by Sandra Brown
“Thank you, Gloria. I’m happy to be here. I hope our visit hasn’t put you to any trouble.”
“No, no. Besides, this is Jared’s home. I’m just glad the scoundrel has finally brought a wife to it. I’ve been after him for years to get married. Now I’m glad he waited. I bet he is, too.” She laughed and pinched Jared on both cheeks, having to stand on tiptoe to reach him. He leaned down and kissed her soundly on the mouth, his arms encircling her waist.
“If Rudy would let you out of bed long enough, we’d run off together, wouldn’t we, Gloria?” He hugged her tight and patted her bottom. She pushed him away with feigned annoyance.
“You! Here with your bride, hugging a fat, pregnant lady! Shame on you, Jared Lockett.” She grinned at him affectionately.
Such familiarity appalled Lauren, but then, what about this culture hadn’t shocked her? Rudy shepherded the children toward her.
“Lauren, may I present James, John, Maria, Anna, and Lucy. Who’s missing?” he asked.
One of the boys piped, “Consuelo. She’s little. She’s in the house taking a nap,” he explained to Lauren.
“Children, this is Jared’s wife, Lauren.”
Lauren looked at the faces turned up to her and met five steady, curious stares. One of the girls, five-year-old Anna, whispered reverently, “You’re beautiful.”
Lauren smiled. Leaning down to the child’s level, she said, “I was going to say the same thing about you.”
“Lunch is ready. Come on in.” Gloria took Lauren’s arm and hurried her toward the house. Lauren winced with each painful step as the abused muscles in her thighs and bottom throbbed.
They stepped into a large room that was as wide as the house. At one end was a stone wall with a fireplace large enough for a man to stand in. At the other end was a dining alcove containing a table, sideboard, and china cabinet. In between was a comfortable living area, which exuded an aura of warmth and welcome. There were several long sofas, easy chairs, and ottomans, colorful rugs scattered over the quarry tile floors, paintings depicting Western culture, bookcases filled to capacity, and a roll-top desk. Lauren loved it.
Two hallways led off the big room, and she assumed they led to bedrooms. Another door off the dining area, she knew, must lead to the kitchen. Gloria beamed as Lauren complimented her on the decor.
“I’ll show you to Jared’s room. I’ve tried to tidy it up for you, and add a few feminine touches. You know how barren a bachelor’s room can look.”
Lauren had no idea how a man’s bedroom looked. She blanched at the words “Jared’s room.”
They walked down the hall and Gloria opened the door to a large bedroom with wide windows opening onto a view of rolling hills and the river in the distance. It was magnificent.
The furnishings consisted of a chest of drawers with a shaving mirror on it, an overstuffed chair with an ottoman, and a wardrobe which Gloria opened to show that she had pushed all Jared’s clothes to one side.
Jared’s clothes!
A double bed dominated the room. A small table stood beside it.
“I moved this in here for you, Lauren,” Gloria said. “It was all I could find in the storage shack.” She indicated a small vanity table with a washbowl and pitcher on it. The mirror was wavy and cloudy. “Pepe will pick up something else for you and bring it out on his next trip.” She took Lauren’s dismay for dislike. “Is it all right?” she asked shyly.
“No!… I mean yes. Everything is beautiful, Gloria. You have gone to a lot of trouble, and I appreciate it more than you know, but…” Her voice trailed off when she didn’t know what else to say. She looked helplessly toward her husband. He and Rudy stood in the doorway. Jared seemed as disconcerted as she.
Rudy leaned against the jamb with his arms and ankles crossed. He was enjoying himself immensely. A mischievous light glinted in his eyes as he looked at Jared and said, “Gloria and I will leave you two alone so you can wash up. Then we’ll eat. I know you must be starved, but take all the time you want.”
“I… uh… think I’ll go out to the bunkhouse and say hello to some of the hands. I’ll wash up out there.” Before anyone could object, Jared rushed out of the room, leaving in his wake a very surprised Gloria, a mildly surprised Rudy, and a relieved Lauren.
