Charlene Sands (10 page)

He grabbed the mare’s reins to gain Tess’s attention. She looked at him from atop the horse.

“Don’t play dangerous games when you don’t know the rules. You’ll lose every time,” he warned.

“I know the rules.” She spoke confidently, yet her expression was a mixture of sadness and regret. There was an unguarded look in her eyes that went straight to his gut like a cowpoke’s punch in a saloon brawl.

Sunshine shifted her stance, rearing back a step. Clint spoke a soft command and the mare stilled immediately.

Tess reached down for the reins. “I’ve got to go back.”

He relinquished the reins, and she snared them quickly and turned Sunshine around. She rode the mare toward the house as Clint watched in amazement.

“Damn it, Tess,” he muttered because, strangely, he believed her.

She hadn’t been teasing him today, though temptation sat between them, unsatisfied. Her responses were passionate and honest, Clint wasn’t mistaken. Both felt the attraction like the pull of a powerful river.

Something had stopped her. She was running scared. He’d be damned if he could figure out what had brought on her tears and her retreat.

Denying them both a good deal of pleasure.

Tess rode Sunshine at a quickened pace, tears she couldn’t shed in front of Clint now raining down her cheeks. Once she was far enough away from the creek, she slowed the mare, remembering she was a new mama and could tire easily.

She’d made a truce with Clint today, for the ranch’s sake, and she felt it’d been the only decision she could make. Though her lips still tasted of him, her body still hummed from his touch, she knew she’d made a bad decision allowing him those liberties.

Clint wasn’t to be trusted. Not with her heart.

As much as she wanted to keep him at arm’s length to protect all that she’d struggled for these past months, he’d managed to slip in beyond her defenses.

She felt something for him.

She cared.

He’d been gentle with her, his touch striking a chord within her, igniting her passion and creating thrilling havoc in her body. His kisses were heated, his lips commanding and guiding and encouraging, but Clint never overwhelmed her by taking away her control. He knew that she needed to have that freedom. He understood. He’d always given her a choice.

Touching him had been glorious. He was broad of chest and well muscled, defining the infinite days of hard work in a rancher’s life. Under her fingertips she’d felt his strength and itched to feel more of him—to touch him intimately.

When she looked at him, the dark gleam of desire in his eyes almost melted away every chunk of her resolve.

He was a beautiful man.

With a heart of stone, she reminded herself.

Clint wasn’t to be trusted. That’s what perplexed her most. He was out to destroy something precious, and if she got in his way, no doubt she’d be discarded as quickly as a heap of rotting rubbish.

Tess had only known men who’d used and abused people. In some ways, Clint wasn’t too different from Frank and Rusty Metcalf. He took what he wanted, no matter the cost to others, without conscience or regret.

Except for Hoyt, she’d never had a decent, caring relationship with a man. Certainly only a foolish woman would entertain thoughts of loving strong, determined, hard-hearted Clint Hayworth.

So, as tender as Clint might have been, as much as she’d wanted him, she’d made the correct decision in stopping Clint’s advances. She’d learned to trust her instincts and place value on herself. But leaving Clint behind at the creek hadn’t been easy.

He thought her a tease and a wanton woman.

He was wrong on both accounts.

She’d wanted to have something real and something solid with a man who would love her. But long ago she had given up that dream.

The Double H was her something solid now. She’d do her utmost to keep it safe and to keep the Hayworth name held in high regard.

Drying her tears and sitting taller in the saddle, she came to a startling revelation: this time she wasn’t protecting the ranch for Hoyt but for herself.

She was a Hayworth now, through and through.

A few days later Tess stood before nearly thirty women seated in the dining room at the Hayworth Hotel. She’d managed to put aside thoughts of her time with Clint at the creek in order to concentrate on this meeting. The distraction had been well timed. She’d spent far too much time thinking of him lately, remembering how his touch had thrilled and excited her.

She’d avoided him on the ranch whenever she could, but she knew that wouldn’t last. They had shared responsibilities. So far, he hadn’t pressed her about the truce she’d made with him. Sooner or later they’d have to plan their strategy and work together to protect the Hayworth holdings.

Now she looked at the curious faces of the women in attendance. Their ages ranged from younger, more innocent girls to older women who’d had many life experiences.

Tess fit somewhere in between. Robbed of the innocence of youth, she’d had to grow up quicker than most young girls. She hoped HELP would do that very thing—help women who were going through similar experiences.

She looked out at the women and smiled with warmth and a measure of trepidation. This idea had become very important to her, and she wanted so desperately to find common ground with all who attended. “Welcome, ladies. This is the first meeting of Hayworth’s Exceptional Ladies Partnership. I hope to have many more to come. Please have your tea and sample some of the hotel’s desserts while I explain to you why we’re all here.”

“First I’ll tell you a little about myself. I had one brother and was raised by my father. I lost my mother at a very young age. When I needed to feel close to her I would take up the only thing I had to remind me of her—a beautiful silk embroidered handkerchief. In troubled times, I’d clutch it in my hand and say a prayer, and in those moments I’d feel better. The handkerchief was lost to me when I was fourteen, but the memory of it always stayed with me. It would lend me peace and consolation.”

Tess recalled the bitter moment when her father had gotten angry with her for dropping a basket of eggs on the ground. He’d ranted at her stupidity and slapped her face, then pulled the handkerchief from where she’d concealed it every day, tucked under the wrist of her sleeve. He’d ripped it deliberately and tossed it into the morning fire.

Tess had sobbed inconsolably watching it burn up, the three perfectly embroidered red roses she’d finger with love each night before bed going up in flames.

Tess allowed that memory to flash for only a second. She picked up the stack of wrapped gifts and moved around the room, handing each woman a prettily tied package.

