Hawke's Pride, page 15
Susie jumped around, excited that they had company, so it took awhile to clean the small mouth of cookie crumbs before sending her into the parlor. Where was Tommy? Rue wondered as she took the time to smooth down her skirt and tuck the loose ends of her hair back into its knot. Eating with the ranch hands, she imagined, then gathered her shrinking courage to go meet the woman she despised with all her heart.
When Rue entered the room, Hawke rose hastily, offering her his seat beside Lillie. "You remember Mrs. Meyers, don't you, Rue?" He smiled, a tenseness to his lips.
Smarting under the older woman's amused eyes, whether at her or Hawke's discomfort, Rue nodded as she sat down and folded her hands in her lap. "How are you, Mrs. Meyers?" she forced herself to ask politely.
"Well, my dear"—Lillie ignored her greeting—"I see that soap and water has improved your face somewhat, but…" With a grimace she raked her eyes over Rue's disheveled hair and dirtstained dress. "There's plenty of room for improvement elsewhere."
While Jeb drew in a sharp breath and Rue was too stunned to speak, Lillie patted the space between them. Then, after sending Rue a malignant glance, she smiled coyly at Hawke, and said, "Come sit beside me, Hawke. We haven't talked for a couple weeks."
Jeb shot his son a look that dared him to obey the woman. A visible sweat popped out on Hawke's forehead. He was trapped. Either way he jumped, he'd pay the consequences. He would get a dressing down from Pa, lose more of Rue's respect, and God knew she had little enough as it was, and Lillie, that one was out to cause trouble. If angered, there was no telling what she might say.
He darted a look at Rue's downcast face, then letting out a slow breath, he sat down beside his former lover, wondering what he had ever seen in the bitch. He was going to have a long talk with Rue tonight, make her understand that it was all over between him and the woman who had just placed a hand on his thigh, uncomfortably close to his crotch. And he was damn well going to make this heated bitch understand it too. He couldn't wait to get her alone and cuss her out.
"I must say the appearance of this room has improved since I last saw it." Lillie gazed around as she scooted closer to Hawke. "What about the rest of the house? Are there changes in the other rooms… your bedroom?" She looked at Hawke significantly, her meaning clear to everyone. "It was very austere the last time I saw it."
Hawke felt his face growing red as his father looked at him with startled eyes. Damn the whore! he thought, not daring to look at Rue, afraid he would see total renunciation on her face.
And though he longed to smash Lillie's mouth, he managed to control his anger as he answered, "I expect all the rooms look different. Pa brought a lot of furniture with him."
"That's nice." Lillie smiled, then sneered, "Will your little wife know how to take care of it? I don't imagine she's too experienced in seeing to fine furniture. Rumor has it that before you married her she lived her entire life in a run-down shack with only a few pieces of homemade furniture in it. Poor child," she tacked on in false sympathy.
Jeb jerked forward in his seat, an angry flush staining his cheeks. When he started to rise, Hawke sent him a look that said, "Wait." Then turning to Lillie, he looked at her suspiciously.
"A rumor, Lillie?" he asked coldly. "Who could have started such a rumor? Who could you have been talking to that would know anything about Rue's former life?"
Lillie frowned at Hawke's tone and shifted uneasily. "Oh, Hawke." She pouted. "I don't know where I heard it. Someone just made it up, I suppose. You know how people like to gossip."
Jeb gave a dry snort and Susie, leaning against his knee, asked, "What does gossip mean, Grandpa?"
"It means, honey, a person who bad mouths another because he fears or envies that person." He looked at Lillie. "Which do you think it is, Mrs. Meyers? Fear or envy, or maybe both?"
"I'm sure I don't know, Mr. Masters." Lillie tossed her head, her thin lips becoming thinner. "I'm sorry I brought it up." Jeb made no response, but the look he gave the agitated woman spoke his unflattering thoughts clearly.
