Sweet Autumn Surrender Page 20

  “That’s a lie,” Ellie said.

  Kale laid a hand on her back, gently squeezing her neck muscles. “Don’t worry about it tonight. We’ll get everything straightened out come morning.”

  The sun barely showed promise of rising when Kale called to Ellie from behind the quilt hanging in her doorway.

  She rubbed sleep from her eyes and sat up. Hearing his voice again, she rushed to the quilt and threw it back, expecting something dreadful to have happened.

  He stood casually, his arm propped on the door facing. The look in his eyes sent alarm of a different kind spiraling down her body.

  “Morning.” With a wicked grin, he perused her flannel gown. “No green silk?”

  “Kale!” She twirled back to the bed to see if Delta had heard, then sighed, seeing the girl was still sound asleep. But there were Ginny and Hollis only a wall away. Quickly draping the quilt around her body, she left exposed only her face, which frowned at him. “What do you want?”

  “This.” Bending, he kissed her lips, leaving her quivering and hot and wanting him desperately. “We’ll be riding out soon, and I knew you wouldn’t let me do this in front of the family.”

  A scuffling from the other room interrupted his second kiss and sent Ellie scurrying to throw on some clothes.

  Kale had brought a ham with him from the smokehouse, and while he started coffee, Ellie began slicing it. Ginny came in and made biscuits, and Delta arrived in time to scramble the eggs.

  The brothers drifted in, they ate, and they left. Soon, Kale had said. The sun wasn’t even fully up by the time they rode off leaving the women standing in the yard, waving to their dust.

  The day was filled with milking and baking and weeding the garden. After the chores were finished, Ginny and Delta accompanied Ellie up the hill, where they watered the rosebush at Benjamin’s grave. They sat awhile beneath the oak tree, enjoying the balmy fall weather.

  “What did Kale say when he saw the rosebush?” Ginny asked.

  “It surprised him,” Ellie admitted. “Brought back memories—regrets. I’m afraid I wasn’t much help that night. I had sent for Carson, and when Kale showed up…Well, I wasn’t very welcoming.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. Kale acquired that reputation of his all by his lonesome.”

  “It wasn’t deserved,” Ellie protested. “Besides, he had just lost his brother, and I should have been more supportive. Instead, I was…” She paused to tell them about her parents. “I was afraid of him, as silly as that sounds.”

  “Well, you aren’t afraid of him anymore.” Delta’s statement was issued with such vigor that Ginny laughed and Ellie stared at her, mouth ajar.

  “No,” she finally managed. “No, I guess I’m not.”

  “I think you’re in love with him,” Delta continued. “You may not know it yet, but—”

  Ginny interrupted her. “Delta! Hush up. You’ve been raised not to meddle in other folks’ affairs.”

  “Oh, Ginny, everyone can see it. Kale’s in love with Ellie, too. And I think it’s grand. It’ll surely play hell with Zachariah’s plan, though.”

  Ellie recovered from the shock of Delta’s first pronouncements in time to question this last statement. “Zachariah’s plans?”

  “Delta!” Ginny stood and shook dirt and leaves from her skirts. “You run along and wash up. It’s time to begin supper. The men should return soon.”

  Delta sighed.

  “Run along,” Ginny repeated. “Fetch some buttermilk from the springhouse.”

  Delta complied, but her eyes still shone like stars on a dark night. “I’m right, though, Ginny, and you know it. I think it’s grand. Kale has needed a good woman to settle him down. You said so yourself, many a time.”

  Delta flew down the hill, helped along, Ellie was convinced, by the exasperated breath Ginny exhaled behind her.

  “What is Zachariah’s plan?” she questioned Ginny.

  “To see you taken care of.”

  “By whom?”

  Ginny shrugged, and when she spoke, it was to address a difficulty she had mentioned before. “Kale’s wild, Ellie. He won’t ever settle down.”

  Ellie sighed, hugging her knees with her arms. “I know.”

  “You’ve lost one husband, dear. I don’t want to see you hurt again. Don’t set your cap for him.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Ginny. I’ll be all right.”

