Twin of Ice (16 page)

Houston saw her sister trying to decide and she advanced on her. “If you even consider managing my life again as you did today at the altar, I’ll never speak to you again. I am an adult, and you know something about
my
husband, and I want to know what it is.”

“I saw him in the garden kissing Pamela Fenton just before the wedding,” Blair said all in one breath.

Houston felt a little weak, but then she saw the truth of the matter. Was this what Kane was referring to when he said he’d given up something today? “But he came to me anyway,” she whispered. “He saw her, kissed her, but he married me.” Nothing else could have made her happier than this. “Blair, you have made me the happiest woman alive today. Now, all I have to do is find my husband and tell him that I love him and hope that he will forgive me.”

A horrible thought came to her. “Oh, Blair, you don’t know him at all. He’s such a good man, generous in a very natural way, strong in a way that makes people lean on him, but he’s…” She buried her face in her hands. “But he can’t stand embarrassment of any kind, and we’ve humiliated him in front of the entire town. He’ll never forgive me. Never!”

Blair moved toward the door. “I’ll go to him and explain that it was all my fault, that you had nothing to do with it. Houston, I had no idea you really wanted to marry him. I just couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to live with someone like him.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore, because I think he just walked out on me.”

“But what about the guests? He can’t just leave.”

“Should he stay and listen to people laughing about how Leander can’t decide which twin he wants? Not one person will think that Kane could have his choice of women. Kane thinks I’m still in love with Lee, you think I love Lee, and Mr. Gates thinks I’m marrying Kane for his money. I think Mother is the only person who sees that I’m in love—for the very first time in my life.”

“What can I do to make it up to you?” Blair whispered.

“There’s nothing you can do. He’s gone. He left me money and the house and he walked away. But what do I want with this big, empty house if he’s not in it?” She sat down. “Blair, I don’t even know where he is. He could be on a train back to New York for all I know.”

“More than likely, he’s gone to his cabin.”

Both women looked up to see Edan standing in the doorway. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I saw what happened at the wedding, I knew he’d be in a rage.”

Houston wrapped the train of her wedding dress about her arm. “I’m going to him and explain what happened. I’m going to tell him that my sister is so in love with Leander that she thinks that I am, too.” She turned to smile at Blair. “I can’t help but resent the fact that you thought that I was low enough to marry a man for his money, but I thank you for the love that made you willing to sacrifice what has come to mean so much to you.” Quickly, she kissed her sister’s cheek.

Blair clung to her for a moment. “Houston, I had no idea you felt this way. As soon as the reception is over, I’ll help you pack and—.”

Houston pulled away with a little laugh. “No, my dear managing sister, I am leaving this house right now. My husband is more important to me than a few hundred guests. You’re going to have to stay here and answer all the questions about where Kane and I’ve gone.”

“But Houston, I don’t know anything about receptions of this size.”

Houston stopped at the door beside Edan. “I learned how in my ‘worthless’ education,” she said, then smiled. “Blair, it’s not all that tragic. Cheer up, maybe there’ll be an attack of food poisoning, and you’ll know how to handle that. Good luck,” she said and was out the door, leaving Blair alone with the horror of having to manage the reception of hundreds of people.

Outside the office, Edan caught her arm and led her into the storage closet beside the north porch. He was smiling at her.

“You certainly do make a habit of spying on me,” she snapped, pulling away from him.

“I’ve learned more in two weeks of spying on you than I have in the rest of my life, total. Did you mean what you said about loving Kane?”

“Do you think I’m a liar, too? I’m going to get dressed now. It’s a hard climb to the cabin.”

“You know where it is?”

“I know the general whereabouts.”

“Houston, you really can’t go rushing off up the side of a mountain after him. I’ll go get him, explain what happened and bring him back.”

“No, he’s mine now—at least legally—and I’m going after him alone.”

Edan put his hands on her shoulders. “I wonder if he realizes how lucky he is. What can I do to help you?”

