by Merry Farmer
“I don’t care if his name is Lucifer Hades. The two of you seem overly friendly.” He gripped her arm harder, to the point where pain shot up to her shoulder.
Bonnie swallowed hard. “What do you want, Rex?”
He took an uncharacteristically long time to reply. “I want my reputation. I want my heir.” He let go of her arm and leaned back, studying her while stroking his chin. “It occurs to me that this Cole person might just be able to provide me with one of those.”
“What?” Bonnie blinked rapidly. Rex was harmless when he merely stomped around bullying people. It was when he began to think that he truly terrified her.
Eyes narrowed in thought, he said, “Whoever he is, there is a palpable attraction between the two of you.”
Shoot. Bonnie clenched her fists at her sides, waiting for hellfire to rain down on her.
“His coloring is not unlike my daughters’,” Rex went on. The comment seemed out of place, until he finished with, “I would be willing to allow you to carry on with that man for however long it takes for you to become pregnant by him.”
“You’d what?” Disgust mingled with horror in her gut, but a tiny wisp of excitement curled even lower. But no, that was not the sort of concession she would be willing to make.
“It would save us both the trouble of finding a suitable orphan baby to pass off as our own,” Rex went on, not even looking at her or, likely, considering her anymore. “And it would eliminate the risk of raising bad seed as my own.” Now he looked at Bonnie, raking her up and down with a sneer. “Not that any child of yours could come close to being the right sort.”
As offensive as Rex’s statement was, as fierce as her maternal instinct for her hypothetical child was, the pure volume of fear for the look in Rex’s eyes as he so calmly discussed the unthinkable kept Bonnie’s lips pressed firmly shut. She clenched her hands into fists to keep from shaking.
“Afterwards, of course,” Rex went on with a careless shrug, “your little friend would have to leave. Otherwise I’d have him killed.”
“How dare you?” Fury took over from fear, and before she could think about it, she slapped Rex’s face.
It was the wrong thing to do. Rex grabbed her wrist and twisted it back. Bonnie yelped in pain, pitching to the side as he squeezed her harder. “Don’t you ever—”
“Hey!” Rupert’s sharp shout struck even deeper fear into Bonnie. She pivoted as well as she could to see Rupert rushing across the church yard toward her. Trey Knighton, Sam Standish, and George ran with him. “Let go of her!”
“This is none of your business,” Rex growled at them, but he let go of Bonnie all the same. “Discussions with my fiancée are none of your concern.”
Bonnie stumbled away from him and righted herself, rubbing her wrist. She glanced from Rupert back across the lawn to where her friends and neighbors were trying hard to pretend they weren’t watching. She should have known that she and Rex wouldn’t go unobserved as they quarreled.
“Any time I see a lady mistreated in my town, it’s my concern,” Trey shot back, pulling himself up to his full height. He didn’t wear his sheriff’s star to church, and the wicked scar that ran the length of his face made him look more like an outlaw than a lawman.
The only way Bonnie knew Rex was intimidated was by the way he held his breath as he glared at Trey. “I’d watch which fights you pick, Sheriff. You might find yourself with more trouble on your hands than you’re ready for.”
“I’ve seen more trouble than a blowhard like you could ever dream of,” Trey growled in return.
“That makes two of us,” Rupert added. He and Trey looked so intimidating—and well-matched—standing side-by-side that Bonnie flinched in surprise.
Rex took a half step back. “I’m not going to stand here and be insulted by the likes of you.”
“Oh no?” Sam stepped up to join Rupert and Trey. “Then maybe you shouldn’t go laying hands on a woman, no matter who she is.”
“She struck me!” Rex argued.
“Did you give her cause?” Rupert asked, eyes narrowed.
“Why don’t you ask her?” The way Rex said it, the way he leered at Rupert as he did, raised the hairs on the back of Bonnie’s neck. She knew enough about men from her years of seeing them with their britches down to know when a confrontation had shifted from generalizations to a very personal cock fight.
