Beatrice and the Beast, page 15
‘I fail to see how my politeness could possibly instil so much amusement in your small minds. Don’t people introduce themselves in your world?’
‘Not in the middle of nowhere,’ growled Zelletta. ‘They’re usually too busy watching each other’s backs and looking out for signs of danger. Anyhow, you already know who Rappo is and I doubt if he’s even interested in your given name. If I were you, I’d concentrate on learning how to protect yourself instead of making formal introductions as if you were attending a damned ball.’
Beatrice coloured up and felt very foolish as well as angry with herself that she had once again fuelled Frank Zelletta’s scorn. His estimation of her was clearly as low as it was possible for it to go and though she was furious with his berating of her, she recognized he saw her as a spoilt, over privileged, eastern girl who barely knew one end of a rifle from the other. She turned and stomped back to where Charlie was watching her. After sitting down next to him, she regarded his grinning face with distaste.
‘I hope you are enjoying my embarrassment Charlie,’ she hissed. ‘I’m sure you find my naiveté very entertaining, but there won’t be a repeat performance. From now on I will have as little contact with any of you as I possibly can.’
‘Aww,’ replied Charlie. ‘Nobody’s laughing at you Beatrice. I was laughing at Frank choking on his cawfee. I found it much more entertaining than anything you did.’
‘Well that maybe so, but Mister Zelletta only choked on his cawfee…coffee, because he thinks I am an innocuous fool who has no right to be undertaking this journey and should be confined to the big city instead of chancing my safety out here in the wilderness.’
‘Don’t take his cantankerousness to heart girly, it’s the way he is with everybody and he respects you more than he lets on.’
‘I very much doubt that Charlie, he has made it patently clear I am a thorn in his side and he can’t wait to reach our destination so he may get me off his hands.’
Charlie grinned knowingly, but didn’t comment further. Instead, he climbed to his feet and announced he was going to turn in. Almost immediately, both Zelletta and Rappo stood and stretched before heading off to lay out their own bedrolls leaving Beatrice alone and uncertain about what she should next. She decided to wait until they were all in bed before she did anything, just in case she caught a glimpse of one of them in a state of undress. It wasn’t too long before the sound of snoring came from one of the bedrolls.
‘Well!’ she gasped loudly. ‘Where are all the gentlemen when you need them?’
Zelletta, who was lying awake and fully aware of her, responded to her frustration.
‘Your bedroll’s with your saddle. Lay it out close to the fire, but not too close, I don’t wanna have to wake in the night to put you out ‘cos your damned hair’s on fire or something.’
She mimicked him silently with her mouth before locating her saddle and the bedroll close by. All three men were evenly spread around the fire with large spaces between them, leaving Beatrice to lay her blankets down in the largest space available between Frank and Charlie. But after she’d spread the blankets, she stood still and silent with a puzzled look on her face considering if she should disturb Frank again with what turned out to be a dilemma. Eventually, she spoke.
‘Um, Mister Zelletta,’ she enquired. ‘What do I do with this?’
By the glow of the fire, he made out the rectangular piece of canvas she held.
‘It’s your damned groundsheet,’ he rasped with annoyance at her asininity. ‘It goes under the blankets to protect you from the damp in the ground.’
‘Stop being so belligerent. I’m not used to camping out in the wilds or making up my own bed. You should have shown me what to do then I wouldn’t have disturbed you and made you angry.’
‘I ain’t angry damn it,’ he yelled. ‘Anybody should know how to make up a damned bed.’
‘Well I’m not anybody,’ she cried as she tried to contain the tears that welled up in her eyes. ‘Normal people sleep in normal beds two or three feet off the floor where bugs and snakes can’t get at them. If you don’t show me what to do, how can I be expected to learn?’
‘She’s right Frank,’ interjected Charlie who’d been awakened by the yelling. ‘She’s in your care and it’s up to you to make sure she does things right.’
‘Goddamn it,’ growled Zelletta as he rolled out from his blankets. ‘From now on you’re gonna start learning how to get along out here and you’d better learn damned fast ‘cos there’ll be no second chances.’
Because she thought he would be in just his underwear, she quickly turned her head away. He came and stood beside her and she kept her eyes averted.
‘Are you decent?’ She asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Have you put your pants and shirt on?’
‘What the f…? I’ve had ‘em on the whole time.’
‘Oh, I thought…’
He snatched the groundsheet from her hand and spread it on the ground before folding one blanket in half and laying it on top.
‘The ground won’t feel so hard on a folded blanket,’ he said calmly. ‘Now use the other blanket to cover you.’
She stood nervously wringing her hands as he turned to walk away.
‘Um, Mister Zelletta?’
‘What now?’
‘Where can I change?’
‘Change?’
‘Into my night dress.’
He turned to glare at her.
‘Are you purposely trying to pi…make me angry?’
‘Why would I do that? I don’t like it when you’re angry – which is most of the time I might add.’
He snorted irritably.
‘Is it any wonder with a tetchy female getting on my nerves with stupid questions at every turn?’