  Ginny smiled wistfully. “I’ve seen that look in your eyes when he’s around, Ellie. I’ve seen the way he treats you. You’re sincere, but Kale is—”

  “He asked me to marry him.”

  Ginny squinted through the afternoon haze as though she surely must have misunderstood. “He did?”

  Ellie nodded.

  “He proposed marriage? My brother Kale?”

  Ellie laughed. “Yes.”

  “Well, when’s the wedding?”

  “I didn’t accept. I guess I did, but with the provision that he go ahead to California, like he’d planned. After he’s been out there, if he decides he wants to come back, I’ll be waiting. Not forever, of course. But long enough to give him a chance to be sure that this…that I…am what he wants…who he wants.”

  Ginny studied her at length, then enfolded her in a hearty embrace. “Here I’ve been worrying about you, and I see there was no need. Delta was right, I’m afraid.”

  “About what?” Ellie asked.

  Ginny laughed. “About everything.”

  Leaving the Circle R the brothers remained silent until they were out of earshot of the Rainey house, then began to argue over the outcome of their meeting with Matt and Holt.

  “They’re guilty as hell,” Rubal proclaimed.

  “Maybe so,” Zachariah agreed.

  “I don’t think so,” Kale argued. “At least, not of killing Benjamin. Matt’s hard-edged, all right; the struggle to survive out here leaves hard edges on folks. If Benjamin holds a deed to that ranch, either of the Raineys would likely have killed him for it. But they would’ve made certain first.”

  “Who else, then?” Jubal questioned.

  “If I knew that, I’d have the sonofabitch locked up, Jube.”

  “No need to get testy,” Jubal retorted.

  They stopped at Mustang Creek to water the horses. After loosening their cinches, the brothers handed Kale their reins one after the other and went to sit in the shade of a cottonwood. Rubal pulled out his knife and started whittling on a stick.

  The argument continued.

  “Why are you so set against it being the Raineys who killed Benjamin?” Zachariah questioned Kale.

  “Things don’t add up. I’ve never seen a cattleman go to such lengths to cover his tracks. They usually don’t give a damn who they ride roughshod over, or who knows it.”

  “They didn’t cover the tracks of that puddin’-foot,” Jubal reminded him.

  “And that’s odd, too…why would they leave such obvious tracks?”

  “You’re talking in circles,” Zachariah said. “But I take your meaning. It don’t add up for them to sneak around harassing on the one hand, then leave the puddin’-foot tracks for all to see. Not to mention those men in the cave.”

  “That’s right,” Kale told him. “I think we’re looking for a crazy man.”

  “You don’t call Holt Rainey crazy?” Jubal asked.

  “Holt Rainey’s mean, Jube. He may have a hair-trigger temper, but who ever killed Benjamin is calculating and obviously willing to sit tight and wait for his underhanded methods to run Ellie off the ranch. Holt Rainey wouldn’t sit still five minutes when he could use his gun instead. Haven’t you learned the difference between mean and crazy? Or do I have to teach you?”

  “Sure, Kale, teach me. You’re the one itchin’ for a fight.”

  “Lay off him, Jube,” Rubal advised. “Can’t you tell he’s doe-eyed? I’ve seen it eatin’ at him ever since we hatched that scheme to draw straws for Ellie.”

  “You won’t be drawing straws, not for Ellie,�
�� Kale told them.

  Zachariah looked at him. “How’s that? We agreed—”

  “I asked her to marry me.”

  The brothers turned disbelieving eyes on Kale.

  “You?” Rubal asked.

  “You ain’t the marryin’ kind,” Jubal quipped.

  “We can’t let you do it,” Zachariah said.

  “You can’t stop me,” Kale replied. “I asked her on the way to the cliffs.”

  “And what did the little widow woman say?” Jubal quizzed.

  Kale glared at him. For some reason his yen to fight had vanished since he’d blurted out his proposal. Now he didn’t care whether they believed him or not. “She’ll come around. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you fellers to leave. I’ll have a better chance to win her over without half the family breathing down my neck.”

