"If you really love her and you're sure she really loves you, trust to love," Laurel said.
"I can't. Love's a rather stupid creature. Look what a mess it's got me into."
* * * * *
"I'm so glad you were able to come," Adora said as she welcomed Daisy into the Cochrane parlor. "Mama was saying just last night she wondered how you were doing."
"There seems so much to do, so many decisions to make."
Adora frowned. "I haven't forgiven you for not staying with us."
"It's best I stay at the hotel," Daisy said, wondering when she would stop feeling guilty about not fulfilling people's expectations. "I'm near my uncle. And I'm away from Guy. I know he's your brother, but I really can't marry him. He continues to think I will change my mind. I'm of two minds whether to go with him this afternoon."
"You can't back out now. It'll be his last chance to see you before you go to New York. I know he plagues you, but it's because he still loves you."
"He just thinks he does. He's gotten used to the idea and finds it comfortable. I know what love is now."
"It's still Tyler Randolph?"
Daisy nodded.
"Then why don't you marry him. Doesn't he want you to?"
"I've decided not to marry anyone."
Adora looked startled. Daisy knew Adora couldn't imagine life without a husband. Daisy was beginning to feel pretty much the same way herself.
"But there'll be hundreds of men in New York who will want to marry you."
"I doubt it, even after my hair grows out. The only man who doesn't look at me like I'm a great gawk is Tyler, and that's because he's so big himself."
Adora looked at her friend with unwanted perception. "It seems to me you haven't made up your mind to go to New York as much as you've decided to run away from Tyler."
"It amounts to the same thing."
"Not at all. If you run away, you'll never get over him."
"Do you think I'll get over him by staying here?"
"No."
"So what's the difference where I'm miserable?"
"Why are you leaving him if it makes you so miserable?"
"I don't know. I just know I can't marry him. I'm afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"Of him. Myself. I don't know. I feel like I can't surrender myself all over again."
"Then it doesn't seem to me you really love him."
"What?" Daisy exclaimed.
"I don't think you really love him," Adora repeated.
"How can you say that? You, of all people."
"I've never been in love," Adora admitted, "but I can't imagine I would distrust my husband the way you distrust Tyler."
"I don't distrust him."
"I wouldn't hesitate to put my life and everything I possess into his keeping. I would know he would try to take better care of me than I would take of myself. Isn't that what you say his brother does for Laurel?"
"What about when he started telling you what to do, what to think?"
"He wouldn't tell me. He would advise me. If I didn't understand, he would explain until I understood as well as he."
"And if you still disagreed?"
"He would allow me my own way as long as it was possible."
"And who's to decide that?"
"He would."
"And you would accept that?"
"Of course. Once I have trusted him with my life and my possessions, it's a small thing to trust him with anything else. You trust Tyler with your life, don't you?"
"Of course. He's already saved it several times."
"Then I don't understand why--"
Guy burst into the room. "The carriage is ready. It's time to be on our way."
It was on the tip of Daisy's tongue to tell him she'd changed her mind and wouldn't go with him after all. Her feelings were in such turmoil, she didn't think she could endure several hours of his renewed entreaties.
But his smile was so hopeful, Adora's look so pleading, Daisy decided to go with him this one last time. After all, she had asked him to look after her ranch. Spending a few hours with him was a small price to pay for all the work he would have to do.
She continued to resist her uncle's suggestion that she accept Mr. Cochrane's very generous offer to buy it. She still felt overwhelmed by the sudden acquisition of wealth and family. It seemed like a dream. The ranch and Tyler represented reality. She had to hold onto it. It would give her somewhere to go if everything else fell apart.
"It really isn't necessary that we visit the ranch," Daisy said as she got to her feet. "I can tell you everything you need to know."
"I couldn't accept responsibility without your showing me exactly what you want. You could be gone for years."
So Daisy let Guy escort her from the house and help her into the closed carriage. She would have preferred a buggy. She never did like being closed in. Today it seemed to stand for the life she would have lead as his wife. She had no regrets about turning him down. She could never have been happy with him. She wondered why she hadn't seen that from the first.
Probably because she had always expected to be married. She had looked upon marrying Guy as a kind of freedom, but Tyler had shown her what real freedom meant.
True, he had constantly told her what to do and had just as frequently ignored her wishes, even her direct orders, but it had always been for her safety and well being, just like Hen did for Laurel. She accused Tyler of forgetting the times she had done exactly what he asked, but she was just as guilty of forgetting the times he'd gone out of his way to do things just for her. He had given her a corner of his cabin, unlimited hours of his time and thoughts. He had hauled and heated bath water, taken care of her deer, captured her rustlers, given up his claim to help her with her ranch, even risked his life to protect her from the killers.
Daisy felt utterly stupid. How could she have failed to understand before now he had already given up more than she was afraid of losing. She was so afraid of his gold fever, that he might turn out to be like her father, that she hadn't seen all the signs that should have told her he was none of these things.
She felt worse than stupid. She felt frightened. She had done everything in her power to send him away. She might have succeeded at last.
