The Visions of Ransom Lake (40 page)

Vaden threw back the covers and tried to stand. Her head went spinning at first, for it had been so long since she had been conscious. Taking Yvonne’s arm for support, she went to her wardrobe.

“
Of course, there’s no way Auntie and Uncle Dan will let you leave the house, considering you must still be hurting and stunned. So we’ll have to go out through the window.”

Vaden paused in her dressing to turn and look at her sister inquisitively. “Yvonne? You are encouraging me to sneak out the window, and to the jail of all places, to visit a man—to visit a man unchaperoned, I might add—a man of whom you don’t approve?”

“
For pity’s sake, Vay! Hurry up! We don’t have time to think rationally!”

So, determined and knowing that no doubt much more than Yvonne had told her had transpired during her convalescence, Vaden did indeed dress hurriedly. She securely buttoned the coat Yvonne handed to her and climbed out through the bedroom window after her sister.

The bright morning sun tried in vain to warm the cold winter’s day. Quickly she followed Yvonne toward the jail, thinking how cold it would be for Ransom in the confining building.

“
Denver says they’re just keeping him there because they think he’ll follow the Claytons up to Denver after Jerome. But I’m sure that once you’ve talked to him, he’ll be fine. Denver says Ransom is still blaming himself for what happened to the family,” Yvonne babbled, barely pausing for breath.

“
You know about the family?” Vaden asked, stunned her sister should hold the knowledge.

“
Yes. Denver told me all about it. How horrid for poor Ransom. And for dear Denver…to think his entire family was lost all those years, not knowing all that time he still had a brother to hold to.”

Yvonne sighed heavily, and Vaden’s brow wrinkled in wonderment. She could not believe the change in her sister. It was painfully obvious Yvonne and Denver had spent a great deal of time together for her to know such intimate details of the story.

When they at long last arrived at the jail, Vaden burst into the building behind Yvonne. Upon seeing Sheriff Howard sitting at his desk casually reading a book, her temper flared, and Vaden stormed over to him.

“
You let Ransom Lake out of here this minute, Sheriff Howard!” she ordered.

Startled, the sheriff looked up, frowning. “Miss Valmont?” he mumbled. Then, clearing his throat, he closed his book and stood up, offering his hand to her. “It’s good to see you’re recovered from your—”

“
You’re holding him here, aren’t you?” Vaden nearly shouted.

“
Ransom Lake? Well, yes. I have him in—”

“
You release him now! Do you understand me? He hasn’t done anything to deserve being locked up in here!” Vaden felt hot tears of frustration filling her eyes, but she was determined to stand strong. Ransom was not the one who deserved to be confined.

“
Now, settle yourself down, Miss Valmont. I’ve just had him in here for a couple of days until he could settle hisself down. When he left your place, he went out lookin’ for Jerome. When he didn’t find him in the elms, he took out to his family’s home. He kicked their front door down, went chargin’ through their house, shoutin’ threats about how he was gonna make certain Jerome didn’t live to see the light of another day. He scared the waddin’ outta every one of them. And then he come stormin’ in here, shoutin’ at me to find that Clayton boy and string him up to a tree. And he was all fired up to go stormin’ off to your aunt and uncle’s house to make sure Doctor Sullivan did right by you, so I just figured it would be safer for Ransom and everybody else if he spent some time pinned up so he could think things out and we could find Jerome.”

Vaden shook her head, astounded Ransom would react so irrationally. “Well then, now that the Claytons are out of town and I’m better…you will release him, won’t you?” she asked.

“
If you can go in there, Miss Vaden, and talk some sense into that man—get him to swear off revenge of any sort—then I’ll let him go. He’s calmed down otherwise now…near to despair it seems. But I want his word that he’s got his temper under control,” the sheriff said.

“
You just take me to him. I still can’t believe this was necessary.” Vaden frowned at the man with disapproval, and the sheriff guiltily hung his head for a moment as she followed him to the back of the building. Denver sat on a chair just outside the bars that enclosed the jail cell. He stood up, an expression of profound relief overtaking his face as he looked to Vaden. Vaden was surprised when Yvonne rushed forward from behind her, throwing herself against Denver and into his strong embrace.

