How Miss West Was Won

by Lexie Clark

  “You have to ask?” Cordelia stiffened under his touch, and he released her. She took a step back. “Since you have not found anything, I suggest we pack up the lunch and go back to the Four Fours.”

  “Not before I get an answer to why,” Eli said. “I’m asking you to stay at the ranch with me after this situation is resolved. In my own way I am asking you to marry me, truly marry me.”

  Her heart caught in her throat, and for a moment she thought she would cry. But then she took a few calming breaths and said, “No.” She turned away from him, walking toward the creek.

  “Why?” Eli said from behind her. “The two of us are good together, Cordelia. We have enjoyed our time with games and books… and in bed.”

  The tears were swimming in her eyes now. She blinked them away but did not turn back toward him. “I will not stay with you, Eli, when you think you have the right to spank me because you deem it necessary.” Thinking about the last spanking he had given her strengthened her resolve. “If you can promise me that you will not take me over your knee again, I will consider your proposition.”

  She turned now to watch his reaction to her words. To her surprise, he smiled. “Even in bed? I do believe your climax was extremely – satisfying – when I spanked you while we were making love.”

  Cordelia blushed at the memory of the erotic experience. She had never thought to do something like they had done together. She had opened herself to him, and it had been incredibly sensual and stimulating. The climax had been more than satisfying. It had been incredible.

  But was the chance of another such incident enough to entice her to stay? If she went back to New York, there was every chance she could find another lover, but she did not think he would be as – she stopped her thoughts before they could be completed. After William had died, she had told herself she would never open up to another man again, but yet she had done so with Eli. In truth, she had opened herself more to Eli than she ever had to William, letting Eli take her maidenhead and come into her bed to fill her several times after that.

  She had feelings for him that she did not quite understand, but that did not mean she would allow herself to be abused when he decided she needed punishment. “If you can promise me you will not spank me anymore, I will stay. I will be a true mail-order bride for you.” Her whole body felt as if she were in a fire as she waited for his response. When it came, she felt as if she might topple over from grief.

  “I can’t promise you that, Cordelia,” he said. “I will spank you, both for discipline, and in our bed.”

  “Then I will not stay,” she said.

  There were a short pause before Eli said, “You’ll change your mind. When it is time to leave, you will find out you love your life here, and that you and I are good together.”

  Cordelia ran her hands over her hips. It felt strange to do so, since she was not wearing her usual costume of skirt and petticoats. The trousers felt alien to her, and truthfully, they matched the way she felt after Eli’s proposal. “My bottom hurts from last night. I am going to take a walk before we ride back to the Four Fours. That will give you time to gather up the remnants from our lunch.”

  She didn’t give him time to answer. Instead, she hurried down to the creek, watching her footing as she walked so that she would not fall. Behind her she heard Eli say, “We will discuss this later,” and she had no doubt that he would bring up the subject again.

  But she would find some way around it, of that she was certain. The beauty of the land distracted her as she walked along the creek. It was wider in some spots, and she wondered what was on the other side. There was little cleared land across the creek, and the other side contained more trees. She looked up and could tell by the way some trees towered over the others that the land was steeper over there.

  She wanted to explore that side, but there was no bridge to cross. She wondered if the property beyond the creek belonged to the Four Fours or if it was someone else’s land. It was something she would ask Eli when they were riding back to the house. It would keep the discussion away from his afternoon proposal.

  Cordelia continued on, carefully making her way along. She had walked for a while when she came across something that made her frown. It was a rope, tied to a tree on the far side of the creek and extended over the water.

  She had seen rope bridges before, but this was not one of them. In this spot the water was not as wide, and it looked as someone could use the rope to pull themselves to the other side of the creek. What would it be doing all the way out here?

  The better question, Cordelia thought, was did this rope have anything to do with the person who had broken into the house the other evening, or the person who had assaulted Mrs. Dunlap?

  Something told her it did. The urge to investigate further was strong, but it was also a bad idea that Cordelia quickly quashed. She needed to show this to Eli. He could tell her if it was something new, or if it had been there for a while and had been used by people to make their way across the water.

  As quietly as possible, Cordelia turned and started to backtrack. The forest was quiet, but she still felt as if someone was watching her. She quickened her step. As she walked, she realized she had not known she had gone so far.

  Nerves took over as the path wore on; they finally eased a little when she heard Eli call her name. “This way,” she answered. He did not respond and she called out, “Eli, I am here. Where are you?”

  “Over here,” he responded. Cordelia hurried in the direction of his voice, the fear she had felt earlier fading as she came into the clearing where they had eaten.

  “What is wrong?” he asked her as she flung herself against him. Feeling his arms around her made her feel safe, but it also made her feel silly that she had allowed something as small as seeing a length of rope make her panic.

  She took several deep breaths and then told him what she had found. “I feel foolish now, because I am sure it is something that has been there for a while, and has nothing to do with the person who has been coming into the house.”