"Have you decided how long you're going to stay in New York?" Guy asked. He was seated inside with her. One of the Cochrane grooms drove.
She didn't want to have to talk to Guy. She wanted time to think. She wanted to see Tyler. "My uncle thinks I ought to meet my mother's family before I decide. I might end up coming back here to escape all my relatives."
She wasn't joking. Already her uncle was trying to plan her life. She expected her mother's family would do the same.
She found herself thinking of Tyler as a refuge. She had a terrible feeling she would have a more difficult time being a rich young woman with many anxious relations than she had being a poor female with no hair and a bullet wound in her head.
"I wish you would reconsider," Guy said. "New York is nothing like Albuquerque."
"If I'm not happy there, I can go somewhere else."
"Back here?"
She didn't know. Adora's words echoed in her brain. I can't imagine I would distrust my husband the way you distrust Tyler. Did she really trust Tyler, and if so, why couldn't she trust him with her happiness as completely as she trusted him with her life?
Without warming, Guy turned in his seat and took Daisy's hands. "Marry me," he urged. "I'll take you anywhere you want to go. We can live in New York or travel abroad. Anything you want. You only have to ask."
"Guy, I've already told you that--"
"I know what you said, but you're wrong. I do love you. And I know you'll come to love me. I'll make sure you do."
She tried to remove her hands from Guy's grasp, but he wouldn't let them go. "Don't be ridiculous, Guy. You know your father expects you to take over here. You're already doing half his work. Your friends are here. Everything you like is here. You woul
d be miserable anywhere else."
"I wouldn't be miserable as long as I was with you."
He tried to take her in his arms, but Daisy was easily able to hold him off. She was bigger than he was, and after weeks in the saddle, she had grown stronger.
"You don't love me," she said. "You've just convinced yourself you do."
"How can you say that when I keep telling you I love you?"
"Because I know what it is to be in love," Daisy said, finally driven to tell him what she had wanted to keep from him.
"Are you referring to Tyler Randolph?"
"Yes."
"But you said you weren't going to marry him."
"I'm not, but he loves me in ways you've never dreamed of."
"How?"
Daisy hardly knew where to begin.
"I could tell you about the week he took care of me, put my needs and comfort above his or his brother's. But it wasn't until I realized he'd left his prospecting to help me get started at the ranch that I realized just how much he loved me. He put aside something that had been his burning ambition for three years to help me."
"I'm offering to change my whole life for you," Guy argued.
"He's used to making decisions without consulting anyone, but for two whole weeks, he managed to keep from telling me what to do even once."
"I haven't ever told you what to do."
"And he never touched me although he desperately wanted to make love to me."
"I would never dream of violating you."
"When he looks at me, or calls my name, it's like a caress. There's something special about his voice, his eyes, his touch. No man has ever touched me like that."
"I thought you said he never--"
"He won't take no for an answer. He says he'll wait, that one day I'll be his wife."
"I've done all that and more," Guy said.
Daisy forced herself to take her mind off Tyler. She would much rather have spent the rest of the trip thinking about him, but she couldn't do that to Guy.
"I'm sorry, Guy, but I don't love you. I wouldn't make you a good wife. I know you believe you'd do anything for me, but after we were married a little while, you'd soon begin to want to do what you had done before, to think and feel about things as you had before. I don't want you to change for me. I want you to find a woman who will love you just like you are."
Guy's grip on her hands tightened. "Why won't you believe I love you?"
"Guy, I told you--"
"You can't love Tyler Randolph more than me. Even if his family is rich, he's nothing but a mountain man. You can't have anything in common with him."
"There's no point in discussing this anymore. I shouldn't have come with you. Let's get to the ranch, see what you have to see, and get back to town."
"I don't understand why you won't marry me."
"I've tried to explain. You just refuse to understand."
"I understand perfectly well," Guy said. "You've taken leave of your senses. I can't let you do something you'll be sorry for."
"Guy, I'm not marrying Tyler. I'm going to New York."
"That's even worse. You don't belong there. Your uncle will make you marry some rich friend of his who won't understand you at all."
"Now you're being ridiculous."
Guy let go of her hand and leaned back against the cushions of the seat. All the emotion that had animated his plea disappeared. He looked almost placid. "I'm sorry to do this, but you've brought it on yourself."
"Brought what on myself? Guy, you're making no sense."
"I tried to make you see reason, but you wouldn't."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're going to the ranch, but the carriage will continue to Bernalillo, where it will pick up a padre waiting to marry us."
* * * * *
"You sure I'm not imposing on you with all this talk of money," Hen said, his mouth set in a hard line. He was clearly out of temper with his brother.
Tyler's body was in Laurel's sitting room, but his mind was with Daisy and Adora Cochrane. He didn't like her being at the Cochranes. He'd only let her go because Regis Cochrane wasn't at home. He wasn't interested in how much money Madison had gotten for his gold mine. Neither did he want to hear about the cost of land in Denver and San Francisco nor which parts of each city were most likely to develop into the best commercial districts. None of that mattered when Daisy was going to New York.