  “You better be sure of yourself, Kale. You can’t go a-runnin’ out on her,” Zachariah warned.

  “There’s no chance of that, Zach.”

  The air cleared after that, and Kale rode easier. He’d expected an argument about Ellie; he’d been surprised the brothers had given in as easily as they had. Now all he had to worry about was convincing Ellie not to send him off to California.

  And about not wanting to go, himself.

  “On your way out tomorrow,” he told Zachariah when they topped the hill leading down to the house, “I want you to check on a man for me.”

  After explaining Armando Costello’s connection with Benjamin, Kale continued, “I wired Brady down at New Orleans for information on the man. In the meantime, I’d like you to look in on him. See if you’ve ever run into him.”

  “You suspect him of something?” Rubal asked.

  Kale shrugged. “Not really, but…well, I can’t put my finger on it. No evidence, just instinct.” He laughed. “Could be jealousy on my part. The man’s fancy, sort of handsome, I suppose the ladies would say, and he’s set his cap for Ellie. That much is clear.”

  By the time they rode up to the barn, even Zachariah was ribbing Kale about his sudden visit from the green-eyed monster.

  “It’ll keep you in line,” Rubal told him.

  “And cause you to act like the crazy one yourself,” Jubal added.

  Kale eyed his brothers one by one. It was good to see them, to travel with them, to eat with them, to joke and argue with them. But he had work that he had to do alone.

  “You’ll be heading out in the morning?” he questioned, after they stabled, groomed, and fed their horses and headed for the house.

  The back door squawked, and Kale stared at Ellie standing in the halo of light.

  “Yep,” Zachariah said.

  “You’ll come back for the wedding?” Kale asked.

  “If there is one,” Jubal gibed.

  Chapter Eleven

  “What do you mean, you’re leaving today?” Ellie demanded over breakfast after Zachariah had instructed the others to be ready to travel as soon as they finished eating.

  “Things to do,” Zachariah told her.

  “But…”

  “We prayed over Benjamin’s grave, now we’ll leave the rest to Kale here.”

  “I thought we were staying a month or so,” Delta objected, obviously the only one in the room besides Ellie herself who had not heard the news.

  “I have to get back to the newspaper,” Hollis told her. “Some other editor’s likely set up shop already.”

  Delta glanced at Ellie. “I think I’ll stay on, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course—” Ellie began.

  “I need you to look after the children, Delta.” Ginny’s tone was firm. “Mama Rachael will have had enough of them by the time we return, and I’ll be busy helping Hollis get caught up down at the office. Why, the circus comes to town next week—we’ll have to get a special edition of the Sun out for that—and the new theater opens soon.”

  “Perhaps you can come back when things settle down,” Ellie suggested to Delta. “I’d love to have your company.”

  “She’ll be back,” Ginny assured her.

  “We all will.” Zachariah frowned at Kale. “You think around Christmas time?”

  Kale favored Ellie with a curious sort of grin. “Maybe so,” he mumbled.

  After the meal the men saddled the horses while the women packed food for the trail. When Ellie returned from the smokehouse where she had fetched two hams to send along, Delta seemed to have adjusted to the sudden travel plans.

  “I can’t wait to come back, Ellie,” she enthused. “Christmas will be a perfect time for a—”

  “Delta, run these hams out to Hollis to put in his saddlebags,” Ginny interrupted.

  “Now, Ellie,” she continued after Delta complied, “I won’t hear of you sending along all this bread.”

  “I can bake more. What else do I have to do after you’re all gone?”

  Ginny hugged her good-bye. “You’ll find something, dear. Of that I’m sure.”

  Leaving the house, Ellie saw Kale surrounded by his brothers, each in turn slapping him on the back, offering advice, or so it seemed.

  “I’ll wire you as soon as we settle the difficulties,” he told Zachariah. He and Ellie stood at the gate, watching the others mount and prepare to ride away.

  Rubal pierced Kale with a mocking grin. “Keep us posted on that other matter, too.”

