Lacy (33 page)

Wardell looked at the slip of paper and almost
caressed it. His only link with Katy. It was the most precious thing in his
possession. He glanced at Higgins. "You told him, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"And he still gave me his telephone
number."

"A
gentleman, is Mr.
Whitehall," Higgins said.
"A
keen
student of human nature, too, I imagine. You see, I told him how you feel about
Mrs. Marlone."

Wardell laughed hollowly. "For all the good
it will do me. There's this guy, back home," he said, his eyes lackluster.
"He was all she ever talked about. She was tipsy last night, and I took
advantage of it. But she didn't even know me when she fainted..." His eyes
closed and he turned away in agony.

"Wardell."

He paused, but he didn't look back.
"Yeah?"

"Go legit," Higgins said. "You're
wasted in the company you keep.
A
brain
like yours, you could be governor."

"I thought you said go legit," came
the dry reply. He went out, closing the door quietly behind him. Higgins smiled
sadly and pulled out the file on the next case.

THE DRIVE TO
SAN
ANTONIO
was long and harrowing,
and all the way, Jessica raged about the treatment she'd received.

"And you just stood there and let them wipe
the floor with me!" she shrilled. "You're not even a man! I couldn't
care less about you, Ben. I only kept you sweet because Daddy needed you!"

"Daddy doesn't need him anymore," Randolph said wearily from the backseat, his dead dreams leaving a bad taste in his mouth.
"Ben's sister-in-law is going to put me out of business. She suggested
that I cut my losses while I still had time. That's sound advice. I'm closing
the paper and we're going back to New York. Sorry it worked out this way, Ben.
I didn't know how much influence Mrs. Whitehall had."

"Neither did I," Ben replied quietly.
Lacy had never mentioned her great-uncle around the ranch, or the fact that she
inherited anything more than her great-aunt's house in San Antonio.
To
spare Cole's pride, he thought
bitterly. Everything Lacy did was for Cole.

"What will you do?" Randolph asked.

"I'll go to Paris," he said abruptly,
the sting of finding out what Jessica really felt for him little more than
wounded pride. Maybe he even deserved what he was getting. He'd hurt Faye and
his mother enough to deserve plenty more. He'd even hurt Lacy and Cole, despite
the fact that they now seemed closer than ever.

"Joining the Lost Generation?" Jessica
mocked. "What makes you think they'll have you?"

He glanced at her coldly. "Some people like
me for myself."

"The little blonde? You could always go
back to her."

Could he, really? Faye had loved him. He didn't
imagine she could after the way he'd humiliated her tonight. Poor little thing.
What if she was really pregnant?

"Watch where you're going, please, Ben. I
don't want to have an accident on my way home," Jessica said haughtily.

He turned his attention to the road. He would go
to Paris, he decided. He had some money saved. Cole wouldn't let him near the
ranch, not even to see his dying mother. He groaned inwardly. Marion was dying,
and he'd almost caused her to have a heart attack by taking these predators
home to feed on her pride, at a party she'd risked her health to give him. He
seemed to have fouled up everything he touched. Exile wasn't a bad idea. Nobody
would miss him, he thought miserably. If he could find himself, maybe he could
get his life back together.

He glanced at Jessica and was shocked to realize
that all he'd ever felt for her was physical excitement. They'd been using him.
Lacy had seen it at once. Why hadn't he?

He could have screamed out loud. He'd made a
fine mess of things. He wondered how he was ever going to make amends.

Chapter Fifteen

You have to tell me the truth," Marion told Cole, having followed him out to the front porch. "I have to know what's
caused her to be like this."

He looked down at her with quiet anguish.
"I can't."

Marion
's eyes began to water.
"Oh, Cole. Is it so terrible?"

"Yes." He glanced away from her,
toward the stable where Turk had gone, and then back to his mother. She kept
staring at him until, finally, he said, with great reluctance, "Mother,
the doctors don't know how long it will take for her to recover. If she
does," he added softly.

Marion
caught her breath and
clutched her chest.

"Oh, God!" he groaned. "Mother,
I'm sorry." He picked her up and carried her back inside. "Mother,
I'm sorry. I should never have told you!"

"Feels as if.. .a horse is sitting on my
chest. Isn't that funny?" She could hardly breathe. "It's I who am
sorry—to be adding.. .to your burden "Tears bled from her eyes.

"Don't be absurd. If anyone has the right
to be upset, it's you. God knows, the past day has brought enough worry to fell
any sane person." He lay her down and went to fetch her pills while Lacy
was called to stay with her.

But the pill didn't work. Two pills didn't work.
Lacy got up, and telephoned the hospital, and spoke to Marion's doctor.

"We have to take you to town, Mother,"
Lacy said gently. "Now, don't cry," she pleaded. "We can't leave
you in pain like this. Cole, will you bring the car around?"

"Certainly."

He went to get the car, taking one precious
minute to find Turk, who was leaning against the barn wall, his eyes unseeing
in a face the color of rice paper.

Cole jerked the older man around by his heavy
denim jacket and shook him, almost dislodging the black Stetson perched on the
thick blond hair. "Come out of it. I need you," he said shortly.
"I think Mother's having a heart attack. We're taking her to the hospital.
Go and sit with Katy until I get back."

Turk's eyes were agonized. "She's
gone,"he said hoarsely. "She's a dead body breathing. My fault. All
my fault. I could have stopped her with a single word.. .and I was too selfish
to say it!"

