Microsoft Word - Jenny dreamed (24 page)

"My appetite will no doubt return to normal once you've left, Mr. Stanner," Jenny smiled, delighting in being rude to this vain, overconfident outlaw who'd seen fit to burden her with his company once more. "And I did not give you permission to use such familiarity in addressing me. Mrs. Cantrell will do, thank you!"

Beau was thoroughly enjoying the undercurrent of challenge flowing between himself and the lady. "So formal?" he remarked with a raised, blond brow that mocked her distant attitude. "I can remember a time when we were on more ... intimate terms. Nevertheless, Mrs. Cantrell it is. I shouldn't forget that l owe you a debt."

"No ... you shouldn't!" Jenny bristled. An angry flush of color accentuated the high slant of her cheek-bones. She had taken him in during a snowstorm, saved him from bleeding to death of a gunshot wound in his shoulder, and patched his wound, and he repaid her by reminding her of that nightmare time in her life, a time better left forgotten! Jenny still wasn't sure how he'd found her or who was responsible for putting the bullet in him; she didn't want to know anything beyond the fact that he was leaving.

Beau drew a cigar from his pocket, leaned forward to light it from the candlestick near his plate, and paused, glancing down the length of the table at his hostess. "You don't mind if I smoke?"

"Would it matter?"

"No," he answered truthfully, "I guess it wouldn't. Might have, at one time, though, before too much happened that can't be undone." He held the cigar to the flame, drawing on it until the end was

aglow, then slumped back in the chair, wincing as he jarred his healing wound. "You know, if we'd met earlier, you'd have been mine."

He was so sure of himself, so sure of her. "Well, we didn't," Jenny snapped, "and I'm not!"

She sat back stifflyin her chair, her hands clenched together in her lap.

"We have nothing in common, Mr. Stanner, nothing. I may not have been able to let you freeze to death when you were helpless and bleeding, but I would have done the same for anyone. Now that you've finished your meal, I hope that you're going to honor your promise and leave."

"On my honor, ma'am, I will." For a moment his expression was obscured by a wreath of smoke. When it drifted away, he appeared serious, no longer in a teasing mood. "How come you got married so fast?" he asked, changing the subject. "And, why would this husband of yours go off and leave you alone, without any protection? There's no tellin' what kind of drifter might come by-someone," he grinned, ' without my gentlemanly principles."

"We have Luke Morrow to care for us, and I feel perfectly safe with his protection."

"If I'd wanted to," Beau smirked, "I could've dropped him the first day I was on my feet again. If I'd wanted to ... but I got my regrets over what happened to you."

"Do you? I somehow got the impression you've never regretted anything you've ever done."

Jenny frowned and glanced up. "Sally has packed biscuits and some of yesterday's ham in oilcloth wrapper for you. I believe Luke has already placed it in your saddlebags." The flat statement had a tone of dismissal about it. Clearly Jenny felt her obligation to him was fulfilled and wanted him on his way.

Beau couldn't blame her in the least. Despite the bad memories she carried of their last time together, Jenny had helped him when someone else might have turned him away. Each second he delayed leaving, she was in danger of breaking the law by harboring 'a known criminal, even if the storm had covered his tracks well enough to throw off his pursuers.

Damn it all, he cursed silently, why couldn't things have been different?

Suddenly there came a sound of heavy boots stomping on the porch, followed by a loud, aggressive pounding at the front door. Both of them froze, and Jenny nervously caught her bottom lip between her teeth as Beau leaned tensely forward. Jenny didn't take her eyes from him as she called out Sally's name. A moment later, the kitchen door swung open, and Sally peered expectantly at her mistress. "Would you please see who's at the door?" The housekeeper started off toward the hall, pausing when Jenny cautioned, "Remember our ...

guest, Sally. If it's the sheriff, try and stall him for a few minutes."

"Yes, ma'am."

Beau's eyes widened with surprise at the risk Jenny was taking on his behalf. She shrugged and answered almost begrudgingly, "I didn't save you just to see you hang!"

The caller was obviously not the sheriff. Sally's voice carried in from the vestibule, full of surprise and welcome, followed by a man's hearty laugh that sounded familiar.

Beau stood up, coming to stand by her chair. "Care to give me back my gun now?" he whispered. "I feel kind of naked without it."

