“Thank you for coming in for dinner,” she said. “You’d get a better meal outside tonight, I’m sure.”
He put down his spoon and looked up. “This is fine, Letty Sue. And don’t thank me for coming in. It’s fitting a man should share a meal with his…”
Lordy, he couldn’t even say the word. “Wife? It does seem strange, doesn’t it? I mean, the husband-wife thing.”
He let out a small laugh, but didn’t smile. “It’s not what I expected when I took this job, that’s for damn sure.”
“I know, Chase. Listen, what I did—”
“It’s over and done with,” he said, not allowing her to continue. “I understand why you did it.”
“But you still wish I hadn’t.”
“Like I said, it’s done. We’ll just have to live with the mistake awhile.”
It shouldn’t have stung so much, but calling his marriage to her a mistake made her stomach clench in anguish. Was she that unappealing in his eyes? Was she that inept and undesirable as a wife? Gripping pain pierced her heart. She swallowed her pride and asked the question that burned inside her. “Where would you like to sleep tonight?”
He snapped his head up and his expression told her he’d mistaken her meaning. His eyes glittered with heat, holding her to the spot. She froze and cursed herself for choosing those words. It was clear he thought she’d offered herself, when all she wanted to know was if he planned on sleeping outside. Since he’d thought it appropriate to share the meal, she’d been wondering if he’d also deem it fitting that they share the house.
“I’m your husband now. Where do you suppose I should sleep?”
She fidgeted with her napkin and pushed her plate aside. “I only meant will you be moving into the house?”
“Yes,” he answered adamantly, then just as firmly declared, “but I’ll not be coming to your bed.”
Her cheeks flamed, the intense heat warming her like a wool blanket on a chilly night. “Well, I wasn’t offering,” she said in her own defense.
“Wouldn’t matter if you were. I meant what I said last night.” He rose from his seat and leaned over, bracing his palms on the table. His warm breath caressed her face. “No matter how beautiful you are or how much I want to… I won’t bed you. You can sleep in peace, Letty Sue. Thank you for the meal. I’ve got to check on the livestock one last time and then I’ll be moving my things in.”
Letty Sue swallowed hard and watched him walk out the door. She stood then and began clearing away the dishes. She still hadn’t touched her food. She couldn’t, this turn of events being far too unsettling. Lordy, how had she gotten herself into this predicament?
She spent time washing the dishes and cleaning up, then wandered about the house, noting dust layers on the furniture. First thing tomorrow she’d attack that job. Then, of course, there was the wash to do.
Letty Sue was running out of clean clothes.
When night fell, she washed up in her room and donned her nightclothes—a thin chemise covered by a cotton robe. When she heard Chase enter the house, she tiptoed out of her room to stand in the parlor doorway.
He’d set down a pile of his clothes on the wing chair and was sitting on the sofa, removing his shirt. His sigh was long and weary, coming from the depths of his chest. One boot hit the floor, and after the second one collided with the wall, Chase laid out a blanket on the floor next to the hearth. He lowered himself down and closed his eyes. “Good night, Letty Sue.”
“Oh! Uh, I was going to get a glass of milk,” she said, chagrined that she’d been caught watching him. Carefully, she walked past him to the kitchen. “Good night.”
He grunted something unintelligible, then rolled over and went to sleep.
Letty Sue waited until he was breathing deeply, then scurried back to her room.
Lordy, Letty Sue, can things get any worse?
Sally poured tea from a silver service and sat down next to Letty Sue on the Hendersons’ fine tufted satin sofa. “So tell me, what’s it like being married to Chase?” she asked.
Letty Sue couldn’t begin to hide her frown. It tugged at her lips, slanting the corners down. “I don’t know. I don’t feel married at all.”
Sally’s curls bounced when she bobbed her head. “You’ve been married nearly a week now. How can that be?”
Letty Sue shrugged, needing terribly to confide in someone, even if her admission was humiliating. “He’s not been a true husband to me. Oh, he eats my meals— I’ll have to give him credit for that—but that’s where it all ends. We hardly speak. When he comes in late at night, he goes right to bed.”
