Brave the Wild Wind (19 page)

T
HE next morning, Chase woke before Jessie. The sun was shining, the snow having given up sometime in the night. He didn’t feel the slightest urge to get up and face the new day. He leaned on one elbow and stared at Jessie. She slept on her side, facing him, wrapped tightly in her cocoon of blankets. He wished they were in a large single bed so he could get closer to her and share her warmth.

He thought of her illness and wondered if she would be sore today. He supposed he had overdone it. He had made love to her no less than four times in the course of the late day and evening, and even then he didn’t feel he’d had enough of her. He had taught her the benefits of patience where loving was concerned and had explored her body to his heart’s delight.

She was incredible, ready every time he was ready. And she’d been just as passionate and giving the fourth time as the first.

He wished it had gone right on snowing. He wished like hell they didn’t have to leave the cabin.

Jessie moaned softly, and her face screwed up in a frown.

“Jessie?”

She moaned again, and he shook her lightly in case it was a bad dream.

“Don’t…shake…me!” she groaned.

“Wake up, Jessie.”

But she didn’t want to wake up, not with her stomach awakened to her morning complaint.

“I’m sorry, Jessie,” she heard Chase say. “It might help some if you got up and walked the stiffness out of your muscles. The sun’s up and shining this morning.”

Morning. How early was it? How many dreadful hours did she have yet to contend with this infernal nausea? But even a short time in Chase’s presence was too risky. She couldn’t let him know she was sick again. He wouldn’t understand, not after her perfect health of yesterday afternoon and night. Or he might understand all too well.

“I, ah, don’t think I can move right now,” Jessie managed.

“You’re making me feel guilty as all hell, Jessie. It can’t be that bad.”

She finally opened her eyes. “It’s not that bad,” she offered. “I’m just going to lie here for a while yet. But you don’t have to wait here. Go on and get to work. That’s the privilege of being the boss, you know.” She tried to grin. “Giving orders and taking it easy while others do all the work.”

Chase didn’t buy that for a second, not from Jessie. He got up and dressed, casting worried glances at her all the while. Perhaps she just wanted some time to herself, time to think. He
wished she would simply say as much, instead of making him feel like a louse.

After he dressed he got the fire going for her, its warmth quickly filling the small room. But Jessie still hadn’t moved.

“I’ll head out then,” Chase said reluctantly. “But the least I can do is offer some relief before I go. A massage is in order, I think.”

“No!”

“Now, come on, Jessie. Quit being so modest. It can only help,” he said as he pulled her blankets down and turned her onto her back.

“Don’t…touch…me!”

Chase drew back as if burned and watched her curl slowly back onto her side. She had said exactly the same thing yesterday morning when she’d been so sick. The pale face was the same, too, and the way she kept her arms well away from her stomach.

“Jessie? Jessie, look at me.”

“Go on to work, will you?”

He sat down on the side of the cot. She groaned as he did, and groaned worse when he touched her shoulder.

Chase felt so helpless, and his voice rose because of it. “What’s wrong with you, damn it? How can you be sick again? You got a good night’s sleep. We ate the same thing yesterday, and there’s nothing wrong with me. Jessie?”

“I’m not sick.” She wouldn’t turn to face him. She was as still as a dead thing. “I’m just…just too…sore.”

Chase scowled. What the hell was she trying hide?

“I’m going to dress you, Jessie, and then I’m taking you to Cheyenne to see the doctor.”

“For a little soreness? Don’t be ridiculous.”

She tried to make her voice light, but there was an unmistakable effort behind each word. He shifted his weight on the bed, and the movement made her face flush with heat. Not now! It’s got to stay down! But her body wasn’t listening. She felt the bile rising and clamped her hand to her mouth. She turned so quickly then that her legs slammed into Chase’s hip. If he hadn’t jumped to his feet she would have knocked him over.

Jessie was off the bed in a second and dashing for the tin pail in the corner. He watched her, dazed as she knelt over the pail, retching. Finally he got his thoughts together enough to grab a blanket from the bed and drape it over her shoulders. She was hardly aware of him.

