by Stacy Reid
He stepped back from her, steeling himself against the devastation in her eyes. He opened the massive carved wooden oak doors, and stepped into the house he had sworn to himself he would never re-enter as long as she lived there.
The ranch house was drastically changed since the last time he had been in it. Elijah walked through the entrance hall, and turned left down the hall way. He took note of the differences and inhaled the scent of fresh pine into his lungs. The floor glistened and the place glowed with a vitality that had not been present when he’d last visited.
All the drab curtains had been switched out to beautiful drapes of vibrant colors. Paintings now graced the walls in the living area. He paused in front of the grand piano that sat in the hall. The interior was graceful and beautiful like Sheridan herself. It showed that money had been spent on making the house elegant, but that it had been spent with taste.
He forced himself to move on and knocked on the fifth door. A voice bid him to enter and he strode into the room. Miguel La Vega, a Mexican vaquero, was Elijah’s friend and foreman. Miguel lay in the bed and he struggled to sit up when he saw Elijah, a wide smile splitting his face. Miguel was not a soft man, and being in bed for weeks did not lessen him in any way. He was muscled from wrestling broncos and steers, roping cattle, and he did not seem diminished. Elijah was glad to see that he was well on the way to recovery.
“Patron. It is good to see that you have returned. The Senora has needed you.”
Elijah clasped his hands up to his forearm and grinned. “It is good to see you, Miguel. How are you doing?”
“I’m doin’ all right. So will the Senora, now that you are here.”
He grunted at Miguel’s assessment and drew the great chair closer to his bed and sat.
His friend smiled slyly. “Ah, you do not wish to speak of the senora?”
“No. I want you to tell me of the troubles that befall the ranch. I thought I made it clear that if you needed me you should send word to the Triple K, and Noah or Joshua would find me.”
Miguel eased into a sitting position, his dark brown eyes somber. “I have only been abed these two weeks. I told the Senora to send word to your brothers, but it seems she decided to find you instead. And as you are here, she succeeded.”
At Elijah’s scowl, Miguel grinned briefly and continued, “The troubles that visit this ranch are because of the Senora. She is a beautiful woman. Rumor in town is that she is very wealthy, more so than the Moutons.”
Elijah sighed. “I met Jericho Sullivan outside.”
“That one is a snake, patron. He covets the Senora. The west is a hard place for a woman alone, and he means to have her at any cost.”
“What happened, Miguel?” Elijah asked quietly. “Thomas’s death, your injury, was it deliberate?”
Miguel sat up fully against the headboard, and Elijah waited for him to gather his thoughts.
“At first I did not think it was. It had been done so smoothly. Even now I am not sure. We were herding four thousand heads of cattle to Abilene. I and over twenty of our men were on the trail. We heard several shots across the canyon, but could not see anyone. The herd started to stampede, and it was chaotic. After a long battle against the tide, two of our men lay dead and I was injured. It then struck me that Thomas had died in a similar fashion. Stampede. I know they occur often, but I do not trust such closeness to coincidence.”
“Did you try to launch an investigation?”
Miguel’s rough chuckle was not one of amusement. “Jericho owns the town. His cousin is the town’s mayor. There is no proof that he orchestrated anything. But he is the one that hounds Senora the most.”
Elijah stilled, shutting down the hot surge of fury that rose in him at the thought of her being hounded. “Others hound her?”
“Si, the Senora is a very beautiful woman. Many a man travels here, and offers her marriage. She has refused all.”
Elijah chose to ignore the tingle of relief pulsing through him. Hell. He should not be happy she showed favor to no other man. “She is not partial to anyone? She needs to find a husband.”
He ignored the knowing look Miguel gave him.
“She has ridden out on the range a few times with Buck Morgan, and even dined at that fancy restaurant in town. I saw him trying to kiss her once. And he has proposed several times, but she refused.”
Elijah did not think he masked his reaction fast enough, if Miguel’s mocking smile was anything to go by.
“Did not like that one, did you?”
Elijah restrained the urge to plant a fist in his friend’s smug face. He ruthlessly prevented himself from reacting. “I do not care who she lies with,” he said calmly.
Miguel grinned and looked down pointedly on the hands Elijah had curved in a death grip on the arm of the chair. “Now I did not say she lay with him. I said he kissed her. Chaste kisses too.”
Elijah’s lips twitched as he forced himself to relax and released them. “Tell me all that you know of Jericho, Miguel.”
Miguel went silent staring at the ceiling. “That hombre’s poison. He is the most dangerous man this side of Mississippi, and they say he has ridden the outlaw trail.”
That surprised Elijah. “Jericho?”
“That is what the rumors say. Now he is a respectable business man. He is a part of everything. Mining, railroads, lumber, and ranching. He is powerful in these parts. The Senora will have a rough time convincing him she is not interested.”
Elijah nodded. “He had men with him today. There was a sandy haired boy, twenty at most.”
“El es un matador. A stone-cold killer that one, Clay Walker. He is already reputed to have over a dozen kills under his belt. He is not from these parts. No one is sure where he came from, but the rumor is that he rode with Jessup’s himself.”
