Katie touched his chest. “Lloyd, when you made love to me, it was with such passion, as though it was the last time or something. What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He started for the door.
“Lloyd, you are just like your father. When there is trouble around, it’s written all over your face. He can’t fool your mother, and you can’t fool me. It’s that Mike Holt, isn’t it?”
He sighed deeply. “Katie, Denver is a big city with law and order, and we are going only to the best restaurant and staying in the best hotel and will shop in the best district—places where lowlifes like Mike Holt don’t hang out. In a city this size, it would be very hard for Holt to track us down.”
“But that’s why you brought a gun, isn’t it?”
“Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself, as you well know.”
“Well, guns aren’t allowed at the Cattlemen’s Ball tomorrow night. So we have to be extra careful.”
“With me and Pa there, you have nothing to worry about. It’s a closed-door dance, by invitation only, so we’ll be fine. In a couple of days, we’ll head back to the ranch.”
Katie stepped back, taking his arm. “I love you, Lloyd. I don’t ever want to have to live without you.”
“And I’m not about to let that happen.” He kissed her and headed for the door, almost hoping Mike Holt would show up. After what he did to Evie, he’d like to shoot the sonofabitch and have it over with.
Eighteen
Randy enjoyed wearing something elegant for once, after months of plain cotton dresses or riding skirts for ranch life. The light yellow dress she’d purchased earlier in the day was designed in New York City. Its pleated bodice was set off by a wide yellow satin bow, and the skirt fell in lace-trimmed panels with a flounced hemline of white puffed organdy.
She and Jake whirled around the dance floor, and she was secretly delighted that women were watching her very handsome husband and gossiping behind fans, some of them finding excuses to come and introduce themselves.
“Hugh Draper and his wife are here,” she told Jake as they turned to a waltz. “I think his wife is hoping you’ll ask her to dance.”
Jake grinned. “Why would I ask anyone else to dance when I’m with the prettiest woman here?” His gaze dropped to the off-the-shoulder neckline of her dress. Her ash-blond hair was swept up into curls topped with a tiny satin hat trimmed with white feathers. “You wear that dress like you were a governor’s wife, and I can’t wait to dip my hands into that bodice when we get to the room later.”
“Well, I intend to have several more dances before we do that, Mr. Harkner, so it will be much later. I am truly enjoying myself, especially the fact that I am with the most handsome man at this ball. You look absolutely stunning in black silk tails and that silver waistcoat. You could be the governor! Maybe you should run for office.”
Jake pulled her closer than most men danced in public. “I hardly think people would vote for an old ex-outlaw for governor.”
“Every woman in this city would vote for you if they were allowed, and you are holding me embarrassingly close.”
“You’re my wife.”
“And we aren’t dancing in a brothel, Mr. Harkner.”
“If we were, we’d be having a lot more fun.”
Randy couldn’t help laughing. “Isn’t Katie beautiful in that mint green? Her dress is from Paris, and she’s absolutely giddy over the diamond necklace Lloyd bought her. And Lloyd is absolutely beautiful in that suit. Not handsome. Beautiful.”
“Yeah, well, don’t tell him that. He’d probably leave so fast you wouldn’t see him for dust, and like me, he’d rather be in denim pants and leather boots and riding on the back of a big mustang out on the J&L.”
“Well, I love seeing you that way, too, but it’s not often any of us Harkner women get to see our men looking so dapper, let alone dress up ourselves. Even Brian doesn’t wear suits as often as he used to back in Guthrie when he was doctoring full time. Since we moved to the ranch, he’s taken to denim pants and cotton shirts just like the rest of you, but doesn’t he look wonderful tonight? He’s such a handsome man in his own right.”
“Woman, you do carry on.”
“Well, you’ve produced such a beautiful family. I’m so proud of all of them.”
Jake scowled a little. “It’s all due to you, not me.” He whirled her past a group of stout women who just stared. “Tomorrow we’ll go to that landscaping business and buy the rosebushes you want,” he told Randy.
