"She lives with her husband and children. Maybe you better turn that lamp off and get some sleep. I've got a feeling this will be a long night."
When she hesitated, he turned her a quick glance. "Having second thoughts?"
"Second and third."
She looked at him with doubt, and inexplicably, that made him feel ten feet tall and stronger than Samson. That look turned him into a handsome scoundrel not to be trusted.
Daniel's laugh was abrupt and curt as he carried the thought to its natural conclusion—it hadn't been strong, handsome Peter she had run to. Peter was the handsome scoundrel. Georgina had run to good old safe, crippled Daniel.
"Well, it's too late now. I suspect we have a long day ahead of us. You'd better get some sleep."
She blew out the lamp, and the room fell into a thick darkness punctuated by the occasional flash of lightning. "Daniel?"
He was still sitting on the pallet, leaning against the wall, wondering if he should take off his shirt. He only had one clean one left. "What?" He didn't try to hide his irritation.
"Have you ever thought about what kind of woman you would like to marry?"
That was a loaded question if he'd ever heard one. Suffering under no illusion that she was interested in him, he answered honestly, "I almost married a shy one once. She liked to read a lot. She had thick black hair and eyes that looked into your soul, and she cooked circles around any one I've ever known. Why?"
"Girls always think about the kind of man they want to marry, but it doesn't seem to work the other way around. A man doesn't seem to care whom he marries as long as he's fed and warm and no one nags him. What happened to the girl you wanted?"
"She married a man with a ranch and a two-dollar smile, said we were too much alike, that I needed somebody different." Daniel pulled off his boots and made himself comfortable on the mattress.
"Do you think Peter and I are too much alike?"
"You're both spoiled brats, if that's what you mean. What kind of man did you have in mind to marry if not him? He's got everything any woman I've ever known would want." The darkness added an air of conspiracy to this conversation that Daniel found himself liking altogether too well. He would like it even better if she were lying on this mattress next to him. He could imagine her curling up to him, spoon fashion. He would slip his hand inside that blanket and test a subject that he had contemplated with curiosity for some time. Did she really fill those bodices of hers so beautifully or was that underpinnings?
"I don't know. I always imagined Peter, but I imagined him better. I wanted him to love me, to do anything for me, to be a hero. I could have loved him blindfolded if he'd just taken the time to listen to me. But considering what kind of man he really is, I suppose I'm lucky that I don't love him."
Suspecting he was about to hear what had precipitated her flight, Daniel asked gently, "What kind of man is he?"
"Selfish and rotten like his father, I suppose. Guess who owns ABC Rentals?"
Daniel groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. He didn't want to hear this. Just as Georgina had harbored illusions about her fantasy man, he wished to hang on to his hopes of the family he'd never known. All the evidence pointed in the opposite direction, but as long as he didn't know everything, he could continue hoping for that one piece that would prove their innocence. It sounded as if Georgina was about to hand him the final nail in their coffins instead.
"Mulloney Enterprises," he ventured.
"You knew! How did you find out? Isn't it awful? I've known Peter all my life. I can't believe he and his father are scoundrels. But I know I can't marry into a family like that. I'll starve first."
She just might starve if Mulloney had anything to do with it, Daniel reflected, but he didn't say anything aloud. Let her think him asleep.
He didn't sleep however. He wondered if he ought to offer her his bed, but she seemed perfectly content in the chair, and he knew his leg would ache like hell if he attempted it. He imagined sharing the bed with her, but his body told him instantly what would happen if she did. He'd been concentrating on his newspaper business these last weeks instead of looking for the kind of woman who would bring him relief. He was paying for that oversight. He needed a woman and he needed her right now. Daniel suppressed a moan of agony and frustration as he covered his face with a pillow on the wild theory that suffocation would exterminate desire.
Maybe it was time that he started thinking about taking a wife. A wife would have saved him from this night of agony at least. He didn't think Georgina would have turned up on his doorstep if he'd been married.
