Georgeanne hurried out behind Zeke, her heart pounding with dread. How on earth had her father found them? Zeke’s own family certainly would not have told him where they were, or that they were married. And no one else who knew of their marriage was acquainted with her father. She nearly ran to keep up with Zeke, who strode right down to stand in front of the men. It was then she noticed one of them was Robert Higgins.
“You’re trespassing, Temple!” Zeke told the men, holding his rifle in a position to fire.
Carson Temple straightened in his saddle, as though to accent his size. He was dressed in denim pants, a red checkered shirt and a leather vest. In his wide-brimmed hat, he looked rough and rugged, and he was well armed. He looked around. “Trespassing? On your measly two hundred sixty acres of stumps? I’ve already seen that excuse of a house you have, the piles of stumps all over the place. You really expect to make a ranch out of this dump?”
“Father! What are you doing here! You’ve no right to insult my husband’s hard work!”
Temple’s face turned beet red, and he glared at his daughter as he slowly dismounted. “So, it’s true! You did marry this half-nigger, half-Indian bastard! I was hoping Robert Higgins was mistaken!”
“Don’t you come one step closer!” Zeke warned, raising his rifle more. “You might have a lot of men with you, but I guarantee that if they start shooting, you’ll go down, Temple, first thing, father-in-law or not!”
Temple sneered. “Father-in-law!” He spat, then shifted his cold blue eyes back to Georgeanne. “Look at you! My beautiful, refined, educated daughter. You’re a mess! You look like a poor rancher’s wife! What the hell are you doing up on that mountain!”
“If you want the truth—”
“We’re looking for the source of some water that’s been springing from up there,” Zeke interrupted, as he cast Georgeanne a warning look. “I want to make sure the creek that runs through my place won’t dry up on me.”
Temple looked at Zeke as though he were garbage. “That creek won’t do much to make anything out of this place,” he warned. “What kind of a ranch can you build on two hundred and sixty acres?”
“We’ll make do,” Zeke answered, still holding the rifle at a warning level.
Temple stepped a little closer in spite of it, giving Zeke another once-over, realizing he was a much bigger man than when he’d been dragged off seven years ago. And he had a more determined look to him, the look of a man who knew what he wanted and meant what he said. Temple usually liked that kind of man. Too bad this one had the wrong blood in him and had dared to marry his daughter behind his back. “You’ll never survive,” he warned Zeke. “And if you figured on using my daughter’s money to build this pitiful homestead into something profitable, forget it! I stopped in Denver on the way here and put a halt to her trust fund. As of a few days ago there is no trust fund!”
Georgeanne’s heart sank. She had counted on using that money to help Zeke, to invest in the proper mining equipment and to hire professionals if they found the gold was theirs. “Why can’t you understand that I love Zeke Brown?” she asked her father, tears of anger forming in her eyes. “He’s a man, Father, a good man who works hard and has dreams and is willing to make sacrifices to realize those dreams! I’ve never given a thought to his mixed blood. I don’t care! I only know that I love him, and as my father, you should honor that! Even so, if you had come here to make amends, I’m not sure I could truly love you again! You lied to me! You hit me and dragged me away from the man I loved, and then you lied about not hurting him any more! I told you before why I left home, and why I never wanted to come back! We have not been a part of each other’s lives for years now, so why don’t you just go back to the ranch and leave us alone!”
Temple sighed, his jaw flexing in anger. “I came here because you’re my daughter, and I won’t have you living in squalor with a man who can only bring you shame and poverty! I came to tell you that anytime you want to come home, you can. Just make sure you get your marriage annulled and get rid of the sonofabitch you married first! You’re going to wake up one day, girl, and realize what a mistake you’ve made.”
“My only mistake was trusting you to keep your word.” She raised her chin a little higher. “And it would be impossible for me to back out of this marriage now, considering the fact that I am carrying Zeke Brown’s child!”
Zeke turned to look at her, in shock. “Georgie! Are you sure?”
She kept her gaze fixed on her father.
