Twin of Ice (24 page)

Kane sat in his red leather chair, silent for a moment. “I don’t know how to get her back. If she didn’t marry me for my money, I don’t know how I won her in the first place. Women! I’m better off without her.” He looked at Opal through his lashes. “You think she’d like a present?”

“Not Houston. She has her father’s morals. Apologies and declarations of love won’t do it either. She is so rigid. If there were some way to make her move back in and give you a little time, perhaps you could convince her that you didn’t just marry her in order to repay Mr. Fenton—who really can’t be blamed for not allowing his daughter to marry the stableboy.”

Kane opened his mouth but closed it again. His eyes lit. “I do have a way, but…No, it wouldn’t work. She’d never believe I’d do such an underhanded, dirty trick.”

“It sounds perfect. Tell me.”

Kane hesitantly told her and, to his disbelief, Opal thought the idea splendid. “Ladies!” Kane muttered.

Opal stood. “Now, I must go. Oh yes, dear me, I almost forgot. The reason I came was to tell you that the train car arrived and I couldn’t possibly accept it. It’s really too expensive a gift. You’ll have to take it back.”

“What in the world would I do with a pink train? You can travel in it.”

Opal smiled fondly at him. “Dear Kane, we all have our dreams; unfortunately, if they come true, sometimes they aren’t as nice as the dream. I’d be scared to death to travel.”

“Well then, park it somewhere and have it for your tea parties. Are you sure this thing with Houston’ll work? I don’t know if I
want
her to believe that I’d do somethin’ like that.”

“She’ll believe you, and I think that’s a very good use for the train, but you could have it redone in another color.”

“If you don’t accept that thing, I’ll move it to your front yard.”

“Since you’re blackmailing me…” she said, eyes twinkling.

Kane groaned as she kissed his cheek. “I feel that everything will go well now. Thank you so much for the train, and we’ll have you and Houston to dinner next week. Good-bye.”

Kane sat for a long time, muttering about women in general and ladies in particular.

Houston had to stifle a yawn as she hurried down Lead Avenue, trying to get her errands done before it started to rain. She was tired after the turmoil at Pam’s house last night that had kept all of them up late.

Zachary had gone to see his cousin Ian at the new house Edan had bought and asked him to go to Kane’s to play baseball. Before Ian was half through expressing his opinion of Kane, Zach put his head down and rammed the older, larger boy in the stomach. They fought a bloody battle for thirty minutes before Edan found them and separated them.

When Zach returned to Pam, his collar clutched by Edan, Jacob was there visiting. He saw his precious grandson covered in dried blood, his face scratched, bruises forming. And touching him was someone connected with Kane Taggert.

Another war began.

Pam, worried about her son’s health, wasn’t concerned with who and why, but Jacob was. Immediately, he began attacking Edan.

“Your fight’s not with me,” Edan said, then left the house.

Jacob started demanding answers from Zach, and when the older man realized that Zach’d been defending his father, Jacob’s anger knew no bounds. His wrath turned to Pam and included comments on her fitness as a mother and allusions to how she came to have Zach in the first place.

For the first time, Houston saw Pam’s temper, and Houston understood why Kane had turned her down the day of the wedding. Both Pam and her father said things they couldn’t possibly mean; neither seemed to have any control. If Kane and Pam had tried to live together…Houston didn’t like to think of what could have happened.

Zachary entered the fight, torn between protecting his mother and wanting to be on the man’s side. Both Pam and Jacob started yelling at him.

“That’s not the way to handle a Taggert,” Houston whispered to herself.

She stepped into the middle of the red-faced, screaming people. “Zachary,” she said, in a voice that was at once cool and commanding. Startled, they all stopped to look at her.

“Zachary, you will come with me and we will wash you. Mr. Fenton, you will call your carriage and return to your home. You may send flowers of apology later. And you, Pamela, may go upstairs to your room and bathe your wrists with cologne and lie down.”

She stood there quite still, her hand outstretched to Zachary, until Pam and Jacob moved to obey her. Meekly, the boy took her hand and followed her into the kitchen. He was much too old to allow a woman to wash his face and hands, but he sat there quietly and let her tend to him as if he were four. After a few minutes, he began telling her about the fight.

“I think you were perfectly right to defend your father,” Houston said.

Zach’s mouth dropped open. “But I thought you didn’t like him anymore.”

“Adults fight differently than children do. Now, put on a clean shirt and you and I will visit Ian.”

“That bas—,” Zach began but cut himself off. “I never want to see him again.”

“You
will
see him again,” she said, leaning forward until they were nose to nose.

“Yes, ma’am,” was Zach’s answer.

