The Loves of Ruby Dee (36 page)

“Not everyone can appreciate this part of the country. It’s dry a lot, and the wind sometimes blows like hell. I guess there’s some that hate it. My own mama did.”

He looked at Ruby Dee. She was still staring off at the land.

He said, “If you’ll pledge to stay with me until they carry me off to the White Rose cemetery, I’ll deed a third of all this over to you.” Her head swung around, and she gazed at him with shock. “I can’t give you what a younger man can...but I can give you what most can’t, and that’s a sizable fortune, in this land and all my assets. We can get married, if you want, but we don’t have to. I’ll settle for your pledge.”

She stared at him a moment longer, and then turned her gaze out the windshield.

Well.

He was offering her a fortune. A white clapboard house and barns and pastures, and with a fortune, she could buy her babies, so she would be assured of having them. And she could still have Hardy...although probably not Will.

There just wasn’t anything Hardy wouldn’t do to have his way.

She faced him, looked at him with blurred vision. A pained expression on his face, he said, “Now, don’t go cryin’ on me, gal. Just say your piece.”

“Damn your hide, Hardy Starr. How can you think that you can buy me—chain me to you with money? I’m paid a salary, and just like everyone else, I need that salary, but that’s not why I’m here. I could work anywhere. If I hadn’t wanted to stay and be around you, I’d have left months ago. I have my own plans, Hardy! I would have left after that first day, because you can be real ornery.”

Her brown eyes were dark as gun barrels. “I’m your friend, for as long as you want. I love you, Hardy, in my way. That’s my pledge, and either it will do or it won’t. I can offer you no more...and I can’t be chained. Chains just choke hearts, Hardy.”

Then she flounced back in the seat.

Hardy was angry himself. He had made her what he considered a sizeable offer, and she had thrown it back in his face. And then she had lectured him, when he had expected her to be grateful, and at the least impressed.

He had wanted to secure her for himself. To assure himself that she would never leave him, not even for his son. He wasn’t particularly proud of cutting Will out, but he wasn’t particularly sorry, either. Will was young and had years ahead of him, but Hardy did not.

He said then, “I changed my will today. I’ve already deeded you one third of everything upon my death. You don’t need to marry me or anyone else to get it.”

Ruby Dee had known Hardy could be a hard man, but she hadn’t known he could be downright mean.

“Well, I won’t take it, Hardy.”

Then she started the car and drove them home.

Chapter 27

When Will got to the ranch house, it was nearly dark. He had taken time to shower and dress in a good shirt and jeans. As he came up the walk, he looked up and saw Ruby Dee standing at the screen door, waiting.

“Supper is just now ready,” she said, as he came through the door. “It’s only sandwiches, but I made potato salad, and we have those late tomatoes Wildcat brought from Charlene’s garden.”

Her eyes were on him, warm as velvet in sunshine, and he almost grabbed her and asked her right there, but a movement caught his eye, and as he looked over her head, he saw the old man gazing at him.

She went about putting things on the table, and he helped her. Will took his seat across from the old man, who was still wearing the starched shirt and creased slacks.

Will asked if they had gotten everything they needed in town. The old man nodded, but it was Ruby Dee who told about hiring the caterer and what they had bought. It appeared the old man was turning loose some money.

Her eyes sparkling with excitement, Ruby Dee talked about their plans for the party. Will looked at his dad in surprise. He had never known the old man to have such a hoopty-do at the ranch. Each spring they hosted the stock sale, but all they had was Jimmy Mack come in with his concession wagon and supply cheese nachos, hamburgers and cold drinks. And the old man grumbled about that, said he didn’t like buying food for a bunch of people, most who weren’t gonna buy squat and who he didn’t want on his ranch in the first place. And now he was agreeing to a party, with awnings and rugs and waiters. And all for Lonnie.

No, Will thought, understanding slicing through him. It was all for Ruby Dee.

“I thought Saturday afternoon would be the best,” Ruby Dee was saying, “but I can change that, if I call tomorrow.’’

“Saturday afternoon is fine,” Will told her.