After that one disastrous adolescent encounter with Carmen, he'd decided he wasn't ready for a wife and hadn't given one much thought in years. He knew he needed to set himself up somewhere first, be a productive part of the community, have an income to support a family. Unlike Evie and Tyler, he was the settling-down kind. He didn't want to roam all over creation once he'd started a family. Circumstances just hadn't cooperated yet.
Circumstances, and the matter of his unknown family. Daniel let his body quiet as he considered this last piece of news about the family he supposed he would never claim now. He hadn't really considered taking a wife until he'd had a chance to meet his family. Perhaps madness ran in the blood. Maybe they all had two heads and tails. He'd had to know. And now that he knew, he wasn't certain it was any better than what he had feared.
But he didn't think greed was a trait that could be passed on through the blood. He could pack up, leave town, find a quiet little place to settle, and start looking for a wife to start his own family—a wife nothing like the one sleeping in his chair right now. She was too expensive, too frivolous, too beautiful. He would spend the rest of his life worrying he wasn't good enough for her, worrying she would find someone better. Let Peter spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
He must have finally dozed. The combined racket of the dog barking its head off and furious pounding at the door jerked him back to consciousness quickly enough.
A rosy dawn sent a pattern of light across the rough wooden boards of the floor. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his nose in an attempt to make the day go away. The gesture never succeeded, but habits were hard to break. The furious knocks were now accompanied by loud shouting and the dog's frantic scratching and howling.
He looked up to see terrified blue eyes watching his every movement. Now dry, golden hair tumbled in a sinful cascade of curls over those bare shoulders Daniel had every cause to remember. Damn, but she was the exact opposite of everything he had ever wanted in a woman. He liked black straight hair, thick and smooth as silk, and dark, mysterious eyes that made his soul weep. Georgina Meredith was as open and bright as the day was long. But her terror roused his protective instincts.
With a groan Daniel staggered up, shoving his shirttail into his pants. He was going to have to pay for laundry early this week. Barefoot, he crossed the room, catching the dog's collar before opening the door. He didn't have any need to ask who was there. It didn't take any imagination at all to figure it out.
Georgina was the one who cried out in surprise when the door flew open and Peter shoved through. She had never counted on Peter coming. He looked furious enough to eat nails, and her gaze flew to her father just behind him. She needed all the protection she could get.
Beneath his side-whiskers, her father's face went gray when he saw her. Remembering what she wore, Georgina grabbed the blanket and pulled it more securely around her shoulders. But the damage was already done. Peter's livid expression revealed that he had seen all she had meant to show. She just hadn't counted on anyone coming but her father.
She glanced briefly to Daniel. He was watching her with an enigmatic expression that could have meant anything but almost certainly meant that he had seen what she wore—or didn't wear—beneath the blanket. She felt heat flushing through her at his look, and she turned back to her father.
"You're no daughter of mine," he hissed before turn
ing around and walking out.
Stunned, Georgina stared after him. She didn't know what she had imagined would happen when he found her, but it certainly hadn't been this. How could her father walk off and leave her in the hands of two furious and highly volatile young men? Her gaze swung fearfully to Peter.
She had never seen him look so dangerous. His eyes had grown stone-cold as they gazed on her, and his beard-stubbled jaw tightened menacingly as he turned to Daniel lounging against the door. It was then that she noticed Peter carried a rifle.
Chapter 13
"We don't treat ladies with disrespect in Ohio," Peter announced with a deceptive calm. "We have a solution for those who try."
"Peter! Stop it. You're jumping to conclusions. Before you make a fool of yourself, just listen..."
But Peter wasn't listening, as usual. He was glaring at Daniel. Daniel merely folded his arms over his chest, smiling back. Smiling! Georgina knew she should have killed them both the night before. She was beginning to prefer the bespectacled journalist to his counterpart who smiled with fury in his eyes. Genuine fear lodged in her middle for the first time.