“These are replicas, from memory, and my way of thanking you all for coming here today. I hope the gift gives you some joy…and some peace.”

When she reached Marla and Pearl, the two females sitting next to one another, she reassured them with a smile. The women both cast her hesitant smiles in return.

Tess finished giving out the gifts and noted that Laura hadn’t yet arrived. She’d been responsible for commissioning three seamstresses to embroider the blooming crimson roses on each of the silk handkerchiefs. Laura had promised to be here today and Tess worried at her absence.

She reached the front of the dining room again and noted the women’s expressions were slightly more at ease.

She began, “I know this meeting takes many of you away from your chores and—”

“I don’t mind missing my chores,” one of the older women said.

Chuckles resounded in the room as many others agreed.

Tess grinned. “This is not a suffrage meeting, ladies, or a women’s social, but a sisterhood.”

Many of the women looked confused, while others nodded their understanding. “I’d like us to simply share ideas and thoughts on being a woman in Hayworth. To help us realize that, as women, we have certain obligations to our families, but we also have certain rights. To start with, I’d like to tell you a little about my childhood and then I’d like to ask you a question.”

Tess spoke for twenty minutes, explaining how she was raised by a cruel father and how she’d witnessed her brother’s beatings. She spoke of how her father belittled her and made her feel worthless as a child. She spoke from her heart, but she didn’t have the courage to speak the entire truth. She couldn’t quite bring herself to confess she’d been a sister to a murdering outlaw. She couldn’t admit that she’d shot and killed her own brother.

She continued to live the lie of Tess Morgan Hayworth. She rationalized that if she could help women in similar circumstances stand up for themselves, then hiding her true identity would be justified.

When she finished speaking, she was drained emotionally. For most of her life she’d kept those awful memories buried. She’d rarely spoken of them, not in detail, not even to Hoyt. Today she’d uncovered some truths that had held her hostage. Instead of feeling ashamed, as she had in the past, she held her head high, realizing that she wasn’t at fault. She’d been born to a kindhearted mother who’d died far too young and a father who hadn’t an ounce of humanity in him.

She felt cleansed somewhat and relieved that she’d spoken part of her truth here today. Amazingly, when she’d set up this meeting she’d thought to help others, but it appeared obvious that she was gaining a good deal of help herself. The revelation struck a chord in her and brought her joy.

“Now, ladies, ask yourselves, have you ever been in a situation like mine? Have you ever wished you were treated with more respect? Wished you’d been treated more kindly?”

Tess glanced around the room to stony looks. She reached out to meet each woman’s eyes, searching for a response, a gesture, but the dining room was as silent as a funeral procession.

It occurred to Tess that if she couldn’t sway a response, the assembly would soon be over. The women weren’t talking.

Then Pearl spoke up, her eyes darting about the room before meeting with Tess’s gaze. “I have, Mrs. Hayworth. I’ve wished many a time to have more respect from my man.”

Tess knew what it cost Pearl to be the first to speak up. She wanted to run over to her and hug her, but instead she smiled at her with heartfelt gratitude, and Pearl accepted that. “Thank you, Pearl. Anyone else?”

As soon as Pearl had cleared the path, other women joined in. Though they didn’t go into any detail, they’d started talking more freely.

This is what Tess wanted to accomplish. She wanted women to feel free enough to speak out, to have someone to listen to their misgivings and troubles without fear. And she gave a reminder to all present. “Please, ladies, whatever you hear in this room should be kept private. This meeting is about respect and sisterhood. This is a
partnership.
We want this to be a place where all of you can share your thoughts freely. Nothing you hear in this room should be repeated.”

Though Laura had warned her that some women were downright busybodies, Tess had faith that the women would recognize the need to keep their silence. And then she made the one offer she hoped she would never have to entertain. “Ladies, please, if any one of you ever needs help, seek out a friend. There’s nothing worse that having those dreadful feelings of despair and having to hold them inside. If you’re hurt or hurting, my home is open to all of you. I will listen to you, and together we’ll work through your troubles. Please, anytime. Come see me.”

Tess ended the meeting by asking the women if they’d feel it worthwhile to continue to get together, and all of the women agreed. She set a date for the next meeting, encouraging them to come.

As the ladies began to exit the hotel, a dozen women crowded her and thanked her personally. One of them was the girl Marla had spoken about. She had a bruise on her arm that Tess couldn’t miss. She hugged each of them before they left and sent up a prayer for the women she knew, by the fearful looks in their eyes, were the ones who needed help.

Tess left the hotel by midafternoon and was walking toward the livery when she spotted Tom across the street, rocking little Abby in his arms as he made his way to the
Herald
office. “Tom,” she called out, waving her arm.

Tom stopped to turn, and when he saw her he walked across the street.

She couldn’t contain her excitement at seeing Abby again. “Oh, let me hold her, Tom.”

Tom relinquished his hold on the baby, easily handing her over to Tess. “Where’s Laura?” she asked, looking into the baby’s blue eyes and rocking her gently. “She didn’t make our meeting today.”

Tom frowned. “She’s been…tired. I took the baby from her this afternoon so she could rest.”

“Tired? It’s been a while now since the birth. Shouldn’t she be feeling stronger by now?”

“Dr. Willis says she’s fine. Nothing wrong that he can tell. I thought it’d do her good for me to take the baby for a few hours.”

“Oh, let me, Tom! I’ll take her for a while and you can get back to work.”

Tom looked so relieved that Tess wondered if there wasn’t something else wrong, but she didn’t pry. “Would you?” he asked. “I have an article to write and I’ve never missed a deadline.”

“Of course! Little Abby and I will find something to do.”