In the Shadow of the Mountains

by Rosanne Bittner

  Her eyes lit up. “Oh, Chad, it sounds wonderful!”

  “Then we’ll do it. Let’s go and show your mother the ring.”

  “One more kiss,” she begged.

  Her eyes met his, and Chad gladly obliged. He was surprised how happy he felt, that he did want to marry her. He reasoned that taking a wife was just one more bit of proof that he was a real man. He already had the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten Susan Stanner pregnant. What better proof of manhood was there than that? Now Irene would have his children—his legal children—and he would openly prove that his seed was strong.

  He whisked her up in his arms and carried her off the balcony, stopping to grab up his jacket but keeping her in his arms as he walked through the ballroom and down the stairs. Irene was laughing the whole way. “Don’t drop me,” she pleaded, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as he joined in her laughter.

  “Do you think I want to answer to your mother for dropping you down these stairs?” he answered. “Can’t you just picture the look on her face? I’d be run out of Denver.”

  Chad carried her to the parlor, while Esther Sanchez and Jenny Porter watched from where they were still cleaning the grand dining table. They looked at each other and giggled, both greatly envying Irene Kirkland for landing the handsomest, most eligible bachelor in the Territory. He carried Irene into the parlor and set her on her feet, and she rushed to show her mother the ring. Bea beamed in an unusually warm smile as she studied it, congratulating them both, embracing her daughter.

  “We’ll have a party announcing the engagement,” she told them, always delighted to do something that would make the society column of the Rocky Mountain News. “Come and let’s show John and Elly. They’re up in their rooms.” She took Irene’s arm and led her to the door. “Chad, I have some business to talk about with you later. Why don’t you just stay the night here? You can use the guest room you used after the fire. Besides, all this Indian trouble worries me a little. I’ll be glad when Kirk gets back.”

  “Sure. I’ll stay,” he answered Bea. He looked lovingly at Irene. “The ring isn’t too heavy for your hand, is it?”

  She laughed and shook her head, turning to go out with her mother. Chad watched, feeling a moment of unusual peace, a peace only Irene gave him. It lasted only until he heard them greet Elly in the hallway. Irene exclaimed over the ring, and he heard Elly say it was beautiful; but there was no enthusiasm in her voice, and only Chad knew why. Much as he enjoyed cavorting with women, Elly was one young lady he wished had no interest in him.

  She appeared at the doorway to the parlor then, giving him an irritating look that told him she knew too much. “Well, you finally asked her,” she said, sauntering closer. “Congratulations, Chad. I hope you’ll both be very happy.”

  “I’m sure we will be,” he answered, his momentary happiness leaving him. She came closer and instantly aroused all the worst in him. “I’ll never forget what we said, Chad, or the way you touched me that day we talked in the sewing room,” she whispered. “I still love you, but I know we can’t be together…at least not now.”

  He wasn’t sure what she meant by “not now,” and he was not about to ask.

  She toyed with the ruffles of his shirt. “Did you hear Susan Stanner isn’t really dead at all. Her parents just said she was because she was pregnant and they wanted to get her out of Denver?”

  Chad visibly paled. “What!”

  Elly broke into laughter and whirled around, lifting her skirt as she did so. “I was just joking.” She laughed again, then came closer, and Chad wrestled with a strong desire to knock the smile off her face. He realized with sudden clarity that she reminded him of his own mother. It wasn’t her looks, but those eyes, her teasing ways. A whore at heart. He could spot one a mile away. But Elly remained dangerous, and he had to humor her.

  “You’re quite a tease, aren’t you?” He grabbed her arms and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Now leave me alone, Miss Kirkland. This is a happy night for me.”

  “And you’re staying all night?”

  He read her eyes warily, then lightly pushed her away. “I’m going to find Irene and John.” He quickly left the room, hating her with great passion, wanting her with equal passion. There was not one thing physically attractive about the girl, but she represented another conquest, another victory he could not resist.