  “If you need any help, send for us,” Jubal added, and the twins guffawed. Ellie watched a blush creep up Kale’s neck.

  Then the family moved on out, leaving her with a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. Kale draped an arm about her shoulders, and they stood waving and watching until the riders crested the hill and rode out of view.

  For a moment longer they stood. His hand gripped her shoulder so tightly she knew something was wrong. Turning, then they started for the house, but Kale stopped at the porch.

  “I think I’ll sit out here a while,” was all he said. Inside she started to wash the dishes, then stopped. Through the open door, she saw Kale sitting, elbows propped on knees, staring at the hillside where his family had disappeared.

  Leaving the dishes, she filled two cups with coffee and went to sit beside him.

  “You know, Ellie…” He spoke without taking his eyes off the hilltop; his voice was husky. “This is the first time I’ve ever been the one left behind. Watching them go, it’s like Ma was sitting here beside me, cradling that rosebush. Now I know what it was like, her sitting there with that faraway look in her eyes. She was searching for Pa—and for me.”

  Ellie slipped an arm through his, laid her cheek against his shoulder. “They’ll be back; they said so.” The words spoken brought their meaning to life. Zachariah said the family would return for Christmas, but that was less than two months away. Kale would be in California by then. Suddenly she recalled his curious expression at the table, the glance he’d given her when he’d agreed with Zachariah about Christmas.

  “Why did they leave today?”

  “I told them to.”

  “You?” She questioned him, aghast. “But you loved having them here.”

  When he looked at her, it was for the first time since his family had left, and the softness in his eyes washed her with tenderness. Then he grinned that sheepish grin she had seen so many times before. “I told them I’d asked you to marry me, and that I would have a better chance at winning you over if they left.”

  Her mouth fell open. When he finished speaking, she asked, “Did you mention my requirement? That you go to California first, to be sure?”

  Reaching out, he smoothed a strand of hair back from her eyes. “I told them.”

  “You intend to solve Benjamin’s murder, go to California, and return by Christmas?”

  “I’m not going to California.”

  “Now, Kale—”

  “Listen to me, Ellie. I’m through with all this leaving. I’m through leaving places, through leaving people…” Lowering his lips, he kissed her gently. “Especially those I
love.”

  Her senses reeled. She returned his kiss, grateful, happy—and doubtful. “I think you should go to California.”

  His face inches from hers, he whispered against her skin. “Not without you.”

  “You’ll be content to stay in one place, confined to—?”

  “Confined to you. I love you, Ellie.”

  “You guess?”

  He shook his head. “I know. Those words are filling me up and running over. It’s like I have a big smile plastered across my face for all the world to see. And I don’t care; I want them to see. I want the whole world to know I love you.” Jumping to his feet, he scooped her in his arms and swung her around the swept yard. His eyes held hers, rapt, laughing, happy. “I love you, Ellie. I want to marry you as soon as it’s proper, and I want you to have my children.”

  He stood her on her feet, held her tight, so tight her lungs felt constricted. Or was that her own sense of joy? Then his hands began to caress her back, her hair. He strewed pins, unfastened buttons.

  “Kale—”

  “And right now I want—”

  “Kale?”

  “…you. I want you right now, even before it’s proper.”

  “Kale. The breakfast dishes are still on the table.”

  “They’ll keep.” He worked her dress off her shoulders.

  “Your family—they might return.”

  Holding her face in his palms, he kissed her lips, then each troubled eye in turn. “They wouldn’t dare.” Again he scooped her in his arms; this time he carried her indoors and straight to the spare bedroom.

  “They wouldn’t dare,” he repeated. “Not when I haven’t slept in a good bed with you but once in my whole life.”

  By the time he’d undressed them both, her heart was pumping to beat the band, and with her hand against his chest she felt his thumping at the same rapid clip.

  Picking her up again, he lowered her to the bed and followed her, burrowing against her, leaning on one elbow to study her smiling face.

  “And for the record, I don’t intend to sleep anywhere the rest of my life without you by my side.”