Comanche Woman (37 page)

Long Quiet clamped a hand onto Jonas’s wrist and a moment later Bay was free and staggering away. Jonas grasped his injured wrist with his other hand and stared in shock at Long Quiet.

“Don’t ever hurt her again,” Long Quiet warned.

“How dare you threaten me. Do you know who I am?”

“You’re a dead man if you ever hurt Bay again.”

“We’ll see who ends up dead,” Jonas shouted, unnerved by Long Quiet’s calm voice. “You stay away from Bay. She belongs to me, and if you ever come near her again, I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you do.”

Jonas was on the verge of attacking Long Quiet when Bay’s voice halted him. “Stop this. Both of you, stop it!” She stepped between the two of them.

By now, sounds of the commotion in the backyard had brought several of the guests from the house. A small crowd had gathered to watch the altercation.

“Come with me, Bay,” Jonas said. “We have to say goodbye to your father’s guests.”

“Stay with me, Bay,” Long Quiet said.

Bay wanted to explain to Long Quiet why she had to go with Jonas, but there was no way she could say anything with so many eager ears listening. She could never humiliate Jonas in front of his friends. Even if she didn’t love him the way she loved Long Quiet, he was entitled to save his pride.

“Let’s go, Jonas,” she said. Bay had never seen Long Quiet so coldly furious. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.
I have no choice!
She turned and walked back to the house with Jonas.

Long Quiet was reeling from the painful blow he’d just been dealt. He told himself Bay had a right to be angry with him for abandoning her and that she had taken out her anger by choosing to go with the other man. But he knew she loved him. She couldn’t have kissed him the way she had if she didn’t still love him. And that meant she could still change her mind and be his wife. He would not make the same mistake twice.

This time he would woo her. And he would win her.

He was aware at once when Bay’s father stepped within the haven created by the limbs of the concealing live oak. He’d expected opposition from Rip, and he got it.

“She’s going to marry Jonas, and you’re not going to stop her.”

Long Quiet turned to face Rip Stewart. “She’s already married. To me.”

“Not in Texas,” Rip countered. “Besides, what can you give her that can possibly compare with what Jonas Harper has to offer? He has wealth, property, respectability. What can you offer her?”

“I only need to find the right piece of land for my ranch, and I’ll build a home for her.”

“Were you planning to take my daughter to live in a dogtrot Texas house made of logs and chinked with mud? Bay deserves better. She’s accustomed to better.”

Long Quiet didn’t bother to point out that Bay had survived with much less among the Comanches. He simply said, “She’s my wife.”

“Maybe she was once, but she’s not anymore. She’s engaged to Jonas Harper. She loves him. She’s loved him for years. She doesn’t need you, and she doesn’t want you. Believe me, if she did, I’d be the last person to stand in her way. I’m only thinking of what’s best for Bay. Leave her be.”

Long Quiet remembered how Bay had called out Jonas Harper’s name the first time he’d made love to her. And it was true Harper could give her the luxuries she’d enjoyed in the white world. What if Rip Stewart was right? What if Bay preferred the things Jonas Harper could give her? But surely his love meant more to her than having silk dresses or silver forks and spoons.

“Perhaps we should let Bay decide what she wants,” Long Quiet said.

“You’re wasting your time,” Rip countered.

“It’s my time.”

“I don’t want Bay hurt any more than she already has been.”

“Neither do I.”

Rip sighed and turned to leave, but stopped to shake his head and add, “You’re a damned stubborn, single-minded man.”

“So are you.”

Once Rip was gone, Long Quiet slumped back against the huge gnarled trunk of the live oak. A snapping twig brought him upright, poised to fight.

“Whoa! It’s just me,” Creed said. “I heard what happened. Seems like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Long Quiet leaned back against the oak again. “Seems that way.”

“I’m glad to see you decided to fight for Bay.”

“I love her,” Long Quiet replied.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can you tell me where I might find a piece of land suitable for ranching?”

“As a matter of fact, I can. Cruz Guerrero told me this afternoon that Jonas Harper approached him a while back about buying some of Rancho Dolorosa. Cruz needs the money more than the land, and he’s been seriously considering Jonas’s offer. If you like, I can mention to Cruz before he leaves that you’re also interested in the property.”

“Do that. Tell him I’ll make a trip out to Rancho Dolorosa tomorrow to talk with him about it.”

“I’ll see if I can catch Cruz now.” Creed reached a palm out to his friend. “Good luck . . . Walker.”

Long Quiet took Creed’s hand and shook it firmly. “Thanks. I’ll need it.”

Chapter 19

B
AY HAD PLEADED A HEADACHE AND PROMISED TO MEET
Jonas in the morning to talk, but she hadn’t realized how hectic the next morning would be. Cricket and Creed were anxious to start for home and were taking Tom and Amy Creed with them for a visit at Lion’s Dare. Luke was preparing to head for the Texas-Louisiana border, since he had Ranger business in Shelby County. The few neighbors who’d come from far enough away to stay overnight had left at daybreak, and Bay spent the few spare moments she had mentally preparing the speech she planned to give to Jonas.