“
Miss Vaden,” Denver sighed with relief. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, indeed you are.”

Immediately, Ransom was on his feet, rushing to the bars as Vaden approached him. “Vaden!” he exclaimed, grasping the bars tightly as he gazed at her. “Are ya all right?” he asked anxiously.

Vaden felt a tear trickle down her cheek, for he looked so careworn, so thoroughly exhausted. The room was not comfortably warm even for the fire burning in the nearby hearth. Still, Ransom stood before her, his shirt unbuttoned and gaping open, his face unshaven, his hair disheveled, and the dark circles of great fatigue shading the area beneath his eyes.

“
I’m…I’m fine,” she managed to answer. Everything about her was so unfamiliar—a jail cell, Yvonne and Denver in each other’s arms, Ransom looking tired and defeated. Tentatively, she reached out and placed a small hand over his cold, roughened one.

“
Ya gonna behave if I let ya out of here now, Ransom?” Sheriff Howard asked.

Ransom looked up, glaring angrily at the man. “I suppose,” he mumbled.

“
I suppose ain’t good enough,” Sheriff Howard reminded him.

Ransom closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a deep, calming breath. “Yes.”

“
All right then.”

Vaden stepped back from the cell as the sheriff unlocked it with a large key. Ransom stepped from the cell in one long stride, and instantly Vaden was in his arms, her face pressed firmly against the warm skin of his chest as he hugged her savagely. His hands clutched at the fabric of her coat and dress, squeezed her arms roughly, wound their fingers in her hair. He held her to him so tightly it was a difficult chore to draw breath. Vaden in return let her arms slide under his gaping shirt and around to his back, returning the fierce embrace. It was wonderful to be in his arms once more, to inhale the scent of his skin, to feel his powerful arms around her!

“
I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his lips brushing her ear briefly as he spoke. “I’m so sorry I failed ya, Vaden.”

Vaden raised her head to meet his gaze, which was painfully filled with guilt. “You didn’t fail me. As always, you saved me, Ransom Lake,” she said.

He was so strong, so completely capable of overpowering anyone, anything that might try to break him. It unsettled Vaden that she would cause him such despair. And then, he slowly pushed her away from him. He stood staring down at her, the turbulence in his eyes disturbing her.

Vaden’s heart began to pound violently as she saw, as she could actually
perceive
and read, the resolve forming in his mind. His eyes narrowed, his shoulders straightened, and his jaw tightened as he looked at her. The expression of concern and guilt left his face, and in its place was the look Vaden recognized. She’d seen it blatant on his handsome face several times before: the first time he’d kissed her, the day he’d awakened from his unconscious time in her aunt’s spare bedroom, the night in the wagon after they’d shared the intensely passionate kisses, the night they’d spent together in the old house, on Thanksgiving, and even the day when Jerome had assaulted her—the day when, she only at that very moment remembered, she had confessed her love to him only to send him away, dooming herself to Jerome’s will. Yes, she’d seen the expression many times before, but it was only at that moment—as they stood in the cold jailhouse, the sheriff and Denver and Yvonne looking on—it was then that she recognized the expression as resolve—resolve to keep himself from taking her, resolve to deny himself of having her. Vaden was sure then that he did love her, that he did want her. But his past was still haunting him. He was still blaming himself, now perhaps more than ever. It frightened Vaden, broke her heart once more—violently broke her heart—and she stepped back from him.

“
Don’t do it, Ransom. Don’t you dare do it,” Denver growled, releasing Yvonne and going to stand ominously near his brother. Ransom’s resolve only seemed to strengthen, and, unable to endure it any longer, Vaden turned and fled from him.

“
Vaden!” she heard him call out. The tears had already escaped her eyes and were flooding her cheeks, and she clutched at her bosom, hoping to somehow lessen the pain in her heart. “Vaden!” he shouted again, and she knew he was at her heels as she fled. “Vaden,” he breathed as he caught hold of her arm, stopping her escape.