Damn! Jared cursed as he crossed the yard. He hadn’t even thought about the bedrooms at the ranch. Rudy and his brood used every goddam one of them except his. He liked his room. He didn’t want to give it up, but there was no way he could ask the romantic Gloria to move his wife—his bride—out of his room.
Even more nerve-racking to consider was spending the night in the same room with Lauren. He had made a vow to himself not to touch her. But it would take a blind, feeble ninety-year-old monk to stay the night in such intimate confines with Lauren and not—
He’d have to think of something. Fast.
When, after a short toilette, Lauren went into the large room for lunch, she saw a woman sitting alone at the dining table. She was beautiful and of Mexican heritage, and Lauren was struck by her bearing. She held herself straight and proud, yet serene.
She was small, her figure dainty. Her black hair was streaked with gray and pulled back into a glossy knot on the nape of her neck. She wore a high-necked black dress. There was no jewelry or other adornment to relieve its severity. Her face had cameo perfection. Smooth, well-shaped brows framed dark, sad eyes. Her nose was straight and narrow. Above a delicate chin was a sweet, well-shaped mouth.
Her smile was genuine as Lauren shyly walked toward her. “Lauren Holbrook Lockett. I am Maria Mendez. Welcome to Keypoint.”
“Señora Mendez, it is a pleasure to meet you. You are Rudy’s mother?”
“Yes,” she answered abstractedly as she studied Lauren’s face. “You are just as beautiful as he said. He was very eager to have you here. I think he did the right thing.”
“You mean Ben?” Lauren was puzzled as to how this woman knew so much about Ben’s plans for her.
She nodded. “He told me all about you the last time I saw him.”
She seemed about to say more when Jared came through the front door carrying a Mendez offspring under each arm and one on his shoulders. The one on top was holding on for dear life with tight fistfuls of Jared’s hair. All were laughing and shouting as the other children ran in behind them.
“Do it to me, Jared!”
“No, to me.”
“Please, Jared, me next.”
Gloria came through the door that led to the kitchen clapping her hands. “Leave Jared alone. He’s just arrived. There will be plenty of time to play later. Come to the table, and I’d better not see any dirty hands.”
The children reluctantly released their hold on Jared and took their places at the table. Jared raked his hair with his fingers and tucked in his shirttail, which had come out during the scuffle.
Lauren would never have imagined that Jared could enjoy child’s play, but he was laughing as he smoothed the cotton shirt over the muscles of his wide chest. When he sucked in his stomach, in order to shove his shirttail into the front of his pants, Lauren’s eyes flickered lower. She tried to swallow the increasingly familiar congestion in her throat.
Jared’s head came up with a snap and his eyes locked with hers as if she had called out to him. Her hair had been rebraided. Jacket, gloves, and hat had been discarded. The shirt molded against her breasts, making them look softer, more touchable than ever. The tight fit of the split skirt announced her femininity like a banner. Jared wiped damp palms down his thighs and looked away from that intriguing spot where the legs of her culottes came together. As he moved farther into the room, he cursed his physical susceptibility.
His eyes lit up with affection as he sighted Maria Mendez at the table, and softened as Lauren had never seen them do before. “Maria, how are you?” He came around the table and took the lady in his arms, giving her a big hug. He had never addressed Olivia in such a warm manner.
“Jared, I have just met Laur
en, and I think your bride is lovely.”
Jared darted a glance at Lauren and muttered under his breath, “Yes… well, thank you.”
Rudy came in and Gloria carried the last platter from the kitchen and placed it on the table. The meal began. It was a loud, confusing time, but Lauren enjoyed it immensely after all of the lonely meals at her father’s house, the stuffy, dull dinners at the Prathers’, and the silent, tense meals at Olivia’s table.
Everyone chattered, relating things of great importance or no importance. Rudy told them about the incident of the “gunfight.” As the children laughed at Lauren’s mistake, Gloria and Maria chided the men on their recklessness.