"The lady's talking to you," Daniel pointed out unnecessarily.
"I'm talking to you. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you're going to pay for this. Did you think you could walk into town and destroy my business and steal my girl and walk away again?"
"I haven't destroyed your business—yet. And I haven't stolen Georgina. There she sits. Take her with you if you like."
"Daniel!" Irate, Georgina struggled to get up from the chair. It wasn't an easy task with the blanket wrapped all around her and in constant danger of slipping from forbidden parts, but she made it to her feet. "I'm not going anywhere with anybody."
Both men ignored her protest.
Finally stifling his fury sufficiently to face Georgina, Peter turned in her direction. "If you'll tell me you made a mistake and that you want to go home again, I'll forgive you this once. Just collect your clothes and we'll get out of here."
That took her entirely by surprise. Shocked, Georgina stared at him, searching for some sign that Peter really wanted her to go with him. If there was any pain in his eyes, she couldn't see it. She couldn't see anything but his fury and his humiliation. She desperately wanted to believe that he would take her back because he wanted her, but she wasn't that naive anymore.
"Hanover Industries means that much to you?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Your family means so little?" Peter retorted. "Get up and get your clothes and I'll help you out of here." Still clutching the rifle, he returned his attention to Daniel, expecting her full obedience.
"When my family allows other families to starve for the sake of their own pockets, they mean that little to me. I'm not going anywhere."
Daniel rolled his eyes heavenward and interceded. "You'd better take his advice, Miss Merry. You won't like what will happen next, otherwise."
She started to cross her arms and glare back, but remembered the blanket just in time. She grabbed it and kept it from falling, much to Daniel's disappointment, she could tell from his interested gaze. She flushed at the look in his eyes. Why was it that he always made her feel so... so naked?
"I'm fully prepared to take care of myself," she informed him coldly, before returning to Peter. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Your family is an even greater disgrace than mine. Go back and fire another clerk and work off some steam, if that's what you want."
Peter shook his head in disbelief, then pointed the rifle at Daniel. "Get your boots on, cowboy. You're about to get hitched." Over his shoulder he added, "Find some clothes, Georgina, or you'll be going out like that."
"Don't be ridiculous. You can't tell me what to do." Not completely understanding, Georgina remained where she was.
Daniel was the one who had to clarify matters for her. "Unless you wish to learn how a bullet works when it goes through a man's heart, you'd better put some clothes on, Miss Merry. I told you you wouldn't like this."
She had read about eyebrows disappearing into a person's hairline, and she suspected she was performing that trick right now as she stared at Peter. He wasn't watching her; he was aiming that silly rifle right at Daniel's heart. Why didn't Daniel just kick it out of his hands?
"Where are we going?"
"To the preacher. If you're not marrying me, then you'll be marrying your cowboy. Somebody has to take you in hand." Peter seemed completely serious.
Georgina was quite certain it was a joke. She sent Daniel a quizzical glance, but he merely waited with arms crossed for her to do as told. Scowling, she made an ungraceful retreat to the pressroom. She knew Daniel had something up his sleeve, but it would be a great deal easier if he would just pull it out now. This was becoming downright embarrassing.
She hadn't known Peter even owned a rifle. He'd probably had to borrow it from one of his brothers. She hoped he knew how it worked or he was likely to blow someone's head off.
That thought hurried Georgina's steps. She hadn't really believed she would be putting Daniel into any danger by her impulsive decision, but he was standing out there at the wrong end of a barrel held by a man who was not exactly in his right mind at the moment. Should that gun go off for whatever reason...
She hadn't been able to resist bringing along the London gown that didn't require a corset. It was the easiest thing to don under the circumstances. Pulling on a chemise and drawers, she hurriedly pulled the gown over her head and adjusted the draping respectably. She couldn't put her shoes on without stockings, so she looked around for a chair to sit on. Finding none, she sighed, and sat on the floor and jerked on the first pair she found, holding them up with tiny blue garters decorated with rosettes. All she needed now was to borrow something and she'd be ready for a wedding.