She moved toward the door. “Could you find Sarah Oakley and ask her to come upstairs and help me change?” She paused and looked at Edan speculatively. “On second thought, maybe you could find Jean Taggert for me. She’s the especially pretty lady in the violet silk dress and hat.”

“Especially pretty, is she?” he asked, laughing. “Good luck, Houston.”

Jean helped Houston dress in record time. She fully agreed with Houston in her need to go after Kane.

When Houston was dressed, they went through the west wing to the housekeeper’s rooms and down that remote staircase. Hidden among some trees, Edan was waiting with a horse laden with four bags of food.

“That should keep you for a few days,” he said. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you got lost—.”

“I’ve lived in Chandler all my life and I know this area.” She gave him a hard look. “I’m not the bit of fluff people think I am, remember?”

“Did you put the wedding cake in there?” Jean asked Edan.

“In its own sweet little tin box,” he said in a way that made Houston glance from one to the other and begin to smile.

“You must go, and don’t worry about anything here. Just think about your husband and how much you love him,” Jean said as Houston mounted.

Houston sneaked away from the wedding as secretly as she could, considering that she was surrounded by over six hundred guests. The few people who saw her were so astonished that they could say nothing. She’d pulled her hat veil down over her face and she hoped that would confuse some people, but it didn’t.

As she reached the western end of the garden, she nearly ran over Rafe Taggert and Pamela Fenton walking together.

She wasn’t sure if it was shock or surprise, but her horse’s front feet came off the ground.

Rafe looked at her with amusement. “No doubt you’re the twin that married a Taggert, and now you’re runnin’ away.”

Before she could speak, Pam answered. “If I know Kane, his pride was hurt at the altar and he ran away somewhere to lick his wounds. You aren’t by chance going after him, are you?”

Houston wasn’t sure how to act toward this woman who had been loved by her husband. With all the coolness she could muster, her chin quite high, she said, “Yes, I am.”

“Good for you!” Pam said. “He needs a wife with your courage. I always insisted that he come to me. I hope you’re prepared for his anger. It’s quite frightening at times. I wish you all the luck in the world.”

Houston was so astonished at Pam’s words that she couldn’t reply. She was tom between feeling anger at the idea of someone else knowing
her
husband, and gratitude that Pam was giving her some good advice. And, too, Pam seemed to have given up her hold over Kane. Was Kane the one in love; would Pam not have him?

“Thank you,” Houston murmured as she reined her horse away from them.

She encountered no one else and breathed a sigh of relief when she was past the city limits of Chandler and heading for the country.

The first part of the journey was very easy and she had time to muse on what must be happening at Kane’s house. Poor Blair! She really had meant well. She had thought Houston wanted Leander, so she was willing to make a supreme sacrifice and spend her with a “villain” like Kane Taggert. Perhaps that’s what Kane had sensed, that he was the medicine to be taken by Blair because Houston’d been wronged by her sister.

Of course, what Kane didn’t understand was that none of the guests would think anything about what had happened, except as something to tease about. They would tease Leander because they had known him since he was a child. If Kane had stayed and laughed, all would have been forgotten—but Kane had yet to master the art of being able to laugh at himself.

She rode to the foot of the mountain as quickly as possible and started up the trail that she and Kane had used before. When she reached the place where they’d picnicked, she dismounted and drank some water. Above her was what looked like an impregnable piece of mountain. But Kane’d said that his cabin was up there and, if he was there, she was going to find him.

As she removed her jacket and tied it to the horse, she tried to see a path through the scrub and piñion, trees. It was only after several minutes of walking about, looking at the mountainside from several angles, that she saw what could have been a trail of sorts. It went straight up the mountain, over terraced rock, and disappeared into the trees.

For a moment, Houston wondered what in the world she was doing in such a place as this on her wedding day. Right now, she should be wearing a satin dress and dancing with her husband. A thought which brought her back to the present. Her husband was at the top of this mountain—maybe. Edan could be wrong, and Kane could be on a train to Africa for all anyone knew.

After giving the horse some water, she tightened her hat on her head to give her some protection against the sun and remounted.

