“Ah yes. Hearth and home and kids and cooking and sewing. The woman’s world,” Edana said with a tinge of bitterness.
“It’s just how things are.”
“Maybe it’s time they changed,” Edana said. “In Wyoming, women even have the right to vote.”
Wells grinned. “So I’ve heard. If the consortium were made up of cowboys, you’d be a shoo-in.” He nodded at Neal and walked off. “See you both in the morning.”
“Well,” Edana said.
Neal refilled his cup.
“I can’t tell you how it feels to have my fate in the hands of men I don’t even know. My entire future rests on their decision.”
“Not all of it,” Neal said. “Some rests on your own.”
Edana looked over. “Oh?”
“That kiss,” Neal said, “and what you told me in the parlor.”
“I suppose we should settle that here and now. I have enough to worry about without our relationship hanging over my head, as well.” Edana took a long breath. “Where do we stand, you and I? Is there a you and I, or am I deluding myself?”
“Before we go on, keep somethin’ in mind,” Neal said. “Folks say that cowboys are a mite shy around women, and we are. Especially ladies like yourself. So if I act tongue-tied, it’s only because I am.”
Edana smiled. “You have no reason whatsoever to be shy around me. We’ve been together for weeks now and you’ve been perfectly fine.”
“That was ranch business,” Neal said. “This is personal.”
“Keep your answers short, if that will help. But I need to know. What are your feelings about me?”
“I like you.”
“Is that all?”
“What more do you want?”
“I want more than ‘like,’” Edana said. “I want to know if you care for me as much as I care for you. Because I’ll tell you right now, I feel for you as I’ve never felt for any man.”
Neal looked away.
Edana felt a clutch of fear. Here she was, baring her heart, and it had never occurred to her that he might not feel as deeply for her as she felt for him. “It wasn’t something I planned. It just happened.”
Neal didn’t say anything.
“I might be making a fool of myself, but I don’t care. I have to get this out while I still can. I’m not my sister. Isolda is much more frank than I am. Much more honest with herself.”
Still looking out the window, Neal said, “You’re as honest as the year is long.”
“I like to think I am,” Edana said. “And except when it comes to my feelings, that’s true. A woman often hides how she feels, even from herself. I’ve hidden mine for a while now.” She decided to let it all out, come what may. “I was attracted to you from the start. I tried telling myself it was only because you’re so easy on the eyes. But it was more than that. You stirred me. You got into my heart. The first couple of weeks I put up a wall. I wouldn’t let myself admit how I truly felt. But bit by bit that wall eroded away until now I’m sitting here spilling my heart to you, and I’m scared to death.”
Neal turned to her. “Scared?”
“Do you realize what it takes for me to admit all this? I’m scared that I’m throwing myself at you and you won’t want me. I’m scared I’m being foolish. I’ve never been as afraid of anything in my life as I am of what you’ll say to me when I’m done baring my soul.”
“That works both ways.”
“How so?” Edana said.
“I’m scared, too. I’m not Beaumont Adams. I’m not a ladies’ man. Words don’t come easy to me. Especially when it involves women. And most especially when it involves a woman I reckon is the finest I ever came across.”
“Oh.” Edana wanted to say more, but it suddenly felt as if she had a lump in her throat.
“Since you’re bein’ so honest with me, I’ll be honest with you.” Neal reached across and placed his hand on hers. “I’d be honored if you’d let me court you. And after we’ve been at it awhile, when we both feel the time is right, I’ll get down on my knee and ask you to be my wife.”
“Why wait?” came out of Edana’s mouth unbidden. She tried to stop herself from saying it but couldn’t.
Neal blinked. “Pardon?”
Edana got the next out before she changed her mind. “How long would you court me? Three months? Six months? A year? Why wait, when we’ve both just admitted we care for each other? Why don’t we send for a parson and get it over with? We can be man and wife by the end of the month, and run the Diamond B together.”
“Ain’t that kind of suddenlike?”
“Some might say so. But so what? Will the outcome be any different six months or a year from now? I’ll want you as much then as I want you now.”
“You don’t know that.”
“To the contrary. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. And if I learned anything from my father, it’s that when you want something, you go after it. You don’t twiddle your thumbs.”
“That’s for business.”
“And for our personal lives, too.” Edana squeezed his hand. “I fail to see the sense in my spending the next half a year alone in this big house wishing you were with me, while you’re down at the bunkhouse wishing you were up here with me, too.”
“But by the end of the month?”
“You’d rather not? You’d rather wait? I’ll abide by whatever you want. But if I have a vote, I’d marry you tomorrow. So there.”
“Lord in heaven.”
“I’m sorry. Have I shocked you?”
“No,” Neal said. “It’s the wonder of it all. You. Me. Together. I’ve dreamed of that happenin’, but it doesn’t seem real.”
“Let’s make it real. Let’s send for that parson.”
Pulling his hand from under hers, Neal stood and stepped to the window. “Life sure does beat all.”
“What do you keeping looking at out there?” Edana asked.
“My past.”
“We should be looking to the future,” Edana said. “To our life as man and wife. Our pasts only count insofar as they’ve brought us together.”