  One glance at Eli’s face told her she was wrong about her assumption though. “It is something new?”

  “Yes.” Eli walked to the edge of the creek and peered down the way she had just returned. With his back to her she could not see his expression, but she could tell by the way his body had tensed that he was not happy with this new development. “Did you see anyone?” he asked her.

  “No,” she said, “but… I felt as if someone was watching me.”

  A dark look crossed over Eli’s face. He took her by the arm and led her toward the horses. The place where they had picnicked was clean. “Let’s go,” Eli said as he grabbed her horse’s reins.

  “I thought you would want to see the place—” but she did not get a chance to finish the sentence. Eli lifted her up into the saddle.

  “We’ll come back when we have help,” Eli said as he mounted his own horse. “We’ll need to hurry. I hope you’re up to it.”

  Cordelia was not sure she was up to it, but there was no way she was going to complain and slow them down. She would keep up with Eli both going to the house, and coming back with reinforcements.

  * * *

  “Stuart!” Eli yelled for his cousin several times as he rode toward the barn at breakneck speed. He had stopped several times on the way back to check on Cordelia, but once they were in the clearing she had yelled at him to go ahead, that she would be fine. He had taken her word and hurried toward the house.

  It was getting close to dark, and going out again tonight would probably not be a good idea. But they could get a group together and be ready to go at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

  That might not be a good idea, though, since Cordelia was sure someone had seen her. Whatever was going on up there needed to be investigated tonight, even if it meant doing it in the dark.

  “Stuart!” Eli yelled again. This time his cousin appeared in the barn door. He had a brush in one hand, as if he’d been taking care of his
horse.

  “Saddle up,” Eli commanded. “Then go and find some men, four or five of them that you trust. Something’s going on in the foothills near the creek.”

  “Really?” Stuart seemed unimpressed. “Well, if you had come to see me more quickly, we could have discussed some information I had and maybe found out about this sooner.”

  “What are you talking about?” Eli demanded. “Don’t talk nonsense to me, we’re burning daylight.”

  Just as the words left his mouth, Cordelia rode up. She looked disheveled and was breathing heavily, as if she were the one who had been running and not the horse.

  “Listen to me, Eli,” Stuart said, his voice tight with anger. “I’ve been trying to talk to you since the party. Melody told me her husband quit his job, but he’s been doing work at night on a new mine that someone discovered. They’re doing it on the sly.”

  “Mine?” Eli said, as the words worked through his brain.

  “Gold mine,” Stuart said. “A gold mine on the Four Fours.”

  “Oh my,” Cordelia said. “But—”

  “The way I see it,” Stuart said, “is they discovered the mine, I don’t know how. They set up a scheme where Constance would come in and marry Eli and after he was dead, which wouldn’t be long after they were married, she and whoever she is working with would have control of the land.”

  “And control of the mine,” Eli said. He felt as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “Who could it be?”

  Stuart kicked at the dirt. “I have my suspicions. I think, personally, Constance is working with Reese.”

  Eli dismounted and then went to help Cordelia down. Doing that gave him time to think. He had known Reese forever. He might have suggested his name when they were making the list earlier, but Eli hadn't really thought it possible. Would his friend do something like this for money?

  “Tell me why you think it’s Reese,” he finally said.

  Stuart clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Well, to me it was the break in at the store.”

  Eli remained stoic. “Explain.”

  “Look at it this way,” Stuart said. “Reese has figured out that you know Constance is a fake. He knows that, if the mine is found, there will be items from his store there, items used in getting the gold out. Now, he can tell people he sold it to the miners, but the amount of equipment needed would be quite a bit. He would have asked people why they were buying it, what they were using it for. You know Reese, he’s always asking questions about stuff. But if it was stolen… well, then you’re clueless.”

  Eli wanted to yell that there was no way Reese was involved in this.

  “Then, there’s Constance,” Stuart continued. “Where did Reese go last year to buy things for the store?”

  That question put a nail in Reese’s coffin, as far as Eli was concerned. “He went to London.”

  “And he was very proud of what he brought back, the museums he went to and the plays he saw,” Stuart said. “I just figured that part out today, it just sort of hit me.”

  “You need to send for Jacob,” Cordelia said. Eli had almost forgotten she was there, since she had been so quiet.

  Stuart shook his head. “That’s a bad idea. Reese would be watching, and if we called the marshal out here, then Reese would know we were onto something. Eli’s right. We need to take a few men up there and see what’s what.”

  Eli was still having trouble thinking Reese was the person behind everything, but then again, there was no one else he could see in that position.

  “It makes sense,” Cordelia said. “He could have gone into the house for several reasons, either looking for deeds to prove ownership of the land, or looking for correspondence between the two of us before our purported marriage.”

  Eli thought about it for a few minutes. “If it’s the latter, then it is more than likely that it is Reese that we’re looking at as a suspect. Nathan has all of my legal papers locked in a safe in his office. And he knows that you and I aren’t legally married.”