Rue hadn't uttered a sound at Lillie's attack on her, nor at the exchange between the woman and Hawke, and then Jeb. Her mind was racing with questions. This enemy of hers must have talked to someone who knew all about Rue DeLawney. She couldn't have made it all up and come so close to the truth. But who? She didn't know of anyone back home who would bad mouth her unless… Sly Burford. Could he possibly be in the area? Surely not. He'd be too afraid of running into Hawke. He owed her husband a large sum of money.
Rue was abruptly brought back to the present when Lillie suddenly stood up and extended a hand to Hawke. "Come show me the rest of the place," she coaxed. "Give me the grand tour."
Hawke studiously studied the spur on his boot heel, pretending not to see Lillie's hand. "Rue will show you. She knows more about everything."
Lillie's lips tightened and, with what bordered on a threatening order, said shortly, "I want you to do it." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. With a resigned sigh, and keeping his eyes averted from his father and wife, Hawke followed the woman, who was determined to have him.
In the heavy silence after the pair's departure, Jeb slid a sympathetic look at Rue's bent head then spoke softly to Susie leaning against his leg. "Why don't you go with Uncle Hawke and Mrs. Meyers?"
With a willing nod of her head, the little girl skipped out of the room, calling her uncle's name. Her childish treble rang through the house as she followed Lillie and her uncle, chattering away, explaining in detail which bedroom belonged to whom and that the biggest and prettiest belonged to Uncle Hawke and Auntie Rue.
Rue only vaguely heard the light prattle. She was wracked with an unfamiliar emotion. Jealousy. Like it or not, she was jealous of Lillie Meyers. She wanted to jump to her feet, to dash after the woman and draw her nails across the coarse features, and pull the dyed hair out of her head.
Much sooner than Rue had expected, Hawke was ushering Lillie back into the parlor. Susie still jabbered away, feeling very important, but Lillie's face looked like a storm cloud. She slid Rue a look that said she suspected Rue of sending her niece after Lillie and Hawke.
Plopping herself down on the sofa, making the springs squeak from her considerable weight, she looked at Rue and gibed impatiently, "I must say, Mistress Masters, you're not a very good hostess. I've been here half an hour and you haven't offered me any refreshments."
In the thick silence that followed Lillie's sneering delivery, Rue could only return the hostile glare leveled at her. She couldn't believe this woman had the insolence to point out her shortcomings when it came to entertaining a neighbor. It wasn't too long ago when she hadn't even invited Rue to come in out of the heat.
Rue tried to check her rising anger, but lost the battle when Lillie motioned for Hawke to sit down beside her and he meekly did so. In a blinding rage, that these two would insult her so blatantly, she got to her feet.
With her fists on her hips, Rue glared down at the surprised man and woman. "I don't wait on sluts," she ground out. "If you want something to drink, send your sniffing hound after it." With a meaningful look at Hawke's stunned face, she stalked from the room, Lillie's enraged voice following her.
"Are you gonna let her talk to me like that, Hawke?" the enraged woman fairly spluttered.
Jeb, whose wise eyes had missed nothing since Lillie Meyers arrived, looked at his son. He had known within minutes that an intimacy had at one time existed between them, but pray God, no longer. Surely Hawke realized the chance he was taking of losing a wife who was too good to be in the same room with that fleshpot sitting next to him. Jeb waited for Hawke to order the woman from his home.
When Hawke, evading Jeb's eyes, only ran nervous fingers through his hair, Jeb rose, and taking Susie by the hand, left the pair, his condemnation a living presence in the room.
"I don't like that woman, she's an old witch." Susie pouted, going straight to Rue and hugging her waist. "She kept telling me to go away, that she wanted to be alone with Uncle Hawke."
Jeb looked at Rue and saw her need to know Hawke's reaction to Lillie's callous treatment of his niece, but was too proud to ask. Well, by hell, pride didn't stand in his way.
As Rue gently stroked the small head pushed into her side, he asked, "And what did Uncle Hawke have to say?"
Susie's lips curved in a satisfied smile. "He said that I might as well stay, that they didn't have anything to talk about that I couldn't hear."
Jeb smiled his relief His son wasn't besotted with the woman after all. She was making it hard for him to break off with her, though. He wondered now if Hawke's seemingly ready submission to Mrs. Meyers's arrogant demands was because he was pacifying her for Jeb's benefit.
