Ellie was quiet. Vanessa knew that her aunt was terribly nervous. It was evident in her stiffness as she sat in the seat and in the way she kept her hands folded in her shawl. Vanessa wondered what was going on in Ellie's mind as she sat there between her and Mary Ben. She was on her way to a husband who had deserted her, to his home where she would not be welcomed, to take care of a man who despised her. Poor Ellie.

As sorry as she was for Ellie, the danger this trip represented to Kain was foremost in her mind. The old dread she had felt on the trip to Junction City returned tenfold. In a near stupor of fear, she scanned the trail ahead. There were a hundred places where a man could hide and shoot an unsuspecting traveler. She had to believe that Kain knew how best to deal with this situation, that he was doing all he could do to protect himself. Danger to herself from Primer Ta.s.s didn't enter her mind. Kain. She prayed to G.o.d that nothing would happen to him. A numbness swathed her; she heard nothing of what Ellie and Mary Ben were saying. She saw her hands on the reins and from long training automatically did what a driver would do while she strove to keep panic at bay.

Kain rode to the crest of the hill, trusting more to his horse than himself, and sat there searching every foot of the landscape with his gla.s.ses, as Jeb was doing on the other side of the wagon track that wove among the rocks and trees. He was glad he had Big Red. The horse was spooky, and Kain had deliberately chosen him for just that reason. The animal could hear every sound, and could both see and hear better than a man. If there was a living thing nearby, Big Red would know it.

His horse's ears began to twitch and Kain reached for his gun. A deer darted from the brush and raced toward the cover of thick trees. He nudged the horse and moved down from the hill and up another. He came out onto a bench and saw Clayhill Ranch backed up to the rugged mountain at the far end of a meadow. From where he sat he could see over a far stretch of country.

He took his field gla.s.ses out once again and watched the buggy approach. He focused them on Vanessa. Vanessa, his love, his life. Just looking at her made his pulse quicken! She reminded him of a bright new penny. But there was nothing hard and rigid about her. He had never seen a woman who was so beautifula"feminine and soft, sensual and exciting. She was all warm tones from the top of her flaming red hair and brilliant blue eyes to the white skin of her face and hands. And when they were wrapped in each other's arms, when they were one, she was the most giving, most lovinga"He lowered the gla.s.ses and his hand automatically went to his stomach. Every day was precious to him.

When Ellie had announced her plans to take her place in Adam's home, he couldn't have been more surprised but realized it was a d.a.m.n good idea. Old Adam was flat on his back and couldn't do a thing about it, and possession was nine points of the law. Kain had no doubt that Ellie was in for a bad time with Della, but she had the law on her side or would have as soon as Randolph in Denver set the records right. In the meantime Ellie would run her bluff. Kain chuckled with admiration for the s.p.u.n.ky little woman. Adam had finally met his matcha"if he was still alive. The doctor had said he was in bad shape and was unlikely to recover fully. But if the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d just lived long enough for Ellie to be in full possession when he died, even if he left everything to Della, the court would give something to Ellie and Henry.

Kain wondered who was running the business end of the ranch. The roundup would be over by now, but the business end was something he could help Ellie with if she got past the front door.

As the buggy approached the ranch Ellie was thinking the same thing. Would she get past the front door? She wasn't prepared for the elegance of the white frame two-story house. The many gabled house was a splendid example of nineteenth-century architecture. Wide, railed verandas were supported by graceful columns decorated with elaborately carved cornices. Long windows opened up onto the verandas on both the lower and upper floors. Stained gla.s.s panes adorned the upper part of the windows as well as the doors. Shrubs and a carefully attended lawn surrounded the house as well as a white picket fence. The elegant house looked as if it belonged on a shaded street of any large city rather than this isolated area. Behind the house was a large barn, various outbuildings and a vast number of pole corrals.

In a glance Ellie knew beyond all doubt Adam Clayhill was a very wealthy man. Resentment burned like a flame in her and solidified her determination that she and her son would no longer be cast aside. They would stay and take what was due them.

Kain and Jeb came down out of the hills and rode with Henry alongside the buggy as it approached the ranch. Vanessa breathed more easily and smiled her relief at her husband. Her ordeal was over for the time being and Ellie's had just begun. As she pulled the horse to a stop beside the front gate, the ranch hands at the outbuildings watched; but none approached. Kain, Henry and Jeb rode to the hitching rail and dismounted. Jeb attached a lead rope to the halter of the horse pulling the buggy and tied it to a iron ring in one of the fence posts, then climbed up into the buggy to wait.