Zeke struggled to keep his emotions in check. She’d never said a word before now. If she had told him, he’d never have let her work so hard in the mine. She damn well knew it, but apparently was so determined to help that she’d kept the pregnancy a secret. A baby! That was all the more reason he had to make a go of it here. He’d have a family to take care of. “I’ve got work to do, Temple,” he told Georgeanne’s father. “Get off my land. After what you did to me, I’ve got every reason to put lead into you. If you weren’t Georgeanne’s father, I’d do just that!”
“Is that so?” Temple undid his gunbelt. “Just how brave are you without a rifle in your hand, kid?” He dropped the gunbelt.
“Father! You can’t fight a young man like Zeke!”
“Can’t I?” Temple kept his eyes on Zeke. “I can fight anybody if I hate him enough. I won’t shoot your husband,” he sneered, “but I can, by God, show you who’s the real man, who has the real power!”
Zeke laid his rifle aside. “There’s no need for this,” he warned, noting the fury in Temple’s eyes. “A real man, as you put it, doesn’t behave the way you’re behaving now. What the hell do you think you can prove here?”
Temple’s hands moved into fists. “I need to do this! I need to hit you, you bastard! To see you lying bloodied on the ground!” He took a sudden swing at Zeke, but Zeke jerked back, and Temple’s fist whirled through the air. The man stumbled and nearly fell, off balance from the missed blow.
“Your daughter’s a grown woman, and I’m a grown man,” Zeke told him, as both of them moved in a circle. “We’re two adults who love each other and who decided to get married. Georgeanne is going to have my baby. You’ll just have to learn to accept that, Mr. Temple.”
“I don’t have to accept any of it!” Temple lunged into Zeke, and they both fell to the ground. With powerful arms Zeke managed to shove the older man off him and deftly got to his feet, while Temple grunted and got to his knees and then slowly rose.
Zeke decided to put an end to this farce. Perhaps Carson Temple could intimidate others with his size, but he’d met far more than his match today. He grabbed Temple’s arm before the man had his bearings and jerked him around, then landed a fist in his face, sending him sprawling. Georgeanne let out a little scream and covered her mouth with her hand.
Temple lay on his back, stunned. Zeke bent over him, grasping the front of his shirt. “I’ve had fist fights with loggers, Temple! Men who could break you in half! I could break you in half if I really tried! I went easy on you because of Georgeanne, but after what you did to me, I’d dearly love to beat you until no one could recognize you. So I suggest you get back on your horse and get the hell off my land!”
He hauled Temple up, forcing him to his feet and shoving him toward his mount, then walked to where Robert Higgins sat on his own horse. Before Higgins realized what was happening, Zeke yanked the much smaller man off his mount, throwing him to the ground.
“That’s for interfering in my personal affairs,” he said.
Higgins stared at him in wide-eyed fear, literally shaking. He slowly rose and brushed himself off. “Georgeanne’s father had a right to know the foolish thing his daughter was doing,” he told Zeke. “I only did what I thought was best for her.”
“Sure you did.” Zeke yanked him closer, then buried a fist in his middle. “And best for you, you little snake!” He picked Higgins up and slung him over his saddle facedown as though he were a mere rag doll. He then turned to see Temple climb u
p on his horse, wincing and grunting, blood dripping from his nose and trickling out of a cut under his left eye that was fast being surrounded by an ugly bruise. The man slung his gunbelt over his saddle horn, then straightened and looked down at Zeke.
“You’ve done me dirty, boy,” he growled. “And you broke a promise to stay away from my daughter. That means I don’t need to keep any promises I made about your family and their ranch.”
“I kept my promise for six years,” Zeke reminded him, “and I didn’t go looking for your daughter. We met again by accident. You use this against my folks, and I will kill you! They’re innocent of all of this! They’ve built their spread even bigger now, and they’ve always worked hard. They deserve some peace. If they don’t get it, I’ll have you arrested! I have an uncle who can see that it happens. He’s got connections in high places, so you’d better stay away from the Monroe ranch. It doesn’t just belong to Morgan Brown. It belongs to my grandmother, and to Dan Monroe and Jeremy Monroe. You do something against my parents, and you won’t get away with it!”
