Jenny (28 page)

"I can't believe you missed it." Quickly, Tillie told
her about Cole and Richard fighting over Jenny.

"Oh, my," Rose breathed. "Where are they now?"

"Cole took Jenny back to the hotel a while ago."

"Should we check on her and make sure she's all
right? I wonder what she's going to do about Richard."

"I don't know, but I'm sure he's a very unhappy
man right now. You're right about checking on Jenny.
Let me get Evelyn and Melanie, and we can all go
back to the hotel together."

A short time later, they were on their way. They
reached the hotel and went upstairs and stopped at
Jenny's room.

Evelyn knocked quietly, not wanting to disturb the
other guests. When there was no answer, she knocked
a little harder, but there still was no response.

"I guess she's asleep," Evelyn told the others.

"We'll have to wait and see how she is in the morning," Rose said, but she was a little concerned. It
wasn't like Jenny to sleep so soundly.

Jenny had listened in silence as her aunt and Rose
tried to rouse her. She waited, not responding, until
they gave up for the night. She was glad when the
women finally went away and left her alone. She
didn't want to talk to anyone about what had happened that night not yet.

Jenny was deeply upset. She had hoped to win
Cole's love, but she'd failed miserably. She'd made
a complete and utter fool out of herself. She had
thrown herself at him. She had had him right there in
that very bed with her, and he had simply walked
away from her without a backward glance.

Jenny groaned in humiliation at the memory. She
wondered how she was ever going to face Cole again.
No matter when it happened, it was going to be very embarrassing. She couldn't wait to get back to the
Lazy S.

Sleep was long in coming that night.

Rose undressed and got ready for bed, but she wasn't
sleepy. Feeling restless, she went to stand at the window and gaze down at the street below. She couldn't
see the High Time from there and was sorry. If she'd
been able to see the building, she would have felt
closer to Dan.

After a long moment, Rose turned away and sought
the comfort of her bed. She hugged a pillow to her
breast as she remembered the glory of Dan's kisses.
The evening had been wonderful, and she could hardly wait for the morning so she could have breakfast
with him.

Rose sighed as she closed her eyes. She invited
sleep eagerly, wanting the night to hurry by, and she
hoped all her dreams would be of Dan.

Jenny was not in the best of moods as she got up and
dressed early the next morning. She had tossed and
turned all night, thinking of Cole.

Jenny had never been one to handle rejection well.
She'd allowed herself the night to be upset, but now
with the dawn of the new day, she was determined to
start planning again. She was not going to give up.
She would find a way to claim Cole's love.

Descending the stairs, Jenny planned to rendezvous
with the others in the lobby and then go on to break fast together. She thought she'd have a few minutes
of peace and quiet before everyone came down to join
her, but just as she reached the lobby, Richard and
Aubrey entered the hotel.

"Richard-" She stopped at the foot of the staircase, startled to find that he and Aubrey were only
now returning to their rooms. She'd thought the two
men would be breakfasting with them.

"Ah, my dear Jenny. What a pleasant surprise,"
Richard drawled sarcastically.

Jenny couldn't believe how bad Richard looked.
One eye was swollen shut and discolored. His clothes
were disheveled. He reeked of liquor and was obviously very drunk. Though Aubrey hadn't been injured, he didn't look much better. It was plain that
he, too, had been drinking heavily all night.

"Richard good morning. Are you just now returning to your rooms?"

"Oh, yes, my dear. Aubrey and I wanted to sample
the real night life of your town, and it seems the night
life turned into morning at some time." He laughed
at his own witticism.

"I thought you would be joining us for breakfast
this morning before we ride back to the ranch."

"As you can see, breakfast is not what I have in
mind right now. However, I did want to speak with
you. It's fortunate that you're here. Do you have a
moment?"

Jenny felt a bit uneasy about talking to him alone,
considering the way they'd parted the night before, but it was daylight and they were in a public place.

"Of course, Richard. What did you want to talk
about?"

"If you two will excuse me, I'm going up to my
room." Aubrey quickly took his leave of them. He
wanted to give Richard some time alone with Jenny,
for he knew that what he wanted to say to her had to
be said in private.

Richard was glad when Aubrey had gone. He
wanted Jenny all to himself There was a small, rather
private sitting area off to the side of the lobby, and
he gestured in a gentlemanly fashion for Jenny to precede him. He followed her, and they sat down across
from each other in two wing chairs.

"I wanted to let you know that Aubrey and I won't
be returning to the ranch with you today," Richard
announced. "We'll be spending the rest of our time
here in town until the departure date."

Jenny was at once relieved and saddened. She had
been dreading seeing Richard again. It would definitely be easier if he stayed in Durango, but she regretted the necessity. "Are you sure, Richard?"

He turned a cold look on her. "I'm very sure, my
dear. I'll ride out with Aubrey later this afternoon so
we can pick up our luggage."

"I'm sorry things turned out this way. I've always
considered you to be a good friend, Richard."

At her words, his expression hardened. Her rejection had not sat well with him, and it would take him quite a while to come to grips with it. "I have never
wanted to be your friend, Jenny."

"I hate for us to part on these terms." She was
sincere.

He shrugged indifferently. "I have never been one
to fantasize about living in the wilds like some kind
of savage. I prefer civilization. Philadelphia is far
more to my taste than Durango. Its women are far
more to my taste, too."

Though he had just passed a wild night in drunken
revelry, sampling a number of bar girls at one of the
saloons in town, he looked forward to returning home.
He couldn't get to Philadelphia fast enough to suit
him.