Her green eyes round, Sally said, “And?”
“And nothing. Oh, Sally, he sleeps in the parlor.”
It was as if the light went out of Sally’s bright eyes. “Oh.” Her shoulders slumped and she took a moment to search Letty Sue’s face. Letty Sue couldn’t mask her disappointment or her frustration, but now, at least, Sally knew. Her friend reached for her hand, clasping it and squeezed gently. “And that’s not exactly how you planned on starting out your marriage, was it, honey?”
Letty Sue had wondered that herself. She should be glad Chase was giving her a way out. Once the marriage was dissolved, she’d be free to do whatever she pleased. She’d still be pure of heart and body, but was that what she really wanted?
Or did she want Chase’s arms about her, loving her, teaching her how to unleash her passion, showing her his?
“Oh Sally, this is all so confusing. I don’t know what I expected. Chase was saving my reputation. He plans…he plans to—”
“To what,” Sally asked softly.
“To end the marriage as soon as Mama comes home.”
“I see,” Sally said, sipping her tea, contemplating.
“I suppose I should be grateful….” Letty Sue let that thought hang in the air.
“But you’re not, are you?”
“Honestly, no. I’m angry and frustrated. He’s so darn noble and still thinks of me as a child. I’m real tired of being protected all the time, Sally. All of my life it was someone—first Mama, then Jasper and now my own husband.”
“Sam said Chase is—”
“Oh pooh, Sally,” Letty Sue interrupted with a wave of her arm. “Let’s not talk about me anymore. Tell me about you and Sam. He’s been coming around, hasn’t he?”
Sally giggled. “Yes, I’ve seen him two times since the church social. My folks invited him to supper tonight.”
“You like him, don’t you?”
“He’s such a fine man, Letty Sue. He’s handsome and intelligent and so very sweet. Why, the other day, he rode up to our ranch sort of late. I didn’t think my pa was going to let me see him, but Sam said he just wanted to give me something, so Pa allowed it. He’d carved a pony for me out of wood. He said he stayed up late every night until it was finished. I didn’t know Sam was so talented. I keep it in my bedroom, under my pillow.”
“Oh Sally, he really likes you. Sam’s been doing the carvings since he was just a boy, and I don’t think he ever gives them away. He keeps a collection of them over his bed in the bunkhouse. He’s been offered money, but he won’t part with them.”
“I like him, Letty Sue,” Sally said, her eyes softening. “Very much.”
Letty Sue wouldn’t begrudge her best friend happiness, but she wondered if she’d ever know that elation herself. Plenty of boys had courted her, but never anyone special, never someone who made her heart stop dead in its tracks, never someone like… Chase.
Her husband.
Letty Sue sighed and realized it was time to head back to the ranch. She had a meal to cook, polite conversation to make, a lonely bed to sleep in.
And then it hit her, like a hammer to a nail, just exactly what she wanted. It frightened her silly, because she knew that where Chase Wheeler was concerned, wanting and getting were two very different notions.
Convincing Chase she wasn’t a child anymore wouldn’t be easy. If only he’d look upon her
as a woman and place his trust in her, then maybe one day she’d have his heart.
And that, she decided with newfound certainty, was what she’d wanted all along.
Letty Sue knotted her hair at the top of her head and pinned it up haphazardly. Then she pushed up the sleeves on her finest gown. It was emerald green satin, its bodice tight, pushing up her breasts. The dress was designed for parties, for dancing and special occasions, not made for what Letty Sue had in mind.
If Mama saw her in this fancy dress, she’d bust her gut, for sure. But Letty Sue had put off the most deplorable job for last, and now not only didn’t she have a clean work dress to wear, she had nothing else to wear.
And today, whether she wanted to or not, she simply had to do the wash.
She grabbed the woven basket piled high with dirty clothes and, with a grunt, lifted the heavy burden. The weighty load rocked her off balance. She righted herself, unable to see where she was going, but managed to proceed out the door.
