Love’s Battle Won

by Elliee Atkinson

  Jasper froze. Jeremiah must have known it was Serena and thought he was protecting his brother by telling Rebecca that it was Molly. Meanwhile, Serena had come into his bedroom at the very moment that Molly had decided to kiss him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  LOVE’S LINGERING SORROW

  LOVE’S LINGERING SORROW

  “Serena,” she heard Jasper call. He had been trying to get to her all day, and now he had found her sitting on the swing seat, all by herself in the silence of the night.

  “Please, just leave me alone,” Serena said. “My life is complicated enough, and I don’t want it to get worse.”

  “I just want you to know that I will help you any way I can…to find your husband.”

  “Why do you want to help me?” Serena asked.

  “Because I care about you, Serena, and I want to see you happy.”

  “Are your impending nuptials making you feel guilty on my account? Because of what happened between us? If that is the case, please know that I have put all that from my mind…and so should you.”

  “Do you seriously expect me to forget you or what transpired between us? Don’t you know, Serena, that if you weren’t married, I would be down on one knee asking you to marry me?”

  “Really, Jasper? And what about Molly Wheeler? I saw you kissing her. I heard the talk in the kitchen – that you will shortly be engaged. Your mother has even asked me to start planning the menu for your wedding banquet.”

  “What?” Jasper said, horrified.

  Serena slid off the swing and began to walk away, but Jasper ran after her and pulled her into his arms. He held her fast and brought his lips down hard on hers, claiming her mouth possessively. Serena gasped; fighting the spark that Jasper’s touch never failed to ignite, even as he drew her body closer against his. She went limp in his arms, submitting to his caresses, but then the vision of Molly kissing him rose up before her eyes and she broke free.

  “I am not your plaything!” she exclaimed.

  “Nor do I regard you as such,” Jasper replied breathlessly, reaching out to pull Serena back into his arms.

  “I saw you with Molly, Jasper.”

  “She kissed me, Serena. I didn’t initiate it. If anything, I was trying to get her to leave. She took me by surprise and I didn’t even respond – but then you wouldn’t know because you just want to believe the worst of me.”

  Serena looked up at him despairingly. “You’re going to be engaged to her, Jasper, and yet here you are, confusing me with your attentions.”

  Jasper looked at her miserably. “I never gave Molly any indication that I was interested in her. You have to believe me, Serena. It was my mother – anxious as she is to see me settled.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Someone saw us together on the night of the ball and reported to Mother. Jeremy did what he thought was best and told Mother that I was with Molly. Jeremy is protective of me…and, it would appear, he is also protecting you.”

  “Neither of you should protect me, Jasper. I should leave and go as far away from you as possible.”

  Jasper took her hand in his and held it tight. “Please, Serena, don’t go anywhere. I am afraid for you. That man…Trent…what is he to you?”

  Serena stiffened. “I told you. He was my father’s friend, and he managed to take my ranch away from me.”

  “How?” Jasper asked, confused. Serena began to tremble and Jasper held her close again. “What did he do to you? Tell me!”

  “I got away, and that’s the important thing,” Serena said, biting her lip to keep it from trembling.

  “Did he assault you?” Jasper asked, his voice, barely above a whisper.

  “Why do you persist in your questions? What could you possibly gain by knowing the details of what Trent put me through?” Serena asked tearfully.

  Jasper could see tiny beads of blood on her lower lip, where her teeth had cut her delicate skin, and he marveled at the redness in the moonlight.

  “Trent repeatedly tried to subdue me…physically…” Serena said at last, hanging her head.

  Jasper took her lips in his again, tasting the blood on her mouth, mingled with the tears that slipped down her cheeks.

  She freed herself from his embrace and looked up at him. “I did not allow Trent to violate me – however many times he tried. However, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I told him he could take the ranch, and I ran away… and came here. But now – this…you…” Serena’s voice broke. “I can’t stay here either, it would seem.”

  “Serena, give me some time – I will find out what happened to your husband so that you can be safe when you leave here.”