“Mostly yellow ones. I want to plant them around the veranda.”
Brian and Evie turned past them. “You two look wonderful!” Evie called to them.
Jake cast her a smile before looking down at Randy. “My baby girl seems to be having a wonderful time. I’m so glad for her and Brian.”
“So am I. And doesn’t she look wonderful in that coral chiffon dress? It beautifully accents her dark skin.”
“She looks ravishing.”
The music ended, and Jake took Randy’s arm and led her to the small table where a candle burned and a bottle of free champagne sat, along with two flutes. “I’m missing the grandkids,” Jake said as they sat down. “We’ll head home the day after tomorrow. I’m sure Little Jake is giving the men quite a time of it.”
Randy smiled and began removing her elbow-length gloves as Jake stopped a waiter.
“Bring us some water and coffee, will you?” he told the skinny young man. “Take the champagne to some other table.”
“But, Mr. Harkner, it’s the best there is, compliments of Prosecutor Harley Wicks, who would very much like to meet you.”
Jake’s affable demeanor instantly changed, and Randy stiffened.
“Is that so?” Jake asked. He straightened in his chair. “You tell Mr. Wicks that I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t drink, especially not around my wife. Neither does my son, so you can give someone else his champagne, too. And if Mr. Wicks wants to meet me, all he has to do is walk over here.”
“Yes, sir.” The waiter took the bottle of champagne. “And I’d like to say I’m privileged to meet you, Mr. Harkner.”
Jake sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know why you consider it a privilege, young man, but thank you.”
“Well, you’re…you’re pretty darn famous, sir.”
“And you read too many books.”
The words came from behind the waiter, and he turned to see Lloyd standing there. “Well, I’m glad to meet you, too, Mr. Harkner.”
Lloyd glanced at Jake and grinned. “I’m getting anxious to get out of here, but I guess we have to put up with this.”
“The women are having a good time, so let’s give them a few more dances,” Jake told him, looking him over. “You’re looking like quite the gentleman, Son.”
“Yeah? ‘Gentlemen’ isn’t usually the term people use for me and you, is it?”
“You are every bit a gentleman,” Katie told Lloyd.
“Well, I might not be such a gentleman when we get back to our room,” he told her. Lloyd kept an arm around his blushing wife and moved to a table beside his father’s as the waiter removed the champagne from both their tables. “And here comes one more beautiful woman to join us.”
A smiling Evie approached on Brian’s arm. “Daddy, Brian is taking me to the opera after this. Can you and Mother go?” She looked at Lloyd. “You, too?”
“I’d love to go!” Katie put in.
Lloyd gave his father a pained look. “Opera?”
Jake shrugged. “It’s their night.” He looked at Brian. “You agreed to go?”
“Your daughter’s wish is my command, Jake. You know that.”
Jake grinned. “And I appreciate that.” He reached out and squeezed Evie’s hand. “This lovely woman deserves to be spoiled. How are you feeling, angel?”
> “I feel good, and I’m having a wonderful time.” She put a hand over Jake’s. “And I can’t say enough how beautiful mother’s ring is! Daddy, that was so romantic of you to surprise her with that ring. I’m so glad everything is all right. Mother was so worried about you, and so was I.”
“Evie, you have to stop worrying about everybody else. You just take care of yourself, and if you want us to go to the opera with you, we’ll go. I’m sure your mother and Katie would enjoy it.”
The music started up again, and Brian kept an arm around Evie’s waist. “You told me you wanted to dance every dance, my love, so I’m holding you to it, as long as you feel up to it.”
Jake noticed a short, rotund man coming toward them and guessed it was Prosecutor Wicks. To his relief, Evie let go of his hand and joined Brian on the dance floor. Women turned to another waltz, swirling around the dance floor in beautiful gowns in dozens of colors and designs.
Jake rose, towering over the man coming his way, a big-boned, haughty-looking woman walking with him. She wore diamonds at her neck and a dress that fit too tight in the waist and forced her large bosom to bubble up at the bodice and jiggle as she walked with an arrogant air about her.
