Hawke's Pride, page 16
She stood a moment longer, gazing down at the purple haze thickening in the timbered notches, the gray foothills rolling down from the high country, the sweeping isolated patches of aspen, blazing like gold in the autumn sun. Her eyes lifted to the mountain which sheltered it all from the north.
It is so beautiful here, she thought, her eyes wistful. If only she could live out her life here in all this grandeur. But that would never be, and an empty void settled in her breast.
She gave a start, coming out of her poignant musings when, to her left, long-horned cattle were suddenly rushing headlong down a nearby slope, tearing through the brush, rolling rocks beneath their hooves and bawling hoarsely. While she watched, stupefied, Rue's mare, which she had fondly named Beauty, tensed, jerked her head away from the grass she nibbled, then screamed and galloped away.
"Beauty, come back!" Rue ran screaming after the little mare. But the horse was too gripped with fear, and if she heard the command, she paid no attention. Rue kicked disgustedly at a stone. She had a long hike ahead of her. She'd be lucky if she got back to the ranch by dark. She looked down at the course she would have to travel. It seemed miles and miles across that wilderness of stone. With a resigned sigh, she started a zigzag path over the rough, rock-strewn ground.
She had walked but a short distance when the shadows of twilight settled, dark and heavy among the pine and spruce. The brooding, inscrutable silence was interrupted only when a wolf yowled on a distant ridge. Never had the wilderness, the loneliness, struck her so vividly. She walked on, imagining Indians and wolves moving ghost-like through the dimness of the forest.
The moon hung over the mountain, full and resplendent, flooding everything with its silver light when Rue suddenly stood still, frozen in terror. Not a yard away, in her path, stood a wolf, his gray body taut, his eyes red. Wide-eyed, she watched his muscles tighten as he crouched. She braced herself against a tree when she saw him stiffen, ready to spring. She didn't breathe as she waited for the sharp fangs to close around her throat.
Josh Malone, sitting his horse on a distant hill, had seen Rue leave the house and run to the corral where Hawke's special horses were kept. She lowered the bars, and the mare she always rode, Beauty, came trotting up to her when she whistled. The little horse stepped over the remaining two bars and Rue replaced the ones she had moved. His eyes widened when she grasped the flowing mane and swung herself onto the mare's back. He watched her race toward the mountain, her rigidly held body telling him that she was upset. What had her stupid husband done to her now? he wondered.
Should he follow her? Josh asked himself There were many dangers in the mountains—rattlesnakes, wolves, wildcats, not to mention renegade Indians.
But she no doubt wanted to be alone he decided, so he tailed her, keeping out of sight, and giving her the solitude she wanted. If she needed his help, he would be close by to hear her.
When Josh saw Rue stop the mare, slide to the ground, then climb upon a tall boulder, he pulled his mount behind a spruce and waited. An hour passed, and when the sun disappeared and Rue showed no sign of coming back down the mountain, he became uneasy. Had something happened to her without his knowing it?
Thinking that he'd better take a look, he kneed his mount onto the trail and barely avoided being run over by a riderless horse tearing down the mountain, its nostrils flaring, its eyes terrorized. Josh recognized Beauty immediately and lunged his own mount up the rocky slope. He rounded a wide boulder and jerked the horse to a plunging halt.
"God," he whispered, jerking his Colt from its holster. He took a hurried aim, and the bullet caught the wolf in the head just as it sprang at Rue. Josh was out of the saddle and catching her in his arms just as she began to fall.
The minutes ticked by as Josh held Rue's shivering body close to his own, stroking her hair, and murmuring softly to her, telling her that she was safe now. "I was so frightened, Josh." Her words were smothered in his shirt front. "I knew I was about to die."
And you would have if I hadn't been here. The thought made Josh's insides twist. He loved the slender girl he held in his arms, and wanted to beat Hawke Masters into the ground for his callous treatment of her. Didn't the man realize what a treasure he had?
Josh's desire to take Rue away from her husband flamed inside him. He wanted to give her the love and attention she deserved. But now wasn't the time to discuss it with her. She was too upset.
