Wicked Wyoming Nights (33 page)

“Do you think Cord would marry her?”

“He’s got to marry somebody, and Iris isn’t such a bad choice.” Just then Wiley Quinn came back with their refreshments. “Don’t bore her with your tired stories,” Ella instructed him, “and don’t try to keep her to yourself all evening either.” She then drifted away, and was not on hand to witness Eliza’s reaction when Cord entered with Iris.

“We’d given you up,” Sanford said, greeting them.

“It took a while to get into these clothes,” Cord said. “It’s quite a change from Levi’s and a flannel shirt.”

“I had to sing before I left,” Iris added. “If Cord hadn’t offered me a ride, I’d probably still be fighting off drunks.”

“Come with me, Mrs. O’Sullivan. I’ll show you where everything is, then introduce you to my other guests. It’s disgraceful that decent women can’t feel safe to leave their homes after dark,” Jessica said with deep disapproval.” I’ve been trying to get Sanford to help me close those dreadful places, but money is more important to the men of Buffalo than the safety of their wives and daughters.” She bore Iris away, leaving Cord to her husband.

“Glad you could make it,” Sanford said again, looking acutely uncomfortable. “It’s always nice to have a few young men at these things. It gives the young ladies something to do.” He smiled nervously, and his task was not made any easier by seeing that Cord’s eyes had already searched out and were dwelling on Eliza.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk with you since you got back from Chicago, but you seem to have done quite well for yourself.”

“The place is mine, if that’s what you mean,” Cord said without taking his eyes off Eliza. Sanford looked a little less miserable at not having to ferret out that bit of information.

“Then you must be looking to settle down. You’ve got to be getting close to thirty.”

“Twenty-eight this past September.” Cord was obviously not going to help him.

“It’s a good idea to get married before you get too set in your ways. Of course, it’s not always an easy thing to choose a proper wife, especially out here where the selection is limited.”

“Nope.”

Damn, thought Sanford. The man might at least look at him. “A man might be encouraged to take the first thing he sees for fear something else might not come along.”

“Yep.”

Sanford swallowed hard. “It’s always a good idea to marry to your advantage.”

“That’s the only way.”

“After all, many a woman has made a man rich through her inheritance. If he’s willing to wait for it.”

“It happens.”

Sanford put his finger in his collar to loosen it. “Of course, a father can’t be too careful in choosing a husband for his daughter either.”

“Especially if she’s pretty and an heiress.”

“Exactly,” agreed Sanford, relieved Cord finally appeared to be following his thoughts. “Her father would want to leave his money in the hands of a man who could be trusted not to waste it or neglect his wife and children.”

“There’s a lot of careful men in these parts.”

“But not many of marriageable age, reasonably good looking, and who have proved themselves successful businessmen.”

“No, I guess there’s only one who fits that description.”

Cord’s eyes were now on Sanford, and he found himself wishing they’d return to Eliza. “A fellow businessman might be willing to join with such a man in various financial undertakings. There are lots of ways to make money, not just cows, and a father might be willing to share some of his secrets with a man soon to become his son-in-law. You might say it would be an investment in his daughter’s future.”

Cord’s gaze grew more intense and vague hints of a smile seemed to tremble on his lips. “A
man
might be awfully grateful for an offer like that if he hadn’t already set his mind on another young lady.”

“But she’s not even speaking to you,” Sanford burst out without thinking.

“But I’m going to speak to
her
” Cord said, and the promise of a smile was brilliantly fulfilled. “I think I’ll get me something to drink,” he said, leaving Sanford gaping.

“Damn, if that’s not the first time anybody’s refused help from me,” he said. “I’m not sure whether I like him for it or not.”

But Cord did not reach his objective. Melissa, materializing, as it seemed, from the ground underneath his feet, cornered him with demands to know all about Chicago, his trip to Cheyenne, and the wagon loads of furniture she heard he had bought.

“Naturally I don’t remember the Matador ranch house terribly well because I haven’t been there since the Orrs left, but I remember it was such a huge house and furnished so nicely.”

“It’s too big,” Cord said forthrightly. “It needs enough furniture to fill three sensible houses.”

“You’re teasing,” said Melissa with a not entirely successful effort at a trill of laughter. “Think of the marvelous parties you could give and the guests who could be invited.”

“And the food they would eat up,” Cord added most unromantically. “A rich man could be ruined by such a place.”

“Not one like you,” Melissa said, looking at Cord with adoration so obviously adolescent he was hard pressed to keep from smiling.

“Not everybody likes big houses and large parties, and I guess I’m one of them. My work is hard and the hours long. I don’t want a house to drain my purse, and when I do come home I don’t want to find the place filled with lots of people hankering after a good time.”

“Not ever?” asked Melissa, stunned to think that anyone could dislike parties.

“This is the first party I’ve been to in five years, and it’ll probably be twice that long before I go to another. I see your ma motioning to you, so I’ll move on,” Cord said, and left the girl as opened-mouthed as her father.

This time Cord was not to be denied, and he didn’t stop until he stood before Eliza, who felt cornered and betrayed.

“You’re looking mighty pretty tonight,” he said softly. “Red suits you.”

“Thank you,” Eliza replied, nearly choked by the emotional turmoil within her. “You look nice too. I never expected to see you in such a suit.”

“Neither did I,” he said, with a rueful grin, “but I let that clerk talk me into believing this was the only way to dress fancy, so when Mrs. Burton’s invitation said formal I decided to bite the bullet.”

There was a moment of awkward silence.

“I see you’re wearing my presents.”

Eliza felt her pale skin turn crimson. “I … they’re so pretty … Lucy made me,” she finished, the words wrung from her.

“I see.” Cord looked a little downcast. “I was hoping you’d worn them because I gave them to you.”