Houston and Zachary spent hours with Edan and the rest of the Taggerts. Houston felt as if she’d stepped into the middle of someone’s honeymoon, as Jean and Edan kept giving each other looks when they thought no one else was looking.

Sherwin took over the boys and had them both in the back garden pulling weeds and moving rocks. By the time Houston and Zach returned home, he was too tired to be angry at anyone, and he and Ian had a date tomorrow to play baseball with some of the town boys, all of whom Houston had called and invited.

When at last she’d climbed into bed, after having heard Pam’s three apologies and four thanks, she was exhausted. On the table by the bed was a vase of two dozen red roses from Jacob Fenton to “Lady” Houston.

Now, she was still tired as she ran to catch the streetcar before the rain began again.

She was nearly at the corner, approaching the Chandler Opera House, when thunder cracked, the skies opened and the rain began—and a hand pulled her into the alleyway. Houston’s scream was covered by the thunder.

“You’ll have ever’body in here if you don’t be quiet,” Kane said, his hand over her mouth. “It’s just me, an’ all I wanta do is talk to you for a minute.”

Houston glared at him through the rain that was running down her face.

“This is the same place that I pulled you in that first time, you remember? I asked you why you’d defended me to that bad-tempered little woman. This is sorta like an anniversary, ain’t it?”

His face softened as he spoke and, as he let his hand on her mouth relax, Houston let out a scream to wake the dead. Unfortunately, the rain covered her scream, and the people within hearing distance had moved indoors.

“Damn you, Houston!” Kane said, replacing his hand. “What’s wrong with you? All I wanta do is talk. I’m gonna take my hand away and if you scream I’ll stop you. You understand me?”

Houston nodded, but the moment he released her, she pivoted on her left foot and started out of the alleyway. Kane, with a curse of disbelief, made a grab for her and the stitching at the waistband of her dress tore away.

Houston turned back to him, her face furious as she looked down at her dress, now attached only for a few inches at the front. “Can’t you ever listen to what a person says? I don’t want to talk to you. If I did, I’d be living with you,” she shouted above the rain. “I want to go home. I don’t care if I never see you again.”

As she again turned to leave, Kane reached out for her. “Houston, wait. I have somethin’ I wanta say.”

“Use the telephone,” she said over her shoulder.

“You little bitch,” Kane said through clenched teeth. “You’re gonna listen to me, no matter what I have to do.”

He made a grab for her, succeeded in pulling the rest of her skirt away and they both fell into the mud that was about three inches of soft ooze from several days of rain. Houston fell on the bottom, burying her face in the wetness, while Kane, on top, remained relatively clean.

Houston managed to lift the upper half of her body out of the sucking mud. “Get off of me,” she said, her lips closed to prevent the mud from entering her mouth.

Kane rolled to one side. “Houston, honey, I didn’t mean to hurt you. All I wanted was to talk to you.”

Houston turned so she was sitting up in the mud, but didn’t try to rise as she used her skirt, now completely torn loose and hanging about her hips, to wipe some of the filth from her face. “You never mean to hurt anyone,” she said. “You just do whatever you want, no matter who gets in your way.”

He was grinning at her. “You know, you look pretty, even like that.”

She gave him a hard look. “What is it you have to say to me?”

“I…ah, I want you to come back to live with me.”

She continued wiping her face. “Of course you do. I knew you would. You lost Edan, too, didn’t you?”

“Damn it, Houston, what do you want me to do, beg?”

“I want absolutely nothing from you. Right now, my only wish is to go home and take a bath.” She started to rise, struggling over the suction of the mud and her torn skirt.

“You can’t forgive nobody for nothin’, can you?”

“Like you can’t forgive Mr. Fenton? At least, I don’t use others to get what I want.”

Even through the rain, Houston could see Kane’s anger staining his face. “I’ve had enough,” he said, advancing on her and pinning her against a wall. “You’re my wife and by law you’re my property. I don’t care if you respect me or love me or whatever else you think you gotta have, you’re returnin’ to live with me. And, what’s more, you’re gonna do it right now.”

She looked at him with as much dignity as she could manage, considering the state of her face. “I’ll scream all the way through town, and I’ll leave your house at the first opportunity.”

He leaned toward her, bending her backward.

“You know that brewery your stepfather owns? A year ago, he had some money problems that he didn’t tell nobody about. Two months ago, in secret, he sold the place to an anonymous buyer, somebody that lets him remain manager.”

“You?” Houston whispered, her back against the wet brick wall.

“Me. And last month, I bought the Chandler National Bank. I wonder who’d be hurt if I decided to close the place?”

“You wouldn’t do that,” she gasped.

“You just said that I do whatever I want, no matter who gets in my way. And right now, I want you to move back into my house.”