“If I hear that you have so much laid a finger on her again,” Rupert warned Rex, leaning toward him, “I will not be held responsible for my actions.”
“You think you can threaten me, boy?” Rex moved to stand toe-to-toe with Rupert. “You think you’re even in the same league as me?”
“I’m leagues above you, Bonneville,” Rupert answered. “And I’ll prove it.”
Rex snorted with laughter. “How? By glowering at me? By spitting on my boots which, I might add, probably cost more than whatever hovel you live in?”
The way Rex sunk to money as his ultimate standard of class turned Bonnie’s stomach…and made her wonder once again just how successful Rupert’s business was.
“I have a suggestion.” Everyone in the seething, furious group started at George’s quiet statement. When everyone turned to him, George shrugged and said, “You want to prove who’s better than who? Well, there’s a competition of skill and endurance to be had this very afternoon.”
“The baseball game?” Bonnie blinked and shook her head, uncertain where George was going.
“Rupert can play for our team against Bonneville’s.”
As far as Bonnie was concerned, it was a weak idea at best. But the men didn’t think so.
“I say that’s a fine idea,” Trey growled.
“We were planning to pummel your Bears into the ground anyhow,” Sam added. “This will make it that much sweeter.”
Rupert simply said. “I’m in.”
“But you can’t.” Bonnie glanced from one man to the other, at a complete loss. “The players for the Westside Wolves have to live on the west side of town.”
“Hey Rupert,” Sam started, fierce gaze still boring into Rex’s. “Which side of the hotel is your room on?”
“The west side,” Rupert answered.
Bonnie laughed at the ridiculousness of the whole thing, no idea how matters had gotten so out of hand. There was no way Rex would possibly go for an idea as stupid as—
“You’re on,” Rex growled. He rubbed his hands together. “My boys have been practicing. They’ve been practicing all of their best plays.” Bonnie knew enough about the way Rex’s team played to know those plays would have more to do with breaking bones and blackening eyes than stealing bases. “We’re ready.”
“Then so am I,” Rupert answered.
The two continued to glare at each other for a few more seconds, then Rex sniffed, straightened his suit jacket, and started to walk off.
He turned after only three steps, pointed at Bonnie, and said, “You’d better behave.” Then he marched away.
“Well, boys,” Rupert said, his voice as close to menacing as Bonnie had ever heard it. “Looks like we’ve got a baseball game to play.”
Chapter 11
“Rupert, wait!”
Rupert had taken several determined steps away from the infuriating confrontation with Bonneville when Bonnie grabbed his arm to hold him back. Trey and the rest of the guys sent him brief, questioning looks, then picked up their pace giving Rupert and Bonnie space when he nodded to them.
“What did he say to you that made you slap him?” he asked, even though Bonnie was the one who drew him aside.
Her mouth opened, but she quickly shut it again. Her gaze dropped to her hands in front of her. “It’s not important.”
“I think it is.” Rupert shifted a few feet to the side so that they wouldn’t be visible to the people enjoying their lunch, bringing Bonnie with him. “You’re a passionate woman, Bonnie, but you’re not the sort to go smacking people unless truly provoked.”
Her gaze
jerked up to meet his. “Oh, and who I do and don’t smack is suddenly your business now?”
“It’s always been my business.” His blood pumped, his heart soared. Arguing with Bonnie was as exciting as…as making up with her afterwards.
She clicked her tongue and snapped her head to the side as if marshalling her patience. Under her breath, she murmured something that sounded a lot like “stubborn” and “donkey’s butt.” At last, she turned back to him, crossing her arms. “You shouldn’t play in that baseball game.”
Rupert blinked. It wasn’t the response he expected. “Why? I relish the chance to show Bonneville up in front of a crowd.”
Her answering laughter was full of irony. “Men and their competitions.” She shook her head, then zeroed in on his eyes again. “Bonneville plays dirty. He’s always played dirty. Men have been seriously injured in baseball games before.”