Ellie stood for a long moment before she opened the gate and led the party up the cobblestone walk to the wide veranda. Vanessa had never seen her aunt carry herself with more dignity and determination.

A few minutes after she rang the bell, the heavy oak door was opened by a Negro man wearing a black, long-tailed coat and stiff white shirt.

"Yas'm?"

"I'm here to see Mr. Clayhill." Ellie's voice at first held a slight tremor, but strengthened at the end.

"Mastah done took to de bed. He sick, he doan see n.o.body."

"I know that. How is Mr. Clayhill?"

"He jist lay dare. Doctor man says he 'spect he gwine ta die." He rolled his eyes upward. "I ain't ta let n.o.body in."

Kain stepped forward and pushed on the door. "Step aside. We're coming in."

"But, suh, Mis Della say n.o.bodya""

"To h.e.l.l with Miss Della." Kain pushed him back with a firm hand on his chest and stepped inside. "Come on in, Ellie."

Ellie walked into the wide hallway and immediately took off her wrap and her hat and hung them on the halltree as if she had been doing it for years. The servant stood against the wall. His eyes went from Kain to the top of the stairs and back, and there was a frightened look on his face.

"What is your name?" Ellie asked.

"Joseph."

"Joseph, ask Miss Della to come down. Who else is in the house beside Mr. Clayhill?"

"Miss Cecilia. De rest of 'em gone."

"Who is Miss Cecilia?"

"She be . . . She be . . ."

"Is she one of the servants?"

"Yas'm."

"Tell her to come, too."

"Yas'm." He scurried away and disappeared through a door at the end of the hall.

Ellie turned to the others still lingering beside the door. "Take off your coats. We're here to stay. Henry, in a few minutes you and Jeb can bring our things in."

"What the h.e.l.l are you up to, Kain? Why have you brought her here?" Della stood at the top of the wide staircase that rose from the center of the hall to the second floor balcony. She wore a flowing, white peignoir. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she had a hairbrush in her hand.

"As to what I'm doing, I brought the lady here. As to why, she'll tell you herself."

Della started down the steps. "You've no doubt heard about Adam's fit of apoplexy from that spineless, backwoods doctor. What do you hope to gain by bringing another one of Adam's b.a.s.t.a.r.ds here? Heaven only knows how many more will turn up. He's screwed enough women to populate the Colorado Territory."

Joseph and a Mexican girl emerged from a room at the back of the hall. They stood with their backs to the wall, watching Della.

Ellie had moved down the hall by the time Della reached the last step. She confronted her there.

"I'm Mrs. Adam Clayhill. I'm here to run my husband's house and to take care of him. If you wish to stay until sundown, I advise you to keep a civil tongue in your head."

Della's body stiffened and her face was as still as a beautiful stone statue. Then she began to laugh; it was high, and shrill and ugly and meant to intimidate. Kain, watching, knew it wasn't going to work. Ellie had turned her back on Della and was speaking to Joseph.

"You heard what I said, Joseph. I am Mr. Clayhill's wife. I am here to stay. I want to see the rest of the house. I'll need a room for myself and one each for Mr. and Mrs. DeBolt and for my son and his wife."

"Yes'm."

"Joseph! You black b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don't you dare obey her. They're not staying!" Della moved around to face Ellie. Ellie ignored her and spoke to Cecilia.

"You're Cecilia. What do you do here? Are you the cook? The maid?"

"Oh, my G.o.d! This is rich. She's Adam's wh.o.r.e!" Della's voice rose to a screech and the look Cecilia shot her was pure hatred.

"If that's the case, I doubt Mr. Clayhill will be needing your services." Ellie spoke in a calm, unruffled voice. "Does your family live here, Cecilia?" The woman shook her head. "If I told you to leave, would you have somewhere to go?" She shook her head again. "Very well, you may stay and work in another capacity. Is that agreeable?" Cecilia nodded and cast a gloating look at Della. "You can show me where things are."

"This has gone far enough! Far enough, G.o.dd.a.m.n it!" Della threw the hairbrush against the wall. "I don't care if you married Adam a hundred times, you're not coming in here and taking over."

"Oh, but I am." Ellie's calm blue eyes looked directly into Della's blazingly angry ones. "And I believe that as long as you have this resentful att.i.tude toward me, you'll be happier somewhere else. I'll have someone drive you to town. Be ready to leave by noon."

"You are telling me to leave? This has been my home for twenty years! I'll not leave because one of Adam's . . . little diversions tells me to. Jesus Christ! He's amused himself with dozens of women like you!"

