“Yes, I’m really safe.”
“You can’t believe how worried I’ve been. And all the time you weren’t even here.” The sense of relief was so great she felt light-headed. “What were you doing in Cheyenne?”
“I was winding up the details of my loan and buying enough furniture to fill this house. You, Miss Smallwood, are looking at the proud and sole owner of the Matador. Every stick of wood on the place and everything on four hooves is mine.”
Freed of the need to worry about Cord, Eliza broke into a broad smile. “You’ve paid off the whole debt?”
“Every penny of it. I’m not a rich man, but I’ve got enough for now. In five years I’ll be rich enough for you to throw everything out and buy whatever you like.”
“But this is your house,” stammered Eliza. “I would never tell you what to put in it.”
“I’m inviting you to make it our home, my little love,” Cord stated, compelling her eyes to look into his. “I want to get married, now. Would Christmas be too soon?”
“C-C-Christmas?” Eliza stammered, tightening her grip to support her weak knees.
“Yes, Christmas, with a preacher, a church, a white dress, and anything else you want.” Eliza looked completely stunned. “You do still want to marry me, don’t you?” Cord asked intently.
“Of course. I’ve been in love with you for months, but what am I going to do about Uncle Ira?”
“I really don’t care whether he likes me or not. I’m not going to ask him to live with us.”
“But I can’t abandon him. I promised Aunt Sarah on her deathbed I would never leave him, and I can’t go back on that vow now. I just can’t.”
“You’re going to have to face the possibility he may never change his mind, and if he doesn’t, you’ll have to choose between us.”
Eliza began to feel as though she was being assaulted from both sides. There seemed to be no way out that would be acceptable to both men. “Maybe when he sees how badly he’s misjudged you this time, he’ll realize he’s been misjudging you all along,” she said hopefully.
Cord doubted Ira would see anything he didn’t want to see, but he didn’t say so.
“Will you wait until I’ve had a chance to talk to him again?”
“Okay, but only if you set the date somewhere between Christmas and New Year’s. I have a feeling 1892 is going to be my lucky year, and I want to start it as a married man.”
“I feel the same way” agreed Eliza, torn between her desire to marry Cord as soon as possible and fear of what would happen when she confronted her uncle. “I just don’t know what to do about Uncle.”
“I’m not interested in Ira right now. You haven’t answered me yet. Will you marry before the end of the month?”
“If you’re really sure, I would like it very much.”
“I’m really sure,” Cord said, and smothered her in his embrace. But this time both his hands and his lips showed a tendency to stray. Eliza felt her body respond to the heat of his presence, and allowed Cord to unbutton the sacque she wore, and then the lacy blouse underneath. His lips trailed kisses while his hands found her breasts and massaged them until they rose against the restraints of her chemise.
“Someone could come in,” she managed to whisper, not wanting to say the words.
“I’m the only one who stays in the house,” he said, his lips never losing contact with her velvety skin. “And Ginny’s gone to visit her sister.” Cord’s entire concentration was on Eliza and the nearness of a body that nearly drove him crazy.
Eliza felt her resistance fade quickly. “I guess I could stay for a little while.”
Cord sat up in the bed. “Did you know you’re the most beautiful woman in the whole world?”
Eliza smiled happily, but he could read disbelief in her eyes.
“I mean it, absolutely the most beautiful woman in the entire world.”
“And how do you know that?” she teased, tickling his nose with her index finger.
“I checked out every one of them myself,” He let his fingers trail between her breasts down to her bare belly. “I traveled to the far corners of the earth until I found you.”
“And all the while your twin brother was spending twenty hours a day riding this range.”
He grinned. “I may not have actually seen every girl in the world, but I know none of them can come close to you. I thought I was in love once before, but now I know how wrong I was.”
“I didn’t know what I was missing. I thought I was supposed to spend the rest of my life cooking and cleaning, and running at the sight of any man.”