Why hadn’t she taken Mama up on her offer for temporary household help? A washwoman would come in handy just now, but Letty had stubbornly refused, convincing her mother that she could handle the chores around the house in her never-ending effort to prove her worth.
Joellen hadn’t needed help. She’d run the house and the ranch perfectly, without the assistance of outsiders all these years. Letty Sue simply wanted to prove to her mother that she could do the same.
And now she was paying the price.
With the basket near to overflowing, blocking her view, Letty Sue felt her way toward the washbasin out behind the house.
She supposed if she tried hard enough, she’d get through most of the wash before sundown. But the very thought of breaking her back working over that scrub board made her wince. The cumbersome load tilted and she went along with it. She corrected her position with a twist and the load swayed recklessly. The heap of clothes leaned and pitched as she walked, but she managed to keep herself and the basket upright.
Until her foot met a stone jutting up in her path.
She lost all sense of balance. “Whoa!” she called out, as if the laundry basket was of a mind to listen.
But it was too late. The basket soared up in the air. The clothes went flying in every direction. Letty Sue fell, landing on her bottom with a solid thump, and then, adding insult to injury, the basket flipped over and landed right on top of her head.
Muttering under her breath, she yanked the basket off, tossing it aside. Then immediately wished she hadn’t, because standing right in front of her, wearing the smuggest, most unbearable grin, was Chase Wheeler, her husband.
He crouched down to her level, removing a sock from her shoulder. “That’s the prettiest dress I’ve ever seen you wear, Letty Sue. Plan on going dancing?”
“Shut up, Chase.” She folded her arms across her middle.
He tried to temper his amusement, but failed miserably. There was laughter in his tone. “What in the devil were you trying to do?”
Haughtily she replied, mimicking a Southern belle, “Why, practicing for the cotillion, Mr. Wheeler. Any fool can see that.”
“Now, Letty Sue, no need to be rude. You’ve piled up quite a load of dirty clothes here, I see.” A silky chemise on the ground nearby caught his eye. He lifted it gently, studying it.
She snatched it out of his hands. “I was trying to get the wash over to the basin.” She pointed a finger in that general direction.
His laugh was good and hearty. “Sure looked like dancing to me, the way you were prancing around with that basket.”
She cast him her sternest frown. “A gentleman would have come to my aid.”
He stood, chuckling, and put out his hand. “And miss the fine show you put on?”
Quickly, she glanced around. Lordy, thank heavens no one else had witnessed her ridiculous display. Begrudgingly, she accepted his hand and he hoisted her up, none too gently. She bumped into his chest and almost lost her balance again.
His arms snaked around her waist, righting her and pulling her close. They stood that way for long seconds with Chase staring deeply into her eyes. Then his gaze trekked lower, to her throat, and lower still, to the tight bodice of her gown. Her breasts grew warm, scorched from his intense and blatant scrutiny.
Her ire ebbing, she read the dark, smoky look in his eyes, then boldly roped her arms around his neck. “Chase, we don’t always have to be at odds with each other,” she whispered, her gaze traveling over his face, to finally rest on his mouth. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted to feel once again the heady sensation of his lips on hers. She wanted to taste him, to explore what they’d started that night when he’d come to her beaten and bruised. She wanted him to touch her, to breathe her name, to take her most prized possession. The need was strong within her and she lost all sense of pride with her brazen behavior. She parted her lips.
“We don’t?” he asked, seemingly fascinated and perfectly content to peruse her mouth. The pressure from his hands at her waist tightened.
Slowly she shook her head. “No,” she replied in a breathy voice.
He bent his head and she anticipated the beauty of their lips joining. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he jerked back, releasing his hold on her. Blinking his eyes, he shook his head as if to break free of the spell they’d been under.
“Chase?”
With his fist, he clipped her chin gently, and winked. “Think I’ve dreamed up a new Cheyenne name for you, darlin’.”