“But why? I never meant anything to you. All I ever meant to you was something to further your revenge on Jacob Fenton. Surely, someone else would be better—.”

He ignored her words. “What do you say? Will you martyr yourself to save the whole town? My house and my bed bein’ the stake you’ll burn at, of course.”

Suddenly he grabbed her chin in his hand, his fingertips roughly caressing her damp, gritty skin. “Can I still make you burn? Can I still make you cry out in pleasure?”

He bent his head as if he meant to kiss her but stopped a breath away from her lips. “You ain’t got any choice at all as far as I can see. You either come home with me right now or I foreclose on a whole lot of people. Are your uppity morals more important than the food in people’s mouths?”

She blinked at the water in her eyes, whether from tears or the rain she wasn’t sure. “I’ll live with you again,” she said, “but you have no idea how cool the Lady of Ice can be.”

He didn’t answer her but lifted her into his arms and carried her to his waiting wagon. Neither spoke on the way up the hill to the Taggert mansion.

Houston didn’t have a great deal of difficulty remaining cool to her husband, and only once was she tempted to falter. She remembered too well why he’d married her and what a fool she’d been to think she was in love with such a selfish man. At least Leander had been honest when he’d told her what he wanted of her.

Houston did the bare minimum of what was required of her to run the house and no more. She rehired the servants but planned no entertainments, and she spoke to Kane only when necessary and refused to react when he touched her—which had been the most difficult part.

The first night she was in his house had been the worst. He’d come to her bedroom and slowly pulled her into his arms. Houston had refused to let her body betray her. She’d stood as rigid as a steel pole and thought about Sunshine Row at the mining camp. It was probably the most difficult thing she’d ever done in her life, but she wasn’t going to fall into bed with him after the way he’d used her. Nor had she let her reserve break when he’d moved away from her and looked at her with the eyes of a sad puppy. She thought he’d used his good looks to advantage to get what he wanted.

The next morning he came to her room and lifted a small chest from the floor. Houston knew that it was his wedding gift to her, and she’d always known what was in it, but she’d waited for him to present it to her. And now, when he dumped about a million dollars’ worth of jewels in her lap, all she could think about was that they were so cold—about as cold as her insides felt.

Kane stood back and watched for her reaction.

“If you mean to try to buy me—,” she began.

He cut her off. “Damn it, Houston! Was I supposed to tell you about Fenton
before
we were married? I had a hard enough time as it was, what with you tryin’ to get Westfield even when we were standin’ at the altar.” He waited a moment. “You ain’t gonna deny that you wanted Westfield?”

“It doesn’t seem to matter what
I
want. You are an expert at getting your own way. You wanted a house to impress Mr. Fenton, you wanted a wife to impress him. It doesn’t matter that the house cost millions and the wife is a human being with feelings of her own. It’s all the same to you. You have to have your own way, and look out, anyone who tries to thwart you.”

Kane left the room without another word.

The jewels glowed in Houston’s lap and, without another glance, she turned the blanket down to cover them as she stepped out of bed.

She spent the days in her sitting room reading. The servants came to her to ask questions, but otherwise she stayed alone. Her only hope was that Kane would see that she didn’t want to live with him and would release her.

A week after she’d returned, he came storming into her room, papers from the bank in his hand.

“What the hell are these supposed to mean?” he shouted. “The account of Mrs. Houston Chandler Taggert has been charged for bath powder, two yards of ribbon, and for paying the telephone bill of the Taggert household.”

“I believe I’m the only one who uses the telephone, therefore I should pay the expenses.”

He sat down in a chair across from her. “Houston, have I ever been stingy with you? Have I ever complained about how much you spend? Have I ever done or said anything that makes you think that I’d ever withhold money from you?”

“You have accused me of marrying you for your money,” she said coolly. “Since your money is so precious to you and not to me, you may keep it.”

He started to speak, but closed his mouth. After a long moment of looking at the bills, he said softly, “I’ll be goin’ to Denver tonight, and I’ll be gone for about three days. I’d like you to stay in the house. I don’t want you doin’ anything to get in trouble, like tryin’ to start a riot at the coal mines.”

“And what will you do to innocent people if I do? Will you throw three families into the snow?”

“If you haven’t noticed, it’s still summer.” He walked to the door. “You don’t know me very well at all, do you? I’ll tell the bank to send your bills to me. Buy whatever you want.” With that, he left her alone.

As soon as he was gone, she went to the window to look at Chandler below. “You don’t know me very well, either, Kane Taggert,” she whispered. “You’ll not be able to keep me chained inside this house.”

Three hours later, after she saw Kane drive away from the house, she called Reverend Thomas and told him to prepare a wagon because, tomorrow, Sadie would visit the Little Pamela mine.