to run. He caught her on his way back, when she was still two feet from the tent.
“Don’t you ever listen?”
“I thought-I was afraid-”
“That I was going to put a bullet in Carlson’s heart?” His mouth thinned. So she cared that much, to come running to save him. “There’s time for that yet.” Taking a firmer grip on her arm, he pulled her with him.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you home.”
“You are not.” She tried and failed to dig in her heels. “I’m not going with you, and I’m not ready to go home.”
“Too bad.” Impatient with her struggles, he swooped her up.
“Stop this at once and put me down. I’ll scream.” “Go right ahead.” He dumped her on the wagon seat. She scrambled for the reins, but he was faster.
“Lucius will take me home when I choose to go home.”
“Lucius is staying in town.” Jake cracked the reins. “Now why don’t you sit back and enjoy the ride? And keep quiet,” he added when she opened her mouth. “Or I swear I’ll gag you.”
Chapter Ten
Dignity. Despite the circumstances… No, Sarah thought, correcting ‘herself, because of the circumstances, she would maintain her dignity. It might be difficult at the speed Jake was driving, and given the state of her own temper, but she would never, never forget she was a lady.
She wished she were a man so she could knock him flat.
Control. Jake kept his eyes focused over the horses’ heads as they galloped steadily and wished it was as easy to control himself. It wasn’t easy, but he’d used his control as effectively as he had his Colts for most of his life. He wasn’t about to lose it now and do something he’d regret.
He thought it was a shame that a man couldn’t slug a woman.
In stony silence, they drove under the fat, full moon. Some might consider it a night for romance, Sarah thought with a sniff. Not her. She was certain she’d never see another full moon without becoming furious.
Dragging her off in the middle of a party, she fumed, trying to give her orders on her personal affairs. Threatening to tie her up like-like a horse, she remembered. Of all the high-handed, arrogant, ill-mannered-
Taking a long, cautious breath, she blocked her thoughts.
She’d lose more than her dignity if she allowed herself to dwell on Jake Redman.
The dog sent up a fast, frantic barking as they drove into the yard. He scented Sarah and the tall man who always scratched him between the ears. Tongue lolling, he jumped at the side of the wagon, clearly pleased to have his mistress home. One look had him subsiding and slinking off again. She’d worn that same look when he’d tried to sharpen his teeth on one of her kid slippers.
The moment Jake had pulled the horses up in front of the house, Sarah gathered her skirts to step down. Haste and temper made her careless, and she caught the hem. Before she could remind herself about her dignity, she was tugging it free. She heard the silk rip. “Now see what you’ve done.”
Just as angry, but without the encumbrances, Jake climbed down from the opposite side. “If you’d have held on a minute, I’d have given you a hand.”
“Oh, really?” With her chin lifted, she marched around the front of the wagon. “You’ve never done a gentlemanly thing in your life. You eat with your hat on, swear and ride in and out of here without so much as a good day or a goodbye.”
He decided she looked much more likely to bite than her scrawny dog. “Those are powerful faults.”
“Faults?” She lifted a brow and stepped closer. “I haven’t begun to touch on your faults. If I began, I’d be a year older before I could finish. How dare you toss me in the wagon like a sack of meal and bring me back here against my wishes?”
She was stunning in the moonlight, her cheeks flushed with anger, her eyes glowing with it. “I got my reasons.”
“Do you? I’d be fascinated to hear them.”
So would he. He wasn’t sure what had come over him, unless it was blind jealousy. That wasn’t a thought he wanted to entertain. “Go to bed, Duchess.” “I have no intention of going anywhere.” She grabbed his arm before he could lead the horses away. “And neither will you until you explain yourself. You accosted me, manhandled me and threatened to kill Samuel Carlson.”
“It wasn’t a threat.” He took her hand by the wrist and dragged it away from his arm. “The next time he touches you, I’ll kill him.”
He meant it, Sarah realized. She stood rooted to the spot. The ways of the West might still be new to her, but she recognized murder when she saw it in a man’s eyes. With her shawl flying behind her, she raced after him.
“Are you mad?”
“Maybe.”
“What concern is my relationship with Samuel Carlson to you? I assure you that if I didn’t wish Samuel, or any man, to touch me, I would not be touched.” “So you like it?” The horses shied nervously when he spun around to her. “You like having him hold you, put his hands over you, kiss you.”
She would have suffered the tortures of hell rather than admit that Carlson had done no more than kiss her fingers. And that the only man who had done more was standing before her now. She stepped forward until she was toe-to-toe with him.
“I’ll risk repeating myself and say that it’s none of your business.”
The way she lifted that chin, he thought, she was just asking to have it punched. “I figure it is.” He dragged the horses inside the shed to unharness them. “You figure incorrectly.” Sarah followed him inside.
Dignified or not, she was going to have her say. “What I do is my business, and mine alone. I’ve done nothing I’m ashamed of, and certainly nothing I feel requires justification to you. If I allow Samuel to court me, you have no say in the matter whatsoever.”
“Is that what you call it?” He dragged the first horse into its stall. “Courting?”
She went icily still. “Have you another name for it?”
“Maybe I’ve been wrong about you.” He took the second horse by the bridle as he studied Sarah. “I thought you were a bit choosier. Then again, you didn’t pull back when I put my hands on you.” He grabbed her wrist before she could have the satisfaction of slapping his face.
“How dare you?” Her breath heaved through her lips. “How dare you speak to me that way?” When she jerked free, her shawl fell to the ground unnoticed.
“No, I didn’t object when you touched me. By God, I wish I had. You make me feel-” The words backed up in her throat. Sarah dug her fingers into her palms until she could choke them free. “You made me feel things I still don’t understand. You made me trust you, and those feelings, when it was all a lie. You made me want you when you didn’t want me back. After you’d done that, you turned away as though it had meant nothing.”
Pain clawed through his gut. What she was saying was true. The hurt shining from her eyes was real. “You’re better off,” he said quietly as he led the horse into a stall.
“I couldn’t agree more.” She wanted to weep.
“But if you think that gives you any right to interfere in my life, you’re wrong. Very wrong.”
“You jumped mighty fast from my arms to his.”
Bitterness hardened the words even as he cursed himself for saying them.
“I?” It was too much-much more than she could bear. Driven by fury, she grabbed his shirt with both hands. “It wasn’t I who jumped, it was you. You left me here without a word, then rode straight to the Silver Star. You kissed me, then rubbed my taste from your mouth so that you could kiss her.”
“Who?” He caught her by the shoulder before she could rush back outside. “Who?”
“I have nothing more to say to you.”
“You started it. Now finish it. Whose bed do you have me jumping in, Sarah?”
