Luckily, she didn’t have to.
Only moments ago the men had returned with the women, and Garrett shuffled them off to town on the train while Simon had marched straight in here to quit. He quoted love, family, and security as his reasons, and she couldn’t fault him for that.
What she wouldn’t give to find that in her life. She’d found something with Wall, but she didn’t know if it was love. It was real and raw, but what she felt with him was bewildering. She could never tell if he was going to let her lead or take over. She had a feeling he relented to her leadership, but wanted to be the one to take charge. And what did he want? Could she truly love a man who didn’t show who he really was? His true self.
He gave her a calm she never felt. They had a connection she would never deny, and she didn’t regret a single moment they shared, but she didn’t love him. Not the way Simon had professed to love Carrie just now in her office.
A knock sounded and she turned as Wall entered as though she’d conjured him up with her thoughts. He was handsome, in a rugged sort of way.
“Did you hear about the fire’s progress?”
“Uh, yes.” She mentally shook her thoughts straight, and set her now empty cup down on the corner of her desk. “Simon said it’s close to the camp.”
Wall entered fully, and shut the door.
“And have you had word from your parents?”
“No, but I am at an end. The next trial date is tomorrow.”
Wall took a few hesitant steps forward, and she frowned. He never hesitated. “Oh, for heaven’s sakes Wall, come out with whatever is on your mind. I see it in your eyes. I think we’re beyond the point of you not speaking your mind anymore. And frankly it’s starting to irritate me.”
He drew back, and his jaw clenched. “I beg your pardon?”
She waved toward him. “You playing the shadow constantly. It’s starting to grate on my nerves.”
“It’s what you asked for.” He said the words with a bite in his tone, and frankly she deserved it. She didn’t know why she chose him to pick a fight with, or why she sometimes said things before speaking, but she did. She couldn’t back down now.
“I am un-asking for it.”
“Fine.” He bowed his head for a split-second before stepping close to her. “Stop allowing people to walk all over you. Be the assertive woman I know you to be. The one who put me in my place the day at the stockyards, and the woman who told me off a second ago. To that end, you may find out some things that you aren’t going to like tomorrow.”
She crossed her arms. “Such as?”
“Such as the fact that Luther is working with the local Government, so things will not be in your favor.”
“How do you know this?”
“I can’t out my man, but I got word from a good source.”
“How long have you known.”
“A few weeks.”
“Yet you waited to tell me?” She stepped away, her chest tightening with rage.
“I’ve been hidden in a forest, working my fingers raw to meet your deadline without so much as a word from you on the subject. This is the first I’ve had the opportunity to tell you.”
He was right. He was in the middle of nowhere with only the train as a source of communication to her, and she’d failed to keep an open line of communication. “You could have written me.”
“Next time I’m belly deep in fixing your machines so you can meet the contract with your partners, I’ll stop to write you a letter.”
“I take it since you were at camp when you found this out and not here it was someone up there. A logger?”
He didn’t answer, so she continued to guess. “One of the men I brought up?”
“I won’t divulge my sources. I’ve told you before.”
“Fine.”
He let out a hard breath, and slapped his hand against his thigh as he started to pace the floor. “You’re a hard case, Victoria. You expect those around you to bend to your will, but you won’t give one notice to those who do so willingly. You have no appreciation for those in your life who care for you, who love you. I was right to worry about you judging me for my family connections. You’ll judge and use anyone who isn’t you.”
Victoria couldn’t breathe as she struggled to make sense of his words. Did he mean that he loved her, or was it a slip of verbiage? And she did judge others. It had always been a fault of hers. Especially those who weren’t as prevalent as she was in the Missoula social standing.
She also envied those who lived in a less-than-prosperous lifestyle as her. They were always more cheerful. She coveted them for their happiness, the way they clung to each other as they walked with one another to church on Sunday, or shopping on Saturday. The look in their eyes as they shared some private joke at a party while she talked with the mayor’s harlot wife.
So she’d filled her void with Great Mountain Lumber Mill, and now it started to crumble down around her. But she refused to let Wall in on that secret in her soul. Not yet.
“And you have no faults?”
Wall paced. “I have faults. I have secrets you will more than likely despise me for once you find them out, but we are not perfect. No one in this world is.”
“What are your secrets?”
“I’ve told you one already.” Wall lifted his chin. “Luther is working with the local government. They have taken him on to the run a mill for them once Montana becomes a state. This whole trial is a sham aimed at stripping you of your mill without costing them a dime.”
“Well, I thank you for warning me, and I can assure you I will be telling my lawyer.”
“That’s it? You’re going to tell your lawyer and let him handle it? You’re not going to come up with a plan beforehand?”
“What plan am I going to discover? I know nothing about legal stuff. I have to trust in my people, and in this aspect, I will trust my lawyer to save my mill from being taken over by a lowlife.”