The way up was worse than it had looked. At times the trail was so narrow that the tree branches clawed at her legs, and she had difficulty forcing the horse to travel the narrow path. The plants that grew out of rock weren’t like the soft, cared-for plants in town. These trees had to fight for life every day and they refused to bend or give way for a mere human.

A Crown of Thorns cactus caught the side of her divided skirt and tore it, leaving several long thorns in the cloth. Houston paused while she pulled thorns and fat cockleburs off her clothing and a few from her hair. So much for looking her best when she arrived, she thought, as she pushed strands, of hair under her hat.

At one point, the trail took a sharp right, and the sky became hidden by the overhanging trees and rock formations. All about her were mushrooms of bizarre structure and unreal colors. Some were tiny and yellow, some as big as her foot and brilliant red. Large patches of five-inch-tall grasslike mushrooms stood upright on the forest floor.

Always, she was climbing upward, and the air was thinning as the area around her became more and more like a rain forest, rather than the semiarid region that surrounded Chandler. Twice, she had to stop and look for the trail, and once she followed a path for a mile, only to have it end abruptly in a sandy-bottomed cavelike rock formation that had a natural window at the top. The place had an odd feeling about it: half frightening, half like a place where one should attend church services.

She walked her horse out of the rocks and back onto the path, where she again tried riding.

An hour later, she had her first good luck: she found a piece of Kane’s wedding suit caught on a sharp edge of rock. Her relief at finding out for sure that he was indeed at the top of the trail was great. With renewed spirit, she urged her reluctant horse upward.

She might have made it perfectly well except that it began to rain. Cold, cold sheets of water came from the sky, then, as the water collected on the overhead rocks, it flooded down on top of her, making visibility impossible. She tried to keep her head down and her eyes on the nearly invisible trail in front of her at the same time.

Flashes of lightning began to make the horse shy and dance about on the skinny little path. After quite a while of fighting both the rain and the horse, she dismounted and led the animal as she gave most of her attention to searching through the deluge for the way.

At one point, the trail ran along a little ledge, sheer rock above and below her. Houston took one step and soothed the frightened horse, took another step and calmed the horse. “If you weren’t carrying the food, I’d let you go,” she said in disgust.

At the edge of the cliff ledge, the lightning flashed and she saw the cabin. For a moment, she stood perfectly still and looked through the rain dripping off her nose. She had begun to doubt the cabin’s existence. And now what did she do? March up to the door, knock and, when Kane answered it, tell him she thought she’d drop by and leave her calling card?

She had half a mind to turn around and leave, when all hell broke loose. The idiot horse she’d had to practically drag up the mountain called out, was answered by another horse, and so proceeded to run toward the cabin. Never mind that Houston was standing in the animal’s way. She screamed as she fell into the mud and began rolling down the side of the mountain, but the blast of a shotgun aimed in her direction covered her voice. “Get the hell out of here if you wanta keep your skin,” Kane bellowed over the rain.

Houston was hanging over the edge of the drop-off, clutching the roots of a little piñion tree and trying to find a place to stick her dangling feet. Surely he wasn’t so angry that he’d shoot her?

Now was not the time to ask questions. She was either going to slide to her death or take a chance on Kane’s temper.

“Kane!” she screamed and felt her arms giving way.

Almost immediately, his face appeared over the side. “My God,” he said in disbelief as he stretched out his hand to grab her wrist.

Quite easily, he hauled her to the top, stood her on the ground and stepped back from her. He didn’t seem to believe she was there.

“I came to see you,” Houston said with a wet, crooked smile, as she began to weave about on her feet.

“Nice to have you,” he said, grinning. “I don’t get much company up here.”

“Maybe it’s your welcome,” she answered, nodding toward the shotgun in his hand.

“You wanta come in? I gotta fire inside.” His voice was highly amused—and, Houston hoped, pleased.

“I’d like that very much,” she said, then squealed and jumped toward him as above her a tree limb gave a loud crack.

She was standing quite near him and, as he looked down at her, his eyes were questioning. It was now or never, Houston thought, and there was no sense in being shy or coy. “You said you’d be there for the wedding if I’d show up for the wedding night. You fulfilled your part of the bargain, so I’m here for mine.”