Elijah nodded; Jessup was a notorious outlaw who robbed banks and trains, killing any and every one that bore witness. “And Bartley?” Elijah had not liked how he wetted his lips when he looked at Sheridan.
“He’s a dead shot with a gun of any kind and he is also a back-shooter...what is important to him is that he gets his man.”
Elijah surged to his feet and walked over to the wide paned glass windows that encased almost half of Miguel’s room. The drapes were drawn and he overlooked the range. “Sheridan tells me the ranch is worked by less than thirty hands?”
“Si, many have left to work with other outfits, uncomfortable to work under a woman, especially one that Sullivan has made it known he wants vulnerable.”
Elijah nodded grimly. “His interest does not seem to lie in the ranch itself. I had thought it strange he would have an issue with the Creek. The range is open. The watering hole isn’t fenced off. So it is all about Sheridan.”
“Sí.” Miguel was silent for a moment. “Patron, I fear for her. This Sullivan, he wants her very much. He will grow tired of her resistance and one day they will come to take her. There are talks in town of how vast her wealth is. That she is an English heiress. I am not sure what the Senora told you patron. But it is not the ranch Sullivan wants.”
After the brief encounter he had with Sullivan and Bartley he knew it wasn’t Whispering Creek they wanted. Even if they had murdered Thomas, it was not for the range. It was to leave Sheridan vulnerable. Elijah was not sure how to proceed. This is my home, Elijah. He’d seen the desperation on her face and heard it in her voice.
There was a deep part of him that wanted to give her all that she desired, for he knew what belonging somewhere meant to her. But the logical side of him screamed that women like her were not made for the West. His gut had told him that before, but he had ignored it. And now the nightmares that haunted him were daily reminders. He understood how much of a home this was to her, but she needed to leave.
Elijah knew he was not capable of giving her what she wanted, for she was too soft for the land. Th
e only thing he could do was offer his protection until she departed. And that was not negotiable. For her own safety and his sanity, she would have to leave eventually.
***
Sheridan had washed the trail dust from her skin and dressed in a yellow loose flowing shirt, tucked into a simple grey day skirt. Perched on the edge of the sofa in the parlor, she craned her neck, looking out the window towards the open range. Elijah had ridden out a few hours ago and he had yet to come back. She’d been anxious to speak with him after he visited Miguel. Instead of agreeing to her request to have lunch together, he’d headed out to the bunkhouse to meet with the few cowhands on the ranch. She had spied him several minutes later riding out onto the range with Tom.
“Sheridan, would you please cease watching for his return,” Beth snapped.
“I have to convince him to sell, Beth.”
“I fail to see how watching to see when he returns from the range will accomplish that.”
Sheridan exhaled a gusty sigh and sank into the deep cushions of the settee. For the first time she took in the strain that pinched Beth’s lips, and the shadows under her eyes. “Forgive me, Beth, I have been so selfish. Are you well? I know you said Mr. Sullivan had been the soul of politeness, but it could not have been easy sitting with him.” Sheridan rose and hurried over to where Beth sat near Grayson’s cot.
She waved her hands, dismissing her concern. “I am fine. I am more anxious about you. Did…” she cleared her throat and blushed red.
Sheridan was always amazed when Beth did that. For someone that had given birth to a child, she was very shy when it came to talking about the intimacy between a man and a woman. Sheridan battled her own blush and gave her a small smile. “I did manage to seduce him.”
“Oh!”
“He was very cold after.”
She winced at the sympathy that lighted Beth’s golden brown eyes.
“Did you not offer him your inheritance as a dowry?”
“He never gave me the chance to suggest a marriage alliance, and after…after he did not offer marriage. You did warn me, Beth.” Sheridan tried her very best to appear nonchalant. It would not do for Beth to see how Elijah’s rejection had crumpled something inside of her. Sheridan wanted nothing more than a family, a home, a place that was hers. The knowledge of how deeply she yearned for it petrified her, but only with Elijah. He was her safe haven, and to him she was naught. “He said that he will protect me until I leave.”
“Leave?” The cup clattered to the oak table. “He expects you to leave? Did you tell him that it is your money that was heavily invested in the daily operations? Did you let him know you are the steward of the ranch? That it flourished under your guidance, and not Thomas’s?” Beth demanded sharply.
“No. he did not give me a chance. I feared I blundered so horribly in the past he cannot stand the sight of me.”
Beth snorted indelicately. “He stood you long enough to bed you, Sheridan. That means he can hear whatever you have to say.”
She searched for the words to communicate to Beth what she faced. “I have never seen him this unbending. The teasing lover I knew is gone. He was so cold towards me, Beth. I knew I hurt him dreadfully when he discovered that I was married. But he never gave me a chance to redeem myself. And it sits between us. There are times I wonder how could he have loved me, but then treat me with such indifference. But then I realized he’d never once said he loved me.”
“But you were not married in truth, Sheridan. Thomas was my brother and I loved him dearly, but even I knew where his interest was. As his friend, surely Elijah would have known?”
“Yes. But it does not matter, does it?” her lips twisted in a grimace. “I told him I was unencumbered and I wasn’t.”