“Well, at last we meet, Mr. Harkner,” the man said when he came closer. He put out his hand, but Jake just kept his arms folded.
“I don’t shake a man’s hand until I know his name,” he told the rosy-cheeked man.
Lloyd slowly rose to stand beside Jake.
“How dare you snub an important man like my brother!” the woman sniffed.
Jake turned to Lloyd. “Did I snub the man?”
“Seems to me you only asked who he is,” Lloyd stated.
A few people nearby quieted and watched the confrontation. Jake and Lloyd’s sizes and demeanor made Wicks look like a chubby little boy.
“Let me start over,” the rotund man, whose vest was too tight over his belly, told Jake. He put out his hand again. “I am Prosecutor Harley Wicks, and this lady beside me is my sister, Arlis. Of course, everyone knows who you are.”
More people stopped talking, and some stopped dancing. Evie noticed and started to rush over to Jake, but Brian kept hold of her arm.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wicks, but why should I shake your hand?” Jake boldly asked. “I got a visit from Marshal Kraemer a few weeks ago, and he told me you’d like to arrest me. So why are you here wanting to shake my hand?”
Randy glanced at Katie, who quietly rose and moved to go sit beside Randy. The two women clasped hands.
Wicks pulled back his hand. “Mr. Harkner, I just want you to understand that I’m not a man who holds a grudge. Marshal Kraemer cleared up the situation over the shooting out at your ranch.”
“Did he?” Jake moved a little closer, causing the prosecutor to back up a little. “Let me tell you the situation, Mr. Wicks. Seven men tried stealing my cattle, and I’m sure there are plenty of ranchers here who would have done the same thing I did if they caught rustlers stealing from them. My wife happened to be with me at the time, and they threatened to come after her. I did what any man would do.”
“You murdered my son!” the woman beside Wicks told Jake, her dark eyes glittering.
All music stopped, and this time everyone turned. Just then Jake noticed, of all people, Gretta MacBain coming through the doorway. He moved his gaze back to the woman who’d accused him of murdering her son. Her nostrils flared with indignation, and her large bosom heaved with her deep breaths of fury.
Jake met her gaze boldly. “Ma’am, I shot back at someone who was shooting at me. That’s called self-defense. And I had no idea who any of them were.”
“You could have just wounded him!”
“And what was an obviously wealthy and probably spoiled young man doing out at the J&L rustling cattle in the first place?” Lloyd asked. “He didn’t need the money, and he must have been raised to know better.”
“My nephew had fallen in with the wrong bunch of men, who convinced him they could show him a good time,” Harley Wicks answered. “I’m sure they intended it as just a prank.”
“A prank?” Jake seethed. “What I saw was no prank, Wicks, and even if it had been, I wouldn’t have known who was who. When you play with guns around me, you’ve picked the wrong man!”
“Are you saying it was a lie then, when some of your men claimed they came along and did some of the shooting?”
Randy squeezed Katie’s hand, praying Jake wouldn’t lose his temper in front of the very man who would like to jail him.
Lloyd joined the confrontation then, always ready to step up in defense of his father. “They were out to kill both my parents, you sonofa—”
“Lloyd!” Jake interrupted his son, keeping dark eyes on Wicks. “What I’m saying, Wicks, is that seven men came onto my land and stole my cattle and then came at me and my wife! I’m not sure how many of them I shot myself. I only know I had to stop them from getting to her, so that’s what I did! If some of my men came along in time and took care of some of the others, then that’s what happened. I was pretty damn preoccupied at the time, and one of their bullets got me across the back and would have hit my wife if I hadn’t been shielding her. I’d say that warrants shooting back, wouldn’t you?”
Flash powder exploded nearby as a newspaper man managed to get a picture of Jake and Lloyd confronting Prosecutor Wicks. Jake kept his eyes on Wicks as he raised his voice for the others. “Any of you cattlemen here disagree with what I did?” he asked.
