Comanche Woman (41 page)

“I’ll never give up my child!” Bay was immediately sorry for her outburst. “I’m sorry, Sloan. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“I suppose I deserved it.” Sloan turned away and brushed aside a tendril of hair from her face. When she turned back to Bay, the only emotion on her face was concern. “What is Jonas going to think, Bay, when you tell him about this?”

“He’ll understand.”

“Will he? I hope so, Bay.” She put a hand on Bay’s shoulder. “I do hope so.” But somehow she doubted he would.

While Bay waited for Jonas in the parlor that afternoon, dressed in the most attractive day dress she owned, a pretty lilac-and-white-flower pattern piped with lilac, her thoughts were about how pleased and proud Long Quiet would be if he knew about their child. This was the child they’d vowed would bridge two worlds. All the plans they’d made. All the hopes they’d had. How could she even consider marrying Jonas now?

Because she had no choice. Because nothing, really, had changed. Three Oaks was still at risk. And now at least she would have a part of Long Quiet to love through the long years ahead with Jonas.

She’d spoken confidently to Sloan, but she really wasn’t sure Jonas would still want to marry her. She shuddered to think what would happen to Three Oaks if he didn’t. She’d always thought Jonas a generous man. She hoped she could convince him to show some of that giving spirit now. But how would he feel about becoming the father of another man’s child? And what would she say when he asked who that other man was?

“Darling, you look beautiful,” Jonas said, his hands outstretched as always. Only this time, when they touched, he drew her forward until he could kiss her lightly on the lips. “What could possibly be so troubling to a woman that she’d willingly wrinkle her lovely brow?”

Bay shoved back her irritation at Jonas’s insinuation that a woman was unlikely to be troubled by momentous matters. “I do have a few things bothering me, Jonas,” she said calmly. “I thought perhaps we could go for a ride this afternoon and I could discuss them with you.”

“Of course, sweetheart. I’d be delighted to help. And it’s a perfect day for a ride. The air’s cool, crisp, as close to a fall day as I understand this part of Texas ever gets.”

Jonas seemed to forget Bay’s problem as he regaled her with a story of the good price he’d managed to get for some property he’d recently sold in Shelby County. Bay let him talk because, from past experience, she knew he didn’t like to be interrupted. Jonas drove them to a shady spot along the Brazos River where they’d come in the past to picnic. When they arrived, he stepped down and secured the horses before coming around the carriage to help her down.

“Now, what’s this problem that’s been troubling you, sweetheart? Don’t know what kind of flowers you’d like to have for the wedding? Can’t decide on a menu for the midnight supper?”

“It isn’t anything like that,” Bay said.

“Oh? Then what is it?”

“Do you want to have children?” she blurted.

Jonas smiled. “Oh, darling.” He walked the two steps that separated them and folded her in his arms. “Is that what’s worrying you? Of course I want children. I told you that in the picture of us I’ve always carried in my mind, we’re surrounded by our beautiful children. But you mustn’t be frightened. I’ll find a good doctor—the best.”

Bay tore herself from Jonas’s arms. “I’m not afraid. That’s not the problem.”

He frowned, perplexed and more than a little annoyed. “Then what is it, Bay? I must admit I’m finding all this a little bit confusing. Why did you ask if I want to have children?”

Bay turned and faced him. “You’ve always been a friend to me, Jonas. In Boston I always knew I could count on you to cheer me up when I was sad or comfort me if I was feeling lonely. And if I had a problem, you were always ready to solve it for me. I think that’s why I loved you so much.”

Bay didn’t realize she’d used the past tense,
loved
, until it was already out, but Jonas hadn’t seemed to notice, so she took a deep breath and kept talking. “Now I need you to show all that understanding and thoughtfulness. Jonas, during the time we were separated, I was . . . I was . . . intimate with another man.”

Jonas hissed in a breath of air. He took off his hat, then loosened his tie and collar and spat. His face ran the gamut of emotions from disbelief to fury and back again before he huffed out the breath of air and said through gritted teeth, “I’ve always believed a woman should save herself for her husband. But as you said, I am a forgiving man.”

“There’s more, Jonas.”

“More?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Jonas turned beet red. His mouth worked, but nothing came out except, “I thought . . . I had no idea . . .”

Bay stepped forward and put a hand on Jonas’s arm. “Please, Jonas, listen to me. I’ll be a good wife to you. You’ll be the baby’s father.”

“No!”

“Does that mean you don’t want to marry me anymore?”

Jonas grasped Bay’s arms and pulled her close so they stood nose to nose. Bay looked down to avoid having to peer cross-eyed at Jonas.

“I’m not giving up my dream simply because of this . . . this obstacle,” he said. “I love you, Bay, and I intend to marry you. We’ll go away somewhere so you can have the child, and then we’ll put it in a home for orphans—”

“Jonas, I—”

“—where it will be well cared for. But this will mean we’ll have to be married right away.”

“Jonas, I can’t give up my baby.”

“Nonsense. What can this child mean to you? The father can’t have been . . . Who is the father, Bay?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Some Italian count? Some English lord? Some . . .” His face slowly flushed as he realized. “My God! Of course. It’s that man from the party, that Walker Coburn! Isn’t it?”