With breath held, she watched him.

Kane’s face went through several emotions before he threw back his head and laughed loud enough to be heard over the rain and the thunder. The next moment, he swept her into his arms and carried her toward the cabin. At the doorway, he stopped and kissed her. Houston clung to him and knew the arduous climb had been worth it.

Inside the little one-room cabin was a stone fireplace that filled one whole wall, and a warm, cheerful fire blazed within it.

Kane held up a blanket. “I ain’t got any dry clothes up here so this’ll have to do. You get out of them things while I find your horse and pen it up.”

“There’s food in the bags,” she called as he left.

Alone, Houston began to undress, peeling the soaking garments from her cold, clammy skin. She couldn’t help glancing at the door every few minutes. “Coward!” she said to herself. “You’ve propositioned the man and now you have to live up to your boasts.”

By the time Kane returned, Houston was wrapped in the scratchy wool blanket with only her face sticking out. After a quick, smiling look of understanding, Kane put the food on the floor.

The only furniture in the room was a big bed made of pine, covered with an odd assortment of blankets that didn’t look overly clean. Against one wall was a mountain of stacked canned goods, mostly peaches like she’d found in the kitchen of his house.

“I’m glad you brought food,” he said. “I guess I left in too much of a hurry to get any. I don’t guess Edan’d believe it, but even I get tired of peaches after a few cans.”

“Edan packed the food, and your cousin, Jean, had him put in some wedding cake.”

Kane straightened. “Ah, yes, the wedding. I guess I ruined the day for you, and women like weddings so much.” He began to unbutton his shirt.

“Many women have weddings like the one I planned, but few have a day such as this one turned out to be.”

As he pulled his wet shirt out of his pants, he smiled at her. “Your sister did all that at the weddin’, didn’t she? You didn’t have nothin’ to do with it, did you? I realized that after I got all the way up here.”

“No, I didn’t,” she answered. “But Blair didn’t mean any harm. She loves me and she thought I wanted Leander, so she tried to give him to me.” As Kane began to remove his pants, Houston looked back at the fire. This was her wedding night, she thought, and her body warmed considerably.

“Thought?” Kane asked, and when she didn’t answer, he persisted. “You said she
thought
you wanted Westfield. She doesn’t think so anymore?”

“Not after what I said to her,” Houston murmured, looking into the fire. Behind her, she could hear him rubbing himself with a towel, and she was greatly tempted to look around. Was he really as well built as the strongman she’d hired for The Sisterhood meeting?

With a swift movement, Kane knelt before her.

He was wearing only the towel about his hips, looking for all the world like a Greek god of old. The smooth, big muscles under deeply bronzed skin were indeed better than those of the man she’d hired.

Whatever Kane’d been about to say was forgotten as he looked at her. His breath caught in his throat. “You looked at me like this once before,” he whispered. “That time you hit me with a water pitcher when I touched you. You plannin’ somethin’ like that this time?”

Houston just looked at him and let the blanket slide from her head, then down her neck, off her shoulder to hang just above her breasts. “No,” was all she could think to say.

The heat of the fire was warm on her skin but nothing compared to the feel of Kane’s hand on the side of her face. His fingers tangled themselves in the wet hair that flowed down her back. His thumb ran across her lower lip as he watched her.

“I’ve seen you dressed up a lot, but you’ve never been prettier than you are right now. I’m glad you came up here. A place like this is where people should make love.”

Houston kept her eyes on his as his hand travelled down her neck and onto her shoulder. When he started to move the blanket away from her breasts, she held her breath, and realized that she was praying that she’d please him.

Very gently, as if she were a child, he put one arm around her shoulders and lowered her to the cabin floor. She tensed as she thought, this is it.

Kane parted the blanket so that her nude body was entirely exposed to him.

Houston waited for the verdict.

“Damn,” he said under his breath. “No wonder Westfield made a fool of himself over a body like that. I’ve found that them curvy dresses you ladies wear are usually stuffed with cotton.”

Houston had to laugh. “I please you?”