“
Don’t do this to me!” she cried out, turning to face him and wrenching her arm free of his grasp. “Don’t give me glimpses of my dreams of you coming true and then snatch them away because you’re…because you’re…”

“
Scared,” he finished for her, bluntly and admittedly. “You’re thinkin’ I’m weak, I know,” he mumbled, holding her hand to his chest, clutching it tightly in his own.

“
How could I ever think you were weak? It’s just—”Vaden began, but Ransom interrupted her.

“
I am. I admit it. I didn’t have the courage…I didn’t have the faith to pursue you. To tell ya what I feel for you. I…I didn’t think it was conceivable that you could accept me when ya knew what I had…what I hadn’t done for my family. I had gone cold inside. I thought I was incapable of feelin’, of…of lovin’ anyone ever again…any kind of love. And then ya conked me on the head with a pair of boots, and some remnant of who I was before flickered warm inside of me.”

He sighed heavily, and his eyes caressed her face as he looked from her mouth to her cheeks to her hair and at last to her eyes once more. A slight grin spread across his face, and he chuckled a moment.

“
You were so completely unspoiled, so completely in love with nature and ideas of romance, in love with life. And like everyone else ya touch…ya touched me, and I began to see there could be reasons to smile. I began to appreciate the simple beauties around me.” Reaching down, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “The grand beauty before me.”

Vaden’s soul began to rejoice, for the resolve to resist was gone from his countenance. Her throbbing pain began to leave her body as joy began to fill it. She glanced away shyly for a moment. As much as she had longed to hear him say these types of things, as often as she’d dreamt it, it was still difficult to believe, to accept in her mind, that it was true.

“
And then…it got to where every time I saw ya, I wanted your touch, your smile…I wanted ya to be mine. Every time I’d come into the mercantile and find ya there weavin’ a tale for those little ones, I’d think how wonderful it would be if they were our children…yours and mine. Children you’d borne of me.”

It was as if she had to feel him saying these things to her, so taking his rugged face in her hands, she let her small, soft thumb caress his flawlessly contoured lips. How enticing his mouth was.
How perfect
, she thought. He closed his eyes for an instant, causing a tear to trickle down his cheek as he reached up, taking her hand from his cheek and pressing her palm firmly to his lips as he kissed her there.

“
I’d think of you…in my arms…of our children…and,” he continued as she could feel the guilt and resistance leaving his body, “it would scare me because I’d remember the pain of losin’ my family. I’d imagine what my parents must have felt watchin’ their children die, and I’d run from ya for a while. Then I’d smack my thumb with a hammer while I was puttin’ up a fence or forget to feed the stock…because my mind would be on you all the time.”

He took her face firmly in his hands then, and his eyes narrowed as he spoke through tightly clenched teeth. “If ya only had a shred of a notion what kind of fire ya spark in me, girl, you’d run from me like ya would the plague! There have been times I feared for your virtue at my own hand when I had ya in my arms because my desire for ya fought so furiously with what I knew to be right in my mind that I wasn’t sure my honorable values could win out.”

Vaden tried to look away from him, for the depth and meaning of what he was saying was truly exhilarating to hear but also very intimate. That he would say such things to her caused her to blush.

“
You found me, Vaden,” he mumbled in the sultry tone that sent her senses tingling. Releasing her face, obviously not wanting to force her to look at him, he added, “Ya looked and looked beneath the stone, the hard, cold stone until ya found me. Your smile melted that solid ice around my heart, and your kiss heated the flames of desire in me to a point that I am no longer able to bury them.”

Vaden gasped and put her hand to his lips to silence his forthright words, but he only kissed her hand. She pulled it away quickly as the feel of his kiss unsettled her will to resist taking his mouth for her own. She glanced about them quickly to ensure they were not being watched. Chuckling lowly, he tugged on her arm, leading her into the space between the jailhouse and the barber’s shop. Then, gently pushing her back against the wall, he continued, his gray, mesmerizing eyes weaving a spell about her, his voice low and alluring.

“
Don’t ya see, Vaden? I can say those things to ya now—all the things I’ve been thinkin’ about ya since the moment I laid eyes on ya. I can speak them to ya now because of the faith…the confidence ya give me.”