“You can help me make a list of people to invite. You and Hardy both, maybe right after we eat.” Her gaze moved between him and the old man. The old man grunted, and Will said he’d be glad to.

Will told about getting the bulls up to the lots that day, and that he had arranged for help to separate the cows and calves. He had decided to wait until Lonnie returned to do that. The old man argued against waiting, saying that the calves were of weaning weight and some beyond. And if rain set in, there could be further delays.

Will answered that he would separate them in the rain, if necessary.

Then Hardy said, “I guess I can hire me a crew to move my cows.” He said it mean and cold as January ice.

And Will replied, “Go right ahead. I can give you phone numbers of people to call.” Anger almost pushed him to his feet, but he refused it. The old man was goading him, seeking to push him away from Ruby Dee again. With his eyes Will told the old man he wasn’t going anywhere, and when Ruby Dee rose to clear the table, Will rose to help her.

She thanked him, and her eyes were on him and it was between them, heavy and warm.

Will left the kitchen and went out to feed the stock. He worked automatically, passing out hay and grain and filling water troughs, all the while thinking of the old man inside with Ruby Dee. She was the reason for the change in the old man—the reason he was suddenly buying thirty-dollar shirts and five-hundred-dollar boots and looking ten years younger and more alive than he had in twenty-five years.

What would happen to him, if Will took her away from here?

She would just be a few miles down the road, Will argued with himself. It wouldn’t be like he was really taking her away. No doubt she would be down here with Hardy half the time anyway.

And she had said she wanted her own house. Like as not she wasn’t going to stay here forever. The old man wouldn’t see it that way, though. Her leaving for a place of her own or leaving with Will were two entirely different things.

When Will got back to the house, Ruby Dee and the old man were working on the list of people to invite to the party. There wouldn’t be time to send out invitations; everyone would have to be contacted personally. It was the old man who suggested having Cora Jean do some of the inviting. “The woman’s better than the radio,” he said.

Ruby Dee got up right then and called Cora Jean, and while the women chatted on the telephone, Will and the old man sat and looked at each other across the table. Then Will went into his office and began opening the two days’ worth of mail stacked in the middle of his desk, most of it junk.

He was surprised when the old man came in.

The old man said, “Once we have the calves weaned, I’m gonna let Wildcat handle things on the ranch for the winter, so you can go ahead and cut yourself loose whenever you want.”

Will’s temper flared. He managed to hold on to himself as he said, “Wildcat’s a good man, and he knows ranchin’, but he doesn’t know how to keep records. And I got them all on computer now.”

“Won’t be so much durin’ the winter. Besides, this ranch survived eighty-plus years without a computer.” The old man’s eyes got hard. “I’m shuttin’ the ranchin’ operation down. I’ll have Thelen see to it, and no doubt he’ll have accountants addin’ things up."

That announcement took anything Will might have said right out of him.

“When?” he managed to ask after a full minute.

“Over the winter. I figure dispersing the stock at the usual sale time will work out best.”

Will felt as if he had been hit in the gut. “It’s taken forty years to get the breeding stock we’ve got.”

“Ought to get some good money from it,” the old man said and walked out, smacking his cane on the floor.

Will sank into the oak chair. He couldn’t imagine the Starr shut down, the cattle dispersed...years of work gone.

And the old man hadn’t even spoken to him about the decision, Will thought, fire in his chest. The old man would sooner shut down the ranch, sell off everything, than hand it over to his sons. The old man would cut off their heritage.

Why? Was it one more effort to push Will from Ruby Dee? Did the old man think that in getting rid of the ranch, he would get rid of Will? Or was it simply to show that he could do it, that he remained in power? Or was he trying to punish Will because he’d dared to seek something of his own...and Ruby Dee, too?

How could the man who had stepped in front of a wild woman with a loaded shotgun in order to protect his sons do this to them?

If Will had known how to cry, he might have. After a minute, he walked outside and drove away.

* * * *

Still in her clothes, Ruby Dee lay on her side, propped up on several pillows, with a light cotton blanket thrown over her legs. Through the open window came the faint sound of an engine, then of tires crunching on gravel. The sound roused her, and she sat up, wondering if she’d been dreaming. She heard the squeak of the truck door opening, the clunk of it closing.