The table was crowded despite its length, and Gloria had assigned Lauren and Jared side-by-side places. Their elbows were constantly touching as one or the other lifted their cutlery or glasses. Several times, their knees or thighs would press together under the table. If anyone noticed two forks suspended motionless en route to two surprised mouths, they didn’t mention it.
Rudy noticed, and chuckled each time. They were fighting it, all right. It was going to be interesting to watch this—the downfall of Jared the Great—at the hands of a slip of a girl who barely reached his shoulder.
When the meal was over, the men left to attend to the never-ending work of running a ranch. Lauren watched as they strolled companionably toward one of the corrals. They were dressed almost identically and walked with the same graceful swagger. Each sported broad shoulders, a narrowness of hip, and long, lean legs. Each had buckled on flopping chamois chaps and pulled on leather gloves. “They look alike from the back,” Lauren mused aloud.
Gloria was standing at her shoulder. “Yes, I think anyone could tell they are brothers.”
Lauren whirled her head around to Gloria in astonishment. “Brothers?” she gasped.
Gloria was nonplussed. “Why, yes. I thought you knew that Rudy is your brother-in-law.” She was amazed that Jared hadn’t told his wife of the kinship.
“Mrs. Mendez and…” whispered Lauren, still trying to fit the puzzle together.
“Maria and Ben,” Gloria finished for her. At Lauren’s shattered look, Gloria’s features closed coldly and she said, “Don’t judge them too harshly. They loved each other very much. Maria has lived here with Ben for almost forty years.”
“But… but Olivia was his wife,” Lauren protested weakly. Ben had lived in adultery? Her Ben?
“You’ve been with Olivia,” Gloria was saying. “You know what kind of woman she is. Ever since Ben brought her here from New Orleans, she made his life miserable. She insisted on living in Coronado and refused to have anything to do with Keypoint. She assumed the responsibility of the bank. Maria was the daughter of one of the first vaqueros Ben hired to help him run the ranch. He fell in love with her on sight, and she with him.”
Yes. Lauren could see how that could be. The gentle, serene Maria and the robust, virile Ben. They would have complemented each other. He had given her loving protection and she had given him comfort and a son. Happiness. Where one can find it. Was that wrong? A few weeks ago, Lauren would have been scandalized to hear of such a sordid arrangement, but somehow, now…
Was this land to rob her of her convictions, too?
“The two sons of Ben Lockett have a deep affection for each other,” Gloria said, glancing out the window as the brothers rode away together. “Rudy accepts the fact that he cannot bear the family name, and that he is not the legal heir. Ben loved him and he knew that. Ben’s will made it clear that as long as there is a Keypoint, the sons of Rudolfo Mendez will share an equal partnership with the sons of Jared Lockett.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” she went on when Lauren remained silent, watching the two men on horseback disappear over the horizon. “Maria could not even go to Ben’s funeral. Nor could his first son. But Ben came to the ranch just a few days before he died. He spoke of you, Lauren, and promised to bring you to us as soon as possible. That was the last night he spent with Maria. I hope they made love all night long. He had been gone for over a month, so if I know old Ben, they did.”
“I… I’m sure they did,” Lauren said, blushing.
Gloria took her bowed head as a sign of fatigue. “You should have stopped my ramblings. You’re probably tired. Why don’t you take a nap?”
“I am a little tired,” Lauren confessed. “But thank you for telling me the circumstances. I understand things better now.” Gloria’s face softened and she leaned forward to kiss Lauren lightly on the cheek.
Lauren went into the bedroom that belonged to Jared. It did belong to him. His ownership was stamped on everything. As she moved about the room, Lauren could feel his presence like a palpable force. Disrobing slowly, she almost felt as if she were stripping before the man himself.
She stretched out on the bed, having the strangest sensation that Jared was on the bed, too. She moved her hand over the heavy spread and wondered how many nights he had lain in this exact spot. It was an unsettling thought. Her eyes closed and she dropped off into a deep sleep, imagining that amber eyes were watching her.
