajar for the customer entering.
“I’d like to speak with you.” Cleve’s voice came from too close beside her. Had she been carrying a package she would have dropped it, then tripped over it.
“Are you following me? Go away!”
“Only keeping an eye out.” He glanced up and down the street. “You shouldn’t be wandering about alone.”
“I’m not wandering. I’ve been to see Arthur Slocum and spoken to him about the divorce.”
“You wasted your good time, then. I’ll be your husband until I breathe my last.”
“Might not be long, as soon as my brothers find out what you did.” She shrugged, but the thought of losing this man, for any reason, cut her heart. “Go away, Cleve.”
She spun away and caught the shocked expression on Henry Stokes’s face as he stood in the doorway.
“If you spread that rumor,” Cleve said to the postmaster, “you’ll answer to me, friend.”
She stomped away. Fat chance Cleve’s threat would do any good. No doubt at this very instant, Henry was relaying the news to half the town.
Tonight, Aggie was going to work. The bruises on her face had healed. Now it was time to heal her heart. That couldn’t happen if she remained watching life p
arade by her from shadowed corners.
Leanna escorted her down the stairs whispering encouragement. They turned at the bottom of the staircase and entered the saloon.
Aggie gripped Leanna’s elbow. “Men are staring at me.”
Everyone was staring.
“It’s because you look beautiful.”
“I’m not sure I can—”
“Hush now, you can do this. You’ve practiced what to do. It’s the same gentlemen here as always. They know the rules.”
“What if Preston comes?”
“I don’t think he will. He—”
“Don’t worry about him, Miss Holt. I’m here,” Cleve announced behind them.
Leanna smiled at Aggie and pointed her toward Lucinda, who laughed with a customer and poured him a drink.
Leanna spun about. “I fired you!” The nerve of the man, showing up anyway, and with a big handsome grin on his face.
“So you did. Tonight I’m volunteering.” The crease in his cheek lifted. “And every night after this.”
“I don’t want you here.”
“And I don’t want a divorce.” He reached for her but she stepped beyond his grasp. “Come out back with me,” he said.
“I will not!”
“I have something to say.... It involves your parents.”
She had it on her tongue to tell him to report it to Bowie. Unfortunately, their conversation was attracting attention. And truly, she did want to know what he had to say.
“All right, but don’t touch me. Don’t even smile at me.”
The man must have gone deaf…or addle-brained, because he reached for her. She walked quickly through the back room and out to the porch, keeping three strides ahead so she wouldn’t become a victim of the pressure of his calculating fingers on her arm.
“Well, what is it?”
Cleve sat down on the top step, gazing out at the cloudy night.
“Sit with me, love.”
She stood still and silent, glaring down at the top of his head.
“No, thank you, and I am not your love.”
He cocked a brow. “I’m going to do something and you won’t like it.”
She backed up, ready to flee. She would not be lured by a kiss, if that’s the trick he had in mind. She would never fall prey to those lying lips again.
“Will I like it less than the fact that you married me to try and steal my son?”
“I married you because I realized I didn’t want to take him from you. And you know that’s not the only reason.” He looked up at her, not charming or seducing, simply looking miserable. “Won’t you sit with me?”
She nearly did. The ache to brush against him and inhale the familiar scent of his skin was intense.
A mental reminder that this man was not the man she fell in love with kept her on her feet. Her Cleve had been helpful and honest. This Cleve was a deceiver, however appealing he remained.
“Whatever unpleasant thing you have to say, just say it. I have a saloon to run.”
“I am going to make Van Slyck pay for what he did to my sister.”
“He deserves it.”
“I’m going to do it tonight.”
Stunned silent for a moment, she gaped at him.
“My parents deserve justice as much as your sister does.” How could he even be considering this? “Whatever Preston knows dies with him, you know that.”
He nodded. “And I’m sorry for it.”
“I wish I could hate you. I’m going to try very hard.” She took a step toward the back door.
Cleve leaped to his feet and grasped her by the shoulders.
She twisted and pushed. Even a stomp on his foot didn’t gain her freedom.
“This has to be done now. There’s better reason for it than settling the score, for Arden or your parents.”
She attacked his shin.
“After Massie’s wedding, Van Slyck tried to pay Melvin to bring Cabe out of the house after dark.”
“I don’t believe you!” She did, of course, but she was capable of keeping her son out of harm’s way until she discovered what Preston might know. She had protected him from the moment he’d drawn his first breath, well before Cleve Holden had appeared on the saloon’s back porch.
She would have aimed her knee at his groin, but a display of anger was useless against this mulish man.
“I’m asking you to wait.” She showered him with her most winning smile. She sighed, and her bosom heaved. Perhaps charm would dissuade him from his reckless goal. “Just a while longer.”