"No, the other women were not like me. Mr. Clayhill and I are married. The marriage is recorded. Our son's birth is recorded. We were already married when he went through the ceremony with your mother. The poor woman was taken in by his charm, as I was. You have no claim here, and you are no longer welcome, even if you are Kain's sister. Joseph, I'll need your help to get settled in. But first you can help Miss Della pack and get ready to leave."

"G.o.dd.a.m.n it. Kaina"" Della looked at her brother. Kain lifted his shoulders and grinned.

"You may as well go, Della. Your reign at the Clayhill Ranch has ended, and you can kiss Adam's money goodbye."

"Adam's lawyer will put a stop to this," she threatened.

"Why don't you go on down to Denver and talk it over with him? I think he'll tell you you haven't a leg to stand on."

"I'll do that. I'll just do that!" Della flounced up the stairs and turned at the top to look down. The people in the hall below were making themselves at home and didn't even seem to notice that she left them.

"Well, that's settled," Ellie said. "Henry, you and Jeb bring in our things. Vanessa, you and Mary Ben go on upstairs and find rooms to sleep in. I'm going to look over the kitchen with Cecilia, then she'll take me to see Mr. Clayhill. Is there someone with him now, Cecilia?"

Vanessa put her hand into Kain's. "Isn't she amazing? I'm so proud of her."

"So am I, honey. I haven't had so much fun in a long time." He chuckled.

"Shame on you." She reached up and kissed his chin.

"I'll go out and talk to the men and find someone to drive Della to town. She'll not go in style this trip."

"Do you think she can stir up trouble with the men?"

"She might try, but it won't do her any good. Della hasn't been very tolerant of the workers here. She'll want to get down to Denver and see what she can find out from Adam's lawyer. Logan said he was going to tell Randolph to get in touch with him and tell him what's what. She'll know when she gets there what she's up against."

"Will we go home as soon as Aunt Ellie is settled?"

"There's a lot to be done to get her settled in, honey," he hedged.

"I want to go home to our house."

"We'll have to wait and see if Clayhill's going to live awhile. He could get well enough to be up and around, and in that case Ellie's life would be h.e.l.l."

"The doctor didn't seem to think he would."

"What does that little pip-squeak know? Most doctors tell you what they think you want to hear. I don't have too much faith in any of them."

"My father wasn't like that."

"Not if he was like you, he wasn't. Give me a kiss so I can go."

Vanessa and Mary Ben went up the wide stairway to the second floor. They could hear the sounds of banging and slamming coming from the big room at the front of the house. The door to the room opposite Della's was closed, so they went on down to the next room and cautiously opened the door.

"Oh, ain't it grand?" Mary Ben gaped at the beautiful room with the heavy walnut furniture, silk-covered chairs, and satin spread and draperies.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone using it. Do you want it for you and Henry?"

"No! I'd be 'fraid to sit on them chairs. Me 'n Henry don't need nothin' but a bed 'n washstand. The grandest ort a be Mrs. Hill's."

"We might as well look at all of them before we decide."

They went up narrow steps to the attic rooms, moving quietly, as if they expected to be discovered and told to leave. Two of the four rooms there were occupied. Vanessa suspected this was where Joseph and the girl Cecilia slept. They hurried back down to where Henry and Jeb were piling their boxes in the entrance hall.

Ellie and Cecilia emerged from the kitchen.

"We found a room we think you'd like, Aunt Ellie, and we'll use the rooms at the back."

"That's fine, dear. Cecilia and I have been getting acquainted. She's showing me up to Mr. Clayhill's room."

Ellie went to the closed door at the front of the house, and Cecilia went back downstairs after a fearful glance in the direction of Della's room, where sounds of things being thrown and Joseph being thoroughly cursed came through the closed door.

Ellie was strangely calm as she opened the door to Adam Clayhill's room. She entered and closed it behind her before she looked around. The bed was a tall four-poster made of heavy dark wood. The rest of the furniture matched it in both size and color. It was a luxurious room, and definitely masculine. The wine colored draperies were drawn across two sets of windows, one set was on the front of the house, the other on the side. The only light in the room came from the pane of gla.s.s in the door that opened out onto the upper veranda. She opened the draperies on the side to let in more light before she went to stand beside the bed and look down at the husband who had deserted her twenty years before.

Adam stared up at her, his face expressionless and immobile. His cheeks were covered with a stubble of beard and his heavy jowls sagged. Food stains dotted his white mustache, his shirt, and his bedclothes. He lay like a marble statue with no movement except for his eyelids. His huge hands lay at his sides, fingers spread. On the finger next to the crooked forefinger was a huge diamond ring, a monument to the wealth that was of no use to him now.