“Our pasts are part of who we are. But you’re right about the rest.” Abruptly turning, Neal came around the kitchen table, set his hat on it, and sank to one knee. Taking her hand in both of his, he ran a finger over her knuckles. “I can’t hardly believe I’m doin’ this.”
Edana grappled with a sudden spike of indecision. She’d put him up to it, but now that the moment of truth had come, a small part of her balked. A tiny voice at the back of her mind warned that she was being too forward, that she was making a mistake, that she should pull her hand free and tell him she needed more time to think about it. Instead she just sat there.
“Edana Jessup,” Neal said formally, “would you like to be my missus?”
Edana was trying not to be emotional, but she felt her eyes brim with tears. “Oh, Neal.”
“Is that a yes or a no?”
Impulsively throwing her arms around him, Edana pressed her face to his shoulder. “Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.”
“Tarnation,” Neal said, and coughed. He gently pried her off, stared longingly into her eyes, then kissed her on the mouth.
“Congratulations, you two.”
Startled, Edana pulled back and rose. It bothered her that their special moment hadn’t been private. “How long have you been standing there?” she demanded.
Over in the doorway, Franklyn Wells was smiling. “Quite a while. I came back for a glass of water and didn’t want to intrude.”
“I’d be grateful if you’d keep it to yourself for the time bein’,” Neal said, standing. “I’d like to be the one the hands hear it from.”
“I understand.” Wells entered and went to the counter and the water pitcher. “Congratulations, my dear.
A brilliant stroke, if I say so myself.”
“Romantic, maybe,” Edana said, “but hardly that.”
“Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”
“I’ve agreed to be his wife.”
“Oh, much more than that.” Wells took a glass from the cupboard. “You’ve ensured that the consortium will agree to keep you on.”
Edana didn’t try to conceal her confusion. “I have?”
“Don’t you see? It’s not just you now.” Wells chuckled. “They’ll be getting two for the price of one, as the saying goes. Any objection they might have had to allowing a woman to manage the ranch will fall by the wayside. It won’t take much for me to convince them that the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Bonner are perfectly suitable to run the Diamond B.”
“That’s not why I’m doing it.”
“I believe you. Permit me to be the first to congratulate the pair of you on your impending nuptials.”
Neal said clasped Edana’s hand, looking happier than she’d ever seen him look. “Nothin’ can stop us now, Mrs. Bonner.”
“I sure hope not,” Edana said.
31
Beaumont Adams woke at his usual time. Rolling over, he rose onto his elbow and admired the profile of the beauty sleeping next to him. He was tempted to caress her but didn’t want to wake her. They’d been up until the small hours of the morning. The memory of it filled him with pleasure.
“You’re staring at me again.”
“I can’t help it,” Beaumont said. “There are days I want to pinch myself to make sure you’re not a figment of my imagination.”
“Not that again.” Isolda cracked an eye. “I’m real and I’m yours for as long as you stay true to me.”
“A match made in heaven.”
“Or hell,” Isolda said.
Beaumont sat up. “Is that any way to talk? Things couldn’t be better. The election is comin’ up. The new hotel is comin’ along nicely. We’re makin’ more money than we know what to do with and—”
Isolda cut him off. “Oh, I know what to do with it. We use it to take over more business and start up new ones. Which reminds me. What about the feed-and-grain?”
“Jensen still refuses to sell. I’ve been over to talk to him twice, but he’s a stubborn cuss.”
“We’ll go together later,” Isolda said. Sliding out of bed, she stretched. She was standing in a shaft of sunlight from their bedroom window, and her lacy nightdress hid little.
“You make my mouth water,” Beaumont said.
“You men. It’s true what they say. You always want more.”
Beaumont stood and donned his robe. He liked this part of the day. They always had a leisurely breakfast together. The rest of the time they were so busy they seldom got to relax.
“How about pancakes this morning?” Isolda asked.
“So long as we have that maple syrup I like. Which reminds me. Why don’t you let me hire a cook and maybe a maid while I’m at it?”
“I’ve never minded cooking,” Isolda said. “It’s one of the few domestic duties I don’t object to.”
Beaumont grinned at the notion of her being domesticated. She was about as tame as a wildcat. Only she hid her wildness from everyone save him.
They were descending the stairs when someone commenced to pound on their front door as if fit to break it down.
“Who can that be?” Isolda wondered.
Taking his derringer from his robe pocket, Beaumont went to the door and peered out. “It’s your spy.”
Stumpy jerked his hat off his head and showed his yellow teeth. “How do, ma’am?” he said. “And to you, too, Mr. Adams.”
Isolda was frowning. “You’re supposed to report to me at the Three Aces. Not here. I told you before that I don’t want to chance someone from the Diamond B seeing us together.”
“This is important,” Stumpy said. “I reckoned you wouldn’t mind just this once.”
Fidgeting with excitement, he shifted his weight from his good foot to his peg leg. “Or have you already gotten an invite?”
“To what?” Isolda said.
“Why, to your sister’s weddin’, of course. She and Neal Bonner are gettin’ hitched.”
Beaumont had never seen his new love struck speechless. She looked so comical he almost laughed.