  Elly’s heart beat wildly as she approached the door to Chad’s room. The house was dead quiet, everyone asleep, even the servants. She knew the only person who might have heard her steps would have been her father, a man accustomed to listening even when asleep, senses still alert from his days of living the dangerous life of a trapper.

  But David Kirkland was not here, and she knew this might be her only chance to realize a wonderful “first” on her sister. Irene was older. She got to have her thirteenth birthday party first, was first to wear a low-cut dress and have a coming-out party, first to go to finishing school. She was first in her father and mother’s hearts, and she had been chosen to be the one allowed to marry Chad Jacobs. Irene was beautiful, perfect, special, worshipped.

  Elly was determined to have the last laugh on her sister. She knew something about Chad Irene didn’t know. She also knew something about Irene that Chad didn’t know—that Irene had loved and kissed a Mexican man. Such secret knowledge gave her a wonderful feeling of power. She could use either secret to worm her way out of trouble if the hurt she brought either Chad or Irene came back at her. Neither of them could threaten her, because she could threaten them right back.

  She was determined now that if she could not have Chad for herself, she would at least share his body before Irene did. She quietly opened the door, glad it did not squeak, already wondering what other marvelous secrets she could discover to build her power. Between her cleverness, and the money she would one day inherit, it was Elly Kirkland who would one day be the first lady of Denver, much more powerful than her mother, she was sure. And someday, somehow, she would bring Irene down from her exalted throne. She needed something much more destructive than her sister’s girlish passion for Ramon. Perhaps once Irene married Chad, and Chad continued his sordid affairs, which Elly had no doubt he would, maybe then she would find a way to malign Irene, make her sister appear to be a bad wife somehow, a disappointment to her handsome, caring, loving husband.

  Elly approached the four-poster bed, where Chad slept quietly. She dropped her robe, then carefully lifted the covers, her heart pounding so hard she was sure it would awaken someone. She slid her young, naked body under the covers, moving close to Chad and wondering what to expect, if it would hurt. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she did it.

  He groaned slightly and shifted, and she daringly reached out, realizing with shock and utter ecstasy that he slept naked. She touched that part of a man that fascinated her. She had sneaked a peek at her brother more than once, out of curiosity, and she wondered how that soft thing could get inside a woman to make a baby. It took only seconds to understand. She was surprised and at first frightened when she felt the sudden swelling in her hand.

  Chad jumped awake, grasping her arm. “What the—” At first he thought that by some miracle it might be Irene who had come to his bed. Someone planted her mouth over his and moved her hand back to his privates, arousing him in his sleepy state almost to the point of no return. She left his mouth and moved her lips to his ear.

  “I want it to be me, Chad,” she whispered. “Let me be first.”

  All his senses came alert then, and he grasped her shoulders, pushing her back and rolling on top of her. “Elly?”

  “Please, Chad. I won’t ever, ever tell, because I might want to come back to your bed again sometime when the time is right. I swear to God I won’t tell, but I will if you turn me away. I’ll make a fuss and say you lured me in here.”

  She felt him stiffen. “You reckless bitch,” he hissed.

  She reached up and touched his face. “You said you loved me, that sometim
es you wanted me. Feel me, Chad. You’ll see I’m a woman. I’m fourteen. I’m old enough.”

  “For God’s sake, Elly, you’re Irene’s sister!”

  Now that his eyes were adjusted to the dark room, he could see her smiling. “Does that really matter to a man like you? I think you’re the one who ruined Susan Stanner, and she was a preacher’s daughter. That didn’t stop you.” She felt his privates again, astonished at the magnificent swelling there. She had seen horses mate once, and realized now the same thing happened to a man. “I’ll tell, Chad. I swear I’ll tell if you don’t make love to me. Please? If I can’t have you for a husband, then at least let me have you this way before Irene. I want to be a woman, Chad, and I don’t want anybody else to be my first.”

  They spoke in whispers. The dark room, her hand gently massaging that part of him so easily aroused was more than he could fight. She was a whore hungering a man, just like his mother, just like all the others. There was nothing wrong with a married man having his flings. Even David Kirkland had loved a whore. And, after all, he was not a husband yet.