He shook his head. “Ask me anything but that.”
How had she let herself marry such a strong-willed man?
He let go of her shoulders but slid his hands down her arms. He drew her forward. He lowered his mouth toward her lips.
That was one of the ways he had trapped her into marriage. She turned her face so that his mouth grazed her cheek.
“Please, Cleve, wait until we find something out. After that, I don’t care what you do with Preston. Have Bowie lock him up for a hundred years! Just, please…wait.”
He released her. She backed up against the wall.
“Maybe I owe you that…as much as I owe Arden her justice.” He walked to the back door and paused with the knob in his hand. “All right…for now. But I’ll be moving back into the house.”
“You will not! We’re getting divorced.”
Stubborn was the nicest thing she could say about him. Stubborn and perceptive. He had a way of looking too hard at her, as though he could see inside her soul. She didn’t want him there.
“Here’s something I’ve noticed about you Cahills,” he said. “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. I’m coming home.”
“I won’t forgive you and I won’t let you in my house.”
Why, the nerve of the man, shrugging his shoulders before he went back inside the saloon. He left the door standing wide open behind him.
Curse it! She certainly would hate him…if she could.
Leanna shivered even though the air being pressed between the weighty clouds and the earth was warm.
Out there in the night was a man who would do a child harm. A man whose secrets she had to discover before he had the chance to act.
A new gown wouldn’t heal Leanna’s pain, but it might take the edge off for a moment.
For a precious hour this morning, she had time to herself. With Cabe tucked safely away at the saloon and all the ladies watching him, she felt comfortable enough to venture out. No doubt her infernal, soon-to-be former husband was there, as well.
She tried to enjoy the stroll to Rosa’s Boutique but the air was humid and stifling. The cloying warmth made her want to gag.
Walking past the bakery didn’t help. What used to smell divine now made her stomach heave.
And it wasn’t only the baked goods making her queasy. Doubts had begun to flip her belly. Sympathy for Cleve of all things!
He’d lost his sister. Leanna had lost her friend. Cleve wanted to raise his nephew, his only flesh and blood. Any decent person would want the same.
But in the end, a decent person would have told her the truth right off, not have taken her heart only to break it.
Several more steps brought her to Rosa’s front door, out of the range of forbidden aromas, but not grievous thoughts.
In the instant she would have gone into the boutique two women came out of the general store, only thirty feet away—Minnie and Ellie.
“Something’s not right,” Minnie declared, and sniffed the air with her pert nose. “Everyone says the weather is bound to turn foul in a way we’ve never seen. Mark my words, Ellie.”
“Mother, you make too much of it.” Ellie turned and spotted Leanna. “Annie!”
“Ellie Jenkins, you will not speak with that woman. You heard what Mr. Stokes said.” Minnie latched on to Ellie’s sleeve. “She’s divorcing her husband. I won’t have your reputation tarnished.”
“If our Annie
is divorcing her husband I’m sure there is a very good reason for it.”
Ellie yanked free of her mother and rushed toward the boutique. She wrapped Leanna in a great hug and rocked her back and forth.
“I couldn’t be happier to see you,” her friend whispered.
The sound of Ellie’s voice made years fall away. The pair of them were young girls again, laughing at life and full of hope. Mama still waited on the front porch with open arms. The spotless reputation that made her the darling of one and all remained untarnished. Broken women didn’t call out in her dreams for help. The love of her life hadn’t betrayed her.
Tears stung her eyes. Her lungs ached with the effort to hold them in. She might have let them flow freely had Minnie not been glaring daggers at her daughter’s back.
“No matter what, I’m on your side,” Ellie murmured in her ear. “I’ll defend you to anyone, Annie. I don’t care what Mother has to say about it.”
“That means everything to me, especially now.” She hugged Ellie’s slender shoulders, clinging to the past for all she was worth, and then she let go. “Your mother is right, though. You have your future to think about. You’ll want to marry a solid, respectable man soon. That can’t happen if you’re seen with me.”
“Oh, piffle, Leanna!”
Ellie kissed her cheek, then returned to her mother, to all appearances the obedient daughter she had always been. Clearly, though, Ellie had begun to stretch her wings.
Minnie would soon see a side of her daughter that she wouldn’t approve of.
She watched Minnie and Ellie walk away and prayed that the price of Ellie’s budding independence wouldn’t ruin the relationship between them. Minnie could be harsh and proud, but in the end, she was a living, breathing mother. And Leanna knew what it was to want the best for your child.
By pure luck Cleve found what he believed to be the perfect dog for Melvin. It was a huge beast that the widow Greenly could no longer care for, being half as tall as the widow and a near match to her in weight.