He moved away from her and smiled down at her pale face. "Are you all right now?" he asked when she returned a weak smile.
"I think so," her voice wavered a bit.
His arms still holding her loosely around the waist, Josh said, "We'd better get you home. The family is probably going crazy. Hawke's probably tearing around, cussin' his head off It's way past suppertime, you know." Rue giggled, picturing the scowl on Hawke's face when he came in to eat and only found a cold stove. Her amusement was cut short when a furious voice demanded, "What in the hell is goin' on here?"
The day was drawing to an end as Hawke leaned on the corral, his elbows hooked on the top rail, one booted foot propped on the bottom one. His eyes were narrowed in thought as he gazed unseeing at his prize horses milling around in the peeling paint, post-constructed pen.
"What was he going to do about Rue? He absently kneaded the tightness in the back of his neck. She was on his mind all the time, and he ached for her every time she came within sight of him. He gave a derisive snort. Hell, he even found himself listening for the way her laughter would sometimes ring out.
Damn that Lil! The way she had acted so possessive of him today would make it all the harder to get close to Rue now. And if that wasn't bad enough, in trying to keep the damn woman pacified, to keep her from saying something that would make Pa suspicious, he had only made the situation worse. The bitch had arrived bent on causing trouble, and she had succeeded. Pa's face had clearly shown his disapproval when he stamped after Rue.
The big rancher heaved a ragged sigh. The two people he loved most in the world now thought him the vilest creature that ever lived.
Hawke shook his head in stunned surprise. "What had his mind just said? That he loved Rue? And as he stood there in the gathering twilight, he realized that he did love his wife. "What he had thought was lust, his usual feeling for a woman, was not the case. He felt for Rue what his father had felt for the mother of his children and what his brother had felt for Sara.
One of his horses nudged his arm for attention, but Hawke didn't feel it. He was remembering all the insulting things he'd ever said or done to Rue, the way he had shamed her in front of his hands by not sleeping with her. He cringed as he vividly remembered the day she had been left sitting in the sun while he visited with Lil in the coolness of her house.
God, how in the world was he ever going to make her forget and forgive all his cruelties to her? Hawke massaged his nape again. Yes, he had his work cut out for him, convincing Rue that he was sorry and ashamed for treating her so shabbily. But if it took the rest of his life he would do it. He would court her as no other woman had ever been courted. He would make her believe that he loved her with every fiber of his being.
Possessed with an eagerness to start mending his fences with Rue, Hawke turned from the corral and started toward the house. He smiled when Susie came running to him, her small face pinched, and near tears. "I can't find Auntie Rue, Uncle Hawke," she cried.
Hawke swung his niece into his arms. "Calm down, honey. Isn't she in the kitchen makin' supper?"
"No." Susie half sobbed. "I looked there. I've looked all over. She's gone." This last came out on a wail.
"Have you seen Rue, Hawke?" Jeb had followed his granddaughter, a worried frown on his face. "She's nowhere around. I've searched the house, the stables, everywhere."
Hawke put Susie down and placed a calming hand on his nephew's head when the boy came running up to them, looking ready to cry. The children had become very attached to Rue in the short time they had known her, and he suspected that they were probably afraid that they would lose her as they had their mother.
"Now let's not go off half-cocked," he said, forcing his own face not to show his growing concern. "She's got to be around here somewhere. She wouldn't just up and disappear without sayin' somethin' to someone."
"She damn well might have," Jeb said gruffly. "She had good cause to take off."
Hawke looked away from his father's accusing face. No one knew that better than he. But where would she go? She had no money. She didn't know anyone to ask for help; he hadn't bothered to introduce her to any of the neighbors. That he would rectify as soon as possible.
Shamed, he said, "Look, Pa, I know what you're thinkin', but I haven't visited…"—he glanced meaningful at the children—"since I married Rue."
"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that." Jeb's tone was cutting, implying that he wasn't pleased that his son had dallied with a married woman at any time.