Jonas was shaking Bay, trying to get an answer from her, but he didn’t need words. The stricken look on Bay’s face was enough to tell him the truth.

“I’ll kill him!”

“No, Jonas!”

“That son of a bitch isn’t going to win. This isn’t going to change things between us, Bay. You’ll still be my wife. But you’ll get rid of his brat!”

Bay gasped. “And if I won’t?”

“I won’t be father to another man’s bastard.”

“Then I won’t marry you.”

“You have no choice.”

“That’s ridiculous. Of course I do.”

“Either you marry me, or your family will find themselves without a roof over their heads. Do I make myself clear?”

Bay had been willing to sacrifice herself on the altar of filial duty, but she could never agree to sacrifice her child. “I will never marry you. Never!”

“I don’t make idle threats, Bay.”

Jonas took a step toward her, and then another. Bay backed away from the dangerous intent in his eyes until she came up against a cypress tree. He kept coming until his body was pressed to hers from breast to thigh. Bay put her palms against his chest to keep him away, but he was too strong for her to have much success. One of his hands knocked off her bonnet and twisted in her hair while the other grabbed her chin and painfully jerked it up so she was staring into pitiless brown eyes.

“Oh you’ll marry me, all right. You won’t let your father lose Three Oaks. But there’s no reason now for me to wait for our wedding night to take what I want from you.”

He ground his mouth against her lips, drawing blood. The hand that had held her chin dropped to her breast, pinching, kneading painfully. He thrust his hips against her and, despite his fury, she discovered he was fully aroused.

Bay fought him, but the more she struggled, the more brutal he became. The hand tangled in her hair yanked her away from the tree trunk and pulled her head down. The pain forced her to her knees. He came down with her, knocking her onto her back, using his weight to hold her down as he pulled her skirt up around her waist.

“Don’t do this. Please, Jonas!”

The ugly smile on Jonas’s face frightened Bay. She didn’t know this man at all. How could she have so misjudged him? They were too isolated for her to hope anyone would come to her rescue. If she didn’t want to be raped, she was going to have to save herself. She let her hands fall to his chest.

“That’s the way,” he moaned. “Do for me like you did for your lover.”

“All right, Jonas. What would you like me to do?” she asked. “A kiss. How about a kiss?” She raised her lips to his. When Jonas moaned she pushed lightly against his shoulder. “Turn on your side,” she whispered in his ear. “I know a way . . .” she began in a voice promising pleasure.

The instant Jonas turned on his side, Bay slammed her knee into his engorged manhood with all her strength.

Jonas let out a howl that made the horses lunge and startled a family of sparrows out of the tree above them. He curled himself into a ball.

“You’ll pay for this when you’re my wife,” he gasped.

“I’ll never be your wife!”

“We’ll see about that.”

Bay climbed into the carriage and whipped Jonas’s matched pair into a fast trot.

“Wait! Come back here. Bayleeeeiigh!”

Bay ignored Jonas, her thoughts already directed toward her confrontation with Rip. She couldn’t marry Jonas, and if that meant her father would have to lose Three Oaks . . . She would have to face his disappointment and live with it. Bay shuddered as she laid the whip across the broad, sleek backs of Jonas’s matched chestnuts.

Chapter 21

W
HEN
B
AY ARRIVED BACK AT
T
HREE
O
AKS, SHE
immediately sought out her father. She found him in his office, paging through the debt ledger he’d kept hidden from her. When he saw her he quickly closed the book, swiveled his chair around to face her, and rose to his feet, all in one swift movement.

“What happened to you? Are you all right?”

For the first time, Bay became aware of her disheveled appearance. The sleeve of her lilac day dress was torn, and grass and dirt stained her flowered skirt. When she anxiously licked her lips, she discovered a cut at one corner of her mouth. A quick dab with her finger confirmed it was still bleeding. Her hair had a flyaway look that bore witness to the urgency of her escape from Jonas Harper.

“I was with Jonas,” Bay said.

“Did he do this to you?” Rip demanded.

“I . . . we . . . had a disagreement,” Bay said. “I told Jonas I can’t marry him, and he got upset.”

“He did this to you?”

Rip was almost out the door by the time Bay caught him. “Before you go anywhere, listen to what I have to say. I’m not excusing Jonas, but . . . just listen, please.”

Rip crossed his arms over his chest. “Go ahead.”

Bay paced the room nervously as she spoke. “When Long Quiet came back for me, I knew he was the man I should be marrying. But when I tried to break my engagement to Jonas, he told me about the loans you’d made, about the mortgage on Three Oaks. He made it clear that the only way he would extend the note indefinitely was if I married him.”

Rip covered his eyes with a work-roughened hand. “I should have known something was going on when you asked all those questions about how I was going to pay the note. But why would you ever agree to such a marriage?”

“Because if I hadn’t, it would have been my fault if you eventually lost Three Oaks. And I didn’t want you to hate me because I’d disappointed you again.”

“Disappointed me? How could you think . . .” Rip groaned, but the sound never got beyond his broad chest. “So now you’ve broken the engagement, and Jonas isn’t going to extend the note.”