“Father, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Georgeanne pleaded. “Zeke and I are happy. I don’t want to be estranged from you forever, but that’s how it will be if you can’t learn to accept Zeke as my husband.”
Temple took out a handkerchief and pressed it to his nose for a moment. “That will never happen,” he answered. “And the sorry-looking woman I see standing before me right now is no daughter of mine! You’ll regret this one day, Georgeanne Temple! Temple! That’s how I’ll always think of you. And when you discover what life is like without a trust fund to dip into whenever you like, you’ll come back home soon enough!”
He turned his horse and rode off. The others followed, Higgins having managed to right himself and sit on his saddle. Zeke watched them until he was sure they would stay gone; then he turned to face Georgeanne, who looked forlorn, tears running down her dirty face. “I’ll never let you be sorry you married me, Georgeanne. I promise that.”
She wiped at her tears, smearing the dirt. “I’m only sorry for the terrible things he said—for not being able to help you now, with my money. What if … if we find the gold? We won’t have the funds to mine it right.”
His heart ached for her, and he walked up and drew her into his arms. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll find a way. Maybe my uncle Jeremy can help. I don’t like going to anybody for help, but if we find that gold …” He pulled back, keeping hold of her arms. “Georgie, is it true? You’re carrying?”
She nodded. “I was going to surprise you, maybe celebrate when we found the gold.”
He frowned. “Well, one thing is sure, you’ll not be working yourself into a sweat with a pickaxe again. You shouldn’t have been doing that. You could have hurt yourself, maybe lost the baby. From now on you give me instructions and I do all the digging, understand? And we will find that gold!”
He had no idea if it would happen, or how he was going to dig for gold and keep the ranch going at the same time—or where he’d get more money once his had run out. But he didn’t want to worry her. He had to think positively now, for his Georgie. He had to believe he’d be able to provide a decent living, not just for her, but for a family.
He hugged her close. The episode with Temple had been a rude reminder of old hatreds, and now he realized how right she’d been about the satisfaction they could get if they found gold, not in being rich but in being able to wield a new power over her father. “We’ll find that gold,” he repeated.
Abbie answered the door herself, having never gotten used to letting servants do things for her. Jeremy had often teased her, saying that since she’d come to live with him, he might as well get rid of his cook and housemaid because Abbie insisted on doing those chores herself half the time. I’ve worked hard most of my life, she thought as she approached the door. Why hire someone to do something as simple as cook meals and dust furniture? She liked being busy, wanted to stay busy. It helped her not to dwell on memories of lost loved ones, not to worry so much about Wolf’s Blood and his arthritis or about Zeke’s being married to a woman who could bring him a good deal of trouble … or about Dan, Zeke’s precious, devoted brother who had been such an important part of their lives and then her own after Zeke died. Dan was ailing—cancer, they called it. Poor Emily was only fourteen and had lost her mother so violently at seven, had lost her real father to death at a much younger age, then had barely gotten to know and love Wolf’s Blood before he had to leave her. Now she would lose her grandfather. She at least had Rebecca, who was much younger than Dan. Rebecca loved Emily as if she were her own daughter and would take good care of her. And Jeremy would see they got financial help if necessary.
Dear Jeremy, the son she thought she’d lost forever, the son she’d once thought must be so selfish, how would most of them have managed without him these past years? He had done a wonderful job with Hawk and Iris. Iris was so happy now, and thanks to Jeremy’s connections, Hawk was working at a law firm in the city. He was a promising attorney, already more than proving himself. How wonderful that he had gone to find his father before coming back to Denver. It warmed her heart so to hear what a good, loving wife Wolf’s Blood had, and to learn of his beautiful son. If only she could see Little Eagle, the only grandchild she’d never seen.
“I’ve got it, Jenny,” she told the maid. The woman was rushing down the wide staircase that led to the marble-floored entranceway in answer to the knock at the huge oak front door to Jeremy’s home.
“Mrs. Monroe, you’re supposed to let me do these things.”
“You have enough to do. I’ve always thought it silly that one should have to hire someone to answer the door for them.”