He glanced at Rue. Had his son been as careful of his wife's finding out about his female neighbor? The pinched look on her face said that he had not. Jeb's lips firmed grimly. His son had a lot to answer for and he hoped that Rue would see to it that he paid dearly, if that was the case.
Rue knew that she should be happy at Susie's answer, and her heart had leapt joyously for a split second. Then she remembered how deceitful Hawke could be, like foisting a ready-made family on her without any warning. And she was quite aware that he didn't want his father to suspect that he was having an affair with a married woman. Consequently, she didn't put much faith in the words he'd said for Jeb's sake.
She came out of her musing when Jeb warned, "You be careful of her, Rue. She'd break up your marriage in a minute if she could."
Rue smiled mirthlessly to herself Oh, Jeb, she wanted to cry out, there's no marriage to break up. Only a few words spoken by an old preacher under the threat of a rifle. Hawke will have those words set aside as soon as he no longer needs me.
Jeb waited for her response, and when none came, he took his granddaughter by the hand, and walking toward the door, said, "Let's go scare up your brother. See what he's up to."
Left alone, Rue walked to the window and stared outside, a gnawing emptiness inside her. Some people weren't destined for happiness on this earth, she thought, with slumping shoulders. Certainly in her nineteen years she hadn't had much of it. Actually, she couldn't remember one time being completely happy. The few times had been momentary, fading almost before she could grasp them.
Raised voices in the parlor brought Rue from the window. She walked quietly to the door separating the two rooms and listened intently. Grandma DeLawney had always said not to eavesdrop, but Rue felt she had the right to know what went on between her husband and their neighbor.
Hawke's voice was cold as he said, "It's her home, Lillie. You had no right orderin' her around, treatin' her like hired help."
"Why are you takin' her side?" Lillie demanded, her voice rising. "You don't love her. Your men told my cowhands that you don't even sleep with her."
There was a short, tense silence as Rue waited breathlessly for Hawke's response. She had to strain her ears when he said quietly, but firmly, "I don't love you either. And since she's my wife, my duty is to her."
"Duty, bah!" Lillie snapped. "We'll see how dutiful you are when that big member between your legs gets hungry. You'll come runnin' back to me then. That delicate little miss you're married to will never feed it. She'd faint if you stuck it in her."
Rue could hear the jangle of his spurs as Hawke stood up. "I think it's time you left, Lil," he said coldly. "I think you've said enough. And I don't want to see you around here again unless you come with your husband."
Rue waited to hear no more and hurried across the floor to go outside. She'd be mortified if she was caught listening to that heated argument.
She stood beneath a cottonwood tree, some distance from the house, when Lillie raced away, angrily whipping her mount. Then Rue heard crunching footsteps coming toward her. She knew without looking that it was Hawke.
His laugh was nervous as he stood beside Rue and said, "I hope you didn't pay any attention to how Lillie acted. She likes to stir up trouble just for the fun of it."
Rue wheeled around to face her husband, snorting her disbelief. Her eyes blazing, she said through gritted teeth, "Who do you think you're talking to? Susie?"
"No, by God, I don't think I'm talkin' to my niece," Hawke came back just as fiercely. "I thought I was talkin' to an intelligent woman, one who could see what that woman was up to."
Rue's eyes flashed cool disdain. "You are talking to an intelligent woman, Hawke Masters, and her intelligence tells her that there was no levity in that woman's words or actions. She mistakenly thinks I'm a threat to her. Now, why don't you go after her and give her what she wants and save your family a lot of unnecessary grief and aggravation?" She stopped to catch her breath after the long spate of words, then continued, "You might as well know that none of us want to see her around here again. Neither Jeb nor I will tolerate you bringing your whore into our home, imposing her on innocent children."
"She is not my whore! She's nothin' to me!" Hawke shouted, his face angry. "I told her—" But Rue wheeled away, running swiftly to the house with tears running down her cheeks. "Damn the woman!" Hawke swore, the stick he gripped in his hand cracking in two.
