Sweet Savage Heart (12 page)

Silas’s brown eyes sparkled with pleasure and arrogance as he grinned at his employer, a man whom Silas was careful never to cross. He knew how greedy and cruel Harrison Caldwell could be, for he had witnessed the man’s evil and had obeyed orders that had sometimes curdled his blood. He had seen how Harrison had shrewdly used his power and reach to punish men who opposed or challenged him and how he had widely opened his cash box to or had bestowed favors on those who obeyed him or aided his cause. “I found ‘em drinking in the saloon and I knew they weren’t lying or spinning tales of past days. I watched and listened close for hours afore I hired ‘em. I thought we could use two quick guns and stone nerves since McFarland ain’t moving out fast enough; then we got Crandall to deal with soon. They rode with Quantrill during the war; they were in on them bloody raids in Missouri and Kansas. Wes said Jesse James helped ‘em half the time. It bother you that Wes and Jack were in on that Lawrence massacre or that fight over in Baxter Springs?”

The ranch owner and lawyer recalled the bloodbath in Kansas that had claimed the lives of one hundred and fifty men, women, and children in August of 1863 as well as the slaying of over one hundred Union soldiers near
Baxter Springs. He had been a Southerner to the bone, so what did he care if Union soldiers and sympathizers had been slain during that recent war. Served them right, he decided coldly. “Nope, Silas. Fact is, Wes Monroe and Jackson Hayes did us all a big favor years ago. Those Yankees shouldn’t have been so far from their beloved Union. I need men who obey orders for a price and without questions, men who aren’t afraid to shed blood or go against the law, or die for their boss if it comes to that. Quantrill trained his men well, and I can use them. Still it wouldn’t hurt to keep a sharp eye on them. I’m too close to success to have anyone muddy my waters. Crandall and McFarland are the only holdouts against my controlling this entire area. Once McFarland is sent on his way, I’ll own every inch of land surrounding Crandall’s ranch, and I plan to squeeze him until it hurts too bad to stay around for winter. Did you learn anything about where he and that Kincade went? It’s been weeks, and Cody Slade is still running things over there. He refuses to tell Clarissa anything. Strange they would sneak off during the spring cattle drive…”

“All I could get out of his hands is what we already know. Cody’s in charge and Mace Hunter took the cattle to market. If’n they knows, ain’t nobody saying where they rode off to. You want me to sic Wes and Jack on some of ‘em and see what they can learn?”

“No. Right now I have other plans for Monroe and Hayes. Just make sure our boys keep stealing and rebranding as many of the Rocking
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calves and horses as possible before Nate returns. That was real obliging of him to get a brand that I can alter so easily. Tell them to make certain they aren’t caught, or they’re dead men. What I want Monroe and Hayes to do for me is to make sure McFarland gets on his way as soon as possible, any way necessary. In a few weeks, I’ll let them make sure the money from Nate’s cattle sale comes to me, not him.
When he can’t repay the bank, I’ll force good ole Wilber Mason to take over his ranch, real legal like. When she goes up for public auction, Monroe and Hayes can make sure nobody bids against me. If anything goes wrong, I have other plans in motion. Of course, they’ll have to take care of Kincade before we can run off Nate.”

Silas scratched his head of unruly black hair. “Miss Clarissa ain’t gonna like that, sir. She’s had her eye set on Travis for years.”

Harrison chuckled. “Then she had best have his ring on her finger and have him working for me real soon, hadn’t she?” he jested calmly, even though he knew he could never trust a man like Travis Kincade, who had been under the influence of Nathan Crandall too long. “She’s only got herself to blame. It’s her fault she didn’t get any information out of that traveling painter when he did her portrait. She said he didn’t know anything about Nate’s sudden trip. If you ask me, I think the timing of Mallory’s visit and Nate’s rush is a little tight to be coincidental. I should have set the boys on him before he left.”

