'Want to know something? You're ten years older than this baby, the same age your mother was when I was born.' Leah looked at her silently, one cheek bulging with candy. 'When I was little,' Addie continued, 'she had to show me so many things-why, I tried to do everything just like she did. I followed her everywhere. She would tell me stories, and brush my hair, and she even helped me get dressed in the morning. I thought she was the best older sister there ever was.' Strictly speaking, Addie couldn't remember much about her relationship with Caroline. But Leah didn't have to know that.
Leah seemed fascinated. 'Will I do things like that for the baby?'
'Well, I know she-or he-will probably depend on you like I did your mother.'
Satisfied by the little girl's intrigued expression, Addie let the subject drop and smiled as they reached the other side of the street. Suddenly Leah's hand went lax in her grip, and Addie looked down at her. The child's face was pale, her eyes as round as saucers.
'What is it? What-'
'Adeline,' a quiet voice interrupted, and she looked up into Jeff Johnson's intense blue eyes.
10
As SHE SENSED LEAH'S UNEASINESS, ADDIE RELEASED her hand and bent down to the child. 'Why don't you go and sit in the buggy?'
'The Johnsons are bad, Aunt Adeline-'
'Hush,' Addie said swiftly. 'Everything's just fine, Leah.'
'I'll go get Cade-'
'No. Go wait in the buggy. I won't be long.'
Something in Addie's voice was hard, and her face had gone cold. Leah wasn't the cause of it, but she was too young to understand. She looked at Addie and Jeff with a touch of fear and went slowly to the buggy. Straightening up, Addie met Jeff's eyes and lifted her chin.
'The Johnsons are bad?' he repeated, amused. 'What would you say about someone who hired people to tear down another man's property and attack his employees?'
'That was just a warnin'. I guess Russell knows now what's gonna happen if he doesn't want to share his water rights. 'Specially when we offered to pay for the privilege-'
'He's let you share the water for years, at no charge. He finally had to stop when you started siphoning off his cattle and pushing your boundaries deeper into his property. '
'I don't care to talk about him.'
'Then say whatever you need to, and leave me as quickly as possible. I didn't come to town alone, and there'll be trouble if we're seen together.'
He looked at her without blinking, puzzled by her sharpness. 'How've you been, Adeline?'
She was in no mood for small talk. 'What do you want?'
'You.' Once it might have been a teasing suggestion. But there was no lightness in his voice, no smile in his eyes. 'Won't be long, Adeline.'
She understood immediately what he meant. He was going to carry out the plans they had made, and he would destroy everything she loved, everything she wanted. Everything she had once been indifferent to. She was terrified as she stood there and looked at him. How could she have thought she wanted him? How could she have helped him plan her own downfall?
The steadiness of her own voice surprised her. 'Jeff, things have changed since I last saw you.'
'What things?'
'Everything I felt for you. Everything I said to you was a lie. I never loved you. '
'Adeline, what the hell…' He lifted a hand to touch her elbow, and she jerked away from him.
'Don't ever touch me. I don't want you. I don't want any part of you. '
At first he was too stunned to be angry. 'You don't mean that. What's happened. Is it what happened at the Fanins'? I was just a little drunk, honey. All men have a little too much once in a while-'
'No, it has nothing to do with that. Listen to what I'm saying. You and I won't ever be together. Forget about the plans you made about me and my father.' She paused and tried to swallow back the lump in her throat. 'I don't want him hurt. I swear, whatever you do to him will be done to you, only worse. I'll make sure of it.”
'Jesus Christ! What are you sayin'? Have you told him anything?' Jeff took a step forward as if to shake her, then looked around and realized they were drawing a few stares. He flushed a dull red as he stared at her. 'No, you haven't told anyone,' he muttered. 'You wouldn't risk him findin' out what you've done. And you won't say anything, 'cause you care too much for your own neck, and it's easier to sit back and let it happen. You know your father's diggin' his own grave anyway. He doesn't need much of a push. Why the last-minute change of mind? Jitters? It doesn't matter. I don't always understand you, Adeline, but I know what you really are. I know more about you than anyone, and I want you. And that's how you feel about me.'
Her lips trembled as she held back the threats that flew through her mind. All of them sounded ridiculous, futile. If only she could remember the name of the man the Johnsons had hired. Whose name had she given them?
'I… I'll tell everything,' she said, trying to hide her desperation. 'I can ruin you and your family, and I will if you force me to.'
'You won't,' Jeff said with growing conviction, and the urge to swing out and strike him was nearly irresistible.
'I hate you,' she whispered.
'Yeah. An' a few other things.' He took her arm firmly, staring down at her with a half- formed smile.
'I told you not to touch me.'
'Let's not talk about it in the middle of the street. I know a comer somewhere around here.'
Addie wrenched her arm away and turned toward the buggy just in time to catch a glimpse of approaching disaster. Before she could make a sound, she felt the rush of air as Ben lunged past her and plowed into Jeff so hard they both tumbled into the street. They were like two young animals, fighting and snarling, rolling across the dusty ground. Stupefied, Addie watched as people came running from every direction, cussing and exclaiming, forming a loosely packed crowd around the two men. All of a sudden the noise was deafening. Taking a step backward, she spun around as someone bumped against her shoulder. Cade was right behind her, reaching out to steady her.
'Adeline, I couldn't stop him. He took one look at the two of you and went crazy.'
'Leah,' she gasped, looking wildly toward the buggy. It was empty.
'I'll find her. Stay here.' Cade dashed off through the thickening crowd on the wooden sidewalk. Stumbling to the edge of the circle around Ben and Jeff, she fought to see them.
'Ben,' she cried, but her voice was drowned in the cheers and shouts. 'Ben!'
It didn't take long for the crowd to become violent. Since it was perceived as a fight between the Double Bar and Sunrise, sides were quickly chosen. You were either for or against Russell Warner, and there were very few undecideds. Retreating to the sidewalk, Addie was dumbstruck as the street erupted in a burst of flying fists and piercing yells.
'Bunch of idiots,' Cade muttered in her ear, and she turned with a start to see him sidling up close to her with Leah tucked against his side. 'They've all been itchin' for a chance to fight about the fence.'
'It's not about that, it's about…'