“Do you know if Luther is even your brother? What if it’s all a scam?”
“I don’t think it is.”
“Why not?”
“I looked at a painting of my mother after he left the other night. There are similarities, and Paul confirmed the story to be true.”
“Then fight some other way.”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
“Damn it, princess. You have hundreds of people, and their families. Hell, a whole town out there is counting on you to win this, and by the look on your face it doesn’t appear you have the fight you need to win. You have no plan other than to let your lawyer handle it.”
“Be angry at me all you want, Wall, as long as you assert yourself once more. Be the man you were behind the alley again. I need him back.”
Wall looked at her as if she were daft. As if she weren’t listening, but she was, she simply didn’t want to focus on her anymore. She knew the stakes, knew what would be lost, but in truth she didn’t know what to do.
Wall yanked open the door, and stopped. “To do what? You won’t let me help you. I’ve tried. You don’t know what you want, princess.” He gave a sarcastic chuckle, and moved his gaze around her office, stopping at her large window. “Except a tower. You already have that.”
As he left, he slammed the door behind him and made her jump. The moment she was blessedly shrouded in loneliness once more, she slumped onto her couch and slid her hands over her face.
Why did she pick a fight with the one man on earth who stood behind her because he wanted to? Wall was right, she was a hard case. Even she knew as much. Life got hard, so she targeted her anger on Wall, even though he didn’t deserve her ire.
Even though he’d spend his last few months doing nothing but protecting and focusing on her. A hardened, filthy river logging cowboy with a heart so tender he’d move the mountain if she so wished. And she’d
ruined what she’d had with him with her spur of the moment outburst.
Perhaps Luther was right. Maybe she didn’t deserve any of what she had. Maybe she shouldn’t fight anymore, or maybe she should fight with someone other than Wall Adair.
* * * *
Wall slipped into the back-row pew. The trial was almost over, but he’d had to take care of something important. Something which might end up being the saving grace to Victoria, the town of Bonner and all the people within it, and may even anger his father a little. The last was a bonus. If it went through as he’d hoped.
Then again, it could very well sic the territorial office on he and Victoria. Which would be a very bad thing indeed.
He felt bad about not being here at the beginning of the trial for Victoria, but she’d made it clear her true feelings for him. She felt him weak, as he’d stayed in the background. Allowing her the liberties her position gave her, as she’d asked him to do. But if what she wanted in a man was what she’d said in her office, then by God he’d let his true colors show.
He’d suppressed who he really was for her. Because at the time, he thought she needed a silent champion. Maybe what she’d really needed was a strong hand.
The judge cleared his throat and the room grew silent.
“Since Mr. and Mrs. Harrison do not feel it important to show for the proceedings, I am forced to consider only the evidence I have been given,” the judge began. “In doing so I have determined that Mr. Luther Sanchez is owed fifty percent of Great Mountain Lumber Mill.”
A small rumble erupted from those in the crowd, and Wall cursed.
The judge held up his hand. “However, I am not without compassion, Miss Harrison. I will allow you to keep the mill itself, but the land, all the gear, and trees on it will go to Luther Sanchez as of today. You will have one day to evacuate your men off the mountain without the gear that is on the land or you will be found to be trespassing on Mr. Sanchez property.”
Victoria toyed with her necklace and shook her head. “My men have evacuated because of the fire. There is no one up there.”
“Splendid.” The judge turned his attention to Luther. “Luther Sanchez, you are given the land and logging rights to everything that once belonged to Great Mountain with the exception of the mill itself.” He slammed his gavel on his pulpit and stood.
The crowd did the same, and Wall tentatively approached Victoria, who stood with head bowed and talked to her lawyer.
Victoria’s eyes were watery, but she didn’t cry as he approached. She waved toward her lawyer. “Wall, this is Gustav.”
“I was just telling her to take what she was offered and find some new land. At least she got the mill.”
“Yes,” Wall said, but he couldn’t help but wonder how hard the lawyer fought for her. Regardless of their fight the other day, Victoria needed someone who was truly on her side, whether she’d accept help or not. She was alone.
Wall motioned for her to accompany him out of the room. “Can I take you home?”
She huffed and followed. “At least I have a home to go to.”
Once outside, he offered her his arm. “Is your carriage at the livery down the road?”
On her nod, he guided her in that direction.
They walked silently until the crowd at the courthouse was no longer within earshot, and then Victoria spoke up. “I want to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”
Wall tilted his head to the side, but tried not to smile. He doubted more than five people in all of her life had ever heard an apology from her. “You were right. I wasn’t being myself around you, but that’s because you were my boss, but since there’s no work to go back to I suppose I’m going to have to quit.”
He sent her a teasing smile.
“Too early to poke fun at,” she stated with a disapproving frown.
“Land you can buy easily. A mill would take you at least a year to rebuild unless you make it a portable mill. In my book you won, princess. You may not have taken everything, but you took what was important. You took what you needed to save the people of Bonner. We’ll find a parcel of land, buy it, and start over.”