As Harrison poured himself a whiskey, Silas frowned. He did not like the idea of tangling with Travis Kincade, or of killing him. Still, he would never interfere with his employer’s desires. As for that dark-eyed, dark-haired daughter of his, Clarissa had been trying to snare the handsome foreman since his arrival, and she had not taken kindly to his resistance. That woman could be a real bitch, in actions and in character, he mused wryly. Every time Travis spurned or denied her, she came home and took it out on everyone present, including the lucky cowhand she chose to release her fiery frustrations on. Of course, none of the boys who rolled in the hay with her would boast on it. If one did, he was dead. Strange, her papa didn’t care what she did, as long as she obeyed him and kept her doings secret from the town and their
neighbors. Silas admitted he might feel differently about her if she would rub that soft body against him a few times, or just once, in fact. He had seen how she had eyed Wes and Jackson up and down yesterday, and he had refused to warn her to steer clear of those dangerous men, men who were used to taking a woman, whether she said yes or no. Yep, those men were dangerous, but they seemed to have a curious sense of loyalty to whoever hired them. Even bold gunslingers like Wes and Jackson were not fool enough to go against a powerful man like Harrison Caldwell.

“That’s all for tonight, Silas,” Harrison said and watched the man leave. He wished his daughter could find a man like himself to marry, for he was weary of dealing with the crude Silas Stern. Yet he knew he could trust Silas completely, and he needed him a while longer. But as soon as he had the Rocking
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Ranch under his control, Silas would not trouble him further. In fact, he was planning a lethal surprise for all of the men who knew his secret dealings…

Harrison sat at his desk and gazed into his whiskey. He was on the verge of possessing a vast and powerful Texas empire, and he would allow no one to stand in his way, including his daughter! When he had everything he wanted, he would govern his only child more rigidly. She would marry and settle down respectably with the man of his choosing or, as with Marissa Crandall, she would be sent into the world on her own. And he never doubted that the she cat would land on her clawed feet. He was angry with her for failing him with Thomas Mallory. He did not like situations and people whom he could not control. Actually he did not like Clarissa and despised the thought of her inheriting his massive and lucrative spread, but she was the only seed of his loins. A devilish smile curled one corner of his broad lips. Maybe it was not too late to find himself another wife who could bear
him a son. After all, he was only fifty-six and still virile. If he worked hard and fast, he could have him a son in a year or so and could rid himself of his spoiled, loosethighed daughter! Too bad Nathan only had one daughter and she was dead. Marriage to Nathan’s heir could have solved all of his problems quickly and simply, after Nathan’s death.

“Little Marissa Crandall, what a fiery body and greedy appetite you had,” he murmured dreamily, then rubbed the rapidly stiffening effect her memory created. “I wonder what your pa would say if he knew how many times you had climbed into bed with me.”

Laughter filled the room as he recalled the things he had taught Marissa before she had suddenly run off with that fancy gambler. It did not matter to Harrison that he had gotten her drunk one afternoon and had taken advantage of her. For six months he had enchanted the vixen into sneaking into his bed at every available instance. He smiled wickedly as he trailed his fingertips up and down his hard member and slowly sipped on his whiskey, reflecting on those stimulating days.

He remembered how Marissa had been enamored of him, secretly eyeing him and flirting with him. He had done the same with her, for the seventeen-and-a-halfyear-old innocent had been thrilled by the attentions of a handsome, rich, thirty-five-year-old lawyer and rancher. Their first encounter had taken place unexpectedly, when Marissa had ridden to his ranch to deliver a message while her father was away. He had enticed her to linger and to sample forbidden champagne. The daring, impulsive girl had agreed eagerly. Once her wits had been dulled, he had worked skillfully at seducing her, making sure she enjoyed their afternoon together. At first he had pretended to blackmail her with exposure to entice more visits, until the hot-blooded vixen had admitted how much she enjoyed their wanton bouts; he had always
been careful to please her in order to keep her coming back for more, and gradually she had lost all inhibitions.