Cole shook him again. "This isn't the
time," he said sharply. "Come on."

He drew the other man out the door and propelled
him toward the house. Turk went, his mind barely working.

Cole and Lacy loaded Marion into the car and
shot off toward town.

Faye had come from the house to see what was
going on. "Can I do anything?" she asked Turk, frowning at his wan
expression.

"No. No, thanks. I'm going to sit with
Katy. Just.. .do what you were doing, Faye."

"Sure."

She left, casting a doubtful look over her
shoulder as he disappeared into the house.

Katy was in exactly the same position he'd last
seen her, her eyes open and unseeing, her breathing very soft and quiet.

He sat down on the bed beside her and a big,
callused hand went to her thin face, caressing it with shaky tenderness.

"What did he do to you?" he asked
unsteadily, his heart in agony over the way she was. "I let you go, and
look at you. I should have stopped you, Katy. I should have listened to my
heart and not my head."

She didn't seem to hear him. Not a muscle of her
body moved.

But he couldn't be quiet. He'd kept his silence
too long already. He leaned closer, propping himself over her so that he could
see her close up, so that his face filled her unseeing eyes.

"Listen," he whispered, "you
can't do this to yourself. Marlone wasn't worth it. He was a crazy little
maniac, and we both know that you only married him because of me. You never
loved him. Don't destroy yourself over him."

A shudder ran over her thin body, and he caught
his breath. She'd heard him! She must have heard him.

"Katy," he said softly. His big thumb
smoothed over her mouth, gently disturbing its dry contours. "Look at me,
sweetheart."

The endearment came quite naturally. He was
hardly aware that he'd said it. But Katy's eyelids flickered and she stirred.

"That's it," he whispered. He looked
into her eyes and saw, slowly, the first evidence of awareness in them.

She blinked. It all started to come back, and
she moaned in anguish. "No!"

His thumb pressed down hard, stopping the words.
"I'm here," he said. "I'm right here. Nothing and nobody is
going to hurt you as long as there's one breath in my body. Do you hear me,
little one?"

She swallowed. Her eyes were wide, terrified.
"He—he was there," she managed hoarsely. "Watching." Her
eyes closed. Tears washed down her cheeks. "Danny.. .all that blood."
She began to sob. "Don't touch me. I'm dirty, dirty! I'm a tramp, like
Danny said when he beat me. He said I was no virgin, I deserved everything I
got!"

Turk shook with rage. He scooped her up in his
arms and all but crushed her in his anguish. "You're not a tramp," he
said into her ear, blaming himself all over again. He'd taken her virginity.
Had Danny made her pay for that, as well? "You're not dirty."

"I slept.. .with Wardell," she choked,
feeling his body tense suddenly. "Danny told me to go out with him,
threatened me if I didn't keep Wardell sweet for him. Danny beat me, hurt me.
But Blake Wardell loved me, so much. So much! I was drunk. He wanted me, and it
was so sweet to be loved, to forget what Danny

had done to me... " She shivered as if with
a fever. Turk held her,

his eyes unseeing as he struggled with jealous
rage at what she was confessing. It was somehow so much worse that she'd slept
with the mobster as well as Danny Marlone.

"Wardell took me to bed and afterward,
Danny was there; he'd.. .watched us! Blake was furious! He went after him.
Danny went for his pistol. There were shots..." She shuddered helplessly
with memory. "Danny's dead. Danny was laying there in his own blood, and
his eyes were open, staring at me!" She gasped for air. "I want to
die! Let me die; I can't live with it!" She fought his arms, her eyes
unseeing again, but with blind destruction this time.

This was something else Turk knew about. He'd
had to stop Cole from destroying himself in France when he'd learned how
terrible his injuries were. Katy would try it. He knew without being told that
she'd have to be watched every minute from now on, until she could deal with
what had happened. With her upbringing, the horror would be worse. But it didn't
shock or disgust Turk, who knew her so well. Not even the knowledge that Danny
had forced her into another man's arms. He'd deal with his jealousy somehow. If
only he could be sure that Katy hadn't fallen in love with Wardell. God knew it
could have happened. Danny had been cruel to her;Wardell had loved her. Katy
hadn't had much kindness from men, starting with himself. He'd hurt her. Danny
had hurt her. How could he blame her for turning toward the first man who
showed her a little compassion?

"I won't let you hurt yourself," he
said firmly, subduing her. "Lie still."

The tears came, horrible sobs that shook her
body, paled her cheeks, finally made her weak with their violence.

"I'm sure Cole
..
.knows," she choked. "They must have told him. He'll
be so ashamed of me. Everybody will know. The scandal..."

He turned her face back to his and made her look
at him. "Nobody is going to throw you to the wolves. Stop it."

She bit her lower lip, averting her eyes.
"I thought it was all so stupid, all the rules and straitlaced behavior
and high principles. But now I understand why there are rules. They're all that
keep us from becoming animals." She closed her eye on a tiny whimper.
"Turk, there's been so much terror. I just want.. .to sleep."

She was drained. On some level she'd probably
been aware of everything that had happened. She hadn't wanted to come back, but
Turk had brought her out of it. She accepted the fact that he could call her
back from the grave. He was sorry for her, but he wouldn't want her now that he
knew it all. She'd destroyed herself in his eyes forever. But what did it
matter? He'd never wanted her, really.