Johanna Lindsey - Brave the Wild Wind

“I don’t think so, Jessie. Now, do you walk outside and mount up, or do I carry you?”

Jessie stalked past him and out the door, stiff with anger. But if she’d thought to dash for her horse and take off ahead of him, she had to forget it, for Chase was right behind her. He took charge of Blackstar’s reins from the start.

For the first several hours of that long ride to Cheyenne, Jessie simply fumed. But there were many more hours and she gave those to clear thinking. By the time they reached town, she had pretty much made her resolves.

Late though it was, Chase rode directly to the church. They dismounted together, and then Chase drew his gun on her. But Jessie had expected that. She was amused but managed to hide it. It was so ironic. Hadn’t she considered getting him to the altar in the same way that night she had decided to marry him? And now here he was, ready to march her up the aisle with a gun in her back.

She stayed silent while he roused the preacher, while he positioned her in front of the altar, while the first words were said. She knew the preacher couldn’t see the gun at her back. Her silence continued right up until it was time for her to respond.

Chase gritted his teeth, waiting to hear Jessie speak. But she was being stubborn. He pressed the gun against her spine, not really expecting it to do any good, but as he did, her answer came out clearly and loudly. Chase was so surprised, it took him a moment to make his own responses. They were married in no time, and Jessie even hastily scrawled her name across the marriage certificate before she walked out of the church without waiting for Chase.

He walked after her quickly. “I’m sorry I had to do it that way, Jessie.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” she replied. “We both know you wouldn’t have shot me. And you know I wouldn’t have gone through with it if I weren’t willing. But don’t think you’ve accomplished anything for yourself, Chase Summers. I’ve let my baby have his legitimacy, that’s all. Now you can go your way, off to Spain or wherever you like. I’ll stay here. You’ll be welcome to visit from time to time, but no more than that. I won’t live with you—is that clear?”

She didn’t wait for him to answer but mounted up and rode toward the hotel. Chase stared after her, a dark frown settling on his features. We’ll just see about that. Damned if we won’t!

CHASE woke to find Jessie dressing in an all-fired hurry. He didn’t say anything, only watched her covertly. Her face told him what kind of mood she was in. She probably wasn’t pleased to have awakened to find him in bed with her.

He hadn’t followed her directly to the hotel, but had gone to the nearest saloon. He didn’t recognize anyone there, and he let himself be drawn into a game of 7-up for the distraction it offered. But he was recognized after a while, and in the course of the evening he received a good deal of ribbing over what had happened in Silver Annie’s room. He was a celebrity. During the evening, he heard an account of the part Jessie played that night. He was amazed. When he got to the hotel and found that Jessie had registered as Mr. and Mrs. Summers, he was further amazed. But his excitement ended when he got to the room and found some bedding and a pillow thrown on the floor for him. He put the bedding back where it belonged and took his place beside his wife.

“So ‘no one messes with what’s yours,’ eh?”

Jessie swung around to face him, her mouth open in surprise. But she quickly recovered.

“So you heard about that?”

“An amusing tale.”

“Don’t go getting the wrong idea, Chase,” she said airily. “I’d just found out about the baby that day and decided I’d marry you. It wasn’t anything... personal.”

“So that’s why you came to the saloon to find me that night?”

“Yes. Of course, finding you the way I did put an end to all thoughts of marriage. But I was still angry that someone had nearly killed you. You are my baby’s father, after all.” She turned away, embarrassed. “I just said what I did to your lady love to make a point, nothing more.”

Chase flinched. He should have known better than to bring it up.

“That’s too bad,” he said softly.

“Why?” She misunderstood. “I happen to think Silver Annie had more to do with your attack than she admitted. She needed a warning of some‘ kind.”

“Well, that episode is over and done with, and best forgotten.”

Jessie gasped, her turquoise eyes rounding. “You’re kidding, aren’t you? You can’t mean you don’t want to find out who put a knife in your back?”

“Not particularly,” Chase replied, grinning at her indignant expression.