“I still want you to run at the sight of me, but always toward me. When will you talk to your uncle?”
Some of the happiness faded from Eliza’s eyes and she sat up, pulling the sheet over her nakedness. “I don’t know.”
“Suppose I go into town with you and we get it over tonight.”
“No!” It was a cry of panic.
“You’re not afraid of him, are you?”
Maybe, Eliza thought, remembering the bruised cheek. “What is he going to do if I stop singing?”
“Sam’s been packing them in lately, and Ella told me Croley had hired a dancer. It won’t be the same without you, but they’ll do all right.”
“It’s not just that. Uncle Ira doesn’t like you. He hates all cowboys.”
“Are you going to let that stop you from marrying me?”
“No, but I’d rather tell him myself, in my own way. He’s going to be awfully mad, but it would make things worse if you were there. He wouldn’t listen to a thing I said.”
“When will you tell him?” He pulled back the sheet and dipped his head to let his tongue caress a ruby nipple that immediately began to throb with warm desire. “I warn you, I’m not a patient man.” He stroked the other nipple with his fingertips.
“I’ll tell him tomorrow, as soon as I can,” she said, finding it difficult to concentrate on her words. Tendrils of desire radiating out from her breasts to every part of her body caused her flesh to quiver with expectation. The ever-widening nature of Cord’s onslaught turned her thoughts to mush and her senses into an uproar. The driving insistence of her aching would not allow her to passively acquiesce to his lovemaking, but forced her to reach out to discover him as he had discovered her. Her fingers lost themselves in the mat of hair on his chest, and she pulled him down until their lips locked, their tongues probing, searching, driving their bodies toward a tumultuous fulfillment.
“Touch me,” he said, his voice harsh with tightly leashed desire. “I want to feel you hold me.” A shudder shook Eliza’s entire body, but she forced her hands to reach down until they encountered the white-hot rod of his passion. Slowly her fingers closed around it, feeling its throbbing length, cradling its molten stiffness. A groan escaped from between Cord’s compressed lips, and his tongue ravaged her mouth.
“Now guide me to you,” he said. Tentatively Eliza obeyed, thrilled by the realization that her touch was pleasing him so. She opened her body to accept him and he entered ever so slowly. Eliza gripped her lower lip in her teeth to keep from crying out as he sank ever deeper into her warm, inviting flesh with maddening slowness, tempting, teasing, driving her into a tempest of longing. Her legs closed around him trying to force him to probe deep within her to reach and satisfy the longing that was turning her inside out, but still he inched his way in, pausing, withdrawing a short way, and then resuming his entry.
“Please,” she begged in a ragged voice, and Cord drove deep within her with one knifing stroke. With a cry of joy Eliza rose to meet him, forcing him ever deeper, then withdrawing to thrust again. She was unable to wait for him to lead her, to determine the course of their pleasure. Her body demanded satisfaction and it demanded it now. She threw her head back and wrapped both her arms tightly about Cord, holding him close to her, forcing him to plunge still deeper to reach her raging need. The spiral of longing and pleasure wound ever higher until it caused her whole body
to shudder with ecstasy.
But Cord drove her on, and soon a second spiral, quickly followed by a third, enveloped her in its ever-widening circles, and she began to feel as though her entire body was tormented by the need to absorb Cord into herself. Wave after wave of disabling sensuality rolled over her, building to a crescendo that became so overwhelming that Cord became a victim to its engulfing, spreading rings. His breath came fast and hot, and his body drove insistently into the very depth of her, until, with a shattering explosion, he too reached that pinnacle of pleasure.
“Another minute, and I’d a had the place locked up,” the boy stated impudently as Eliza drew the buggy to a stop in front of the livery stable. “Then you’d a had to go disturbing Mr. Hadley at his dinner, and that would a caused a ruckus.”
“I’m glad you didn’t have to wait.”
“Look, lady, I don’t wait for nobody, not even a fancy saloon singer.”