"No!" Jenny snapped, still listening to the voices beyond the dining room. "Go to the kitchen and wait. I want to see who ..." The explanation was cut off abruptly as the dining room doors swung open to admit a beaming Sally, followed by Dev. Jenny stared, paling as the grin on her husband's, face faded at the sight of Beau Stanner.

"I had no idea you'd be entertaining, Jenny," Dev said grimly, still glaring at the man who'd kidnapped Jenny and who now appeared to be a welcome guest for a quiet dinner for two. "I hope my arrival isn't inconvenient." His gaze swept the table, noting the wineglasses, the silver candlesticks, the empty plate before the chair that was rightfully his.

"You didn't write," Jenny said almost accusingly. "I ... I wish I'd known, Dev, I would have ..."

Even to . herself, Jenny's voice came out unsure, hesitant, as though she was guilty of an indiscretion.

"Would have what, darling?" Dev questioned. "Gotten rid of your company earlier? Well, I wanted to surprise you, and it certainly looks as if I have. Do you make it a habit to entertain any outlaws passing through, Mrs. Cantrell, or just this particular bastard?"

Jenny gasped, looking as though she'd been struck. Her heart was pounding madly; the sarcasm in Dev's voice cut through her like a knife's blade. How many times had she imagined this moment, when he would walk in and take her into his arms, when he would whisper how much he'd missed her? Despite the way Beau's presence must look, couldn't Dev wait for an explanation before embarrassing her with jealous insinuations? "Sally, dear, would you fetch the coffee, please?" she requested in a soft, tightly controlled tone. "Mr.

Cantrell is undoubtedly a little damp, especially around the ears."

Sally had lost her happy expression. In Dev's voice and in Jenny's taut, nervous features she saw a gathering storm. Surely Dev couldn't think that ... that Jenny and Beau Stanner were involved in any way? How could he jump to the worst conclusion when the girl had been so miserable without him? Sometimes, she thought with a tight-lipped, disapproving frown, men could be burden-some creatures. The good Lord must have given women an extra dose of patience to endure their antics. And where was Luke at a time like this? "Yes, ma'am," she replied, casting a sympathetic glance at Jenny before she headed for the kitchen. "Won't take me but a minute!"

"Please, Dev, sit down," Jenny insisted, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "Beau ...

Mr. Stanner will be leaving us shortly. Won't you, Mr. Stanner?" The least he could do was help her out of this situation, a situation caused by his embarrassing presence!

Beau seemed in no hurry to leave or to correct Dev's impression that he'd walked in on an unfaithful wife and her lover. Beau strolled back around the table and settled comfortably into his chair again before offering an explanation of his own in a most insincere voice. "It's true, Cantrell. I will be leaving shortly. There's no reason for a fuss on my account. Your wife has been an angel of mercy for the past week or so. I envy you the fact that you're here to stay while I ... unfortunately, have to face the bitter cold again." He had slyly managed to insinuate that his stay had been warm in more ways than one.

"That's right, Dev." Jenny hurried on before Dev could make another sarcastic remark. A chair scraped midway down the table's length as Dev roughly jerked it out and sat down, and Jenny's mouth tightened as she glowered furiously at her unwelcome guest. "Mr. Stanner has been ... ah ... recuperating from an injury. He appeared at our door in the worst storm and …" She sounded so apologetic, so full of excuses that Jenny suddenly realized she was beginning to feel angry at both of

them. What had she done wrong, except to help someone who had needed immediate care?

"What kind of injury was it, Stanner?" Dev sat back and glared at the outlaw. "My wife is an excellent nurse, but if your supposed wound is below the waist, I'd be within my rights to shoot you."

"Devlan Cantrell-how dare you imply ... I refuse to listen any longer!" Jenny furiously jumped up from her chair and tossed down her linen napkin. "Beau Stanner, I expect you to leave now. And the next time you've been wounded, find someone else foolish enough to take you in!"

Jenny turned to face Dev, her arms crossed and only accentuating the furious rise and fall of her breasts against the dark blue velvet gown. "And as for you, Mr. Cantrell-" she interrupted a scathing rebuke to call for Sally. The kitchen door opened and Sally appeared, carrying a silver tray and matching decanter of steaming coffee.

"Sally, exactly where did Beau Stanner sleep for the past ten days?" Jenny inquired.

"Why, in the barn, with my Luke keepin' an eye on him." Sally's expression was prim and a touch righteous as she sternly gazed at Dev. "Where else would a man with a price on his head be staying?"