That thought struck her rather forcefully. Surely Peter hadn't really meant that? He was just trying to make her suffer. Anyway, Daniel was certain to find some way of disarming him. And no preacher in Cutlerville would marry them like this. This was just a means of forcing her out of the building. Well, she'd leave, but she would be back.
Fastening her shoes, she picked herself up off the floor and wished for a little more covering than the flowing sleeves of the gown. But her riding jacket was still wet, her winter cloak too heavy, and the gown didn't come with a polonaise to cover it, so she would have to go as she was.
More angry than afraid, Georgina stalked back to the front room to see the scene hadn't changed by much. The dog had settled down on the floor and gone back to sleep. Daniel was behaving most peculiarly. She had been quite certain that once she was out of the way he would have provoked some sort of struggle. But he stood calmly waiting for her, holding his jacket over his arm. He was wearing his boots, she noticed, and her heart sank to her stomach. They were really going out into the world like this.
Peter gestured with the rifle. "Come on, let's get this over. Reverend Herron will have left home if we don't get there soon."
Georgina's stomach swallowed her heart and carried it to her feet. Reverend Herron worked at Mulloney's because his congregation was so poor it couldn't support him. Herron was possibly the only preacher in town who might do what Peter told him without questioning.
She shot Daniel a look to see if he realized that fact. He merely settled his jacket around her shoulders and took her arm.
"The storm cooled things off," he murmured.
She couldn't believe this was happening. They walked down the stairs in front of Peter, who still clenched the rifle as if he really meant to use it. Perhaps once they hit the street and were surrounded by people, they could make their escape. Peter surely wouldn't actually shoot that thing.
But it was too early for anyone to be in this part of town. In another half hour or so, workers would begin arriving at the factory, but there wasn't a sign of them now. Even the pony was gone.
That thought broke Georgina's heart as much as anything. The pony was he
rs. Her father had given it to her for her ninth birthday. He couldn't take it back just like that. It wasn't fair.
She felt a tear forming in her eye, but she refused to let it fall. This was foolishness. In a few minutes Daniel would find some way to get her away, and she would go on as she had planned. She had known she couldn't keep the pony.
Peter's open chaise waited for them. It was designed for only two people, but somehow, all three of them squeezed onto the seat. Georgina was practically sitting on Daniel's knees as Peter took up the reins with one hand. The other hand rested on the rifle in his lap.
"Peter, you have quite lost your mind," she informed him. "I don't want to marry anybody. I've been trying and trying to tell everyone that, but no one would listen. Don't blame Daniel just because I had to do something drastic to catch your attention."
"Georgina, you always were a little fool. Up until now, I thought it sort of cute. It's not cute any longer, Georgina. You made your decision, and Mr. Martin made the mistake of going along with it. Now you'll both pay the price. People will understand an elopement. They will never understand your throwing yourself away rather than marrying me."
So that's what this was all about, male pride. Georgina squirmed uncomfortably, and Daniel caught her waist and held her still. She froze at the intimacy of that touch. She wasn't the sort who sat on men's laps, and they didn't lay familiar hands on her. She sat rigidly, trying to avoid any further contact.
"I am not throwing myself away. I mean to find a job and support myself. I intend to make you see what your poor clerks have to do to live."
"You're going to get married and let a man look after you before you wind up in the streets. I'm surprised and disappointed that you chose this... cowboy... over me, but I don't mind admitting I'm a little relieved. We would never suit."
"That's what I've been telling you all along!" Excited, Georgina bounced in her seat, and almost instantly felt Daniel wince. She turned an uncertain look at him, but his expression was stoic once more. In fact, she could almost see amusement behind the enigmatic gray of his eyes. She frowned, and he tightened his grip on her waist. The blasted man was enjoying this!
Texas Tiger TH3 Page 12