“I don’t have the means to buy land. I put everything I own into getting the railroad logging off the ground. I might be able to rent some logging rights somewhere.”
“We’ll find another way.”
They entered into the livery and Wall began to ready her carriage and horses as she remained by his side throughout the process. “I suppose you’re right about finding a way to recuperate the business. And with the railroad, our possibilities are expounded.”
“Didn’t you have a meeting with someone a while back about a new venture? When I saw you at the café?”
“Yes. You were with your brother.”
“How did that go?”
She shook her head, and he motioned for her to mount the carriage. “Not well. The man is not keen on letting his trees go. He says they are too important for his livestock. He can’t be bothered to even rent out his land to rid the timber for pasture.”
He tied his horse to the back, stepped into the driver’s seat, and took up the reins, sending the buggy in motion. “I may know some ranchers who are in need of harvesting, and I need to make a trip to bring a woman back home soon. Do you want to come along? We could swing by some ranches near my homestead, talk them into letting their trees go.”
“A woman?”
Wall grinned at the shock in her words. “Jealous?”
“No. It’s only, I thought—”
“You thought you could come into my life and try to steal my heart so you can leave it bleeding on the ground while you rode away on your white horse to your tower?”
“No.” She snapped her gaze to the horses as he maneuvered her buggy down the road leading out of town. “That is, if you lost your heart, it’s your doing, and I don’t own a white horse.”
Wall laughed. “Calm down, princess. It’s Teddy, your chute monkey’s, sister. I saw him and Simon today at the train depot as I unloaded my machines to the warehouses in town. You’ll be happy to know that even though Ms. Carrie asked for a job on my father’s ranch I didn’t give her one. I did, however, offer it to Teddy’s sister. I need to bring her to the ranch sometime this week.”
“You’ve been busy. Is that why you didn’t make it to the trial?” She grabbed on to the side of the buggy as they took a rut in the road.
“I was there.”
“At the end. I saw you come in. Well, more like I felt when you entered, and then saw you.”
“It’s been a helluva day for business. Which is why we need to get you running this mill again because I also signed on with Simon for leather. I need it for some of my machines. If you don’t run this mill, I don’t run my business, and Simon loses his business.”
“The added order certainly helps calm my nerves,” she said dryly.
“No pressure or anything, but three companies and an entire town depend on you keeping the mill open. So how about we leave tomorrow?”
She nodded, but every muscle in her face tightened. She had some emotions to work through, and he hoped she’d come to grips with them by the time they got back to Bonner.
An hour later they rolled into the mill yard. Wall set the break, leapt off the buggy, and helped Victoria down. Her breathing had begun to get under control whenever they drew close, but a spark still flickered in her eye.
She may claim that he was nothing to her. That she wanted him to be stronger, more of a man, but she wasn’t unaffected by him. Perhaps soon he could find a time to show her who he was now that the chains of master and employee were broken.
“Come in for coffee?” she said.
“I need to take care of the buggy and horses.”
“After?”
He gave a s
ingle nod, and she disappeared inside the house.
Did she want something more than coffee? Did she want him? He made short work of securing the horses and buggy, and then hurried up the front steps to knock on the door.
He gave a quick scan of the mill yard, but no one was about to see him enter into her home. They’d all gone to their own homes to wait out the fire. Thankfully.
The click of her heels against the wood floor echoed through the house as she came to the door and opened it. She searched the yard as he entered. He smiled as he walked through. “Is your household staff gone?”
“Yes.” She shut the door and locked it.
“Coffee?”
“There’s probably cold coffee somewhere.” She began to walk away from him, so he reached out and spun her around back into his arms. “I don’t want it.”
Not asking, not waiting for a response, he bent down and kissed her. This time hard. Commanding. Meant to show her the man he’d held back. The passion he’d suppressed the last time he’d cradled her in his arms at Mother Goose’s Cottage.
He reached up and tugged at the puffy bun in her hair as he plundered her mouth. Once satisfied he’d had enough of her intoxicating kisses, he released her lips. “Let your hair loose.”
Her eyes did a thing so unique he’d only seen it once before. They sparkled in a haze, like the top of Seeley Lake just as the sun began to shine on the glassy surface while the mist still hovered over the top.
He’d remember that look in her eyes for the remainder of his years, and if he was lucky enough to have more moments like this with her after certain things came to light, he’d work to discover the look again.
For now, he wanted to watch the way her hair dusted the top of her buttocks as she walked naked to her bedroom. Her hair fell down her back, and he smiled like the wolf he felt raging within him. “Now your clothes.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue, but he stopped her with a single finger over her mouth. “You said you wanted me to show you who I really am. Be the cowboy I was before, well this is what you get. Undress.”
Fiery Passion Page 15