It was as if Chase was another person now, the guarded, arrogant, stubborn man she’d married. How rapidly he’d switched from tender to unyielding.
“Oh?”
“Twisted-foot Woman.”
Twisted-foot Woman?
“Oh!” There was no mistaking his insult. He thought her clumsy, graceless, an awkward child walking in a woman’s shoes.
Letty Sue’s heart plummeted.
She waited for Chase to take it back, to fix it, to make everything all right, but he didn’t. He stood there, perhaps with a bit of regret in his eyes, but he didn’t apologize, and she knew he wouldn’t. He’d meant what he said.
She turned then and briskly walked away without giving Chase a second glance, false pride spurring her on.
But it was no use. Pity the poor fool who thought she could change a man who was set in his ways.
He didn’t want this marriage.
He barely tolerated her.
He would never trust her.
And she didn’t think she could live this way any longer.
Not only was her pride hurt, but now the pain also involved her heart. And the sad truth remained, no matter how hard she’d tried to deny it. She was done with lying to herself.
The marriage was hopeless.
Chapter Twelve
Chase pounded the last nail into the wood plank on the barn wall. He glanced over his shoulder, as he had all afternoon long, hoping to catch another glimpse of Letty Sue. Earlier and from a distance, he’d watched her struggle with the wash, but she hadn’t come out of the house since.
With the repairs done, Chase couldn’t put off going in to dinner any longer. The sun was beginning to set. It was late, but he’d hoped that at least once this afternoon, Letty Sue would have come out so that he’d know she was all right.
Damn, he hadn’t meant to hurt her. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He knew well and good that his comments would spark her anger, but that’s exactly what he’d intended.
The woman was getting under his skin. She was breathtakingly beautiful. He had trouble looking at her at times, knowing she was his wife and that he had every right to take her to bed. The temptation tested him daily.
But when she started in with those long sultry looks and breathy whispers, when she told him with her beckoning blue eyes and delectable body that he could have her, Chase had no choice but to back off, to deny them both what they wanted.
And if that meant injuring her feelings to keep her away, well, it had to be
done.
Chase slapped his leather gloves together, and sawdust powdered the air. He retired his work gloves to his back pocket, then washed up outside in a pail, splashing water on his face. The cool stream trickling from his jaw was refreshing.
He glanced at the back door, hesitant to enter. He never knew what mood his wife would be in when he came in at night. Sometimes she was talkative. He’d sit and listen, engrossed in the soothing lilt of her spirited voice. Sometimes she’d be quiet, but cordial, and they’d eat a peaceful meal, the silence often seeming more intimate, as though they were comfortable with one another.
He liked those times, too.
“Letty Sue,” he called out, hoping she’d greet him at the back door as she had so many times before.
He tossed his hat on a peg and noted the kitchen table was set for one. A piece of parchment sat under his plate. He lifted it and read the note:
I’ve decided to meet Mama in St. Louis as she requested. I’m busy making plans for my trip. Your supper is in the pot on the stove.
Letty Sue.
Chase took a long pull of air, then dropped the note on the table. He stared at it for a time, scrubbing his jaw with a hand.
Her leaving was for the best, he thought, but he hadn’t expected this, and it stung a bit.
His wife was leaving him.
Well, it’d be better for Letty Sue to be the one to leave. Then she could hold her head up high in this town. He’d wanted to protect her name and her reputation, but he’d also unintentionally hurt her. At least this way Letty Sue could save face.
He’d planned on dissolving the marriage anyway, then taking off, perhaps to rejoin Seth Johnston at his spread in Abilene.
Yep, it was better this way.
On impulse, Chase walked to Letty Sue’s bedroom and knocked sharply. “Letty Sue,” he said, “I’d like to speak with you.”
A minute passed, then the door jerked open. She smiled warmly, surprising him. “Chase.”
“I, uh, got your note.”
“Yes, well,” she began airily, “sorry I couldn’t join you for dinner, but I have much to do before I leave. I’m composing a telegram to send to my folks. Arrangements must be made.”
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