Beth spoke with quiet intensity. “Thomas never saw you. He never bedded you, and he had other lovers that he went into town to be with. No part of you belonged to him, and I think you need to let Elijah understand that.”
Sheridan understood Beth’s viewpoint, but she knew it was pointless. He knew Thomas had not been her husband in truth. Elijah had taken her virginity, for God’s sake. He had teased her about not knowing how to kiss. He was her first in everything. Had she not told him as much?
The only thing she needed to do now was to convince him to sell his stake in the ranch to her. Her leaving was not an option she could even consider. And go where? Her only family was currently Beth and Grayson. She had no one else. Knew no one else. After three years, England and polite society seemed like a cold distant dream, and she did not long for it. Even if she had wanted to return, the people she had left behind wanted her gone. In London, she had been a misfit the new viscountess had resented heartily. Her father had been eager to agree to the suit with Mr. Thomas Galloway to please his wife, and Sheridan had been happy to escape a place she felt unwanted and unloved.
“Would you like to go east?” Beth asked gently. “I would travel with you. Perhaps Boston or New York?”
Sheridan’s entire being rebelled against the idea. “I will not leave my home.”
“It’s a hard life for a woman out here, Sheridan. I am only safe because most men in town know of my husband. I am left alone. I think if Elijah sells you the land that will even make you more sought after. Whispering Creek is very prosperous, and you are already very wealthy. You would only be safe if Elijah married you, and the only way to ensure that now is to get with child…and if he is cold to you….”
Get with child? In her seduction plans, the possibility hadn’t occurred to her. A surge of longing pierced her heart and her hands trembled in reaction. What if there were consequences to their untamed passion of last evening? It hadn’t happened in the past; perhaps it would not this time either. “I never thought of a child.”
“It only takes one time,” Beth said blushing. “I am proof of that.”
Sheridan held back the need to pry once again. Beth was not ready to share her past and secrets, and she had to respect her decision.
Sheridan waved her hand around the land. “The only thing I am certain of in our current situation is that Elijah doesn’t covet me because of how bloody rich I am. When I had my season in London, men were only interested in me because of my wealth. Fortune hunters came out in droves. Even Thomas deceived me in the most horrible manner for my wealth. Mr. Sullivan pursues me for my money. And Jackson Dunn only proposed because of how my wealth would increase his stature. Elijah sees me as more than money.”
“I don’t understand at all. He wants you to leave, yes?”
“Yes. But he is the first man to ever desire me without wanting my money. He sees me for more than it.”
Beth snorted. “He does not see you at all. You should abandon your plan to compromise him, the rules of polite society do not apply to him.”
Sheridan glanced at her. “I am starting to see that,” she said softly.
“He is offering you protection, without having to marry him.”
She swallowed at the wistful sound in her friend’s voice. Beth had a hellacious marriage before, and dreaded the idea of a man even looking at her. After all she had appeared on the ranch’s doorstep two years ago, soaked from the torrential downpour with a swollen face and busted lips. Sheridan had almost fainted when she walked in on Beth in the bath that same night and saw her back. It had been swollen with big welts of purple bruises that spread to her stomach and ribs.
“Why subject yourself to a man’s ownership when you don’t have to? Subject yourself to his lust? His fists?” Beth demanded at Sheridan’s silence.
She understood having the protection of a man’s name without having to endure the restriction a husband could place her under, and without enduring his lust, sounded wonderful to Beth. But Sheridan wanted more than just protection. Elijah felt like home.
There had been a time she had lain in his arms, and dreamt of the future with him. Drea
mt of the life they could build, the legacies for their children they would establish. “Elijah would never hurt me so. Not all men are like Hardin, Beth. I think…I believe happiness is real and can be had if we trust in someone other than ourselves. If we trust in hope, instead of fear, and if we dream for the future instead of living in the past.”
Beth leaned over and gripped her hand. “And if you are wrong?”
“Elijah has honor,” Sheridan countered softly. “And I realized something today. His need to see me gone from the ranch is not the past that lies between us. There was a darkness in his eyes I did not understand when he spoke. A torment that I do not understand, but I want to wipe from his eyes. He fears for my wellbeing, and that gives me hope.”
Beth sighed. “You are frightfully stubborn.”
Sheridan smiled. “That I am, and Elijah is about to discover just how fierce and tenacious I am.”
Chapter Eight
Cool water sluiced over Elijah’s back as he rose from the depths of the water in which he had dunked himself. He had worked himself hard for the day, pushing his muscles until they screamed, as how he had been doing for the past few days. Elijah had ridden the range within the first day of arriving noting what needed to be done. He had been impressed with its operation, despite the lack of cowhands. But there were always things to be done. And today he had worked alongside the men as they cut the hay and rounded up stray cattle that had wandered onto their range, anything to avoid encountering Sheridan in the main house. There were times she rode out onto the range and conferred with the men. She rose as early as the rest of them, and seemed to work as hard…except she had a housekeeper, a cook, and if he was not mistaken a young miss who helped her dress and combed her hair. She even had a garden she tended to with such caring diligence, and it was filled with lush lilacs, chrysanthemum, roses, and even flowering herbs. He was certain they were the only ranch in the area to hire a gardener.