“That’s right,” Stumpy said, bobbing his head. “Neal broke the news to the punchers in the cookhouse last night. You’d have thought he was walkin’ on air, he was so blamed happy.”
“When is the big event?” Beaumont inquired.
“The end of the month. But I figured you’d want to know right away, Miss Jessup.”
Isolda had recovered her composure. “You did the right thing, Stumpy. There will be a bonus for you this week. Now hustle off before a cowboy from the ranch happens by.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Stumpy jammed his hat on. “Oh. One other thing. Word is, your sister and Neal expect to run the ranch as your pa was goin’ to do.” He smiled and clomped off.
“If I’d had a feather, I could have knocked you over,” Beaumont said as he closed the door.
“My dear, wonderful Edana,” Isolda said, talking to herself, not to him. “Father must be rolling over in his grave. His body is barely cold and you’re taking that cowboy for better or for worse.”
“You’ve taken me,” Beaumont said.
Isolda gave a slight start. “Why, so I have. Only she’s doing everything prim and proper.”
Beaumont didn’t know what to make of her troubled expression. “We can do it prim and proper, too.”
“No. I’ve made my bed and I’ll lie in it.” Isolda laughed a short, cold laugh and made toward the kitchen as if she were mad.
“What’s wrong, darlin’?” Beaumont sometimes found it hard to follow her train of thought.
Isolda didn’t answer.
Taking a seat at the table, Beaumont drummed his fingers. He wasn’t fond of being ignored. When she took out a pan and banged it on the stove, he decided enough was enough. “Didn’t we agree there’d be no secrets between us?”
“It’s wasn’t bad enough she was my father’s favorite,” Isolda said bitterly. “Things continue to break her way after he’s gone.”
“I thought the two of you were close.”
“We got along, for his sake.” Isolda said. “But we were never the best of friends.” She got a bowl out. “Where our father was concerned, I was always second fiddle.”
That was all Beaumont could get out of her. She clammed up. She was still in a foul mood when they left the house an hour later for the feed-and-grain. She brought her parasol along.
They stopped at the Three Aces and Beaumont was taken aback when Isolda told Dyson and Stimms that they were to tag along. They looked at him as if to ask whether they should take orders from her, and he nodded.
Ira Jensen was counting inventory in a back corner of the store when they walked in. A short, balding man, he’d opened the feed-and-grain a couple of months ago, and as the only one in town, he was doing brisk business. He heard their footsteps, turned, and scowled. “Not you again,” he said to Beaumont. “I’ve made it as clear as I can that I have no intention of selling.”
Beaumont was prepared to haggle as long as it took, but his partner had other ideas.
“You’re dealing with me now, not Mr. Adams,” Isolda said.
“And who are you?” Jensen asked.
“Apparently you don’t keep current on local events,” Isolda said. “Be that as it may, I’m tendering our final offer. Sell to us at the fair price Mr. Adams quoted, or before this day is out, you’ll disappear from the face of the earth.”
Beaumont glanced at her in consternation.
“What?” Jensen said.
“You heard me,” Isolda said. “We’re done trying to be reasonable.�
�� She gestured at Stimms, at his big Sharps. “Point that at Mr. Jensen’s face.”
Stimms didn’t look at Beaumont for approval. He raised his rifle to his shoulder, the muzzle inches from Jensen’s nose.
“Now, see here! You can’t treat me like this.”
“Cock it,” Isolda said.
Grinning mightily, Stimms did.
Ira Jensen paled. But he wasn’t a coward. “Lower that thing this instant, do you hear me? I’ll report all of you to the law if you don’t leave this instant.”
“The nearest federal marshal is hundreds of miles away,” Isolda said. “You’d never reach him. The moment we leave, I’m having someone keep an eye on you twenty-four hours of the day until you’ve sold to us and packed and left.”
Jensen appealed to Beaumont. “Why don’t you say something?”
“What the lady wants, she gets.” Beaumont said, enlightening him.
“You can’t force people to do sell out against their will. It’s not right.”
“From your point of view, no,” Isolda said, “but it’s perfectly right for me. I won’t have my will thwarted. Be at the Three Aces in an hour and we’ll finalize the sale. Tell no one about our visit. Should word get back to me that you couldn’t keep your mouth shut, I’ll have it shut permanently.”
“You’re despicable,” Jensen declared.
“Stimms, if he insults me again, squeeze the trigger.”
“Yes, ma’am. Glad to.”
Jensen seemed to fold in on himself in defeat. His shoulders sagged and he lowered his arms and said in a small voice, “I’ll be at the Three Aces in an hour.”
“Excellent.” Isolda brightened and turned. “Gentlemen,” she said, and promenaded out, twirling her parasol. Once they were outside, she stopped. “Dyson, keep watch on him from across the street. If he does anything suspicious, come tell us.”
“Will do, ma’am.” Dyson headed across.
Isolda wasn’t done. “Stimms, go to the stable. Tell the stableman that if Jensen tries to hire a horse in the next hour, he’s to say he doesn’t have one available and to let us know.”
“On my way, ma’am,” Stimms said, and left.
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