  It was as if the world were spinning faster and faster. First the idea of there being gold on his land, and then the idea of his friend trying to steal it out from under his nose? It just didn’t make any sense to him.

  He stared at the ground for a while, wondering how this could have happened without his knowing about it. How could there be gold up there, and how could Reese have kept it from him?

  Different scenarios kept running through his mind, but none of them made sense. Instead of going to the creek and seeing where the rope led, he had half a mind to go into Boulder and confront Reese on the spot. But that was a bad idea. Stuart was right that the burglary gave him a perfect excuse as to why things that might have come from his store were being used in illegal activity.

  “Stuart, round up four men you can trust and tell them to be ready at the crack of dawn.”

  “Will do,” Stuart said. He turned back toward the barn and Eli turned toward the house. Cordelia fell into step beside him. She had to hurry to keep up with him, and when they reached the porch, she put her hand on his arm.

  “I want to go tomorrow.”

  Eli shook his head. “That’s a bad idea.” He mounted the steps quickly and put his hand on the doorknob. Before he could open it, Cordelia put her hand on his arm.

  “Are you saying this because I refused to marry you?”

  “I’m saying this because it could get dangerous. There is no telling what is happening up there, and I don’t want to put you in harm’s way.”

  He could tell by the look on her face this wasn’t the thing to say. Her eyes were narrowed just a little, and her posture was tensed. “I deserve to know what is happening up there,” she said.

  “And I will tell you as soon as we get back,” he responded. He kept his tone even. He did not want to provoke a fight, because he still had high hopes that Cordelia would stay with him and they would be together for the rest of their lives.

  “Cordelia,” he said, keeping his voice soft. “Please don’t take this wrong, but it is rough terrain up there, and—”

  “And I would slow you down,” she said. “I understand.”

  For a moment, he thought she would object again, tell him she would be able to keep up and help investigate whatever was on the other end of the rope. But she didn’t. She took her hand off his and opened the door. When she was inside she headed for the stairs.

  Eli wanted to follow her, to try and talk about the proposal he’d made that afternoon. But he was sure now was not the time. It would be better if he did it after all this was solved. If she stayed around long enough, that is. She certainly hadn’t reacted to his proposal the way that he’d hoped. Once things were over, he would focus all his attention on her.

  And he would win her over, if it was the last thing he ever did.

  * * *

  Moonlight drifted in through the curtains. The clock had told her it was just after two in the morning. Sleep had evaded her, and she knew it was not coming to Eli either, because he was downstairs talking to Stuart and a few men who worked on the ranch. They were going over plans for their exploration tomorrow morning... no, not tomorrow morning, today.

  She had tried to listen in at the door, but when she had heard Eli say something about getting a drink from the kitchen, she had left as quickly as she could.

  The desire to go with them was strong, but she knew it was not something she could do. Riding the horse today had been hard enough. With no skills in the saddle, she would do nothing but cause trouble tomorrow.

  The lifestyle out here was so different than what she was used to in New York. But if she changed her mind and stayed, she was sure she could learn how to do everything. She did not have to worry about fitting in, because she felt like she was already part of the family.

  There was just one thing that kept her from saying yes, and that was the spankings she had received. Not all of them, a voice said in her mind. You have to take the good with the bad, and the good part with Eli w
as not just good, it was extraordinary. Maybe she should stay.

  “You’re in deep thought.” Eli’s voice shocked her. She looked toward where he stood in the doorway.

  “I thought you were downstairs.”

  He came into her room and shut the door. “We thought a little sleep would do us good. I wanted to check on you before I slept.”

  She smiled at him, his words warming her heart. “I am fine, Eli.” She stood and walked to him. “I am not going to follow you if that is what you are worried about.”

  His smile made her laugh. “I have to admit I thought you would try something like that,” Eli said. “It fits right in with your nature.”

  “Which is?” she asked.

  “Wanting to be in control of things, and if that is not possible, not wanting to be left out.”

  Cordelia did not correct him, because it was the truth. It was hard to realize he knew her so well after they had spent so little time together.

  “Will you make love with me before we leave?”

  His words made her nipples harden and flooded the region between her legs. “No,” she said, her voice soft. “I do not want to tire you out. What I want is for you to lie down and sleep, so that you are well rested when the time comes for you and the men to leave in the morning.”

  “Will you sleep with me?”

  For a moment, she thought about saying no. Instead, she nodded.

  The incredibly sexy smile he gave her almost made her change her mind. “Will you sleep naked?”

  Cordelia shook her head. “You know what would happen if that came to pass. Take off your boots and get into bed, Eli.”

  She watched as he stripped, leaving not one stitch of clothing on his body. He lay down in the bed and patted the space next to him. His manhood was rigid, and it made her already aroused female parts feel as if they were on fire. “Eli, I will not—”

  “Get into bed, Cordelia, but first take off your clothes. Being with you this morning will not tire me out. Instead, it will give me the strength that I need to do what we are about to do.”