“Take good care of my horse, please. He’s had a long drive,” Eliza instructed the boy, and abruptly turned her back on him. He made an unpleasant face as he spat out a stream of tobacco juice, then led the horse and buggy inside.
“Ain’t nobody else gonna keep me from my dinner,” he muttered. He locked the door behind him before beginning to strip the harness off the exhausted horse.
Outside, Eliza hurried along the street toward the back door of the saloon. She cracked the door and listened attentively, but she heard no unusual sounds so she slipped in and tiptoed down the hall to the stairs. She could hear voices coming from the kitchen, but no one stepped out into the hall to see who had come in. She paused again upon reaching the upper floor, but there was no one in the long passageway and she hurried toward her rooms. She put her ear to the door, straining to hear the slightest sound; the silence didn’t mean her uncle wasn’t inside. Taking a deep breath, she schooled her features into a look of casual disinterest and opened the door.
The room was empty. She let out her breath in a great rush, then hurried to her own room, closed the door, and sank on the bed, relief flooding all through her body. She lay there for several minutes until her pulse returned to normal, her mind lingering on the time spent in Cord’s embrace.
Her daydreams were soon interrupted by sounds from the parlor, indicating Lucy’s preparations for dinner. Realizing she had no idea what had happened during the long hours she’d been away, Eliza made herself presentable and went into the sitting room.
“So there you are. I wondered where you d got to.
“I was tired of being cooped up, so I went visiting.”
“Just as well, with all the fuss and bother.”
“Is Uncle still angry?” Eliza asked.
“Yes, but not about the same thing,” Lucy answered, and surprised Eliza by breaking into a chuckle.
“What do you mean?”
“You know how he was trying to talk everybody into going out to Mr. Stedman’s place for a shootout? Well, the sheriff showed up and told him to stop making a fool of himself, that Mr. Stedman had gone to Cheyenne a week ago and was still there for all he knew. Now they’re back to thinking it was one of the Association’s hired guns or maybe an informer.”
“What did Uncle do?”
“What could he do? He shut his mouth. Now nobody will listen to anything he has to say, and that’s made him even madder. It’s about time for your dinner, so you’d better get dressed. There’s lots of men in town because of the shootings, and the place is bound to be as full as it can hold. Your uncle is still boiling mad, so there’s no point in giving him an excuse to take it out on you”
“Do you think I should try out the new songs tonight?”
“You’re going to need something different if you’re going to take their minds off the killings. There’s nothing like a dead body to set people’s tongue to clacking. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they liked it. At least it gives them something to talk about besides cows and that infernal Association. What is this Association anyhow?”
“It’s nothing really. Just a lot of rich men who get together to talk about keeping ranching to themselves.”
“You wouldn’t think that would be anything to get excited about. Sounds downright boring to me.”
“Me too, but every time anybody mentions it, people get upset and angry. Uncle even talked about buying a newspaper so he could campaign against it.”
“If you ask me, it’s a waste of time to fight something that doesn’t exist.”
“It exists. It’s just not something you can see.”
“If you can’t see it, it don’t exist,” Lucy stated positively. “Unless it’s a ghost, and I don’t believe in ghosts. Now you sit down to your dinner and stop talking nonsense. The menfolks will do plenty of that for you.”
Chapter 20
Ira swallowed his breakfast in sullen silence. He usually slept late, but he was still smarting from yesterday’s humiliation. Eliza knew it would be better to choose another time to tell him she was going marry Cord, but he wasn’t going to like it no matter when she told him, and she hoped that maybe he had used up so much of his energy already he’d be too tired to get terribly angry at her.
“What did you do yesterday afternoon?” Ira asked, nearly causing Eliza to choke on a mouthful of ham.
“I stayed in for most of the day, then went for a ride.”
“Singing a couple times a day isn’t enough to keep you busy. You should work in the saloon,” he said, eyeing her speculatively.