Chase had no thought for revenge. He was grateful to his assailant. If not for his wound, Jessie would never have taken him back to the ranch and he would have left Wyoming without knowing about the baby. Remembering that she hadn’t intended for him to know, his warm mood fled.

“Were you planning on sneaking out of here this morning without waking me, Jessie?”

“It happens to be afternoon already. We both overslept.”

“Answer my question.”

“I wasn’t going to just leave,” she said sullenly.

“I doubt that.”

“Doubt all you like, but the fact is I had something to ask you and couldn’t very well leave without asking.” She stopped, apparently at a loss for words.

“Well, go on. You have my rapt attention.”

She hesitated, then blurted out, “I want you to come back to the ranch with me.”

“I had planned to.”

Her eyes narrowed. “At least until Rachel leaves.”

“Ah, yes, I had forgotten all the benefits you will be getting out of this marriage.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic, Chase.”

“Oh? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’ll wager you just can’t wait to inform Rachel of our wedding. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Not this time, you’re not. I want you to tell her. In fact, I had planned to ride directly back to the range. I don’t want to see her at all.”

“Not even to say good-bye?”

“I’ve got no reason to say good-bye to her,” she replied stiffly. “I never invited her, and I’m not going to pretend I’m sorry she no longer has an excuse to stay.” Her voice turned softly pleading. “Will you tell her for me?”

“And what happens when she finds out I’m expected to be an absentee husband?”

Jessie’s eyes darkened. “You don’t have to tell her that!”

“Why not? Afraid she might consider it her duty to stick around for a few more years?”

Jessie glared at him. Chase got up slowly and straightened out the clothes he had slept in. He let her stew for a while, his mood greatly improved.

“You know, Jessie, this new situation is really quite amusing.”

“If you’re considering blackmail, I would hardly call it amusing. That is what you’re thinking, isn’t it?” He grinned, and she snapped, “It would only work until Rachel left!”

“True. But when will she go? Are you going to go home and tell her to pack immediately?”

“If you won’t, then I guess I’ll have to! What are you fighting me for, anyway?” she cried in exasperation. “You didn’t want to settle down. You may have forced me to marry you, but we both know why. It was quite generous of you, and I do thank you. So why can’t you thank me for allowing you the freedom you really want? You have your father to find, remember? Go to Spain, Chase. Find him. You can’t do that with a wife in tow.”

“Why not? You could come with me, you know, after the baby is born.”

“I’ll never leave the ranch, Chase.”

She wouldn’t soften up to save her soul. “Perhaps you haven’t realized it yet, but that ranch now belongs to me as well,” he said irritably.

Jessie’s body stiffened. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, dear, that if I want to stay, I’ll stay.”

“Suit yourself,” Jessie said icily. “But you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

THE ride back to the ranch was a tense, bitter journey, with both Chase and Jessie bristling silently over their stalemate. They reached the valley just before dusk, riding up to the ranch as sullen and uncommunicative as they had been all the way from Cheyenne.

Jessie was and wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with Rachel. She wanted Rachel gone, but she realized it would be the last time she would ever see her mother.

Seeing Rachel waiting by the kitchen door as she came from the stable didn’t bolster Jessie’s confidence that she could handle this meeting in a calm, unemotional way. She drew on past memories to strengthen her determination, memories of her father sitting at the kitchen table with a whiskey bottle, mumbling about the treachery of whores. Memories of him angrily explaining away the absence of her mother. Memories of him shouting about finding Rachel with Will Phengle.

Rachel blocked the doorway, looking neat and clean in a flower-sprigged dress. Just once Jessie wanted to see that woman with a little dirt on her face, a little dust on her clothes, a few hairs out of place— anything to make her seem more human.

“Your coming in, does that mean the trouble is over?” Rachel asked as Jessie reached her. “You have the cattle all herded together finally?”

Jessie just kept walking, forcing Rachel to step back so she could enter the kitchen. She stopped at the kitchen table and took off her hat and gloves, dropping them there. She was tense and getting tenser. Thank God she had slept past her nausea that morning. Her stomach couldn’t handle so much disturbance in one day.