  “I will stay on if you make me a promise, Jasper,” Serena said.

  “What is it? Tell me,” Jasper urged her.

  “Avoid me…and marry someone else. Please. I cannot live this double life anymore – being married and feeling this way about you.”

  “This way? Tell me what you mean, Serena. How do you really feel about me?”

  She shook her head and sped away from him. Jasper ran after her, catching her as she tripped on the hem of her dress and fell. They tumbled onto the ground together, Jasper cushioning Serena’s fall. She felt his body under hers and gazed into his eyes, perplexed. Passion blazed between them as Jasper rolled Serena over and pinned her body down with his.

  “This is not something we can ignore, Serena,” Jasper whispered hoarsely against her throat as she struggled to free herself from his embrace.

  “Please don’t make this difficult for me, Jasper. You talk of finding Daniel, yet here you are tempting me to break my vows to him.”

  “I’m not tempting you, Serena. I am just powerless to resist the magnetism that draws us together.”

  Suddenly, just like that, she stopped struggling against him, throwing her arms about his body and pulling him closer. He groaned as he kissed her; one hand curving around her waist and creeping down her hip to draw her closer into his embrace. Serena moaned softly as his lips trailed fire down her neck and throat, but before they reached the swell of her breasts, she begged him to stop.

  “Tomorrow I begin my search for Daniel,” Jasper said aloud as he watched Serena hurry away from him. He pushed his hair back, noting with surprise that it was damp with perspiration, and that his body was tingling with heat and desire. He laid back on the grass, under the sky, his head throbbing from the pain of his wound.

  CHAPTER SIX

  UNCOVERED SECRETS

  UNCOVERED SECRETS

  “Look at this!” Rebecca exclaimed, waving a sheet of paper at her husband.

  Thomas looked up from his warmed bowl of oats and studied his wife’s agitated face before he took the paper from her. “It’s a note,” he remarked, “from Jasper. Saying he’s going away for a few days…on a mission. Do you know anything about this?” He looked accusingly at Jeremiah, who wished he could have escaped this moment.

  “No,” Jeremiah lied. “But he will be fine, I’m sure.”

  “He was lying in bed injured yesterday, and today he has gone away on a mysterious mission? What madness is this?” Rebecca ranted.

  “I told you not to push him to get married,” Thomas said, giving his wife a significant look.

  “Are you saying he has run away because a perfectly wonderful girl wants to marry him?”

  “I’m not saying that at all,” Thomas replied. “But you have been pushing him. The girl you mention might want our Jasper as her husband, but does Jasper feel the same way about her?”

  “By all accounts, yes!” Rebecca said, her nostrils flaring. “He was seen with her on the night of the ball…enjoying her company.”

  Jeremiah looked down at his plate guiltily, just as Serena entered with a jug of milk.

  “He just met her on the night of the ball,” Thomas remarked. “What did he do to lead you to believe he had anything more than a passing interest in the girl?” He shook his head in exasperation. “She is just a child. Jasper is a man who needs a woman. Someone m
ore mature.”

  Serena’s hands trembled as she placed a mug of warm milk on the table and began to walk away.

  “Serena!” Rebecca called, and she turned around and came back to the table. “Is everything alright, dear? You don’t look too well.”

  “I’m fine, thank you, Mrs. Riley,” Serena replied, forcing a smile.

  “Good, because I want you to go ahead and begin planning the menu for Jasper’s wedding banquet.”

  “Mother!” Jeremiah exclaimed, standing. “You can’t force Jasper’s hand like that!”

  “I know what’s best for him, and Molly Wheeler is perfect.”

  “Father and I know Jasper too,” Jeremiah argued, “perhaps you need to allow Jasper to make up his own mind.”

  “Have you and your father been discussing this issue behind my back?” Rebecca asked indignantly.

  “No,” Jeremiah replied. “But maybe we all should sit down and think about what Jasper needs right now. In my opinion, he needs some time to think about marriage before he is pushed into it.”

  “Are you arguing your own case, son?” Rebecca asked him.