There came a few “hell nos” and “certainly nots,” most of the replies quietly mumbled.
“There’s your answer, Wicks.” He looked at Arlis. “Ma’am, I’m sorry about your son, but I don’t know for sure whose bullet hit him, and I don’t understand why he went out there in the first place. And to this day, I don’t even know which one he was. What happened is something I couldn’t have controlled. Life hands us some pretty bad things sometimes. Believe me, I know that better than most. What happened to your son is no one’s fault but his own.”
Arlis stiffened, her eyes tearing. “Somehow, some way, I’ll see you hang, Jake Harkner!” She turned and stormed out.
Jake turned his gaze to Harley Wicks. “What was your real reason for creating a scene?” he asked the man.
Wicks put his thumbs into his vest pockets. “I simply wanted to meet you, Mr. Harkner. All the other times you’ve been to Denver, we’ve never met, but then I didn’t have reason to care. But after what happened to my nephew, I thought it was time we got acquainted, since someday I might have the privilege and pleasure of prosecuting you and sending you back to prison—maybe not for what happened with my nephew, but I’m sure something else will come up. After all, you’re Jake Harkner, and no man can truly escape his past, can he?”
A few quiet gasps could be heard.
“What are you after, Wicks?” Jake kept his voice steady.
“I can break you, Harkner. And I can keep you from getting that extra land you want south of your ranch.”
“Too late! I already bought it,” Lloyd answered for Jake. “Signed the papers this morning.”
Wicks looked taken aback. His face reddened with repressed fury and with embarrassment at having been beaten to the punch. “I told—”
“You told that government representative not to sell it?” Lloyd interrupted. “Isn’t that underhanded and illegal, Wicks? Is that how you use your power? To screw people out of their rights?”
Wicks’s chest heaved with deep breaths as the man stood there speechless. “You Harkner men think—”
“Now, now, folks, let’s not spoil the fun here,” Gretta quickly spoke up, sauntering toward Jake and the prosecutor. “Mr. Harkner here and his beautiful family are a real bonus to our first Cattlemen’s Ball, don’t you think? We’ve got somebody famous here.” She shimmied between Jake and Harley Wicks. “Harley, why don’t
you go rejoin your wife?” she suggested. “You’re one of Denver’s finest, so trying to start trouble with Jake doesn’t suit you. And you’re surely embarrassing the missus.” Gretta raised her hand and signaled the orchestra leader, who got the band of several violins, a flute, drums, and a bass playing another waltz. She glared at Wicks. “Everybody is here to have a good time, Harley. Save your prosecutor’s threats for the courtroom.”
Wicks backed away as couples began dancing again. “What are you doing at a dance for decent people?” he asked Gretta.
Gretta put out her arms, showing off a lovely blue form-fitting dress that actually had a high neckline. “I’m dressed like a proper lady, and I’m a business owner in this town, and so far that business is still legal.”
Wicks gave her a dark glare. “I can always change that.”
Gretta sobered. “And I can destroy you, and you know it!”
Wicks looked as though he’d just been slapped. He turned his gaze to Jake. “You’re walking a thin line, Jake Harkner.”
“I always have,” Jake answered.
Wicks turned and walked away, and Gretta turned to Jake, lowering her voice. “Harley and I have kind of an understanding,” she told him. “He doesn’t kick me out of Denver, and I don’t tell his wife on him, if you know what I mean.”
Jake grinned. “You’re a clever woman, Gretta.”
“Pa, you know this woman?” Lloyd asked.
“Lloyd, this is Gretta MacBain. She runs—”
“Don’t tell me.” Lloyd nodded to Gretta. “I’ve heard of you, ma’am.”
“I’ll just bet you have.” Gretta looked Lloyd over. “My God, are there more Harkner men like you and your father back at the ranch?”
“Just ones who are too young,” Lloyd answered, giving her a wink. “Thanks for stepping in when you did. I’m not going to ask how you know my father. Let’s just say I’m not surprised.” He turned to Jake. “Right now the ranch is sounding real good.”
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