She gritted her teeth to contain an imminent sob.
‘You are a very distasteful man Mister Zelletta,’ she cried. ‘I asked you a perfectly civilised question and you instantly rebuffed it as though I were trying to make fun of you or something, which wasn’t the case at all.’
He glared at her for a moment, though she couldn’t make out his eyes in the dark and beneath the brim of his hat. Then he emitted a huge sigh.
‘Out here,’ he said calmly. ‘You sleep fully clothed. There’s times when you might have to get the hell outa your bed and away from the camp and you won’t have time to get dressed.’
She didn’t feel as though she would be comfortable sleeping fully clothed, but she understood the logic in his statement.
‘That wasn’t so difficult was it, Mister Zelletta?’ She asked condescendingly. ‘All you need to do is instruct me on certain protocol and give me an explanation and things will run quite smoothly.’
He stared at her for many moments and his stance suggested he was about to attack her giving her cause for alarm and she prepared herself to run away.
‘You are angry again Mister Zelletta, I hope you don’t intend to strike me.’
Despite his ire, he found himself compelled to admire her fortitude. He also, reluctantly respected her courage and knew, if the chips were down, she would be capable of standing up to any adversity just as she stood her ground under what she mistakenly, thought was threatening behaviour from him. Furthermore, and to his utter dismay, he relished every moment he was near to her. Even when she was angry or perturbed, he thought the tone of her voice was the most delightful sound he had heard in his entire life. In fact, everything about her delighted him to such an extent, he became filled with apprehension about the day they would reach their destination and he would never see her again. However, he wasn’t foolish enough to think she would even consider him as a friend, let alone a suitor. Even if she wasn’t betrothed to one of the richest men in the state of Texas, his frightful appearance and inexperience in addressing the female gender, would ensure any woman would find him utterly abhorrent.
‘I have never raised a hand to a female in my life and I don’t intend to do so now,’ he said. ‘Despite what you think of me Miss Mellowday, I will never harm you physically no matter how much you rile me. I promised to get you safely to your destination and that’s what I intend to do.’
With that, he turned and went back to his bed leaving Beatrice with an unsaid repost on her lips. So instead of having the last word as she had intended, she had no alternative, than to silently, climb into her bedroll and try to sleep.
However, sleep would not come because no matter how much she tried to rid him from her thoughts, Frank Zelletta constantly popped up in her mind and she couldn’t understand why that would happen with a man she despised so much. But did she really despise him? How could she when she longed to feel his strong arms around her whenever he was near, protecting her and making her feel safe and comfortable as though she belonged there? Why did she feel such a thrill whenever he lifted her up to her saddle with his big hands encircling her waist so firmly, yet with a gentleness reserved for the fragility of a baby? She remembered with incredible fondness, how he had sat her sideways in front of him on his saddle simply to spare her more discomfort and pain and rode with his powerful arms holding her in place and how, because she had felt so wonderfully safe, she had rested her head on his chest and fallen asleep. It had been wholly inappropriate for a lady from her background to be in that situation, yet it felt so right and proper, she would remember it with great affection for a very long time.
Those thoughts and many more were preventing her from sleeping and it perturbed her enormously, that the man she was supposed to condemn as a violent ruffian, who had no place in her world, was always uppermost in her thoughts. Yet she gave hardly any consideration to Jacob, the man who was paying Zelletta to bring her to him, the man she would be marrying once she was delivered safely to his ranch.
She should despise Zelletta as he clearly, did her, but his belligerence and bad temperedness weren’t enough to prevent the strange feelings she felt whenever he was close, or her eagerness and desperation to somehow, charm him into liking her. Perhaps the very fact that he didn’t like her, was the motivation for her anxiousness. Almost every person she knew, whether friend or relative had found her endearing and very likeable, therefore, perhaps her disquiet at his enmity was nothing more dramatic than disappointment that he didn’t find her as winsome as other people had.
With that thought in mind, she felt a little better and decided, from that moment on, she would not allow his hostility toward her to cause any more disconcertion. The sooner their journey was over the better. After that thank goodness, she would never see him again and would no longer have to put up with his acerbity and charmless characteristics.
NINETEEN
The following morning, they crossed the Salt Fork River and began to traverse the dense forest known by many as the Cross Timbers. They debated if they might make better time riding directly through the wooded mass of trees and scrub, but because of the girl, quickly discarded the idea. It would be hard going for experienced horsemen who alone would make slow progress. But with the girl along, they would make very little or no progress at all. Of course, they kept their reasons to skirt the woods from her, feeling she would be put out that they would consider her presence a hindrance. She did voice her concerns about making a wide detour to the west and was informed cattle drives also skirted the Cross Timbers because of the density of the forest.
‘I can understand why that would be so,’ she responded. ‘But we are not a herd of cattle. Surely a few people on horseback will be able to traverse a few trees.’
This brought gales of laughter from Charlie and Rappo and a scowl from Zelletta.