  Jeremiah shook his head. “No, Mother. I’m genuinely concerned about Jasper.”

  Serena escaped to the kitchen and busied herself cooking the next meal. Cooking always calmed her nerves, and she began to cut and chop vegetables with such concentration that she didn’t see Rebecca enter.

  “Jasper is my eldest,” Rebecca said, and Serena looked up in surprise, her eyebrows arched enquiringly.

  “Mrs. Riley,” Serena murmured. “I’m sorry; I didn’t see you come in. What can I do for you?”

  “As I was saying, Jasper is my eldest, and I want the very best for him,” Rebecca said, giving Serena a pointed look.

  “Naturally,” Serena replied, her voice just above a whisper.

  “Obviously there are women out there who are attracted to him. Jasper is a very handsome man. But I’m not going to stand by and let any fortune hunting woman, however refined and talented, think she can seduce him.”

  Serena’s eyes grew wide, and she fought for composure. “Of course, Mrs. Riley,” she responded, for want of anything better to say.

  “It was me who saw Jasper – on the night of the ball. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who did. I’m willing to forget what happened, and regard it as two people carried away by the excitement of the occasion, but I’m protective of my family, and I will not stand an intruder who has designs on my son…however nice she may be.”

  The message came across loud and clear, but Serena did her best to feign ignorance of the person Rebecca was referring to.

  “Now…I need you to concentrate on planning the finest menu for Jasper’s wedding feast. I will hire assistants for you, but you are good at what you do, so you will, of course, head the kitchen for the event,” Rebecca continued. “Jasper is a hot-blooded man. One cannot mistake what he did on the night of the ball as an action motivated by love.”

  Serena looked up and met Rebecca’s eyes squarely. Suddenly, she was irate. Her eyes narrowed. Rebecca blinked and stepped back involuntarily, but held her ground. The moment passed and Serena smiled and nodded, but her eyes remained sad, confused, and angry at life.

  “I must go and check on Nathan,” she said, and excused herself.

  “Ah, your son. Of course, you must be looking for a father for him.”

  “No,” Serena replied coldly. “I am, however, looking for his father – my husband Daniel, who left us three years ago to go gold prospecting in North Carolina. I pray every day that he will return.”

  “Hmm…so I presume then that you think it is alright to amuse yourself in the meantime?”

  Serena shook her head. “No, Mrs. Riley. I live only for my son. Since I lost my ranch…”

  “Your ranch?”

  “The man who attacked Jasper was a friend of my father. He was a threat to me. Rather than helping me run the ranch after my parents died and my husband failed to return, he cheated me out of it…and tried to harm me in the process.” Serena looked straight into Rebecca’s eyes. They were alone in the kitchen, so she could say what she should have said when she first came to Steephill Ranch.

  “Mrs. Riley, my parents were Abe and Esther Andrews of Sweet Haven Ranch. I had to run away from my home because of Trent Dalton, a man so vile and hateful that he took everything from me. Nevertheless, I am no fortune hunter, and this job is very important to me. As for your son, I respect him and, like you, I want his happiness.”

  “Abe and Esther’s daughter!” Rebecca exclaimed, studying Serena’s face. “So, I was right. You seemed far too refined to be a cook. But you said you were related to Angelica.”

  “I said that with her permission to get this job, and right now, that’s what I am – a cook and nothing more, because Trent Dalton has taken everything from me.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Serena.”

  “Please…say nothing, Mrs. Riley. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner, and I feel bad that my being here placed Jasper’s life in danger yesterday…which is why I think it best that I leave…but as you have done so much for me, I will leave after preparing the wedding banquet for Jasper.”

  “Thank you, Serena. And just as long as you understand what I want for my son, I think you can stay on even after the wedding.”

  “There’s one other thing I have to tell you Mrs. Riley,” Serena said. “I think that Jasper has gone in search of my husband. He knows my predicament, you see, and after Trent appeared yesterday, Jasper wanted to help me by finding Daniel and bringing him back, so that I may reclaim my home… and so that Nathan will have his daddy back.”