Eliza would have given anything to be able to vanish into thin air. How could she tell him she had retrieved his presents from Ella’s and was wearing them tonight because they were all she had left of him? “It seemed a shame to leave them in their boxes. And I did need something to wear.”

“I bought them to give you pleasure, not to keep you from going naked.” The anguish in Cord’s voice cut Eliza to the quick. “But that’s ungrateful of me,” he said with a weak smile. “I should be pleased you’re wearing them at all. You do look magnificent.”

Eliza felt like the greatest criminal unhung.

“You look good enough to eat,” Ella Baylis announced in a hearty voice from behind Eliza. “If you don’t dance with Eliza, I’m going to take a chunk out of you.”

“Please, no,” mumbled Eliza, “I really would rather not.”

“If you don’t dance with Cord, some old geezer will grab you up,” Ella pointed out. “You might as well dance with the best-looking man here.”

“I’ll be in the prettiest company” said Cord.

“You two can argue that between you, but you do make a mighty pretty couple. Now get going before I give you a push.”

Eliza’s eyes remained on the floor, but she didn’t resist when Cord led her to a corner where a few couples found enough space to dance slowly and rather close together. “I see you came with …”

“I was hoping to have the chance …” They both had begun at the same time. There was a pause. “Ladies first,” said Cord.

Eliza appeared reluctant to say anything and lowered her eyes once more. “I was about to say I see you’ve met Iris.”

“Yeah. Saw her coming out of the saloon and knew she’d dirty her skirts, so I offered her a ride.”

“Do you think she’s nice?”

“She seems to be. Not half as pretty as you, though.”

Eliza didn’t raise her eyes, but she felt herself flush. “She’s popular with the cowboys.”

“Hmmm,” replied Cord, uninterested in the cowboys’ likes or dislikes. “You ready to start speaking to me again? It’s been nearly three weeks now.” He felt Eliza stiffen.

“I am speaking to you,” Eliza replied in a tight voice. “But I meant it when I said I couldn’t be engaged to a man who would have my uncle arrested for a stupid prank.”

“You admit he was guilty now?”

“Guilty of poor judgment and treating you unfairly, but he’s not a thief, and to say he is in league with a gang of rustlers is absurd.” She had worked herself up to the nearest thing to anger Cord had ever seen.

“Then I don’t suppose you’re ready to forgive me and announce our engagement?”

“Of course not,” she said indignantly. “Every time I think of you I remember what you did to my uncle.”

“Then you do still think of me?” Cord asked, greatly heartened.

“I meant,” Eliza said, correcting herself and trying to shift the basis of a discussion in which her position was being weakened by every sentence, “I could not marry a man who believes my uncle is a thief.”

“You’ll soon forget that. Everybody out here is a thief of some kind.”

“I’m not” answered Eliza hotly.

“You stole my heart,” he said with simple directness, and Eliza thought she would burst into tears. “You haven’t given it back either.”

A stifled sob was forced from her. “I would if I could.”

“I don’t want it. I just want you, and us the way we used to be.”

“That’s impossible.”

“It will happen. Until then I aim to wait.”

“Please, excuse me,” she begged, and fled from the room.

“What did you say to make her run off like that?” demanded Ella, coming up behind him almost immediately. “I thought you had enough sense not to push her too hard.”

“I just put some burrs under her saddle cloth so she won’t ride too easy.”

“She’s suffering terribly from divided loyalty. Give her enough time and she’ll come around to you.”

“I didn’t make the Matador mine in five years without having some sense,” Cord pointed out. “If I give him enough rope, Ira will hang himself. Then she’ll come tumbling into my arms.”

“Maybe she will and maybe she won’t,” Ella warned. “There are ways to do things, and if you’ll take my advice, you’ll do nothing. Time is on your side. Girls like Eliza think funny sometimes, and if you do the wrong thing you might lose her forever”

“I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”

But less than thirty minutes later Ella could have brained him with relish. Eliza had returned from the bedroom, a little limp, but still looking magnificent. She was clearly unhappy and her eyes kept wandering to Cord as he moved about the room. They were merely jealous when he talked with other women, tolerant when he was once more corralled by Melissa with the help of her mother, but when a conversation with Iris broke into laughter and showed no sign of ending, they turned to molten coals.

“I’ve never seen Cord laugh,” a matron said loud enough for Eliza to overhear.

“Mrs. O’Sullivan seems to be a charming lady. It’s a shame she has to work in a saloon to support her little girl.” Ella made a mental note to repay both ladies, but the stormy look in Eliza’s face convinced her this was not the moment.

“Do you think he likes Iris?” Eliza asked Ella when the conversation between Cord and Iris had gone on so long her teeth were on edge.

“I don’t think he’s had a chance to get to know her vet,” Ella replied with devastating directness, “but if you persist in keeping him at arms’ length, he may find he does.”

“I wouldn’t think of holding on to a man who might wander at the first inducement.”

“A man isn’t likely to wander when he has what he wants.” Ella’s eyes followed in the direction of Eliza’s gaze. “Not even for Iris and her
darling
little girl.”

Eliza suddenly laughed. “You think Cord would prefer to have his own daughter?”

“I know he’d prefer to have his own sons, and he wants you to be their mother.”

“And you don’t think he wants Iris?”

“Not unless you hand him to her.”

“I’m not that generous,” Eliza said with the closest thing to a giggle Ella had ever heard.

“Hallelujah!” Ella almost shouted. “I was ready to think you were going to lie down and let Iris take your man without a fight.”

“I don’t know what you mean by a fight, but I can’t give Cord up, no matter what he said about Uncle Ira. The way he sees it, Cord was right and I turned my back on him. From any point of view, Uncle Ira was wrong, yet I stood by him.”