Rupert wasn’t the least bit surprised. He crossed his arms in imitation of her. “So? I can play dirty too.”
She blew out a breath in disgust. “That isn’t the point.”
“What is?”
Her stare hardened. “You could get hurt, or worse.”
“I can take care of myself.”
Her show of strength weakened to something closer to pleading. “Rex suspects there’s something between us.”
The news wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it sent a wave of concern through Rupert nonetheless. He could take care of himself, but if what he’d witnessed from across the church yard was any indication, Bonnie could be in more danger than she suspected. Adding jealousy to an already touchy situation was like pouring oil on a fire.
Bonnie went on. “He…well…Rex and I have an odd understanding.”
“Yes, I know. I don’t like it.”
Her anger flared at his interruption. “He suspects an attachment between us, and he thinks that it could be useful in his efforts to get an heir out of me.”
Rupert snorted. “If that’s so, the man doesn’t know the basics of how babies are made.”
“He’s impotent,” Bonnie hissed. “Has been for years. He started coming around my Place to make it look like he was anything but. He pays me to make it look like he’s a real Casanova.”
A deep whirlwind formed in Rupert’s gut, spreading through him. “Do you mean…are you saying…” He shifted his weight, letting his arms drop and his voice soften. “Bonnie, are you telling me that you haven’t been a prostitute all these years?”
She swallowed and glanced down, letting her arms drop as well. “Not since the fire in Denver. I organized things, I kept a roof over all of our heads and made sure we were fed, but the other girls are the ones who…who brought in the money.”
The warm sensation flooding Rupert expanded, making him feel oddly lighter than air. “So…in the last, what, eight or nine years…you haven’t actually been with any men…but me?”
Slowly, she dragged her eyes up to meet his, then shook her head.
Joy beyond anything he thought he could feel pulsed through him. He reached for her. “Sweetheart. You know you can’t marry Bonneville now. Not when we—”
She backed away, holding up her arms to ward him off. “I need his money,” she said with as much frustration as misery. “How many times do I have to tell you? I owe it to my girls not only to provide better lives for them, but to pay them back for all those years they kept me from having to sell myself to get by.”
Rupert froze with his arms still extended. Every time he thought he understood her thoughts and actions, another level of understanding hit him. Everything was always so much more complicated than he thought it could possibly be.
No sooner had that thought occurred to him then Bonnie went on with, “And now Rex tells me that if I want to keep you around for a while so you can do the job of getting me with child, then he’d be happy to tolerate you.”
“What?”
“Up until the job was done. Then he threatened to have you killed if you didn’t disappear.”
Rage made Rupert hot. He clenched his fists. “And did you slap him for threatening to kill me or for him suggesting I be your stud.”
“Both,” she answered in a tone so dark that for that moment, their rage was shared. It was a terrible way to feel close to someone.
“I’ll tell you what,” Rupert said after a deep breath. “I’ll make a bet with you.”
“Rupert, this is no time for bets,” she shot back.
He ignored her. “I’m going to play in this baseball game, whether you like it or not.”
“Rupert—”
“Furthermore, I am going to win it.”
“You don’t understand the way Rex’s team plays,” she insisted.
“I know men like that. Those cheats who stole my claim were exactly the same sort of men.”
Bonnie snapped her mouth shut, evidently remembering enough about that sad chapter of their lives to be rendered speechless.
“I will win,” Rupert went on, “and when I do, you’ll drop this farce of an engagement to Bonneville and stay with me.”
“Rupert, I can’t just—”
“But if Bonneville wins, you can waltz on over to the church and marry him, and I won’t say a single other thing about it.”
For the second time in as many minutes, Bonnie was speechless. The fire in her eyes told Rupert she wanted to argue with him, but a deeper look of calculation—and sadness—sat behind the initial frustration. “You…you’d let me marry him if he wins, and you won’t try to stop me?”
Rupert sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Heaven help me, but no, I won’t try to stop you. If he wins,” he added.