Still avoiding his father's eyes, Hawke said, "I'm gonna saddle up and go look for her. Why don't you take the kids back to the house and fix them a bite to eat?"
"You find her, Uncle Hawke," Susie ordered, her voice trembling as Jeb took her small hand and led her away, Tommy following them.
"I'll find her, little one," Hawke promised, then told himself that he'd better do it soon. Another fifteen minutes and darkness would have arrived.
As he walked along the corral, heading for the stables to saddle Captain, something made him pause to take a close look at his high-bred horses. His heart began to pound. The little mare he had given Rue permission to ride was gone. Rue had left him after all. She had been hurt and angry enough to strike out across the wilderness, chancing all kinds of perils just to get away from him.
Hawke picked up the mare's hoofprints almost immediately. They led toward the mountain. At first he was almost overwhelmed with relief Rue hadn't left him. Then, on the heels of his relief, he thought of the dangers that lurked up there. Rue knew nothing about them. He had never warned her not to ride there. Hell, he berated himself, he had never taken time with her for anything.
The mountain loomed in front of him as the stallion entered the foothills. Hawke had ridden about half a mile, going over in his mind what he would say to Rue, how he would apologize for what had gone before, to put things straight between them, when he heard the pounding of hoofbeats. His head shot up and he recognized the little mare that shot past him.
"Oh God, what's happened to her?" he groaned, laying the whip on the stallion when a gunshot rang out. Had Arapaho renegades come upon her, then shot her when they had finished with her?
The stallion swung around a large boulder, and with a curse, Hawke jerked Captain to a rearing halt. In the dim shadow of a spruce stood his wife in the arms of his ranch foreman.
Black jealous rage boiled inside him. Forgotten were the words he'd meant to say to her, forgotten was his fear that she had left him. All he remembered was that he had nearly had heart failure when he heard that gun go off. And it had all been for nothing. His wife was quite safe. She had only sneaked off to be with her lover.
In his blind fury, he never questioned why a gun should have been fired, why the mare had bolted. His mind only told him that the woman he loved was playing him false.
Barely in control of his emotions, he barked, "What in the hell is goin' on here?"
Josh swiftly stepped away from Rue, guilt of his love for her clear on his face. Rue, on the other hand, only stared at Hawke, innocently.
But as Hawke continued to glower at her, anger grew inside her. Why was he pretending to be the injured husband? she asked herself He knew, and she knew, that he couldn't have cared less had he come upon her and Josh making love.
But she would play his game, she decided, and answered coolly, "Very little is going on now. However, if it wasn't for Josh, I would have died a few minutes ago."
Hawke stared down at the pale, lovely face, refusing to see the lingering fear in her blue eyes. "Dream up another lie, you whorin' little bitch," he retorted snidely. "That one is too farfetched."
His eyes raked over a stony-faced Rue, and a scowling Josh. "How long has this been goin' on?" he shot at them. "How many times have you met up here? Twice a week? Every day?"
Rue started to hotly deny Hawke's charges, then thought, why should she? He wouldn't believe her because he wouldn't want to. It would salve his conscience, if he had one, about seeing Lillie Meyers all the time.
With a careless shrug, she tilted her chin, and remarked, "About as often as you sneak off to visit Lillie, I expect."
Hawke almost gasped at the pain her words gave him. If only it was true she saw Josh as often as he saw Lillie, that would mean she hadn't met Josh once.
Josh gave Rue a surprised look, then spoke for the first time. "You've got it all wrong, Hawke. I saw Rue headed up the mountain, and knowing the dangers up here, I followed her." He motioned at the dead wolf a few feet away. "Lucky thing I did. I arrived just as that beast was ready to spring at her throat."
Hawke knew before he looked that he had driven Rue farther away from him. In a calmer moment he would have known that lust hadn't driven her into Josh's arms. Had he controlled his jealous rage, thought a little bit, he wouldn't have jumped to the wrong conclusions. Why was it, he wondered, he couldn't think straight where Rue was concerned?