Marissa had sneaked over while his daughter was at school. He had sent his housekeeper away on errands or had given her time off for her own family. Sometimes, before he and Nathan had become enemies, Marissa had come over under the pretense of tutoring Clarissa or staying with her when his housekeeper supposedly could not. During those times, Clarissa had been locked in her room to keep her ignorant of their liaison. Some nights, Marissa would work him into a heavy sweat and would not let him sleep until the cock crowed. She had wanted to learn everything about men and sexual pleasures. Naturally he had been delighted to be her teacher and her pupil. He had waited for her eighteenth birthday to marry her, but Marissa had refused his proposal, claiming she wanted to enjoy her freedom a while longer. She began seeing other men, younger men, but swore she never slept with any of them. She loved to flirt and tease and bewitch them all. Finally, when she was nineteen, he had demanded they marry and halt this secret affair of oneand-a-half years. She had humiliated and pained him deeply by telling him that his size and stamina and appetite were too small for her, and she had ceased her visits, vowing to claim rape if he came near her again or tried to expose their lengthy, wanton affair. When he had traveled back East on business for several months, she had eloped.

Fury filled him at the memory of her casual dismissal, then sadistic pleasure washed over him as he recalled her brutal demise. He wondered if the Indians had enjoyed her before killing her, and he vengefully hoped they had. At least he had obtained his revenge on her last trip home. Secretly he had sent Clarissa to visit a friend one night, then had cleverly summoned Marissa to the Circle
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Ranch with a forged note from his daughter, for the two
had become friends, despite their different personalities. He trembled with ecstasy as he remembered that last night with Marissa tied to his bedposts and him feeding his savage hungers with her tasty body. He had learned the truth from his man Fargo about how she was being forced by Raymond to whore for her family’s support, and he had given her no choice but to endure whatever he chose to do to her. He had threatened to expose their past affair and her current demeaning situation to her beloved father. After all, if she could sell it to strangers to stake her fancy gambler, he had reasoned, then, after what they had shared and she had done to him, she could certainly give him all he wanted or needed. Poor little Marissa; she had really changed, for the girl he had known would not have allowed anyone to use her, and it had seemed she no longer enjoyed sex. He had not cared, as long as she could sate his needs as only she had been able to do. Damn her, he mentally cursed. She had haunted him for years, and still did so on occasion. He shuddered now as he mentally relived that night of bliss and domination.

Perhaps he was the only one who had known why Marissa had run off a few days later with that no-good husband of hers. Besides being tied by the mysterious and powerful hold that Raymond Michaels had over her, she had had the knowledge of what her fate would have been at Harrison’s hands—or at least what she had thought it would be. Actually he had intended to slay Raymond Michaels and marry his widow, for even then he had still yearned to possess her. Too bad he had forgotten to reveal his plans to Marissa while he was having the best night of his life. The truth was, Marissa Crandall Michaels had been terrified of her husband, and with just cause, from his reports.

Harrison still remembered the look on Marissa’s face when he had boasted of supplying the money every time
his man Fargo had copulated with her while seeking information for him. He had laughed at her for not having the guts to leave or to kill Raymond Michaels. Clearly she despised her husband and his cruelties, but the man had had some petrifying hold over her that she had been afraid to break or challenge. How he wished he had guessed their secret. Harrison knew that if he had offered her marriage and protection, she would be lying in his bed this very night, waiting to ease the aching in his loins, and the Rocking
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would now be a part of his kingdom.

If only he had known Raymond Michaels would show up early… He had wanted to punish Marissa and play with her a few days before changing her life completely. When he discovered that Michaels had taken her away, he had planned to go after her, get rid of Michaels, and marry Marissa. The Kiowas had ended that dream. Too bad, he decided, for Marissa could have given him a handsome son and her father’s ranch.

Soon he should begin looking for a wife, an innocent, beautiful young thing like Marissa had been, a girl he could train to his liking and needs. This time, he would not make the mistake of letting her know how pleasurable and rewarding sex could be!

At dawn, Nathan Crandall stared at his ranch foreman as Travis revealed the unexpected terms for his granddaughter’s exchange and his agreement with Lone Wolf. “That’s a low-down trick, son, and I don’t like it,” Nathan declared angrily after learning of the deceitful marriage stipulation and the demand for Rana’s ignorance of the truth until they were far away. As he listened, the older man jerked his head around to glare at the band of warriors who were waiting patiently for the two white men to ride out before them, and, as he did so, a silvery blond lock of hair fell over his forehead. His faded blue eyes narrowed and sparked with warring emotions as he absently brushed it aside and put on his hat.