Throwing aside the blanket, she went to the window. Will’s pickup was parked near the horse barn. Straining to see in the dimness, she caught sight of a shadowy figure walking into the wide entry of the barn in the first light of morning. The light of her digital clock glowed red. He was nearly an hour earlier than usual.

Picking up her boots, she padded quietly down the stairs in sock feet, with Sally following. The stairs creaked softly, and Sally’s nails clicked on the floor, but Hardy snored on.

On the back step, Ruby Dee tugged on her boots and then half-ran up the slope to the barn. The gravel crunching beneath her steps sounded loud in the silence. The sweet, early morning air caressed her face and chilled her arms. Already it grew lighter, and she felt the sense of urgency, of time running out.

She peered down the long barn aisle. There came the scents of damp earth and animals. Two lights were on at the far end. Will was there—the light shown on his pale hat and denim-clad shoulders. Several horses snorted anxiously as he poured grain into their feeders.

Suddenly Ruby Dee felt shy, fearful. He hadn’t waited to speak to her last night, and this morning he’d come so quietly, almost like a thief not wanting to be caught.

As if he sensed her presence, he looked up and saw her.

“Will?” Hesitantly, she stepped forward. He tossed aside his bucket and came striding forcefully toward her.

There was something about him...an intensity. She saw the shadow of a beard on his face and dark circles beneath his eyes. Her heart fluttered as he gazed down at her.

She asked, “Where did you go last night? What’s wrong?”

But then he cupped her face and kissed her, stopping her questions and taking away her breath.
Oh, my goodness...oh!
He kissed her again and yet again. Her head spun.
He did want her!

Then he looked into her eyes and said, “I love you, Ruby Dee. I want to marry you.”

“Oh, Will,” was all she could say and that only a whisper. She went against his chest, buried herself there, feeling his strong arms close around her, hearing the rapid thudding of his heart and inhaling the male scent of him. She held onto him while he rubbed his hands up and down her back and his cheek against her hair.

“I’m forty-two, Ruby Dee, and I don’t know if I can give you children, but I’ll try, and I can give you a good house, and you can keep nursing, or whatever you want to do.”

“Oh, Will.”

The next instant he pulled away, and she wanted to protest, but then he had her by the hand and was leading her to the far end of the barn. She knew then that he was going to make love to her. And that she wanted him to beyond all reason.

He brought a canvas duster from inside the tack room, spread it on the soft mounds of hay strewn about and turned out the lights. The early morning brought a soft, ethereal glow to the corner of the barn.

Ruby Dee tossed her dress aside, and when he raised himself up from removing his boots, she was standing there before him in only her bra and panties. His eyes fastened on her, and she shivered. With his gaze hot upon her, he jerked off his shirt and spread it with the duster, then drew her down with him. The canvas duster crackled and the hay whispered as they lay upon it. The hay was so fragrant...so soft! And Will was so hard, all over.

For a moment, Will stopped to gaze at her, to run his hand slowly over her breasts and down her belly. His eyes darkened and caressed her, just as his touch did. Slowly, oh, so slowly his head came down, and he traced a line across the tops of her breasts with his lips. And then he was touching her all over. Touching her with his strong, calloused hands, bringing desire trembling and pounding through her.

Then nothing was slow or gentle, because the passion, so long lying just beneath the surface, so long held there and denied, flashed over them like fire across the prairie. Urgently they sought each other with their lips and their hands, their arms and their legs. Nothing at all leisurely, only greedily, all hot and fiery and crazy wild. Ruby Dee, aching and throbbing, pleaded with him with her hands. She couldn’t stop herself. She wanted him, had to have him.

Will slipped between her legs and pressed himself against her. There he paused for an agonizing instant, brought his lips to hers and kissed her deeply, as he thrust inside her. The pain surprised Ruby Dee, but then she was rising, higher and higher, like a kite caught in the hot summer wind.

* * * *

Will had not meant for it to happen, at least not then. He hadn’t meant even to see her this morning, because he needed to think things through. But when he’d seen her, there had been no way he could stop himself.