As she looked down at him, she suddenly realized he was not worth despising. Perhaps he had done her a favor by leaving her. She and Henry had been happy; certainly they would not have been happy with him. Nevertheless, an inner voice told her, the Bible said "cleave unto your husband"; and as sorry as he was, he was her husband.

"Good morning, Mr. Clayhill. I suppose you are wondering what the gullible, naive woman from Missouri is doing here. I am here to take my place in this house as your wife and see that you have adequate care." Ellie spoke slowly and firmly. "I know that you understand what I am saying. I have nursed patients with apoplexy, and although you can't move or speak, there is nothing wrong with your mind. The doctor has explained your condition to me. You may get better and you may not. You could have another fit and go at any time. I want you to understand, Mr. Clayhill, that I didn't come here out of any love for you. The love I had for the man I thought you were died a terrible death that day in Junction City. I sincerely regret all those years I wasted grieving for you. How foolish I have been!" She shook her head sadly.

"Our marriage papers, along with the certificate of record and the tintype we had made on our wedding day, have been sent to Denver. I also sent the names of witnessesa"the preacher who married us is still in Springfield, as is the banker you went to see when we met. It's airtight, Mr. Clayhill. There's no way out for you. You can't simply cast me and my son aside as if we were so much garbage. We are here. We are staying. I mean to see to it that my son has what is rightfully his. You owe us twenty years of support, Mr. Clayhill.

"I also want you to know that I have met your other sons, Logan Horn and Cooper Parnell. They are both fine men. I've met your grandson, little Henry, with the crooked finger like yours and like my son's. I've met Sylvia Henderson, Cooper's mother. You have hurt so many people it's a wonder G.o.d didn't strike you down long before now."

She looked down at him for a long time before she spoke again. His lids had narrowed and his eyes glinted angrily. He knew what she had been saying. Good. She was relieved to find out that there was not an ounce of pity in the feeling she had for him.

"As I said, I will see that you are cared for, and that is all. I would do the same for any of G.o.d's creatures. Do not expect pity or companionship from me or my son. You will be fed and kept clean, and I will give you whatever medicine the doctor prescribes. From the smell of this bed you haven't had very good care these last few days. That will be remedied simply because I can't abide slovenliness.

"There's one more thing. Della is leaving. She is no longer welcome in my home even if she is Kain's sister. Cecilia is staying on, even though you are unable to avail yourself of her services. She tells me the laundress and the girl who helped her left when you struck her. They will be back because you will pay them to wash your dirty bed-clothes." She opened the drawer of the bedside table. "It brings up another matter. I will need money to pay the doctor and for household expenses." She closed the drawer. "Never mind. I'm sure the safe is in your office. If it is locked, I'll have the men take it outside and blow the door off."

A rap sounded on the door, then it opened. "Ma? Are you in here?"

"Yes, son. Come in. Leave the door open. It's too close in here." Henry stood in the doorway and made no move to enter. "Come on in and say h.e.l.lo to Mr. Clayhill."

"I don't want to. I don't like it here, and I don't like him. Can't we go back to Kain's place?"

"No, son. This is our home now. I don't like him either, but he's your father. Out of respect for the one who gave you life you must at least be decent, even if he doesn't deserve it."

Henry came forward reluctantly. "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Clayhill," he said without looking at him. "Ma, that woman threw something at that little n.i.g.g.e.r and cut his head. It's bleeding something awful. Van is putting a cool rag on it. She said it might need a st.i.tch."

"Oh, dear. The sooner we get that woman out of here the better. I'll be back, Mr. Clayhill, with Cecilia and Joseph, if he isn't hurt too badly, and they can clean you up before the doctor comes."

She went to the window and opened it a bit to let in some fresh air. She and Henry left the room, and she closed the door firmly behind her without giving him as much as a glance.

Della left and the doctor arrived all in a matter of minutes. Henry and Jeb carried Della's boxes down and put them in the back of an open wagon pulled by two mules. Kain could hardly contain his mirth when he saw the look on her face when she saw what was taking her to town.

He had talked to the men, told them Della was leaving, and asked for a volunteer to drive her. A middle-aged drover said he was going in to get a load of grain, and she could ride along with him if she'd ride in the grain wagon. Kain a.s.sured him she wouldn't mind at all. There were smirks from some of the men and the twitching of his own lips made them hide grins behind their hands.

Della exploded in rage when she came out onto the veranda and saw the dilapidated old wagon with her fancy boxes piled in the back and the two mangy mules. The driver sat on the seat, chewing his tobacco. Jeb offered to help her climb up the wheel and onto the seat, but she struck him on the arm with her parasol and climbed up by herself, tearing her skirt on a jagged board.