"Is your eye going to be all right?" Jenny asked,
ignoring the sting of his words.

"Actually, I am seeing far more clearly today with
one eye than I previously had with two." He stood
up. "I think we've said all that needs to be said, my
dear."

"We'll have your bags ready for you when you
come out to the ranch today."

"On second thought," he added, deciding that he
would prefer never to see her again, "why don't you
have them brought into town for us? There's really
no reason for Aubrey and me to make the trip out
there if we don't have to."

"I can arrange that."

"Fine. Well, good-bye, Jenny." Richard gave her a
mocking half bow and left her sitting there.

"It will be better this way, trust me. Especially when
Cole comes out to the ranch to see you," Rose assured
Jenny, relieved upon hearing of Richard's decision to
stay in town.

Rose had come down early, passing Richard on the
stairs, and had hurried over to find out what had happened.

"I'm just sorry there was a fight," Jenny said.

"Are you really?" Rose asked, a twinkle shining in
her eyes. "Look at the reaction you got out of Cole!
You won a major battle in your war."

"You are so optimistic. I'd love to think you're
right, but I don't. Cole's hitting Richard didn't mean
anything."

"Of course it did," Rose insisted. "Cole strikes me
as a very controlled man. Someone like your Cole
doesn't just hit another man for no reason."

"My Cole?" Jenny repeated.

"That's right," Rose said with great satisfaction.
She was very pleased with the way things were going.

"You don't understand," Jenny argued. "Cole told
me on the walk back to the hotel that the only reason
he'd been watching over me was because you had
reminded him that I was his responsibility."

"Don't believe that for a minute. If Cole thought
of you merely as a responsibility, he might have tried
to interrupt Richard as he tried to kiss you, but he
would never have assaulted him that way. Cole was
angry when he hit Richard-very angry."

"I'd like to think you're right, but he certainly
didn't act like it when we were alone together."

"What happened?" Rose sensed there was a lot
more to the story than Jenny was revealing.

Jenny was glad that no one else was around so she
could confide in Rose. "Cole insisted on making sure
my room was safe for me before he left."

"Yes. So?"

"Well, we did kiss, but..."

"But what?" Rose was excited.

"Well, I thought it was time for the truth between
us. So I told him I loved him."

"And?"

"He walked out on me."

Rose frowned thoughtfully. "Cole didn't say anything?"

"Only something like `I have to go,' and that was
it."

"Ah, but he did kiss you," she pointed out, taking
some satisfaction in that knowledge.

"Yes."

"And he did insist on coming inside and checking
the room for you."

"Yes."

"He was worrying about you, that's for sure. What
are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure what I should do." Jenny's expression
saddened. "After last night, I understand exactly how
Cole felt when I walked out on him at the altar. I hurt
him badly, Rose, and I'd like to spend the rest of my life making it up to him if he'll give me the
chance."

"He will. You just shocked him last night, that's
all. He has a lot to deal with - a lot to think about
where you're concerned. He'll come around,"

"I hope you're right," she said. "But enough about
me, what about Dan? How did things work out for
you last night?"

"Great, and he's supposed to be coming to breakfast with us this morning."

"That's wonderful." Jenny was truly happy for her
friend. "So, what do you plan to do about your Dan?"

"Do about him?"

"I caught a glimpse of you together last night. You
looked very happy."

"I was."

"So are you just going to pack up and go home
and forget all about him?"

Rose frowned. She'd been trying not to think about
that. "Well, I"

"How do you feel about him?" Jenny pressed.

"I'm not sure. He's certainly nothing like any of
the other men I've known."

"What do you mean?"

"He's not concerned with the things that men like
Richard and Aubrey think are important. Dan's
more"

"Down to earth?"

"I guess that would be a good way to phrase it, and
he's very interesting, too. He intrigues me."

Jenny glanced past Rose just then and saw Dan
enter the lobby.

"Speak of the devil," she teased in a low voice as
she nodded in his direction.

"He's here?" Rose said quickly, excitement evident
in her voice. She turned and smiled brightly at the
sight of Dan coming their way. "Good morning."

"Good morning, ladies. Am I late?" he asked, smiling at them both and then turning his full attention to
Rose.

Jenny thought he looked as delighted to see Rose
as she did to see him, and she hid a knowing smile
as she watched the two of them together.

Tillie, Evelyn, and Melanie came down the stairs
then, and it was time to go to eat.

They made their way to the small restaurant. Once
they'd settled in at a table and their orders had been
taken, Evelyn spoke up.

"Where are Richard and Aubrey? Aren't they eating with us this morning?"

"No," Jenny answered.

"Why not? Is Richard still upset over what happened last night?" her aunt asked.

Jenny knew there was no avoiding the truth, so she
quickly related her conversation with Richard. "Richard is very upset. He and Aubrey have decided not to
return to the ranch. They've requested that I send their
luggage to them here at the hotel."

"Oh, my. He is angry, isn't he?" Evelyn said. "How
bad did he look this morning?"

"It wasn't pretty. He'll probably still have quite a
black eye when he heads home."

"Good for Cole," her aunt said with a small smile.
"I always knew he was a gentleman. I'm proud of
him for defending your honor that way. If I'd been
doing a better job of chaperoning, though, he
wouldn't have had anything to worry about. I'm going to keep a closer eye on you."

How Rose kept from blushing as she thought of
her stolen moments with Dan, she never knew. Especially when she looked up to find Dan's gaze warm
and knowing upon her. As their eyes met, they shared
the unspoken thought that they were glad Aunt Tillie
hadn't been too earnest in her chaperoning the night
before.