Just before Cricket left, she pulled Bay aside. “Creed told me Walker’s here in Texas to stay and that he says he loves you. I had no idea, Bay, that you and Walker . . . are you still going to marry Jonas?”

“No, I’m not. I care for Jonas, and I don’t want to hurt him. I probably would have married him if Long Quiet hadn’t come to get me. But now . . . of course I haven’t had a chance to say anything to Long Quiet yet, and I won’t until I’ve spoken to Jonas. I can’t break our engagement right away, because it would cause too much talk. But I’m going to tell Jonas today that I can’t marry him.”

Cricket hugged Bay. “I’m so glad everything’s turning out all right.”

“So am I. Take care of Jesse. Maybe the next time I see you I’ll be the one with the new baby.”

“I hope so,” Cricket said with a laugh. “I can’t wait to see Walker playing the role of father.”

Cricket and Creed had already driven away in their carriage, followed by Tom and Amy in theirs, when Luke sought Bay out. “I came to say goodbye and to tell you . . . ask you . . . how much do you really know about Jonas, Bay?”

“I’ve never had cause to doubt him, Luke. Is that what you’re asking?”

“No. I mean how much do you know about his business dealings?”

“Not much. I know his father had business interests in Louisiana and that Jonas sold some of them and bought property in Shelby County. Why do you ask?”

“I’m headed to Shelby County to investigate charges of corruption in the land-title office. One of the men who’s profited most by the alleged corruption is Jonas Harper.”

“You must be mistaken, Luke. Jonas would never stoop to thievery.”

Luke snorted in disgust. “That’s what Rip said when I told him what I knew. For your sake, I hope you’re both right. Just promise me you’ll wait to marry Jonas until I’ve found out the truth.”

Bay opened her mouth to tell Luke she had no intentions of marrying Jonas now that Long Quiet had returned, but since that might have suggested a lack of trust in Jonas that she didn’t feel, she said nothing about her plans. “I’m sure you’re going to find that Jonas is totally innocent, Luke, so you needn’t worry about me.”

“Damned stubborn, strong-willed Stewart women,” Luke muttered.

Bay put a hand on Luke’s arm to stop him as he turned to leave. “All right,” she said, not totally sure why she felt the need to reassure him. “I’ll wait.”

The look of relief in Luke’s hazel eyes was her reward. “Thanks, Bay. I’d better get moving.”

“Take care of yourself, Luke.”

“Sure, Bay. You too.”

Bay had little time to contemplate Luke’s accusations before Jonas arrived at Three Oaks. She greeted him in the parlor, dreading what she had to say because she knew it would hurt him.

“Good morning, darling,” Jonas said, leaning forward to kiss Bay on the cheek. “Are you feeling better this morning?”

“Yes, Jonas, I’m fine. Won’t you sit down?”

Jonas had seated himself comfortably in the wing chair before he realized Bay wasn’t going to sit down. She was pacing nervously.

“What’s wrong, Bay?”

“I don’t know how to tell you,” she said hesitantly.

Jonas rose and, taking Bay’s hands in his, seated her on the brocade-covered settee before dropping down beside her. “Now, tell me what’s wrong. I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Bay took a deep breath and said, “I can’t marry you, Jonas.”

“But we just got engaged!”

“I know that, and I know we can’t announce that we’ve broken our engagement until a decent time has passed. But then you can say you’ve changed your mind or that you discovered we weren’t suited after all.”

“But we’re perfectly suited to one another.”

“Oh, Jonas, it isn’t that I don’t care for you—I do.”

“Then what is it, Bay?”

Bay fidgeted with the pink ribbon that streamed down the front of her light wool day dress.

“It’s that other man, that Walker Coburn, isn’t it?”

“I’m . . . I’m in love with him, Jonas.”

“But you’re engaged to me.”

“Yes, I am,” Bay agreed in an attempt to soothe Jonas’s growing agitation, “but that’s what I’m trying to explain. We’ll have to break our engagement. I can’t marry you, because I’m in love with Walker.”

“But you care for me.”

“Of course I do.”

“And you would have married me if this Walker fellow hadn’t come here looking for you?”

Bay couldn’t face Jonas as she admitted, “Yes.”

“Then there’s no reason for us to break our engagement, Bay. I love you, and you care for me. Walker Coburn doesn’t figure into it.”

“You’ll find someone else, Jonas.”

“No. There’s no one else for me but you, Bay. I’ve had this picture in my mind from the day I met you—the two of us surrounded by our children. I’m not giving that up, Bay, especially not to some stranger who wanders in the day we get engaged and tries to steal you away from me.”

Bay winced when Jonas gripped her wrist, because of the bruises he’d made the previous day. He didn’t seem to notice he was hurting her again.

“Look at me, Bay,” he said. Bay met Jonas’s fierce gaze with reluctance. “You belong to me. I can understand how another man might find you attractive. After all, I find you exquisite. But he can’t have what’s mine.”

“What about what I want, Jonas?”

“You want me.”

“Not anymore,” Bay said soberly.

“What if I told you that the fate of Three Oaks depends on your marrying me?”