“You said all I had to do was sing.”
“Yeah, but it’s not good for you to be so idle.”
“I will have plenty to do when school starts again. Besides, it was your idea to move here from the cabin.”
“Don’t tell me you miss living in that tumbled-down shack.”
“No, but I do miss the animals and being up and around. I’m used to it.”
“You need some babies to look after,” he announced, nearly causing Eliza’s chair to rock from under her. “A husband and a house too, of course.” Eliza knew Cord was not the husband he had in mind, but she wasn’t going to get a better chance to break the news of her engagement.
“I have been wanting to talk to you about that. I’ve received an offer of marriage.”
“Not from another cowboy, I hope. They get carried away with your face and start talking a whole lot of foolishness, but you can’t live on a cowboy’s wages, not even if you worked as a schoolteacher all year round.”
“He’s not a cowboy. He’s a rancher.”
“What rancher do you know?” he asked, looking up. The question remained in his eye for only a moment and then realization hit. “You mean Cord Stedman! Don’t tell me that bastard asked you to marry him?”
“Yes, he did.”
“When?”
“Yesterday. I met him when I was out riding.”
“And what did you tell him?” Ira’s whole body was tense.
“I said I had to talk to you first.” Eliza could see Ira relax slightly and she knew a moment’s desire to turn and run. Instead she looked her uncle square in the eyes. “But I told him I would marry him.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Ira exploded, rising from his chair so quickly he spilled his coffee and sent half the silverware clattering to the floor. “I’d rather see you dead than married to that traitor.”
“I know you don’t like Cord—” Eliza began, but her words were buried under the volcanic blast of Ira’s ungovernable rage.
“He’s a traitor and a murderer!”
“You know he didn’t kill those men.”
“How do you know?”
“Lucy said the sheriff told you he was in Cheyenne.”
“The sheriff didn’t know he was back yesterday afternoon. Maybe there’s a few more things he doesn’t know.”
“He was in Cheyenne. He told me so himself.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“Why do you hate him so? You can’t still be mad at being r
un off Bear Creek.”
“Nobody runs me off any place and gets away with it,” Ira said wrathfully. “I swore I’d get even with him, and I won’t let you marry him.”
“He knows that, but he asked me anyway.”
“I’ll have no argument on this. I know you’re wanting a husband, but just be patient a little while, and I’ll come up with one.”
“But I’m not arguing.” Much to Eliza’s surprise, she was not shaking but was actually almost calm. “I intend to marry Cord with or without your permission.”
“Are you defying me?” Ira demanded, his entire body quivering with rage.
“I will if I have to.”
“You’re not old enough to get married without my permission.”
“Then I’ll wait. It’s only four months until my birthday.”
“I’ll never let you marry Stedman,” Ira swore, his face rigid with rage. “I’ll lock you up in your room if I have to.
“You know you can’t do that,” Eliza said unruffled, her uneasiness subsiding now that she was faced with a concrete problem. “Lucy would let me out. Besides, I can’t sing locked in my room.”
“I’d let you out at night.”
“Do you really think I would sing and then calmly let you lock me up again?” Eliza asked, incredulous.
“You can’t stop singing,” Ira said, tremors of uneasiness and iron determination sounding in his voice.
“You don’t really need me anymore. Sam is very popular with the customers, and Mr. Blaine has already hired a dancer. You won’t even miss me.”
“I won’t allow you to marry that sneaking double-crosser.”
“When are you going to stop trying to blacken his name? Nobody listens to you anymore. They just laugh behind your back.”
“Nobody laughs at me!” Ira thundered.
“Then you’d better stop talking about Cord.”
“So now it’s Cord? You’re sounding mighty familiar all of a sudden.”
“I’d have to know him rather well to want to marry him.”
“He’s a traitor and a murderer,” Ira repeated, momentarily stymied but undaunted.
Wicked Wyoming Nights Page 20