He gazed down at the dead wolf and shuddered at the thought of those yellow teeth tearing at Rue's lovely throat. His pride, however, wouldn't let him admit he was wrong, wouldn't let him say that he was sorry for what he'd thought and said, and to thank Josh for saving Rue's life.
He only muttered, "I see," then gruffly told Josh to ride to the house and let the family know Rue was all right. "I'll ride with Josh." Rue started to follow him to his horse.
"You'll ride with me," Hawke growled, and before she could get out of his reach, he grabbed her under the arms and lifted her to sit in front of him. "There's something we have to discuss," he added, wrapping his free arm around her waist.
"I can't think of anything we have to say to each other," Rue gritted, trying to pry his arm loose, the action bringing her in closer contact with Hawke's body. "I think you've said enough already."
Hawke felt a stirring in his loins as Rue's small rear pressed against him. Damn, he wished she'd sit still. If she didn't, she was going to find one hell of an arousal prodding her backside.
There was a huskiness in his voice when he said, "I don't want to talk about what happened back there." His arm tightened about her, jerking her back against his broad chest, putting a few inches between her derrier and his hungry manhood.
"I can't imagine what else we could talk about." Rue watched Josh's mount disappear from sight. "Unless you want to discuss your affair with Lillie. And if that's the case, I don't care how often you see her, so we can leave that subject alone."
Hawke looked up at the sky, a bleakness in his eyes. He'd give half his ranch if his wife did care that he slept with another woman. If only jealously raged inside her as it did in him at the thought of her having a lover.
He thought of all the women he'd made love to, then left them when he tired of their bed, and realized that he was being served a big helping of justice. "Damn it, Rue!" he grated. "How many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing goin' on between me and that woman?"
Rue made no response, only stared at Captain's ears. But inside her a grain of belief took root. Maybe he had broken all ties with Lillie. The image of the woman's coarse features, the determination in the pig-like eyes and on her thick lips, appeared in Rue's mind. Hawke might think he was finished with her, but Lillie had no intention of letting him go.
Would her husband be strong enough to continue refusing her invitations, or would the time come when he didn't care what his father thought and resumed his affair with Lillie? Only time would tell, Rue guessed.
"I wanted to discuss our sleepin' arrangements." Hawke disrupted Rue's musings.
"What's wrong with our sleeping arrangements?" she demanded sharply, her heart slightly fluttering. Was he planning to claim a husband's rights? Did he plan on replacing Lillie with her?
Her round chin came up stubbornly. "I like things just fine the way they are."
"Well, I don't," Hawke spoke just as sharply. "Pa is gonna wonder why I'm not sharin' your room. He thinks we have a normal marriage."
"You should have thought about that before you started sleeping in the bunkhouse. Anyway, I don't think Jeb will be surprised that we don't have any kind of marriage after the show Lillie put on today."
"But don't you see, that's all the more reason not to raise his suspicions any higher."
"I don't give a damn what he thinks." Rue began to struggle again, pulling at the whipcord strength of the arm that held her so tightly, her rear again rubbing against that senstive spot between his spread legs. "I'm not about to share a bed with you," she panted.
"Will you sit still?" Hawke half groaned, feeling himself growing harder and harder. The buttons were going to pop off his fly if she kept twisting in his lap. "I'm not askin' to share your bed, you little wildcat," he managedto say. "I only want to share the room, just a small space where I can spread my bedroll."
To Hawke's relief, Rue ceased her struggling and sat still. And while he willed his erection to go away, she chewed the corner of her lower lip.
Could she trust him to stay on the floor? She wondered. She remembered the time he had kissed her, how hungrily his lips had moved over hers. If he should do it again, could she resist him? She wouldn't want to chance it. Even now, in the circle of his arm, her heart was beating like a hammer. How could she lie next to him in a bed? With one touch of his hand, she would be lost.
Taking her long silence as a continued rejection, Hawke said stiffly, "You don't have to worry about me forcing myself on you, if that's what you're thinking. I'll not come near you unless I'm invited."
"Hah! That's an invitation you'll never hear," Rue retorted, and sighed her relief when the house came in sight.