In a white-hot fury, Lillie continued to whip her mount, lashing the poor brute the way she'd like to lash Rue Masters. She had discovered something that Hawke still didn't know. He was in love with his wife. She bared her teeth, and like a wild animal, a growl erupted from her throat.
The enraged woman was but a few miles from home when a wide figure appeared from behind a boulder and grabbed the mount's bridle.
"You're gonna kill that horse, Lillie, ridin' him like that," Sly Burford warned. He studied the angry, petulant features. "What's got you so riled up? Hawke Masters?"
Lillie's small eyes glared down at the fat man, who controlled the lathered, nervous stallion. "Yes, Hawke Masters! Who else can drive me mad?"
Sly peered up at her, then taunted with a titter, "Can't he take care of you anymore?"
"I don't know if he can or not." Lillie slid to the ground and leaned against the heaving horse. "He's all wrapped up in his wife now."
She looked up at the venom in Sly's voice when he muttered, "That little bitch." She had heard his woeful story many times, how his stepdaughter had robbed him of his manhood, that he had followed her here to extract revenge. The beginning of an idea suddenly sparked in her small eyes. If she could convince Sly to take his revenge before Hawke realized his feelings for his wife, he would be hers again.
With furtively calculating eyes, and choosing her words carefully, Lillie asked, "When do you plan on gettin' even with your stepdaughter?"
"Soon." Sly evaded, releasing the horse and moving back. "I've been watchin' her, but she's always got that little girl with her." His fists knotted and his eyes glittered. "But I'll find her alone someday, and then I'll get her good."
Lillie waited a minute, then said bluntly, "I would make it worth your while if that girl disappeared in the next few days."
Sly gaped at the woman as her words took meaning in his brain. Finally, he shook his head doubtfully. "I don't know if I could kill a woman in cold blood, Lillie. I only had in mind to scar up her purty face. Disfigure it so no man would ever look at her without shiverin'."
Lillie made an impatient move with her hands. "I'm not suggestin' you kill her. Just grab her and take her to that renegade Indian village up in the foothills. Old Chief Wise Owl would pay you handsomely for her. Between the two of us, you stand to make a good amount of money."
Greed glittered in Sly's eyes. Lillie was right. That red-gold hair of Rue's would certainly whet the chiefs interest. He wondered why he hadn't thought of selling her himself.
Another thought hit the fat man and his avarice grew. He glanced at the woman standing beside him and asked slyly, "What good would it do you to get rid of Rue? You'd still be hooked up with Sam and Hawke might take up with another woman to take care of his relatives."
Lillie started, disquiet settling over her coarse features. She hadn't thought about that. Hawke could very well replace Rue with another woman. He would need someone to keep house and to care for that pesky little niece of his.
She gave the waiting Sly a shrewd look. "Do you have any ideas about that, Sly? Like maybe an accident… a ridin' accident?"
Sly smiled thinly. "I might. If the price was right. I'll have to leave these parts after everything is taken care of, and I'll need plenty of money to live on until I can find some kind of job."
"Oh, yes, I'm sure you'll break your back lookin' for work," Lillie sneered. "You're just a workin' fool. I notice how you hustle around the ranch."
"When a black look came over Sly's face, however, she hurriedly added, "You'll be well paid."
"All right then. Get back on your horse and we'll make some plans while we ride along," Sly growled, ruffled at Lillie's slighting words.
Chapter Nine
Rue unwound her long legs and stood up, brushing down her skirt. The sun was dropping low over the Colorado range and it was time she was getting back to the house and start supper. She had been here the better part of an hour, cooling her anger, trying to think logically. She was half sorry she had listened to Hawke and Lillie's conversation. Their angry words and the aftermath had upset her deeply. For she now knew with a certainty that once Susie was old enough to take care of herself, Hawke Masters would send his wife packing.
That he didn't love Lillie either only proved that he was a user. Her full lips formed into a straight line. Luckily she was forewarned, wise now to his treatment of women. More than ever she would keep up her defenses against him. And that would take a lot of doing, she sighed, for the mere touch of his hand sent her heart fluttering.
