The Reluctant Bride (8 page)

If Tanzy had been in a better mood, she might have found the change in Stocker’s demeanor comical. She knew Stocker hated Russ, but she hadn’t guessed until now that he was also afraid of him.

“It’s nice to know you’re a man of your word.”

Russ’s brow creased. “How so?”

“You told me not to worry if you were late. I just didn’t expect
later
to be three days.”

Russ’s inquiring gaze swung from Tanzy to Stocker and back. “I had some unwelcome visitors. That’s a hazard of having something other people want.” He appeared finally to focus on her and her new dress. “You look pretty.”

“She looks damned beautiful,” Stocker said, “too beautiful to be wasting her time on the likes of you.”

“Are you ready to go in to dinner?” she asked Russ. She was anxious to get away from Stocker.

“More than ready.” Russ stepped back to allow her to pass in front of him.

Stocker looked thunderous, but he said nothing. The waiter seated them in the back, as before.

“Are you sure you don’t mind sitting back here?” Russ asked.

“I prefer it,” Tanzy said. “Since everybody in this town seems to be angry at you, it’s probably the only place where we can have a reasonably quiet dinner.”

“I expect half the people wouldn’t know I existed if it weren’t for Stocker. He wants to run me out of the Territory, so he’s convinced everybody I’m dangerous.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Not much. I can go a whole year without coming into town.”

“You shouldn’t have to stay away if you don’t want to.”

“There’s nothing here I want. Now, what would you like to eat?”

“I don’t care. Order two of whatever you’re having. I want to know where you’ve been for the last three days.”

By the time Russ finished telling her about the gunman guarding the pass, she was angry. “Do you think Stocker is behind it?”

“I don’t know. Most of the ranchers have been hit by the rustlers, even Stocker. The only reason they haven’t hit me is that there’s only one way into my ranch and it’s through that pass.”

“So you think the rustlers are just mad and trying to keep you locked up for revenge?”

“I believe they’ve got something else in mind, but I don’t know what it is.”

“What will you do?”

“It depends on what they do, but let’s forget about them for a while. Do you need more money?”

“I’m not taking another penny from you.”

“You can’t stay here with no money.”

“I could if I hadn’t been weak enough to buy this dress.”

“It looks very nice on you.”

“You look very nice, too.”

“You think I’m good-looking?”

“Don’t pretend ignorance with me, Russ Tibbolt. You know half the women in Boulder Gap get heart palpitations every time they see you.”

“I know they dislike me so much they can hardly stand the sight of me.”

“I don’t know what they feel about you as a person, but they sure do like the way you look.”

Tanzy thought Russ might have blushed. His deep tan made it difficult to judge, but she’d never met a man who was modest. Even her opossum-faced cousin thought he was a matrimonial prize.

“What was Stocker talking to you about?” Russ asked. His tan did nothing to hide the tension in his expression.

“He wanted me to have dinner with him. I told him I had to wait for you.”

“Even though I hadn’t come back for three days?”

“I don’t know anything about your ranch or any difficulties you might be having, but I figured you expected something to hold you up or you wouldn’t have warned me.”

“How long were you going to wait?”

“Until the end of the week.”

“What would you have done then?”

“I hadn’t decided, but I was sure you’d be back before then. You strike me as a man who doesn’t let much get in his way.”

His expression sobered to the point of being almost angry. “A great number of things have gotten in my way over the years. I was too young to have any sense.”

“Is that why you got into the gunfight with Stocker’s brother?”

“No.”

“I think it’s time you told me what happened between you and Stocker.”

“I told you.”

“I mean everything.”

Chapter Five

“It’s an old story,” Russ said, “but the tragic ending isn’t enough to keep it from happening over and over again.”

Tanzy had learned that lesson with her own family. Each time a member of her family had been killed, it only made the rest of them more determined to carry on the feud.

“Adele was my half sister,” Russ began. “Her father was my mother’s first husband. She grew up to be a beautiful girl who liked pretty things. We didn’t have any money for nice things after our parents died, but Toley Pullet had more than enough. Stocker gave him pretty much everything he wanted, and he wanted Adele. I tried to tell her he was no good, but she was sure she was the woman to make him settle down and stop wasting his life. There was a real nice fella, Welt Allard, who was crazy about her, but he wasn’t rich enough for Adele.

“I went all the way to Texas looking for work. I needed money and cows to start my own ranch. When I got back after two years, Welt told me Toley had taken Adele to San Francisco and left her to die alone. I went looking for Toley, determined to beat his brains out, but Stocker had surrounded his brother with a bunch of tough cowhands. I challenged him to any kind of fight he wanted. Before I knew what was happening, one of the cowhands had strapped a gunbelt to my waist and we were pacing off the distance. I didn’t know much about guns, but I knew it was more important to be accurate than to be quick. Toley’s first shot missed. Mine didn’t.”

That doesn’t make you a killer,” Tanzy said.

“It did in Stocker’s eyes. He had me arrested and tried for murder. He couldn’t force the jury to hang me, but they sent me to prison for five years.”

Tanzy’s misgivings about Russ had resurfaced, but she had to give him credit for having served his time in jail, however unfair the sentence, and devoting his energy since to building his ranch.

“You’ve paid your debt. Why won’t people leave you alone?”

“Stocker won’t let them. When I came back, he tried to run me out, but I’d hired three guys I’d met in jail, and we held him off. Nobody has ever stopped Stocker from taking anything he’s wanted. I’ve injured his pride, and he can’t accept that. His father carved an empire out of Indian land and became the richest, most powerful, most feared man around. Stocker has been trying to live up to his father’s reputation ever since.”