Dev opened his mouth, but Jenny cut him off. "And how often was he in the house?"

"Just for his meals, when he was well enough to walk. I wasn't about to make Luke wait on him hand and foot."

"And," Jenny concluded her defense with an indignant stamping of her foot, "how often was I in the barn alone with him?"

"Why, never!" Sally's mouth rounded into a shocked O. "Heaven forbid! As if you could trust a man like him. Oh, Devlan … do you think Luke and I weren't careful that no harm should come to your wife?" Sally looked highly offended at the idea. "Jenny and I went out there, trampin' through all that heavy snow once a day to change the bandages on that man's shoulder, not," she sniffed disdainfully, "that he's been the least bit grateful for saving his worthless life!" Then her wrath turned on Dev. "And you, you come stompin' in after three months of playing the rich gentleman in New York and act like it was yesterday you left. If you only knew how much this poor girl miss-s-"

"That's enough, Sally, thank you," Jenny interrupted, before Sally revealed too much that was private. She wanted neither of these two to know the state of her affections. "Please serve the coffee to these two ... gentlemen." Both Dev and Beau were quiet, each of them looking sheepish and introspective, and Jenny took advantage of the silence to go to the china buffet and pull Beau's gun from the top drawer. Exercising caution, she flipped the chamber open and emptied the bullets into her palm, then crossed to his seat and held it out to the outlaw. She couldn't keep his only means of defense, but she'd ... be damned if she'd hand him a fully loaded weapon!

At the door, Jenny paused and stated, "You may both leave in each other's company for all I care. I have no more patience left to deal with either of you." With a toss of her head and an angry rustle of petticoats, she left them to deal with each other. A few minutes later the sound of a furiously slammed door resounded from the upper story of the house, elegantly emphasizing Jenny's mood.

"It's a fine way you picked to repay the lady for saving your worthless hide!" Sally said audaciously, with little care for her own safety in chiding a man who'd reputedly shot others for less disparaging remarks. She splashed the scalding coffee into his cup and added, "If I'd been the one to find you, bleeding all over the snow, I'd have left you for wolf bait, Mr. Beau Stanner!"

On the other side of the table, she was equally careless in pouring Dev a cup and even more scathing in her contempt. "Shame on you, Devlan Cantrelll" she snapped. "One letter in all the time you were gone, and all the while you were probably chasing every skirt in New York! You've turned into such a fine dandy, I wouldn't blame Jenny if she never spoke to you again." Sally sniffed and exclaimed, "Men!" then raised her nose and headed stiffly for the preferred companionship of her pots and pans.

The side of Dev's mouth twitched in stubborn anger. He'd probably deserved every word of chastisement, but he didn't relish the fact that Stanner had witnessed it. Through the mist of steam rising from his coffee, he glared at the outlaw, blaming him for his disrupted home-coming.. .

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving," Beau protested. "Stayed too long in one spot, anyway." He stuck his gun in his belt and stood up, then stretched to test the soreness of his shoulder. His coat hung in the hall, his mount was saddled and waiting in the bam, and he had only one thing left to do. "You don't deserve that girl, Cantrell," he claimed with a hint of envy coloring his voice. "Push her too far, and you'll lose her. There's always someone around to appreciate a fine woman."

"Like you, I suppose," Dev said with a smirk.

"Me ... or somebody 'just as smart. Remember that, mister; not everyone's as blind or as careless as you." Then, with a cocky grin, he added, "Don't bother gettin' up. I can see myself out!"

Dev sat at the table for the next fifteen minutes, staring into his coffee while Stanner's parting taunt nagged at him. He had been a fool to react so emotionally; a part of it had been the effect of his own guilty conscience. Since it was tinged a dirty gray. from the indulgences of the past few months, he'd wanted Jenny to be a little less lily-white, a little less of the angel she'd probably been. Hell, he cursed himself, he knew she hadn't done anything. It was the shock of seeing Stanner here, the last man on earth he could have expected to find with Jenny. "No excuses, Cantrell," he said aloud. He'd just have to find some way to make it up to her.

Upstairs, Jenny had changed into her flannel night-gown, furiously brushed out her hair and climbed beneath the covers. With the comforter tucked beneath her arms and a sulky pout on her mouth, she looked just like a little girl who'd been reprimanded and sent to bed early.