  “You let Jasper go off on a dangerous mission?” Rebecca asked, aghast.

  “No, Mrs. Riley. I didn’t let him do anything. He insisted on going. He is a good, caring man. He wanted to help me. I asked him not to.” Serena shrugged. “God knows he is the only one who has cared enough to make such an offer since my parents died.”

  “Do you know when he will be back?”

  Serena bit her lip. “No, Mrs. Riley. In fact, I didn’t even know when he went…or that he had. I am merely assuming that he has gone in search of Daniel, because that is what he said he would do to help me.”

  “This is most irregular, and confusing,” Rebecca replied.

  Serena was saved from having to respond when Petula burst into the kitchen. “Mama!” she said excitedly, “Ralph Brown has asked us all to his ranch! For a picnic!”

  “Jamie and Belle’s son Ralph? That’s wonderful, Petula!” Rebecca said. “Of course, we must all go. When is it?”

  “This Sunday. After church.”

  Rebecca smiled indulgently. “I could see he was quite taken with you, my dear.”

  Petula blushed. “Ralph is very nice indeed,” she said.

  “Serena,” Rebecca instructed, “you must make your delicious apple and blueberry pies to take with us on the picnic.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Riley,” Serena replied.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A PICNIC FOR SOME

  A PICNIC FOR SOME

  Sunday came all too soon, and Petula made several visits to the kitchen to see if the pies were done to her satisfaction.

  “Here are the pies,” Serena said, handing Petula a wicker basket covered with a checkered cloth.

  “Thank you!” Petula replied. She leaned forward. “Are you really in love with Jasper?”

  “I beg your pardon?” Serena said, turning pink.

  “There is some talk of the two of you…” Petula replied. “It’s all so romantic – you being a lady of means who has fallen on hard times.”

  “Please,” Serena begged, “don’t let these stories spread. There is little truth to them, barring the fact that I lost my ranch. Where did you hear all this?”

  “From Mama, actually,” Petula said. “She’s quite nervous about the effect you have on Jasper, so she’s pushing him toward Molly, who, between you and me, is quite dull and b
rainless.”

  Serena looked away and said nothing.

  “Serena,” Petula said. “I love Jasper. He’s such a wonderful brother. If he is in love with you, then I approve… because in my eyes he can do no wrong.”

  “Thank you,” Serena whispered, “but you really shouldn’t be talking like this. I have a husband, you know.”

  “Yes, I heard that he left three years ago and never returned.”

  Serena blanched. “It sounds very frightening when you put it like that.”

  “Jasper will find him…or find out about him. Don’t worry,” Petula reassured her. “Oh dear, I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now. We are to stop at Marjorie’s on the way.”

  “I haven’t been able to say this to anyone, but I am worried…about Jasper,” Serena said. “He has been away almost five days and there has been no word. We don’t know how far he has gone.”

  “He is the bravest man I know,” Petula said proudly, “and he will return in due time.”

  When the carriage had driven away, bearing Thomas and Rebecca, Jeremiah and Petula, Serena fetched Nathan from the yard outside and went to the cottage. Patsy emerged, all dressed up. “Where are you off to?” Serena asked her.

  “Well, with the Rileys away for the day, I thought I’d go into town and meet my cousin Marcie, who works at a tavern there.” She gave Serena a sympathetic look. “Why don’t you come along with me?”

  “I would love to,” Serena said wistfully, “but perhaps it’s better for Nathan if I stay behind and play with him. I was thinking of making a picnic lunch for the two of us and eating it by the swing.”

  “Looks like you have your day planned,” Patsy laughed. She winked at Serena. “By the way, remember when I said you looked familiar? I have met you before. At your ranch – Sweet Haven.”

  Serena sighed. “So, you’ve heard too. Is there anybody that Mrs. Riley didn’t tell?”

  Patsy giggled. “Actually, she didn’t tell anybody except Mr. Riley – but Chloe, the housemaid, overheard the conversation, and of course the story spread like wildfire.”