She bit her lip. She took in a few steadying breaths. She stared at him long and hard. Then she answered, “All right. It’s a deal.”
Triumph soared in Rupert’s chest. “Good. Because I intend to win the heck out of this game and get back to the way things are supposed to be between you and I.”
He hoped she would ask what that was, but instead she just stood there blinking, her face pinched with a hundred different emotions.
Her distress softened his heart. “It’ll be okay, Bonnie.” He reached out to rub her arm, even though he wanted to squeeze her tight and never let her go. “Somehow, it will be okay. For you and for your girls.”
She looked him right in the eyes and said, “Rex holds the deed to my Place.”
It was like a punch in the gut.
“I thought George Pickering gave you the money to build your Place.”
Bonnie shook her head, hesitated, then shrugged. “George was generous. He gave me enough to provide the bank in Denver with proof of my intent so that they would review my loan application.”
“You took out a loan to build your Place?”
She nodded. “And a few years ago, we came within inches of defaulting. Rex gave me the money I needed and more, but in exchange, I had to sign the deed over to him. It was supposed to be until the loan was paid off.” She paused. “I’ve only got one year left to go. Until then, the Place technically belongs to Rex.”
Too many things made sense to Rupert all at once. Money was easy enough to come by. That was the sticking point in this whole situation, the thing he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. Bonnie was smart enough to find money anywhere. But a house? A place of business? Tolerating a bunch of friendly, industrious trollops sitting in church on a Sunday was one thing. Letting them transact business on your property was something entirely different. Without the physical structure of Bonnie’s Place itself, the safe haven his passionate, earnest, self-sacrificing wife was trying to make for her girls was sunk.
Worse still, with the deed in his hands, Rex controlled the situation. He must have known he controlled it too. With or without marriage, he could kick Bonnie and her girls out any time he wanted to. Rupert supposed the only reason he hadn’t already pulled the rug out from under Bonnie was because he still needed something from her. But if she refused him whatever he wa
nted, if she, say, went back to her long-lost husband, foiling the man’s plans to trick the world into thinking he had an heir, it would be a disaster. Bonnie was far, far more trapped than he dared to imagine, and at the moment, he couldn’t see a way out.
“Come on,” he said, low and uncertain. “We’ve got a baseball game to catch.”
A baseball game that, if he won, would give him exactly what he wanted while destroying everything the woman he loved had devoted her life to.
She nodded and took a step past him. At the last minute, he reached for her and pulled her into his arms. He cradled her body against his, smoothing his hands over her curves as his mouth covered hers. This was no kiss for good luck. It was a merging of hearts that ran through his blood and into his soul. His lips crushed hers, but behind the passion was tenderness, devotion, and bone-deep love. He loved her with everything he had, so much that he was beginning to see how vital it was that he lose her.
Haskell as a town took its baseball very seriously. Everyone in town, with very few exceptions, were in the stands on either side of the diamond, bubbling with excitement, as Bonnie made her way through on shaky legs. Everything in her life had taken such horrible turns in the past few days that she had gone numb. It was impossible to go forward with her plan to marry Rex. It was equally impossible to forget everything and run away with Rupert. It seemed like no matter what she chose to do next, she would lose.
So she’d given up, surrendered control of the situation, and staked everything on a bet. Rex or Rupert. She couldn’t decide. The baseball game would decide for her.
“My, you look awfully pale for a brisk, sunny day,” Lucy Faraday greeted her as Bonnie sank onto the empty seat at the end of the grandstands closest to home plate.
“I’m fine,” she answered by rote, knowing she was anything but.
“Here. What you need is a baby in your arms.” She handed over her and Gideon’s youngest, a two-year-old girl named Dorothy.
Bonnie was forced to think fast as Dorothy squirmed into her lap. She was immediately fascinated with the brooch pinned to Bonnie’s collar and reached for it. “No, no, sweetheart.” Bonnie took Dorothy’s hand and kissed it to distract her.