"You've been extremely helpful. In fact, it's not like you to go so far out of your way for me."
"I won't do it again," Hen snapped. "I can't seem to hold your attention for five minutes."
"He's worried about Daisy," Laurel explained.
"I know he's worried about Daisy. He's been worried about that woman even since he showed up, but he doesn't do anything about it. And if I'm to take her at her word, she's fed up to the teeth with him."
"She doesn't mean it."
"Then why should she say it?"
"She's confused."
"I'm confused, but I don't go around saying things I don't mean."
"You said you wouldn't help Tyler again, and you know you will."
"I won't if he can't pull himself out of this depression."
"I'm not depressed," Tyler said. "I'm just furious."
"I suppose that's an improvement?"
"I get angry over things until I figure out how to fix them. I get depressed when there's no way to fix them."
"Are you sure you can tell the difference?"
Tyler grinned. "Yeah. I probably feel like you did when you discovered Laurel had left town."
"Then God help you," Hen said getting to his feet. "It's time I took the boys for a ride. It'll be their last. We're going home tomorrow."
"I'm sorry we're leaving you just now," Laurel said after Hen and the boys had gone, "but we've been away far too long."
"You've done too much already."
"I haven't done anything except listen to both of you."
Tyler looked up sharply.
"If it's any consolation, she's just as miserable as you are."
"Then why in heaven's name--"
"Because of the way her father treated her and her mother. She's afraid all marriages are like that. She loves you and wants to be with you, but having gotten her freedom, she's afraid to give it up."
"Doesn't she know I would never treat her like that?"
"I don't think she's sure yet. Apparently her father swore he loved her and her mother. It's certain her mother loved him. She probably thinks it's natural for men to tyrannize women."
"If she's afraid of tyranny, she'd better stay away from that uncle of hers. He's got a nice gilded cage in mind for her."
"What do you mean?"
"He means for her to marry to his advantage, social and financial."
"Daisy is too smart for that."
"Not if she's too busy looking over her shoulder to see if I'm pursuing her."
"Then give her room."
"I can't. She thinks she's knows what's happening, but she doesn't."
"How do you intend to fix that?"
"Keep her from going to New York first."
"How?"
"I don't know, kidnap her if I have to."
A furious pounding at the door kept Tyler from noticing Laurel's troubled frown. He opened it to find Adora Cochrane standing there, her face white, her expression molded by fear.
"He's kidnaped Daisy. He's going to make her marry him, and it's all my fault." With that she burst into tears.
Chapter Twenty-eight
"Who's kidnaped Daisy?" Tyler asked.
"Guy."
"Where has he taken her?" Tyler demanded. "When did he leave? Tell me!" he thundered when Adora could do no more than stare up at him with tears running down her face. "I've got to go after her."
"I . . . He . . . " Adora seemed on the verge of hysterics.
"Come in and sit down," Laurel said, stepping between the frightened, distraught girl and Tyler. "You've
been through a terrible ordeal." She led Adora to a small sofa, sat down next to her, and patted her hand. "Now try and calm yourself." Laurel looked straight at Tyler. "Nobody's going to rush you."
Adora hiccupped a few times. When Tyler didn't seem to be ready to growl at her, she was able to stop crying.
"Now tell us what happened," Laurel said. "Take as long as you need." A look of angry impatience stopped Tyler from interrupting.
"Daisy had asked Guy to look after her ranch. I talked her into riding out there with him. He wanted one last chance to see if he could talk her into marrying him. Naturally, I was hoping he would be successful. Daisy's been my best friend for years. I would like nothing better than for her to be my sister-in-law."
"Naturally," Laurel agreed.
"After they had gone, Papa came home. I overheard him telling Mama she was to get Daisy's room ready. When Mama asked why, Papa told her Guy was going to force Daisy to marry him. Mama said it wasn't right, but Papa shouted at her to get the room ready and shut up. That's when I came here. She loves Tyler, not Guy."
"How long ago did they leave?" Tyler asked making every effort to keep his voice calm.
"I don't really know. I lost track of time."
"We arrived at your house at half past nine," Tyler said, exasperated with Adora's inability to remember the events of just a few hours ago. "How long did she stay?"
"Less than half an hour."
"Then they left about ten o'clock. That gives them a two-hour head start." Tyler muttered a curse. "They could be in Bernalillo by now."
"They took the carriage," Adora said. "They can hardly have reached the ranch by yet."
"Are you sure Daisy said she loved me?" Tyler asked.
"She's loved you ever since you brought her down that mountain," Adora said.
Tyler headed for the door. "I'll be back tonight, and I'll have Daisy with me. Guy Cochrane will be lucky if I don't bury him alongside the road."
"Don't hurt Guy," Adora pleaded. "He's so afraid of Papa he'll do anything he wants, but he truly loves Daisy."
At least they had one thing in common, Tyler thought, as he ran down the hotel stairs two at a time and headed for the livery stable. But this time he intended to convince Daisy to marry him, and Guy Cochrane, damn his cowardly soul to Hell, just might have given him the means.
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