‘I wasn’t aware I had said something funny,’ she snapped. ‘Surely we will make better time going through the woods than round them. It makes perfectly good sense to me.’
‘The only way you’ll make any progress in there,’ growled Zelletta. ‘Is to follow deer tracks and they’ll take you nowhere except round in circles.’
She peered into the trees and decided it didn’t look all that dense in the wood.
‘But…’ she began.
‘Goddamn it, stop arguing,’ snapped Zelletta. ‘We’re going around and that’s an end to it.’
He turned his horse and headed west before she was able to protest further.
‘That man is so rude,’ she said to anybody who was within earshot. But nobody heard because both Rappo and Charlie had already set off to skirt the woods and Zelletta followed them leaving her sitting her horse alone and with the feeling she had been dismissed like a naughty child. Thus, to cover her embarrassment and exasperation, she did the only thing left available to her. She poked her tongue out at his retreating back before following on.
She wanted to hate him and even felt sure she did in some way. Yet that very morning she had waited by her horse with impatient enthusiasm for him to grasp her waist and lift her onto the saddle, even though she felt sure, now she felt stronger, she would be quite capable of getting onto the animal unaided. When he finally, came and lifted her high enough to enable her to sit astride the sorrel, she felt the same thrill course through her body she had felt each time he did it. Now, despite her self-denial, she could not help but anticipate the time when once they stopped for a break, he would lift her down and she would fall into his arms and feel that strange, but exciting ache in the lower part of her stomach. Then, undeterred by her self-loathing at her brazen behaviour, she would find herself wanting to linger there for as long as she dare and enjoy his closeness with all the thrilling sensations it brought. Of course, she had embraced young men in the past, even kissed more than one. But none had instilled in her such ardent feelings of amorousness like this rugged and often, uncouth man did and it confused and frightened her that he was capable of seducing her feelings so easily and turn them into erotic aspirations.
They did not skirt the woods in their entirety, but when they began to head south again, the trees were scattered more sparsely than the main agglomeration of the forest and so they were able to proceed almost as easily as they had on the open prairie. Eventually, the trees gave way to open terrain, mainly long grass prairie with the forest situated to the east of their direction of travel. When it was time to stop for a break, they headed into the trees on the edge of the woodland and rested in the shade.
As usual, Beatrice waited impatiently, for Zelletta to help her down from the horse and once on the ground, stood perfectly still trembling inside until he released her and stepped back a pace.
‘Tend to your hoss,’ he said gruffly. ‘You can rest after you’ve watered him.’
She did as he ordered and noted, all three men considered the welfare of their horses before themselves. However, she thought Mister Zelletta might have been a little less forthright in the way he spoke to her. He treated her as though she were his employee instead of the other way around. It was clear he was trying to guide and teach her how to survive in this unforgiving land so that she may endure the journey in relative ease. But in her opinion, his attitude wasn’t conducive to big aggressive man - small peaceable woman, relations.
After she had hobbled her horse where he could graze, she settled down wither back to a tree and sipped water from her canteen. However, she wasn’t allowed to rest for long, because she soon became aware of someone standing in front of her. She looked up at the tall figure of Frank Zelletta staring down at her.
‘Come with me,’ he ordered, before turning and walking toward her horse. Despite her annoyance at his curt impoliteness, she complied and clambered to her feet before following on a few steps behind him. He led her to her horse and removed the Winchester from the saddle boot.
‘Time you learned how to handle a rifle,’ he said. ‘There’s gonna come time when you need to protect yourself and this here Winchester might turn out to be the best friend you ever had.’
Beatrice remained silent. She would go along with his wishes, but she was already conscious that however adept she might become at using the rifle, she would never be able to shoot somebody no matter what kind of threat they posed.
She followed him to a clearing where he showed her how to use the lever action of the gun, which she mastered quite easily. The Winchester proved to be a joy to handle after the long-barrelled musket she’d used to shoot cans off a wall so many years ago. It was much lighter and being a carbine, had a far shorter barrel. Furthermore, she didn’t have to reload the gun after each shot, simply lever another shell into the breech which could be done smoothly and with little effort.
After she had mastered the lever action, he pointed out a tree around thirty yards away.
‘See that stub where a dead branch broke off around six foot from the ground?’ He asked. ‘The one at the side of the tree.’
She followed his gaze and pointing finger indicating her potential target.
‘Yes,’
‘See how close you can get to it. Make sure you keep the rifle butt tight to your shoulder otherwise the recoil could cause damage.’
I’m not stupid, she thought. I have fired a rifle before and it was bigger and heavier than this one.
She remained calm and didn’t comment on his patronising attitude. Instead, she decided to test his aptitude for teaching.
‘Wouldn’t it be better if I actually aimed to hit it?’ She asked sardonically.
He gave her a sharp look.
‘The idea is to aim to hit it, but just hitting the goddamned tree would be a good shot for you. Now let’s see what you can do?’
‘I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t keep swearing at me Mister Zelletta and you need to moderate your very bad temper. Every time I say something you get mad.