Jenny laughed lightly and hurried back up the stairs, and Abbie opened the door, gasping in surprise and pleasure to see Zeke standing there. “Hello, Grandma.” He greeted her with a big smile. A woman was with him, and Abbie realized she had to be Zeke’s wife. At last she would get to meet Georgeanne Temple.
“Come in out of the cold!” she said, stepping aside. In spite of being bundled into a heavy, fur-lined, velvet cape, it was obvious that Georgeanne was pregnant. She wore a matching velvet hat, and Abbie was struck by the contrast of the woman’s elegant clothing and Zeke’s garb. He wore weathered boots and denim pants, a worn leather hat on his head and a wolfskin coat around his big shoulders that looked as though it had seen many winters. “My goodness! What brings you here after all these months away?” she asked as Zeke embraced her. “I would think you would have waited another month—until Christmas at the least—but …” She stepped back, opening her arms to Georgeanne. “You must be Georgeanne. And you’re carrying! What are you doing traveling in this bitter cold and snow in your condition?”
“We had to come,” Georgeanne answered. “We’ve so much to tell you.” She pulled away, warmed by how readily Abbie had embraced her. As she removed her hat, she realized Zeke had been right about his grandmother. The woman was indeed beautiful for her age. Georgie had learned so much about Abbie that she felt honored to be in her presence. She immediately sensed a wonderful grace and strength about her, this woman who was dressed quite simply for someone who lived with a son who could give her anything she wanted.
“Oh, you poor children, come and sit by the fire in the parlor. And where are your bags?”
“They’re still outside,” Zeke answered. “I’ll get them. You take Georgeanne in by the fire, and get her something hot to drink, will you?”
“Oh, of course!” Abbie hung Georgeanne’s cape and hat on a rack near the door and led her down a carpeted hallway to double sliding doors that opened to a cozy room decorated with paintings and plants, a fire crackling in the marble fireplace. She encouraged Georgeanne to sit on a chair beside the hearth, already seeing why a young Zeke had so easily fallen in love with her. Still, she could not imagine that anyone fathered by Carson Temple could be as wonderful as Zeke had always claimed Georgeanne was. “I am so glad to finally meet you, Ge
orgeanne. Needless to say, we were all surprised and concerned when we got Zeke’s letter over a year ago, telling us he’d found you again and you had married! We haven’t been sure what to think since then. You didn’t come for Christmas, and we’ve heard nothing from you. Apparently your father still doesn’t even know you’ve married Zeke. Margaret writes that there have been no problems at home, and—”
“Please, wait!” Georgeanne put up her hand, laughing. “First, let me tell you, Mrs. Monroe, that I am honored to finally meet the grandmother Zeke has told me so much about. What an incredible life you’ve led! There is so much I want to talk to you about, but … I hope Zeke’s parents told you I visited them after—” She lost her smile. “After my father did that terrible thing to Zeke, forcing him to leave home. I hope you know I didn’t even realize what father had done until Zeke’s parents told me. I do love Zeke so, Mrs. Monroe. We found each other quite by accident after six years apart, but I never stopped loving him and thinking about him that whole time. As soon as we saw each other again, we knew we had to be together, no matter what the danger.”
Abbie smiled, kneeling in front of her. “Yes, there it is, in your eyes. The love, the genuine kindness. This is why I have wanted for months—for years, actually—to meet you, to see for myself that you truly were the kind of woman deserving of my grandson.” She sighed, losing her smile. “That you truly were nothing like your father. I’m sorry to have to say that—”
“Don’t be. I fully understand why you would have your doubts.”
Zeke came in then, followed by Jeremy, who had come out of his study to discover who was at the door. Jeremy sent for Mary and rang for the maid to bring a tray of hot tea and biscuits, and the next several minutes they spent catching up on family matters. Zeke learned that Hawk had visited Wolf’s Blood and Wolf’s Blood was a father again; learned about Hawk’s new position with a law firm. He told them about his ranch, and the fact that Georgeanne was six months pregnant. Abbie could see Zeke was concerned, and when he talked about the living conditions Georgeanne had learned to accept, she knew he felt guilty over not being able to provide better for her. Still, there was a wonderful glow about both of them, as though they were hiding some marvelous secret.
Eagle’s Song Page 25