Chase could think of nothing else to do at the moment, so he left the cabin, walking outside to give her some privacy. Jessie, hearing him go, cursed him for not going sooner, before he’d witnessed her illness. Assuming he was gone for the day, she stumbled back to the cot and fell asleep.

W
HEN Jessie woke the second time that day, she stirred hesitantly, then relaxed. It was over. The awful nausea was gone for the day.

Her first thought was of food. Her second was of Chase. Had he gone on to work? Had he gone for a doctor? Oh, Lord, she hoped not. At least he wasn’t there, so she had time to think. What could she tell him? That she had an illness that struck only in the mornings, or an allergy?

She sat up and stretched, then stared, unbelieving, at the table across the room.

“I thought…you had gone,” she said uncomfortably.

“Did you?”

She didn’t like his calm reply at all.

“Let’s just say I stuck around out of curiosity,” he said blandly. “I wanted to see if you would have another miraculous recovery, like yesterday.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You could at least be a little sympathetic.”

He got up from the table and came to stand by the side of her bed, gazing at her steadily. Jessie
grew nervous under the look and couldn’t meet his eyes for long.

“You’re pregnant.”

“I’m not!” She said it much too quickly and reiterated more calmly, “really, I’m not.”

“Of course.”

He sat down on the bed and drew her blanket away from her. “You’ve got beautiful breasts,” he said casually, touching them gently. “Strange, but they’re a lot fuller than they were the last time I touched them.”

Jessie slapped his hands away. “Don’t be absurd!”

“You’re trying my patience, Jessie.” He gripped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “I’ve been around women most of my life. When I was a kid, before my mother married Ewing, half her clientele were pregnant women. It happens to be the only time in a woman’s life when she has a legitimate excuse for a new wardrobe. Those women discussed their complaints freely, unaware that I was around. You think I can’t figure that’s why no one ever sees you in the mornings anymore?”

She shoved his hand aside, furious that he was more knowledgeable about the subject than she had been. “Leave me alone.”

“You were going to let me take off without knowing, weren’t you?” he continued relentlessly. “You were going to face this all alone?”

“It’s my business, not yours.”

“It most certainly is my business!”

“Oh, really?” She sat back. “What difference
has been made, now that you know? Nothing has changed.”

“We’re getting married.”

“No.” She shook her head slowly. “I considered it when I first knew, but that was before I found you in bed with a whore.”

“Nothing happened, Jessie. I was drunk.”

“I know that. But the intention was there. When I do settle on a man, he will never even look at another woman. The one thing I will not tolerate is unfaithfulness. It would be like—never mind that.” She wouldn’t think of her parents now. “
You—
you have always had your pick of any woman you wanted. So you’ll always be a philanderer.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Jessie,” Chase said softly. “You’d be quite enough to satisfy me.”

She grew flustered under his steady gaze. “This discussion has reached an end.”

“This discussion is about my child.”

“
My
child!” she retorted. “I’m the one who’s suffering for him. I’m the one who’ll bear him. And I’m the one who’ll raise him.”

“You plan to raise him without a father? I know what that’s like, Jessie, and no child of mine is going to be raised that way.”

“You have no say in it!”

“We’ll see about that!”

They glared at each other for a long, tense moment. Jessie was furious. She hadn’t expected him to be so bossy. Chase was just as furious. He realized that Jessie had done everything she could to keep the child’s existence from him, and she’d nearly succeeded.

Chase got up abruptly. “Get dressed.”

“With pleasure,” she replied stonily, but it wasn’t until she was fully dressed that she noticed what was missing. “Where’s my gun?”

“In my saddlebag.”

“What?”

“I have rendered you a woman at the mercy of a man’s whims.” He said it lightly, but he was deadly serious. “You’re coming with me, Jessie, and for once you’re powerless to say otherwise.”

“Coming with you
where?
” she demanded.

“To Cheyenne. I told you, we’re getting married.”

“Chase.” She kept her voice level, though she wanted to scream. “You can’t force me to marry you. You’ll only be wasting your time on such a long ride, not to mention my time.”

“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
.

C
HASE 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. “Per
haps 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.”