Chapter 11
Lauren took a bath just before dinner. Gloria told her Ben had piped in water from a cistern several years ago, so the kitchen and two bathrooms had running water. There was, however, no water heater. A small brazier was stationed in a corner of each bathroom, with a large copper kettle kept constantly simmering.
“The only rule,” Gloria said, smiling, “is that when you empty the kettle, you refill it for the next person. Oh, and Jared asked me to give you this,” she added as she handed Lauren a brown bottle.
“What is it?” Lauren asked.
“Liniment,” was Gloria’s amused reply.
Pepe had arrived earlier and deposited her luggage in the bedroom. Jared’s bags stood beside hers. One of them, she noticed, had been opened. What would she do if he followed her into the room tonight? Apparently the Mendezes expected him to. She calmed her nerves, and went into the dining area.
Strangely, and in contrast to the noon meal, everything was quiet. The table was candlelit and set with china and crystal, replacing the pottery which had been used at the earlier meal.
“Where are the children?” Lauren inquired as she brought in a tray laden with serving dishes.
“Bathed and in bed,” Gloria sighed. “A quiet dinner is the one luxury Rudy and I allow ourselves.”
Jared and Rudy came in from the front porch where they had been enjoying glasses of whiskey. Jared crushed out his cheroot in the nearest ashtray. He was washed and brushed and wearing a clean shirt. He must have taken it out of his suitcase while she was in the bathroom.
Rudy went to Gloria and took her in his arms, kissing her in a thorough manner that stunned Lauren. They murmured to each other privately, oblivious to the other two people in the room.
Jared stood looking out the window, his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his tight pants. Lauren stood in the center of the room feeling self-conscious and nervously fingering the watch on her breast. Seeing Rudy and Gloria be so affectionate made her long for such closeness with Jared. Something inside her wanted to cry out to him, to move toward him.
She was about to take one tentative step in his direction when Maria, who had just entered, said, “What is this? The newlyweds acting like strangers, and the old married people loving like doves!”
“I was about to remark on that myself.” Rudy crossed to Lauren and took both her hands in his. “If that sorry husband of yours isn’t going to kiss you, I will. Welcome, Lauren, into our family.” He kissed her lightly on each cheek.
There was a tense, expectant silence among them. Jared, however, seemed unaffected and went to the table. With a curt nod of his head, he offered Lauren the chair he had pulled out for her. With flaming cheeks, she walked toward it. The others, awkwardly quiet, followed her.
The conversation was easy; the Mendezes were able to talk freely about anything. Some of their topics embarrassed Lauren. Castrati
on, branding, breeding. Sybil would have had vapors for a month.
Lauren and Gloria did the dishes. Gloria adamantly refused Maria’s offer to help, but secretly confided to Lauren that she wished she had someone to assist her with the large household and the children.
When they joined the men and Maria in the large living room, Lauren was glad to note that Jared wasn’t drinking. His face had lost the hostile arrogance that it usually bore like a shield. He seemed relaxed and… yes, happy. He was a different person from the one who lived in that beautiful but cold house in Coronado.
He was stretched lazily in a chair, his long legs extended in front of him. She traveled the length of them with her eyes, much as she had done the first time she had seen him, in the back of the wagon. The bulge at his crotch still intrigued her. She looked away quickly.
Gloria sat down beside Maria on one of the sofas and launched into a tale about one of the children’s escapades. The men were talking ranch business. Left to her own devices, Lauren went to one of the bookcases. She took her eyeglasses out of her skirt pocket and put them on, leaning down to inspect the loaded shelves. She found several volumes that were interesting to her and withdrew them, taking a seat in a chair under a lamp.
She soon became engrossed in a book which described the lifestyle of the Comanche as witnessed firsthand by a Texas Ranger. She was vaguely aware of Rudy getting up and going toward the kitchen asking if anyone else wanted more coffee.
She read a few more pages before something compelled her to raise her eyes above the rim of her spectacles. With a jolt, she realized Jared was staring at her through the blue smoke of his cigar. He wasn’t wearing his usual cold, implacable expression. He was looking at her almost tenderly, with a slight smile on his lips.