The more Tanzy heard, the more uneasy she became. She’d heard practically the same words out of her father’s and brothers’ mouths.
Their pride had been hurt and they couldn’t accept that.

“What are you going to do about it?” Tanzy asked.

“Nothing. If they bother me too much, I’ll start buying my supplies at Fort Lookout and never set foot in town again.”

Tanzy didn’t believe any woman looking to marry Russ would appreciate being confined to a mountain ranch for the rest of her life, but it did allay some of her misgivings. His sister was dead, but he knew nothing could bring her back. He was looking to the future rather than poisoning his life by constantly stoking his anger at past injustices, and perhaps the most significant proof that he was looking toward the future was his wanting to marry her.

The more she thought about marrying Russ, the more she liked the idea. He was a man of action, a man who held strong convictions and backed them up. His time in prison had resulted from trying to avenge his sister’s honor. She was certain he’d be equally ready to defend his wife, which would be a change from her own family. She was also impressed that he’d been able to establish a ranch in the teeth of such fierce opposition.

Then there was the not inconsiderable fact that he was so handsome she felt keyed up whenever she was with him. Though she was unused to the feeling, it wasn’t unpleasant. There was an element of anticipation about it that intrigued her. She felt something was always on the verge of happening, something very personal. That led to the one area about which she was completely in the dark.

What should her feelings toward him be?

“I would like to see your ranch,” Tanzy said to Russ.

He seemed surprised. “Why?”

“Wouldn’t you expect your prospective wife to want to see where she was going to live?”

“It’s a long, difficult ride, impossible unless you go by horseback.”

“I used to ride our mules when I was a little girl.”

“I don’t have a sidesaddle.”

“I wouldn’t know how to use it.”

“Riding astride out here is the only sensible way to get around in the mountains, but I didn’t expect an Eastern lady to agree.”

She relaxed with a smile. “I’m a Kentucky mountain girl. You’ll soon learn that people don’t consider me a lady. They wouldn’t be surprised by anything I did.”

It appeared to take him a moment to digest that thought. “I see no reason to fault a female for where her parents chose to live. It’s not your birthplace that counts. It’s—”

“God dammit, Russ. I swore if you touched another head of my cattle, I’d shoot you where you stood.”

Rudely jolted out of her concentration, Tanzy looked up to see Stocker marching toward them, his face twisted by fury, diners ducking to get out of the way of the gun he was waving in the air.

“Don’t be a bigger fool than you already are,” Russ snapped. “My men couldn’t get out of my valley if they wanted to. Gunmen have blocked the pass for the last three days.”

“Then how did you get out?” Stocker demanded.

“I know more about the mountains than they do. Now put away that gun before you hurt somebody.”

“I’m going to shoot you between your lying eyes,” Stocker shouted. “The only gunmen guarding the pass to
my
valley are your men making sure nobody gets in to see what brands your cattle are carrying.”

“I wouldn’t want your scrawny longhorns. I’ve upgraded my herds.”

“You’ve bought bulls with money you got from selling my scrawny cows. I’m going to put an end to this right here and now.”

Stocker lunged unsteadily at Russ. Tanzy was sure he was too drunk to know what he was doing, but Russ was out of his seat and trying to wrench the gun from Stocker’s grip.

“I should have killed you when you murdered my brother,” Stocker groaned. “I’ll never rest until you’re dead.”

“I’ll never forget what your family did to my mother and sister,” Russ said.

They’d have gone with anybody who had money,” Stocker said. “They were nothing but sluts.”

Tanzy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Stocker Pullet, the richest and most respected man in town, wrestling on the floor and shouting that he was going to kill Russ for rustling his cattle. Russ Tibbolt, the man she’d promised to marry, was no different. Both of them were pummeling each other without regard for the wide-eyed interest of at least fifty diners. If she hadn’t been so angry, she’d have been embarrassed.

“Stop it, both of you,” Tanzy shouted. “You’re making fools of yourselves.” They ignored her, tumbling around the floor like boys in a wrestling match.

They’ve hated each other for at least ten years,” the town banker said. “It won’t end until one of them is dead.”

It won’t end until one of them is dead

Her mother’s words echoed in her head like an ominous warning. She’d traveled more than a thousand miles only to find herself right back where she started. Anger sizzled through her with the speed of a lightning bolt.

This is going to end right now,” she said. She snatched a pistol from the holster of a man watching the fight, waded into the fracas, and struck Russ a stunning blow when she got her chance. The moment Russ slumped to the floor, she pointed the gun directly at a very startled Stocker.

“Why are you pointing that gun at me?” he asked. He wiped his hand across his mouth. It came away bloody. “He’s the rustler.”

“If you think he’s guilty, produce some proof, then let the sheriff arrest him. It’s not for you to take the law into your own hands, especially not when you’re drunk and waving a gun about in a restaurant full of people. If you’d shot Russ, you’d be a cold-blooded murderer, a worse criminal than you accuse him of being.”

Stocker gaped at Tanzy, clearly more dazed by the force of her words than the impact of Russ’s fists.

“She’s right, Stocker,” the banker said. “You can’t go taking the law into your own hands.”

“How am I supposed to get proof with murderers guarding my valley, ready to shoot any honest citizen who approaches?”

“I expect Russ would be willing for a responsible delegation to go to this valley and inspect his herd,” Tanzy said. “That way you could settle the dispute once and for all.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” the banker said.

“He won’t let anybody in,” Stocker said.