  He grasped Elly’s face in his hands. “If you ever let this out, you’ll never see me again, Elly Kirkland,” he swore.

  “I would never want that. I won’t tell.”

  He drew in his breath. He could no longer resist her lustful desire, and he met her mouth, suddenly, hungrily, brutally. He took her hand from himself and moved his own hand between her legs, bringing a soft whimper to her throat as his fingers found the hot moistness that told him this young girl was as eager for him as Susan had been. He used his fingers expertly, and she drew a pillow over her face to stifle her pants of passion, while he moved his lips to devour the taut dark nipple of her full breast, breasts too big for such a young girl.

  He moved between her legs. If she wanted this, she would get it. She was begging for it, just as the others had. He hated them all but gladly obliged them. He pushed hard, and Elly Kirkland was no longer a child.

  Ramon opened the door, stunned to see it was Chad Jacobs who’d knocked. Why would this man who was to marry Irene be at his door—he must have found out about Ramon and Irene! Was he here to order him out of Denver? Put him out of business?

  “Yes?” he asked quietly.

  To his further amazement, Chad gave him a most charming smile and offered his hand. “Ramon Vallejo?”

  Ramon watched him warily but took the man’s hand. “Sí. What can I do for you, Señor Jacobs?”

  “You know who I am?”

  Ramon thought of the day of the parade, after the victory at Glorietta Pass, when he had seen Chad run up and hug Irene. “Sí, señor. I have seen you around. You are a popular man, a right-hand man to Señora Kirkland. I read the article in the News, that you are to marry Señorita Irene Kirkland. I…have met her.”

  “Well, then, I don’t need to introduce myself. May I come in?”

  Ramon, still confused, stepped aside, allowing Chad inside his home. Chad studied the beautiful Mexican woman who looked up at him from the table where she sat holding a child of perhaps eight or nine months of age and feeding him soft potatoes. He nodded to her, recalling the grand time he’d had in bed once with a Mexican whore who was so hot for him he could hardly keep up with her. This one, though, seemed quite proper. He didn’t see any lust in her eyes when she greeted him.

  “This is my wife, Elena,” Ramon told Chad. Ramon asked Elena to get Chad some coffee, but Chad refused.

  “I don’t mean to stay long. Actually, I came here to talk business,” Chad told Ramon.

  Ramon led Chad into his office, a small addition to his stucco house. Everywhere Chad looked he saw Spanish rugs and paintings, vases painted in Spanish design, Spanish-style furniture. In Ramon’s office a poncho hung on a coatrack, and Spanish-style boots sat in a corner, decorated with silver conchos.

  Ramon sat down behind a teakwood desk with a beautifully designed border and legs, a spray of flowers carved into its back where customers could see the work. “Your desk is magnificent,” Chad told him. “Did you carve it yourself?”

  “Sí. It is my work. I did it for advertising. When customers come in they see what I can do.”

  Chad grinned, shaking his head and sitting down. It was obvious Ramon was doing well and would probably do even better in time. “Well, it’s damn good advertising.”

  Ramon remained wary. He didn’t like this man at all, but he did not have much choice but to be friendly to him. Ramon could understand why women probably came easy to this man. He doubted there were many who could resist him, and it tore at his heart that Irene probably trusted him implicitly. He would hurt her. Ramon was sure of it. He wondered if he could keep from killing the man if he destroyed Irene’s lovely personality and delicate trust. More than that, his insides burned with jealousy at the thought of Chad Jacobs making love to Irene, being her first man. That was a privilege he had once dreamed would be his own. He hoped the man would be gentle and understanding with her.

  “What can I do for you, Señor Jacobs?”

  Chad sat down across from him. “Well, Miss Kirkland and I are getting married next spring. After that, we’re going south for our honeymoon, then to Europe. When we return, I’d like to have a home of our own ready to move into. I figure one could be completed between now and then. It wouldn’t be anything as huge or grand as the Kirkland mansion, but I want it damn nice. You’ve got a reputation for being the best carpenter in Denver. I already know Irene loves your work, and I’ve seen the carving you did at the Kirkland mansion. I’d like you to build our house for us.”

  Ramon stared at him in near shock, struggling to hide his emotions. How little the man realized what a difficult task such a thing would be for him, to build the home his beloved Irene would share with another man! How could he explain such a thing to Chad Jacobs? He searched for his voice, while he glanced down at some work on his desk to hide his eyes. “I am a very busy man, señor. I am booked up for weeks.”

  “Come on, Ramon. Refer them to someone else. I really want you to do this. What better advertising could there be than to be the man hired to build a new house for the Kirkland’s newly wed daughter and her attorney husband? Hell, I’ll pay you twice the asking price. You’ll make a fortune, and you’ll build your business besides.”

  Ramon met Chad’s eyes. Did the man know? Was he doing this just to be cruel? No. He would know it by Chad Jacobs’s eyes, and he saw only genuine friendliness there. He reasoned the man would be easy to like, if he was not the cad Ramon suspected he was—and if he was not the man who would be sharing Irene’s bed.

  “Does Señorita Kirkland know about this?” he asked.

  “Irene? No. I want to surprise her. She loves your work, and I’m building the house as a wedding present.”

  Oh, she will most certainly be surprised, Ramon thought. Cruelly surprised. “What about her mother?” Ramon asked then. “She is not fond of Mexicans.”

  Chad waved him off. “Don’t worry about Bea. She goes along with anything I want to do. Besides, she let you do the carving work at her own home, didn’t she?”

  Ramon realized Bea had kept her word, had never told a soul about what had happened between him and Irene, or about her talk with him. He could think of only one good reason to do this job, and that was to imagine the look on Bea Kirkland’s face when Chad Jacobs told his future mother-in-law who would be building his and Irene’s new home. The woman would be in shock, but she would have no valid excuse for telling Chad not to hire Ramon, unless she wanted to tell Chad the truth, which Ramon knew now she would never do. Bea wanted this marriage.

  The only drawback was that it would be hard on Irene—and hard on his own emotions. Still, his goal was to become as rich and powerful as he could—and someday give Bea Kirkland a run for her money. He would be important enough in Denver society that he could not be ignored by Denver’s highest circles. He wanted to make Bea Kirkland eat crow. This job could do wonders for his business. And even though it would be a s
train on both him and Irene, it would give him a chance to be near her, to keep an eye on her happiness.

  Still, was that any longer any of his business? “I will need a day or two to think about this,” he told Chad. “There are other customers I will have to disappoint. I do not want to turn down too many. If I take the job, I would rather work extra hours and finish some others already promised. I would not be able to start until at least October or November, but I would try very hard to finish by the time you are back and ready to move in. I need to know what kind of house you want so that I can go ahead and order some of the things I will need.”

  “Fine. I’ll talk to Irene and we’ll let you know.”

  “The only thing that might slow me up is the Indian trouble. Sometimes it is hard to get supplies through.”

  “Then we’ll order as much as we can through Kirkland Supplies, out of San Francisco, rather than from the East. That will help.”

  Ramon thought of how utterly irritating and frustrating that would be for Bea Kirkland. “Sí, we could do that. I will give you my decision the day after tomorrow.”

  “Good. I hope you’ll do it.” Chad rose, putting out his hand again.

  Ramon shook it, gauging the man’s strength. “Thank you for thinking of me, señor. It is true this job would help my business a great deal.”

  “After Irene and I get back, we’ll have a housewarming party, and you’ll be invited. A good many of Denver’s elite will be there. Some of those people will pay outrageous prices for what they want. You can drum up even more business and start catering to people who will make you a rich man.”

  No, Ramon thought, this man surely didn’t know about him and Irene, or he would not be doing all this for him. How sad that he could never like the man. “That would be a great advantage. Thank you again, Chad.”

  Ramon led him back into the main house and to the door. After closing it he turned to look at Elena. She gazed at him with tear-filled eyes. “You left the door open,” she told him. “I heard. Will you do it?”